[blind-democracy] Quiz Answers

  • From: Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sun, 20 Dec 2015 15:29:09 -0500

Quiz Answers
Quiz Answers
________________________________________
By davidswanson - Posted on 17 December 2015
Should German schools teach how many people Germany killed in World War II?
Yes, of course, they should. This is the one question that pretty much
everyone should get right.
How many was it?
World War II, including war-related diseases and famines, killed some 80
million people. Excluding some 30 million killed in Asia brings the total
down to 50 million. Excluding some 6 million Germans and Austrians and a
half million Italians as having been killed by the Allies (though of course
also by their own governments) brings the total down to 43-and-a-half
million. Of those, some 30 million were killed as civilians or soldiers in
the course of the war, including from war-related diseases and famines --
the majority of them from the Soviet Union. The other 13 million were killed
in German camps, including 6 million Jews, 3 million Soviet prisoners of
war, 2 million Soviet civilians, 1 million Polish civilians, 1 million
Yugoslav civilians, 200,000 gypsies, and thousands of political prisoners,
homosexuals, and people with mental or physical disabilities.
Should U.S. schools teach how many people the United States killed in wars
on Native Americans, in the Philippines, in Vietnam, or in Iraq?
I would hope that everyone would answer yes to this one, too.
How many was it?
The biggest cause of death among Native Americans in the colonies that would
become the United States was the spread of diseases brought by European
people and their animals. At least 10 million Native Americans were reduced
in numbers dramatically in the earliest years of colonization. From those
earliest years up to the twentieth century, the intentional eradication of
the remaining Native Americans was openly pursued by many European
Americans, including through the intentional spreading of disease,
starvation, ethnic cleansing, and violent murder on a small and large scale.
Certainly tens of thousands, and probably hundreds of thousands of Native
Americans were killed in wars waged by the United States. The Philippines,
under attack by the United States, saw 20,000 combatants killed, plus
200,000 to 1,500,000 civilians dead from violence and diseases, including
cholera. Over 15 years, by some estimates, the United States' occupying
forces, together with disease, killed over 1.5 million civilians in the
Philippines, out of a population of 6 to 7 million. A population of 7
million losing 1.5 million lives is losing a staggering 21% of its
population -- making this war, by that standard, if the high-end estimate of
deaths is correct, the worst war the United States has engaged in. A 2008
study by Harvard Medical School and the Institute for Health Metrics and
Evaluation at the University of Washington estimated 3.8 million violent war
deaths, combat and civilian, north and south, during the years of U.S.
involvement in Vietnam. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University found that
between March 18, 2003, and June 2006, there were 654,965 excess deaths in
Iraq, of which 601,027 were due to violence. The British based Opinion
Research Business found that between March 2003 and August 2007, there were
1,033,000 violent deaths of Iraqis in Iraq. A 2013 PLOS Medicine journal
survey, led by public health expert Amy Hagopian of the University of
Washington in Seattle, found a half-million Iraqis had been killed by the
war.
How many Africans were put on ships to the United States in chains?
Some 10 million may have died after capture but before making it onto a
ship. Another 10 to 12 million may have been shipped to the Americas in
chains. Of these, by one estimate, 472,000 were shipped to the area that is
now the United States.
How many made it there alive?
Approximately 388,000.
How many people lived enslaved in the United States before slavery was
officially ended?
The total number of people who lived all or part of their lives enslaved
between 1776 and 1865 can only be guessed at, but the 1860 census tells us
that there were 3.75 million people enslaved in the United States in 1860,
or roughly 10 percent of the nation's population.
How many after that?
As documented in Douglas Blackmon's book, Slavery By Another Name: The
Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II, the
institution of slavery in the U.S. South largely ended for as long as 20
years in some places upon completion of the U.S. civil war. And then it was
back again, in a slightly different form, widespread, controlling, publicly
known and accepted -- right up to World War II. In fact, in other forms, it
remains today. During widely publicized trials of slave owners for the crime
of slavery in 1903 -- trials that did virtually nothing to end the pervasive
practice -- the Montgomery Advertiser editorialized: "Forgiveness is a
Christian virtue and forgetfulness is often a relief, but some of us will
never forgive nor forget the damnable and brutal excesses that were
committed all over the South by negroes and their white allies, many of whom
were federal officials, against whose acts our people were practically
powerless." This was a publicly acceptable position in Alabama in 1903:
slavery should be tolerated because of the evils committed by the North
during the war and during the occupation that followed. Prison labor
continues in the United States. Mass incarceration continues as a tool of
racial oppression. Enslaved farm labor continues as well. So does the use of
fines and debt to create convicts.
Who was Olaudah Equiano?
Olaudah Equiano had been enslaved in Africa and brought to the United
States, probably Virginia, but it was in London that he found his voice,
told his story in a best-selling book, filled debating halls, and became a
leader in the movement to free all others. He was one of, if not the first,
black to speak publicly in Britain. He did as much to end the slave trade as
anyone, and it might have gone on considerably longer without him.
What percentage of deaths in wars of the past half-century have been
civilian?
There is a great deal of controversy, poor information, and misinformation
in reports on war casualties, but it is almost universally understood that
in many wars up through World War I the majority of the deaths, not counting
deaths from war-related disease epidemics, were the deaths of soldiers.
Similarly, there is little dispute that during World War II and most, if not
all, major wars since, the majority of the deaths have been the deaths of
civilians. In some wars, including wars fought by rich against poor nations,
the civilian death toll has been extremely high, and the one-sidedness of
the death toll (including civilians and combatants) equally high. The only
real controversy is over exactly how large a majority of war deaths are
civilian, and part of that stems from choices over whom to include -- such
as whether to include the delayed deaths of the wounded, etc. In the
American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 104, No. 6, June 2014: e34-e47, we
read: "Since the end of World War II, there have been 248 armed conflicts in
153 locations around the world. The United States launched 201 overseas
military operations between the end of World War II and 2001, and since
then, others, including Afghanistan and Iraq. During the 20th century, 190
million deaths could be directly and indirectly related to war — more than
in the previous 4 centuries.... The proportion of civilian deaths and the
methods for classifying deaths as civilian are debated, but civilian war
deaths constitute 85% to 90% of casualties caused by war, with about 10
civilians dying for every combatant killed in battle. The death toll (mostly
civilian) resulting from the recent war in Iraq is contested, with estimates
of 124,000 to 655,000 to more than
a million, and finally most recently settling on roughly a half million.
Civilians have been targeted for death and for sexual violence in some
contemporary conflicts. Seventy percent to 90% of the victims of the 110
million landmines planted since 1960 in 70 countries were civilians."
How many people has the United States killed in wars, large and small, since
1950?
Adding up the millions killed in U.S. wars in Korea, Vietnam, Laos,
Cambodia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and dozens of other places, plus proxy wars in
Afghanistan, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East Timor,
Guatemala, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Sudan, plus the drone wars and secret
operations, the total is probably 20 to 30 million. Needless to say, blame
for many of these deaths goes also to many other nations and participants.
How many democratic governments has the U.S. government overthrown?
Here is a list of 57 U.S. attempts to overthrow foreign governments just
since 1949, thirty-six of them successful. Most of those governments had
been put in place by election and were arguably as "democratic" as the
United States if not more so. Without a doubt, in most cases, the
governments overthrown were replaced by less democratic regimes. The author
of that list, William Blum, notes in his book, America's Deadliest Export,
that just since World War II, the United States has also interfered in at
least 30 foreign elections, attempted to assassinate over 50 foreign
leaders, and dropped bombs on people in over 30 countries. On August 5,
2015, President Barack Obama bragged that he had himself ordered the bombing
of seven countries.
If you persistently asked for money for a trip, finally got some, went on
the trip to a foreign country, and then murdered anyone you met there who
failed to give you lots of gold, would a good teacher praise your
persistence in asking for the money for the trip?
Of course not.
Would they praise Christopher Columbus' persistence?
Most U.S. text books and teachers do, yes.
Can you name some Virginians who chose to free everyone they had enslaved
while Thomas Jefferson was enslaving more people?
In the 1770s a group of Quakers in Virginia including Warner Mifflin
illegally freed their slaves, with none of the disastrous consequences
predicted by other slave owners. In 1782 the Quakers successfully lobbied
the Virginia legislature to create a law allowing people to free anyone they
held in slavery. Some chose to do just that. In 1819, Edward Coles bought
land in Illinois and gave it to those he had held enslaved in Virginia. He
also became governor of Illinois, and a painting of his act of liberation
hangs in the Illinois capitol rotunda. Jefferson had urged Coles not to do
it. And although Thaddeus Kosciuszko had left Jefferson nearly $20,000 with
which to free slaves, Jefferson declined to send anyone to freedom in
Illinois with Coles and declined to accept the money. Coles was also
President James Madison's private secretary and envoy to Czar Alexander of
Russia. Meanwhile, Jefferson's own private secretary William Short urged
Jefferson to experiment with allowing those he kept in slavery to work
toward the purchase of their own freedom, with plans to then employ them as
tenant farmers. Jefferson refused.
What is the appropriate justification for Jefferson enslaving people?
