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Ralph is co-founder of Jobs for Afghans, which seeks the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. You can help support Ralph's writing, research, and anti-war work here.
Thursday, February 9, 2012 Agreeing to Disagree on Much, Occupiers and Tea Party Stand Together Against NDAA (2 comments)
In a cruel slap in the face of the American people, Congress passed the law precisely on Bill of Rights Day. Congress's clear intention that the law apply to Americans was on vivid display when it voted down numerous amendments offered to address precisely these concerns.
Thursday, February 9, 2012 Where is Conyers with Impeachment Threats Against President for Iran Attack Now? (2 comments)
If we attack Iran, it will be an excuse to pour millions of rounds of utterly demonic - there is no other word - depleted uranium ammunition into a country which has done us no harm. One of the most little-noted after effects of the invasion of Iraq is the rate of horrifying birth deformities caused the the U.S.'s use of these weapons.
Monday, January 30, 2012 Obama Orders Military-Police Department Joint Exercises in Los Angeles. (1 comments)
This deployment is in direct violation of the spirit of Posse Comitatus, the post-Civil War law intended to bar the use of the military for domestic law enforcement. This is a role for which the National Guard was designed in case of emergencies.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 Pulitzer Prize-Winner Sues Obama Over NDAA, Says Occupy Wall Street is the Target. (1 comments)
Today Occupy DC pressed the message of getting the influence of money out of politics by descending on Congress. The protesters carried signs saying: "Face it liberals, the Dems sold us out," "Congress for sale" and "Banksters of America."
Friday, January 13, 2012 Help Johnnie Lee Savory Get His DNA Tests So He Can Prove His Innocence. (1 comments)
Johnnie Lee Savory was first arrested for a double murder he did not commit at the age of 14. His sentence was commuted last year by the Governor of Illinois. He is now 50 and has spent most of his life in jail. He is asking the Governor of Illinois to allow DNA tests which he says will fully exonerate him, but Governor Quinn is refusing even though it would cost the state nothing, because supporters will cover all costs.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 When Does "Support and Defend" the Constitution Become Enforceable? (1 comments)
Now that we know NDAA clearly includes American citizens, the question is, if the Oath to support and defend the Constitution has no meaning in practice, and is never to be enforced, should it, in the interest of avoiding rank hypocrisy before the eyes of the world, be simply eliminated? Should the oath-taker be spared the affront to honor of repeating empty words?
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 NDAA Military Detention of US Citizens Breaks Through to Major Media. Not American One, the BBC. (2 comments)
Breaking the major broadcast news media's blackout on the most radical elimination of American rights in U.S. history, Professor of Law Jonathan Turley speaks to BBC on the National Defense Authorization Act of 2011 (NDAA), which allows for the indefinite military detention of US citizens without charge or trial in violation of the right to a jury trial guaranteed by the Constitution.
Friday, January 6, 2012 Can the US Government be Trusted as Judge and Jury in NDAA Indefinite Detention of U.S. Citizens?
It will be decided by the manner of men who said it was "100% certain" that Brandon Mayfield's fingerprints were a match in the Madrid train bombing, until the Spanish authorities went public with the FBI error after telling the FBI privately, repeatedly, that they had the wrong guy in Mayfield.
Monday, January 2, 2012 Arrests at White House Over NDAA Military Detention of Americans, Occupy Wall Street Joins Fight. (1 comments)
Were OWS to get behind a nationwide effort to pass state recall laws and then immediately use them, the shadowing effect on congressmen, especially senators, might be enough to persuade many to resign. Shoot, Jim, it just ain't as fun as it used to be, with this recall bidness and what-all. Then the OWS agenda - money-out-of-politcs etc. - might have a chance.
Friday, December 30, 2011 Combating the Distortions Over NDAA Military Detentions, Does This Mean You? You'd Better Believe It (4 comments)
Perhaps the only thing more worrisome than the recently passed NDAA provisions for the indefinite military detention of American citizens is the extent and sophistication of the efforts to distort their true meaning in order to lead people to believe that American citizens are excluded.
