Wednesday, July 26, 2006 | Who Profits? AT LAST we have a war that's controversial. I have no access to US news channels and internet news comes across in a different tone, but I am gathering that a few people do feel strongly one way or the other about what's going on in Lebanon. I will say this: if you don't have a sense at all, it's worth looking into. Get your hands dirty and read a few articles. The sources I trust the most on Middle East developments are Noam Chomsky and Robert Fisk. You will not see either of them quoted on Fox. I would say there are two creative and functional viewpoints as regards warfare: debating the points, or knowing it's all a scam. Unless you are a soldier, a corporate or government official involved in the process, a refugee, or someone close to any of the above -- the whole issue is pretty much academic. If your house is not getting bombed, and you're not involved or close to someone whose is, or who is doing the bombing, just about any discussion is an armchair discussion. This can be frustrating, and lead to despair; why talk about it? Why bother? Ah, well, it's a matter of conscience, and that is NOT an armchair position. You could say it's not your conscience, but it is your money paying for much of it. The violent, festering projects in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon are all heavily funded with United States tax dollars and to a lesser but real extent, in the case of the first two, the UK and several other countries. The fact that you go to work to pay for these wars directly involves you. Heck, you could be totally unemployed and just paying your federal phone tax, you're contributing. This matters more to some people than to others. I posted Allen Ginsberg's "War Profit Litany" yesterday to express a viewpoint that you basically never hear: war is a profit-making business, designed as such, and working very well as such. No matter who dies; no matter who wins; no matter who is right or wrong or a victim or an aggressor or defender or attacker, the banks and munitions manufacturers get rich. Government entities are directly involved; there is something that Dwight Eisenhower first described as the "military-industrial complex" that is the inseparable mix of government and corporate entities that are supported entirely by ongoing warfare and all preparation for future wars. This is one of the cornerstones of our economy. I remember a conversation I had with a friend named Ron Whiteurs in New Paltz in 1991. Ron said, basically, as a driver of a car, and as a participant in the economy on any level, I had an obligation to support the war against Iraq because that's what drives the economy. We need those wars, or we all go broke. Ron was indignant. He was serious. He was being honest. I don't accept his reasoning, but I recognize the logic, and I think that many people do accept it, on a very deep level that does not usually get put into words. Sometimes it does. During the buildup to Bush War II, some people were saying, "This is a war for oil." Or as Zack de la Rosa had written on his guitar amp one night at a very hot Audio Slave concert in Seattle, "How Many Iraqis Per Gallon?" And other people say: "Yeah. It's a war for cheap oil, we have to go get it before somebody else does." Lebanon is not a war for oil, as far as I can see. But it is part of the ongoing aggression and counter-attack in the Middle East that will go on for as long as Israel and its neighbors are bent on mutual destruction and deny one another's right to exist. And let's be honest. Killing everyone would solve the whole problem. And what we are witnessing could blow up into a lot bigger problem. And oil is not going to get any cheaper as a result. The real question with war is not who's right and who's wrong. The question, and I urge you to ask it every day, is WHO PROFITS.