Infinite Unknown

Bush and Blair knew that the war was illegal and that Iraq did not have any WMD’s!

- Tony Blair Was Warned By All 27 Senior Government Lawyers That Iraq War Was Illegal

- Dutch Inquiry: Iraq War Was Illegal, Had ‘No Basis In International Law’

- US and UK knew that Iraq Didn’t Have WMDs

- Tony Blair ‘knew Iraq did not have WMD before war started’

In case you want to know one reason why the ‘real terrorists’ invaded Afghanistan, then read this:

- Former UK ambassador: CIA sent people to Uzbekistan for extreme torture, to be ‘raped with broken bottles,’ ‘boiled alive’ and ‘having their children tortured in front of them’

Almost the entire US government is bought and paid for.

Here is a short video of a speech given by a military soldier explaining the simple truth as to why we are actually in Iraq.

Why are we at war?

War is profitable, that’s way.

It matters not how many die, as long as the warmongers make a profit on it.

Inquiring minds are noting increasing resentment against US militarism in places some might least expect. Please consider Thousands protest in Tokyo against U.S. military presence in Japan

Thousands of protesters from across Japan marched today in Tokyo to protest against U.S. military presence on Okinawa, while a Cabinet minister said she would fight to get rid of a marine base Washington considers crucial.

Some 47,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Japan, with more than half on the southern island of Okinawa. Residents have complained for years about noise, pollution and crime around the bases.

Japan and the U.S. signed a pact in 2006 that called for the realignment of American troops in the country and for a Marine base on the island to be moved to a less populated area.

But the new Tokyo government is re-examining the deal, caught between public opposition to American troops and its crucial military alliance with Washington.

On Saturday, labor unionists, pacifists, environmentalists and students marched through central Tokyo, yelling slogans and calling for an end to the U.S. troop presence.

They gathered for a rally at a park - under a banner that read ‘Change! Japan-U.S. Relations’ - for speeches by civil leaders and politicians. Continue reading »

Tags: Bush administration, Corporations, Global News, Government, Iraq, Military, military-industrial complex, Obama administration, Politics, Society, Terrorism, U.S., War

The US is totally broke and the only asset left is the military.

Change you can believe in!

Suicide bombers inside the United States. Nuclear-armed nations collapsing and losing control of nuclear weapons. Bloody new conflicts like Iraq and Afghanistan. American troops under attack at bases around the world. Terrorist attacks using unknown new diseases. Chinese missile attacks on Taiwan.

The Obama administration has unveiled a scary new view of the global security landscape and a new strategy intended to protect Americans and U.S. allies. It is a sharp change from previous Pentagon strategic assessments in that it focuses on the wars Americans are currently fighting, rather than on future conflicts in which the United States might be involved.

And that future, in the Pentagon’s view, is quite grim.

The new assessment — reflecting “a bracing dose of realism,” said Defense Secretary Robert Gates — promises no respite from today’s conflict-wracked world, and no backing away from the billions of dollars for new hardware and new capabilities that the administration says it will take to stay safe. On Gates’ short list: new long-range attack aircraft, armed air and ground robots, attack submarines, more special forces commandos, two new Army combat brigades, a new military task force to snatch up loose nuclear weapons, and updated battle concepts for coordinated air and sea attacks into the territory of adversaries equipped with high-tech defenses

This is the heart of two new documents released Monday by Gates, the former CIA director who was chosen to head the Pentagon by President George W. Bush in late 2006 and held in office by President Obama. One paper is the awkwardly named Quadrennial Defense Review, or QDR in Pentagon-speak, a study mandated every four years by Congress to assess security threats and defense capabilities. The other, also released Monday was the Pentagon’s 2011 defense budget proposal ($708.2 billion, a 1.8 percent real increase over current spending) and a request for $3 billion to help pay for combat operations in Afghanistan this year.

