THEY CAN RUN, BUT THEY CAN'T HIDE! WE KNOW! The Mercenaries Previously Known as Blackwater [news story & book referral]

Article: "The Mercenaries Previously Known as Blackwater"
Source: PRwatch.org (orig. source The Washington Post)
Excerpt(s): First it was Blackwater USA. Then it was Blackwater Worldwide. Now, it's "Xe" (pronounced "Zee"). The private military company has repeatedly tried to re-brand, after numerous controversies from the killing of civilians in Nisoor Square in Baghdad; to its no-bid contracts in Iraq, Afghanistan and New Orleans, post-Katrina; to its hiring troops with ties to repressive regimes, like that of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. The company says its latest name change is meant to reflect a new focus. Blackwater / Xe spokesperson Anne Tyrrell said, "We've taken the company to a place where it is no longer accurately described as Blackwater." Its subsidiaries also have new names: Blackwater Airships is now Guardian Flight Systems, Blackwater Target Systems is GSD Manufacturing, and Blackwater Lodge and Training Center is the U.S. Training Center. The company has also shed its famous (or infamous) bear-paw and crosshairs logo. The new head of Blackwater / Xe, Gary Jackson, told employees, "Xe will be a one-stop shopping source for world class services in the fields of security, stability, aviation, training and logistics," reports the Wall Street Journal.
Links to Full Story: http://www.prwatch.org/node/8214 and http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/13/AR2009021303149.html
Click on image of bookcover above right to read more [link to Amazon.com preview] about the origins and recent practices of Blackwater in Jeremy's Scahill's well-researched book (highly recommended--though he still takes it a bit easy on them...).

Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater & imperialistic aristocrat
(Image by The Washington Post / click on image for original source)

END THE SIEGE OF GAZA NOW Israeli tanks enter Gaza City [news story]

Article: "Israeli tanks enter Gaza City"
Source: Press TV
Excerpt(s): Israeli tanks backed by helicopters have crossed the border with the Gaza Strip, triggering clashes in Gaza City. Witnesses told AFP that the military forces entered Gaza City early Thursday with Palestinian fighters exchanging fire with them. The military forces however left the strip after the fighters fired antitank rockets at them. No casualties have been reported in the attack. There was no comment by the Israeli military on the incident.
Link to Full Story: http://www.presstv.ir/Detail.aspx?id=86072&sectionid=351020202

THE U.S.-ISRAELI ALLIANCE Unusually Large U.S. Weapons Shipment to Israel: Are the US and Israel Planning a Broader Middle East War? [editorial]

Article: "Unusually Large U.S. Weapons Shipment to Israel: Are the US and Israel Planning a Broader Middle East War?"
Source: GlobalResearch.ca / Michel Chossudovsky
Excerpt(s): A very large delivery of US weaponry to Israel consisting of 3,000 tons of "ammunition" is scheduled to sail to Israel. The size and nature of the shipments are described as "unusual": "Shipping 3,000-odd tons of ammunition in one go is a lot," one broker said, on condition of anonymity. "This (kind of request) is pretty rare and we haven't seen much of it quoted in the market over the years," he added. "Shipping brokers in London who have specialized in moving arms for the British and U.S. military in the past said such ship charters to Israel were rare. (Reuters, Jan 10, 2009) The Pentagon has entrusted a Greek merchant shipping company to deliver the weapons to Israel: "The U.S. is seeking to hire a merchant ship to deliver hundreds of tons of arms to Israel from Greece later this month, tender documents seen by Reuters show. The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command (MSC) said the ship was to carry 325 standard 20-foot containers of what is listed as "ammunition" on two separate journeys from the Greek port of Astakos to the Israeli port of Ashdod in mid-to-late January. A "hazardous material" designation on the manifest mentions explosive substances and detonators, but no other details were given.(Ibid) It is worth noting that a similar unusually large shipment of US ordinance to Israel was scheduled in early December: "Tender documents indicate that the German ship hired by the US in early December also carried a massive cargo of weapons that weighed over 2.6 million kg [2600 tons] and filled up to 989 standard 20-foot containers to Ashdod from North Carolina." (Press TV, 10 Jan 2009) Are These Large Shipments of Ordinance Connected to the Invasion of Gaza?... (in depth research and editorial, highly recommended)
Link to Full Story: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11743
Picture from Global Research, originally captioned: GBU-28

RELATED YOUTUBE VIDEO: GBU-28 "Bunker Buster" Laser-Guided Bomb (~1 min.):


YouTube description: The Guided Bomb Unit 28 (GBU-28) is a 5,000 pound / 2268 kg. laser-guided "bunker busting" bomb nicknamed "deep throat" produced originally by the Texas Instruments division Defense Systems and Electronics Group (division since sold to Raytheon). It was specifically developed for US Military use in Operation Desert Storm to penetrate hardened Iraqi command centres located deep under ground. However, only two of these weapons were dropped in Desert Storm, both by F-111Fs. The initial batch of GBU-28s were built from modified 8 inch/203 mm. artillery barrels (principally from deactivated M110 howitzers), but later warheads were purpose-built. They weigh 4,700 pounds/2132 kg. and contain 630 pounds / 286 kg. of high explosive. The operator illuminates a target with a laser designator and then the munition guides to a spot of laser energy reflected from the target. The bomb underwent critical testing in Nevada at the Tonopah Test Range, a major test facility for United States Department of Energy funded weapon programs. It proved capable of penetrating over 30 metres (100 ft) of earth or 6 metres (20 ft) of solid concrete. The GBU-28 is unique in that the total development time from conception to the first drop test took only 12 weeks, and the weapon went into active service after only one test drop. The first foreign sale of the GBU-28 was the acquisition of 100 units by Israel, authorized in April 2005. Delivery of the weapons was accelerated at the request of Israel in July 2006. According to Israeli Military sources, Iran or Syria are possible targets for the weapons.

OBAMA'S GUANTANAMO ORDER LEGALLY MEANINGLESS / DETAINEES MAY STILL BE HELD INDEFINITELY, TORTURED Obama's orders on Guantanamo and torture [video]

Obama orders on Guantanamo and torture (~10.5 min.):


Note from HBAF: Now, Ratner may overall have a positive sixth sense about Obama's recent Guantanamo "shut down" order, but as we here at HBAF see it, and as the legal language shows, Obama's "shut down" orders are meaningless. There is not legal language changing the fact that people are and will be held indefinitely... this is not even coming close to the CONSTITUTIONALLY REQUIRED re-institution of habeus corpus (put to rest during the Bush regime). This guy is definitely being suckered by (or is trying to suckers us into) Obama's progressive-seeming, but completely hollow, manner. Please note in particular that at ~6 minutes into this video the question of accountability is asked, and Ratner cites "hope," and "good reporting," as some means of holding the executors of these laws accountable, then says that the question has been put to rest, without showing in any way how these executive orders have any checks and balances. He has far too much too good to say about Obama's hollow changes for someone who calls himself a constitutionalist. Don't be deceived by the smile (or the suave language)! Obama is no different than the other schmucks that have been running this country for 100 years.

Description from TheRealNews: Michael Ratner (President, Center for Constitutional Rights) comments on Obama's executive orders, loopholes, and the prosecution of Bush/Cheney. 24 January 2009. TheRealNews.com

TIMELINE / WAR ON PAKISTANIS / OBAMA IS *NOT* A PEACEMAKER U.S. bombs Pakistan, 18 reported dead [news story]

Article: "U.S. bombs Pakistan, 18 reported dead"
Source: TheStar.com / Associated Press
Excerpt(s): ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Suspected U.S. missiles killed 18 people on the Pakistan side of the Afghan border today in the first such attacks on the militant stronghold since President Barack Obama took office, Pakistani officials said. At least five foreign militants were among those killed in the strikes by unmanned aircraft in two parts of the frontier region, an intelligence official said without naming them. There was no information on the identities of the others. Pakistan's leaders had expressed hope Obama might halt the strikes, but few observers expected he would end a tactic that U.S. officials claim has killed several top al-Qaida operatives and is denying the group a safe haven on the Pakistani side. The United States has staged more than 30 missile strikes inside Pakistan since August – a barrage seen as a sign of frustration in Washington over Islamabad's failed efforts to curb militants it blames for violence in Afghanistan. Pakistan publicly protests the strikes in the northwest as violations of its sovereignty that often kill civilians and undermine its own campaign against insurgents also accused of launching bloody attacks on targets inside Pakistan. But many observers believe the government secretly agrees with the tactic and may provide intelligence on the targets, noting that Islamabad's admitting to assisting the attacks would be politically damaging. The first attack today took place in the village of Zharki in North Waziristan, when a single drone fired three missiles in the space of 10 minutes, the security officials said.
Link to Full Story: http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/576172

TIMELINE / WAR ON PAKISTANIS / OBAMA IS *NOT* A PEACEMAKER Pakistan urges Obama to halt drone attacks {1/24/09 11:13pm pst} [news story]

Article: "Pakistan urges Obama to halt drone attacks"
Source: Dawn.net
Excerpt(s): ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday lodged a strong protest with the Obama administration over continuing drone attacks terming it as an ‘infringement of its sovereignty’ and called for a review of the policy. ‘Yesterday’s attack in the Waziristan area which caused civilian causalities is a matter of great concern. These concerns have been conveyed to the US side,’ Foreign Office Spokesman said in a statement. Although, Foreign Office was reluctant to reveal who made the protest, but sources claim the outrage was communicated by Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir to the US Ambassador Anne W Patterson. President Asif Zardari also conveyed Pakistan’s concerns in a meeting with US Ambassador Anne Patterson. The two successive missile strikes in North and South Waziristan three days after the new administration assumed office is being taken as an indication that President Obama has endorsed drone attacks in Pakistan’s territory. President Obama during his campaign for the White House had called for attacks against high-value targets in Pakistan.
Link to Full Story: http://www.dawn.net/wps/wcm/connect/Dawn%20Content%20Library/dawn/news/pakistan/pakistan-urges-obama-to-halt-drone-attacks-szh
Picture from Reuters, originally captioned: US President Barack Obama listens as Richard Holbrooke, the US envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, speaks at the State Department in Washington, Jan 22, 2009. — Reuters

TIMELINE / WAR ON PAKISTANIS / OBAMA IS *NOT* A PEACEMAKER Obama wants air strikes into Fata to continue {1/25/09 4:38am pst} [news story]

Article: "Obama wants air strikes into Fata to continue: NYT"
Source: Dawn.net
Excerpt(s): WASHINGTON: Hours after US missiles killed 20 people in Fata, President Barack Obama convened a meeting of his top national security advisers and endorsed the decision to continue drone strikes into Pakistan. The US media, quoting unidentified official sources, reported that the first meeting of Mr Obama’s National Security Council focused on Pakistan and Afghanistan. The New York Times reported on Saturday that the decision to attack alleged terrorist targets in Fata on Friday 'dispelled for the moment any notion that Mr Obama would rein in the Predator attacks.' The Washington Post noted that the strikes 'offered the first tangible sign of President Obama's commitment to sustained military pressure on the terrorist groups' in Fata. At his daily White House briefing, press secretary Robert Gibbs declined to answer questions about the strikes, saying, 'I'm not going to get into these matters.' Remotely piloted Predator drones operated by the Central Intelligence Agency have carried out 28 missile attacks in Fata since last summer, killing at least 132 people. The NYT, quoting Pakistani officials, reported that as many as 100 of them were civilians.
Link to Full Story: http://www.dawn.net/wps/wcm/connect/Dawn%20Content%20Library/dawn/news/world/obama+wants+air+strikes+into+fata+to+continue-rs
Picture from , originally captioned: US President Barack Obama is introduced to speak by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the State Department in Washington. -Reuters

TIMELINE / WAR ON PAKISTANIS / OBAMA IS *NOT* A PEACEMAKER US releases $101m for anti-terror fight {1/25/09 9:18am pst} [news story]

Article: "US releases $101m for anti-terror fight" (i.e. Obama pays off Pakistan)
Source: Dawn.net
Excerpt(s): WASHINGTON: The United States has reimbursed $101 million to Pakistan for its efforts to fight Al Qaeda and Taliban militants along the Pakistan-Afghan border. Diplomatic sources told Dawn that the payment came from the US Coalition Support Fund set up to help US allies in the war against terror.
With the transfer of the amount on Friday, the US has now made reimbursement for expenditures that Pakistan incurred up to April 2008. The United States still owes about a $1 billion to Pakistan for the expenses incurred during the last eight months. The payments are made under a new procedure approved recently. Under the procedure, the government of Pakistan submits its claim to the Office of the US Defence Representative in Pakistan, who forwards it to the US Central Command in Tampa, Florida.
Link to Full Story: http://www.dawn.net/wps/wcm/connect/Dawn%20Content%20Library/dawn/news/world/us-releases-101m-for-anti-terror-fight--qs
Picture from Reuters, originally captioned: The US still owes about a billion dollars to Pakistan for expenses incurred during the last eight months. — Reuters

ADMONISHING ISRAEL IN THE COURTS & PARLIAMENTS OF THE WORLD (GREAT SPEECHES!) Galloway: West has DOUBLE STANDARDS when it comes to Israel [video]

George Galloway "The West has DOUBLE STANDARDS when it comes to Israel":


YouTube description: George Galloway's powerful speech in the House of Commons debate on Gaza, Thu 15 Jan 2009 (5.30pm), highlighting the hypocrisy and brazen double-standards of Western foreign policy towards Israel policies, including assassinations and other war crimes. George Galloway: "I say to the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, who is not in his place, that the international community is not impotent, but merely feigns impotence as an excuse for its failure to carry out its duties. Although the Minister's words were more robust, he essentially masked the same inaction as the languid and complacent Foreign Secretary, who performed in front of us on Monday ....."

ADMONISHING ISRAEL IN THE COURTS & PARLIAMENTS OF THE WORLD (GREAT SPEECHES!) Buchanan Accuses Israel of Creating 'Concentration Camp' [video]

Buchanan Accuses Israel of 'Blitzkrieg,' Creating 'Concentration Camp':


YouTube description: Transcript from MSNBC's "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue" (8 Jan. 2009) PAT BUCHANAN: Well, the difference is, in my judgment, Afghanistan, that was--al Qaeda was responsible for bringing down those towers. If the Afghans had dealt with them, given us Osama Bin Laden, then we would not have gone in. We had a justification. That was an act of war. The Israelis have been hit for six months with these little rockets that didn't kill anybody. It was outrageous, cruel and stupid, and they triggered a blitzkrieg against the Palestinians in Gaza, which in my judgment is an Israeli concentration camp, where a million-and-a-half people are locked up, cannot come out or go in. They've been controlling food, electricity, fuel. And the innocent people in Gaza are the ones suffering. SHUSTER: Concentration camp? Doesn't that diminish the significance of the real concentration camps? BUCHANAN: I'm not talking about a death camp. I'm talking about what the British had in concentration camps in South Africa, and what the Spanish had in Cuba, and what others have had where they bring all these people, lock 'em in there, and treat them with great cruelty, and a humanitarian disaster, despite what Tzipi Livni says. CLIFF MAY: The people of Gaza could have peace tomorrow, and they could have an independent state the day after. All it would take would be for Hamas to do two things. One: stop the missiles. You cannot have any country, even a country like Israel, simply accept that, OK, for the rest of our lives--and this has been going on for years now--we accept that they are going to be firing missiles at us. Some of them are small, some of them are bigger, they'll get bigger. But we accept this as a fact of life; we deserve to be hit with missiles. All Hamas would have to do is say: no more missiles starting tomorrow; we understand. And by the way, we accept Israel as a state, as a neighbor. Now, Hamas cannot do that because of its religious convictions that infidels may not, anywhere in the Middle East, be in power.

Note from HBAF: Buchanan is a double-edged sword at best, but in most of this clip he is spot on... I will give credit where due, but in the context of all the words I've heard come out of his mouth, it's interesting to ponder what kind of mind can produce such clear, strong positions in the midst of so much confusion.

ADMONISHING ISRAEL IN THE COURTS & PARLIAMENTS OF THE WORLD (GREAT SPEECHES!) UK MP Kaufman: They are not simply war criminals, they are fools [video]

UK Jewish MP: Israel acting like Nazis in Gaza:


YouTube description: "Israel was born out of Jewish Terrorism" Tzipi Livnis Father was a Terrorist" Astonishing claims in the House of Parliament. SIR Gerald Kaufman, the veteran Labour MP, yesterday compared the actions of Israeli troops in Gaza to the Nazis who forced his family to flee Poland. During a Commons debate on the fighting in Gaza, he urged the government to impose an arms embargo on Israel. Sir Gerald, who was brought up as an orthodox Jew and Zionist, said: "My grandmother was ill in bed when the Nazis came to her home town a German soldier shot her dead in her bed. "My grandmother did not die to provide cover for Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinian grandmothers in Gaza. The present Israeli government ruthlessly and cynically exploits the continuing guilt from gentiles over the slaughter of Jews in the Holocaust as justification for their murder of Palestinians." He said the claim that many of the Palestinian victims were militants "was the reply of the Nazi" and added: "I suppose the Jews fighting for their lives in the Warsaw ghetto could have been dismissed as militants." He accused the Israeli government of seeking "conquest" and added: "They are not simply war criminals, they are fools."

ADMONISHING ISRAEL IN THE COURTS & PARLIAMENTS OF THE WORLD (GREAT SPEECHES!) Ron Paul: Israel Created Hamas! [video]

Ron Paul: Israel Created Hamas!:

January 09, 2009 C-SPAN

ADMONISHING ISRAEL IN THE COURTS & PARLIAMENTS OF THE WORLD (GREAT SPEECHES!) Kucinich: Were Israel's Security Needs Influenced By The U.S. Calendar?

WATCH THIS ONE FIRST Kucinich: Were Israel's Security Needs Influenced By The U.S. Calendar?:

January 22, 2009 C-SPAN

Israel's War Crimes On The Record !! - Kucinich Documents:

January 09, 2009 C-SPAN

Kucinich: 50 Percent of the Population of Gaza Under 14 Years of Age!:

January 13, 2009 C-SPAN

HOW DO YOU DEFINE GENOCIDE? Israel kept out aid for Gaza / U.S. complicit [news story]

Article: "Israel kept out aid for Gaza"
Source: Sydney Morning Herald
Excerpt(s): ISRAEL deliberately blocked the United Nations from building up vital food supplies in Gaza that feed a million people daily before the launch of its war against Hamas, according to a senior UN official in Jerusalem. In a scathing critique of Israeli actions leading up to the conflict, the UN's chief humanitarian co-ordinator in Israel, the former Australian diplomat Maxwell Gaylard, accused Israel of failing to honour its commitments to open its border with Gaza during several months of truce from June 19 last year. "The Israelis would not let us facilitate a regular and sufficient flow of supplies into the Strip," Mr Gaylard said. The chief spokesman for Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Yigal Palmor, said the claims were "unqualified bullshit".
Link to Full Story: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2009/01/18/1232213448835.html

THE U.S. IS ON THE IMPERIAL PATH TO FASCISM Talk by Naomi Wolf - The End of America [video lecture]

Talk by Naomi Wolf - The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot (~48 min. - well worth the listen!):


How To Become A Dictator In Ten Steps or Less...

In this concise lecture Naomi Wolf systematically goes through her 10-point list of actions that according to her research and analysis have been taken by would-be dictators in order to overturn the democratic (or at least more democratic) societies in which they operate and establish dictatorship. She uses as her main examples Italy in the 20s, Germany in the 30s, Russia in the 30s, East Germany in the 50s, Czechoslovakia in the 60s, Chile in the 60s and... of course... the United States today.

While I must put forth the caveat that I do not always appreciate her sometimes too-lighthearted personality (unlike her, I don't think it's amusing that she's OK with her daughter watching America's Top Model; behavior such as that definitely contributes to the distraction and apathy of the citizenry), I respect the depth of her research and her non-stop activism over the past couple of years, and think that this lecture provides an excellent introduction to how fascist societies have developed in the past. Furthermore, she makes it very clear that this is happening in the United States today, and puts forth the urgent call that the window of opportunity to stop this change is closing, and that we must RISE UP NOW!

