May 06 2009
There are a whole slew of things I want to write about coming out in the news, but, this one needs to be written NOW.
There are only two ways to go on torture; a) There are investigations, or, b) There is a continued public kangaroo court that means nothing. There cannot be both.
Follow me after the fold…
May 06 2009
Crossposted from Antemedius
On January 22, 2009 newly inaugurated President Barack Obama to great fanfare signed an Executive Order requiring that the Guantanamo Bay prison “shall be closed as soon as practicable, and no later than 1 year from the date of this order“.
That was more than three months ago.
Today the Wall Street Journal reports that:
Top House Democrats raised tensions with the White House on a key foreign policy goal, rebuffing a request for funding to begin closing the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
President Barack Obama has sought $80 million to begin the process of closing the controversial detention facility, as part of broader legislation needed to continue funding for the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Unveiling the House version of war spending bill, House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D., Wisc.) didn’t include the funds, complaining that the administration has not yet developed a clear plan to wind down operations at Guantanamo and relocate the detainees, either abroad or in the U.S.
“When they have a plan, they’re welcome to come back and talk to us,” Mr. Obey said.
Mr. Obama has issued an executive order ordering the facility be shut down in one year. The administration still has some authority to shift dollars around the budget to help begin the process. But Mr. Obey suggested a “concrete plan” will be needed before lawmakers approve any direct funding to shutter the facility.
The White House had no immediate comment on Mr. Obey’s bill.
When asked in late April about President Obama’s plans to shut down the controversial “war on terror” prison, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said “I think that question is still open“.
May 06 2009
Friends, as you know I have raised the issue of strike drone use by the U.S. in Pakistan on a few occasions. I am currently working on this issue, and a few others, with Avaaz. Please find below a joint entry with my new Avaaz colleague and friend Brett Solomon. Cheers, Raj
With daily news reports suggesting that the democratically elected government of Pakistan is struggling to contain militancy within its borders, Americans and Pakistanis alike are waiting to see how the new U.S. policy, outlined in late March by President Obama, impacts the crisis.
There is a feeling that sustained U.S. and international focus is needed because the militant groups that grew so rapidly under the military government of General Musharraf are threatening the internal security of nuclear-armed Pakistan. This instability is also harming efforts to bring peace and security to bordering Afghanistan.
May 05 2009
Okay, there is nothing the Dog hates more than having to admit to being wrong (being a member of the First Church of the Fonz it is nearly against our religion!) but when you start to try to be in any fashion credible in commentary, even as a lowly poster on a community blog you have to be ready to walk back statements or arguments that are wrong.
May 05 2009
McClatchy reports Pakistan advises Swat inhabitants to evacuate as Taliban takes Mingora. The Taliban has taken the Swat valley’s main town. “Up to now, Pakistan had pretended that a controversial peace accord with Taliban in Swat was still holding.”
The CS Monitor asks what’s the Next Taliban conquest? A view from Pakistan’s frontline. Zeeshan Aslam, shopkeeper and local reporter in Haripur, Pakistan said:
“We are already living in fear”… Additional security forces have come to this city of 100,000, he says, but too few. “The cordon is porous, and they [the Taliban] can easily come in.”
Military spokesman Gen. Athar Abbas offers a different assessment: “There is absolutely no threat to the city of Haripur given the military operation, and all the out routes from Swat [are sealed].”
But that’s not how the NY Times sees it. A Porous Pakistani border could hinder the U.S. in Afghanistan. “The border between Afghanistan and Pakistan barely exists for the Taliban, who are counting on the fact that American forces cannot reach them in their sanctuaries in Pakistan.”
In addition, one Taliban strategist told the Times:
“I know of the Petraeus experiment there,” he said. “But we know our Afghans. They will take the money from Petraeus, but they will not be on his side. There are so many people working with the Afghans and the Americans who are on their payroll, but they inform us, sell us weapons.”
He acknowledged that the Americans would have far superior forces and power this year, but was confident that the Taliban could turn this advantage on its head. “The Americans cannot take control of the villages,” he said. “In order to expel us they will have to resort to aerial bombing, and then they will have more civilian casualties.”
Meanwhile McClatchy also reports Pakistani army flattening villages as it battles Taliban. “The Pakistani army’s assault against Islamic militants in Buner, in northwest Pakistan, is flattening villages, killing civilians and sending thousands of farmers and villagers fleeing from their homes”.
“We didn’t see any Taliban; they are up in the mountains, yet the army flattens our villages,” Zaroon Mohammad, 45, told McClatchy as he walked with about a dozen scrawny cattle and the male members of his family in the relative safety of Chinglai village in southern Buner. “Our house has been badly damaged. These cows are now our total possessions.”
I think its pretty obvious that the U.S. has military trainers in Pakistan. Hearts and minds, people… hearts and minds.
Don’t worry though, the U.S. military is warily encouraged over Pakistan. While Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is “gravely concerned” but noted the Pakistan military may finally be engaging the Taliban.
“That’s where the patience and persistence piece must kick in, as far as I’m concerned, from our perspective.”
The Washington Post seems to dispute Pakistani military cliams, because the newspaper reports the Taliban tightens its hold in Pakistan’s Swat Region and “continued resisting the military’s efforts to dislodge them from neighboring Buner”.
The reason why the Pakistan military may appear to be on the offensive is “an action that could coincide with a crucial aid-seeking visit to Washington this week by President Asif Ali Zardari, whose government has been criticized by U.S. officials for capitulating to the insurgents.”
Four at Four continues with major FAIL for corn ethanol, UN wants to investigate alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza, wha?! Sen. Inhofe does something good, and Sec. LaHood’s describes himself as “window dressing”.
May 05 2009
Iraq, Rapidly becoming the Forgotten War!!
There have been 4,603 coalition deaths — 4,286 Americans, 2 Australians, 1 Azerbaijani, 179 Britons, 13 Bulgarians, 1 Czech, 7 Danes, 2 Dutch, 2 Estonians, 1 Fijian, 5 Georgians, 1 Hungarian, 33 Italians, 1 Kazakh, 1 Korean, 3 Latvian, 22 Poles, 3 Romanians, 5 Salvadoran, 4 Slovaks, 11 Spaniards, 2 Thai and 18 Ukrainians — in the war in Iraq as of May 5 2009, according to a CNN count. { Graphical breakdown of casualties }. The list below is the names of the soldiers, Marines, airmen, sailors and Coast Guardsmen whose deaths have been reported by their country’s governments. The list also includes seven employees of the U.S. Defense Department. At least 31,230 U.S. troops have been wounded in action, according to the Pentagon. View casualties in the war in Afghanistan.
May 05 2009
The words in my title are the one’s Bruce Springsteen used to describe Pete Seeger at his 90th birthday party. And he added to that description the fact that Pete, with his benign grandfatherly appearance, remains a “stealth dagger through the heart of our country’s illusions about itself.”
May 05 2009
April Stephenson, the director of the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA), told the bipartisan Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan on Monday that Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) is connected to “the vast majority” of alleged fraud cases in the Iraq and Afghanistan combat zones.
Plus, the majority of the $13 billion in “questioned” and “unsupported” bills to the Pentagon were submitted by KBR, reports the Washington Post. “KBR’s work accounts for 43 percent of the Pentagon’s audited Iraq contracting dollars”.
“I don’t think we’re aware of a program, contract or contractor that has had this number of suspensions or referrals,” Stephenson said…
Stephenson also revealed that some $553 million in payments have been suspended or blocked because contract officials questioned them or said they were invalid.
Since 2004, 32 cases of alleged bribery, overbilling, or other fraud have been sent to the inspector general for possible legal action.
May 05 2009
Evil has always been with us. It always will be. The difference, the crucial difference between a good world and a bad one is the balance. And we are the balance keepers.
Bad men with too much power are the face of that evil. Just as good men with a balanced amount of power are the face of good.
It is our job to make sure we have plenty of the latter, and as few as possible of the former. It is our job to….in bad times, do all we can do to preserve that balance. And in good times to move that balance as much as we can to the good.
It is our job, because it is within our power to determine what kind of men we put in power. Just as it is our job to try to remove them if they go bad. That is the choice we face, and that is responsibility we have to the world that gave us life.
“The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing people he doesn’t exist.”
If he, if evil, doesn’t exist, we don’t have to do anything but accept that we are powerless and go about our business. But it does, evil does, the Devil does, exist. We see it all around us, all the time.
But it tries to convince us that there is nothing we can do about it
May 05 2009
May 05 2009
Arlen Specter Which Political
Party Do You
Belong Too?
The Party Of What’s
Best For Arlen
Murtha’s Nephew Got Defense Contracts
Millions in Work Came Without Competition
By Carol D. Leonnig and Alice Crites
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
The headquarters of Murtech, in a low-slung, bland building in a Glen Burnie business park, has its blinds drawn tight and few signs of life. On several days of visits, a handful of cars sit in the parking lot, and no trucks arrive at the 10 loading bays at the back of the building.Yet last year, Murtech received $4 million in Pentagon work, all of it without competition, for a variety of warehousing and engineering services. With its long corridor of sparsely occupied offices and an unmanned reception area, Murtech’s most striking feature is its owner — Robert C. Murtha Jr., 49. He is the nephew of Rep. John P. Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who has significant sway over the Defense Department’s spending as chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee.
Swine flu fears subside, but second wave looms
In previous outbreaks, new infections in fall and winter were most deadly
By JoNel Aleccia
Health writer
msnbc.com
The rest of the world may be exhaling at the apparent easing of a potential swine flu pandemic, but some global experts are tempering their optimism with concerns about what one calls “the fall question.”That’s the uncertainty over whether the current outbreak is only a preview of what’s to come, an echo of previous epidemics – including the 1918 flu – that saw mild first cases of infection in the spring followed by more severe second and third bouts in the fall and winter that brought widespread infection, illness and death.
“Right now, you have to wait and watch,” said Ann Marie Kimball, professor of epidemiology and an expert in emerging infectious disease at the University of Washington in Seattle.
USA
Where Home Prices Crashed Early, Signs of a Rebound
By DAVID STREITFELD
Published: May 4, 2009
SACRAMENTO – Is this what a bottom looks like?
This city was among the first in the nation to fall victim to the real estate collapse. Now it seems to be in the earliest stages of a recovery, a hopeful sign for an economy mired in trouble and anxiety.Investors and first-time buyers, the traditional harbingers of a housing rebound, are out in force here, competing for bargain-price foreclosures. With sales up 45 percent from last year, the vast backlog of inventory has diminished. Even prices, which have plummeted to levels not seen since the beginning of the decade, show evidence of stabilizing.
May 05 2009
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