Archive

For March, 2012

Mar 31

Papering Over Disaster

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Papering Over Disaster

 

by Stephen Lendman

 

Fall 2007 began the onset of America’s greatest Depression. Europe’s in deep trouble. Reckoning day’s delayed by bailing out insolvent banks and throwing money at markets like confetti.

 

What can’t go on forever, won’t. Progressive Radio News Hour guest Bob Chapman warned investors for years. It’s just a matter of time. Houses built on sand collapse. American and European economies are no exception. They’re sick and getting sicker.

 

Another Greek crisis approaches, Chapman warns, whether “via austerity, demonstrations, military coup,” or perhaps the worst of all three if public rage erupts in violence.

 

Ireland, Portugal, Belgium, Spain and italy are next. BRIC giants China, India and Brazil are weakening. Pyrrhic victories conceal core meltdown trouble. Are policy makers “dumb enough to believe that austerity, lower wages and higher taxes bring prosperity?” What’s happening in Europe and America looks “surreal.” Recovery’s an illusion.

 

Another dirty secret is that France, Britain, and other EU countries also show weakness. “These problems are going to go on and on and on,” says Chapman.

 

Economist David Rosenberg also warns of trouble. Disturbing signs are everywhere. In America alone, consumer spending stagnated. Core capex shipments are down. The trade deficit’s widening. Mortgage applications are falling. Mortgage refinancing activity collapsed. Gas prices are heading for $4 a gallon on their way perhaps to 5.

 

In February, hiring announcements were down 85% year-over-year. Pink slips are rising. JOLTS (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey) data showed job openings down 81,000 in January. They’ve posted declines in three of the past four months. JOLTS hiring numbers also fell 30,000, and dropped in three of the past four months.

 

Savers are taxed, borrowers rewarded. A rigged system favoring Wall Street punishes most others.

 

<blockquote>The latest housing numbers are awful. Economist Robert Shiller believes “we will never in our lifetime see a rebound in” suburban home prices. He predicts “perpetual sluggish(ness).” Expect America to have a “Japan-like slump that will go on for years and years.”</blockquote>

 

Rosenberg says “headwinds are so acute that despite” zero interest rate policy for over three years, “trippling the Fed’s balance sheet, and four years of trillion-dollar-plus fiscal deficits,” a deepening mess remains. Inflation’s far higher than official figures. Poverty’s at record levels.

 

Recovery? What recovery! America’s 1% never had it so good. Another 10% or so are OK. Most others face harder than ever hard times with no end of misery in sight. Expect no change post-November, no matter who’s elected president or controls Congress. Washington’s criminal class is bipartisan.

 

Economist Paul Craig Roberts calls America’s economy “dead.” Consumer confidence is far below decade ago levels. Housing’s on its back. Retail sales are lower than January 2000. So is industrial production. Only markets and rigged GDP numbers are up.

 

Roberts stresses often that recovery’s impossible because troubled consumers account for over two-thirds of the economy. Middle class jobs moved offshore. Trillions are thrown at Wall Street and wasted on imperial wars while domestic needs go begging.

 

“The consequence of printing money when jobs have been moved offshore is an inflationary depression. This catastrophe” should unfold big time this year or next. “The emperor has no clothes, and sooner or later this will be recognized.”

 

Roberts shares his views with listeners on the Progressive Radio News Hour (PRNH). So does political economist Jack Rasmus. His analysis is cutting-edge. In early April, his newest book’s due out titled, “Obama’s Economy: Recovery for the Few.”

 

It covers analysis he gives PRNH listeners. He’s next scheduled on Saturday, March 31 at noon US Central time. Listen live or archived for his latest economic views and discussion of his new book.

 

It explains that after trillions thrown at Wall Street, trillions more for imperial wars, and more still in fiscal stimulus (largely for corporations and rich elites), America’s economy remains mired in trouble.

 

At the same time, equity markets more than doubled. Corporate profits hit record highs. CEO pay, bonuses, and stock options are obscenely high, especially for crooked banksters.

 

At the same time, corporate giants hoard cash and barely loan. Nearly 25 million are unemployed or underemployed. Economist David Rosenberg believes 30 million heading higher.

 

Home foreclosures exceed 12 million. Many more are coming. Another 15 million homeowners struggle underwater with negative equity. Income levels for 80% of households are stagnating, while state and local governments slash payrolls by hundreds of thousands, cut services, and raise taxes.

 

Rasmus faults wrongheaded administration, congressional, and Fed policies. Economic growth is illusory. High unemployment and poverty levels explain best.

 

Rasmus’ book followed his 2010 one titled, “Epic Recession: Prelude to Global Depression.” Both used reliable data excluded from mainstream discussion. It’s bad and getting worse. Expect harder than ever hard times.

 

Rasmus offers another way. He calls it an “Alternative Program for Economic Recovery.” It focuses on job creation, not destruction, housing, and local government. He recommends major structural economic reforms, targeting taxes, retirement, and banking.

 

He concludes with common sense workable proposals for “fundamental, longer term change necessary to reduce household, small business, and State-Local government debt, and to restore historic rates of income growth for working and middle class households.”

 

Read what others say about his book. Office and Professional Employees Union National President Nancy Wohlforth said it’s high time “to seriously begin public discussion and debate of economic alternatives” he proposes. They’re cutting edge and vital.

 

South Carolina AFL-CIO President Donna DeWitt offered praise, saying Rasmus “connects the dots and gives new meaning to common sense economics.”

 

“While working people reel in the downward spiraling economy, (he) analyzes how we got where we are and makes recommendations for sustained economic growth and recovery.”

 

“It’s the kind of reading that makes every leader stop and say ‘Wow! That makes perfect sense. Why didn’t I think of that?’ Then ask yourself, ‘Why wouldn’t our President think of that?’ ”

 

“When you’ve read the book, I’m confident that you will conclude that Rasmus has done a brilliant job of defining the impact of the Obama policies and decisions” that continue crisis conditions without letup.

 

This writer agrees with others. Rasmus’ articles and books are cutting edge. His analysis is some of the best. For years, his predictions proved accurate. Get them monthly on the Progressive Radio News Hour.

 

His new book offers must read detailed analysis, especially with storm clouds approaching at a time forced austerity’s harming growing millions.

 

It hardly matters whether Republicans or Democrats control Washington. Its criminal class is bipartisan. Public outrage alone can change things. It starts by getting and staying informed.

 

On America’s economy, Rasmus is one of the best. He’s honest, accurate, thorough, common sense, and clear. For many, his new book may be a wake-up call.

 

Read it and spread the word. Our only chance for change is us.

 

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

 

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

 

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Mar 31

Imagining the Unthinkable

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Imagining the Unthinkable

 

by Stephen Lendman

 

The combination of America’s rage for war, its nuclear arsenal, and global delivery systems makes the unthinkable possible – nuclear war.

 

On March 27, David Krieger and Daniel Ellsberg raised the possibility in their Christian Science Monitor article headlined, “For nuclear security beyond Seoul, eradicate land-based ‘doomsday’ missiles,” saying:

 

“America’s 450 launch-ready land-based nuclear-armed ballistic missiles are the opposite of a deterrent to attack. In fact, their very deployment has the potential to launch World War III and precipitate human extinction – as a result of a false alarm. We’re not exaggerating.”

 

Indeed not. For decades, the threat’s been real. Post-9/11, it’s more than ever possible. Hundreds of ICBMs target Russia, China, and likely other countries like Iran. Launching them threatens humanity.

 

Leaders considering the possibility are deranged. Once heading for targets, it’s too late. Presidents often rehearsed it.

 

In 1962, the Cuban missile crisis nearly brought nuclear war. An October 2002 Havana US/Russia/Cuba summit disclosed the close call for the first time.

 

Devastation was avoided because Soviet submarine captain Vasily Arkhipov countermanded an order to fire nuclear torpedos when US destroyers attacked Russian submarines near Kennedy’s “quarantine” line. Had he obeyed, vast destruction or possible nuclear winter might have resulted.

 

Nuclear expert Graham Allison sees parallels between Iran today and Cuba then. Despite no threats then and now, heightened tensions risk potentially devastating conflict. When politics and heated rhetoric spin out of control, anything’s possible, including nuclear war.

 

In 1995, Boris Yeltsin nearly launched missiles. He thought a US one targeted Russia. His fear turned out to be a Norwegian weather sounding rocket. Disaster was narrowly averted.

 

In May 2000, the Pentagon’s Joint Vision 2020 called for “full spectrum dominance” over all land, surface and sub-surface sea, air, space, electromagnetic spectrum and information systems with enough overwhelming power to fight and win global wars against any adversary, including with nuclear weapons preemptively.

 

Washington’s December 2001 Nuclear Policy Review asserted a preemptive first strike nuclear policy. The Bush administration’s 2002 and 2006 National Security Strategies reaffirmed it. In 2006, Iran was mentioned 16 times, saying “(w)e may face no greater challenge from a single country than Iran.”

 

Post-9/11, America asserted the right to use nuclear weapons against targets able to withstand non-nuclear attacks (like underground ones), in retaliation for nuclear, biological or chemical attacks, or in case of unexpected military developments whether or not they’re, in fact, threatening.

 

The Bush and Obama administrations also violated 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) provisions. The ABM and Comprehensive Test Ban Treaties are ignored. So are the Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention and Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty. It prohibits additions to current stockpiles.

 

In 2010, the Obama administration’s Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) was old wine in new bottles. Rhetoric changed, not policy. NPR 2010 said America “reserves the right” to use nuclear weapons “that may be warranted by the evolution and proliferation of the biological weapons threat and US capacities to counter that threat.”

 

The 2005 Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations remained unchanged. It removed the distinction between defensive and offensive deterrents, saying:

 

“The new triad (land and sea-based strategic bombers, land-based missiles, and ballistic missile submarines) offers a mix of strategic offensive and defensive capabilities, active and passive defenses, and a robust research development, and industrial infrastructure to develop, build, and maintain offensive forces and defensive systems….it provides additional military options.”

 

NPR 2010 and current Obama policy leave land/sea/air triad deterrents unchanged. On high alert, nuclear missiles can be launched preemptively.

