Secretary of State John Kerry at the House Foreign Affairs Committee Hearing on Syria war authorization Today:
“With respect to Arab countries offering to bear costs…the answer is profoundly yes. They have. That offer is on the table.”
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, March 23, 2003 on the eve of the Iraq war, before the House Appropriations Committee:
“The oil revenues of that country could bring between $50 and $100 billion over the course of the next two or three years. Now, there are a lot of claims on that money, but … We are dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction and relatively soon.”
Wolfowitz’s “free” war ended up costing the US taxpayer more than one trillion dollars. How much will Obama and Kerry and Rice and Power’s “free” war cost us?
There are many more similarities. Both wars are based on lies and falsified evidence. In the run up to both wars, Congress completely ignored whether the basic assertions of the administration were true or false. That debate did not happen. The debate was only on when and how to go in. How to finesse the authorization for the use of force so as to not appear to give the president too much blanket authority while at the same time giving him the maximum blanket authority.
The same is the case today. With very few exceptions, the “opposition” to the war authorization came from those who were irritated that it did not go further, demanding that the president establish no fly zones and boots on the ground.
Americans by a large majority do not at present want a war on Syria. Probably a week or so more of Kerry’s “Assad is Hitler” propaganda will peel off several percentage points in favor of US action. With the propaganda tuned, they may even get close to a majority.
But as long as Hitler is on the menu, perhaps it is worthwhile to revisit a moment of profound honesty from one of his deputies, Hermann Göring, interviewed in a jail cell at his Nuremberg trial:
3:27 am on September 5, 2013Göring: Naturally, the common people don’t want war. …But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship.
Gilbert: There is one difference. In a democracy, the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars.
Göring: Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.
