Basically, this "esteemed scholar" argues that we must prepare our "imaginations" for World War III because of Russia and China -- we must reimagine the pain and sacrifice of WWII so we can be ready to repeat it again, this time under a nuclear umbrella.
So much for trying to imagine peace! No -- we must gird ourselves for war. WTF? And the New York Times prints this garbage.
Thanks for reading and responding to this--By all means OK to use my description of the B-21 unveiling, and ID me as a Vietnam Vet--one who knows what is like to have artillery shells, mortar
rounds, and RPGs rain down from above--which is nothing compararable to these stealth bombers--
but what struck me in my heart (fortunately, I have a great pacemaker) was the self-assured, almost condescending demeanor of the Secretary, the Hollywood staging and lighting, and the complete absence of consideration of what cognitive/emotional/moral injuries might be inflicted on the viewer, never mind experiencing exposure to the actual bomber and its payload--add in the incredible cost
and use of taxpayer money for a machine and support system that can never actually be used,
or if used would produce incalculable destruction of people and planet; again, never mind
how all that could have been used to start making America into a functioning social democracy instead of a declining, tottering empire--Well, gets my old Swords Into Plowshares comments fermenting--but realistically I believe we're a fatally flawed species that will self-destruct.
First may I say thanks for your good note and I can fill in some blanks, though I don't know who the
NYT commenter was that quoted Begin--
Yes, I was a Navy Medical Corps Battalion Surgeon right out of my internship in Portland, OR
when I got shipped out ( from Camp Pendleton after 13 days of "training") to the 1st Marine Division
in August 1969, assigned to the 3rd Infantry Battalion, 5th Regiment stationed in An Hoa (that was the
nearby village) in NE I Corps- that is where the Aid Station was but when the Marines go out they don't
leave the Doc behind, so for the next 6 months I was out in the bush with HQ Co for maybe 2 weeks,
then back at the Aid Station for 2 weeks-alternating with another young Doc--humping around thru
brushy hills and rice paddies, supported by 2 fine young Navy Medics and actually in some pretty hairy
combat, but nothing like the Army down south or the Marines endured in 1968--I was lucky to survive
and spent the 2nd 6 months with the 7th Engineering Battalion which was still out in the boonies at times
but much nearer Da Nang and with quiet, fairly safe living situations when not out running up and down roads,
guarding bridges etc.
I must say that I had great regard for all the NCOs, Marine and Navy Medical, never had any concern about their conduct with the troops or interactions with the local Viet villagers--outside the Firebase I'm sure it was
owned during the day by the Marines, by the Viet Cong at night, and we certainly got harassing mortar rounds,
sporadic attempts to penetrate the perimeter of the firebase--but out in the bush it was much more dangerous,
the whole area was booby-trapped, night-time attacks of our little compound--yet when we would go into a hamlet the few people there (no men) were treated with respect and we would even occasionally have a little "sick bay"
line-up where the medics and I would hand out soap, penicillin or anti malaria tabs--absurd but seemingly
appreciated !
This was in considerable contrast to the Army's Medical Corps experience down south, at least from my
getting to hear the stories of many Vets during my 5 years of serving as a staff psychiatrist at the VA many
years later, 2009-14. I got to know and worked extensively with some Army Vets who were in incredible
extended combat before, during, and after Tet 1968--the 101st Airborne I know was involved with the worst
of that and I developed a kind of collegial partnership with one (then young) officer, still on touch with each
other, as we tried to get some changes in the way the VA managed those terribly, permanently damaged,
Veterans--without much effect I'm afraid.
One final "correction" to my previous note--Hope Col. Bill will see this too--I was stunned by the announcement on the MSNBC web page about the new nuclear bomber--so if you haven't found it:
In the browser search bar type in: B21 Raider Reveal--you will get several photos and 2-3 thumbnail
video vignettes --the one to click on has a face-on photo of the bomber with dramatic blue and white backlighting--
Watch as the Secretary of Dept of Defense proudly introduces this obscene instrument of unbelievable death and destruction while workers pull away the drapes like uncovering a statue or memorial.
You nailed it once again, Bill. Just as You did almost seven years ago with that linked piece by the same title.
In that 2016 article, You cited five forces driving the lack of any [let alone a Real and Effective] anti-war movement: the lack of a Draft, rampant Militarism, war-mongering Democrats, a war-championing Media, and the then-merely “nebulous factor” of FEAR
And, except for the Draft, each of those forces is even stronger today than they were when You noted them back when Donald Trump was still something to chuckle about. Particularly ~ since The COVID Event and January 6 ~ that no-longer nebulous, now Very Real and Effective factor of FEAR.
Just for starters: How many mass shootings has America had this year? And what’s all this about a tridemic and food and energy shortages this winter? And so forth.
But there is one force, factor, and fact that You didn’t mention either then or now. If, because of no Draft and the “All Volunteer Force,” the only Americans getting killed or maimed were/are doing it of their own free will, then the INVOLUNTARY Cost to Americans in BLOOD is virtually zero. Particularly compared to the Cost in Blood to Afghans, Iraqis, Libyans, Syrians, etc.
But there is another Cost of America’s Forever War that is also zero: the Cost in TREASURE.
The American people have not paid a single dime for that War. On 9/11, America’s national. Sovereign Debt was $5.7 trillion. Today, twenty-one years later, it stands at $31.3 trillion. In twenty-one years, America’s federal government Debt has increased 550%, making its Forever War a credit card War of epic proportions. An $8 trillion credit card War, to be exact: https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/figures/2021/BudgetaryCosts .
So, the header to this piece is not quite right. In actual fact, in The Forever War, America is not “getting what it Has paid for” at all. It is getting what it Hasn’t paid for at all, with somebody else down the road in line to handle the bill when it comes due. The big questions being, of course: When will it come due? And Who will get stuck with it?
Thus, because the American people have “no skin in The Game” ~ neither biological nor financial, neither Blood nor Treasure ~ it is not at all hard to understand why there is no anti-war movement here among either the Young and draftable [and their Parents] or the Older and taxable. Despite there being every reason in the world for there to be one.
Another factor that You didn’t mention back in 2016 or now is the complete and total lack of any kind of Religion- or Faith-based opposition to the War, such as there was during Vietnam. Where are the Bennetts, Berrigans, Coffins, Heschels, and Kings, and their “Clergy and Laymen Concerned About the War in Vietnam” with a Mission Statement modeled after this:
"What we are about today is not simply an end to the war in Vietnam, but a struggle against American imperialism and exploitation in just about every corner of the world... Our task is to join those who are angry and who hate the corporate power which the United States presently represents, and to attempt, in our struggle, to liberate not only black, brown and yellow men in every corner of the world, but more importantly, to help liberate our own nation from its reactionary and exploitative policies." [ https://keywiki.org/Clergy_and_Laity_Concerned#Founders ]
And American antiwar forces don’t merely “SOMETIMES disagree about what is at the root of America’s hyper-aggressiveness and how best to counter it, [some prioritizing] racism…white male patriarchy…indigenous peoples… BIPOC and LGBTQ+.” To the best of my knowledge, antiwar forces in America have NEVER agreed upon the ultimate root cause of that hyper-aggressiveness and even less on what to do about it.
In any event. i’ve said it before, and i’ll say it again: This Nation ~ and this Planet ~ doesn’t need a “Peace” or “Anti-War” MOVEMENT. They both desperately need a WAR AGAINST WAR.
"When a nation re-awakens, its finest sons are prepared to give their lives for its liberation. When empires are threatened with collapse, they are prepared to sacrifice their non-commissioned officers."
- Menachem Begin, (1951)
--From a NYT reader's comment.
Please keep plugging away at this theme that you have been developing over the past
couple of months. Also check out the stunning video of the dramatic "unveiling" of the
"secret" N-Grumman B51 nuclear bomber--I submit as a 79 y/o Vietnam combat Vet (Battalion Surgeon 1-3-5 "69-70) ,retired Psychiatrist (40 years of practice including 5 with the VA),
long-time anti-MICC+++ citizen, reader and supporter of Englehardt's TomDispatch and your
own Bracing Views, that we are a fatally flawed species, doomed by our own self-destructive drives.
Life will survive in some forms on the planet but perhaps in a few millennia some more copacetic
species will evolve. I feel for my 4 granddaughters--
WW2 provided an incredible economic boom, even though many American lives were lost. Now the economic benefits can be gained with few lives lost in a volunteer army even as non-military industry has fled overseas. It can be presented as helping other countries. It is succeeding in the process of making the world safe for business, no change from what Smedley Butler talked about so long ago.
