The True Economic Cost of Iraq
By Larry Johnson on November 18, 2007 at 7:51 PM in Current Affairs
We are in economic trouble on the national security front and the President and the Congress are acting the role of Nero, who is rumored to have fiddled while Rome burned. The problem goes beyond our failure to raise taxes to pay for the war in Iraq. That war is costing us between four billion and twenty one billion a month (see War Costing $720 Million Each Day, Group Says). Not only are we running up our nation’s debt–but our nation’s status as the global economic superpower is at risk.
Take a look at the following articles:
Saudi Minister Warns of Dollar Collapse
An Economy on the Brink of Snapping
This is not coincidence. This is consequence. The relative strength of the dollar has allowed us to “finance” the war in Iraq by borrowing money from other countries. But the party is over. While we have something approximating full employment in the United States–notwithstanding anemic job growth over the last five years–the collapsing real estate market, the credit crunch, and the rising cost of oil points to the likelihood that the United States could be battling the twin plagues of inflation and recession as the 2008 Presidential campaign heads into the fall.
The ability of the United States to raise money to finance the war in Iraq and our other national priorities will be dramatically curtailed in the coming months. We can no longer rely on raising funds willy nilly by selling U.S. Treasury bonds to other countries. There are clear signs that other countries are no longer eager to snap these up.
Vietnam and Qatar are signaling they no longer have great confidence in the U.S. dollar (Dollar’s Double Blow from Vietnam and Qatar).
And then there are the Chinese. Last month the Daily Telegraph also carried this ominous warning:
The Chinese government has begun a concerted campaign of economic threats against the United States, hinting that it may liquidate its vast holding of US treasuries if Washington imposes trade sanctions to force a yuan revaluation.
Blog - Dollar to collapse?
Fistful of dollars - China’s trade surplus reached $26.9bn in June Two officials at leading Communist Party bodies have given interviews in recent days warning - for the first time - that Beijing may use its $1.33 trillion (£658bn) of foreign reserves as a political weapon to counter pressure from the US Congress.
Our “fuck-the-world, we’ll-go-it-alone” attitude is likely to bite us in the ass. Our weakened economic clout does not give us much leverage with the Chinese, Russians, Saudis, Iranians, Vietnamese, and Venezuelans. Consider the possibility that Iran and Russia could potentially challenge the Saudis’ status as the largest oil producers within five years. That would certainly put a crimp in our effort to isolate Iran and delay its ability to develop nuclear weapons.
Of course the neocons insist that we should not worry about the costs. Freddy Kagan, co-author of the surge, said recently:
Either you think the war in Iraq supports America’s national security, or not,” said Frederick W. Kagan, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. “If you think national security won’t be harmed by withdrawing from Iraq, of course you would want to see that money spent elsewhere. I myself think that belief, on a certain level, is absurd, so the question of focusing on how much money we are spending there is irrelevant.
Spending millions of dollars a day in Iraq is not making us safer. In fact, we are spending our way towards bankruptcy. As we weigh the future of our policy in Iraq, we better have a broader focus than the simple question of withdrawing U.S. troops and ending the sectarian strife. Will the rising cost of oil and the decline of the dollar produce a dynamic that weakens us economically and leaves us less able to project force overseas? Could our economic profligacy be the equivalent of the Vandals sacking Rome? Perhaps. But instead of crazy foreigners ravaging us, we must acknowlege that we are doing this one to ourselves. The buck stops here.
But to listen to the Corporate Media and the right wing talking heads, things have never been better. The deficet is down, revenues to the treasury are up. The average citizen is too busy with their daily lives to research the numbers for themselves. All the while the situation worsens and the lies continue to be told. George Orwell must be spinning in his grave!
Yes, Orwell, and an even better comparison might be Sinclair Lewis’ — “It Can’t Happen Here.”
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Can%27t_Happen_Here]
I notice that the entire text is available in the following link:
http://reactor-core.org/cant-happen.html
Paul Kennedy also wrote about Imperial Overstretch, which is quite pertinent here:
http://www.globalpolicy.org/empire/challenges/overstretch/overindex.htm
Corrected link:
http://reactor-core.org/cant-happen.html
Sorry, one more time — watching football and writing don’t mix.
Here’s the correct link to the Wikipedia article on “It Can’t Happen Here.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Can%27t_Happen_Here
Even the Ministry of Tourism in India no longer accepts Dollars.
I don’t know if this is the New American Century the Neocons envisioned, but it’s the one they’ve given us.
This is very sobering and unsettling assessment Larry. GWB saying that T bonds were worthless during his campaign to rid Social Security - had to be less than inspiring to those we owe and do business with.
In the meantime the Bush apologists keep saying, “Reagan proved that deficits don’t matter.”
Uh, excuse me?
We have ceded any advantage we once had.
And Kagan? He is an obscenity.
He said T bonds are worthless? OMG. In one of my previous lives, I worked on Rodeo Drive for the financial and legal advisers to many of the top Hollywood producers, directors and stars as well as the president of one of the top three TV networks. Buying T bonds was a cornerstone of the financial protection systems they set up for their clients — along with very diverse holdings in real estate, businesses, and much more. And they constantly steered their clients from risky investments — for some reason, movie stars want to own restaurants, and they were always warned not to buy or invest in one. In other words, this business gave out very conservative, protective advice — and T bonds were an essential! (And for a lot of wise Americans for as long as I’ve been alive.)
Speaking of T bonds, what are they worth these days? I shudder to think.
See, Cheney & friends want to sell off Yellowstone & Denali, an ANWAR, any & all of our resources are of no importance other than collateral. By ignoring global warming, our coal reserves will pay for everything. Deficits don’t matter we can sell off assets forever. (or at least until they have theirs)
Yes, Taters, Kagan and his ilk are obscenities, but the U.S losing its “advantage” might be the best of all possible outcomes if it leads to the U.S. beginning to behave as a normal nation, and not an empire in the making.
“not an empire in the making”
Sorry Shirin, but you’ll have to amend your thinking here. The US is currently an empire and our Republic is dead. We’re a failed empire, but an empire none-the-less for the time being.
However, like you, I believe it’s all a good thing that our Imperial experiment has failed…for me, I anticipate a whew!-just-in-time death of the American empire, and the rebirth of the American Republic.
>>> We’re a failed empire, but an empire none-the-less for the time being.
And we hardly had to build/buy/conquer it ourselves, having thumped the Spanish lightly in the S-A War to get Guam, PR, the PI, etc., and having “assumed” the British and French empires over the period 1945- 1954 for No Money Down!
And it’s treason to question the wisdom of these Wars To Keep Us Safe. Because we all know they’re listening to our phone calls and reading all our emails; they’re squashing bridge players who dare to say they didn’t vote for Bush or high school students in Ohio who try to engage in peaceful protest.
Yet these clever, highly educated neocons have apparently never read a word of real history — not the cooked history of their pets like VD Hanson — but serious history that looks at the balance of power, imperialism and its failures. They’ve coked themselves up on their delusions of invincibility and declared that it’s essentially treason to question the wisdom or even the putative success of their enterprise. I know that in the First World War the German High Command had the newspapers printing stories of victories up until the day of the Armistice when they suddenly announced that Germany had surrendered. This seems to be the neocons game plan (”what puts the ‘con’ in neocon?”) No matter how badly things are going, just blithely declare things are going fine. Keep on doing this until the bottom falls out completely.
http://tomdispatch.com/post/174864/john_brown_invading_washington
on the MicroWorld View that got us here.
From John Brown article:
Oh, I’d say Monaco and Lichtenstein are quite cosmopolitan in their outlooks compared to us. We’re being done in, not only by our hubris, but by our self-inflicted stupidity.
$20,000 per American family + rising.
BTW: I heard on the news today that the private discussions among the Saudis (or OPEC? I had my eyes shut while the news was on) about the dollar crisis were supposed to be secret but that the “technicians” somehow leaked the audio of the meeting to the nearby media.
I wonder if the technicians slipped up, or the Saudis want to let the world know discretely. What do you think?
