What is that old Indian fakir phrase, ‘the friend of my enemy is my enemy’?
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/02/26/world/26cnd-pakistan1.600.jpg

Posted by: Lai Rouche | Jun 11 2008 19:49 utc | 3

Why Is Bush Helping Saudi Arabia Build Nukes?

…
In 2004, Vice President Dick Cheney said, “[Iran is] already sitting on an awful lot of oil and gas. No one can figure why they need nuclear, as well, to generate energy.” Mr. Cheney got it right about Iran. But a potential Saudi nuclear program is just as suspicious. For a country with so much oil, gas and solar potential, importing expensive and dangerous nuclear power makes no economic sense.
…
That’s not good enough. We would do well to remember that it was the U.S. who provided the original nuclear assistance to Iran under the Atoms for Peace program, before Iran’s monarch was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Such an uprising in Saudi Arabia today could be at least as damaging to U.S. security.
We’ve long known that America’s addiction to oil pays for the spread of extremism. If this Bush nuclear deal moves forward, Saudi Arabia’s petrodollars could flow to the dangerous expansion of nuclear technologies in the most volatile region of the world.
While the scorching Saudi Arabian sun heats sand dunes instead of powering photovoltaic panels, millions of Americans will fork over $4 a gallon without realizing that their gas tank is fueling a nascent nuclear arms race.

Posted by: Hamburger | Jun 11 2008 21:18 utc | 5

@U$:
I’ve called my Rep and John Conyers.
Best part: 24 Republicans voted the Articles forward.
Now, if someone would just please give the creep a blowjob so we could move on this….

Posted by: catlady | Jun 11 2008 22:55 utc | 7

The Speaker’s excuses are frivolous.The Speaker’s excuses are frivolous.The Speaker’s excuses are frivolous.The Speaker’s excuses are frivolous.

Pelosi’s inaction on impeachment is reckless assault on the foundations of this Constitution and Republic. She remains a domestic enemy. She is a threat to this Constitution. She has exhausted her useful service to the United States. She must be lawfully removed as Speaker.

She must be lawfully removed as Speaker. She must be lawfully removed as Speaker. She must be lawfully removed as Speaker.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jun 12 2008 6:37 utc | 9

The House has voted to send the Articles of Impeachment to the Judiciary Committee. If Conyers starts the ball rolling by allowing hearings to start, there will be investigations, although it’s unknown at what pace they would move. If Pelosi is lawfully removed as Speaker, I owe Uncle a bottle of champagne.

Posted by: Copeland | Jun 12 2008 7:23 utc | 11

@ b 2
I suppose it’s uncharitable to mention Obama’s alleged views on such
attacks, especially since the word “Pakistan” seems not to appear
here , the Obama campaign’s web page devoted to foreign policy. I wonder if the “P” word was
purged after the brouhaha following “alleged” remarks by the candidate.
Does anyone have an (old?) official link to a statement by the candidate on
striking Al Qaeda in Pakistan? The present fiasco offers a good chance to redress earlier rhetoric, but will probably not be exploited.

Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Jun 12 2008 7:39 utc | 13

More reasons for pride in U.S. justice.

Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Jun 12 2008 12:13 utc | 15

Thanks to Ensley for the link, which, to me, constitutes “strike one”.
Strike two was his AIPAC pandering. Others here undoubtedly can name “their” strikes three to twelve, as well as numerous foul balls, but I’ll wait before calling him “out”. Apparently others see things differently . The last link also has an interesting run-down on possible distaff Obama running mates from the Senate, but fails to mention Governor Kathleen Sibelius of Kansas, who, just by chance, was one of the participants at last week’s Bilderberg meeting.

Meanwhile, if this report from the notorious disinformation site Debka is as reliable as its forecast last year of a rise in the dollar toward parity with the Euro, then we all have reason to worry.

Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Jun 12 2008 13:04 utc | 17

human rights watch documents some of ethiopia’s war crimes in the ogaden in a new rpt out today — Collective Punishment: War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity in the Ogaden area of Ethiopia’s Somali Regional State
despite the following two paragraph mention, from what i’ve read so far, the rpt lets the u.s. get off way too easily, for instance, not even addressing the military-to-military training & armaments per ethiopia’s role in the GWOT.

While the UN and European Union have voiced public concern over the humanitarian situation, Ethiopia’s most important western donor and ally, the United States, has been publicly silent. At a September 2007 news conference in Addis Ababa, the US government’s top diplomat for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, described the allegations of abuses in Somali Region as “unsubstantiated.” Some observers told Human Rights Watch that the US embassy in Addis Ababa sent strong cables to Washington describing serious concerns over military abuses, and that these cables have been suppressed or ignored in Washington. Observers also say that while the US Ambassador to Ethiopia, Donald Yamamoto, has privately raised concerns over human rights abuses with Prime Minister Meles on several occasions, publicly the US embassy in Addis Ababa has actively downplayed concerns in the face of a worsening humanitarian situation.
The US State Department’s annual review of human rights in Ethiopia, issued in March 2008, provided a disingenuous analysis of the situation, noting that “fighting between government forces and the [ONLF…] resulted in widespread human rights abuses.” The report then singled out only the ONLF for “widespread human rights abuses” while implying that crimes committed by government forces occurred when “forces acted independently of government control.”

Posted by: b real | Jun 12 2008 15:41 utc | 19

HKOL, I couldn’t find your Wayne Madsen link, instead it was to the original Counterpunch article.
The closest I could find was this subscription-only article headline from January 2006.
If you have it could you please re-post?

Posted by: jonku | Jun 12 2008 16:58 utc | 21

michael klare article @ tomdispatch
Garrisoning the Global Gas Station: Challenging the Militarization of U.S. Energy Policy

American policymakers have long viewed the protection of overseas oil supplies as an essential matter of “national security,” requiring the threat of — and sometimes the use of — military force. This is now an unquestioned part of American foreign policy.
On this basis, the first Bush administration fought a war against Iraq in 1990-1991 and the second Bush administration invaded Iraq in 2003. With global oil prices soaring and oil reserves expected to dwindle in the years ahead, military force is sure to be seen by whatever new administration enters Washington in January 2009 as the ultimate guarantor of our well-being in the oil heartlands of the planet. But with the costs of militarized oil operations — in both blood and dollars — rising precipitously isn’t it time to challenge such “wisdom”? Isn’t it time to ask whether the U.S. military has anything reasonable to do with American energy security, and whether a reliance on military force, when it comes to energy policy, is practical, affordable, or justifiable?
…

dilip hiro: To Cope With Oil Shock, Emulate Japan

With the price of oil rocketing to the unprecedented level of $130 a barrel, there is a talk of another oil shock. Unfortunately, unlike past instances, this one is unlikely to subside, and may indeed keep intensifying. The only way out is for Western nations, the gluttonous users of petroleum, to cut their consumption and emulate Japan in its consistent drive for energy efficiency and alternate sources.
The present explosion in oil prices is the fourth of its kind, but different from the previous ones in 1973-74, 1980 and 1990-91. The earlier oil shocks were caused by interruption of supplies from the Middle East, respectively due to the war between the Arabs and Israel, the Iranian revolution, and Iraq’s invasion and occupation of Kuwait. Once peace returned, the new order became established or the invader was expelled, supplies returned to normal.
This time, though, there’s an imbalance between supply and demand, with no short-term prospect of the two balancing each other.
…

Posted by: b real | Jun 12 2008 18:55 utc | 23

latest michael weinstein analysis on somalia – The West Wins a Pyrrhic Victory in Somalia
weinstein drills in on the key bit in the controversial agreement b/w a faction of the ARS and the TFG on monday

Paragraph 7c states that “the ARS shall, through a solemn public statement cease and condemn all acts of armed violence in Somalia and dissociate itself from any armed groups or individuals that do not adhere to the terms of this Agreement,” including a ninety-day renewable cease-fire that would begin in early July. This provision severs the A.R.S.’s diplomatic faction from its military faction, which has been making gains on the ground in its insurgency against the Ethiopian and T.F.G. forces, and was opposed to the Djibouti talks, depriving the diplomatic faction of bargaining leverage and making it dependent on the West, whose strategy was to split the A.R.S. in order to “isolate” its military wing; that is, the diplomatic faction of the A.R.S. has been co-opted.

weinstein goes on to provide a quick sketch of the west’s role in last 18 months, making it more clear than he ever has of how the west has tried to shape the political situation in somalia. this recent bout of talks in djibouti was the latest effort to divide the opposition. the problem now though, as he correctly points out, is that the u.s. has actually strengthened the insurgency, since the military wing is the one that holds any power at this time and the ahmad/adan faction of the political wing now looks to have basically capitulated to the west/ethiopia. the idea that the u.n. will send troops into somalia so that ethiopia can begin to remove its troops is one most observers & experts do not take seriously. that contingent of the political wing, viewed by the u.s. as the “moderates”, has now been entirely “delegitimized” in the eyes of many, and plays into (the so-called extremist) aweys’ favor. the military wing again is where the real power rests & it has pledged to fight on until the ethiopian occupiers are driven out of somalia.
as weinstein mentions, no details have come out yet on exactly what it was that made ahmad capitulate & sign such an agreement. in the previous open thread i posted on the inner city press blogging from the u.n. security council entourage’s visit to djibouti last week, which remarked that the u.n. was offering attendees asylum so long as they sign something. icp’s matthew russell lee opined

With this gang, coercion may not be the right word. But the sincerity of commitments under duress remains dubious.

waiting for more details but, in the meantime, weinstein’s analysis is pretty solid

Posted by: b real | Jun 13 2008 4:43 utc | 25

@ jonku 21
This
is the correct link to Madsen’s assertions, which didn’t appear at his own web site, to my knowledge. Sorry to have pasted in the wrong link. I have no trouble with Uncle Scam’s suggestion to add salt, especially in this case. Still, there may be something it. At best, however, what is reported there would only be circumstantial evidence for darker suspicions.

