When History Rhymes (In A Bad Way) - Yet Another Drive For War

By Chris Rossini

Back in 2003, Antiwar.com's Justin Raimondo reported:

Time magazine devotes a lot of attention to the new, "streamlined" plan for an invasion of Iraq that Defense Secretary Donald "Know it all" Rumsfeld is trying to shove down the throats of the boys in the Pentagon, who don’t like it much.

​Retired Army General Norman Schwarzkopf, who led the first Gulf War, says he is "nervous" about the control Rumsfeld is exercising over the buildup. "It looks like Rumsfeld is totally, 100%, in charge," says Schwarzkopf. "He seems to be deeply immersed in the operational planning – to the chagrin of most of the armed forces."

Let's fast-forward to yesterday. The Washington Post reports:

Administration officials interviewed by The Washington Post said that national security adviser John Bolton has dominated Iran policy, keeping a tight rein on information that gets to the president and sharply reducing meetings in which top officials gather in the White House’s Situation Room to discuss the policy.

Substitute Rumsfeld with Bolton (and Pompeo).

Substitute Iraq with Iran.

On yesterday's Ron Paul Liberty Report, we noted how Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took the extraordinarily unusual move of traveling to Miami to meet with (and browbeat?) heads of US Centcom and Special Operations Command.

Are military leaders balking at plans to attack Iran, causing Pompeo to go down to Miami?

Back to 2003:

The Rumsfled plan is to zoom straight to Baghdad after a mere 7-day bombing campaign, a "quick victory" scenario that angers many in the Pentagon.

Of course, the monumental disaster of the Iraq invasion ended up being anything but a "quick victory."

But the same "quick" euphemism is being used to sell a U.S. attack on Iran. Just yesterday (also discussed on the Liberty Report) it was reported that the U.S. was debating a "tactical strike" on an Iranian nuclear facility.

The opening wedge to war is often portrayed as "quick" and "tactical," because once the war is started, the warmongers are off to the races and there's no going back.

This is not the first rodeo for those who desire war. They know the drill. They've left more than one destroyed country in their wake. They know the words to use. They know the arms to twist. They know the lies that need to be told.

​It's all been done before ... many times.

But we are certainly not caught in a perpetual loop of doom.

History may rhyme, but it does not repeat exactly.

2019 is not the same as 2003.

Americans now have the disaster of Iraq (and other war disasters) to look back upon for reference. The U.S. government is in much worse financial shape today than it was in 2003. The U.S. economy is a massive bubble.

Alliances around the world are different today. 

But those who desire war know of only one speed --- Push harder. Nothing else matters.

Our job, as individuals, is to not fall for any of it ... and then to speak the truth to those who are around us that are willing to listen.

In the end, the truth (i.e., peace) will out.

The sooner one aligns oneself with the truth (peace), the better.