Seeking a rational security for your land and my land, but NOT “Homeland”

Dear True,

In recent days I perceive a confluence, or perhaps a critical mass, of disparate news from around the nation, all attesting to the idiocy and terror-mongering promulgated by the BushCo creation named (in doublespeak) the Dept. of Homeland Security. Remember George Orwell? (If not, maybe you ought to delve into history and read his classic novel 1984).

Yesterday I read that the intelligence community has concluded that the Iraq war has increased global terrorism. Well, duh, I knew that. When we destroy a nation and continue to slaughter its occupants without rebuilding its infrastructure, lots of people will get really, really mad. I would be. Most people realize that Bush has created a new breeding ground for a young generation of terrorists in war-torn Iraq.

More news feeds:

· The army has run out of money (not to mention soldiers) for the Iraq war. Anybody who seriously follows the news already knows that new army recruits include skinheads (but NOT gays!), illegal aliens, soldiers of fortune, ex-prisoners, the mentally ill, and vets who have already completed their service being forced to continue. Not to mention the outsourced CIA contractors in secret offshore detention “rendition” facilities, or the construction of permanent bases, or the buildup of other Homeland Security enclaves like the Border Patrol, Coast Guard, National Guard, etc. If you, my friends, haven’t read this news you had better dig deeper; it is out there. Living in a democracy means being informed, or else being manipulated.

· The cost of the Iraq war has bankrupted a generation not yet grown to adulthood with its trillions of dollars in debt. The stated costs don’t include everything—for example, future medical and death benefits for soldiers that don’t fall into this year’s budget, the millions paid to no-bid contractors for unknown services, the construction of a permanent Disney theme park for Americans in Iraq.

· The Coast Guard “safety zones”(?) on the Great Lakes, including outside the Grand Marais harbor...How can a zone where live bullets are fired be considered a safety zone? What am I missing here? And the absence of any concession, here or anywhere, to the environmental damage done by bullets, bombs, shrapnel, and implosion of infrastructures like roads, electricity, airports, and water supplies.

· A story about Smithfield and Kinston, the little North Carolina towns where residents collude with the CIA in providing airfields for the “extraordinary rendition” of secret prisoners quoted “Torture Taxi” author A.C. Thompson: “What you start to figure out by spending time in Smithfield is that a lot of people know about the company and have at least an inkling of what goes on at the airport. Most don’t want to talk about it and don’t take a critical view of it...The subject of whether or not torture was permitted by the Bible was discussed in church there—and many congregants believed it was.”

· Seattle Times guest columnist Floyd McKay describes the $2.5 billion defense contract RFP for electronic surveillance along the Canadian border (see prior post).

· An article in the Texas Observer (also posted) raises the specter of racism.... our new local border agents will be trained in this insane territory of soldiers bound for Iraq, and good-old-boy civilian vigilantes called “Minutemen.” Immigrant families say they are being subjected to racist persecution ... despite the fact that now American businesses are complaining that they can’t get workers to bring in the crops or do construction projects.

· Last but not least is the Pork building project offered to Grand Marais as a carrot, in exchange for 10 acres to Homeland Security with its noise, air and light pollution, as well as 50 new agents to fight terrorism where it doesn’t exist. Some Portage band members are fearful that they will be targeted and a few believe they are already being targeted in border crossings. Well, cowboy militia from the Texas border might not be the most welcoming agents to the sovereign nation of the Grand Portage Band. Federal dollars in the same amounts could bring sustainable development industries to Cedar Grove Park, with real local jobs and housing for local families.

What is rational here? Bringing development dollars to Grand Marais? Okay, but how much will actually be locally contracted? The Bush administration doesn’t have a real great record on this. Bringing in guards trained in the war zone at the Mexican border? Militarizing a small, peaceful community to meet a non-existent threat? I don’t see it.

Jane Marple

“It’s important, you know, that wickedness shouldn’t triumph.”