New Film Exposes Secret U.S. War + Unmanned: America’s Drone Wars

Dandelion Salad

Image by World Can’t Wait via Flickr

democracynow on Oct 31, 2013

democracynow.org – A U.S. drone strike killed three people in northwest Pakistan earlier today, marking the first such attack since Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif publicly called for President Obama to end the strikes. Just last week, Amnesty International said the United States may be committing war crimes by killing innocent Pakistani civilians in drone strikes. Today we air extended clips from the new documentary, “Unmanned: America’s Drone Wars,” and speak to filmmaker Robert Greenwald. The film looks at the impact of U.S. drone strikes through more than 70 interviews with attack survivors in Pakistan, a former U.S. drone operator, military officials, and more. The film opens with the story of a 16-year-old Tariq Aziz who was killed by drone. just days after attending an anti-drone conference in Islamabad. We are also joined by human rights attorney Jennifer Gibson of Reprieve, co-author of the report, “Living Under Drones.”

Iraq: The Terrible State Murder of Abed Hamid Hamoud by Felicity Arbuthnot

by Felicity Arbuthnot
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
London, England
10 June 2012

“There was no honour left; ruin and war and the blood was flowing …
Sadness, hate and the reign of arbitrary destruction.” (Rachid Taha, Algerian Musician and lyricist, 1958-)

Shocking details have emerged from an impeccable source (not named for obvious reasons) of the execution on Thursday 7^th June, in Baghdad, of Abed Hamid Hamoud, President Saddam Hussein’s former personal secretary and aide.

Mr Hamoud, fourth on America’s 2003 asinine, juvenile playing card list of Iraq’s sovereign government, has been held in jail since June 2003, after being arrested by US occupying forces.

Tareq Aziz, Whose Life Hangs in the Balance by Felicity Arbuthnot

by Felicity Arbuthnot
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
London, England
6 January 2012

Image via Wikipedia

“We are all victims of Britain and America. They killed our country.” (Tareq Aziz)

“In the United States today, the Declaration of Independence hangs on schoolroom walls, but foreign policy follows Machiavelli.” (Howard Zinn, 1922-2010.)

On 5th December, the first day of the solemn, predominantly Shi’a Muslim marking of Ashura – the martyrdom of Hussein, the Prophet’s Grand son in 680 AD – in a statement few of the main stream media thought worthy of mention, Saad Al Muttalibi, a Minister, ironically, at the Iraqi Ministry of National Dialogue and Reconciliation, announced another impending murder. Tareq Aziz, Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, under Saddam Hussein, would be executed as soon as the Americans left.

Tareq Aziz: “Ill, Isolated and Abandoned” by Felicity Arbuthnot

by Felicity Arbuthnot
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
15 July, 2011

“The expense of spirit in a waste of shame … is perjured, murderous, bloody, full of blame, savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust.”  — William Shakespeare (1564-1616.)

In the UK, there has been much discussion in recent months, on the right of the ill or those with potentially disabling conditions to choose their time of death.

Imagine however, feeling so hopeless, abandoned and despairing that you request execution – in Iraq. That is the plea of Tareq Aziz, that country’s former Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister.

Assange, Aziz, a Death Sentence and the United Nations Day of International Human Rights by Felicity Arbuthnot

by Felicity Arbuthnot
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
10 December, 2010

” … the high praise of God in their mouth, and a two edged sword in their hand …” (Psalms : 149.5)

The avalanche of proof provided by Wikileaks that the U.S., and U.K., governments have been indulging in what millions have been convinced of for a very long time: just about every kind of underhand, lying, cheating, muderous skulduggery, with quite an enlightening amount of sneering and back biting towards their “allies.” Predictably, they are now moving heaven and earth to shoot the messenger.

Iraq: Toppling a country: From Statue to Legality Part II by Felicity Arbuthnot

Warning

This article and links to other websites may contain words/graphics depicting the reality and horror of war/violence and should only be read/viewed by a mature audience.

by Felicity Arbuthnot
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
crossposted at Global Research
8 November, 2010

“The abused are only Iraqis”, a US General to General Antonio Taguba.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the latest, vast cache of documents from Wikileaks, is that anyone was surprised at the revelations. For Iraqis, Afghans and the region, and Iraq and Afghanistan watchers across the globe, countless millions of words have been written and eye witness reports sent since day one of the highly questionable legality of the Afghan invasion the absolute illegality of that of Iraq.

Tareq Aziz, the Foreign Secretary and the Convention against Torture by Felicity Arbuthnot

by Felicity Arbuthnot
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
28 October, 2010

To: haguew@parliament.uk; ainagcorrespondence@fco.gov.uk

The Foreign Secretary, The Rt. Hon., William Hague

Dear Foreign Secretary,

Re: Tareq Aziz

I have not yet received a reply to my letter regarding the death sentence hanging (literally) over Tareq Aziz.* The judgement is certainly because he, more than most, knows of the dealings with the U.S., and British government over the decades. Silence in the face of this shocking sentence – a judgement rooted in revenge – makes the U.K., party to a shaming, primitive act.

Letter to His Holiness Pope Benedict XIV: Act to Save Tareq Aziz by Felicity Arbuthnot

by Felicity Arbuthnot
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
26 October, 2010

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

An Open Letter:

His Holiness Pope Benedict xvi, His Grace The Archbishop of Canterbury, His Grace the Archbishop of Westminster, The Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon., David Cameron, The Deputy Prime Minister, The Rt. Hon., Nick Clegg, The Foreign Secretary, The Rt. Hon., William Hague.

To: benedictxvi@vatican.va; enquiries@rcdow.org.uk; contact@lambethpalace.org.uk; ainagcorrespondence@fco.gov.uk; camerond@parliament.uk; cleggn@parliament.uk;haguew@parliament.uk

Your Holiness, Your Graces, Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary:

I apologise for this multiple sending, but time is of the essence. So much blood has been spilt in the illegal invasion of Iraq, that it is hard to comprehend, with the upper figure of deaths, since 2003 being estimated at 1.4 million. Nearly five million souls (4.7) are displaced, internally and externally, according to UNHCR, a million widows and five millions orphans have been created, according United Nations Agencies.