March 20 2023: 20 Years Since the U.S. launched "shock & awe" on the people of Iraq

There is no way to exaggerate how profoundly the U.S. destroyed Iraqi society, killed its people and drove them to flee; fired up sectarian violence, grew the outmoded Islamic fundamentalists and ISIS; flooded the land with toxic chemicals and weapons while taking oil; and left a poverty rate in Iraq of over 30%.  

The U.S. presence in the region was the central cause of 20 years of violence, based on lies. Did anyone know in 2002-2003 that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction? As a new anti-war activist said then, "I was sitting on my couch eating Cheetos and even I knew Bush and Powell were lying." Massive lies - regime change would bring "democracy" - and outright deceit fueled this crime against humanity.

Yesterday I was listening to Brian Lehrer's politics show on WNYC, the NPR station, on the year anniversay of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The guest was Ishaan Tharoor, a foreign affairs columnist for The Washington Post.  I didn't hear much from him that didn't assume as true all the arguments of the U.S. in its proxy war with Russia over Ukraine, and I see very little in U.S. media today that isn't designed to keep people living here in support of U.S. aims.

This is such a bitter contrast with 20 years ago when we never saw Iraqi civilians portrayed with sympathy as the "shock and awe" hit them, nor the people of Afghanistan, Syria, Libya or Yemen who suffered from unjustified U.S. occupation.

Debra Sweet | Feburary 14, 2023

Readers of this message are uniformly horrified at the suffering of the Ukrainian people over the last year in what I believe is a proxy war between Russia and the U.S. that has killed and harmed so many. I've heard from some of you who say we have no choice but to support any/all actions the U.S. takes to stop Russia in hopes that the U.S. can be a force for good in this case; others are not only opposed to this war, but to all wars. Many are deeply conflicted over the possibility of this conflict going global/nuclear in scope, to the point of feeling paralyzed, particularly as the prospect of the U.S. colliding with China looms.

Based on what Biden said in his State of the Union address last night, one would not learn basic features of how this Union functions, or even of huge recent events:

• The domestic prosperity Biden glorified is only possible because the U.S. is a global imperial empire exploiting the labor and resources of humanity.
• "Spreading democracy" is not what the global "war on terror," operating under the 2001 authorization in Africa and the Middle East, with troops in 800+ military bases does; it has killed millions in enforcing U.S. military supremacy to keep that global empire.
• Joe "we will never separate families" Biden continues to enforce denial of rights of asylum seekers and non-white immigrants, accepting that some children won't be found.
• The dangerous proxy war the U.S. pursues with Russia over Ukraine is neither about saving Ukrainians nor bringing peace; both Russia and the U.S. are out for dominance.
• Biden, prodded by the "freedom" fascist caucus, shot down a surveillance balloon similar to those with which the U.S. surrounds China - in addition to the placement of new bases in the Philippines and Guam, all part of increased military threats to China.

Since we live in the U.S., our concern must be over the dangerous, reckless actions this government is taking in its proxy war with Russia over Ukraine. There have been repeated claims by the U.S. that the more than $45 billion in "aid" to Ukraine is only defensive, and not aimed at Russia.  

The U.S. sent huge amounts of missiles and ammunition including 34 long-range HIMARS missile systems, enabling attacks into Russia. It sent Patriot missiles, and announced after holding off for months, that it will send M1 Abrams tanks, as Germany has agreed to send Leopard tanks to arm Ukraine.

Pentagon/White House spokespeople explain this is all to defend the people of Ukraine, who are being sacrificed in the interests of imperialist powers.  But the steady, if measured, crossing of "red" lines towards direct confrontation with Russia is extremely dangerous in its unpredictability.

Last week, Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J.S. Davies discussed their book, War in Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict, here in NYC. This week, things further worsened as the U.S. moves more and more into direct conflict.

This past week, Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATO (the U.S.-led military coalition) warned that the war in Ukraine could at any moment "become a full-fledged war that spreads into a major war between NATO and Russia."

The U.S. war "of" terror laid bare the unlimited ambitions of the U.S. to wage war unlimited by national boundaries or time, going to the "dark side" per Dick Cheney.   The world was outraged, and we should never forget.

But the U.S. empire is maintained on the backbone of the world's largest military, with truly a global imprint. This is what people living here largely don't see. The global system of production is protected by a network of 876 identified U.S. bases, by secret operations, by the new forms of warfare including drone and cyber.

This is all important to know.

It seems months of negotiations took place for 30 U.S. House members (not including Bernie Sanders) to produce and submit a very mild request to Biden to negotiate an end to the U.S. proxy war with Russia in Ukraine. But Democratic Party leaders weren't having it and, within hours, forced the House members to withdraw the letter, as if it never happened, and to back off and apologize.

It's outrageous that this very polite request got slapped down so harshly. But it's also frankly criminal that the "progressive" people in Congress took 8 months to even raise questions about - much less opposition to - the apparent determination of the U.S. to fund and instigate a long-term slaughter and apparently to block negotiations by Ukraine.

Debra Sweet | October 20, 2022

I am deeply saddened by the new and ongoing challenges to humanity; I had hoped not to be passing on to my children/grandchildren such a desperate state of affairs. Here is my quick, not very well thought out response to your question. You may well be right that the U.S. should be a pariah. Despite having been disillusioned many times by the U.S.'s ill-informed and cynical, even criminal, approach to world problems, I still cling to hope. (That, despite its many original sins, beginning with annihilation of its first inhabitants, alas.) ...

The New York Times and people who speak in the interests of Western imperialism say Putin won't use nukes against Ukraine because "his country could become an international pariah."

The United States did use nukes on HIroshima & Nagasaki in 1945. Every major politician in the "Western" bloc has justified the unthinkable because it "saved lives" and "ended" World War II. This is not true: the Japanese were ready to surrender, but the U.S. wanted to project power at the Soviet Union and other rivals and sacrificed hundreds of thousands of humans for it.

QUESTION: Why isn't the U.S. a pariah? Biden, leader of what I like to call the War Party, claiming the banner of "democracy," is pouring tens of $billions into the U.S. arms industry to ship arms to Ukraine. Because he cares about people there? No. To strengthen the U.S./NATO interests for global exploitation against Russia and China, who have their own global empires.

Official 9/11 commemorations, again, reminded those listening to never forget how "we" were attacked while pursuing the "just cause" of U.S. dominance of the globe. Let's just put that aside as the propaganda it is.

You're reading this newsletter because you will never forget that 9/11 was instantly used to launch global war crimes. Rumsfeld bragged the U.S. military would "go massive" and Dick Cheney vowed the U.S. would go to the "dark side" in war that would last generations.