So the US has decided to become an invading, occupying force in Iraq again.

It won’t be as exciting as last time. There will be no “shock and awe” invasion tactics this time. The invaders won’t even have to enter the country, because they’re already there. It will be a very boring, underwhelming sequel that leaves everyone feeling generally pessimistic about life and human existence. Like This Is 40.

If the initial invasion of Iraq was a violent sexual assault by a stranger in a dark alley, this one is more like an abusive husband raping his wife and then making her cook him dinner. But it is just as much a violent violation of personal sovereignty in both instances.

The US State Department has issued a press statement in response to Iraq’s vote to demand that the US remove its military presence from the nation, saying the US won’t even discuss a troop withdrawal. I’m just going to post the whole thing here, because its language is so creepy, disgusting and abusive that it should really be read carefully and in full:

“America is a force for good in the Middle East. Our military presence in Iraq is to continue the fight against ISIS and as the Secretary has said, we are committed to protecting Americans, Iraqis, and our coalition partners. We have been unambiguous regarding how crucial our D-ISIS mission is in Iraq. At this time, any delegation sent to Iraq would be dedicated to discussing how to best recommit to our strategic partnership—not to discuss troop withdrawal, but our right, appropriate force posture in the Middle East. Today, a NATO delegation is at the State Department to discuss increasing NATO’s role in Iraq, in line with the President’s desire for burden sharing in all of our collective defense efforts. There does, however, need to be a conversation between the U.S. and Iraqi governments not just regarding security, but about our financial, economic, and diplomatic partnership. We want to be a friend and partner to a sovereign, prosperous, and stable Iraq.”

That last part is my favorite. A “friend and partner to a sovereign, prosperous, and stable Iraq.”

Like, of course we want you to be a sovereign nation! Just not the kind of sovereign where your elected government has any say in what happens in your country. We want you to be the kind of sovereign nation that does everything our government tells it to do. That kind of sovereignty we can really get behind!

I also love the “America is a force for good in the Middle East” bit. Right. When a bunch of guys with guns show up at my house, start killing my family members and refuse to leave, the first thing I’m going to think is, “These guys are such a force of good!”

Just as a side note, if you ever find yourself in any kind of relationship with someone who violates your personal sovereignty in this way and then uses the sort of I’m-your-friend, this-is-for-your-own-good language used by the State Department above to justify it, run, don’t walk, out the door. Because you’re dealing with a full-fledged sociopath.

Since 2014, America’s military presence in Iraq has been at the consent and invitation of the Iraqi government, the democratically elected government the US has used to justify its regime change intervention both before the invasion and ever since. Now that permission has been revoked, and the US government has suddenly lost all interest in Iraqi freedom and democracy. This US government, incidentally, is being led by a president who campaigned in 2016 on the platform of bringing the troops home from nations like Iraq.

So to recap, in 2003 the US wanted to occupy Iraq, and Iraq told them to fuck off. The US responded by invading, killing a million people, killing Saddam Hussein, tearing apart its Ba’ath party, tearing apart its military, rebuilding the whole system from scratch, installing a puppet regime, and creating a narrative about being Iraq’s “friend and partner” instead of an illegal occupying force.

The end result after 17 years? The US wants to occupy Iraq, and Iraq is telling them to fuck off.

The invasion of Iraq has been a senseless, unforgivable evil from the very beginning, and it remains so to this day, to the exact same extent. Nothing that was done was justifiable in any way, shape or form. Those million Iraqis died for no legitimate reason. The thousands of US soldiers died for no legitimate reason. Nothing was accomplished but the advancement of brute force control over a region the US has no business being in and an energy resource we’ve got no business relying on anymore.

A force for good? Bitch, you misspelled farce.

________________________

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72 responses to “So The US Is Invading Iraq Again”

  1. Damn these American and Israeli sociopaths behind these evil massacres.
    https://www.michaeldadson.info/
    gentlecurrentstherapy.com/michael-dadson-clinical-counsellor

