{"id":139828,"date":"2014-09-30T13:19:29","date_gmt":"2014-09-30T13:19:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=139828"},"modified":"2014-09-30T19:51:03","modified_gmt":"2014-09-30T19:51:03","slug":"big-lies-launch-lawless-wars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/war-terrorism\/big-lies-launch-lawless-wars\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Lies Launch Lawless Wars"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stephen Lendman
\nRINF Alternative News<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Obama\u2019s Iraq war III is lawless. It has no legal authority. It constitutes cold, calculated, premeditated naked aggression.<\/p>\n

The same holds for his three-and-a-half year proxy war on Syria. It was planned long before March 2011 hostilities began. It\u2019s now elevated to direct US intervention.<\/p>\n

Last\u00a0Tuesday, US warplanes bombed multiple Syrian targets. Precise ones aren\u2019t clear.<\/p>\n

Multiple civilian deaths followed. At least three children died. Civilians suffer most in all wars.<\/p>\n

US and Israeli ones target them willfully. They\u2019re considered legitimate targets. They\u2019re murdered in cold blood.<\/p>\n

A local Raqqa resident said \u201c(t)here is an exodus out of (the city) as we speak. It started in the early hours of the day after the strikes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are fleeing toward the countryside.\u201d Around one-third of Syria\u2019s population already is internally or externally displaced.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

US bombing threatens thousands more. They\u2019re in the line of fire. They\u2019re in harm\u2019s way<\/p>\n

As long as US bombing continues, not a square inch of Syria is safe. The entire country is vulnerable to attacks.<\/p>\n

Expect Washington to take full advantage. Expect Big Lies to conceal its objectives.<\/p>\n

They have nothing to do with degrading and destroying ISIS\/ISIL\/the Islamic state (IS).<\/p>\n

They have everything to do with advancing America\u2019s imperium. Previous articles explained.<\/p>\n

Its so-called coalition allegedly includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Bahrain.<\/p>\n

Their precise military roles aren\u2019t clear. Or if they have or intend having any.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re likely US partners in name only. To give Washington pseudo-legitimate veneer cover. None whatever exists.<\/p>\n

No Security Council authorization. No congressional OK. Little significant non-Western\/Middle East support.<\/p>\n

All wars are based on lies. Big ones launch them. They\u2019re based on deception.<\/p>\n

What worked throughout history applies more than ever now. Instant communications facilitate war-making.<\/p>\n

Managed news misinformation circulates with electronic ease. Propaganda wars precede hot ones.<\/p>\n

They reflect deception, popular fiction and Big Lies. They repeat with disturbing regularity.<\/p>\n

Ordinary people are carpet-bombed round-the-clock. Truth is systematically buried.<\/p>\n

Washington\u2019s imperial war machine is humanity\u2019s greatest threat. It rages out-of-control.<\/p>\n

It targets one country after another. It ravages and destroys them.<\/p>\n

It leaves tens of millions dead, wounded and\/or displaced. It turns nations into dystopian wastelands.<\/p>\n

Throughout its sordid history, America glorified wars in the name of peace. They\u2019re waged against invented enemies.<\/p>\n

They include mass slaughter and destruction. America refined the art of killing. It\u2019s more able to lay waste to vast areas than any nation in history.<\/p>\n

It takes full advantage. It manufactures public consent. It transforms peace-loving Americans into raging US enemy haters. Muslims are today\u2019s target of choice.<\/p>\n

Coalition to Oppose Arms Trade coordinator Richard Sanders explained earlier, saying:<\/p>\n

\u201cThroughout history, war planners have used various forms of deception to trick their enemies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause public support is so crucial (to wage war), the home population is also subject to deceitful stratagems.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe creation of false excuses to justify going to war is a major first step in constructing public support\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe corporate media (are) central to the success of\u201d manufacturing consent.\u201d So is repetition.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It drowns out other narratives. MSM scoundrels are master manipulators. So are PR wizards. Their support is crucial in enlisting public support.<\/p>\n

Things work the same way every time. Truth is suppressed. Fear-mongering proliferates.<\/p>\n

Patriotism and democratic values are highlighted. People are manipulated to support war. To protect national security.<\/p>\n

To keep the world safe for democracy. To fight terrorist threats. To eliminate them altogether.<\/p>\n

America invents them. It\u2019s vital for public support. Naked aggression is conducted to combat them. So-called enemies are more fiction than fact.<\/p>\n

Pentagon Papers revelations showed Johnson administration officials lied to the public and Congress.<\/p>\n

In their book, \u201cWeapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush\u2019s War on Iraq<\/a>,\u201d Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber showed how manipulative propaganda sells people on war.<\/p>\n

Big Lies work the same way every time. Government deception, media cooperation, and aggressive PR convince people to support what harms their interests and well-being.<\/p>\n

Pentagon officials spend hundreds of millions of dollars annually selling wars. Truth is suppressed. Big Lies substitute.<\/p>\n

Alternative voices are shut out. War-mongering is standard fare. Pressure is constant to support what demands condemnation.<\/p>\n

To back military intervention. Political solutions are alien to US policy. War-profiteers demand conflicts without end.<\/p>\n

Over a century ago, William Randolph Hearst hyped the Big Lie. He did so about Spain sinking the battleship Maine. A coal bunker explosion caused it.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t matter. Hearst told his illustrator: \u201cYou furnish the pictures, and I\u2019ll furnish the war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Big Lies launch them every time. Doing so manipulates public minds. People support what they\u2019d never do otherwise.<\/p>\n

Most rely on television for news and information. In June 1950, then Boston University president Daniel Marsh said \u201c(i)f (its craze) continues\u2026we are destined to have a nation of morons.\u201d<\/p>\n

In May 1961, FCC chairman Newton Minow called commercial television a \u201cvast wasteland.\u201d<\/p>\n

He described a \u201cprocession of game shows, formula comedies, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, western bad men, western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence, cartoons, and endless commercials.\u201d<\/p>\n

He called many of them \u201cscreaming, cajoling and offending\u2026If you think I exaggerate,\u201d tune in, he said.<\/p>\n

When America goes to war or plans one, media giants march in lock step. They regurgitate state-sponsored propaganda.<\/p>\n

They manufacture consent. They let America get away with murder and then some.<\/p>\n

They substitute Big Lies for vital truths. They ignore Dwight Eisenhower\u2019s farewell address warning.<\/p>\n

He cited a \u201ccoalition of the military and industrialists who profit by manufacturing arms and selling them to the government.\u201d<\/p>\n

About the military-industrial complex\u2019s \u201cacquisition of unwarranted influence\u2026The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

The fact that \u201c(e)very gun\u2026made, every war ship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, from those who are cold and not clothed\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

The late Canadian Law Professor Michael Mandel explained American lawlessness in his 2004 book titled, \u201cHow America Gets Away with Murder: Illegal Wars, Collateral Damage, and Crimes Against Humanity<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

He discussed Justice Robert\u2019s Jackson\u2019s Nuremberg supreme crime against peace declaration. It\u2019s more than ever relevant now.<\/p>\n

World War I was called the war to end all wars. WW II followed. Is WW III next? Either we prevent it or it\u2019ll end us. There\u2019s no in between.<\/p>\n

Are Obama\u2019s Middle East wars prelude to greater conflict? Will Ukrainian crisis conditions trigger it?<\/p>\n

Will East\/West confrontation follow? Will global conflict erupt? Can humanity survive perpetual wars? Can planet earth sustain them?<\/p>\n

On September 23, Obama addressed Speaker John Boehner by letter, saying:<\/p>\n

\u201c(O)n September 22, 2014, at my direction, US military forces began a series of strikes in Syria against elements of al-Qa\u2019ida known as the Khorasan Group.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s Washington\u2019s latest alleged terrorist threat. It\u2019s unclear if it exists. If it\u2019s fake or real.<\/p>\n

Obama lied claiming \u201c(t)hese strikes are necessary to defend the United States and our partners and allies against the threat posed by these elements.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He falsely said they protect \u201cnational security and (US) foreign policy interests\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

He claimed nonexistent \u201cconstitutional and statutory authority as Commander in Chief\u201d to wage war at his discretion. He called it \u201cconsistent with\u2026War Powers Resolution\u201d principles.<\/p>\n

False! A previous article explained. WPR is clear and unequivocal, stating:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe constitutional powers of the President as Commander-in-Chief to introduce United States Armed Forces into hostilities, or into situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances, are exercised only pursuant to<\/p>\n

(1) a declaration of war,<\/p>\n

(2) specific statutory authorization, or<\/p>\n

(3) a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

No declaration of war exists. No legal authority. No national emergency.<\/p>\n

No existential or other threats. No enemies targeting America. No Security Council authorization. No congressional OK.<\/p>\n

No justifiable reason to wage war. No reason ever to do so except in self-defense if attacked.<\/p>\n

None occurred. Expect none forthcoming. Except perhaps False Flag deception.<\/p>\n

It won\u2019t be the first time if it happens. Or the last. They\u2019re an American tradition.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been 13 years since the mother of all Big Lies. Maybe Obama has another in mind.<\/p>\n

Maybe he\u2019ll replicate 9\/11. Maybe he\u2019ll take state-sponsored terrorism to a higher level.<\/p>\n

Maybe he plans much greater mass slaughter and destruction. Maybe he\u2019ll launch WW III. Maybe armageddon will follow?<\/p>\n

Stay tuned. Forthcoming articles will explain more.<\/p>\n

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached atlendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net<\/a>. His new book is titled \u201cHow Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War\u201d. www.claritypress.com\/Lendman.html<\/a> Visit his blog site at www.sjlendman.blogspot.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stephen Lendman RINF Alternative News Obama\u2019s Iraq war III is lawless. It has no legal authority. It constitutes cold, calculated, premeditated naked aggression. The same holds for his three-and-a-half year proxy war on Syria. It was planned long before March 2011 hostilities began. It\u2019s now elevated to direct US intervention. Last\u00a0Tuesday, US warplanes bombed multiple […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":139048,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[487,18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-139828","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news","8":"category-latest-news","9":"category-war-terrorism"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}