* * * * * Professor Francis A. Boyle filed a Complaint on January 19, 2010 with the Hague against Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Tenet, Gonzales charged at the Hague for their criminal policy and practice of “extraordinary rendition.”
About Professor Francis A. Boyle (visit his website, click here).Professor Boyle lectures on international law at the University of Illinois College of Law. A scholar in the areas of international law and human rights, Professor Boyle received a J.D. degree magna cum laude and A.M. and Ph.D. degrees in political science from Harvard University. Prior to joining the faculty at the College of Law, he was a teaching fellow at Harvard and an associate at its Center for International Affairs.
The Complaint: Read the Transmission letter in full, click here.
This policy is still in use by the Obama Administration and Professor Boyle points this out in the body of this transmission letter and should be stopped immediately. Here’s the opening paragraph:
The Honorable Luis Moreno-Ocampo
Office of the Prosecutor
International Criminal Court
Post Office Box 19519
2500 CM, The Hague
The Netherlands
Fax No.: 31-70-515-8555
Email: OTP.InformationDesk@icc-cpi.int
January 19, 2010
Dear Sir:
Please accept my personal compliments. I have the honor hereby to file with you and the International Criminal Court this Complaint against U.S. citizens George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, George Tenet, Condoleezza Rice , and Alberto Gonzales (hereinafter referred to as the “Accused”) for their criminal policy and practice of “extraordinary rendition.” This term is really a euphemism for the enforced disappearances of persons, their torture, severe deprivation of their liberty, their violent sexual abuse, and other inhumane acts perpetrated upon these Victims. The Accused have inflicted this criminal policy and practice of “extraordinary rendition” upon about one hundred (100) human beings, almost all of whom are Muslims/Arabs/Asians and People of Color. I doubt very seriously that the Accused would have inflicted these criminal practices upon 100 White Judeo-Christian men.
The following is taken from Afterdowningstreet.org (click here to visit their site and read more) Bush To The Hague! The Hague acknowledges Francis Boyle on his filing against Bush et al for the war-crime “Extraordinary Rendition”
Dear Accountability Advocates and previous impeachment advocates,
The day of accountability is at hand. The International Criminal Court at the Hague has acknowledged receipt of Prof. Francis A. Boyle’s complaint (attachment below).
We need your help:
Contact the Hague to insist they proceed an investigation of war-crimes committed by the accused (Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Tenet and Gonzales) in the acts called “Extraordinary Rendition” as quickly as possible. Send me a reply (neimpeach@gmail.com) if you would like your group listed as endorsing Prof. Boyle’s filing.
Send this message to all your groups – this is the accountability we’ve all been working on for the past several years.
Contact Eric Holder 202-353-1555 AskDOJ@usdoj.gov to tell him the International Community will prosecute even if he does not. Facebook page & website coming soon!
…Prof. Boyle…is looking for endorsements. Please respond if you’d like your group named as endorsing the arrest of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Tenet and Gonzales for the international war-crimes.
Smile Politely: I can see that connection. You mentioned that the Obama Administration is continuing the policy of extraordinary rendition. I was wondering if you knew of any examples of this policy being acted upon under the new administration, or whether the rhetoric is just the same?
Francis Boyle: They have officially stated that they are continuing the policy; however, so far I do not have any evidence as to precisely what they have done, because it’s all surreptitious to begin with. For that reason, I have not included the Obama Administration in my complaint. I’m an attorney, and I have an obligation to investigate the facts and the law before I take legal action against someone, and right now I do not have the legal evidence that that’s what Obama is doing, so I had to limit this complaint to what Bush was up to, because that has been very well-documented by the Parliamentary Assembly for the Council of Europe, or the so-called Marty Report [found here in pdf form], the official investigation by the Council of Europe, they had access to all the governments, solidly based. I could not really start drafting this complaint, couldn’t really contemplate it, until that report came out, and then it became clear that they had violated the ICC statute, and there was enough credible evidence produced by a report, and not just relying on news media sources. So, that came out last year, and it took a while to put that together, a 50-page, single-spaced complaint. And then referenced back to the Marty Report, which is even more substantial. So, my guess is, it’s going to take the prosecutor a while to work his way through all these documents.
Please pass this story around to all your friends. It is important that some justice is being sought for the actions of the Bush Administration participants during the Bush Administration war years. Thank you Professor Boyle.
In today’s Asia Times, Pepe Escobar paints the al-Qaeda myth and how President Obama has furthered the George W. Bush plans to control the oil and gas resources and pipelines throughout the areas of the world that produce these resources. It is Time to Stop the War(s). Join the March 20 March on Washington to End the War(s). Personally endorse the March 20 March on Washington, click here.
WAR COUNCIL Emir Faisal, leading the Saudi Wahhabi armies in 1926, prepares an advance BETTMANN ARCHIVE.CORBIS
THE ROVING EYE :Yemen, the new Waziristan By Pepe Escobar
Like an ever-profitable horror B-movie franchise, the al-Qaeda myth simply refuses to die. United States intelligence has now focused its lasers on the alleged 300 al-Qaeda jihadis concealed in Yemen’s craggy, rural Maarib province – as much as the Pentagon has deployed infinite might to find those maximum 100 prowling the Hindu Kush in Afghanistan.
But wait. Didn’t top US intelligence officials recently swear on their government paychecks that it’s all but “certain” that this sinister, multifaceted hydra with sleeper cells all over the planet – “al-Qaeda” – will attack inside the US within the next six months? What is more likely is that these neo-jihadis will never come from Yemen or the Waziristan tribal areas in Pakistan or the whole AfPak tribal belt for that matter. And they will not be native, pious Sunnis from Saudi Arabia or Egypt either. They will have at best a vague connection to some Middle Eastern dictatorship/petro-monarchy. They will certainly be young, ultra-globalized and passionately, perversely addicted to a fantasy – the virtual ummah (Muslim community).
Their life journey will certainly have evolved as in a triangulation. Many will have moved from their home country to live in a Western country – or even have been born there; and that’s where they will have honed their yearning to join jihad in a third country.
Like characters in a novel
Neo-jihadis may eventually – but not necessarily – go to Yemen or the Waziristans only after they have made the conceptual leap from idealizing the ummah on the Internet to actually feeling the irresistible urge to act on the ground.
Whenever this happens, they have already broken communication with their families. This is the pattern followed by virtually every neo-jihadi – from Dhiren Barot (who planned to bomb the New York Stock Exchange) to the shy underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. They are all living exercises in deterritorialization. It’s all virtual – especially their idea or vision of Islam itself. It’s all very individualistic – no orchestration by a sinister “al-Qaeda” network. And it’s all done in English – the lingua franca of global communication – not Arabic. Welcome to the age of the virtual jihadi nomad. In earlier times, these would have been characters in a Fyodor Dostoevsky or Albert Camus novel.
As for the motivations of “al-Qaeda”, Olivier Roy, professor at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, and a top global scholar of terrorism, argues that al-Qaeda “does not have a political strategy of establishing an Islamic state”. But he insists al-Qaeda’s global enemy is the West – not local regimes. That’s not true; al-Qaeda, the historic leadership, treats local regimes as US lackeys, thus they should be toppled. It’s not their priority; a hefty case can be made that “al-Qaeda” is nothing but a dissidence (or a “rogue” arm) of Saudi intelligence, considering the very close relationship between Osama bin Laden and wily Prince Turki bin Faisal, the former director general of Saudi intelligence.
Unlike Roy’s assessment, al-Qaeda’s fight has nothing to do with Che Guevara’s in the 1960s. Al-Qaeda is certainly not about ideology – but about an idea/flame that seduces, as Roy puts it, “the lonely avenger, the hero, who can redeem a life he is not happy with by achieving fame while escaping a world where he finds no room”. But that could also be a portrait of John Lennon’s murderer.
American intelligence is unlikely to consider these subtleties. The multi-billionaire machine is still hostage to the outdated notion of “territory”. So it’s automatic to have the Pentagon dispatch its might to fight “al-Qaeda” in Yemen and in the Waziristans. They will find nothing but ghosts.
Iraq, AfPak and now Yemen have been granted by Washington the same holy trinity of building “development” and “governance”, and counter-terrorism, which in practice means governance hijacked by Beltway-conceptualized counter-terrorism. No wonder this recipe was a failure in Afghanistan and will be a failure in Yemen.
The Yemeni theater will feature yet another deadly mix of counter-insurgency as applied by the Israelis in Gaza and West Bank and the Americans in AfPak. What happened in the AfPak tribal belt is enlightening. The power of hardcore locals – the Pakistani Taliban – was greatly enhanced; and “al-Qaeda” jihadis quietly left the building, spawning a mini-global migration. The same will happen in Yemen.
All this is tragically farcical. Obama has done a George W Bush in Afghanistan, branding the al-Qaeda ghost to justify Washington’s “soft” invasion of Yemen. The government of US-aligned President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sana’a accuses the Huthis of being linked to both al-Qaeda (Wahhabi radicals who consider Shi’ites as worse than the plague) and Iran (Shi’ites who abhor al-Qaeda). It doesn’t matter whether this is utter nonsense. Sooner or later, Washington will inevitably brand the Huthis as “terrorists” – just like every resistance in Iraq was “terrorist”, whether they were Sunni or Sadrists.
And the Pentagon runs amok
Tens of thousands of foreign troops are bogged down in Afghanistan because the North Atlantic Treaty Organization invoked its Article 5 collective defense provision in 2001 to fight “al-Qaeda”. Sooner rather than later, NATO will also hit Yemen.
As much as oil is power, the good ol’ “war on terror” – rebranded or not by the US – is alive and kicking. Iraq, Afghanistan (then AfPak), Yemen, Somalia, these are all cogs in the relentless full spectrum dominance machine, the real deal behind the “war on terror” cover story, intimately linked to Washington’s scramble to control and/or monitor as many global sources of oil and gas as possible.
