"This is the World Eisenhower Warned Us About" - RFK Jr.

THE FIRE STILL BURNS

Several emails have recently come in asking “what the hell got into Bobby this week on Ring of Fire?” (his Saturday Air America radio show) I don’t know, but whatever set him ablaze, I will say that the man was in rare form. This was one of the best broadcasts I’ve heard from him in quite awhile.

In the opening minutes of the show, Bobby launched into a particularly passionate rant about our arms-happy economic foreign policy that left even his longtime co-host Mike “Pap” Papantonio (who has heard it all by now) speechless. Hearing him talk, one couldn’t help but be reminded of President Kennedy’s disdain for ”a Pax Americana, enforced on the world by American weapons of war” in his 1963 American University commencement address.

RFK Jr. also invoked another famous presidential speech: “This is exactly the world that General Dwight Eisenhower warned us about in his farewell address to the nation in which he cautioned against the domination of our democracy by the Military-Industrial Complex.

“The U.S. traditionally was an isolationist nation.” He explained further. “We focused on our own hemisphere, we focused on developing our economy, not policing the world. We were Anti-Imperialist, that was part of our tradition. ”That was not just Jefferson, but it was Madison, Adams, Hamilton and all of them…This was an Anti-Imperialist nation!

“Well now, we spend $500 billion a year on arms.” Kennedy said. “That’s more than the entire world put together! This is not something that is good for the American people.”

He also encouraged every American to do a little independent thinking and ask themselves “who benefits?” from the waging of eternal war.

Kennedy talked on at some length about how we can bring a balance of power to the Mideast and restore our standing as a nation of goodwill in the eyes of the world. He also put forward some solid ideas on how to break our oil addiction with an “Apollo project” which would bring with it a prosperous domestic economy invested in green energy technologies, and spelled out exactly how it could be done within just a few years.

With a plan like that, people ask, it sounds like this Kennedy guy should be running for president, already.


AND THAT WAS JUST THE FIRST HOUR…

Kennedy was just getting warmed up. In the second hour of the program, he spoke with Joseph Cirincione (Senior Fellow and Director for Nuclear Policy at the Center for American Policy) about how the Bush administration hyped a recent incident at sea between our Navy and the Iranian National Guard.

Had this “Filipino Monkey” thing actually been taken more seriously, we very easily could have had another Gulf of Tonkin on our hands or accidentally fired the first shot of WWIII.

And that’s enough to get anybody hopping mad. Especially someone named Kennedy whose father and uncle JFK diplomatically averted nuclear holocaust during the Cuban Missle Crisis. Those thirteen days in October 1962 were without question the most intense in world history; a moment when one false move, one slight misunderstanding or miscommunication could have meant The End of Everything.

Playing a dangerous game of chicken with Iran now inevitably results in close calls like this one, which Kennedy referred to as “classic American gunboat diplomacy in the 19th century sense.” Was this just another ”Remember the Maine!” type incident ”where we used American propaganda to hype a conflict with another nation?”

THE HOAX OF HORMUZ

“It appears that the Navy tapes that we all saw last week that allegedly showed Iranian Revolutionary Guard gunboats buzzing and harassing a convoy of American battleships were faked.” Kennedy said incredulously.

“That’s exactly right, Robert.” Cirincione concurred. “What we basically have here is The Hoax of Hormuz. We have a very misleading tape and storyline coming out last Monday, on the eve of the President’s trip to the Middle East. And it appears that the administration has once again exaggerated a threat for political purposes.”

“Clearly, the object of the United States propaganda campaign, which we all saw on television, was to inflame this situation rather than try to contain it.” Kennedy said. “In my view…that’s what our policy should be in that part of the world: to contain these incidents rather than to manufacture provocations.

“The voice we hear on the tape is clearly not a voice coming from those little Iranian speedboats. There was this phony, fake Arnold Schwarzenegger imitation voice that was just spliced in as a way to frighten the American people and hype the case for conflict.”




READ THE FULL STORY AND LISTEN TO SHOW SEGMENTS HERE:

http://rfkin2008.wordpress.com/2008/01/25/this-is-the-world-eisenhower-warned-us-about-rfk-jr/

K&R.

Ah well.

That endorsement just floored me.

...fire had burned out.

Anyone who heard last week's radio broadcast would have to say that he's still got a few more thousand bags of charcoal briquettes to go.

