Shades of Vietnam: War as a Drug

If you were of a certain age, you could practically feel (shades of Vietnam again!) that eerily hopeful sense that the next step in spreading the war, the next escalation, could be the decisive one. Admittedly, these days no one talks (as they did in the Vietnam and Iraq years) about turning “corners” or reaching “tipping points,” but you can practically hear those phrases anyway, or at least the mingled hope and desperation that always lurked behind them.
Tom Englehart, Tom Dispatch

Liar, Liar, Pentagon Pants on Fire

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she is committed to passing an emergency war supplemental before the July Fourth recess, Roll Call reports.

Let us be perfectly clear, as President Obama might say. There is no "emergency" requiring the House to throw another $33 billion into our increasingly bloody and pointless occupation of Afghanistan before we all go off to celebrate the anniversary of our Declaration of Independence from foreign occupation.

This fact - that there is no emergency requiring an immediate appropriation - is absolutely critical, because the claim that there is some "emergency" requiring an immediate infusion of cash, otherwise there will be some new apocalyptic catastrophe, is the means by which the Pentagon and the White House hope to dodge two sets of questions about the war supplemental urgently being asked for by Democratic leaders in the House.

Secretary Gates has complained that if the war money is not approved by July 4, the Pentagon might have to do "stupid things" like furlough civilian Pentagon employees. I am not in favor of furloughs, even of Pentagon employees (can we furlough someone who approves breaking into Afghans' homes in the middle of the night and killing pregnant women?), but as "stupid" goes, furloughing Pentagon employees doesn't hold a candle to laying off public schoolteachers, which is the likely consequence of allowing the Pentagon and the White House to dodge their critics in the House.

The war funding proposal has been sitting in the inbox for six months. What kind of "emergency" is that? The $33 billion represents about five percent of the gargantuan Pentagon budget. The Pentagon can live with a little more delay, while we get answers to some urgent questions.

The first set of questions the Pentagon and the White House want to dodge can be crudely summarized as: now that we've dumped McChrystal, what the hell are we doing in Afghanistan?

Yesterday, 30 members of the House sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi, demanding that the questions about the war raised by Michael Hastings' Rolling Stone article be answered before the House votes on the Pentagon's request for more money.

According to Hastings' article, "Instead of beginning to withdraw troops next year, as Obama promised, the military hopes to ramp up its counterinsurgency campaign even further." A senior military official says, "There's a possibility we could ask for another surge of U.S. forces next summer," (emphasis added) which is a pants-on-fire contradiction to the promises made when the last increase of forces was announced. Meanwhile, McChrystal's Chief of Operations, Maj. Gen. Bill Mayville, said: "It's not going to look like a win ... This is going to end in an argument." If it's going to end in an argument anyway - Mayville is surely right - why shed more blood? Don't we have a right and obligation to demand a straightforward and concrete accounting of what the additional bloodshed is purportedly going to achieve?

Ninety-eight Members of the House - almost a quarter - have now signed on to legislation demanding that President Obama establish a timetable for military withdrawal from Afghanistan. Shall the House not debate establishing a timetable for military withdrawal before voting on more money for pointless killing?

The second set of questions the Pentagon and the White House want to dodge can be crudely summarized as: what the hell is the federal government doing about Main Street's economic crisis? While it is not the responsibility of the Pentagon to do something about Main Street's economic crisis, it is the obligation of the Pentagon to defend more Pentagon spending as the best use of public resources, at a time when states and local governments are looking at mass layoffs of public employees, including schoolteachers.

This is the question that House Appropriations Chair Rep. David Obey (D-Wisconsin) put on the table when he said he would sit on the war appropriation until the White House acted on House Democratic demands to unlock federal money to aid the states in averting a wave of layoffs of teachers and other public employees.

But on money to save teachers' jobs, the White House is still Absent Without Leave, hiding behind the purported threat of a Senate filibuster, just as it did on the public option for health insurance. If it fought for teachers, the White House could win. But it isn't fighting, because unlike the war funding, teachers' jobs are not a White House priority.

If we want this to change, Obey has to be able to make good on his threat. And that means the House has to be willing to call the Pentagon's bluff.

Truthout

Killing a Muslim Who Converts to Christianity is not a Crime

A group of Afghan Christian refugees, who escaped to India to save their lives, describe the hardships they face in their homeland, where Muslim converts to Christianity are put to death. They call on the international community to put pressure on the Afghan government to spare those sentenced to death.

