Troubling reports attest to a dangerous arrogance in U.S. government higher echelon that continues to order and perpetrate violence, to arm volatile states and states in regional conflict — all the while refusing to take advice from either U.S. diplomats or leaders in the UN Security Council and European Union.
In two theaters
U.S.-led
WAR DEAD?
Casualty sites reporting December 5, 2010
(accurate totals unknown)
• Anti-war dot com Casualties in Iraq since March 19, 2003
[U.S. war dead since the Obama inauguration January 20, 2009: 201]
Wounded 32,937-100,000
U.S. veterans with brain injuries 320,000
Suicides estimated: 18 a day
Latest update on this site: November 22, 2010
• Iraq Body Count (civilian deaths from violence) figures:
99,021 – 108,094
• ICasualties figures:
IRAQ: 4,429 U.S., 4,747 Coalition
AFGHANISTAN: 1,416 U.S., 2,247 Coalition
• Just Foreign Policy Iraqi deaths due to U.S. invasion —
“The number is … at least 10 times greater than
most estimates cited in U.S. media
most estimates cited in U.S. media
yet it is based on a scientific study of violent Iraqi deaths
caused by the U.S.-led invasion of March 2003”:
1,421,933
AL JAZEERA REPORTS FROM
U.S. aggression, occupation in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan
AFGHANISTAN December 5
In leaked U.S. diplomatic cables, European Union president Herman Van Rompuy (at the time president-designate) is quoted as saying, “the European Union no longer believes that U.S. and NATO forces can succeed in Afghanistan but [it] continues to commit troops to the fight ‘out of deference to the United States.’”
Herman Van Rompuy in December 2009 tells U.S. ambassador to Belgium Howard Gutman that 2010 “would be the ‘last chance’ for Afghanistan in European eyes.…
“About 30,000 European troops are on the ground in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led International Security Force. The total U.S. and NATO force in the country is about 150,000-strong.… NATO and the U.S. have sustained heavy losses during the nine-year conflict in Afghanistan and there are very few signs that the violence is slowing.” The number of foreign soldiers killed is up from last year’s figures.
AFGHANISTAN December 3
Twenty-five-year-old U.S. army medic Robert Stevens on Wednesday at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Washington, pleaded guilty to firing on “two Afghan men for no apparent reason. He said “he and other soldiers were acting on orders from a squad leader during a patrol in March in Kandahar.” For his crimes, Stevens received a nine-month prison sentence. “He will serve [the] nine months at a detention facility — without pay — and will be demoted to E-1 private, the lowest U.S. Army rank.” The soldier “will be allowed to stay in the [U.S.] military.…
“Five of the 12 soldiers named in [this] case are accused of premeditated murder in the most serious prosecution of alleged atrocities by U.S. military personnel since the war began in late 2001.… On Monday, a U.S. army general ordered a court-martial for another one of the 12 U.S. infantry [personnel] accused of terrorizing civilians and fellow soldiers as part of a rogue platoon in Afghanistan earlier this year.”
AFGHANISTAN November 29
Six NATO troops died Monday when a man disguised as an Afghan police officer turned his weapon on International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) during a training session in Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan. … The incident was the worst casualty toll suffered by ISAF since eight troops died in five separate incidents on October 14.
“The U.S. military is bankrolling a training program for Afghan forces so that they will be able to take responsibility for security in their country by 2014.”
IRAQ December 4
Seventeen (est.) people died and more than 100 suffered wounds Saturday when a series of explosions targeted Shia Muslim pilgrims in Baghdad… The deadliest attacks, two almost-simultaneous blasts — caused by a car bomb and a derelict house filled with explosives — took place close to a rest house popular with Iranian religious tourists.… The violence comes a day after 14 Iranian pilgrims died when two buses collided in southern Iraq…
“Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims, many of them from Iran and other countries with large Shia Muslim populations, visit the city of Najaf and Iraq’s other major Shia shrines in Samarra, Karbala and Baghdad every year.…”
PAKISTAN December 2
The United States has increased its “campaign of alleged drone strikes in Pakistan, despite the Pakistani military refusing calls for an operation in the North Waziristan region.”
PAKISTAN December 1
Confidential cables released by the WikiLeaks website reveal U.S. and UK diplomats’ concerns that Pakistani nuclear material may be given by a state employee to groups opposing Western governments.
“The cables also show that the diplomats worried that a nuclear-armed Pakistan may undertake a grave conflict with neighboring India, with which it maintains a mutual enmity.
“In one cable sent in early 2009, U.S. ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson told Washington, ‘Our major concern is not having an Islamic militant steal an entire weapon but rather the chance someone working in government of Pakistan facilities could gradually smuggle enough material out to eventually make a weapon.’…
“A September 2009 U.S. diplomatic cable stated that in a meeting between U.S. and UK foreign office teams, senior UK official Mariot Laslie said, ‘The UK has deep concerns about the safety and security of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.’…
“Cables also showed that Russia conveyed its concern to the U.S. over the transfer of nuclear materials in Pakistan… ‘There are 120,000-130,000 people directly involved in Pakistan’s nuclear and missile programs. … There is no way to guarantee that all are 100 per cent loyal and reliable.’”
Sources and notes
“EU ‘losing faith’ in Afghanistan — Leaked U.S. cables quote EU president saying that European troops are deployed in NATO force in ‘deference’ to the U.S.,” December 5, 2010, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/12/2010125125337676886.html
“U.S. soldier sentenced in Afghan case — A U.S. soldier, one of 12 facing charges, pleads guilty to shooting unarmed Afghans,” December 2, 2010,
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/12/201012253539228197.html
“NATO troops killed in Afghan attack — Six shot dead by a man wearing Afghan police uniform during training session in eastern Afghanistan,” November 29, 2010, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/11/2010112914164461612.htm
“Iraq blasts target Shia pilgrims — At least 17 people killed as bombing attacks across the capital target religious tourists,” December 4, 2010, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/12/201012481736901244.html
“U.S. widens use of drones in Pakistan — U.S. steps up alleged drone strikes saying Pakistan’s not dealing with armed groups in North Waziristan,” December 2, 2010, http://english.aljazeera.net/video/asia/2010/12/201012253519587763.html
“Fears over Pakistan nuclear arms — Leaked US diplomatic cables show concerns that nuclear arsenal may be given to opposition groups,” December 1, 2010, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/11/20101130205022351315.html
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