Film Review: WHAT I WANT YOU TO KNOW

Last night I attended a screening of the veterans' documentary WHAT I WANT YOU TO KNOW. After garnering the audience favorite award at last summer's Maine International Film Festival the film attracted sponsors including peace organizations I belong to that worked to bring the film to more audiences here in Maine. Attendance at the November 13 screening in Brunswick was sparse -- about 20 people -- but an engaging discussion after the film was facilitated by veterans' counselor Robyn Belcher.

Archival footage of the wars the U.S. waged in Afghanistan and Iraq following 9/11 was interspersed with contemporary interviews of multiple veterans of those wars. Organized loosely by chronology of the enlistees' journeys from private citizens to imperial cannon fodder, the narrative arrived at moral injury -- a final resting place where one veteran predicted he will still be dwelling decades from now.

The film's theme is futility and the sensation that all the limbs and lives lost, plus the civilians terrorized or slaughtered, was for nothing. Several clips of a succession of U.S. presidents speaking conveyed the lies that combat veterans now believe they were told in the course of their enlistment. 

This photo and the one at the top are stills from the film's website.

There was no clear mission and, once in country, soldiers literally drove around in circles waiting for their turn to be blasted by an IED. They arrested the wrong men, they shot blindly into crowds of civilians, and in their view absolutely nothing was gained.

Ostensible reasons for being there i.e. bringing "democracy" or advancing the rights of women were quickly exposed as fraudulent. Insurgents had the support and loyalty of the people, and woe betide those who threw in with the occupying forces as interpreters only to be cast aside as the U.S. military departed. These acts of disloyalty contributed to the moral suffering described by veterans, and to the moral decay in evidence as soldiers whoop and congratulate themselves on shooting down from helicopters onto unarmed civilians.

U.S. soldier Steven Green hung himself in prison after being among a group of soldiers convicted of rape and murder committed in Mahmoudiyah, Iraq in 2006.  Photograph: AP

The film has a tight focus but I thought there were some glaring omissions in the moral injury department. No discussion of rape except in the context of Afghan warlords and their exploitation of boys? Really? Who can forget the gang-rape and murder of 14 year old Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi by U.S. Army soldiers who then killed her entire family in order to eliminate the witnesses. 

And why was there no discussion of opium production in Afghanistan used to fund the war while driving an opioid epidemic in the West until the Taliban again eradicated it after the occupiers departed? Plenty of veterans have died of suicide by overdose in the intervening years.

Suicide was touched on as it's well known that more active duty soldiers die in "accidents" or by their own hand than die from enemy fire. Soldiers described feeling betrayed by their leaders and demoralized by the things they both saw and did while deployed, a potent combination that eroded their will to stay alive.

Most of the audience discussion focused on damaged vets and how to help them help themselves. I have to admit that was not my focus as an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure in situations like this. Why not celebrate the fact that largely because of their suffering the will to enlist in the U.S. military is at an all time low? Even military families, traditionally the best source of volunteers, are telling their younger generations not to enlist. Decades of war for profit with dishonor have gutted what was once a proud military that believed in its mission (however deluded that notion might have been). 

The U.S. imperial mission in Ukraine and now in Israel have been spectacular failures that the government and its obedient press are still lying about today. Those in the know understand that Ukraine could not beat or even weaken Russia, and that Israel cannot win against Hamas, Hezbollah, and Resistance coalitions coming together to fight them and their U.S. sponsor. Attacks on illegal U.S. military bases in Syria and Iraq are reported almost daily. Meanwhile hundreds of thousands in the U.S. and millions across the globe continue marching to demand an end to the genocide happening right now to Palestinians.

Palestinians flee to the southern Gaza Strip on Salah al-Din Street in Bureij, Gaza Strip, Friday, Nov. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

The long downfall in morale that began with the Vietnam War has proven far more enduring than freedom.

Weaponized Drones Are The Real Threat To Security Say Protesters At Creech AFB In Nevada

Afghans inspect damage of Ahmadi family house after U.S. drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Aug. 29, 2021. (AP Photo/Khwaja Tawfiq Sediqi) Source: Military.com

Amid the chaotic and embarassing retreat from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan came a drone strike on the Ahmadi family whose aid worker dad was transporting water in his car with little children aboard. "The Pentagon admitted Friday an airstrike in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 29 killed 10 civilians, including seven children, but not any terrorist planners as officials first claimed," according to Military.com.

