by Wörghern Thu Sep 04, 2014 5:49 pm
To Pretend that the U.S.A. could represent an axis of evil offends you ? Remind us of recent events, please...
In an early speech, Hilary clinton presented a version of american history steeped in unvarnished triumphalism and historical amnesia.
"So let me say it clearly The United States can, must and will lead in this new century. The third world war that so many feared
never came. And many millions of people were lifted out of poverty, and exercised their human rights for the first time.
Those were the benefits of a global architecture Forged over many years By american leaders from both political parties."
It would be difficult to find and ask the millions killed over many decades of american interference in their countries what they thought: the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, The philippines, Central America, Greece, Iran, Brazil, Cuba, Congo, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Chile, East Timor, Iraq And afghanistan, among others...
In afghanistan, Obama, calling it "a war of necessity," doubled down on Bush. Pressure in late 2009 into sending more troops, he waived...He was told by a military advisor, "I don't see how you can defy your military chain here," meaning that his high command might resign in protest. C.I.A., Director Leon Panetta told him, "No democratic President can go against military advice, especially if he asks for it.
So just do it," he recommended. "Do what they say." When it came down to his decision, Obama did not show the courage of a John Kennedy. In December, he announced another 30 000 troops increase to reach almost 100 000, about the same number the soviets had deployed in their disastrous invasion of afghanistan.
He announced the troops increase at westpoint, reminding the cadets that the U.S.A. had invaded afghanistan because it had provided sanctuary for Al Qaeda. But he neglected to mention that most of the preparation for 9/11 took place not in afghanistan, but in apartments in Germany and Spain and flight schools in the U.S.A., or that only 50 to 100 of al qaeda's 300 cadre Were actually left in afghanistan, and that most were now in pakistan, an ally.
That the President waging two wars would receive the Nobel Peace Prize that same month was surreal in the first place. But when the world heard Obama's defense Of american unilateralism and preemption, the meaning of the Prize had been diminished, as it had by Kissinger 36 years earlier.
"I believe the United States of America must remain a standard bearer in the conduct of war. That is what makes us different from those whom we fight."
Obama feared getting bogged down in afghanistan, as johnson had in vietnam. What the backward, dirt-poor, overwhelmingly illiterate afghans needed was economic aid, education and social reform.
The U.S.A. spent $110 billion on military programs in 2011, but only $2 billion for sustainable development. With big U.S. money floating around, as in vietnam, corruption reached epic proportions.
Mistrust between the supposed nato And afghan allies soared. The U.S.A. backed president Hamid karzai announced that he would support Pakistan if it should go to war with the U.S.A.
By 2012, afghan soldiers and police were killing U.S.A. troops with such increasing regularity that the forces had to be increasingly separated.
Meanwhile, bedraggled, demoralized U.S.A. forces left Iraq in December 2011. Almost 4500 U.S. troops would not come home, more than 32 000 wounded, many of them severely.
Iraqi death counts ranged from 150 000 to over a million. Two million iraqis fled the country. The irony was exquisite. In deposing the sunni Hussein, the United States had turned the new shiite-dominated iraq into a valuable ally of iran, which ended up the war's biggest winner.
Bush officials had estimated the iraq war to cost $50 to $60 billion. Rumsfeld had called anything above 100 billion "baloney." By 2008 when bush left office, the U.S.A. had spent some $700 billion on the war, not including long-term care for veterans. Economists project total long-term costs as high as 3 trillion ! Obama welcomed the troops home at fort bragg, north carolina, ensuring that the end of the war would be as dishonest as its beginning:
"We're leaving behind a sovereign, stable and self-reliant iraq (????). Unlike the old empires, we don't make these sacrifices for territory or for resources. We do it because it's right. Never forget that you are part of an unbroken line of heroes spanning two centuries. To your grandparents and parents who faced down fascism and communism and delivered justice to those who attacked us on 9/11. (Thus sanctioning, once again, bush's lie about the connection of 9/11 to Iraq)
The words were barely out of his mouth before iraq was racked with a new series of deadly suicide bombings. To this day, Iraq teeters on the edge of civil war...
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I quite forgot myself your Highness 
