3.12.2008

The Profitability of War.

As the propaganda machine chugs along, our government has seemingly set itself up quite lovely for future years to come. Mind you, that it is our government, and it's few powerful benefactors and not the American public, that will reap the rewards of our current policy of perpetual warfare.

Let's take a look at a few headlines from the past several days, and apply them to the bigger picture.

General Fallon has officially resigned from his position as Chief of US Forces, and both Defense Secretary Gates, and President Bush accepted it quite willingly, and without haste. Although General Fallon dismisses and outright repudiates any accusations that he was at odds with the US government policies and intended actions against Iran, as covered in Esquire magazine it does seem rather strange that he would resign from the pressure of a men's article.

"[...]citing what he called an inaccurate perception that he is at odds with the Bush administration over Iran.[...]"We have tried between us to put this misperception behind us over a period of months and, frankly, just have not been successful in doing so.""


A resignation over an article and misrepresentation? I think not. It is also reported that he disagreed with the financial aspect of the cost to go to war with Iran, and sought more peaceful dialog based solutions. This is, of course, not what the Bush administration wants.

Next on the list of "things to take note of " was Bush's address to the National Religious Broadcasters in Texas. Among a variety of horrid statements made, this one caught my attention:

"And as a return on our success -- in other words, as we get more successful, troops are able to come home. They're not coming home based upon defeat, or based upon opinion polls, or based upon focus groups, or based upon politics. They're coming home because we're successful. (Applause.) And the pace of that withdrawal has been determined, and then the commanders will take a further assessment. But I want to assure you, just like I assure military families and the troops: The politics of 2008 is not going to enter into my calculation. It is the peace of the years to come that will enter into my calculation. (Applause.)"


What caught my weary little ear wasn't so much what he said (aside from the very obvious intention of disregarding the will of his constituents) but rather how he said it.

"My Criteria" As if he has already mapped out the future wars of America indefinitely and that he has done so with such success that future presidents cannot undo it. To make matters worse Bush has sealed the fate and reputation for Americans as being the country that allows torture that originated in the Spanish Inquisition, and has been banned in all respectable countries for centuries, as well as the Geneva Convention, by vetoing the Anti-Torture Bill pushed through by congress, who, by the way failed to overturn the veto. Fantastic!

Meanwhile the debate about the surge wages on between a fellow at the New York University Center on Law and Security, and a former professor at West Point. The argument of course, lies within the debate of whether or not the surge has accomplished its stated goals. Without getting into too much detail, as you can read teh transcript for yourself, I will say that the sectarian violence has decreased down to levels that it was at before the dramatic spike in violence, and without working real tangible reconciliation, Rosen is right, the violence will be much much worse when we do leave - no matter when that is. Kagan, of course, pulled teh party line, trying to state that everything we have done is legal and on the up and up and is somehow wildly successful.

Last but not least, audits in Iraq show that they not have a Budget Surplus due to oil revenue from higher oil prices, and are capable of paying for their own reconstruction. Iraq charges more for oil (to the latest tune of $110 per barrel), gains enough of a surplus to pay the US for the millions of dollars we have put into Iraq so far in reconstruction. So wait, let me get this straight, we are being charged more for oil, so that the Iraqi government can pay millions of dollars for the reconstruction which is contracted out to such private companies as, oh, Haliburton and Lockheed Martin, who are run by VP Dick Cheney. The government is essentially squeezing it's own citizens, in the midst of a recession so that their pet contractor projects can make millions, and thus make the top management filthy rich...right.

Now what do we have when we put it all together?

The Bush administration has now successfully set up a humanitarian and violence based disaster ensuring that future presidents must continue in the same path of destruction, as well as eliminating any dissenters and voices of opposition in top military positions removing that pesky obstacle into Iran, while allowing our country to terrorize other countries with the threat and use of torture so we can artificially inflate our dying economy with buy investing in the military, as well as privately own companies who need plenty of destruction before they can charge hefty fees for reconstruction, and it's all basically out of the pockets of people who are being slammed with low wages, high unemployment, debt fiascoes, and very high cost of living situations in virtually every way possible.

Is that sentence long enough to make you dizzy, or should I write it again, just to be sure to drive the point home?

We are destroying countries and lives, forcing ourselves to pay for into straight into a Great Depression sized recession, so we can charge to rebuild to filter the money to the rich, and all for the sake of a greasy buck.

Thats dumb.

6 comments:

Clyde said...

Anok,

Its nice to see you awake, but some countries face internal turmoil. I mean wat the US is doing is wrong killing thousands of innocent people in the bargain for oil or money.

But here in India although the country does not go to war too often. We face an ammount of corruption that is disbelivable, every one wants the easy way out.

I think all around the world, I mean the US has found the easiest way out for money. It bullies smaller nations how a brat bullies his class mate for an ice cream.

We the common people are the ones who suffer the most. All those who keep mum have the blood of the millions spilt by their hands. Only we have the power to stop this bull shit, and when we keep quite we are allowing these things to happen by not voicing our opinions makes us directly involved and approving of these policies.

The wont stop till we shou out loud, keep shouting Anok! You have made your way to my blog roll, cheers!

Unknown said...

We're looking at increased upwards wealth-distribution. The bourgeoisie are crazed with greed -- their whole-scale looting of their domestic populations are countries under the imperialist yoke is getting unsustainable. They have a hard time remember that if you kill the magic goose (us) you don't get any golden eggs.

Rafael said...

A small nitpick, its Admiral Fallon, same gang, different uniform.

Highlander said...

Military Disaster Capitalism anyone or how about 1984's Never Ending War? Man, I love politicians, they take care of everything! Great post anok.

jmsjoin said...

You know for a fact there was dissension. God forbid you go against the decider. Originally I figured with Fallon's emplacement the attack was imminent. He turned in to be the stop gap. Gates is against it but he doesn't matter. Cheney the antagonist for war with Iran didn't go to the middle east to talk peace.
I would expect it to happen in June certainly before the end of the year, You know Bush attacked Iraq so he could get Iran. That was only one of the original goals set in 1996 before they found the right idiot to prosecute this.
As I have said for years now and a million times, this Forever war is only part of the plan as is financial collapse here so people accept total control supposedly to save the day. This entire mess is just beginning. There are many, many wars to come.
The timing of the attack on Iran will be to keep Bush at the helm of his wars. I keep telling my sons to relax because this is just beginning and they are in it for the long haul.
If they survive his wars he will choke them with his debt and finish destroying their country before he goes to Paraguay.

PoliShifter said...

One of the last things our country makes and exports is military hardware, munitions, and equipment.

Our economy and war are inexplicably linked and always have been. We've had a war every 20 years since 1754.

Some even say if it were not for WW2 the Great Depression would not have ended. WW2 put us at 100% emloyment and made America a net creditor nation.

$12 Billion a month is spent on Iraq each month. The U.S. prints money to pay for it which in part is leading to a decrease in the dollars value while our presence in Iraq has driven up oil prices thus causing inflation.

We are so sedated by our video games, TV shows, fast food, movies, and the internets that few realize that War is Business, it's part of the economy. As Major General Smedley Butler said War is a Racket.

Blood is on all our hands.

The cool technocrats know it and see it as acceptable because after all, X amount of people are being employed and X amount of dollars are being pumped into economies not just in America but around the world.

Sure, millions of people will die but that's just an abstraction to those of us living in relative luxury. We don't have to worry about bombs going off, loved ones being kidnapped, obtaining food and water, or wondering if the electricity will be on.

How many people to Halliburton, Blackwater, KBR, Boeing, Raytheon, etc employ?