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- |____________________________________________________________________|
-
- ...presents... A Kinder, Gentler Nation
- by Tequila Willy
-
- >>> a cDc publication.......1991 <<<
- -cDc- CULT OF THE DEAD COW -cDc-
-
- _____________________________________________________________________________
- _
-
-
- PROLOGUE:
-
- "...[we] have no choice but to drive Saddam from Kuwait by force. We will
- not fail."
- -- President George Bush, January 16, 1991
-
-
- Perhaps it would not be entirely incorrect to speculate that certain
- individuals who hold special jobs in our United States government are holding
- the opinion that the general public is exceedingly stupid (stoooooopid),
- uneducated, and will accept just about any shitty slop as an explanation
- justifying American policy. Perhaps, just maybe, President Bush is among these
- slop-shovelers.
-
- As the author of this file I am not against the war with Iraq and I am not
- for it. As the author of this file I am merely attempting to analyze
- President Bush's language to come to an understandable conclusion as to why our
- nation is at war with Iraq.
-
- You might think you know why we are at war, or you might be just as
- confused as I am. If the war is of interest to you (since the odds are you are
- a male of potential draft age) then this file may prove to be very interesting.
-
- _____________________________________________________________________________
- _
-
- DECEMBER 1990:
-
- Language, like many other things, is a tool, and it's a tool used to
- communicate ideas. As diverse as our thoughts and ideas can become, so is
- language. And as is the case with many tools, when we need to accomplish a
- different task we can simply adapt language to accomplish our goal. For its
- masters, language can be a powerful weapon and to its novices, language can be
- so overwhelming that deception is easily concealed.
-
- For example, if you went temporarily insane and strolled through the park
- late at night screaming, "BLOW YOUR MOTHER, YOU MOLDERING LOAVING BUTT-
- KISSING
- CRYPT MAMA'S BOYS!..." you might have the mishap to encounter a few of the
- nefarious Crypt ("Crip") gang members. Let's just say they didn't appreciate
- your humor and decided your ears would look better stuffed in your mouth and
- they subsequently pulled out their knives. In this case the knife is a tool.
- Language has the potential to be just powerful as the knife is in this case,
- yet its use is much cleaner and can bring bigger and better benefits. And
- saaaaaay, isn't that the same as "the pen is mightier than the sword"? Sorta.
-
- But what, what is my point?
-
- Saudi Arabia. You've heard of it. Lots of American troops are stationed
- down there. In fact, as of this writing, we're at war with Iraq and Saudi
- Arabia makes a convenient launching point. But why were our troops sent there
- in the first place? President Bush has stated why, waaaaaay back in August.
- Well, kinda.
-
- On August 8, 1990, President Bush delivered a speech at the White House
- explaining why he deployed American troops to Saudi Arabia. He concluded his
- speech by saying, "Standing up for our principles will not come easy....
- Standing up for our principle is an American tradition....it will take unity of
- purpose." Pretty patriotic stuff, right? The highly emotive language, "[it]
- will not come easy," and "American tradition" is designed to change your
- attitude from a potentially negative one to a positive one. The word
- "tradition" could easily be substituted with "throwback", "routine",
- "observance", or "notion" but these words would not generate the same
- persuasive tone. Positive emotional generation is very important in a critical
- foreign policy issue -- issues which may otherwise throw the public into a
- screaming rage. As this file unfolds, consciously note the deliberate use of
- emotive language in President Bush's words.
-
- President Bush becomes very creative with emotive language when he
- describes the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait; "...Iraq's tanks stormed in blitzkrieg
- fashion through Kuwait in a few short hours." Blitzkrieg fashion? Does this
- drum up images of Hitler? During a news conference in Orlando, Florida on
- November 1, 1990, at least one reporter wanted to know. President Bush was
- asked, "Can you tell us what Saddam Hussein has done that compares to the
- Holocaust?" In his reply he stated, "I see many similarities by the way the
- Iraqi forces behaved in Kuwait and the Death's Head Regiments behaved in
- Poland." This is strong emotive language attempting to emphasize the potential
- threat of Saddam Hussein.
