Consortium News: The War Risk of Hillary Clinton

[Karmadillo]

https://consortiumnews.com/2016/06/17/the-war-risk-of-hillary-clinton/

The War Risk of Hillary Clinton
June 17, 2016
Hawkish State Department officials and Official Washington’s neocons are eager for a Hillary Clinton presidency, counting on a freer hand to use U.S. military force around the world, but that future is not so clear, says Michael Brenner.
By Michael Brenner

Is Hillary Clinton a warmonger? Well, the record demonstrates that she certainly is a hawk – someone who believes strongly in the utility of military force and is ready to use it.

There is ample evidence in support of this contention. Her actions as Senator and Secretary of State as well her speeches and campaign statements paint a picture of a would-be President who views the world in terms of an ominous threat environment, who believes that core American interests are being challenged across the globe, who is a firm advocate of intervening on a preventive basis (e.g. Syria, Libya) as well as a preemptive or defensive basis, who is dedicated to keeping putative rivals like China or Russia in a subordinate position.

This complex of attitudes puts a considerable amount of blue water between her and Barack Obama. Indeed, early in her campaign she made a point of criticizing the White House for its overly restrained policies vis a vis Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping. She only switched tacks when it became evident that she needed to associate herself with the Obama record in the face of the unexpected Sanders insurrection.

The specific criticisms directed at HRC from those who find her too hawkish are well-known. They include her vote in favor of the Iraq war; her cheerleading for the Global War on Terror in all its aspects; her collaboration with the Robert Gates-led faction to push President Obama into a major Afghan escalation; her advocacy of direct military action in Libya to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi and in Syria to unseat Assad; her unbending attitude toward containing Iran even after the nuclear accord; and her bellicose language in calling Putin another “Hitler’ after Russia’s seizure of the Crimea.

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[dflprincess]

1. As she said, "war is a business opportunity"

[TheBlackAdder]

16. I thought Dick Cheney said that too.

[Octafish]

23. Cheney also helped privatize war.

Mr. Other Priorities' spearheaded the privatization of Pentagon profits for Poppy madministration. His main qualifications for Secretary of Defense seems to have been his voting record in support of War Inc in Congreff. For your edification, history unmentioned on campus, what was news left out of the newspapers and off the television screen:

Cheney's Multi-Million Dollar Revolving Door

News: As Bush Sr.'s secretary of defense, Dick Cheney steered millions of dollars in government business to a private military contractor -- whose parent company just happened to give him a high-paying job after he left the government.

By Robert Bryce
Mother Jones
August 2, 2000

EXCERPT...

In 1992, the Pentagon, then under Cheney's direction, paid Texas-based Brown & Root Services $3.9 million to produce a classified report detailing how private companies -- like itself -- could help provide logistics for American troops in potential war zones around the world. BRS specializes in such work; from 1962 to 1972, for instance, the company worked in the former South Vietnam building roads, landing strips, harbors, and military bases. Later in 1992, the Pentagon gave the company an additional $5 million to update its report. That same year, BRS won a massive, five-year logistics contract from the US Army Corps of Engineers to work alongside American GIs in places like Zaire, Haiti, Somalia, Kosovo, the Balkans, and Saudi Arabia.

After Bill Clinton's election cost Cheney his government job, he wound up in 1995 as CEO of Halliburton Company, the Dallas-based oil services giant -- which just happens to own Brown & Root Services. Since then, Cheney has collected more than $10 million in salary and stock payments from the company. In addition, he is currently the company's largest individual shareholder, holding stock and options worth another $40 million. Those holdings have undoubtedly been made more valuable by the ever-more lucrative contracts BRS continues to score with the Pentagon.

Between 1992 and 1999, the Pentagon paid BRS more than $1.2 billion for its work in trouble spots around the globe. In May of 1999, the US Army Corps of Engineers re-enlisted the company's help in the Balkans, giving it a new five-year contract worth $731 million.

CONTINUED...

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2000/08/cheney.html

Must've been an, eh, awkward moment for the draft dodger. Then, of course, a big cash bonus from Halliburton has long since made that hurt go away. A new heart also must help.

I hate war and the warmongers who push it. Don't you?

[dflprincess]

38. I'm sure he did.

Birds of a feather.

[Miles Archer]

17. "Now, I'm very excited about what's possible..."

And I wish that just for one minute, among all of the "TWO MORE DAYS" posts, that Clinton supporters could just watch this video and see and hear what those of us who are not ready to "rally behind" her are seeing and hearing.

This is a major issue. People aren't making these things up, they're coming straight from Clinton herself. Quoting someone is not "hate."

[Purveyor]

2. No, I have this really, really sick feeling as to 2017 and beyond...

[onehandle]

3. Donald Trump is a pathetic divisive loser who cannot let go. nt

[SFnomad]

4. Tick tock, tick tock ... time is running out n/t

[Karmadillo]

6. Excellent point! Nuclear War: Doomsday Clock Moving Closer To Midnight

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/26/doomsday-clock-three-minutes-to-midnight-climate-change-nuclear-war#img-1

The Doomsday Clock, the symbolic countdown to humanity’s end, remained stuck on the brink of the apocalypse for a second year on Tuesday, because of the continued existential threats posed by nuclear war and climate change.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the group which created the clock in 1947, said it was keeping the clock hands set at three minutes to midnight – the closest the clock has come to destruction since the throes of the cold war in 1984.

“The clock ticks now at just three minutes to midnight because international leaders are failing to perform their most important duty,” the scientists said.

The ominous forecast was imposed despite two major diplomatic accomplishments last year: the Iranian nuclear deal and the historic Paris agreement to fight climate change.

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[SFnomad]

7. Monday will be here before you know it ... and then the BS sewer gets cleaned up n/t

[Dustlawyer]

9. Great debate style! Fact free, no pointing out where there may be errors, exaggerations, nor

explanations of Hillary's policies. Where have I seen and heard this fabulous debating style before? Oh yea, Trump!

Yes, I guess us doody heads will be flushed and DU will become one big Hillary Clinton Group echo chamber! You will pat each other on the back and congratulate each other on your obvious superiority, happily ignoring any flaw or fault of your candidate. Positively blind to any potential problems with your candidate. Objectivity never enters DU after that date!

[SFnomad]

10. And where else do we see one negative article after another about Secretary Clinton, hoping, praying

that something, anything sticks ... that's right, Faux "News".

And no, it won't be an echo chamber around here ... but we also won't have a sizeable chunk of the posters helping tRump by working against Secretary Clinton any longer either.

[Dustlawyer]

19. I will not let Hillary off of the hook for all of the money she OWES DONORS FOR as it is not in

America's best interest, not mine. If she cannot beat the Orange Man she doesn't deserve it anyway! We will all help her attack Trump and he is in big trouble already. TPTB will not let him win anyway.

This country is in terrible shape and it has been caused by TPTB which control this country through our (former) Representatives. The root cause is the campaign bribes for which Hillary is the poster child (not to mention the personal cash of over 100 million they put into she and Bill's account and the Clinton Global Innitiative. You may choose to overlook this or delude yourself that it has no effect, but I do not, and neither does Bernie.

Our environment is in crisis and Climate Change is passing the tipping point of the Feedback Loop. To have a chance at saving ourselves this world must make some major changes quickly. Hillary would never upset the Oligarch's with the necessary changes needed. To us Bernie supporters it is mission critical as we recognize this is the most serious challenge the human race has ever had. What would you do if you believed this to be true?

[SFnomad]

20. JHFC, they let out the entire can of crazy in a single post

Secretary Clinton is not the anti-Christ and the world will not fall apart when she is elected President. BS is not a savior and he would not fix all the world's ills either. But it's clear you don't believe that.

When people start to blather on about "oligarchs" or "overlords" ... I tend to tune out as those types of poster tend to be the high strung true believer types and there is no use in talking with them as they can't be reasoned with ... they're just the opposite side of the political spectrum of the BSC Tbaggers.

I can't wait until Monday when this place becomes DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND again ... where we work to ELECT Democrats, not tear them down. Have a nice weekend ... buh bye.

[Dustlawyer]

24. That's your problem, you tune out.

I keep myself informed on a lot of topics. I also have a lot of personal experience watching politicians protect these humongous corporations. You will remain willfully ignorant! I am sure you believe Hillary when she says that all of the personal and campaign money has no effect, but you wish to try and paint me as the "crazy" one.

It sounds to "crazy" to believe that legal bribery of our elected officials has no effect on them. I suggest you should look in the mirror when you call someone crazy!

[SFnomad]

26. Buh bye n/t

[dflprincess]

37. So we won't be able to post videos of Clinton saying something

the kids at Camp Weathervane object to?

[SFnomad]

39. DU puts the Democratic back in their D ... where we work to elect them, rather than pointlessly

tear them down like Republicans do.

[dflprincess]

42. If something the candidate has said is so odious it must be repressed

maybe we have the wrong candidate?

[SFnomad]

43. Thank you for providing an example of the pointlessness I was talking about n/t

[TheBlackAdder]

18. That comment would have more weight it you contributed to DU, instead of mooching "free stuff."

.

It's surprising that you aren't for fully-funded college, like many of our globalization partner-nations provide their students, as a way of building their national worth for decades into the future. You know, the countries that are taking US jobs.

.

[SFnomad]

22. So my comment would have more "weight" if I contributed money to the site? What an elitist crock.

By typing posts that others read and by reading posts and clicking all over the site ... they are making money off of me ... so you don't have to concern troll over me getting a free ride out of this site.

[TheBlackAdder]

25. Like SBS not being a real Democrat, you're not a real DUer because you don't join as a member.

.


Whatever justification you need to try to push you desired statement of how this site should behave when you don't even have the courtesy to help fund it strait up--using some lame click charge excuse. Besides, the paying members don't see most of those advertising impressions, nor to people with ad bockers.


Just another guy wanting "free stuff."


The Libertarians down my street have justifications why their socialism is warranted, while others are not.


.

[SFnomad]

27. Because you're a "real" DUer, you don't see the ads that I do ... and being that they're part of the

page, they can't be ad blocked. So, you know what you can do with your elitist nonsense.

Being that I'm a REGISTERED MEMBER of DU, I'm just as much of a real DUer as anyone. And it didn't take me 20+ years to decide to become a member, and then I didn't just become a member because I wanted something out of DU that I couldn't do myself without it.

[TheBlackAdder]

28. Ah, yes. An Elitist is someone who asks a person to pay to use a site, when they push site action.

[SFnomad]

29. No, an elitist is someone that says you're not a "real memeber" UNLESS you pay n/t

[TheBlackAdder]

30. I drew on that silly "not a Democrat" line you use against SBS. I see you failed to grap that point.

.


But, it seems nuance is something you lack too, besides the decency to fund a site you so believe in.

Hey site, I'm not contributing to you, but here's how I want you to operate. Oh, my clicks are payment enough.


PS. I get zero ads. ZERO! While some get sent to me in a datastream, they are blocked deskside.

So images still count, I don't see them. But, since I believe in this site, I pony up cash too, not just mooch.


.

[SFnomad]

31. Where have I used that "not a Democrat" line against BS?

So now I'm a "moocher" too, eh? How very Republican of you.

[pinebox]

40. It's "tick tock" guy! Everyone drink!

I'll take a Long Island, it's rather hot here in Colorado today XD

[msongs]

5. bernie is one of the $$ men for the MIC but his crowd never talks about that nt

[RobertEarl]

8. Note to jurors should be included

Note to Jury: This is a verbatim copy of the title and an excerpt of a source we use all the time at DU. This is not the opinion of the op.

--------------------

Thank gawd Obama didn't let her get away with more hawkness!

[BootinUp]

11. Ooga! Booga!

[tex-wyo-dem]

12. K&R...thanks for the post, Karmadillo!

[Uncle Joe]

13. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Karmadillo.

[Vattel]

14. She is very dangerous. Making her CIC is insane.

[EndElectoral]

15. I can't remember a Democratic Nominee so open about using force for just about everything.

[JoePhilly]

21. Going out of business sale!!! All outrages MUST GO!!!!

[betsuni]

32. OMG THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING!!!111!!!

[tex-wyo-dem]

35. So cool our choices are...

A wanna be Mussulini or a neo-liberal warhawk...awesome!

[John Poet]

34. KaBoom.

[MisterP]

36. you think the Clintonistas care? they'd just reassure themselves that Trump would've invaded

another country, or botched it
and the coffins keep rolling

[AtomicKitten]

41. +1