Tuesday July 20, 2010, 2:45 pm

Considering that we are being constantly reminded by our "representatives" (on both sides of the aisle) that we have no more money . . .

Perhaps, we should remind them of the over ONE TRILLION DOLLARS we have spent tracking down terrorism in the Middle East. Cost of War

We could use that here, at home, during these trying times for the very citizens -- whose tax dollars are paying for war mongerers to remain billionaires. (Corporations -- now classified as citizens -- like Halliburton and Blackwater.)

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 2:46 pm

Please post your anti-war petitions HERE!

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 2:57 pm
We have no business forcing our form of government on other countries and then we call it "nation building". And the old men politicians, as usual, do not mind spilling the blood of the young.

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 3:00 pm
The war in Iraq was based on lies, as is the war in Afghanistan. The only ones who benefit are the corporations and PTB. Phooey on them!

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 3:05 pm
 
From War in Context:
 
In the second article on its series on Top Secret America, the Washington Post looks at “National Security Inc” where the boundaries of government have dissolved in a defense-intelligence-corporate world.
 
What all of these contracts add up to: This year, General Dynamics’ overall revenue was $7.8 billion in the first quarter, Jay L. Johnson, the company’s chief executive and president, said at an earnings conference call in April. “We’ve hit the deck running in the first quarter,” he said, “and we’re on our way to another successful year.”
 
But here’s what’s remarkable about this description of General Dynamics: no mention of the way in which this company exemplifies in its governance the revolving door through which retired military officers and government officials cash in on their years of “public service.” Nothing lubricates the wheels of defense commerce than to have a board room filled with retired generals and admirals

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 3:06 pm
As the '80's song goes; ''War! What is good for! Absolutely nothing!''

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 3:19 pm
 
Obama and the Warfare/Welfare State
 
The other fallacy that has been bought hook line and sinker by the American public is that American style democracy can be spread around the globe through force by utilizing the most powerful military in the history of mankind. In 2000 the U.S. expenditure on Defense was under $400 billion. The Obama 2011 budget proposes military spending of $895 billion. That level is 8 times the next highest country. The country that we are supposed to fear as the biggest threat to world peace, Iran, spends $10 billion per year on their military. This is 1.1% of the annual U.S. spending level. The “War on Terrorism” has cost over $2 trillion since 2001. Do you feel safer than you did on September 10, 2001? The neo-conservatives like Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and Josh Bolton have used fear tactics to scare the American public into never ending war in the Middle East, Big Brother like “security” measures like passage of the Patriot Act, and visions of mushroom clouds if we don’t attack our perceived enemies before they attack us. The citizens of the U.S. have not heeded the wisdom of our founders:
“War should only be declared by the authority of the people, whose toils and treasures are to support its burdens, instead of the government which is to reap its fruits.” – James Madison
The country has been in constant military conflict across the globe since the 1940s and Congress has never carried out their Constitutional duty to declare war. The military industrial complex and the politicians they control have subverted the U.S. Constitution in order to enrich themselves at the expense of the citizens. The United States of America in 2010 is Greece, but with the biggest baddest military machine ever conceived as our backstop. The only difference between our socialist state and those that are tottering towards collapse is that we are also burdened with policing the world. This guarantees that our empire will not collapse with a whimper, but with a big bang.
The U.S. welfare-warfare state is not the result of any one political party’s agenda. The Republican Party and the Democratic Party have cooperated to achieve this result. Republicans passed the largest entitlement expansion since LBJ in 2003. Democrats have just proposed the largest military budget in the history of mankind. It isn’t easy to run the National Debt from $5.7 trillion in 2000 to $13.1 trillion today. It takes cooperation and mutual ineptitude on the part of both parties to achieve such a spectacular result. $30 billion unfunded unemployment extensions are attached to bills to pay for the war in Afghanistan. If you vote against the bill, you are not supporting our troops and you want to kick people out into the street. The two sides pretend to offer alternatives to the American people, but their agendas coincide:
“Mystical references to society and its programs to help may warm the hearts of the gullible but what it really means is putting more power in the hands of bureaucrats.” – Thomas Sowell
 

