Caitlin Johnstone

Thoughts On The Iraq Invasion

It has now been eighteen years since the Iraq invasion, and I’m still not done raging about it. Nobody should be. The reason it’s so important to stay enraged about Iraq is because it’s never been addressed or rectified in any real way whatsoever. All the corrupt mechanisms which led to the invasion are still…

Caitlin Johnstone
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It has now been eighteen years since the Iraq invasion, and I’m still not done raging about it. Nobody should be.

The reason it’s so important to stay enraged about Iraq is because it’s never been addressed or rectified in any real way whatsoever. All the corrupt mechanisms which led to the invasion are still in place and its consequences remain. It isn’t something that happened in the past.

The Iraq invasion feels kind of like if your dad had stood up at the dinner table, cut off your sister’s head in front of everyone, gone right back to eating and never suffered any consequences, and everyone just kind of forgot about it and carried on life like it never happened. The US-centralized empire is full of willful amnesiacs pretending they don’t remember Iraq because it’s currently politically convenient, and we must not let them do this. 

No institutional changes were made to ensure that the evils of the Iraq invasion wouldn’t be repeated. It’s one of those big, glaring problems people just decided to pretend is resolved, like racism.

There’s this weird implicit default assumption among the political/media class that US government agencies have earned back the trust they lost with Iraq, despite their having made no changes whatsoever to prevent another Iraq-like horror from reoccurring, or even so much as apologizing. The reason nobody responsible for the Iraq invasion suffered any consequences for the great evil they inflicted upon the world is because the western empire had no intention of changing and has every intention of repeating such evils. The lies and killing continue unabated.

No changes were made after the Iraq invasion to keep the US government from deceiving Americans into war. No new laws were made, no policies changed; no one was even fired. And indeed, the government did deceive Americans into war again: the Libya and Syria interventions were both based on lies. It’s happened since, and it will happen again unless the murderous US war machine is stopped.

Don’t take life advice from people who are miserable. Don’t take career advice from people whose careers aren’t where you want to be. Don’t take creative advice from people who don’t create things. Don’t take foreign policy advice from people who supported the Iraq invasion.

How true can President Biden’s claim be that he regrets supporting the Iraq invasion if he appointed the guy who advised that decision as Secretary of State? 

It’s absolutely insane that every US presidential general election since the Iraq invasion has featured a mainstream candidate who actively supported it. The argument that the Iraq invasion was supported by most prominent politicians at the time is not a defense of those politicians, it’s an indictment of mainstream American politics. The fact that politicians who not only supported the Iraq invasion but actively facilitated it are still becoming US presidential nominees proves the entire American political system is corrupt beyond the possibility of redemption.

Nobody who supported the Iraq invasion should be working in politics at all. They shouldn’t be able to find employment anywhere more prominent or influential than a cash register. This should be true of politics, and it should be true of media as well.

There is no valid reason for the entire US-led world order not to have been completely dismantled after the invasion of Iraq. A world order which can create something as horrific as the unforgivable Iraq invasion (or the genocide in Yemen today for that matter) is not a world order that will lead the world in a good direction. The facts are in. The US-led world order must end.

So much establishment loyalism ultimately boils down to an entirely faith-based and unquestioned belief that the corrupt, depraved power establishment which facilitated the Iraq war completely evaporated as soon as George W Bush and Tony Blair left office. There is literally no reason to believe this besides it feeling more psychologically comfortable to believe it.

It’s essential to keep in mind that western propaganda hasn’t gotten less advanced since the Iraq invasion, it has gotten more advanced. The Russiagate psyop and the smear campaigns against Assange and Corbyn make this abundantly clear. You need to be more critical of western narratives than with Iraq, not less.

Manipulating public thought at mass scale is a science. Scientific fields don’t magically become less sophisticated over time, they become more sophisticated. Every time they run a new mass-scale manipulation, whether it succeeds or fails, they learn from it. And they evolve.

We must remember that the mass media can create false narratives without even speaking them explicitly, just by giving a certain impression. After the Iraq invasion 70 percent of Americans still believed Saddam was responsible for 9/11, just because reporters and politicians kept mentioning the two in the same breath.

Supporting the Vietnam war was dumb. Supporting the Iraq invasion after being lied to about Vietnam was an order of magnitude dumber. Supporting any US war agendas after being lied to about Iraq is an order of magnitude even dumber than that.

The debate about whether America has the moral authority to intervene in other countries was settled once and for all eighteen years ago. Western mass media have spent the last eighteen years trying to slowly spin the narrative away from facts and reality, but the Iraq invasion invalidates them all.

Iraq should be a one-word debunk of all pro-regime change arguments. You should be able to just say “Iraq” and have whoever’s pushing escalations and interventionism sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up. The fact that that isn’t enough shows how insanely propagandized we are.

America shouldn’t be in the Middle East at all, much less Iraq, and the US government is solely responsible for every American soldier who dies there.

When a known compulsive liar asks you to place your faith in him on a very important matter, you tell him to fuck off. When the western empire tells you to trust them that an evil government needs to be ousted, you take it with an Iraq-sized grain of salt.

Never let anyone shout you down for openly doubting US intelligence on foreign nations. Iraq means they don’t get to do that anymore. Ever.

I promise I will always fight to remind the world about the Iraq invasion. I will always do everything I can to make sure that as many people as possible view all actions of the US-centralized power establishment through the lens of what they did to that country for as long as I draw breath.

I will always do everything I can to keep Iraq from being dismissed as an anomaly of history that could never happen again. Whenever the empire talks about Russia, China, Syria, Iran, Venezuela, North Korea, Yemen, or any other country, I will be talking about what they did to Iraq.

You don’t get to butcher a million people and then say “Oh yeah, but that was a whole eighteen years ago. You can trust us now.” That’s not a thing. The world has no business taking US defense and intelligence agencies at their word about anything ever again.

I write about imperial warmongering not just because it is intrinsically evil, but because it is the clearest evidence I can point to that the people who are running things are too sociopathic to be left in charge. The power structure which raped Iraq should not exist. Period.

The way I see it we’ve got two options: find a way to drastically change the way we think and function as a species, or pray that the world will be saved by the same ruling elites who destroyed Iraq while making the poor poorer for the benefit of the extremely wealthy.

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99 responses to “Thoughts On The Iraq Invasion”

  1. Otto Avatar
    Otto

    ‘the government did deceive Americans into war again: the Libya and Syria interventions were both based on lies’

    I understood that Libya was first attacked by attacking a Gadhafi military convoy which was proceeding to Benghazi to wipe out all there. Perhaps not a good idea but was that a lie? Please advise.

  2. Jack Oliver Avatar
    Jack Oliver

    Alan jones (who every Australia knows ) has just blown the whistle on the entire COVID SCAM !!

    This is monumental !!

    1. Drengr Avatar
      Drengr

      It’s happening exactly as it’s supposed to be. They took advantage of this situation with a massive propaganda (it could have been any other disease, that’s not. the point) to take everything from you. It’s not a task to be completed in one year, two years, etc. It will take as long as it needs till everyone forget what put them jailed in the first place. It’s the same technique of Weapons of Mass Destruction propaganda but in a global scale. They wanna shape a new world and they will do whatever it takes to accomplish it. They have resources, media and global population barely educated to critically think for themselves as a result of a long process to downgrade real knowledge in schools started in the XVIII century. Since Sartre, we don’t have any great thinker. Even the germans don’t produce great minds in numbers as they did in the past. They have been dreaming of one world, one government for centuries. It failed several times because they had too many people awaken in the past. Today everyone is just trying to survive and too tired to think. Those with money just want stay isolated from the rest. It’s inevitable the end of freedom. Take a look at the comments in this blogs or in any other. Almost all of them just have superficial guessing and all ended up in the same common place: ordinary thoughts. It doesn’t’ matter to have money to trend an article if you don’t know where it can hurt badly. Aleatory accusations and hard words don’t inflict damage. But a sharp mind with the right source of evidence can do what a million of articles cannot. How to make a sheep to follow the dot connector? Those with a inner strength and and a reckless resolution don’t need convincing but they are so few and easy to be neutralized today. How to make the turn of the tide when the odds against are heavily overwhelming. How to make a powerless ordinary dumb citizen become a hero? People today are different from the people living a 200 years ago. And the few ones on the top descendant of those who where defeated in the past, they know it. Now it’s their time. All data saved by Snowden – a precious evidence – stuck in some room waiting to be studied for a junior or senior journalist or whatever it is the hierarchy to give birth to some article. Snowden, Manning did a sacrifice for nothing. I don’t have a pity of anyone on this world. They don’t deserve a great future but what’s already in course to imprison them forever. A new way of living and learning on line in schools and college will shape the perfect citizen to live in the future.