Thursday, December 29, 2011 The "Enemy Combatant" Designation Really Means More Due Process, Not Less (1 comments)
Article III clearly establishes what must be done with any Americans accused of making war against the United States or aiding the enemy -- those Americans must be tried in an Article III civilian court before a jury of their peers, and there must be two witnesses to the overt act or a confession in open court (extra evidentiary hurdles) as Justices Scalia and Stevens pointed out in their dissent in Hamdi.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 I Talked With an Algerian Last Night About NDAA, He Said Expect People to Start Disappearing (4 comments)
He said this is how it starts, the declared figleaf of legal authority to detain anyone. He acted as if he knew what comes next. His age was hard to tell, but he was obviously educated, and he spoke well despite the thick French accent. I have no opinion on whether he might be right or wrong, or if what he was saying is valid. I am relating a story about someone whom I can describe as genuine, intelligent, and sincere.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 Why is the Media Lying About New NDAA Power for Indefinite Military Detention of Americans?
We know what happened. The Bill of Rights has been overturned. And enough has been written on the deceptive language first warned of by Congressman Justin Amash, when he told The Grand Rapids Press that the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was "carefully crafted to mislead the public," for newspaper editors to know better.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 Anonymous: Night Raid Equipment-Maker Lobbied for NDAA, Singles Out Sen. Rob Portman. (1 comments)
If we are pulling out of Iraq and Afghanistan, what is all this stuff for? Night-raid gear? These are basically made to blind people as they awake from you busting down their door, not for open combat. In a night firefight you don't want any lights near you whatsoever. That gives the other guy an easy target. A $23 million contract would buy enough of these things to outfit maybe 50,000 soldiers.
Sunday, December 18, 2011 Why a Constitutional Law Professor Cannot Sign NDAA, Allowing Military Detention of Americans
Common sense alone says you might have unlimited powers in a war of limited duration, or you might have limited powers in a war of unlimited duration, but the plain language of the Constitution tells us you cannot have both: unlimited powers in a war of unlimited duration.
Monday, December 5, 2011 Arizona Tea Party Leads Fight Against Military Detention of American Citizens (1 comments)
Arizona Tea Party and conservatives have announced a protest action at Sen. John McCain's home office in Tuscon to demand the elimination of the provisions passed by the Senate last Thursday which allow for the indefinite military detention of Americans without charge or trial.
Sunday, December 4, 2011 We Are All Really Bradley Manning Now: Senate Passes Military Detention for American Citizens. (5 comments)
In military detention you are subject to the whim of a commander, as Bradley Manning was during his year in Quantico, or Jose Padilla in his 3 1/2 years in the Navy brig at Goose Creek, SC. Even with every protection under the Constitution afforded to Troy Davis, despite seven out nine eyewitnesses recanting their testimony, justice did not prevail.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 Arrest McCain and Levin Now. Senate to Vote on Military Detention of Americans.
A disinformation campaign is in progress to convincing people that American citizens are exempt. But it is not so. Although there is an exemption for American citizens from the mandatory detention requirement in section 1032 of the bill, there is no exemption from the authorization to use the military to indefinitely detain people without charge or trial in section 1013. McCain included a red herring.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011 Occupy Wall Street Talking Points: Who You Calling Slacker? (1 comments)
It is Wall Street which is lazy, feckless, and which doesn't want to work for a living. It is much easier to bribe politicians to open the public treasury and the good faith and credit of the United States to the depredations of bad businessmen who want something for nothing.
Thursday, October 27, 2011 Demand To Get The Money Out Of Politics: A "one Demand" For Occupy Wall Street?
A corporation's contributions to candidates have been shown over and over to generate tangible monetary returns: bailouts, further contracting for wars. This meets the legal definition of bribery. My right to express myself when attempting to give an officer the many reasons why he should not give me a speeding ticket does not extend to me handing over a 100 dollar bill.
Monday, October 24, 2011 Occupy Wall Street Current Official Demands, Voting Closed Oct. 21, 2011 (5 comments)
The Sovereign People's Movement, represented nationally through the people occupying the various Liberty Square locations across this great country, have laid out and democratically submitted and are currently voting on the list of following Demands to then be distilled into one Unified Common demand of the people.
Sunday, October 16, 2011 Who is the "99 Percent?" And: O'Reilly Must be Sued. (1 comments)
Bill O'Reilly has, beneath the radar, begun to routinely slander Occupy Wall Street as organized and run by "anti-Semites." Media observers should begin to document that O'Reilly spews this dangerous venom in his radio shows but not on television, where he would probably be shut down or subject to legal action.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 Barack O'Bailout Feels Occupy Wall Street Protesters' Pain. (1 comments)
Any sympathy Obama professes for the OWS movement without taking his share of responsibility for the crisis hitting the "99%" only gives ammunition to those who would like to sideline the movement as a creation of George Soros and the overtly partisan MoveOn.org There should be no mistake and it should be said very clearly: The Occupy Wall Street protesters do not approve of Barack Obama.
Friday, September 23, 2011 Welcome to Boston, Mr. Rumsfeld. You Are Under Arrest. (7 comments)
Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has been stripped of legal immunity for acts of torture against US citizens authorized while he was in office. The ruling comes as new, uncensored photos of Abu Ghraib spark fresh outrage across Internet, and as awareness grows that Bush-era crimes went far beyond mere waterboarding. Worse, torture tactics are now aimed at American citizens.
Thursday, May 26, 2011 As U.S. Troops Prepare to Withdraw, Let Us Not Abandon Afghans Once Again (5 comments)
To miss the opportunity to bring stability to the country, at such little cost relative to what we are already spending, will not and should not be forgiven by future generations seeking a more peaceful world.
Thursday, April 28, 2011 Old White Men Still Want to Execute Troy Davis (Apologies to Clarence Thomas)
The question is not just why is Troy Davis scheduled for execution, but why has the man in the black robe not been slapped into chains and removed from the court for proving himself to be irretrievably crazy?
Saturday, April 16, 2011 The People's Budget Halts "Voodoo" Economics
Voodoo is simply the richest 1% saying: "When I'm doing better, you're doing better." Well, no, we're not.
Monday, April 11, 2011 Get the $8 Trillion Wall Street Bail-out Money Back, There is No Budget Crisis
Funny, I don't see anything on "Debt Clock" about this all-time greatest theft in world history, along with the "big three" which are responsible for most government spending which are right near the top: Social Security, Pentagon, and Medicare/Medicaide.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011 Quran Burning Touched Dry Tinder of Afghan Misery (2 comments)
After the US has spent 40 times Afghanistan's yearly GNP on military operations, with a relative trickle of mostly misdirected civilian assistance, the UN estimates nearly 40% of Afghan children are clinically malnourished, along with 35% of the general population, and malnutrition wards hold children with their ribcages showing across the country.
Monday, February 7, 2011 U.S.-Financed Egyptian Military Orchestrating Attacks on Protesters (1 comments)
Ragui Assaad, an Egyptian and professor at the University of Minnesota, said Friday that the military would make a cold-blooded decision about Mr. Mubarak: "They are a rational, calculating institution. The moment they see it is not in their interest to retain him, they will usher him out."
Sunday, February 6, 2011 Protesters Being Tortured While Obama Blabs About "Transition" (3 comments)
Our calls to suspend shipments of all military hardware to the Egyptian Army should continue. They will back Mubarak behind the scenes as long as they think we are backing him implicitly with aid, no matter what we say.
Friday, February 4, 2011 Kristoff: "Pro-Mubarak" Attackers are Government-Sponsored Thugs, Photographic Proof (1 comments)
The media is attempting to portray a "clash" between "Mubarak supporters" and anti-government protesters, in order to lend Mubarak an air of legitimacy. But the "pro-Mubarak crowds" attacking peaceful protesters are all government-sponsored thugs.
