Eight countries, eight wars

In the midst of promised unyielding war precedent, protests finally come home

Compiled, re-reported, edited with comment by Carolyn Bennett

U.S. Violent Global Aggression 

1.     Afghanistan – combat, occupation, drones

1. 2.     Bahrain – arms, occupation, proxy
2. 3.     Iraq -  combat, occupation
3. 4.     Libya – combat, drones
4. 5.     Pakistan – combat, occupation, drones
5. 6.     Palestine/Israel, arms proxy occupation
6. 7.     Somalia – arms, drones, proxy
7. 8.     Yemen – arms, drones, proxy

 

AFGHANISTAN

U.S. enters year 11—

U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan waged in 2001

Under the pretext of a ‘war on terror’ and an aim of dethroning elements with which in earlier years it was allied, the United States government in 2001 began its invasion of the sovereign nation of Afghanistan. Today foreigners on this land and throughout the region continue to destabilize and displace native peoples and groups, build walls and set them against one another, traumatize them and keep dependent, needlessly uncertain and suspicious of their neighbors and kin.

After a decade in which U.S. heads of state and members of legislatures squandered billions of dollars, Afghanistan is poorer and more insecure and battling rising human suffering, militancy and effects of a production and trade in narcotics that feed the addictions of its invaders and occupiers.

Today it is impossible to think of Afghanistan without at the time thinking of Pakistan (and, in fact, U.S. nuclear armed and supported India together with U.S. nuclear-armed and in conflict with Pakistan).

Analysts have said “curbing militancy and bringing peace,” the official line from Washington, was never the aim in the South/Central Asian region. Having spurned multilateralism and talking diplomacy, United States politicians, one after another, in positions of power are looking for and finding excuses to expand U.S. military operations “to secure bases near Russia and China.”

Russia sees the U.S. seeking to surround its Federation.

Ten years terrorizing Afghanistan and the entire region is unstable. Militancy expands into Pakistan and Washington’s relations with Kabul and Islamabad deteriorate daily.

On Thursday, the eve of the tenth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of their country, thousands of Afghans reportedly turned up in the capital city of Kabul to demand immediate withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan.

On Friday morning, people described as “militants” detonated a car bomb near the gate of Margah base in Paktika Province, which borders Pakistan, after, in coordinated attacks, 22 rockets hit the U.S. military facility [Associated Press]. Dozens of rockets reportedly fell on the United States’ Tillman, Boris and Orgun-E bases in Afghanistan during the attacks that started shortly after 6 a.m. local time. The attacks continued for several hours.

The press on Saturday reported an unnamed official of the Afghan Presidential Office and Afghanistan’s president, Hamid Karzai, commenting that the Afghan people “are losing their patience” and “the United States should put more pressure on Pakistan to take firm steps against militants who allegedly carry out operations against Afghanistan from its soil.”

BAHRAIN

Since mid-February, thousands of anti-government protesters have been staging regular demonstrations in the streets of Bahrain, calling on the U.S.-backed Al Khalifa royal family to relinquish power.

In response, Manama reportedly has sentenced 32 female protesters to 15 years in prison. In recent days, the National Safety Court made up of a military and civil panel has sentenced more than 100 opposition activists and medics to jail for participating in anti-government protests in the country.

Yesterday in the Bahraini capital of Manama, anti-regime protesters entered a major hunger strike to show solidarity with detained political activists and opposition leaders.

In the past two days, Saudi-backed Bahraini forces have attacked anti-regime protesters in the city of Diraz. An attack came on Friday during a funeral procession for a 16-year-old boy whom regime forces the day before had shot in the chest at close range. The incident happened in the village of Abu Saiba near the capital.

Friday’s attack on thousands of mourners marching on the city’s main Budiya Highway left several people wounded and more thrown into jail.  

In the tiny U.S-allied-with-regime Persian Gulf country, scores of people have died, according say local sources, and authorities have arrested hundreds.

“One must ‘separate U.S. political rhetoric from its action,’” international security analyst Bob Ayers said today in a Press TV interview from London. Ayers accused U.S. officials of hypocrisy in U.S. dealings with Bahrain and like “allied” countries.

Despite constantly rising anti-government protests and the Bahraini government’s retaliatory abuses and crackdowns, Ayers said, “I don’t think you are going to see much influence exerted by the Emirates [United Arab Emirates]. The power in the region lies with Saudi Arabia while the international power in the region lies within the U.S. Those are the two critical players and until they change, there will be no significant change in the way the [international community treats] the government of Bahrain.

