Empire! Iran! Rising Gas Prices! Rampant Oil Speculation! WAR!

"You remember that old song? Bomb, bomb, bomb, Bomb Iran..." - Republican Senator John McCain.

What's the point of having a Standing Army if you're not gonna use it!

The War Machine is rumbling. The Military-Media-Industrial-Congressional Complex grew accustommed to the massive theft of wealth during the Bush Presidency. With President Obama ending the Iraq War and pledging to end the Afghanistan War the Warmongers are chomping at the bit for another War.

The Libyan Intervention was the Way the American People want US Military power utilized. A coalition, no American deaths, an realizable goal, removal of the dictator, short time span.

But, the chicken hawk Neo-Cons and Right-Wing Warmongers want full involvement in foreign entanglements because Wars are how they maintain power and engorge themselves on the Federal Budget.

If you'd like to know where the new deficit, which sooooo worries Republicons, came from, look to the Middle East. Bush's Robin Hood in reverse gift to his Base accounts for a portion of the problem but the Deficit was born in the DoD, raised and grown in Afghanistan, Iraq, HOA, and the satelittles of the American Empire. Over the last 11 years there's 11 Trillion Dollars lost to the coffers of the Warmongers.

What the American people are experincing is Empire destroys people. Not just abroad but at home. The Western Romans learned this in the 400's CE and the British learned this lesson in the late 19th century. We can't have a social safety net and a world-spanning Empire.

But, the small cadre of Elitiest bastards who profit off of warfare don't care what the ramifications are for the country and hundreds of millions of Americans because the privations and the horror of war never, ever touch them.

Mitt Romney - “We should not cut any funding from our base Department of Defense budget. That should not occur. And I would apply the $600 billion [in cuts] that were anticipated being imposed upon the military, I would take those and apply them to other parts of the federal budget. One of them, of course, would be to take something like Medicaid, which is our health care program for the poor.”

Vulture Mitt makes money off of sending your children to war and then denying you healthcare. Remember Mitt Romney's sons are too important to fight and face death in War they are helping Mitt become President.

But, they constantly have to sell war to the people. So, Iran is constantly a year away from the Bomb. And we have a terrorist appeaser, crypto-muslim in the White House.

President Obama isn't going to give the War Machine the war it wants with Iran. So, he must go.

But, with the economy improving and the smears of Right-Wing bigots unable to sway voters how to accomplish this? Simple ramp up the War talk on every Right-Wing Propaganda network and let Oil speculators bring down the economy with their gambling. And bam either another pliant Right-Wing rube or a vicious Vulture Capitalist will be ensconced in the Presidency and the Crusade shall continue!

Time to Declare Independence

From the Military-Industrial-Complex, which is not only bankrupting the Nation it demands Americans sacrifice themselves.

Sometimes my epigrams come a little too soon. Case in point, no sooner than I referenced the Loud Mouthed Cowardly War Proponents propensity to blather about the necessity of sacrificing someone else's life in war than did Michael Steele comment about the idiocy and uselessness of the "War" in Afghanistan. The comments received national media attention and the War Mongering Neo-Cons and Chicken Hawk Republicans immediately responded about the necessity of sacrificing more Americans' lives.

Liz Cheney, Bill Kristol, and Karl Rove, those three incomparable assholes, stepped forward first demanding Steele withdraw his comments and resign. The Republicans, led by John McCain and Sarah Palin, then followed and jumped at the chance to proclaim their support for Never-Ending-War. Tom Cole and Jim DeMint called on Steele to apologize and resign. Cole and DeMint are real republican chicken hawks they love war now but sure couldn't be bothered to serve in Vietnam when they were young men. You see it is their job to convince the American People that Endless War is good and necessary. A War which they know they and their families will never have to sacrifice anything for...

Republicans support War because they don't serve in the military. They won't have to shit in a hole in the desert. They won't have to go 7 weeks without a real shower. They won't have put rounds down range at another human being.

