Sic Semper Tyrannis

Abu-Ismail - Egypt's Future?

"After announcing his intention to run for the presidency in May of last year, Abu-Ismail has provided fleeting insights into his economic programme.

As president, he says, he would seek to raise Egypt’s gross domestic product (GDP) by focusing on agriculture, with a view to decreasing Egypt’s economic dependence on tourism and Suez Canal revenues – both of which are at the mercy of unpredictable international conditions.

To assuage fears that an Islamist ruler would impose Islamic Sharia Law and draconian measures that would cripple tourism – an industry that employs some three million Egyptians and generates billions of dollars annually – Abu-Ismail has vowed to merely "streamline" the sector.

Some of his public statements, however, suggest that he might not be adverse to legislation that could negatively impact the local tourism industry, such as banning alcohol, imposing dress codes and segregating the sexes.

Abu-Ismail also argues that interest-based banking systems have led to soaring inflation rates in Egypt, stressing that an Islamic banking system – which shuns the use of interest – would lead to economic prosperity."  Ahram online

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I said earleir that I thought Amre Moussa is the candidate for president most likely to be tolerated by the generals.  That remains true but this fellow is likely to have the support of the masses.   He would probably try to do all the things mentioned above and the generals would watch that for a while until he began to threaten their money and power.   pl

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/7/37790/Egypt/Presidential-elections-/A-brief-look-at-Salafist-posterchild-Hazem-AbuIsma.aspx

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/7/38104/Egypt/Presidential-elections-/Escorted-by-parades,-Abu-Ismail-registers-presiden.aspx

 

Jim Morin Cartoon

http://www.lobelog.com/jim-morins-bomb-iran-cartoon-is-simple-perfection/

pl

Israeli whining over Iran

"... this is not how one should be treating an ally, even if this is a relationship between a superpower and a satellite state. The targeted assassination campaign currently undertaken by the US government also sharply contradicts President Obama’s declaration at the AIPAC Conference, whereby he and the US recognize Israel’s sovereign right to defend itself by itself. One cannot utter these words and a moment later exposes Israel’s vulnerabilities and possible strike routes to its enemies.  

Indeed, there is a difference between legitimate persuasion efforts and practical steps to thwart Israeli plans and eliminate them.  this is not how one should be treating an ally, even if this is a relationship between a superpower and a satellite state. The targeted assassination campaign currently undertaken by the US government also sharply contradicts President Obama’s declaration at the AIPAC Conference, whereby he and the US recognize Israel’s sovereign right to defend itself by itself. One cannot utter these words and a moment later exposes Israel’s vulnerabilities and possible strike routes to its enemies.

 

 

Indeed, there is a difference between legitimate persuasion efforts and practical steps to thwart Israeli plans and eliminate them. "  ynetnews

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"Betraying an ally?"  What ally?  What has Israel EVER done for the US?  Come on, tell me!  Israel is a country that continuously seeks to illegally manipulate or political processes and media.  Does an ally do that?

Evidently the US is, with some skill, seeking to block an uncoordinated Israeli attack on Iran.  Good.  If we decide that Iran is weaponizing nuclear weapons, we will deal with them.  If the Israelis are silly enough to want to do this without our agreement.  tant pis pour eux.  pl

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4209836,00.html

Pope Benedict and Fidel

Benedict has it right on this.  The US Trade Embargo may have been useful before the utter defeat of Communism in all but a few miserable little places like Cuba and a miserable big place like China, but it is counter-productive now.

The US should tell the Cuban government that in return for removal of the embargo we want completely free movement between the two countries and the right of return for Cuban-Americans and their descendents.

Under those conditions communism will not last long in Cuba. pl

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article3258994.ece

"V for Vendetta" - A review by Alan Farrell

V for Vendetta.  Directed by James McTeague.  Written by the Wachovia Brothers (or something, same guys who did all the Matrices, so get ready for heavy—read incomprehensible—indictment of modernity, governmentitude, authoritariness.  “Based,” as they say in the movies, on a comic book by the same guy who did The League of Metrosexual Gentlemen, where Oscar Wilde is an action hero, Captain Nemo a fop, Tom Sawyer a gun-slinger, and Harriet Beecher Stowe (or one of them) a décolleté down to here vampiress… so you know we’re talking high art.  Starring Natalie Portman, who’s lucky to got pouty enough lips to make up for not having any hair most of the flick … annnnnnnd for not having any umph umphs, neither  …nor an umphety umph, poor thing, so if you were hoping for, like, spandex catsuit or shiny latex britches or at least a laced up to here leather jerkin, save your eight bucks; Hugo Weaving, who(m) you never see but who purrs sinisterly out from behind a Phantom-of-the-Opera mask; John Hurt, who hammers just a whisssssssssker too heavily on the Big Brother bit but who’s fetched up with  an appropriately virulent (like “serious,” only seriouser) case of the uglies; Stephen Rea, who(m) you never heard of but who’s about the only likeable presence in this joyless, humorless, and mostly senseless “animation” of a “graphic novel” (kinda like a comic book, except, you know, can leave it on the coffee table).

 

MSNBC, the anti-Fox News

MSNBC corporate leadership made the decision a couple of years ago to become the spokesnetwork of the American Left.  They did this after contemplation of their abysmal ratings in the 24/7 news carnival and pleasure at the popularity on the Left of Keith Olberman'a nightly "rants" against George Bush. 

Since that time the network has moved so steadily to the left that they have reached a point at which they are actively demagoguing to the Left, to African-American activists and to the anti-gun crowd in the Martin/Zimmerman case.  In the last days MSNBC has used its "air" to abuse anyone willing to wait for the completion of state and federal enquiries in this matter.  Should this not be a matter of concern to the Federal Communications Commission?  If the FCC finds it necessary to busy itself with blurring any vision of nudity on television, surely they should have time for regulation of the media in the use of the public airways by propaganda networks like Fox News and MSNBC,

MSNBC has become the polar opposite of Fox News.  If Fox News should properly be called "Faux News," prostituted in the service of the ignorant Right, what should MSNBC be called?

What's next for MSNBC?  Perhaps it will be the rehabilitation of the American Communist Party?  Look it up, kids.  pl

Congressman Rush's fashion statement.

"The lawmaker called for a full investigation into the death of Trayvon, a Florida teenager shot last month by a neighborhood watch volunteer. The 17-year-old's death has become a cause celebre, sparking a national conversation about racial profiling and "Stand Your Ground" self-defense laws." USA Today

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Does Rush not think a "full investigation" is underway?  The "Stand Your Ground" law is really not a factor in what happened to Martin.  Zimmerman was carrying a pistol that he lawfully possessed and carried without regard to that law.  The issue is whether or not he lawfully shot Martin in self defense.

The SYG law is a Florida law.  The US federal government has no ability to change that law unless it wishes to claim that the law is unconsitutional country wide.

I found the statement of the acting Sanford chief of police to be a hopeful thing.  He said that the Sanford PD would not allow the integrity of the investigayion to be corrupted by the media and public.  I suppose we will hear him called an "Uncle Tom."  pl

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2012/03/trayvon-martin-hoodie-bobby-rush-/1 

 

Scam Alert: Defense Finance & Accounting Services

Adam L. Silverman, PhD*

As we have a lot of Defense Department folks who come through here to check out SST's wares, just in case someone hasn't gotten this to you or to the military personnel you work with, there is a new prey on the troops scam that attempts to get money to register fiance's within DFAS/the Defense Finance and Accounting Service.  The image above is a copy of the scam document.  We got a head's up while I was giving a briefing this AM to get the word out and I thought this would be one of the faster ways to do so.

