Showing posts with label truth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label truth. Show all posts

Friday, January 5, 2018

World News and Current Events 2018


The following post contains video playlists of "Alternative News and Opinion" which is missing from the North American and European News stations. I have included them here so that others may discover a different point of view without having to rely on biased narratives from the Western mainstream media which is owned and driven by an economic cartel.

Here is the other side of the story to help you connect the dots and figure out what is happening in the world, The only way democracy can survive, is for its people to be well informed and given the opportunity to investigate for themselves. Question everything. ~ Stewart Brennan

Russia Today (Live)


World News 2018


South Front Military Review 2018


Debate on Global Issues 2018


Important Information 2018


US News 2018


Syria News 2018


Yemen News 2018


Iran News 2018


Iraq News 2018


Palestine News Israeli Crimes 2018


The Russian Perspective 2017 – 2018


Ukraine News 2016 – 2018


Turkey News 2017 – 2018


Viewpoints Discussion and Opinion 2017 – 2018


Global Economic News 2017 – 2018


Current Affairs Important Interviews 2017 – 2018


Egypt News 2016 – 2018


Bahrain News 2016 – 2018


Libya News 2016 – 2018


Important Documentaries


Abby Martin – The Empire Files


George Galloway Comment and Opinion


New Age Weather


Space News


English FA Cup 2017 – 2018


Revolution Music




Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Today's Current Events, News and Opinion

Daily Video Updates on Important News & Information


Russia Today (LIVE)




Video Source: http://rt.com/on-air/


World News




Palestine - Israeli Crimes




Ken O’Keefe - Truth Justice Peace (TJP)




Important Information 2.0



America - The Police State




Syria: News & Information




Ukraine Insurrection Coup & Revolution



Storm Clouds Gathering - Connecting the Dots

 


Global Economic News




Debate - Global Issues




 George Galloway - Comment & Opinion 




Al Etejah - World News




Turkey – News & Information




Egypt – News & Information




Yemen - News & Information



Libya - News & Information


 

Bahrain - News & Information




Iran: News & Information



New Age Weather




Important Documentaries




More Important Information




Space News




Road to Endless War – (Series)




Music for the Revolutionary Mind




Source: World United Music & News
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCMPkpKACKgL8S2hvyDcmLoxw9WZSHRMZ

Global Revolution



Watch live streaming video from globalrevolution at livestream.com

 

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Mainstream Journalists Expose 9/11 Cover Up


The aftermath of the 9/11 attack

By: Kevin Barrett
Story Source: Press TV

Several leading American mainstream journalists say that the US government is lying about 9/11 and the so-called war on terror. Unfortunately, media owners and editors won't let them report their findings.
 
Recently, Seymour Hersh, America's top mainstream investigative reporter, broke the news that the US government's claim to have killed Osama Bin Laden on May 2nd, 2011 is “a big lie. There is not one word of truth in it.”

Hersh went on to harshly criticize his long-time employer, the New York Times, and other big media outlets: “We lie about everything, lying has become the staple.” He said all big US media outlets should be shut down for lying to the American people.

Other mainstream journalists agree that the US government’s story of Osama Bin Laden and 9/11 is a big lie. Sherwood Ross, an award-winning journalist who has worked for the City News Bureau of Chicago, the Chicago Daily News, and for Reuters and other wire services, told me in a recent radio interview:

“It's very doubtful that Muslims were behind 9/11. Think about this for one minute: That President Bush's family had done business with the family of the man who allegedly made the terrorist attack, Osama Bin Laden. The Bin Laden family was actually on the board of Bush's oil company. How is it possible that of all the billions of families in the world, the one family that makes the attack on America has done business with the President of America. That sounds more like a favor than anything else. I don't think 9/11 was an Arab conspiracy or a Muslim conspiracy. I think it's an American conspiracy to overthrow the government of the United States and install what is becoming a police state, and also to advance the imperial ambitions of the United States, to swindle the Middle East out of their energy resources.”

Ross explained that American journalists are no longer free to expose even the most outrageous official falsehoods and fabrications:

“You don't see any serious questioning by the mainstream media. I thought one of the tip-offs that it was a put-up job was when a cameraman from a little weekly in Pennsylvania went to the site where this airliner had supposedly crashed (on 9/11). And he said, 'I didn't see any airliner. I saw a hole in the ground. I didn't see any bodies. I didn't see any luggage.' All right, maybe that guy just made this up. But I don't think so. I think he was just doing his job. And then at the Pentagon, you had the claim that airliner hit it. But again, there was no wreckage. Reporters who worked in the Press Room at the Pentagon went out there on the lawn, and they couldn't see any airliner. So, over and over again, you have manufactured lies that the press largely is not reporting.”

I asked Ross whether he is allowed to express such views in his articles for the Miami Herald, the Chicago Daily News, or the wire services. He answered:

“Absolutely not. When I used to write for Reuters, covering workplace issues, for ten years, my columns were picked up from the New York Times to the L.A. Times. But if you write about 'why did 7 World Trade Center collapse when it wasn't hit by an airplane,' nobody will pick it up. So, now my columns are used on the Internet by bloggers, and they're used by Middle East wire services. I get phone calls from Press TV, and you can read my interviews there. But you won't see me quoted by the Associated Press.”

Another leading American journalist, Paul Craig Roberts, has also been banned from US mainstream media for telling the truth about 9/11. Dr. Roberts served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, won the French Legion of Honor and other awards for his contributions to economics, and has been a regular columnist for the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and other mainstream publications. But since he spoke out about the controlled demolitions of the three World Trade Center skyscrapers on 9/11, Paul Craig Roberts has been put on the mainstream media's no-publish list.

In a recent interview on my radio show, Dr. Roberts explained why the US mainstream media, as Seymour Hersh said, lies about everything:

“One of the worst things that ever happened (to America) was when President Clinton allowed five companies to concentrate the American media. That destroyed its independence. And ever since Clinton permitted that, which was totally against all American tradition, and totally against the antitrust law ... but in the United States, as we've seen, law doesn't mean anything anymore. The minute these five conglomerates concentrated the media, the independence of the media disappeared. It's no longer run by journalists, it's run by corporate advertising executives. The value of these media conglomerates resides in their federal broadcast licenses. And so they can't dare offend the government. Their licenses may not get renewed, and the entire multi-billion-dollar value of the companies would disappear. So, the so-called mainstream media is no longer the media. It doesn't tell you anything. It's a propaganda ministry - the Ministry of Propaganda. Gerald Celente calls them 'presstitutes.'”

Rather than writing for the mainstream media, Paul Craig Roberts is now exposing the fake killing of Osama Bin Laden and deconstructing the 9/11 false-flag operation for an independent outlet called the Institute for Political Economy. In a recent article published on the 12th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Dr. Roberts wrote:

“The neoconservatives who advocate America’s hegemony over the world called for 'a new Pearl Harbor' that would allow them to launch wars of conquest ... No evidence exists that supports the government’s 9/11 story ... On this 12th anniversary of a false-flag event, it is unnecessary for me to report the voluminous evidence that conclusively proves that the official story is a lie. You can read it for yourself. It is available online. You can read what the architects and engineers (for 9/11 truth) have to say. You can read the scientists’ reports. You can hear from the first responders who were in the WTC towers. You can read the pilots who say that the maneuvers associated with the airliner that allegedly hit the Pentagon are beyond their skills and most certainly were not performed by inexperienced pilots. You can read David Griffin’s many books. You can watch the film produced by Richard Gage and Architects & Engineers for 9/11 truth. You can read the 9/11 Toronto Report, International Hearings on 9/11.”

But don't bother reading the mainstream media. As Seymour Hersh, Sherwood Ross, Paul Craig Roberts, and a rapidly growing number of ordinary Americans realize, the mainstream media's motto is now: “We lie about everything. Lying has become the staple.”

The government’s not demanding an investigation into an event that is the greatest embarrassment to a “superpower” in world history is a complete give-away that 9/11 was a false-flag event.
 

ReThink911: The Evidence Might Surprise You

 


Source Video: Global Research
 

World Trade Center 7 Collapses on 911




Source Video:
 

Rosie O'Donnell & William Rodriguez On 9/11/2008




Source Video:
 

9/11 FireFighters - THREE Explosions After Plane Hit WTC




Source Video:

--------------------------------------- 
 
About: Dr. Kevin Barrett, a Ph.D. Arabist-Islamologist, is one of America's best-known critics of the War on Terror. Dr. Barrett has appeared many times on Fox, CNN, PBS and other broadcast outlets, and has inspired feature stories and op-eds in the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, the Chicago Tribune, and other leading publications. Dr. Barrett has taught at colleges and universities in San Francisco, Paris, and Wisconsin, where he ran for Congress in 2008. He is the co-founder of the Muslim-Christian-Jewish Alliance, and author of the books Truth Jihad: My Epic Struggle Against the 9/11 Big Lie (2007) and Questioning the War on Terror: A Primer for Obama Voters (2009). His website is: http://www.truthjihad.com/

 

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Japan’s Triple Meltdown: Current Info & Tour of Problems at Fukushima



Source Video: Global Research
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfkxEmCxHMo

Each week Fairewinds receives many questions about the ongoing tragedy unfolding in Japan as a result of the triple meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Join us as Fairewinds' Chief Engineer Arnie Gundersen highlights the many problems facing Japan as he takes you on a tour of the Fukushima Daiichi site by combining satellite video, animated graphics and photos to create a comprehensive and easy to follow video tour.

Original Video Post: Fairewinds
http://fairewinds.org/media/fairewinds-videos/tour-fukushima-daiichi

Please visit Fairewinds for more info.
 

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Why the US, UK, EU and Israel hate Syria


AFP Photo / Achilleas Zavallis

By: Adrian Salbuchi
Source: Russia Today

A young, soft-spoken girl living the Syrian tragedy spells it out with far more common sense, truth and honesty than powerful Western governments and their money-controlled mass media puppets.

Identifying herself only as “Syrian, Patriot, anti-Neocon, anti-NWO, anti-Zionist”, early last year she set up her own YouTube Channel (YouTube/User/SyrianGirlpartisan).

In a short (nine-minute) video she explains “eight reasons why the NWO (New World Order) hates Syria.” We would all do well to listen in…

Her ‘Top Eight Reasons Why They Hate Us’ is an excellent wrap-up, applicable to just about every self-respecting country in the world: no Rothschild-controlled Central Bank, no IMF debt, no genetically modified foods, oil and pipelines, anti-secret societies, anti-Zionism, secularism and nationalism.

Why The N.W.O. Hates Syria



Video Source: SyrianGirlPartisan

Her brief message unravels as a sort of common sense manual which explains why the United States of America, the United Kingdom, the European Union (especially France) and Israel are so keen on destroying Syria, a country whose leadership just won’t bow down to the New World Order elites embedded deep inside the Western powers’ own public (government) and private (corporate/banking) power structures.

She describes these eight reasons succinctly and convincingly, giving the world much food for thought and should hopefully inspire deep soul-searching. Especially amongst the people of the US, UK, EU and Israel who are the only populations that can put very direct pressure on their elected politicians in Washington, London, Paris, Tel Aviv and other Western capitals, forcing them to stop behaving like global criminals gone berserk, and to start heeding the word of We the People, in a responsible and democratic manner.

8 reasons the New World Order hates Syria

1) Syria’s Central Bank is state-owned & controlled – In other words, it manages its national currency so that it serves the Syrian people and not the Rothschild-controlled global bankers operating from their New York, London, Frankfurt, Tel Aviv, Basel and Paris hideouts.

This means that the volume of currency it issues is in proper sync with the true needs of real economy of work, labor, production and all that is useful to Syria’s people, instead of being in sync with parasitic, usurious, speculative foreign financiers. The latter seek to control local central banks so they can artificially limit the volume of currency available for genuine economic needs, especially the no-interest credit needed to finance useful things in the real economy: power plants, roads, gas works, housing, private enterprise and initiatives. This forces productive players – public and private - to have to resort to deadly interest and usury-based private banking loans whereupon the eternal debt chain starts to grow and grow as the so-called ‘sovereign debt crises’ that hit country after country throughout decades of time eloquently show.

By artificially distorting the volume of ‘public currency’issued by sovereign central banks that generates no interest, countries are thus forced to resort to high interest bearing ‘private currency’ (loans) handled by the monopolistic private bankster cabal in the hands of Rothschild, Rockefeller, Warburg, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, CitiCorp, JP Morgan Chase interests.

Clearly, a very good reason for these parasitic banksters to want to take out Syria.


 
screenshot from youtube video by SyrianGirlpartisan

2) Syria has no IMF (International Monetary Fund) debt. This means that Syria’s leadership understands that the IMF – a public multilateral agency of member governments - is controlled by the global mega-bankers, and acts as their auditor and debt collection police whenever one of its weaker member states runs into sovereign debt trouble, which is another way of saying when those countries reach a point where they cannot siphon enough money out of their real economies - the work, toil and labor of its people - to hand it over to the parasitic private global bankers.

In a sense, the IMF’s real job is to act as the global power elite’s tax office – its ‘IRS’ so to speak – only that it does not tax people directly, but rather through proxy government and nation-states’ tax offices. Are we starting to understand the real roots of the ‘debt crises’ hitting Greece, Cyprus, Ireland, Argentina, Spain, Italy, UK, US, Portugal, France?

Global slavery couldn’t have been better thought out and planned!

Actually, true Islamic nations rightly reject banking fractional lending and interest practices as being immoral. That’s what Libya’s Gaddafi did, and what Syria and Iran presently do.

Clearly, a very good reason for parasitic banksters to want to take out Syria, just as they took out Libya and now target Iran.

3) Syria has banned genetically modified (GMO) seeds – Bashar Assad banned GMO’s in order “to preserve human health,” knowing full well that the Monsantos of this world are out to control the world’s entire food supply, because coming global crises will not only be about oil, but about how much food countries will be able to put on their people’s tables.

That’s why after invading Iraq, the US ordered that only Monsanto seeds should to be used. That’s why submissive client states like Argentina are poisoning their own soil and people by bowing down really low to Monsanto’s demands.

Clearly, a very good reason for Monsanto to want to take out Syria.

4) Syria’s population is well informed about the New World Order - Its media and universities openly debate the global power elite’s influence in things. This means that they fully grasp the fact that real power in the West lies not in the White House, 10 Downing Street, Congress or Parliament, but rather with the complex and powerful grid of elite think-tanks led by New York’s Council on Foreign Relations, the Bilderberg Conference, Trilateral Commission, Americas Society, World Economic forum and London’s Royal Institute of International Affairs, which interact with mega-bankers, media, universities, the military, multinationals and the corporate over-world.

As our young friend aptly explains, Syrians dare to talk about secret societies like Freemasonry or Yale University’s Skull & Bone Lodge whose members include top cats like former President George W Bush and current Secretary of State John Kerry.

Clearly, a very good reason for those top cats to order their errand boy Obama to take out Syria.

5) Syria has massive oil and gas reserves – here we go again! Every time the West goes to war to protect “freedom, human rights and democracy,” there’s always the nauseous stench of oil; whether in Iraq, Libya, Kuwait, the Falklands, Afghanistan… Syria has offshore and onshore oil and gas reserves, and is helping to build a massive pipeline together with Iran, but without Western oil giants’ control. Clearly, the full militarization of all oil production and reserve zones, and the militarization of transportation routes to ‘bring oil home’ from everywhere in the world, is a key on-going joint US/UK strategy.


 
A worker walks in the Ebla natural gas plant near Homs, northeast of Damascus (Reuters / Khaled al-Hariri)

Clearly, a very good reason for BP, Exxon, Royal Dutch Shell, Texaco, Total, Repsol and Chevron to want to take out Syria.

6) Syria clearly and unequivocally opposes Zionism and Israel - Israel practices criminal racist apartheid against the occupied Palestinians. Syria’s leadership has no qualms in accusing Israel of being what it is: a racist, imperialist, genocidal entity, as the Wall of Hate Israel erected around Palestine clearly shows. Israel manages what can only be described as an Auschwitz-like mega-concentration camp in Palestine with millions of ill-treated, often-assassinated and humiliated prisoners.

Such geopolitical clarity of mind was shared by Gadhafi’s Libya and Saddam’s Iraq, and today also by Iran, China, Russia and India.

Clearly a very good reason for political juggernauts like AIPAC (American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee), the World Jewish Congress, the ADL (Anti-Defamation League), Likud, Kadima and Netanyahu/Lieberman to want to take out Syria.

7) Syria is one of the last secular Muslim states in the Middle East, whilst Zionist Jewish supremacists - in line with born-again-Israel-First-Bushite ‘Christian’ kooks in the West - need for everybody to align to the will of their dark demiurge god which has its own ‘chosen people’.

The Global Power Elite’s implicit order is clear: everybody must believe in Israeli superiority, whilst our young Syrian friend aptly points out that Syria, like Saddam’s Iraq, Gaddafi’s Libya and Iran just could not be convinced of that.

She adds that in Syria, “asking about religion is not polite,” because Syria has bred many of mankind’s prime religions for thousands of years, and those millennia have taught Syrians to be sensitive, tolerant and respectful of all creeds. Something we clearly do not see in the pro-West Arabian sheikdoms, nor in the US, UK and EU with its anti-Islamic paranoia, and where laws are passed imposing the most blatant cultural, political and historical lies demanded by religious bigots who insist that their god will only accept their own holocaust offerings.

Clearly, another very good reason for neocon fanatics and their Orwellian Thought Police to want to take out Syria.

8) Syria proudly maintains and protects its political and cultural national identity – she stresses how Syria “holds on to its uniqueness,” whilst respecting the uniqueness of others. The standardized coming world government simply abhors anybody standing up to its imposed standardization of thought, behavior and ‘values’, where the West’s global megabrands, shopping malls, and fashion & style dictatorships “makes every place look pretty much the same, which leads to a very boring world.”


 
Syrian women eat ice cream at the Al-Hamidieh market in old Damascus, September 8, 2013 (Reuters / Khaled al-Hariri)

Today, revolutionary thought in the West even amongst the young, boils down to choosing between Coke and Pepsi.

Clearly, a very good reason for Coke, Pepsi, McDonalds, Levis, Lauder, Planet Hollywood and Burger King to want to take out Syria.

Our young Syrian friend ends her message by reminding us that “if Syria falls, it could be the tipping point the ends in victory for the New World Order,” adding that today “Syria is the frontline against the New World Order.”

Wise words from a young lady who understands the catastrophic failure of the Western powers’ political class, who have now completely turned our world upside down; where the very worst and most malignant criminals have infected governments and private power structures, be it in Washington, New York, London, and Paris, or in Berlin, Rome, Bogota, Madrid, Tokyo, Seoul, Amsterdam, Buenos Aires or Riyadh.

If sometimes Hollywood serves as a showcase that reveals the darkest recesses of the Western power elite’s sick group psyche, we might even say that they are playing our the ‘Planet of the Apes’ saga, where a weird and hellish genetic inversion places horrendously destructive animals in places of world power, whilst noble vanquished humans are enslaved and thrown into cages.

Is this today’s metaphor best describing the US against Syria drama?

The eight points mentioned above are as good a guide to get all our countries back on course as we can muster in today’s troubled, out-of-control world.

Whether American, European, Arab, Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu or Shinto, the time has come for ‘We the People’ to make our voices heard on the streets, with neighbors, family and friends, work and school colleagues, through social networks, demanding that Western so-called ‘democratically-elected’ governments – all of which are the direct result of the will of money-sloshing elites that financed their climb to top government posts through their favorite lie they call ‘democracy’ - stop doing what they are doing, and start doing what we demand they do. Now; immediately: we must take our countries back.

Our young Syrian friend has certainly set an example for all of us to follow.
----------------
Links:

Adrian Salbuchi – Official website
Syrian Partisan Girl - YouTube

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

The Truth About the Syrian War and What You’re NOT Being Told

 



Video Source: Storm Clouds Gathering

Here is what is really going on in Syria.
Follow Storm Clouds Gathering:


To the People of the USA now is your Time to Rise, Organize, and Mobilize!

