Syria News May 20
Syrian Army, Hezbollah Move Into Rebel-Held Qusayr - NYTimes.com
Benjamin Netanyahu threatens more Israeli strikes on Syria - Telegraph
Syria ready to unleash missiles on Tel Aviv if attacked by Israel - The Sunday Times
VIDEO: Syrian TV coverage of Army's Military Operations to Retake the Key City of Qusayr - YouTube
VIDEO: Rebels film Qusayr under bombardment - YouTube
VIDEO: FSA Casualties in the Battle of Al-Qusayr - YouTube
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EU decision to lift Syrian oil sanctions boosts jihadist groups - guardian.co.uk
Al-Qaeda plunders Syria's oilfields - Independent.ie
VIDEO: The Telegraph visits the oil fields of Syria - YouTube
Syria: Jabhat al-Nusra split after leader's pledge of support for al-Qaeda - Telegraph
Jabhat al-Nusra - A Strategic Briefing - quilliamfoundation.org
VIDEO: Sharia in Syria - whipping of men - LiveLeak.com
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Time limits on Syria conference ‘counterproductive’ – Lavrov - The Voice of Russia
EU more viable model for Syrian Kurds than Iraq’s Kurdistan: PYD leader Salih Muslim - ekurd
Assad says no info on journalists missing in Syria - AFP
To contact Bartolo email peaceloversingle@gmail.com
Disconnect: Soaring Markets/Troubled Economies
Disconnect: Soaring Markets/Troubled Economies
by Stephen Lendman
Forget everything you learned about markets, economics and finance. Perhaps Newton, Galileo, Copernicus, Darwin, Freud, Einstein, and other noted figures were wrong.
Central banks run today's world. Major ones matter most. Money printing madness controls everything. Love doesn't make the world go round. Liquidity-driven markets reflect the power of bankers to do it.
America Honors Its Worst
America Honors Its Worst
by Stephen Lendman
Presidential Medals of Freedom are awarded annually. They mock what they claim to represent. Many go to deplorable recipients.
Previous dishonorees include GHW Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Robert Gates, Henry Kissinger, Tony Blair, Shimon Peres, Margaret Thatcher, Alvaro Uribe, Colin Powell, Madeleine Albright, and Alan Greenspan among others.
Why Obama Can & Should Close Guantanamo NOW
by Debra Sweet While promoting the message to Close Guantanamo that we are raising funds to publish in The New York Times, we have been hearing, especially in the Twitterverse, that people think, because Obama promised to close Guantanamo, and says that Congress is not allowing him to do that, the main problem is with Congress.
Syria News May 19
Syria's Assad says he won't leave before elections are held in his country - Yahoo! News
VIDEO: Interview: Bashar al-Assad on Syria and the international community – guardian.co.uk
Syrian army thwarts infiltration from Lebanon - AFP
Official: Gunmen abduct father of Syria deputy FM - AFP
Syrian opposition considers sacking its interim PM Hitto - McClatchy
Kurdish Youth Groups in Syria Blame Opposition Parties for Divisions - Rudaw
One Year After the Houla Massacre. New Report on Official vs. Real Truth - globalresearch.ca
Was The Attack In Saraqeb Chemical Weapons, Or Something Else (VIDEOS)? - Brown Moses Blog
VIDEO: Saudi cannibal rebel in Syria is interviewed, He ate the heart of a soldier - YouTube
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VIDEO: Turkish citizens blame government negligence for border town blasts - YouTube
Assad accuses Israel of providing intelligence to Syrian rebels - Haaretz Daily Newspaper
Tunisia to reopen its embassy in Syria - Medafrica Times
Lebanon arrests a network smuggling Syrian antiquities - Ya Libnan
Hackers target Saudi government websites - Al Jazeera English
To contact Bartolo email peaceloversingle@gmail.com
IRS Scandals: MoreThan Meets the Eye
IRS Scandal Headlines: More Than Meets the Eye
by Stephen Lendman
More than targeting political enemies is involved. More on than below. The practice is longstanding. Republican and Democrat administrations use the IRS abusively.