Here’s the link to the Nov. 13 story here on the true HIDDEN cost of the war:
It was at OPEC:
Critics Assail Weak Dollar at OPEC Event / NYT
Oops. And it was probably another accident last year when Bush was videoed talking to Blair with his mouth full and bits of bread dropping out of his mouth. Anybody remember way back at the beginning of the Bush years when the WH had this vaunted discipline and could supposedly prevent any bad shot of the man from ever seeing the light of day.
The whole rest of the world despises Bush now. I suppose they’ve quietly decided the only way to get rid of this Republican cabal is to let the country collapse financially, so the Saudis accidentally kick the supports out from under their dear friend, and the Chinese are busy taking care of business, as one would expect. And we all get screwed.
This is the first mistaken broadcast in 47 years. I think they wanted us to know.
Nothing is off the table. There is going to another meeting regarding this on Dec. 5th.
500k a minute. It is mind boggling.
Economic velocity, cultural viscosity and political entropy; We will have to begin using exponents to describe the fate of our children.
I am greatful for a little string.
It may sound like madness — to any sane person it would — but this is very likely PURPOSEFUL. What better way to strip the federal government of its oversight budgets and its social safety nets and to onlly preserve the almighty military because that feeds the increasingly ravenous military-industrial complex?
It’s why the FDA and the Consumer Product Safety Commission are led by industry insiders, and have been stripped of their budgets to protect average consumers.
It’s why the leading GOP candidates want to privatize Social Security and Medicare — what better way to eliminate those costs and to instead “feed the beast” — the beast being the military-industrial complex.
It’s why the Bush Administration seeks to CUT the budget of the Veterans Administration — because the fate of veterans who’ve served this country does not matter — they’re just fodder – but the fate of their corporate allies like Halliburton, Blackwater, et al. instead deserve all the “safety net” contracts, billions of dollars worth of those “safety net” contracts, to keep them in private jets, dividends, and bonuses.
It’s why Cookie’s brother threw him overboard after the hearing last week — Cookie is expendable, but Blackwater, worth billions now in government contracts, is not.
And on and on.
Well said Susan. Wow, feed the beast - I have to remember that for the knuckledraggers.
You won’t believe this, but I watched the movie “Shooter” last night — because it was $1.99 on pay-per-view — and found myself CHEERING its messages against the “beasts” who run things worldwide. It’s an action thriller, and it succeeds that way. I was very entertained…. critics complained it was an updated Rambo, but it is also social commentary — including the message, from the outset of the first hugely dramatic scene of the film, that U.S. soldiers are expendable but that the corporate beasts are protected at all costs.
It’s on DVD and can be rented. At its least, it’s a great popcorn movie. I also found it fascinating because it reveals a lot of the training the special forces soldiers get. Of course, like all action dramas, some of the events are implausible but they work within the “suspension of disbelief” of an action thriller.
It’s also the INDICTMENT of the Bush administration and their corporate buddies that I couldn’t believe, and enjoyed so much.
Susan:
You won’t believe this, but I watched the movie “Shooter” last night — because it was $1.99 on pay-per-view — and found myself CHEERING its messages against the “beasts” who run things worldwide
Yea.. I watched Shooter also..Really liked it.
The Bad guys get it in the end.. unlike real life.. They get bigger cars, houses and bank accounts.
And how. Me — I couldn’t believe how much I enjoyed that movie — it’s hardly “art house” fare, but I loved its gutsy message.
I hope a lot of regular Americans see it because they’re going to find out what us news junkies know about the wars and our corporations. And that message is explained so plainly, and sickeningly, that it’ll stick in their craws.
But wait there’s more… if you act now included in our recording of your phone call will be a continuity of government, that doesn’t include you, and all for nothing down.
Thanks Larry, SusanUnPC and all for the work you do with this site.
Can you tell me how the kenetic energy of ours forces returning home might express itself? They will come home. I am trying to understand what our men and women will think when they see what they have been defending and how hard it will be for them to reconcile the sacrifices they have made.
I’m afraid most of them will recede and that a lot of them will try to blend into American life again. Those that can’t blend in will disappear — just like the Vietnam vets.
