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America’s logic of death in Iraq
Paul Balles
"The war in Iraq is not covered to its potential because of how dangerous it is for reporters to cover it," says Liam Madden, a former Marine and member of Iraq Veterans Against the War. "That's left a lot of misconceptions in the minds of the American public about what the true nature of military occupation looks like."
Michael Prysner, a corporal in the Army Reserve, says:
“I tried hard to be proud of my service, but all I could feel was shame. Racism could no longer mask the reality of the occupation. These are human beings. I've since been plagued by guilt. I feel guilt any time I see an elderly man, like the one who couldn't walk who we rolled onto a stretcher and told the Iraqi police to take him away. I feel guilt any time I see a mother with her children, like the one who cried hysterically and screamed that we were worse than Saddam as we forced her from her home. I feel guilt any time I see a young girl, like the one I grabbed by the arm and dragged into the street.”
Afghanistan's untapped energy riches
John C.K. Daly
While Afghanistan now intermittently crops up during the presidential debates, it is largely the forgotten war, which next month will be seven years old with little resolution in sight. Inside the Beltway chickenhawks never proposed that Afghanistan's energy resources could somehow pay for the war, but the fact remains that since 2001 little money has been directed to Afghanistan's energy sector to help the country become self-sufficient, much less an exporter. Nearly eight years after coalition forces overthrew the Taliban, Afghanistan remains one of the world's poorest and least developed countries, where two-thirds of the population live on less than $2 a day.
For those with a sense of irony, the Soviets during their occupation went much further in attempting to develop Afghanistan's energy infrastructure. As Afghanistan continues to unravel, it is worthwhile to cast a backward glance at the country's energy potential since 1979, when the Soviets began their ill-fated intervention. While the Soviet Union completed its withdrawal in 1988, the Afghans next year will pass the dolorous anniversary of 30 years of nearly uninterrupted war, ironically broken only by the brief tenure of the Taliban, who pacified the country with a brutal hand.
Mission to last 6 months; US training Pakistani forces to fight Taleban
Arab Times
[Taliban fighters in Wana, South Waziristan in February 2005. Reuters photo. Click to view.] US special forces have begun teaching a Pakistani paramilitary unit how to fight the Taleban and al-Qaeda, hoping to strengthen a key front-line force as violence surges on both sides of the border with Afghanistan. The sensitive mission puts rare American boots on the ground in a key theater in the war against extremist groups, but it risks fanning anti-US sentiment among Pakistani Muslims already angry over suspected CIA missile attacks on militants in the same frontier region. 'The American special forces failed in Afghanistan and Iraq,' said Ameerul Azim, an official in the hard-line Islamic party Jamaat-e-Islami. 'Those who failed everywhere cannot train our people.' Despite such complaints, the training program comes as some tribes in the frontier zone are setting up militias to help the Pakistani government combat extremist movements. The new forces have been compared to the Sunni Arab militias in Iraq that helped beat back the insurgency there.
Messy Elections: Can we trust the results?
The U.S. Can Be the Greatest Democracy on Earth, but Right Now it is Far From It
By Kevin Zeese, Director, www.TrueVote.US
For a country that considers itself the “greatest democracy on Earth,” the U.S. sure does run messy elections.
This year about one-third the public is voting early (something Marylanders will be voting on in a referendum on Election Day), as a result we are seeing election meltdowns in slow motion. Here is a sample of what is occurring:
U.S. TERRORISTS STRIKE AT SYRIA AND PAKISTAN KILLING MORE INNOCENT CIVILIANS
Damian Lataan
US terrorists are increasing their attacks on Pakistani villages and have now extended their range of murderous operations to include terrorist strikes against civilian targets in Syria as well.
As usual, US propaganda has attempted to justify the attacks that have killed children and innocent civilians by saying they were targeting ‘al Qaeda’ both in Pakistan and Syria. In the latest attacks by US terrorists in Syria, eight innocent civilians were reported to have been killed and Syria has said that future incursions into their country by US terrorists will result in retaliation. The US government have not produced any evidence to support their claims that they were after ‘foreign fighters’ entering Iraq from Syria. Clearly the irony of such remarks regarding ‘foreign fighters in Iraq’ has been missed as it seems the only foreign fighters that are in Iraq are the US terrorists themselves.