Now it is even more urgent to demand the use of flying killer robots be banned. A large group of dedicated activists return each year to the Nevada desert where U.S. drone operators sit in trailers and decide to kill entire families without enough information to evaluate whether or not those targeted actually pose a threat to security. 

Weaponized drones are the real threat to security.

Here's the organizers' press release with detailed information on the week long protest.

2019: People protest against drone warfare at the entrance to Creech Air Force Base. Six people were detained and charged with misdemeanors during the week-long event, which is held several times a year. (John Locher/AP) Source: AirForceTimes.com

PROTESTORS FROM 12 STATES CONVERGE AT CREECH AFB FOR WEEK OF PROTEST TO DEMAND AN END TO REMOTE DRONE KILLING, AND BAN ON KILLER DRONES 

Kabul Killing of Afghan family, including 3 adults and 7 children, by U.S. Drone Last Month will be Memorialized

LAS VEGAS/CREECH AFB, NV – Anti-war/anti-drone demonstrators from the East and West coasts announced they are converging here Sept. 26-Oct. 2 to hold daily protests – which will include efforts to interrupt "business as usual"  – at the U.S. Drone Base at Creech Air Force Base, an hour north of Las Vegas, Nevada. 

U.S. anti-drone activists across the country will be holding solidarity protests at drone bases and in communities across the country during the same week, to amplify their common call for a ban on killer drones.  Contact Nick Mottern for more info:  (914) 806-6179.

In the aftermath of the horrific “mistake” from a U.S. drone attack on a civilian family in Kabul last month, that left three adults and seven young children dead, protesters are demanding that the U.S. cease its secret remote assassination program that they say is illegal and immoral. 

Vigils every morning and afternoon during commute hours will take place with varied themes each day. See schedule below. Nonviolent interruptions of flow of traffic into the base are planned during the week to oppose the inherent abuse, illegality and injustice of the U.S. targeted remote assassination program.  Rejecting the very nature of U.S. extrajudicial killings that has led to the death of thousands of civilians, protesters demand an immediate ban on all killer drones. 

Many military veterans, now members of Veterans for Peace, will be joining, including post-911 veterans. The event is co-sponsored by CODEPINK, Veterans for Peace and Ban Killer Drones.

At Creech, U.S. Air Force personnel, coordinating with C.I.A. officials, are, regularly and secretly, killing people remotely using unmanned armed drone planes, primarily the MQ-9 Reaper drones.  

Thousands of civilians have been killed and injured, in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, and elsewhere, since 2001, by U.S. drone strikes, according to independent investigative journalism.    

Over the last 20 years, the use of  armed drones have led to deadly atrocities that have included strikes on wedding parties, funerals, schools, mosques, homes, farm laborers  and in January, 2020, included direct hits on high level foreign military and government officials from Iran and Iraq.  

These drone massacres have, at times, resulted in the deaths of dozens of civilians with a single drone attack. To date not a single U.S. official has ever been held accountable for these ongoing atrocities – Yet, drone whistleblower, Daniel Hale, who leaked documents revealing the high rate of civilian casualties from U.S. drone strikes, is currently serving 45 months in prison.

“U.S. officials and military leaders exhibit total disregard for the value of human lives in the countries targeted under the so-called War on Terror,” said Toby Blomé, one of the organizers of the week long protest. “Over and over again, innocent lives are being purposefully sacrificed in drone strikes, in order for the U.S. to continue its 'counter-terrorism campaign,’” said Blomé.

“The Ahmadi family drone massacre that occurred in Kabul last month is not an example of accidental mis-judgement. It is an example of an ongoing reckless pattern of abuse whereby the U.S. assumes the right to kill a person on suspicion alone, just in case that person may be a threat, while also sacrificing everyone else who happens to be in the area,” Blomé added.

Organizers say that the only reason the truth about this recent drone tragedy was exposed is because it took place in Kabul, where investigative journalists were available to scrutinize the event. For 2 weeks after the incident U.S. military had insisted that they killed an ISIS affiliate. The evidence proved otherwise. Most drone strikes are underreported and not investigated because they occur in remote rural areas, far from international media.  

