American Foreign Policy – Have Our War Lovers Learned Anything?

[Catherina]

William Blum has an interesting new book out. I just ordered it and the timing couldn't be better. The title is America’s Deadliest Export – Democracy: The Truth About US Foreign Policy and Everything Else (http://williamblum.org/books/americas-deadliest-export)


“As in the past, in this remarkable collection Bill Blum concentrates on matters of great current significance, and does not pull his punches. They land, backed with evidence and acute analysis. It is a perspective on the world that Westerners should ponder, and take as a guideline for action.” – Noam Chomsky

“This book deals with unpleasant subjects yet it is a pleasure to read. Blum continues to provide us with convincing critiques of U.S. global policy in a freshly informed and engaging way.” – Michael Parenti, author of The Face of Imperialism

“With good cheer and humor Blum guides us toward understanding that our government does not mean well. Once we’ve grasped that, we’re far more capable of effectively doing good ourselves.” – David Swanson, author of War is a Lie

William Blum is the author of: Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War 2; Rogue State: A Guide to the World’s Only Superpower; West-Bloc Dissident: A Cold War Memoir; and Freeing the World to Death: Essays on the American Empire. Portions of the books can be read, and signed copies purchased, at www.killinghope.org. Previous Anti-Empire Reports can be read at this website at “essays”.

American Foreign Policy – Have Our War Lovers Learned Anything?
by William Blum

February 7, 2013

Over the past four decades, of all the reasons people over a certain age have given for their becoming radicalized against US foreign policy, the Vietnam War has easily been the one most often cited. And I myself am the best example of this that you could find. I sometimes think that if the war lovers who run the United States had known of this in advance they might have had serious second thoughts about starting that great historical folly and war crime.

At other times, however, I have the thought that our dear war lovers have had 40 years to take this lesson to heart, and during this time what did they do? They did Salvador and Nicaragua, and Angola and Grenada. They did Panama and Yugoslavia, and Afghanistan and Iraq. And in 2012 American President Barack Obama saw fit to declare that the Vietnam War was “one of the most extraordinary stories of bravery and integrity in the annals of military history”.

So, have they learned nothing? When it comes to following international law, is the United States like a failed state? The Somalia of international law? Well, if they were perfectly frank, the war lovers would insist that the purpose of all these interventions, and many others like them, was to keep the atheists out of power – the non-believers in America’s god-given right to rule the world – or to at least make life as difficult as possible for them. And thus the interventions were successful; nothing to apologize for; even the Vietnam War achieved its purpose of preventing that country from becoming a good development option for Asia, a socialist alternative to the capitalist model; precisely the same reason for Washington’s endless hostility toward Cuba in Latin America; and Cuba has indeed inspired numerous atheists and their alternatives for a better world.

If they were even more honest, the war lovers might quote George Kennan, the legendary State Department strategist, who wrote prophetically during the Cold War: “Were the Soviet Union to sink tomorrow under the waters of the ocean, the American military-industrial establishment would have to go on, substantially unchanged, until some other adversary could be invented. Anything else would be an unacceptable shock to the American economy.”

...

http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2013/02/09/american-foreign-policy-have-our-war-lovers-learned-anything-by-william-blum/

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

1. No. And, the rationalizations for the slaughter remain the same.

If anything, the war PR has gotten even more facile and obvious.

[Catherina]

5. Agreed. The PR war has gotten even dumber

and people are lapping it up even faster. It's astounding.

A few years from now, 95% of DU will say they were against this and fought like hell. I'm glad there's going to be a record.

[leftstreet]

2. There is no 'war' when Democrats are in office

It's not on the news

No politicians talk about it

There's no antiwar movement



We will return you to your regularly scheduled 'war' when there's a GOPer Prez

[Catherina]

8. That sums it up.

It boils down to just cheering for *our* team without even caring what you're cheering because if you cared, you'd at least be consistent. Right now it's partay time for another 3 years, then people can start acting all concerned and principled.

It won't fool anyone.

[ProSense]

11. Evidently, there is

always war: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022315653

It's likely that President Obama will end two wars during his administration. He has already ended one.

