"Taken together, the Wikileaks documents give the general public a remarkable insight into a war that - at least up until December 2009 - now appears to have been going worse than we were told." So says Frank Gardner writing in BBC Online today.
The reaction from our esteemed leaders is so predictable. "Putting lives at risk" - not half as much a risk as it is to be an Afghani citizen in their country. "That was old information - it is all so much better now" - of course it is, why would we think any differently? Finally, "Shoot the messenger" - always a favourite this one.
$300 billion so far and rising. This at a time of global economic crisis. Amazing how we can always find money to kill each other.
As President Eisenhower warned in 1961, "This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."
Very prescient.
And a hundred times worse now.
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