Thanks to The Dominion Post for publishing my letter to the editor in today's paper. Letter was titled (title was added by the newspaper editors, who I thought did a good job editing/placing the text) "Vote No on Any Further 'Intervention' in Mideast." 

Any other newspapers/websites are welcome to cut and paste my letter (below is the full version, untitled), which provides my condensed viewpoint/statement, with the condition that any newspapers/websites publishing this use my name as the author:

Letter (edited version) as appeared in The Dominion Post, 9/12/2013:

http://ee.dominionpost.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=DominionPost&BaseHref=DPost/2013/09/12&EntityId=Ar00400&ViewMode=GIF

Thoughts & prayers are with 9/11 families.

The phone line from Flight 93 was still open when a GTE operator heard Todd Beamer say: 'Are you guys ready? Let's roll'

Sunday, September 16, 2001

By Jim McKinnon, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Does anyone in our government honestly and seriously believe that the ignorant, simplistic writing "no boots on the ground" on a piece of paper in Washington, D.C. will ACTUALLY prevent boots ending up on the ground when missiles are launched after foolishly choosing sides in Syria?

Friends, this is a 100 percent FALSE promise and complete nonsense/wishful thinking. 

This is the same nonsense/wishful thinking of the ignorant war criminals who claimed that the United States could play God in the Middle East, that through the barrel of a gun, America could, from the outside, impose its "perfect will" on Iraq, which would magically transform Iraq and "the entire Middle East" into a "free, democratic" utopia. It is the same lie that claimed the United States could somehow prevent sectarian violence which continues today. 

In fact, all the top-down scams and schemes over the oil in the Middle East has done nothing but lead to the situation we are facing today. Let us not forget the fact that the vast bulk of the monetary "wealth" and Earthly "power" taken by force from all the killing, death and suffering surrounding oil and the control of the global economy is not in the hands of "We, the People," in any country, but in the hands of a very small handful of corrupt human farmers who call all the shots.

• There is no such thing as "Arab Spring." 
  
• In a manner similar to the U.S. and other states such as Russia and China with written constitutions, "elections" in the Middle East do not necessarily bring true democracy or freedom. 
  
• But like Iraq, the top-down schemes, shenanigans, crimes and corruption of the profiteering warmongers at the top merely switched one dictatorship for another. 
  

The American people cannot afford to continue believing the lies, scams and top-down propaganda coming over their television sets from officialdom and from the hijackers of our State, the masters whom they serve, the world's greatest terrorists at the top who have managed to turn the State completely against "We, the People." 

Working people in this country today are working ourselves ever further into poverty, while having ever less of a chance of economic mobility, thanks to the usury, debt (think housing scam, 2008 collapse, bailouts, etc.) and low-wage "global free market." (See "Harder for Americans to Rise from Lower Rungs," New York Times, 2012.)

Friends, why are so many in our government so quick and willing to jump on every war bandwagon that comes down the pike? But why are so few in our government willing to stand up and represent the single working mother stringing together three low-paying jobs just to make ends meet? Who TRULY speaks for the hard-working people in America? Who TRULY has our interests at heart? Who can we depend on to represent us? Many claim to represent us, but very few actually do.

Since so many corrupt politicians in Washington are so quick to catch war fever while so few are willing to speak up for working people, I will take on the duty of speaking up.

Consider an excerpt from this report that appeared in Huffington Post around the time of U.S. intervention in Libya. (Note: I do not favor any one news source, but I read ALL news sources, and recommend others do the same in order to best sort out for yourselves more hard information.) I believe this information is more than relevant and speaks to how much never-ending continuous "interventionism" and unnecessary wars of choice actually cost our nation, the taxpayers and hardworking people (of course "money" is only a small part of the true cost):

If you haven't already, I urge you (and all citizens) to read the full text of the "Military-Industrial Complex Speech, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961." 