      1. joker Avatar
        joker

        But you are a pacifist, you realize what is happening to some extent but you are incapable of actually doing anything about it. Taking some kind of action, any kind of action as a consequence of this reality is much more difficult than it is to do what you are doing. So who is the really guilty party than people like you who know about the problem, but don’t do anything…..as in do NOTHING? Zero? Zilch? Do something or your awareness is worthless. Posting online does not count and accomplishes nothing. You are intellectually master-baiting to make yourself feel better. This makes you no better than the people you criticize.

  3. Lloyd Avatar
    Lloyd

    I must suppose that the Saddam Hussein in this particular alternate dimension never posed any threat at all to the neighbouring major oil producing nations of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. While even the threat of such trouble presents a very serious problem for any oil driven world economy, in my own dimension, that Saddam doppelgänger actually invaded and totally trashed Kuwait, looting, terrorising and setting fire to the oil wells when forced to retreat. This same alternate Saddam actually launched Scuds at targets in both Saudi Arabia and Israel along with a thinly veiled threat of including chemical and/or biological agents for added terror effect. This threat was quite plausible considering he had previously utilized both illegal weapons against neighboring Iran and even the Kurds of his own country. Apparently in my own dimension if someone threatens the world economy, his peaceful neighbors, his own citizens and the seemingly totally unrelated country of Israel “just because”, the feces is sooner or later unerringly bound to hit the fan whether or not a “power vacuum” then occurs. That people suffer for having been cursed with very bad leadership… this seems to occur regardless of what dimension we’re in.

    1. John Knox Avatar
      John Knox

      Kuwait was no innocent victim- a lot of the oil they “produced” was stolen from Iraq by slant drilling.

      1. Sand Bag Avatar
        Sand Bag

        Slant drilling is well portrayed on that movie “There will be blood”, in how the beginning of the oil and gas era in America was founded and exported worldwide. The multibillionaire oil and gas elite ruling the country are descendants of crooks, rascals, murderers, thieves. Some in this area came from Unions (50s to 80s) where they made a fortune as mafia. They have business with USA, Russia, China, Middle East. They are in both sides of the Oil and Gas wars. As there is an equal mafia woking in both sides dealing weapons, drugs, high tech in both fronts. They have more power than the president of any country. Embassies, secret agencies, army, navy, Air Force are sidekicks in this equation. Today patriotism is so fake as the controlled implosion of the WTC and the subsequent reasons to invade Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, etc..

    2. Ian Perkins Avatar
      Ian Perkins

      Did the invasion make the region any safer?

    3. MIchael Lewis Kahn Avatar
      MIchael Lewis Kahn

      Sadam had told the US rulers that he was going to attack, and there was no opposition, he took it as a sign that it was okay to do so. That does not wipe his guilt clean, but puts more dirt on US rulership. The US military did not spend much time on attacking Iraqi military, but with the lame excuse that the military were hiding within civilian territories, they bombed the hell out of the Arab citizens. And all the while, told US citizens that they were attacking “Sadam”- not mentioning hardly any little bit the casualties in truth.

    4. John Farnham Avatar
      John Farnham

      It’s an odd thing, Lloyd. Kuwait was directional drilling into Iraqi oil deposits. Saddam presumed the US knew this – I’m sure it did – and cared, which is a miscalculation of the first order. The best irony going forward was that the US sanctions ( Find ‘The Secret Behind the Sanctions’ ) killed about 500,000 Iraqis before the invasion, the effects of destroying their government, military and police added about another 1.5 million ( per the Lancet study ) and then State Department assigned edicts ( Bremer’s 100 Orders ) ripped the constitution to shreds so that Iraqis had to ‘partner’ with foreigners – and the whole thing was ‘justified’ by the risks of nuclear WMD ( the aluminum tubes were used to change yellowcake – Iraq was littered with it – into fertilizer ). Oh, yes. ‘Chemical Ali’ got his WMD supplies to use on Iran from the USA. You want to worry about WMD ? Check the receipts !

      1. Lloyd Avatar
        Lloyd

        Receipts thing, yes, that’s a very good reason for failing to find anything like that. That would be embarrassing. Did Saddam really plot to assassinate “Daddy” Bush? Bad move, apparently. How much in natural resources riches has been totally wasted on building and rebuilding Saddam’s war machine in trying to establish his own empire in direct conflict with the U.N sanctions as opposed to taking care of his own people? Imagine if (even now) Iraq could be like the other Arab OPEC countries, rich, prosperous and relatively peaceful. The difference is a matter of leadership, IMHO. God bless Babylon and King Nebuchadnezzar II, of which Saddam Hussein was not.

  4. Susan Mercurio Avatar
    Susan Mercurio

    Not only is the US government responsible for every American soldier who died in the Middle East, every American adult is responsible. They keep killing people in our name, and we keep letting them do it.

    If we want to stop the US government and its war machine, one thing that we can do is to STOP VOTING.

    1. David G Tehr Avatar
      David G Tehr

      Susan, essentially there’s no such thing as “no voting” as not voting still has consequences. I prefer the Australian model which makes attendance at the polling place mandatory (albeit with very small fine if you don’t attend). Australia has a voter turnout of over 95%, with very few invalid votes. I put such a requirement in the same category as compulsory education: you can still graduate from school without learning how to read & write, but at least MOST people will be a little knowledgeable!

      I’ve been campaigning for annual elections since 1986. If we’d had annual elections in 2002/3, there’s no way that Bush, Blair & Howard could have invaded Iraq.

      That is one reason why I squirm whenever I hear people say “But elections cost so much”. The cost of peace is eternal vigilance.

      1. JWK Avatar
        JWK

        What if an election were held and nobody voted? To steal a late ’60s antiwar question. Of what use is voting when the candidates are selected by the Psychopaths In Charge., with no one on the ballot they don’t approve of? Trumps election was an exposure of the fact. An exception proving the rule. Look at the panic it caused. Perhaps with annual elections Bush, Blair, Howard might have been disposed of. Replaced by a different set of psychopaths, issuing the same result. Public education is the very source of indoctrination. It spends little effort or resources on anything else. One may graduate without reading or writing or basic math, but one sure as hell knows how wonderful the gang of Psychopaths In Charge are. Knowledge is not the goal of real education. The capability of critical thought to acquire real knowledge is. Mein Kompf is knowledge. Critical thought allows its evaluation. Which it just so happens most public education constantly discourages.

    2. joker Avatar
      joker

      It’s not about voting or not voting. It’s about exercising political power. Protesting in the streets is really the only way remaining to exercise any political power in the U.S. I agree that voting does nothing, but not voting does nothing too. Every person must take responsibility by actively protesting in the streets, putting themselves in the line of fire to defend human rights. The problem is the entire capitalist system, not any particular government, any particular country or any particular group of people.

  5. Johnny Avatar
    Johnny

    Avarice has one master: MORE.
    Humans devoid of Love are compelled to fill their lovelessness with avarice.
    The avarice of sex, money, objects, authority, fame and adulation.
    Yet they remain empty.
    Pathetic isn’t it?

  6. HISTORICVS Avatar
    HISTORICVS

    The rape and attempted murder of Iraq ranks as one of the most cynical crimes against humanity in all of history. The popular demonization of the secular, socialist government of Iraq continued the precedent which began in the American media during the Paris Commune of 1871.
    ~
    The singular catastrophe of Iraq, apart from the annihilation of a sovereign state and the murders and displacement of millions, is the looting of so many ancient archeological sites in the land where our civilization began. It is as if in its death spasms, capitalism is methodically erasing the traces of the human presence on this unfortunate planet.
    ~
    Long after Baathism and Wahaabism and capitalism and democracy have been forgotten in history’s rubbish bin, the willful destruction of Iraq’s world heritage sites will be remembered, and the name of the vandals cursed.
    ~
    These lines from Euripides’ play The Trojan Women are a fit summary of what we have allowed to be done in our name
    ~
    How ye are blind
    Ye treaders down of cities, ye that cast
    Temples to desolation, and lay waste
    Tombs, the untrodden sanctuaries where lie
    The ancient dead; yourselves so soon to die!

