The One Trillion Dollar War with Absolutely Nothing to Show for it.

We have become so accustomed to war we don’t even bother to discuss it anymore. The war in Afghanistan has dragged on for almost 15 years, and it is no longer mentioned or discussed on corporate news. The clown show, sometimes called a presidential race, has been reduced to two candidates, both of whom are hated by the voting public, and neither has raised the issue of Afghanistan once. The candidates have not been asked about it, and neither has spoken about it.  It is the silent war that appears to be never ending, but just because it is not discussed does not mean you are not paying for it.  So far the tab is one trillion dollars and rising every day.  To most of us a “trillion” dollars is a meaningless figure, because most readers, myself included, cannot relate to a “trillion”, but consider this.  A trillion dollars looks like this: $1,000,000,000,000, and a billion looks like this: $1,000,000,000. A trillion dollars equals one thousand times a billion, so there are 1,000 billions in a trillion. Still can’t relate?  How about billions?  One billion equals 1,000 million. Still cannot relate. One trillion dollars spread out flat on the ground would cover 4 thousand square miles. If you stacked one trillion dollars in a pile, the pile would be 68,000 miles high.

So what is the point?

What do we have to show for our one trillion-dollar war? What have we accomplished? We have nothing to show, and have accomplished absolutely nothing. NOTHING!!!

The Taliban now controls more land in Afghanistan than ever. US forces cannot venture into the Afghan countryside because they will get killed.  The only place in the entire country that is considered under US and Afghan control is the capital city of Kabul, which coincidentally is where the US has its giant embassy with its Green Zone.  However, even within Kabul, US troops usually resort to helicopters to get from one section of Kabul to another for fear of getting killed in cars or armored vehicles.

Originally we went to Afghanistan to get Bin Laden and the perpetrators of 9/11, despite the fact that none of those perpetrators came from Afghanistan.  They all originated in Saudi Arabia.  The Taliban contacted the US government and said they were willing to give us Bin Laden if we presented proof or evidence that Bin Laden was responsible for 9/11.  The US refused their offer, so the entire war was a wasted effort from day one. First we attacked the wrong country, and second, Bin Laden could have been handed over to us without any war. 

When the war did not go as expected, President Obama announced a new Drug War in Afghanistan.  So how has that gone? We have spent about 10 billion dollars on the drug war, and the rate of opium and heroin production is now about 40 times greater than when the drug war began.  Afghanistan now is responsible for about 85% of the worlds heroin production.  The US nor the Afghan government can go into the highly productive heroin and opium areas for fear of their safety. Once outside Kabul, US soldiers are at great risk.  The Taliban sells its heroin around the world and uses the money to finance its war against the occupation of their country by the US.

So what are we doing there?? Who knows?  The war is not good for the Afghan people, or the US army, and certainly not the American people.  It goes on endlessly with no winner. At some point down the road, the US will be forced to end the occupation and leave Afghanistan to its own people. Isn’t that the way it should be? 

Since 9/11 cannot be used as a pretext for the endless Afghan war and occupation, the focus had to change. We began saying the Taliban had to be stopped from taking over the government. But wait; two opposing forces fighting to control a country is a civil war, i.e. North vs South in Civil War.  What business is it of the US to get involved in another countries civil war?  What give the US the right to decide who should rule Afghanistan? There is no such right!

So in the end, we have no business being there, and never had a legitimate reason to get involved in the affairs of Afghanistan, but we have been for 15 years.  One trillion dollars of your money has been spent on an illegitimate war which has resulted in absolute and total failure. But the Military Industrial Complex has grown rich, which just might be the point of this whole endless war. A wonderful example of corporate welfare. Will either of the two candidates end this nonsense?  No, but Jill Stein will.

How about Iraq then?  Even worse. Perhaps a subject for a later article.

What could have been done with one trillion dollars?  How about infrastructure, how about Single Payer health care for all, how about free college for all?  When Democrats, Republicans, and corporate media say such things are not affordable, they are lying.  Easily affordable if we stopped our worldwide wars.  All other major nations have these things; they can afford them because they don’t just do war.

What fools we are.

The Warrior Queen or the Wacko? Who is the Lesser of Two Evils?

