We borrowed a series of wars to make money. They don't even want us there. Take a look.

In today’s New York Times we have posted a series of articles that is making it abundantly clear that the American war industries and the energy cartels have schnookered us….again.  The first story is here.

"We" are trying to "help" Pakistan and its government rid themselves of the Taliban.  They do not want our help, that much is now obvious.  Would we want Pakistan’s help in ridding us of the Southern Baptist Conference or the Jewish Defense League or the Knights of Columbus or the Freemasons?  These groups all stand for one or another type of American idealism placed into action by people who strongly believe in the principles laid out by these rather ultra-conservative groups.

The Taliban is like that…only they go to the point of arming themselves and killing people that do not agree with their ultra-orthodox view of Islam. They see themselves as Islamic purists. We see them as terrorists.

In our country and history, Puritans did that.  Look at the Salem Witch trials.  The U.S. Cavalry eradicated many North American Indian tribes. Mormons had a massive civil war with each other once they moved into Utah.  All of these things were about power bolstered by a particular world view based on ideology.  None of these American groups would have accepted "help" from outsiders when they were in the depths of their violent misdirected blood lust. Why do we expect different from Muslims? 

There is also this story about infighting within the Obamite crew on whether or not surgical strikes into Pakistan and Afghanistan can substitute for troops on the ground in Afghanistan. Huh?

We are now talking routinely about missile strikes and Predator strikes inside of Pakistan.  We seem to throw these ideas around rather freely.  So far, Pakistan is not a combatant in any way.  We are going to widen this series of wars? Here is an excerpt:

"WASHINGTON — A string of successful operations recently killing or capturing high-level figures from Al Qaeda, particularly in the tribal areas of Pakistan, has fueled the argument inside the Obama administration about the necessity of a substantial troop buildup in Afghanistan, officials said."

As if we did not have enough trouble in the military area of this mess, here is a story about a political nightmare about to happen.  We are supporting a known thug as vice president of Afghanistan.  Great.  Here is the story.  They do not have even ONE clean politician that we can back? 

Let me ask my conservative friends a question.  Do you still think these wars were a good idea?

Then we have an article by Bob Herbert, an African American journalist of strong standing who questions the Obama White House’s understanding of the employment crisis.  He claims that this administration does not seem to understand how urgent this is for huge slices of the citizenry.  I believe that he is correct. We are misdirecting the money of the many for the comfort of the few.

Why are we spending over $660 billion dollars a year on a defense budget with wars that are essentially being waged for the portfolios of American elites and the growth of their war industry and energy holdings when unofficial unemployment is almost certainly hovering around 18%? Anybody have any ideas here? I am fresh out.

We have schools in the Deep South and far West that have been using the same school books for the last seven or eight years.  What do you think the quality level is for those kids’ education?

Do you know how many hundreds of thousands of American young people we could send to college for FREE with the money we are spending on these senseless wars being waged for the ultra-wealthy and their war industry holdings? Does this not bother you?

Our physcial infrastructure is falling down around our ears, overpasses all over the country cannot hold the weight of commerce in trucks.  The structures are too old and not well kept.  We need that money here.  Our country is falling apart. We can have a defense budget that is half of what we spend now and still be more than able to defend ourselves.  So what do you say?

Lets get out of the war business and follow Scandinavia’s lead in taking our communal monies and reinvesting them at home.  Lets try rebuilding this country again using "war money" for peaceful purposes.

We just might find our soul again in the process.

CWO3 Tom Barnes, USCG (Ret.)