Neither should be a surprise. As a presidential candidate 18 months ago, Obama accepted an anti-war mantle because of his announced determination to end to the war in Iraq and bring the troops home. But Candidate Obama also spoke of Afghanistan as a righteous war that must be won. As president, Obama, having grappled for months with the nasty reality of war in Afghanistan, acknowledged in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in December that in a brutal world, armed force is essential.

“We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth: We will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes,” Obama said. “There will be times when nations — acting individually or in concert — will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified.” Continue reading »

Tags: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, China, Iran, Iraq, Military, Obama administration, Pentagon, Politics, Robert Gates, Terrorism, U.S., War

See also:

- Dutch Inquiry: Iraq War Was Illegal, Had ‘No Basis In International Law’

- US and UK knew that Iraq Didn’t Have WMDs

- Tony Blair ‘knew Iraq did not have WMD before war started’

Sir Michael Wood, the Foreign Office’s chief legal adviser at the time of the 2003 invasion

TONY Blair was warned two months before the invasion of Iraq that it would be illegal to go to war without UN backing, it was revealed yesterday.

Senior Government lawyers told the Iraq inquiry that they advised the action had “no legal basis in international law”.

Last night it was reported every one of the 27 lawyers in the department advised the war was illegal.

Yesterday Sir Michael Wood, who was the Foreign Office’s chief legal adviser, told the hearing he warned the then Foreign Secretary Jack Straw an invasion would “amount to the crime of aggression”.

Sir Michael said he considered resigning in protest at the decision to join the US-led attack. He described how he was sidelined after he made clear his objections to military action.

His deputy, Elizabeth Wilmshurst, quit in protest on the eve of the invasion in March 2003.

In her first public account of the circumstances leading to her resignation she described the Government’s treatment of the legal advice as “lamentable”.

The explosive revelations intensified pressure on the former Prime Minister, who will face the Chilcot inquiry on Friday. Continue reading »

Tags: Global News, Government, International Law, Iraq, Law, Military, Politics, Tony Blair, U.N., War

See also:

- Rep. Ron Paul: State of the Republic Address - ‘Dangerous Times Indeed.’

- Rep. Ron Paul: ‘The CIA Runs Everything. We Need To Take Out The CIA.’

- America’s Impending Master Class Dictatorship! (MUST-READ!)

Date: 23rd Jan 10
Continue reading »

Tags: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Bush administration, George Bush, Global News, Iraq, Middle East, Military, Obama administration, Politics, Terrorism, Terrorists, U.S., War

Pentagon Supplier for Rifle Sights Says It Has ‘Always’ Added New Testament References

At the end of the serial number on Trijicon’s ACOG gun sight, you can read “JN8:12″, a reference to the New Testament book of John, Chapter 8, Verse 12, which reads: “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” The ACOG is widely used by the U.S. military. (ABC News)

(ABC NEWS) — Coded references to New Testament Bible passages about Jesus Christ are inscribed on high-powered rifle sights provided to the United States military by a Michigan company, an ABC News investigation has found.

The sights are used by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the training of Iraqi and Afghan soldiers. The maker of the sights, Trijicon, has a $660 million multi-year contract to provide up to 800,000 sights to the Marine Corps, and additional contracts to provide sights to the U.S. Army.

U.S. military rules specifically prohibit the proselytizing of any religion in Iraq or Afghanistan and were drawn up in order to prevent criticism that the U.S. was embarked on a religious “Crusade” in its war against al Qaeda and Iraqi insurgents.

One of the citations on the gun sights, 2COR4:6, is an apparent reference to Second Corinthians 4:6 of the New Testament, which reads: “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

Other references include citations from the books of Revelation, Matthew and John dealing with Jesus as “the light of the world.” John 8:12, referred to on the gun sights as JN8:12, reads, “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Trijicon confirmed to ABCNews.com that it adds the biblical codes to the sights sold to the U.S. military. Tom Munson, director of sales and marketing for Trijicon, which is based in Wixom, Michigan, said the inscriptions “have always been there” and said there was nothing wrong or illegal with adding them. Munson said the issue was being raised by a group that is “not Christian.” The company has said the practice began under its founder, Glyn Bindon, a devout Christian from South Africa who was killed in a 2003 plane crash.

