Why Bush REALLY invaded Iraq - Can you handle the truth?

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Matt_the_poet
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Mon Aug 01, 2005 6:48 pm

Bush, Blair or The Man in the Street?

Which is the greater evil, would you say?
The man who makes millions want to pray
With heinous acts for which he’ll never pay,
Or the man who sees, but just looks the other way?

And what if he numbered not one, but ten, or a score,
Or a hundred, or a thousand, a million or even more,
How many voices would it take to stop the war?
It’s the silence, ambivalence and indifference that I abhor.

Beneficiaries rarely gripe about the game;
“If it’s making us richer, it’s making me richer,
So does it really matter who’s to blame?
And anyway, blackies, packies, Iraqis – they’re all the same”

“As long as it’s not outside my front door
I don’t mind if I turn on the tv and see war,
I can always change channels if it’s becoming a bore
Or when I’m overdosed on bloodshed and can’t take any more”

This invasion’s throw-back to imperial days,
An occupation by force; it’s wrong in so many ways.
The real motive to plunder resources and accumulate wealth,
All the talk of hidden weapons was just political stealth.

So am I proud of this supposedly ‘Great’ country of mine,
With invasion, colonisation and slavery our crimes,
And today’s actions no more righteous than in Victorian times?
Lets just say emigration’s at the forefront of my mind.
Last edited by Matt_the_poet on Mon Aug 08, 2005 6:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Matt_the_poet
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Tue Aug 02, 2005 4:20 pm

Anyone who would like an in-depth discussion of my assertion that Iraq was invaded for material reasons should get in touch, as such a dialogue would be most stimulating and there's a great deal about the Iraq war, as well as the regime change in Afganistan, that is unknown to most of the population.
Bombadil
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Tue Aug 02, 2005 4:48 pm

For purposes of the vote, I'd say neither democracy nor money were the priority. However, that said, I do not believe this is this place to engage in political discourse.

The poem itself was fair, though I think the urgency of your message strangled the actual poem.

Welcome, though, and I look forward to more.

Cheers,

Bombadil
Matt_the_poet
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Tue Aug 02, 2005 5:09 pm

You say this isn't the place to engage in political discourse, but surely one of the key features of poetry is the potential for further, thought, discourse and dialogue inspired by the writing.

Having the facility here to read a poem, then engage in dialogue on the issues raised with the author, as well as anyone else who has read the poem, is as important as reading the poem itself, if the poem is thought-provoking, which has to be the point, doesn't it?
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Tue Aug 02, 2005 5:41 pm

MTP,

In point of fact, no, the forum is not designed for debates—unless they be poetic in nature. Mind you, there is nothing wrong with opinions in poems, but ours is to critique the quality of the craft and rarely discuss the content therein. Such discussion could end up being very divisive and would, in turn, disrupt the forum’s generally amicable tone. Encouraging the creative process is most dear here so you’ll find we steer away from social commentary and sensationalizations…preferring to let our poems do that sort of talking. There really is no need to expound upon or defend your view, your poem was sufficiently clear.

Cheers,

Bombadil
Last edited by Bombadil on Tue Aug 02, 2005 9:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Virago
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Tue Aug 02, 2005 9:20 pm

"It’s the silence, ambivalence and indifference that I abhor. " not trying to put you on the spot but apart from writing a poem, what have you done about it?

I think if Bush can become president and not even have won the election, correction, got the most votes- then what chance do we stand against that kind of power? We demonstrated, they took no notice. What do you suggest we do?

I get really demoralised when I think about the future of this planet and how capitalism is destroying it, we're on a downward spiral and I'm not wearing non-slip shoes.

Helpless is how I feel and very, very sad.
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Tue Aug 02, 2005 9:24 pm

If it weren't capitalism it'd be some other ism, though. Humanity, in its collective ignorance, kills whatever it seeks to corporately preserve.
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Virago
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Tue Aug 02, 2005 9:27 pm

Keith, you make me smile- just had a bizarre thought;

"Plagiarism is destroying the planet, poets are revolting!"

