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.