Bush plans world recruitment drive to arm for peace (Bush trumps Orwell)

[Lori Price CLG]

Bush plans world recruitment drive to arm for peace

Facing a chronic shortage of foreign troops for peacekeeping missions, US President (sic --Dictator) George Bush has decided to launch an international drive to boost the supply of available forces.

It calls for the United States to commit about $US660 million ($880 million) over the next five years to train, equip and provide logistical support to forces in nations willing to take part in peace operations.

The Global Peace Operations Initiative will be aimed largely at Africa. It will expand the peacekeeping skills of African forces and encourage international military exercises in the region, where US officials say much of the need exists.

But African forces developed under the program could be used in peace operations anywhere in the world, they said.

<snip>

[progressivebydesign]

1. Someone please wake me from this nightmare!! N/T

[Moderator]

2. Please edit your excerpt to reflect what the article says

Thanks. Not that it isn't true, but it's not appropriate to edit someone else's copyrighted material.

[Spoon]

3. You've got a bit of Orwell in you yourself by

switching President to Dictator. I barely noticed the difference! :)

[aquart]

4. The United States is RECRUITING MERCENARIES????????????????

Isn't there some sort of international law being violated?

[indepat]

20. So????

[Malva Zebrina]

39. it does not matter--we make the "international laws"

we make those laws so that it will not be questioned when we invade another defenseless countru with all of our military might;]

and the lives

the lives

the lives

of children, toddlers, babies whose agonizing screams will be forever embedded upon the minds of those who heard it.

that have been annhilated in the name of

What?

Godammit--what have these innocents, these sweet innocentsm been killed for? They did NOT threaten us at all. They did NOT threaten anyone for gawd's sake.

They were simply there. They were born there through no initiative on their part, and they were bombed to bits. by a stupid spoiled brat, who is insane. Who never had to work for a goddam thing in his life. Who thinks he has the right to take over the world no matter how many he murders, because a Christian god told him to do so.

Why? To insure they would not live another day to "threaten " the US or Israel?
To kill the MUsluims--the traditional enemy of Christianity?

What is the matter with people. We are evolving backwards. We should be ashamed of this slaughter.

Instead, a terrible mind set has taken over in this country.

It is connected to Christianity.

It is the mind set of the ignoble 'Crusades

It is stupid.

There is no love in this world as is evident in all of this initiative from
Wolfowitz, PErle, et al.

None. It is no longer the in thing to embrace Christian values.

It is the in thing to kill, pre-emptively like a barbarian at the gate, those we "think" are the enemy or the terrorists.

We have sunk to a new low level and it is th lowest of all.

as Wolfowitz and the other war criminals who prop up the little puppet George the stupid, never read a book, Bush insist is right and keep trying to morph the ruthless, barbaric slaughter of tens of thousands of innocent, people, babies, children, women and old men, into

I will NEVER, ever sanction this holocuast on the part of an unelected US president

NEVER

[peterh]

5. So…The twit wants his own Presidential mercenary force…

To move around as he sees fit….a force the American public would have no emotional ties to….a force that could act outside of congressional restrictions with quasi-legitimacy… this sounds like something right out of the PNAC empire building guide….

[BostonTeaParty04]

15. Kofi Annan???? are you listening???? n/t

*

[Dhalgren]

21. Hey, Emperor Caligula had his German mercenaries

for his guard, why can't Emperor George II (Christos)have his African mercenaries to serve him? I can see it now - "The Emperor sends in his crack Nubian infantry to quell yet another uprising of Arab children in the slums of Cairo. The Sengalese Cavalry is just now returning from the complete destruction of Haran, where the forces of truth and light and the Imperial way were restored. Long live our Emperor!" :puke: :puke: :puke:

[notadmblnd]

40. What's more important I think

is the fact that these forces would have no emotional ties to the American public. They'd have no problem killing us. Hell, they all hate us now. It's just what we need a bunch of emotionless killers trained by the US government turned loose on us!

[Soloflecks]

6. Oil again.

“African oil is of national strategic interest to us,” said Assistant Secretary of State for Africa and former Scowcroft group member Walter H. Kansteiner III at a January 2002 symposium on African oil held in Washington DC and organized by the Institute for Advanced Political and Strategic Studies (IASPS), the same Jerusalem-based think-tank which in 1996 brought us Richard Perle’s “A Clean Break: A New Strategy For Securing The Realm.” This organization has been at the forefront of successful attempts to persuade the United States P43 administration that it needs to diversify its sources of oil supply, and move away from the ‘unfriendly’ old gulf (that’s the Persian gulf) to exploit the ‘new gulf’ – the gulf of Guinea in West Africa.

“Africa…” said congressional Sub-Committee on Africa chairman Rep. Ed Royce (R-California) at the same event, “is less of a long-term threat in terms of our dependency on foreign oil. It is very difficult to imagine a Saddam Hussein in Africa… I think African oil should be treated as a priority for U.S. national security post-9/11, and I think that post 9/11 it has occurred to all of us that our traditional sources of oil are not as secure as we once thought they were.” (IASPS African Oil Symposium Proceedings, January 2002, p. 5)

http://www.lewrockwell.com/wall/wall15.html

[Zhade]

25. "It is very difficult to imagine a Saddam Hussein in Africa..."

Man, they must not be paying attention, then.

Hitler had a private army, too...

[yardwork]

27. Good catch! What a stupid thing to say.

I guess they've never heard of Idi Amin. I guess W skipped class that day.

[zbird]

7. Rotate the African troops into Iraq for peacekeeping...

Rotate the American troops to Iran, Syria, etc. for warmongering. W* doesn't do peace.

[Just Me]

32. Nope,...warmongers/profiteers GET financial peace at the expense

of anyone "beneath" them.

Get Barbara off her anti-depression meds and expose her beautiful mind to this!!!

[Dover]

8. 'Peace operations' my arse!

Get all the poor folks to fight!

PLEASE tell me these countries will laugh in his face!

[smirkymonkey]

30. More like "Operation Human Shield"

- lets get the black people to fight the brown people so we can keep our lily white asses out of harm's way.

What a sham!

[Cocoa]

9. just what the world needs

more skilled fighters, more weapons.

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. Are you all reading a different article to me?

The one I read talked about training forces for UN peacekeeping. Since when has that been mercenary? Or do I lack the necessary knee jerk reflex to see things your way?

[yellowcanine]

13. Article is not clear it is under U.N. auspices.

The U.N. is mentioned but nowhere in the article does it say that the U.S. has any intention of gearing the training toward U.N. peacekeeping. Where is the quote from the administration that U.N. peacekeeping is the goal? Curious omission, no? Given the distrust of the Bush administration in the wake of the Iraq "bait and switch", I would say people have the right to be sceptical. Nothing knee-jerk about it.

[yardwork]

28. The Bush administration calls our presence in Iraq "peace keeping."

A Republican was on NPR yesterday blaming Clinton (natch) for having left us with a "cold war" military. He said that's the reason our "peace-keeping" forces in Iraq are not able to deal with the situation.

Do you understand? The * administration calls our invasion and occupation of Iraq a "peace-keeping mission."

They want more troops for more "peace-keeping" invasions, er, missions around the world, but only in places where there is lots of oil. Next up: Syria and Iran.

[Just Me]

33. I confess my "knee-jerk" response to anything Bush says.

I confess.

I confess.

Please, forgive me for being behaviorally trained to totally distrust a man that has turned my country and the whole freakin' world upside-down. I just,...I just cannot help myself!

Forgive me.

<I still don't trust the as*wipe and his regime,...who would?>

[Hobarticus]

11. Gotta read more than the blurb, DU'ers...

This is seeking to provide more troops to the UN through these nations.

Which is still pretty laughable, considering we claimed the UN was 'irrelevant', then we turn around and try to recruit for the UN. What assmonkeys.

[Norquist Nemesis]

12. I read it three times

It does not say that Bush plans to provide the troops to the UN. It says the UN currently leads many of the peacekeeping missions but recent US and NATO led demands have sapped the forces.

It seems pretty clear the US would be training them: "The Bush initiative's goal is to train about 75,000 additional foreign troops who could be sent on missions at short notice and perform a wide range of peacekeeping activities. "

One thing that is not clear with the Bush goal or initiative or whatever pretty little label they're putting on it is who will be in charge of these forces. "Mr Bush's initiative stops short of establishing standing military units that would be devoted only to international peacekeeping. "

[BostonTeaParty04]

17. This is absolutely OUTSIDE the UN. n/t

*

[Norquist Nemesis]

43. That's how I see it too. n/t

[smirkymonkey]

31. Could be the old bait and switch...

like "See the world, pay for college!" and the next thing you know you're in a hell-hole in the middle east fighting for your life.

[JohnOneillsMemory]

34. THIS IS AN ENDRUN AROUND THE UN FOR FUTURE 'EVENTS.'

This is training local mercenaries and militias for intimidation, coups, occupations, strengthening sanctioned dictators, and other 'unforeseen events.'

The neocons don't want to rely on the committee process and anti-US imperialism wariness of the UN so they will pay to have more locals die in these 'events'and not US soldiers because US deaths get noticed by the press and public.

[BostonTeaParty04]

14. I am ready to kill myself!

This is just way too INSANE.

The most relevant part of this article is:

"But African forces developed under the program could be used in peace operations anywhere in the world, they said."

Ummm, you could arm HALF of Africa and train them and they still wouldn't be able to quell the civil war strife on that continent! Talk about a view of Africa that is bereft of any semblance of REALITY! "they can go do killing other places too!" Isn't that the gist of what they want to to use this for?

So, do you recruit from the crowd of VICTIMS (who have lost arms and legs or are near starvation or plagued with AIDS) or do you recruit from the killing squads? Hmmmm, decisions, decisions...

Somebody.... Get a one page memo to Bush ASAP that connects the dots between poverty and war! Can it be summed up in ONE PAGE?

Not that the wacko dimwit would care.

We need a REGIME change in this country TODAY. today, today, today. Not tomorrow. TODAY.

This is insane.

War is peace. Jesus Christ!

[Lori Price CLG]

37. BostonTeaParty04, save your anger for the revolution...

We should not allow the Bush dictatorship to steal the election again... can you imagine what four more years of the Idiot Usurper will do the world?

-Lori

[BostonTeaParty04]

16. Isn't it just FABULOUS that we are such good friends with LIBYA

at this most advantageous time???

Goodness... gaddafi will be sooooooooooo HELPFUL.

Coincidence? No.

[74dodgedart]

18. The Coalition of the Willing doesn't appear to be so willing after all

This is beyond belief..

[Democat]

19. Outsourcing the U.S. military

Everyone here knew it was coming.

[PaDUer]

23. Maybe they're worrying

that the regular military is getting tired of their BS and might be turning against them? I can see it now, the military surrounding the WH calling the culprits out or busting the doors...There's more going on here than what's being said...Just like those mercenaries making megabucks, but are paying for those few thousand dollar days w/ their lives..and no insurance.

[Just Me]

22. THE WORLD DOESN'T WANT ANOTHER STINKIN' EMPIRE!!!

*whew*

my apologies

just a small human voice in the ocean of humanity attempting to inform old-timer ambitious empire-seekers, in advance, that humanity

DOESN'T WANT ANOTHER STINKIN' EMPIRE!!!!

it's tough talking to locked hearts, minds, ears and eyes

:hi:

[bacchant]

24. A giant mercenary army

for the coming wars. Cheap, deployable, expendable, no muss, no fuss, perfectly corporate. Say hello to the New American Century.

[Pallas180]

44. I think you're right. "Cheap, deployable, expendable, no muss, no fuss"

and no American electorate angry that their 18 and 19 year old children are being killed for dimwit's psychopathic "saddam" like
dreams of power and glory

[Hand]

26. This is a non-starter...

Chimpy's in a state of hysterical desperation and will throw around any idiotic notion that holds promise of saving his sorry ass a la Harkin Energy. Buy your way out of trouble with someone else's money and someone else's lives...

Little problem: The world does not work that way and never has. This is going nowhere, but it would sure be nice to see it hung around his neck forever.

[2Design]

29. and it has support from both dems and repubs

This is incredible. Our congress first rolled over and handed Bush a blank check after sept 11 that most here on the boards would not have done.

And now they want to support building up troops from around the world that we pay for because the UN and the USA by themselves are stretched thin now.

This sounds like a world army. And our own congress would support it???

A regime change isn't changing some of this stuff if we got the dems backing it and falling all over themselves to be there like they did after Sept 11.

That Check and balance system has handed all the power to the one position and the rest of them seem to be falling in place....

This is unbelievable. Absolutely incredible. We must be insane and our congress must be on some kind of drug. Why are they giving away all the things that made this government work???

[Larkspur]

35. And these African troops will be ready to brutalize their own people

when they return home. That's the Bush Bonus program.

[mulethree]

36. Operation "Get Behind The Darkies"

from the southpark movie

[peterh]

38. Is it possible that we’ve already seen a test run on this…

Or maybe a failed test run with the critters sitting in a jail in Zimbabwe….they were trained mercenaries in Africa, but the plane left from a base in North Carolina….just thinking out loud….

[peacetalksforall]

41. Caution...

whether or not Bush wins...

his handlers are going to keep trying

the oil operation in the guise of regime change was planned for many years

the other people on this earth have to stop these people'

we've been invaded

we're lucky to know as much as we do

this is not an amalgamated movie

this is not history

this is it

our takeover

if we don't accept our knowledge

and educate others

[carols]

42. I can't get past the headline: "arm for peace"

What the fuck? One hopes the person who wrote the headline appreciated the irony it conveys - otherwise it implies that he or she is a brainwashed moron serving the dolt in the WH.

I cannot imagine a more racist policy. It is bad enough that we are killing massive numbers of people with our own troops - it is unthinkable that we would offer up the youth of some other impoverished country to do our dirty work for us. Chances are excellent that once the leaders of those countries decide to take the cash, they won't give their people any choice in the matter...they will be coerced into signing up and never receive any benefit from the money coming into their country's coffers. All there will be is death, death and more death. Using the impoverished and oppressed to oppress the impoverished and oppressed.

This turns my stomach.
Carol

[DulceDecorum]

45. Time for me to flip a flop

Some of you may have have noticed that DulceDecorum does not care much for the lives of those who go around murdering the innocent for fun and profit, namely mercenaries.

But this idea of arming Africa as a whole is an absolute stroke of genius. If he actually goes and carries out this plan, I just might have to take back some of the more pointed phrases I have previously used to describe mein leiberBush.

Once "The Righteous and Harmonious Fists" of Africa are given free reign over their continent, then peace might indeed be achieved, once the initial philosophical differences and directional unpleasantness are over.