"No war for oil" is a common chant among demonstrators against the US war in Iraq. In the March 10 issue of The American Conservative, Robert Bryce turns the phrase around, illuminating how much oil is used for war. It turns out that to the extent that the US invaded Iraq to secure oil supplies, it was an ultimately self-defeating proposition. The military uses so much oil in fighting the war, and the war costs so much, that the US is squandering opportunities secure oil supplies through economic means or to reduce our dependence on oil.

In his article in The American Conservative, Bryce points out,

the average American G.I. in Iraq uses about 20.5 gallons of fuel every day, more than double the daily volume consumed by U.S. soldiers in Iraq in 2004... And nearly every drop of that fuel is imported into Iraq. These massive fuel requirements--just over 3 million gallons per day ...--are a key reason for the soaring cost of the war effort.

The logistics of importing all this fuel into a war zone are staggering. Bryce reports that "about 5,500 tanker trucks" are used to haul the fuel into Iraq, and the delivery costs for each gallon fuel for the US military in Iraq are $42--$42 per gallon!--and that is only delivery; it doesn't even include the cost of the fuel. Bryce calculates that fuel imports alone amount to one-third of all U.S. military expenditures in Iraq.

Outside of Iraq, what about the oil budget for the entire US military?

As we enter the sixth year of the war in Iraq, the longest war in the country's history next to Vietnam, neither George Bush nor any of the major presidential candidates has a plan to end the US presence there. It's worth considering what Vermont can do to bring the war to an end sooner than the Federal government seems likely to do.

By bringing these troops home, and refusing to send any further troops, we could trigger a reaction that could stop the flow of tens of thousands of Guard troops there from other states. Two bills in the legislature would do just that.

How do you maintain massive military spending in a globalized world of
interconnected market economies - where all the "super Powers" are
trading partners? You create fictional Arab terrorists trying to
destroy our way of life.

"Global War on Terror"/Iraq, Vietnam....
Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose

"Thirty-eight years ago Sunday, network television was interrupted at 11:36 p.m. EDT so President Lyndon B. Johnson could tell the nation that U.S. warships in a place called the Gulf of Tonkin had been attacked by North Vietnamese PT boats.
In response to what he described as "open aggression on the open seas," Johnson ordered U.S. airstrikes on North Vietnam.

9/11 Who Did It?

The very word terrorism in the public mind conjures up images of swarthy men in checkered head scarves hell bent on the destruction of America. In reality the real terrorists are middle aged men living in leafy suburbs of cities like Washington or sunny coastal San Diego.

I recall my friend, a 9/11 activist here in Burlington, asking a panel here in VT assembled to promote a new investigation "who did 9/11."

The 9/11 truth movement has a list of 200 top suspects to be subpoenaed.
http://www.team8plus.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?4120
Remember the phrase banality of evil? These men go home to their wives

The distinguished Canadian Economist, Michel Chossudovsky, once explained to me that State propaganda is not for us the masses, but for their own people. I had a chance to see this in action the last time I confronted Haviland Smith, a 20 year CIA "counter-terrorism" specialist. Mr Smith Spoke Wednesday evening at the Fletcher library - where he was met by a giant banner reading: "U.S.A. DID 9/11" I had a chance to ask him a question at a previous UVM forum on terrorism, which was given a token BS "look sonny boy, I've been doing this since....response" Yeah and you are still a liar.

American's belief in the ridiculous conspiracy of 19 alleged Arab hijackers and a big bad bogey man in a cave is some what akin to religion in American life. We need this fiction - Our economic way of life needs it. As the attendees to the lecture at the Fletcher Library passed our banner, they were politely asked if they would like some information. No, no, don't talk to crazy people or just plain silence. Patrons going into a library to hear a talk, DON'T WANT INFORMATION? They want to be preached the Gospels- Al Qaeda are the bad guys, Bush said so, no discussion- that's final.

I recall several months back, the Burlington Free Press covered a pandemic flu drill being held by officials in the State, cots were being prepared for forced detainees at Camp Johnson. All the 9/11 perps would need to do is pull a phony Al Qaeda bio-terror scam, and Martial Law would be at hand. Does Vermont think it can't happen here?

Let's do a quick summary of our current state...
- Two fraudulent elections
- A "False Flag Terror" attack killing 3000 Americans by our own Military
- Two illegal wars of aggression
- A concentration camp in Cuba
- The Patriot Act/shredding of the Constitution

Terrorism Explained

How often we hear the mouth pieces of power on CNN and Fox, read Pentagon shills, rambling on about radical Islam as the source of terrorism. Is it true? Does intent equal capability? The laughable explanation for Arab terrorism, “They hate our freedom” really applies to elements in the Bush regime junta and U.S. Military, those that actually carried out the sophisticated operation of 9/11.

Terrorism is a Pentagon scam created to fuel corporate welfare. Remember Eisenhower's warning a half century ago about the “Military Industrial Complex”?

Well, now we must add “terrorism” to the meme.

Or: Jeezum Crow, how do we know what we know?

At the risk of opening up a box of Pandoras:

Today is, of course, the 6th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Big Media has been strangely quiet on this front. The past few years have been devoted to constant re-hashing of the events of six years ago. Shock, awe, the intensely visual moments - planes colliding, smoke spewing, buildings collapsing...

We remember all those who lost their lives on that day, and all those who stepped up and sacrificed their time, life energy, and hard-earned wealth to assist the citizens of New York and Washington, DC in their time of need.