Let me submit to you that the corrupt war-profiteers unduly manipulating decision-making in Washington, D.C. do not deserve any more money or power. Handing these psychopathic war criminals, the crony phonies and the royal families and aristocracies pulling the strings behind the scenes more of our time/labor/blood will not bring security, peace or freedom any where in the world and certainly not here or in the Middle East. They are going to have to kill me before they take another drop of my time/labor, blood, sweat and tears. I encourage everyone to fight back. Now is the time. Now is our time.

In fact, I know plenty of working single mothers and plenty of other families who can make much better use of these billions of dollars than the corrupt war criminals hiding back here in the rear so they can steal everyone's time/labor/blood. It is long past time that someone somewhere speak up for our working people and take action to get the State to work for the people rather than against the people. "We, the People" cannot afford to be under State surveillance, nor can we stand to be undermined any further. I say NO MORE BRIEFCASES OF CASH FLOWING FROM CORRUPT CRIMINALS AT THE TOP HERE WHO STOLE THIS TIME/LABOR/BLOOD FROM THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, NO MORE BRIEFCASES OF CASH TO CORRUPT CRIMINALS IN THE MIDDLE EAST, CASH WHICH PAYS FOR THINGS THAT WE KNOW NOT OF, AND WHICH CAN BE QUICKLY TURNED AGAINST AMERICAN INTERESTS, JUST LIKE FOOLISHLY TAKING SIDES IN SYRIA'S CIVIL WAR.

• The TRUTH is NO ONE CAN SEE THE FUTURE. 
  
• MANY thinking people, soldiers and veterans argue correctly that taking the side of a known enemy, Al-Qaeda, is the absolute WRONG DECISION and absolutely NOT in the best interests of the American people. 
  
• Once the U.S. takes a side in a civil war and once missiles are launched, NO ONE KNOWS exactly how events will unfold, how far the war in Syria will escalate, whether or not the war will spill over across Syria's borders, how many nations will get involved/join sides, or how many more people will die in Syria and/or across the globe. 
  
• Furthermore, no one knows whether a U.S. missile attack will backfire or potentially cause chemical weapons to further fall into the wrong hands. 
  
• Do not be fooled by crony phony baloney tyrants in suits (wolves in sheep's clothing) claiming to be "officials" or claiming to be "representatives," speaking from an office in Washington, D.C. These crony phonies have zero credibility and nearly all of what they're claiming is nonsense.
  

Friends, this is absolutely NOT a so-called "credibility" issue for the United States. Our country has thousands of nuclear warheads. Our country does not have a credibility issue. Likewise, our warriors and veterans who have put their lives on the line for the past 10 years do not have a credibility issue. I recommend you listen to people who have actually served in the Middle East.

We all make mistakes. No one is perfect. But no individual can keep one's "credibility" when he has already lost it. If you make a foolish comment, such as "red line," which is a clear mistake, you would be wise not to add an even worse mistake on top of a mistake. Making a greater mistake will not erase the previous mistake, nor will mistake on top of mistake somehow magically create credibility or trust.

Further, we must think about who exactly (or which group pulling the strings behind the scenes) was behind this kind of stepping-stone to war comment; who exactly was plotting and scheming to manufacture yet another war months ago? We must think about who may also be scheming to manufacture an unnecessary war with Iran and for what purpose?

Likewise all the propaganda about "sending a message" is nonsense. It is only special interests which are served by obscuring facts and logic and muddying the public's perception about "weapons of mass destruction." Actually, "weapons of mass destruction" is probably not the best way to think about nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. A better way to think about them is to think about why exactly nations have these weapons? A better way to think about these weapons is to consider that we have not to this day seen a nation attack or invade a nuclear-armed state. It is obvious that when the U.S. invaded Iraq, both officials and the corrupt masters hiding behind the scenes, knew for a fact that Iraq did not have nuclear capability. If Iraq had nuclear capability, the 2003 invasion would likely have not happened. 

As far as chemical weapons, it is possible that some of these weapons could have been moved into Syria before the invasion. But if this is so, then why has our government not provided satellite photos to the public showing this movement of chemical weapons? It's possible these weapons were moved at night or under some kind of cover or disguise; however, if there were "massive amounts" of weapons, as lying officials implied, then wouldn't it be likely that some movement would have been spotted? Either way, the American people own the evidence if it exists and it is long past time for us to see the proof, if it exists, of the so-called "weapons of mass destruction," that led to the invasion of Iraq, thousands of U.S. service members killed on the battlefield, or with arms and legs blown off, or having committed suicide, the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi people who were killed directly because of the Iraq War, through the war itself, ongoing sectarian violence, economic/social disruption, hunger, disease, poverty and more. 

Whether or not Iraq had chemical weapons at the time of the 2003 invasion, it is a fact that is beyond doubt that Saddam Hussein did not suddenly grow 1,000 feet tall overnight and leap over the ocean to directly threaten our shores, as the lying, corrupt "officials" implied in their fear-mongering propaganda. Who exactly is the "terrorist"? I submit that there are terrorists at the top, there is such as thing as terrorism through corruption, there is systemic terrorism and State terrorism and propaganda and manipulating a State to turn it against its own people, financially, economic and socially is also a form of terrorism.

Friends, turn off your television sets and talk to your friends and neighbors, people you know and trust, who have actually put their lives on the line in the Middle East. Listen to what your neighbors and veterans who have served have to say.

The Middle East is like an open wound. But continuous U.S. "interventionism" and Americanizing centuries-old sectarian conflicts is like scratching the wound, sticking your fingers in the wound continuously, so that the wound is always bleeding and never has the opportunity to heal. 

We are paying ever more of the true costs today of past "interventions" which have NOT brought peace to the Middle East. 

I recognize that life is war and there will be times when we will not be able to avoid war. 

However, a corrupt continuous "interventionism," getting unnecessarily involved in sectarian conflicts where there is absolutely no clear, imminent, direct threat to the U.S. and which on a fundamental level are actually none of our business because these countries and cultures DO NOT belong to us, in fact does nothing but prolong and escalate warfare unnecessarily, manufacture new enemies where none were before, while making the U.S. a target when we need not be. 

• We must begin to think beyond continuous military "interventionism" and think about what it will truly take in reality to bring a long-term, sustainable level of security to our country. The answer is not in cronyism, corruption and handing over all power to the State to put the citizenry under constant surveillance. 
  
• The answer is absolutely is NOT in the myth, lies and wishful thinking surrounding this corrupt continuous "interventionism" that is being pushed by the world's most ruthless terrorists at the top of the global economy. We cannot afford to empower these war criminals even further by allowing yet another unnecessary war of choice.
  
• We must begin thinking about how to end unnecessary and counter-productive "sanctions" on other countries and how to truly liberate global trade from the world's aristocracies while empowering the working/middle class in all countries. 
  
• As others have said, killing does not necessarily stop killing. 
  
• Likewise, missile strikes cannot necessarily erase all the problems in the world. Missiles cannot create a perfect world. More often than not, such strikes turn out to be counter-productive and can actually backfire, prolonging warfare, adding to further destabilization, economic/social disruption, while perpetuating unnecessary suffering, disease, hunger and death.
  

(Note: Share this post! This is the continuation of a series of essays by author and Iraq War veteran Theodore Webb concerning questions about security and the true nature of the State. For a full description of the colossal dangers of the surveillance-police State, a full and thorough rebuttal of fear, a deconstruction of the claim that "handing over all our rights will make us 'secure,'" then read my novel, "The STARLING Connection.")

Considering the vast corruption, false manufacture of a yet another unnecessary and counter-productive war in the Middle East, a THIRD war which has the real potential to lead to World War III, with the psychopathic powers-that-be launching their lies full force against the American people WHO DO NOT WANT ANOTHER WAR, is it not time for the American people to rise up? Is it not time for the American people firmly take their power that is rightfully ours and add a Constitutional Amendment to put the power to declare war to a direct vote?

Such a Constitutional Amendment would read something like this, "No war or military action can continue longer than 60 days without a formal declaration of war by the American people. The President and/or Congress can only engage military force for no longer than 60 days. Beyond 60 days, Presidential and Congressional authority ends absolutely and war can only be declared and authorized by a direct vote of the American people. Neither Congress, the President or any public official, branch of government or State agency or department, has the authority or power to commit the United States of America to continuous warfare without the DIRECT VOTE of the American people authorizing war. "

I envision a national vote in which every citizen participates to answer the question of war authorization, a vote of the people that has absolute primacy, a SUPREME primacy OVER and ABOVE any "Congressional" or "Presidential" election. 

Anyone can speak under the 1st Amendment and make their case for or against war; but ONLY the people, via direct vote, can authorize it.

I advocate for a Constitutional amendment regarding war because I strongly feel that the citizenry must be fully engaged and fully participatory BEFORE any military action lasting more than 60 days. The citizenry as a whole ABSOLUTELY MUST have a real and powerful voice in the decision to take the nation to war. Our country is currently lacking. We need a TRUE check and balance on issues of war which we do not currently have, and this check and balance must be the American people. 

As it is now, we are going to war continuously under nothing more than Pied Piper lies and carefully plotted, orchestrated top-down propaganda. This colossal corruption is manufacturing more warfare, death, destruction and global suffering than otherwise would exist and ultimately, it is costing us everything. 

I expect and hope that a direct national vote of the people for any military action longer than 60 days would take some of the teeth out of the corrupt propaganda/top down scheming and give the people a real opportunity to debate, speak, gather information/facts and decide.

To those who say such a direct vote would cost too much, I say the false and wicked so-called "policy" of continuous warfare and "interventionism" is already leading us down the path to hell and costing us EVERYTHING. Better to pay a few million bucks to establish a direct national vote on the matter of declaration of war, than to allow the psychopathic powers at the top to destroy the world by the false and vain attempt to play God. 

We cannot afford to lose everything. We, as a nation, MUST find a way to put the brakes on this continuous insane rush to war WHEN THERE IS NO CLEAR, PROVEN, DIRECT THREAT TO THE UNITED STATES, before it is too late.

Theoretically and officially, the United States operates as a "democratic Republic." However, as many veterans know and as the public is increasingly aware, in practice, the U.S. is a corrupt crony phony baloney one-party State. Don't misunderstand or get me wrong I LOVE MY COUNTRY AND WILL NEVER FORSAKE, LEAVE OR ABANDON IT. In fact, I'm among those who put our lives on the line for our country. You may think I'm speaking out too much or am speaking too strongly, but I support everyone who speaks their mind, whether I agree with them or not. I think we are suffering from far too many people engaging in self-serving silence (friends, silence is certainly a form of violence, just as the wrong words can be). I speak because I'm among the people who have too much skin in the game. I don't have a "party" or armies of lobbyists. I don't have briefcases of cash. All I have is my voice, and I speak out now because I am very concerned that increasingly the State is putting the entire citizenry under surveillance and creating a society in which people are afraid to speak freely.

If we are to have any hope, today we, as a nation, must face the terrible reality that a very small handful of ruthless, corrupt psychopathic people, serving a false god of constant surveillance and behind it, a global Master-Slave Construct, in fact control the country, having hijacked our nation long before 9-11. These corrupt powers fully exploited 9-11 to line their pockets. Those at the top serve only money and power and are hiding behind the mask of "freedom" and a "two-party system" (think Coke and Pepsi). Those calling the shots in America do NOT serve the people. Officials work for and speak for those behind the scenes calling the shots. Far too few are calling far too many of the shots without the citizenry having a real say in the most important matters facing our country, such as the decision to go to war.

The reality is the people as a whole have lost far too much power and absolute power from the top down is corrupting everything absolutely. Power is far too concentrated in far too few hands to the severe detriment of ordinary, hardworking Americans. 

We are to the point now where the American people are directly under continuous attack and continuous systemic State surveillance and financial terrorism by the corrupt powers-that-be, the world's plutocrats and so-called "royal families" who will not be satisfied until they drain us of our very last drops of blood. 

