Loose Lips
OK. It is 24 hours later now, and we are not getting much information about the Five Ws of this thing.
The numbers out of the Pentagon are baffling, as if Military Censorship has already been imposed on the media. It is ominous. The only news on TV comes from weeping victims and ignorant speculators.
The lid is on. Loose Lips Sink Ships. Don’t say anything that might give aid to The Enemy.
— Hunter S. Thompson 24 hours after the strike on Sept. 11th. , Hey Rube
As I prepare for a paper about Politics and Empire for class (jesus, the more I read, the more I realize how ignorant I am on the subject). One of the books I selected for the paper helps explain why it’s so hard to get any information about casualties caused by our military. I want to share this with you b/c it resonates with so many of Hunter’s warnings. Rajiv Chandrasekaran, National Editor of The Washington Post, in 2006, published Imperial Life in the Emerald City, about the little America that was created inside the walls of the gated community as the home of American personnel stationed in Iraq after we invaded. The Green Zone featured movie theatres, swimming pools, Chinese restaurants, illicit pornography vendors, pork at every meal…The cafeteria was all about meeting American needs for high-calorie, high-fat comfort food". The Green Zone is where the US officials giving information to the Pentagon about the progress of the war lived.
Mr. Chandresekaran visited, but lived outside the Green Zone, and tells the tale of the dramatic difference between what was reported, and what was real. One description of a day after some suicide bombings took place in Baghdad (it was/is a regular occurrence outside the green zone), but nobody inside the green zone knew much, or cared, about these frequent events and the growing insugency. If they did, they certainly didn’t talk about it, Food was important, inforamtion was not:
Inside the Green Zone, the concern wasn’t that too little information was being disseminated; it was that too many secrets were at risk. World War II –era posters urging vigilance were tacked up in the palace. One depicted the hand of Uncle Sam muzzling a fedora-clad man, QUIET! LOOSE TALK CAN COST LIVES, the poster warned. Another showed a cocker spaniel resting head dejectedly on the chair of a dead soldier. Below it were the words…BECAUSE SOMEBODY TALKED.
— Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Imperial Life In The Emerald City
Until next time, your friend,
Anita Thompson
P.S. I’ve taken some heat for supporting Hillary. I’ve never hidden the fact that I think she is the best candidate for president. She is the smartest, toughest, and most experienced candidate who will have to handle one of the most unfortunate hand-me-down White Houses in recent history. Yes, I know the amount of money she has taken from Corporations. I know she was on the board of Walmart – a store we boycotted years ago. I know she wavered on the immigration issue. I read Amy Goodman. There is even a rumor that she criticized Hunter’s writing (but most likely his lifestyle) when he interviewed Bill Clinton in 1990. But I made the decision to support and volunteer for Hillary last year and am sticking by it. Hunter was not just my husband, he was also my mentor, and much of my political understanding comes from his teaching.
In a storybook world, I would love to see Dennis Kucinich as the front runner. But in this century, the scene in Washington needs heavyweight experience and courage, and that, is Hillary Clinton. I said in Wash DC book event, which was aired on the CSPAN that I love Obama, and hope he will be president one day, but for this round, I support Hillary 100%.
Ideally, I wish she would pull Wesley Clark out of retirement and ask him to run as Vice President. He is a compassionate and realistic war expert and knows how dangerous WWIII would be. Walter Isaacson would be a good Secretary of State because of his talent for bringing in fresh ideas and success to every institution he enters.
I’m not, however, the one in charge. But I am indeed paying attention, and paying attention to your emails. But, nope, I’m not budging from Hillary. The system is broken –duh. Look around. Do you have health insurance? How many Iraqis have been killed in our name so we can continue to drive a combustible engine vehicle? Have you seen our school test scores? Have you seen our deficit? Yes, all the Kings Horses and all the Kings men could not put Humpty Dumpty together again. It’s time to bring in all the Queen’s horses and all the Queen’s women (or men.)
I don’t see people lining up to start a Revolution. Do you? Until we see that indication, we need a strong experienced Democrat in office who will end the war and one who knows how to handle those bastards in Congress. She can do it, and we can help.
P.P.S. Oh Dear!! It’s almost midnight here in the Bronx and I had to log back on because I forgot to post the news that I intended to comment on before I got distracted by Baghdad pork and Hillary haters – the velvet underground! I thought I’d get blunt, and hell, why not vulgar like my gentleman friends. Jann’s nasty book about Hunter is selling like hot cakes. Yep. We knew it would. Jann has many admirers and journalists who were viciously jealous of Hunter, including our "anonymous" friend Joe Klein who, needed a box of tissues to wipe away all the Vaseline he applied to his nose to please Jann with a "review" that the NYTimes and I.H.Tribune shamefully published. Now that Joe doesn’t have to face Hunter, Joe asserts that Jann was the sole reason for Hunter’s success — that before or after Jann, there was no Hunter — no Hell’s Angles. No Derby, No Polo, No Examiner, No Bush Commentary, no freedom for Lisl…Jesus! He also assured us, that it was Corey Seymour, not Jann, who contorted the interviews to make Hunter seem like a monster. There there. It’s okay Joe. It all comes out in the wash – including the grease.