With regard to darker suspicions, perhaps b can shed some light on this German affair with
coupled with foreign intrigue.

Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Jun 13 2008 7:42 utc | 27

@ Hannah K. O’Luthon, jonku, et al…
Wayne Madsen’s Bogus Intelligence “Sources”
Alex Constantine Rant
But then again, you have to then take AC w/salt too…

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jun 13 2008 8:01 utc | 29

Thank you both, for following up with the original link and a refutation.
From my limited point of view, when we see a person clanging on the bell of their belief it diminishes the point they make.
So the Alex Constantine rant against Wayne Madsen seems like a personal attack and less credible as a refutation of WM’s tenuous report of an “Israeli art student” explaining her role.
There is much misinformation and poor information mixed in with the factual information, small as it is. Perhaps we all admit that we can pick and choose our favorite interpretations of what is really happening.
As human beings we have the ability, curse or blessing to be able to review contradictory narratives and act according to our own analysis.
So bring it on! I am having a great time reading the supposed transcripted conversations at tbrnews.com — at the very least the writer has a pretty good handle on controversial conspiracy issues including JFK, CIA recruiting of anti-soviet nazi agents, the death of a recently-retired DCI and so on.
If not the writer has a terrific sense of humor, unlike the debka editors who lack even basic english skills.

Posted by: jonku | Jun 13 2008 9:17 utc | 31

@drunk as a rule – Great!!! A big Thank you very much to all Irish people who voted against this.

Posted by: b | Jun 13 2008 10:53 utc | 33

There is much misinformation and poor information mixed in with the factual information, small as it is. Perhaps we all admit that we can pick and choose our favorite interpretations of what is really happening.
As human beings we have the ability, curse or blessing to be able to review contradictory narratives and act according to our own analysis.

Aye there’s the rub.
What to do about that very large percentage of we, that being humanity, that cares not for factual information at all?
How can any analysis be complete when factual information is completely disregarded, to say nothing of seeking clarity in the cacaphony of mis/dis-info the entirely decrepit “old media” purveys?
I was reading some Monbiot essays and he wrote of a Brit rag that wrote an entirely false story about the efficacy of the US’s backward sex-ed programs…
How can it be called “open minded” if one ignores information that is damaging to your favourite pet thing, regardless of whatever this thing is.
Information that shows, quite conclusively, that your pet thing is factually baseless.
There is talk of impeachment in the air and for very good reason, they are criminal for actions that have been ably outlined quite factually by many here.
Fantastic claims were made by BushCo and they provided far less than fantastic evidence.
For you see, it is those that make the claims that must provide the facts; not for the leery to disprove.
Regardless, a very large percentage of the humans will still hew to this pet thing called “leader of the free world” or “Christians don’t do genocide” or “beacon on the hill” or “the country of my yout”.
This happens all the time, regardless of thing.
To humanities continued detriment…
Did anyone swing for Vietnam, yet another US version of “the Polish are coming”?

Posted by: jcairo | Jun 13 2008 18:35 utc | 35

click below for news of 58 year old dead guy.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/13/tim.russert/index.html
Timmy!

Posted by: gus | Jun 13 2008 21:06 utc | 37

b@28: it is absolutely maddening that amerikans are incapable of grasping the concept of TWO unjust wars being fought for the greedfucks who should find themselves, if justice existed for these miscreants, facing the loud end of a rifle in a firing squad.

Posted by: Anonymous | Jun 13 2008 23:30 utc | 39

nothing yet gus? well, here’s a little nugget i lifted from the comments section of another thread on another site. I’m pretty sure it came from Huffington, but i’ll check to make sure:

June 4, 2008
Wonder of wonder and miracle of miracles! Tim Russert, perhaps swept away in all the Hope and Change that’s sweeping the nation tonight, has had himself an epiphany of epic proportions, speaking words so remarkable that I nearly fell out of my chair in disbelief. Digg this: Tim Russert believes that there just might be a role that the media can play in keeping the election year focus geared towards big issues that are important to the American people, as opposed to the usual panoply of flag lapel pin nonsense! He actually said this!
Actually, he said this:
“But in an interesting way…it’s a role I think the media can play in really trying to keep pushing this back to this big debate on big issues and not get caught up in a lot of this minor squirmishing that goes on and videotape that gets released where we just run wild with it and sit back and say, what happened? Why did we not cover some of these big differences like Iraq, like Iran, like negotiating around the world, like health care?”
I know! Tim Russert, forswearing “running wild” with videotape? This suggests that Meet The Press could undergo a radical format change! Cover Iraq? Iran? Health care? YES YOU CAN!
Of course, only time will tell! Russert has really put down a marker of his own tonight. He’s made us all a promise that we can only hope he’ll prove himself man enough to keep. I can tell you this: should Russert fail, he has now set himself up with his own gotcha quote. We’ll see, we’ll see. (And we’ll note with irony that this quote included the title of Scott McClellan’s book!)

could even the threat of Meet The Press trying to keep the national focus on the big issues be enough to take Russert out? i wouldn’t put any action past ’em. if they can use the false flag mass murdering of thousands of amerikans to kill hundreds of thousands of iraqis, they can take out a pesky little journalist who runs a show once known for asking tough questions.

Posted by: Lizard | Jun 14 2008 0:16 utc | 41

what a despicable subspecies journalists are – crowing over their complicity in crimes of the state & calling it courage
on this day as in others it is the people of iraq who ought to be mourned their unnecessary deaths

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Jun 14 2008 1:49 utc | 43

‘giap: they have become a despicable subspecies because the ones with real integrity and courage couldn’t live with themselves pandering to power like most of ’em do. even the good ones turn eventually if they want to make a living, support family, etc.
recently the open arms for Scottie, a man whose job it was to lie to the press to cover Turd Blosson, Scooter, Dick, et al, exposed the MSM panting, whorish position in relation to govt power.
is it just plain ambition, or is proximity to power really that seductive?
i was at a wedding a couple weeks ago, and i ran into this guy i knew in high school. he manages a band called Big Head Todd and the Monsters, and apparently met Bill and Hillary at a post-party event after the band played a fundraiser for Hillary. He kept telling me how they’re just people, like us, and how Hillary tossed him a beer from a cooler, and Bill was cool and funny. no matter how much i tried to explain that the Clintons are not good people, he wouldn’t budge, perhaps because he was drunk. perhaps because i was drunk also, i said i’m sure some of the girls Ted Bundy lured into his car thought he was charismatic too until he killed them. Ted Bundy, for anyone who doesn’t know, is a notorious serial killer known for his charm. i don’t see much of a difference between Ted Bundy and Bill Clinton–actually i have more respect for Ted Bundy because when he killed people he actually did it himself, not with a pen from the oval office.

Posted by: Lizard | Jun 14 2008 5:06 utc | 45

The “west” is winning in Afghanistan
or not?
Taliban Free 1,200 in Attack on Afghan Prison

In a brazen attack, Taliban fighters assaulted the main prison in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Friday night, blowing up the mud walls, killing 15 guards and freeing around 1,200 inmates. Among the escapees were about 350 Taliban members, including commanders, would-be suicide bombers and assassins, said Ahmed Wali Karzai, the head of Kandahar’s provincial council and a brother of President Hamid Karzai.

Posted by: b | Jun 14 2008 6:17 utc | 47

ah, drugs. the ghettoes got crack, the boondocks got meth. attention deficit? limp dick? no worries. pain from chemo? better not touch that illicit plant that seems to do everything. also, i heard the darkies and beaners like that shit, so better keep respectable white people away from it.

Posted by: Lizard | Jun 14 2008 7:10 utc | 49

sorry, meant boobs4barack

Posted by: Lizard | Jun 14 2008 7:39 utc | 51

boobs4barack? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!?
—
Mayor Bloomberg, speaking before Congress in a governor’s conference,
said, “America is committing slow suicide”, last in infrastructure
spending but first in “defense” spending, although they’re not defending
US from what Bloomberg foresees as American bankrupcy.
“Go look at Vancouver (BC). American technology companies are setting
up new development centers there to attract the best talent in the
world, which US immigration denies them. At our own company (Bloomberg)
executive meetings are being held less and less in the US because no one
wants to deal with (US DHS, TSA, INS) coming in and going out.”
—
While Nancy Pelosi blocks the Bush-Cheney impeachment-indictment process,
Diane Feinstein is lobbying for full citizen legal status for the Taliban.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!
—
Desperate hunt for 1,100 who fled Afghan jail in Taliban raid
The Taliban have engineered probably the greatest escape in world history today,
right under the noses of US:UK forces “stabilizing” Kandahar from their isolated
base 20 klics away.
Expect a lot of helicopter gunships and UAVs SAW-gunning anything that moves,
and ignoring questions later, probably the greatest single death count in GW3.
—
Iraqi ministers have firmly concluded that the US-proposed permanent occupation
and oil royalties “sharing” agreement are “indefensible, and unacceptable to us”.
So now what? Slap on the Star of Islam armbands, and herd them into death camps?
US Defense is burning through $21B a month, with the greatest number of enablers
in human existence circling up the wagons before that giant burning faggot c’fuck.
The 4% Solution
—

WHERE IS ALL OUR HARD WORK AND WEALTH GOING, IF NOT TO US!?

Posted by: Cyn Deralla | Jun 14 2008 18:18 utc | 53

some comic relief for a saturday night
I’m voting republican

Posted by: dan of steele | Jun 14 2008 21:04 utc | 55

uncle
they really are scum

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Jun 14 2008 22:58 utc | 57

hahahahaha…
All major US airlines expected to be in default by year end
Fuel costs threaten to bankrupt airlines

Several large carriers will likely be forced into bankruptcy by the end of the year, according to a new study.
Several large airlines will likely be forced into bankruptcy by the end of the year, according to a study released Thursday.
If oil prices continue to hover at around $130 a barrel, all the major airlines will be in default on various debt covenants within the next eight months, according the report by the Business Travel Coalition and industry consultant Airline Forecasts.
The report looked at debt obligations and revenue trends for all 170 carriers operating in the United States.
“The elephant in the room is that these carriers are going to be at risk of bankruptcy by the fourth quarter of this year or the first quarter of next year,” said Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition, a trade group for corporate travel planners.
Nearly 40% of the organization’s members are based in the New York metro area.
“The impact on New York of even just one failure would be pretty significant from an economic standpoint,” Mr. Mitchell said.
In better economic times, a gap in service left by the failure of one airline would be immediately be filled by another. With so many airlines struggling under the weight of escalating fuel costs, however, “You can no longer expect immediate backfill [of those flights],” Mr. Mitchell said.
As a result, airline service will be even less reliable, according to the study, and any conveniences afforded to business travelers would suffer.
As the financial capital of the U.S., New York depends on the movement of human capital, Mr. Mitchell said. “It’s about having the ability to get people in there to make deals.”
The price of oil has risen more than 85% over the past 12 months and now sits at $134.74 a barrel. Airlines would have to increase fares across the board by an average of 20% to make up for the budget overruns caused by their 2007 fuel costs, according to the study.

How ya like my new marketing ad?
Fly the unfriendly skies, we treat you like shit, and you pay us to do so.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jun 15 2008 3:22 utc | 59

A FIERCE UNWILLING
Words have failed. Our speech is scripted dialogue.
No top-down tricks will nourish empty stomachs.
Old ways persists; purification of fire; cleansing
of flood; protection of bloodlines; poverty of spirit…
(that’s enough)
The echo chamber is busy tonight.
A cyber-herd revels in a flurry of posting. You see
we feed on proof of the lie, tossing memes on the table
like poker chips. I see your amerikan fascism and
raise you a covert eugenics program adopted from
Germany.
So you shake with rage at the pump?
It’s almost summer, and the pinnacle of our discontent
is far enough for a few more barbecues and limited
road trips with the family. Do that. Enjoy the glimpse
of living beyond our means one last time before it
slips from our fingers and survival is the final keyword.
In a world where death is the accepted side effect
of a system that funnels the bulk to the bloated tip
the collectives that will emerge in the wake of collapse
must stay focused.
The will of the landlord is strong.

Posted by: Lizard | Jun 15 2008 7:27 utc | 61

And now for MOA’s Sunday night entertainment:
Al Green sits in with Chicago (SLYT with a massive side order of awesome).
Life before ProTools, eh?

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jun 15 2008 22:36 utc | 63

for b real and others interested
Mercinaries to Somalia:
Agreement between Secopex CSA and Col. Yusuf

While passing through Paris in early May, President Abdullahi Yusuf signed a security agreement with a French private company based in Carcassonne.
According to TTU, a Paris based newsletter specialising in the defence industry, the French company Secopex CSA has initialled a contract with President Abdullahi Yusuf, concerning support for maritime security in Somalia, the creation of a coastal intelligence unit and the training of the Somalian presidential guard.
…
However, this agreement is not a binding contract whose terms would oblige the Somalian government to pay for Secopex’s services. The French company now has to persuade international donors (European Union, International Maritime Organisation and the International Monetary Fund – IMF) to cough up for this ambitious project to bear fruit. That is where the shoe pinches. Secopex’s services are estimated to cost in a range of €50 to €100 million a year, for three years.

Posted by: b | Jun 16 2008 8:00 utc | 65

Here’a a link to an mp3 file
of Sibel Edmonds and Luke Ryland discussing her case with Scott Horton.
Since my sound card is kaput, I can’t listen, but would be interested in learning if anything significant is said.

Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Jun 16 2008 14:48 utc | 67

Thanks again to b and b real for the Secopex links.
Although I’m well aware that stories like this suicide in Iraq picked up via Antiwar.com undoubtedly could be mirrored by hundreds of others in which the victims are Iraqis, I still think this is worth reading, and contemplating, as is the associated
link to Military Times which gives further detail. The “blowback” from American troops who come to realize that they have been used as pawns in a cruel and cynical scam will very likely be a recurring disturbance to U.S. politics for decades to come, just as the consequences of the misbegotten Vietnam adventure are still being felt.

Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Jun 16 2008 15:26 utc | 69

another stereotype shattered.
Sweden sets sights on new snoop law
aSKoD, have the pirates prepared a response?

Posted by: dan of steele | Jun 17 2008 17:44 utc | 71

3 wks ago i pointed out in a comment about a story in the kenyan, the use of the pretext of u.s. personnel/troops sinking boreholes. that tale, part of a series of ruminations upon the death of the notorious spy chief james kanyotu, mentioned that the cia, while using kanyotu to help sneak their agents out of libya in early 1991 & temporarily housing them in kenya, mentioned that

To throw off-scent any nosy characters, signposts were erected purporting that American peace-corps were coming to help sink boreholes in the remote reaches of Mwingi District.

i commented at the time that it “makes one wonder even more about all those borehole’s the CJTF-HOA troops are reportedly working on in uganda & elsewhere in the region.”
a story in nairobi’s daily nation on wednesday leads us to another real example of this pretext in action, right in kenya.
Are US marines burying nuclear waste? asks MP

A member questioned the presence and actions of United States marines in North Eastern Province.
Mr Farah Maalim (Lagdera, ODM), asked Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetang’ula to clarify whether the 80 marines in his constituency were doing more than drilling boreholes for the residents.
Mr Maalim, who is also the deputy Speaker, said the marines had been in the arid area for over a year and had not succeeded in getting water for the residents.
The ODM MP asked whether the marines were there to bury nuclear waste. He accused the marines of operating under a lot of secrecy, saying that local leaders, including the provincial administration and councillors [sic] were in the dark about the activities of the US soldiers.
Justice minister Martha Karua, who is the deputy leader of Government Business, gave an undertaking to communicate the request for a ministerial statement to Mr Wetang’ula.

now either this maalim fellow is trying to get some govt accountability about this issue in his area on the sly, or perhaps make their semi-permanent visitors a bit uncomfortable, or else he’s completely out of touch w/ what’s transpired there in the past 18 months.
according to the wikipedia entry on Operation Enduring Freedom – Horn of Africa

In November, 2006, a United States Marine detachment was in the town of Garissa in Kenya’s North Eastern Province, adjoining Somalia. Officially, the Marines were an engineering detachment conducting a humanitarian mission of drilling bore holes in conjunction with the Kenya military to support flood relief. However, locals speculated that the Marines were performing a reconnaissance mission close to the Somali border

one of those accounts of speculation reported

The North Eastern Provincial commissioner, Mr Kiritu Wamae, was last week forced to call an impromptu public meeting to dispel the negative perception about the presence of the troops in town. He insisted that the marines were on a humanitarian mission in the region and were working in partnership with the Kenya Army officers.
Wamae said the soldiers planned to drill 10 boreholes in Garissa District.
Critics, however, cast doubts on the explanations. The presence of the American soldiers in North Eastern Province has raised speculations that they may be on a mission to raid suspected terrorist cells in neighbouring Somalia.
Some think the borehole project was designed to hoodwink locals to welcome the troops so that their main mission could sail through without any hitch.

of course the skeptics were correct, as the invasion of somalia took place barely a month later.
so borehole projects do appear to still be a pr operation intended ‘to throw off-scent any nosy characters.’
judging from raila’s reception & remarks at today’s csis forum, don’t expect the deputy speaker to get much traction out of the coalition govt.

Posted by: b real | Jun 18 2008 4:09 utc | 73

US military “justice” an oxymoron to be sure. at least as long as it’s mere wogs these goons are murdering.

A total of eight Marines were initially charged in 2006 over the case but prosecutors have struggled to make the allegations stick.
So far seven of the accused have either been acquitted or had charges withdrawn before court martial.
Chessani’s acquittal on Tuesday leaves just one defendant — Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich — facing prosecution. Wuterich’s trial has been scheduled for later this year.
Wuterich faces multiple charges of voluntary manslaughter for his role in the deaths, which occurred after a deadly roadside bombing that claimed the life of a Marine in Haditha, 260 kilometers west of Baghdad, in 2005.
Many of the victims were unarmed men, women and children.
Four soldiers were initially charged with murder and four officers accused of covering-up the incident.

Posted by: ran | Jun 18 2008 4:27 utc | 75

the redoubtable Lenin’s Tomb on the countless war crimes perpetrated on Fallujah
sickening.

Posted by: ran | Jun 18 2008 5:36 utc | 77

US Special Forces counterinsurgency manual leaked or “How to train death squads and quash revolutions from San Salvador to you”
Related to this?
At Least 51 Are Killed in Blast at Baghdad Market

The precision of the explosion, aimed to kill so many, raised the possibility that it was set off specifically to fan sectarian tensions, as has often been the case in this war.