The truth is that NEITHER our "Congress" or "President," and neither their Coke or Pepsi uniforms, can be or should be trusted with the awesome power of war directed by the world's sole "superpower." (Friends, there is a true and real SUPER HIGHER POWER THAT IS THE ULTIMATE JUDGE. I will never deny the truth of a Higher Power and a Higher Reality/Natural Laws, including cause and effect and what is unknown.) 

Friends, let us recognize and understand that the power of war, the awesome and incredible power of massive military might, the power of life and death across the globe, is far too large, far too powerful, and far too complex and far too unknown to be trusted to any one man, or any one single group, in any country. 

ONLY "We, the People," meaning the people as a whole, those of us who pay the full and true costs of war have the legitimate authority to take any nation to war. No one else has this authority in truth. The appearance of legitimacy and being official is not true authority.

Have "We, the People" not sacrificed enough? Have not too many of us already sacrificed far too much of our time/labor/blood to the corrupt, misguided human farmers at the top? 

The world's most ruthless, bloodthirsty terrorists at the top of the orchestrated and controlled global economy are in reality the greatest "axis of evil." Why does no public official talk about this massive "axis of evil" which actually represents the biggest lie in human history, the lie that anyone can have anything under the sun he/she wants, the lie that history has completely dis-proven, the lie that any nation can play God or do whatever it wants?

I can understand the wish, hope and dream of a "free market"; however, it is self-evident there is no such thing as a "free market" anywhere on Earth and never has been. If we truly examine it, we can see the evidence of this, in the fact that not even our American Civil War, which left more than 600,000 dead, did not end slavery, just as continuous meddling in the Middle East has not created a "free and democratic" utopia. 

Quite the opposite in fact. 

We must fight beyond such myths and illusions. We must fight propaganda and fight to know as much of the truth as possible.

NOTHING IN THIS WORLD IS "FREE." Everything has a cost. And the truth is that some costs are far to high, my friends. No one will be able to pay the full costs of these massive "official" lies or wishful thinking. We cannot afford to strip the American citizenry of all power. We cannot afford to allow the concentration of absolute power to continue. 

We cannot afford another unnecessary war of choice in the Middle East. 

NO ONE ON EARTH can afford World War III. 

In the end, no one will truly "profit" from lies manufacturing war and generations of war, nor from the myth that anyone can do anything under the sun that he/she wants. 

If things go too far, not even those at the top will be able to continue to hide out, pass off all the costs onto the backs of the people or escape the destruction caused by their lies. Their "money" will be worthless, just like their gold. Their gated communities and bunkers will not save them. 

It is up to "We, the People" to create a REAL AMERICAN LIFE, not a "dream," to govern ourselves and to limit our role in global warfare, particularly in the Middle East, to keep such warfare from escalating. How far can we truly afford to allow our role in warfare in the Middle East to escalate? Will it escalate to the point we are invading Syria or Iran? What then? What is the end game? In fact, it is not a game. It is anything but. 

The people at the top are NOT taking any real responsibility for the actual real-life results of their corrupt and ignorant "policies," high crimes, schemes and shenanigans. All of their crimes, schemes and shenanigans in the Middle East over the past 50 years have not brought peace to the Middle East, nor has it brought a truly free global market.

Therefore, the people as a whole must step up and take responsibility for the direction/trajectory of our country. 

The power to commit the nation to war is far too great of a power to leave to the State, which at its core is corrupt. 

The fact is that our so-called "duly elected representatives" do NOT represent the American people. This hard fact is plain as day to anyone with eyes to see. Much has been written about the money that corrupts "Congress" and how far out of hand it's all gotten. 

I'll use this quote from a news report on CBS simply to illustrate one aspect of the study of this topic: 

"While the base pay for members of Congress is $174,000, nearly half -- 261, to be exact -- are millionaires, according to an analysis of 2009 data from the Center for Responsive Politics (there are 535 total members of the House and Senate). Just 1 percent of Americans overall can say the same."

