According to RawStory, Blackwater is under fire following a federal lawsuit filed by a widow of a man killed by an employee of the private military contractor. The man, Raheem Khaleef Sa’adoon was 32 when allegedly slain on Christmas Eve in 2006 by Blackwater employee Andrew Moonen, who was noted to be intoxicated at the time.
Blackwater, (now renamed Xe) became infamous worldwide after a convoy opened fire in a busy Baghdad intersection in October 2007 killing 17 civilians, many of them women and children.
The lawsuit also alleges a cover-up scheme took place after the murder in an effort to protect Moonen and the greater Blackwater community.
Blackwater was banned from Iraq by the Iraqi government earlier this year. Their famously lucrative government contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan has become a trend that is leading the government to further outsource military jobs to private companies. Blackwater specializes in escorting political dignitaries and even worked security for President Barack Obama’s 2008 visit to Iraq.
Blackwater is headquartered in Moyock, North Carolina.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Bailout is Hypocrisy
Although the Dow Jones continues to rise this week, news in the larger scene has been wholly disheartening. Amid confirmatioons that AIG used $165 million of the nearly $3 billion of taxpayer money to pay executive bonuses and prolong the pain of the insolvent institution, the financial bailout game is becoming farce. Many Americans are starting to believe that perhaps it would have been best to let the free market put AIG and others out of their misery.
But "bold action" has sought to put the dead man known as corporate mega-ank on a breathing machine indefinitely. It is simple to wonder why things are bad when the very executives and politicians who terrorized the public for cash and ultimately, their livelihood, hold press conferences condemning lavish executive compensation that they knew dominated the fine print.
The White House remains in the grasp of hte corporations and even worse receives its economic and political directives from the privately-owned Federal Reserve Bank and their special interests.
AIG is symbolic in that it was the first private company awarded federal bailout money. It began a processs that later culminated in a $700 billion banker takeover in October, a $350 billion Secretary of State dictation bailout in November and President Obama's recently passed $900 billion "stimulus". The last "rescue package" seeks to continue the same citizen to CEO payment transfer plan that has wrecked most Americans' savings.
It is laughable that the Preesident and Congresspeople are now whining to the American people about a measly $165 million out of a cool $4 trillion already taken by brunt force and manipulation.
It is especially a surprising move noting that they refused to consider such issues when the following bailouts were debated. But, alas they were too busy building a "safer America" via new economy to see beyond the long political memory of three weeks. Thus, average Americans will suffer and the President and Congress will continue to be mere pawns of the super-elite.
But "bold action" has sought to put the dead man known as corporate mega-ank on a breathing machine indefinitely. It is simple to wonder why things are bad when the very executives and politicians who terrorized the public for cash and ultimately, their livelihood, hold press conferences condemning lavish executive compensation that they knew dominated the fine print.
The White House remains in the grasp of hte corporations and even worse receives its economic and political directives from the privately-owned Federal Reserve Bank and their special interests.
AIG is symbolic in that it was the first private company awarded federal bailout money. It began a processs that later culminated in a $700 billion banker takeover in October, a $350 billion Secretary of State dictation bailout in November and President Obama's recently passed $900 billion "stimulus". The last "rescue package" seeks to continue the same citizen to CEO payment transfer plan that has wrecked most Americans' savings.
It is laughable that the Preesident and Congresspeople are now whining to the American people about a measly $165 million out of a cool $4 trillion already taken by brunt force and manipulation.
It is especially a surprising move noting that they refused to consider such issues when the following bailouts were debated. But, alas they were too busy building a "safer America" via new economy to see beyond the long political memory of three weeks. Thus, average Americans will suffer and the President and Congress will continue to be mere pawns of the super-elite.
Obama's Big Plan for Afghanistan
A day after a congressional attache signed and sent a letter to President Obama requesting him to "reconsider military escalation" in Afghanistan, President Obama announced his plans to phase in an Afghan national security force of 400,000 in the next six to seven years. This amount is over three times more than the amount the American government planned for in 2002.
The New York Times reports that the Afghan security force curently stands around 90,000 and that last year President Bush approved $12 billion in funds to nearly double the force. President Obama appears poised to continue America's imperial presence in Afghanistan.
In addition, the Times also mentions that President Obama is near announcing a plan to spend $10 - 20 billion for operations in Afghanistan until 2016. If the United States has troops in Afghanistan until that year, it will go on record as a fifteen-year war, the longest in American history. The War in Afghanistan is now in its eighth year.
The New York Times reports that the Afghan security force curently stands around 90,000 and that last year President Bush approved $12 billion in funds to nearly double the force. President Obama appears poised to continue America's imperial presence in Afghanistan.
