Jun 24 2010
Cross-posted at Dkos http://www.dailykos.com/story/…
We’ve all seen the photos of the wildlife stricken by the oil spill, and I expect most who’ve seen them have been saddened and outraged.
I’ve been plenty horrified and outraged myself.
The following photos are upsetting.
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Jun 23 2010
In his latest column David Ignatius says McCrystal’s…
…comments actually understate the backbiting among these senior policymakers and their staffs.
Anybody who has been around Washington’s foreign policy elite (I have, at times had a window into that world) knows the tension between civilian leadership and various faction of the military and, indeed, between not only the services but between factions within those services. Also, most people don’t understand the balance of power has shifted, over the decades, toward the Pentagon because, frankly, money talks and the Pentagon budget has a enormous influence over political realities in Congress. So, at the moment, we are as close to military rule as we’ve ever been as should be obvious by the MSM’s obvious reluctance to criticize the military despite the overwhelming evidence of atrocities practiced by both low and high ranking personnel. It is important to understand that this civilian vs. military conflict is very much a cultural conflict between an institution dominated by southerners and red-state Republicans who have a strong need to have “enemies” to be psychically healthy and a strong disdain for people who can see both sides of issues. Life to them is a simple matter of “them and us.” Frankly, these guys just consider themselves more manly than the civilians involved in FP discussions.
Jun 15 2010
Borrowing from Joe Wilson’s take on “What I didn’t find in…” comes a story today from the NY Times that Afghanistan is rich in untapped natural resources.
WASHINGTON – The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials.
Do you remember Osama Bin Laden? The reason we went to war. Or was it?
Jun 12 2010
This was previously blogged this afternoon over at FDL much better than I could do it, so I’m going to direct you over to there and Jane Hamsher and Jim White:
Transcript: Daniel Ellsberg Says He Fears US Might Assassinate Wikileaks Founder
http://fdlaction.firedoglake.c…
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange released the Iraq War video “Collateral Murder” this past April, which is shot from the viewpoint of the US Apache Helicopter crew who murdered 2 Reuters journalists in 2007. The person who leaked the video to Wikileaks, Spc Bradley Manning, was arrested May 26th 2010 in Iraq.
My previous diary 6/7/10 “Wikileaks source arrested, hacker snitched”
https://www.docudharma.com/diar…
Diary on the video, 4/5/10, “Wikileaks: Reuters and kids as collateral damage”
https://www.docudharma.com/diar…
For you younger folk, Daniel Ellsberg was the reason we finally began to get out of the Vietnam War, because he leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1971.
Ellsberg wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D…
He attended Harvard University, graduating with a Ph.D. (summa cum laude) in Economics in 1962 in which he described a paradox in decision theory now known as the Ellsberg paradox. He graduated first in a class of almost 1,100 lieutenants at the Marine Corps Basic School in Quantico, Virginia, and served as an officer in the Marine Corps for two years. After his discharge, he became an analyst at the RAND Corporation.Ellsberg served in the Pentagon from August 1964[1] under Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara (and, in fact, was on duty on the evening of the Gulf of Tonkin incident, reporting the incident to McNamara). He then served for two years in Vietnam working for General Edward Lansdale as a civilian in the State Department.
After returning from Vietnam, Ellsberg went back to work at the RAND Corporation. In 1967, he contributed to a top-secret study of classified documents regarding the conduct of the Vietnam War that had been commissioned by Defense Secretary McNamara.[2] These documents, completed in 1968, later became known collectively as the Pentagon Papers. Because he held an extremely high-level security clearance, Ellsberg was one of very few individuals who had access to the complete set of documents.[3] They revealed that the government had knowledge all along that the war would not likely be won, and that continuing the war would lead to many times more casualties than was ever admitted publicly.[4] Further, the papers showed that high-ranking officials had a deep cynicism toward the public, as well as disregard for the loss of life and injury suffered by soldiers and civilians.[4]
Pentagon Papers wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P…
The Pentagon Papers, officially titled United States-Vietnam Relations, 1945-1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense, was a top-secret United States Department of Defense history of the United States’ political-military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967. Commissioned by United States Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara in 1967, the study was completed in 1968. The papers were first brought to the attention of the public on the front page of the New York Times in 1971.[1]Daniel Ellsberg quote, years later:
Well, I had been consulting for the government, and this is now ’64, for about six years at that point, since ’58, in particular since ’59: Eisenhower, Kennedy, and now Johnson. And I had seen a lot of classified material by this time-I mean, tens of thousands of pages-and had been in a position to compare it with what was being said to the public. The public is lied to every day by the President, by his spokespeople, by his officers. If you can’t handle the thought that the President lies to the public for all kinds of reasons, you couldn’t stay in the government at that level, or you’re made aware of it, a week. ….. The fact is Presidents rarely say the whole truth-essentially, never say the whole truth-of what they expect and what they’re doing and what they believe and why they’re doing it and rarely refrain from lying, actually, about these matters.[26]
Jun 10 2010
After the first part of the report by Danny Zwerdling and T. Christian Miller of NPR and ProPublica there was the following, before the second part, that aired on the NPR show ‘Talk of the Nation’.