And for a Pentagon already running amok, it is getting deeper and deeper into this key stretch of the “arc of instability”, from North Africa to the Persian Gulf, and at the same time instilling the flames of a new Cold War between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Blessed are those “al-Qaeda” virtual jihadi nomads.
Pepe Escobar is the author of Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War (Nimble Books, 2007) and Red Zone Blues: a snapshot of Baghdad during the surge. His new book, just out, is Obama does Globalistan (Nimble Books, 2009).
Pepe Escobar may be reached at pepeasia@yahoo.com.
* * *
The time has come for your personal action to End the War(s). The date to show how you feel is March 20, 2010. There will be a March on Washington, led by the ANSWER Coalition. Spread the word. There will be a lot of news on this in the upcoming months. Organize your local town for action on March 20. Show the world WE CARE. Take action now. Personally endorse the March 20 March on Washington, click here.
* * * * END THE CYCLE OF GENOCIDE: SUPPORT CONGRESSIONAL ACTION NOW, SIGN THE PETITION, PLEASE. CALL YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS. This is a personal matter for me and my family. I am of Armenian descent. My relatives died at the hands of the Turkish soldiers, ordered to massacre and destroy all Armenians and the Armenian civilization. Almost 1/2 of all Armenians died during the Armenian Genocide. For years, the Turkish government has blocked our Congress from voting on this resolution. They play Hard Ball and threaten the U.S. Government with severe repercussions if the Armenian Genocide is recognized. The Turkish Government denies that this happened. Please pass this Post link along to your friends.
Anti-Genocide activists gear up to bring America back to right side on key human rights issue. Chairman Howard Berman Sets Committee Vote for Armenian Genocide Resolution for Thursday, March 4th. Your Signature Is Necessary. Please sign the Petition below the video of Chairman Ken Hachikian outlining the support needed to pass this out of Committee. Thank You Mr. Hachikian, for all you do for the Armenian Cause.
Helmand, Afghanistan, the biggest battle since the Viet Nam war is about to begin.(See Map of Helmand, click here) In 2007, the British and Coalition forces tried to clear the Taliban out of Sangin Valley, Helmland under Operation Ghartse Gar Now the destruction of Swat Valley, Fallujah, South Warziristan will be repeated.
Many Aghani citizens will be leaving their homes in the winter, abandoning their livestock and fields of produce (and yes, opium fields also) to escape being caught in the middle of a battle that the Coalition (US) forces will use aircraft, Assassination Drones, artillery, helicopter gun ships, and soldiers firing 100,000’s of rounds of ammunition. This beautiful valley floor will be destroyed. Homes and bridges will be destroyed. In the end, what will be achieved? I asked before “Show us Swat Valley NOW (see story, click here). Let us see if the 2.5 Million people “displaced” have come back, and have come back to what? Can the Pakistan Government make life better for the people of Helmand? Did they make life better for the Swat Valley people after the government bombings and attack?
END THE CYCLE OF GENOCIDE: SUPPORT CONGRESSIONAL ACTION NOW, SIGN THE PETITION, PLEASE. CALL YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS. This is a personal matter for me and my family. I am of Armenian descent. My relatives died at the hands of the Turkish soldiers, ordered to massacre and destroy all Armenians and the Armenian civilization. Almost 1/2 of all Armenians died during the Armenian Genocide. For years, the Turkish government has blocked our Congress from voting on this resolution. They play Hard Ball and threaten the U.S. Government with severe repercussions if the Armenian Genocide is recognized. The Turkish Government denies that this happened. Please pass this Post link along to your friends.
Anti-Genocide activists gear up to bring America back to right side on key human rights issue. Chairman Howard Berman Sets Committee Vote for Armenian Genocide Resolution for Thursday, March 4th. Your Signature Is Necessary. Please sign the Petition below the video of Chairman Ken Hachikian outlining the support needed to pass this out of Committee. Thank You Mr. Hachikian, for all you do for the Armenian Cause.
* * * “March on Washington on March 20, End the War(s)” was first Posted on January 2, 2010. It is being Re-Posted today because we all must participate on March 20. Read all you can and organize locally if you can’t get to Washington on March 20. Come the week before as there will be events of protest leading up to the day of the march. Please pass this Post link along to your friends.
Show your support on March 20. A day for Peace…..
The time has come for your personal action to End the War(s). The date to show how you feel is March 20, 2010. There will be a March on Washington, led by the ANSWER Coalition. Spread the word. There will be a lot of news on this in the upcoming months. Organize your local town for action on March 20. Show the world WE CARE. Take action now. Personally endorse the March 20 March on Washington, click here.
We marched when Bush was President, now let's march when Obama increases troops. Come March 20 to Washington, DC and demand the End to the War(s)
Thank you for signing the Recognition of the Armenian Genocide Petition and passing this link on to your friends.
Marwan Bishara is Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst and just posted an article entitled “Tangoing with the Taliban” He was previously a professor of International Relations at the American University of Paris. An author who writes extensively on global politics, he is widely regarded as a leading authority on the Middle East and international affairs.
Battle of the Generals Board Game, too bad this is Not A Game
Bishara writes today in Al Jazerra the following story. He points out the sub-plots, the cold wars going on right now in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The US Military is in the middle of this mess. Bishara says "If the US withdraws in any meaningful way in the next couple of years with clear victory against the Taliban/al-Qaeda, as President Barack Obama suggested when he supported the surge, the Karzai government would fall in no time." An interesting concept: The US "Wins" and Karazi Government becomes the Taliban government?. Read this very important story about Saudi Arabia, Iran, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan dance that is going on. Action Items To Do Follow This Story:
Despite the US military ‘surge’, Afghanistan is proving more challenging than Iraq.
Unlike the general Iraqi distaste and hostility for al-Qaeda’s methods and objectives, Osama bin Laden’s network remains the Taliban’s most potent strategic partner in its fight against the central government and its US patron.
Al Jazeera has learnt that in the last several months, al-Qaeda has spearheaded certain Taliban offensives and tried to bridge and coordinate between the various Talibans, notably the Afghan and Pakistani groups. It has been mission impossible for the US thus far to sift the Taliban into so-called moderate vs radicals and hardcore vs pragmatists silos. Separating the Taliban from al-Qaeda has also failed.
In the process, the Taliban have reportedly opened new fronts in the northern regions after they consolidated their grip on the southern and eastern regions. They introduce their version of security and justice to these regions, like a parallel government. The US and the international coalition’s frustration with the Afghan army and its incapacity to counter the insurgency’s offensive, sooner rather than later, could force the US to rethink any illusions of victory.
If the US withdraws in any meaningful way in the next couple of years with clear victory against the Taliban/al-Qaeda, as President Barack Obama suggested when he supported the surge, the Karzai government would fall in no time. Perception of US failure and Taliban success would have a far-reaching psychological and political impact on opposition and notably Islamist movements in the region with strategic ramifications for US interests and its role in the Greater Middle East.
Strategy trumps all
All of which explains why the London meeting on Afghanistan has turned its eyes to finding alternative strategies to the military escalation and put emphasis on regional solutions. Notably, Washington and London are eager that Pakistan and more directly Saudi Arabia play a more prominent role in reaching political accommodation in the country between the Karzai government and the Taliban.
For Riyadh, Afghanistan is part of its open cold war with Tehran over influence in the Islamic world, whether on behalf of Washington or its own camp in the region. As in Yemen, Iraq, Palestine or Lebanon, Saudi Arabia is keen to project influence where it has assets and that includes Afghanistan and the Wahabi-influenced Taliban.
Considering Saudi Arabia has taken the US side in Afghanistan, its past support of the Taliban stemming from their religious commonality suggests that Riyadh still has leverage.
Options
Strategically, the US-sponsored Saudi-Pakistani influence seems the best way to contain Iranian/al-Qaeda influence. Tehran considers Afghanistan to be part of its area of influence and would not hesitate to confront the US and its allies there if Washington where to threaten it or isolate it further.
For Pakistan, Afghanistan has emerged as a central front of its cold war with India. Islamabad is bothered by the US-India rapprochement and the way in which Washington’s strategy in Afghanistan ended up exporting the Taliban/al-Qaeda challenge to its territory in very violent ways. This means Pakistan has two options: Export the Taliban/al-Qaeda challenge back to Afghanistan – and its intelligence services reportedly have sufficient leverage to do it. Or, insist on being centre stage to any future arrangements in Afghanistan. It will not tolerate being a spectator.
It is not clear in the final analysis whether the Saudi-Pakistani role under US patronage would aim to reach ‘functional’ or ‘territorial’ division between the Karzai government and theTaliban. The first entails ambitious reconciliation, even if limited to the so-called moderate Taliban, which aims to bring them into the governing fold. And the second would lead to de facto, pragmatic albeit transitional division of the country into Karzai and Taliban (14?) controlled regions.
Two challenges
Any accommodation with the Taliban – as partners not deserters – will revolve around two important issues, al-Qaeda and Taliban Wahabism. With no global ambition, the Taliban’s main objective is to rule Afghanistan according to its version of the Islamic Sharia. Despite their serious ‘moral’ and strategic commitment to al-Qaeda, bin Laden still comes second. For the US and its coalition partners, the main objective is al-Qaeda’s isolation and defeat. Social norms in Afghanistan, even if they are committed to change them, remain secondary.
Do not be surprised if there are compromises on secondary issues, allowing the Taliban to impose its rule and the US to declare victory against al-Qaeda.
Either way, all of the regional and international powers are dancing to the tunes of the Taliban. Not exactly the victory gig they had envisaged.