Now, of course, I believe from the total context of Steele's quote, as 'Obama's War of Choice', Steele was trying to use the increase in American deaths as a political tool against President Obama. But, if there's one thing the Republicans want to own it's the Wars. Because Republicans know they won't be touched by those wars.

The Wars begun by Bush and Cheney with the lockstep support of the Republican Party were for one reason; A Two-fold transfer of Wealth. There are too many Trillions of dollars to be taken from struggling American families and too much land and resources to be stolen from innocent people overseas by sending Americans there to kill the brown peoples.

If Obama does begin the drawdown it will mark a clear difference in 2012 for the American people. If he doesn't...

Waaaaaaaar
Propaganda war ensemble
Sport the war, war support
The sport is war, total war ~ Slayer, War Ensemble

AfghanStan McChrystal

This potential finding is exacerbated by the unconfirmed but suspected reports that POTUS and the secretary of the Army might include comments about Corporal Tillman's heroism and his approved Silver Star medal in speeches currently being prepared, not knowing the specifics surrounding his death. - then Lt. Gen Stanley McChrystal's P4 memo to General John Abaziad, as discovered years after Bush used Pat Tillman's death to bolster support for the Phony War on Terror.

Pat Tillman was an atheist, anti-war, read dissident authors, and thought Bush started an illegal war in Iraq. He's a true soldier and patriot and I wonder where all the Tea Party Traitors and Oath Keepers were when Bush was using Tillman's death to further his warmongering?

General Stanley McChrystal was in charge of the Pat Tillman cover-up. He's no Hero. It's possible Stan undertook the cover-up at the behest of the Cheney White House in order to deflect growing anti-war sentiment and to blunt the Abu Ghraib Torture revelations, which had been feverishly approved by Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, and which could have unseated President Bush in 2004.

AfghanStan comes off very badly in the Rolling Stone article: The Runaway General by Michael Hastings. President Obama relieved him of his command for his poor judgement and contempt. Now Stan will be remembered (if at all) in the same breath as Gen George McClellan.

Of course, the tenor amongst the deluded punk ass bitch Right Wing Extremists is one of 'Well, as a General he really shouldn't show such contempt for the C-in-C, but we all know McChrystal is merely expressing the hatred for a kenyan born anti-American muslim terrorist lover' and 'the problem isn't McChrystal's lack of discretion but because he allowed inside an anti-war member of the liberal media'.

However, Barack take a clue, it doesn't matter how forcefully you prosecute the Neo-Con Phony War in Terror, the Right doesn't want the war won but continued forever. They want sustained occupation. Because the peace keeping mission provides them with cover for their true war goals; A Two-Fold Giant Transfer of Wealth. It's what the Republican Party exists for, Theft and Murder. And the Neo-Cons cover their criminal actions with the cry of 'National Interests'. There has never been a more pernicious lie than 'National Interests'.

This "recent" revelation that Afghanistan houses trillions in rare minerals has been known for decades and was one of the rationals the Soviets used to stay during their bloody decade.

COIN in Afghanistan is worthless because AQ aren't in the countryside, The new Afghan Commander General David Petraeus has stated that inconvenient fact. And the Mayor of Kabul Hamid Karzai has no political pull outside of his own eyesight.

The question is will international terrorist organizations use the countryside to train for overseas missions? Maybe but, the more overarching question has always been does our continued presence kill and deter more potential terrorists or create more?

Every few months an Al Qaeda #3 is killed to no apparent value. This is not because the American and ISAF operators are worthless, far from it, it's because the AQ structure isn't undone by eliminating HVTs. AQ3 does not have a line and block OOB under him which is disrupted by his removal, he isn't an Alfred Jodl or J.E.B. Stuart. Killing him dosen't disrupt their organization. AQ3 in Waziristan is not planning an envelopment of Jalalabad or two pronged strike towards Kabul and Mazer-i-Sharif. He's not a ninja or 37th Dan Blackbelt training 50 AQ assassins every year in the arts of lethal hand-to-hand combat, he isn't in Zurich channelling a billion here and a billion there in furtherance of an international plot to destabilize currency or fund an attack.

He's a guy living amongst goat herders in the 15,000 foot tall mountains of Pakistan, AQ have isolated themselves.

The Iraq War, an analogy

But he had been so much hurt that something inside him had perished, some of his feeling had gone. There was a blank of insentience. ~ Lady Chatterley's Lover, D.H. Lawrence

Picture your neighborhood, a bit dry, somewhat wealthy, nice large brick homes 3 car garages, 5+ baths, hardwood floors, ceramic tile and granite countertops dominate. Down the street is a nice home which over the years has been allowed to fall into a state of disrepair. Police are always coming around because the father is decidedly not a nice man, he constantly beats his wife and multiple children. There is even a very credible rumor he is keeping illegal substances in the home. He became involved in a property dispute with his neighbor which resulted in a lot of damage and injuries between the two families. And a family member who fled the home stated the father purposely killed one of his children.

You as a righteous person. You support the decision to have the Police use force enter into the home, in order to end the father's multiple crimes. The father is captured and imprisoned awaiting his trial. Unfortunately, during the raid one child is killed, another seriously injured and one of the officers dies. But the man is captured, the wife and other children are free of him. Expectations are they will be able to live a happy life, free of the tyranny of the father.

But, then, instead of leaving, you learn, the surrounding neighborhood is beset with drug dealers, pimps and murderers. The Chief of the Police decides to have the Police stay and set the house up as a trap, using it to lure drug dealers, users and other unsavory characters to the house in order to rid the neighborhood of them and end their crimes and violence.

The vast majority of the Police are noble upstanding people. But, they are put in a very difficult situation. The family wants them to leave, one of the sons attacks an officer one day and kills him, the Police in defending their lives kill the son. Additionally, the Drug Dealers who sneak into the house engage in multiple short gun battles with the Police. The wife is wounded and two of her daughters are killed in the crossfire because the Dealers use them as shields.

The Police find they are becoming hated by the family while defending themselves and actively killing the murderous scum who have been drawn to the house.

Many of the rooms of the house became damaged. The Village Board decides to rebuild them but use substandard materials and shoddy contractors for the work, resulting in the money allocated being basically lost. It also turns out the food and water supplied to the Officers on duty in the house is contaminated and the injured Officers end up not being taken care of when the leave the home at the end of their shifts.

The Village budget is severely compromised by the escalating spending needed to sustain the open-ended "crime" fighting measures. And none of the Board members is brave enough to stop the excursion because some citizens call them Weak on Crime.

Eventually after several long years and the deaths of many innocents and Officers, crime begins to subside. But, the citizens of the Village learn it's because the Chief of Police and Village Board decide to pay the criminals money to stop attacking the Officers. The Chief of Police retires, leaving the incoming Chief the task of what to do...

Liars like to claim "America Hasn't Been Attacked Since 911".

Do you know when the Amerithrax Attacks occurred? Why AFTER 911!

A sad chapter in those terrorist attacks just ended with the US Justice Department announcing a payout to the FBIs official scapegoat for the Amerithrax Attacks, Dr. Steven Hatfill. Perhaps ending the hope of ever finding the real perpetrators. The news release "just happened" to occur on Friday June 27th with no plan to have the news fall down The Memory Hole. From the New York Times Article:

The U.S. Government (that means you) will pay $4.6 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Steven Hatfill, a former U.S. Army biodefense researcher who was intensively investigated as a "person of interest" in the deadly anthrax letters of 2001, the Justice Department announced Friday.

A Justice Department spokesman, Brian Roehrkasse, said in a statement that the government admitted no liability but decided settlement was "in the best interest of the United States."

Now, the interesting thing is the two Senators Daschle and Leahy who were directly targeted by anthrax-laden letters were both Democrats opposed to the Patriot Act.

I don't put much stock in conspiracy theories. They tend to break down when explored to determine goals and control. For instance, if the Anthrax attacks were a conspiracy; Who ordered them? Who crafted the letters? Who is privy to the conspiracy? Because I do believe the FBI is working on solving the attacks and unless you think those directing the investigative effort are involved or are supressing information or hampering the effort, it's possible the investigation could succeed.