The rush to aid for Ukraine showed more enthusiasm in Congress than I can recall. Given all the above, who's interested in being anti-war? The annual pass-though of the even-increasing military budget tells the story.
I don't approve of making money from war, but looked at realistically it's hard to see any change coming or any organized opposition arising.
been that way since clinton put talbot and nuland-kagan against russia in dept f sate in 1993.
and the solution for a little civil war in serbia blown up to a faux genocide was 99 days bombing belgrade to carve out the county of kosovo from serbia with a mechanized brigade still there at camp bondsteel.
the war machine save the kodsovar!!
now the war machine is keeping ethnic russians in a ukraine sewn together by bolshivists and the red army.
bc ukraine is alleged to have a democracy, imposed b y the color revolt with nuland-kagan in kiev that week.....
center libs and rino's are selling 'moral war' where there is no moral....
one of these days russia is taking out a satekllite that direct us weapons in ukraine fired by us contractors....
Before watching this clip this am, I never saw Col. Douglas Macgregor exposed on the MSM.
I agree with the analysis of Col. Macgregor more than the BLIND America 1st analysis of the FOX "Expert."
With his analysis, it's no wonder the MSM, Propagandists for the MIC, and behaving like the 5th Horseman of the Apocalypse, stifle his views and views of People like Bill, from having any exposure, depriving the Citizens of an alternate perspective and understanding vs the Proscribed US/NATO WAR Narrative.
Bill, You wrote: “A lot of people make a lot of money off the military-industrial complex, but it’s not solely about money. They also gain an identity from it and relatively high social status. (The military remains deeply respected within American culture.)”
It may be “respected” [whatever that means], but how much trust and confidence in it is there? According to a new poll from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation:
“From 2018 to 2021, trust and confidence in the military fell from 70 percent to 45 percent. While that rose slightly in this year’s poll to 48 percent, the fact that America’s trust in the military dropped 22 points over a five year period should set off alarm bells for the Pentagon. (No other institution polled by the Reagan effort has such a sharp decline.)
“Respondents gave a number of reasons for their declining trust, with perceived politicization of military leaders and questions about the commander in chief topping the list.
“The Reagan pollsters attempted to tackle the politicization of the country by offering two choices to respondents: to blame ‘the so-called “woke” practices’ undermining military effectiveness’ (30 percent) or to blame ‘the so-called Right Wing or Extremist individuals serving in the military’ (23 percent). Unsurprisingly, those who complained about ‘woke’ practices were overwhelmingly Republican and those who complained about ‘right wing’ practices were overwhelmingly Democrat.
“This matters not just in the abstract, said Zackheim, but because trust in the military directly impacts the ability to recruit. And indeed, only 13 percent of respondents aged 18-29, the key recruitment range, said they were ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ willing to join the military — a number smaller than the 20 percent who responded ‘not willing at all.’
Well said, but one more point about disenchantment with Viet Nam: the propaganda about how famously the US was doing in that war destroyed by the Tet Offensive in 1968. Let's see what happens when the Ukraine war comes unstuck.
Years ago I ran across a quotation in a memoir or biography of one of the allied leaders in WW I that is applicable more than ever now: "Trust no soldier in matters of security, no policeman in matters of safety, and no doctors in matters of health. " I thought it might have been Lloyd George or Clemenceau, but have not found it again.
If you want to read something truly disturbing, even bonkers, consider this article at the New York Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/02/opinion/america-world-war-iii.html
Basically, this "esteemed scholar" argues that we must prepare our "imaginations" for World War III because of Russia and China -- we must reimagine the pain and sacrifice of WWII so we can be ready to repeat it again, this time under a nuclear umbrella.
So much for trying to imagine peace! No -- we must gird ourselves for war. WTF? And the New York Times prints this garbage.
