Thomas Paine's version of "you didn't build that":
"Separate an individual from society,and give him an island or a continent to possess,and he cannot acquire personal property. He cannot be rich. So inseparably are the means connected with the end,in all cases,that where the former do not exist the latter cannot be obtained. All accumulation, therefore,of personal property,beyond what a man's own hands produce, is derived to him by living in society; and he owes on every principle of justice,of gratitude,and of civilization,a part of that accumulation back again to society from whence the whole came"
Submitted by Leah
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How many Iraqis have died as a result of the invasion 15 years ago? Some credible estimates put the number at more than one million. You can read that sentence again.
The invasion of Iraq is often spoken of in our country as a “blunder,” or even a “colossal mistake.” It was a crime.
Those who perpetrated it are still at large. Some of them have even been rehabilitated thanks to the horrors of a mostly amnesiac citizenry. (A year ago Mr. Bush was on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” dancing and talking about his paintings.)
The war criminals, Bush,Cheney,Rice,Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and Powell who sold us the war still go on doing what they do.
We condemned children to death, some after many days of writhing in pain on bloodstained mats, without pain relievers. Some died quickly, wasted by missing arms and legs, crushed heads. As the fluids ran out of their bodies, they appeared like withered, spoiled fruits. They could have lived, certainly should have lived – and laughed and danced, and run and played- but instead they were brutally murdered. Yes, murdered!
The war ended for those children, but it has never ended for survivors who carry memories of them. Likewise, the effects of the U.S. bombings continue, immeasurably and indefensibly.
In his new memoir, McCain says he’s to blame for the war.
Comment:
From its Vietnam trauma, the United States also codified a crass political lesson that Richard Nixon had applied during the war. Just before Nixon took office, American troop levels in Vietnam were steadily on the way up, as were weekly death tolls, and monthly draft calls. The death-and-draft combination was the trigger for domestic protests. Callously but accurately, Nixon believed that he could drain the will to the protest if he ended the draft calls. Thus began the shift to the volunteer army in which the country is always at war but the vast majority of Americans are spared direct cost or exposure. (From the invasion of Iraq 15 years ago until now, the total number of Americans who served at any point in Iraq or Afghanistan comes to just 1 percent of the U.S. population.)
The McGlynn
Sen. John McCain has made a shocking admission: The Iraq War was a “mistake,” and he’s taking the blame.
In his new memoir, McCain who is battling brain cancer, writes that the Iraq War “can’t be judged as anything other than a mistake, a very serious one, and I have to accept my share of the blame for it,” as Politico reports.
McCain is among the most hawkish Republicans in the Senate and was an ardent supporter of the George W. Bush administration’s decision to go to war with Iraq and a later US troop surge. As Michael Hirsh writes at Politico:
McCain became, in fact, the first supporter of a “surge,” years before Bush and other Republicans did. “I came out of the Vietnam War convinced that frankly we could have won, and we had it won,” he told me in 2014. “Just as I believed we had the Iraq conflict won after the surge — and for which I sacrificed everything, including my presidential ambitions, that it would succeed.”
The link between national sacrifice and war-making has become increasingly foreign. It was once essential.
There’s a saying in the military, more of a cliché really: The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war. The statement is one over-eager first sergeants or still-green lieutenants use when troops are bitching, say, on the 11th mile of a 15-mile training hike. The idea is that continual training, or learning, is essential to success in combat.
Today is Memorial Day, the 16th since the 9/11 attacks, which led to two major, albeit incomplete wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Why have these wars gone on so long? Is it because our military has, as of yet, been unable to learn the right lessons and so engineer the correct alchemy of battlefield successes which might defeat our enemies?
I doubt it.
Like Vietnam—our most famous quagmire—we win all the battles but are unable to win the war. Our units deploy, they come home and train, they learn one set of lessons, then another set, but despite all of this “learning” nothing has seemed to work. But what if we’ve been learning the wrong lessons? What if the knowledge needed to end these wars isn’t battlefield knowledge. What if it’s something else? What if the lessons are societal lessons that need to be learned on the home front, by all of us.
SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Heavy fighting in Yemen between pro-government forces and Shiite rebels has killed more than 150 people in the last four days, Yemeni officials and witnesses said Sunday.
Government forces have been trying to seize rebel-held areas along the western coast, while an allied Saudi-led coalition has been targeting the rebels with airstrikes in the northwestern Saada province, a rebel stronghold.
The offensive is being waged by ground troops carrying sophisticated weapons, including shoulder-fired missiles, with air cover from the coalition, the officials said…………..The three-year stalemated war has killed more than 10,000 people and displaced more than 3 million. It has also damaged Yemen’s infrastructure, crippled its health system and pushed it to the brink of famine.
The U.N. considers Yemen to be the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with more than 22.2 million people in need of assistance. Malnutrition, cholera and other diseases have killed or sickened thousands of civilians over the years.
Russian defence ministry says ‘terrorists’ wounded five others in Deir ez-Zor
A clash with “terrorists” in eastern Syria resulted in the deaths of four Russian soldiers, Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday.