 

So can bunker busters with conventional or nuclear capability, including the so-called 30,000 pound Mother of All Bombs “massive ordnance penetrator (MOP).” It’s designed to penetrate up to 200 feet of reinforced concrete before detonating an enormous explosive blast.

 

If any nation launches enough thermonuclear warheads, humanity’s threatened. Krieger and Ellsberg explained:

 

“This is because smoke from the enormous nuclear firestorms created by even a ‘successful’ US nuclear first-strike would cause catastrophic disruption of global climate and massive destruction of the Earth’s protective ozone layer, leading to global famine.”

 

Helen Caldicott’s books say enough nuclear explosions “would create nuclear winter, with the U.S. covered with a cloud so thick that it would block out the sun for years, and that would be the end.” Other nuclear experts agree.

 

Nuclear bunker busters can do it. Krieger and Ellsberg said they cause huge underground nuclear explosions “with much blast and heat and radiation. It’s called activation by neutrons—millions of tons of earth and dust—so you have a much greater radioactive fallout that’s shot out into the air than you would if a bomb is exploded in the air above a city.”

 

Atmospheric scientists Alan Robock, Brian Toon, and others say a large enough attack produces “immense firestorms” able to cover the planet in dense stratospheric smoke. Heated by the sun, it would remain at least 10 years and block sunlight from reaching the earth’s surface. Mass starvation would follow.

 

Nuclear weapons threaten security. Eventually they’ll be used. Humanity’s survival depends on total abolition, said Krieger and Ellsberg. Both seek two principle goals:

 

(1) “a commitment by the existing nuclear weapon states to forego launch-on-warning and first use of nuclear weapons under any circumstances;” and

 

(2) “good faith negotiations for a new treaty for the phased, verifiable, irreversible, and transparent elimination of nuclear weapons.”

 

Krieger heads the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. Ellsberg gained fame for releasing the Pentagon Papers in 1971. Both understand today’s dangers. They want them eliminated to save humanity from possible self-destruction. It’s no exaggeration.

 

In his book titled, “Failed States,” Noam Chomsky discussed “the threat of nuclear war, environmental disaster, and the fact that the government of the world’s only superpower is acting in ways that increase the likelihood of these catastrophes.”

 

In “Hegemony or Survival,” he cited evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr’s work. He said human intelligence doesn’t guarantee survival. He believed beetles and bacteria stand a better chance.

 

He ominously observed that species on average survive about 100,000 years. Humanity’s been around about that long. He wondered if we’d use our remaining time to self-destruct. If so, we’d be the only species ever to do it. Given our current path, it’s possible and perhaps sooner than most people imagine.

 

Hold the War, says Israel

 

America and Israel have longstanding Iran war plans. Launching it means WW III. With nuclear bunker buster or other nuclear weapons, the dangers Krieger, Ellsberg, Caldicott, and others explain are real.

 

On March 29, Haaretz headlined, “Israel’s plan to attack Iran put on hold until next year at the earliest,” saying:

 

On March 27, “Israel’s 2012 war against Iran came to a quiet end. The capricious plans for a huge aerial attack were returned to the deep recesses of safes and hearts. The war may not have been canceled but it has certainly been postponed. For a while, at least, we can sound the all clear: It won’t happen this year.”

 

At issue, said Haaretz, is possible hundreds of US casualties. Their blood would be on Israel’s hands. War won’t happen “until at least the spring of 2013.”

 

At the same time, last September The New York Times headlined, “US Quietly Supplies Israel with Bunker-Busting Bombs,” saying:

 

Unnamed US officials confirmed it without commenting on their number or capabilities. In addition, “Israel developed its own bunker-busting bomb,” but America’s are more “cost-effective.”

 

Israel is nuclear armed and dangerous. Perhaps its arsenal includes earth-penetrating bunker busters. They increase the threat of disaster if used, either its own or what Washington supplies.

 

Given the rage of both countries for war, postponing it may only buy time to attack jointly after America’s November elections. Obama wants another four years. He can’t run again. Lame ducks have greater flexibility in second terms than first, provided Congress goes along if legislation’s needed.

 

Wars don’t need it. False flags launch them. Most past US wars began that way. Former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski believes Iran may be blamed for a false flag on US soil to justify retaliation. Others feel the same way.

 

Former Israeli intelligence officer, Avi Perry, wrote a Jerusalem Post article about a planned “’Pearl Harbor scenario, in which Iran launch(es) a ‘surprise’ attack on the US Navy.” Doing so would give Washington “the perfect rationalization to finish them off.”

 

Iran, of course, plans no such attack or others against any targets. But it won’t prevent Washington from staging a false flag blamed on Tehran. Most often, “big lies” launch wars. It’s an American tradition since the late 19th century.

 

They work every time. Washington needs popular support. Manufactured fear provides it. People rely on governments for protection when threatened, even if no threat whatever exists.

 

Deception creates an illusion of one. Majorities are fooled every time. One war follows another. Expect an eventual nuclear one.

 

All bets are off if it happens. The time to prevent it is now. Only people power can do it. It’s up to us. It’s our only chance. Imagine the potential consequences otherwise.

 

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

 

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

 

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Mar 30

Terrorizing Palestinians Daily

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Terrorizing Palestinians Daily

 

by Stephen Lendman

 

Life in Occupied Palestine is harsh, brutal, and repressive. It includes collective punishment, closed borders, economic strangulation, land theft, dispossessions, neighborhood incursions, ground and air attacks, arrests, torture, incarceration, and constant fear.

 

Daily reports explain. On March 27, soldiers and settlers invaded the al-Aqsa Mosque through the al-Magharba Gate. Inside they terrorized worshipers.

 

The previous two days, soldiers broke into Bethlehem, Hebron, Rommana village, and other West Bank homes. They ransacked them and arrested six or more residents. It happens virtually daily throughout the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, most often pre-dawn. Children are treated like adults.

 

For years, Gaza’s suffocated under siege. On March 25, the Gisha Legal Center for Freedom of Movement headlined, “Israel prevents hairstylists and students traveling out of Gaza,” saying:

 

Five women and two men were denied. They requested permission to participate in the Tulkarem “Palestinian Beauty and Tradition Spring Fair.”

 

Israel’s District Coordination Office (DCO) said “in view of the current political-security situation, residents of the Gaza Strip are not permitted to enter Israel other than in exceptional humanitarian cases, with an emphasis on medical cases.”

 

Gisha wrote DCO head Colonel Khatib Mansour saying:

 

Three applicants are independent businesswomen. “(A)approving their application to participate in the fair is particularly important. Everywhere in the world, including the Gaza Strip, fewer opportunities are available to women. Therefore, women must be supported to aspire for economic independence so that they can contribute to the development of their societies.”

 

In addition, DCO prevented seven Gazan female students from traveling to Al-Quds University in Abu Dis. They were invited to participate in an international technology competition. Denial again was for not being an exceptional humanitarian case.

 

Under siege, Gazans face poverty, unemployment, shortages of everything, at times lack of vital to life essentials, and prohibition of exports except for occasional limited amounts of strawberries, flowers, peppers and tomatoes. However, getting them out is expensive, time consuming and unprofitable.

 

On March 28, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) headlined, “Occupied Lives: Dying while waiting for medical supplies,” saying:

 

In 2009, Egyptian doctors diagnosed Gaza resident Akram Mones Abu Sefan with chronic myelocytic leukemia. Since 2010, Glivec kept him alive. It’s a new drug able to significantly increase patient survival rates.

 

Even though cancer spread to other parts of his body, he says Gilvec “changed my life. Since I started treatment….the symptoms of the leukemia have subsided and I feel healthy again.”

 

However, since January 2012, the drug’s unavailable in Gaza’s Central Drug Store. Under siege, Gazan authorities face enormous obstacles getting enough essential to life supplies, including medicines.

 

Procedures require Health Ministry officials requesting supplies from Ramallah’s health authorities. They, in turn, must coordinate efforts with Israel for delivery.

 

However, the combination of Israeli harshness, Hamas/Fatah disputes, and financial problems limits the availability of essential medications and other vital supplies.

 

Akram’s wife explained their ordeal, saying:

 

“My husband suffers from strong headaches and from pain in his legs. I try my best to cook food that can compensate the problems caused by his blood disease.”

 

His doctor told them that interrupting treatment risks severe consequences. They include respiratory and kidney failure leading to death.

 

At present, 32 Gazan cancer patients depend on Gilvec to survive. Supplies ran out before. For a month and a half, Akram’s treatment was interrupted. He depends on Gaza’s Health Ministry to provide it. It costs $3,700 a month. It’s far more than he or most other Palestinians can afford.

 

According to Shifa Hospital’s Na’el Shih, 80% of medicines patients need aren’t available. “We are dying in here. One hundred eighty six medicines are currently depleted from the Central Drug Store of the Ministry of Health in Gaza.”

 

“The remaining stock will be finished within the next 2-3 months. (For the past) two months, there have been no hepatitis vaccinations for newborns in Gaza.”

 

Expensive medications like Gilvec are especially hard to get or unavailable. Without them, patients suffer and face death.

 

Israel can easily save them. Too often, it condemns them to death while suffocating 1.7 million others under siege. It’s official policy.

 

On March 28, Haaretz headlined, “Israel’s contentious Bedouin relocation plan passes PM’s Office panel,” saying:

 

It calls for displacing up to 30,000 Israeli Arabs from their own land. In other words, stealing it like nearly half the West Bank. Known as the Prawar plan, Netanyahu’s cabinet approved it last September. They want Arab land for Jewish development.

 

The plan involves “16 different ministries and agencies, including the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry, and the Education, Transportation, Energy and Water Resources, and Housing and Construction ministries. Among the many officials who attended Monday’s meeting was Prawer himself.”

 

The announcement coincides with Land Day. Palestinians commemorate the IDF March 30, 1976 killing of six Israeli Arab protesters against Palestinian land theft. At the time, another 100 were wounded and hundreds more arrested.

 

On the same day, the BDS Global Day of Action is held “in solidarity with the Palestinian people’s struggle for freedom, justice and equality and for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it fully complies with its obligations under international law.”

 

In addition, a Global March to Jerusalem will be held after Friday prayers. Israel plans disruptive violence. It confronts Bedouin Arabs the same way. They’ve faced forced relocations for years, but nothing like on this scale. It amounts to racism writ large. All Palestinians and Israeli Arabs are affected.

 

A Final Comment

 

On March 29, Hana Shalabi’s 42 hunger strike day began. She’s so deteriorated she remains dangerously close to death.

 

For weeks, Palestinian solidarity protests rallied in support. On Wednesday, a Gaza one took place. Protesters marched on the ICRC’s office. They demanded her immediate release.

 

Few people in America and the West know about her and other hunger strikers. Major media scoundrels say nothing.

 

Photos and posters of Hana adorn her family’s home. One wall displays a large framed picture of her martyred brother, Samer. In September 2005, Israeli soldiers murdered him in cold blood like so many other Palestinians.

 

On March 19, Hana’s parents met with PA President Mahmoud Abbas. They asked him to help secure Hana’s release. He promised to do his best. He’s done little or nothing.

 

According to Hana’s sister Zahra, “Why does he call himself a president if he can’t use his diplomatic powers to release my sister? I don’t believe he’s even trying.”

 

When Hana was arrested in 2009, an Israeli officer said the PA provided a “secret file” on her. Abbas was complicit in her arrest then. Perhaps again this time on February 16.

 

He’s a longstanding Israeli collaborator, a traitor to his own people. Israel arranged his election and keeps him in office even though his term expired in January 2009. Why bother with elections when coronations work better.

 

On March 29, an Arab Association for Human Rights (HRA) press release headlined, “Administrative Detention Must Stop: Freedom for Prisoner Hana Shalabi,” saying:

 

HRA “condemns the continual use of administrative detention against Palestinian political leaders and reminds that such policy constitutes a form of arbitrary detention devoid of the most basic standards of due process of law. The HRA is particularly concerned about the health conditions of Prisoner Hana Shalabi….”

 

HRA demanded international community help to free her and other Palestinians lawlessly held. International law supports them. So should world leaders and everyone.

 

Hana’s lawyer, Jawad Boulos, heads the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) Legal Unit. PPS appealed to Israel’s High Court for Hana’s release. Boulos said all legal means will be used on her behalf.

 

Rarely ever does Israel’s Supreme Court overrule a lower court decision affecting Palestinians. Expect little or no redress this time.

 

Palestinians are on their own to survive. Even those lawlessly condemned to die aren’t helped. It shows Israeli and Western contempt for human rights and life.

 

Their imperial wars alone show it. Political prisoners fill their prisons. America and Israel especially defile principles they claim to support.

 

They don’t now, never did, and won’t ever unless mass outrage in both countries and other Western ones sustains struggles for systemic change. It’s their only chance.

 

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

 

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

 

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Mar 30

What’s Next in Syria?

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What’s Next in Syria?

 

by Stephen Lendman

 

On March 27, Syria formally accepted Kofi Annan’s six-point peace plan. His spokesman, Ahmad Fawzi said:

 

“The Syrian government has written to the Joint Special Envoy Kofi Annan accepting his six-point plan, endorsed by the United Nations Security Council.”

 

“Mr Annan views this as an important initial step that could bring an end to the violence and the bloodshed, provide aid to the suffering, and create an environment conducive to a political dialogue that would fulfil the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people.”

 

At the same time, the Western-backed Syrian National Council (SNC) rejected the plan. SNC member Naji Tayara spuriously accused Assad of wanting “more time to continue with the killing.”

 

Russia welcomed Assad’s acceptance. A Foreign Ministry statement said it’s a way to end violence if both sides agree to talk and end violence. Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said:

 

“Moscow met with satisfaction the statement of UN and Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan that he had received the confirmation of the Syrian government’s consent to his proposal for peaceful settlement in the Syrian Arab Republic.”

 

“We are convinced that this offers a real opportunity for the realization of lawful aspirations of all Syrians with respect for the country’s sovereignty and independence and consolidated support by the entire international community for Annan’s mission.”

 

“This opportunity must not be lost. It is extremely important in this context that Syrian opposition groups should follow Damascus’ example and state clearly their consent to the proposal for peaceful settlement made by the UN and Arab League special envoy and supported by the UN Security Council.”

 

Assad showed he wants peaceful resolution. The ball’s in the opposition court. Elements in it remain fractious. SNC/Free Syrian Army killer gangs spurn peace. So does Washington to keep the Syrian pot boiling and its regime change plans on track.

 

Syria’s National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change (NCC) wants negotiations to resolve contentious issues peacefully. It rejects violence and SNC/Free Syrian army elements pursuing it.

 

On March 29, a BRICS Summit (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) issued the following statement:

 

“The principles of normalization for Syria have all been made clear ever since Kofi Annan’s mission got down to work. There can be no foreign intervention in Syria.”

 

“The Syrian government, on the one hand, and the opposition forces, on the other, should engage in dialogue. The government and the opposition in Syria should believe in dialogue rather than follow a short-sighted approach by saying that dialogue is doomed and that only military operations can restore order in the country. Russia will exert efforts to secure the success of the dialogue.”

 

“The BRICS countries have swapped opinion on this issue and Russia has called on them to render humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people. Russia has already been providing Syria with relief supplies.”

 

In contrast, US-led “Friends of Syria” will meet Sunday in Istanbul. Key players plan conflict, not peace. As many as 70 countries may participate. Only major Western and anti-Assad Middle East ones matter.

 

Russia and China won’t attend. A Foreign Ministry statement said participants “aren’t looking for dialogue” to end conflict. Indeed not, and Moscow and Beijing know the stakes affecting their own regional interests.

 

Ahead of Sunday’s conference, Arab officials and Syrian opposition elements met in Istanbul. At issue was forging consensus and unity. Efforts fell short. Divisions remain.

 

Former SNC leader Haitham al-Maleh, several Kurdish delegates, and others walked out. Syria’s main nonviolent opposition group, the National Coordination Committee (NCC) for Democratic Change, boycotted the meeting. Those remaining claimed success.

 

Violent opposition elements alone agree, despite claiming they support a “civil, democratic, pluralistic, independent” sovereign Syria. In fact, they want the country turned into another US vassal state like their own.

 

On Thursday, Arab leaders met in Baghdad. Divisions were clear. Sunni-led Gulf states Saudi Arabia and Qatar support regime change, including violently ousting Assad to get it. Host country Iraq’s firmly opposed. So are others supporting Annan’s peace plan.

 

UK Writer Patrick Seale on Syria

 

UK writer Patrick Seale knows Syria well. He wrote Hafez Assad’s biography, Bashar’s father, titled: “Asad: The Struggle for the Middle East.” On March 28, 2011 his Foreign Policy article headlined, “The Syrian Time Bomb,” saying:

 

“Syria lies at the center of a dense network of Middle East relationships, and the crisis in that country….is likely to have a major impact on the regional structure of power.”

 

He called Syria the “linchpin” of a Tehran/Damascus/Hezbollah “bulwark” against US/Israeli regional dominance. Like other Middle East states, Syria’s comprised of “a mosaic of ancient religions, sects, and ethnic groups held uneasily and sometimes uncomfortably together by central government.”

 

Internal conflict profoundly disrupts the region. If Assad falls, “blood-thirsty sectarian demons risk being unleashed, and the entire region could be consumed in an orgy of violence.”

 

In February 2012, Seale said the Syrian conflict’s not only an assault on Damascus but one on Tehran and Hezbollah. It’s waged to thwart their “bulwark” against US/Israeli regional hegemony. That’s what we’re witnessing, he said.

 

“It’s a struggle for regional supremacy, regional dominance, as well as an internal struggle between the Assad regime and its enemies, of whom the Muslim Brothers are the most organized and best funded element, the only element perhaps in the (SNC) opposition that enjoys some support at a public level.” At the same time, it represents a small minority.

 

He added that Assad seems in no imminent danger of being toppled. His army and security forces remain loyal. Russia and China support him. India, Brazil, and other nations likely do as well. In addition, he benefits greatly from divisions among opposition elements.

 

At the same time, most Syrians back him as the only way to stop violence and prevent possibly replicating the worst of Iraq or Libya.

 

After years of US led regional violence, many people want Assad to survive rather than open “the door to the Pandora’s box of the opposition.”

 

If another war erupts, Seale, like others, sees regional disaster resulting. They’re easy to start, hard to end, and risk spreading uncontrollably to something much greater with potentially devastating consequences hopefully no one wants.

 

Nonetheless, he sees a possible replay of the run-up to attacking Iraq in 2003. Dialogue’s the only way out. Continuing conflict’s likely to end badly for all sides. On March 27, he called for a Middle East “Grand Bargain,” saying:

 

Conflicts plagued the region for decades. It’s time to curb the rage for war. The five permanent Security Council members are key. Other influential ones like Germany, India and Brazil can help.

 

Together they can bring conflicting sides together peacefully. They’ve got muscle enough to do it. The nature of regional conflicts requires global action. All sides must make concessions.

 

Facilitating Palestinian self-determination would improve chances for success. Doing so would “puncture a (longstanding) boil” that’s “poisoned political relationships in the Middle East for decades,” and erupts often in violence.

 

A Final Comment

 

Washington, of course, is key. It’s the main obstacle to peace. So far, achieving it’s impossible given its rage to replace independent regimes with client ones by any means, including war.

 

Changing that requires international opposition from major Western and regional allies. Wars beget more of them. Endless carnage results. Instead of solving problems they magnify them.

 

Peaceful resolution offers hope. The key to peace and keeping it always requires give and take, as well as a realization that wars solve nothing. Didn’t two global ones prove anything?

 

Imagine another now with nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction. The potential disaster’s too horrifying to allow.

 

Maybe cooler US and Israeli heads one day will prevent it. Wouldn’t that be “grand” indeed, though so far it’s nowhere in sight.

 

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

 

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

 

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Mar 30

Challenging Israeli State Terror

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Challenging Israeli State Terror

 

by Stephen Lendman

 

Among other methods, lawlessly imprisoned Palestinians do it by hunger striking. Khader Adnan got world attention. He endured 66 days before Israel agreed to release him on April 17. He continues struggling to regain health and survive.

 

On March 30, Hana Shalabi’s 43rd hunger strike day began. She also got widespread attention. Courageous struggles for justice draw support. At times, good news follows.

 

On March 30, Maan News headlined, “Officials say deal reached to free Hana Shalabi,” saying:

 

Knowledgeable officials told Maan late Thursday she’ll be sent to Gaza “in exchange for giving up a 43-day strike against Israel’s policy of holding detainees without charge.”

 

The Palestinian Prisoners Society confirmed the deal. In a statement, it praised Hana’s resolve. It thanked her for drawing wide attention to Israeli lawlessness and brutal treatment of detainees. PPS head Qadoura Fares said Hana agreed to terms even though “(w)e reject deportation, but this is her decision and her own life.”

 

Hana’s lawyer, Jawad Boulos, also confirmed the agreement. One Palestinian source said it was reached “after Palestinian officials and (the ICRC) intervened to confirm (she) approved.”

 

PA civil affairs minister, Hussein al-Sheikh, said Fatah’s leadership wasn’t involved in negotiations. An unnamed Israeli official said “I am aware there were negotiations of that sort” with no further elaboration.

 

Human rights groups and Palestinian rights activists universally condemn Israel’s repressive occupation, including lawlessly imprisoning Palestinians uncharged.

 

On March 29, Addameer and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I) said they couldn’t confirm reports of Hana’s release. They’ve had no direct contact with her for confirmation.

 

They’re mostly concerned with her health and “high danger on her life….used in order to threaten her to take the sole option of” deportation to live.

 

Addameer, PHR-I, and other human rights organizations oppose forcible deportation. Doing so violates international law. It’s also “part of an Israeli policy that is not new.”

 

Yet Israel systematically and ruthlessly persecutes Palestinians lawlessly, including “deport(ing them) from their homes and separat(ing them) from their loved ones.”

 

Marwan Barghouti remains a prisoner of conscience. On April 14, 2002, he was arrested on spurious charges of murder, aiding and abetting murder, promoting murder, criminal conspiracy, and being an active member of a terrorist organization.

 

At the time he said:

 

“I am a political leader, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, elected by my people. Israel has no right to try me, to accuse me, to judge me. This is a violation of international law. I have a (legal) right to resist occupation.”

 

Nonetheless, he was tried, convicted, and sentenced to five consecutive life sentences plus 40 years. He still manages to speak out.

 

In a Monday letter from Hadarim Prison, he urged widespread resistance against Israel’s repressive occupation, saying:

 

“The Palestinian Authority must stop all coordination with Israel – economic and security – and work toward Palestinian reconciliation.”

 

“It must be understood that there is no partner for peace in Israel when the settlements have doubled. It is the Palestinian people’s right to oppose the occupation in all means, and the resistance must be focused on the 1967 territories.”

 

He also urged boycotting all Israeli products and supporting Palestinian ones. In a January 2011 letter, he said:

 

“The peace process had failed and ended there is no longer any point to make desperate attempts to breathe life into the dead body and the need to move towards (a new) Palestinian strategy….”

 

He also called on “all parties and factions and leaders to work with sincerity and seriousness for the implementation of the (Fatah/Hamas) Agreement of Reconciliation” for a united front against Israeli repression.

 

He thanked everyone working for Palestinian liberation, independence and full sovereignty.

 

“Long live the Palestinian people,

 

Long live the movement of the “Open” … Long live the unity

 

Yes to resist the occupation and settlements

 

Yes to freedom, independence and return

 

Glory to the martyrs and healing to the wounded and freedom for the prisoners

 

Brother

 

Marwan Barghouti”

 

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

 

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

 

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Mar 30

Add Trayvon to the List and Keep On Fighting

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Add Trayvon to the List and Keep On Fighting

By

Obi Egbuna Jr

When African people at home and abroad reflect on numerous lessons that are the cornerstone of our positive value system, the entire world, including our former colonial and slave masters, have come to respect the manner in which we maintain our dignity and resolve in the midst of a tragedy. What is most uplifting about this particular attribute is we remain guided by a history and culture that the rich and powerful continue to attempt to hide and distort. This is why as freedom seeking and loving people all over the world express their anger concerning the shooting of Trayvon Martin, we as Africans must warn them to follow our trail of blood on the battlefield. While this is a humble request, it is stern and deliberate because we are not seeking validation or approval from those external to our community for the manner in which we choose to express ourselves concerning this matter. Once that is understood and accepted, our next step is to educate our children about the importance of having the last word concerning political developments that pertain to us as Africans. In the information age, a casual approach to this dynamic is suicidal as both white liberals and conservatives, from Bill Maher to Bill O’Reilly are becoming more audacious by the second, when it comes to sharing their opinions about our shortcomings as a people. At every phase of our frontline struggle for total liberation and human dignity, many a child has been sent to an early grave, the results, in most cases, have been an increase in unity, focus and concentration on the task at hand.
When the 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed in 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama, and four little girls were murdered, the naked terrorism of the Ku Klux Klan and the White Citizen’s Council were placed on the world stage for all to see. This year marks the 52nd anniversary of the Sharpeville/Kwa Langa massacre in what is called South Africa.  Out of the 60 people brutally murdered, 10 of them were children. The demonstration exposed what the Apartheid Regimes in Southern Africa feared more than anything. The defiance of our youth in what is called South Africa came full circle 16 years later when a teenager named Hector Peterson was gunned down during the Soweto Uprising on June 16, 1976, a day now also commemorated as the Day of The African Child. The 1960′s generation remembers when the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee decided to go into Emeritus, Georgia, after the savage beating and murder of Anna B. Hayes.  The 13-year-old girl was kidnapped, raped, and later died of complications because her parents were warned by the Caucasian rapists not to take her to the hospital or to alert the authorities unless they wanted to be killed too.

While Africans all over the world continue to pay homage to Rosa Parks, and more recently Claudette Colvin, the 15-year-old who was first arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to relinquish her seat as part of the Montgomery Bus Boycott Strategy and Movement, the brutal and sadistic murder of Emmett Till that same numerical year, 1955, was just as vital when it came to drawing attention to the terrorism and hatred we encountered in the South on a daily basis. For those of us who are inspired by the history of the Black Panther Party and understand their relevance in the scheme of our genuine resistance, know that the first recruit and treasurer of the Oakland Chapter of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, in Oakland, California, was 17-year-old Bobby Hutton who was assassinated by the Oakland Police on April 6, 1968, two days after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King.

While 2012 marks the 20th anniversary of the Rodney King rebellions, Africans in the Washington Metropolitan Area will always remember Terrence Johnson and Deonte Rawlings.  Johnson served 16 years in prison for shooting racist police officers in 1978 at the age of 15 while defending himself from cops intent on turning the interrogation room into a slaughterhouse. The mysterious circumstances surrounding Johnson’s suicide in 1997 after news reports that he and his brother robbed a bank have never sat well in our community.  In the final analysis Johnson was robbed of his childhood because police terrorism scarred him for the rest of his life. We are only five years removed from two police officers shooting Rawlings, a 14-year-old, in the back of the head after claiming he was riding a stolen mini-bike that belonged to one of the officers. The FBI and Justice Department in conjunction with the Metropolitan Police Department’s Internal Affairs Branch cleared the two officers of any wrongdoing, which brings into question whether police review boards are simply exercises of futility.

Because Africans who live inside US borders are preparing for the upcoming Presidential elections, it didn’t take any political genius to know that due to the racial makeup surrounding Trayvon Martin’s murder it was only a matter of time before US President Barack Obama would make a statement aimed at boosting his campaign efforts. The remark President Obama made was as follows, “When I think about this boy, I think about my own kids, and I think every parent in America should be able to understand why it is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this.”  What Africans have to discuss are the broader ramifications of President Obama’s remarks.  In order for our people to do this with substance and clarity, it cannot be done through the lens of the Democratic Party or the Homeland Security apparatus. When President Obama inferred that Trayvon Martin’s death instinctively makes him think of his two daughters, was it because of his physical appearance in addition to his cultural makeup? The reason this question has to be raised by the African community worldwide is that the thousands of children who were killed during the US-NATO Alliance 2011 Bombing Campaign in Libya, also resemblances Trayvon Martin. If we fail to make this connection, we allow President Obama and his family to function from the understanding that it is ok to condemn the shooting of an African child in the US for political gain, but at the same time slaughter African children on our mother continent whenever he and his cabinet see fit.

The 2011 bombings of Libya objectively can be seen as a working tribute to Ronald Reagan, who on April 15, 1986, bombed Libya under the guise of retaliation for the bombing of a disco in West Berlin that claimed the life of a US soldier.  This makes us wonders if Muammar Qaddafi’s two-year-old daughter Hana, who died at the hands of Reagan’s bombs, makes President Obama and his wife, First Lady Michelle Obama, think of their children too. For the fourth year in a row President Obama has used Executive Order to extend US-EU (European Union) sanctions against Zimbabwe.  In each of the years the President supported this repressive measure against Zimbabwe, it is glaringly obvious that he and his cabinet had no regard for the women and children, who are directly affected due to the impact that the sanctions have had on the educational and health infrastructure in the country.

The murder of Trayvon Martin took place in Florida, which is exactly 90 miles from Cuba.  We are now in the 50th year of a monstrous blockade on Cuba, originally imposed by the Kennedy administration on the heels of a failed invasion of Cuba by the CIA commonly referred to in the history books as the Bay of Pigs invasion.  Not only has this genocidal measure cost Cuba $96 billion dollars, it endangers the lives of African children in Cuba who look just like Trayvon Martin.  Because the current US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, who like her Republican counterpart former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, are political disciples of Madeline Albright, who during her stint as US Secretary of State imposed sanctions on Iraq that claimed the lives of 500,000 children, we can say without hesitation that leaving trails of dead children is part of the political culture that drives the domestic and foreign policy of the US government.

