As of today, the U.S. will have spent one trillion dollars on the
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which has now become America's longest
war. The travesty defies reason. To see what a trillion bucks looks
like, go here or here.
To join Rethink Afghanistan in rethinking our priorities, go here.
Except for millions of citizens in the streets, this will continue until its inevitable end.
Empires do fall.
Posted by tioche
May 30 2010 - 9:08pm
The collapse of the fascist amerikan empire IS happening NOW ! obomber and his fellow war criminals that ruled before him, responsible for the slaughter of millions, will lead amerika into the abyss of failed empires !
Posted by sirios333
May 30 2010 - 1:43pm
This picture is the yearly dose of patriotic propaganda, shoved down the publics willing throats in hopes that guilt will spur them on, in the support of present and future wars.
Posted by dus7
May 30 2010 - 1:48pm
I had to go look for an explanation of the gray grid graphic. It depicts double-stacked (two high) pallets (the big cube of packaged stuff sitting on a lumber-framed base that forklifts use). Each pallet contains US$100 million in packets of one hundred dollar bills.
Posted by Erroll
May 30 2010 - 2:51pm
Though I am not a conservative, a person such as Dwight D. Eisenhower certainly recognized the travesty and idiocy of war when he commented, in a speech that he gave at the American Society of Newspaper Editors on April 16 1953, that:
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron."
Healthcare not warfare.
Posted by FrankS
May 31 2010 - 10:48am
I am not a conservative either, but President Eisenhower had a very accurate perspective of what an unbridled Military Industrial Complex could ultimately bring about.
In his farewell address to the nation he stated: "In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together."
Sadly, his prediction has come to pass! Our government has long since turned our military machinery into implements of destruction, world dominance and misplaced power-grabbing! It has reached its peak in our "war" in the Middle East!!! Which is why "security and liberty no longer prosper together."
Posted by califgrll
May 30 2010 - 6:57pm
Actually, my response is to the Abby Zimet claim that Afghanistan has become the U.S.'s "longest war." I heard the same claim a couple of days ago on Thom Hartmann's show & was puzzled. So I asked a history buff friend who was equally flummoxed, then I double checked on Wikipedia, which confirmed that the U.S. began sending combat troops (as opposed to the "military advisors" we'd been sending since 1950) to Vietnam in 1965 & fighting continued until the fall of Saigon in 1975. That's 10 years! Please explain in what sense the U.S. has been at war in Afghanistan for the past decade? I'm as opposed to our current activity there as any peace-loving progressive. But I don't think it helps our cause to use fuzzy math or make historical claims that are easily refuted.
Posted by Carax
May 31 2010 - 6:07am
America's longest war lasted 25 years, 1950-1975. A decent scholarly work with footnotes, and required by many history majors, was written by Prof. George C. Herring, 'America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam 1950 - 1975'.
All the lessons of Vietnam ignored by the current geniuses can be learned in this book.
Posted by Prometheus
May 31 2010 - 6:57pm
Forget that, we had combat troops in Viet Nam as early as 1962, Wikipedia often has inexact data. 3rd. Marines, 101st. Airborne units were there, combat units, not advisors.
Posted by Humbaba
May 30 2010 - 7:16pm
A trillion dollars wasted and millions of Afghans and Iraqis murdered and maimed because they had absolutely NOTHING to do with the Saudi reprisals for our support of Israeli atrocities on September eleventh. Will our government still support Israeli Crimes Against Humanity and human aid workers? I am so ashamed or our inhuman 'leaders' that I will never vote for either Judeocorporate controlled party!
Posted by Salt Cloud
May 30 2010 - 9:31pm
"'Humbaba May 30th, 2010 6:16 pm
A trillion dollars wasted and millions of Afghans and Iraqis murdered and maimed because they had absolutely NOTHING to do with the Saudi reprisals for our support of Israeli atrocities on September eleventh. Will our government still support Israeli Crimes Against Humanity and human aid workers? I am so ashamed or our inhuman 'leaders' that I will never vote for either Judeocorporate controlled party!"
9/11 was essential for getting the nod from the people of America and England (et al) to assault Iraq.
