It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one
international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the
losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to
the majority of the people. Only a small "inside" group knows what it is about. It is conducted
for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people
make huge fortunes." -- Major General Smedley D. Butler, USMC 1935
dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments [compensations] is multiplied; and all the means
of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force of the people. The same
malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the
opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war...and in the degeneracy of manners and
morals, engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual
warfare." -- James Madison
sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not
clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its
laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children." -- President Dwight D.
Eisenhower (Farewell Address)
If the people the U.S. military is ostensibly protecting want it to go, why do the
soldiers stay? The most common answer is that it would be irresponsible for the
United States to depart before some measure of peace has been assured. The
American presence, this argument goes, is the only thing keeping Iraq from an
all-out civil war that could take millions of lives and would profoundly destabilize the
region. But is that really the case?
"C reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift in
attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove
Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and
WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."
Halliburton, the vice president's former company, and it's wholly owned subsidiary,
KBR (Kellogg, Brown, and Root) not only received an $11 Billion no-bid contract
but has been over-billing taxpayers for Iraq War services.
There are 20,000 "private security contractors" in Iraq: What do you call the people
who fill the gaps arising when the desire of politicians to make war often exceeds
citizens' desire to be sent to war?
The United States has detained more than 83,000 foreigners in the four years of
the war on terror, enough to nearly fill the NFL's largest stadium.
Did US troops use chemical weapons in Falluja? The answer is yes. The proof is not
to be found in the documentary broadcast on Italian TV last week, which has
generated gigabytes of hype on the internet. It’s a turkey, whose evidence that
white phosphorus was fired at Iraqi troops is flimsy and circumstantial(1). But the
bloggers debating it found the smoking gun.
Dan Simpson Oct 21, 2005
As I suspected six months ago, and U.S. military and Bush Administration civilian
officials confirmed, U.S. forces have invaded Syria and engaged in combat with
Syrian forces.
WASHINGTON - The CIA has been holding and interrogating al Qaeda captives at a
secret facility in Eastern Europe, part of a covert prison system established after
the September 11, 2001, attacks, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
November 30, 2005
WASHINGTON — As part of an information offensive in Iraq, the U.S. military is
secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to publish stories written by American troops in
an effort to burnish the image of the U.S. mission in Iraq.
KABUL, Afghanistan -- The United States operated a secret prison in Afghanistan
as recently as last year, torturing detainees with sleep deprivation, chaining them to
the walls and forcing them to listen to loud music in total darkness for days, a
human rights group alleged Monday.
A proposal prohibiting defense contractor involvement in human trafficking for
forced prostitution and labor was drafted by the Pentagon last summer, but five
defense lobbying groups [including Halliburton's KBR] oppose key provisions and a
final policy still appears to be months away.
The journey of a dozen impoverished men from Nepal to Iraq reveals the
exploitation underpinning the American war effort.
