February 8, 2012

Source: Stratrisks/BBC

After a decade spent mostly fighting in deserts and mountain regions, the US military and its allies have been gearing up for future challenges by practising assaults on coastal areas.

A mythical nation is under attack by a belligerent neighbour. The US and its allies are deployed to save Amber from the invading forces of Garnet.

For the teams coming off the amphibious assault ship the USS Kearsage, the mission was to push the intruding forces out.

In reality they arrived on the beaches and grounds of Camp LeJeune, a sprawling Marine Corps base in North Carolina.

Searching the waterways nearby for Garnet-affiliated “pirates” were US Navy Riverine units, based on small boats often visually associated with the Vietnam War.

The scenario was part of Bold Alligator, an 11-nation training exercise involving upwards of 19,000 troops.

While the scenario may have been a fiction, the reality for all involved is a shifting military focus, as the US and other participating nations are increasingly watchful of coastal areas of the Middle East – in particular Iran – and countries like China and North Korea in the Pacific.

The Bold Alligator exercise involves scenarios of mine warfare, fighting in shallow water and fending off attacks from smaller boats; methods known to be familiar to the Iranian Navy.

Capt Dorian Jones, commander of the USS Kearsarge, was quick to point out other uses for the training, such as responding to the Haiti earthquake two years ago.

“Amphibious operations encompass a number of different operations – humanitarian assistance, disaster relief. Amphibious forces are flexible and capable, and they flex to a variety of missions.”

‘Back to basics’
Bold Alligator has been under way since the beginning of February, played out across Virginia and North Carolina in what US military officials say is the largest amphibious-focused training mission in over a decade.

The outline of the exercise is not far removed from the depiction in films like Saving Private Ryan, or even from the reality of the World War II Normandy beach landings.

Bold Alligator has taken months of planning and is a joint-forces operation between the US Navy and Marine Corps.

“Start Quote
This is essentially restoring our amphibious credentials”

End Quote Maj Chris Samuel Royal Marines
Participating in the exercise are 25 ships, including the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise and the lead assault ship USS Wasp.

Troops include sailors and Marines from several “partnership” countries such as the UK, Canada, France, Australia and the Netherlands.

According to Adm John Harvey, commander of US Fleet Forces, the purpose of Bold Alligator is “to get back to basics” in terms of the ship-to-shore method of fighting that the recent missions in Iraq and Afghanistan rarely required.

Speaking in Washington as Bold Alligator was getting under way, he said: “It was really instructive to me when we opened this thing up to our coalition partners, they jumped on it.

“I’ve got a French big-deck under way out there now, with a lot of French Marines embarked who are taking this exercise with great seriousness.

“Gen Heljik’s [a US Marine Corps commander] got a couple hundred Dutch Marines who came over here for this.

“We have 11 nations playing and playing hard, like the Canadian minesweepers, and they’re making these decisions to participate at a time when their fiscally-constrained environment is far, far more significant than ours.”

From the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge, Marines from the US, UK and Canada were grouped together and then sent out in LCAC landing crafts and V-22 Osprey – a helicopter-plane hybrid – as one part of the 12-day exercise.

Before flying off on 6 February, the would-be D-Day of the war games, Maj Chris Samuel of the British Royal Marines said: “This is essentially restoring our amphibious credentials and it’s a unique opportunity really, to participate in a multinational exercise with our closest allies.

“This is what we’re good at,” he added.

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January 12, 2012

Source: Breitbart

The latest round of American sanctions are aimed at shutting down Iran’s central bank,a senior US official said Thursday, spelling out that intention directly for the first time.

“We do need to close down the Central Bank of Iran (CBI),” the official told reporters on condition of anonymity, while adding that the United States is moving quickly to implement the sanctions, signed into law last month.

The sanctions, broadly aimed at forcing Tehran to shift course on its nuclear program, targeted Iran’s crucial oil sector and required foreign firms to make a choice between doing business with Iran or the United States.

Foreign central banks that deal with the Iranian central bank on oil transactions could also face similar restrictions under the new law, which has sparked fears of damage to US ties with nations like Russia and China.

“If a correspondent bank of a US bank wants to do business with us and they’re doing business with CBI or other designated Iranian banks… then they’re going to get in trouble with us,” the US official said.

Read More…

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January 7, 2012

By Pepe Escobar
Asia Times

NEW YORK – Here’s a crash course on how to further wreck the global economy.

A key amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act signed by United States President Barack Obama on the last day of 2011 – when no one was paying attention – imposes sanctions on any countries or companies that buy Iranian oil and pay for it through Iran’s central bank. Starting this summer, anybody who does it is prevented from doing business with the US.

This amendment – for all practical purposes a declaration of economic war – was brought to you by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), on direct orders of the Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu.

Torrents of spin have tried to rationalize it as the Obama administration’s plan B as opposed to letting the Israeli dogs of war conduct an unilateral attack on Iran over its supposed nuclear weapons program.

Yet the original Israeli strategy was in fact even more hysterical – as in effectively preventing any country or company from paying for imported Iranian oil, with the possible exceptions of China and India. On top of it, American Israel-firsters were trying to convince anyone this would not result in relentless oil price hikes.

Once again displaying a matchless capacity to shoot themselves in their Ferragamo-clad feet, governments in the European Union (EU) are debating whether or not to buy oil from Iran anymore. The existential doubt is should we start now or wait for a few months. Inevitably, like death and taxes, the result has been – what else – oil prices soaring. Brent crude is now hovering around $114, and the only way is up.

Full article here

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January 2, 2012

Source: STL Today

A week after a man killed a security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington in 2009, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano cited the murder as proof that nonprofit institutions were at risk of attack and could be helped by federal security grants.

In an event announcing $1.7 billion in Department of Homeland Security grants, Napolitano noted that 63 percent of nonprofit grant recipients were “affiliated with Jewish organizations.”

The following year, according to the Jewish Federations of North America, that number grew. In 2010, 94 percent of the department’s nonprofit security funding went to Jewish groups that are, in the words of the Department of Homeland Security, “at high risk of terrorist attack.” That included $222,000 for Jewish nonprofits in Missouri.

Last month, the Nonprofit Security Grant Program awarded three St. Louis Jewish organizations $195,000 in grants to guard against such an attack, according to the Missouri Department of Public Safety. They were the only nonprofits in St. Louis to receive funding from the program, which awarded more than 80 percent of its $20 million budget in 2011 to Jewish nonprofits around the country.

Government grants to nonprofits are common. But the strong religious connection in this federal grant program has stirred debate, even within Jewish organizations.

The grant program “presents serious concerns around the constitutional separation of church and state,” said Karen Aroesty, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League for Missouri and Southern Illinois.

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December 24, 2011

Owen Myles, Contributing Writer

Also involved in the study were rodents — clearly a dietary staple of the French, and biologically (or psychologically?) identical to certain English academics.

The “evidence” cited in the study shows that — at least to monocled marsupials — GM plants are “nutritionally equivalent to their non-GM counterparts and can be safely used in food and feed.” Of course “food and feed” are not exclusive aspects of GM agriculture — or even agriculture — but corporate-sponsored research has its own perspective . . . Never mind the trace minerals and everything else!

As usual, the slashdot comments were many, and the views varied; organic versus conventional, ridicule and support of both, with lots between — all shedding light on people’s views of the subject. Admittedly, geeks may not be the best authority on such topics — often compiled of pizza and soft-drinks — but I fear they do provide an example of popular opinion regardless. Many see GM as a noble science, helping to feed the world’s growing population. Some see “organic” anthropocentrically, reducing it to a matter of pesticides, nutrition, and prices. Few seem to have a balanced perspective though.

Conventional versus organic agriculture – or where to begin:

Crop rotation gets little attention, probably due to most consumers having no familiarity with processes behind the supermarkets. Most GM crops are mono-cultures, and are rarely if ever rotated. Mono-cultures reduce biodiversity, having effects far beyond the farm, and unrotated crops stress and deplete the soil. While the terribly important subject of biodiversity is generally ignored in conventional agriculture, soil quality is maintained artificially through mined fertilizers and industrial chemicals. There are quite a few implications for this; the dust-bowl of the US, and creeping deserts of China are but a few. Artificial fertilization requires strip mining, particularly for phosphates, and the effects are harsh. Pollution of watersheds, eutrophication, devastation, and even radiation are effects of phosphate mining.

In 2003, Piney Point phosphate mine threatened to leak a hundred-plus million gallons of contaminated water into Tampa Bay. Instead of allowing it to leak, Jeb Bush authorized it to be dumped into the Gulf of Mexico. I clearly remember suffering perennial red-tide for more than a year after the first incident. In June of 2011, Piney Point threatened to leak again.

Piney Point was officially an “accident”; possibly one less expensive to pay the fines for, than to build a more secure infrastructure. But conventional agriculture is not an accident, and a look at the Mississippi Delta dead-zone is an example some of the consequences involved in run-off from fertilization.

We’ve all heard horror stories of cattle threatening to fart our beloved planet into a toxic stink-osphere. …Sure, but what they leave out is that it is not just farts, but mismanagement of the manure which produces much of this dangerous surplus of methane. Instead of properly redistributing the manure to be returned to the soil, it is often stuffed in squalid vats to putrefy without benefit — emitting methane. Could such manure not substitute these mined phosphates to some extent?

The argument that to feed the growing population we must genetically modify our crops and practice industrial agriculture is worth some attention, as it is perhaps the most popular argument supporting the industry. This argument confuses many, and irritates some like myself. One must at a minimum, consider the waste of conventional agriculture, where rather than composting and returning detritus to the soil, it is either burned, trashed, or used for other industrial purposes. Organic agriculture it is not entirely self-sufficient, but it is far more so than its contestant. Between hydroponics and more – but smaller – farms, organic (and perhaps eco-farming) could indeed maintain pace with the demands of our growing population — all while remaining far more symbiotic with ecosystems.

The French study also neglects aspects of what they claim to understand of feed. Bees are critical to agriculture, and certainly are not well hosted by conventional farms. Some studies have suggested that GM corn pollen may weaken the intestinal walls of bees, thus reducing resistance to parasites and other infections.

We know that feeding corn — as opposed to grass — to cattle increases putrefaction due to excessive starches (sugars), further leading farmers to grotesque measures; boring permanent holes into the stomachs of cows to monitor the bacterial cultures that arise from corn diets of GMO-powered starchiness, and the excessive antibiotics which become necessary as result of the intestinal imbalances caused by such diets. In humans, GM soy has been proposed to threaten intestinal flora as well, by transferring corrupted DNA into beneficial flora.

Patent-wars are another issue, and could alone make a strong case against GMOs. Whether through cross-pollination (contamination) or terminator seeds, the patent has been used to harm many farmers and sustain what would otherwise fail under fair and wholesome circumstances. Organic farming claims no ownership of nature; it seeks to work in relative harmony, and cares not to bully fellow farmers. The notorious Monsanto has been a true tyrant in this regard, litigating farmers into bankruptcy, and playing dice with biology. It is no secret that the FDA and Monsanto are close, and that neither exhibit any sincere concern for the health of the masses. They present GM science as the road to a thriving humanity, but their real motives are clearly profit — without regard to humanity’s common interests.

We also need to bring agriculture closer to home, whereever possible. By this I imply less dependence on centralized farming, and more local cooperation. The supermarket shelves can be emptied, but our yards are alive, and our greenhouses belong to us. We should be teaching ourselves the basics of growing what we can in our climates, and becoming less reliant on those who care neither about their own produce, animals, or us. Where this cannot be done, one may try to act supportively instead, whether in words or coins.

What seems objectively obvious to me is that GMOs are understudied, abused, resented by many, and will have to wait in a very long line for any truly conclusive research. Organic agriculture, however, is tried and proven — and no one resents its products. I know from experience the differences of that grown on the local farm here in Sarasota, compared to that bought in any grocery store — and they are quite apparent; from the way I feel after enjoying them, to the politics — or lack thereof — that are involved. I know of no organic farm sporting prison labor, but I can surely name a few conventional farms that do. I don’t want an institution supper, nor do I want corporate mutations in my mouth. The differences are clear, and it’s a shame that they even need be argued — but ’tis our times and tyrants.

There is much, much more to cover on this subject, though I wanted to get this out in time to wish the Activist Post readership (and syndicates) a Merry Christmas for all those who celebrate it, and the kindness of the holiday spirit to everyone, which will hopefully some day no longer be once per year.
Map of Florida’s Bone Valley: www.baysoundings.com/sum05/BoneValley.pdfOwen Myles writes and edits the Eccentric Intelligence Agency: Helping the Ouroboros finish itself.

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Boots On The Ground: U.S. Special Forces Join Hunt for Ugandan Rebels

S ource: Ghana MMA

US special forces have set up a base in the Central African Republic as part of their regional hunt for fighters from the Ugandan-born Lord’s Resistance Army group, military sources said Monday.

“The deployment of this contingent, the size of which is unknown, was carried out very discreetly with Ugandan military aircraft,” a Central African military official said on condition of anonymity.

The US elite troops set up a base in Obo and are expected to coordinate their efforts with local government forces and Ugandan soldiers.

US President Barack Obama in October announced he was sending 100 special forces soldiers to Kampala to help Uganda track down LRA chief and international fugitive Joseph Kony, who has wreaked havoc over four nations for more than two decades.

Besides Obo, the US forces also have a forward base in South Sudan. They began deploying in Uganda earlier this month.

The rebels currently number several hundred, a fraction of their strength at their peak but still include a core of hardened fighters infamous for mutilating civilians and abducting children for soldiers and sex-slaves.

The majority of US troops will be based in Uganda while a smaller number will be based in jungle areas in neighbouring countries to advise regional armies tracking the rebels, US officials say.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed since Kony took up arms in the late 1980s, initially against the Ugandan government.

The International Criminal Court has a warrant against Kony, one of the continent’s most wanted men.

Driven out of Uganda, the guerrillas have since scattered across a vast region of the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, recruiting fighters from those nations over the years.

The LRA emerged from the frustrations of Uganda’s marginalised Acholi ethnic group against the government, but its leaders have since dropped their national political agenda for the narrow objective of pillage and plunder. – ANP/AFP

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December 20, 2011

By Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research

The 2000 Project for the New American Century (PNAC), which was the backbone of the NeoCon’s agenda, was predicated on “waging a war without borders”.

The PNAC’s declared objectives were to “fight and decisively win multiple, simultaneous major theater wars” in different regions of the world as well as perform the so-called military “constabulary” duties “associated with shaping the security environment in critical regions”. Global constabulary implies a worldwide process of military policing and interventionism, including covert operations and “regime change”.

This diabolical military project formulated by the NeoCons was adopted and implemented from the very outset of the Obama administration. With a new team of military and foreign policy advisers, Obama has been far more effective in fostering military escalation than his White House predecessor, George Bush Junior….