The Members of Congress in this room can Stop the War(s), by voting 'NO' on the $33 Billion that President Obama is asking for to keep the war going in Afghanistan, You can tell your Representative to Vote NO, read the information below
The above link will take you to a website that will allow you to have access to some action items you can do to End the War(s) Funding Now. President Obama is asking for an additional $33 Billion for the War in Afghanistan. Call your member of Congress (phone numbers and info are at the site) and demand them to Stop Funding the War(s).
Cambodia – In late December 1970, Congress passes the Supplemental Foreign Assistance Appropriations Act prohibiting the use of funds to finance the introduction of United States ground combat troops into Cambodia or to provide U.S. advisors to or for Cambodian military forces in Cambodia.
Vietnam – In late June 1973, Congress passes the second Supplemental Appropriations Act for FY1973. This legislation contains language cutting off funds for combat activities in Vietnam after August 15, 1973.
Somalia – In November 1993, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act includes a provision that prohibits funding after March 31, 1994 for military operations in Somalia, except for a limited number of military personnel to protect American diplomatic personnel and American citizens, unless further authorized by Congress.
Bosnia – In 1998, Congress passes the Defense Authorization Bill, with a provision that prohibits funding for Bosnia after June 30, 1998, unless the President makes certain assurances.
* * * “March on Washington on March 20, End the War(s)” was first Posted on January 2, 2010. It is being Re-Posted today because we all must participate on March 20. Read all you can and organize locally if you can’t get to Washington on March 20. Come the week before as there will be events of protest leading up to the day of the march. Please pass this Post link along to your friends.
Show your support on March 20. A day for Peace…..
The time has come for your personal action to End the War(s). The date to show how you feel is March 20, 2010. There will be a March on Washington, led by the ANSWER Coalition. Spread the word. There will be a lot of news on this in the upcoming months. Organize your local town for action on March 20. Show the world WE CARE. Take action now. Personally endorse the March 20 March on Washington, click here.
We marched when Bush was President, now let's march when Obama increases troops. Come March 20 to Washington, DC and demand the End to the War(s)
A.N.S.W.E.R. The anti-war movement responds to President Obama’s speech Statement from the ANSWER Coalition Rhetoric and Reality: Masking War Escalation as a Withdrawal Plan
On Saturday, March 20, 2010, there will be a mass National March & Rally in D.C. We will march together to say “No Colonial-type Wars and Occupations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine!” We will march together to say “No War Against Iran!” We will march together to say “No War for Empire Anywhere!” Instead of war, we will demand funds so that every person can have a job, free and universal health care, decent schools, and affordable housing. A day of action and outreach in Washington, D.C., will take place on Friday, March 19, preceding the Saturday march. There will be coinciding mass marches on March 20 in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Cindy Sheehan and a coalition of groups has announced a new initiative set to begin in March 2010 called Peace of the Action, ( Click Here for More) an integral part of which will be a camp that will be set up beginning March 13.
This camp will be a staging area for people coming to DC to take part in anti-war activities. Join Peace of the Action, Click Here.Our demand is simple: Troops out of the Middle East, which includes drones, permanent bases, contractors and torture/detention facilities.We will begin Peace of the Action on March 13th when we gather in Washington, DC to erect Camp OUT NOW on the lawn of the Washington Monument, directly across the street from the White House and our actions will begin on March 22nd.
We need individuals who realize that time is running short for us to truly affect change through commitment and dedication to humanity through the end to the U.S. Empire (and its subsidiaries). March 20 is the seventh anniversary of the criminal war of aggression launched by Bush and Cheney against Iraq. One million or more Iraqis have died. Tens of thousands of U.S. troops have lost their lives or been maimed, and continue to suffer a whole host of enduring problems from this terrible war. This is the time for united action. The slogans on banners may differ, but all those who carry them should be marching shoulder to shoulder.
The initiators and endorsers of the March 20 National March on Washington (preceded by the March 19 Day of Action and Outreach in D.C.) include: the ANSWER Coalition; Muslim American Society Freedom; National Council of Arab Americans; Cynthia McKinney; Malik Rahim, co-founder of Common Ground Collective; Ramsey Clark; Cindy Sheehan; Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK; Debra Sweet, Director, World Can’t Wait; Mike Ferner, President, Veterans for Peace; Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition; Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild; Ron Kovic, author of “Born on the 4th of July”; Juan Jose Gutierrez, Director, Latino Movement USA; Col. Ann Wright (ret.); March Forward!; Partnership for Civil Justice; Palestinian American Women Association; MANA – Muslim Alliance in North America; Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines; Alliance for Global Justice; Claudia de la Cruz, Pastor, Iglesia San Romero de Las Americas-UCC; Phil Portluck, Social Justice Ministry, Covenant Baptist Church, D.C.; Blase & Theresa Bonpane, Office of the Americas; Coalition for Peace and Democracy in Honduras; Comite Pro-Democracia en Mexico; Frente Unido de los Pueblos Americanos; Comites de Base FMLN, Los Angeles; Free Palestine Alliance; GABRIELA Network; Justice for Filipino American Veterans; KmB Pro-People Youth; Students Fight Back; Jim Lafferty, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild – LA Chapter; LEF Foundation; National Coalition to Free the Angola 3; Community Futures Collective; Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival; Companeros del Barrio; Barrio Unido for Full and Unconditional Amnesty; Michael Berg; Action Center for Justice – Charlotte, NC; Bay Area United Against War; Casa las Américas; Community Organizing Center, Columbus, Ohio; CT-SAW (Connecticut Students Against the War) ; Delaware Valley Veterans for America; Hawai’i Solidarity Committee; Malcolm X Center for Self-Determination; Texans for Peace; and many more.
End the War(s): U.S. Out of Afghanistan Now, AFP photo
* * * Stop the Assassination Drones:. Call Leon Panetta at (703) 482-0623, CIA headquarters, leave a message: No More Drone Assasination attacks, and don’t attack Quetta. End the War(s) NOW.
Call President Obama ALL WEEK LONG. Let’s keep his White House lines busy: Take Action Now ! ! Call President Obama: To reach the U.S. Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121 or 202-225-3121 Leave a message: “You made the wrong decision. I do not support you on this. I feel betrayed.” Say NO to Escalation in Afghanistan. Sign the petition here. No funds from Congress for the troop escalation. Tell them now.
Today, please tell your member of Congress and U.S. Senators to End the War in Afghanistan, sign this petition. If you live outside the United States, write to your leaders, End the War Now.
The Members of Congress in this room can Stop the War(s), by voting 'NO' on the $33 Billion that President Obama is asking for to keep the war going in Afghanistan, You can tell your Representative to Vote NO, read the information below
The above link will take you to a website that will allow you to have access to some action items you can do to End the War(s) Funding Now. President Obama is asking for an additional $33 Billion for the War in Afghanistan. Call your member of Congress (phone numbers and info are at the site) and demand them to Stop Funding the War(s).
Cambodia – In late December 1970, Congress passes the Supplemental Foreign Assistance Appropriations Act prohibiting the use of funds to finance the introduction of United States ground combat troops into Cambodia or to provide U.S. advisors to or for Cambodian military forces in Cambodia.
Vietnam – In late June 1973, Congress passes the second Supplemental Appropriations Act for FY1973. This legislation contains language cutting off funds for combat activities in Vietnam after August 15, 1973.
Somalia – In November 1993, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act includes a provision that prohibits funding after March 31, 1994 for military operations in Somalia, except for a limited number of military personnel to protect American diplomatic personnel and American citizens, unless further authorized by Congress.
Bosnia – In 1998, Congress passes the Defense Authorization Bill, with a provision that prohibits funding for Bosnia after June 30, 1998, unless the President makes certain assurances.
* * * “March on Washington on March 20, End the War(s)” was first Posted on January 2, 2010. It is being Re-Posted today because we all must participate on March 20. Read all you can and organize locally if you can’t get to Washington on March 20. Come the week before as there will be events of protest leading up to the day of the march. Please pass this Post link along to your friends.
Show your support on March 20. A day for Peace…..
The time has come for your personal action to End the War(s). The date to show how you feel is March 20, 2010. There will be a March on Washington, led by the ANSWER Coalition. Spread the word. There will be a lot of news on this in the upcoming months. Organize your local town for action on March 20. Show the world WE CARE. Take action now. Personally endorse the March 20 March on Washington, click here.
We marched when Bush was President, now let's march when Obama increases troops. Come March 20 to Washington, DC and demand the End to the War(s)
A.N.S.W.E.R. The anti-war movement responds to President Obama’s speech Statement from the ANSWER Coalition Rhetoric and Reality: Masking War Escalation as a Withdrawal Plan
On Saturday, March 20, 2010, there will be a mass National March & Rally in D.C. We will march together to say “No Colonial-type Wars and Occupations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine!” We will march together to say “No War Against Iran!” We will march together to say “No War for Empire Anywhere!” Instead of war, we will demand funds so that every person can have a job, free and universal health care, decent schools, and affordable housing. A day of action and outreach in Washington, D.C., will take place on Friday, March 19, preceding the Saturday march. There will be coinciding mass marches on March 20 in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Cindy Sheehan and a coalition of groups has announced a new initiative set to begin in March 2010 called Peace of the Action, ( Click Here for More) an integral part of which will be a camp that will be set up beginning March 13.
This camp will be a staging area for people coming to DC to take part in anti-war activities. Join Peace of the Action, Click Here.Our demand is simple: Troops out of the Middle East, which includes drones, permanent bases, contractors and torture/detention facilities.We will begin Peace of the Action on March 13th when we gather in Washington, DC to erect Camp OUT NOW on the lawn of the Washington Monument, directly across the street from the White House and our actions will begin on March 22nd.
We need individuals who realize that time is running short for us to truly affect change through commitment and dedication to humanity through the end to the U.S. Empire (and its subsidiaries). March 20 is the seventh anniversary of the criminal war of aggression launched by Bush and Cheney against Iraq. One million or more Iraqis have died. Tens of thousands of U.S. troops have lost their lives or been maimed, and continue to suffer a whole host of enduring problems from this terrible war. This is the time for united action. The slogans on banners may differ, but all those who carry them should be marching shoulder to shoulder.
The initiators and endorsers of the March 20 National March on Washington (preceded by the March 19 Day of Action and Outreach in D.C.) include: the ANSWER Coalition; Muslim American Society Freedom; National Council of Arab Americans; Cynthia McKinney; Malik Rahim, co-founder of Common Ground Collective; Ramsey Clark; Cindy Sheehan; Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK; Debra Sweet, Director, World Can’t Wait; Mike Ferner, President, Veterans for Peace; Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition; Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild; Ron Kovic, author of “Born on the 4th of July”; Juan Jose Gutierrez, Director, Latino Movement USA; Col. Ann Wright (ret.); March Forward!; Partnership for Civil Justice; Palestinian American Women Association; MANA – Muslim Alliance in North America; Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines; Alliance for Global Justice; Claudia de la Cruz, Pastor, Iglesia San Romero de Las Americas-UCC; Phil Portluck, Social Justice Ministry, Covenant Baptist Church, D.C.; Blase & Theresa Bonpane, Office of the Americas; Coalition for Peace and Democracy in Honduras; Comite Pro-Democracia en Mexico; Frente Unido de los Pueblos Americanos; Comites de Base FMLN, Los Angeles; Free Palestine Alliance; GABRIELA Network; Justice for Filipino American Veterans; KmB Pro-People Youth; Students Fight Back; Jim Lafferty, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild – LA Chapter; LEF Foundation; National Coalition to Free the Angola 3; Community Futures Collective; Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival; Companeros del Barrio; Barrio Unido for Full and Unconditional Amnesty; Michael Berg; Action Center for Justice – Charlotte, NC; Bay Area United Against War; Casa las Américas; Community Organizing Center, Columbus, Ohio; CT-SAW (Connecticut Students Against the War) ; Delaware Valley Veterans for America; Hawai’i Solidarity Committee; Malcolm X Center for Self-Determination; Texans for Peace; and many more.
End the War(s): U.S. Out of Afghanistan Now, AFP photo
* * * Stop the Assassination Drones:. Call Leon Panetta at (703) 482-0623, CIA headquarters, leave a message: No More Drone Assasination attacks, and don’t attack Quetta. End the War(s) NOW.
Call President Obama ALL WEEK LONG. Let’s keep his White House lines busy: Take Action Now ! ! Call President Obama: To reach the U.S. Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121 or 202-225-3121 Leave a message: “You made the wrong decision. I do not support you on this. I feel betrayed.” Say NO to Escalation in Afghanistan. Sign the petition here. No funds from Congress for the troop escalation. Tell them now.
Today, please tell your member of Congress and U.S. Senators to End the War in Afghanistan, sign this petition. If you live outside the United States, write to your leaders, End the War Now.
Today, it was announced the United States will sell to Taiwan a package of Arms Weapons in the amount $6.4 billion to include Black Hawk helicopters, Patriot “Advanced Capability-3” anti-missile missiles, and two refurbished Osprey-class mine-hunting ships. This is a slap in the face to China, as China sees Taiwan as part of China so this sale is a sign of double-talk by the U.S. in stating there’s a “One China Policy”. China has announced it has suspended mutual military visits with the United States. Next, China will most likely not support sanctions against Iran as a “pay-back”. Here’s U.S. technology at work. The Patriot missile system is the same as sold to Poland and within 100 kilometers of the Russian border, view the video below. [UPDATE:
China’s Response, click here)
Here’s some facts from a NY Times article of Sept. 2009: Despite Slump, U.S. Role as Top Arms Supplier Grows. Read the whole story, click here.
What would the world think if Russia or China were number one in Arms Sales World-Wide? What would the U.S. say? In 2008, the U.S. sold $37.8 BILLION U.S. Dollars in sales, a total of 68.4% of all World-Wide Arms Sales. Guess who was in Second Place? Guess how much they sold? China? Russia? No, it was Italy. Yes, Italy was second in a total of 3.7 Billion in sales (10% of the total U.S. sales). And Russia was #3 with 3.5 Billion in Arms Sales.
Arms Sales World-Wide in 2008
United States $37.8 Billion in Sales
Italy 3.7
Russia 3.5
The biggest purchase in 2008 from the U.S. was 6.5 Billion air defense system for the United Arab Emirates, followed by a 2.1 Billion dollar jet fighter deal with Morocco (does Morocco even have an air force?) and a 2 Billion dollar attack helicopter sale to Taiwan.
How is the United States for World Peace while supplying the World with Arms to kill other human beings? The U.S. is in a War Ecomomy, the only export of any size is Military Equipment and Deadly Arms. “The United States was the leader not only in arms sales worldwide, but also in sales to nations in the developing world, signing $29.6 billion in weapons agreements with these nations, or 70.1 percent of all such deals.”
How to get international troops out of Afghanistan, and replace them with local forces? That was the crunch issue being discussed at a 70 nation conference on the future of the war-torn country.
More from an interview with Sabah Al-Mukhtar, President of the Arab Lawyers Association in London: One plan involves tempting Taliban fighters to leave the insurgency behind, and take up civilian jobs. Sabah Al-Mukhtar – President of the Arab Lawyers Association in London – says the attempt to induce Western values in Afghan society is doomed to fail.
* * * “March on Washington on March 20, End the War(s)” was first Posted on January 2, 2010. It is being Re-Posted today because we all must participate on March 20. Read all you can and organize locally if you can’t get to Washington on March 20. Come the week before as there will be events of protest leading up to the day of the march. Please pass this Post link along to your friends.
Show your support on March 20. A day for Peace…..
The time has come for your personal action to End the War(s). The date to show how you feel is March 20, 2010. There will be a March on Washington, led by the ANSWER Coalition. Spread the word. There will be a lot of news on this in the upcoming months. Organize your local town for action on March 20. Show the world WE CARE. Take action now. Personally endorse the March 20 March on Washington, click here.
We marched when Bush was President, now let's march when Obama increases troops. Come March 20 to Washington, DC and demand the End to the War(s)
A.N.S.W.E.R. The anti-war movement responds to President Obama’s speech Statement from the ANSWER Coalition Rhetoric and Reality: Masking War Escalation as a Withdrawal Plan
On Saturday, March 20, 2010, there will be a mass National March & Rally in D.C. We will march together to say “No Colonial-type Wars and Occupations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine!” We will march together to say “No War Against Iran!” We will march together to say “No War for Empire Anywhere!” Instead of war, we will demand funds so that every person can have a job, free and universal health care, decent schools, and affordable housing. A day of action and outreach in Washington, D.C., will take place on Friday, March 19, preceding the Saturday march. There will be coinciding mass marches on March 20 in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Cindy Sheehan and a coalition of groups has announced a new initiative set to begin in March 2010 called Peace of the Action, ( Click Here for More) an integral part of which will be a camp that will be set up beginning March 13.
This camp will be a staging area for people coming to DC to take part in anti-war activities. Join Peace of the Action, Click Here.Our demand is simple: Troops out of the Middle East, which includes drones, permanent bases, contractors and torture/detention facilities.We will begin Peace of the Action on March 13th when we gather in Washington, DC to erect Camp OUT NOW on the lawn of the Washington Monument, directly across the street from the White House and our actions will begin on March 22nd.
We need individuals who realize that time is running short for us to truly affect change through commitment and dedication to humanity through the end to the U.S. Empire (and its subsidiaries). March 20 is the seventh anniversary of the criminal war of aggression launched by Bush and Cheney against Iraq. One million or more Iraqis have died. Tens of thousands of U.S. troops have lost their lives or been maimed, and continue to suffer a whole host of enduring problems from this terrible war. This is the time for united action. The slogans on banners may differ, but all those who carry them should be marching shoulder to shoulder.
The initiators and endorsers of the March 20 National March on Washington (preceded by the March 19 Day of Action and Outreach in D.C.) include: the ANSWER Coalition; Muslim American Society Freedom; National Council of Arab Americans; Cynthia McKinney; Malik Rahim, co-founder of Common Ground Collective; Ramsey Clark; Cindy Sheehan; Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK; Debra Sweet, Director, World Can’t Wait; Mike Ferner, President, Veterans for Peace; Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition; Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild; Ron Kovic, author of “Born on the 4th of July”; Juan Jose Gutierrez, Director, Latino Movement USA; Col. Ann Wright (ret.); March Forward!; Partnership for Civil Justice; Palestinian American Women Association; MANA – Muslim Alliance in North America; Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines; Alliance for Global Justice; Claudia de la Cruz, Pastor, Iglesia San Romero de Las Americas-UCC; Phil Portluck, Social Justice Ministry, Covenant Baptist Church, D.C.; Blase & Theresa Bonpane, Office of the Americas; Coalition for Peace and Democracy in Honduras; Comite Pro-Democracia en Mexico; Frente Unido de los Pueblos Americanos; Comites de Base FMLN, Los Angeles; Free Palestine Alliance; GABRIELA Network; Justice for Filipino American Veterans; KmB Pro-People Youth; Students Fight Back; Jim Lafferty, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild – LA Chapter; LEF Foundation; National Coalition to Free the Angola 3; Community Futures Collective; Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival; Companeros del Barrio; Barrio Unido for Full and Unconditional Amnesty; Michael Berg; Action Center for Justice – Charlotte, NC; Bay Area United Against War; Casa las Américas; Community Organizing Center, Columbus, Ohio; CT-SAW (Connecticut Students Against the War) ; Delaware Valley Veterans for America; Hawai’i Solidarity Committee; Malcolm X Center for Self-Determination; Texans for Peace; and many more.
