May 1 at war
Compiled and edited by Carolyn Bennett
“Locked in a Box”
These systems, institutions, entrenched politicians, politics, policies
Cannot be trusted
Cannot be trusted
Domestically or internationally
U.S.-led
WAR DEAD
Casualty sites reporting April 24, 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: 224]
Latest Fatality April 29, 2011
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Wounded 33,023-100,000
U.S. veterans with brain injuries 320,000
Suicides estimated: 18 a day
Latest update on this site: May 1, 2011
http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/
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Iraq Body Count
The worldwide update on civilians killed in the Iraq war and occupation
Documented civilian deaths from violence
100, 588 – 109, 885
Full analysis of the WikiLeaks’ Iraq War Logs may add 15,000 civilian deaths. http://www.iraqbodycount.org/
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ICasualties figures:
AFGHANISTAN:
1,566 United States
2,441 Coalition
4,452 United States
4,770 Coalition
http://icasualties.org/
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“The ‘whole system is corrupt and the whole system should be reformed and the influence of money should be taken out of it.’” Budowsky
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U.S. at war with AFGHANISTAN and PAKISTAN
AFGHANISTAN
Three people died today and 14 suffered wounds when a bomb exploded in a crowded market in the Barmal district, Paktika province of southeast Afghanistan. The Taliban warned on Saturday of a fresh wave of assaults against foreign troops, Afghan security forces and government officials.
Despite the presence of about 150,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, violence rises and civilian and military casualties far exceed previous years in this the longest war in United States history.
PAKISTAN
Another NATO fuel tanker heading for Afghanistan has come under attack in the northwestern city of Peshawar, Pakistan.
Militants have routinely attacked NATO containers in northwest and southwest Pakistan for the past three years. In the past three years, ‘militants’ have destroyed several hundred NATO containers in northwest and southwest Pakistan. Attacks reportedly have forced U.S. officials to seek alternative routes for supplies bound for foreign troops in Afghanistan. As in Afghanistan, violence has been increasing in Pakistan’s northwest tribal belt following the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan. Across Pakistan in the past four years, bombings and other attacks have claimed thousands of lives.
After nearly ten years, the U.S. military reports Afghan militants continue to enjoy sanctuary in Pakistan’s border regions with Afghanistan.
U. S. at war with LIBYA
The United States has got itself ‘locked in a box’ in Libya as there is no sign of a viable solution to the conflict — Ian Williams from Foreign Policy in Focus said Saturday.
Williams told Press TV's U.S. Desk, “It’s difficult to see any type of solution” for the Libyan crisis.
Foreign embassies have come under attack in the capital Tripoli as tensions continue to rise between the Libyan president and former-allied Western interventionists. Observers reported smoke rising from the Italian Embassy building on Sunday. President Qaddafi had threatened to retaliate after Rome decided to take part in NATO-led air strikes against the regime.
NATO has increased its attacks on Libya and Britain has expelled the Libyan ambassador to London. As in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq, many civilians have been killed since the Western-led war on Libya began last month. Libyan troops have also killed thousands of civilians since the revolution against Colonel Qaddafi began in mid-February. Reports on Sunday also said a series of explosions in Tripoli had killed Qaddafi’s youngest son and three of his grandchildren.
U.S. (fifth fleet) at war with BAHRAIN
Scores of protesters have died. Many have reportedly gone missing as government forces have met demonstrations with lethal force. The U.S.-allied Bahraini government has blocked most Bahraini media outlets and demolished several mosques. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have condemned the Bahraini and Saudi regimes for their heavy-handed tactics against the Bahraini population.
London-based documentary filmmaker David Lawley commented to Press TV on Saturday that the crackdown on protesters “is completely against the Geneva Convention[s] in any warfare or any protest situation.” It is amazing, Press TV reports Lawley, “that the UN isn’t looking further into these things.” The United Nations' silence on the atrocities committed by Bahraini regime forces against anti-regime protesters in the Persian Gulf country is astonishing.