[green for victory]

3. he should have gone back to '53 (at least)

"...Over the past four decades, of all the reasons people over a certain age have given for their becoming radicalized against US foreign policy, the Vietnam War has easily been the one most often cited...."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d'état

[Catherina]

10. 53 works for me since a few months later they went after Arbenz

and got a quarter of a million people slaughtered in Guatemala for corporate profit and to stop Arbenz who just wanted those companies to pay their just fees to the country for the land they *gave* themselves after stealing it from poor Mayan peasants.

60 years later, they're still murdering Mayans for who think they own the land the US and Canadian Mineral companies want.

53 was a very busy year all over.

[Laelth]

79. +1. n/t

-Laelth

[OldDem2012]

23. Actually, the founding of the CIA in 1947 would have been a good place to start. nt.

[nauthiz]

4. Sorry Obama is President

So now all wars make sense and are inevitable.

[Catherina]

12. Except we don't even call them wars anymore

since that would bind us to certain structural conventions like the Geneva Conv.

Orwell himself would be shocked at how devious the double-speak is.

[ProSense]

6. Interesting

From the bottom link in the OP:

But after all these years, after decades of American militarism – though not a day passes without some government official or media acolyte expressing his admiration and gratitude for “our brave boys” – cracks in the American edifice can be seen. Some of the war lovers, and their TV groupies would have us believe that they have actually learned something. One of the first was Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in February 2011: “In my opinion, any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should have his head examined.”

And here’s former Secretary of State George Shultz speaking before the prestigious Council of Foreign Relations last month (January 29): “Iraq and Afghanistan cannot be the template for how we go about” dealing with threats of terrorism.

A few days earlier the very establishment and conservative Economist magazine declared: “The best-intentioned foreign intervention is bound to bog its armies down in endless wars fighting invisible enemies to help ungrateful locals.”

However, none of these people are in power. And does history offer any example of a highly militaristic power – without extreme coercion – seeing the error of its ways? One of my readers, who prefers to remain anonymous, wrote to me recently:

Maybe things will change.

During confirmation, Kerry on drones:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022324408

[xchrom]

7. Du rec. Nt

[whatchamacallit]

9. They learned plenty

They learned how to create a "transformative event", attach it to a phantom enemy, and keep the gullible American people suspended in fear for perpetuity.

[Catherina]

13. Everytime I write a few sentences in response

I have to erase them because it's too depressing to see where we are right now and how eagerly certain people are embracing things in a their desperate zeal to get everyone else on board with things we all know inside are wrong, wrong, WRONG.

[whatchamacallit]

16. It's interesting

I've realized that once you buy into the uniquely 21st century 'war on terror', you're all in. And everything that follows, no matter how extreme, is acceptable. Continual war, loss of liberties, disproportionate responses and measures... Once you believe that there's this shadowy, omnipotent entity that will never stop trying to hurt you, I guess you're pretty much on board for anything.

The crazy thing about this "war" is that days run into weeks, weeks into months, months into years, years into decades... and whether the enemy strikes or not, we are still so gripped by fear that we've molded our entire society around it. I think we've entered the new dark ages.

[Catherina]

26. I think we're in a new dark age too.

and I don't see us getting out of it anytime soon.

Parents are supposed to try to give their children a better life and make decisions with the future of their children in mind. We've totally lost the plot. Our children and grandchildren will be nothing but serfs to struggling to put a little food on the table, struggling as badly as anyone in the Third World because that's where we're heading fast.

[libtodeath]

14. War has now become the norm and that is so sad.

[Catherina]

15. Now they're all over Africa

murdering more people and creating more *terrorists*. Cameron already informed the British public that this current Africa adventure, they're concentrating in Mali right now, is going to last for decades. I don't think people have any idea how harsh the payback is going to be but I know everyone's going to walk like 5 year olds going "Why do they hate us?"

Decades. They're admitting it up front now that they've gotten people used to being their little war slaves.

They're stealing all our money under this *Austerity* bullshit to pay for their adventures, directly and indirectly, but they're telling us


I'll let Marc McGowan tell it. He tells it so much better than I could here. He's talking about the British government but the austerity and war push is the same.

[randome]

18. You know, I'm trying to understand this viewpoint.

Both Somalia and Mali are undergoing a civil war. Do you think America -and France and the U.K.- should just sit back and watch?

The austerity bullshit I completely agree with. But doing nothing to stop people being murdered? Is that what you think we should do?

[99th_Monkey]

34. That's what civil wars are for

is both sides fighting it out, for better or worse, to decide
the fate of the nation.

If the USA was really concerned about these civil wars they
wouldn't be arming both $ides of the$e kind$ of conflict$ all
over the freaking globe.

[randome]

47. So it's every country for itself, huh?

Who gives a fuck how badly women and children are treated? We should just put a news blackout in place. We shouldn't need to hear about the bad things happening overseas since we're not going to do anything about it, anyways.

I really, really disagree with that kind of stance. Have you paid attention to how badly women and children are treated under Islamic dictatorships?

America is not always the noble hero on the world's stage. But sometimes we do good things.

[polly7]

49. Really? Concern for women and children?

How about child-brides?

The Afghan chieftain looked older than his 60-odd years, and his bearded face bore the creases of a man burdened with duties as tribal patriarch and husband to four younger women. His visitor, a CIA officer, saw an opportunity, and reached into his bag for a small gift.

Four blue pills. Viagra.

"Take one of these. You'll love it," the officer said. Compliments of Uncle Sam.

The enticement worked. The officer, who described the encounter, returned four days later to an enthusiastic reception. The grinning chief offered up a bonanza of information about Taliban movements and supply routes -- followed by a request for more pills.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/25/AR2008122500931.html

How about all the widowed, the mothers mourning children, the women in Iraq who could once work in any profession they wanted, now being too afraid to leave their homes?

Give it up. Women and children have never been of concern to anyone involved in these atrocities.

[randome]

50. If you're going to 'argue' that we should never have gone into Iraq, no one will participate.

But you're talking about Bush the Buffoon, not Obama. And Obama took us OUT of Iraq, in case that slipped your mind.

Somalia has been disintegrating since 1992. Mali has many reports of human rights abuses. If we're not there to try and stabilize matters, then why are we there?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

52. Obama took us out of Iraq, except he didn't

We still have troops there. And what drawdown he accomplished was years after he could have.

[randome]

54. Are you a military expert?

So why do you think Obama didn't take us out soon enough to suit you? Do you think he's lazy? Incompetent? Bent on hurting as many people as possible?

Or is it more likely the withdrawal was according to what was best for the region and for American troops?

We can both guess at this, of course, because I'm betting neither of us is a military expert.

Playing back-seat driver to complex military matters is easy but probably not very conducive to figuring anything out. Military matters, for the most part, are best left to military experts.

That is not the same as saying we should not keep up the pressure wherever we can. Or ignore anything that occurs. But Obama, I think, for the most part is doing the best job he can.

[polly7]

55. I mentioned the women in Iraq losing their independence.

Why did you ignore the rest? Do you not have a problem with giving old men Viagra to rape their child-brides? This should incense you, as someone so concerned that women and children suffer more by being Islamic than they would from decades of occupation, terror and drones.

Explain to me how exactly women and children have been helped by any of this.

[randome]

56. I'm sure as hell not going to DEFEND passing Viagra to these assholes.

But that's CIA spy stuff. It's easy to postulate why that particular situation occurred. All it takes is a little imagination.

But your link talks about 'younger women', not 'child-brides'. I'm not saying that situations you describe don't occur. I bet they do. But your link doesn't show that.

And I never said anyone suffers by being 'Islamic'. 'Islamic dictatorship' typically means virtual slavery for women.

I'm not sure what you mean by women 'losing their independence' in Iraq. Things were better before Bush invaded, no doubt about that.

[polly7]

57. This is a good site if you're really concerned about how well they've made out:

Last edited Mon Feb 11, 2013, 03:12 PM - Edit history (1)

http://costsofwar.org/

[randome]

59. That wasn't the challenge but I agree that the costs of war are horrendous.

And it started with the completely unnecessary invasion of Iraq by George Bush. A new President doesn't mean turning the world on a dime. It takes time to get us out of the intractable messes left by the previous administration.

Even now Iraq experiences suicide bombers. If anyone wants to complain about Saddam Hussein, at least he kept the country in relative peace. Our ill-considered invasion destabilized a big region of the world. We -and the civilians affected- will be paying the price for a long time.

