by Stephen Lendman

Past and present leaders reveal the soul of their nations. Arguably America never had one. Current domestic and foreign policies provide convincing evidence.

Police state harshness targets defenders of right over wrong everywhere. National resources go for militarism, belligerence, and making super-rich elites richer. Corporations are licensed to steal, exploit, and plunder.

Wars ravage one country after another. Humanity is ruthlessly destroyed. Battlefields shift from one theater to another. Gangsterism writ large reflects official policy. Syria is ground zero.

Months of Western generated violence left thousands dead, many more injured, and countless numbers displaced. Nothing deters America's war machine madness.

Bloodlust defines it. Dominance matters most. Body counts mount. Rule of law principles and democratic values are considered quaint and out of date. Stomping on people is policy.

Concern for human and civil rights is off the table. Winning hearts and minds was never America's game. Crushing the will to resist is more important. Repression enforces the message harshly. Death squad diplomacy eliminates non-believers. Where it ends, who knows!

Despite ongoing direct and proxy wars, hawkish US lawmakers want more. John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman are three of America's worst. Peace they believe is abhorrent.

Death squad massacres in Syria aren't enough. As a 2008 presidential candidate, McCain's advocated bombing Iran. "Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran," he sang on his "Straight Talk" tour to the tune of a popular Beach Boys song.

Lunatics like this run America. Now McCain wants more. So do Graham and Lieberman. They're not alone. On August 5, the Washington Post gave them op-ed space. Together they headlined "The risks of inaction in Syria," saying:

Provide "robust assistance" to opposition fighters. Establish and reinforce safe zones. Use "airpower and other unique US assets."

Damn the risks. "(I)naction carries" greater ones. "(S)trategic" aims matter most. Failure to intervene more aggressively "jeopardiz(es) both our national security interests and our moral standing in the world."

Fact check

Official US policy calls for replacing all independent governments with pro-Western ones. War is America's national pastime. Dominance alone matters. Sovereign rights can't be allowed to interfere.

Washington planned war on Syria years ago. It's orchestrating events on the ground. It's been involved from day one. It's recruiting, arming, funding, training, and directing mercenary killers.

It's not good enough so let's bomb, say McCain, Graham and Lieberman. With these type lawmakers influencing policy, don't bet money on humanity surviving. Don't expect America to renounce war. Don't imagine embracing democratic values is planned.

Hunker down for worse to come. Get involved and try to stop it. Syria is about to go up in flames. Iran is next, then other nations. No good ending comes from this. Wars beget more of them. Permanent ones assure self-destruction.

Perhaps America will take humanity with it. It's not far-fetched. Partnered with Britain, other key NATO allies, Israel, and regional despots, chances of armageddon are too high to risk.

Chances for homeland tyranny are virtually certain. Militarism writ large heads it there. It's closer than most people imagine. It's not pretty now. Expect much worse ahead. It could come any time.

Battleground Syria could shift venues to America if popular resistance erupts. Daily violence and atrocities there could become commonplace domestically. Some neighborhoods already experience low intensity versions of what could easily ratchet higher.

Hammering one country after another draws it closer. Former State Department official Anne-Marie Slaughter mimicks McCain, Graham and Lieberman. Halting Syrian violence depends on increasing it, they believe.

People like this run America. They're interviewed on US television. They're given feature op-ed space. Earlier, Slaughter called for "no-kill zones." Pentagon officials call them "buffer zones." They're ground-based no-fly zones. If established, they assure full-scale war.

Slaughter supports no holds barred escalation. On July 31, her Financial Times article headlined "We will pay a high price if we do not arm Syria's rebels," saying:

She wants that and more. "It is time for bold action," she said. She suggests Libya 2.0. Go for broke, she urges. Other hawks echo her sentiment. "Syrians will remember those who remember them," she said.

The longer fighting rages, the greater Assad's support grows, the more America is hated.

Syrians aren't stupid. They know what Washington did to Iraq and Libya. They know what's gone on in Afghanistan since 2001. They understand that wherever America arrives, death, destruction, and unspeakable human misery follow.

If Washington wins, they lose. They're willing to die to prevent it. America plans full-scale war. Imagine how many more will die. Imagine the vast destruction. Imagine any nation ravaging others. It's the American way.

Permanent wars are waged for wealth, power and dominance. At the same time, homeland needs go begging. Out-of-control militarism heads America for tyranny and ruin. Along the way, millions suffer and die.

Obama follows in the tradition of previous warrior presidents. Over time, stakes and risks grow exponentially. State-of the art weapons threaten everyone. Obama's National Security Strategy "reserve(s) the right to act unilaterally if necessary to defend out nation and our interests."

In other words, preemptive wars with weapons of mass destruction is policy. Obama claims it's "to keep the American people safe (and advance the nation's) values and ideals." It threatens other countries to bend to Washington's will or else.

In the process it destroys freedom. Chalmers Johnson called war profiteering "the most efficient means for well-connected capitalists to engorge themselves at the public trough."

Expect more of it, he warned. Expect tyranny to replace democracy. Expect hell on earth so globalists can control it. Maybe they'll destroy it instead.

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

His new book is titled "How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War"

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

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour