Savagery: Better Than Sex

 

Savagery: Better Than Sex

Peter Schultz

 

                  Here is a conversation between Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather about President Pappa Bush’s Iraq War, illustrating how much enjoyment American elites can get from savagery.

 

“Walter Cronkite: You have seen the B-52s in operation in Vietnam, I have, and they are almost a terror weapon, they are so powerful. They are dropping all those bombs. My heavens, 14 tons of bombs out of a single airplane – they could very well panic the Iraq army. . .. One thing that’s interesting about this, Dan, these bombs come in a very low rate of speed, comparatively – compared to rocketry and other things and, as a result, the bomb blast is widespread. It can do an awful lot of damage without serious damage to a single target, except right where it lands – blow out a lot of windows, blow out a lot of walls, things of that kind as opposed to high-speed missiles that are inclined to bury themselves and blow up….

“Dan Rather: I want to pick up on what you were talking about with the B-52s. It’s certainly true, anybody who’s seen or been through a B-52 raid, it’s an absolutely unforgettable, mind-searing experience.

“Cronkite: When you’re not underneath it directly.

“Rather: Exactly. And that’s when you’re able to just sort of observe it. It is a devastatingly effective physical bombing weapon, but also psychologically. That’s one of the reasons of going right at the heart of Saddam Hussein’s best troops is [to cause] panic and to – to break morale.”

[Grandin, Kissinger’s Shadow, 208]

 

                  Cronkite and Rather are getting off here on B-52s and their savagery. There was a book published when I was much younger, The Joy of Sex, which was controversial for a little while. Well, it seems to me Cronkite and Rather could collaborate on a book entitled, The Joy of Savagery.

 

And if you think they’re the only ones who got off on savagery, recall Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s response to Leslie Stahl’s question about the 500,000 Iraqi children who died because of the effects of President Clinton’s sanctions. As Stahl pointed out, “I mean that’s more children than died in Hiroshima.” Albright: “We think the price is worth it.” Oh, the joy of savagery. [Kissinger’s Shadow, 209-210]

 

Keep these deaths, keep US savagery in mind this Memorial Day.