During the Coolidge administration, Republican Senator James Couzens investigated the IRS' predecessor - the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
Putin v. Obama et al
Putin v. Obama et al
by Stephen Lendman
On May 16, the Wall Street Journal headlined "Russia Raises Stakes in Syria," saying:
Jobs Not Wars Actions
[DOWNLOAD PDF] Toolkit for Jobs Not Wars June Actions
Toolkit Contents
- Connecting with Partners in Your Area
- Ideas for Organizing Actions
- Researching Federal Cuts to Social Programs
- Researching Military Contractors and CEOs in Your Area
- Focusing on Economic Conversion
- Sample Press Release
The Jobs Not Wars campaign proposes actions throughout the country from Friday, June 21st to Wednesday, July 3rd. We are asking endorsing organizations to organize local actions or events that highlight the disparities between military contracts and social spending in the federal budget, as these play out in our communities. The aims of the actions are:
- to make visible the sites and corporations where military contracts enrich a few, or serve immoral and useless wars, and the places and people hurt by federal budget cuts to social programs;
- to put forward the vision and prospect of converting military spending to projects that both generate jobs and serve desperately needed and socially constructive ends;
- to help create coalitions of local people, especially those who have not worked together before; and
- to reach people that previous actions have not reached.
Our goal is to help create more awareness about the causes and effects of war, Pentagon spending, and budget cuts. We are compelled to peacefully stand up, articulate a vision, and demand change.
I. Connecting with partners in your area
Most organizations will want to work with other groups to organize an action or event. To identify local partners, feel free to contact members of the Jobs Not Wars campaign team: Michael Eisenscher (michaele@jobs-not-war.org); Mary Hladky (mhladky@earthlink.net); Sally Weiss and Carl Moos (sallyweissJNW@crocker.com), 413-320-2283; Michael McPhearson (michaelvfp@gmail.com); and John Lindsay-Poland (johnlp@forusa.org), 510-282-8983. We can also connect you with individuals in your area who signed the Jobs Not Wars statement.
Find Jobs Not Wars endorsing groups on this map. If you see other groups in your area whom you don’t know, check links to the groups on the Jobs Not Wars site, or contact us.
Find groups that organized actions to re-orient federal spending on Tax Day at this map.
Groups that organized actions for the Global Day of Action on Military Spending are listed here. Find groups that organized actions on drones in April at this map.
II. Ideas for Organizing Actions
Actions will place a spotlight on the priorities and needs of the majority of people.
The LEPOCO Peace Center in Pennsylvania organized a tax day walk in 2011 that witnessed outside the places that suffer under budget cuts proposed at both the state and federal levels – see photos here.
Groups may wish to focus on some specific issues of federal spending that you work on, or that are especially relevant in your area. These might include:
- Protecting Social Security and Medicare benefits
- Cuts to Head Start and public education
- Excessive CEO compensation for military corporations and income inequality
- F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and waste
- Nuclear weapons development
- US military aid to Israel
- Use of weaponized drones
- US military in Latin America
CODEPINK in April organized protests at General Atomics in San Diego (see Los Angeles Times coverage), maker of Predator drones, and at the home of its CEO in La Jolla, Calif.
Some groups have expressed interest in conversations between anti-war activists, social service proponents, and labor unionists.
What’s important is that you take organizing on federal budget priorities to a new place, use your imagination, and connect people who have been part of anti-war activism and advocacy for social services, as well as those impacted by federal budget cuts.
III. Researching the issues in your area
Researching Federal Cuts to Social Programs
Locating the Social Security office in your area. Social Security and Medicare benefits would be reduced in Republican and White House budget proposals by what is known as ‘Chained CPI.’ Locate the Social Security office nearest you at this site.
Food Stamps in Your Community. Use this interactive tool to find the number of people in your county receiving Food Stamps, how it’s changed since 2000, and the percentage of the population receiving them.
The National Priorities Project has created interactive tools to calculate how much the federal government spends in your state and county (and proposes to in 2014) by sector.
The Coalition on Human Needs produces Sequester Impact: Weekly Summaries that you can download or receive from CHN. You can also see a map of sequester impacts produced by the Center for American Progress, which may show some in your area, with links to news sources.
Download this Sequestration Toolkit (sample press release, letter to the editor, tweets, how to tell your story, helpful graphics) from the Half in Ten Campaign, a project of the Coalition for Human Needs, Center for American Progress and the Leadership Conference.
