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New Defense Strategy Envisions Multiple Conflicts
WASHINGTON - A report and budget request from the U.S. Defense Department released Monday reveal both new and old priorities for President Barack Obama's Pentagon.
Strategically, the military recognizes new, non-traditional threats ranging from failed states to cyber-warfare to climate change. But there is little change in the military spending habits of the Obama Pentagon versus that of his predecessor.
The new Quadrennial Defense Review, a Congressionally mandated report on the direction of U.S. national security strategy, marks several major breaks from past reports. Whereas previous QDRs have had at their heart a strategy in which the country is able to fight two separate conventional wars, Monday's report shifts the focus to multiple and diffuse simultaneous threats.
"We have learned through painful experience that the wars we fight are rarely the wars we plan," Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters at the Pentagon Monday afternoon.
New threats require new responses, and the report emphasizes having increased numbers of special forces, drones and helicopters as well as preparing for conflicts that take place in the realms of counterinsurgencies and cyberspace.
"Although it is a man-made domain, cyberspace is now as relevant a domain for DoD activities as the naturally occurring domains of land, sea, air, and space," the report notes.
The report no longer lays out just how many conflicts the military should be called on to fight.
Charles Knight, co-director of the Commonwealth Institute's Project on Defense Alternatives, sees this as problematic.
"They had never in the past defined what they meant [by a two-war strategy] but at least it had the number two in it... now you can go on forever dreaming up possible military engagement," he said.
Among the objectives of the Pentagon's strategy is the aphoristic "prevail in today's wars," which Gates noted is appearing in a QDR for the first time. "Success in wars to come will depend on success in these wars in progress," he explained.
The strategy also hopes to "prevent and deter conflict" which Gates sees as happening through increased funding for diplomacy and development since the largest future threats will potentially come from "failed and fractured states."
New to the report this time around is a section on preparing for climate- and energy-related challenges. Climate change will affect the DoD's operations, the report says, citing a previous report showing how "climate-related changes are already being observed in every region of the world."
It mentions rising sea levels, water shortages, melting Arctic ice, and extreme weather events as effects that could have geopolitical impacts.
"While climate change alone does not cause conflict, it may act as an accelerant of instability or conflict, placing a burden to respond on civilian institutions and militaries around the world. In addition, extreme weather events may lead to increased demands for defense support to civil authorities for humanitarian assistance or disaster response both within the United States and overseas," the QDR says.
The report also lays out how the military is addressing climate-related issues, both in its own operations - in terms of reducing DoD's reliance on fossil fuels, for instance - and in helping develop energy efficient and renewable technologies.
The Pentagon sees energy security - "assured access to reliable supplies of energy and the ability to protect and deliver sufficient energy to meet operational need" - as a strategic priority, and one which greener energy can help it secure.
Fiscal Year 2011 defense budget
This strategic planning represents the broad groundwork for the White House's decisions on what to keep in and cut from the military budget, their proposals on which were also released Monday.
This fiscal year 2011 budget request calls for a record 708 billion dollars in defense spending. This includes 159 billion dollars for the ongoing operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan as well as an additional 33 billion to be added onto the FY2010 budget for those operations, which had been budgeted at 129.6 billion.
The budget request would also cut funding for several major weapons programs. The White House had also called for these cuts last year before Congress rejected them, likely due to pressure from well-funded defense contractor groups.
Monday, Gates called for an end to the "quixotic pursuit of high-tech equipment," saying "every defense dollar spent on a program excess to real-world military needs is a dollar not spent [elsewhere]."
The defense budget still represents an increase of 3.4 percent from FY2010, which continues a rising defense budget trend begun under President George W. Bush.
"When including war costs, Pentagon spending has grown by 70 percent in real terms since 2001," noted the Center for a New American Security's Travis Sharp in a policy brief Monday.
Sharp goes on to point out that when evaluating the size of the DoD budget as a percentage of GDP, it is lower than at most points over the past 50 years.
"Policymakers should not rely on too heavily on any single metric - whether dollars expressed in real terms or as a percentage of GDP - and thereby ignore the complexities inherent in something as unwieldy as the U.S. defense budget," Sharp concludes.
But some see the fact that Obama has been maintaining a Bush-era level of defense spending as inherently problematic.
