The following is an archived copy of a message sent to a Discussion List run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.

Views expressed in this archived message are those of the author, not of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.

[Main archive index/search] [List information] [Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq Homepage]


[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

[casi] Keynote:US Veterans for Peace convention



Excerted from William Rivers Pitt, the keynote speaker at the Veterans for
Peace National Convention in San Francisco.

Sunday 10 August 2003

"... .. They call it Pax Americana, a plan to invade Iraq, take it over,
create a permanent military presence there, and use the oil revenues to fund
further wars against virtually every nation in that region. This we call
bringing our "values" over there.

Norman Podhoretz, one of the ideological fathers of this group of
neoconservatives who now control the foreign policy of this nation,
described the process as "The reformation and modernization of Islam."
That's a pretty fancy phrase. I am a Catholic, and can therefore call it by
its simpler name: Crusade. We know all about those.

This is the Project for a New American Century, the product of a right-wing
think tank that, in 1997, was considered so far out there that no one ever
thought its members would ever come within ten miles of setting American
policy.

One broken election, however, vaulted these men into positions of
unspeakable power. Their white papers, their dreams of empire at the point
of the sword, have become our national nightmare, and the nightmare of the
world. I speak of Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard
Perle, John Bolton, Lewis Libby, and the rest of these New American Century
men who have taken our beloved country and all it stands for it and thrown
it down into the mud.

You will note that I did not name George W. Bush, for blaming Bush for the
gross misadministration of this government is like blaming Mickey Mouse when
Disney screws up. He is not in charge. Truman said "The buck stops here,"
and so we point to Bush as a symbol of all that has gone wrong. But he is
not in charge. These other men, these New American Century men, have
delivered us to this wretched estate, and by God in Heaven, there will be a
reckoning for it.

But is it all ideology for these men? Of course not. There is the payout.
Have you ever heard of a company called United Defense, out of Arlington,
Virginia? Let me introduce you.

United Defense provides Combat Vehicle Systems, Fire Support, Combat Support
Vehicle Systems, Weapons Delivery Systems, Amphibious Assault Vehicles, and
Combat Support Services. Some of United Defense's current programs include:

 The Bradley Family of Fighting Vehicles, the M113 Family of Fighting
Vehicles, the M88A2 Recovery Vehicle, the Grizzly, the M9 ACE, the Composite
Armored Vehicle, the M6 Linebacker, the M4 Command and Control Vehicle, the
Battle Command Vehicle, the Paladin, the Future Scout and Cavalry System,
the Crusader, Electric Gun Technology/Pulse Power, Advanced Simulations and
Training Systems, and Fleet Management. This list goes on and on, and
includes virtually everything an eternal war might need.

Who owns United Defense? Why, the Carlyle Group, which bought United Defense
in October of 1997. For those not in the know, the Carlyle Group is a
private global investment firm. Carlyle is the eleventh largest defense
contractor in the US because of its ownership of companies making tanks,
aircraft wings and other equipment.

Carlyle has ownership stakes in 164 companies which generated $16 billion in
revenues in the year 2000 alone.

The Carlyle Group does not provide investment or other services to the
general public.

Who works for the Carlyle Group? George Herbert Walker Bush works for the
Carlyle Group, has been a senior consultant for Carlyle for some years now,
and sits on the Board of Directors. This company is profiting wildly from
this war in Iraq, a tidy gift from son to father. ... .. ..

http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/081003A.shtml


_______________________________________________
Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss
To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk
All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk


[Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq Homepage]