‘It violates the Constitution’

The company’s vision is described on its Web site: “Guided by our values, we endeavor to have our products used wherever precision aiming solutions are required to protect individual freedom.”

“We believe that America is great when its people are good,” says the Web site. “This goodness has been based on Biblical standards throughout our history, and we will strive to follow those morals.”

Spokespeople for the U.S. Army and the Marine Corps both said their services were unaware of the biblical markings. They said officials were discussing what steps, if any, to take in the wake of the ABCNews.com report. It is not known how many Trijicon sights are currently in use by the U.S. military.

The biblical references appear in the same type font and size as the model numbers on the company’s Advanced Combat Optical Guides, called the ACOG.

A photo on a Department of Defense Web site shows Iraqi soldiers being trained by U.S. troops with a rifle equipped with the bible-coded sights.

“It’s wrong, it violates the Constitution, it violates a number of federal laws,” said Michael “Mikey” Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an advocacy group that seeks to preserve the separation of church and state in the military. Continue reading »

Tags: Afghanistan, Bible, Constitution, Iraq, Jesus, Law, Military, New Testament, Pentagon, Religion, Trijicon, U.S., War, Weapons

“This is the authoritative view of seven commissioners including the former president of the Dutch supreme court, a former judge of the European court of justice, and two legal academics.”

See also:

- US and UK knew that Iraq Didn’t Have WMDs

- Tony Blair ‘knew Iraq did not have WMD before war started’

Inquiry says conflict had no sound mandate in international law as it emerges UK denied key letter to seven-judge tribunal

US Marines on the city limits of Kut, 100 miles south of Baghdad in April 2003 AP

The war in Iraq had “no basis in international law”, a Dutch inquiry found today, in the first ever independent legal assessment of the decision to invade.

In a series of damning findings, a seven-member panel in the Netherlands concluded that the war, which was supported by the Dutch government following intelligence from Britain and the US, had not been justified in law.

“The Dutch government lent its political support to a war whose purpose was not consistent with Dutch government policy,” the inquiry in the Hague concluded. “The military action had no sound mandate in international law.”

In a further twist, it emerged that the UK government refused to disclose a key document requested by the Dutch panel.

The document - allegedly a letter from Tony Blair asking for the support of the Dutch prime minister, Jan Peter Balkenende - was handed over in a breach of diplomatic protocol and on the basis that it was for Balkenende’s eyes only, an inquiry official told the Guardian.

“It was a surprise for our committee when we discovered information about this letter,” said Rob Sebes, a spokesman for the Dutch inquiry. “It was not sent with a normal procedure between countries - instead it was a personal message from Tony Blair to our prime minister Jan Peter Balkanende, and had to be returned and not stored in our archives.

“We asked the British government to hand over the letter but they refused,” Sebes said.

Details of the Dutch inquiry’s findings and the refusal of the British government to disclose the letter are likely to increase international scrutiny on the Chilcot inquiry, as it emerged that the UK was instrumental in influencing the Dutch decision to back the war.

“In its depiction of Iraq’s [weapons of mass destruction] programme, the [Dutch] government was to a considerable extent led by public and other information from the US and the UK,” the Dutch report says.

“This report is an objective finding - it was not political, we searched for the truth,” said Sebes. “We think that over 10 months the seven members of committee made a real effort to make a finding of high quality.”

Philippe Sands QC, a professor of international law, who gave evidence to the Dutch inquiry, said: “There has been no other independent assessment on the legality of the war in Iraq and the findings of this inquiry are unambiguous. It concludes that the case argued by the Dutch and British governments, including the then attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, could not reasonably be argued.

“This is the authoritative view of seven commissioners including the former president of the Dutch supreme court, a former judge of the European court of justice, and two legal academics.”

