Remembering Smedley Butler today couldn't be any more appropriate. Those who have fought and called out the filthy underlying reasons for so many American wars in the pursuit of profit should be lauded. I'm not sure where I stand on Al Gore today, but he was a decorated Vietnam veteran who spoke out against it after being elected to the Senate. Years later as we know he lost to draft dodger Bush whose war criminal administration attacked Iraq, defying the Geneva Conventions. Huge money was made in the military industrial complex including Dick Cheney's Halliburton. Gore's choice to throw in the towel in Florida disgusted me. We got the Patriot Act, waterboarding, 300,000 dead Iraqis, and a few thousand dead American troops as we were extolled to shop, flags waving to show 911 couldn't take us down. And the whole thing was BS. International weapons inspectors showed on two occasions there were no WMDs in Iraq.
Somehow today it is remarkably worse. I wonder what the bottom looks like? Never mind, I have a pretty good idea,
The veil of hypocrisy is wearing off. And strangely it it is more scary then ever. Hypocrisy was a from of leverage, we could ask people to hold on to their promises. Now we have little to ask them to abide by. The veil has fallen.
War IS a racket. Smedley Butler spoke much truth and his words still hit home and hit hard. If only more Americans would read and internalize what he had to say and shut down the US war machine forever.
I will be saving this to read each Memorial Day, as I have saved Frederick Douglass 1852 speech “What to the slave is the 4th of July?” that I will again be reading in a month.
The US is exceptional only in the great depth of ignorance of the vast majority of its citizenry (I was for a half a century, one of the 100s of millions) that its “history” as taught in the government schools and mass media, is a cartoonish mythology.
Smedley good! Saying the marines are agile, lmao. Never should have been anything but the hopped up boat security they are. Like, the entire existence of the navy seals is admitting the navy cannot ask the marines to do a job anymore.
Remembering Smedley Butler today couldn't be any more appropriate. Those who have fought and called out the filthy underlying reasons for so many American wars in the pursuit of profit should be lauded. I'm not sure where I stand on Al Gore today, but he was a decorated Vietnam veteran who spoke out against it after being elected to the Senate. Years later as we know he lost to draft dodger Bush whose war criminal administration attacked Iraq, defying the Geneva Conventions. Huge money was made in the military industrial complex including Dick Cheney's Halliburton. Gore's choice to throw in the towel in Florida disgusted me. We got the Patriot Act, waterboarding, 300,000 dead Iraqis, and a few thousand dead American troops as we were extolled to shop, flags waving to show 911 couldn't take us down. And the whole thing was BS. International weapons inspectors showed on two occasions there were no WMDs in Iraq.
Somehow today it is remarkably worse. I wonder what the bottom looks like? Never mind, I have a pretty good idea,
The veil of hypocrisy is wearing off. And strangely it it is more scary then ever. Hypocrisy was a from of leverage, we could ask people to hold on to their promises. Now we have little to ask them to abide by. The veil has fallen.
Since we are bringing forth lightly, slightly recognized heroes I present Mohammad Ali, “The Greatest”: https://alicenter.org/meet-ali/
His book is available for free online.
You and I seem to be on the same wavelength …..and I am happy to be. Accurate piece and of course 100% appropriate.
War IS a racket. Smedley Butler spoke much truth and his words still hit home and hit hard. If only more Americans would read and internalize what he had to say and shut down the US war machine forever.
https://americanswhotellthetruth.org/portraits/major-general-smedley-butler/
What better memorial than the Truth?
Thank you.
I will be saving this to read each Memorial Day, as I have saved Frederick Douglass 1852 speech “What to the slave is the 4th of July?” that I will again be reading in a month.
The US is exceptional only in the great depth of ignorance of the vast majority of its citizenry (I was for a half a century, one of the 100s of millions) that its “history” as taught in the government schools and mass media, is a cartoonish mythology.
Smedley good! Saying the marines are agile, lmao. Never should have been anything but the hopped up boat security they are. Like, the entire existence of the navy seals is admitting the navy cannot ask the marines to do a job anymore.
https://gabylovemore.substack.com/p/i-will-not-celebrate?r=ycowa&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web