From Mickey Z. Interview with David Swanson on War Lie
Excerpt, re-reporting, editing by Carolyn Bennett
Author and activist David Swanson his latest book War Is a Lie appeared this week on FAIR’s [Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting’s] CounterSpin. This is some of what Swanson said in an earlier interview with Mickey Z.
“A little consideration of the past suggests that we have been fooled more than enough times. It is not only in the incidents invented, manufactured or seized upon to initiate wars that are lies.
“The stories we are told to keep wars going once begun, the whitewash of them once they are over — as well as the pretense that they are over when they are not — are likewise based on lies.David Swanson says his goal in writing War is a Lie is “to move people to the point where we don’t support wars even when they’re new.…
“A web of long-accepted lies supports the destruction of our economy by diverting our wealth into wars, into preparation for wars, and into a network of military bases around the globe.
“The idea that we can survive this war machine environmentally, economically or with a representative government intact is built on pure lies.
“And the secret, unaccountable war-making powers established by deeply entrenched lies about what endangers us and what protects us enables the rising threat of small and secret and proxy and even unmanned wars — wars that can be launched without any specific lies required.”
“We have to push for cuts to the military machine as a key part of the answer to the economic crisis, without letting up on the central moral argument against the evil of war. Beyond that, should you work on counter-recruitment or media, lobbying or nonviolent protest, education or web design — all are required. It depends on what you find most rewarding.”
Sources and notes
Author and activist David Swanson, in addition to his books, is author of ‘The 35 Articles of Impeachment and the Case for Prosecuting George W. Bush’ by Dennis Kucinich (2008). Swanson has worked as a newspaper reporter and as a communications director, with jobs including press secretary for Dennis Kucinich’s 2004 presidential campaign, media coordinator for the International Labor Communications Association, and three years as communications coordinator for ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.
Swanson is co-founder of AfterDowningStreet.org, creator of ProsecuteBushCheney.org and Washington Director of Democrats.com, a board member of Progressive Democrats of America, the Backbone Campaign, Voters for Peace, and the Liberty Tree Foundation for the Democratic Revolution, and chair of the Robert Jackson Steering Committee. Swanson is a commissioner on the North American Truth and Accountability Commission on Human Experimentation. Beginning in November 2009, he served as an online organizer and blogger for a campaign to oppose First Amendment free speech rights for corporations: http://freespeechforpeople.org and served on a volunteer basis for another similar campaign at http://movetoamend.org. David Swanson holds a master’s degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia. http://davidswanson.org/about; http://davidswanson.org/warisalie
Mickey Z. Interviews David Swanson on War Lies by David Swanson [“War Is Over (If You Want It”)], November 23, 2010, http://davidswanson.org/content/mickey-z-interviews-david-swanson-war-lies
Mickey Z. is the author of 10 books, including Seven Deadly Spins: Exposing the Lies Behind War Propaganda. “Until the laws are changed or the power runs out, he can be found on the Web at http://www.mickeyz.net”
Also David Swanson on “War is a Lie” (CounterSpin (11/26/10-12/2/10), http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=4198
How many (est.) in two-theater
U.S.-led
WAR DEAD?
Casualty sites reporting November 27, 2010
(accurate totals unknown)
• Anti-war dot com Casualties in Iraq since March 19, 2003
[U.S. war dead since the Obama inauguration January 20, 2009: 201]
Wounded 32,921-100,000
U.S. veterans with brain injuries 320,000
Suicides estimated: 18 a day
Latest update on this site: November 22, 2010
• Iraq Body Count (civilian deaths from violence) figures:
98,876 – 107,938
• ICasualties figures:
IRAQ: 4,429 U.S., 4,747 Coalition
AFGHANISTAN: 1,404 U.S., 2,231 Coalition
Al Jazeera reports Southwest Asia/Middle East
Afghanistan [U.S./Soviet nine and nine] November 27
“Afghanistan has been referred to as the ‘Graveyard of Empires’ as it has never been successfully conquered by a foreign army.…
“U.S.-led forces have now been in Afghanistan for 3,338 days, the same amount as the ultimately unsuccessful occupation by Soviet forces in the 1980s.…
“The Soviet army arrived with a force of 40,000 soldiers in 1979; and by 1985, there were 118,000 troops in the country. In 1989, Afghan fighters — armed by the CIA and known as the Mujahidin — drove the Soviets out. Over the course of those nine years, 15,000 Soviet soldiers and as many as 1.3 million Afghans, mostly civilians, died.
“Twelve years later, in October 2001, the U.S. toppled the Taliban government with a force of more than 5,000 troops; but now the war against the Taliban is being fought by nearly 150,000 U.S.-led foreign troops, with an additional 112,000 private contractors working for the U.S. department of defense.… The Americans, like the Soviets before them, have repeatedly killed civilians, turning the public against them.” http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/11/2010112711249788109.html.
Afghan election fraud November 26
“Afghan authorities have arrested at least four people as part of an investigation into fraud in the country's September parliamentary vote.… Candidates claiming they were victims of phony vote tallies have taken to the streets across the country to protest after Wednesday’s announcement of final vote results for 33 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces.…
“Election authorities have invalidated about 1.3 million of the 5.6 million votes cast after receiving more than 5,000 complaints of fraud in the wake of the poll. Of those, 2,500 complaints were classed as ‘serious.’” http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/11/2010112522395634861.html
Pakistan suffers U.S. drones November 16
Twenty people died when a U.S. missile strike destroyed a suspected Taliban training center in Pakistan’s tribal area near the Afghan border.... “More than 220 people have been killed in over 40 strikes since September 3.” As a rule “the U.S. does not confirm drone attacks but [the U.S. military and Central Intelligence Agency operating in Afghanistan are the only forces that deploy the pilotless aircraft in the region.” http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/11/20101116667386262.html
Iraq's ups and downs November 25
Iraq’s president Jalal Talabani asked incumbent Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki to form a new government following the conclusion of a power-sharing deal between the country’s divided factions sealed two weeks ago.… “A day after [the deal] was agreed, about 60 Iraqiya MPs walked out of a session of parliament, protesting that it was not being honored. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/11/20101125174651619450.html
Note: The al-Iraqiya List [official name the Iraqi National Movement (INM)] is an Iraqi political coalition formed to contest the Iraqi parliamentary election 2010 by Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi’s Renewal List, the Iraqi National List led by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, and the Iraqi National Dialogue Front led by Saleh al-Mutlaq. The party includes both Shia leaders (like Allawi) and Sunni leaders (like al-Mutlaq and al-Hashimi) and claims to be secular and non-sectarian” [Wikipedia].
__________________________________________________
Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]
No comments:
Post a Comment