Trump’s “Presidential Moment”
I. Pundits say Trump’s manipulation of Carryn Owen
Was the moment when he became presidential
And came to own
Manifest qualities that are considered essential
But to me this seemingly humane act
When looked at with the cold eye of facts
Is that his faked altruism was self-serving
And that this accolade he is not deserving
Trump solicitously played Carryn Owens’s raw feeling.
When he lionized her fallen spouse as she was weeping
Clutching her heart and looking to heaven
Yet Trump had approved the botched raid that’s evident
And only hours before he related
It was Obama’s mission, and General Mattis insisted
It was something “they wanted” -he gave no resistance
And Ryan died (because of the general) he stated
Trump’s masterful propaganda show
Including “Ryan is looking down you know”
Manipulated the public’s emotions and glorified war
Obscuring broader issues that were ignored
CodePink’s Medea Benjamin has exposed the use of drones
That destroy innocent lives and homes
And the irony is these victims we assiduously ignore
As the collateral damage of our holy war
We learn American citizen, Nora Aulaqi, our own
(whose father and innocent brother were droned)
Was shot in the neck (perhaps by a brave Seal) and slowly died
Yet no one to my knowledge has for her cried
Ryan’s father, Bill Owen, has raised the question
As to who approved this “stupid mission”
But CodePink and Medea address with their anti-war call
Why do we have boots on the ground in Yemen and the middle east at all?
For the more innocents we annihilate
The more terrorists we generate
The major effect of our terror it seems
Is to generate revenue for the American killing machine.
I dedicate this poem on International Women’s Day
To celebrate those who tirelessly work to find a way
To the fearless ladies of CodePink who creatively explore
Creative ways to end the scourge of war.
Howard P Charman MD 3-8-2017
II. And Chief Petty Officer as a seal was lethal and highly trained to kill
CodePink’s Medea Benjamin revealed
The extent of collateral damage from Drone strikes
with Carryn Owen, the Grieving Widow of Chief Petty Officer William “Ryan” Owen,
Was an egregious and self-serving act
Which was brilliant political theater
Trump solicitously played the widow’s raw emotions
As he lionized her fallen spouse
By so doing he subtly obscured things
First he evaded any responsibility for the raid he signed off on
By laying the debacle on the generals .. . they wanted it and they, not Trump, lost Ryan.
Trump skillfully manipulated the public to glorify war.
It was a brilliant propaganda move and pure theater
And to me a form of abuse
And she played the perfect foil
Her performance could not have been better if staged
Owen’s father’s response: refusal to meet Trump and calling the mission stupid was more to the truth and calling for an investigation
Carryn Owens was used….and her countenance will become iconic
We glorify the Seals, but must realize they are by definition, highly skilled killers
American Exceptionalism runs in our veins
Nora Alaqui, an American citizen was killed in the raid.
She died with multiple bullet wounds including 2 to the neck.
25-30 civilians were killed
Many innocent
And blinds us to the truth of what we are
An empire and like all empires maintaining control
By violence and fighting wars in other peoples lands
Trump also said that Owens, whose widow was in the audience, had “died as he lived: a warrior and a hero – battling against terrorism and securing our nation”.
As we celebrate International Women’s week
We should reflect on war and militarism as
Women and children are its major victims
Branfmann’s article: The Worlds Most Evil and Lawless Institution: The Executive Branch of the US Government? exhaustively documents how since WWII presidents have presided over the deaths of 20 million people—largely innocent men women and children.
These deaths are invisible to the American’s as these are Chomsky’s unpeople.
No one talks about them or considers them.
Let us consider a few unpleasant facts
Special forces whether rangers or seals are considered heroes, but are our highly trained and effective murderers.
They are there by choice as our armed services are voluntary
They are indoctrinated to believe they are protecting the American people
In reality our forces are protecting American business interests and controlling other people’s natural resources.
And many soldiers return to become law enforcement officers and import the racism and violence of the battlefield to their home towns…
Like previous warriors of empire they perform many outrageous acts (Scahill Dirty Wars. Turse: Kill Anything That Moves
Warrior Owen I am sure was a decent family man
But the “stupid raid” in which he was killed allegedly killed many Al Queda
But what is not emphasized was it killed as many if not more civilians including the daughter of an American citizen
American soldiers by killing innocent civilians lead to radicalization of jihadists
Continuity between Douhet’s strategic bombing, the atomic bomb, mass saturation bombing of civilians and Drone Warfare a la Medea Benjamin
Trump has blamed the generals and has justified it by saying great intelligence was obtained (unproven) that will protect Americans
But in a masterful performance he preyed on her legitimate grief (for which he bears ultimate responsibility) and which she played the perfect foil
That image of a weeping war widow clutching her heart and looking to the heavens
(and Trumps tawdry off-script interjection that his Warrior Owen is looking down and had gotten record applause was pure theatrics.
And Van Jones nauseatingly gushes that was the moment when Trump became presidential
I would demur. That was the moment when Trump formalized the fact, that like all our recent presidents became a desk murderer.
He shamelessly used this grieving woman as a symbol justifying our military might.
Adding 60 billion to an already bloated military budget filled with so much graft and waste that the Budget Accounting office says it may be billions and is unaccountable, and continuing Obama’s trillion dollar upgrade of our nuclear arsenal makes the world a much more dangerous place.
In an account of the raid posted on Facebook, Aulaqi, Anwar al-Awlaki’s brother, had described how Nora had been shot several times, including through the neck, and had bled to death for two hours because she had no access to medical care. MIDDLE EAST EYE
FRIDAY, MAR 3, 2017 01:59 AM PST
The bigger question behind Trump’s botched Yemen raid: Why are we being dragged into yet another war?
Trump was acclaimed as “presidential” for his tribute to Carryn Owens. But why was her husband sent to Yemen?
GARY LEGUM
Weeks after a U.S. Navy SEAL was killed in a covert mission in Yemen, Trump has resisted accepting responsibility for authorizing the mission and the subsequent death of Senior Chief Petty Officer William “Ryan” Owens.
In an interview with Fox News that aired Tuesday morning, Trump said the mission “was started before I got here.” (i.e. it was Obama’s fault)
“This was something that was, you know, just — they wanted to do,” Trump said. “ And they came to see me and they explained what they wanted to do, the generals, who are very respected.”
“And they lost Ryan,” Trump continued.
What are we doing with troops on the ground in Yemen?
Helping the Saudi’s, the richest country on earth
And the perpetrators of 911
But consumers of $160 bn of armaments
Helping to create a catastrophic humanitarian catastrophe
Nora Al Aulaqui bled to death over a period of 2 hours
While drone strikes came down in showers.
Was Seal Ryan Owen’s bullets the one that struck this child
Lethally in the neck of which she bled to death?
Let us be under no allusions
Seals are highly trained killers
Skilled to be lethal weapons
Howard P. Charman, MD 7-5-2018