Events in October 2012

OCTOBER 2012

Iraq – The Al Basrah Maternity Hospital reported 1.37 birth defects per 1,000 children born in the period of the year ending October 1995. In the full year of 2003, by contrast, that rate was 23 birth defects per 1,000 births. By 2009, the rate in Iraq's second-largest city had jumped again to a peak of 48. [There are also evidence shown for high levels of birth defects in Fallujah, and other areas of Iraq are also showing health effects since the US war of aggression on Iraq.]  

USA STILL IN IRAQ:  The Pentagon says it will be able to fund the training of Iraqi security forces for the next 90 days, even though Congress did not include money for the program in its temporary budget resolution.

Iraq – A series of attacks across Iraq on Tuesday killed six people, including three soldiers and a judge, police and health officials said.

Iraq – On Wednesday morning, CNN anchor Soledad O'Brien asked the Utah Republican if he had "voted to cut the funding for embassy security." "Absolutely," Chaffetz said. "Look we have to make priorities and choices in this country. We have…15,000 contractors in Iraq. We have more than 6,000 contractors, a private army there, for President Obama, in Baghdad.”

Iraq – Turkey bombs Iraq.  Again.

Iraq – Eleven more killed in bombings and shooting in Iraq. In September alone, some 365 people were killed across Iraq, making it the country's deadliest month for more than two years, says the government.

Iraq – A string of bombings and other attacks primarily targeting the country’s Shiite community on Saturday [October 27] left at least 40 dead.

Iran - Senator Graham said this about Iran on 10-1-12:  "They have two goals: one, regime survival. The best way for the regime surviving, in their mind, is having a nuclear weapon, because when you have a nuclear weapon, nobody attacks you."  And that is the real reason why the US government does not want Iran to get a nuclear weapon. 

Iran – Iran’s currency plunges 40%.  Iran deployed riot police in Tehran after street protests broke out over Iran's falling currency.  [Other sources said it dropped 60% in 8 days.]

Iran – Medicine crisis in Iran due to sanctions. "We are feeling the shortage mostly for cancer and MS drugs. Of course, thalassemia and dialysis patients are also facing hardships. These all are rooted in problems which have been caused by sanctions against the banking sector and difficulties transferring foreign currency," the Tabnak website quoted Hashemi as saying on Tuesday. [It is the USA that should be under sanctions.] 

Iran – Britain has decided that the USA will not be allowed to use their bases for attack on Iran. 

Afghanistan – The country is in worse shape than before the surge. According to most of the yardsticks chosen by the military — but not all — the surge in Afghanistan fell short of its stated goal – stopping the Taliban’s momentum. In August 2009, insurgents used just under 600 homemade bombs on U.S.-aligned forces. They used just over 600 homemade bombs on U.S.-aligned forces in August 2012.

Afghanistan – The outgoing head of the delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Afghanistan, Reto Stocker, declared in Kabul today that for ordinary Afghans the armed conflict in the country has taken a turn for the worse. 

Afghanistan – Seven Royal Marines arrested on suspicion of murder in Afghanistan

Afghanistan – Afghan officials said on Monday [October 15] that a NATO air strike killed three children while it was targeting Taliban insurgents planting mines on a road in southern Afghanistan.  

Afghanistan – US troops killed four children who were tending to livestock in the country's east.  The operation took place in the Baraki Barak district of Logar province on Saturday [October 20].  

Afghanistan – Two more US soldiers killed in “green-on-blue” attack. [October 25] 

Afghanistan – Two more US soldiers killed in “green-on-blue” attack.  [October 30]

Afghanistan – The Taliban Hit Region Seen as 'Safest' for Afghans.  

Pakistan – A US drone strike targeting a vehicle killed at least three persons Monday [October 1]in Mir Ali, security officials said. Another security official confirmed the attack and casualties and said the identities of the militants killed in the strike were not immediately clear. [How do they know they are militants if they don’t know the identity?]  Monday's U.S. drone strike (on 10-1-12) is the 31st of its kind in Pakistan since 2012. So far this year, at least 222 people have reportedly been killed in such strikes.  

Pakistan – According to Conflict Monitoring Center, nearly 3,000 people have been killed in U.S. drone strikes since 2004 in Pakistan, including more than 300 in 38 drone attacks this year alone. Last year, 609 people were killed in 75 drone attacks in Pakistan, according to the agency.

Pakistan – A nine-mile convoy (led by Imran Khan to protest US drone strikes) heads towards South Waziristan as local officials say it will not be allowed to proceed.  Thousands of Pakistanis, joined by US anti-war activists, have headed toward Pakistan's volatile tribal region to protest against American drone strikes despite threats from the Taliban.  

