Laying the Foundations for Preemptive Nuclear War Against Iran By Nile Bowie As prospects for a preemptive strike on Iran remain ever present, the recent round of talks between the P5+1 and Iran in Baghdad on May 23rd, 2012 have resulted in a familiar stalemate. As a precondition for any deal to [...]
The Special Loophole in Hell for War Lawyers By David Swanson http://warisacrime.org/content/special-loophole-hell-war-lawyers The strict rule of law is an ideal and a fantasy. Conflicting and archaic words must be interpreted, and doing so is an art, not a science. But there is an enormous chasm between honest attempts to [...]
Afghanistan: exit with no strategy The least one can expect of a president who prolonged Afghan suffering by ordering a surge of troops to finish the job, is that he has something that could be dignified with the name of an exit strategy It is disingenuous to claim, as Barack Obama did [...]
Tomgram: Barbara Ehrenreich, Looting the Lives of the Poor Posted by Barbara Ehrenreich at 8:01am, May 17, 2012. Gordon Gekko, the infamously cutthroat capitalist and lead character in Oliver Stone‘s Wall Street, captured the heady years of the 1980s with a single, indelible line: Greed is good. Today, it is Edward Conard, a friend and [...]
Cuba, The Drug War, And The Isolation Of The U.S. By Noam Chomsky May 11, 2012 “Information Clearing House” — Though sidelined by the Secret Service scandal, last month’s Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia, was an event of considerable significance. There are three major reasons: Cuba, the drug [...]
Honoring a ‘Terror War’ Architect by Ray McGovern Since even readers of the New York Times are aware of deputy national security adviser John Brennan’s open identification with torture, secret prisons and other abuses of national and international law, Fordham University’s invitation to him to give the commencement address on May 19 brought, well, shock and awe to many Fordham [...]
Pentagon Propaganda ‘Fiasco’ Gets Scrutiny in House Wasteful war propaganda and the dirty deeds of the Pentagon‘s corporate contractors are exposed by John Glaser, May 10, 2012 Print This | Share This A member of the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday threatened an amendment to block funding for Pentagon propaganda efforts, citing reports critical of their management and [...]
Gen Martin E Dempsey speaks during a briefing at the Pentagon. The course was suspended when a student objected to the material. Photograph: Susan Walsh/AP A course for US military officers has been teaching that America’s enemy is Islam in general and suggesting that the country might ultimately have to obliterate the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina [...]
Still In Vietghanistan by Abby Zimet With ongoing news of atrocities by U.S. forces and a new poll finding that just 23% of Americans, the lowest rate ever, support the Afghanistan War, a former Marine in Vietnam and currentVeterans For Peace president wonders why people ask him about the “rules of war” governing dead bodies – as though there [...]
A cartoon included in the Joint Staff Forces College presentation on “Jihad: Defined and Operationalized” contains a number of ugly stereotypes.Hundreds of US military officers have enrolled in the course on Islamic radicalism since it was first offered four years ago at the Defense Department’s Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia. US Military Taught Officers: ‘Hiroshima’ Tactics For [...]
Colin Powell’s Tangled Web By David Swanson http://warisacrime.org/content/colin-powells-tangled-web “I get mad when bloggers accuse me of lying — of knowing the information was false. I didn’t.” — Colin Powell. Can you imagine having an opportunity to address the United Nations Security Council about a matter of great global importance, with all the world’s [...]
A member of the 214th Reconnaissance Group flies a Predator aircraft drone in support of ground troops in Iraq and Afghanistan at Davis-Monthan Air Base in Tucson, March 10, 2009. (Photo: Jim Wilson / The New York Times)I kept finding myself thinking about the lunchbox. I was at the all-day Drone Summit in Washington DC [...]
LAUREN BOOTH REPORTS FROM KUALA LUMPUR WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012 AT 8:29AM GILAD ATZMON http://www.deliberation.info/ Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal Day 1 When authority entrusted to further truth and justice betrays that trust, two options remain: one is to throw up your hands in despair and [...]
Naomi Wolf guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 9 May 2012 16.18 BST Comments (85) New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly holds pieces of a pipe bomb confiscated from alleged ‘lone wolf’ terrorist Jose Pimentel. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images The news stories, which quickly surface, long enough to cause scary headlines, then vanish before people can learn how often the [...]
President Obama has said he wants to ‘finish the job we started in Afghanistan’ [GALLO/GETTY] President Obama has been of two minds towards Afghanistan since the outset of his presidency. In December 2009, en route to tripling the US military presence there, he declared that US military forces would begin to withdraw from the country in 18 [...]
US Admits Killing Innocent Afghan Family in Airstrike The incident did not come to light until the governor in Helmand Province made a public accusation by John Glaser, May 07, 2012 Print This | Share This The U.S. military has claimed responsibility for an airstrike that killed six innocent members of a family in southwestern Afghanistan and pledged a [...]
Afghanistan: Obama’s ‘dumb’ war Mon May 7, 2012 1:9PM GMT Hamid Javadi U.S. President Barack Obama addressing the American public from Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan on May 1 Since taking office as president of the United States, Barack Obama made the war inAfghanistan his own war. He called the occupation of Iraq ”a dumb war”, but in Afghanistan he approved [...]
Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern says the US will not stop its assassination drone strikes due to its profits for arms makers, Press TV reports. link to voice recording. Very good listening http://presstv.com/detail/240022.html “These drone strikes create more terrorists. So, the war will keep going on and the question is who profits? [...]
Bicyclist Samuel H. Winstead talks about his family’s history with wars throughout the history of the nation during a stop at the Red Carpet Motel in Culpeper Wednesday. By Allison Brophy Champion | Culpeper Star-Exponent World War II veteran Samuel Winstead arrives today on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. following a seven-day, 350-mile bicycle Ride for [...]
President Barack Obama greets troops on a surprise visit this month at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan. America, one scholar says, is “addicted to war.” (Mandel Ngan, Getty-AFP photo / May 1, 2012) Steve ChapmanMay 6, 2012 Every president is a war president Politics protects the garrison state Ninety-six years ago, when President Woodrow Wilson ran for re-election, two notable things [...]
“We Did Not Choose This War” and Other Hypocrisies By Leah Bolger and David Swanson http://warisacrime.org/content/we-did-not-choose-war-and-other-hypocrisies “We did not choose this war. This war came to us on 9/11. We don’t go looking for a fight. But when we see our homeland violated, when we see our fellow citizens killed, then we [...]
Obama in Afghanistan to Sign Deal to Continue War Through 2024 President Sneaks Into Country to Sign Document, Bypasses Congress by Jason Ditz, May 01, 2012 Print This | Share This Months of “not quite public” Obama Administration efforts to negotiate a still-secret pact to ensure that US troops will [...]
We Japanese Americans Must Not Forget Our Wartime Internment The degrading treatment of Japanese American families like mine is the theme of my new musical, Allegiance By George Takei May 01, 2012 “The Guardian” – Seventy years ago, US soldiers bearing bayoneted rifles came marching up to the front door of our [...]
Brewing a Conflict with China By Paul Craig Roberts May 01, 2012 “Information Clearing House” – Washington has pressured the Philippines, whose government it owns, into conducting joint military exercises in the South China Sea. Washington’s excuse is that China has territorial disputes with the Philippines, Indonesia, and other countries concerning island [...]
undemocratic, brutal or catatonic countries of the world, do the following: Unexceptionalism: A Primer by E.L. Doctorow To achieve unexceptionalism, the political ideal that would render the United States indistinguishable from the impoverished, traditionally PHASE ONE If you’re a justice of the Supreme Court, ignore the first sacrament of a democracy and suspend the [...]
Welcome to the Asylum By Chris Hedges April 30, 2012 “Information Clearing House” — When civilizations start to die they go insane. Let the ice sheets in the Arctic melt. Let the temperatures rise. Let the air, soil and water be poisoned. Let the forests die. Let the seas be emptied [...]
Aimal Faizi. “This means the text is closed….”What is the opinion of the agreement among regular Afghan citizens? (Photo: Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers) Why “lock” or “close” the future of Afghanistan to 30 million ordinary Afghan citizens? While the world may accept that the U.S. and Afghan governments have some “state” or “noble” considerations [...]
White House Defends Drones Despite Civilian Deaths ‘Sometimes You Have to Take Life to Save Lives’ by Jason Ditz, April 29, 2012 Print This | Share This It’s no real secret that the Obama Administration’s ever escalating drone war has killed a massive lot [...]
Confessions of a Drone By David Swanson http://warisacrime.org/content/confessions-drone They told me I was the best, better than any human. I didn’t hesitate. I didn’t flinch. I didn’t think. It wouldn’t have occurred to me to think. I’d been taught to value obedience above all else, and I did so, and they loved me for it. [...]
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has once again expressed his concerns over the U.S. drone strikes in his country’s tribal regions. In a meeting with U.S. Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Marc Grossman on Friday, Zardari said Pakistan has always maintained that U.S. drone attacks are highly “counter-productive” in the war against militants since [...]
The Obama Contradiction Weakling at Home, Imperial President Abroad By Tom Engelhardt He has few constraints (except those he’s internalized). No one can stop him or countermand his orders. He has a bevy of lawyers at his beck and call to explain the “legality” of his actions. And if he cares [...]
Taliban reject safe passage agreed at trilateral moot * Spokesman says decision of trilateral forum a US tactic to make jihadis surrender By Imdad Hussain link http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012%5C04%5C29%5Cstory_29-4-2012_pg7_3 ISLAMABAD: Afghan Taliban on Saturday rejected the trilateral forum agreement in Islamabad to give a safe passage to terrorists willing to talk [...]
Why I Refused to Return to Fight in Afghanistan’s Brutal Occupation The Taliban clearly has broad support from Afghan people. Conscientious objection is a right and obligation in a failed war By Joe Glenton April 27, 2012 “The Guardian” – – Recent attacks in Kabul confirm the occupation is falling to pieces. [...]
Evidence in British Court Contradicts CIA Drone Claims By Chris Woods April 26, 2012 “Information Clearing House” — A major case in the British High Court has revealed fresh evidence of civilian deaths during a notorious CIA drone strike in Pakistan last year. Sworn witness testimonies reveal in graphic detail how the village [...]
U.S. relents and grants Pakistani lawyer visa in time for International Drone Summit By davidswanson - Posted on 24 April 2012 From Code Pink, Reprieve, and Center for Constitutional Rights: After months of pressure from human rights activists, the U.S. government has granted Pakistani lawyer Shahzad Akbar a visa to attend [...]
Text of AP Story on Afghanistan Agreement Translated into Human By David Swanson http://warisacrime.org/content/text-ap-story-afghanistan-agreement-translated-human Here’s an Associated Press story on an agreement for another decade of U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, an agreement between two governments that do not represent their peoples, a story that was clearly translated from the [...]
Electing the US candidate Jim Yong Kim to the presidency of the World Bank may have been a missed opportunity to ameliorate animosity stemming from the global economic meltdown [AFP] Santa Barbara, CA - The unsurprising announcement that the Board of the World Bank had voted in favour of the American candidate, Jim Yong Kim, presents [...]
Unplugging Americans From The Matrix By Paul Craig Roberts April 20, 2012 “Information Clearing House” — Americans, the British, and Western Europeans are accustomed to thinking of themselves as the representatives of freedom, democracy, and morality in the world. The West passes judgment on the rest of the world as if the [...]
A Palestinian woman at a demonstration in the village of al-Walaja. Photo Credit: Ryan Rodrick Beiler / Shutterstock.com LIKE THIS ARTICLE ? Join our mailing list: Sign up to stay up to date on the latest headlines via email. How We’re Footing the Bill for Violent Crackdowns on [...]
A mural in Tehran, Iran, depicts Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, left, and his predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the father of the revolution. (Photo: Shawn Baldwin / The New York Times) The US and Iran Are Talking. Why Is the New York Times Peddling Iran Islamophobia? Friday, 20 April 2012 11:00By Robert Naiman, Truthout | News Analysis Support Truthout’s [...]
Land of the Un-free and Mind Controlled Just discovered this in my Draft folder – forwarding a Washington Post article acknowledging ten political atrocities which remain a dirty, unspoken secret in America. (Scroll to the bottom.) (I highly recommend this news source: WantToKnow.info, by Fred Burks.) Here’s to waking up. ~Jean “James Madison [...]
How Obama Became a Civil Libertarian‘s Nightmare Obama has expanded and fortified many of the Bush administration’s worst policies. April 18, 2012 | LIKE THIS ARTICLE ? Join our mailing list: Sign up to stay up to date on the latest headlines via email. When Barack Obama took office, he was the civil liberties communities’ [...]
AfPak: Mutiny on the Bounty By Eric Walberg – CairoKabul was cast into chaos Sunday as the Taliban began their spring offensive with attacks on US, British, German and Russian embassies, NATO headquarters, Camp Eggers, a hotel, President Karzai’s palace compound and parliament. “These are coordinated attacks that went just [...]
An Occupy Wall Street protester is detained during a march through lower Manhattan, in New York, November 17, 2011. (Photo: Robert Stolarik / The New York Times) The “Suicidal State” and the War on Youth Tuesday, 10 April 2012 11:14By Henry A Giroux, Truthout | Op-Ed In spite of being discredited by the economic recession of 2008, market [...]
. Stop Obama’s Drone War in Pakistan by Matthew Rothschild The Pakistani government and its opposition parties have just come together in a rare show of unity to demand that the United States cease all drone attacks inside their country.As well they should The United States hasn’t declared war on Pakistan. The U.S. has no [...]
Nobel Peace Laureate Rejects U.S. State Department – NATO – Chicago Agenda http://warisacrime.org/content/nobel-peace-laureate-rejects-us-state-department-nato-chicago-agenda FROM: MAIREAD MAGUIRE Dear Friends, I write to let you know that I have decided not to attend the 12th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates on 23rd-25th April, 2012, in Chicago, USA. On 10th April, Sec. of State H. Clinton [...]
Engelhardt, The Smog of War Posted by Tom Engelhardt at 9:05am, April 10, 2012. [Note for TomDispatch Readers: The Nation magazine website has just released the first of a series of short video interviews with me about my latest book, The United States of Fear -- this one focusing on how post-Cold-War Washington chose what I [...]
Memo: Bush Made Intel Fit Iraq Policy By WARREN P. STROBEL and JOHN WALCOTT 05/06/05 “Knight Ridder” - – WASHINGTON - A highly classified British memo, leaked in the midst of Britain’s just-concluded election campaign, indicates that President Bush decided to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein by summer 2002 and was determined to [...]
Escobar: War Porn & US Snuff-Films Using Real Populations Middle East Clusterfuck Department of Genocide, Torture, and Tyranny Christ drones Fallujah Gaza iran Iraq israel obama Pepe Escobar R2P Scott Peck US Sat, 04/07/2012 – 3:33am — libbyliberal It may seem insensitive to blog about the evil savagery of war (called out profoundly [...]
Render to Caesar, Extraordinarily by Ray McGovern Some of us pause on Good Friday to mark the torture and death of a high-value detainee rendered, extraordinarily, to Roman occupiers. Although the charges against Jesus of Nazareth were trumped up, the Romans decided to err on the safe side by going to the “dark [...]
