Showing posts with label Pentagon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pentagon. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Perhaps Not... "Veterans Affairs Claims Progress In Ending Homelessness Among Vets"
And many of the new generation will end up out on the streets again (I KNOW THIS for a fact having witnessed it personally with Veteran acquaintances over the years...).(Image at the left, 11/7/2007) «o» Historically, a number of fighters in U.S. wars have become homeless. In the post-Civil War era, homeless veterans sang old Army songs to dramatize their need for work and became known as “tramps,” which had meant to march into war, said Todd DePastino, a historian at Penn State University’s Beaver campus who wrote a book on the history of homelessness.
After World War I, thousands of veterans — many of them homeless — camped in the nation’s capital seeking bonus money. Their camps were destroyed by the government, creating a public relations disaster for President Herbert Hoover.
The end of the Vietnam War coincided with a time of economic restructuring, and many of the same people who fought in Vietnam were also those most affected by the loss of manufacturing jobs, DePastino said.
Their entrance to the streets was traumatic and, as they aged, their problems became more chronic... [More @ MSNBC]
From today's Washington Post:
"Making aggressive use of a voucher program, Veterans Affairs has housed more than 33,000 veterans in the past 21 / 2 years. It did so by changing its longtime policy of requiring homeless veterans to be successfully treated for substance abuse and mental ailments before being given apartments." [Washington Post Federal Insider]The vouchers for the housing, at least the regulatory details, seem to be cribbed from Section 8 FHA/HUD programs (Google) and all the federal requirements of the tenants are the same. "Act out", or have any drug related altercations, and yer out.
I just wonder if the VA IS usurping federal housing money (via some back door transfer of funds perhaps) that was to be used for other people like those 38 percent increase in homeless children (and their mothers) over the last four years reported the other day?
(Just in... A local VFW officer and friend in-the-know has informed me that indeed, the money has been diverted from civilian housing preograms)
I also suspect that many high school and college students will find less service jobs available next summer as SOME Vets return, and are immediately plugged into "Do you want fries with that..." jobs.
In my estimation, the US government IS SCARED of it's veterans, and their pandering to them with jobs/housing is a fear based reaction. Not due to any patriotic 'love' for them. If you have any doubts just look up the phrase "Bonus Army" on your favorite search engine or at Wikipedia
I wonder how many returning Veterans will be satisfied for long with those 'funny hat' jobs and housing that resembles in sociological detail and regulations, 'project housing'?
Labels:
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Students,
Unemployment,
US Economy,
Veteran Affairs,
Veterans
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
You Da Man! (derp derp derp) - Adam Kokesh, Iraq Combat Vet & Winter Soldier, Delivers ANONYMOUS' Response To NATO
Ah, No... They DID say why...
Dear North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Our Message is simple 'Do not lie and your lies won't be exposed...' 'Do not make corrupt deals and your corruption won't be laid bare...'
What We Are Capable Of... Join Us!
Friday, February 25, 2011
SUCH A Kidder! EX-general Stanley McChrystal Says "...to defeat a networked enemy we had to become a network ourselves." (A Network Using al Qaeda)
Today in Foreign Policy Magazine (with the comments closed), resigned in disgrace EX-general Stanley McChrystal said:"In bitter, bloody fights in both Afghanistan and Iraq, it became clear to me and to many others that to defeat a networked enemy we had to become a network ourselves." (source)
He's SUCH A KIDDER!... We have (re)created that network... with al-Qaeda as part of our not-yet-announced but underway War On Pakistan!.
(See Here and Here for more on our "Madeline's War NATO affiliated al-Qaeda network and Here (the site's New Yorker link is dead...It's here, with more here) for information on our dealings with them regarding Iran and our attempt to stymie a Shiite rise to power elsewhere in the Middle East)
Al-Qaeda is generally translated as: The Database... of CIA affiliated Muslim fighters who fought our proxy war against the Russians in Afghanistan and worked for the Pentagon and NATO elsewhere.. the former Yugoslavia, in 'Madeline's War', where Osama bin-Laden had been tasked with recruiting mercenaries for the Kosovo Liberation Army.In recent history, the U.S. was first in line to acknowledge Kosovo as a new 'independent' Nation (with an economy based on smuggling and a government led by a wanted terrorist)
Journalist Mike Whitney give us a very clear picture of the US Foreign Policy Apparatus' ONGOING INVOLVEMENT with al-Qaeda affiliated elements in Pakistan and elsewhere in a freshly minted article @ CounterPunch, and he also gives us many (many!) details on the recent imbroglio in Lahore Pakistan where a supposed "diplomatic aide" named Raymond Davis apparently shot and killed two people he said were trying to mug him...
Or perhaps not...
Breaking: US reveals that CIA agent Raymond Davis worked for private security firm Xe, formerly known as Blackwater. "...eyebrows were raised when it emerged that he shot the men 10 times, one as he fled the scene." More @ Guardian UK
An Excerpt From Whitney's Article At...
CounterPunch
The CIA's Killing Spree in Lahore
By Mike Whitney
February 24, 2011
When CIA-agent Raymond Davis gunned down two Pakistani civilians in broad daylight on a crowded street in Lahore, he probably never imagined that the entire Washington establishment would spring to his defense. But that's precisely what happened.
Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Mike Mullen, John Kerry, Leon Panetta and a number of other US bigwigs have all made appeals on Davis's behalf. None of these stalwart defenders of "the rule of law" have shown a speck of interest in justice for the victims or of even allowing the investigation to go forward so they could know what really happened. Oh, no. What Clinton and the rest want, is to see their man Davis packed onto the next plane to Langley so he can play shoot-'em-up someplace else in the world.
o
o
o
o
But why all the intrigue and arm-twisting? Why has the State Department invoked the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations to make its case that Davis is entitled to diplomatic immunity?
If Davis is innocent, then he has nothing to worry about, right?
Why not let the trial go forward and stop reinforcing the widely-held belief that Davis is a vital cog in the US's clandestine operations in Pakistan?
The truth is that Davis had been photographing sensitive installations and madrassas for some time, the kind of intelligence gathering that spies do when scouting-out prospective targets. Also, he'd been in close contact with members of terrorist organizations, which suggests a link between the CIA and terrorist incidents in Pakistan. Here's an excerpt from Wednesday's The Express Tribune:
"His cell phone has revealed contacts with two ancillaries of al Qaeda in Pakistan, Tehreek-e-Taliban of Pakistan (TTP) and sectarian Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), which has led to the public conclusion that he was behind terrorism committed against Pakistan's security personnel and its people ....This will strike people as America in cahoots with the Taliban and al Qaeda against the state of Pakistan targeting, as one official opined, Pakistan's nuclear installations." ("Raymond Davis: The plot thickens, The Express Tribune)
"Al Qaeda"? The CIA is working with "ancillaries of al Qaeda in Pakistan"? No wonder the US media has been keeping a wrap on this story for so long.
Naturally, most Pakistanis now believe that the US is colluding with terrorists to spread instability, weaken the state, and increase its power in the region. But isn't that America's M.O. everywhere?
Also, many people noticed that US drone attacks suddenly stopped as soon as Davis was arrested. Was that a coincidence? Not likely.
Davis was probably getting coordinates from his new buddies in the tribal hinterland and then passing them along to the Pentagon. The drone bombings are extremely unpopular in Pakistan. More then 1400 people have been killed since August 2008, and most of them have been civilians.
And, there's more. [A MUST READ @ CounterPunch]
Labels:
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Sunday, January 23, 2011
The 2011 "Weather Report" For America's War On Afghanistan - It's Going To Be A Stormy Blood-Soaked Year
Afghanistan (Combat Incident) Summary
by babatim on November 7th, 2010
See here for January 15 2011 update, "The Start of a Long Year"
[Click thumbnail for a larger chart]Breakdown of TB (Taliban)/ AGE (Anti-Government Element [ie. Tribal Fighters]) incidents by Regions:Main types of attacks have remained consistent with earlier weeks; IEDs (163 – previous week 164) have remained the numbers one tactic, followed by CPX (complex) attacks (82 – previous week 81), SAF (Small Arms Fire) attacks (76 – previous week 101) and rocket / mortar attacks (43 – previous week 42).
1. South-eastern Region
(140 incidents – 36% of countrywide incidents)
2. Southern Region (125 incidents – 32%)
3. Eastern Region (36 incidents – 9%)
4. Central Region (34 incidents – 9%)
5. Western Region (21 incidents – 5%)
6. North-eastern Region (21 incidents – 5%)
7. Northern Region (16 incidents – 4%)
8. Central Highlands (0 incidents)
Suicide attacks have continued with average of 2.5 attacks per weekly, which is slightly lower than last year’s weekly average of 3 attacks per week. However, due to increasing usage of suicide bombers in complex attacks, the amount of “used” suicide bombers have continued increasing in Afghanistan.
If the same trend will continue throughout the winter we will have total of approx 17500 – 18000 TB / AGE initiated incidents on this year, which would be approx 80% higher than last year.
And if the current trend would continue throughout the next year we could be witnessing approx 34000 – 36000 TB / AGE initiated incidents during the next year.
Although this is unlikely scenario and more likely the increase of attacks will not continue with the current pace, the outlook of next year is grim....
Source, and more
[Note: The statement "Both sides of the conflict" implies government and anti-government elements of the population]
Friday, January 21, 2011
For SOME PEOPLE 'Endless War' Validates Their Religious Delusions - Apocalyptic and Crusading Xtian Cults Infest The US Military
Also See: Welcome to Crusade 2.0, The Really Really Long War... "Let's imagine that the Cold War was a detour. The entire 20th century, in fact, was a detour... ...For those who see Islam as a civilizational threat, the key dates aren't 1945 or 1989 but rather 1683, 1492, 1099, and 732."
It's notable some of America's military leaders are Kinky SICK FUCKS too!
From 2002:
"UN struggles to explain away presence of US-Sponsored Iraq weapons inspector with S&M fetish"
In short, Harvey John "Jack" McGeorge, a former Secret Service officer "who has no specialised degree in any of the relevant sciences", HAS considerable expertise in unusual sexual practices.
Despite his lack of background "He runs a business offering seminars on "weaponisation of chemical and biological agents" but his OTHER businesses offer "training seminars of a different kind involving "various acts conducted with knives and ropes". This relates to his role as co-founder of Black Rose, a "pansexual S&M group" based in Washington, and also as a founder of Leather Leadership Conference IN, which "produces training sessions for current and potential leaders of the sadomasochistic/ leather/fetish community".
When "Outed", McGeorge tendered his resignation, but the Pentagon refused to accept it.
Story @ PrisonPlanet.
The original Independent UK story link is dead, but remembered personally
Now, the featured presentation
"The Christian fundamentalists have a fear and loathing of Islam even older than that of the Zionists.
For the fundamentalists September 11 opened the door to a new crusade, to the renewal of the age old battle between Christendom and Islam now brought into the heartland of America.
Thus, Christian fundamentalist organizations in the state of Oklahoma, led by State Representative Rex Duncan, have pushed legislation that would prohibit the state’s courts from using Sharia law to decide any cases.
This nonsensical gesture (American courts are bound to use American law) was “passed overwhelmingly in both the house and senate” of Oklahoma. (Hailey Branson-Potts, OkGazette.com, “State Question 755,” October 6, 2010).
At the foreign policy level, both groups lobbied for the invasion of Iraq and the war in Afghanistan. ~~Islamophobia as a Form of Paranoid Politics, Lawrence Davidson, Logos Journal 2011: Vol.10, Issue 1
You've been on-duty for a couple of weeks now in an ICBM missile silo's artificial atmosphere... it's disenfranchised environment, and your finger is on the
BIG RED BUTTON.
Apocalyptic "Christianity" helps steady the nerves when the phone rings with the bad news...
It's the "GO" code.
It IS 'Gods Will', after all... Hail Mary full of... [Click]
...and that's NOT all folks!
USAF Academy Taps Member of "Lord's Army" to Speak at National Prayer Luncheon
•
•
•The National Prayer Breakfast is sponsored by The Fellowship, a foundation associated with The Family, a secretive group of influential Christian lawmakers and politicians whose mission is to advance the evangelical Christian agenda in Washington and across the world.
An anonymous MRFF client and spokesperson attending the Air Force Academy issued a statement on Tuesday claiming that an email sent to everyone at the academy made it clear that the attendance at the luncheon, although technically optional, is strongly encouraged:
.. when the base-wide e-Mail begins with a highlighted statement:it's not hard for so many of us here at USAFA [US Air Force Academy] to conclude that the senior leadership is STRONGLY encouraging attendance. The attached flyer goes on to say that you can purchase his book at the BX and that he'll be available to sign it, too. A visit to his web site, though, and one gets the impression that, while everyone on base is invited to attend, this isn't going to be the most inclusionary event of the year.The Air Force Academy and the MRFF have been butting heads over the evangelical influence at the academy for some time now. The MRFF charges that academy cadets are pressured into joining evangelical groups and attending Bible studies, while the academy has made public attempts to promote religious diversity by offering more types of religious services at its chapel and assessing the spiritual "climate" at the academy.
The first paragraph reads "Clebe is what he likes to call a complete Marine. To him, USMC will always mean a U.S. Marine for Christ." I can only conclude that anyone that doesn't share his particular religious view must be an "incomplete Marine," (or soldier, or [sailor], or airman) unworthy of the uniform. And shouldn't it be USMC as in "US Marine for the Constitution?" That's the document he swore to defend when he was commissioned.
It's a National Prayer Luncheon, but the message [couldn't] be clearer to those who may pray to a different deity or those that have a more ecumenical interpretation of their god - if you're not an evangelical, fundamentalist Christian, this event isn't for you. Yet senior academy leadership seems to want us there anyway.
Last September, Air Force Academy graduate and MRFF founder Mikey Weinstein told Truthout that an anonymous Air Force cadet contacted him and claimed to be part of a "underground" group of about 100 cadets, who came together because they could not rely on legitimate channels to address pressure from evangelicals in the academy.
Weinstein's source said that some cadets pretended to be evangelical and attended services and Bible studies in order to maintain standing among their peers and superiors... [In Full @ Truthout]
Seymour Hersh Claims High-Ranking Members Of The US Military Belong To Christian Cults
Hersh was quoted as saying"Don't they get it? We're gonna change moseques into cathedrals. And when we get all the oil, nobody's gonna give a damn.' That's the attitude. We're gonna chance mosques into cathedrals. That's an attitude that pervades, I'm here to say, a large percentage of the Joint Special Operations Command [JSOC]."He further claimed that Gen. Stanley McChrystal, Vice Admiral William McRaven and others in the JSOC were members of the "Knights of Malta" and "Opus Dei," two little known Catholic orders."They do see what they're doing -- and this is not an atypical attitude among some military -- it's a crusade, literally,"Hersh reportedly continued."They see themselves as the protectors of the Christians. They're protecting them from the Muslims [as in] the 13th century. And this is their function."He added that members of these societies have developed a secret set of insignias that represent "the whole notion that this is a culture war" between religions.
It was President George W. Bush who first invoked images of a holy war in the Middle East, when he suggested soon after Sept. 11, 2001 that the US was on a "crusade" in the region.
The "Knights of Malta" were a Catholic order founded in 1085 as a group of monks who cared for the wounded. It evolved into a military order that safeguarded Christian pilgrims from Muslims during the nine "Crusades," where Europe's Christian states laid siege to Muslims for control of Jerusalem.
"Opus Dei," popularly depicted in the Hollywood film "The DaVinci Code," was founded in 1928 and officially accepted as part of the Catholic church in 1947. The group's website claimed their principle calling was to bring about a "Christian renewal" around the world.
In Full @ Truthout
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
I See! It's Only A Crime When North Korea Does It - FORCED RELOCATION Of Jeju Island South Korea Residents Underway To Build U.S. Navy Base
Historical Note: (2007) It was 'not a crime' however, when the U.S 'looked the other way' as North Korea blatantly violated the U.N. ban on weapons transfers, by overtly yet silently allowing the sea shipment of Russian tanks, parts, and other logistics to Ethiopia...
Because those tanks were intended to be used in America's proxy war on Somalia.
"The United States allowed the arms delivery to go through in January in part because Ethiopia was in the midst of a military offensive against Islamic militias inside Somalia... [IHT via NY Times]
The South Koreans were Enraged.
United States Stands By Silently As North Korea Arms Ethiopians For Somali War
JoongAng Daily
EDITORIAL, April 13, 2007 (JoongAng): It is beyond our understanding why the United States has ignored a United Nations resolution and so given tacit consent to the export of weapons by North Korea.
It is simply astonishing that the United States has seen fit to neglect such an agreement reached by the international community. It is also an absurdity that the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, which the United States has pointed to as a basis for demanding the abolishment of North Korea's nuclear weapons, can be so easily flouted.
Pursuant to the U.N. resolution, the United States should have stopped Ethiopia from importing weapons from the North. But since the weapons would be used to fight Islamic terrorists in Somalia, Washington tacitly approved the imports.
[More images... Korean language source]
More:UPDATE: Thirty-four citizens arrested trying to block 66 cement trucks from dumping their concrete on the rocky coast.
MAKE A CALL: If you'd like to help please call the South Korean embassy in Washington DC and tell them to stop building the Navy base and to quit arresting the villagers.
The phone is 202-939-5600
MONDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2010
RESISTANCE BEGINS ON JEJU ISLAND
MONDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2010
NAVY MAKES MOVE TODAY ON JEJU ISLAND
Korean coverage... Some English, many pictures: "No base stories of Korea", [Jeju Update] 34 people arrested but released except for Prof. Yang/ Island Assembly and Parties denounce Island government and navy
Friday, October 15, 2010
No More Happy Motoring - There Is No "Plan B", North America "remains highly vulnerable to a liquid fuel emergency disruption"
To meet climbing global requirements, OPEC will have to increase its output from 30 MBD to at least 50 MBD. Significantly, no OPEC nation, except perhaps Saudi Arabia, is investing sufficient sums in new technologies and recovery methods to achieve such growth. Some, like Venezuela and Russia, are actually exhausting their fields to cash in on the bonanza created by rapidly rising oil prices. (p. 26)
A severe energy crunch is inevitable without a massive expansion of production and refining capacity. While it is difficult to predict precisely what economic, political, and strategic effects such a shortfall might produce, it surely would reduce the prospects for growth in both the developing and developed worlds. (p. 28)
Well, the amounts needed from OPEC are quite, shall we say, 'ambitious,' as they amount to an additional two Saudia Arabias coming on line in order to make up the shortfall. A massive crunch is not otherwise avoidable.Future Chaos: There Is No "Plan B"
Let's be honest; there are no more Saudia Arabias to be found...
by Chris Martenson
Fri, 15 Oct 2010
Note: This article builds on my recent report, Prediction: Things Will Unravel Faster Than You Think. It explores the coming energy crunch in more detail by looking at existing government planning and awareness, and the implications of what international recognition of Peak Oil as early as 2012 might mean.
The hard news is that there is no "Plan B." The future is likely to be more chaotic than you probably think. This was the primary conclusion that I came to after attending the most recent Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas (ASPO) in Washington, DC in October, 2010.The impact of Peak Oil on markets, lifestyles, and even national solvency deserves our very highest attention - but, it turns out, some important players seem to be paying no attention at all.
ASPO conferences tend to start early, end late, and be packed with more data and information than should be consumed in one sitting.
Despite all this, I was riveted to my seat. This year's usual constellation of excellent region-by-region analyses confirmed what past participants already knew: Peak Conventional Oil arrived a few years ago, and new fields, enhanced recovery techniques, and unconventional oil plays are barely going to keep up with demand over the next few years.
But there were two reports that really stood out for me.
The first was given by Rear Admiral Lawrence Rice, who presented the findings of the 2010 Joint Operating Environment (a forward-looking document examining the trends, contexts, and implications for future joint force commanders in the US military), which spends 76 pages summarizing the key trends and threats of the world.
"Energy" occupies six of those pages, and Peak Oil dominates the discussion.
Among the conclusions (on page 29), we find this hidden gem, which uses numbers and timing that are eerily similar to those that I put forth in my April 2009 report, Oil - The Coming Supply Crunch:
By 2012, surplus oil production capacity could entirely disappear, and as early as 2015, the shortfall in output could reach nearly 10 MBD. (Source)In Full, At EnergyBulletin.com
Sunday, July 4, 2010
This 4th 0f July Take The Pledge To Stop Thinking Like An American
"The trouble with Eichmann was precisely that so many were like him, and that the many were neither perverted nor sadistic, that they were, and still are, terribly and terrifyingly normal. From the viewpoint of our legal institutions and of our moral standards of judgment, this normality was much more terrifying than all the atrocities put together." ~~Hannah Arendt
[Pop Out Player]
This A/V montage is brought to you courtesy of Vietnam Veterans Against War (historic footage), OuterNational, Sir NO SIR! (Tom Morello, Rage Against The Machine) and The Asian Dub Foundation for the credit music, Rivers of Dub from Adbusters: Live Without Dead Time CD [Torrent, currently showing 4 'seeds']
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Sunday, May 30, 2010
Sanitizing War: What would "Memorial Day" Be Without The Memories?
"We don't do body counts,"General Tommy Franks, commander of the U.S. invasions of both Afghanistan and Iraq, famously remarked, when asked about Iraqi civilian casualties. We do do body counts of our own -- though we don't talk about them much. (source)
The bulk of this post is taken from Cabale News Service's Labor Day post last year titled: September 07 2009 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: A 'Labor Day' Message - The Working Class And The Employing Class Have NOTHING In Common. It has been slightly edited for clarity.
Labor Day 2009... There was a breaking story... It revolved around an image of a dying soldier, Lance Cpl. Joshua Bernard.
This seems like a good juncture in history, as we head into Memorial Day 2010... because it's not JUST Memorial Day this weekend, it's also Trillion Dollar Day... That's what the AfPakIraq war has cost us (The direct cost of occupying Iraq and Afghanistan)... so far, with no real end in sight, just troops moved from theatre (Iraq) to theatre (Afghanistan) to theatre (See here for a list of them)I think we should all ruminate on what we're getting for that money.
Yes.
Peace?
No.
Security?
NOT!
Dead soldiers?
Absofuckinglutely!
But the Pentagon, and the other interested parties who want you to just simply play along with their murderous imperial wars like "Good Americans-cum-Germans" don't want you to think about... REALLY think about, those Absofuckinglutely dead soldiers.
Source, PoP dEFECT Radio, Courtesy of Skidmark Bob Freek Radio Santa Cruz |
To Wit, one of the headlines @ Cabale News Service, on Labor Day 2009 read:
"Not Supposed To..." Times Two:
One of the primary rules of Journalism... "The journalist IS "NOT supposed to" become part of the story..." has been broken by Associated Press, apparently not on purpose, but because they 'violated' a 'rule' of American social mores...
Associated Press has published a picture of a dying US Marine, Lance Cpl. Joshua Bernard.
Lance Cpl. Joshua Bernard is tended to by fellow U.S. Marines in Afghanistan.
Photograph: Julie Jacobson/AP
Astonishing! If you thought the pictures of soldier's caskets coming into Dover AFB raised a shitstorm, you ain't seen nuthin'.
It IS notable that it took a FEMALE photojournalist to push this limit.
What's ALSO notable is that Photobucket violated my TOS over this picture, NOT due to AP's copyright or insistence, but due to it's graphic nature, despite MANY pictures of dead and dying Iraqis and other third world folk in my album, including THIS gruesome and heartbreaking photo:
It's nice to know that PhotoBucket.com cares more about American soldiers and their privacy-in-their-dying-moments than an INNOCENT BLOOD-SPATTERED IRAQI CHILD SCREAMING IN GRIEF OVER THE MURDER BY US SOLDIERS OF HER FAMILY WHILE SHE WAS SITTING NEXT TO THEM IN THE FAMILY CAR.
Censorship is NOT Dead in America.
The Guardian UK hints that the flap over it's publication was essentially merit-less :
It is a graphic image of the harsh realities of war: the fatally wounded young marine lying crumpled in the mud, his vulnerable face turned to the camera. And it is one the US defence secretary would rather you did not see.
Lance Corporal Joshua Bernard, pictured being tended by comrades in southern Afghanistan, died of his injuries soon after. Now the release of this record of the 21-year-old's last moments has divided America, prompting furious debate over the sanitisation of war at a critical time for the military offensive. [In Full]
Whereas Tom Ricks, EX-Washington Post War Reporter, now ensconced as a pundit for CNAS (Neo-Liberal Think Tank) affiliated Foreign Policy magazine Headlined it this way:
"The dying marine: What the hell was the AP thinking?"
Yours truly responded to Mr. Ricks, as have others...
I'm just surprised... stunned really, that it made it to copy at all in the current milieu of 'embedded' reporting and "'sanitized' for the discerning media consumer who doesn't want their conscience bothered" war reporting by the majors.
.
.
.
If the Pentagon, and your peers at CNAS want to continue these worthless wars Tom... Better stop the lying, the dissuasion from the belief that we're not vulnerable to the mayhem and non-culpable for it.. and hiding our deaths (incl the mundane, such as the returning caskets @ Dover AFB) in these wars IS a particularly creepy, Big-Brotherish, semantically corrupt, way to lie to the citizens of the country.
I feel for this soldier and his family, but "War Is Hell", whether one wins OR loses, as a nation, and as an individual human.
Condolences from AP is in order... Maybe they should MAKE SURE that the soldier's family gets every single benefit due them, because the Pentagon sure won't.
But they DO NOT owe an apology.
The last so many presidential administrations INCLUDING the current regime owe his family that.
.
.
.
([Should we] Publish this picture...) To a nation full of children raised on video game and fantasy movie violence?
Whose parents who often don't let those children out of their sight to the age of majority?
A nation who's media panders them and tells them they NEED the trinkets sold them ('trinkets' often produced by what amounts to 3rd world slave labor) at behaviour controlled shopping malls where they lose the ability to socialize or empathize with anyone besides people just like them (consumers of products we destroy countries like Afghanistan to obtain the extractive resources for..)
([Should we] Publish this picture...) YES! Absolutely.
[Read what Tom Ricks had to say, and other comments, at his Blog, The Best Defense]
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Memorial Day? It's About War! (...And Something's Gonna Give)
The war to liberate Southeast Asia from communism resulted in the deaths of 3.5 million Vietnamese, 2 million Laotians & Cambodians, and 58,000 Americans.
Rather than raping and pillaging the lands for its resources, the American military napalmed its jungles, carpet bombed its cities, defoliated the jungles with 20 million gallons of herbicides (including Agent Orange) and slaughtered women and children (My Lai Massacre).
It was easy to rationalize these acts when referring to the inhabitants as gooks, dinks, tunnel rats, and Uncle Ben's boys. Racism makes it easy to treat human beings as objects and dehumanize your acts of horror. ~~Jim Quinn, Charlie Don't Surf, OpEd News, February 2009
Here's a little something Auntie Imperial lashed together for Memorial Day 2010. It's Dedicated to those who have fallen, and Americans still at risk, in our ongoing IMPERIAL wars.
[Pop Out Player]
(Also See: Vietnamistan - PoP dEFECT Radio, Agitational Propaganda For A 'Failed State')
Some photos pulled from various sources follow the Outernational credits
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Friday, April 2, 2010
If You Want To Be A Killer, "Don't Tell" - Army Secretary Backtracks on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Repeal
(Also See: Queer? Come Out, Sell Out, Visit Exotic Lands, Meet New People, And Kill Them - "Petraeus: 'Time has come' to rethink gay policy"
Backtracking on an earlier statement regarding the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, Army Secretary John McHugh warned openly gay soldiers that they could still be discharged from the Army if they acknowledged their sexual orientation.read more
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Queer? Come Out, Sell Out, Visit Exotic Lands, Meet New People, And Kill Them - "Petraeus: 'Time has come' to rethink gay policy"
The Pentagon has just plain run out of fresh cannon fodder and WILL NOT risk a draft and the massive violent disruption to American society that would occur.