However, if this were a conspiracy the targeting of Daschle and Leahy would rank among the least subtle or the most sublime efforts every undertaken to dupe and induce fear in a populace. I do know one positive outcome of the Anthrax Attacks it ensured every Marine serving in 2001-2002 was forced to receive Anthrax "vaccinations" on threat of imprisionment and explusion under dishonorable conditions. See my earlier Anthrax post.

Iraq and September 11

Is it a fact that we went into Iraq to punish those responsible for September 11 as His Fraudulency reminds us once again:

Some of our fellow citizens wonder whether the mission in Iraq is worth the cost. I strongly believe it is. And here is why: The enemy has made clear that Iraq is the central battleground of the great ideological struggle of our time. This is a struggle between those who murder the innocent to advance their hateful objectives and those of us who love liberty and long for peace. We saw that these enemies -- what these enemies intend for our country on September the 11th, 2001 -- and we must do everything in our power to stop the enemy from attacking us again.

Of course, The Commander Guy continues to deliver his rousing speeches to military audiences, this time to the 82nd Airborne. RockRichard has an on the ground SITREP of the pomp and circumstance over at Vetvoice. I wonder if Ole Tipsy Canoe had to recuse himself from the "latrines" at the infamous Ft. Bragg barracks.

Meanwhile, pay no attention to the 15 Billion the Pentagon can not account for, merely the latest in the disappearance of money down the MIC Hole.

Why Iraq?

To gain strategic control of the Middle East, due to it's central location.

Afghanistan is too far away from the region. By being centrally located The US military in Iraq threatens Iran to the East and Syria to the West. Additionally, the US position provides protection for Israel and Saudi Arabia.

The other strategic concern of the Middle East is simple: Oil. Stopping the post-Shah Iran from dominating the Oil reserves of the region has been the goal of the US since 1979. Unfortunately, the Bumbler in Bush only strengthens the repressive Iranian Governments position when he ineloquently slurs his Axis-of-Evil speeches and threatens an attack of Iran.

So, let's dispose of the those romantic notions of Bringing the Light of Democracy to the region or the fearmonging of Terror and Weapons of Mass Destruction.

The plight of the Kurdish people clearly illustrates our commitment to stop the spread of Democracy and self-determination. The Kurdish people will never be allowed to form a Nation-State for themselves. The government of Turkey is conducting a war on the Kurds (ostensibly their own people) in Eastern Turkey and will engage in full blown war (using F-16s sold to them by War profiters from the US) if the Kurds attempt to create the nation of Kurdistan.

And this is where the truth of the UN comes into play. The UN only cares for it's members who are (and this may surprise some) not human individuals but Nation-States. And it is in the interests of Nations to stop new members from being created. The grossness of the UN is for another day.

Is it worth it?

Is Iraq worth what we are paying? No.

Does leaving cheapen the sacrifices of those who have served and those who gave the final full measure? Maybe...

But it's a vulgar gambler's fallacy of irrational escalation used by Chickenhawk Warmongers to tap into the raw emotions of those who have lost loved ones or those who have served and want to, need to believe their government didn't send them into a war for profit.

But, as everyone who's worn the uniform can tell you the goals of the military are:
1) Mission Accomplishment.
2) Troop Welfare.

The US government doesn't "Support the Troops". To politicians sitting in a Corinthian leather chair in DC, you the soldier, are a blip on a power point presentation. If you're ground into hamburger to accomplish the mission, oh well.

Take a look at the graphic above. Notice anything? The last 4 years have all been statistically the same. And that's it. Each of those 3900 killed is nothing but a number to Washington, a statistic.

I hope next year will be different. I hope at the end of 2008, we won't add another 850 and 6000 to the those grim totals. We have purchased a fragile peace by throwing money at the Anbar Sheikhs and right now Moqtada al-Sadr is just bidding his time. Many things could lead an upsurge in violence; the death of Sayyid Ali Husaini al-Sistani, a broader Kurdish-Turkish War, a revival of the Anbar insurgency.

And then there is the money. Only a fool or a madman would continue to throw money into a losing proposition.

