Posts filed under 'The War'
Why did we give that piece of SHIT a Nobel PEACE Prize?
I hate Obama and his lack of change. Obama promised to end the war and not raise taxes. Now, he is going to send AT LEAST 34k more troops and now we are talking about a War Tax!!!! WTF!?!?!?! Wake up and burn your flags folks, your government has sold your country to banks and corporations while you were sleeping! He is a piece shit, just like Bush. It’s time to retract that Nobel Peace Prize. What a joke!
And yes, I know John Murtha is only proposing this so we take a harder look at the war situation – which is smart. I just can’t believe we are even considering more troops under the promise of change and how FUCKING broke we are.
(Nov. 24) — With President Barack Obama expected to announce his plan for Afghanistan on Dec. 1, the debate about how to pay for the war is heating up. The U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, wants 40,000 more troops. Obama’s plan would send 34,000 during the next year, U.S. officials told McClatchy Newspapers. House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey opposes any increase in the 68,000-member U.S. force in Afghanistan. But now that a surge appears inevitable, he and some other top
Democrats are demanding a new tax to cover the expense of the war. Various estimates put the annual cost at $500,000 to $1 million per soldier. “If we don’t pay for it, the cost of the Afghan war will wipe out every initiative we have to rebuild our own economy,” the Wisconsin Democrat told ABC News. Obey, who came into office in 1969, said that’s what happened during the Vietnam War. If the war is to be fought, “it’s only fair that everyone share the burden,” said a joint statement from Obey, House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson and Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Murtha.
Their proposal would impose a 1 percent levy on middle-class taxpayers. Those earning more would be taxed at a higher rate, depending on how much is needed for the war. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin has also talked about a war tax, but only for the wealthy.
FULL READ HERE: http://www.sphere.com/2009/11/24/the-point-democrats-call-for-war-tax/
MORE HERE: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091124/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_us_afghanistan
Add comment November 24, 2009
BlackWater Approved $1 million payoffs after killing 17 Iraqi Civilians
Add comment November 11, 2009
Guantanamo Bay not likely to close in January
U.S. officials have announced that Guantanamo Bay will probably not be closing in January as scheduled. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says that the closing is a little more complicated than they had initially thought. President Obama made the closing of the highly controversial facility a priority and actually signed an order to set a deadline for the closing during his first week in office. But as January approaches, there are some major problems in the plans, including where exactly these prisoners are going to go.
Add comment September 28, 2009
Champions – The New World Order by Matt Atom
Add comment September 20, 2009
Blackwater has longstanding ties to CIA
(CNN) — The private military contractor formerly known as Blackwater has held classified contracts with the Central Intelligence Agency for nearly a decade, but an allegation that the contractor was part of a secret CIA program to kill al Qaeda operatives — if true — would take the relationship to a whole new level.
The CIA hired the private security firm Blackwater USA in 2004 to work on a covert program aimed at targeting and potentially killing top al Qaeda leaders, a source familiar with the program told CNN.
Former company executives deny knowing about the program. Current leaders of the company did not return calls to CNN. The CIA won’t comment on classified contracts.
The classified program, canceled by CIA director Leon Panetta earlier this year, was part of a broader effort inside the CIA to develop the capacity to conduct training, surveillance and possible covert operations overseas, according to the source. The program was outsourced to contractors to “put some distance” between the effort and the U.S. government.
Other contractors were brought in for other parts of the program, another source said, and Blackwater’s involvement ended by mid-2006.
But one thing is clear: The company that renamed itself Xe earlier this year in an effort to escape controversy surrounding a 2007 shooting in Baghdad that left 17 Iraqis dead has had a long relationship with the world’s most famous spy agenc
When Erik Prince first opened his Blackwater training facility in the late ’90s, his clients included special forces teams and law enforcement agencies from around the country. Prince had expressed frustration with the training facilities he visited during his time as a Navy SEAL, and a sizable inheritance allowed him the financial freedom to retire from the military and try his hand at creating a better facility.
His first clients were indeed SEAL teams. But they also included teams from other government agencies, including the CIA. Case officers and protection details, the people generally accustomed to working in the shadows, began showing up for training on the shooting range or the driving track in a rural part of North Carolina.
When then-CIA Executive Director Alvin “Buzzy” Krongard, whose own son was a Navy SEAL, visited the facility, former Blackwater President Gary Jackson suggested he meet with Prince, who worked out of an office in the Washington area. The two had lunch and Krongard immediately took a liking to the man who would later lead the world’s most notorious private contracting company.
At the time, contacts like these were essential to building the business, so when terror struck the heart of America in September 2001, Prince called up his new friend Krongard and offered to help. Sources inside the agency at the time say that Krongard in fact, was pushing hard for Blackwater to be given the first urgent and compelling, no-bid contract to protect CIA facilities in Afghanistan. The military, it seems, wasn’t up to the task of staffing such an effort.
Once awarded the initial contract, Prince maintained a close relationship with Krongard, and made trips to Afghanistan to make sure things were going smoothly.
The idea that the agency came to Blackwater for help on any other contracts, including one with the overall goal of locating and assassinating al Qaeda operatives, wouldn’t come as a huge surprise, particularly since so much of the intelligence budget is spent on private contractors.
But with investigations under way into just what was done and by whom at the CIA under the Bush administration, people are remaining tight-lipped. Especially under the threat of possible prosecution, should it go that far.
FULL READ HERE:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/20/blackwater.cia.ties/index.html
Add comment August 25, 2009
FORMER EMPLOYEES OF BLACKWATER MAKE NEW ALLEGATIONS AGAINST OPERATIONS IN IRAQ.
Add comment August 14, 2009
Bill Maher interviews Michael Scheuer
Former director of CIA’s Bin Laden Unit interviewed on Real Time with Bill Maher (09-21-2007). Includes a bonus shout out to Ron Paul, a smackdown to US policies in the Middle East, and a heated discussion on Israel. A little something for everyone.
Add comment July 2, 2009
Our Governing Elite Does Not Care About The Future Of America! – Michael Scheuer
Man, Glenn Back is such a dumbass. However, at least he admits that he is gullible and has a hard time seeing the truth.
Add comment July 2, 2009
More Jeremy Scahill
As the Iraq government expels Blackwater over the killing of 11 Iraqi civilians, Jeremy Scahill, author of “Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army,” debates Mercenary shill Doug Brooks, president of International Peace Operations Association, a trade group for the private security industry.Tuesday, September 18th, 2007. Can Iraq (or Anyone) Hold Blackwater Accountable for Killing Iraqi Civilians? A Debate on the Role of Private Contractors in Iraq.
Jeremy Scahill appears on CNN International 9/17/07 to tell the real story about the Blackwater military contractors in Iraq.
Add comment June 13, 2009
Jeremy Scahill Testifies on Defense Contracting, 5.10.07
There are over 120,000 private contractors currently deployed in Iraq and yesterday, a House panel put some of the harshest criticisms of this privatization of war into the congressional record for the first time. The House Appropriations subcommittee on defense held a hearing on Thursday about defense contracting. Testifying before the panel was journalist Jeremy Scahill and filmmaker Robert Greenwald.
Jeremy is a Democracy Now! correspondent and an investigative reporter for The Nation magazine. He is author of the book “Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army.” In his opening remarks, he spoke about the lack of oversight of the tens of thousands of contractors deployed in Iraq.
Add comment June 13, 2009
Obamas Blackwater? Jeremy Scahill on Triple Canopy, the New Lead US Mercenary Force 4/2/09
Obamas Blackwater?
On the campaign trail, Barack Obama’s advisers said he “can’t rule out [and] won’t rule out” using mercenary forces, like Blackwater. Now, it appears that the Obama administration has decided on its hired guns of choice: Triple Canopy, a Chicago company now based in Virginia. It may not have Blackwater’s thuggish reputation, but Triple Canopy has its own bloody history in Iraq and a record of hiring mercenaries from countries with atrocious human rights records. What’s more, Obama is not just using the company in Iraq, but also as a U.S.-government funded private security force in Israel/Palestine, operating out of Jerusalem.