Miriam Pemberton, an analyst at the Institute for Policy Studies, is critical that the cuts do not go far enough.
"I think that this is a post-9/11 budget that tries to focus on asymmetric threats instead of major theater wars, but the problem is all the procurement and hardware for major theater war. They've sort of added on to the old tech instead of replacing it," she contends. "It's a budget of add-ons instead of choices. They haven't made many hard choices."
"What stands out is how little has changed from the Bush administration to the Obama administration," Knight said.
But he does note one major shift under Obama. Speaking of the QDR, he said "the writing is much better... the ideological rhetoric is toned down, but the outcome is very, very similar. We still have the same defense policy. Basically, it's just been dressed up in a different way."
58 Comments so far
Show AllEndless Orwellian wars? I think Everyman should take the year off and think this over.
Although most Americans may not have learned anything from the Viet Nam occupation, after seeing their revenue fall when the occupation ended, the military industrial media complex learned that eternal war equals an eternal revenue stream. They will make sure war and revenue never end.
Perhaps a giant step in the right direction would be to have, to use a word that the Pentagon would recognize, a battalion of activists march around the White House with signs that would read:
HEALTHCARE NOT WARFARE.
At the same time, to borrow a page from the documentary that focused upon the GI rebellion during the Vietnam War [Sir! No Sir!], have leaflets dropped down from an airplane upon the area of the White House and the Congress that would describe the benefits of universal health care and how that system has helped so much the peoples of Europe with their illnesses and diseases and which provides them with the assurance that their medical bills, unlike in this country, will not force them into bankruptcy. The emphasis should be upon, to use a phrase from the 60s, butter [or in this case health] and not guns.
"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."-George Orwell
Unka 'Bomb's Warfare $tate is the destructive foreign equivalent of his Health "Car" Deform.
EXCELLENT. Fortunately for us, we are not earning, therefore not taxable. I hope you guys will all have the courage to follow allirish"s suggestion.
Have you ever heard of "The Carlisle Group"? You may be able to research this on the web. They want to bring the population of humans on the planet down to ONE MILLION. They may get more than they plan for.
With God's Grace (whatever you may call Him/Her [we call Him Sathya Sai Baba] ), if we do EVERYTHING we can to help restore sanity to this mad world, they may not succeed—despite their ominous start.
If there are enough strands to form a strong hemp rope, it can binds the strongest object on Earth.
I am starting to think this is all my fault fo always calling him Obomber,
He is merely living up to my expectations.
glenn ford
Heck yeah! Lets blame you Glen. Oops! You didn't vote for the deaf fool, I did.
Obombya was making campaign promises to bomb Pakistan early in the 2008 campaign...his war stategy was wired as soon as he became a US Senator and realized how much money war profiteers contribute to candidates.
Ain't it just a peach that a conscience law exists for pharmacists who don't want to prescribe the morning after pill but not for citizens protesting the Perpetual War State.
Jeevee
How TRUE!
I was reading an article by Pat Buchanan this morning and it says it better than I can, so I seleceted the pertinent quotes.
"This weekend, thousands demonstrated in Tokyo against moving the Marine air station to Nago. Some demanded removal of all U.S. forces from Japan. After 65 years, they want us out. And Prime Minister Hatoyama has been feeding the sentiment. In January, he terminated Japan's eight-year mission refueling U.S. ships aiding in the Afghan war effort.
All of which raises a question. If Tokyo does not want Marines on Okinawa, why stay? And if Japanese regard Marines as a public nuisance, rather than a protective force, why not remove the irritant and bring them home?
Indeed, why are we still defending Japan? She is no longer the ruined nation of 1945, but the second-largest economy on earth and among the most technologically advanced."
"The Soviet Union no longer exists. China is today a major trading partner of Japan. Russia and India have long borders with China, but neither needs U.S. troops to defend them.
Should a clash come between China and Japan over the disputed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, why should that involve us?
Comes the retort: American troops are in Japan to defend South Korea and Taiwan. But South Korea has a population twice that of the North, an economy 40 times as large, access to the most advanced weapons in the U.S. arsenal and a U.S. commitment to come to her defense by air and sea in any second Korean War."
"With the exception of the Soviet Union, few nations in history have suffered such a relative decline in power and influence as the United States in the last decade. We are tied down in two wars, are universally disliked and are running back-to-back deficits of 10 percent of gross domestic product, as our debt is surging to 100 percent of GDP.