Participants of the week-long protest are calling for a complete ban on killer drones, an immediate end to the targeted killing program, and full accountability for the innocents killed, including reparations to the surviving victims of U.S. drone strikes, past and present.

“Given the murder of 10 innocent people in Kabul, including seven children, we know that the U.S. drone program is a disaster,” said organizer Eleanor Levine. “It makes enemies and it has to end now.”

Demonstrators are also calling for the immediate release of Daniel Hale  the drone whistleblower who exposed the criminality of the drone program. The documents leaked by Hale revealed that in many cases, up to 90% of those killed by U.S. drones were not the intended target. Demanding a pivotal shift toward justice, Shut Down Creech participants declare:  "Arrest the war criminals, not the truth-tellers.”

Mon, Sept 27, 6:30-8:30 a.m.  DRONE FUNERAL PROCESSION:  Dressed in black with white “death masks,” activists will process down the highway, in a solemn death march, carrying small coffins with the names of the countries that have been the primary targets of ongoing U.S. drone attacks that have led to high civilian casualties.  (Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, Pakistan and Libya)

Mon, Sept 27, 3:30-5:30 p.m. "DRONE ATTACKS ARE…”  Participants will hold large bold signs with varied descriptive words to demonstrate the failure of the U.S. Drone Program:   ILLEGAL, RACIST, IMMORAL, BARBARIC, CRUEL, FUTILE, WRONG, DISGRACEFUL, etc.

Tues, Sept.28 , 6:30 - 8:30 a.m. THE DRONE MASSACRE MEMORIAL:  A long series of banners will be stretched along the highway, each one highlighting details of past U.S. drone massacres, including strikes that have hit wedding parties, funerals, schools, farm laborers and mosques.  Statistics on civilian deaths are included on each banner. This time, the horrific tragedy of the Ahmadi family killed in a Kabul neighborhood will be added to the historical record.

Tues, Sept 28, 3:30 - 5:30 p.m.  THE WAR IS A LIE;  To demonstrate the concept that the "first casualty in war is the truth,” a series of signs will convey examples: Presidents Lie, Congress Lies, Generals Lie, CIA lies, etc.  The messages will conclude with banners calling on more critical thinking:  Question Authority; Resist the Lies They Tell...Resist the Wars They Sell;  Truth-teller and Drone Whistleblower, Daniel Hale, will be featured:  "FREE DANIEL HALE.”

Wed, Sept 29, 6:30 - 8:30 a.m.   GO BACK, WRONG WAY!  A nonviolent, peaceful action will be planned to “interrupt business as usual” and to resist the illegal and immoral activity that takes place at Creech Killer Drone Base.  Details will be available later in the week.  NO MORE DEATHS! Other nonviolent acts of resistance may be planned at other times during the week.

Wed, Sept 29, 3:30 - 5:30 p.m.  ALTERNATIVES TO WAR;  A series of signs will offer alternatives to the military working at Creech AFB:  Doctors NOT Drones, Bread NOT Bombs, Housing NOT Hellfire Missiles, Peace Jobs NOT War Jobs, etc.

Thurs. Sept 30, 6:30 - 8:30 a.m.  “CREECHERS FOR THE PLANET”;  In a playful approach to connect the very serious global problems of climate crisis and environmental devastation with militarism, participants will dress in their favorite “Creecher Costumes” (Creature Costumes) and/or hold large animal puppets, while holding educational signs "connecting the dots”:  U.S. Military #1 Polluter, War is Toxic, End War for Climate Justice, U.S. Military = #1 User of FOSSIL FUEL, War in NOT Green:  PROTECT EARTH, etc.

Thurs. Sept 30, 3:30 - 5:30 p.m.  TBD:  Creech AFB may or may not have a vigil.  Stay tuned for updates.  A Las Vegas Anti-drone Street Theater Action planned at the Fremont Street Pedestrian Mall (4:00 - 6:00pm) in Las Vegas.  Details to come later. 

Fri. Oct. 1, 6:30 - 8:30 a.m.  FLY A KITE, NOT A DRONE;  In a colorful display of beautiful kites in the sky, participants will hold their final demonstration of the week, focusing on the positive benefits of alternatives to war, where all sides win.  The central large banner:  DIPLOMACY NOT DRONES!  The vigil will also honor the Afghan People, who have been forced to live under the terror of U.S. drones for 20 years, with immeasurable human losses.  The U.S. has “officially withdrawn” it’s troops and closed it’s bases in Afghanistan, the most droned country on earth; however, the drone strikes are expected to continue under Biden’s unspecified “Over the Horizon” policy.  Another large banner will declare:   STOP DRONING AFGHANISTAN:  20 YEARS ENOUGH!