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Syria: U.N. Doubts Nuclear Ability

No evidence suggests that Syria has the skilled personnel or the fuel to operate a large-scale nuclear plant, Mohamed ElBaradei, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told Al Arabiya television. The United Nations agency added Syria to its watch list in April.

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Israel Agrees to Truce with Hamas on Gaza

The prime minister and defense minister of Israel have agreed to an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire with Hamas for the Gaza area starting Thursday, Israel Radio reported on Wednesday morning.
Egyptian and Hamas officials had already announced on Tuesday that a deal had been reached.

Not sure how long that will hold …

Events on Tuesday, meanwhile, showed that both sides were liable to fire up to the last minute. Israel carried out three airstrikes in Gaza against what the military described as “terrorist operatives.” Six Palestinian militants were killed, according to medical officials in Gaza.

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Nobody could have forseen …
Pakistani Fury Over Airstrikes Imperils Training

The Pakistani military is so angry over the American airstrikes here last week that it is threatening to postpone or cancel an American program to train a paramilitary force in counterinsurgency for combating Islamist militants, two Pakistani government officials said.
Some Pakistani officials are convinced that the Americans deliberately fired on their military, killing 11 men from the very paramilitary force the Americans want to train, an accusation the Americans deny.

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Posted by: b | Jun 18 2008 6:29 utc | 79

Tim Russert – arrested by the Karma Police

Posted by: jcairo | Jun 18 2008 8:59 utc | 81

Sorry, too full of Russert

Posted by: jcairo | Jun 18 2008 9:23 utc | 83

Should have linked to this.. in my #84

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jun 18 2008 11:35 utc | 85

yet more data on the benign practise of Russerting or stovepiping information:
Data on Antidepressants Suppressed for Years Giving Distorted View of Safety Effectiveness
you can hear them in the boardroom, “what’s a few deaths when it helps so many? death is 100 persent you know.”
except the drugs do not to appear to behave at all like they have claimed
it would seem they chose their favourite interpretation of what is really happening and ignored information during testing/followup showing their pet thing is a less than helpful dangerous thing
this is not medicine, this is therapeutic touch in sheep’s clothing
they are assholes

Posted by: jcairo | Jun 18 2008 15:16 utc | 87

An interesting tidbit on Urban Moving Systems from Mike Rivero’s WRH. In itself this proves nothing, of course, but, if further substantiated, could be rather discomforting. This, along with many other non-events, seems to me much more important than Michelle Obama’s psychological struggles regarding her role in hubby’s campaign, but I’m sure the mainstream media will not agree.

Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Jun 18 2008 16:01 utc | 89

ô uncle
over there at dkos – they weep & moo about the natural death of the complicit criminal, tim russert – but rarely a breath of what has happened about haditha & its (non)cosequences, the complete absence of analysis of what is happening in afghanistan, even less on pakistan – i go to that site in the same way i am a voyeur to the televisual evangilicals – to watch clinically how crass certitudes become criminal
i know some of our posters & some of our alumni like susang work over there – but i find it without seriousness at best & like a demented mickeymouse club at worst

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Jun 18 2008 19:16 utc | 91

RBS issues global stock and credit crash alert
Seems pretty official to me.
snip…

“Globalisation was always going to risk putting G7 bankers into a dangerous corner at some point. We have got to that point,” (Bob Janjuah, credit strategist for The Royal Bank of Scotland) said.
US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank both face a Hobson’s choice as workers start to lose their jobs in earnest and lenders cut off credit.
The authorities cannot respond with easy money because oil and food costs continue to push headline inflation to levels that are unsettling the markets. “The ugly spoiler is that we may need to see much lower global growth in order to get lower inflation,” he said.
“The Fed is in panic mode. The massive credibility chasms down which the Fed and maybe even the ECB will plummet when they fail to hike rates in the face of higher inflation will combine to give us a big sell-off in risky assets,” he said.
Kit Jukes, RBS’s head of debt markets, said Europe would not be immune. “Economic weakness is spreading and the latest data on consumer demand and confidence are dire. The ECB is hell-bent on raising rates…

Posted by: Monolycus | Jun 19 2008 4:09 utc | 93

The big looting begins …
Deals With Iraq Are Set to Bring Oil Giants Back

Four Western oil companies are in the final stages of negotiations this month on contracts that will return them to Iraq, 36 years after losing their oil concession to nationalization as Saddam Hussein rose to power.
…
The first oil contracts for the majors in Iraq are exceptional for the oil industry.
They include a provision that could allow the companies to reap large profits at today’s prices: the ministry and companies are negotiating payment in oil rather than cash.
“These are not actually service contracts,” Ms. Benali said. “They were designed to circumvent the legislative stalemate” and bring Western companies with experience managing large projects into Iraq before the passage of the oil law.
A clause in the draft contracts would allow the companies to match bids from competing companies to retain the work once it is opened to bidding, according to the Iraq country manager for a major oil company who did not consent to be cited publicly discussing the terms.
Assem Jihad, the Oil Ministry spokesman, said the ministry chose companies it was comfortable working with under the charitable memorandum of understanding agreements, and for their technical prowess. “Because of that, they got the priority,” he said.