We have no business over there where our military engagement sanctions this religiously mandated unspeakable barbarity. The central tenet of our great nation is freedom -- of religion, from religion, to religion, etc. Our freedom campaign, here in the states, is under constant attack as offensive. Why? Protecting a minority from supremacism is offensive?

Asia Times

Atlas Shrugs

We have lost our way.

Afghanistan: Muslim Converts to Christianity Convicted and Sentenced to Death… Weasel Zippers

Why are American troops (who are overwhelmingly Christian) fighting and dying for an Islamic regime that executes people simply because they’ve converted to Christianity?…

New Delhi (AsiaNews)– VijayKumar Singh, from the India Bible Publishers and the Delhi Bible Fellowship, has launched an appeal to the Christians of India and the world to pray and express their support for Afghan Muslim converts to Christianity who were convicted on conversion charges and sentenced to death on 31 May.

Speaking to AsiaNews, Sing said, “We need Christians’ help all over the world to stop the Afghan government from arresting Dari-speaking Afghan Christians and condemning them to death by public execution.

Afghans consider their country to be 100 per cent Muslim. A local TV station, Noorin TV, recently broadcast a documentary showing photos and videos of secret “Afghan Christian Converts”, which revealed names and showed the faces of alleged Afghan Christian converts. This was enough to spark riots and demonstrations throughout Afghanistan with protesters demanding strong action to enforce the Afghan constitution, based on Sharia, arrest the culprits, and execute anyone who renege his or her religion in favour of another.

A number of prominent public figures also spoke out on the matter, calling for immediate action. One lawmaker even said that killing a Muslim who converts to Christianity was “not a crime”.

What is the USA Doing in Afghanistan?

Afghanistan: Women crowd secret shelters with scars from "fists, knives, burns, electrical cords"

Here is another report that describes the prevalence and severity of domestic violence in a Muslim country without considering Islam's role. The broadcast version of the story, aired tonight, mentioned attempts to convince men that such behavior was un-Islamic and not what Muhammad would want; even that is absent from the online version excerpted below.

But the Qur'an (4:34) says you can beat your wife -- never mind the parenthetical additions of "lightly" by some Western translators. That doesn't help the women in Afghanistan. Nor do fanciful re-translations of the Arabic term. There can be no meaningful discussion of domestic violence in the Muslim world without acknowledging that Islam's scriptures, believed to be the direct word of Allah, approve of the idea of resorting to violence to "control" supposedly disobedient women.

As for Muhammad, he was a wife-beater himself, as Aisha recounts in this hadith that "He struck me on the chest which caused me pain." When, per Qur'an 33:21, a man who marries a child and beats her is your "beautiful pattern of conduct," you've got a serious problem.

That problem continues to manifest itself across the Muslim world. "Exclusive: The Secret Shelters That Protect Afghan Women," by Margaret Ako and Mark Mooney for ABC News, March 11:

Not every Afghan is hoping the Americans soon leave their country. Some are actually dreading it.

"You can't leave Afghanistan," Manizha, who helps run a shelter for battered women, recently warned "World News" anchor Diane Sawyer. Behind Manizha, women who were beaten, bruised and badly scarred shake their heads in urgent agreement.

The secret women's shelter is run by Manizha -- who, like most Afghans, goes by only one name -- and by New Yorker Esther Hyneman. It is one of a string of shelters and counseling centers that opened in 2007 and have since helped about 1,500 Afghan women escape beatings and abuse that can shock even battle-hardened combat surgeons.

Among the most heartbreaking is the story of Bebe. She is 17, and she says her face was mutilated by her husband, a Talib. Bebe's nose and ears were cut off as punishment for running away to escape the constant pummeling by her husband and his family.

She was married to the radical Muslim when she was 12, Manizha told Sawyer. Her marriage was the result of an outlawed tribal custom called "baad" in which the daughter was given away as compensation for a crime or offense committed by a male member of Bebe's family.

Girls given away in baad transactions are often little more than slaves. Bebe was forced to sleep in a stable with the animals, and beatings and pain became part of life for her.

Bebe tried to escape but was captured. Her husband was ordered by the Taliban to punish her by disfiguring her face. While her brother-in-law held her down, her husband sliced off her nose and ears.

Left for dead, she crawled to her uncle's house, but he refused to help. Bebe staggered on to her grandfather's house. He called her father. The local Afghan hospital was unable to treat her wounds, and suggested her father take her to the nearby U.S. military base, Forward Operating Base Ripley in Oruzgan province.

"She was very scared. She covered up," said Air Force Sgt. Lindsey Clark, a medic who was on duty when Bebe arrived three days after the attack.

