It's been crystal clear for a very long time that the US National Security State does not follow international law, does not give a damn about the Constitution, and has used the US military to invade, bomb, kill and maim recklessly and without limit. The US National Security State is an outlaw, rogue state, exemplified most prominently by the invasions of Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, the bombing of Serbia and Libya, and the current occupation of Syria.....to name a few.
You are addressing an issue that has been a core problem most of my life and especially since I took up residence in the USA. I had refused induction into the German Bundeswehr in 1963 and after a court hearing during which I had provide reasons for my conscientious objector status, it was granted. When I married my American fiancé in 1967 I was eligible for permanent legal residency. I didn’t immediately apply for it because I didn’t want to face another conscientious objector hearing. The law requires that permanent residents must serve if called up. When I turned 27 I went to register at the Ventura county draft office and filled out the registration form and told the clerk that I was a conscientious objector and would not serve in any capacity in the military. I was then told that I was already to old and therefore didn’t have to worry about it. This whole issue of presidential or congressional “legal” orders for employing the military induced me this past week to watch two movies. First, I watched PATH TO WAR which details LBJ’s disastrous decision to get deeper into the quagmire of the Vietnam War. Second, I watched SHOCK AND AWE. It portrays the work of the Knight Ridder journalists careful analysis of the Bush “evidence” and concluded it was one big lie while ALL the other news outlets were propagandizing the administration’s lies. I highly recommend both movies. There are also a number of excellent books on this very important topic. Lastly, when has there ever been an American war that was either “legal” or constitutional? I am aware that this is a controversial question.
Written in "The American Conservative" on March 8, 2019:
"Andrew Sullivan comments on the U.S.-Israel relationship and the role of “pro-Israel” lobbying groups in our politics in a new essay. There are several things that I think Sullivan gets wrong, but perhaps the most significant and pervasive error in the piece is his repeated description of the relationship an “alliance.” He notes that the U.S. gets nothing in return for the extensive military and diplomatic support that it provides, he acknowledges that the U.S. “suffers internationally” on account of its close relationship with Israel, and he marvels at how badly its government under Netanyahu has behaved towards the U.S. Nonetheless, he writes, “I would defend the alliance despite this, because of my core belief in a Jewish state.”
The trouble with all this is that there is no alliance and ISRAEL IS NOT OUR ALLY. ( Caps mine). Its government does not behave as an ally does, it has never fought alongside U.S. forces in any of our foreign wars, and its interests are not aligned with ours as an ally’s should be. There is no formal treaty and no binding obligations that require our governments to do anything for the other.
There are few words in U.S. foreign policy debates used more frequently and with less precision than ally and alliance. Our politicians and pundits use these terms to refer to almost every state with which the U.S. has some kind of security relationship, and it always grossly exaggerates the nature and extent of the ties between our governments. The exaggeration in Israel’s case is greatest of all because it is routinely called our “most important ally” in the region, or even our “most cherished ally” in all the world. These are ideological assertions that are not grounded in any observable reality. Dozens of other states all over the world are better allies to the United States than the “most cherished ally” is, and they don’t preside over an illegal occupation that implicates the U.S. in decades of abuses and crimes against the Palestinian people living under that occupation, but none of them enjoys the lockstep, uncritical backing that this one state does.
The effect of this constant repetition is to make the U.S.-Israel relationship seem extremely important to U.S. interests when it is not, and that serves to promote the “illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists.” It is this illusion as much as anything else that prevents a serious reassessment of the relationship.
Israel is one of America’s regional clients, and it is the one that the U.S. indulges more than any other, but that is all that it is. As such, it receives far more support than it needs to and far more than makes sense for the U.S. to give, and the overwhelming political support that the relationship has is out of all proportion to the value of the relationship to the United States. In fact, like several other regional clients Israel has increasingly become a liability for the U.S., and the relationship should be changed accordingly.
Israel is America's FBO ~ Forward Base of Operation ~ in the Middle East; and has been since it was created. That is one of the primary reasons it was created, in the first place.
World War II and the attendant demises of the British and French Empires left an imperial vacuum in the Middle East, and the United States was quick to seize the opportunity to establish a permanent, combat-ready military presence in that area overflowing with OIL.
Israel is only one of more than 800 military bases around the world and is there mostly for Israel's benefit, not ours. Its closure would have no effect on our national security.
Secondly, threatening everyone with the presence of combat-ready military forces is a poor substitute for diplomacy and has proven counter-productive in the long run.
Sorry, wrknight, but Israel is not merely “one of more than 800 American military bases around the world.”
Israel has a boots-on-the-ground Army, and a conventional and nuclear bombs-, missiles-, and drones-in-the-air Air Force, both branches fully armed with 21st century warfare, information, and surveillance technology. And Israel is completely ready to use it however it deems necessary for what it determines is in its national interest, including its national survival, let alone simple security.
How many of those 800 American bases around the world would be able to react and respond in ANY way to an October 7 event against them? How many of those 800 bases house combat-ready, trained and fully equipped American military personnel?
And if America’s “base” called Israel is “closed,” how do You anticipate the US will deal with an entire Middle East in which it has no Allies, and nothing but populations of Arab Muslims seeking revenge, retaliation, and retribution for what America has perpetrated and perpetuated in that part of the world, particularly since 9/11, Saddam’s so-called “WMDs,” and America’s interventions in Libya and Syria?
And whether threatening everybody with a combat-ready presence is a poor substitute for diplomacy or not depends entirely on what the long-term goal and objective is. If it is to keep the Military Industrial Complex and the Secrecy Security Surveillance Censorship Propaganda Panopticon in business with record-breaking profits, then it has been and is a complete and total success.
jg, the trouble with your analysis is that it takes the problem of Israel and sets it apart from problems with the Arab countries, as if those Arab countries would not like us even if Israel had never existed.
The problem is Israel and only Israel. It would be counter to all we know of human behavior if the Arab countries thought well of us given our automatic, unlimited and ongoing support of Israel to the point of joining in war criminality with it as if the two countries were one. The Arab countries have made proposals for a two state solution that we have ignored because Israel wanted no restraints on its expansion.
Israel is something jammed down the throat of the region and rather than ease the pressure, we have expanded the size of the object in the throat maximizing the irritation.
I don't think it is wrong to say that for America's government. our submissive support of Israel has been priority 1 for decades, through many administrations. It is THE hypocrisy of world affairs, everyone can see it, but due to our political system corrupted by wealth, the US is incapable of changing course. Our choices for the next president only put this up in neon lights.
Israel is a forward base for nothing but attracting hatred. It was in the list of things bin Laden cited in his letter to Americans. It is for PR purposes (and weapons manufacturer profit) that Israel and its obedient members in Congress use the word ally, and pump the false idea that Israel is somehow a fortress for our defense.
Hi Clif: Maybe You missed the next-to-last paragraph of my comment/analysis:
“And if America’s ‘base’ called Israel is ‘closed,’ how do You anticipate the US will deal with an entire Middle East in which it has no Allies, and nothing but populations of Arab Muslims seeking revenge, retaliation, and retribution for what America has perpetrated and perpetuated in that part of the world, particularly since 9/11, Saddam’s so-called ‘WMDs,’ and America’s interventions in Libya and Syria?”
[Note: To which i could have added Gulf War I over Kuwait and the subsequent Sanctions against Iraq, and the overthrow of a democratically-elected government, and installation of The Shah in Iran. Heh; and thinking about it further, i guess i could have gone all the way back to The Holy Crusades, eh?]
And if Israel is something jammed down the throat of the region, exactly WHO is doing the jamming? And why? To what end? Or was Israel jammed down the throat by the same folks who jammed The Shah and Saddam Hussein down the same throat?
And indeed, American support of Israel goes back to Truman when Israel was created, and before. The Question is: WHY did the United States want a Jewish State in the midst of a Muslim Middle East? Guilt because of The Holocaust which it ~ like the rest of Europe ~ ignored until it was too late to stop it? Or because of the strategic and tactical value of having readily available combat-ready military land, air, naval, and intelligence organizations in the middle of the Middle East with all that Oil? *** See below.
And if Israel was on bin Laden’s Letter to Americans after 9/11: “Bin Laden and other militant Islamist leaders issued a 1998 manifesto DENOUNCING THE PRESENCE OF AMERICAN TROOPS IN SAUDI ARABIA, U.S. SUPPORT OF ISRAEL, and the ECONOMIC SANCTIONS IMPOSED AFTER THE 1991 GULF WAR against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. ‘To kill Americans and their allies, both civil and military, is an individual duty of every Muslim who is able, in any country,’ the manifesto reads, ‘until their armies, shattered and broken-winged, depart from all the lands of Islam.’ Bin Laden regards Western institutions—coed schools, MTV, Rotary clubs, democracy itself—as depraved.” [ From “Profile: Osama bin Laden; A profile of Osama bin Laden, founder and leader of al-Qaeda” at https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/profile-osama-bin-laden; EMPHASES added. ]
That was a beginning of what became known ten years later as “The Forever War”: When Osama bin Laden saw a bunch of Ignorant, Infidel Americans in town for OPERATION DESERT STORM desecrating some of Islam’s Holiest Land first, by their very presence, and second, by what they were there to do.
And finally, Israel is indeed a fortress for the defense of the Power and especially the Wealth of this nation’s Ruling Political Class; which owns, operates, commands, and controls all those obedient members of Congress.
The U.S. Congress relieved itself of its responsibility to declare war in 1973 with the unconstitutional War Powers Act. Intended to 'limit' Presidential authority to use military force (at least that's what we were told) - it has given president after president the authority to wage and support wars with no real constraints; with Congress members throwing up their hands while accepting suitcases full of dollars from the firepower industry.
There seems to be a growing consensus among the elites of all political stripes that the First Amendment should be limited - with recent examples being COVID and Israel.
Once the owners can treat our rights as privileges, the Constitution itself is no longer an obstacle that anything done in the name of expediency or ideology.
But the conditioning of the electorate is such that the same malignant or craven psychopaths and sociopaths continue to be elected and returned to Congress election after election.
"Either we follow the law or we don’t. Either we respect the Constitution or we don’t. Either we use our military wisely or we don’t."
Sadly, the resounding answer is, we don't. And in terms of driving people from their land and ensuring their death by the thousands, our Putin obsession looks a lot like another kind of genocide. When we will not talk but will always escalate with zero regard for life, that HAS to be the definition of complete depravity if not genocide. In the complete depravity department, Biden (and his stooges) joins too long a list of American power-wielders who somehow tell themselves, our war power brings us "prestige;" our sanctions some illusory defense of "democracy."
All I can pray is the mighty empire fizzles into history for I fear we're idiotic enough to take all life with us.
If the 'victors' of WWII enforced the Nuremberg Judgment, this Material World would not be at the precipice of the NUCLEAR WAR to END all WARS a Century late.
Likewise, if the US imposed Economic Sanctions on Israel in 1968 when they started establishing the ILLEGAL Jewish settlements in OCCUPIED Palestine, October 7 would not have happened.
The US has actually been in the genocide business for over 100 years. Smedley Butler clearly outlined the army's use as gangsters for capital, for example in the Philippines between 1899 and 1902. While some sources claim only several hundred thousand Filipinos were killed or died due to starvation, other more credible accounts suggest a death toll of near 1 million. The US was notorious for war crimes during that war. We also did quite a bit of killing in central and south America after that. Then we killed about 20% of the people of North Korea in the 1950s and who knows how many Vietnamese in the 1960s and 70s, again with many accusations of war crimes. The story goes on through all the subsequent wars in the middle east and guerilla actions in the western hemisphere. Now we have Ukraine and Gaza. It has been an endless string of atrocities for well over a century.
In every single case the wealthy elites were lurking in the background pushing these atrocities for profit and control. So if people are serious about stopping this, a good deal of focus needs to be directed at the billionaires that pull the strings. Then the US coup regime that installed itself in 1963 needs to be dealt with, as Eisenhower and Truman warned us so long ago.
I wish I could say that America will dicide this at the voting booth but alas the 2 choices are the same. However their are a few candidates out their that are non militarists. Give them a look see before voting this November. Those precious 10 seconds behind the curtian could have extistential effects of things to come. Vote for peace not for forever wars. Let's give peace a chance. Consider votig Green
I keep hoping for a candidate that I can support, but so far I don't see any star in the east. Come November, if there isn't a decent candidate, I will write my own name on the ballot and vote for myself.
How about writing in "None Of These Candidates" instead?
If everybody who has nobody to vote FOR in November ~ even as the so-called "lesser of two evils" ~ would write in "None Of These Candidates," how many votes do You think NOTC would get?
Moving along the line of 'SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER' and why so many influencers who could change the direction, don't have the Courage and Integrity of the Prophet Micaiah and take the risk over Principle.
'Shoot the messenger, kill the story'
Daniel Everett Hale killed lots of innocent people. He went to jail, not for killing people – he was paid to do that by the US government – but for revealing the truth behind it. Recently released, he has an astonishing story to tell.
We should care – and care deeply – that all around the world the brightest and best of our truth tellers – whether they be journalists, academics, whistleblowers or politicians – are being eliminated, either physically or by one of the other 50 Ways to Kill the Story. It profoundly impacts the society you and your children live in and which we ignore at our collective peril. Europe’s tilt to the far-right should trigger alarm bells because it is a by-product of this.
Daniel Hale served in Afghanistan and elsewhere as part of the US’s global drone assassination programme. Hale’s first day on the job involved being part of a hit on someone who had a cellphone linked to the Taliban. They tracked the mobile to a hillside where a group of men were making a pot of tea. Without the slightest information of who these other people were, the missiles were fired, the hillside turned purple and red.
Around this time, President Obama assured the world the drone programme meant “with near certainty” that civilians weren’t in harm’s way. After taking part in lots of these killings, witnessing mothers pulling dead children from cars, farmers trying to harvest their own guts after being struck, and the like, Hale went on a personal journey and eventually decided to leak secret documents that proved the opposite: about 90% of the victims were innocents.
Charged under the Espionage Act, Hale wrote a moving 11-page letter to the judge. In it he said: “I am here because I stole something that was never mine to take — precious human life. I couldn’t keep living in a world in which people pretend that things weren’t happening that were. Please, your honor, forgive me for taking papers instead of human lives.” He was sentenced in 2019 to 45 months in prison. He got out recently and his ankle bracelet will be removed next month.
Chelsea Manning witnessed footage of an Apache helicopter crew massacring journalists and civilians in Baghdad and shared it with the world. The killers went free, Manning went to jail.
Daniel and Chelsea are heroes in a branch of journalism known as leaktivism or data journalism. The state will go to immense lengths to punish such people – Julian Assange and Edward Snowden being shining examples. Their treatment, and the shameful complicity of the governments of Australia and the UK, are classic examples of what Voltaire observed in Candide: it’s good to execute people from time to time pour encourager les autres (to encourage the rest).
When Mark Antony (yep, Cleopatra’s lover) wanted to make clear that there were new bosses in town he tracked down the great writer, statesman and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero. Antony’s henchmen killed him, chopped off his hands and nailed them to the rostrum of the Senate. It sent a powerful message: this is what happens to people who write stories we don’t like. How many of our journalists have heeded this message and, worried, perhaps more for their paychecks than their hands, have adopted the dominant narrative, often going after truth tellers in their own ranks..............................................
In that spirit, I tweeted this to Jake Tapper of CNN Friday who will be hosting the Biden-Trump debate Thursday.
@jaketapper
YOU KNOW by International Law, every Israeli settlement in the Occupied territories since 1968 is ILLEGAL. Israel has US jet fighters, bombers, missiles, rockets, tanks, artillery and BULLdozers. Hamas has tunnels for protection from all that US-Israeli Power.
Is it Israeli self-defence or Genocide vs Palestinian Civilians with little to fight back?
Do you have any Integrity left to SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER in the debate or remain in fear of losing your high paying job? Compared to the Israeli Prophet Micaiah?
i’m glad You’re “not picking on Biden here,” Bill.
Because all Biden is doing is continuing what all American Presidents before him ~ starting with Trump ~ have been doing since Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Ordering torture, assassinations, the overthrow of sovereign, democratically-elected governments, and other actions forbidden by international law.
And then there are the Genocides [of varying degrees of magnitude and intensity going by other names]: In Korea, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, Central America, Iraq I, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq II, and currently, in Ukraine and Palestine.
What needs to happen is a repeal of the 1973 War Powers Act and a declaration that any and all future foreign American military operations will require a formal Declaration of War by Congress, or will not be funded, and will be grounds for Impeachment of any President who orders those operations.
Think anybody could run for elected Federal office with that as a plank in her or his Platform? And get elected?
I'd argue that putting Congress in control for declaring war wouldn't change a thing, given what we have seen since Oct 7. Congress would race to put us into war for Israel as it is Israel's puppet. The single best move for the US would be to remove all private financing of political campaigns beyond a small amount, say $100, from individuals and with no "bundling"
I haven't seen any serious effort by Congress to pass a law that would get rid of the Citizens United ruling that opened the door wide for corruption. We see the power of the Israel lobby and that lobby would be reinforced by many others to defeat any limitation on wealth flooding political campaigns
i'm curious, Clif: Exactly which branch of the government Would You put in control of declaring War?
Also, do You honestly believe that repealing Citizens United would change how much money got from the hands of Vested Special Interests into the pockets of all those elected politicians those VSIs bid to be able to own, operate, command, and control?
And do You honestly believe that some kind of a "War Against Illegal Campaign Financing" would be any more successful than America's so-called "War On Drugs"? Or its so-called "Global War On Terrorism," aka "The Forever War"?
The "wealth flooding political campaigns" isn't the problem. The Problem is this nation's system of Government and Governance whereby Vested Special Interests can bid for ready and easy access to that Government's legal and police power, administrative authority, and especially, its spending capability and capacity, all so as to advance the agendas of those VSIs, be they organizations, institutions, or whole sectors of the Economy; from AIPAC to the MICC, to Big Oil, Big Pharma and Big Medicine, to Big Agriculture and Big Education, and so forth.
And finally, my guess is that the biggest objections to any limitations on how much money can be donated by anybody or anything to political campaigns would come from the print, electronic, and digital Media, Mainstream and Otherwise.
For example: "US political ad spending to soar in 2024 with TV media the biggest winner - report" by Chavi Mehta / Reuters 11 Jan 24
Jan 11 (Reuters) - U.S. political advertising spend will likely jump by nearly a third in 2024 over the previous U.S. presidential election year, with TV media again taking a lion's share of the dollars, according to a report by research firm Insider Intelligence.
The figure is expected to rise by about 30% from 2020 to $12.32 billion this year, the report said. AD SPENDING ON TRADITIONAL MEDIA, MOST OF WHICH IS TV, WILL RISE 7.9% AND ACCOUNT FOR 71.9% OF ALL CAMPAIGN SPENDING.
The War Powers Act should not be repealed, but it should be extensively revised. The president really does need to be free to act quickly if our nation is in imminent danger, but it needs a clearer definition of what constitutes imminent threat and tighter controls on his actions. On the other hand, Patriot Act (which is unpatriotic) and the Authorization to Use Military Force both need to be repealed en toto.
i agree completely, wrknight, on repealing The PATRIOT Act and the AUMF.
And if the War Powers Act needs to be "extensively revised," then eliminate it completely and start with the situation on this Planet in 2024 [not as it was in 1973], and, as You said, what is actually, exactly meant by an "imminent threat and danger" to the United States.
Correct me if i am wrong, but as far as i can tell, NO foreign military operation that the United States has been involved in since the end of the Vietnam War has been ~ or could be ~ even remotely justified by any PROOF by any President of Any "imminent threat" to America and Americans.
You are wrong only to the extent that your statement is true even before the Vietnam war. In the Korean war, North Korea invaded South Korea and our intervention was justifiable (sort of). The Vietnam war was a civil war waged between its government and its people and our intervention cannot be justified.
You are correct, wrknight; i overlooked Korea. And thinking about it now, i'm curious: How did North Korea's invasion of South Korea even "sort of" justify America's intervention?
What "imminent threat and danger" did Pyongyang present to the US that justified America's wading in and beginning its now 79-year run of never having won a War?
I won't even try. The division of Korea at the end of WWII was totally artificial and not in the best interest of its people. It was done as part of the deal where the Soviets would join the war against Japan. Bear in mind, North Korea borders Russian and the Russians didn't want a hostile country on their border.
jg, I think we'd be amazed at how all the ill feeling of the Arab world would change if our dealings with Israel changed. It could start with the end of the Gaza slaughter and nothing else.
I can't help but think the Arab world be gratified if the US simply treated Netanyahu as they would and have treated other loose cannons (Nixon era term) and bad actors ( a more contemporary term), with either (ahem) a "regime change" or a simple and terminal visit from one of those much-ballyhooed SEAL teams. The genocide in Gaza will continue until the Palestinians are reduced to a historical footnote. That's how genocide works. It's all very Old Testament.
I wonder if the subjects we discuss here have had any impact on recruitment? Could it ever be possible for prospective grunts/gruntettes to be enlightened and think twice about signing up?
From the sounds of things, a significant number of Americans aren't eligible to sign up with the military even if they wanted to:
"The Defense Department estimates that only 23% of Americans aged 17 to 24 would qualify for military service and the rest would be rejected for being overweight, abusing drugs, or having mental and physical health problems."
Source: "The Military Recruiting Outlook Is Grim Indeed. Loss of Public Confidence, Political Attacks and the Economy Are All Taking a Toll" by Richard Sisk / Military.com 22 Jan 24
I'm not even sure how much these ever-morphing "rules" favor most of corporate America. The slice of beneficiaries seems narrower all the time. And so many of the rules have no logic to them at all. The only unchanging rule is, "Do as we say." Biden/Blinken/Sullivan just appear to me (and I'm sure many across the globe) as blithering idiots. "Just saying."
Americans are talking about this. Just not in any way that affects the outcome. The decisions are out of our hands and are in the hands of our leaders/rulers. Just as they want them to be. Backed up by the awesome power of the state.
Agreed. I suppose my peaceable self has to have a certain admiration for the Houthis who fearlessly are willing to take on the US/UK military for the sake of those in Gaza. They are certainly taking an active role against an outrageous slaughter and proving up to the task as our own "projected power" is exposed for its usual strategic failure. But sure--let's gin up a war with China. That should do the trick.
It is interesting how the world's only superpower ends up continually fighting people that have little or nothing to lose. Vietnam, Afghanistan, the Houthis. One would think the outcome would be instant in a US win, but we know the reverse is more likely. Was it Madeleine Albright who said "what good is having great power if you don't use it?"
A better question might be to ask what use is it to maintain at huge expense a bloated with high tech power that cannot overcome groups wearing sandals and carrying AK47's? Of course the unspoken answer is that big profit is made and the cost of losing to the guys in sandals is never a problem because they are never a national security threat to the US in the first place.
"The Fort Lewis Six were six U.S. Army enlisted men at the Fort Lewis Army base in the Seattle and Tacoma, Washington area who in June 1970 refused orders to the Vietnam War and were then courts-martialed. They had all applied for conscientious objector status and been turned down by the Pentagon. The Army then ordered them to report for assignment to Vietnam, which they all refused. This did not go down well with the military and the three were "thrown into maximum security solitary cells and threatened with forced intravenous feeding."
In separate courts martial trials on October 26, 27 and 28, 1970, the six were all found guilty. Five were convicted of Article 90 violations for willfully and purposely disobeying the lawful command of a superior commissioned officer. The sixth man, Jeffrey Griffith, was convicted of an Article 92 violation for disobeying a direct order.
The five convicted of the more serious charge were sentenced for periods ranging from one to three years. Allen received three years at hard labor and a dishonorable discharge, Dix received two years and a bad conduct discharge, Forrest got two years and a dishonorable discharge, Perez and Galgano received one year and a bad conduct discharge and Griffith, who was convicted of the lesser charge, was given two months."
In an interview years later, Carl Dix stated "The military judge made it very clear he wasn't listening. He says, 'You guys can make your arguments for the record, I am not going to consider them, I don't care what you have to say.'"
In 2006, 1st Lt. Ehren Watanda refused to deploy to Iraq because he believed the war was illegal. His arguments fell on unsympathetic ears. In fact, Watanda was not even permitted to present his preferred defense because.....
....[t]he order to deploy soldiers is a non-justiciable political question … an accused may not excuse his disobedience of an order to proceed to foreign duty on the ground that our presence there does not conform to his notions of legality."
Courts are not empowered to second-guess policy decisions made by the political branches. In the end, Watanda was administratively discharged under other than honorable conditions for his refusal to deploy.
In 2016, Capt. Nathan Michael Smith deployed to Kuwait to support the fight against ISIL, but he also filed a lawsuit in federal district court challenging the legality of the order. The suit was rejected for the same reason Watanda’s defense failed. The judge ruled that the decision to wage war was reserved for the political branches. The fundamental problem in both the Watanda and Smith cases was that the order to deploy was not "palpably illegal".
The fact that the president’s war-making powers are hotly debated is why it is impossible for a servicemember to refuse to deploy because he believed the war was improperly commenced. When both sides have a plausible argument in their favor, the order is not “palpably illegal.”
1. A statement and video by former Congressman and current Congressional candidate Dennis Kucinich; and,
2. An extended video statement by Eisenhower Media Network Associate Director Matthew Hoh, who had nearly twelve years’ experience with the US military and the wars overseas with the United States Marine Corps, Department of Defense and State Department.; and,
3. A link to The Petition to Congress that reads:
WE THE UNDERSIGNED HEREBY STATE THE FOLLOWING:
* We are opposed to automatic registration for the draft.
* Our government must use diplomacy to avert wider wars.
* Congress must reclaim its constitutional war power duties.
* We must not permit our country to wage undeclared wars.
* This goes against the spirit of individual liberty which the Founders of our country established.
The ONLY reason Congress is considering implementing Automatic Selective Service registration for all American Males is because, quite simply, somewhere down the line, the intent is to bring back a Military Draft, making all those Males available for military service.
And there are some folks in DC who want to see Automatic SS registration for all American Females, as well.
It will be very interesting to see how American Citizens, Tax Payers, and Voters over the age of eighteen react and respond to bringing Involuntary Servitude ~ aka Slavery ~ back to America.
And it will be even more interesting to see how those Young Americans under eighteen react and respond.
MARINE VETERAN SCOTT RITTER: "WE HAVE TO STOP WORSHIPING WAR." by Mark Taylor / DeMOCKracy.ink 23 Jun 24
*** "The reality of combat, he notes, is found in the smell of Veterans Hospital wards where war-ripped, deformed and incapacitated veterans exist in a cramped world of colostomy bags and diapers, bed-ridden isolation, chronic pain, drug addiction, lost relations, lost dreams and amputated lives." ***
“If you go to war you will be fundamentally broken. I’m broken.”
American Marine combat veteran Scott Ritter is the former United Nations weapons inspector who called out the Cheney/G.W. Bush “weapons of mass destruction” lie that sent America into two decades of failed war, countless deaths and war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq. He knows war firsthand. He is also one of the best analysts of the current unraveling U.S. military and foreign relations clusterf*ck in Ukraine, Israel, the greater Middle East and China.
He did an extended interview with podcaster Sabby Sabbs Saturday (6/22) in which, among many critical issues, he discussed the recent illegal confiscation of his passport by the State Department as he was about to fly to Moscow for a conference where he was presenting at.
As is usual with Ritter, all of it is worth listening to, but THERE IS A 26-MINUTE SEGMENT I URGE YOU TO WATCH IN WHICH HE RIPS OPEN THE REALITY OF MILITARY SERVICE IN THIS SICK, WAR MONGERING NATION. The issue arose when Sabby brought up the recent Democratic Party-sponsored House bill for automatic military draft registration.
The old Marine combat veteran steps forward to serve the American people with a much-needed dose of reality about the nature of military service, combat trauma and the complete inability of this nation to meet such challenges.
“We live in a world where we allow combat to be defined by computer games,” he says with disdain.
The reality of combat, he notes, is found in the smell of Veterans Hospital wards where war-ripped, deformed and incapacitated veterans exist in a cramped world of colostomy bags and diapers, bed-ridden isolation, chronic pain, drug addiction, lost relations, lost dreams and amputated lives.
In 2023, an average of 17 veterans committed suicide every day, a rate 57% higher than for non-veterans.
They are all — like pennies falling off the counter — the brushed-aside cost of doing the profitable business of our endless wars for Wall Street corporate profits.
I’m not a veteran, but I was privileged to provide a few short rounds of psychotherapy to several Iraq and Afghan combat veterans who were dealing with traumatic brain injury, and post-traumatic stress. They spoke of the combat, brutality and death they witnessed, experienced and was branded into their souls. Because of the small size of US forces, they had all suffered through multiple active combat deployments. One had survived three IED bombings of vehicles he was in and was suffering severe traumatic brain injury, for which there is no cure. He was in his mid-30s with a wife and two children.
As Ritter spoke passionately from his heart and experience, I heard echoes of those past clients.
In a country where only 0.4% of the population is in the military, most Americans have no personal or even family experience with the realities of active duty military life … and death. They have no idea.
AS THE GENOCIDAL PSYCHOPATHS OF OUR UNIPARTY CORPORATE POLITICAL GANG GIN UP WARS AND PLAN TO THROW OUR YOUTH INTO THE MAW OF THE MONSTER, I URGE YOU TO TAKE A FEW MINUTES TO LISTEN TO RITTER ABOUT THE REALITIES OF HERDING OUR YOUNG PEOPLE INTO THE MILITARY AS SACRIFICE TO OUR IMMORAL CORPORATE WARS.
Listen young people to one who knows what will confront and haunt you.
It's been crystal clear for a very long time that the US National Security State does not follow international law, does not give a damn about the Constitution, and has used the US military to invade, bomb, kill and maim recklessly and without limit. The US National Security State is an outlaw, rogue state, exemplified most prominently by the invasions of Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, the bombing of Serbia and Libya, and the current occupation of Syria.....to name a few.
"We are the law."
"Do as we say, not as we do." This 8 word dictum is all you need to know to understand how the US National Security State operates in the world.
You are addressing an issue that has been a core problem most of my life and especially since I took up residence in the USA. I had refused induction into the German Bundeswehr in 1963 and after a court hearing during which I had provide reasons for my conscientious objector status, it was granted. When I married my American fiancé in 1967 I was eligible for permanent legal residency. I didn’t immediately apply for it because I didn’t want to face another conscientious objector hearing. The law requires that permanent residents must serve if called up. When I turned 27 I went to register at the Ventura county draft office and filled out the registration form and told the clerk that I was a conscientious objector and would not serve in any capacity in the military. I was then told that I was already to old and therefore didn’t have to worry about it. This whole issue of presidential or congressional “legal” orders for employing the military induced me this past week to watch two movies. First, I watched PATH TO WAR which details LBJ’s disastrous decision to get deeper into the quagmire of the Vietnam War. Second, I watched SHOCK AND AWE. It portrays the work of the Knight Ridder journalists careful analysis of the Bush “evidence” and concluded it was one big lie while ALL the other news outlets were propagandizing the administration’s lies. I highly recommend both movies. There are also a number of excellent books on this very important topic. Lastly, when has there ever been an American war that was either “legal” or constitutional? I am aware that this is a controversial question.
Written in "The American Conservative" on March 8, 2019:
"Andrew Sullivan comments on the U.S.-Israel relationship and the role of “pro-Israel” lobbying groups in our politics in a new essay. There are several things that I think Sullivan gets wrong, but perhaps the most significant and pervasive error in the piece is his repeated description of the relationship an “alliance.” He notes that the U.S. gets nothing in return for the extensive military and diplomatic support that it provides, he acknowledges that the U.S. “suffers internationally” on account of its close relationship with Israel, and he marvels at how badly its government under Netanyahu has behaved towards the U.S. Nonetheless, he writes, “I would defend the alliance despite this, because of my core belief in a Jewish state.”
The trouble with all this is that there is no alliance and ISRAEL IS NOT OUR ALLY. ( Caps mine). Its government does not behave as an ally does, it has never fought alongside U.S. forces in any of our foreign wars, and its interests are not aligned with ours as an ally’s should be. There is no formal treaty and no binding obligations that require our governments to do anything for the other.
There are few words in U.S. foreign policy debates used more frequently and with less precision than ally and alliance. Our politicians and pundits use these terms to refer to almost every state with which the U.S. has some kind of security relationship, and it always grossly exaggerates the nature and extent of the ties between our governments. The exaggeration in Israel’s case is greatest of all because it is routinely called our “most important ally” in the region, or even our “most cherished ally” in all the world. These are ideological assertions that are not grounded in any observable reality. Dozens of other states all over the world are better allies to the United States than the “most cherished ally” is, and they don’t preside over an illegal occupation that implicates the U.S. in decades of abuses and crimes against the Palestinian people living under that occupation, but none of them enjoys the lockstep, uncritical backing that this one state does.
The effect of this constant repetition is to make the U.S.-Israel relationship seem extremely important to U.S. interests when it is not, and that serves to promote the “illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists.” It is this illusion as much as anything else that prevents a serious reassessment of the relationship.
Israel is one of America’s regional clients, and it is the one that the U.S. indulges more than any other, but that is all that it is. As such, it receives far more support than it needs to and far more than makes sense for the U.S. to give, and the overwhelming political support that the relationship has is out of all proportion to the value of the relationship to the United States. In fact, like several other regional clients Israel has increasingly become a liability for the U.S., and the relationship should be changed accordingly.
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/israel-is-not-americas-ally/
US - Israeli relationship is not an alliance, it is a parasitic relationship that is not mutually beneficent.
And so who is the Parasite, and who is The Host?
Israel is America's FBO ~ Forward Base of Operation ~ in the Middle East; and has been since it was created. That is one of the primary reasons it was created, in the first place.
World War II and the attendant demises of the British and French Empires left an imperial vacuum in the Middle East, and the United States was quick to seize the opportunity to establish a permanent, combat-ready military presence in that area overflowing with OIL.
Israel is only one of more than 800 military bases around the world and is there mostly for Israel's benefit, not ours. Its closure would have no effect on our national security.
Secondly, threatening everyone with the presence of combat-ready military forces is a poor substitute for diplomacy and has proven counter-productive in the long run.
Sorry, wrknight, but Israel is not merely “one of more than 800 American military bases around the world.”
Israel has a boots-on-the-ground Army, and a conventional and nuclear bombs-, missiles-, and drones-in-the-air Air Force, both branches fully armed with 21st century warfare, information, and surveillance technology. And Israel is completely ready to use it however it deems necessary for what it determines is in its national interest, including its national survival, let alone simple security.
How many of those 800 American bases around the world would be able to react and respond in ANY way to an October 7 event against them? How many of those 800 bases house combat-ready, trained and fully equipped American military personnel?
And if America’s “base” called Israel is “closed,” how do You anticipate the US will deal with an entire Middle East in which it has no Allies, and nothing but populations of Arab Muslims seeking revenge, retaliation, and retribution for what America has perpetrated and perpetuated in that part of the world, particularly since 9/11, Saddam’s so-called “WMDs,” and America’s interventions in Libya and Syria?
And whether threatening everybody with a combat-ready presence is a poor substitute for diplomacy or not depends entirely on what the long-term goal and objective is. If it is to keep the Military Industrial Complex and the Secrecy Security Surveillance Censorship Propaganda Panopticon in business with record-breaking profits, then it has been and is a complete and total success.
jg, the trouble with your analysis is that it takes the problem of Israel and sets it apart from problems with the Arab countries, as if those Arab countries would not like us even if Israel had never existed.
The problem is Israel and only Israel. It would be counter to all we know of human behavior if the Arab countries thought well of us given our automatic, unlimited and ongoing support of Israel to the point of joining in war criminality with it as if the two countries were one. The Arab countries have made proposals for a two state solution that we have ignored because Israel wanted no restraints on its expansion.
Israel is something jammed down the throat of the region and rather than ease the pressure, we have expanded the size of the object in the throat maximizing the irritation.
I don't think it is wrong to say that for America's government. our submissive support of Israel has been priority 1 for decades, through many administrations. It is THE hypocrisy of world affairs, everyone can see it, but due to our political system corrupted by wealth, the US is incapable of changing course. Our choices for the next president only put this up in neon lights.
Israel is a forward base for nothing but attracting hatred. It was in the list of things bin Laden cited in his letter to Americans. It is for PR purposes (and weapons manufacturer profit) that Israel and its obedient members in Congress use the word ally, and pump the false idea that Israel is somehow a fortress for our defense.
Hi Clif: Maybe You missed the next-to-last paragraph of my comment/analysis:
“And if America’s ‘base’ called Israel is ‘closed,’ how do You anticipate the US will deal with an entire Middle East in which it has no Allies, and nothing but populations of Arab Muslims seeking revenge, retaliation, and retribution for what America has perpetrated and perpetuated in that part of the world, particularly since 9/11, Saddam’s so-called ‘WMDs,’ and America’s interventions in Libya and Syria?”
[Note: To which i could have added Gulf War I over Kuwait and the subsequent Sanctions against Iraq, and the overthrow of a democratically-elected government, and installation of The Shah in Iran. Heh; and thinking about it further, i guess i could have gone all the way back to The Holy Crusades, eh?]
In other words, without Israel, how would the United States maintain its influence via its military presence in the region that is the Planet’s leading producer of Oil: the Middle East; which produced 32.8% of all Global Oil in 2022 [https://www.statista.com/statistics/277621/distribution-of-global-oil-production-by-region/ ].
And if Israel is something jammed down the throat of the region, exactly WHO is doing the jamming? And why? To what end? Or was Israel jammed down the throat by the same folks who jammed The Shah and Saddam Hussein down the same throat?
And indeed, American support of Israel goes back to Truman when Israel was created, and before. The Question is: WHY did the United States want a Jewish State in the midst of a Muslim Middle East? Guilt because of The Holocaust which it ~ like the rest of Europe ~ ignored until it was too late to stop it? Or because of the strategic and tactical value of having readily available combat-ready military land, air, naval, and intelligence organizations in the middle of the Middle East with all that Oil? *** See below.
And if Israel was on bin Laden’s Letter to Americans after 9/11: “Bin Laden and other militant Islamist leaders issued a 1998 manifesto DENOUNCING THE PRESENCE OF AMERICAN TROOPS IN SAUDI ARABIA, U.S. SUPPORT OF ISRAEL, and the ECONOMIC SANCTIONS IMPOSED AFTER THE 1991 GULF WAR against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. ‘To kill Americans and their allies, both civil and military, is an individual duty of every Muslim who is able, in any country,’ the manifesto reads, ‘until their armies, shattered and broken-winged, depart from all the lands of Islam.’ Bin Laden regards Western institutions—coed schools, MTV, Rotary clubs, democracy itself—as depraved.” [ From “Profile: Osama bin Laden; A profile of Osama bin Laden, founder and leader of al-Qaeda” at https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/profile-osama-bin-laden; EMPHASES added. ]
That was a beginning of what became known ten years later as “The Forever War”: When Osama bin Laden saw a bunch of Ignorant, Infidel Americans in town for OPERATION DESERT STORM desecrating some of Islam’s Holiest Land first, by their very presence, and second, by what they were there to do.
And finally, Israel is indeed a fortress for the defense of the Power and especially the Wealth of this nation’s Ruling Political Class; which owns, operates, commands, and controls all those obedient members of Congress.
*** For a detailed and sobering look at exactly how much military aid and assistance Israel has received from the US since its creation, see https://www.cfr.org/article/us-aid-israel-four-charts .
The U.S. Congress relieved itself of its responsibility to declare war in 1973 with the unconstitutional War Powers Act. Intended to 'limit' Presidential authority to use military force (at least that's what we were told) - it has given president after president the authority to wage and support wars with no real constraints; with Congress members throwing up their hands while accepting suitcases full of dollars from the firepower industry.
There seems to be a growing consensus among the elites of all political stripes that the First Amendment should be limited - with recent examples being COVID and Israel.
Once the owners can treat our rights as privileges, the Constitution itself is no longer an obstacle that anything done in the name of expediency or ideology.
But the conditioning of the electorate is such that the same malignant or craven psychopaths and sociopaths continue to be elected and returned to Congress election after election.
"Either we follow the law or we don’t. Either we respect the Constitution or we don’t. Either we use our military wisely or we don’t."
Sadly, the resounding answer is, we don't. And in terms of driving people from their land and ensuring their death by the thousands, our Putin obsession looks a lot like another kind of genocide. When we will not talk but will always escalate with zero regard for life, that HAS to be the definition of complete depravity if not genocide. In the complete depravity department, Biden (and his stooges) joins too long a list of American power-wielders who somehow tell themselves, our war power brings us "prestige;" our sanctions some illusory defense of "democracy."
All I can pray is the mighty empire fizzles into history for I fear we're idiotic enough to take all life with us.
Our's is not to question why our's is to do Biden's bidding or be prosecuted.
Only the losers are prosecuted.
In a trial of "war crimes", "I was following orders" is no defense.
If the 'victors' of WWII enforced the Nuremberg Judgment, this Material World would not be at the precipice of the NUCLEAR WAR to END all WARS a Century late.
Likewise, if the US imposed Economic Sanctions on Israel in 1968 when they started establishing the ILLEGAL Jewish settlements in OCCUPIED Palestine, October 7 would not have happened.
The US has actually been in the genocide business for over 100 years. Smedley Butler clearly outlined the army's use as gangsters for capital, for example in the Philippines between 1899 and 1902. While some sources claim only several hundred thousand Filipinos were killed or died due to starvation, other more credible accounts suggest a death toll of near 1 million. The US was notorious for war crimes during that war. We also did quite a bit of killing in central and south America after that. Then we killed about 20% of the people of North Korea in the 1950s and who knows how many Vietnamese in the 1960s and 70s, again with many accusations of war crimes. The story goes on through all the subsequent wars in the middle east and guerilla actions in the western hemisphere. Now we have Ukraine and Gaza. It has been an endless string of atrocities for well over a century.
In every single case the wealthy elites were lurking in the background pushing these atrocities for profit and control. So if people are serious about stopping this, a good deal of focus needs to be directed at the billionaires that pull the strings. Then the US coup regime that installed itself in 1963 needs to be dealt with, as Eisenhower and Truman warned us so long ago.
I wish I could say that America will dicide this at the voting booth but alas the 2 choices are the same. However their are a few candidates out their that are non militarists. Give them a look see before voting this November. Those precious 10 seconds behind the curtian could have extistential effects of things to come. Vote for peace not for forever wars. Let's give peace a chance. Consider votig Green
I keep hoping for a candidate that I can support, but so far I don't see any star in the east. Come November, if there isn't a decent candidate, I will write my own name on the ballot and vote for myself.
How about writing in "None Of These Candidates" instead?
If everybody who has nobody to vote FOR in November ~ even as the so-called "lesser of two evils" ~ would write in "None Of These Candidates," how many votes do You think NOTC would get?
Moving along the line of 'SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER' and why so many influencers who could change the direction, don't have the Courage and Integrity of the Prophet Micaiah and take the risk over Principle.
'Shoot the messenger, kill the story'
Daniel Everett Hale killed lots of innocent people. He went to jail, not for killing people – he was paid to do that by the US government – but for revealing the truth behind it. Recently released, he has an astonishing story to tell.
We should care – and care deeply – that all around the world the brightest and best of our truth tellers – whether they be journalists, academics, whistleblowers or politicians – are being eliminated, either physically or by one of the other 50 Ways to Kill the Story. It profoundly impacts the society you and your children live in and which we ignore at our collective peril. Europe’s tilt to the far-right should trigger alarm bells because it is a by-product of this.
Daniel Hale served in Afghanistan and elsewhere as part of the US’s global drone assassination programme. Hale’s first day on the job involved being part of a hit on someone who had a cellphone linked to the Taliban. They tracked the mobile to a hillside where a group of men were making a pot of tea. Without the slightest information of who these other people were, the missiles were fired, the hillside turned purple and red.
Around this time, President Obama assured the world the drone programme meant “with near certainty” that civilians weren’t in harm’s way. After taking part in lots of these killings, witnessing mothers pulling dead children from cars, farmers trying to harvest their own guts after being struck, and the like, Hale went on a personal journey and eventually decided to leak secret documents that proved the opposite: about 90% of the victims were innocents.
Charged under the Espionage Act, Hale wrote a moving 11-page letter to the judge. In it he said: “I am here because I stole something that was never mine to take — precious human life. I couldn’t keep living in a world in which people pretend that things weren’t happening that were. Please, your honor, forgive me for taking papers instead of human lives.” He was sentenced in 2019 to 45 months in prison. He got out recently and his ankle bracelet will be removed next month.
Chelsea Manning witnessed footage of an Apache helicopter crew massacring journalists and civilians in Baghdad and shared it with the world. The killers went free, Manning went to jail.
Daniel and Chelsea are heroes in a branch of journalism known as leaktivism or data journalism. The state will go to immense lengths to punish such people – Julian Assange and Edward Snowden being shining examples. Their treatment, and the shameful complicity of the governments of Australia and the UK, are classic examples of what Voltaire observed in Candide: it’s good to execute people from time to time pour encourager les autres (to encourage the rest).
When Mark Antony (yep, Cleopatra’s lover) wanted to make clear that there were new bosses in town he tracked down the great writer, statesman and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero. Antony’s henchmen killed him, chopped off his hands and nailed them to the rostrum of the Senate. It sent a powerful message: this is what happens to people who write stories we don’t like. How many of our journalists have heeded this message and, worried, perhaps more for their paychecks than their hands, have adopted the dominant narrative, often going after truth tellers in their own ranks..............................................
https://johnmenadue.com/shoot-the-messenger-kill-the-story/
In that spirit, I tweeted this to Jake Tapper of CNN Friday who will be hosting the Biden-Trump debate Thursday.
@jaketapper
YOU KNOW by International Law, every Israeli settlement in the Occupied territories since 1968 is ILLEGAL. Israel has US jet fighters, bombers, missiles, rockets, tanks, artillery and BULLdozers. Hamas has tunnels for protection from all that US-Israeli Power.
Is it Israeli self-defence or Genocide vs Palestinian Civilians with little to fight back?
Do you have any Integrity left to SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER in the debate or remain in fear of losing your high paying job? Compared to the Israeli Prophet Micaiah?
https://rayjc.com/2024/06/21/speak-truth-to-power-2/
Great Tweet to Jake Tapper, Ray ~ which will probably end up in the CNN rubbish bin!
How are you doing with your procedure Ray ~ all resolved I hope.
Dennis
Nothing will change if you don't try at least! It took only Time for me to tweet, not money, and I have lots of Time in this, my 81st Year.
I'm on the mend, with 2 more weeks left taking Cipro antibiotics.
i’m glad You’re “not picking on Biden here,” Bill.
Because all Biden is doing is continuing what all American Presidents before him ~ starting with Trump ~ have been doing since Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Ordering torture, assassinations, the overthrow of sovereign, democratically-elected governments, and other actions forbidden by international law.
