MARIAMNE EVERETT,  [in France] mariamne.everett@mycit.ie, @EverettMariamne
Everett recently wrote the piece “Biden: A War Cabinet?” She is an intern at the Institute for Public Accuracy and radio presenter with World Radio Paris where she hosts the podcast Hidden Paris, about the hidden cultural and social aspects and places of the City of Lights.

Her piece notes the record of Susan Rice, expected by many to be Secretary of State in a Biden administration. Among Rice’s quotes noted: “I think he [then Secretary of State Colin Powell] has proved that Iraq has these weapons and is hiding them, and I don’t think many informed people doubted that.” (NPR, Feb. 6, 2003)

“It’s clear that Iraq poses a major threat. It’s clear that its weapons of mass destruction need to be dealt with forcefully, and that’s the path we’re on. I think the question becomes whether we can keep the diplomatic balls in the air and not drop any, even as we move forward, as we must, on the military side.” (NPR, Dec. 20, 2002) [NPR declined to provide IPA with audio of these segments, we encourage media outlets to request them from library@npr.org.]

Also examined is Tony Blinken, thought to be a likely National Security Adviser. Everett writes: “Blinken had immense influence over Biden in his role as Deputy National Security Advisor, helping formulate Biden’s approach and support for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. … Blinken also appears to be steering Biden’s pro-Israel agenda, recently stating that Biden ‘would not tie military assistance to Israel to any political decisions that it makes, period, full stop.'”

Michèle Flournoy is a leading possibility to head the Pentagon. She was Under Secretary of Defense for Policy from 2009 to 2012 in the Obama administration under Secretaries Robert Gates [a hold-over from the George W. Bush administration] and Leon Panetta. Writes Everett: “Flournoy … paved the way for the U.S.’s endless and costly wars which prevent us from investing in life-saving and necessary programs like Medicare for All and the Green New Deal.”

Everett adds: “It is extremely important to note that Flournoy and Blinken co-founded the strategic consulting firm, WestExec Advisors, where the two use their large database of governmental, military, venture capitalist and corporate leader contacts to help companies win big Pentagon contracts. One such client is Jigsaw, a technology incubator created by Google that describes itself on its website as ‘a unit within Google that forecasts and confronts emerging threats, creating future-defining research and technology to keep our world safer.’ Their partnership on the AI initiative entitled Project Maven led to a rebellion by Google workers who opposed their technology being used by military and police operations.”