 

Pakistan – A US drone strike targeting a militant base has killed five insurgents in a Pakitani tribal region near the Afghan border.  [I wonder who they really killed.]

Pakistan – A US drone attack on Thursday killed 18 insurgents – mostly Afghans – at a militant compound in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) near the border with Afghanistan, officials said.

Pakistan – “I will never forget what the American soldiers did to my country, my tribe and my family. They violated our national sovereignty and our Islamic laws. They killed my son and my younger brother. They destroyed my home. If I see the soldiers who are responsible for this – if I have the opportunity — I will kill them.” (translated from Pashtoun) These are the chilling words of Kareem Khan, a Pakistani journalist from a tribe in Northern Waziristan, whose compound was destroyed by a Hellfire missile from an American drone on Dec. 24, 2009. They starkly illustrate the concept of “blowback.”

Pakistan – Interior Minister Rehman Malik said Wednesday that the majority of those killed in drone attacks were innocent people. Speaking to the media outside Parliament, Malik said there were 336 drone attacks conducted in Pakistan in which 2,300 people have been killed. According to Malik, only 20 percent of those killed in drone attacks were militants while the rest were innocent people. 

Pakistan – A damning dossier assembled from exhaustive research into the strikes’ targets sets out in heartbreaking detail the deaths of teachers, students and Pakistani policemen. It also describes how bereaved relatives are forced to gather their loved ones’ dismembered body parts in the aftermath of strikes. The dossier has been assembled by human rights lawyer Shahzad Akbar, who works for Pakistan’s Foundation for Fundamental Rights and the British human rights charity Reprieve. Filed in two separate court cases, it is set to trigger a formal murder investigation by police into the roles of two US officials said to have ordered the strikes.   

Pakistan – US drones kill one person, maybe two more, and it is “not clear” whether they had “any link to militancy” or if they were male or female.  [October 24]

Syria - According to the US State Department, the latest supplies will include "more than 1,100 sets of communications equipment, including satellite-linked computers, telephones, and cameras, as well as training for more than 1,000 activists." Such equipment allows the US-backed militias on the ground to coordinate operations with their CIA and Turkish army handlers. [Stated US policy is to overthrow Assad.]

Syria – Three suicide bombers kill 34+ and injure 120+ in Aleppo.  They used cars packed with explosives.  This happened in a government controlled area of the city, and multiple suicide bombings are a mark of al Qaeda.

Syria – An Islamist militant group has claimed responsibility for coordinated suicide bombings in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo that killed 48 people, the SITE monitoring group which tracks Jihadist websites said on Thursday. [These are the people the US is supporting.  See above.]

Syria - Some commanders [from the FSA] have given up trying to entice defectors, and others have resorted to more desperate measures: cajoling, duping, threatening and even drugging and kidnapping military men to get them to change sides, or at least stay out of the fight. Without defections, they say, the opposition cannot hope to grow, never mind prevail. “We use means only used by the devil,” said Ahmed Qunatri, a rebel commander in northern Syria who defected from the Republican Guard. 

Syria – Weapons intended for the Saudi military have been diverted to Syrian rebels. 

Syria – Dozens of people were killed in a double suicide attack on a military security branch in Harasta, just northeast of the capital Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday, October 9, 2012. "Dozens of people were killed in two suicide attacks against the air force intelligence branch in Harasta" late on Monday, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said. "The fate of hundreds of prisoners being held in the basements of the buildings is still unknown," he added.  

Syria – Rebel Arms Flow Is Said to Benefit Jihadists in Syria.  Most of the arms shipped at the behest of Saudi Arabia and Qatar to supply Syrian rebel groups fighting the government of Bashar al-Assad are going to hard-line Islamic jihadists, and not the more secular opposition groups that the West wants to bolster, according to American officials and Middle Eastern diplomats.

Syria – 23 Children killed by Syrian fighter jets in Syria. 44 in total killed. Rescuers said bombs destroyed two residential buildings and a mosque, where many women and children were taking refuge, in the strategic northwestern town, which was captured by rebels on October 9 in a push to create a buffer zone along the Turkish border. 

Syria – The Obama administration on Wednesday [October 31] renounced the proclaimed leaders of the Syrian political opposition and said any group seeking to oust President Bashar al-Assad must reject attempts by extremists to "hijack" a legitimate revolution.  [Looks like they are waking up to reality in the FSA.] 

Jordan – The United States military has secretly sent a task force of more than 150 planners and other specialists to Jordan to help the armed forces there handle a flood of Syrian refugees, prepare for the possibility that Syria will lose control of its chemical weapons and be positioned should the turmoil in Syria expand into a wider conflict. [oh, they will be positioned all right.  And they are building “headquarters” there.]