The Africans who have been completely stripped of their core identity will give the same predictable response.  Voicing displeasure with President Obama’s Africa and Foreign Policy plays right into the hands of the Republicans, therefore maintaining silence is only temporary until we gain more political leverage. What is troubling about this point of view is that this year marks the 40th anniversary of Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah’s passing and the 25th anniversary of Thomas Sankara’s assassination in Burkina Faso.  Additionally, we have yet to take a stand against the CIA orchestra coup and British Intelligence that ousted Nkrumah or Sankara’s assassin, Blaise Comporare, who still presides over the country after all these years.  For that matter, every African, Caribbean and Latin American nation that has been bombed and invaded by US Imperialists since World War II have one thing in common, children who resemble Trayvon Martin were killed in the process.  This should serve as a lesson to Africans not only in the US, but all over the world, that if you become president of the United States the only guarantee you have concerning your legacy is that by the time you leave office, regardless of your intentions, you will have become a full-fledged war criminal.

The irony of this tragedy is Trayvon Martin was interested in a career in military aviation.   Sadly, he may have been brainwashed into believing it heroic to drop bombs on the usual targets of US Imperialism–countries and people who they can’t politically control or manipulate.

One of the most unique organizations in our community is the Children’s Defense Fund, who are the original architects of the concept Leave No Child Behind, which was stolen and grossly misrepresented by the Bush Administration.  However, many of our bravest freedom fighters who were assassinated in cold blood by their oppressors in cold blood “left their children behind.” However, many of our bravest freedom fighters who were assassinated in cold blood left their children with their family and community. We have never looked at the psychological impact that political assassinations have had on the children of warriors like, Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King, Patrice Lumumba, Medgar Evers, Walter Rodney and countless others who died on the battlefield fighting for our liberation. Shielding their children from frontline political activity due to fear of becoming an automatic target because of the family name also has a negative impact.

The other issue that the die-hard Democrats in our community have failed to touch is that Trayvon Martin fits the current profile of a domestic terrorist.  What has been sugar-coated as racial profiling is only scratching the surface.  While mainstream media has made the image of a terrorist synonymous with people from places such as Iraq, Iran, Libya, Syria and Afghanistan, inside the US so-called African-American males between the ages of 15 to 40 are the first image that comes to the minds of US citizens like Mr. Zimmerman because of the propaganda machine.  What this tells our people collectively is that Trayvon’s death must be connected to the poverty and violence that sends daughters and sons of Africa to the cemetery, whether we are dealing with the children in Africa who die of hunger every 15 minutes, or the fact that each day in the US eight children or teenagers are killed by firearms. While this is the busy season for Africans who swear by the Democratic machine and take pride in being their watchdogs in our community, we must send a statement to them that Africans plan to ensure we are the beneficiaries of our organizational genius and genuine resistance. In 1992, Bill Clinton benefited from the Rodney King rebellions, in 1960 JFK benefited from the death of Emmett Till and the Montgomery Bus Boycotts, and now Barack Obama seeks to benefit from Trayvon Martin and any other African child whose death is racially motivated between now and November.
We are obligated by history to add Trayvon Martin to the list of African children who died at the hands of our former colonial and slavemasters and keep on fighting, which means challenging the ultimate contradiction of all, that 95% of us are not politically active today. Because we appear to be suffering from political hypnosis, which has led us to vote Democrat for the last 100 years, the only way to reverse this tide is to get organized at the grassroots level.  This is how all our major victories, from attaining the right to vote itself, to smashing the mandatory draft during the Vietnam War were won. This way Trayvon’s generation restores appreciation for our rich tradition of frontline resistance.

Obi Egbuna is the US Correspondent to The Herald, Zimbabwe’s National Newspaper
and a US-based member of the Zimbabwe-Cuba Friendship Association. Mr. Egbuna is also a frequent contributor to Your World News. He can be reached at obiegbuna15@gmail.com.

Mar 29

Fragging in Afghanistan?

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Fragging in Afghanistan?

 

by Stephen Lendman

 

If it’s happening, it’s not reported. Washington wants no mention or suggestion of what plagued Vietnam. More on that below.

 

Writing about the Russian Revolution, Leon Trotsky said:

 

“The moral condition of the army was hopeless. You might describe it by saying the army as an army no longer existed. Defeats, retreats, and the rottenness of the ruling class had utterly undermined the troops.”

 

War in Vietnam affected US soldiers that way. Until 1967, order was well maintained. After Tet in late January/February 1968, things changed. Mutinies forced the Pentagon to disguise them with language like “combat refusal.”

 

Soldiers disobeyed orders. Most were search and destroy missions. They were put in harms way against formidable enemies. At times, entire companies defied commanders. As fear of punishment faded, incidents mushroomed. So did fragging.

 

Wikipedia calls “attacking a superior officer in one’s chain of command” with intent to kill. Fragmentation grenades were usually used. Hence, the term fragging. No fingerprints were left behind.

 

As frustration and anger grew, so did fragging incidents. They became the price extracted for being ordered in harm’s way against enemies refusing to quit.

 

After Tet, they became widespread. At least 800 incidents occurred, perhaps 1,000 or more. Precise numbers are unknown because army officials stopped counting. Judge Advocate General Corp officers believe only 10% of attempts were reported. Other estimates suggested they occurred at five times official figures. Officers shot by their men were excluded. They were listed as wounded or killed in action.

 

Army officials admitted they couldn’t account for over 1,400 officer and noncom deaths. Perhaps as many as one-fourth occurred at the hands of subordinates. The Army was at war with itself. It was unprecedented, but didn’t reflect revenge. It was about opposing search and destroy missions. Soldiers wanted them ended. Refusal had its price.

 

Officers were often warned in advance. Smoke grenades were left near their beds. Tear gas grenades or grenade pins followed if warnings went unheeded. Fragmentation grenades punished the stubborn. Soldiers weren’t playing games. Everyone was the enemy. Officers at times fragged troops they suspected of planning to target them.

 

In one battalion, the commander refused to distribute arms. He feared he and other officers would be shot. Congressional hearings in 1973 estimated around 3% of officer and NCO deaths from fragging. Other methods included handguns, automatic rifles, booby traps, knives, and bare hands.

 

In 1971, Col. Robert Heinl, Jr. said:

 

“The morale, discipline and battleworthiness of the US Armed Forces are….lower than anytime in the century and possibly in the history of the United States.”

 

“By every conceivable indicator, our Army that remains in Vietnam is in a state of approaching collapse, with individual units avoiding or having….refused combat, murdering their own officers and NCOs, drug-ridden and dispirited when not mutinous.”

 

The longer America’s wars continue, the closer a similar state approaches critical mass because of declining moral, repeated deployments, combat stress, battle fatigue, and what Vietnam vet Steve Hesske called the “negative universals in all warfare.”

 

They include “Lousy nutrition. Cramped, dirty, awful living conditions. Terrible weather. Unreasonable, often senseless, demands made by superiors. And what Michael Herr describes in DISPATCHES (as) ‘long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of stark terror.’ ”

 

In his book titled, “Fragging: Why US Soldiers Assaulted Their Officers in Vietnam,” George Lepre said similar assaults occurred in earlier US wars, but not like in Vietnam.

 

Drug use, low morale, a quagmire conflict, formidable enemies, and ranks filled with below-standard troops to meet manpower needs contributed to explosive incidents.

 

Fraggers were mostly young, immature, poorly educated, Black, and mediocre performers. Most weren’t draftees, and no evidence suggests anti-war sentiment was involved.

 

“It was no accident that the fragging phenomenon occurred during an unpopular war,” said Lepre. A host of contributing factors led to America waging war on itself. It didn’t end until Washington’s humiliating April 30, 1975 Saigon embassy rooftop exit.

 

Perhaps Kabul, Baghdad, and Tripoli repeats will follow. For millions affected, it can’t happen a moment too soon. Their struggle continues to assure it. Afghanistan most reflects it. An acknowledged unwinnable war persists, but how much longer before what can’t go on forever, won’t.

 

Afghanistan’s Unwinnable War

 

Afghanistan reflects Vietnam. Whether or not fragging’s occurring isn’t known. However, if frustration grows and morale and discipline deteriorate, it may arrive full force.

 

Known incidents involve Afghan, not US forces. However, cover-up and denial may conceal unreported incidents, perhaps more than imagined.

 

On February 1, Medill on the Hill, a project of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism headlined, “Insider attacks on US troops by friendly Afghan forces on the rise,” saying:

 

A March 2011 Kandahar Province attack killed two US soldiers and wounded four others. An Afghan security contractor was responsible – “a hired gun paid for by the US-led coalition.”

 

It wasn’t an isolated incident. Since May 2007, Afghan security forces launched at least 45 attacks. About 70 or more NATO troops were killed and hundreds more wounded.

 

Friendly force attacks are increasing. Most came in the past two years, despite careful recruit screening. NATO ranks number 130,000, including 90,000 US troops.

 

As of October 2011, Afghan National Security Forces numbered 312,000. However, distrust, poor training, corruption, and growing desertions erupt in violence against a hated occupier.

 

On March 1, the Christian Science Monitor headlined, “Afghan troops keep killing US troops,” saying:

 

An Afghan soldier and civilian employee “murdered two US soldiers at a base near the southern city of Kandahar today. That brings the total so-called green on blue killings in Afghanistan to six since an Afghan witnessed US soldiers dumping Qurans into a burn pit at Bagram Air Base a week ago.”

 

At issue is America’s decade-long failed war. Incidents are increasing. Frustration and anger define them. Afghans want Americans out. Anger causes attacks. Many others sympathize and perhaps plan their own.

 

They belie official progress and growing stability reports. Conditions have never been worse. At 124 months and counting, Afghanistan is America’s longest war. Vietnam lasted 103 months. Polls show declining public support. Obama duplicitously claims:

 

“The overwhelming majority of Afghan troops have welcomed and benefitted from the training and partnering that we’re doing. When you think about it, the same was true in Iraq.” By end of 2014, “Afghans will have capacity just as Iraqis to secure their own country.”

 

In fact, violence wracks Iraq. Incidents occur regularly. On March 20, over 30 bomb attacks struck cities and towns across the country. At least 52 were killed and about 250 injured. It was Iraq’s bloodiest day in a month. Police checkpoints and patrols were mostly targeted.

 

Army and police are often attacked. Al Qaeda and other insurgents claim responsibility. March 19 was the war’s 9th anniversary. Violence rages daily. Afghanistan gets most attention, but Iraqis want Americans out as much as Afghans do. Fighting will rage until they’re gone, and the same’s true for Libya.