The National Education Association has an Ed Flight campaign (take a picture of yourself holding a paper airplane and post it to Congress)
MoveOn Petition: Fix the Sequester Cuts for the Poor, Not Just Congressional Travel
Background Information:
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Congress Addresses Flight Delays But Leaves Other Sequestration Problems Unsolved by Sharon Parrott, Vice President for Budget Policy and Economic Opportunity, April 26, 2013.
Coalition on Human Needs: Fear of Flying: Congress Fixes Waits in Airports but Lets the Poor Wait One More Year for Housing Vouchers, in Human Needs Report, April 30, 2013.
“21 Statistics About The Explosive Growth Of Poverty In America That Everyone Should Know” by Michael T. Snyder.
Center for American Progress, Sequestration Nation: Congress Acts to Ease Sequestration’s Pain on Air Travelers by Kwami Boadi, April 29, 2013.
Researching Military Contractors and CEOs in Your Area
1. Draw on knowledge that you and allies have already developed. Many groups and activists have researched and acted around military contractors. While information often changes, this experience and knowledge can be important for understanding what the contractor does and how it contributes to war, logistics of protesting, company labor, economics of conversion, local government relations, etc.
2. Contact Jobs Not Wars organizers to talk. We can help you talk through your action, learn about military contractor sites and social spending cuts, and connect with other organizers.
3. Identify Pentagon contractors in your zip code or Congressional district.
A. Use the web site usaspending.gov/advanced-search to search for Pentagon contracts in your area. In the field for “Department/Agency” select Dept of Defense (at bottom of list); select a fiscal year or years; in “Place of Performance Location” select a zip code, state or Congressional district, and click on “Search” button at top of screen.
B. Here is a list of the top 100 Pentagon contractors and the amount they received in 2012. Many of these contractors have multiple sites around the country in addition to their corporate headquarters, which can be a focus for Jobs Not Wars actions or events.
C. An initial map of military contractors is here.
D. The collaborative watchdog project Crocodyl produced critical informative profiles of 27 military contractors in 2010, posted here.
4. Locate military contractor CEOs made wealthy by Pentagon pork.
A. Find the addresses of homes of CEOs of larger corporations here.
B. Find out how much the most highly paid Pentagon contractor CEOs are compensated from The Washington Post and Forbes.
C. Learn about the revolving door between corporate contractors and Pentagon generals, Strategic Maneuvers: The Revolving Door from the Pentagon to the Private Sector, a report by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
5. Find out how much the corporation spent on lobbying and campaign contributions.
Pentagon contractors employ hundreds of lobbyists to influence federal government decisions, and contribute many millions to candidates’ campaigns, creating an unfair playing field and distorting policy. In the first three months of this year, while Congress and the White House made budget proposals, Pentagon contractors spent more than $33 million on lobbying. Use the Open Secrets database on lobbying and database on corporate campaign contributions.
6. Learn about fraud, corruption of military contractors.
The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) maintains a Contractor Misconduct Database that compiles information, reports, and sources on federal contractor fraud, kickbacks, discrimination, environmental pollution, etc., by corporation.
7. Skills for researching military contractors.
Watch the webinar led by POGO researcher Nick Schwellenbach on researching military contracts. (62-minute video here)
Use the tools at Strategic Corporate Research: Looking Inside the Corporate World.
Focusing on Economic Conversion from Military to Non-Military Activity
1. An important study by University of Massachusetts economists (pdf here) shows that “investments in clean energy, health care and education create a much larger number of jobs across all pay ranges,” including high-paying jobs (over $64,000 a year), than military spending does. Education spending generates more than twice as many jobs as Pentagon spending. Bruce Gagnon urges us to “to internalize those study results so [we] can write and speak about them clearly.”
2. Miriam Pemberton of the Institute for Policy Studies has been researching and promoting economic conversion of Pentagon spending for many years. She’s produced this fact sheet on replacing defense industry jobs and an offer to collaborate with local activists for such transitions. She recently posted the top 10 myths of the jobs argument against military cuts as well as a short analysis of sequestration about why the Pentagon is due for downsizing.
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[DOWNLOAD PDF]
Toolkit for Jobs Not Wars June Actions
The U.S. Nuclear Weapons Emperor has No Clothes -- Nor Security
By Ann Wright
The city of Oak Ridge, Tennessee and its neighbor Knoxville, are government towns. Oak Ridge has been called “the closed city,” reminiscent of government cities in the old Soviet Union that were closed to the public because of sensitive weapons production and other activities Soviets wanted to keep from prying eyes. In the case of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, the U.S. government wants to keep the production of nuclear bombs and their components away from public scrutiny.
Oak Ridge is a tough place to challenge the biggest employer in the area, a southern town where dissent is abnormal and prejudices of all sorts run deep in the culture and heritage.
Syria News May 18
Syria not a bargaining chip in relations with West : Lavrov - RT Russian politics
France opposes Syria conference if Iran to attend - Reuters
Turkey's Erdogan says U.N. must decide on any Syria no-fly zone - Reuters
Peacekeepers in Golan Abducted but Released by Rebels - NYTimes.com
Number of Syrian refugees tops 1.5 million mark, says UN agency - United Nations News Centre
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Insight: Syria's Nusra Front eclipsed by Iraq-based al Qaeda - Reuters
Jabhat al-Nusra and The Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (VIDEOS) - Brown Moses Blog
Syrian rebels demand weapons before talks - The Washington Post
Syrian opposition to name new president in Istanbul - hurriyetdailynews.com
Syrian grain imports pick up despite worsening war - Ahram Online
Iraqis in southern city mourn 2 Shiite fighters killed in Syria - Fox News
Sectarianism in Iraq stoked by Syrian war - The Washington Post
To contact Bartolo email peaceloversingle@gmail.com
Politicalspeak: U.S. Style
It has been some time since the language of U.S. politics has been twisted so far as to render words nearly meaningless. In an effort to clarify what is actually being said in Washington, D.C., this writer offers this glossary of terms, with historical context, current usage and, at times, synonyms and antonyms.
Some of these words and terms have been around for a while; others are brand new.
Ensure That The NY Times Close Guantanamo Ad Gets Published
by Debra Sweet Yesterday, Pentagon officials claimed the president has authorization to pursue war without limits of time or space, saying the Authorization of Use of Military Force passed in 2001 means war could go on, as Dick Cheney said, "for generations."
Tsarnaev's Handwriting on the Wall
Boston Suspect’s Writing on the Wall
Editor Note: Hiding and near death, Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev reportedly scrawled on the inside of a boat that he did what he did to avenge innocent Muslims killed by U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a rare look at the why behind “terrorism."
By Ray McGovern
Quick, somebody tell CIA Director John Brennan about the handwriting on the inside wall of the boat in which Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was hiding before Boston-area police riddled it and him with bullets. Tell Brennan that Tsarnaev’s note is in plain English and that it needs neither translation nor interpretation in solving the mystery: “why do they hate us?”
Bahrain: Alkhalifa revenge after dictator’s Ascot humiliation
Serious escalation of state-terrorism has been reported in the last few days following the debacle of Bahrain’s dictator at the Ascot race course in London on Saturday 11th May . Many people have been arrested; most of them subjected to severe torture on the spots where they were detained. Harsh prison sentences have been passed against scores of Bahrainis. At least five people have been imprisoned for anti-regime tweets. Use of chemical gases has also been intensified, and many casualties reported in various parts of the country.
FBI Twists History: 'Terror' War Gets Stupider as Shakur is Added to the List
By Linn Washington, Jr.
Federal authorities publicly plot encouraging bounty hunters to kidnap a fugitive black radical from a foreign country for return to prison in the U.S. to achieve long-delayed justice.
This sounds like the FBI action on May 2, 2013 in placing former Black Panther and Black Liberation Army member Assata Shakur on its “Most Wanted Terrorists” list – the first female to have that dubious distinction.
Stop and Frisk: NYPD Racial Profiling
Stop and Frisk: NYPD Racial Profiling
by Stephen Lendman
The Fourth Amendment states:
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
Israel Threatens More Syrian Attacks
Israel Threatens More Syrian Attacks
by Stephen Lendman
May 15 is Nakba Day. It follows Israel's May 14 Independence Day. This year was no exception.
Clashes erupted across the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Israel confronts peaceful demonstrations violently. Fundamental human rights are spurned. Rogue governments operate that way.
If We Don't Speak Out Now, When Will We?
by Debra Sweet If you haven't signed and donated to publish the Close Guantanamo ad in The New York Times, please do so now & make it count DOUBLE: we get matching funds from a generous donor up to $5,000 by noon Friday, May 17.
Syria News May 17
Obama: Syrian peace talks may yield results, No magic formula to end the civil war - The Hill
Obama says U.S. won't act alone on chemical weapons in Syria - latimes.com
Russia: Iran should take part in Syria conference - AFP
Lavrov says Russia will send top air-defense system S-300 to Assad - The Times of Israel
Russian warships enter Mediterranean to form permanent task force - RT News
Russia wary of attacks by rebels returning from Syria - Reuters
VIDEO: Lavrov wants all Syrian voices at the table, barring terrorists - Ruptly
EU to block arming of Syrian rebels to give a US-Russian peace initiative time to work - Telegraph
In UN General Assembly on Syria, 107 Votes Is "Big Loss for Qatar" - Inner City Press
MAP: How the world voted on a U.N. resolution on Syria - washingtonpost.com
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Graph on casualty levels in Syria: there is a definite correlation between the level of monthly casualties and the shipping in of arms to the rebels (GRAPH) - LiveLeak.com
Syria Execution Video: Jabhat Al Nusra Jihadists Kill Regime Supporters (VIDEO) - Huffington Post
Syrian rebels launch offensive in south to reverse losses - Reuters
Report: Iran told Nasrallah to prevent Assad downfall 'at all costs' - Ynetnews
CIA head visits Israel to discuss Syria, Iran's nuclear program - Haaretz Daily Newspaper
US sets sanctions on 4 ministers in Assad's government, leader of al-Nusra - Fox News
Iraqi forces bust cell with ties to Jabhat al-Nusra - Al-Shorfa
Syria erects earth mounds along border with Lebanon - THE DAILY STAR
VIDEO: When I met the Syrian rebel who 'ate soldier's heart' - Channel 4 News
To contact Bartolo email peaceloversingle@gmail.com
It's Still War
What are you waiting for
It's time to start a world war
Let's board all the ships
And sail to the apocalypse
I can see it in your eye
Today's a perfect day to die
You've been hypnotized
If you think you are civilized
It's been calling me
I saw the trailer on T.V.
Giant plumes of smoke and light
It looked like Disneyland at night
I'd burn that little town and take those evil doers down
Roll out your biggest hearse
Cause I'm nuking the whole universe
I can see you there
Hiding in your underwear
I see your child's eyes
His dying body's drawing flies
You can't control your lungs
Just shaky prayers in foreign tongues
We had a moment there
Before your soul took to the air
Chorus:
Call it what you want
It's still war
Call it what you want
It don't matter anymore
Call it what you want
The verdicts in
Call it what you want
It's the way it's always been
Verse:
Men fire all your guns
We're dropping fifty megatons
Let's load all the jets
And help the banks pay off their debts
A thousand years of light
Wouldn't cure our appetite
A hundred million stars
Wouldn't quench this thirst of ours
And we walk into the room
We see the happy family
And the bride and groom
And you're all just eating cake
We slither in like a rattlesnake
Some run and some stand still
That's our favorite kind of kill
But you just smiled at me
Cause you know it was meant to be
Chorus:
Call it what you want
It's still war
Call it what you want
It don't matter anymore
Call it what you want
The verdict's in
Call it what you want
It's the way it's always been
No Koch News: A Movement to Unsubscribe
After years of mismanagement, the Tribune Company newspapers -- including the Chicago Tribune and L.A. Times -- are up for sale. And one of the potential buyers? The Koch brothers. And wow are people outraged!
Yes, it's those Koch brothers:the billionaire businessmen who run Koch Industries, a sprawling multinational corporation involved in everything from oil to fertilizer to paper towels. But you probably know the Koch brothers for how they spend their considerable wealth: bankrolling right-wing political causes like the Tea Party movement, and funneling millions of dollars to front groups and politicians devoted to their anti-regulatory, anti-labor, and pro-corporate ideology. The Kochs have spent millions propping up climate-change deniers, and have been instrumental in funding ALEC, the powerful business lobby that pushes corporate-friendly policies at the state level.