Regardless of whomever he supports for President, Bobby is still Bobby.


(*Edited to add: Happy belated birthday wishes to RFK Jr., who just turned 54 on Thursday!)

complex is very inconsistent. If he's really interested in opposing the military-industrial complex, first thing he should do is withdraw that endorsement. Emphatically.

This is hardly news to us. Our blog has been flooded with negative comments and longtime RFK jr. fans asking "WHY, BOBBY, WHY?" ever since his endorsement of Clinton came down the pike.

These are not fair-weather fans or new converts. These are people who have been with Kennedy for years. I hate to see them walk away with so much anger and bitterness over what they sense is a betrayal.

Believe me, I have done all in my power to call this to Bobby's attention, flooded him with letters and copies of the comments on our blog, etc...but it would help if more of you "good progressives" out there contacted him to express your opinions personally as well.

Posting them here on DU is cool, too - but it does not get the message to Kennedy's ears. If you are dissatisfied, disappointed, disheartened - let him know!

He *does* read your letters and *does* care what you think.

Anyone who needs his postal address, send me a PM & I'll hook you up!

Ah well, it's big time politics and such.

and whacked him upside of the head WHAT were you thinking?

from the ghosts of Christmas past last month.

And if his noggin' still smarts a bit...

Or are his toes still bandaged from the scalding he got from dipping one foot into the Clinton camp and then getting roasted by his own supporters for it?

of heart. He might have thought he wanted to succeed H.C. as Senator of NYS. But there is a long line of ptentail candidates to replace H.C. ahead of him. Also H.C.'s wall Street supporters probably gave him pause. His endorsement of H.C. was an enormoust disappointment to me. But everyone is entitled to a mistake.

"This is the World Eisenhower (and Kennedy) Warned Us About" - because that is the truth of the matter, even if Bobby didn't quite put it that way.

Eisenhower's famous "Military-Industrial Complex" quote in his farewell address is intended as a warning to his successor.

Kennedy understood exactly what ol' Ike was getting at. He not only heeded the warning, but continued to warn us over and over again in speeches like American University `63.

Wow, what does it say about our country when our current administration actually makes liberals long for the days of Eisenhower???

We've come a long way, baby...this is not always a good thing, however.

I know because I was raised to be an Eisenhower Republican. Thank Pat Roberts for what happened to the Republican party.

-Hoot

an important office. Maybe Attorney General?

He'd have a better chance bad mouthin' their mommas than cracking on their precious MIC.

While the bushies know that the IRAN deal will be a bit harder to push down our throats their gearing up to send the military into Pakistan!!!! There may be a real need but it's not sustainable in with our current military footprint.

Got nukes?

and MSM rags.

This is the world that Ike warned us about. The Defense Contractors are the welfare state, stealing money from us through their unneeded weapons.

We need to find a way to pare down our military industrial complex....

instead of Sen Clinton.

...maybe John Edwards would finally win a primary!!!

Remember, the "military" part includes government!

I like the sentiments but Ike gave us two memorable and revealing moments as a politician:

1) He sat on his hands while Joe McCarthy trashed the country. What was that about?
2) He made this comment at the end of his 8 years. What didn't he notice over time that allowed him
to create just these conditions.

Great leader in Europe, no guts as President.

...but had he dared speak of what he understood publicly during his administration, he probably would have ended up like JFK.

One doesn't get to be Supreme Commander of NATO without gaining a full understanding of The Way Things Really Are. All those years spent inside the Military-Industrial Complex surely taught Eisenhower that there is a time to speak and a time to keep your trap shut!

To his eternal credit, at least Ike finally spoke up, even if it was on his last day in office. Just his way of saying to young Kennedy: "Well, now that you know what you're up against (I doubt JFK was unaware of what he was facing) you're on your own, son. Good luck to `ya. I'm sooo outta here!"

Maybe this was common knowledge to others, but it was news to me. There was a thread on DU's political videos that had an early CBS interview with Prescott. I'll try to find it and provide a link, if you're interested. :hi:


What I don't understand is why RFK Jr would back the candidate who voted for Kyl Lieberman. I just read that Scott Ritter called out Hillary on that vote of hers. How could Bobby endorse her? I can't think of any person who could convince me that we should have a corporatist in the WH again.

