Open Letter To The People of The Middle East

Forgive us, for we know not what we do, or at least we know not what they do--in our name. Wars have been propagated in our name, with our taxes, for 125 years, on false pretenses, unknown to the citizens of this once fine country.

The American people are clueless and kept in the dark, by media that are owned by five Corporate Conglomerates, who also have defense contracts with the war department and the owners of the country.

Americans have been taught not to think critically of their masters-- not to use their own minds ability for deductive reasoning and research, to simply question what we have been mindlessly fed for over one hundred years. It's The bedrock of our belief system. And most are afraid of what we might find amiss, in there.

Therefore, we know not why, we're really in your countries; the cradle of civilization--the Crescent Valley. We do know that the richest five percent have quadrupled their wealth, holding the stocks and shares of corporations profiting from these illegal, immoral and unconstitutional wars on your sacred soil.

If we Americans would read more, learn a true people's history of U.S. hegemony....we may know that you are not to blame, and have not harmed us, in any way. Now-we believe there are a minority of hard line radical Islamists who do use violence-- but it is we (Brit's), who used that same method first, as far back as 1916, for the oil lying under your feet.

I want to insert an excerpt of a speech given by Gen. Butler here, from 1933. It is one of over 1,200 speeches he delivered in over 700 US cities.

"War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses.

"I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. If a nation comes over here to fight, then we'll fight. The trouble with America is that when the dollar earns only 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag.

"I wouldn't go to war again, as I have done, to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.

"There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its "finger men" to point out enemies, its "muscle men" to destroy enemies, its "brain men" to plan war preparations, and a "Big Boss" Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism.

"It might seem odd for me, a military man, to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty- three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle- man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.

" I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service.

"I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, 'safe' for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a 'decent place' for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped 'purify' Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I 'brought light' to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China, I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.

"During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a 'swell racket.' Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."

(Thanks to Mick Gallagher.)