Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: afghan casualties, afghanistan, airstrikes, civilian casualties, Genocide, Hamid Karzai', karzai, military strike, nation building, nato, occupation, state sponsored terrorism, troops, u.s. soldiers, War On Terror
39 Afghan women and children died in NATO attack
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 2-party system, 2008 election, barack obama, bush = obama, corruption, Dictatorship, Empire, government corruption, iraq, left right paradigm, middle east, nation building, Neolibs, no change, obama, obama = bush, obama deception, obama fraud, obama lies, obama surge, obama transparency, obamas war, occupation, pull out, surge, troops, u.s. soldiers, War On Terror, withdraw
Obama Breaks Pledge to Withdraw Troops from Iraq
IPS
August 3, 2010
Seventeen months after President Barack Obama pledged to withdraw all combat brigades from Iraq by Sep. 1, 2010, he quietly abandoned that pledge Monday, admitting implicitly that such combat brigades would remain until the end of 2011.
Obama declared in a speech to disabled U.S. veterans in Atlanta that “America’s combat mission in Iraq” would end by the end of August, to be replaced by a mission of “supporting and training Iraqi security forces”.
That statement was in line with the pledge he had made on Feb. 27, 2009, when he said, “Let me say this as plainly as I can: by Aug. 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end.”
In the sentence preceding that pledge, however, he had said, “I have chosen a timeline that will remove our combat brigades over the next 18 months.” Obama said nothing in his speech Monday about withdrawing “combat brigades” or “combat troops” from Iraq until the end of 2011.
Even the concept of “ending the U.S. combat mission” may be highly misleading, much like the concept of “withdrawing U.S. combat brigades” was in 2009.
Filed under: 1984, 1st amendment, Ahmadinejad, Anti-War, army, Big Brother, big pharma, biometrics, brain manipulation, Checkpoints, Control Grid, CS Gas, Darpa, Department of Defense, Detainee, Dictatorship, Dissent, DoD, domestic terror, domestic terrorism, Empire, free speech, Iran, medical industrial complex, mental health screening, Military, Military Industrial Complex, MKultra, nerve gas, Oppression, orwell, Pentagon, Police State, Protest, protests, Psychotronic weapons, riot, robot, Science and technology, strange news, super weapons, Surveillance, Tehran, Torture, Troops, urban warfare, US Constitution, War On Terror | Tags: lie detection, lie detector, mind drugs, mind reading, neuroscience, pharmacological land mines, soldier, telekinesis, telepathy, u.s. soldiers
Should we fear neuro-war more than normal war?
FP
September 7, 2009
A new opinion piece in Nature (ungated version via a somewhat dubious Website) takes biologists to task for allowing the militarization of their work for the development of neuro-weapons — chemical agents that are weaponized in spray or gas form to induce altered mental states.
The Russian military’s use of fentanyl to incapacitate Chechen terrorists — and kill 120 hostages in the process — during the 2002 Nord-Ost seige was something of a wakeup call in this area. It’s no secret that the U.S. and other militaries are interested in these potential weapons (I wrote about a 2008 DoD-commisioned study on cognitive enhancement and mind control last November.) According to the Nature story, some companies are now marketing oxytocin based on studies showing that in spray form, it can increase feelings of trust in humans, an application discussed in the 2008 study.
Blogger Ryan Sager wonders what would have happened if the Iranian government had had such a weapon during this summer’s protests. He continues:
Now, some would argue that the use of non-lethal agents is potentially desirable. After all, the alternative is lethal measures. But the author of the opinion piece, Malcolm Dando, professor of International Security in the Department of Peace Studies at Bradford University in the UK, doesn’t see it that way:
At the Nord-Ost siege, for instance, terrorists exposed to the fentanyl mixture were shot dead rather than arrested. Likewise, in Vietnam, the US military used vast quantities of CS gas — a ‘non-lethal’ riot-control agent — to increase the effectiveness of conventional weapons by flushing the Viet Cong out of their hiding places.
While we might want to believe that we would use such weapons ethically going forward, the idea of a dictator in possession of such weapons is rather chilling — moving into science-fiction-dystopia territory.
I suppose. Though I think I’m going to continue to be most worried about them having nuclear weapons. The Iranian regimes rigged an election; killed tortured and hundreds of protesters; and coerced opposition leaders into giving false confessions. I don’t think it would have been that much worse if they had had weaponized oxytocin on their hands.
Sager is right that this is a topic worthy of debate, but I find it strange that research on weapons designed to incapacitate or disorient the enemy seems to disturb people a lot more than research on weapons designed to kill them. As for the idea that neurological agents could facilitate other abuses, Kelly Lowenberg writes on the blog of the Stanford Center for Law and the Neurosciences:
Or is our real concern that, by incapacitating, they facilitate brutality toward a defenseless prisoner? If so, then the conversation should be about illegal soldier/police abuse, not the chemical agents themselves.
I think this is right. New technology, as it always does, is going to provoke new debates on the right to privacy, the treatment of prisoners, and the laws of war, but the basic principles that underly that debate shouldn’t change because the weapons have.
Filed under: Abu Ghraib, civil liberties, civil rights, Detainee, Dictatorship, Empire, Fascism, federal crime, Genocide, Hitler, human rights, Iraq, Military, nation building, Nazi, occupation, Oppression, Troops, us military, War Crimes, War On Terror, WW2 | Tags: Javal Davis, Megan Ambuhl, sergeant Javal Davis, soldiers, Specialist Megan Ambuhl, u.s. soldiers
Human Bones Found in Ovens at Abu Ghraib
NoWorldSystem.com
May 1, 2009
Human bones found in crematorium behind Abu Ghraib building
On October 2003, the 372nd Military Police Company arrive at the Forward Operating Base Abu Ghraib in Iraq. When arriving Sergeant Javal Davis describes the country as “nothing but rubble, blown-up buildings, dogs running all over the place, rabid dogs, burnt remains. The stench was unbearable: urine, feces, body rot.”
Abu Ghraib detained several thousands of iraqis, dressed in orange, crowded behind barbed wire. “The encampment they were in when we saw it at first looked like one of those Hitler things, like a concentration camp” said Davis.
