Thom Hartmann: The Problem With a “War” Strategy

[marmar]

from CommonDreams.org:



Published on Tuesday, September 11, 2007 by CommonDreams.org
The Problem With a “War” Strategy
by Thom Hartmann


The eerie juxtaposition of General Betrayus testifying today before Congress, and it being 9/11 (which helped Bush bring us disasters ranging from the PATRIOT Act to the Iraq War and Occupation) brings an opportunity to re-understand what’s been happening here and in Iraq these past six years, and offers an insight into a way forward.

Imagine, God forbid, that a major city in America were to be dramatically attacked (a 9/11 level of destruction only on steroids), or fall apart because of a natural disaster. Detroit, for example, or San Francisco. Massive destruction, damaging most of the homes - it could be an earthquake in San Francisco, or a horrific tornado in Detroit, or a nuclear device in either.

Water is cut off, electric wires downed, the phone systems taken out. People are dazed, in shock and awe. The prisons are damaged, and thousands of criminals are now on the streets, quickly melting back into the civilian populace. The destruction is massive.

The federal government then responds. They put up a wall around the city, and remove from office all employees and elected officials of the state and local governments. Fire all the police and fire departments. Stop paying doctors and hospitals. Throw up cordons around each city to prevent nearby communities from coming in to help.

Why? Because the President believes that a mythical force - “The Free Market” - will automatically and magically come to the aid of the damaged city.

He declares that instead of paying normal taxes and getting normal services, nobody will any longer get Social Security payments, food stamps, Medicare or Medicaid. All the “big government” programs are ended, replaced with a flat 15% income tax and an elimination of all regulations on corporate action, either local or multinational. Unions are outlawed. The 200 largest companies - and thus the largest employers - in each city are shut down, because they’ve been running “inefficiently”: they’re now for sale to any transnational corporation that wants them, (but, given the devastation, none are showing any interest).

Consistent with the President’s belief that the only legitimate function of government is military, he brings 20,000 troops into each city. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/09/11/3754/

[daninthemoon]

1. And 21 year old "graduates" from some neocon rw hyper-religious

"university" are installed in key leadership positions. And haliburton gets another windfall.

[Demeter]

2. Detroit Was Already Destroyed in 1969 Riots

and still hasn't recovered.