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The Boomerang of Empire: How Europe’s Migration ‘Crisis’ Is the Fallout of Middle East Chaos
By Marivel Guzman | Akashma News
Prior to the invasion of Iraq by the United States and their fake-NATO alliance—more accurately described as a cartel of greedy weapons manufacturers—Europe was a great touristic and economic destination. The continent’s cobblestone streets, rich cultural heritage, and strong social democracies attracted millions of global visitors and migrants seeking opportunity, not asylum.
But with the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, a domino of destabilization began. What was sold to the world as a campaign for “freedom” and “democracy” quickly unraveled into a geopolitical firestorm. The war fractured not only Iraq but the entire regional balance of the Middle East. Western bombs destroyed more than buildings; they annihilated infrastructure, uprooted populations, and shattered identities. The result was a mass exodus of displaced civilians—first from Iraq, then from Libya, Syria, Afghanistan, and beyond.
Let us not pretend Europe was caught off guard. The same European nations that lament the “migration crisis” were complicit in creating it. France played its part in Libya. The UK cheered the war drums in Iraq. Germany later opened its arms under Merkel’s calculated “Wir schaffen das” (We can manage this) policy—but not without anticipating long-term economic benefits from importing cheap labor, even if that meant social upheaval.
By the mid-2010s, Europe found itself at a crossroads: one path led toward upholding human rights and ethical asylum policy; the other toward xenophobic backlash, right-wing resurgence, and border militarization. Most governments chose both—welcoming refugees publicly while quietly funding militias, erecting walls, and empowering Frontex, the EU’s controversial border agency, now equipped like a paramilitary force.
Meanwhile, the Middle East has become a testing ground for every imperial experiment: drone warfare, regime change, proxy battles, and now, digital surveillance and AI-driven repression. Syria, once a cradle of ancient civilization, lies in ruin. Yemen is bleeding under a Saudi-led coalition, backed by Western arms. Gaza is in open-air incarceration. Lebanon suffers under economic collapse engineered by debt diplomacy and sectarian manipulation. Iraq remains fractured, governed more by militias and oil interests than by sovereignty. Afghanistan has been returned to the stone age, left behind after two decades of occupation.
The result? Europe is not just dealing with a refugee “crisis.” It is dealing with the consequences of its own imperial partnerships, the karmic recoil of colonial arrogance wrapped in neoliberal policy. Now, with increased migration from Sub-Saharan Africa, war-torn Middle Eastern nations, and even Ukraine, Europe is fraying at its seams—socially, politically, and ideologically.
The rise of far-right parties is not merely a reaction to migration—it’s a product of deliberate fearmongering, orchestrated distraction, and the failure of neoliberal elites to address the root causes they helped create. Immigration, in this context, is not a problem. It is a symptom.
And let us be clear: the chaos in the Middle East is not due to an inherent instability of its people or cultures. It is the consequence of sustained foreign interference, petrodollar imperialism, Zionist expansionism, and endless corporate plundering.
Until Europe—and the United States—reckon with the monsters they manufactured, both in weapons labs and in the boardrooms of arms dealers, the flow of refugees will not stop. Nor will the political backlash.
What we’re witnessing is not just a migration crisis. It is a boomerang of empire returning home.
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Blood Money and Broken Oaths
By Marivel Guzman | Akashma News
About the Series
This nine-part investigative series traces how U.S. wars—from Iraq to Afghanistan, from Congress to Silicon Valley—have become less about defense and more about dividends. It exposes the revolving door between military command and corporate control, the use of terror to justify mass surveillance, and the hidden ledger of war profiteers.
Table of Contents
- Part I: The War Machine’s Finest Minds – And Why They Failed Us
- Part II: Blood Money and Broken Oaths – How America’s Wars Were Lost to Greed
- Part III: The Empire’s Ledger – Mapping the Timeline of Treason
- Part IV: Collateral Empire – The Civilian Toll and the Future of Resistance
- Part V: Naming the War Lords – Profiles of Power, Profit, and Permanent War
- Part VI: Collateral Profits – How War Built Empires, Crushed Nations, and Reshaped the Global Order
- Part VII: Resistance Rising – The Return of the Unbought Voice
- Part VIII: The Patriot Act’s Children – Surveillance, Censorship, and the Criminalization of Dissent
- Part IX: The Archive of Resistance – Building the People’s Historical Memory
Coming Soon: The eBook Edition
Complete manuscript with footnotes, timelines, visual archives, and appendices. Arabic and Spanish translations will follow the English release.