A strategic retreat from Eurasia to our own continent and country is inevitable. Let it begin by graciously acceding to Japan's request we remove our Marines from Okinawa and politely inquiring if they wish us to withdraw U.S. forces from the Home Islands, as well."
His conclusion seems simple to me.
I posted that article elsewhere here. and he is right of course.
but then -- the simple question:
"what is the purpose of our (USA) being all over the globe militarily?"
is always answered in american mythology with:
:"to spread and protect freedom" which is of course the biggest LIE of them all.
so long as americans believe in the VIABILITY and even "rightness" of the american "NATION" as it is formed - that will not stop.
when americans find that they have become as easily homeless as others elsewhere - and they have been impoverished even as close as others elsehwere that their nation caused to those elsewhere -- THEN , perhaps they will "change" as a polity, as a nation, as a culture .
thus far -- regardless of the differences between "progressives" and "cosnervatives" -- anti-war, or not -
america is STILL a country that thinks it is SPECIAL above all others.
it is THAT which is the root of the problem because it always finds a way to justify the very same things - corporatism, "let's just reform it".....capitalism ....war industry.."defending" above all "OUR WAY OF LIFE"...
america will not change unless it is FORCED to change by circumstances -- and that will not happen until other countries Take that action collectively.
teddy
"to spread and protect freedom" which is of course the biggest LIE of them all."
Its not our job to spread "freedom", thats not something you can give people. Nor is it to spread democracy, something else you cannot "give" people...besides they may not want it. (I'd point ouit we didn't hear the phrase "spread democracy in the middle east" out of GWB till a couple of years in to the war. WMD wasn't working out so well and they changed.
Frankly I think America is changing as we speak.
"the ideological rhetoric is toned down, but the outcome is very, very similar."
Bingo, the author nails it.
Onecaptjim
Very well said. Unfortunately, I think that you are probably right. Your comments could be considered comedic but the sad truth is that what you have written might actually take place if anyone had the temerity to speak out and protest and drop leaflets in the [alleged] land of the free.
The wars will stop when:
1) Soldiers are no longer obedient puppets of the state.
2) They are no longer profitable.
3) Other countries are no longer willing to give us credit.
4) A World War starts that causes the extinction of mankind.
Jeevee
And we stop denying the urgent necessity of world-wide birth control and of strong ACTIONS to overcome and even reverse climate change. Folks, we're having a mostly hot winter in Hawai'i.
Robert Gates sayeth: "every defense dollar spent on a program excess to real-world military needs is a dollar not spent [elsewhere]." Aye, Mr. Secretary, who can argue with the need to expend our "excess" military dollars "elsewhere," like maybe to funding health care for all Americans? But somehow I don't think this is what our "civilian" soldier has in mind. As the QDR makes clear, it's not really a matter of cutting back on our militay expenditures, it's just a matter of "re-allocating" them to the diverse locales of failed states and climate change victims and wherever else "instability" raises its head and where we, of course, as the world's policeman must do our constabulary duty and bring stability. (You know like guarding "humanitarian" U.S. forces in Haiti rather than distributing the humanitarian stuff). I believe it was the last QDR that postulated "full spectrum dominance" as the military aim of the U.S.A., and the new one seems merely to put a fresh coat of lipstick on the same Imperialist Pig.
Why does't Obama and Gates cut the bullshit and fess up.
Our foreign policy is being implemented according to a Zionist think tank.
The Project for the New American Century's white paper titled
"Rebuilding America's Defenses."
Read it and you'll understand why Obama is increasing and expanding wars, while slashing domestic programs. They've only just begun.
http://pnac.info/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf
freepressmyass
Interesting...thanks.
allirish:. . . "Capitalism: A Love Story". . . ill-gotten gains . . . getting angry . . . .
Would somebody be so kind as to explain why "Love Story" is paired with "Capitalism" in the title of Moore's film?
What's next--"Imperialism: A Love Story?" How about "Genocide: A Love Story?" For the Southerners, why not "Slavery: A Love Story," with some porn shots of T. Jefferson and Sally Hemings?
Michael Moore's sugarcoating of humor upon the abominations that he documents reminds me of the feudal phenomenon whereby only the court fool (jester) could criticize the autocrat without losing his head . . . .
I rather side with Brecht: "The man who laughs has not heard the terrible news."
"Would somebody be so kind as to explain why "Love Story" is paired with "Capitalism" in the title of Moore's film?"
Because it makes the capitalist Mr. Moore quite a lot of money.
"I rather side with Brecht: "The man who laughs has not heard the terrible news."
Brecht was wrong, a man laughs because he has heard the terrible news. What else can he do?
Why does defense cost so much?
Why does defense cost so much? 1. Because the great majority of the costs are not for the defense of the average American, but for the defense of the corportocracy and American hubris and hegemony around the world and to quote General Smedley D. Butler: " war is a racket". 2. It should not be called defensive costs but offensive costs, as that is what the majority of funds are used for by the Military,Industrial Complex and it should be called the war department like it use to be in the last century.
toophat
A small but excellent example is the Jumbo Transport aircraft, the C 17. The military dosen't want any more, but Congress is forcing them to buy more.
This example is just one of many. Retirment benefits for officers is also overly generous. Private contractors cost far more than the military for the same services.
Just some reasons.
Goddamn war criminals.
Human WMD's.
Creating and manufacturing all kinds of threats, their reality is greed, trumped up paranoia, and evil. The solution for everything is to kill it. The statements by Gates encapsulate the minds in charge now. They're addicted to killing and cash. Their great thrills come when launching our newest flesh melting WMD. Lots of high five's and fist pumping in the air as they watch the test video of innocent animals being strapped down and burned alive. Or, the test videos of Gaza or an Afghan village being turned to a bloody heap of ashes is so thrilling to them, everyone has to remain seated until their boners ease down.
The end game is to kill and destroy everything and everyone they can't exploit. Animals, people, everyone on earth has a chance to be in the line of fire and there's nobody to stop them. They are the greatest threat to all the world.
PROPHECIES TO BE FULFILLED
-- Dan Evehema, Hopi Elder
[From various sources -- chiefly The Hopi Survival Kit by Thomas E. Mails & Chief Dan Evehema]
"The time will come when from the earth will arise a mystic fog which will dilute the minds and hearts of all people. Their guidelines of wisdom and knowledge will falter, the Great Laws of our Creator will dissolve in the minds of people. Children will be out of control and will no longer obey the leaders, immorality and the competitive war of greed will flourish.
"When the end is near, we will see a halo of mist around the heavenly bodies. Four times it will appear around the sun as a warning that we must reform, telling us that people of all color must unite and arise for survival, and that we must uncover the causes of our dilemmas. Unless man-made weapons are used to strike first, peace will then come.
"So the time will come when we will experience late springs and early frosts, this will be the sign of the returning Ice Age.
"We believe militarism is born out of injustice, poverty and ignorance where absolute governments refuse to hear the grievances of minorities. So the people resort to violence, demonstrations and even terrorism when they see no other way to be heard. What can we do when our world leaders and the people are acting like fools in attempts to solve the problems confronting us? Once again we will quote the prophecy of our Elders. We hope it will interest you so that you will be more aware of it because it has been happening for some time.
"According to prophecy, the day will come when people in high places will be hunted. This will get out of control. The hunting will gather strength and spread. This situation might even erupt on our land. Finally, this will lead us to the Biblical version of Armageddon (the Hopi version is closely related). A final decisive battle between good and evil. This will occur under one God or Chief. The prophets say we will speak one language and that this will happen in Hopiland, in the village of Oraibi , where the new life plan will be drawn, in the pattern and cycle of religion. Here also a final decision will be made for the wicked. They will be beheaded and speak no more. If this does not materialize there will be a total destruction through the acts of man or nature. Then new life will begin from a girl and a boy. This is a frightening prophecy and will not be supported by many.
"It is in the prophecies of the Hopi that in a case like this the Navajo may help our cause. Also the Bahannas or the Paiute Tribe may help. We doubt that the U.S. Government will easily concede our sovereignty.
"There are two water serpents, one at each pole with a warrior sitting on his head and tail. These command nature to warn us by her activities that time is getting short, and we must correct ourselves. If we refuse to heed these warnings, the warriors will let go of the serpents; they will rise up, and all will perish.
