Yearly Archives: 2013

The People Say No To War

"What happened? The people happened. Public-opinion polls showed at once that most of us do not want Obama to commit an act of war against Syria. Furthermore, the people inundated Congress with calls and emails. Because of this (and in some cases personal conviction), most members of Congress also do not want war with Syria. Obama got the message: he was heading for sure defeat in the House of Representatives and perhaps in the Senate. He couldn’t bear the prospect of rebuff. Russian president Vladimir Putin gave him a graceful way out. Because the people didn’t want war, when a possible diplomatic solution arose, Obama had to go for it. The people gave him no choice." Continue reading →

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Jews say no to AIPAC and say no to bombing Syria

"We are appalled that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is sending hundreds of people to lobby Congress to approve a resolution to bomb Syria. The media also reports that Sheldon Adelson and the Republican Jewish Coalition are pushing hard for war. We don’t want it to be known that Jews stood silent as the powerful Israel lobby helped push the U.S. into a war in defiance of international law and American public opinion. The Israeli government should stop pointing the finger and admit its own abuses of chemicals. It used white phosphorus in its terrible 2008 attack on Gaza. Over the years it has used tear gas recklessly and killed and sickened many, many Palestinians." Continue reading →

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Ron Paul Questions The Double-Dealing Empire

"How can the U.S. be both fighting Al Qaeda, and at the same time aiding them to overthrow Assad in Syria? Well, this isn't the first time that Ron Paul has posed this type of question. Let's rewind back to 1983, when the bogeyman was The Soviet Union. Here's Ron Paul speaking on the House floor, asking an almost identical question: 'Why are we engaged in military action against the Communists in which American lives are being lost when we cannot take the simple action of cutting off the flow of money to the Communists? For decades we have pursued this immoral course of action, asking American men to die fighting an enemy the American government has financed.'" Continue reading →

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Obama admin. sends guns to Syria…without background checks

"Have these rebels, who reportedly have ties to terrorist groups, gone through background checks? Does this transfer of light weapons and munitions to Syrian rebels go against the grain of the United Nations’ Small Arms Trade Treaty, which the president has said he supports and would sign? There have been allegations that the Syrian rebels have strong connections to al Qaeda, the same organization that claimed responsibility for the 9/11 attacks in 2001, and has been linked to last year’s Benghazi attack, and we’re giving these people weapons? Does it seem that the president is [little] concerned about putting guns in the hands of people whose idea of justice is public execution?" Continue reading →

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John Kerry Admits Syrian Rebels Could Have Chemical Weapons

"Kerry said UN inspectors must be on the ground no later than November, while the destruction of chemical weapons must be completed by the middle of 2014. 'Providing this framework is fully implemented it can end the threat these weapons pose not only to the Syrian people but also their neighbors,' Kerry said adding that Russian and US teams of experts had reached 'a shared assessment' of the existing stockpile and that Syria must destroy all of its weapons. It was possible that the Syrian rebels have some chemical weapons, he acknowledged." Continue reading →

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Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri calls for U.S. attacks and economic boycott

"'We should bleed America economically by provoking it to continue in its massive expenditure on its security, for the weak point of America is its economy, which has already begun to stagger due to the military and security expenditure,' Zawahiri said according to the SITE translation. 'And keeping America in tension and anticipation only costs a few disparate attacks here and there, meaning as we defeated it in the gang warfare in Somalia, Yemen, Iraq and Afghanistan, so we should follow it with that war on its own land,' he added." Continue reading →

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U.S. Drones Double Tap, Targeting Rescuers

"The U.S. use of drones in the 'war on terror' includes what is called a 'double tap,' meaning sending a second drone to the same area, in what amounts to targeting rescuers who are responding to the first attack. This isn’t new, not the action nor the reporting. What does it tell us, that 'double tapping' continues, about the decisions of the Obama administration, and the reactions, or lack thereof, from the U.S. public? Michael Kelly’s conclusion that the fact that double tapping 'is now normalized as a common tactic of the U.S. drone war is stunning' seems accurate to me. But I’m also not stunned that more people aren’t stunned by this 'normalcy.'" Continue reading →

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Nobel laureates urge end to Syria hospital attacks

"'Systematic assaults on medical professionals, facilities and patients are breaking Syria’s health-care system and making it nearly impossible for civilians to receive essential medical services,' they said in an open letter. The letter described the attacks as 'deliberate and systematic…. (and) an unconscionable betrayal of the principle of medical neutrality.' 'We call on the Syrian government and all armed parties to refrain from attacking hospitals, ambulances, medical facilities and supplies, health professionals and patients; allow access to treatment for any patient; and hold perpetrators of such violations accountable according to internationally recognised legal standards,' it said." Continue reading →

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A Rogue State and Failed Social Visions

"We are always getting New Freedoms, New Frontiers, Fair Deals, New Deals, Square Deals, Wars on Drugs, Wars to End All Wars, Wars to Make the World Safe for Democracy, Global Wars on Terror, and Wars on Poverty. We are always getting social visions enacted with names like Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Employment Non-Discrimination Act, Defense of Marriage Act, Family and Medical Leave Act, and the Iraq Liberation Act. There’s no getting around it. The U.S. is a rogue state domestically as well as in its international affairs. These are two sides of the same belief system." Continue reading →

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