Kangaroo Feathers
Yea, it is written in the Book of Cyril...
The first time I heard anyone in the Bush administration mention Iraq, in 2002, I knew they were going to invade it. Lately, certain members of the Trump administration have been talking the same way about Iran, and just recently some fortuitous incidents have handed them a convenient casus belli. So this essay is for the benefit of readers for whom what’s going to happen over the next months might seem bizarre, horrific, or inexplicable if you aren’t old enough to have lived through it before, or read enough to know that it’s a syndrome with an etiology as predictable as that of any other disease. In fact, it’s one of the commonest civilizational afflictions, the equivalent of the cold, one that’s been documented since history began.
Here’s how this goes...
Here’s How the Government Will Sell Us the Iran War
In 2001 I was a 23 year old unquestioningly nationalist regular army soldier. I literally counterprotested peace marches, and argued publicly in support of coalition invasion (only we always called it "intervention") of Iraq. I volunteered to go, and in 2005 I got my chance. I was sold a bill of goods. I was used as a political pawn by people who couldn't have given less of a **** about either me or the Iraqis I hurt and killed, who I was allegedly there to "liberate" (this was the supposed casus belli after the much hyped "weapons of mass destruction" failed to materialise). We served with honour and distinction for what turned out to be a dishonourable and ignominious cause. Before I went, I was well educated, smart, energetic, knew it all and on a fast track to a distinguished career in health, tentatively tapped for a subsequent representative role with the Australian conservative political party. It was all laid out. Instead, I came home wrecked, completely disillusioned and betrayed. My mental health took a huge hit, which led to a major physical health incident not long after, and my life has been in a generally downward trajectory ever since. I'm now a 41 year old nobody, working a mundane job of little consequence, and with few prospects of achieving anything significant from here on.
And holy ****ing **** does it hurt watching us gearing up to do it all again. Call me Cassandra.
I eagerly await the imminent arrival of the Trumpettes and Usual Suspects to tell me I'm wrong, that it will all be over by Christmas, that we'll be welcomed as liberators, how from the comfort of their armchairs they know how to achieve quick, unambiguous victory with extended supply lines into a large, mountainous country with a large, motivated and engaged population... all the usual stuff. Send your kids, let politicians who won't send their kids send your kids, please don't learn from my example.
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