Stop Believing the Lies - A Proposal for Peace Conversion

by Louise Legun

In The Age of Turbulence, author and former head of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan admits what President Bush, et. al. have managed to conceal from the American public: that one of the United States’ primary motivations for invading Iraq was to gain control of its oil resources. Through the Freedom of Information Act Judicial Watch won a lawsuit confirming Mr. Greenspan’s revelation. On Judicial Watch’s website is a copy of the map Vice-President Dick Cheney used during his secret energy task force meetings in early 2001 The map divides Iraq into 9 regional blocks earmarking areas for ‘production-sharing’.

Today, Bush and Cheney continue to threaten Iran for control of the Middle East and its’ oil reserves. In Zbigniev Brezinzski’s book, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Strategic Imperatives, the former national security advisor to President Jimmy Carter states that whoever controls the Middle East controls the world. Mr. Brezinzski is currently working with Sen. Obama’s election campaign.

By now, most Americans are aware of Vice President Cheney’s past and present ties to Halliburton. But most are still not aware that even Washington legislators who are vocal critics of the Iraq War and are currently sitting on committees which authorize war spending are reaping huge profits from their investments. Leading the list of congressional war profiteers is Sen. John Kerry, who sits on the Senate foreign relations committee. Others include Republican Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen from New Jersey, Rep. Robin Hayes, a North Carolina Republican, Republican Rep. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. of Wisconsin, Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller who chairs the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, and Rep. Jane Harman, Democrat from California. There are many more.

What needs to be done with this information? First, I urge all citizens to stop believing the lies perpetrated by our political leaders, many of whom staked heavy financial investments in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and are now earning millions of dollars from stock holdings in firms with Pentagon contracts. Such egregious conflicts of interest must no longer be tolerated by the American public. Our so-called public servants are clearly serving themselves.

The United States’ leading export is weapons. We sell weapons to friends and foes, alike. Our political leaders’ lust for profit is blind to national boundaries and allegiances. The second thing we must do is to demand that our elected officials transform our existing military-industrial complex into manufacturing solar-powered and hydrogen-powered vehicles, solar panels to heat our homes and businesses, and wind energy generating equipment.

When President Bush took over in 2001, the United States was already spending more money on defense than the combined military budgets of all the other countries in the world. Seven years later, Congress and the Bush administration have managed to double the amount spent by the Pentagon. Such spending comes only at great cost to the American people and to fossil-fuel rich countries that the United States targets for aggression.

Voters should demand that presidential candidates agree to immediately withdraw all of our troops from Iraq. In fact, most of the United States’ 700 military bases around the world need to be closed. The money saved should be used to rebuild our society into one that leads to life-enhancing industries which can be exported to benefit mankind rather than destroying it.

In the interim, park your cars in your garage and ride your bikes to the local farmer’s markets. Plant vegetable gardens and exchange what you’ve raised with your friends and neighbors. Take a walk in the park with your children and pets. Your life and our planet depends on ending our oil dependency and drastically altering our lifestyles.