What would the Kochs do with a few major newspapers? They would push public opinion and public despair further to the right and further into the depths. This is why taxing billionaires is not a policy driven by greed or jealousy or even the desire to put vast sums of riches to good use. Taxing billionaires is necessary if we are going to have representative government. We talk about "freedom of the press." Never mind government surveillance of reporters' phone records. Never mind the prosecutions of whistleblowers and journalists. If billionaires can dominate our communications system with what to them amounts to pocket change, while we blog dissent to people who believe nothing that doesn't appear on Tee-Vee or in a corporate paper, whose freedom of the press is it?
Some recent reports indicate that many L.A. Times staffers would consider leaving the paper if it were purchased by the Kochs -- which is probably music to their cost-cutting ears. Better than staff promising to quit is subscribers promising to unsubscribe:
"I will cancel my subscription and so will family members. We have no need for propaganda dictated by far right-wing spoiled billionaires with an anti-citizenry, pro 1% agenda. This will be the death of your struggling paper in a town that once had a proud history of journalism. It's a disgrace."
That comment was posted with a signature on this petition. Here are some more:
"If you want to increase the circulation of the New York TIMES in Los Angeles, let the Koch brothers buy the Los Angeles TIMES."
"No Koch news!!!"
"If the Koch brothers get their hands on your paper, it will only be useful as tp."
"Don't give up the integrity of your company for a measley few bucks."
"I refuse to continue my newspaper subscription if the Koch Brothers buy the Tribune. I boycott their other products so I will do the same if they buy the Tribune."
"If you sell to the Koch brothers, you can remove us from your subscription list!!"
"Don't let your long tradition of fair reporting be purchased away."
"Koch purchase is a bad deal for our nation!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Keep the corporate greed off of our free press!"
"Selling out to the Koch's will pretty much put the kabosh on the 4th Estate's duty to afflict the comfortable."
"If the Koch Brothers take over, you'll lose this loyal reader of the Chicago Tribune forever."
"What an ignoble end to two fine papers known for excellence it would be if the Koch Bros. became the new owner. Forget about fairness and accuracy; the papers would simply become the latest bullhorn from which Charles and David would spew their propaganda. Has it come to this? Please don't sell."
"I am producer/director of Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American Press. Seldes worked 10 years for the Chi Tribune as a foreign correspondent when their foreign press corps was one of the best in the world! Remember with pride that high-quality journalism of the early Twentieth Century and don't sell out!"
"This country is going in the wrong direction, don't help it."
"As a Chicago Tribune subscriber, I can say we will no longer subscribe to either the print or online version of the Trib if this sale goes through. The reputation and standing of the Tribune organization is on the line, and it will suffer irreparable harm if the sale occurs."
"I have subscribed for 36 years and will cancel."
"As the son of a former Editor on the Chicago Tribune I urge you to remember the Colonel and stand for something. Don't turn the Trib over to men that care only for this country for what they can dredge out of it for their own personal wealth."
"I am an LA Times reader, my parents are Chicago Tribune readers. We will do everything we can to make sure everyone we know never reads another edition of these papers if sold to the Kochs."
Add your own comments for the Tribune Company to read.
Drone Pilots Expose Politicians' Lies
Our elected and unelected officials tell us that drone strikes target top level enemies of the United States who are imminent threats to us, and that killing innocent people is avoided altogether or minimized.
Congressional hearings, with a couple of excellent exceptions, question outside academics about the legality of this purported strategy. The Obama administration declines to send any witnesses.
But drone pilots have begun talking to the media. And they describe policies that bear a lot closer resemblance to reporting from the areas where the missiles strike. These pilots should be brought before Congress.
Here is a stunning new interview with one of them:
"So the pilot is not only flying the airplane, he or she is using all those sensors to watch a potential target, circling over it for hours or days at a time. What can you really see?
"Okay, so in a village in, say, country X, where the houses are built together, there are adults who live in this house, and these children belong to those adults because we see them out in the fields together or we see them eating dinner. So you can start figuring out who is associated with who. Who is a stranger, who is it that's visiting this house? There's a dog and it barks at strangers, so if we needed to go in and free a hostage or conduct a raid, you'd want to tell the land forces there's a dog there and either it's an attack dog or it alerts the village that somebody's coming.