Posted by mschlee
May 31 2010 - 8:59am
Representative democracy is obsolete.
FREE AMERICA
DIRECT DEMOCRACY
Posted by shach
May 31 2010 - 3:53pm
War is insanity. When will the war to end wars arrive? Our national debt is 14 trillion and growing. Who will pay? Leave social security, medicare, medicaid, pensions alone.
Posted by Prometheus
May 31 2010 - 6:59pm
Sometimes the inane posts outnumber the decent ones.
17 Comments so far
Show All"This travesty defies reason"
Not really. We (some) know the reason.
Except for millions of citizens in the streets, this will continue until its inevitable end.
Empires do fall.
The collapse of the fascist amerikan empire IS happening NOW ! obomber and his fellow war criminals that ruled before him, responsible for the slaughter of millions, will lead amerika into the abyss of failed empires !
This picture is the yearly dose of patriotic propaganda, shoved down the publics willing throats in hopes that guilt will spur them on, in the support of present and future wars.
I had to go look for an explanation of the gray grid graphic. It depicts double-stacked (two high) pallets (the big cube of packaged stuff sitting on a lumber-framed base that forklifts use). Each pallet contains US$100 million in packets of one hundred dollar bills.
Though I am not a conservative, a person such as Dwight D. Eisenhower certainly recognized the travesty and idiocy of war when he commented, in a speech that he gave at the American Society of Newspaper Editors on April 16 1953, that:
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron."
Healthcare not warfare.
I am not a conservative either, but President Eisenhower had a very accurate perspective of what an unbridled Military Industrial Complex could ultimately bring about.
In his farewell address to the nation he stated: "In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together."
Sadly, his prediction has come to pass! Our government has long since turned our military machinery into implements of destruction, world dominance and misplaced power-grabbing! It has reached its peak in our "war" in the Middle East!!! Which is why "security and liberty no longer prosper together."
Actually, my response is to the Abby Zimet claim that Afghanistan has become the U.S.'s "longest war." I heard the same claim a couple of days ago on Thom Hartmann's show & was puzzled. So I asked a history buff friend who was equally flummoxed, then I double checked on Wikipedia, which confirmed that the U.S. began sending combat troops (as opposed to the "military advisors" we'd been sending since 1950) to Vietnam in 1965 & fighting continued until the fall of Saigon in 1975. That's 10 years! Please explain in what sense the U.S. has been at war in Afghanistan for the past decade? I'm as opposed to our current activity there as any peace-loving progressive. But I don't think it helps our cause to use fuzzy math or make historical claims that are easily refuted.
America's longest war lasted 25 years, 1950-1975. A decent scholarly work with footnotes, and required by many history majors, was written by Prof. George C. Herring, 'America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam 1950 - 1975'.
All the lessons of Vietnam ignored by the current geniuses can be learned in this book.
Forget that, we had combat troops in Viet Nam as early as 1962, Wikipedia often has inexact data. 3rd. Marines, 101st. Airborne units were there, combat units, not advisors.
A trillion dollars wasted and millions of Afghans and Iraqis murdered and maimed because they had absolutely NOTHING to do with the Saudi reprisals for our support of Israeli atrocities on September eleventh. Will our government still support Israeli Crimes Against Humanity and human aid workers? I am so ashamed or our inhuman 'leaders' that I will never vote for either Judeocorporate controlled party!
"'Humbaba May 30th, 2010 6:16 pm
A trillion dollars wasted and millions of Afghans and Iraqis murdered and maimed because they had absolutely NOTHING to do with the Saudi reprisals for our support of Israeli atrocities on September eleventh. Will our government still support Israeli Crimes Against Humanity and human aid workers? I am so ashamed or our inhuman 'leaders' that I will never vote for either Judeocorporate controlled party!"
9/11 was essential for getting the nod from the people of America and England (et al) to assault Iraq.
Representative democracy is obsolete.
FREE AMERICA
DIRECT DEMOCRACY
War is insanity. When will the war to end wars arrive? Our national debt is 14 trillion and growing. Who will pay? Leave social security, medicare, medicaid, pensions alone.
Sometimes the inane posts outnumber the decent ones.