War On Terror // Current

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20 hours ago

Obama to address nation Dec. 1 on Afghan war

President Barack Obama will address the nation on his new strategy for the war in Afghanistan Tuesday night from the U.S. Military... more

Future_America
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As many as eight people will be charged with terrorism in Minnesota

A federal judge in Minneapolis is set to unseal a roster of documents charging as many as eight new people with terrorism offenses... more

Future_America
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Bush: I Want To Close Gitmo And Hold Trials In US Courts

Speaking to the European Union World Summit in Austria on June 21, 2006, George W. Bush said Gitmo should be closed and detainees... more

Future_America
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CIA Built Secret Torture Prison At Fancy Horseback Riding Academy

The CIA built one of its secret European prisons inside an exclusive riding academy outside Vilnius, Lithuania, a current... more

Future_America
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Obama admits Guantanamo won't be closed by Deadline

President Obama acknowledged today that the administration will miss its January deadline for closing the Guantánamo prison... more

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Blackwater Said To Pursue $1 Million In Iraqi Bribes After Killing 17

Top executives at Blackwater Worldwide authorized secret payments of about $1 million to Iraqi officials that were intended to silence their criticism and buy their support after a September 2007 episode in which Blackwater security guards fatally shot 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad, according to former company officials.

Blackwater approved the cash payments in December 2007, the officials said, as protests over the deadly shootings in Nisour Square stoked long-simmering anger inside Iraq about reckless practices by the security company’s employees. American and Iraqi investigators had already concluded that the shootings were unjustified, top Iraqi officials were calling for Blackwater’s ouster from the country, and company officials feared that Blackwater might be refused an operating license it would need to retain its contracts with the State Department and private clients, worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

Four former executives said in interviews that Gary Jackson, who was then Blackwater’s president, had approved the bribes and that the money was sent from Amman, Jordan, where the company maintains an operations hub, to a top manager in Iraq. The executives, though, said they did not know whether the cash was delivered to Iraqi officials or the identities of the potential recipients.

Blackwater’s strategy of buying off the government officials, which would have been illegal under American law, created a deep rift inside the company, according to the former executives. They said that Cofer Black, who was then the company’s vice chairman and a former top C.I.A. and State Department official, learned of the plan from another Blackwater manager while he was in Baghdad discussing compensation for families of the shooting victims with United States Embassy officials.

Alarmed about the secret payments, Mr. Black cut short his talks and left Iraq. Soon after returning to the United States, he confronted Erik Prince, the company’s chairman and founder, who did not dispute that there was a bribery plan, according to a former Blackwater executive familiar with the meeting. Mr. Black resigned the following year.

Stacy DeLuke, a spokeswoman for the company, now called Xe Services, dismissed the allegations as “baseless” and said the company would not comment about former employees. Mr. Black did not respond to telephone calls and e-mail messages seeking comment.

Reached by phone, Mr. Jackson, who resigned as president early this year, criticized The New York Times and said, “I don’t care what you write.”

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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/world/middleeast/11blackwater.html?_r=1Top executives at Blackwater Worldwide authorized secret payments of about $1 million to Iraqi officials that were intended to... more

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21 days ago

Don't repeat Vietnam in Afghanistan Pt.1

Daniel Ellsberg: The counter-insurgency plan in Afganistan is similar to Viet Nam

therealnewsnetwork
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21 days ago

U.S. Official Resigns Over Afghan War

US Foreign Service officer Matthew Hoh has become the first US official known to resign in protest over the Afghan war. Hoh, a... more

The_Global_Report
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21 days ago

Brother of Afghan Leader Said to Be Paid by C.I.A.

The New York Times reported this past week that Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president and a suspected player in... more

The_Global_Report
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21 days ago

Pakistanis Reject U.S. 'War on Terror'

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was met with hostile opposition during her recent visit to Pakistan. Prominent women and... more

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29 days ago

This week on Vanguard: Sri Lanka: Notes from a War on Terror

Vanguard correspondent Mariana van Zeller travels to Sri Lanka during the final days of the country's civil war to see how... more

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25 days ago

Pakistanis to Clinton: War on terror is not our war

After three days of encounters with America-bashing Pakistanis -- who rejected her contention that the U.S. and Pakistan face a... more

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26 days ago

Stephen Colbert Signs Campaign Letter to Close Gitmo

Rosanne Cash appeared on the Colbert Report to go toe-to-toe with Stephen Colbert on the use of music to torture at Guantanamo,... more

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30 days ago

U.S. official resigns over Afghan war

Foreign Service officer and former Marine captain says he no longer knows why his nation is fighting. When Matthew Hoh joined... more

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1 month ago

Car bombs explode in Baghdad, killing at least 135 people

Two powerful car bombs exploded in Baghdad this morning, killing at least 135 people and wounding more than 520 others in an... more

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1 month ago

Kuwaiti Contractor May Have to Repay $130 Million to US Taxpayers

The extent of the massive waste and abuse surrounding the construction of the monstrous US embassy in Baghdad continues to expand. The State Department has just released another audit of the embassy’s construction and suggests that the Kuwaiti contractor hired by the Bush administration to do most of the construction work may have to repay more than $130 million to US taxpayers as a result of construction deﬁciencies, incomplete and undocumented design work, inadequate quality control and interest on unauthorized payments.

The Baghdad embassy—the largest of any nation on planet earth and ten times bigger than any other US embassy—is striking evidence indicating a continued US presence in the country for many years to come. The structure cost more than $700 million and is the size of 80 football fields. It is bigger than the Vatican, six times larger than the United Nations compound in New York and is about two thirds the size of the National Mall in Washington. It has space for 1,000 employees who are guarded by scores of paramilitary mercenary forces. In other words it is the perfect structure for a nation that claims to be leaving Iraq very soon.

Among the allegations against First Kuwaiti in the State Department audit are:

The company failed to follow contract specifications when it constructed “safe areas” in the embassy, which are “vital to protecting staff in emergency situations.”

Deficiencies at the embassy’s water treatment plant.

Using nonstandard wiring in the embassy’s power distribution system. The audit charges that First Kuwaiti “substituted a less reliable system.” The audit also says the company should repay $11 million because of the “additional operating costs” resulting from the installation of a “less efficient” system it installed.

Plumbing deficiencies at over 200 locations at the embassy.

The embassy’s fire protection systems are “not compliant with code,” while fire protection water mains were “improperly constructed.”

More @ linkThe extent of the massive waste and abuse surrounding the construction of the monstrous US embassy in Baghdad continues to expand.... more