Secret Wars - we've done it before

America's Secret War

Is the US already at war with Iran? In "America's Secret War", Vanguard correspondent Mariana van Zeller travels to the Iraq-Iran border to investigate claims that the United States is supporting militant groups that are attacking Iran. In the rugged Qandil mountains, she meets with up with anti-Iranian guerillas who have been launching deadly raids against the Islamic Republic. A good percentage of the fighters are women, and Mariana accompanies a small group of them through what many believe has become the frontline of the US's secret war with Iran.

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Can we ever have peace?

US-Backed Sunni Militias Continue to Clash With Iraqi Govt

The tensions between the Sunni Awakening Forces and the Shi’ite-led Iraqi government continue to rise with each passing day, as the membership of the 90,000-strong group becomes increasingly resentful of unkept promises and struggles to make ends meet with the Iraqi government in some cases months behind on their pay.
In recent months, the Iraqi government has even taken to arresting leaders of the group as terrorists. The charges predate the formation of the Awakening Forces, and it was never a secret that the US was recruiting former insurgents into the group amid promises of steady pay and pardons. With the pay not coming and the pardons not worth nearly so much as they hoped, the concern is that many will return into the insurgency.

So we recruited former enemies to battle our allies? Nuts?

This at a time when Afghanistan and Pakistan are at a boiling point and Korea is ready to blow. How many wars can we participate in? How many can we start?

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Let's invade everyone!

Obama Orders Update to Iran Attack Plan

On NBC’s Today Show this morning, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said that President Obama has ordered him to update the plans for a US attack on Iran, plans which were last updating during the Bush Administration. Gates says the plans are “refreshed” and insists that “all options are on the table” with respect to the potential attack.
It is unclear whether Gates’ revelation portends a serious potential for an imminent US attack on Iran, or whether the move is more international posturing. Still, it seems unlikely the news will be greeted warmly in Iran, which is in the middle of an election campaign in which potential US talks are a major issue.

Hope in that last paragraph? Not based on the shifting that has been going on and the increased bombings in Pakistan. It seems, even with OBushama, we can't stop going to war. Can we ever be a nation and world at peace? Or do we always have to be the world cop?

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A "new" president driven to war?

Obama’s 48-Hour Makeover

President Obama’s tenuous claim to the antiwar community was already unraveling long before he formally took office. Shortly after the election his national security team’s extremely hawkish makeup was drawing concern. Two days after his inauguration, he had backed off his campaign promise to have all US troops out of Iraq in 16 months. Still, his supporters could find some measure of solace in his halting of the military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay and his promises of a more transparent administration.
Or at least they used to be able to. In the past 48 hours the administration has backed off of the few scraps of significant policy revisions thrown to an electorate hungry for his campaign’s mantra of change. First, he overruled the Pentagon’s decision that undisclosed photos of detainee abuse could be released. Perplexingly, he insisted that the photos did not contain anything “particularly sensational,” before cautioning that making them public would imperil the troops and inflame anti-American opinion.
It was less than 48 hours later that the president confirmed that he was going to resume the military tribunals against detainees at Guantanamo Bay. He had previously ordered such tribunals halted when pledging to close the facility. Now instead of the rule of law, the administration is offering a modest selection of new “rights” detainees will enjoy, none of them particularly earth-shattering.

OBushama is not only keeping the old wars going but tageting some new areas as well - North Waziristan

A US drone fired two missiles at a religious school (madrassa) in Pakistan’s North Waziristan Agency today, killing at least 27 and wounding an as yet undetermined number of others. Villagers are reportedly still recovering people from the debris of the destroyed school, and several of the wounded are in critical condition, so the final death toll may yet rise.

Time to listen to the people who elected you.

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Gardens not War

By Sandra Griffin --- T-shirt at Northern Sun

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Scorecards in War?

Evidence shows Taliban killed some civilians: US military

Investigators have found evidence that Taliban fighters caused civilian casualties in a major battle in which US air strikes are alleged to have killed scores of villagers, the US military said Saturday.
President Hamid Karzai has said that up to 130 civilians, including children and the elderly, were killed in the bombing raids overnight Monday-Tuesday in the western province of Farah.
An investigation by US and Afghan security found Saturday that "a number" of civilians were killed but it was not clear how. The investigation also found evidence "of non-combatant casualties caused by Taliban fighters? actions," a US military statement said late Saturday.

Are we now at a point where we will be posting how many were killed by "the others?" Does this, in some insane way, justify our actions? Does it absolve us?

Time to get out!

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Who did we elect?

After US Strikes, Afghans Describe 'Tractor Trailers Full of Pieces of Human Bodies;' Meanwhile, Obama Readies 21,000 More Troop

...anger is rising in the western province of Farah, the scene of a US bombing massacre that may have killed as many as 130 Afghans, including 13 members of one family. At least six houses were bombed and among the dead and wounded are women and children. As of this writing reports indicate some people remain buried in rubble. The US airstrikes happened on Monday and Tuesday. Just hours after Obama met with US-backed president Hamid Karzai Wednesday, hundreds of Afghans—perhaps as many as 2,000— poured into the streets of the provincial capital, chanting “Death to America.” The protesters demanded a US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

They are asking. I am asking. Out already!

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Smoke and mirrors

Success! Our eyes have been taken away from the continuing wars, the economy...How did "they" succeed? Swine flu outbreak - pandemic - get your duct tape ready to seal yourself in...

While we were focused on tracking the outbreaks, we are still in Iraq and dieing. We are still trying to prop up a regime in Afghanistan. We are talking about putting new life into Gitmo.

The guys running our regime are very very good. Just like a great magician, divert the audiences' attention to pull off the great trick. The trick in this case - keep the machine plugging along as it has for the past decades. Change? They'll come up with ways to spin that too.

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