Continue reading »

Tags: Global News, Government, Holland, International Law, Iraq, Law, Military, Politics, Tony Blair, U.K., U.S., War

Philip M. Giraldi, Ph.D. is the Francis Walsingham Fellow at The American Conservative Defense Alliance (www.ACDAlliance.org) and a former CIA counter-terrorism specialist and military intelligence officer.

Philip Giraldi was the foreign policy advisor to Ron Paul during his last presidential run.

Philip M. Giraldi

Imagine if you will a country dominated by heavily armed tribesmen who are fiercely independent, frequently engaged in activities that most observers would regard as criminal, deeply conservative in religion and culture but further divided along sectarian lines, and ruled over by a highly corrupt government that is fighting both a civil war and an insurgency. Throw into the hopper extremely rugged trackless terrain, porous borders, and security forces incapable of exercising jurisdiction outside of the capital city and it is a virtual witches’ brew. Many would immediately think of Afghanistan, where all of the above applies but the description equally fits Yemen, which also enjoys crushing poverty and high unemployment coupled with declining oil revenues and water supplies that can no longer sustain the population. Intelligence officers who are familiar with Yemen agree that coming to grips with the country’s tribesmen in an attempt to root out al-Qaeda will make Afghanistan look like a walk in the park.

Yemen might well become the next American quagmire if the plans of the Obama Administration in its global war on terrorism that is now referred to as “overseas contingency operations” are implemented. As is frequently the case in the imperial capital city Washington, the Obamas see another Yemen. It is an opportunity for nation building, to strengthen institutions and the economy and support an ostensibly friendly government to suppress terrorism. But it doesn’t take much to see what’s wrong with that approach. The Yemenis themselves are fearful of the consequences of too tight an embrace by Washington and are already trying to distance themselves. They see gangsterism and tribalism as their greatest internal security threats, not terrorism, and the best estimates for the number of al-Qaeda adherents in the country number in the low hundreds. And many of those are believed to be the grapes of wrath fruit of Guantanamo Bay, where the United States successfully confined Yemenis who were completely innocent, radicalizing them and turning them into terrorism proselytizers upon their return home.

Let’s face it, there is no such thing as complete security. Whatever security arrangements are made for air travel it will still be possible for someone to circumvent the system either through guile or luck. The Obama Administration’s response to a single thwarted terrorist incident involving an airline in which a small number of Yemenis were involved has proven that American presidents appear to need war, and an identifiable enemy to rally against, more than they need a foreign and security policy that is both proportionate and answerable to the national interest. Yemen is no more a threat to the United States than was Iraq even if its wild deserts do harbor a small number of terrorists. If one accepts at face value the claim of al-Qaeda in Yemen that the attempted airline bombing was in response to several American drone strikes, most particularly a devastating attack on December 17 that killed twenty-three, largely civilians, then it is clear that Congressman Ron Paul’s analysis that “they’re over here because we’re over there” is accurate.

The correct response to the Nigerian underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is to fix the information sharing problems and modify existing screening procedures in light of the new developments. That would be the sane thing to do, but apparently it is not good enough for the White House. Instead, President Obama has designated a new front for a military confrontation with the terrorist menace, and that will be Yemen. There are reports that special ops soldiers are already in country with plans to introduce still more US soldiers and double the military assistance to Sana’a. By my tally, the US is now actively fighting terrorists in a number of lands to include Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, the Philippines, and Yemen. That makes a minimum of six separate and distinct overseas wars all being engaged in without an act of war from Congress and directed against enemies that do not actually directly threaten the United States.

Continue reading »

Tags: Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda, Al-Qaida, Barack Obama, Cuba, Drones, Government, Guantánamo, Iraq, Military, Obama administration, Pakistan, Philip Giraldi, Philippines, Politics, Ron Paul, Somalia, Terrorism, Terrorists, U.S., War, White House, Yemen

Justice you can believe in!