Obama has done as good a job as he can, IMO.

[polly7]

62. You were trying to make a case for intervention / war because

.... just imagine how much worse they'd be without it. Yet you haven't come up with a single way they've benefited.

randome (10,137 posts)
47. So it's every country for itself, huh?

Who gives a fuck how badly women and children are treated? We should just put a news blackout in place. We shouldn't need to hear about the bad things happening overseas since we're not going to do anything about it, anyways.

I really, really disagree with that kind of stance. Have you paid attention to how badly women and children are treated under Islamic dictatorships?

America is not always the noble hero on the world's stage. But sometimes we do good things.

[randome]

66. There aren't many, that's for sure. But nothing is ever achieved by doing nothing.

We helped South Korea. We ended WWII. We liberated Kuwait? I wasn't even aware of that until I looked it up. Israel? Eh.

Yes, most American interventionism turns out badly or, at best, a mixed bag. But we have also aided U.N. and NATO efforts to stem humanitarian crises caused by civil wars.

When the alternative is to sit back and do nothing while millions die, I don't fault any administration for trying to do something.

Again, we are not always the noble player on the world stage, that's obvious. But sometimes we do good things.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

58. Yes, before the invasion, Iraqi women were some of the freest in the Arab world

Now the Shiites are in charge, and women have to cover up and are otherwise oppressed.

Heck of a job, Bushie!

Before the CIA began encouraging the anti-Marxist rebels in Afghanistan, restrictions on women varied by ethnic group (the Taliban enforce an extreme version of the behavioral code of the Pashtun tribe), but in Kabul, women wore everything from Western dress to burqas and everything in between.

Heck of a job, Carter and Reagan and Bush Sr.! Your uncritical anti-Communism condemned Afghanistan to 25 years of war and Afghan women to repression.

[randome]

60. No doubt we have fucked up a lot of countries.

I don't blame Obama for that, though. And in some countries, our meddling is to try and bring stability to humanitarian crises.

Maybe Obama should have supported Libya and Egypt more. Maybe he should have entered Syria over the objections of Russia.

But he didn't. I don't think he is quite the military adventurer some want to make him out to be. I don't think he is a 'war lover' as is implied in the OP.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

63. No, he should NOT have entered Syria

While Assad is no angel, neither are many of his opponents.

We cannot fix the world. I'm having trouble thinking of a time since the 1950s when the U.S. tried to fix another country and didn't fuck it up and leave it worse off than it was.

[ReRe]

37. Where do you think the weapons came from....

....that they are using? It's a perpetual circle our MIC has set up. We sell them guns>they start killing each other>we or another industrialized nation rushes in to stop them. Then it starts all over again. More weapons of mass destruction manufactured>they buy them and start killing their neighbor nations>we and/or other industrialized nations rush in to stop them. It's a racket.

[randome]

48. A lot of the weapons came from Libya.

Second-hand from the U.S., sure, but I don't think the military sees much value in selling weapons in the area. We're mostly using drones, which cost a hell of a lot less so where is the money to be made?

[ReRe]

64. Never mind n/t

[99th_Monkey]

32. It's hard work, creating more "terrorists" than you are vaporizing with drones ~nt

[Catherina]

38. We won't be able to kill them as fast as we make them

What is this Administration thinking?

A few years from now, we won;t even recognize this country.

[nineteen50]

35. Money and power

check sanity and peace everytime.

[Catherina]

39. Especially when you're the biggest arms dealer in the world n/t

[Demo_Chris]

17. Yes, they learned war is awesome when you don't have to fight

Last edited Sat Feb 9, 2013, 09:56 PM - Edit history (1)

[Catherina]

19. Or too rich. Or too connected.

Our children don't matter. No one's children do. Only theirs.

[Demo_Chris]

20. Yeah, lemme edit my post. Don't know WTF I was thinking. nt

[Catherina]

21. I wasn't correcting you

Just adding with bitterness at how easily people are being played.

Give em two years to rewrite all of this and say the majority of the US people wanted this as long as their were secret courts to provide checks and balances.

The least we could do is send Congress home and quit paying all those salaries since they don't serve a role anymore.

