Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya: Libya is Not Collective Punishment but it is Collective Massacres + Don DeBar: Propaganda War

Image by Eric.Parker via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

Updated: Sept. 5, 2011

108morris108 on Sep 2, 2011

Mahdi Nazemroaya was one of the few Independent journalists in Libya, he just left a few days ago – and his life had certainly been in danger.

Details of the humanitarian boat that took people out of Libya.

Pakistan in Pieces, Part 2: Punishing Pakistan and Challenging China by Andrew Gavin Marshall

by Andrew Gavin Marshall
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
June 30, 2011

This is Part 2 of “Pakistan in Pieces.”

Part 1: Imperial Eye on Pakistan

The AfPak War Theatre: Establishing the New Strategy

As Senator Obama became the President-elect Obama, his foreign policy strategy on Afghanistan was already being formed. In 2007, Obama took on veteran geostrategist and Jimmy Carter’s former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski as one of his top foreign policy advisers,[1] and he remained his foreign policy adviser throughout 2008.[2]

When Will The Killing End? by Jill Dalton

by Jill Dalton
Guest Writer
Dandelion Salad
Originally published at http://proactvoice.wordpress.com, May 8, 2011
May 9, 2011

Image via Wikipedia

Sunday night when I learned of the death of Osama Bin Laden I did not feel elated, I did not hop on the #1 subway and head to ground zero, nor did I celebrate in the streets, drink champagne or chant USA, USA, USA!   Honestly, I wish he’d been brought in alive and put on trial like we did at Nuremberg.  I’d like to hear what he had to say and expose him for who and what he was.  I prefer justice to murder or assassination.  So instead of reveling in his demise I took a moment to reflect on what this has cost our country and our souls.

Arrest of CIA Agent Sheds Light on American Covert War in Pakistan, Straining U.S.-Pakistani Relations

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Democracy Now!
Feb. 23, 2011

Arrest of CIA Agent Sheds Light on American Covert War in Pakistan, Straining U.S.-Pakistani Relations

U.S. officials have admitted an American detained in Pakistan for the murder of two men was a CIA agent and a former employee of the private security firm Blackwater, now called Xe Services. Up until Monday, the Obama administration had insisted Raymond Davis was a diplomat who had acted in self-defense. The arrest of Davis has soured relations between the United States and Pakistan and revealed a web of covert U.S. operations inside the country, part of a secret war run by the C.I.A. The Guardian of London first reported Davis’s CIA link on Sunday and noted that many U.S. news outlets knew about his connection to the CIA but did not report on it at the request of U.S. officials. We speak with Declan Walsh, the Pakistan correspondent for The Guardian, who first broke the story. [includes rush transcript]

US Double Standards Over Diplomat Killing in Pakistan Puts Another “Important Ally” at Risk by Finian Cunningham

by Finian Cunningham
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
9 February, 2011

The US has threatened to cut off a multi-billion-dollar aid package to Pakistan if an American diplomat being held on murder charges is not immediately released from custody.

The case has sparked widespread public fury across Pakistan, with accusations that it is yet another example of American personnel having a “licence to kill” in their country. Also, the rapid diplomatic intervention by senior US officials in the case, which has now raised the threat of immediate suspension of aid from Washington to Islamabad, is in stark contrast to the refusal by the US government to cut off similar aid flows to the Mubarak regime in Egypt where more than 300 civilians in pro-democracy protests have been killed by state forces.

Will the Last Mercenary Turn Out the Lights On U.S. Empire by Glen Ford

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A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
Black Agenda Report
25 January 2011

The United States’ use of mercenaries is unprecedented in scope for a major power in modern times, and further weakens a decaying empire. Unable to defeat the resistance in two of the poorest nations on the planet, America increasingly depends on high-paid killers-for-profit to man the battlements. In Iraq, where the U.S. is reluctantly making an exit, “President Obama plans to substitute outgoing U.S. troops with mercenaries.” The same may happen, soon, in Afghanistan.

The Secret Iraq Files: Cover-up of Torture and Executions

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AlJazeeraEnglish | October 23, 2010

It is the biggest leak of military secrets ever. Al Jazeera has obtained access to almost 400,000 classified American documents. Torture, claims of murder at the checkpoint – revelations that make a mockery of the rules of combat.

Over the past ten weeks, working with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism in London, Al Jazeera has read tens of thousands of documents, which we sourced through WikiLeaks.

US forces turn a blind eye to torture + WikiLeaks Iraq files reveal torture

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Note: sorry the very last video is on autostart.

Warning

These videos may contain images depicting the reality and horror of war/violence and should only be viewed by a mature audience.

AlJazeeraEnglish | October 22, 2010

The Iraq war documents from WikiLeaks contain thousands of allegations of abuse and torture committed by Iraqi security forces.

And a high-level Pentagon directive told US forces to look the other way.