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 3:20 pm

Worth repeating:

“War should only be declared by the authority of the people, whose toils and treasures are to support its burdens, instead of the government which is to reap its fruits.” – James Madison

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 3:28 pm
Sadly the reason for these wars is oil and the colusion of the security and secret service industries in perpeptuating and manufacturing reasons to go to war, there being no difference in the UK or US governments and others on this front Far too many have died for a non existant cause simply to satiffy the secret bureaucrats, arms dealers and oil baronsof out vsriuos nstions. Our troops UK and US etc should be brought home now and the money saved used to promote peace and prosperity not death and destruction!

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 3:30 pm
It's always the old who lead us to war,always the young to fall (lyrics from Phil Ochs I ain't marchin anymore) truer words were never spoken

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 3:56 pm
 
Another interesting insight as to where your tax dollars are going . . .
 
Tim Shorrock Asks Why It Took the Washington Post So Long to Investigate the US Intelligence System
 
James Clapper used to be the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. He was an Air Force general, came through the ranks. He took over the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, the NGA, which you discussed a little bit there with Bill Arkin. He took over the NGA just after 9/11, a few days after 9/11, and ran it for four or five years. And actually, the NGA is a very interesting organization. It collects the imagery—it analyzes the imagery they pick up from satellites and overhead UAVs, and they merge that with intelligence that the National Security Agency picks up, and they can actually, you know, track individual people, track people in real time. And that’s how a lot of the assassinations that have taken place in Iraq and Pakistan have been done, with technology like that. But the NGA is a very important agency. It also does—conducts a lot of domestic surveillance. I actually wrote a story, and it’s in my book, as well, about how the NGA, for the first time, for the first time ever during Hurricane Katrina, flew U-2s over the Gulf Coast and collected imagery intelligence. So Clapper has a lot of experience in this area.
 
He also has close connections to contractors, which I write about. You can also find that article on my website, an article I wrote recently for Foreign Policy in Focus about the many contractors that he has been—either been a board member of or been an adviser to. And interestingly enough, in his written testimony to the Senate committee, he called this whole thing "the intelligence enterprise," quote-unquote. And I think that’s a very interesting phrase for someone to use. It’s not accidental that they’re calling this the "enterprise," because, after all, it is a combination of private-sector companies and US national intelligence agencies. But, you know, going back to the point I made earlier, 70 percent of our budget—excuse me—goes to these companies, so the vast majority of our funds in intelligence go to private-sector corporations.
 
SEVENTY PERCENT (70%) OF OUR BUDGET GOES TO PRIVATE-SECTOR CORPORATIONS.
 
Hell, no wonder they gave them more rights than the citizens -- who pay them! [smirk]
 
 

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 4:06 pm
Thanks, Just C. War is always something horrible... Noted.

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 4:08 pm
"SEVENTY PERCENT (70%) OF OUR BUDGET GOES TO PRIVATE-SECTOR CORPORATIONS." Now THAT'S Obscene!

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 4:10 pm
Afghanistan is where Empires go to die.. maybe America SHOULD be there?;)

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 4:20 pm
 
Tell Congress to Reduce Military Spending
 

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 4:21 pm
BRING OUR LADS HOME

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 4:21 pm
Our current military budget is nearly one trillion dollars yearly, now how about considering that we also have troops in almost 100 countries on a permanent basis. Oh - and just how much of that money pays for the corporate contractors? Why is it that suddenly our troops need their food served by expensive contractors to mention just one of many unnecessary but grossly expensive areas that are now covered by outside contractors. Can you even imagine in WWII, the troops waiting for a contractor? When the Allies invaded from France to push on to Germany, the supplies of food, and munitions were coming from a device called the "mulberries" something Churchill proposed and worked very well, sort of a flotilla of supply depots just off the coast of France. That war had to be fought, one way or another we would have been in that war, since then...well it's been a game of politics, growth of power and lies to the public. What did we win in Iraq? What (other then a pipeline) do we win in Afghanistan? Where is the nobility of the American Ideal? Bring our troops home all of them, if they need work, consider that our infrastructure is a disaster and at one time no one could do this work better then the Army Corps of Engineers. We need to address our own country and its' many problems before marching off to invade foreign lands.

