This Is My Rifle: Dismantling Raymond Davis & the Propaganda Machine

About four weeks ago something happened that could permanently alter the course of human history and erupt in total global war. Most of us in the Western world were kept in the dark about it and still, four weeks later, are unaware of what has developed over the past month.

On January 27th, 2011 an American by the name of Raymond Allen Davis was arrested in the city of Lahore, Pakistan after he shot and killed two ISI (Pakistani Intelligence Services) agents. After his arrest the Pakistani government came to realize that the man they had in custody wasn’t just an average American tourist, he was a member of a US military black operations unit called TF373 and also a CIA spy. Although the US government claims that Raymond Allen Davis is merely an American diplomat, documents in his possession at the time of his arrest prove otherwise.

What makes the arrest of Raymond Allen Davis so significant are the events leading up to it. In the weeks prior to his capture, the ISI became aware that Davis had been making contact with members of al Qaeda via cell phone calls to the Waziristan tribal area, which is also where Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding (who, by the way, is also a CIA agent under the name of Tim Osman). Once the ISI confirmed that Davis was indeed in contact with al Qaeda they assigned two agents to follow and monitor him. Davis discovered he was being followed, killed the agents with 7 precise shots fired from his pistol and was apprehended soon after.

Upon further investigation and according to documents found on Davis at the time of his arrest, Davis and the CIA were not only communicating with al Qaeda but were also providing them with materials to build nuclear and biological weapons. The US government denies that Davis has anything to do with any top-secret mission in Pakistan but is demanding his immediate release and extradition back to the United States. At present time the Pakistani government has ordered a minimum 14 day detention of Raymond Allen Davis and don’t look to have any intentions of releasing him in the near future. Also, to send the message that they are serious; they recently fired a nuclear cruise missile which has only increased tensions between the two countries.

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Ok, let’s rewind this a little bit and go back to, in my opinion, the most important part of this situation: the CIA was caught red-handed providing nuclear and biological weaponry to a group that is considered by the American people to be public enemy number one.

The idea that the CIA and the US government have been working alongside what has for the past decade been considered as the most deadly terrorist group on the planet, is not only earth shattering but the first tear in the unraveling of a long history of corruption and deceit. Since the tragedy of September 11th, 2001, I think most of the intelligent public has come to understand that the horrific acts committed that day were much less a terrorist attack and more of an elaborate plan concocted not by a bunch of Muslim extremists hiding in caves, but by a highly organized group of people with a capitalist agenda. Most of us could see almost immediately what was at work but perhaps out of fear of the repercussions if we were to speak out, or unwillingness to accept that it was even possible for something that evil to exist, we went along with whatever explanation we were given. And of course, the media was more than happy to deliver the message.

It’s obvious why the Western media didn’t report on the recent discovery that the CIA may possibly be involved with al Qaeda, or as George Bush referred to them, “the enemies of freedom”. For us to finally have proof that we’ve been bamboozled into believing in an imaginary threat would also mean that everything before and after 9/11 would be subject to criticism. And not the type of “we don’t really know for sure but something ain’t right” sentiment we’ve been feeling for the past 10 years, but instead a “we know exactly what’s going on and we’re not having that shit” full-scale Egypt style revolution. If we were to know, unquestionably, that our loved ones were murdered in the most violent way the human mind could imagine to push a secret corporate agenda, people might just wake up and come to realize the world that they’re living in.

And so the Western media saw the story of the CIA agent in Pakistan and said, “No fuckin way are we going near that”. Instead they decided to run with the story of the American female journalist who was apparently beaten and sexually assaulted while reporting on the protests in Cairo, Egypt.

A story like the one mentioned above works for the Western media on so many levels. First, it works to reaffirm the belief in the North American public that the Middle East is filled with brutally violent animals who have little to no respect for human life whatsoever. It reminds the public that these are the type of people that can hi-jack four planes and drive 3 of them into buildings filled with innocent Americans. And because a lot of us are stupid and don’t know the difference between Iraq and Egypt, it makes us get back behind a war that all of us know should’ve never happened. Secondly, it works to discredit the revolution that the Egyptians spent weeks fighting for. It tells us that these people are not intelligent and are only interested in creating chaos. Once again, because we’re stupid, we take the actions of a few individuals and allow it to draw our perception of an entire country. The media, knowing this, are determined to shove the story so deep into our consciousness that we wave our flags and go back to hating Muslims like we’re supposed to.

