for life and liberty

Andrew J. Bacevich: A Letter to Paul Wolfowitz

"Your imagination led you to foresee a brief conflict, with Iraqis rather than U.S. taxpayers footing the bill for any mess left behind. After all, preventive war was supposed to solve problems. Eliminating threats before they could materialize was going to enhance our standing, positioning us to call the shots. Instead, the result was a train wreck of epic proportions. Granted, as you yourself have said, 'the world is better off' with Saddam Hussein having met his maker. But taken as a whole, the cost-benefit ratio is cause for weeping. As for global hegemony, we can kiss it goodbye. What conclusions should we draw from the events that actually occurred, rather than from those you hoped for?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAndrew J. Bacevich: A Letter to Paul Wolfowitz

Nick Turse Describes the Real Vietnam War

"Journalist Nick Turse describes his personal mission to compile a complete and compelling account of the Vietnam War’s horror as experienced by all sides, including innocent civilians who were sucked into its violent vortex. Turse, who devoted 12 years to tracking down the true story of Vietnam, unlocked secret troves of documents, interviewed officials and veterans — including many accused of war atrocities — and traveled throughout the Vietnamese countryside talking with eyewitnesses to create his book, Kill Anything That Moves. 'American culture has never fully come to grips with Vietnam,' Turse tells Bill, referring to 'hidden and forbidden histories that just haven’t been fully engaged.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNick Turse Describes the Real Vietnam War

Great is the Guilt of an Unnecessary War – Vietnam Edition

"The Vietnam War ended forty years ago, but its toxic legacy lives on in children born decades after the conflict came to a close. One of them is 12-year-old Thi Ly, whose head is unnaturally large and visibly misshapen and her eyes are separated by an unusual distance and out of alignment. From the time she was an infant, Ly has been repeatedly hospitalized for numerous ailments. Her 43-year-old mother, Le Thi Thu, has similar deformities. Both of them are second- and third-generation victims of exposure to dioxin as a result of the U.S. military’s use of a defoliant called Agent Orange that was used extensively over parts of southern Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGreat is the Guilt of an Unnecessary War – Vietnam Edition

Global War on Terror (GWOT) Was a Hopeless Blunder from the Get-Go

"The American public needs to turn against the GWOT. The press and intellectuals need to do far more homework. They need to dig out and read criticisms like these. They need to be more critical of government failures to alter its policies. Many brains were put in cold storage because of the emotional impact of 9/11. They need to be resuscitated. The time for emotion is over. The GWOT was a hasty, ill-conceived response to 9/11. The press and public need a strong dose of honesty about past blunders. The press and public need to stop paying attention to the fanatic warmongers, hatemongers and partisans of Israel and militarism." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlobal War on Terror (GWOT) Was a Hopeless Blunder from the Get-Go

U.S. Losing the GWOT

"Major Bryan Groves, U.S. Army, says the same thing: 'Al Qaeda (AQ), its affiliate organizations, the Taliban, and most recently, AQ-inspired violent extremists, have demonstrated a tenacious resiliency. Their resiliency has primarily manifested itself through a unique ability to evolve and grow over time, enabling them to continue attacking U.S. interests abroad and at home. This resiliency is also evident through continued extremist recruitment, radicalization, mobilization, and funding. The frustrating aspect of this for U.S. counterterrorism officials is the enemy’s success in these areas despite tremendous American and Coalition efforts to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat these organizations.'” Continue reading →

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Bradley Manning: The Mighty Fist!

"We stand in solidarity with PFC Manning and the peace his actions stand for. The state has grown far too large. The centralized, federated nation-state is a great agent of repression. Its power lies in the hands of state servants who wish to extinguish what tiny flames of liberty are left among us. But for many, this sentence has inspired a howl so large that these flames may rage into a roaring fire. If such an injustice can come down on Manning then it can come down on any of us who wish to challenge the immoral actions of the state. May the mighty fist of solidarity vanquish this state!" Continue reading →

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Chelsea Manning files bid for Obama pardon

"A separate statement released by Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Obama to take a sympathetic stance towards Manning and grant clemency, saying the soldier’s sentence was a 'blight on the US human rights record.' 'President Obama should grant Manning clemency for time served, protect whistleblowers, and provide accountability for crimes like those Manning exposed,' Amnesty said. The rights group noted that Manning’s sentence 'contrasts with the leniency given those responsible for torture and other types of grave human rights violations' revealed by the soldier’s disclosures." Continue reading →

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Julian Assange: The Modern State Is Acting Like A Mongol Horde

"What is happening to the world now is not some Henry Kissinger-esque figure making secret plots...That happens a little bit, and those people like to think that they're in charge. But it seems to me that what is actually going on is a pretty much out of control bureaucracy involving The State and Big Corporations, the National Security Agency now. Eighty-percent of its budget goes to Booz Allen Hamilton, Lockheed Martin... I liken it to a Mongul horde. Yeah, there are some people trying to be in charge of it in some ways, but its basically an unthinking, unreasoned process. And all the secrecy means that no one has the proper oversight of what is going on." Continue reading →

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War Hawk McCain Plays Game on His iPhone During Syria Testimony

"Senator John McCain plays poker on his IPhone during a U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing where Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey testify concerning the use of force in Syria, on Capitol Hill in Washington DC, Tuesday, September 3, 2013." Continue reading →

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Pelosi: Willing to “Protect” Syrian Children To Death

"No recorded examples exist of Pelosi expressing anguish over the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children who perished in anguish from starvation and disease as a result of the US-inflicted embargo that lasted from 1991 to 2003. Pelosi’s silence about that atrocity tacitly ratifies the assessment of her fellow humanitarian warmonger, Madeleine Albright, who blithely told 60 Minutes that the extermination of a half-million or more Iraqi children was a suitable price to pay in order to 'punish' Saddam Hussein. Pelosi has likewise been silent about the ongoing horrors experienced by the children of Fallujah, an Iraqi city that was pulverized by the US military in 2004." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPelosi: Willing to “Protect” Syrian Children To Death