Mission creep: the militarizing of America The biggest threat to America: ourselves HOW TO TELL IF YOU'VE WON: A guide for would-be empires TIME FOR A WAR ABOLITION MOVEMENT WHY AFGHANISTAN IS SO IMPORTANT MARTIAL LAW: Excerpts from an an article in a defense journal THE THREE WARS WE'LL NEVER WIN FROM INVASION TO OCCUPTION: SOME STATS WHY MORE SECURITY DOESN'T WORK THE REAL WAR: BETWEEN MYTH & REALITY ALL WAR ALL THE TIME: THE PENTAGON'S PLAN BRING THE GUARD HOMETHE U.S. ARMY IN AFGHANISTAN A VETERAN SPEAKS: "I killed innocent people for my government" THE U.S. AND TORTURE DEPLETED URANIUM: RECYCLING DEATH
The biggest threat to America: ourselves
A list of hundreds of American wars US now fighting at least 74 wars 2012 (IN MONTHS )
2011 JUST THE NUMBERS: COSTS OF THE WAR ON TERROR U.S SPENDS MORE ON MILITARY THAN REST OF THE WORLD PUT TOGETHER U.S. military spending almost doubles in ten years List of countries bombed by the United States  2008 
The Seville Statement: War is not human nature
The Tillman Story: Tillman, as he is being fired on by fellow American soldiers, says "I'm Pat fuckiing Tillman."
Drift by Rachel Maddow: Where's war going? When Johnny and Jane Come Marching Home by Paula J. Caplan.. When veterans who make it home from Afghanistan or Iraq have psychological issues, the assumption often is that they need therapy and psychiatric drugs. A Harvard-based psychologist argues that in many cases what they are experiencing is a healthy reaction to an inhumane experience, and that therapy and drugs isolate them at a time when they most need honest communication with loved ones, neighbors, and co-workers. She gives detailed, practical advice for non-veterans about how to ask the right questions and how to listen, both so veterans will be able to share what they’ve been through and so the society that sent them will have a better understanding of the wars’ realities.Work Site Reasons to Kill: Why Americans Choose War by Richard E. Rubenstein: From the American Revolution to the end of World War II, the United States spent nineteen years at war against other nations. But since 1950, the total is twenty-two years and counting. On four occasions, U.S. presidents elected as "peace candidates" have gone on to lead the nation into armed conflicts. Repeatedly. In Reasons to Kill noted scholar Richard E. Rubenstein explores both the rhetoric that sells war to the public and the underlying cultural and social factors that make it so effective. War is a Lie by David Swanson In 2010 a cross-ideological group got together for a day to discuss an antiwar coalition. Out of that session has come this book edited by Paul Buhle, Bill Kauffman, George O’Neill Jr. and Kevin Zeese. Among the contributors: Jesse Walker, Doug Bandow, Bill Kauffman, Cindy Sheehan, Ralph Nader and Sam Smith. As the book describes itself, "Throughout American history there have been times when movements developed that were outside the limited political dialogue of the two major parties, such as the abolitionists, the Anti-Imperialist League, the Non-Partisan League, and aspects of the Old Right and the New Left. Sometimes those movements have broken through and created paradigm shifting moments." ORDER
War is the joint exercise of things we were trained not to do as children. War is doing things overseas that we would go to prison for at home. Anyone can start a war. Starting a peace is really hard. Therefore it is much harder to be a peace expert than a war expert. The media treats war as just another professional sport. War has rules, which means that we can change the rules. Murder, rape and slavery still exist. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't have banned them. The same is true of war. Telling a country we won't negotiate with it until it does what you want is like saying you won't play a game unless you are allowed to win. There is no evidence that supporting war, or telling presidents to do so, improves your testosterone level, so Ivy League professors are better advised to stick to tennis. There is one way to deal with guerilla warfare and that is to resolve the problems that allow it to thrive. The trick is to undermine the violence of the most bitter by dealing honestly with the problems and complaints of the most rational. Of course, there can be peace with so-called terrorist organizations; it's just a matter of whether one waits the better part of a century, as the British did in Northern Ireland, or whether you start talking and negotiating now. Three thousand people is, of course, far too many to die for any reason. But it is also far too weak an argument for the end of democracy. Peace is a state of reciprocity, of trust, of empirically based confidence that no one is about to do you in. It exists not because of intrinsic goodness or rampant naivete but because of a common, implicit understanding that that it works for everyone. Implicit in the "what about their violence?" argument is the idea that what we do wrong is excusable because it has been matched by the other side. Of course, the other side sees it the same way so you end up with a perfect stalemate of violence. When I raised a similar argument as a kid, my mother's response was, "If Johnny were to jump off a cliff, would you jump off a cliff, too?" I never could come up with good answer to that and so eventually had to concede that somebody else's stupidity was not a good excuse for my own. From the moment we commence a moral intervention we become a part of the story, and part of the good and evil. We are no longer the innocent bystander but a full participant whose acts will either help or make things worse. Our intentions become irrelevant; they are overwhelmed by the character of our response to them. The morality of the disease is supplanted by the morality of the cure. In fact, every moral act in the face of mental or physical injury carries twin responsibilities: to mend the injury and to avoid replacing it with another One of the reasons America is in so much trouble is because it happily makes all sorts of compromises in order to get along with large dictatorships such as Russia and China, but thinks it can handle smaller operations like Hamas, North Korea, and Iran by simple obstinacy and belligerence. In other words, it is happy to talk with big terrorists, but not little ones. In fact, most of these small entities - and those who lead them - suffer from extreme inferiority complexes. By threatening war, imposing massive embargos and so forth, America merely feeds the sense of persecution and encourages the least rational reaction. A more sensible approach would be to constantly negotiate with these leaders and edge them towards reasonable participation in world affairs. Imagine if we had told Israel and Palestine a few years ago that if they would just make nice we would give them enough money to equal Israel's GDP for one year and Palestine's for three. Take the time off, go to the Riviera or the Catskills, forget about productivity, and just party on thanks to the American taxpayer. Or if Israel and Palestine wanted to be really sensible, they could have invested in their countries' future instead. Think how much safer we would be today. . . But where would such a large sum of money come from? Well, all we would have had to have done was to cancel the invasion of Iraq and used the money as a carrot rather than as a bludgeon. For that is just what it has cost us so far. (2007) The people who built castles and walled cities and moats are all dead now and their efforts at security seem puny and ultimately futile as we visit their unintended monuments to the vanity of human presumption. Like the castle-dwellers behind the moat, we are now spending huge sums to put ourselves inside a prison of our own making. It is unlikely to provide either security for our bodies nor solace for our souls, for we are simply attacking ourselves before others get a chance. Empires and cultures are not permanent and while thinking about the possibility that ours is collapsing may seem a dismal exercise it is far less so than enduring the dangerous frustrations and failures involved in having one's contrary myth constantly butt up against reality - like a boozer who insists he is not drunk attempting to drive home. Instead of defending the non-existent, we could turn our energies instead towards devising a new and saner reality. Places like Harvard and Oxford - and their after-school programs such as the Washington think tanks - teach the few how to control the many and it is impossible to do this without various forms of abuse ranging from sophism to corporate control systems to napalm. It is no accident that a large number of advocates of war - in government and the media - are the products of elite educations where they were taught both the inevitability of their hegemony and the tools with which to enforce it. It will, therefore, be some time before places such as Harvard and the Council on Foreign Relations are seen for what they are: the White Citizens Councils of state violence. Castro, in his early days, spoke at the UN. But the hotels of New York refused him space. The result: Malcolm X found him a hotel in Harlem and a key early step was taken in the alienation of a man who, with just a little respect and effort, might not have tormented every American president since by refusing to die or fade away. Respect is important because it is a door wide enough for peace to enter. We need to try it more often. |
FBI spied on leading anti-war online news journal Angus King challenges Obama's endless war Obama regime considers war on terror endless Military claims power to police streets
26,000 alleged military rapes and sexual assaults in one year Why America's anti-terrorism efforts have been a huge bust  PEOPLE'S BOYCOTT Iraq disaster could end up costing $6 trillion Pentagon sequester plan: slash combat force, boost Lockheed Martin 54 countries offered aid in illegal renditions America moves into Africa big time
New Yorker - The United States spends more on defense than all the other nations of the world combined. Between 1998 and 2011, military spending doubled, reaching more than seven hundred billion dollars a year—more, in adjusted dollars, than at any time since the Allies were fighting the Axis. @GeorgeCarlinSez - Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity. 2012 Benghazi flap means big bucks
for Blackwater type operations How the Pentagon wastes its money Pentagon using new technique to
suppress dissent Word: What the military really
costs Obamadmin upping covert war in Africa Top defense industry CEOs ripping off taxpayers Why are civilian federal agencies buying so much ammunition? Government still has a school for assassins 3,000 U.S. soldiers to serve in Africa next year Panetta: U.S. running out of patience with Pakistan on militant havens - CNN A military drugged by prescription What Rachel Maddow doesn't talk about in her book about war Word: The post Cold War is over: David Stockman - We are now at a historical inflection point at which the time has arrived for a classic post-war demobilization of the entire military establishment. The Cold War is long over. The wars of occupation are almost over and were complete failures — Afghanistan and Iraq. The American empire is done. There are no real seriously armed enemies left in the world that can possibly justify an $800 billion national defense and security establishment, including Homeland Security It's not just the right that ignores science: the war is human nature myth Obama considers