The War On Terror was one of the worst events in all of history
I'm going to make this short because there is nothing worthy that I can add to it.
The ongoing U.S. "war on terror" has forcibly displaced as many as 59 million people from just eight countries in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia since 2001, according to a new report published Tuesday by Brown University's Costs of War Project.
"U.S. involvement in these countries has been horrifically catastrophic, horrifically damaging in ways that I don't think that most people in the United States have grappled with or reckoned with in even the slightest terms."
—David Vine, American UniversityTitled "Creating Refugees: Displacement Caused by the United States' Post-9/11 Wars" (pdf), the new report conservatively estimates that at least 37 million people have "fled their homes in the eight most violent wars the U.S. military has launched or participated in since 2001."
The latest figure represents a dramatic increase from the Costs of War Project's 2019 report, which estimated that 21 million people had been displaced internally or forced to flee their home countries due to violence inflicted or unleashed by U.S.-led wars over the past two decades. That report also put the death toll of the so-called war on terror at 801,000 and the price tag at $6.4 trillion.
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NUREMBURG 2: JUDGMENT DAY
You heard it here first!
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
But we're the good guys
just ask us. Oh, yeah, and self defense.
The US is the Kyle Rittenhouse of the world. The parallels between the two are scary shit. We go barging into situations in someone else's neighborhood that are none of our business while armed to the teeth and fuck shit up with absolutely no idea what we intended to do. Then we claim we're just protecting ourselves. It never seems to click that if we would simply mind our own business, kept our own side of the street clean, then it wouldn't happen over and over and over again. And not even the "adults in the room" seem to have a clue why the world is in such a mess.
The elephant in the room is that fucking shit up was the purpose.
"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now..."
Our insane foreign policy
makes the arms industry and the security establishment very wealthy. Conflicts that leave millions homeless are a feature of US foreign policy, not a bug.
"Was"?
It's still going.
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
Energizer bunny
And going and going, the gift that keeps on giving. Like an evil-aligned Energizer bunny.
"Was" is used here in the sense of "hitherto"; i,e., "The War OF Terror, hitherto, was one of the worst events in all of history."
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
No grappling; no reckoning
because 90% of Americans don't care.
90% of Americans don't care.
That's because:
(1) Their plates are over-full trying to keep body and soul together; and
(2) There's no effective action they can take to change anything.
(Were voting able to effect these changes, it would be rendered illegal at once.)
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Thank you
for succinctly saying what it took far more words to say.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
I disagree
Most Americans have no idea about how the United States is waging war on the world.
I spent four and a half years (2012-2016) with a local, weekly Peace vigil in a small Southern town. During that time, I talked to many people about the wars and even those who appeared to be knowledgeable about what was happening had no idea about the breadth and scope of the US involvement in other countries. Nearly every person I talked to knew we were involved in Afghanistan and Iraq, but had no idea that we were bombing people in undeclared wars in five other countries at that time. Not only that, but most people thought our troops were over there fighting to protect our freedoms here.
I met only two people during that time who were acutely aware of the sham these wars are. One was the wife of a soldier who came home with severe PTSD. The other was a vet himself who had served three tours in Afghanistan and one in Iraq. He was wounded in Iraq and lost many friends in the wars. He said that the US government lied to him and every other soldier they sent into harm's way.
The average citizen may not care because the average citizen does not know what is really going on because our media does not report the news, only propaganda. The vast majority of people I met during the Peace vigil were well meaning people who were clueless. And I cannot blame them for not knowing exactly the destruction we have been causing worldwide. You have to have the time to search for what is real. And with fifty percent of the country in poverty or on the brink of poverty, they are just trying to stay alive and put food on the table for their families.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
The legacy of ending the draft
people only care if their ass is in danger.
Someone else? "Hey they volunteered for it."
Citizens of other countries? "Who cares about them? probably terrorists anyway."
EDIT: spelling
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
I know this sounds strange
because many liberal friends of mine were horrified when I told them this. But every one of us in our Peace vigil felt that the only way to drive this issue home was to re-institute the draft. I had one friend ask me if I wanted my nieces and nephews to be sent overseas to fight and die in these wars. My answer was I wanted NO ONE to be sent overseas to fight and die in these wars. The draft will send that message home.
BTW, when I joined the Peace vigil, I was the youngest participant by over ten years. The other four were men. Our oldest participant was a WWII veteran. Another participant was in the Army reserve during the Viet Nam era. And the third was a medical doctor who was actually drafted out of medical school to serve during the Korean War. All of us believed in the draft.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
It is hard to justify it but
I would accept and even applaud a draft of men and women, Swiss style, to be trained and familiar with the military, then back home to be called up only in case of invasion or insurrection.
There ARE other military missions (NOT "nation building") but leave them to the career soldiers, sailors and airman.
Why Men & Women? I have a granddaughter-in-law who is a combat veteran. Strange New World we live in. A good woman. a bit authoritarian but that's what he always needed. He is kind and gentle and caring and patient. That's what she needs. Long marriages are based on mutual needs. Not hot passion (it doesn't hurt!).
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
People who are intellectually honest
...knew from the very moment the US decided to invade Iraq
that there was only one way to stop this national insanity:
You were always 100 percent clear and correct. Those who are shocked or confused by this suffer from a deficit of self-awareness or a toxic level of reality denial. Or they are deliberately playing dumb.
Of course, it wasn't really a 'national insanity'. It was a government coup, quietly launched in 2001, that was able to turn someone like Colin Powell into a traitor and war criminal. This neocon Rogue Government — now 100 years in the making — has been running US Foreign Policy ever since, with the cooperation of the Pentagon. Since the Reagan years, a steady flow of neocon operatives have flooded the government's top level bureaucracy and have occupied the National Security Council. They provide an elite talent pool for Presidents. But they also supplied the testimony and whistleblowers at Trump's Impeachment hearings. They are attached to the Democratic Party like scabies. The Republican Party are their viral emitters, who infect every part of the Federal government. The activities and atrocities of the Rogue Government are hidden and protected by the classified documents that they create. The only times they show themselves is when there is an attempt to stop their wars, or when there is a threat to expose their war-profiteering cartels in places like Ukraine, or when their propaganda factories inside the media monopolies are challenged.
But times are changing: All other weaponry being equal, the only military fears the Rogue Government had was the larger sizes of their enemy's armed forces. However, with the rapid advances in the Big Three Gamechangers — artificial intelligence, genetic-based biological weapons, and robotics — the Rogue Government now believes that the numbers of troops is no longer a factor. They believe their time has come, but only if they move fast. The people who know and understand the neocons best — the Russians and Chinese — have the intellectual and technological advantage in all three capabilities. The US is now tearing up its Treaties and Agreements with the world, and going so far as to sanction individuals who are members of International Organizations and foreign corporations. In doing so, they have forced these two productive nations to divert their resources and social improvement projects spending into expanding their military power, instead. China's grand plans for building a trading infrastructure for all of the developing land-locked nations of the Eastern Hemisphere must be put on hold. War is coming.
Hitler was obsessed with the physical and cultural genocide of the Native Americans (which was still going on while he was growing into manhood). He always believed that the Americans held the answers he was seeking. The US today is the deliberate culmination of his dreams and his world view.
How many know about US forces in 22 African countries?
"A new report published in South African newspaper The Mail and Guardian has shed light on the opaque world of the American military presence in Africa. Last year, elite U.S. Special Operations forces were active in 22 African countries. This accounts for 14 percent of all American commandos deployed overseas, the largest number for any region besides the Middle East. American troops had also seen combat in 13 African nations.
"..The United States has roughly 6,000 military personnel scattered throughout the continent, with military attachés outnumbering diplomats in many embassies across Africa. Earlier this year, The Intercept reported that the military operates 29 bases on the continent. One of these is a huge drone hub in Niger, something The Hill called “the largest U.S. Air Force-led construction project of all time.” The construction cost alone was over $100 million, with total operating costs expected to top $280 billion by 2024. Equipped with Reaper drones, the U.S. can now conduct cross border bombing raids all over the North and West of Africa..."
https://www.mintpressnews.com/report-us-special-forces-active-22-countri...
... is as bad as the Attack on the American People
[video:https://youtu.be/vgVZL5qsKVc]
No income, no shelter, nor food and no freedom of protesting without risking your own livelihood.
Too difficult for me to excerpt. Too much in it. Nothing to add from my side, as I am old dummy mama. But to console you: there are enough freedom fries and democratic cookies on the plate marching in lock-step.
https://www.euronews.com/live
The question never arises - should we be killing anyone?
The debate is always about who and where to kill, in Congress and in the MSM. The people don't seem to question the main narrative. I think this might have kicked into gear during the Iraq war when there were many protesters, but the media and the politicians just ignored them.
During the last phase of WWII we became(?) vicious. We firebombed cities in Germany and Japan and dropped two nukes on civilian populations. Under Truman we started a vicious game of nuclear brinkmanship, with occasional short pauses. We waged wars of choice against many populations, killing up to some 20 million people. Post 911 we killed some 801,000 and displaced some 59 million as gjohnsit points out. These latest numbers are just a continuum of bloodthirsty warmongering. Our safety and freedoms have never been threatened, except by our own actions.
I have to ask the question - are we by nature a bloodthirsty nation? We rarely win a war (Grenada?) and never gain by these actions. But we continue to do them. It's easy to predict the next few wars, Venezuela, Iran, North Korea, finish the job in Syria, and more that I haven't thought of.
I have to talk about Russia. Russia has a slightly larger thermonuclear arsenal than we do. If things get out of hand by accident or escalation we can kiss our country and our lives goodbye. We tend to forget this, but I think that this is the highest probability of global catastrophe in the near term. There is a solution, learn to get along with Russia, understand their concerns (like NATO on their doorstep), and normalize our relationship. They would be more than happy to significantly reduce nuclear warheads by treaty. Why don't we do this, and why has Trump been so viciously attacked for even suggesting it? This gets back to my original thesis that we are a genetically nasty, mean, aggressive warmongering country. That's why our advertised self perception is so absurd, it has to counterbalance and justify our real behaviours.
Capitalism has always been the rule of the people by the oligarchs. You only have two choices, eliminate them or restrict their power.
"are we by nature a bloodthirsty nation?"
Not we kemosabi. THEM. But they are not bloodthirsty and just want to kill people. It’s that they are sociopathics who don’t care who they kill if they’re standing on top of the resources they want. Just look at how many innocent civilians are killed by drones compared to the 'enemies' they are trying for.
And now look at what’s happening here at home. Drug prices are allowed to go out of reach for many people and congress does nothing. Banks can commit fraud in the open to take people’s homes from them and congress does nothing. People are dying from lack of health care because they are not employed and congress does nothing. People and especially children are hungry or starving and congress does nothing. People are being murdered and brutally assaulted by cops across the country and congress does nothing.
But,
are we by nature a bloodthirsty nation?
When people say nothing about those things or they openly cheer for cops and the military you are spot on.
What gets me is the anti government folks who have waited their whole lives for the government to crack down on the citizenry, but now that they have the idiots have joined with them. It’s not only cops that are doing this, but it’s also the Feds who have joined in. I read an article that explained this better. I’ll try to find it.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
Our nation was founded on genocide
Most of that genocide was private. The government only got involved in the slaughter of native americans after the natives won a battle. Otherwise the government looked the other way.
Another item is how often American mercenaries would invade our neighboring countries.
Canada was invaded repeatedly.
Nicaragua and Guatemala were actually conquered. This is warlord sh*t.
All of this is in addition to the wars that are in the history books.
Canada was invaded three times that I know of
and threw the invaders out every single time.
Not a good idea to mess with the Canadians - they make good friends but ruthless enemies.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.