OMNI: WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS, #43, October 13, 2021

 

43. WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS, October 13, 2021

CONTENTS: US WARS: Indian Wars to War of Terror, 16TH TO 21ST CENTURY
War of Extermination of Native Americans:  Indigenous People’s Day,  
     October 11, 2021
Brown University's Costs of War Project, War of Terror
War Profiteers War of Terror

 

WAR OF EXTERMINATION OF NATIVE N. AMERICANS

Honor Indigenous Peoples' Day, October 11, 2021, Veterans for Peace, 10-8-21 The federal holiday commemorating the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the “New World” is an affront to Indigenous peoples everywhere and particularly to native peoples of the Americas.  Veterans For Peace believes that the federal holiday commemorating the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the “New World” is an affront to Indigenous peoples everywhere and particularly to native peoples of the Americas. The annual observance of Columbus Day here at home and our continued wars and occupations abroad are rooted in racism, xenophobia and militarism. We understand that the struggle for Indigenous rights cannot be decoupled from other movements for equality and justice. We believe that violence and injustice must be challenged and ended in all its forms and that human dignity must be protected and defended. The Columbus Day holiday is a symbol of oppression and a violation of this dignity. The Columbus Day holiday is one barrier to the healing of the deep wounds of this nation’s violent founding and colonization and to the recognition and protection of Indigenous rights. We, therefore, call on the federal government to join the more than two dozen U.S. cities, including Phoenix, Denver, Seattle and Minneapolis, and the states of South Dakota and Vermont, in replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

US TWO-DECADE WAR OF TERROR 2001 TO PRESENT: $8 TRILLION PLUS:  Brown University's Costs of War Project TOMDISPATCH, TOMGRAM, October 12, 2021 “It's hard to imagine how I would have done my work at TomDispatch over the last decade without one crucial resource: Brown University's Costs of War Project. After all, that website has offered a remarkable look at America's misbegotten twenty-first-century wars. Since it was launched in 2010, it's been a constant source of crucial information on this country's forever wars -- with a focus on their costs (in every sense of the term). If you visit that site now, for instance, you'll find out that a reasonable (if breathtaking) estimate of the cost of those wars over the last two decades would be $8 trillion (not including the $2.2 trillion needed to care for the American veterans of those conflicts over the next 30 years); that the now-ended war in Afghanistan alone cost the American taxpayer $2.313 trillion; that, by the estimate of that project's researchers, close to a million people have already died in those very wars, including almost 400,000 civilians; that those same conflicts have created at least 38 million refugees and displaced people and so, thanks to growing streams of desperate migrants, helped change the politics of the planet (for the worse); and that this country has conducted counterterrorism operations in 85 countries. And mind you, that's only to begin to summarize the work produced by the Costs of War Project.”

 

1.     FINANCIAL COSTS OF WAR: THE PROFITEERS Trillions and trillions to War Profiteers Forward by Fran Alexander	Sep 13, 2021, 10:21 PM (2 days ago)

Nearly a third of all Pentagon contracts have gone to 5 major weapon contractors, says Brown report
Nearly a third of all Pentagon contracts ... - The Boston Globe

An estimated $4.4 trillion of the $14.1 trillion spent by the Pentagon went toward weapons procurement, research, and development, according to a new report by the Costs of War Project

By Alexa Gagosz Globe Staff,Updated September 13, 2021, 2:55 p.m.

An American flag flies in front of the facade of Raytheon's Integrated Defense Systems facility in Woburn, Mass.Elise Amendola/Associated Press

PROVIDENCE — The Pentagon has spent more than $14 trillion [total since the war in Afghanistan, began] with “one-third to one-half” of the total going to military contracts, according to a newly released report by the Costs of War Project at Brown University.   MORE

According to the report, which outlines the corporate beneficiaries of post-9/11 Pentagon spending, one-quarter to one-third of all contracts in recent years have been awarded to just five major corporations: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, Waltham, Mass.-based Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman.

An estimated $4.4 trillion of the $14.1 trillion spent by the Pentagon went toward weapons procurement and research and development, which primarily benefitted corporate contractors, according to the report. William Hartung, director of the Arms and Security Program at the Center for International Policy and author of the report, called this estimate “conservative.”

“The reaction to the 9/11 attacks created a political climate that opened the floodgates to massive increases in Pentagon spending, with few questions asked. In the era of America’s ‘war on terror,’ trillions of dollars have gone straight to the biggest military contractors,” said Hartung.
MORE    https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/09/13/metro/nearly-third-all-pentagon-contracts-have-gone-5-major-weapon-contractors-says-brown-Report/?s_campaign=breakingnews:newsletter
Alexa Gagosz can be reached at alexa.gagosz@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @alexagagosz.