Blog 393 | The Libertarian Institute

Joint Chiefs Chairman Dunford Insubordinate on Afghanistan

by Scott Horton | May 8, 2019 | Blog

Today Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford directly contradicted the policy of his commander in chief, the civilian, elected president of the United States, who is pursuing direct talks with the Taliban toward ending America’s role in the Afghan war and the removal of all U.S. forces from that unfortunate land.

Dunford told Congress, “I think we will need to maintain a counterterrorism presence as long as an insurgency continues in Afghanistan.”

This is another Truman fires MacArthur moment, and one that Trump will surely let slide, just as he did when CENTCOM commander Votel pulled the same stunt two months ago. What the hell does the pathetic old dog Donald Trump really care anyway? He doesn’t. And he’s got no more spine than his predecessor-nemesis, Gen. Petraeus’s pet president, Barack Obama.

And what a lousy bullshit artist Dunford is. As long as there’s an insurgency the U.S. needs counter-terrorism forces there, huh? Yeah.

In other words, as long as the Taliban have not disarmed and surrendered to the National Unity Government in Kabul, they are “terrorists,” who must be destroyed.

See ya in 20 years.

This is Important

by Scott Horton | May 8, 2019 | Blog

The USA is killing people in Yemen.

All the speeches from the IRmep, WRMEA Conference

by Scott Horton | May 8, 2019 | Blog

Available here.

The Bureaucratic Revolution

by Scott Horton | May 8, 2019 | Blog

On the Human Action podcast, Jeff Deist interviews William L. Anderson about the Ludwig von Mises classic Bureaucracy.

Update: Mises is killing it today. Also check out this great article, “3 Ways to Help Bridge the Racial Wealth Gap,” by Jordan Setayesh.

Did Iran Kill 600 Americans in Iraq War II?

by Scott Horton | May 8, 2019 | Blog

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claims that Iran killed 600 Americans during Iraq War II. The syllogism goes, Iran supplied EFP bombs to Sadr’s militia, the Mahdi Army, they then used those bombs on U.S. troops. Ergo “Iran,” meaning the ayatollah and his government, killed those troops.

Is that the case?

No. All through 2007, Gen. Petraeus and friends had insisted that all Shi’ite-placed, copper-core-having, “Explosively Formed Penetrators” were being made and supplied by Iran. They never demonstrated this.

In fact, if you check, you will find that over and over again, Western reporters found machine shops where the EFPs were being made in Iraq by Iraqis.

Here are a few blogs full of links from back then.

And here are a few more articles debunking the spin.

It does look like Lebanese Hezbollah taught them how to make them, but they’re not “Iran,” and they did what? Taught Iraqi Shia how to make them. And again, though obviously it’s possible in part at least, it was never shown that any of these bombs originated in Iran, much less that the Iranian government was behind it all. The U.S. claimed that then, and they claim it now, but they have never proven it.

So you can see how attributing every American death at the hands of a Shi’ite in Iraq War II to “Iran,” based on the Shi’ites’ use of EFP bombs, is just plain old not accurate.

Bodies and Blood in Libya

by Steven Woskow | May 8, 2019 | Blog

The US and it’s allies unleashed this hell on the people of Libya.

“Every night we are under air strikes,” says Ali breathlessly.

He is a 22-year-old fighter from the coastal town of Zawiyah, and part of the loose military coalition from across western Libya that has united to defeat an offensive by eastern commander Khalifa Haftar.

That morning, as they pushed their opponents back, Ali says, they found corpses of sub-Saharan migrants on a farm, and encountered wounded residents who had refused to flee their homes, along with burning buildings.

‘We wish the war was over so we can live in peace’

– Lufti, a former naval official

“They are using everything on us,” he tells Middle East Eye, as the wreckage of a plastics factory smoulders behind him.

In a speech given by President Obama in March 2011 he names the guilty parties:

“In this effort, the United States has not acted alone. Instead, we have been joined by a strong and growing coalition. This includes our closest allies -– nations like the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Italy, Spain, Greece, and Turkey –- all of whom have fought by our sides for decades. And it includes Arab partners like Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, who have chosen to meet their responsibilities to defend the Libyan people.”

Remember Now

by Scott Horton | May 7, 2019 | Blog

The only reason this cop pulled Sandra Bland over was under the excuse that she pulled over to get out of his way without a signal. The he arrested her for resisting an arrest he had no cause to make in the first place. I believe that her death was a suicide, but it was still a murder too.

But this is America, so the cops all got away with it clean. All government employees are above the law. They could have chopped her up with a hatchet and still would have only gotten two weeks paid vacation.