Excerpts, March 4, 2009

Some excerpts from Wars, Endless Wars by Bob Herbert:

"In short, we're committed to these two conflicts for a good while yet, and there is nothing like an etched-in-stone plan for concluding them. I can easily imagine a scenario in which Afghanistan and Iraq both heat up and the U.S., caught in an extended economic disaster at home, undermines its fragile recovery efforts in the same way that societies have undermined themselves since the dawn of time - with endless warfare."

...

"We've already paid a fearful price for these wars. In addition to the many thousands of service members who have been killed or suffered obvious disabling injuries, a study by the RAND Corporation found that some 300,000 are currently suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or depression, and that 320,000 have most likely experienced a traumatic brain injury."

"Time magazine has reported that "for the first time in history, a sizable and growing number of U.S. combat troops are taking daily doses of antidepressants to calm nerves strained by repeated and lengthy tours in Iraq and Afghanistan."

"Much of the country can work itself up to a high pitch of outrage because a banker or an automobile executive flies on a private jet. But we'll send young men and women by the thousands off to repeated excursions through the hell of combat - three tours, four tours or more - without raising so much as a peep of protest."

...

"The United States is on its knees economically. As President Obama fights for his myriad domestic programs and his dream of an economic recovery, he might benefit from a look over his shoulder at the link between Vietnam and the still-smoldering ruins of Johnson's presidency."

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What are the people with their hands on the levers of what's left of American power doing these days?

From Associated Press comes this release today: Clinton criticizes Iran as a threat in the Mideast, which says in part:

"U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is criticizing Iran for promoting terrorism and trying to intimidate its neighbors and others in the Middle East."

"Clinton says Iran poses a serious potential missile threat not only to Israel but also to the United States' European allies and to Russia."

This is our Secretary of State talking. Do YOU think Iran represents a threat to America? I don't. In fact I don't think Iran represents one iota of threat to America. But this is what we're hearing from people we've invested our future with.

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From Radical Rethink Needed in Washington Philip Giraldi says:

"Harvard economist Joseph Stiglitz has estimated that the total cost of the war in Iraq alone will exceed $3 trillion, and that war is not over yet."

"The U.S. defense budget is 40 percent of the world's total for military expenditures, even though there is no real enemy to fight."




Bill