WAR, When You WANT It; Pentagon Papers II

[Mr. Shaman]

Pentagon Papers I​

"The Pentagon Papers, officially titled United States–Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense, was a top-secret United States Department of Defense history of the United States' political-military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967. Commissioned by United States Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara in 1967, the study was completed in 1968. The papers were first brought to the attention of the public on the front page of the New York Times in 1971.[1] A 1996 article in the New York Times said that the Pentagon Papers "demonstrated, among other things, that the Johnson Administration had systematically lied, not only to the public but also to Congress, about a subject of transcendent national interest and significance".

The study was classified as top secret and was not intended for publication. Contributor Daniel Ellsberg, however, turned over most of the Pentagon Papers to New York Times reporter Neil Sheehan, with Ellsberg's friend Anthony Russo assisting in their copying. The Times began publishing excerpts in a series of articles on June 13, 1971.[3] Street protests, political controversy and lawsuits followed."

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Pentagon Papers II​

"Tens of thousands of classified documents related to the Afghan war released without authorization by the group Wikileaks.org reveal in often excruciating detail the struggles U.S. troops have faced in battling an increasingly potent Taliban force and in working with Pakistani allies who also appear to be helping the Afghan insurgency.

The more than 91,000 classified documents -- most of which consist of low-level field reports -- represent one of the largest single disclosures of such information in U.S. history. Wikileaks gave the material to the New York Times, the British newspaper the Guardian and the German magazine Der Spiegel several weeks ago on the condition that they not be published before Sunday night, when the group released them publicly.

Covering the period from January 2004 through December 2009, when the Obama administration began to deploy more than 30,000 additional troops into Afghanistan and announced a new strategy, the documents provide new insights into a period in which the Taliban was gaining strength, Afghan civilians were growing increasingly disillusioned with their government, and U.S. troops in the field often expressed frustration at having to fight a war without sufficient resources."

'Ya suppose we can talk about it, NOW, "conservatives"???!!!!!

Back when The Chickenhawks were gettin' everyone PUMPED-FOR-WAR ('cause they and YOU folks were itchin' to kick-some-ASS for 9/11), the anti-War folks were askin' "WHY???"

BUSHCO (with your support) insisted "THIS ISN'T THE TIME TO DISCUSS WHY! WE CAN TALK-ABOUT-THAT, LATER!! IT'S A MATTER O' NATIONAL-SECURITY WE GO, NOW!!!!"

......And, we went to Iraq.​

 

[Mr. Shaman]

"Let us learn our lessons. Never, never, never believe any War will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter.

The Statesman who yields to War fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy, but the slave of unforseeable and uncontrolable events. Antiquated War offices, weak, incompetent, or arrogant commanders, untrustworthy allies, hostile neutrals, malignant fortune, ugly surprises, awful miscalculations - ALL take their seats at the council board on the morrow of a declaration of War.

Always remember, however sure you are that you can easily win, that there would not be a War if the other man did not think he also had a chance." - Winston Churchill

So.....in 15, 20, 25 years....when Corporate America decides we need another War.....are you BUSHCO/Pro-WAR-fans gonna REMEMBER what you allowed/promoted....the last-time (even when your children have been convinced they need to prove their Patriotism)???? ​

"They chumped us. Anyone can be chumped.

That's you now. Just fewer trees and less water."​

"I spent 33 years and 4 months in active service as a member of our country's most agile military force - the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from second lieutenant to Major General. And during that period I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for capitalism. I suspected I was part of a racket all the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all members of the military profession I never had an original thought until I left the service." - Smedley D. Butler (1881-1940)

 

[Mr. Shaman]

So much, for the Pro-Treason Paranoids...... ​

"Some 28 years after these arguments, Griswold recanted his entire position in an op-ed published in the Washington Post (“Secrets Not Worth Keeping: The Courts and Classified Information,” 15 February 1989, p. A25): “I have never seen any trace of a threat to the national security from the publication. Indeed, I have never seen it even suggested that there was such an actual threat…. It quickly becomes apparent to any person who has consideration experience with classified material that there is massive overclassification and that the principal concern of the classifiers is not with national security, but rather with governmental embarrassment of one sort or anotherhttp://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB48/supreme.html. There may be some basis for short-term classification while plans are being made, or negotiations are going on, but apart from details of weapons systems, there is very rarely any real risk to current national security from the publication of facts relating to transactions in the past, even the fairly recent past. This is the lesson of the Pentagon Papers experience, and it may be relevant now.”

 

[Mr. Shaman]

"The former chief of Pakistan’s spy agency has derided as “malicious, fictitious, and preposterous” the leaked United States military documents implicating him in a string of attacks against US and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Hamid Gul’s name appears no less than eight times in documents leaked Sunday by the online whistle-blower WikiLeaks. In the reports, the retired general and former head of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) from 1987 to 1989 is accused of ordering IED attacks against Afghan and international forces in December 2006 and of plotting to kidnap United Nations staff to use as hostages in exchange for militant prisoners.

The ISI is mentioned in at least 190 reports, and is accused of backing attacks against US and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces in Afghanistan. In one report from March 2007, the ISI is alleged to have donated 1,000 motorcycles to militant leader Jalaluddin Haqqani to carry out suicide bomb attacks in Afghanistan.

Gul, however, says that the US itself has orchestrated the latest WikiLeaks exposé to shift attention away from its own failings in Afghanistan. Speaking in an elevated tone and at times furious, he says he believes the US may now use the exposé as a way to force Pakistan's hand on policy in Afghanistan.http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia...itious-says-Pakistan-s-ex-spy-chief-Hamid-Gul"

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