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World War III Approaching America's Backyard
Up until now, World War III, in all its bloody beheaded torture on a leash glory has, with the notable exception of the Fall '01 Unity Operation, unfolded far from the lush suburban lawns and alabaster cities of America the Bellicose.
Oh, there have been a few little blips, like the unknown menace heard scuttling around the attic in a bad horror movie, in vans with dark windows and "detention facilities" with no windows, but for the vast majority of Americans, WW3's wetwork has taken place right where they like it best, far away, in countries who are just names, if even that, involving the shedding of blood of people who to them, are not real people, can never be real people like Lacy and Lori and JonBenet, so far away, these ululating, black-shrouded women, these stern bearded turbaned men.
It seems quite natural to American eyes, to see these people collapsed in the middle of crater-pocked roads, keening over the shrouded remains of a child, crouched, weeping in the smoking rubble of some wretched dwelling.
They watch, on their sectional sofas, their Laz-e-boys, honey, while you're up can you bring me some of those chips, that cake, a coke, a beer.
Although we have edited this footage, some scenes may be disturbing to some of our viewers.
As the CIA team gathers in Chile, debating whether to murder Hugo Chavez before the election, or to simply declare it null and void after the fact (and then murder him), barely appearing on the radar screen, "skirmishes" have already begun across that great border, no other like it in the world. Two thousand miles of mountain, desert, river, brush separating abject poverty from incalculable wealth.
As the American theatre of World War Three moves inexorably toward opening night, few in the audience are aware that the actors have been called to their places, the ushers have moved silently to their posts, the music cued.
Scenes that may be disturbing to some viewers cannot be so easily edited out in the name of "good taste" when they occur on the street where you live.
Certainly, the opening acts will not be set in the rolling bermuda grass of the cul de sac. They will unfold in the un-airconditioned concrete and jagged metal of the barrio, the dank steam of the commercial kitchens, the ear-splitting oppressive heat of the factory floor.
La-Z-Boy occupants, if they notice anything at all, will perceive nothing more than a slight upswing in frequency of familiar, harmless memes: crackdown, crime wave, gang violence. Lulled by the caress of such soothing repetition, nothing more alarming than insurgents, militants, gunmen, decades of work has gone into producing this accepting, unquestioning creature.
Let him who would lift the veil of these words and see not an insurgent, but a mirror image of himself beware, defending his home from armed marauders, not a militant, but a young man who no longer fears death, since his bleeding mother fought for her last agonizing breath in his trembling arms, let him beware, the enemy within who hears crackdown and sees police in riot gear chasing a man who crossed a desert without water for the chance to work 80 hours a week in that steamy kitchen to send his children the price of a sack of beans, less than La-Z-Boys upturned cushions would yield.
Do not turn to one another and remark that the gangs involved in the latest crime wave seem different somehow, that eyes once lowered now meet your gaze, well the other night there was a crackdown right up there at the little shopping center. They said a state of emergency in Arizona, it must be those fires, well they were having some trouble with the gangs, too you know, coming from Mexico, they've had a big crackdown, yes I heard they were having some problems down there in South America, something about some insurgents, talking about sending some marines down there, just to protect the Americans, you know, get them out in case they can't bring things under control. crackdown. Where was it? One of those little countries, Bolivia? I love those little hats. Oh and Venezuela. Well you know they had to crack down there. Wait. What was that? a tire blow out? Must have been. No, listen, there's another one. Now I hear a helicopter. Turn on the news, let's see what they say....
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