Altering the Food Supply: Reason Enough to Hang Our World Leaders
Jesse Richard
When the first H-Bomb was tested scientists were not certain whether the explosion could be contained. They thought that the entire planet might be destroyed in an explosive chain reaction. Yet they went ahead anyway! GM is a similar calculated risk.
Forget about immoral wars based on lies that result in the murder of hundreds of thousands of people, including the soldiers who "followed orders" and die in those wars. Forget about false flag operations like the Reichstag fire, 9/11, and the London bombings, when world leaders murder their own people in order to frighten them into submission. Forget about the international banking conspiracy to control all of the wealth on earth. Forget about the bio weapon programs run by our government that increased dramatically under the Bush administration, where an accident, an earthquake (or an evil individual like Dick Cheney) could potentially unleash life-ending viruses onto the nation and the world. And forget about the criminal suppression of technologies that would provide enough clean and cheap energy to fulfill all our needs.
Don't mention the war
Xymphora
The American attack on Syrian territory seems to have come as a shock, even to those who like to talk about an 'October surprise'. Is that piffle what an 'October surprise' looks like? Is another bombing of civilians the new standard of American incompetence? Was it an attempt to help McCain's dead campaign? Was it a last lashing out by the frustrated and largely emasculated neocons? Was it their attempt to start a World War, hoping against hope that the Syrians would act completely contrary to form and risk a suicidal retaliation? Was it a last-minute diplomatic 'gift' for the hated Obama? Nothing really feels right.
Bait and Switch to Fascism
Angie Riedel
Just in case anybody's not clear yet, I'll spell it out in simple terms. There is a deeply ingrained culture of corruption, lawlessness, isolation, injustice, double standards and crime where our government is supposed to be.
Bushco wants a 700 BILLION dollar free gift to the rich, from us to the best off people in the world. It's a surreal situation on more counts than there's room to list. Why on earth is this even up for debate in Congress?
Who's up there banging their fists for the people, demanding the arrests of Wall Street shysters and shutting down the criminal rackets and busting the complicit government enablers? Nobody. Nobody's even asking questions of how the financial meltdown came about. Beyond seeming a bit irritated at the demand for a free trillion, nobody in Congress is talking about the raging rip off of the country, pulled off by the very same people now wanting to fleece us for more: bushco.
No Such Thing as Humanitarian Intervention
Antony Loewenstein
As Israel delivers its clearest warning yet that it will attack Iran, Antony Loewenstein ponders the West's insatiable appetite for military intervention.
Last week's Australian withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq saw a flurry of establishment commentary on the rights and wrongs of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's decision. Former Foreign Minister Alexander Downer wrote that, "despite the problems" in the war-torn country, "Australians should be proud that our contribution to Iraq has made that long-suffering country just a little bit better and the lives of its people just a little bit brighter." The Australian's Foreign Editor Greg Sheridan echoed his former master's voice.
Let's ignore for now last week's revelations by the US Senate Intelligence Committee that indicated Iran may have infiltrated the Pentagon and fed bogus intelligence to push for war against Iraq. The insatiable appetite for the ongoing occupation of Iraq is unsurprising, as recent reports indicate US plans to maintain an indefinite presence in the country. Polling in the US, however, indicates a strong desire for American troops to return home within one year.
Public Enemy Number One
Stephen Lendman
A note before beginning. This article focuses on today's financial and economic crisis. Not affairs of state, war and peace or geopolitics. No guessing who's number one under those headings. That said:
With so many good choices, it's hard just picking one. But given the gravity of today's financial crisis, one name stands out above others. The "maestro," as Bob Woodward called him in his book by that title. The "Temple of Boom" chairman, according to a New York Times book review. Standing "bestride the Fed like a colossus." Now defrocked as the "maestro" of misery. Alan Greenspan. From August 11, 1987 to January 31, 2006, as head of the private banking cartel euphemistically called the Federal Reserve. That Ron Paul explains isn't Federal and has no reserves.
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