Petraeus: 'Time has come' to rethink gay policyBy ANNE FLAHERTY
The Associated Press
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
WASHINGTON -- The four-star Army general who is managing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan says "the time has come" for the military to rethink its policy toward gays. More
Friday, March 12, 2010
"Don't worry, this stuff won't hurt you." - Vets say toxic tests sickened them; government says prove it
"...the military spent years disavowing the tests altogether. The denials ended in the late 1990s, but the government has offered medical care and compensation only to those who can establish, by a preponderance of evidence, their illnesses were the result of exposure.
As of 2008, just 39 of 614 benefit claims filed by veterans in relation to tests nationwide had been approved.
Army says it used 'voluntary human subjects, 'but ill man says 'I was private first class I did anything they told me to do.'"
By Matthew D. LaPlante
The Salt Lake Tribune
01/21/2010 02:52:31 PM MST
Editor's note: Third in a three-part series.
Even those who know the area best won't step far off the narrow, muddy road that runs through the center of the desolate toxic dump at Utah's Deseret Chemical Depot.
It's been more than 30 years since the U.S. Army used this vast scrubland, known as the East Demilitarization Area, to dispose of a deadly arsenal of chemical and conventional munitions -- but the military still hasn't figured out how to clean up its mess.
The Defense Department does acknowledge the disaster, just as it has belatedly admitted having tested a gamut of chemical and biological weapons on military members in Utah's vast west desert during the Cold War. But the U.S. government insists that the tests have contributed to long-term illnesses in only a handful of exposed service members. And that has led the Department of Veterans Affairs to deny almost all claims for care and compensation made by those who believe they got sick as a result of the tests.
Although the Cold War was fought mainly by proxy and politicians, it was not without its casualties: Many died while waiting on the military to so much as acknowledge its secret programs.
Now, Dwight Bunn fears he might also slip away before the government takes responsibility for its actions.
The former soldier is sick. And he wants to know why.
'Don't worry, this stuff won't hurt you.'
Bunn was 21 years old when he arrived at Dugway Proving Ground, just over the snow-dusted hills from the Deseret demilitarization dump, in Tooele County. The official mission of his unit, the 45th Chemical Company, was to create smoke screens for infantry assaults. But in the early 1960s, at the height of the Cold War, the Army had other uses for the group.
Among the company's secretive duties: Helping to dispose of the carcasses of animals used in chemical weapons tests.
Starting in the 1940s and continuing through the 1970s, the Army tested and disposed of thousands of tons of chemical and biological agents in sparsely populated Utah, including munitions loaded with sarin, VX, mustard, tabun and various hallucinogens.
Bunn, whose tour of duty in Utah began as the U.S. was beginning to build up its forces in Vietnam, also believes members of his unit were exposed to Agent Orange. "They told us, 'Don't worry, this stuff won't hurt you. It's a defoliant and so it will kill the trees, but you'll be fine," he said.
Bunn said military officials have told him they can find no record of Utah tests involving the toxic herbicide, which has been linked to dozens of medical conditions.
But for the Washington state man, the government's denials are less than convincing. After all, the military spent years disavowing the tests altogether. The denials ended in the late 1990s, but the government has offered medical care and compensation only to those who can establish, by a preponderance of evidence, their illnesses were the result of exposure.
As of 2008, just 39 of 614 benefit claims filed by veterans in relation to tests nationwide had been approved.
Bunn, who suffers from restrictive lung disease, has asked the VA for care and compensation for his condition, in which tissue surrounding the lungs hardens and makes it difficult to exhale.
But the 65-year-old veteran's claim has been denied. And he's infuriated by a government that kept the program secret for decades, and now expects him and others to be able to offer proof that the tests made them sick.
"I've been exposed to a hell of a lot of stuff," he said. "Can I say definitively what did this to me? No I can't. But I've never lied about it. The military -- it conducted tests on humans and didn't acknowledge it. That's not right."
'Blow it up and burn it.'
Long rows of wooden pallets, stacked with bomb casings and ragged pieces of shrapnel, memorialize the Army's last attempt to clean up the Deseret demilitarization dump. The inefficient bomb-by-bomb effort was abandoned in the 1980s when military leaders realized it was too dangerous to continue.
"They just walked away," said Troy Johnson, Deseret's environmental program manager.