I live surrounded by a stunning national park. One of my friends is a veteran, and every year he and other veterans take donations and gather up supplies and money. Then they take packages to the Vietnam veterans who live hidden and isolated within the national park. It’s the only life those men can handle. I’m just glad that my friend and fellow vets reach out to them. (If anyone would like, I’ll contact my friend and find out if there’s a way to help from afar.)
Yes I would like to know….just like in the movie “The Spitfire Grill”.
according to Dina Rasor and Robert Bauman who wrote “Betraying Our Troops: The Destructive Results of Privatizing War”, they no longer call it the military-industrial complex.
(here’s a short interview of the authors’ at Harpers magazine.)
Ah-ha! You get it.
The people “making a killing” off this war are going to make money regardless of the dollar collapses. They are well insulated against even an oil crises. They have made much money wrecking other countries economies, subverting their governments, and pillaging their resources, and now their attention has been turned to doing the exact same thing to America.
Read Confessions of an Economic Hit Man to get the picture. A good primer summarizing the issues of the day can be found on google vids, called “Zeitgeist The Movie”. Part two and three shows how the exploitation of Americans hangs together. Part one is about as good a short summary of the history of religion as I have ever seen focusing on how common themes and elements (Dec 25th date, a savior who rises after three days, the Sun (Son) of God, the virgin birth of the Son (Sun) of God, a Moses figure, a Great Flood Hero, etc) have been pretty much handed down to all the religions of Western civilization starting with the Sumerians. It shows how the manipulation of organized religion conditions a society to be further manipulated by politicians.
From Other Lisa’s mom Carol — the weekly San Diego Dem newsletter quotes of the week:
“Within 30 days after enactment of this Act, the President shall commence an immediate and orderly redeployment of United States Armed Forces from Iraq. ….. It is the sense of Congress that the war in Iraq should end as safely and quickly as possible and that our troops should be brought home.”
– Draft of the emergency Defense Department appropriations bill. 11/09/07
“We planted the flag for fiscal responsibility . . . as we gave a tax cut to the middle class.” — Speaker Nancy Pelosi as the House approved a $73.8 billion measure to protect millions of families from the alternative minimum tax and offer new tax breaks to middle-income homeowners and low-income
parents. 11.10.07
“Cancer research, investments in our schools, job training, protecting workers and many other urgent priorities have all fallen victim to a president who squanders billions of dollars in Iraq but is unwilling to invest in America’s future.” — Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) following Bush’s veto of a bill to fund education, health and labor programs. 11.14.07
“We do not want groups of a political nature, advocating the troops’ withdrawal from Iraq.” — Martha Thuente, coordinator for the nonprofit Veterans Day Parade Committee on banning anti-war vets from marching in the Veterans Day Parade in Long Beach 11/08/07
“The fact is, we can no longer sustain the military deployment in Iraq. Staying there in the manner that we are there is no longer an option.” — Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA. 11.14.07
Tax law changes have benefited this group, including me, in a huge way. During that time the average American went exactly nowhere on the economic scale: he’s been on a treadmill while the superrich have been on a spaceship.” — Warren Buffett 11.15.07
“Within 30 days after enactment of this Act, the President shall commence an immediate and orderly redeployment of United States Armed Forces from Iraq.”
Before everyone waxes all lyrical about this bill, it is no better than Levin-Reed was. In fact, it is Levin-Reed all over again. It is full of loopholes, and vagueries that render it meaningless.
It is, in short, a deception by the Democrats intended to make us think they are actually doing something about ending the debacle in Iraq while in fact they are, as usual, doing nothing real.
It seems as if no one actually read Levin-Reed before expounding on its wonders. How about correcting that mistake, and actually reading this bill before getting exciting about it?
““The fact is, we can no longer sustain the military deployment in Iraq. Staying there in the manner that we are there is no longer an option.”
In other words, we have to find a different manner to stay there (and exert control) than the present one.
I am among people here who are more politically sophisticated than I am, and yet, you do not seem to see through this language, which to me is as transparent as glass.
There has also been an unofficial boycott of US products since at least the fall of 2002 when the Iraq war drumbeat started in earnest.
