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Latest Articles: War, War, War
Learning from the Insane
Post Date: 2008-10-11 16:01:41 by Turtle
1 Comments
"Great men are almost always bad men," wrote Lord Acton. From their badness you can learn much about the flaws inherent in the mass of people. Disease is as instructive as health, since it tells people to flee the former and seek the latter. Unfortunately, when it comes to politics, many people can't tell the difference between the two, and in fact see disease as health, unholiness as holiness, war as peace, ignorance as strength. One of those great but bad men was Adolf Hitler, who has been described as "half genius, half insane." He clearly had a profound understanding of human nature, and the cesspool known as politics, in order to get to the position he did. ...
Many Approved Torture
Post Date: 2008-10-10 20:28:27 by richard9151
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Eagle Editorial 09/10/08 "The Wichita Eagle" -- When it comes to the Bush administration's disgraceful decision to torture terrorism suspects, there are plenty of officials to share the shame. New documents provided to Congress confirm that Condoleezza Rice, then national security adviser, led meetings in 2002 in which officials discussed specific "enhanced" interrogation methods. Those attending reportedly included Vice President Dick Cheney, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and then-CIA Director George Tenet. What's particularly noteworthy about these meetings is that they occurred, and the torturing of detainees ...
NATO agrees on Afghan drug role for military
Post Date: 2008-10-10 14:49:51 by richard9151
4 Comments
Wow! big surprise here.... like they weren't already involved! By PAUL AMES, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 36 minutes ago BUDAPEST, Hungary - NATO defense ministers Friday authorized their troops in Afghanistan to attack drug barons blamed for pumping up to US$100 million (euro74 million) a year into the coffers of resurgent Taliban fighters. "With regard to counter-narcotics ... ISAF can act in concert with the Afghans against facilities and facilitators supporting the insurgency," said NATO spokesman James Appathurai, referring to the NATO force. The United States has pushed for NATO's 50,000 troops to take on a counter-narcotics role to hit back at the ...
Tortured by the Federal Savior
Post Date: 2008-10-10 06:17:52 by Ada
1 Comments
Americans who have suffered harm during the current financial crisis should be counting their lucky stars. At least U.S. officials haven’t taken them into custody as enemy combatants and tortured them, as U.S. officials have done to two American citizens, Yaser Hamdi and Jose Padilla. They, along with a foreigner named Ali al Marri, were held in isolation for years in a Pentagon military dungeon in South Carolina, where they were mentally tortured by U.S. military officials. While Pentagon officials have long maintained that the two Americans were treated humanely in military custody, it turns out that that just one more big lie on top of all the others that have emanated from the ...
Mullen sees Afghanistan worsening into next year
Post Date: 2008-10-09 20:46:15 by christine
5 Comments
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Violence in Afghanistan will escalate in 2009 unless the United States and other countries move quickly to counter an intensifying Taliban insurgency with troops and assistance, the top U.S. military officer said on Thursday. "The trends, across-the-board, are not going in the right direction," Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters. Afghanistan, which has seen violence soar over the past two years, needs not only military assistance from the West but also major infusions of economic, diplomatic and political aid, according to Mullen. "It's been very, very tough fighting this year and it will be tougher next ...
The Worst Wounded Soldier
Post Date: 2008-10-09 17:25:43 by Turtle
4 Comments
TAMPA, Fla. — He lies flat, unseeing eyes fixed on the ceiling, tubes and machines feeding him, breathing for him, keeping him alive. He cannot walk or talk, but he can grimace and cry. And he is fully aware of what has happened to him. Four years ago almost to this day, Joseph Briseno Jr. was shot in the back of the head at point-blank range in a Baghdad marketplace. His spinal cord was shattered, and cardiac arrests stole his vision and damaged his brain. The 24-year-old is one of the most severely injured soldiers — some think the most injured soldier — to survive. “Three things you would not want to be: blind, head injury, and paralyzed from the neck down. ...
