12160 Social Network2024-03-28T23:53:28ZTroubleshoot1https://12160.info/profile/Troubleshoot1https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1961339004?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1https://12160.info/group/Global/forum/topic/listForContributor?user=10c88e18chh30&feed=yes&xn_auth=noThe US Has A History Of Bombing Civilian Facilitiestag:12160.info,2015-10-14:2649739:Topic:15932132015-10-14T07:26:38.915ZTroubleshoot1https://12160.info/profile/Troubleshoot1
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<p> On October 3, a U.S. AC-130 gunship attacked a hospital run by Médecins Sans Frontières in Kunduz, Afghanistan, partially destroying it. Twelve staff members and 10 patients, including three children, were killed, and 37 people were injured. According to MSF, the U.S. had previously been informed of the hospital’s precise location, and the attack continued for 30 minutes after…</p>
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<p> On October 3, a U.S. AC-130 gunship attacked a hospital run by Médecins Sans Frontières in Kunduz, Afghanistan, partially destroying it. Twelve staff members and 10 patients, including three children, were killed, and 37 people were injured. According to MSF, the U.S. had previously been informed of the hospital’s precise location, and the attack continued for 30 minutes after staff members desperately called the U.S. military.</p>
<p>The U.S. <a href="https://twitter.com/stuartmillar159/status/650271482057113601">first claimed</a> the hospital had been “collateral damage” in an airstrike aimed at “individuals” elsewhere who were “threatening the force.” Since then, various vague and contradictory explanations have been offered by the U.S. and Afghan governments, both of which promise to investigate the bombing. MSF has called the attack a war crime and demanded an independent investigation by a commission set up under the Geneva Conventions.</p>
<p>While the international outcry has been significant, history suggests this is less because of what happened and more because of whom it happened to. The U.S. has repeatedly attacked civilian facilities in the past but the targets have generally not been affiliated with a European, Nobel Peace Prize-winning humanitarian organization such as MSF.</p>
<p>Below is a sampling of such incidents since the 1991 Gulf War. If you believe some significant examples are missing, please <a href="mailto:jon.schwarz@theintercept.com">send them our way</a>. To be clear, we’re looking for U.S. attacks on specifically civilian facilities, such as hospitals or schools.</p>
<p><b>Infant Formula Production Plant, Abu Ghraib, Iraq (January 21, 1991)<br/></b></p>
<p>On the seventh day of Operation Desert Storm, aimed at evicting Iraq military forces from Kuwait, the U.S.-led coalition bombed the Infant Formula Production Plant in the Abu Ghraib suburb of Baghdad. Iraq declared that the factory was exactly what its name said, but the administration of President George H.W. Bush <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1991-01-24/news/mn-1101_1_peter-arnett">claimed</a> it was “a production facility for biological weapons.” Colin Powell, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, <a href="http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1991-01-24/news/1991024090_1_baby-formula-infant-formula-milk">chimed in</a> to say, “It is not an infant formula factory. It was a biological weapons facility — of that we are sure.” The U.S. media chortled about Iraq’s clumsy, transparent propaganda, and CNN’s Peter Arnett was attacked by U.S. politicians for touring the damaged factory and reporting that “whatever else it did, it did produce infant formula.”</p>
<p>Iraq was telling the truth. When Saddam Hussein’s son-in-law, Hussein Kamel, defected to Jordan in 1995, he had every incentive to undermine Saddam, since he hoped the U.S. would help install him as his father-in-law’s successor — but he told CNN “there is nothing military about that place. … It only produced baby milk.” The CIA’s own investigation later <a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/reports/general-reports-1/iraq_wmd_2004/chap6.html">concluded</a> the site had been bombed “in the mistaken belief that it was a key BW [Biological Weapon] facility.” The original U.S. claims have nevertheless proven impossible to stamp out. The George W. Bush administration, making the case for invading Iraq in 2003, portrayed the factory as a symbol of Iraqi deceit. When the Newseum opened in 2008, it included Arnett’s 1991 reporting in a section devoted to — in the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/11/arts/design/11news.html?pagewanted=print&_r=0"><i>New York Times</i>’ description</a> — “examples of distortions that mar the profession.”</p>
<p><b>Air Raid Shelter, Amiriyah, Iraq (February 13, 1991)<br/></b></p>
<p>The U.S. purposefully targeted an air raid shelter near the Baghdad airport with two 2,000-pound laser-guided bombs, which punched through 10 feet of concrete and killed at least 408 Iraqi civilians. A BBC journalist <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/fogofwar/archive/post021391_2.htm">reported</a> that “we saw the charred and mutilated remains. … They were piled onto the back of a truck; many were barely recognizable as human.” Meanwhile, Army Lt. Gen. Thomas Kelly of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff said: “We are chagrined if [civilian] people were hurt, but the only information we have about people being hurt is coming out of the controlled press in Baghdad.” Another U.S. general <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/14/world/war-in-the-gulf-the-pentagon-us-calls-target-a-command-center.html">claimed</a> the shelter was “an active command-and-control structure,” while anonymous officials said military trucks and limousines for Iraq’s senior leadership had been seen at the building.</p>
