January 14th, 2007 at 09:20
Björn Hallberg
Unsurprising perhaps, the US airstrikes on Somalia last week missed their intended targets. Especially unsurprising considering the target was an organization that in reality doesn’t exist and is the brainchild of CIA pencil pushers.
The herdsmen had gathered with their animals around large fires at night to ward off mosquitoes. But lit up by the flames, they became latest victims of America’s war on terror.
It was their tragedy to be misidentified in a secret operation by special forces attempting to kill three top al-Qa’ida leaders in south-ern Somalia.
Of course, in US military lingo, the entire area is a theater of war and since there are no civilians at the target sites, according to the Pentagon’s map, it is simply impossible for the US to kill civilians.
It is also noteworthy that violence in Somalia is surging and that the country which had enjoyed relative calm for a short while is now being thrown back into chaos. The warlords that were meticulously and painstakingly driven out by the Islamic Courts are back to reclaim their respective turfs and kill whoever stands in their way and torment the Somali people once more. It’s their pound of flesh for sticking with their US patrons. Meanwhile, the Ethiopian army (back by US diplomacy, satellite intel, weapons and training) has to continue fighting indefinitely, despite initial reports of resounding success. It does sound very familiar, doesn’t it?
See also:
January 7th, 2007 at 19:25
Björn Hallberg
As’ ad over at Angry Arab brings our attention to the willingness of the US media to transmogrify the Israel-Palestine issue and one of the greatest euphemisms in recent history – the “arrest raid.”
Elsewhere, just in case you missed it, Israel is now officially crowned worst brand name in the world. Though as you can imagine, according to the pro-Israel sort, this is through no fault of their own. I guess we can all expect a new round of Holohoax “education” now to cover the murderous tracks of the settler state.
January 6th, 2007 at 19:46
Björn Hallberg
A crumbling empire?
- A Bad Year for Empire – “For those who believed that the precise and overwhelming demonstration of U.S. military power in Afghanistan and Iran would “shock and awe” the rest of the world — and particularly Washington’s foes and aspiring rivals — into accepting its benevolent hegemony, 2006 was not a good year.”
- US Military considers recruiting foreigners – “Foreign citizens serving in the US military is a highly charged issue, which could expose the Pentagon to criticism that it is essentially using mercenaries to defend the country. Other analysts voice concern that a large contingent of noncitizens under arms could jeopardize national security or reflect badly on Americans’ willingness to serve in uniform.”
- The United States is Insolvent – “There is simply no way for our national bills to be paid under current levels of taxation and promised benefits. Our combined federal deficits now total more than 400% of GDP.”
- The Great Wealth Transfer – “It’s the biggest untold economic story of our time: more of the nation’s bounty held in fewer and fewer hands. And Bush’s tax cuts are only making the problem worse.”
December 30th, 2006 at 14:21
Björn Hallberg
A stirring tale of pirates and of emperors and who really evaded justice this morning, Saddam Hussein — or the United States and its current allies in Iraq.
Richard Dicker, Human Rights Watch makes a good point, even though their recollection of pre-1991 events in Iraq is a little dodgy and clearly tainted by US doctrine.
“The test of a government’s commitment to human rights is measured by the way it treats its worst offenders,” said Dicker. “History will judge these actions harshly.”
The US decided on a trial long before the war had even started, announced it days before Baghdad fell and then proceeded to produce evidence, train legal staff, judges. To further secure a favorable outcome they imposed US ideas onto the Iraqi code of law as well as the constitution and built a courthouse from the ground up. And filmed the trials, editing out parts they didn’t like. In all probability they even laid the rope for the execution. So naturally, in the Bizzarro world of American hegemony, this is referred to as a “fair trial.” If only they had laboured this hard to maintain and reconstruct Iraqi infrastructure.
Realizing from the beginning that this charade would look bad for the US, civil servants approached a number of nations and regional assemblies and all but the UK and Australia were smart enough to refuse to help. After all it would have made them accomplices to murder as the desired verdict was apparent from the beginning, and the process violated international law. The most obvious approach, namely to call for the ICC or some other truly global assembly to handle the case, was obviously unacceptable for a nation which may some day have to send its own presidents to be tried in the same fashion.
