War
"Americans are now almost alone in believing that war is a progressive force. There were fewer wars being waged by nation-states in 2006 than at any time since 1945. In fact, there was only one - the war in Iraq. Yet mired in the Iraqi morass, the United States continues to put its faith in military power as it struggles to defeat the Iraqi insurgency and prop up a weak government located mainly within an American military base - the Green Zone - and shielded from Iraq's people by American troops. As is commonplace across the Third World, this is a government that exists only on television. The real power in Iraq will therefore remain in the mosques." (from Geoffrey Perret's book 'Commander in Chief')
"That U.S. military budget exceeds what the rest of the world’s nations combined spend on defense. Nor can it be justified as militarily necessary to counter terrorists, who used primitive $10 box cutters to commandeer civilian aircraft on 9/11. It only makes sense as a field of dreams for defense contractors and their allies in Washington who seized upon the 9/11 tragedy to invent a new Cold War. Imagine their panic at the end of the old one and their glee at this newfound opportunity. Ike was right: Robert Scheer"
Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes … known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.… No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.— James Madison, Political Observations, 1795
"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." Albert Einstein
"The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved its doomsday clock up a couple of minutes to “five minutes to midnight.” Even conservatives like George Shultz and Henry Kissinger are warning that the nuclear threat is serious and getting more serious. In part, the threat comes from nuclear proliferation. But a lot of the cause of the proliferation is right here. Washington’s bellicose, aggressive militarism is causing proliferation." Noam Chomsky: What We Say Goes.
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This 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. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron." -- Dwight Eisenhower, April 16, 1953
"Blessed are the peacemakers." (Matthew 5:9)
"Love one another as I have loved you." (John 15:12)
"War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of 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 masses. . . " Excerpt from a speech delivered in 1933 by General Smedley Darlington Butler, USMC. General Butler was the recipient of two Congressional Medals of Honor - one of only two Marines so honored.
"I spent 33 years in the Marines. Most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for capitalism. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenue in. I helped in the rape of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street...." - Smedley D. Butler (1881-1940) Major General (U.S. Marine Corps)
"I believe that the killing of human beings in a war is no better than common murder; but so long as nations lack the determination to abolish war through common action and find means of solving their disputes and safeguarding their interests by peaceful arrangements according to existing laws, they will continue to consider it necessary to prepare for war. They will feel compelled to engage in the manufacture of even the most detestable weapons in their fear that they may lag behind in the general arms race. Such an approach can only lead to war, and warfare today would mean universal annihilation of human beings.
There is little point, therefore, in opposing the manufacture of specific weapons; the only solution is to abolish both war and the threat of war. That is the goal toward which we should strive. We must be determined to reject all activities which in any way contradict this goal. This is a harsh demand for any individual who is conscious of his dependence upon society; but it is not an impossible demand.
Gandhi, the greatest political genius of our time, indicated the path to be taken. He gave proof of what sacrifice man is capable once he has discovered the right path. His work in behalf of India’s liberation is living testimony to the fact that man’s will, sustained by an indomitable conviction, is more powerful than material forces that seem insurmountable." Einstein on Politics, Rowe and Schulmann.
When Bush took office there was the possibility that peace would break out, but there is no question that he solved that problem. Since the US has been mostly deindustrialized, it is important to preserve our remaining industries: armaments and the military. Jobs in the military have many benefits that are no longer available in the private sector including health care, clothing, weapons, food, housing, training, and job security.
Early in his administration, Bush and his team worked on various pretexts for war in Iraq. Although 'intelligence' agencies did not agree that Iraq was a threat, through a process of bureaucratic interference, media manipulation, and intimidation, the Neocons were able to arrive at different conclusions. Interestingly, these were some of the same people who, in the Reagan administration, told us that Russia was 10 feet tall and required a vast new arms buildup. It didn't seem to matter that some were convicted Iran/contra felons, they were promoted to senior positions. Immense new debt was required to fund all of this, but, as Cheney remarked, they had 'won' the election, and they had the right.
Russia no longer appeared to be a credible threat, so it became necessary to demonize the Muslim world. A religious war, for some people, became possible. This could be a new crusade, and invading Iraq had the further benefit of acquiring vast new oil wealth. Afghanistan had the potential to be a new pipeline route, as it turned out it also has prospered as the drug trade has flourished. Real men wanted to invade Iran.
Still, as Chicago economists pointed out, it would take "a new pearl harbor" to make this dream a reality. Then 9/11 provided the crisis needed to implement the Bush agenda. The mysterious outbreak of militarized anthrax powder also helped. Now there was justification for the Patriot Act, for the Military Commissions Act, for revoking the FISA Act, for curtailing civil liberties, for thorough new surveillance both of foreign and domestic activities, and for a breathtaking expansion of Presidential power.
Bush used these new powers to create secret prisons, imprison people using renditions, and to extract information from prisoners using torture. This required abrogating quaint international agreements like the Geneva Conventions, and thumbing their noses at international law. With his new war powers, Bush in many ways acted as if he were above the law. It is difficult to find justification for it in the Constitution, but the Bushies announced their intention to remake the Middle East. What is the Constitution but another piece of paper ?
Not to miss any opportunity though, by expanding NATO into the former eastern European countries, Russia again was made to feel threatened. To be sure, it took a new expansion of the 'Star Wars' program to place a ring of missiles around Russia thus assuring that there would be a provocation for their action. Sure enough, they are promising new military action in response. Media announced that Russia invaded Georgia, when according to Gorbachev, just exactly the reverse had happened. Putin has opined that the war in Georgia was staged for the US Presidential elections...a September surprise.
As Russia and Georgia clashed, Elliott Kalan, producer for the Daily Show with Jon Stewart wrote:
"Luckily, John McCain made it clear he wouldn't have let this war pass us by. If McCain was in charge we'd be attacking Russia right now, and maybe China, Iran, and Italy just to be safe. That's because he knows the only way to get America back into fighting shape is to keep America fighting. Then, we'll be so busy battling that we won't have time to worry about anything else, and those problems will go away. It's a solution that's beautiful in its simplicity. McCain's proven he's the only candidate who has his priorities straight. We may not have enough jobs, gasoline, or medicine to go around, but under President McCain there'll be war enough for everybody !
Although the Ballistic Missiles (star wars) weren't really working, the Bushies were keen to deploy it in Eastern Europe. Putin went ballistic, and now we are seeing Russion military preparations with Venezuela, and the Russians have helped Iran to bring their nuclear reactor on-line.
We were promised 'endless war' and election of Republicans will pretty much guarantee it. We now have two chances to engage in a new world war, one from the Middle East, and another with Russia. China, as it grows economically stronger, could have potential also.
Where your taxes go. See the explanation why percentages vary.
Who to Blame in Georgia ?
Ex-Army official says fired over KBR audit 17 Jun 2008 A former high-ranking civilian U.S. Army official says he was fired in 2004 when he questioned the Iraq war expenditures of military contractor KBR. The official, Charles Smith, said he was ousted from his position as the top civilian overseer of KBR's lucrative contract to supply services to U.S. troops when he refused to sign off on more than $1 billion in questionable spending, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
Global arms race is picking up speed.
When Bush took office, there was a serious concern that peace would break out. But don't worry, there is little danger of that now.
By announcing a policy that we would 'remake the middle east' Bush has assured that there will be a new generation of dedicated soldiers for Islam ready to fight at all costs for a new crusade. Religious war, resource war, cultural war have all been enlisted to be sure that the US can remain a militarized state with a strong man President. By taking on war powers, Bush demonstrated that the President can disappear people, torture would be routine policy, that secret prisons are possible, and that additional wars can be waged at the Presidents will. Some traditional American commitments are quaint: such as the Geneva Conventions, the Uniform Code of Military Justice, real elections, and the Constitution. Habeas Corpus may have been the rule since 1210 AD, but, in the face of new threats, why worry about it.
But that's not all. We all felt a loss when the cold war ended. There almost were budget cuts for the military, and we contemplated the possibility of a 'peace dividend'. Much of the war profiteering elite might have suffered a loss too. Bush has taken care of these concerns as well. First, even though the Star Wars program was known to be a dysfunctional money pit, he revived this program and fought hard to deploy it to sensitive countries in central Europe. This done, Russia now became upset again. As their surrounding countries started to join NATO, and star wars installations began to be deployed, Russia again feels threatened. So you can be assured that the arms race will continue, the Military-Industrial complex will remain strong. (Get over it, you will not get health care, better education, pensions, good transportation, better infrastructure, or any real domestic improvements. Don't whine about the elections that are now so thoroughly rigged. Your children will have all of their needs taken care of in the military.)
