Is The "War on Terror" Really About Ego, Power and Profit?

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

Is The "War on Terror" Really About Ego, Power and Profit?
(posted with permission from: http://sane-ramblings.blogspot.com/2011/10/is-war-on-terror-really-about-ego-power.html)

As the U.S. aggressively expands its "War on Terror," killing and maiming ever more men, women and children, the government no longer makes a serious effort to tell the American people why. Instead it encourages the media to show 9/11 film to scare Americans, while politicians speak of being "tough on terrorism" without discussing all the wars America is now in and their cost in lives and dollars. Why?

Because this War on Terror is a financial bonanza for the military industrial complex, including Haliburton, Blackwater and several hundred other firms. It is as if 9/11 allowed them to win a multi-trillion dollar lottery. And don't overlook Wall Street which helps the government borrow ever increasing amounts of money to fund the skyrocketing but never discussed costs of these wars. In fact there is never any intelligent discussion or debate on the subject of the War on Terror.

But if you are a U.S. President, you command weapons, soldiers, "contractors," jet fighters, drones, tanks, ships and weapons of mass destruction in some respects far beyond anything the world had ever seen. And you're no longer encumbered by Constitutional limitations, nor the Geneva Convention or the U.N. Charter, as you would have been before 9/11. The President is answerable to no-one except the military industrial complex which keeps him in power.

[WinkyDink]

1. Bear, woods; Pope, Catholic. Jeez.

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

4. I understand you know what's going on...

But most of America is too busy watching "Dancing with the Stars" or playing with their smartphones to really see what is going on. And the media won't cover it, unless more people keep writing pieces like this, sending letters to the editor, etc...

We need a OWS type of frontal assualt on these type of policies.

:hi:

[HowHasItComeToThis]

9. YOU ARE SO CORRECT

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

14. Thanks! nt

[Angry Dragon]

2. FOLLOW THE MONEY

and throw in a little oil to help the slide down into the abyss

[Wind Dancer]

3. K & R!

Great article and very thought provoking.

[Gregorian]

5. Is not the drug war any different?

I have put effort into my life to ensure that my eyes are open to the truth. And it was blindingly obvious to even this stupid child, at the age of 17, that there were ugly and powerful forces putting good people under their thumb. And a bunch of nice people who didn't speak up.

The "war on terror" has been in progress a long time. I guess you could say it started even before McCarthy.

I should have been clear that I was 17 in 1973. I have to wonder just how long it is going to take for the blind to see. If a kid could see it forty years ago, then by now everyone should see it.

[frebrd]

6. EVERYTHING is about ego, power and profit.......

always has been. The only difference now is that no one tries to hide it anymore.

[rusty fender]

7. Yes!

We are so fucking safe now! :sarcasm:

[HowHasItComeToThis]

8. americans can THUMP THEIR CHESTS

[ixion]

10. Yep, it's about those things, as well as the militarization of civil society

[AntiFascist]

11. It's mostly fueled by the oil industry...

Does anyone remember the Carter Doctrine? Proclaimed back in 1980, by a Democratic president. The Soviet Union is no longer a threat, but it has now been replaced by al Qaeda to represent most of the homegrown Arabic threats.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter_Doctrine

The Carter Doctrine was a policy proclaimed by President of the United States Jimmy Carter in his State of the Union Address on January 23, 1980, which stated that the United States would use military force if necessary to defend its national interests in the Persian Gulf region. The doctrine was a response to the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union, and was intended to deter the Soviet Union—the Cold War adversary of the United States—from seeking hegemony in the Gulf. After stating that Soviet troops in Afghanistan posed "a grave threat to the free movement of Middle East oil," Carter proclaimed...

On edit: also note the Reagan Corollary:

Carter's successor, President Ronald Reagan, extended the policy in October 1981 with what is sometimes called the "Reagan Corollary to the Carter Doctrine", which proclaimed that the United States would intervene to protect Saudi Arabia, whose security was threatened after the outbreak of the Iran–Iraq War.

[Iggo]

12. Aren't they all?

[DrDan]

13. pretty much sums it up