Army Responds To Brain Injury Investigation
Guests Danny Zwerdling, NPR national desk correspondent and Gen. Peter Chiarelli, U.S. Army Vice Chief of StaffJune 9, 2010 An NPR investigation found that the U.S. military often fails to diagnose traumatic brain injuries in troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The investigation also revealed that many soldiers receive little or no treatment for lingering health problems after suffering brain injuries.
Jun 07 2010
How else can you explain it?
Massacres, disasters, high crimes, betrayals, faked pandemics, the disintegration of decency, the destruction of dignity, the religion of the root of all evil and the genocide of the poor by the rich.
Flashes of outrage replaced by short-term memory fail. Moments of insight chasing the rabbit down the memory hole.
They say in time “everything that is hidden will eventually be brought into the open, and every secret will be brought to light.”
But I say what more do you need? The truth isn’t “out there” it’s right in front of your face. Staring at you and daring you to do something about it.
It’s not the truth which sets you free, but what you do about it which frees you.
Jun 06 2010
So, what are we doing in Afghanistan? Let’s ask some intelligent Afghanis.
(Cross-posted at DKOS)
It’s near-impossible to find anyone in Afghanistan who doesn’t believe the US are funding the Taliban: and it’s the highly educated Afghan professionals, those employed by ISAF, USAID, international media organisations – and even advising US diplomats – who seem the most convinced.
Where does this story come from? The Guardian, which actually takes an interest in digging a little deeper than most U.S. media outlets: Afghans believe US is funding Taliban by Daniella Peled.
Americans are often baffled, if they bother to travel and interact with the natives in a realistic way, at how differently people view the world. For people in the rest of the world conspiracies are normal. False flag events, double-crosses, double-dealing are well known in cultures with long oral traditions. Indeed, had we in America been much interested in history we would realize that there are plots all over the place about all kinds of major and minor issues. Yes, people are not honest. Shocking.
Is there merit to their argument?
Jun 05 2010
Honoring the fallen in Afghanistan
Staff Sgt. Rachel Martinez, USAF Photo by SSgt. Matt Davis, USAF NTM-A31 May 2010 As the sun set over Camp Eggers on Memorial Day, hundreds of coalition members gathered to pay tribute to comrades lost in battle – not just U.S. fallen heroes, but fallen heroes from every nation.
During the coalition memorial remembrance ceremony, service members who gave their life in support of Operation Enduring Freedom were honored with a moment of silence and a roll call of their names during a candlelight ceremony.
“Those that have given their last full measure for this mission are as varied as those that serve here today,” said Army Lt. Gen. William Caldwell IV, NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan and Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan commanding general. “Privates to chief warrant officers to lieutenant colonels – from the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Canada, Latvia, the United States and from Afghanistan – they are members of all services, from National Guard, Reserve and Active components.”
While many countries have their own dedicated day set aside to remember the fallen members of their armed forces, special effort was made to include all coalition countries into the Memorial Day remembrance as a sign of the joint effort and sacrifice happening in Afghanistan. Representatives of many coalition nations were present at the ceremony, raising flags, lighting candles and paying their respects. Continued
Jun 03 2010
This is an attempt to assess how political life has been foreshortened by the fact that “the horizon of the future has contracted.”
(Crossposted at Orange and Firedoglake)
May 31 2010
The Fallen of Afghanistan and Iraq
April 2010***March 2010***February 2010***January 2010***December 2009***November 2009***October 2009***September 2009***August 2009***July 2009***June 2009***May 2009***April 2009***March 2009***February 2009***January 2009***December 2008***November 2008***October 2008***September 2008***August 2008***July 2008***June 2008***May 2008***April 2008***March 2008***Febuary 2008***January 2008***
December 2007***November 2007***October 2007***September 2007***August 2007***July 2007***June 2007***May 2007***April 2007***March 2007***Feb. 2007***Jan. 2007***2006***2005***2004***2003
May 31 2010
(published at Truthout.org)
Memorial Day, observed since the end of the Civil War, is a day that we honor the soldiers who have fallen in the service of their country. As a veteran, I can think of no other way that better epitomizes what it means to be an American than to honor those who died for our country. But Memorial Day is more than simply a day for honoring our fallen soldiers; it is also about remembering the ideals for which they gave their lives.
