Televise the funerals and flag-draped coffins

By Vincent L Guarisco

So, another traumatic year has come to pass.  Since 2004 was a Leap Year, we
were hit with 366 nauseating days of unnecessary suffering, death, and
destruction ceaselessly searing the hearts and minds of millions with the
war in Iraq.  Like many others, I am too listless and "war-weary" to even
attempt to imagine what new destruction this administration is cooking up
for this new calendar year.

Who could ever forget Christmas 2004! Earthquakes and Tsunamis aside, last
year for many, Uncle Sammy morphed into a military uniformed "Chris
Kringle." He became a new kind of special delivery, a "War Santa" of cheap
tin thrills; one who gave folded flags to replace lost loved ones. Can you
imagine? Hearing a rap on the door, answering it, and after doing so --
being handed a colorful piece of cloth to replace a vibrant, treasured life.
 Nothing like having your heart ripped out for eternity over an oil well
and out-of-control greed!

Disaster comes in many forms, be it natural or unnatural. And media
sensationalism (in the battle for market shares) can sure keep you reeling.
It's amazing how the media outlets decided to show the graphic loss of life
from the killer tsunami waves -- the bodies washed ashore, many bloated as
they piled up in numbers that far outdistanced the ability of loved ones to
identify and bury them. I'm truly amazed the media deemed it proper and
appropriate, since televising dead service-members arriving home at Dover
Air Force Base in the dead of night, in neat flag-draped coffins is still
not allowed. Obviously, the same standards do not apply.

Who in Sam-Hell makes these decisions? Certainly not anyone with any shred
of honor!  But there it was in all it's undaunted glory, in big screen,
plasma screen and wide screen -- media executives giving the thumbs-up to
show bloated bodies decomposing bodies, floating bodies and even bodies
hanging in trees, on television -- dumped them all squarely in my living
room.  Strange, isn't it, that they still refuse to televise one single
American funeral at home honoring our heros who have died in the line of
duty, while bravely serving their country in a time of war. What the hell is
wrong with this picture! Can you believe this crap? Wow. We really have some
screwed-up priorities!

I suspect there is an underlying explanation for this. Is it bad for the
selling points of war to show such images?  Is our society purposely being
shielded from such upsetting details of homebound fatalities because the
Makers of War want us to have a more pleasant, picturesque impression of war
without the imagery of loss and death?  Is it a full-blown media blackout,
acting as a nerve block for the masses?  Is that why they say, "out of
sight, out of mind?"  If so, we better consider the price -- because our
loss is very real. Otherwise, becoming a casualty of war is not the final
sacrifice; it is merely an insult before closing the last cryptic page -- a
dead handshake, a zipper bag and a silent homecoming so as not to scare away
future recruiting efforts and replacements. Yeah, sign me up!  Not.

Suffering is widespread

American soldiers are not the only ones suffering and dying out there
without getting public attention.  The New Year began just like the Old Year
ended -- with Iraq's landscape continuing to be smeared with glossy red
puddles of spilled blood oozing from the many scattered dead.  An Iraqi
civilian population worn thin, battle fatigued, being relentlessly
extinguished while reeling in agony with the putrid scent of death floating
all around them, fouling the very air they breathe. And don't forget about
that U-235 depleted uranium (DU) dust they are forced to inhale and ingest
in their lungs along with that foul stench.  Can you imagine it?  Try it
sometime -- it's a poisonous sobering experience of life in a hellhole.

However, through it all, the Iraqi people unceasingly continue to pray for
God's help. Yep, enemy and civilians alike, regardless of who is fighting or
not fighting, they are all God's people too. They pray to their prophet
daily for spiritual salvation, for redemption in the wake of wanton
destruction. They pray to God to save them from the so-called "liberators"
who have invaded their sovereign holy land.

Some may call it religious sectarianism, but don't be fooled by the
terminology.  If there is an Allah, he must be listening, because he seems
to have given the insurgents (acronym for freedom fighters), a Mount-Zion
sized amount of tenacity to resist. They certainly are in a motivated Jihad
mode for who and what they hate -- American occupation, American style
democracy, American run elections and any form of American puppet government
we may feebly attempt to instill. To them, we are godless infidels who have
come thousands of miles to steal their natural resources and to destroy
their sacred way of life. Still think we can win?  In Las Vegas we call that
long-shot a "sucker bet."

Does God answer some prayers and not others?  Bush has publicly stated that
God whispers in his ear (his approval) on whom Bush decides to attack in
war.  However, if you remember, that pithy wisdom didn't jive very well with
the Pope in Rome. In fact, just before we invaded, the Pope warned the
United States -- "If you go to war in Iraq, you go without God."

