THE ROVING EYE How Osama re-elects Obama By Pepe Escobar A nuclear deal with Iran? An organized retreat from Afghanistan? The eurozone picking up a little bit of steam? Stable oil prices? Forget it. The crucial foreign elector recruited for Obama II at the White House is one Osama bin Laden. Call [...]
Ties between the United States and Pakistan have been severely strained over the past year [Reuters] Pakistan has confirmed its president will attend a summit of NATO leaders this weekend in Chicago as negotiations with US to reopen supply lines into Afghanistan continues. Nadeem Hotiana, a Pakistani embassy spokesman in Washington, said on Tuesday that Asif Ali Zardari [...]
Bin Laden Files Debunk Neocon Hysteria Over Iran The claim of a deal between Iran and Al-Qaeda has been discredited by former officials in the wake of publication of documents from Osama bin Laden’s files. May 10, 2012 | The U.S. Treasury Department‘s claim of a “secret deal” between Iran and Al-Qaeda, which had become a [...]
U.S. Treasury Claim of Iran-Al-Qaeda “Secret Deal” Is Discredited By Gareth Porter* WASHINGTON, May 10, 2012 (IPS) – The U.S. Treasury Department‘s claim of a “secret deal” between Iran and Al-Qaeda, which had become a key argument by right-wing activists who support war against Iran, has been discredited by former intelligence [...]
Collectivism appears to be on the rise in the United States [AFP] New Haven, CT - When it comes to President Barack Obama’s foreign policy, I’m of two minds. Killing Osama bin Laden? Thumbs up. Killing a US citizen who worked for al-Qaeda? Not so much. But at least he knows what’s going on. When Mitt [...]
Diageo to end funding of Heartland Institute after climate change outburst Firm has ‘no plans’ to work with thinktank following campaign comparing people concerned about climate to mass murderers Ted Kaczynski was shown on a billboard alongside the caption: “I still believe in global warming. Do you?” Photograph: Elaine Thompson/AP Diageo, one of [...]
Suggested Topics Al-Qaeda O Lordy, lordy. So there’s Bin Laden, hiding in Abbottabad and he’s waffling on about Fisk. Should The Independent’s man in the Middle East and my old chum Abdul Bari Atwan be given exclusive material on the 10th anniversary of the international crimes against humanity of 9/11 (my definition, not OBL‘s)? Can OBL be [...]
Posters of 22 fugitives, including Osama bin Laden, line a wall at the FBI headquarters in Washington, October 10, 2001. (Photo: Stephen Crowley / The New York Times)A few days after US Navy Seals killed Osama bin Laden in a raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan, a “senior intelligence official” briefing reporters on the materials seized from [...]
Counterterrorism adviser John Brennan (second from right) in the Situation Room as President Obama and his national security team monitored the raid against Osama bin Laden on May 1, 2011. (White House photo) Not Explaining the Why of Terrorism May 2, 2012 Exclusive: President Obama signed a U.S.-Afghan strategic agreement on May 1, committing U.S. combat forces [...]
Confessions of an angry young drone By Pepe Escobar PARIS – These are tumultuous times in Droneland. Some bewildered United States drones are actually mired in second thoughts about their god-given mission – as expressed in detail to author and blogger David Swanson. [1] They even founded their own awareness [...]
Image Credit: Illustration: Ramachandra Babu/©Gulf News Even extremists may find new political pragmatism The electoral failure of secular, liberal parties can be seen as a vote against continued Western interference By Abdel Bari Atwan, Special to Gulf News Published: 00:00 May 2, 2012 Share on facebookShare on twitterShare on emailShare on printMore Sharing Services2 [...]
Bin Laden: Everyone Is Missing the Big Picture Washington’s Blog May 1, 2012 Obama and Romney Are Both Ignoring the Real Issue with Killing Bin Laden The anniversary of Bin Laden’s death is big news. Obama is bragging about how he whacked Bin Laden, accusing Romney of being too soft to take out [...]