Anti-government protests against the rule of the Al Khalifa dynasty in Bahrain began in mid-February and in March, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait deployed their troops in crisis-hit Bahrain to reinforce the brutal armed crackdown on Bahraini protesters.
U.S. at war, occupying IRAQ
Former members of the [U.S.-allied] Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) have described life at the MKO’s Camp Ashraf as miserable. They report the organization has been brainwashing its members for the last two decades. Defectors say MKO members who reside in the camp are deprived of basic human rights and residents who fail to show “blind obedience to their leaders face the death penalty.”
However, said a defector, former member of the group, “‘U.S. troops have allowed the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) to secretly keep weapons inside their camp in Iraq.’”
U.S. at war with PALESTINE/OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Palestine/North Africa
Egypt plans permanent opening of the Rafah Border Crossing with the Gaza Strip and has warned Israel against interfering with the plan. Egypt’s Chief of Staff of armed forces Sami Anan is reported saying the matter is “an Egyptian-Palestinian issue” and “Israel does not have the right to interfere in Egypt’s decision.”
Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza in 2007 and the crippling blockade on the territory has triggered a humanitarian crisis. The siege has left nearly one and a half million Gazans in dire need of basic supplies. Under the US-backed former dictator Hosni Mubarak regime, Egypt consistently served Israeli interests and objectives by helping to impose the crippling blockade on the impoverished Gaza strip after the democratically elected Hamas government took control of the territory in 2007. In 2009, an Israeli attack on Gaza killed more than 1,400 Palestinians, most of them civilians, including countless women and children. During this offensive, Egypt failed to open the crossing.
U.S. at war with YEMEN
U.S.-allied Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Saturday said he would not sign the power transition deal mediated by the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council. Saleh apparently wanted “assurances that he would remain in power during a 30-day transition period after signing the deal.” The deal had been scheduled for signature today in Riyadh, the Saudi Arabian capital.
In this country where an estimated 40 percent of the people live on $2 or less a day and a third face hunger, hundreds of thousands of have been demonstrating regularly in Yemeni cities, including Sana’a, Aden, and Taizz, since February. Yeminis (as with Iraqis and others of the South/Central Asian, Persian and African region) are demanding an end to corruption and unemployment. Yeminis are also seeking the immediate ouster of their president.
Riot police and supporters of Saleh armed with knives, batons and firearms have responded with deadly attacks. The death toll in the country is estimated to have exceeded 300.
UNITED STATES
“The ‘whole system is corrupt and the whole system should be reformed and the influence of money should be taken out of it.’” Budowsky
Washington-based columnist Brent Budowsky spoke on Sunday to Press TV's U.S. Desk. He was criticizing the U.S. financial system used by political parties to run election campaigns.
Sources and notes
U.S. at war with AFGHANISTAN and PAKISTAN
“Afghan market blast kills 3, wounds 14,” May 1, 2011, http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/177609.html
“Deadly start to Taliban ‘spring offensive’ — Five killed and 12 wounded in Afghanistan on first day of Taliban's newly launched offensive,” May 1, 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/05/2011515583557516.html
Militants torch NATO tanker in Pakistan, April 30, 2011, http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/177508.html
U. S. at war with LIBYA
“U.S. ‘locked in a box’ in Libya,” May 1, 2011, http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/177736.html
U.S. (fifth fleet) at war with BAHRAIN
“‘UN silence on Bahrain astonishing,’” May 1, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/177596.html
U.S. at war, occupying IRAQ
“‘U.S. keeps MKO terrorists armed in Iraq,’” May 1, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/177600.html
U.S. at war with PALESTINE/OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Palestine/North Africa
“Egypt warns Israel against meddling,” May 1, 2011, http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/177670.html
“Egypt to open Rafah border crossing,” April 29, 2011, http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/177238.html
U.S. at war with YEMEN
“Yemen power transition deal postponed,” May 1, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/177636.html
“Saleh backs away from resignation deal,” May 1, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/177581.html
United States
“‘U.S. election system is corrupt,’” May 1, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/usdetail/177732.html
Brent J. Budowsky is an American political opinion writer and blogger for publications including The Hill and The Huffington Post.
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