There was something not right when Davis found “some kind of incinerator at the end of our building,” “It had bones in it,” he said, and he called it the crematorium. Specialist Megan Ambuhl said “It was this huge circular thing. We just didn’t know what could have been people, for all we knew—bodies.”. [Source]
Filed under: 2-party system, Afghanistan, airstrikes, al-qaeda, Athar Abbas, Barack Obama, bilderberg, bin laden, catastrophic event, CIA, Dictatorship, Empire, Fascism, George Bush, Guantanamo, Iraq, left right paradigm, Military, Military Industrial Complex, military strike, Musharraf, nation building, national guard, Nazi, Neolibs, New World Order, obama, occupation, Pakistan, Police State, robert gibbs, Ron Paul, Saber Rattling, socialism, sovereignty, Taliban, Torture, Troops, uav, us military, War On Terror, White House, WW3, ww4 | Tags: national service, obama youth, selective service, soldiers, u.s. soldiers, universal civil defense training, universal service
Here we go.. Obama continues Bush’s policy on military force in Pakistan
Obama bombs Pakistan
NY Daily News
January 23, 2009
U.S. Predator drones hit two suspected AlQaeda dens in Pakistan with Hellfire missiles Friday – the first cross-border strikes from Afghanistan on President Obama’s watch.
Pakistani officials said at least 15 people were killed, including three children and four civilians. The attacks signaled Obama had given the green light to the CIA and the military to continue former President Bush’s policy of targeting Al Qaeda and Taliban safe havens in Pakistan.
New White House press secretary Robert Gibbs repeatedly declined to say whether Obama had personally signed off on the missile attacks that hit two villages in Pakistan’s lawless northwest frontier zone. “I’m not going to speak about these matters,” Gibbs said.
But U.S. intelligence sources told the Daily News neither the military nor the CIA was authorized to carry out such attacks without presidential approval.
In one of the strikes, “A militant den was successfully destroyed. At least five foreign Al Qaeda militants were killed,” a Pakistani official told Agence France-Presse.
During the campaign, Obama warned that he would authorize cross-border operations to go after Osama Bin Laden and his No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, with or without the approval of Pakistan, which complained about the missile strikes.
“It helps us in no way conducting our operations” against Islamic militants, Pakistani Army Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas told CNN.
“We face much more difficulty as a result of drone strikes, and we have conveyed our position on that” to the U.S., Abbas said.
Pakistan routinely protests the air strikes as violations of sovereignty, but U.S. sources have suggested that Pakistan secretly supports the tactic to hit militants that also threaten the central government.
The U.S. has carried out more than 30 air strikes on targets in Pakistan since last July, killing more than 260 people.
Among those killed were top operatives planning attacks against the West, sources told The News. The list included:
- Khalid Habib, a veteran combat leader and operations chief involved in plots to attack the West. He was deputy to AlQaeda No. 3, Shaikh Sa’id al-Masri.
- Rashid Rauf, the mastermind of the 2006 British airliner plot.
- Abu Khabab al-Masri, Al Qaeda’s most seasoned explosives expert and trainer, who headed its chemical and biological weapons efforts.
- Abdallah Azzam, also a top aide to Shaikh Sa’id al-Masri.
- Abu al-Hassan al-Rimi, who led cross-border operations against coalition forces in Afghanistan.
-
Abu Jihad al-Masri, an operation planner and propagandist
Robert Gibbs Refuses to Discuss Pakistan Bombing
http://rawstory.com/..raeus_over_missil_01202009.html
Obama ready to deploy 20,000 troops to Afghanistan
http://rawstory..ady_to_deploy_up_to_20_01232009.html
Ron Paul: Obama Will Massively Increase The Government
http://www.prisonplanet.com/ron-..vernment.html
Barack Obama: it is no longer essential to kill Osama bin Laden
http://www.times..s_and_americas/article5520116.ece
Obama’s orders leave torture, indefinite detention intact
http:/..obamas-orders-leave-torture-indefinite.html” target=”_self
Filed under: 1984, army, Big Brother, biometrics, Control Grid, Darpa, microchips, Military, Military Industrial Complex, Oppression, Pentagon, Police State, Posse Comitatus, RFID, robot, Science and technology, super weapons, Surveillance, Taser Guns, Troops, uav, urban warfare, Verichip | Tags: Future Combat Systems, Multi-Robot Pursuit System, soldiers, Steve Wright, u.s. soldiers
Packs Of Robots Will Hunt Uncooperative Humans
New Scientist
October 23, 2008
The latest request from the Pentagon jars the senses. At least, it did mine. They are looking for contractors to provide a “Multi-Robot Pursuit System” that will let packs of robots “search for and detect a non-cooperative human”.
One thing that really bugs defence chiefs is having their troops diverted from other duties to control robots. So having a pack of them controlled by one person makes logistical sense. But I’m concerned about where this technology will end up.
Given that iRobot last year struck a deal with Taser International to mount stun weapons on its military robots, how long before we see packs of droids hunting down pesky demonstrators with paralysing weapons? Or could the packs even be lethally armed? I asked two experts on automated weapons what they thought – click the continue reading link to read what they said.
Both were concerned that packs of robots would be entrusted with tasks – and weapons – they were not up to handling without making wrong decisions.
Steve Wright of Leeds Metropolitan University is an expert on police and military technologies, and last year correctly predicted this pack-hunting mode of operation would happen. “The giveaway here is the phrase ’a non-cooperative human subject’,” he told me:
We can also expect such systems to be equipped with human detection and tracking devices including sensors which detect human breath and the radio waves associated with a human heart beat. These are technologies already developed.”
What do you make of this? Are we letting our militaries run technologically amok with our tax dollars? Or can robot soldiers be programmed to be even more ethical than human ones, as some researchers claim?
Filed under: 1st amendment, 4th amendment, army, bailout, Big Banks, Bio Weapons, Biological Attack, biological warfare, catastrophic event, civil liberties, civil rights, Congress, Credit Crisis, DEBT, DHS, Dictatorship, Dissent, Dollar, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Empire, enemy combatant, Fascism, free speech, global economy, Great Depression, Greenback, Homeland Security, House, hr 5122, hyperinflation, Inflation, Iraq, john warner defense authorization act, liquidation, Martial Law, Military, Military Industrial Complex, national socialism, nationalization, Nazi, NORTHCOM, Nuke, occupation, Oppression, Police State, Posse Comitatus, Protest, riots, Senate, socialism, Stock Market, Troops, Uncategorized, urban warfare, us army, US Constitution, US Economy, Wall Street, War On Terror | Tags: civil disobedience, civil unrest, crowd control, Insurrection Act of 1807, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, october suprise, posse comitatus act, run on banks, soldiers, u.s. soldiers
NorthCom Denies Troops To Be Used For Crowd Control
But admits that Army will have access to weapons and tanks during homeland patrols
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
October 2, 2008
Following the alarming admission that active duty U.S. Army would be on call to deal with “civil unrest” inside the United States from October 1st, the US Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) has publicly denied that troops will engage in law enforcement duties, but concedes that forces will be armed with both non-lethal and lethal weapons as well as having access to tanks.
