Statism needs war; a
free country does not. Statism
survives by looting; a free
country survives by production. If men want to oppose war, it is statism
that
they must oppose. So long as they hold the tribal notion that the individual
is
sacrificial fodder for the collective, that some men have the right
to rule
others by force, and that some alleged good can justify it — there
can be no
peace within a nation and no peace among nations. http://venitism.blogspot.com
The largest kickbacks originate in the military industry. Military procurement
is a corrupt business from top to bottom. The process is dominated
by advocacy,
with few checks and balances. Most people in power love this system
of doing
business and do not want it changed. War and preparation for war systematically
corrupt all parties to the state-private transactions by which the
government
obtains the bulk of its military products. There is a standard 10%
kickback to
kleptocrats for military purchases.
Nearly 10 years after the declaration of the War on Terror, the wars
in
Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan have killed at least 225,000 people,
including
men and women in uniform, contractors, and civilians. The wars will
cost
Americans between $3.2 and $4 trillion, including medical care and
disability
for current and future war veterans, according to a new report by the
Eisenhower
Research Project based at Brown University's Watson Institute for International
Studies. If the wars continue, they are on track to require at least
another
$450 billion in Pentagon spending by 2020.
The group's Costs of War project, which involved more than 20 economists,
anthropologists, lawyers, humanitarian personnel, and political scientists,
provides new estimates of the total war cost as well as other direct
and
indirect human and economic costs of the U.S. military response to
the 9/11
attacks. The project is the first comprehensive analysis of all U.S.,
coalition,
and civilian casualties, including U.S. contractors. It also assesses
many of
the wars' hidden costs, such as interest on war-related debt and veterans'
benefits.
Catherine Lutz, the Thomas J. Watson Jr. Family Professor of Anthropology
and
International Studies at Brown University, co-directs the Eisenhower
Research
Project with Neta Crawford, a 1985 Brown graduate and professor of
political
science at Boston University.
Participants in the military-industrial-kleptocrat complex(MIKC) are
routinely
blamed for mismanagement, not infrequently they are accused of waste,
fraud,
abuse, and kickbacks(WFAK), and from time to time a few of them are
indicted for
criminal offenses. All of these unsavory actions, however, are typically
viewed
as aberrations, misfeasances to be rectified or malfeasances to be
punished
while retaining the basic system of state-private cooperation in the
production
of military goods and services. These offenses are in reality expressions
of a
thoroughgoing, intrinsic rottenness in the entire setup.
http://venitism.blogspot.com
Among the group's main findings:
* The U.S. wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan will cost between
$3.2 and $4
trillion, including medical care and disability for current
and future war
veterans. This figure does not include substantial probable future
interest on
war-related debt. It runs from 2001. So that 911 event WAS a free ticket
to
ENDLESS WAR for the Oil sucking oligarchs.
* More than 31,000 people in uniform and military contractors have died,
including the Iraqi and Afghan security forces and other military forces
allied
with the United States.
* By a very conservative estimate, 137,000 civilians have been killed
in Iraq
and Afghanistan by all parties to these conflicts.
* The wars have created more than 7.8 million refugees among Iraqis,
Afghans,
and Pakistanis.
* Pentagon bills account for half of the budgetary costs incurred and
are a
fraction of the full economic cost of the wars.
* Because the war has been financed almost entirely by borrowing, $185
billion
in interest has already been paid on war spending, and another $1 trillion
could
accrue in interest alone through 2020.
* Federal obligations to care for past and future veterans of these
wars will
likely total between $600-$950 billion. This number is not included
in most
analyses of the costs of war and will not peak until mid-century.
"This project's accounting is important because information is vital
for the
public's democratic deliberation on questions of foreign policy," said
Lutz.
"Knowing the actual costs of war is essential as the public, Congress
and the
President weigh the drawdown of troops in Afghanistan, and other areas
including
the deficit, security, public investments, and reconstruction."
"There are many costs and consequences of war that cannot be quantified,
and the
consequences of wars don't end when the fighting stops," Crawford said.
"The
Eisenhower study group has made a start at counting and estimating
the costs in
blood, treasure, and lost opportunities that are both immediately visible
and
those which are less visible and likely to grow even when the fighting
winds
down."
The Eisenhower Research Project is a new, nonpartisan, nonprofit, scholarly
initiative that derives its purpose from President Eisenhower's 1961
farewell
address, in which he warned of the unwarranted influence of the
military-industrial complex and appealed for an alert and knowledgeable
citizenry as the only force able to balance the often contrasting demands
of
security and liberty in the democratic state.
In a free society, we are supposed to know the truth. In a society where
truth
becomes treason, however, we are in big trouble. The truth is that
foreign
spying, meddling, and outright military intervention in the post-World
War II
era has made us less secure, not more. And we have lost countless lives
and
spent trillions of euros for our trouble. The Vietnam war, done for
the biggest
oil deposit on the planet, in the South china Seas just offshore of
Nam, was a
tragedy for MILLIONS of people.See TRUTH:
VIETNAM WAS REALLY FOR OIL.
Too often official government lies have provided justification for
endless, illegal
wars and hundreds of thousands of resulting deaths and casualties .
http://venitism.blogspot.com
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