"We are much concerned about the climate. No one seems to be able to predict the weather accurately from day to day. However, we know according to our time markers that it is past due for certain seeds to be planted at their proper time. In recent springs, we were reluctant to plant due to the late snow and cold weather. Once more maybe our ancient prophecy is right, that one day we will plant wearing finger sacks (gloves) clearing away snow with our feet before planting. The summers will become shorter for maturing the corn for harvest. The result is anybody's guess.
"The question is, will this occur the world over? This would depend on the geographical areas. In the regions with different climates, things will happen in different ways. For instance, tropical land could become a land of ice, and the Arctic region could become tropical. This need not happen if we, the people, get our leaders to do something about the harmful things being done to the environment.
"It is said that, if the future generations find out that we did nothing to preserve the good ways, they might throw us from our houses into the streets. This suffering will be of our own making. The lack of peace in our own spiritual being could trigger the revolution. Our True White Brother might come and find we have forsaken the sacred instructions. Then he will whip us without mercy.
"Let us take a look into the future through the eyes of our prophets. Hopi were instructed to tell of the Great Purification just ahead of a time when Humankind would once again become highly civilized, tending to become careless and leading us to self-destruction. They said that, along the way, the industrialized world will have certain problems. People will be uncomfortable because of the changing times, and they will have to make adjustments to find new life styles.
ARTICLE CONTINUED
=-==============
"Industrialized nations will become careless in getting more the resources out of the earth. Believing all these things will last forever, soon natural resources will be depleted. Fuel shortages will occur; industrial machinery will come to a standstill. The machinery used for planting, harvesting and transport will become useless. Supermarket shelves will become empty of farm produce. The farmers and those who grow their own food will not sell their produce. Money will become worthless. The white man with all his intelligence and technology will not be able to repair the damage. We will see extraordinary events in Nature and Earth, including humans.
"Modern man looks upon old wisdom and knowledge as dead, useless and no longer respected. Modern man depends on the money system and no longer on Mother Earth for food. According to prophecy when this happens Mother Earth will hide her nourishment because of the view that ancient food is poor man's food. When all food disappears, modern man will try to correct his mistake, the conditions he caused upon the earth through his inventions. He will try to achieve some kind of method to heal the wound, but this will not be possible when we reach the point of no return.
"The Hopi play a key role in the survival of the human race through their vital communion with the unseen forces that hold nature in balance. The pattern is simple: The whole world will shake and turn red and turn against those who are hindering the Hopi.
"This prophecy is related to the Biblical version of that which may yet come to pass. It goes on to say that common people will become concerned and frustrated because of their hectic world. They will be particularly against the bloodthirsty policies and the deceitfulness of the world leaders. The common people the world over will band together to fight for world peace. They will realize that their leaders have failed. People in high places will be hunted down like animals, perhaps through terrorism. In turn leaders will retaliate and begin hunting each other. This condition will gather strength and spread far and wide. It will get out of control the world over. Revolution could erupt on our land.
"The liberators will come in from the west with great force. They will drop down from the sky like rain. They will have no mercy. We must not get on the house tops to watch. They will shake us by our ears, like children who have been bad. This will be the final decisive battle between good and evil. This battle will cleanse the heart of people and restore our Mother Earth from illness, and the wicked will be gotten rid of.
"If this fails to materialize, our Great Creator through nature will do the task according to their [sic] plans. It could be total destruction in any form. Only brother and sister will survive to begin a new way of life. This prophecy is frightening and doubtful. Perhaps it is of no value to most people.
"Eventually a gourd full of ashes would be invented, which, if dropped from the sky, would boil the oceans and burn the land causing nothing to grow for many years. This would be the sign for a certain Hopi to bring out the teachings in order to warn the world that the third and final event would happen soon and could bring an end to all life unless people correct themselves and their leaders in time.
"The final stage, called The Great Day of Purification, has been described as a Mystery Egg in which the forces of the Swastika and the Sun plus a third force symbolized by the color red culminate either in total rebirth or total annihilation; we don't know which. But the choice is yours; war and natural catastrophe may be involved. The degree of violence will be determined by the degree of inequity caused among the peoples of the world and in the balance of nature. In this crisis rich and poor will be forced to struggle as equals in order to survive.
"The reality that it will be very violent is now almost taken for granted among Traditional Hopi, but man still may lessen the violence by correcting his treatment of nature and fellow man. Ancient, spiritually based communities, such as the Hopi, must especially be preserved and not forced to abandon their wise way of life and the natural resources they have vowed to protect.