As we highlighted last week, a September 8 Army Times report stated that active duty troops from the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team returning from Iraq would be on call as a “federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks,” for a period of 12 months from October 1st.
The purpose of the unit’s patrols, according to the article, includes helping “with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack.”
However, a NorthCom official, presumably responding to reports featured on this website and others, publicly denies that troops will be used to police Americans.
“This response force will not be called upon to help with law enforcement, civil disturbance or crowd control, but will be used to support lead agencies involved in saving lives, relieving suffering and meeting the needs of communities affected by weapons of mass destruction attacks, accidents or even natural disasters,” Army Col. Michael Boatner, USNORTHCOM future operations division chief, told Homeland Security Today.
We also learn that the troops will be under the operational control of USNORTHCOM’s Joint Force Land Component Command under US Army North, headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. The operational headquarters of the response force is at Fort Monroe, Virginia.
The original Army Times report also stated that the use of non-lethal weapons against Americans would be a possibility, but a retraction has now been issued stating that the forces would not use nonlethal weaponry domestically.
Use of military in quelling domestic unrest a scary sign
Amy Goodman
Seattle PI
October 2, 2008
A little-noticed story surfaced a couple of weeks ago in the Army Times newspaper about the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team. “Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months,” reported Army Times staff writer Gina Cavallaro, “the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.” Disturbingly, she writes that “they may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control” as well.
The force will be called the chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive Consequence Management Response Force. Its acronym, CCMRF, is pronounced “sea-smurf.” These “sea-smurfs,” Cavallaro reports, have “spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling in full battle rattle,” in a combat zone, and now will spend their 20-month “dwell time” — time troops are required to spend to “reset and regenerate after a deployment” — armed and ready to hit the U.S. streets.
The Army Times piece includes a correction stating that the forces would not use nonlethal weaponry domestically. I called Air Force Lt. Col. Jamie Goodpaster, a public affairs officer for Northern Command. She told me that the overall mission was humanitarian, to save lives and help communities recover from catastrophic events. Nevertheless, the military forces would have weapons on-site, “containerized,” she said — that is, stored in containers — including both lethal and so-called nonlethal weapons. They would have mostly wheeled vehicles, but would also, she said, have access to tanks. She said that use of weapons would be made at a higher level, perhaps at the secretary of defense level.
Talk of trouble on U.S. streets is omnipresent now, with the juxtaposition of Wall Street and Main Street. The financial crisis we face remains obscure to most people; titans of business and government officials assure us that the financial system is “on the brink,” that a massive bailout is necessary, immediately, to prevent a disaster. Conservative and progressive members of Congress, at the insistence of constituents, blocked the initial plan. If the economy does collapse, if people can’t go down to the bank to withdraw their savings, or get cash from an ATM, there may be serious “civil unrest,” and the “sea-smurfs” may be called upon sooner than we imagine to assist with “crowd control.”
The political and financial establishments seem completely galled that people would actually oppose their massive bailout, which rewards financiers for gambling. Normal people worry about paying their bills, buying groceries and gas, and paying rent or a mortgage in increasingly uncertain times. No one ever offers to bail them out. Wall Street’s house of cards has collapsed, and the rich bankers are getting little sympathy from working people.
http://www.elliscountypress.com/news/132/ARTICLE/2575/2008-09-30.html
Troops Patrol U.S. Streets Searching For “Civil Unrest”
http://noworldsystem.com/2008/09/26/t..eets-searching-for-civil-unrest/
Filed under: 9/11, 9/11 Truth, al-qaeda, blackops, CIA, Coup, False Flag, FBI, inside job, Islamabad, marine, Military, muslim, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, State Sponsored Terrorism, suicide bombing, Taliban, Troops, USMC, War On Terror | Tags: hotel bombing, marriott hotel, october suprise, pakistan bombing, Rehman Malik, soldiers, truck bombing, u.s. soldiers
FBI hunts American citizens for deadly bombing in Pakistan
World Net Daily
September 29, 2008
Aafia Siddiqui, alleged al-Qaida “fixer” whose interrogation has the FBI on alert
As Pakistani investigators hunt the terrorists behind the massive Marriott Hotel bombing in Islamabad, FBI agents in the U.S. have begun aggressively hunting for Americans who have recently returned from trips to Pakistan where they may have trained at al-Qaida camps, WND has learned.
A coast-to-coast dragnet has been launched partly in response to leads developed in the arrest of one of al-Qaida’s “fixers” in the U.S., say FBI officials. They report the bureau is in a race against time to identify Pakistan-trained sleeper cells and disrupt a possible pre-election “October surprise.”
For the first time since 9/11, counterterrorism field agents have been authorized to spy on young Muslim men and women – including American citizens – who have traveled to Pakistan without any specific evidence of wrongdoing.
http://noworldsystem.com/2008/09/26/..explosion-to-us-military/
Filed under: 9/11 Truth, al-qaeda, blackops, CIA, Coup, False Flag, inside job, Islamabad, marine, Military, Pakistan, qatar, Saudi Arabia, State Sponsored Terrorism, suicide bombing, Taliban, Troops, uav, USMC, War On Terror | Tags: hotel bombing, marriott hotel, pakistan bombing, Rehman Malik, soldiers, truck bombing, u.s. soldiers
Pakistan Investigating US Marine Activity Inside Marriott Hotel Days Before Huge Bombing
Steve Watson
Infowars.net
September 24, 2008
A view of a deep crater caused by Saturday’s massive truck bombing at Marriott hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008. The bombing devastated the luxury hotel in Pakistan’s capital, killing some 60 people and injuring more than 250
Pakistani authorities investigating last Saturday’s huge bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad are looking into evidence that US marines were occupying two floors just days prior to the blast and were witnessed unloading a truckload of steel cases inside.
“The authorities want to ascertain if it was a routine exercise or part of some special mission that does not have the approval of the government of Pakistan,” Pakistan’s largest newspaper The News reported.
The reports of the mysterious activity first surfaced in the Pakistani media on Sunday.
According to the accounts, several witnesses, including Pakistani government officials, described seeing a US embassy truckload of steel boxes unloaded while all entrances to and from the hotel were locked down at around midnight on the 16th September.
The cases were not taken through security scanners in the hotel’s lobby, but were shifted directly to the fourth and fifth floors, the same floors that fire broke out on after the truck bombing on Saturday.