That's fascinating...a story I haven't heard yet. Tell me more!!!

Prescott Bush Interview : Hear a traitor speak! - 1 of 2

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=385&topic_id=74545

holy crap, that *is* very revealing video indeed!

thanks a million!!!

You're welcome, rfkin2008, :hi:

told it like it is - hated the BFEE

He was laying it all on the line, saying all the right things, knows that we're becoming a corporatist country.

Then we went out and ruined it all by endorsing Clinton, the most corporately controlled candidate on the Democratic slate. Frankly, if he had the courage of his convictions, he would have endorsed Kucinich, the only true liberal, Democrat, and non-corporatist on the slate.

But nooo, he reverted to form and family. The Kennedys sometimes talk a good liberal game, but apparently when the rubber meets the road they show themselves up for the corporate capitalists that they are, fuck 'em.

The number one reason is so we don't have a Republican nominating SC Justice.

And twice it was taken out of the speech ---

IKE had been betrayed by the MIIC more than once ---
the U-2 was one betray ---
he had ordered it NOT to be flown in the months preceding the Paris Peace meetings ---
That's why Gary Powers was totally suspicious of his flight being taken down.

And, with the ID, etal that was in the plane despite not being permitted --- !!!

the military-industrial-intelligence complex had been running things since the days of OSS in WWII. They mostly operated on their own, often without presidential knowlege or approval. Is that betrayal of the commander in chief? you bet.

BTW, speaking of the U2 incident, how many folks know that Lee Harvey Oswald was living in Russia on May 1, 1960 when CIA Pilot Francis Gary Powers was shot down over Russia? (Funny, Oswald was supposedly threatening to sell US military secrets about the U2 to Russia at the time).

Oswald's diary states that for some inexplicable reason, he went from Minsk to Moscow for the Powers Spy Trial. That same Diary also states that he needed Russian Gov't approval to travel from City to City.

how is it that a dishonorably discharged "defector" is allowed to return to the US so easily (on a military flight, no less!) out of Berlin with his new Rusian wife in tow? That is, unless he was a spook?

more info, documents at: http://whokilledjfk.net/lho.htm

whatever happened to the idea of blaming the assassination on Castro?

I always figured they kept the Castro/mafia-did-it explanation handy just incase the public didn't quite buy the Oswald "lone nut" scenario.

Indeed, that whole Warren Commission thing didn't go over so well...

If there had been a shred of evidence that Castro had s%*t to do with the murder of JFK, we would have invaded Cuba in a heartbeat. Hell, we'd just been praying for an excuse - any excuse - to go in there for years. (We certainly weren't above inventing a pretext, either...Bay of Pigs, anyone? Operation Northwoods?? Or how about those nutty Joint Chiefs who wanted to use the Missle Crisis as a military itch that needed scratching?)

Then, there's the "Russia-did-it" scenario. Plan C. Fell from the sky like Gary Powers' U-2...

Oh, and don't forget (D) "the Secret Service-driver-did-it" scenario. (Frickin' hilarious...who dreamed up that one?)

The list goes on and on. But the truth is really so easy to see. What happened to JFK is not the "whodunnit" of the century. For those who have eyes to see and an interest in perusing the available evidence, a clear picture emerges fairly quickly.

Domestic conspiracy - orchestrated by the Military-Industrial-Intelligence Complex Gen. Eisenhower tried to warn him (& us) about.

Guilty parties still walking free, well-protected within the halls of power - and by *every US president since 1963*.

End of story.

although I do think the mafia was involved, insofar as they were hitmen recruited by the CIA for anti-Castro operations. This article by Don Fulsom gives one of the clearest explanations I've seen:

http://crimemagazine.com/03/richardnixon,1014.htm

...where the rubber meets the road, if you will.

Great article, btw. Thanks for sharing!

because they need the resources which they provide.
The Mafia couldn't exist without high level protection --- think about it!

When they need someone to do jobs, they will contract them out.

But the Mafia is often working under control of right-wing officials in government/intelligence.

In fact, look at our "Drug War" --- !!!

as I recall it, it was a Nazi propagandist working for the CIA --- ???

I think the fact that they gave Ike NIXON as VP makes clear that they were already controlling him.
Nixon, of course, being the creation of Prescott Bush and a small group of Republican fascists.

There is no end to this story --- except our clear destruction --

still weren't going to let them nuke Cuba --- !!!