One supermarket in Manchester England had to quickly correct a labelling mistake on its rice by putting a large sticker on the packets that said ‘please note this product was NOT manufactured in the USA’. If they hadn’t done this nobody would have bought it.
The USA brand has become toxic.
This brings up another point I’ve been wondering about. What is the truth behind the product recalls for Chinese products? Surely they didn’t just start using lead-based paint, or other toxic materials as suddenly as these recalls seem to indicate. It looks like a retaliation to me for something. They pissed us off somehow, and to get even, we’ve revealed something we’ve known all along and sat on to try to control them.
Anyone know?
Who are the major exporters from China into the US? What were the Chinese up to that we would disrupt a gravytrain? Especially when you consider the response from the women who said we don’t need any more money for consumer protection. Good question.
I’m not sure about that. If you follow some of the stories that come out of China, the poor Chinese have it much worse. The levels of toxicity and pollution in China is just stunning. There are villages with extremely high cancer rates from the pollution that’s poured into the water supply. The Chinese authorities basically have not cared about the human cost of industrialization. Remember, some of these products, like the poisoned cough syrup, have had their major impacts in other places, like Latin America.
OMG. I hadn’t heard about that happening to U.S. products, Reggie.
‘course, we make less and less in this country, dammit. We’ve given away our manufacturing base to China, etc. That was one thing thatboth4ered me deeply when I watched the PBS series, “The War” — the U.S. was in bad shape but had the manufacturing facilities that they could rev up/convert for use to build all those planes, weapons, etc. It was amazing. But we couldn’t do that now.
It’s true Susan. I happened to buy the rice in question. I couldn’t believe I’d seen such a sticker in England!
I have a few wine drinking friends, lovers of US culture every one, but you wouldn’t see a bottle from California on their tables even though it is now dirt cheap here because of the declining greenback.
I’m pretty sure the tourist industry has been similarly damaged. I used to visit every two-three years but haven’t been now since Feb 2000, partly out of protest but also partly because of the opprobrium it would arouse from my peers.
Reggie:
It will take alot more than that jerk Bush to keep me from my Napa Valley wines..
I’m not letting Bush ruin everything for me..
There is no life worth living without a BV Merlot..
Or a Merlot from Trentadue.
Ah, you obviously haven’t tried English wine. (Sorry, that was a joke; as is our wine.)
NPR today says the aggregate deficit number is over 50 trillion long term.
Told you they were rolling up trillions in different categories and simply being vague about which specific category was being referred to.
Demand ytour Congress person sepcify and deliver a total running deficit number.
They don’t count war spending on the budget either…
Thousands of new Sunni volunteers have made common cause with the Americans. About 72,000 such civilians have joined the effort, American officials said, and 45,000 each receive a $300 a month stipend from the Americans to help with the effort.
We know we are in deep doo-doo when the former Iraqi insurgents start demanding their payments from the US in Euros.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/19/world/middleeast/19iraq.html?_r=1&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
-GSD
“The problem goes beyond our failure to raise taxes to pay for the war in Iraq.”
The problem is the Bush regime’s aggressions, not the failure to raise taxes to pay for them.
“our nation’s status as the global economic superpower is at risk.”
Good. If the U.S. loses is status as the global economic superpower, and is forced to be simply one very rich nation among others, then Bush will have accomplished one positive thing.
“This is not coincidence. This is consequence.”
True.
“The relative strength of the dollar has allowed us to “finance” the war in Iraq by borrowing money from other countries.”
For our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren to repay.
“the United States could be battling the twin plagues of inflation and recession as the 2008 Presidential campaign heads into the fall.”
If that doesn’t get the voters pissed off at the Republicans and voting for Democrats, what will?
“The ability of the United States to raise money to finance the war in Iraq and our other national priorities will be dramatically curtailed in the coming months.”
And this is a bad thing?! This is the silver lining to the economic cloud.
“We can no longer rely on raising funds willy nilly by selling U.S. Treasury bonds to other countries. There are clear signs that other countries are no longer eager to snap these up.”
Part of the silver lining.
“Consider the possibility that Iran and Russia could potentially challenge the Saudis’ status as the largest oil producers within five years.”