ARTICLE CONTINUED
==================
"The man-made system now destroying the Hopi is deeply involved in similar violations throughout the world. The devastating reversal predicted in the prophecies is part of the natural order. If those who thrive from that system, its money and its laws, can manage to stop destroying the Hopi then many may be able to survive the Day of Purification and enter a new age of peace. But if no one is left to continue the Hopi way, the hope for such an age is in vain.
"Since mankind has lost peace with one another through conflict due to the new ways, the Great Spirit, the Great Creator, has punished the people in many ways. Through all of this there was always a small group who survived to keep the original ways of life alive. This small group is comprised of those who adhere to the laws of the Creator, who keep the spiritual path open, out from the circle of evil. According to our knowledge we are not quite out of the circle.
"Now we enter the time of testing that only the Great Creator can confirm. The alignment of the planets, we were so kindly informed of by the star watchers has been awaited by the Hopi. As the time nears, the predicted behavior of the people accurately describes the behavior of people in the 1990's. When the end is near, we will see a halo of mist around the heavenly bodies. Four times it will appear around the sun as a warning that we MUST reform.
"Ambitious minds will decrease, while the people of good hearts, who live in harmony with the earth, will increase until the earth is rid of evil. If the Hopi are right, this will be accomplished and the earth will bloom again. The spiritual door is open. Why not join the righteous people? The Horny Toad Woman gave Massau'u a promise that she would help him in time of need, saying she too had a metal helmet. After the Hopi have fulfilled their pattern of life, Massau'u will be the leader, but not before, for He is the First and He shall be the Last."
Parallels Between the Hopi and the Sumerians
Please click here to read Robert Morningsky's article.
thank you, teddy...
Do we all realize that if we stop over-consuming and also start spreading Peace, our - and most of the world's - economy would simply collapse?
Which is not to advocate over-consumption and perpetual military conflicts-for-profit.
It's just that we have yet to specifically articulate a new 'system' to replace the one that's failing - so, naturally, we have no choice but to keep shoring up this one...
IOW, we're trying to keep the body alive as long as possible in hopes a cure is found before it's too late...
BTW, demonizing our Military ain't gonna help, since no matter what the next 'system' is, they're gonna play a huge role... remember, 99% actually have no desire to kill anybody...
my vision would be local, acoustic and agrarian...no more industry, no more electricity, no more private property...individual engagement in environmentally harmonious and sustainable survival and defence...philosophies centered upon the worship of the natural world, in all of its glorious and necessary variety, greater sexual freedom, and knowledge of self...
what's yours, frank1569?
The article says that modest cuts were rejected by Congress. "likely due to pressure from well-funded defense contractor groups."
It acknowledges that Congress is unable to do what is in the best interests of both defense and our nation. Both of these are trumped by BRIBES paid and accepted by Congress and now blessed by the Supreme Court.
Then the article tells us that even Gates recognizes that "every defense dollar spent on a program excess to real-world military needs is a dollar not spent [elsewhere]."
Really? No wonder these guys are so irreplaceable that they survive from administration to administration. Department of Bingo: Defense is not defending us. It is killing us. And the Pentagons, both private and public, are losing the support of even its own people.
If people are grumbling as they see their nation destroyed while porcine defense is literally down to checking our underwear - still without delivering this blessed defense - then the military is losing its essential strength. Who knew that using military psychological operations against the people they were supposed to defend would turn out so badly? The Great Pentagon auction held under Reagan has not delivered defense for cheaper as the GOP claimed it would. It has delivered a defense even more corrupt, more harmful to the very people it was charged with defending. How ironic it all is. What a tragedy.
Gates: "Every defense dollar spent on a program excess to real-world military needs is a dollar not spent elsewhere."
The Reality Check "Blog Archive" Feb. 4, 2010 has the headline, "Haitian Rescue: US Forces in Haiti to number 33,000". CNN International last gave the number of US forces there on the ground or in ships offshore as 17,000. So it is continuing to grow. The 30,000troop surge in Afghanistan was to cost $33 Billion. So what will all these troops in Haiti cost? Where are they to be found in the budget? What are they there to do? exPresident Clinton has been appointed by the UN as coordinator of international aid not of US aid. Gates has said the US is not to lead the aid effort--that is up to the Haitian government and the UN. Has Congress approved a mission for the US forces there? I"m all for helping the Haitian people. They need help. But they need rice kitchens, water, medical supplies etc. Does 33,000 troops have anything to do with that? Ex-President Clinton is soliciting private donations. Is the cost of the military deployment decreasing dollars spent elsewhere, i.e. for relief and rebuilding?
"We have learned through painful experience that the wars we fight are rarely the wars we plan," Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters at the Pentagon Monday afternoon.
That statement from the above article is a lie. We chose to go into Iraq. They had a target on Iraq for a long time and 9/11 gave them the green light they were waiting for.
An no one called him in this lie either.
Speaking of 9/11 giving them the green light.
There's an aspect of the Pentagon attack that I've always found utterly absurd.
Nobody will ever convince me that some kid with a couple of flying lessons in a Cessna? could hop into the cockpit of a huge, unyieldy, Boeing 727, fly thirty feet above the ground at 500 MPH, and make a direct hit on the Pentagon.
Just go to any major airport and watch the big planes land and take off. They bobble and dip because the planes are freaking heavy. Any experienced airline pilot would find it amazing if not impossible to do what Rumsfeld's Hollywood terrorist with aviation superpowers did without crashing into the ground.
Those planes were being flown by remote control from somewhere else.
For some reason, the "demon seeds" calling the shots decided to abort United 93 and crashed it into the ground. Maybe somebody had enough and pulled the plug. We'll never know and they can never tell us. It would be the end of them and their control of us.
More than sixty years ago the US military took on a mission. They developed atomic weapons in total secrecy. By the time the American people knew a thing about it, our military already killed half million people.
The Pentagon has the money, the will, and the mindset to do anything they set out to do in total secrecy. I've always thought the Pentagon is the place to develop our green energy industry. Since our national security hinges on oil, what better place? But that would take a real true American President, and they don't exist anymore. Besides, the Pentagon is in the business of mass murder. Madmen and true believers are doing whatever's necessary to realize their monstrous dream.
freepressmyass
"Nobody will ever convince me that some kid with a couple of flying lessons in a Cessna? could hop into the cockpit of a huge, unyieldy, Boeing 727, fly thirty feet above the ground at 500 MPH, and make a direct hit on the Pentagon."
I would suggest that it is just that easy. If you know how to turn off the auto pilot, flying any plane is much the same if all you have to do is "steer"
Not trying to convince you, just an observation.
hey, eurodan!
I was going to jump on that line, too...
it seems to me that, historically, we fight precisely the wars we plan, even to the point of instigating them...which leaves one to wonder what horror they will unleash to justify the next one? an earthquake? oh, wait...
hard to consider a future full of drones slaughtering everything a 'war', though...is it still called a 'war' if one side is human and the other side is automated machinery, or do both sides have to be 'living' to have a 'war'? what is it called otherwise?
interesting, to lie so easily...
Well eurodan, you did. Thank you.
let us:
raise the white flag on THE WAR on DRUGS
THE WAR on IRAQ
THE WAR on Afghanistan
THE WAR on Pakistan
THE WAR on Iran
THE WAR on ___________.
Let' wage war on poverty,hunger,broken promises, crooked politicians, and mirrors with smoke.
Washington,D.C. March 20th, 2010. Boots on the Ground.
I think a very effective and DAMNING and shaming poster would be using the USA military's OWN hero:
the greatest and most decorated MARINE in US history --
Put on the Poster:
"WAR IS A RACKET"...GENERAL SMEDLEY BUTLER, US MARINES.
that way - bring the issue straight to the face of the pentagon - and show THEM UP to the rest of america...using a US MARINE GENERAL to do it.
several posters taking his quotes , always with his name:
"THE TRUE PURPOSE of OUR ARMED FORCES is to Make the world Safe for our Cultural and Economic Assault". GENERAL SMEDLEY BUTLER, US MARINES
"OUR FOREIGN POLICY is geared for our MONEY, CORPORATE and WAR Rackets"...>GENERAL SMEDLEY BUTLER< US MARINES
"OUR FOREIGN WARS serve Nothing but OUR BIG BOSS: our Supernationalistic Capitalism" ...>GENERAL SMEDLEY BUTLER, US MARINES
"WE ARE A NATION RUN BY MONEY and WAR RACKETEERS"...GENERAL SMEDLEY BUTLER, US MARINES
"OUR FOREIGN POLICY is NOTHING MORE than GANGSTERISM for CAPITALISM".....GENERAL SMEDLEY BUTLER< US MARINES
it should cover the critical "IDEAS" americans need to see again and again.....as answer for the "sound bites" on TV.