Russian and Syrian government troops and pro-government gunmen have been fighting members of the Islamic State group in the eastern province of Deir ez-Zor where the extremists resumed their attacks against government forces and their allies in recent weeks.
The Russian ministry said the dead were military advisers attached to a Syrian army unit in the Deir ez-Zor.
It said in a statement reported by Russian news agencies: “Two Russian military advisers, who controlled fire of the Syrian battery, died at the scene.” Five others were wounded, two of whom died in a Russian military hospital, and 43 insurgents were killed in the nighttime battle.
The Russian statement came two days after Isis said its fighters launched a surprise attack on Wednesday from two axes on a joint Syrian/Russian convoy west of the town of al-Mayadeen, killing 15 Syrian and Russian soldiers. Isis claimed its militants destroyed five army trucks and armoured vehicles and damaged a rocket-launcher.
KABUL, Afghanistan — An Afghan official says gunmen have killed at least three people in an attack in western Herat province.
Gelani Farhad, spokesman for the provincial governor in Herat, says the three victims include an employee of a voter registration center and two policemen.
A third policeman was wounded in the attack, which took place late on Sunday night.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
Meanwhile, a spokesman says that the Taliban overrun several villages on Monday in the district of Khoja Ghor in northern Takhar province, pushing back the local police.
ISLAMABAD — Senior military and intelligence officials from Afghanistan and Pakistan have agreed to enhance efforts to ensure sustainable peace in the region.
The two sides reached the understanding at talks Sunday at Pakistan army’s headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
The Afghan delegation was led by the national security adviser, Hanif Atmar, and also included the intelligence chief and other officials.
A military statement early Monday said Pakistan’s army chief, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, told the delegation that “we must begin with the trust that neither covets an inch of the other’s territory nor is letting its land being used against the other.”
Pakistan has been under pressure from Kabul to stop giving safe havens to militants blamed for attacks in Afghanistan. Pakistan denies the charge.
A Pakistan truck laden with 9800 kgs of explosives was seized by the border police forces in Torkham gate, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said. The Ministry of Interior in a statement said bags containing Ammonium Nitrate were placed under the fresh fruit as the militants were attempting to smuggle the explosives to Afghanistan. The .
A delegation of senior Afghan security officials met with the Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistani Military as efforts are underway to take practical in the framework of Afghanistan Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity (APAPPS). “Talks focused on the operationalization of recently concluded Afghan Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Stability (APAPPS)..
The Taliban militants have assassinated a tribal elder in central Logar province of Afghanistan who had crafted a bravery medal out of gold for the US President Donald Trump. The Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed that the elder Gul Nabi was kille in a bomb explosion in Logar province. Mujahid further added that Gul Nabi .
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Freedom’s Sentinel.
Spc. Gabriel D. Conde, 22, of Loveland, Colorado, was killed in action April 30 as a result of enemy small arms fire in Tagab District, Afghanistan. The incident is under investign.
Conde was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, U.S. Army Alaska, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.
All VA Medical Centers provide PTSD care, as well as many VA clinics.Some VA’s have programs specializing in PTSD treatment. Use the VA PTSD ProgramLocator to find a PTSD program.If you are a war Veteran, find a Vet Center to help with the transition from military to civilian life.
WAR DOCUMENTARY: IRAQ A DEADLY DECEPTION ALJAZEERA DOCUMENTARIES 2018 On the evening of 9/11, George W Bush made a vow to the American public – that he would defeat terrorism. Unknown to those listening in shock to the presidential address, the president and his advisers had already begun planning their trajectory into an invasion of Iraq. It was packaged as “holding responsible the states who support terrorism” by Richard Perle, a Pentagon adviser between 2001 and 2003. “I believe it represented a recognition that we would never succeed against the terrorists if we went after them one at a time and as long as governments were facilitating the organisation, training, equipping of, financing of terrorist organisations, we were never going to get it under control,” says Perle. After 100 days spent fighting those who had become publicly accepted as the culprits – Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan – the US set the ball rolling for war against Iraq. On the evening of 9/11 the president is saying: well, maybe we’ll be going after Iraq now and somebody said, well, that would be against international law. The president responded: I don’t care, we’re going to kick some ass.
DRG: Invading Iraq
Part One: How Britain And America Got It Wrong (Modern Military Documentary)
Invading Iraq is a special two-hour documentary investigation recounting the key strategies, battles and turning points of the war from both sides of the battlefield – ending with the story of Saddam’s capture. The documentary takes viewers behind the scenes of the allied invasion and advance on Baghdad. Through first-hand accounts from key commanders, frontline soldiers and civilians on both sides of the conflict, the film offers a rare battlefield perspective of the war as seen through the eyes of those who lived it. It also shows how the false assessment of Saddam Hussein’s alleged weapons of mass destruction was just the first in a series of major intelligence failures that shaped the course of the war and led to the unstable occupation America and Britain are now mired in.
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