Video: No End in Sight for America’s Longest War

From the Youtube Description:

As President Obama slows US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, former State Department official Matthew Hoh says this will only intensify the violence and perpetuate the war

Watch the video here: No End in Sight for America’s Longest War

Video: U.S. Policy in Afghanistan Created Hundreds of Little Dictators

Journalist Anand Gopal describes the absolutely deplorable conditions in Afghanistan post-9/11. He spoke at the George W. Bush legacy conference.

See the video here: U.S. Policy in Afghanistan Created Hundreds of Little Dictators

Video: Woman in Irish Parliament takes Obama to the woodshed

She criticizes the American president for wanting to arm Syrian rebels which have terrorist elements in them.

Saying Lincoln Freed the Slaves is Like Saying Obama Ended the War in Iraq

Saying Lincoln freed the slaves is like saying Obama ended the war in Iraq.

Truth be told...

...Lincoln never thought blacks to be equal and once said that if he could "save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it."

Myth #1: Lincoln invaded the South to free the slaves. Ending slavery and racial injustice is not why the North invaded. As Lincoln wrote to Horace Greeley on Aug. 22, 1862: "My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and it is not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it"
Congress announced to the world on July 22, 1861, that the purpose of the war was not "interfering with the rights or established institutions of those states" (i.e., slavery), but to preserve the Union "with the rights of the several states unimpaired."

Myth #3: Lincoln championed equality and natural rights. His words and, more important, his actions, repudiate this myth. "I have no purpose to introduce political and social equality between the white and black races," he announced in his Aug. 21, 1858, debate with Stephen Douglas. "I, as well as Judge Douglas, am in favor of the race to which I belong having the superior position." And, "Free them [slaves] and make them politically and socially our equals? My own feelings will not admit of this. We cannot, then, make them equals."
In Springfield, Ill., on July 17, 1858, Lincoln said, "What I would most desire would be the separation of the white and black races." On Sept. 18, 1858, in Charleston, Ill., he said: "I will to the very last stand by the law of this state, which forbids the marrying of white people with Negroes."

 Lincoln supported the Illinois Constitution, which prohibited the emigration of black people into the state, and he also supported the Illinois Black Codes, which deprived the small number of free blacks in the state any semblance of citizenship. He strongly supported the Fugitive Slave Act, which compelled Northern states to capture runaway slaves and return them to their owners. In his First Inaugural he pledged his support of a proposed constitutional amendment that had just passed the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives that would have prohibited the federal government from ever having the power "to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said State." In his First Inaugural Lincoln advocated making this amendment "express and irrevocable."

Lincoln was also a lifelong advocate of "colonization" or shipping all black people to Africa, Central America, Haiti--anywhere but here. "I cannot make it better known than it already is," he stated in a Dec. 1, 1862, Message to Congress, "that I strongly favor colonization." To Lincoln, blacks could be "equal," but not in the United States.

...And President Obama lobbied the Iraq government to stay in longer but got booted out.

The last U.S. troops left Iraq in December 2011, while Barack Obama was president, but the “status of forces agreement” that governed the departure of U.S. troops was actually negotiated between Iraqi and U.S. officials in late 2008, under the auspices of President George W. Bush.  In fact, none other than the Huffington Post actually pointed out that as president, Obama was actually interested in keeping troops in Iraq past the agreed-upon 2011 deadline, explaining that “the president ultimately had no choice but to stick to candidate Obama's plan -- thanks, of all things, to an agreement signed by George W. Bush.” Just six months before the Bush deadline, Obama tried to foist 10,000 U.S. troops on the Iraqis past 2011.

So Republicans and Democrats are being disingenuous when they say these men did these things.

FBI says Holder, Obama had nothing to do with Assata Shakur decision

The Federal Bureau of Investigation says that President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder had nothing to do with putting the first black woman on the FBI’s “Most Wanted Terrorists” list for a crime she allegedly committed 40 years ago.

The move also makes Assata Shakur, previously known as Joanne Chesimard — once active in the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army in the United States at different times over 35 years ago — the first woman to be placed on the list.

“Both AG and the President has nothing to do with the selection of the list or the approval and have not been involved since the creation of the list from 2001,” an FBI public affairs official told Politic365.

However, the official added that President Obama and Holder are aware of Assata Shakur being added to the list.

The FBI conducts an “internal review” when determining who goes on the list and President Obama and Attorney General Holder aren’t necessarily involved, the official explained.

FBI: Obama, Holder Weren't Involved in "Most Wanted Terrorists" Decision || Politic365

A commenter points to this article: "Statement of Facts in the New Jersey Trial of Assata Shakur"

Obama No George W. Bush on Drones

President Obama is reported to have said last Tuesday during a private meeting with the Senate Democratic Conference that he is no Dick Cheney on drones -- and according to data compiled by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism he isn't quite George W. Bush either.

The London-based TBIJ reports that under President Obama CIA drones strikes in tribal parts of Pakistan have occurred at a rate six times faster than his predecessor George W. Bush in parts of Pakistan, as of December 2012. That rate was about once every five days during his first term.

From 2004 to 2013, there were 365 drone strikes. Out of those, 313 were under the Obama administration.

Under President Obama, 2,152 people were reported killed, of whom 290 were civilians. By contrast, 438 people were killed under President Bush, of whom 182 were civilians.

Under Bush, more children were killed by drone strikes (112) than under Obama (64) in his first term.

The 300th drone strike occurred under President Obama in early December 2012. The first drone strike to occur under his watch was just three days into his presidency, which is reported to have killed 12 civilians. Ironically, President Obama was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize not long afterward. Submissions for the Nobel Peace Prize were due by Feb. 1, 2009 -- just days into the Obama first term.

The Dick Cheney reference was reportedly a reference to the the lack of oversight under his predecessor's administration.

"This is not Dick Cheney we're talking about here," according to two Senators who POLITICO reports did not want to be named. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) is reportedly to have brought the issue to the President, and the President assured Democratic Senators that he's more open to transparency than Bush.

Numerous Democratic lawmakers on both the House and the Senate side of Congress have recently demanded more information from the White House on the administration's drone policy.

Last week, eight House Democrats led by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) sent a letter to President Obama asking for more details on the administration's drone policy.

On the Senate side, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) voted against the confirmation of Obama's now-CIA Director John Brennan, for not releasing legal memos pertaining to drones. Rockefeller himself raised the issue in a hearing last week as well, as POLITICO reports.

And of course, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) raised the issue of drones strikes on American citizens in a historic filibuster earlier in March.

Buchanan: Why y'all all 'wee-weed up over Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?"

Pat Buchanan asks:

How is America, with thousands of strategic and tactical nuclear weapons, scores of warships in the Med, Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean, bombers and nuclear subs and land-based missiles able to strike and incinerate Iran within half an hour, threatened by Iran?

I don't know. You tell me Pat.

Iran has no missile that can reach us, no air force or navy that would survive the first days of war, no nuclear weapons, no bomb-grade uranium from which to build one. All of her nuclear facilities are under constant United Nations surveillance and inspection.

Say what?

Yet, according to the Christian Science Monitor, Bibi first warned in 1992 that Iran was on course to get the bomb — in three to five years! And still no bomb.

Yup, I blogged about that article in 2011.

And Bibi has since been prime minister twice. Why has our Lord Protector not manned up and dealt with Iran himself?

Answer: He wants us to do it — and us to take the consequences.

 Bibi's vision: U.S. as aggressor and the fall guy.

Shia Iran has influence in Iraq because we invaded Iraq, dethroned Sunni Saddam, disbanded his Sunni-led army that had defeated Iran in an eight-year war and presided over the rise to power of the Iraqi Shia majority that now tilts to Iran. Today’s Iraq is a direct consequence of our war, our invasion, our occupation.

Buchanan: Infantile Conservatism || Human Events

[Editor's Note: I took liberty with the quote in the headline. Pat's statement which I quoted from isn't in a form of a question.]

My Favorite Reporter Jake Tapper Is At CNN

My favorite reporter, Jake Tapper, is no longer the Senior White House Correspondent for ABC News and is now with CNN.

I became a fan of Jake Tapper when I saw him go back in forth with White House Press Secretary Jay Carney over Anwar al-Awlaki's murder by the United States government. Had it not been for Austrian economist Bob Murphy posting this link that September day, I may not be a fan of Jake Tapper. Even more, I've come to study Tapper's questioning style and kept a Jake Tapper book mark (the 7th slot) on my Mozilla browser.

In short, I've decided to model myself after Jake Tapper. More on that later.

Here's a non-HD version of the exchange.



But for the HD version, go where I first saw it.

Click here for the HD version.

Also noteworthy is when Tapper asked President Obama "Where have you been" on gun control. It was one of his last, if not his very last, time in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room as ABC's top White House reporter.


Click here for the HD version.

Shortly after this exchange, the news broke that he would be joining CNN.

Drudge: Where Are The Policeman Of The World?

Carter: Obama Drone Policies “Do More Harm Than Good” By Targeting “Potential Terrorists”

Former President Jimmy Carter (D) said that he thinks the United States in its foreign policy has “overcorrected” since the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, and that President Obama’s drone policy does “more harm than good” by targeting “potential terrorists” but also accidentally hitting civilians

During a recent trip to Haiti the former president was asked: “what are the main factors playing a role in this deterioration of human rights and the rule of law and how can we restore it?” The question, asked by a reporter at Russia Today, was prompted by an op-ed Carter wrote for the New York Times back in June where he argued that the “United States is abandoning its role as the global champion of human rights.”

“Well the main violations to which I referred in that op-ed piece have been brought about by overcorrecting the 9/11 disaster when terrorists came in and destroyed as you know more than 3,000 American lives and two of our buildings and also even attacked the Defense Department,” he said.

Carter said that “we have overreacted” to the September 11, 2001 attacks and called himself “a lonely voice” because he doesn’t believe in “drone assassinations of people.”

“I personally think that we do more harm than good by having our drones attack some potential terrorists who have not been tried or proven that they are guilty,” Carter said.

“But in the meantime, the drone attacks also kill women and children, sometimes at weddings, and I think this arises more new terrorists than it possibly corrects in maybe killing a few other terrorists leaders so that’s the kind of thing that I think we should correct.”

Carter didn’t mention a specific act, but he also said that “we have now violated a longstanding policy” in the United States “of preserving the privacy of American citizens.”

“We now have passed laws that permit eavesdropping on private telephone calls and private communications. In the past when I was president we passed a law that that could not be done in a single case unless you got a judge to decide in advance that this was a national security question which was very rare. Now it's done all over America,” he said.

"So I think we need to back off from the overcorrection of the problem with the terrorists in 9/11 and restore basic human rights as spelled out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” he continued. “There are 30 paragraphs in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and my estimation is that at the present time the United States is violating ten out of thirty. Other countries are doing the same, but I was just referring to my own country.”

Friedersdorf: 'Obama terrorizes innocent Pakistanis on an almost daily basis'

I agree with this:

I find Obama likable when I see him on TV. He is a caring husband and father, a thoughtful speaker, and possessed of an inspirational biography. On stage, as he smiles into the camera, using words to evoke some of the best sentiments within us, it's hard to believe certain facts about him:    

1. Obama terrorizes innocent Pakistanis on an almost daily basis. The drone war he is waging in North Waziristan isn't "precise" or "surgical" as he would have Americans believe. It kills hundreds of innocents, including children. And for thousands of more innocents who live in the targeted communities, the drone war makes their lives into a nightmare worthy of dystopian novels. People are always afraid. Women cower in their homes. Children are kept out of school. The stress they endure gives them psychiatric disorders. Men are driven crazy by an inability to sleep as drones buzz overhead 24 hours a day, a deadly strike possible at any moment. At worst, this policy creates more terrorists than it kills; at best, America is ruining the lives of thousands of innocent people and killing hundreds of innocents for a small increase in safety from terrorists. It is a cowardly, immoral, and illegal policy, deliberately cloaked in opportunistic secrecy. And Democrats who believe that it is the most moral of all responsible policy alternatives are as misinformed and blinded by partisanship as any conservative ideologue. 
2. Obama established one of the most reckless precedents imaginable: that any president can secretly order and oversee the extrajudicial killing of American citizens. Obama's kill list transgresses against the Constitution as egregiously as anything George W. Bush ever did. It is as radical an invocation of executive power as anything Dick Cheney championed. The fact that the Democrats rebelled against those men before enthusiastically supporting Obama is hackery every bit as blatant and shameful as anything any talk radio host has done.  
3. Contrary to his own previously stated understanding of what the Constitution and the War Powers Resolution demand, President Obama committed U.S. forces to war in Libya without Congressional approval, despite the lack of anything like an imminent threat to national security.

Why I Refuse to Vote for Barack Obama || Conor Friedersdorf

The President’s Private War by Andrew P. Napolitano -- Antiwar.com

Against citizens of a country that we are not at war with, President Obama has done the following:

In his three-plus years in office, Obama has launched 254 drones toward persons in Pakistan, and they collectively have killed 1,277 persons there. The New America Foundation, a Washington think tank that monitors the presidential use of drones in Pakistan, estimates that between 11 and 17 percent of the drone victims are innocent Pakistani civilians. So much for Brennan’s surgical strikes. So much for Holder’s due process.

The President’s Private War by Andrew P. Napolitano -- Antiwar.com

Two US Drone Strikes Kill Up to 21 People in Pakistan -- News from Antiwar.com

Two U.S. drones strikes in north-west Pakistan have killed up 21 people on Thursday and wounded several others, according to Pakistani officials.

Pakistani officials said that the first attack launched two missiles and killed at least five “militants,” and wounded several others. A second attack in the same area in North Waziristan, killed 15 Uzbek fighters, the officials said.

Two US Drone Strikes Kill Up to 21 People in Pakistan -- News from Antiwar.com

The “Underwear Bomber” Had Help from the U.S. Government

From the Tea Party Economist Blog:

In the hoopla about the so-called underwear bomber, this got little publicity. One of the people on the plane has gone public with an amazing account. This is from his blog site.

The “Underwear Bomber” Had Help from the U.S. Government || Tea Party Economist

Yes, Governments Do Lie To Those They Govern

On the recent Iranian terror plot, the writers at the Daily Kos express some skepticism about Hillary Clinton's very telling question regarding the believability of the foiled plot. If you missed it, Hillary said: "The idea that they would attempt to go to a Mexican cartel to solicit murder-for-hire to kill the Saudi ambassador, nobody could make that up, right?"

The Daily Kos Responds: "Wrong, Hillary. Somebody Could Make That Up To Start a War With Iran. Remember Curveball?

The Daily Kos isn't the only outlet who expressed some skepticism on the matter.

Monthly Review expresses major doubt on the matter as well. They are more forthright.

Sure they could, Madam Secretary. You could. So could the same people who lied to us about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction, ties to al-Qaeda and responsibility for 9/11. You guys lie all the time. That's your job.

Iran hasn't attacked another country in more than 200 years. Its government works day and night to improve its relations with its mainly Muslim neighbors. But as ludicrous as the assassination plot charge is, it comes at a very serious time.

Ron Paul: Golden Rule Could End Terrorist Attacks | The National Press Club

If the United States stopped occupying other nations, terrorist attacks would cease, Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul said Wednesday at the National Press Club.

Paul, a Republican who represents the Texas 14th Congressional District, said America’s decision years ago to build military bases in the Middle East incited terrorist attacks which drew the nation to begin occupying the region, causing further attacks. Citing Lebanon in the early 1980’s as an example, the congressman said when American military personnel withdrew the attacks “just stopped.”

“I don’t know why we can’t think about a foreign policy of good will…treat people like you would like to be treated. The Golden Rule could apply," he said.

Ron Paul: Golden Rule Could End Terrorist Attacks | The National Press Club

Video Flashback: Ron Paul schools Laura Ingraham

The Nuremburg Trials Definition of Aggression

An aggressor, for the purposes of this article, means that state which is first to commit any of the following actions:

1. Declaration of war upon another State.

2. Invasion by its armed forces, with or without a declaration of war, of the territory of another State.

3. Attack by its land, naval or air forces, with or without a declaration of war, on the territory, vessels or aircraft of another State.

No political, military, economic or other considerations may serve as an excuse or justification for such actions, but exercise of the right of legitimate self-defense, that is to say, resistance to an act of aggression, or action to assist a State which has been subjected to aggression, shall not constitute a war of aggression.

Source: The Avalon Project

Video: Jay Carney defends the undefendable

Jake Tapper grills Jay Carney on the killing of Anwar Awalaki; asks for proof. This is four minutes of amazing.

Video: Obama does more war than his predecessor