End the War(s): U.S. Out of Afghanistan Now, AFP photo
* * * Stop the Assassination Drones:. Call Leon Panetta at (703) 482-0623, CIA headquarters, leave a message: No More Drone Assasination attacks, and don’t attack Quetta. End the War(s) NOW.
Call President Obama ALL WEEK LONG. Let’s keep his White House lines busy: Take Action Now ! ! Call President Obama: To reach the U.S. Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121 or 202-225-3121 Leave a message: “You made the wrong decision. I do not support you on this. I feel betrayed.” Say NO to Escalation in Afghanistan. Sign the petition here. No funds from Congress for the troop escalation. Tell them now.
Today, please tell your member of Congress and U.S. Senators to End the War in Afghanistan, sign this petition. If you live outside the United States, write to your leaders, End the War Now.
The release of two cables sent by U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry reveal how our course in Afghanistan is wrong, sending more troops is the wrong thing to do. Ray McGovern posts the following story covering the two memos and how things work in the CIA and White House relations on when a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) is needed and how none was done prior to the troop increase announced by President Obama. Ray Mcgovern’s whole article is printed here for your viewing. Your opinions in the comment section below, please.
General Petraeus and US Ambassador Karl Eikenberry (former Lt. General, for two years (2005-2007) commander of all U.S. forces stationed in Afghanistan
Published on Thursday, January 28, 2010 by CommonDreams.org
President Put Politics First on Afghanistan
by Ray McGovern
Nothing highlights President Obama’s abject surrender to Gen. David Petraeus on the “way forward” in Afghanistan than two cables U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry sent to Washington on Nov. 6 and 9, 2009, the texts of which were released Tuesday by the New York Times.
No longer is it possible to suggest that Obama was totally deprived of wise counsel on Afghanistan; Eikenberry got it largely right. Sadly, the inevitable conclusion is that, although Obama is not as dumb as his predecessor, he is no less willing to sacrifice thousands of lives for political gain.
Ambassador Eikenberry, a retired Army Lt. General who served three years in Afghanistan over the course of two separate tours of duty, was responsible during 2002-2003 for rebuilding Afghan security forces. He then served 18 months (2005-2007) as commander of all U.S. forces stationed in Afghanistan.
Straight Talk
In the cable he sent to Washington on Nov. 6, he explains why, “I cannot support [the Defense Department’s] recommendation for an immediate Presidential decision to deploy another 40,000 here.” His reasons include:
~Afghan President Hamid Karzai is not “an adequate strategic partner.” His government has “little to no political will or capacity to carry out basic tasks of governance. … It strains credulity to expect Karzai to change fundamentally this late in his life and in our relationship.”
~Karzai and many of his advisers “are only too happy to see us invest further. They assume we covet their territory for a never ending ‘war on terror’ and for military bases to use against surrounding powers.”
[Comment: I wonder where Karzai ever got that idea about military bases-perhaps because we are building them? I’ll bet Karzai also assumes continuing U.S. interest in the projected oil/natural gas pipeline from the extraordinarily rich deposits in the Caspian Sea area and Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to the Arabian Sea, bypassing both Russia and the Strait of Hormuz. ]
~”The proposed troop increase will bring vastly increased costs and an indefinite, large-scale U.S. military role.”
~”We overestimate the ability of Afghan security forces to take over…by 2013. … and underestimate how long it will take to restore or establish civilian government.”
~”More troops won’t end the insurgency as long as Pakistan sanctuaries remain…and Pakistan views its strategic interests as best served by a weak neighbor.”
~”There is also the deeper concern about dependency. … Rather than reducing Afghan dependence, sending more troops, therefore, is likely to deepen it, at least in the short term. That would further delay our goal of shifting the combat burden to the Afghans.”
More Straight Talk
Eikenberry is even more direct in his cable of Nov. 9, taking strong issue with “a proposed counterinsurgency strategy that relies on a large, all-or-nothing increase in U.S. troops,” and warning of the risk that “we will become more deeply engaged here with no way to extricate ourselves…” Condemning Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s recommendations with faint praise, Ambassador Eikenberry describes them as “logical and compelling within his [McChrystal’s] narrow mandate to define the needs for a military counterinsurgency campaign within Afghanistan.”
“Unaddressed variables,” says Eikenberry, “include Pakistan sanctuaries, weak Afghan leadership and governance, NATO civilian-military integration, and our national will to bear the human and fiscal costs over many years.” He complains that the troop increase proposal “sets aside” these variables, even though “each has the potential to block us from achieving our strategic goals, regardless of the number of additional troops we may send.”
The ambassador also notes that it is hardly a safe assumption that Karzai and his new team will ever be “committed to lead the counterinsurgency mission we are defining for them,” noting that Karzai “explicitly rejected” McChrystal’s counterinsurgency proposal when first briefed on it in detail.
Eikenberry does not stop there. Rather, he bluntly warns-in vain, it turned out-against a premature decision regarding a troop increase, arguing “there is no option but to widen the scope of our analysis and to consider alternatives beyond a strictly military counterinsurgency effort within Afghanistan.” He adds:
~”We have not yet conducted a comprehensive, interdisciplinary analysis of all our strategic options. Nor have we brought all the real-world variables to bear in testing the proposed counterinsurgency plan.”
~”This strategic re-examination could either include or lead to high-level U.S. talks with the Afghans, the Pakistanis, the Saudis and other important regional players-including possibly Iran. …”
Extraordinary. Here is the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan bemoaning the fact that, as the President approaches his decision on a large troop increase, there has still been no comprehensive analysis of the wider issues that remain “unaddressed” in McChrystal’s proposal.
NIEs
Taking an objective look at a complex national security problem is precisely the job for which President Harry Truman created the CIA, giving its director the task of drafting what became known as National Intelligence Estimates-a process in which all agencies of the intelligence community can take part.
That no estimate has been prepared on Afghanistan/Pakistan and the “unaddressed variables” is an indictment of President Obama and his deference to the military. The President and other misguided Democrats are hell bent on preventing the bemedaled Petraeus, a likely Republican candidate for president in 2012, from painting them soft on terrorism. Letting Petraeus run the policy, while avoiding any critical intelligence analysis, is Obama’s safe-and cowardly-way out.
During my tenure at CIA (from the administration of John Kennedy to that of George H. W. Bush), I cannot think of an occasion on which a President chose to forgo a National Intelligence Estimate before making a key decision on foreign policy. However, in early 2002, President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney set a new kind of precedent when they ordered CIA Director George Tenet NOT to prepare an NIE on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, out of fear that an honest estimate would make it immensely more difficult to attack Iraq.
That did not change until September 2002, when Sen. Bob Graham, then-chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, warned the White House that, absent an NIE, he would do all he could to prevent a vote on war with Iraq. That’s when a totally dishonest NIE was woven out of whole cloth (or, in the words of subsequent Intelligence Committee chair, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, fashioned from “created” intelligence) to hype a threat from non-existent Iraqi WMD.
After that debacle, new leadership was given to the NIE process in the person of Tom Fingar who had run the intelligence unit at the State Department. It was Fingar who insisted on a bottom-up review of intelligence on Iran’s nuclear plans, which resulted in an NIE that helped prevent Bush and Cheney from attacking Iran-or encouraging Israel to do so.
That NIE, issued in November 2007, assessed “with high confidence” that Iran had stopped working on the nuclear weapons part of its nuclear program in late 2003, directly contradicting claims of Bush and Cheney at the time.
Of equal importance, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other senior military had no appetite to take on Iran (or to acquiesce in Israel’s doing so) and insisted that the key judgments of that NIE be made public.
This time, on Afghanistan, it’s different. Army generals Petraeus and McChrystal apparently persuaded the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, that they knew what they’re doing and didn’t need any intelligence analysts reaching troublesome conclusions.
What’s the Rush?
From his vantage point in Kabul, Eikenberry seems impervious to Dick Cheney’s charges that the President is “dithering.” The first two (of three) subheadings in Eikenberry’s second cable are: “We Have Time” and “Why We Must Take the Time.” He finishes with an appeal to “widen the scope of our analysis.”
Eikenberry is all but demanding a National Intelligence Estimate, but stops short so as not to cross the President or rub salt in the wounds that the ambassador’s cables have opened in Petraeus and McChrystal.
Instead of requesting an NIE, Ambassador Eikenberry suggests that the White House appoint “a panel of civilian and military experts to examine the Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy and the full range of options.” The list of issues he says this panel “should examine” reads very much like what the intelligence community calls “Terms of Reference” for an NIE. (As a CIA analyst and manger I contributed to many NIEs and chaired some myself.)
When the White House gave Eikenberry short shrift, he should have resigned, rather than support the misbegotten strategy Obama chose.
Leakophobia
Part of Obama’s motivation in not ordering the customary NIE was to avoid any chance that its conclusions might leak, according to a source with good access. Assuming that intelligence community estimators have not regressed to the Bush/Cheney days of cooking estimates to order, such a leak would certainly have made it more difficult for the President to render unflinching support to Petraeus and McChrystal.
Pity Obama. It is hard to believe he could be so naive to the ways of Washington and so dismissive of the possibility that there could still be some courageous patriots among the senior officials dismayed at his remarkable retreat from the “transparency” he promised.
The New York Times reports, “An American official provided a copy of the cables to The Times after a reporter requested them.” Well, good for that patriotic truth-teller. And good, as well, for the New York Times for publishing the cables. I am permitting myself to hope that still more truth-tellers will emerge from the woodwork, and even that The Times might begin to play the kind of key role it did 40 years ago, once it finally brought itself to concede that Vietnam was a fool’s errand.
NODIS
It may be that one needs to have worked at senior levels on the “inside” to understand the twinge that I felt after downloading the NODIS cables made available by The Times. NODIS cables on my desk at home!
As the cover sheet indicates, “NODIS” means no dissemination beyond the named “addressee and, if not expressly precluded, by those officials under his authority whom he considers to have a clear-cut ‘need to know.'” (Emphasis added. It is not entirely clear, but I assume that exceptions can now be made for the current Secretary of State and other senior officials of her gender.)
In my day we had to go to the CIA Director’s office, sign for, and read NODIS cables right there. No doubt there are similar controls today. So, in this case the whistleblower took considerable risk in taking it upon him/herself to make “transparency” real, not just Obaman rhetoric.
The irony? If, as I have been told, the President put the kibosh on preparation of an NIE for fear it would leak, we now have an even more instructive kind of leak. Thanks to The Times and its courageous source, we now know not only that President Obama elected to forgo an honest NIE, but that he did so in the face of very strong urging from Ambassador Eikenberry to “widen the scope” of analysis, and not simply kowtow to the Army brass.
I imagine that in years to come, Eikenberry will proudly show his cables to his grandchildren. Or maybe he won’t, out of fear that one of them might ask why he didn’t have the guts to quit and let the rest of the country know what he really thought of this latest March of Folly.
Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, the publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in Washington, DC. During his career as a CIA analyst, he prepared and briefed the President’s Daily Brief and chaired National Intelligence Estimates. He is a member of the Steering Group of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).
* * * “March on Washington on March 20, End the War(s)” was first Posted on January 2, 2010. It is being Re-Posted today because we all must participate on March 20. Read all you can and organize locally if you can’t get to Washington on March 20. Come the week before as there will be events of protest leading up to the day of the march. Please pass this Post link along to your friends.
Show your support on March 20. A day for Peace…..
The time has come for your personal action to End the War(s). The date to show how you feel is March 20, 2010. There will be a March on Washington, led by the ANSWER Coalition. Spread the word. There will be a lot of news on this in the upcoming months. Organize your local town for action on March 20. Show the world WE CARE. Take action now. Personally endorse the March 20 March on Washington, click here.
We marched when Bush was President, now let's march when Obama increases troops. Come March 20 to Washington, DC and demand the End to the War(s)
A.N.S.W.E.R. The anti-war movement responds to President Obama’s speech Statement from the ANSWER Coalition Rhetoric and Reality: Masking War Escalation as a Withdrawal Plan
On Saturday, March 20, 2010, there will be a mass National March & Rally in D.C. We will march together to say “No Colonial-type Wars and Occupations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine!” We will march together to say “No War Against Iran!” We will march together to say “No War for Empire Anywhere!” Instead of war, we will demand funds so that every person can have a job, free and universal health care, decent schools, and affordable housing. A day of action and outreach in Washington, D.C., will take place on Friday, March 19, preceding the Saturday march. There will be coinciding mass marches on March 20 in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Cindy Sheehan and a coalition of groups has announced a new initiative set to begin in March 2010 called Peace of the Action, ( Click Here for More) an integral part of which will be a camp that will be set up beginning March 13.
This camp will be a staging area for people coming to DC to take part in anti-war activities. Join Peace of the Action, Click Here.Our demand is simple: Troops out of the Middle East, which includes drones, permanent bases, contractors and torture/detention facilities.We will begin Peace of the Action on March 13th when we gather in Washington, DC to erect Camp OUT NOW on the lawn of the Washington Monument, directly across the street from the White House and our actions will begin on March 22nd.
We need individuals who realize that time is running short for us to truly affect change through commitment and dedication to humanity through the end to the U.S. Empire (and its subsidiaries). March 20 is the seventh anniversary of the criminal war of aggression launched by Bush and Cheney against Iraq. One million or more Iraqis have died. Tens of thousands of U.S. troops have lost their lives or been maimed, and continue to suffer a whole host of enduring problems from this terrible war. This is the time for united action. The slogans on banners may differ, but all those who carry them should be marching shoulder to shoulder.
The initiators and endorsers of the March 20 National March on Washington (preceded by the March 19 Day of Action and Outreach in D.C.) include: the ANSWER Coalition; Muslim American Society Freedom; National Council of Arab Americans; Cynthia McKinney; Malik Rahim, co-founder of Common Ground Collective; Ramsey Clark; Cindy Sheehan; Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK; Debra Sweet, Director, World Can’t Wait; Mike Ferner, President, Veterans for Peace; Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition; Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild; Ron Kovic, author of “Born on the 4th of July”; Juan Jose Gutierrez, Director, Latino Movement USA; Col. Ann Wright (ret.); March Forward!; Partnership for Civil Justice; Palestinian American Women Association; MANA – Muslim Alliance in North America; Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines; Alliance for Global Justice; Claudia de la Cruz, Pastor, Iglesia San Romero de Las Americas-UCC; Phil Portluck, Social Justice Ministry, Covenant Baptist Church, D.C.; Blase & Theresa Bonpane, Office of the Americas; Coalition for Peace and Democracy in Honduras; Comite Pro-Democracia en Mexico; Frente Unido de los Pueblos Americanos; Comites de Base FMLN, Los Angeles; Free Palestine Alliance; GABRIELA Network; Justice for Filipino American Veterans; KmB Pro-People Youth; Students Fight Back; Jim Lafferty, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild – LA Chapter; LEF Foundation; National Coalition to Free the Angola 3; Community Futures Collective; Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival; Companeros del Barrio; Barrio Unido for Full and Unconditional Amnesty; Michael Berg; Action Center for Justice – Charlotte, NC; Bay Area United Against War; Casa las Américas; Community Organizing Center, Columbus, Ohio; CT-SAW (Connecticut Students Against the War) ; Delaware Valley Veterans for America; Hawai’i Solidarity Committee; Malcolm X Center for Self-Determination; Texans for Peace; and many more.
End the War(s): U.S. Out of Afghanistan Now, AFP photo
* * * Stop the Assassination Drones:. Call Leon Panetta at (703) 482-0623, CIA headquarters, leave a message: No More Drone Assasination attacks, and don’t attack Quetta. End the War(s) NOW.
Call President Obama ALL WEEK LONG. Let’s keep his White House lines busy: Take Action Now ! ! Call President Obama: To reach the U.S. Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121 or 202-225-3121 Leave a message: “You made the wrong decision. I do not support you on this. I feel betrayed.” Say NO to Escalation in Afghanistan. Sign the petition here. No funds from Congress for the troop escalation. Tell them now.
Today, please tell your member of Congress and U.S. Senators to End the War in Afghanistan, sign this petition. If you live outside the United States, write to your leaders, End the War Now.
The gun markets of Pakistan By Suroosh Alvi, Founder, Vice Magazine and VBS.TV
Wonder how the “taliban”and “insurgents” get guns? Who delivers them? How about all the ammo that is needed? How does that get bought and where does it come from? Making guns by hand in a tribal town. Primitive conditions. Watch this video taken at the source of the guns.This is a good source for on-the-scene footage by some very brave people. View the video below and visit their news site: http://www.vbs.tv/newsroom
Pakistan President Zardari sacrifices a black goat daily to ward off evil eye
CEC to hear Zardari’s eligibility petition on Feb 4
ISLAMABAD: From The Times of India: Pakistan’s beleaguered President Asif Ali Zardari, who is facing fresh challenges since the Supreme Court scrapped a graft amnesty that benefited him, has sacrificed hundreds of black goats to ward off the “evil eye” since he moved into the presidency in 2008.
A black goat is slaughtered almost daily to ward off the “evil eye” and protect Zardari from “black magic”, the Dawn newspaper reported on Wednesday. The President also reportedly uses only camel and goat milk due to superstitions, the report said. However, presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar brushed aside suggestions that Zardari is a superstitious man. “It has been an old practice of Mr Zardari to offer ‘sadqa’ (charity). He has been doing this for a long time,” Babar said.
Zardari’s detractors, however, perceive his new-found religiosity as a sign of nervousness in the wake of the scrapping of the National Reconciliation Ordinance by the Supreme Court last month.
The NRO was issued by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf to withdraw anti-corruption cases against Zardari and over 8,000 others. The Dawn reported that hundreds of black goats had been sacrificed since Zardari moved into the presidency in September 2008. Zardari’s trusted personal servant, Bai Khan, buys the goats from Saidpur, a village in the heart of Islamabad. The animal is touched by Zardari before it is sent to his private house in Sector F-8/2 in the city to be sacrificed. When Zardari moved into the presidency in September 2008, he was shown on state-run TV touching several black goats before they were led away by a member of his staff.
There are also reports that when Zardari moved into the President’s House, a flock of black partridges were introduced there for their supposedly magical effects. However, the whole flock was electrocuted when a live wire fell on its cage. [Ed. Note: This is a sure sign that there’s no way out for President Zardari, even if he drinks milk directly from the Camel, the money laundering charges from the past will raise up again and take him down. The NRO will allow him to be brought to court on Civil Charges, as immunity will not protect him from Civil Charges. President Zardari’s days are numbered, and shrinking fast, the Black Partridges getting electrocuted is a VERY BAD SIGN]
A camel, a cow and a few goats have also been kept on the grounds of the presidency to provide milk for Zardari. The President has also introduced the neem tree at his official residence for its antiseptic qualities.
ISLAMABAD: Chief Election Commissioner Justice Hamid Ali Mirza will hear on Feb 4 arguments on maintainability of a petition challenging eligibility of Asif Ali Zardari to hold the office of president and seeking fresh scrutiny of his nomination papers as a presidential candidate…The petitioner said that after the Supreme Court had ordered that all steps taken and all orders passed by whatever authority, any orders passed by the courts of law including the orders of discharge and acquittal recorded in favour of accused persons were declared to have never existed in the eyes of law and resultantly of no legal effect. The petitioner submitted that being a beneficiary of NRO, Mr Zardari could not have qualified to contest presidential polls had the ordinance not been in the field at the time of the scrutiny nomination papers. He said Mr Zardari had been convicted by a Swiss Court and subordinate courts in the country.
