Showing posts with label Civilian Casualties. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Civilian Casualties. Show all posts
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Perspectives: On The Topic Of Muammar al-Gadaffi, Other 'Brutal Dictators', And 'Atrocities'
THIS in an "Atrocity":
"We don't do body counts" ~~General Tommy Franks srcBut, of course that was just another lie:
"The Wikileaks Iraq war logs provide us with a unique picture of every death in Iraq.
These are those events mapped using Google Fusion tables."
When the Hand Cursor points at a red dot, click once for the specifics of that particular death.
[Baghdad alone. This map zooms out to cover every death in Iraq at the time of 'purloin-ment']
Fullscreen online version available here
[Download the data]
Go To The Guardian (UK) For More
Sunday, February 27, 2011
The Neocon's 'Crude Urges' - The UN's Libya Sanctions Are A Declaration Of War On Libya's Civilians Who Have Already All But Removed Their 'Dictator'
The Neo-Cons have 'Urged' a Libyan 'intervention' and demanded (draft-dodging arrogant warmongering pricks that they are) 'immediate military action.'.The appeal, which came in the form of a letter signed by 40 policy analysts, including more than a dozen former senior officials who served under President George W. Bush, was organised and released by the Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI), a two-year-old neo-conservative group that is widely seen as the successor to the more-famous – or infamous – Project for the New American Century (PNAC). [More @ al-Jazeera]In the REALPOLITIK world, Gadaffi is done... why wait for those "Sanctions" to have the effect they had on Iraq with an estimated half million children alone dead from causes including starvation, unsanitary water, and lack of medicine, when the citizens of the country have already isolated, disenfranchised, and cornered him in the only remaining 'un-liberated' city in Libya, Tripoli?
The Western industrial nations fronted by NATO and blessed by their Security Council cronies at the UN will simply use Muammar al-Gadaffi as the excuse for military intervention and an 'oil grab'. All they REALLY want al-Gadaffi to do is hide. But he probably won't because he considers himself Libya's 'leader of destiny' (for want of a better nomenclature).
Perhaps there's a JSOC team with al-Gadaffi visage, daily movements and habits already burned into their memories ready to 'snatch' him in the same manner they illegally kidnapped Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide? (Just a conjecture... al-Gadffi would be a much 'harder' target for such an operation.)
But the BIG QUESTION here is... If the Libyans are capable of deposing their own leader (and currently the 'Libyan government' probably controls less that 10% of what was 'Libyan' territory), with the oil the West so badly needs soon under the control of tribal groups more than willing to deal for their fair share of what they've been deprived of for all these years... It begs the question: "Why Sanctions? Why Intervention?
It will not stop the bloodshed the sanctions have been claimed to prevent.
If Iraq is used as a notable example of "intervention" in recent history, those now-in-place sanctions will only magnify the mayhem by un-countable multiples in an economic and militarized war-without-a-thought for the civilian population of Libya.
Because it WILL BE a war on the civilian population of Libya who almost completely OPPOSE the regime we have sanctioned, after turning a blind eye to the alleged atrocities al-Gadaffi's administration has committed for all these years.
The West and America were such good friends with Libya that our EX-Vice President's company sold Libya (Iraq too!) dual-use oil drilling equipment (The other use would be drilling test holes for nuclear weapons experiments) and, through its subsidiary, Halliburton Logging Services, sent six pulsed neutron generators to Libya.Pulsed neutron generators are used to break down Uranium into isotopes, and could easily be used to create fissionable material for a nuclear 'dirty bomb' or, with more time and materials, a complete nuclear weapon.
[More about Halliburton @ Wikipedia] (including information on the long-standing relationship between the Bush family and Halliburton-related corporations)
The State Department prosecution and fining of Halliburton that followed was a joke, "After having pleaded guilty, the company was fined $1.2 million, with another $2.61 million in penalties.". Halliburton's revenue statement for the year of the prosecution, 1995, is Here.
But about those sanctions...
When the West committed to sanctions on Iraq's Hussein regime it caused mass suffering among a population which was already under authoritarian rule.
UNICEF has stood by it's figures of ONE HALF MILLION CHILDREN DEAD (including sanctions, collateral effects of war) by those measures, which deprived the civilian population of Iraq such things a Chlorine ('Dual-use', natch!) to purify their water (after we bombed their infrastructure thereby CREATING a contaminated water supply).
Do you really suppose that Saddam Hussein (by US media parlance 'so-damn insane') went even one day of the sanctions drinking unclean water, without food or medicine?
Sanctions on a country like Libya, where the leader is already 'on the way out' is a murderous joke (if they are ever truly useful at all for reining in a 'loose cannon' in the geopolitical 'deck'), and NOT to the benefit of ANYONE but the invested(sic) financial and industrial interests in the West.
They will certainly be of no benefit to the Libyan people, and may very well PREVENT Muammar al-Gadaffi's removal from power by his own people. The ONLY people who have a right to judge him for his actions, and allow him to cobble his regime back together in the guise of a 'Jihad' against foreign intervention.
