Swiatek Press Copyright 2008, Robert S. Swiatek. All Rights ReservedNo part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.
Published by Swiatek Press, Inc. 71 Georgian Lane #3
Buffalo, NY 14221
to Sister Justine, my eighth grade teacher
also by Robert S. Swiatek
Table of contents
Introduction i
1. 9/11 – a day to forget 1
2. Looking back 7
3. War preparation: big whoppers 13
4. Government deception 19
5. The romance of war 27
6. Hollywood hubbub 39
7. War – what is it good for? 47
8. The 9/11 response 61
9. Violence and conflict 71
10. Afghanistan and Iraq 81
11. Military intelligence 87
12. ROTC – it sounded like . . . 93
13. Crusades for war 101
14. The costs of war 109
15. The necessity of war 115
16. More reasons for war 125
17. He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother 129
18. Pain and suffering 135
19. Hell, no, we won’t go 143
20. Bold steps 149 References and recommendations 165 Introduction
“The true patriots are those who carry on a lover’s quarrel with their country, as a reflection of God’s eternal lover’s quarrel with the entire world.” – William Sloane Coffin
“Feeling, compassion, humility, dialogue and nonviolence all become the virtues of the weak. Ironically, it is the strong who need them most.” – Sister Joan Chittister
“If I were to wish for anything I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of what can be, for the eye, which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility, never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating as possibility.” – Soren Kierkegaard
In June 2008, I finished reading Jim Marrs’ excellent book on war, The Terror Conspiracy: Deception, 9/11 and the Loss of Liberty. If you don’t believe in those things, I hope your reason isn’t because they don’t exist. There have been too many conspiracies in history to deny them. Moreover, some things are magic or magical, but certainly not bullets.
The book by Marrs should be read by everyone, despite its length at over four hundred pages. His treatise covers war and terrorism not only during the present time, but during the past half century as well, and from the book, you can certainly arrive at some conclusions about the future – not all of them pleasant. I warn you: the book is scary and in many ways discouraging, but you will also find hope. In addition, once you start it, you’ll have a difficult time putting it down.
iI also enjoy reading books by Michael Moore and his movies are worth seeing. Soon after it came out, I watched his award winning documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11. If you haven’t seen it, it’s eye-opening. You may also want to get a view of what war really encompasses by reading his book, Will They Ever Trust Us Again? Watching the movie verified what I have read by various authors about war, especially the ones in Afghanistan and Iraq in the twenty- first century. It also gave me the opportunity to place a face with a name, as some of the writers whose books I have used as references appear in the movie. Also appearing on the screen are the victims of war referred to in the Moore book. In it, you will find numerous quotes – a few of these can be found at the end of some of the chapters here – by those who have experienced war, whether they have a friend or relative fighting, are soldiers themselves or veterans of war. People can make statements about being in the trenches, but these individuals have witnessed the horrors firsthand. Their voices should be heard.
There is nothing that compares to war. People debate that point, but I doubt that they ever served their country in battle. There have been many words to describe these types of conflicts, but certain expressions and phrases that have been used in the past don’t truly apply, such as “great war,” “romantic adventure,” and “fighting for peace.” I’m sure you can recall others. There is nothing glorious about war and as displayed in Fahrenheit 9/11, few people would volunteer to send their sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, mom, dad or cousins to battle, especially those in political office.
Wars have been fought for too long. Today, war is always unjust because of the weapons used. It is vastly different from years past in many ways but some things haven’t changed. People still die so that others can profit. And indeed the rewards are extraordinary. War
iidiscriminates, as people in power who have money are never sent into battle. It is only those without resources who are commissioned to fight these illogical wars. Those transported to Iraq and Afghanistan are the poor and middle class, while the leaders usually never see the front lines, or anywhere near the area of conflict, except to proclaim “Mission Accomplished” when the battles are only beginning. Some of these leaders who conceive war have even been draft evaders.
War results in the destruction of human beings, resources, the earth, air and seas and the waste of money that could be better used elsewhere. The atomic bomb was one of the worse creations in the history of the world. If you use it, you destroy lives and the planet. If it never gets utilized, you’ve wasted materials and you still need to find a place to safely dispose of these weapons of mass destruction. That task itself is impossible.