Contact your Congress Person and tell them NO ATTACK or WAR on SYRIA!


Find Your US House Representative here -

Find Your US Senator here


 

 

Friday, February 12, 2010

Ex UN arms inspector: Iran truth overcomes US mendacity





Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=118449§ionid=351020104


Former Chief UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter says the truth about Iran's nuclear program is prevailing over the hype the western media is creating against Iran.

The former UN official took aim at the existing western media hype against the Iranian nuclear program and some personalities who are very good at marring the image of Iran, including David Albright, whose “commentary and analysis is more colored by the opinions of his US and Israeli contacts and connections than it is by his first hand experience.”

“I see the truth about Iran's nuclear program prevailing over the fictions David Albright and others are putting out there,” Ritter told Press TV.

Ritter made the remarks after Albright, who is the head of a nuclear think-tank close to the White House, claimed that Iran is on course to produce enough highly-enriched uranium to make nuclear weapons.

Ritter ruled out any likely military offensive against Iran, as he said Iran had law and facts on his side.

Albright was described by Ritter as "a biased personality” regarding Iran's nuclear program who relies on other people's information.

“He is specialized in exploiting the preconceived notions that exist in the West, in the United States and elsewhere about the evil intent of Iran. It is not a fact based analysis. This is faith-based analysis,” the ex-UN official added.

“When it comes to Iran, the truth does not matter. What matters is that the public has been conditioned by the media and the media uses personalities like David Albright to create hype, to create a mythology of wrong-doing that does not focus on the facts of the situation,” he maintained.

“Albright, definitely has an agenda and he is somebody who is not willing to put the facts on the table and let the facts drive you towards conclusion. He is obviously a person who has a bias against Iran. It's a built-in bias that presumes guilt on the part of Iran; therefore he interprets every piece of data that is coming out of Iran as being evidence of wrong doing on the part of Iran."

He accused Albright of taking advantage of Iran's nuclear dispute to get his name and his organization's name in the spot light on a frequent basis through the “fantastic quotes” he provides for reporters to use in their articles.

“It's all about image as opposed to substance. That's unfortunately where we are today when it comes to mainstream western media analysis of Iran and Iran's nuclear program. It's not about the substance. It's not about the reality, it's about the image,” he opined.

Prior to the US invasion of Iraq in March 2003, Ritter publicly argued that Iraq possessed no significant weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). He became a popular anti-war figure and talk show commentator as a result of his stance.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Bipartisan Group of Legislators Opposes Increasing Troops in Afghanistan












By: Susan Littlepage – Truthout Report
http://www.truthout.org/1203099


A bipartisan group of legislators wrote a letter to President Barack Obama to oppose his call to increase the number of US troops in Afghanistan. The group consists of Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.).

Feingold, McGovern and Jones said they think that Congress should debate and vote on an increase in troops for the eight-year war in Afghanistan. The bipartisan group also opposes the increase because the three men said they think it could undermine the United States' ability to address the global threat posed by al Qaeda, and they expressed concern for the loss in lives and resources from the war, as well as concern that the war creates many mental health troubles such as post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide among many soldiers.

In the letter, the members wrote,"Congress should vote on whether to continue an armed nation-building campaign in Afghanistan that has already cost the lives of over eight hundred brave American men and women and hundreds of billions of dollars."

When President Obama gave his presidential address on Tuesday night, he said that we owe our people and troops a complete review of the war in Afghanistan and that it is a vital necessity to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, starting in early 2010, to target the insurgency and secure key population centers. "I do not make this decision lightly," Obama said.

Obama estimated that $30 billion would be spent this year on the war in Afghanistan, and he said the security of not only Americans but also people in Afghanistan and Pakistan is at stake. He said he aims for the troops to disrupt and dismantle al Qaeda and to deny al Qaeda a safe haven for violent extremism in Afghanistan. Obama also said he aims to start sending troops home after 18 months and hopes for a "responsible transition of our forces out of Afghanistan."

