Between The Lines: US Army Prepping for Permanant War

Good Monday Morning, and welcome to my first official edition of "Between The Lines" which is where I take a look at the propaganda coming out of the US Military and determine what the most likely orders they've been given are.

First out of the chute, a little human interest story about Hats:

Yes, there are soldiers upset because the new permanent war college, also known as the "Military Adviser Training Academy" is getting special hats, that the "Elite" forces don't feel that they've earned. Security Forces Assistance Brigades... this is what they are calling the new units the Army is prepping. Which means that it sounds like we're going to be doing a lot more "Advising" missions soon, and apparently we expect to be doing it openly and as the PRIMARY training of our soldiers. So, whoever had Middle East on the betting pool, it's looking good for you, keep your eyes on it.

So, moving along, we should probably focus on the tragic difficulties faced by our troops in the field.

Well, I don't know about you, but I don't normally see the MSM being quite so frank about how many bases are at present in Africa. I also love how "Officially" almost all the countries have less than 50 troops, Which adds up to 6,000 soldiers. Wait a second, that can't be right... 800 in Niger, which leaves 5,200... in ten Official countries... which leaves 4,700 who apparently don't officially exist. Assuming that ANY of these numbers are accurate is idiotic, of course, but I find it funny that the propaganda can't even be consistent in THE SAME STORY.

And this one strikes home hard for me. If I've ever seen an order that needed to be ignored, this would be it. I find it quite sad that the Media has completely ignored the fact that a soldier DID in fact ignore his orders on moral principle.

Of course the media won't address this one. Mainly because this is in immoral war in the first place. It doesn't look nice to have our people beating the hell out of the slime that we're supposed to be buddy buddy with, even if they diddle kids. Oh wait, that's not ok, because it's why we're totally destroying all of those politicians... Long story short on this one. This is a story that is not exactly news, because it's tacitly been agreed to be ignored by the PTB. If it don't cost them money, they don't care. The Sergeant and Captain could have cost The PTB a great deal of money by acting on their consciences, therefore they must be punished severely. This story will never be mentioned again, except by conservatives who will use it to show how evil Islam is, as opposed to showing how fucked up the situation is, by forcing soldiers to ignore a blatant evil in the name of profit.

So, Good luck this Monday, I'll be back on in a few hours to respond to any and all comments.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ejga4kJUts]

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riverlover's picture

Or have none rotated out? GPS must tell them WTH they are, like oops, Niger. Where else? Sudan. What about Central Africa? There must be raw materials beyond gas that some PTB wants.

I do think there is worth fighting the battle here. Pressure back on these kids that decide military life is the only way forward. Help find them other jobs stateside. Cut off the body supply.

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

detroitmechworks's picture

@riverlover The reason the US military seems to being used is that it's far cheaper for multinational corps to pretend their thefts are in "American Interests" to politicians, rather than just honestly pay reasonable prices for mercenaries. Hell, at least mercenaries would know what they were signing up for.

I pity those poor kids who honestly want to serve their country only to be shipped overseas as security guards and terrorist trainers.

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@detroitmechworks

Except that it'd be harder for corporate warlords to make it appear that their mercenaries gun-point seizure of other people's natural resources, as an invasion force into their own freaking countries, was being done for 'noble reasons', wouldn't it? Unless they were partnering with civil forces, as with DAPL, of course - but maybe that works only in America?

Stop the world, I want The Psychopaths That Be to get off!

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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.

snoopydawg's picture

@Ellen North

like our government can. Why do we need to invade Libya? "Because he's arresting his people because they are protesting and he's giving his soldiers viagra so they can rape their women."
This is what Obama and Hillary told us before the Libyan war. The corporations can't get away with doing this.
A better option would be for them to make deals with countries, but they would have to spend their money on that. Besides, they get the resources free after we pay the troops to overthrow governments.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

detroitmechworks's picture

@snoopydawg but of course to be calling them please... "Contractors"

These auxiliaries make up even more of the US presence than the us troops, and yet usually it's only the troops that get hit.

Yes, I do feel like I spent my Time in Iraq playing Clay Pigeon for Corporate scum.

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Lookout's picture

That's what the Niger occupation is all about.

U.S. military documents reveal new information about an American drone base under construction on the outskirts of the city. The long-planned project — considered the most important U.S. military construction effort in Africa, according to formerly secret files obtained by The Intercept through the Freedom of Information Act — is slated to cost $100 million, and is just one of a number of recent American military initiatives in the impoverished nation.
As the only country in the region willing to allow a U.S. base for MQ-9 Reapers — a newer, larger, and potentially more lethal model than the venerable Predator drone — Niger has positioned itself to be the key regional hub for U.S. military operations, with Agadez serving as the premier outpost for launching intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions against a plethora of terror groups.

https://theintercept.com/2016/09/29/u-s-military-is-building-a-100-milli...

And haven't the drones been effective in discouraging and preventing "terrorism"? I mean when we bomb civilians...we win hearts and minds....right?

We are the world's premiere terrorists. Fomenting war and destruction around the world while bankrupting our country financially and morally. It is the 'merikan way.

All the best to you and your kids!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

detroitmechworks's picture

@Lookout I was horrified a bit back to see them turning a project designed for peaceful travel into a flying drone base. (A project for airships was bought and studied for that purpose.) I'm glad they pulled the plug on that particular one, but the land based ones are just as morally repulsive.

Talk about the perfect example of doing the same thing over and over again and expecting shit to change. This is essentially setting up a Colonial base, and expecting it to be a center of stability and progress. As we have seen in the past, that doesn't end well.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVW5rjA5O7U]

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@detroitmechworks This one was a tactical British win and despite suffering a route elsewhere by the
Zulus I think the Brits still ended the campaign as victors despite the whole thing being started by local British yahoos.

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detroitmechworks's picture

@MinuteMan

But yes, the battle prior to this was an absolute rout by one of those hard charging idiots we all know and loathe.

Was mostly going with the general "Colonial" feel and how fucked up the situations we're sending our soldiers into, without the folks at home giving a shit.

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SnappleBC's picture

@Lookout

So by way of encouragement, you should know that much like Robyn did with Trans issues, your writing here has elevated my awareness on the antiwar front. Sure, once I understood that the wars were based on lies I was morally outraged. But I hadn't really connected all the dots. It's not just the murder of millions. The motives for doing so are equally pernicious and the fact that the price tag for enriching our plutocrats is born by the 99%... both economically and in terms of blood... is the icing on the cake.

Thanks for taking the time.

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A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard

detroitmechworks's picture

@SnappleBC I think one of the sad things is that the Military life tends to make people who have served very insular and unwilling to speak to those outside of the service. It's only exacerbated by the understandable but incorrect thought by many on the left that anybody interested by military matters is by their very nature a hawk.

I just find that connecting the dots is easy for me, since I in essence "Speak Military". Smile

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divineorder's picture

Informative and thought provoking.

FWIW for years read and reccd Tomdispatch crossposted to dkos for news about the wars, Very few people reccd it. When I quit hanging out there all the time after coming here I signed up for email alerts and to Tom's FB page. Have realized I quit reading it, probably due to psychic numbing.

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

detroitmechworks's picture

@divineorder and as a result, I understand how folks can forget that they happen. I remember the Heinlein story "Glory Road" with regards to this. He pointed out that soldiers kill each other ALL the time and the public doesn't seem to care unless they personally are affected by it.

Never read the Tom Dispatch, but then I haven't been over the TOP in quite some time. Since there is a Rethug in office, I expect TOP to bitch about the wars SLIGHTLY more than usual, and am actually surprised they seem to be rather mute on the subject recently.

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Wink's picture

@detroitmechworks
of course, becuz they're owned by the same companies that want More wars, not content with Dubya's War on Terra.

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the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

detroitmechworks's picture

@Wink The initial lead-UP to the war is where you make all the patriotic bucks and Shut Up Hippie credit...

Actual dead soldiers and confronting real evil is stuff that the MSM doesn't really do any more. Much more fun to talk about the new reality show where people are betraying each other again.

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@detroitmechworks
Even about the genocide we're helping in Yemen, you get told you just hate America. The Republicans, first imitated by the D centrists as far as money-getting, are now imitated in all ways. Trump/Russia is their Kenyan Birth Certificate. They can't figure why their party is dwindling; nor the site owner why get show up there.

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Orwell: Where's the omelette?

detroitmechworks's picture

@jim p when loving it and everything we as a nation do is mandatory.

Ugh... jingoism is not an argument... and I would have thought that was an unnecessary point to make over there.

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Steven D's picture

@detroitmechworks all those cruise missiles at Syria though. One of the few times they praised Trump.

Sort of sickening when you think about it.

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"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott

detroitmechworks's picture

@Steven D even if it's one of your greatest enemies, as in someone who has PERSONALLY wronged you.

When the Democrats are gone, I shall not cheer for their death, but shall sigh a relief at the passing of their evil.

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divineorder's picture

@detroitmechworks

www.tomdispatch.com

FWIW here's a snippet from the amazing Nick Turse:

TomDispatch managing editor Nick Turse brings us back to ground level today, as he writes about the courageous unsung local people, the “fixers,” who make possible the faraway work of journalists like him and the prize-winning Canadian reporter Deborah Campbell whose extraordinary new book he discusses. Full disclosure: I’m a colleague and friend of both Nick and Campbell, whose riveting book takes you deep into the eerie police state that was Damascus before the bombs began to fall in Syria. Ann Jones

The Journalist and the Fixer
Who Makes the Story Possible?
By Nick Turse

We were already roaring down the road when the young man called to me over his shoulder. There was a woman seated between us on the motorbike and with the distance, his accent, the rushing air, and the engine noise, it took a moment for me to decipher what he had just said: We might have enough gas to get to Bamurye and back.

I had spent the previous hour attempting to convince someone to take me on this ride while simultaneously weighing the ethics of the expedition, putting together a makeshift security plan, and negotiating a price. Other motorbike drivers warned that it would be a one-way trip. “If you go, you don’t come back,” more than one of them told me. I insisted we turn around immediately.

Once, I believed journalists roamed the world reporting stories on their own. Presumably, somebody edited the articles, but a lone byline meant that the foreign correspondent was the sole author of the reporting. Then I became a journalist and quickly learned the truth. Foreign correspondents are almost never alone in our work. We’re almost always dependent on locals, often many of them, if we want to have any hope of getting the story. It was never truer for me than on that day when I was attempting to cover an ongoing ethnic cleansing campaign in South Sudan.

Rest of the story is here:
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176334/tomgram%3A_nick_turse%2C_a_disapp...

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

detroitmechworks's picture

@divineorder to at least do a little reading.

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@detroitmechworks

Probably either insiders or working for insiders profiting from the MIC.

Good money in that, never any reckoning for the destruction - why should they object? They aren't 'purists', after all, and you can't make a profitable omelet without scrambling other people's eggs, right?

They can afford endless attacks on other people's countries, using America taxpayer's money and that invested by them in social programs for their old age, but nothing left over for non-profitable injured vets or war reparations, of course.

Ethics and empathy are for sissies.

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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.

detroitmechworks's picture

@Ellen North ensconced in its corporate "Headquarters" in Singapore, where they conveniently moved right before the retaliation against America...

Ok, that was dark, but what I expect from them.

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@detroitmechworks

Gotta agree with you! As usual, lol.

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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.

WoodsDweller's picture

pulled up a couple of references that the US has only had 21 years in it's history where it was not engaged in a war (including actions against Native Americans). Perpetual war is nothing new for us. Peace is very much the exception.

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"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

detroitmechworks's picture

@WoodsDweller but I'm honestly surprised to see us openly creating units who are direct analogues to colonial occupation forces.

At least we have pretended that we want peace in the past. Apparently we no longer feel the need to wear the mask and are gung ho about destroying all facades of honor and dignity. This is the exact mentality that is the REASON we have the Geneva convention...

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ylyqoxh-cXk]

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detroitmechworks's picture

@detroitmechworks disastrously, I might add.

It's like the old joke about experts. They can tell you exactly how bad the situation is, but of course that advice has to actually be LISTENED to.

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WoodsDweller's picture

@detroitmechworks
it's just another symptom of what we are seeing in other areas. They don't even bother lying anymore. Maybe what that really tells us is that voting is completely pointless, that boycotts or strikes have no hope of influencing corporations, that a stream of volunteers (some eager, some desperate) will fill the ranks of the military regardless of fantasies of "serving their country".
Wars are fought for the interests of rich men and the poor men do the dying. It has ever been so, in this country and every country.

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"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

detroitmechworks's picture

@WoodsDweller Otherwise they wouldn't call the colonial units "SFAB" units. The problem is that everything is couched in metaphor and rationalization so that the average person can still believe in all those feel good lies about America.

The propaganda is being spread so widely however, that occasionally the truth pops out. The MSM is where it's concentrated the deepest.

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Wink's picture

@WoodsDweller
tion of the Civil, WWI, WWII and Vietnam (and I guess the Revolutionary, maybe Korea), only a handful of us fought the others. And, if one is not at least indirectly involved (as most of us aren't, currently, in Dubya's war), one tends not to notice. War? I thought we won that years ago. It's not like it was, even during the '90s, when CNN and Wolf Blitzer gave us the latest updates. These days it's out of sight out of mind. War? What war?

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the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

detroitmechworks's picture

@Wink then when the public complained that they were too jingoistic, they pulled the reporters altogether. Then they started shooting reporters who didn't follow the new rules.

All while defining "Freedom Of Speech" as "Freedom to Speak The Party Line"

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Meteor Man's picture

For many years under its “New Horizons “ program, the Southern Command has installed bases or carried out military exercises throughout the region for the purpose of delivering humanitarian assistance, or preparing to do so. Host countries include Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Honduras, the Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Jamaica, Haiti, Panama, Argentina, Peru, Chile.

Just promoting more fascist right wing dictators democracy in South America:

Interviewed by TeleSur, analyst Ana Esther Ceceña claimed the exercise was part of Brazilian and U.S. efforts “to finish off progressive governments” in Latin America; “The object of the U.S. Army and that too of Brazil, Peru, and Colombia is to create a prepared position and to leave a base available at any time for an intervention.”

“From there the armies of Colombia, Peru, and Brazil would be able mount an offensive against those governments – especially those of Venezuela and Bolivia – that oppose [U. S.] hegemony, and against those countries possessing enormous natural resources.

Because The American Military is very humanitarian:

The Tabatinga episode is significant for shedding light on ways the U. S. government prepares for military action in Latin America. To wage war requires a justification that is acceptable at home. The same goes with preparing for war. As regards the Iraq and Vietnam Wars, U. S. justifications were lies, weapons of mass destruction and attack by torpedo boats, respectively. In the present instance humanitarian generosity is concocted as one reason for why the U.S. military is stirring about in South America. It’s a rationale both farcical and false.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/11/17/a-bizarre-us-pretext-for-militar...

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

detroitmechworks's picture

@Meteor Man that these are just "Civil Wars". Syria's their fifth run at the "Just supporting the good guys in the Civil War" narrative. Lessee... Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya... might as well toss in Somalia even though that one doesn't seem to count for some reason... oh and Slick Willy's little Yugoslavian Adventure... So, Seven times, and they're setting up the playbook to do the exact, same fucking thing.

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EdMass's picture

US Army Prepping for Permanant War

We've been in perpetual war since Korea.

It won't stop.

Ike told us.

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Prof: Nancy! I’m going to Greece!
Nancy: And swim the English Channel?
Prof: No. No. To ancient Greece where burning Sapho stood beside the wine dark sea. Wa de do da! Nancy, I’ve invented a time machine!

Firesign Theater

Stop the War!

detroitmechworks's picture

@EdMass It may not change, but at least there's value in my mind to pointing it out. The Emperor has no clothes, we all know. However, I'm more pissed about the tailors running off with all the fucking money.

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earthling1's picture

You are giving us a view from another edge of the playing field. It provides us with a kind of 3D vision, what the MSM is telling us vs. what the online community is saying and adding the military speak for balance.
I am looking forward to more.
Great job.

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Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

detroitmechworks's picture

@earthling1 Going to try writing it on Sunday Nights and have it Scheduled for a nice Monday morning release time. Had Insomnia last night, so published it a few hours before I intended to.

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Pluto's Republic's picture

Good job! You've set the perfect tone. It's easy to see how the details learned today can begin to stack up over time — and drive everyone quite mad tomorrow. "Extra!!! Get yer military news before it's classified!"

Thanks, detroitmechworks. I read somewhere that there was a bet-taking prediction website out there for military matters. But it's cruising under the radar and hard to find. Running the latest odds might make a nice cynical sidebar. I'll let you know if I find it.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
detroitmechworks's picture

@Pluto's Republic It does feel sometimes like threshing out the chaff to find out the real story, but at the same time, trade rags often have things that strongly pertain to the people who work in the business, even if there's an obvious agenda being pushed.

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A great start to a great series, and thanks for it!

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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.

detroitmechworks's picture

@Ellen North And that I don't fall prey to a depression attack or something else that causes me to retreat offline for a couple months. Smile

I joke, but it's been a constant bugbear for my writing.

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@detroitmechworks

Oh, man, no, you don't need that!

Hopefully getting something out about specifically this will help, knowing that you're dedicating so much effort to educating those of us lacking your perspective and knowledge-base in these areas, and making perhaps even more difference than you already have been?

*sends depression-shielding hugs*

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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.

@detroitmechworks reading that stuff. Nick Turse is well worth the read but can be pretty graphically honest, shall I say? Great job!

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Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur