Tag Archives: Afghanistan

Cindy Sheehan Protesting Obama’s Illegal Wars Of Aggression

My dear liberal friends,

These wars are Obama’s now. If you hated Bush for bringing us these wars, what do you say now about Obama?

Cindy Sheehan, the famous anti-war protester who used to set up camp outside George Bush’s Crawford Ranch, is at it again. This time she’s on Martha’s Vineyard, and the war that’s got her all riled up has a new Commander In Chief.

“The reason I am here is because … even though the facade has changed in Washington D.C., the policies are still the same,” Sheehan said. (Read more from therobalution.com)

Fraud Claims Soar as Karzai Moves Closer to Vote Win

“Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission (IEC) issued a new set of vote results today, showing President Hamid Karzai inching further ahead of his chief rival Abdullah Abdullah with about 35% of the votes counted, and nearing the majority of votes needed to avert a run-off vote.

Karzai’s presumptive victory has been considerably tainted, however, by thousands of accusations of voter fraud, and officials now say that nearly 700 of the complaints it has received so far are ‘Category A’ allegations of fraud or intimidation, meaning that any of them is large enough to have potentially had an impact on the outcome of the vote.

Not only that, but officials say that the number is expected to rise even further as the votes continue to come in from the nation’s more remote regions. Between the low voter turnout and the enormous number of allegations of fraud, the credibility of the final results, which were initially expected on September 17 and are now expected to be delayed even further, is very much in doubt.” (Read more from myantiwar.org)

Afghan opium profits going mostly to U.S. allies

“One of the most revealing things we learned this week about the war in Afghanistan came in a Los Angeles Times report headlined ‘Taliban Drug Proceeds Lower Than Thought.’

We’ve been told again and again for years on end that the Taliban were running their operations off the opium trade, clearing as much as $400 million per year. Now, a Senate Foreign Relations Committee investigation says the proceeds are closer to $70 million.

But that’s not the real news. The real news is what’s missing: If our enemies aren’t taking as much money as we thought to provide protection to the source of raw material for 90% of the world’s heroin, then who is providing that protection?

Apparently, the answer is: our friends.

The Times goes on to say:

In one of its most disconcerting conclusions, the Senate report says the United States inadvertently contributed to the resurgent drug trade … by backing warlords who derived income from the flow of illegal drugs. … These warlords later traded on their stature as U.S. allies to take senior positions in the new Afghan government, laying the groundwork for the corrupt nexus between drugs and authority that pervades the power structure today.

The cost of this may well go beyond the effect on the heroin shipments.

When we sat down this week with Amin Tarzi, director of Middle East Studies at the Marine Corps University and a native Afghan, he said that the United States has lost credibility with the Afghan populace by allying itself with warlords who have been known across Afghanistan for many years as criminals.” (Read more from npr.org)

Clinton says 9/11 ringleaders in Pakistan

“U.S. officials ‘firmly believe’ that al-Qaida leaders who planned and carried out the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, are hiding in Pakistan near its border with Afghanistan, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday.

At a news conference concluding three days of meetings, Clinton said Washington has told the Pakistani government what it believes about the location of al-Qaida leaders on its soil.

‘With respect to the location of those who were part of the planning and execution of the attack of 9/11 against our country, we firmly believe that a significant number of them are in the border area of Pakistan,’ she said when asked about the U.S. view.” (Read more from myantiwar.org)

Let us fear. Let us hate. Let us have permanent war.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi Pressures Antiwar Democrats to Approve $106 Billion War Funding Bill

“Congress is expected to vote today on a $106 billion supplemental war funding bill. The White House and Democratic leadership have been trying to muscle through the bill, which would support escalating the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In May, fifty-one antiwar Democrats opposed an earlier version of the bill. Now House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been trying to pressure some of those Democrats to switch their votes in order to get the necessary votes to pass the bill.” (Read more from democracynow.org)

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Violent Afghanistan and expanding the war

“Last week saw more than 400 attacks, eight times the rate of January 2004.

Gen Petraeus said the numbers of insurgent attacks was expected to increase as troops target their bases and safe havens.

There are currently more than 70,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, mostly under Nato command.

The Obama administration plans to send an additional 21,000 troops.” (Read more from news.bbc.co.uk)

More change we can believe in.

Ron Paul: Neoconservatives backing Obama’s foreign policy

Ron Paul: “Some may notice that the neo-conservatives who masterminded the policy of global interventions are not complaining about the level of military and foreign spending. This is because rather than drawing down our costly interventions, Obama is largely staying the course on these issues. In fact, this week a group of leading neoconservatives met to discuss how best to support the President on foreign policy! I am disappointed and concerned that, in spite of a change in leadership, we will remain the policeman of the world, placing ourselves at grave danger in many ways.”

(Read more from campaignforliberty.com)

See Also: Caller to C-SPAN: Why Do You Keep Bringing These Neocons On?
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