Posted by: b | Jun 19 2008 4:59 utc | 95

@ b 90
Urban Moving Systems was (apparently) a Mossad front operating out of New Jersey under the direction of (katsa?) Domenick Sutter, who fled to Israel shortly after 9/11. The “dancing Israelis” (scroll down, or search for “Kurzberg”) who celebrated 9/11 while watching the twin towers burn were connected to Urban Moving Systems, which, I believe, also had a reputation for lousy
work and shady practices as a moving company.

Five of the Israelis came to the FBI’s attention after they were seen by New Jersey residents on Sept. 11 making fun of the World Trade Center ruins and going to extreme lengths to photograph themselves in front of the wreckage. The FBI seized and developed their photos, one of which shows Sivan Kurzberg flicking a cigarette lighter in front of the smouldering ruins in an apparently celebratory gesture.

The link above also has a copy of an FBI message to Italian
authorities regarding surveillance of suspected terrorists in which Sutter was included.

There’s a lot more in this line of “conspiracy theory” on the net (or at least there used to be) and it has been worked over by Wayne Madsen and Justin Raimondo, just to cite two examples (admittedly not unimpeachable sources).
The point is that Urban Moving Systems is as close as one is likely to get to a “documented Mossad front operation”: to learn that in the 8 or 9 months before they shut down (or were shut down) in the wake of 9/11, UMS received almost half a million dollars in U.S. government funding is surely worth mention, and clarification. I doubt that either will be forthcoming, since the Michelle Obama “issue” seems to be much more important for the Russerts, Blitzers, and Coopers of the justly disdained main-stream media. (McClatchey is an exception.)
It may be that these allegations are all false and constitute mere anti-semitism, but I, an acknowledged conspiracy theorist wacko, think they are, rather, the tip of an iceberg. Of course, even assuming that Urban Moving Systems was a Mossad front does not imply that the money came from U.S. spooks: presumably the Mossad is well-enough connected within the Washington bureaucracy to shake lose almost half a million bucks without even breaking a sweat. I would like to know more about that funding. Was it approved, perhaps, during the Clinton administration?
Meanwhile, this worthwhile interview with Noam Chomsky and Ilan Pappe is being ciruclated by Jewish Peace News. A quote from Chomsky

… it is no secret that the policies that have taken shape accord well with the recommendations of Moshe Dayan right after the 1967 war: Palestinians will “continue to live like dogs, and whoever wishes may leave.” More extreme recommendations have been made by highly regarded left humanists in the United States, for example Michael Walzer of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton and editor of the democratic socialist journal Dissent, who advised 35 years ago that since Palestinians are “marginal to the nation,” they should be “helped” to leave. He was referring to Palestinian citizens of Israel itself, a position made familiar more recently by the ultra-right Avigdor Lieberman, and now being picked up in the Israeli mainstream. I put aside the real fanatics, like Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz, who declares that Israel never kills civilians, only terrorists, so that the definition of “terrorist” is “killed by Israel”; and Israel should aim for a kill ratio of 1000 to zero, which means “exterminate the brutes” completely. It is of no small significance that advocates of these views are regarded with respect in enlightened circles in the US, indeed the West. One can imagine the reaction if such comments were made about Jews.

Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Jun 19 2008 5:51 utc | 97

Thanks HKOL – I had forgotton the name …
Fitting – this from the FT:
US N-weapons parts missing, Pentagon says

The US military cannot locate hundreds of sensitive nuclear missile components, according to several government officials familiar with a Pentagon report on nuclear safeguards.
…
According to previously undisclosed details obtained by the FT, the investigation also concluded that the air force could not account for many sensitive components previously included in its nuclear inventory.
One official said the number of missing components was more than 1,000.
…
Adm Donald briefed Congress on the results of his investigation on Wednesday. Bryan Whitman, Pentagon spokesman, declined to comment on the classified report.
A senior defence official said the report had “identified issues about record keeping” for sensitive nuclear missile components. But he stressed that there was no suggestion that components had ended up in the hands of countries that should not have received them.
But Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association in Washington, said the revelation was “very significant and extremely troubling” because it meant the US could not establish the positive control referred to by Mr Gates.
“It raises a serious question about where else these unaccounted for warhead related parts may have gone,” said Mr Kimball. “I would not be surprised if the recent Taiwan incident is not the only one.”

Posted by: b | Jun 19 2008 8:21 utc | 99