cutting number of nuclear bombs Pentagon misdiagnosed thousands of troops to save medical costs Pentagon privatizing its international war on drugs Pentagon sees nothing wrong with rigging TV news What the government is really afraid of: us 2011 Secret files reveal dirty games of Blackwater and other mercenaries Inside Romania's secret CIA prison The biggest threat to America: ourselves The military is a lousy way to create jobs At least our military is winning the star wars  Banks may have illegally foreclosed on 5,000 members of the military For profit colleges ripping off military students  BRUCE EGGUM How the war on terror did us in (with lots of help from Republicans) How to tell you're no longer an empire John Mueller, Foreign Affairs: An al Qaeda computer seized in Afghanistan in 2001 indicated that the group’s budget for research and weapons of mass destruction, almost all of it focused on primitive chemical weapons work, was some $2,000 to $4,000.” Pentagon working on war with China Virginia as heart of military complex Nuke for Jesus Air Force course shut down Pentagon wants to use social media for propaganda Left-right coalitions against the wars... Grand jury looking into Abu Ghraib Boeing ripping off government for spare parts Real costs of our wars: $3.7 trillion Pentagon wants to change military pensions
A complete guide to the West's foreign policy The sick way we count war deaths The record: regime change efforts are a bust Retired generals & admirals double dipping big time Army testing soldiers for 'spiritual fitness' U.S. and Canada agree to share military against civil unrest Obama's use of mercenaries would make Bush blush 2010 Businessman claims Blackwater paid him to buy steroids and weapons on black market IF YOU WANT TO HELP TO MAKE TERRORISTS MORE PEACEFUL, IT'S A CRIME MILITARY TO SPY ON WHAT ITS TROOPS ARE THINKING ARMY DENIES PURPLE HEARTS TO SOLDIERS WITH BRAIN INJURIES HIGH SCHOOL DRAFTS STUDENTS INTO JROTC TROOPS PUT ON LOCKDOWN FOR REFUSING TO ATTEND CHRISTIAN EVANGELICAL CONCERT MILITARY SPENDING: THE BIGGEST YET MOST UNDISCUSSED CONTRIBUTOR TO OUR DEFICITS PENTAGON CENSORS AFGHAN COVERAGE BIG TIME OUTSOURCING WAR: THE HIDDEN MERCENARY FACTOR PENTAGON CAN'T ACCOUNT FOR $8.7 BILLION IN IRAQ FUNDS ONE THOUSAND AMERICAN TROOPS FOR EACH MEMBER OF AL QAEDA PETREAUS GEARS UP FOR ANOTHER WAR A GENERAL GIVES WESLEY CLARK'S EGO A RUN FOR THE MONEY THE PENTAGON EXPLAINS HOW TO MAKE BROWNIES SECRET TAPE OF BLACKWATER OWNER REVEALED THE THREE WARS WE'LL NEVER WIN SECRET PRISON DISCOVERED IN BAGHDAD MILITARY SUICIDES OUTPACE BATTLE DEATHS AMERICA'S WAR CRIMES KILL CHILDREN, TOO MAINE'S LARGEST CITY VOTES TO END WAR FUNDING AMERICA NOW HAS TO RENT ITS ALLIES WIKILEAKS VIDEO SHOWS U.S. COPTERS KILLING IRAQI CIVILIANS PETREUS, OTHERS PLANNING 80 YEAR WAR WIMPY COMMANDANT APPARENTLY AFRAID GAY MARINES MIGHT RAPE HIS STRAIGHT TROOPS TERRORISM IS MORE DANGEROUS TO AMERICANS THAN SHARKS - BUT NOT MUCH ELSE THE UNDECLARED NUCLEAR WEAPONS STATES YOU DON'T HEAR ABOUT PENTAGON HIRED ANALYST WHO THOUGHT HUSSEIN WAS TO BLAME FOR 9/11 TO WRITE MAJOR REPORT ON AL QAEDA MILITARY RIFLE-SIGHT MAKER INCLUDES BIBLE REFERENCES ON PRODUCTS OBAMA APPOINTS MASTER OF COVERUP TO INVESTIGATE XMAS DAY BOMBING A FEW QUESTIONS FOR BARACK OBAMA
 WHY MORE SECURITY DOESN'T WORK A GUIDE TO COUNTRIES WHERE OUR MILITARY IS OPERATING ARMY ARRESTS GI MOTHER ASSIGNED TO AFGHANISTAN WHO CAN'T FIND CARE FOR HER 11-MONTH OLD SON COULD HASAN HAVE DONE IT BY HIMSELF? HOW STUDENTS ARE ABUSED BY MILITARY RECRUITING FBI WHISTLEBLOWER POINTS FINGER AT BUSH OFFICIALS NOVEMBER 2009 MILITARY BENEFITING FROM PAUPER DRAFT OCTOBER 2009 LESS THAN HALF OF ELIGIBLE VETS HAVE GOTTEN MONEY FOR TUITION AND EXPENSES BLACKWATER OFFERS TO TRAIN FAITH BASED ORGANIZATIONS DEFENSE SECRETARY TELLS MEDIA NOT TO SHOW PHOTOS OF DYING SOLDIER SEPTEMBER 2009 