When US says 'regime change' thousands die
Sixty years ago Groucho Marx presided over comedy quiz show 'You Bet Your Life'. It's featured gimmick was the 'Secret Word', a common word revealed to the audience at the show's outset. If a contestant said the word, a toy duck resembling Groucho—with eyeglasses and mustache - descended from the ceiling to award a $100 bill.
I'm reminded of Groucho and the 'Secret Word' whenever the current leader of the US war party announces one of our imaginary enemies is designated for 'regime-change'. This not so secret word brings down on the unfortunate peoples who provoke it, deadly US bombers, dropping not 100 dollar bills, but 100 pound bombs of death. Just ask the relatives of the hundreds of thousands of dead Afghans and Iraqis we've slaughtered over the last 14 years...and are still slaughtering.
But that carnage wasn't enough for America's bloodlust. In 2011, the US saw a chance for regime change during the Libyan civil war. Leading a coalition of friendly regime changers, we mounted 26,000 air strikes, butchering thousands of Libyans to prevent what we fanaticized was an impending butchering by Libyan leader Gadhafi. Current contender to take over the war party Hillary Clinton laughed as she exclaimed "We came, we saw, he died", surely one of the most disgusting utterances of an American war proponent ever.
The current Syrian bloodbath, north of 350,000 dead with little hope for resolution, is our current regime change catastrophe. This one, to topple Syrian strongman Assad, has been in the works for 2 decades. The Afghan and Iraq regime change were trial runs against pushovers to prepare for Assad's ouster. The 2009 Syrian civil war put regime change for Assad into play. Two years ago, the US was within hours of unleashing the Groucho duck, oops, bombers, when the American people rose up and forced Congress to tell Obama to stand down. It seems the 'red line' Assad crossed when he gassed his opponents, was unprovable; possibly being a false flag attack by the rebels themselves. In January, 2014, Russia's Putin and Obama brokered a plan to bring Iran into the peace talks to extract concessions from Syria's Assad and the rebel groups. That effectively eliminated regime change so it was sabotaged by the US war party. The result was tens of thousands of additional unnecessary deaths simply to oust Assad. Now, 22 months later, Russia's entry into the civil war on Assad's side, has pretty much squelched the US's plan for imminent regime change. Even Obama has acknowledged that Russia and Iran have valuable roles to play, likely leading to a land sharing ageement for Assad and his foes.
'You Bet Your Life' ended its 14 year run in 1961. America's deadly version, 'You Bet Your Country' has been going on for 117 years, beginning with regime change in Cuba and the Philippians during our first imperial war in 1898. The next time a president announces 'regime change', the Groucho Duck should drop down with a sign that says, "You're impeached"!
I'm reminded of Groucho and the 'Secret Word' whenever the current leader of the US war party announces one of our imaginary enemies is designated for 'regime-change'. This not so secret word brings down on the unfortunate peoples who provoke it, deadly US bombers, dropping not 100 dollar bills, but 100 pound bombs of death. Just ask the relatives of the hundreds of thousands of dead Afghans and Iraqis we've slaughtered over the last 14 years...and are still slaughtering.
But that carnage wasn't enough for America's bloodlust. In 2011, the US saw a chance for regime change during the Libyan civil war. Leading a coalition of friendly regime changers, we mounted 26,000 air strikes, butchering thousands of Libyans to prevent what we fanaticized was an impending butchering by Libyan leader Gadhafi. Current contender to take over the war party Hillary Clinton laughed as she exclaimed "We came, we saw, he died", surely one of the most disgusting utterances of an American war proponent ever.
The current Syrian bloodbath, north of 350,000 dead with little hope for resolution, is our current regime change catastrophe. This one, to topple Syrian strongman Assad, has been in the works for 2 decades. The Afghan and Iraq regime change were trial runs against pushovers to prepare for Assad's ouster. The 2009 Syrian civil war put regime change for Assad into play. Two years ago, the US was within hours of unleashing the Groucho duck, oops, bombers, when the American people rose up and forced Congress to tell Obama to stand down. It seems the 'red line' Assad crossed when he gassed his opponents, was unprovable; possibly being a false flag attack by the rebels themselves. In January, 2014, Russia's Putin and Obama brokered a plan to bring Iran into the peace talks to extract concessions from Syria's Assad and the rebel groups. That effectively eliminated regime change so it was sabotaged by the US war party. The result was tens of thousands of additional unnecessary deaths simply to oust Assad. Now, 22 months later, Russia's entry into the civil war on Assad's side, has pretty much squelched the US's plan for imminent regime change. Even Obama has acknowledged that Russia and Iran have valuable roles to play, likely leading to a land sharing ageement for Assad and his foes.
'You Bet Your Life' ended its 14 year run in 1961. America's deadly version, 'You Bet Your Country' has been going on for 117 years, beginning with regime change in Cuba and the Philippians during our first imperial war in 1898. The next time a president announces 'regime change', the Groucho Duck should drop down with a sign that says, "You're impeached"!
posted by Walt Zlotow at 12:39 AM
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