 

Arab street anti-American sentiment is visceral. Anything’s possible against a hated occupier and complicit satraps. A recent Kabul attack involved assassinating a US colonel and major inside the Afghan Interior Ministry headquarters.

 

The gunman was reportedly an intelligence service driver infuriated by US comments mocking Koran protests and the Koran itself. Other incidents involve Afghan troops killing US soldiers. In populated areas, civilians die with them in cases where car bombs, grenades, or other explosive devices are used.

 

In 2012, over a dozen US troops were killed. Around fivefold that number were wounded, many seriously. Cover-ups likely conceal others, and when injured soldiers die, only their families are told.

 

Nothing will stop these and similar incidents until America’s occupation ends, and Afghans run their own country. Until then, US soldiers will be targeted are killed.

 

Perhaps they’ll wage war on themselves like for years in Vietnam. Given similarities between the conflicts, it may be just a matter of time.

 

A Final Comment

 

During his March Kabul visit, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was targeted. Reports said a man drove a bomb-laden vehicle onto the runway where his plane landed.

 

An International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) statement confirmed the incident, but downplayed it. Panetta’s visit went on as planned. Afghans want no part of him and US forces he represents.

 

Even they can’t be trusted. Panetta ordered US troops meeting with him in Helmand Province disarmed. In a tent where they gathered, around 200 marines were told to lay down automatic rifles and 9mm pistols. A sergeant was told to clear all weapons outside.

 

It’s significant because typically troops remain armed when the defense secretary addresses them.

 

The official explanation given about wanting to be “consistent with the Afghans” didn’t wash. At issue is trust and perhaps fear that anger in the ranks may erupt against visiting US officials. Why not when multiple deployments put ground forces in harm’s way.

 

America may again wage war on itself. Given the similarities between Southeast Asia and Afghanistan, it may indeed be just a matter of time.

 

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

 

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

 

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Mar 28

America: A Global Serial Killer of People of Color

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http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/america-global-serial-killer

America: A Global Serial Killer

by Solomon Comissiong

“They expect the majority of us not to connect crimes like the murder of Trayvon Martin to the crimes of murdering Afghan and Iraqi children via airstrikes, drone strikes, night raids, and war in general.”

A serial killer is a person who kills multiple people within a period of time—-their motivation is often predicated on some sort of psychological gratification. And mass murderers usually murder multiple victims in the same place at the same time. This is often done by an individual, or more. These two profiles fit America and her various organs, almost perfectly. Since the inception of this white settler state (America), it has worked hard to perfect its serial killing ways, especially when murdering people of color. Whether systematically instituting genocide on the Indigenous people of Turtle Island (North America) or killing tens of millions (conservatively) of enslaved Africans – it made no difference to the European barbarians that initiated the bloodbath. And in 2012 it makes no difference whether it is a 17 year old black boy from Florida, named Trayvon Martin, who was murdered in cold blood by a neighborhood “watchman”, or 16 Afghan civilians mass slaughtered by a member (and his accomplices) of the US military – America consumes lives with a voracious appetite. America has a particular taste for non-white lives. This country devours people of color.

America has never allowed its artificially manufactured (and stolen) borders to prevent it from initiating killing sprees. A simple look at the mass carnage caused by US military campaigns of aggression, the world over, will irrefutably highlight that fact. And when America kills its victims (men, women and children), it, like most serial killers, shows little or no remorse. It is adept at justifying its crimes against humanity. However, the US rarely sees its inhumane and violent actions as crimes of any sort. America has sociopathic tendencies riddled throughout its institutionally racist society. If America had even one iota of remorse for the countless lives it has taken (most being people of color), it would have stopped its murderous ways a long time ago. Libya, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq are merely recent examples of America’s reckless, yet calculated, killing sprees. The US government is built to uphold imperialism, among an amalgam of nefarious characteristics – this country’s military is a most powerful tool at its disposal.

“This country devours people of color.

The civilians they murder are deemed “collateral damage”. Over 90 percent of persons killed in US military “engagements” since Vietnam are, in fact, civilians. Those totals, in the case of Iraq, hover right around one million killed. Americans, by and large, are completely desensitized to what should be seen as a massive, one sided, blood bath. Americans, however, are easily programmed and will virtually fall for whatever propaganda is thrown their way. Most Americans are not able to see beyond the coordinated program of indoctrination they have received since childhood. They have been trained not to critically think; therefore they accept almost whatever messages that are methodically presented to them.

In March 2012 Americans, like the rest of the world, were fed a heaping helping of bullshit, otherwise known as Kony 2012. Besides they fact that Kony 2012 is a well-produced psychological operation aimed at reinforcing US military operations throughout Central and Eastern Africa, it is blatantly hypocritical. If most Americans were not so indoctrinated with “American Exceptionalism,” they would understand a few basic things regarding their own mass murdering government. The US government and its military have taken far more lives of children of color than Lord’s Resistance Army “leader”, Joseph Kony, could ever dream of.

Through deadly sanctions on countries like Zimbabwe and Iraq, the US has ripped the life away from innumerable children. Through military engagements of imperialism and brutal aggression, America has slaughtered innocent civilians in places like Panama, Iraq, Cambodia, Afghanistan, and Libya – to name a few. Where are the white liberal reactionaries, like Invisible Children, when it comes to speaking out against the destruction of children from these countries? Where is the 30-minute, Hollywood production styled video detailing the role America has played in committing crimes against humanity and why it should be brought to justice? Where are their tears of sorrow and anger demanding that the selective International Criminal Court bring US government officials, from multiple presidential administrations (including the Obama administration), to the Hague?

“Over 90 percent of persons killed in US military “engagements” since Vietnam are, in fact, civilians.”

Invisible Children and organizations of their ilk are frauds and supporters of US military campaigns of murder. That is why these con-artists will say nothing about the mass murder of 16 Afghan civilians (including 9 children) carried out by Staff Sgt. Robert Bale (and his accomplices). Staff Sargent Robert Bale was trained by the most fierce and effective killing machine known to man—the US military. Actions like his were routinely carried out by US soldiers during the Vietnam War. The precedent has been established that if you are US military personnel and you do something like that, you will most likely get away with it, just as American police officers regularly get away with killing unarmed black and brown people. Even though the thuggish so-called “neighborhood watchman” that killed our young brother Trayvon Martin in cold blood was not a real police officer, his actions were not unlike that of many American police. The institutionally racist and lethal US system of policing facilitates a culture that allows cops to kill unarmed men of color. The excessively flawed and corrupt judicial system, then allows these police officers to get away with it. The American prison industrial complex feasts on black and brown people, yet detests the taste of racist corrupt cops.

George Zimmerman’s actions in killing Trayvon Martin were similar to the actions of the police officer that, in 2010, murdered Aiyana Stanley Jones, a seven year old African/black girl, in Detroit. His actions were also not unlike that of murderous police who killed the likes of Sean Bell, Timothy Stansbury, and Oscar Grant, to name a few of the countless African/black people that have been murdered within the US, by its state sponsored “law enforcement”.

Those who are surprised by the recent murder of our young brother Trayvon Martin are either delusional or disingenuous, including US president Barack Obama. When president Obama recently said, “I think all of us have to do some soul searching to figure out how does something like this happen,” he knows very well how something like the coldblooded murder of an Africa/black boy happens. It happens in America all the damn time! How quickly Obama supporters forget that it was he who refused to send a US delegation to a United Nations Conference on Racism (Durban Review Conference). Perhaps president Obama believes institutional racism had nothing to do with the death of our brother Trayvon Martin and the non-arrest of the thug (George Zimmerman) that killed him. If president Obama believes that, he is as delusional as many of his supporters who cling to the myth that he actually gives a damn about the black community.

“The institutionally racist and lethal US system of policing facilitates a culture that allows cops to kill unarmed men of color.”

It was candidate Obama in the summer of 2008 that justified the wrongful verdict that allowed the police officers who murdered Sean Bell, to be fully acquitted. Obama said, “The judge has made his ruling, and we’re a nation of laws, so we respect the verdict that came down.” He made these comments as rightfully infuriated black people were peacefully protesting the unjust verdict. He made these comments as if he had the authority to speak on behalf of African/black people. Obama was concerned with his presidential campaign and making sure he did not make white liberals too uncomfortable. Those people had every right to peacefully rally and protest as they did.

Despite Obama making those callous statements about the Sean Bell murder verdict, he can now display himself as if he has been a strident opponent to the kinds of crimes that are routinely committed upon African/black people in America. He can do this because he knows very well that most of his supporters back him unconditionally, regardless of what he does. If they (many Obama supporters) gave a damn about justice, they would have been protesting his presidency long ago, especially given the fact that he has continued and expanded the war mongering ways of his dim witted predecessor, George W. Bush. Obama, like the American “justice” system, is banking on these rallies in protest of the murder of our young brother Trayvon Martin to die out after some time, even if the murderous thug (George Zimmerman) goes free.

There are protests each time a person of color is killed in cold blood by the police, and rightfully so. However, each time, after a few rallies, the chants of injustice grow fainter by the day. Some of us seem to forget that the same old system, and society, that makes these crimes possible, is still intact. Those that support and uphold this system can behave like chameleons as if they are genuinely concerned with the systematic killing of people of color, like Trayvon Martin. They do this while playing significant roles in upholding a system of human destruction. They expect the majority of us not to connect crimes like the murder of Trayvon Martin to the crimes of murdering Afghan and Iraqi children via airstrikes, drone strikes, night raids, and war in general. The same way we see Trayvon Martin as our brother, is the same way we must see children from other countries, whose lives are being lost each time the US government’s military decides to bomb their villages in to oblivion. And we must (as a collective) be much more consistent in our work, before and after, injustices that fall upon children like Trayvon Martin and Aiyana Stanley Jones.

“Each time, after a few rallies, the chants of injustice grow fainter by the day.”