I especially recommend this video to those who think that it's "crazy" when people make comparisons between the United States today and Hitler's Germany. The comparison IS clear. This IS happening now. As Wolf says, fascist states don't start off with midnight raids and domestic mass murder, they are able to develop to that stage because the people of those nations allow their own and others' rights to be slowly eroded away until they no longer even have the capacity to do anything about it. It is important to note that while fascism is set up slowly, once it really gets to the point of mass implementation, the process rapidly accelerates.

This lecture was fifteen months ago, and because of the aforementioned acceleration, it is important to understand these concepts now more than ever. We, in the United States, are every day confronted with more and more martial law, and of course we continue to allow our military to slaughter persons throughout the world. Although I will never give up the fight, there will be a point at which this process will become virtually irreversible, and every moment that we wait to STOP THE EMPIRE means more lives and liberties lost, and increases our impotence to do anything about it. Wake up!

Here are Wolf's 10 Classic Steps to Destroying a Democracy and Establishing Dictatorship:
1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy (may be real or fictional, but is always hyped)
2. Create a secret prison system (gulag) where torture takes place that is outside the law
3. Create a paramilitary force (thug caste)
4. Establish a surveillance apparatus used against ordinary citizens
5. Arbitrarily detain and release citizens
6. Harass and infiltrate citizens groups (e.g. antiwar groups, environmentalists groups)
7. Target key individuals
8. Restrict and control the press
9. Make Dissent = Treason
10. Subvert the rule of law, declare martial law

If you prefer to read rather than listen, basically the same information may be found in the following article by Wolf:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-wolf/ten-steps-to-close-down-a_b_46695.html

WORLD OF PROPAGANDA 'Wiped off the Map' – The Rumor of the Century [news story]

Article: "'Wiped off the Map' – The Rumor of the Century"
Source: AntiWar.com / Arash Norouzi
Excerpt(s): Across the world, a dangerous rumor has spread that could have catastrophic implications. According to legend, Iran's president has threatened to destroy Israel, or, to quote the misquote, "Israel must be wiped off the map." Contrary to popular belief, this statement was never made. On Tuesday, October 25th, 2005 at the Ministry of Interior conference hall in Tehran, newly elected Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivered a speech at a program, reportedly attended by thousands, titled "The World Without Zionism"... So what did Ahmadinejad actually say? To quote his exact words in Farsi: "Imam ghoft een rezhim-e ishghalgar-e qods bayad az safheh-ye ruzgar mahv shavad." That passage will mean nothing to most people, but one word might ring a bell: rezhim-e. It is the word "regime." pronounced just like the English word with an extra "eh" sound at the end. Ahmadinejad did not refer to Israel the country or Israel the land mass, but the Israeli regime. This is a vastly significant distinction, as one cannot wipe a regime off the map. Ahmadinejad does not even refer to Israel by name, he instead uses the specific phrase "rezhim-e ishghalgar-e qods" (regime occupying Jerusalem).
Link to Full Story: http://www.antiwar.com/orig/norouzi.php?articleid=11025

A GORY HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF Policy pursued in Afghanistan was a failure in Vietnam, Iraq [editorial]

Article: "Policy pursued in Afghanistan was a failure in Vietnam, Iraq"
Source: StatesmanJournal.com
Excerpt(s): This time it's Afghanistan, with a foreign power, not to say an imperial nation, employing sophisticated weapons and military personnel to subdue a people and culture that it knows little about. Last time it was Iraq, when the American people were lied into a war by false claims about weapons of mass destruction and, before that, Vietnam, by a phony Gulf of Tonkin resolution. Both happened because the U.S. Congress passively tolerated and actively supported enormous troop increases and massive expenditures, as casualties mounted and countless civilians died in the crossfire. Today, as President Bush snores and President-elect Obama waits in the wings, the Pentagon plunges ahead, planning to add 30,000 more U.S. troops to the 31,000 already in Afghanistan. Supply operations and maintenance services for the Afghan National Army will cost American taxpayers an estimated $300 million over the next five years, according to Walter Pincus in the Washington Post. Yet there is little evidence that a military occupation, insensitive to the region's history and culture, can lead to democracy or economic development. Where is the justifiable outrage of American citizens the third time around? Let facts speak to a passive citizenry and a blood-soaked military-industrial-university-ecclesiastical complex.
Link to Full Story: http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20090115/OPINION/90113058/1049

Wake up O ye passive citizenry!
We must STOP the killing!