Thursday, January 20, 2011 Try Robert Gates for Treason, Not Bradley Manning (1 comments)
If guarding our national security is the reason he is on trial, and it may be so, then only one conclusion is possible. For aiding and assisting the enemy, to the tune of up to $400 million per year every penny of which is devoted to paying for roadside bombs and more and better ways of killing American troops in Afghanistan, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates must be sitting right next to him.
Friday, December 24, 2010 We Are Bradley Manning (8 comments)
There are many who say good job on Bradley Manning, let him rot and throw away the key. What these hardliners do not understand is that the rights they are attacking are theirs as well. This could be anyone, liberal, conservative, office worker, union worker, police officer.
Sunday, December 19, 2010 U.S. Taxpayer Dollars Killing American Troops in Afghanistan, Wall Street Bullish on War
In an April 2010 article "How to profit from the war in Afghanistan" the editor writes: "The Afghanistan troop surge means profits! The likelihood that the US will end up the loser in Afghanistan is a long-term worry. In the short-term, military contractors doing business in Afghanistan will make a boatload of money."
Saturday, November 27, 2010 Losing the Real Bradley Manning Story
Manning virtually predicts that, because he will probably be held incommunicado and without a chance to speak for himself as he is tried in the media, his biggest problem to be to tell his side of the story.
Sunday, November 7, 2010 Republicans Want to Give Taliban More Money
We know that at least 20% of Pentagon contract funds for overland transportation of military supplies goes to insurgents, as payment for not attacking the truck convoys. This means up to $400 million a year goes directly to financing the Taliban and its allies. If the Pentagon gave the Taliban anymore, it should be issued stock.
Thursday, October 28, 2010 Controversial Tillman Commander Promoted, 3 Soldiers Allege Ordered Massacres, "360 Rotational Fire" (2 comments)
I have contacted at least four members of the House of Representatives and Senator John Kerry's office about their testimony, and asked to commence an investigation on now-Col. Ralph Kauzlarich on the order for "360 rotational fire." I have asked them to grant immunity to lower ranking soldiers who testify and to invoke the Yamashita Standard , which holds a commander alone responsible for the actions of his men.
Thursday, September 9, 2010 No Tillman movie at Army, Air Force theaters (4 comments)
Why should the soldiers be allowed to see, without driving to the next city, something which concerns them? It is galling that they are good enough to die for their country, but not good enough to trusted with the truth.
Sunday, August 29, 2010 Another $9 Billion for This, Sarah Palin? Six Children Killed in NATO Attack, While Picking Trash
Who perpetuates this racket? Here is the roll-call of congresscritters who voted last June to pass the latest chunk of money which buys the $100,000 bombs and missiles which were dropped on those children, plus the fuel contracts for the fighter planes, plus replacement costs for anything that happens to get damaged or doesn't work. As far as rackets go, this one is money hand over fist.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010 Killing "Hajis" Where They Pray (3 comments)
As soldier after soldier steps forward to reclaim his humanity in the midst of the wars in Afghanistan and the Middle East, we are getting a peek at the brutalization process which the Army employs to divorce young men from their natural resistance to doing the kinds of things required to maintain a brutal occupation.
Friday, August 13, 2010 Wikileaks Soldier Who Found Rocket Launcher at Scene Says No Attack Was Imminent (1 comments)
McCord also again attested to witnessing a high-level war crime, that of random execution of civilians in retaliation for an attack on U.S. forces, a crime which was successfully prosecuted after World War II. McCord's allegation was broadcast widely across the Internet two months after he first made it in an interview in April.
Monday, August 9, 2010 Afghan Blogger Films Survivors of Massacre, Contradicts NATO Denial (2 comments)
One villager says on-camera that the U.S. is now worse than the Russians. Russia and Russians still occupy a particularly hated place in Afghan lore, as brutal occupiers who killed civilians wantonly, and slaughtered unarmed civilians in direct retaliation for attacks on Soviet troops. The villager states, "In all of my experiences not the Russians or the Taliban ever did what they [N.A.T.O.] did."
Friday, August 6, 2010 Wikileaks is "Old News?" I Didn't Know This Stuff. (2 comments)
Notwithstanding the administration's proclamation that the 90,000 classified documents posted by Wikileaks contain "nothing new," you sure could have fooled me. What comes through when you download the entire Wikileaks file is the sheer frequency of "sh*t happening." You start wondering how there is anyone left to populate a war zone.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010 Rep. Rogers Wants to Execute Wikileaks Whistle Blower Manning, But Voted for Taliban Funding (7 comments)
Rep. Mike Rogers has called for the death penalty for Pfc. Bradley Manning for allegedly leaking classified documents to Wikileaks, but himself last week voted for funds which a congressional report shows end up funding weapons and explosives used by the Taliban for attacks on American troops. The amount of U.S. funds going to the Taliban in "protection payments" for truck convoys is estimated between $100 million to $400 mil
Saturday, July 31, 2010 Nick Kristof Hits on Afghan Exit Strategy, Cost Same as 246 Soldiers
Not only is your tax money funding the Taliban to an extent which is perhaps even greater than the opium trade; not only is the Pakistani military helping Afghan insurgents attack American troops (again most likely with part of that $1 billion a year we give them); not only is the $50 billion Congress just borrowed to keep the war going making us even poorer; the kicker is it could all be done and won for a teeny tiny fraction
Thursday, July 29, 2010 U.S. Continues to Fund Taliban IEDs; Says Wikileaks Endangers Troops
This week the White House condemned the posting of politically embarrassing classified documents which could come to be known as the Afghan Pentagon Papers on the Internet, saying this "could put the lives of Americans and our partners at risk, and threaten our national security," on the same day that Congress approved the administration's requests for further war funding.
Thursday, July 15, 2010 Rep. Tierney: DoD Dollars Rival Opium as Taliban Funds Source, Military Complicit (2 comments)
This is not friendly fire, which means in the fog of war one soldier unintentionally kills another. A deliberate decision has been made, and continues to be made, since the military acknowledges there is no other way to get this volume of supplies around and still have a decent war.
Saturday, July 3, 2010 These 21 A%^holes Can Stop the War, Vote is on Thursday, One-Click Email (1 comments)
Yes, pretty rude, but I'm in no mood to be polite. People I love stand to be shipped out this year to Afghanistan if this war doesn't end so I guess these congress-persons' tender feelings will have to be secondary. I can always apologize later. The young Americans killed, however, will not get the chance to live their lives later.
Saturday, July 3, 2010 Women Used to Wear Mini-Skirts in Afghanistan? Why Congress Must Say No to More War
The regime consisted of young Afghans tired of seeing their people starving over the hundreds of years, and filled their heads with idealistic thoughts about everybody eating, without being affiliated with the Soviet Union. But that didn't matter to Brzezinski. The word Marxist was enough. They had to be taken out.
Friday, July 2, 2010 War Vote Tonight, It Can Stop. A Little Perspective
There are 21 progressive who can tilt the scales and bring the Afghan escalation to a screeching halt now. They are: Yvette Clarke, Steve Cohen, Jim Cooper, Jerry Costello, Barney Frank, Luis Gutierrez, Jay Inslee, Steve Kagen, John Lewis, Edward Markey, Doris Matsui, Jim McDermott, George Miller, Grace Napolitano, Richard Neal, James Oberstar, Mike Thompson, Edolphus Towns, Nydia Velázquez, and Anthony Weiner
Friday, July 2, 2010 Rep. Lowey: Punish Karzai, Not the Afghan People, and End Military Operations
What is now understood beyond the shadow of a doubt is that military operations can serve no further purpose in Afghanistan. Congress must vote "no" this week on funding for anything but orderly withdrawal, and carefully-targeted assistance. President Obama himself acknowledged last Sunday at the Toronto G-20 that the Taliban is a "mix of hardcore ideologues and kids who sign up because it's the best job they can get".
Saturday, June 26, 2010 Busted: McChrystal Was a Big Show, Cover for War Vote (5 comments)
McChrystal was given the chance to voice objections to the controversial parts of the Rolling Stone article in which drunken aides were quoted, but he signed off anyway.
Friday, June 4, 2010 Time to Look at AIPAC Contributions and Take American Foreign Policy Back (11 comments)
For Americans to see any real change in the blank check, both moral and financial, toward the Israeli government, congressmen must be challenged on their AIPAC campaign contributions.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010 Norm Finkelstein: Israel Now a "Lunatic State," Withholding Names of Dead (9 comments)
Israel is withholding the names of the activists killed in the raid on the Freedom Flotilla, and although America media reports place the number at nine BBC reports the number is 19. Withholding the names of the dead is utterly inhumane to the families.
Friday, May 21, 2010 Who the Hell is Rand Paul? (1 comments)
Those who wish to understand the Tea Party movement should understand that there are really two of them: the Sarah Palin, pro-war, pro-torture Neocon wing and the Ron Paul-based Libertarians, who both employ the same small gubmint rhetoric while arriving at it from vastly different perspectives.
Thursday, May 20, 2010 Liberal Groups Call for Unity with Tea Parties Against War (1 comments)
Wednesday, May 19, liberal groups against the wars will be sitting in and protesting outside congressmens' home offices, demanding they vote against the upcoming $33 billion to escalate the war in Afghanistan. They are inviting the Tea Parties to join them.
Monday, May 10, 2010 Military Action Does Not "Weaken" Taliban
The surest way to weaken the Taliban is to strengthen the Afghan people. A Works Progress Administration such as that which prevented social unrest in America during the Great Depression would go far. Fortunately, such a program exists in the Afghan National Solidarity Program, and guess what? It is underfunded.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010 Flirting With Disaster in Afghanistan, and a Glimmer of Hope
At this moment, it may not be too late. The benefits of a commitment to addressing hunger and unemployment will be visible immediately, and planning for withdrawal of combat forces can begin in earnest as the tribes turn upon the Taliban, as have the Pashtun Shinwari.
Sunday, April 25, 2010 The Games "Anti-War" Congressmen Play (1 comments)
How many times do we ask for an exit strategy and get ignored, before talk turns to voting for not funding the war?
Sunday, February 28, 2010 Bomb Blast in Kabul: That Was Me. (2 comments)
It's not that it could have been me. It was me, the way I see it. This war is pointless, futile, and unnecessary. For what we spend in 2 months on military hardware and jet fuel contracts, we have done the math, you could take every one of these desperate, unemployed men and put them to work for a year. Then they could easily be on their own.
Friday, February 12, 2010 Shooting Fish in a Barrel in Helmand Province (1 comments)
Today as the world's mightiest empire deploys its helicopter gunships, F-16s, and other fearsome weaponry on young "insurgents" the vast majority of which would rather not be there, something called "Afghan-ness" is being challenged, much to the delight of the war machine, which guarantees a fight and no surrender no matter how they really feel about the Taliban.
Monday, February 8, 2010 This is What Peace Can Look Like, Afghans Win Gold in Basketball (1 comments)
The US State Department and the Obama administration is having an "internal debate" over Karzai's overtures for peace talks with Taliban leadership. That the Taliban high command is even considering this is a sign of weakness, and readiness to renounce Al Qaeda and come in from the cold.
Thursday, January 21, 2010 Look at What You Have Done, Rahm Emanuel (1 comments)
If it were any other state the message would be in danger of getting lost. Two- to - one Democrats to Republicans, a state legislature with 21 lonely Republicans out of 180 representatives and state senators, consistently polling 60 percent or even higher in presidential elections, and the message is a ballpeen hammer: it's not about who voted in Massachusetts. It's about who didn't.
Monday, January 4, 2010 Shooting Handcuffed Children: Afghans Take to Streets. (41 comments)
Burning an effigy of Obama and the American flag, Afghans have taken to the streets over the execution of children, ranging in age from 12 to 18, who were pulled from their beds by Special Operations forces in the middle of the night, handcuffed, and shot.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009 Starvation Alert, Our Chance to Show Afghans We Are for Real
The Berlin Airlift in 1948 saved hundreds of thousands of Germans from freezing and starvation. Decades later this is still what many Europeans remember about America. Let the help in the winter of 2010 be what many young Afghans years from now remember about us, not a surge in troops.
Friday, December 4, 2009 Obama Lied: Taliban Did Not Refuse to Hand Over Bin Laden (14 comments)
Obama slipped past a real doozy Tuesday night when he said the Taliban refused to hand over bin Laden. It just ain't so. They tried three times to open negotiations for this, but Bush refused each time.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009 Major General Announces Escalation II for Obama
In one of the most bizarre episodes of the on-going contradictory claims between the White House and the Pentagon on a possible troop escalation in Afghanistan, a top CENTCOM commander in a "wide-ranging" interview granted to the St. Petersburg Times, days before the president is scheduled to make a speech on the issue, all but announced a massive escalation.
Monday, November 30, 2009 Afghan Villagers Take Revenge for Civilian Casualties (2 comments)
Since American news organizations have utterly abdicated their responsibility to show the true face of war, it is left to the Internet to fill in the gaps. That, and of course, the BBC.
BBC Nightly News report, young American soldiers react to casualties after being hunted by locals in revenge for civilian casualties sustained in an air-strike.
Friday, November 27, 2009 Military Families Ask Obama Not to Send Sons and Daughters
Our son returned to us in good physical health and we were able to hold him in our arms and not just keep him in our hearts. So many of our friends within the organization we co-founded, Military Families Speak Out, have not shared this outcome.
Thursday, November 26, 2009 Fire Insubordinate McChrystal Now! Civilian Government! (1 comments)
Continuing to try to paint the president into a corner and infringing on the president's prerogative to shape his own foreign policy is serious insubordination, and the leak and spin wars now conducted by "military officials" could not be more in the open.
Friday, November 13, 2009 Bill Moyers Calls for Draft if Obama Escalates in Afghanistan (6 comments)
The poor and lower middle-class are already pre-selected. Who registers for Selective Service? Anyone who wants a Pell Grant. Who qualifies for Pell Grants. The poor. They'll simply come after those and not enforce the law too aggressively that all young men of a certain age must register. That would risk political backlash.
Saturday, October 17, 2009 Peace Movement Grows Up, Codepink vs. "Anti-imperialist" Flap (5 comments)
We take a pre-bombed country, bombed because Ziggy Brzezinski couldn't wait to arm Islamic extremists to give the Russians "their own Vietnam", then bomb it some more then split. In the Seventies women were wearing mini-skirts in Kabul. Brzezinski and US policy fixed all that.
Leave them to work their own problems out now? With what? They are already starving, have nothing to grow but poppies, their irrigation and ca
Thursday, September 3, 2009 Cheney Running Scared, But Where's Rahm Emanuel? (21 comments)
Emanuel could be using any of these credible sources to defend Obama against Cheney's all-but-announcing that Obama is a traitor putting American lives at risk. But so far, no Rahm.
Sunday, August 23, 2009 Tom Ridge Bombshell Only Scratches Surface: Plame II
As the most visible ex-vice president in history Dick Cheney has spent an inordinate amount of time on the talk show circuit saying his torture saved lives, and that abolishing torture endangers the nation. The truth is, for tangible damage to the national security, no one comes close to what the Bush administration has wrought.