    1. Ian Perkins Avatar
      Ian Perkins

      I’m not at all surprised that the Paris Commune was demonised by US media, but I’m not familiar with what they said. Is there a convenient online summary you can provide a link to?

  7. Bob Avatar
    Bob

    How to stop wars. Well, you could do worse than read USMC Major General Smedley Butlers “War is a racket”. The good General knew of what he wrote, prosecuting wars for the empire a century ago. He explains what a racket is and how to take the incentive out of war and there are incentives, big ones. Of course, the US had a chance to vote for Ralph Nader a few elections ago, he had integrity, name recognition and had saved literally millions of American lives with his actions to make safer cars to a better environment…read that again, literally millions of American lives. Of course they chose dubya…. and the rest is history along with another million lives and another few trillions. Down the memory hole we go again. It’s not that people can’t figure out what’s happening, it’s that they have another course chosen for them by the propagandist.

  8. Wanda Sobran Avatar
    Wanda Sobran

    Hello , I’ve been reading you for a while .
    Started with Lew Rockwell & the I subscribed to your blog , I will shoot some funds your well . Do you read James Corbett or Pepe Escobar ( love his name ) ? It’s going to be a dif war , a war on you & me . The Quad has no power , USA & China will make a splendid Technocracy !

  9. Clint Avatar
    Clint

    The last paragraph; “The way I see it we’ve got two options: find a way to drastically change the way we think and function as a species, or pray that the world will be saved by the same ruling elites who destroyed Iraq while making the poor poorer for the benefit of the extremely wealthy.” which if you read it is really only One option.

    How do we do this though, “change the way we think and function as a species” If that is really our only option then we need to figure that out. Right?

    How do we do this, tell me?

    What are the obstacles we face, not in stopping the evil but in “changing the way we think and function as a species”?

    What are we looking to do as we, “Change the way we think and function as a species”?

    What would we achieve if we could, “Change the way we think and function as a species”?

    Are Those are the questions, the issues we should really focus on here? Is our constant attempt to shine a light on evil changing the nature and actions of evil within our species?

    Perhaps we should start by “Changing the way we think and function as a species” Here on this forum?

    Any thoughts? What do you ‘Think’?

    1. Ishkabibble Avatar
      Ishkabibble

      Google “waiting for Godot”. That’ll give you a good idea when to expect a reply. Foreigners meddling in US elections is somewhat frowned upon in our 1984.
       
      But I’m not Godot, so I’ll answer your question. The behavior that has to be changed in US citizen/voters is how/for whom they vote — both party and persons. Specifically, what some how, some way, has to happen is that at least 80 million US voters have to cast ballots for NON R or D candidates in all elections from here to eternity.
       
      There are plenty of NON R or D political parties (such as the Socialist Equality Party) whose candidates promise to stop the US’s wars, enact Medicare for All and a variety of things that average US citizens claim they want, but never get simply because they only vote for Rs or Ds, time and time and time again.
       
      I highly recommend to any party running candidates for federal public offices that they promise to MAINTAIN the DoD contract system, but to produce products for peaceful purposes rather than war. This will be attractive to the tens of millions of voters who are either directly or indirectly employed by the MIC. If candidates promise to, say, cut the war budget by 75%, threatening the jobs of those tens of millions, those candidates will not be elected.
       
      There you have it. It’s either doing the above or being part of a violent revolution to chop off DC heads without having a cucking flue what happens The Day After. I strongly suggest the former, and that right soon, because some other powerful nations have had just about all they’re going to take from The Greatest Nation On Planet Earth.
       
      In the last election, roughly 154 million voters voluntarily voted for More Of The Same (MOTS) that they’ve been experiencing since at least 1990, including, this time around, voting for either of two “men” who promised that there would never be national health care, as well as voting for one of two men who both promised perpetual war right along with the mandatory perpetually increasing war budget which is financed by borrowing from future taxpayers. (War — great place to invest money, don’t you think?)
       
      Roughly 10+ million voters voted for candidates who promised Something Else.
       
      So MOTS candidates got 10 times as many votes as the Something Else candidates. The People spoke. Now, after their voluntary choice, voters are getting, and for the next four years are going to continue to get, exactly what they voted for, and that includes more Russiagates, impeachments, 24/7 bald faced lies and false flags of all types. That is the very definition of democracy, isn’t it? (And do not fucking tell me that The People are NOT getting what they voted for — that they “didn’t realize” what they were voting for! Not even the most stupid, ignorant moron buys a cat in the hope that it is someday going to play the violin!)

      1. Ian Perkins Avatar
        Ian Perkins

        If the US electorate is getting what it voted for, what chance is there 80 million US voters will cast ballots for non- R/D candidates next time?

        1. MIchael Lewis Kahn Avatar
          MIchael Lewis Kahn

          Coming up over the next two or three years= vaccines causing deaths by the tens of millions, world war, and martial law, causing billions to die. Those are the plans of the Vatican and elite, who have devised for a world fascist totalitarian police state of 500 million survivors by 2025. Too late for any kind of vote that would be useless to try to remove all republicans and democrats, the CIA, FBI, and other forces of evil. The establishment is infected in every part of humanity, as the Jesuits have infiltrated the inner workings and have propagandized, subverted, diverted, and perverted humanity via the tv and media of all kinds, as well as the schooling system, justice system, medical system, etc..
          VIVA REVOLUCION!!!!!!!

          1. Ian Perkins Avatar
            Ian Perkins

            China’s producing and exporting vaccines, so I guess the Vatican controls China too?

          2. MIchael Lewis Kahn Avatar
            MIchael Lewis Kahn

            Virtually every ruler of virtually every nation in the world (possibly except some like Tanzania) has been bought or cowered into obedience to the Vatican’s agenda as furthered by “Romerica.

            1. Ian Perkins Avatar
              Ian Perkins

              1/4 of Tanzanians are Catholic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_in_Tanzania as was Magufuli https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-56441421

            2. MIchael Lewis Kahn Avatar
              MIchael Lewis Kahn

              So was Kennedy. Means nothing. They are not the Vatican. There are a multitude of democrats and republicans who dont want war, but get it. Being of a religion does not consign you to agreeing with Jesuits, who serve satan willinglly.

      2. Ishkabibble Avatar
        Ishkabibble

        Ian wrote:
        “If the US electorate is getting what it voted for, what chance is there 80 million US voters will cast ballots for non- R/D candidates next time?”
         
        About the same as it was during the US genocide in Vietnam in which 3 – 4 million Vietnamese were murdered and many thousand US soldiers were killed. And in those days the MSM broadcast, almost nightly, horrifying video of all that destrction and dead bodies and flag-draped coffins returning home to crying parents. And in those days there were huge anti-war marches all over the country. I attended such a protest at the Boston Common when George Wallace came to speak in 1968, when I was a student at Northeastern University:
        https://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/news-photo/former-alabama-governor-george-c-wallace-drew-a-crowd-of-18-news-photo/654197854
         
        In short, none of the marching and protesting and letter-writing by all these fully-woke, highly-motivated young folk had any effect on the voting pattern of millions of the “Great Silent Majority”. It was quite apparent to all of the draft-age males living in America at that time that the American government and the vast majority of Americans just loved war and all its benefits.
         
        So my answer to you question is “not much chance”. But we must all face the simple fact that if we want to see Pelosi and Schumer and Swalwell, and Cruz and Graham and McConnel and all the rest of those monsters go gentle into that good night, voters in their districts MUST vote for NON R or D candidates in sufficient numbers to defeat these incumbents.
        There. Is. No. Other. Way.
        But I’d just love to read any alternative strategies to remove these people from high office, so, please, spell them out right here, right now.

        1. MIchael Lewis Kahn Avatar
          MIchael Lewis Kahn

          Military coup. That is not impossible. My first major book EXPOSING THE MONEY MACHINE was published May 2016, and within four months, I received an email telling me that 60,000 men in green were willing to fight for the people (it did not say for the nation)I was incarcerated for writing it in September, and while in my second incarceration, in 2017 I learned that four aircraft carriers and battleships had collided with oil tankers in the open seas. Military grunts, not brass, may make it happen- it is a possibility. Revolution is the more plausible way, as the Jesuits have infiltrated not only politics, but also military, education, justice, medicine, etc.. the evil satan-worshipers must be wiped out for us to survive.

