1) War criminals and militarists supporting Biden in the 2020 election: A thread.
2) John Negroponte. Former DNI, oversaw vast expansion of NSA spying. Former US ambassador to Iraq. US Ambassador to Honduras from 1981-1985, overseeing US support for the contras' vicious war of disappearances, torture and mass killings against the Sandinistas.
3) Colin Powell, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. At the United Nations, provided the case for the Bush administration, consisting of lies, to launch a war that killed hundreds of thousands of people.
4) Michael Hayden, former director of the NSA (1999-2005) and the CIA. Implicated in mass illegal surveillance of the American population. Supervised the CIA’s “black site” torture centers under Bush.
5) John Bellinger, national security legal advisor under Bush. Implicated in the CIA torture program.
6) Robert Blackwill, US national security council deputy for Iraq from 2003 to 2004, during the invasion. Leading member of the Council of Foreign Relations, who in 2015 wrote “Revising US Grand Strategy Toward China” advocating confrontation with China.
7) Joseph Collins, US deputy assistant secretary of defense for stability operations under Rumsfeld during the Bush administration. Key planner for the US occupation of Iraq.
8) Chester Crocker, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs (1981-1989) under Reagan. Architect of the "constructive engagement" accommodation of the Reagan administration with apartheid South Africa.
9) Richard Falkenrath, Deputy Homeland Security Advisor under Bush, instrumental in developing and strengthening the DHS to oversee anti-immigrant policies and attacks on democratic rights within the US.
10) Aaron Friedberg: Deputy assistant for national-security affairs and director of policy planning for vice president Dick Cheney (2003 to 2005). National Security Advisor for the Romney campaign in 2012. Strong proponent of more aggressive action against China.
11) Colleen Graffy, the US deputy assistant secretary of state for public diplomacy under Bush. Said of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay who committed suicide: "It does sound like this is part of a strategy... a good PR move."
Going to take a bit of a brake from this thread to concentrate on watching the inanity that is the #DemConvention. A partial list is here: defendingdemocracytogether.org/national-secur…
12) Miles Taylor, intern under VP Cheney during the Bush years, staffer throughout the Bush administration, chief of staff for Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen under the Trump administration.
13) Michael Vickers, longtime defense department official under Republicans and Democrats. Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence under Obama. Under Reagan, a senior CIA agent who helped direct its huge covert war to oust the Soviet-backed regime in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
14) Ken Wainstein, Homeland Security advisor under George W. Bush.
15) William Webster, director of the FBI (1978-1987) and director of the CIA (1987-1991). Among those who signed a letter to Obama demanding the quashing of investigations into CIA torture under Bush. (Obama agreed).
16) Dov Zakheim, Defense Department official under Reagan and then part of Bush's foreign policy team during the 2000 elections, along with Condoleezza Rice, Richard Armitage, Robert Blackwill, Stephen Hadley, Richard Perle, Robert Zoellick and Paul Wolfowitz, and Scooter Libby.
17) Philip Zelikow, member of the George W. Bush's transition team. Executive director of the 9/11 Commission, which whitewashed US foreknowledge and complicity in the 9/11 attacks.
18) Barack Obama, president of the United States. Shielded Bush admin war criminals from prosecution. Continued the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Implemented a policy of drone assassination without due process, including of US citizens.
19) Joe Biden... US Senator from Delaware and vice president under Obama. Voted for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, based on lies. Instrumental in supporting war in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria and many other countries.
This, by the way, was a continuation of the initiative launched by Carter and Henry Kissinger that gave birth to Al Qaeda.
The political issues in the US election are summed up in our statement: wsws.org/en/articles/20…. Support the campaign and get involved at socialism2020.org.
20) James Glassman, under secretary of state under Bush II, senior fellow of the AEI, founding executive director of the George W. Bush Institute. Said of the 2003 Iraq war that it was "beneficial in... showing other nations and other people what a democracy looks like."
21) William Kristol, neconservative founder of The Weekly Standard, co-founder of Project for a New American Century. Leading supporter of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, demanding that the 9/11 attacks be used to justify the overthrow of Hussein.
22) Richard Armitage. Helped oversee US covert operations in Latin America under Reagan. Deputy Secretary of State for Bush II (2001-2005). Threatened to bomb Pakistan back "to the Stone Age" in 2001. Supported Iraq war as deputy to Powell.
23) Victoria Nuland, principal deputy foreign policy adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney then Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs under Obama. Oversaw the 2014 regime-change operation in Ukraine, spearheaded by fascistic forces and backed by the US.
24) Max Boot, senior fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations. One of the earliest advocates of agressive war against Iraq, writing "The Case for American Empire" in October 2001.
25) Hilary Clinton, Secretary of State under Obama. Helped finance the Saudi-led war against Yemen. Oversaw the war against Libya in 2011 (and laughed over the death of Gaddafi). Supporter of CIA-led civil war in Syria. Leading figure in the Democrats' anti-Russia campaign.