We are currently paying 15 Billion a month for Iraq and Afghanistan. That doesn't include the 440 Billion set aside at the beginning of the fiscal year for the War Department.

Unfortunately, what's worse Iraq isn't a losing proposition, to some. Vast amounts of US money have simply been wasted, to the point where, We the People will never know what happened to billions of dollars of hard currency in Iraq.

But, it's been a windfall for Ahmad Chalabi, Blackwater, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and many more tied into the sick and twisted Waltz of Death.

The Anti-War 110th Congress!

Yes, I'm so glad the democratically controlled congress is saying no to giving the Warmongers money!

Wait, this post reads the senate just approved another 70 Billion in war funding?!? And now Iraq/Afghanistan have surpassed Vietnam in War Profiteering...

Let's read what hillary had to say about Funding the Iraq War 7 months ago:
"Well, today we're talking about this very important immigration issue, there'll be time to talk about that later." ~ hillary clinton

Well of course you have time hillary, you don't have to worry about chelsea getting her Tits blown off by an IED! But, of course chelsea is special she's been groomed for leadership and has just started a $150000 job in New York. Can, We the People really ask such a special young woman to put that all on hold and endanger her health, life and sanity?

Unbelievable. Can anyone continue to delude themselves a democratic president will pull the troops out before 2012? Let alone any of the Insane republicans... This is one of the wages of the Warfare/Welfare State...

Vote for Ron Paul.

True Cowardice

Tomorrow, 12/12/07 at the University of Massachusetts Amherst brave Warrior Jonah Goldberg will give a lecture, All I am Saying is Give War a Chance.

You can (if space is available): "Join the UMass Republican Club for yet another lively and edifying political discussion on the costs, necessities, consequences, and benefits of war." (emphasis mine)

There is something especially twisted about enlistment age Men sitting around extolling the virtues of War while never entertaining the notion they themselves would have to pick up a rifle and fight.

Of course, I can understand the UMass Republican Club members trepidation. Who wants to go to MCRD San Diego or Parris Island to receive cruelty and maltreatment? As Sgt Glass stated, "I think it has to do with the Marine Corps not wanting to admit to the public what it takes to train somebody ... to go to war." (emphasis mine)

But, to those being trained as Captains of Industry and Leaders in Government the evils being visited upon others (home or abroad) matter little.

To them, War is a wonderful device to stifle dissent, unify the public under a hyper-patriotic Just War Banner and transfer vast amounts of wealth to those in charge of Government and Industry.

Operation Everyones Al Qaeda

The propaganda continues unabatted from the Bush Regime. Everyone in Iraq is a Member of Al Qaeda.

But, don't worry because the Surge is working and Al Qaeda in Iraq is being isolated and destroyed.

Except AQI are still a danger and we need to stay...

But, rest assured, "We're kicking ass."

Of course, Al Qaeda in Iraq is nothing more than the latest smoke-screen/boogeyman used by the Bush Regime to keep forces in Iraq. Even my old boss Corps Commandant James Jones admitted 98% of the violence in Iraq is done by Iraqis.

In the end it doesn't really matter, Bush is merely attempting to keep the clock ticking. I await the already infamous PETRAEUS REPORT in a few days, which Bush will use to bludgeon the nation into keeping 150,000+ troops in Iraq until he is safely ensconced in his retirement castle doing his daily power hours.

The "Surge" isn't working but it doesn't matter.

Because we aren't leaving Iraq, ever.

The blitz is on, to convince you some way anyway the Surge is working and we are "winning" in Iraq. Winning is, of course, left as nebulous as ever by the Bush Regime.

But, that won't stop the War proponents from claiming, after some have spent as much as a whole week themselves in Iraq, the tide has turned. Bill Kristol is the latest. When he was asked if the Surge was working, "Yes. No one there thinks it’s not..."

Really, Bill? By all of the measure ables; violence is up, security is down, the infrastructure is in shambles, the political situation is as dysfunctional as ever, things don't seem to have improved. But I guess saying it is makes it so.