ROTFLMAO :lol:
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Tue Aug 02, 2005 9:30 pm

Nihilism leaves no other recourse but laughter...


"Their nihilists Donnie, there's nothing to be afraid of."
pseud
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Tue Aug 02, 2005 9:32 pm

Eh, rarely do these political 'discussions' change anyone's mind. We might as well stop before someone's opinions become 'offensive.' Put the remarks in an eloquent poem and they might (might) have a better chance. Like this poem. Matt, the first stanza is good; it could stand on its own.

- Caleb
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Tue Aug 02, 2005 9:47 pm

As I said...

Such discussion could end up being very divisive and would, in turn, disrupt the forum’s generally amicable tone.


But we're talking about Nihilists now. Nothing to fear.
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Wed Aug 03, 2005 12:30 am

There is no appropriate emotional respnse that I know of for totally meaninglessness or de-humanization. That's always been the nihilist artist's trouble, at least the particularly dramatic ones.
Matt_the_poet
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Sat Aug 06, 2005 3:50 pm

I would like to thank everyone most warmly for their comments, particularly Virago for engaging with me on the issues raised, that is most appreciated. In answer to your question about what we can do to stand up to the powers that be, who lead us to our certain descruction, if not through conflict, then through the ecological crisis that is already underway, something I have also written about, I agree that dismay is also my overriding emotion.

I took part in both the London and Birmingham marches against the war and feel a great deal of frustration at the lack of attention paid to the vociferous voices of such a significant minority. I was determined to vote Conservative at the following election once the war was underway, but came to my senses by the time of going to the polls, realising that the Tories would have prosecuted the war with even more fervour than Mr Blair. They are, after all, the spiritual fathers of the Republican Party in America.

For anyone that doesn't know, Afganistan was invaded because the Taliban regime refused to allow the final section of an oil pipeline from Saudi Arabia to the Mediterranean to be constructed through their territory, when avoidance of Iran for the pipeline's route necessited their co-operation. A pipeline that was, incidentally, opended this year, construction having been allowed by the regime that the US replaced the Taliban with, massively reducing the amount of oil that must be transported by ship from Saudi Arabia to Europe, or increasing the amount that can be sent in total each month, whichever they wish to be the case.

Iraq was invaded to make money for the neo-conservative owners of defence, oil, engineering and construction companies in America, who of course control the Republican Party. Iraqi crude oil was on restricted sale due to UN sactions after the first Gulf war, but is now freely available for sale on the open market, with the money controlled by the UN at present. The massive increase in the availability of crude oil lowers the price worldwide, giving oil companies a greater profit-margin, unless of course they pass on the saving to us at the pumps, which they'll find vacuous justifications to avoid doing, such as "instability in the middle east". Hence the owners of oil companies, such as the one owned by the Bush oil family from Texas, make hundreds of millions of dollars.

They flatten Iraq, then award vitually all the contracts for reconstruction to American companies, such as Haliburton, of which Dick Cheyney, the American vice-president, was a board member until running for office. American neo-conservative owners of engineering and construction companies are making hundreds of millions of dollars out of the invasion of Iraq.

Flattening Iraq and maintaining something resembling peace in the country in the face of those of its inhabitants who realise what is happening and seek to resist of course involves the use of a huge magnitude of military equipment in dessert conditions, causing it to have to be replaced even if it is not destroyed by a helpless enemy. Hence the $80 billion of Defence spending asked for by George W and sanctioned this year by Congress, making tens of millions of dollars per year for the duration of the war for the owners of defence contractors, such as the one that manufactures the amoured personel carrier used by the US Army, a company that comes under the ownership of the Carlisle Group, principal shareholders of which are the Bush family and the Bin Laden family in Saudi Arabia.

Which leads nicely onto the fact that 9/11 was a set-up, perpetrated by muslims who believed they were dying in the name of a Jihad against the western superpower that is mercilessly imposing capitalism onto their muslim brother nations, under the guise of capitalism's political wing - democracy.

