World-News: 27 July 2010

rudkla - 27. Jul, 17:30

Wars don’t make heroes

Campaign For Liberty
by William Astore and Tom Engelhardt

07/26/10

Consider a strange aspect of our wars since October 2001: they have yet to establish a bona fide American hero, a national household name. Two were actually ‘nominated’ early by the Bush administration — Jessica Lynch, a 19-year-old private and clerk captured by the Iraqis in the early days of the American invasion and later ‘rescued’ by Army Rangers and Navy Seals, and Pat Tillman, the former NFL safety who volunteered for service in the Army Rangers eight months after 9/11 and died under ‘enemy’ gunfire in Afghanistan. Both stories were later revealed to be put-up jobs, pure Bush-era propaganda and deceit...

http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=1031

Government has run amok since 9/11

Future of Freedom Foundation
by Sheldon Richman

07/27/10

Those who understand the exploitative nature of big government suspected that the U.S. response to the 9/11 attacks had little to do with the security of the American people and much to do with power and money. Still, the magnitude of the scam, as revealed by the Washington Post last week, is astonishing. Naturally, the politicians justify the growth in intelligence operations on national security grounds. To make sure such attacks never happen again, they said, new powers, agencies, personnel, and facilities were imperative...

http://www.fff.org/comment/com1007j.asp

Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Bush+legacy
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Jessica+Lynch
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Pat+Tillman
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=national+security
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=William+J.+Astore
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Tom+Engelhardt
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Sheldon+Richman

rudkla - 27. Jul, 11:36

Yoo, Bybee, and the Taliban prisoner

Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G. Hornberger

07/26/10

I wonder what torture-memo attorneys John Yoo and Jay Bybee are thinking regarding the report of a U.S. sailor who was apparently taken captive by the Taliban yesterday. Time will tell whether the sailor who was killed with him was actually the lucky one. Would the Taliban torture the guy? It wouldn’t surprise anyone, but one thing is certain: the U.S. government unfortunately has no moral standing whatsoever to demand proper treatment of the soldier, given its own position and its own track record regarding torture and abuse...

http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2010-07-26.asp

Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=John+Yoo
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Jay+Bybee
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=torture
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=abuse
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Taliban
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Jacob+G.+Hornberger

rudkla - 27. Jul, 11:25

BP Response Workers Report Low Morale, Lack of Pay, Sickness

Dahr Jamail, Truthout: "BP oil disaster response workers are reporting endemic problems, such as not being paid on time, low morale, rampant sickness, equipment failures and being lied to regularly. 'Yesterday was a catastrophe,' one worker, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Truthout, 'People are waiting 2-3 hours for their paychecks to be brought to them and I know for a fact three people that didn't get paid and no reason was given.'"

http://www.truth-out.org/bp-response-workers-report-low-morale-lack-pay-sickness61718

BP's Don't-Ask-Don't-Tell Policy: The Well's Corked, but Public and Government Are Left in the Dark

Dave Lindorff, This Can't Be Happening: "Prof. Bob Bea, of UC Berkeley, a civil engineer with years of expertise in marine oil drilling, says he is concerned that during the current crisis of BP's blown-out well deep under the Gulf of Mexico, government scientists may not be getting all the information they need from the secretive oil company in order to make intelligent decisions about shutting down the gusher."

http://www.truth-out.org/bps-dont-ask-dont-tell-policy-the-wells-corked-but-public-and-government-are-left-dark61716

Our Complicity

Dahr Jamail, Dahr Jamial's Dispatches: "Not long ago we strolled along a beautiful white-sand beach in Orange Beach, Alabama, taking photos of freshly washed ashore black and brown tar balls. We watched little boys playing in the shallow surf, trying to catch minnows, as red oil boom bobbed in the waves just offshore behind them. This is the world we have all created."

http://www.truth-out.org/our-complicity61860

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Today we’re shutting down BP stations all over Central London
http://bit.ly/aNmvfn

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There is no $20 billion clean up fund
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/876.html

http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Obama
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=British+Petroleum
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=oil+spill
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=drilling
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Dahr+Jamail
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Dave+Lindorff
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Erika+Blumenfeld

rudkla - 27. Jul, 10:51

Ask the Forest Service to support a No Leasing Alternative for Colorado’s White River National Forest

https://secure.nrdconline.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1931&autologin=true&amp

rudkla - 27. Jul, 10:46

Wikileaks Afghanistan War Logs 'a very very big story'

http://www.ufppc.org/us-a-world-news-mainmenu-35/9842/

Wikileaks reveals civilian deaths caused and covered up by US military
http://www.ufppc.org/us-a-world-news-mainmenu-35/9843/

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Human Rights Watch (HRW): US: Confused, Alone, and in Legal Limbo
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2010/07/26-4

The End of (Military) History? The US, Israel, and the Failure of the Western Way of War
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/29-6

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Leakistan: The new insurgency

The New Republic
by Andrew J. Bacevich

07/25/10

The leaks are unlikely to affect the course of events on the ground. However, they may well affect the debate over the war here at home. In that regard, the effect is likely to be pernicious, intensifying the already existing inclination to focus on peripheral matters while ignoring vastly more important ones. For months on end, Washington has fixated on this question: what, oh what, are we to do about Afghanistan? Implicit in the question are at least two assumptions: first, that something must be done; and, second, that if the United States and its allies can just devise the right approach (or assign the right general), then surely something can be done. Both assumptions are highly dubious. To indulge them is to avoid the question that should rightly claim Washington’s attention: What exactly is the point of the Afghanistan war?

http://tinyurl.com/2763h2d

The WikiLeaks war logs change everything

Salon
by Dan Gillmor

07/26/10

Whatever our keepers of intelligence secrets do know, and whatever abuses they’ve done to our civil liberties to learn them, they must feel less sure today about keeping it all contained. When that many people have access to information, however compartmentalized their bosses may think they’ve made the system, some of it will get out, which leads to something else we should worry about. … The WikiLeaks war diary will absolutely spur our powerful institutions to look for increasingly draconian ways to clamp down on how we share information. What WikiLeaks represents is what governments and corporations fear: a threat to their cultures of secrecy and dominance in their domains...

http://tinyurl.com/2g7ugya

Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

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Courage Is Contagious: Whistleblower Guidelines
http://groups.google.de/group/freepage-news/t/2c588c698299fe58?hl=en

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WikiLeaks: Time to Celebrate, Time to Mourn

Jeff Cohen, Truthout: "It's a big win for Internet-based, indie media that WikiLeaks.org posted its 'Afghan War Diary,' based on 90,000 leaked US military records detailing a failing war in which US and allied forces have repeatedly killed innocent civilians. This on-the-ground material is vaster than the Daniel Ellsberg-leaked Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam War and was much faster in reaching the public."

http://www.truth-out.org/wikileaks-time-celebrate-time-mourn61742

http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Afghanistan
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Vietnam
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=WikiLeaks
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Julian+Assange
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=insurgen
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=civilian+deaths
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Human+Rights+Watch
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Daniel+Ellsberg
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Andrew+J.+Bacevich
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Dan+Gillmor
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Jeff+Cohen

rudkla - 27. Jul, 10:29

McCain on Iraq: 'We Already Won That One'

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/26-1

http://sharenews.twoday.net/topics/Iraq+-+Irak+/
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=McCain
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Marjorie+Cohn

rudkla - 27. Jul, 09:38

Afghanistan-Dokumente dürfen nicht folgenlos bleiben

NFI. 56 Killed None Insurgent

Wikileaks veröffentlicht fast 92.000 meist geheime Dokumente des US-Militärs, die Einblick in die Situation in Afghanistan gewähren.

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/33/33029/1.html

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Wie die Wahrheits Hacker von WikiLeaks die Freie Presse fördern
http://quintessenz.at/d/000100008045

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28. Juli 2010

Afghanistan-Dokumente dürfen nicht folgenlos bleiben

Die Vorsitzende der LINKEN, Gesine Lötzsch fordert Konsequenzen aus den jetzt verfügbaren Dokumenten über den Afghanistankrieg. Lötzsch hält eine Überprüfung und Neuabstimmung der Afghanistan-Mandate der Bundeswehr für notwendig.

Es wird immer klarer, dass in Afghanistan Krieg herrscht, wie wir es von Anfang an gesagt haben. Bei der Verabschiedung der Afghanistanmandate lagen nicht alle Informationen vor, die jetzt verfügbar sind. Die Situation am Hindukusch eskaliert seit Jahren. Wir müssen den Mut aufbringen, der Wahrheit ins Auge zu schauen. Die Bundeswehr steht in Afghanistan in einem Kriegseinsatz. Die Zahl der unschuldigen Opfer steigt ständig. Die Mehrheit der Bevölkerung will einen baldigen Abzug. Die Afghanistanmandate der Bundeswehr müssen jetzt in Kenntnis der neuen Dokumente überprüft und neu zur Abstimmung gestellt werden, damit sich alle Abgeordneten fragen können, ob sie diesen Einsatz noch vor ihrem Gewissen verantworten können. An dieser Debatte kommt niemand mehr vorbei. Wir sind für den sofortigen Abzug der Bundeswehr aus diesem Krieg.

http://www.die-linke.de/nc/presse/presseerklaerungen/detail/artikel/afghanistan-dokumente-duerfen-nicht-folgenlos-bleiben/

http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Afghanistan
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Bundeswehr
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=WikiLeaks
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=civilian+deaths

rudkla - 27. Jul, 09:12