Petraeus in Nashville ~ Permanent War

David Petraeus, the current military spokesman for permanent war, came to Vanderbilt University on March 1 to sell the economic, moral and ethical destruction of the U.S. with  neverending conflict. Insanity and psychopathy are two terms that come to mind.

 Always the big lie ...

"We have to remember why we are in Afghanistan. That is because that's where the 911 attacks were planned," said Petraeus.



Petraeus described himself as a 'realist'  for the war machine.

"I think if one is realistic, you have to realize that we have to remain engaged in these various endeavors."

"I think Afghanistan is going to be the longest campaign in the long war."

 Destroy a nation and build it back as a servant of American imperialism is still the same message.

"It’s a fact that the U.S. military is in the nation-building business in the Middle East."

“A good outcome in Iraq would be an Iraq in which there is a government that is representative of all the people, that is responsive and responsible to all the people,” Petraeus said. It would also be able to provide its own security and basic services like education, electricity and fresh water, he said.

"Of course you have to oversee the implementation of the big ideas.”

Petraeus gives a hint of how the military is 'concerned' about the freedom of the internet.

“Cyberspace is a battlefield. People are out there competing – they are fighting in cyberspace. It’s a battle of ideas; people are proselytizing.”

Petraeus says political and military leaders are wrestling with how to crack down on terrorist cyber-recruitment, while balancing it with the right to free speech.

Questions, supposedly from students, at the Vanderbilt propaganda forum didn't include any on military protection of the world's largest dope crop and the CIA involvement in the trade. Civilian deaths from 'mistakes' were also off limits.

Contrary to popular opinion, not all folks in Tennessee march lockstep to militarism. A few got their point across.








In what could be said to be a challenge to Petraeus and the lies of war, Stephen Lendman in America's Permanent War Agenda says:

America glorifies wars in the name of peace, what historian Charles Beard (1874 - 1948) called "perpetual war for perpetual peace" in describing the Roosevelt and Truman administrations' foreign policies - what concerned the Federation of American Scientists when it catalogued about 200 post-1945 conflicts in which America was, and still is, the aggressor.

Historian Gore Vidal used Beard's phrase in titling his 2002 book, "Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace" and saying:

"our rulers for more than half a century have made sure that we are never to be told the truth about anything that our government has done to other people, not to mention our own."

America's Permanent War Economy:

"at the start of the twenty-first century, every major aspect of American life is being shaped by our Permanent War Economy."  The horrific toll:

-- a de-industrialized nation, the result of decades of shifting production abroad leaving unions and communities "decimated;"

-- government financing and promoting "every kind of war industry and foreign investing by US firms;" war priorities take precedence over essential homeland needs;

-- America's "Permanent War Economy....has endured since the end of World War II....Since then the US has been at war - somewhere - every year, in Korea, Nicaragua, Vietnam, the Balkans, Afghanistan - all this to the accompaniment of shorter military forays in Africa, Chile, Grenada, Panama," and increasingly at home against its own people;

-- "how to make war" takes precedence over everything leaving no "public space....on how to improve the quality of our lives;"

-- "Shortages of housing have caused a swelling of the homeless population in every major city (because) State and city governments across the country have become trained to bend to the needs of the military....;" the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) currently estimates over 21,000 are on city streets nightly, and during winter months it's dangerous;

-- the result is a nation of growing millions of poor, disadvantaged, uneducated, and "disconnected from society's mainstream, restless and unhappy, frustrated, angry, and sad;"

"State Capitalism" characterizes America's government - business partnership running a war economy for greater power and wealth at the expense of a nation in decline, corrupted leadership, lost industrialization, crumbling infrastructure, and suffering millions on their own, uncared for, unwanted, ignored, and forgotten.

James Petras and others have said behind every imperial war is a great lie, the more often repeated the more likely to be believed because ordinary people want peace, not conflict, so it's vital to convince them.

Long before 9/11, Middle East restructuring plans were based on bogus terrorist, rogue state, and "clash of civilizations" threats by hordes of Islamofascists, including the Palestinian resistance, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Saddam Hussein targeted in the 1990 - 91 Gulf War, followed by years of devastating sanctions, then ousted by GW Bush in 2003.

Iraq was destroyed, occupied and balkanized. Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran face similar threats, the common thread being dominating Eurasia through endless conflicts and increased military spending for war profiteering bounties. September 11 assured it.

As a candidate, Obama campaigned against imperial militarism, promised limited escalation only, and pledged to remove all combat troops from Iraq by August 31, 2010. That was then. This is now, and consider what he has in mind - the permanent occupation of Iraq, Afghanistan and more.

Besides the Afghan escalation, he's also destabilizing Pakistan to balkanize both countries, weakening them to control the Caspian Sea's oil and gas riches and their energy routes to secured ports for export. The strategy includes encircling Russia, China, and Iran, obstructing their solidarity and cohesion, defusing a feared geopolitical alliance, weakening the Iranian government, perhaps attacking its nuclear sites, eliminating Israel's main regional rival, and securing unchallenged Eurasian dominance over this resource rich part of the world that includes China, Russia, the Middle East, and Indian subcontinent.

Like George Bush, Obama plans permanent war and more military spending than all other nations combined at a time America has no enemies. He promised change and betrayed us. Grassroots activism must stop this madness and make America a nation again to be proud of. The alternative is too grim to imagine.

Over 50 years ago, Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970) warned:

"Shall we put an end to the human race, or shall mankind renounce war" and live in peace, because we have no other choice. {more}