Great idea!!
How about,
"GANGSTERS FOR CAPITALISM!"
Boy if that doesn't describe Blackwater/Xe.
I'm putting that up on a pole tonight!
those words, by the way, ARE by General Smedley Butler.
he it was that said:
"I was a highclass muscle man for our big money, big corporations, big banks, ...so you might say that I was their MUSCLE ENFORCER...we are a nation of GANGSTERS for CAPITALISM"...
he , i believe, also intoned:
"we are RACKETEERS".
and because his speeches disappointed many that "invited" him, being that he was a medalled 'war hero'...with his revelations -- and he was warned that in the audience there were those that were unhappy--and suspecting that he was a "socialist" -- his retort went something like:
"So what if there are socialists in this country?...let them think i am one...for 3 decades -- i suspended my OWN conscience , serving the racketeers, knowing that what we do is EVIL..and I will have nothing more to do with it".
Caligula February 2nd, 2010 10:41 am
I was reading an article by Pat Buchanan this morning and it says it better than I can, so I seleceted the pertinent quotes.
Let it begin by graciously acceding to Japan's request we remove our Marines . . .
The Japanese people (not the government) will have to kick the U.S. out bodily. They will have to make it clear to the Japanese establishment that either the U.S. goes, or the Japanese establishment goes. The U.S. will never voluntarily remove one single soldier from any of its bases around the world. Many of those who constitute the U.S. establishment are secretly in a panic right now. The savvier ones know it's all gradually slipping away. Their only solution is to double down and engage in international trash-talk. In historical terms, the end is near.
Mordechai
You know, I'm not so sure. I can tell you the Marine Corp itself would like to pull out of Japan and a number of other countries, they feel its not condusive to the best use of personnel and equipment. It would free up a lot of wasted money.
I also "think" I see a lot of people thinking the same as Mr. Buchanan. What are we doing there, why are we paying for them, lets bring our troops home. Why are we in Korea? Germany? Japan? I think its time to take care of our own citizens first myself.
But to use a phrase favored by another..."of course, I could be wrong"
We have to remember that this Gulag state - pre-emptive strike - mentality originated with the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld-Gates axis. According to Democracy Now! guest Scott Horton many Obama administration officials are leaving precisely because of this issue. Put 2 and 2 together and you realize who is pushing this Gulag Bush state by who is still occupying key roles in the White House. Emmanual-Clinton-Axelrod-Holder and Obama himself are the core of this continued draconian and illegal agenda. Many of the people that worked for Obama during the campaign have become disilusioned and outright disgusted and have decided to pack their bags. What we have here essentially is Republican Lite type policies and that will not cut it with continued 10% percent unemployment for the next 4 years. But this shows where Obama's priorities really are - all rhetoric to the the contrary. Say goodbye to Obama in 2012.
Actually, the mentality originated a lot earlier than that, as was made clearly evident by the assassination of JFK in 1963. Clearly evident to those who chose to take a long, hard, and unbiased view of what happened in Dallas that day, and in the years that followed. And perhaps earlier than that -- Eisenhower warned about the perils presented by a standing military force and permanent arms industry in his farewell speech in 1961.
Which is not to say that the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld-Gates crowd didn't up the ante in a big way, but it's really a matter of degree rather than of kind. The sociopathic mentality behind policies such as theirs have been with us for a long time now.
My favourite line from the article?
"Speaking of the QDR, he [Charles Knight, co-director of the Commonwealth Institute's Project on Defense Alternatives] said "... We still have the same defense policy [as in the Bush era]. Basically, it's just been dressed up in a different way."
Sounds like The Obamination. He's just like Junior, only he looks better and sounds prettier.
can anyone ever take the liberal agenda Nobel Peace Prize committee seriously ever again? They did slap Bush in the face! Good for them!
I hereby place the dreadful cagadera curse on every war profiteer, their children and their children's children.