If we become more consistent and organized with our work we may be able to prevent these murders from ever happening. However, if we don’t, the kind of scum that uphold and operate their state sponsored crimes, within this system, will continue to do so—unabated. We all have a role to play in confronting this unforgiving and destructive system. Raising awareness is imperative (rallies, utilizing progressive media, community forums, teach-ins, etc.). Mobilization and organizing is crucial (domestic and international legal tactics). Consistent and uncompromising political actions will be paramount. Developing and sustaining strategies is vital. Committing ourselves to put an end to institutional racism, white supremacy and imperialism must be a goal we seek. These are a few of the types of strategies that must be employed, community by community and state by state. They all must be done consistently and by a critical mass.

Remember that only one percent of the US population actively participated in the Civil rights Movement. It won’t be easy, however – freedom, justice, and equality seldom are. I can’t think of any better way to honor the lives of young people like Trayvon Martin and the countless Afghan and Iraqi children who have perished because of American military aggression and sanctions. There can be no justice without peace. Right now the US is facilitating violence and injustice throughout the globe (including within its own borders). Untold lives depend on our unrelenting commitment towards tangibly creating a society founded, not on injustice and inequality, but on peace, justice, and equality—-FOR ALL.

Solomon Comissiong is an educator, community activist, author, public speaker and the host of the Your World News media collective (www.yourworldnews.org). He can be reached at: solo@yourworldnews.org.

Mar 28

Washington Admits Aiding Syrian Opposition

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Washington Admits Aiding Syrian Opposition

 

On March 25, The New York Times headlined, “US and Turkey to Step Up ‘Nonlethal’ Aid to Rebels in Turkey,” saying:

 

Other US allies were urged to do the same. Insisting no weapons will be sent belies heavy Western and Israeli ones delivered through porous borders for months.

 

They include powerful explosives, small arms, submachine guns, machine guns, sniper rifles, rocket and anti-tank grenade launchers, among others. They’ve been used to kill civilians and security forces, as well as destroy government facilities.

 

Russia repeatedly denounces Washington’s one-sided support while claiming peaceful resolution intentions. Obama says aiding Assad’s opposition furthers transitioning to a “legitimate government.”

 

In other words, he wants independent Syria replaced by a client state America controls. Then on to the next target for the same purpose – Iran.

 

If Washington had a motto it would be: We’re boss, and what we say goes! Russia and growing numbers of other nations respond Nyet!

 

Syrians want no outside interference. International law backs them. They assert sole right to decide how their nation’s governed. Most support Assad. Washington recruited and backs Syrian National Council (SNC) and Free Syrian Army (FSA) belligerents. They function lawlessly as Western proxies.

 

Most Syrians oppose them. They want peace, not violence. They know Washington pulls their strings. Its Special Forces and CIA operatives aid them covertly on the ground. So-called “non-lethal” aid includes “strategic communication” equipment.

 

White House spokesman Ben Rhodes says it’s “important to the opposition as they’re formulating their vision of an inclusive and democratic Syria to have the ability to communicate.”

 

It’s not about saying hello to mom. It’s for coordinating attacks, as well as communicating with neighboring forces in Turkey, regional countries, and Western ones. It and other aid subvert peace efforts.

 

That’s the whole idea. Washington won’t tolerate it. Violence facilitates regime change. Peace assures continuity. Kofi Annan fronts for power. His mission excludes even-handedness. His disingenuous rhetoric hides it.

 

He largely pressures Assad. On Monday, he met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. Ahead of the meeting, Russia’s strong statement said:

 

“(O)ur essential approach is to ensure a ceasefire and end to violence in Syria, which will be difficult to implement without putting an end to external armed and political support of the opposition.”

 

“Taking into account that the Syrian authorities are ready to establish such a dialogue, the key task is to convince the Syrian opposition to sit down at the negotiation table with the authorities and reach a peaceful resolution of the crisis.”

 

On Friday, a UN Human Rights Council (HRC) statement again censured Assad. It spuriously accused him of “sharply escalating” violence. Moscow and Beijing denounced the comments. A Russian Foreign Ministry statement said:

 

“The document gives a unilateral assessment to the events in the country and accuses only the Syrian government of violence. It does not contain any requirements towards armed groups of the opposition. The document also ignores international efforts aimed at settling the crisis, in particular the mission by U.N./Las (League of Arab States) Special Representative Kofi Annan.”

 

“The UNHRC biased and inadequate resolution runs counter the efforts taken by the international community to stabilise the situation in Syria. The document ‘is discordant’ with the recent U.N. Security Council statements that support Kofi Annan’s mission and condemns the terrorist acts in Damascus and Aleppo.”

 

“Moreover, the irresponsible position taken by several states, which came against Russia’s proposal to condemn the terrorist acts in Syria that led to the losses of lives, and violence by armed militants encourage impunity of terrorists.”

 

The Russian Federation “continues to insist on stopping violence in Syria by ceasing fire by all parties and start a nationwide political dialogue without foreign interference. We will persistently comply with this policy.”

 

As long as killer gang attacks continue, Assad’s obligated to fight fire with fire. Holding back facilitates insurgent killings, weakens his own grip on power, and leaves his people helpless in the face of Western-backed aggression.

 

Annan’s its willing agent. He’s replicating his Secretary-General role. He was little more than an imperial tool. He never achieved or worked for peace anywhere. He’s not doing it now. His message to Assad is that “the transformational winds blowing today cannot be easily resisted, or cannot be resisted for long.”

 

“The only way to deal with this is through reform, through change – and change that respects democratic principles, individual dignity, the rule of law and human rights.”

 

His decade long UN tenure showed contempt for the above principles. His words now ring hollow. While feigning even-handedness, he largely criticizes Assad.

 

Russia insists that halting violence depends on both sides cooperating and ending foreign interference. President Dmitri Medvedev and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov especially oppose Western and neighboring states supplying weapons to insurgents. Annan avoided the subject.

 

Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also denounces belligerent outside interference. Over the weekend, multiple insurgent attacks killed hundreds and injured many more. Killer gangs spurn peace. So do Washington, rogue NATO partners, and complicit Arab states.

 

On March 26, Today’s Zaman headlined, “Turkey presses Syrian opposition to unite, produce ‘national pact,’ ” saying:

 

Turkey and Qatar want unity ahead of an April 1 and 2 international meeting.

 

An unnamed Turkish official called it “by far the most significant meeting as far as the Syrian opposition is concerned.”

 

Presenting a united front offers a “political vision for the future of” Syria. Around 200 representatives from different ethnic, sectarian, religious, and political groups began meeting in Istanbul to try to find consensus.

 

Only the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) was left out because of its ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Turkey calls it a terrorist group for wanting an independent Kurdistan.

 

Ankara closed its Damascus embassy. It believes Assad’s days are numbered and thinks Syrians will oust him. However, “doubts of the Syrian opposition to act as a united front lead to concerns over” protracted conflict.

 

Deep rifts between opposition sides favoring violent and peaceful approaches leave resolution far apart. Whether discussions now can heal breaches remains to be seen. Previous attempts went nowhere.

 

Washington’s one goal involves establishing another client state by any means, including war. Expect it. Then on to the next target – Iran.

 

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

 

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

 

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Mar 28

The Criminal Class in Washington is Bipartisan

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The Criminal Class in Washington is Bipartisan

 

by Stephen Lendman

 

Inside the Beltway, it’s evident daily. The political news website Capitol Hill Blue says “Nobody’s life, liberty or property is safe while Congress is in session or the White House is occupied.”

 

Electoral politics also highlights its clear and present danger. It involves rogue politicians competing to be part of Washington’s corrupted duopoly run system – especially the top job as president.

 

Both sides support corporate interests, imperial wars, and the divine right of capital to exploit workers, plunder resources, control markets, and rule unchallenged. Beneficial social change, independent voices, and electoral democracy lose out under a rigged system against them.

 

Democracy in America’s shear fantasy. Money power controls everything. Candidates are pre-selected. Privatized elections assure corporate favorites win. Democrats are interchangeable with Republicans. Differences between them are minor, and none whatever on what matters most.

 

Consider the unpalatable 2012 presidential options. Voters get to choose between a lawless, crime boss, militarist, pro-war, anti-populist president, and a rogue’s gallery of Republican aspirants, looking more like a police lineup than legitimate candidates for any office, let alone the nation’s highest.

 

By comparison, Ron Paul looks good, but his platform shows otherwise. He wants social America abolished. He believes government’s only role is to respect, protect, and defend personal liberties.

 

In other words, government’s responsibility for universal healthcare, education, and other essential services is incompatible with personal freedom. Everyone should be on their own to provide them, even though millions, through no fault of their own, can’t.

 

Yet he’s the best of the lot. Obama proved what loyal supporters thought impossible. On domestic and foreign issues, he’s governed to the right of George Bush. He does it lawlessly for the monied interests that own him.

 

He’s waging multiple imperial wars, plans others, looted the nation’s wealth, wrecked the economy, consigned growing millions to impoverishment without jobs, enough income, or futures, illegally spies on Americans more aggressively than Bush, and institutionalized tyranny to target dissenters challenging political corruption, corporate crooks, or abuse of power lawlessness.

 

He also promotes regime change in Syria, Iran, Venezuela, Lebanon, and other independent states. In addition, he targets Russia’s military strength and China’s growing economic might. At the same time, he supports ruthless, corrupt tyrants, and Israel’s worst crimes.

 

After its devastating earthquake, he militarized and occupied Haiti. He belligerently ousted Honduran President Manual Zelaya and Libya’s Gaddafi. He presides over a bogus democracy under a homeland police state apparatus.

 

He’s waging class war against Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, public and private pensions, as well as other New Deal and Great Society gains. He wants more aggressive media control than Nixon, according to former White House correspondent Helen Thomas.

 

He imposed austerity when vital stimulus is needed and real unemployment approaches 23%. He promotes “shared sacrifice” to force ordinary people to sacrifice so America’s super-rich can share.

 

He authorized indefinitely detaining anyone called a national security threat without charge (including US citizens). He continues Bush’s rendition and torture policies. He authorized state-sponsored assassinations, including US citizens considered a national security threats, whether or not true.

 

He deployed Special Forces death squads covertly to 120 or more countries. They’re in Syria, Iran, and other independent states working for regime change.