Contact:  
Toby Blomé, 510.501.5412;  toby4peace@sonic.net
Eleanor Levine, 510-290-7071;  eastbaycodepink@gmail.com

For more details:   www.ShutDownCreech

We're Still Bombing Afghans = The War Is Not Over

Imagine for a moment that you're a person who loves a little child who was killed by aerial bombing, burnt to a crisp, by the U.S. military. It could be 1945, 1950, 1969, 1995, or pretty much any year in the 21st century.

"Malika Ahmadi, two, died in a U.S. drone strike on Kabul today, her family says. Has the war of 20 years cost us the ability to care?" Source: David Swanson, Pressenza

Now imagine that it just happened yesterday. And that the U.S. corporate press is proclaiming that the war they've been waging for decades on your country is "over."

That the U.S. corporate press lies for a living -- right out in the open -- makes no difference to you in your grief.

It mostly makes a difference to the taxpayers and voters of the country thousands of miles away where citizen are sold horseshit like, "We've got to fight terrorists over there so we don't have to fight them over here."

The lies that sell wars and buy elected officials use bogus concepts and slogans like "The war on terror" to incite fear and make compliance much easier than opposition.

A few people will go on social media platforms that are heavily censored in favor of corporate rule to express the truth laced with dark humor.

Well I think we can probably call it now and say that Terror has won the War on Terror.

— LouJo 🇬🇧 (@LouJoSays) August 29, 2021

https://twitter.com/LouJoSays/status/1432056340101439495

The U.S. has bombed little children to death under alternating Democratic and Republican administrations my entire life. 

It began bombing Afghan children following the unfortunate events of 9/11 in 2001 after a speech by then President George W. Bush proclaimed that "their harbors" would no longer be safe. (Note: Afghanistan is a land-locked country with no harbors.)

The current Democratic administration has announced that it will continue using flying killer robots to bomb Afghanistan for the foreseeable future. (It's also drone bombing Somalia, and plenty of other places, at will.) 

“Enough is enough,” Edward Ahmed Mitchell, national deputy director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said in a statement. “For more than ten years, our government’s drone strikes have killed thousands of innocent people in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, and elsewhere in the Muslim world—destroying family homes, wedding parties, and even funeral processions. The civilian casualties in Kabul are simply the latest victims of this misused technology.”

Source: https://scheerpost.com/2021/08/30/demand-for-moratorium-on-drone-warfare-follows-latest-u-s-killing-of-afghan-civilians

Besides the warped views about war sold constantly over corporate airwaves, why is there a steady supply of men and women willing to remotely bomb children in Afghanistan?

Because after young people turned against the military draft for the war on Vietnam, U.S. corporate interests have made damn sure that the poverty draft continues blowing a steady gale force.

With no money for college and no money for dental care and no money for rent, food, and car expenses many young people in the U.S. feel they have no choice but to enlist. The poorer the state -- like my home, Maine -- the harder the poverty draft blows.

But some folks prospered during the 20 year war that's still not over.

(Feel like finding out how much war profiteers donated to the campaign coffers of your elected officials that refuse to actually end the war on terror? You can look it up here on OpenSecrets.org).

'The Temptation Not To Question It' -- Daniel Hale, Drone Warfare Whistleblower

Afghanistan War veteran Daniel Hale pled guilty to revealing the truth about U.S. drone warfare on civilians. Although there's no indication he shared what he knew with opposing forces, he wrote an anonymous chapter in the book The Assassination Complex: Inside the Government’s Secret Drone Warfare Program (Scahill et al., 2016) and provided documents to the lead author.

Hale later pled guilty to charges under the Espionage Act and will be sentenced today. 

Hale's handwritten letter from prison explains his motivations for the choices that ruined his life and the lives of many others; it is full of eloquent wisdom. 

Some excerpts:

...I sat by and watched through a computer monitor when a sudden terrifying flurry of Hellfire missiles came crashing down, splattering purple-colored crystal guts on the side of the morning mountain.

Since that time and to this day, I continue to recall several such scenes of graphic violence carried out from the cold comfort of a computer chair. 

