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Latest Articles: War, War, War
America's own unlawful combatants?
Post Date: 2007-10-15 02:18:27 by Ferret Mike
1 Comments
OVER BAGHDAD: A Blackwater helicopter in Feburary. The amount of force being used by such firms has raised questions. Using private guards in Iraq could expose the U.S. to accusations of treaty violations, some experts think. By Julian E. Barnes, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer October 15, 2007 WASHINGTON -- As the Bush administration deals with the fallout from the recent killings of civilians by private security firms in Iraq, some officials are asking whether the contractors could be considered unlawful combatants under international agreements. The question is an outgrowth of federal reviews of the shootings, in part because the U.S. officials want to determine whether the ...
The story of Iranian oil and Israeli pipes
Post Date: 2007-10-14 20:40:51 by Zipporah
1 Comments
Inside Intel / The story of Iranian oil and Israeli pipes With the help of pumps and pipes "confiscated" - meaning stolen - from an Italian company and a Belgian company operating an oilfield in Ras Sudar in Sinai, Israel built a pipeline from Eilat to Ashkelon. The pipe, 40 centimeters in diameter, was paid for by Baron Edmund de Rothschild. The initiative was called Tri-Continental. By demand of the Iranians, who wanted to conceal their involvement in selling oil to Israel and in the joint company, the parties established a secret partnership called Fimarco, which was registered in July 1959 in the tax shelter of Lichtenstein. Iran owned 10 percent of the partnership. Tankers ...
U.S. House Speaker: No military action in Iran without Congress approval
Post Date: 2007-10-14 20:34:33 by Brian S
9 Comments
WASHINGTON, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- President George W. Bush's government should not take military actions in Iran without Congress approval unless Iran attacks the United States first, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday. In an interview with ABC News, Pelosi said that if the United States and its people are attacked, the president has "very strong powers to go after the country," otherwise, "he must come to the Congress." "We don't believe that any authorities that the president has would give him the ability to go in without an act of Congress," she said. Despite U.S. concerns over Iran's nuclear programs and suspects on its relations ...
U.S. Builds Air Base in Iraq for the Long Haul
Post Date: 2007-10-14 20:28:58 by Zipporah
9 Comments
A heavily fortified Burger King and Pizza Hut restaurant in the Balad Air Base is seen next to another sign of permanence: sidewalks. Guy Raz, NPR All Things Considered, October 12, 2007 · The U.S. military base in Balad, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, is rapidly becoming one of the largest American military installations on foreign soil. About 30,000 troops are stationed there, along with thousands of other contractors and Defense Department civilian employees. The base is one giant construction project, with new roads, sidewalks, and structures going up across this 16-square-mile fortress in the center of Iraq, all with an eye toward the next few decades. Balad ...
Zio-Lobby Shuts Down No More Wars For Israel Conference (audio)
Post Date: 2007-10-14 17:03:29 by Liberate Jim Traficant
6 Comments
On early Saturday morning the long awaited No More Wars For Israel Conference was successfully shut down by the traditional enemies of free speech, luckily thanks to the determination of the organizers of the event the conference did resume later in the day at a different location! Organizer Mark Glenn reported that conference goers, many of whom had traveled to Southern California from halfway around the World, were shut out of the Irvine Marriott Hotel because of "the pressures brought to bear by Zionist extremist groups such as the ADL and others". Human Rights activist Hesham Tillawi reported that approximately fifty of the conference speakers and attendees decided to ...
Where Candy Machines Are Eyed With Suspicion {huh?}
Post Date: 2007-10-14 11:46:53 by Zipporah
5 Comments
Richard Perry/The New York Times The gum machine at Capacity Coverage, an insurance agency in Dover, N.J., is sponsored by the Kiwanis Club. Where Candy Machines Are Eyed With Suspicion By KAREEM FAHIM DOVER, N.J., Oct. 11 — Frank Poolas, a burly ex-marine who has been an alderman here for eight years, simply did what many of his fellow politicians have done since Sept. 11: He raised the specter of terrorism. Specifically, he warned of the hidden dangers lurking in gum balls and other loose candy dispensed by coin-operated vending machines. The machines, he said at a City Council meeting last month, were vulnerable, and “in times like these,” they might be used for ...
U.S. holds 10,000 more detainees in Iraq than last year, commander says
Post Date: 2007-10-14 11:16:07 by Zipporah
4 Comments
A group of about 55 detainees waiting in a crowded tent on Wednesday for an Iraqi judge to sign their release papers. (Ceerwan Aziz/Reuters) U.S. holds 10,000 more detainees in Iraq than last year, commander says CAMP VICTORY, Iraq: Sixty prisoners — 10 of them youths — raised their hands Wednesday and swore to live a peaceful life. In return, U.S. authorities set them free. More than 25,000 Iraqis still in American custody haven't been so lucky. The security crackdown in Baghdad has raised the rolls in U.S.-run detention centers to 10,000 more detainees compared to this time last year, worsening already serious backlogs in the court system. Several men being ...
Marines to leave Iraq for Kabul
Post Date: 2007-10-14 11:05:10 by Zipporah
0 Comments
THE US Marine Corps is pressing to withdraw its entire force from Iraq to focus its combat efforts on Afghanistan. The proposal made last week to Secretary of Defence Robert Gates would sharply change the structure of American forces in Afghanistan while leaving the US-led fight in Iraq in the hands of the Army. The move would entail removing all 25,000 marines from the 160,000-strong US force in Iraq, and transfering them to Afghanistan, where there are no marines among the 26,000 US troops. The plan "would make marines the dominant American force in Afghanistan", reports said yesterday. The New York Times yesterday reported that the plan remained under review but said its ...
Afghanistan 'is going down fast'
Post Date: 2007-10-14 10:58:26 by Zipporah
1 Comments
THE bloodshed in Afghanistan has reached levels not seen since the 2001 invasion as anger at bungling by an ineffective Government in Kabul and its foreign backers stokes support for the Taliban and other extremist groups. The death of Trooper David Pearce underlines the rising dangers for Australia's 1000 soldiers in Afghanistan, most of them deployed in the Taliban's southern heartland -- a region some of Canberra's NATO allies consider too dangerous to fight in. "This place can only go up or down, and it's going down fast, which is something the international community simply will not understand," said a security analyst who has been working in and out of ...
US tries to halt Turkey attack
Post Date: 2007-10-14 10:50:52 by Zipporah
18 Comments
US tries to halt Turkey attack Diplomats fly to Ankara to stop military move against Iraqi Kurds after 'genocide' resolution Peter Beaumont, foreign affairs editorSunday October 14, 2007The Observer Senior US officials were engaged last night in last-ditch efforts to persuade Turkey not to launch a major military incursion into Iraqi Kurdistan to target armed separatists.A team was diverted from a mission to Russia to make an unscheduled stop in Ankara yesterday. Against the background of the escalating diplomatic row between Turkey and the US over a congressional resolution that branded as 'genocide' massacres of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915, US Secretary of ...
Medals and Ribbons Everywhere and Not a Victory in Sight
Post Date: 2007-10-13 20:24:24 by kiki
3 Comments
When, in mid-September, General David Petraeus testified before Congress on "progress" in Iraq, he appeared in full dress uniform with quite a stunning chestful of medals. The general is undoubtedly a tough bird. He was shot in the chest during a training-exercise accident and later broke his pelvis in a civilian skydiving landing, but until he went to Iraq in 2003, he had not been to war. In the wake of his testimony, the New York Times tried to offer an explanation for the provenance of at least some of those intimidating medals and ribbons -- including the United Nations Medal (for participants in joint UN operations), the National Defense Service Medal (for those serving ...
Dehumanization and Demonization: The War Has Begun AGAIN!
Post Date: 2007-10-13 18:31:54 by Zipporah
4 Comments
13.10.2007 Since the Great Patriotic War, the world has seen a parade of individuals and nations who have been subject to the inane and sordid process utilized by the empire’s propaganda war machine of dehumanization and demonization: Sadaam Hussein, Manuel Noriega, Slobodan Milosevic and now Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Of course, these tactics were utilized prior to the war, but this writing is basically addressing more recent events. Dehumanization and demonization employ the use of distorted images (e.g. Hitler) and loaded words…words that have extremely strong negative meanings. Dehumanization advances the belief that a person or a particular group of people are inferior and ...
Felons helped Army meet recruitment goal
Post Date: 2007-10-13 11:42:04 by Zipporah
6 Comments
Felons helped Army meet recruitment goal Web Posted: 10/12/2007 11:29 PM CDT Sig ChristensonExpress-News WASHINGTON — The Army made its recruiting goal last year despite an increasingly unpopular war by turning to people convicted of serious crimes. Recruiters signed up people who had committed such felonies as arson, burglary, aggravated assault, breaking and entering and driving while intoxicated. The Army Recruiting Command said "moral" waivers for 1,620 felons were approved in the 2007 federal fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30. That was far above the 2006 mark of 1,002. The Army called giving waivers "the right thing to do" for those who want to ...
U.S. Recruiting Illegal Aliens
Post Date: 2007-10-13 11:07:16 by Zipporah
5 Comments
T “There’s peer pressure and then there’s Army pressure” SignOnSanDiego: Legislation that could grant legal status to hundreds of thousands of undocumented high school graduates is creating a schism among Latino educators and others who have typically favored legalization efforts. At issue is a component of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, or DREAM Act, a bill that could be voted on in the Senate by next week as an amendment to a Department of Defense authorization bill. The proposed legislation, a version of which was first introduced in 2001, would make high school graduates who arrived in the United States illegally at 15 or ...
It’s the Oil
Post Date: 2007-10-13 10:44:54 by Red Jones
1 Comments
It’s the Oil Jim Holt Iraq is ‘unwinnable’, a ‘quagmire’, a ‘fiasco’: so goes the received opinion. But there is good reason to think that, from the Bush-Cheney perspective, it is none of these things. Indeed, the US may be ‘stuck’ precisely where Bush et al want it to be, which is why there is no ‘exit strategy’. Iraq has 115 billion barrels of known oil reserves. That is more than five times the total in the United States. And, because of its long isolation, it is the least explored of the world’s oil-rich nations. A mere two thousand wells have been drilled across the entire country; in Texas alone there are a million. It has ...
USAREUR commander wants to keep 40,000 American soldiers in Europe {to deal with 'resurgent Russia' }
Post Date: 2007-10-13 10:43:52 by Zipporah
2 Comments
USAREUR commander wants to keep 40,000 American soldiers in Europe By Lisa Burgess, Stars and StripesEuropean edition, Friday, October 12, 2007 Lt. Gen. David McKiernan ARLINGTON, Va. — A “resurgent Russia” is one more reason the Army should keep 40,000 soldiers in Europe, rather than cut to 24,000 as planned, the commander of United States Army Europe, Gen. David McKiernan, said Thursday. “There are potentially dangerous places and conditions in the European area of responsibility,” said McKiernan, who is also commander of the U.S. 7th Army. “We don’t know what’s going to happen, in terms of a resurgent Russia.” ...
Still heading backwards - Corruption and partition are the headlines in another dismal week in occupied Iraq
Post Date: 2007-10-13 10:11:58 by Red Jones
1 Comments
Still heading backwards - Corruption and partition are the headlines in another dismal week in occupied Iraq, writes Nermeen Al-Mufti Crowds of Iraqis gathered at the gate of the Syrian Embassy in the once elegant neighbourhood of Al-Mansur in Baghdad, hoping against hope. The UN asked Syria to remove visa requirements for Iraqi applicants, but it didn't ask US occupation forces to improve conditions in Iraq or abide by international law; nor did it ask the Iraqi government to stop making excuses for deteriorating conditions in the country. Hundreds of Iraqis congregate every day in front of the embassy, hoping to find refuge for their families. Syria used to receive about 30,000 ...
To: U.S. political news media - Verifiable Support for Dr. Ron Paul
Post Date: 2007-10-12 22:35:48 by JiminyC
12 Comments
To: U.S. political news media This petition seeks to demonstrate that online support for U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Dr. Ron Paul is genuine, composed of many thousands of active and enthusiastic individuals, and not merely an illusion created by a smaller group manipulating insecure online polls. Should this petition verify that there are in fact as many active Ron Paul supporters as regularly shown in online polls, media reports and editorials questioning or disparaging the validity of such results are humbly requested to cease. Sincerely, The Undersigned Click for Full Text!
My Lai movie to be reminder of war atrocities: Stone
Post Date: 2007-10-12 22:07:09 by Red Jones
3 Comments
My Lai movie to be reminder of war atrocities: Stone Fri Sep 7, 2007 9:19am EDT HANOI, Sept 7 (Reuters Life!) - Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone said he wanted his film portrayal of the 1968 My Lai massacre by U.S. soldiers in Vietnam to serve as a reminder of war atrocities, newspapers reported on Friday. Stone has been visiting central Vietnam since Wednesday and went to the site of the killing of 500 civilians, mostly women and children, on March 16, 1968, the worst recorded U.S. war crime committed in Vietnam. Two dailies, Thanh Nien (Young People) and Tuoi Tre (Youth), quoted the director as referring to the U.S. war in Iraq when he talked to survivors of My Lai on Thursday. ...
Blood Of Women and Children Stains Iraq's Eid
Post Date: 2007-10-12 20:12:06 by Brian S
0 Comments
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraqi civilians bore the brunt Friday of a bloody start to Eid al-Fitr, as a US air raid killed 15 women and children, and a sinister suicide attack on a playground shocked a northern town. There were angry statements from Iraq's Shiite spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani and from an influential Sunni clerics' association after the US strike, which also killed 19 insurgents. In a rare admission that it had taken civilian lives, the US military said it regretted the deaths of the women and children and had launched an investigation after the operation northwest of Baghdad on Thursday evening. Further north in Tuz, near the oil city of Kirkuk, a suicide ...
Washington's Holocaust Deniers: Should Armenian Allies Bomb the United States?
Post Date: 2007-10-12 17:04:19 by aristeides
31 Comments
Washington's Holocaust Deniers Should Armenian Allies Bomb the United States? By BRENDAN COONEY In light of President Bush's opposition to a resolution that would acknowledge the Armenian genocide, the question must be considered as to whether he is a madman who cannot be trusted with nuclear weapons. Should Armenian allies adopt a preemptive approach and bomb strategic North American sites? U.S. press reports of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denying the Nazi genocide have been a flashpoint of the popular perception here that he is either insane or a beast. In either case, he is someone who must be attacked before he can obtain nuclear weapons. When Ahmadinejad is ...
Mud, Fog, and Blackwater
Post Date: 2007-10-12 13:33:10 by angle
3 Comments
Despite the muddy slurry streaming from mainstream corporate media (CorpoMedia), most Americans still seem to believe the indirection and untruth that washes out along with flecks of reality. Consider Iraq, a country we invaded to take control of their oil. Very simple, obviously true. But CorpoMedia gushed mud about weapons of mass destruction, mushroom clouds, shocking destructive powers of Saddam, freedom and democracy, liberators’ welcome, fighting terrorists over there so they won’t come and get us over here, Saddam’s role in 9-11?…on and on—and that’s all caked around the barest, simplest question of why did we invade? CorpoMedia even calls it a ...
Blackwater in Iraq - Killing for Profit
Post Date: 2007-10-11 23:27:13 by robin
3 Comments
Blackwater in Iraq Killing for Profit By SAUL LANDAU The words "Support Our Troops" stain the rear bumpers of thousands of cars. The slogan, however, conceals a more pernicious demand: "Support Our Mercenaries." Yes, in Iraq, the mercenaries--euphemistically called "paid contractors"--outnumber US troops, 180,000 to 160,000. These contractors do more than provide armed security for US personnel. They do chores that previously belonged to regular army staff. Private security companies employ for high pay former US soldiers, ex-kidnappers and torturers from Pinochet's secret police, death squad heavies from a variety of Central and South American ...
Blackwater Is Soaked: An arrogant attitude only adds fuel to the criticism
Post Date: 2007-10-11 22:03:34 by kiki
3 Comments
Oct. 15, 2007 issue - The colonel was furious. "Can you believe it? They actually drew their weapons on U.S. soldiers." He was describing a 2006 car accident, in which an SUV full of Blackwater operatives had crashed into a U.S. Army Humvee on a street in Baghdad's Green Zone. The colonel, who was involved in a follow-up investigation and spoke on the condition he not be named, said the Blackwater guards disarmed the U.S. Army soldiers and made them lie on the ground at gunpoint until they could disentangle the SUV. His account was confirmed by the head of another private security company. Asked to address this and other allegations in this story, Blackwater spokesperson Anne ...
Texas firm accused of overbilling U.S. government in Afghanistan
Post Date: 2007-10-11 19:16:39 by Zipporah
0 Comments
HOUSTON — A mom-and-pop Texas company that provides security in Afghanistan is accused of overbilling the U.S. government by charging for nonexistent employees and vehicles, an American security official with close ties to the company told The Associated Press. Houston-based U.S. Protection and Investigations, which does security work for the U.S. State Department arm USAID, is the latest firm to face scrutiny since private guards allegedly killed 17 Iraqi civilians. The overbilling by USPI could add up to millions of dollars, the American security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in Kabul. Eric Dubelier, USPI's attorney, called the official's allegations ...
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