As US attention is directed toward Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen a civil war continues to rage in Iraq.
Via: Juan Cole
Iraq’s Civil War Grinds on, with 62 Dead, 200 Wounded in Karbala Blasts
…
Tuesday, a suicide bomber killed some 60 persons in the northern Sunni Arab city of Tikrit
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The total of deaths from political violence in Iraq in 2010 was 5,167. This number included 4,023 civilians….
This war isn’t the focus of a national debate and is considered over by most; but not if you live in Iraq. The legacy of the Bush Doctrine “policy of preventive war” lives on and the Iraqi’s continue to suffer.
2 years agoJanuary 22, 2011 Reblog iraq terror war
Nir Rosen: the Iraq and Af-Pak Wars, at the Receiving End
Via: Open Source Radio
This is a long interview that makes a good antidote to the pabulum we are fed by the mass media and US administration propagandists.
Via: wikipedia
Nir Rosen (born 1977 in New York City) is an American journalist and a chronicler of the Iraq War. Rosen writes on current and international affairs.
Rosen is best known for his writings on the rise of violence in Iraq following the 2003 invasion, which form the basis of his first book, In the Belly of the Green Bird (2006). He spent more than two years in Iraq reporting on the Coalition occupation, the relationship between Americans and Iraqis, the development of postwar Iraqi religious and political movements, inter-ethnic and sectarian relations, and the Iraqi civil war.
He regularly contributes to leading periodicals, such as Atlantic Monthly, the Washington Post, the New York Times Magazine, the Boston Review, and Harper’s. He contributed to the footage of Iraq in Charles Ferguson’s documentary No End In Sight and was also interviewed for the film.
2 years agoJanuary 8, 2011 Reblog terror war middle east
Via: Juan Cole
The Guardian reports that a lawsuit brought by a Pakistani journalist over wrongful deaths in drone strikes has forced the CIA station chief in Islamabad to flee the country. The official’s identity was discovered by the journalist, Karim Khan of North Waziristan from other journalists or possibly from disgruntled elements in the Pakistani military. It was alleged that the station chief had entered the country on a tourist visa and so had no diplomatic immunity.
The episode demonstrates the miseries of postmodern warfare, wherein President Obama is treating Pakistan the way Henry Kissinger treated Cambodia. If the US is going to conduct military operations in a country, it should be in the terms of a Status of Forces Agreement, and should be carried out by the Department of Defense. To have the CIA just lob missiles onto civilian villages in another country is wrong for all kinds of reasons. CIA operations are covert and US officials cannot even talk about them in public. There therefore can be no public debate or scrutiny of the policy. And, the whole operation breaks US law, since it is essentially a mass assassination campaign, not a war.
Read entire post
2 years agoDecember 18, 2010 2 notes Reblog pakistan politic terror war xl
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB326/doc08.pdf
Read all about it, Rumsfeld, Bush and crew cooked up a list of reasons to invade Iraq in November 2001. Its called a war of aggression and its against International Law.
Via:
Juan Cole2 years agoSeptember 25, 2010 5 notes Reblog Iraq war terrorism
From: NY Times
U.S. Discovers Nearly $1 Trillion in Afghan Mineral Deposits
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.
The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of
iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals
like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that
are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could
eventually be transformed into one of the most important
mining centers in the world, the United States officials
believe.
It seems to me this signals US intentions to stay in Afghanistan for the duration of our life time. I hope the common Afghani people will benefit for this discovery and not just Haliburton, BP, Bechtel and Afghani equivalents.
2 years agoJune 13, 2010 5 notes Reblog politics terror economy war
Martin Van Crevald — noted Israeli Military Historian
link
2 years agoJune 1, 2010 4 notes Reblog Israel war terror
The CIA’s invisible covert target killing program. Assassination from the sky by drones. Is this the moral or legitimate use of state power? We are doing it with no restrictions to where.
Listen to Jane Mayer talk about this on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross.
3 years agoOctober 21, 2009 6 notes Reblog war terror
Photo and narration by Peter Van Agtmael Magnum Photographer
I don’t see any point in the Marine’s activity.
3 years agoOctober 14, 2009 Reblog terro war afghanistan
TEHRAN, Oct. 4 (Xinhua News Service)
At a joint press conference with Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization chief Ali Akbar Salehi in Tehran, ElBaradei brought Israel under spotlight and said that the Tel Aviv regime has refused to allow inspections into its nuclear installations for 30years, the report said.
“Israel is the number one threat to the Middle East given the nuclear arms it possesses,” ElBaradei was quoted as saying
3 years agoOctober 4, 2009 1 note Reblog iran israel war nukes
Video: On the Front Lines with Echo Company
From upcoming PBS Frontline program Obama’s War
24 minute preview
3 years agoOctober 1, 2009 Reblog Afghanistan war