<p>In his 1995 CNN interview, Hussein Kamel said, “There was no leadership there. There was a transmission apparatus for the Iraqi intelligence, but the allies had the ability to monitor that apparatus and knew that it was not important.” The Iraqi blogger Riverbend <a href="http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/2004_02_01_riverbendblog_archive.html">later wrote</a> that several years after the attack, she went to the shelter and met a “small, slight woman” who now lived in the shelter and gave visitors unofficial tours. Eight of her nine children had been killed in the bombing.</p>
<p><b>Al Shifa pharmaceutical factory, Khartoum, Sudan (August 20, 1998)<br/></b></p>
<p>After al Qaeda attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, the Clinton administration targeted the Al Shifa factory with 13 cruise missiles, killing one person and wounding 11. <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/eafricabombing/stories/text082098b.htm">According to President Bill Clinton</a>, the plant was “associated with the bin Laden network” and was “involved in the production of materials for chemical weapons.”</p>
<p>The Clinton administration <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/chatterbox/2004/03/khartoum_revisited_part_2.html">never produced</a> any convincing evidence that this was true. By 2005, the best the U.S. could do was say, as the <em>New York Times</em> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/20/world/africa/look-at-the-place-sudan-says-say-sorry-but-us-wont.html">characterized it</a>, that it had not “ruled out the possibility” that the original claims were right. The long-term damage to Sudan was enormous. Jonathan Belke of the Near East Foundation <a href="http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/33/183.html">pointed out</a> a year after the bombing that the plant had produced “90 percent of Sudan’s major pharmaceutical products” and contended that due to its destruction “tens of thousands of people — many of them children — have suffered and died from malaria, tuberculosis, and other treatable diseases.” Sudan has repeatedly requested a U.N. investigation of the bombing, with no success.</p>
<p><b>Train bombing, Grdelica, Serbia (April 12, 1999)<br/></b></p>
<p>During the U.S.-led bombing of Serbia during the Kosovo war, an F-15E fighter jet fired two remotely-guided missiles that hit a train crossing a bridge near Grdelica, killing at least 14 civilians. Gen. Wesley Clark, then Supreme Allied Commander Europe, <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9904/13/nato.attack.03/">called it</a> “an unfortunate incident we all regret.” While the F-15 crew was able to control the missiles after they were launched, NATO released footage taken from the plane to demonstrate how quickly the train was moving and how little time the jet’s crew had to react. The German newspaper <i>Frankfurter Rundschau</i> later reported that the video had been sped up three times. The paper quoted a U.S. Air Force spokesperson who said this was accidental, and they had not noticed this until months later — by which point “we did not deem it useful to go public with this.”</p>
<p><b>Radio Television Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia (April 23, 1999)<br/></b></p>
<p>Sixteen employees of Serbia’s state broadcasting system were killed during the Kosovo War when NATO intentionally targeted its headquarters in Belgrade. President Clinton gave an <a href="http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=57458">underwhelming defense</a> of the bombing: “Our military leaders at NATO believe … that the Serb television is an essential instrument of Mr. Milosevic’s command and control. … It is not, in a conventional sense, therefore, a media outlet. That was a decision they made, and I did not reverse it.” U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/1999/4/23/pacifica_rejects_overseas_press_club_award">told the Overseas Press Club</a> immediately after the attack that it was “an enormously important and, I think, positive development.” Amnesty International <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090611191103/http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/no-justice-victims-nato-bombings-20090423">later stated</a> it was “a deliberate attack on a civilian object and as such constitutes a war crime.”</p>
<p><b>Chinese Embassy, Belgrade, Serbia (May 7, 1999)<br/></b></p>
