The truth at any cost lowers all other costs — curated by former US spy Robert David Steele.
Continue reading “John Robb: Economic Reality & Political Treason”
Want to understand why the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have broken the bank?
Then I suggest you carefully read the attached report in the current issue of Harpers, written by my very good friend Andrew Cockburn. The subject of this brilliant and very important report is the Pentagon's battle against land mines in Iraq and Afghanistan. Land mines are one of the oldest and most effective forms of warfare [see my essay, Why Mines Warfare is Good for Protracted War, in Counterpunch, 12 January 2011]. They are weapons of choice for the weak, guerrillas in particular, something we certainly should have learned from Vietnam.
Nevertheless, the high tech Pentagon was caught flatfooted by land mines and booby traps in Afghanistan in Iraq. The surprise was so complete that “planners” found it necessary to spend $60 billion since 2001 to counter what they euphemistically call Improvised Explosive Devices, as if booby traps constructed by guerrillas were a new and unexpected thing. Notwithstanding this huge expenditure on technology, a cornucopia for defense contractors much greater in fact than the Manhattan Project, even if one removes the effects of inflation, Cockburn lays out a splendid micro history of what really worked — guts, brains, and most importantly, what the Germans used to call fingerspitzengefühl*; and what has not worked — high-cost, high-tech boondoggles produced by contractors, employing gobs of retired military to help them cash in on the golden cornucopia unleashed by the dogs of war.
Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Why AF & IQ Have Broken US Military”
Panetta's Frenzied Rhetoric Is Not Stopping the Decay of U.S. Forces
Huffington Post, 14 October 2011
Before Tuesday this week, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta had been sprinkling Washington D.C. with words like “doomsday mechanism,” “catastrophic,” and “shooting ourselves in the head” to describe any cuts in the Pentagon's budget beyond the $450 billion over 10 years (overall a 4 percent reduction) he and President Obama have already committed to. Panetta had set a new standard for overheated rhetoric to defend the Pentagon's budget.
Phi Beta Iota: Panetta, like Gates and others before him, is a political toad incable of telling the truth or pursuing the public interest. He is telling two major lies in all of his speeches: 1) that cutting the defense budget will weaken national security; and 2) that what we pay $1 trillion a year (in borrowed money) for is “the finest fighting force in the world.” Not so less the infantry, which is 4% of the force, takes 80% of the casualties, and receives 1% of the budget. In an honest government, Panetta would be impeached–and all his senior generals and senior executive sychopants retired.
#Occupy – a dance of inspiration and strategy
Here are some more good articles and websites about the Occupy Together movement, the global extension of Occupy Wall Street.
In this posting there are a number of pieces about strategy and tactics – appeals to and descriptions of nonviolence (including some tips useful in everyday life as well as demonstrations); what contributed to their success in holding onto their NYC site; the logic of their non-partisan messages that are not tied to specific demands; etc. You'll also find a powerful video highlighting the hypocrisy of US officials condemning crackdowns on Arab Spring protests while condoning crackdowns on domestic Occupy protests.
I've also excerpted an inspiring, sober open letter from long-time Christian activist Jim Wallis. His whole article is worth reading. It was sent to me by my friend and colleague Rosa Zubizarreta who writes:
“I highly recommend that people GO. visit. see for yourself. engage in wonderful conversations. volunteer. contribute…. yes, there are clearly challenges and difficulties (it's certainly not perfect, as Rainbow Gatherings and Peace Camps and Soup Kitchens and all of those various manifestations of “free zones” are not perfect…) AND, it is so very much alive, filled with many wonderful moments and lots of learning and creativity and connection… On Friday morning in Occupy Boston, there were several classrooms visiting… their teachers bringing them in for a field trip… it was awesome!”
Others have written to me about conversations happening among finance professionals about the changes that are needed in their sector – conversations stimulated and energized by the Occupy Wall Street protests. Increasingly, this aspect of nonviolent protest – encouraging urgently needed conversations about change – is becoming the trademark of this movement. And this is an invitation to those of us who know how to make conversations meaningful and productive…
Blessings on this 13.7 billion year old highly interactive Journey.
Coheartedly,
Tom
Phi Beta Iota: Responding at Amazon to Review of Extreme Prejudice.
Interesting review Robert. I haven't read the book yet but I'm hopeful there are some new details of worth in it. I appreciate your regular mention of 9/11 issues in your book reviews. Don't know if you've read it yet but Kevin Fenton's DISCONNECTING THE DOTS is worth a look as it brings out new details in the (dubious) activities of the CIA and their Alex Station team prior to 9/11 – Peter Dale Scott recently praised this one highly in interviews. Additionally, if you Google ‘Who is Rich Blee?', the first link that comes up (SecrecyKills) offers a lengthy podcast from the same team that made 9/11 PRESS FOR TRUTH that fruitfully accompanies that DISCONNECTING book mentioned above with new interviews with Richard Clarke and statements from a very defensive George Tenet. They have a full transcript of the podcast on the site which is valuable reading, and author Kevin Fenton is again featured on that site and thanked in the podcast.