It changes too rapidly, as each new justification is laughed out the door;
you shouldn't expect to keep up.
What percentage of people in the world are in the United States?
About 4.4 percent.
What percentage of prisoners in the world are in the United States?
According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2,220,300 adults were
incarcerated in U.S. federal and state prisons, and county jails in 2013,
along with 54,148 kids in "juvenile detention." Another 4,751,400 adults
were on probation or parole. The 2,274,448 incarcerated is about 25% of the
world's prisoners, more prisoners than in any other nation, and a higher
incarceration rate than in any other nation -- about 0.7% of the U.S.
population. Those imprisoned or on probation or parole add up to 2.2% of the
U.S. population.
What percentage of military spending in the world is by the U.S. government?
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute counts world military
spending in 2014 as $1,776 billion and U.S. military spending as $610
billion or 34%. However, SIPRI leaves out all kinds of military
expenditures, which the U.S. government funnels through numerous departments
in addition to "Defense," including Homeland Security, State, Energy, etc.,
as well as debt for past military spending. A total count puts U.S. military
spending at approximately $1 trillion per year, and probably does not raise
most other nations' figures to the same extent.
What percentage is by the U.S. government and its close allies?
Figures from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute put that
at approximately 75% to 80% of world military spending, depending on which
nations are included. Spending by China and Russia adds up to almost 17%.
What percentage of foreign military troops stationed in nations around the
world are U.S. troops?
Almost all of them. The United States has troops at its own bases and at
bases identified as belonging to the host country, all over the globe --
several hundred to over 1,000 bases depending on how you count them. Britain
and France together have 13 foreign bases, Russia 9, and 1 each for Japan,
South Korea, the Netherlands, India, Australia, Chile, Turkey, and Israel.
U.S. troops and employees and family members at foreign bases add up to well
over 500,000 U.S. citizens abroad. The rest of the world's 30 bases don't
compare.
What percentage of the world's nations have U.S. troops in them?
At least 90% of the world's nations have at least some small number of U.S.
troops stationed in them, and at least 68% have so-called "special forces"
of the U.S. military active in them. U.S. television sports announcers
routinely thank U.S. troops for watching from 175 countries.
In what nations of the world do people have the longest life expectancy?
Name 3 of the top 10.
Here are the top 25, in order from the top down, according to the World
Health Organization: Japan, Spain, Andorra, Australia, Switzerland, Italy,
Singapore, San Marino, Canada, Cyprus, France, Iceland, Israel, Luxembourg,
Monaco, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Republic of Korea, Finland, Portugal,
Ireland, Malta, Netherlands, United Kingdom.
What nations of the world poll highest for happiness? Name 3 of the top 10.
Here are the top 10 according to the World Happiness Report 2015, in order
from top down: Switzerland, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Canada, Finland,
Netherlands, Sweden, New Zealand, Australia. Here are the top 10 from top
down ranked as experiencing well being by the Happy Planet Index: Denmark,
Canada, Norway, Venezuela, Switzerland, Sweden, Netherlands, Israel,
Finland, Australia.
What nations of the world have the highest inequality of wealth? Name 3 of
the top 10.
According to one calculation, these are the top 10 in order from most
unequal: Russian Federation, Ukraine, Lebanon, United States, Turkey,
Kazakhstan, Zimbabwe, Hongkong, South Africa, Indonesia. According to
another, these are: Namibia, Zimbabwe, Denmark, Switzerland, United States,
Brazil, Gabon, Central African Republic, Swaziland, Guatemala.
What nations of the world have the greatest economic opportunity and
mobility? Name 3 of the top 10.
There are many ways to measure this, and they all rank the United States
below most other wealthy countries. Here are the top 10, in order from the
top down, for opportunity and mobility by one study: Denmark, Norway,
Finland, Canada, Australia, Sweden, New Zealand, Germany, Japan, Spain.
What nations' students score highest in academic tests? Name 3 of the top
10.
There are lots of rankings. According to one set, here are the top 20 in
order from the top down in math: Singapore, Honk Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Macao,
Japan, Lichtenstein, Switzerland, Netherlands, Estonia, Finland, Canada,
Poland, Belgium, Germany, Vietnam, Austria, Australia, Ireland, Slovenia.
And in reading: Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Finland, Ireland,
Taiwan, Canada, Poland, Estonia, Lichtenstein, New Zealand, Australia,
Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Macao, Vietnam, Germany, France. And in
science: Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Finland, Estonia, Korea, Vietnam,
Poland, Canada, Liechtenstein, Germany, Taiwan, Netherlands, Ireland,
Australia, Macao, New Zealand, Switzerland, Slovenia, United Kingdom.
How many of the world's 50 wealthiest nations provide free and universal
health coverage?
The answer is, of course, 49.The entire wealthy or "developed" world does
so, with the exceptions of the United States, Belarus, Serbia, and Bulgaria.
Those last three are not in the wealthiest 50.
Which countries provide the best retirement security? Name 3 of the top 10.
Here is a ranking of the top 10 from the top down: Switzerland, Norway,
Australia, Iceland, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Germany, New
Zealand.
How much does it cost to attend college in Brazil, Germany, Finland, France,
Norway, Slovenia, and Sweden?
Nothing.
In which nations do people average the shortest working hours? Name 3 of the
top 10.
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in
2012, the top 10 in order from the top down are: Netherlands, Germany,
Norway, France, Denmark, Ireland, Belgium, Austria, Luxembourg, Sweden.
How many wealthy nations guarantee no paid parental leave?
One, the United States.
Which nations have the highest labor union representation? Name 3 of the top
10.
Here are the top 10, at least among those in this study, in order from the
top down: Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Ireland, Austria,
Italy, Canada, United Kingdom. Here they are, at least among those in this
study: Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Belgium, Norway, Austria, Ireland, Italy,
Canada, Australia.
In which nations of the world does one face the lowest risk of violent
crime? Name 3 of the top 10.
Here are the top 25 in order from the top down for lowest murder rates:
Monaco, Liechtenstein, Singapore, Iceland, Japan, French Polynesia, Kuwait,
Bahrain, Switzerland, Indonesia, Slovenia, San Marino, Sweden, Algeria,
Luxembourg, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Poland, Saudi Arabia, New Zealand,
Netherlands, Austria, Italy, Czech Republic.
Approximately how much money does the U.S. government spend every year?
Approximately $3.5 trillion.
Where does that money come from?
Taxes, taxes, taxes. You got this one right, didn't you?
How much of that money is in dedicated permanent funds separate from the
rest of the budget or otherwise mandatory, and how much is subject to the
discretion of the Congress?
About two-thirds is mandatory spending including debt interest, Social
Security, and healthcare. The other third is discretionary.
What percentage of discretionary spending is for war preparations?
Roughly 50%, leaving the other 50% for everything else.
What percentage is for foreign aid, education, or environmental protection?
Here's a pie chart. Compared to the military's 50% which of course goes
through numerous departments of the government, foreign aid receives 2%,
education 6%, and energy and the environment 3.5%.
What is the correlation between Congress members' actions and their sources
of funding?
It depends on the issue, but on many important issues it is extremely high,
as one can see by examining particular votes. There is debate over whether
Congress members are bribed to act or rewarded for having acted, but both
sides acknowledge the correlation. The correlation is even more strongly
documented between funding and gaining access to Congress members, and the
impact of that access is almost certainly greater than zero. The correlation
between funding sources and actions contributes to the general trend noted
in #45 below.
What is the correlation between greatest campaign funding and electoral
victory?
It's almost perfect. In 2008, in 93 percent of House of Representatives
races, 94 percent of Senate races, and 100% of presidential races (there
was, as you can imagine, only 1 of those), the candidate who spent the most
money won.
What is the success rate in Congressional reelection campaigns by
incumbents?
About 90%.
Does the U.S. government subsidize fossil fuels?
Yes, of course, with billions of dollars every year.
Does the U.S. government subsidize nuclear energy?
Oh yeah, with billions.
How many private insurance companies insure nuclear power plants?
None. They're not crazy. Paying for future disasters is left to tax payers.
Is the United States a democracy, republic, communist collective,
dictatorship, or oligarchy?
The United States is an oligarchy.
Which nations are the world's top weapons exporters?
According to the Congressional Research Service, as of 2011 (since which
time CRS has stopped reporting) the U.S. accounted for 79% of the value of
transfer agreements to ship weapons to governments in the Middle East, 79%
also to poor nations around the world, and 77% of the value of total
agreements to ship weapons to other countries. According to SIPRI, the U.S.
shipped 31 percent of the weapons exported worldwide between 2010 and 2014.
Russia shipped 27 percent, China 5 percent, Germany 5 percent, and France 5
percent.
Name at least three recent wars in which weapons from the same nation were
used on both sides.
U.S. weapons went up against U.S. weapons in Syria, Yemen, and Afghanistan,
among numerous other places.
Explain, by comparison to Canada, how the United States benefitted from its
revolution against England.
The United States is not one giant prison full of miserable captives, like
Canada is, of course! Also, recognition of satire is way higher in the
United States than in the humorless north.
How did the U.S. revolution benefit Native Americans, farmers, enslaved
people, and women?
