Beginning with John Maynard Keynes' prediction that the sanctions put on Germany after World War I would lead to a second world war, through the massacre at Charlie Hebdo, Thom Hartmann clearly explains the blunders of the Bush Administration(s) and their associates that created the powder keg in the middle east. That powder keg cannot be contained to the middle east as Muslims will never lack motivation to avenge the brutality of Western powers.

Why the Bushes? Prescott Bush, the Connecticut senator and grandfather of the current president, had some German corporate ties at the outbreak of World War II, but the better yardstick of his connections was his directorships of companies involved in U.S. war production. Dresser Industries, for example, produced the incendiary bombs dropped on Tokyo and made gaseous diffusion pumps for the atomic bomb project. George H.W. Bush later worked for Dresser's oil-services businesses. Then, as CIA director, vice president and president, one of his priorities was the U.S. weapons trade and secret arms deals with Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the moujahedeen in Afghanistan.

What are the events that led to Charlie Hebdo? It began more recently with "Charlie Wilson's War," where Reagan helped a Wahabbist named Osama Bin Laden and funded him so well, the Soviets pulled out of Afghanistan and America appeared to win the Cold War. His hatred of Saddam Hussein for being too secular led to Saudi involvement in the first Gulf War and the establishment of an American Air Base in his home country. This in turn led to the rise of this Saudi extremist who developed an intense hatred for all things secular and Western, especially the United States. During the Clinton Presidency, Neo-conservatives saw an opening to create a culture of perpetual war. This led to the creation of The Project for the New American Century.



(PNAC) is a Washington-based neo-conservative think-tank founded in 1997 to "rally support for American global leadership." PNAC's agenda runs far deeper than regime change in Iraq. Its statement of principles begins with the assertion that "American foreign and defense policy is adrift" and calls for "a Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity."

While their tone is high-minded, their proposal is unilateral military intervention to protect against threats to America's status as the lone global superpower. The statement is signed by such influential figures as Dick Cheney, Jeb Bush, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Dan Quayle, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz.

PNAC is not alone, nor did it arise from new wells of power. Most of the founding members of PNAC held posts in the Reagan or elder Bush administration and other neo-conservative think-tanks, publications, and advocacy groups.



Hartmann explains that Jeb Bush's PNAC recommended an invasion, a "small war" like Reagan's Grenada, Bush 41's Kuwait, and this led to the Iraq ($2 trillion) War. This conflict created more hatred for the U.S. by the world's Muslims. European Muslims have been highly motivated, ever since, to train with Jihadist Extremists and inflict terror on the Western World.

The Bush family, in one way or another, has been involved with Middle Eastern hegemony. Armaments and arms deals seem to have been in the Bushes' blood for nearly a century, and their bellicose dealings have dire consequences that will continue to plague us for decades to come. France must not overreact and feed the beast that is the Military Industrial Complex, or they'll end up with a perpetually un-winnable War on Terror.