Source: "US Drone Strike 'Accidentally' Kills 30 Afghan Farmers" Axis of Logic, 2019

Not a day goes by that I don’t question the justification for my actions.

...

how could it be that any thinking person continued to believe that it was necessary for the protection of the United States of America to be in Afghanistan and killing people, not one of whom present was responsible for the September 11th attacks on our nation.

...

in spite of my better instincts, I continued to follow orders and obey my command for fear of repercussion. 

Yemen,  2014 from "Are US military drone strikes legal?" SBS Australia, 2014

Yet, all the while, becoming increasingly aware that the war had very little to do with preventing terror from coming into the United States and a lot more to do with protecting the profits of weapons manufacturers and so-called defense contractors

...

contract mercenaries outnumbered uniform wearing soldiers 2-to-1 and earned as much as 10 times their salary. 

...

I was starting to wonder if I was contributing again to the problem of money and war by accepting to return as a defense contractor. Worse was my growing apprehension that everyone around me was also taking part in a collective delusion and denial that was used to justify our exorbitant salaries for comparatively easy labor. 

The thing I feared most at the time was the temptation not to question it.

Source: The Indypendent, 2021

...

I believe that any person either called upon or coerced to participate in war against their fellow man is promised to be exposed to some form of trauma. In that way, no soldier blessed to have returned home from war does so uninjured.

...

on that day, years after the fact, my new friends [gasped] and sneered, just as my old ones had, at the sight of faceless men in the final moments of their lives. I sat by watching too, said nothing, and felt my heart breaking into pieces.

...

Left to decide whether to act, I only could do that which I ought to do before God and my own conscience. 

The answer came to me, that to stop the cycle of violence, I ought to sacrifice my own life and not that of another person.

So I contacted an investigative reporter with whom I had had an established prior relationship and told him that I had something the American people needed to know.

Respectfully,

Daniel Hale

Black Activists Question Reports Claiming Biden Pulling Afghanistan Troops September 11

Reaper and Predator Drone Imagery on Blue Abrash Ground, 2016. Wool rug. Collection of Kevin Sudeith. Courtesy of the Gund Gallery. https://www.uvm.edu/fleming/warp-war-rugs-afghanistan

Reposting this press release with insightful analysis of the Biden Administration's statements on allegedly withdrawing from Afghanistan. If you value the work of the Black Alliance for Peace, as I do, consider supporting them financially. As a white ally who appreciates their labor, I make a monthly donation here.

For Immediate Release Media Contact: communications@blackallianceforpeace.com (202) 643-1136 APRIL 13, 2021—Press reports were circulating April 13 that the Biden-Harris administration will not abide by the Doha agreement with the Taliban to withdraw U.S. forces by May 1, violating a key component of the peace agreement negotiated by the previous administration. It appears the Biden-Harris administration is floating September 11—the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attack—as a likely date to end the second longest U.S. war. The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) has consistently demanded U.S. adherence to the Doha peace agreement. BAP even organized an International Day of Action on Afghanistan on April 8 to help raise the public's awareness on the issue. While BAP continues to gather information on this reported proposal, we are concerned that what is being floated by the corporate media will result in increased hostilities between the Taliban and U.S. forces, providing a pretext for increased U.S. military involvement. BAP has detailed how powerful forces within the administration and among the foreign policy elite are trying to find ways to keep a U.S. military presence in Afghanistan to support broader geostrategic objectives, primarily countering Chinese influence. Some of these issues were laid out during the April 13 episode of "Voices With Vision" on WPFW (89.3 FM in Washington, D.C.). As an internationalist organization, BAP wonders if U.S. private contractors and NATO coalition forces from other countries—both of which outnumber U.S. military personnel—will remain in Afghanistan. What role would the United States play once troops are removed? We also ask where else U.S. troops will be sent as the cold war on China is ramped up, Russia continues to be agitated and Africa remains a hotbed for U.S. military activity. We question if devastating sanctions would be slapped on the people of Afghanistan after a U.S. pullout, as in the case of 1970s Vietnam and Iraq after the 1990s bombing campaign. For all of these reasons and as we gather information on what appears to be an attempt to test the U.S. public's reaction, BAP continues to demand the United States and NATO pull all troops and contractors, and end all involvement. And we insist the United States respect the human rights of the Afghan people and colonized people the world over, including inside its borders.   U.S./NATO Out of Afghanistan!   Share Tweet Forward