However, from time to time the Generals on the ground slip up and reveal, no matter what happens with the Surge, the US isn't leaving Iraq anytime soon.

General David Petraeus, "We're going to be engaged in Iraq for some foreseeable future." And "I don't know whether this will be decades, but the average counter insurgency is somewhere around a nine or a 10 year endeavour."

The Top Marine Corps General, Commandant James Conway, The U.S. military needs more time in Iraq than the American public is willing to invest and that difference is "troubling."

General Raymond Odierno endorses a 50 year+ model ala the US presence in South Korea.

All this back and forth over the Surge is a game of 3 Card Monte, with the true goal being the swindling of billions from the American people.

The Surge! The Surge! We are Winning!

August 2nd addendum: It seems Mr. O'Hanlon can't backpeddle fast enough from his joyous war piece.

August 1st addendum: Well, it appears, Two fine Warmongers are citing this piece of writing as "evidence" we need to stay in Iraq...

Golly, I wish I could type faster! But, two fine gentlemen, Michael O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack have stunning news from Iraq! according to their latest article, We are finally getting somewhere in Iraq.

And they would know, because they were there for a WHOLE EIGHT DAYS! Interestingly, they list several cities where they visited after landing in Baghdad; Ramadi, Tal Afar and Mosul.

So, while I don't have their itinerary, they can't have spent more than a few days in each. Tell you what fellas try spending 15 months in one of those cities and then you tell me, "things look much better than before."

But Mr. O'Hanlon and Mr. Pollack how did you come to these conclusions? On what metrics?

US KIA and WIA? 691 and 3801 since Jan. 2007.

Civilian deaths? These numbers don't strike me as positive signs.

Perhaps overall attacks are down? At over 5000 attacks per month?

Perhaps Baghdad has reliable power for longer hours now? Oops, once Baghdad's amount of electricity dropped under 6 hours per day, the State Department decided to stop reporting it.

Maybe the political situation is improving? Mr. O'Hanlon's own words belie any hope of that, "there is nonetheless little good to report on the political front..."

Maybe Iraqi forces are ready to take over in the Al Anbar province? Well, Marine Major General Walter Gaskin in Al Anbar says the Iraqi forces won't be ready for 'a couple of years'?

"But there is enough good happening on the battlefields of Iraq today that Congress should plan on sustaining the effort at least into 2008." Michael O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack.

Ah and that's the key isn't it, the Surge should go on for another year, despite everything to the contrary, the troops have to stay, the money has to keep flowing, the anti-war loonies have to be marginalized and the blood of Americans and Iraqis has to keep flowing because you spent a week in the desert.

Slap on A New & Improved Label and the People will love War

This is so disgusting. JFCOM pays $400,000 to commission a study on how to re-sell the war to the American people.

But since the U.S. military invaded Iraq in 2003, its "show of force" brand has proved to have limited appeal to Iraqi consumers, according to a recent study commissioned by the U.S. military.

The key to boosting the image and effectiveness of U.S. military operations around the world involves "shaping" both the product and the marketplace

Who writes this tripe? "Show of Force brand" has limited appeal to Iraqi consumers? I guess seeing your grandfather blown to bits by an errant GBU-31 or having your mother thrown to the ground, zip tied and bagged tends to irk people. Also the 655,000 who have been killed in this imperialist adventure no doubt have dampened the rose petals and liberation parades.

A few years back, as we prepared for OIF 2.5 in Ramadi, a good friend clearly articulated the selling of Iraq. The War on Terror (which chicken hawks like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh can shout for hours and hours and hours on their radio shows) is an easy to handle slogan, he stated, whereas the War to realign the Middle East to conform to American business and military interests, by simultaneously protecting Israel and Saudi Arabia, placing a puppet regime in Iraq with which to gain access to their oil reserves and possessing force projection ability towards both Syria and Iran just wouldn't be an easy sell.

But, hey Americans don't want to know the truth. The truth is brutal. Americans can't be bothered.

Fortunately there are some heroes bringing the truth for Americans to see: IVAW and Operation First Casualty.