Declothing the Emperor

Declothing the Emperor

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)

Against the backdrop of US military defeat in Afghanistan by guerrilla fighters — followed by the Biden regime’s botched evacuation of Americans and others complicit with Washington’s imperial project, the triumphant Taliban added further embarrassment.

Members of its elite Badri 313 Battalion — clothed in captured US military attire — replicated the iconic Iwo Jima flag-raising atop Mt. Suribachi during WW II by ceremonially raising their own flag to signify triumph over the USA in Afghanistan.

The Taliban also gained control over what remains of countless billions of dollars worth of US weapons and equipment left behind.

Continuing years after war was lost, endless US aggression in Afghanistan kept feeding its military industrial complex.

In 2011, Julian Assange tweeted:

“The goal is to use Afghanistan to wash money out of the tax bases of the US and Europe through Afghanistan and back into the hands of a transnational security elite.” 

“The goal is an endless war, not a successful war.”

According to Public Citizen, “(e)ntrenching US forces in Afghanistan was the military-industrial complex’s business plan for 20+ years,” adding:

“Hawks and defense contractors co-opted the needs of the Afghan people in order to line their own pockets.”

“Never has it been more important to end war profiteering.”

US weapons makers Boeing, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon — its big five merchants of death and destruction — made billions of dollars from the rape and destruction of Afghanistan, billions more from other US imperial wars.

War-profiteering is longstanding.

In his 1934 book titled, “Iron, Blood and Profits,” George Seldes discussed a “world-wide munitions racket.” 

Citing WW I militarists and weapons makers in Europe and the US, he slammed “merchants of death” involved in promoting “imperialism (and) colonization – by means of war,” adding: 

“(T)he healthfulness of business depends on slaughter. The more wars,” the more riches. 

What went on long ago pales in comparison to countless trillions of dollars poured down a new millennium black hole for US militarism and warmaking.

In February 2018, Project Censored  reported a whopping $21 trillion gone missing from the federal budget throughout the 1998 – 2015 period.

From then to now, trillions more enriched war profiteers, Wall Street, and other corporate favorites — while ordinary Americans are exploited and vital homeland needs go begging.

All of the above has nothing to do with liberating oppressed people, advancing democratic values, and promoting human rights — notions the US ruling class abhors in pursuit of power and profits at the expense of peace, equity, justice and the rule of law.

Wherever Pentagon forces, CIA operatives, paramilitary hired guns, jihadist proxy foot soldiers, and corporate profiteers show up worldwide, mass slaughter, vast destruction and exploitation of millions follow.

It’s the American way — the stench of what imperial rampaging is all about.

It reflects a nation on its back foot in decline, the inevitable endgame of all empires in history.

America’s may be coming sooner than its warmakers and profiteers imagine.

For countless millions yearning to breathe free, it can’t happen a moment too soon.

A Final Comment

According to media reports, Biden regime hardliners and Pentagon warlords may terror-bomb Afghanistan to destroy key military equipment left behind after Americans and others complicit with  the US imperial project are evacuated from the country.

The scourge of imperialism finds new ways to reveal its ugly face.

The self-styled beacon of human rights poses an unparalleled threat to world peace, stability and freedom-loving people everywhere.

VISIT MY WEBSITE: stephenlendman.org (Home – Stephen Lendman). Contact at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

My two Wall Street books are timely reading:

“How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion, and Class War”

https://www.claritypress.com/product/how-wall-street-fleeces-america/

 

“Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity”

https://www.claritypress.com/product/banker-occupation-waging-financial-war-on-humanity/

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