  2. America has never been a force for good anywhere, much like the Church. Instead Washington has toppled legally elected governments it didn’t like, which can be translated into governments certain corporations didn’t like, ie Mosedegh in Iran; installed some of the most cruel and inhumane dictators around the world including Latin America, all of whom were corrupt beyond anything except in Washington, waged countless wars and murdered innocent men, women and children across the globe and rigged more than 80 elections since 1949. The truth is: America has never brought democracy anywhere and in fact has destroyed whatever democracy there was in America.
    It turned Viet Nam into a poisoned wasteland filled with toxic defoliants, created generations of suffering there including the suffering of Viet Nam veterans many of whom committed suicide, turned Iraq into a radioactive nation by using depleted uranium munitions indiscriminately, causing more birth defects even among U.S. military families, and made the fat cats in the Military industrial complex fabulously wealthy.
    As a side effect from all this is the loss of freedom and liberty that is now taking place in America.
    Pres. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison all warned us against large standing armies and the mischief it would cause.
    Parents, do not let your children enlist in the U.S. military. Do not let them anywhere near a recruiter or any recruiter get near them. Do what ever it takes to keep them out of the military.
    Do not feed the machine.

    1. P/S Mike Pompeo is a psychopathic maniac and a zionist stooge.

  3. I think Pompeo and Netanyahoo went to the same charm school

  4. America is a force for good in the Middle East!!!!

    Especially in Iraq, which the USA has bombed, invaded, occupied, regime changed, or economically sanctioned going back decades to Operation Desert Slaughter in 1991.

    America is currently on Iraq War 1, 2, 3 …. I have lost count by now.

    American Wars on Iraq have more bad sequels and remakes than Hollywood.

  5. The First Iraq War. 1990-1991, President George Herbert Walker Bush. Also known as The Incubator War.
    The Second Iraq War. 1992-2003. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. A combination of a seige denying civilians food and medicines and a low intensity bombing campaign.
    The Third Iraq War. 2003. President George W. Bush. The invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of the Iraqi government.
    The Fourth Iraq War. 2004-2006. President George W. Bush. The Insurgency war, where the Iraqi people who were supposed to be waving little flags of joy instead made it known that they, like most people, don’t like to be invaded and then occupied.
    The Fifth Iraq War. 2006-2011. President George W. Bush and Barrack Obama. This is the period after Gen. Betrayus began bribing the Sunni clans into oppressing their own people and the insurgency calmed down but was not forgotten.
    The Sixth Iraq War. 2011-2013. President Barrack Obama. The withdraw phase. Where the Iraqi people demanding the withdraw of most, but not all American troops, and instead the American puppet government in Baghdad controlled the fighting.
    The Seventh Iraq War. 2014-2018. Presidents Barrack Obama and President Donald Trump. Also known as The ISIS war. This war began when the massive American surveillance missed the fleets of new Toyota pickup trucks driving across the desert as they led a Sunni revolt against the clan leaders who had been bribed to side with the American invaders. The American trained Iraqi Army threw down their weapons and fled, leaving the defense of Iraq to the militias friendly to and supported by Iran.
    The Eight Iraq War. 2019-?. President Donald Trump. Battlefield Iraq as the American invaders attack Iran and the militias which had stopped ISIS.
    ———–
    The propaganda narrative artists have learned that using terminology such as “12th Battle of the Isonzo” (see Italy, WW1) only depresses the tax slaves and the conscripts with the hopelessness of the situation. Thus, each of these Iraq Wars is treated as a separate event that is somehow magically unconnected to all of the other Iraq Wars over the past 3 decades.

    1. Note that when we talk about “a million dead Iraqis”, we are using numbers from studies conducted during the Fourth Iraq War of the time of the Third and Fourth Iraq Wars to that point. These numbers have not been updated since. That number does not include deaths from before the Third Iraq War and has not been updated to even include all of the Fourth Iraq War. To give just one example, that number does not include the 500,000 dead children that Mad Maddy al-Righti declared “were worth it”.
      The figure of 1 million dead Iraqis is by now a dated and highly understated number. This is one way the propaganda separation of these wars into isolated events helps to hide the true scope of the horrors inflicted.

  6. The United States had itself been reeling over an 8 year internal coup begun in 1945 over the Anglo-American deep state which had purged much of the United States intelligentzia of genuine patriots under the Federal Bureau of Investigation-run red scare and 1947 creation of the Central Intelligence Agency. Please read this revealing article here:
    https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/01/12/atoms-for-peace-vs-atoms-for-war-only-fix-for-iran-us-relations/

  7. My government is one of the worst that ever existed. Please read this article about Iraq, Donald Trump, and China. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/52835.htm

  8. Good to see (read) you getting the bit back between your teeth Caitlin. For a while there it seemed the fire in your belly had been banked. Poke their lies with the sharp barb of truth. Make them squeal like pigs stuck with a spear of pure righteousness. Few writers skewer the empire’s bullshit like you do. Never lose that Caitlin.

  9. Wonderful press statement from the State Department. But there are two words missing from the end.
    “Or else.”

  10. Anybody remember this?
     
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/feb/08/usa.iraq1
     
    Part of the above:
     
    “How the US sent $12bn in cash to Iraq. And watched it vanish
    Special flights brought in tonnes of banknotes which disappeared into the war zone

     
    “The US flew nearly $12bn in shrink-wrapped $100 bills into Iraq, then distributed the cash with no proper control over who was receiving it and how it was being spent.
     
    The staggering scale of the biggest transfer of cash in the history of the Federal Reserve has been graphically laid bare by a US congressional committee.
     
    In the year after the invasion of Iraq in 2003 nearly 281 million notes, weighing 363 tonnes, were sent from New York to Baghdad for disbursement to Iraqi ministries and US contractors. Using C-130 planes, the deliveries took place once or twice a month with the biggest of $2,401,600,000 on June 22 2004, six days before the handover.”
    …………..
    ………..
     
    I wouldn’t be surprised if ANOTHER C-130, loaded with another 363 tonnes of USD $100 bills, was making its way to Iraq right now, with a “mission” to make every Iraqi parliamentarian very, very rich, IF they’ll just vote the right way next time. “Money” well spent.

  11. The United States ” Gangster Government ” does whatever it damn well pleases!
    For the last century the United States government has made it its regular business to execute, or to buy the execution of, men it deemed geopolitically damned. Please readthis great article here:
    http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/52834.htm

  12. Michel Bélisle Avatar
    Michel Bélisle

    Politics, domestic or foreign, have one goal. It is to keep wealthy people happy. So far, so good:

    https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/top-1-are-much-happier-content-their-lives-study-finds

    It is ok to want to be happy. It is the goal of everybody in life.

    But it seems that often wealthy people want it as a privilege if you read Sir Thomas More in his famous book “Utopia”:

    “if pride, that plague of human nature, that source of so much misery, did not hinder it; for this vice does not measure happiness so much by its own conveniences, as by the miseries of others; and would not be satisfied with being thought a goddess, if none were left that were miserable, over whom she might insult. Pride thinks its own happiness shines the brighter, by comparing it with the misfortunes of other persons; that by displaying its own wealth they may feel their poverty the more sensibly. This is that infernal serpent that creeps into the breasts of mortals, and possesses them too much to be easily drawn out”

    Aren’t we called to want for other people the same as for ourselves?:

    “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?
    Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:36-40)

    But in our days which are the return of the days of Noah just before the Second Coming of Jesus, it does not seem obvious to most people. So I pray the Rosary to hasten the return of Jesus because I have really seen enough.

    1. Sure hope you’ve got a few back up rosaries, Michel, ’cause the way you use it, you’re gonna wear them out waiting …

  13. The U.S. Continued Partnership with Iraq statement sounds just like someone assaulting you while telling you they love you & that it’s only for your own good. The other version is that the punishment they’re going to give you will hurt them far more than it will hurt you.

  14. The ball is in Iraq’s court. I would think that 50 million people could evict 5,000 U.S. troops. Just give America a firm date where its troops need to be out of THEIR nation – say, 30 days from now. Then send their own troops and people to all U.S. bases and embassies on that day to evict them. Also, invite the world’s press and let America know that the “whole world is watching.” Serve the eviction papers and then begin to enter the premises. Let’s see what America does then.

    1. foster goodwill Avatar
      foster goodwill

      nice idea!

    2. Trumple will nuke ’em, Bill. No shit …

  15. what is the other option? the US has to withdraw from the entire Middle East (and even other NATO vassal states have already suspended their own operations) handing it over to Russia / China / Iran, in which case Israhell is finished. yes, the israhell firsters have been prepping many other places as their next or other “homeland” like Ukrain and Australia, but they will do their very best to blow ME up before they have to pack up and leave ME.

    1. What fantasy world do you live in?! You are clearly ignorant of the situation in Ukraine with regard to the extremist neo-Nazi Azov battalion and the Banderists. Where do you get your assertion about the Israeli government scouting out Ukraine to take over as a second home? That’s about as likely as amerika deciding to suddenly become a good neighbor.

