War (for the sake of it)

Trey Smith

In a report in the New York Times Monday we have the startling admissions that, taken together, show that the US government should be certified as criminal (if further proof were needed).

First we have the top US military man confirming that long-averred war plans against Iran are indeed going ahead.

The NYT: “When asked on [CBS’s] Face the Nation about the how difficult it would be to take out Iran’s nuclear ability in a military strike, Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said: ‘Well, I would rather not discuss the degree of difficulty and in any way encourage them to read anything into that. But I will say that my responsibility is to encourage the right degree of planning, to understand the risks associated with any kind of military option, in some cases to position assets, to provide those options in a timely fashion. And all those activities are going on.’”

In other words, the US is preparing for war.

Ironically, in the above lengthy article about the imminent opening of Iran’s second uranium enrichment plant at Qom, located under a mountain and impregnable from attack, the New York Times buries General Dempsey’s admission deep within the folds of its paragraphs perhaps in a bid to make it impregnable from attack by sane readers. Granted, the bellicose talk from US Commander-in-Chief Barack Obama and his administration of all options on the table has become so routine that the editors at the NYT have probably become inured to criminal admissions and so don’t think them worth any higher prominence that a final paragraph.

But here is the second part of the equation that adds up to definite criminality.

In the same story, the New York Times quotes US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta making what should be a startling admission: that Iran does not have a nuclear weapons programme.

Panetta says: “Are they [Iran] trying to develop a nuclear weapon? No.”

That Panetta finally admits what many people around the world know to be true, including American intelligence agencies in at least two US National Intelligence Estimates in 2007 and 2010 – that is, that Iran is not attempting to develop a nuclear weapon, should be a front-page headline. Especially when taken together with General Dempsey’s disclosure that war plans are afoot. From its own admission, therefore, the US government is pushing the world into possibly a World War III scenario on the basis of a totally spurious claim that even its own top brass do not believe.

Reflecting the bankruptcy that has corroded the US political establishment is the way that the New York Times – America’s self-styled premier newspaper – glides over these nuggets of self-indictment as if they were worthless banalities.

So if Iran is not even trying to develop a nuclear weapon, as Panetta now admits, what then is the criminal US warmongering predicated on?
~ from War Plan Iran: The US Finally Admits Its Criminal Bankruptcy by Finian Cunningham ~

The answer to Cunningham's query should be painfully apparent: These days the US pursues war for the sake of it.

War means billions and trillions of taxpayer dollars magically will appear in the bank accounts of the wealthy elite -- those who push for war at every corner.

War means austerity for the 99 percent because we always fight on borrowed money which balloons the deficit which causes the elites to demand curtailments in government spending that are not war-related (unless, of course, we're talking about programs that solely benefit them).

War means the evisceration of civil liberties because Americans need to protected from all the enemies war creates. Besides, a functionally imprisoned American populace tends to be a fearful, docile and compliant one which will allow the elites to declare more war and steal more public money.

And war means, unfortunately, that too many Americans can feel good about themselves as they swell with nationalistic pride.

In time, gone will be American know-how and the American Dream to be replaced by the ONLY thing we can claim still to be the best at: killing people -- both foreign and domestic -- with impunity!