Annnnnngry Monkyes!

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

  Once upon a time, there was a spinning blue planet that lay in a river of stars. On this blue and green gem of a planet, there lived some very angry monkeys. These monkeys liked to play and dance and had a light side that rivaled the Divine in their ability to create and love, but they also had an unfortunate habit of killing each other over little pieces of beaten bark and large rocks. As well as female monkeys and whether or not these female monkeys should wear banana leaves over their faces in order to prevent supposedly mature male monkeys from going mad and raping them. These monkeys ranged in color and in minor facial and physical structure, but other than that were more or less the same. They some times killed each other over the way they looked or communicated or thought. In fact, they seemed to kill each other over any little thing and on an astoundingly regular basis. It was therefore to the surprise of the Divine that they heeded the commandment to "Go forth and multiply."

It was not very long into the monkeys' ascent into what they wanted to become that there was an attack by a rival troupe of monkeys on a land of many monkeys called the United Simians of America. Many died, plummeting from the tops of flaming trees to break upon the stone paths below. Others perished in the smoke, while still others were crushed as the trees collapsed in on themselves. All in all, three thousand monkeys were killed in a single terrible day.
The alpha male of this land was not a particularly bright monkey, and he was also rather new. He was infuriated by this attack, and rightly so—but he allowed some activity that was not allowed by the Simian laws of war. He allowed some of his soldiers to hurt captured rival monkeys in order to get information from them. They were tried to small seating trees in their monkey underwear and questioned. They were kept in small cages with many other monkeys with few sleeping nests between them all. They were kept up at night when they should be sleeping with loud war calls and all sorts of noises. They were not allowed to contact their families nor their legal gorillas.
They were subjected to controlled drowning. They were strapped to big pieces of wood, and held under water, often breathing about a pint of water per dunking. Slowly, they started to drown, and sometimes their captors laughed. The slow agony of tearing coughs and gasping and gagging and fear would sometimes force them to lie or to give in. Questions were sometimes an after thought.
Other times, captured monkeys were taken to places outside the United Simians of America, and after being drugged, were questioned and beaten. Sometimes they were dumped in foreign lands and left on their own.
The public simply accepted these actions as necessary to prevent another attack, and those prisoners lost their fundamental Simian-ness. They became the 'Other'--not a Simian, simply an enemy. Government Apes said things that would have previously been unthinkable-- "Torture is something American monkeys should be proud of." For some smarter monkeys, that this was even being considered was unacceptable, and found themselves the voice in the wilderness.
Literally days after the attack on the WTO (World Tree Organization), a most frightening bill was passed by the US Congress. Civil liberties were lost. The government suddenly had the right to sift through the average monkey's credit history, library history, and phone records. All they had to do was suspect that the monkey was involved with terrorism. The government apes didn't even have to prove it to a judge—just suspect it. They were allowed to tap phone conversations with impunity and allowed to invade the nest of a suspect without a warrant. They were allowed to install keystroke programs on the nest computers of the suspect without telling anyone. Anyone at all. In addition, there was clause that allowed political dissidents to be arrested and held without charge.
It took hardly any time at all, some monkeys thought in hind sight, for the alpha male and his older beta male to come up with someone new to focus the public's anger on—Apraq. In the past, this little country had angered the United Simians of America (better known as the USA), and the USA had lead war against Apraq, and won decisively. This time, the Alpha and the Beta relied on the previous reason—weapons of mass destruction. Supposedly, the Alpha male of Apraq, a monkey named Bananas Hussien, was hiding them from the world. Again.
American forces descended upon Apehdad, and there was no fight to speak of. The government simply buckled, and Bananas escaped. It was some months before he was found in a hole. He refused to recognize—not that his recognition was necessary—the court of Simian law that tried him. Two years later, he was to be executed. A chorus of hoots and calls greeted the drop. They increased as he slowly suffocated to death, his body jerking and twisting. Someone caught the footage on a banana phone, and it was seen around the world—brought to local monkeys by the American Banana Company, the British Banana Company, and Coconut News Network, among others.
The alpha male of the USA flew in a jet banana down to a carrier ship, and upon arrival said, "Mission Accomplished!" This happened within weeks of the invasion of Apraq. And for a moment it seemed like he was right—it was quiet. Apraqis rejoiced to have Bananas Hussien gone. But soon, that joy fell away, and resentment and then anger took its place. Guerrillas appeared. They attacked convoys of American baboon troops and civilians alike. Contractors were kidnapped and beheaded regularly. Males and females and baby monkeys all were kidnapped and murdered. One young monkey was set on fire. He survived, thankfully, but was forever scared.
It was not before long that the world found that the weapons of mass destruction in Apraq were a lie. A complete, total, and utter lie. The nation of Apraq was ripped apart in the search for them, and not even an inkling as to their whereabouts or that they'd even ever existed.
A generation lost faith in the government. They were being sent to die fighting for a lie. They were being sent to kill for an "intelligence error." The USA had become a shell, a mere ghost of its former glory. It was empty of all ideals, but full of bravado.
The Alpha Male said, "We will leave when Apraq is stable." Stable of course meant that there were no more guerrillas actively causing trouble. After five years of war, five years of carnage, five years of lies and deception, it seemed that this would never, ever ever happen.

[Sibling Chatty]

couple of minor edits and paragraphization <--- Is that a word?

