"The actual number of drone deaths is at least 200 times the '22 top Al-Qaeda leaders plus Bin Laden' noted by President Obama. Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) recently floated the number 4,700. Independent studies by both U.S. and British investigators have confirmed numbers in that ballpark, with many of those being 'collateral damage.' [..] More than 1,400 killed in Syrian chemical weapons attack, U.S. says." Continue reading →
"Korean-American Kenneth Bae, 44, has been held prisoner in the North since November, and Rodman had said last week that he might seek the man’s release. But speaking to reporters at Beijing airport en route to the North Korean capital, Rodman said 'I haven’t been promised anything' on Bae. 'I’m just going to meet my friend Kim the marshal to start a new basketball league going,' Rodman said. 'I’m just trying to keep the communication job going.' North Korea, which bans religious proselytising, said Bae was a Christian evangelist who brought in 'inflammatory' material." Continue reading →
"Troops are accused of unlawfully killing 20 or more Iraqis at Camp Abu Naji near Majar-al-Kabir in May 2004, and ill-treating detainees there as well as later at Shaibah Logistics Base, also in southwest Iraq. But at a hearing in London on Monday, Colonel Adam Griffiths said he had not seen any evidence to suggest that around a dozen bodies taken to Camp Abu Naji were mutilated before being returned to relatives, or that detainees had been mistreated. He suggested that the rumours sprang from 'ignorance amongst the local population as to the traumatic injuries that can be suffered in combat' as well as insurgents’ efforts to discredit the US-led troops that had invaded Iraq in 2003." Continue reading →
"America has delivered nearly $26 billion in aid to Pakistan over the past 12 years, with the money aimed at stabilizing the country and ensuring its cooperation in counterterrorism efforts, according to the paper. US spy agencies reported that senior Pakistani military and intelligence officials knew of and possibly ordered a broad campaign of extrajudicial killings of militants and other adversaries, the Post said. Public disclosure of the reports could have forced the administration of President Barack Obama to sever aid to the Pakistani armed forces. This is because of a US law that prohibits military assistance to human rights abusers." Continue reading →
"The NSA’s spying is comprehensive. Everyone is grist for the mill. Every foreign politician now knows that he is being monitored. Greenwald is using Snowden’s basket of eggs to cook up fresh eggs for Obama’s face every month. Nothing will change at the NSA, of course. Its gigantic hidden budget will not be touched. The spying will go on. Congress will do nothing. But the blowback will also go on. Obama will continue to look like a conniving functionary of the NSA, which he in fact is. The NSA is in charge; Obama isn’t. It’s very bad for creating the image of Obama as the man in charge. He is either out of the loop or low man on the totem pole." Continue reading →
"The decisions that I made in 2010 were made out of a concern for my country and the world that we live in. Since the tragic events of 9/11, our country has been at war. We’ve been at war with an enemy that chooses not to meet us on any traditional battlefield, and due to this fact we’ve had to alter our methods of combating the risks posed to us and our way of life. I initially agreed with these methods and chose to volunteer to help defend my country. It was not until I was in Iraq and reading secret military reports on a daily basis that I started to question the morality of what we were doing." Continue reading →
"A new tax on solar power introduced two weeks ago by the Spanish government has been described as 'ludicrous' and 'stupid' in two leading international publications. Business Spectator interviewed people who plan to ignore the new law, including Sergio Pomar, chief executive of energy-efficient installation firm INEL. He said: 'If I spend €600 to install solar panels and get fined €6 million let the judge decide.' Private individuals who fail to hook their solar panels up to the national grid to be metered and taxed could face fines of up to €30 million ($40 million) under the new law. Some homeowners have removed their solar panels rather than face fines of up to €30 million." Continue reading →
"Are we witnessing the beginnings of a new military member internet meme? Military members are donning their uniforms and posting pictures of themselves with signs covering their faces that read, 'I didn’t join the [military service branch name] to fight for Al-Quaeda in a Syrian civil war.' The first image surfaced on the internet a few days ago and now another military member has made their own version. Have military members finally found a way to speak out against U.S. Imperial foreign policies?" Continue reading →
"After President Obama delivered a speech in the Rose Garden where he said the United States 'should' strike Syria following a deadly chemical weapons attack, Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) took to Twitter to dispute that claim with comments from those who would likely carry out that order. Since Amash's initial tweet, he's been retweeting comments that have been sent in from military members and veterans. Many of my own military sources have expressed reservations with action in Syria, especially following service in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars." Continue reading →
"In case you missed it, President Obama referred to the United States armed forces as 'my military' during a statement to the media regarding the Syrian crisis Friday. 'But as I’ve already said,' Obama noted, 'I have had my military and our team look at a wide range of options.' And Twitter users went and got themselves into a bit of a twist. What do you think? Innocent semantics, a slip of the tongue…or something else?" Continue reading →