Spider Webs For The Rich & Mighty

"Laws: We know what they are, and what they are worth! They are spider
webs for the rich and mighty, steel chains for the poor and weak,
fishing nets in the hands of the government." - Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

No Wonder Our Country Is Going Broke

BURNETT, Texas - The war in Afghanistan may cost another 60 billion dollars and last ten more years, even if U.S. forces start leaving the country in 2011, potential Libertarian presidential candidate R. Lee Wrights said today.

A NATO training-mission document recently uncovered by the Associated Press estimated it would cost about 6 billion dollars a year to train Afghani military and police forces. Gen. David Petraeus, the new commander in Afghanistan, has said that a successful counter-insurgency operation could last another ten years.

“That means this war will cost at least another 60 billion dollars to finish a job we never should have started,” said R. Lee Wrights. “No wonder our country is going broke.”

Even with the training the NATO document acknowledges that Afghanistan will remain largely dependent on U.S. forces for security for years. The document also includes plans for large-scale infrastructure projects for “establishing enduring institutions” and “creating irreversible momentum” according to AP sources.

“The only ‘irreversible momentum’ we’re creating is the irreversible momentum driving America deeper and deeper into debt,” Wrights said. “And the only ‘enduring institutions’ we’re creating is the enduring institution of a welfare-warfare State that supports corrupt governments under the guise of fighting terrorism.”

Wrights said he’s troubled by comments Petraeus has made about the withdrawal of American troops, which is supposed to begin in July 2011.

“He seems to be hedging his bets,” Wrights said. After nine years of war, Petraeus said that it is just now that the United States has the organization and people in place to fight a counter-insurgency operation.

“The general is reputed to be an expert on this type of warfare and has said it can take years, even decades, to wage successfully,” Wrights says. “So if we are just getting started now, it could take ten more years to ‘finish the job.’ That’s unacceptable.”

Wrights is also troubled by the fact that the general refers to July 2011 as the date “when a process begins, the pace of which is determined by conditions on the ground.” Petraeus characterized the process as a “thinning out” of U.S. forces, rather than a “turning over” of security for their own country to Afghanistan’s citizens and authorities.

“We have already endured one war where the generals and politicians kept telling us they were seeing the ‘light at the end of the tunnel,’ but that light never got any closer,” Wrights said.

Petraeus recently spoke out against plans by a Florida minister to burn the Qur’an, saying that the action would put American troops in danger.

“What is a greater danger to American soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen is keeping them in a war we should not have started in the first place, helping prop up a corrupt government,” Wrights said. “If we truly want to keep our troops safe, we should bring them home now.”

Wrights is considering seeking the LP presidential nomination because he believes the Libertarian message in 2012 should be a loud, clear and unequivocal call to stop all war. He has pledged that 10 percent of all donations to his campaign will be spent for ballot access so that the stop all war message can be heard in all 50 states.

R. Lee Wrights is a writer and political activist living in Texas. He is the co-founder and editor of the free speech online magazine Liberty For All. Contact Lee at rleewrights@gmail.com.

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Close The Book Of War

[originally posted at Liberty For All]

It’s time do more than just “turn the page” on America’s foreign wars. We should close the book and put it pack on the shelf, said potential Libertarian presidential candidate R. Lee Wrights in response to President Obama’s address to the nation Tuesday night.

“President Obama said he was announcing that ‘the American combat mission in Iraq’ has ended and that it was time to ‘turn the page’ on a ‘remarkable chapter in American history,” Wrights said. “It is time to do more than just turn the page. It is time to close the book of war, put it back on the shelf, and never refer to it again.”

“There is nothing remarkable about this chapter in American history,” Wrights said. “If the president really wanted to end the war he would simply tell the joint chiefs to draw up a plan to remove every last American solider, sailor, airman and marine from the region as quickly and safely as possible.”

“If the president really wanted to honor the sacrifices made by America’s men and women in uniform, he would not continue to put them in harm’s way unnecessarily,” Wrights said.

Wrights said that President Obama was elected on the expectation that he would end America’s interventionist foreign policy, but from the words he used in this address it appears he is going to continue this policy and use different language to obscure his intentions.

For example, Wrights noted that while the president said the combat mission is ending, he said our commitment to Iraq is not. The president also said a transitional force will remain to advise and assist Iraqi security forces, support Iraqi troops in targeted counter-terrorism missions and protect civilians. In fact, as the last “combat” troops leave Iraq, fifty thousand troops will remain behind.

“In other words, our soldiers and marines will still be going on patrol, getting shot at, and possibly getting killed, but the president won’t call it combat operations,” Wrights said. He noted that the infantry brigades still in Iraq have been renamed “advise and assist” brigades.

“It is shameful the way politicians will parse words in order to justify and obscure their actions; and, it is disgraceful that any president who refers to himself as the commander-in-chief would use such a tactic to disguise the service of the men and women he is supposed to command.”

“It is disturbing the way the president casually dismissed the fact that this war was fought for a lie,” Wrights said. The president said that what began as “a war to disarm a state became a fight against insurgency.”