“Already, the government has got information that several rooms on the fourth floor of the Marriott were in permanent use of the US authorities. Three of these rooms were said to be inter-connected and contained some intelligence equipment and other material allegedly used for espionage,” The News also reported.
The reports have also been picked up in the press in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
A US embassy statement said that the marines were a routine team of support personnel that often precede and/or accompany certain US government officials, and that the cases contained communication equipment.
Further rumours that several senior officers of the CIA were staying at the hotel at the time of the attack were also strenuously denied by the US embassy statement as “inaccurate, irresponsible, baseless and completely without any foundation whatsoever.”
“Al Qaeda” was quickly portioned with the blame once more just hours after the dust had settled, while the Taliban have also been touted as suspects.
Meanwhile new claims have surfaced linking the bombing to an Islamic fundamentalist group based in Iran.
In our leading article earlier this week which has since been picked up by the Pakistan Daily, we detailed how Pakistan’s new leadership were due to dine at the hotel, but changed the venue at the last minute, according to a senior government official.
This raises the question, whether it be “Al Qaeda”, the Taliban or some other group of anti-American “terrorists”, why would they want to decapitate the new anti-US administration of Pakistan?
Pakistan hotel bombing kills at least 60
AFP
September 21, 2008
A suicide bomber detonated a truck packed with explosives at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad on Saturday, killing at least 60 people in a brazen attack in the heart of the Pakistan capital.
Around 200 people were wounded, some critically, and there were fears more dead would be found in the fiery wreckage of the hotel, a popular gathering place for politicians, foreigners and the Pakistan elite.
Officials said they were worried the building, engulfed in flame after the blast ruptured a gas pipeline, would collapse. A security official said many people leapt to their deaths from upper floors rather than be burnt alive.
The bombing came shortly after new President Asif Ali Zardari, who faces a struggle to rein in Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, delivered his inaugural address to parliament only a few hundred metres away.
It was one of the deadliest attacks in an increasingly bloody campaign by militants in Pakistan, a vital ally in the US-led “war on terror,” and presented Zardari with a major challenge just days after he took office.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/why-..-in-pakistan.html
Pakistan probes mystery of US Marines’ steel boxes in Marriott
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Stor..%27+steel+boxes+&strParent=strParentID
“U.S. drone” crashes in northwest Pakistan
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20080924/tpl-uk-pakistan-drone-81f3b62.html
Zardari ‘was target of bomb plot’
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/itn/20080922/twl-zardari-was-target-of-bomb-plot-41f21e0.html
Pakistan blames US raids for hotel bombing
http://www.independent.co.uk/ne..r-hotel-bombing-938952.html
Filed under: 1st amendment, 4th amendment, Afghanistan, Air Force, al-qaeda, army, bailout, Big Banks, bin laden, Bio Weapons, Biological Attack, biological warfare, catastrophic event, civil liberties, civil rights, Concentration Camp, Congress, Credit Crisis, DEBT, DHS, Dictatorship, Dissent, Dollar, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Empire, enemy combatant, Fascism, FEMA, Fema Camps, free speech, George Bush, global economy, Great Depression, Greenback, Homeland Security, House, HR 4986, hr 5122, hyperinflation, Inflation, Iraq, john warner defense authorization act, liquidation, Martial Law, Military, Military Industrial Complex, nation building, national guard, national socialism, nationalization, Nazi, neocons, NORTHCOM, Nuke, occupation, Oppression, Police State, Posse Comitatus, Protest, riots, Senate, socialism, Stock Market, Troops, urban warfare, us army, US Constitution, US Economy, Wall Street, War On Terror | Tags: civil disobedience, civil unrest, Col. Roger Cloutier, crowd control, Insurrection Act, Insurrection Act of 1807, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, october suprise, posse comitatus act, soldiers, u.s. soldiers
U.S. Troops In Homeland “Crowd Control” Patrols From October 1st
3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team returning from Iraq for homeland patrols to help with “civil unrest” and “crowd control,” training in use of non-lethal weapons
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
September 24, 2008
U.S. troops returning from duty in Iraq will be carrying out homeland patrols in America from October 1st in complete violation of Posse Comitatus for the purposes of helping with “civil unrest and crowd control” – which could include dealing with unruly Americans after a complete economic collapse.
This shocking admission was calmly reported on September 8th by the Army Times website, which reports that from the beginning of next month the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team “Will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.”
The article notes that the deployment “marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities.”
The purpose of the unit’s patrols includes helping “with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack.”
The unit will be on homeland patrol for at least 20 months before returning to Iraq or Afghanistan in early 2010, according to the report.
Training for homeland operations has already begun at Fort Stewart and at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs.
Ominously, the report states that, “The 1st BCT’s soldiers also will learn how to use “the first ever nonlethal package that the Army has fielded,” 1st BCT commander Col. Roger Cloutier said, referring to crowd and traffic control equipment and nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals without killing them.”
The unit would also be deployed to deal with hostile crowds of Americans in the aftermath of a massive economic depression, potential food riots and race riots, if one defines the term “crowd control” to match its reasonably applicable scenarios.
The open admission that U.S. troops will be involved in law enforcement operations as well as potentially using non-lethal weapons against American citizens is a complete violation of the Posse Comitatus Act and the Insurrection Act, which substantially limit the powers of the federal government to use the military for law enforcement unless under precise and extreme circumstances.
Section 1385 of the Posse Comitatus Act states, “Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.”
Under the John Warner Defense Authorization Act, signed by President Bush on October 17, 2006, the law was changed to state, “The President may employ the armed forces to restore public order in any State of the United States the President determines hinders the execution of laws or deprives people of a right, privilege, immunity, or protection named in the Constitution and secured by law or opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws.”
However, these changes were repealed in their entirety by HR 4986: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, reverting back to the original state of the Insurrection Act of 1807.
The original text of the Insurrection Act severely limits the power of the President to deploy troops within the United States.
For troops to be deployed, a condition has to exist that, “(1) So hinders the execution of the laws of that State, and of the United States within the State, that any part or class of its people is deprived of a right, privilege, immunity, or protection named in the Constitution and secured by law, and the constituted authorities of that State are unable, fail, or refuse to protect that right, privilege, or immunity, or to give that protection; or (2) opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws. In any situation covered by clause (1), the State shall be considered to have denied the equal protection of the laws secured by the Constitution.”
Is the Bush administration and Northcom waiting for such a scenario to unfold, an event that completely overwhelms state authorities, before unleashing the might of the U.S. Army against the American people?
The deployment of National Guard troops to aid law enforcement or for disaster relief purposes is legal under the authority of the governor of a state, but using active duty U.S. Army in law enforcement operations inside America absent the conditions described in the Insurrection Act is completely illegal.