It appears that McCain may be even better than Bush in pursuing this agenda.
Amnesty International on Arms Control
Use of Nuclear Weapons need to be avoided at all costs
U.S. Atomic Bomb test unreported
Hypocrisy of Non Proliferation
* Our never ending "war on terror" is designed to do just what James Madison warned of... destroy our freedom a little bit at a time. Just look at the laws that are being passed these days. Congress passed (September 2006) the "Military Commissions Act of 2006" into law. Military Commissions Act Rep. Nancy Johnson, Chris Shays, Rob Simmons and Sen. Lieberman all voted for the Military Commissions Act and it passed. It allows Bush to imprison anyone he chooses and abuse them as he sees fit. It places Bush above the law, our first American monarch. http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15169.htm
War zealots should send their kids to Iraq .
Chalmers Johnson makes a clear statement of it in Harper's Magazine for December 2006.
A listing of US military involvement on foreign soil.
What gives them the right ?
War (see Arundhati Roy's comments)
Are you safer ?
The US is preparing to replace the nuclear arsenal with new hydrogen bombs.
Transforming the US Military.
Support the campaign to repeal the overbroad "authorization for use of military force", adopted by a panicky congress in 2001, which gives Bush carte blanche to start wars anywhere.
U.S. FLUNKS THE GLOBAL PEACE TEST; RANKS 96 OUT OF 121 COUNTRIES
The Economist Intelligence Unit, in conjunction with an international team of academics and peace experts, has compiled an innovative new Global Peace Index which ranks 121 nations according to their relative peacefulness. The Global Peace Index is composed of 24 indicators, ranging from a nation’s level of military expenditure to its relations with neighbouring countries and the level of respect for human rights. The index has been tested against a range of potential “drivers” or determinants of peace—including levels of democracy and transparency, education and material wellbeing…
http://democracyrising.us/content/view/947/164/Vermont Calls for Withdrawal
(2/14/2007) The Vermont State Legislature made headlines yesterday when lawmakers passed resolutions in both the House and Senate calling for the immediate and orderly withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. Vermont has lost more soldiers per capita than any other state in the nation, and is the first state to pass a resolution calling for troop withdrawal. The majority of Democrats supported the resolution. Most Republicans opposed it, contesting a passage that suggested the presence of US troops would not bring stability to Iraq, or security to the United States.
What about Iran ?
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Profligate spending for war.
How much are we spending on the US military ?
How much are we spending on the war in Iraq ?
How much are we spending on BMD (Ballistic Missile 'Defense')
How much longer can we afford to be the "World's Policeman"? We are spending over $500B per year for defense, homeland security and nation building. Investments we are making in developing new democracies are draining our domestic programs such as health care, stifling the education of our young people and limiting research and development in valuable commercial technologies. The largest corporations selling to our government are no more than extensions of our government in the cloak of industry. They are not in the business of making money for the stockholder. They are in the business of spending money for the government. As a result they are some of the poorest growth stocks on Wall Street. Recent consolidation in the Defense Industrial Complex has dramatically reduced competition. Only public laws mandating a twenty per cent allocation of Federal Contract Funding to small business have kept diversification in the mix. Even then, much of the moneys that flow to small business go through a select group of large business prime contractors who add their respective overhead and general administrative expense to the small business cost and pass it on to the government. Ken Larson from the book, "Odyssey of Armaments, My Journey Through the Defense Industrial Complex"
The US is spending more on its military than the rest of the world combined.
Unknown terror: What is DU?: Video
The president of the United States, the prime minister of the United Kingdom,
and the prime minister of Israel must acknowledge and accept responsibility
for the willful use of uranium munitions-their own "dirty bombs"-resulting
in adverse health and environmental effects. It also leaves behind a fine
radioactive dust with a half-life of 4.5 billion years.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8703746205082819717&pr=goog-sl
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Handing taxpayer money to the Permanent War Economy
By Mary Beth SullivanBath, Maine
In the words of the great economist and engineer Seymour Melman, we live
in a “permanent war economy.” Since the end of World War II, the
federal government has spent more than half its tax dollars on past,
current and future military operations. It is the largest single
sustaining activity of the government. Melman pointed out 25 years ago
that, at the time, the Pentagon was paying for 37,000 industrial firms,
which oversaw over 100,000 subcontractors. Then and now, Pentagon
contracts come with 1) guaranteed profits (because the products are
typically sold before they are produced); 2) institutionalized
cost-escalation (cost overruns are business-as-
Or should we say bilked? American’s hand over their hard-earned dollars to the deciders in Washington who protect the permanent war economy. The military industrial complex has tentacle that spread throughout the Congressional districts in the country. Military installations, private contractors and weapons manufacturers employ people to build cluster bombs, unnecessary war planes, naval destroyers, the next generation of nuclear weapons, “kill vehicles” for space missiles, and more efficient spy satellites. Congress continues to appropriate funds to create weapons systems that range from being obsolete, to those having no hope of ever functioning, to those promising to kill more efficiently, to those promising to allow the U.S. to be the “Masters of Space” through military domination by space-based weapons.
This work often provides union jobs and health benefits (both of which are “endangered species” in America) and the false hope of job security. Local communities defend the jobs (if not the corporations) when there is a threat of loss, knowing that America has few other industrial jobs, and the service sector doesn’t provide the same standard of living.
Meanwhile, military contractors’ CEO compensation is unregulated and obscene.[1] The door revolves between the halls of Congress and the military industrial complex’s “private sector” boardrooms. [Question: If a CEO’s compensation comes primarily from the taxpayers of America, can it still be stated that he works for the “private” sector?] It’s a sweet deal as long as Americans stay afraid of an enemy, there is minimal oversight of cost overruns or failed weapons systems, and questions of ethics, morality, and effective foreign policy are ignored.
Lax oversight is a tired, old issue. Melman reported twenty-five years ago that in 1978, the Pentagon’s top management misplaced, lost track of, or misappropriated $30 billion in one of its “auxiliary operations.” News of the missing funds got almost no public or media notice. There was no public outcry. Fast forward to $100 billion lost by Paul Bremer in the early months of the war in Iraq. Again, the loss of this obscene amount received little media attention and no public outcry. Meanwhile, those of us who bear witness to the plight of the homeless people in our communities, who join the growing numbers of citizens without health insurance, who watch our elderly friends make choices between food and medicine to stay alive, who watch the states struggle to cut basic support from our vulnerable neighbors… faithfully make the lists (with no small amount of outrage) to educate our neighbors about what we could have done with that $100 billion Paul Bremer chose to toss to the winds.
The Democrats in Congress have begun oversight hearings on some aspects of the abuse of federal dollars by military contractors since we invaded Iraq. Unfortunately, their response to President Bush’s next appropriation to continue the occupation of Iraq is to recommend $5 billion more than the $93 billion requested! [2]
A project the Democrats will not investigate is also one of the clearest examples of continued funding of a failed system. President Bush deployed the missile “defense” system in Alaska and California in spite of the fact that the series of ($100 million each) tests prove they don’t work! There is controversy about whether Boeing misled Congress in its report about the actual results of testing the “kill vehicle” component of the system, and recently questions emerged about whether the oversight report by the General Accounting Office is completely credible. Nevertheless, the systems and the infrastructure are in place to keep the research, development, and production dollars flowing for the next two decades – effectiveness be damned! The current estimates say this system will cost $250 billion over twenty years.
A recent Military Industrial Complex scandal appeared in the media in December 2006 criticizing – of all groups – the U.S. Coast Guard! It’s modernization program called Deepwater has been called “a mistake of colossal proportions, with …billions in cost overruns, suspended programs and ships that are downright unsafe to be at sea…” The contractor is a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Northrup Grumman, two of the most profitable military corporations in the world. (Robert Stevens, the CEO of Lockheed Martin was compensated $15.7 million in 2006). The estimated $17 billion cost of Deepwater ballooned to $24 billion, and “not one of the 24 ships, 12 lanes and eight unmanned vehicles that were supposed to have been delivered by now is available for service.” In editorializing about this fiasco, our local newspaper reported that the private contractors routinely ignored or overruled the concerns of Coast Guard engineers; that the Coast Guard did not seek help from Congress for oversight fearing they would lose funding; “but the biggest error was ceding almost total control of this vital national security effort to the companies that make money from it.”
The corruption and depletion of our resources – indeed our souls – must
come to an end. Time is long overdue to engage the conversation about
how to move from a permanent war economy to a permanent peace economy.
Seymour Melman’s 2003 article “In the Grip of a Permanent War Economy”
clarifies this reality (http://www.swans.
