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Showing Original Post only (View all)For those of you who didn't live through the invasion of Iraq, here is what is about to happen [View all]
UNROLLED TWITTER THREAD: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1213110049872023552.htmlORIGINAL TWITTER THREAD:
Link to tweet
For those of you who didnt live through the invasion of Iraq, here is what is about to happen:
1. There will be a MASSIVE propaganda push (by Republicans) to frame this act of war as a moral necessity and to act like anyone who opposes it is working for the enemy.
2. The propaganda push will include enormous appeals to American militarism disguised as patriotism: flag pins, flyovers, reverent cries to support the troops, as if the greatest support you can offer the troops isnt to keep them from dying for no good reason.
3. Over time, this vague appeal to patriotism and militarism will start to have a specific aim, an invasion, bombings, the takeover of oil fields, the support of proxy wars. These aims will magically align with the financial interests of multi-national corporations.
4. The people in harm's way -- innocent civilians in Iran, mostly -- will be framed and/or dehumanized as "the enemy." This will include everything from racial slurs to endless talking points about their "blood thirst" their "hatred of freedom and Americans." It's utter bullshit.
5. When the bombs start to drop, all of the reporting will be about the small number of US troop casualties.
For example, most Americans know roughly 4,000 US troops died in Iraq.
What most Americans don't know is over 200,000 Iraqi CIVILIANS were killed.
6. This horror too, this murder of children, of families, the bombing of weddings & birthdays, this destruction of entire regions, will be swept up under the guise of American militarism (disguised as patriotism), of "supporting our troops," who are "fighting for our freedom."
7. In the end, and there will be an end -- this isn't the beginning of World War III, this is asymmetrical slaughter -- the vast number of dead will be people who don't even know why the war was waged, they will be mostly young, innocent and brown-skinned. That is the ugly truth.
8. And even the US troops -- most of whom signed up out of a genuine desire to protect their country -- they will be abandoned too as the people who waged the war, who made such big promises of "support for the troops" will CUT veterans medical care, forget the dead and move on.
9. And the only people who will have benefitted will be those massive multi-national corporations -- oil and weapons manufacturers mostly -- who rushed in to profit off the death of all those innocent brown-skinned children lying in the rubble.
10. A couple more things:
The media (especially cable news) LOVES a war. They love the spectacle, the drama. It means big profits. It means eyeballs on screens. It makes stars of their anchors.
They will ask the wrong questions, they will follow militaristic talking points.
11. Cable news will try to EMPOWER the warmongers, by accepting rumors of impending harm to Americans as real news, by making stars of the "brutal enemies" handed to them by the Republican propaganda machine. You can practically see them salivate over the possibility for profit.
12. What will get lost in all this bickering and drama and tragedy and spectacle is the fact that all of this was AVOIDABLE.
That Trump inherited a reigned-in Iran, that he set in motion an escalation to war because he thought it would benefit HIM.
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For those of you who didn't live through the invasion of Iraq, here is what is about to happen [View all]
CousinIT
Jan 2020
OP
And even though we can see this coming, there's probably nothing we can do to stop it
Clash City Rocker
Jan 2020
#1
artificial intelligence means boycotts are much easier and any significant such activism will
certainot
Jan 2020
#124
Don't think even trump would invade Iran. Air strikes, drones, blockades, sanctions, etc.,
Hoyt
Jan 2020
#6
I was just thinking of all those ribbons when I read the headline. What a stupid display of ignoranc
erronis
Jan 2020
#71
Wow! Thanks so much for that personal account. Too bad you/we have to battle with the stoopids
erronis
Jan 2020
#121
Except this isn't the Iraq war and it's now 2020 not 2003. 9/11 had just happened they were able
UniteFightBack
Jan 2020
#10
This is true...but even the casual observers (I believe) ain't gonna have this. nt
UniteFightBack
Jan 2020
#54
Yes lets see some polling about support for this purposeful Iran conflict. nt
UniteFightBack
Jan 2020
#61
I believe you are right. 911 was part of the build up and pivotal to support of the war
Dream Girl
Jan 2020
#62
Exactly. We only invade those who really don't have means to fight back, like Iraq.
Hoyt
Jan 2020
#69
I've seen a bunch of posts about returning to the Draft, etc. I agree, no one is invading Iran, yet
Hoyt
Jan 2020
#80
If we do go to war with Iran, it will be the 3rd middle eastern war the Republicans have started.
patphil
Jan 2020
#19
" These aims will magically align with the financial interests of multi-national corporations."
pangaia
Jan 2020
#33
Bush greenlit extrajudicial detention and torture. What do you think Trump will do?
meadowlander
Jan 2020
#40
I don't think the media will pimp this the way they did Iraq. It will be covered, but I doubt it
Vinca
Jan 2020
#45
weve had 3 prez distract and distract and distract when ever they got caught doing something bad.
AllaN01Bear
Jan 2020
#51
Maybe you wanna make fun of Ronnie, but note this: Granada didn't turn commie.
3Hotdogs
Jan 2020
#96
Launch hostilities then brand those opposing as traitors who are "not supporting our troops" nt
Cognitive_Resonance
Jan 2020
#60
Great summary, but lets not forget the cable news will hire "Military Experts" to explain startegies
Perseus
Jan 2020
#67
Like most corporate wars, this will be a war of pretext. Not of choice. Not of Americans' choice.
ancianita
Jan 2020
#77
The sad fact is: Lots of us learned from history but are in no position to stop the repeat
Nay
Jan 2020
#86
AND THERES MORE! Historically fascists have taken advantage of crises, whether real or manufactured
Kashkakat v.2.0
Jan 2020
#88
As W would say "fool me once shame on ....." Aah fuck it. Post of the year, so far.
Pepsidog
Jan 2020
#106
The error bars on how many Iraqi Civilians died is somewhere between 150k and 1.1million.
AtheistCrusader
Jan 2020
#119