Originally published on November 14, 2009, at http://towneforcongress.com/platform-issues/afghanistan-war

While Republican Bush II once famously claimed he was “the decider,” the ‘Change We Can Believe In’ promised by his replacement, the Democrat Obama, is hardly any different in regards to the Afghanistan and Pakistan wars.  The media and American people breathlessly await the President’s decision on how many troops to send into the war zone.  With spines made of jelly, Congress is as toothless as a bunch of newborns as they delegate their responsibilities to represent the American people to a single man.  What could they ‘Change’ instead?

Congress could refuse to approve spending to extend this unconstitutional war of aggression against Afghanistan and Pakistan.  Congress should instead pass a resolution for a rapid, immediate, and orderly withdrawal from Afghanistan and redeployment to protect America’s sieve-like borders.  Congress could increase the reward for the capture of Osama Bin Laden forty times from $27 million to over $1 billion.  Congress should also issue constitutional letters of marque to bring indicted terrorists to justice in a court of law.

To support this stance, I offer the following four key points: First, elected officials must begin behaving like the United States is a nation of laws, not a collection of rogues who delegate their gravest responsibility and immaturely fail to follow the supreme law of the land and declare war. Second, America’s historical foreign policy actions in Afghanistan and Pakistan must be understood, which contain the true reasons why terrorists attacked the United States in 2001. Third, a sober look at the eco-politics of the area, such as opiates and oil pipelines, must be taken. Lastly, we should contain the problem by securing our borders, and with all of the economic unrest, now is no time to be nation-building and quartering troops in foreign lands.   

The Problem of Osama Bin Laden

“The Congress shall have Power… to declare War [and] grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal.” – The Constitution of the United States, 1787-present. Article I, Section 8, Clause 11.

When America began bombing Afghanistan in November 2001 and expanded the “War of Terror” by commencing daily bombing of Pakistani villages in September 2008, both assaults were committed against sovereign states without a declaration of war, which is a constitutional requirement. The key justification related to the public for both wars was the tragic 9/11 attacks. The key goal related to the public for both wars was simply to capture Osama Bin Laden.

After having read the July 2004 9/11 Commission Report, there should be enough evidence to bring Bin Laden to trial for the 9/11 attacks.  (1) Even though I believe Bin Laden was behind the attacks, a dispassionate observer would question why the following facts are not generally known by the American public:

1. Per the CIA’s FBIS, Bin Laden said in a public interview on September 18, 2001 that “I am not involved in the 11 September attacks in the United States… Neither I had any knowledge of these attacks…” While he could certainly be lying, why would he deny responsibility? The entire point of terrorism is to advance a cause through violence and fear.  (2)

2. On their “Most Wanted” poster, the FBI does not specify that Bin Laden is wanted for trial in connection to the 9/11 attack which may mean that there is not enough hard or admissible evidence to try him in a court of law. (3)

However, the question of 9/11 responsibility is somewhat moot in the case of Bin Laden. Although he was a CIA “asset” in the proxy war fought against the Soviets in the 1980s, Bin Laden has been America’s enemy since 1998 when, on the anniversary of American troops to Bin Laden’s native Saudi Arabia, simultaneous bombings at US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania killed 12 American citizens. (4A) (4B) The USS Cole suicide bombing which killed 17 American sailors while harbored in Yemen, and the 1993 World Trade Center garage explosion which killed 6 civilians are also tied to Bin Laden. (4A) (5) (6)

However, hurling armies of tens of thousands after Bin Laden is not cost effective, nor is it constitutional – nor has it succeeded after the past 8 years. Therefore I would support the raising the reward for the capture of Bin Laden from $27 million to over $1 billion, and the issuing of a constitutional letter of marque to bring him – and other responsible Al-Qaeda – to justice. Letters of marque and reprisal are warrants issued by Congress to specified parties giving them permission to commit what would otherwise be illegal acts as they capture “marked” enemies or seek retribution, as was done against the Barbary pirates in 1812. (7) The higher reward would incentivize groups to pursue Bin Laden, and could conceivably include US special forces.

Afghanistan and Pakistan are Unjust Wars

“Preventive war was an invention of Hitler. Frankly, I would not even listen to anyone seriously that came and talked about such a thing.” – former President and Supreme Allied Commander in WWII Dwight D. Eisenhower

Besides a formal declaration of war, the “just war” doctrine specifies that wars cannot be preemptive; that there must be a just cause and innocent life must be in immediate jeopardy; that war must be a last resort after all diplomatic initiatives have failed; and it must be proportional in regards to the damage caused by the aggressor. (8)

Neither the Taliban nor Pakistan attacked the United States, and America was not in dire danger of an attack from either the Taliban or Pakistani military.