* * * “March on Washington on March 20, End the War(s)” was first Posted on January 2, 2010. It is being Re-Posted today because we all must participate on March 20. Read all you can and organize locally if you can’t get to Washington on March 20. Come the week before as there will be events of protest leading up to the day of the march. Please pass this Post link along to your friends.
Show your support on March 20. A day for Peace…..
The time has come for your personal action to End the War(s). The date to show how you feel is March 20, 2010. There will be a March on Washington, led by the ANSWER Coalition. Spread the word. There will be a lot of news on this in the upcoming months. Organize your local town for action on March 20. Show the world WE CARE. Take action now. Personally endorse the March 20 March on Washington, click here.
We marched when Bush was President, now let's march when Obama increases troops. Come March 20 to Washington, DC and demand the End to the War(s)
A.N.S.W.E.R. The anti-war movement responds to President Obama’s speech Statement from the ANSWER Coalition Rhetoric and Reality: Masking War Escalation as a Withdrawal Plan
On Saturday, March 20, 2010, there will be a mass National March & Rally in D.C. We will march together to say “No Colonial-type Wars and Occupations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine!” We will march together to say “No War Against Iran!” We will march together to say “No War for Empire Anywhere!” Instead of war, we will demand funds so that every person can have a job, free and universal health care, decent schools, and affordable housing. A day of action and outreach in Washington, D.C., will take place on Friday, March 19, preceding the Saturday march. There will be coinciding mass marches on March 20 in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Cindy Sheehan and a coalition of groups has announced a new initiative set to begin in March 2010 called Peace of the Action, ( Click Here for More) an integral part of which will be a camp that will be set up beginning March 13.
This camp will be a staging area for people coming to DC to take part in anti-war activities. Join Peace of the Action, Click Here.Our demand is simple: Troops out of the Middle East, which includes drones, permanent bases, contractors and torture/detention facilities.We will begin Peace of the Action on March 13th when we gather in Washington, DC to erect Camp OUT NOW on the lawn of the Washington Monument, directly across the street from the White House and our actions will begin on March 22nd.
We need individuals who realize that time is running short for us to truly affect change through commitment and dedication to humanity through the end to the U.S. Empire (and its subsidiaries). March 20 is the seventh anniversary of the criminal war of aggression launched by Bush and Cheney against Iraq. One million or more Iraqis have died. Tens of thousands of U.S. troops have lost their lives or been maimed, and continue to suffer a whole host of enduring problems from this terrible war. This is the time for united action. The slogans on banners may differ, but all those who carry them should be marching shoulder to shoulder.
The initiators and endorsers of the March 20 National March on Washington (preceded by the March 19 Day of Action and Outreach in D.C.) include: the ANSWER Coalition; Muslim American Society Freedom; National Council of Arab Americans; Cynthia McKinney; Malik Rahim, co-founder of Common Ground Collective; Ramsey Clark; Cindy Sheehan; Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK; Debra Sweet, Director, World Can’t Wait; Mike Ferner, President, Veterans for Peace; Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition; Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild; Ron Kovic, author of “Born on the 4th of July”; Juan Jose Gutierrez, Director, Latino Movement USA; Col. Ann Wright (ret.); March Forward!; Partnership for Civil Justice; Palestinian American Women Association; MANA – Muslim Alliance in North America; Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines; Alliance for Global Justice; Claudia de la Cruz, Pastor, Iglesia San Romero de Las Americas-UCC; Phil Portluck, Social Justice Ministry, Covenant Baptist Church, D.C.; Blase & Theresa Bonpane, Office of the Americas; Coalition for Peace and Democracy in Honduras; Comite Pro-Democracia en Mexico; Frente Unido de los Pueblos Americanos; Comites de Base FMLN, Los Angeles; Free Palestine Alliance; GABRIELA Network; Justice for Filipino American Veterans; KmB Pro-People Youth; Students Fight Back; Jim Lafferty, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild – LA Chapter; LEF Foundation; National Coalition to Free the Angola 3; Community Futures Collective; Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival; Companeros del Barrio; Barrio Unido for Full and Unconditional Amnesty; Michael Berg; Action Center for Justice – Charlotte, NC; Bay Area United Against War; Casa las Américas; Community Organizing Center, Columbus, Ohio; CT-SAW (Connecticut Students Against the War) ; Delaware Valley Veterans for America; Hawai’i Solidarity Committee; Malcolm X Center for Self-Determination; Texans for Peace; and many more.
End the War(s): U.S. Out of Afghanistan Now, AFP photo
* * * Stop the Assassination Drones:. Call Leon Panetta at (703) 482-0623, CIA headquarters, leave a message: No More Drone Assasination attacks, and don’t attack Quetta. End the War(s) NOW.
Call President Obama ALL WEEK LONG. Let’s keep his White House lines busy: Take Action Now ! ! Call President Obama: To reach the U.S. Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121 or 202-225-3121 Leave a message: “You made the wrong decision. I do not support you on this. I feel betrayed.” Say NO to Escalation in Afghanistan. Sign the petition here. No funds from Congress for the troop escalation. Tell them now.
Today, please tell your member of Congress and U.S. Senators to End the War in Afghanistan, sign this petition. If you live outside the United States, write to your leaders, End the War Now.
A160T UAV Hummingbird US Assassination Drones will be purchased by the U.S. Dept. of Defense in such great numbers as to overtake the military spending verses “Human Pilot” airplanes for the first time in 2010. What’s coming? Many different Unmanned Aircraft, or Drones as they are called, making the assassination machines more palatable to the general public. Here’s a few new deveopments coming out of DARPA, where the U.S. research money is being spent, in killing people, not in saving the planet from Global Warming.
A160T UAV Hummingbird Robot Helicopter with a 1,000 lb. Test Payload
From the Defense Industry Daily: Recent years have seen a variety of unmanned helicopter options introduced into the market. Boeing’s entry lays a breathtaking challenge before the field: what could the military do with a helicopter-like, autonomously-flown UAV with a range of 2,500 nautical miles and endurance of 16-24 hours, carrying a payload of 1,000-2,500 pounds, and doing it all more quietly than conventional helicopters? For that matter, imagine what disaster relief officials could do with something that had all the positive search characteristics of a helicopter, but much longer endurance. Enter the A160 Hummingbird Warrior (YMQ-18), which was snapped up in one of Boeing’s corporate acquisition deals. It uses a very unconventional rotor technology, and Boeing’s Phantom Works division continues to develop it as a revolutionary technology demonstrator and future UAV platform.
Special Forces’ Gigapixel Flying Spy Sees A
ARGUS, Autonomous Real-time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance-imaging system
From Wired.com: You may think your new ten-megapixel camera is pretty hot –- but not when you compare it to the 1.8 Gigapixel beast built for the Pentagon. The camera is designed as a payload for the A-160T Hummingbird robot helicopter now being quietly delivered to Special Forces. It will give them an unprecedented ability to track everything on the ground in real time. The camera is scheduled for flight testing at the start of next year. Developed under the auspices of Darpa, the camera is the sensor part of Autonomous Real-time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance – Imaging System or ARGUS-IS. The camera is composed of four arrays, each containing 92 five-megapixel imagers. The other parts of ARGUS are the airborne processing system, which has to deal with a phenomenal torrent of data, and the ground-based element. The airborne part fits into a 500-pound pod. The Hummingbird is unique in its ability to hover at high altitude (over 15,000 feet) and its endurance of over 20 hours. This means it can park high in the sky and scan a wide area. Robo-chopper camera-maker BAE Systems says that its imager will be able to cover an area of over a hundred square miles. The refresh rate is fifteen frames per second and a “ground sample distance” of 15 centimeters –- this means that each pixel represents six inches on the ground. (The Darpa diagram, above, suggests a smaller area of coverage, 40 square kilometers or 15 square miles, at that resolution.)
* * * “March on Washington on March 20, End the War(s)” was first Posted on January 2, 2010. It is being Re-Posted today because we all must participate on March 20. Read all you can and organize locally if you can’t get to Washington on March 20. Come the week before as there will be events of protest leading up to the day of the march. Please pass this Post link along to your friends.
Show your support on March 20. A day for Peace…..
The time has come for your personal action to End the War(s). The date to show how you feel is March 20, 2010. There will be a March on Washington, led by the ANSWER Coalition. Spread the word. There will be a lot of news on this in the upcoming months. Organize your local town for action on March 20. Show the world WE CARE. Take action now. Personally endorse the March 20 March on Washington, click here.
We marched when Bush was President, now let's march when Obama increases troops. Come March 20 to Washington, DC and demand the End to the War(s)
A.N.S.W.E.R. The anti-war movement responds to President Obama’s speech Statement from the ANSWER Coalition Rhetoric and Reality: Masking War Escalation as a Withdrawal Plan
On Saturday, March 20, 2010, there will be a mass National March & Rally in D.C. We will march together to say “No Colonial-type Wars and Occupations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine!” We will march together to say “No War Against Iran!” We will march together to say “No War for Empire Anywhere!” Instead of war, we will demand funds so that every person can have a job, free and universal health care, decent schools, and affordable housing. A day of action and outreach in Washington, D.C., will take place on Friday, March 19, preceding the Saturday march. There will be coinciding mass marches on March 20 in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Cindy Sheehan and a coalition of groups has announced a new initiative set to begin in March 2010 called Peace of the Action, ( Click Here for More) an integral part of which will be a camp that will be set up beginning March 13.
This camp will be a staging area for people coming to DC to take part in anti-war activities. Join Peace of the Action, Click Here.Our demand is simple: Troops out of the Middle East, which includes drones, permanent bases, contractors and torture/detention facilities.We will begin Peace of the Action on March 13th when we gather in Washington, DC to erect Camp OUT NOW on the lawn of the Washington Monument, directly across the street from the White House and our actions will begin on March 22nd.