It generally didn't, and for Native Americans it was very bad news indeed,
as the British had restricted Western expansion. For those held in slavery,
it doomed any chance of earlier liberation -- except for those who took the
opportunity to escape to the British side.
Were there more or fewer popular rebellions in the United States after the
revolution?
About the same.
What nation did Congress members predict would welcome invaders as
liberators in 1812?
Canada.
Did it?
Nope.
What nation did the United States steal the northern half of in the 1840s
through a bloody war despite that nation's willingness to negotiate a
nonviolent sale of the land?
Mexico.
What was the one condition the United States insisted on in acquiring that
land?
It must all become territory that would allow slavery.
What President lied to start that war?
James Polk.
What Congressman denounced his lies?
Abraham Lincoln.
What hero of that war and future president denounced the war as an immoral
outrage?
Zachary Taylor.
What percentage of nations that abolished slavery fought civil wars before
doing so?
Zero. Oh wait, there was one.
Why did Mississippi say it was seceding from the United States?
To maintain slavery.
How was slavery ended in Washington DC?
As in other countries, through compensated emancipation.
How many years since 1776 has the United States gone without any wars?
Twenty-one years.
What evidence was there that Spain blew up the Maine?
None.
What did Spain propose instead of the Spanish-American war?
Binding neutral investigation and arbitration.
Name three reasons President McKinley gave for occupying the Philippines.
He said it would be "cowardly and dishonorable" to give the islands back to
Spain, "bad business" to give them to commercial rivals Germany and France,
and impossible to leave them to "anarchy and misrule" under, you know, the
people who lived there.
Name three good reasons for World War I.
This question was, of course, a trick as there aren't any.
What was the general theme of the most common lies of the Four-Minute Men?
Fabricated and exaggerated tales of German atrocities in Belgium. The lies
were so outrageous that many recalled them when told tales of Nazi
atrocities that were actually true.
What was the Lusitania carrying on its fateful voyage, and what
advertisement had Germany placed in U.S. newspapers prior to its sailing?
It was carrying U.S. weapons to Britain. Germany had warned that it would
attack the ship and that people would be sailing at their own risk.
What U.S. Secretary of State resigned over President Woodrow Wilson's
position regarding the Lusitania?
William Jennings Bryan.
What were the Greer and the Kerney and which U.S. President lied about them?
On September 4, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave a "fireside chat"
radio address in which he claimed that a German submarine, completely
unprovoked, had attacked the United States destroyer Greer, which — despite
being called a destroyer — had been harmlessly delivering mail. The Senate
Naval Affairs Committee questioned Admiral Harold Stark, Chief of Naval
Operations, who said the Greer had been tracking the German submarine and
relaying its location to a British airplane, which had dropped depth charges
on the submarine's location without success. The Greer had continued
tracking the submarine for hours before the submarine turned and fired
torpedoes. A month and a half later, Roosevelt told a similar tall tale
about the USS Kearny which engaged in warfare against German submarines and
was not innocently minding its own business as Roosevelt implied.
Is the Monroe Doctrine popular in Latin America?
It's generally hated as an assertion of imperial dominance.
What U.S. President encouraged Japanese imperialism, promising them a Monroe
Doctrine for Asia?
Teddy Roosevelt.
Name one or more observers who predicted at the time of the Treaty of
Versailles that it would lead to World War II. Why did they say that?
Jane Addams, E.D. Morel, John Maynard Keynes, and others predicted that the
harsh vindictiveness of the treaty would lead to a new war. They seem to
have been right. Combined with other factors, including Western preference
for Nazism over Communism, and a growing arms race, bitter resentment in
Germany did lead to a new war. Ferdinand Foch claimed the treaty was too
lenient on Germany and would therefore create a new war, which is of course
also true if one considers the possibility of having completely destroyed
Germany or something close to that. Woodrow Wilson predicted that failure of
the United States to join the League of Nations would lead to a new war, but
it is far from clear that joining the League would have prevented the war.
Would a stalemate in World War I, rather than a lopsided victory, have led
to the same future?
Clearly not. There's no way to say where it would have led, but there is at
least a plausible case to be made that had the United States stayed out of
World War I, and had that war concluded without a clear victor and loser,
that the next war would not have come in the same way or at the same time.
It's difficult to imagine that this change alone would have prevented any
major new wars from coming, absent a cultural rejection of war more powerful
than what actually came in many countries in the 1920s.
How many right-wing coups were seriously planned against President Franklin
Roosevelt?
At least one, possibly more. One in 1934 resulted in Congressional hearings
and a report that stated: "In the last few weeks of the committee's official
life it received evidence showing that certain persons had made an attempt
to establish a fascist organization in this country. No evidence was
presented and this committee had none to show a connection between this
effort and any fascist activity of any European country. There is no
question that these attempts were discussed, were planned, and might have
been placed in execution when and if the financial backers deemed it
expedient. This committee received evidence from Maj. Gen Smedley D. Butler
(retired), twice decorated by the Congress of the United States. He
testified before the committee as to conversations with one Gerald C.
MacGuire in which the latter is alleged to have suggested the formation of a
fascist army under the leadership of General Butler. MacGuire denied these
allegations under oath, but your committee was able to verify all the
pertinent statements made by General Butler, with the exception of the
direct statement suggesting the creation of the organization. This, however,
was corroborated in the correspondence of MacGuire with his principal,
Robert Sterling Clark, of New York City, while MacGuire was abroad studying
the various forms of veterans organizations of Fascist character." A second
coup plot in 1940 is alleged by Cornelius Vanderbilt Jr., who claims to have
tipped off Eleanor Roosevelt. Perhaps that one was no more than chatter.
Perhaps, on the contrary, it merited serious concern. Perhaps there were
others.
Who was Smedley Butler and what did he conclude about the institution of
war?
Smedley Darlington Butler (July 30, 1881 – June 21, 1940) was a United
States Marine Corps major general, the highest rank authorized at that time,
and at the time of his death the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. He
concluded: "War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest,
easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one
international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned
in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe,
as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a
small 'inside' group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit
of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people
make huge fortunes."
Why was Butler locked up in Quantico?
In 1931, Butler publicly repeated the story that a passenger in Benito
Mussolini's speeding automobile had witnessed Mussolini run over a small
child and not stop. Italy protested, and President Hoover forced the
Secretary of the Navy to court-martial Butler. He was locked up in Quantico
Marine Base, which he himself had commanded. Cornelius Vanderbilt Jr. came
forward and said he had been the passenger in Mussolini's car.
What U.S. whistleblower was later locked up in Quantico and kept naked in a
tiny cell?
Chelsea (at that time Bradley) Manning.
What had she exposed?
Manning exposed horrible U.S. war crimes and duplicitous diplomacy by the
U.S. government.
During the 1930s and early 1940s U.S. peace activists held demonstrations
against growing U.S. hostility and war preparations against what nation?
Japan.
Prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, what did Winston Churchill
tell his cabinet that President Franklin Roosevelt had promised to do in
order to bring the United States into the war in Europe?
On April 28, 1941, Churchill wrote a secret directive to his war cabinet:
"It may be taken as almost certain that the entry of Japan into the war
would be followed by the immediate entry of the United States on our side."
On August 18, 1941, Churchill met with his cabinet at 10 Downing Street. The
meeting had some similarity to the July 23, 2002, meeting at the same
address, the minutes of which became known as the Downing Street Minutes.
Both meetings revealed secret U.S. intentions to go to war. In the 1941
meeting, Churchill told his cabinet, according to the minutes: "The
President had said he would wage war but not declare it." In addition,
"Everything was to be done to force an incident."
What did FDR use a forged Nazi map to lie to the U.S. public about, and who
forged the map?
Roosevelt claimed to have in his possession a secret map produced by
Hitler's government that showed plans for a Nazi conquest of South America.
The Nazi government denounced this as a lie, blaming of course a Jewish
conspiracy. The map, which Roosevelt refused to show the public, in fact
actually showed routes in South America flown by American airplanes, with
notations in German describing the distribution of aviation fuel. It was a
British forgery, and apparently of about the same quality as the forgeries
President George W. Bush would later use to show that Iraq had been trying
to purchase uranium. Roosevelt also claimed falsely to have come into
possession of a secret plan produced by the Nazis for the replacement of all
religions with Nazism.
What was the Ludlow Amendment?
The Ludlow Amendment was a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution
requiring a vote by the American people before the United States could go to
war. In 1938, this amendment appeared likely to pass in Congress. Then
President Franklin Roosevelt sent a letter to the Speaker of the House
claiming that a president would be unable to conduct an effective foreign
policy if it passed, after which the amendment failed 209-188.
Prior to Pearl Harbor, in the diary of the U.S. Secretary of War, when did
he say FDR expected a Japanese attack?
On November 25, 1941, Secretary of War Henry Stimson wrote in his diary that
he'd met in the Oval Office with Army Chief of Staff George Marshall,
President Franklin Roosevelt, Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, Admiral
Harold Stark, and Secretary of State Cordell Hull. Roosevelt had told them
the Japanese were likely to attack soon, possibly next Monday. That would
have been December 1st, six days before the attack actually came. (Roosevelt
did not specify Pearl Harbor as the expected location.) "The question,"
Stimson wrote, "was how we should maneuver them into the position of firing
the first shot without allowing too much danger to ourselves. It was a
difficult proposition."