There's a lengthy 500 page book on 9/11 by a possibly pseudonymous author called E.P.Heidner, titled ‘The September Eleventh Commission Report' (a poor title for a valuable work) that a number of researchers have been discussing recently – David Ray Griffin mentioned to me in an email a month ago that he makes note of the book in his latest 9/11 TEN YEARS LATER volume. Heidner has done a massive amount of new research into who the likely background figures are (many linked to Iran Contra) and brings a lot of new information to the table. The book is currently unpublished but is available online for free as a PDF, at Scribd and elsewhere. If you Google the phrase ‘A remarkable new book on 9/11', the first link that comes up is a post by me at the Deep Politics forum where I and some others discuss the book in detail and post a number of links where any reader can get the book for free.
Researcher and journalist Jonathan Elinoff uploaded a fine documentary on 9/11 online a couple of years back called CORE OF CORRUPTION-FROM THE SHADOWS, which goes into a lot of depth about events prior to 9/11. (The currently available version has a minor sound issue where for the first 10 minutes or so, the background music is a little louder than it should be, but the film is still worth sticking with and is easily locatable online). I mention this as two(!) new follow up films to that documentary, the next of the series entitled CORE OF CORRUPTION-ECHOES OF TREASON, are reportedly being finished right now and will be released online for full viewing in March 2012. Elinoff reportedly has close to five years of research and relevant interviews and various revelations prepared for release with the new film, including new information from whistleblowers, fresh details about the participants in the rogue 9/11 stock trades, and a lot of juicy new info. The proof will be in the pudding but I expect it to be a formidable piece of work.
As a final note, if you haven't yet watched the recent feature length documentary 9/11 EXPLOSIVE EVIDENCE-EXPERTS SPEAK OUT, and its accompanying shorter featurette ARCHITECTS AND ENGINEERS-SOLVING THE MYSTERY OF WTC7 (hosted by Ed Asner) please go to Youtube and view them immediately. Both are superior works from Richard Gage's group of professionals and contain a lot of formidable evidence and testimony.
Hmmmmm. Does this connect Israel's larger covert operations inside the USA to the specific Iran plot as a possible Israeli covert operation to influence US public and US Congress?
Why I Published US Intelligence Secrets About Israel's Anti-Iran Campaign
Richard Silverstein
Truthout, 14 October 2011
In 2009, Shamai Leibowitz was working secretly for the FBI, translating wiretapped conversations among Israeli diplomats in this country. He passed some transcripts of these conversations to me, which described an Israeli diplomatic campaign in this country to create a hostile environment for relations with Iran. I published excerpts from them in my blog, Tikun Olam.
. . . . . .
The true story was why and how Israeli diplomats were intervening so obtrusively in US political life.
Phi Beta Iota: We do not think the Israeli's are behind the Iranian plot. It may even be that the Iranian liberation nut-jobs are not behind it either, and this is strictly a standard FBI over-reach with a sting that netted a used car salesman. What we do know is that both Congress and the White House have been very irresponsible in their confrontational statements toward Iran, and very irresponsible in failing to challenge the authenticity of this plot in detail.
There are a handful of men and women serving the U.S. Government whom I hold in the very highest regard. One of them sent me this message today.
– x – x – x – x –
If young Adolph Hitler was in the US today and he wanted to start a movement, who would he attack? The Jews. Where would he find them? In the same place the 9-11 hijackers found them — Wall Street. He would
try to bring down the ruling government by bringing down the economy. Anarchy benefits who? Al Qaida, anarchists of various types, and anyone wanting to destroy the government — from the outside of from within. Be careful what you fall in love with.
– x – x – x – x –
Sadly, this tracks with the “party line” that the extreme right is putting forth, and could not be further from the truth. Just as the Democrats are beginning to realize that #OWS wants nothing to do with them or their NGO fronts, the extremist Republicans are starting to sense that the threat to their taking the White House is neither Obama nor Romney, but an Independent movement with a facilitator running for President (leaders are out, facilitators are in) whose sole singular objective is Electoral Reform. #OWS is very squishy, and they appear to be missing the opportunity to demand an Electoral Reform Act with the demand made by 6 November and the deadline set for 15 February. This may still arise from the catalytic convergence of many forces.
The key to understanding #OWS is that it is NOT an institutionalization of anything–it is the opposite of institutionalization. It rejects parties, including third, fourth, and fifth parties. It rejects banks controlling the money and government controlling the programs. It is seeking a new paradigm, one that displaces Epoch A top-down hierarchical “because I said so” Rule by Secrecy, and substitutes Epoch B bottom-up consensus prizing multicultural inputs and taking the long view.
Continue reading “Robert Steele: #OWS is Not Hitler Against the Jews”