  Once upon a time, there was a spinning blue planet that lay in a river of stars. On this blue and green gem of a planet, there lived some very angry monkeys. These monkeys liked to play and dance and had a light side that rivaled the Divine in their ability to create and love, but they also had an unfortunate habit of killing each other over little pieces of beaten bark and large rocks, as well as (Bullying? Arguing about? being mean to?) female monkeys and whether or not these female monkeys should wear banana leaves over their faces in order to prevent supposedly mature male monkeys from going mad and raping them.

These monkeys ranged in color and in minor facial and physical structure, but other than that were more or less the same. They some times killed each other over the way they looked or communicated or thought. In fact, they seemed to kill each other over any little thing and on an astoundingly regular basis. It was therefore to the surprise of the Divine that they heeded the commandment to "Go forth and multiply."

It was not very long into the monkeys' ascent into what they wanted to become that there was an attack by a rival troupe of monkeys on a land of many monkeys called the United Simians of America. Many died, plummeting from the tops of flaming trees to break upon the stone paths below. Others perished in the smoke, while still others were crushed as the trees collapsed in on themselves. All in all, three thousand monkeys were killed in a single terrible day.

The alpha male of this land was not a particularly bright monkey, and he was also rather new. He was infuriated by this attack, and rightly so—but he allowed some activity that was not allowed by the Simian laws of war. He allowed some of his soldiers to hurt captured rival monkeys in order to get information from them. They were tied (eliminated the R than made it say tried) to small seating trees in their monkey underwear and questioned. They were kept in small cages with many other monkeys with few sleeping nests between (should read among--between implies two, among means more than two) them all. They were kept up at night when they should be sleeping with loud war calls and all sorts of noises. They were not allowed to contact their families nor their legal gorillas.
They were subjected to controlled drowning. They were strapped to big pieces of wood, and held under water, often breathing about a pint of water per dunking. Slowly, they started to drown, and sometimes their captors laughed. The slow agony of tearing coughs and gasping and gagging and fear would sometimes force them to lie or to give in. Questions were sometimes an after thought.

Other times, captured monkeys were taken to places outside the United Simians of America, and after being drugged, were questioned and beaten. Sometimes they were dumped in foreign lands and left on their own.

The public simply accepted these actions as necessary to prevent another attack, and those prisoners lost their fundamental Simian-ness. They became the 'Other'--not a Simian, simply an enemy. Government Apes said things that would have previously been unthinkable-- "Torture is something American monkeys should be proud of." For some smarter monkeys, that this was even being considered was unacceptable, and found themselves the voice in the wilderness.

Literally days after the attack on the WTO (World Tree Organization), a most frightening bill was passed by the US Congress. Civil liberties were lost. The government suddenly had the right to sift through the average monkey's credit history, library history, and phone records. All they had to do was suspect that the monkey was involved with terrorism. The government apes didn't even have to prove it to a judge—just suspect it. They were allowed to tap phone conversations with impunity and allowed to invade the nest of a suspect without a warrant. They were allowed to install keystroke programs on the nest computers of the suspect without telling anyone. Anyone at all. In addition, there was clause that allowed political dissidents to be arrested and held without charge.

It took hardly any time at all, some monkeys thought in hind sight, for the alpha male and his older beta male to come up with someone new to focus the public's anger on—Apraq. In the past, this little country had angered the United Simians of America (better known as the USA), and the USA had lead war against Apraq, and won decisively. This time, the Alpha and the Beta relied on the previous reason—weapons of mass destruction. Supposedly, the Alpha male of Apraq, a monkey named Bananas Hussien, was hiding them from the world. Again.

American forces descended upon Apehdad, and there was no fight to speak of. The government simply buckled, and Bananas escaped. It was some months before he was found in a hole. He refused to recognize—not that his recognition was necessary—the court of Simian law that tried him. Two years later, he was to be executed. A chorus of hoots and calls greeted the drop. They increased as he slowly suffocated to death, his body jerking and twisting. Someone caught the footage on a banana phone, and it was seen around the world—brought to local monkeys by the American Banana Company, the British Banana Company, and Coconut News Network, among others.

The alpha male of the USA flew in a jet banana down to a carrier ship, and upon arrival said, "Mission Accomplished!" This happened within weeks of the invasion of Apraq. And for a moment it seemed like he was right—it was quiet. Apraqis rejoiced to have Bananas Hussien gone. But soon, that joy fell away, and resentment and then anger took its place. Guerrillas appeared. They attacked convoys of American baboon troops and civilians alike. Contractors were kidnapped and beheaded regularly. Males and females and baby monkeys all were kidnapped and murdered. One young monkey was set on fire. He survived, thankfully, but was forever scared.

It was not before long that the world found that the weapons of mass destruction in Apraq were a lie. A complete, total, and utter lie. The nation of Apraq was ripped apart in the search for them, and not even an inkling as to their whereabouts or that they'd even ever existed.
A generation lost faith in the government. They were being sent to die fighting for a lie. They were being sent to kill for an "intelligence error." The USA had become a shell, a mere ghost of its former glory. It was empty of all ideals, but full of bravado.

The Alpha Male said, "We will leave when Apraq is stable." Stable of course meant that there were no more guerrillas actively causing trouble. After five years of war, five years of carnage, five years of lies and deception, it seemed that this would never, ever ever happen.

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

Weird how spell check failed to catch that.
A lot of my paragraphaztion, as it were, disappeared, so I'll fix it here.

Thanks!

[Sibling Chatty]

NP

Late husb was a journalism professor, so I can edit with the best of 'em. (Guess who used to grade all the freshman level assignments...)

Any time you want a fresh eye to look something over, let me know!

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

Cool! I may take you up on that someday.