Jan 24th, 2012
Kelley Vlahos' column from last Sunday, firing back at supposedly "conservative" apologists for the blatant war crime of body desecration recently captured on video in Afghanistan, is arguably the finest critique in months of what has gone so horribly wrong with the right in our country:
"Writers at The Weekly Standard, National Review, The Washington Times and Commentary have been ruthless non-apologists for the indiscriminate killing of non-whites as a means to their ends, from the “shock and awe” invasion of Iraq and the flattening of Fallujah to the ethnic cleansing of Baghdad, today’s drone strikes in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen, and all of the wars’ human repercussions (death, disease, displacement). In their world, these are always treated as time-wasting, politically motivated afterthoughts that merely muddy their own paper-white narrative."
Showing posts with label war crimes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label war crimes. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Friday, January 13, 2012
Dana Loesch, Artless Fascist, Strikes Again
Jan 13th, 2012
The original title included a pejorative that drew a great deal of blowback. It was not meant to be overtly sexist. I stand by the rest of the piece.
You have likely heard by now that some of our troops were recorded on video urinating on dead bodies in Afghanistan. It is not only shocking and immoral, it is not merely a violation of the uniform military code, it is an act so cravenly stupid that it endangers the safety of their fellow servicemen and women. It invites savage retribution in an already brutal country. The ugliness doesn't end there...
Joe Coscarelli reports for NY Mag:
"Tea party favorite Dana Loesch, the editor-in-chief of Andrew Breitbart's Big Journalism and a CNN political analyst, is a big fan of the Marines who were videotaped urinating on Taliban corpses, and would gladly "drop trou and do it too," she said on her radio showyesterday. "That's me though," she said, incredulous that such an event could be a scandal. "I want a million cool points for these guys. Is that harsh to say? Come on people, this is a war. What do people think this is?" On Twitter today, she can't believe anyone is outraged, at her or the troops."
Indeed. She can't possibly get it. I have had the displeasure of tangling with this disgusting harpy in the past. She is, quite possibly, one of the worst human beings on the face of the Earth. The evidence of corpse desecration which she thinks deserves "a million cool points" is below.
ABC News reports:
"The Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) has already launched its own independent investigation into potential criminal activity shown in the video. All four Marines featured in the video have been identified and interviewed by investigators with the NCIS, the service said in a statement today. Officials are "still tracking down" whoever created and uploaded the video, the NCIS said.
The results of both the NCIS and the USMC investigations will be presented to Marine Lt. Gen. Thomas Waldhauser who will determine further action, the USMC said in a statement.
If authentic, the video portrays potential violations of both the first Geneva Convention, which calls for the dead to be "honorably interred" and graves to be "respected," as well as the U.S. Uniform Code of Military Justice for allegedly bringing "discredit upon the armed forces."
Audio of this vulgar, Eva Braun-wannabe's celebration of a war crime follows.
The original title included a pejorative that drew a great deal of blowback. It was not meant to be overtly sexist. I stand by the rest of the piece.
You have likely heard by now that some of our troops were recorded on video urinating on dead bodies in Afghanistan. It is not only shocking and immoral, it is not merely a violation of the uniform military code, it is an act so cravenly stupid that it endangers the safety of their fellow servicemen and women. It invites savage retribution in an already brutal country. The ugliness doesn't end there...
Joe Coscarelli reports for NY Mag:
"Tea party favorite Dana Loesch, the editor-in-chief of Andrew Breitbart's Big Journalism and a CNN political analyst, is a big fan of the Marines who were videotaped urinating on Taliban corpses, and would gladly "drop trou and do it too," she said on her radio showyesterday. "That's me though," she said, incredulous that such an event could be a scandal. "I want a million cool points for these guys. Is that harsh to say? Come on people, this is a war. What do people think this is?" On Twitter today, she can't believe anyone is outraged, at her or the troops."
