How Many Trillions More Will Pentagon Spend on Mid-East Wars Before They Confront their Disaster

[Ferd Berfel]

How horrible and tragic does the judgment of our 'representatives' have to get before we wake up and get rid of them?

http://www.alternet.org/world/killing-taliban-leader-really-milestone

How Many Trillions More Will the Pentagon Spend on Middle East Wars Before They Confront the Disaster They've Created?
Things just keep getting worse.

We have it on highest authority: the recent killing of Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour by a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan marks “an important milestone.” So the president of the United States has declared, with that claim duly echoed and implicitly endorsed by media commentary—the New York Times reporting, for example, that Mansour’s death leaves the Taliban leadership “shocked” and “shaken.”

But a question remains: A milestone toward what exactly?

Toward victory? Peace? Reconciliation? At the very least, toward the prospect of the violence abating? Merely posing the question is to imply that U.S. military efforts in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the Islamic world serve some larger purpose.

[bemildred]

1. Big Muddy (Pete Seeger)

It was back in nineteen forty two,
I was part of a good platoon.
We were on maneuvers in a-Loozianna,
One night by the light of the moon.
The captain told us to ford a river,
And that's how it all begun.
We were knee deep in the Big Muddy,
But the big fool said to move on.

The sergeant said, "Sir, are you sure,
This is the best way back to the base?"
"Sergeant, go on; I once forded this river
Just a mile above this place
It'll be a little soggy but just keep slogging.
We'll soon be on dry ground."
We were waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool said to push on.

The sergeant said, "With all this equipment
No man'll be able to swim."
"Sergeant, don't be a nervous nellie."
The Captain said to him.
"All we need is a little determination;
Men, follow me, I'll lead on."
We were neck deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool said to push on.

http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/song-midis/Big_Muddy.htm

[Ferd Berfel]

4. Thanks

haven't heard that one in many years

[bemildred]

5. It was ringinig in my ears. nt

[Matrosov]

2. However many trillions it takes

American foreign policy isn't about freedom. It isn't about peace. It's not about fighting communism. It's not about fighting terrorism.

The only objective of American foreign policy is to fight for the things America believes to be in its best financial and political interests.

We'll take down peaceful nations in the name of peace and prop up totalitarion dictators in the name of freedom, as long as those actions suits our interests. Nothing less, nothing more.

[socialist_n_TN]

10. Generally agree, but............

I would also add to your second paragraph, that American "best financial and political interests" is what makes the most money and profit for the bourgeoisie.

Wars in the last two centuries are about economics and making money for capitalists whether it's in arming both sides and making profit or from profits made in rebuilding what they have destroyed by their wars. Marx and Lenin both noted that war is one way that capitalism destroys dead capital and restarts the system after it reaches a "no growth" impasse.

[libodem]

3. It's disgusting

When we shocked and awed Iraq, we broke it and bought it.

We sent a surge of refugees out of that country to seek asylum in, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and over extended all of their resources. Then we pulled the plug and sent them running again. Not sure we changed hearts and minds
by sending people into the tent cities of the refugee camps. Sanitation has to be nonexistent and privacy to pee in pubic unheard of.

When we got hit on 9/11, I thought what have we done to make them feel hate us so much? And we were told that was an inappropriate question. They supposedly hated our freedoms. So Bush, formulated the Patriot Act, dp decrease all that freedom. And the airlines fucked us, too.

Now, we have good reason for the whole mideast to despise us.

Hey, just when are we going to get rid of that unratified POS, patriot. act any way?

[JEB]

6. Till the war lords who run this country have bled it dry.

[Ferd Berfel]

15. Or we finally cut their throats (politically)

[n2doc]

7. It's not a bug it's a feature

The forever war continues until the US economy collapses. Things will have to get pretty dire here before enough people wake up.

[kentauros]

8. “an important milestone” to unending war?

Don't bother counting the money. If they could, they'd have the spigot removed so as to have a never-ending tap to fuel the war machine.

Until we can find a way of converting the war-machine to useful tasks (like rebuilding infrastructure and colonizing the solar system) any milestone they make will always be in their goal of permanent-war.

[msongs]

9. bernie votes to spend this $$ on killing and war, ask him nt

[socialist_n_TN]

12. Yes he does. As does Hillary and.........

Trump and every other bourgeois politician out there. It's one way that capitalists restart the growth system after reaching an growth impasse.

[Javaman]

11. Like a crapped out gambler in Vegas...

they will be escorted kicking and screaming out the door.

[Shandris]

13. "Disaster"?

One can only consider this a 'disaster' if one is still playing the game of "I believe what authority tells me!". Everyone else realizes that this is a complete and unmitigated success on every important front (read: money).

So it's a 'milestone' only in terms of "Good lord, how much more mileage can we get out of this tired, foolish excuse that people are somehow still falling for". It's a milestone in terms of 'Now we can find another group to start working into the fabric of the narrative because this one is starting to get played out'. Heck, it might even be a hidden milestone ("Holy hell, Frank! That last Ac-415 missile was our 500 millionth sale!&quot .

These 'sales' are the only thing keeping this 'economy' propped up. That's not a disaster, that's a literal captive market with an endless lifetime potential of sales in aggregate. The only other business with that much guaranteed return in the US is cemetary sales.

EDIT NOTE: It occurs to me that someone unfamiliar with me might interpret my post as me being supportive of the position that these are 'sales'. That is not accurate. Rather, I find the entire thing disgusting on a visceral level and a marker of degenerate evil made manifest. I apologize if that wasn't clear to anyone.

[gratuitous]

14. My god how the money rolls in, rolls in

Yes, these enemies we've concocted - specifically the Taliban and Daesh are the enemies du jour - are not a real sophisticated bunch. They don't have to run a country, they just have to recruit disgruntled young men, kidnap young women, and get them strapped with stolen weapons or explosives. They don't have to govern, they just have to intimidate their local areas. They're not responsible for food, water, shelter, clothing, or other utilities and amenities, except for what they can steal for themselves.

So when we murder one of their alleged leaders, they don't miss a beat. Someone just as ruthless or pissed-off will take their place, and carry on the destruction. They're not responsible to do anything but burn themselves up in rage, taking as many others with them as they can. It's like an endless line of toddlers waiting to knock over a stack of blocks. One goes down for a nap, another steps in to take his place, to knock over the stack and laugh. Re-stack the blocks, the toddler just knocks them over again. You don't need a particularly savvy or bright toddler; even the dullest kid can do it.

But the money! Oh, the money is soooo good for those with the right connections. It never stops, rarely even gets questioned. A disaster? The only disaster would be if we quit using violence to try to end violence.