"Of all the enemies to public liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. As the parent of armies, war encourages debts and taxes, the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war too, the discretionary power of the executive is extended...and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of the subduing force, of the people..." James Madison.
"Although every nation knows how- if it has the means and the will- to protect itself from thugs of the sort that brought us 9/11, war is not an option. Wars are for nations, not rootless gangs. You put a price on their heads and hunt them down. In recent years, Italy has been doing that with the Sicilian Mafia- and no one has suggested bombing Palermo.
But the Cheney-Bush junta wants a war in order to dominate Afghanistan, build a pipeline, gain control of the oil of the Eurasian Stans for their business associates as well as to do as much damage to Iraq and Iran on the ground that one day those evil countries may carpet our fileds of amber grain with anthrax or something.
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Elements of Corporate America are eager not only for a "massive external attack" that would make it possible for us to go to war whenever the president sees fit while suspending civil liberties. (The 342 pages of the USA Patriot Act were plainly prepared before 9/11.)" Gore Vidal, Dreaming War.