The president, for instance, speaks of the way U.S. forces heroically “pushed the Taliban out of their strongholds.” Like other top U.S. officials over the years, he forgets whom we pushed into the Afghan government, our “stronghold” in the years after the 2001 invasion: ex-Taliban and Taliban-like fundamentalists, the most brutal civil warriors, and serial human rights violators.
Afghans, however, haven’t forgotten just whom the U.S. put in place to govern them -- exactly the men they feared and hated most in exactly the place where few Afghans wanted them to be. Early on, between 2002 and 2004, 90% of Afghans surveyed nationwide told the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission that such men should not be allowed to hold public office; 76% wanted them tried as war criminals.
Quote from: Only Three Choices for Afghan Endgame: Compromise, Conflict, or Collapse Counting down to 2014 by Ann Jones TomDispatch via CommonDreams .org, Jan. 28, 2013
USA erroneously claims that it is fighting on behalf of the government and people of Yemen but the reality on the ground and in the streets of Yemen is at odds with President Obama's view of Yemen. The anti-American protests in Yemen illustrate this point as hundreds of thousands of Yemen citizens take part in the protests . This shows the anti-American and anti-Drone attacks is not some small group of radical anti-American group but is for the most part a national consensus . Of course if Obama wants to keep up drone attacks in Yemen he will and the voice of the Yemen people will be ignored or crushed by the brutal and corrupt government of Yemen.
Yemenis hold anti-US protest
Published on 15 Feb 2013
www.youtube.com/LifeNewsFul
Protesters in Sana'a have staged a demonstration after Friday Prayers calling for the prosecution of government officials believed to have been involved in the killing of peaceful demonstrators during the Yemeni uprising.
Protesters have been engaged in weakly demonstrations in the capital calling on the President to take decisive measures in bringing to justice those who took part in the crackdown.
Julian Assange gave a speech via internet to the Oxford Union which was honoring whistleblowers and even they ironically censored the speech by replacing the film of the Baghdad massacre carried out by US troops playing in the background out of fear of US government would object .
So even groups concerned with the free flow of information fears being attacked by the US government.
In the speech Julian Assange talks about the need to uncover the truth when governments lie to their own constituency .
He compares the run up to the Iraq war with the propaganda the governments are spinning to get approval for war against Iran.
Since the mid 1980s the USA and Israel have over and over again raised the specter of Iran developing nuclear weapons.
The US government and the Media have continued to demonize the Iranian government and portraying the Iranians as hell bent on developing nuclear weapons to use against Israel and the USA or at least US forces based in the region.
But report after report on Iran's nuclear program have shown that Iran's nuclear program is to do with developing nuclear power stations and nothing to do with weapons development .So when these facts get in the way of what the US intends to do that is bomb and possibly invade Iran those in power in the US claim the facts are wrong as they did in the case of WMDs and Saddam.
So Iran they claim has managed to continue its (non-existent) nuclear weapons program and to trick others into believing that it is not pursuing such a program.
So once again the US insists on more investigations of Iran's nuclear program and WMDs as it did in Iraq in 2003 and if these inspectors don't find anything according to those in power USA this absence of evidence doesn't prove anything except how good Iran is at hiding such a program as they once told us Iraq also was . But no evidence of WMDs or a nuclear weapons program were ever uncovered in Iraq after the US invasion and occupation and yet here we are again as those in power make a case for justifying another unnecessary war . And once again the government and Western media have created in the minds of their constituents that Iran is in deed a very real imminent threat to the USA and Israel and other nations.
Julian Assange speech that was censored by the Oxford Union
Published on 1 Feb 2013
In an attempt to highlight the importance of whistleblowers, Julian Assange chose to have WikiLeaks' Collateral Murder footage as background for his speech at the Sam Adams Awards, an award dedicated to whistleblowers.
The ceremony was organized by the Oxford Union. As a result of the video playing in the background and unsuccessful attempts to vet Julian's speech, the Union pulled the live stream from the event and spent two days substituting the US Army massacre footage with their logo. The Union claimed they feared that the US government would take legal action concerning "copyright" of the Apache gun camera footage. Wikileaks advised the Union that by law and practice the US government does not claim copyrights on footage or documents that it produces, the Union still decided to censor the video.
See http://collateralmurder.com/ for more information behind the Collateral Murder event in Baghdad.
Afghan Civilians Bear Brunt of Death, Injury as US War Continues
UN report shows that as war drags on, the most vulnerable suffer the most - Jon Queally, staff writer via CommonDreams.org, Feb. 19, 2013
In a war that the US refuses to end in Afghanistan, the civilian population of that country continues to suffer the most with the UN reporting 2,754 civilian deaths and 4,805 civilian injuries in the country last year.
Though the report released by the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) says the casualty rates were down from 2011, it was cautious to note that the level of ongoing death and injury was nothing to celebrate.
"The human cost of the conflict remains unacceptable," said Ján Kubiš, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan and the head of UNAMA.
“It is the tragic reality that most Afghan women and girls were killed or injured while engaging in their everyday activities,” said Georgette Gagnon, Director of Human Rights section of UNAMA.
The UN report notes that targeting of Afghan government workers was up a shocking 700 percent in 2012. It also notes the largest number of victims of violence come from roadside bombs and other attacks by anti-government and anti-US/NATO forces, like the Taliban.
The report is a rather cold accounting of attributable deaths and injuries in the country, but offers little in the way of context for a war that has now dragged on for more than eleven years with no real end in sight. Despite talk of "drawdowns" in Washington and some accepted notion in the US media that the "war will be over by 2014," the violence in the country is "unacceptable" precisely because so few seem to understand why the war is still being fought at all..
Peace talks are non-existent and the use of unmanned drones in the country is on the rise.
So in order to save the Afghan people from the Taliban and AlQaeda they have destroyed most of the country over the last eleven years of fighting.
Though the Americans claim to have in part gone to war in Afghanistan to oust the unpopular brutal Taliban regime it appears that many members of the current regime were part of the ousted Taliban Regime and that the Taliban and its allies are set to take control once the USA leaves Afghanistan.
The Afghan people in general see the elections foisted on them by the USA as being illegitimate since there was widespread election fraud and a low turn out of eligible voters and that many of the candidates were in fact involved with the brutal and corrupt former Regime and should not have been permitted to run as candidates.
Only Three Choices for Afghan Endgame: Compromise, Conflict, or Collapse Counting down to 2014 by Ann Jones TomDispatch via CommonDreams .org, Jan. 28, 2013
KABUL, Afghanistan – Compromise, conflict, or collapse: ask an Afghan what to expect in 2014 and you’re likely to get a scenario that falls under one of those three headings. 2014, of course, is the year of the double whammy in Afghanistan: the next presidential election coupled with the departure of most American and other foreign forces. Many Afghans fear a turn for the worse, while others are no less afraid that everything will stay the same. Some even think things will get better when the occupying forces leave. Most predict a more conservative climate, but everyone is quick to say that it’s anybody’s guess.
...Another term that never seems to enter ordinary Afghan conversation, much as it obsesses Americans, is “al-Qaeda.” President Obama, for instance, announced at a joint press conference with President Karzai: “Our core objective -- the reason we went to war in the first place -- is now within reach: ensuring that al-Qaeda can never again use Afghanistan to launch attacks against America.” An Afghan journalist asked me, “Why does he worry so much about al-Qaeda in Afghanistan? Doesn’t he know they are everywhere else?”
At the same Washington press conference, Obama said, “The nation we need to rebuild is our own.” Afghans long ago gave up waiting for the U.S. to make good on its promises to rebuild theirs. What’s now striking, however, is the vast gulf between the pronouncements of American officialdom and the hopes of ordinary Afghans. It’s a gap so wide you would hardly think -- as Afghans once did -- that we are fighting for them.
To take just one example: the official American view of events in Afghanistan is wonderfully black and white. The president, for instance, speaks of the way U.S. forces heroically “pushed the Taliban out of their strongholds.” Like other top U.S. officials over the years, he forgets whom we pushed into the Afghan government, our “stronghold” in the years after the 2001 invasion: ex-Taliban and Taliban-like fundamentalists, the most brutal civil warriors, and serial human rights violators.
Afghans, however, haven’t forgotten just whom the U.S. put in place to govern them -- exactly the men they feared and hated most in exactly the place where few Afghans wanted them to be. Early on, between 2002 and 2004, 90% of Afghans surveyed nationwide told the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission that such men should not be allowed to hold public office; 76% wanted them tried as war criminals.
President Karzai of Afghanistan has insisted the US forces stop all air attacks. Karzai also decreed that any one responsible for the abuse and torture of prisoners be prosecuted.
But given the US refusal to acknowledge and prosecute American troops and other US personnel for widespread abuse and torture of prisoners committed by US personnel and those who gave the orders for such actions in Iraq or Afghanistan or elsewhere why should Karzai be expected to investigate or charge Afghani personnel for committing torture or other abuses of prisoners.
President Obama claims that there is little or no purpose to be served by investigating and charging those who took part in or ordered or who gave a legal veneer for abuse and torture of prisoners under the Bush Regime . But his decision to not take appropriate actions in these cases is a violation of international law. This is why it is considered disingenuous of President Obama whenever he makes a speech talking about respecting the Rule of Law since he doesn't in fact respect the rule of law that is international law or the laws of the United States itself. But after 12 years of fighting the Global War on Terrorism those in power in the USA and its quisling media have convinced most Americans that international laws and agreement do not have jurisdiction over America or its military and that abuse and torture of prisoners is no big deal or is just a matter of a few bad apples even though abuse and torture of prisoners by US personnel is widespread and ongoing.
Nato can work within Afghan air strike ban, says top US commander General Joseph Dunford says coalition forces can conduct 'effective operations' in line with President Hamid Karzai's ban AP guardian.co, Feb. 17, 2013
President Hamid Karzai said he decided on the ban after Afghan security services asked the US military for an air strike during a joint Afghan-Nato operation last week. Afghan officials said the air strike killed 10 civilians, including women and children, in north-east Kunar province along with four insurgents.
The death of civilians during military operations, particularly in air strikes, has been among the most divisive issues of the 11-year-old war. The US-led coalition has implemented measures to mitigate them, but the Afghan military also relies heavily on air support to gain an upper hand in the fight against Taliban militants and other insurgents.
... The US-led military coalition said last June that it would limit air strikes to a self-defence weapon of last resort for troops and would avoid hitting structures that could house civilians.
That followed a bombardment that killed 18 civilians celebrating a wedding in eastern Logar province, which drew an apology from the American commander.
...He (Karzai) also has issued a decree that orders the prosecution of Afghan security forces involved in torturing prisoners and requires all future interrogations be videotaped.
That decree, issued late Saturday, came after a government delegation agreed with a UN report that found widespread abuse in Afghan prisons more than a year after reforms were promised.
The Afghan government had previously maintained that torture occurred rarely, if at all, but said it would put more oversight in place to make sure prisoners were not being abused.
After a two-week fact-finding mission, an Afghan government delegation said earlier this month that it had found credible evidence that close to half of the prisoners the delegation interviewed were tortured.
...The decree stressed the importance of prosecuting anyone accused of mistreatment. It also calls on the country's chief justice, the interior minister, the head of the intelligence service and the justice minister to produce a report every three months on their progress on these reforms
and so it goes,
GORD.
No comments:
Post a Comment