Mar 11
Added: March 10, 2010
More on the war on terror:
Tags: Afghanistan, Constitution, Dennis Kucinich, Global News, Government, Military, Osama Bin Laden, Politics, Ron Paul, Taliban, Terrorism, Terrorists, U.S., War
Mar 08
- Washington increases drone missile strikes in Afghanistan (Radio Australia)
Winning the hearts and minds of the people in action.
The US military has used drones to attack suspected terrorists in Pakistan since at least 2004. Proponents of the small, unmanned planes say they are capable of “surgical strikes” that reduce civilian casualties and effectively combat terrorism.
Is that true? Well, not really, according to a new report from the New America Foundation, a non-profit research institute.
The percentage of civilians killed by drones in Pakistan is at about 32 percent, or one out of three, the report states, and the strikes themselves have little effect in deterring terrorist activities in either Pakistan or Afghanistan. Researchers do not believe any of the reported strikes targeted Osama bin Laden.
An excerpt:
Our study shows that the 114 reported drone strikes in northwest Pakistan, including 18 in 2010, from 2004 to the present have killed approximately between 834 and 1,216 individuals, of whom around 549 to 849 were described as militants in reliable press accounts, about two-thirds of the total on average. Thus, the true civilian fatality rate since 2004 according to our analysis is approximately 32 percent.
The group’s report is titled “The Year of the Drone,” referring to 2009. According to the figures obtained by the foundation, the Obama administration has increased the use of drone strikes considerably when compared to the previous years of the Bush administration.
There were 114 reported drone strikes from 2004 through 2009, but only 45 during the Bush years. The other 51 were during last year. Continue reading »
Tags: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Civilians, Global News, Government, Military, Obama administration, Pakistan, Politics, Terrorism, Terrorists, U.S., War
Mar 04
Don’t tell me that DU can be shielded by a piece of paper and is therefore no danger to health.
How long can you hold your breath or live without food and water?
- What Depleted Uranium Does to Children in Iraq: Japanese Journalist
- Depleted Uranium Shells Worse Than Nuclear Weapons:
Inhaled or ingested DU particles are highly toxic, and DU has been classified as an illegal weapon of mass destruction by the United Nations.
“More than ten times the amount of radiation released during atmospheric testing [of nuclear bombs] has been released from DU weaponry since 1991,” said Leuren Moret, a U.S. nuclear scientist. “The genetic future of the Iraqi people, for the most part, is destroyed. The environment now is completely radioactive.”
“Because DU has a half-life of 4.5 billion years, the Middle East will, for all practical purposes, be radioactive forever.”
- The Weapon of Mass Destruction Is Cancer
- War-related birth defects in Fallujah
- IRAQ: ‘Special Weapons’ Have a Fallout on Babies
- Beyond Treason (Documentary):
Beyond Treason investigates causes of Gulf War Illness and continuing deaths of gulf war veterans. Beyond Treason outlines: - exposure to depleted uranium munitions used on the battlefield. - chemical and biological exposures. - experimental vaccines given.
The US have destroyed Iraq forever. Even Hitler, Stalin and Mao begin to pale against such a crime against humanity.
Fallujah doctors report rise in birth defects
John Simpson talks about the children with birth defects he saw in Fallujah
Doctors in the Iraqi city of Fallujah are reporting a high level of birth defects, with some blaming weapons used by the US after the Iraq invasion.
The city witnessed fierce fighting in 2004 as US forces carried out a major offensive against insurgents.
Now, the level of heart defects among newborn babies is said to be 13 times higher than in Europe.
The US military says it is not aware of any official reports showing an increase in birth defects in the area.
BBC world affairs editor John Simpson visited a new, US-funded hospital in Fallujah where paediatrician Samira al-Ani told him that she was seeing as many as two or three cases a day, mainly cardiac defects.
 |
- 40 miles (64km) west of the capital Baghdad - Major city in the predominantly Sunni province of Anbar, a hotbed of insurgency following US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 - Burned corpses of four ambushed US contractors dragged through the streets of the city in March 2004 - Scene of major US-led offensive against insurgents in November 2004, when thousands of marines stormed the city - US military’s use of white phosphorus munitions in that offensive widely condemned - Situation in Anbar as a whole calmer since 2006, when tribal “Awakening Councils” turned against al-Qaeda in Iraq |
Our correspondent also saw children in the city who were suffering from paralysis or brain damage - and a photograph of one baby who was born with three heads.
