Quote from: hawkeye on June 19, 2013, 08:56:35 AM

Quote from: pac1 on May 30, 2013, 11:29:15 AM

are our boys not fighting to protect the innocent people of the middle east against the oppression of normal people like you and me by sharia law and fundamental Islam that really is thousands of years old old has no place in a civilized modern society.

I'll tell you what the Iraq war was about.

Over the last few decades, since the end of WW2, the military has grown and grown in America. It has become a huge part of the economy with many people deriving their income from military contractors and those contractors getting their money through military contracts which of course are paid by tax. And yet, no-one invading or threatening to invade the homeland. How could they with oceans either side? Surely, then a huge part of that money could be saved?

So, the reality is, is that the military has to be justified. They have to fight in wars. Any excuse can be made no matter how flimsy.

The Iraq war is all about keeping thousands of Americans in jobs. That's the reality of it. That's why so many are ready and willing to swallow the propaganda. And why the truth doesn't get out. There is quite simply no demand for the truth so the media have little reason to supply it.

Having to reconfigure such a large part of the economy away from the military would result in a lot of short-term pain for a lot of people. And we know in politics that never happens. Much easier to just go shoot up a bunch of brown people and their possessions that nobody cares about anyway. If they end up getting upset that their friends and family have been killed and their local economy destroyed and thus their opportunities in life destroyed and some end up with a grudge and some proportion of them decide to take it out on those who inflicted it by committing terrorist acts... well... so much the better for the military and security industry.

EDIT: I can think of another institution that is thousands of years old and has no place in a civilized society. Wink

Funfact: Electric household appliances were invented so power companies could maintain the feed of power during the day.
http://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-product-design/how-to-build-a-toaster-from-scratch-the-ted-talk.html

Terror is a commodity.