And then there are the Genocides [of varying degrees of magnitude and intensity going by other names]: In Korea, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, Central America, Iraq I, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq II, and currently, in Ukraine and Palestine.
What needs to happen is a repeal of the 1973 War Powers Act and a declaration that any and all future foreign American military operations will require a formal Declaration of War by Congress, or will not be funded, and will be grounds for Impeachment of any President who orders those operations.
Think anybody could run for elected Federal office with that as a plank in her or his Platform? And get elected?
I'd argue that putting Congress in control for declaring war wouldn't change a thing, given what we have seen since Oct 7. Congress would race to put us into war for Israel as it is Israel's puppet. The single best move for the US would be to remove all private financing of political campaigns beyond a small amount, say $100, from individuals and with no "bundling"
I haven't seen any serious effort by Congress to pass a law that would get rid of the Citizens United ruling that opened the door wide for corruption. We see the power of the Israel lobby and that lobby would be reinforced by many others to defeat any limitation on wealth flooding political campaigns
i'm curious, Clif: Exactly which branch of the government Would You put in control of declaring War?
Also, do You honestly believe that repealing Citizens United would change how much money got from the hands of Vested Special Interests into the pockets of all those elected politicians those VSIs bid to be able to own, operate, command, and control?
And do You honestly believe that some kind of a "War Against Illegal Campaign Financing" would be any more successful than America's so-called "War On Drugs"? Or its so-called "Global War On Terrorism," aka "The Forever War"?
The "wealth flooding political campaigns" isn't the problem. The Problem is this nation's system of Government and Governance whereby Vested Special Interests can bid for ready and easy access to that Government's legal and police power, administrative authority, and especially, its spending capability and capacity, all so as to advance the agendas of those VSIs, be they organizations, institutions, or whole sectors of the Economy; from AIPAC to the MICC, to Big Oil, Big Pharma and Big Medicine, to Big Agriculture and Big Education, and so forth.
And finally, my guess is that the biggest objections to any limitations on how much money can be donated by anybody or anything to political campaigns would come from the print, electronic, and digital Media, Mainstream and Otherwise.
For example: "US political ad spending to soar in 2024 with TV media the biggest winner - report" by Chavi Mehta / Reuters 11 Jan 24
Jan 11 (Reuters) - U.S. political advertising spend will likely jump by nearly a third in 2024 over the previous U.S. presidential election year, with TV media again taking a lion's share of the dollars, according to a report by research firm Insider Intelligence.
The figure is expected to rise by about 30% from 2020 to $12.32 billion this year, the report said. AD SPENDING ON TRADITIONAL MEDIA, MOST OF WHICH IS TV, WILL RISE 7.9% AND ACCOUNT FOR 71.9% OF ALL CAMPAIGN SPENDING.
Full article at https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-political-ad-spending-soar-2024-with-tv-media-biggest-winner-report-2024-01-11/ ; EMPHASIS added.
The best democracy that money can buy, eh Jeff! LOL
Nope. It's the best Patriarchal, Autocratic, Plutocratic Oligarchy that money can buy.
The War Powers Act should not be repealed, but it should be extensively revised. The president really does need to be free to act quickly if our nation is in imminent danger, but it needs a clearer definition of what constitutes imminent threat and tighter controls on his actions. On the other hand, Patriot Act (which is unpatriotic) and the Authorization to Use Military Force both need to be repealed en toto.
i agree completely, wrknight, on repealing The PATRIOT Act and the AUMF.
And if the War Powers Act needs to be "extensively revised," then eliminate it completely and start with the situation on this Planet in 2024 [not as it was in 1973], and, as You said, what is actually, exactly meant by an "imminent threat and danger" to the United States.
Correct me if i am wrong, but as far as i can tell, NO foreign military operation that the United States has been involved in since the end of the Vietnam War has been ~ or could be ~ even remotely justified by any PROOF by any President of Any "imminent threat" to America and Americans.
You are wrong only to the extent that your statement is true even before the Vietnam war. In the Korean war, North Korea invaded South Korea and our intervention was justifiable (sort of). The Vietnam war was a civil war waged between its government and its people and our intervention cannot be justified.
You are correct, wrknight; i overlooked Korea. And thinking about it now, i'm curious: How did North Korea's invasion of South Korea even "sort of" justify America's intervention?
What "imminent threat and danger" did Pyongyang present to the US that justified America's wading in and beginning its now 79-year run of never having won a War?
I won't even try. The division of Korea at the end of WWII was totally artificial and not in the best interest of its people. It was done as part of the deal where the Soviets would join the war against Japan. Bear in mind, North Korea borders Russian and the Russians didn't want a hostile country on their border.
i'm very familiar with the history of Korea and the deal on its division after WW II.
But that doesn't answer my question about what sort of "imminent threat and danger" to the US the North's invasion of the South was.
In any event, Russia not wanting a "hostile" country on its border calls to mind a place called Ukraine, eh?
jg, I think we'd be amazed at how all the ill feeling of the Arab world would change if our dealings with Israel changed. It could start with the end of the Gaza slaughter and nothing else.
I can't help but think the Arab world be gratified if the US simply treated Netanyahu as they would and have treated other loose cannons (Nixon era term) and bad actors ( a more contemporary term), with either (ahem) a "regime change" or a simple and terminal visit from one of those much-ballyhooed SEAL teams. The genocide in Gaza will continue until the Palestinians are reduced to a historical footnote. That's how genocide works. It's all very Old Testament.
I wonder if the subjects we discuss here have had any impact on recruitment? Could it ever be possible for prospective grunts/gruntettes to be enlightened and think twice about signing up?
From the sounds of things, a significant number of Americans aren't eligible to sign up with the military even if they wanted to:
"The Defense Department estimates that only 23% of Americans aged 17 to 24 would qualify for military service and the rest would be rejected for being overweight, abusing drugs, or having mental and physical health problems."
Source: "The Military Recruiting Outlook Is Grim Indeed. Loss of Public Confidence, Political Attacks and the Economy Are All Taking a Toll" by Richard Sisk / Military.com 22 Jan 24
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/01/22/uphill-battle-boost-recruiting-military-faces-falling-public-confidence-political-attacks-economic.html
Re: "We follow the law or we don't."
In actuality, we follow the law only when it is convenient.
They've replaced the law with "rules-based order," and of course they define the rules and insist on order that favors corporate America.
I'm not even sure how much these ever-morphing "rules" favor most of corporate America. The slice of beneficiaries seems narrower all the time. And so many of the rules have no logic to them at all. The only unchanging rule is, "Do as we say." Biden/Blinken/Sullivan just appear to me (and I'm sure many across the globe) as blithering idiots. "Just saying."
Our rules - our order. Follow our rules or we'll bomb the crap out of you. (Or worse, we might even bring democracy to your country.)
Americans are talking about this. Just not in any way that affects the outcome. The decisions are out of our hands and are in the hands of our leaders/rulers. Just as they want them to be. Backed up by the awesome power of the state.
Agreed. I suppose my peaceable self has to have a certain admiration for the Houthis who fearlessly are willing to take on the US/UK military for the sake of those in Gaza. They are certainly taking an active role against an outrageous slaughter and proving up to the task as our own "projected power" is exposed for its usual strategic failure. But sure--let's gin up a war with China. That should do the trick.
It is interesting how the world's only superpower ends up continually fighting people that have little or nothing to lose. Vietnam, Afghanistan, the Houthis. One would think the outcome would be instant in a US win, but we know the reverse is more likely. Was it Madeleine Albright who said "what good is having great power if you don't use it?"
A better question might be to ask what use is it to maintain at huge expense a bloated with high tech power that cannot overcome groups wearing sandals and carrying AK47's? Of course the unspoken answer is that big profit is made and the cost of losing to the guys in sandals is never a problem because they are never a national security threat to the US in the first place.
