Advancing Marines test new Afghan war doctrine

 

By Golnar Motevalli

BARCHA, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Winning ground is one thing. Convincing Afghan villagers you will not leave, abandoning them to a vengeful Taliban, is a bigger challenge for U.S. Marines advancing deep into southern Helmand province.

The Marines, part of a 10,000-strong force sent to Afghanistan this year, have pushed south into hostile terrain, winning ground and pledging to build the long-term trust and security needed to prevent insurgents from returning.

A day after taking over the former home of a local doctor which had been used as a post by the Taliban, the Marines were building it into a base and trying to win over local people.

"You have to make a decision, please. You want to work with us or you want to work with the Taliban?" the clean-shaven young Marine Captain Junwei Sun asked a wizened and bearded village elder at the first "shura" -- or meeting -- with local people.

The base is a sprawling, dry mud compound of rooms and a large courtyard, topped by a watch room which gives a panoramic view of the surrounding cornfields and villages.

"I'm good at fighting people like this (the Taliban). If you help me, I guarantee, over time we'll get security here," First Lieutenant Samuel Oliver said.

It took 200 men from the 2nd battalion 8th Marines two days to advance just 4km (2.5 miles) to Barcha in the face of insurgent attacks and a string of roadside explosive traps.

The eight-year-old war is at its most intense, with more than 400 NATO troops dead this year. U.S. Afghan commander Stanley McChrystal has told President Barack Obama he needs 40,000 troops to push back a resurgent Taliban and convince the population insurgents will not win.

(Read the rest of the story by clicking the link below)

Advancing Marines test new Afghan war doctrine | U.S. | Reuters

The Wild, Wild West Remake - Video

Cops in Fatigues Throw Protester into Unmarked Car at G-20 Protests and Drive off

Posted by Jan Frel, AlterNet at 11:43 AM on September 25, 2009
They may have been cops, but the video still reveals the militarization of police work. Muriel Kane at Raw Story shares a statement released by security at the G20:

"Military members supporting the G20 Summit work with local law enforcement authorities but do not have the authority to make arrests. The individuals involved in the 9/24/09 arrest which has appeared online are law enforcement officers from a multi-agency tactical response team assigned to the security operations for the G20. It is not unusual for tactical team members to wear camouflaged fatigues. The type of fatigues the officers wear designates their unit affiliation.

Prior to the arrest, the officers observed this subject vandalizing a local business. Due to the hostile nature of the crowd, officer safety and the safety of the person under arrest, the subject was immediately removed from the area.”

Read more at Raw Story.

'Nuclear Weapons Put World's Future At Stake'

The future of mankind is at stake and all nations must strive to rid the world of nuclear arms, the US President has said.

As North Korea launched a long-range rocket over Japan, Barack Obama dismissed those who warned the proliferation of nuclear weapons could not be checked.
"This fatalism is a deadly adversary," he told a crowd of 20,000 in Prague. "For if we believe that the spread of nuclear weapons is inevitable, then we are admitting to ourselves that the use of nuclear weapons is inevitable."
President Obama said his goal of "a world without nuclear weapons" won't be reached soon, "perhaps not in my lifetime," but he said his country, with one of the world's largest arsenals and the only nation to have used an atomic bomb, had a "moral responsibility" to start taking steps now.
Addressing his American audience, President Obama said surrendering nuclear weapons must be a global "all for one" endeavour.
"Make no mistake: As long as these weapons exist, we will maintain a safe, secure and effective arsenal to deter any adversary, and guarantee that defense to our allies."
He also gave his most unequivocal pledge yet to proceed with a missile defence system in Europe.
The shield will be based in the Czech Republic and Poland, on Russia's doorstep.

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Has America become numb to tragedy?

Recent mass shootings have left 43 dead and many asking why…

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

PITTSBURGH - Does the name Byran Uyesugi ring a bell? Odds are not. What about Robert A. Hawkins? Or Mark Barton? Terry Ratzmann? Robert Stewart?

Each entered the national consciousness when he picked up a gun and ended multiple lives. Uyesugi, 1999, Hawaii office building, seven dead. Hawkins, 2007, Nebraska shopping mall, nine dead. Barton, Ratzmann and Stewart — 24 dead among them in 1999 (Atlanta brokerage offices), 2005 (Wisconsin church service) and last week (North Carolina rehab center).

Each has been largely forgotten as the parade of multiple killings in America melts into an indistinguishable blur. We bemoan, we mourn, we move on.

Has America become numb to tragedy? - Crime & courts- msnbc.com

Technorati Tags: crimes,video,crime,society,America,tragedy

More Troops + Afghanistan = Catastrophe (Full Video) - Rethink Afghanistan Part 1

In the video...

 

Andrew Bacevich is a professor of International Relations & History at Boston University. He has written several books, including The Limits of Power: The End of Military Exceptionalism and The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War.

Thomas J. Barfield is a professor of Anthropology at Boston University and the President of the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies.

Robert Pape is a professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago specializing in international security affairs. He is the author of Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism.

Carl Conetta is the Co-Director of the Project on Defense Alternatives.

Faiysal Alikhan is the Founder of the Foundation for Integrated Development Action. He chairs Pakistan’s International Chamber of Commerce Commission on Customs and Trade Regulation.

Stephen Kinzer is a foreign correspondent, writer, and the author of several books, including Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq.

Shukria Barakzai is a member of the Afghan parliament and helped draft Afghanistan’s constitution. She is the founder and editor-in-chief of Aina–E–Zan (Women’s Mirror), a weekly newspaper for women in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Dr. Ramaza Bashardost is Afghanistan's former Planning Minister, a current member of parliament and an Independent candidate in the upcoming Presidential Election.

Mohammad Osman Tariq is president of the pro-democracy group the National Council for Peace and Democracy in Afghanistan. He was a Mujahid commander and fought against the Russians in the Soviet-Afghan war. His recent publication Tribal Security System in Southeast Afghanistan is available here.

Ruslan Aushev is a retired Lt. General in the Russian Army and is Chief of the Committee of Russian Afghan Veterans. He is a former president of Ingushetia.

Anand Gopal is Afghanistan Correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor.

More Troops + Afghanistan = Catastrophe (Full Video) - Rethink Afghanistan Part 1

Technorati Tags: Afghanistan,war,anti-war,video,Brave New Films,Brave New Foundation,Robert Greenwald,Rethink Afghanistan

Israeli soldiers admit 'murdering' Gazans

"Israeli soldiers have confessed to wanton killing of Palestinian civilians and behaving immorally during the Operation Cast Lead in Gaza."

By Press TV - The soldiers who fought in the Gaza war told a post-operation conference that they had killed Palestinian civilians and intentionally destroyed their property under permissive rules of engagement.

"When we entered a house, we were supposed to bust down the door and start shooting inside and just go up story by story... I call that murder. Each story, if we identify a person, we shoot them. I asked myself - how is this reasonable?", an Israeli soldier said.

The testimonies includes killing of a Palestinian mother and her two children by an Israeli sharpshooter and the case of an elderly Palestinian woman who was killed as she was walking 100 meters (yards) from her home.

"We had taken over the house" and the family was released and told to go right. A mother and two children got confused and went left. "The sniper on the roof wasn't told that this was okay and that he shouldn't shoot", a soldier said.

"I don't know whether she was suspicious, not suspicious, I don't know her story. . . I do know that my officer sent people to the roof in order to take her out" It was cold-blooded murder."

Their testimony contradicts the Israel Defense Forces' claims that its troops had "observed a high level of moral behavior during the operation".

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The case for a domestic marijuana industry

Like it or not, marijuana is a massive industry. One hundred million Americans admit to government survey-takers that they've used it, with nearly 15 million acknowledging use in the past month. That's a huge market -- exceeding the number of Americans who will buy a new car or truck this year, or who bought one last year.
The only way to stop drug gangs is to end their monopoly on production.
By Aaron Houston

Violence in Mexico is getting worse by the day. There are reports of beheadings, killings in the several thousands, and an environment of fear that makes it impossible for Mexican officials to do their work. The country's very stability may be threatened.

It's time to put an end to U.S. policies that subsidize these murderous drug gangs. The first step, as a growing chorus of voices is arguing, is to end the quixotic policy of prohibition, a proven failure. But the United States can do even better; by empowering a domestic marijuana industry, the United States would squeeze Mexican cartels' profits, cutting off the financial lifeline that sustains organized narcocrime.

According to U.S. and Mexican officials, some 60 percent of the profits that fuel Mexican narcotrafficking come from just one drug: marijuana. Although such estimates are inherently imprecise, there is no doubt that marijuana is the cash cow that makes these gangs the powerful, dangerous force they are -- both in Mexico and in the 230 U.S. cities where cartels are thought to operate. The chief of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's Mexico and Central America Section recently told the New York Times that marijuana is the "king crop" for Mexican cartels, because it "consistently sustains its marketability and profitability."

Last November, the U.S. Joint Forces Command warned in its "Joint Operating Environment" report that Mexico "bear[s] consideration for a rapid and sudden collapse" due to drug cartel violence. Some critics saw the report as unduly dire, but at a minimum, as outgoing CIA Director Michael Hayden warned, drug cartels "threaten ... the well-being of the Mexican people and the Mexican state." A further increase in instability would constitute a national security and humanitarian crisis on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. For now, there is no end in sight to the worsening violence and no adequate plan to address it.

This appalling situation is not just happenstance. It is the direct result of prohibitionist U.S. policies.

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MI cops shoot unarmed, 20-year-old marijuana activist

by Stephen C. Webster

A 20-year-old university student in Michigan is hospitalized and in serious condition after police shot the man Wednesday while serving a drug warrant. He was unarmed, investigators said.

Coming through an apartment's back door, an Ottawa County deputy allegedly shined a flashlight into the student's face, causing him to raise his right hand in front of his eyes.

The officer, whose name was not released, fired a single bullet into Derek Copp's chest. The 20-year-old Grand Valley State University student, who survived the shooting, said he had no idea the man was an officer.

"He never even had a chance to even see who was coming at him, with a bright flashlight in his face," said Sheryl Copp, Derek's mother, in a 24 Hour News 8 report. "He had no clue. He heard someone knock on his door, and he had no clue."

Copp's parents insist their son is not a drug dealer. However, he appears to be a marijuana activist, stating on his facebook page he likes to "SMOKA DA BOLSKI" (smoke a 'bowl') and on his YouTube page, in a video titled 'Hippie Lunchtime Hour,' he makes references to baking marijuana-infused brownies. In another, he plays the fictional role of an acid dealer whose friend goes on a psychedelic journey through cliché colors.

Copp's parents were not notified of the shooting by police, reported CelebStoner. They allegedly found out six hours later.

The officer is on paid administrative leave. Police have not said whether they found any drugs in Copp's apartment.

Monday, a group of about 25 protesters gathered outside the Ottawa County Sheriff's Department holding signs which read, "Don't shoot, I'm unarmed" and "Why did you shoot my friend?"
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Iraq Update - 384 Dead, 665 Wounded in Iraq in February 2009

Data compiled from the US Military, the Iraqi Military, the Iraqi Government, morgues, & hospitals.
Saturday: 1 Marine, 3 Iraqis Killed; 19 Iraqis Wounded
Friday: 1 US Soldier, 5 Iraqis Killed; 4 Iraqis Wounded
Thursday: 3 Iraqis Killed, 21 Wounded
Wednesday: 2 Iraqis Killed, 9 Wounded
Tuesday: 1 US Soldier, 5 Iraqis Killed; 15 Iraqis Wounded
Monday: 3 US Soldiers, 11 Iraqis Killed; 23 Iraqis Wounded
Sunday: 7 Iraqis Killed, 17 Wounded
Saturday: 2 U.S. Soldiers, 4 Iraqis Killed; 9 Iraqis Wounded
Friday: 9 Iraqis Killed, 3 Wounded
Thursday: 20 Iraqis Killed, 31 Wounded
Wednesday: 10 Iraqis Killed, 2 Wounded
Tuesday: 6 Iraqis Killed, 24 Wounded
Monday: 14 Iraqis Killed, 41 Wounded
Sunday: 2 US Soldiers, 25 Iraqis Killed; 35 Iraqis Wounded
Saturday: 8 Iraqis Killed, 5 Wounded; 40 Bodies in Mass Grave
Friday: 1 UK Soldier, 45 Iraqis; 91 Iraqis Wounded
Thursday: 1 US Soldier, 22 Iraqis Killed; 53 Iraqis Wounded
Wednesday: 31 Iraqis Killed, 94 Wounded
Tuesday: 7 Iraqis Killed, 15 Wounded
Monday: 4 US Soldiers, 9 Iraqis Killed; 29 Iraqis Wounded
Sunday: 1 US Soldier, 8 Iraqis Killed; 25 Iraqis Wounded
Saturday: 1 US Soldier, 5 Iraqis Killed; 13 Iraqis Wounded
Friday: 7 Iraqis Killed, 5 Wounded
Thursday: 21 Iraqis Killed, 19 Wounded
Wednesday: 9 Iraqis Killed, 31 Wounded
Tuesday: 4 Iraqis Killed, 15 Wounded
Monday: 5 Iraqis Killed, 14 Wounded
Sunday: 1 US Soldier Killed, 3 Iraqis Wounded February 1, 2009

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Major attacks in Iraq so far this year

Major attacks in Iraq since Jan. 1, when a new U.S.-Iraqi security pact took effect:
_ March 7 — Suicide bomber strikes police academy in Baghdad, killing about 30.
_ March 5 — Car bomb tears through livestock market in Hillah, killing 13.
_ Feb. 13 — Female suicide bomber targets Shiite pilgrims in Musayyib, killing 40.
_ Feb. 12 — Suicide bomber blows herself up among Shiite pilgrims in Karbala, killing eight.
_ Feb. 11 — Twin car bombs explode at a bus terminal and market area in Baghdad, killing 16.
_ Jan. 4 — Female suicide bomber strikes Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad, killing 38.
_ Jan. 2 — Suicide bomber hits luncheon at a tribal leader's home in Youssifiyah, killing 23.
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US Military: Hundreds Registered as Conscientious Objectors

By Jane O'Brien BBC News, Washington
Hundreds of US armed forces personnel have applied for conscientious objector status since the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001 - and military rights campaigners say the number is growing.
A report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) showed that 425 servicemen and women made applications for CO (conscientious objector) status between 2002 and 2006.
Of these, 224 were approved but Bill Galvin of Washington's Center on Conscience and War says the real number of applications is far higher because many are not recorded.
"Nobody knows exactly how many applications there have been because people apply at the local level and statistics are only kept on the cases that actually make it to the national level. The real number is a lot higher.
"We also know that many people are conscientious objectors and find some other way to get out. They never apply for CO status because it's not the easiest way.
"Some of them go AWOL, some can prove medical reasons or some may challenge their enlistment agreements. So when people come to us we help them explore all their options."
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Israeli Marksmen Shoot Directly at Civilians and Cameraman

Israeli soldiers filmed shooting at farmers and human rights observers in the Gaza Strip. It appears that the soldiers are shooting to maim or kill despite the obvious presence of international witnesses and cameramen. The bullets pepper the ground, and hiss through the air - at times within 1 metre of the camerman.



24th February 2009

Khoza'a, Khan Younis , Gaza Strip: Palestinian farmers, accompanied by international Human Rights Workers (HRWs), were fired upon by Israeli forces in the village of Khozaa, near Khan Younis, this morning. The farmers and HRWs were attempting to work on land around 300m from the Green Line.

Since the 18th January 2009, in the area next to the Green Line known as the "Buffer Zone", eight Palestinian civilians have been shot by Israeli troops. Three of them have been killed - including one child.

18th January 2009

At approximately 10:40, IOF troops positioned at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel opened fire at Palestinian civilians who were checking their homes and agricultural land following the declaration of the ceasefire. As a result, Maher 'Abdul 'Azim Abu Rjaila, 23, was killed by a gunshot to the chest and shrapnel to the limbs. 20th January 2009 At approximately 13:00, IOF troops positioned at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, east of Khan Yunis, opened fired at Palestinian houses in al-Qarara village. As a result, Waleed 'Abdul Rahim al-Astal, 42, was wounded by a gunshot to the right foot.

23rd January 2009

At approximately 01:00, IOF troops positioned at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel opened fire at Palestinian civilians who were checking the destruction of their houses in Khuza'a village, east of Khan Yunis. As a result, Nabeel Ibrahim al-Najjar, 40, was wounded by shrapnel from a gunshot to the left hand.

25th January 2009

At approximately 16:00, IOF troops positioned at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel opened fire at houses and streets in Khuza'a village, east of Khan Yunis. As a result, Subhi Tafesh Qudaih, 55, was wounded by a gunshot to the back.

27th January 2009

At approximately 10:00, IOF troops positioned at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, east of Khan Yunis, opened fire at a number of Palestinian farmers who were farming agricultural land belonging to the Abu Daqqa clan, nearly 600 meters away from the border. The farmers lay down to avoid being shot. When the shooting stopped, the farmer stood up to leave the area, but IOF troops opened fire at them. One of them, 26-year-old Anwar Zayed al-Buraim, was killed by a gunshot to the neck.

14th February 2009

On 14 February, IOF shot dead a Palestinian child while he was herding animals in the east of Jabalia town in the northern Gaza StripAt approximately 12:00, the body of Hammad Barrak Salem Silmiya, 13, from al-Qerem area east of Jabalia town in the northern Gaza Strip, was brought to Shifa' Hospital in Gaza City. The child had been shot in the head. According to his family, IOF troops fired at him while he was herding animals in the east of Jabalia town. His body was found at approximately 11:30.

18th February 2009

At approximately 10:30, IOF troops positioned at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, east of Khan Yunis, fired at a number of Palestinian farmers and 6 members of the International Solidarity Movement, as they attempted to leave the area having worked on their land for 2 hours in full view of the Israeli forces. As a result, a farmer, 21-year-old Mohammed Rezeq al-Buraim, was wounded by a gunshot to the left foot.

24th February 2009

Later on the sameday that this video was filmed, the Israeli Soldiers shot 17 year old Wafa Al Najar from Khoz'a. Wafa was 70 metres from her home, and and 800 metres from the border fence. were 3 shots, a neighbour who was 900 metres away says they were fired from two army jeeps and he saw a soldier shooting from the top of one. The first two bullets hit the ground beside Wafa. The third destroyed her kneecap, and she collapsed to the ground.

http://ingaza.wordpress.com/2009/02/2...
http://talestotell.wordpress.com/2009...
http://palsolidarity.org/2009/02/5673
http://ingaza.wordpress.com/2009/02/27/of-knees-and-tranquility/

Download Video:https://rcpt.yousendit.com/657421006/...

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Operation Uptick: Obama Launches Afghan Surge | Chris Floyd

Chris Floyd delivers the ugly truth once more...

And so it begins: the great Obama "surge" in Afghanistan. Before withdrawing a single soldier from Iraq, Barack Obama is throwing 17,500 more troops into the boiling Afghan cauldron. The deployment is the first installment of what Obama aides affirm could be a much larger escalation down the road: as soon as the vaunted "strategic review" of Afghan policy – led by hawks like Joe Biden, Richard Holbrook and General David "Pre-President" Petraeus – is completed.

Most of the new troops are apparently going to be sent on a fool's errand to eradicate the only means of support of poor Afghans: the opium crop. Previous such efforts by American forces and their allies have produced nothing but more poverty, anger, extremism and support for the insurgency. And whatever the mission, increased troop levels and military action have led invariably to steep rises in civilian casualties – which, in turn, produce more poverty, anger, extremism and support for the insurgency.

In fact, on the very day that Obama was announcing his own personal Terror War surge, the UN released a report that confirmed the already obvious fact that the American-led occupiers of Afghanistan have been lying about the number of civilians they have been killing. The UN report documents the killing of 2,118 Afghan civilians in 2008 – 828 of them killed by the American-led forces. As Jason Ditz notes at Antiwar.com:

While getting exact numbers of deaths in Afghanistan is virtually impossible given the chaotic situation on the ground, particularly in the restive south, the report once again points to the absurdity of last month’s NATO report, which claimed only 973 civilians overall killed and only 97 by international forces.

The NATO number is absurd indeed, especially when one recalls that some 90 civilians, including at least 75 women and children, were killed in a single attack by an American gunship in the village of Azizabad last summer. [For more, see Atrocity in Azizabad: More Child Sacrifices on the Terror War Altar.]

There will of course be much more of this as the troop levels rise, especially more "close air support" for the increased number of ground forces undertaking more and more attacks. Even the witless, plagarizing, credit-card bagman that Obama put one heartbeat away from the presidency, Joe Biden, admits there will be what he calls – in the hideous argot of our bipartisan Beltway bloodletters – an "uptick" in the number of deaths. Naturally, he was referring only to an increase in American casualties; the Afghans who will also die in increasing numbers in the surge don't count, and aren't counted: 97, 150, 300, 828 – who gives a damn?

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US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation : Watch The Commercial on the U.S. Role in Israel's War on Gaza and Take Action

 

Watch the 30-second commercial we produced about the U.S. role in Israel’s recent war on the Gaza Strip, which was censored by DIRECTV.

US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation : Watch Our Commercial on the U.S. Role in Israel's War on Gaza and Take Action

Technorati Tags: Israel,Gaza,Gaza Strip,war,violence,video

[Video] Israeli ambassador hit by shoe

http://stockholm.suf.cc ~ "Sweden: Shoe hits Israeli ambassador

A shoe was thrown at Israel s ambassador to Sweden, Mr. Benny Dagan, when
he was giving a speech at Stockholm University today. The shoe hit its
target. It was followed by two books and a note pad, all hitting the
severely embarrassed ambassador.

The two protesters, a young woman and a young man, shouted Murderers!
and Intifada! while pelting Dagan with the objects" (Text credits to http://a-mother-from-gaza.blogspot.co... ~ full blog at http://a-mother-from-gaza.blogspot.com & thanks to Marcos ~ http://www.youtube.com/marcosdiarios ~ who shared this video originally from http://www.youtube.com/SUFSthlm :)



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Gaza survivor describes day 48 members of family were killed

10-year-old Mona Samouni describes how she became one of the very few survivors of the Samouni extended family, after an attack on the densely populated area of Zeitoun

Warning: Contains footage that some viewers may find distressing

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Silent as the Tomb: Another American-Backed Slaughter Ignored

Speaking of Somalia,"But of course, the true aim of the "regime change" operation was neither to quell a non-existent "terrorist threat" from the Islamic Courts nor to bring peace and stability to Somalia. It was to install, by blood and iron, a compliant government that would serve the American imperial agenda in the strategic Horn of Africa. "

Written by Chris Floyd

Before taking office, Barack Obama was chided -- in certain quarters, at least -- for his long silence on the slaughter in Gaza. Of course, as we noted here the other day, the main reason he stayed mum on the subject before his inauguration was that he was in complete accord with George W. Bush's stance on the American-backed massacre of civilians.