        2. tom charles osher Avatar
          tom charles osher

          If you are looking for solutions, try this one on and if you have any questions, doubts, or refutations please express them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wywMhg604W8

          1. Ian Perkins Avatar
            Ian Perkins

            Little indication of how the USA would get there. If 154 million USians voted for more of the same, what will make them suddenly want a system like those in Rojava or Chiapas? And even if they did, would the US powers that be say OK?

        3. Ishkabibble Avatar
          Ishkabibble

          Tom, Twin Oaks Community has been around since the 1960s. I was a member in one of its spin-off communities in West Brookfield, Mass. for a short time in the early 1970s. Such communities are options for people who want to live a truy different lifestyle than they are now. But the large system that 99.99% of the US population lives in must be changed because the US is quite obviously, to anyone whose eyes are not closed, on the march to WWIII.

      3. Ishkabibble Avatar
        Ishkabibble

        Ian:
        “Little indication of how the USA would get there. If 154 million USians voted for more of the same, what will make them suddenly want a system like those in Rojava or Chiapas? And even if they did, would the US powers that be say OK?”
         
        Exactly. After such a military coup, there would be utter chaos — probably gang against gang. Who’s going to feed the masses in the large cities? But there are those that say that no planning is necessary. Just kill the psychopathic bastards and everything’s going to turn out just great.
         
        What I find interesting and disturbing is that many citizens in the US say to NOT vote. I’ll bet that many Americans wouldn’t mind at all if the right to vote were abolished — so divisive, you know. If that were to happen, then there would be no recourse but violent revolution. And if that revolution were successful, what would the revolutionaries want in a new democracy? The right to vote.

    2. Khatika Avatar
      Khatika

      Collapse of society with all that goes with it has a marvelous way of adjusting everyones attitude.

      1. MIchael Lewis Kahn Avatar
        MIchael Lewis Kahn

        Don’ t worry, the elite, and the Vatican have made plans and preparations for their continued prosperity and rulershipi over the few survivors that they have accomodated to be worthy of slavery. It is commonly called the great reset, new world order, agenda 21, agenda 2030, all the same. They have no need of attitude adjustment, they will make fine rulers just as they are- perfectly brutal and evil to suffice.

    3. Wanda Sobran Avatar
      Wanda Sobran

      I didn’t comment on what you just wrote but I was thinking of you when I was reading James Corbett , pls check out last article .

      1. Clint Avatar
        Clint

        Thanks, will do!

  10. Harry Nydick Avatar
    Harry Nydick

    I don’t know if you’ll see this Caity, but here’s a thought. Sometimes, your articles are so spot on, that there’s no real reason to add anything in the form of a comment. However, when your articles arrive in my AOL inbox, it provides the option to comment by clicking on a link, but does not provide an option to share to other sites. in order to share, we must click on the ‘Comment’ button, go to the comments page and then scroll to the links for sharing. So, it would be nice if there were also a link for sharing, that could exist side by side with the comment link, for use on those occasions where we feel you have said all that needs to be said. Sharing, not comments, should be the measure of how much we appreciate the article and you.

  11. Ishkabibble Avatar
    Ishkabibble

    The sun rose today and will set today, too.
     
    Iraq should be a lesson to all of us in exactly how the US conducts regime-change around the world, but, first, we must understand the US’s REAL definition of “victory”. Victory has nothing to do with “spreading freedom and democracy”, as even a cadaver should realize by now. Victory, or “Mission Accomplished” is declared after the US militarily destroys the victim-nations military and existing government and installs military bases and a puppet government so that US corporations can exploit/extract whatever they want in the victim-nation for maximum profit, after which the local population usually becomes enslaved and impoverished, if they are “lucky” enough to survive.
     
    Caitlin and Tim’s recent article about “money” is highly relevant to the US’s regime-change operation in Iraq. Two widely spaced events — one in 2004 and the other in January 2020 — pretty much explain exactly why the government of “Iraq” has come to be what it is today — still under the tight control of the US.
     
    First, what was one of the very first things that the US did after invading Iraq? In 2004, the year after the invasion, the US “treasury” printed a lot of $100 bills that were “backed” by nothing but the power of the US military and the historically-proven willingness of the US government (elected by Them Peeple) to ruthlessly use it. Teaser: If you want to know how much $12 billion in cash weighs, along with a whole lot of very interesting details, read the following article.
     
    “How the US sent $12bn in cash to Iraq. And watched it vanish”
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/feb/08/usa.iraq1
     
    Special flights brought in tonnes of banknotes which disappeared into the war zone
     
    Almost $12bn in cash was spent by the US-led authority
    Etc.
     
    Second, after the US gets its victim-nation’s “government” addicted to its USD-heroin, how, exactly, does it control it? The answer is explained by events that happened in early 2020. This is actually how the US controls all its vassals, so it’s IMO well worth absorbing.
     
    Iraq warns of ‘collapse’ if Trump blocks oil cash
    https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/1834699/iraq-warns-of-collapse-if-trump-blocks-oil-cash
     
    published : 13 Jan 2020 at 11:45
    writer: AFP
     
    Iraqi officials say around $35 billion of the country’s oil revenues are held at the US Federal Reserve, which means Washington’s threat to restrict access could be a major problem.
     
    BAGHDAD: Iraqi officials fear economic “collapse” if Washington imposes threatened sanctions, including blocking access to a US-based account where Baghdad keeps oil revenues that feed 90 percent of the national budget.
     
    US President Donald Trump was outraged by the Iraqi parliament voting on January 5 to oust foreign forces, including some 5,200 American troops, who have helped local soldiers beat back jihadists since 2014. If troops were asked to leave, he threatened, “we will charge them sanctions like they’ve never seen before.”
    Etc.
     
    _________
    Again, the US’s control of the world is achieved in a two-fold manner — the printed-out-of-thin-air USD/SWIFT symbiosis and the MIC that “backs it up” — forces nations to accept toilet paper as payment for REAL resources and products– at the point of a very large gun. If for any reason the world-wide “peace-loving” investors in the US MIC and USD lose confidence in the US psychopaths’ continuing willingness to bomb and terrorize the world into obedience and subservience for them to exploit, they will stop buying US treasury bonds and the US is DONE. See any irony here? Domestic and foreign investors in, and users and accepters of, including China, the USD and US bonds, are literally betting their money that the US will remain the most ruthless terrorists on planet earth. And please do not forget that Them Peeple, them exceptional voters in the exceptional US (especially the tens of millions of “average Americans” directly and indirectly employed in the MIC), have voted for MOTS for the past many decades. Will they do that again in 2022 and 2024? We’ll see.

  12. MIchael Lewis Kahn Avatar
    MIchael Lewis Kahn

    Anybody who supports the damn evil empire of the US states is a damn immoral fool. Since world war 2, the US has been a militaristic and imperialistic bully of the world, being used by the vatican to enslave and subjugate all nations in terror to the Satanic (literally- very literally) agenda of that entity, and to reduce greatly the world population under its rule. Anybody who respects the rulers and their character and their deeds is even worse. Fuk ’em.

  13. ariel Avatar
    ariel

    Unfortunately, Caitlin, the destruction of Iraq and its continued rape and occupation IS A THING, to which we should certainly add LIBYA, and parts of SYRIA, not to mention AFGHANISTAN, etcetera.
    What do you expect from the military arm of the world-controlling central banking cabal and its TRUE owners? Not to mention the supporting cast of armaments industries. You can add UK and others as accompanying poodles.

  14. Alan Ross Avatar
    Alan Ross

    Very important article. I would add that we are in overdrive to conquer the whole world no matter how many innocent lives it takes is because the profit system is dying as people are more openly and persistently objecting to using people for profit. Oligarchs and many on the right know this and are scared. While many neoliberals delude themselves with dreams of continuing comfort. It is ironic that the increased murderous efforts of our leaders, and the brutal coldness of neoliberals are both causing more Americans to object to the status quo. Unfortunately, too many people are objecting by supporting Trump with the underlying attitude that smashing everything good or bad is the only answer. A great and very kind man has shown how hurt people feel they have the right to be mean as hell.

  15. Gimmeabreak Avatar
    Gimmeabreak

    Vietnam taught the people nothing and it taught the politicians that they can do anything so long as the victims don’t roll tanks into Washington in reprisal because the people are dumber than a wet paper sack full of rocks. Can’t teach the stupid. It’s in the description.

    1. Ian Perkins Avatar
      Ian Perkins

      I don’t exactly agree, but very soon after the war on Vietnam, the US started operations against Afghanistan. This time though, rather than draft US citizens and have them coming home in boxes, they sent in the jihadis.

      1. joker Avatar
        joker

        Correct. To add to that, at this time the CIA began the privatization of war (by using public spending of course). Covert warfare = privatization of the military and war around the world. It all started happening at the same time….attack journalism, attack accountability, expansion of global drug trade, arms deals, Islamophobia, etc. It’s all the CIA, which is literally run by nazis. The U.S. was overthrown without anyone even realizing it. The world becomes more right-wing, more privatized, and more fascist every day the CIA exists.

  16. Bill Rice, Jr. Avatar
    Bill Rice, Jr.

    But take your point farther, Caitlin. Don’t just distrust these “officials” and “authorities” and the mainstream media on foreign policy, distrust them when it comes to EVERY important subject. Distrust them when they say something is a fact on COVID (when it’s not); distrust them when they say something is a fact about the economy; distrust them when they say gold and silver “markets” are NOT rigged, distrust them when they say they are prosecuting Ghislaine Maxwell for orchestrating an “international sex-trafficking ring” (no they are not, or else they would be investigating the many alleged “johns”). The same authorities and press that was spreading lies about Iraq is also spreading lies about countless other subjects (and censoring stories that would expose these lies) … It’s really the extinction of a skeptical “watchdog” press that has allowed all of these false narratives to be created … and accomplish their goal (making sure that “conventional wisdom” is a lie). There’s a reason Caitlin’s excellent essays and reporting never appears at MSM sites.

  17. Some One Avatar
    Some One

    Remember Iraq. Remember the 1st OPCW Chief: “It was obvious that during the first Iraq War everything had been destroyed [by Iraq],” and there was “nothing left for Iraq to be accused of possessing chemical weapons.” Result: John Bolton: “Prepare to accept the consequences. We know where your kids are.”
    https://www.rt.com/usa/423477-bolton-threat-opcw-iraq/
    Then, Remember Syria: 5 Former OPCW Officials Join Prominent Voices to Call Out Syria Cover-up”:

  18. Julius Skoolafish Avatar
    Julius Skoolafish

    Because Iraq is the topic … (I share your rage Caitlin)
    .
    One of my absolutely favourite human beings is the First Lady of Syria, Asma al-Assad. I want to share this particular clip because it puts all the qualities of this wonderful woman on display:
    .
    • Asma Al-Assad during the reception made to the participants in ” Woman For Peace ” Bicycle Ride
    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc4ZZ-yXaOQ
    .
    In particular, from 02:15
    .
    “There are over two million refugees living in Syria today – 1.4 million Iraqis, over 500,000 Palestinians – that’s in Syria alone – 4,000 innocent lives have been killed in the first four months of 2008 – mostly women and children, all completely innocent. That’s the reality- that’s the stark reality of the region that we live in. Families destroyed, lives shattered, dreams buried. To many from afar, that’s the story of the Middle East – an area and a region dogged by violence, sadness, grief and constant killings – a place where we can switch on and off with the flicker of a remote control. But let me tell you reality is very different. It’s only when we look beyond the numbers, dig amongst the rubble and overcome the grief that we’re able to see what that reality looks like. The region is so different to general public perception everywhere else in the world and yet so similar to your own countries, your own neighborhoods and your own communities.”
    .
    Note that in 2008, Syria was housing 1.4 Million Iraqis displaced from their own country by the atrocities inflicted upon them by the humanitarian [sic] “War On Terror”, invoked by the Israeli orchestrated 911 atrocity.
    .
    And look what these anti-human parasites are doing now – the ultimate in persecution via projection.
    .
    • Threatening Syria’s First Lady Shows NATO’s Depravity
    https://uprootedpalestinians.wordpress.com/2021/03/20/threatening-syrias-first-lady-shows-natos-depravity/
    .
    The appropriate word is “chutzpah”.

    1. MIchael Lewis Kahn Avatar
      MIchael Lewis Kahn

      my book ANGRY LOUD AND CLEAR TRUTH proves that every politician in DC was complicit to 9-11 demolition job, and the book proves that it is the Vatican, not Israel, that runs the US government behind the scenes. You need to read it. IF it was Israel, how did they get the money and power and influence so quickly after being impoverished and destroyed in WW2? You need to rethink the ability of Israel to have such influence.

      1. Gregory Herr Avatar
        Gregory Herr

        The state of Israel couldn’t have been destroyed in WW2. The state of Israel didn’t exist until 1948. About 73 years ago. A lot has happened in 73 years.

        1. MIchael Lewis Kahn Avatar
          MIchael Lewis Kahn

          I meant the JEws, einstein. Do you really think that Jews were outdoing the US and its power and wealth after a couple of decades? How did they make it? How did they run the world’s most powerful country? Give me specifics. My book ANGRY LOUD AND CLEAR TRUTH shows all kinds of evidence that the Vatican rules. Names, dates, quotes, documents, treaties, etc.. “a lot happened” doesn’t cut it.

          1. Gregory Herr Avatar
            Gregory Herr

            Julius referenced what he called the “Israeli orchestrated 911 atrocity”. He didn’t say anything about Israel running “the U.S. government behind the scenes”. Your response to Julius was to say that the Vatican “runs the U.S. government behind the scenes” and then muddy your point with a contention that all D.C. politicians are “complicit” when it comes to 9/11. That viewpoint may bear some reflection with a rather loose definition of complicity, but really does overshoot things a bit. But to the point—certainly a “special relationship” with “the golden calf” developed over the many decades of Israel’s existence. We aren’t sucked dry quite yet, but we are “a thing” that can “be moved easily” as Nutty Yahoo likes to say. If you need a dissertation on the subject—not hard to find.

    2. Gregory Herr Avatar
      Gregory Herr

      Quoting from the article you posted:
      “Barely acknowledged too is the fact that the United States, Britain and the European Union are strangling a war-torn nation with barbaric sanctions preventing reconstruction. The criminality of economic terrorism is the corollary of a failed criminal covert war of aggression.
      The abominable reality of Western policy towards Syria has to be covered up. Threatening Syria’s First Lady – a national heroine – with prosecution for war crimes is NATO powers reaching into the gutter.”
      ~
      One quibble Finian Cunningham. This isn’t “reaching into” the gutter. It is wallowing in the gutter.

      1. MIchael Lewis Kahn Avatar
        MIchael Lewis Kahn

        regarding 9-11=i fly. Just a little of the evidence that every politician in Dc was complicit, I have much more
        According to a French book “Bin Laden, La Verite Interdite” (Bin Laden, the Forbidden Truth), the United States had decided to invade Afghanistan in the interest of profits, long before September 2001. In February 1998, congress discussed ways to deal with Afghanistan to enable a US –held oil pipeline. Jane’s Defense Newsletter dated March 2001 revealed that an invasion of Afghanistan was being planned. July 2001 the planned invasion was reported by George Arney of the BBC. “Times of India” stated in June 2001 that the US government told India that there would be an invasion of Afghanistan in October of that year. But the US media insisted that the 9-11 terrorist attack instigated US invasion of Afghanistan and the Taliban regime. The twin towers had no flag bearing responsibility. The right legitimate thing to do would have been to prove who the culprits were, and to bring them to justice. The US blamed Afghanistan, and attacked innocent people, showed no evidence of anybody’s guilt, and endeavored to install a puppet government. Then they did likewise with Iraq. After much futile and senseless destruction, the death toll of Arabs fanned the flame of Islamic radicalism and anti-imperialism. Bush’s “war on terrorism” and the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan in particular were strategically successful in giving new life to Islamic radicalism and made violent resistance popular among Arabs, playing into the elite’s plan of genocide of Arab peoples. The US, after all, has to defend itself. Whether it was an afterthought that developed over the years, or had been planned previously, I am not sure, but the United States had further devious designs to use Afghanistan for more of its evil purposes.

        The leaders of Afghanistan; the Taliban, had banned its people from producing opium, and under their rule, Afghanistan produced 3% of the world’s opium. Upon the United States taking power in 2010, it soon leaped to producing 90% of the world’s opium. Perceiving the poverty of the Afghan farmers, being such magnanimous benefactors, the US government loaned those farmers the necessary capital and means to grow poppies. For a fee, US military guard the poppy fields, while the farmers labor to earn a meager income, and the smugglers reap wild profits (as do the dealers), importing most of the opium used by Americans and many other nations. Since 2010, Afghanistan has been steadily exporting 13 million pounds of opium annually.

        Kahn, Michael. ANGRY LOUD AND CLEAR TRUTH: THE GROWTH AND MECHANISMS OF THE ROMERICAN EMPIRE . Kindle Edition.

        1. Gregory Herr Avatar
          Gregory Herr

          “CIA involvement in the drug trade hardly began with its involvement in the Soviet-Afghan war. To a certain degree, the CIA’s responsibility for the present dominant role of Afghanistan in the global heroin traffic merely replicated what had happened earlier in Burma, Thailand, and Laos between the late 1940s and the 1970s. These countries also only became factors in the international drug traffic as a result of CIA assistance (after the French, in the case of Laos) to what would otherwise have been only local traffickers.”
          https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/125230
          Definitely wasn’t an afterthought.

          1. MIchael Lewis Kahn Avatar
            MIchael Lewis Kahn

            i meant that I did not think that invading Afghanistan was to reap profit from drugs, but from oil, as well as the planned genocide of Arabs. You think I am stupid? Go screw.

        2. MIchael Lewis Kahn Avatar
          MIchael Lewis Kahn

          I am fully aware it started in the Vietnam war to discredit the hippies and panthers when there was civil unrest. The point I was making was the elsewhere statement that Israel was behind 9-11 was incorrect, though held by many. Propaganda is everywhere, but I cut through it. You seem to be the only one here who is unaware of my books. Your level of intelligence and comprehension is unmatchable, so I will not try to go down too far as to be considered retarded.

  19. Khatika Avatar
    Khatika

    Saw a puff piece a couple of years ago where George Bush was showing off some art he had done since being president. Here was the guy who as president had us invade Iraq. The whole piece made him a loveable teddy bear. It was surreal. Then I also realized what I always heard was true. He was not very smart either. He was a figurehead while Dick Cheney run the war effort. Then came Obama bought and paid for from day one. Now we have Biden which fits the same mold. No wonder they wanted Trump out. He was gumming up the war effort and Great Reset planned years ago I am sure.

    1. jmg Avatar
      jmg

      Khatika wrote:
      > Saw a puff piece a couple of years ago where George Bush was showing off some art he had done since being president. Here was the guy who as president had us invade Iraq. The whole piece made him a loveable teddy bear. It was surreal.
      .
      Yes, a heart warming story… (gasp)
      .
      Photo by late Chris Hondros: Samar Hassan, little girl just orphaned by U.S. troops (Tal Afar, Iraq, January 18, 2005)
      https://twitter.com/Cov3raa/status/1326822520926793728
      .
      Aftermath:
      .
      Iraqi Child in Acclaimed War Photo Tries to Move On — The New York Times — May 7, 2011
      https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/07/world/middleeast/07photo.html
      .
      George W. Bush Debuts New Paintings Of Dogs, Friends, Ghost Of Iraqi Child That Follows Him Everywhere — The Onion
      https://www.theonion.com/george-w-bush-debuts-new-paintings-of-dogs-friends-g-1819595637
      .

    2. joker Avatar
      joker

      I read an article that the entire Bush family enjoys making similar paintings in private using the feces, blood, and cum that was collected from the innocent children they have murdered around the world. These paintings have garnished the Bush family with a new higher level of respect and admiration from the worlds ruling elites. As for Trump, his favorite memories of the 90s are when he shared raping little girls with Epstein and the Clintons.

  20. JWK Avatar
    JWK

    I beg to differ. Abundant changes have been made. To make it even easier. One of such is that now the corporate media is completely and fully on board with whatever lies are told. I know, it wasn’t a big step, but a step it was. Not a single “conspiracy theorist” will be given a voice among them. Never mind that to expose a conspiracy, one must start with a theory. Another is corporate censorship, Facebook et al, which one could justifiably categorize as part and parcel of the corporate media. Another is the newly established Medical Industrial Complex, which rivals the Military Industrial Complex for our attention. Both serving the same masters, who’s primary goal is to extract what wealth remains among the 99.9% and deliver it to the 0.1%.

  21. Ian Perkins Avatar
    Ian Perkins

    It boils down to a belief that the establishment behind the Iraq war completely evaporated as soon as Bush and Blair left office?

    Or does it boil down to not caring who the West is attacking or why, war is good for business and it shows the rest of the world to watch out or the same could happen to them?

  22. jmg Avatar
    jmg

    Caitlin Johnstone wrote:
    > No changes were made after the Iraq invasion to keep the US government from deceiving Americans into war. No new laws were made, no policies changed; no one was even fired. And indeed, the government did deceive Americans into war again: the Libya and Syria interventions were both based on lies. . . .
    > A world order which can create something as horrific as the unforgivable Iraq invasion (or the genocide in Yemen today for that matter) is not a world order that will lead the world in a good direction. . . .
    > Supporting the Vietnam war was dumb. Supporting the Iraq invasion after being lied to about Vietnam was an order of magnitude dumber. Supporting any US war agendas after being lied to about Iraq is an order of magnitude even dumber than that. . . .
    > When a known compulsive liar asks you to place your faith in him on a very important matter, you tell him to fuck off. When the western empire tells you to trust them that an evil government needs to be ousted, you take it with an Iraq-sized grain of salt.
    .
    Wow…
    .
    Nearly every war that has started in the past 50 years has been a result of media lies — Assange

  23. Gaia Foley Avatar
    Gaia Foley

    For a short lesson on how our mind control media works, this documentary tells an alarming truth.
    https://www.millennialmillie.com/post/shadow-gate-2-0-full-movie

  24. Lynn Avatar
    Lynn

    Stephen Zioni – Translated by: Ali Ibrahim

    It was a normal day the day before September 11, 2001 in New York City. September 10 was ignorant that the next day events that shake the world would happen.

    The same thing we can imagine on the eve of that day when violence broke out in Daraa, in Syria in March 2011, it was a day without any incident, ignorant that we were the morrow of a rebellion about to begin. This was not the case because Daraa was overflowing with activity and with foreign visitors long before the organized insurgency fired its first shots.

    Al-Omari Mosque used to play the same role as the scenes in the theater, where clothes were changed and exercises would take place. Yes, the Libyan terrorists arrived in Daraa long before March 2011. They came directly from the battlefields after the US-NATO aggression on Libya with the aim of regime change.

    The imam of the Al-Omari Mosque at that time was Sheikh Ahmed Al-Sayasneh, an old man who suffers from a major vision problem that forces him to wear special black glasses, and these glasses in turn affect his eyesight. He was not only visually impaired, but also had a sensitivity to light, forcing him to stay inside the mosque most of the time. He was accustomed to recognizing the people he was talking to by their accent and their voices.

    And the people of Daraa have their distinctive accent. All the men who visited the Al-Omari Mosque were residents of the area, and they spoke the local dialect. Of course, visitors from Libya warned that the cleric would not know them, which would lead to their detection. They contented themselves with some important people who bought them with money and remained in complete secrecy. The participation of local Muslim Brotherhood members, who would later assist Libyan terrorist mercenaries, was an essential component of the CIA’s scheme drawn up and directed from Jordan.

    The assistance and cooperation of local Salafis allowed the Libyans to enter the city without arousing suspicion. These local hires were the front for the operation.
    CIA agents, who were running the operation from their offices in Jordan, had sent the weapons and funds needed to spark the flames of the revolution in Syria. It is easy to spark a revolution anywhere in the world with so many weapons and money.

    In fact, the Daraa rebellion did not erupt in March 2011 because of some graffiti of teenagers, as it was said, and there were no disaffected parents calling for the release of their children. It was a chapter in a Hollywood scenario written and cooked by expert CIA agents with a single mission: to destroy Syria for the sake of regime change. And Daraa was chapter number one – scene number one.

    The fact that these so-called teen artists and their parents have not been found, have not been named, and that there is no picture of them is proof that their identity should remain a secret.

    It assumes that every rebellion must be supported by the people. It usually happens that the demonstrators take to the street. Then the security forces intervene to maintain order and clear the streets, and when “violent repression” occurs, the remaining “peaceful protesters” will react in anger because they feel persecuted and deceived, and the number of people on the streets increases at that time. This is the moment when the demonstrators have to take one of two directions: either they retreat and return home, or they respond violently and with this violence the security men will respond with more violence in return, which leads to an all-out rebellion.

    In the pre-organized rebellion that took place in Daraa, there were local elements on the street who were unaware that they were participating in a Hollywood play that was orchestrated by the CIA. These were none other than the volunteer humpbacks for the movie that was going to start filming. Those “enthusiasts”, unaware of the role they were playing, certainly had grievances that are a generation or more old, and perhaps Wahhabism has been inculcated in their minds, and Wahhabism is a political ideology that was exported to the world from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, from the royal family and its pawnbrokers.

    Libyans were amassing weapons in the Al-Omari Mosque long before the rumors of teenagers arrested for their graffiti on the walls began. The blind and elderly sheikh was not aware of what was going on inside his mosque, nor of foreign agents sneaking into it.

    The weapons entered Daraa from the CIA in Jordan. It is known that the US government has close relations with the Jordanian king and that 98% of Jordanians are of Palestinian origin, which did not prevent Jordan from concluding a permanent peace agreement with Israel, and despite this agreement, five million Jordanian heads of family are denied any human rights in the Palestinian territories.

    The Jordanian king is forced to walk daily on the ropes of balance between his citizens, the peace and security of his country, and the interests, or rather the projects of the United States, in the Middle East. And King Abdullah must be not only a juggler but a crook, and the pressure he is being put on is burdening him and Queen Rania, his wife, who is of Palestinian origin. These facts must be seen in the backdrop formed by the Syrian Arab Republic, which considers the principle of the human rights of the Palestinians and their right to freedom and justice the cornerstone of its domestic and foreign policy.

    The American policy of attacking Syria with the aim of changing the regime there is not only the motive behind the gas pipelines, oil wells, the strategic location, and gold, but its goal is to turn this cornerstone into dust. Getting rid of President Bashar al-Assad means getting rid of one of the rare Arab leaders, whose voice did not diminish, demanding the rights of the Palestinians.

    The fact that Daraa is located directly on the Jordanian border is the only reason for which it was chosen as the place where the first act of the Syrian rebellion will be filmed. And if you asked most Syrians whether they went to Daraa once or whether they intended to visit it, the answer would be: “No.”

  25. tom charles osher Avatar
    tom charles osher

    Tell it like it is Caitlin! This is why I find liberals along with conservatives so unconsciounable, so fucking annoying, such brainwashed idiots! Normally, I have nothing to do with such people, but all my relatives are like this. I guess this is proof that americans have been substantially dumbed down, even though most of these people are academics and professionals.

    One thing that I don’t understand is why you don’t promote the idea of horizontal governing, restructuring gov’t from vertical top down to horizontal bottom up, as you keep ignoring this 7 minute animation we made that explains how feasible, effective and efficient, no more politicians or lobbyists, decentralized, by and for the people, actually really democratic, and virtually incorruptible.

    Clearly, the changing of the guard accomplishes nothing and is inevitably corrupted. If you don’t agree, please say why: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wywMhg604W8

  26. Blair Schirmer Avatar
    Blair Schirmer

    .
    “The Iraq invasion feels kind of like if your dad had stood up at the dinner table, cut off your sister’s head in front of everyone, gone right back to eating and never suffered any consequences,…”
    .

    —Please. Not your inevitable, bullshit, gendered analogies again.
    .

    Every annual DHHS Child Maltreatment report ever issued—every single one—shows women are invariably the primary perpetrators of violence against children, with “mothers acting alone” as *overwhelmingly* the primary perpetrators of that violence.
    .

    Never wonder why people believe nonsense, Caitlin. You’re as bad as anyone when it comes to stuporously falling for nonsense propaganda and deceit when it suits your preferred narratives.

    Given all the information out there on women’s violence and its prevalence, it’s fair at this point to call your beliefs cowardly.

    Wake up.
    .
    .

    1. Lynn Avatar
      Lynn

      Totally out of line, not everyone has enough time to read everything that was ever written.
      Bravo for you that you know that, but the violence that you attacked Caitlin !!!!
      Are you an out of control psychopath?
      Everything thing you said seems as though you’ve had a long standing hatred toward Caitlin. Check yourself before you end up in a psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane.

    2. Gaia Foley Avatar
      Gaia Foley

      You seem to have missed the point in your rush to find something, anything to attack with.

    3. Gimmeabreak Avatar
      Gimmeabreak

      Oh piss off. What she wrote matters, what you wrote doesn’t add anything of any value.

      1. Ian Perkins Avatar
        Ian Perkins

        I disagree with LYNN, GAIA FOLEY and GIMMEABREAK.
        While I liked and agreed with most of Caitlin’s article, as I usually do, BLAIR SCHIRMER does raise a point. Is it true that women are invariably the primary perpetrators of violence against children? If not, how about some evidence or arguments about why not? And if it is true, how about pondering that, instead of outright dismissing BLAIR’s comment?

    4. Caitlin Johnstone Avatar
      Caitlin Johnstone

      Comments on my website are getting dumber and dumber.

      1. Terpsichore Avatar
        Terpsichore

        It happens. I wonder if you were chosen by Edward Snowden instead of Greenwald to publish all that stuff. What would you be doing today, what would be the impact of fame and money in your life. Greenwald has a bunch of dogs and other animals, a nice house and a good life. Far from what projected him. Money made Greenwald a sophisticated hypocritical journalist. I wonder what would be the result in a smart troll journalist. From nobody to who knows what.

  27. Lynn Avatar
    Lynn

    When describing certain psychopathic individuals as “successful” versus “unsuccessful,” the researchers are referring to life trajectories or outcomes. A “successful” psychopath, for example, might be a CEO or lawyer high in psychopathic traits, whereas an “unsuccessful” psychopath might have those same traits but is incarcerated.
    https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-05-psychopaths-violent-successful.html

  28. Lynn Avatar
    Lynn

    A great source for everything scientific about psychopaths in society. 1% general population, 3.5% corporate management, much higher in upper management., etcetera.
    https://phys.org/news/2021-03-bullies-thieves-chiefs-hidden-psychopaths.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly-nwletter

  29. Vince Avatar
    Vince

    Cait doesn’t mention it but her articles appear fairly regularly on RT News, Sean.
    “Iraq sized grain of salt” loved that line.
    Bush to Blair ( on Iraq) “ That Al Jazeera outfit is really problematic, I’d like to blow them up”
    Blair. No No dear chap, you don’t blow them up, we take them over and use their credibility to peddle our influence”
    Do you think Greenpeace, Amnesty International, White Helmets, Doctors Without Borders, ANY U.N. Outfit, Save th3 Children have been spared infiltration?
    The United States of America LLC / The District of Columbia LLC are registered corporations, HQ is on Airstrip One.
    Management is through Royal Institute of International Affairs / CFR Council on Foreign Relations.
    We got to get past this idea that countries still exist, it’s a globalised corporate world government now, resistance is futile if we are still trying to solve problems based on a redundant model of the world geostrategic reality.
    Cait often explores this, we have to stop hurting & abusing each other, or silently endorsing the genocide of the other, & realise that if we abuse the weak then those weak people, now weakened further by our complicity, will not give a shit when it’s our turn to be abused. Toxic white Christian males take note, your number seems to have come up.

  30. Lynn Avatar
    Lynn

    The Bush’s were in on the assassination of J F Kennedy, as was J.Edgar Hoover

  31. RJ Avatar
    RJ

    Caitlin dear, the first Iraq Invasion for “Weapons of Mass Destruction” was Jan 16, 1991. You seem to be referring to the SECOND invasion of Iraq on Mar 18, 2003. There were a variety of surges after the second invasion also.

    But, why don’t you so some real reporting and follow up on the story in Bloomberg Business Week (Mar 22, 2021 issue). Titled ‘An Arms Race on Autopilot”. subtitled = Drones made in China are coming to a conflict near you. Among other countries, Nigeria is getting a pair of drones (Wing Loong II model to be precise) to fight Boko Haram. That will surely make that situation better don’t you think? LOL

  32. Maximus Avatar
    Maximus

    Have anyone noticed how the American military (aircraft carriers, B-52, etc) is highly active in the Mediterranean Sea? I thought they would start with North Korea but looks like they will start the Iran campaign as soon as possible. The Mediterranean front against Russia will be finalized. I’m pretty sure Russia will not let Iran fall down. This would mean to have the USA military bases as neighbor for the first time ever. A letter of hope and resistance to the people of Iran (the last Middle East country to fall after the 9/11 deception) would be very handy.

  33. Spikeyboy Avatar
    Spikeyboy

    The best thing I have read about Iraq was written by Ward Curchill before the war even started. Its a logish read but he was clear eyed abiut what was going to take place based on what had come before.

    https://ratical.org/ratville/CAH/WC022203.html

  34. Vayu Avatar
    Vayu

    Thank you! The father beheading someone at the dinner table and going on like nothing ever happened, is one of the trueist visuals about Iraq I’ve seen. I have since then been dumbfounded day in and day out that NOTHING has even been said let alone done about the most blatant war crimes of all times. I am in utter awe, bewilderment and rage that George Bush is not the premier war criminal of all times. How can that man travel anywhere and not be grabbed up, tried and jailed. How can it be, that he not only goes free, but he is honored and gives talks. How, how, how, there is literally no sanity in our world!!

  35. ron campbell Avatar
    ron campbell

    You are quite correct, Ms Johnstone; absolutely no one in the United States government is ever ” brought to justice ” for war crimes be they large or small. We are the ” exceptional nation “; we are ” untouchable ” every thing that we ever do is ” justified ” because we are ” god’s people ” here to rule the entire earth. Absolutely nothing is ” right ” about anything the United States has done since its very beginning. Murdering human beings is what we do; it is what we are better at than anyone else. We are way beyond bloodthirsty; we are up-front arrogant about it. We shove it in everyones face and then jam it down their throats!! Perhaps some alien race will come here and get rid of the United States government; if that does not happen the United States government will continue to do what it does best: Kill People!

    1. Lynn Avatar
      Lynn

      Remember the Mayflower and all those other early immigrants? Poor innocent souls escaping persecution in Europe?LOL. Make that prosecution, they pretended to be Christians but were actually Illuminati. No doubt though, some actually were Christians, but notice that our Christians aren’t very Christ like.

    2. Khatika Avatar
      Khatika

      All empires collapse from within. The US will be no different.

  36. Charles Beall Avatar
    Charles Beall

    March 21, 2021
    Each of us has power far beyond our comprehension, but we must be fearless to own it. We must reject the specious narrative that we are somehow collectively innocent or guilty of anything. True acts of kindness and charity flow from the hearts and hands of the individual, often joined by others who share the same core values. Likewise, evil flows from the dark soul of the individual, often accompanied by wicked fellow travelers. We know the specific cast of characters responsible for conceiving and directing the morally reprehensible and unprovoked assault on Iraq. Every one of them should have been hung for their crimes against humanity. For those who believe in personal freedom, self-determination and peaceful coexistence, we must face the inescapable conclusion. It’s the same conclusion that a woman faces when a would-be rapist climbs through her window in the middle of the night

  37. Darien Avatar
    Darien

    USA destroyed all hopes of sovereign, economic independence in South America in the 50s, 60s, till today. People didn’t forget all the slaughter and the school of torture developed by CIA at that time. They did the same in Central America. They did the same in Africa, Asia and in some countries in Europe. I’ll not mention Australia because they still a penal colony, so it doesn’t count as a country. Argentina tried to recover the Falkland Islands in the 80s. The Air Force almost did the job to kick the British back to England but Uncle Sam came to save the day. And till today they still paying the price for trying to defy the empire. Each country who suffered intervention from the Uncle Sam “big stick” will never be the same. It’s unlikely they will try to lose what is left of misery. Look at the USA-Mexico border. Thousands of people fleeing from misery. The same misery which the USA inflict to them. If they knew what is expecting them beforehand they would go back. Thousands of Native Americans are living without jobs. The world of opportunities is not what used to be decades ago. And it will never be the same again. After 9/11 the evil endless circle of lies and deception cannot let go the veil protecting the American experiment. In general, people worldwide know what’s the essence of the empire and what is expecting them if they betray the Lord of the Rings. Biden called Putin a killer. How many had the balls to stand against the evil Uncle Sam not counting China, Syria, Turkey? None. No country in this world love to have an American military base hosted. They are a constant source of nuisance. Today America is asking money to have the privilege to host these parasites. Russia, China will never start a conflict because they know exactly how it works but they will not flee away from war once America start it.

  38. Tomonthebeach Avatar
    Tomonthebeach

    It is probably best to keep in mind that Iraq is about Israel. The US will defend it against all enemies, including the ones Israel creates for itself. Firmly ensconced next door to Iran, the US can spy close-up, and annoy the country endlessly for ousting our CIA puppet long long ago. But Bibi is bugged by Iran’s nuclear potential. They do not want another country in the Middle East to have nukes. Given Israel’s hostility toward Iran (such as the CIA coup I just mentioned) who would not want to be able to keep Israel in check?

    Eons ago, at a Pentagon briefing, the academic speaker questioned why Iran is not our biggest ally in the region. He pointed out that Iran is not Arab – just Islamic. Their culture is not Arab, nor is their world view which is far more western than most Iran’s neighbors. Iran’s people are very well educated and likely capable of great economic success – were it not for the US embargos. We have treated Iran like shit for over half a century while we have sucked up to Saudi Arabia for almost an entire century despite a history of corruption and genocide.

    So, perhaps it would eliminate a lot of rhetoric about group-think generals if you focus on the political reasons the US attacked a country that did us no harm in 9/11 just to create an excuse to camp out on Iran’s doorstep. It has always been about Iran and Israel will make sure it remains so.

    1. Julius Skoolafish Avatar
      Julius Skoolafish

      Hear, hear!
      .

    2. Clint Avatar
      Clint

      I will go further and say Israel was behind 9/11. They are the ones who attacked the U.S. to wag the dog around for the next 20 years and counting.

      1. Gregory Herr Avatar
        Gregory Herr

        A pasted link won’t fly. Search “wikispooks israel did it” and you’ll find grist for that contention. Of course elements within U.S. deep state and Saudi intelligence were involved as well.

    3. Lynn Avatar
      Lynn

      The U.S. is Israel, the official announcement just hasn’t been made yet.

  39. Alberto Portugheis Avatar
    Alberto Portugheis

    It seems to me, Caitlin, you enjoy complaining and need politicians to commit hideous crimes so that you can complain. If you took the trouble of analysing the relationship between Saddam Hussein and CIA, the negotiations between Iraqi diplomats in Washington and American diplomats in Baghdad and if you see who’s running the country now, you’ll see that it is all going according to plan. The ‘people’ of the country are always the victims, like in all military conflicts.

    If you really are interested in a better, fairer world, campaign for the end of militarism, globally.

    1. Lynn Avatar
      Lynn

      LOL.

    2. Ian Perkins Avatar
      Ian Perkins

      I get the distinct impression Caitlin is firmly against militarism.

  40. Infanttyron3 Avatar
    Infanttyron3

    The way I see it we’ve got two options: find a way to drastically change the way we think and function as a species, or pray that the world will be saved by the same ruling elites who destroyed Iraq while making the poor poorer for the benefit of the extremely wealthy.

    Your first option is clearly better.

    Second best, and more likely than the second option you came up with is the option for the Galactic Federation to stop in for a few days and give us a show & tell session to demonstrate how good life can be if we manage to ditch the psychopaths currently in charge here.

    Whether we call them sociopaths or psychopaths, the current ruling elites aren’t likely to save anything or anybody.

  41. jimmy canary Avatar
    jimmy canary

    Barack Hussein Obama II
    that’s why they used saddam’s first name allah time. we put him in but then he took our gift meant for iran and used it on the Kurds…remember Rummie’s gift of nerve gas…? USA has nerve gas?! how icky.
    it was a hard loss but it kept our perfect record intact: of never beating any nation who did not have an air force. last war we won, took Russia to help and was vs japan.
    thank you joe stalin for pitchin in right on..!
    i know we ared our opponents withone hand while we pretended to spank them with the other.
    WAR is Money, y’know

  42. billbowman53 Avatar
    billbowman53

    Nailed it! The choice is clear: (a).

  43. Sean murrie Avatar
    Sean murrie

    Hi catlin. Fantastic piece of writing as always. How can you get it in the mainstream? There needs to be a way, else the same dumb people will be allowed to make the same dumb decisions until the earth has been put in a drying oan, that’s been thrown on the fire! There are a lot of morons in the USA, but i live in New Zealand, where we think we are a bit more discerning. But every week I have the same discussions with people that china is not evil, and Russia didn’t meddle in the US elections. It is how often the same message is repeated, not how true it is that matters. Can we please get your messages repeated?

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