[Peace-discuss] Sisters are doin' it for themselves

[J.B. Nicholson]

Karen Aram wrote:
> I’m inundated with postings of both AOC and Tulsi, they get a lot of
> coverage from mainstream media, unlike Jill Stein, Ajamu Baraka, and
> anyone else who speaks out against USFP. In fact, most of the websites
> providing information related to foreign policy are being censored or
> closed down, so one must question Tulsi, and I have yet to hear her go
> into any indepth analysis related to our wars, she supposedly opposes.
> AOC to my knowledge has yet to comment on FP.
Check out:

https://theintercept.com/2018/01/20/tulsi-gabbard-syria-isis-al-qaeda/ -- a 
brief article on Rep. Gabbard's endorsing drone war.

https://theintercept.com/2018/01/17/intercepted-podcast-white-mirror/ -- 
the full transcript and one link to audio of her interview on which the 
former link is based.

https://traffic.megaphone.fm/PPY1407171456.mp3 -- another copy of the 
interview audio.

In this interview, published January 17, 2018, you can hear her endorse 
drone war and propaganda including "quick strike forces", "surgical 
strikes", support "no long-term deployment, no long-term occupation":

> Jeremy Scahill: I’m wondering what your position, I know that in the
> past you have said that you favor a small footprint approach with strike
> forces and limited use of weaponized drones. Is that still your position
> that you think that’s the — to the extent that you believe the U.S.
> military should be used around the world for counterterrorism, is that
> still your position?
> 
> Rep. Tulsi Gabbard: Well, when we’re dealing with the unconventional
> threat of terrorist groups like ISIS, al Qaeda and some of these other
> groups that are affiliated with them, we should not be using basically
> what has been and continues to be the current policy of these mass
> mobilization of troops, these long occupations and trillions of dollars
> going in, really abusing the Authorization to Use Military Force and
> taking action that expands far beyond the legal limitations of those
> current AUMFs.
> 
> So, with these terrorist cells, for example, yes, I do still believe
> that the right approach to take is these quick strike forces, surgical
> strikes, in and out, very quickly, no long-term deployment, no long-term
> occupation to be able to get rid of the threat that exists and then get
> out and the very limited use of drones in those situations where our
> military is not able to get in without creating an unacceptable level of
> risk, and where you can make sure that you’re not causing, you know, a
> large amount of civilian casualties.

Whatever wars she opposes, she might only oppose them on the basis of a 
technical detail concerning how those wars are being carried out. Perhaps 
she'd rather the US carry out wars with drones instead of "long-term 
occupation" and other forms of what are sometimes called 'boots on the ground'.

Drone wars extrajudicially kill mostly innocent people who happen to be 
near the target of the attack. The US apparently doesn't care about killing 
Americans, children, or respecting due process.

But she's in good company: The "Military-Industrial Complex is now run by 
women" according to Redacted Tonight's Lee Camp in 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FOGowwQToM -- Lee is correct: most of the 
American weapons manufacturer CEOs are now women. The way MSNBC talks about 
this (in a report Redacted Tonight's Naomi Karavani shows us) we're 
supposed to as progress in the correct direction.

MSNBC asks (and answers) "Who runs the world?":

> The CEOs of 4 of the 5 biggest defense contractors are in fact women:
> Northrop Grumman (CEO Kathy Warden), Lockheed Martin (CEO Marillyn
> Hewson), General Dynamics (CEO Phebe Novakovic), and Boeing's defense
> wing (President & CEO Leanna Caret). There's also America's lead weapons
> negotiator the Undersecretary of State for Arms Control (Andrea
> Thompson) and the Undersecretary of State for Energy for Nuclear
> Security (Lisa Gordon-Hagerty) also a woman, she runs the world's
> largest nuclear stockpile.

Related: 
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/02/how-women-took-over-the-military-industrial-complex-1049860 
(or https://archive.fo/MHWwp which doesn't require Javascript to read) -- 
David Brown on "How women took over the military-industrial complex":

> It’s a watershed for what has always been a male-dominated bastion, the 
> culmination of decades of women entering science and engineering fields 
> and knocking down barriers as government agencies and the private
> sector increasingly weigh merit over machismo.
> 
> And, as Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson told POLITICO, it's also the
> result of "quieting that little voice in your head that doubts whether
> you can do that next job or take on that special assignment."
> 
> “I think there’s critical mass, where you have enough women that
> they’re getting noticed,” said Rachel McCaffrey, a retired Air Force
> colonel and executive director of Women in Defense, a career development
> and networking organization affiliated with the National Defense
> Industrial Association, a leading industry group.

Raytheon partnered with the Girl Scouts -- see 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0atqH8pmMzg for the full promotional clip. 
Raytheon calls their partnership "Thinking like a programmer" and "making 
the world a safer place". Saudi Arabia has been using 
US-supplied/Raytheon-made bombs to kill Yemeni civilians (including 
children) as Ben Norton wrote about in 
https://www.mintpressnews.com/saudi-arabia-kills-civilians-in-yemen-with-another-us-made-raytheon-bomb/251104/