However, there is another horrific, American-backed slaughter that Obama has been silent about for even longer -- throughout his entire presidential campaign, in fact, and continuing into his presidency. We speak, of course, of the ghastly Terror War "regime change" operation in Somalia, where American bombs, American weapons, American training, American money -- and American death squads -- aided the military forces of the Ethiopian dictatorship in its brutal invasion and murderous occupation of the long-shattered land. [For more background, see this, especially the links at the bottom.]

The aim of this savage operation was to overturn the "Islamic Courts" movement -- a coalition of various sectarian factions which had brought Somalia its first semblance of stability and security after 15 years of violence, chaos and abandonment by the outside world. The broad-based movement included a range of groups, from the very moderate to the more extreme, and represented a grass-roots effort by Somalis to rebuild their own nation on their own terms.

But these terms were not those approved by the Potomac poobahs, who had their own hand-picked warlords -- some of them on the CIA payroll -- whom they preferred to see in power. And so the "regime change" was launched in December 2006, with American bombers and missiles targeting fleeing refugees while Washington's proxy forces poured in from Ethiopia.

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Gaza Horror: Updated Large Photo Gallery of Gaza Massacre

Never forget! Hold the perpetrators of these crimes accountable, and do your part to help bring them to justice.




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Afghan President Karzai: US Forces Killed 16 Civilians

Karzai expressed his outrage over the killing of 16 civilians. He added that such actions make the Taliban and terrorists stronger. Anti-American demonstrations took place in Afghanistan today.
KABUL, Afghanistan January 25, 2009, 07:13 am ET · President Hamid Karzai condemned a U.S. operation he said killed 16 Afghan civilians, while hundreds of villagers denounced the American military during an angry demonstration Sunday.
Karzai said the killing of innocent Afghans during U.S. military operations "is strengthening the terrorists."
He also announced that his Ministry of Defense sent Washington a draft technical agreement that seeks to give Afghanistan more oversight over U.S. military operations. The same letter has also been sent to NATO headquarters.
Karzai in recent weeks has increasingly lashed out at his Western backers over the issue of civilian casualties, even as U.S. politicians and a top NATO official have publicly criticized Karzai for the slow pace of progress here.
The back-and-forth comes as the new administration of President Barack Obama must decide whether to support Karzai as he seeks re-election later this year as part of the United States' overall Afghan strategy.
Karzai's latest criticism follows a Saturday raid in Laghman province that the U.S. says killed 15 armed militants, including a woman with an RPG, but that Afghan officials say killed civilians.
Two women and three children were among the 16 dead civilians, Karzai said in a statement.
In Laghman's capital, hundreds of angry demonstrators denounced the U.S. military Sunday and demanded an end to overnight raids. U.S. military leaders, victims' relatives and Afghan officials — including two top Karzai advisers — met at the governor's compound to discuss the issue, Gov. Latifullah Mashal said.
"The U.S. military said 'We are sorry for this incident and after this we are going to coordinate our operations with Afghan forces,'" Mashal said.
Civilian deaths during U.S. operations have been a huge point of friction between the Afghan government and U.S. and NATO militaries. Many of the deaths happen on overnight raids by U.S. Special Forces who launch operations against specific insurgent leaders.
A U.S. investigative team that had planned to travel to the village — 40 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of the capital, Kabul — was canceled Sunday because of bad weather. U.S. military spokesman Col. Greg Julian said American officials hoped to visit the site on Tuesday, weather permitting.
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