<p>Also during the Kosovo war, the U.S. bombed the Chinese embassy in Serbia’s capital, killing three staff and wounding more than 20. The defense secretary at the time, William Cohen, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/balkans/stories/mistake051199.htm">said</a> it was a terrible mistake: “One of our planes attacked the wrong target because the bombing instructions were based on an outdated map.” The<i> Observer</i> newspaper in the U.K. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/oct/17/balkans">later reported</a> the U.S. had in fact deliberately targeted the embassy “after discovering it was being used to transmit Yugoslav army communications.” The <i>Observer </i>quoted “a source in the U.S. National Imagery and Mapping Agency” calling Cohen’s version of events “a damned lie.” <a href="http://fair.org/take-action/action-alerts/u-s-media-overlook-expose-on-chinese-embassy-bombing/">Prodded</a> by the media watchdog organization Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, the <i>New York Times</i> produced its <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/17/world/chinese-embassy-bombing-a-wide-net-of-blame.html?pagewanted=all">own investigation</a> finding “no evidence that the bombing of the embassy had been a deliberate act,” but rather that it had been caused by a “bizarre chain of missteps.” The article concluded by quoting Porter Goss, then chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, as saying he believed the bombing was not deliberate – “unless some people are lying to me.”</p>
<p><b>Red Cross complex, Kabul, Afghanistan (October 16 and October 26, 2001)<br/></b></p>
<p>At the beginning of the U.S-led invasion of Afghanistan, the U.S. attacked the complex housing the International Committee of the Red Cross in Kabul. In an attempt to prevent such incidents in the future, the U.S. conducted detailed discussions with the Red Cross about the location of all of its installations in the country. Then the U.S. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/27/international/asia/27MILI.html">bombed the same complex again</a>. The second attack destroyed warehouses containing tons of food and supplies for refugees. “Whoever is responsible will have to come to Geneva for a formal explanation,” said a Red Cross spokesperson. “Firing, shooting, bombing, a warehouse clearly marked with the Red Cross emblem is a very serious incident. … Now we’ve got 55,000 people without that food or blankets, with nothing at all.”</p>
<p><b>Al Jazeera office, Kabul, Afghanistan (November 13, 2001)<br/></b></p>
<p>Several weeks after the Red Cross attacks, the U.S. bombed the Kabul bureau of Al Jazeera, destroying it and damaging the nearby office of the BBC. Al Jazeera’s managing director said the channel had repeatedly informed the U.S. military of its office’s location.</p>
<p><b>Al Jazeera office, Baghdad, Iraq (April 8, 2003)<br/></b></p>
<p>Soon after the start of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the U.S. bombed the Baghdad office of Al Jazeera, killing reporter Tarek Ayoub and injuring another journalist. David Blunkett, the British home secretary at the time,<a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/blunkett-we-must-bomb-al-jazeera-tv-703191">subsequently revealed</a> that a few weeks before the attack he had urged Prime Minister Tony Blair to bomb Al Jazeera’s transmitter in Baghdad. Blunkett argued, “I don’t think that there are targets in a war that you can rule out because you don’t actually have military personnel inside them if they are attempting to win a propaganda battle on behalf of your enemy.”</p>
<p>In 2005, the British newspaper <i>The Mirror </i>reported on a British government memorandum recording an April 16, 2004, conversation between Blair and President Bush at the height of the U.S. assault on Fallujah in Iraq. The Bush administration <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/did-bush-really-want-bomb-al-jazeera/">was infuriated</a> by Al Jazeera’s coverage of Fallujah, and according to <i>The Mirror</i>, Bush had wanted to bomb the channel at its Qatar headquarters and elsewhere. However, the article says, Blair argued him out of it. Blair subsequently<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1504132/Bush-plot-to-bomb-al-Jazeera-is-a-conspiracy-theory-says-Blair.html">called</a> <i>The Mirror</i>’s claims a “conspiracy theory.” Meanwhile, his attorney general threatened to use the Official Secrets Act to prosecute any news outlet that published further information about the memo, and, in a secret trial, did in fact <a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/2007/05/10/uk-britain-trial-secrets-idUKL1060345320070510">prosecute and send to jail</a> a civil servant for leaking it.</p>
<p><strong>Palestine Hotel, Baghdad, Iraq (April 8, 2003)</strong></p>
<p>The same day as the 2003 bombing of the Al Jazeera office in Baghdad, a U.S. tank fired a shell at the 15th floor of the Palestine Hotel, where most foreign journalists were then staying. Two reporters were killed: Taras Protsyuk, a cameraman for Reuters, and Jose Couso, a cameraman for the Spanish network Telecinco. An <a href="https://cpj.org/2003/05/cpj-releases-investigative-report-on-palestine-hot.php">investigation</a> by the Committee to Protect Journalists concluded that the attack, “while not deliberate, was avoidable.”</p>
<p><em>This story has been updated to include the April 8, 2003, attack on the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad.</em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theintercept.com/2015/10/07/a-short-history-of-u-s-bombing-of-civilian-facilities/" target="_blank">Jon Schwarz</a><br/></em></p> How Much Of Your Life Has The United States Been At War?tag:12160.info,2015-05-27:2649739:Topic:15608442015-05-27T01:33:40.324ZTroubleshoot1https://12160.info/profile/Troubleshoot1
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<h1 class="article-title">How Much Of Your Life Has The United States Been At War?</h1>
<div class="byline-single"><span class="post-info single-meta-date">05/26/2015</span> <span class="post-info single-meta-cat"> <a href="http://govtslaves.info/category/us-news/" rel="category tag">US NEWS</a>, <a href="http://govtslaves.info/category/world-news/" rel="category tag">WORLD NEWS</a></span></div>
