Back in the 1960’s and 1970’s, the argument by the hawks was that we could not withdraw from Vietnam. We were told that we had to fight communism "over there" and that if Vietnam fell or was abandoned, the "domino effect" would cause a rapid expansion of godless communism across all of South Asia, putting America at increased risk. The public did not question this line of thinking at first, until the reality set in that vested interests were lying and that American lives were being wasted so that war profiteers could manipulate world affairs to their own advantage.
Does this sound vaguely familiar in comparison with today’s events? Yes, the War on Terror itself is another Vietnam. This is an unwinnable war and a wasteful war. But it is a profitable war for those whose financial investments in war materiel and warmongering have great influence on public policy. It is no secret that there is a revolving door between high public office, military service and the commerce of war making. Eisenhower warned "Beware of the military-industrial complex".
The War on Terror is self-perpetuating. The more we kill, the more terrorists we create. The more bombs we drop and missiles we fire, the more we have to buy from the industries represented by the Carlysle Group, and promotions from business to government and government to business grease the profitable machinery of war.
Meanwhile 1100 U.S. military personnel killed so far, with another 10,000 or more maimed. Babies are now being born to GI’s fresh back from Iraq with serious deformities caused by exposure to toxins picked up by the soldiers and then passed along to their own offspring. The profits from warmaking do not filter down to the lowly "grunts" who bear multiple costs from these endeavors, including stress, injury, death, disease, psychosis, etc. The Veterans Administration does not receive a tithe of the profits from warmongering. The GIs themselves do not even receive the high wages of the subcontract mercenaries hired by the Pentagon.
The American treasury is sucked dry and driven into unimaginable debt in order to finance the deliberate plunge into the quagmire. Future generations of Americans will be paying for the Tomahawk missiles and bunker buster bombs we use today. The children of the investment class will prosper from the quagmire, and the children of the soldiers will just have to do without. It is all part of the plan. The children of the Iraqis, including those who never wanted Saddam Hussein OR his America-installed replacement will suffer the most.
America finally woke up to Vietnam with the assistance of men like Daniel Ellsberg who helped shed the light of truth on the lies upon which the whole foundation of the war effort rested. Howard Zinn and the Berrigan Brothers and David Dellinger and other heroes risked their lives and reputations in an effort to awaken the public to mass deception by their own government. The fears of losing the Vietnam War eventually gave way to the larger fears of continuing it — there was no way it could ever really be won. So we withdrew and America was safer and sounder without that war than with it.
Ellsberg and Zinn and Nader and many others are revealing the same truth about the War on Terror that they proved about Vietnam. The American people have again been lied to by their own government. Even John Kerry is now part of the problem, and not the solution. But the truth is still the truth. The War on Terror cannot be won, and the longer it lasts, the more harm is done to the American people. We are better off withdrawing from this war than continuing it. America will learn that it is NOT safer to be a belligerent. George W. Bush’ plan to stay on the offensive is a financial ploy, not a plan for keeping America safe. Bush is a former board member of the Carlysle Group and his daddy is a principal figure in the Corporation for War Profiteering, which is the unofficial name of that group.
The War on Terror is another quagmire, a deliberate quagmire, and it is a money pit for the privileged few. If their children were fighting it and if they were paying for it and not profiting from it, this war would never have begun — it just wouldn’t be prudent.