[indepat]

22. Armed with the moral authority bequeathed by God Almighty himself, America, after WWII, thwarted the

spread of godless communism and kept most of the dominoes from falling. More lately, America has taken upon itself moral authority to go to war against terror, more specifically godless terrorism perpetrated by radical Islamics, and in the process, employed its God-given right to launch pre-emptive wars of aggression, considering the entire world as a battlefield wherein America could launch its advanced weaponry against any known/suspected terrorist. Sadly, for more than 60 years, the powers to be seem to have never fully assessed what our nation has wrought, for instance, how many our forces have killed or maimed on their own soil. And how many Americans have been killed or maimed in this righteous crusade, how many, like I, have lost someone very important in their lives in some far away place while keeping us safe in the homeland?

[Catherina]

27. I'm sorry for your loss

The loss of so many lives is the worst part of it and they don't care.

Americans need to get out, travel more and understand the rest of the world because we've dragged the entire world down in this global madness. It doesn't matter how we see ourselves or how glibly people can justify these things. What's going to matter an awful lot to an awful lot of Americans down the road is how the rest of the world already sees us.

[indepat]

42. The name of my heroic eldest 1st cousin, whom I practically worshiped as a young lad, is listed on

the second tablet (the one just right of center) of the Korean War Memorial. His widow of 48 years grieves him to this day.

[Catherina]

45. 48 years

The pain never heals. This is what too many people aren't taking into account.

Humans never forget our loved ones.

[ReRe]

43. OK...

You stole my heart with that one...

[Luminous Animal]

24. I will be buying this book. Thanks for the links...

[Catherina]

28. You're welcome. Mine should be here in a week

I like the title of this article the most "Have Our War Lovers Learned Anything?". It should be a very short book since the answer is clearly NO.

[another_liberal]

25. "Freeing The World To Death."

Yep, that's us, "The Freedom Givers." Before our national war mania has run its course we will likely replace Germany as the World's most guilt-ridden country. And it will all have been in the name of "Freedom."

[99th_Monkey]

30. Like how FBI "protected and served" the shit out of Occupy ~nt

[another_liberal]

67. Just protecting . . .

Just protecting their own portfolios, I'm sure.

[Catherina]

31. "Freedom Drones"

It has such a nice, moral ring to it.

[another_liberal]

68. Once you're set free . . .

Once you're set free by a Hellfire missile, you stay set free!

[99th_Monkey]

29. I hear Africa is "next stop" for American Imperialist Over-reach.

Does Blum get into that at all? Predicting where our future "wars of
humanitarian necessity" will be carried out?

[Catherina]

36. He gets into Libya so I'm sure he touches on it

I know he's talked about Mali in several recent interviews but I don't think he went in any depth in this book. Here are the chapters


Table of Contents

Introduction
U.S. Foreign Policy vs. the World
Terrorism
Iraq
Afghanistan
Iran
George W. Bush
Condoleezza Rice
Human Rights, Civil Liberties and Torture
Wikileaks
Conspiracies
Yugoslavia
Libya
Latin America
Cuba
The Cold War and Anti-Communism
The 1960s
Ideology and Society
Our Precious Environment
The Problem with Capitalism
Media
Barack Obama
Patriotism
Dissent and Resistance in America
Religion
Laughing Despite the Empire
But What Can We Do?

[99th_Monkey]

41. Hey thanks for the contents page. looks like a great read. ~nt

[woo me with science]

81. Thank you for posting this. nt

[midnight]

33. K&R

[Comrade Grumpy]

40. I used to work with Bill. Glad to see he's still kickin' and as ornery as ever.

[Catherina]

44. Still kicking and making an impact. Book Review

William Blum's Cri de Couer A review of "America's Deadliest Export: Democracy"
William Blum (Zed Books, London/New York, 2013.)

Reviewed by Gary Corseri

...

Reading this scrupulously documented book, I lost count of the times I uttered, "unbelievable!" concerning some nefarious act committed by the US Empire in the name of freedom, democracy and fighting communism or terrorism. Reading Blum's book with an open mind, weighing the evidence, will bleach out any pride in the flag we have planted in so many corpses around the world. The book is a diuretic and emetic!

...

Some of the themes Blum covers (and often eviscerates) include:

1) Why they hate us;

2) America means well;

3) We cannot permit a successful alternative to the capitalist model to develop anywhere in the world;

4) We will use whatever means necessary--including, lies, deception, sabotage, bribery, torture and war--to achieve the above idea.