I had an idea to write this book about a decade ago. Sometime in the 1990s, I penned a book of essays and one was titled, “Good war,” so that was the beginning. Looking at backups that I always take today – that wasn’t the case for my first PC – I found a word document of over eighty formatted pages from the end of 2004. It appears that I have been writing this book for about five years. I think it’s time to bring it into print.
Gazing at that backup file, the title for the book was Just Another War. I had a few other possibilities but settled on This War Won’t Cost Much, although in the spring of 2008, I added the subtitle. You should be aware that Paul Wolfowicz uttered that same feeling expressed in those first five words. His quote can be found at the beginning of Chapter 14. The subtitle is important because not only is this treatise about war, it is specifically about my feelings, based on my observations and that of many other people.
iiiIn late 2007, I visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC. Because of the endless list of victims listed on the wall, anyone who visits it will have a difficult time looking for the name of someone they knew who perished in that debacle. However, there is order, based on the years of conflict. If you had a chance to read it all, you would find friends, family, classmates and co-workers who never returned from Southeast Asia. Too many young men and women gave up too much for an unnecessary war that lasted too long and cost the world too high a price.
A decade ago, I thought that war was unjust, unnecessary, immoral and illogical. As of the spring of 2008, I had seen too many movies and television programs on war and reached my limit to the number of books that I cared to read on that subject. Today, I am completely convinced – and by the time you finish reading this, I hope you will be, too – that this killing embodies all those four adjectives and others besides.
This book is an attempt to end wars on the planet before the earth ceases to be. This work discusses bomb building, why war is good for nothing except the undertakers and corporations that sell munitions and rebuild countries. It covers many other topics related to war, such as terrorism, 9/11, religion, the morality of war and all the costs, especially the loss of human life and environmental harm to the planet. I also mention a few twentieth century actions that people may not have linked to wars in the twenty-first century.
Brainwashing on a conspiratorial scale will be discussed as will violence and conflict, the horror of war and the pain and suffering that it brings. The role of conscientious objectors, the necessity of war and other reasons for it are other topics considered. Besides getting into the ugly aspects of war (that seems to be a pleonasm,) I have outlined a few things that we as citizens can do. We need not stand idly by and accept justification for attacking another country even though our leaders insist it is the only course of action.
You may feel that I am not qualified to write a treatise on war. I never served in Vietnam, the Gulf War or any other conflict, but I suffered through two years of the ROTC program at Canisius College. And you thought the people on Survivor had it tough. I and those reality show participants faced nothing compared to what those sent overseas were forced to endure. Not having anything to do with the Armed Forces, I can name people in power with similar “lack of qualifications” who have brought us into wars that should never have been initiated. I even asked a veteran of the service to consult on this book and was told no because of a conflict of interest. I’m not sure what position on war this individual had. If there was agreement with me, that could have given the book more support. On the other hand, had this person been in favor of war, those words may have balanced the book in some way, just like Fox News. It’s probably better there wasn’t any involvement with this war veteran. Balance is for trapeze artists.
I have no degree in history or political science. I am neither historian nor war expert. The latter phrase is an oxymoron. If there were such a thing, we wouldn’t have any conflicts. As I mentioned, I have done a great deal of research, having watched documentaries on war – when I could stomach it – and read various books on conflict. The bibliography at the back should attest to this. In general I don’t care for war movies, but nevertheless have seen more than my share of movies about Vietnam and just about any war you can imagine. Because of this, I may be better qualified to speak against war than a power-crazed leader or war-mongering captain. I haven’t been brainwashed.
vI have a great deal of respect for the military. Unfortunately I can say that the leaders of many countries don’t seem to share my feeling of admiration. In war after war, people in office fail to listen to the generals who know better. Some military leaders have been removed from power because of these differences. Of course, over the course of history there have been ruthless leaders in war and many appear to have been brainwashed by their superiors. Simultaneously, there have also been men in the military who served in battle who were cautious, intelligent geniuses. Even today you will hear generals and corporals insist that war is a huge waste and should never have been started. I agree with them completely, no matter what war you are describing.
