September 2012

Early in the month of September, I felt that there was a LOT going on in the fields of foreign policy and human rights by the US government.  So, I started a list.  Here are the things that the Obama administration is up to in September 2012, or in some cases, newly revealed atrocities by studies published in September.  Some are ongoing problems.  Read it and weep.

September 2012

-We are supporting al Qaeda affiliates in Syria, just like we did in Libya in 2011.  Human Rights Watch and several journalists say the FSA and the al Qaeda affiliates have tortured and executed some of their detainees.

-Al Qaeda affiliates in Libya was behind the violence in Libya that killed Ambassador Stevens, who worked for the State Department.  He died from the violence he helped unleash.

-Secretary Clinton blamed it on Mali al Qaeda elements.  (Hope this does not mean we will be drone bombing Mali soon.)  By the way, in April 2012, three US Army commandos died with three prostitutes in a car accident in Mali.  Still no explanation of what they were doing there. (Funny how the CIA and al Qaeda keep showing up in the same places.)

-At least a dozen CIA agents were flown out of Libya the same night as the attack on Stevens.  There was a major CIA operation going on there, reportedly to get major weapons away from the al Qaeda militias.  These weapons formerly belonged to Gaddafi, and we sold the weapons to him back when he was Bush’s and Blair’s friend.

-A report was issued from HRW this month on how the US sent al Qaeda suspects to Gaddafi in Libya (years ago, under Bush), based on information found in bombed buildings.  Today, some of these men are political leaders in Libya.  The US helped put them in power. This was ignored by the US corporate media.

-The al Qaeda flag was raised at the US Embassies in Libya and Egypt after Stevens was killed.  NPR said it was a “black” flag. 

-Meanwhile, it is okay for Americans to fund the Syrian “rebels” with weapons, while we have Americans sitting in jail for giving medicine to Iraqis during the sanctions of the 1990s. 

-The US government continues to supply Syrian “rebels” with funds, arms, assistance, as does Saudi Arabia. …..  just like in Libya.  And in Afghanistan in the 1980s.  Clinton is proposing $45 million in additional aid to these “opposition activists” – the new name by the US media.  This is supposed to be non-lethal aid. Total aid package is report at over $132 million.

-Recently, a group of US neo-con politicians wrote a letter to Obama saying that ground forces should be sent into Syria to overthrow Assad’s government.  They are hungry for more war.  A lot of them were behind the push to have war on Iraq.  Some are members of the Syrian National Congress, believed to be a CIA group.  They are all war criminals.

-US State Department decided MEK was no longer a terrorist group.  This was achieved via spending lots of $$$ on US politicians – a bi-partisan effort.  This money probably came from Mossad, and they are likely behind the bombings of scientists in Iran.  Iran says this action shows US double-standards.

-Sanctions on Iran are starting to kill people since they cannot get a hold of medicine that they need.  This is war, economic war.  And so are the cyber attacks by the US and Israel. 

-There is a continued build up for war on Iran by the US and Britain.  More navel power in the Persian Gulf, more land forces, and more anti-missile defenses are evident.  This is the largest military build up seen in the Gulf since 2003. Special operations and drones are going on currently in Iran, along with the economic sanctions and cyber attacks by the USA. These are acts of war.

-Iran has done nothing to deserve the war being waged on them by a pack of liars from the US and Israeli government.  There is no evidence that Iran is pursing a nuclear weapon.

-Conditions in Palestine, especially Gaza, continue to deteriorate.  The US taxpayers fund more of Israel’s military than Israel taxpayers do.

-CIA agents lost their appeal in Italy.  22 CIA agents were convicted of kidnapping (rendition) and torture, and sentenced to 7 years in jail.  They can never go to Italy or the rest of Europe because they will be arrested.  The USA might not care about kidnapping and torture, but the rest of the world sure does.

-The ‘green-on-blue’ violence in Afghanistan caused the US to stop working with the Afghan military that they were training.

-Eight women/girls were killed and 10 more injured by NATO bombings in Afghanistan.  They were collecting firewood, early in the morning. NATO bombers don’t know the difference between sticks and weapons or men from women/girls.  They don’t know who they are bombing. 

-29 were killed in 8 days of drone bombings in Yemen.  Four of them were children.

-Obama offered up his justifications for drone bombings on a CNN interview this month. One of the excuses was the claim that these “terrorists” cannot be safely caught. This is a flat out lie, since one victim of a drone bombing in Pakistan in 2011 was at a meeting in Islamabad just 72 hours before he was killed. He could have been arrested at the meeting. He was 16 years old. His 12 year old cousin was killed by the drone strike too. 

-The US sent 200 Marines to Guatemala this month.

-We have Special Forces in over 120 countries currently.

-Over in Somalia, there is reportedly a flotilla of 30 ships supporting regional operations, a multi-pronged military and CIA campaign against militants in Somalia.  This includes training of Somali agents and secret prisons and commando raids.  Oh, and helicopter attacks. No “troops on the ground” so no one is calling it war on Somalia.

-There has been a huge increase in cash for “counterterrorism” in east Africa.

-There are special operations forces in Uganda, South Sudan, DR Congo, and Central African Republic supposedly looking for Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army. US Special Forces have a new base in CAR.

-A report from Stanford and New York universities' law schools (called “Living under drones”) showed the terror and horror and illegality of US drone strikes in Pakistan.  The report claims that that drone strikes are mainly killing civilians, causing widespread psychological trauma and are violations of international law. This report is reported on by some print media (like the LA Times) but ignored by the cable TV “news”.

-Some anti-war activists are going to Pakistan to document the effects of drone strikes. Pakistan claims 90% of people killed by drones are innocent civilians.

-Outrage at the “double tap” drone attacks (where the US goes after rescuers and people at funerals for prior victims), as documented in the “Living under drones” report. Pakistan Foreign Minister says drones are the cause of anti-American feelings.  Report also states the drone bombings are counter-productive in reducing terrorism.  I am confident the Obama administration knows all this.

-The government of Pakistan ‘categorically rejects’ claims that it allows US drones to operate in their country.

-FOIA requests show that Assange is listed as an “enemy of the state” and all he did was journalism.

-An innocent man dies at Guantanamo – he was cleared for release years ago, and spent 1/3 of his life in the prison there even though he was never found guilty of anything.

-A Canadian was released from Guantanamo and sent to prison in Canada.  He was captured on the battlefield in Afghanistan at the age of 15.  He reportedly was fighting US troops there.  He was tortured for years by the US military and US forces.  He is the only child on the planet who was imprisoned and tortured for being forced to be a child soldier. Only the US government had prosecuted children for participating in war (on the wrong side, of course).  The rest of the world sees child soldiers as victims.  There is credible evidence that this Canadian teenager was sexually assaulted by the Afghans, prior to being captured by US troops.

-This month we found out that, contrary to official denials, prisoners in Guantanamo were given injections of scopolamine, the so-called “truth drug”.  This was on top of the forced ingestion of anti-malaria drugs known to cause psychosis.

- The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child is asking for answers from the US government concerning it military activities with US children.  This is in regards to provisions around No Child Left Behind, JROTC, and the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery.

-78% of all global weapons sales come from the USA in 2011. Second place was Russia, who sold less than 6% of all global weapons.  We arm the world.  We are selling drones too, including six weaponized drones to Italy (in spite of the fact that our CIA agents have been sentenced to prison by Italy).  Over 50 countries are now building their own drones.  And, what goes around - comes around…….

-Bombs went off in at least five Iraqi cities the last day of September.  Over 35 were killed, hundreds injured.  This was blamed on Sunni extremists (al Qaeda).

-People in Iraq, especially children, are still suffering horribly from our war of aggression and occupation of their country.  Cancers and birth defects are exploding.  An Iraq War Veteran recently said this:  "I have a certain sense of relief that I get to share in the sufferings of the Iraqis. We were conducting those burn pits in agricultural fields.... Americans are gaining awareness of the impacts of burn pits on soldiers, but not the impact they will have on Iraqi civilians."  This veteran died of cancer last month, which he thinks came from his time in Iraq in 2004.  His name was Joshua Casteel.  Yes, we bring the freedom of the grave even to our own.  He was wrong that Americans are gaining awareness of what is happening to our veterans.  No one is noticing or caring, as far as I can tell.

-September saw a total of 2,000 US troop killed in Afghanistan.  Over 17,000 US troops were reported injured in this war.  This does not include US citizens who were working as contractors in Afghanistan.  This was likely an insider attack.

-We have no idea how many Afghans have been killed.  The US government makes no attempt to find out, put to lie the claim that we are there to help the Afghan people.  But a child was killed the same day as the 2,000 US troop was killed.  The child was run over by an ISAF tank.

-Taliban release video of attack on NATO base.

-A congressional investigation has revealed (this month!) that a top U.S. general in Afghanistan sought to stall an investigation into abuse at a U.S.-funded hospital in Kabul that kept patients in "Auschwitz-like" conditions. Army whistleblowers revealed photographs taken in 2010 which show severely neglected, starving patients at Dawood Hospital, considered the crown jewel of the Afghan medical system, where the country's military personnel are treated.  This was buried and denied.

-Non-violent protest continues against the building of a huge naval base on an island belonging to South Korea.  The island is a UNESCO designed Biosphere Reserve.  And guess who is behind destroying this island and the people who live there - that’s right, the US government.

-The ACLU has released documents that show that in the last two years the US Department of Justice has conducted more warrantless electronic surveillance, involving spying on telephones, email and Facebook accounts, than in the preceding decade.  Here in the USA, of course.

-Obama claims he would never use the provisions of the NDAA, which include indefinite detention of US citizens by the US military with no habeas corpus rights. There are few limits anymore on executive power in the US, and this privilege will transfer to future presidents.

-After losing on the right to have the military detain US citizens in a lawsuit over NDAA by Chris Hedges and others (including a member of the Iceland’s Parliament, who angered the Obama administration by supporting Bradley Manning), the Obama administration filed an immediate appeal.  It is suspected that this immediate appeal was due to that fact that there are American citizens already detained under the NDAA.  We just don’t know about them yet.

-Yemeni president claims he has approved US drone attacks. 

-Bahrain police shot a 17 year old protester dead.  Bahrain protests have stayed peaceful, the US government says and does nothing to help these protestors.  They could stop it in a minute by threatening to remove the 5^th fleet from Bahrain.

-US issues terror warning to Americans in Egypt.  They should issue a warning to all Americans around the world.

-It was revealed this month that US agencies sprayed radioactive particles over parts of St. Louis in the 1950s and 1960s.  Mainly in the projects.

-Over one million US kids are reportedly homeless in September 2012.

-The US “war on drugs” is being formally questioned at the UN.

-Military spending continues to go up – to over a trillion a year now. For a small portion of that amount, we could make college tuition at all state colleges free.  Forever.

-“The decision by the European Court of Human Rights last week to refuse to block the extradition of the radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri and four others to the United States on terrorism charges removes one of the last external checks on our emerging gulag state.  Masri and the four others, all held in British jails, will soon join hundreds of other Muslims tried in Article III federal courts in the United States over the last decade. Fair trials are unlikely. A disturbing pattern of gross infringements on basic civil liberties, put in place in the name of national security, has poisoned our legal system. These infringements include intrusive surveillance, vague material support charges, the use of prolonged pretrial solitary confinement, classified evidence that the accused cannot review, and the use of political activities, normally protected under the First Amendment, to demonstrate mind-set and intent. Muslims caught up in the Article III courts are denied the opportunity to confront their accusers and to have their religious and political associations protected, and they rarely find a judge courageous enough to protect their rights. These violations of fundamental civil liberties will not, in the end, be reserved exclusively for Muslims once the corporate state feels under siege. What is happening to them will happen to the rest of us.”  – Chris Hedges (Or, at least, some of the rest of us.)
-Starting or fanning brushfire wars on several continents could lead to raging wildfires that spread unpredictably and prove difficult, if not impossible, to quench. – Nick Turse