US Creating False pretexts for Another War
In an alarming exposure of the acceleration and urgency of the American war party's push towards catastrophic war with Iran, Philip Giraldi, former CIA counter terrorism officer, in an interview [1] on 24th July with Anti War Radio debunked the NeoCons' repeated myth of Iran's support for AlQaeda as a pretext for war. Whilst acknowledging Iran's helpfulness in trying to establish security in both Afghanistan and Iraq, Giraldi spoke of the United States' hypocritical and illegal support for terrorist separatists groups inside Iran, and various plans and scenarios which have been drawn up to destroy Iran's military and economic infrastructure by massive bombardment, with the use of nuclear bombs a real and stated possibility.
Giraldi refuted the assumption that sharing hostilities towards the US, placed Iran and AlQaeda in the same camp and sharing similar agenda, arguing that Iran followed a very different agenda in its dealings with the US. He emphasised both the fact of Iranians' helpfulness in Iraq, in terms of pushing for greater stability, and also their help and cooperation in Afghanistan, as well as the reality of the deep hostilities between Shiia Iran and Sunni extremism of AlQaeda. Giraldi recalled the major attack against the Iranian consulate general in Afghanistan by the Taliban, a close ally of AlQaeda, in which 11 Iranian diplomats were killed, and the regular AlQaeda violent attacks against Shiia population in Iraq, and concluded that a Shiia Iranian-AlQaeda alliance was not a plausible possibility.
Full article...
7/31/07
Americans Moving to Canada at 30-Year High
The number of Americans admitted to Canada last year reached a 30-year high, with a 20 per cent increase over the previous year and nearly double the number that arrived in 2000.
The results of a survey, conducted by the Association for Canadian Studies, also revealed that the so-called “brain drain” of Canada appears to be narrowing.
The survey found that 10,942 Americans came to Canada in 2006, compared to just over 9,262 in 2005. In 2000, 5,828 came to the country.
While twice as many Canadians went to the States than Americans came to Canada, that ratio diminished between 2005 and 2006.
More...
punditman says: It is impossible to tell from the article above, how many of this new wave of Americans moving to Canada are political refugees. However, it stands to reason that this is certainly a factor in the increased numbers–post 2004 election, when there was much talk in the media of this phenomenon picking up steam if Bush “won” again.
Looks like it is happening…
On the other hand, the reason Canadians still go to the United States is quite simple: economic. This is the so-called brain drain amongst professionals that has been going on for decades. They perceive they can make more money and pay less taxes, although the evidence is inconclusive. The fact is the US economy is simply bigger and people go where the opportunity is, or where head office tells them to go. What is not clear is how many of these folks on either side of equation eventually return home.
Here is an interesting factoid: Microsoft recently announced that it would be opening offices in Vancouver, largely due to the fact that Canadian visa laws are far less stringent than American ones. It is easier to employ foreign workers in Canada than it is in the United States.
This clear trend of more Americans emigrating to Canada echoes what happened in the 1960s. The total number of American citizens who moved to Canada during the Vietnam War era was about 125,000. If you divide that number by 10 years (of war), then you get about 12,500, so the 2006 number of almost 11,000 looks like it is approaching these old averages. Surprise, surprise!
The results of a survey, conducted by the Association for Canadian Studies, also revealed that the so-called “brain drain” of Canada appears to be narrowing.
The survey found that 10,942 Americans came to Canada in 2006, compared to just over 9,262 in 2005. In 2000, 5,828 came to the country.
While twice as many Canadians went to the States than Americans came to Canada, that ratio diminished between 2005 and 2006.
More...
punditman says: It is impossible to tell from the article above, how many of this new wave of Americans moving to Canada are political refugees. However, it stands to reason that this is certainly a factor in the increased numbers–post 2004 election, when there was much talk in the media of this phenomenon picking up steam if Bush “won” again.
Looks like it is happening…
On the other hand, the reason Canadians still go to the United States is quite simple: economic. This is the so-called brain drain amongst professionals that has been going on for decades. They perceive they can make more money and pay less taxes, although the evidence is inconclusive. The fact is the US economy is simply bigger and people go where the opportunity is, or where head office tells them to go. What is not clear is how many of these folks on either side of equation eventually return home.
Here is an interesting factoid: Microsoft recently announced that it would be opening offices in Vancouver, largely due to the fact that Canadian visa laws are far less stringent than American ones. It is easier to employ foreign workers in Canada than it is in the United States.
This clear trend of more Americans emigrating to Canada echoes what happened in the 1960s. The total number of American citizens who moved to Canada during the Vietnam War era was about 125,000. If you divide that number by 10 years (of war), then you get about 12,500, so the 2006 number of almost 11,000 looks like it is approaching these old averages. Surprise, surprise!
7/30/07
7/29/07
Amputations Bring Health Crisis To Iraq
by- Suzie-Q @ 4:06 PM MST
Iraq is facing a hidden healthcare and social crisis over the soaring number of amputations, largely of lower limbs, necessitated by the daily explosions and violence gripping the country.
More
Iraq is facing a hidden healthcare and social crisis over the soaring number of amputations, largely of lower limbs, necessitated by the daily explosions and violence gripping the country.
In the north of Iraq, the Red Crescent Society and the director general for health services in Mosul have told US forces, there is a requirement for up to 3,000 replacement limbs a year. If that estimate is applied across the country, it suggests an acute and looming long-term health challenge that has been largely ignored by the world.
The revelation of the scale of limb loss suffered by Iraqi civilians is not entirely surprising, even though it has gone unreported. Levels of amputations performed by military surgeons on US troops in Iraq are twice as high as those recorded in previous wars: the most recently available figures suggest 6 per cent of wounded US troops require an amputation, compared with 3 per cent in other conflicts.More
7/26/07
As U.S. Army Closes Bases, Germans Bid Sad Farewell
by- Suzie-Q @ 8:53 AM MST
More
BUEDINGEN, Germany — Sixty-two years after they arrived in this medieval village — and 17 years after it ceased to be the front line in the Cold War — U.S. troops are leaving and preparing to hand their base back to the town.
The 640 soldiers in the 1st Squadron of the U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry Regiment will be gone by mid-August. Most have already left, the latest in a rush back to the States that's seen American troop levels in Europe fall by about a third since 2005. The U.S. also is shutting down bases this summer in Gelnhausen, Darmstadt and Hanau and a barracks in Mannheim.
At a time when two-thirds of Germans view the U.S. unfavorably, it sounds like perfect timing. That's not the view in Buedingen, however.
"I can't think of a negative thing to say about America," said lifelong resident Ursula Schmueck, who helps run a 1950s museum in town. "I don't know anyone who could. We all love America here. I think that's because we know it."
Buedingen is a fairy-tale town of 8,500 people. It has its own Witches Tower, a Jerusalem Gate and Schwan (Swan) Inn, all dating from before 1600, as well as its own legend. According to the story, 500 years ago a new countess refused to consummate her marriage because of the din from the croaking of frogs. That set off a wild night of frog-catching by the entire town.
More
7/23/07
When Pressing A Tough Sale, Bush Is A Lousy Salesman
by- Suzie-Q @ 7:22 PM MST
WASHINGTON — President Bush now has what he asked for — time to sell the people and the Congress on the Iraq war.
WASHINGTON — President Bush now has what he asked for — time to sell the people and the Congress on the Iraq war.
But an extra 60 days from Congress, the addition of the talented Ed Gillespie to run the White House communications strategy, and a newly ramped-up sales pitch cannot change the underlying fact: George Bush is a poor salesman.
He's never really sold the country or Congress something it didn't already want. And when he's tried to sell something the people or the politicians didn't want, he's fallen flat.
Think of the recent battle over immigration.
Despite his long, hard push for a comprehensive overhaul of border security while providing a path to citizenship for the millions of illegal immigrants already here, he succeeded only in insulting his own political base. In a May interview with McClatchy Newspapers, for example, he questioned the patriotism of conservatives criticizing a proposal he charged they hadn't even read.
They were outraged. The proposal died.
More
7/21/07
Court Tells U.S. to Reveal Data on Detainees at Guantánamo
by- Suzie-Q @ 9:45 AM MST
P. Sabin Willett, a lawyer for the detainees, called Friday's court ruling “a resounding rejection of the government’s effort to hide the truth.”
P. Sabin Willett, a lawyer for the detainees, called Friday's court ruling “a resounding rejection of the government’s effort to hide the truth.”A federal appeals court ordered the government yesterday to turn over virtually all its information on Guantánamo detainees who are challenging their detention, rejecting an effort by the Justice Department to limit disclosures and setting the stage for new legal battles over the government’s reasons for holding the men indefinitely.
The ruling, which came in one of the main court cases dealing with the fate of the detainees, effectively set the ground rules for scores of cases by detainees challenging the actions of Pentagon tribunals that decide whether terror suspects should be held as enemy combatants.
It was the latest of a series of stinging legal challenges to the administration’s detention policies that have amplified pressure on the Bush administration to find some alternative to Guantánamo, where about 360 men are now being held.
A three-judge panel of the federal appeals court in Washington unanimously rejected a government effort to limit the information it must turn over to the court and lawyers for the detainees.
More
7/19/07
Insurgents form political front to plan for US pullout
punditman says:
It had to happen: the bulk of the Iraqi Sunni resistance has unified to fight a common foe: US occupation. The article below, from The Guardian, puts the lie to the whole “We are fighting al-Queda in Iraq” hogwash. These people are Sunni-based but exclude both al-Queda and the Ba’athists from their ranks. They are committed to freeing Iraq from foreign troops, reject cooperation with parties involved in political institutions set up under US occupation, and they anticipate negotiating an early US withdrawal. They want a temporary government to run the country until free elections can be held. They deny they get support from any foreign government, claiming they have been offered and rejected funding and arms from Iran (interesting) and have been under pressure from Saudi Arabia and Turkey to unite (also interesting). “We are the only resistance movement in modern history which has received no help or support from any other country,” Abdallah Suleiman Omary, head of the political department of the 1920 Revolution Brigades, told the Guardian. “The reason is we are fighting America.”
