What you didn't know about the war, except we do know..

[Gita]

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Obama fires Gen. McChrystal

US President Barack Obama has fired the country's top commander in Afghanistan following a row over his scathing criticism published in a magazine.

McChrystal drew fire from senior administration officials after he appeared to be critical of them over the war strategy in Afghanistan.

In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, McChrystal described his civilian bosses as clueless and called their European allies as wimps.

In the article, Gen. McChrystal wrote that he felt betrayed by the US ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry.

He said Eikenbarry undermined the Afghan war by leaking a classified cable back in January. He also indirectly criticizes the US president calling him "uncomfortable and intimidated."

Analysts maintain the row has disclosed the lack of agreement in the inner layers of the US government.

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[Gita]

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'US vehicle runs over Iraqi family, 3 die'

US troops have killed three Iraqi civilians and wounded three others in the northern city of Mosul after their vehicle ran over a family, a report says.

The incident occurred Tuesday evening on a highway northwest of the city. All the victims belong to a same family -- the father, mother and a daughter were killed -- Aswat al-Iraq news agency reported Wednesday.

The US military has not yet commented on the incident.

Since the 2003 US-led invasion of the country, thousands of Iraqi civilians have lost their lives and many others have been displaced.

According to Nada Doumani of the International Committee of the Red Cross, civilians "pay the greatest price" in the ongoing occupation.

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[Gita]

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June deadliest month in Afghanistan

Six more US-led soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan, making June the deadliest single month for foreign troops in the nearly nine-year-long conflict.

NATO said in a statement on Thursday that four of the soldiers were killed as a result of a vehicle accident in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday. The fifth soldier was reported dead in another vehicle accident in the war-torn country's west, while an improvised explosive device led to the death of the sixth troop.

The alliance, however, did not disclose the nationalities of the soldiers and the locations of the incidents.

The latest deaths bring the number of NATO soldiers killed in Afghanistan during this month alone to 80.

The number of foreign fatalities in Afghanistan has soared to almost 300 this year, as the militants increased their attacks against the NATO forces.

The rising number of casualties has increased opposition to the Afghan war in the member states of the Western military alliance.

The latest developments come as General Stanley McChrystal, the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, was forced out of office on Wednesday for his scathing criticism of US President Barack Obama's administration.

Analysts say the dismissal has finally brought long-suspected divisions between the US military and administration officials to the spotlight.

NATO currently has about 130,000 soldiers in the war-torn country. The US has plans to deploy 30,000 extra troops by August.

This is while Afghanistan's Interior Ministry says only less than three percent of Afghan towns are safe.

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[Gita]

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McChrystal 'sacked for intelligence leak'

Kabul circles say the dismissal of US commander was over leaking information including NATO's connection with the executed leader of the Jundallah terrorist group, Abdolmalek Rigi.

Head of Press TV's office in Kabul, Mohammad Ruhi, says US commander General Stanley McChrystal was sacked for acknowledging NATO's connection with the executed leader of the Pakistan-based Jundallah terrorist group, Abdolmalek Rigi.

He dismissed the official reasons for the firing of McChrystal, saying his growing friendship with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and intelligence leaks may have triggered the replacement.

The move caused a scandal, and a British minister was sacked. In retaliation, London is believed to have released confidential statements by McChrystal to White House officials, paving the way for the commander's removal from his post.

Ruhi says many insiders also link the decision to the escalating number of US casualties in the war-torn country since the beginning of 2010.

"The general opinion is that Petraeus' reputation as the 'butcher of Iraq' is meant to intimidate militants as well as Afghans," he added.

Furthermore, Karzai's increasingly vocal protests over the civilian death toll of US and NATO operations and McChrystal's acknowledgement of mistakes fueled tensions with the US Ambassador to Kabul, Karl Eikenberry.

