America Makes Bread, No Circuses, And The Ten Thousand Guns

Bread and Circuses in Rome and America

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For instance, in the more than two dozen houses and buildings rigged as giant bombs, civilians pointed out many of those bombs. Our soldiers and Iraqi soldiers simply stopped, cleared out the people, and then destroyed the buildings, but each time they worked harder to mitigate damage to surrounding houses, and paid people for the unavoidable damages when they occurred. As of midnight on 30 June, Stryker Brigade Combat Team was tracking the following on their internal reports:.

But the killing, scattering and capturing of al Qaeda was only part of the fight. An exception was in Nineveh Province when, while the guns were still firing, then-Major General Petraeus was already restoring a sense of normalcy, and his efforts were working. Because perception is not reality, the push was to actually make palpable changes that could withstand the propaganda challenges that al Qaeda was already firing back in the wake of their embarrassing descent into cross-dressing desperation.

I was copied on an email that described their first media counter-punch:. Snipers of the Islamic State of Iraq are going ahead hunting down dozens of soldiers. They are in control of the high-rise buildings, and ambushes and traps are awaiting them everywhere. The American Army, in spite of its numbers and equipment, could not penetrate the region except for a couple of minutes to film so as to sell the photographs to the lying media. It is during those few minutes that a great number of airplanes were downed.

We are announcing this good news to the nation as the soldiers of the Islamic State of Iraq are basking in their victory in all parts of this and the rest of the provinces, while the Crusaders will not escape this fierce battle but with slit throats and a defeat, the likes of which has never been witnessed. But our guys caught most of the bombs, in many cases when local Iraqis pointed them out. Others that remain hidden will be neutralized by our engineer and EOD teams in a thorough, methodical process that will continue until the city is cleared.

They are in control of the high-rise buildings [ They were until our guys killed them ], and ambushes and traps are awaiting them everywhere. But our guys killed them, ran them off, or foiled the ambushes in nearly ever case. We did lose one Stryker and one Bradley. In fact, they are running out of places to peek out from, let alone bask in. While al Qaeda media executives responded with nearly crystalline lies—sprinkled with some heavily distorted truths— SBCT was still killing and capturing their foot soldiers in Baqubah.

Just as importantly, American commanders were practically diving off the battlefield for meetings with local Iraqi leaders to simultaneously jump-start the process of rebuilding the city under more robust and responsible local leadership. In the days just after the start of Operation Arrowhead Ripper, I reported that Baqubah had not had a food shipment in 10 months and concerns about a possible humanitarian crisis were emerging. When it comes to the battle of perceptions, a full belly trumps an empty stomach every time.

Iraq has an interesting food distribution system. The short version is that each family gets a stipend from the Iraqi government, and some of that money is automatically deducted for food. In a sense, the people of Baqubah had been paying for food for 10 months, but not getting any. Al Qaeda, like many serious terrorist organizations, uses food as clout and for pocket money. They had seized the food warehouse in Baqubah. The authorities in Baghdad responded by cutting off food shipments to Baqubah because they would fall into the hands of al Qaeda.

The mostly Shia government in Baghdad became the bad guy for cutting off the food. But it gets worse; we are only getting started.

Bread And Circuses

As part of its ongoing effort to stoke the civil war, al Qaeda at first allied itself with Sunnis until they started raping and murdering Sunni and burning down their homes and tried to increase the hostilities between the Sunnis and the Shia. Civil war is undoubtedly the best method for running the Coalition out of Iraq—one need only follow US media to figure that out—one which would leave al Qaeda with, ahem , a David vs.

The sectarian divide here was not manufactured by al Qaeda. Most countries have societal fissures that can be exploited, and the Sunni-Shia divide is like a tectonic plate. And so there you have it: Al Qaeda drove a multi-dimensional wedge using the food as one of those quiet bombs that never popped up on the radar, but nonetheless had a real impact on this war.

Bread and Circuses

Because the one thing that definitely can run us out of here is the civil war, it follows that disrupting al Qaeda is like taking the blowtorch off the curtains. And for the beleaguered people of Baqubah, something nearly every family could see instantly as a positive sign would be the renewal of regular food distribution. There are many other shortages and problems for military and civilian leaders to sort through, but a food shortage is something that could be immediately ameliorated.

Iraq is a breadbasket: The Mayor told me that when a representative from Baqubah went to another warehouse to get medical supplies, he disappeared. And then the Mayor told me flat-out that he knew if he went to the food warehouse, he would be killed. Watch video footage taken at the Ministry of Trade in Baghdad as the Mayor and other representatives of Baqubah described their frustrating experiences and very real fears in trying to get regular food shipments to resume.

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Reader support is crucial to this mission. Recurring and one-time gifts are available through PayPal or Authorize. Tuesday, 31 July Operation Arrowhead Ripper Launched on 19 June and continues today. As of 30 July, we lost one soldier, while the enemy losses number about a hundred. This battle is best measured not in the losses, but the gains.

The people of Baqubah have been demonstrably ecstatic. Other than in the Kurdish areas, I have never seen such overt gratitude from so many Iraqis. Iraqis continue pointing out al Qaeda operatives and their hidden bombs. Despite that many al Qaeda escaped, the success so far is overwhelmingly obvious.

The challenge remains to make it stick, but the gains are undeniable and the sense of momentum is palpable. I was expecting that we might have dozens killed in action. Baqubah was truly a giant ambush. C was preparing to fight into Baqubah to seize the electrical plant.

Although using less force is always more dangerous to soldiers, the electrical station is critical infrastructure, so the plan was to use minimal force to take the facilities. After the briefing, C soldiers headed to their Strykers to make explosive charges for blasting down a certain wall that might be needed to breach into the electrical plant. LT Kraus, whose Stryker being blasted into the air made the news, had returned to duty shortly after that attack and was coming full guns back at al Qaeda.

Kraus began preparing the explosives. Sergeant Hawkins, whose arms are crossed in the photograph above, is a soft-spoken veteran who looks strong enough to toss a Stryker in the air. Final preparations the night before the attack. After PCIs [Pre Combat Inspections], the soldiers from C headed to sleep knowing it might be days before they got another minute of rest or ounce of comfort. In fact, C would go more than 10 days in the molten heat before their next chance to wash.

Others would have it much worse. Shortly before they closed the back ramps on the Strykers, Venus emerged from behind the moon. We drove a short distance, and waited for other units in Baghdad to reach their departures before we launched to Baqubah. I had found a prayer card in Anbar, and carried it in my pocket: Women and children were let inside the electrical plant to get away from the sun, but the men had to sit out in the shade. The moms looked worried, though the kids were playing and wanted American soldiers to pay attention to them.

The striking similarities that David Walker acknowledged are in full bloom for the world to see. He detailed the societal collapse encompassing both the gradual disintegration of the political, economic, military, and other social institutions of Rome and the barbarian invasions that were its final doom in Western Europe. Larry Elliot, writer for the UK Guardian, recently described the rot that has destroyed every empire in history:.

The high levels of violent crime, epidemic of obesity, addiction to pornography and excessive use of energy may be telling us something: Empires decline for many different reasons but certain factors recur. There is an initial reluctance to admit that there is much to fret about, and there is the arrival of a challenger or several challengers to the settled international order.

For the last forty years America has shifted from a society that created goods into a society that created debt. Displays of affluence like McMansions, Mercedes, BMWs, Rolexes, summer mansions in the Hamptons, designer clothes, granite and stainless steel kitchens, and 85 inch HDTVs, all purchased with debt provided like candy by the Wall Street banks and their sugar daddy — the Federal Reserve, have trumped true wealth building. The basic rule for maintaining a healthy economic system requires the population to spend less than they earn and save the difference.

Why save when you could whip out one of your 13 credit cards. America has taken shallow, mindless, and superficial to an empire crushing low. The disparity in wealth between the super rich and the working class has never been greater. The working middle class that built this country has been systematically destroyed as the super rich have used inflation and debt to lure them into servitude, while the unproductive parasites have learned it is easier to feed off their middle class host than work for a living.

It is not a coincidence the heyday of the American Empire was from until when the working middle class was able to advance their station in life through education, hard work and a level playing field.

Bread, Circuses, Spending Cuts & the Appearance of Wealth | Financial Sense

The bottom feeders are thrown scraps of bread in the form of food stamps, welfare, disability payments, and unemployment compensation. When you see your leaders take actions that clearly are not in the long term best interests of the American people, you need to ask why. Since September your leaders have funneled trillions of dollars to the Wall Street bankers that nearly destroyed the worldwide economic system.

They have funneled billions into the coffers of the mega-corporations that outsourced your jobs to Asia. They ramped up their wars in the Middle East to reward their friends in the military industrial complex. And lastly, they handed out a few hundred billion more to the masses to keep them from rioting in the streets. Considering they own They have large portfolios of stocks and will not let reality or truth interfere with their ambitions of further wealth and power.

This country is controlled by the few for the benefit of the few at the expense of the many. One private banking organization — the Federal Reserve — controls the currency of the country. A handful of mega-corporations control the commerce of the country.

Less than ten arms dealers dictate the war spending in the country. A few media conglomerates control the message fed to the masses. A few hundred corrupt politicians pay off their corporate and banking masters with laws, tax breaks, and pork. These people make up the ruling class of America. They have transformed a productive society based on saving and investment into a hollowed out shell of a society based on financial manipulation and debt. The moneyed interests have gone too far. The debts are too large. The burden placed on the middle class is too great. QE2 was a miserable failure. Their anger could lash out in many possible directions.

Their benefits will be cut. Their home values will fall. Their ks will be cut in half. Their standard of living will fall. Will they accept this fate without a fight? The decline of the American Empire may be a surprise to those who cling to the laughable American Exceptionalism dogma, but every previous empire in history has declined. The Dutch Empire lasted for just over a century. The Spanish Empire survived for just over two centuries. The British Empire reigned for just over three centuries.

And the Great Roman Empire ruled for almost five centuries. The American Empire has been expanding for over years, but based on all indications has peaked. Were we destined to implode as all previous democracies have done, as described by Greek historian Polybius? Aristocracy by its very nature degenerates into oligarchy; and when the commons inflamed by anger take vengeance on this government for its unjust rule, democracy comes into being; and in due course the licence and lawlessness of this form of government produces mob-rule to complete the series. As a democracy this country was supposed to be governed by the people, for the people.

We were supposed to have an equal say in how we were governed and participation in adopting the laws of the land. Over time civic duty was outsourced to politicians that promised the masses safety and security at the expense of liberty and responsibility. The fledgling democracy has degenerated into a corporate fascist oligopoly that benefits the few in control. A worldwide upheaval is brewing as the toxic debt is strangling the economic systems of the world.

Confidence in this ponzi finance system is waning. For the people, having grown accustomed to feed at the expense of others and to depend for their livelihood on the property of others, as soon as they find a leader who is enterprising but is excluded from the houses of office by his penury, institute the rule of violence; and now uniting their forces massacre, banish, and plunder, until they degenerate again into perfect savages and find once more a master and monarch.

The average American does not understand what is swirling around them. They have a sense of unease, but they are still receiving their government issued bread and their 52 inch TV is providing 24 hours of circuses. As the political theater of the absurd played out last week in Washington DC, it became clear to me the ruling class has no intention of changing our path. Politicians will keep spending and central bankers will keep printing more money.

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