Friday, July 30, 2010

UPDATE: America The Terrorist State : Obama,Dems,GOP & U.S. Media Unite In Attacks On Wikileaks & Ignore War Crimes Detailed In Docs.

Our real enemies are not those living in a distant land whose names or policies we don't understand; The real enemy is a system that wages war when it's profitable, the CEOs who lay us off our jobs when it's profitable, the Insurance Companies who deny us Health care when it's profitable, the Banks who take away our homes when it's profitable. Our enemies are not several hundred thousands away. They are right here in front of us
- Mike Prysner Please Support the Veterans at: http://www.ivaw.org/


Anyway the response of the Obama administration and of Nato in general to the 92,000 files released by Wikileaks is at once surprising and yet not surprising at all. We had hoped President Obama would be different and would welcome the truth about this ill-fated war. Instead et tu Obama stabs the Progressives in America in the back. Moveon.org made irrelevant as Obama appeases the Far Right in America.

If the war on Terror is such a Noble Cause then why aren't the children of the politicians, the rich and powerful lining up to fight and even die for this Noble Cause - Instead the US Military is finding it difficult to recruit from the general population.
Every politician including , Obama. Biden, Clinton, & those of the GOP who are in favor of this war should be forced to send one of their loved ones to fight on the distant battlefields and not just to sit out the war in some cozy office far from the battlefields or permitted to hide out in the Green Zone aka The Emerald City in Iraq.

Need to stop the Bush/Obama Wars


"The Real Terrorist Was Me" Speech By War Veteran July 29, 2010 via Information Clearing House


Our real enemies are not those living in a distant land whose names or policies we don't understand; The real enemy is a system that wages war when it's profitable, the CEOs who lay us off our jobs when it's profitable, the Insurance Companies who deny us Health care when it's profitable, the Banks who take away our homes when it's profitable. Our enemies are not several hundred thousands away. They are right here in front of us
- Mike Prysner Please Support the Veterans at: http://www.ivaw.org/





Obama it appears is finally getting the fulfillment of his his dream of bipartisanship & cooperation among the competing interests in America.
Wikileaks Docs Dump unites friends and foes alike.
President Obama and the Dems and GOP/Republicans & the Far Right & Evangelicals/ Christian Nationalists want to prosecute not just those who leaked the Afghan War Files but also Wikileaks & its leader Julian Assange .
They also agree on continuing the ill-conceived War on Terror and in particular the War in Iraq and Afghanistan while demonizing all Muslims and Arabs etc. Its the American Way or the Highway.

Once again US politicians, the Pentagon, U.S. Military more concerned about keeping secrets than about War Crimes being committed daily in the so-called War on Terror.
Once they go after Wikileaks who will be next the above mentioned Iraq Veterans group who tell the truth about this insane, immoral war- because much of what they tell is considered classified or to be kept secret due to some wrong headed unconditional allegiance to the the U.S. military and the American status quo.
If it was up to Obama and Biden they would also make this retroactive to widen the net and shut down any critics of this war or any other war that America has fought.
Obam just like Bush/Cheney and the Washington Post. the New York Times, The Washington Times Fox News and CNN characterize all critics of these wars as traitors who should be silenced by any and all means necessary.

Progressives in America need to realize the current administration is not on the People's side but on the side of the status quo, the Big Corporations ie Haliburton and the War Profiteers who donate large amounts of money to these politicians as does the Health Insurance industry, thePharmaceuticals and the Military Industrial Complex.

If we are wrong about this then putting pressure on Obama by various Progressive groups such as Moveon.org should have some effect on Obama to start pulling troops out of Afghanistan, Iraq and the 1,000 other American bases around the Globe.
Instead Obama is building even more bases in South America and elsewhere ostensibly to stop Terrorism but in fact stop the liberalization and democratizing of countries which are supposed to tow the American line selling America goods at bargain prices while outlawing unions , using child-labor and the labor of prisoners and the destitute paid at below subsistence wages - so goes the American Empire bringing American Materialistic culture to the world while converting millions to the Americanized Christian Evangelical faith. After all Americans believe God and /or Jesus are cut from the same cloth as that of any greedy ruthless wealthy American Businessman.

And so Obama and John McCain & others want to extend the Police State and start taking on the liberal/leftist Progressive Media inside the U.S. and outside of it.
Will they shut down all criticisms of the War on Terror policies or who bring to light atrocities committed by U.S. or NATO forces etc.
All dissent especially that which is effective shall be shut down and silenced -

Graham: Prosecute WikiLeaks By Michael O'Brien - 07/28/10

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Wednesday called for the criminal prosecution of Wikileaks, the website that published classified military documents this week.

Graham, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a reserve military lawyer, seemed to go further than other GOP colleagues by calling for the prosecution of Wikileaks itself, and not just the source of the leaks.

“I’m willing to prosecute anybody who led to undermining the war effort,” Graham said during an appearance on Fox News.

“As far as I know, there’s no immunity for a website to be able to pass on documents,” Graham added, responding “yes” when asked directly if the website should be prosecuted.

