Category: Iraq

On Tuesday Oct. 6th, the U.S. Senate approved the largest military budget bill in the history of our nation: $626 billion. [1]

Next, the bill will be sent to a conference committee and then back to the House and Senate for final passage.

There remains a short window of opportunity to stop this wasteful military madness.

Tell your members of Congress to vote “NO” on the 2010 defense appropriations bill.

It's time to end the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

It's time to roll back the out-of-control militarism that is bankrupting our nation, morally and financially.

The Pentagon budget bill contains $128 billion to extend the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — bringing total spending on these wars to over $1 trillion.

Enough is enough. 51% of Americans now believe that the Afghan war is not worth fighting. [2]

We should dedicate most of that $626 billlion to meet the needs of Americans hit hard by the economic crisis, facing foreclosures, lack of health insurance, hunger, and lamentable schools.

We need to take action, motivated by the words of Dr. Martin Luther King: “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”

Yes! I'll tell Congress to vote “NO” on the bloated 2010 military budget.

Notes

(1) Andrew Taylor, “Senate Passes Pentagon Budget, War Funding.”  Associated Press, October 6, 2009.

(2) Jennifer Agiesta and Jon Cohen, “Public Opinion in U.S. Turns Against the War.”  Washington Post, August 20, 2009.

The Iraqi people and others, in solidarity with the Iraqi people, have filed a lawsuit, in Spain, against four U.S. Presidents and four U.K. Prime Ministers FOR WAR CRIMES, CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY AND GENOCIDE IN IRAQ.  The suit was filed just one day* prior to a new ruling limiting “universal jurisdiction,” thought to have come about by U.S. pressure on and bowed to by Spain. (WHEW!)

Here is the Press Release:

PRESS RELEASE

FOR JUSTICE FOR IRAQ:

LEGAL CASE FILED AGAINST

FOUR US PRESIDENTS

AND FOUR UK PRIME MINISTERS

FOR WAR CRIMES, CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY

AND GENOCIDE IN IRAQ

For immediate release

Date: 7 October 2009

MADRID: Today the Spanish Senate, acting to confirm a decision already taken under pressure from powerful governments accused of grave crimes, will limit Spain’s laws of universal jurisdiction. Yesterday, ahead of the change of law,* a legal case was filed at the Audiencia Nacional against four United States presidents and four United Kingdom prime ministers for commissioning, condoning and/or perpetuating multiple war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Iraq.

This case, naming George H W Bush, William J Clinton, George W Bush, Barack H Obama, Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Anthony Blair and Gordon Brown, is brought by Iraqis and others who stand in solidarity with the Iraqi people and in defence of their rights and international law.

Iraq: 19 years of intended destruction

next . . .  

Afghanistan stopped being anything about 9/11 when the talk and the beating of the war drums started and got louder for invading an absolutely innocent people and country, a country led by our once good friend, and brutal dictator, that some wanted silenced.

Now we enter the ninth year of occupying a country that if we had really kept our promises, as we didn’t once before, and helped them might look and be a completely different country, for the innocent Afghans.

All about the Middle East and Iran.  Yes, I’ll be all of that tonight, again.  But, I’m going to do it at Daily Kos.  Yes, I’m not happy about it, but, I think it is time to toss some sanity into progressives yelling “bomb bomb”.

So… give me time to write it up… and… I’ll post the link shortly.

Yesterday, the fifth of October, I posted up a Parade Magazine article I found on Max Cleland and his new book {on my site and a few open threads etc.}. This morning I heard a short, but real good, interview on NPR’s Morning Edition {below with links}, that should be added to the Parade article. This, while short, was a pretty good interview as Max hit’s on a number of issues but unable to delve deeper. Here’s hoping as he has started to promote the book that we get to hear and see longer more in depth interviews, I for one hope so, not only because of the brotherhood of us ‘Nam Vets and the whole Veterans community, but because Max doesn’t hold back, never did, and speaks with feeling and conviction.

