War & Peace

McCain’s Next Stop: Guantanamo?

[May 2013] "First, it has emerged that the some of the individuals he met with in Syria are actually ruthless kidnappers, who snatched men, women, and children from a Lebanese bus. Second, McCain's Free Syrian Army in Aleppo have announced that they are merging with the US-designated terrorist group Jabhat al-Nusra, which is effectively a branch of al-Qaeda. Finally, McCain's Free Syrian Army are reported to have entered the Christian-populated al-Duvair village near Homs on May 27th and massacred the entire Christian civilian population of the village. Section 1021 of the infamous 2012 National Defense Authorization Act prescribes indefinite detention for: [..]" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMcCain’s Next Stop: Guantanamo?

Will The US Really Condemn Terrorism in Syria?

[March 2013] "The US government's various reports on religious freedom are largely politicized affairs designed to demonize practices in countries out of favor and skip over abuses among its allies. One could hardly imagine a more direct attack on religious liberty than to set off a bomb in a building of religious worship. But this attack has been perpetrated by US allies in Syria, who have benefited recently from 3,000 tons of sophisticated weapons shipped in by the US government and paid for by paragons of religious tolerance such as Saudi Arabia." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWill The US Really Condemn Terrorism in Syria?

US ‘Elects’ New Syrian Leader…A Guy From Dallas!

[March 2013] "In the name of democracy, the US government has supported a variety of armed opposition fighters in Syria seeking to overthrow that country's president, Bashar al-Assad, who according to a wide variety of information sources enjoys support from the majority of the Syrian people. So to promote democracy in Syria, the US government has taken it upon itself to choose a new leader for Syria. This democratic answer to Syria's problems lives in Dallas, TX, and was educated in Indiana. He has not set foot in the country he now 'rules' in more than thirty years. Also, he is an Islamist from the Muslim Brotherhood. That is what the US government calls 'democratic legitimacy.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUS ‘Elects’ New Syrian Leader…A Guy From Dallas!

Has US ‘Red Line’ On Syria Been Crossed?

[March 2013] "Four days after House Intelligence Committee Chairman (and former FBI agent) Mike Rogers reiterated in the Washington Post that the US 'red line' for military intervention in Syria would be that government's use of chemical weapons, the US-allied opposition fighters have apparently used some sort of chemical device in Aleppo, killing at least 26, including 16 Syrian Army soldiers. Does the 'red line' count if it is the US allies using the weapons? In other words, does the US attack the Syrian government anyway now that the line has been crossed even though government troops and innocent civilians are the victims of the attack?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHas US ‘Red Line’ On Syria Been Crossed?

Chris Hedges: The Treason of the Intellectuals

"If they had known then what they know now, they assured us, they would have acted differently. This, of course, is false. The war boosters, especially the 'liberal hawks'—who included Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer, Al Franken and John Kerry, along with academics, writers and journalists such as Bill Keller, Michael Ignatieff, Nicholas Kristof, David Remnick, Fareed Zakaria, Michael Walzer, Paul Berman, Thomas Friedman, George Packer, Anne-Marie Slaughter, Kanan Makiyaand the late Christopher Hitchens—did what they always have done: engage in acts of self-preservation. To oppose the war would have been a career killer. And they knew it." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChris Hedges: The Treason of the Intellectuals

A Message to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney From a Dying Veteran

"I write this letter, my last letter, to you, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney. I write not because I think you grasp the terrible human and moral consequences of your lies, manipulation and thirst for wealth and power. I write this letter because, before my own death, I want to make it clear that I, and hundreds of thousands of my fellow veterans, along with millions of my fellow citizens, along with hundreds of millions more in Iraq and the Middle East, know fully who you are and what you have done. You may evade justice but in our eyes you are each guilty of egregious war crimes, of plunder and, finally, of murder, including the murder of thousands of young Americans—my fellow veterans—whose future you stole." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingA Message to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney From a Dying Veteran

Our American Dream Has Become The World’s Nightmare.

"Shortly after the 2003 intervention into Iraq I remember viewing a TV interview with Noam Chomsky where he compared America's pre-emptive actions there with Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland in 1939. At the time I thought his language was over-the-top and quite disingenuous. America was not National Socialist Germany. But Chomsky was precisely and prophetically correct. Everything from the time of 9/11 has been propelling the United States into an authoritarian fascist state. Our American dream has become the world's nightmare. Where other nations once viewed us with emulation and envy, now it is with fear, loathing, and revulsion. We have become what our parents fought WWII against." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOur American Dream Has Become The World’s Nightmare.

Pro-Life…Until Birth

"Witness Rep. Trent Franks, who jumped upon his Twittering high horse to machine gun his 'pro-life' position into the faces of his 'opponents' on the pro-death side. The tens of thousands of innocent children killed by the US invasion of Iraq do not bother Rep. Franks in the slightest, because they had the misfortune of being born in a country where the US dislikes the leader. They don't count -- just like the live babies stabbed to death by Doctor Death Gosnell. They don't count. That puts him in the 'the price was worth it' camp, i.e. the same relativistic camp that argues that some lives are more important than others." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPro-Life…Until Birth

The Crucifixion of Tomas Young

"For Young, the war, the wound, the paralysis, the wheelchair, the anti-war demonstrations, the wife who left him and the one who didn’t, the embolism, the loss of motor control, the slurred speech, the colostomy, the IV line for narcotics implanted in his chest, the open bed sores that expose his bones, the despair—the crushing despair—the decision to die, have come down to a girl. Aleksus, his only niece. She will not remember her uncle. But he lies in his dimly lit room, painkillers flowing into his broken body, and he thinks of her. He does not know exactly when he will die. But it must be before her second birthday, in June. He will not mar that day with his death." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Crucifixion of Tomas Young