I could have added that it's hard to be against wars when you don't even know about them.
https://theintercept.com/2022/11/03/us-military-secret-wars/
Hi Bill,
Thanks for reading and responding to this--By all means OK to use my description of the B-21 unveiling, and ID me as a Vietnam Vet--one who knows what is like to have artillery shells, mortar
rounds, and RPGs rain down from above--which is nothing compararable to these stealth bombers--
but what struck me in my heart (fortunately, I have a great pacemaker) was the self-assured, almost condescending demeanor of the Secretary, the Hollywood staging and lighting, and the complete absence of consideration of what cognitive/emotional/moral injuries might be inflicted on the viewer, never mind experiencing exposure to the actual bomber and its payload--add in the incredible cost
and use of taxpayer money for a machine and support system that can never actually be used,
or if used would produce incalculable destruction of people and planet; again, never mind
how all that could have been used to start making America into a functioning social democracy instead of a declining, tottering empire--Well, gets my old Swords Into Plowshares comments fermenting--but realistically I believe we're a fatally flawed species that will self-destruct.
Steve Melson <sj.melson@gmail.com>
9:12 AM (2 minutes ago)
to me
New comment on Where's the Antiwar Movement?
Steve Melson <sj.melson@gmail.com> Sun, Dec 4, 2022 at 11:29 PM
To: forum+1gmy4p&3bpxm&6hrxx&59ad6d847338d108a7a635b07fba2cdb2ed7f5cc0144ea3bc44d7fbdf4c97e92@mg1.substack.com
Hi jg,
First may I say thanks for your good note and I can fill in some blanks, though I don't know who the
NYT commenter was that quoted Begin--
Yes, I was a Navy Medical Corps Battalion Surgeon right out of my internship in Portland, OR
when I got shipped out ( from Camp Pendleton after 13 days of "training") to the 1st Marine Division
in August 1969, assigned to the 3rd Infantry Battalion, 5th Regiment stationed in An Hoa (that was the
nearby village) in NE I Corps- that is where the Aid Station was but when the Marines go out they don't
leave the Doc behind, so for the next 6 months I was out in the bush with HQ Co for maybe 2 weeks,
then back at the Aid Station for 2 weeks-alternating with another young Doc--humping around thru
brushy hills and rice paddies, supported by 2 fine young Navy Medics and actually in some pretty hairy
combat, but nothing like the Army down south or the Marines endured in 1968--I was lucky to survive
and spent the 2nd 6 months with the 7th Engineering Battalion which was still out in the boonies at times
but much nearer Da Nang and with quiet, fairly safe living situations when not out running up and down roads,
guarding bridges etc.
I must say that I had great regard for all the NCOs, Marine and Navy Medical, never had any concern about their conduct with the troops or interactions with the local Viet villagers--outside the Firebase I'm sure it was
owned during the day by the Marines, by the Viet Cong at night, and we certainly got harassing mortar rounds,
sporadic attempts to penetrate the perimeter of the firebase--but out in the bush it was much more dangerous,
the whole area was booby-trapped, night-time attacks of our little compound--yet when we would go into a hamlet the few people there (no men) were treated with respect and we would even occasionally have a little "sick bay"
line-up where the medics and I would hand out soap, penicillin or anti malaria tabs--absurd but seemingly
appreciated !
This was in considerable contrast to the Army's Medical Corps experience down south, at least from my
getting to hear the stories of many Vets during my 5 years of serving as a staff psychiatrist at the VA many
years later, 2009-14. I got to know and worked extensively with some Army Vets who were in incredible
extended combat before, during, and after Tet 1968--the 101st Airborne I know was involved with the worst
of that and I developed a kind of collegial partnership with one (then young) officer, still on touch with each
other, as we tried to get some changes in the way the VA managed those terribly, permanently damaged,
Veterans--without much effect I'm afraid.
One final "correction" to my previous note--Hope Col. Bill will see this too--I was stunned by the announcement on the MSNBC web page about the new nuclear bomber--so if you haven't found it:
In the browser search bar type in: B21 Raider Reveal--you will get several photos and 2-3 thumbnail
video vignettes --the one to click on has a face-on photo of the bomber with dramatic blue and white backlighting--
Watch as the Secretary of Dept of Defense proudly introduces this obscene instrument of unbelievable death and destruction while workers pull away the drapes like uncovering a statue or memorial.
Then try to go to sleep--
'New US B-21 Raider Illustrates Waste in Western Defense Spending Giving Russia-China the Edge'
This new Pentagon project is not even in production yet and the starting price is $700,000,000 each before the cost overruns.