He adds that he heard many times that officials in Fallujah had warned women that they should not have children.
Doctors and parents believe the problem is the highly sophisticated weapons the US troops used in Fallujah six years ago.
British-based Iraqi researcher Malik Hamdan told the BBC’s World Today programme that doctors in Fallujah were witnessing a “massive unprecedented number” of heart defects, and an increase in the number of nervous system defects.
She said that one doctor in the city had compared data about birth defects from before 2003 - when she saw about one case every two months - with the situation now, when, she saw cases every day.
Ms Hamdan said that based on data from January this year, the rate of congenital heart defects was 95 per 1,000 births - 13 times the rate found in Europe.
“I’ve seen footage of babies born with an eye in the middle of the forehead, the nose on the forehead,” she added. Continue reading »
Tags: Babies, Children, Global News, Health, Iraq, Medicine, Military, Pregnancy, Radiation, U.S., uranium, War, Weapons
Feb 26
American troops will remain in Haiti for the foreseeable future to help the quake-ravaged country get back on its feet, the US ambassador to the Caribbean nation told AFP Thursday.
“There are about 6,500 soldiers in Haiti at the moment. There were some 20,000 for the emergency effort launched in the wake of January 12,” ambassador Kenneth Merten said.
“What is planned for the moment is more and more staff from USAID on the ground and fewer and fewer troops. Gradually, they’ll leave. In my opinion, we will need some American troops to stay here for the foreseeable future.”
But he dismissed any notion that Haiti would be put under some kind of foreign governorship, an idea mooted by French lawmaker Jacques Myard in the days after the January 12, 7.0-magnitude quake hit.
“I don’t see any reason for the country to be put under governorship. We have been working for a long time, since the departure of Jean-Claude Duvalier, for a democratic nation in Haiti.” Continue reading »
Tags: Global News, Government, Military, Politics, U.S.
Feb 24
State says blood specimens were sent for research that will help identify missing persons.
Lawyer Jim Harrington has sued over lack of consent in DNA policy and may sue over database.
An Austin lawyer threatened to pursue a new federal lawsuit Monday after learning that some newborn blood samples in Texas went to the U.S. military for potential use in a database for law enforcement purposes.
The Department of State Health Services never mentioned the database to Jim Harrington, director of the Texas Civil Rights Project, who settled a lawsuit in December with the state over the indefinite storage of newborn blood without parental consent, or to the American-Statesman, which first reported on the little-known blood storage practice last spring. Harrington said he thought another suit was likely unless the health department destroys the information obtained from the blood samples or obtains consent.
“This is the worst case of bad faith I have dealt with as a lawyer,” he said Monday. Continue reading »
Tags: Babies, Civil rights, DNA, DNA database, DNA samples, Government, Military, Politics, Society, Texas, U.S.
Feb 23
FILE - In this Sept. 19, 2003 file photo, Turkish commanders, from left, Chief of Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok, Land Forces commander Aytac Yalman, Navy Commander Ozden Ornek and Air Forces Commander Ibrahim Firtina seen during a meeting of the National Security Council in Ankara, Turkey. Police detained more than 40 high-ranking military commanders Monday, Feb. 22, 2010, for allegedly plotting to overthrow the Islamic-rooted government. Several high-ranking members of Turkey’s military, including Firtina and Ornek, were among those detained. The sweep highlighted the ongoing struggle between the secular establishment and the Islamic-oriented government, and left many wondering if the military no longer called the shots in a nation accustomed to viewing it as the pillar of the secular state. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici, File)
(AP) ANKARA, Turkey — Prosecutors on Tuesday interrogated 51 Turkish military commanders, including former Air Force and Navy chiefs, over alleged plans to destabilize the country by blowing up mosques to trigger a coup and topple the Islamic-rooted government.
It was the highest profile crackdown ever on the Turkish military, which has ousted four governments since 1960. For decades Turkey’s senior officers, self-appointed guardians of the country’s secular tradition, called the shots.
But the balance of power in this EU-candidate country appeared to have shifted Monday as police rounded up the 51 military commanders, following the gathering of wiretap evidence and discovery of an alleged secret coup plan, dubbed “the sledgehammer.”
The nationwide sweep has dramatically deepened a power struggle between the secular establishment and the government, which has strong electoral backing and the European Union’s support. Turkey’s elite military — known as “pashas,” a title of respect harking back to Ottoman times — were once deemed untouchable.
“The most heavy sledgehammer to military custody,” read banner headline of daily Taraf, which has published leaked military documents that lead to the detentions. Continue reading »
Tags: Global News, Government, Military, Politics, Terrorism, Terrorists, Turkey
Feb 22
The UK is broke, …
- Britain At Risk Of Worse Government Debt Crisis Than Greece
… but there is always more than enough taxpayer money left for corporate pals, Big Brother and the New World Order.
The Government is funding new research aimed at getting permission to fly drones anywhere in Britain, in a move which could benefit defence companies BAE Systems, EADS and Thales but inflame civil liberty concerns.
Eye in the sky: a Merseyside police officer tests a remote control helicopter Photo: John Giles/PA Wire
The use of unmanned aircraft for surveillance hit the headlines last week, after Merseyside Police had to ground their drone when it was discovered they were using it without a licence.
But a government-funded European group is pushing ahead with work aimed at showing that drones, known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), can safely be used in civil airspace. Drones cannot be flown outside regulated areas at present because they are controlled remotely and do not have the ability to “see”.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) must be satisfied the aircraft has the same ability as a piloted plane to spot unexpected obstacles and take action to avoid them, before they will be let loose above Britain. The CAA also restricts the use of drones for surveillance because of concerns about invasion of privacy.
The European Defence Agency has hired aerospace and defence group EADS to research how communication via satellites can be used “for the integration of unmanned aircraft systems into European airspace”, with the goal of starting demonstration missions next year.
The study aims to show that satellites are reliable enough to allow uninterrupted communication between the drone and the person piloting it remotely, giving the aircraft an adequate “sense and avoid” capability to make it safe to fly in built-up areas and to share the sky with other planes.
Drones are of interest to the military and the police as surveillance tools, and could be used by immigration authorities for patrolling Britain’s coastline. But concerns have been raised because the UK is already one of the most “watched” countries in Europe, with the proliferation of CCTV cameras. Continue reading »
Tags: BAE Systems, CCTV, Civil liberties, Drones, EADS, Government, Military, New World Order, Police, Police State, Politics, Privacy, Society, Surveillance, Taxpayers, U.K., UAVs
Feb 21
Related articles:
- Dutch exit could leave key Afghan area vulnerable (Washington Post)
- Dutch Government Has Collapsed In Dispute Over Afghanistan (BBC NEWS)
 The Dutch troops were to have returned in 2008 |
A day after his cabinet collapsed, the Dutch prime minister says he expects Dutch troops to end their mission in Afghanistan in August as expected.
“If nothing else will take its place, then it ends,” Jan Peter Balkenende told Dutch television.
The cabinet fell after the two largest parties failed to agree on a Nato request to extend the tour of the almost 2,000-strong Dutch contingent.
A Nato spokesman said it would provide support to Afghans whatever happened.
The uncertainty over their deployment comes as Nato, US and Afghan forces are engaged in a large military offensive against the Taliban in neighbouring Helmand.
The governor of Uruzgan province said peace and reconstruction efforts would suffer a setback if the Dutch left.
Asadullah Hamdam told the BBC they were playing a vital role building roads, training the Afghan police and providing security for civilians.
“If they withdraw and leave these projects incomplete, then they will leave a big vacuum,” he added. Continue reading »
Tags: Afghanistan, Global News, Government, Holland, Military, NATO, Politics, War
Feb 21
An elite puppet worse than Bush! Change!
Date: 21st Feb 10
Tags: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Bush administration, Constitution, George Bush, Global News, Government, International Law, Iraq, Law, Military, Obama administration, Pakistan, Politics, U.S., War
Feb 20
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“I place the economy among the first and most important virtues, and public debt as the greatest of dangers.”
- Thomas Jefferson
“There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One is by the sword. The other is by debt.”
- John Adams
“The one aim of these financiers is world control by the creation of inextinguishable debts.”
- Henry Ford
“I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our Constitution — taking from the federal government their power of borrowing.”
- Thomas Jefferson
Tags: Barack Obama, Bush administration, Civil liberties, Constitution, Debt, Detention, Economy, Fed, Federal Reserve, Freedom, George Bush, Government, Habeas Corpus, Military, Obama administration, Politics, Ron Paul, Social Security, Torture, U.N., U.S., War, Woodrow Wilson
