Pentagon won’t tell you about it, of course. That’d be telling you something like something’d make the Pentagon look inept.

http:motherjones.com/mojo/2011/01/contractor-hid-iraq-seven-years-over-us-rape-charge

There are A LOT of news-stories that won’t be reported by CNN. Or NBC. Not CBS, either. This is the EIGHTH straight January that US military servicemembers have been on Iraq’s soil. That is not highlighted by the USA’s mainstream media . . . . . . . . . It is obvious that the USA ‘s Dept. Of Defense
would prefer numerous things be kept quiet.

Timothy R. Anderson

One thing that gets avoided by the American Mainstream Media that Diane Farsetta should consider ( as well as the non-baseball-history-loving viewers )….. they all should consider how much WAR (s) contribute to keeping the American ECONOMY afloat, such as it is……

Without the wars, these companies would assuredly have fewer employees …… ( please chime in with more companies’ names if the mood hits you, Mister Goff and Everyone )

a.Lockheed Martin ; b. Boeing ; c. Northrop Grumman
d. General Dynamics ; e. Raytheon ; f. Halliburton
g. L-3 Communications Holding Inc. ; h. B.A.E. Systems
i. United Technologies ; j. Science Applications
International ; k. Xe ( formerly known as Blackwater)

Those companies receive contracts from the Pentagon
and money from U.S. taxpayers. I type this in knowing

I type this in ….knowing that to some ( most ? ) who read this blog already know this but what better way
to illustrate the disconnect from reality that goes on in Washington D.C. and the civilian millions who chooooooose to remain uneducated and the non-terrorist citizens of countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq ?

You know, it sure would stink, to use a mild term, if every day your neighbors and your neighborhoods were being destroyed and killed someone else far, far, far, far away is making money, BIG MONEYYYYYYYYY off of it. That would stink.

Plus it kinda reinforces the widely-popular preconceived notion among persons in places such as Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan that the Americans won’t ever leave because they just make too daaaaaang much money when the Americans decide to stay ……
Wasn’t it Colin Powell that complained to Donald Rumsfeld that Rumsfeld was ruining the USA’s image ?
Well now, isn’t the USA ruining the USA’s image ?

Timothy R. Anderson

Contributions, Anyone ?

Timothy R. Anderson

So here’s a question: Open to all who view the question :
When the USA was involved in World War II, weren’t there numerous
professional baseball players, major-league players, who stopped
their careers in baseball to be in the USA’s military ? I think
so ! Would anyone please name some of them for me ? Because I think that displays a key difference between life in these United States Of America circa 2010 and life here in, say, the year 1943 . .

I think it says A LOT.

Timothy R. Anderson

But that’s not what on the minds of some folks working in the US Dept. Of Defense today . . The technology available today threatens to expose some of
the questionable actions of today’s US military

As Peter Grier writes
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Military/2010/0607/Soldier-arrested-in-WikiLeaks-classified-Iraq-video-case

The Pentagon is behaving like it is scared that its own activities are somehow
not entirely honorable.

Timothy R. Anderson

P.S. Has anyone else noticed that the USA’s professional athletes do not join the “all-volunteer ” USA military since the death of Pat Tillman ? Anyone else notice that ? Is there ONE example of a pro. athlete signing up for the USA’s military ? Who ?

The Pentagon knows what to keep hidden.

Timothy R. Anderson

It is likely a little frustrating for some of those persons who work inside the Pentagon because they likely think ” Geeee, if
only we had 700 billion dollars more to spend in Afghanistan we
could really get that place lookin’ good ! ” . It is likely to become even more frustrating for those same persons. The addiction phase is rubbing itself against a very awkward truth. It’d be
done by now if only the USA had got more help from other countries. But the USA does not perform to the degree needed when
assembling the ” coalition.” Not Bush. Not Obama.

Anyway, while all this stuff is becoming more and more evident with each passing day, a much more articulate phrasing of what I just typed in, presented via “Counterpunch” was posted this week.
I wholeheartedly recommend reading it; reading it at least twice.Ithink it is worth that much effort !

http://www.counterpunch.org/solomon08272009.html

It might be time to revisit the days immediately following the 9/11/01 attacks ——— I seem recall a lot of emphasis on how the American civilians killed that day had done nothing to deserve being killed. Might it also be said that the non-terrorist civilians who’ve died in Afghanistan and in Iraq since 9/11/01
also did nothing to deserve being killed ? The mainstream American press does not give names of dead civilians in Iraq and in Afghanistan —- have you ever noticed that ? It is like the
mainstream American press feels like it is doing its job if
the American civilian population is kept from the ugly truth of
war . . . . . . . .

Timothy R. Anderson

Farsetta could, possibly, gain a better understanding of how the Iraq War is marketed by looking at the following, from page 6-A of the USA Today newspaper, Tuesday, July 29, 2008 ; a news-article authored by
Jim Michaels : ” U.S. combat deaths in Iraq appear headed to the lowest monthly total since the start of the war as the top U.S. general there said overall violence is declining toward ‘normal ‘
levels. ”

I kept that particular news-article, mainly because I had a suspicion, which now is proving to be a worthwhile suspicion that the “combat deaths” would not stay low……

Guess what everyone, since January 10, 2009 a “non-low” number of USA military servicemembers have died in Iraq ; at least a dozen of those deaths were due to combat ! Since February 1, 2009 at least eight USA military servicemembers have died in combat in Iraq.

It seems perfectly hand-in-hand, to me at the very least, that the Mainstream Media and the Pentagon choose not to highlight the
FAILURE FAILURE FAILURE FAILURE over there in Iraq, but instead
talk about “success”, ” progress, ” ” durability,” “stability, ”
and ” a level of normal or latent violence. ”

From the same page as the above Jim Michaels news-article, same day, written by The Associated Press and found on Page 6- A :
” BAGHDAD, IRAQ: Multiple suicide bombers struck Shiite pilgrims
in Baghdad and Kurdish protesters in northern Iraq, killing at least
57 persons Monday (Monday, July 28, 2008 ). ”

Persons such as Hannity get to claim that the surge in Iraq worked.
Of all people, Hannity should be made to stay in the non-GreenZone
Iraq for oh let’s say eighteen months ; live like an Iraqi, Hannity,
then testify how grrrrrreatly the surge succeeded . . . .

Anyway, I doubt that President Obama will make much mention of the civilians of Iraq during his speech tonight. Ironic, isn’t it : government officials of this country were so determined to prove that they CARED for the regular persons of Iraq ……… anyone else remember that ? Former President Bush, Cheney, Powell, Rumsfeld, Rice, Rove, they made
such an effort to portray themselves as the helpful ones ! Now I guess it is President Obama’s turn to show whether he cares or not. Period.

Timothy R. Anderson

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/riverside/20090121-1806-bn21marines.html

The Pentagon would rather that this news-article not be highlighted.

Timothy R. Anderson