Filed under: Afghanistan, army, Baghdad, civilian casualties, civilian death toll, dehumanization, Dictatorship, Empire, Fascism, George Bush, human rights, Iraq, Military Industrial Complex, nation building, occupation, Oppression, Pentagon, Troops, u.s. soldiers, war crime, War Crimes, War On Terror, wikileaks
Wikileak’d video shows U.S. troops killing civilians, children and 2 Reuters reporters
FULL VIDEO
Iraqi family demands justice for US attack death
Military Massacre of Pregnant Afghan Women Covered Up as ‘Honor Killings’
Ret. intel officer: US troops violated Rules of Engagement in Reuters shooting
Filed under: Baghdad, Blackwater, civilian casualties, Dictatorship, Empire, Iraq, justice system, mercenaries, occupation, War On Terror
US judge lets Blackwater/Xe mercs off the hook
Press TV
January 1, 2010
A US federal judge has dismissed criminal charges against five Blackwater/Xe security guards accused of fatally shooting 14 people in Baghdad in September 2007.
On Thursday, Judge Ricardo Urbina said US government prosecutors violated the defendants’ rights by using incriminating statements they had made under immunity during a State Department probe to build their case.
“The government used the defendants’ compelled statements to guide its charging decisions, to formulate its theory of the case, to develop investigatory leads, and ultimately to obtain the indictment in the case,” Urbina ruled.
“In short, the government had utterly failed to prove that it made no impermissible use of the defendants’ statement or that such use was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The Blackwater/Xe mercenaries had been charged with killing 14 Iraqi civilians and wounding 18 others using gunfire and grenades at a busy Baghdad intersection in September 2007.
They faced charges of manslaughter.
In a public relations move meant to clean up the company’s image, which was tarnished by incidents in which civilians were killed in the Iraq war, Blackwater Worldwide rebranded and changed its name to a futuristic new name, Xe (pronounced like the last letter of the alphabet), in February 2009.
However, there is still great animosity toward Blackwater/Xe in Iraq.
Many Iraqis believe the US military allowed Blackwater/Xe mercenaries to commit numerous war crimes against their compatriots with impunity, and the latest court ruling will only reinforce such sentiments.
Filed under: Baghdad, inside job, Iraq, iraqi security forces, Maliki, nation building, occupation | Tags: Diyala province, Hoshyar Zebari, huge explosions iraq, iraq Finance Ministry, truck bombs, Wissam Ali Kadhim Ibrahim
UPDATE: Former Police Chief of Saddam Hussein Confesses to Finance Ministry Attack
CNN
August 24, 2009
Iraqi officials Sunday released what they called a confession from a man identified as a former Baathist police official, who says he helped organize one of last week’s attacks on government buildings in Baghdad.
In the videotaped statement, the man identified himself as Wissam Ali Kadhim Ibrahim, a former police chief in executed dictator Saddam Hussein’s government. Ibrahim said he received orders for the bombing of the Finance Ministry building from a member of Hussein’s Baath Party now living in Syria.
The release of the confession came as Iraqi authorities investigate whether members of the country’s security forces collaborated in Wednesday’s attacks. Iraq’s security forces have come under sharp criticism for failing to prevent the bombings, which have raised doubts about the capabilities and allegiances of Iraq’s army and police.
Wednesday’s suicide truck bombings at the Finance Ministry and the Foreign Ministry, as well as three other blasts, killed at least 100 people and wounded hundreds of others. It was the bloodiest day in the Iraqi capital since U.S. troops withdrew from Iraqi cities at the end of June.
Ibrahim’s statement did not mention the use of trucks or the bombing at the Foreign Ministry, Wednesday’s other major attack. In his statement, which was played for reporters and aired on Iraqi television, the well-dressed 57-year-old said he received orders from Sattam Farhan, who he said was a Baath Party leader in Syria. The goal of the attack was “to destabilize the regime,” Ibrahim said.
Some midlevel and senior members of the Baath Party sought refuge in Syria following the U.S. invasion that ousted Hussein in 2003. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki asked for the handover of some of those ex-officials during a visit to Damascus last week, Iraqi officials said.