WILD WACKENHUT ALSO GUARDING NUCLEAR SITES US MILITARY LARGEST SINGLE CONSUMER OF OIL IN THE WORLD MILITARY BACKS DOWN ON RATING REPORTERS OBAMA ADMIN ENGAGED IN MAJOR WAR NEWS CENSORSHIP AUGUST 2009 MILITARY CAUGHT SPYING ON WEST COAST PEACE ACTIVISTS JULY 2009 WAR KILLS TROOPS AND OUR ECONOMY SUICIDE PREVENTION MANUAL PUSHES CHRISTIANITY HONDURAS COUP LEADER TRAINED AT NOTORIOUS AMERICAN SCHOOL FEDERAL JUDGE SAYS MILITARY CAN PRESSURE MINORS WHOM DID WE KILL TODAY? TRACKING US. BOMBS JUNE 2009 THE NEW MILITARY PERVERSION: REMOTE WARFARE MAY 2009 HUMAN RIGHTS SUPPORTERS ATTACK MILITARY COMMISSIONS EVANGELICALS SUBVERTING MILITARY U.S. TROOPS PUSHED CHRISTIANITY IN AGHANISTAN TAPED EVIDENCE THAT ARMY IS CONCEALNG POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER AMONG VETS MARCH 2009 PENTAGON WANTS PACKS OF ROBOTS TO HUNT DOWN 'NON-COOPERATIVE' HUMANS LIKE DOGS SUBS THAT COLLIDED CARRIED MISSILES EQUAL IN POWER TO 1,248 HIROSHIMA BOMBINGS AMERICA'S LAST FLAG OFFICER TO ACTUALLY WIN A WAR FEBRUARY 2009 BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY CHALLENGES WAR ON TERROR IS THE MILITARY SUPPRESSING FRIENDLY FIRE DEATHS? JUSTICE DEPARTMENT DESIGNS NEW TORTURE WEAPON JANUARY 2009 PENTAGON SEEKS TO OVERTURN INITIATIVES AGAINST RECRUITING EXCESSES CONFLICT OF INTEREST IN INTELLIGENCE THE NON-COMBAT TROOP TRICK Sam Smith Barack Obama has repeatedly talked about removing all combat troops from Iraq but neither the media nor his supporters have paid much attention to the critical adjective: combat. Left in Iraq will be an uncertain number of "non-combat" troops. Among these will be 100,000 mercenaries that Minnesota Public Radio politely calls "the parallel army. . . filling in the gaps." Given that we have about regular 150,000 troops there now - both combat and non-combat - that's quite a few gaps being filled. The other group being left in Iraq are "non-combat troops" estimated at somewhere around 30,000 to 70,000 - or about the same number of troops we had in Vietnam in early 1965. According to war secretary Robert Gates, the number will be "several tens of thousands." What's the difference between combat and non-combat troops? The former are assigned to offensive operations while, as Amy Zalman puts it, non-combat troops "may provide training and mentoring, assist Iraqi troops, conduct intelligence and communications functions, among other tasks." It is worth noting, however, that the troops left behind are good enough at combat to "provide training and mentoring," not to mention their ability to "assist Iraqi troops" that presumably will want, from time to time, to engage in combat. Writes Zalman, "The New York Times notes that the plan may seek to meet Obama's plan by 'remissioning' combat troops as non-combat forces and, moreover, that some may continue to conduct patrols with Iraqi forces, which is essentially a combat function. Admittedly the Status of Forces Agreement provide for a total departure by the end of 2011, but that's a long way off. In any case, what is clear is that Obama's verbal sleight of hand is more than a little misleading. DECEMBER 2008 AMERICA SPECIAL FORCES INVADING COUNTRIES ILLEGALLY ARMY'S NEW PLAN FOR TROOP MIND CONTROL INTERNAL BRITISH SPY AGENCY REPORT CHALLENGES TERROR MYTHS NOVEMBER 2008 MILITARY RECRUITING VIOLATES INTERNATIONAL CHILD LAW FORTY PERCENT OF MILITARY WOMEN
AT HOSPITAL JROTC TEACHING SCHOOL CHILDREN HOW TO KILL EACH OTHER OCTOBER 2008 MILITARY HEAVILY CENSORING PHOTOS OF THE WAR FORMER GITMO PROSECUTOR SAYS TRIALS ARE RIGGED HOW TO TELL THE RANK OF SOMEONE IN THE AIR FORCE'S BATTLE AGAINST TERRORISM SEPTEMBER 2008 THE AMERICAN WAR MOVES TO PAKISTAN SEARS TO START SELLING LINE OF OFFICIAL U.S. MILITARY GARB AUGUST 2008 INTERNAL BRITISH SPY AGENCY REPORT CHALLENGES TERROR MYTHS FORTY PERCENT OF MILITARY WOMEN AT HOSPITAL REPORT BEING SEXUALLY ASSAULTED JULY 2008 IN THE AIR FORCE'S BATTLE AGAINST TERRORISM   We recently ran pictures of flight accomodations (top) for high Air Force brass provided by the Project on Government Oversight. POGO has now come up with the enlisted equivalent. Troops have sat for hours on long flights in mangled seats and on netting inside cargo aircraft. This photo (bottom) was taken at Al Udeid Airbase in Qatar. Al Udeid is a major logistics hub for U.S. operations in Afghanistan, and is a command center for operations in Iraq. It is home to the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing of the U.S. Air Force. AMERICA PRIVATIZES ITS WARFARE PENTAGON RESISTED IRAN AIR ATTACKS PIMP MY RIDE -- AIR FORCE EDITION  Project on Government Oversight The Air Force brass is pushing lush travel accommodations for themselves while troops put up with mangled seats on cargo aircraft, POGO and the Washington Post revealed. A cache of internal Air Force documents and emails show that Air Force generals frivolously blew hundreds of thousands in taxpayer dollars because they didn't like the color of seat belts, carpet, leather and wood used in work and living space units being developed for use on cargo planes. The two little-known programs are called the Senior Leader In-transit Conference Capsule and the Senior Leader In-transit Pallet. Earlier, SLICC was called Senior Leader In-transit Comfort Capsules, with the "Comfort" being dropped in favor of "Conference" at one point in late 2006. SLICCs are two connected chambers with first class amenities on a pallet that can be loaded onto a C-17, KC-10, C-130 and KC-X aircraft. These SLICCs are modeled on two existing "Steel Eagles" which are currently used for the most senior Pentagon officials (and are replacing the previous two "Silver Bullets" which are customized Airstream trailers). Each SLIP is made up of four leather business class chairs with tables that fit on a pallet that can be loaded on a cargo plane. The program began under General Duncan McNabb's tenure as commander of Air Mobility Command, a part of the Air Force that is responsible for air transport. General McNabb originally sought ten SLICCs and was involved in choosing the original color and material choices for the SLICC and SLIP leather, wood and carpet, which General Robert H. McMahon later changed at the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Disgust towards the generals' requests grew inside the Air Force, leading the acquisition effort to be moved when one part of Air Mobility Command refused to make some of the costly changes. "In Mar 07, Gen McMahon requested A4 [Air Mobility Command's Logistics Directorate] take over the acquisition effort when he could not get support from A5 [AMC's Plans and Programs Directorate] for updates and cooperation on making the equipment 'world class' which was one of his goals," according to an Air Force email. In one email it states, "Gen McMahon's concern is so significant that we need assurance by the end of the week from [Air Force Research Laboratory] that the SLICC will be 'world class' inside. While we know the requirements document says 'business class', we all know there are levels of that." The "world class" emphasis entailed the costly aesthetic redesign of the interior of an already existing system known as Steel Eagle. After the first SLIP was procured, General McMahon expressed dissatisfaction with the color of the seat leather and type of wood used. He directed that the leather be reupholstered from brown to Air Force blue leather and to replace the wood originally used to cherry. The cost alone to reupholster the seats on the first SLIP is about $21,000 - one estimate of the total cost of wood and leather changes to all the first four SLIPs (16 chairs total) was about $113,000. The cost was so appalling to General Kenneth Merchant that he wrote, "How'd we get to $113K for 4 pallets? Pls tell me this is for all 4 pallets. . . I could carpet and upholster a couple of houses for $113K. . . " As of March this year, the total cost increase for retrofit and further customization -which goes beyond wood and leather - for the SLIPs, directed by Air Mobility Command headquarters, is $493,000. Knowledge of the acquisition went even above General McNabb -- then-Chief of Staff T. Michael "Buzz" Moseley was briefed on the SLICC program. And as an email states, "the expectation was high" for the program. Moseley was canned by Defense Secretary Robert Gates about a month ago. US MILITARY PLANNED TO TEST DEADLY NERVE GAS ON AUSTRALIAN SOLDIERS MAY 2008 AMERICA PRIVATIZES ITS WARFARE NAVAL BLOCKADE OF IRAN WOULD BE AN ACT OF WAR VETERANS' PSYCHOLOGIST TELLS STAFF TO STOP STRESS SYNDROME DIAGNOSES: "REALLY DON'T HAVE TIME" MORE THAN 43,000 MEDICALLY UNFIT TROOPS SENT TO WAR REVIVING THE GI BILL OF RIGHTS SUICIDES & MENTAL RELATED DEATHS MAY TOP IRAQ BATTLE FATALITIES THE COST OF PREJUDICE: 2-3 BATTLE BRIGADES APRIL 2008 MAKING A KILLING ON THE WAR ON TERROR FREE THINKING SOLDIER SUES ARMY OVER THREATS  PENTAGON HEAVILY MANIPULATED TELEVISION MILITARY COVERAGE MARCH 2008 US AIR FORCE ADOPTS NAZI MOTTO US AIR FORCE - The Air Force has a new advertising campaign to recruit the next generation of Airmen as well as better inform people about the Air Force mission: "Above All." Although the phrase 'uber alles' describing Germany well precedes the rise of Hitler, any one who lived through World War II would easily associate it with its Nazi use. The adoption by the Air Force is either stupid or scary. http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123087033 HEARING LOSS A MASSIVE PROBLEM AMONG TROOPS WHAT IF THEY GAVE A WAR AND NOBODY CAME? SOLDIER CLAIMS PROMOTION DENIED BECAUSE OF HIS ATHEISM FEBRUARY 2008 ARMY UPGRADES 'NATION BUILDING' TO LEVEL OF COMBAT IN ITS LATEST MANUAL PENTAGON LAWYER WHO TRIED TO RIG GITMO CASES RESIGNS AIR FORCE BANS ALL SITES WITH WORD 'BLOG' IN THEM PENTAGON: TREAT INTERNET LIKE AN ENEMY WEAPONS SYSTEM SHORT-CHANGING MASSACHUSETTS FOR BAGHDAD JANUARY 2008  BLACKWATER LEAVES MERCENARY TRADE ASSOCIATION BECAUSE ETHICS STANDARDS ARE TOO TOUGH NOVEMBER 2007 'HIDDEN COSTS' DOUBLE PRICE OF TWO WARS COMPLETE GUIDE TO UNCLE SAM'S RECRUITING INCENTIVES GOP SENATOR CALLS FOR MILITARY DRAFT OCTOBER 2007 BLACK RECRUITMENT TO ARMY PLUMMETS JUN 2007  ONE MAN'S CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE ILLEGAL MERCENARIES IN IRAQ  EXPERTS OVERWHELMINGLY THINK U.S. IS LOSING WAR ON TERROR 9/11 STATS [From the Independent, UK] 2,973 Total number of people killed (excluding the 19 hijackers) in the September 11, 2001 attacks 2,932 Total number of US servicemen and women killed in Afghanistan and Iraq since September 2001 72,000 Estimated number of civilians killed worldwide since September 11, 2001 as a result of the war on terror 2 Number of years since US intelligence had any credible lead to Osama bin Laden's whereabouts 1,248 Number of published books relating to the September 11 attacks $40bn Airline industry losses since September 2001 91 per cent Terror cases from FBI and others that US Justice Dept declined to prosecute in first eight months of 2006 http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article1466758.ece
 THIS CHART, compiled by Ryan Singel at Wired, shows come of the the relative risks in contemporary life over the past five years. Other useful comparisons include those in a recent article in Foreign Affairs that estimates the probability of an American being killed in an terrorist incident is about 1 in 80,000. And as we have reported previously, you are also more likely to die of a workplace accident, be murdered, commit suicide, be killed by the side effects of a prescription drug, or die of cancer or heart disease.