Pentagon sees reconciliation with Taliban, not Qaeda
Post Date: 2008-10-09 17:16:35 by richard9151
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By Kristin Roberts 1 hour, 55 minutes ago BUDAPEST (Reuters) - The United States would be prepared to reconcile with the Taliban if the Afghan government pursued talks to end the war, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Thursday. But he said Washington would not consider any negotiations with al Qaeda. Gates said reconciliation would be the political end to the conflict in Afghanistan, but it must happen on the Afghan government's terms and the Taliban must commit to subject itself to the sovereignty of the government. "There has to be ultimately, and I'll underscore ultimately, reconciliation as part of a political outcome to this," Gates told reporters ...
Australian troops 'kill Afghan governor'
Post Date: 2008-10-07 19:11:00 by richard9151
1 Comments
14:45 AEST Tue Oct 7 2008 Australian special forces soldiers may have inadvertently shot dead Afghan district governor Rozi Khan, defence head Angus Houston has admitted. The Australian Defence Force (ADF) was working with the governor's tribe to ensure his death had no negative consequences for operations in the region. Air Chief Marshal Houston says a very confused situation is still under investigation. "But, you know, it certainly looks that way," he said when asked whether Australian troops had shot the governor. "But we don't know at this stage. We really need to complete our investigation." In the incident on September 18, Australian special forces ...
McCain Is Deluding Himself Over The 'Surge'
Post Date: 2008-10-07 18:45:38 by richard9151
1 Comments
There's a hole in the US argument, and blood is rushing through By Johann Hari: 07/10/08 "The Independent" -- John McCain is desperate to talk about the surge rather than the splurge. His Iraq war is set to cost one trillion dollars, and his deregulation-mania has cost hundreds of billions. So in order to maintain his façade of being "tough on spending", he needs to shift the subject. That's why he has tried to shrink the debate about the Iraq War to one small question. Not: did Saddam have Weapons of Mass Destruction? Not: did Saddam have links to 9/11? Not: why do 70 per cent of Iraqis think the presence of US troops make them less safe and they ...
Secrets of Iraq's Death Chamber
Post Date: 2008-10-07 18:41:46 by richard9151
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Prisoners are being summarily executed in the government's high-security detention centre in Baghdad By Robert Fisk 07/10/08 "The Independent" -- -Like all wars, the dark, untold stories of the Iraqi conflict drain from its shattered landscape like the filthy waters of the Tigris. And still the revelations come. The Independent has learnt that secret executions are being carried out in the prisons run by Nouri al-Maliki's "democratic" government. The hangings are carried out regularly – from a wooden gallows in a small, cramped cell – in Saddam Hussein's old intelligence headquarters at Kazimiyah. There is no public record of these killings in ...
AP Exclusive: Documents say detainee near insanity
Post Date: 2008-10-07 18:23:02 by richard9151
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By PAMELA HESS, Associated Press Writer 28 minutes ago WASHINGTON - A U.S. military officer warned Pentagon officials that an American detainee was being driven nearly insane by months of punishing isolation and sensory deprivation in a U.S. military brig, according to documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union and provided to The Associated Press. While the treatment of prisoners at detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and in Afghanistan and Iraq have long been the subject of human rights complaints and court scrutiny, the documents shed new light on how two American citizens and a legal U.S. resident were treated in military jails inside the United States. ...
Taliban, Afghan Officials Met in Saudi Arabia
Post Date: 2008-10-06 20:54:50 by richard9151
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Taliban, Afghan Officials Met in Saudi Arabia, Former Taliban Ambassador Says By JASON STRAZIUSO Associated Press Writer KABUL, Afghanistan October 6, 2008 (AP) Taliban representatives met with Afghan government officials last month in Saudi Arabia, a former high-level Taliban ambassador said Monday, but he denied the meeting could be construed as peace talks. Abdul Salam Zaeef, the Taliban's former ambassador to Pakistan, said he was invited by Saudi King Abdullah to share Iftar — the meal that breaks the daily fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Taliban representatives, Afghan government officials and a representative for the powerful warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar ...
Obama: Democratic War President
Post Date: 2008-10-06 17:18:30 by Rupert_Pupkin
1 Comments
Obama, The Democratic 'War President' by Eric Margolis by Eric Margolis DIGG THIS CALGARY – Barack Obama wants to withdraw US troops from Iraq and send them to Afghanistan, which he calls the real front on the "war on terror." He also has repeated threats to attack Pakistan "if necessary." One understands Obama’s need to sound macho. Rival John McCain has been beating his chest, proclaiming, "I know how to win wars." Polls show Americans trust McCain three to one over Obama as a war leader. Unfortunately, recent US presidents seem to require small military conflicts to prove their political virility. But Obama has long called the US-led ...
British commander says war in Afghanistan cannot be won
Post Date: 2008-10-05 19:25:27 by wbales
6 Comments
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's commander in Afghanistan has said the war against the Taliban cannot be won, the Sunday Times reported. It quoted Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith as saying in an interview that if the Taliban were willing to talk, then that might be "precisely the sort of progress" needed to end the insurgency. "We're not going to win this war. It's about reducing it to a manageable level of insurgency that's not a strategic threat and can be managed by the Afghan army," he said. .....
Israel may strike Iran nuke sites: French FM
Post Date: 2008-10-05 10:28:10 by DeaconBenjamin
2 Comments
JERUSALEM: French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner warned in comments published on Sunday that Israel would strike archfoe Iran before it was ab le to develop nuclear weapons. "I honestly don't believe (a nuclear weapon) will give any immunity to Iran," Kouchner said in an interview conducted in English with Israel's Haaretz newspaper during a two-day visit to the region. "First, because you will hit them before. And this is the danger. Israel has always said it will not wait for the bomb to be ready. I think that (the Iranians) know. Everyone knows." The newspaper's print edition quoted Kouchner as saying that Israel would "eat" Iran, but in ...
Travelin' Soldier
Post Date: 2008-10-03 22:45:44 by Lod
13 Comments
Cyni - don't watch this one, please. Nor anyone else who breaks down in tears over our senseless deaths overseas. God help us, stoppit!
Poster Comment:
Feds Probe CBS' Logan for Iraq Items
Post Date: 2008-10-03 17:00:42 by freepatriot32
3 Comments
Oct. 3) -- Federal agents are investigating star war correspondent and gossip magazine favorite Lara Logan's choice of interior decoration for her CBS News office in Washington, D.C, according to the New York Post. Logan's workplace walls sport renderings of a munificent Saddam Hussein blessing angelic children and the former Iraqi leader looking relaxed in military uniform, as seen in video from television industry magazine Broadcasting and Cable. Apparently the "art" was found in Iraq's wrecked Olympic Stadium, the magazine notes. The feds have successfully prosecuted at least one case against a journalist. Ben Johnson, a (now former) Fox News Channel satellite ...
Chorus of failure grows ever louder over Afghanistan
Post Date: 2008-10-03 05:59:34 by Ada
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Critics of the US war in Afghanistan now include the British ambassador GIVEN centuries of cross-Channel antipathy, can we believe what a Frenchman has to say on the thoughts of a Briton on progress in the war in Afghanistan? If a coded French diplomatic dispatch obtained by the respected Paris weekly Le Canard enchaine is to be believed, London's man in Kabul thinks this war is lost. In the ways of diplomacy, Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles might be forgiven for believing his exchange early last month with Francois Fitou, the No.2 at the French Embassy, was strictly entre nous. But Fitou was so alarmed by what he heard, that he reported all its explosive detail to Paris - where it was ...