The Bush administration also opposes efforts to set up a permanent international war crimes court, fearing that it could wind up charging US soldiers.
“They were out to make a political, ideological point that international tribunals were not necessary to try these kinds of crimes,” said Richard Dicker, director of Human Rights Watch International Justice Program.
In the end, the supposedly vicious butcher Hussein was found guilty of killing 143 residents of the Shiite village Al-Dujail in 1982. It is noteworthy that the trial never went as far as to examine any serious crimes. Crimes that would reveal US complicity for instance. No wonder that the concerned parties wanted a swift execution. Nor did the court weight in the complexities of ethnic and religious struggles, which contributed to the massive death toll then as they do still today. To say that Saddam alone is responsible for the death of thousands of Kurds for instance is simply baloney, and belies the fact that Kurds themselves killed more of their own than Saddam ever did and people like Barzani and Talabani took turns to enlist Hussein’s help and kiss him on the cheeks. Many of the other potential charges — the ones that were conveniently not tried in court like Halabja — were clearly exaggerated, besides obviously telling of US complicity. And it is also reasonable to assume that the court did their best not to sully the name of the former war lords that have now been elevated to revered statesmen. No one wants inconvenient truths to be exposed, and above all, the US doctrine of international, social and war theory must not be shaken. Only in the American mindset can events be eviscerated, or indeed removed from its proper context, and history be pinned on a single individual. Only in the American mindset is the world an anarchic stage where realist philosophies serve mankind entirely detached from imperialistic, geopolitical games. And only in the American mindset are wars singular, non-consecutive events.
Larry Cox, Amnesty International USA perhaps said it best as he summed up the verdict, comparing the sort of summary justice dealt to the sort of summary justice dealt by Saddam during his heyday:
The rushed execution of Saddam Hussein is simply wrong. It signifies justice denied for countless victims who endured unspeakable suffering during his regime, and now have been denied their right to see justice served.
Undeniably, summary justice is just so fashionable. Not to mention how well it suits the modern media format, where truth is spun and world events are lined up shallow, commercial fifteen second reports punctuated by incessant, uninformed jabbering.
So here’s to the new year and the hope that we will see George W Bush, the rest of the US elite past and present, their apologists, proxies and fellow travellers strung up in the near future. Proxies like the late Augusto Pinochet who despite being cut from the same cloth as Hussein, escaped any sort of justice, summary or not. Not because he was less of a monster, not because he had repented, but because the US ostensibly defended his honor. It would seem not every human rights offender or war criminal is created equal. Until the United States of America owns up to its past, and changes its ways, the world will forever doubt its intentions.
December 28th, 2006 at 15:11
Björn Hallberg
Ethiopia declares war, invades Somalia and marches on Mogadishu, while the world looks on and the US is seen cheerleading the effort. In fact, the US is also bankrolling the war effort and has itself stepped up arms sales to the region and helped Ethiopia in particular, where the ENDF has been professionalized to act as a de facto Sepoy force under a new unified military command structure to rule the entire continent. Isn’t that something. About the only good news is that Sepoys usually revolt against former masters and that a militarized Africa, when allegiances shift, could in time make the continent off limits to US profiteers.
Ethiopian modern history could be summed up as follows: The US got Ethiopia hooked on weapons after World War 2 only to be be outdone by the Soviet Union as allegiances shifted. Since the 1990s, Ethiopia is back where it all began, cooperating with the US. And Meles Zenawi, being in a difficult position, dodging various allegations and a violent past needs all the foreign backing he can get and would go to any lengths to remain in power and salvage his good name. So obviously, the Zenawi government is using talking points that seem to have been xeroxed from US blueprints. And true to form, the US is believing everything it is fed on Somalia and various doomsday scenarios that Zenawi is dreaming up and fomenting to the best of his abilities.
The US aid to Ethiopia is considerable, and while not directly earmarked for weapons it does allow the country to free up assets for other more sinister purposes.