  16. Compare the apology of the Iranian government for the downing of the Ukrainian airliner to that of Bush the First for the downing of the Iranian airliner in 1988 by the Vincennes:

    1. Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, January 8, 2020
      .
      A sad day. Preliminary conclusions of internal investigation by Armed Forces: Human error at time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to disaster. Our profound regrets, apologies and condolences to our people, to the families of all victims, and to other affected nations.
      — Javad Zarif, Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran
      .
      Armed Forces’ internal investigation has concluded that regrettably missiles fired due to human error caused the horrific crash of the Ukrainian plane and death of 176 innocent people. Investigations continue to identify and prosecute this great tragedy and unforgivable mistake.
      The Islamic Republic of Iran deeply regrets this disastrous mistake. My thoughts and prayers go to all the mourning families. I offer my sincerest condolences.
      — Hassan Rouhani, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran
      .
      Iran Air Flight 655, July 3, 1988
      .
      I will never apologize for the United States — I don’t care what the facts are… I’m not an apologize-for-America kind of guy.
      — George H. W. Bush, Vice President of the United States

  17. Of course, Caitlin is right about America’s latest stance toward Iraq, as she often is right about other particular aspects of the big picture. Much of the criticism of the left is accurate as far as it goes. But it doesn’t go far enough, and thus its inherent weakness to proselytize and expand its base, instead of preaching to the choir. The key missing element in leftist thought, at least the predominant secular leftist thought, is WHY we should be outraged by evil–indeed, why we should even speak of evil at all. One group of ants wages war upon another and wipes it out.The stronger destroys the weaker and takes what was theirs. Why should it be any different with human beings? Doesn’t science and history show us social darwinism across the board? Yes, ecosystems sometimes reach some sort of equilibrium and species work together for a time, but only after countless life and death struggles, victories and defeats like the ant wars, and change which brings new competition, new life and death struggles, looms always on the horizon. That seems to be the way the world is, the way it works and has always worked, so why not just roll with it, make the best of it, be happy when your tribe is dominant over others and prosperity reigns, at least for a while? THAT is the question that the secular left has never answered, has never even tried to answer. It’s easy to preach morality, to paraphrase an old saying, but hard to justify it, to provide a rational basis for it. It would appear that some human beings feel drawn or compelled to take a moral position toward the world, to try to change it for the better (as they see it), while others are content to take advantage of whatever perks the status quo presents during their lifetimes. Is THAT not the most fundamental division in our divided world, and if so, what has the secular left ever said, even half-convincingly, to indicate WHY we should prefer the moral position over the amoral or, for that matter, the immoral?

    1. I like to think we’ve evolved beyond the survival of the fittest mentality, but circumstances certainly demonstrate most of us haven’t….

      1. Yes, there seems to be natural evolution but not moral evolution, there being no morality in nature to begin with, except, arguably and sporadically, in the maternal instinct of many species, group behavior in insects, etc. Albert Schweitzer spent an intellectual lifetime trying to explain why this is so and to point toward an alternative path of human progress: something he called “reverence for life,” rooted in the most basic instinct of all; i.e. the will to live/the drive for self-preservation and development.

  18. Shift change.
    .
    Fog of War
    .
    At MoA it is surmised that a shift change played a critical role in the Ukrainian plane being shot down near Tehran.
    .
    The accident happened shortly after 6 am. It would appear that the crew coming on at 6 am was not properly briefed.
    .
    Entrance into Fog:
    .
    1) US assassinates Iranian General Qassim Suleimani
    .
    2) Iran retaliates
    .
    3) Iran anticipates the US will attack Iran for retaliating
    .
    4) IRCG requests a no-fly zone around Tehran during period of anticipation of attack, request is denied.
    .
    5) Several civilian planes leave Tehran airport during period anticipating US attack. Missile operators
    observe and discern civilian aircraft and hold their fire.
    .
    6) 6 am shift change and new missile operators are at their posts
    .
    7) Airplane observed in military(?) airspace near Tehran.
    .
    8) Missile operators request go/no-go from command
    .
    9) Missile operators wait 10 seconds but receive no response from command
    .
    10) Airplane is shot down

    Civilians are ever the most to suffer in war.

  19. Government, being controlled by sociopaths, is good at very few things. Killing people, stealing their property, and protecting themselves.

  20. Great article. On a side note, caitlin, were you personally impacted by the serious fires you are having in Australia.

  21. Damn Caitlin don’t we get at least get an apology for your previous false flag delusions before you move to the next?

    1. What the fuck are you babbling about? Me saying be skeptical of US government narratives until they are proven? I don’t apologize for saying self-evidently correct things.

      1. I would say be skeptical whether they are “proven” or not. Since it is highly unlikely any of your readers would get their hands physically on any such “proof”, such “proof” remains suspicious. Believe nothing you hear and half what you see.

      2. (another) David Avatar
        (another) David

        https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48735097

        “The US launched a cyber-attack on Iranian weapons systems on Thursday as President Trump pulled out of air strikes on the country, US reports say.

        The cyber-attack disabled computer systems controlling rocket and missile launchers, the Washington Post said.

        It was in retaliation for the shooting down of a US drone as well as attacks on oil tankers that the US has blamed Iran for, the New York Times said.

        There is no independent confirmation of damage to Iranian systems.

        The US is set to impose further sanctions on Iran that President Trump has described as “major”.

  22. This link is more relevant to a recent post by Caitlin, but I post this for the benefit of low level propagandists & trolls like Fitz and Lloyd.

    https://www.mintpressnews.com/study-bots-maga-supporters-iraniansdetestsoleimani-hashtag/264024/

  23. There is one real reason for the US to maintain its occupation of Iraq:

    OIL

    https://thesaker.is/the-saker-interviews-michael-hudson-3/

    Everything else is BS and symptomology.

    Without the US empire’s continuing control of oil and global economics via the petrodollar, the US empire is finished. Withdrawing from Iraq would be the end of that control, the end of the empire. And don’t think that China and Russia aren’t at least equally dependent on oil (&gas) (China perhaps even more so since they lack the domestic reserves the US still has and since they want to increase their GDP per capita to current US levels) which is why they’re continuing and increasing their own presence in the ME, and because they do want to help push out the US empire (have more oil for themselves) and bring it down (be firmly established as the other global-scale amoeba, preferably the new dominant one).

    If we don’t focus on the ultimate, root problem of oil dependency-addiction in modern economics, we are only dealing with symptoms and the disease will only get worse until it destroys us. Ultimate solutions begin with recognition of ultimate causes.

  24. Julius Skoolafish Avatar
    Julius Skoolafish

    Very sorry – I would normally post with a ‘Warning – very distressing’. His name is (former) NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen

    1. Julius Skoolafish Avatar
      Julius Skoolafish

      That was in reply to Levi Tate below

      https://youtu.be/z2EpSYhhe0w

  25. Brava, Caitlin! Another tour de force! We here in the US anti-war movement are disgusted with this expansion – though it probably would have happened sooner with Hillary. Tulsi Gabbard is our only hope, maybe Bernie.

    1. Let me ruin your day (sorry). It doesn’t matter who the president is. There is no magical person who is going to unravel the Military Industrial Congressional Matrix. I suspect that like every president since 1963, they would get a visit from the CIA in which they are shown the Zapruder film. The Matrix has all the cards, the resources to counter any objection to their tyranny. Couple that with the success of public education in creating a population incapable of critical thought, and any attempt at a political solution is pointless.

  26. Yeah, well that’s how the US government treats it’s own citizenry, if they don’t belong to the correct ethnicity or criminal element. In this country we have something called, “Expungement”, of minor criminal convictions so that people can get on with their lives, but we also have the lesser known, “Unexpungment”, for those our government wants to blackmail into spying/setting up their closest friends and family members to fulfill the government’s agenda of total submission.

  27. Excellent essay, except it omits the instigating force behind the Iraqi occupation and re-occupation. The US is fighting for Israel’s Oded Yinon plan. C’mon, say Israel at least once in your essay. Just once, pretty please.

    1. Israel is there to support the empire, not the other way around. The occupation of Iraq is happening for the same reason as the occupation of Palestine: the more the empire can control a crucial geostrategic region, the more it can control the world.
      That said, I’ve mentioned Israel multiple times in my last several essays. I’ve concluded that no matter how many times I mention Israel there will be people insisting that I’ve never once mentioned it. One of the downsides of writing a lot, I guess.

      1. If this is your only article that someone reads and not your others, they will miss that important Israel connection that needs to be said Every Single Time so that it is never missed.

        I respectfully disagree that Israel is there to support the Empire. There is ample proof otherwise, such as, Chris Bollyn’s Solving 911, Oded Yinon, etc. I could give tons more examples but that would entail an entire essay if not a tome.

