U.S. at wars for and against sovereign governments and peoples: Afghanistan and Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, Iran and Iraq, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, now Libya
Compiled, edited, comment by Carolyn Bennett
AFGHANISTAN/ PAKISTAN
In 2010, “there were more than 100 drone strikes.” These strikes killed more than 670 people. In 2009, there were 45 strikes, killing 420 people.
Last year “missile attacks believed to be carried out by unmanned drone aircraft launched either from Afghanistan or from inside Pakistan have doubled in the area of North Waziristan” near the border with Afghanistan. In the less than three months of this year, 20 attacks have occurred.
On Thursday, a suspected U.S. drone fired missiles at a residential compound where some three dozen alleged Taliban fighters were holding a meeting. Thirty-five people died. The strikes occurred three minutes apart and took place in the Datta Khel area of the North Waziristan tribal region along the Afghan border.
•
The U.S. paid “blood money” and secured release Wednesday of its CIA contractor Raymond Davis who had killed two Pakistanis, admitted his crimes, and had been convicted by a Pakistani court.
On Friday, hundreds of Pakistanis marched against their government in protest of the release of Davis. In Islamabad, protesters led by the Tehreek-e-Insaaf (Movement for Justice) party of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan marched from the Red Mosque, chanting anti-government and anti-U.S. slogans — “‘Friends of the U.S. are traitors’ and ‘Down with America.’”
Outrage rose further after a U.S. air strike in North Waziristan on Thursday killed at least 38 people. “In the future, Imran Khan urged, “‘if ever the life of any Pakistani is taken, 180 million Pakistanis will come out onto the streets.’”
•
Mineral rich Baluchistan province is plagued by uprisings blamed on nationalist tribesmen demanding more jobs and royalties from the region’s natural resources. Hundreds of people have died in the violence since 2004. In this impoverished province most coalmines “are notorious for poor safety standards and facilities” with a history of causing “deadly accidents.”
Today in the Sorange district of this war-torn province, three underground explosions in a poorly-ventilated, gas-trapped coalmine killed six miners. Forty miners working at approximately 1,200 meters underground are trapped in the shaft. The state-owned Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation runs the mining operation.
BAHRAIN
HOME TO U.S. FIFTH FLEET
SAUDI ARABIA
U.S. Allied with governments under protest
Opposition leaders on Saturday called for the release of prisoners, an end to the security crackdown on protesters, and the withdrawal of Saudi-Arabia-led Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) troops called in by the Bahraini government.
The day before the crackdown on protesters, Bahrain’s king had declared a state of emergency and authorities had “destroyed the 300-foot Pearl Monument to wipe out what Bahrain’s foreign minister called ‘bad memories.’” The Pearl Roundabout is reportedly “the focal point of agitation.”
Reports also reveal Bahrain’s expulsion of the Iranian chargé d'affaires — Iran also had called for the pull out of the GCC; and Iran's response ordering a Bahraini diplomat to leave Iran.
LIBYA
U.S. ENEMY turned ALLY turned ENEMY
Arms buyer, oil producer
Latest war led by U.S., Britain, France
Anti-aircraft guns opened fire in Tripoli late on Sunday near the residence of Libyan president Muammar al- Qaddafi, Agence France-Presse reports. “Tracers arced across the sky. Later a huge blast was heard in the capital and a plume of smoke rose near the president’s residence.…
“Russia, which abstained in Thursday’s UN Security Council [no-fly zone] vote … called for an end to ‘indiscriminate use of force’ by the [foreign] coalition, citing the casualties reported by Tripoli of 48 dead and 150 wounded. Foreign ministry representative Alexander Lukashevich said the raids had included attacks on non-military targets, and had damaged roads, bridges, and a cardiology center.”
Lukashevich said, “‘We proceed from the inadmissibility of using the Resolution 1973 mandate... for ends that clearly overstep its framework, which stipulates only measures to protect the civilian population.’”
GOTCHA
Egyptian diplomat and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa “called for an emergency meeting of the group of 22 states to discuss Libya. He requested a report into the bombardment, which he said had ‘led to the deaths and injuries of many Libyan civilians.… What is happening in Libya differs from the aim of imposing a no-fly zone, and what we want is the protection of civilians and not the bombardment of more civilians’…
“The intervention is the biggest against an Arab country since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Withdrawal of Arab support would make it much harder to pursue what some defense analysts say could in any case be a difficult, open-ended campaign with an uncertain outcome.”
Region of Palestine
SYRIA
Thousands took to the streets of Daraa on Sunday, the third day of demonstrations, calling for an end to corruption and 48 years of emergency law. Demonstrators also protested the killing of five civilians in an earlier demonstration two days before. Security forces had used live rounds against protesters. Dozens reportedly were treated for tear gas inhalation.
Non-violent protests in Syria began last Tuesday “after calls on Facebook demanding greater freedom in the country, which has been under emergency law since 1963.”
A silent protest in Damascus demanded the release of thousands of political prisoners. One of these protesters, Diana al-Jawabra of Daraa, was arrested with 32 others on charges of weakening national morale. “Jawabra had been campaigning for the release of the 15 schoolchildren from her home city. Physician Aisha Aba Zeid, also a prominent woman from Daraa, was arrested three weeks ago for posting a political opinion on the internet.”
YEMEN
U.S. allied with government under protest
SANAA
“Massive crowds flooded cities and towns around this impoverished and volatile nation, screaming in grief and anger as they mourned dozens of protesters killed Friday when President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s security forces opened fire from rooftops on a demonstration in the capital.
“Soldiers with sticks checked people arriving to join crowds of thousands who carried flag-wrapped bodies of the slain through the square where on Friday gunmen hidden on rooftops had fired methodically into protesters. Police sealed off a key escape route with a wall of burning tires. More than 40 people, including children, died. Many of them had been shot in the head and neck.
“The U.S.-backed president of Yemen suffered a devastating political blow on Sunday when his own powerful tribe demanded his resignation, joining religious leaders, young people and the country’s traditional opposition in calls for an end to his three decades in power.
Political analyst and researcher Abdelkarim al-Khiwani said in a press interview, Yemen’s President Saleh “has now been left almost entirely dependent on external support, mainly from the United States, which sends Yemen hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to battle the potent al-Qaida offshoot in the country’s mountainous hinterlands,”
•
U.S.-led
WAR DEAD
Casualty sites reporting March 20, 2011
(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: 211] Information out of date
Wounded 32,992-100,000
U.S. veterans with brain injuries 320,000
Suicides estimated: 18 a day
Latest update on this site: February 25, 2011
• Iraq Body Count
The worldwide update on civilians killed in the Iraq war and occupation
Documented civilian deaths from violence
100,093 – 109,361
http://www.iraqbodycount.org/
• ICasualties figures:
AFGHANISTAN: 1,505 U.S.; 2,373 Coalition
IRAQ: 4,440 U.S.; 4,758 Coalition
Sources and notes
“Dozens die as US drone hits Pakistan home — At least 35 suspected Taliban fighters killed in missile strike by US drone in North Waziristan," March 17, 2011, http://nglish.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/03/20113178411386630.html,
“Pakistanis march against government — Hundreds take to the streets in anger against government for allowing CIA contractor to flee country after killings,” March 18, 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/03/201131771728399945.html
“Mine blast traps dozens in Pakistan — Hopes dwindling for 45 workers missing after explosions trigger collapse in coal mine in Baluchistan, killing six,” March 20, 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/03/201132072555196175.html
Baluchistan is inhabited by the Baloch, a group of tribes also found in the Balochistan province of Pakistan as well as in neighboring areas of Afghanistan. The Baloch are Sunni Muslims and speak Balochi, one of the oldest living languages of the Indo-Iranian group of the Indo-European languages.
“Bahrain opposition ‘eases demands’— Anti-government coalition appears to retreat from demanding the king’s ouster as they call for the release of prisoners,” March 20, 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/03/2011320144855687985.html
“Libya declares new ceasefire as West prepares more strikes (A U.S. F16 plane takes-off from the Aviano air base, TRIPOLI, AFP): Allied forces prepared on Sunday for new raids on Libya to enforce a UN resolution aimed at halting its leader [Muammar al- Qaddafi]’s attacks on civilians in suppressing a month-long uprising,” March 20, 2011, http://www.afp.com/afpcom/en/taglibrary/thematic/actuality
“Arab League criticizes West's strikes on Libya” (Reuters) March 20, 2011, http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110320/wl_nm/us_libya;_ylt=
“Syria protesters torch buildings—One person killed as demonstrations in the southern city of Daraa continue for a third straight day,” March 20, 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/03/2011320113138901721.html
“Yemen’s weakened president abandoned by own tribe” (Associated Press), March 20, 2011,
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ml_yemen;_ylt=
Syria
Bounded on the north by Turkey, the east and southeast by Iraq, the south by Jordan, and southwest by Lebanon and Israel, Syria is located on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea in southwestern Asia. Its area includes territory in the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel since 1967.
The present area does not coincide with ancient Syria, which was the strip of fertile land lying between the eastern Mediterranean coast and the desert of northern Arabia. The capital is Damascus (Dimashq) on the Baradā River situated in an oasis at the foot of Mount Qāsiyūn
Syria. (2011). Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Deluxe Edition. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica.
_________________________________________________
Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]
_________________________________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment