To highlight the transparent dishonesty of the U.S. government, I take you back to 2014 and Obama's declaration that the Afghan War was over and that the United States had won. George W. Bush wasn't the only president with a "mission accomplished" moment.
Will we see Biden (or Trump) declare victory in Ukraine in 2025, even as Ukraine is forced to cede land and lick its terrible wounds from a ghastly war? Or perhaps Biden will declare victory in Gaza in October of this year, as most Palestinians will be either dead, wounded, starving, or forced out of Gaza, rendering it allegedly Hamas-free?
What other glorious "victories" await us in America's near-future?
Excellent follow-up comment, Bill. What other glorious "victories," indeed....?
How about the Southern Border? Then there's always China... .
Even if "victory" is declared in either Ukraine or Palestine, there will need to be another Conflict involving somebody someplace to keep the MICC, S3CP2, and Friends profitable.
At least Netanyahu is honest when he declares that for Israel "we must always live by the sword" though in his case it is because of his determination to take land and get rid of people. It is a necessity because he makes it so.
So also with the US in that our economy makes war a necessity if profit is to be maximized. In this the Ukraine War is ideal - lots of stuff made for profit, then destroyed so more stuff can replace it and the flesh and blood are not our own. Win-win.
In both cases, Israel and America, no alternatives are being investigated or proposed.
Regarding the Indian Wars, I insist that HAMAS is no different from the Indians who decided to resist the US with violence. A difference in the situation is that there are so many Palestinians and the world watching makes it very tricky to exterminate them though Israel is trying as hard as it can to duplicate the American experience under the protection of America. The phony antisemitism hysteria is merely a fog to cover for Zionism to complete the project it defined when it began.
Thank You for sharing that, Bill. And at a most opportune time.
To be perfectly honest, i was totally and completely unaware that America’s War In and On Afghanistan was “formally” ended in 2014. i thought it went on up to the very bloody end in September, 2021, twenty years after it started.
Learning of that, 2014 was a hell of a year for American foreign policy affairs and activities and Team Obomber, eh?
“Ending” the War in Afghanistan by changing its name [to OPERATION RESOLUTE SUPPORT]; and
plotting and planting the seeds for today’s War in Ukraine by overthrowing the democratically-elected government of that nation, and installing DC’s own kinds of Thugs.
A hell of a year, indeed.
In any event, i particularly appreciated the paragraphs that reads:
“Another longer war than the Afghan one, more recent in America’s memory, was the Cold War we fought against the Soviet Union and its allies from the close of World War II to the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. Lasting nearly half a century, this war ended in victory of a sort for the United States, even as its legacy continues to poison US culture and foreign relations. For the Cold War left us with an enormous military-industrial-Congressional complex, to include nuclear forces capable of destroying the planet, which the US continues to feed and even to enlarge. THE RESULT HAS BEEN THE GROWTH OF A SECOND “SHADOW” GOVERNMENT, A NATIONAL SECURITY AND SURVEILLANCE STATE OF ENORMOUS POWER, AN APPARATUS WITH WIDE-REACHING AND UNACCOUNTABLE POWERS THAT IS POTENTIALLY A GREATER THREAT TO AMERICAN FREEDOMS THAN THE SOVIET UNION EVER WAS.” [EMPHASIS added]
A finer, one paragraph summation of Cold War I is not to be found. i’m curious: Did You get any reaction and response to that particular declaration in the article?
And i’m also curious: How would You similarly describe Cold War II? As that National Security and Surveillance State confronts the other two major NS&SSs on the Planet: Russia and China.
Sort of like Orwell’s Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia, eh?
You know the saying, Jeff: First as tragedy, second as farce? Cold War II strikes me as farcical. Our "enemies" are allegedly China (a huge trading partner) and Russia, the latter whose economy is smaller than Italy's, I believe.
There is no reason for Cold War II other than to feed and strengthen the MICIMATT.
First of all, Bill, i don’t think there’s anything farcical at all for the Peoples living ~ and dying ~ in Ukraine and Russia. Which can legitimately be called the first “Hot” War in Cold War II. Israel-Hamas being the second.
And if the size of a nation’s economy is a factor in starting a new Cold War, what was the condition of the Soviet Union’s economy after World War II as compared to the state of the economy in the United States?
That may have been a major reason for starting Cold War I in the first place: To feed and strengthen the then-nascent “military-industrial complex” that Eisenhower spoke so eloquently blunt about.
And China may be a huge trading partner, but it also a very keen competitor for what it claims belongs to it in and around the South China Sea. And it is very aware of a blossoming encirclement involving Australia, The Philippines, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan, under the direction, control, and command of the United States.
My hypothesis is that the Governments of the United States, Russia, and China are all in this together in the same sense that Orwell’s Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia were all in it together,
And my guess is that there a significant number of People in both Russia and China who are as fed up with what is ~ and is not ~ going on in their nations, as there are Americans as fed up with what is ~ and is not ~ going on in theirs.
In any event, i don’t think the US and its MICIMATT are the sole fomenter and cause of Cold War II. There are folks in power in both Russia and China who have their own ideas about what a New “New World Order” would be, and how it could happen.
It is not a coincidence that Biden/Blinken/Sullivan/Nuland ended the Afghan war at the same time that the Ukraine war became the venue for the new forever war. The US National Security State wants the Ukraine war to continue indefinitely; hence, the absence of any diplomacy or negotiations. As the war drags on, the US National Security State keeps doubling down as it sends ever more sophisticated and long-range weapons so that Ukraine can launch attacks inside Russia. They believe that if they can keep the war in Ukraine going, it will result in a win-win scenario. First, it opens the spigot for endless mega-profits for the military-industrial complex, both in the US and all other NATO countries. The profits will be sky-high for decades to come as the depleted stocks must be replenished. Second, they believe that over time the war will bleed Russia white and lead to the overthrow of the Russian government, thereby allowing the US to install a compliant leader (like Yeltsin) who will allow US corporations to take control of the Russian economy. Julian Assange had to be silenced because he was revealing the truth. Namely, that the US National Security State is a global predator that is reckless, ruthless, and lawless.
US has been at war grab the Eurasian heartland (USSR, Russia, where all the resources are) since 1919 with a break from 1942 to 1947. In 1947 US took over form the British Empire.
There was no break in 1991, the venue changed to economic subversion.
Then with Croatia gaining weaponry from the newly united German reich it heated up to a death of a thousand cuts moving NATO and Aegis vertical launchers ever closer to Moscow.
Don’t forget the Korean War that is almost three-quarters of a century old this year. Still no peace treaty! Washington likes it that way. Keeps Korea in Washington’s sphere of influence.
Permit me to share a piece i wrote about “The Forever War” back in 2021...:
On THE AFGHANISTAN PAPERS ~ 19mar21
Sometimes being able to say "I told You so" is quite ego-puffingly satisfying; in this case, however, it also totally sucks.
Anybody who wants to know what i have been railing and ranting about since i got here to Sitka nine years ago ~ and before that for eleven years starting the week after 9/11 ~ need only to read THE AFGHANISTAN PAPERS: the full disclosure by People Who Would Know that that War ~ and "The Forever War" it spawned in Iraq, Pakistan, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, Syria, etc ~ is, was, ever has been, and ever will be a Lie, Hoax, Scam, and Sham.
It is satisfying because The Papers demonstrate ~ to me, at least ~ that my understanding and assessment of the so-called "Global" so-called "War On" so-called "Terrorism" is and has been correct since the day it started, on 18sep01 [the signing of the first AUTHORIZATION TO USE MILITARY FORCE AGAINST TERRORISTS, or AUMF], as captured in my rants and rails.
But it sucks because THE AFGHANISTAN PAPERS will do no more to end this War than THE PENTAGON PAPERS did to end what the Vietnamese People term "The American War," fifty years ago. Back when ~ if Congress had lived up to its Constitutional mandate to de-fund an illegal, immoral, and undeclared War ~ that [expletive deleted]ing War could, should, and would have been stopped on a dime. Just like this one could, should, and would be.
It is satisfying because it gives the American people yet more undeniable, irrefutable evidence and proof that would stand in a court of international criminal law that the foreign policy of this government has been [and still is being] run by a bunch of lying, scheming, Mother-shamming [and -shaming] scammers.
It sucks because it will very probably not make any difference at all as to how the American people will react and respond to this latest exposé of the deceit and deception, the collusion and complicity, the fraud, waste, and abuse of Blood and Treasure; all perpetrated and perpetuated by their government, at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, no matter who is running which show. Particularly what with the Easter break coming on, and all.
It is satisfying because a little study of history will reveal that all that didn't start with Cheney/Bush the Lesser on 9/11, then carried on by Nobel Peace Prizer Obama, aka Obomber, then Corporal Bonespurs, aka POTUS MAXXIMMUSS XLV, and now Biden. A bit of research will expose that it's been going on since at least the end of COLD WAR I in 1991, if not the beginning of the American War in Afghanistan 1979, if not the aftermaths of World War II, WWI, and the Spanish-American War.
It sucks because the American people probably will not even acknowledge THE AFGHANISTAN PAPERS; let alone read, react, and respond to them; let alone demand accountability by the elected politicians, career civilian and military bureaucrats, and anointed political appointees responsible for the outrages documented within them, and still being perpetrated today, in Afghanistan and all over the planet.
It is satisfying because the exposure of just this one, tiny little specimen of America's Ruling Elite's WAR ON TRUTH may drive a CRITICAL MASS of American citizens, tax payers, and voters to demand that any politicians and their bankrollers who have any aspirations to work in Swampland in 2021 put confronting, combating, disarming, dismantling, defeating, and destroying that War On Truth at the very top of their agenda and campaign promise list.
Failing that, it sucks because this "Forever War" undoubtedly isn't going to be stopped until Parents have to start worrying about whether or not their Sons or Daughters get drafted [and no college or marriage deferments this time, like Clinton, Biden, and Cheney got]. And until Tax Payers can't write this Credit Card War off as a Debt incurred and to be paid by somebody else down the road when all the bills start coming due [like those same Sons or Daughters and their Daughters and Sons].
And that probably won't happen until those Sons and Daughters get as concerned about America's FOREVER WAR and its WAR ON TRUTH [and, even more so, that Debt], as they are about Climate Change.
The Forever Warriors and the Climate Disruption Deniers are just different wings of the same Forces waging that WAR ON TRUTH. And any Son or Daughter caught up in THE FOREVER WAR has a much better chance of getting killed off by that than by Climate Change. At least for the moment.
All the MIS-, DIS-, AND MAL-INFORMATION didn't start when we invaded Afghanistan on 07oct01. They didn't even start on 11sep01; but that's when they all kicked into gear, and haven't stopped since. Anybody seeking accountability for the "monstrous, murderous lie" that is "THE FOREVER WAR" needs to start with 9/11. Because unless and until that happens, nothing is going to change.
At least not until the next 9/11. And when those who benefited most from 9/11-I determine that they stand to gain even more from a second iteration, Who and/or What is going to stop them?
jg, I wonder if he ever did stop. Bin laden started out saying he was not the instigator of 9/11 and then more or less agreed with it. Did you or anyone ever wonder why immediately after the event the only passenger plane that left the US was a special one filled with relatives of Bin Laden allowed to leave with their belongings and carefully escorted by the CIA to the plane for "safety"? Never questioned by the FBI or any agency. Perhaps the CIA, NSA or whatever agreed to keep him and his relatives safe which is why he was living comfortably in Pakistan just down the road from a Pakistan military base, and the Pakistan government, along with the CIA, stated they had no idea he was there. There are a number of books out that propose that the CIA and other groups in the US orchestrated this whole thing. One of the best is "9/11 Ten years Later" by David Griffin. He reports that there are hundreds of firemen, police and other workers that day who heard and reported the sounds of a series of explosions going "pop,pop, pop" as the buildings (including number 7) collapsed perfectly into what looked like a planned demolition fall. The book discusses a number of other facts as well that our MSM failed to report on. If the CIA promised Bin Laden that he would be allowed to disappear into Pakistan, imagine his surprise then our team arrived to kill him. Once again we broke our promise, as we usually do time and again.
I find it curious that despite an extraordinary number of facts about the events of that day that have come to light ( like pools of melted iron found under the debris, and the fact that airplane fuel does not produce enough heat to melt steel) that the vast majority of citizens continue to believe a story that accomplished and experienced engineers, builders and other scientists have now agreed is not remotely plausible. The fact that so much of our recent history (starting from the 80's more or less) is largely false in important ways I find very depressing. How can we get the world back into something habitable when we are basing our national actions on lies?
bang-on the bullseye, ranny. thank you for your thorough, intelligent, intuitive common sense in these informative elucubrations and comprehensive analyses.
In case You or anybody else here at BV is interested, ranney, here’s what happened in New Orleans on 9/11 and the days and weeks after... :
In the early evening of September 11, 2001 ~ even before President Bush addressed the nation from the Oval Office - a series of phone calls among members of the New Orleans Peace and Social Justice community resulted in a gathering two nites later, on September 13th, of almost 60 "conscious, concerned, and committed Citizens" in the basement of a local church.
And that gathering of "Peacemongers" ~ as the local media termed it~ resulted in a silent, candlelit March for Peace, Justice, and Truth thru the streets of New Orleans that assembled close to 250 people on Saturday nite, the 15th of September, four days after 9/11: easily one of the earliest and biggest Anti-War/Pro-Peace demonstrations in the country at that time. [Available online at https://www.nola.com/gambit/news/the-peacemongers/article_8cc98238-ab66-5a48-81f0-072ab8552e84.html .]
And "Editor B," a local independent journalist and filmmaker captured scenes from that March, as well as folks in New Orleans skateboarding, reading poetry, and singing for Peace, Justice, and Truth in the days and weeks after 9/11. [Available online at https://stupidtelevisionshow.com/media/nopeace/ .]
At 10:06 of that video is an extended interview of me on Day 6 of OPERATION ISAIAH 2:4, a projected 168-hour "Fast and Prayer Vigil for Peace, Justice, Truth, Repentance, and Reconciliation" ~ held on Jackson Square in the French Quarter, right across from the Cathedral ~ which began at 7:46 am CDT on Tuesday, September 25, exactly two weeks to the minute after the first airplane crashed into the World Trade Center, and continued until 7:46 am on Tuesday, October 2. [Note: the interview was preempted for about five minutes by a genuine, traditional New Orleans Jazz Funeral, which made it even better.]
Following the launch on October 7 of OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM and America's assault on the Land, Country, Nation, and Peoples of Afghanistan, Phase Two of OPERATION ISAIAH 2:4 began on October 16, back on Jackson Square by the Cathedral, and continued until November 7 ~ Day 23 of the projected 28 ~ when cut short by illness.
That was the point of the entire question, ranney. And, as far as i am concerned, he never did stop working for the CIA.
And Thank You for one of the clearest short introductions to 9/11: WHAT REALLY HAPPENED that i have read in a long, long time.
i am Very familiar with all the books of David Ray Griffin and All the work of the entire “9/11 Truth Movement.” Particularly that of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth [ https://www.ae911truth.org/ ].
Watching it on tv that day, the image that caught my attention most was the destruction of WTC-7. And what caught my attention about that was the way that it fell; at virtual free-fall velocity. Just like a building falls when it is subjected to a planned demolition.
And watching endless replays, i noticed that WTC-1 and -2 seemed to fall very close to free-fall, as well. From an explosion in the upper stories of the building, And that didn’t make much sense either.
That was when i began to question what would eventually emerge as “9/11: The OFFICIAL Conspiracy Theory.” It’s been an interesting 22+ year ride.
You concluded: “The fact that so much of our recent history (starting from the 80's more or less) is largely false in important ways I find very depressing. How can we get the world back into something habitable when we are basing our national actions on lies?”
This nation’s Government has based its actions on lies since well before the 80s, ranney. Remember Tonkin Gulf? And the answer to Your question is: We can’t. America cannot change anything at all as long as its policies and actions are based on lies.
Thank you Jeanie and jg for your comments.. I feel a bit guilty for altering the subject of Bill's essay to talk about 9/11. I feel very strongly, as he does, that we white people have have done the native Americans of both north and south America a seriously bad turn, and continue to do that to this day. We need to talk about it more often than we do, and educate our children in the truth of our actions. But this is also true of the truth of 9/11 and many bad things are happening today because of our continuing lies about muslim countries along with our lies about Russia and China. Bill's comment section has been an interesting venue for ideas. Thank you Bill for allowing that.
You should never feel "guilty" about bringing 9/11 into virtually Any conversation regarding the current state of things in America or on this Planet, ranney.
9/11 was ~ as the song goes ~ "The End of The World as We Knew It," and the very beginning of this nation and world as they exist today. ***
And it's not just White People who have peddled and sold and still peddle and sell America's lies about Muslim nations, Russia, and China. Ever hear of Obama, Powell, and Austin, for starters?
I always find your poetry amazing, Michael - it rhymes, it has meter, it is thoughtful and it makes sense; that's quite an accomplishment. Thanks for sharing your talent with us.
Tom Engelhardt’s preface to Robert Lipsyte’s 7 May TomDispatch post ~ DONALD TRUMP AND O.J. SIMPSON: TESTING THE LIMITS OF JUSTICE ~ is a stand-alone statement that Lipsyte builds upon masterfully...:
America’s Existential Trials
Despite the lack of televised coverage of Donald Trump in court, the trial of the century -- or do I mean of the month, week, day, minute, or second? -- has caught our attention. And yes, a crucial witness is indeed likely to be a porn star. But no matter, the real news is that, for the first time in memory, the former president has actually had to shut up.
The man who can't stop talking and hasn't done so for years is now forbidden to say a word (unless he agrees to testify at the trial, in which case he could easily sink himself, word by word by word). All anyone could hear from him in court in these weeks was possibly (as TomDispatch regular Robert Lipsyte points out today) The Donald farting or, given that he's dozed off more than once, perhaps snoring. (I'm not there, of course, so I can't know or confirm anything.)
But isn't it strange to have the old man who couldn't stop yakking transformed into an overgrown child being disciplined? It's hard to imagine that such a figure might once again, within the year, be -- yes! -- president of the United States and leave so many of the rest of us functionally all too silent and on trial in a courtroom presided over by Judge Trump and crew. Because, were he to return to the White House in 2025, for so many of us, not to speak of the planet itself where all he wants to do (other than talk at the top of his voice) is "drill, baby, drill," he could prove to be the trial of the century.
As he put it recently on the campaign trail, "When they start playing with your elections and trying to arrest their political opponent -- I can do that, too! If I win -- which I hope I do because we're not going to have a country -- but if I win, I could then say, I don't know: 'This guy, this Democrat is doing great. I don't like the poll numbers. Attorney General come down, arrest that guy, will you, please? Give him a subpoena! Indict him! That's the end of him.'"
With that in mind, let Lipsyte, a former sports correspondent and columnist for the New York Times and author of SportsWorld: An American Dreamland, consider what strange parallels exist between O.J. Simpson (who died just weeks ago) and Donald J. Trump -- both of whom he knew as a reporter years ago. ~ Tom
Here is a Music Video ~ with follow-on videos ~ that every American still capable of thinking for her or himself needs to watch, listen to, reflect upon, and then decide what they are going to do about it:
And here is what Caitlin Johnstone has to say about it in today’s OPPOSING THE WAR MACHINE IS COOL AGAIN, AND THE EMPIRE'S GETTING NERVOUS:
“American rapper Macklemore has released a single titled ‘Hind’s Hall’, the name given to Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall by anti-genocide protesters in honor of the six year-old Hind Rajab who was murdered in Gaza by Israeli forces. The artist says all proceeds from the track will go to UNRWA.
"The song with its accompanying video is such a scathing indictment of the US-backed destruction of Gaza that Google-owned YouTube promptly age-restricted it. Macklemore attacks Biden, the brutal police crackdowns on protesters, the conflation of anti-Zionism with anti-semitism, US politicians and the Israel lobby, with lines that will haunt you for days like ‘The Nakba never ended, the colonizer lied.’"
And she concludes:
“THE EMPIRE CAN HANDLE BEING ON THE WRONG SIDE OF AN ISSUE; it has all the media and mainstream culture-manufacturing institutions on its side, which allows it to frame public perception of that issue in a way that quells dissent. What it absolutely cannot handle is a critical mass of young people deciding the imperial murder machine sucks, and that opposing it is fun and makes you cool.
“That’s WHEN DISSENT TAKES ON A MOMENTUM OF ITS OWN. AS LONG AS OPPOSING MILITARISM AND IMPERIALISM IS JUST THE MORALLY CORRECT THING TO DO IT WILL ALWAYS BE A MARGINAL POSITION IN AN INFORMATION ECOSYSTEM THAT’S CONTROLLED BY THE POWERFUL, BECAUSE SIMPLY BEING ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF AN ISSUE HAS LITTLE NATURAL MAGNETISM OF ITS OWN. BUT THE INSTANT IT MOVES FROM BEING ABOUT MORALITY TO BEING FUN AND COOL IT SUDDENLY STARTS CRACKLING WITH ENERGY AND DRAWING IN HUGE NUMBERS OF PEOPLE WHO NORMALLY WOULDN’T BE THAT INTERESTED ON THEIR OWN.
“The empire has no answer to this. Seriously, how can a bunch of boring empire managers in DC and Virginia hope to compete once that happens? What are they going to do, win the young back by writing another Wall Street Journal think piece? Have Netanyahu rap about how Zionism is rad while Tony Blinken plays guitar? They’ve got nothing.
“This crackling excitement behind an antiwar protest movement hasn’t happened since the sixties, and the empire had to retreat from Vietnam with its tail between its legs and dramatically restructure western civilization before it could recover from it. And all the empire managers who worked on solving that problem are dead and gone now; the people working on it now have never had to deal with anything like this, which is why it took them by surprise. The empire managers of today have only ever encountered protests against the war machine that were either very small or short-lived and easily diverted; this one’s only gaining momentum seven months in.
“AND THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE’S SUMMER HASN’T EVEN STARTED YET. I GUARANTEE YOU THE SWAMP MONSTERS ARE SCHEMING VERY HARD TO TRY AND SHUT THIS THING DOWN BEFORE SUMMER STARTS, BECAUSE THE KIDS ARE GOING TO HAVE A WHOLE LOT OF FUN AT THEIR EXPENSE IF THEY CAN’T.”
Especially if some Super Patriot ~ American and/or Zionist ~ shows up at one of those "fun" and "cool" events with an automatic weapon or three, and shows another way for an American to be cool and have fun.
Permit me to share another piece i wrote about "The Forever War"...
Ending America's "Forever War" ~ 16 Apr 21
On April 14, President Biden announced that part of America's so-called "Forever War" ~ at least in Afghanistan and Pakistan ~ will end on the 20th anniversary of what started it all: The Terror Event of September 11, 2001.
Since the launch of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, the United States has spent an estimated $2.26 trillion on that War -- just part of the just under $25 trillion this government has borrowed since that day. And that total does not include the cost of providing lifetime medical care and financial support for all the veterans who are the surviving physical and non-physical casualties of this War.
Nor does it include the incalculable cost in human life: 6,800 American and Allied personnel, 57,000 Pakistanis, and 169,000 Afghans have been killed.
And then there are those numberless ones left wounded, maimed, orphaned, childless, widowed, widowered, homeless, jobless, and left hopelessly physically, psychologically, and spiritually shattered from two decades of War. Approximately 10 percent of Afghanistan's 40 million people are displaced refugees in their own homeland.
"The Forever War" is the longest and most expensive War in America's history. But what have we gained? How much safer, stronger, more secure, and more respected is America today compared to what it was on September 10, 2001?
And how much better off is Afghanistan? Or Pakistan? Or anybody anyplace else?
The argument here is that the intent was not to "win" The Forever War: in Afghanistan, Iraq, or anyplace else. Rather, the intent was just to have it; and to sow further conflict in the regions. All the while waiting for the emergence of a new and improved Cold War II with Moscow and Beijing.
For Russia has recovered from the collapse of the USSR ~ and China from the madness of Mao ~ sufficiently for both, individually or especially as a duopoly, to present clear, viable, credible "Threats" to America's 30-year global unipolar hegemony since the end of Cold War I. Or so we are informed.
The Forever War was and still is nothing but a half-time show to keep the troops engaged, the defense contractors profitably employed, and the American people comfortably numb to protracted conflicts in places that many of them can't find on a map of the world.
When the USSR and European Communism collapsed in the autumn of 1991, lots of folks in America's military-industrial-congressional complex were fretting about who their Enemy and Threat would be now, so as to justify their budgets. [Based on where i was in the US Army at that time, i know exactly whereof i speak; trust me.]
And the folks in the White House and Pentagon who had pulled off Operation Desert Storm earlier that year in Kuwait and Iraq had already started the process of providing the answer.
For details on the Human, Financial, and Opportunity Costs of "The Forever War," see the Brown University's Costs Of War Project at https://watson.brown.edu/costsofWar/ .
To highlight the transparent dishonesty of the U.S. government, I take you back to 2014 and Obama's declaration that the Afghan War was over and that the United States had won. George W. Bush wasn't the only president with a "mission accomplished" moment.
Will we see Biden (or Trump) declare victory in Ukraine in 2025, even as Ukraine is forced to cede land and lick its terrible wounds from a ghastly war? Or perhaps Biden will declare victory in Gaza in October of this year, as most Palestinians will be either dead, wounded, starving, or forced out of Gaza, rendering it allegedly Hamas-free?
What other glorious "victories" await us in America's near-future?
Excellent follow-up comment, Bill. What other glorious "victories," indeed....?
How about the Southern Border? Then there's always China... .
Even if "victory" is declared in either Ukraine or Palestine, there will need to be another Conflict involving somebody someplace to keep the MICC, S3CP2, and Friends profitable.
At least Netanyahu is honest when he declares that for Israel "we must always live by the sword" though in his case it is because of his determination to take land and get rid of people. It is a necessity because he makes it so.
So also with the US in that our economy makes war a necessity if profit is to be maximized. In this the Ukraine War is ideal - lots of stuff made for profit, then destroyed so more stuff can replace it and the flesh and blood are not our own. Win-win.
In both cases, Israel and America, no alternatives are being investigated or proposed.
Regarding the Indian Wars, I insist that HAMAS is no different from the Indians who decided to resist the US with violence. A difference in the situation is that there are so many Palestinians and the world watching makes it very tricky to exterminate them though Israel is trying as hard as it can to duplicate the American experience under the protection of America. The phony antisemitism hysteria is merely a fog to cover for Zionism to complete the project it defined when it began.
ASSANGE: In America, there is apparently no greater sin that telling the TRUTH!
Ain't that the truth.
Thank You for sharing that, Bill. And at a most opportune time.
To be perfectly honest, i was totally and completely unaware that America’s War In and On Afghanistan was “formally” ended in 2014. i thought it went on up to the very bloody end in September, 2021, twenty years after it started.
Learning of that, 2014 was a hell of a year for American foreign policy affairs and activities and Team Obomber, eh?
“Ending” the War in Afghanistan by changing its name [to OPERATION RESOLUTE SUPPORT]; and
plotting and planting the seeds for today’s War in Ukraine by overthrowing the democratically-elected government of that nation, and installing DC’s own kinds of Thugs.
A hell of a year, indeed.
In any event, i particularly appreciated the paragraphs that reads:
“Another longer war than the Afghan one, more recent in America’s memory, was the Cold War we fought against the Soviet Union and its allies from the close of World War II to the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. Lasting nearly half a century, this war ended in victory of a sort for the United States, even as its legacy continues to poison US culture and foreign relations. For the Cold War left us with an enormous military-industrial-Congressional complex, to include nuclear forces capable of destroying the planet, which the US continues to feed and even to enlarge. THE RESULT HAS BEEN THE GROWTH OF A SECOND “SHADOW” GOVERNMENT, A NATIONAL SECURITY AND SURVEILLANCE STATE OF ENORMOUS POWER, AN APPARATUS WITH WIDE-REACHING AND UNACCOUNTABLE POWERS THAT IS POTENTIALLY A GREATER THREAT TO AMERICAN FREEDOMS THAN THE SOVIET UNION EVER WAS.” [EMPHASIS added]
A finer, one paragraph summation of Cold War I is not to be found. i’m curious: Did You get any reaction and response to that particular declaration in the article?
And i’m also curious: How would You similarly describe Cold War II? As that National Security and Surveillance State confronts the other two major NS&SSs on the Planet: Russia and China.
Sort of like Orwell’s Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia, eh?
Thanks again, Bill.
ps: For a map of that world, see https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/66-the-world-in-george-orwells-1984/ .
You know the saying, Jeff: First as tragedy, second as farce? Cold War II strikes me as farcical. Our "enemies" are allegedly China (a huge trading partner) and Russia, the latter whose economy is smaller than Italy's, I believe.
There is no reason for Cold War II other than to feed and strengthen the MICIMATT.
First of all, Bill, i don’t think there’s anything farcical at all for the Peoples living ~ and dying ~ in Ukraine and Russia. Which can legitimately be called the first “Hot” War in Cold War II. Israel-Hamas being the second.
And if the size of a nation’s economy is a factor in starting a new Cold War, what was the condition of the Soviet Union’s economy after World War II as compared to the state of the economy in the United States?
That may have been a major reason for starting Cold War I in the first place: To feed and strengthen the then-nascent “military-industrial complex” that Eisenhower spoke so eloquently blunt about.
And China may be a huge trading partner, but it also a very keen competitor for what it claims belongs to it in and around the South China Sea. And it is very aware of a blossoming encirclement involving Australia, The Philippines, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan, under the direction, control, and command of the United States.
See https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/17pqz5j/us_military_encirclement_of_china/ for details.
My hypothesis is that the Governments of the United States, Russia, and China are all in this together in the same sense that Orwell’s Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia were all in it together,
And my guess is that there a significant number of People in both Russia and China who are as fed up with what is ~ and is not ~ going on in their nations, as there are Americans as fed up with what is ~ and is not ~ going on in theirs.
In any event, i don’t think the US and its MICIMATT are the sole fomenter and cause of Cold War II. There are folks in power in both Russia and China who have their own ideas about what a New “New World Order” would be, and how it could happen.
It is not a coincidence that Biden/Blinken/Sullivan/Nuland ended the Afghan war at the same time that the Ukraine war became the venue for the new forever war. The US National Security State wants the Ukraine war to continue indefinitely; hence, the absence of any diplomacy or negotiations. As the war drags on, the US National Security State keeps doubling down as it sends ever more sophisticated and long-range weapons so that Ukraine can launch attacks inside Russia. They believe that if they can keep the war in Ukraine going, it will result in a win-win scenario. First, it opens the spigot for endless mega-profits for the military-industrial complex, both in the US and all other NATO countries. The profits will be sky-high for decades to come as the depleted stocks must be replenished. Second, they believe that over time the war will bleed Russia white and lead to the overthrow of the Russian government, thereby allowing the US to install a compliant leader (like Yeltsin) who will allow US corporations to take control of the Russian economy. Julian Assange had to be silenced because he was revealing the truth. Namely, that the US National Security State is a global predator that is reckless, ruthless, and lawless.
US has been at war grab the Eurasian heartland (USSR, Russia, where all the resources are) since 1919 with a break from 1942 to 1947. In 1947 US took over form the British Empire.
There was no break in 1991, the venue changed to economic subversion.
Then with Croatia gaining weaponry from the newly united German reich it heated up to a death of a thousand cuts moving NATO and Aegis vertical launchers ever closer to Moscow.
Now US on the cheap is killing slavs!
Don’t forget the Korean War that is almost three-quarters of a century old this year. Still no peace treaty! Washington likes it that way. Keeps Korea in Washington’s sphere of influence.
Permit me to share a piece i wrote about “The Forever War” back in 2021...:
On THE AFGHANISTAN PAPERS ~ 19mar21
Sometimes being able to say "I told You so" is quite ego-puffingly satisfying; in this case, however, it also totally sucks.
Anybody who wants to know what i have been railing and ranting about since i got here to Sitka nine years ago ~ and before that for eleven years starting the week after 9/11 ~ need only to read THE AFGHANISTAN PAPERS: the full disclosure by People Who Would Know that that War ~ and "The Forever War" it spawned in Iraq, Pakistan, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, Syria, etc ~ is, was, ever has been, and ever will be a Lie, Hoax, Scam, and Sham.
It is satisfying because The Papers demonstrate ~ to me, at least ~ that my understanding and assessment of the so-called "Global" so-called "War On" so-called "Terrorism" is and has been correct since the day it started, on 18sep01 [the signing of the first AUTHORIZATION TO USE MILITARY FORCE AGAINST TERRORISTS, or AUMF], as captured in my rants and rails.
But it sucks because THE AFGHANISTAN PAPERS will do no more to end this War than THE PENTAGON PAPERS did to end what the Vietnamese People term "The American War," fifty years ago. Back when ~ if Congress had lived up to its Constitutional mandate to de-fund an illegal, immoral, and undeclared War ~ that [expletive deleted]ing War could, should, and would have been stopped on a dime. Just like this one could, should, and would be.
It is satisfying because it gives the American people yet more undeniable, irrefutable evidence and proof that would stand in a court of international criminal law that the foreign policy of this government has been [and still is being] run by a bunch of lying, scheming, Mother-shamming [and -shaming] scammers.
It sucks because it will very probably not make any difference at all as to how the American people will react and respond to this latest exposé of the deceit and deception, the collusion and complicity, the fraud, waste, and abuse of Blood and Treasure; all perpetrated and perpetuated by their government, at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, no matter who is running which show. Particularly what with the Easter break coming on, and all.
It is satisfying because a little study of history will reveal that all that didn't start with Cheney/Bush the Lesser on 9/11, then carried on by Nobel Peace Prizer Obama, aka Obomber, then Corporal Bonespurs, aka POTUS MAXXIMMUSS XLV, and now Biden. A bit of research will expose that it's been going on since at least the end of COLD WAR I in 1991, if not the beginning of the American War in Afghanistan 1979, if not the aftermaths of World War II, WWI, and the Spanish-American War.
It sucks because the American people probably will not even acknowledge THE AFGHANISTAN PAPERS; let alone read, react, and respond to them; let alone demand accountability by the elected politicians, career civilian and military bureaucrats, and anointed political appointees responsible for the outrages documented within them, and still being perpetrated today, in Afghanistan and all over the planet.
It is satisfying because the exposure of just this one, tiny little specimen of America's Ruling Elite's WAR ON TRUTH may drive a CRITICAL MASS of American citizens, tax payers, and voters to demand that any politicians and their bankrollers who have any aspirations to work in Swampland in 2021 put confronting, combating, disarming, dismantling, defeating, and destroying that War On Truth at the very top of their agenda and campaign promise list.
Failing that, it sucks because this "Forever War" undoubtedly isn't going to be stopped until Parents have to start worrying about whether or not their Sons or Daughters get drafted [and no college or marriage deferments this time, like Clinton, Biden, and Cheney got]. And until Tax Payers can't write this Credit Card War off as a Debt incurred and to be paid by somebody else down the road when all the bills start coming due [like those same Sons or Daughters and their Daughters and Sons].
And that probably won't happen until those Sons and Daughters get as concerned about America's FOREVER WAR and its WAR ON TRUTH [and, even more so, that Debt], as they are about Climate Change.
The Forever Warriors and the Climate Disruption Deniers are just different wings of the same Forces waging that WAR ON TRUTH. And any Son or Daughter caught up in THE FOREVER WAR has a much better chance of getting killed off by that than by Climate Change. At least for the moment.
All the MIS-, DIS-, AND MAL-INFORMATION didn't start when we invaded Afghanistan on 07oct01. They didn't even start on 11sep01; but that's when they all kicked into gear, and haven't stopped since. Anybody seeking accountability for the "monstrous, murderous lie" that is "THE FOREVER WAR" needs to start with 9/11. Because unless and until that happens, nothing is going to change.
At least not until the next 9/11. And when those who benefited most from 9/11-I determine that they stand to gain even more from a second iteration, Who and/or What is going to stop them?
The biggest, most unasked Question about Osama bin Laden is:
When did he stop working for and with the CIA and its affiliates in the federal government?
jg, I wonder if he ever did stop. Bin laden started out saying he was not the instigator of 9/11 and then more or less agreed with it. Did you or anyone ever wonder why immediately after the event the only passenger plane that left the US was a special one filled with relatives of Bin Laden allowed to leave with their belongings and carefully escorted by the CIA to the plane for "safety"? Never questioned by the FBI or any agency. Perhaps the CIA, NSA or whatever agreed to keep him and his relatives safe which is why he was living comfortably in Pakistan just down the road from a Pakistan military base, and the Pakistan government, along with the CIA, stated they had no idea he was there. There are a number of books out that propose that the CIA and other groups in the US orchestrated this whole thing. One of the best is "9/11 Ten years Later" by David Griffin. He reports that there are hundreds of firemen, police and other workers that day who heard and reported the sounds of a series of explosions going "pop,pop, pop" as the buildings (including number 7) collapsed perfectly into what looked like a planned demolition fall. The book discusses a number of other facts as well that our MSM failed to report on. If the CIA promised Bin Laden that he would be allowed to disappear into Pakistan, imagine his surprise then our team arrived to kill him. Once again we broke our promise, as we usually do time and again.
I find it curious that despite an extraordinary number of facts about the events of that day that have come to light ( like pools of melted iron found under the debris, and the fact that airplane fuel does not produce enough heat to melt steel) that the vast majority of citizens continue to believe a story that accomplished and experienced engineers, builders and other scientists have now agreed is not remotely plausible. The fact that so much of our recent history (starting from the 80's more or less) is largely false in important ways I find very depressing. How can we get the world back into something habitable when we are basing our national actions on lies?
bang-on the bullseye, ranny. thank you for your thorough, intelligent, intuitive common sense in these informative elucubrations and comprehensive analyses.
In case You or anybody else here at BV is interested, ranney, here’s what happened in New Orleans on 9/11 and the days and weeks after... :
In the early evening of September 11, 2001 ~ even before President Bush addressed the nation from the Oval Office - a series of phone calls among members of the New Orleans Peace and Social Justice community resulted in a gathering two nites later, on September 13th, of almost 60 "conscious, concerned, and committed Citizens" in the basement of a local church.
And that gathering of "Peacemongers" ~ as the local media termed it~ resulted in a silent, candlelit March for Peace, Justice, and Truth thru the streets of New Orleans that assembled close to 250 people on Saturday nite, the 15th of September, four days after 9/11: easily one of the earliest and biggest Anti-War/Pro-Peace demonstrations in the country at that time. [Available online at https://www.nola.com/gambit/news/the-peacemongers/article_8cc98238-ab66-5a48-81f0-072ab8552e84.html .]
And "Editor B," a local independent journalist and filmmaker captured scenes from that March, as well as folks in New Orleans skateboarding, reading poetry, and singing for Peace, Justice, and Truth in the days and weeks after 9/11. [Available online at https://stupidtelevisionshow.com/media/nopeace/ .]
At 10:06 of that video is an extended interview of me on Day 6 of OPERATION ISAIAH 2:4, a projected 168-hour "Fast and Prayer Vigil for Peace, Justice, Truth, Repentance, and Reconciliation" ~ held on Jackson Square in the French Quarter, right across from the Cathedral ~ which began at 7:46 am CDT on Tuesday, September 25, exactly two weeks to the minute after the first airplane crashed into the World Trade Center, and continued until 7:46 am on Tuesday, October 2. [Note: the interview was preempted for about five minutes by a genuine, traditional New Orleans Jazz Funeral, which made it even better.]
Following the launch on October 7 of OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM and America's assault on the Land, Country, Nation, and Peoples of Afghanistan, Phase Two of OPERATION ISAIAH 2:4 began on October 16, back on Jackson Square by the Cathedral, and continued until November 7 ~ Day 23 of the projected 28 ~ when cut short by illness.
That was the point of the entire question, ranney. And, as far as i am concerned, he never did stop working for the CIA.
And Thank You for one of the clearest short introductions to 9/11: WHAT REALLY HAPPENED that i have read in a long, long time.
i am Very familiar with all the books of David Ray Griffin and All the work of the entire “9/11 Truth Movement.” Particularly that of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth [ https://www.ae911truth.org/ ].
Watching it on tv that day, the image that caught my attention most was the destruction of WTC-7. And what caught my attention about that was the way that it fell; at virtual free-fall velocity. Just like a building falls when it is subjected to a planned demolition.
And watching endless replays, i noticed that WTC-1 and -2 seemed to fall very close to free-fall, as well. From an explosion in the upper stories of the building, And that didn’t make much sense either.
That was when i began to question what would eventually emerge as “9/11: The OFFICIAL Conspiracy Theory.” It’s been an interesting 22+ year ride.
You concluded: “The fact that so much of our recent history (starting from the 80's more or less) is largely false in important ways I find very depressing. How can we get the world back into something habitable when we are basing our national actions on lies?”
This nation’s Government has based its actions on lies since well before the 80s, ranney. Remember Tonkin Gulf? And the answer to Your question is: We can’t. America cannot change anything at all as long as its policies and actions are based on lies.
Thank you Jeanie and jg for your comments.. I feel a bit guilty for altering the subject of Bill's essay to talk about 9/11. I feel very strongly, as he does, that we white people have have done the native Americans of both north and south America a seriously bad turn, and continue to do that to this day. We need to talk about it more often than we do, and educate our children in the truth of our actions. But this is also true of the truth of 9/11 and many bad things are happening today because of our continuing lies about muslim countries along with our lies about Russia and China. Bill's comment section has been an interesting venue for ideas. Thank you Bill for allowing that.
If my articles stimulate good discussion, all the better!
You should never feel "guilty" about bringing 9/11 into virtually Any conversation regarding the current state of things in America or on this Planet, ranney.
9/11 was ~ as the song goes ~ "The End of The World as We Knew It," and the very beginning of this nation and world as they exist today. ***
And it's not just White People who have peddled and sold and still peddle and sell America's lies about Muslim nations, Russia, and China. Ever hear of Obama, Powell, and Austin, for starters?
*** See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZWT7xaIG50 for details. And to see how R.E.M. put it, check out and start at the 5:05 mark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5yQhfY1lMk .
Virtual Media "Victories"
(after the sonnet style of Alexander Pushkin's Eugene Onegin)
Caught up in their own mad fable
“Western” governments go broke,
watching “options on the table”
vanish in a cloud of smoke.
Narrative means story telling.
Whisper softly. Call it “yelling.”
Facts? Ignore them. They don’t count.
Lies much harder to surmount.
“Flexible” means downright flimsy.
They hit us. We say they missed.
Truth thus easily dismissed.
Make decisions based on whimsy.
Live on Narrative and spin.
Lose the fight but “take the win.”
Michael Murry, "The Misfortune Teller," Copyright © 2024
So many options allegedly on the table--why is the military one always chosen?
I always find your poetry amazing, Michael - it rhymes, it has meter, it is thoughtful and it makes sense; that's quite an accomplishment. Thanks for sharing your talent with us.
Mikes Poetry is anything but lousy...!
Tom Engelhardt’s preface to Robert Lipsyte’s 7 May TomDispatch post ~ DONALD TRUMP AND O.J. SIMPSON: TESTING THE LIMITS OF JUSTICE ~ is a stand-alone statement that Lipsyte builds upon masterfully...:
America’s Existential Trials
Despite the lack of televised coverage of Donald Trump in court, the trial of the century -- or do I mean of the month, week, day, minute, or second? -- has caught our attention. And yes, a crucial witness is indeed likely to be a porn star. But no matter, the real news is that, for the first time in memory, the former president has actually had to shut up.
The man who can't stop talking and hasn't done so for years is now forbidden to say a word (unless he agrees to testify at the trial, in which case he could easily sink himself, word by word by word). All anyone could hear from him in court in these weeks was possibly (as TomDispatch regular Robert Lipsyte points out today) The Donald farting or, given that he's dozed off more than once, perhaps snoring. (I'm not there, of course, so I can't know or confirm anything.)
But isn't it strange to have the old man who couldn't stop yakking transformed into an overgrown child being disciplined? It's hard to imagine that such a figure might once again, within the year, be -- yes! -- president of the United States and leave so many of the rest of us functionally all too silent and on trial in a courtroom presided over by Judge Trump and crew. Because, were he to return to the White House in 2025, for so many of us, not to speak of the planet itself where all he wants to do (other than talk at the top of his voice) is "drill, baby, drill," he could prove to be the trial of the century.
As he put it recently on the campaign trail, "When they start playing with your elections and trying to arrest their political opponent -- I can do that, too! If I win -- which I hope I do because we're not going to have a country -- but if I win, I could then say, I don't know: 'This guy, this Democrat is doing great. I don't like the poll numbers. Attorney General come down, arrest that guy, will you, please? Give him a subpoena! Indict him! That's the end of him.'"
With that in mind, let Lipsyte, a former sports correspondent and columnist for the New York Times and author of SportsWorld: An American Dreamland, consider what strange parallels exist between O.J. Simpson (who died just weeks ago) and Donald J. Trump -- both of whom he knew as a reporter years ago. ~ Tom
Mr Lipsyte’s think piece is at https://tomdispatch.com/donald-trump-and-o-j-simpson/ .
WorldBEYONDWar.org offers a very powerful view of Global Militarism by Maps at https://worldbeyondwar.org/militarism-mapped/ . Well worth the gander.
Here is a Music Video ~ with follow-on videos ~ that every American still capable of thinking for her or himself needs to watch, listen to, reflect upon, and then decide what they are going to do about it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgDQyFeBBIo&rco=1
And here is what Caitlin Johnstone has to say about it in today’s OPPOSING THE WAR MACHINE IS COOL AGAIN, AND THE EMPIRE'S GETTING NERVOUS:
“American rapper Macklemore has released a single titled ‘Hind’s Hall’, the name given to Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall by anti-genocide protesters in honor of the six year-old Hind Rajab who was murdered in Gaza by Israeli forces. The artist says all proceeds from the track will go to UNRWA.