That sounds like a positive development to me. The Saudis need to be taken down a notch or two. More to the point, the Saudis need to be deposed and replaced.
“That would certainly put a crimp in our effort to isolate Iran and delay its ability to develop nuclear weapons.”
Yeah, that would be really bad. A nuclear Iran might force the U.S. to think twice about its habit of rampaging around the world trying to take over oil rich countries. Just think about it! If Iran already had nuclear weapons, Bush would not be preparing to bomb it, would he?
“Spending millions of dollars a day in Iraq is not making us safer.”
No shit, Sherlock! In fact, it is making the U.S. a great deal less safe.
“we better have a broader focus than the simple question of withdrawing U.S. troops and ending the sectarian strife.”
Sigh! You ARE the cause of the so-called “sectarian” strife, and you will never end it. Your presence fuels it. If you want to know what will happen if you leave, look at the recent report from the British that violence as dropped 90% in Basra since they withdrew.
“Will the rising cost of oil and the decline of the dollar produce a dynamic that weakens us economically and leaves us less able to project force overseas?”
Insha Allah!!!!! (Translation: God, I hope so!) That would almost make what you have done to Iraq worth it for the rest of the world.
That would almost make what you have done to Iraq worth it for the rest of the world.
??? Is it worth one life? Wth all due respect, who is “you”??
And might I inquire of you, what would make it worth it?
“You” is the “we” Larry is referring to in his article. See how it works?
As for the “worth it” comment, I probably could have said it more clearly. I daresay it is a fact that if the United States were less able to “project force overseas” the rest of the world would consider that a silver lining around the huge, black cloud of what the United States has done to Iraq.
PS Don’t ignore the “almost” in my original statement. That is there to indicate that it would not in fact be worth it.
Brazil discovered an 8 billion bbl oil field off their coast last week, nary a word in the msm. The best way to control oil costs is to curtail the futures market.
YES! I heard all about it on BBC World News and BBC World News America, both of which I tape daily on the BBCAmerica cable TV station.
That’s why I love those shows .. both covered the Brazilian find which, they pointed out, means that Brazil could become a global leader in all forms of energy — Brazil is already a worldwide leader in alternative energy with their vastly more productive use of sugar cane (much better source than corn, but the U.S. farming lobby is keeping imports of sugar from the U.S. so they can keep selling their corn).
I tape those shows at these times: 3AM PT (World News) and 4PM PT (World News America). (Note: The World News show is aired many times throughout the day/. The American version is new, and great — they still use a lot of the best stories from World News.)
$20,000 per American family + rising.
oh..if it were only that cheap.
What is the cost to an american family to have one of it’s members lose an eye, leg or arm? What about brain damage or pstd issues.
What cost can you put on losing a child, father or mother in a useless illegal war?
Priceless.
My only consolation when the Bush regime was installed was that they would run us thru to the end of our imperial phase rather quickly. In the long run, less suffering will arise from a quick imperial run for the US than from a long one, as it is not the 19th Century and we are not Britain.
Looks like they are on target. Too bad for our troops, the Iraqi’s and our constitutional form of government.
How bad it will be depends upon on how crazy they are allowed to get. I hope the sane military types can keep the civilians and their bootlicker cronies in uniform on a short leash for another year.
Kevin Phillips’ book “American Theocracy” had a well done historical perspective on the rise and fall of Belgium, Britain and now the U.S. Worth a read.
I wonder what is a “lawful order” when it comes to this “WOT” in light of the fact sane military types have been forced out in one way or another.
This morning’s ticker has Goldman predicting the credit market will contract by 2 trillion dollars and the U.S. will suffer a very “substantial” recession. This is as Mr. Johnson was saying…has anyone looked at the foreign investment market of the U.S.? I mean if you had billions of Saudi petro dollars invested in real estate in the U.S. what would your portfolio manager say?
Another “consequence” of the Bushies rush to the bottom is the fracture of the financial intelligence via the “normal” banking networks.
http://www.gasandoil.com/goc/company/cnl74528.htm
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ax47JhwC1NRI
The “Tipping Point” is more like a body blow.
