We hold these Truths to be self-evident...
Washington’s Blog is one of my favorite sources for revealing facts and analysis in economics and policy. The recent post, Instead of fixing the US Economy or creating jobs for AMERICANS, Obama will spend the money in Afghanistan and Iraq, is so comprehensively brilliant in putting together the documentation that our wars are fraudulent and damaging to our economy, I’m reprinting it for you.
And yet Obama, like Bush, has done virtually nothing to create more jobs. Instead, they both gave trillions to the biggest banks (who are not loaning it out to the little guy) and for waging wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Obama is apparently escalating - not ending - the wars. And its not cheap.
As I have previously pointed out, protracted war increases unemployment, shrinks the economy, and causes recession. See this, this and this.
But - you may say - we had no choice, we had to fight those wars because of 9/11.
Well, top British officials say that the U.S. discussed Iraq regime change long before 9/11. In fact, they say that regime change was advocated one month after Bush took office:
"In February 2001 we were aware of these drum beats from Washington and internally we discussed it," Patey said. "Our policy was to stay away from that."
It's not just the Brits.
Former CIA director George Tenet said that the White House wanted to invade Iraq long before 9/11, and inserted "crap" in its justifications for invading Iraq.
Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill also says that Bush planned the Iraq war before 9/11.
Everyone knew the WMD claims were fake. For example, the number 2 Democrat in the Senate, who was on the Senate intelligence committee, admitted that the Senate intelligence committee knew before the war started that Bush's public statements about Iraqi WMDs were false. And if the committee knew, then the White House knew as well.
And Tony Blair - the British Prime Minister - knew that Saddam possessed no WMDs. If America's closest ally Britain knew, then the White House knew as well.
The CIA warned the White House that claims about Iraq's nuclear ambitions (using forged documents) were false, and yet the White House made those claims anyway.
Cheney was largely responsible for generating fake intelligence about Iraq in order to justify the war. For example:
- Falsified documents which were meant to show that Iraq's Saddam Hussein regime had been trying to procure yellowcake uranium from Niger can be traced back to Vice President Dick Cheney
And you may have heard that the Energy Task Force chaired by Cheney prior to 9/11 collected maps of Iraqi oil fields and potential suitors for that oil. But you probably don't know that a secret document written by the National Security Council on February 3, 2001 directed the N.S.C. staff to cooperate fully with the Energy Task Force as it considered the “melding” of two seemingly unrelated areas of policy: “the review of operational policies towards rogue states,” such as Iraq, and “actions regarding the capture of new and existing oil and gas fields”.
In other words, it is difficult to brush off Cheney's Energy Task Force's examination of Iraqi oil maps as a harmless comparison of American energy policy with known oil reserves because the N.S.C. explicitly linked the Task Force, oil, and regime change. Indeed, a former senior director for Russian, Ukrainian, and Eurasian affairs at the N.S.C. said:
Cheney's role in getting the U.S. into unnecessary military confrontations is not new. According to former high-level intelligence officer Melvin Goodman, during the Ford administration, Cheney orchestrated phony intelligence for the Congress in order to get an endorsement for covert arms shipments to anti-government forces in Angola.
And in the 1970's, Cheney was instrumental in generating fake intelligence exaggerating the Soviet threat in order to undermine coexistence between the U.S. and Soviet Union, which conveniently justified huge amounts of cold war spending. See also this. This scheme foreshadowed Mr. Cheney's role in generating fake intelligence in Iraq by 30 years.
And Cheney was the guy who directed all counter-terrorism activities in 2001 and who directed the U.S. response on 9/11, accidentally allowing hijacked planes to fly all over the place, and perhaps - as implied by Secretary of Transportation Norm Minetta - to slam into the Pentagon (confirmed here). Heck of a job, Dick ...
The government also apparently planned the Afghanistan war before 9/11 (see this and this).
But you don't even have to even think about all of the complex facts discussed above. It's really simple: when asked to specify exactly why we are still fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama cannot really explain why we are still there.
(It's also simple because the top bipartisan experts say that the Iraq war has increasedthe threat of terrorism. See this, this, this, this, this and this).
The Wars Are Unnecessary and Are Killing the Economy
Comments
Now that the IAEA has declared their desire to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons at a dead end, Obama is now ready to begin to consider the potentialities of possible sanctions that we might consider todiscuss with our new allies that he has reset relations with. Haha
Everyone seems to forget that the business of banks is war.
War is instant obsolescence - maw of death and destruction so profitable that the world has not been without war since the invention of Capitalism and the first financial crash, the South Sea Bubble in 1720.
Every fifty or so years after that there has been a market crash crash followed by a depression aflanked by expensing (profiable wars
What a shame, we have pure corruption/war crimes/murder and yet NO ONE SEEMS TO CARE?
Where are the NEW WASHINGTONS who are ready to sacrifice their blood to cleanse our nation from the evil that lurks/controls our nation.
Our congress representatives are a scam. They represent BIG Corp. and that's it.
We need a revolution!
What happened to Americans creating their own jobs and to heck with the government? One reason the "little" business person can't hire on help is due to government regulation and taxes. That's when folks need to go it alone with the least regulation. A street vender needs permits, but after costs of operation...the rest of the cash goes in the pocket...and it's up to the vender to report to IRS how much is made. Governments change in title,(UK/USA) but intent is the same...tax them to death or kill them in wars. I believe in the Constitution...live and let live and let'em share their wealth the way they want!!!!!