Pakistan deports bin Laden’s family to Saudi Arabia By Tom Hussain / McClatchy Newspapers Tuesday, April 17, 2012 - Added 24 hours ago ISLAMABAD — On Wednesday, Pakistan was scheduled to deport the 14 members of Osama bin Laden’s family who had lived with him in a garrison town near Islamabad until U.S. forces killed [...]
1. During the Cold War, NATO defended Western Europe from Soviet attack. Although military spending during this era was comparably extravagant on both sides, we should remember that, because the Soviet Union controlled a substantially smaller share of the global economy, its annual military budget eventually reached almost 25% of its [...]
Private Eyes they’re watching you they see your every move Private Eyes they’re watching you (Hall and Oates song) George Ikners ikners.com WikiLeaks recently began publishing emails from intelligence-gathering firm Stratfor [EPA] Irvine, CA - “There is no way the United Statescan be this incompetent. The chaos here has to be at least partly deliberate.”So explained [...]
Murder Is Legal, Says Eric Holder By David Swanson http://warisacrime.org/content/murder-legal-says-eric-holder Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday explained why it’s legal to murder people — not to execute prisoners convicted of capital crimes, not to shoot someone in self-defense, not to fight on a battlefield in a war that is somehow legalized, [...]
Wikileaks Bin Laden’s Body Taken To US: Statfor By The Journal March 05, 2012 – INTERNAL EMAILS in a major global intelligence firm, published by WikiLeaks, suggest that Osama bin Laden’s body may have been brought to America after he was killed by US Navy Seals. The emails, from the intelligence [...]
How to Leave Guantánamo: By Means of a Plea Deal or In A Coffin by Andy Worthington, March 2, 2012 Guantánamo briefly emerged from the shadows on Wednesday, February 29, when Majid Khan, a Pakistani national described as one of 14 “high-value detainees” when he arrived at Guantánamo in September 2006, after three [...]
How the CIA‘s fake aid projects put real humanitarian workers at risk in Pakistan By Rob Crilly World Last updated: February 16th, 2012 22 Comments Comment on this article A fake vaccination programme was used to track Bin Laden (Photo: AP) You don’t need to be a cynic of US overseas aid to know that cash is generally [...]
Andrew Bacevich, Uncle Sam, Global Gangster Posted by Andrew Bacevich at 8:13am, February 19, 2012. If all goes as planned, it will be the happiest of wartimes in the U.S.A. Only the best of news, the killing of the baddest of the evildoers, will ever filter back to our world. After all, American [...]
A Fitting Symbol of the American Empire by Sheldon Richman, January 20, 2012 The image of four U.S. marines urinating on the corpses of Afghan fighters is a fitting symbol of American intervention in Central Asia and the Middle East. That picture will live forever in the memories [...]
Analysts: US , Pakistan collaborating again on drone strikes BY TOM HUSSAIN MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS ISLAMABAD – Two apparent U.S. drone attacks last week on militant targets in Pakistani tribal areas bordering Afghanistan very likely signal the resumption of joint counterintelligence operations by the CIA and Pakistan’s military spy agency, security analysts here [...]
The Apocalyptics By John Feffer They’re like a heavy metal band. Dress them up in black, put some Goth makeup on them, give them a name like The Apocalyptics, and they’d fit right in with the head-banger crowd. After all, it’s mostly doom and gloom with the Republican candidates, particularly when [...]
Pakistan‘s Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani talks to China’s Premier Wen Jiabao during a singing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 18, 2011. (Jason Lee/AFP/Getty Images) China is planning a military base in Pakistan,India Today reported, citing “a secret report prepared by the [...]
Tides of Darkness by Nebojsa Malic, January 07, 2012 | Print This | Share This | Antiwar Forum January 6, 2012More War in 2012 Last year was supposed to be the one of shattered illusions. From “victories” in Iraq and Afghanistan to the springtime for jihad – not democracy – in the Arab world, the Empire consistently failed to [...]
AP / Gerald Herbert President Barack Obama talks with Saudi King Abdullah in 2009. Following a recent visit to Australia and arms sales here together with a renewed commitment (substitute “offensive) in Asia the term “arms dealer” is extremely apt when describing Obama who already excels as a warmonger. How those who put so much [...]
Pakistan‘s president, Asif Ali Zardari, faces questions over links the the ‘memogate’ scandal, which is being investigated by the supreme court Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images Pakistan‘s supreme court is to investigate the scandal surrounding an unsigned memo – reportedly sent by a close ally of the president, Asif Ali Zardari, to the US after Osama [...]
The year 2011 saw the rise of a new country, the fall of long-time leaders and the tragedies and triumphs in between This was perhaps the biggest news year in the last two decades. In 2011, protesters overthrew entrenched autocracies, the US caught its most wanted man, a devastating earthquake and tsunami thrashed Japan, a new [...]
Earlier this month, six Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives were charged with securities fraud [GALLO/GETTY] New York, NY - As every media critic learns, the worst sin of our press is not its blatant biases, or crimes of commission, but rather the pervasive patterns of omission; what’s left out! Already, with two weeks to go, [...]
George W Obama, looking pensive. Perhaps planning for the war after next George Ikners ikners.com gikners@gmail.com President Barack Obama is about to sign into law the National Defence Authorisation Act, which authorises indefinite detention in military custody of ‘terror’ suspects. Photograph: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images Here we are. More than 10 years after the 9/11 attacks, [...]
The United States and Torture: Interrogation, Incarceration and Abuse(New York University Press, 2011) is a treatise which, through detailed essays, recollections, evidence and testimonies, explores the subject of torture through three main sections – the history of US torture, the torture of prisoners in custody, and accountability for [...]
REUTERS For the second year in a row, Reporters Without Borders has named Pakistan the most deadly country in the world for journalists. The biggest threat is not terrorists, but the intelligence service, a prominent talk show moderator alleges. The same man just received an ominous warning via text message. Hamid Mir leans back in his [...]
Pakistani women protest in Karachi against the Nato attack that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers last month. Photograph: Corbis Pakistan army rejects US findings on border attack American investigation concludes mistakes on both sides led to US air strikes killing 24 Pakistani soldiers reddit this Associated Press guardian.co.uk, Friday 23 December 2011 07.55 GMT Article history The [...]
The Pentagon has admitted significant responsibility for an attack on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border last month that left 24 Pakistani solders dead. A military investigation found U.S. and Afghan commandos incorrectly determined there were no Pakistani forces in the area before the air strike. U.S. officials then provided inaccurate data to a Pakistani [...]
Gilani criticised the security forces’ inability to detect Osama bin Laden‘s presence on Pakistani soil [EPA] Link to Al Jazeera article http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2011/12/2011122215143225409.html Yousuf Raza Gilani, Pakistan‘s embattled prime minister, has said conspirators were plotting to bring down his government, delivering an unprecedented tirade against the country’s powerful military. Without directly naming the military, Gilani said on Thursday [...]
Smoldering ruin of a border outpost inside Pakistan attacked by US helicopters. 24 Pakistani soldiers died here and at a second mountaintop outpost in an unprovoked US massacre Shaukat Qadir This past June I posted an article by Anatol Lieven on Facebook. For those who are not familiar with his name, [...]
Drones, which frequently kill civilians in Pakistan, are operated remotely by the US military and CIA [GALLO/GETTY] “You cannot call me lucky,” said Sadaullah Wazir as he recounted the events of a drone strike two years ago on his home in North Waziristan. The strike killed his two young cousins and an elderly wheelchair-bound uncle. It [...]
