[THS] The U.S. War Addiction

[The Harder Stuff in news and commentary]

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25771.htm

The U.S. War Addiction:
Funding Enemies to Maintain Trillion Dollar Racket

By David DeGraw

June 19, 2010 " "AlterNet" --  A few recent news items help expose the true drivers
of current wars around the world.

#1) Wherever there is a war, look for CIA/IMF/private military war profiteers covertly
funding and supporting BOTH sides in order to keep the wars raging and the profits
rolling in. As former CIA Station Chief John Stockwell explained: “Enemies are
necessary for the wheels of the US military machine to turn.”

Here’s an important glimpse of truth to seep through last week in the NY Times, via
Raw Story:

    US-backed ‘bribes’ in Afghanistan may be funding Taliban

    On June 7, the day Afghanistan became America’s longest-ever war, the New York
Times reported on an ongoing investigation poised to prove that private security
companies “are using American money to bribe the Taliban” to fuel combat and thus
enhance demand for their services. The news follows a “series of events last month
that suggested all-out collusion with the insurgents,” the Times said.

    “The American people are paying to prop up a corrupt government that may be
using our money to pay private companies to drum up business by paying the
insurgents to attack our troops,” [Kucinich] said
. The Times interviewed a NATO
official in Kabul who “believed millions of dollars were making their way to the
Taliban.” [read more]

#2) On top of that report, Sunday’s headlines read, “Pakistani spy agency supports
Taliban:”

    Pakistan’s main spy agency continues to arm and train the Taliban and is even
represented on the group’s leadership council despite U.S. pressure to sever ties and
billions in aid to combat the militants, said a research report released Sunday.

    The findings could heighten tension between the two countries and raise further
questions about U.S. success in Afghanistan since Pakistani cooperation is seen as key
to defeating the Taliban, which seized power in Kabul in the 1990s with Islamabad’s
support.

    U.S. officials have suggested in the past that current or former members of
Pakistan’s powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency, or ISI, have maintained links
to the Taliban despite the government’s decision to denounce the group in 2001
under U.S. pressure. [read more]

First off, these two reports are really not news at all. Reports of American tax dollars
ending up in the hands of the Taliban have been coming out since the start of the
war and the ISI, as the CIA has been well aware of for years now, has been playing
both sides of this war and is pivotal in keeping the war going. Secondly, I have long
wondered when the CIA / US military would start exposing all of this in the
mainstream propaganda press as a pretext to further expand the war into Pakistan.

#3) As a result of all this, and not surprising at all to people who were paying close
attention to Obama’s surge strategy, costs and death counts are quickly rising. Jim
Lobe reports from Afghanistan that the “News is Bad.”

    While U.S. officials insist they are making progress in reversing the momentum
built up by the Taliban insurgency over the last several years, the latest news from
Afghanistan suggests the opposite may be closer to the truth.

    Even senior military officials are conceding privately that their much-touted new
counterinsurgency strategy of “clear, hold and build” in contested areas of the
Pashtun southern and eastern parts of the country are not working out as planned
despite the “surge” of some 20,000 additional U.S. troops over the past six months.

    Casualties among the nearly 130,000 U.S. and other NATO troops now deployed in
Afghanistan are also mounting quickly. [read more]

#4) In a propaganda effort to spin away from all the latest bad news, the desperate
US military has pulled this dusty old news report out of their back-pocket and
launched a psychological operation in the NY Times to give a positive spin in hopes of
further manipulating US public opinion:

    U.S. Identifies Vast Riches of Minerals in Afghanistan

    The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in
Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves
. The previously unknown
deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial
metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to
modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the
most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe.

    An internal Pentagon memo, for example, states that Afghanistan could become
the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for
laptops and BlackBerrys. [read more]

In the process of this latest propaganda campaign, the Pentagon has unwittingly
exposed two things that I will now jump on. A) The real reason why we are in this
war to begin with: it’s all about natural resources. And B) All the BS statements about
these “previously unknown deposits” clearly prove, yet again, that the NY Times is
only too happy to play the role of a straight-up propaganda paper. For those of us
paying attention, we’ve been reading reports about these minerals for the past
decade! Roland Sheppard just sent this along:

    “The New York Times, when it was beating the drums of war in 2002, failed to
mention that the USGS published a report, at that time, Mines and Mineral
Occurrences of Afghanistan Compiled by G.J. Orris and J.D. Bliss. Open-File Report
02-110. On page 16, they list as ‘Significant Minerals or Materials’ magnetite,
hematite, chalcopyrite, covellite, chalcocite, cuprite, malachite, azurite, molybdenite,
and native gold – lithium is mentioned on page 10 under ‘References.’”

So, from the very beginning, as I went into further detail in the past, the war in
Afghanistan is all about resources. I’ll get back to the “Saudi Arabia of lithium” in a
minute, here’s a brief excerpt from my prior report on another key resource in the
region:

    ORIGINS OF THE AFGHANISTAN OCCUPATION: “STRATEGY OF THE SILK ROUTE”

    Up until 9/11, oil companies, with the help of the Bush administration, were
desperately trying to work out a deal with the Taliban to build an oil pipeline through
Afghanistan. One of the world’s richest oil fields is on the eastern shore of the
Caspian sea just north of Afghanistan. The Caspian oil reserves are of top strategic
importance in the quest to control the earth’s remaining oil supply. The US
government developed a policy called “The Strategy of the Silk Route.”

    The policy was designed to lock out Russia, China and Iran from the oil in this
region. This called for U.S. corporations to construct an oil pipeline running through
Afghanistan. Since the mid 1990s, a consortium of U.S. companies led by Unocal
have been pursing this goal. A feasibility study of the Central Asian pipeline project
was performed by Enron. Their study concluded that as long as the country was split
among fighting warlords the pipeline could not be built. Stability was necessary for
the $4.5 billion project and the U.S. believed that the Taliban would impose the
necessary order. The U.S. State Department and Pakistan’s ISI, impressed by the
Taliban movement to cut a pipeline deal, agreed to funnel arms and funding to the
Taliban in their war for control of Afghanistan. [read more]

Then of course we have the war in Iraq, again from my previous report:

    ORIGINS OF THE IRAQ OCCUPATION: CHENEY ENERGY TASK FORCE

    As an AlterNet report put it: “In January 2000, 10 days into President George W.
Bush’s first term, representatives of the largest oil and energy companies joined the
new administration to form the Cheney Energy Task Force.”

    Secret Task Force documents that were dated March 2001, which were obtained
by Judical Watch in 2003 after a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, contained “a
map of Iraqi oilfields, pipelines, refineries and terminals, as well as two charts
detailing Iraqi oil and gas projects
” They also had: “
 a series of lists titled ‘Foreign
Suitors for Iraqi Oilfield Contracts‘ naming more than 60 companies from some 30
countries with contracts in various stages of negotiation.

    None of contracts were with American nor major British companies, and none
could take effect while the U.N. Security Council sanctions against Iraq remained in
place. Three countries held the largest contracts: China, Russia and France — all
members of the Security Council and all in a position to advocate for the end of
sanctions.

    Were Saddam to remain in power and the sanctions to be removed, these
contracts would take effect, and the U.S. and its closest ally would be shut out of
Iraq’s great oil bonanza.”

    Project Censored highlighted a Judicial Watch report that stated: “Documented
plans of occupation and exploitation predating September 11 confirm heightened
suspicion that U.S. policy is driven by the dictates of the energy industry. According
to Judicial Watch President, Tom Fitton, ‘These documents show the importance of
the Energy Task Force and why its operations should be open to the public.’”

So that’s the oil angle of this resource war, now back to the lithium angle. This
longest war in US history is very similar to the even longer wars raging in Northern
Africa, another resource rich paradise of death and destruction. In the late 1990s,
CIA-connected corporations like Bechtel worked with NASA to conduct infrared
satellite studies to discover mineral rich regions throughout the world. Other than the
discoveries in South-Central Asia (Af-Pak region), Northern Africa (Democratic
Republic of Congo region), emerged as a key source for future resources. In
particular, the mineral coltan, which like lithium, is vital to powering most computer
technology. Since Bechtel and NASA made these discoveries, a report from The
International Rescue Committee revealed that an astonishing 5.4 MILLION Africans
have been killed in the region. For some background, here’s an excellent report from
July 2001, in Dollars and Sense magazine:

    The Business of War in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Dena Montague and
Frida Berrigan

    “This is all money,” says a Western mining executive, his hand sweeping over a
geological map toward the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He is
explaining why, in 1997, he and planeloads of other businessmen were flocking to
the impoverished country and vying for the attention of then-rebel leader Laurent
Kabila. The executive could just as accurately have said, ‘This is all war.’

    The interplay among a seemingly endless supply of mineral resources, the greed
of multinational corporations desperate to cash in on that wealth, and the provision of
arms and military training to political tyrants has helped to produce the spiral of
conflicts that have engulfed the continent – what many regard as “Africa’s First World
War.” These minerals are vital to maintaining U.S. military dominance
” [read more]

For further detail, here’s Project Censored’s 2003 report:

    American Companies Exploit the Congo:

    The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been labeled “the richest patch of
earth on the planet.” The valuable abundance of minerals and resources in the DRC
has made it the target of attacks from U.S.-supported neighboring African countries
Uganda and Rwanda.

    The DRC is mineral rich with millions of tons of diamonds, copper, cobalt, zinc,
manganese, uranium, niobium, and tantalum also known as coltan. Coltan has
become an increasingly valuable resource to American corporations. Coltan is used to
make mobile phones, night vision goggles, fiber optics, and capacitators used to
maintain the electrical charge in computer chips
.

    The DRC holds 80% of the world’s coltan reserves, more than 60% of the world’s
cobalt and is the world’s largest supplier of high-grade copper. With these minerals
playing a major part in maintaining US military dominance and economic growth,
minerals in the Congo are deemed vital US interests.

    Historically, the U.S. government identified sources of materials in Third World
countries, and then encouraged U.S. corporations to invest in and facilitate their
production. Dating back to the mid-1960s, the U.S. government literally installed the
dictatorship of Mobutu Sese Seko, which gave U.S. corporations access to the
Congo’s minerals for more than 30 years. However, over the years Mobutu began to
limit access by Western corporations, and to control the distribution of resources. In
1998, U.S. military-trained leaders of Rwanda and Uganda invaded the mineral-rich
areas of the Congo. The invaders installed illegal colonial-style governments which
continue to receive millions of dollars in arms and military training from the United
States. Our government and a $5 million Citibank loan maintains the rebel presence
in the Congo. Their control of mineral rich areas allows western corporations, such as
American Mineral Fields, to illegally mine. Rwandan and Ugandan control over this
area is beneficial for both governments and for the corporations that continue to
exploit the Congo’s natural wealth
.

    San Francisco based engineering firm Bechtel Inc. established strong ties in the
rebel zones as well. Bechtel drew up an inventory of the Congo’s mineral resources
free of charge, and also paid for NASA satellite studies of the country for infared
maps of its minerals. Bechtel estimates that the DRC’s mineral ores alone are worth
$157 billion dollars. Through coltan production, the Rwandans and their allies are
bringing in $20 million revenue a month. Rwanda’s diamond exports went from 166
carats in 1998 to 30,500 in 2000. Uganda’s diamond exports jumped from
approximately 1,500 carats to about 11,300. The final destination for many of these
minerals is the U.S.” [read more]

And to close this out, let me return to “The Business of War” report by Dena
Montague and Frida Berrigan. As you will see, you always have to follow the money,
the bankers and our friends at the IMF are always at the root of global death and
destruction, and are the true Masters of War:

    “Today, the United States claims that it has no interest in the DRC other than a
peaceful resolution to the current war. Yet U.S. businessmen and politicians are still
going to extreme lengths to gain and preserve sole access to the DRC’s mineral
resources. And to protect these economic interests, the U.S. government continues to
provide millions of dollars in arms and military training to known human-rights
abusers and undemocratic regimes. Thus, the DRC’s mineral wealth is both an
impetus for war and an impediment to stopping it
.

    During his historic visit to Africa in 1998, President Clinton praised Presidents
Kagame and Musevini as leaders of the ‘African Renaissance,’ just a few months
before they launched their deadly invasion of the DRC with U.S. weapons and
training
.

    The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank have knowingly
contributed to the war effort. The international lending institutions praised both
Rwanda and Uganda for increasing their gross domestic product (GDP), which
resulted from the illegal mining of DRC resources. Although the IMF and World Bank
were aware that the rise in GDP coincided with the DRC war, and that it was derived
from exports of natural resources that neither country normally produced, they
nonetheless touted both nations as economic success stories
.

    In January 2000, Chevron – the corporation that named an oil tanker after
National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice – announced a three-year, $75 million
spending program in the DRC, thus challenging the notion that war discourages
foreign investment
. As one investor put it, “It is a good moment to come: it is in
difficult times that you can get the most advantage.”
.

    In April 2001, a scathing UN report argued that Presidents Kagame and Museveni
are “on the verge of becoming the godfathers of the illegal exploitation of natural
resources and the continuation of the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.”
The two leaders, the report alleged, have turned their armies into armies for
business
.

    According to East African media reports, U.S. diplomats continue to view Rwanda
and Uganda as “strategic allies in the Great Lakes region” and “would not want to
upset relations with them at this time.” 
. The IMF and World Bank have also
indicated that their policies toward Rwanda and Uganda will remain unchanged
.”

Famed two-time Congressional Medal of Honor recipient US Brigadier General
Smedley D. Butler accurately summed up the situation when he said: “I spent 33
years in the Marines, most of my time being a high-class muscle man for big
business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for
Capitalism
. The general public shoulders the bill. This bill renders a horrible
accounting. Newly placed gravestones, Mangled bodies. Shattered minds. Broken
hearts and homes. Economic instability. Back-breaking taxation for generations and
generations.”

Sing it with me:

“Come you masters of war

You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know,
I can see through your mask
”