...

In his chapter on "Patriotism," Blum relates how, after a talk, he was asked: "Do you love America?" He responded with what we may take for his credo: "I don't love any country. I'm a citizen of the world. I love certain principles, like human rights, civil liberties, meaningful democracy, an economy which puts people before profits."
America's Deadliest" is a book of wisdom and wit that ponders "how this world became so unbearably cruel, corrupt, unjust, and stupid?" In a pointillistic approach, sowing aphoristic seeds for thought, Blum enumerates instances of that cruelty, often with wry, pained commentary. "War can be seen as America's religion," he tells us. Reflecting on Obama's octupling Bush's number of drones used to assassinate, collaterally kill and terrorize, he affirms: "Obama is one of the worst things that has ever happened to the American left." And, he avers, "Capitalism is the theory that the worst people, acting from their worst motives, will somehow produce the most good." And then turns around and reminds us--lest we forget--how the mass media have invaded our lives, with memes about patriotism, democracy, God, the "good life": "Can it be imagined that an American president would openly implore America's young people to fight a foreign war to defend "capitalism'?" he wonders. "The word itself has largely gone out of fashion. The approved references now are to the market economy, free market, free enterprise, or private enterprise."

...

Like Howard Zinn, Ralph Nader, Paul Craig Roberts, Cindy Sheehan and Bradley Manning, Blum is committed to setting the historical record straight. His book is dangerous. Steadfast, immutable "truths" one has taken for granted--often since childhood--are exposed as hollow baubles to entertain the un/mis/and dis-informed. One such Blumism recollects Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez's account of a videotape with a very undiplomatic Secretary of State, Colin Powell, and cowboy George Bush: "'We've got to smash somebody's ass quickly,'" Powell said. "'We must have a brute demonstration of power.' Then Bush spoke: 'Kick ass! If somebody tries to stop the march to democracy, we will seek them out and kill them! " Stay strong! " Kill them! " We are going to wipe them out!'"

...

http://dissidentvoice.org/2013/02/william-blums-cri-de-couer/

All the neocons are already pouncing on the book. I inadvertently linked to a copy of the review on one of their filthy, hateful sites, hence the quick edit.

[ReRe]

46. Yes & No

K&R

They learned that they could addict our society to the jobs provided by the MIC, and that they can make oodles and gobs of $Money$ in the process. A never-ending source of money. Why can the MIC not see that the world is tired of all the warring, all the senseless killing. They, alone, could lead us into a period of world peace. Instead of investing all their money back into the MIC, invest it into new industries, like a solar grid and alternative energy sources. Shut down the MIC slowly, over a period of say 25 yrs. And re-employee everyone from the MIC industries into the new industries. I know... I'm a dreamer. And it makes too much sense. After all,
"we can't have no utopia round here, no Man of LaMancha with impossible dreams coming true."
William Blum? Yes, by all means, Catherina. If anyone does not recognize the name of William Blum, they need to go the library and start checking his books out, one by one.

[Catherina]

51. What are these people going to do with all that money? Eat it?

Take it with them?

You're not a dreamer. You're a realistic human being. That's how far the bar of selfishness, nationalist superiority, sickness and egocentrism has shifted.

[ReRe]

69. I don't know, Catherina

... why they need so much money. I don't know...

[rdharma]

53. Have Our War Lovers Learned Anything?

"The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind. The answer is blowing in the wind."

[Catherina]

71. I'll be very disappointed if there isn't a next life

with major retribution against all the criminals and collaborators.

People everywhere have ONE life. No one, no country has any right to mess it up for them, to deprave them of it or deprive them of their loved ones. No one, no country has any right to think their lives are more valuable and support crimes that deprive other people of their God-given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

ALL men are created equal. ALL men, not just Americans, or Brits, or Frenchmen, but ALL men.

It says so right there in the Declaration of Independence that generations of good citizens have turned into meaningless bullshit as we go around the world destroying the lives of millions.


