The Freedom Watch

War Profiteers, Slavery, and the Hypocrisy of Imperialism

"The war profiteers at Raytheon have seen their stock prices soar in anticipation of the Syrian war. As the Boston Herald reported on August 31st, “The Waltham-based manufacturer of the Tomahawk cruise missiles, expected to be used in any strike on Syria, saw its stock hit a 52-week high last week at $77.93 per share, and has stayed near that high, closing yesterday at $75.41.” Officials like John Kerry argue that this war is somehow a humanitarian response to atrocities by the Assad regime. But the corporations that stand to profit are no humanitarians. To the contrary, they have been involved in some of the most grotesque human rights violations of our time." Continue reading →

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John Kerry: Syria war no time for ‘armchair isolationism’

"U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday the debate about military strikes is not about President Barack Obama's 'red line,' but the world's. The UN refugee agency reported Tuesday the number of refugees fleeing Syria's violence has surpassed the two million mark. Kerry told Congress that it is 'a red line that anyone with a conscience ought to draw.' Some lawmakers have expressed reluctance about being drawn into a larger conflict. But Kerry stressed that what Obama is seeking would be military action limited in scope and duration that would send a message to the Assad regime that it can't get away with using chemical weapons." Continue reading →

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Top U.S. Republicans back Syria strike as refugee crisis mounts

"John Boehner, the Republican speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor both pledged their support for military action after the meeting. The chairman of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee said on Tuesday he was confident after talking with Obama that the United States would step up its support for 'vetted' elements of the Syrian opposition. Senator Carl Levin said he urged the president, a fellow Democrat, to arm the Syrian rebels a day after two influential Republican senators, John McCain and Lindsey Graham, sought similar assurances from Obama." Continue reading →

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BGM-109 Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) In Action

"The Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) is a long-range, all-weather, subsonic cruise missile. Introduced by General Dynamics in the 1970s, it was designed as a medium- to long-range, low-altitude missile that could be launched from a submerged submarine. It has been improved several times and, by way of corporate divestitures and acquisitions, is now made by Raytheon." Continue reading →

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‘Surgical Strikes’ an Orwellian Dream

"Imagine for a moment that you live in the nation’s capitol, by the Pentagon or minutes away in Quantico, the Marine Corps headquarters, or one exit down the parkway from the National Security Agency (NSA) in nearby Maryland. Imagine farther out, places where our Navy fleets are stationed – Norfolk, San Diego – or the main Air Force satellite control center in Colorado Springs. Any military installation across the country. Now imagine what it would be like to hear over radio waves and on your television set that one of those places might be bombed as punishment for something your president did." Continue reading →

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Are American taxpayers financially responsible to defend Syrians?

"President Obama has broken new ground. He has argued that not only does the U.S. government have the authority to tax Americans to defend every human being on the planet, but that the president can order military intervention for that reason on his authority alone. Unfortunately, this has led many to believe that his decision to wait until Congress debates the intervention is some sort of victory for constitutional government. It’s not. Nowhere in the Constitution is it stated or implied that American taxpayers are financially responsible for the common defense of the whole world. Military operations are not funded by donations. Taxpayers are compelled to pay taxes by force." Continue reading →

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Syria and the Perpetual War Economy

"The end of the Cold War did not bring a dismantling of the war apparatus. It found new enemies and new causes. Today, the unwinnable War on Terror virtually guarantees plenty of reasons for more military spending for years to come. The point of this discussion is not necessarily to rail against the military-industrial complex, as much as I hate it. Instead, I want you think about a more radical idea: That the military-industrial complex is now typical of how the American economy works across a breadth of industries." Continue reading →

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Wars of the American Global Frontier

"Obama has issued executive orders creating sanctions on Syria. Sanctions are regarded by some as an act of war, by others as a mild form of war, and by others as force short of war. I see them in the Syrian case as part of an ongoing pattern by which Obama and company are seeking, by a variety of means and pressures up to and including military force, to alter Syria’s politics fundamentally. It is a form of war. Just as 4th generation war is a new form of war, so is the subversion of other countries. This was what the USSR was always accused of doing during the Cold War. The only thing missing at present is a name for this activity and era in which the US has been doing the same kind of thing." Continue reading →

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Israel: The missing link in Syria puzzle

"For that past four or five years, Israel has been threatening Iran with military attack almost every other day, with Washington, London and Paris nervously obliging. The American military, however, are painfully aware that there’s some truth to former Prime Minister Mahathir’s words. They don’t want to fight yet another Israeli war this time in Iran. So, they have been acting as a brake which is reflected in Obama’s increasing 'caution' regarding Iran, going so far as to dispatching his military top brass to Israel to calm Netanyahu down, trying to make sure Israel does not launch a unilateral 'preventive attack' on Iran that will drag the US into a massive conflict in the Middle East." Continue reading →

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