The friendship between the two also entailed other top intelligence leaks, with McChrystal briefing Karzai on plans to mobilize Taliban militants from the volatile south to the north, Britain's arms and drug smuggling route from Afghanistan to Central Asia as well as links with the Russian mafia.

McChrystal's remarks to Rolling Stone magazine, in which he mocked a string of top Washington officials, raised speculations about the deepening rift among the echelons of the US government.

Obama picked General David Petraeus on Wednesday to replace McChrystal as the commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. The choice of Gen. Petraeus, the architect of the Iraq war surge strategy, to replace Gen. McChrystal, was because he was well known to the Afghans and Pakistanis, and had ties with Washington's NATO allies.

In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Gen. McChrystal had described his civilian bosses as "clueless" and called their European allies "wimps."

In the interview, Gen. McChrystal said he felt betrayed by the US ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, and accused him of undermining the Afghan war by leaking a classified cable back in January.

The general also indirectly criticized the US president, calling him "uncomfortable and intimidated."

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[Gita]

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CIA hires notorious Xe in Afghanistan

A report indicates that the US has hired a notorious private security contractor to guard its facilities in Afghanistan and elsewhere despite Washington's rejection of the claim.

An unnamed source told the Washington Post on Thursday the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) signed a USD 100 million contract with Xe Services, formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide.

"It's for protective services... guard services, in multiple regions," the source said.

According to the daily, two other security contractors, Triple Canopy and DynCorp International, put in losing bids for CIA's business.

The new contract was awarded after members of a federal commission investigating war-zone contractors blasted the US State Department for granting Xe a new USD 120 million contract to guard US consulates under construction in Afghanistan.

CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano said that Xe personnel would not be involved in operations. "We've also made it clear that personnel from Xe do not serve with the CIA in any operational roles," he said.

Mark Corallo, a spokesman for Erik Prince, chairman of the board at Xe and owner of Prince Group, said the North Carolina-based firm had no comment.

The firm was thrown into the spotlight after a September 2007 incident in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, when its guards opened fire in a city square, allegedly killing 17 unarmed civilians and wounding 24 others.

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[Gita]

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'Obama fired McChrystal to rid 2012 rival'

The following is a rush transcript of Press TV's interview with former US Senator and presidential candidate Mike Gravel on the controversy surrounding the commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanly McChrystal.

Press TV:How damaging has this whole episode been for the US-led mission in Afghanistan?

Gravel: I do not think [it has been] damaging at all. You have to keep in mind that the strategy for Afghanistan was developed by General [David] Petraeus, who was the commander of McChrystal. Now, McChrystal was merely the thug, I use the word 'thug' advisably because the reputation with McChrystal is of course the secret special ops, which were a lot of assassination teams.

So, McChrystal was merely the henchman that was bringing about the strategy. But, there is an unusual benefit that occurs politically that I don't think is appreciated by anybody on the scene. That is that Petraeus was looked upon as a possible presidential candidate on the Republican side, opposing [US President Barack] Obama when he runs for re-election.

Now, Petraeus was distanced from Afghanistan, and so, very cleverly, President Obama has demoted Petraeus and put him in charge of Afghanistan. So, if a failure takes place as I presume it will by 2012, the failure will be owned as much by Petraeus negating his ability to be a viable presidential candidate and will benefit Obama.

Press TV: The father of the counter-insurgency strategy is Petraeus himself, whoever it is, if it is coming out of the Pentagon, White house; from the public into the media, everyone is backing this counter insurgency strategy. They are saying it is going to work. But what is it saying behind the scenes?

Of course, there was that leak document from [US ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl] Eikenberry, and McChrystal said that he was very upset about that, that he felt betrayed. Behind the scenes, how much unity is there on this coin strategy?

Gravel: Well there was no unity at all because McChrystal was a bowl in a china shop. This is not McChrystal's strategy; this is Petraeus' strategy that was being implemented by a lesser person -- which is McChrystal.

Now that McChrystal is out of the way, and keep in mind, McChrystal is very close to President Hamid Karzai, and so I am sure that the attitude that is put out in the media in Afghanistan is that, oh well we loved McChrystal, he was fine. But keep in mind that McChrystal's strategy was that of assassination or bribery, and you had your choice, and that strategy was developed by Petraeus in Iraq, and it carried over into Afghanistan. And so I think you are going to see no change at all from a military point of view, but you will see a much improved diplomatic strategy; because; Petraeus is a very gifted diplomat; much more than he is a soldier.

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[Gita]

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Cop’s Lawyer Claims Hitting an Iraq Veteran 20 Times Was ‘Too Little’ Force

Surveillance video: Iraq War veteran beaten

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=D2IWFaI-poM

An attorney representing a police officer caught on tape almost two years ago viciously assaulting an Iraq war veteran suggested in court recently that his client had, perhaps out of "compassion," used "too little" force against the unarmed man lying on the ground before him in video released online.

The officer had alleged that Iraq veteran Walter Harvin was acting in an aggressive manner while trying to enter his mother's building on 93rd Street in Manhattan. Surveillance footage released by the district attorney's office shows Officer David London attack the man with his baton, hitting him repeatedly until he falls, then continuing to strike blows to Harvin's face, head and upper-body. By most media estimates, the unarmed war vet was struck some 20 times while on the ground.

Harvin's most aggressive action in the recording is to shove London away at one point. Officers claimed he was shouting threats and cursing at them while laying on the ground in handcuffs, which attorneys suggest justifies the continued beating Harvin received even as he lay restrained on the ground.

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[Gita]

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New Big Screen Documentary Exposes Pat Tillman Cover-Up

Evidence strongly indicates Tillman was murdered to prevent him from becoming an anti-war icon
A new documentary set to hit the big screen this summer lifts the lid on the cover-up behind the death of Pat Tillman, the pro-football star who gave up a lucrative career to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq before preparing to return to the U.S. as an anti-war icon, at which point he was killed in a so-called friendly fire incident that more closely resembled a deliberate assassination.

Whether or not the documentary delves into the question of whether Tillman's death was a targeted act of murder remains to be seen, but the evidence strongly indicates that Tillman was deliberately assassinated in order to prevent him from becoming an anti-war icon and derailing public support in the United States for the ongoing occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Tillman sacrificed the good life and a multi-million dollar football career in the belief that he was defending his country from outside enemies, and soon after 9/11 turned down a contract offer of $3.6 million over three years from the Cardinals to enlist in the U.S. Army.

It was during Tillman's second deployment to Afghanistan, after previously serving in Iraq, that he was killed by what the U.S. military initially claimed was a Taliban ambush. It later emerged that the ambush story had been concocted by the Pentagon in an attempt to exploit Tillman's death for pro-war propaganda. Subsequent investigations claimed that Tillman was killed as a result of a friendly fire accident.

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[Gita]

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'US gave Saddam chemical arms'

Official documents point the finger at the US and 14 other European countries for equipping former Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein with chemical weapons, says a top Iranian official.

Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Saeid Jalili said those weapons were used by the former Baghdad regime, including in the 1987 gas attack on the northwestern Iranian city of Sardasht and in another chemical strike on the northern Iraqi city of Halabcha in 1988.

He said as long as the prime suspects in those attacks as well as in the crimes committed in Vietnam are permanent members of the UN Security Council, there is a possibility that such crimes may be repeated.



"As long as permanent members of the UN Security Council see their possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) as a privilege, they cannot be expected to fight WMDs," added Jalili.

Referring to Saddam Hussein's repeated use of chemical arms against Iran during his eight-year imposed war on the Islamic Republic in the 80's, the senior official underscored the international community should call for the United States together with the 14 European governments to stand trial for supplying chemical weapons to Saddam Hussein.

Jalili was speaking at a conference in Tehran on Tuesday June 29, marking the day, 23 years ago, when the former Iraqi regime launched a deadly gas attack on the northwestern Iranian city of Sardasht.

Many of the survivors are still suffering from very serious health conditions, including severe respiratory problems and skin disorders.

The day is also observed as National Day for Fight against Chemical Weapons in Iran.

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[Gita]

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US-led forces kill many Afghan civilians

US-led forces in Afghanistan have killed many civilians in the southern province of Helmand amid public outrage over rising death tolls in the war-torn county, Afghan sources say.

A statement by International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said on Thursday that the US-led forces have killed "a large number" of Taliban militants in the region and captured a Taliban chief of Naw Zad. However, Afghan sources told Press TV that most of the victims were civilians.

Villagers in Baghran district of Helmand province reported that children and women were killed by the foreign troops.

Afghan officials have launched a probe into the deaths.

"Afghan and international security forces captured the Taliban district chief of Naw Zad and killed a large number of insurgents during an operation in remote Baghran district in northern Helmand province last night," ISAF said Thursday.

Thousands of civilians have also lost their lives either in US-led raids or in Taliban-led militancy across the violence-wracked country.

According to official figures, more than 2,500 civilians were killed in NATO operations last year, undermining support for the presence of US-led forces in the country.

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[Gita]

(From uruknet.info, 2 July)

Falluja Worse Than Hiroshima "
Layla Anwar

July 2, 2010

The information is too important not to jot down...this is a rushed post.

I just finished watching a re-run of Ahmad Mansour's Al-Jazeera Arabic - interview with Prof.Chris Busby. Prof Busby is a Scientist and Director of Green Audit, and scientific secretary of the European Committee on Radiation Risks. To find out more on Prof Chris Busby and his work -- Google -- Chris Busby Uranium.



Prof Busby has published many articles on radiation, uranium and contamination in countries such as Lebanon, Kosovo, Gaza and of course Iraq.

His latest findings - which were the subject of the program aired on Al-Jazeera are what I will focus on here.

As some of you know, Falluja is a forbidden city. It was subjected to intense bombardments in 2004, with DU bombs and White phosphorus, and since it has become a no go zone - meaning that both the Iraqi puppet authorities and the U.S invading/occupying forces do not allow anyone to conduct any real study in Falluja. Falluja is basically under siege.

Obviously both the Americans and the Iraqis know something and are hiding it from the public. And this is where Prof. C.Busby comes in the picture. He was/is adamant to get to the bottom of what took place in Falluja in 2004.

Being a top scientist in his field, he set out to conduct a survey/research in Falluja whose preliminary results will be published in 2 weeks - hopefully.

Prof Busby found many obstacles while undertaking this project. Neither he nor any member of his team were allowed access to Falluja to conduct interviews. He said when the main door closes, one has to find other doors to open. And this is what he did. He managed to gather a team of Iraqis from Falluja to conduct the surveys for him.

The research project was based on 721 families from Falluja with 4'500 participants - living in both high level and lower level radiation zones. Results were compared to a control group - a sample of the same number of families living in a non radioactive zone in another Arab country. For the purpose of the study he chose three other countries for comparison - Kuwait, Egypt and Jordan.


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http://uruknet.com/?p=m67560&hd=&size=1&l=e

[Gita]

(From Press TV, 3 July)

US-led forces kill three Afghan civilians

US-led forces in Afghanistan have killed at least three civilians as their new commander General David Petraeus makes his debut in Kabul.

The civilians, including a woman, were killed in a NATO operation in the volatile southern province of Kandahar, a Press TV correspondent reported.

NATO has confirmed the attack. However, it claims that its soldiers only killed two civilians. The Western military alliance claims that its forces also accidentally injured another person.

The foreign troops also killed eight civilians inside their houses during an operation in Kandahar Province last week. NATO claimed the raid targeted militants.

The developments come as a big blow to the new commander of the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

General Petraeus promised that his top priority will be to minimize Afghan civilian casualties only two days before the killings.

NATO says that it will launch a probe into the deadly attacks.

Thousands of Afghan civilians have been killed in attacks carried out by foreign forces since the US-led invasion back in 2001.

According to official figures, more than 2,500 civilians were killed in NATO operations last year, undermining support for the presence of US-led forces in the country.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id...onid=351020403

[Gita]

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$30 Billion More For Afghanistan: War Funding Bill Passes House

WASHINGTON — Despite pessimism that the war in Afghanistan is turning out to be a quagmire, Democrats controlling the House muscled through a plan Thursday to finance President Barack Obama's troop surge, but only after sweetening the measure with last-ditch moves to salvage their faltering jobs agenda.

Long delayed, the approximately $80 billion bill was passed amid building pressure on Democrats to act before their weeklong Fourth of July break begins. But the Senate approved a significantly slimmer measure in May and it'll take additional weeks to reconcile the differences between the two battling chambers.

The crucial vote to advance the measure under unusually convoluted floor rules came on a 215-210 tally to bring up the nearly $60 billion Senate-passed measure for debate. Democrats added more than $20 billion for domestic programs late Thursday, including $10 billion in grants to school districts to avoid teacher layoffs, $5 billion for Pell Grants to low-income college students and $700 million to improve security along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Black lawmakers won add-ons of their own, including a $1 billion youth summer jobs initiative and money to pay discrimination claims by black farmers against the Agriculture Department

The White House weighed in with a veto threat over $800 million in cuts to education programs. The cuts would be used to help pay for the additional domestic spending, which was sought by top Democrats such as Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey of Wisconsin. The move infuriated Obey, who acidly pointed out that he had drafted legislation last year that contained the money and that even with the $800 billion cut, more than $3 billion would be left over.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/0..._n_633300.html

[Gita]

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Cut Social Security to Fund the War?
By DEAN BAKER

In a remarkable interview with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, House Republican Leader John Boehner explicitly called for cutting Social Security in order to pay for the war in Afghanistan. The article reports:

"Ensuring there's enough money to pay for the war will require reforming the country's entitlement system, Boehner said. He said he'd favor increasing the Social Security retirement age to 70 for people who have at least 20 years until retirement, tying cost-of-living increases to the consumer price index rather than wage inflation and limiting payments to those who need them."

In principle Boehner gave the Democrats as much ammunition as a serious political party could want. After all raising the retirement age and cutting Social Security benefits to pay for the war in Afghanistan is an idea that consistently polls in the high single decimals. We should expect every Democratic politician in the country to be jumping up and down demanding to know whether the Republican leader speaks for all Republicans.

That would be the case, unless of course the Democrats actually hold similar views. After all, several prominent Democrats have been saying in public recently that we will have to cut Social Security benefits (benefits workers have already paid for). These prominent Democrats also support the war in Afghanistan.

So, they may not use the same words as Mr. Boehner, but it seems that many Democrats may effectively agree that we have to cut Social Security to pay for the war in Afghanistan. It would be nice if they would insist that this is not true.

Dean Baker is the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR). He is the author of Plunder and Blunder: The Rise and Fall of the Bubble Economy and False Profits: Recoverying From the Bubble Economy.

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http://www.counterpunch.org/baker07022010.html

[Gita]

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Monkeys trained as battlefield killers in Afghanistan

Afghanistan's Taliban insurgents are training monkeys to use weapons to attack American troops, according to a recent report by a British-based media agency.

Reporters from the media agency spotted and took photos of a few "monkey soldiers" holding AK-47 rifles and Bren light machine guns in the Waziristan tribal region near the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The report and photos have been widely spread by media agencies and Web sites across the world.

According to the report, American military experts call them "monkey terrorists."

As a form of cruel political means, wars are launched to meet political goals through conquest, devastation, assaults and other means.

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