      2. Israel has its tentacles penetrating and ramifying extensively throughout the American figurehead democracy, its presidential puppet, the so-called Deep State, the MIC, the mass media and Wall Street and the rest of the crowd who deceive and exploit the American people for the benefit of the miniscule upper crust who somehow own 90% of the planet.

        Netanyahoo has acted like a ward boss in the American House and Senate. He disses presidents as a hobby. I’m sure his cut of our tax revenues surpasses the take of any notorious Chicago pol or pork-barreling neoconfederate, ever.

        Israel is not like any old part of Washington’s offshore empire. It clearly has a special synergy with the so-called “homeland.” Think of it as a most critical cerebral lobe in the body politic–way more important than any teacher’s union or fraternal order of Hibernian-Americans. It’s there calling the shots and reaping the rewards for the Adelson’s and other dual passport holders just as much as the latest generations bequeathed to this country by the old robber barons and slave holders out of its history books.

        Of course, all those beautiful people, being transnational globalists before citizens of any country, are not committed to either Israel or the USA (especially not the geography per se) as anything more than pawns to be played on the grand chessboard. Like Bill Browder, they readily change passports and citizenships for financial advantage. They’ve got their arks (their yachts the size of heavy cruisers) ready to transport them and their paper fortunes “elsewhere” on a moments notice if they manage to royally eff up the present order with their incessant greed and lust for power.

        Besides an inordinate posse of Jews in the ultimate “Big Club” (so-named by George Carlin) there are also large aggregates of parasites from the Middle East, the South Pacific archipelago and East Asia. The “Big Club” is most certainly not a “whites only” establishment.

        But don’t diminish the importance of the self-proclaimed Semites in this power structure, not when they’ve been allowed to have their own secret stash of nuclear weapons purloined decades ago from U.S. labs and depositories whilst other countries are threatened with extermination for trying to build their own (N. Korea) or even swearing on a stack of Korans that they never would even if they could (Iran).

        Some people can’t help but notice that kind of stuff, and, yes, some of them are sticklers for what they see as critical facts.

      3. All that said, I don’t disagree with your characterisation of Washington’s appalling aggression against Iraq. If mass murder of more than a million Iraqis does not qualify as genocide, I don’t know what would. Obviously, the deaths of nearly half a million Syrians is to be pinned exclusively upon Assad, according to the American braintrust. And of Libya, Yemen, and Afghanistan? Just more inconvenient bother that could not be helped. We American Saviors have it hard enough as it is.

      4. I don’t trust the opinions of antisemites when it comes to Jews for the same reason I don’t trust the opinions of russophobes when it comes to Russians or racists when it comes to black people.

        1. Policies and actions are the critical thing not anyone’s ethnic identity.

          “You will know them by their fruits.”–words spoken by a noteworthy Jew and commended by nearly all peoples.

          All the platitudes underlying European settlement of North America do not erase the sins of genocide against the native peoples to make this possible. Likewise, what is being done to the Palestinians so the self-defined Semites transplanted from Europe can rule every square inch of that land needs to be admitted. Their sins are their actions, not their gene pool. The cries of “antisemitism” are a complete misdirection and ruse. Many Jews don’t buy it themselves.

          1. Antisemitism is no ruse, it is real; millions have died because of it.

            1. It’s application in defense of Israeli atrocities in Palestine surely is a totally specious argument to deflect genuine criticism of what has become a rogue state. That Israel commits unabated mass murder to permanently seize all of Palestine is a flat fact, not antisemitic rhetoric.

              1. Only in the crazy imagination of a bigot could criticizing antisemitism be considered the same as defending atrocities.rackpot.

            2. Reality check, pal.

              Israeli Zionism is NOT to be conflated
              with the well-being or protection of world Jewry.

              Antisemitism which targets ALL Jews is NOT the same as valid criticism of the racist policies of Zionist Israel.
              If you support those mass murderers, YOU are the
              racist, murdering evil. To condemn Israel for its evil, racist murderous deeds against the hapless Palestinians is NOT antisemitism, it is being honest.

              You seem to think anything goes as long as you label others antisemites as some all-purpose smear.

              1. So now not agreeing with a conspiracy nut is the same as supporting murder? You couldn’t be more wrong.

  28. Joe Van Steenbergen Avatar
    Joe Van Steenbergen

    Read this excellent comment about this: “‘ it’s “our right” as a “force for good” in the region to maintain “appropriate force posture in the Middle East” ” That’s just pure criminal insanity.’” Couldn’t agree more.