Brian of New Atlas examines it with an Accountants eye and training.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq9li-2W-Yc
You nailed it once again, Bill. Just as You did almost seven years ago with that linked piece by the same title.
In that 2016 article, You cited five forces driving the lack of any [let alone a Real and Effective] anti-war movement: the lack of a Draft, rampant Militarism, war-mongering Democrats, a war-championing Media, and the then-merely “nebulous factor” of FEAR
And, except for the Draft, each of those forces is even stronger today than they were when You noted them back when Donald Trump was still something to chuckle about. Particularly ~ since The COVID Event and January 6 ~ that no-longer nebulous, now Very Real and Effective factor of FEAR.
Just for starters: How many mass shootings has America had this year? And what’s all this about a tridemic and food and energy shortages this winter? And so forth.
But there is one force, factor, and fact that You didn’t mention either then or now. If, because of no Draft and the “All Volunteer Force,” the only Americans getting killed or maimed were/are doing it of their own free will, then the INVOLUNTARY Cost to Americans in BLOOD is virtually zero. Particularly compared to the Cost in Blood to Afghans, Iraqis, Libyans, Syrians, etc.
But there is another Cost of America’s Forever War that is also zero: the Cost in TREASURE.
The American people have not paid a single dime for that War. On 9/11, America’s national. Sovereign Debt was $5.7 trillion. Today, twenty-one years later, it stands at $31.3 trillion. In twenty-one years, America’s federal government Debt has increased 550%, making its Forever War a credit card War of epic proportions. An $8 trillion credit card War, to be exact: https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/figures/2021/BudgetaryCosts .
So, the header to this piece is not quite right. In actual fact, in The Forever War, America is not “getting what it Has paid for” at all. It is getting what it Hasn’t paid for at all, with somebody else down the road in line to handle the bill when it comes due. The big questions being, of course: When will it come due? And Who will get stuck with it?
Thus, because the American people have “no skin in The Game” ~ neither biological nor financial, neither Blood nor Treasure ~ it is not at all hard to understand why there is no anti-war movement here among either the Young and draftable [and their Parents] or the Older and taxable. Despite there being every reason in the world for there to be one.
Another factor that You didn’t mention back in 2016 or now is the complete and total lack of any kind of Religion- or Faith-based opposition to the War, such as there was during Vietnam. Where are the Bennetts, Berrigans, Coffins, Heschels, and Kings, and their “Clergy and Laymen Concerned About the War in Vietnam” with a Mission Statement modeled after this:
"What we are about today is not simply an end to the war in Vietnam, but a struggle against American imperialism and exploitation in just about every corner of the world... Our task is to join those who are angry and who hate the corporate power which the United States presently represents, and to attempt, in our struggle, to liberate not only black, brown and yellow men in every corner of the world, but more importantly, to help liberate our own nation from its reactionary and exploitative policies." [ https://keywiki.org/Clergy_and_Laity_Concerned#Founders ]
And American antiwar forces don’t merely “SOMETIMES disagree about what is at the root of America’s hyper-aggressiveness and how best to counter it, [some prioritizing] racism…white male patriarchy…indigenous peoples… BIPOC and LGBTQ+.” To the best of my knowledge, antiwar forces in America have NEVER agreed upon the ultimate root cause of that hyper-aggressiveness and even less on what to do about it.
In any event. i’ve said it before, and i’ll say it again: This Nation ~ and this Planet ~ doesn’t need a “Peace” or “Anti-War” MOVEMENT. They both desperately need a WAR AGAINST WAR.
"When a nation re-awakens, its finest sons are prepared to give their lives for its liberation. When empires are threatened with collapse, they are prepared to sacrifice their non-commissioned officers."
- Menachem Begin, (1951)
--From a NYT reader's comment.
Please keep plugging away at this theme that you have been developing over the past
couple of months. Also check out the stunning video of the dramatic "unveiling" of the
"secret" N-Grumman B51 nuclear bomber--I submit as a 79 y/o Vietnam combat Vet (Battalion Surgeon 1-3-5 "69-70) ,retired Psychiatrist (40 years of practice including 5 with the VA),
long-time anti-MICC+++ citizen, reader and supporter of Englehardt's TomDispatch and your
own Bracing Views, that we are a fatally flawed species, doomed by our own self-destructive drives.
Life will survive in some forms on the planet but perhaps in a few millennia some more copacetic
species will evolve. I feel for my 4 granddaughters--
WW2 provided an incredible economic boom, even though many American lives were lost. Now the economic benefits can be gained with few lives lost in a volunteer army even as non-military industry has fled overseas. It can be presented as helping other countries. It is succeeding in the process of making the world safe for business, no change from what Smedley Butler talked about so long ago.
The rush to aid for Ukraine showed more enthusiasm in Congress than I can recall. Given all the above, who's interested in being anti-war? The annual pass-though of the even-increasing military budget tells the story.
I don't approve of making money from war, but looked at realistically it's hard to see any change coming or any organized opposition arising.
neocon have merged with neolib.
been that way since clinton put talbot and nuland-kagan against russia in dept f sate in 1993.
and the solution for a little civil war in serbia blown up to a faux genocide was 99 days bombing belgrade to carve out the county of kosovo from serbia with a mechanized brigade still there at camp bondsteel.
the war machine save the kodsovar!!
now the war machine is keeping ethnic russians in a ukraine sewn together by bolshivists and the red army.
bc ukraine is alleged to have a democracy, imposed b y the color revolt with nuland-kagan in kiev that week.....
center libs and rino's are selling 'moral war' where there is no moral....
one of these days russia is taking out a satekllite that direct us weapons in ukraine fired by us contractors....
I miss the old anti-war songs. War, what is it good for, absolutely nothing, say it again.
John Mearsheimer: The West is playing Russian roulette
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBiV1h7Dm5E
The latest analysis of the WAR by Scott Ritter from earlier this afternoon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOqN86EaJsQ
Before watching this clip this am, I never saw Col. Douglas Macgregor exposed on the MSM.
I agree with the analysis of Col. Macgregor more than the BLIND America 1st analysis of the FOX "Expert."
With his analysis, it's no wonder the MSM, Propagandists for the MIC, and behaving like the 5th Horseman of the Apocalypse, stifle his views and views of People like Bill, from having any exposure, depriving the Citizens of an alternate perspective and understanding vs the Proscribed US/NATO WAR Narrative.
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6299099588001#sp=show-clips
Bill, You wrote: “A lot of people make a lot of money off the military-industrial complex, but it’s not solely about money. They also gain an identity from it and relatively high social status. (The military remains deeply respected within American culture.)”
It may be “respected” [whatever that means], but how much trust and confidence in it is there? According to a new poll from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation:
“From 2018 to 2021, trust and confidence in the military fell from 70 percent to 45 percent. While that rose slightly in this year’s poll to 48 percent, the fact that America’s trust in the military dropped 22 points over a five year period should set off alarm bells for the Pentagon. (No other institution polled by the Reagan effort has such a sharp decline.)
“Respondents gave a number of reasons for their declining trust, with perceived politicization of military leaders and questions about the commander in chief topping the list.
“The Reagan pollsters attempted to tackle the politicization of the country by offering two choices to respondents: to blame ‘the so-called “woke” practices’ undermining military effectiveness’ (30 percent) or to blame ‘the so-called Right Wing or Extremist individuals serving in the military’ (23 percent). Unsurprisingly, those who complained about ‘woke’ practices were overwhelmingly Republican and those who complained about ‘right wing’ practices were overwhelmingly Democrat.
“This matters not just in the abstract, said Zackheim, but because trust in the military directly impacts the ability to recruit. And indeed, only 13 percent of respondents aged 18-29, the key recruitment range, said they were ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ willing to join the military — a number smaller than the 20 percent who responded ‘not willing at all.’
https://breakingdefense.com/2022/12/majority-of-americans-stand-with-ukraine-trust-in-us-military-a-growing-concern-poll/
Bill, a pleasant surprise to see you in this video!
https://youtu.be/dWO48EkYyR4
Well said, but one more point about disenchantment with Viet Nam: the propaganda about how famously the US was doing in that war destroyed by the Tet Offensive in 1968. Let's see what happens when the Ukraine war comes unstuck.
Years ago I ran across a quotation in a memoir or biography of one of the allied leaders in WW I that is applicable more than ever now: "Trust no soldier in matters of security, no policeman in matters of safety, and no doctors in matters of health. " I thought it might have been Lloyd George or Clemenceau, but have not found it again.