Lying Us Into War
Every war the U.S. has fought since World War II has been based on lies. Some examples . . .
Korean War
The U.S. betrayed North Korea. Deciding on the future government of the Korean Peninsula was supposed to be put to a general vote, but when American officials realized the communists would most likely win, instead of allowing free and fair elections — which most people call ‘democracy’ — the U.S. went to war. 1.5 million North Koreans, 1.2 million South Koreans, 600,000 Chinese and 36,574 U.S. combat troops were killed. This mortal phobia and hatred of the commies represented the initial manifestation of the Domino Theory, the hysteria-level fear that if one country turned to Communism, then like tumbling dominoes, countless other countries would join in and create a tsunami of the dread red ideology.
Vietnam War
Until the Iraq War of 2003, the Vietnam War ranked as likely the biggest foreign policy blunder in our history. It was an embarrassment, a debacle, a tragedy – a complete waste of over $840 billion. Upwards of 3.3 million Vietnamese were killed, countless more were mutilated and maimed. Tens of thousands of Vietnamese still suffer birth defects from America’s prolific use of Agent Orange, a highly toxic herbicide/defoliant. Thousands of U.S. combat troops were also poisoned by it. They were the lucky ones. 57,979 servicemen died in this pointless war. Driven again by irrational fear of the spread of communism, it was a war of choice – a horrible choice – the lessons of which apparently have been forgotten.
Afghanistan
After 20 years of occupation and relatively low-level conflict – which left 243,000 Afghanis (and Pakistanis) and 2,448 U.S. soldiers dead – we left Afghanistan in shame. We accomplished nothing. Begging the question: Why were we there in the first place? Supposedly, it was to capture the monster, Osama bin Laden. The Taliban had offered to turn him over to the U.S. but that was too easy. We went ahead anyway and invaded. By the end of this disaster, $2 trillion of taxpayer money went up in smoke.
Iraq
The U.S. started its war on Iraq – the more recent one – with a shock-and-awe bombing campaign on March 19, 2003. We had to eliminate Saddam Hussein’s non-existent weapons of mass destruction and punish him for 9/11 – though he had nothing to do with the attack on the Twin Towers. The WMDs ultimately proved to be impossible to find (like most things that don’t exist). An estimated 224,000-246,000 Iraqis died from the war on Iraq, including as many as 204,575 civilians. 4,492 U.S. soldiers lost their lives in this pointless military disaster. And another $2 trillion wasted.
Syria
They told us Syrian president Assad had to go. He hasn’t. They told us he used chemical weapons on his own people. He didn’t. They told us the U.S. was in Syria to fight ISIS. It wasn’t. Finally we got the truth. With typical ham-fisted candor, then-president Donald Trump admitted that the U.S. is there to steal Syria’s oil. Currently, the U.S. militarily occupies 30% of Syria, the most resource rich and agriculturally productive northeast region of the country. We’re supposed to believe they’re in Syria spreading democracy. More tens of billions of dollars wasted. More refugees. More dead bodies.
“I’ve discovered that nearly every war that has started in the past 50 years has been a result of media lies. The media could have stopped it if they’d search deep enough. If they hadn’t reprinted government propaganda, they could have stopped it. But what does that mean? Well, that means populations don’t like wars. And populations have to be fooled into wars. Populations don’t willingly with open eyes go into war. So if we have a good media environment, then you will also have a peaceful environment. Our number one enemy is ignorance.”
Julian Assange
The forever wars — all wars of choice by the U.S. — and relentless military expansion are bankrupting the country. Not that we weren’t warned that this would happen.