In addition, the Times also mentions that President Obama is near announcing a plan to spend $10 - 20 billion for operations in Afghanistan until 2016. If the United States has troops in Afghanistan until that year, it will go on record as a fifteen-year war, the longest in American history. The War in Afghanistan is now in its eighth year.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Case of Citizen Terrorist : Sara Jane Olson
Much hubub has been made in the past week concerning a breaking story in which Sara Jane Olson, convicted of 1970s bombings in California, is now being released and will serve her parole in her hometown of St. Paul, Minnesota. So much noise and rattle has been made of this juicy media-op to the point that even Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty wants a piece of the limelight.
Writing to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Pawlenty asked him to consider "the request of the St. Paul Police Federation" for Sara Jane Olson to serve her one year parole term in California according to the Star-Tribune. However, Pawlenty made no mention of the fact that the Minnesota State Department of Corrections has approved Olson's application to serve parole in St. Paul.
Sara Jane Olson was convicted in for her involvement in police car bombings and an aborted bank heist that ending in a murder; both were in California in the mid-1970s. She was a member of a leftist group named the Symbionese Liberation Army. Like the famed campus and government bombing Weatherman, this group advocated revolution even at the means of violence.
Maybe paranoia is rising in the Governor's Residence and even coming full tide in all pockets of political power. After the 2008 Republican National Convention's appearance in St. Paul that unleashed police bruatily and a general suspension of law and due process, issue-driven violence is again becoming a political factor. Like Sara Jane Olson in facing terror charges, 22 year old David McKay of Austin, Texas plead guilty today in Ramsey County Court to throwing molotov cocktails at police vehicles during the Republican National Convention. Citizen terrorism is on the curl of each bureaucrat's tongue and fast pitched as a realistic scenario that will require greater government force and arbitration in the near future.
Meanwhile, Governor Schwarzenegger has not responded to Governor Pawlenty's last minute plea. Sara Jane Olson was released today from the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla after serving seven years in prison. She is planning to travel home to St. Paul.
Writing to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Pawlenty asked him to consider "the request of the St. Paul Police Federation" for Sara Jane Olson to serve her one year parole term in California according to the Star-Tribune. However, Pawlenty made no mention of the fact that the Minnesota State Department of Corrections has approved Olson's application to serve parole in St. Paul.
Sara Jane Olson was convicted in for her involvement in police car bombings and an aborted bank heist that ending in a murder; both were in California in the mid-1970s. She was a member of a leftist group named the Symbionese Liberation Army. Like the famed campus and government bombing Weatherman, this group advocated revolution even at the means of violence.
Maybe paranoia is rising in the Governor's Residence and even coming full tide in all pockets of political power. After the 2008 Republican National Convention's appearance in St. Paul that unleashed police bruatily and a general suspension of law and due process, issue-driven violence is again becoming a political factor. Like Sara Jane Olson in facing terror charges, 22 year old David McKay of Austin, Texas plead guilty today in Ramsey County Court to throwing molotov cocktails at police vehicles during the Republican National Convention. Citizen terrorism is on the curl of each bureaucrat's tongue and fast pitched as a realistic scenario that will require greater government force and arbitration in the near future.
Meanwhile, Governor Schwarzenegger has not responded to Governor Pawlenty's last minute plea. Sara Jane Olson was released today from the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla after serving seven years in prison. She is planning to travel home to St. Paul.
Fifteen Congresspeople Propose Obama Submit Exit Strategy for Afghanistan
According to newspaper The Hill, fifteen representatives gathered today to draw attention to a letter they are writing to President Obama asking him to "reconsider military escalation" in Afghanistan. Signatores of the letter include Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D) of Ohio and Congressman Ron Paul (R) of Texas.
Paul has been a strong critic of non-interventionist foreign policy in contradiction to the pre-eminent strike ideology perpetuated by the Bush administration. He claims that the same policy is being continued by President Obama.
The Hill reports that Paul said, "“I see what’s going on in Afghanistan. It has nothing to do with the al Qaeda, it has nothing to do with bin Laden. This is occupation and it’s a continuation of the Bush policy,” Paul said. “I think our effort here in writing this letter is just urging caution.”
Secretary of Defense Gates earlier this month told reporters in France that it is too early to set a timetable for withdrawal in Afghanistan. Some military experts have advocated the major basing of U.S. forces there until the year 2025.
One of President Obama's top foreign policy advisors is a man named Zbigniew Brzezinski who also served in that same role in the Carter administration.
Brzezinski has a long history of intervention in Afghanistan and began policy arming who Ronald Reagan would later call "freedom fighters".and who the American government would later call Osama bin Laden.