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<h4> Somewhere in the…</h4>
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<h1 class="article-title">How Much Of Your Life Has The United States Been At War?</h1>
<div class="byline-single"><span class="post-info single-meta-date">05/26/2015</span> <span class="post-info single-meta-cat"> <a href="http://govtslaves.info/category/us-news/" rel="category tag">US NEWS</a>, <a href="http://govtslaves.info/category/world-news/" rel="category tag">WORLD NEWS</a></span></div>
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<h4> Somewhere in the ever-flowing river of flotsam that is Twitter, a simple data point offered by a college commencement speaker jumped out at me before being borne away on the tide of immediacy.</h4>
<h4>This bit of data:</h4>
<p><a href="http://govtslaves.info/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/tweet.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-46935" src="http://govtslaves.info/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/tweet-580x433.jpg" alt="tweet" width="580" height="433"/></a></p>
<p>The speaker was ABC journalist Martha Raddatz, and the point is the key one in the intro: The graduates have spent half their lives with America at war.</p>
<p>It’s a startling idea, but an incorrect one. The percentage is almost certainly much higher than that.</p>
<p>Using somewhat subjective definitions of “at war” — Korea counts but Kosovo doesn’t in our analysis, for example — we endeavored to figure out how much of each person’s life has been spent with America at war. We used whole years for both the age and the war, so the brief Gulf War is given a full year, and World War II includes 1941. These are estimates.</p>
<p><a href="http://govtslaves.info/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/flag-war.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-46941" src="http://govtslaves.info/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/flag-war-580x268.jpg" alt="flag war" width="580" height="268"/></a></p>
<p>But the beginning of the conflict in Afghanistan in (late) 2001 means that anyone born in the past 13 years has never known an America that isn’t at war. Anyone born after 1984 has likely seen America at war for at least half of his or her life. And that’s a lot of Americans.</p>
<div class="inline-content inline-photo inline-photo-normal modal-0 vertical-photo"><a name="e1a3d63606" id="e1a3d63606"></a><img class="courtesy-of-the-resizer zoom-in" src="http://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://img.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/files/2015/05/AgeOfWar6.png&w=1484" alt=""/></div>
<p>These figures shift easily. An end to the conflict in Afghanistan (and, if you include it, the overlapping fight against the Islamic State) means that the percentage of time those young people have lived in a state of war will decline quickly.</p>
<p>But that state of war, we are told (I am too young to know better) <em>feels</em>different than America during World War II or, particularly for the college-aged, Vietnam. Moreso than those wars, war today is distant, fought on our behalf.</p>
<p>That’s Raddatz’s other, perhaps more important point: Young Americans have lived in a country at war for almost their whole lives, but they have to be reminded of it.</p>
<h4><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/05/18/heres-how-much-of-your-life-the-united-states-has-been-at-war/?tid=trending_strip_5" target="_blank">Philip Bump</a></h4>
</div> Army refuser Sara Beining arrested and jailed after going AWOL againtag:12160.info,2014-09-26:2649739:Topic:15056802014-09-26T21:09:46.001ZTroubleshoot1https://12160.info/profile/Troubleshoot1
<p><strong>A single mother and Iraq war veteran is in jail in Colorado Springs.</strong> Sara Beining went AWOL a second time last summer after a nearly year-long delay in resolving the original charge that resulted when she left her unit at Ft. Hood in January, 2007.</p>
<p>Just over one year ago, September 14, 2013, Beining was stopped for a traffic offense and held on an outstanding military warrant, more than six years after she and her newlywed husband had together walked away from war…</p>
<p><strong>A single mother and Iraq war veteran is in jail in Colorado Springs.</strong> Sara Beining went AWOL a second time last summer after a nearly year-long delay in resolving the original charge that resulted when she left her unit at Ft. Hood in January, 2007.</p>
<p>Just over one year ago, September 14, 2013, Beining was stopped for a traffic offense and held on an outstanding military warrant, more than six years after she and her newlywed husband had together walked away from war service. She was briefly jailed, then given a plane ticket and orders to report back to Fort Carson, Colorado, where, she said, “I tried for another year to play the game” and be quietly processed out of the army as many other recent military refusers have been.</p>
<p>But in her absence without leave, Beining had given birth to a daughter in September, 2008 and become an outspoken opponent of war.<span id="more-2003"></span> <span id="more-5184"></span>She and her husband were later divorced, and in 2010 he was arrested for going AWOL, held three months at Fort Carson, and then discharged. At the time of Sara Beining’s arrest, she was serving as secretary on the board of directors of Iraq Veterans Against the War.</p>
