War Irony

Breaks down easy fits into a pram
A child can carry it do it no harm
Armalite rifle and the holy trinity
It’s used against you for Irish jokes and the BBC
--Armalite Rifle, Gang of Four

They call me Desert Eagle, semi-auto with lead
I'm seven inches four pounds,
been through so many towns
Ohio to Little Rock to Canarsie, livin' harshly
--I Gave You Power, NAS
______________

Witness the bottom, right T shirt in Beretta's Spring 2011 Catalog: "Defending America for Over 25 Years" (p. 37).

Beretta is proud to have been America's standard service sidearm (M9) for the last 25 years, and they are celebrating that with a T shirt listing its service "in dozens of wars and skirmishes. Tours of duty are listed on the back." Among the 40+ dust-ups listed are Bangladesh (1991); Adriatic Sea (1992-present); Central Africa (1996); Congo (1998); Indonesia (1998); Peru-Ecuador (1995-97); Cote d'Ivoire (2002) and Suriname (1994-95). Who even remembers these things?

In the catalog's introduction, Beretta President Cav. Ugo Gussalli Beretta apologizes for the fact that not all gear will be manufactured with the sleek Italian touch: "It is true in this day and age, that we cannot manufacture all our products in Italy", ergo the International origin of the T's -- read "China" (or Bangladesh, or Vietnam.)

So the irony is, we buy these M9's and go tromping around the world, but we can't even make the T's that celebrate all of that spent treasure that shall never come back to enrich these United States.

Yet ... we will buy their tees to celebrate our profligacy, which has made us unable to manufacture the tees.