Bush's Cabal

"Cruel and unusual": Did Bradley Manning force Obama to end the Iraq war?

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Who ended the Iraq war? The President is receiving credit for pulling American troops out of that quagmire, but writer Chris Floyd argues that Manning forced Obama's hand. The argument draws from a point made by William Blum:

It was after seeing American war crimes such as those depicted in the video "Collateral Murder" and documented in the "Iraq War Logs," made public by Manning and Wikileaks, that the Iraqis refused to exempt US forces from prosecution for future crimes. The video depicts an American helicopter indiscriminately murdering several non-combatants in addition to two Reuters journalists, and the wounding of two little children, while the helicopter pilots cheer the attacks in a Baghdad suburb like it was the Army-Navy game in Philadelphia.

The insistence of the Iraqi government on legal jurisdiction over American soldiers for violations of Iraqi law — something the United States rarely, if ever, accepts in any of the many countries where its military is stationed — forced the Obama administration to pull the remaining American troops from the country.

Legal Experts Destroy Rationale for Obama’s Assassination Policy … And Slam Democrats for Supporting It

Obama Expanding Program Started by Cheney

Attorney General Eric Holder announced at Northwestern University law school that the U.S. can assassinate U.S. citizens without any without disclosure of why they are even alleged to be baddies and without any review of any nature whatsoever by any judge, Congress or the American people.

Northwestern University’s law school professor Joseph Margulies said:

I defy anyone to read [Holder's] speech and show any differences between Obama and Bush on these issues, They both say we are in a war not confined to particular battlefield. … Both say we can target citizens without judicial oversight and that can happen anywhere in the world.

Columbia law school professor Scott Horton notes that this assassination strategy was created by Dick Cheney, and is being carried out by the Obama administration:

A lot of this seems to have been put in place under the tutelage of Dick Cheney. So here we see one of Dick Cheney’s ideas being ratified by Barack Obama and his Attorney General Eric Holder.

King George III Won: Happy Fourth of July!
By David Swanson
http://warisacrime.org/node/58333

The Declaration of Independence is best remembered as a declaration of war, a war declared on the grounds that we wanted our own flag. The sheer stupidity and anachronism of the idea serves to discourage any thoughts about why Canada didn't need a bloody war, whether the U.S. war benefitted people outside the new aristocracy to whom power was transferred, what bothered Frederick Douglas so much about a day celebrating "independence," or what the Declaration of Independence actually said.

When you read the Declaration of Independence, it turns out to be an indictment of King George III for various abuses of power. And those abuses of power look fairly similar to abuses of power we happily permit U.S. presidents to engage in today, either as regards the people of this nation or the people of territories and nations that our military occupies today in a manner uncomfortably resembling Britain's rule over the 13 colonies.

Or perhaps I should say, a large portion of us take turns being happy or outraged depending on the political party with which the current president is identified.

Andrew Bacevich

Bob McChesney talks with Andrew Bacevich

Andrew J. Bacevich is Professor of International Relations and History at Boston University. A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, he received his PhD in American Diplomatic History from
Princeton University. Bacevich is the author of Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War (2010).
Source: Media Matters hosts Andrew Bacevich.

Tom Engelhardt

Scott Horton Interviews Tom Engelhardt

Tom Engelhardt, author of The American Way of War: How Bush’s Wars Became Obama’s. They discuss blowback, both the book and the consequences of hidden U.S. foreign actions. They also talk how the U.S. could becoming a bankrupt superpower and how to avoid this outcome.
Source: Scott Horton Interviews Tom Engelhardt on November 22, 2010

Music includes Earth Anthem, Star Wars-Theme Song, robin williams-lust, sunshine of your love, Like a Rolling Stone, The Wind Cries Mary, Walk Right In, Strange Fruit, We'll Meet Again

Play Program or Download (below the fold)

American Hypocrisy
by George A. Polisner on Monday, May 2, 2011 at 9:33am

While I'm pleased that the families of the many victims of horrific violence may now have closure I cannot yet join many Americans in this celebration of Osama bin Laden's death.

I can join the celebration if our Government responds by:

• Allowing extradition of Bush, Cheney and key leadership that invaded a sovereign nation on a false pretense resulting in the deaths and casualties of American soldiers and the Iraqi people. If we are a nation of laws -we must respect the law.
• Ceasing military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and bring our personnel home safely.
• Closure of Guantanamo Bay and while we are at it -The School of the America's too (check out http://www.soaw.org/).
• A dramatic reduction of conventional military spending while placing emphasis on intelligence and our ability to respond to threats in a rapid, surgical manner.

Peter B. Collins interviews Scott A. Bonn

The book “Mass Deception” connects propaganda and distortions by the Bush administration to elite deviance and state crimes and violations of international criminal law. Dr. Bonn's book illustrates how those in the highest seats of power deceived and manipulated ordinary, hard-working, trusting Americans. Those Americans then sent their sons and daughters to fight in needlessly wars.
Source: Peter B. Collins on January 10, 2011, Bush’s Rehtoric and Lies Produced “Mass Deception”
 

Capturing Geothermal Energy

What if, right below our feet, we had enough potential clean energy to keep the U.S. supplied for thousands years? That's what the U.S. Department of Energy calculates. But there's a catch: we have to get to all that potential geothermal power. Reporter: Craig Miller. From the California Report.
Source: The California Report, 33x20: Capturing Geothermal Energy

Related: Fallujah - City of No Children

Lost among the Egyptian uprising story is the fact that Blackwater (Xe) and the U.S. government (Bush Cabal) is getting away with a whitewash in the deaths of four Blackwater contractors thanks to a federal court in North Carolina

RALEIGH, N.C. — A federal judge has tossed a lawsuit that blamed the security company formerly known as Blackwater for the deaths of four contractors killed in a grisly 2004 ambush on the restive streets of Iraq.

U.S. District Judge James C. Fox said court-ordered arbitration fell apart because neither side was paying the costs of that process, so he decided to shut the case nearly seven years after the killings. Katy Helvenston, the mother of contractor Scott Helvenston, said Tuesday the families couldn't afford the costs, and she fears the case is over. The lawsuit was filed about a year after the men's deaths.

"It's pretty much destroyed my life," Helvenston said. "I haven't known one moment of joy since Scotty was slaughtered. I think the worst part is the betrayal from my country. I feel so betrayed."

Maybe you'd say, "good riddance, and they got their due justice." The thing is though without a court proceeding, there's no discovery (evidence), or depositions (interviews) that could lead to why this happened. Who ordered them to go there? And why? How far up the chain of command did this go? And maybe these guys did do some horrific things in other incidents that haven't been reported. But in this specific case, things probably aren't what they seem. Watch this, and then follow me down the rabbit hole

“Fair Game” is an ambitious movie with a profound story to tell.

Joe Wilson publicly and passionately challenged the assertion by the Bush administration when it cited false CIA intelligence that yellow cake uranium was being accessed from Africa by the Iraq Hussein regime for those proverbial “WMDs”. As a consequence, Wilson’s CIA-operative wife, Valerie Plame, had her identity revealed to the public and the Wilsons were vilified by Bush operatives, supporters and a callous, often disinforming media. Valerie Plame, after an 18-year career in the CIA, and her family, were afforded no federal protection though the disclosure and the controversy opened them up to harassment by revenge-bent rightist wingnuts. Plame’s autobiography was even treated to over-the-top redaction by governmental officialdom.

Sadly, this movie while being highly informative, missed some opportunities in emotionally engaging viewers. For a few seconds into the movie I thought it had wisely begun with a bit of the original love meet-up of its two principles, Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson. It could have built an emotional momentum, letting the characters, seeming temperamental opposites -- she with stoic poise and natural reserve and he with shoot from the hip, bold righteousness -- seduce the audience as we see them seducing each other. It would have let us see the marital team at its original roots-building that the ruthlessness of the Bush regime and an amoral media later sorely challenged. It would have offered a nice energy and a romantic counterpoint to the ambushes and strain that occurred for them for so long.

Instead, we are introduced to the characters of Joe and Valerie when they are sadly remote from each other and frustratingly remote from the audience. We meet them in media res, the middle of a sagging, challenged, what the characters themselves call “post-it” marriage. We meet up with Joe Wilson after his Clinton administration prime, with drawing board renewing career start-ups, and his picking up parental slack for his wife, with her clandestine, fast-track CIA international activities.

Dark Legacy Film and Kennedy Assassination Presentation at the Red Vic Movie House in San Francisco by Paul Kangas
Andrew H. Dral

Tuesday, 11/9/10, 7PM and 9PM at the Red Vic Movie House, 1727 Haight Street, Web Site: http://www.redvicmoviehouse.com/

Hosted by Paul Kangas, a member of a U.S. Marine detail assigned to protect Pres. John F. Kennedy. Paul was trained for the April 1961
invasion of Cuba. Paul, a friend and activist, will give a presentation at each showing, detailing his vast knowledge of the Kennedy
assassination and new information on bullet holes and modern forensic sound techniques verifying multiple assassins and shots:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKIeMZSJCEA. Paul will convey his knowledge of the Cuban invasion and the people in
charge -- George H. W. Bush. Paul is a great resource and scholar on the Kennedy Assassination, you might want to hear
the facts from a person that lived through this chilling event before he is no longer with us.

Get directions to the Red Vic Movie House, 1727 Haight Street, at Web Site: http://www.redvicmoviehouse.com/directions.php.

Where Did the Money to Rebuild Iraq Go?

And, what has the war cost Sacramento?

Taxpayers in Sacramento, California will pay $1.2 billion for total Iraq and Afghanistan war spending since 2001. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:

369,256 People Receiving Low-Income Healthcare for One Year OR
13,314 Police or Sheriff's Patrol Officers for One Year OR
16,317 Firefighters for One Year OR
148,755 Scholarships for University Students for One Year OR
223,882 Students receiving Pell Grants of $5550 OR
656,044 Children Receiving Low-Income Healthcare for One Year OR
141,455 Head Start Slots for Children for One Year OR
440,995 Households with Renewable Electricity - Solar Photovoltaic for One Year OR
16,140 Elementary School Teachers for One Year OR
1,175,986 Households with Renewable Electricity-Wind Power for One Year

Dick Cheney Endorses Whitman For Governor