These millionaires claiming to be our "representatives" are dancing around, putting on a dog and pony show for national television (propaganda) in a nearly identical fashion to their big dog and pony show led by the Pied Piper to scam the nation into the Iraq War/fiasco. These people claim to know what will happen and what will result from their policies, when they actually have absolutely no knowledge of what will result from their continuous "interventionism." These ignorant millionaires dance around, wave their arms in the air and claim they "care" about "heinous chemical attacks." 

Does anyone with any sense seriously believe that these millionaires "care" about anything other than lining their own pockets and the pockets of their corrupt crony phony baloney pals? Does anyone seriously believe these millionaires honestly care whether or not people are being gassed in Syria? Did they "care" when Saddam gassed Kurds/Iranians in northern Iraq in 1988? Where were they then? 

Did these millionaires, many of whom authorized the big scam and fiasco of the Iraq War, "care" that their ignorance is fueling the never-ending warfare, death and suffering in the Middle East? Do these millionaires and their billionaire buddies really and truly "care"? 

DO NOT BE FOOLED FRIENDS. THESE CRIMINALS/PSYCHOPATHS AT THE TOP DO NOT CARE ONE BIT ABOUT ANYONE BUT THEMSELVES.

We have a so-called "Congress" dominated by millionaires. Behind the puppets who call themselves "representatives," a handful of powerful billionaires pull the strings. 

To the grave detriment of the people as a whole and the nation as a whole, we have two back-to-back so-called "duly elected" "presidents" ostensibly from "two parties" who are manufacturing never-ending warfare and continuous "interventionism." 

Who exactly are these corrupt, criminal crony phony baloney puppet "representatives" working for? It is as certain as gravity and death that these gangsters, thieves and criminals are not being held accountable and are not working for the American people.

Is this truly a State which represents YOU? Does it represent the millions of us who are paid "minimum wage" or far below a living wage, the millions of people in this country who NEVER in their LIVES have the REAL opportunity and REAL freedom to work for themselves? Does this corrupt, artificial Construct represent the millions who are "working" ourselves ever further into poverty? 

The corrupt modern day global plantation owners hiding behind the scenes, behind the illusions and masks, hiding behind our blood-soaked flag, the war "architects"/criminals are more than happy to send us, the people, all to die in their wicked wars while they sit back here in the rear and steal all of our time/labor/blood. 

Since these criminals behind all the death and suffering across the globe are hellbent on stealing everyone's last drops of blood, then I say, it's NOW THEIR TURN TO GO TO THE MIDDLE EAST BATTLEFIELDS. It's time for the so-called "executives" to go risk their lives in the Middle East. It's time for everyone wholly lost in the usury industry, the casino/market rigging "investment-banks," those behind the big housing scam and the current insane student loan scam, among others, to go to the Middle East battlefields. These criminals want to steal all the time/labor/wealth of the people, but they don't want to go over there to die like the rest of us.

Please turn off your televisions. Far too many lies, scams and insane, irrational propaganda is flooding through Americans television sets. This never-ending flood of warmongering propaganda is nothing more than a ONE-SIDED story-line bought and paid for by the criminals at the top, a story-line that is nothing more than a big lie to scam the American people out of more of our time/labor/blood. 

Far from "caring" about "heinous chemical weapons" or our country, the true intent is to completely destroy us, "We, the People," both here and across the world. There is a war raging, but it is not the war that officials portray on television. 

I am glad to see that ever more of my fellow citizens are speaking their minds, getting involved and engaging in the great responsibility of their citizenship. 

I am glad to see American people are ever more awake, ever more of us are fighting back because our backs are against the wall. 

"We, the People" absolutely cannot allow the powers-that-be to get away with yet another corrupt, evil, ill-thought unnecessary, counter-productive war of choice in the Middle East. 

(Note: Share this post! This is the continuation of a series of essays by author and Iraq War veteran Theodore Webb concerning questions about security and the true nature of the State. For a full description of the colossal dangers of the surveillance-police State, a full and thorough rebuttal of fear, a deconstruction of the claim that "handing over all our rights will make us 'secure,'" then read my novel, "The STARLING Connection.")