We hold these Truths to be self-evident...
Do you respect our troops? If so, demand their return home because they’ve been deployed in illegal Wars of Aggression. Don’t believe me when I say the wars are illegal and we should withdraw (
If you do not know the two simple laws of when a nation may attack another, you are NOT being a responsible citizen. There are not many laws responsible citizens MUST understand, but committing our troops into harm's way, sending our flag and reputation oversees, spending billions of our collective dollars ($3 to $5 trillion long-term), and causing suffering and death through collateral damage to MILLIONS of civilians demands your informed civic voice.
Moreover, the two laws of war are LESS COMPLEX than the average rule of your favorite sport. For example, they’re way less complex than what construes a legal punt in football. Would you consider someone who says they're a competent baseball fan as rational if the person said, "Yeah, I know what I'm looking at with baseball. Except I don’t understand and can’t explain if a batter is safe or out at first when the ball is hit. That's too detailed for me. Besides, I think our team ought to decide for ourselves when we're safe or out based on our own team's interests."
That would be crazy, yes?
And for those people who don't have the empathy for our troops to understand TWO LITTLE RULES to safeguard their ethical deployment when the troops put their lives on the line, and sacrifice the presence and happiness of their families, there's an ancient Greek word to describe them. The word is so powerful it's remained un-translated for over 2,000 years: idiot. Its use included those who didn't care to concern themselves with society's most important issues. Idiots don’t care enough to know the rules of war, and therefore don’t care enough about our troops to protect them from irresponsible government. As I’ve argued, prudent distrust of government is at the very core of being an American.
And those two easy rules of a legal war: only in self-defense if attacked by a nation (or imminent threat) and/or authorized by the UN Security Council.
These are the rules agreed by all nations through adaptation of the Charter of the United Nations, a Treaty in Force for the US that the US Constitution empowers with the full force of US law and equal to laws enacted by Congress. The reason that nations outlawed war as a foreign policy option is that in the century you and I were born, wars and like-acts by governments killed ~100 million human beings. The specific provisions of the UN Charter:
Article 2 - "... All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations. ..."
Article 39 - "The Security Council shall determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression and shall make recommendations, or decide what measures shall be taken in accordance with Articles 41 and 42, to maintain or restore international peace and security."
Article 51 - "Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security ..."
So that’s it. A batter is safe at first base under two conditions upon a safely batted ball: First: if the batter touches first base before either being tagged with the ball (or ball in glove), or before a defensive player touches the base in possession of the ball. Second: the ball must not be caught on the fly by the defense. Actually, there are a lot of exceptions and provisions to the rule of being called safe or out at first base that support my point that the rules to start a war are far easier to understand.
For war, if a nation doesn’t attack you or is imminently prepared to do so, war is illegal. The UN Security Council can also authorize use of force. Absent one of these two conditions, war is illegal. As I’ve explained in this article, neither one of those conditions was met, and the
Our troops put their lives and families on the line for you. Now our troops need your help. It’s up to us to demand our psychopathic political “leadership” end these Wars of Aggression. BTW, I don’t use the term “psychopath” as a random ad hominem; I mean exactly what the word means: intentionally destructive acts with a veneer of socially acceptable behavior and charm. Based upon the facts that hundreds of journalists have made clear over the years (my summary is composed in several articles), we need to prosecute the government officials responsible for killing and irreparably harming
Because Congressional “leaders” from both parties are in collusion to abuse our troops, I recommend a policy of Truth and Reconciliation as the fastest way to end criminality. This strategy can peel-away those seeking a “Scrooge conversion” to become our powerful allies.
Below is the most beautiful and powerful artistic call to support our troops, an 8-minute video. I highly recommend their website for additionally powerful and moving videos.
As always, share this article with all who say they want to be competent citizens. If you appreciate my work, subscribe by clicking under the article title (it’s free).
How You Ended The War from PuppetGov on Vimeo.
Comments
you forget that the government we live under, and I do mean, UNDER, is no more legitimate or legal, than any mafia thug operation in Brooklyn or Queens in NYC. We've got a very powerful and wealthy global illuminati, oligarchy that runs it from their shadowy tentacles via the CFR and Trilateral Commission persons they've infiltrated every level of the government with, and hence, they serve only the Rothschilds and Bilderbergs, not anyone else. Once you get your brain wrapped around that reality, you realize that mere vocalizing or written protests mean nothing to these ruthless murderers. they're not beyond eugenics and mass murder, and they plan on exterminating as many people as they can to thin the herd out and maximize the resources for themselves, minus a few blind and subservient slaves. the battle we should wage is for minds, not petty stuff like denouncing their blood wars for Empire. It's like clipping the nails of a draggon, you need to cut it's friggin head off to do an
Hey You:
Do you remember how you first started your journey into truth? You agree that we need more people in recognition that our "leaders" are, as I wrote, psychopathic in their actions. Understanding the facts of war is a great first step for people. Once people get over the shock of their first step into this pool, it's easier to go deeper. To mix metaphors, Alice's rabbit hole is very deep (have you looked into Project Camelot's interviews??)