Hope someone else will respond to you because I think it's an interesting question.

Probably most of them intended it to be only a scare tactic to hush up info.

The 1992 JFK Classified Records Act which Clinton established ended it's investigations about the time that Clinton was being impeached.

John Tunnheim headed the panel --
and they found that ...

"Oswald was employed by the CIA working on high level assignments and probably also for the FBI."

Presumably they saw his employment records, Income Tax records, etal which were denied to the press at the time.

Tunnheim testified to Congress in closed session.

The way most of us learned about this was thru a A&E documentary which is no longer broadcast -
that would be late 1999 or early 2000.

Also, in the Director of the CIA wrote a memo to the Secret Service at the time of the JFK coup stating that they had trained Oswald for spying missions in Russia.

Gary Powers also suggested this in his book.

Here's a shock:

The JFK Act, which received broad bipartisan support in 1992, was signed into law by President Bush. The five members of the Review Board were appointed by President Clinton, confirmed unanimously by the U. S. Senate, and sworn in on April 11, 1994.

Everything else you note above is indeed correct and documented, - however, the gov't is STILL holding out on thousands of pages of material that should be declassified...

Executive Order 12958, "Classified National Security Information," was issued by President Clinton on April 17, 1995. The order provides that all classified information contained in records that are more than 25 years old and have been determined to have "permanent historical value" will automatically be declassified within five years of the date of the executive order;unless an agency moves, in accordance with provisions in the Executive Order, to keep them classified.

The Executive Order was amended on November 19, 1999. The amendment extended the automatic declassification deadline for 18 months, until October 2001. Whadd'ya know, Sept. 11 happened, and our attention was diverted elsewhere. So now 7 more years have passed, still no documents.

The memo you mention above regarding Oswald from CIA to Secret service (known as the McCone/Rowley memorandum) is a BOMBSHELL. But we're still not certain of it's authenticity because the National Archives cannot seem to find it, and the CIA hasn't seen fit to include it in a document dump yet....hmmmm...guess they might have their reasons.

Learn more about McCone/Rowley here:
http://rfkin2008.wordpress.com/2008/01/14/death-of-a-president-revisited-again/

BTW, did anybody happen to hear Hillary taking questions in TN the other night after losing the South Carolina primary? One person got up and asked her if as president, she would see to it that ALL of the files regarding the JFK Assassination would finally be released.

And did you catch that interesting non-answer of hers? She danced around it like a true Flamenco artist. What the hell was THAT about?

They could conceivably withhold anything they like, for however long they like, from my reading of it, anyway.

Tunnheim Panel findings ---

Presumably they had access to Oswald's employment/Income tax withholding records ---
all denied to the press at the time.

In the A&E documentary which appeared about 1999/2000, in the last section of the program,
Tunnheim repeats this twice ---

"Oswald was employed by the CIA working on high level assignments and probably also for the FBI."

As he speaks, the TEXT appears below --

NOW . . . there was an attempt to undue that documentary which hasn't been seen on A&E since its first five months or so of showings.

Presumably, the panel could have been threatened because at least one member who was in another very poorly done documentary which attempted to argue against the first!!!

Again --- Tunnheim was evidently delivering this message to Congress at the time they were "impeaching" Bill's penis ---

No -- didn't hear about Hillary's non-response . . .

Evidently, Bill tried when he became president to investigate the two top issues ---
assassinations and UFOs ... where we also have "no files." !!!! Anyone believe that???
I think he sent Hubbel . . was that his name? off to look into this stuff.
I don't think they got very far.
Obviously, the CIA controls most of this stuff.

PBS last week or fairly recently ran another show supporting the Warren Report --
they're really trying on this! And . . . in it . . ... they showed Marguerite Oswald, Oswald's mother, stating that she knew her son to be working for the CIA. The narrator after showing this confused and middle-aged mother, suggests that she was ...
can't recall exactly how they put it . .. but that she was someone to be FEARED--!!!
It was amazing!!

But, I'm sure there will be people who don't research this stuff for themselves --- and a new generation they may convince . . . for a time.

These issues don't rest easily, however, and none of this will lie quietly ---
neither the political violence of the past 45 years, nor the UFO issues, nor 9/11 ---
nor any other of the political violence.