Sunday, August 23, 2009 Nine Republicans Tell Holder "Don't Go There" on Torture (5 comments)
We now have a fairly good alternative explanation of what motivated the administration's penchant for torture, and not mere waterboarding, either. It was the crayon that "connected the dots" for the official myth for public consumption. Binyam was 16 when he hung up by straps, beaten and had his genitals mutilated with a scalpel to make him confess to a 'dirty bomb' plot, very similar to that previously alleged of J
Tuesday, August 4, 2009 Anti-Torture Rock (2 comments)
Music can turn complacency around, new rock-rap against torture.
Saturday, July 18, 2009 President Carter: Many Children Were Tortured Under Bush (3 comments)
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said at the time: "The American public needs to understand, we're talking about rape and murder here. We're not just talking about giving people a humiliating experience. We're talking about rape and murder and some very serious charges."
Thursday, June 25, 2009 What Next for TortureGate? (4 comments)
It is important to remember the context in which American soldiers were turned into brutal sadists. If you cry for the victims of torture in Iraq, cry for the soldiers too.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009 I am in Kabul, Afghanistan, Report I (1 comments)
A city full of formidable-looking men with automatic weapons posted at gates and doors. There is no hostility in the dark-eyed gazes under thatches of jet-black hair as you pass by them to walk inside a restaurant or hotel. They respond politely in kind when you say "salaam" and place your hand over your heart, in the warm greeting meaning "peace."
Wednesday, May 20, 2009 George Bush's Village People Moment
At stake is whether or not the most massive, carefully-orchestrated deception in American history will stand, with all its ramifications for our Constitution. I haven't forgotten about the nearly 5,000 of my American brothers and sisters who are dead over this, and countless Iraqis. I haven't forgotten that this war has cost us one trillion dollars so far when we need every penny at home. Yea, George Bush, you bet I care.
Friday, May 15, 2009 Torture, Joe Six-Pack, and the Iraq Thing
As the stockholders who make campaign contributions to politicians which result in 100,000 and 200,000 PERCENT returns on their politician investments now bargain hunt for property and the 401k mutual funds you had to sell at rock bottom just to eat, it's time for Joe to realize that money didn't just disappear. Someone took it.
Friday, May 8, 2009 A Really Stupid, Unnecessary War (8 comments)
What the congressmen and the media don't tell us as they bluster and pump us up for more war is that this is an easy one. Flood Afghanisan with cash-for-work job programs like they already have in some provinces like Jawzjan, Uruzgan, and Balkh, and you've got that many more young men who don't even like the Taliban quitting and not shooting at our guys.
Monday, May 4, 2009 Connell's Sister Now Doubts Plane Crash Was Accident (1 comments)
With the investigation and prosecution of Bush officials for torture unexpectedly and dramatically being pushed onto the front pages by Americans outraged at revelations of innocent victims, counter-productiveness in the war on terror, and methods reaching into pure sadism, it remains to be seen if the previous invincibility of the Bush administration has been sufficiently weakened to allow congress to investigate.
Sunday, April 26, 2009 Tortured Wrong Guys, Didn't Prevent Attacks, and Oh Yes, Helped Al Qaeda (4 comments)
The narrative must indeed be focused, and public. Leahy's commission must have a narrow title like "Commission on the Torture and Detention of the Innocent," otherwise the defenders of torture will shift the debate onto ground they like, that of the non-existent "ticking-bomb" scenario. And it must be public, broadcast on CSPAN full-blast.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009 General Petraeus, Will You Talk to Me Now? (1 comments)
Valley elder Sham Sher Khan says the way to counter the insurgency hasn't changed. "The Taliban say they are fighting because there are Americans here and it's a jihad. But the fact is, they aren't fighting for religion. They are fighting for money. If they had jobs, they would stop fighting."
Sunday, April 19, 2009 Beware the Abu Ghraib Trap on Torture, Start With Hayden (2 comments)
If we are going to prosecute a CIA official, fine. Our demands should focus on General Michael Hayden, the Director of the CIA under whose watch these acts occurred, and under whose watch nearly 100 interrogation videotapes were destroyed, which is felony destruction of evidence.
