-1979 U.S. State Department memo, discussing how Washington viewed the destruction of women's rights as necessary for defeating communism within Afghanistan
Oil remains fundamentally a government business. While many regions of the world offer great oil opportunities, the Middle East with two-thirds of the world's oil and the lowest cost, is still where the prize ultimately lies, even though companies are anxious for greater access there, progress continues to be slow.
-Dick Cheney in 1999, a few years before carrying out the campaign of lies that would justify invading Iraq for the benefit of his oil company Halliburton
I want to make the case for secrecy in government when it comes to the conduct of national security affairs, and possibly for deception where that's appropriate. You know Winston Churchill said during World War Two that in wartime truth is so important it should be surrounded by a bodyguard of lies... If I had to say something I knew was false to protect American national security, I would do it.
-John Bolton in 2010, after helping Cheney sell these lies
In terms of how you think about problem sets, I - when I was a cadet, what's the first - what's the cadet motto at West Point? You will not lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate those who do. I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated, we stole. It's - it was like - we had entire training courses. It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment.
-Mike Pompeo, speaking at a Texas A&M University event in 2019
I've been in a lot of meetings about foreign policy. You know, for years and generations, wars have been fought over oil. In a short matter of time, they will be fought over water. So when we think about building up our economy, around our infrastructure, around something like water policy, it's literally about jobs, it's about the fundamental source of life that Tammy Duckworth was talking about, will sustain life, and it's about strengthening up our nation.
-Kamala Harris earlier this year
With both points of that statement--that oil has been a motivator for U.S. wars and that water wars are coming--Harris was incriminating imperialism. Harris admitted that when officials like Cheney have talked about oil being a "prize," they've meant this as a rationale for starting wars. And by implying that water will soon take on the same incentivizing role as oil in U.S. foreign policy, Harris was admitting the extent to which capital and empire have destroyed the world and how much they'll continue destroying the world. Now that the U.S. military's unparalleled pollution has brought the planet beyond the climate tipping point in terms of whether we'll surpass 1.5 degrees of warming, the imperialists plan to wreak even more death and chaos.
This is the logical conclusion of all the morally reprehensible stances that these imperialists and colonizers have taken over the decades: a planet that's being consumed by the drive for conquest and profits.
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