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 4:31 pm

Support Antiwar Legislation - STOP THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN


http://www.care2.com/news/member/760164053/1460475

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 4:32 pm

Thank you, Kit.

It's frightening to me how nonchalant citizens are, even now -- while they are being directly affected -- when faced with these proven FACTS.

Heartless corporations, in the business of surveillance and murder, are becoming this countries ONLY EXPORT. Our main money-making product is WAR!

And only those who are NOT soldiers are reaping the benefits. This country's newest generations are being used as disposable fodder . . . and even more wars are being negotiated as we read these words.

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 4:37 pm

[sorry about the typos.]

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 5:03 pm
 
Ask your member of Congress to join Barbara Lee as a co-sponsor of HR 3699, which prohibits any increase in the number of members of the United States Armed Forces serving in Afghanistan.
 
TELL OBAMA AND CONGRESS: STOP THE WAR ON IRAN BEFORE IT STARTS!
 

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 5:19 pm


WarIsACrime.org
U.S. Peace Movement to Meet in Albany

And you're invited!

Hundreds of people will be gathering in Albany, N.Y., July 23-25 to decide how best to strengthen the movement to end the carnage and destruction resulting from wars and occupations. You can learn more and register to take part at National Peace Conference.org

National Conference to Bring the Troops Home Now!

July 23 to 25, 2010

Crowne Plaza Hotel, Albany, New York

Carole thanks for the story, keep up the good fight. I'm with you all the way.

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 5:22 pm
Bring our troops home safely in one piece
Tks Carole

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 5:28 pm
Thanks for the post, Carole. I'm not sure that I agree that citizens are "nonchalant" about this. Just like the soldiers that are sent back to action over and over again, I think there is also a weariness and a feeling in those of us who "fight" for peace of being shell-shocked by the idea that war just never ends. Many of us are disappointed (to say the least) or feel betrayed that the current leaders that we elected to "change" things and stop the war, stop the killing, stop the destruction, don't appear to be committed to this anymore. We can petition our fingers off, we can march our feet off, we can work our butts off, yet it's the same old same old. Corporations run things and war (as you wisely stated) "is our main money-making product" . So we are not really being "nonchalant", just looking for a way to be heard when our leaders' ears are blocked by the dollars that big business stuffs in them. (Sorry for the strange mental images.)

Here is a great prize-winning video which is worth watching:
Why Are We In Afghanistan?. It is enlightening.

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 5:33 pm

Thanks, Judy . . . and, of course, much of what you say is true. (But, there are also many people who really can't answer, "Why are we in Afghanistan?" And who haven't even questioned it.)

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 6:06 pm
 
Judy, I can NOT thank you enough for letting me know about the film:  Why Are We In Afghanistan?
 
I've watched it, and posted it in two of my groups!
 
Excellent . . . and a MUST SEE.
 

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 6:10 pm

(It was eerie how much the narrator's voice reminded me of Aaron Russo.)

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 6:26 pm
 
Tell Congress to End The Afghanistan Occupation
 
It's time to stop funding a war that has no end. Tell Congress to vote "no" on the $33 billion supplemental war funding bill.
 
Rethink Afghanistan (Brave New Films):  Administration officials are frantically trying to reassure Congress and the American people that we’re making 'progress' in Afghanistan, but the Rolling Stone article makes it clear that McChrystal’s inner circle knew better. As one of his senior aides said, “If Americans pulled back and started paying attention to this war, it would become even less popular.”
 
 
 
 

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 6:46 pm
Carole, I hate war and want to cover it with so many flowers it will never rise again. America is in the full flight of Imperialism with profit as its motive. The spoils from its wars are now being given direct to companies, as with British imperialism in India in the past. As you know, we agree in most things.

Having stated my position to avoid confusion I must say you have confused me here Carole. I don't understand all that stuff you put under the title 'Obama and the welfare state'. The last pragraph doesn't seem to be you. Are you for or against...what? If the US didn't put so much into killing people it could give the majority of its citizens a much better life and deserve the title of welfare state. That is, as long as the insatiably greedy few didn't grab it all as they do now. I'm into welfare states. Welfare means happy, healthy and meaningful. Who wouldn't want that? There is no way its incompatible with freedom because not being free is not having true welfare.

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 7:07 pm

In the sense of the article, Hugh, the discussion was of welfare as citizens being dependent upon the government out of economic necessity. (As the author described it, "Until reading Niall Ferguson’s brilliant The Ascent of Money, I never realized that welfare and warfare have gone hand in hand for over a century.")

Yes, I believe that citizens are entitled to such things as pensions, Social Security, unemployment insurance, healthcare, etc. -- as they have paid into those funds through their wages. However, the danger comes when the government spends so much money (all of which, many people forget, was paid to them by citizens through taxes) on warfare that it does not consider its own infrastructure, and providing jobs and opportunities to its citizens so that there are only two classes, with the lower class becoming serfs to government hand-outs, with little to no chance of rising above that, and the middle class slowly disappearing.

That's, in fact, what is happening now in the United States. With a volunteer military, and few jobs, the recruits are more and more signing up for sheer economic survival. Capitalism is not conducive to the idyllic welfare state you are envisioning; and there's huge resistance to socialism.

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 7:26 pm

Maybe it's the terminology, Hugh. Here, in the States, welfare is similar to the "dole" (if that's what Aussies call it), or charity.

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 7:28 pm
Thank you for letting President Obama, Vice President Biden, Secretary of State Clinton, Secretary of Defense Gates, U.N. Secretary-General Ban, Congressional leaders, and the media know you want NO WAR ON IRAN!

Thank you for signing “Tell Congress to Reduce Military Spending”

1. Submitting to Bill Nelson . . .
2. Submitting to George S. LeMieux . . .
3. Submitting to John L. Mica . . .
4. Submitting to President_Obama . . .
Done!

Thanks for taking action to oppose the failing war in Afghanistan. As a senior advisor to General Stanley McChrystal told Rolling Stone: “If Americans pulled back and started paying attention to this war, it would become even less popular.”

I'm tracking link, I'll sign the rest as they come along.

I am always amazed at how our so called Leaders can find all the money they want when it comes to the protection of special interests, death and destruction. Yet they hem and haw on how we can't give our citizens health care, unemployment benefits, fix our infrastructure, fund our schools properly, and now some Police Dept.'s will not answer all calls now due to budget constraints.

Sorry I don't know how to do that BLUE link thing, maybe someone can send me some instructions on how to do it. But here are three petitions, but one will have to paste and copy.

Petitions:

http://www.gopetition.com/petition/30533.html

http://kucinich.us/afghanistan/

http://www.change.org/codepinkalert/petitions/view/stand_up_against_escalating_war_in_afghanistan

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 7:31 pm
 
http://www.gopetition.com/petition/30533.html
 
http://kucinich.us/afghanistan/
 
http://www.change.org/codepinkalert/petitions/view/stand_up_against_escalating_war_in_afghanistan

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 7:34 pm
Thanks Carole for making it easier for everyone.

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 7:50 pm
No war!No war!No war!No war!No war!
HOPE OUR WORLD IN PEACE FOREVER!

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 7:56 pm
Stop the WAR! World Peace!

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 8:23 pm
No one likes war.

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 9:42 pm
All the petitions signed.
No more wars
no more crimes
lets give the peace a chance, lets help our children to live in safe and peace.

well done Carol, you've done a great job, God bless you.

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 10:24 pm
Keep sending a daily message to Contact Elected Officials:USA.gov to end the war and bring our boys home. Who knows with so many on Care2 the message might just get through instead of just us telling each other how much we hate war and want to end this one.

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 10:35 pm
Thanks Carole

Tuesday July 20, 2010, 11:13 pm
Thanks Carole, for keeping us updated on this crazy war. Iraq was illegal, Afghanistan, illegal and now Iran. War was only ever profitable to warmongers,never the people. All three world wars have proven that. We have many of our troops over here suffering post war illnesses, they are dangerous now they've learned to kill, can't live in normal society. But they are sons of mothers, just like the innocent are in Iraq and Afghanistan and they are dying to make a profit for big corporations not for any ethical or moral reasons.As a mother of two sons it would be over my dead body that they would go to war, to kill another mothers son.You are right on the button Carole that unemployment fills the ranks of the military, that's why they create it. War is not the answer or solution, the argument is lost with the first bullet fired, eventually leading to sitting around a table talking to find answers and solutions. Meanwhile the long road takes many mothers sons.

Wednesday July 21, 2010, 12:00 am
Köszönöm.

Wednesday July 21, 2010, 12:23 am
The basis of the Afghanistan campaign was faulty from the first, demonstrating the abysmal ignorance of those who launched it. That country, populated by a plethora of independent, incompatible tribes will never accept foreign domination in any shape or form and is most unlikely ever to unite under a siungle ruler. Democracy is utterly alien to their nature.
Manhattan's dreams of exploiting the nation's natural resources, the true reason for the war, will turn into a nightmare of slaughter while the conflict drags on.

Wednesday July 21, 2010, 1:14 am
Carole, I guess you have to educate me more on our different vocabularies and the dynamics of your economy. I'll keep reading your stuff and get it eventually. I don't think the economy here works that way as during the Vietnam war the Australian economy had a very high employment rate without the dodgy accounting that goes on today. Also, Welfare to me is a human right that acknowledges government responsibility to care for citizens down on their luck or incapable of helping themselves, ensuring survival at level that sustains a reasonable standard of living (Not luxury of course, but not misery through self-righteous witholding by the rich). I'm sure we share that dream and as I am a dyed-in-the-wool Utopian I will stick with it as a goal for society. Who gives a damn about current reality other than as an archaic and dysfunctional system we have not yet overcome. "We shall overcome one day"! I support the dole and believe that those who do not have been persuaded by the capitalists that sharing is weakness, therefore opposing a national dole scheme is playing into their greedy hands.

Wednesday July 21, 2010, 3:34 am
Wisdom for the ages, the last line in this excellent article from an Afghani : "Abdul Farani, owner of the Kabul Health Club told McClatchy, "I believe in the value of a peaceful environment. We can rise to the levels of angels or sink to the level of devils, and what's different is the environment."

Wednesday July 21, 2010, 3:46 am
Thank you Carole, for posting the petitions. I signed them all plus a few more related to funding the wars.
We just had a crisis in this area last weekend. A young man who served 2 tours in Afghanistan killed himself after losing his job at UPS. This was after holding his family hostage and a police intervention. War affects everyone, even after they come home. Tragedy will vontinue to follow these poor souls. The suicide rate of soldiers is on a steady incline.

Wednesday July 21, 2010, 4:48 am
Thank you for sharing!

Wednesday July 21, 2010, 5:52 am
Thank you Carole and the rest of you too! Could not send some of you stars because I have done so within the week. I'm thinking the opium might be another reason for us really being there. As well as the pipeline and like many of you have said, the make the people who profit off war richer. How right you are about our elected officials not even listening anymore because they are corporate/NWO puppets! I wonder how many people really believe we should be there vs the rest of us who know we should not? Thanks everyone for the info!