Human rights – Obama waived the application of the prohibition against child soldiers in respect to Libya, South Sudan and Yemen and partially waived it in the DR Congo.  This was done to allow “the issuance of licenses for direct commercial sales of U.S. origin defense articles” and to allow military training of child soldiers.  

Human rights – Attorney General Eric Holder rewards the teams that gave torturers and murderers immunity. The DOJ still is aggressively prosecuting John Kiriakou for talking about this torture.

Human rights – The UN will investigate civilian deaths from US drone strikes.

Turkey – Turkey bombs Syria after some agent in Syria fired mortars at a town in Turkey, killing five of their citizens. Turkey and the USA claim that the Syrian government was responsible.

Turkey – The UN (and the Obama administration) condemns this mortar attack in the strongest terms, but has nothing to say about the suicide car bombers in Syria this week. This hypocrisy is noted by the Syrian authorities. [And the rest of the world.]

Turkey – The mortar used to attack the Turkish town of Akcakale is a design specific to NATO and was given to Syrian rebels by Ankara, according to Turkey’s Yurt newspaper. The mortar killed one adult and four children.

Turkey - A Syrian-bound plane intercepted by Turkey was carrying Russian-made defence equipment destined for Syria's defence ministry, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said. Syria and Russia have denied the plane was carrying illegal cargo.

Turkey – The Turkish parliament last week authorized troop deployments beyond Turkey's borders.

Turkey – A second plane, from Armenia, is forced down for inspection inside Turkey.  Nothing was found, and plane continued to Aleppo. 

Turkey – The US deploys troops to Turkey.  [They are in Jordan and Lebanon too.]

Security – US Senate committee said that “fusion centers” spy on innocent Americans, produce shoddy work, and waste a lot of money.  These “centers” are considered to be the one of the centerpieces of DHS counter terrorism measures.

Security – The US House of Representatives have a bill currently in Congress to prepare/plan for a mass fatality event.  Just a couple months back, DHS bought a huge load of high power ammunition. 

Security – Border agent likely killed by friendly fire.  

Security – CIA proposes more drones! [Who wooda thunk it?]

Security – Eric Holder, attorney general under President Barack Obama, has prosecuted more government officials for alleged leaks under the World War I-era Espionage Act than all his predecessors combined.

Libya - Obama's Libya response highlights his foreign policy mentality.  Extreme secrecy, extrajudicial assassinations, and a self-perpetuating militarism are driving Benghazi responses. [At the end of the month, Obama did release information.  Looks like this outpost was a CIA office.]

Libya – Obama administration fails to secure the details of Libyans who were acting as security personnel in Benghazi and local leaders who met with US officials. Thereby putting Libyan lives at risk. [And since the Libyans were working with the CIA, I would say they are REALLY at risk!]

Libya – The Republicans put Libyan lives at risk too.  [And it is looking like this security failure will be studied more thoroughly than the security failure of 9-11.]

Libya – Extreme secrecy gets blown away at a Congressional hearing.  Yes, there was a large CIA operation going on at the site where Ambassador Stevens was killed. 

Libya - How US Ambassador Chris Stevens May Have Been Linked To Jihadist Rebels In Syria. …..  And if the new Libyan government was sending seasoned Islamic fighters and 400 tons of heavy weapons to Syria through a port in southern Turkey—a deal brokered by Stevens' primary Libyan contact during the Libyan revolution—then the governments of Turkey and the U.S. surely knew about it.

Libya – State Department admits it knew Libya attack [against Stevens] was terrorism. [They have not yet admitted that the NATO bombing of Libya was also terrorism.]

Libya – Libya’s third government in less than a year is over. Libya’s prime minister-elect failed a confidence vote by an overwhelming margin on Sunday, removing him from office and throwing the country into yet more political uncertainty.

Libya – Shelling by Libyan pro-government forces has killed three people including a child in the former Gaddafi stronghold of Bani Walid, a local militia leader said on Tuesday, October 9, 2012.

Libya – At least five Libyans have died and dozens have been wounded in fighting around Bani Walid - a former stronghold of slain leader Muammar Gaddafi.  Militias allied to Libya's army reportedly shelled the hilltop town from three sides, prompting clashes. [October 17, 2012]

Libya – Amid conflicting reports that the Libyan city of Bani Walid was captured by army forces, RT has learned that 600 people were allegedly killed in Wednesday’s fighting [October 24], and over 1,000 have been hospitalized. 

Libya – The most obvious explanation is that cadres – the Green Resistance – loyal to Qaddafi and in opposition to the NATO-imposed regime carried out the attack [on Ambassador Stevens]. NATO and its Libyan quislings don’t want to admit this subversive reality. The fact of a resistance – a potent and growing resistance at that – has to be denied, erased from the record.