Copyright © 2021 Black Alliance for Peace, All rights reserved.   Black Alliance for Peace P.O. Box 1756 Bronx, NY 10451-9998

Empire In Search Of Graveyard Signals Faux Concern For Afghan Women

Source: "The War In Afghanistan Is Bad Politics And Bad Foreign Policy" Defense One  October 7, 2018

One of the few good things the Trump administration did in office was enter into the Doha pact to end the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan. They did so by negotiating with the odious Taliban, insurgents riding on religious extremism in their quest to rid their country of foreign invaders. 

Now the Biden administration is signalling that the May 1 withdrawal date is a non-starter. No surprises there: challenging China is unlikely to include abandoning military outposts right on their border. 

Biden et al. are also signalling their deep concern for the well-being of Afghan women. Because decades of military occupation have made Afghanistan literally the worst place on the planet to be female. Wait...

Source: "Once Upon a Time In Afghanistan" by Mohammad Qayoumi in Foreign Policy 

For those with a historical perspective, memories of Afghan women attending universities and working as professionals under a Soviet-sponsored regime endure. The proxy war between the U.S.-sponsored mujahadeen and the Soviet-Afghan government in the 1990's began to erode quality of life for women and girls who were bombed, forced to flee as refugees, and trafficked for sex. Repression of women's rights under the pretext of Islamic law was the icing on that particular cake.

The CIA has actually been bragging on Twitter lately about supporting the mujahadeen "freedom fighters" against the USSR.

As we know by know, the CIA has spent decades arming militias around the planet in order to topple governments that are resistant to capitalist exploitation by the U.S. and its allies. They used to do this covertly, but in the declining days of empire, chest thumping displays of prowess are in order I guess.

Predictably, the corporate press have chimed in to manufacture consent for continuing the U.S.'s longest war.

Because, really, things have been going so well in Afghanistan under military occupation. Maybe the U.S. should just stay because deciding to withdraw could be "complicated" right?

From an Associated Press article dated April 8:

Afghanistan, a country in turmoil, has been trying to inoculate millions of children against polio but the recent killing of three female vaccinators has put the country's campaign in doubt. However, brave women of the country remain determined to continue efforts in the face of danger and violence.

Unknown gunmen shot vaccination workers at two separate locations in the eastern city of Jalalabad on March 30 killing two volunteers and one supervisor in the polio immunization program, all of them women, as they carried out door-to-door vaccinations.

That's right. Afghanistan is struggling after 20 years of military occupation, preceded by 10 years of civil war, preceded by 10 years of proxy war, to vaccinate for a disease eradicated in my childhood (and I am old). That's how poor they are, and that's how low quality of life has sunk on our watch. Life expectancy for Afghans born in the 21st century is less than 65, retirement age for those of us in the heart of the evil empire. 

Biden won't get out of Afghanistan for the same reason Trump, Obama, and Bush didn't: there's plenty of good money to be made supplying the army with the tools of the trade, to quote Country Joe and the Fish. His gargantuan $715 billion "defense" budget request exceeds that of Trump by an inflation index and will no doubt pass with little debate and bipartisan fealty from the corporate flunkies in Congress.

A nation enduring a pandemic without universal health care, in which 25% of brown and Black children experience hunger each week, with millions literally unhoused, is in a very insecure position. Imperial expansion will not remedy what ails us, but most dying empires continue trying to expand right up to the moment when they hit the wall. Often, in Afghanistan.

In Sophisticated Propaganda, Even The Reverse Isn't True

 

On this inauguration day, as Democrats pretend that all will be well under a neoliberal regime headed by the very corporations that are killing the life support systems of our planet, and that empty promises are as good as kept, I'm worried. 

False dichotomy is a very effective tool for keeping the masses confused. The above meme claiming "the left" just won* the presidential election is not stupid, it is dangerous.

And we've lived through this before.

President Obama was constantly portrayed as a socialist or communist by propagandists and political enemies. Meanwhile, the banks got bailed out and the people got sold out on his watch. (And Occupy Wall Street encampments were violently evicted in a coordinated national effort.)