Wednesday July 21, 2010, 6:21 am
There's a lack of agreement as to what 'socialism' means. The country that promotes war also enslaves blacks in corporate prisons : not that there aren't many others also. Dick Cheney own one of these testimonies to Fascist Amerika. I know one black lady calls it Amerikkka to make two points simultaneously.
That isn't nice language. The citizens of the USA generally have no concept what goes on in their name : not in terms of human suffering globally. But just as the Horatio Alger fantasy that everyman can make it to the top is whipped still - and it too is a lie especially in the US - so is ignorance of history and social theory.
If you say that Marxism and the like were the product of professors studying the records of history and trying explain what had happpened in the industrial world you will get comments like 'Communist' : instant programmed hysterical reaction.
The word Bolshevik for the monsters who took over that movement scarcely registers. Nor do people realize that the Authoritarians do not care about ideology. It is a tool of distraction while they practice control and Lie,Lie,Lie. Both 'Communists' and Fascists - and General Motors and Bu$hCo and more put Hitler in place as another puppet figurehead to stir up trouble using time proven methods of iron control.
But worst is the lack of the sinking realization that the SS ended up Home in the USA - and Brazil and Argentina - simply because they were rich with what they had stolen....just like the rest of the gang.
And people wonder why you can't get 'responsible government'. It is. Just not to you!

Wednesday July 21, 2010, 6:28 am
Noted Carole, I haven't read every comment as I would be here until after Midnight! I'm sorry but I'll come back tomorrow and read the lot! Kandahar is where my son was and am I glad he's out of there now! I think Bush Sr has a lot to answer for as he said there were weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq. He wanted to go and finish everything there and then but was told "No" by whom I don't know as I'm not up with your presidents. Instead his son did it for him or so we thought. I also think the main reason is the Black Gold! As so often there is always something that must attract the government. I truly wish these wars would stop right now. Although I read somewhere on the computer that America has said there wouldn't be any soldiers in Afghanistan by the end of 2014. I would be a hypocrite if I said I believe that as I can't and don't. I hope we, Australia, will pull out it's troops well before then as we have lost more soldiers in the last 2 months than we have done since we went into Iraq and Afghanistan. Most got killed by roadside bombs. Why? because they have been safest at the roadside than showing themselves in the middle of the road. Whoever is planting these bombs is getting quite clever and they're learning from America!!!!!!!! I'm sorry to have to say that as I have so many American friends and I treasure your friendship! This is not directed at my friends, believe me, this is directed at those people who keep on sending their soldiers and Marines on war dury over and over again> I'm NOT surprised that you have so many suicides amongst the young soldiers especially those who've done more than 1 or 2 tours in either country! I do hope it's true that America is going to pull out every man and woman out of there by 2014 rather earlier than that. But you have a federal Election in 2 yrs time and I dount it that Obama will get back in. Not because he doesn't keep his promisses but because so many people are disillusioned at the moment. The trouble in the Gulf of Mexico hasn't helped him either! But if the oposition were to come back in again!!!!!!!!!!! I'm sorry but I can't see this happen at all!

Wednesday July 21, 2010, 6:45 am
Carol - You have done a lot of research and shared a lot of important information to many of us. Like you, I also am disgusted by the horrific increase of spending towards a war that will never be won. There have been more deaths over the last month than ever before and for what?????? As I have said before many times, and I see that Marty believes exactly as I do --- It is about the pipeline and the drugs. The military has been making decisions for years with regard to telling Presidents and senators what they want - MORE SOLDIERS, MORE MONEY and the corruption that goes on between the military and contractors is so powerful and seemingly without having to answer to anyone!!! It is time to make the military accountable for their wasteful spending and secret deals with these contractors. We all have to put pressure on the senate and all the elected officials. TRANSPARENCY, TRANSPARENCY!!!!! This seems to be the new 50.00 word that elected officials have adopted. Who thinks up these terms?????? WE WANT A FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING OF WHAT THE MILITARY SPENDS. TO WHOM AND FOR WHAT !!!!! Keep up the great work Carol

Wednesday July 21, 2010, 7:50 am
Just was reading an article posted on the LA Times regarding the slipping support of Congress (even among conservatives) for the war and the strategy being used. It states: "Lawmakers' strong reactions are partly about politics in an election year. According to an ABC TV- Washington Post poll released last week, only 43% of Americans believe the war is worth fighting."

OK, first it's clear that the public is NOT in favor of the war. It also seems clear that the only time we can even attempt to get a politician's attention is in an election year. (And even then, what they do AFTER elected can change with whatever way the political wind is blowing.) Anyway, it's up to us to capitalize on THIS MOMENT, get our message across and hold them to it. There are many great links listed here to visit and start taking action now.

