The REAL Cost of the War of Terror
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by James Corbett
TheInternationalForecaster.com
September 21, 2016
We all know by now that the real terrorists (the politicians in the suits and ties and the banksters that pull their strings) are waging their war of terror on multiple fronts for multiple reasons.
Domestically, it rallies the population around the flag, keeping the flock in check. At the same time it justifies the build up of the police state control grid to catch the thought criminals who resist.
It also writes a blank check for the illegal wars of aggression abroad. Simply place your terrorist boogeyman in the square of the chessboard you’re looking to occupy and — hey presto! — you’ve got yourself an excuse to invade. (Even if you “accidentally” end up supporting them, right Uncle Sam?)
But of course the politicians, their string pullers and their fellow travelers benefit from the war of terror in a more straightforward sense. They get to use the terror scares that they themselves create to drum up billions upon billions in the name of fighting the boogeymen.
We’ve all heard of the $640 toilet seat and other ridiculous examples of Pentagon “overspending,” but these stories tend to trivialize the abuses by the military-defense contractors whose entire industry is built on providing overpriced solutions to made up problems. After all, the Pentagon itself just admitted it could cut $2 billion from its budget by shutting down some of the needless bases and defense facilities that have been built around the globe in the name of the American empire.
But $2 billion is chump change.
In the 15 years since 9/11, $1 trillion has been spent building up the police state in the American “homeland” itself.
Meanwhile, the Defense Department has been spending over $600 billion per year maintaining the American military in the post-9/11 era. $4 to $6 trillion of that was spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars alone, the most expensive wars in US history.
Combined defense spending, including Homeland Security, DoD, State Department, defense related debt interest and other defense costs, has reached the highest levels in modern history over the past decade. From a Cold War era high in the 1980s of $3500 for every man, woman and child in the United States to a 1990s low of $2500, that figure has since breached $4000. Just look at the chart; it isn’t hard to see exactly when the trend reversed and the good times began to flow for the military-industrial contractors: It was 9/11, the birthday of the war of terror and the new era of homeland security.
There are other numbers we could throw in here:
The billions upon billions in military aid sent to the co-perpetrators of the war of terror, including the $38 billion that has been promised Israel over the next 10 years.
The $1.5 trillion joke known as the F-35 fighter jet.
The $6.5 trillion of “year-end adjustments” in the ongoing, never-ending saga of the Pentagon’s missing trillions.
But we have to be careful not to fall into the psychopaths’ trap. The real costs of the war of terror cannot be measured in dollars and cents. They are not tallied in a ledger. They are not about money at all.
The real cost is paid in blood. The blood of a million dead Iraqis. The blood of the hundreds of thousands murdered men, women and children in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The blood that is being shed right now in Syria, in Libya, in Yemen, and in all of the countries that have crossed through the crosshairs of the NATO, American and Israeli terrorists.
It’s measured in the devastation of towns and cities that once bustled with life. In the families torn apart by drone bombings. In the havoc of the hundreds of thousands forced to flee their homes, leave their families and their homeland and their former life behind as everything they knew is torn to shreds.
It’s measured in the blood of the servicemen and women themselves. Lied to, propagandized and indoctrinated their entire lives, given a ticket out of grinding poverty by the military, shot up with experimental vaccines and shoved into the meat grinder for tour of duty after tour of duty. And then, upon returning home, left to rot in rundown hospitals and ignored by the glad-handing politicians and their military-industrial cronies as a suicide epidemic gradually thins their ranks.
This is the true cost of the war of terror, and it is incalculable. And none of it, absolutely none of it, will come to an end until the public stops believing the false narrative of the war of terror and the lies that have brought it about.
Much like Santa Claus and the Easter bunny, the real terrorists can only survive if you believe in them.
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Wow! Emotional impact!
Thanks!
Yzp what a kick
That was the type of material i have come to expect out of J.C., and also the reason i had to start chipping in!!! the narration flows like the inner dialogue of my mind , a beaten down and trodden-upon human number, a meat sack, a useless eater, a david looking up at these goliaths like raytheon,lockheed etc.
they do not rest,do not pause, and do not feel remorse.We will all someday have to start doing something about it.♥♥♥
Great piece James !
It became evident to me that when Nixon ended the military draft in 1973, it wasn’t to please a group of protesting Liberals from that period of history. The American generations that followed became complacent toward Washington’s various ongoing wars that, with the exception of the increasing tax burden, no longer had any direct affect on their private lives. To a large extent that has changed over recent years as limited tax Dollars continue to support foreign military agendas rather than national programs to restore our country’s collapsing infrastructure and resurrect our collapsing economy !
Brilliant. Another James’ 5 min master piece.
Looks like it’s too bloody for Youtube.
“…the real terrorists can only survive if you believe in them.”