-
- This is all a great emotional charge but it does not explain or relate
- information as to what our initial purpose in Saudi Arabia was.
-
- President Bush's emphasis of the word "clear" in the speech he delivered
- implies that he understands that many Americans might not be sure exactly why
- American troops were sent to Saudi Arabia. "Let me be clear," he emphasized.
- "The sovereign independence of Saudi Arabia is of vital interest to the United
- States." He then went on to explain, "I want to be clear about what we are
- doing and why. America does not seek conflict, nor do we seek to chart the
- destiny of other nations. But America will stand by her friends. The mission
- of our troops is wholly defensive."
-
- Though language is a tool to communicate ideas clearly, sometimes, as
- demonstrated by President Bush, it falls short of this goal. In order to
- clarify language even further, sometimes it is beneficial to set up an
- artificial symbolic language. To further clarify President Bush's attempts to
- be clear, we shall use artificial symbolic language to analyze his words.
-
- According to President Bush, it is not the case (~) that America seeks
- conflict (C) and it is not the case (~) that America seeks to chart the destiny
- of other nations (N) -- so, President Bush, what is the intent of America?
- America will stand by her friends (S) and the mission of our troops is wholly
- defensive (D). This can by effectively diagramed as:
-
- ~C and ~N
- S and D
-
- We are left guessing that the reason President Bush deployed American
- troops to Saudi Arabia is because "...America will stand by her friends."
- Since troops have been deployed to Saudi Arabia, this implies that Saudi Arabia
- is America's friend. This deployment has the greater implication that Saudi
- Arabia is in danger of being attacked by military forces because the mission of
- our troops, as explained by President Bush, is "wholly defensive". Certainly
- defense does not exist without attack. Who would order an attack on Saudi
- Arabia? Saddam Hussein?
-
- President Bush, while trying to justify his actions, attempts to
- demonstrate that America's friend, Saudi Arabia, is in danger of being attacked
- by the Iraqi military. The actual argument used by President Bush is as
- follows:
-
- "But we must recognize that Iraq may not stop using
- force to advance its ambitions. Iraq has massed an
- enormous war machine on the Saudi border, capable
- of initiating hostilities with little or no additional
- preparation. Given the Iraqi government's history
- of aggression against its own citizens as well as its
- neighbors, to assume Iraq will not attack again would
- be unwise and unrealistic."
-
- Currently the premises do provide conclusive evidence that "...we must
- recognize that Iraq may not stop using force to advance its ambitions." The
- key word here is that the conclusive evidence supports the idea that Iraq may
- attack. It's important to understand that the premises establish the idea
- that "Iraq has massed an enormous war machine" and "it would be unwise to
- assume Iraq will not attack" and these completely support the idea that Iraq
- may attack or it may not.
-
- However, as President Bush stated during his August 8, 1990 speech,
- American troops are not in Saudi Arabia merely because "America will stand by
- her friends," but because "...the Saudi government requested our help." So,
- according to President Bush..
-
- American troops are in Saudi Arabia because "America
- will stand by her friends," and "...the Saudi government
- requested our help."
-
- Does this imply that if Lithuania requested our help then we would be
- rushing troops to defend them against the Soviets? Somehow this fellow doesn't
- think so.
-
- President Bush has deductively argued that Saudi Arabia may be danger of
- being attacked by Saddam Hussein's military -- which is, as President Bush
- thoughtfully reminds us, "...the fourth largest military in the world."
- American troops are in Saudi Arabia to defend against any possible attacks.
- Keep in mind, Iraq might attack Saudi Arabia and it might not. We're just
- there to make sure Iraq doesn't attack Saudi Arabia.
-
- At least that's the way President Bush has explained it to us.
-
- _____________________________________________________________________________
- _
-
- JANUARY 10, 1991
-
- The 5:00 o'clock news program on KCRA Channel 3 (Sacramento, California)
- announced an interesting story on January 10th, 1991. A Modesto, California
- businessman had obtained a government contract with the military. There is
- nothing unusual about this event by itself except when you stop to consider
- that this businessman owns a business which manufactures body bags and the
- government contract called for an order of 20,000 (twenty thousand) of them.