Feingold, McGovern and Jones wrote the president, "We appreciate your thoughtful deliberation on this topic and commend you for saying when you will begin to reduce our large-scale military presence in Afghanistan.†But we cannot support your decision to prolong and expand a risky and unsustainable strategy in the region.

"While we support ongoing civilian engagement in Afghanistan and counterterrorism efforts in the region, we do not believe more American lives should be risked to support an illegitimate, corrupt government fighting what is largely a civil war."

Obama said that extra troops in Afghanistan would increase the United States' ability to train competent Afghan security forces and to partner with them so that more Afghanis can get into the fight and so that the troops will help create the conditions for the US to transfer responsibility to the people in Afghanistan.
The three congressmen said that sending more troops to Afghanistan is "unlikely to help, and could hurt, our efforts to address al Qaeda's safe haven in Pakistan."Also, they said al Qaeda and its affiliates are also located in Yemen, Somalia, North Africa and other places around the world."Rather than investing so many of our resources in Afghanistan, we should pursue a comprehensive, global counterterrorism strategy," they said.

Feingold, McGovern and Jones expressed doubt that the US military objectives that the Obama administration has identified may not be achievable and that a troop buildup could be counterproductive. "There is a serious danger that the ongoing, large-scale US military presence will continue to provoke greater militancy in the region and further destabilize both Afghanistan and nuclear-armed Pakistan," they said. "The pursuit of unrealistic nation-building goals is making it harder to isolate members of al Qaeda from those who do not have an international terrorist agenda."

The group of congressmen also expressed concern for the strain that sending extra troops to Afghanistan would put on people in the military and their communities.

"In spite of the military's best efforts, suicide and post-traumatic stress rates continue to soar," they said. "The ability of individual service members and their units to rest, recuperate, retrain and re-equip themselves for redeployment is stretched beyond its limits. Finally, our ability to care for the wounded is severely over-burdened."

Also, Feingold, McGovern and Jones said they are really concerned about the cost of sending more troops. "At a time when our country faces record deficits, and many Americans are struggling to make ends meet, it simply does not make sense to spend tens of billions of dollars to escalate our military involvement in Afghanistan," they said.

They asked Obama to reconsider his decision and urged him not to send any extra troops to Afghanistan "until Congress has enacted appropriations to pay for the cost of such an increase, and that you propose reductions in spending to pay for the cost of any military operations in Afghanistan."

Such an important decision shouldn't be made without the support of the American people and their representatives in Congress, they said."History has shown that our national security is often best served when the political branches work together to form a consensus on major strategic decisions," they said. "Congress should vote on whether to continue an armed nation-building campaign in Afghanistan that has already cost the lives of over eight hundred brave American men and women and hundreds of billions of dollars."

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Andrew Bacevich, America and the World





Friday 15 August 2008
By: Michael Winship, Truthout \ Perspective


In a letter written in 1648, Swedish statesman Axel Oxenstierna, chancellor to both King Gustavus Adolphus and Queen Christina, counseled, "Know, my son, with how little wisdom the world is governed."

The fighting between Russia and the former Soviet republic of Georgia is an unnerving reminder of that, and of how quickly the balance of global power can be tilted from unexpected directions with barely a warning.

Some hawks and neo-cons called for NATO intervention or even suggested we send in Stinger missiles or the 82nd Airborne as a peacekeeping force. President Bush warned, "Russia has invaded a sovereign neighboring state and threatens a democratic government elected by its people. Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century."

Perhaps, but the reality of the early 21st century is that, in the short run, at least, the president's words ring hollow. In spite of past promises of support to Georgia, Russia is key to our efforts in the Middle East and our European allies are dependent on Russia for energy. The invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq have both our military strength and our international credibility stretched perilously thin at a time when oil-rich Russia is reemerging as a superpower. We've boxed ourselves in.

It was in that light that I came upon the Oxenstierna quote the other night, while re-reading the late historian Barbara Tuchman's "The March of Folly," a knowing compendium, from ancient Troy to Vietnam, of the ways in which, given half a chance, those in power will steer their ships of state straight into the rocks. In the first chapter, she also quotes American President John Adams: "While all other sciences have advanced" - you can almost hear him sighing - "government is at a stand; little better practiced now than three or four thousand years ago."