Okay, I'm a little confused on this. Who are we supposed to believe?  Who is
God's agent -- Bush or the Pope?  Hummm, let me see.  It's either the guy
who resides in Washington D.C. on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue -- the same guy
who blundered into a war-profiteering crusade, and likes to brag he's a "war
president," -- or it's the guy from the Vatican in Rome who unwaveringly
promotes world peace.  Gee, I'm so undecided.

The questions keep coming

Here at home, with a much more peaceful landscape at our disposal, many of
us continue to worry about how long our soldiers will remain in foreign
battlefields fighting this unsanctioned, illegal and quite possibly,
"Godless" war.  In fact, just the other day surprisingly, a Bush-supporting
coworker sarcastically asked me how much longer I thought we would be in
Iraq.

I paused for a brief moment (knowing he wasn't the sharpest knife in the
drawer after confessing that he had voted for the village idiot), before
responding, "Hey ace, that's simple! Your man GW has an exit plan! You
betcha -- we're gonna stop pillaging and dying over there and will bring the
troops home just as soon as each and every one of those oil wells starts
pumping seawater!  I knew it would only confuse him to mention the real
reasons -- profiteering spoils of war, no bid open-ended contracts for
nation building, the construction of military bases, privatized troop
support, the arms race, just to name a few.

Perhaps I shouldn't have said it, but the look on his face was truly a Kodak
moment. Pro-war supporters love to boast that the colors of true patriotism
-- red white and blue -- are the colors that never run. On the contrary,
watch what happens to a mother's make-up after being told that her son or
daughter has died in war. Or perhaps a wife receiving the same news about a
husband, or a child about a parent.  Yeah, watch the colors "run" then; they
literally bleed with sorrow and, sometimes, with rage so strong that it
creates a river of mournful tears.

Am I being cynical? Perhaps. But that's what happens when one gets
continually fogged with media-induced bullshit and bombarded with official
lies without end. After getting traumatized and betrayed so often, you
become a little more "cynical" with each dying day. Five killed here, 12
lost there...every day more body bags pile up; more innocents lie unattended
in the streets, mutilated by foraging packs of dogs... After a while it
chips away at your very soul. I call cynicism my own personal safety
feature.  It's better that I am cynically safe than stark raving mad.

It's time for the killing to stop

Bottom line -- I refuse to be hypnotized -- desensitized by the state to
prevent me from putting a human face on what is happening all around me.
It's the media's duty to report it. I demand to know everything. It's within
my right to harness that energy, to use that same energy to prevent any
further bloodshed.

In September of 2003, I wrote an article published on Veterans for Peace
website (http://www.veteransforpeace .org/Body_bags_filled_092903 .htm)
titled: "Body bags filled with GI Joe and Jane."  This essay was written in
the early stages of the Iraq war.  At the time it was published,
approximately 300 soldiers had been slaughtered.  Currently, a thousand more
(and counting) have died since then. I said it then and I'll say it again:

On the surface, it may seem cruel to advocate this, but for the love of
life, we must immediately start televising dead and mutilated sons,
daughters, uncles, aunts, husbands, wives and friends arriving home in
gift-wrapped body bags. Only then will the appeal of the selling points of
war and hostile occupation diminish. The injured and dead must appear on
television. The media must televise the reality of what this war is about:
the flag draped caskets, the funerals, the grieving, the pain, the crying,
and the destruction.  It must be shown immediately.  It must.

As long as Bush's mandated media blackout is allowed to remain in place, his
self-serving wars will continue non-stop. A quick philosophical question --
if a crime has been committed, and no one hears about it, has a crime been
committed? Without media attention, there will be no cause and effect, no
sense of loss, and therefore no public backlash for accountability.

Remember this: During the Vietnam War, when the Mothers of America marched
in the streets in Washington D.C., the media coverage afforded that event
was crucial, even instrumental, in ending that war. Bush lied and our
soldiers have died and continue to die, every hour, every day.  I do not
believe for one minute that they will mind being exploited in the name of
peace.  After all, it was a falsely propagated war that killed them in the
first place.  Other lives are depending on us -- not the media, not the
administration -- so, for the love of God, please demand that the funerals
and flag-draped coffins be put before the American public.  Let us demand an
end to the killing.

Vincent L Guarisco is a freelance writer from Bullhead City, Arizona, a
contributing writer for many web sites, and a lifetime founding member of
the Alliance of Atomic Veterans. Replies welcomed at:
vincespainting1@hotmail.com

© 2005 Vincent L Guarisco