U.S. armed and dangerous to protesting Bahrainis —

In September, the U.S. Defense Department (the Pentagon) told the U.S. Congress it had approved the sale of $53 million in weapons to Bahrain. In this deadly mix were “more than 44 armored vehicles and 300 missiles of which 50 have [as in U.S. sales to Israel] “bunker busting capability.”

Known contractors of this lethal mix, according to Pentagon overseers of foreign arms sales, are AM General and Raytheon Co. In thirty days (September 14-October 13), the U.S. Congress has the option of passing a resolution opposing the sale.

At least two U.S. lawmakers have expressed concerns about the United States’ arming another country in civil conflict in a region in conflict.

Yesterday Ron Wyden representing Oregon in the U.S. Senate and James McGovern representing Massachusetts in the U.S. House introduced resolutions aimed at preventing the weapons sale ‘until meaningful steps are taken [in Bahrain] to improve human rights.’

Wyden noted that ‘selling weapons to a regime that is violently suppressing peaceful civil dissent and violating human rights is antithetical to [U.S.] foreign policy goals and the principle of basic rights for all …”

IRAQ

More than one million Iraqis died during the U.S. invasion, according to the California-based investigative organization Project Censored.

Approximately 43,500 U.S. troops currently deploy in Iraq.

Under a 2008-clinched bilateral security accord, known as the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), all the troops are required to leave Iraq by the end of 2011.

This week the U.S. Secretary of Defense [outrageously] demanded that the Iraqi government grant immunity from local prosecution to U.S. troops who remain in Iraq after the 2011 withdrawal deadline. Leon Panetta made this demand in the face of Iraqi officials’ persisting resistance to the idea. “Washington seeks to hammer out an agreement with Baghdad on keeping some 5,000 of the troops under the pretext of training local Iraqi forces.”

On Tuesday, under continuing intense pressure from Washington, Iraqi leaders again refused to grant immunity for U.S. troops who may remain in Iraq beyond the 2011 deadline. 

LIBYA

Anti-government Libyan “revolutionaries” backed by the United States, France and Britain reportedly began protests yesterday in Benghazi demanding “the expulsion of immigrant Jews from this post-revolutionary North African country.”

Marching Friday in the eastern port city, the revolutionaries (said the Islamic Republic News Agency citing a local news website) “condemned the settling of Jews in Libya following the 1967 Israeli aggression against some Arab countries.”

It seems there had been earlier reports of Jewish immigrants’ attempting to participate in the future administration of Libya. Earlier in October, the new leaders had said Islam will be the main source of legislation in the new Libya.

PAKISTAN

Pakistani experts tell the press, “most of American diplomats traveling across Pakistan without legal documents are agents of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and that these agents are “trying to destabilize the Asian country.”

In February, a CIA contractor called Raymond Davis, claimed by the U.S. to have been consulate staff, was arrested after he killed two local people in the southern city of Lahore. After a trial and after the U.S. government reportedly paid blood money to the family of the victims, Pakistani authorities released Davis. However, the incident “soured relations between Washington and Islamabad.”

The experts who suspect U.S. CIA involvement in destabilizing their country also believe that violence in the northwest of Pakistan decreased after the government limited the movements of the Pakistan-based U.S. officials.

As Washington-Islamabad tensions continued to rise, Pakistani authorities yesterday arrested four U.S. nationals in Pakistan’s eastern province of Punjab on suspicion of espionage.

The individuals arrested were reportedly “roaming around military bases in Punjab’s northern city of Jehlum” and authorities took them “to an unknown location for investigation.”

U.S. destabilizing, stirring up old conflict and aggression —

India-Pakistan-Afghanistan

Pakistan and India have fought three wars since independence in 1947 and the pact is believed to continue fueling a fire of long-standing hostility between the two neighbors.

While both Afghanistan and Pakistan are under U.S. aggression, and Pakistan and India are in historical hostilities, Afghanistan suddenly enters into a “strategic partnership pact” with India. This move comes as tensions are increasing not only between Washington and Islamabad but also between Kabul and Islamabad.

 

Quite naturally, Pakistan on Thursday expressed outrage over this partnership pact. Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf “accused India of trying to ‘create an anti-Pakistan Afghanistan’ with the aim of dominating the region and urged the archenemy to stop it.”