Also, Chelsea Manning and free speech martyr Julian Assange were jailed and tortured for revealing war crimes and financial crimes. Their fellow whistleblower Edward Snowden escaped the empire's grasp to go into exile in Russia; he was at risk of suffering their fate for revealing that the federal government was conducting illegal surveillance of us all.

And those who had opposed wars under George W. Bush mostly went to brunch rather than hold their handsome, articulate warmonger accountable.

Yesterday the Biden nominee for Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, (yet another recycled Obama administration hack) indicated a desire for the war in Afghanistan to continue indefinitely. He bemoaned the fact that the Obama administration overthrew the socilaist government of Libya without installing an effective replacement for Gadaffi, whom Hillary Clinton gloated about killing. 

Blinken not asked about most wars, not even Iraq, nor about his revolving door profiteering. He thinks Iran is evil but favors the agreement. He defends Libya war lies and war, arming Ukraine, freaking out over China. Asked how to rejoin the world he named 0 steps.

— David Swanson (@davidcnswanson) January 19, 2021

The inside job that allowed black clad men with zip ties to breach capitol security did not look like "the left" had any involvement. Someone who's paying attention told me Erik Prince and Blackwater -- or whatever he calls his band of mercenaries these days -- had their people inside.

The large number of clownish participants on January 6 tend to draw our attention, but let's not get distracted from what was allowed to happen -- and what it is being used to justify.

Photo: Leigh Vogel UPI/Rex/Shutterstock

In the 1970's my late father warned a teenaged me, "Watch for the U.S. to become a police state. It's already well underway." 

Let's not be distracted by the shiny surface of things, but instead keep our eye on the ball.

*A handy guide to know if "the left" ever comes to power in Washington DC: we'll get universal health care and guaranteed basic income.

Cloud Of Darkness Over Future Of US Still Led By Warmongers

"Cloud of darkness" was trending on Twitter when I got up this morning. It means one thing to gamers but this boomer couldn't help but feel it probably was a reference to our collective future governed by the president-elect's cabinet picks.

Putting female warmongers in prominent roles to please Democrats already trained to regard the warmongering Hillary Clinton as a desirable "leader" is absolutely unsurprising. What's only mildly surprising is the weak, insincere protestations sponsored on corporate media outlets like CNN and MSNBC. 

Cutting the mic of commentators who question the wisdom of appointing, say, Rahm Emmanuel, is entirely in character for these manufacturers of consent.

Did folks catch latest censorship from the Clinton News Network (CNN) where the new Congressman Elect Jamaal Bowman was cut ( technical difficulties) right when he started to criticize the possible selection of Rahm Emmanuel to Biden's right-wing cabinet. https://t.co/0TetVofEPB

— Ajamu Baraka (@ajamubaraka) November 25, 2020

Because if you're trying to spin neoliberals as progressives, muting the pushback is essential.

To get back to my original point, trying to spin corporate hacks who peddle weapons to Israel and Saudi Arabia while unwilling US taxpayers pick up the tab as feminists is laughable. Well, it would be laughable if it didn't fool so many liberals. Identity politics has been a potent management tool for keeping the brunch eating masses stupefied while the soul and treasury of the US is hollowed out by austerity to pay for endless wars.

Real feminist leaders like Kathy Kelly have been speaking out during this transition on the urgency of ending the 19 year war on Afghanistan.

link to video on YouTube if embed does not work for you

Here's she's joined by moderator Ann Wright, another peace leader, as well as Matthew Hoh, Rory Fanning, Danny Sjursen, and Arash Azizzada to discuss the prospects of this happening before Biden gets into the White House.

Democrats in Congress and generals at the Pentagon are putting up resistance, of course. If the cash doesn't flow to weapons manufacturers, how will the campaign contributions and/or cushy corporate posts flow?

When you're in the weapons business -- as the US government surely is -- endless wars is your go-to marketing scheme.

But the current occupant of the White House has shown less business acumen than some expected. Instead, he has appeared to focus on his image. Challenges like managing a public health crisis resulted in fatal damage to his persona as leader, but the remaining weeks do offer some opportunities for legacy repair.

Ending the war in Afghanistan (which Obama promised to do but never did) could be just the ticket. 

Pardoning Julian Assange, jailed in the UK for the crime of actual journalism on Obama's watch and since, would also be a winning move and, as an in-your-face to his rival and predecessor, likely to appeal to the outgoing chief executive.