With the promise of an “October surprise” on behalf of Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda being bandied about by the media and the potential for civil unrest should a complete collapse of the U.S. economy unfold, the presence of U.S. troops inside America, returning fresh from kicking down doors, arresting “insurgents” and taking them to internment camps in Iraq, should put Americans on alert and provoke urgent questions about the legality of U.S. Army units engaging in law enforcement operations against American citizens.
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: 9/11, 9/11 Eyewitness, 9/11 Truth, Afghanistan, Alex Jones, Controlled Demolition, Dissent, False Flag, georgia, inside job, Iraq, marine, nation building, occupation, Oil, Protest, Russia, State Sponsored Terrorism, Syria, Troops, Truth Action, USMC, War On Terror, World Trade Center, wtc-7 | Tags: luis conyer, Mahdi Dakhlallah, marines for 9/11 truth, mutiny, oil pipelines, soldiers, u.s. soldiers, UCMJ
Former Syrian minister: US guilty for 9/11 attacks
Jerusalem Post
September 12, 2008
The Syrian government daily Teshreen marked the seventh anniversary of 9/11 this week in a unique fashion: by publishing an article by Syria’s former information minister blaming US intelligence agencies for the attacks.
According to Mahdi Dakhlallah, in a piece that appeared Wednesday, the intelligence agencies were behind the September 11, 2001 attacks to provide a pretext for a preplanned US plan to invade Iraq and Afghanistan.
“These plans were ready and prepared [in advance] – and all that was needed was to find a pretext to begin their immediate implementation,” wrote Dakhlallah, in a piece of which excerpts were translated by MEMRI, the Middle East Media Research Institute.
Dakhlallah wrote that in the US, the end justifies the means, and Washington’s overarching goal was to invade Afghanistan “to get close to the Caspian Sea gas and oil pipelines, and then to invade Iraq and to fix the poles of the tent of unipolarity in the ground.”
Indeed, wrote Dakhlallah, “the shock following 9/11 created an American public opinion that supported the war, aggression, and madness of our time, to which Afghanistan, Iraq, and all global stability fell victim. No one believes that it would have been possible to invade Afghanistan and Iraq in the same way and so fast had it not been for the 9/11 attacks. That’s how it always is: the end justifies the means.”
Dakhlallah wrote that on the seventh anniversary of 9/11, the truth about the events remained to be told.
“The world may have to wait 25 years for the truth to come to light and for the secret documents and information about what happened to be presented.
“But who cares about the truth?”
According to Dakhlallah, “What is important, always, is the use of the events in order to carry out a strategy planned in advance – which raises the possibility that the injured party itself carried out the deed, especially if the matter concerns a country with great strategic interests such as the US.”
http://www.prisonplanet.com/scientists-unusual-magnetic-forces-caused-twin-towers-collapse.html
Key Witness to WTC 7 Passes Away in Hospital at 53
http://www.infowars.com/?p=4602
Filed under: 9/11, Ahmed Chalabi, army, bin laden, blockade, Bush Sr., civil liberties, civil rights, civil war, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Coup, David Petraeus, Dick Cheney, Disinformation, Donald Rumsfeld, fallen soldiers, False Flag, false information, federal crime, George Bush, george h. w. bush, human rights, Iran, Iraq, iraq deaths, Iraqnam, Jordan, Martial Law, Military Industrial Complex, nation building, neocons, occupation, Oppression, paul bremer, paul wolfowitz, presidential directive, Propaganda, Richard Armitage, Saddam Hussein, Shiite, Shock and Awe, sunni, UN, veterans, War Crimes, WMD | Tags: CPA, iraq antiques, iraq culture, iraq heritage, looting, ORHA, soldiers, u.s. soldiers
No End in Sight – (Iraq war movie)
Petraeus Says He Will Never Declare Iraq Victory
Filed under: 9/11, Britain, Censorship, Dictatorship, Empire, Europe, european union, global police force, Globalism, gulf, kosovo, kuwait, media blackout, middle east, Military, military base, Military Industrial Complex, muslims, nation building, New World Order, occupation, Pentagon, permanent military bases, philippines, Police State, qatar, rome, Russia, Saudi Arabia, south korea, Soviet Union, Troops, United Kingdom, Vietnam, Washington D.C., world police force | Tags: soldiers, u.s. soldiers, ussr
761 U.S. Military Bases Across the Planet
Alternet
September 8, 2008
Here it is, as simply as I can put it: In the course of any year, there must be relatively few countries on this planet on which U.S. soldiers do not set foot, whether with guns blazing, humanitarian aid in hand, or just for a friendly visit. In startling numbers of countries, our soldiers not only arrive, but stay interminably, if not indefinitely. Sometimes they live on military bases built to the tune of billions of dollars that amount to sizeable American towns (with accompanying amenities), sometimes on stripped down forward operating bases that may not even have showers. When those troops don’t stay, often American equipment does — carefully stored for further use at tiny “cooperative security locations,” known informally as “lily pads” (from which U.S. troops, like so many frogs, could assumedly leap quickly into a region in crisis).
At the height of the Roman Empire, the Romans had an estimated 37 major military bases scattered around their dominions. At the height of the British Empire, the British had 36 of them planetwide. Depending on just who you listen to and how you count, we have hundreds of bases. According to Pentagon records, in fact, there are 761 active military “sites” abroad.
The fact is: We garrison the planet north to south, east to west, and even on the seven seas, thanks to our various fleets and our massive aircraft carriers which, with 5,000-6,000 personnel aboard — that is, the population of an American town — are functionally floating bases.
And here’s the other half of that simple truth: We don’t care to know about it. We, the American people, aided and abetted by our politicians, the Pentagon, and the mainstream media, are knee-deep in base denial.
Now, that’s the gist of it. If, like most Americans, that’s more than you care to know, stop here.
Where the Sun Never Sets
Let’s face it, we’re on an imperial bender and it’s been a long, long night. Even now, in the wee hours, the Pentagon continues its massive expansion of recent years; we spend militarily as if there were no tomorrow; we’re still building bases as if the world were our oyster; and we’re still in denial. Someone should phone the imperial equivalent of Alcoholics Anonymous.
But let’s start in a sunnier time, less than two decades ago, when it seemed that there would be many tomorrows, all painted red, white, and blue. Remember the 1990s when the U.S. was hailed — or perhaps more accurately, Washington hailed itself — not just as the planet’s “sole superpower” or even its unique “hyperpower,” but as its “global policeman,” the only cop on the block? As it happened, our leaders took that label seriously and our central police headquarters, that famed five-sided building in Washington D.C, promptly began dropping police stations — aka military bases — in or near the oil heartlands of the planet (Kosovo, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait) after successful wars in the former Yugoslavia and the Persian Gulf.
As those bases multiplied, it seemed that we were embarking on a new, post-Soviet version of “containment.” With the USSR gone, however, what we were containing grew a lot vaguer and, before 9/11, no one spoke its name. Nonetheless, it was, in essence, Muslims who happened to live on so many of the key oil lands of the planet.
Yes, for a while we also kept intact our old bases from our triumphant mega-war against Japan and Germany, and then the stalemated “police action” in South Korea (1950-1953) — vast structures which added up to something like an all-military American version of the old British Raj. According to the Pentagon, we still have a total of 124 bases in Japan, up to 38 on the small island of Okinawa, and 87 in South Korea. (Of course, there were setbacks. The giant bases we built in South Vietnam were lost in 1975, and we were peaceably ejected from our major bases in the Philippines in 1992.)
Filed under: Afghanistan, afghanistan deaths, airstrikes, Centcom, Coup, David Petraeus, Dictatorship, Empire, Genocide, George Bush, Hamid Karzai', Iraq, Keith Olbermann, Media, Military, Military Industrial Complex, military strike, MSNBC, nation building, neocons, occupation, Pullout, Spy, surge, Troops, War On Terror | Tags: soldiers, u.s. soldiers
Bush to Shift Troops From Iraq Into Afghanistan
Jon Swaine
London Telegraph
September 9, 2008
President George W Bush is preparing to bolster US troop numbers in Afghanistan using forces freed up from Iraq.
The US will withdraw about 8,000 of its 146,000 soldiers in Iraq by February – and send 4,500 more to join the 33,000 in Afghanistan.
Mr Bush is expected to say in a speech to the US National Defence University that the improved security situation in Iraq will permit a “quiet surge” of troops in Afghanistan in the coming months.
“While the progress in Iraq is still fragile and reversible … there now appears to be a ‘degree of durability’ to the gains we have made,” Mr Bush will say.
However he will state that efforts in Afghanistan must now be ramped up.
“For all the good work we have done in that country, it is clear we must do even more. Unlike Iraq, it has few natural resources and has an underdeveloped infrastructure. Its democratic institutions are fragile,” Mr Bush will explain.
He will make clear that longer-term decisions about the deployments will be left to General David Petraeus, soon to become the Commander of US Central Command, and Mr Bush’s successor as president, who will take office in January.
Afghanistan: The Good War?
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=68816§ionid=351020201
Millions of Iraqis Uprooted—Media Give Little Coverage of Major Crisis
http://en.epochtimes.com/n2/world/iraq-refugees-displaced-3934.html
16 US troops commit suicide in Iraq
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=68821§ionid=351020201
US air power triples deaths of Afghan civilians, says report
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/08/afghanistan.usa
New book says U.S. spied on Iraqi leaders
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20080905/tpl-uk-bush-iraq-book-4b8df73.html
Filed under: Abkhazia, airstrikes, federal crime, Genocide, georgia, Globalism, human rights, Mikheil Saakashvili, Military, military strike, moscow, Preemptive Strike, preemptive war, Russia, Shock and Awe, South Ossetia, staged provocation, War Crimes, WW3, ww4 | Tags: kosovo, Ramaz Klimiashvili, tbilisi, u.s. soldiers
Saakashvili asked the U.S. to send him a plane in the heat of the conflict
It turns out Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili planned to leave the country
KP
August 21, 2008
The information barrier in Georgia has complicated the local population’s ability to understand how the events truly unfolded in South Ossetia. For over two weeks, the Georgian intelligence has maintained control over foreign news sources.
All Russian sites and “enemy TV” have been blocked. However, the government’s official propaganda was dealt a serious blow yesterday when the country’s only Russian-language newspaper Vecherniy Tbilisi published an interview with renowned political scientist Ramaz Klimiashvili.
Klimiashvili said that “based on information from the presidential chancellery and U.S. governmental structures, Mikhail Saakashvili requested that a plane be sent in for him when the threat neared of Russian forces taking Tbilisi.”
When the news began to spread, Klimiashvili writes, the opposition started to panic. Despite their many differences, Saakashvili was maintaining control over the situation and “without him at the helm the country would sink into chaos.”
The political scientist says Saakashvili wouldn’t have launched a full-scale military operation without U.S. consent.
“Was the U.S. really unaware that Russia would respond just like they did years back in Kosovo?” he asks. “I don’t exclude the possibility that to a large extent Bush was interested in seeing Russia’s reaction — whether the country was ready to utilize the Kosovo option. Russia was forced to act decisively to avoid looking helpless in the eyes of the Caucasus people.”
Klimiashvili believes that little good will come of the South Ossetian war.
“I don’t doubt the August affairs may one day be seen as more of a catastrophe than Georgia’s loss of Abkhazia in 1993,” he said. “We don’t yet know what is really going on… If the U.S. is involved here, then the guilt should be on their conscience.”
Filed under: 2-party system, 2008 Election, Afghanistan, airstrikes, Barack Obama, barry goldwater, C-Span, CNN, DNC, federal crime, Federal Reserve, Fox News, Genocide, George Bush, georgia, GOP, Iran, jesse ventura, John McCain, left right paradigm, Media, Military, military base, military strike, moscow, MSNBC, nation building, neocons, nevada, obama, occupation, Pat Buchanan, Preemptive Strike, preemptive war, Pullout, rally, RNC, Ron Paul, Russia, Shock and Awe, South Ossetia, staged provocation, surge, Tehran, Troops, tucker carlson, War Crimes, WW3, ww4 | Tags: Grover Norquist, Marc Scibilia, rally for the republic, rockie lynne, Sara Evans, soldiers, u.s. soldiers
Ron Paul: There’s no difference between McCain and Obama
Raw Story
August 29, 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqMhBEYGrXU
Former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul has declined to endorse either John McCain or Barack Obama, and he told CNN’s Kiran Chetry on Thursday that he sees “no difference” between them because both espouse foreign policies that only create more threats to our national interests.
Chetry asked Paul, “Do you think it’s a valid argument … that a John McCain administration would be a four-year extension of the Bush administration?”
“Sure, but I think that’s what’s going to happen with Obama, too,” Paul replied. “There’s no difference.”