Part I: Blood Money and Broken Oaths — The War Machine’s Finest Minds – And Why They Failed Us
by Marivel Guznan |Akashma News
They walk among us, decorated in ribbons and stars. They hold degrees in strategy, military science, and global security. Men and women like Lt. Gen. William J. Hartman and Col. Laurie Buckhout—steeped in cyber warfare, intelligence command, and battlefield coordination. Their résumés read like a war college syllabus. Their service, decades long. Their minds, forged in the crucible of conflict.
On paper, these leaders are extraordinary. Seasoned generals. Cyber tacticians. National security architects. Yet despite all this, the United States has not won a war since Operation Desert Storm. And even that “victory” unraveled into decades of instability, emboldening warlords and birthing monsters like ISIS.
So we ask, with no malice—only urgency:
If the best-trained brass can’t win, what are they really fighting for?
Let’s break it down.
1. “Winning” Isn’t What It Used to Be
War has changed. Victory no longer ends with treaties or surrender. The modern battlefield is everywhere and nowhere—insurgents without flags, drones without borders, ideologies without nations.
Afghanistan. Iraq. Syria. Libya. The “enemy” shifts with each administration. So even the most skilled general fights a ghost with rules that vanish mid-battle.
And when the goal is ill-defined, or forever postponed, no one wins—except those selling the bullets.
2. Political Sabotage of Military Strategy
The brass may strategize—but execution belongs to Washington.
And in Washington, strategy is eclipsed by optics, reelection cycles, and lobbying dollars.
From the disastrous pullout of Iraq that gave rise to ISIS, to the haphazard withdrawal from Afghanistan that betrayed both U.S. soldiers and Afghan civilians—our wars have been sabotaged from within.
Generals follow orders. But what if the orders are designed to enrich friends, not to defend the nation?
3. Wars That Were Never Meant to Be Won
This is the hardest truth.
Afghanistan: 20 years, trillions spent, no intention to build a nation—just to rent one.
Iraq: Invaded on a lie. Left broken, bleeding, and looted.
Syria and Libya: Proxy wars ignited, populations destroyed, stability traded for oil corridors and arms sales.
As General Wesley Clark warned: “There was a plan to take out seven countries in five years.” If chaos was the goal, then mission accomplished. War wasn’t lost. It was repackaged as policy.
4. Bureaucracy, Corruption, and the Military-Industrial Complex
Even the most principled officers—like Hartman or Buckhout—can’t outmaneuver the system Eisenhower warned us about.
A swamp of overlapping agencies. Procurement games. “Consulting” gigs. Retired brass going from battlefield to boardroom. Raytheon. Lockheed. Palantir.
The medals might shine, but the system is rusted.
5. Cyberwarfare: A War Without Glory
Our modern heroes now fight in digital silence. No headlines. No parades. Just servers breached, satellites hijacked, grids disabled.
Hartman and Buckhout may be winning battles in cyber arenas we’ll never see—but without transparency, without accountability, the public can’t know what’s won, or what’s lost.
6. Strategy Without Soul
Even the most refined tactics collapse without just cause.
Vietnam. Iraq. Afghanistan. These weren’t wars of liberation. They were occupations disguised as peacekeeping.
Soldiers fought with honor—but the cause was hollow. And occupiers don’t win hearts. They ignite resistance.
So what’s the verdict?
The failure doesn’t lie in skill. It lies in the absence of truth, purpose, and restraint.
Our generals serve two masters—country and contract. And more often than not, they retire into the arms of the contractor who profits from the wars they once directed.
No PhD in war theory can redeem a battle fought for shareholders.
We opened with respect. We acknowledge the service, the dedication, the brilliance.
But now it’s time to flip the page.
Because behind every uniform is a shadow. Behind every “hero” is a name on a contract. And behind every failed war is a ledger soaked in blood.
Welcome to Part II Blood Money and Broken Oaths — How America’s Wars Were Lost to Greed.
Part II: Blood Money and Broken Oaths – How America’s Wars Were Lost to Greed
by Marivel Guzman | Akashma News
They said it was about freedom. They said it was about justice. They said it was about protecting American lives.
But the body count rose, the lies piled up, and the contracts multiplied.
Behind every failed operation, every smokescreen of national interest, and every “freedom mission” abroad—there was a ledger. And the names in those ledgers weren’t soldiers or widows. They were stockholders, politicians, former generals, and billionaires.
This is not anti-war rhetoric. This is forensic journalism. We follow the money. We follow the lies. And we follow the names.
