Some History of War Needs to be Taught

When comparing horrors of today with the glorious past with such lines as "even Hitler wouldn't"...

Warfare is littered with war crimes and crimes against humanity, no nation is innocent, no nation immune.

  1. China used arsenical compounds in warfare around 3000 years ago.
  2. The US used agent orange in Vietnam affecting millions then and now.
  3. Hitler gassed millions in the concentration camps.
  4. The US dropped not one, but two nuclear weapons on civilian populations.
  5. The use of torture has been around from the dawn of time by pretty much every nation.
  6. In World War II civilians were directly targetted, forget about trying to blame anyone more than anyone else.
  7. Only the "losers" ever paid for their war crimes, the "victors" moved on.
  8. Propaganda to demonise the enemy is as old as the hills.
  9. Propaganda to promote a war equally old.
  10. Regime change has caused the death of untold millions and caused suffering to a hundred times that. Regime change is an act of war. Justify it how you will.

For every "they did it" there is in general a corresponding "we did it". If you feel a "holier than thou moment" coming on the I suggest speaking to the remanents of whole peoples in the "nations" we created for ourselves by subjecting others, either as part of an Empire or as a direct replacement.

Our current "Art of War" seems merely designed to leave chaos, death and suffering in its wake. "Spreading democracy" appears to mean leaving the targetted nations in ruin.

Forget about the last war, let's start another one, the we can act all surprised when we have to repeat the cycle in countries we already crucified on the alter of our own hubris.

War is not driven by "good" The Afghanistan invasion was driven by vengeance. Then again, any history of our direct interference in Afghanistan previously, conveniently forgotten.

There is a reason for "terrorism" and "rogue regimes", more often than not completely ignored. Often involving Empires past and present.

It's all about power, hubris and hegemony, forget the fancy reasons dreamt up in the halls of power for public consumption. Above all forget about the trillions wasted assuring the current Empire continues. If only we spent as much time and effort helping humanity rather than creating more efficient ways of destroying it.

If you want to stop repeating history, then you need to know about the past and bloody well learn from it.

War is a war crime.

What the hell do I know, believe the propaganda if you must.

Keep ignoring the elephant in the room that could cause a war[s] [and all variants of such] the like of which have never been seen before, Climate Change. Stop building walls both physical and imaginary if you think humanity is worth the effort. Stop the propaganda and lies for your own benefit if you want your children to survive.

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snoopydawg's picture

War is a Racket " and see how all wars are fought for the benefits of the corporations, the defense industries and all the other companies that make an obscene amount of money, while many of the people who put their lives on the line are living in poverty. A lot of the military families qualify for food stamps while the 2-4 star generals live in palaces and have private cooks, drivers and other staff.


The rest of his book can be read here
https://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.html

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@snoopydawg each good old fashioned dose of propaganda people who should know better by now fall for the same smoke and mirrors.

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snoopydawg's picture

@LaFeminista
after the war propaganda was shown to be false, people will still believe the lies for the next war.
The woman who testified that she saw the Iraqi army throwing babies out of incubators wasn't even in Kuwait at the time. She was in the US going to college and I IRC her father was an ambassador or some type of diplomat.
What percentage of our country still believe that Saddam was responsible for 9/11? At one time it was 70%.

I know why people believe some of it. The media spreads false information and people don't bother to see if it's true.
There were 4 articles on the huffington post this morning that had false information in them and the people commenting on them were in agreement with what they read.
In one of the latest NDAA Obama made it legal for the government to spread false information. Not that they weren't doing it before.
During the Iraq war the media had retired military members on who were saying how well the war was going, but I knew they were lying because I was able to read alternative websites that told the truth.
And this Russian propaganda is more propaganda so that people will be behind the war that has been planned for over a year.

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Big Al's picture

@snoopydawg that one. Butler says it very clearly, which makes it all the more maddening when we see what's happening today.

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the stomachs of their moms (I assume, to make sure genocide was both complete and permanent).

IIRC, it being a good while since I last read the Bible, this was done at the alleged instruction of God. I'm not sure which mortal allegedly received and passed on this message from God.

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Rikon Snow's picture

the extermination of millions of Native Americans. Along with slavery, it's one of America's original sins.

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But that's all we do: strike attitudes and imitate poses. We merely play at being Romans, and deceive ourselves, sometimes, into accepting the imitation for the reality. -- Robert Silverberg, Roma Eterna

@Rikon Snow

For every "they did it" there is in general a corresponding "we did it". If you feel a "holier than thou moment" coming on the I suggest speaking to the remanents of whole peoples in the "nations" we created for ourselves by subjecting others, either as part of an Empire or as a direct replacement.

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CB's picture

@Rikon Snow
of wars and bloody interventions in every corner of the world. Tens of millions have died, either directly or indirectly, from these American actions since WWII.

America's roots have been nourished in the bloodletting of genocide, slavery and fratricide. It is also the one nation whose entire political and economic system since birth was based on spreading the insatiable greed of unfettered capitalism, has placed the world on it's current inexorable trajectory of ecocide.

It would take almost 5 earths for everyone in the world to live like an American. It was American military might which enabled this in the first place and it will be this same military might which will be used to ensure the country will keep this ill gained wealth.

Fortress America - we've got ours. Fuck you! Our way or the highway.