9/11 was funded and organised by Osama Bin Laden who acquires status as a world figure and hero to militant muslims across the world in the process, but was conceived by the neo-cons in order to justify their pre-planned agenda of regime changes in Afganistan and Iraq, with the Bin Laden family also financially benefitting massively from both invasions, although they have now had to relinquish their shareholding in the Carlisle Group because of Michael Moore uncovering their involvment and making it public. They still of course benefit from the pipeline pumping oil from their country to Europe, and will continue to do so. They tried to destroy Clinton over the blow-job and the Whitewater Valley property deal that turned out to be completely above board because they needed to create the impression that Democrats can't be trusted to run the country, in order to ensure that a Republican followed him into the Whitehouse because 9.11 and the invasions of Afganistan and Iraq were already planned and they couldn't risk Al Gore succeeding Clinton and delaying their plans indefinately. The other 75% of the oil pipeline has been complete for years but the Taliban regime in Afganistan were having none of it!

I realise that all of this is so unappealling a prospect, that the 3000 American lives that were lost on 9.11 as well as everyone on both sides who has died since were sacrificed by the American President and the neo-conservatives who put him in the White House and therefore control him, that the vast majority of you will instinctively reject it as a wild conspiracy theory, because the human mind believes what it WANTS to believe, and no one could ever want to believe the facts I have presented here are true. To conceive of a family or group from a country in some other part of the world behaving in such a way for profit is much easier than to even contemplate the possibilty that it could happen in this country or America, but I'm afraid that is for you to think about. Someone who does not want to see the wood for the trees will genuinely believe he is standing in a field, and claim he doesn't even know what a tree is, as he has never seen one.

All I say to you my friends is, DO NOT take MY word for it. Be curious, be genuinely engaged on the issue, and find out for yourselves! It isn't difficult, the information is in the public domain for anyone to uncover. It is simply not presented by the western media in the way that it should be, and why is that?

Because these already phenominally wealthy descendants of the founding fathers of the land of freedom, a country built upon the genocide of its native inhabitants and the slavery of millions of Africans, realised long ago that if they wished to continue to exploit the masses of their own country as well as others for their own profit, in an era when the behaviour of all is open to scrutiny by the media, there was only ONE way to continue to get away with it, and utilise the media as their tool rather than fear it - OWN THE MEDIA!!!

Which is why virtually all the newspapers, commercial tv stations, and most importantly, news agencies, are owned and controlled from the top through the appoinment of Editors who serve their interests, by phenominally wealthy right-wing, neo-con type media moguls, many of whom have specialized in media these days, but who still have all the connections they could ever need amonst the types of people that I have been talking about. We read, what they want us to read. The tv news tells us what they want it to tell us. It's infinitely more cleverly done than in the old Soviet Union, control and manipulation of the masses by clandestine means for commercial gain. Never forget, it's money that makes the world go round!

To strive for a more positive note to end on, it does give me some comfort to know that there are some people out there who can appreciate my writings on such topics. Thank you all for your interest, if only one person takes the time to look into what I have said and passes on what he discovers to one other person, who in turn does the same, my time has been worthwhile.

Peace and Love to you all.
Last edited by Matt_the_poet on Sat Aug 06, 2005 4:21 pm, edited 17 times in total.
Matt_the_poet
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Sat Aug 06, 2005 3:56 pm

