Rice’s talks on faith 3-30-2012

30 March 2012                       Rice’s talks on faith 

It a pity that Condoleezza Rice’s strong Christian faith did not serve her well during the tumultuous years as President Bush’s Secretary of State. Her warnings of nuclear mushroom clouds descending on US cities, turned out to be carefully crafted hysteria to justify the pre-emptive war on Iraq. The hoodlums who perpetrated the 9-11 attack were Saudi citizens hiding in the mountains of Afghanistan and later in Pakistan – not Iraq.

Condoleezza Rice then used her considerable skills to support President Bush and his inner circle’s decision to attack Afghanistan – another appalling decision. Iraq’s infrastructure has been largely destroyed with the ‘shock and awe’ of our invasion. We have left a terrible legacy. Over a trillion of dollars of our tax money has been squandered. Tens of thousands of Iraqis, Afghanis and US servicemen have lost their lives and many others suffer from horrible injuries. It is hard to believe Jesus would have approved such actions.

It is extremely sad to see such an attractive and talented person fall victim to political pressures and participate in such an appalling war of aggression on Iraq that  was  no threat to the US - no

WMD’s, no 911 and no Al-Qaeda connections.

Her claim to possess an abiding faith should have served as a moral compass to resist such political pressures. The indelible stain of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars cannot be so easily erased and will shadow all of her other accomplishments.

(Los Altos Crier, March 28, 2012)

Dangerous Threat to Obama 3-27-2012

27, March 2012                         Dangerous Threat to Obama

The stunning and shocking silence of the US mainstream media over an incendiary column calling for the assassination of President Obama is difficult to comprehend. The Jewish publisher and editor of the Atlantic Times, Andrew Adler, displeased with Obama’s failure to pledge unconditional support to Israel’s hawkish policies towards Iran, called on the Mossad, Israel’s secret police, to launch a mafia style assassination attack on President Obama. Adler argued that the removal of Obama would be good for Israel because the more –pro-Israel, compliant, Vice-President Joseph Biden, would become president. Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League admitted that Adler’s views are also shared by extremist elements within the Jewish community.

The threat against Obama should be taken seriously given Israel’s penchant for such thuggish activities. Remember the Lavon Affair, a botched up attack on Egyptian, American and British owned businesses in an attempt to shift the blame on the Moslem Brotherhood and create instability in Egypt. In 2005, the surviving Mossad agents were officially honored with a certificate of appreciation by the then Israeli President. More recently, Iranian scientists have been gunned down to derail its nuclear program.

We should heed the advice of foreign policy experts such as Zbigniew Brzezinski, who argued recently on Fareed Zakaria’s GPS program, that US & Israeli interests are not aligned. “We should divorce our special relationship with Israel – this marriage benefits Israel to the detriment of US interests.” 

Cover-Up in Yemen 3-20-12

20, March 2012                      Cover-up in YEMEN

The arrest of Yemini journalist, Abdullah Haider Shaye is a classic case of the messenger of bad tidings being unfairly arrested. Jeremy Scahill, national security correspondent for The Nation magazine reports that that Shaye traveled to the village of al-Majala in southern Yemen on December 17, 2009 to investigate the aftermath of a series of strikes against Al-Qaeda training camps allegedly conducted by the Yemini government.

What he found was the evidence of a massacre of many elderly civilians including 14 women and 21 children – and the unmistakable imprint of US missile strikes. He photographed remnants of Tomahawk cruise missiles and cluster bombs carrying “Made in USA”. The Yemini government, acutely embarrassed by Shaye’s reporting, arrested him on triumphed up charges of terrorism. The trial created international outrage with human rights groups and organizations to protect journalists demanded the immediate and unconditional release of Shaye. International pressure seemed to be working, and a pardon was prepared for then-president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s signature. However, Scahill, and other reporters and bloggers including Salon's Glenn Greenwald, allege that Saleh’s release was rescinded by an urgent call from the Obama White House. This appears to be yet another US missile strike gone awry which resulted in a tragic loss of innocent civilians followed by a clumsy effort on damage control. Meanwhile a courageous reporter languishes in a Yemini dungeon at the behest the Obama White House – another travesty of justice.   

Our Fading Democracy 3-15-12

15, March 2012                      Our fading democracy

Oligarchs seem to be getting a free pass in our criminal justice system. For example, former head of MF Global, Jon Corzine, and his senior executives stole money from their customer accounts just days before it declared bankruptcy. The amount is staggering - $6.2 billion of which $1.6 billion is still missing. The executives of MF Global offer the absurd claim that it was “all a big mistake” and inexplicably federal prosecutors appear to be willing to accept this fiction. This is despite a barrage of damaging MF Global emails urging bosses “to raid customer accounts” to save the company. This follows a number of other high profile cases of egregious fiscal mismanagement, impropriety and outright fraud in which former CEO’s have remained unscathed and escaped long prison terms.  Angelo Mozilo, the former chairman and CEO of Countrywide and Richard Fuld former chairman of Lehman Brothers have escaped indictment and are free men. The sub-prime mortgage fraud which resulted in millions of people losing their homes has not resulted in a single prison term of bank officials.

Many now believe a 2-tier system of justice exists. Those living in super-zip communities – the politically well-connected – often get a free pass. Remember, Corzine, a former governor of New Jersey was big fund raiser for President Obama. 

It is not surprising that the prevailing lack of accountability will only deepen the cynicism people feel about their government. Our democracy is eroding while the oligarchs are rejoicing. 

Massacre in Afghanistan 3-13-12

13 March 2012                       Massacre in Afghanistan

The seething anger triggered by the slaughter of 16 Afghan civilians, mainly women and children, by a U.S. soldier comes amidst outrage over other civilian deaths. Last week violence erupted by the burning of the Koran by U.S. troops. In January American marines were captured on video urinating on dead Taliban militants. A US army ‘kill team’ was also caught on video cutting off dead body parts as souvenir trophies. On February 8th, helicopter gunships slaughtered eight shepherds on a mountainside as they were out grazing their flocks. Just three days later in Kapisa, four civilians were killed, mistaken for insurgents.

Daily night raids and drone attacks continue with an alarming numbers of civilian deaths.

President Karzai’s demands that such attacks stop have been ignored. Whole villages have been burned (NYT, March 13, 2012) eerily similar to the rational given in justifying such atrocities in the Vietnam war and brings forth the ghost of the  My Lai massacre.

Meanwhile hundreds of Afghan children are dying  daily from hunger as we continue to support our illegal occupation robbing our treasury of $2 billion a month. Our hidden agenda appears little to do with nation building (our large scale destruction of Iraq is hardly a good model) but more to do with maintaining a large military presence with 450 bases and protection of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline.

It is time to end our occupation now. Period.