Did the United States begin supporting China in its war against Japanese
aggression before or after Pearl Harbor?
As early as 1932 the United States had been talking with China about
providing airplanes, pilots, and training for its war with Japan. In
November 1940, Roosevelt loaned China one hundred million dollars for war
with Japan, and after consulting with the British, U.S. Secretary of the
Treasury Henry Morgenthau made plans to send the Chinese bombers with U.S.
crews to use in bombing Tokyo and other Japanese cities. On December 21,
1940, two weeks shy of a year before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor,
China's Minister of Finance T.V. Soong and Colonel Claire Chennault, a
retired U.S. Army flier who was working for the Chinese and had been urging
them to use American pilots to bomb Tokyo since at least 1937, met in Henry
Morgenthau's dining room to plan the firebombing of Japan. Morgenthau said
he could get men released from duty in the U.S. Army Air Corps if the
Chinese could pay them $1,000 per month. Soong agreed. On May 24, 1941, the
New York Times reported on U.S. training of the Chinese air force, and the
provision of "numerous fighting and bombing planes" to China by the United
States. "Bombing of Japanese Cities is Expected" read the subheadline. By
July, the Joint Army-Navy Board had approved a plan called JB 355 to
firebomb Japan. A front corporation would buy American planes to be flown by
American volunteers trained by Chennault and paid by another front group.
Roosevelt approved, and his China expert Lauchlin Currie, in the words of
Nicholson Baker, "wired Madame Chaing Kai-Shek and Claire Chennault a letter
that fairly begged for interception by Japanese spies." Whether or not that
was the entire point, this was the letter: "I am very happy to be able to
report today the President directed that sixty-six bombers be made available
to China this year with twenty-four to be delivered immediately. He also
approved a Chinese pilot training program here. Details through normal
channels. Warm regards." The U.S. ambassador had said "in case of a break
with the United States" the Japanese would bomb Pearl Harbor. The 1st
American Volunteer Group (AVG) of the Chinese Air Force, also known as the
Flying Tigers, moved ahead with recruitment and training immediately and
first saw combat on December 20, 1941, twelve days (local time) after the
Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.
What was President Roosevelt's approach to Jewish refugees?
When a resolution was introduced in the U.S. Senate in 1934 expressing
"surprise and pain" at Germany's actions, and asking that Germany restore
rights to Jews, the State Department "caused it to be buried in committee."
By 1937 Poland had developed a plan to send Jews to Madagascar, and the
Dominican Republic had a plan to accept them as well. Prime Minister Neville
Chamberlain of Great Britain came up with a plan to send Germany's Jews to
Tanganyika in East Africa. Representatives of the United States, Britain,
and South American nations met at Lake Geneva in July 1938 and all agreed
that none of them would accept the Jews. On November 15, 1938, reporters
asked President Franklin Roosevelt what could be done. He replied that he
would refuse to consider allowing more immigrants than the standard quota
system allowed. Bills were introduced in Congress to allow 20,000 Jews under
the age of 14 to enter the United States. Senator Robert Wagner (D., N.Y.)
said, "Thousands of American families have already expressed their
willingness to take refugee children into their homes." First Lady Eleanor
Roosevelt set aside her anti-Semitism to support the legislation, but her
husband successfully blocked it for years. In July 1940, Adolf Eichman,
"architect of the holocaust," intended to send all Jews to Madagascar, which
now belonged to Germany, France having been occupied. The ships would need
to wait only until the British, which now meant Winston Churchill, ended
their blockade. That day never came. On November 25, 1940, the French
ambassador asked the U.S. Secretary of State to consider accepting German
Jewish refugees then in France. On December 21st, the Secretary of State
declined. By July 1941, the Nazis had determined that a final solution for
the Jews could consist of genocide rather than expulsion.
What percentage of World War II propaganda posters in the United States
included mention of the need to rescue Jews?
0%.
Why did the New York Times downplay the story of the holocaust?
It buried its reporting on the holocaust and on the treatment of Jews in
Germany on back pages of the paper. The paper later admitted to this awful
failure. A column in the New York Times explained:
"This reticence has been a subject of extensive scholarly inquiry and also
much speculation and condemnation. Critics have blamed 'self-hating Jews'
and 'anti-Zionists' among the paper's owners and staff. Defenders have cited
the sketchiness of much information about the death camps in Eastern Europe
and also the inability of prewar generations to fully comprehend the
industrial gassing of millions of innocents -- a machinery of death not yet
exposed by those chilling mounds of Jews' bones, hair, shoes, rings. No
single explanation seems to suffice for what was surely the century's
bitterest journalistic failure. The Times, like most media of that era,
fervently embraced the wartime policies of the American and British
governments, both of which strongly resisted proposals to rescue Jews or to
offer them haven. After a decade of economic depression, both governments
had political reasons to discourage immigration and diplomatic reasons to
refuse Jewish settlements in regions like Palestine.
Then, too, papers owned by Jewish families, like The Times, were plainly
afraid to have a society that was still widely anti-Semitic misread their
passionate opposition to Hitler as a merely parochial cause. Even some
leading Jewish groups hedged their appeals for rescue lest they be accused
of wanting to divert wartime energies. At The Times, the reluctance to
highlight the systematic slaughter of Jews was also undoubtedly influenced
by the views of the publisher, Arthur Hays Sulzberger. He believed strongly
and publicly that Judaism was a religion, not a race or nationality -- that
Jews should be separate only in the way they worshiped. He thought they
needed no state or political and social institutions of their own. He went
to great lengths to avoid having The Times branded a 'Jewish newspaper.' He
resented other publications for emphasizing the Jewishness of people in the
news."
Why did Congresswoman Jeanette Rankin say she voted against U.S. entry into
World War II?
The day after the attack, Congress voted for war with Japan. FDR's first
draft of a declaration was for war on Germany as well, but he held off.
Congresswoman Jeannette Rankin (R., Mont.), the first woman ever elected to
Congress, and who had voted against World War I, stood alone in opposing
World War II (just as Congresswoman Barbara Lee would stand alone against
attacking Afghanistan 60 years later). One year after the vote, on December
8, 1942, Rankin put extended remarks into the Congressional Record
explaining her opposition. She cited the work of a British propagandist who
had argued in 1938 for using Japan to bring the United States into the war.
She cited Henry Luce's reference in Life magazine on July 20, 1942, to "the
Chinese for whom the U.S. had delivered the ultimatum that brought on Pearl
Harbor." She introduced evidence that at the Atlantic Conference on August
12, 1941, Roosevelt had assured Churchill that the United States would bring
economic pressure to bear on Japan. "I cited," Rankin later wrote, "the
State Department Bulletin of December 20, 1941, which revealed that on
September 3 a communication had been sent to Japan demanding that it accept
the principle of 'nondisturbance of the status quo in the Pacific,' which
amounted to demanding guarantees of the inviolateness of the white empires
in the Orient." Rankin found that the Economic Defense Board had gotten
economic sanctions under way less than a week after the Atlantic Conference.
On December 2, 1941, the New York Times had reported, in fact, that Japan
had been "cut off from about 75 percent of her normal trade by the Allied
blockade." Rankin also cited the statement of Lieutenant Clarence E.
Dickinson, U.S.N., in the Saturday Evening Post of October 10, 1942, that on
November 28, 1941, nine days before the attack, Vice Admiral William F.
Halsey, Jr., (he of the slogan "kill Japs, kill Japs!") had given
instructions to him and others to "shoot down anything we saw in the sky and
to bomb anything we saw on the sea."
During the rise of Nazism, did Wall Street investment in Germany decrease,
stay the same, or increase?
Prescott Sheldon Bush's early business efforts, like those of his grandson
George W. Bush, tended to fail. He married the daughter of a very rich man
named George Herbert Walker who installed Prescott Bush as an executive in
Thyssen and Flick. From then on, Prescott's business dealings went better,
and he entered politics. The Thyssen in the firm's name was a German named
Fritz Thyssen, a major financial backer of Hitler referred to in the New
York Herald-Tribune as "Hitler's Angel." Many Wall Street executives viewed
the Nazis as enemies of communism. American investment in Germany increased
48.5 percent between 1929 and 1940 even as it declined sharply everywhere
else in continental Europe. Major investors included Ford, General Motors,
General Electric, Standard Oil, Texaco, International Harvester, ITT, and
IBM. Bonds were sold in New York in the 1930s that financed the Aryanization
of German companies and real estate stolen from Jews. Many companies
continued doing business with Germany through the war, even if it meant
benefitting from concentration-camp labor. IBM even provided the Hollerith
Machines used to keep track of Jews and others to be murdered, while ITT
created the Nazis' communications system as well as bomb parts and then
collected $27 million from the U.S. government for war damage to its German
factories. U.S. pilots were instructed not to bomb factories in Germany that
were owned by U.S. companies. When Cologne was leveled, its Ford plant,
which provided military equipment for the Nazis, was spared and even used as
an air raid shelter. Henry Ford had been funding the Nazis' anti-Semitic
propaganda since the 1920s. His German plants fired all employees with
Jewish ancestry in 1935, before the Nazis required it. In 1938, Hitler
awarded Ford the Grand Cross of the Supreme Order of the German Eagle, an
honor only three people had previously received, one of them being Benito
Mussolini. Hitler's loyal colleague and leader of the Nazi Party in Vienna,
Baldur von Schirach, had an American mother and said her son had discovered
anti-Semitism by reading Henry Ford's The Eternal Jew. The companies
Prescott Bush profited from included one engaged in mining operations in
Poland using slave labor from Auschwitz. Two former slave laborers later
sued the U.S. government and Bush's heirs for $40 billion, but the suit was
dismissed by a U.S. court on the grounds of state sovereignty. Until the
United States entered World War II it was legal for Americans to do business
with Germany, but in late 1942 Prescott Bush's business interests were
seized under the Trading with the Enemy Act. Among those businesses involved
was the Hamburg America Lines, for which Prescott Bush served as a manager.