“It is distressing that President Obama admitted that the war has cost us one trillion dollars, most of it borrowed for other nations, and contributed to our debt, yet he doesn’t miss a beat in calling for even more government spending,” Wrights said. “He shows absolutely no signs that he is going to change anything in American foreign policy when he said America ‘must use all elements of our power to secure our interests and stand by our allies.’”

Wrights is considering seeking the presidential nomination because he believes the Libertarian message in 2012 should be a loud and unequivocal call to stop all war. He has pledged that 10 percent of all donations to his campaign will be spent for ballot access so that the stop all war message can be heard in all 50 states.

R. Lee Wrights is a writer and political activist living in Texas. He is the co-founder and editor of the free speech online magazine Liberty For All. Contact Lee at rleewrights@gmail.com

Audioscrobbler Stats [past 3 months]

1		Michael Schenker Group			74
2		Queensrÿche			60
3		Pentagram			53
4		Rush			47
5		UFO			46
5		Skyforger			46
7		Voivod			39
7		Raven			39
9		Trailer Park Boys			30
10		Guided by Voices			29
11		High on Fire			28
12		The Beatles			27
13		Yes			25
14		Armored Saint			23
15		Iron Maiden			22

Keep The Oil, Give Me Hemp

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This American Government

"[This American Government] never of itself furthered any enterprise, but by the alacrity with which it got out of its way. It does not keep the country free. It does not settle the West. It does not educate. The character inherent in the American people has done all that has been accomplished; and it would have done somewhat more, if the government had not sometimes got in its way.…

Trade and commerce, if they were not made of india-rubber, would never manage to bounce over obstacles which legislators are continually putting in their way; and if one were to judge these men wholly by the effects of their actions and not partly by their intentions, they would deserve to be classed and punished with those mischievious persons who put obstructions on the railroads."

Henry David Thoreau

The State Commands It

"the interests of the State and those of the individual differ fundamentally and are antagonistic. The State and the political and economic institutions it supports can exist only by fashioning the individual to their particular purpose; training him to respect "law and order;" teaching him obedience, submission and unquestioning faith in the wisdom and justice of government; above all, loyal service and complete self-sacrifice when the State commands it, as in war."

Emma Goldman

Lee Wrights Explores 2012 Presidential Run

WRIGHTS FOR PRESIDENT 2012 EXPLORATORY COMMITTEE

For more information:
Thomas Hill
Phone: (704) 621-8621
E-mail: thomasbhill@msn.com

Wrights forms presidential exploratory committee

BURNET, Texas (July 4) – R. Lee Wrights, a former Libertarian Party national vice chair and the editor and co-founder of Liberty for All online magazine, announced today he is forming an exploratory committee to lay the groundwork for a possible bid to seek the Libertarian nomination for president in 2012.

“The Libertarian Party faces a critical test in 2012 and I want to make sure that we’re up to the challenge,” Wrights said. “The Libertarian message in 2012 must be loud and clear – Stop the Wars! Stop the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, stop the war on drugs and alternative lifestyles, stop the war on civil liberties.”

Wrights said that it’s time to stop supporting politicians, regardless of party, who don’t even come close to fulfilling their campaign promises.

“President Obama was elected on a platform of ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Wrights said. “Instead of supporting the troops by bringing them home, he has sent thousands more young men and women to die needlessly to prop up a corrupt government in Afghanistan.”

“Now he’s wavering on his promise to bring the troops home by July 2011,” Wrights said. “He calls the war in Afghanistan a ‘war of necessity.’ It is no such thing. It is unnecessary, irresponsible and a dishonor to the founding principles of our republic.”

The president has also reneged on his promise to reverse the trampling of civil liberties which began under the Bush Administration. “He’s done just the opposite,” Wrights said. “He’s expanded federal power to invade our privacy and curtail our rights. He might not call it the ‘war on terror,’ but President Obama still uses 9/11 as an excuse to justify voiding the Bill of Rights.”

Wrights said he is most appalled by the way the president turns every issue he faces into a war by labeling anyone who opposes him as an enemy.

“Not content with just warring with the Republicans in Congress, the president has turned the Gulf oil spill into a war on oil companies. He’s used the financial crisis, which was largely caused by government regulation, interference and incompetence, to continue waging war on banks and financial institutions,” Wrights said.

“Even after his major victory in ramming through a massive health care bill which imposes federal government bureaucrats into our most intimate and personal health care decisions, President Obama continues to wage war on insurance companies and health care providers,” Wrights said. “Now, he’s opened a new front in Arizona over that state’s attempt to deal with an illegal immigrant situation his administration has failed to address.”

“Where will it end?” Wrights asked. “Is anything or anyone safe from being labeled an ‘enemy of the state’ and incurring the wrath of the federal government’s war-making power?”

Wrights pledged that 10 percent of all donations to his campaign will be given to the LP for ballot access. “Whoever is the 2012 Libertarian nominee for president, we must take our message to all 50 states and our message must be clear and unequivocal – Stop the Wars,” Wrights says.

