War & Peace

The Military-Industrial Complex, Neocons and General Patraeus

"Frederick and Kimberly Kagan, a husband-and-wife team of hawkish military analysts, put their jobs at influential Washington think tanks on hold for almost a year to work for Gen. David H. Petraeus when he was the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan. The pro-bono relationship, which is now being scrutinized by military lawyers, yielded valuable benefits. The Kagans’ proximity to Petraeus provided an incentive for defense contractors to contribute to Kim Kagan’s think tank. For Petraeus, embracing two respected national security analysts in GOP circles helped to shore up support for the war among Republican leaders on Capitol Hill." Continue reading →

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Sandy Hook Massacre: Sympathy from the Devil

"What Adam Lanza did once in a fit of murderous irrationality, the Regime over which Obama presides does practically every day – by people who act with clear-eyed, clinical indifference to the suffering they inflict. The killer who slaughtered the innocent at Sandy Hook is dead. The Child-Killing Apparatus over which Obama presides continues merrily along. Americans understandably shaken and saddened to the depth of their souls by the horrors in Newton should consider this: The government that impudently presumes to rule us has made Sandy Hook-style massacres routine for residents of Pakistan." Continue reading →

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The Woes of an American Drone Operator

"A soldier sets out to graduate at the top of his class. He succeeds, and he becomes a drone pilot working with a special unit of the United States Air Force in New Mexico. He kills dozens of people. But then, one day, he realizes that he can't do it anymore. For more than five years, Brandon Bryant worked in an oblong, windowless container about the size of a trailer, where the air-conditioning was kept at 63 degrees Fahrenheit and, for security reasons, the door couldn't be opened. Bryant and his coworkers sat in front of 14 computer monitors and four keyboards. When Bryant pressed a button in New Mexico, someone died on the other side of the world." Continue reading →

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Double Tap Drones: What Has Happened to the United States?

"NYU student Josh Begley is tweeting every reported U.S. drone strike since 2002, and the feed highlights a disturbing tactic employed by the U.S. that is widely considered a war crime. Known as the 'double tap,' the tactic involves bombing a target multiple times in relatively quick succession, meaning that the second strike often hits first responders. A 2007 report by the Homeland Security Institute called double taps a 'favorite tactic of Hamas' and the FBI considers it a tactic employed by terrorists. The reports featured on @dronestream clearly document that U.S. hellfire missiles have intentionally targeted funerals and civilian rescuers." Continue reading →

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Ron Paul: Expanding Covert Warfare Makes Us Less Safe

"Earlier this month we learned that the Obama Administration is significantly expanding the number of covert Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) agents overseas. From just a few hundred DIA agents overseas today, the administration intends to eventually deploy some 1,600 covert agents. The nature of their work will also shift, away from intelligence collection and more toward covert actions. This move signals a major change in how the administration intends to conduct military and paramilitary operations overseas. Unfortunately it is not a shift toward peace, but rather to an even more deadly and disturbing phase in the 'war on terror.'" Continue reading →

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US to send missiles, troops to Turkey in bid to deter Syria

"Defense Secretary Leon Panetta signed an order Friday to send two Patriot missile batteries to Turkey to protect it from rounds crossing the border from Syria. The order includes 400 American personnel to operate the batteries. 'We are deploying two patriot batteries here to Turkey along with the troops that are necessary to man those batteries, so that we can help Turkey have the kind of missile defense it may very well need in dealing with threats that come out of Syria,' Panetta told the troops at Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey." Continue reading →

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Pentagon considering Air Force support for intervention in Mali

"The Obama administration hasn't ruled out having the Air Force play a lead role in transporting troops and equipment for an African-led intervention to dislodge militant Islamists in Mali, the Pentagon's top Africa official said Wednesday. The United Nations Security Council is weighing whether to approve a West African force of about 3,300 troops to take over the desert expanses of the country's northern half, which broke away following a March coup. Mali and its neighbors oppose any intervention by non-African troops. The United States, however, is involved in advising the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS), which is putting the intervention force together." Continue reading →

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Pentagon prepares military operation in Mali

"United States officials with knowledge of the matter tell the Washington Post that the Department of Defense and the US State Department will assist next year in a mission to overthrow Islamic extremists with ties to al-Qaeda who took under control a significant part of Mali. Earlier this year, military officers displaced the administration of then-President Amandou Toumani Toure, claiming that he was reluctant in addressing the extremist issue himself. However since then the military junta failed to improve security in the country and retake control of the northern part of Mali captured by the Islamists. Now the US is claiming that it’s ready to help the military rulers." Continue reading →

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Western diplomats report Israel behind bogus Iran nuclear data leak

"The leak's principal impact, a European diplomat told The Guardian, was that it compromised the UN nuclear watchdog's ongoing investigation. Despite increasingly heated rhetoric from Tel Aviv and Washington, the international community still lacks evidence that Iran has been working on nuclear weapons since 2003. However, the IAEA’s publication of summary intelligence on an alleged Iranian nuclear weapons program helped the US and EU to impose a new round of sanctions against Tehran. Now, the 'amateurish hoax' is said to threaten the position of the IAEA's inspectors." Continue reading →

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