A Congressional committee found that Hamburg America Lines had offered free
passage to Germany for journalists willing to write favorably about the
Nazis, and had brought Nazi sympathizers to the United States.
How many people died in World War II?
See number 2 above.
What percentage of them died in German concentration camps?
About 16 percent. See number 2 above.
Who said "If we see that Germany is winning we ought to help Russia and if
Russia is winning we ought to help Germany, and that way let them kill as
many as possible, although I don't want to see Hitler victorious under any
circumstances. Neither of them thinks anything of their pledged word"?
Harry S. Truman.
What future director of the CIA rescued numerous top Nazis from prosecution
and employed some of them for the United States?
Allen Dulles.
How many former Nazis were employed by the U.S. military in Operation
Paperclip?
After World War II, the U.S. military hired sixteen hundred former Nazi
scientists and doctors, including some of Adolf Hitler's closest
collaborators, including men responsible for murder, slavery, and human
experimentation, including men convicted of war crimes, men acquitted of war
crimes, and men who never stood trial. Some of the Nazis tried at Nuremberg
had already been working for the U.S. in either Germany or the U.S. prior to
the trials. Some were protected from their past by the U.S. government for
years, as they lived and worked in Boston Harbor, Long Island, Maryland,
Ohio, Texas, Alabama, and elsewhere, or were flown by the U.S. government to
Argentina to protect them from prosecution. Some trial transcripts were
classified in their entirety to avoid exposing the pasts of important U.S.
scientists. Some of the Nazis brought over were frauds who had passed
themselves off as scientists, some of whom subsequently learned their fields
while working for the U.S. military.
What U.S. space agency's first director was a former Nazi who had employed
slave labor?
NASA.
Who remarked in 1937, "I do not agree that the dog in a manger has the final
right to the manger even though he may have lain there for a very long time.
I do not admit that right. I do not admit for instance, that a great wrong
has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of
Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the
fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly wise race to
put it that way, has come in and taken their place"?
Winston Churchill.
Within hours of Germany's surrender in World War II, Winston Churchill
proposed a new war using what troops against what nation?
German troops against the Soviet Union.
When did Japan first express willingness to surrender on the terms that
actually ended World War II, before or after the nuclear bombings of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
Weeks before the first bomb was dropped, on July 13, 1945, Japan sent a
telegram to the Soviet Union expressing its desire to surrender and end the
war. The United States had broken Japan's codes and read the telegram.
President Truman referred in his diary to "the telegram from Jap Emperor
asking for peace." Truman had been informed through Swiss and Portuguese
channels of Japanese peace overtures as early as three months before
Hiroshima. Japan objected only to surrendering unconditionally and giving up
its emperor, but the United States insisted on those terms until after the
bombs fell, at which point it allowed Japan to keep its emperor.
When President Truman announced the bombing of Hiroshima what did he lie
that Hiroshima was?
He called it a "military base." It was a city that contained a military
base, but 85% of the people in the city were not connected to the base.
What nations of the world have nuclear weapons, and how many do they have?
Nine countries have 15,800 nuclear war heads. Russia has 7500, USA 7200,
France 300, China 260, UK 215, Pakistan 130, India 120, Israel 80, North
Korea 10. These countries "host" U.S. nuclear weapons: Belgium, Germany,
Italy, Netherlands, Turkey.
What nations have official policies of potentially using nuclear weapons
first?
Russia, the United States, France, UK, Pakistan, Israel, North Korea.
What does the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty require nations with nuclear
weapons to do?
"Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good
faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race
at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and
complete disarmament under strict and effective international control."
How has Iran violated that treaty?
It has not.
What do the Gulf of Tonkin Incident and a virgin birth have in common?
They never happened.
What was Operation Northwoods?
This was a plan drafted by the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1962 that called for
the CIA or other U.S. government operatives to commit acts of terrorism
against U.S. civilians and military targets, blaming it on the Cuban
government, and using it to justify a war against Cuba. The plan was not
acted on, and was successfully kept secret for 40 years.
Who was Mohammad Mossadegh?
The democratically elected president of Iran overthrown by the CIA which
installed a brutal dictatorship later overthrown by an Islamic revolution.
What nation proposed to abandon its nuclear energy program in 2003 until the
U.S. dismissed the proposal?
Iran.
What nation proposed peace negotiations before the Korean War?
The Soviet Union.
What nation tried to spread bubonic plague in North Korea?
The United States.
What U.S. presidential candidate secretly sabotaged peace talks for Vietnam?
Richard Nixon.
Did the United States begin arming Islamic radicals in Afghanistan, who
would develop into al Qaeda, before or after the Soviet invasion?
Before, and with the purpose of drawing the Soviet Union into a long war.
During the U.S.-led war on Afghanistan that began in 2001, what were the
primary sources of funding for the other, or Taliban, side of the war?
Drug sales and payments from the U.S. for safe passage on roads.
Prior to the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, whom did the Taliban offer to
turn over to a neutral country to have put on trial?
Osama bin Laden.
How large has the al Qaeda presence in Afghanistan been during the war that
began in 2001?
Virtually non-existent.
How large was the al Qaeda presence in Iraq prior to the 2003 U.S. invasion?
Non-existent.
Has international terrorism decreased, stayed the same, or increased during
the Global War on Terrorism?
Increased.
The U.S. government originally announced that a mission to kill or capture
Osama bin Laden had succeeded despite his armed resistance. What did
numerous people involved in that mission later change about that story?
He was unarmed, and capturing him alive was never a serious option.
When Germany reunited and the Cold War ended, what promise did the United
States make to Russia regarding NATO expansion?
It promised not to expand an inch toward Russia.
Was the promise kept?
Nope.
What nation's army in 1990 took babies out of incubators and left them on
the floor to die?
Nobody's. It was a lie about Iraq orchestrated by a Washington, D.C., public
relations firm.
Prior to the Persian Gulf War, what nation offered to peacefully withdraw
from Kuwait?
Iraq.
Prior to September 11, 2001, what did a CIA memo warn President George W.
Bush might happen?
"Bin Laden Determined To Strike in US" was the President's Daily Brief
prepared by the CIA and given to President George W. Bush on August 6, 2001.
The brief warned of terrorism threats from Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda
including hijackings.
What nation was behind anthrax attacks in 2001 in the United States?
The U.S. government quickly claimed that al Qaeda and/or Iraq was to blame,
and the U.S. media repeated this many times. There was no evidence for it.
The FBI blames a U.S. government employee. Congress members and others doubt
that conclusion. The anthrax has been identified as coming from the United
States. The U.S. government has settled lawsuits from victims without
admitting guilt.
Who in January 2003 proposed that a means of starting a war on Iraq would be
to paint an airplane with United Nations colors and fly it low over Iraq
until it was shot at?
President George W. Bush.
What portion of the nation of Iraq did the Iraqi government offer to let
U.S. troops search prior to the 2003 U.S. attack?
All of it.
In 2003, how quickly did Iraq promise to hold internationally monitored
elections if it were not attacked?
Within 2 years.
Who offered to leave Iraq in 2003 if he could keep $1 billion and if Iraq
would not be attacked?
Saddam Hussein.
Whose 2003 testimony at the United Nations in favor of attacking Iraq
included fabricated dialogue from supposedly wiretapped conversations and
numerous claims that his own staff had warned him would not even seem
plausible?
Colin Powell.
What war's aftermath gave birth to a new al Qaeda spin-off called ISIS or
ISIL or Islamic State or Daesh?
The 2003- U.S.-led war on Iraq.
Where did ISIS get most of its weapons?
It seized them from Iraq, many of those weapons provided by the United
States.
What have been top sources of ISIS funding?
Oil sales through Turkey, funding from Saudi Arabian and other Gulf
supporters, looting.
What did ISIS ask the U.S. to do in order to boost its recruiting?
Attack it.
Did the U.S. do it?
Yep.
Did it boost ISIS recruiting?
Very much.
Did the U.S. drone war on Yemen replace a worse form of war or help create
one?
It helped create one.
Who supplied Saudi Arabia with its weapons for its 2015 war on Yemen?
