By Gordon Duff
December 01, 2009 "Veterans Today" -- Tonight, I will listen to the President tell me that it will take years to withdraw from Afghanistan. He will, out of political necessity tell a series of lies. He will lie by omission, failing to tell people that this war, our "good war" was, when the facts are examined, a farce. There has not been a credible word from Osama bin Laden since December, 2001, when his death was announced in the Islamic press. What other reason did we have to occupy Afghanistan and lead it into total ruin?
The President will also lie because he has been lied to. He will present solutions, solutions sending troops into harms way, troops meant to build a government and country that force of arms can only destroy.
Years of propaganda and war mongering has made it impossible for any honest dialog about war. Years of lying, lying for politics, lying for profit, lying in support of treasonous foreign interests has left us with nothing to build on. No honest voice is left, just screaming liars paid by thieves claiming to represent the right or the left.
Neither really exist. If it talks, if it squawks, it is paid off by someone and is probably lying. Our government has their own business, getting elected, taking care of rich constituents and making sure war profiteers keep raking it in.
Without a voice of opposition from the people, as there is certainly no opposition in Washington, especially since the GOP is tied to the apron strings of the insurance industry and big oil and has no time for simple people, there will be no voice to scream "STOP."
Yes, support the troops. Bring them home to their families, let the villagers in Afghanistan continue whatever they have been doing for 300 years and stay out of it. We have managed to build a massive economy around playing at war. How many lobbyists does it require to hold a village in Afghanistan?
How many Predator drones does it require to find a bed for a homeless veteran?
How many mercenaries does it take to teach an amputee how to walk?
How many intelligence analysts does it take to figure out that if you keep doing the same thing over and over and it doesn't work, but you keep doing the same thing anyway, it is a sign you are nuts?
How long is it going to take us to realize that NOBODY is on our side. We think we are the new Roman empire, the policeman of the world. America isn't Caesar's Rome, not even the Rome of Augustus. We are the Rome of Nero and Caligula, a society steeped in corruption, excess and debauchery. How many Americans think of Washington DC as a center of culture and stability?
Does anyone even think America has a policy or government? Are we a country or simply a group of people ruled by a government owned and operated by special interest groups who dip into our treasury at will, send our kids off to war for amusement serve the agendas of "flavor of the month" allies, often brutal dictatorships disguised as enlightened democracies.
Over 40 years ago, America began to awaken to the fact that the war in Vietnam was a senseless slaughter having nothing to do with American values or security. President Obama is the 3rd president in my lifetime elected based on his promise to end a war.
In 1952, Eisenhower promised peace in Korea. We still have troops there nearly 6 decades later and wait daily for war to break out again.
In 1968, Nixon promised a "secret plan" to end the war in Vietnam. His plan, fight for 4 more years, killing 20,000 more Americans, then abandon most of our POWs and give Vietnam to the communists.
Tonite we hear another secret plan to end a war. Will we hear the truth? Not hardly!
"8 years ago we invaded Afghanistan and a short time later, Iraq, to punish a small group of murderers that killed 3000 Americans. As time has gone on, we now know that much of what we believed about those attacks is false. Evidence now points, not only to terror groups, but to countries we thought to be friends and there is even evidence of complicity here at home.
After years of phony intelligence, propaganda campaigns and torturing false confessions out of detainees, nothing can be trusted.
Donald Rumsfeld tells it best. He went before the 9/11 Commission stating there was never any indication that terror attacks of the kind seen on 9/11 were possible nor did he receive any warning. We now know that nearly every word he and so many others told that commission were lies, unquestionable, proven and done with remorseless cynicism.
8 years, the illegal invasion of Iraq, the engineering of an economic collapse in America, the corruption of our laws, of our national honor and our moral standing make it impossible for me to continue the war in Afghanistan.
No more Americans will die because of the criminality of a few. Are the few foreign terrorists or Americans, politicians, lobbyists, industrialist, bankers and their good friends overseas in Saudi Arabia or maybe Israel.
How can we order the deaths of thousands of Americans when the real "evil doers" at home run free? We know their names, we know their crimes. How can we bring justice and democracy to others when we, ourselves, have none?
Nearly 10,000 Americans are dead, tens of thousands wounded and trillions of dollars are missing. There is much more proof that these deaths and this massive theft was caused by a domestic conspiracy than any foreign intrigue.
First, we clean our own home, then we carry democracy to others."
Will we hear this tonight?
Veterans Today Senior Editor Gordon Duff is a Marine combat veteran and regular contributor on political and social issues.
