military-industrial complex – Page 3

Atrocities Can Be Expensive

Posted on July 16, 2015July 16, 2015 by kathiemm

The brief video at the beginning of this post is horrifying but worthy of 15 seconds of your time.

Capt. Richard Koll, left, and Airman First Class Mike Eulo monitored a drone aircraft after launching it in Iraq. Credit U.S. Air Force/Master Sgt. Steve Horton

There’s thousands, maybe millions of them, out there. Some of them, invisible to you, are soaring around right now, doing their dirty business—spying and killing. And thousands more are still waiting to be set free to wreak death and destruction on babies, children, and adults who have the misfortune of being somewhere government operatives have decided to target.

Question: What allows the US drone program to get away with murder?

Answer: the usual thing. Tom Greening says it well:

PROFITEER

It¹s true I am a profiteer
from wars, and yes I know you sneer
at my crass immorality
that helps me live in luxury.
I feel no need to be defensive
atrocities can be expensive.
I revel in ill-gotten gains
from helping bad guys purchase planes,
and drones and bombs and other stuff
they never seem to get enough.
I must the politicians thank
for all the dirty cash I bank.

Tom Greening

Neither the death and destruction nor the dirty cash are featured in the corporate media but they are real enough.

I know your days are full of activities, and it is probably impossible to do all the things you should do, but if your government is going to do things in your names, things that are inhuman and violate international human rights, you might find it worthwhile to stroll a bit down the avenues where you can find some information—for example, droneswatch.org and nodronesnetwork.blogspot.com.

For the military industrial complex, drone warfare is a great way to terrorize civilians in an area they want to control without stirring up the people back home and with a minimum of American casualties, but even drone operators, presumably safely behind their computers, can suffer from participating in murder.

Let’s get stirred up over the latest killing technology and welcome efforts to get more hard facts from the government about their missions of death.

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology

The first casualty of the last war, and the next war, and the next

Posted on January 8, 2015January 8, 2015 by kathiemm

: Aeschylus, an Ancient Greek writer of theatrical plays. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication

Greek writer and poet Aeschylus (525–456 BCE—a very long time ago!) proclaimed that “Truth is the first casualty of war.” Isn’t it just as true in the US as elsewhere that supporters of war try to prove they are in the right, and use lies and distortions to support their position?

And think of the advantages to the military-industrial-media complex of gaining support for a “war on terror” instead of a war only on the selected evil country of the moment. Given our government’s policies, there are likely always to be a few terrorists around. What a swell way to guarantee a perpetual war with perpetual profits—in money and/or power.

In his Monday post, Dr. Anthony Marsella wrote passionately about how the power structure in the US has used Propaganda, Media Deception and Abuses, and Lies to convince Americans that being dragged along one path of violence after another is not only in their best interests but also the right thing to do.

Once the mainstream corporate media, a strong arm of the power structure, has planted misinformation in people’s minds, it can be a challenge to get those people to rethink their views. (Remember the expression “Don’t confuse me with facts. My mind is made up.”) For example, long after it was well established that Iraq did not have the weapons of mass destruction that were the purported reason for the 2003 US invasion, some people, especially conservatives, continued to insist that the weapons were there.

In order to override misinformation, lies, and propaganda, it is helpful to have the facts communicated by people who are seen by their audience as having some credibility. That is why the efforts of anti-war veteran activists to lead us from the path of war to the path of peace are so important.

Check out the sites for:

Iraq Veterans Against War: http://www.ivaw.org/

Vietnam Veterans Against the War: http://www.vvaw.org/

Veterans for Peace: http://www.veteransforpeace.org/

And, in particular, listen to this interview with Ross Caputi, a frequent contributor to this blog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7ZwuizScxw

Continue reading “The first casualty of the last war, and the next war, and the next” →

Do you hear what I hear?

Posted on June 16, 2014June 16, 2014 by kathiemm

: Photo by Tom Pratt.. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Every way I turn my head, I hear echoes from 9/11.

What I hear:

Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump. The excited heart of George W. Bush as he envisioned finishing what his father had started and planting Uncle Sam’s big boot on Iraqi oil fields.

No! No! No! The screams of babies, children, mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunts and uncles as they’re being pierced, shattered, and torn apart by guns, mortars, bombs, and collapsing buildings, courtesy of the U.S. military.

Thud, thud, thud. Earth and sand being thrown on all those graves. There in Iraq. Here in the US.

What I don’t hear:

Triumphant cheers from Iraqi perpetrators of 9/11. And why not? Because Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11.

The hum of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq—there were no WMDs in Iraq until the US sent its troops.

Can you hear what I hear?

The echoes are getting louder. The reverberations are getting stronger.

Beat. Beat. Beat. The sound of the war drums. [http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/06/13-4 ]

My poet friend Tom Greening [www.tomgreening.com ] has a message that is relevant to all the Americans eager to gear up, flaunt their weapons, increase the Department of Defense budget, refill their pockets, distract people from problems at home, and once again make a bad situation worse:

Waging war is often occupational therapy
for men unsure about their
masculinity and life goals
and deluded about
how best to serve their country.
Patriotism should not be confused
with chauvinism and adolescent posturing.

What do I want to hear?

I want to hear all the anti-war groups, all the anti-violence groups, all the pro-peace groups, all the nonviolence groups join together and just say NO! No troops. No bombing. No more killing.

The image in the upper right of this post is a poster from Arlington West Memorial Project of the Veterans for Peace (Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license). Learn more about the Veterans for Peace projects at: http://www.arlingtonwestsantamonica.org/

Honoring the Peace President

Posted on February 17, 2014February 16, 2014 by kathiemm

The birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln will be celebrated in various ways today and school children around the United States will celebrate a week’s vacation.

But we at Engaging Peace want to celebrate another American president, a man of character and honor who has worked tirelessly for peace and social justice: Jimmy Carter. He is a man of rare principle, whose message of peace and brotherhood has been matched by his deeds.

President Carter is a model of moral engagement.

He does not use euphemistic language when referring to aggression by America and its allies.

He chastised the Bush administration for using “lies and misrepresentations” to involve the U.S. in an unjust Iraq war, has urged the closing of the Guantanamo Bay prison and an end to its human rights abuses, and has criticized the use of drones to murder terrorist suspects and to spy on Americans.

Moreover, he is not just a talker but a doer, a man of moral agency. As President, for example, Carter:

Brokered the Camp David Accords, a peace agreement between Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachim Begin
Signed the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty II with Leonid Brezhnev of the Soviet Union, despite enormous criticism from war hawks who considered efforts to limit nuclear proliferation a “sell out.”

Post-Presidency, he has:

Established, with his wife Rosalyn, the Carter Center, a nongovernmental nonprofit organization devoted to advancing human rights
Served as a peace ambassador in many troubled parts of the world.

Not surprisingly, Carter has many vocal critics—members of the power elite, the military-industrial complex, the war profiteers, and idolizers of bullies who are terrified at the prospect of a man of peace being a role model for the American people.

Despite what those critics do to detract from Carter’s image and his quest for peace and social justice, he is a President who earned and continues to be worthy of his Nobel Peace Prize.

Kathie Malley-Morrison