Also on Thursday, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry representative, Tehmina Janjua, said, “At this defining stage when challenges have multiplied, as have the opportunities, it is our expectation that everyone, especially those in position of authority in Afghanistan, will demonstrate requisite maturity and responsibility.” “This critical juncture, AP quoted the Pakistani official, “is ‘no time for point scoring, playing politics or grandstanding.’”

Pakistan-Afghanistan relations soured following the September 20 assassination of former Afghan president and head of Afghanistan’s High Peace Council, Burhanuddin Rabbani. Kabul believes the killing was plotted in Pakistan.

PALESTINE

Israeli police this week are shown in a video brutally beating a Palestinian family in the occupied territories. Press TV reported today that human rights activists released the video showing police using excessive force against a defenseless woman in front of a child and minutes later kicking a young boy whom they detained.

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) on Thursday released a report that found “Israel has since 1967 detained about 750,000 Palestinians including some 12,000 women and tens of thousands of children.… Israel currently holds some 6,000 Palestinians in prisons, including 35 women and 285 children.

“One or more members of almost every Palestinian family have been detained by the Israeli police, according to the report, and more than 200 detainees have since 1967 been killed as a result of medical negligence, torture or murder by Israeli soldiers and prison guards.”

On Friday, the people of Gaza staged a mass rally of about 12,000. The democratically elected Hamas government called for the rally “to express solidarity with Palestinian prisoners who are on a hunger strike for the second consecutive week in response to harsh measures used against them.”

DRONE

THE U.S. NOW EMPLOYS DRONES TO LAUNCH AERIAL BOMBINGS IN AFGHANISTAN, PAKISTAN, LIBYA, IRAQ AND YEMEN, and SOMALIA.

SOMALIA

Washington claims erroneously that the airstrikes target militants but most of such attacks have killed civilians.

Today, Press TV reports, a U.S. drone strike killed at least 16 civilians and injured 50 others in southern Somalia near the border with Kenya.

Somalia brings to six the number of countries known to be under attack by the United States’ deadly remote-controlled aircraft.

YEMEN

U.S.-allied Ali Abdullah Saleh has been in power in Yemen for more than 33 years and he has repeatedly refused to sign a power transfer deal brokered by the (Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council.

Tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators took to the streets the day the Nobel Committee announced one of their own, Tawakul Karman, among the recipients of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

In the Yemeni capital Sana’a and in Ibb on Friday, demonstrators continued to demand the ouster of Ali Abdullah Saleh, despite lethal force being used by forces loyal to Saleh.

Yemeni activist and journalist now Nobel laureate Tawakul Karman has vowed to press ahead with her campaign until Saleh steps down. At word of the award, she said,  “‘I dedicate my prize to all freedom seekers. I dedicate it to all Yemenis who preferred to make their revolution peaceful by facing the snipers with flowers.

“‘It is for the Yemeni women, for the peaceful protesters in Tunisia, Egypt, and all the Arab world.’”

In the face of eight wars and 

rampant domestic neglect

PROTESTS COME TO 847 U.S. CITIES

Starting most recently at Manhattan’s Wall Street, U.S. activists are protesting “corporatism, unemployment, poverty and social inequality.”

On Thursday, activists kicked off the ‘October 2011’ protest by occupying Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C.

Yesterday, activists reported U.S. anti-corruption protests begun four weeks ago have spread to 847 U.S. cities. Among the leading web activists are “Occupy Together,” a hub for nationwide events in solidarity with “Occupy Wall Street.”

Sources and notes

AFGHANISTAN

“US-led Afghan war enters 11th year,” October 7, 2011,   http://www.presstv.ir/detail/203204.html

“Four U.S. bases attacked in Afghanistan,” October 8, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/203396.html

“Kabul seeks US pressure on Pakistan,” October 8, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/203450.html

BAHRAIN

“U.S. silent on rights abuse in Bahrain,” October 8, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/203478.html

“Bahrainis go on major hunger strike,” October 8, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/203443.html

“Bahraini forces attack mourners in Diraz,” October 8, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/203378.html

Press TV caption to Bahraini funeral/protests: Thousands of Bahrainis participate in the funeral of 16-year-old Ahmed Jaber al-Qattan, who was killed by Saudi-backed regime forces, in Diraz, Bahrain, Friday, October 7, 2011

“U.S. politicians seek to halt Bahrain arms deal — concerned about the kingdom’s response to a popular uprising, members of Congress aim to bloc a $53 million sale,” October 8, 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2011/10/2011108151612369878.html

IRAQ

“U.S. defiant, demands Iraq force immunity.” October 7, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/203176.html

LIBYA

“Libyan fighters demand Jews’ expulsion,” October 8, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/203391.html

PAKISTAN

“Four U.S. nationals arrested in Pakistan,” October 8, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/203410.html

PALESTINE

“New footage shows Israeli brutality,” October 8, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/203466.html

Also: “Israeli army replicates war call-up — The Israeli military has simulated a war call-up for an offensive drill in order to test its readiness for possible conflicts, a report says,” October 8, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/section/3510202.html

SOMALIA

“U.S. drone strike kills 16 in Somalia,” October 8, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/203413.html

Also: October 5, 2011— “U.S. drone strike kills six in Somalia.” http://www.presstv.ir/detail/202894.html

YEMEN

“We will press on: Yemeni Nobel laureate,” October 8, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/203365.html

“Yemen’s Saleh says will step down soon — After months of protests demanding the ouster of Ali Abdullah Saleh in Yemen, the unpopular president reportedly announces he will resign in the “‘coming days,’” October 8, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/section/3510202.html

USA

“U.S. protests spread to 847 cities,” October 8, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/203434.html

U.S.-led

WAR DEAD

Casualty sites reporting October 8, 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: 249] Information out of date

•

Wounded 33,151-100,000

U.S. veterans with brain injuries 320,000

Suicides estimated: 18 a day

Iraqi deaths due to U.S. invasion: 1, 455,590

Latest update on this site: September 30, 2011

http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/

•

Iraq Body Count

The worldwide update on civilians killed in the Iraq war and occupation

Documented civilian deaths from violence

102,868 – 112,419

Full analysis of the WikiLeaks’ Iraq War Logs may add 15,000 civilian deaths.  http://www.iraqbodycount.org/

•

ICasualties figures:

AFGHANISTAN:

1,802 United States

2,754 Coalition

IRAQ: 4,477 United States

4,795 Coalition

http://icasualties.org/

Caption dronewarsuk.files.wordpress.com

Found Exclusively On: Yahoo! Search

Maps Britannica images
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Bennett's books are 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]; 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] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire

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Nobel Peace Prize Committee recognizes three women

Tawakkul Karman 
Residence at time of award: Yemen

DOES IT MATTER?

Edited with new material, comment by Carolyn Bennett

Yemen - San’a location
Africa’s Horn
Britannica image

Before and during the ‘Arab spring’ and in the most trying circumstances, the Nobel Committee said in announcing this year’s recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize, “TAWAKKUL KARMAN has played a leading part in the struggle for women’s rights and for democracy and peace in Yemen.”

Leymah Gbowee
Residence at time of award: Liberia

In Africa, LEYMAH GBOWEE mobilized and organized women across dividing lines of ethnicity and religion “to bring an end to the long war in Liberia and to ensure women’s participation in elections. She has since worked to enhance the influence of women in West Africa during and after war.”

Liberia (West Africa)
Britannica image

Also in Africa, the Committee said, Liberia’s President ELLEN JOHNSON SIRLEAF has, “since her inauguration in 2006, contributed to securing peace in Liberia, promoting economic and social development, and strengthening the position of women.”

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf - Time of award:
Resident and President of Liberia

Referencing the October 2000 UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1325, the Committee recalled that the United Nations — for the first time — made violence against women in armed conflict an international security issue and emphasized the necessity that women become full and equal participants in peace processes and in peace work generally.

Democracy and lasting peace in the world are unachievable without women’s equality of opportunity, their equal input in influencing developments at all levels of society.

HOWEVER  —

Two of the past ten years of locking step with his violent predecessors, warmonger Barack Obama, another Nobel Peace Prize recipient, has been piling up deaths and enemies. As commander in chief of United States armed forces and private mercenaries, he has ordered the killing, maiming and destroying of millions of lives and futures — in at least six countries.

So it is fair to ask, does this hundred and ten year old male-made prize mean a tinker’s darn — or is it just one more political ploy to befuddle the peoples of the world?

Is it not the prize but the incorruptible character and courageous activism of the person that matters?  All those workers for peace, justice, equality and nonviolence who will never win a prize — the Fannie Lou Hamers of the United States, for example — who, in the long run, really truly matter to a substantive progressiveness in the world.

Sources and notes

Nobel Peace Prize 2011, Announcement — The Norwegian Nobel Committee this year divides the Nobel Peace Prize in three equal parts between Leymah Gbowee, Tawakkul Karman, and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf citing them for “their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for the rights of women to full participation in peace-building work,” Oslo, October 2011 7, http://nobelpeaceprize.org/en_GB/announce-2011/

2011 Nobel Peace Prize Captions

“For their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work”

Leymah Gbowee - Residence at time of award: Liberia

Tawakkul Karman - Residence at time of award: Yemen

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf - Time of award: Resident and President of Liberia

“Leymah Gbowee – Biographical.”. Nobelprize.org. 7 Oct 2011 http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2011/gbowee.html

“Tawakkul Karman – Biographical.” Nobelprize.org. 7 Oct 2011 http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2011/karman.html

“Johnson Sirleaf – Biographical.” Nobelprize.org. 7 Oct 2011 http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2011/johnson_sirleaf.html

Britannica caption

Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, AP

“Ten Years after U.S. Invasion, Afghan War Rages on with No End in Sight,” Democracy Now October 7, 2011, http://www.democracynow.org/2011/10/7/ten_years_after_us_invasion_afghan

HISTORICAL CONTEXT — WOMEN NOBEL LAUREATES

The Nobel Prize in Physics 1963 Maria Goeppert Mayer 1903 Marie Curie The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2009 Ada E. Yonath 1964 Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin 1935 Irène Joliot-Curie 1911 Marie Curie The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2009 Elizabeth H. Blackburn 2009 Carol W. Greider 2008 Françoise Barré-Sinoussi 2004 Linda B. Buck 1995 Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard 1988 Gertrude B. Elion 1986 Rita Levi-Montalcini 1983 Barbara McClintock 1977 Rosalyn Yalow 1947 Gerty Cori

The Prize in Economic Sciences 2009 Elinor Ostrom The Nobel Prize in Literature 2009 Herta Müller 2007 Doris Lessing 2004 Elfriede Jelinek 1996 Wislawa Szymborska 1993 Toni Morrison 1991 Nadine Gordimer 1966 Nelly Sachs 1945 Gabriela Mistral 1938 Pearl Buck 1928 Sigrid Undset 1926 Grazia Deledda 1909 Selma Lagerlöf

THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE 2011 Ellen Johnson Sirleaf 2011 Leymah Gbowee 2011 Tawakkul Karman 2004 Wangari Maathai 2003 Shirin Ebadi 1997 Jody Williams 1992 Rigoberta Menchú Tum 1991 Aung San Suu Kyi 1982 Alva Myrdal 1979 Mother Teresa 1976 Betty Williams 1976 Mairead Corrigan 1946 Emily Greene Balch 1931 Jane Addams 1905 Bertha von Suttner

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/lists/women.html

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Bennett's books are 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]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, 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] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire

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Callous disregard for life, law — Rumsfeld re-released

There is an entrenched pathology, a raw callousness acted out repeatedly in U.S. governance that an indifferent, a tribal sect/sexuality/race/partisan-centered populace tolerates and in its tolerance endorses. 

Excerpts, editing, re-reporting, comment by Carolyn Bennett

CONSEQUENCES OF ENTRENCHMENT

U.S. President Gerald Ford (right) with
Donald Rumsfeld Oval Office of  White House,
February 6, 1975

As U.S. Defense Secretary, he said he had a “high tolerance” for other people’s pain and death — and demonstrated this in repeated acts and orders of lawlessness — and for forty years, not unlike leaders of Arab countries, this man was given high positions in U.S. business, government, and academic institutions.

Document 20 – Working Paper, Office of the Secretary of Defense, Working Paper, ‘Discussions w/CENTCOM re: Sy Hersh Article,’ October 22, 2001, 1:19 p.m., Secret, 2 pp.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (center)
U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Robert Finn
U.S. Embassy compound
Kabul, Afghanistan  April 27, 2002

U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was talking about drone missiles. He was recorded saying, “‘I have a high tolerance level for possible error. That is to say, if he [U.S. Central Command Thomas (Tommy) Franks] thinks he has a valid target and he can’t get me or he can’t get Wolfowitz in time, he should hit it.… I expect him to be leaning far forward on this.’”

“The paper … contradicts previous instructions that aerial attacks should be precise and limited in Afghanistan.”

America’s own 

RUMSFELD

Politician and business owner Donald Henry Rumsfeld (b. 1932) was U.S. Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 in the Gerald R. Ford administration and Secretary of Defense from 2001 to 2006 in the George W. Bush administration.