<p>More Here: <a href="http://couragetoresist.org/2014/09/army-refuser-sara-beining-arrested-and-jailed-after-going-awol-again/">http://couragetoresist.org/2014/09/army-refuser-sara-beining-arrested-and-jailed-after-going-awol-again/</a></p> Congress in No Rush to Return for ISIS War Authorizationtag:12160.info,2014-09-23:2649739:Topic:15051792014-09-23T23:43:36.985ZTroubleshoot1https://12160.info/profile/Troubleshoot1
<p>The United States has begun a bombing campaign in Syria, but don’t bet on Congress returning to Washington to vote on a new war authorization anytime soon.</p>
<p>Shortly after airstrikes against the Islamic State in Syria started, some lawmakers started pushing again for an authorization vote. But so far, leaders aren’t gearing up to bring their members back to town.</p>
<p>Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., tweeted Monday night it was “irresponsible and immoral” that congressional leaders had…</p>
<p>The United States has begun a bombing campaign in Syria, but don’t bet on Congress returning to Washington to vote on a new war authorization anytime soon.</p>
<p>Shortly after airstrikes against the Islamic State in Syria started, some lawmakers started pushing again for an authorization vote. But so far, leaders aren’t gearing up to bring their members back to town.</p>
<p>Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., tweeted Monday night it was “irresponsible and immoral” that congressional leaders had chosen to recess for nearly two months instead of debating and voting on war. And the ranking Democrat on the Budget Committee, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, released a statement saying it’s “time for Congress to step up and revise the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force in a way that supports the targeted actions underway, but also prevents the deployment of American ground forces that would drag us into another Iraq War.”</p>
<p>Van Hollen tweeted that Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, should call the House back to debate a new Authorization to Use Military Force.</p>
<p>Boehner’s office deferred to the White House when asked about the issue.</p>
<p>More Here: <a href="http://blogs.rollcall.com/218/boehner-obama-hasnt-requested-isis-war-authorization-pelosi-he-doesnt-need-one/">http://blogs.rollcall.com/218/boehner-obama-hasnt-requested-isis-war-authorization-pelosi-he-doesnt-need-one/</a></p> 1,892 Vets have committed suicide since Jan 2014tag:12160.info,2014-03-29:2649739:Topic:14412492014-03-29T19:44:15.623ZTroubleshoot1https://12160.info/profile/Troubleshoot1
<p>On average, 22 veterans commit suicide each day, according to the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA).</p>
<p>To commemorate them and raise awareness, 32 veterans from the group flew to Washington, D.C., to plant 1,892 flags on the National Mall today, one for each of the veterans that the group says took his or her own life in 2014. IAVA extrapolated that number from <a href="http://www.va.gov/opa/docs/suicide-data-report-2012-final.pdf">a 2012 Veterans Administration report…</a></p>
<p>On average, 22 veterans commit suicide each day, according to the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA).</p>
<p>To commemorate them and raise awareness, 32 veterans from the group flew to Washington, D.C., to plant 1,892 flags on the National Mall today, one for each of the veterans that the group says took his or her own life in 2014. IAVA extrapolated that number from <a href="http://www.va.gov/opa/docs/suicide-data-report-2012-final.pdf">a 2012 Veterans Administration report</a> finding that 22 veterans took their lives each day in 2009 and 2010, only a slight increase from years past, and a number that includes all veterans, not just those who served in America’s more recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.</p>
<p>The event was part of IAVA’s 2014 Storm the Hill campaign, an annual week of action in which organization vets meet with lawmakers to push a veterans’ agenda picked for that year. In 2013, it was the Veterans Affairs benefits-claim backlog; this year, it’s veteran suicides.</p>
<p>Read More Here: <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/03/commemorating-suicides-vets-plant-1892-flags-on-national-mall/">http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/03/commemorating-suicides-vets-plant-1892-flags-on-national-mall/</a></p> H.R. 748: To require all persons in the United States between the ages of 18 and 25 to perform national service...tag:12160.info,2013-02-16:2649739:Topic:11244752013-02-16T20:04:51.732ZTroubleshoot1https://12160.info/profile/Troubleshoot1
<p>either as a member of the uniformed services or as civilian service in a Federal, State, or local government program or with a community-based agency or community-based entity, to authorize the induction of persons in the uniformed services during wartime to meet end-strength requirements of the uniformed services, to provide for the registration of women under the Military Selective Service Act, and for other purposes.</p>
<dl>
<dt>Introduced:</dt>
<dd>Feb 15, 2013 (113<sup>th…</sup></dd>
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<p>either as a member of the uniformed services or as civilian service in a Federal, State, or local government program or with a community-based agency or community-based entity, to authorize the induction of persons in the uniformed services during wartime to meet end-strength requirements of the uniformed services, to provide for the registration of women under the Military Selective Service Act, and for other purposes.</p>