* Adam L. Silverman is the Culture and Foreign Language Advisor at the US Army War College (USAWC).  The views expressed here are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of USAWC and/or the US Army.

The Sanford police report...

"... the Sanford Police Department report, written by the officer at the crime scene who handcuffed Zimmerman. “I could observe his back appeared to be wet and was covered in grass, as if he had been laying on his back on the ground,” the officer wrote. “Zimmerman was also bleeding from the nose and back of his head.”

When Zimmerman was placed in the back of the squad car and given first aid, the officer heard him say, “I was yelling for someone to help me, but no one would help me,” according to the police report.

On at least one of the eight taped 911 calls made to police, screams can be heard in the background. Martin’s parents believe it is their son screaming for help. But a friend of Zimmerman’s said on television Monday he believed it was Zimmerman’s voice in the background.

A federal law enforcement official involved in the investigation said that Zimmerman told authorities he was returning to his sport-utility vehicle after calling police when Martin confronted him."  Hurwitz in Washpost

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The media have a lot to answer for in this matter.  It will be interesting to learn what Holder's Justice Department is going to do in this case.  pl

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trayvon-martin-started-confrontation-zimmerman-lawyer-says/2012/03/26/gIQAIlr0cS_story.html

 

 

 

"Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy." a review by Pat Lang

As a former practitioner of the dark arts described in this film, I attest to the verisimilitude of a lot of the matter of the film.

In particular, the seedy, shoddy government premises that were characteristic of such establishments before the GWOT scattered money far and wide seem very familiar and "real."  Anyone who remembers the dilapidated temporary buildings that housed much of the CIA on the Mall along Constitution Avenue or the god awful collection of similar buildings that sheltered DIA at Arlington Hall Station must agree.

The film is set in 1973 at the height of the Cold War.  The underlying plot feature is a search for a "mole" put in place at the top of the "Circus" (MI-6).  This is clearly based on the Kim Philby story as well as that of a lot of other dastards in the British services of that time.  The mole is uncovered at the end and dealt with appropriately.  He tells George Smiley, a wonderful and endearing character, that he "had to make a choice because the West is just so rotten."  That motivation seems to have been true of many of the Cambridge University "Apostles" who were recruited by Arnold Deutsch.  Deutsch was possibly the greatest espionage recruiter of all time in any service, in his case the NKVD.   When Deutsch recruited them, they stayed recruited for life.  He was, of course, killed in the Blood Purges of he late '30s.  Stalin did not believe such recruitments were possible.

For me the best parts of the film are faithful reproduction of the internal bueaucratic struggle among the mandarins of the Circus.  I still have the scars.

As a piece of cinematic art, the film is, IMO, very nearly flawless.  It is very much a European film.  Americans, in general, are too intellectually sterile to create such a film or to follow the dialogue.  The director is Swedish.  The only other film of his that I have seen was "Let the right one in."  This is a bizarre story about child vampires trapped in child bodies in the Swedish night.  It was creepy.

No, the very best part of the film is the manic Christmas party that is shown in snatches throughout.  At one point a Santa Claus appears wearing a mask with Joe Stalin's face.  He leads the standing assembled British spooks in singing the Soviet national anthem.  It gave me chills and brought back a Christmas party to which I was invited just after the fall of the USSR.  At this party the assembled US spooks, all of them Russian specialists, sang "We're dreaming of a Red Christmas, just like the ones we used to know."  They were finished.  They knew it.

Many have now been reborn as CT analysts.  Isn't that right, Basilisk?

It's a great flick, if you are up to it.  pl

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinker_Tailor_Soldier_Spy_(film)

 

"Black friend defends shooter of Florida teen" Chicago Tribune

""I'm a black male and all that I know is that George has never given me any reason whatsoever to believe he has anything against people of color," Oliver said.

Sanford police did not arrest Zimmerman, saying the evidence could not disprove his account of self-defense, though the case is under review by a state special prosecutor and the U.S. Justice Department.

Zimmerman dropped out of public view shortly after the shooting and his whereabouts were unknown. The New Black Panther Party, an African American organization taking its name from the radical group of the 1960s, has placed a $10,000 bounty on Zimmerman."  CT

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Still sure that Zimmerman is a racist monster?  pl

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-florida-shooting-friendbre82o0fe-20120325,0,1458950.story

 

"Red Fields" by Jason Poudrier

 http://turcopolier.typepad.com/the_athenaeum/2012/03/red-fields-by-jason-poudrier.html

pl

Goldberg Variations

The fascinating discussion on this site of the piece which Jeffrey Goldberg published on Bloomberg on 19 March, under the title 'Israelis Grow Confident Strike on Iran's Nukes Can Work', sent me back to the article he published, under the title 'The Point of No Return', in the Atlantic in September 2010. 

Quite clearly, in both articles, Goldberg has been acting as a conduit for Israeli government propaganda.  As so often in contemporary journalism, the implicit deal appears to be that a favoured reporter is granted access, on the condition that he or she uncritically relays the messages which his or her sources want broadcast.  As a result, while Goldberg's interviews with Netanyahu and others are extremely useful for all of us attempting to assess what that Israel is likely to do in relation to Iran, the evidence they provide is difficult to interpret.

Perhaps ironically, given that the argument of the 'Point of No Return' article depended upon the use of 'proof texts' to establish that the Iranian government is a kind of Second Coming of the German Nazis, Goldberg provides a classic illustration of how difficult it can be to infer from what people say what they are actually likely to do.

What put the problem into the sharpest possible relief was the invaluable evidence presented on an earlier thread by jdledell.  Summarising conversations with contacts in Israel who had a proper grasp of the technical problems involved in an attack on Iran and were not in the propaganda business, he confirmed what Colonel Lang, and others, have argued time and again on this site.  On its own, Israel simply cannot expect to do significant damage to the Iranian nuclear programme.  Among multiple problems, the refuelling capabilities that would be required for effective strikes just are not there.

Quite clearly then, there can be no rational basis for the confidence which Goldberg attributed to the Israeli leaders about what can be achieved by acting on their own. To act as he suggests they may intend to do  would not only involve risking important military assets, but also court a humiliating demonstration of impotence which would mean that, far from providing a way out of the country's security dilemmas, Netanyahu and his associates would have been likely to have made its situation immeasurably worse.

As F.B. Ali noted, jdledell's comments – actually put up the day before Goldberg's Bloomberg article – suggested a variety of possible ways in which that article could be interpreted. In what follows, I am going to try to explore further a range of possible interpretations, and some of the issues they raise.

John Carter of Mars - a review by Alan Farrell

John Carter (of Mars). Directed by: Andrew Stanton. Starring: Taylor Kitsch (who?) as John Carter; Lynn Collins (who? ...but woof!) as Princess Dejah Vue; Willem Dafoe (if you can find him, bettern me); Thomas Haden Church (same same); Ciaran Hinds (poor guy perpetually draw the short one on account of the bad guy just about everywhere) here the expediency-crippled Jeddak of Helium); Dominic West the bad guy animated by mysterious images/impulses from Deep Space; bazillion Quarks, Throngs, Gumgwoks, and Blivits, all computer generated and evidently immune to how hot the Princess of Mars is in her slit skirt, midriff-revealing décolleté down to here outfit ("phainomerides" were the Spartan women allegedly on account of "flashers of thigh." Think Angelina Jolie on the Red Carpet... or Bambi Scheisswitz at the prom). Dunno where they filmed but appropriately depressing... oh, yeah, and by the bye, they gots water and air on Mars (or did then).

MSNBC Demands Police Chief's Suspension

On the boob tube, Andrea Mitchell and her gal pal Rachel Maddow just now insisted that they know best in the case of the killing in Sanford, Florida and not local or state government.  After all, Sanford is in the "SOUTHERN" part of central Floroda.

Mitchell interviewed a Mr. Bonaparte, the city manager.  He is African American.  She badgered, bullied and ridiculed him and the city of Sanford in a clear attempt to force him to suspend the Chief of Police.  Bonaparte patiently explained to this harridan that the situation on the ground was and is not yet clear and that under Florida law that situation must be made clear for state, city and now federal authorities before anything can be done to George Zimmerman, the admitted shooter, who insists that the dead youth assaulted him.

Maddow and Mitchell then launched themselves "into orbit" with a hand-wringing cry from the heart about guns, beastly laws and the political penalties that will be paid by "sinning" lawmakers and Jeb Bush.

So now we have truth expressed and we understand that MSNBC runs Florida, not Floridians.  They do this, of course with the help of the Reverend Al Sharpton and the Reverend Jesse Jackson (Rainbow Coalition) who are appealing for mass marches in New York City (?) and Sanford,  The Reverend Al, of Tawana Brawley fame, seems tired of blueberry themed commercials and now turns his hand once again to matters of racial justice.

Inconveniently, George Zimmerman is a Spanish speaking Latino with African American relatives according to his father.  Well, that's close enough.  pl

 http://video.msnbc.msn.com/mitchell-reports/46823838

 

IRMEP on Israeli Nuclear Triggers - Grant Smith

Today the Israel Lobby Archive releases recently declassified FBI files about 800 nuclear triggers smuggled from a LAKAM front company in Huntington Beach, CA to the Israeli Ministry of Defense. 

Israel Lobby Archive:  http://irmep.org/ILA/krytons 

News release: http://tinyurl.com/businessweek-milco 

Analysis: http://original.antiwar.com/smith-grant/2012/03/21/israels-nuclear-triggers/ 

********************************* News Release Excerpt****************************************

800 Nuclear Triggers Smuggled to Israel, Mastermind Untouchable--Secret FBI Files 

WASHINGTON, Mar. 22, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An espionage ring smuggled 800 krytons to the Israeli Ministry of Defense for use in the clandestine Israeli nuclear weapons program according to newly declassified FBI files.  The secret documents were originally scheduled for public release in the year 2036, but were obtained under appeal to the Justice Department by the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep).  The documents available online at http://www.IRmep.org/ila/krytons reveal new details about the failed effort to indict the nuclear smuggling ring's masterminds. 

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/800-nuclear-triggers-smuggled-to-israel-mastermind-untouchable---secret-fbi-files-143812826.html

 

********************************* Antiwar.com Analysis Excerpt****************************************

Israel's Nuclear Triggers: Secret files reveal brazen espionage and dangerous immunity

by Grant F. Smith 

...claims that Milchan was recruited into Israel's LAKAM economic espionage unit in his 20s and became a key operative for Benjamin Blumberg (head of LAKAM) and Rafi Eitan (who ran Jonathan Pollard and infiltrated NUMEC). Milchan is also the close confidant of Shimon Peres and Benjamin Netanyahu. According to the book, Blumberg himself taught Milchan how to establish front companies and secret bank accounts to launder millions in commissions obtained during LAKAM and Mossad arms transactions. In turn, it was Milchan who encouraged Smyth in 1972 to incorporate MILCO and share profits on export sales to his Tel Aviv-based Milchan Brothers company. Milchan Brothers received purchase orders from Blumberg and sent them on via secure telex to Smyth. MILCO did 80% of its business with Milchan, including shipments of other dual-use technologies useful to Israel's clandestine nuclear weapons program such as gyroscopes, neutron generators, high-speed oscilloscopes, and computerized flight control systems. According to the book, after Smyth was ordered to appear before a federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, LAKAM issued a burn notice. Milchan claimed, "I felt bad, but I was ordered to cut all contact with Smyth." Milchan still officially denies any involvement in MILCO/Heli's kryton smuggling... 

...Perhaps trying not to be outdone, President Barack Obama announced at AIPAC's Washington conference that he will soon take center stage in the Israeli nuclear Théâtre de l'Absurde. According to author Avner Cohen, Israeli President Shimon Peres was a key architect of Israel's nuclear weapons program from its very beginning. In 2010, scholar Sasha Polakow-Suransky released secret documents revealing how Peres even offered to sell nuclear-tipped Jericho missiles to the foundering apartheid regime in South Africa. That is why this summer, when Obama personally awards Peres a Presidential Medal of Freedom, he'll be conferring America's highest civilian award to the Middle East's most notorious nuclear proliferator.  

http://original.antiwar.com/smith-grant/2012/03/21/israels-nuclear-triggers/

 

"Coriolanus" a review by Alan Farrell

Coriolanus. Directed by ("based," we are assured, on the "play" by William Shakespeare): Ralph Fiennes. Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Gerard Butler, Vanessa Redgrave (Who left the phonebook out in the rain? ...her looks--desiccated, pinched, bitter now--mirror her insufferable, brittle self-righteousness, so there is entropy in the universe), Jessica Chastain (last seen that I recall as the pouty, un-virginal daughter in The Upside of Anger), doing acceptably (and poutably) here despite being one (pfui!) Gringa mouthing in Britishitude fee-male outrage that a man seek redress over a public affront and public injustice.

The fate of a brave soldier who cannot keep his mouth shut, cannot love the plebs. Tell that to McChrystal and Petraeus and McMaster and Yingling and Nagl and Shinseki and Zinni and Smedley Butler, who ree-tired early or into oblivion and to vague civic opprobrium on account of said what had to be said to whom: "I cannot stand naked and entreat them for my wounds' sake to give their suffrage." Shakespeare's generals pretty much take a beating for their integritas (allegedly the sound of a fist thumping a so-solid breastplate... in modern life the sound of blunt object poked up a so-tight umph umph till owner's eyeballs bug out, and most often by one's similar, more's the pity): Titus Andronicus (pronounced Andro-NIGH-cus in Britspeak); Coriolanus (pronounced Corio-LAY-nus in Brititiary); Othello (pronounced Ori-FICE in Britese). Slimy politicians, demagogues, sanctimonious fee-males, ruthless warlords... oooh, that Shakespeare was prescient in his vision of things future, nay eternal (or else we're dumb as a soda cracker on account of cannot evolve beyond 1623). I kinda incline toward both viewpoints simultemporaneously.Anyhow. What've we done with poor Shakespeare lately? We've got The King is Alive in the Kalahari (variously spelt) and Looking for Richard in New York (about as arid, do you ask me), then Ten Things I Hate About You/Taming of the Shrew in Seattle (arid and rainy at once) and Shakespeare in Love now Anonymous (which appear to have blown through the Cineplex without much dust, go figure: the popcorn crowd not ready for questions of authorship?), couple of Midsummernight's and Romeo's out there, too, along with one interesting variant: the set-in-1930's Richard III with Ian McKellam waving a broomhandle Mauser and intoning the "Now is the winter..." speech into the microphone at a dress ball. Well, otay. Have it your way. You can dress everybody up in pantyhose and those puffy shorts things or you can try to hang some of the Bard's barbs on modern fixtures. Howsomever you do it, we know we're gonna get a dose of cultcha and better like it or risk be identified as a boor (that's not bore, now, someone merely uninteresting; it's boor, someone violently and proudly and publicly dumb, brutish, recalcitrant). Ouch! And no gummi bears while the ac-toors are mouthing the lines, trippingly to the tongue, if we're lucky.

Goldberg on Israeli War with Iran

"After interviewing many people with direct knowledge of internal government thinking, however, I’m highly confident that Netanyahu isn’t bluffing -- that he is in fact counting down to the day when he will authorize a strike against a half-dozen or more Iranian nuclear sites.

One reason I’m now more convinced is that Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are working hard to convince other members of the Israeli cabinet that a strike might soon be necessary.

But I also heard from Israeli national-security officials a number of best-case scenarios about the consequences of an attack, which suggested to me that they believe they have thought through all the risks -- and that they keep coming to the same conclusions."  Bloomberg

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Goldberg ought to know.  He has good access.  He is a dual national and a reservist in the IDF.  I have the "gut" feeling that this time Natanyahu is going all the way.  His clock is running out and he knows that if BHO is re-elected Israel will suffer a massive loss of  leverage in its ability to force America into war with Iran.  Logic is logic.  pl

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-19/israelis-grow-confident-strike-on-iran-s-nukes-can-work.html

Celebrating Liberation Iraq Style

"A spate of car bombings rocked Iraq on Tuesday, the ninth anniversary of the U.S. invasion and days before the nation hosts a meeting of Arab leaders.

The violence left at least 41 people dead and 190 wounded, officials said.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blasts that one senior Interior Ministry official described as "coordinated" and blamed on al Qaeda in Iraq.

The official, who did not want to be named because he's not authorized to speak to the media, said the attacks were meant to send a message that the militant group -- despite gains made by Iraqi security forces -- is still able to carry out daily attacks.

Attacks took place in Baghdad, Kirkuk, Karbala, Hilla, Tikrit, Baiji, Ramadi and Falluja."  CNN

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No comment.  pl

 

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/20/world/meast/iraq-violence/index.html

"Why Karzai is fed up..." by Joshua Partlow

"For much of his second term, Karzai has been consistent in his belief that American troops are creating more problems than solutions in the war against the Taliban. The latest outrages — the viral video that apparently depicts Marines desecrating corpses, the burning of Korans by U.S. service members, the civilian casualties in Kandahar province — have reinforced his argument that the U.S. counterinsurgency strategy is counterproductive. His demand that NATO forces stay out of Afghan villages and withdraw onto large bases follows a litany of earlier orders: the cessation of NATO airstrikes, Special Operations night raids and home searches; the abolishment of private security companies, NATO’s provincial reconstruction teams and American-run prisons."  Partlow

------------------------------------------------

When Karzai says that the COIN strategy that BHO adopted is counterproductive, he is correct.  The US is driving itself out of Afghanistan.  It is doing that by trying to replace the native cultures of Afghans with a foreign concoction that is imagined by the COINistas to be "modern" and representative of inevitable social evolutionon the part of the Afghans.  There is a "small" problem with this concept.  Most Afghans do not accept the idea,  Look at the pictures of Afghans burning the cross in Kandahar.  Do you think this is an empty gesture? No.  They are rejecting the West in the most visible way that they can manage.

Karzai knows that the Afghan peoples can not be "transformed" in the way that the COIN freaks think they can be.  He seeks a middle way that will allow the US to continue CT operations in that country.

Perhaps that is still possible.  Perhaps.  We have done so much damage to that possibility that I doubt it can still be done.  pl

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-karzai-is-fed-up-with-the-us-mission-in-afghanistan/2012/03/16/gIQAh5A3GS_story.html?hpid=z3

Who Is Going to Be Blamed! - by Foresman

There is going to be much finger pointing about whom to blame for losing Afghanistan.

The Republicans will point to the Democrats and say that because they were weak on defense, and that they were not sufficiently committed, that the Democrats lost Afghanistan.

The Democrats will point to the Republicans, and with all the sincerity they can muster, will say if you had not led us to a useless war in Iraq then we would have won in Afghanistan; it was your Republican President who made it the forgotten war.

Our Allies will point to our nation and say that it was you who got us to join you in this endeavor, it was you, the arrogant United States who led us down the primrose path; it was you America, the evil superpower, who lost Afghanistan.

The American military will say that we were stabbed in the back.  It was the weak kneed politicians who sold us down the river.  If we had just stayed a little longer, if we had just had some gee whiz weapons, if we had more money, more soldiers, more of everything we would have won.  It was the socialists and the liberals, and the non-believing secular humanists that sold us down the river and caused us to lose Afghanistan.

The American people will little notice that we lost, for they were never at war.  They went to the mall.  They played their little league games.  They put on false patriotism when they thanked a soldier, thankful it was he or she and not their precious son or daughter who went to Afghanistan.

There will be a group of Americans who do not blame, who grieve for their loved ones who now lie in eternal rest with their comrades, guarded by white marble Crosses, Stars of David, and the Islamic Crescent.

Another group of Americans, men and women who went forward voluntarily to do their nation’s bidding and whose bodies and minds are broken by the war in a far away and strange lands who know, like all the veterans of that conflict that it was not the dead, or the broken, or those who went to a far away land who lost Afghanistan.  It was all those who seek to blame someone else rather than looking in the mirror, who lost Afghanistan.

And in Afghanistan they will rejoice that they expelled the infidel Americans, as they expelled the infidel Russians and British and any other foreigner who dared invade their country and dared to try to bring them into the current century.  The Afghnas will go back to their warrior ways, to their tribes, to their revenge killings, to the brutality of a country mired in ways and mores at odds with our western concepts of modernity.

COL (R) Henry “Hank” Foresman, Jr. retired from the United States Army after thirty-three years of service.  He is now employed as a Department of the Army Civilian, the views express are his and do not reflect the views of the Department of Defense or the Department of the Army.

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The photograph is of George C. Marshall in China.  He was sent there by Truman to seek a peace.  Marshall was blamed by McCarthy for Mao's victory.  pl

 

More on Bales

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/army-sergeant-accused-of-afghan-killings-struggled-to-pay-bills-passed-over-for-promotion/2012/03/17/gIQAcZhSJS_story.html

pl

 

SSGT Bales' fate

"Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, 1st platoon sergeant, Blackhorse Company (Company B), 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, in 2011."  This doesn't mean much to civilians but for the soldiers here it tells us who he is.  He is a line infantry NCO who had served in a lot of combat and had done moderately well.  I would have expected that with his record he would be a Sergeant First Class (E-7) by now, but no matter.