War on Two Fronts, Without Railways
Post Date: 2008-10-02 05:47:43 by Ada
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One way to look at the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is to see them as one war with two fronts. Germany fought two-front wars twice in the 20th century, and it was almost able to prevail because it had the advantage of interior lines. The German Army could quickly shift divisions and corps from the Eastern to the Western front or vice versa, using the superb German rail system. Unfortunately, the US lacks the advantage of interior lines in its ongoing two-front war. No railways run from Baghdad to Kabul. US commanders in Afghanistan have reportedly requested an additional 10,000 troops. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was recently quoted in the Washington Post as telling the Senate ...
China report urges missile shield
Post Date: 2008-10-01 22:56:07 by buckeye
15 Comments
[Non print version has hyperlinks]. EXCLUSIVE: The United States needs new weapon systems, including missile defenses and other advanced military capabilities, to deter and counter China's steady buildup of nuclear and conventional arms, according to a draft internal report by a State Department advisory board. U.S. defense policy has stressed missile defenses against Iran and North Korea. The report, by the Secretary of State's International Security Advisory Board (ISAB), is the first to recommend such defenses against China, including technology in space. The draft, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Times, said Chinese strategy goes beyond building forces ...
General wants help in Afghanistan now
Post Date: 2008-10-01 10:32:05 by richard9151
1 Comments
By PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press Writer 12 minutes ago WASHINGTON - The top American military commander in Afghanistan said Wednesday that he needs more troops and other aid "as quickly as possible" in a counterinsurgency battle that could get worse before it gets better. Gen. David McKiernan said it's not just a question of troops — but more economic aid and more political aid as well. Speaking to Pentagon reporters, the head of NATO forces in Afghanistan said there has been a significant increase in foreign fighters coming in from neighboring Pakistan this year — including Chechens, Uzbeks, Saudis and Europeans. "The additional military capabilities ...
The Outlaw Josey Wales Meets Ten Bears
Post Date: 2008-09-30 17:56:46 by Turtle
3 Comments
Poster Comment:I saw this movie 50 times in college. I think it is Eastwood's best film.
Soldiers who hand prisoners to US could face legal action, MPs warned
Post Date: 2008-09-30 08:46:35 by bush_is_a_moonie
1 Comments
British troops who hand over prisoners in Iraq to US military personnel could find themselves facing prosecution, according to a legal opinion compiled for parliament. The finding has led to calls for the British government to rethink its current policy and investigate how the US treats its prisoners, and whether torture is employed against them. Earlier this year the all-party parliamentary group on extraordinary rendition sought legal opinion from Michael Fordham QC on whether a human rights violation would arise under the European convention on human rights (ECHR) and the 1998 Human Rights Act (HRA) if an individual in British detention in Iraq were handed over to US military ...
The Pentagon Bailout Fraud
Post Date: 2008-09-29 05:53:42 by Ada
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Let's start with the money the Bush administration has already thrown at the war in Iraq. According to the June congressional testimony of William Beach, director of the Center for Data Analysis, the war has cost $646 billion so far. The new defense budget for 2009 tacks on another $68.6 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan in the coming year. However, military expert Bill Hartung of the New America Foundation puts a conservative estimate of the costs of a single week of the Iraq War at approximately $3.5 billion (or about $180 billion a year). In other words, the war in Iraq will cost far more in the next year than the Iraq portion of that $68.6 billion Congress is about to pony up in ...
British troops 'will leave Iraq within a year'
Post Date: 2008-09-28 16:07:23 by richard9151
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Withdrawal does not mean boost for Afghanistan, defence source reveals By Kim Sengupta Saturday, 27 September 2008 Britain's war in Iraq will end by this time next year, a highly placed defence source said yesterday. But asked whether the pullout from Iraq would mean reinforcements being sent to combat a resurgent Taliban, the senior officer responded: "Emphatically no. We have already mortgaged the Iraq dividend by boosting our force in Afghanistan to 8,000. That is the limit." Gordon Brown said two months ago there would be a "fundamental change of mission" in Iraq in 2009. Almost all the 4,100 troops will be out by autumn next year. A few hundred will remain ...
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