Seite 4: Clinton or Trump?

In 2002 You criticized George W. Bush in public because of his use of government intelligence in the lead-up to the Iraq war. Did the media had intererest in Your oppinion then and later, when You was proven right?

Ray McGovern: The media was beating the drum for war. They ignored our public letter to President Bush dated Feb. 5, 2003, in which we showed that, even if some of his claims were correct, they were surely not sufficient to justify war on Iraq, "the unintended consequences of which are likely to be catastrophic." That was our first VIPS memorandum for the President. It is now June 2016 and we have just completed our 40th such memorandum.

The "mainstream media" has VIPS blacklisted. Since they have been successful in this, they do not pay us any heed.

In 2006 you nailed Donalds Rumsfeld about lying the USA into war. Why didn‘t the media do this by themselves?

Ray McGovern: A good part of the short answer is that the "mainstream media" is controlled, for the most part, by those profiteering on war ... and they simply take notes on what the government says and then print or air all that as "news."

You had to spend a night in prison in 2011 because you showed your back during a speech of Hillary Clinton to protest against her war policy. What do we have to expect from her possible presidency?

Ray McGovern: Please see my latest piece on Hillary it’s on my website and on Consortiumnews.com ... many others as well over the past two months. I have still not give up all hope ...the email issue is a serious one.

There is no question that idea of Donald Trump in the White House is not popular in Germany. Despite his many strange views Trump proposed to reduce spending money for military. Could this be a chance to shrink the military-industrial complex?

Ray McGovern: Hard to know what to expect here, so I try to keep my sanity by not thinking of Trump.

Last week somebody of our german domestic intelligence declined in front of a commitee of the Bundestag that they had any idea of sharing intercepted data with US-intelligence could kill people in drone strikes. Plausible?

Ray McGovern: Ostensibly plausible, but VERY hard to believe. !!

As I see it, it is a political thing. The media - German as well as American - is telling one and all BE AFRAID OF THE TERRORISTS and BE AFRAID OF THE RUSSIANS and THEREFORE, WE NEED THE AMERICANS TO CONTINUE PROTECTING US. AND MORE AND MORE ARMS!

The media have their own reasons for exaggerating the threat from terrorists and from Russia. But FEAR is a powerful feeling to instill in a population, making it susceptible of manipulation. So, because the German government is afraid to close the satellite relay station WITHOUT WHICH U.S. "pilots’ could not kill people 10,000 kilometers away IN LESS THAN THREE SECONDS by simply pushing a button on a computer in Nevada, "suspected" terrorists are killed, and many terrorists are born to avenge those killed in so cowardly a manner.

It keeps the need for arms expenditures going and the profiteering as well from the sales. The so-called missile defense systems are EXTREMELY destabilizing. Ditching the ABM treaty was a terrible mistake (by Bush). And the trouble with Russia grew exponentially when the West mounted a coup in Kiev.

War and tension are both good for business. Pope Francis was quite correct in calling out, in his speech to Congress, the "blood-drenched arms merchants."

On Saturday You will speak next to Ramstein Airbase. What will You tell the Germans there?

Ray McGovern: Sorry, Streng Geheim! (Und ich bin totmuede! [sic])