<dl>
<dt>Introduced:</dt>
<dd>Feb 15, 2013 (113<sup>th</sup> Congress, 2013–2015)</dd>
<dt>Sponsor:</dt>
<dd><a class="name" href="/congress/members/charles_rangel/400333">Rep. Charles Rangel [D-NY13]</a></dd>
<dt>Status:</dt>
<dd>Referred to Committee</dd>
<dd>Source: <a href="http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hr748">http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hr748</a>?</dd>
</dl> Meet the new boss, same as the old boss... Obama's Brennan, the Neo-Con don of the CIAtag:12160.info,2013-01-20:2649739:Topic:10986732013-01-20T07:14:55.734ZTroubleshoot1https://12160.info/profile/Troubleshoot1
<p>John ‘Little Cheney’ Brennan, the Neo-Con Don of the CIA – Meet the new boss, same as the old boss</p>
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<div class="post-body entry-content"><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Obama Introduces Nominees to Head Dept. Of Defense And CIA" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-35441" height="195" src="http://freakoutnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/john-brennan-250x195.jpg" width="250"></img></div>
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<div class="post-body entry-content">With all the screeching, tearing and gnashing of teeth by GOP mouthpieces from silly little Lindsey Graham to angst driven decrepit old men, like…</div>
<p>John ‘Little Cheney’ Brennan, the Neo-Con Don of the CIA – Meet the new boss, same as the old boss</p>
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<div class="post-body entry-content"><div style="text-align: center;"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-35441" alt="Obama Introduces Nominees to Head Dept. Of Defense And CIA" src="http://freakoutnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/john-brennan-250x195.jpg" width="250" height="195"/></div>
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<div class="post-body entry-content">With all the screeching, tearing and gnashing of teeth by GOP mouthpieces from silly little Lindsey Graham to angst driven decrepit old men, like Johnny McCain - trying to recapture his boyish Jet-Jockey sociopathy-concerning nominees for Secretary of State, there is an audible silence on behalf of the professional Congressional loud mouths - Not a word, not a peep, by those very same naysayers, questioning the 2nd nomination announced in President Obama's speech, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-obama-brennan-hagel-nominations-20130107,0,2624912.story">January 7</a>, John Brennan.<blockquote><i>“For the last four years, as my Advisor for Counterterrorism and Homeland Security, John developed and has overseen our comprehensive counterterrorism strategy — a collaborative effort across the government, including intelligence and defense and homeland security, and law enforcement agencies,” <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/01/07/transcript-of-obamas-remarks-on-hagel-brennan-nominations/">said Obama</a>. “And so think about the results. More al Qaeda leaders and commanders have been removed from the battlefield than at any time since 9/11.”</i></blockquote>
So with Obama's obvious great admiration for this secret agent man, why is Congress so silent?</div>
<div class="post-body entry-content">Maybe it's because John Brennan is the poster boy for the continuation of the war crimes of the Bush Administration and, therefore, the fair haired child of those same neo-cons who put us into the bloody, immoral wars on Iraqi citizens, on Afghani citizens and the systematic destruction of human rights and civil rights of peoples all over the planet to include the destruction of the basic human and civil rights of American citizens.</div>
<div class="post-body entry-content">John Brennan seems to be Okey-Dokey with the neo-cons and the neo-conned of Capital Hill and The corporate whoredom that is much of what is called mainstream media.<br/>And what about President Obama? The guy who made an entire campaign in 2008, about "transparency and accountability"; about the evils of the Bush administration in their use of Black Sites, Guantanamo, extraordinary rendition, torture, abuses of international law and about moving "forward" towards an open, honest policy or truth, justice and respect for all others?</div>
<div class="post-body entry-content">He stands with John Brennan - supports the drone warfare, continues to <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/01/remix-rendition-proxy-detention">allow the rendition</a> (more stories on this practice can be found in the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/us/politics/25rendition.html?_r=0">NY Times</a> and <a href="http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2013/01/11/european-terrorism-suspects-secretly-held-in-new-york-under-false-names/">The Bureau of Investigative Journalism</a> ), <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/closeread/2013/01/john-brennans-kill-list.html">supports the "kill list"</a>, and the continued abuse of citizens of other countries (from illegal indefinite detention, to the Patriot Act to the NDAA to continuation of Bagram, Guantanamo and other prisons maintained and justified by this administration though lip-service is given at election time about closing).<address style="padding-left: 30px;"> </address>