 

He destroyed hard won labor rights, and wants education commodified as another business profit center. He wages war on whistleblowers, dissenters, Muslims, Latino immigrants, and environmental and animal rights activists called terrorists.

 

No matter. He’ll likely get another four years to do more damage and complete unfinished business, at the expense of growing millions enduring poverty, homelessness, hunger, and despair in the world’s richest country. He’s thrown them overboard to serve wealth and power interests alone.

 

Republicans On the Issues

 

The web site page on Mitt Romney’s skeleton closet says other politicians call him “a phony, two-faced, flip-flopping weasel.”

 

Mitt Romney calls himself “the ideal” Tea Party candidate because his views replicate theirs. Its platform calls for tax cuts for the rich, eliminating the national debt at the expense of wrecking the economy, ending deficit spending, free, not fair, market capitalism, and supporting states rights

 

It also wants all federal, state and local social spending ended. It wants people freed to do what they please lawfully, no matter the consequences for others. It supports staying independent from federal oversight or constraints.

 

Overall, it stresses fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government, free (not fair) markets, and everyone on their own sink or swim.

 

Romney wants less taxes, government spending, regulation, and federal programs. He wants more trade, energy production, local power, human capital and labor flexibility (code language for destroying worker rights). He calls it “a plan to get America back to work.”

 

He wants Obamacare replaced with extremist “market-based reforms.” He says America “faces a bewildering array of threats and opportunities.” He calls “national security” the nation’s “unifying thread.”

 

“When America is strong, the world is safer.” Only US power can “ensure security and prosperity,” he claims. Again, no explanation’s given or threats explained at a time the nation has none except ones it invents.

 

Earlier he said we “can and will stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.” He called for military action “in the nature of blockade or a bombardment or surgical strikes or one kind or another.”

 

More recently he called Iranian leaders intolerant, repressive, state sponsors of terrorism. He also accused them of developing nuclear weapons, despite the latest March 2011 US intelligence assessment and IAEA inspectors concluding the opposite.

 

He called for diplomatic isolation and crippling sanctions, including denying Iran access to foreign capital and investment. He also supports divesting from companies supporting the Islamic Republic, and says “the military option is very real and very credible.”

 

On Syria, he said “it’s time for the Assad dictatorship to end. And we should use covert activity” and sanctions because he’s “an ally of Iran.”

 

His energy program calls for drill, drill, drill. He says everything government does business does better so let it. He wants China sanctioned for alleged unfair trade practices. He wants more defense spending to advance America’s imperium.

 

He wants workers denied union representation. He’s pro-family, pro-life, pro-gun, pro-Israel, pro-war, pro-corporate, and entirely anti-populist. He and Obama support the same hard-right agenda. Virtually nothing distinguishes one from the other on issues mattering most.

 

Newt Gingrich‘s web site features his “21st Century Contract with America.” It partly reinvents Speaker Gingrich’s 1994 Contract on America. It set a hard-right agenda for the 104th Congress’ first 100 days.

 

Now he’s at it again. He favors pro-business policies, including tax cuts for the rich, eliminating the capital gains tax, a 15% flat tax, an energy agenda favoring Big Oil, a balanced budget, and abolishing social America to free up more resources for business and imperial wars.

 

He calls it “keep(ing) Americans safe.” Unexplained was the nation’s only enemies are ones invented to ravage the world one country at a time or in multiples.

 

Yet Gingrich claims we’re “in a long war against radical Islamism, a belief system adhered to by a small minority of Muslims but nonetheless a powerful and organized ideology within Islamic thought that is totally incompatible with the modern world.”

 

A notorious Islamophobe/racist, he supports “a unified grand strategy for defeating radical Islamism.” He wants imperial wars and occupations continued to free the world for capital, no matter the body count to achieve it.

 

Like Romney, he supports low taxes, deregulation, privatizing basic services like healthcare and education, and whatever else favors wealth and power.

 

His “Day One Plan” includes:

  • drill now, pay later;

 

  • eliminating Obama’s bureaucratic appointments not accountable to Congress;

 

  • stopping abortion funding, and women’s right to get one;

 

  • supporting Jerusalem as Israel’s capital despite its legal designation as an international city under UN trusteeship most countries respect;

 

  • ending federal immigration lawsuits against racist state laws like Arizona’s; and

 

  • supporting the environmentally destructive Keystone XL Pipeline.

 

Gingrich is also scandal-plagued. He’s a serial adulterer with younger women when two former wives were seriously ill. During his term as Speaker, he also faced 84 ethics charges. Pressure got most dropped. One stuck when an ethics panel found him “repeatedly violat(ing) one rule by using a political consultant to develop the Republican legislative agenda.”

 

The House reprimanded him by a 395 – 28 vote, and ordered him to repay $300,000 in investigative charges. It was the first time a speaker was ever disciplined for ethics violations.

 

The House Ethics committee also said inaccurate information Gingrich supplied to investigators represented “intentional or….reckless” disregard for House rules.

 

The Ethics Committee’s Special Counsel James M. Cole said he violated federal tax law. He also lied to the ethics panel to force the committee to dismiss charges against him.

 

The committee didn’t agree that tax law was violated. It let the IRS decide. In 1999, it cleared organizations connected with the “Renewing American Civilization” courses under investigation for possible tax violations. As a result, Gingrich got off scot-free, despite committing what the ethics committee called 84 violations.

 

Later, he earned $1.6 million lobbying secretly for Freddie Mac while attacking it publicly. A web site covering scandals in the closets of presidential candidates said this about him:

 

“I’ve researched a lot of polticians’ scandals over the years. Some are lying, adulterious lechers (Clinton). Some are money-grubbing and corrupt (Santorum). Some are vindictive and dangerously authoritarian (Giuliani).”

 

“Some are incredibly phony and change with the wind (Romney). Some are draft dodgers (actually, most of them are). But in 17 years, only one man has been able to combine every one of these moral failings into one, super-humanly despicable candidate: Newt Gingrich.”

 

Imagine if he ends up president. Though unlikely, his rogue “credentials,” in fact, qualify him for the job only miscreants or candidates likely to govern like one can hold.

 

Rick Santorum served lawlessly in the Senate like Gingrich did in the House. George Lakoff believes his agenda involves much more than being president. It’s about advancing “a radical conservative future for America.”

 

He wants to continue decades of right-wing politics and harden them. No matter who’s president, he’ll succeed “unless Democrats dramatically change their communication strategy” effectively.

 

Power isn’t limited to becoming president. It’s also about controlling Congress, state and local governments at all levels down to school boards.

 

Santorum wants the top job. Getting it will make him maestro of misery. His web site asks “Why Rick? saying:

 

He “became one of the most successful government reformers in our history, taking on Washington’s powerful special interests from the moment he arrived in our nation’s Capitol.”

 

Saying it gives chutzpah new meaning, but he added more about “maintain(ing) fiscal sanity,” supporting a balanced budget, so-called responsible reforms, leading the fight against America’s threats, taking credit for being “one of the most conservative senators in Pennsylvania’s history, and much more.”

 

He ended saying he’s “most proud of his role as a husband and father” of seven children. How that qualifies him for president wasn’t explained.

 

On the issues, he says here’s “where I stand,” citing the following:

 

His “first 100 days economic freedom agenda” includes:

  • approving the Keystone XL Pipeline, no responsible leader would allow;

 

  • eliminating all anti-business regulations;

 

  • cutting $5 trillion over five years, virtually entirely targeting vital domestic programs, while at the same time supporting annual defense spending increases, as well as pro-business tax cuts and other generous benefits;

 

  • replacing Obamacare with entirely free-wheeling corporate-run healthcare to do what they please and charge what they wish;

 

  • balancing the budget on the backs of America’s most vulnerable by eliminating vital programs they need;

 

  • cutting taxes for corporate America and super-rich elites;

 

  • supporting one-sided unfair “free trade” agreements, benefitting US corporations at the expense of trading partners;

 

  • reforming entitlements by ending them; and

 

  • reviving housing by letting corporate crooks game the system freely for maximum profits.

 

He also promises “no more leading from behind for America,” saying:

 

He’ll support America’s global interests, including its terror war on humanity, vilifying Islam for political advantage, supporting Israel’s worst crimes, and replacing independent regimes with pro-Western ones.

 

“It is time that America stop leading from behind and stand for freedom once again. Pretending that this battle isn’t raging will not protect our families and our interests, nor will it strengthen our allies; it will only diminish our nation, increase our risk and grow our security challenge.”

 

“Stand for freedom,” he added by ravaging the world one country at a time, and leaving a trail of mass deaths, destruction, and human misery behind.

 

Santorum combines racism, ignorance, militancy, and pro-corporate/pro-war extremism. His agenda threatens humanity. He’ll make America more than ever unfair, unstable, insecure, and unsafe.

 

Like Romney, Gingrich, and Obama, imagine America in his hands. All of them advocate similar destructive agendas. Ordinary people will be harmed most.

 

The Santorum’s Skeleton Closet site calls him “one of the most corrupt politicians in America.” The clean government group CREW twice named him one of the nation’s three most corrupt senators.

 

He bragged how he steered millions of earmark dollars to lobbyist American Continental Group clients. They paid him handsomely for services rendered. So did Consol Energy and Universal Health Service (UHS) for other corrupt practices.

 

In fact, UHS paid him $395,000 for “insights” after he left the Senate and appointed him to its board. In 1995, he began his Senate tenure as one of its least well-off members. When he left in 2007, he bought a $2 million Great Falls, VA home.

 

As part of Tom Delay’s “K-Street project,” he filled lobbying groups with Republican loyalists. In return, he earned $500,000, more than any other federal official. He got rich by lying, cheating, and betraying loyal constituents who elected him.

 

His public statements openly display racism, contempt for the poor and disadvantage, attacking high-achiever women as radical feminists, and numerous other outrageous comments most people wouldn’t think, let alone say.

 

Imagine what’s ahead if he’s president. Imagine it under Romney, Gingrich or Obama.

 

Given the post-9/11 path followed, the worst is yet to come domestically and abroad unless grassroots rage stops it.

 

If wanting better futures and imperial wars stopped aren’t worth fighting for, what is? If not now, when? If not us, who? If that’s not important enough, what is?

 

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

 

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

 

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

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