With the downfall of the Mengistu regime, U.S.-Ethiopian relations improved dramatically. Legislative restrictions on assistance to Ethiopia other than humanitarian assistance were lifted. Diplomatic relations were upgraded to the ambassadorial level in 1992. Total U.S. government assistance, including food aid, between 1991 and 2003 was $2.3 billion. During the severe drought year of FY 2003, the U.S. provided a record $553.1 million in assistance, of which $471.7 million was food aid. U.S. development assistance to Ethiopia is focused on reducing famine vulnerability, hunger, and poverty and emphasizes economic, governance, and social sector policy reforms. Some military training funds, including training in such issues as the laws of war and observance of human rights, also are provided.
The “policy reforms” in question are no doubt the neoliberal scourge that has enabled transnationals to cut up Ethiopia piece by piece and misrepresented GDP growth to validate a new round of imperialism.
Then the US goes on to paralyze the UN Security Council and blame Qatar (ostensibly another puppet state) and a reasonable wording for the lack of results.
Ethiopia claims to act on their own accord and in self defense, but no one believes that obviously. Especially since Ethiopia is the regional super power (everything is relative) and is also the regional ally in the “war on terror”. If Ethiopia wanted better relations with its neighbour it could stop taking cues from the US, stop harbouring actual terrorists (“war lords” funded by the US) and stop supporting the defunct puppet government in Baidoa that the UN was deceived by Ethiopia and the US to set up. Once again, Somalia is the victim of foreign aggressors, fellow traveller and fifth columnists. The baseless accusation of “al Qaeda” allegiance doesn’t hold up to serious scrutiny and falls apart as just another piece of US disinformation. For a state that allegedly has nothing of value and little strategic importance, and is said to be forgotten by the world, Somalia sure is getting a lot of attention. Is that Kissinger and his domino theory that I hear being murmured? Or just the “expanding markets concept” of imperialism neoliberalism. Talk about ghosts of Christmas past.
From the United States’ perspective it’s all good. Even if the Ethiopian proxy campaign accomplishes nothing in the long run, at least no Americans will have been dragged through the streets of Mogadishu (those were good times indeed). And if everything goes according to plan, and the war theater expands, America will have a booming weapons industry in the region, the possibility of regime change all across the board, the backdrop for a US military command structure in the region, new economic dependencies (debts) and a few million less black people to compete with (’cause they’ll be dead). Isn’t that right?
Or is it just that the US can’t risk a stable Somalia, because it doesn’t want to be the only country not having ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It sure boggles the mind.
So in summary, the sun never sets on the American Empire (or its interests, real or imaginary), nor does the blood dry. Meanwhile, war, neoliberalism and geopolitics continue to go hand in hand.
December 23rd, 2006 at 16:47
Björn Hallberg
In a blatant attempt at political manipulation, the US regime pressured the New York Times to censor an upcoming article. The Op-Ed in question can be seen here, in redacted form. You’d think it was an April Fools’ practical joke on the part of the NYT. But alas, this is the situation for journalists in the US today. I guess they shouldn’t have spread all that freedom and democracy about and rather saved some for themselves. Oh, those unselfish Americans. (from MetaFilter)
But Tehran was profoundly disappointed with the United States response. After the 9/11 attacks, xxx xxx xx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxxx xx set the stage for a November 2001 meeting between Secretary of State Colin Powell and the foreign ministers of Afghanistan’s six neighbors and Russia. xxxx xxxxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxx xx xxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxx xxx xxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxx xxxx xxxxx xxxxx xx xxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxx xxxxx Iran went along, working with the United States to eliminate the Taliban and establish a post-Taliban political order in Afghanistan.
Well, you get the idea. Interestingly, the article had been cleared by the concerned technocrats in the CIA and elsewhere before the White House got a hold of it. So, obviously it smacks of political concerns rather than security concerns. Of course, given the completely bogus nature of America’s “war on terror”, even having to clear your work with the “intelligence community” (which is really a community of torture and political assassinations) is a gross violation of the freedom of the press, perpetrated by the treasonous snakes that nest in Washington.
Thankfully, media blog of the year, Raw Story, has done some legwork and tried to uncover the rationale for the political manhandling and stifling of the press.