While the Taliban did shelter Bin Laden, the American government did not exhaust diplomacy – as a matter of fact, the government blindly ignored any efforts by the Taliban. On October 4, 2001, a Taliban plan to extradite Bin Laden to Pakistan for trial failed. (9) On October 7, as the bombing began, the Taliban stated they would place Bin Laden on trial in Afghanistan. (10) On October 14, the Taliban stated they would extradite Bin Laden to a third country for trial if America presented evidence of his involvement. (11)

Proportional? In 2001, 2,976 died during the 9/11 tragedy with 4 planes destroyed, 3 collapsed buildings in New York City, and a damaged Pentagon. In return, we have annihilated many tens of thousands of innocent civilians, many insurgents, and laid waste to countless cities and villages in a country that had no air force. If one includes the 19-year long Iraq War, several million civilian dead is a reasonable total. If this were somehow not enough, 5,278 American soldiers have died abroad. (12)

Afghanistan, the Graveyard of Empires: History on Brutal Rerun

“Intelligence is quickness in seeing things as they are.” – George Santayana

The Russians, British, even Alexander the Great have all met with defeat in Afghanistan, where the allegiances of a motley collection of tribes and clans still shift like the wind. America’s present-day involvement did not start in 2001, but instead began in 1979. The Muslim rebels, including Bin Laden, were funded via a proxy war to bled the Soviet Empire dry a few years before its’ failed central economic planning would have accomplished the same feat. President Carter’s National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski – who later was an advisor for President Obama – related in a 1998 interview that America fomented unrest in Afghanistan by secretly funding the Mujahadeen well before the Soviets invaded. When Brzezinski was asked if he regretted funding Islamic fundamentalists and future terrorists, he replied, “What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war?”  (13)

Brzezinski’s attitude was typical as America wiped its hands clean and left Afghanistan to tribal warfare which resulted in the Taliban consolidating power in the late 1990s. After fleeing Sudan, Osama Bin Laden found shelter with old contacts in the Northern Alliance and also the Taliban. As is related in the 9/11 Commission Report in chapters titled “The Attack Looms” and “The System Was Blinking Red,” America took very few actions to capture or kill Bin Laden until after 9/11 occurred. (14) However, even after 9/11 America was very hesitant to spend our soldiers’ lives. Consider:

On October 7, 2001 American and British air forces began the bombardment of Afghanistan, which had no air force. Air strikes directed by small British and American special forces units working alongside the Northern Alliance were the key reason the Taliban was defeated very quickly.

On November 13, Kabul was captured by Northern Alliance ground forces.

On November 26, Kunduz was captured by Northern Alliance ground forces.

In December the last major city of Kandahar was captured, also by Northern Alliance ground forces. (15)

During December 12-17 the infamous Battle of Tora Bora was fought in the mountains on the Afghanistan border. It is widely believed that this is when Bin Laden escaped to Pakistan. (16) (Photo)

So President Bush, despite any rhetoric to the contrary, did NOT allow American land forces to pursue him on land. In other words, we launched 150,000 troops over the Iraqi border in 2003 to capture Saddam Hussein, who was completely uninvolved with 9/11, but had only aerial bombardment and a few scant special op/CIA forces in Afghanistan to capture Bin Laden. Bush was content to let the Northern Alliance, a group of tribal warlords, fight a proxy war on our behalf.  (17)

It wasn’t until March 2002 that a major ground campaign was launched by the US to attack Al-Qaeda, and this can be seen by just looking at the casualty list’s details – most of those who died up to March were non-hostile airplane crashes or special ops related deaths. The first US combat death was a CIA operative on November 25. (18)

Will America join the dead phalanxes of Alexander and the rusted tanks of the Soviets in the graveyard of empires? I do not think we should stay long enough to find out. We are spending $400 to deliver each gallon of gasoline to patrol foreign borders, and currently maintaining an expensive army of 68,000 troops in the field. (19) The current National Security Advisor James Jones claimed in October 2009 that there are “less than 100 [al Qaeda] operating in the country, no bases, no ability to launch attacks on either us or our allies.“ (20)

A Tale of Opiates and Oil

“The first casualty when war comes is the truth.” – Senator Hiram Johnson, 1917

These are two fairly taboo subjects when the Afghanistan War is covered by the mainstream press. How much each factor truly played in foreign policy decision-making is left to the reader to decide.

Per the most recent, highly detailed United Nations report, the opium crop is over twice the pre-invasion levels. In fact, up until the invasion in November 2001, the Taliban’s mission to eradicate the crop was well underway due to their religious beliefs as seen by the dramatic drop in this chart. (21) The claim that the invasion has slowed down the drug trade is false; the war has accomplished the exact opposite.  This is a major cash market, with Afghanistan supplying over 90% of the world’s opiates.