Beginning May 7th, Triple Canopy will officially take over Xe/Blackwater’s mega-contract with the U.S. State Department for guarding occupation officials in Iraq. It’s sure to be a lucrative deal: Obama’s Iraq plan will inevitably rely on an increased use of private contractors, including an army of mercenaries to protect his surge of diplomats operating out of the monstrous U.S. embassy in Baghdad.
The Iraq contract may come as no surprise. But according to federal contract records obtained by AlterNet, the Obama administration has also paid Triple Canopy millions of dollars to provide “security services” in Israel. In February and March, the Obama administration awarded a “delivery order” to Triple Canopy worth $5.5 million under State Department contract SAQMPD05F5528, which is labeled “PROTECTIVE SERVICES–ISRAEL.” According to one government document, the contract is scheduled to run until September 2012. (Another document says September 2009.) The contract is classified as “SECURITY GUARDS AND PATROL SERVICES” in Israel. The total value of the contract was listed at $41,556,969.72. According to a January 2009 State Department document obtained by AlterNet labeled “Sensitive But Unclassified,” the Triple Canopy contract is based out of Jerusalem.
According to federal records, the original arrangement with Triple Canopy in Israel appears to date back to at least September 2005 and has been renewed every year since. The company is operating under the State Department’s Worldwide Personal Protection Program (WPPS), which provides for private security/military companies to operate on the U.S. government payroll in countries such as Afghanistan, Bosnia, Iraq, and Israel. Triple Canopy, according to an internal State Department report, also worked under the program in Haiti, though that task order is now listed as “closed.” In State Department documents the WPPS program is described as a government initiative to protect U.S. officials as well as “certain foreign government high level officials whenever the need arises.” The State Department spent some $2 billion on the WPPS program from 2005-2008.
Triple Canopy’s Growing Footprint in Iraq
Triple Canopy is hardly new to the Iraq occupation. Founded in Chicago in 2003 by “U.S. Army Special Forces veterans,” the company won its first Iraq contract in 2004. In 2005, with its business expanding, Triple Canopy relocated its corporate headquarters from Obama’s home state to Herndon, Virginia, placing it much closer to the center of U.S. war contracting. (On several U.S. government contracts, however, including the Israel security contracts, its Lincolnshire, Illinois address is still used.)
Along with Blackwater and DynCorp, Triple Canopy has had armed operatives deployed in Iraq on a major U.S. government contract since the early stages of the occupation. At one point during this arrangement, Blackwater was responsible for Baghdad (the largest share of the work), DynCorp covered northern Iraq and Triple Canopy southern Iraq. Triple Canopy also worked for KBR and other corporations. As of 2007, Triple Canopy had about 2,000 operatives in Iraq, but only 257 on the State Department contract. However, its new contract, which takes effect May 7, will greatly expand Triple Canopy’s government presence in Iraq. (Meanwhile, Blackwater is scheduled to continue to work in Iraq under Obama through its aviation division and in Afghanistan, where it has security and counter-narcotics contracts. It also holds millions of dollars in other U.S. government contracts around the world and in the U.S. In February alone, the Obama administration paid Blackwater nearly $70 million in security contracts.) The Obama administration may have traded Blackwater for Triple Canopy in Iraq, but it is likely that some of Blackwater’s operatives, too, will simply jump over to Triple Canopy to keep working as armed security guards for occupation officials.
Add comment June 12, 2009
Ron Paul: No End To Secret Prisons!? Ignoring Habeas Corpus!? No Penalty For Torture!?
Add comment June 4, 2009
Senator Lindsey Graham grilling them!
What Happens If We Don’t Win In Afghanistan?
Add comment June 3, 2009
U.S. Soldier Kills 5 Fellow Soldiers In Iraq At Stress Clinic
War, it’s a beautiful thing huh Obama?
Iraq Violence Up As Target Date Nears for Troop Pullout From Cities
Monday, May 11, 2009
By Patrick Goodenough, International Editor(CNSNews.com) – Six weeks before the target date for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraqi cities – and amid a recent spike in violence — it remains unclear how many troops will stay on, but Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Sunday that a “responsible” redeployment would not affect security.
