Afghanistan 2-25-2010

25, February 2010

                       

Dear Editor,            Afghanistan

The number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan continues to mount shattering any real hope of winning the ‘hearts and minds’ of the local people. There is little doubt that the raw emotions of the local people has intensified against the occupation of their country. Last year this ill-defined mission has claimed the lives of a record number of Afghani civilians and US soldiers. The conflict is fast becoming the longest war in US history.

President Obama has twice enhanced troop levels making it more and more difficult to extricate ourselves from this sinking morass. There are currently 100,000 US and allied troops occupying Afghanistan. These have been augmented by 104,000 US ‘hired guns’ or mercenaries.


The war has not enhanced democracy and security and is fraught with poor intelligence gathering. The Taliban are not foreign imports – they are a militant group of fighters drawn together by a common purpose, namely to expel all foreign troops from their country. Our continued presence is propping up President Hamid Karzai who was ushered in on charges of massive fraud. He has recently issued a decree granting him oversight of a key election body, Afghanistan Electoral Complaints Commission, which will grant him dictatorial powers. Why are we supporting this man who has repeatedly demonstrated his utter disdain for democracy and the rule of law?

US Supreme Court 2-15-2010

15, February 2010                 US Supreme Court

The recent Supreme Court decision in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, gave the green light to corporations and other special interests groups to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence election outcomes eviscerating longstanding rules limiting such contributions. In an unprecedented ruling, the Court equated money with free speech. The ‘free speech’ Amendment, a bastion of democracy, was carefully crafted to protect the rights of ordinary Americans. It is incomprehensible that the Supreme Court equated the right of corporate spending with ordinary Americans right to free speech. Corporations are state-created entities whose specific purpose is to turn a profit.

We hardly need to be reminded of the already corrosive impact of money in politics.

This decision will open the floodgates of money. Large corporate giants will continue to drown out dissenting voices and pass on their expenditures to consumers. Unprecedented amounts of money will be funneled through the large network of lobbyists to the eager outstretched hands of politicians who traditionally rubber stamp legislation favorable to their wealthy benefactors. This will heighten the cycle of corruption, trample our democracy and discourage the few ‘Mr. (and Mrs.) Smith’s’ ‘shallow pocketed’ candidates to go to Washington. It is unlikely that principled candidates can effectively challenge parochial deep pocketed corporate interests.

Obama, a Big Disappointment 2-6-2010

6, February 2010                  Obama, a Big Disappointment

It is extremely disappointing that presidential-candidate Obama, who galvanized the nation with his promises and soaring rhetoric, has been swallowed up by the beltway beast of special interests. Consider the following:

His 3.8 trillion budget boosts war spending while drastically cutting domestic programs.  The Pentagon budget would grow over three percent in addition to funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for a total of over $741 billion. This dwarfs all other spending programs.

By seeking an increase of $7 billion in nuclear spending he has reneged on his earlier pledge to cut the US nuclear arsenal and seek a nuclear weapons-free world.

Politico, a news website, has recently revealed that CIA operatives are now permitted to “moonlight”, sharing their privileged information with private for-profit companies having the dangerous potential for compromising national security.

Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair confirmed that government agencies may kill U.S. citizens abroad without formally charging them of a crime – a clear violation of  the Fifth Amendment's explicit guarantee—that no-one shall be deprived of life without due process.

Contrary to Obama’s ‘State of the Union’ address that ‘we don’t torture’, US special forces continues to torture and ‘rendition’ people to secret ‘black’ prisons (see Anand Gopal report, “Obama’s secret prisons, . . featured in the “huffingtonpost.com”).

Warrantless wiretaps are still permitted - - unchallenged by a comatose Congress.