Khan leads a rally to condemn US drone attacks targeting suspected Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives in Pakistan [EPA] Imran Khan, Pakistan’s cricket-great-turned-politician and the chairman of the Tehreek-e-Insaf party (Movement for Justice), has led around 6,000 protesters in Karachi demanding an end to US drone strikes on Pakistani soil. Thousands of anti-US protesters had [...]
Pakistani Commission to Probe CIA Presence in Country ‘Abbottabad Commission’ Vows to Release Results to Public by Jason Ditz, December 08, 2011 | Print This | Share This | Antiwar Forum Speaking today at a press conference, Pakistani Justice Javed Iqbal, the head of the “Abbottabad Commission,” [...]
BOOK REVIEW Down the wrong path 9-11: Was There an Alternative? by Noam Chomsky Reviewed by Christopher Bartlo “The book you are holding was conceived, produced, and published as an act of protest.” This is the first line of the editor’s introduction to Noam Chomsky’s revised book about the causes and effects of [...]
The Future of Al Qaeda Fawaz Gerges If this is a topic that interests you it would be good idea to read any article such as this as well as the excellent book by Abdel Bari Atwan titled “The Secret History of Al Qaeda” George Ikners ikners.com gikners@gmail.com To read the other essays [...]
This is yet another article illustrating the real purpose of the Obama visit to Australia. Despite the fanfare and adoration from the Australian Prime Minister Obama’s real purpose was part of a posture and profile in Asia to restate the US dreams of perpetual hegemony and the capitalist need for continued expansion [...]
Preston Rhea (CC-BY-SA) A tower overlooking the China-Pakistan border. By Barry Lando The killing of 24 Pakistani troops by NATO forces last Saturday is just the latest disastrous chapter in U.S.- Pakistan relations. As affairs go from bad to catastrophic, it’s not just the Taliban who will benefit but also China. For several years now the [...]
Cablegate One Year Later: How WikiLeaks Has Influenced Foreign Policy, Journalism, and the First Amendment One year ago today, WikiLeaks started publishing a trove of over 250,000 leaked U.S. State Department cables, which have since formed the basis of reporting for newspapers around the globe. The publication has given the public a window into the [...]
Political blogger Glenn Greenwald recently wrote about retired General Wesley Clark’s recollection of an officer telling him in the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks that the then U.S. Secretary of Defense had issued a memo outlining a plan for regime change within five years in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Iran. We [...]
Protesters in Karachi burn an effigy representing America. Photograph: Rehan Khan/EPA Pakistan has had enough The assumption that it has no choice but to obey America may turn out to be a dire strategic error reddit this Comments (372) Simon Tisdall guardian.co.uk, Sunday 27 November 2011 20.35 GMT Article history Readers of Dawn newspaper, commenting online, were [...]
The funeral of the 24 Pakistani soldiers. The war of words between the US and Pakistan reveals a low level of trust. Photograph: Arshad Arbab/EPA Pakistan and US wage a war of words over Afghan border post deaths Islamabad and Washington trade claim and counter-claim over deaths of 24 Pakistani soldiers in Nato air strike [...]
Pakistani soldiers pay their last respects to their colleagues killed in the air strike. Illustration: Mohammad Sajjad/AP Pakistan‘s reaction to border post air strike leaves Nato tactics in disarray The deaths of 24 Pakistani soldiers in a Nato air strike wreck hopes of improved co-operation on either side of the border reddit this Julian Borger [...]
Nato trucks at the Pakistani border town of Torkham bound for Afghanistan: a senior western official claims an attack by Nato aircraft on Pakistani troops that allegedly killed as many as 28 soldiers was an act of self-defence. Photograph: Qazi Rauf/AP Nato air attack on Pakistani troops was self-defence, says senior western official US-Pakistan relations [...]
The Pakistani government responded to the incident by asking the US to vacate Shamsi air base within 15 days [EPA] The Pakistani government has given the US fifteen days to vacate an airfield in Balochistan province after an alleged cross-border attack which killed at least 24 Pakistani soldiers. The attack on a military checkpoint in [...]