...and I AM NOT alone in that train-of-thought...
Libya: Is Washington Pushing for Civil War to Justify a US-NATO Military Intervention?
Is Tripoli being set up for a civil war to justify U.S. and NATO military intervention in oil-rich Libya?
Are the talks about sanctions a prelude to an Iraq-like intervention?
Something is Rotten in the so-called “Jamahiriya” of Libya
Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya is a Canadian Multidisciplinary sociologist and scholar. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) specializing in geopolitics and strategic issues. He is also a lecturer and author about the topics of the Middle East, Central Asia and the former USSR.
There is no question that Colonel Muammar Al-Gaddafi (Al-Qaddafi) is a dictator. He has been the dictator and so-called “qaid” of Libya for about 42 years. Yet, it appears that tensions are being ratcheted up and the flames of revolt are being fanned inside Libya. This includes earlier statements by the British Foreign Secretary William Hague that Colonel Qaddafi had fled Libya to Venezuela. [1] This statement served to electrify the revolt against Qaddafi and his regime in Libya.
Although all three have dictatorship in common, Qaddafi’s Libya is quite different from Ben Ali’s Tunisia or Mubarak’s Egypt. The Libyan leadership is not outright subservient to the United States and the European Union. Unlike the cases of Tunisia and Egypt, the relationship that exists between Qaddafi and both the U.S. and E.U. is a modus vivendi. Simply put, Qaddafi is an independent Arab dictator and not a “managed dictator” like Ben Ali and Mubarak.
In Tunisia and Egypt the status quo prevails, the military machine and neo-liberalism remain intact; this works for the interests of the United States and the European Union. In Libya, however, upsetting the established order is a U.S. and E.U. objective.
The U.S. and the E.U. now seek to capitalize on the revolt against Qaddafi and his dictatorship with the hopes of building a far stronger position in Libya than ever before. Weapons are also being brought into Libya from its southern borders to promote revolt. The destabilization of Libya would also have significant implications for North Africa, West Africa, and global energy reserves...
[More @ GlobalResearch.ca]
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Christmas Wish List... The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder
"All I need is a Grand Jury in some little town in America, and
things will change very quickly, I promise" ~~Vincent Bugliosi
This video is 9:44 minutes Use The Pop Out Player?
In The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, (Vincent) Bugliosi presents a tight, meticulously researched legal case that puts George W. Bush on trial in an American courtroom for the murder of nearly 4,000 American soldiers fighting the war in Iraq. Bugliosi sets forth the legal architecture and incontrovertible evidence that President Bush took this nation to war in Iraq under false pretenses—a war that has not only caused the deaths of American soldiers but also over 100,000 innocent Iraqi men, women, and children; cost the United States over one trillion dollars thus far with no end in sight; and alienated many American allies in the Western world.
As a prosecutor who is dedicated to seeking justice, Bugliosi, in his inimitable style, delivers a non-partisan argument, free from party lines and instead based upon hard facts and pure objectivity.
A searing indictment of the President and his administration, The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder also outlines a legally credible pathway to holding our highest government officials accountable for their actions, thereby creating a framework for future occupants of the oval office.
Vincent Bugliosi calls for the United States of America to return to the great nation it once was and can be again. He believes the first step to achieving this goal is to bring those responsible for the war in Iraq to justice.... [More]
Friday, October 22, 2010
Every Known Death In The Iraq War Google Mapped From WikiLeaks Data
"We don't do body counts" ~~General Tommy Franks src
Wikileaks Iraq war logs: every death mapped
"The Wikileaks Iraq war logs provide us with a unique picture of every death in Iraq.
These are those events mapped using Google Fusion tables."
When the Hand Cursor points at a red dot, click once for the specifics of that particular death.
Go To The Guardian (UK) For More
Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) responded to the WikiLeaks release on Friday with a statement saying, "We need a true accounting of the war in Iraq. The American people have a right to know how many innocent civilians were killed in a war based on lies."
"We must remember that the Iraqi people are still grieving over the loss of husbands, wives, sons and daughters who were innocent noncombatants," Kucinich stated. "We have a moral responsibility to acknowledge the massive loss to the people of Iraq and the world. ... The suffering of the Iraqi people is unfathomable." source
Monday, April 5, 2010
MURDER! Watch A US Helicopter Aircrew Lie To Fire-Control And Kill A Number Of Absolutely Unarmed Iraqi Citizens Including Two Reuters Reporters
"And the rest of the world is expected to mourn dead Americans? Fuck the United States, and fuck its citizens....they're all animals."From the Guardian (UK):
A secret video showing US air crew falsely claiming to have encountered a firefight in Baghdad and then laughing at the dead after launching an air strike that killed a dozen people, including two Iraqis working for Reuters news agency, was revealed by Wikileaks today.MORE
The footage of the July 2007 attack was made public in a move that will further anger the Pentagon, which has drawn up a report identifying the whistleblower website as a threat to national security...
...and then they "Grease" some civilians who volunteer their van as an ambulance for the survivors, joke about the supporting ground troops who "drove over the body" of one victim and comment on a wounded child:
"It was their fault for bringing their kids to a battle"
Not for the weak at heart:
[Pop Out Player]
The unedited 39:14 minute version is [Here]
And it certainly isn't the ONLY time innocents have been killed indiscriminately:
The soldiers standing in the dusk had called "halt," the story said, but no one did. Maybe the soldiers' accents were bad. Maybe the car motor was unduly noisy. Maybe the children were laughing loudly -- the way children do on family trips. Whatever the case, the car did not stop, the soldiers shot with deadly accuracy, seven lives changed in an instant: two died in body, five died in soul. (source)
Labels:
Civilian Casualties,
Collateral Damage,
Murder,
War Crimes,
War On Iraq,
Wikileaks
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Any questions? Your tax dollars support the murder of KNOWN civilians so your own government can propagandize you.
Marjah Offensive Aimed to Shape US Opinion on War
Tuesday 23 February 2010
by: Gareth Porter
Inter Press ServiceWashington - Senior military officials decided to launch the current U.S.-British military campaign to seize Marja in large part to influence domestic U.S. opinion on the war in Afghanistan, the Washington Post reported Monday.
The Post report, by Greg Jaffe and Craig Whitlock, both of whom cover military affairs, said the town of Marja would not have been chosen as a target for a U.S. military operation had the criterion been military significance instead of impact on domestic public opinion.
The primary goal of the offensive, they write, is to "convince Americans that a new era has arrived in the eight-year long war…." U.S. military officials in Afghanistan "hope a large and loud victory in Marja will convince the American public that they deserve more time to demonstrate that extra troops and new tactics can yield better results on the battlefield," according to Jaffe and Whitlock.
Labels:
Afghanistan,
Civilian Casualties,
Collateral Damage,
Dirty War,
Imperial War,
Marja,
Marjah,
Murder,
Pentagon,
Propaganda
Congressman Dennis Kucinich Calls For Accountability In US Airstrike That Killed 27 Civilians
"Kucinich writes, “Please provide information about the events leading up to the air strike, including the name of the person who granted authority to US Special Forces helicopters to conduct the aforementioned airstrike, the name of the person who ordered the airstrike, a detailed description of how it was determined that the civilians traveling by minibus were Taliban insurgents, and the protocol for ordering this airstrike and all other airstrikes."(He won't get one. //Auntie)
Kucinich demanded a response within two weeks."
Kucinich challenges Gates on civilians killed in Afghanistan (Raw Story)
The buck doesn't appear to be stopping anywhere in Afghanistan.
"Two days after Afghanistan's deadliest attack on civilians in six months, many questions remain unanswered," The Canadian Press reports.
"Perhaps the two most pressing are: Who called in the air strike? And on what grounds?"
The article continues, "Dual investigations by NATO and the Afghan government are underway to answer those questions. But the cabinet of Afghan President Hamid Karzai has already made it clear the attack was, in a word, 'unjustifiable.'"
Con
"Media reports indicate that 27 civilians were killed, including women and children and many more were injured," Kucinich's press release notes, adding, “The U.S. government has an obligation to protect civilians under international law. As Secretary of Defense, you have an obligation to ensure that all military operations conducted in Afghanistan are conducted in accordance to such laws."
Auntie Im wants to note that there is almost ZERO reporting of this incident in the US media, which is parroting the Pentagon's 'happy news' about the efforts they are taking to prevent civilian casualties... There have been approximately 50.
It's also notable that the Australian press seems in a panic over this incident... To wit: "ADF not responsible for fatal air strike", assuring it's citizens that NONE OF THEIR PERSONNEL was involved (whether they are lying or not is unknown), although the blurb under the picture on their site indicates they were nearby... because they 'assisted' in the aftermath of the attack.
Historical note: During Vietnam, the Australian longshoremen went on strike and refused to load ships bound for Vietnam, forcing the Australian government to pull out of that war.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Marja Afghanistan - Just Noting That We've Been Lied To About That "Cakewalk" Thing Again
Just noting that we've been lied to (again, and again, and again)
Firedoglake » Marja Battle Just a Confidence Booster – But Not for Afghan Civilians
Firedoglake » Marja Battle Just a Confidence Booster – But Not for Afghan CiviliansA week or so ago, we were hearing a lot about how decisive the current surge over Marja in Afghanistan would be. Of course, we were hearing all sorts of things – including a lot of happy talk about how well things were going. This week we learn that the fight is not so easy with US forces still facing “strong resistance” even though the US/NATO/Afghan force is 15,000+ while the reported “taliban” presence before the attack was estimated at 400. US officers are now saying that the military component of the campaign will take at least a month. They have also told the Guardian that Marja is just a “confidence building” action leading to the new “decisive” battle which they are beginning to plan for Kandahar.
Labels:
Afghanistan,
Civilian Casualties,
Collateral Damage,
Disinformation,
ISAF,
Lies,
Marja,
Marjah,
NATO,
Pentagon,
Propaganda,
Worthless Wars
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