He was an infantry platoon sergeant with shared responsibility (with a lieutenant) for 43 "grunts" or however many there are now in a rifle platoon.   For them he was father, teacher and patron saint.  The lieutenant platoon leader is often too young and green to carry all that weight alone.   Bales enlisted just after 9/11.  Maybe it is not such a good idea to enlist people to fight for a cause rather than each other or "the regiment."  Disillusionment comes eventually to those who have illusions about causes.

His civilian lawyer (Brown) says that he had lost a man recently to a disabling wound.  Maybe that was "the straw that broke the camel's back."

The media are already beginning to create the image of a monster in him.  It will be interesting to see if they succeed.

IMO it is unlikely that this man will be court-martialed.  The likely course of events is that an Army psychiatric board will judge him to have been insane at the time of the massacre and probably still unfit to stand trial.  If that does not happen and he is tried on a capital charge, then he would probably be acquitted by the jury on the same basis.  Because he is an enlisted soldier rather than an officer, there will be enlisted men in the jury as well as officers.  That is the law.  In a trial the defense will argue that this man was driven mad in and by the service of the United States. 

Whether there is a trial or not he will spend a long time in a mental hospital.

The Afghans will be angry?  They would be angry no matter what the US does in this case.

Time to leave.  pl

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/sgt-robert-bales-charged-murder-16-afghan-civilians/story?id=15942005

Paddy's Day

The patron of Irelend

St. Patrick's Day in New York City

pl

"Netanyahu is preparing Israeli public opinion for a war on Iran" By Aluf Ben in Haaretz

"Netanyahu is hinting that in his Washington visit, he received Obama's tacit approval for an Israeli attack against Iran – under the guise of opposition. Obama will speak out against it but act for it, just as the past U.S. administrations speak against the settlements in the territories but allow their expansion. And in this manner Netanyahu summarized the visit: "I presented before my hosts the examples that I just noted before you, and I believe that the first objective that I presented – to fortify the recognition of Israel's right to defend itself – I think that objective has been achieved."

This morning, the editor-in-chief of the Israel Hayom newspaper, Amos Regev, published on his front page an enthusiastic op-ed in support of a war against Iran. Regev writes what Netanyahu cannot say in his speeches: that we cannot rely on Obama – who wasn't even a mechanic in the armored corps - but only on ourselves. "Difficult, daring, but possible," Regev promised. We need not be alarmed by the Iranian response: the arrow would take down the Shahab missiles, and Hezbollah and Hamas would hesitate about entering a war. The damage would be reminiscent of the Iraqi scuds in the 1991 Gulf War - unpleasant, but definitely not too bad. The analysts are weak, but the soldiers and the residents of the Home Front have motivation. So onward, to battle!"  Aluf Ben in Haaretz

----------------------------------

 There seem to be two views of this post Bibi in Washington situation.

- On the one hand the prevailing view (which I support) is that Bibi left Washington with nothing but vague promises and an overweening case of spiritual pride, firm in the belief that the American untermenschen can be pushed into compliance with anything he wants to do.

- On the other hand, a rumor level rumor has reached me that the Israelis are pushing a story that the US is presently engaged in transferring to Israel equipment needed for the coming death ride of the flying supermen.  (Catch the reference? )

Which is it?  Does anyone actually know anything abot this?  pl

 

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/netanyahu-is-preparing-israeli-public-opinion-for-a-war-on-iran-1.418869

"Waltzing Toward War with Iran" by Christopher Bolan, Ph. D.

Another shoe has dropped on the path toward war against Iran.  A potentially deadly game is brewing between the International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors and Iran over access to military facilities at Parchin.  Deadly – because similar stand-offs with UN inspectors led to U.S. missile attacks in 1998 against suspected Iraqi WMD facilities and provided the rationale for the subsequent full-scale military invasion of Iraq in 2003. 

In the current atmosphere of increasingly heated rhetoric threatening military strikes against Iran, these disputes at Parchin or other similar sites could quickly (if unintentionally) spiral into direct military confrontation.  US, Israeli, and Iranian officials alike should take this moment to carefully consider the potentially catastrophic consequences of their next steps.

In announcing the US missile strikes against suspect Iraqi nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons facilities in December 1998, President Clinton cited Saddam’s failure to “cooperate with the United Nations weapons inspectors called UNSCOM.”  In particular, he observed that “Iraq repeatedly blocked UNSCOM from inspecting suspect sites [and]… restricted UNSCOMs ability to obtain necessary evidence.”  In his speech to the United Nations Security Council in February 2003, Secretary of State Powell similarly based the American case for war on a pattern of incomplete Iraqi cooperation with UN inspectors suggesting that “Saddam Hussein and his regime are concealing their efforts to produce more weapons of mass destruction.” 

The Daily Show And UNESCO

About eight minutes into the Daily Show for 15 March, 2012, There is an interesting video essay on UNESCO, Palestine and Israel.  The American congressman from Florida who is in the piece seems so stupid and unaware of his own buffoonery that one wonders if he understands that he is being made fun of.  pl

http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/thu-march-15-2012-

Will Natanyahu act?

 "Israeli commentators speculated yesterday that the country's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is preparing the public for war against Iran after he delivered his most decisive speech yet on the nuclear threat posed by its arch foe.

Just over a week after returning apparently empty-handed from Washington, where he tried to enlist US support for a pre-emptive strike, Mr Netanyahu appeared to hint that he might strike Iran's nuclear facilities even without backing from the US, potentially signalling a decision to attack within weeks or months."  The Independent

------------------------------------

I keep hearing that Bibi has interpreted a polite refusal of agreement at the WH as something equivalent to permission.  Psychologically, this would be like thinking that because a woman did not slap you when she said no, that means that she really wants you.

If Natanyahu is going to take Israel to war against Iran, he is likely to do it before the US election.   An Obama re-election will deprive Israel of most of its leverage against the president.  A Republican win would mean that Natanyahu could wait until after the US  inauguration because the Republicans will do Israel's bidding whenever they are told to do so.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/netanyahus-speech-to-mps-prepares-for-attack-on-iran-7574469.html

New Policy at SST on re-prints

After a particuarly egregious incident, I have decided to make it the policy at SST that we will not re-publish material previously published in other blogs, magazines, etc.  This does not include links in comments or quotations.  pl

National Journal Blog - 14 March 2012

Col. W. Patrick Lang Responds to How Should the U.S. Military Respond to the Afghanistan Killings??.

pl

 

DNI Clapper to go?

"Jim Clapper, the first Director of National Intelligence to order budget cuts across the intelligence community, may be leaving his post this fall.

Or, then again, he may not. At this stage, all is rumor. So far, we've got three people with good intelligence connections saying Clapper is likely on the way out. We've got one former senior intelligence saying it is not likely.

But as so often with the intelligence community, rumors possess value because they indicate perception as much as fact. There may be senior Obama administration officials who would like to see Clapper gone. He is a career military man heading a "civilian" intelligence community and there's another such fish over at CIA named Petraeus. And we all know how they treated retired Adm. Dennis Blair.

Also, two of the sources for the rumor may have a strong institutional interest in Clapper's departure. But we can't say more for fear of blowing their cover.

A source with excellent intelligence community access had a specific piece of information. "Clapper was told he is no longer valued....back in October. General Cartwright was offered the job but declined," this source said in an email. [Read more: Clark/AOLDefense/5March2012]"

This appeared in rhe "WeeklyNotes" of the Associatin of Former Intelligence Officers this week.

--------------------------------

I am not a friend of Clapper, but it it must be said that he has been effective as DNI and the quality of national intelligence estimates has greatly improved on his "watch."

I that why "they" want to get rid of him?  pl

The bishops have decided...

"After thanking “all who have stood firmly with us in our vigorous opposition to this unjust and illegal mandate,” the bishops stated that

we wish to clarify what this debate is—and is not—about. This is not about access to contraception, which is ubiquitous and inexpensive, even when it is not provided by the Church's hand and with the Church's funds. This is not about the religious freedom of Catholics only, but also of those who recognize that their cherished beliefs may be next on the block. This is not about the Bishops' somehow "banning contraception," when the US Supreme Court took that issue off the table two generations ago. Indeed, this is not about the Church wanting to force anybody to do anything; it is instead about the federal government forcing the Church—consisting of its faithful and all but a few of its institutions—to act against Church teachings. This is not a matter of opposition to universal health care, which has been a concern of the Bishops' Conference since 1919, virtually at its founding. This is not a fight we want or asked for, but one forced upon us by government on its own timing. Finally, this is not a Republican or Democratic, a conservative or liberal issue; it is an American issue."  Catholic Culture.org

http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=13677

 

I have been waiting to see what the Bishops' Conference would adopt as a position.  This is it.  They had little choice.  Having "blotted their copybook" in the matter of clerical and religious molestation of children and youths, they would have faced a further revulsion on the part of the laity if they had not faced up to this.

The federal government IMO has no idea how difficlult this will be for a long time.  Will many people leave the church over this?  I do not know, but IMO a faithful remnant would be preferable to a mass of cafeteria Cathiolics.  pl

National Journal Blog - 14 March 2012

Col. W. Patrick Lang Responds to How Should the U.S. Military Respond to the Afghanistan Killings??.

pl

Matthews insults Breaux

Christopher Matthews "hit" a new low today.  He had former senator John breaux as a guest on Hardbrain, his program and asked him why his name had an "x" at the end.  He then asked if the Breaux family had added the letter to "suck up" to the French in Louisiana. Astonishing.  pl 

The Republican Candidates: We Came, We Saw, We Lied by Richard Sale

By Richard Sale, author Clinton’s Secret Wars and Traitors 

The GOP candidates are all working hard to carry a system of negative qualities to complete perfection. They labor diligently to exclude from their minds any ideas or feelings they have in common with others. Have ever in your life heard so many lame-brained inanities, so many staggering misconceptions, so many clichés, so many antique attitudes, and so many grotesque and obsolete positions offered as genuine policy? Have you ever seen such a vast of expanse of historical ignorance incessantly masquerading as knowledge? Their opinions have nothing to do with the merit of a case, but are put forward only as a promotion of the narrow agenda of their party. It’s a disgrace enough to be stupid but to take pride in being stupid and praise it to the unwary as virtue, demands a special gift, and the Republicans truly have it.

Think of their record. (They never do). But in foreign policy, for example, they are always on the wrong side of History.  Never mind Palin and her inability to explain why we have two Koreas, all we have to do is remember how the GOP, through Hoover, was urging “peace with dictators” in 1929, ignoring FDR’s description Hitler “as an enemy of the human race.” Or think of today’s candidates urging that Iran be obliterated and its innocent people slaughtered, ignoring the fact that Iran's citizens are not any more evil than Israel’s. Or think of them as urging an invasion of Syria and the creation of democracy there, ignoring the fact that their party invaded Iraq under completely false pretenses and made it unstable.  Or think of how they are praising the liberation of Libya, ignoring the fact that that country is a now torturing, mutilating and murdering its rivals even as those factions are busy partitioning it. In other words, just ignore the facts, and instead, embrace dogma.

54% think the Pres, can set gas prices.

I am always surprised by the peope who think the president of the US is an analog of the CEO of a corporation.  They think he has relatively unlimited power over the economy of the country.  The Democrats are now reluctantly admitting that this is not true in the matter of gasoline prices.

How about it?  What power does the president have over this?

I am tempted to think that market play could be regulated to force prices down, but would that just drive the action overseas?  pl 

Interesting Media (and other) Drivel and Folly

Today McCaffery turned away from endorsement of COIN without end.  He said that it was time to consider a cost/benefit  analysis of what we are doing.  That means that his pals in the generals' club are making a similar assessmen.  They don't get to determine national policy but at least they will probably stop urging a continuation.

Colonel Jack Jacobs expresses similar but more sensible things on MSNBC.

---------------------------------

The command in Afghanistan tried today to make up for murder of children and women by a US infantry staff sergeant (probably a rifle squad leader?) by sending Green Berets (US Army Special Forces) into the violated villages to try to make peace with the people.  TTG and my other SF brothers here will see the awfulness of that.  The GBs are the culturally sensitve linguist commandos who have been making progress in eastern Afghanistan in building village defense forces from the villagers as well as village police.  The big army dislikes these men, but they always are called when somethig really hard has to be done.  Major Gant was the prophet of that kind of thing in Afghanistan and many here mocked the idea,  Why does the big army dislike the GBs?  Why does the salami fear the slicer?

------------------------------

In Washington and Kabul the staff boot-lickers and spokesmen all rushed to explain that this wuld have no long-term effect.  Good luck on that.  The asses at the WH said the same thing.  McCain implied that this "incident" will have no lasting effect.  This is more stupidity.

Several years ago, I said in a debate (IQ2) that COIN would not work in Afghanistan because the human, time and financial resources would not be available to do the job.  To do COIN like the GBs can do it you mist become a part time member of that community and culture.  The infantry can't do that. Their function is to kill and destroy enemy forces.  They don't even like the idea.  Combatting enemy forces is a valuable function in the right circumstances but not in COIN except to engage enemy guerrillas.  Larry Derita (one of Rumsfeld's pretty boys) told me once that they wanted to make the whole Army like the GBs.  I laughed and explained that these men really are SPECIAL and that not many are like them or can be made to be like them.  It went right past him.

Steve Clemons and I were right in that debate in NY City.  Do we get a bonus?

-----------------------------

The media srill does not grasp the difference betwee post,camp, station and unit.  "This sergeant is from Joint Base" blah! blah!.  LISTEN!!  The post you are at is your address.  It is not your identity.  Your unit is your identity.  Don't ask where the unit is based in the States, Germany, Korea, etc.  These troops are not the NG.  They are not home town folks in the local community.  Ask what unit they belong to.  Ask who is in the chain of command.  A unit has a soul.  It has a culture.  Some are good. Some are terrible.  This unit is not Tacoma.  pl

 

"Israel’s Assassins and Tehran’s Killers (courtesy of Truthout)" by Richard Sale

By Richard Sale, former UPI Intelligence Correspondent

 

They are dying one by one. 

They are Iran’s nuclear scientists, and they are being murdered.  Since 2007, five Iranian nuclear scientists have been killed in Iranian territory, many victims dying from magnetic bombs that terrorists had attached to the exterior of their cars.

The latest attack took place on January 11, 2012, when Mostafa Ahamdi Roshan, Deputy Director in the Natanz uranium enrichment facility, died without warning in a blast in Tehran shortly after two assailants on a motorcycle, placed a bomb on his car. 

According to news reports, confirmed by Truthout, the United States denied that it was to blame for the killing of the 32-old Roshan after Tehran said Washington and Israel were responsible for the attack. “I want to categorically deny any United States involvement in any kind of act of violence inside Iran,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters when asked about Iranian allegations over the attack. 

National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor added, “The United States had absolutely nothing to do with this. We strongly condemn all acts of violence, including acts of violence like this.” 

U.S. officials, speaking on condition of not being identified, said that President Barack Obama reacted angrily to the latest killing because since his election he had tried to prevent any acceleration in the covert U.S.-Israeli war directed at Iranian nuclear facilities. 

The Israeli program, which has been in place for almost a decade, involves not only targeted killings of key Iranian assets but also disrupting and sabotaging the Iran nuclear technology by infecting Iran’s enrichment computers with a U.S.-Israel virus that heavily damaged them and by sabotaging Iran’s purchasing network abroad, these sources said. 

U.S. opposition to the program initially intensified as President Obama made overtures aimed at thawing decades-old tension between the two countries. Part of his strategy was driven by America’s desire to use Iran’s roads into Afghanistan to help resupply U.S.-NATO forces there. 

But in spite of Obama’s desire to relax tensions, Israel continues to carry out killings using its proxies, including an armed group of Iranian dissidents, a group that has high level political backers in the United States despite being a terrorist organization. 

Former senior CIA officials said that Israeli terrorists were members of the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK) who are paid by Israel to do targeted killings of Iranian nationals. 

Sunday News material

Yesterday's Farid Zakariya show was enlightening.  It had several interesting segments on the Iran/Israel situation.  In addition to the circus among the Israelis, there was a neat "coming out' by Kissinger.  The four "Israelis included a Palestinian woman reporter for Haaretz somebody named Levy and two more Zionists who did not admit to dual nationality.  Does anyone believe that?  The question that was not asked in the whole show was whether or not Israel has the military capability to do more than annoy the Iranians if they do not use nuclear weapons.  That's why they want us to do the deed for them.  All this talk of Israel "going it alone" is wonderflly nonsensical.  Good!  Let them do it, but without us.  pl

http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/news-media-distort-former-mossad-heads-60-minutes-interview-on-iran/2012/03/09/?print

http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/category/iran/

 

Foresman on an "Act of War"

As the discussion of a possible Israeli attack on Iran swirls around Washington, I have to wonder whether either the Israeli government or the government of the United States has considered that an attack on Iran would be considered an Act of War under International Law.

While I believe it is clearly part of the calculus for the United States Government, I have to wonder if the Israeli government is so arrogant that they believe they will get a “hall pass” from the civilized world.

We Americans tend to be fairly isolated from the opinions of foreign governments, and we have come to accept the actions of Israel as being right and proper because our government and many of our institutions have said that it is the way it should be. There was a time when European governments felt the same way; however over the last twenty years or so, European governments of all stripes have come to question the legitimacy of many of Israel’s actions vis a vie the Palestinians.

While Israel can rightly expect a United States veto of any draconian resolution in the United Nations Security Council; the United States cannot protect Israel from the actions of individual countries or more importantly the World Court. I have no doubt that the leaders of Israel, to include Shimon Peres, the last true Israeli statesman, will be indicted by the World Court if they launch an unprovoked attack against Iran. They will also find that Israel is isolated and shunned by the civilized nations of the world, except of course the United States.

Unfortunately I doubt that Bibi and the leaders of the radical right in Israel have given any serious thought to the second and third order effects of an attack on Iran.

Hank Foresman

--------------------------------------

This is the first post published here by Colonel (Ret.) Henry Foresman.  We look forward to many more.  pl 

Kandahar

There is nothing grand or significant in this crime, just the usual mixture of human frailty, poor leadership, and combat fatigue.  Oh, yes, let us not forget COIN, one of the dumbest ideas ever to infest the Washington think tankery.  Run the COINISTAS out of town.  First, take their money away from them.

BHO should "read the tea leaves' and dump the Afghanistan war and the Afghans before it destroys him. When we are gone the Afghans, if there is such a people, will be exactly the same as when we arrived. Ask the ghosts of Major Cavagnari and Lord Roberts.  pl 

Murder in Kandahar

Appalling.  What unit is in that area NOW?  Investigation should be followed by appropriate legal action.  pl 

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/03/11/us-offers-condolences-as-us-service-member-investigated-for-alleged-killing/

 

"Holder needs to issue FARA surrender to Israel" by Grant Smith IRMEP

The 1938 Foreign Agents Registration Act is supposed to deter the most egregious foreign meddling in America.  It does so through transparency.  FARA doesn’t prohibit any foreign government from launching US public relations campaigns or lobbying initiatives.  It only insists that the agents of the foreign principal behind such endeavors publicly reveal the control relationships, campaigns, and funding flows. 

Brilliant. 

Perhaps no foreign government has violated the letter and spirit of FARA more than Israel and its US agents.  They’ve had steady help from the US Department of Justice.  In the late 1940’s DOJ stood by as the Zionist Organization of America executed immaterial changes in its organizing documents to sever the appearance of foreign control on paper though not in fact.  DOJ ordered AIPAC’s founder to continue registering as a foreign agent in the early 1950s, but then did nothing to enforce the order.  DOJ allowed Israel’s super-agent Abraham Feinberg to shut down his propaganda paper and move on to funding Israel’s nuclear arsenal rather than comply with a registration order. In the early 1960s, DOJ ordered the American Zionist Council to register, but let its lobbying division AIPAC slip away to incorporate just six weeks later. FARA, the best transparency law in America, has been bested by Israel.  It is now time for the Attorney General  recognize that by issuing a formal declaration of surrender.  

Fortunately, there is now an easy way to do that. 

An amendment to FARA allows an attorney general to admit defeat and formally exempt a foreign principal from all FARA oversight.  Since the 1960s white shoe law firms such as Covington & Burling, where Eric Holder was once an attorney, have worked diligently to gut FARA and water down its investigative and enforcement mechanisms.   If it wasn’t written for Israel, it’s hard to say who the exemption is for.  Crudely abbreviated it reads, “The Attorney General may, by regulation, provide for the exemption..[if the AG] determines that such registration…is not necessary…” 

Although the AG has not yet handed over this formal declaration of surrender to AIPAC or Israel, it is now quite easy to imagine why this ejection seat has been quietly installed in FARA. The next time AIPAC is caught red-handed stealing industry secrets or national defense information to touch off war with Iran , the AG can reach down and pull the FARA exemption handle.  The AG and AIPAC can then float down to business as usual under a large blue and white canopy lettered “Israel is a vital interest to the US.” 

Mr. Holder, FARA has been riddled with Israeli Ak-Ak and is now burning all around you.   The Prime Minister is on the phone.  The ejection handle beckons.  

Why wait? 

Grant Smith, IRMEP

 

"Webb stands firm against Tricare fee hikes" By Patricia Kime

"Sen. Jim Webb, D- Va., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s military personnel panel, said Thursday he lives by this “moral contract” and believes Congress should weigh the matter heavily before “characterizing the commitment we have made as a throwaway matter.”

“I grew up in the Marine Corps tradition and no Marine is ever left behind. … I feel just as strongly about the commitment that we have made to lifetime medical care to the people who have served,” Webb said."  Army Times

---------------------------------------------

Well, good for Webb.  The percentage of military service people who stay long enough to reture with medical benefits is quite small.  We are talking here of people who retire for long service.  This does not apply to people who served a few years and then left the military.  As Webb says it was ALWAYS understood that those people would have medical benefits for life.  That was one of the conditions of their service.   pl 

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2012/03/military-jim-webb-promise-lifetime-health-care-against-tricare-fee-hikes-030912w/

http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/citizen-warrior/2012/mar/10/white-house-betrays-military-community/

New Story by Basilisk

Basilisk is back from his mid-Pacific idyll.  He wants to shoot my new guns and I look forward to that.  It looks as though Spring weather will start tomorrow here in Alexandria.  pl 

http://turcopolier.typepad.com/the_athenaeum/2012/03/alien-registration-by-basilisk.html

 

"Give Danny Some Comfort"

"RAY SUAREZ: Rob Malley, you know people continue to die while the world figures out its next move. Give Danny some comfort."  The Newshour

-----------------------------------

Last night Ray Suarez exhorted a former NSC staffer to offer "comfort" to a partisan Syrian rebel of whom we know nothing except that he is deeply engaged in a revolt abroad.  This man made unsupported statements with regard to the situation in Syria and Suarez clearly was committed to supporting that side of the Syrian struggle.

As I have said, the Newshour is now very like 24/7 "news" entertainment.  pl 

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/world/jan-june12/syria2_03-08.html

 

The coming debacle in Afghanistan (FB Ali)

 For some time now attention has been focussed on Israel’s (and its lobbyists’) attempts to involve the US in a war with Iran. With this issue put on the back burner for a while, it is perhaps time to turn back to the war the US is actually fighting ─ its longest ever ─ in Afghanistan. I would suggest that there is no better way of doing that than reading a brilliant article by Ann Jones that has just been published.

Ann Jones is a journalist and author who writes mostly about women’s and children’s issues. In that behalf she has travelled extensively in Afghanistan, and developed a remarkable understanding of the country and its people. From that perspective she has taken a penetrating look at the current state of the US enterprise in that country, and the direction in which it is heading.

What she sees is a looming train wreck. A wreck caused not by the Taliban insurgency, but by the fatal flaw underlying the US plan to conclude the war (Plan A she calls it, highlighting the fact that there is no Plan B!). A plan that betrays a remarkable lack of understanding of the country and people where the US has been fighting for over 10 years.

I would highly recommend Ann Jones’s article. She has got it exactly right!

The American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science. IRMEP

WASHINGTON, March 7, 2012 /PRNewswire-- Internal Revenue Commissioner Douglas Shulman is being asked today to examine the tax-exempt status of the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science. According to a U.S. Department of Defense study performed by the Institute for Defense Analyses, the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel has actively engaged in nuclear weapons research. 

The 1987 IDA study documents Weizmann scientists developed a cutting- edge high energy physics and hydrodynamics program "needed for nuclear bomb design." Weizmann also worked on advanced methods for enriching uranium to weapons-grade through the use of lasers. The U.S. worried that Weizmann's supercomputers, if networked with other American-purchased supercomputers, would be used to reduce the size of warheads enough to fit on Israel's long range missiles. 

In 1989, the U.S. denied a super computer export license to Technion in Israel after the university's scientists were discovered working at the Dimona nuclear facility. However by 1994, Weizmann had the second highest supercomputing capacity in Israel, trailing only Tel Aviv University. 

According to the book "Israel and the Bomb" by Avner Cohen, Democratic Party fundraiser Abraham Feinberg was designated by David Ben-Gurion to raise funding for Israel's covert nuclear weapons program in 1958. In 1971, Feinberg became the president of the American and Israeli branches of the Weizmann institute. Feinberg donated funds to capitalize the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in the 1960s. AIPAC's director published articles in the Near East Report denying Israel had a nuclear weapons program. Weizmann Institute President Daniel Zajfman was lauded in a program about Israeli innovations at AIPAC's 2010 Policy Conference. 

The IRmep complaint asks Commissioner Shulman to investigate how Weizmann's tax-exempt U.S. fundraising branch finances Israeli nuclear weapons development. On January 11, 2010, IRmep Research Director Grant F. Smith and several callers confronted Shulman on NPR over lax IRS enforcement over U.S. tax-exempt organizations funding illegal West Bank settlements. Shulman publicly promised that "If a charity is breaking the tax law, is engaged in activities that they are not supposed to be engaged in, we certainly will go after them." According to outside reports, the IRS began screening new applications for tax-exempt status of organizations potentially involved in settlement funding. According to IRmep Director Smith, "Charitable funding laundered into clandestine nuclear weapons that destabilize and endanger the entire region simply has no place in America." 

SOURCE Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/07/idUS204008+07-Mar-2012+PRN20120307 

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/irs-asked-to-probe-links-between-aipac-weizmann-and-secret-israeli-nuclear-weapons-program-141780383.html

How far to Iran?

I have the TV audio on in the background and I just heard Andrea Mitchell ask Ambassador Michael Oren (paraphrasing) why Israel's opinions are more valid than those of the US in re the Iranian menace.  Praise the Lord!

Oren was startled by the question and mumbled their usual talking points.  Among them was the idea that "Iran is next door to Israel."  Say what?  By my calculation we are talking a range set of at least 1,000 miles.  That is about as far as  - what in the US?

I guess Oren thinks his former American countrymen are even more ignorant of geography than they are.  I had a workman here in Alexandria ask me last week how close Iran is to Israel.  He was amazed and "gobstruck" when informed of the distance.

Is this something new that "they" have been up to?  pl

http://video.msnbc.msn.com/mitchell-reports/46656400/#46656400

"right next door to us"

"Ladder 49" a review by Alan Farrell

Ladder 49. Directed by Jay Russell. Starring Joaquin Phoenix, John Travolta… and then you drop your voice.

Francis Ford Coppola’s Gardens of Stone begins—and ends—with a soldier’s funeral where the whole world shows up, teary and pious, to hear the report of one dead man’s volley echo across those acres of dead men. Ron Howard’s Backdraft ends with a fireman’s funeral where the whole city of Chicago turns out, including the high cheekbones, pouty lips wife who dumped the guy, to hear the bagpipes wail into the ether. Guy Hamilton’s Remo Williams opens with a cop’s funeral where the whole Department stands to, bows heads to hear the encomium—of a guy apparently nobody could abide when he was on the job—ring out across the clipped lawns. So Jay Russell’s post-9/11 tribute Ladder 49 ends in a fireman’s funeral (won’t tell you whose…) with the whole town (Baltimore, I think it is…) bleary eyed and solemn to hear the same bagpipes and listen as those same shots reverberate across the asphalt meadows. It doesn’t happen thataway. Spent my whole life around brave men (didn’t say I was one, now…). Those guys die a lot. And I’ve stood with two-three G.I.s around a bloody poncho on the ground, with a half-dozen buddies at Arlington beside a caisson, with Mom and Dad in the rain next to a pile of dirt in some small town cemetery while a coupla ill-bred kids stared at the backhoe operator waiting silently for us to depart. So it goes. All this by way of saying that Ladder 49 is a lousy movie… but that you should watch it. A lousy movie about firemen is still a good movie and a good thing.