Andrew J. Bacevich probably would agree with all of the above. The retired Army colonel, a West Point graduate, teaches history and international relations at Boston University. His latest book, "The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism," explores our nation's current predicament, not just on the world stage, but here at home as well. He spoke with my colleague, Bill Moyers, on this week's edition of the PBS series, Bill Moyers Journal.

Bacevich speaks truth to power, no matter who's in power, which may be why those of both the left and right are eager to hear his views. Perhaps it's also because when he challenges American myths and illusions, he does so from a genuine patriotism forged in the fire of his experiences as a soldier in Vietnam and the death a year ago of his son, an Army lieutenant in Iraq. "The Limits of Power" is dedicated to the young man, but the senior Bacevich, a man of quiet, solid gravitas, holds his grief privately between himself and his family.

"Our foreign policy is something that is concocted in Washington, DC, but it reflects the perceptions of our political elite about what we the people want," he told Moyers. "And what we want, by and large is ... this continuing flow of very cheap consumer goods. We want to be able to pump gas into our cars regardless of how big they may happen to be. And we want to be able to do these things without having to think about whether or not the books are balanced at the end of the month, or the end of the fiscal year."

To that end, he says, "One of the ways we avoid confronting our refusal to balance the books is to rely increasingly on the projection of American military power around the world to try to maintain this dysfunctional system or set of arrangements that have evolved over the last 30 or 40 years."

"... I think historians a hundred years from now will puzzle over how it could be that the United States of America, the most powerful nation in the world, as far back as the early 1970's came to recognize that dependence on foreign oil was a problem, posed a threat, compromised our freedom of action. How every president from Richard Nixon down ... declared, 'We're going to fix the problem.' [But] none of them did."

He continued, "The clearest statement of what I value is found in the Preamble to the Constitution. There is nothing in the Preamble to the Constitution which defines the purpose of the United States of America as remaking the world in our image, which I view as a fool's errand. I believe that the framers of the Constitution were primarily concerned with focusing on the way we live here, the way we order our affairs. To try to ensure that as individuals, we can have an opportunity to pursue our, perhaps, differing definitions of freedom, but also so that, as a community, we could live together in some kind of harmony. And that future generations would also be able to share in those same opportunities.... With the current crisis in American foreign policy, unless we do change our ways, the likelihood that our children, our grandchildren, the next generation will enjoy the opportunities that we've had is very slight because we're squandering our power. We are squandering our wealth."

Bacevich believes, "The Congress, especially with regard to matters related to national security policy, has thrust power and authority to the executive branch. We have created an imperial presidency. The Congress no longer is able to articulate a vision of what is the common good. The Congress exists primarily to ensure the reelection of members of Congress."

That imperial presidency, he says, "has made our democracy a false one. We're going through the motions of a democratic political system. But the fabric of democracy, I think, really has worn very thin."

Iraq, Bacevich concludes, "was a fundamental mistake. It never should have been undertaken. And we're never going to do this kind of thing again." This might, he thinks, "be the moment when we look ourselves in the mirror [and] ... see what we have become. And perhaps undertake an effort to make those changes in the American way of life that will enable us to preserve for future generations that which we value most about the American way of life."

Andrew Bacevich's words should echo down the corridors of Congress and the halls of the White House, no matter who becomes our next president.
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The full broadcast of Bill Moyers Journal will be devoted to Bill's conversation with Bacevich (check local listings) http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/about/airdates.html

, and further discussion will continue online at the Moyers Blog. http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/index-flash.html

Michael Winship is senior writer of the weekly public affairs program, Bill Moyers Journal, which airs Friday nights on PBS. Check local airtimes or comment at The Moyers Blog at www.pbs.org/moyers.
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Michael Winship is senior writer of the weekly public affairs program Bill Moyers Journal, which airs Friday nights on PBS. Check local airtimes or comment at The Moyers Blog at www.pbs.org/moyers.

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