Sometimes still struck me how people believe to these creatures, when even they obviously don’t believe their own story.
Mark Toner: Transparency and democracy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PHS2DAr0rc
This nut, which is described as “a plain round nut,” was made by McDonnell Douglas for the Navy at $2,043 each. [emphasis added]
But, as the book points out, wouldn’t it be embarrassing if some big piece of equipment failed because of a spare part that cost only a few cents? We certainly don’t want to risk our airplanes by fitting them with cheap nuts.
The book also lists a claw hammer sold by Gould Simulation Systems to the Navy for $435. In the picture <>. [emphasis added]
Comparatively reasonable is McDonnell Douglas’ price of only $37 for a screw. <> [emphasis added]
The <> indicate that the LA Times “journalist” and the author of the book know nothing of how the DoD sources hardware. Ignorant and proud of it. Those items cannot be bought off the shelf because they are made to DoD specs.
Do contractors rip off Uncle Sucker? You bet. But in countless cases the problem is the govt drones who specify that the nuts and bolts be made of unobtainium and fabricated with expensive processes. Then, when the govt runs low, another govt idiot orders just a couple hundred. Spreading the cost of expediting unobtainum and setting up the tooling over just a few bolts leads to astronomical prices.
Could DoD order more parts off the shelf? Of course. Every so often, to great fanfare, they launch a new initiative to increase COTS sourcing. But there are lots of stiff-necked drones who just know that their application is so extra special it demands its own spec. And so the merry-go-round continues. Then drones like Jack Smith of the LA Times can dust off their righteous indignation and be a hero by penning another article.
Another Masterpiece:
I like all your videos but now and again you come out with one that is succinct and inspired. I can’t wait to share this once there is a working YouTube link (current one says ‘this is s private video’). Thanks for your important work, quality, style, credibility and domina. Proud to recommend and share it.
Ah good the YouTube link is fixed and I’ve shared it a lot already
WOW!!! This is why I support the corbettreport.com, TRUTH and EXCELLENCE! Your work haven’t disappoint me yet!
Thank you James! Fantastic to share. Very well done.
Powerful stuff James, however I implore some of you to really dig deep, and ask yourself, are all politicians and bankers, are they really all corrupt? Are they really all bloodthirsty warmongers? Or is there a hidden power that uses some of these people in positions of power in order to manipulate and create world events such as fomenting wars for their own ends?
Do any of you remember when Obama was almost forced/tricked into attacking Syria when Nethanhyu said Assad had crossed a red line, after accusing him of using chemical weapons on the free Syria army? Do any of you remember that? Well…did Obama create a no-fly zone and bomb Syria? No, he didn’t. I believe Obama saw the ruse for what it was, and said no, enough is enough, and that’s when Putin stepped in and negotiated a deal where Assad willfully gave up his chemical weapons. Now, does this mean both Putin and Obama are saints? Of course not, but I think both knew what was the end game, and both decided in their own way to try and avoid more bloodshed.
If you guys really try hard enough, you’ll figure this out. What is happening, at least since 9/11, is that some people, primarily in Israel, they are seeking to create a massive police state world wide in order to justify their illegal suppression/repression of the Palestinian people. They are seeking to demonize all Muslims world wide by using a few brainwashed patsies to carry out terrorist attacks, this is what the Syrian refugee crisis was meant to accomplish IMHO.
Furthermore, Trump wants to build a wall, not to keep Mexicans out, but so that Israel can then justify its apartheid wall. When Bush said:”they attacked us because they hate our freedom(s)”, in a way he was right.
We are at a cross road in history. There are two opposing forces at play here that will decide our collective future. Whoever wins the next US election will decide if the war on terror not only continues but is ratchet up, or if these wars come to an end by eventually forcing the Israeli’s and Palestinians to co-exist together peacefully.
Of course I probably just signed my own death warrant by posting this since the Mossad monitors these types of comment boards, but you know what, I’m not the only one that finally figured out the hard right in Israel doesn’t want peace, at least not until they finish capturing Jerusalem.
I find it rather sad that commentary, and worldviews like this are ending up in such a well read and insightful place as this.
That makes, no sense.
“Trump wants to build a wall”
Even if they can overcome the monumental logistical problems I doubt they will find enough illegal immigrants to do the labor.
Thank you so much James! I will be sharing this far and wide. Sometimes these short productions of yours are like an arrow weaving through a mess of trees only to directly hit it’s target on the other side. I see the importance in digging deep, it allows you to get to the heart of the matter in few words. Again, thank you.
I agree with your comments totally, It is what I was thinking myself. Peace.
Paul in England.
Thanks James !