Indeed. She can't possibly get it. I have had the displeasure of tangling with this disgusting harpy in the past. She is, quite possibly, one of the worst human beings on the face of the Earth. The evidence of corpse desecration which she thinks deserves "a million cool points" is below.
ABC News reports:
"The Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) has already launched its own independent investigation into potential criminal activity shown in the video. All four Marines featured in the video have been identified and interviewed by investigators with the NCIS, the service said in a statement today. Officials are "still tracking down" whoever created and uploaded the video, the NCIS said.
The results of both the NCIS and the USMC investigations will be presented to Marine Lt. Gen. Thomas Waldhauser who will determine further action, the USMC said in a statement.
If authentic, the video portrays potential violations of both the first Geneva Convention, which calls for the dead to be "honorably interred" and graves to be "respected," as well as the U.S. Uniform Code of Military Justice for allegedly bringing "discredit upon the armed forces."
Audio of this vulgar, Eva Braun-wannabe's celebration of a war crime follows.
Friday, October 7, 2011
War Criminal Squirms
Oct 7th, 2011
Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had a helluva time dealing with al-Jazeera's Abderrahim Foukara this week.
Via Mediaite:
"Foukara asked Rumsfeld to elaborate on how he saw the policies in Iraq, namely, whether he felt "responsible for the killing of innocent Iraqis." The mere formulation of the question resulted in much crosstalk, with Rumsfeld arguing that Foukara’s assertions were "fundamentally false" and asking him whether he "want[s] to yell or do you want to do an interview?" Foukara attempted to rephrase his question: "Do you think the numbers of US troops that you went into Iraq with did absolve you from the responsibility of tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis killed by the coalition and those criminals you talked about?" He implored Rumsfeld to "give me a straight answer."
Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had a helluva time dealing with al-Jazeera's Abderrahim Foukara this week.
Via Mediaite:
"Foukara asked Rumsfeld to elaborate on how he saw the policies in Iraq, namely, whether he felt "responsible for the killing of innocent Iraqis." The mere formulation of the question resulted in much crosstalk, with Rumsfeld arguing that Foukara’s assertions were "fundamentally false" and asking him whether he "want[s] to yell or do you want to do an interview?" Foukara attempted to rephrase his question: "Do you think the numbers of US troops that you went into Iraq with did absolve you from the responsibility of tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis killed by the coalition and those criminals you talked about?" He implored Rumsfeld to "give me a straight answer."
Monday, May 9, 2011
Quotes Of The Day - Here and Now Edition
May 9th, 2011
Over at Forbes, Osha Gray Davidson has a terrific piece pushing back against the "torture-got-Bin-Laden" lie being so heavily promoted HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE. Davidson interviews one of our top interrogators who has questioned suspects in GITMO, Iraq and Afghanistan as he describes this rush to defend the crimes of the previous administration as "propaganda [that] degrades our intelligence operations more than any other factor I can think of."
Notable:
"Listen, waterboarding and/or other coercive techniques did nothing to contribute to our attempts to track down UBL (Usama bin Laden). What did succeed was weeks, months and years of diligent, laborious, and dedicated work – all within the bounds of legal and ethical boundaries….No torture, no waterboarding, no coercion – nothing inhumane – is considered a useful tool in our work."
The Money Quote:
"I cannot even count the amount of times that I personally have come face to face with detainees, who told me they were primarily motivated to do what they did, because of hearing that we committed torture." EMPHASIS OURS
Notable:
"Simply the idea of our interrogators using torture or coercion recruits jihadists, facilitators, suppliers, supporters, and even suicide bombers, against us and our allies."
"Listen, waterboarding and/or other coercive techniques did nothing to contribute to our attempts to track down UBL (Usama bin Laden). What did succeed was weeks, months and years of diligent, laborious, and dedicated work – all within the bounds of legal and ethical boundaries….No torture, no waterboarding, no coercion – nothing inhumane – is considered a useful tool in our work."