We hold these truths to be self-evident, that ALL MEN are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

[polly7]

73. Absolutely, Catherina.

Every once in a while, I reread the Declarations, Conventions and Protocols created to safeguard individuals, nations and the environment ... and wonder what the hell happened. We need to lock world leaders in a room together for a month and have your words on big screens everywhere they look, along with photos of the victims and devastation. Have the survivors, the maimed, the refugees .... given a platform to tell their stories, one after another, day after day.

[Catherina]

76. Just for a month? I think they need to spend as much time in there

as every single innocent person has in one of their torture prisons since, by their own actions, that's how long it takes to get possible results.

[TheKentuckian]

77. Sounds good after they are removed with extreme prejudice

and I don't just mean office holders but the "stakeholders" that buy and sell them too.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

61. They have learned the following things:

1. A huge percentage of Americans are kindergarten patriots. They know the Pledge of Allegiance, they nearly worship the flag, and they can sing all the patriotic songs, but they have no real sense of what "liberty and justice for all" means. All you have to do is say "serve your country," and they willingly sign up to fight in any dumb war.

2. Propaganda works.

3. Propaganda works even better if you impose "teach to the test" schooling so that there's no room for teaching world history, geography, economics, civics, etc.

4. Propaganda works still better than that if you can scare people into thinking that it's only the military and political repression standing between them and Al Qaeda blowing up their suburb. (You think that I'm exaggerating? In 2004, a woman in the third-ring Minneapolis suburb of Minnetonka was quoted in the paper as saying that she was voting for Bush because the Russian school siege by Chechen terrorists had made her worry about her children's safety. "Yes, ma'am, it's only Bush who is keeping Al Qaeda from taking hostages at Deephaven Elementary School.&quot

5. Propaganda works best of all if you can convince them that someone who isn't a white, middle class, suburban or rural American is the source of all their troubles.

6. If the war effort fails, just tell people that the troops were forced to "fight with one hand behind their back."

7. Never tell the people the real reason you're going to war. It's always "for freedom."

[KG]

65. this.

[Catherina]

70. Like KG said, ^^^THIS

I love your list. Can I add 2 more?

8. Keep the masses entertained with sports, entertainment shows and anything else you can fit into a colosseum to keep the jingoism and testosterone levels sky-high.

9. Keep the focus on crime and pander to fear of crime with increasing harshness so you have the people's blessing to control the increasing amounts of poor people. Bombard them with this 24/7 so they won't take the time to ask why crime is increasing.

[Agony]

72. 92 million secret documents generated by US government in 2011

8. Whatever you do, do it secretly. Corollary: Destroy anyone who tries to reveal your secrets.


92 million (26 million TopSecret) (2011) up from 6 million/year (1995)

http://www.juancole.com/2012/07/your-governments-92-million-secrets-are-safe-from-you-engelhardt.html

While President Obama has declared that openness in government is desirable he is clearly in over his head on this one.

[raouldukelives]

74. This, indeed! nt

[Zorra]

78. +1. That's a big part of the script for sure ~ "Oh, that is all well and good..."

Göering: Why, of course, the people don't want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship.

Gilbert: There is one difference. In a democracy, the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars.

Göering: Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.

(Excerpt from an interview with Göering's in his jail cell during the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials, 4/18/46)

Anyone care for some hot yummy "Freedom Fries"?

[Catherina]

84. +1000. It's chilling to read that right now. n/t

[L0oniX]

75. I blame this on everyone ...not just the war mongers. You pay taxes ...you contribute! ...and

you work for the MIC and send your kids to college with the pay you get. You vote in these people and then make excuses for them or blame them. IT'S YOUR FAULT ...YOU VOTED FOR THEM! US sociopath society ....we don't see the pictures of the bloody dead ...then we don't care. Don't bother us ...were busy with gun control. We don't care about the biggest gun nut ...which is us!

[Catherina]

85. That gets to me too

Everything you wrote gets to me and I agree.

The most disgusting part is that we're the biggest arms dealers in the world and the White House has the lead on that since it's such big money for the MIC and business community.

[woo me with science]

80. Thank you for this thread, Catherina.

It is wonderful to see you posting so often lately.

[Catherina]

83. Thanks my friend

There just happened to be a lull in my other responsibilities when all of this exploded. Whatever happens, I'm grateful I got to see the depravity with my own eyes.

[Luminous Animal]

82. Kick.