December 21st, 2006 at 18:37
Björn Hallberg
32 journalists died in Iraq this past year. Real insurgents or conscious strategy by US forces concealed as ‘insurgent’ activity? Either way, their blood is on America’s hands.
Afghanistan and the Philippines, with three deaths apiece, were the next most dangerous datelines in 2006. Russia, Mexico, Pakistan, and Colombia each saw two journalists killed. All are traditionally dangerous countries for the press, CPJ research shows.
But for the fourth consecutive year, Iraq was in a category all its own as the deadliest place for journalists. This year’s killings bring to 92 the number of journalists who have died in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion of March 2003. In addition, 37 media support workers-interpreters, drivers, fixers, and office workers-have been killed since the war began.
A Boing Boing reader also reminds us of David Rosenbaum, the journalist who died as a result of a mugging incident in the US. Like they say, in most other countries the suspicious mugging and slow response would have been investigated as a politically motivated act. But the US is beyond suspicion obviously. I guess the real difference between a “failed state” and a “democracy” is how elegantly you set up your political killings. Also, “failed states” rarely have the clout to pull off false flag operations like the ones lining and fueling America’s “war on terror.”
December 21st, 2006 at 11:17
Björn Hallberg
Something tells me the Security Council wont be eagerly and earnestly addressing the issue. Like so much else which has to do with Israel, Jews or the ideology of Zionism. Iran is of course correct in this. And had Israel declared the ownership of nuclear weapons in the first place they may have been able to flout the rules, much like the US, Russia et al. But now they are open to the same scrutiny as any other suspected “new” nuclear state, at least in theory. Israel’s nuclear hypocrisy is something that we must never fail to point out or tire of debating. We must never forget those who paid the price for speaking the truth.
UNITED NATIONS — Iran demanded Tuesday that the U.N. Security Council condemn what it said was Israel’s clandestine development of nuclear weapons and “compel” it to place all its nuclear facilities under U.N. inspection.
If Israel refuses to comply, Iran said the council must take “resolute action” under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter which authorizes a range of measures from diplomatic and economic sanctions to military action.
Given Israel’s hardheaded assertions about Iran’s supposed nuclear weapons ambitions and threats against the nation, among other things to “wipe Iran off the map” (see, anyone can misquote), not to mention Israel’s hostile stance, poor human rights record, bankrupt judiciary, terrorism and sponsorship of terrorism, illegal occupation, a history of aggressive wars and preemptive attacks on sovereign states, Iran has a right to defend itself and is now putting its faith in the international community.
December 19th, 2006 at 21:21
Björn Hallberg
For the fascist fellow travelers: The US establishment mourns for Pinochet. One of the finest thugs to carry out US foreign policy. It’s strange then that few mention the role of the United States in the coup and blood bath that followed. Even some of his detractors see Pinochet as the sole perpetrator of everything bad that happened in Chile. But that is only half the truth. Lets see things for what they really were. And even though Augusto Pinochet will never be brought to justice, the United States and its imperial technocrats can and will answer for their crimes. Remember the other September 11 …
December 17th, 2006 at 22:03
Björn Hallberg
Now there is a thought that will give you nightmares for years to come. (Metafilter)
The outgoing US ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, is backing a call for the president of Iran to be charged with inciting genocide because of his speeches advocating the destruction of the state of Israel.
Mr Bolton will be joined in tomorrow’s launch of the legal action against Mr Ahmadinejad by a Harvard law professor, Alan Dershowitz, and the former Israeli ambassador to the UN, Dore Gold, together with experts from the US, Canada and Israel. A suit will be lodged with the international court of justice at The Hague, which will decide whether to hear the action. The panel said the Iranian president was guilty of inciting genocide “by making numerous threats against the United States, calling for the destruction of Israel and instigating discrimination against Christians and Jews”. His words violate a 1948 UN genocide convention, to which Iran is a signatory, they said.
And if the nightmares don’t get you, the logical inconsistencies, sheer stupidity, lies and hypocrisy probably will blow your mind. At least Bolton is suddenly a fan of the ICJ, right? And Dershowitz found a human rights violation (though imaginary) that he didn’t like.
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