The Money Quote:
"I cannot even count the amount of times that I personally have come face to face with detainees, who told me they were primarily motivated to do what they did, because of hearing that we committed torture." EMPHASIS OURS
Monday, March 28, 2011
The "Kill Team"
March 28th, 2011
This sums it all up.
"At one point, soldiers in 3rd Platoon talked about throwing candy out of a Stryker vehicle as they drove through a village and shooting the children who came running to pick up the sweets." -- From Rolling Stone
The following is the latest video release from the Army investigation. From Wired:
"Specialist Adam Winfield, one of the five soldiers from the 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division charged with murdering Afghan civilians, tells an investigator how he took part in an execution in a Kandahar village."
We will not publish any of the Afghanistan "Kill Team" photos. But they should be seen. And this story needs to be heard. These actions were done in our name. That we as a nation have demanded little accountability over the last 10 years of permawar is no small factor in these acts. That abdication of our civilian responsibilities, coupled with so few successful courts-martial for obvious war crimes in that time, created the climate in which the "Kill Team" was possible.
Men like Allen West have actually gained office in part because of their having participated in obscenities. Shameful brutes like Iliano Panatano would have been sentenced to prison or hard labor in previous conflicts. Instead, they now come home and Tea Partiers call them "heroes" specifically because they think anyone who accuses an American of a war crime is a "traitor."
Which led us here.
This sums it all up.
"At one point, soldiers in 3rd Platoon talked about throwing candy out of a Stryker vehicle as they drove through a village and shooting the children who came running to pick up the sweets." -- From Rolling Stone
The following is the latest video release from the Army investigation. From Wired:
"Specialist Adam Winfield, one of the five soldiers from the 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division charged with murdering Afghan civilians, tells an investigator how he took part in an execution in a Kandahar village."
We will not publish any of the Afghanistan "Kill Team" photos. But they should be seen. And this story needs to be heard. These actions were done in our name. That we as a nation have demanded little accountability over the last 10 years of permawar is no small factor in these acts. That abdication of our civilian responsibilities, coupled with so few successful courts-martial for obvious war crimes in that time, created the climate in which the "Kill Team" was possible.
Men like Allen West have actually gained office in part because of their having participated in obscenities. Shameful brutes like Iliano Panatano would have been sentenced to prison or hard labor in previous conflicts. Instead, they now come home and Tea Partiers call them "heroes" specifically because they think anyone who accuses an American of a war crime is a "traitor."
Which led us here.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Wikileaks Reveal Mel Martinez As Water Boy For Torturers
Dec 29th, 2010
From a report in The Miami Herald using wikileaks as a source comes news that former Republican Senator Mel Martinez was sent to attempt to manipulate Spanish legal proceedings against U.S. figures tied to the torture of five Gitmo detainees. The betrayal of our principles by President Obama's administration for reasons of supposed pragmatism is but a part of this.
“It was three months into Barack Obama's presidency, and the administration -- under pressure to do something about alleged abuses in Bush-era interrogation policies -- turned to a Florida senator to deliver a sensitive message to Spain:
Don't indict former President George W. Bush's legal brain trust for alleged torture in the treatment of war on terror detainees, warned Mel Martinez on one of his frequent trips to Madrid. Doing so would chill U.S.-Spanish relations.
Rather than a resolution, though, a senior Spanish diplomat gave the former GOP chairman and housing secretary a lesson in Spain's separation of powers. "The independence of the judiciary and the process must be respected,'' then-acting Foreign Minister Angel Lossada replied on April 15, 2009. Then for emphasis, "Lossada reiterated to Martinez that the executive branch of government could not close any judicial investigation and urged that this case not affect the overall relationship.”
It is strongly recommended that you read the full article. There is so much wrong here not the least of which is the image of an American Senator being schooled by a foreign official on the principle that an executive branch ought not leverage or intimidate a judiciary branch of government. That this is supposed to be one of the Cardinal Virtues of the American system seems to have been utterly lost on Martinez and the President. It points to how removed from our values they and so many of our other representatives have become in the years following 9/11.
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