In a statement after meeting with U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Baghdad, Maliki said the Iraqi government would not need large numbers of U.S. troops inside cities “after we get control of them.”
A status of forces agreement drawn up late last year provides for U.S. troops to redeploy out of urban areas by the end of June; for all combat operations to end by the end of August 2010; and for all troops to withdraw from the country by the end of 2011. There are currently 134,000 American troops in Iraq.
Pelosi’s office said in a statement that Maliki and Iraqi parliamentary speaker Ayad al-Samarai had confirmed their commitment to implementing the terms of the agreement.
U.S. Army General Ray Odierno, the senior commander in Iraq, said Friday that troops had essentially pulled out of the cities already, except for Mosul – where major security operations were still underway – and Baghdad.
He told a Pentagon briefing that U.S. advisory and transition teams would continue to be embedded with Iraqi forces after the end of June but that exact numbers would be determined by local operational commanders. He estimated that about 20 percent of the forces currently in the cities would likely stay on.
FULL READ HERE:
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=47919
Add comment May 11, 2009
Your Afghan war is working BO!
When will we learn? When we will see CHANGE? Just bring em home Obama (like you said you would). The longer you are over doing shit like this, the bigger the enemy you create my man.
Or is that what you want? An excuse to INVADE other countries for big contracts and oil?
Doesn’t look like the additional 21,000 troops is working out too well dumbass! Just like his predecessor.
Afghans riot over air-strike atrocity
Witnesses say deaths of 147 people in three villages came after a sustained bombardment by American aircraft. Patrick Cockburn, in Herat, reports
Shouting “Death to America” and “Death to the Government”, thousands of Afghan villagers hurled stones at police yesterday as they vented their fury at American air strikes that local officials claim killed 147 civilians.
The riot started when people from three villages struck by US bombers in the early hours of Tuesday, brought 15 newly-discovered bodies in a truck to the house of the provincial governor. As the crowd pressed forward in Farah, police opened fire, wounding four protesters. Traders in the rest of Farah city, the capital of the province of the same name where the bombing took place, closed their shops, vowing they would not reopen them until there is an investigation.
A local official Abdul Basir Khan said yesterday that he had collected the names of 147 people who had died, making it the worst such incident since the US intervened in Afghanistan started in 2001. A phone call from the governor of Farah province, Rohul Amin, in which he said that 130 people had died, was played over the loudspeaker in the Afghan parliament in Kabul, sparking demands for more control over US operations.
FULL READ HERE:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/afghans-riot-over-airstrike-atrocity-1681070.html
Add comment May 8, 2009
US forces leave Iraq polluted
The initial reason to invade Iraq was the alleged presence of weapons of mass destruction. Now the US has pledged to withdraw troops, who are accused of using controversial weapons themselves, and no clean-up is planned.
Add comment April 15, 2009
Here we go again!
I think I remember how this goes from BO’s boy, Bush, back in 2002-2003. Doesn’t it start with rethoric like this and then we eventually just invade the country because they don’t want to listen to “international” law because it’s their own damn country!
Add comment April 5, 2009
Will he keep is word on this one?
Obama sets August 2010 date for end of Iraq combat
by Laurent Lozano Laurent Lozano – 1 hr 25 mins ago
CAMP LEJEUNE, North Carolina (AFP) – Six years after the US invasion of Iraq, President Barack Obama Friday announced he will pull out most troops and end combat operations by the end of August 2010.
The announcement, at a military base in North Carolina, opened a final chapter in the US entanglement in Iraq, and reconciled Obama’s pledge to end a war which has killed more than 4,250 troops and tens of thousands of Iraqis.
“Let me say this as plainly as I can: by August 31, 2010 our combat mission in Iraq will end,” Obama said, laying out a new war strategy at a Marines base in North Carolina.
“I intend to remove all US troops from Iraq by the end of 2011,” Obama said, adding the post-2010 interim force would number between 35,000 and 50,000 troops.
The president, an early opponent of the Iraq war, briefed Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and former US president George W. Bush on the new plan by telephone, shortly before making his speech, the White House said.
Obama vowed the end of the unpopular war would mean a new era of US diplomacy in the Middle East, which he said will include “principled and sustained engagement” with Iran and Syria.
The president also formally announced the appointment of veteran diplomatic troubleshooter Christopher Hill, most recently in charge of talks on North Korea’s nuclear program, as the new ambassador to Iraq.
Several Democratic leaders however expressed concern at the plan, because of the size of the interim force.
But some top Republicans, including defeated presidential candidate Senator John McCain welcomed the move.
The timeline Obama laid out Friday at Camp Lejeune will unfurl at a slightly slower pace than his promise to get all US combat troops out of Iraq within 16 months.
Significant numbers of US soldiers will remain in Iraq through 2009, and the timeline appears to provide for troop withdrawals to take place more quickly next year than from the outset of the plan this year.
The interim force will take on a new mission of training, equipping and advising Iraqi security forces, to protect US civilian personnel in Iraq, and to conduct targeted counter-terrorism operations on its own and in conjunction with the Iraqi forces, Obama said.
Officials privately would not definitively rule out changes to the status of forces agreement, that would entail US troops remaining beyond 2011, saying only that it was their intent to fulfill their commitments under a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) agreed by the previous Bush administration.
A senior US official said US military commander in Iraq, General Ray Odierno, believed it was “very important to have adequate forces to get through a number of key events in 2009,” especially mid-year regional elections and national elections scheduled for December.
The withdrawal will begin “relatively quickly”, the first official said, but the pace “will be left in the hands of the commanders in Iraq,” the second official added.
Obama is clear that the military accord with Iraq does not envision military bases like the United States has in South Korea, the first official said.
“We believe that this is the plan that will advance our interests in Iraq, in the region, (and) will ensure that we can responsibly bring our troops home and increase our flexibility as it relates to other challenges,” the official said.
The officials made it clear that fewer troops in Iraq would mean more troops to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan, which Obama has said is his priority.
Obama held a private White House meeting late Thursday with congressional leaders including McCain.
“I believe the president?s withdrawal plan is a reasonable one,” said McCain, noting Obama had shown a willingness to “revisit” the timetable depending on events on the ground in Iraq.
“I am cautiously optimistic that the plan as laid out by the president can lead to success.”
However, some prominent Democrats, including House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have criticized the plan for a “residual force” of soldiers.
“I don’t know what the justification is for … the 50,000 troops in Iraq,” Pelosi told MSNBC. “I would think a third of that, maybe … 15,000 or 20,000,” would be sufficient, she said.
FROM HERE:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090227/pl_nm/us_obama_iraq_12
Add comment February 27, 2009
My Hero
The Iraqi journalist who tossed his shoes at President Bush testified Thursday that he was trying to restore his country’s pride and did not intend to harm the American president, the Associated Press reports.
It was Muntadhar al-Zeidi’s first public appearance since the Dec. 14 incident, which turned him into something of a cult hero in Iraq and parts of the Arab world.
“What made me do it was the humiliation Iraq has been subjected to due to the U.S. occupation and the murder of innocent people,” he told the court. “I wanted to restore the pride of the Iraqis in any way possible, apart from using weapons.”
The 30-year-old journalist said he was frustrated by Bush speaking at a Baghdad news conference about his victories and achievements.
“I was seeing a whole country in calamity while Bush was giving a cold and spiritless smile,” he told the three-judge panel. “He was saying goodbye after causing the death of many Iraqis and economic destruction.”
Al-Zeidi has been charged with assaulting a foreign leader and could face up to 15 years in prison, the AP says.
FROM USA TODAY:
http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2009/02/shoe-throwers-s.html
Add comment February 19, 2009
The Cat, the Rat and the Dog
This is a video of a homeless man in Santa Barbara and his pets. They work State Street every week for donations. The animals are pretty well fed and are mellow. They are a family. The man who owns them rigged up a harness for his cat so she wouldn’t have to walk so much (like the dog and himself). At some juncture the rat came along, and as no one wanted to eat anyone else, the rat started riding with the cat and, often, on the cat! The dog, will stand all day and let you talk to him and admire him for a few chin scratches.
Add comment February 13, 2009