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Blackwater Worldwide security guard Nick Slatten (C) leaves the federal courthouse after being arraigned with 4 fellow Blackwater guards on manslaughter charges for allegedly killing 14 unarmed civilians and wounding 20 others in a 2007 shooting in Baghdad.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq expressed its disappointment on Friday with a U.S. federal court ruling that threw out all charges against five Blackwater Worldwide security guards accused of gunning down Iraqi civilians in 2007.

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the five men had committed a “serious crime” in the September 2007 shooting in Baghdad, which strained U.S.-Iraqi relations and became a symbol for many Iraqis of foreign disregard for local life.

Dabbagh said Iraq may sue the private security company, now known as Xe Services.

“The Iraqi government regrets and is disappointed by the U.S. court’s decision … We have our own investigations and they showed that Blackwater committed a serious crime in the killing of 17 Iraqi citizens,” Dabbagh said.

“The Iraqi government is considering other legal means through which it can sue the Blackwater company,” he added.

Continue reading »

Tags: Blackwater, Civilians, contractor, Crimes, Government, Iraq, Military, Politics, U.S., Xe

More U.S. military personnel have taken their own lives so far in 2009 than have been killed in either the Afghanistan or Iraq wars this year, according to a Congressional Quarterly compilation of the latest statistics from the armed services.

As of Tuesday, at least 334 members of the military services have committed suicide in 2009, compared with 297 killed in Afghanistan and 144 who died in Iraq, the figures show.

Lawmakers in recent years have been increasingly concerned about the growing problem of military suicides, especially in the Army. They have been holding hearings, passing bills and approving billions of dollars more than requested to improve mental health care for military personnel and veterans.

But even those who have been most intensely focused on the issue said they found the new numbers alarming. So far in 2009, the Army has had 211 of the 334 suicides, while the Navy had 47, the Air Force had 34 and the Marine Corps (active duty only) had 42.

“These numbers are just staggering and, tragically, are an indication that we are simply not doing the job of providing adequate mental health care for both our active-duty service people and our veterans, said Bob Filner, D-Calif., chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. Continue reading »

Tags: Afghanistan, Congress, Iraq, Military, Politics, Society, Soldiers, Suicide, U.S., War on Terror

Insurgents in three countries used a favored weapon - car bombs - to strike at the heart of population centers Tuesday, killing at least 50 people and, in two cases, raising security concerns near U.S. installations.

Two men guide a woman toward safety after she was wounded in a suicide bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan. The explosion occurred outside the Heetal Hotel, frequented by foreigners. Several bombings in the region Tuesday targeted population centers.

AFGHANISTAN: A suicide car bomber killed eight Afghans in an attack targeting the Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood, where many former and current Afghan officials live. Forty people were wounded in the attack, which took place just blocks from the U.S. Embassy.

The attack destroyed the home of former Kabul Police Chief Salim Ehsas, who sustained minor injuries.

Former Vice President Ahmad Zia Massoud lives near the site of the blast but wasn’t there at the time. Massoud is the brother of Ahmad Shah Massoud, former leader of the Taliban-fighting Northern Alliance, who was killed by an al-Qaeda suicide bomber on Sept. 9, 2001, a precursor attack to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist strikes in the United States.

PAKISTAN: A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb in a market close to a politician’s home in the central Pakistan town of Dera Ghazi Khan, killing 33 people and wounding 60. The attack badly damaged the home of the politician and nearby shops and buildings, including a mosque and a bank.

It was unclear whether the bomber was targeting the home of the politician, Zulfiqar Khosa, who was not there at the time, or the market. Most of the dead and injured were people at the market.

Under Western pressure, the Pakistani army launched an offensive against the Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan in October. The militants have retaliated with an onslaught of bombings that have killed more than 500 people.

IRAQ: In Baghdad, three parked cars packed with explosives blew up within minutes of one another outside different entrances to the heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses parliament, ministries and the U.S. Embassy. Five people were killed and 16 wounded.

Continue reading »

Tags: Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Taliban, Terrorism, War