Wikileaks has come under scrutiny for its decision to publish classified military documents detailing suspicions that elements within the Pakistani government were coordinating with the Taliban. These documents led to a full-fledged story in The New York Times, which has led to angry reactions from many lawmakers, who fear the leak undercut national security.

Graham’s colleagues — Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.), among others — have called for the prosecution of whoever leaked the documents, but few have spoken of prosecuting Wikileaks itself.

McCain said Wednesday that he believes whoever leaked the documents to the organization should be punished with a life sentence.

Asked by syndicated conservative radio host Michael Medved if that was an appropriate punishment, McCain replied "Oh, I would think so."

Wikileaks’s founder has said he does not know the source of the leak. Reports have swirled suggesting that an Army private was responsible for the leak.

“We need to go after anyone who was involved in the leak of classified documents,” Graham said.


A Plea for Common Sense Why NATO Should Withdraw from Afghanistan By Christoph Schwennicke - "Spiegel" Via Information Clearing House July 27, 2010

-- It is difficult for politicians to admit they were wrong. But when it comes to Afghanistan, the consequences of not doing so could be high. It is time for the West to cut its losses and withdraw.

The most difficult thing to do in politics is to change course -- admitting that everything that was right yesterday is wrong today. It is a particularly challenging maneuver when the decision is between war and peace.

Winston Churchill, stubborn as he was, never could admit that he had made a mistake in 1915 when, as first lord of the Admiralty, his strategic error helped lead to the bitter defeat of the Entente troops at the hands of the Ottoman Empire at Gallipoli. Similarly, it took 30 years for former US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to acknowledge that the Vietnam War had been a mistake.

The German government, NATO and the West shouldn't wait that long. Together they should realize -- and admit -- that the war in Afghanistan is not going to end in success. We have failed. The war has been lost. The country that we leave behind will not be pacified. It is possible that we could have been successful had we understood earlier how the country works. But now, we are no longer a part of the solution -- increasingly, we have become part of the problem. It is best just to leave now, before additional blood is spilled. The secret war logs given by WikiLeaks to SPIEGEL confirm as much.

Led by the US, NATO and other Western allies have been trying to pacify Afghanistan for almost 10 years -- with little success. War aims have changed frequently. None of them, however, has been achieved. The intervals between the large-scale Afghanistan conferences, from Berlin to Paris, London to Kabul, have become ever shorter, but the list of problems has only grown. The country remains a potential breeding ground for terrorism as it was prior to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the US. And little that the West has imported to Afghanistan since then has put down such deep roots that it would survive a pullout for long. Girls' schools, wells and newly paved roads are pleasant side effects of the NATO mission in Afghanistan. As a justification, however, they are not enough.


also see related articles:

FBI chief says agents assisting Pentagon on WikiLeaks investigation
The Associated Press via Kansas City.com July 28, 2010


Afghan “War Doesn’t Seem Winnable:” Pakistan’s UN Ambassador by Alex Seitz-Wald via AlterNet & Think Progress July 30, 2010

White House Pushes for Warrantless Access to Internet Records Attorney speculates data could include Facebook friend requests by Muriel Kane from The Raw Story via CommonDreams.org July 29,2010

...Making FBI requests for such data easier rather than more difficult would weaken those safeguards -- and the Post notes that national security letters have been abused in the past. There are also questions as to how broadly the new language might be applied.

Kevin Bankston of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, for example, told the Post that because the phrase "electronic communication transactional records" is not defined in the statute, "an expanded NSL power might be used to obtain Internet search queries and Web histories detailing every Web site visited and every file downloaded."

WikiLeaks: Time to Celebrate, Time to Mourn by Jeff Cohen at Truthout.org July 27,2010

and Veterans suffering from Gulf War Syndrome connected to the use of depleted Uranium which the pentagon and White House have denied-the question is will the Obama administration take appropriate action or just silence the veteran groups and others-gag orders on all US military personnel & Vets as well???


Document Reveals Military Was Concerned About Gulf War Vets' Exposure to Depleted Uranium by Mike Ludwig via TruthOut.org,July 28,2010

and on racism and promotion of anti-Islamic bigotry and Christian Supremacy:

Obama has not as yet taken decisive action against those in the Pentagon and U.S. Military who are promoting Evangelical Fundamentalism & Christian Nationalism while allowing for the discrimination and even violence against Non-Evangelical Christians.

No Dominion: The Lonely, Dangerous Fight Against Christian Supremacists Inside the Armed Forces Mathew Harwood via Truthout.org July 11, 2010

Right-Wing Group Launches ‘Anti-Islamic’ Bus Ads in Major Cities July 28, 2010

and: Right-Wing Pol Comes Clean; Says First Amendment May not Apply to Muslims by Joshua Holland via AlterNet.org July 27,2010

Haters Go After the ‘Ground Zero Mosque’ by leonard Peikoff via Anti-war.com, July 23, 2010

and so it goes,
GORD.

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