Oh, and how 'bout that video?! THAT is such a powerful way to communicate the gap between the smooth words of "liberation," "peace to the Middle East" and the reality of these illegal wars.
I really like watching flag draped coffins coming back to America. Pls leave troops in Afghanistan and Iraq and don't run away now that America is losing. Mujahideen like defeating Americans and are doing so, by the Grace of Allah (SWT).
spineless people I am am more unhappy now 8 years later. Nuke all the Muslim piles of dung so my son does not have to. You cannot negotiate with people that believe you are not human. Eliminate them and kill all of their families.
You MissThePoint has it in one.
And besides, Mr Herman, i've no doubt you are an excellent teacher and do hope you find a position appropriate to your calling, but this many tentacled entity You MissThePoint speaks of doesn't want a thinking educated populace about to thwart its plans of mass extermination, which is why that strata of society, the educators, will be more targetted than the general population.
Take heart though, if it weren't for the net, the mass exterminations would have long since begun - or is it resumed, just thinking of the 167,000,000 murdered, as a conservative estimate, in the last century by these ghouls in wars, formal and not, You MissThePoint speaks of.
What to do ? Fight all encroachments on net freedom as if fighting for your life, for literally, that's what it will amount to should we fail.
They will talk about protecting the kiddies, of course. They LIE, as we know by the mangled and exploded dead kids of Gaza and Lebanon who the `they` are.
Chaz and b.blum, you won't hear this, but we need a critical mass of others to hear: when you want to kill without ethics and justify it because "others" are somehow evil, a group you are almost completely ignorant about and fear, then you are a terrorist. You bring terror upon them, you have no laws, you kill, you want more killing, you reject the Constitution - which REJECTS BEING AN AMERICAN, you reject any religious/philosophical/spiritual morals to embrace killing and destruction. YOU ARE SPINELESS, LAWLESS, AND PRETENDED PATRIOTS BECAUSE YOU REJECT THE RULE OF AMERICAN LAW BECAUSE YOU ARE AFRAID.
I teach US government and we have an academic label for your type of political philosophy: fascism.
Readers: ponder our future. Americanism under our Constitution and morals of the Declaration of Independence or becoming tyrants?
I don't support the troops at all, and nobody should. If they don't know by now that all this talk about "defending our freedoms" is a bunch of crap, and that all they are doing is aiding and abetting war crimes, then they're even stupider than I thought.
Anybody who would voluntarily join the U.S. military is a despicable piece of human refuse.
Big M: you can support the troops by understanding they were duped by war criminals. And yeah, there's a big gap between the level of Constitutional and moral education we SHOULD have and what we got. Yup, that's stupid; said in a loving sort of way. That's why I love that video: it supports the patriot well-inteneded average US soldier while attacking the psychopathic political "leadership."
michael mazur: they do kill kiddies and the evidence trail becomes ever more damning as to "leadership's" actions and intent. I just try to express what I see. You could write for Examiner also if this forum would serve.
Good article and powerful video. Who is the man speaking at the end of the video? The one who says "machine hearts, machine minds, but you are not machines, you are men."
BTW, 9/11 was an inside job.
Hi Sheila: that's Charlie Chaplin. Youtube the Great Dictator Speech to see it. I assume you saw my 9/11 article? I think I can be most helpful by objectively presenting the strongest evidence for both sides. I do also observe that the evidence speaks for itself.
Awesome video, Carl. Thanks so much for all your great work and writing.
I find your articles informativie and powerful. I agree that we were lied into the invasion of Iraq. I also think we should bring every soldier on foreign soil back to the US. But, I don't understand how the Afghanistan war is illegal as there is a current UN Resolution, "The council unanimously extended the mandate authorizing the nearly 68,000 strong International Security Assistance Force, known as ISAF, until October 13, 2010."
RB McAlpine: The invasion of Afghanistan is illegal per UN Charter requirements. From my article "Are US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan well-intended mistakes? What we now know from the evidence":
After the attacks of 9/11, the US government requested the cooperation of the Afghanistan government for extradition of Osama bid Laden to be charged with the 9/11 attacks. The Afghan government agreed, as per usual cooperative international law, as soon as the US government provided evidence of bin Laden’s involvement. The US government refused to provide any evidence. The Afghan government refused US troops entering their country and extradition until evidence was provided, and made their argument to the world press for the rule of law to apply to the US extradition request. The US invaded Afghanistan without providing evidence and without UN Security Council approval. President Bush stated, “There’s no need to discuss evidence of innocence or guilt. We know he’s guilty."
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