Iraq
Depleted Uranium Weapons = Dead Babies in Iraq and Afghanistan
- Category: Iraq
by Dave Lindorff .jpg)
The horrors of the US Agent Orange defoliation campaign in Vietnam, about which I wrote on Oct. 15, could ultimately be dwarfed by the horrors caused by the depleted uranium weapons which the US began using in the 1991 Gulf War (300 tons), and which it has used much more extensively--and in more urban, populated areas--in the Iraq War and the now intensifying Afghanistan War.
Obama Administration Accused Again of Concealing Bush-Era Crimes
- Category: Iraq
President Obama promised to usher in a new era of government transparency when he was sworn into office nine months ago.
On January 21, Obama signed an executive order instructing all federal agencies and departments to "adopt a presumption in favor" of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and promised to make the federal government more transparent.
"The government should not keep information confidential merely because public officials might be embarrassed by disclosure, because errors and failures might be revealed or because of speculative or abstract fears," Obama's order said. "In responding to requests under the FOIA, executive branch agencies should act promptly and in a spirit of cooperation, recognizing that such agencies are servants of the public."
But since that time, the Obama administration has sought to conceal information in several high-profile court cases, in an effort that civil libertarians say amounts to covering up crimes committed by the Bush administration.
Report: Obama Poised to Announce 45,000 Troop Escalation in Afghanistan
- Category: Iraq
British Government's Troop Surge Came Amid Claims of US Assurances
by Jason Ditz
The Obama Administration has reportedly told the British government that it intends to announce an escalation of another 45,000 troops in Afghanistan, potentially as soon as next week.
The report comes despite claims that the Obama Administration is continuing to hold talks about the strategy, though this seems to be more based on the question of whether to emphasize the failed battle against the Taliban or focus what will soon be over 100,000 troops on fighting the roughly 100 al-Qaeda members reportedly in the nation.
ACLU: Arrest of G20 Twitterer Part of ‘War on Demonstrators’
- Category: Iraq
By David Edwards and Stephen Webster
When the FBI staged a terror raid on the
According to officials, the search was instigated after Madison was found in a Pennsylvania hotel room on Sept. 24, listening to police actions during Pittsburgh's G20 summit, then Tweeting to protesters seeking to avoid authorities.
Robocops Come to Pittsburgh
- Category: Iraq
No longer the stuff of disturbing futuristic fantasies, an arsenal of "crowd control munitions," including one that reportedly made its debut in the US, was deployed with a massive, overpowering police presence in Pittsburgh during last week's G-20 protests.
Nearly 200 arrests were made and civil liberties groups charged the many thousands of police (transported on Port Authority buses displaying "PITTSBURGH WELCOMES THE WORLD"), from as far away as Arizona and Florida with overreacting ... and they had plenty of weaponry with which to do it.
Bean bags fired from shotguns, CS (tear) gas, OC (Oleoresin Capsicum) spray, flash-bang grenades, batons and, according to local news reports, for the first time on the streets of America, the Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD).
The Baby Killers
- Category: Iraq
By Richard Neville 
Note – this article was written last year, as the 7th anniversary of the U.S. led war in Afghanistan approached; we are posting it this year as the world nears the beginning of the eighth nightmare year of American invasion and occupation of that country, and U.S. generals issue calls for still more troops to be sent to Afghanistan. The bitter truths Richard Neville exposes and condemns are in need of massive opposition and political protest, more urgently than ever. The article has been slightly edited for timeliness.
I keep promising myself not to mention the wars for these reasons: the invaders couldn’t care less about their crimes or their critics, my friends think I’ve become a ranting bore and many of today’s citizens have more pressing worries than the serial massacres of toddlers in badlands. Bad stuff keeps happening. It keeps being denied. And is soon forgotten.
U.S. War, Occupation Deepen the Bitter Oppression of Afghanistan’s Women: This Must End
- Category: Iraq
By Lina Thorne
I want the women of Afghanistan to be liberated. Do I have to support the war?
Short answer: No. In fact, supporting the war only works against their liberation.
If you can’t stand the idea of The Handmaid’s Tale come to life; set in a dusty, third world country, and despise the thought of women being kept out of schools and in large respects the outright chattel property of their fathers or husbands, then in fact you must work as hard as you can to end the continuing U.S. occupation and war against Afghanistan (as well as Iraq, Pakistan, and the potential war against Iran that still lies “on the table”). The reality is that The Handmaid’s Tale continues… While the Taliban were and are harshly oppressive – they are cut from the same fundamentalist cloth as the Northern Alliance which the U.S. brought to power, and the current regime has meant even more acute suffering for most women living in Afghanistan.
Short answer: No. In fact, supporting the war only works against their liberation.
If you can’t stand the idea of The Handmaid’s Tale come to life; set in a dusty, third world country, and despise the thought of women being kept out of schools and in large respects the outright chattel property of their fathers or husbands, then in fact you must work as hard as you can to end the continuing U.S. occupation and war against Afghanistan (as well as Iraq, Pakistan, and the potential war against Iran that still lies “on the table”). The reality is that The Handmaid’s Tale continues… While the Taliban were and are harshly oppressive – they are cut from the same fundamentalist cloth as the Northern Alliance which the U.S. brought to power, and the current regime has meant even more acute suffering for most women living in Afghanistan.
Trigger-Happy in Afghanistan
- Category: Iraq
The Flood of Kabul-Shit
By Richard Neville
The brain disease sweeping the West is virulent and vicious, like the golden Staph which haunts so many hospitals. Most at risk are Presidents, Prime Ministers, Generals and journalists. The ailment is not triggered by bacteria but by an ideology as old as history, which every so often resurfaces as a new strain, and this one hasn’t been named. It’s often fatal. Less so to the carriers than those caught in their sights. Let’s call it Kabul-shit – the propensity to ignore the years of violence inflicted on Afghanistan and to paint the invaders as heroes.
“View From A Grain of Sand”: A Film Review
- Category: Iraq
by Peter Lehu
Now that the Obama administration has committed our troops and tax dollars to a prolonged war in Afghanistan, people living in the US need to educate themselves on this country's tragic modern history.
An excellent place to start is filmmaker Meena Nanji's 2006 documentary, View From A Grain of Sand. This film interweaves a history lesson for those who know little about Afghanistan with the intimate, personal experiences of three Afghani women and their families. The history, which covers from the 1960's to the near present, does not go into great political detail but highlights the role of the United States as a major reason for Afghanistan's wars starting with its provoking of the Russian invasion in 1979. The film convincingly shows that the US was responsible for prolonging the Russian-Afghanistan war by funding the Mujahideen rebels.
Mass Murder in the Sands of Dasht-i-Leili
- Category: Iraq
From Revolution newspaper
In November 2001, a massacre of at least 2,000 Taliban prisoners took place in Afghanistan, where many of them were buried in the Dasht-i-Leili desert. But only now, nearly eight years later, is a fuller picture emerging of how top Bush administration officials repeatedly thwarted efforts to investigate what happened, including, and in particular, what may have been the U.S. military’s role in the mass killing.
A July 11 front-page New York Times article, written by investigative reporter James Risen, brings out how Bush officials frustrated calls for an investigation into this incident. Risen says this was principally because the Afghan warlord whose forces carried out the massacre, General Abdul Rashid Dostum, “was on the payroll of the CIA and his militia worked closely with United States Special Forces in 2001.” Risen, however, chooses not to follow where this important information could well lead, as we shall see.
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World Can't Wait mobilizes people living in the United States to stand up and stop war on the world, repression and torture carried out by the US government. We take action, regardless of which political party holds power, to expose the crimes of our government, from war crimes to systematic mass incarceration, and to put humanity and the planet first.