Maj. Jeff Lewis, an Air Force surgeon, told ABC News he was used to seeing war wounds, but Bebe's injuries appalled him.

"It was barbaric and shocking to see this, that somebody had done this to this young girl... It was unlike anything I've ever seen," Lewis said. "I'm surprised that ... it still exists, this type of problem in the world." Despite their scars -- from fists, knives, burns, electrical cords -- there is an argument that the women at Manizha's shelter are the lucky ones.These women have found a way out of their brutal marriages. Millions of Afghan women are routinely handed over for marriages while they are still children and endure lives of constant battering.

"Ninety percent of Afghan women have experienced some form of human rights violation, 15 million Afghan women probably need our help," Manizha told Sawyer....

Posted by Marisol, Jihad Watch

American Values and the Art of the Possible

$636 billion for annual military spending was approved by the U.S. Senate over the weekend, with little more than a hiccup of debate from Republican "conservatives," not a peep from the Democrats, and even less coverage from the corporate mainstream media.

But $850 billion for 10 years of what is ostensibly meant to be health care reform for the health and welfare of American citizens --- all while reducing the budget deficit by $132 billion over that period, according to the CBO? "A budget buster!," shout the phony "conservatives" in the same Senate.

Anyway, there's your "American Values," in a two-part nutshell, from today's Republicans and the Democrats and corporate media who enable their madness as if it weren't so. Brad Freidman, Brad Blog

If Israel Controlled America, Afghan War Would End

What Do You Think of This Possible Finesse from Obama? House Progressives continue to claim they oppose war. If they are serious, they could refuse funding the next supplemental. Likewise, the Republicans could act on their complaints about big deficits and spending. They can join Progressives to scuttle the Afghan War.

It is written in the Gamara that having rats in the house is a good sign for the owner. In service to the little animals, the owner finds approval in the eyes of God. The Almighty favors the strong people who defend the weak ones. This is an apt dictum for individuals, but it doesn't necessarily extend to the national level.

Intellectuals waste much cyber space on the geopolitical machinations in West Asia. The general consensus is Israel and America have formed an unholy axis to dominate the region. This dates back more than thirty years to when Brzezinski tricked the foolish Soviets into invading Afghanistan. Since the fall of the USSR, the debate has centered on who controls the Axis of Evil: Israel or the USA?

If Israel controlled America, the first thing she would institute is single payer health insurance. The USA is the laughing stock of the industrialized world for public health neglect. Jews would never allow 40% of premiums to be wasted.

Israelis limit wars to five weeks fighting. If the USA needs eight to ten years to lose a war, she should find a new occupation.

You Made Me Think, GLloyd Rowsley

He challenged me to divert Israel from her war mongering course. In my opinion, liberals confuse winning wars with starting them. I credit Lyndon Johnson. In 1967 he warned Israel. If they attacked first, they could expect no help from him. They were doubly conscious seeing that the odds were 3 to 1 against them. After the war, they were astounded the victory hadn't produced a peace. Indirectly, it did. The 1973 war established Anwar Sadat's position to make peace in 1978. Most courageous, it cost him his life.
King Hussein was a remarkable man, but I still wonder how he escaped assassination when he made peace 10 years later. Yitzhak Rabin made peace progress that caused his assassination the first in Jewish history. Ehud Barak jettisoned his political career when he offered Arafat the administration of East Jerusalem. Ari Sharon withdrew unilaterally from Gaza and that should have been the end of the hostilities. Since Lyndon Johnson no outsider has assumed importance in the peace process. Iran plans 30 more uranium enrichment plants, so we see where they are headed. If Israeli opinions dominated US strategy, the Iranian nuclear facilities would have disappeared in 2008.

“The real terrorists are not the men in turbans we see on Al Jazeera,” said the psychiatrist, Dr. Malik H. Mubbashar, vice chancellor of the University of Health Sciences in Lahore. “They are wearing Gucci suits and Brit hats. It's your great country, Madam.”

I asked him to spell it out. “It's coming from Americans, Jews and Indians,” he said. “It's an axis of evil that's being supervised by you people.”

