The Lily-Pad Strategy

Dear Mr. President,

David Vines’ recent article on the Pentagon’s “Lily-Pad Strategy” is a real eye-opener. Contrary to public perception, the military is not shrinking, simply reconfiguring, downsizing some huge bases and eliminating others (all 505 in Iraq when we were told to leave) while new smaller, secretive, inaccessible facilities are being built around the globe, a network of “Lily Pads” from which troops (heavy on Special Forces which is rapidly expanding) can deploy quickly to any hot spot nearby. Some new bases are for drones, others house Special Forces and CIA teams who fight shadow wars unacknowledged by you or your administration and none of them debated in congress. We are taking casualties from the Horn of Africa but few know about the AFRICOM bases we’ve established in Ethiopia, Uganda, Nigeria, Sudan, etc. whose mission is to “protect Americans and American interests,” i.e., oil and other natural resources. We have more than 1,000 military bases outside the U.S., a military presence in at least 150 countries and a Pentagon budget that consumed 52% of all government discretionary spending this year, $700 billion. Homeland Security plus the 17 intelligence agencies which spy on everyone everywhere, has a budget of over $80 billion—the exact numbers are secret. Under your watch, Mr. President, we have become the most militarized nation on earth. We have militarized the CIA, the DEA, the ATF and almost every other government agency. Even the State Department now has a “security force” and diplomats spy and approve Special Ops raids and air strikes in their host countries. Who are we fighting anyway and why? Are “insurgents” and “enemy combatants” 8,000 miles away still an imminent threat to the United States? When someone defends his or her home against an invader, are they an enemy combatant or a patriot? How would we react if Pakistan flew armed drones over our towns and cities every night? What if Russia or China built missile sites and Lily-Pad bases in Mexico and Canada? The real problem is not 8,000 miles away. The real problem is right here at home. We the People did not elect you to wage war and commit war crimes and crimes against humanity. We elected you to end war and wage peace, to end the neocon dream of American Empire. You promised to do this but your promises were lies, a ruse to get elected. You were, all along, in service to the 1%, a protector of corporations and the military-industrial complex. Jill Stein for president!