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snoopydawg's picture

@CB
and yet our country has been invading countries, or overthrowing elected government officials and installing brutal dictators who commit heinous human rights abuses and they get away with it as long as they do what this country tells them to do. Or we train militaries for other countries who do our dirty work for us.
So why the hell hasn't the world tried to stop our illegal wars and our human rights abuses? As you stated this country is the biggest purveyors of violence and has been since its inception.
I don't understand why other countries allow ours to put military bases in them and they pick up the tab.

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@snoopydawg

I don't understand why other countries allow ours to put military bases in them and they pick up the tab.

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Big Al's picture

to see the patterns, how it's the same thing over and over. I researched an essay once and found this book called "Preachers Present Arms" by Ray Abrams, written in the 30's, kind of a companion piece to "War is a Racket", written by Smedley Butler. It told of how the churches and their preachers played a big role in getting the public to buy off on getting into WWI by using the same kind of propaganda we receive now from their pulpits. They'd describe how the Germans would burn babies alive (throw babies out of incubators), etc.
Once you realize, or maybe commit to the fact that ALL war is a lie, ALL war is a racket, yes even WWII, you become free to reject all war propaganda.

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@Big Al

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WaterLily's picture

@LaFeminista About them not expecting the Spanish Inquisition ...

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ggersh's picture

it doesn't need to be "at war" to commit war crimes

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

CB's picture

@ggersh
Amerika IS a war crime.

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Not only did Hitler gas a heck of a lot more people, but he commanded a military superpower and he was bent on conquering the World. Syria is not a military threat to the United States and neither was Iraq or Libya. Neither is Iran, for that matter. Hitler was a real threat to the World, Assad is a tool.

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Beware the bullshit factories.

@Timmethy2.0 powers. World domination is the goal.

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CB's picture

@Timmethy2.0
You want proof? Cui bono.

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Steven D's picture

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

White Phosphorus causes skin and flesh to melt away completely from the bone. The injuries caused by the chemical burns are "deep and painful and multiple". The particles continue to burn until the substances is all burned up, or unless deprived of all atmospheric oxygen (almost impossible).

Witness accounts of combat in Fallujah, where a significant civilian population were living, claim the injured affected by widespread use of white phosphorus suffered horrendous burns. The United States used this bio-weapon not just to target "insurgent" positions (Iraq had nothing to do with Sept 11), but also in raids on civilian residential houses and buildings.

Nobody can ever top the United States in this evil treachery and barbarism, and no other Nation has ever slaughtered as many civilians worldwide. Millions murdered in Iraq, Vietnam, Libya, etc. with Washington cheering on.

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snoopydawg's picture

@FreeSociety
and it has caused hundreds if not thousands of birth defects and that is going to continue for decades if not centuries.
There's that freedom and democracy we brought them. /s

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PriceRip's picture

@snoopydawg

          Sorry to pick nits, but barring some biological, geological, or some other process that removes the stuff it will be around "to the end of time." It's decay constant implies a lifetime of a couple of billion years.

going to continue for decades if not centuries.

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snoopydawg's picture

@PriceRip
thanks for letting me know how much longer it will be.

In one of the articles that joe provided in tonight's EBs, I read that this country is still using both depleted uranium and white phosphorus.

The coalition forces’ use of white phosphorous, a chemical weapon that burns to the bone, has been documented in Mosul, Iraq. And the U.S. Central Command confirmed that it has used depleted uranium, arguably a war crime, against ISIS in Syria.

And people say that it's other country's leaders who are war criminals. Assad has killed many people as did Saddam during the Iraq Iran war, but our military gave him the coordinates of the Iranian troops after our government gave him the chemical weapons.
Remember the picture of Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam?
Of course our troops found chemical weapons in Iraq. But they were the ones that this country gave him. And guess what happened to the troops that found the weapons? They are sick and dying because they weren't wearing proper clothing to handle them.

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CB's picture

@snoopydawg

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PriceRip's picture

@CB

          As a graduate student I spent the summer to 1976 at Los Alamos. During the first day I told my supervisor that I had handled a very small quantity of Californium-252 a few months earlier. Unlike the attitude described in the video, he and others at Los Alamos were very keen on getting my into the whole body counter in the Health-Physics building. They wanted to find out if I was carrying any damaging isotopes. And, if I was they wanted to document the amount and type now.

          Certainly, they were concerned with protecting themselves from liability, but also they had a culture of being concerned with the hazards of these deadly materials.

          I tend to associate with the cautious segment of the discipline. And, as a result, have never had any problems in my work.

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coloradoblue's picture

and most of the officers below them know they are committing war crimes but do it anyway. Curtis LeMay, who led the fire-bombing of Japan, was quoted as saying that if Japan won the war he would be hung as a war criminal. The Tokyo raid alone killed in the neighborhood of 100,000.

And nothing stopped LeMay from encouraging JFK to nuke Cuba during the Missile Crisis. He knew this would mean war with the USSR but what the hell, do it anyway.

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Dear Dems: You lost the WH, Senate, House, dozens of governors, state level SOS and AG and about 1,000 state legislative seats. Maybe...you're doing something wrong.

ggersh's picture

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

k9disc's picture

It's about making sure that they stay within our sphere of influence and use our lenders.

Simple, simple stuff.

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“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu