the pentagon spends money on war...

...try spending it on peace. why not? i mean, has there ever been a good U.S. military operation involved with murdering masses of people while getting our own killed anyway? some peace spending has started to happen through the pentagon, we just need more of it so they can get better and more effective (as well as more cost effective) at it.

we really don't need to send huge military operations to other countries to maintain our national security. in fact, we could use more of our own military here to reduce the tactical defense disadvantage that remains on our eastern seaboard. also, special forces and smaller elite military/para military groups are the ones that actually get the "bad guy." if we scrap the CIA and create a faster lighter weight intelligence service, we could cut the legs off of any threatening organizations by detaining the leaders and eliminating their activities by going down the lines of connection. if Bin Laden is indeed "the real deal bad guy" we could have detained him or eliminated his effectiveness "to do evil" a long time ago with an intelligence service that actually works. we could invite leaders from other countries of interest to conduct meetings in the U.S. wherein we give them advice, counsel, and assistance in building up their country's infrastructure and economy. one of the premises would be that none of our assistance financial or otherwise would be involved with shoring up their military operations. in fact, the premise would be for the country receiving our assistance to pare down any existing military force on a schedule for assistance to remain available. we could also extend loans if financially viable to do so. once the countries of interest were on schedules to reduce and eliminate military operations the pentagon could introduce it's schedule to do the same. we could teach and encourage all the countries that we assist to assist other smaller countries that we can't get to. instead of teaching the world how to have a war like we have been, we can begin teaching the world how to have peace.

(in today's headlines):
Suspected U.S. Missile Attack Kills 7 in Pakistan

Rush Hour Bomb Kills 11 in Baghdad, wounds 22
"Meanwhile, the U.S. military handed over to the Iraq government security responsibilities for Babil province south of Baghdad,..."

Why isn't the U.S. handing over infrastructure and economy building responsibilities to the Iraqi government as well?

the poverty and broken societies in the middle east and other parts of the world is largely that which propogates "terrorism." when the cities are broken, societal ties are broken, and individual members of the society reconnect through random "terrorist" groups as a means to maintain a relatively more viable community given the war conditions the U.S. and other countries expose the people to. furthermore, through wars, conflicts, and city bombings widows are made. men stay single because they can't support a wife, much less stay alive. is it surprising that widows and single men who can't find work make up a majority of terrorist groups?

our government has convinced many of us that "terrorism" is just out there and we just have to infiltrate it, blow it up, or what have you. "terrorism" is not just out there: much of it has been manufactured through various weapons sales, technology sharing, military/paramilitary training, and intelligence training (or lack thereof) to various groups who have been molded by the U.S. to function as insurgents against anti-American factions who would get to resources ahead of the U.S. if not for our political corporate military maneuvers. poorly executed and under informed/under educated political moves, and failed covert operations based on CIA intelligence (which is not very intelligent) by the U.S., and other western countries have exacerbated the violence and so called "terrorism" of the world.

if we, the american people, keep buying into the fear games, we'll keep letting the government spend our tax dollars on keeping war alive instead of peace. if peace is waged, there is no war to fight over. or as someone famous once said: "you cannot simultaneously wage peace and war at the same time."

instead of fear games, let's play being more educated, and informed about the real causes of "terrorism". we can end "terrorism" without casualty, because it is first a social problem, before it gives birth to a national security problem.

P.S. fluxlife sez: Let's get more hydrogen fuel vehicles on the road for example, and drop tons of pollution and ozone depletion as well as drop involvement in Middle East Conflicts and affairs. This would also help to foster peace over war by taking foreign oil completely out of the National Security Agenda (foreign oil became part of the National Security Agenda back in 1973 when Saudi Arabia cut us off from their supply). utilizing hydrogen fuel vehicles will also help us to avoid further damage to the environment caused by vehicles that burn fossil fuels.

further reading: 7 habits of highly ineffective terrorists
by Bruce Schneier

if you want to know about earlier and more basic covert operations that have exacerbated world problems and killed many humans, study "The Bay of Pigs (1961)" and the predecessor to the CIA: the Office of Strategic Services (OSS).

good CIA article: Improve the CIA? Better to abolish it

Beirut Bombing: Recent Anniversary of Beirut Bombing

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