Escalation and Military Redeployment

The Iraq war is “officially over”. The thrust of US foreign policy in the wake of the Iraq war is not towards “peace” but towards military escalation and redeployment in all major regions of the World. This process is supported by new military technologies including cyber warfare as well the development of special forces.

The Pentagon’s global military design is one of world conquest. The emphasis in the wake of Iraq will be placed on the militarization of the Asia Pacific region requiring the redeployment of military capabilities from Europe to South East Asia and the Far East, visibly implying a military build-up directed against the “region’s rising economic and military power”, namely The People’s Republic of China. To this effect, the US will be reinforcing its military ties with several Asian and Pacific countries including Australia, South Korea, Japan, India, Singapore and  The Philippines:

“The United States has laid bare its concerns about China. Obama last month announced that the United States would post up to 2,500 Marines in the northern Australian city of Darwin by 2016-17, a move criticized by Beijing.

The United States also has some 70,000 troops stationed in Japan and South Korea under longstanding alliances and has offered assistance to the Philippines which launched its newest warship on Wednesday.

Singapore is also a long-standing partner of the United States. The US military already operates a small post in the city-state that assists in logistics and exercises for forces in Southeast Asia. (AFP Report, December 17, 2011, emphasis added)

A report published in Stars and Stripes, December 19, 2011 confirms the Pentagon`s continued resolve to wage a global war, with increasingly advanced weapons systems:

A day after the last U.S. troops left Iraq, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said the U.S. military must redirect its focus of the last 10 years from preparing for continuous deployments to training, with an eye toward the growing strategic importance of the Pacific region.“

-As a global power, “we cannot afford to pick a point on the spectrum of conflict and say ‘that’s what we’re going to be best at,’ ”

“We have to be capable of providing options to our leaders to deal with problems across the entire spectrum.”

-The U.S. military…will look at how to integrate new capabilities into training, such as cyber expertise and special forces, the number of which have quadrupled over the last decade or so`.

“We have to restore readiness for all potential forms of warfare,” Army Gen. Martin Dempsey told a crowd of more than 400 U.S. military members and civilians at a town hall meeting Monday in Ramstein’s officers’ club.

In the last 10 to 15 years, Dempsey said, there’s been “a pretty prominent shift of strategic risk towards the Pacific,” as defined by changing demographics and the region’s rising economic and military power [i.e. China].

That doesn’t mean the U.S. military is “going to pick everybody out of Europe and put them in Japan” or South Korea, he said, but “you will see some shifts.”

Dempsey didn’t say what those shifts might be, but stressed that “as we shift, we’re going to have to think through, how do we maintain the foundation of our traditional strategic relationships,” with the country’s current partners and allies.

As a global power, “we cannot afford to pick a point on the spectrum of conflict and say ‘that’s what we’re going to be best at,’ ” he said. “We have to be capable of providing options to our leaders to deal with problems across the entire spectrum.”

One area future training may focus on is the ability of the U.S. military to operate in areas without fixed bases, unlike the so-called “forward operating bases” in Iraq and Afghanistan, complete with working fiber optics and satellite dishes, for example.

“We’ve got to rekindle our skills to be mobile, to maneuver and to have the ability … to establish architectures that don’t always exist,” Dempsey said.

The U.S. military also will look at how to integrate new capabilities into training, such as cyber expertise and special forces, the number of which have quadrupled over the last decade or so, according to Dempsey. (See  Jennifer H. Svan, Dempsey: Future to focus on training ‘for all potential forms of warfare’, Stars and Stripes, December 19, 2011, emphasis added)

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December 18, 2011

Source: Voice Of Detroit

NDAA 2012 codifies Commander in Chief President Obama, DHS, military police waging war against American internet users, independent reporters, whistleblowers of high-level corruption

The National Defense Authorization Bill 2012 (NDAA FY2012) passed in the House yesterday, contains language allowing the Pentagon to wage cyberwar on domestic enemies of the state, a human and civil rights violation of freedom of speech and freedom of the press, as reported by MSNBC Wednesday, potentially impacting both Occupy movement and Tea Party participants plus independent news reporters and whistleblowers exposing government corruption. President Obama will have the bill to sign this week according to Government Executive, as ACLU and David Swanson urgently call Americans to action to thwart the signing of the bill into law.

It is “astonishing and disappointing” that the bill’s language has been approved by Congress and President Obama said Jameel Jaffer of National Security division of ACLU in his interview by Rachel Maddow in her MSNBC show Wedneday, “Suspicion Accomplished.”

The NDAA FY2012 includes the following language in its final “reconciled” bill now in the Senate and then traveling to President Barack Obama to be signed into law, despite earlier assertions he would veto the human rights violating legislation:

“Congress affirms that the Department of Defense has the capability, and upon direction by the President may conduct offensive operations in cyberspace to defend our Nation, Allies and interests, subject to–

(1) the policy principles and legal regimes that the Department follows for kinetic capabilities, including the law of armed conflict; and

(2) the War Powers Resolution (50 U.S.C. 1541 et seq.)”