Wednesday July 21, 2010, 8:17 am
Thank you Carole--all actions taken.

Wednesday July 21, 2010, 10:04 am
YES, for we the people, war is good for ABSOLUTELY NOTHING...However for all the banksters, corporations/government corporations war = HUGE PROFITS and CONTROL over everything/everyone. That's the reason there has been a war on drugs, a war on this or that dating back who remembes how far??? A declared WAR on ANYTHING puts us under the Emergency Powers Act/Martial law, under which the u.S. GOVERNMENT CORPORATION can't do anything it wants to do. All the EO's that have been passed were made possible by the declared WAR ON TERROR...................tno one should forget, he war on drugs has never ended either........once one begins to really study and understand how everything really works, the word games, word trickery and the acting the polliticians do for us become evident. These politicians should all be receiving Oscars by now...........

Wednesday July 21, 2010, 12:36 pm
To be upmost and honest here I'm totally sick of this War that does not belong, knowing that they deploy thousands of soilders a month it's no wonder it continues, fighting a War with NO NAME.

Wednesday July 21, 2010, 2:33 pm
I think that eventually the US will have to negotiate with some form of the Taliban. It is unwise to walk away from this war as the situation in Afghanistan goes back to the cold war and the superpowers have a moral obligation to fix the mess they made.

The Taliban are a bunch of religious fanatics who were once upon a time the good guys when they were fighting the "Godless" communists.

Since the 80's millions of Afghans have died. This situation was not of there own making but originated the day Jimmy Carter signed an executive order to allow the CIA to get involved in Afghan politics to trap the Soviets. The CIA plan worked and in order to save their ally in power the Soviets entered knowing fully well that it was their Vietnam.

It is easy to talk economic numbers, but this mess is because of the politics of greed that has infected the world since its inception. It will take several generations to eventually clean up.

Wednesday July 21, 2010, 3:40 pm

Hugh, yes, I believe that a country that can afford to budget ONE TRILLION DOLLARS PER YEAR in order to murder and intimidate other countries, wasting the flesh of its own country's able-bodied youth, can also redirect those funds toward humanitarian efforts.

Welfare? I, too, believe it should be defined in its intended purpose -- to support the general health and well-being.

Capitalism is a preposterous Ponzi scheme; and unfortunately, the majority of those who selfishly cling to their small share of the pie do not realize that their share was never intended to be more than bait. They have flipped the coin and are now mimicking the cruel behaviors of those who pull their strings.

There are so many correlations with the fall of the Roman Empire (and the despicable days of Nazis) that anyone of clear mind, should shudder at the recognition of their mirror image.

That said, those who -- purposely distanced -- are promoting this antagonism of "humanity vs. humanity" are chuckling at the energies diverted from the continuing evils being developed -- against BOTH, which will only profit THEM.

Wednesday July 21, 2010, 8:11 pm
Green Star back at you *C ... again. There must be a better way to show appreciation for the wonderful contribution you make here.

The best question of the day is the one that Carole referred to obliquely. Why spend $3,000 per person per annum in the USA alone to 'fight' an 'enemy' without any regular armed forces whatsoever. Just guerrillas trying to toss out foreigners in a place where living is hard enough without HE contributing to the interest factor.
That has absolutely nothing to do with the people who had the temerity to say the the member of a royal family which had been and still is their benefactor should be turned over to the armed lynch mob without benefit of due process.
I know it is very seldom anyone runs basic definitions of political theory by the gang : but Hugh's comments make me think a little scanning at the very least might be well placed. And they are coming from the same files that I've started to refer to only because it's no fun to have a library and no index : and you should outgrow mine fast once you get the idea.
From the Topical Index at opitslinkfest.blogspot.com or my.opera.com/oldephartte/links/ in what I think of as the Orwell file 'Perception Alteration' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutocracy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleptocracy

Wednesday July 21, 2010, 11:12 pm
guess there is always (well, one day there won't be) money for oil, natural gas (fossil fuels, in short), and ....drugs as in the case of Afghanistan.

what is US-style democracy anyway? rule by corporations? what an insult to the innocents and young soldiers killed, and infrastructure/ ecologies ruined.