<address style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>Side Note Here:</em></address>
<address style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>I would be remiss if I did not note that this month we "celebrate" the 11th birthday of Guantanamo (HAPPY BIRTHDAY) as the flagship prison used to hold any male that the US has decided to kidnap. I note male only because I believe holding women and children there would only increase attention and derision towards this heinous hold-over hobby of the Bush/Cheney Era. We do hold women and children hostage as proven by Abu Ghraib, Bagram, though we do imprison them in other places. (see the story of <a href="http://www.freeaafia.org/">Aafia Siddiqui</a> and her missing children)</em></address>
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There have been a few Op-Eds on Mr. Brennan, hidden in the dark recesses of the Atlantic and the LA Times and some more blatantly out-front as in <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/closeread/2013/01/john-brennans-kill-list.html">"The New Yorker"</a>; Even a few commentaries on the smaller, cable channels like Current and DemocracyNow .... Rachel Maddow has made mention and FINALLY this morning (7:00 am, MST, Sunday morning on MSNBC is not a heavily watched slot for most of America), Chris Hayes brought the issue to panel with members of Democracy Now (Amy Goodman), The DailyBeast (Eli Lake), and Chris Anders (ACLU) were on to discuss Brennan and the issues raised during his 2008 consideration for CIA Chief (nothing has changed in 4 years, Prez...In fact, Brennan is worse today than he was 4 years ago) .....but the biggest stories...ABC, NBC, CBS, major papers......Well, there just aren't many - aren't ANY focusing on hard facts.</div>
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<div class="post-body entry-content">More <a href="http://www.thecosmicsurfer-rantingsofamadwoman.com/2013/01/john-little-cheney-brennan-neo-con-don.html" target="_blank">Here</a></div> U.S. Military's Suicide Rate Surpassed Combat Deaths In 2012tag:12160.info,2013-01-15:2649739:Topic:10955532013-01-15T05:49:01.548ZTroubleshoot1https://12160.info/profile/Troubleshoot1
<p class="byline">by <a href="http://www.npr.org/people/14562108/bill-chappell" rel="author"><span>Bill Chappell</span></a></p>
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<div class="dateblock"><span class="date">January 14, 2013</span> <span class="time">6:38 PM</span></div>
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<div class="storytext storylocation linkLocation" id="storytext"><div class="bucketwrap image large" id="res169370337"><div class="imagewrap"><img alt="U.S. military suicides rose in 2012. Here, the Army's "Generating Health and Discipline in the Force" report, right, is seen last January. The reports was a follow-up to its "Health Promotion/Risk Reduction/Suicide Prevention" report." class="img" src="http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2013/01/14/army_wide-d724172691eb5858d2bc6981a4dd2f35b52be1a9-s4.jpg" style="display: block;" title="U.S. military suicides rose in 2012. Here, the Army's "Generating Health and Discipline in the Force" report, right, is seen last January. The reports was a follow-up to its "Health Promotion/Risk Reduction/Suicide Prevention" report."></img> <a class="enlargebtn" title="Enlarge">Enlarge image…</a></div>
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<p class="byline">by <a href="http://www.npr.org/people/14562108/bill-chappell" rel="author"><span>Bill Chappell</span></a></p>
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<div class="dateblock"><span class="date">January 14, 2013</span> <span class="time">6:38 PM</span></div>
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<div id="storytext" class="storytext storylocation linkLocation"><div id="res169370337" class="bucketwrap image large"><div class="imagewrap"><img style="display: block;" class="img" title="U.S. military suicides rose in 2012. Here, the Army's "Generating Health and Discipline in the Force" report, right, is seen last January. The reports was a follow-up to its "Health Promotion/Risk Reduction/Suicide Prevention" report." alt="U.S. military suicides rose in 2012. Here, the Army's "Generating Health and Discipline in the Force" report, right, is seen last January. The reports was a follow-up to its "Health Promotion/Risk Reduction/Suicide Prevention" report." src="http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2013/01/14/army_wide-d724172691eb5858d2bc6981a4dd2f35b52be1a9-s4.jpg"/><a class="enlargebtn" title="Enlarge">Enlarge image</a><a class="enlargebtn enlarge-smallscreen" title="Enlarge">i</a></div>
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<div class="captionwrap"><div class="caption"><p>U.S. military suicides rose in 2012. Here, the Army's "Generating Health and Discipline in the Force" report, right, is seen last January. The reports was a follow-up to its "Health Promotion/Risk Reduction/Suicide Prevention" report</p>
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<p>The number of suicide deaths in the U.S. military surged to a record 349 last year — more than the 295 Americans who died fighting in Afghanistan in 2012. The numbers were <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=169340558">first reported by the AP</a>; NPR has confirmed them.</p>
<p>The new figures show that the number of military suicides rose from 2011, when 301 such deaths were reported. And people who work with veterans say the numbers could grow worse, as returning soldiers adjust to civilian life. The AP says the numbers are considered to be "tentative," pending review.</p>