“Their foreign policies are identical,” Paul explained. “They want more troops in Afghanistan. They want to send more support to Georgia to protect the oil line there. Neither one says bring home the troops from Iraq from the bases — you know the bases are going to stay there, the embassy as big as the Vatican, that’s going to remain. So their foreign policies are exactly the same. They’re both very, very aggressive with Iran. So I would say there’s no difference.”
“How would you handle these global threats, then, if it’s not to send our troops there and make sure that we’re protected?” Chetry asked.
“We create the threats!” Paul replied emphatically. “Why are we on the borders of Russia provoking the Russians? I mean, the Georgians initiated the military attack against these enclaves where there were mostly Russians. … It’s the fact that we’re over there that we create these crises.”
“Isn’t it part of our duty, though, to support these fledgling democracies that ask for our help?” asked Chetry.
“No, it’s not our responsibility to do that,” Paul said firmly. “We should endorse the principle but not send troops and money. … Once we get over there, we just aggravate the situation.”
“We bombed Serbia in order for Kosovo to become independent,” Paul concluded. “Now the Russians are doing the same thing. … It’s this total inconsistency.”
Ron Paul’s rally: The other political convention in town
Beth Hawkins
Minnesota Post
September 1, 2008
When followers of erstwhile presidential candidate Ron Paul said they were going to stage an alternate convention, they meant it. Pretty much everything about Paul’s grassroots Rally for the Republic stands in stark contrast to the Republican national convention getting underway in St. Paul.
Its delegates are on their way via “Ronvoy,” a caravan of minivans and charter buses organized on the Internet. Many are eschewing hotels in favor of campgrounds and RV parks in Twin Cities exurbs, according to organizers. Still others will arrive just in time for the rally, a 12-hour marathon of speakers and entertainers taking place Tuesday at the Target Center in downtown Minneapolis.
“Most of our people are not wealthy,” said Drew Ivers, a longtime GOP activist who is Paul’s delegate coordinator. “They’re working people feeling the pinch. They’re not country-club elitists. With the price of gas, they’re caravanning in in minivans and the like.
“These people are sacrificing to make this happen,” Ivers added. “I think it’s commendable.”
Speakers expected at the rally include former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, MSNBC correspondent Tucker Carlson, anti-tax lobbyist Grover Norquist, Barry Goldwater Jr., son of the late presidential candidate, and Barb White, a candidate in Minnesota’s fifth congressional district.
On hand to entertain the 10,000 supporters organizers say they expect will be musicians Marc Scibilia, Rockie Lynne, Sara Evans and Aimee Allen, the voice behind “The Ron Paul Revolution Theme Song.” Tickets, still available at Ticketmaster at press time, are priced at a cheeky $17.76.
$4.7 million in campaign coffers
A physician and 10-term congressman from the greater Houston area, Paul officially suspended his campaign for the GOP presidential nomination in June. Instead, he announced, he would use the $4.7 million remaining in his campaign coffers to underwrite the Campaign for Liberty, a grassroots effort to push libertarian-minded candidates for local offices across the country.
http://www.marketwatch.com/n…-49FAF8D09D25%7D&dist=hppr
C-SPAN 2 to cover the entire Rally for the Republic
http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog/?p=428
Ron Paul’s Supporters in Nevada Could Cause McCain Trouble
http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB121944799376665201.html
Ron Paul on FOX News 8/31/08
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c2_tp1RR7c
Ron Paul’s welcome to Minneapolis RNC
http://mparent7777-1.livejournal.com/1472546.html
Pat Buchanan at DNC: ’Come to Ron Paul’s Convention!’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bld1tgarMAs
Filed under: 1st amendment, 2008 Election, Anti-War, army, bill of rights, colorado, demonstration, Denver, Dictatorship, Dissent, DNC, Empire, Fascism, free speech, Iraq, iraq deaths, Iraqnam, IVAW, Marines, Military, nation building, Nazi, occupation, Oppression, Police State, Protest, PTSD, Troops, US Constitution, USMC, veterans, War Crimes, War On Terror | Tags: soldiers, u.s. soldiers
U.S. Marines Act Out Iraq Scenarios at the DNC
The Oregonian
August 26, 2008
The group, representing Iraq Veterans Against the War, staged a series of simulated car stops, detainments, reaction to sniper fire and secure movement through an urban area.
“We’re trying to bring a taste of what an occupied city feels like,” said Army Spc. Garret Reppenhagen, one of the participants.
Filed under: airstrikes, Cold War, Condoleezza Rice, federal crime, Genocide, georgia, Media, media bias, media censorship, Media Fear, Mikheil Saakashvili, Military, military strike, missile defense, moscow, nation building, NATO, neocons, ngo, occupation, Pat Buchanan, Preemptive Strike, preemptive war, putin, Russia, Shock and Awe, South Ossetia, staged provocation, Troops, War Crimes, WW3, ww4 | Tags: missile shield, north ossetia, russian peacekeepers, soldiers, u.s. soldiers
Pat Buchanan: Georgia Started the War
Filed under: airstrikes, belgium, blockade, Britain, bulgaria, ceasefire, Condoleezza Rice, Dmitry Medvedev, Europe, european union, False Flag, federal crime, foreign aid, Genocide, georgia, Germany, Globalism, Iran, Iraq, Medvedev, Mikheil Saakashvili, Military, military strike, moscow, nation building, NATO, navy, neocons, Nuke, occupation, Oil, Pentagon, poland, Preemptive Strike, preemptive war, red cross, romania, Russia, Shock and Awe, South Ossetia, spain, staged provocation, Tehran, Troops, United Kingdom, War Crimes, war funding, war games, War On Terror, war spending, war training, WW3, ww4 | Tags: Dmitry Rogozin, Gerhard Schroeder, jaap de hood scheffer, nuclear war, nuclear warfare, port of Batumi, russian peacekeepers, soldiers, u.s. soldiers, USS McFaul, USS Taylor, warship
US warship anchors at Georgian port
Press TV
August 24, 2008
The guided missile destroyer USS McFaul has anchored at the Georgian port of Batumi, escalating tensions in the conflict-stricken region.
The US says the destroyer, which arrived at the Black Sea port on Sunday, contains humanitarian aid including baby food, diapers, bottled water and milk, AP reported.
This is while the USS McFaul is outfitted with an array of weaponry, including Tomahawk cruise missiles, which can carry both conventional or nuclear warheads, and a sophisticated radar system.
The US Embassy said the destroyer was the first of five American ships scheduled to arrive this week.
Earlier, Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of Russia’s general staff said that the arrival of the ship and those of other NATO members would escalate tensions, adding that NATO is setting up a naval force in the Black Sea under the ’cover’ of aid deliveries to Georgia.
