How the War on Terror Created the Age of Trump, with Matt Kennard
The Chris Hedges Report
WOC Editor’s note: In some ways this post is difficult to follow because it is so thorough and reveals the many connections to neo-fascism among different aspects of U.S. government, including both Republicans and Democrats. It focuses of course on the Trump Regime while at the same time brings in the culpability of Democrats as well. If we are able to vote in the Democrats in the midterm elections to take control of both the House of Representatives and Senate we will still have our work cut out for us at the national and international levels with the Democrats. Biden did create that some good legislation regarding energy and healthcare, etc., that was passed by Congress before he was deposed, so to speak. The Trump Regime has destroyed most if not all of that good legislation, and it needs to be restored.
Under Biden the worst crime of the Democrats is the funding and weapons support of Netanyahu’s Zionism and of genocide in Gaza/Palestine. This support persists under the Trump Regime and the Republicans of course, but must continue to be challenged along with ending the war on Iran fiasco that has created global issues and problems. Many corporations, including the war industry and the fossil fuel industry particularly, as well as AI groups supporting the Iran war. are benefiting monetarily. The AI corporation Palantir is making millions with Maven, an AI software being used for direct targeting of both military and nonmilitary targets in Iran. Israel is also using AI for targets in Lebanon, Syria, etc., in what is the larger war in the whole of the Middle East that is being waged by US/Israel together.
Another area Kennard covers is the psychological effects of war. He mentions PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) as going back as far as Vietnam in its effects on veterans and bringing it forward to veterans of recent wars. Remembering that Kennard is British, not American, he does not mention directly the concept of “Moral Injury” as used by U.S. Veterans but he does discuss the psychological effects as directly linked to the fascist resurgence and also the coverup of those connections that some veterans have recognized and attempted to expose. At the same time U.S. veterans of especially the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are struggling with ‘moral injury’ and have protested in Washington D.C. and other places, refusing to remain silent.
Irregular Army
How the US Military Recruited Neo-Nazis, Gang Members, and Criminals
Afterword by CIA whistleblower JOHN KIRIAKOU
“One of our finest investigative journalists illuminates the terrifying machinery of our ascendant authoritarian state. Essential.”
—Chris Hedges
“A necessary corrective to patriotic bromides about the troops, and a bracing exposé of the declining quality of personnel serving in America’s all-volunteer army in an era of endless war.”
—Seth Harp
“A powerful wake-up call. Time is running out.”
—Lawrence B. Wilkerson, former chief of staff to US Secretary of State Colin Powell
“Exposes the growth of extremist elements within the world’s most lethal killing machine . . . a warning cry.”
—Jeremy Scahill
“Couldn’t be more urgent.”
—Huffington Post
“Chilling . . . Kennard’s nonpartisan portrait of martial waywardness is foreboding.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Kennard demonstrates a serious weakness in America’s ability to recruit a long- or even medium-term occupying force.”
—The American Conservative
“A devastating critique of the recruitment policies of our major ally.”
—The Independent
“Exposes both the roots of defective military recruitment and its deadly aftershocks . . . An urgent warning.”
—Daryl Johnson, former senior domestic terrorism analyst, US Department of Homeland Security
“Chilling in its prescience.”
—Spencer Ackerman
“Required reading . . . a compelling explanation for the clear and present danger facing America.”
—Thomas Drake, whistleblower and former executive, US National Security Agency