"You must develop an emotional tie with the people on the ground that makes it hard if there is going to be a strike or a raid, people are going to be killed.
"I would couch it not in terms of an emotional connection, but a … seriousness. I have watched this individual, and regardless of how many children he has, no matter how close his wife is, no matter what they do, that individual fired at Americans or coalition forces, or planted an IED -- did something that met the rules of engagement and the laws of armed conflict, and I am tasked to strike that individual. The seriousness of it is that I am going to do this and it will affect his family. But that individual is the one that brought it on himself. He became a combatant the minute he took up arms."
This pilot, in fact this director of the Air Force Remotely Piloted Aircraft Capabilities Division, has not said that a high level operation leader of terrorists who is imminently threatening the United States is targeted. He has said that some ordinary guy who has chosen to violently resist the hostile foreign occupation of his country by shooting at the occupiers is targeted.
He has also not said anything to satisfy those who support the notion of just wars but want them conducted in compliance with the Geneva Conventions and other such legally binding limitations. This director of a U.S. drone kill program openly says that our public employees target a family for death if needed in order to blow up a foreign soldier from thousands of miles away. Every effort is made to avoid killing innocent family members, he says in the interview, but if it can't be avoided, well, the target "brought it on himself."
Here another pilot describes specific such incidents. Here the New York Times reports on the resulting PTSD suffered by drone pilots.
War is murder, and this type of war ought to look to most people like the murder that it is. But even if you accept war, this is not how ANYBODY claims it is to be legally done. This is beyond what Congressional witnesses or even Congress members would say is acceptable or legal. Yet this pilot blurts it out to the media with apparently no concern that his life will be inconvenienced by further questioning.
Enough is enough is enough. End this madness now.
Guantanamo Hunger Strike/Vigil Begins Today at 3:00 PM in front of Portland City Hall
(Look for a large colorful banner and people wearing prison-style orange jumpsuits.)
Seventy-one-year-old S. Brian Willson, a Viet Nam veteran member of Veterans For Peace, Portland Chapter 72, beginning Sunday, May 12 reduced his food intake by more than 85 percent, fasting on 300 calories a day in solidarity with the 130 uncharged Guantanamo prisoner hunger strikers now in deteriorating health, many of whom are being force-fed. Willson, a trained lawyer and criminologist, anti-war activist and author, lives by the mantra: “We are not worth more; They are not worth less.” He joins 65-year-old grandmother Diane Wilson, a fifth-generation Texas shrimper, anti-war activist and author, who began an open-ended, water-only fast on May 1 outside the White House, and intends to fast until the prisoners are freed. There are more than 1,200 people around the country participating in a rolling hunger strike to bring attention to the plight of the fasting prisoners at Guantanamo, who have been illegally detained for over ten years with little recourse. May 16 is the 100th day of the hunger strike. The hunger strike/fast demands President Obama take immediate action to close the prison and release the prisoners.
Colonel Morris Davis, a 25-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force and one-time Chief Prosecutor for the terrorism trials at Guantanamo, has collected 200,000 signatures to be submitted to the White House, appealing to President Obama to close the Medieval detention center.*
A total 166 prisoners from 25 countries remain housed in the U.S.-constructed and operated gulag (2002) at Guantanamo, located on Cuban soil without Cuba’s permission. Most have been jailed and tortured for eleven years without charges, without trials, with no contact with families, and only limited legal counsel when lawyers persist to overcome military obstruction. Although the U.S. is a signatory to the U.N. Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment, its maltreatment of these detainees openly violates international laws and its own Constitution.
Currently as many as 130 of the prisoners are on a hunger strike in protest of their medieval conditions. Stripped of their dignity, their bodies are the only place where they retain some control, yet even this is taken away as their U.S. captors have induced force-feeding to keep them alive in their misery. The American Medical Association and the World Medical Association both declared that force-feeding of competent patients/prisoners is in violation of international law.
