We live here in the United States of Amnesia. ibid. Gore Vidal
We are the new Rome – that’s their strategy on 9/11. ibid. commentator
We are on the side of decency and democracy and liberty. ibid. Eisenhower
Today the United States spends more on defense than all the other discretionary parts of the federal budget combined. ibid. caption
It’s known as the revolving door and people cash in all the time. ibid. commentator
It’s basically economic colonialism. ibid.
A belief that the public doesn’t need to know. ibid. Dan Rather
I really do believe we will be greeted as liberators. ibid. Cheney
These images were shot in 2004 in the city centre of Baghdad by a non-professional. A guerrilla ambush as it occurs almost every single day. Waging war inside these bullet-proof SUVs these men aren’t in any way armed forces but private security guards – they are in the front line. They even have their own helicopters. In Iraq there are 20,000 or so civilians who operate on behalf of private security companies. Private Armies aka Inside Blackwater: Iraq’s Most Controversial Private Military Contractor, 2007
Kabul: it’s one of the main operating grounds of these private companies throughout the world. ibid.
The United Kingdom systematically delegates the protection of its embassies located in risky countries to private companies. ibid.
Blackwater: the world’s largest private training centre. ibid.
After years of conflict in the Middle East and Afghanistan, Americans might have expected that some of their country’s huge defence budget would be diverted to more pressing domestic concerns. But with US strategic priorities now switching to the Asia/Pacific region, will America’s top generals ever allow their spending to be cut? American War Games, Al Jazzera 2008
The Pentagon gets weapons; defense companies get profits; and politicians get re-elected by funding armaments that generate jobs for constituents. ibid.
There are also hundreds of lobbyists for the defense industry who work for Congressional committees and federal agencies. ibid.
Look around America: squads of armed and angry people taking to the streets in the woodlands and public squares howling into the night. These are the soldiers of the America Militia Movement, locked and loaded. But what’s their beef? And who’s the instigator egging them on. Is it protest or it is something more sinister? America on Fire, Charlie LeDuff reporting, History 2019
According to the Southern Poverty Law Centre, there are more than 600 anti-government patriot groups in the United States. ibid.
On one part of the fence is the three-percenters, marching to protect the First Amendment backed by the second; on the other side is a mix of ANTIFA, known as anti-fascists, and American Muslims and left-wing activists. ibid.
Athens will be pitted against the greatest power of the day – the tyrannical Persian Empire in a contest spread across land and sea that will last over a decade. Empires Special: The Greeks: Crucible of Civilisation II: Golden Age, PBS 1999
Themistocles: a military genius of the ancient world. And Pericles: a visionary whose legacy still shapes the world today. ibid.
Even as he ran, Pheidippides must have imagined the horror his fellow Athenians now faced. ibid.
Themistocles convinced the Athenians to build the greatest naval force in Greece. And not a moment too soon. ibid.