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The Tooth Fairy is Alive and Well in SouthEast Asia
Donna Long
May 1994 Issue
U.S. Veteran Dispatch
Remember when you were a child how you would excitedly place a newly lost baby tooth under your pillow at night before you went to sleep? The next morning the tooth would be gone and in its place would be a shiny new dime.
Your parents told you it was the work of the "Tooth Fairy" -a magical little creature who wouldn't come unless you were sound asleep. You stopped believing after you pretended sleep one night to sneak a peek at the winged nymph and discovered that good ole dad and good ole mom were pulling one over on you.
Today, as adults, we are being asked to once again believe in a tooth fairy- this time by our political parent,Uncle Sam, and his concubines, Vietnam and Laos.
This "new" tooth fairy, unlike the benevolent creature of our childhood who purchased out baby teeth with shiny new coins, sells the teeth of unreturned American prisoners of war and missing-in-action for billions of dollars in trade.
One tooth, two teeth, three teeth, a quarter-of-a-tooth magically appear at crash sites where no identifiable remains can be found. And as an extra bonus, the tooth fairy of Southeast Asia throws in a shiny new dog tag.
In response, Uncle Sam,as a dutiful board member of UPCA (Unscrupulous Pimps of Corporate America), presents the tooth fairy's spurious offerings as proof that his illicit lovers are "cooperating" in determining the fate of missing Americans. Another American serviceman is incredulously declared "accounted for" and big business increases the pace of its unholy quest for the Almighty Dollar.
But the criteria for belief in all tooth fairies is the same - in order to believe, you must remain sound asleep.
And that's exactly what our surrogate parents are banking on. That we, as adults will remain sound asleep. That we will not sneak a peek, as we did as children, and discover that good ole Uncle Sam and his Stable of good ole whores have pulled one over on us.
In the mean time, the busy little tooth fairy of Southeast Asia continues to ply its trade, Uncle Sam nods in satisfaction, and another mass burial precedes at Arlington National Cemetery.
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