“Under the cover of needing to deliver humanitarian goods, NATO countries continue to boost their naval grouping,” Nogovitsyn told a news conference in Moscow on Saturday.
The US Navy does not say if the ships are carrying nuclear weapons for security reasons.
Georgian military forces attacked South Ossetia to retake control of the independence-seeking province on August 8. In response, Russia moved its forces to the region where most of the population holds Russian citizenship.
The conflict ended after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a French-brokered ceasefire deal last week.
At least 2,000 people in South Osettia and about 150 in Georgia were killed in the conflict. Also, about 40,000 people were displaced in areas around the conflict zone, according to International Committee of the Red Cross.
NATO Ships Enter The Black Sea
IHT
August 22, 2008
NATO warships entered the Black Sea on Thursday for what the alliance said were long-planned exercises and routine visits to ports in Romania and Bulgaria.
The move is not linked to the tensions over Russia’s invasion of Georgia, which lies on the eastern shore of the Black Sea, about 900 kilometers (550 miles) from the Romanian coast, said officials at NATO’s military command in southern Belgium.
Three warships — from Spain, Germany and Poland — sailed into the Black Sea on Thursday. They are due to be joined by a U.S. frigate, the USS Taylor, later this week.
They are “conducting a pre-planned routine visit to the Black Sea region to interact and exercise with our NATO partners Romania and Bulgaria, which is an important feature of our routine planning,” said Vice-Adm. Pim Bedet, deputy commander at allied maritime headquarters in Northwood, England.
However, the move risks increasing tensions with Russia which has deployed ships from its Black Sea fleet to the Georgian coast.
The NATO flotilla includes Spain’s SPS Adm. Juan de Bourbon, Germany’s FGS Luebeck and the Polish ship ORP General K Pulaski. Romanian and Bulgarian ships will join them for exercises during a three-week deployment which NATO says has been planned for over a year.
The Russian ambassador to NATO played down the impact of the emergency meeting of the Western alliance.
“The mountain gave birth to a mouse,” said Dmitry Rogozin.
Although the allies said they would not convene any more meetings of the NATO-Russia Council until Russian troops withdraw from Georgia, they bowed to concerns from Europe — which depends heavily on Russia for energy — and stopped short of adopting specific long-term steps to punish Moscow for its actions.
“There can be no business as usual with Russia under present circumstances,” said Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the alliance’s secretary-general, after NATO foreign ministers met here.
“We are not abandoning the NATO-Russia Council, but as long as Russian forces are occupying large parts of Georgia, I cannot see the NATO-Russia Council meeting,” he told reporters.
Russia, which has accused the United States of wanting to dismantle the council, asked for a meeting last week but has been rebuffed thus far.
De Hoop Scheffer said “the future will depend on concrete actions from the Russian side,” but he was forced to add that “no specific decisions on programs or projects (with Russia) have been taken.”
The Russians have agreed to a cease-fire deal that requires a troop pullback, but at the Pentagon on Tuesday evening officials said the latest assessment by U.S. intelligence was that the Russians had shown no sign of beginning a substantial withdrawal. Two officials, discussing the intelligence assessment on condition of anonymity, said separately that Russian forces were holding their positions.
In a small victory for the United States, NATO foreign ministers did agree to show support for Georgia’s pro-Western government by creating a NATO-Georgia Commission to oversee the former Soviet republic’s bid to join the alliance and begin providing military training to its army.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=67384§ionid=351020602
Russia Warns of Corpse Provocation
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/1010/42/370269.htm
Russian security source says Georgia planned attack year ahead
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080823/116236332.html
Iraq invites Russian oil company back
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D92M5K900.htm
Georgia set for military action – Russian General Staff
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080822/116215518.html
Russia to keep 500 troops in Georgia buffer zone
http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=308583
US: Russia must return any US equipment
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5g..mQ9wB4_FnH5KXkA
Russia Seizes U.S. Vehicles
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/23/georgia.russia
Germany’s Schroeder says Georgia sparked fighting
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LG340681.htm
The History of the Georgia, Russia Conflict
http://www.unobserver.com/inde..ayout5.php&id=5057&blz=1
Medvedev Vies With Putin in Word War
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/600/42/369927.htm
Moscow: U.S. missile shield may spark arms race
http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/29298
Filed under: Afghanistan, army, Iraq, Military, nation building, occupation, Troops, veterans | Tags: Chuck Roeder, Congress, fort sill, House, Maj. Gen. Peter Vangjel, neglect, Pentagon, Senate, soldier, u.s. soldiers, walter reed
Army official forced to quit for reporting mold in veteran’s barracks
Think Progress
August 20, 2008
On Monday, USA Today reported that barracks for wounded soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan at the Army’s Fort Sill were infested with mold. In addition, soldiers living in the units said that “their complaints about mold and other problems” have been ignored for months and that they were told to keep quiet about the problems:
Twenty soldiers, who spoke to USA Today early last week, said their complaints about mold and other problems went unheeded for months. They also said they had been ordered not speak about the conditions at Fort Sill.
The base commander, Maj. Gen. Peter Vangjel, said in response to inquiries about the ongoing problems, “We’re going in and we’re going to take care of this for these guys.” In a later Associated Press report, Vangjel acknowledged that soldiers who knew about the mold were ordered to “remain silent,” but added that suggestions that the complaints were ignored are “simply not true.”
But now the Army appears to have retaliated against the Army social services official, Chuck Roeder, who first reported the poor conditions at Fort Sill — and their neglect — to the media. USA Today reports that Roeder has been forced out of his job:
An Army social services coordinator…who told USA Today about poor conditions at Fort Sill’s unit for wounded soldiers has been forced out of his job, the employee and base officials said Tuesday.
Soldiers meeting with Army Secretary Pete Geren…on Tuesday said Chuck Roeder, 54, was a strong advocate for their problems and should not have been forced to leave. […]
Roeder, a retired soldier, said he was told to resign or he would be fired.
An executive officer at Fort Sill said Roeder’s departure is “purely coincidental.”
The episode at Fort Sill is reminiscent of the handling of the deplorable conditions at Walter Reed uncovered by the Washington Post last year. In the aftermath of the Post’s report, CQ Today revealed that Walter Reed’s problems were long-known to officials in the Army and Congress, the Army accused the media of propagating “misinformation,” and the Pentagon tried to quiet criticisms by blocking the congressional testimony of the former Walter Reed Chief.
Noting that Fort Sill is the second Army installation in recent months to have such problems with barracks for returning soldiers, VetVoice writes, “this is pathetic.”
noworldsystem.com 