"The Fort Lewis Six were six U.S. Army enlisted men at the Fort Lewis Army base in the Seattle and Tacoma, Washington area who in June 1970 refused orders to the Vietnam War and were then courts-martialed. They had all applied for conscientious objector status and been turned down by the Pentagon. The Army then ordered them to report for assignment to Vietnam, which they all refused. This did not go down well with the military and the three were "thrown into maximum security solitary cells and threatened with forced intravenous feeding."
In separate courts martial trials on October 26, 27 and 28, 1970, the six were all found guilty. Five were convicted of Article 90 violations for willfully and purposely disobeying the lawful command of a superior commissioned officer. The sixth man, Jeffrey Griffith, was convicted of an Article 92 violation for disobeying a direct order.
The five convicted of the more serious charge were sentenced for periods ranging from one to three years. Allen received three years at hard labor and a dishonorable discharge, Dix received two years and a bad conduct discharge, Forrest got two years and a dishonorable discharge, Perez and Galgano received one year and a bad conduct discharge and Griffith, who was convicted of the lesser charge, was given two months."
In an interview years later, Carl Dix stated "The military judge made it very clear he wasn't listening. He says, 'You guys can make your arguments for the record, I am not going to consider them, I don't care what you have to say.'"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Lewis_Six#:~:text=The%20Fort%20Lewis%20Six%20were%20six%20U.S.%20Army,the%20Vietnam%20War%20and%20were%20then%20courts-martialed.%20
Catch 22,
In 2006, 1st Lt. Ehren Watanda refused to deploy to Iraq because he believed the war was illegal. His arguments fell on unsympathetic ears. In fact, Watanda was not even permitted to present his preferred defense because.....
....[t]he order to deploy soldiers is a non-justiciable political question … an accused may not excuse his disobedience of an order to proceed to foreign duty on the ground that our presence there does not conform to his notions of legality."
Courts are not empowered to second-guess policy decisions made by the political branches. In the end, Watanda was administratively discharged under other than honorable conditions for his refusal to deploy.
In 2016, Capt. Nathan Michael Smith deployed to Kuwait to support the fight against ISIL, but he also filed a lawsuit in federal district court challenging the legality of the order. The suit was rejected for the same reason Watanda’s defense failed. The judge ruled that the decision to wage war was reserved for the political branches. The fundamental problem in both the Watanda and Smith cases was that the order to deploy was not "palpably illegal".
The fact that the president’s war-making powers are hotly debated is why it is impossible for a servicemember to refuse to deploy because he believed the war was improperly commenced. When both sides have a plausible argument in their favor, the order is not “palpably illegal.”
https://warontherocks.com/2017/07/when-can-a-soldier-disobey-an-order/
And speaking of the resurrection of the Military Draft...:
Well worth the read and watch is DeMOCKracy.ink’s Mark Taylor’s 21 Jun 24 piece SIGN PETITION NOW TO PROTECT OUR YOUTH FROM MILITARY DRAFT DRAGNET TO DIE IN MORE DIRTY CORPORATE WARS: Stand Up For Our Youth; Say Hell No To The Military Draft! https://mark192.substack.com/p/cartoonpetition-sign-now-to-protect .
It includes:
1. A statement and video by former Congressman and current Congressional candidate Dennis Kucinich; and,
2. An extended video statement by Eisenhower Media Network Associate Director Matthew Hoh, who had nearly twelve years’ experience with the US military and the wars overseas with the United States Marine Corps, Department of Defense and State Department.; and,
3. A link to The Petition to Congress that reads:
WE THE UNDERSIGNED HEREBY STATE THE FOLLOWING:
* We are opposed to automatic registration for the draft.
* Our government must use diplomacy to avert wider wars.
* Congress must reclaim its constitutional war power duties.
* We must not permit our country to wage undeclared wars.
* This goes against the spirit of individual liberty which the Founders of our country established.
The ONLY reason Congress is considering implementing Automatic Selective Service registration for all American Males is because, quite simply, somewhere down the line, the intent is to bring back a Military Draft, making all those Males available for military service.
And there are some folks in DC who want to see Automatic SS registration for all American Females, as well.
It will be very interesting to see how American Citizens, Tax Payers, and Voters over the age of eighteen react and respond to bringing Involuntary Servitude ~ aka Slavery ~ back to America.
And it will be even more interesting to see how those Young Americans under eighteen react and respond.
MARINE VETERAN SCOTT RITTER: "WE HAVE TO STOP WORSHIPING WAR." by Mark Taylor / DeMOCKracy.ink 23 Jun 24
*** "The reality of combat, he notes, is found in the smell of Veterans Hospital wards where war-ripped, deformed and incapacitated veterans exist in a cramped world of colostomy bags and diapers, bed-ridden isolation, chronic pain, drug addiction, lost relations, lost dreams and amputated lives." ***
“If you go to war you will be fundamentally broken. I’m broken.”
American Marine combat veteran Scott Ritter is the former United Nations weapons inspector who called out the Cheney/G.W. Bush “weapons of mass destruction” lie that sent America into two decades of failed war, countless deaths and war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq. He knows war firsthand. He is also one of the best analysts of the current unraveling U.S. military and foreign relations clusterf*ck in Ukraine, Israel, the greater Middle East and China.
He did an extended interview with podcaster Sabby Sabbs Saturday (6/22) in which, among many critical issues, he discussed the recent illegal confiscation of his passport by the State Department as he was about to fly to Moscow for a conference where he was presenting at.
As is usual with Ritter, all of it is worth listening to, but THERE IS A 26-MINUTE SEGMENT I URGE YOU TO WATCH IN WHICH HE RIPS OPEN THE REALITY OF MILITARY SERVICE IN THIS SICK, WAR MONGERING NATION. The issue arose when Sabby brought up the recent Democratic Party-sponsored House bill for automatic military draft registration.
The old Marine combat veteran steps forward to serve the American people with a much-needed dose of reality about the nature of military service, combat trauma and the complete inability of this nation to meet such challenges.
“We live in a world where we allow combat to be defined by computer games,” he says with disdain.
The reality of combat, he notes, is found in the smell of Veterans Hospital wards where war-ripped, deformed and incapacitated veterans exist in a cramped world of colostomy bags and diapers, bed-ridden isolation, chronic pain, drug addiction, lost relations, lost dreams and amputated lives.
In 2023, an average of 17 veterans committed suicide every day, a rate 57% higher than for non-veterans.
They are all — like pennies falling off the counter — the brushed-aside cost of doing the profitable business of our endless wars for Wall Street corporate profits.
I’m not a veteran, but I was privileged to provide a few short rounds of psychotherapy to several Iraq and Afghan combat veterans who were dealing with traumatic brain injury, and post-traumatic stress. They spoke of the combat, brutality and death they witnessed, experienced and was branded into their souls. Because of the small size of US forces, they had all suffered through multiple active combat deployments. One had survived three IED bombings of vehicles he was in and was suffering severe traumatic brain injury, for which there is no cure. He was in his mid-30s with a wife and two children.
As Ritter spoke passionately from his heart and experience, I heard echoes of those past clients.
In a country where only 0.4% of the population is in the military, most Americans have no personal or even family experience with the realities of active duty military life … and death. They have no idea.
AS THE GENOCIDAL PSYCHOPATHS OF OUR UNIPARTY CORPORATE POLITICAL GANG GIN UP WARS AND PLAN TO THROW OUR YOUTH INTO THE MAW OF THE MONSTER, I URGE YOU TO TAKE A FEW MINUTES TO LISTEN TO RITTER ABOUT THE REALITIES OF HERDING OUR YOUNG PEOPLE INTO THE MILITARY AS SACRIFICE TO OUR IMMORAL CORPORATE WARS.
Listen young people to one who knows what will confront and haunt you.
They are coming for you.
See through the lies.
Organize.
Resist.
###
The link to the 1-hour, 24-minute video is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkYxTVgVFdE . The recommended 26-minure segment begins at the 28-minute mark.
Source: https://mark192.substack.com/p/marine-veteran-scott-ritter-we-have ; EMPHASES added.