"The song with its accompanying video is such a scathing indictment of the US-backed destruction of Gaza that Google-owned YouTube promptly age-restricted it. Macklemore attacks Biden, the brutal police crackdowns on protesters, the conflation of anti-Zionism with anti-semitism, US politicians and the Israel lobby, with lines that will haunt you for days like ‘The Nakba never ended, the colonizer lied.’"
And she concludes:
“THE EMPIRE CAN HANDLE BEING ON THE WRONG SIDE OF AN ISSUE; it has all the media and mainstream culture-manufacturing institutions on its side, which allows it to frame public perception of that issue in a way that quells dissent. What it absolutely cannot handle is a critical mass of young people deciding the imperial murder machine sucks, and that opposing it is fun and makes you cool.
“That’s WHEN DISSENT TAKES ON A MOMENTUM OF ITS OWN. AS LONG AS OPPOSING MILITARISM AND IMPERIALISM IS JUST THE MORALLY CORRECT THING TO DO IT WILL ALWAYS BE A MARGINAL POSITION IN AN INFORMATION ECOSYSTEM THAT’S CONTROLLED BY THE POWERFUL, BECAUSE SIMPLY BEING ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF AN ISSUE HAS LITTLE NATURAL MAGNETISM OF ITS OWN. BUT THE INSTANT IT MOVES FROM BEING ABOUT MORALITY TO BEING FUN AND COOL IT SUDDENLY STARTS CRACKLING WITH ENERGY AND DRAWING IN HUGE NUMBERS OF PEOPLE WHO NORMALLY WOULDN’T BE THAT INTERESTED ON THEIR OWN.
“The empire has no answer to this. Seriously, how can a bunch of boring empire managers in DC and Virginia hope to compete once that happens? What are they going to do, win the young back by writing another Wall Street Journal think piece? Have Netanyahu rap about how Zionism is rad while Tony Blinken plays guitar? They’ve got nothing.
“This crackling excitement behind an antiwar protest movement hasn’t happened since the sixties, and the empire had to retreat from Vietnam with its tail between its legs and dramatically restructure western civilization before it could recover from it. And all the empire managers who worked on solving that problem are dead and gone now; the people working on it now have never had to deal with anything like this, which is why it took them by surprise. The empire managers of today have only ever encountered protests against the war machine that were either very small or short-lived and easily diverted; this one’s only gaining momentum seven months in.
“AND THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE’S SUMMER HASN’T EVEN STARTED YET. I GUARANTEE YOU THE SWAMP MONSTERS ARE SCHEMING VERY HARD TO TRY AND SHUT THIS THING DOWN BEFORE SUMMER STARTS, BECAUSE THE KIDS ARE GOING TO HAVE A WHOLE LOT OF FUN AT THEIR EXPENSE IF THEY CAN’T.”
Full article at https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/opposing-the-war-machine-is-cool ; EMPHASES added.
That is very perceptive by Caitlin. But "fun" and "cool" can be ephemeral too. We'll see.
Indeed they can, Bill.
Especially if some Super Patriot ~ American and/or Zionist ~ shows up at one of those "fun" and "cool" events with an automatic weapon or three, and shows another way for an American to be cool and have fun.
Thank you for reseting the definition of the US' longest war. So doing you transform it from being normalized to never forgotten.
Permit me to share another piece i wrote about "The Forever War"...
Ending America's "Forever War" ~ 16 Apr 21
On April 14, President Biden announced that part of America's so-called "Forever War" ~ at least in Afghanistan and Pakistan ~ will end on the 20th anniversary of what started it all: The Terror Event of September 11, 2001.
Since the launch of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, the United States has spent an estimated $2.26 trillion on that War -- just part of the just under $25 trillion this government has borrowed since that day. And that total does not include the cost of providing lifetime medical care and financial support for all the veterans who are the surviving physical and non-physical casualties of this War.
Nor does it include the incalculable cost in human life: 6,800 American and Allied personnel, 57,000 Pakistanis, and 169,000 Afghans have been killed.
And then there are those numberless ones left wounded, maimed, orphaned, childless, widowed, widowered, homeless, jobless, and left hopelessly physically, psychologically, and spiritually shattered from two decades of War. Approximately 10 percent of Afghanistan's 40 million people are displaced refugees in their own homeland.
"The Forever War" is the longest and most expensive War in America's history. But what have we gained? How much safer, stronger, more secure, and more respected is America today compared to what it was on September 10, 2001?
And how much better off is Afghanistan? Or Pakistan? Or anybody anyplace else?
The argument here is that the intent was not to "win" The Forever War: in Afghanistan, Iraq, or anyplace else. Rather, the intent was just to have it; and to sow further conflict in the regions. All the while waiting for the emergence of a new and improved Cold War II with Moscow and Beijing.
For Russia has recovered from the collapse of the USSR ~ and China from the madness of Mao ~ sufficiently for both, individually or especially as a duopoly, to present clear, viable, credible "Threats" to America's 30-year global unipolar hegemony since the end of Cold War I. Or so we are informed.
The Forever War was and still is nothing but a half-time show to keep the troops engaged, the defense contractors profitably employed, and the American people comfortably numb to protracted conflicts in places that many of them can't find on a map of the world.
When the USSR and European Communism collapsed in the autumn of 1991, lots of folks in America's military-industrial-congressional complex were fretting about who their Enemy and Threat would be now, so as to justify their budgets. [Based on where i was in the US Army at that time, i know exactly whereof i speak; trust me.]
And the folks in the White House and Pentagon who had pulled off Operation Desert Storm earlier that year in Kuwait and Iraq had already started the process of providing the answer.
For details on the Human, Financial, and Opportunity Costs of "The Forever War," see the Brown University's Costs Of War Project at https://watson.brown.edu/costsofWar/ .
I’ve long been saying that our “leaders” are our worst enemies.
Hostage to Catatonia
(after the sonnet style of Alexander Pushkin's Eugene Onegin)
Blank-faced, staring, catatonic,
unresponsive and withdrawn.
Symptoms manifest and chronic:
dawn to dusk and dusk to dawn.
This, our “leadership” forbidding.
Down the steep slope we go skidding.
Joe and Mitch and Nancy: old,
can’t recall the lies they told
every time their their lips got moving.
From the larynx past the brain
out the mouth and gone again.
Oligarchs not disapproving,
not the slightest bit distraught.
This is what their money bought.
Michael Murry, "The Misfortune Teller," Copyright © 2023