By Charles Bivona
Daniel Ellsberg, the patron saint of whistle blowers, has stated it publicly: the Afghan Papers published by Wikileaks are as significant as The Pentagon Papers. And say what you will about Ellsberg—love him or despise him—you have to admit, he is an expert on these matters.
So, now the political storm will wage for weeks. The left will focus on the contents of the papers—war crimes, official lies, things of that sort. The right will bark about treason and vilify the whistle blower—but never deny the contents of the reports.
There will be political slight of hand—half the country blaming Bush—he did start this with ignorant swaggering and a deeply misinformed response to 9-11—and the other half blaming Obama, because that’s just what you do these days.
And there will be assholes, because, well, the asshole clan is running rampant. The assholes will say things about the nature of humanity—we are not warlike by nature, shut up with that shit—and they will lament the ugly reality of wars.
Ugh. War is Hell, they will snort. It is a shame we accidentally killed those civilians… Oh well! That’s War! Shit happens! [mad cackle]
Then they will repeat a few bumper sticker slogans, and switch topics abruptly when they get cornered:
Obama! Spending! Health Care! Gay Marriage! Meh!!!
Assholes can be slippery, I tell ya.
Some of these assholes will even use the Bible to argue for what they call “American Exceptionalism” – the newest euphemism for Manifest Destiny.
Someone get the small pox blankets!
God, they holler — their eyes rolled back in their empty heads — GOD has sanctioned all of this! The United States is blessed by the father, the son, and the holy whatever, so we have carte blanche to rape the world.
This is insanity. It’s embarrassing and disappointing. And I don’t care if you call me un-American.
I don’t even know what that means—to be American or Un-American. It sounds like advertising bullshit labels. It sounds like something you say when you have no argument.
But I’ll tell you one thing, if being an American means I have to support my government, silently, no matter what it does, then I guess that’s me:
Soon-To-Be-Dr. Unamerican, at your service.
Call me names. I don’t care. I have bigger problems.
You see, I’m actually disturbed by the idea of my home country being suspected of war crimes. I know: crazy, right? I mean, I’ve been hearing all this speculation about the veracity of these leaked Afghan War papers—and, I agree, this is important work; important questions need to be asked—but I think I’m still in shock. I can’t think about these questions yet. I’m too deeply disturbed by the implications of this leak.
There is a new mountain of evidence against The United States—my country—the alleged war criminal state. It’s a new 200,000 page mountain of secret history to be sorted, verified, and studied; I was still digesting the old mountain.
And my taxes fund this war machine, while my implicated leaders are protected by the absence of a viable World Court—a World Court that never got off the ground because the United States government refuses to support it.
So, I’m disappointed by reality, and my government, again. I suppose I should be used to it. I’m an idealist, and a poet, and was once a little boy who took those patriotic grade school stories very seriously: I can not tell a lie. I cut down the cherry tree.
Then one legendary story, after another, fell to my experiences — reading the Pentagon Papers, talking to Iraq Veterans Against the War, and Vietnam Vets Against the War, marching; college and graduate school forced my eyes open.
What I see now is horrifying. I wonder if I’m the only one who feels this way.
Filed under: The Afghan War Diary , The Afghan War Diary, Wikileaks
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