History Is Un-American. Real Americans Create Their Own Futures
History Is Un-American. Real Americans Create Their Own Futures
Karl Rove, a major player in the Bush/Cheney administration, summed up this hubris in this--now-infamous passage: "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do."
Related to the idea of history being un-American is the business- and management-oriented nature of the officer corps in the U.S. military. To be promoted to field-grade (major or lieutenant commander), you almost have to have a master's degree or be close to finishing one. But rarely do officers choose to pursue a master's in history or any other subject related to the humanities. The master's of choice is in business administration or some type of management.
By pursuing MBAs and management degrees, officers show their practical nature.
I was introduced to John Boyd in the early 80s and would sponsor his briefings. He would comment that former military officers, steeped in rigid, top-down command and control were beginning to contaminate US corporate culture. Originated for WW2 where US had to deploy millions and had to rely on very few with military experience, observing that US required 11% officers (growing to 20%) while the Germans had 3% (or less). However about the same time, there started to appear articles that MBAs were starting to destroy US corporations (with their myopic focus on short term results). Longer discussion
Wars and More Wars: The Sorry U.S. History in the Middle East
https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/12/30/wars-and-more-wars-the-sorry-u-s-history-in-the-middle-east/
The World Crisis, Vol. 1, Churchill explains the mess in middle east started with move from 13.5in to 15in Naval guns (leading to?moving from coal to oil)
loc2012-14: From the beginning there appeared a ship carrying ten 15-inch guns, and therefore at least 600 feet long with room inside her for engines which would drive her 21 knots and capacity to carry armour which on the armoured belt, the turrets and the conning tower would reach the thickness unprecedented in the British Service of 13 inches.
loc2087-89: To build any large additional number of oil-burning ships meant basing our naval supremacy upon oil. But oil was not found in appreciable quantities in our islands. If we required it, we must carry it by sea in peace or war from distant countries.
loc2151-56: This led to enormous expense and to tremendous opposition on the Naval Estimates. Yet it was absolutely impossible to turn back. We could only fight our way forward, and finally we found our way to the Anglo-Persian Oil agreement and contract, which for an initial investment of two millions of public money (subsequently increased to five millions) has not only secured to the Navy a very substantial proportion of its oil supply, but has led to the acquisition by the Government of a controlling share in oil properties and interests which are at present valued at scores of millions sterling, and also to very considerable economies, which are still continuing, in the purchase price of Admiralty oil.
When the newly elected democratic government wanted to review the Anglo-Persian contract, US arranged coup and backed Shah as front
... and Schwarzkoph (senior) training of the secret police to help keep Shah in power
Savak Agent Describes How He Tortured Hundreds
Iran people eventually revolt against the horribly oppressive, (US backed) autocratic government.
CIA Director Colby wouldn't approve the "Team B" analysis (exaggerated USSR military capability) and Rumsfeld got Colby replaced with Bush, who would approve "Team B" analysis (justifying huge DOD spending increase), after Rumsfeld replaces Colby, he resigns as white house chief of staff to become SECDEF (and is replaced by his assistant Cheney)
Then in the 80s, former CIA director H.W. is VP, he and Rumsfeld are involved in supporting Iraq in the Iran/Iraq war
including WMDs (note picture of Rumsfeld with Saddam)
VP and former CIA director repeatedly claims no knowledge of
because he was fulltime administration point person deregulating financial industry ... creating S&L crisis
along with other members of his family
and another
In the early 90s, H.W. is president and Cheney is SECDEF. Sat. photo recon analyst told white house that Saddam was marshaling forces to invade Kuwait. White house said that Saddam would do no such thing and proceeded to discredit the analyst. Later the analyst informed the white house that Saddam was marshaling forces to invade Saudi Arabia, now the white house has to choose between Saddam and the Saudis.
... roll forward ... Bush2 is president and presides over the huge cut in taxes, huge increase in spending, explosion in debt, the economic mess (70 times larger than his father's S&L crisis) and the forever wars, Cheney is VP, Rumsfeld is SECDEF and one of the Team B members is deputy SECDEF (and major architect of Iraq policy).
Before the Iraq invasion, the cousin of white house chief of staff Card ... was dealing with the Iraqis at the UN and was given evidence that WMDs (tracing back to US in the Iran/Iraq war) had been decommissioned. the cousin shared it with (cousin, white house chief of staff) Card and others ... then is locked up in military hospital, book was published in 2010 (4yrs before decommissioned WMDs were declassified)
NY Times series from 2014, the decommission WMDs (tracing back to US from Iran/Iraq war), had been found early in the invasion, but the information was classified for a decade
note the military-industrial complex had wanted a war so badly that corporate reps were telling former eastern block countries that if they voted for IRAQ2 invasion in the UN, they would get membership in NATO and (directed appropriation) USAID (can *ONLY* be used for purchase of modern US arms, aka additional congressional gifts to MIC complex not in DOD budget). From the law of unintended consequences, the invaders were told to bypass ammo dumps looking for WMDs, when they got around to going back, over a million metric tons had evaporated (showing up later in IEDs)
... from truth is stranger than fiction and law of unintended consequences that come back to bite you, much of the radical Islam & ISIS can be considered our own fault, VP Bush in the 80s
pg292/loc6057-59: There was also a calculated decision to use the Saudis as surrogates in the cold war. The United States actually encouraged Saudi efforts to spread the extremist Wahhabi form of Islam as a way of stirring up large Muslim communities in Soviet-controlled countries. (It didn't hurt that Muslim Soviet Asia contained what were believed to be the world's largest undeveloped reserves of oil.)
Saudi radical extremist Islam/Wahhabi loosened on the world ... bin Laden & 15of16 9/11 were Saudis (some claims that 95% of extreme Islam world terrorism is Wahhabi related)
Mattis somewhat more PC (political correct)
pg21/loc349-51: Ayatollah Khomeini's revolutionary regime took hold in Iran by ousting the Shah and swearing hostility against the United States. That same year, the Soviet Union was pouring troops into Afghanistan to prop up a pro-Russian government that was opposed by Sunni Islamist fundamentalists and tribal factions. The United States was supporting Saudi Arabia's involvement in forming a counterweight to Soviet influence.
and internal CIA
pg133/loc1916-17: But al-Qaeda did maintain unusually close ties with our allies the Saudis, a fact that the Bush White House worked suspiciously hard to suppress as we went to war with two other countries.
The Danger of Fibbing Our Way into War. Falsehoods and fat military budgets can make conflict more likely
The Day I Realized I Would Never Find Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq
The Deep State (US administration behind formation of ISIS)
pg190/loc3054-55: In early 2001, just before George W. Bush's inauguration, the Heritage Foundation produced a policy document designed to help the incoming administration choose personnel
pg191/loc3057-58: In this document the authors stated the following: "The Office of Presidential Personnel (OPP) must make appointment decisions based on loyalty first and expertise second,
pg191/loc3060-62: Americans have paid a high price for our Leninist personnel policies, and not only in domestic matters. In important national security concerns such as staffing the Coalition Provisional Authority, a sort of viceroyalty to administer Iraq until a real Iraqi government could be formed, the same guiding principle of loyalty before competence applied.
... including kicked hundreds of thousands of former soldiers out on the streets created ISIS ... and bypassing the ammo dumps (looking for fictitious/fabricated WMDs) gave them over a million metric tons (for IEDs).
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