Pearl Harbour

In their Own Words, - We need another Pearl Harbour- Project for New American Century, and The Art of Political War

TERRORISM  
Cause and Cure  © Tom Rose

America Under Attack?

As we watched and listened to the tragic events of hijacked commercial airliners being ruthlessly crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and learning of the plane that crashed in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001, our first reaction was a heart-felt sorrow for the many innocent victims and the thousands of loved ones who suffered such a loss.  Then, as we listened to the massive volume of verbiage emanating from the news commentators, we quickly realized that our country was in much more danger than we at first perceived.  But the main danger to America in the near and distant future, we saw, would come, not from foreign terrorists, bad as they might be, but from our own news media and especially our own civil rulers.

Why do I mention our news media?  Because it quickly became evident, as we switched from one news channel to another, that the public was being verbally “stroked” and psychologically prepared by the news commentators to become passionate for war!  Indeed, the next day we met an acquaintance in town who stated, “My husband is ready to go to war!” 

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Once  again another American a president has shown just how easy it is to get backing for a foreign invasion by a campaign of falsehoods and evasions. In the many U.S. invasions throughout history few if any presidents gave the real reason for them. The cover story was accepted by Congress, and much of the public, in every case.

These ruses for war include: protecting Americans on foreign soil; for the security of the country; stopping aggression; and other plausible-sounding reasons. In many cases outright lies were given. If the action was covert, the president denied involvement.
A few of the many military actions will serve as examples.

In 1846, President Polk asked Congress to declare war against Mexico. He falsely claimed that it had invaded U.S. territory and shed blood. This account was based on a minor skirmish on Mexican soil, but Congress accepted the story and declared war.
Some citizens, including Congressman Abraham Lincoln, said at the time that it was merely an excuse to obtain territory. But most people didnąt care since it added California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico to the Union.

In 1898, President McKinley blamed Spain for the explosion of the battleship Maine in Havana, Cuba. A Spanish inquiry board said it was an internal explosion and offered to submit the case to an international board.

Congress responded by declaring war against Spain, and the U.S. acquired Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Guam and, for all practical purposes, Cuba. (In 1976, Admiral Rickover examined the evidence and concluded that it was an internal explosion that sunk the Maine.)
In 1918 during World War I, President Wilson sent troops into Siberia in a major confrontation with the new Soviet government. He said it was to stop supplies from getting to the Germans, a story which has been called a pretext by most historians. The real reason was to help the reactionary forces overthrow the Soviets. The troops stayed there until June, 1919, when public opinion forced Wilson to withdraw them.

After World War II, the world was open to U.S. corporations as other countries were forced to give up their colonies. The corporations wanted friendly governments in those former colonies so they could invest safely, employ cheap labor, control their minerals and sell corporate products.