  29. Charles Andrew Robinson Avatar
    Charles Andrew Robinson

    Remembering our human connection.
    For all the rumors I have heard of the hard side of Australia I am impressed by this.
    Would or could this also happen on a US subway or train, a British one, a Russian one?
    Well after all, Australia is a very wealthy country these days.
    But, I salute and smile at these kind, open minded and bold people on this train!
    Australia is having a very hard time with the fires down under currently.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xctzp0dp9uc
    https://inspiralight.wordpress.com/2015/07/21/the-story-behind-the-train-passengers-singing-over-the-rainbow/

  30. Michel Bélisle Avatar
    Michel Bélisle

    “A force for good”

    Those who are telling us that are the same people who have clearly seen airplanes wreckages in the Pentagone and in a field in Pennsylvania on 9/11.

    Do not lose time listening to those people. They will tell any lie and believe any lie to maintain their social status, power, money, control and assets.

    Sadly, they are not alone to be this way because we are in the return of the days of Noah just before the Second Coming of Jesus and I pray the Rosary to hasten His return because the weight of lies is becoming unbearable.

    Nature itself is affected and has difficulty to bear all of that.

    1. “the Second Coming of Jesus and I pray the Rosary to hasten His return”

      Michel, An almighty god, a god who exists out of time, already knows the perfect time to perform any of his actions. Isn’t a bit of hubris to believe that reciting prayers can change this god’s mind about the course of history? That’s a part I just never understood.

  31. Perfectly stated, Ms. Johnstone! (And, as always, no government can ever do good!)

    1. I disagree. Government can do good, though I admit it’s rare. I offer that the administration of FDR did a reasonable amount of good during it’s time in office. This is NOT to imply things were perfect during that time period.

      1. Of course they “can do good”, there is no entity that can’t. The problem being, any and all governments are the ideal environment for sociopaths, and thus become saturated with them. All governments, some more quickly than others, become The Sociopaths In Charge. They are often quite good at appearing to do “good’, but be assured, any “good” they appear to do is motivated by their sociopathic desire to benefit themselves alone, by increasing their power, and wealth, without compassion, empathy, remorse, or guilt.

  32. How low an IQ do you need to have to believe this US narrative? I’ve always found it hard to understand how most people of average+ intelligence could fall for such crap, when it is SO obvious (to me, anyway) that what the US does and says are diametrically opposed.

    Even a simpleton can work out that if the US says it’s big, then it really is small. The opposite of what it says is nearly always true.

    1. I disagree— a simpleton cannot work it out. And the collective I.Q. of the amerikan masses is just low enough to believe the amerikan narrative. (To paraphrase a saying: You can’t believe the government even if it swore shit stinks.) But I also think cognitive dissonance and willful ignorance play a large part. It so much easier and more convenient for the sheep to swallow the lies and dis/misinformation without question than to actually THINK.

    2. IQ has nothing to do with it. The masses have been subject to a dedicated program of mind control, beginning with public education. Couple that with a financial system that forces the average citizen to spend a disproportionate amount of what’s left of their intellect in supporting a lifestyle they’ve been convinced is proper, and they have little desire, or time to seek truth.

      1. Public education certainly has a part in indoctrinating the people with a somewhat falsified history. But even more to blame is that Teagan quashed the FCC’s Fairness Doctrine, allowing Rush Limbaugh and his clones to monopolize the airwaves with propaganda unchecked by the former public duty accepted by broadcast licensees to make time for citizens to broadcast opposing views. This 24/7 propaganda accounts for much of the “news” consumed by the folks out there driving trucks and tractors for a living.

  33. Democrats are much better at warmongering than Trump.

  34. Julius Skoolafish Avatar
    Julius Skoolafish

    ISIS – they must be here somewhere …

    Mosul in ruins: Bird’s-eye view of old city & landmark mosque blown up by ISIS
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AVVDFPq_PM

    Libya (Iraq) – NATO protects you

    1. Warning – very hard to watch.
      Children bleeding and screaming.
      Children with chunks blown out of them.

    2. Damn these American and Israeli sociopaths behind these evil massacres.

    3. Gaddaffi was a giant. Every NATO citizen should be forced to watch and see what they have done.

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