tagged w/ War Crimes
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Twice in the last two decades, significant cuts in U.S. and western military spending were foreseen: first after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and then in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. But both times military spending soon increased, and among the factors contributing to the increase were America’s interventions in new areas: the Balkans in the 1990s, and Libya today.1 Hidden from public view in both cases was the extent to which al-Qaeda was a covert U.S. ally in both interventions, rather than its foe. http://www.truth-out.org/bosnia-kosovo-and-now-libya-human-costs-washington%E2%80%99s-going-collusion-terrorists/1312724637Twice in the last two decades, significant cuts in U.S. and western military spending... more
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In Budapest, Hungary, on June 30, 2011, Hillary Clinton announced that the Obama administration welcomed “dialogue with those Muslim Brotherhood (MB) members who wish to talk with us.” Responding to this, Mahmoud Ghozlan, a spokesman for the MB, told CNN: “The U.S. administration has supported dictators for decades and authorized torture, repression and colonization. The U.S. is hated in the Middle East region more than any other country according to polls published in the U.S. If the U.S. is serious in opening an dialogue, they must first respect the people’s choices for a true democracy, independence and respect their choice of leaders.” http://www.newswithviews.com/Cuddy/dennis213.htmIn Budapest, Hungary, on June 30, 2011, Hillary Clinton announced that the Obama... more
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What is a known fact is that Osama Bin Laden was not killed earlier this year during the hyped-Pakistan raid, but rather died nearly a decade ago due to health problems. This means that whoever landed in Pakistan and murdered the people occupying the alleged "Bin Laden" compound, just a stone's throw away from a nearby CIA safe house, killed someone else. It is quite clear that these people, alleged to have been members of the ultra-secret SEAL Team 6, would then be liabilities to whoever attempted to foist this hoax upon the world.
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2011/08/infowars-ireland-predicted-seal-team-6.htmlWhat is a known fact is that Osama Bin Laden was not killed earlier this year during... more
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We live in a time of great destruction and grand economic opportunities and Latin America is no exception. In the global context, the US Empire is engaged in destructive wars (Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Haiti). In contrast China, India, Brazil, Argentina and other “emerging economies” are expanding trade, investments and reducing poverty. The European Union (EU) and the United States (USA) are in deep economic crises. The EU “periphery” (Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain) are totally bankrupt. The US “dependencies” in North America (Mexico), Central America and the Caribbean are virtual narco-states plagued by mass poverty, astronomical crime rates and economic stagnation. The US dependencies are plundered by foreign multi-nationals, local oligarchs and corrupt politicians. http://www.countercurrents.org/petras070811.htmWe live in a time of great destruction and grand economic opportunities and Latin... more
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Adding to the painful death toll in America’s seemingly endless war in Afghanistan, 30 U.S. soldiers were killed on Saturday when their helicopter was shot down. The deaths provoked predictable comments about how they didn’t die in vain, but ex- CIA analyst Ray McGovern says the hard truth is that they did. http://consortiumnews.com/2011/08/07/more-us-soldiers-die-in-vain/Adding to the painful death toll in America’s seemingly endless war in... more
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Having just lived through one of the more bizarre months in the history of the former republic -- what I recently termed “a psychotic spectacle of American decline” -- it seemed to me that Johnson’s “dismantling” essay couldn’t be more timely, and so on this quiet Sunday in August, on the weekend the author of Blowback would have turned 80, I’m bringing it back from the TomDispatch archives. It was first posted on July 30, 2009, and it has only gained in relevance from the two years of debacle that have followed. If only I could bring Chalmers back as well. This country could use him right now. http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175427/best_of_tomdispatch%3A_chalmers_johnson%2C_dismantling_the_empire/#moreHaving just lived through one of the more bizarre months in the history of the former... more
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Recent news media highlight the issue of why the NORAD account was so wrong about the events of September 11, 2001. Answers range from the position of NORAD officials that they were telling the truth as they knew it to the opposing position that they deliberately lied to the 9-11 Commission. My assessment is that poor staff work and a single error in logic, compounded, led NORAD far astray from the facts of the day. http://www.oredigger61.org/?p=42Recent news media highlight the issue of why the NORAD account was so wrong about the... more
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Matt Gratz, Political Fail Blog-
A former guard known as the ringleader in the physical abuse and sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq was released from the same prison Bradley Manning is being held in on Saturday.
Charles Graner Jr., a U.S. Army reservist, was convicted in January 2005 of indecent acts, dereliction of duty, conspiracy to commit maltreatment and assault consummated by battery.
Graner, from Uniontown, Pennsylvania, was credited with good conduct.
What's the price to pay for photographing a detainee being dragged by another guard by a leash wrapped around the prisoner's neck and posing for a photograph behind a pyramid of naked prisoners? Ohh about 6 ½ years at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas where PFC. Bradley Manning is currently being held without trial while the government builds a conspiracy case against him.
So what's the lesson today children?
Keep Reading at Political Fail Blog:
http://www.politicalfailblog.com/2011/08/abu-ghraib-torture-ringleader-guard.htmlMatt Gratz, Political Fail Blog-
A former guard known as the ringleader in the... more
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Worldwide, the military is the most secretive, shielded and privileged of polluters because the hallowed mantra, national security, trumps the public's right to know. Thus, most of the extant data on pollution from US-military-related sites is available solely because of citizen pressure on the Department of Defense (DoD), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Congress to inventory, assess, and divulge the extent of the
military's environmentally hazardous activities. Citizen awareness and demands for disclosure of military site pollution grew during the 1980's, in the heyday of the new hazardous waste laws, which set standards for storing, transporting, and disposal of solid and hazardous waste as defined in the statutes - namely, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA 1976) and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), which initiated the Superfund program in 1980. http://www.truth-out.org/war-and-tragedy-commons-part-2-military-hazardous-waste-sickens-land-and-people/1311868811Worldwide, the military is the most secretive, shielded and privileged of polluters... more
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The most spectacular episode of Truman's presidency will never be forgotten, but will be forever linked to his name: the atomic bombings of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and of Nagasaki three days later. Probably around two hundred thousand persons were killed in the attacks and through radiation poisoning; the vast majority were civilians, including several thousand Korean workers. Twelve U.S. Navy fliers incarcerated in a Hiroshima jail were also among the dead.87 http://www.lewrockwell.com/raico/raico22.htmlThe most spectacular episode of Truman's presidency will never be forgotten, but... more
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Americans have yet to grapple with what it means to have a "special" force this large, this active, and this secret -- and they are unlikely to begin to do so until more information is available. It just won't be coming from Olson or his troops. "Our access [to foreign countries] depends on our ability to not talk about it," he said in response to questions about SOCOM's secrecy. When missions are subject to scrutiny like the bin Laden raid, he said, the elite troops object. The military's secret military, said Olson, wants "to get back into the shadows and do what they came in to do." http://counterpunch.com/turse08042011.htmlAmericans have yet to grapple with what it means to have a "special" force... more
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September 11, 2001, provided Washington with a new "threat" to replace the Soviet threat, which had expired in 1991. Despite the absence of the Soviet threat, the military/security budget had been kept alive for a decade. September 11, 2001, injected rapid growth into the military/security budget. A decade later the budget stood at approximately $1.1 trillion annually, or approximately 70 percent of the federal deficit which was crippling the dollar and threatening the US Treasury's credit rating.
Focused on Middle Eastern wars, Washington was losing the war for the US economy.
As the expectation of economic recovery evaporated over the course of 2011, the need for war became more imperative. http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts08012011.htmlSeptember 11, 2001, provided Washington with a new "threat" to replace the... more
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Hubris is the great destroyer of Empires. Especially the mad American Empire, which costs much, brings no economic benefits (no treasure ships coming home, no advantage to our exports), and multiplies our enemies. Britain’s post-imperial periods was painful, as it will be for us if we fail to learn from the past. http://fabiusmaximus.wordpress.com/2011/08/04/27968/Hubris is the great destroyer of Empires. Especially the mad American Empire, which... more
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Every year during the first two weeks of August the mass news media and many politicians at the national level trot out the "patriotic" political myth that the dropping of the two atomic bombs on Japan in August of 1945 caused them to surrender, and thereby saved the lives of anywhere from five hundred thousand to one million American soldiers, who did not have to invade the islands. Opinion polls over the last fifty years show that American citizens overwhelmingly (between 80 and 90%) believe this false history which, of course, makes them feel better about killing hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians (mostly women and children) and saving American lives to accomplish the ending of the war. http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig2/denson7.htmlEvery year during the first two weeks of August the mass news media and many... more
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