James Foley Is Not a War Ad

[kpete]

James Foley is pushing back from the grave.

JAMES FOLEY: I’m interested in what you said about the other, the categorization of the other, because you see it in all conflicts and wars. And you see it in El Salvador, you see it here. And I saw it in Libya and Syria. And it’s like both sides attempting to, you know, paint a group as the enemy, as the other, and what happens, the dehumanization process of that. And that’s extremely dangerous. But I guess it has to happen; it happens in a war so that they can kill each other.

Here is video http://www.democracynow.org/2014/9/12/james_foley_on_the_dehumanization_of of Foley talking about the lies that are needed to launch wars, including the manipulation of people into thinking of foreigners as less than human. Foley’s killers may have thought of him as less than human. He may not have viewed them the same way.

The video shows Foley in Chicago helping Haskell Wexler with his film Four Days in Chicago — a film about the last NATO protest before the recent one in Wales. I was there in Chicago for the march and rally against NATO and war. And I’ve met Wexler who has tried unsuccessfully to find funding for a film version of my book War Is A Lie.

Watch Foley in the video discussing the limitations of embedded reporting, the power of veteran resistance, veterans he met at Occupy, the absence of a good justification for the wars, the dehumanization needed before people can be killed, the shallowness of media coverage — watch all of that and then try to imagine James Foley cheering like a weapons-maker or a Congress member for President Obama’s announcement of more war. Try to imagine Foley accepting the use of his killing as propaganda for more fighting.

Transcript here:
http://www.democracynow.org/2014/9/12/james_foley_on_the_dehumanization_of
http://my.firedoglake.com/davidswanson/2014/09/12/james-foley-is-not-a-war-ad/