Chronology of influence

In the Richard Nixon administration, Rumsfeld was Director of the United States Office of Economic Opportunity, assistant and counselor to the President, Director of the Economic Stabilization Program (member of the Cabinet) 1969-1970

In 1973, Rumsfeld was U.S. Ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels, Belgium, and the United States’ Permanent Representative to the North Atlantic Council and the Defense Planning Committee, and the Nuclear Planning Group (representing the United States in wide-ranging military and diplomatic matters).

In 1974-1975, Rumsfeld was Gerald R. Ford’s White House Chief of Staff and later U.S. Secretary of Defense (George H. W. Bush became Director of Central Intelligence).

Business — Government/Business revolving door

From 1977 to 1985, Rumsfeld was Chief Executive Officer, President, and then Chairman of G. D. Searle and Company, a worldwide pharmaceutical company based in Skokie, Illinois.

From 1990 to 1993, he was a ‘foreign policy consultant’ to the U.S. State Department

From January 1997 until being sworn in as Secretary of Defense in January 2001, Rumsfeld was Chairman of Gilead Sciences, Inc. [Gilead Sciences is the developer of Tamiflu (Oseltamivir), used in the treatment of bird flu].

Reagan Administration (1982–1983) Special Envoy on the Law of the Sea Treaty; (1982–1986) member of President’s General Advisory Committee on Arms Control; (1983–1984) Special Envoy to the Middle East

On his visit to Baghdad on December 19–December 20, 1983, Rumsfeld and Saddam Hussein had a 90-minute discussion during which “they largely agreed on opposing Syria’s occupation of Lebanon; preventing Syrian and Iranian expansion; preventing arms sales to Iran.

“Rumsfeld suggested that if U.S.-Iraq relations could improve the U.S. might support a new oil pipeline across Jordan, which Iraq had opposed but was now willing to reconsider. In that visit, Rumsfeld brought many gifts, including pistols, medieval spiked hammers and a pair of golden cowboy spurs, from the Reagan administration to Saddam Hussein …

During his brief bid for the 1988 Republican nomination, Rumsfeld said that restoring full relations with Iraq was one of his best achievements.

Ten years later, (January 29, 1998), he signed a Project for the New American Century (he was a founder and active member PNAC) letter calling for President Clinton “to implement ‘regime change’ in Iraq.”

(1989–2005) Chairman Emeritus, Defense Contractor, Carlyle Group;

(1990–2001) Board of Directors (member) ABB Ltd

Swiss-Swedish multinational corporation headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland, operating mainly in the power and automation technology areas, ABB is one of the largest engineering companies and one of the largest conglomerates in the world with operations in around 100 countries with approximately 130,000 employees, reported global revenue (2010) $31.6 billion, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABB_Ltd.

In 2000, ABB sold two light-water nuclear reactors to KEDO for installation in North Korea, as part of the 1994 agreed framework reached under the Clinton administration.

Rumsfeld’s office said the Rumsfeld then Secretary of Defense “did not ‘recall [the sale] being brought before the board at any time’ but ABB representative Björn Edlund told Fortune that ‘board members were informed about this project.’”

(2000) Chairman of the U.S. Commission to Assess National Security Space Management and Organization

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
President George W. Bush  

In 2001, Rumsfeld was named Defense Secretary in the George W. Bush administration

In the earliest stages of the September 11 attacks, despite the lack of evidence, Rumsfeld was looking to tie Saddam Hussein and Iraq to these attacks.

In April 2006, a Rumsfeld memo listed instructions to Pentagon staff including:

Keep elevating the threat ... Talk about Somalia, the Philippines etc.

Make the American people realize they are surrounded in the world by violent extremists

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld “was deliberate in crafting the public message from the Department of Defense.

“People will ‘rally’ to the word ‘sacrifice,’ Rumsfeld noted after a meeting.

“‘They are looking for leadership. Sacrifice = Victory.’

“In May 2004, Rumsfeld considered whether to redefine the war on terrorism as a fight against ‘worldwide insurgency.’

“He advised aides ‘to test what the results could be’ if the war on terrorism were renamed.

“Rumsfeld ordered [and reviewed] specific public Pentagon attacks on and responses to U.S. newspaper columns that reported the negative aspects of the war

“Rumsfeld defended the George W. Bush administration’s decision to detain ‘enemy combatants’ without protection under the Third Geneva Convention.”

November 2006, former U.S. Army Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, who was in charge of the Abu Ghraib prison until early 2004, told Spain’s El Pais newspaper she had seen a letter apparently signed by Rumsfeld that allowed civilian contractors to use techniques such as sleep deprivation during interrogation.

The methods consisted of making prisoners stand for long periods, sleep deprivation ... playing music at full volume, [and more]...

Rumsfeld authorized these specific techniques.

She said that this was contrary to the Geneva Convention and quoted from the document: ‘Prisoners of war who refuse to answer may not be threatened, insulted, or exposed to any unpleasant or disadvantageous treatment of any kind.’

According to Karpinski, the handwritten signature was above his printed name and, in the same handwriting in the margin, was written, ‘Make sure this is accomplished.’

Pentagon headquarters U.S. Department of Defense
Arlington county, Virginia

December 18, 2006, Donald Vance filed suit against the U.S. government and former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld on grounds that he was tortured and his rights of habeas corpus were violated.

To criticisms of the U.S. military’s failure, after its 2003 invasion, to protect Iraq’s historical artifacts and treasures located at the museum and other cultural institutions, Rumsfeld is quoted saying, ‘Stuff happens ... and it’s untidy and freedom’s untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things.…’

In early 2006, eight retired U.S. generals took the unprecedented step of calling for Rumsfeld’s resignation on the grounds of ‘abysmal’ military planning and lack of strategic competence. The Bush government in early November announced Rumsfeld’s resignation as U.S. Defense Secretary.

A year later, Rumsfeld received a one-year appointment as a “Distinguished Visiting Fellow” at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.

Recently released documents showing the lawlessness of the man

“Document 18 – Memorandum and Attached Paper: Office of the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld to Douglas Feith, ‘Strategy,’ Attachment, ‘U.S. Strategy in Afghanistan,’ National Security Council, October 16, 2001, 7:42 a.m., Secret/Close Hold/ Draft for Discussion, 7 pp. [Excised], http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB358a/index.htm#16

The U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld five weeks after the events of September 11, 2001: “Operationally the U.S. will ‘use any and all Afghan tribes and factions to eliminate Al-Qaida and Taliban personnel [while inserting] CIA teams and special forces in country operational detachments (A teams) by any means, both in the North and the South. … Third country special forces UK [excised] Australia, New Zealand, etc., should be inserted as soon as possible.’

“Diplomacy is important ‘bilaterally, particularly with Pakistan, but also with Iran and Russia [however] engaging UN diplomacy… beyond intent and general outline could interfere with U.S. military operations and inhibit coalition freedom of action.’”

U.S. General Tommy Franks (left)
U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
2002

Breathing contempt, violence to rule the world

Document 13 – Memorandum for the President , The Office of the Secretary of Defense, Memorandum for the President, "Strategic Thoughts," September 30, 2001, Top Secret/Close Hold, 2 pp. [Excised], http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB358a/index.htm#16

Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld advises President George W. Bush: “Instead of focusing exclusively on al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, the U.S. should think more broadly —  

 
‘It would instead be surprising and impressive if we built our forces up patiently, took some early action outside of Afghanistan, perhaps in multiple locations, and began not exclusively or primarily with military strikes but with equip-and-train activities with local opposition forces coupled with humanitarian aid and intense information operations.’

 “The memo argues that the U.S. should ‘capitalize on our strong suit, which is not finding a few hundred terrorists in the caves of Afghanistan [but using] the vastness of our military and humanitarian resources, which can strengthen enormously the opposition forces in terrorist-supporting states.’ The approach to the war should not focus ‘too heavily on direct, aerial attacks on things and people.’

U.S. Geopolitics
Asia-Middle East-Horn of Africa
Britannica image

“‘If the war does not significantly change the world’s political map, the U.S. will not achieve its aim.

“‘There is value in being clear on the order of magnitude of the necessary change. The USG [U.S. Government] should envision a goal along these lines: New regimes in Afghanistan and another key State (or two) that supports terrorism (To strengthen political and military efforts to change policies elsewhere).’”

Press TV reports today on newly released U.S. documents concerning the roots of the United States’ global war: “The U.S. in Afghanistan was the beginning of a broader plan devised by the Bush neo-conservatives administration for the Middle East region.

“The Bush administration used the 9/11 attacks as the pretext to launch new wars of aggression. On September 20, 2001, President George W. Bush declared the so-called ‘war on terror’” and on October 7, 2001, the U.S. invaded Afghanistan “with the stated mission of removing the Taliban and capturing al-Qaeda elements.

“In March 2003, the U.S. expanded the reach of its ‘war on terror’ by invading Iraq. The U.S. claimed that Saddam Hussein had links to al-Qaeda and was in possession of massive stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction.” Various independent investigations later discredited both allegations.  

“Ten years on, the U.S. is [said to be] seeking to lure the Taliban to the negotiating table.”

Today the United States, its entrenched politicians and policies of destruction are being protested in demonstrations across the Middle East, Southwest/Central Asia and within the United States of America.

Sources and notes

The Project for the New American Century is “a neo-conservative think-tank dedicated to maintaining U.S. Primacy.”

Rumsfeld profile from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumsfeld

“Secret U.S. Message to Mullah Omar: ‘Every Pillar of the Taliban Regime Will Be Destroyed’

New Documents Detail America's Strategic Response to 9/11, Bush White House, http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB358a/index.htm

Document notes from George University the National Security Archive, http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/index.html

GWU Photo captions http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB358a/index.htm

U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (center) and U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Robert Finn, given a tour of the U.S. Embassy compound in Kabul, Afghanistan on April 27, 2002. OSD Package No. A07D-00238 (DOD Photo by Robert D. Ward)

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and President George W. Bush  (Source: Department of Defense)

Britannica captions

President Gerald Ford (right) meeting with Donald Rumsfeld in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, D.C., February 6, 1975 [Marion S. Trikosko/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (digital. id. ppmsca.08465)]

General Tommy Franks (left), commander in chief of Central Command, with U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, 2002 [Robert D. Ward—U.S. Department of Defense]

The Pentagon, headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense, Arlington county, Virginia

America’s own

WOLFOWITZ

A leading neoconservative (Republican and former Democrat), Paul Dundes Wolfowitz was Deputy Secretary of Defense in the George W. Bush administration, a ‘major architect of this president’s Iraq policy “and ... its most hawkish advocate.”

Chronology of Wolfowitz influence

After the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Wolfowitz and his then-assistant Scooter Libby wrote the Wolfowitz Doctrine to ‘set the nation’s direction for the next century.’ At that time, the official administration line was ‘containment.’ The contents of Wolfowitz’s plan called for ‘preemption’ and ‘unilateralism.’

In 1992, Defense Secretary Richard Cheney produced a revised plan which included many of the Wolfowitz Doctrine ideas, later part of the Bush Doctrine.

In 1977, Wolfowitz was U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Regional Programs for the U.S. Defense Department, under U.S. Secretary of Defense Harold Brown in the Jimmy Carter administration

In 1982, Wolfowitz was Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs under U.S. Secretary of State George Schultz

From 1986 to 1989, Wolfowitz was the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Indonesia during the military-backed Suharto government

From 1989 to 1993, Wolfowitz was Undersecretary of Defense for Policy under then-U.S. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney in George H.W. Bush administration

From 2001 to 2005, during the George W. Bush administration, Wolfowitz was U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense reporting to U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

In 2005, Wolfowitz was nominated by U.S. President George W. Bush (and confirmed by Congress) to be president of the World Bank

As a Visiting Scholar of the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, Wolfowitz has blogged with the AEI and appeared in group events. He writes columns that appear in publications such as The Independent, 

The Sunday Times, and Newsweek.

Wolfowitz is a former steering committee member of the Bilderberg group. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Wolfowitz#Undersecretary_of_Defense_for_Policy

Bilderberg group —

The original conference was held at the Hotel de Bilderberg, near Arnhem in the Netherlands, from May 29 to May 31 1954; initiated by several people, including Polish politician Józef Retinger, concerned about the growth of anti-Americanism in Western Europe.

The original Bilderberg group proposed an international conference at which leaders from European countries and the United States would be brought together with the aim of promoting ‘Atlanticism’ – better understanding between the cultures of the United States and Western Europe to foster cooperation on political, economic, and defense issues.

The role of the Bilderberg meetings in the flow of events since its founding in 1954 is a matter of debate among scholars and journalists such as G. William Domhoff and Caroline Moorehead.

“In his 1980 essay The Bilderberg and the West, researcher Peter Thompson argues that the Bilderberg group is a meeting ground for top executives from the world’s leading multinational corporations and top national political figures to consider jointly the immediate and long-term problems facing the West. According to Thompson, Bilderberg itself is not an executive agency.

“However, when Bilderberg participants reach a form of consensus about what is to be done, they have at their disposal powerful transnational and national instruments for bringing about what it is they want to come to pass.

“That their consensus design is not always achieved is a reflection of the strength of competing resisting forces outside the capitalist ruling class and within it.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group

“[DOCUMENT] Bush’s premeditated ‘regime-change’ policy revealed,” October 5, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/usdetail/202742.html

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