Tuesday, March 18, 2014

New park about vets—not freedom

From
Wichita Peace and Freedom Party Examiner;
Wichita is now home to a new Operation Freedom Memorial. It is a monument that has the names of those who have fallen in the latest wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Last week Anita Dixon, who lost her son, U.S. Army Sgt. Evan Parker, in 2005 Iraq, told The Wichita Eagle that it is honorable that these soldiers will have a park right next to the park that is dedicated to all out other wars, World War I and II, the Korean War, Vietnam and now the new ones.
I don’t have a problem with putting something up to honor soldiers, but the new park has the name “Freedom” in it and those wars have nothing to do with freedom. Our freedom is not affected by those wars at all. Attacks against our freedom come mostly from misguided politicians who want to constantly pass new laws that restrict what we can do.
As for freedom I believe these wars are a matter of supporting the new American Empire. A few years ago some politicians and conservative think tanks came out with the idea of an American Century. It is a characterization of the 20th century as being largely dominated by the United States in political, economic, and cultural terms. It is comparable to the description of the 19th Century as Britain's Imperial Century. This requires US control of the world's oil resources. The United States' influence grew throughout the 20th century, but became especially dominant after the end of World War II, when there were two main superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. After the fall of the USSR in 1991, the United States became the world's only superpower.
Wikipedia give the term hyperpower to the US Empire. Others have called it the most powerful superpower since the Roman Empire.
The Wichita Eagle had a line that claimed; “The monument memorializes Kansans who have died in the fight against terrorism.” That is wrong also. Al-Qaeda has been pushed out of Afghanistan and yet the US has been there over 10 years, propping up a puppet government. They have been fighting the Taliban who have nothing to do, presently, with the war on terrorism.
This and almost all of our wars and foreign policy are aimed at expanding and shoring up support for an expanding U.S. empire. The latest wars are all based on a lies. They keep telling people that our sons and daughters are fighting for freedom and the “war on terrorism” when it just isn’t true. The war on terrorism is being handled from the US. The FBI and intelligence people are not in Iraq, Afghanistan or here at home in the U.S. Terrorists are either in the US already or in Yemen and Syria (fighting along US backed rebels). Iraq was never a hotbed of terrorists and is not now, even though a few al Qaeda fighters have taken advantage of the turmoil the US created there to carve out a place for themselves.
As for freedom and for al Qaeda wanting to take away our freedom, Osama bin Laden said “If it’s freedom we hate, why didn’t we attack Sweden.” Obviously he noticed they have more freedom in Sweden than in the U.S. Osama’s main goal is just to get the US and other Western countries out of the Middle-east. 
This park sits next to Veterans Memorial Park, 339 N. Veterans Parkway. The cost of the new park was about $225,000,
Wichita has always been a pro-military town. People here worship the military they way the worship gun ownership. But it is phony to lead people on to support the efforts of people who may really think they are fighting for these things when it just isn’t true.
Pix from 
www.pbawichita.com

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