As I read more about "Operation Gladio" in Europe post WW-II, I'm convinced that we had an Operation Gladio going on in America, as well --

nor has it ceased either here or in Europe!!

Of course, the MSM didn't pick up on it...let it drop with a thud. you might try to google it and see if video from her Q&A session is posted online anywhere. (This was the event in Nashville, the same night as the South Carolina primary. The Q&A follows her speech. I think it was like, the second question she was asked that night.)

I saw "Oswald's Ghost" on PBS recently, too - and was also struck by how they tried to paint Marguerite Oswald as a scary old lady. Why is she so scary? Hmmm....probably because she convinced that her son was a government agent...and proceeded to tell anybody who would listen.

Interesting aside about Oswald's mom: Did you know she personally requested a visit with JFK ONE WEEK AFTER HIS INAUGURATION? She was desperate to get information about her son (stationed out of the country at the time), whom she hadn't heard from in ages and was worried. She had tried all the official channels to no avail, so for reasons that remain unknown, she also was trying to appeal DIRECTLY to the new president of the United States.

Mrs. Oswald continued to send urgent letters to various branches of the government, claiming that her son was doing some top-secret work for the military...work so secret, apparently, he could not even contact his own mother. She was just BEGGING someone to ask her son to "phone home."

We also added a story about the "Oswald's ghost" program to our blog at:
http://rfkin2008.wordpress.com/2008/01/14/death-of-a-president-revisited-again/

Thought you might enjoy this....thanks for all the interesting insights, defendandprotect!

If people keep spouting out the truth, eventually it'll get it's shoes on.

Not to take anything from his final speech but it was delivered by the head of the MIC.

JFK was a courageous soldier. Good soldiers charge into battle without concern for their safety. They consider it an honor to die for their country on the battlefield.

Ike was a great General. Generals live to fight another day.

He was an officer of the United States Naval Reserve.

Check your american Heritage or Webster's for the definition of "soldier." It is also defined as a person who is engaged in a battle or struggle, although not necessarily as a member of any nation or governmental body. But I digress from the point...

JFK was a Navy man to the core, but certainly no less courageous, no less willing to die for his country - and his elder brother Joe did (as a Navy flier) and as he nearly did in the Pacific on the night of Aug. 2, 1943, when his PT boat was sliced in half by a Japanese destroyer.

Two of his men died, the other 9 were abandoned by the Navy and presumed dead until native scouts in the Solomon Islands discovered them a week later and brought them to safety. Several of his men claimed they would not have survived the ordeal had it not been for Kennedy.

For his heroism in the Pacific, Lt. John F. Kennedy received the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps Award for Herosim and the congressional Medal of Honor in 1944.

Dictionaries aside, as a navy man to the core, JFK would have objected strenuously at being referred to as soldier. The awards for his actions after the the sinking of the PT-109 were the Navy Marine Corp Medal and the Purple Heart. Lt. Kennedy did not receive the Medal of Honor for any action during the Second World War.

:thumbsup:

Did you hear that Caroline Kennedy endorsed Obama tonight?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4224663

I still love them, but I think they are supporting corporatists.

Edwards or Gore for me.

sooner than they have intended.

Listening to RFK Jr. right now.

:kick:

Swamp Rat, that's pretty damn cool.

what did you think of the RFK Jr. broadcast?

NoFederales

how Bobby Jr. can support ANY presidential candidate who will not give a straight answer to a question about whether or not she will make ALL of the records public regarding the assassination of his uncle.

And that's not even getting into his father's murder and the many questions still swirling around that event.

RFK Jr. should sit Hillary down, make her look him in the eye and answer the damned question. Not dance around it like her shoes are on fire.

damage done to the environment. I feel particularly "betrayed" on this latter issue because RFK Jrs record on environmental issues was/is? stellar. HRC is not going to reign in corporate agriculture any more than she would big business, financial, or legal groups.

Down on the farm, my boots are on fire...........

NoFederales

Its amazing that almost 50 years has passed and this damn speech is still so much right on the money. He laid out his warnings intentionally. Whe he was asked about the speech later about America falling prey to "Scientific Elite", he was intentionally taking the lumber to Werner von Braun (obsessed with his personal space ambitions) and Edward Teller (just plain crazy).

I don't care if it's on under HRC or Obama. He his truly an honest warrior for justice.
And he would bring votes.