EVIL PEOPLE by Sieze The Day

Evil has a smiling face, that's how he got the job,
Oodles of sincerity, on first-name terms with God
Unshakeable commitment to the profit... of his mates
And when there's evil work to do, he always delegates...
Evil people, Evil people -
they sit around deciding who to bomb
Evil people, People who are evil
- I don't know what planet they are from
Some of them are power-mad and greedy
Some of them are victimised and weedy
Some of them are desperate and needy
And some of them are just plain seedy…
9.11, beautiful blue heaven
televised for everyone to see (every t.v.)
What a wonder it should be that number
Americans call in emergencies..
Almost like somebody had designed it
to trip that panic trigger in your mind
But take that knot of terror and unwind it -
The fingerprints are everywhere to find
(behind it)
"The world has changed!" and "Nothing is the same!"
-except we're in denial once again.
Gotta a funny feeling 'bout Insider Dealing
down on Wall Street on September 10
Someone must have had it in their diary,
Made a million when the airline fell;
There should've been a national enquiry
But you-know-who was in on it as well!
Rigged elections, mass deception
It doesn't look so very hard to do (doo-doo-)
Don't let the camera linger. Just point the finger,
Find 'em someone scarier than you
Once it was the Reds beneath my bed
- now it is a moslem in my shed.
Once it was the communists I feared,
Now it is a brown man with a beard!
(sweet jesus)
Oh Osama, not a mellow drama,
The Evil Mastermind who got away. (hey hey hey)
What a bummer, earlier that summer
If he was meeting with the CIA!
CIA who funded Al Qaeda
Beat the commies with the Taliban
Told Osama "Be there when we need ya,
And have you thought of moving to Iran?"
(Ali Bur Tonn- )
Cheney tradin' - Bushes and Bin Ladens
Best of buddies on the Carlisle Group
To profit from destruction, and reconstruction,
How speedily they mobilise the troops
but not the fighter-jet they never scrambled
Even after hijack number three,
Never intercepted as they ambled
All the way to Washington DC!
Do ya'see
-how Evil People, use the media People
to take us for a War On Terror ride! ( i-di-di-di )
You can't beleive it, let alone conceive it,
The biggest crime is easiest to hide...
But Think about the passport in the rubble
Check the pilots' manual in the car
Read the lies and alibis of Dubya
And realise how gullible we are

A sleight of hand, a war already planned
Distracting us with shock ! and awe (awe my gawd)
While we're in distress
From what we've witnessed
They're queueing up to tell us what we saw
-Looked alot like double demolition
2.1 upon the Richter scale
But what we got was global terror-vision
And military anthrax in the mail-box - more shocks -
MUSICAL BREAK
Evil people, People who are evil -
they sit around designing cluster-bombs (then drop them on)
the population - no hesitation -
They don't even realise they're doing wrong!
They beleive to murder and to maim is
Regrettable, but in a noble cause
Some times the only way to win the game is
To sacrifice some pieces that are yours... (3000 more)
Scary people - not really Evil,
A little bit of them's in you and me (that's hard to see)
Once they were babies - just little babies,
Sitting crying on their nanny's knee.
But mummy was too busy spending money
Daddy was too busy making war
Even Saddam was someones little honey
Just picking up the ugliness he saw... (around him)
MUSICAL BREAK
How they did it may remain a mystery
But anyone can see the reasons why,
And when our great-grandchildren read the history
They'll know "The War On Terror" was a lie

-You can't deny it was a big fat lie!


Sieze the Day won an award voted for by listeners of BBC Radio Two, but were prevented from receiving it and barred from the awards ceremony because of their lyrics - BY THE BBC!!! They crashed the ceremony and appeared on-stage naked holding banners to highlight the censorship!
Last edited by Matt_the_poet on Sat Aug 06, 2005 4:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
k-j
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Sat Aug 06, 2005 3:59 pm

I think perhaps you'd better stick to prose.
Bombadil
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Sat Aug 06, 2005 4:08 pm

Matt,

Your points valid or no have little place here, I'm sure you can find any number of other places to post this sort of thing, where it will be not only appropriate but, indeed welcomed and/or debated.

I may be out of line here, but would someone please lock this thread? It reeks of a coming train-wreck.

Cheers,

Keith
Matt_the_poet
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Mon Aug 08, 2005 2:13 pm

It saddens me that intelligent people can choose to close their eyes when what the world needs is the common man to be woken up. If intelligent people can choose to look away, there is no hope for the rest, but if that is how you feel, this site has heard the last from me on the subject.

I wish you all well regardless, my goal was only ever to enlighten and inspire.
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