As part of Full Spectrum Dominance, the Pentagon’s cybersecurity plan released in July declared the internet a domain of war, claiming hostile parties “are working to exploit DOD unclassified and classified networks, and some foreign intelligence organizations have already acquired the capacity to disrupt elements of DOD’s information infrastructure.”

According to the Pentagon, “non-state actors increasingly threaten to penetrate and disrupt DOD networks and systems.”

The term “non-state actors” is addressed by Brent Jessop who writes that a problem with the current internet is the “potential for the dissemination of ideas and information not consistent with US government themes and messages, commonly known as free speech.”

NDAA FY2012 thus directly threatens safety of whistleblowers and independent reporters.

Kurt Nimmo of InfoWars reports Thursday, “After the NDAA is signed into law by Obama, he will have the authority to wage war against “domestic terrorists,” defined by the Department of Homeland Security as “rightwing extremists” and other anti-government types.

As already observed in DHS coordinated organized attacks on the Occupy movement human rights defenders, NDAA 2012 codifies the DHS to “direct the work” against enemies of the state.

“DHS will work with the Pentagon to militarily neutralize the threat posed by activists and the alternative media,” says Nimmo.

This author reported in November, “U.S. soldiers are trained to use non-lethal force as much as possible according to the DoD that added, ‘But until recently, not every soldier had ‘the right mix’ of tools and capabilities to meet those goals, an officer said during exercises in 2008.’

“Now, ‘the right mix’ has been passed to the Department of Justice, to local police, since a quiet agreement was made as the DoD states on its website answering question, ‘Q7: What organizations are involved?’”

“In November, the DHS practiced its work by coordinating a nationwide police crackdown on the OWS movement,” says Nimmo.

“In the not too distant future, it may be using the Pentagon – now that Posse Comitatus is a dead letter – in its ongoing efforts to wage war on political opposition to the establishment.”

From Forbes to statesmen to Anonymous and hactivists, NDAA FY2012 war on Americans is far from over

On December 5, Forbes reported, “If Obama does one thing for the remainder of his presidency let it be a veto of the National Defense Authorization Act, a law that “would place domestic terror investigations and interrogations into the hands of the military and which would open the door for trial-free, indefinite detention of anyone, including American citizens, so long as the government calls them terrorists.”

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) said about NDAA FY2012 that it “denigrates the very foundations of this country.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has repeatedly said that NDAA FY2012 “puts every single American citizen at risk.”

Representative Dennis Kucinich stated Wednesday, “Our children deserve a world where they know the government will protect them, that it is not going to rule over them by invading their very thoughts.”

The internet war is now involves a battle with Anonymous.

Wednesday, “Internet hacktivists gathered on the Web to find a way to take on the lawmakers, who have allowed for this detrimental legislation to make it all the way to the Oval Office desk,” according to Russia Today.

“Upon discussion of routes to take to show their opposition to the overwhelming number of politicians who voted in favor of NDAA, Anonymous members agreed to begin with Senator Robert J Portman, a Republican lawmaker from the state of Ohio.

By Thursday morning, an Anonymous operative released personal information pertaining to the lawmaker, and revealed that not only was Sen. Portman among the politicians to vote “aye” on the legislation, but it has also been revealed that the senator had good reason to do so.

“According to a OpenCongress.org, Sen. Portman received $272,853 from special interest groups that have shown support for NDAA.”

“Robert J. Portman, we plan to make an example of you,” writes an Anonymous operative. The hacktivist has also released personal data including the senator’s home address, phone number and social networking accounts in an attempt to further an infiltration from the Internet to show the opposition to the bill that colossally impacts the constitutional rights of Americans. 

According to the information posted by the operative, the nearly $300,000 in special interest monies lobbied at Portman could have helped him purchase around $1.7 million in real estate in Ohio.

RT reports, “Among the supporters of NDAA are California-based manufacturer Surefire, L.L.C., who won a $23 million contract from the Department of Defense three months ago.

“Also contributing to the cause (and the lawmakers who voted ‘yes’) are Honeywell (who secured a $93 million deal with the Pentagon last May and a $24 million contract this year) and Bluewater Defense, a longtime DoD-ally that produces, among other garments, fire resistant combat uniforms.”

“When the military storms down your door for suspicion of ‘belligerent’ acts, you can thank Bluewater and Senator Portman for the lovely flame-proof attire the soldiers will be donned in as they haul you off to Gitmo.”

Instead of protecting Americans by abiding by the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Human Rights, President Obama is due to sign the NDAA 2012 into law according to a White House announcement Wednesday.

According to ACLU’s Jaffer, NDAA 2012 is likely to end up in court.

ACLU and War Is A Crime head David Swanson have released calls to action to thwart the NDAA in the eleventh hour, before the president codifies martial law.

The NDAA bill, that must pass the Senate, would also include bringing overall spending authorization to $554 billion for bases and $115.5 billion for overseas expenditures, including the war in Afghanistan, according to The Hill.

The Obama administration has now said President Barack Obama supports NDAA 2012 according to Government Executive.

The bill could come before the Senate as early as week’s end.

