On Apr 24, 5:05 am, "Israel Did 9/11"
<cccccdfgdfgdg...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> The Agenda Behind the Hoax
> What the Iraq War is About
>
> By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
>
> The Bush Regime has quagmired America into a sixth year of war in
> Afghanistan and Iraq with no end in sight. The cost of these wars of
> aggression is horrendous. Official US combat casualties stand at
> 4,538 dead. Officially, 29,780 US troops have been wounded in Iraq.
> Experts have argued that these numbers are understatements.
> Regardless, these numbers are only the tip of the iceberg.
>
> On April 17, 2008, AP News reported that a new study released by the
> RAND Corporation concludes that =93some 300,000 U.S. troops are
> suffering from major depression or post traumatic stress from serving
> in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and 320,000 received brain
> injuries.=94
>
> On April 21, 2008, OpEdNews reported that an internal email from Gen.
> Michael J. Kussman, undersecretary for health at the Veterans
> Administration, to Ira Katz, head of mental health at the VA, confirms
> a McClatchy Newspaper report that 126 veterans per week commit
> suicide. To the extent that the suicides are attributable to the war,
> more than 500 deaths should be added to the reported combat fatalities
> each month.
>
> Turning to Iraqi deaths, expert studies support as many as 1.2 million
> dead Iraqis, almost entirely civilians. Another 2 million Iraqis have
> fled their country, and there are 2 million displaced Iraqis within
> Iraq.
>
> Afghan casualties are unknown.
>
> Both Afghanistan and Iraq have suffered unconscionable civilian deaths
> and damage to housing, infrastructure and environment. Iraq is
> afflicted with depleted uranium and open sewers.
>
> Then there are the economic costs to the US. Nobel economist Joseph
> Stiglitz estimates the full cost of the invasion and attempted
> occupation of Iraq to be between $3 trillion and $5 trillion. The
> dollar price of oil and gasoline have tripled, and the dollar has lost
> value against other currencies, declining dramatically even against
> the lowly Thai baht. Before Bush launched his wars of aggression, one
> US dollar was worth 45 baht. Today the dollar is only worth 30 baht.
>
> The US cannot afford these costs. Prior to his resignation last
> month, US Comptroller General David Walker reported that the
> accumulated unfunded liabilities of the US government total $53
> trillion dollars. The US government cannot cover these liabilities.
> The Bush Regime even has to borrow the money from foreigners to pay
> for its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. There is no more certain way to
> bankrupt the country and dethrone the dollar as world reserve
> currency.
>
> The moral costs are perhaps the highest. All of the deaths, injuries,
> and economic costs to the US and its victims are due entirely to lies
> told by the President and Vice President of the US, by the Secretary
> of Defense, the National Security Advisor, the Secretary of State,
> and, of course, by the media, including the =93liberal=94 New York
Times.
> All of these lies were uttered in behalf of an undeclared agenda.
> =93Our=94 government has still not told =93we the people=94 the real
reaso=
ns
> =93our=94 government invaded Afghanistan and Iraq.
> Instead, the American sheeple have accepted a succession of
> transparent lies: weapons of mass destruction, al Qaeda connections
> and complicity in the 9/11 attack, overthrowing a dictator and
> =93bringing democracy=94 to Iraqis.
>
> The great moral American people would rather believe government lies
> than to acknowledge the government=92s crimes and to hold the government
> accountable.
>
> There are many effective ways in which a moral people could protest.
> Consider investors, for example. Clearly Halliburton and military
> suppliers are cleaning up. Investors flock to the stocks in order to
> participate in the rise in value from booming profits. But what would
> a moral people do? Wouldn=92t they boycott the stocks of the companies
> that are profiting from the Bush Regime=92s war crimes?
>
> If the US invaded Iraq for any of the succession of reasons the Bush
> Regime has given, why would the US have spent $750 million on a
> fortress =93embassy=94 with anti-missile systems and its own electricity
> and water systems spread over 104 acres? No one has ever seen or heard
> of such an embassy before. Clearly, this =93embassy=94 is constructed
as
> the headquarters of an occupying colonial ruler.
>
> The fact is that Bush invaded Iraq with the intent of turning Iraq
> into an American colony. The so-called government of al-Maliki is not
> a government. Maliki is the well paid front man for US colonial rule.
> Maliki=92s government does not exist outside the protected Green Zone,
> the headquarters of the American occupation.
>
> If colonial rule were not the intent, the US would not be going out of
> its way to force al Sadr=92s 60,000 man militia into a fight. Sadr is a
> Shi=92ite who is a real Iraqi leader, perhaps the only Iraqi who could
> end the sectarian conflict and restore some unity to Iraq. As such he
> is regarded by the Bush Regime as a danger to the American puppet
> Maliki. Unless the US is able to purchase or rig the upcoming Iraqi
> election, Sadr is likely to emerge as the dominant figure. This would
> be a highly unfavorable development for the Bush Regime=92s hopes of
> establishing its colonial rule behind the facade of a Maliki fake
> democracy. Rather than work with Sadr in order to extract themselves
> from a quagmire, the Americans will be doing everything possible to
> assassinate Sadr.
>
> Why does the Bush Regime want to rule Iraq? Some speculate that it is
> a matter of =93peak oil.=94 Oil supplies are said to be declining even
as=
> demand for oil multiplies from developing countries such as China.
> According to this argument, the US decided to seize Iraq to insure its
> own oil supply.
>
> This explanation is problematic. Most US oil comes from Canada,
> Mexico, and Venezuela. The best way for the US to insure its oil
> supplies would be to protect the dollar=92s role as world reserve
> currency. Moreover, $3-5 trillion would have purchased a tremendous
> amount of oil. Prior to the US invasions, the US oil import bill was
> running less than $100 billion per year. Even in 2006 total US
> imports from OPEC countries was $145 billion, and the US trade deficit
> with OPEC totaled $106 billion. Three trillion dollars could have
> paid for US oil imports for 30 years; five trillion dollars could pay
> the US oil bill for a half century had the Bush Regime preserved a
> sound dollar.
>
> The more likely explanation for the US invasion of Iraq is the
> neoconservative Bush Regime=92s commitment to the defense of Israeli
> territorial expansion. There is no such thing as a neoconservative who
> is not allied with Israel. Israel hopes to steal all of the West Bank
> and southern Lebanon for its territorial expansion. An American
> colonial regime in Iraq not only buttresses Israel from attack, but
> also can pressure Syria and Iran from giving support to the
> Palestinians and Lebanese. The Iraqi war is a war for Israeli
> territorial expansion. Americans are dying and bleeding to death
> financially for Israel. Bush=92s =93war on terror=94 is a hoax that
serve=
s
> to cover US intervention in the Middle East in behalf of =93greater
> Israel.=94
>
> Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the
> Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street
> Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He
> is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.He can be reached at:
> PaulCraigRobe...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts04232008.html
"The US went to war in Iraq to defend Israel and ..., and everyone
knows it", Fritz Hollings (2004)
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