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Antiwar.com's Week In Review (June 4th)

Antiwar.com's Week in Review | June 4, 2010

Israel, Gaza

On Sunday night, Antiwar.com covered news of Israel’s deadly raid on the Gaza aid flotilla hours before the MSM. By Monday, Jason Ditz refuted claims of self-defense by Israeli soldiers, adding that – whether it carried metal sticks or not – the Mavi Marmara was "violating no international laws in trying to deliver medicine and food to civilian victims of an Israeli blockade. Israel, on the other hand, was most assuredly violating international law in attacking an unarmed aid ship on the open sea."

If indeed these facts check out, according to Philip Giraldi, "then Tel Aviv is guilty of piracy, kidnapping, and murder, while the armed attack on a Turkish flagged vessel might be construed as inviting a military response from NATO."

While Obama has said little, members of Congress have since come out in favor of Israel, and Vice President Joe Biden stated that Israel "had a right to know." Filing from Israel exclusively for Antiwar.com, Ran HaCohen found the local outrage conspicuously absent. "How can you turn millions of fairly educated citizens into silent lambs, or worse, into supporters of their own state’s terrorism?" HaCohen looked for answers in the press.

Ultimately, if "the only way we can make the Israelis feel ‘secure’ is by allowing them to engage in international piracy on the high seas," said Justin Raimondo, "then perhaps this is the sort of high-maintenance relationship we can no longer afford."

For more on the Gaza aid raid:

• Antiwar.com Founder Eric Garris on Antiwar Radio
• Raimondo: An American among the nine
• Eight Turkish citizens slain, yet Turkey is the villain?
• Israel: Burden, not asset to U.S.?
• Ivan Eland: there is a silver lining
• Can Israeli spin machine overcome international fallout?

Terrorism: Cause and Effect

If the government does anything well, fomenting fear is high on the list. The Bush rhetoric of "terrorism 24/7" – inherited with open arms by Obama – has done a great deal to keep people afraid, but has it done anything to keep them safe?

In "Terrorism – Cause and Effect," Jack Smith argued that U.S. intervention abroad is often the cause of terrorist action, not the solution to it. He discussed five major policy decisions made in the last "65 years that turned public opinion in the Middle East against the United States and largely generated the conditions that led to the creation of al-Qaeda, jihadist warriors, and suicide bombers."

If the U.S. is more interested in perpetuating war than in defeating terrorism, perhaps Washington is the real enemy worth fearing.

Milestones Not Worth Celebrating

This week we officially passed the $1 trillion dollar mark for the cost of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not only does the U.S. lead the world in "defense" spending – a whopping 800 percent more than runner-up Russia – but we account for 44.32 percent of the total global tab.

And no sooner could AP tally the 1,000th U.S. military death in Afghanistan than Pentagon officials dismissed exit strategy timetables, saying that our eight-and-a-half-year long war could continue "way beyond July 2011."

Amid a devastating economic recession and despite warnings from the Congressional Budget Office that across-the-board cuts will need to be made, it seems that no amount of blood or money can deter the War Party.

Antiwar Radio

Antiwar Radio is expanding! As of June 7^th, Liberty Radio Network will carry Scott’s show Monday through Friday from 12–3 p.m. ET. It will also continue to air on KAOS Radio 95.9 FM in Austin, KPFK Pacifica Radio 90.7 FM in Los Angeles, 98.7 FM in Santa Barbara, KUCR 88.3 FM in Riverside, and of course on Antiwar.com.

This week’s guests included:

• Winslow T. Wheeler, director of the Straus Military Reform Project, questioned Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ halfhearted fight against Pentagon waste and wondered why our always increasing Pentagon budget paradoxically results in the worst-equipped military in a generation.
• Flynt Leverett, former senior director for Middle East Affairs at the National Security Council, discussed WMD myths and Iran’s nuclear program with guest host Gareth Porter. "Iran is a critically important country … and at this point, given the relative decline in American standing and influence and the relative increase in Iranian standing and influence, [we’d] argue that the United States …can’t achieve its own objectives" without improving relations.
• Thomas Woods, co-editor of We Who Dared to Say No to War, reviewed the propaganda behind U.S. foreign policy and the slaughter of Iraqis. "If this government is run by liars and thieves and killers and I don’t trust a word they say on anything else, then I’m not giving them the benefit of the doubt when it comes to their monopoly on the use of military force. I’m just not going to do it ,and I don’t believe that that’s anti-American."

Listen to all of this week’s guests here, and don’t forget you can chat with other listeners during the show at the Stress Blog.

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Meet Our New Communications Director

In an effort to raise awareness in the press and reach more people with the message of peace, Antiwar.com has hired Communications Director Wendy Honett. Honett formerly served as the publicity director at the Independent Institute and holds a bachelor of arts degree in both political science and mass communications from the University of California at Berkeley. She will be working closely with Antiwar.com Founder and Managing Editor Eric Garris, Executive Director Alexia Gilmore, and Development Director Angela Keaton to implement several strategic initiatives for Antiwar.com.

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Thank You!

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Beyond The Lighted Stage

Never Soft - Peddle The Truth

"Never soft-peddle the truth. It’s seldom self-evident and almost never sells itself, because there’s less sales resistance to a glib and comforting lie."

L. Neil Smith