We need individuals who realize that time is running short for us to truly affect change through commitment and dedication to humanity through the end to the U.S. Empire (and its subsidiaries). March 20 is the seventh anniversary of the criminal war of aggression launched by Bush and Cheney against Iraq. One million or more Iraqis have died. Tens of thousands of U.S. troops have lost their lives or been maimed, and continue to suffer a whole host of enduring problems from this terrible war. This is the time for united action. The slogans on banners may differ, but all those who carry them should be marching shoulder to shoulder.
The initiators and endorsers of the March 20 National March on Washington (preceded by the March 19 Day of Action and Outreach in D.C.) include: the ANSWER Coalition; Muslim American Society Freedom; National Council of Arab Americans; Cynthia McKinney; Malik Rahim, co-founder of Common Ground Collective; Ramsey Clark; Cindy Sheehan; Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK; Debra Sweet, Director, World Can’t Wait; Mike Ferner, President, Veterans for Peace; Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition; Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild; Ron Kovic, author of “Born on the 4th of July”; Juan Jose Gutierrez, Director, Latino Movement USA; Col. Ann Wright (ret.); March Forward!; Partnership for Civil Justice; Palestinian American Women Association; MANA – Muslim Alliance in North America; Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines; Alliance for Global Justice; Claudia de la Cruz, Pastor, Iglesia San Romero de Las Americas-UCC; Phil Portluck, Social Justice Ministry, Covenant Baptist Church, D.C.; Blase & Theresa Bonpane, Office of the Americas; Coalition for Peace and Democracy in Honduras; Comite Pro-Democracia en Mexico; Frente Unido de los Pueblos Americanos; Comites de Base FMLN, Los Angeles; Free Palestine Alliance; GABRIELA Network; Justice for Filipino American Veterans; KmB Pro-People Youth; Students Fight Back; Jim Lafferty, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild – LA Chapter; LEF Foundation; National Coalition to Free the Angola 3; Community Futures Collective; Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival; Companeros del Barrio; Barrio Unido for Full and Unconditional Amnesty; Michael Berg; Action Center for Justice – Charlotte, NC; Bay Area United Against War; Casa las Américas; Community Organizing Center, Columbus, Ohio; CT-SAW (Connecticut Students Against the War) ; Delaware Valley Veterans for America; Hawai’i Solidarity Committee; Malcolm X Center for Self-Determination; Texans for Peace; and many more.
End the War(s): U.S. Out of Afghanistan Now, AFP photo
* * * Stop the Assassination Drones:. Call Leon Panetta at (703) 482-0623, CIA headquarters, leave a message: No More Drone Assasination attacks, and don’t attack Quetta. End the War(s) NOW.
Call President Obama ALL WEEK LONG. Let’s keep his White House lines busy: Take Action Now ! ! Call President Obama: To reach the U.S. Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121 or 202-225-3121 Leave a message: “You made the wrong decision. I do not support you on this. I feel betrayed.” Say NO to Escalation in Afghanistan. Sign the petition here. No funds from Congress for the troop escalation. Tell them now.
Today, please tell your member of Congress and U.S. Senators to End the War in Afghanistan, sign this petition. If you live outside the United States, write to your leaders, End the War Now.
What are the costs of War to the innocent; to those yet born? In 2004, in Falluja, Iraq, four soldiers were killed and their bodies maimed and hung from a bridge for all to see. The US and its allies then destroyed the whole town of Falluja, with days of bombings and shellings and troops on the ground carrying out search and destroy missions. Five years later, we are seeing what “depleted uranium” from the shells used in Falluja is causing to the new-born. What is it doing to the rest of the population that is breathing the remaining uranium particles on the ground? Here’s what it is doing to a high proportion of the new-born. It is not easy to see. You will not feel good. Don’t turn it off, help End the War(s) and the misery it causes. Sign up below for the March 20 March on Washington to End the War(s). Please do your part.
The children of Falluja Doctors are dealing with an increase in chronic deformities in infants in Falluja, where heavy munitions were used in 2004 Many areas of Iraq and Afghanistan have Depleted Uranium dust covering the ground after being released into the air when the shells exploded, releasing the uranium into the air. How many other areas are like Falluja? If this is not a War Crime (the use of Depleted Uranium), there is no such thilng as a War Crime. Who made the decision to allow Depleted Uranium to be used on shells? Who was in charge at the time? Who gave final approval? When was this approved? These innocent babies are the result of this policy to allow Depleted Uranium to be used in making armaments (howitzer shells and bombs). These are our babies.
Here’s a few related Depleted Uranium studies/stories for your review:
* * * “March on Washington on March 20, End the War(s)” was first Posted on January 2, 2010. It is being Re-Posted today because we all must participate on March 20. Read all you can and organize locally if you can’t get to Washington on March 20. Come the week before as there will be events of protest leading up to the day of the march. Please pass this Post link along to your friends.
Show your support on March 20. A day for Peace…..
The time has come for your personal action to End the War(s). The date to show how you feel is March 20, 2010. There will be a March on Washington, led by the ANSWER Coalition. Spread the word. There will be a lot of news on this in the upcoming months. Organize your local town for action on March 20. Show the world WE CARE. Take action now. Personally endorse the March 20 March on Washington, click here.
We marched when Bush was President, now let's march when Obama increases troops. Come March 20 to Washington, DC and demand the End to the War(s)
A.N.S.W.E.R. The anti-war movement responds to President Obama’s speech Statement from the ANSWER Coalition Rhetoric and Reality: Masking War Escalation as a Withdrawal Plan
On Saturday, March 20, 2010, there will be a mass National March & Rally in D.C. We will march together to say “No Colonial-type Wars and Occupations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine!” We will march together to say “No War Against Iran!” We will march together to say “No War for Empire Anywhere!” Instead of war, we will demand funds so that every person can have a job, free and universal health care, decent schools, and affordable housing. A day of action and outreach in Washington, D.C., will take place on Friday, March 19, preceding the Saturday march. There will be coinciding mass marches on March 20 in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Cindy Sheehan and a coalition of groups has announced a new initiative set to begin in March 2010 called Peace of the Action, ( Click Here for More) an integral part of which will be a camp that will be set up beginning March 13.
This camp will be a staging area for people coming to DC to take part in anti-war activities. Join Peace of the Action, Click Here.Our demand is simple: Troops out of the Middle East, which includes drones, permanent bases, contractors and torture/detention facilities.We will begin Peace of the Action on March 13th when we gather in Washington, DC to erect Camp OUT NOW on the lawn of the Washington Monument, directly across the street from the White House and our actions will begin on March 22nd.
We need individuals who realize that time is running short for us to truly affect change through commitment and dedication to humanity through the end to the U.S. Empire (and its subsidiaries). March 20 is the seventh anniversary of the criminal war of aggression launched by Bush and Cheney against Iraq. One million or more Iraqis have died. Tens of thousands of U.S. troops have lost their lives or been maimed, and continue to suffer a whole host of enduring problems from this terrible war. This is the time for united action. The slogans on banners may differ, but all those who carry them should be marching shoulder to shoulder.
The initiators and endorsers of the March 20 National March on Washington (preceded by the March 19 Day of Action and Outreach in D.C.) include: the ANSWER Coalition; Muslim American Society Freedom; National Council of Arab Americans; Cynthia McKinney; Malik Rahim, co-founder of Common Ground Collective; Ramsey Clark; Cindy Sheehan; Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK; Debra Sweet, Director, World Can’t Wait; Mike Ferner, President, Veterans for Peace; Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition; Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild; Ron Kovic, author of “Born on the 4th of July”; Juan Jose Gutierrez, Director, Latino Movement USA; Col. Ann Wright (ret.); March Forward!; Partnership for Civil Justice; Palestinian American Women Association; MANA – Muslim Alliance in North America; Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines; Alliance for Global Justice; Claudia de la Cruz, Pastor, Iglesia San Romero de Las Americas-UCC; Phil Portluck, Social Justice Ministry, Covenant Baptist Church, D.C.; Blase & Theresa Bonpane, Office of the Americas; Coalition for Peace and Democracy in Honduras; Comite Pro-Democracia en Mexico; Frente Unido de los Pueblos Americanos; Comites de Base FMLN, Los Angeles; Free Palestine Alliance; GABRIELA Network; Justice for Filipino American Veterans; KmB Pro-People Youth; Students Fight Back; Jim Lafferty, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild – LA Chapter; LEF Foundation; National Coalition to Free the Angola 3; Community Futures Collective; Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival; Companeros del Barrio; Barrio Unido for Full and Unconditional Amnesty; Michael Berg; Action Center for Justice – Charlotte, NC; Bay Area United Against War; Casa las Américas; Community Organizing Center, Columbus, Ohio; CT-SAW (Connecticut Students Against the War) ; Delaware Valley Veterans for America; Hawai’i Solidarity Committee; Malcolm X Center for Self-Determination; Texans for Peace; and many more.
End the War(s): U.S. Out of Afghanistan Now, AFP photo
* * * Stop the Assassination Drones:. Call Leon Panetta at (703) 482-0623, CIA headquarters, leave a message: No More Drone Assasination attacks, and don’t attack Quetta. End the War(s) NOW.
Call President Obama ALL WEEK LONG. Let’s keep his White House lines busy: Take Action Now ! ! Call President Obama: To reach the U.S. Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121 or 202-225-3121 Leave a message: “You made the wrong decision. I do not support you on this. I feel betrayed.” Say NO to Escalation in Afghanistan. Sign the petition here. No funds from Congress for the troop escalation. Tell them now.
Today, please tell your member of Congress and U.S. Senators to End the War in Afghanistan, sign this petition. If you live outside the United States, write to your leaders, End the War Now.
Out of Central Asia Now 