From the USAToday:
And I paraphrase..
Bush says we should all give back during the Holiday season..
So Georgie..how about giving back America?
We miss it..
Not again….train who?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/19/washington/19policy.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
NSA White House advisor Frances Townsend resigned.
No Executive Privlege can be claimed.
Will she take the coming pardon or plead the 5th?
The dollar crashes, Wall Street dives, the banking crisis worsens, Bush denies healthcare and education to thousands of children yet wastes billions on a pointless war, Southeastern cities die of thirst [more Katrinas], and our trade partners talk of dumping the dollar… the Bushies continue business as usual. No problem here. Move along.
How pointless the aggression against Iraq is depends on your point of view!
OPEC is considering dumping the dollar.
But everyone will probably be very happy to learn Bush has his “swagger” back. Who cares if the rest of the country is going to hell.
Just shoot me now:
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/11/19/ohanlon-kagan/
It’s not as if the Bushies don’t have anything to do with helping to create the crisis in Pakistan. It’s not as if we have the military for another mis-adventure. But as long as it’s someone else’s kids who’ll do the dying, why should Fred Kagan and Michael O’Hanlon care.
Plus, 1Watt, when you read the article: Kagan and O’Hanlon write as if the collapse of Pakistan’s government is ONLY a concern for the US, as opposed to Pakistan and the rest of the world. Therefore, it’s America’s job to do something about it, and their solution is US unilateral military action.
Back to Pakistan ey? Who are they going to send now? We’re just going now to secure the weapons and not look for Osama bin Forgotten.
I’m sorry to swear. Fuck that!! I’m beyond done being lied to.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/comment/0,12956,1036687,00.html
The following was written by a former member of the UK parliment
meacherm@parliament.uk
In late September and early October 2001, leaders of Pakistan’s two Islamist parties negotiated Bin Laden’s extradition to Pakistan to stand trial for 9/11. However, a US official said, significantly, that “casting our objectives too narrowly” risked “a premature collapse of the international effort if by some lucky chance Mr Bin Laden was captured”. The US chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Myers, went so far as to say that “the goal has never been to get Bin Laden” (AP, April 5 2002). The whistleblowing FBI agent Robert Wright told ABC News (December 19 2002) that FBI headquarters wanted no arrests.
I remember very well when the Taliban offered to turn Bin Laden over and the Bush regime turned them down, preferring instead to attack.
I also remember very well Bush giving Saddam a deadline to “step down, and leave Iraq”, followed quickly by Rumsfeld (or was it Cheney, or Powell - memory is not clear on who) declaring that the U.S. was going to invade Iraq whether Saddam stepped down or not.
And that’s what the Bush regime calls diplomacy.
Privilege*
Yep, when you think you are a hammer all the world’s problems are nails.
Jack Daniels and bu$h take the stage. Enjoy! Weep!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=vV1Hs1jGl9c
Larry, you have surpassed yourself, yet again. Another triffic piece. However, the real issue is the Democrats and they, saddly, don’t gain a mention.
Could even Clinton sure up the ecconomy after the ransacking Bushco have given it. Then, what of the moral agenda the Democrats are famous for? Or is that going to be restricted to Mrs Clinton’s many planned crusades?
Bernanke says the Euro will see 145 before the end of the year? It’s at 147.64 TODAY after the news about Fannie Mae losing 2 billion! So who do we blame for this mess? The Banks, of course? And just who owns those banks?
By the way, met two Americans from Jerusalem on the bus to the airport yesterday. They were going back Israel after spending ten days in Italy. Of course, HE commented that, “The antiquities in Naples are not well taken care of”. “They don’t even bother polishing up the Roman coins”. Who but an American Jew would be looking at the condition of coins in Italy when there is so much more to see? I would be willing to bet that some displaced Palestinian in a refugee camp somewhere has the original key to that Israeli-American’s house in Jersalem.
Who but an American Jew-Hater would write such a thing, or concern themselves with such a thing, Centro?
Good god!
Centrocita, your posts are a veritable wellspring of bigotry and prejudice - and now anti-Semitism.
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