Not once have I heard any “credible” news source say, “Well, maybe we shouldn’t have been there”. Nobody in the Western media seems to take into consideration that when people are oppressed and fighting for their basic civil liberties they might not appreciate being broadcasted on televisions across the continents by the very people who represent a major cause of that oppression. Yes, the people of Egypt want a government that is independent of Western influence and rightfully so. If a few Western reporters get the life smacked out of them for being in the middle of something they have no business being in, then it’s nobody’s fault but their own. I by no means support rape or sexual abuse of any kind, but the Western media needs to understand that most of the world outside of North America and The UK are well aware of what they’re up to.

Here’s the truth about what I refer to as the “Western Empire”. We are the very definition of totalitarian corporate rule and political corruption. We have spent the past 60 years playing countries like pawns in our own personal capitalist chess game and the media has been the smoke and mirrors in front of it. The Western public has been duped, time and time again, into believing that we are special. We have been told by the television that all is well, we are God’s chosen ones when in fact we bear no more significance to the universe than space dust floating around the Milky Way galaxy. The rest of the world knows this and most, if not all, despise us for what we’ve done to them. The sad part about this is what they don’t know; we, the North American public, are for the most part completely unaware of what our politics is guilty of.

The major dividing line between the Western world and everybody else came about in the 1950’s when a man by the name of Milton Friedman, an economics professor at the University of Chicago, began to develop a new form of ultra-conservative economics. What Milton Friedman believed in was a completely free market, deregulation and the privatization and/or near elimination of state-run social programs. To put it in plain English, Friedman believed that corporations should be free to regulate themselves independent of government and that everything, from health care to education, should be run for profit by private conglomerates. As you can imagine, the wealthy conservative population loved this idea and would stop at nothing to bring it to life.

Friedman’s economic theory was based strongly in what has been referred to as “disaster capitalism” or “shock therapy”. The way it works is that major radical changes are brought all at once during or right after natural or man-made disasters while the public is in a state of shock. It’s at this point, while the people are suffering, that militaries and governments are trusted to provide solutions and are free to institute new policies under the guise of being the heroes or protectors. As always, the politicians, military and corporations are hand in hand working to exploit the population to its furthest extent. With a weakened public, shaken and afraid, Friedman believed that it was at this moment corporations could seize the opportunity and influence the people to support ideas that would normally be rejected.

This ideology has been applied hundreds of times over the past 60 years. From Indonesia to Chile, Brazil to Iraq, Friedman’s free market has invaded and eventually destroyed what were once thriving independent countries. At the center of all of this are Western corporations. With no conscience and complete disregard for the inhabitants of these countries, the corporations suck them dry and push the population into poverty so intense that being able to afford clean water is considered a luxury.

9/11 and Hurricane Katrina were also disasters that gave way to the application of Friedman’s economics. While corporations were somewhat kept at bay after Hurricane Katrina, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were like national going out of business sales. Once the USA invaded both countries, it was a corporate field day. The war generated billions of dollars for everybody from defense contractors to construction companies to Pizza Hut. It became evident soon after we entered the Middle East that our governments were not liberating the people but instead were taking advantage of them and profiting from it.

The people of the Middle East aren’t as dumb as most of the Western world think they are. They saw what we were doing and in a desperate attempt to preserve whatever remnants of their culture that they could, they decided to fight back. We had no business being there in the first place and as the years go on, contempt for us continues to grow.

I’m not a conspiracy theorist by any means, but any real look into the attacks on September 11th, 2001 reveals a lot of holes in the official story. Especially when you read about “Operation Northwoods” and realize that 40 years earlier, a plan was concocted by the US government that identically mirrors 9/11 and the eventual war in Iraq. I think most people would agree with me that we haven’t been told the truth and now with the situation in Pakistan we have to face it head on whether we like it or not.

I am not anti-American. In fact, I am pro-American. In all of my travels, the most kind, friendly and open-minded people I’ve come across reside in the United States of America. But as I’ve said in the past, I’m pro-people and I believe that we all have to take responsibility for our actions and the actions of our leaders. We have to look at the world as a whole and throw out the evildoers, even if they’re one of our own. The people of Egypt and now Libya are doing it and whatever they choose for their futures should be entirely up to them and independent of North American influence.

If the world chooses to trade and do business with us, it should be because we’re fair and honest. Not because we blew them to smithereens.

(Jason James is an artist, freelance columnist and writer for RefinedHype.com. You can listen/download his most recent album, "Marvelous World Of Color", here and you can contact him here and here.)