Ibrahim spoke calmly and conversationally as he described his involvement in one the deadliest bombings in Iraq this year. He said the vehicle used in the bombing was put together in the town of Khalis, northeast of Baghdad, and said $10,000 was paid to a man who facilitated the passage of the vehicle through checkpoints from Diyala province — where Ibrahim was once a town police chief, officials said — to Baghdad.
Iraqi FM: Baghdad bombings possible inside job
AP
August 22, 2009
Iraq’s foreign minister says those who carried out bombings that targeted government buildings got help to pull off the attacks, possibly from members of Iraqi security forces.
Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari also says he regrets allowing the removal of a checkpoint and concrete blast barriers from near the ministry building.
The building was among two that were targeted Wednesday by truck bombs that killed at least 101 and wounded more than 500.
Zebari told reporters Saturday during a press conference in Baghdad that the attacks were well planned and executed.
He says the ministry is also looking into how the trucks carrying the bombs were allowed to pass into areas where they are banned from traveling.
Filed under: Baghdad, Blackwater, Border Patrol, Burson-Marsteller, Dictatorship, domestic terror, domestic terrorism, Empire, Hillary Clinton, ICE, Illegal Immigration, Immigration, Iraq, iraq deaths, John Edwards, kentucky, Louisiana, mercenaries, militarization, nation building, Neolibs, new orleans, New World Order, occupation, phillip morris, Police State, Posse Comitatus, Propaganda, Troops, War On Terror | Tags: lexington police department
Blackwater training U.S. local police a new trend
Jim Kouri
Examiner.com
August 4, 2009
There are many police and law enforcement officials who are concerned with the growing trend of using military-experienced mercenaries to train and work with local police officers in the United States, but there are many who believe the events of September 11, 2001 dictate the need for this new paradigm.
For example, Kentucky’s Lexington Police Department contracted Blackwater Security International to provide what’s described as homeland security training. Meanwhile that city’s Mayor Jim Newberry and its chief of police Anthony Beatty refused free training provided by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement federal program that prepares police officers to enforce immigration and border security as part of their duties.
Lexington is on the nation’s list of so-called Sanctuary Cities in which police officers are prohibited from working with ICE or Border Patrol agents in the United States. Critics are angry over the use of local tax dollars to hire Blackwater personnel to train the police.
But Lexington isn’t the only city using hired guns to help local police officers. In New Orleans, heavily armed operatives from the Blackwater private security firm, infamous for their work in Iraq, are openly patrolling the streets of that beleaguered city.
Some of the mercenaries were reportedly “deputized” by the Louisiana governor and were issued gold Louisiana State law enforcement badges to wear on their chests and Blackwater photo identification
cards to be worn on their arms.
Filed under: 2-party system, 2008 Election, Baghdad, Barack Obama, biden, Congress, David Petraeus, Draft, flip flop, flip flopping, George Bush, House, Iraq, joe biden, left right paradigm, Military, nation building, neocons, Neolibs, obama, occupation, Pullout, Senate, tax, Troops, UN, War On Terror | Tags: Hoshyar Zebari, soldiers, u.s. soldiers
Obama Tried To Stall Iraq Withdrawal
NY Post
September 15, 2008
WHILE campaigning in public for a speedy withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, Sen. Barack Obama has tried in private to persuade Iraqi leaders to delay an agreement on a draw-down of the American military presence.
According to Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Obama made his demand for delay a key theme of his discussions with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad in July.
“He asked why we were not prepared to delay an agreement until after the US elections and the formation of a new administration in Washington,” Zebari said in an interview.
Obama insisted that Congress should be involved in negotiations on the status of US troops – and that it was in the interests of both sides not to have an agreement negotiated by the Bush administration in its “state of weakness and political confusion.”
“However, as an Iraqi, I prefer to have a security agreement that regulates the activities of foreign troops, rather than keeping the matter open.” Zebari says.
Though Obama claims the US presence is “illegal,” he suddenly remembered that Americans troops were in Iraq within the legal framework of a UN mandate. His advice was that, rather than reach an accord with the “weakened Bush administration,” Iraq should seek an extension of the UN mandate.
While in Iraq, Obama also tried to persuade the US commanders, including Gen. David Petraeus, to suggest a “realistic withdrawal date.” They declined.
Obama has made many contradictory statements with regard to Iraq. His latest position is that US combat troops should be out by 2010. Yet his effort to delay an agreement would make that withdrawal deadline impossible to meet.
Supposing he wins, Obama’s administration wouldn’t be fully operational before February – and naming a new ambassador to Baghdad and forming a new negotiation team might take longer still.
By then, Iraq will be in the throes of its own campaign season. Judging by the past two elections, forming a new coalition government may then take three months. So the Iraqi negotiating team might not be in place until next June.
Then, judging by how long the current talks have taken, restarting the process from scratch would leave the two sides needing at least six months to come up with a draft accord. That puts us at May 2010 for when the draft might be submitted to the Iraqi parliament – which might well need another six months to pass it into law
http://mparent7777-1.livejournal.com/1726422.html
Biden: Paying higher taxes patriotic for wealthy
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080918/ap_on_el_pr/biden_taxes
Filed under: Ahmadinejad, Air Force, airstrikes, al-qaeda, Baghdad, Centcom, Coup, David Petraeus, Dick Cheney, False Flag, George Bush, Hosni Mubarak, Iran, Iraq, Israel, military strike, nation building, neocons, Nuke, occupation, Preemptive Strike, preemptive war, Robert Gates, Russia, Shock and Awe, Tehran, war games, War On Terror, White House, William Fallon, WW3, ww4
Bush: Iranians Are ‘Assholes’
Think Progress
September 11, 2008
While serving as CentCom commander between March 2007 and March 2008, Adm. William Fallon consistently pressed the Bush administration for more engagement with Iran and criticized the calls for another war. “This constant drumbeat of conflict is what strikes me which is not helpful and not useful,” Fallon told al Jazeera last year.
In his new book “The War Within,” Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward details a telling White House meeting on Iran in spring 2007 (p. 334):
“I think we need to do something to get engaged with these guys,” Fallon said. Iraq shared a 900-mile border with Iran, and he needed guidance and a strategy for dealing with the Iranians.
“Well,” Bush said, “these are assholes.”
Fallon was stunned. Declaring them “assholes” was not a strategy. Lots of words and ideas were thrown around at the meeting, especially about the Iranian leaders. They were bad, evil, out of touch with their people. But no one offered a real approach.
Fallon’s advocacy for diplomatic engagement irritated administration officials, who were enamored with Gen. David Petraeus. Fallon — a “fan of transition” in Iraq — repeatedly challenged Petraeus’s personnel requests. According to Woodward, the commander was trying to ensure that the United States didn’t “send any more than necessary to the war zone” (p. 343).
In a March interview with Esquire, Fallon said that he was in “hot water” with the White House for meeting with Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. Fallon noted that such meetings were essential to making sure that regional leaders don’t get “too spun up” by the administration’s war rhetoric. In “The War Within,” Woodward writes that as soon as that article came out, Fallon offered his resignation (pp. 408-9):
Fallon was in Baghdad on March 11 when the article was made public. He realized instantly the uproar it would case. Fallon knew he already was on shaky ground. Days earlier, he had warned Gates that the article was coming. But now he called again.
Recent News:
http://www.spacewar.com/2006/080920083335.9s6h11lp.html
Ex-IDF chief: Israel can’t avoid a military confrontation with Iran
http://www.haaretz.com/has..leEn.jhtml?itemNo=1023056
US officer warns Israel not to hit Iran
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl..hit-iran-936178.html
Study: Bombing Iran will take years
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=69956§ionid=351020104
Ahmadinejad downplays any Israeli strike
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=69804§ionid=351020104
Expert: Al Qaeda is in league with U.S. against Iran
http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/30296
Iran’s wargames enter new stage
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=69802§ionid=351020101
Russia: Armed action on Iran unacceptable
http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2008/09/12/afx5417721.html
Ex-Cheney aide: Bush won’t hit Iran
http://www.jpost.com/servlet..=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Iran starts large-scale Air Force, air defense drills
http://en.rian.ru/world/20080915/116794839.html
Iran: Israel incapable of launching wide-scale war
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3597493,00.html
Israel Waging ‘Secret War With Iran’
US refuses to give Israel bombs fearing Iran strike: report
US to invade Iran any day now?
Filed under: 1st amendment, ADS, Air Force, army, Baghdad, civil liberties, civil rights, Control Grid, Darpa, Dictatorship, Dissent, DoD, Empire, Eugenics, Fascism, federal crime, free speech, Genocide, human rights, Iraq, iraq deaths, Larry King, LRAD, manhattan project, Military, nation building, navy, Nazi, Nuke, occupation, Oppression, pain compliance, Pentagon, Police State, Population Control, Protest, Space Weapons, Star Wars Program, super weapons, Troops, urban warfare, US Constitution, War Crimes, War On Terror, WMD, WW2 | Tags: Donald Rumsfeld, electromagnetic weapon, electromagnetic weapons, EMP, emp weapon, LA, laser gun, laser weapon, laser weapons, microwave gun, microwave weapon, microwave weapons, neocons, nuclear weapon, radiation gun, war of the worlds
Secret Radiation Guns Used In Iraq
Woodward compares clandestine program to Manhattan Project, could secret weapon be terrifying radiation canon?
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
September 9, 2008
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bob Woodward revealed to Larry King last night that the U.S. has embarked on a “secret killing program” in Iraq which has dramatically reduced attacks on coalition troops by wiping out terrorists, but what could this secret weapon possibly be?
A CNN report details Woodward’s revelations.
The program — which Woodward compares to the World War II era Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb — must remain secret for now or it would “get people killed,” Woodward said Monday on CNN’s Larry King Live.
“The top secret operations will “some day in history … be described to people’s amazement,” Woodward told King.
While he would not reveal the details, Woodward said the terrorists who have been targeted were already aware of the capabilities.
“The enemy has a heads up because they’ve been getting wiped out and a lot of them have been killed,” he said. “It’s not news to them.”
For the weapon to be comparable to the atomic bomb, one would speculate that it must employ some kind of exotic new technology and is potentially related to neutron bomb and electromagnetic weapons research.
As far back as 2002, a Cox News Service report entitled Super-Secret Microwave Weapons May Be Used In Iraq, speculated that the military was preparing to utilize high-powered microwave weapons that send bursts of electromagnetic energy which completely disable enemy electronic devices.
However, Woodward’s discussion of the secret weapon wiping out alleged terrorists in large numbers suggests it may be a far more barbaric device than an EMP weapon, which would more traditionally be used against standing armies rather than scattered insurgents.
One possibility is that the weapon is something similar that described to film maker Patrick Dillon by Iraqi infantryman Majid al-Ghazali – a frightening giant flame-thrower type device that instead shoots out “concentrated lightning bolts” or radiation bursts that result in vehicles and people being almost literally liquidized.
During a street battle in Baghdad on April 12 2003, Al-Ghazali describes witnessing American troops unveil an oddly configured tank which “suddenly let loose a blinding stream of what seemed like fire and lightning, engulfing a large passenger bus and three automobiles.”
“Within seconds the bus had become semi-molten, sagging “like a wet rag” as he put it. He said the bus rapidly melted under this withering blast, shrinking until it was a twisted blob about the dimensions of a VW bug. As if that were not bizarre enough, al-Ghazali explicitly describes seeing numerous human bodies shriveled to the size of newborn babies. By the time local street fighting ended that day, he estimates between 500 and 600 soldiers and civilians had been cooked alive as a result of the mysterious tank-mounted device.”
Al-Ghazali adds that following the battle, U.S. troops were scrupulous about burying the evidence of the weapon’s deadly consequences, but that telltale signs remained which he showed to journalist Dillon.
Dillon, a battlefield medic in Vietnam, Somalia and Kosovo, stated, “I’ve seen a freaking smorgasbord of destruction in my life, flame-throwers, napalm, white phosphorous, thermite, you name it. I know of nothing short of an H-bomb that conceivably might cause a bus to instantly liquefy or that can flash broil a human body down to the size of an infant. God pity humanity if that thing is a preview of what’s in store for the 21st century.”
An interview with Majid al-Ghazali can be viewed below along with a further exploration of exotic weapons systems being employed in Iraq. Aid workers and others have backed up reports of terrifying new weapons systems being deployed that cause horrific injuries and agonizing deaths. Woodward’s characterization of the victims merely as “terrorists” conceals the fact that a great number of the victims of these brutal weapons are no doubt innocent people caught up in the fighting.