It's hard to understand why they even started. Just to the south of Deseret's colossal, modern weapons incinerator, the charred shells of nearly 60,000 mortars form an artificial bluff hundreds of feet across. Some of the bombs are believed to be filled with the hardened remnants of mustard agent.
Not far away, ditches the size of swimming pools are filled with paint cans, fire extinguishers, oil drums, tear gas canisters and cluster bombs. Unexploded ordnance litters the ground...
In Full, The Salt Lake Tribune
H/t: Chemical Weapons Working Group
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
"The nation’s defense budget is about to tangle with a really dangerous adversary." - Health Reform Scares The Defense Industry
Let it be duly noted that, in America, health care reform (especially any hope for 'Medicare For All') depends on the whims of the defense industry, and they ARE putting the pressure on:Crooks and Liars:
"I've been seeing a number of op-eds in recent defense journals that have a slightly hysterical, paranoid perspective on the "dangers" of health care reform. the authors of these articles are terrified that mounting costs of health care are going to impinge on the defense budget. democrat attempts to give all americans insurance may increase overall health care costs. as a result, a weakened america will be just wide-open to attack by terrorists and china and who knows what else.
Think i'm exaggerating? here's harvey sapolsky, a defense academic out of mit, talking in the national defense journal:
More @ Crooks and Liars"....The revenue for more health care exists in the form of defense expenditures, which have doubled since 9/11. The billions needed for reforming health will likely come, in one way or another, from cuts in defense spending. Personnel reductions will be hard to make because of the burdens that Iraq and Afghanistan deployments place on U.S. forces. Fewer and fewer aircraft and ships will be bought. There will also be less training and more restrictions on operations with and for allies. America has a powerful military that will take a while to unravel, but unravel it will. The nation’s defense budget is about to tangle with a really dangerous adversary."
Monday, March 8, 2010
"CakeWalks"...How Disinformation Campaigns Work (Marja Edition) - Fiction of Marjah as City Was US (DIS) Information War
"From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August." ~White House chief of staff Andrew Card explaining why the (Iraq) War hype was postponed until the weeks immediately prior to the November 2002 elections.
"The official admitted that the confusion about Marja's population was facilitated by the fact that the name has been used both for the relatively large agricultural area and for a specific location where farmers have gathered for markets.
However, the name Marja "was most closely associated" with the more specific location, where there are also a mosque and a few shops.
That very limited area was the apparent objective of "Operation Moshtarak", to which 7,500 U.S., NATO and Afghan troops were committed amid the most intense publicity given any battle since the beginning of the war.
So how did the fiction that Marja is a city of 80,000 people get started?
The idea was passed on to the news media by the U.S. Marines in southern Helmand. The earliest references in news stories to Marja as a city with a large population have a common origin in a briefing given Feb. 2 by officials at Camp Leatherneck, the U.S. Marine base there.
The Associated Press published an article the same day quoting "Marine commanders" as saying...
Fiction of Marjah as City Was US Information War @ t r u t h o u t
More... See this backgrounder... Wayyyyy Back to the 1950s, at Firedoglake:
“Little America” in Afghanistan: Is the US Repeating a Failed 1950’s Experiment in Social Engineering?
For more recent history: Yup… They LUV us out there: “Afghan flag-raising in NATO offensive draws gunfire”
Also: Marja Afghanistan - Just Noting That We've Been Lied To About That "Cakewalk" Thing Again
Labels:
Afghanistan,
Dirty War,
Disinformation,
Lies,
Marketing,
Pentagon,
Propaganda,
Taliban
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Lied To Again? General Odierno Requests More Combat Forces In Iraq (beyond the Obama deadline)
Odierno requests more combat forces in Iraq -- beyond the Obama deadlineIn full at The Best Defense, Foreign Policy Magazine
by Thomas E. Ricks
February 25 2010
In a move that could force President Obama to break his vow to get all combat troops out of Iraq by August of this year, his top commander in Iraq recently officially requested keeping a combat brigade in the northern part of the country beyond that deadline, three people close to the situation said Wednesday.
Gen. Raymond Odierno asked for a brigade to try to keep the peace in the disputed city of Kirkuk, but only got a polite nod from the president when the issue was raised during his recent meetings in Washington, according to two of the people familiar with the discussions. If the brigade in northern Iraq is indeed kept in Iraq past the deadline, there will be a fan dance under which it no longer will be called a combat unit, but like the six other combat brigades being kept past the deadline, will be called an advisory unit.
I can imagine the press releases that will follow-
"Three U.S. Army soldiers were killed last night in an advisory operation . . . ."
Labels:
Disinformation,
Endless War,
Imperial War,
Iraq,
Lies,
Oil War,
Pentagon,
US Military,
War On Iraq
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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