War & Peace

Ron Paul: The Real Meaning of President Obama’s National Security Speeches

"This past Thursday and Friday, President Obama delivered two speeches designed to outline his new thinking on national security and counter-terrorism. While much was made in the media of the president’s statements at the National Defense University and the US Naval Academy suggesting that the most active phase of US military action overseas was coming to an end, this 'new' approach is but the same old policy wrapped in new packaging. In these addresses, the president panders to the progressives, while continually expanding and solidifying the 'enabling act' principle." Continue reading →

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Glenn Greenwald: Andrew Sullivan, terrorism, and the art of distortion

"I used to wonder how people who continuously justify any manner of violence and militarism by their own side could possibly spend so much time pointing to others and depicting them - those people over there - as the embodiment of violence and savage aggression. But at some point I realized that it's precisely because they continuously justify so much violence and aggression from their side that they have such a boundless compulsion to depict others as the Uniquely Primitive and Violent Evil. That's how they absolve themselves. It's how they distract themselves from the reality of what they support and what their governments do in the world." Continue reading →

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Getting Up-to-date on Syria

"The rebel leader has called for reinforcements. That article mentions that 'More than 80,000 Christians were forced to flee al-Qusayr in late 2012 to escape the frenzy of the jihadists.' The U.S. is on the side of a collection of certain jihadist groups. Hezbollah, associated with Iran, has joined the Syrian government side. It is the prospect of an Assad win that has Obama, Kerry and the Senate warmongers scrambling with new propaganda angles so that they can find cover and more freely supply the rebels with stronger weapons. They are also pushing to end an embargo on arms shipments from Europe." Continue reading →

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Political Savvy of Osama Bin Laden vs. US Foreign Policy Establishment

"In his 1963 book The Pure Theory of Politics, Bertrand de Jouvenal writes of terrorist strategy (p. 179) '... if the terrorist blows are dealt at random, it will almost inevitably happen that reactions [of authorities] will fly wide of the mark and affect the innocent. Goading the authorities into hurting innocent bystanders is essential to terrorist strategy. Its efficiency lies mainly in evoking blind anger and blundering retorts...' Who was more politically savvy on this matter, Osama bin Laden or George W. Bush? Or the neocons who influenced him? Or the U.S. Congress? Or Barack Hussein Obama for that matter?" Continue reading →

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Court orders UK to hold inquiries into illegal civilian deaths during Iraq War

"A series of public inquests should be held into the deaths of civilians who are alleged to have been killed unlawfully by the British military following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the high court has ruled. In a ground-breaking judgment that could have an impact on how the British military is able to conduct operations among civilians in the future, the court ruled on Friday that up to 161 deaths should be the subject of hearings modelled upon coroners’ inquests. In practice, a series of hearings – possibly amounting to more than 100 – are likely to be held as a result of the judgment, which follows a three-year legal battle on behalf of the Iraqis’ families." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCourt orders UK to hold inquiries into illegal civilian deaths during Iraq War

Honduran victims of US drug war still await justice

"In the increasingly militarised drug war, suspects are sometimes killed in the field; suspicion of involvement in drug trafficking warrants a death sentence. Government drug warriors on the scene play the role of judge, jury and executioner. This May 11 marked one year since the tragic killing of four indigenous villagers in Ahuas, in Honduras' Moskitia region. The victims, who included a pregnant woman and a 14-year-old boy, were killed in a joint US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)/Honduran police counter-narcotics operation. Three other villagers were shot and wounded." Continue reading →

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The Dark Side of Liberation: Rape By American Soldiers In WWII France

"The soldiers who landed in Normandy on D-Day were greeted as liberators, but by the time American G.I.’s were headed back home in late 1945, many French citizens viewed them in a very different light. In the port city of Le Havre, the mayor was bombarded with letters from angry residents complaining about drunkenness, jeep accidents, sexual assault — 'a regime of terror,' as one put it, 'imposed by bandits in uniform.' Ms. Roberts also found a desperate letter from the mayor in August 1945 urging American commanders to set up brothels outside the city, to halt the 'scenes contrary to decency' that overran the streets, day and night." Continue reading →

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‘The Rendition Project’ sheds new light on U.S. global kidnap and secret detention program

"A groundbreaking research project has mapped the US government’s global kidnap and secret detention programme, shedding unprecedented light on one of the most controversial secret operations of recent years. The interactive online project – by two British universities and a legal charity – has uncovered new details of the way in which the so-called extraordinary rendition programme operated for years in the wake of the September 11 attacks, and the techniques used by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to avoid detection in the face of growing public concern." Continue reading →

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Antiwar.com Lost Major Donors After News of FBI Monitoring Broke

"Yesterday the ACLU filed a lawsuit on our behalf against the Federal Bureau of Investigation, demanding the receipt of records in their possession regarding surveillance of Antiwar.com, and key editorial personnel. We know they possess such records because of documents received as a result of a third party Freedom of Information Act request, subsequently published online. A memo from FBI headquarters in Washington speculates Antiwar.com and its principals are possibly 'a threat to national security' engaging in a conspiracy 'on behalf of a foreign power' and recommends a more thorough investigation." Continue reading →

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When Terrorism Comes Home

"Several observers have pointed out the similarities between today's savage attack in London, where a British soldier was reportedly beheaded by two men shouting 'Allahu Akbar,' and the gruesome recent attack by US/UK-supported Free Syrian Army Commander Abu Sakkar, who cut out and devoured his Syrian Army soldier victim's heart. That US overt and covert support of the insurgency in Syria, including its radical and al-Qaeda affiliated elements, is a known fact. But we know that eventually these US-supported Islamist radicals with Western passports will come home -- and now we have a better idea of what might be in store for us when they do." Continue reading →

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