End of Iraq Combat Operations or Beginning of Downsized, Rebranded Occupation Relying Heavily on Private Military Contractors?

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Democracy Now!
Aug. 3, 2010

End of Iraq Combat Operations or Beginning of Downsized, Rebranded Occupation Relying Heavily on Private Military Contractors?

President Obama said Monday in a speech before the Disabled American Veterans national convention in Atlanta that the US military is on target to withdraw all its combat troops from Iraq by the end of August. We speak with independent journalist Jeremy Scahill, who says this instead marks the beginning of a downsized and rebranded occupation that will rely heavily on private military forces. [includes rush transcript]

Jeremy Scahill: Minerals, WikiLeaks, and Blackwater for Sale

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videonation

June 15, 2010 — In the wake of a rumor that WikiLeaks may soon publish a number of secret State Department cables, some are saying that the Pentagon is on the hunt for the whistleblowing organization’s founder Julian Assange. On GRITtv with Laura Flanders, Nation writer and blogger Jeremy Scahill says that while Assange may not exactly be on the run to the extent that is being portrayed, diplomats have reason to be concerned about what Wikileaks may have in its possession. “I think a lot of diplomats around the world are very, very nervous. At a minimum, they’re going to want to talk to Julian Assange,” Scahill says. “He denies that he has them [the cables], by the way.”

Secret Recording of Erik Prince Reveals Previously Undisclosed Blackwater Ops

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Democracy Now!
4 May, 2010

EXCLUSIVE…Secret Recording of Erik Prince Reveals Previously Undisclosed Blackwater Ops

Investigative journalist and Democracy Now! correspondent Jeremy Scahill obtains a rare audio recording of a recent, private speech delivered by Erik Prince, the owner of Blackwater, to a friendly audience in January. The speech, which Prince attempted to keep from public consumption, provides a stunning glimpse into his views and future plans and reveals details of previously undisclosed activities of Blackwater. In a Democracy Now! exclusive broadcast we play excerpts of the recording and speak with Scahill about the revelations. [Includes rush transcript]

No One Cares by Chris Hedges

http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1092219

by Chris Hedges
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Truthdig
May 3, 2010

photo by Dandelion Salad

We are approaching a decade of war in Afghanistan, and the war in Iraq is in its eighth year. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and thousands more Afghans and Pakistani civilians have been killed. Millions have been driven into squalid displacement and refugee camps. Thousands of our own soldiers and Marines have died or been crippled physically and psychologically. We sustain these wars, which have no real popular support, by borrowing trillions of dollars that can never be repaid, even as we close schools, states go into bankruptcy, social services are cut, our infrastructure crumbles, tens of millions of Americans are reduced to poverty, and real unemployment approaches 17 percent. Collective, suicidal inertia rolls us forward toward national insolvency and the collapse of empire. And we do not protest. The peace movement, despite the heroic efforts of a handful of groups such as Iraq Veterans Against the War, the Green Party and Code Pink, is dead. No one cares.

Dennis Kucinich Opposes Intelligence Authorization

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by Dennis Kucinich
Feb. 26, 2010

Washington D.C. (February 26, 2010) – Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today issued the following statement after the House of Representatives voted 235 to 168 to pass the Intelligence Authorization Act:

“I strongly support the dedicated public servants of our intelligence community. Their work to ensure our national security is to be commended. However, I must oppose the Intelligence Authorization Act of 2010.

“This legislation contains provisions that implement vital measures of accountability, such as a provision to prohibit the use of funds for payment to any contractor to conduct interrogations of detainees currently in custody. I also support the provision in this legislation to establish an independent Intelligence Community-wide Inspector General. These provisions are an important step to ensure that mechanisms of accountability and oversight are in place. However, I remain concerned that some of the methods being employed by our intelligence community may amount to serious violations of international law and our Constitution.

Jan Schakowsky: Private Firms Mask Scope of US Involvement in Afghanistan

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“War contractors in Iraq get away with murder”

RussiaToday
February 04, 2010

Despite the U.S government massively increasing spending on its own war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, private security contractors are still flourishing, even though their reputations are at an all-time low. RT’s Dina Gusovsky spoke to Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky – who fears the private firms have an even greater capacity to wage war, than America itself.

Peter Dale Scott: The War Machine is the Mindset in Washington

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Updated: Feb. 1, 2010, added Part 2; Feb. 4, 2010, added Part 3 (scroll down)

http://therealnews.com

New mindset for US foreign policy?

Peter Dale Scott: The President does not choose the mindset, it chooses the people who become President

Peter Dale Scott a former Canadian diplomat and Professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley, is a poet, writer, and researcher. His most recent books are Drugs, Oil, and War (2005), The Road to 9/11: Wealth, Empire, and the Future of America (2007), The War Conspiracy: JFK, 9/11 and the Deep Politics of War (2008) and Mosaic Orpheus (poetry, 2009).