The second topic is the geopolitics of oil.  While Afghanistan itself does not have fossil fuels, the vast and fairly-untapped reservoirs of oil and natural gas lie in the former Soviet satellite nations on the Afghan northern border. The Caspian Sea region is landlocked and there are plans to pipe the resources out via a Turkish or an Afghani-Pakistani pipeline, but political instability makes this difficult. A modern “Great Game” of geopolitical power struggles with the Russian, Chinese, Indian and Iranian governments is well underway. (22)

Border Security and the Economy

For those who do not heed the Constitutional limits on government, the brutal lessons taught by history, the immorality of unjust war, here are another two attempts to reason – border security and the economic turmoil.

As a chemical engineer, in industry when attacking customer problems, the first step is always containment of the problem, followed by root cause analysis, then preventative actions. In the case of 9/11, the Bush II administration made a foolhardy leap directly to preventative action, and has still not contained the threat of terrorism. In fact, even the “root cause analysis” from the 9/11 Commission did not begin until 14 months AFTER 9/11 instead of on 9/12/2001.  (23) Despite all the wasted bureaucracy in creating the monstrous $44-billion-a-year Department of Homeland Security, the American border is still a sieve with more holes than a piece of Swiss cheese as evidenced by rampant illegal immigration. (24) Returning the overseas Defense Department troops back to actually defending our borders with civilian border patrol staffing access points is extremely crucial for two reasons – our border security and our budget.

We must extricate our country from the overseas military empire of well over 700 bases in 150 of the planet’s 194 countries costing well over $1 trillion before it is too late. (25) With unemployment raging at over 20% and the dollar currency in crisis, imperial overstretch will result in the further stripping from the false Keynesian economy of our capital equipment, businesses, and jobs. If we and our children are to have peace in our lifetimes, we must drop the silly notion of America serving as the “world’s policeman” and JUST BRING OUR TROOPS HOME.

What kind of “policeman” patrols city streets with tanks, assault rifles, automated Predator drones and calls in aerial bombing and strafing runs to “peacekeep” the neighborhood? Washington DC is full of warmongers, armchair generals and chicken hawks who have no idea what the horrors of war entail. If our country were truly in danger of being invaded, I would be among the first to protect my family and friends. (Photo courtesy Leon Kuhn.  Used with permission.)

The enemies I have chosen to peacefully rise up against instead walk the halls of government.  Errant foreign policies are to blame for 9/11 and any future acts of terrorism on our soil.  In return for military and CIA meddling during the past century, America was hit on 9/11 by “blowback,” a CIA term coined to describe what goes around comes around.  (26) Without our troops stationed on Saudi, Bahraini, Qatari, Kuwaiti, et cetera soil, continuous supply of arms to both Israeli and Arab factions, and continuous bombing of Iraq, and harsh sanctions on Iraq and Iran, we would not have been attacked on 9/11.

We must be far more wary of the reckless spenders who support the Warfare-Welfare state, the FED and corporatist bailouts than of desperate bands starving in caves on the opposite side of the world. The American republic was conceived in liberty and is dead in its grave until We the People decide to fight for our freedoms.  While I draw breath I intend to see that liberty shall not perish under the heavy fist of this unconstitutional and illegal collection of rogues in government.

For freedom, justice, peace and prosperity,

Jake Towne

November 14, 2009

[Note: If you would like to find out what General McChrystal, commander of our forces suggests we do instead, here is his leaked and declassified report. While I had been hoping to find a logical, detailed alternative, unfortunately it reads like a poor high school book report that was turned in 8 years too late. The key takeaway is that “many indicators suggest the overall situation is deteriorating.” (page 5/66)  Also recommended reading is the resignation letter of Iraq War veteran Matthew Hoh, who resigned rather then continue serving in Afghanistan, and Imperial Hubris, a book written by the CIA's Bin Laden unit's former head, Michael Scheuer.]

Source List

(1)  The 9/11 Commission Report. 2004.  http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/report/index.htm

(2) FBIS Report. 2004.  “Compilation of Usama Bin Laden Statements 1994 – January 2004.” http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/ubl-fbis.pdf

(3) FBI’s Most Wanted Fugitive: Usama Bin Laden.  http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/fugitives/laden.htm

(4A)  The 9/11 Commission Report. 2004. Embassy attacks p. 132-8/585.  USS Cole p. 207-14/585. http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/report/911Report.pdf

(4B) “1998 United States Embassy Bombings.“  Wikipedia.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_United_States_embassy_bombings

(5) “USS Cole Bombing.”  Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Cole_bombing

(6) “1993 World Trade Center Bombing.”  Wikipedia.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_World_Trade_Center_bombing

(7) Liberty Bell Center of Constitutional Studies. “What Are Letters of Marque and Reprisal?” http://www.lbccs.org/2009/11/what-are-letters-of-marque-and-reprisal.html