<p>On <a href="http://www.npr.org/2013/01/14/169363311/military-suicides-hit-record-high-in-2012"><em>All Things Considered</em></a>, NPR's Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman tells co-host Audie Cornish that the figures represent "active duty and reserve ... the largest portion were the active duty Army; 182 took their own lives in 2012."</p>
<p>Tom says the military's suicide problem is a complex one. "Most of those committing suicide are young men, 18-24," he says, who are worried that asking for help will undermine their career.</p>
<p>Read More <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/01/14/169364733/u-s-militarys-suicide-rate-surpassed-combat-deaths-in-2012" target="_blank">Here</a></p>
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</div> US 'should hand over footage of drone strikes or face UN inquiry' - The Independenttag:12160.info,2012-08-20:2649739:Topic:9569132012-08-20T18:39:15.669ZTroubleshoot1https://12160.info/profile/Troubleshoot1
<h2 id="title"><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/us-should-hand-over-footage-of-drone-strikes-or-face-un-inquiry-8061504.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/us-should-hand-over-footage-of-drone-strikes-or-face-un-inquiry-8061504.html"></a></h2>
<p>The US must open itself to an independent investigation into its use of drone strikes or the United Nations will be forced to step in, Ben Emmerson QC said…</p>
<h2 id="title"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/us-should-hand-over-footage-of-drone-strikes-or-face-un-inquiry-8061504.html" title="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/us-should-hand-over-footage-of-drone-strikes-or-face-un-inquiry-8061504.html" rel="nofollow"></a></h2>
<p>The US must open itself to an independent investigation into its use of drone strikes or the United Nations will be forced to step in, Ben Emmerson QC said yesterday.</p>
<p>American UAV strikes, most notably in Pakistan and Yemen, have shot up since Barrack Obama came to power. Estimates state that while there were 52 such strikes during George W Bush's time, this number has risen to 282 over the past three and a half years, with officials justifying it has international “self defence” against a stateless enemy.</p>
<p>Mr Emmerson said it was time for the US to open itself up to scrutiny as to the legality of such attacks.</p>
<p>“We can't make a decision on whether it is lawful or unlawful if we do not have the data. The recommendation I have made is that users of targeted killing technology should be required to subject themselves, in the case of each and every death, to impartial investigation.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/us-should-hand-over-footage-of-drone-strikes-or-face-un-inquiry-8061504.html">http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/us-should-hand-over-footage-of-drone-strikes-or-face-un-inquiry-8061504.html</a></p> US military suicide rate hits one per daytag:12160.info,2012-06-08:2649739:Topic:8773932012-06-08T20:40:47.227ZTroubleshoot1https://12160.info/profile/Troubleshoot1
<h1 class="story-header"></h1>
<div class="story-feature related narrow"><a href="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/60785000/jpg/_60785984_60785838.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="align-left" height="195" src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/60785000/jpg/_60785984_60785838.jpg?width=304" width="346"></img></a> <span style="width: 304px;">Suicides have outnumbered combat deaths in US troops in 2008 and 2009…</span><a class="hidden" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18371377#story_continues_1"></a></div>
<h1 class="story-header"></h1>
<div class="story-feature related narrow"><a target="_blank" href="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/60785000/jpg/_60785984_60785838.jpg"><img class="align-left" src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/60785000/jpg/_60785984_60785838.jpg?width=304" height="195" width="346"/></a> <span style="width: 304px;">Suicides have outnumbered combat deaths in US troops in 2008 and 2009</span><a class="hidden" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18371377#story_continues_1"></a><h2><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18371377#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa" target="_blank">bbc</a></h2>
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<p class="introduction" id="story_continues_1">Suicide among US troops has sharply increased this year, hitting a rate of almost one death per day, figures show.</p>
<p>As of 3 June, the army's 2012 active-duty suicides reached 154, compared with 130 in the same period last year, the Pentagon confirmed to the BBC.</p>
<p>The number far exceeds US combat deaths for the same period.</p>
<p>"We are deeply concerned about suicide in the military," a Pentagon spokeswoman said, adding it was "one of the most urgent problems" they faced.</p>
<p>While the reasons for the increase are not entirely understood, the army's own data suggest soldiers with multiple combat tours are at greater risk. But a portion of those taking their own life have never deployed, the figures show.</p>
<div class="story-feature related narrow"><a class="hidden" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18371377#story_continues_1">Continue reading the main story</a></div>