Indeed: Obama roars. World trembles. If only. Obama says Assad must “step aside”. Do we really think Damascus trembles? Or is going to? Indeed, the titan of the White House only dared to go this far after condemnation of Bashar al-Assad by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Turkey, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, the EU and Uncle…
Showing all posts tagged Iraq
Screw the media hacks who only follow elections to get high
Salon’s Glenn Greenwald on what elections are really about; the corporate press and business with the general populace mere bystanders: Obviously, at least in theory, presidential campaigns are newsworthy.… But consider the impact from the fact that they dominate media coverage for so long, drowning out most everything else.… A presidential term is 48 months;…
Just how are merchants of death supposed to make a good living these days?
Are the good times really coming to an end, or will Western-led wars be increasingly privatised? The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are winding down, Osama bin Laden is dead, and the federal government is deeply in debt. This spells the end of what was a golden decade for the defense industry. In the decade…
Why only corporate fools treat anything Tony Blair says seriously
The shameful legacy of Iraq should never be forgotten (via the Daily Mail): The exhausted secret intelligence officer was heading home after a heavy session analysing reports from Iraq. As he stepped out through the high-security air-lock exit from MI6’s grand headquarters beside the Thames in London, a newspaper-seller’s placard caught his eye — ”˜45…
Selective BDS understanding, not by chance, in Australian corporate media
Following the appearance today of a story in Murdoch’s Australian about BDS, one of those interviewed, Kim Bullimore, sent me the following details of her interview with the paper’s reporter, Cameron Stewart: Stewart (the reporter) wanted to know when was our next action. … I told them Sept 9.… … He… wanted to know if we would be picketing…
How many companies are shafting America in its WOT?
Far too many and who really cares? A United Arab Emirates-based logistics contractor billed Defense Department authorities in Iraq for parts at prices marked up as high as 5,000 percent and 12,000 percent, according to a quarterly report released Saturday by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. A review of a $119 million reconstruction…
What US occupation looks like on the ground
My following lead book review appeared in Saturday’s Sydney Morning Herald: INFERNAL TRIANGLE Paul McGeough Allen & Unwin, $32.99 This unblinking collection of dispatches separates the rhetoric from the reality of the post-September 11 battlefields. The new US Defence Secretary and former CIA director, Leon Panetta, recently told journalists the Obama administration was ”within reach”…
At least some in US Congress recognise toxic culture of mercenaries in war zones
As we learn that the US has wasted tens of billions on contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11, few American politicians are opposed to this explosion of privatisation. Here’s a statement by Bernie Sanders, US Senator from Vermont: Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) today introduced legislation that would phase out private…
US wastes billions on dodgy contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan
The future of Western warfare is corporations making billions on the suffering of citizens under occupation: The United States has wasted some $34 billion on service contracts with the private sector in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a study being finalized for Congress. The findings by a bipartisan congressional commission were confirmed…
The Guardian’s Nick Davies on how Murdoch punishes friends and enemies
Speaking on Democracy Now!: JUAN GONZALEZ: Well, Nick Davies, many of us here in the United States who watched the hearings this week were really surprised at the extent to which the members of Parliament really were dogged in their questioning and fairly confrontational in their questioning. Could you explain to us the degree of…