"Patriotism" "Machoism," and Profit: Obama the War President

[laststeamtrain]

Myriam Miedzian
Posted: January 28, 2010 03:50 PM


"Patriotism" "Machoism," and Profit: Obama the War President

In 2009, an Afghan-American defense contractor, Hamed Wardak, hired Patton Boggs, a blue chip lobbying firm to push for an extended U.S. presence in Afghanistan. The lobbying firm in turn set up a nonprofit front group -- the Campaign for a U.S. Afghanistan Partnership -- on Wardak's behalf to act as the "face" of a campaign for increased U.S. engagement in Afghanistan.

Here we go again! In late 2002, The Committee for the Liberation of Iraq (CLI) was set up by Bruce Jackson, a former Lockheed Martin vice president. And we all know what happened in March 2003.

The role that weapons manufacturers and others who stand to profit from wars play in fostering unnecessary wars -- by fomenting war scares, libeling those who are anti-war as unpatriotic, bribing government officials both illegally and legally via campaign contributions,influencing much of the media etc. -- has been widely documented and reported by H.C. Englebrecht, author of the aptly titled Merchants of Death, Norman Cousins, author of The Pathology of Power, and many others.

Our long standing tradition of viewing support for war as patriotic and opposition as unpatriotic plays right into the hands of the people who stand to make money from those wars, and leads much of the media to applaud wars, however unnecessary, and to condemn those who are against them. Back in the 19th century, Republican Abraham Lincoln was vilified as a "moral traitor" in the Illinois press because of his opposition to the Mexican-American war.

<snip>

By doing so, he, plays right into the hands of Osama Bin Laden who sees the presence of American military forces in Muslim countries as bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy without achieving any positive results. According to his "peacenik" son Omar, Bin Laden was thrilled when George W. Bush became president. Nothing like a highly belligerent president to humiliate and enrage Muslims by sending Christians, Jews, and women to fight and kill Muslims on their own soil. As Bin Laden fully expected, thanks to Dubya, Al Qaeda "franchises" have sprung up in numerous countries on several continents.

The truth is that we are not at war. We are trying to prevent mostly young male terrorists -- who live in countries which include Yemen, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Germany, France, England, Holland, Canada, the U.S. -- from blowing us up or gassing us. There is no end in sight as long as macho talk, posturing, and action continue to win over thoughtful, informed long range defense planning.

<more>

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/myriam-miedzian/patriotism-machoism-and-p_b_440287.html

[Xipe Totec]

1. Machismo, not Machoism. No point in inventing a new word when the old one works n/t

[SlingBlade]

2. YEP, But you forgot one thing..... BullShit !

It's all BullShit my friend. Like they say, Not a nickles worth of difference, Is there.