(8) “Just War.” Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_War

(9) UK Telegraph.  4 October 2001.  “Pakistan Blocks Bin Laden Trial.“  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/1358464/Pakistan-blocks-bin-Laden-trial.html

(10) CNN. 7 October 2001.  “U.S. Rejects Taliban Offer to Try Bin Laden.“  http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/10/07/ret.us.taliban/

(11) UK Guardian. 14 October 2001.  “Bush Rejects Taliban Offer to Hand Bin Laden Over.” http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/oct/14/afghanistan.terrorism5

(12) Antiwar.com. U.S. Military Casualty Count.  http://antiwar.com/casualties/

(13) Le Nouvel Observateur. 1998.  “Interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski.”  http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/BRZ110A.html

(14)  The 9/11 Commission Report. 2004. p. 232-94/585.  http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/report/911Report.pdf

(15) “Operation Enduring Freedom.” Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Enduring_Freedom

(16) “Battle of Tora Bora.” Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tora_Bora

(17) Bugliosi, Vincent. 2008.  “The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder.”  p. 214-219.

(18) iCasualties.org. “Operation Enduring Freedom Fatalities.”  http://icasualties.org/OEF/Fatalities.aspx

(19) The Hill. October 2009.  “$400 per Gallon Gas to Drive Debate over Cost of War in Afghanistan.”  http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/63407-400gallon-gas-another-cost-of-war-in-afghanistan-

(20) Washington Times. October 2009.  “Obama Aide Downplays Extra Troops in Afghanistan.”  http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/05/afghan-attacks-add-to-call-for-more-troops//print/

(21) United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. 2009.  “Afghanistan Opium Survey 2009 – Summary Findings.” p. 26/42. http://www.unodc.org/documents/crop-monitoring/Afghanistan/Afghanistan_opium_survey_2009_summary.pdf

(22) Johnson, Chalmers. 2004.  “The Sorrows of Empire.”

(23) “9/11 Commission.” Wikipedia.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9/11_Commission

(24) White House. FY 2009 Budget. p. 83/342. http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2009/pdf/hist.pdf

(25) Towne, Jake. 2009.  “America’s Military Empire.“  http://towneforcongress.com/economy/americas-military-empire

(26) Johnson, Chalmers. 2001. “Blowback.”

November 11, 2009 11:11 AM

Today, many Americans take a moment to remember the veterans that have fulfilled their oaths to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States, against all enemies foreign and domestic.”  All too many have paid the ultimate price, many defending their fellow soldiers, and many believing they were defending their countrymen.  I am sure that this year the all-too-fresh Fort Hood tragedy will be on the minds of all veterans.  As I stated in the campaign’s veterans plank:

“Service members shoulder a heavy burden when they volunteer to risk their lives in defense of our country. They perform a necessary function in our society and for their service veterans receive deserved benefits and gratitude. However, the greatest way to honor them is to keep them out of unnecessary conflict. The only just war is one carried out in self-defense, as a non-aggressor, and as a last resort.

“It’s important that we have a strong military to deter attacks against the our country and protect it when attacked. However, asking our young men and women to participate in unjust war is a moral abyss that we as a country should never leap into. If we aspire to be a just nation ruled by laws we must resolve to never ask our military men and women to engage in unconstitutional warfare and nation-building missions.”

Honor our soldiers abroad by bringing them home to protect our borders.  Never EVER accept the shipping their bodies and brains to a war zone without a constitutional declaration of war. 

One of the disappointments I have had with the antiwar movement, generally speaking, is that somehow they believe they have elected a “peace candidate” in Barack Obama.  As a result, they have been largely silent for 10 months while the troop escalation to 68,000 and record American combat deaths continued in Afghanistan, and troop levels remain steady on the Iraq War front.  One shocking interview is Antiwar Radio’s Scott Horton debating with a co-founder of CodePink (the group had formally been for immediate withdrawal under Bush II) why American troops should remain in Afghanistan. Even if your thoughts on foreign policy differ from mine, the reversal of principles without reason is disturbing.

Here is my message – only when the members of the antiwar movement unite with the constitutionalists will our wars abroad cease.  Those outraged at the violations of the rule of law,  the violations of the criteria for “just war,” (video below) and the immorality of the slaughter of innocent “collateral damage” must join forces or be cut to pieces as seen in the 1734 Ben Franklin cartoon.  Read the campaign’s Iraq War plank here, and the Afghanistan War plank will be posted shortly.

This campaign was selected to appear on the subscription magazine cover of The New American with constitutional candidates Peter Schiff, Adam Kokesh, RJ Harris, Marvin “Chick” Heileson and Rand Paul.  Notably, both RJ Harris and Adam Kokesh are veterans who have served in the Middle East and oppose the wars.  The magazine PDF can be downloaded from The New American here or below.

That Freedom Shall Not Perish,

Jake Towne

The New American #2524 – Constitutional Candidates issue with Jake Towne

Check it out below.

Ron Paul uses his 5 minutes quite well as he declares that sanctions are an act of war and attempts to educate his peers on the unintended consequences of these types of sanctions.

(Thanks to Minnesota Chris for the video, check out his blog)

Decorated Marine, Foreign Service Official resigns

“It’s time to end the whole mess!”

When watching it one gets the impression he’s made these same arguments a few too many times. Judging from his demeanor he may be getting sick of replaying the same arguments and not have anyone really listen to him. Well, a few of us are listening, and agreeing.

Watch it below.

“No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.” – James Madison, 1795

Originally published October 14, 2009 at http://towneforcongress.com/economy/iraq-war-plank-1

Summary: As Congressman, I will drive for a rapid, immediate and orderly withdrawal from Iraq. Under no circumstances will I approve spending to extend this unconstitutional, preemptive war of aggression.

Besides the creating new dollars to debase the currency and spending taxpayer funds to fund war during adverse economic times, my justification for the position is the following:

First and foremost, without a declaration of war, the Iraq War is an unconstitutional and illegal war as it conflicts with the Constitution, the supreme law of the land. In dereliction of their duty and oaths of office, the House voted down by unanimous vote a motion in committee to follow the Constitution and declare war in H.R.J. 114, the bill that authorized Bush II to invade with attack in March 2003. (1) (2)

Second, we must realize that the Iraq War is a grinding, continuous, 19-year long war. While I condemn Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship, one must remember that as recently as 1984 the United States backed the regime and funded both Iraq and Iran (the infamous Iran-Contra Affair) during the blood-soaked Iran-Iraq War from 1980-1988, which saw wide use of chemical weapons such as mustard gas and the nerve agent tabun. In 1994, Senator Riegle’s report revealed that America armed Iraq with anthrax, botulinum and many other chemical weapons that were “not attenuated or weakened” and “capable of reproduction.” (3) (4) (5) (6A) (6B) (7)

The Iraq War can be divided into three parts. (8) (photo)

Phase 1: The attack to remove the Saddam Hussein’s army from Kuwait took place with broad international support and United Nations approval from 1990-1991. Osama bin Laden, our former-ally-turned-terrorist who disapproved of Hussein’s secular (non-religious) rule, even offered to invade with his mujahideen. (9)

Phase 2: From 1992-2002, the Iraqi people suffered under isolating economic sanctions, loss of its airspace to a militarized “no-fly” zone (which never had UN approval and was called “illegal” by the head of the UN), and was repeatedly bombed by the US Air Force. Under Clinton, these instances include the launch of 23 Tomahawk missiles to demolish Intelligence Headquarters in Baghdad in 1993 and a major bombing mission in 1998. Under Bush II and before H.R.J. 114 was even passed, a joint US-UK airstrike involving 100 warplanes was carried out in September 2002 with next-to-no media coverage. Britain’s Ministry of Defense alone reported dropping well over 300,000 pounds of ordnance during 2002. (10) (11) (12) (13) (14)

While the bombs dropped, the harsh economic sanctions led by the United States led to starving among the Iraqi people, as the US State Department demonstrated in their 2002 report. (15)

Phase 3: In March 2003, America and a coalition of nations invaded Iraq in violation of their UN charters and the USConstitution without an acts of aggression committed by Iraq. As of October 2009, 4,348 American servicemen and women have died so far in the occupation. The minimal number of Iraqi civilian deaths lies between 93,000 to 102,000 per Iraq Body Count. Extrapolations from the study by the medical journal Lancet give estimates of 1.2 to 1.3 million civilian deaths from a 2003 population of roughly 25 million. On a percentage basis, this is the rough equivalent of 13 million deaths if the war had took place in America. (16) (17) (18) (19) (20)

The Bush II regime gave the following two excuses for invading Iraq and occupying it from 2003 to present. First, they said that Iraq supported Al-Qaeda. Second, they said Iraq had “weapons of mass destruction.” These claims were not only false, but were lies.

“We have no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with the 11 September attacks.”

- President George Bush to US Congress, September 2003 (21)

“I do not believe and have never seen any evidence to confirm that [Hussein] was involved in 9/11. We had that reporting for a while, [but] eventually it turned out not to be true.”

- former Vice President, Halliburton CEO and Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney, June 2009 (22)

In 2008, a study concluded that the Bush II regime publicly made 935 false claims concerning Al-Qaeda’s ties to Iraq and weapons of mass destruction with Bush II uttering 260 falsehoods, Secretary Colin Powell 254, and Vice President Dick Cheney 48. Furthermore, while Bush II was terrifying the American people of being attacked by Hussein and Bin Laden on a daily basis throughout 2002, in September of 2002 the CIA sheepishly reported that they had not updated the National Intelligence Estimate since 2000 with an assessment of Iraq’s nuclear, chemical and biological weapons capacities. (23) (24)

This lack of intelligence did not stop Colin Powell from lying to the United Nations Security Council in February 2003 stating he had “solid sources” that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and that his testimony was “not assertions” but instead “facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence.” Powell terrorized the UN, falsely claiming that Hussein was still armed with anthrax (which, remember, America exported to Iraq in the 1980s) and was intent on committing acts of terrorism. His chief of staff later testified Powell was not speaking the truth. [Powell also 'whitewashed' the truth about infamous My Lai Massacre during the Vietnam War.] (25) (26)

We should not have the temerity to fool ourselves into believing that garrisons and “police actions” in Iraq are helpful in any way. Think about how many Americans would revolt if a foreign nation were to have garrisons in our country! Iraq belongs to the Iraqis, not to us. Instead of more bombs, bullets, and sanctions, America should offer Iraq peace, honest friendship, and peaceful trade. These can best be obtained by a rapid, immediate, and orderly withdrawal from Iraq.

American troops should JUST COME HOME. Even if the annual $1+ trillion military empire was economically sustainable, there is no rational reason to continue America’s style of gunboat diplomacy. WWII and the Korean War ended 60 years ago. Leave Germany to the Germans. Leave Japan to the Japanese. Leave Korea to the Koreans. Congress should immediately bring home the 113,242 troops stationed in these three countries along with all others. (27) (28)

Concerning foreign policy, we must face facts. There has been no real change since Barack Obama took office except for an escalation of the Afghanistan-Pakistan War. Obama will shortly sign in existence the largest war budget in the history of the world, $680 billion dollars. This bill will increase the size of active-duty combat troops by 40,200 next year, inline with Obama’s campaign promise to add 92,000 troops in his first term. (29) (30) (Photo courtesy Leon Kuhn. Used with permission.)

America today faces a time of maximum danger where continued warring will bleed us dry and bankrupt our treasury. The freedoms our founding fathers died protecting are heavily eroded. But the dire threat to liberty comes not from cowards living in caves in Pakistan. The dinosaur career politicians in office today represent the true threat. They are dragging We the People along a path not unlike that of the USSR during the 1980s. The Soviet Union collapsed for two basic reasons an unsustainable economy ruled by central planners and imperial overstretch.

Conceived in liberty, America is yet a wealthy nation in comparison to the rest of the world, but time runs thin. We must restore the constitutional Republic before it is too late. Wars rarely result in more freedoms, and the Revolution of 1776 was one of these few. If we are to have a free and open society, our last & only resort must be to ruthlessly wage peace and love.

Let the peaceful rEVOLution of 2010 begin.

For the Republic!

Jake Towne, the Champion of the Constitution

Nazareth, Pennsylvania

October 14, 2009

Note: Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense during the Gulf War, was CEO of Halliburton from 1995-2000. While bombs were still dropping on Iraq, Halliburton assisted with putting out the oil fires. The Washington Post reported “Halliburton held stakes in two firms that signed contracts to sell more than $73 million in oil production equipment and spare parts to Iraq while Cheney was chairman and chief executive officer.” (31)

Note: Even if a claim that a nation possesses “weapons of mass destruction” is true, this is not grounds enough to invade it. Likewise, by no means is preemptive war excusable on the pretext of a mere possibility of aggression. The only legitimate use of force is in defense of individual rights life, liberty, and justly acquired property against aggression. Many nation-states seek to arm themselves because they wish to defend themselves. Obviously, the United States and most developed nations themselves possess “weapons of mass destruction.”

Source List

1. The Constitution of the United States. 1787-present. http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html
2. House Joint Resolution 114, Authorization of Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=hj107-114
   
3. Iran-Iraq War. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Iraq_War
4. Iran-Contra Affair. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran-Contra_Affair
5. Senator Riegle’s Report. 1994. “FORWARD DEPLOYMENT OF IRAQI CHEMICAL AGENTS DURING THE PERSIAN GULF WAR.” http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?r103:1:./temp/~r103jEfsjZ::
6. Senator Riegle’s Report. 1994. Main page. http://www.gulfweb.org/report/riegle1.html Section with list of chemicals exported to Iraq from America, including anthrax and botulinum. http://www.gulfweb.org/report/r_1_2.html
7. Ali, Javel. 2001. “Chemical Weapons and the Iran-Iraq: A Study in Non-Compliance.” Tabun and mustard gas, page 6/16. http://cns.miis.edu/npr/pdfs/81ali.pdf
8. King, John. Photo of Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary of Defense, shaking hands with Saddam Hussein. Late 2003. http://www.iranchamber.com/history/articles/arming_iraq.php
9. 9/11 Commission Report. p. 74/585. http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/report/911Report.pdf
10. Iraqi No-Fly Zones. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_no-fly_zones
11. 9/11 Commission Report. p. 115/585. http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/report/911Report.pdf
12. Ibid. p. 137/585. http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/report/911Report.pdf
13. Scahill, Jeremy. 2005. “The Other Bomb Drops.” The Nation. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050613/scahill
14. Smith, Michael. 2005. “The War Before the War.” The New Statesman. http://www.newstatesman.com/200505300013
15. US State Department. 2002. “Iraq: A Population Silenced.” p. 12/15. http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/16059.pdf
16. Antiwar.com. USSoldier Deaths Count. http://antiwar.com/casualties/
17. Iraq Body Count. http://www.iraqbodycount.org/
18. Lancet. 2006. Mortality in Iraq. http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2807%2960062-2/fulltext
19. Thieren, Michel. 2008. “Deaths in Iraq: How Many and Why It Matters.” http://www.opendemocracy.net/conflict-iraq/iraq_deaths_4011.jsp
20. Just Foreign Policy. Iraq Deaths. http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq
21. BBC. 2003. “Bush rejects Saddam 9/11 link.” http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/3118262.stm
22. CNN. 2009. “Cheney: No Link Between Saddam Hussein, 9/11.” http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/01/cheney.speech/
23. CNN. 2008. “Study: Bush, aides made 935 false statements in run-up to war.” http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/23/bush.iraq/
24. Schmitt, Eric and Alison Mitchell. 2002. “USLacks Up-to-Date Review of Iraqi Arms.” http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/11/international/middleeast/11IRAQ.html
25. Towne, Jake. 2008. “My Father’s Vietnam is My Iraq – Disturbing Parallels.” http://www.nolanchart.com/article3436.html
26. Youtube. Wilkerson, Lawrence. 2007. Testimony about Colin Powell’s presentation on Iraq from his former Chief of Staff. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwdsm-Oux4o
27. Higgs, Robert.2007. “The Trillion Dollar Defense Budget is Already Here.” http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1941
28. Towne, Jake. 2009. “America’s Military Empire.” http://towneforcongress.com/economy/americas-military-empire
29. House Resolution 2647. National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-2647
30. Towne, Jake. 2009. “Barack Obama, ElinorOstrom, and the Nobel Prize, Part 1/2.” http://towneforcongress.com/economy/barack-obama-elinor-ostrom-and-the-nobel-prize-part-12
31. Drutman, Lee and Cray, Charlie. 2003. “Cheney, Halliburton, and the Spoils of War.” http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=6288

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Jake Towne is running for U.S. Congress in Pennsylvania’s 15th District in the 2010 election as a citizen unaffiliated with any political parties. Jake also writes at www.LibertyMaven.com and www.CampaignForLiberty.com. A novel campaign website where you can comment on articles and start discussions is available at TowneForCongress.com. [Reach the Author Here!]

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We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

As always, unlike the NFL, the author grants full permission to allow any accounts of, rebroadcasts, retransmissions, repostings of this article to your blog or anywhere else in order to promote the Restoration of our Republic.

Veritas numquam perit. Veritas odit moras. Veritas vincit. Truth never perishes. Truth hates delay. Truth conquers.

Tu ne cede malis sed contra audentior ito. Do not give in to evil but proceed ever more boldly against it.

For those wishing to learn more about a foreign policy of non-intervention to decide for themselves, I heartily recommend Blowback by Chalmers Johnson which was originally written just months before the 9/11 attack in 2001. The Council on Foreign Relations called it a “comic book” prior to 9/11, and unfortunately the research presented by Chalmers is true.

A piece by Glenn Greenwald over at Salon.com a few weeks ago points out many examples how so much of Obama’s talk of change was just that: talk.

“When it comes to uprooting (’changing’) the Bush/Cheney approach to terrorism and civil liberties — the issue which generated as much opposition to the last presidency as anything else — the Obama administration has proven rather conclusively that tiny and cosmetic adjustments are the most it is willing to do.

“They love announcing new policies that cast the appearance of change but which have no effect whatsoever on presidential powers.

“With great fanfare, they announced the closing of CIA black sites — at a time when none was operating.

“They trumpeted the President’s order that no interrogation tactics outside of the Army Field Manual could be used — at a time when approval for such tactics had been withdrawn.

“They repudiated the most extreme elements of the Bush/Addington/Yoo ‘inherent power’ theories — while maintaining alternative justifications to enable the same exact policies to proceed exactly as is.

“They flamboyantly touted the closing of Guantanamo — while aggressively defending the right to abduct people from around the world and then imprison them with no due process at Bagram.

“Their ‘changes’ exist solely in theory — which isn’t to say that they are all irrelevant, but it is to say that they change nothing in practice:  i.e., in reality.”

Then a week later, Greenwald posted an update, saying:

“Isn’t it so interesting how the phrase ‘Patriot Act’ was the symbol of everything Democrats claimed to find so heinous during the Bush years, but now that there’s a Democratic President, Senate and Congress, it’s absolutely certain that the Patriot Act will continue, and civil libertarians are reduced to hoping that there may be some tiny modifications to it, and even that’s highly unlikely?”

Indeed.

Louis Armstrong’s famous song “What A Wonderful World” is now officially satire.

Maybe the Nobel Prize Committee was afraid of being called racist?

Or maybe it was just another giant middle finger to former President George W. Bush. Apparently, he is now being blamed for Obama winning the prize by at least one source.

The award of this year’s Nobel peace prize to President Obama will be met with widespread incredulity, consternation in many capitals and probably deep embarrassment by the President himself.

Rarely has an award had such an obvious political and partisan intent. It was clearly seen by the Norwegian Nobel committee as a way of expressing European gratitude for an end to the Bush Administration, approval for the election of America’s first black president and hope that Washington will honour its promise to re-engage with the world.

Instead, the prize risks looking preposterous in its claims, patronising in its intentions and demeaning in its attempt to build up a man who has barely begun his period in office, let alone achieved any tangible outcome for peace.

Perhaps Obama winning this award is not surprising after all. The only other two sitting U.S. Presidents to win the award were Woodrow Wilson and Teddy Roosevelt. Hmmm, do I detect a pattern here? Perhaps it should be renamed, “The Nobel Progressive Prize”. It certainly has nothing to do with peace.

What if this obvious political move has the unintended consequence of spreading more resentment for America overseas than less? In effect this would be using the prize as a strategic chess piece for wishes that will never come true.

Here is a quite appropriate reaction from a student in Kabul:

“I don’t think Obama deserves this. I don’t know who’s making all these decisions. The prize should go to someone who has done something for peace and humanity,” said Ahmad Shabir, 18-year-old student in Kabul. “Since he is the president, I don’t see any change in U.S. strategy in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Exactly Ahmad, Exactly.

We’re lost — that’s how I feel. I’m not exactly sure why we’re here,” said Specialist Raquime Mercer

The soldiers’ biggest question is: what can we do to make this war stop. Catch one person? Assault one objective? Soldiers want definite answers, other than to stop the Taleban, because that almost seems impossible. It’s hard to catch someone you can’t see

The chaplains said that many soldiers had lost their desire to help Afghanistan. “All they want to do is make it home alive and go back to their wives and children and visit the families who have lost husbands and fathers over here. It comes down to just surviving,” said Captain Masengale.

Full Article

Yesterday it became quite clear that she was never in danger of becoming a foreign policy non-interventionist like Paul.

From CNN:

Palin published a note on her Facebook page Tuesday that encourages President Barack Obama to grant a request for the tens of thousands of additional troops reportedly requested by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in the country.

“Now is not the time for cold feet, second thoughts, or indecision,” Palin wrote on the site. “It is the time to act as commander-in-chief and approve the troops so clearly needed in Afghanistan.”

Noting the possible consequences of not helping to build up Afghanistan’s institutions, the former Alaska governor also wholeheartedly endorsed McChrystal’s counterinsurgency approach to continued U.S. military presence in the country.

“We can win in Afghanistan by helping the Afghans build a stable representative state able to defend itself. And we must do what it takes to prevail. The stakes are very high. The 9/11 attacks were planned in Afghanistan, and if we are not successful there, al Qaeda will once again find a safe haven, the Taliban will impose its cruelty on the Afghan people, and Pakistan will be less stable.”

She is just confirming that she never was and never will be a libertarian, especially when it comes to foreign policy. Don’t let the new designation (or Eric Dondero) fool you. The Palin-Cons are the same old Neo-Cons.

While Beck may not be there yet, there is a noticeable difference in his rhetoric when it comes to foreign policy and war. This could certainly be attributed to the fact that Obama is now in the White House instead of George W. Bush who used to get endless praise from Beck on foreign policy. Or is this evidence of a core transformation in Beck toward a more non-interventionist approach?

I shamefully admit that I once supported an interventionist foreign policy but that has changed over time as I investigated and became more informed on the issue. It took months, not days. Could Beck be going through a similar transformation? Only time, and maybe another Republican President will tell.

Does it really matter what Glenn Beck thinks? I argue that it does. He has some of the highest ratings of all the political talk shows. Like it or not many people care what he says and thinks. If Beck can make the transition to non-intervention then any formerly devout neo-conservative can too. Don’t shun them with charges of distrust. Welcome them and help them along their path.

For evidence of the Beck transformation-in-process I submit the video below.