The Party of Permanent War Endorses Joe Biden

Sept. 24 (EIRNS—Nearly 500 former national security officials, including five secretaries of defense and 22 retired four-star flag officers, have signed an open letter, published yesterday, endorsing Democratic Presidential Candidate Joe Biden for President. If one believes the letter, Biden is the epitome of statesmanship. “We believe America’s President must be honest, and we find Joe Biden’s honesty and integrity indisputable,” they claim.

“He believes a nation’s word is her bond. He believes we must stand by the allies who have stood by us. He remembers how America’s NATO allies rushed to her side after 9/11; how the Kurds fought by our side to defeat ISIS; and how Japan and South Korea have been steadfast partners in countering North Korean and Chinese provocations. Joe Biden would never sell out our allies to placate despots or because he dislikes an allied leader.”

Biden’s well-documented involvement in the neo-Nazi coup in Ukraine in 2014 against an elected government is apparently an example of his “commitment” to U.S. allies.

Their attack on Donald Trump rests largely on retailing a familiar set of lies. Trump “has demonstrated he is not equal to the enormous responsibilities of his office; he cannot rise to meet challenges large or small. Thanks to his disdainful attitude and his failures, our allies no longer trust or respect us, and our enemies no longer fear us.” As “proof” of this, they cite the fakery of “climate change,” which they proclaim has continued unabated; and, of course, the Russia issue: Trump, they insist, “has ceded influence to a Russian adversary who puts bounties on the heads of American military personnel”—a lie which no American intelligence agency has stated is a corroborated charge.

Among the signers are former secretaries of defense, Ash Carter, William Cohen, Chuck Hagel, Leon Panetta and William Perry, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michèle Flournoy, and former National Security Advisor Susan Rice. The four-star signers include, among others, former Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Merrill McPeak, former Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli, former NATO commander Gen. Wesley Clark, former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Paul Selva, former CIA Deputy Director Adm. Bobby Inman, and former CIA Director Michael Hayden.