Nationwide protests of NDAA 2012 and what rights defenders say is treasonous of congresspersons who voted for it, are being held today, Bill Of Rights Day.

Business Insider reports Thursday, “If you’re not completely disgusted by what Congress has done, it’s time to lower your dose of Zoloft and ask your doctor if the Bill of Rights is right for you.”

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U.S. Abandons Toxic Burn Pits as it Withdraws from Iraq and Afghanistan

by Matthew J. Nasuti

American troops are among the victims of the Pentagon’s “pollute & run” policy December 16, 2011 U.S. service members and their Iraqi and Afghan allies have a common enemy. It is not Iran, the Taliban or al-Qaeda, but the Pentagon which operated hundreds of toxic burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. As the U.S. completes its withdrawal from Iraq and begins to draw down in Afghanistan, the American military, pursuant to its “pollute and run” policy, is abandoning millions of kilograms of toxic and potentially radioactive waste. Everything is being buried and covered over, just as it did in Vietnam and in the Philippines when the U.S. withdrew from Clark Air Base and the Subic Bay naval installation. The Pentagon seems to hope that all the health problems of U.S. troops can likewise be buried and covered over. The (U.S.) Air Force Times ran an editorial on March 1, 2010 that read: “Stamp Out Burn Pits.” We reprint the first portion of that editorial: “A growing number of military medical professionals believe burn pits are causing a wave of respiratory and other illnesses among troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Found on almost all U.S. bases in the war zones, these open-air trash sites operate 24 hours a day, incinerating trash of all forms — including plastic bottles, paint, petroleum products, unexploded ordinance, hazardous materials, even amputated limbs and medical waste. Their smoke plumes belch dioxin, carbon monoxide and other toxins skyward, producing a toxic fog that hangs over living and working areas.” On April 12, 2010, the Richmond Times-Dispatch carried an article by David Zucchino who investigated the American burn pits in Iraq. He interviewed Army Sgt. 1st Class Francis Jaeger who hauled military waste to the Balad burn. Jaeger told Zucchino: “We were told to burn everything – electronics, bloody gauze, the medics’ biohazard bags, surgical gloves, cardboard. It all went up in smoke.” According to a website called the “Burn Pits Action Center” large numbers of American veterans who came in contact with burn pit smoke have been diagnosed with cancer, neurological diseases, cardiovascular diseases, breathing and sleeping problems and various skin rashes. On October 28, 2009, President George W. Bush, signed into law H.R. 2647, which included the provisions of “The Military Personnel War Zone Toxic Exposure Prevention Act.” The Act was sponsored by Congressman Tim Bishop of New York and supported by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the National Guard Association of the United States, and the Military Officers Association banned the use of burn pits unless they were specifically deemed essential by the Secretary of Defense. Despite the law, burn pit use continued in Iraq and reportedly continues today in Afghanistan. The impetus for H.R. 2647 was Lieutenant Colonel Darrin L. Curtis, Ph.D., who was a Bioenvironmental Engineering Flight Commander at Balad Air Base in Iraq in 2006. Lt. Col. Curtis wrote a December 20, 2006, report on the environmental and health impacts of the Balad burn pit. He stated that the burn pit was “the worst environmental site” he had seen in seventeen years of environmental work in the United States. He characterized the smoke released by the military as: “an acute health hazard” to everyone who has been deployed or will be deployed to Balad. Lt. Col. Curtis’ report was reviewed and endorsed by Lieutenant Colonel James R. Elliott, Chief of Aeromedical Services. The Pentagon ultimately ignored the report just as it had ignored the Fall 2004 study in (U.S. Army) “Engineer – The Professional Bulletin” which found that by 2002, Kandahar Airfield was facing “a growing human health and environmental threat” from the uncontrolled burning of hazardous waste. In June 2008, the U.S. Army Center of Health (USACHPPM) issued a “Fact Sheet” that downplayed any health problems associated with the burn pits. It stated that the safety of the burn pits had been independently validated by the Defense Health Board (DHB). It went on to claim that: “The DHB is an independent board comprised of experts from private industry and recognized universities.” Research into the DHB reveals otherwise. The Board is primarily composed of retired Generals, Admirals and Colonels, along with politically appointees from prior Administrations and civilian consultants currently under contract to the Pentagon and other government agencies. There is nothing independent about the Board. The Senate Democratic Policy Committee took testimony from Dr. Anthony Szema, an Assistant Professor of Medicine at SUNY and a physician with the Department of Veterans Affairs. He provided a detailed refutation of the DHB’s flawed findings regarding the burn pits. His testimony is available on the Internet under the phrase: “Are Burn Pits Making Our Soldiers Sick?” On October 3, 2008, the Military Times published a damning report by Kelly Kennedy entitled “Army Making Toxic Mess in War Zones.” The article was prompted by the release in September 2008, of a Rand Corporation study that detailed a horrific series of environmental spills, releases and disposals in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bruce Travis of the U.S. Army Engineering School told the Times that no environmental rules were complied with in Iraq from 2003-2008 (this would presumably apply to Afghanistan also). He went on to state that an estimated 11 million pounds of hazardous waste were disposed of in Iraq up to 2008. This practice did not end in 2008. A U.S. Government Accountability Report in 2010, detailed inspections in 2009/2010 of four American bases in Afghanistan and none were found to be compliant with environmental standards. Most American military waste falls into one of the following twelve (12) categories. They are called the “dirty dozen:” 1. Paints, asbestos, solvents, grease, cleaning solutions. 