“Dumb, Stupid Animals to be Used” The US War Against Its Troops

George W. Bush:

What an impressive crowd: the haves, and the have-mores. Some people call you the elite, I call you my base. ...

Kim Petersen, www.dissidentvoice.org

Rick Anderson, a reporter for Seattle Weekly, opens his book, Home Front: The Government’s War on Soldiers, by referring to then US Secretary of Defense [sic] Donald Rumsfeld’s jaw-dropping rant about Vietnam draftees "adding no value, no advantage" to the US forces. This rant belongs with the government sentiment expressed toward soldiers previously by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger who considered them to be "dumb, stupid animals," mere pawns to achieve oligarchic aims abroad. Why would anyone expect a regime that shows no care or compassion for the lives of others to show compassion for its soldiers? President George W. Bush does not even deign to pay last respects for fallen US soldiers. Bush’s administration even charged combat troops in Afghanistan for their meals while hospitalized. But Bush had made clear who his constituency was: the haves...

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