It used to be that when war or natural disaster hit, the stock market would go down in reaction to the news. It appears that a new day has dawned. Things began shifting as billions of dollars were being sprayed around in Iraq to companies like Halliburton, Bechtel, Blackwater, etc. A gold rush began to supply services for reconstruction, logistics, security etc.

Then Katrina hit and the Iraq service suppliers saw that opportunity lay in natural disaster as well as war. Today Wall Street is enamored with the stock of companies that supply services to the US government in support of the Iraq war and are also available to cater natural disasters.

This trend is troubling enough if you can trust the people involve to behave in a rational and ethical fashion. Unfortunately, that seems to be the exception rather than the rule for these companies. What if a company saw an opportunity to increase its business in a war zone or disaster zone if conditions deteriorated for some reason. Would they act to deliberately make matters worse in the name of profit. I am afraid that it seems all to plausible.

Case in point. When the US military cracked down on the city of Falluga the trigger was the gory death of four “contractors”. Now we find out that these “contractors” were four Blackwater mercenaries who had been sent out into a dangerous zone without the normal six personnel, with inadequate equipment and maps on short notice. This appears to me to be inviting disaster. And disaster is what they got. The citizens of Falluga suffered horribly, much of the city was destroyed, US troops got killed and Blackwater has made a lot of money in Iraq since because of the deteriorating security conditions in Iraq.

I wonder how this new profit enhancement methodology could be applied to natural disasters??

Naomi Klien has written a book on Disaster Capitalism called the Shock Doctrine the covers some of these topics.

Shock Doctrine

We have all heard the term “fascism” tossed around to criticize a government or political philosophy. Unfortunately, this use of the word does not convey much beyond a dislike for who ever or what ever it is applied to. A dictionary definition of fascism is “a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control”. A quote often attributed to Mussolini is “Fascism could also be called Corporatism.” Here is an overview article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism

There was a serious flirtation with fascism in this country prior to World War II. Some prominent people in the US were supporters of Hitler and his philosophy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism_as_an_international_phenomenon#United_States

In 1935, Sinclair Lewis wrote a satirical book about the development of a fascist government in the US titled “It Can’t Happen Here”.

http://reactor-core.org/cant-happen.html

In the mid-80s, I came across the book “Friendly Fascism” by Bertram Gross. He said that the US could be heading toward fascism but that it would be a uniquely American version. He laid out a lot of interesting information about the wealthy few, their managers and the rest of us. He also drew a very interesting diagram that showed the connection between universities and think tanks, government offices and corporations. The book was written in 1976 in order to alert people to possible developments in the future. I was disturbed to notice that many of the things that he was concerned about seemed to be on the agenda of the Republican Party.

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Fascism/Friendly_Fascism_BGross.html

Not long ago, a study was conducted on seven fascist dictatorships in the Twentieth Century. Various political aspects of these governments were collected and subjected to cluster analysis to derive a list of fourteen common traits found to varying degrees in these political systems.

These fourteen features are:

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism — Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights — Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of “need.” The people tend to ‘look the other way’ or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause — The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

4. Supremacy of the Military — Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

5. Rampant Sexism — The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and antigay legislation and national policy.

6. Controlled Mass Media — Sometimes the media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or through sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in wartime, is very common.

7. Obsession with National Security — Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined — Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government’s policies or actions.

9. Corporate Power is Protected — The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

10. Labor Power is Suppressed — Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely or are severely suppressed.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts — Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment — Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses, and even forego civil liberties, in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption — Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions, and who use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

14. Fraudulent Elections — Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against (or even the assassination of) opposition candidates, the use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and the manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Fascism/14_Characteristics_Fascism.html

As I read thru this list for the first time, I was upset to realize that the current Bush government had managed to hit every one of them.

http://www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htm

Recently, Joe Conason, a progressive political commentator and writer, published a book about political trends in the US with the title, “It Can Happen Here”, an obvious reference to the Sinclair Lewis book. I attended a book signing for “It Can Happen Here” where Conason talked about Sinclair Lewis and his book.

http://www.alternet.org/rights/48246/

When I asked Conason whether he thought that the word “fascism” could be applied to the Bush administration, he was very reluctant. I mentioned the article with the 14 points and asked him if he had read it. He said that someone had sent it to him but he had not read it. I pointed out that it was an academic study of common features of fascism and that the Bush administration was guilty of every single one of them. To my way of thinking, we were entitled to use the term, not in a pejorative sense, but simply as an appropriate label. He still refused to apply the word to our current executive branch.

As we were driving home, I told Barbara that I thought Conason’s refusal to overtly use the word “fascism” in relation to our current situation probably rose from his desire not to be labeled a “left-wing nut case” and a “Bush hater”. I later read an interview with his publisher that confirmed my theory. I cannot fault him for wanting his book to be taken seriously, but I would have chosen a different title if I were him. Seems to me he was being a bit coy.

In any case, as the old saying goes, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck… An author recently interviewed some old Germans who had lived thru Hitler’s rise to power. They were asked why they allowed such a thing to happen. They said that they could not conceived of what the future would bring. Each change was incremental and not too upsetting. They figured that if something really bad were to happen, people would rise up in protest. But, like the frog being gradually cooked, when they finally realize what was happening, it was far too late to stop it.

