Tag Archives: War Without End
Romney & Sons = Team Chickenhawk
DNC — Democrats parade Osama bin Laden’s corpse as their proudest achievement
I thought, or at least hoped, that such vulgar crowd celebrations of leader-reverence, jingoism and militarism would not soon be replicated. But on Thursday night, the final night of the Democratic party convention, it was.
It is hard to count how many times a Democratic party speaker stood up proudly to proclaim:
Osama. Bin. Laden. Is. Dead!
Almost every time Bin Laden’s scalp was paraded around on its pike – all thanks to the warrior spirit and unflinching courage of our commander-in-chief – the crowd of progressives, liberals and party faithful erupted into a prolonged “USA. USA” chant.
(Read more)
Veterans Aging More Quickly?
Air Force Magazine:
Missing Out on Their Youth: Veterans Affairs Department scientists say returning Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans’ bodies appear to be aging at an accelerated rate, reports USA Today. In addition to the psychological signs of post-traumatic stress and the effects of traumatic brain injuries, many former military personnel in their 20s and 30s are showing alarming early signs of heart disease and diabetes, slowed metabolisms, and obesity—maladies that usually surface later in life, states the newspaper’s Sept. 6 report. “They should have been in the best shape of their lives,” said William Milberg, a Harvard Medical School professor of psychology involved in this research. He added, “The big worry, of course, is we’re going to be taking care of them until they’re in their 70s. What’s going to happen to them in the long run?” Researchers still aren’t sure that their hypothesis is correct, according to the report. However, medical personnel are hoping they can get ahead of the problem “rather than waiting out 20 years to see [the combat veterans] wind up with early death and stroke and cardiovascular disease,” said Ann Rassmusson, a psychiatrist and neurobiologist.
School Board Denies Military Veteran Counter-Recruiters
Despite appeals court decisions that make it clear that schools must allow counter-recruiters in if they allow military recruiters, the Keene school board decided not to allow veterans to set up a counter-recruiting table at Keene high school. Their excuse is that representatives from colleges and workplaces are able to also reach out to students and therefore they are exposed to other post-high-school options. (Read more)
Century of Central Banking = Century of Total War
US Navy Versus Indian Fishing Boat
Remember the menacing story blasted across the mainstream media just days ago of the USNS Rappahannock firing on a small boat in the Persian Gulf? Big headlines, breathless coverage. Immediately the US media began to blame Iran — surely it was Iran, it must be!!! No, it was a 30 foot boat with some Indian fishermen in it, trying to earn a living, who swore that the US Navy’s tale of plenty of warnings before the shooting was totally bogus.
But readers of earlier this week would not know that because after the initial scare story grabbed the headlines, the “rest of the story,” as they say, was buried at the bottom of mainstream press outlets. (Compare the link in the above NY Times “rest of the story” with the enormous headlines when it seemed to be breaking in a way that may have discredited the Iranians or any other “bad guys”). (Read more)
Can Turkey Pull NATO into war with Syria?
From Air Force Magazine: Shoot First, Question Now: Turkey invoked its right as a NATO member to have the alliance convene an emergency meeting on June 26 to judge whether Syria’s shootdown of a Turkish military jet is sufficient to trigger allied military response. Syrian forces downed a Turkish RF-4 Phantom in international waters on June 22, 13 miles off the Syrian coast, announced Turkey’s foreign ministry June 24. The pilot and copilot were still missing as of June 25. “This aggressive act, which runs against all the principles of good faith and good neighborliness, is a flagrant and grave violation of international law,” states the foreign ministry release. Instead of scrambling fighters to intercept the Phantom, Syrian air defenses shot the aircraft down “without any warning,” breaching peacetime protocol, stressed the Turks. The shootdown is “yet another reflection of the Syrian authorities’ callous disregard for international norms, human life, and peace and security,” said State Secretary Hillary Clinton in a statement June 24. (See also NATO release.)
This is what the Nobel Prize has come to
Which Republican Candidates was in the Military vs. foreign policy?
A Time-Lapse Map of Every Nuclear Explosion 1945 – 1988 by Isao Hashimoto
Michael Scheuer on Afghanistan, War, Middle East Politics, Terrorism
ex-FBI informant on faking & entrapping “terrorists”
Monteilh was involved in one of the most controversial tactics: the use of “confidential informants” in so-called entrapment cases. This is when suspects carry out or plot fake terrorist “attacks” at the request or under the close supervision of an FBI undercover operation using secret informants. Often those informants have serious criminal records or are supplied with a financial motivation to net suspects.
In the case of the Newburgh Four – where four men were convicted for a fake terror attack on Jewish targets in the Bronx – a confidential informant offered $250,000, a free holiday and a car to one suspect for help with the attack.
In the case of the Fort Dix Five, which involved a fake plan to attack a New Jersey military base, one informant’s criminal past included attempted murder, while another admitted in court at least two of the suspects later jailed for life had not known of any plot. (Read more)
F-35 Cost Continues to rise
Military acquisitions is the stinkiest pile of all the reeking heaps in Washington. This is from Airforce Magazine:
F-35 Costs Rise in Latest Pentagon Estimate: The estimated cost of the F-35 strike fighter program has grown by some $17 billion from $379 billion to $396 billion, according to the Pentagon’s latest reporting figures provided to Congress. According to the newly released selected acquisition reports, which reflect the period through December 2011, F-35 aircraft costs have increased by some $10.7 billion to $332 billion compared to the previous SARs that ran through December 2010. Among the reasons for the cost hike were the impacts of slowing the ramp-up of aircraft production, state the SARs. For example, the Air Force has extended its 1,763-aircraft production run by two years out to 2037, they state. F-35 engine costs went up by roughly $5.6 billion to $63.9 billion through December 2011, state the SARs. That was primarily due to an increase in initial engine spares and the cost impacts of the slower production ramp-up, they state.
Top Mercenary Companies
I’m in favor of private security, but mercenaries hired by governments is not privatization of security, it’s corporatization.
Top companies:
G4S
Unity Resources Group
Erinys
Asia Security Group (Afghan)
DynCorps
Triple Canopy
Aegis Defense Services
Defion Internacional (Latin America)
Academi (formerly Blackwater, then Xe)