These prisoners' names and home countries are now identified. Eighty-six of them were cleared for release several years ago, yet remain incarcerated. Fifty-six of these are from Yemen and President Obama has imposed a ban on releasing them. President Obama could use his bully leverage to close Guantanamo and release all the prisoners, despite his blaming Congress. U.S. Professor of Law Marjorie Cohn describes forced feeding as follows:
“They strap you to a chair, tie up your wrists, your legs, your forehead and tightly around the waist,” Fayiz Al-Kandari told his lawyer, Lt. Col. Barry Wingard. Al-Kandari, a Kuwaiti held at Guantanamo for 11 years, has never been charged with a crime. “The tube makes his eyes water excessively and blood begins to trickle from the nose. Once the tube passes his throat the gag reflex kicks in. Warm liquid is poured into the body for 45 minutes to two hours. He feels like his body is going to convulse and often vomits,” Wingard added. ["Death is Preferable to Life at Obama's Guantanamo," Global Research, news site of Centre for Research on Globalization, May 10, 2013. http://www.globalresearch.ca/death-is-preferable-to-life-at-obamas-guantanamo/5334556]
The larger context: Of the 2,300,000 prisoners warehoused in 9,000 U.S. jails and prisons, nearly 1,400,000 are racial and ethnic minorities. As many as 80,000 are held in solitary confinement. More than 30,000 immigrants are languishing in indefinite detention. The U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture has concluded that physical isolation of 22-24 hours one day or longer for young people constitutes cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment. Force-feeding is not unique to Guantanamo; some U.S. prisoners are routinely and systematically force fed. The U.S. possesses but 4.6 percent of the world’s population, but incarcerates 25 percent of the world’s prisoners, owning the highest per capita detention rate of any country in the world.
*https://www.change.org/petitions/president-obama-close-detention-facility-at-guantanamo-bay?utm_campaign=petition_invitation&utm_content=control&utm_medium=email&utm_source=share_petition#share
What We Know is Bad; What's Behind It is Worse! The AP Seizures and the Frightening Web They've Uncovered
By Alfredo Lopez
"Paranoia," said Woody Allen, "is knowing all the facts." By that measure, we're becoming more and more "paranoid" every day.
Russia Catches CIA Spy Red-Handed
Russia Catches CIA Spy Red-Handed
by Stephen Lendman
CIA agents operate most everywhere. They don't promote friendly relations. They're up to no good. Some pose as diplomats.
Diplomacy provides cover for why they're sent. Christopher Fogle was caught red-handed. He was assigned to Washington's Moscow embassy political section. He was third secretary.
Obama's Contempt for Venezuelan Democracy
Obama's Contempt for Venezuelan Democracy
by Stephen Lendman
It's no surprise. He exceeds the worst of George Bush. He abhors democratic values. He defiles rule of law principles. He governs by diktat authority.
He's waging war on humanity. He targets all independent states. He wants puppet pro-US regimes replacing them.
Syria News May 16
Netanyahu to Putin: 'Your missile sales to Assad could trigger war' - The Times of Israel
Iran's FM: Assad 'Unimpressed' by Israeli Attacks - Israel National News
Syria: Hezbollah fighters reached the border with Jordan - SyriaNews
The imminent Hezbollah-Nusra war - AFP
Iraqi officials: Extremist groups seek to fuel sectarian conflict in Syria - Mawtani
PHOTOS: Satellite images show damage caused by alleged Syria strike - JPost
VIDEO: Syria air strike: Hizbollah TV station broadcast aftermath of Israeli attack - YouTube
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Kerry, Lavrov "very, very hopeful" on Syria peace talks plan - Yahoo! News
Syrian Minister: Removal Of Assad Means Destruction Of Syria - NPR
Obama to Seek $200 Million to Help Jordan With Syrian Refugees - Bloomberg
Iraq: Syrian Refugees' Health Deteriorates at Domeez Camp - Doctors Without Borders
Syrian refugees sell daughters in bid to survive VIDEO - CBS News
Confirming poison gas use in Syria will be tough task - Yahoo! News
Berlin Sees Chemical Weapons As Trigger for Intervention in Syria - SPIEGEL ONLINE
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Guns and Money Divide Syrian Rebels - The Daily Beast
The Muslim Brotherhood Prepares for a Comeback in Syria - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Iraqi Kurds Reportedly Fighting Among Jihadists in Syria - aina.org
VIDEO: Extended interview with Brown Moses about the Syria jihadist execution video - YouTube
VIDEO: Controversy Over Tunisian Jihadists Fighting in Syria - YouTube
To contact Bartolo email peaceloversingle@gmail.com
