L. Neil Smith's
THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE
Number 224, May 18, 2003
YOU CAN'T WIN?

Noises
by William Stone, III
[email protected]

Exclusive to TLE

In my essay, "The Phantom Menace", I predicted that Saddam Hussein — and indeed, virtually all of the "terrorists" that government has paraded before us — would turn out to be absolutely no threat whatsoever. I pointed out that the FedGov's stated reasons for starting a war with Iraq were mutually exclusive.

History is now bearing out my assertion. The Weapons of Mass Destruction(TM) that the FedGov shrieked were in imminent danger of being used against Americans have disappeared. In fact, Bush Administration officials are now claiming that it is unlikely that any are to be found.

This is in direct contradiction to what Dubyuh and his cronies claimed immediately prior to the invasion. At that time, the story was that the FedGov's spy satellites had conclusive proof of the WMDs' location, and that the only reason the FedGov wouldn't release this data to UN weapons inspectors was to maintain the anonymity of US intelligence sources.

Now that the war is all but over and US troops are crawling all over the place, the WMDs have somehow become impossible to locate.

There are three possibilities to account for this:

  1. There never were any WMDs. The Bush Administration deliberately lied, using the occasion to gain effective control of an enormous oil reserve.

  2. US intelligence is incredibly faulty — so faulty that a war was started on the basis of items that never existed. If intelligence was so poor on an item this critical, it calls into question every single piece of intelligence gathered before or since. None of it should be trusted.

  3. The WMDs were smuggled out of Iraq prior to the war and are now in the clutches of some other evil madman.

There is no way to know which of these is true. However, last week, when a caller confronted leading Republican whore Rush Limbaugh with this very idea, Dubyuh's next move in the War on Freedom (nee War on Drugs, nee War on Poverty, nee Great Society, nee New Deal) was unwittingly telegraphed.

Keeping half his brain tied firmly behind is back (just to make sure he didn't accidentally come to a rational conclusion), Rush stated that he simply couldn't believe that the Bush Administration would lie about the existence of the WMDs. Similarly, Republican-run intelligence couldn't possibly be that faulty, particularly given its success during the war. Therefore, the WMDs must have been spirited out of Iraq prior to the war.

"I would be in favor of taking Syria apart to find them," Limbaugh opined.

This, then, will be the next logical step in the War on Freedom:

  1. Use the Weapons of Mass Destruction(TM) that were smuggled out of Iraq as justification for further draconian domestic policies. Continue to terrify Americans with ghost stories about non-existent domestic terrorists as a means to assume additional power.

  2. Claim that the Weapons of Mass Destruction(TM) were smuggled into [INSERT NAME OF POLITICALLY INCONVENIENT COUNTRY WITH LARGE OIL RESERVES HERE] as justification for invading other countries.

  3. Don't do the one thing that would actually reduce the likelihood of terrorism on American soil.

It's quite clear (echoed by Rush Limbaugh) that the Bush Administration considers American control of the Middle East imperative. The rationale for this will be fighting terrorism or liberating oppressed peoples: the honest truth, of course, is that Bush believes America to be inextricably bound to Middle Eastern oil. It's time, in Dubyuh's mind, to "bring civilization to the Darkies," and he doesn't care what lies he has to spew in order to do it.

"But Bill," the Republican apologists will whimper, "the military isn't going to stay in Iraq. As soon as Iraq has democracy and a free country, they'll leave."

If this is so, will Iraqi oil companies be free to sell oil at double the current prices if that's what the market will bear?

Of course not. The FedGov will forevermore exert at least enough political control over the country to maintain cheap oil prices. This is all the FedGov has ever been interested in and all it will ever be interested in.

"Freedom," "liberation," "Weapons of Mass Destruction(TM)" ... these are all just sounds to those in the FedGov, noises to be made when attempting to garner public support. To Dubyuh and his ilk, these words have no meaning beyond how they may be used to inflame the emotions of those who vote.

Noise, that's all: just noise. If Klingonese would serve to stir up emotions, Dubyuh would be be ranting, "batlh da Qawlu' taH! Qa'pla!"

If you still can't conceive of the notion that this is entirely a con game constructed by individuals expert at manipulating your emotions, consider this:

There is one thing — one simple, completely free thing — the FedGov could do to reduce the likelihood of terrorism on American soil to nil. It could be implemented with the stroke of a pen, unilaterally, and not require any input by Congress.

The President could enforce the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. He could declare all 20,000 gun laws on the books both Unconstitutional and immoral, instruct the Attorney General to prosecute anyone who attempts to enforce a victim disarmament law, and issue pardons to anyone convicted of a gun crime involving no violence.

The day after this occurred, crime would plummet and domestic terrorists would stop planning any of their nefarious activities. The September 11 terrorists would never have attempted their hijackings had there been some likelihood that they were surrounded by armed individuals who would never let their day be interrupted in that fashion.

That Dubyuh isn't even considering such an action is proof positive of his intentions. He doesn't want free individuals capable of defending themselves and those around them from terrorists. He wants ready victims dependent on government to do it for them.

At the opening of another fictional war, Obi-Wan Kenobi remarked that they would not have carried a victory but for the intervention of the clones. To paraphrase Yoda's response:

"Victory? Victory, you say? Not victory — a defeat it was. Begun, the Freedom War has!"



William Stone, III is a computer nerd (RHCE, CCNP, CISSP) and Executive Director of the Zero Aggression Institute. He seeks the Libertarian Party's nomination for the 2004 Senate race in South Dakota.


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