Laocoon

It was Laocoon the seer, who warned the Trojans to not bring the horse into the heart of the city. He apparently saw the danger of it. From his words comes the famous saying "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts. "

The Trojans disregarded his advice however, and in his resulting anger, Laocoön threw his spear at the Horse. Poseidon (some say Athena), who was supporting the Greeks, subsequently sent sea-serpents to strangle Laocoön and his two sons, Antiphantes and Thymbraeus.

Laocoon, was allegedly a priest of Poseidon (or of Apollo, by some accounts). He was therefore divinely executed for meddling in such affairs. It should also be noted that this account is a Greek acount.

And we should never forget that history belongs to the victor.

The image of the Trojan Horse is a powerful one, and it has always served well as metaphor. Here, a population is duped into thinking that they are superior, that they are indeed the victors. But it is their hubris that destroys them.

The Trojan Horse in the world of metaphor can be any something that you bring inside your wall of security only to find that the enemy lies within these so called spoils of war. But sometimes, the end of a war is merely the end of another battle in a very long war.

When the United States won the Second World War, we did so by taking our great potential and our great natural wealth and we plowed it into the military. We channeled our resources into the fighting might the world would need to defeat the Fascist in Europe and the Far East.

But when the War was over, we did not beat the swords back into plowshares.

We allowed a military industrial complex to grow in power and influence. And now we find that our enemy is now within us.

This influence of the military industrial complex on the American body politic was new in the American Experience. President Eisenhower considered it one of two great dangers to our democracy when he left office.

Last Sunday night, Andy Rooney, the old salt of CBS, dished out another opinion piece. As Mike Wallace says, these are strong words. Rooney and Eisenhower agree.

The US spends more than the next 20 nations on War making. And lets not mince words. This is no longer a defense department. Our new Pentagon policy to use nuclear weapons for preemptive purpose are dangerous policies which will elicit dangerous response.

Robert Fisk has a new book on the How the World was Duped into Iraq.

In reading it, one doesn't have to wonder why he was said to have had difficulty entering this country from Canada.

Now, we are being duped into believing that Iran is violating the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty. They may well be. But if they are violating the Treaty, we are stomping on it by our continued production of a new generation of bunker busting nuclear weapons.

The results of such belligerence is predictable.

Here is the story from Reuters.

Be ready to face consequences: Iran to US
by Reuters
10/03/05

Tehran, October 3: Iran threatened on Monday to use its 'full might' to US endanger (sic) interests if Washington upped the pressure on Tehran over its disputed nuclear programme.

Washington and the European Union have prepared the ground for the Governing Board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to send Iran to the UN Security Council next month for possible sanctions for violating international nuclear obligations.

The United States and its European allies argue Iran is making atomic fuel for use in weapons, but Tehran says its nuclear programme is dedicated solely to generating electricity.

Ali Larijani, secretary-general of Supreme National Security Council, said the United States, Iran's arch-foe, should end its aggressive policies against Tehran or face the consequences.

And here is a story from the Chinese News Agency,"Xinhua"

Iran's official warns against Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities
By Xinhua News Agency
10/03/05

Visiting Iranian parliament Speaker Haddad Adel warned in Damascus Sunday that if Israel ventured to attack Iran's nuclear facilities it would incur severe retaliation.

"If Israel takes such crazy actions as attacking our nuclear facilities, we will give it an unforgettable lesson," Adel told a press conference after meeting with his Syrian counterpart Mahmoud Abrash.

Adel also strongly opposed to refer its nuclear issue to the United Nations Security Council. A member of Adel's delegation, who asked not to be named, told Xinhua that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had expressed support to Tehran's right for peaceful use of nuclear energy when meeting with Adel earlier in the day.

Assad also criticized some western countries which maintain silence on Israel's buildup of its nuclear capacities while making no tolerance towards Iran, said the official.

Both Iran and Syria have been under US sanctions as Washington has accused them of supporting Palestinian terror groups and Lebanon's anti-Israeli armed movement Hizbullah.

Washington also accused Iran of seeking to build nuclear bombs and Syria of allowing insurgents to cross into Iraq, which has been denied by Tehran and Damascus. "

To get a different view of things from the Corporate M. I. C. shaping that pervades our media, go to the Active Opposition documentary on the military industrial complex. Then go to the documentary on the nuclear proliferation treaty and nuclear energy in general.

We cannot continue on this course.

We are sowing the seeds of everyone's destruction.

We spend more than 10 times any other nation on weaponry.

We spend more on intelligence gathering than most nations do on defense.

And yet we are not safe.

We are not safe, for we have invited the greek gift of war into our gates.

Our Trojan Horse is our own war machine.

And it will destroy us as surely as it destroyed Troy.

We must transcend our own ignorance.

And wage peace,

not War.

And put away our flags

for the Earthfamily.

Laocoon is dead.

We are not.


Nationalism is an infantile disease.
It is the measles of mankind.

Albert Einstein

Any fool can make history,
but it takes a genius to write it.

Oscar Wilde

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"Laocoon" courtesy of Helmutt Barnett