JUNE 2006  MARCH 2006  ANNALS OF IMPROBABLE RESEARCH - After anxious months of waiting, Gregg F. Martin's superiors have again validated his strategic leadership principles. Martin wrote the classic military guide "Jesus the Strategic Leader." On February 17, G.W. Bush's nomination of Gregg F. Martin was confirmed by the Senate. After writing his famous study, then-Lieutenant Colonel Martin was promoted to command the 130th Engineer Brigade of the Army's 5th Corps. The 51-page-long "Jesus the Strategic Leader" [in the Army War College Journal] includes a drawing of Martin's "pyramid model" of Jesus the strategic leader. According to this model, Jesus is a pyramid, resting atop and partially intersecting God. God is a pyramid, too, but with a broader base. A third, inverted pyramid is supported atop Jesus' pyramid. This third pyramid begins with what Martin calls the "Top Three" disciples (Peter, James and John) and broadens to include the other apostles, then the disciples and, topping everything, the masses. Admirers are eager to see how high up the military pyramid the new general will rise. FEBRUARY 2006 GEORGE ORWELL ON THE LONG WAR GEORGE ORWELL, 1984 - In past ages, a war, almost by definition, was something that sooner or later came to an end, usually in unmistakable victory or defeat. In the past, also, war was one of the main instruments by which human societies were kept in touch with physical reality. . . Physical facts could not be ignored. In philosophy, or religion, or ethics, or politics, two and two might make five, but when one was designing a gun or an airplane they had to make four. Inefficient nations were always conquered sooner or later, and the struggle for efficiency was inimical to illusions. Moreover, to be efficient it was necessary to be able to learn from the past, which meant having a fairly accurate idea of what had happened in the past. Newspapers and history books were, of course, always colored and biased, but falsification of the kind that is practiced today would have been impossible. War was a sure safeguard of sanity, and so far as the ruling classes were concerned it was probably the most important of all safeguards. While wars could be won or lost, no ruling class could be completely irresponsible. But when war becomes literally continuous, it also ceases to be dangerous. When war is continuous there is no such thing as military necessity. Technical progress can cease and the most palpable facts can be denied or disregarded. As we have seen, researches that could be called scientific are still carried out for the purposes of war, but they are essentially a kind of daydreaming, and their failure to show results is not important. Efficiency, even military efficiency, is no longer needed. Nothing is efficient in Oceania except the Thought Police. . . War, it will be seen, is now a purely internal affair. In the past, the ruling groups of all countries, although they might recognize their common interest and therefore limit the destructiveness of war, did fight against one another, and the victor always plundered the vanquished. In our own day they are not fighting against one another at all. The war is waged by each ruling group against its own subjects, and the object of the war is not to make or prevent conquests of territory, but to keep the structure of society intact. The very word 'war', therefore, has become misleading. It would probably be accurate to say that by becoming continuous war has ceased to exist. http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/1984/17/ PENTAGON PLANS FOR PERPETUAL WAR AGAINST SOMEONE JANUARY 2006
 PENTAGON'S PSYOPS FOR ITS OWN EMPLOYEES MARCH 2002 JUNE 2005. . . IRAQ WAR MOST EXPENSIVE SINCE WORLD WAR II GIs TOLD TO BUY THEIR OWN FLAK JACKETS HOMELAND SECURITY CHAIR CHEERS PANIC PUSHERS STATE DEPARTMENT HIDES STATS SHOWING TERROR WAR A FLOP CIA REFUSES TO REVEAL TIES WITH NAZI WAR CRIMINALS BUSH PUTS AMERICAN BUSINESS AT RISK ABROAD BIN LADEN DISTINGUISHES BETWEEN RED AND BLUE STATES NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS UNDER LOCKDOWN BY ARMY TRAINERS OCTOBER 2004 GIs CLAIM THEY WERE TOLD: REENLIST OR GO TO IRAQ 57 YEAR OLD VET CALLED TO ACTIVE DUTY SELECTIVE SERVICE HEAD WANTS WOMEN TO REGISTER FOR DRAFT, RAISE MAX AGE TO 35 INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION AGAINST
THE RECRUITMENT, US CONTRACTOR RECRUITS GUARDS FOR IRAQ IN CHILE HOLD THAT NEXT WAR - U.S. NAVY NOT READY UNTIL DECEMBER BUSH YOUTH ORGANIZE FOR NEXT WAR THE PENTAGON'S MISSING $1 TRILLION THE MAN BEHIND BUSH'S TOTAL WAR STRATEGY |
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David Keen has taken a great step
toward revising our thinking about war in his book Useful
Enemies:When Waging Wars Is More Important Than Winning Them.