Above all, I hope you will be convinced that all the statistics about war are meaningless because they’re just numbers, which can easily be manipulated by a government or press. Stating that any war won’t cost much is nothing more than a lie for too many reasons. Arriving at a trillion dollar amount is much too low since the number of dead and wounded can’t be counted and the costs continue long after the war is over. This applies to any war, that one or this one. 1. 9/11 – a day to forget
“The task of our generation – the generation which President Roosevelt once said has a ‘rendezvous with destiny’ – is to organize human affairs so that no Adolf Hitler, no power-hungry war mongers whatever their nationality, can ever plunge the whole world into war and bloodshed. Soon the nations will have to face this question: Shall the world’s affairs be so organized as to prevent a repetition of these twin disasters – the bitter woe of depression and the holocaust of war?” – Henry Agard Wallace
“It is not that we see democracy though the haze of optimism. We know that democracy is a jewel that must be polished constantly to maintain its luster. To prevent it from being damaged or stolen, democracy must be guarded with unremitting vigilance.” – Aung San Suu Kyi, the inspirational and courageous democracy fighter of Burma
I am not sure why I didn’t hear the news sooner since I usually have the radio on in the car. Perhaps I was listening to a cassette or else I had on the Toronto FM jazz station as I was traveling on the interstate into the city. I got to the library and was headed to the front desk to turn in some books and CDs. As I walked past the TV monitors, I noticed people congregating. I soon discovered that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center in New York.
I found some books and some DVDs and headed over to the checkout area. I then proceeded to my car and turned on WBFO, the Buffalo NPR station. It was then that I learned of the four planes crashes, the fact that the twin towers had been reduced to rubble and that many people had perished. I won’t elaborate on all the gory details, with which anyone reading this is all too familiar.
Unfortunately people all over the world have been deeply affected by that day, and since then, nothing has been the same. Before September 2001, the expression 911 had a particular significance, but now it will always be a reminder of that shocking event. Perhaps the perpetrators specifically chose that day to make that connection. That was a day that we would all like to forget, but unfortunately it is burned into our memory.
One question has come up and will do so for many years to come. Could the tragedy have been prevented? Some people in government say that there were warnings, but they were too general. On the other hand, there seemed to have been enough specific information to somehow stop the terrorists just as had been done in the late 1990s on a few occasions. Various intelligence agencies knew that something was going to happen, even to the point that they did not rule out the use of airplanes to cause great destruction and loss of life.
John O’Neill and Richard Clarke worked tirelessly studying the threat posed by Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda. The latter even wrote a book detailing the danger that terrorists posed to the United States. Against All Enemies describes many details that many didn’t pay attention to or want to hear. O’Neill was on the trail of the Saudis who were about to fly planes on suicide missions. He had a great deal of information about these men, but most of his efforts were thwarted. No one would listen to his pleas. In fact, before 9/11, John O’Neill stated publicly that he was blocked from investigation of the Saudi connection for political reasons. Eventually he was so frustrated that he quit his position to take a job as head of security at the World Trade Center. He died on September 11th.
Richard Clarke had been in intelligence for years, having served under presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush, Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford. In January 2001, he kept up his efforts in the struggle against the dangerous Osama and Al Qaeda. Month after month he suggested getting together to let others know what information he had. The Cabinet was too busy worrying about attacking Iraq. They weren’t concerned about Osama bin Laden but tragically that changed on a bright sunny Tuesday in September. But then it was too late.
Wrongly accused, the intelligence community turned out to be the scapegoats. They had the knowledge ahead of time and tried to pass it on to those in power. Amazingly, despite these failures, no one higher up in the agency was relieved of his job. Eventually, Richard Clarke left his position, as did George Tenet.
As most people probably realize, the Bush administration is partly to blame for the events of that September day. You could blame the CIA, FBI or any of the other agencies studying the threat. However, as Richard Clarke in Against All Enemies points out, he and others were aware of the danger and saw something coming. There are other sources validating this. In fact, a friend of mine whose husband has an office in Manhattan, mentioned that people who worked at the World Trade Center were advised to stay home on September 11th.
According to the Journal News of October 11, 2001, in September 2001, the entire New Utrecht High School in New York knew a week beforehand that the Twin Towers were to be attacked. In addition, there were several reports from foreign allies about what was to come. These were all ignored.
Many others related this same information. Richard Clarke’s book seems to confirm the knowledge before the fact. When he initially heard about the plane crashes at the World Trade Center, he surmised that the death toll could be anywhere from 10,000 to 50,000. The count of 3,000 deaths points out that perhaps some people got information the day before and refused to go to work.
I find it difficult to accept the argument that intelligence agencies weren’t doing their job. If that is the case, all these agencies should be dismantled. We could save a fortune and the money could be used to provide retirement benefits and health care coverage for all Americans, matching that of Congress. Granted, people have on occasion mentioned that a “government job” is an oxymoron, but I don’t think that was the case relative to the attacks. Despite many lazy, bloodsucking employees who sit around and do as little as possible, there are many diligent people on the job. I have worked for the government and know others who have done likewise, all actually earning a paycheck, and we weren’t the only ones with this attitude. Blaming the FBI, CIA or other security agencies is a copout. If individuals screwed up, why weren’t they made redundant? I don’t mean it that way.
The president and his staff may have been too preoccupied with planning other wars to be concerned with terrorism threats. I don’t believe in micromanaging, so they should have been concerned with their tasks but used information that others were paid to provide, specifically about threats to the country. This didn’t seem to happen. Maybe they just simply took the day off and went on vacation. After all, it was still summer. George W. Bush did spend a great deal of time in Crawford, Texas. There’s nothing wrong with taking a vacation, but according to the meticulous records of Mark Knoller of CBS news, as of September 3, 2001, the Prez had spent 42 percent of his time after being elected president at the Crawford ranch, Camp David or Kennebunkport. He said that some of these days were “working vacations,” another oxymoron. You can’t get much accomplished for the country if you are sawing down trees and hunting. At least Cheney didn’t shoot anybody.
FBI whistle blower Colleen Rowley testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee alleging United States intelligence agencies had enough information to prevent the attacks. In December 2001, the Bush Administration censored twenty-eight pages of a joint congressional report on the September 11th terrorist attacks. The following August, Vice President Dick Cheney advised Bush not to turn over to Congress the president’s August 2001 intelligence briefing that warned of the terrorists’ trying to hijack airplanes.
There were many other signs that should have alerted someone of oncoming danger but no action was taken. If an individual wants to learn to fly an airplane without learning how to land or take off, this might be an indication that the student probably doesn’t have career plans as a pilot. The obvious outcome of this lesson can only be “suicide,” and the instructor should have had enough concern to report this behavior to the proper authorities. Unfortunately when businessmen are handed huge sums of cash, greed checks in and the brain shuts off. That’s why this class in flying succeeded on behalf of the terrorists. Credit must be given to some people since they passed these warnings along to others. Unfortunately, action wasn’t taken.
A few months after September 11, 2001, I somehow was tuned into a program about that day on the CBC called The Fifth Estate, questioning the official story. As a result, I had some doubts and obtained a few books on some of the unexplained concerns with what we had been told. The books you may care to read are by The New Pearl Harbor by David Ray Griffin, Inside Job by Jim Marrs and 9/11
Synthetic Terror: Made in USA by Webster Griffin Tarpley. I won’t go into any further detail but you can search on the Web for information and I may add some observations to the web page I have on this book. You may also want to research The Project for a New American Century and Operation Northwoods.
You can question what happened on that tragic day or accept what has been passed on to the public as the truth. I agree with Michael Moore who doesn’t believe in conspiracy theories except the ones that are true. Better yet, I like the quote by author Nelson DeMille, “Conspiracy is not a theory; it’s a crime.” Over the years, there have been too many conspiracies to deny the existence of them. Regarding the events of 9/11, my problem is that there are too many coincidences that occurred relative to the tragedies that would have to be accepted to rule out that 9/11 was an inside job. Anyway, I urge you to read some of the books on that event, rather than tuning in to Fox News, CNN or the major networks.
“We left thinking we were protecting the Iraqi people and protecting the people of the United States from terrorism. When in truth we are the terrorists.” – Chris F., who was in Iraq from April 2003 to March 2004
2. Looking back
“I don’t think we should be over there. I don’t think it’s about justice and liberty, I think it’s about economics. The big oil corporations have a lot to do with what is going on over there. We are risking people’s lives for money.” – Patricia Biggs
“Let it be said then that I wrote this book in the absolute conviction that there has never been, nor ever can be a ‘good’ or worthwhile war.” – Farley Mowat, World War II veteran commenting on his 1979 book, And No Birds Sang.
“Where there are too many policemen, there is no liberty. Where there are too many soldiers, there is no peace. Where there are too many lawyers, there is no justice.” – Lin Yutang
“There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported it. We are all one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.” – Barack Obama
“No one can terrorize a whole nation, unless we are all his accomplices.” – Edward R. MurrowThe blame for the tragedy of 9/11 goes back over a quarter a century to the 1970s. Had certain steps been taken then, the terrorist acts may not have occurred. That period brought an oil crisis and with it, gas rationing. Depending on the last number on your license plate, you could only buy gas every other day of the week. If you ran out and it was not a day in which you could procure gasoline, you’d have to wait a day. When it was permissible for you to buy gas, you’d still have to get in line at the pump.
People were more concerned about the environment and didn’t drive gas guzzling trucks and SUVs. President Jimmy Carter urged conservation, including lowering the thermostat in winter and raising it if air conditioning was necessary in the summer. He even appeared on television to urge people to get away from their self-indulgence and consider making sacrifices. Some listened and others ignored his pleas. During the late 1970s, Americans were held hostage in Iran and their not being released until after the election of 1980 probably led to Carter’s defeat. George Herbert Walker Bush, who worked for the CIA, may have had a great deal to do with this delay in the freeing of those victims. He also was Ronald Reagan’s vice president in the new administration. Before the election of 1980, comedian Steve Martin said, “I believe that Ronald Reagan can make this country what it once was – an arctic region covered with ice.”
The changing of the guard still may not have affected the country, except that Reagan demolished all that Carter had done relative to conservation and the environment. In fact, he figured Americans were entitled to drive big cars, waste the earth’s resources and have creature comforts rather than make sacrifices of any kind. After all, we were living in America. The new administration couldn’t see too far into the future and certainly couldn’t predict what was to occur twenty years later. Most likely, an energy policy that reduced our dependence on Middle Eastern oil would have prevented the attacks.
If that wasn’t bad enough, the eight years of the Reagan Administration resulted in further difficulties with the war between Iraq and Iran. Those in power in the United States didn’t want the latter country to be a force in the area, so they did all they could to support Saddam Hussein. The administration supplied him with biological and chemical weapons and all he needed to create a stalemate with the Iranians. The struggle dragged on for most of the decade. Of course, the leaders of our country weren’t partisan as they also provided war materiel to Saddam’s enemy. You will certainly have more profits if you sell arms to both combatants. Greed is good.
Since one war is never enough, there was another going on in Afghanistan. The Afghan rebels were the home team, but also the underdog against the powerful Soviets. Secretly America came to their rescue, not providing troops but rather weapons to battle the Russians. You can read all about this endeavor in the book made into a recent movie, Charlie Wilson’s War by George Crile, the true story of the largest covert operation in history. By the way, Mr. Wilson is from Texas. And you may have thought that nothing good ever came out of that state.
Some people say the end of that war brought with it the demise of communism. At the same time, the American government completely abandoned Afghanistan. They may not have known about the oil there, although if you believe that, send me $100 and you will be able to retire by the end of the month. One of the rebels who rejoiced in the defeat of Russia was Osama bin Laden. If his group could humiliate a country as strong as the Soviets, what other large strong industrial nation could they take on? Hint: It starts with a “U.” At the end of the decade, most of the citizens of the U.S. didn’t know too much about Osama, but that would change with time.
At this point, the country had two new friends overseas, Osama and Saddam. I don’t pick the people I hang out with the same way they do, but that’s me. In the summer of 1990, there was no lack of oil in Iraq, but for some reason Hussein figured he needed more. With his power becoming even more strengthened by the U.S. subsidies, he assumed he was close to invincible. He decided to attack Kuwait and take their oil. Before doing that, he felt he should get some feelers on the whole issue and talked to the ambassador, April Glaspie. She gave Hussein the impression that what the dictator did was none of the U.S.’s business. He probably should have gotten a second opinion. This point has been disputed by Tariq Aziz, who was captured during the latest Iraq War. The last I heard, he was still being held captive. Obviously, they both can’t be telling the truth.
Anyway, Saddam attacked Kuwait and Osama asked the House of Saud if he could take care of this problem, but was turned down. As a result, the United States entered the Arabian Peninsula and the result was the Gulf War of 1991. This occupation continued in part after Kuwait was restored. Meanwhile bin Laden wasn’t pleased with the American presence in the Middle East, before or after that war. It took about a decade but on September 11, 2001, we felt the wrath of Osama. At least, that is the official story. Of course, there were other smaller acts of terrorism before that tragic day, such as the first attempt on the World Trade Center in 1