Another story: A shipyard in the town of Ringkobing, Denmark went broke in 1999. Vestas Wind Systems, a private company, moved in and converted the facilities to make windmills. In April of 2001, Business Week Online reported that the company had doubled its initial workforce, and that all the shipyard workers had become employed making windmills. Vestas leads a cluster of companies that have made Denmark, with a population of 5 million people, the world’s top producer and exporter of windmills. Wind industry supplies about 13 percent of Denmark’s power, and in 2001 controlled about 50 percent of the $4.5 billion global wind market. The company sees that wind is gaining ground over other renewable sources, and may very well become the green power of choice for the 21st Century.
It is possible to create industries, here on our own soil, that build something other than weapons. Other countries can figure out how to make consumer goods that serve the greater community, keep their workforce productive, and work to prevent global warming. The U.S. can surely do the same.
It is time for us in the peace and justice communities, in our religious and spiritual communities, in our workplaces, on the streets of our neighborhoods, and walking through the halls of Congress to demand to put an end to the permanent war corporate welfare state. It is time that we build an industrial base in our country that rebuilds our physical infrastructure (roads, bridges, public transportation, schools), pays a living wage, and provides for the health and welfare of our citizens. Time is long overdue to convert from a war economy to a peace economy. Read Seymour Melman. His research will help show the way.
Report on US war crimes.
Research and facts about biological weapons. "Nationally, very few organizations actively file FOIA requests on biological and chemical weapons issues. Some government agencies attempt to conceal potentially controversial materials by exaggerating exemptions - trying to keep secrets that they are not legally entitled to maintain. This unwarranted secrecy is detrimental to biological weapons control and makes our job more difficult."
War in Space
See Star Wars
Council on Foreign Relations notes on Defense and Homeland Security
Nuclear Freeze (what they think in New Zealand.)
University of Louisville (Resources)
War Made Easy
Norman Solomon
July 9, 2007
Thanks to the radio/TV program “Democracy Now,” hundreds of thousands of
people across our country recently heard and watched a sneak-preview excerpt
from the documentary film based on my book War Made Easy: How Presidents and
Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.
Narrated by Sean Penn, and produced by the superb independent filmmakers at the
Media Education Foundation, War Made Easy is a powerful indictment of
the current U.S. warfare state and a call to action. I’m hoping it will
inspire a nationwide surge of antiwar activism.
The 73-minute film reaches into the Orwellian memory hole to exhume remarkable
archival footage. It exposes a 50-year pattern of deception that has dragged the
U.S. into one war after another. And the film zeroes in on the current
historical moment – the techniques of propaganda that are preventing an end to a
horrific war effort based on lies.
War Made Easy, a book by Norman Solomon,
makes it clear that neither the press nor the government can be trusted.
War Made Easy is now available on DVD. It will be shown at antiwar house
parties across the country this summer and fall. To order the DVD and book your
own screening, visit
www.WarMadeEasyTheMovie.org. [more]
Center For Defense Information
Federation of American Scientists
The Aftermath Of A Massacre, a BBC video (you have to watch for a couple of minutes before it begins) examining collateral damage by US troops in Iraq. You won't see this on CNN.
What is the prospect for war in Iran ?
Bibliography
The Three Trillion Dollar War: Joseph E. Stiglittz (Nobel Prize in Economics) and Linda J. Bilmes
Blackwater The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army (paperback edition): Jeremy Scahill
War Made Easy, a book by Norman Solomon, makes it clear that neither the press nor the government can be trusted.
Nemisis: the Last Days of the American Republic: Chalmers Johnson
Cold War II: Noam Chomsky
High Priests of War: Michael Collins Piper
The New American Militarism: How Americans are Seduced by War. Andrew J. Bacevich
Price of Liberty, Robert Hormats
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Pretensions to Empire, by Lewis H. Lapham
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- University of Louisville - Links to sources on wars and warfare
- World War II Documents (Avalon Project, Yale University)
- Laws of War (Avalon Project, Yale University)
- Rules of Warfare (Fletcher School, Tufts University)
- Society of Professional Journalists - Brief History of the Laws of War
- Univ.of Minnesota, Human Rights Library - Law of Armed Conflict
Who would JESUS bomb?
Support: Antiwar.com
Adopt a Minefield at Landmines.org
Center for Defense Information
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists