James Mattis, Trump's Secretary of War, is a War Criminal, Warmonger Imperialist
"James Mattis is a Secretary of Offense." David Swanson
The president of some U.S. citizens, Trump, or whoever else is making the decisions for the president of some U.S. citizens (sorry man, I can't help it) has/have selected retired general James Mattis as Secretary of Defense.
Bad news man, real bad news. But then we knew that. What did you expect, Mary Poppins?
This is a dude they call Mad Dog. James Mattis is a war criminal, a murderer, and a cold and callous imperialist warmonger who thinks in terms of blowing thinngs up and killing anything in his way, even women and children.
This is a military man hired to do a civilian job as head of the American War Machine. Screw being retired, he did 40 years. Who the hell does 40 years? If ever the imperialist military doctrine has been completely and irretrievably ingrained in someone, it's James Mattis.
Oh ya, he's outspoken, gruff, gets to the point, no nonsense, and a little Napolean bully punk.
He is career military man selected to head the Department of Defense and the Pentagon and very anti-Iran. The Secretary of Defense power over the military is second only to the President. I talked about this in a recent essay, how Trump appeared to be surrounding himself with anti-Iran warmongers and that Iran has long been the "next war", the final step in the neocons plan for remaking the Middle East. The final country on Wes Clark's infamous "seven countries in five years" discovered plan in the hallways of the Pentagon.
Some Israel supporters and Zionists have been critical of the selection primarily based on his criticism of Israeli settlement expansion, even going as far as saying the word "apartheid". The Zionists Organization of America has come out against his selection as SecDef. However the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) wants to assure the Zionists that Mattis' anti-Iran stance and his warmongerness are actually good for Israel, which of course they are, and he is.
"Yet the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, issued a press release describing the claims against Mattis as “ill-founded and unfair.” The group, considered conservative in its views on Middle East security and defense issues, acknowledged that it shares “many of the objections” to Mattis’s comments, but noted that he had not repeated them since.
In addition, JINSA stressed that after holding conversations with Mattis, it is assured that his pick as Defense Secretary will actually improve U.S.-Israel relations. “We recently consulted several notable Israelis and Americans in the civic and military spheres who also have interacted with him and they share our confidence in his support for a strong U.S.-Israel relationship,” the group stated. It described Mattis’s commitment to a strong American presence in the Middle East and his outspoken views regarding the danger posed by Iran, as “heartening to the overwhelming majority of Americans who believe that a strong State of Israel is necessary for its own sake and important for a strong America.”
If anyone had any doubts about the foreign policies of the Trump administration, hoping that their imperialism would be a kinder and gentler imperialism, this should put that to rest. Trump wants to put Mad Dog in charge.
They will finish Syria, Iran is next, Russia will be played against China with the goal of weakening both and the New World Order will march on.
http://forward.com/news/national/355414/donald-trumps-top-choice-for-pen...
Don't believe me? Here's just a few samples of what Mad Dog Mattis brings to the table.
"Gen. James Mattis, head of U.S. Central Command, has recently stated that he envisioned about 20,000 troops in Afghanistan after the December 2014 withdrawal deadline."
"Following the gales of cheering that resounded from the room, Mattis, the gruff 40-year Marine veteran who once volunteered his opinion that “it’s fun to shoot some people,” outlined the challenge ahead. The “war on terror” that began on 9/11 has no discernable end, he said, likening it to the “the constant skirmishing between [the US cavalry] and the Indians” during the genocidal Indian Wars of the 19th century.
“The skirmishing will go on likely for a generation,” Mattis declared."
"General James Mattis, Commander of U.S. Central Command, (USCENTCOM), has intimated that the establishment of a “no fly zone” would de facto involve an all out bombing campaign, targeting inter alia Libya’s air defense system:
‘It would be a military operation – it wouldn’t be just telling people not to fly airplanes. ‘You would have to remove air defence capability in order to establish a no-fly zone, so no illusions here.’ (U.S. general warns no-fly zone could lead to all-out war in Libya, Mail Online, March 5, 2011, emphasis added)."
What unfolded was seven straight months of illegal and immoral terrorist bombing of Libya by the U.S./NATO warmongers.
"On April 28 the Atlantic Council held its annual awards dinner at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C. where the U.S. State Department is also situated.
The honorees were headed by former President Bill Clinton, who was given the Distinguished International Leadership Award for his intervention in the Balkans in the 1990s, expanding the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and launching the North American Free Trade Agreement. Josef Ackermann, Chairman of the Management Board and the Group Executive Committee of Deutsche Bank AG, was presented with the Distinguished Business Leadership Award.
Distinguished Military Leadership Awards were presented jointly to U.S. Marine General James Mattis, currently chief of U.S. Joint Forces Command and NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Transformation from 2007-2009, and French General Stephane Abrial, who took over the NATO command in Norfolk, Virginia from Mattis last year.
On the website of the Atlantic Council, with the tag Renewing the Alliance for the 21st Century, [11] among the links to other sites provided are those under the heading of think tanks, which are:
American Enterprise Institute
American Foreign Policy Council
Aspen Institute
Brookings Institution
Carnegie Endowment
Cato Institute
Center for a New American Security
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Center for Transatlantic Relations/Johns Hopkins Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies
Council on Foreign Relations
Foreign Policy Research Institute
German Marshall Fund of the United States
Heritage Foundation
Hudson Institute
New America Foundation
Nixon Center
Rand Corporation
United States Institute of Peace
Wilson Center International Center for Scholars"
The Atlantic Council and associated think tanks are neocon//neolib imperialism/New World Order advocates who obviously love themselves some Mad Dog.
"More than 30 top U.S. officials, including presidents G.W. Bush and Obama, are guilty of war crimes or crimes against peace and humanity “legally akin to those perpetrated by the former Nazi regime in Germany,” the distinguished American international law authority Francis Boyle charges.
U.S. officials involved in an “ongoing criminal conspiracy” in the Middle East and Africa who either participated in the commission of the crimes under their jurisdiction or failed to take action against them included both presidents since 2001 and their vice-presidents, the secretaries of State and Defense, the directors of the CIA and National Intelligence and the Pentagon’s Joint Chiefs of Staff and heads of the Central Command, among others, Boyle said."
In the Pentagon, war criminals include the members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and some Regional Commanders-in-Chiefs, especially for the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), and more recently, AFRICOM. Besides Chairman General Martin Dempsey, U.S. Army, JCS members include Admiral James Winnefeld Jr.; General Raymond Odierno, Chief of Staff of the Army; General James Amos, Commandant of the Marine Corps; Admiral Jonathan Greenert, Chief of Naval Operations; and General Mark Welsh, Chief of Staff of the Air Force.
Those who have headed the Central Command since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan include Lt. General Martin Dempsey; Admiral William Fallon; General John Abizaid; General Tommy Franks; Lt. General John Allen; and current commander General James Mattis. General Carter Ham of AFRICOM bears like responsibility."
"The United States is not at war with Iran yet, but just in case, the Pentagon says they want to be prepared. To do so, the Department of Defense has dispatched 15,000 troops to the neighboring nation of Kuwait.
Gen. James Mattis, the Marine Corps head that rules over the US Central Command, won approval late last year from the White House to deploy the massive surge to the tiny West Asian country Kuwait, which is separated from Iran by only a narrow span of the Persian Gulf."
“It’s fun to shoot some people. You go into Afghanistan, you’ve got guys who slap women around for five years because they don’t wear a veil. You know, guys like that ain’t got no manhood anyway, so it’s a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them.”
It was this same Lieutenant General Mattis who dismissed photographic evidence of the slaughter by US-led forces of dozens of people at an Iraqi wedding party last year. Among the dead were 27 members of the extended Rakat family their wedding guests and even the band of musicians hired to play at the ceremony. 11 of the dead were women. 14 were children."
"On May 12 James Mattis, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Transformation [ACT] and commander of the U.S. Joint Forces Command, spoke at a three-day symposium called Joint Warfighting 09 in Norfolk, Virginia, where NATO’s Allied Command Transformation is based, and stated: “I come with a sense of urgency. The enemy is meeting like this as well.”
A local newspaper summarized his speech:
“Mattis outlined a future in which wars will not have clearly defined beginnings and ends. What is needed, he said, is a grand strategy, a political framework that can guide military planning.”
He failed, for what passes for diplomatic reasons no doubt, to identify who “the enemy” is, but a series of recent developments, or rather an intensification of ongoing ones, indicate which nation it is."
"Russia"
"Even more blunt was Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis, the former commander of CENTCOM, who retired only last year. Testifying before the House Intelligence Committee, he directly attacked Obama’s public position of “no boots on the ground,” stating, “You just don’t take anything off the table up front, which it appears the administration has tried to do.”
Mattis added:“If a brigade of our paratroopers or a battalion landing team of our Marines would strengthen our allies at a key juncture and create havoc/humiliation for our adversaries, then we should do what is necessary with our forces that exist for that very purpose.”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/search?q=james+mattis&x=9&y=14
"Trump says he wants to stop overthrowing governments and turn toward peace, but considering James Mattis for Secretary of Defense suggests he's not serious."
http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2016/11/21/james-mattis-is-a-secreta...
Or I could be wrong, Mad Dog could be a Peace SecDef and they could throw candy and flowers at us. Ya, that could happen.
This would be a good time to get the antiwar thing going on. The War Pigs are restless.
Comments
Anyone with the nickname "Mad Dog"
should be in some sort of residential care housing.
Not in government.
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
Paratroopers? Really?
Somebody ship this guy back to the old soldier's home. Operation Market Garden proved how well Paratroopers work behind the lines while depending on support from local allies.
40 year veteran of the marines... sorry, a little before this guy's time. Hell 'Nam was before this assholes time. This moron came up the ranks with the "All Volunteer" Military. Where what matters is which politicians you cozy up to and which defense contractors you pander to.
I have no doubt the guy think he's tough, and that toughness is expressed through exerting your military might. In essence, this guy is EVERYTHING wrong with a career officer in the Military as it stands today.
edit: Added two words which clarify a military slang term.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
A 40 year Marine general, true blue.
This guy thinks in terms of military and war. He ain't no Smedley Butler, another long term Marine General.
This is really a second wind of what was started with Bush Jr in 2001 with different tactics but the same agenda, the New World Order, American supremacy. Notice how Trump is calling for "Rebuilding America's Defenses", or military, the same thing said in 2000 with the Project for a New American Century document.
Butler was that rarest of things.
An Honorable soldier.
Far too many who join the profession are nothing but thugs and mercenaries in pretty uniforms.
Doesn't help that the current training has been changed more and more to the point where command and control is in the hands of bureaucrats who will never see a battle but think they're tough for giving speeches and running around doing personal combat training on the base.
I'm all for "Rebuilding" the military. In a defensive, community focused manner that eliminates the current old soldiers/weapons contractor deals. Somehow I don't think that's what Trump has in mind.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
Nope. Russia and China have caught them off guard with
advanced weaponry and naval advances while the U.S. has been spending it's money on wars, military ops, and worldwide bases. They're going to want to rebuild the Navy and increase their total arsenal. Wet dreams for the MIC which no doubt was part of the discussions with Carrier to keep those jobs in the U.S.
Last time they wanted to rebuild the military they needed a "New Pearl Harbor".
What Joining Uncle Scam's Club Really Means
Those who spend their time in Uncle Scam's Club enforcing the imposition of the New World (dis)Order upon other nations are rewarded with a well-paying job with any local or regional police force. These veterans go through the various academies, but they are already considered essentially trained to put down civilian unrest.
Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.
several years ago, my kid was on a soccer team
with another little boy, who was the "star" of that team of 7-year-olds. the other boy's dad wasn't at the games, but his mom was. she was a sort of stereotypical hot, brassy white-trashy MILF, maybe in her late 20s, into harleys. her kid was mixed-race, which as far as i know interested absolutely nobody -- in some situations, america really is a lot more post-racial than in others. she told me her husband was a cop, former military, who "just couldn't turn down the money". yep: He'd gone to war in an American uniform, come home, joined a police force (oh, great), and then been lured back to Iraq or some such by the big "security contractor" payday.
I simply had nothing I could say to this woman about her situation, her son's situation, her husband's situation, because on principle I objected to almost every detail of her husband's career. He should never have been sent to Iraq in the first place. He should never have been hired as a civilian officer of the peace. He should never have been hired as a mercenary. And when I say, "should', I mean, every one of those things should have been proscribed by law.
Then one day, Dad was there, on some sort of furlough. He was a fucking mountain of muscle. He was friendly, good-humored, just another dad on the sidelines (as opposed to some of the psychos i've encountered at kid's athletics). Except that he was a hired killer.
Crazy.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
That was all Montgomery's fault not paratroopers.
Haven't you ever heard the term "A Bridge Too Far"?
uh. that's kind of the point of the comment, isn't it?
paratroopers aren't magicians -- their operations are subject to fundamental constraints, and if you pretend that isn't true, you'll send them into situations where they cannot succeed. Market Garden would be the case study for that.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
By stating the exact opposite of that? I doubt it.
The paratroopers did not fail due to forces within their control, they were put in a situation where they could not succeed.
The paratroopers delivered results far in excess of expectations and operational planning.
Montgomery made a plan that relied on a two-lane road that could not achieve the objectives required to reach the paratrooper bridgehead within the timeframe required.
Now the paratroopers can go f*ck themselves (Derry 1971) so that I have to be the one to point out they were made scapegoats for that POS Montgomery, and the original comment implies they failed, just pisses me off, so if this comment is abrupt it's because. F*ck those f*ckers, because they are entirely scum, such scum that I even derive some satisfaction the Warrenpoint Ambush where the PIRA got them but good. Not just with the original mine, but they had an even bigger landmine right where they set up their field ops and really scragged them. It was the only justice those murdered on Bloody Sunday ever got. /rantoff
feel free to explain how this statement "blames"
the paratroopers for anything:
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
Because you are almost quoting Montgomery's apologists.
Perhaps you have unwittingly stumbled upon those particular phrases or formulations or perhaps you think Operation Market Garden ever had a chance of success.
The paratroopers exceeded expectations and operational parameters. Operation Market Garden teaches you squat about paratroopers, it shows what every soldier knows. Light infantry stranded deep behind enemy territory is in trouble.
OMG teaches us that Montgomery is a gobshite, propped up by the old boys network. Any other lesson is a very distant second.
We clear now?
You familiar with Auchinleck?
Well . . . my bet is that Trump is TOOTR, the Obama of the Right
But I could be very wrong — after all, I thought the fix was in and Hillary would win in a landslide.
Disclaimer: both of the websites linked are on the Washington Post’s McCarthyist slander blacklist.
Believes Trump will probe 9/11:
http://investmentwatchblog.com/trump-im-reopening-911-investigation/
Believes Trump won’t touch 9/11:
http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/?p=143491
I'd vote for door number two, he won't touch it.
In fact, it's hard to reconcile his views on the War OF Terror with doubts about 9/11. Those of us who believe 9/11 was a false flag operation know that it was conducted to set up the fake gwot.
It's even harder to reconcile with his selections in his cabinet and admin, like Mattis, Flynn and Pompeo.
Funny isn't it, about the only sites I read are all on the fake news list. So don't mind me.
Too much work
Why would he investigate it when he can simply announce what he wants to believe on twitter and then his lackeys will embroider that into a master work.
"false flag"?
Are you literally saying that the hijackers were US agents or mercenaries - wittingly or unwittingly?
I could more easily see 911 on the Pearl Harbor end of the spectrum (if the worst allegations against FDR are accurate) but not that the buildings had preplanted demo charges.
The one big problem I have with all the 911 conspiracies, is that 911 got the US into Afghanistan when the PNAC plan called for Irag, Iran, Syria, etc. If yer gonna be 100% in control of a conspiracy to get you into your war, it will look more like Danzig 1939 than 911.
The most egregious thing is that Iraq did not have to be a shambles. They won the war. There was a great state dept plan for the afters, but pissy Rumsfeld showed Powell who was boss and did it his way! So there! Iraq actually could have been a beacon of democracy in the ME today if not for Cheney & Rumsfeld wanting to screw Powell over.
Actually
not all those that believe it was a false flag, i.e., MIHOP or LIHOP, necessarily believe in the planted explosives angle.
PNAC called for a "New Pearl Harbor" for the war OF terror which did/does include Afghanistan under the premise that the Taliban were aiding Al Qaeda and bin Laden in Afghanistan. The war OF terror was needed to justify "rebuilding America's defenses" and allow the U.S. to run rampant in the Middle East for Israel.
Right. But the term "false flag" would mean the hijackers
were (in)directly US controlled agents. That is the piece I'm skeptical of, because I have not seen hard evidence to support it.
Proving 911 a conspiracy is hard if not impossible (assuming it was one), but given all the other operations planned/executed since WW2 it is not entirely ludicrous to consider.
My great uncle worked for British military intelligence in Aden, Zambia, Zimbabwe up until the early 80s. When he decided to stop they tried to assassinate him by sabotaging his jeep. The Dublin & Monaghan bombings were carried out by British military intelligence. The only outstanding question is if the UK cabinet ordered it or just covered it up. So, I'm open to the concept of malfeasance by government groups.
But with 911, what is the point of getting into it? We already know the agencies are scum and need to go. And getting labeled a CT nut is the greatest way to sideline yourself. Just remember, the f*ckers keep good records and one day we ARE going to get them all. It is inevitable - google miles of Kenyan records found in the UK for a laugh
Interesting Thought Here. I Went and Googled "Reichstag Proof"
and apparently the documentary evidence that "proved" it was a false flag was obtained in 2001.
Funny that it took 68 years to get "proof" on the CT that said the Germans did it.
Apparently history says it is a bit easier than one would think to hide a conspiracy of that scale than we are asked to believe via conventional wisdom.
“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu
The sophists gap between knowledge and proof.
2001 was the smoking gun piece of evidence. It was not "required" for the truth to be known a long, long time ago.
The sophists gap between knowledge, proof and truth is the trolls paradise.
http://www.washingtonsblog
links to:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0201/08/ltm.05.html
2nd 'this' (emphasis mine; the first bit quoted shows why the US oligarchs - who, as fanatical control-freaks, also will brook no equals or sharing of their ill-gotten gains so often stolen/drained from others - want to get rid of Putin) links to:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/18/opinion/a-new-oil-game-with-new-winner...
A New Oil Game, With New Winners
By RICHARD BUTLERJAN. 18, 2002
These should all be read at full in source, but most particularly this one following for anyone not yet realizing that the Bush admin consisted entirely of corporate representatives having been cheated into the US government.
It was, of course, the Bush admin who initiated the corporate coups termed 'trade bills' to place a veneer of 'legality' on the planned global hostile corporate takeover currently in progress, having been promoted by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and pushed by future Silicon Valley venture capitalist, President Barack Obama.
3rd 'this' (emphasis mine) links to:
http://www.ipsnews.net/2001/11/politics-us-policy-towards-taliban-influe...
In every possible way, for every possible reason, we must begin the switch to greener energy alternatives. The toxic dinosaur tech of fossil fuels kills in so many ways, those profiting from it see no problem in polishing off all life in the near future for further increased profits...
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
And back even unto Sykes-Picot.
Or Iran 1957.
The odd thing about 911 CT - the people who would have been running the operation would be the same class/club/clade/set/friends-of the very people with offices in the WTC. Look at the businesses there, the names and occupations of those that died. Those companies were up to their necks in enabling, sustaining, defending and profiting from the most vile of the global capitalist model - every vile abuse you have ever read or heard about these guys were profiting from or wholly responsible for.
There is a gross (and gross) but rather accurate correlation of 911 victims fund pay out to the degree of evil perpetrated by the individual that died.
* For the trolls - no the cleaning staff nor mail room staff were/are evil, don't be obtuse this is about those making decisions and investments and pushing those decisions and investments through. Not vacuuming the carpet.
Can't figure out why Trump or
Can't figure out why Trump or anyone of his ilk would be interviewed about 9/11 in the first place, being neither an expert nor a politician at the time? (And certainly not an activist concerned with the public good.) Why would anyone care what he thought in the first place?
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
He is not eligible
The law provides for civilian control of the Pentagon, requiring any SecDef to be out of the military for at least 7 years. General Mattis is not eligible for the job. He could get a congressional waiver, this was done for George C. Marshall as a one-time thing. Trump can't make a move without running afoul of the rules.
"We've done the impossible, and that makes us mighty."
With a republican controlled congress and senate I
think they'll work something out, indications are anyway.
Should it choose to do so
the congress can issue a waiver allowing Mattis to become Secretary. With that, it is technically legal but remains a poor decision.
This is not an emergency appointment so there is not reason to employ the use of the waiver.
"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."
John Cage
Will Dems have the backbone? We will see.
Mattis should not even be considered given
Some Dems are not supporting, or so they say...
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
yayzoos
There is no way he should be appointed with ties to GD like that. The rot is endless.
Question is, do the Dems have the votes to block and more importantly, the backbone. How many dems benefit from similar arrangements? Plenty, I'm sure. Just different contractors.
"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."
John Cage
But the rules don't apply to
But the rules don't apply to Those Who Matter! They routinely break the law and are never held to account, since they're above all that.
Note to self: must get some knitting needles, wool and a splatter shield, in case this peaceful revolution thing doesn't work out.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
OTOH, he is outspoken against Torture
He even tried to change Trump's mind on the subject.
I've also read he isn't all that fond of the idea of invading more countries or attacking Russia.
Compared to the other horrific picks by Trump, this is probably the best of a bad bunch.
Ya, he'd rather just shoot and bomb people than
torture them. I think he's a good fit for the Trump agenda of rebuilding the military and focusing on Iran and China. The plan would be to try to curtail or break the alliances that have been built between Russia, China, Iran and others while the U.S. was trashing the M.E.
Hasn't every president been guilty of war crimes?
The ones who gave the orders to invade countries after the Nuremberg trials certainly are since it was stated that any country that invades one that hasn't threatened them is the highest war crime.
PNAC may have been written after bush took office, but the people who wrote it went to bill Clinton and wanted him to remove Saddam from office and said that a regular coup d' tat wouldn't work. The whole military would be needed to remove him.
I would add to the list of war criminals listed above and include the mercenaries who also go into foreign countries because they get paid the big bucks.
Some soldiers should be included if not all because IMO. There is enough information available to them to understand that they aren't fighting to defend this country or our freedoms. How many freedoms do we even have left for them to defend anyway? The patriot and the military commissions acts have removed most of them or our congress decides that the oath that they took to defend the constitution is no longer the law of this country when they can pass bills like the FISA, the one that went into effect yesterday (41) , the NDAA which gives the president the power to arrest people, hold them indefinitely without charges or have access to a lawyer and everything else they have done during the drug war and the gwot that have taken away our civil liberties.
Yes smedley should be commended for telling us what he had spent his career doing, but he did do that for 33 years before he retired and then spilled the beans.
Here's the list of countries that this country has invaded from 1800-1849 which starts with the genocide of the Native Americans.
http://mtwsfh.blogspot.fr/2007/12/1800-1849-thirty-two-invasions-and.html
How many countries has the USA invaded since then?