I am guessing you would be hard pressed to find this type of solid reporting and analysis of the Iraqi resistance anywhere in the US media. The reason is that the situation on the ground in Iraq flies in the face of the simplistic sloganeering and blatant lying coming out of the White House.
Leaders of Iraqi groups say attacks will go on until Americans leave
Seumas Milne in Damascus
Thursday July 19, 2007
Guardian
Seven of the most important Sunni-led insurgent organisations fighting the US occupation in Iraq have agreed to form a public political alliance with the aim of preparing for negotiations in advance of an American withdrawal, their leaders have told the Guardian.
In their first interview with the western media since the US-British invasion of 2003, leaders of three of the insurgent groups - responsible for thousands of attacks against US and Iraqi armed forces and police–said they would continue their armed resistance until all foreign troops were withdrawn from Iraq, and denounced al-Queda for sectarian killings and suicide bombings against civilians.
Speaking in Damascus, the spokesmen for the three groups - the 1920 Revolution Brigades, Ansar al-Sunna and Iraqi Hamas - said they planned to hold a congress to launch a united front and appealed to Arab governments, other governments and the UN to help them establish a permanent political presence outside Iraq.
Full article…
It had to happen: the bulk of the Iraqi Sunni resistance has unified to fight a common foe: US occupation. The article below, from The Guardian, puts the lie to the whole “We are fighting al-Queda in Iraq” hogwash. These people are Sunni-based but exclude both al-Queda and the Ba’athists from their ranks. They are committed to freeing Iraq from foreign troops, reject cooperation with parties involved in political institutions set up under US occupation, and they anticipate negotiating an early US withdrawal. They want a temporary government to run the country until free elections can be held. They deny they get support from any foreign government, claiming they have been offered and rejected funding and arms from Iran (interesting) and have been under pressure from Saudi Arabia and Turkey to unite (also interesting). “We are the only resistance movement in modern history which has received no help or support from any other country,” Abdallah Suleiman Omary, head of the political department of the 1920 Revolution Brigades, told the Guardian. “The reason is we are fighting America.”
I am guessing you would be hard pressed to find this type of solid reporting and analysis of the Iraqi resistance anywhere in the US media. The reason is that the situation on the ground in Iraq flies in the face of the simplistic sloganeering and blatant lying coming out of the White House.
Leaders of Iraqi groups say attacks will go on until Americans leave
Seumas Milne in Damascus
Thursday July 19, 2007
Guardian
Seven of the most important Sunni-led insurgent organisations fighting the US occupation in Iraq have agreed to form a public political alliance with the aim of preparing for negotiations in advance of an American withdrawal, their leaders have told the Guardian.
In their first interview with the western media since the US-British invasion of 2003, leaders of three of the insurgent groups - responsible for thousands of attacks against US and Iraqi armed forces and police–said they would continue their armed resistance until all foreign troops were withdrawn from Iraq, and denounced al-Queda for sectarian killings and suicide bombings against civilians.
Speaking in Damascus, the spokesmen for the three groups - the 1920 Revolution Brigades, Ansar al-Sunna and Iraqi Hamas - said they planned to hold a congress to launch a united front and appealed to Arab governments, other governments and the UN to help them establish a permanent political presence outside Iraq.
Full article…
7/18/07
Bombing and Spraying Afghanistan
The New Air War in the Hindu Kush
By CONN HALLINAN
The rising tide of Afghan civilian deaths has opened a rift between the U.S. and NATO's 37,000-member International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). According to NATO officials, the U.S.'s increasing use of air power has badly damaged support for the war in both Afghanistan and Europe.
Daan Everts, the senior NATO civilian in Afghanistan, says the U.S. has created "a fallout that is negative because the collateral damage and particularly the civilian casualties are seen as unduly high, certainly by the Afghan people. This is of concern to us."
More...
punditman says: This helps explain why support for the war is falling amongst Canadians as well. In addition to the US air war, there is the disastrous opium-spraying program thanks to DynCorp, a private US mercenary company that has done extensive spraying of coca plants in Columbia. Perhaps citizens in NATO countries are waking up to the reality of who is in charge of this war, who is making a mess of it and who the cannon fodder are?
By CONN HALLINAN
The rising tide of Afghan civilian deaths has opened a rift between the U.S. and NATO's 37,000-member International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). According to NATO officials, the U.S.'s increasing use of air power has badly damaged support for the war in both Afghanistan and Europe.
Daan Everts, the senior NATO civilian in Afghanistan, says the U.S. has created "a fallout that is negative because the collateral damage and particularly the civilian casualties are seen as unduly high, certainly by the Afghan people. This is of concern to us."
More...
punditman says: This helps explain why support for the war is falling amongst Canadians as well. In addition to the US air war, there is the disastrous opium-spraying program thanks to DynCorp, a private US mercenary company that has done extensive spraying of coca plants in Columbia. Perhaps citizens in NATO countries are waking up to the reality of who is in charge of this war, who is making a mess of it and who the cannon fodder are?
7/17/07
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