Wednesday July 21, 2010, 11:13 pm
an "enemy" is a construct. for some (eg followers of Gandhi), there is no such thing as an "enemy".

Friday July 23, 2010, 7:41 am
I had written a piece noting 'declaring enemies' was part and parcel of 'framing' a situation. I stumbled on another I had posted which shows how it works in the field.http://my.opera.com/oldephartte/blog/show.dml/4149144

Friday July 23, 2010, 10:06 pm
Domestic policy can only defeat us; foreign policy can kill us.
John F. Kennedy

Monday July 26, 2010, 9:58 am
 
Wikileaks and Realities of Afghanistan War
 
Wikileaks (http://wikileaks.org) (if overloaded, http://wardiary.wikileaks.org) -- on Sunday released more than 90,000 internal records of U.S. military actions in Afghanistan from over the past six years. The group's founder Julian Assange spoke earlier today at the Frontline Club in London. Video is available at: (http://frontlineclub.com) .
 
Information based on portions of the Wikileaks data was published simultaneously by The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/warlogs) the British Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/warlogs) and Der Spiegel (http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,708314,00.html) .
 
Reuters reports today: "At least 45 civilians, many women and children, were killed in a rocket attack by the NATO-led foreign force in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province last week, a spokesman for the Afghan government said on Monday." http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66P35Y20100726
 
RICK ROWLEY, richard@bignoisefilms.org, http://www.bignoisefilms.com
Rowley, independent journalist with Big Noise Films, just returned from a six-week trip to Afghanistan where he was embedded with a U.S. Marine division in Marjah. He was on Democracy Now this morning, which reports: "The [leaked] documents provide a devastating portrait of the war in Afghanistan, revealing how coalition forces have killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents, how a secret black ops special forces unit hunts down targets for assassination or detention without trial, how Taliban attacks have soared and how Pakistan is fueling the insurgency." Also on the program was Daniel Ellsberg, who compared Wikileaks favorably to his leaking the Pentagon Papers, secret documents that showed a pattern of lying by the government about the Vietnam War. See video and transcript: http://www.democracynow.org/2010/7/26/the_new_pentagon_papers_wikileaks_releases
 
ANAND GOPOL, [in Kabul, Afghanistan] anandgopal80@gmail.com, http://anandgopal.com
Gopal has reported from Afghanistan for the Christian Science Monitor and the Wall Street Journal. His dispatches can be read at AnandGopal.com. He is currently working on a book about the Afghan war. In January, he wrote a detailed article on night raids and secret detention centers in Afghanistan: (http://www.tomdispatch.com/authors/anandgopal) .
 
RAY McGOVERN, rrmcgovern@gmail.com
McGovern was an Army infantry/intelligence officer in the early Sixties and then a CIA analyst for the next 27 years. He said today: "Congress is reportedly slated to vote for an additional $33.5 billion for war in Afghanistan this week. For Congress to proceed and vote for that money without digesting the information just released by Wikileaks would be ostrich-like. The documentation that the Pakistani intelligence services is working in cross-purposes with the U.S. offensive against the Taliban virtually assures defeat." McGovern is a co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, works with Tell the Word (the publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in inner-city Washington) and regularly writes for Consortium News, where he has an article today, "Afghan War Leaks Expose Costly Folly." http://www.consortiumnews.com/2010/072610a.html
 
JOSH STIEBER, [in D.C] desertcamel87@yahoo.com, http://contagiousloveexperiment.wordpress.com
Stieber is a former soldier in the Bravo Company documented in the video "Collateral Murder" (http://www.collateralmurder.com) released earlier this year by Wikileaks. The video shows U.S. soldiers killing civilians including a Reuters photographer and then shooting at people in a van attempting to rescue the wounded. Stieber co-wrote "An Open Letter of Reconciliation and Responsibility to the Iraqi People." http://www.lettertoiraq.com