General Petraeus, JIEDDO and Auntie’s Pervert*
| by John Stanton
( November 28, 2012, Virginia, Sri
Lanka Guardian) The United States of America remains the preeminent global
empire very much by design. Its expansion was not by accident. In fact, it was
a necessity. Indeed, America's instruments of national power--diplomatic,
intelligence, military, economic, financial, law enforcement, information and
people--remain unmatched in their productive capacity, global reach and
destructive power. There is no nation-state (not even the lauded BRIC group)
that has so many instruments of national power within its quiver.
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That the American system can maintain its empire amidst the intellectual and physical shenanigans of its leaders and institutions is astonishing and quite marvelous in its own way. Who needs Broadway or Hollywood?
The center of gravity in the tangled
webbing is Washington, DC, the epicenter of political, sexual and egocentric
intrigue and the birthplace of projects like the "Surge" in
Afghanistan and Iraq, "MISO" (military information support
operations), and a host of other tinker-toy concepts and initiatives, many of
which have cost nearly 100,000 American lives killed or maimed in action and an
equally horrific toll in Iraq and Afghanistan that also includes millions of
displaced civilians.
Palace intrigues abound in the
Capitol of the American Empire, of course. The latest being the sex life of CIA
Director David Petraeus. Speculation over Petraeus’ approval of rogue
operations in Libya and elsewhere around the globe runs high as of this
writing. Many camps in Washington, DC, are cheering at the Princeton and West
Point graduate's forced resignation from the CIA. None more than those who
cautioned against drinking Petraeus’ blinding elixir. Such is life in the
empire's capitol. It is all part of the grand theater of power
politics.
The Petraeus matter is symptomatic
of a debilitated US Department of Defense Inspector General's office. It is
largely compromised according to a military insider.
“The biggest reason why stuff like the
General Petraeus scandal happens is because the Inspector General's Office (IG)
continues to discount or ignore complaints from subordinates, until they
explode in their faces. There is no way Paula Broadwell could have jumped on a
plane and appeared in Afghanistan, without someone asking questions, somewhere.
Instead of going after General David Petraeus, or Paula Broadwell, the military
would save a lot of time and trouble taking a look at the people who allegedly
approved Paula's access to classified information, and the people responsible
for safeguarding that access. I guarantee you that you will find someone who
raised questions, who was harassed, intimidated, or removed from their
position. The IG complaint process is supposed to provide a safety net for
people who come forward with allegations of misconduct. This system appears to
have fallen apart, and IG offices appear to be either complicit or
disinterested in pursuing allegations of suspicious conduct by senior officers
and NCO's.
Senior officers like Petraeus and
Brigadier General Sinclair (accused of alleged sexual misconduct) do not
conduct themselves in such a manner unless they have been convinced by the
people around them that they have nothing to fear, or that an environment of
fear and intimidation was so pervasive, that everyone knew these things were
going on, and some may have even complained, but that's as far as it went.”
That the American system can
maintain its empire amidst the intellectual and physical shenanigans of its
leaders and institutions is astonishing and quite marvelous in its own
way. Who needs Broadway or Hollywood? They are no match for the
tragicomedy, theater and "reality television" of Washington, DC, the
Capitol of the American Empire.
It was not to New York City, Boston
or Baltimore that Wall Street financiers and banking houses ran to in 2008 when
they screwed up. It was a sprint to Washington, DC that they made in search of
cash to salvage their bank accounts first, and then the American economy,
second. This provided a fine lesson for those who deride the citizens and
institutions of the National Capitol Region: the action is here DC, not outside
the Beltway.
John Stanton’s new book is available
here at Amazon. *This article is
from the Introduction to The Raptor’s Eye, JIEDDO, MISO, General P and the
Prophet Smith. Contact John at cioran123@yahoo.com
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