I think it's time for Canada and the rest of the world to sanction America for all its lies.
And since 911 has proven itself an inside job, lady Liberty's mass public that can no longer tell left from right, a Christian community that preaches and lives the opposite of the ten commandments and proudly thinks that Jesus died so only Americans won't have to suffer during the tribulation (millions of God fearing Russians died under communism) and the most sickening part of it all is America gets away with invading other countries that never did anything to you except make you money , this makes you the most dangerously insane people the world will ever know. And I pray everyday that you will be wiped off the face of the earth by God, you whore of Babylon.
These bankers are the new world order. Tney are purposefully manipulating us to become angry with the government which in turn will make it that much easier for them to wheel in their communist utopian global government. These are the facts. Listen to William Coopers lectures which are available on Youtube and Itunes. He predicted all this and more over 10 years ago.
We all know now that Bush and Blair and their cohorts lied their countries into war and thousands have died. How is it that they are not being prosecuted for their traitorous actions?
Barack Obama is still in a campaign mode, he wants to know the public opinion before taking action, this guy lacks political will, it goes to show how cunning and clever this demagogue is.
His campaign slogan "HOPE AND CHANGE" was a total deception, actually he (himself)is the embodiment of special interest group and lobbyist, look at the favored private company and elite individual behind him (GE,GOLDMAN SACHS AND GEORGE SOROS etc.)
Obama is employing the tactics of his mentor Saul Alinsky,a communist who wrote the book "RULES FOR RADICALS" book he dedicated to lucifer whom he called the "first radical"
It was Alinsky for whom "change" was his mantra in his campaign
slogan, this had to be done through systematic deception, winning the trust of naively idealistic middle class by using the language of morality and equality to conceal an agenda designed to destroy it (machiavellian).
Barack Obama,Saul Alinsky,jeremiah Wright,William Ayer,are birds of the same feather.
Great comments, everyone :)
Thunderhawk: what's missing is law enforcement from the Executive Branch. These are obvious crimes of torture, Wars of Aggression, and massive financial fraud. Oathkeepers, state governments, federal Marshals and every man and woman in military, government, and law enforcement should exercise their lawful authority to immediately refuse and stop illegal orders and acts.
Look up Oathkeepers. They are on the front line in this movement.
Uh oh , someone is mentioning the south sea bubble ! Don't you bafoons realize that America has made more progress , socially, and economically , then any nation, EVER ? The poor people in the western world live like kings , compared to the last billion years.
anonymous:
You show no empathy for 22% unemployed, a million children dying from poverty every month, and two Wars of Aggression. And you are quite the willing slave to pay trillions in our tax money for these lying wars and banksters.
Choose carefully the future you speak and work for. You are likely to have the future you choose.
I think we are here mostly on the same wavelength and can make intelligent comments without resorting to fatuous name calling instead of debate as I've seen on some websites.
Changing tack, if any other country behaved towards the rest of the world the way America and its so-called 'only ally in the middle east' there would be government-sponsored boycotts, divestments and sanctions against that country. I agree with Doug's comments about sanctions against America. Nothing gets the attention of the corporatocracy that now rules America, than finding their income drying up. Was it LBJ who said ''when you've got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will quickly follow''?
Thunderhawk:
Propagandists will comment on any site that hits too close to the damning facts. Yes, the criminal and vicious behavior is visible to all who are ready to see it.
I tried to source the quote and failed to find a definitive one. LBJ said in his last interview that the US runs a "damn murder incorporated."
Still at it Carl Huh? postinh your nonsensical bull shot that makes everyone mad at you. On top of that, you seem to want to debate everyone that counters your jaded socialist views.
get a life dude, matter of fact-get areal job
wah3: evolve past ad hominem to discuss the issues or I will delete your comments.
Of course, Anonymous, America has made more progress than any other nation and that would be laudable if not for the fact that it's been done at the expense of other nations. Americans, who form less than 5 per cent of the world's population account for over 30 per cent of the world's consumption, most of it wasteful. That doesn't leave a lot of the world's resources to be shared amongst the remaining 6 billion people. Perhaps, a reason for the continual wars America has had to wage to protect and maintain its level of consumption.
I'm not certain that the 37 million Americans living in poverty will quite subscribe to your claim that they live like kings compared to the hyperbolic billion years that you mention.
It is time our military and political leaders told the truth about why we are fighting in Afghanistan, and it has little to do with bringing democracy to that unfortunate country.
As the invasion of Afghanistan was planned before 9/11, it has little to do with finding the alleged plotter-in-chief, Bin Laden either.
The US is fighting in Afghanistan, and planning on being there for years to come, as part of the USA's credo of 'full spectrum dominance' which primarily includes containing the two biggest threats to that dominance, China and Russia; and Iran which is allegedly an existential threat to Israel. Gaining dominance over the hydrocarbon resources of the region is part of the plan.
So, will Obushama and his cohorts stop lying to the world that it's about fighting terrorism and tell it the real reason for the unending war. The US's allies can then decide whether sacrifice of its soldiers is worth the price.
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