OUT OF IRAQ TODAY! Human rights in Iraq “extremely poor” [news story]

Article: "Human rights in Iraq "extremely poor" –HRW"
Source: News from Middle East
Excerpt(s): BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Human rights in Iraq remain "extremely poor" despite security gains in 2008, Human Rights Watch said in its annual report. "Security gains in 2008 did little to ease Iraq’s crisis of displacement, with about 2.8 million Iraqis displaced within the country and another 2 million abroad, mainly in Syria and Jordan," read the report that was received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency... "Government-run detention facilities struggled to accommodate over 24,000 detainees, and tardy judicial review of cases exacerbated overcrowding. The US military said in October its detainee population had fallen to about 17,000 from a peak of approximately 26,000 in late 2007. Some detainees have spent years in custody without charge or trial," according to the report. "As of mid-November 2008, Iraq’s parliament was preparing to vote on a security agreement with the U.S. to govern the presence of foreign troops when the UN Security Council mandate for the Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF) expired at the end of 2008," the report said.
Link to Full Story: http://newsfrommiddleeast.com/?xstart=b&new=50848

IRAQ STILL BURNS...EVERY DAY Round-up of Daily Violence in Iraq-Thursday 15 January 2008 [news story]

Article: "Round-up of Daily Violence in Iraq-Thursday 15 January 2008"
Source: McClatchy
Excerpt(s): BAGHDAD - Around 9 a.m. a roadside bomb targeted the convoy of the minister of higher education and scientific research near Al Andalus square in Karrada injuring two civilians. - Around 10 a.m. a roadside bomb targeted an Iraqi army vehicle in Karrada near the white palace compound injuring one soldier and three civilians. - A roadside bomb targeted an American military convoy in central Baghdad near the ministry of industry. The bomb was seen by the guards whoc closed the road but it exploded as the convoy passed by killing one guard of the ministry, Ahmed Taieb Murad, according to a press release by the ministry. NINEVEH - Gunmen killed a policeman in Al Rasheedi neighborhood in Mosul city on Wednesday. - Police found one dead body in Wadi Egab cemetery on Wednesday.
Link to Full Story: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/212/story/59745.html

IS THIS THE BEST THEY CAN DO? Conflicting reports on military outsourcing / An attempt to cover-up monstrosities of war & misuse of gov't funds [news]

Article (propaganda source #1): "Report Details Iraq Contract Failures"
Source: Washington Post
Excerpt(s): A $722 million contract to rebuild Iraq's oil and gas production facilities was marked by multiple changes, cost overruns, failure to meet schedules and lack of oversight, according to a new inspector general's report... The contract managers assigned about 30 specific task orders for KBR to carry out, Stuart W. Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq, found. His report, released yesterday, found that the task orders "took longer than planned; were frequently modified, scaled back, and/or terminated; and increased in cost over time." The report also found that the Iraqi government "may not be properly maintaining the rebuilt facilities and equipment that cost hundreds of millions of dollars" and "does not appear to be committed to completing and using some projects."
Link to Full Story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/13/AR2009011302789.html?hpid=sec-nation

Article (propaganda source #2): "Inspector General Says Iraq Contract Going Well"
Source: Washington Post
Excerpt(s): The latest report from the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction offers something relatively rare: Good news about burgeoning contracts and the government's oversight... It seems that Aegis Defence Services, Limited, which has received about $624 million to provide security services to the Defense Department, has been found to perform "satisfactory to outstanding" on contract obligations. Government overseers, meanwhile, have properly awarded and monitored the Aegis contracts, according to the report. "SIGIR found well-supported contract awards to Aegis; appropriate government oversight of Aegis's bills, inventories, performance, and operations; and contract performance assessed as satisfactory to outstanding.
Link to Full Story: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/government-inc/2009/01/good_news_from_iraq.html?wprss=government-inc

Cartoon by khalil@bendib.com, click on image to see large version