I am afraid that we may be in the same boat. This country has been drifting in a fascist direction for some time and the current is picking up. It may already be too late to do anything to stop it. A general recently said that the US is about 1 terrorist attack away from loosing the constitution. If we suddenly wake up in a police state, I will be angry but not that surprised. How about you?

A great deal of ink has been spent justifying and condemning torture in the “war on terror”. This is a waste of paper. We can get the intelligence that we need from prisoners without torture, which is often unproductive any.

1.There is a brain scanning technique that can tell very accurately when someone is lying. When you are telling the truth, you pull facts from memory and speak them. When you are lying, you have to remember what is true, fabricate the lie and then speak it. There are brain areas that are active when you lie that are not active when you tell the truth.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.01/lying.html

2. There is another brain scanning technique that can tell when someone recognize something. All you need to do is wire someone up, show them images of what you are investigating and their brain will tell you when they see something they recognize. They don’t even need to speak!

http://www.bookrags.com/Neuroimaging

3. There is a third technique that can tell when someone thinks they remember something but they are wrong and the memory is false.

http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/002606.html

4.And finally, there is a technique that can utilize magnetic fields to block or interfere with brain function in a specific location. I wonder what would happen if someone was trying to lie while the brain stimulator was interfering with areas that are needed for concocting a lie?

http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=171201506&cid=PT-popular-leftcol

With these techniques, a great deal of useful information can be extracted without threatening or torturing the subjects.

The equipment is expensive but so is the incarceration of many suspects in Gitmo and overseas in other countries. If the purpose of holding these people is really about getting information, we can do that easily. On the other hand, if the purpose is revenge, punishment and/or intimidation, then perhaps torture IS required to meet the goals of the US administration.

1) In 1991 major US oil companies were losing the competition for Iraq oil contracts to foreign competitors and Saddam talked about selling oil in other currencies which threatened the US dollar. When Iraq attached Kuwait, the US went in .

2) In the Mid 90s, Michael Ledeen of the conservative American Enterprise Institute said that the US needed to go into the Middle East and foment conflict between tribes, religions, ethnic groups, nations, etc. to use as an excuse to establish a major miliary presenct. This would allow us to insure  our access to ME oil.

3) In 1998, the Project for a New American Century issued a position paper urging attacks on Iraq. Many of the signers went on to positions in the Bush administration.
 
4) In the Spring of 2001, the Cheney energy taskforce was pouring over maps of Iraqi oil fields with representatives to divide up Iraqi oil.

5) “Rumsfeld wants the – best info fast. Judge whether good enough hit S.H. [Saddam Hussein] ?” This is from notes taken by Rumsfeld’s aide at 12:05 on September 11, 2001.
 
6) Bush broadcasts a statement to the citizens of Iraq on the eve of our invasion in 2003, telling them to not torch the oil fields.

7) When US forces invaded Iraq, they did not secure the weapons depots, they did not secure the nuclear facilities but they did occupy the offices of the Oil ministry

8) Number 1 benchmark for the current Iraq government is to pass the oil bill which is about giving US oil companies 30 year production sharing agreements where they would own the oil in the ground in Iraq, would not be obligated to hire and train Iraqies to work in the oil fields, would not be obligated to share technology with the Iraqis, would be able to repatriate oil profits immediately, etc. Majority of Iraqis are against this bill being passed.

9) Iraq may have the biggest reserves in the world, the oil is cheap to extract, the value of the known reserves has risen from 2 trillion before our occupation to 9 trillion today.10) In criminal investigations, you look for motive, means and opportunity. 

Motive = desire to secure major new reserves in the face of the decline of existing reserves to generate gigantic profits

Means = the US armed  forces
 
Opportunity = 911 attacks.

We would have been hard pressed to select a better target for creating a gigantic mess than Iraq. There are an amazing array of hostile confrontations over politics, nationalism, tribalism, religion, ethnic group, etc. Its current incarnation is an artificial “country”, created in the aftermath of WW I from three provinces of the old Ottoman empire. We supported Saddam Hussein when he was fighting Iran but secretly also helped Iran. Then he pissed us off and we turned on him in ‘91 with Gulf War 1. Now we are reaping what George and his gang have sowed.

Things just got a lot more interesting today when the ambassador from Turkey informed the White House that the Kurdish rebels in Turkey have been caught using American weapons against the Turks. This is especially ironic when you consider that we have been criticizing Iran because we found Iranian weapons on Iraqi resistance fighters.

The Kurds are the third largest ethnic group in the Middle East and the largest ethnic group in the world without any independent homeland. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurds

The Kurds consider parts of their rightful homeland to be controlled by Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran.

Kurdish rebels are causing problems in Turkey and Iran which have a mutual assistance treaty with respect to Kurdish rebels. The Kurds in Iraq have been quasi-independent since the US enforced no-fly zones in Iraq after Gulf War 1. The Kurds would like full independence but Turkey has stated that they would immediately invade Northern Iraq if the Kurds there declare independence. Lately, the Turks have been massing troops on the Iraqi border and insisting that, if the US does not curb the Kurdish rebels there, Turkey will enter Iraq. Now comes the report of the US weapons. The US needs to be on good terms with both the Kurds and the Turks. We are in a no win situation and it is escalating.

Stay tuned