The United States.
Does the U.S. know the names of most of the people it targets with missiles
from drones?
No.
Does the U.S. target with drones only people it cannot arrest and put on
trial?
No.
Name three former top U.S. officials who have warned that drone wars produce
more enemies than they kill.
Michael T. Flynn is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who
served as the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, commander of the
Joint Functional Component Command for Intelligence, Surveillance and
Reconnaissance, and chair of the Military Intelligence Board from July 24,
2012, to August 2, 2014. Prior to this he served as assistant director of
national intelligence. He says: "We've tended to say, drop another bomb via
a drone and put out a headline that 'we killed Abu Bag of Doughnuts' and it
makes us all feel good for 24 hours. And you know what? It doesn’t matter.
It just made them a martyr, it just created a new reason to fight us even
harder." He also says: "When you drop a bomb from a drone… you are going to
cause more damage than you are going to cause good. The more weapons we
give, the more bombs we drop, that just… fuels the conflict."
Former CIA Bin Laden Unit Chief Michael Scheuer says the more the U.S.
fights terrorism the more it creates terrorism.
Admiral Dennis Blair, the former director of National Intelligence wrote in
the New York Times that while "drone attacks did help reduce the Qaeda
leadership in Pakistan, they also increased hatred of America" and damaged
"our ability to work with Pakistan [in] eliminating Taliban sanctuaries,
encouraging Indian-Pakistani dialogue, and making Pakistan's nuclear arsenal
more secure."
The Guardian reported on January 7, 2013: "Michael Boyle, who was on Obama's
counter-terrorism group in the run-up to his election in 2008, said the US
administration's growing reliance on drone technology was having 'adverse
strategic effects that have not been properly weighed against the tactical
gains associated with killing terrorists … The vast increase in the number
of deaths of low-ranking operatives has deepened political resistance to the
US programme in Pakistan, Yemen and other countries.'"
The New York Times reported on March 22, 2013: "Gen. James E. Cartwright,
the former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a favored adviser
during Mr. Obama's first term, expressed concern in a speech here on
Thursday that America's aggressive campaign of drone strikes could be
undermining long-term efforts to battle extremism. 'We're seeing that
blowback. If you're trying to kill your way to a solution, no matter how
precise you are, you’re going to upset people even if they're not
targeted.'"
"The CIA station chief in Islamabad thought the drone strikes in 2005 and
2006 — which, while infrequent at that time, were often based on bad
intelligence and had resulted in many civilian casualties — had done little
except fuel hatred for the United States inside Pakistan and put Pakistani
officials in the uncomfortable position of having to lie about the strikes."
-- The Way of the Knife, Mark Mazzetti, Kindle loc. 2275.
A leaked internal CIA document admits the U.S. drone program is
counterproductive.
You wouldn't know this from New York Times reports, but a New York Times
editorial blurts it out as obvious: "Of course, we already know that torture
and drone strikes pose a profound threat to America’s national security and
the safety of its citizens abroad. After all, the murderers of the Islamic
State did not dress their victims in orange jumpsuits for no reason; they
did it to evoke the horrors of the Guantánamo prison camp."
Many more here.
Name three current or former top U.S. officials who maintain that every
nation must have equal and identical rights in the use of drones.
Hard to do, huh? There aren't any.
Which nations did former NATO commander Wesley Clark say the Pentagon wanted
to overthrow in 2003, and which nations did former Prime Minister of the
U.K. Tony Blair say that U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney wanted to overthrow
at the same time? What has happened to those nations?
Clark: Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO from 1997 to 2000 Wesley
Clark claims that in 2001, Secretary of War Donald Rumsfeld put out a memo
proposing to take over seven countries in five years: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon,
Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Iran.
Blair: The basic outline of this plan was confirmed by none other than
former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who in 2010 pinned it on former
Vice President Dick Cheney: "Cheney wanted forcible 'regime change' in all
Middle Eastern countries that he considered hostile to U.S. interests,
according to Blair. 'He would have worked through the whole lot, Iraq,
Syria, Iran, dealing with all their surrogates in the course of it —
Hezbollah, Hamas, etc.,' Blair wrote. 'In other words, he [Cheney] thought
the world had to be made anew, and that after 11 September, it had to be
done by force and with urgency. So he was for hard, hard power. No ifs, no
buts, no maybes.'"
A number of countries may owe their safety to the difficulties the United
States had for years in Iraq. But Libya and Syria and Sudan can't say that
anymore, and Iran is constantly threatened.
In which nations of the world do the highest percentages of people say they
would go to war for their nation?
In a 2014 Gallup poll, 68 percent of Italians said they would NOT fight for
their country, while 20 percent said they would. In Germany 62 percent said
they would not, while 18 percent said they would. In the Czech Republic, 64
percent would not fight for their country, while 23 percent would. In the
Netherlands, 64 percent would not fight for their country, while 15 percent
would. In Belgium, 56 percent would not, while 19 percent would. Even in the
UK, 51 percent would not participate in a UK war, while 27 percent would. In
France, Iceland, Ireland, Spain, and Switzerland, more people would refuse
to be part of a war than would agree. The same goes for Australia and
Canada. In Japan only 10 percent would fight for their country. The United
States manages 44 percent claiming a willingness to fight and 31 percent
refusing. By no means is that the world record. Israel is at 66 percent
ready to fight and 13 percent not. Afghanistan is at 76 to 20. Russia,
Sweden, Finland, and Greece are all ready to fight with strong majorities.
Argentina and Denmark have ties between those who would fight and those who
would not. Luckily almost everyone who says they would fight fails to show
up at a recruiting station, but their responses still reflect a cultural
climate.
In which nations of the world are the highest percentages of the people
religious?
Here are the top 25 in order from the top down: Bangladesh, Sri Lanka,
Malawi, Indonesia, Yemen, Niger, Burundi, Djibouti, Mauritania, Somaliland,
Afghanistan, Morocco, Egypt, Comoros, Thailand, Cameroon, Malaysia, Nigeria,
Philippines, Cambodia, Senegal, Ghana, Zambia, Qatar, Algeria.
What percentage of human beings who have ever lived, and of human societies
that have ever existed, have experienced or participated in war?
For at least 90 percent of humans' existence our ancestors were hunter
gatherers who did not know war. Some complex sedentary societies over the
past 10,000 years, and mainly over the past 5,000 years, have known war,
while others have not. Societies have abandoned war for centuries and then
brought it back again, or not brought it back again. Even in some societies
that wage far more war than most, the vast majority of the population has no
involvement in it. Only for the past couple of centuries has war even
remotely resembled what it often is today. And war is changing so rapidly
that one might even reduce that to the past half-century.
In which nations of the world are children regularly told to pledge
allegiance to a flag?
The United States and the Philippines.
If you read that peace activists many years before your birth helped to end
a war or halt the production of a weapon, would a good teacher expect you to
write about that activism in the first person, using the word "we"?
It is highly unlikely.
If you read about the United States invading a Central American nation
before your birth, would a good teacher allow you to write about it in the
first person, using the word "we"?
Sadly, most U.S. teachers wouldn't think to question that.
Which nations of the world have not ratified the Convention on the Rights of
the Child? Why haven't they?
The United States. That's the only one. Various reasons have been offered
but it's worth noting that the United States routinely violates the terms of
this treaty, sentencing kids to life in prison, recruiting kids into the
military, failing to protect children's rights.
Which major military nations have not joined the International Criminal
Court, or the treaties banning land mines, cluster bombs, racial
discrimination, discrimination against women, or weapons in space, or those
establishing rights of migrant workers, regulating the arms trade, providing
protection from disappearances, defending the rights of people with
disabilities, or the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and
Cultural Rights, or the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights?
The one that covers all of those bases is the United States.
Which nation has used the power of its veto at the United Nations most
frequently and for what purpose?
The Soviet Union / Russia still holds the record, but over the past 40 years
the United States holds the record and has most commonly used the veto to
block other nations from holding Israel accountable for its actions.
How many people were killed or driven out of their homes during the 1948
creation of Israel?
Over 700,000, mostly driven into exile from which they and their descendants
have not been permitted to return.
Who was the last president to propose abolishing the CIA?
John F. Kennedy.
What president created the CIA and came to regret it?
Harry S. Truman, who published an op-ed lamenting what he'd done in the
Washington Post exactly one month after the assassination of President
Kennedy.
What was the Safari Club?
During the 1970s, when Congress was attempting to exercise oversight over
the CIA, foreign governments allied with the United States secretly pooled
their resources in order to keep doing, together with the CIA, exactly what
they wanted to do, without having to ask Congress for funding. They called
this operation the Safari Club. During the 1980s Congress denied President
Reagan funding to arm rightwing militias in Nicaragua, so he secretly raised
funds selling weapons to Iran. That operation became the Iran Contra
Scandal. The Safari Club never became a scandal.
Which article of the U.S. Constitution sanctions secret agencies?
None.
How does war preparation and weapons testing benefit human and environmental
health?
It doesn't. As one example among thousands, at least 33,480 U.S. nuclear
weapons workers who have received compensation for health damage are now
dead. That's not counting those who lived downwind of tests.