2. Building materials that contain formaldehyde, copper, arsenic and hydrogen cyanide. 3. Hydraulic fluids (hazardous), aircraft de-icing fluids (toxic), antifreeze (poisonous) and used oil (cancer-causing). 4. Jet fuel, gasoline and diesel fuel. 5. Pesticides and various neuro-toxic poisons resulting from attempts to control flies, mosquitoes, ants, fleas and rodents. The military refers to such practices as “vector control.” 6. Lead, nickel, zinc and cadmium battery waste and acids (toxic/corrosive). 7. Electronic waste (or E-waste). This includes computers, printers, faxes, screens, televisions, radios, refrigerators, communications gear and test equipment. They contain cancer-causing chemicals such as the flame retardant PBDE (polybrominated diphenyl ethers), PCDD (polychlorinated dioxins), barium, copper, lead, zinc, cadmium oxides and cadmium sulphides and trivalent antimony. 8. Light bulbs containing hazardous levels of mercury. Disposal of these light bulbs in ordinary landfills is prohibited in the United States. 9. Plastics. When burned, many plastics release a deadly mix of chemicals including dioxins, furans, benzene, di 2-ethylhexyl phthalates (DEHP), hydrochloric acid, benzo(a)pyrene (BAP) and various acids and chlorine gas (which is a neurotoxin). 10. Medical/Infectious Disease waste and Biohazard Materials. 11. Ammunition waste. Lead, brass and other metals from ammunition along with all the constituents of the propellants, including trinitrotoluene, picric acid, diphenylamine, nitrocellulose, nitroglycerin, potassium nitrate, barium nitrate, tetracene, diazodintrophenol, phosphorus, peroxides, thiocarbamide, potassium chlorate, vinyl fluoride, vinyl chloride, sodium fluoride and sodium sulfate. 12. Radioactive waste. The American military routinely uses a large number of devices and equipment that contain radioactive elements or radioluminescent elements. These materials are referred to as “Radioactive Commodities” by the military. The primary radioactive materials are: Uranium, Tritium, Radium 226, Americium 241, Thorium, Cesium 137 and Plutonium 239. A partial list of radioactive equipment that may have been disposed of in burn pits or buried in Iraqi and Afghan landfills includes: night vision devices, calibration sets, engine components, weapon sights, compasses, fire control devices, level gauges, collimators, sensors, test equipment, vehicle dials, radios, chemical agent monitors and communication equipment, along with laboratory and hospital machines. In addition to these commodities, the military also uses 120mm depleted uranium (DU) warheads and 20mm DU ammunition along with DU armor plating. The Pentagon admits operating 84 “official” burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan, yet Adam Levine from CNN reported on October 15, 2010, that at least 221 burn pits were operated in Afghanistan alone. That number is believed to be only half of the actual burn pits operated in Afghanistan. On February 10, 2010, CBS News published a report by Nick Turse entitled: “the 700 military bases of Afghanistan.” CBS claims that about 400 bases, posts and camps belong to Coalition forces, most of which are American. Each of these facilities may have one or more burn pits, landfills, or disposal pits. The number of U.S. military bases in Iraq may be double this. Each needs to be excavated, sampled and analyzed. The latest and perhaps the most disturbing burn pit information was published last month on “Wired.Com.” Written by Katie Drummond, it was entitled: “Congressman: The Military’s Burn Pit Screwed Our Soldiers.” The Congressman is Todd Akin from Missouri. The outrage was over a press release issued on October 31, 2011 by the Institute of Medicine, which is the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences. It was unable to complete its report on the burn pits, a report that had been commissioned by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The Institute of Medicine found 53 toxins in the air above the Balad air base in Iraq but could not determine the sources for each due to a lack of assistance by the Pentagon. The Institute was unable to obtain information from the Pentagon as to what it burned and buried. The Pentagon claims it kept no records and has no scientific data,. The reason is that it apparently never sampled and analyzed the material in any of its Iraq or Afghan burn pits. The U.S. military is now simply covering them all over with dirt as the U.S. prepares to withdraw from Iraq and begins to draw down in Afghanistan. In summary, there has been no competent assessment of the long-term environmental harm to the people of Iraq and Afghanistan from the abandonment of such a massive volume of toxic waste. The Pentagon has likewise abandoned its own solders, sailors, marines and airmen whom it poisoned and injured. Until all the burn pits are excavated and sampled, there is no way to determine the full makeup of the toxic soup of pollutants that U.S. military personnel were exposed to. This “pollute and run” policy should not be permitted. If invading countries had to clean up and restore the country sides they invaded and damaged, and if they had to treat and care for all those they injured, perhaps they might in the future think twice before launching such wars. Sources for Further Reading: Houston Chronicle – February 7, 2010 – “GIs tell of horror from burn pits” Los Angeles Times – February 18, 2010 – “Veterans speak out against burn pits” Salem News – March 29, 2010 – “Sick Veterans Sue KBR Over Iraq and Afghanistan Burn Pits” Kabul Press – April 25, 2010 – “EXCLUSIVE REPORT: American Military Creating an Environmental Disaster in Afghan Countryside” (Part 1 of 3) Kabul Press – May 2, 2010 – EXCLUSIVE REPORT: American Military Burn Pits Pollute Afghan Countryside (Part 2 of 3) Kabul Press – May 4, 2010 – EXCLUSIVE REPORT: American Military Burn Pits Pose Risk to Future Generations of Afghans (Part 3 of 3) Source

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December 14, 2011

Source: Antiwar

In an unusually frank interview with CNN today, Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq warned that the nation is in dire straits politically, and that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is rapidly emerging as a dictator.

“The political process is going in a very wrong direction, going toward a dictatorship,” Mutlaq warned, adding that “people are not going to accept that, and most likely they are going to ask for the division of the country.”

The problem is not a new one, as since the last election Maliki has had no permanent defense or interior minister, giving him de facto control over the military and internal security forces. Mutlaq warned that leaving the government, often a threat of his Iraqiya Party, is no longer an option because his group might be labeled “terrorists” and arrested instead of bringing down the government.

Read More…

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New Army Jobs: Internment / Resettlement Specialist (31E)

12-08-2011  •  http://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs 

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December 5, 2011

Source: StratRisks

Benjamin Carlson at The Daily reports on a little known endeavor called the “1033 Program” that gave more than $500 million of military gear to US police in 2011 alone.

1033 was passed by Congress in 1997 to help law-enforcement fight terrorism and drugs, but despite a 40 year low in violent crime, police are snapping up hardware like never before. While this years staggering take topped the charts, next years orders are up 400 percent over the same period.

This upswing coincides with an increasingly military-like style of law-enforcement most recently seen in the Occupy Wall Street crackdowns.

Read More @ Source

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December 1st, 2011

Via: MSNBC:

The secretive X-37B robotic space plane is about to set its own space-endurance record on a hush-hush project operated by the U.S. Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office.

The craft, also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle-2, was boosted into Earth orbit atop an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on March 5. On Wednesday, the X-37B spacecraft will mark its 270th day of flight — a lifetime in space that was heralded in the past as the vehicle’s upper limit for spaceflight by project officials.

“It’s still up there,” U.S. Air Force Maj. Tracy Bunko of the Air Force Press Desk at the Pentagon, told Space.com, noting that project officials planned for a 9- month-plus mission, “so we’re close to that now.”

The X-37B’s staying power is made feasible by its deployable solar array power system, unfurled from the vehicle’s cargo bay.

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November 28, 2011

By James Fallows - The Atlantic

I’m chagrined not to have noted a great Atlantic item from two weeks ago, “How the War on Terror Has Militarized the Police.” It covers systematically much of the terrain I’ve been going into episodically.

Nonetheless, let’s move on! Following this item about the “up-armoring” of even small rural police forces, and the decking out of ordinary police patrol forces in heavy-weather militarized riot gear, Mike Lofgren, a former Republican Senate staffer whose name may ring a bell, writes to say:

Interesting series of posts. One further similarity to the military that the police have achieved is something not often remarked on and that goes beyond the physical substance of the militarization: a psychological distancing and de-humanization vis-à-vis the population. I noticed this beginning about 2004 as the insurgency began to heat up in the Iraqi towns. US troops, with full body armor, Buck Rogers-like M-4 carbines, grenade launchers and fancy commo gear, all topped off with helmet and tinted visors or wrap-around mirrored sunglasses, looked vaguely like space aliens, or even slightly insectoid. With the Blackwater and Dyncorp mercs, many of whom were ‘roided up and scary-looking to begin with, the effect was even weirder.

Now domestic police are copying this look. It is intimidating, alienating, and de-humanizes the cops in the eyes of the citizenry. That’s the polar opposite of what a “peace officer” in a community is supposed to represent to citizens. By the same token, the cops being suited up like that probably strips away some of their inhibition about using disproportionate force by the very same psychological distancing process.

Read More…

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November 12th, 2011

Via: ABC News:

Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd has refused to give details of the extra military ties expected to be announced when US president Barack Obama visits Darwin next week.

Media reports suggest Mr Obama will announce the US will begin rotating Marines through a base in Darwin, with a new permanent presence on Australian soil.

Mr Rudd was asked today if he would confirm the report and he was very diplomatic in his response, but less so in comments directed at the Greens who have suggested any decision to boost US troop numbers should be put before Parliament.

Australia and the US have been working together for a year on ways to boost military cooperation.

They want to bring in more US troops to strategic areas including Darwin, as well as increase the number of joint exercises and the amount of training.

Mr Obama will announce the details during his visit. Defence Minister Stephen Smith has called it the biggest operational addition to the alliance since the 1980s.

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