Crossposted at Daily Kos

    In a startling article at huffingtonpost.com by Andy Worthington, author of “The Guantanamo Files”, puts together an absolute must read in my opinion.

False confessions obtained through torture

   The judge also noted the significance of the evidence in the record indicating that al-Rabiah “subsequently confided in interrogators [redacted] that he was being pressured to falsely confess to the allegations discussed above,” and also the significance of the fact that, although “al-Rabiah’s interrogators ultimately extracted confessions from him,” they “never believed his confessions based on the comments they included in their interrogation reports.”

    After noting — again with a palpable sense of incredulity — that “These are the confessions that the Government now asks the Court to accept as evidence in this case,” Judge Kollar-Kotelly proceeded to demolish them all . . .

From Huffingtonpost.com

Bold added by diarist

     More below the fold

In Federalist Paper #4, founding father of America John Jay wrote:

MY LAST paper assigned several reasons why the safety of the people would be best secured by union against the danger it may be exposed to by JUST causes of war given to other nations; and those reasons show that such causes would not only be more rarely given, but would also be more easily accommodated, by a national government than either by the State governments or the proposed little confederacies.

But the safety of the people of America against dangers from FOREIGN force depends not only on their forbearing to give JUST causes of war to other nations, but also on their placing and continuing themselves in such a situation as not to INVITE hostility or insult; for it need not be observed that there are PRETENDED as well as just causes of war.

In 1960, Dwight Eisenhower said in his farewell speech:

Throughout America’s adventure in free government, our basic purposes have been to keep the peace; to foster progress in human achievement, and to enhance liberty, dignity and integrity among people and among nations. To strive for less would be unworthy of a free and religious people. Any failure traceable to arrogance, or our lack of comprehension or readiness to sacrifice would inflict upon us grievous hurt both at home and abroad.

In both of the above, two very important individuals in the history of America have warned us, as a nation and government, of the consequences to our country of engaging in unjust wars.  It is a lessen that we, as a nation and government, have failed to heed.

In this essay, I went through the history of American involvement in the Middle East and the reason behind it.  To our government, the availability of oil to our nation became a national security issue.  

When we put the world events over the past nine years into context, we see the beginning of the `resource wars` and no resource is more sought after than oil…

Crossposted at Daily Kos

Obama CAN NOT lose something that is already lost.

   Short diary, but worth discussing.

I WANT TO KILL THIS MEME NOW!

    Meme: Obama might lose Afghanistan without surge

    NEW RULE: Idiots who were wrong about Iraq DON’T GET to give any more unvise about what the military should do.

    Bush and Republicans LOST AFGHANISTAN the Minute they moved the debate to Iraq, like idiots.

Unvice = crappy advise from people who are always WRONG

.

Republicans, Joe Lieberman and the MIC want more war, and they want it bad. No strategy, no exit plan, just give us more troops and money or the Country is DOOMED, I say, DOOMED. And then the terrorists will win, they’ll get WMD’s, the Taliban will get stronger and al Qaeda will attack us again.

     Blah, Blah, Blah, I’ve heard this bullshit before.

To which my answer to the Unxperts are: Didn’t you say that about Iraq?

     More Sunday ranting below the fold

Gold Star Mother’s Day in United States

Gold Star Mother’s Day is observed in the United States on the last Sunday of September each year. It is a day to for people to recognize and honor those who have lost a son or daughter while serving the United States Armed Forces.

Gold Star Moms Website

This is gonna be short but Real Sweet!!

I want you to go over to VetVoice and visit a post Richard Smith just placed with all the good news of How This New Veterans Administration, under the Obama Administration, Really Works!!

Richard starts the long subject title with what I’ve got in mine, then leads into this:

{follow me  below}

This is original to docudharma.

And so we have another general begging to send more troops to a foreign war.  Apparently McCrystal doesn’t think we can finish the job with what we have there.  All well and good, I suppose.  I can’t imagine many generals not wanting more troops when their war isn’t going swimmingly.