Brzenzinski's efforts under Carter to secretly foment militancy on part of Islamic extremists in Afghanistan and supply them with the millions of dollars of weaponry necessary would only end in horrific blowback decades later. But such transactions would continue to take place through the 1980's in an effort to draw out the Soviet Union's bankrupting occupation.
President Obama announced in January the deployment of an additional 17,000 U.S. forces to Afghanistan. The War in Afghanistan is now in its eighth year. The Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan from 1979-1988.
Paul has been a strong critic of non-interventionist foreign policy in contradiction to the pre-eminent strike ideology perpetuated by the Bush administration. He claims that the same policy is being continued by President Obama.
The Hill reports that Paul said, "“I see what’s going on in Afghanistan. It has nothing to do with the al Qaeda, it has nothing to do with bin Laden. This is occupation and it’s a continuation of the Bush policy,” Paul said. “I think our effort here in writing this letter is just urging caution.”
Secretary of Defense Gates earlier this month told reporters in France that it is too early to set a timetable for withdrawal in Afghanistan. Some military experts have advocated the major basing of U.S. forces there until the year 2025.
One of President Obama's top foreign policy advisors is a man named Zbigniew Brzezinski who also served in that same role in the Carter administration.
Brzezinski has a long history of intervention in Afghanistan and began policy arming who Ronald Reagan would later call "freedom fighters".and who the American government would later call Osama bin Laden.
Brzenzinski's efforts under Carter to secretly foment militancy on part of Islamic extremists in Afghanistan and supply them with the millions of dollars of weaponry necessary would only end in horrific blowback decades later. But such transactions would continue to take place through the 1980's in an effort to draw out the Soviet Union's bankrupting occupation.
President Obama announced in January the deployment of an additional 17,000 U.S. forces to Afghanistan. The War in Afghanistan is now in its eighth year. The Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan from 1979-1988.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Americans Disapprove of Afghan War, Others Justify
In a new poll released by Gallup and USA Today, 42% of respondents believe that sending U.S. troops to Afghanistan is "a mistake". After eight years of military occupation, Americans are growing weary of the first major battleground in the endless War on Terror.
In late 2001 after the United States invaded Afghanistan, over 89% supported the war in that country. Yet, still a slim majority of 52% still believe that the war in Afghanistan is "going well" despite the fact that civilian casualties skyrocketed in 2008.
Obviously, there is some misinformation regarding the success of U.S. forces in interdicting in the tribal lands. President Obama announced in January that he will be adding an additional 17,000 troops to the country to push numbers of forces near 60,000. The Obama administration has yet to put any date or timetable on the idea of a withdrawal of forces.
In late 2001 after the United States invaded Afghanistan, over 89% supported the war in that country. Yet, still a slim majority of 52% still believe that the war in Afghanistan is "going well" despite the fact that civilian casualties skyrocketed in 2008.
Obviously, there is some misinformation regarding the success of U.S. forces in interdicting in the tribal lands. President Obama announced in January that he will be adding an additional 17,000 troops to the country to push numbers of forces near 60,000. The Obama administration has yet to put any date or timetable on the idea of a withdrawal of forces.
Peace Corps Evacuates Madagascar
Today, the AP reported that the Peace Corps is evacuating its 112 members from Madagascar after political unrest in January produced a president hostage at the hands of a military coup.
This event makes Madagascar the second country this year to directly or inadvertantly remove U.S. personnel from their borders. Earlier in January, Kryzgystan ordered U.S. troops to leave their country and close down its primary military base in central Asia after Kryzgystan accepted Russian economic aid. Kryzgystan was the essential U.S. base for carrying out bombing raids on Iraq and Afghanistan.
For the moment it is unclear whether the Peace Corps will return to the large island of Madagascar off the east coast of Africa. The Peace Corps website clarifies that the operations in Madagascar are "temporarily suspended". The Peace Corps includes 8,000 Americans volunteering 27 month commitments in 76 different countries.
This event makes Madagascar the second country this year to directly or inadvertantly remove U.S. personnel from their borders. Earlier in January, Kryzgystan ordered U.S. troops to leave their country and close down its primary military base in central Asia after Kryzgystan accepted Russian economic aid. Kryzgystan was the essential U.S. base for carrying out bombing raids on Iraq and Afghanistan.
For the moment it is unclear whether the Peace Corps will return to the large island of Madagascar off the east coast of Africa. The Peace Corps website clarifies that the operations in Madagascar are "temporarily suspended". The Peace Corps includes 8,000 Americans volunteering 27 month commitments in 76 different countries.
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