Conquistador
for release 12-16-05
Washington D.C.
It's hard to determine if the boys at BushCo are more dedicated to deluding the public or to self delusion. You can't tell if they are simple swindlers or the type of liars we call zealots – those that are so self deluded that they believe in their delusions enough to broadcast them with confidence.
We have a president who thinks he can have conversations with God. This type of arrogance and hubris radiates from his administration. The notion that we can export democracy is bogus. We can't even seem to manage to export steel or cars or electronics or textiles or anything other than jobs.
When I hear Bush or his surrogates rhapsodize about the gift of democracy they are forcing on the Middle East, I am reminded of the arrogance of the Spanish conquistadors when they invaded the indigenous populations in Central and South America. In those days, the conquistadors' main talking point was "converting the heathen to Christianity for his own good." They called it "a noble cause," stating that they would "raise them out of their ignorance and damnation." They deceived themselves and the public enough with these talking points that the were able carry out their true goals. Simultaneously, they were decimating the population, raping the natural resources, and stealing the gold.
I happen to think that democracy is a good thing on a small scale basis. It works well within a family or in a small community. But when you try to apply democracy on a larger scale, it becomes corrupt since all large institutions become corrupt. Layers of bureaucracy accrete. The flows of power and wealth become byzantine. Influence and rewards are always bought and sold. Democracies, like any other form of government, inevitably devolve into rule by a power elite.
A purple stain on a finger does not a democracy make.
It is a preposterous idea that if democracy (or some crippled version of it) is forced into the Middle East, the region will be transformed into a utopia of freedom. The true goals are corporate business interests. We are talking about a four thousand year old culture here. These people have false teeth older than our democracy. The resistance efforts in Iraq (which the US government prefers to call the insurgency) will last exactly as long as the US presence there.
Yet Bush and his cadre of evangelists march on like fanatic Jesuits, attempting to convert the heathen. It's for their own good, you understand. It's a noble cause. Forget that the real reason for the conquest is gold.
Why Iraq? Why not Saudi Arabia? Why don't we seek a regime change in one of the most repressive states in the world? Why don't we give an ultimatum to the Saudis? Why don't we invade and fight for Saudi democracy? The reason is simple. The Saudis are already so deep in bed with BushCo that there is no need to sponsor regime change there. Besides, the idea of one family ruling a country and controlling its vast resources is not repugnant to you if your name is Bush, since Bush is a member of the Saudi family.
The Poet's Eye notices that the colonial conquest of Iraq is no different than any other colonial conquest. The Poet's Eye foresees that unless the US totally withdraws and lets the Iraqis settle their political differences the same way that America settled theirs in 1860-64, the US will be there for the next hundred years, just as the British were in India or the Spanish were in Mexico and Peru.
Conquistador there is no time
I must pay my respect
and though I came to jeer at you
I leave now with regret
and as the gloom begins to fall
I see there is no, only all
and though you came with sword held high
you did not conquer, only die
And though I hoped for something
to find
I could see no maze to unwind
--Procol Harum
