by Stephen Lendman

All US presidents at least since WW II were unindicted war criminals, Obama the latest in a long line of rogue leaders, reflecting America’s odious history, systematically pursuing empire, ravaging and destroying one country after another, remaining unaccountable for his high crimes.

Whoever succeeds him in 2017 will continue the same reckless policies, maybe overstepping enough to launch WW III, potential armageddon if occurs.

All presidential aspirants from both parties favor endless wars of conquest. Peace is anathema. Maintaining America’s menacing military global footprint is prioritized, its empire of bases, its alliances with other rogue states, its rage to dominate unchallenged - the greatest threat to world security and stability.

No nation threatens them more than America, none more likely to start global war, none more greatly endangering humanity’s survival.

Oliver Stone and historian Peter Kuznick co-authored The Untold History of the United States”“ - now made into a 10-part Showtime documentary, covering US history since the FDR era.

In discussing the series, Stone said when he studied untold US

history, “one thing that really hit (him) hard was (America’s) nefarious involvement in the Middle East” - beginning before WW II, exploding with GHW Bush’s 1991 Iraq invasion and subsequent endless wars.

“We never got out of there,” said Stone. “Once we were in, we’re in forever.” The curse of oil cost millions of lives. America “destabilized the entire region, created chaos. And then we blame ISIS for the (horrors) we created.”

“It’s all about the oil,” Kuznick explained. “You remember the bumper sticker: ‘What is our oil doing under their sand?’ “

“We created” violence and chaos throughout the region - “then have a grand military plan…(M)ilitary solutions just don’t work.”

Americans don’t get it, Stone explained. They live in a bubble - spoon-fed what government, academia and supportive media want them to know. Reagan touted a “shining city on a hill.”

“It’s very comforting to be an American,” Stone said. “You get the sense that you are safe and have prosperity of material goods, and that you have enemies everywhere - Russia, China, Iran, North Korea.”

“You get into this cocoon where you have a big country, two (protective) oceans, but you’re always under threat.” Stone served in Vietnam, returned home “puzzled, completely confused about what was going on there. But I did get a heavy dose of the doublespeak, the militarese talk,” he said.

He began asking questions, read “progressive history” when studying filmmaking. New ideas influenced his work since the 1980s. His films include Salvador, Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, JFK, Nixon and Wall Street among others - challenging the official narrative.

His film about Edward Snowden was delayed until 2016. His “Untold History of the United States” collaboratively with Peter Kuznick presents an alternative perspective from the FDR era to today - far different from mainstream propaganda.

The documentary’s last episode is called “Bush & Obama: Age of Terror,” covering the following topics:

— The Project For A New American Century, the neocon think tank calling for a new Pearl Harbor to enlist popular sentiment for endless wars, notably in the Middle East;

— The tyranny of neocons responsible for pushing America to war with Iraq, using fabricated intelligence;

— The repressive Patriot Act, the first of a series of post-9/11 police state laws heading America toward full-blown tyranny;

— The destructive War on Terror at home and abroad;

— Using 9/11 as a pretext to invade and destroy Afghanistan;

— Unconstitutional torture and other forms of abuse at Guantanamo and other US black sites;

— Mainstream media’s support for US wars of aggression;

— Obama selling out to Wall Street, Big Oil, Big Pharma and other corporate interests;

— Bailing out bankers responsible for causing financial and economic crisis conditions;

— The rise of unprecedented CEO compensation at the expense of a disappearing middle class;

— Obama’s betrayal - his failure to deliver hope, change, or transparency, his prosecution of government whistleblowers, his continuation of Bush’s national security state; and

— His drone wars on Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Libya, and Somalia - including his appalling Big Lie claiming “(u)nlike the old empires, we don’t make these sacrifices for territory or for resources…We do it because it’s right.”

Stone calls his book and documentary an antidote to “educational crime. American exceptionalism has to be driven out of our curriculums,” he said. We’re not under threat. We are the threat” - to world peace, stability and security.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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