Libya – The militia commander who led the deadly raid on the U.S. mission in Benghazi is an Islamist and former political prisoner whose fighters were also blamed for assassinating a senior military officer after he defected to the opposition during last year's revolution against Moammar Kadafi, a senior Libyan official said. [Another claim about the party responsible for the attack on Ambassador Stevens.]

Libya – Human Rights Watch issued a report this month that documents torture and mass murder and other war crimes by Misrata-based militias following the capture and execution of Gaddafi in 2011.  [Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.] 

Libya – Libyans protest the fighting and shelling in Bani Walid. The current government of Libya have authorized bombing of Bani Walid.  [Sure glad that we got rid of Gaddafi, since he was going to bomb a town in Libya. …. Oh, wait…..]

Mali - The UN Security Council has adopted a resolution paving the way for military intervention in Mali to retake the north from Islamist extremists. [They are making plans.]

Africa – Bad news for Africa:  3,000 more US soldier are on the way. 

Yemen – US drone strike kills five in southern Yemen. 
 

Yemen – Nine suspected al Qaeda militants were killed in what a local security source and residents said was a U.S. drone attack on a farmhouse outside a town in southern Yemen.  The farmhouse just west of Jaar, one of two southern towns that Yemen's army took back from rebel control this summer, was hit by three separate missile strikes at dawn, they said.

Yemen – The drone strike, the second in four days, took place in the early evening in the Hami and Al-Damashqa area 17 kilometres east of Maarib city.

Sudan – Sudan threatens retaliation for an air strike on an arms factory that caused a huge explosion and killed two people.  They have blamed Israel for this air strike.

Honduras – The 2009 military coup in Honduras was one of the earliest stains on the foreign policy record of Barack Obama. The coup has had a long, dismal and murderous aftermath.

Bahrain – Their government outlaws protests and public gathering.  USA does nothing. [Rumor has it that Obama will speak out about this.]

Environment – US forests in the southeast are being cut down, turned into wood pellets for export to European utility companies.  And being done in the name of “green energy”. 

Gaza – Israeli tank fire and airstrikes kill at least three Palestinians and wound several more on October 23. This is in response to the wounding of an Israeli soldier on Gaza border by a bomb.

Gaza – Israeli forces killed 2,300 and injured 7,700 people in Gaza in the last five years. 

USA IMMORALITY – A new Pew Research poll has found that 62% of Americans approve of drone attacks in Pakistan, even though 49 civilians are killed for each terrorist.  U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan are condemned by Greece (90 percent), Egypt (89 percent), Jordan (85 percent), Turkey (81 percent), Spain (76 percent), Brazil (76 percent) and Japan (75 percent) and others, reports RT.com.  

USA – Two major candidates for the office of US president have a debate and agree on drone bombings in foreign countries with no accountability or oversight of law and no Congressional declaration of war. 

USA – Two major candidates for the office of US president have a debate and agree on a war of aggression on Iran for imaginary nuclear weapons and also agree on killing economic sanctions for Iran.

USA – Two major candidates for the office of US president have a debate and agree on indefinite detention without habeas corpus rights and eroding civil liberties for Americans.    

USA – Two major candidates for the office of US president have a debate and agree on “kill lists” for criminal suspects with no judicial oversight.

USA – Two major candidates for office of US president have a debate and agree on nearly all foreign policy issues, including permanent war.

USA – Two major candidates for the office of US president have a debate and agree on imperialist interventions around the world.

USA – Two major candidates for the office of US president have a debate and never mention climate change.  A major freak hurricane hits NJ/NYC and causes major flooding and major damage.  Scores of lives are lost.

USA – The only person to be criminally prosecuted, and now likely jailed, as a result of the Bush-era torture regime is John Kiriakou, who refused to participate in torture, helped expose the program, and said on national television that torture was wrong. The US attorney for the CIA has succeeded in covering-up CIA's torture, again.  

USA – The US Social Security Administration wants Americans to know that they are concerned with the safety of their workers. That is why, they now say, they’ve ordered 174,000 rounds of lethal hollow-point bullets.

USA – The Washington Post has laid out, in there separate articles, the details of Obama’s drone program and kill list and the people in the administration who are responsible for this program.  Murder by the USA has been “codified” and it goes beyond just using drones to kill people. They call it the “disposition matrix”.  No one in the US can claim in the future that “they did not know” what their government was up to.  And there is no possibility that these murder programs will go away with a new President.

USA – Home eviction from foreclosure done by SWAT team.

"The day we see truth and cease to speak is the day we begin to die." - Martin Luther King, Jr.