I. The Bush Dynasty: Family Business Meets Foreign Invasion
George H.W. Bush – former CIA Director, oilman, war president. His company, Zapata Offshore, had connections to offshore drilling, Latin America operations, and covert interests.
George W. Bush – sat atop the nation in 2001, as oil executives and military contractors circled the wreckage of 9/11 like vultures. He handed the no-bid reconstruction contracts to Halliburton, formerly run by his vice president, Dick Cheney.
And then came the war built on a lie—Weapons of Mass Destruction—a falsehood pushed by political operatives and amplified by a willing press. The Bush-Cheney doctrine turned Iraq into a playground for profiteers.
II. Dick Cheney: Halliburton’s Shadow Commander
Vice President Cheney made millions from Halliburton stock options even after supposedly “severing ties.” In 2003 alone, Halliburton secured $7 billion in contracts from the U.S. government.
His fingerprints are everywhere:
KBR (Kellogg Brown & Root, a Halliburton subsidiary) billed billions for “reconstruction.”
Allegations of fraud, overcharging, and unsafe conditions for troops.
Private subcontractors like Blackwater (now Academi) acted as mercenary extensions of U.S. foreign policy—with legal immunity.
III. Congress for Sale: The Blood-Soaked Wallets on Capitol Hill
Congress didn’t just approve the wars—they invested in them.
Senator Dianne Feinstein: Her husband, Richard Blum, had stakes in military contractors that gained from Iraq contracts.
Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH): Longtime advocate of defense expansion, recipient of funds from Raytheon and Lockheed.
Dan Crenshaw (R-TX): Public military hero, private supporter of increased private security contracting. Multiple donations from defense PACs.
And let’s not forget Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE)—our cyber subcommittee chair. With decades of military service and political clout, he embodies the revolving door. No direct link to NSO Group or Palantir yet, but his pro-surveillance stances and cyber warfare lobbying track suggest he’s under corporate gravity.
Use OpenSecrets.org and Project on Government Oversight to track the steady stream of blood money funneled through campaign donations and insider contracts.
IV. When Generals Turn Into Guns-for-Hire
Gen. James Mattis: Board member of General Dynamics after his military career.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal: Became advisor to Palantir Technologies, a CIA-seeded surveillance company.
Gen. Michael Hayden: Ex-NSA director turned private consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton—the same firm Edward Snowden worked for when he exposed global surveillance.
They fought wars. Then they sold the playbook.
V. The Tech Profiteers: From Silicon Valley to Baghdad
Bill Gates: Not just the vaccine mogul—Microsoft technology undergirded U.S. digital surveillance and logistics systems in war zones. While Microsoft didn’t profit from boots-on-the-ground war, its infrastructure contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan were extensive.
Peter Thiel: Founder of Palantir, funded by In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s venture capital arm. Palantir’s predictive policing software was deployed in Iraq and on U.S. streets.
Jeff Bezos: Amazon’s AWS cloud bid for the JEDI war cloud contract—worth $10 billion—showed that today’s wars aren’t about tanks. They’re about data.
VI. The Looting of Iraq: $6.6 Billion Gone in Cash
Between 2003–2007, the U.S. “lost” $6.6 billion in cash meant for Iraq’s reconstruction. That money was flown in on pallets—literally—in C-130s, and vanished.
Where did it go? Corrupt Iraqi officials? American contractors? Halliburton vaults?
No accountability. No charges. No return.
VII. From Patriot Act to Panopticon
With the ink still wet from the Twin Towers’ collapse, Congress passed the Patriot Act, giving birth to:
NSA mass surveillance.
Fusion centers spying on Americans.
Corporate surveillance networks with no oversight.
Big Tech, security firms, and retired brass cashed in. And the American people were told: “If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.”
Meanwhile, the architects of fear had everything to gain.
VIII. Conclusion: The Road to Treason Is Paved with Contracts
America didn’t lose its wars because of incompetence. It lost them because winning was never the goal.
The Pentagon became a piggy bank. Congress a stock exchange. And the generals? Many became consultants, CEOs, and lobbyists.
They served money, not country. And money, as we know, doesn’t need a passport to move through the doors of corruption.
So we name them. We trace the dollars. And we demand that history stop calling them patriots when they were, in truth, profiteers.
In Part III, we’ll break down timelines, show document trails, and map the full revolving door from war zones to corporate boardrooms.
Welcome to Part III: Blood Money and Btoken Oaths: The Empire’s Ledger – Mapping the Timeline of Treason
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