-
- It might appear that our government plans to be sending some of our boys
- home soon. However, as of this writing (January 10, 1991) that is purely
- speculative. Hey, it would be presumptuous to interpret this as a sign that
- the U.S. plans to initiate hostilities against Iraq. However, we should also
- not discount the consequential implication of this report.
-
- _____________________________________________________________________________
- _
-
- JANUARY 16, 1991
-
- "Our objectives are clear. Saddam Hussein's forces will leave Kuwait.
- The legitimate government of Kuwait will be restored to its rightful place.
- And Kuwait will once again be free."
- -- President George Bush, January 16, 1991
-
- Wait, wait, wait! What's all this talk, George!? I thought you said the
- mission of our troops was wholly defensive!? In fact, I'm sure that's what you
- said. Certainly you don't expect troops on the wholly defensive to remove
- Hussein's forces? Wouldn't that be the job of offensive troops?
-
- In fact, President Bush surely recalls those powerful words he uttered
- just a few short months ago, and now, if he is going to muster the support of
- the American public, he is going to have to present a strong argument for
- declaring war on Iraq. What exactly did he say to enlist the support of the
- nation?
-
- "Some may ask, 'Why act now? Why not wait?' The answer
- is clear. The world could wait no longer."
- -- President Bush (January 16, 1991)
-
- That, what you just read, is the crux of President Bush's argument for
- declaring war. And, isn't it a fine reason? Who wouldn't die for impatience?
- Immediately following this statement comes the emotive charge for making
- impatience seem like an excellent reason to wage war on Iraq.
-
- "Sanctions, though having some effect, showed no signs
- of accomplishing their objective. Sanctions were tried
- for well over five months. And we, and our allies,
- concluded that sanctions alone would not force Saddam
- from Kuwait. While the world waited, Saddam Hussein
- systematically raped, pillaged, and plundered a tiny
- nation no threat to his own. He subjected the people of
- Kuwait to unspeakable atrocities. And among those maimed
- and murdered; innocent children. While the world waited,
- Saddam sought to add to the chemical weapons arsenal he
- now possesses and an infinitely more dangerous weapon of
- mass destruction, a nuclear weapon. And while the world
- waited, while the world talked peace and withdrawal, Saddam
- Hussein dug in and moved massive forces into Kuwait.
- While the world waited, while Saddam stalled, more damage
- was being done to the fragile economies of the third world,
- the emerging democracies of eastern Europe, to the entire
- world, including to our own economy. The United States,
- together with the United Nations, exhausted every means
- at our disposal to bring this crisis to a peaceful end.
- However, Saddam clearly felt that by stalling and
- threatening and defying the United Nations, he could
- weaken the forces irate against him. While the world
- waited, Saddam Hussein met every overture of peace with
- open contempt. While the world prayed for peace, Saddam
- prepared for war."
-
- In case you had trouble spotting some of those emotive words (and phrases)
- mentioned earlier, here's a quick highlight: "raped, pillaged, and plundered a
- tiny nation", "unspeakable atrocities", "murdered innocent children", "mass
- destruction", "massive forces", "fragile economies of the third world",
- "stalling and threatening and defying the United Nations", "open contempt".
-
- After that charge, who would dare speak out against President Bush's
- reasoning?
-
- Sometimes, in our attempts to better understand what people mean, it
- helps to cut away the vague, ambiguous, and emotive language so we can see
- what they're really saying. Sometimes it doesn't help.
-
- _____________________________________________________________________________
- _
-
- Before concluding this file there are two more important points President
- Bush makes which I believe deserve comment.
-
- "Our goal is not the conquesition of Iraq, it is the liberation of
- Kuwait."
- -- President Bush (December 16, 1991)
-
- The liberation of Kuwait? I'm not a historian so the facts here aren't
- quite clear to me, but many years ago (1950s I believe) it was the United
- Kingdom which set up the existing borders between Iraq and Kuwait. Kuwait was,
- in effect, set up by the British. Kuwait and Iraq were, before that time, a
- single nation. Is Saddam liberating Kuwait or is President Bush liberating
- Kuwait? Did the United Kingdom commit "unspeakable atrocities" or was it
- Iraq? I do not know, but I'd like to.
-
- "And Kuwait will once again be free."
- -- President George Bush, January 16, 1991
-
- Keep in mind, when President Bush refers to the freedom of Kuwait he does
- not mean in the democratic sense because Kuwait is a monarchy, not an elected
- governing body like we enjoy in the United States of America. So, are we
- really defending freedom? And how broadly do we define freedom? If one
- communist nation forcibly seized another communist nation, would we care so
- much? Maybe if they had oil....
-
- _____________________________________________________________________________
- _
-
- President Bush has used troops which he claimed were positioned for wholly
- defensive reasons to lead an attack with a coalition of nations against Iraq.
- He has claimed, or made implications and suggestions, that he is enforcing the
- United Nations' decision that Iraq should immediately depart from Kuwait.
-
- If that truly is our reason for war, why didn't he explicitly state that
- during his speech which announced our declaration of war with Iraq? Maybe it
- is because that is not the true reason. If "freedom" is not the reason for
- this war, then what is? Oil? Drugs? Sand? Whatever the reason it only
- seems fair that the public be informed. After all, it would merely be a
- reason for war and not a military secret which would endanger the success of
- the war.
-
- Because President Bush has not been clear in his reasons for declaring
- war, it would be highly unreasonable on my part to either condemn or endorse
- this war. As a citizen participating in this democracy I merely want to
- know President Bush's reason(s) for declaring war.
-
- _____________________________________________________________________________
- _
-
- If you've got a comment, I'd like to hear it. I can be reached at my BBS,
- Tequila Willy's Great Subterranean Carnival: 209/526-3194.
-
- _____________________________________________________________________________
- _
-
- YOUR HANDY QUOTABLE QUOTES (clip and enjoy!):
-
- "Let me be clear..."
- -- President Bush (August 8, 1990)
-
- "...all in the cause of peace."
- -- President Bush (August 8, 1990)
-
- "...after perhaps unparalleled international consultation and exhausting
- every alternative..."
- -- President Bush (August 8, 1990)
-
- "...no one should underestimate our determination to confront aggression."
- -- President Bush (August 8, 1990)
-
- "The sovereign independence of Saudi Arabia is of vital interest to the
- United States."
- -- President Bush (August 8, 1990)
-
- "The mission of our troops is wholly defensive."
- -- President Bushy (August 8, 1990)
-
- "Our goal is not the conquesition of Iraq, it is the liberation of
- Kuwait."
- -- President Bush (December 16, 1991)
-
- "YOW! I'm imagining a surfer van filled with SOY SAUCE!"
- -- Zippy the Pinhead (circa 20th Century)
-
- _____________________________________________________________________________
- _
-
- BIBLIOGRAPHY:
-
- Bush, G. (1990, September 1). Iraq invasion of Kuwait.
- Vital Speeches of the Day, LVI(22), 674-675
-
- Bush, G. (1991, January 16). President Address to the Nation.
-
- Bush reiterates complaints against Iraqi brutality.
- (1990, November 3). Congressional Quarterly, 48(44),
- 3762-3763.
-
- Copi, I.M. & Cohen C. (1990). Introduction to Logic.
- New York, NY; Macmillan.
-
- My greatest regards to President Bush's speech writing staff for the skill
- demonstrated in their writing.
- _ _ ____________________________________________________________________
- /((___))\|Demon Roach Undrgrnd.806/794-4362|Grassroots..............new # soon|
- [ x x ] |NIHILISM.............513/767-7892|Paisley Pasture.......916/673-8412|
- \ / |Tequila Willy's GSC..209/526-3194|The Works.............617/861-8976|
- (' ') |Lunatic Labs.........213/655-0691|Ripco II..............312/528-5020|
- (U) |====================================================================|
- .ooM |Copr. 1991 cDc communications by Tequila Willy. 02/18/91-#161|
- \_______/|All Rights Pissed Away. |
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