US is a ‘state of war’: Bush-era official

Lawrence B. Wilkerson, former chief of staff to US Secretary of State Colin Powell, believes that the United States is a “state of war” as the country has been engaged in numerous wars during the past 30 years.

“The US has engaged -- publicly -- Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Pakistan, Syria, Iran, and Yemen and, non-publicly, some 6-9 other countries with drones, special operations force, or covert operations, ranging from Mali to Venezuela. That is a warfare state,” Wilkerson said in an interview with Press TV.

In September last year, Wilkerson told CBC Radio the Pentagon’s ever-expanding military budget is ruining America. The US sold more weapons than any other country in the world, at a greater total billion-dollar figure than ever before. 

Wilkerson also told Press TV that it was not easy to stop the US wars in the region because of the high amount of money military contractors make “in Saudi Arabia, in Kuwait, and in Bahrain, and Qatar”.

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He went on to say that much of what shapes the US foreign policy behavior towards the Middle East is Israel.

The US Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex is “in control of the Executive and the Legislative branches of government, and even -- through the FISA Court -- in control of a part of the Judicial branch,” he stated. 

“This control shows up particularly profoundly in US policy and actions toward the Levant.  Much of this is because of Israel, but it is augmented greatly by the sums of money being made by military contractors in Saudi Arabia, in Kuwait, and in Bahrain, and Qatar.”

“With so much money pouring in it is difficult to stop and to recall the military apparatus.  Ironically, since this money is going largely into private bank accounts, the US aggregate debt is now closer to $27T than to $22T,” he added.

Elsewhere in his remarks, he pointed to some domestic issues including white supremacy and rampant racism as well as misdistribution of wealth in the country which should be resovled.

“The US has to defeat the cultural defects now showing their ugly heads once again in its midst -- white supremacy, fundamentalist Christianity, and rampant racism.

“It also must reshape its hyper capitalist economy, now having created the worst misdistribution of wealth in America's history, so that its current inequality regime is ameliorated and the middle classes are saved.  Without these critical improvements, the US will never meet the challenges of the climate crisis, the existential threat confronting us all.” 

He also said that the US is “perilously close” to losing its democracy.

When asked about where he thought Israel fits into American politics, Wilkerson said, “Israel is a major impediment to US corrective actions, partly because under (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu's flawed leadership, Israel has become a "little America", i.e., its democracy is deeply flawed and disappearing, (and) its actions are increasingly those of a warfare state.”

“It is already an apartheid" regime in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem al-Quds, he said, adding, “And Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE have compounded the problem by establishing alliances of convenience with Netanyahu.”

Lawrence Wilkerson's last positions in government were as Secretary of State Colin Powell's Chief of Staff (2002-05), Associate Director of the State Department's Policy Planning staff under the directorship of Ambassador Richard N. Haass, and member of that staff responsible for East Asia and the Pacific, political-military and legislative affairs (2001-02). Before serving at the State Department, Wilkerson served 31 years in the US Army. During that time, he was a member of the faculty of the U.S. Naval War College (1987 to 1989), Special Assistant to General Powell when he was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989-93), and Director and Deputy Director of the US Marine Corps War College at Quantico, Virginia (1993-97). Wilkerson retired from active service in 1997 as a colonel, and began work as an advisor to General Powell. He has also taught national security affairs in the Honors Program at the George Washington University.  He is currently working on a book about the first George W. Bush administration.

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