Julian Assange was recently asked to comment on the presidential candidates, and his response, while perhaps a bit crude, pretty much summarized the race.  He answered: “Well you are asking me if I prefer cholera or gonorrhea.” Most of those who will vote for Trump, do so because they hate the Warrior Queen Hillary, and most of those who will vote for Hillary will do so because they hate Trump.  So once again the failed establishment of both parties has given us the “lesser of two evils” choice. Fortunately, there is an alternative in Dr Jill Stein, whom you are not allowed to hear or see on corporate media. If you did, you would recognize immediately a sane, intelligent, reasoned, civil person, who can articulate reasoned views on every major problem. Because she is so good, she is prohibited from corporate media. This writer will opt for the sane reasoned candidate, but there are many who have not yet concluded that the two parties are not only corrupt and fixed, but they will not address any of the major problems of the people.  For these poor souls, I contend that as bad and horrible as Trump is, he just might be the lesser of two evils.

The worst possible thing that could happen to this world is a nuclear war, and as unbelievable as you may think, a vote for Hillary the Warrior Queen, brings you ever so close to just that.  Consider first, she is, and has always been, warlike.  Her record speaks for itself.  She advocated and voted for war against Saddam Hussein. She is, and has been pushing hard for a no-fly zone in Syria, which will provoke the Russians and might mean war with the Russians.  The Warrior Queen was the prime architect behind the Libya bombing campaign, and she managed to bully all opponents who called for restraint and got her way. Libya now, is a failed disastrous state, and the biggest haven for extremist radicals on the African continent.  She supported the military coup in Honduras, while the rest of the world screamed in protest that a coup of a democratically elected leader had occurred, Hillary insisted it was not a coup.  She had to do this in order for the US to legally send weapons to the new dictator, because US law prevents arm shipments to illegal dictators. She originally voted for war against Iraq which was based on lies, and supported every buildup of boots on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan.  She supported the nuclear treaty with Iran, only because she was the Secretary of State under President Obama, the architect of that treaty.  She did however, on numerous occasions, both before and after the treaty, threaten Iran, and on least one occasion issued a nuclear threat. 

In addition to her own personal militaristic views she is slowly surrounding herself with like minds. It appears her Secretary of State could be Michele Flournoy, who has called for limited air strikes against the Assad regime. Most likely Victoria Nuland would be brought into the fold. It was Nuland who said “F--- the EU”, when they were not as enthusiastic as she about overthrowing the democratically elected leader of the Ukraine. Miss Vicky was appointed and worked under Dick Cheney. Nuland’s husband, Robert Kagan, has come out in support of the Warrior Queen. It was he and his neocon friends who brought you Iraq.  

It appears the Warrior Queen has some kind of personnel vendetta against Assad, or perhaps she is just paying homage to Israel who has worked long and hard to oversee his ouster. Israel has even resorted to helping Al-Qaida and Al-Nusra, two groups whom we allegedly hold in contempt. Just as in Libya and Iraq, the Warrior Queen argues it is necessary to bomb Syria to save the people from Assad.  One must ask the Warrior Queen: What would be the legal basis for the overthrow of the Assad regime? There is no legal basis; it would be illegal; however, it appears the Queen thinks herself above the law. Should not the Syrian people be in charge of their own destiny, and not the Warrior Queen? An overthrow of Assad would be akin to the overthrow of Gadaffi in Libya, and while corporate media does not report on the failed terrorist state that Libya has become, it most certainly is both. Only because of a WikiLeaks released e-mail which the Warrior Queen sent in 2012, did we just find out the real reason for the Warrior Queen’s animosity towards Assad. In that e-mail the Warrior Queen said: “The best way to help Israel deal with Iran's growing nuclear capability is to help the people of Syria overthrow the regime of Bashar Assad.” Of course you will never hear of this in corporate media. A vote for the Warrior Queen means, a no fly zone in Syria, and an attempted overthrow of Assad, which will severely anger and risk war with Russia, all to pacify and please Israel. 

Two other war queens, namely Samantha Powers and Susan Rice appear to be in the running for cabinet positions, both of whom support helping the Saudi’s in their illegal war on Yemen. 

So I am not defending, by any stretch, Donald Trump. He is a racist slug. Trump is an unknown, because what he says today he denies saying tomorrow, but we know that Hillary is the ultimate Warrior Queen who would risk war with Russia and China. Fortunately, I have a sane rational candidate to vote for, but if I were one of the many who struggle with the choice of either of these two monsters, I would choose Trump, because the Warrior Queen could very well bring us into a nuclear holocaust and end the world.