You know in those Hollowwood movies where some computer whizz manages to upload the video exposing some corruption to all the TV networks and Times Square, at once, just in time to avert disaster or expose a crime? Well, that is what I would wish for for this gem — that during primetime, when all those godawful reality shows are plying their wares — there’d be a “We interrupt this meaningless and utterly forgettable trivia to bring you this important announcement from one of the many billions of powers that should be . . .” and up would load James’s ‘the real cost of the war of terror’. And for those it didn’t reach the first time, the video would be rebroadcast at random intervals until such time as . . .
A Westjet flight I took in 2012 played this episode of the 5th Estate:
9/11: The Unofficial Story (2009)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkYlbpS-vVI
I was shocked… I thought the mainstream was finally making some progress. It wasn’t until later that I discovered the episode had been made several years earlier (2009) and was subsequently buried by the CBC.
So…apparently, somebody at Westjet took it upon themselves to play this banned episode.
Try to find this episode in the 5th Estate archives:
http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/episodes/_search_noresults/4384653606aafed738696784b3d18166/
(hint: it isn’t there)
stevie, there are some people taking chances. It is my hope there will be many more.
Great anecdote, thanks.
Bump
Great anecdote!
Thanks dude, interesting watch.
Crazy that they just pretend that never happened now.
Excellent as always James.
Here’s a question for you and the community.
As you know the European Physics Society recently published an article supporting the controlled demolition theory.
http://www.europhysicsnews.org/articles/epn/abs/2016/04/epn2016474p21/epn2016474p21.html
The inevitable pushback on this has lead to a statement from their publisher stating that a counter article will be included in the next issue…although so far they are sticking to their guns that the best way to settle such issues is to encourage open discussion.
http://www.gspellchecker.com/2016/09/edp-sciences-releases-a-statement-on-publishing-911-conspiracies-edpsciences/#more-4532
The next issue should be interesting but in the meantime if you wanted to counter the dubious claim that the controlled demolition theory has been successfully debunked (several times over apparently) what is the best thing you would point to that would rubbish that notion?
For me there are two
1.NIST didn’t model for the possibility of explosives and no one has come forward with definitive evidnece why it couldn’t have been explosives.
2.the NIST findings have never been peer reviewed because releasing the data would jerpardise public safety.
Anyway grateful for any thoughts and thanks.
EYEisBloke – The Resurrection of Jesus Christ has also been debunked several times. Does the debunking mean that the Resurrection never happened?
To those who still believe the government’s LIES about 9/11, I’d like to see them explain how on 9/11, WTC 6, which had NOT been hit by a passenger jet nor was on fire, managed to explode, leaving only a hollowed out crater in place of the building.
Before the smoke had cleared from around the stricken South Tower, a mysterious explosion shot 550 feet into the air above the U.S. Customs House at 6 World Trade Center. This unexplained blast at the Customs House has never been investigated or reported in the mainstream media.
http://whale.to/a/bollyn02july10.html
Until we deal with 9/11 and nail the real perps, the ME wars and police state insanity will continue.
Recently Newsbud did a report called “Examining The Real Costs of Drone Warfare” and I remember listening to them speaking about the financial side of drones in such a distant way. I remember thinking “How can they be talking about the “costs” of war measured in dollars and cents.?”
Then James came out with this epose’ which hits the nail on the head !!
Bravo James !!
very powerful, deeply moving piece of work.This shines a light on the tragedy of humanity and as a member of the west it hits home, i feel responsible but quite helpless in opposition to the principles of my own culture. Even though these are extremely uncomfortable facts to face I thank you James for your persistence in ‘our’ quest for global equality.
Hey! That clip was a real zinger! Nicely put together!
Well done as always my friend.
A question for all of you. Is it just me, or does the powerpress video player seem to load much faster than the YT player?
Not sure I follow Sonex? The collapses were all filmed from several different angles and instinct, logic and the laws of physics and probability all tell me that the ‘official’ explanation is nonsense.
Simply asking for the best way to counter someone who insists that the most logical explanation (controlled demolition) has been definitively proven to be false?
An excellent piece James, thank you very much.
It is very distressing to be aware that my tax dollars in some way support a military/security complex that is causing such havoc in the mid-east, and increasingly here at home.
It is sad and frustrating to be unable to raise or discuss any of these topics with friends and family without them being dismissed as “conspiracy theories”, and unworthy of thought or attention.
I got an email from Avaaz.org asking me to collect signatures to stop the war in Syria. I don’t know whether they are totally ignorant or they are indeed supported by Soros and others, like many people have suggested. This is what they say:
“More than 100 children have been killed in Aleppo since last Friday! Let’s get one million of us to demand Obama, May, and allies stand up to Putin and Assad’s terror. Add your name now to call for an urgent no-fly zone:”
And then they go on blaming Putin and Assad of ALL problems, because apparently, they have nothing better to do than bombing Syrians for fun, instead of stepping out and allowing the “heroic rebels” to “free” the country… for Israel, I presume.
Are they ignorant, puppets of the usual powers, or both?