Have more U.S. citizens been killed by working on nuclear weapons, fighting
in wars, being victimized by foreign terrorists, or by domestic gun
violence, or smoking cigarettes? What are the numbers?
For working on nukes see #157 above. Fighting in wars, officially 4488 in
the latest wars in Iraq, 2229 in Afghanistan, not counting "contractors" or
those who die later of their wounds or those who commit suicide. Foreign
terrorism since 2001, including 9/11: 3380. Gun violence during that same
time period: 406,496. Cigarettes: over 480,000 dead in a single year.
How many U.S. wars has the U.S. Institute for Peace opposed since its
creation?
None, although it did support the Iran nuclear agreement of 2015 even while
pushing for more war in Syria and Afghanistan.
What do the people of Diego Garcia, Koho'alawe, the Aleutian Islands, Bikini
Atoll, Kwajalein Atoll, Culebra, Vieques, Okinawa, Thule, the Aetas, the
Cherokee, and most native peoples of the United States have in common?
Removal of entire populations by the military.
What percentage of U.S. wars are marketed as promoting freedom?
100%.
During what percentage of U.S. wars are civil liberties in the United States
curtailed?
100%.
How many average Europeans, Asians, Africans, or Latin Americans would it
take to damage the natural environment as much as the average person in the
United States?
There are a lot of ways to measure that. On carbon emissions, Luxembourg is
worse than the United States, but it would take almost two Norwegians or
almost three Chinese or almost four average persons from the whole world.
What single institution creates the most environmental destruction?
No other institution in the United States consumes nearly as much oil as the
military.
How did women in the United States and around the world vote themselves the
right to vote?
They didn't. They organized, educated, protested, lobbied, went to jail,
fasted, and won the right to vote through a variety of nonviolent tactics,
just as most serious social change has been won, with elections playing a
very minor role.
What did it take to win children's rights in the United States?
See numbers 165 and 149 above.
What is the Vietnam Syndrome?
War proponents gave that label as of a sickness to popular resistance to
wars in the United States following the Vietnam fiasco.
What were the most successful tactics of the Civil Rights movement?
Nonviolent sit-ins, bus rides, voter registration drives, and marches.
How many corporations control most major U.S. media outlets?
Not many. TV and radio: 10. Print: 6.
How was Apartheid officially ended in South Africa?
Through global solidarity with a nonviolent resistance movement.
What happened on Rosenstrasse?
Spontaneous unplanned nonviolent resistance to Nazism won its demands and
then failed to continue.
Which have succeeded more often and with longer lasting successes in
struggles against tyranny during the past 100 years, violent or nonviolent
revolutions?
Nonviolent.
Who were the Wobblies?
Members of the Industrial Workers of the World, a visionary labor union
formed in 1905.
What was the Prague Spring?
A period in the history of Czechoslovakia that included nonviolent
resistance to Soviet military occupation.
Who was A.J. Muste?
A leader of the U.S. labor movement, the U.S. peace movement, and of the
development of nonviolent activist tactics.
What percentage of prisoners ever kept in the U.S. prison at Guantanamo had
been convicted of terrorism?
Zero.
What three interlocking evils did Martin Luther King Jr. say needed to be
ended?
Racism, Militarism, and Extreme Materialism.
When did the people of Hawaii vote to join the United States?
Never.
Why did the United States bomb West Virginia?
In 1921, a labor struggle in Logan County turned violent, becoming the
Battle of Blair Mountain, during which the United States bombed its own
citizens from the air.
Why did the United States drop nuclear bombs on North Carolina?
It was an accident, one of hundreds that have occurred with nukes.
Why did the British end the occupation of India?
The people of India nonviolently showed the British the door.
Who was Abdul Ghaffar Khan?
The "Frontier Gandhi" was a Muslim Pashtun friend of Mohandas Gandhi who
formed the first nonviolent army and worked for peace.
When was the damage from Agent Orange finally cleaned up in Vietnam?
It hasn't been.
How did Norwegian teachers have to teach under Nazi occupation?
However they liked, as they collectively refused to obey Nazi orders.
Which nations resisted Nazi orders to kill Jews most successfully?
Bulgaria and Denmark probably lead the list.
Why did duelling end?
Because it was not only legally banned but culturally scorned, mocked, and
ridiculed.
Why did Marcos' rule of the Philippines end?
Because the people of the Philippines used nonviolent action.
Who kidnapped the President of Haiti in 2004?
The United States.
Who was Claudette Colvin?
The first activist arrested for refusing to move to the back of a bus in
Montgomery, Alabama, nine months before Rosa Parks. The movement was not yet
ready.
What was the income tax created to pay for?
World War II. And, following an established pattern, it remained in place
after the war. Alexander Hamilton argued in Federalist No. 30, as he and his
allies argued elsewhere, for the federal power to tax precisely because the
federal government might need to fight wars. Between 1789 and 1815, tariffs
produced 90 percent of government revenue. But taxes were needed for wars,
including wars against protests of the taxes -- such as President
Washington's quashing of the Whiskey Rebellion. A property tax was put in
place in 1789 in order to build up a Navy. More taxes were needed in 1798
because of the troublesome French. But taxation really got going with the
War of 1812. Congress passed a tax program in 1812 that included a direct
tax on land, and excise taxes on retailers, stills, auction sales, sugar,
bank notes, and carriages. And in 1815, Congress created lots of new taxes
to pay for the disastrous war. The idea of an income tax was raised but
rejected. The income tax was created for the Civil War, by both sides. But
with the end of war came the end of support for taxes, and the income tax
and the inheritance tax lapsed temporarily in 1872, only to be restored by
World War I. New taxes were created in 1914, 1916, 1917, and 1918. The
income tax was now back in a big way, along with the estate tax, a munitions
tax, an excess profits tax, and other heavy taxes on corporations. The
munitions and profits taxes were results of an ongoing debate through most
of U.S. history over how to tax war profiteering. Until the current century,
profiting financially from war was widely considered unacceptable. Following
World War I, various taxes were no longer needed. In 1921 and 1924 Congress
repealed the excess profits tax but left the income tax in place, rather
than adopting a sales tax favored by business groups. The top rate of
taxation on income was reduced from 77% to 25%, but that was still more than
double where it had been before the war. Meanwhile, the estate tax remained
in place, and corporate taxes were actually increased during the 1920s.
Taxation and progressive taxation survived the outbreak of peace. But
nothing resembling modern taxation levels was seen until World War II, when
income taxes began to be paid by a much larger number of people. Corporate
taxes were increased as well, with a top statutory rate of 95%, and
generating almost a third of wartime revenue. An excess profits tax came
within a month of the draft, both of which came before Pearl Harbor. In 1943
Congress overrode a presidential veto to shift the tax burden more heavily
onto working people. Corporations would never again to this day shoulder the
share of public funding that they had in the early years of World War II.
But personal income tax levels have remained roughly where they were during
the war.
How did the United States prevent the Three Mile Island accident from
killing anyone?
It didn't.
Did more U.S. troops die in Vietnam or from suicide after returning home?
Suicide after returning home.
What is the leading cause of death for U.S. troops sent to U.S. wars in
recent years?
Suicide.
Why did Congresswoman Barbara Lee say she was voting against the Global War
on Terrorism in 2001?
Listen to her say it.
Who did the U.S. attack with chemical weapons in 1932?
World War I veterans camped out in Washington DC.
How did a ban on war get into the Japanese Constitution and who has been
trying to remove it ever since?
The U.S. occupying army's Douglas MacArthur and a longtime peace activist
Japanese prime minister put it there, using roughly the language of the
Kellogg-Briand Pact. The United States then tried to compel Japan to remove
it during the Korean War, the War on Vietnam, and ever since.
Who assassinated the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi in 1994?
The leading suspect is Paul Kagame who had U.S. support. A mass killing
followed.
Who killed Paul Robeson, Ernest Hemingway, and John Wayne?
The U.S. government.
How do U.S. gun laws reduce gun violence better than Australia's?
They don't.
Who overthrew the government of Honduras in 2009?
Rightwing opponents trained by the United States who immediately gained the
support of the United States.
How many people were killed in the recent Russian military invasion of
Ukraine?
Zero.
Why do the people of Okinawa so strongly support the presence of U.S.
military bases on their island?
They don't.
What was the anti-imperialist league?
An organization established in 1898 to oppose the expansion of U.S. empire.
Member included Charles Francis Adams, Jr., Jane Addams, Felix Adler, Edward
Atkinson, Ambrose Bierce, George S. Boutwell, Gamaliel Bradford, John G.
Carlisle, Andrew Carnegie, Grover Cleveland, Donelson Caffery, Theodore L.
Cuyler, John Dewey, Finley Peter Dunne, George F. Edmunds, Edwin Lawrence
Godkin, Samuel Gompers, William Dean Howells, Henry James, William James,
Henry U. Johnson, Reverdy Johnson, David Starr Jordan, William Larrabee,
Josephine Shaw Lowell, Edgar Lee Masters, William Vaughn Moody, Hazen S.
Pingree, Carl Schurz, John Sherman, Moorfield Storey, Mark Twain, Morrison
I. Swift, William Graham Sumner, Oswald Garrison Villard.
What was the outlawry movement?
A movement of the 1920s that sought to make war illegal and did so through
the creation of the Kellogg-Briand Pact.
What law was General Custer enforcing when he died?
None. He was violating a treaty.
Who urged all scientists to refuse any military work in 1931?
Albert Einstein.
Who was Garry Davis?
The creator of the World Passport and promoter of the idea of world
citizenship.
Who was Jane Addams?
She received the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize as one of that minority of Nobel
Peace Prize winners over the years who actually met the qualifications laid
out in Alfred Nobel's will. Addams worked in many fields toward the creation
of a society capable of living without war. In 1898 Addams joined the
Anti-Imperialist League to oppose the U.S. war on the Philippines. When
World War I began, she led international efforts to try to resolve and end
it. She presided over the International Congress of Women in The Hague in
1915. And when the United States entered the war she spoke out publicly
against the war in the face of vicious accusations of treason. She was the
first leader of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom in
1919 and of its predecessor organization in 1915. Jane Addams was part of
the movement in the 1920s that made war illegal through the Kellogg-Briand
Pact. She helped found the ACLU and the NAACP, helped win women’s suffrage,
helped reduce child labor, and created the profession of social worker,
which she viewed as a means of learning from immigrants and building
democracy, not as participation in charity. She created Hull House in
Chicago, started a kindergarten, educated adults, supported labor
organizing, and opened the first playground in Chicago. Jane Addams authored
a dozen books and hundreds of articles. She opposed the Treaty of Versailles
that ended World War I and predicted that it would lead to a German war of
revenge.
What was the New England Non-Resistance Society?
Founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 1838, its work would influence Thoreau,
Tolstoy, and Gandhi. It was formed in part by radicals upset with the
timidity of the American Peace Society which refused to oppose all violence.
The new group's Constitution and Declaration of Sentiments, drafted
primarily by William Lloyd Garrison, stated, in part: "We cannot acknowledge
allegiance to any human government… Our country is the world, our countrymen
are all mankind… We register our testimony, not only against all war —
whether offensive or defensive, but all preparations for war, against every
naval ship, every arsenal, every fortification; against the militia system
and a standing army; against all military chieftains and soldiers; against
all monuments commemorative of victory over a foreign foe, all trophies won
in battle, all celebrations in honor of military or naval exploits; against
all appropriations for the defense of a nation by force and arms on the part
of any legislative body; against every edict of government requiring of its
subjects military service. Hence, we deem it unlawful to bear arms or to
hold a military office… " The New England Non-Resistance Society actively
campaigned for change, including feminism and the abolition of slavery.
Members disturbed church meetings to protest inaction on slavery. Members as
well as their leaders often faced the violence of angry mobs, but always
they refused to return the injury. The Society attributed to this
nonresistance the fact that none of its members were ever killed.
What ended friendly relations between Eisenhower and Khrushchev?
The United States flew a U-2 spy plane over the Soviet Union, which shot it
down, and Eisenhower lied about it. Conflicts including the Cuban Missile
Crisis would follow.
When did Armistice Day become Veterans Day and why?
Armistice Day was transformed into Veterans Day after the Korean War in
order to turn what had been a day of opposition to war into a day of support
for war.
What was the Iran-Contra scandal?
Senior Ronald Reagan administration officials secretly facilitated the sale
of weapons to Iran, which was the subject of an arms embargo. They hoped
thereby to secure the release of several U.S. hostages, and to fund the
Contras in Nicaragua. Under the Boland Amendment, further funding of the
Contras by the U.S. government had been prohibited by Congress.
What is the Kellogg-Briand Pact?
A treaty to which most big nations of the world are party, including the
United States, which bans all war.
Which recent wars have complied with the Kellogg-Briand Pact?
None.
Which recent wars have complied with the United Nations Charter?
None.
Which recent wars have complied with the separation of powers stipulated in
the U.S. Constitution?
In no case has Congress declared war. The Constitutionality of an open-ended
"Authorization for the Use of Military Force" is dubious, but a great deal
of U.S. warmaking has not been covered even by one of those. For example,
the 2011 war on Libya.
If the U.S. Supreme Court had allowed the state of Florida to count all its
votes in 2000, who would have become president of the United States in 2001?
Al Gore.
What thwarted efforts by the African Union to negotiate peace in Libya in
2011?
In March 2011 the African Union had a plan for peace in Libya but was
prevented by NATO, through the creation of a "no fly zone" and the
initiation of bombing, to travel to Libya to discuss it. In April, the
African Union was able to discuss its plan with Ghadafi, and he expressed
his agreement. NATO, which had obtained UN authorization to protect Libyans
alleged to be in danger but no authorization to continue bombing the country
or to overthrow the government, continued bombing the country and
overthrowing the government.
Who proposed a peace process for Syria in 2012 that would have included a
change of government?
Russia.
Who dismissed it out of hand?
The United States.
What did the U.S. military / White House plan for Syria in 2013 before being
blocked by public, international, and Congressional pressure?
Seymour Hersh reports: "Obama ordered the Pentagon to draw up targets for
bombing. Early in the process, the former intelligence official said, 'the
White House rejected 35 target sets provided by the joint chiefs of staff as
being insufficiently "painful" to the Assad regime.' The original targets
included only military sites and nothing by way of civilian infrastructure.
Under White House pressure, the US attack plan evolved into 'a monster
strike': two wings of B-52 bombers were shifted to airbases close to Syria,
and navy submarines and ships equipped with Tomahawk missiles were deployed.
'Every day the target list was getting longer,' the former intelligence
official told me. 'The Pentagon planners said we can't use only Tomahawks to
strike at Syria's missile sites because their warheads are buried too far
below ground, so the two B-52 air wings with two-thousand pound bombs were
assigned to the mission. Then we'll need standby search-and-rescue teams to
recover downed pilots and drones for target selection. It became huge.' The
new target list was meant to 'completely eradicate any military capabilities
Assad had', the former intelligence official said. The core targets included
electric power grids, oil and gas depots, all known logistic and weapons
depots, all known command and control facilities, and all known military and
intelligence buildings."
When the CIA produced a report in 2013 on past successes of arming local
proxy armies, what was missing from the report?
Missing were any successes. The report found a long string of failures. The
one success it claimed was the arming of fighters in Afghanistan against the
Soviet Union, a "success" that helped create al Qaeda.
Which nations still use the death penalty?
Most nations have banned it, but 37 still allow it, and 22 used it in 2014.
Six killed more than 25 people that year. Here they are in order from the
country that killed the most people down to the least: China, Iran, Saudi
Arabia, Iraq, North Korea, the United States.
In how many nations in history have the majority of rape victims been male?
As far as we know, outside of prison, none, but it is estimated that in the
current United States, because of its enormous and brutal prison system,
such a nation for the first time exists.
How many unarmed people do U.S. police kill each year?
Hundreds, but the U.S. government does not count them.
Which stages of the criminal justice process in the United States are
racially biased?
All of them, from neighborhoods patrolled, people stopped and questioned,
people arrested, people charged with greater offenses, people sentenced to
heavier sentences.
How much wealth do the average white, black, and Latino households have in
the U.S.?
The median white household now has 13 times the wealth of the median black
household and 10 times that of the median Latino household. With 10% of
whites in the U.S. officially in poverty, for blacks it's 27% and for
Latinos 24%.
What percentage of U.S. military spending could end starvation on earth?
Three percent.
What percentage could provide the world with clean drinking water?
One percent.
What percentage could double U.S. investment in clean energy?
Three percent.
Is clean coal clean?
No.
Is natural gas natural?
No, its removal from the ground and its use are destroying nature.
Is safe nuclear power safe?
No.
Which nations are getting the highest percentage of their energy from
sustainable sources?
In order from the top down: Costa Rica, Lesotho, Bhutan, Paraguay, Albania,
Iceland, Mozambique, Zambia, DRC, Nepal, Ethiopia, Burundi, Norway, Belize,
Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Namibia, Malawi, Central African Republic,
Togo, Brazil, Uganda, Colombia, Afghanistan, Austria, Mali, Kenya, Georgia,
Cameroon, Burma, New Zealand, Sudan, Angola, North Korea, Zimbabwe, Sierra
Leone, Ghana, Guatemala, Latvia, Fiji, Venezuela, Madagascar, Canada,
Panama, Uruguay, Republic of the Congo, Switzerland, El Salvador, Sweden,
and dozens more before the United States makes it into the list.
Which nation did people in the most countries around the world view as the
greatest threat to peace on earth in a 2013 Gallup poll?
The United States.
Is terrorism among the top 100 causes of death in the United States?
No.
What are 10 of them?
The top 10 are heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory diseases,
accidents, stroke, Alzheimer's, diabetes, influenza and pneumonia,
nephritis, suicide.
Does domestic terrorism in the United States kill more or fewer people than
foreign terrorism?
More.
What percentage of foreign terrorists in the United States provide a clear
explanation of their motives?
Most if not all.
What do they say?
They object to U.S. support for Israeli attacks on Palestinians, and U.S.
bases, bombings, and occupations in the Middle East.



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