SABRINA TAVERNISE, New York Times

Jerusalem is a Cinder

War mongers have made Jerusalem a flash point. This is one of the tactics to keep the peasants deluded. If they are enthralled by various tempests in a teapot, they tend to forget the real problems facing them. Their leaders start wars they always lose. They divert foreign aid funds into procuring more weapons of self-destruction. They care nothing about roads, schools and hospitals.
If the citizen really cares about the quality of his life, democracy and human rights, he will go into exile.
The Palestinians of East Jerusalem are not the first to experience urban blight, or the rapaciousness of government. Forty-five years ago I heard all the stories. They were in Boston and the program was Urban Renewal. The lead villain was Ed Logue. He wanted to displace the local peasant residents from their poor neighborhoods to allow the city to build low cost housing for them. Initially, the poor residents believed him and gave up their homes. By the time the peasants realized no new low-cost housing was being built, it was too late to mount an effective protest. This happened in Boston. I lost my home and eventually went into exile. This occurs everywhere a universal theme with a few local variations.
If the peasants want to return to their original location, they can rent a hotel room for $400 per day.
Injustice is the way of the world. The Palestinians have reversed this. Unique among nations, only Palestinians suffer from urban renewal, human rights abuses and war. Escalating whining to a new art form, they plead before the UN to whip up a posse and throw Israelis under the bus.

The UN Human Rights Commission has become an Arab propaganda tool. The human rights conferences Durban I and II became a platform for tyrants infamous for the repression of their citizens. They denounced the USA and Israel for causing their woes. They have redefined war as genocide against Palestinians.

The Escalation in Afghanistan May be a Clever Ruse

What Do You Think of This Possible Finesse from Obama?

House Progressives continue to claim they oppose war. If they are serious, they could refuse funding the next supplemental. Likewise, the Republicans could act on their complaints about big deficits and spending. They can join Progressives to scuttle the Afghan War. The US Navy has a 50-year inventory of spare parts. I'm sure the USAF and the US Army are similarly well fixed.
This saves the bacon for Obama, who would have been assassinated if he had commanded a withdrawal.

Leftists Have the Attention Span of a Grape

In days passed at OEN, I would respond to late-breaking news. Since many editors waited five to seven days to publish my article, it was no longer fashionable. After I wrote on more lasting issues, I was lucky to make the Top 50 list for a few hours rarely with a headline.
Much of this reflects old-time newspaper writing. Today's headline wraps dead fish bones tomorrow. This practice has killed leftist politics for the past 40 years.
Almost every day FOX promotes a revelation that dominates every show for at least 24 hours. Before the left can respond, FOX is off on another tangent. If one of their fairy stories gains traction, it stands repetition pounded into viewers' heads as an advertising commercial.
The Republicans elevate this trash into political rhetoric good enough to bash Democrats for weeks and maybe months. Then, the best lies [such as birther and deather] go on the shelf for use at a later time.
To counter this I subscribe to Brad Friedman's Blog and his consistent and long-lasting campaign against the right's weaknesses. For example, they support perpetual war, misogyny, US exceptionalism, selling US nuclear secrets to the enemy, ethnic cleansing, hanging gays [in Uganda], abusing children, infecting the general population with chemical agents, wire tapping, subversion, falsification of the public record, assassinating whistle blowers, torture, slavery, genocide, killing Muslims for Jesus, boiling dissidents in oil [in Central Asia], euthanasia, kidnapping, sex slavery, heroin trafficking, adultery and numerous other departures from common human decency.
Instead of taking the right to task for these infractions, the left criticizes Obama's escalation of the war. By ignoring these atrocities, the lefties become complicit in them.

Before the enemies of America start bashing the country, I hasten to add that most nations including Israel indulge in these nefarious activities. The first step to reform is to recognize all of us are guilty to some extent. This reveals the hypocrisy of war. The ends do not justify the means.

Will Tea Baggers and Progressives Unite?

Will Tea Baggers and Progressives Find Common Cause?

Many Progressives feel betrayed by the announced escalation. Many have the gut feel it is morally wrong. Others see the needs at home that won't be met.
Many Tea Baggers reflect a strong isolationist theme expressed most articulately by Ron Paul. "Stop meddling in other nations affairs." Forty-nine percent of Americans now agree we have vital issues at home.
"Yankee go home. Your mama is calling you!"

Every Democracy Makes Choices

The people voted for officials who reflect their values and interests. It looks like the USA will be in Afghanistan a few more years. Our military and CIA fight the Taliban for control of the lucrative heroin trade.
Our leaders have decided to forgo green jobs, proper health care, clean energy, decent schools and rebuilding the infrastructure.
If the population is upset by this state of affairs, they can buy guns and march on Washington. The Tea Baggers do this regularly. They get what they want because they care about their issues.
At West Point a few lonely souls protested the President's obscene policy. Where were the other 320 millions?
In the 1960's much smaller crowds threw the godless Democratic Party out of town tarred and feathered in disgrace.
Dr. Martin Luther King taught us the white power structure was unwilling to give up anything to us. We had to take it.