And just today in an article about the new $600 billion defense bill they just passed, I saw comments stating that the USA shouldn't be the world's policeman.
How can people not be aware that their country isn't all over the world defending other countries, but overthrowing elected governments so that the corporations can steal country's resources?
Hell, we aren't even fighting in Syria for our own reward but so that Saudi Arabia and Qatar can build pipelines in Syria.
Our troops have been fighting the gwot to make Israel the soul superpower in the Middle East.
Plus we have given them how many billions over decades while Israelis have great health insurance and better quality of life then do a lot of people in our own country.
And of course the democrats aren't going to do jack shit to block any of the heinous appointments because they are on the same team that the republicans are when it comes to foreign interventions.
It's just too damned bad that millions of innocent civilians have to be killed so that the corporations can take the resources that they were born on top of, isn't it?
Over 1.3 billion people have been killed since 1945 by our country's military.
Remember what MLK said during his riverside speech. And it has gotten worse since he said that.
Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?
Absolutely snoopydawg. That's the nature of the beast,
U.S. imperialism. I also agree with Francis Boyle who I referenced in the essay that all the top officials involved are also guilty of war crimes, i.e., war criminals. That includes Mattis. Just like Clinton was a war criminal before she even ran for President, Mattis is a war criminal before he even gets confirmed for SecDef.
I don't think it does any good to exercise nuance with this. What they're doing is illegal, immoral, inhumane, and all based on greed and the quest for power. And Israel, you're right about that. Which is why this Iran push by Trump and his appointments is worrying, they're all anti-Iran. This definitely looks like the next step with Trump assigned the task.
Have you seen this article by F. William Engdahl?
http://www.williamengdahl.com/englishNEO25Nov2016.php
Wow, excellent and scary article, BA
I've said it before that he was selected to be president instead of Hillary but didn't understand why they went with him. This spells it out.
The reason for Trump over Hillary
And here is where they spell out Israel's involvement in the wars in the Middle East.
Yep we are in for more wars, which I think most of us knew, but the reasons for them are clearly spelled out for us.
I so wish there was a way to wake people up to why this country has been on a constant war path and for them to get off their asses and demand an end to them, but the government propaganda has brainwashed so many people who won't take the time to think for themselves.
And for them to quit glorifying everything that the military does.
People knew that the Vietnam war was wrong and protested against it, but ever since 9/11, people have drunk the koolaid that we were attacked for no reason and we had just been minding our business and then boom, those mean terrorists attacked us and killed 3,000 innocent civilians.
How many 9/11's has this country caused before and after 9/11?
I also don't understand why other countries continue to let our government destroy so many countries. Some I know want the resources too, but there has to be some way to stop the usa's hegemony and wanton slaughter of millions of innocents.
Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?
Anyone want to bet me on whether the anti war
protesters get off the asses that they have been sitting on while Obama did everything they protested when it was Bush was doing them?
I have seen people on DK defend Obama's use of drones, his war on Libya and his putting troops back into Iraq
And then there's their willful blindness of Hillary being a warmonger after not only her Iraq war vote, but what she accomplished during her time as SOS with Libya and Syria.
She told everyone that she was going to create a no fly zone over Syria that would mean putting up to 70,000 troops there and risk a nuclear war with Russia, but that's okay because, well I have no idea why.
Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?
... Moreover, Flynn is
Is this being presented as a bad thing? Aren't we all against corporate American government attacking Russia and other people's countries, messing in other people's governments to substitute corporate puppets for even the democratically elected because they wish their own people to benefit by their own resources, rather than US polluting industries, in order to further feed the continual increase in corporate power and profiteering at all costs to others and, if the claim is 'fighting terrorists' to actually fight the terrorists and protect their victims, rather than too-often arming/training murderous extremists and dispossessing/killing civilians in order to take their stuff?
Seriously, what other country's 'leadership' causes more damage globally to democracy, civilization and the chances of life's survival on the planet, all in the interest of draining all wealth and power for the use of the relative few who believe that they'll survive all this as global dictators of the wreckage?
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Yeah...
That's one of the reasons congress never declares war. It can't be a war crime is there is no war. Just a police action or some other handy label as long as it is not officially war then the Geneva Convention does not apply.
"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."
John Cage
Link to the letter to Clinton
http://www.iraqwatch.org/perspectives/rumsfeld-openletter.htm
Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?
I downloaded this info-filled essay
…into my personal reference directory. Good work, Al. Those are some really depraved assholes on your Think Tank list. I wonder at the amount the unelected Federal government — the permanent Neocon authorities — pay their ideological cronies each year to contaminate the temporarily elected who come to DC. They are all so scared to death, they can't wait to sign away the People's few rights, while shoveling more than half of all Federal revenues into the Pentagon, Defense, and State Department. The Neocon shadow government essentially has a bottomless budget. Forever.
No matter who the People elect, they get "fixed" and come home millionaires. And the wars of Empire continue.
While the Democrats are occupied with piecing their Party back together — I predict that an awful lot of Democrats are going to rediscover their Moral Compasses and align themselves seriously with antiwar principles and values.
Until the Democrats are once again driving America's murdering and mayhem from the White House, that is.
Thanks Pluto and agree.
Many dems will find their "moral compass", at least until the next Dem president. We've seen that up close and personal. We'll have to work with what we can I guess.
Mussolini invaded Ethiopia to make Italy great again
I wonder what country Trump will invade.
Bannon would also love a war for his dark strategy.
The political revolution continues
That's the thing, how did America become "great"?
Imperialism, Manifest Destiny, slavery, genocide. On the backs of others.
IF you can call that great.
I decided that America was not great long ago.
Sure, I had a low draft number, but everything I learned during my college deferment years just bolstered what my wounded and decorated WWII vet dad said about Viet Nam, ie all about the money. Nothing has happened to change that opinion for me.
Thanks for this, was not aware of what a dck the guy is. WaPo and others making him out as a hero. Fck that.
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
I think so too, I saw an excellent documentary about the life
of Jack London on the European culture channel ARTE today (in German) (also available in English, but couldn't find that specific documentary yet, the french version is here), which showed lots and lots of original photos and clips of the America Jack London lived in from 1876-1916. It gave me the impression that very early on, in 1885 already, America wasn't great for the then 99 percent. Amazing to realize that little has changed. It goes back a long time.
https://www.euronews.com/live
We know that Hillary
wanted war with Syria, Iran and likely Russia.
Trump hasn't threatened to attack anyone. He is a wild card to be sure, and there is no guarantee that he will keep the peace, but so far we are already ahead of the curve.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
Arbeitsbeschaffungsprogramme ... (redacted the rest)
Heh, you have to allow an ol' girl some kidding, no offense, capisce?
I am living with a person who never browses the internet and doesn't use anything but occasionally email, of which there are not many. Happy camper.
https://www.euronews.com/live
not worth mentioning (redacted)
... psychologically unstable... who? Me, Trump or the whole damn world?
https://www.euronews.com/live
But how is that different...
...than what Hillary was and would have kept being?
It's not. The Home of the Brave has an abundance
of war criminals walking around, making speeches, talking on the TV, you name it. If we could get more people to accept that maybe we could do something about it. Maybe.
just wanted to say how much I appreciate your threads
in general but this is stellar. Definitely going into my resource list. I have already sent it on to my peeps. thx.
Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation
Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook
thank you magiamma
Appreciate that.
Sounds like war
Trump has us off to a good start by pissing off China. Now Kim Jung-on will feel a lot freer to make bombs and missiles.
Beware the bullshit factories.
Thanks for the essay, really appreciate it.
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
Thanks for your comments d.o.
Very informative. I remember writing a "diary" about the attack on Fallujah but hadn't paid attention to Mattis at the time. I compared it to 1921 when Churchill bombed Fallujah in 1917. It just never ends.
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/fisk/iraq-1917-5355230....