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| Pakistanis killed by U.S. drones |
Editing and commentary by Carolyn Bennett
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I
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f you believe this stuff, I’ll gladly sell you that bridge
in Brooklyn and expect you to buy it ─ on credit, of course, the old bankers’
politicians’ bait and switch to own you.
“bad guys”
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| U.S. Senate Session |
GOBBLEDYGOOK Senator Saxby Chambliss
Pushes “chatter” and “bad-guy” thesis
Chambliss is a good ole boy from the U.S. South who has been
occupying a seat in Congress for nearly 20 years, and yes, it is past time for
him to go. During one of the Sunday television idiot hours he said while in the
District of Columbia he has never been scared “other than when (he gets) classified
briefings.…”
[Does this mean the fear-mongering propaganda that claims
the minds of the American public also claims the minds of politicians who spew
it from public office?]
On the latest “terror alert,” Chambliss admits, “…We don’t
know the location” or the target of these supposed “chattering” jihadists. “We think (overseas) is where the activities
[are] planned for. So … these (surveillance) programs, even though they’re
controversial, this (Obama Government alert) is a good indication of why they’re
so important.”
Speaking of gobbledygook
“…If you (presumably Sunday media talkers) could tell us who
the bad guys are,” Chambliss said, “I
assure you we'd limit it to gathering on just the bad guys. …”
[If it were not for the dangerous, senile ineptness of
congressional lifers, their foolish talk would be ridiculously funny.]
Chambliss continues
The surveillance programs, he said, “are very important because
they’re what allow us to have the ability to gather this chatter. … If we did not have these programs, then we simply wouldn’t
be able to listen in on the bad guys.”
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C
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ontrary to Chambliss’ contradictory gobbledygook, an
American philosopher interviewed today by Press TV said the Obama/Congressional
“terror” alert “is ridiculous” on its face and “appears to be another
psychological political stunt to intimidate the American people and make them
believe that there is a real ‘terrorist’ threat from abroad.”
James Fetzer went on to declare that “America has become the
greatest aggressor and terrorist nation in the world… an obscene (state of
affairs given) the ideals and traditions of” the United States.
“I have no doubt whatsoever,” he said, “that this alarm and the
Contrary to a particular part of Chambliss’ justification of
the NSA program, Fetzer recalled that “the NSA program began seven months
before 9/11 (September 11, 2001); and therefore cannot be justified on the
basis of 9/11. It hasn’t done us any good.
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“The
only terror threats
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that have been revealed were those staged or faked by the
U.S. FBI and Homeland Security. The situation is becoming a disgrace. 
“Those who understand what is going on recognize that United
States has completely lost its way and it is turning into some kind of bizarre
sick political joke.”
Bad Guy
World’s principal antagonist, enemy, adversary, bully
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| Latin America |
Latin America to Europe
“‘…The idea that they (the Obama Government) would pressure
their European allies to block the plane (U. S. refused to confirm or deny its
responsibility in the incident) carrying the president of a sovereign state
(Bolivian President Evo Morales) is a really radical and extreme act. It smacks
of rogue nation status and the kind of imperialism and colonialism that Latin
America has long chafed at. I think that’s the reason you’re seeing so much
support for Snowden in Latin American governments and among the populations as
well.’” Venezuelan, Bolivian and Nicaraguan offered grants of asylum to NSA
whistleblower Edward Snowden after the international incident barring French
and Portugal airspace ─ over false suspicions that Snowden was on board ─ and
forcing Bolivia’s presidential plane to land in Austria.
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| Terrorizer's War on 'Terrorists' |
Today on Democracy Now, journalist Glenn Greenwald appraised
the United States as global enemy. “If you try and count the number of
countries at whom the United States has directed its fury and issued threats over
the last two months in connection with the Snowden affair … it’s amazing,” he
said.
They (the Obama Government) began
with the government of Hong Kong and followed with the government of China then
moved to Latin America and threatened Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua
over whether he would be granted asylum. They’ve threatened Cuba over giving him the
right to refuel.
The list now includes Russia [and is]
almost getting to be longer than the list of countries at which they are not
threatening or aiming their fury.
The United States in the past few months, Greenwald says, has,
through “really extreme and radical behavior … showed the world what its
character is. The “event-shifting” moment in Latin America, he says, “was when
they (the U.S.) caused the plane of Evo Morales to be downed in Austria by blocking
airspace rights over their European allies.
“… Everyone in the world ─ probably except for Americans ─ knows
that the United States routinely refuses to extradite all sorts of people
accused of horrible crimes.… When the United States pretends to be outraged
that they don’t get what they want in extradition, everyone in the world knows
that they frequently do the same thing in much more extreme cases…
“You can’t go around the world beating your chest and threatening
everybody for very long,” he says, “without starting to appear ridiculous.”
Bad Guy
Killer by remote
Various instruments of hostility including verbal threat,
varieties of intimidation and demonization, provocation and destabilization, sanctions
warfare, direct invasion and occupation, and drone (Unmanned aerial vehicles: UAV)
attacks have been reportedly used on orders of the current U.S. administration against
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Afghanistan
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Bahrain
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China
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Egypt
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Iran
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Iraq
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Karachi
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Korea
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Libya
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Nigeria
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Pakistan
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Russia
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Somalia
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Sudan
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Syria
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Yemen
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and untold
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other
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countries
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…and peoples.
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| Yemen after Drone attack |
“Washington carries
out drone strikes in a number of countries including Yemen, Pakistan and
Afghanistan under the pretext of targeting terrorists but most of the victims
have been innocent civilians.” Investigative journalist Naveed Ahmad commented
in a Press TV interview on Sunday that the Obama government’s “use of
assassination drones in Pakistan and Yemen … encourages some emerging parts (countries)
like India to use the same tactics; and Israel, which is already using (drones)
on innocent people.” He reiterated what many others in South Central Asia have
said repeatedly: foreign drones violate countries’ sovereignty. Though U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry pledged on Friday to end drone strikes ‘very,
very soon,” his State Department, on the same day, said the government “has no
timeline” for ending drone strikes. Of course, again, nobody in the world,
except perhaps the American public, believed him anyway.
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T
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he Bureau of Investigative Journalism has released its July
2013 update of the Covert Drone War
against three countries. TBIJ’s overview said the U.S. Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA) “kills more people in Pakistan
per strike than at any point since July 2012. U.S. drones return to Yemen‘s skies and al Qaeda confirms the
death of its deputy leader. United Nations report finds indications of
increased U.S. and UK involvement in Somalia.”
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| Pakistani dead after drone attack |
PAKISTAN
Total CIA strikes in July: 3
Total killed in strikes in July: 23-29 (civilian deaths reported:
0)
All
actions 2004 – July 31, 2013:
Total
Obama strikes: 320
Total
US strikes since 2004: 371
Total
reported killed: 2,514-3,584
Civilians
reported killed: 410-928
Children
reported killed: 164-195
Total reported injured: 1,112-1,493
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“J
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uly was the busiest month since January for the CIA’s drones
with three strikes and at least 23 dead, eight of them identified by name. This
was the highest ratio of people killed in each strike in Pakistan since July
2012 when four operations reportedly killed at least 38 people.
“The first strike on July 3 (Ob318) skewed the kill ratio –
it was the bloodiest attack in nine months with 16-18 people reported dead.
This bucked a trend identified by the Bureau for low-casualty strikes: there
has been a decline in the number of reported killed in each strike since the
peak in 2009.
“The death toll was unusually high: U.S. drones have
reportedly killed 16 or more people in a strike only three times in the past
two years, most recently on October 11 2012.
Also in July, the Bureau released an internal Pakistani record of drone
strike casualties showing officials found CIA drone strikes have killed a
significant number of civilians.
Of
746 people listed as killed in the drone strikes outlined in the document, at
least 147 of the dead are clearly stated to be civilian victims
94
of those are said to be children.
YEMEN
Confirmed U.S. drone strikes: 1
Further reported/possible U.S. strike events: 1
Total reported killed in U.S. operations: 4-12 (civilian
deaths reported: 0)
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| Yemenis protest drone strikes |
All actions
2002 – July 31 2013 (All except one of these actions have taken place
during the Obama presidency. Reports of incidents in Yemen often conflate
individual strikes. The range in the total strikes and total drone strikes TBIJ
recorded reflects this.)
Confirmed
U.S. drone strikes: 47-57
Total
reported killed: 243-358
Civilians
reported killed: 15-52
Children
reported killed: 2
Reported
injured: 62-144
Possible extra U.S. drone strikes:
81-100
Total reported killed: 286-460
Civilians reported killed: 23-48
Children reported killed: 6-9
Reported injured: 81-106
All other U.S. covert operations:
12-77
Total reported killed: 148-377
Civilians reported killed: 60-88
Children reported killed: 25-26
Reported injured: 22-111
“Reported U.S. drones killed at least seven people in Yemen
this month (July) in the first air strikes since a suspected U.S. drone killed
a 10-year-old boy and as many as six others.
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“J
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uly’s strikes came as President Hadi was visiting the U.S.
and days before a scheduled meeting at the White House on August 1 to discuss
counter-terrorism policies and political reform.
In July AQAP’s (Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) chief
theologian Ibrahim al Robaish confirmed the group’s deputy commander Said al
Shehri’s death by video eulogy. Al Shehri has been reported killed on several
occasions since co-founding AQAP in January 2009.
Al Robaish revealed al Shehri was killed by a drone while
talking on his phone in Saada province; however it was not clear exactly when
al Shehri died. The only strike in Saada in 2012 recorded by the Bureau is
YEM121, which killed at least three people on October 28.
A U.S. court held preliminary
hearings in a lawsuit brought by relatives of U.S. citizens killed in drone
strikes abroad, including Anwar and Abdulrahman al Awlaki. District court judge
Rosemary Collyer asked government lawyers, who were attempting to get the case
dismissed, ‘How broadly are you asserting the right of the United States to
target an American citizen?’ She added that she was ‘troubled’ by the U.S.
administration’s view it can kill U.S. citizens abroad without judicial
oversight. ‘The executive is not an effective check on the executive,’ she
added.
SOMALIA
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| Somalis attacked by drones |
Total reported
(July 2013) U.S. operations: 0
All actions 2007 – July 31 2013
U.S.
drone strikes: 3-9
Total
reported killed: 7-27
Civilians
reported killed: 0-15
Children
reported killed: 0
Reported
injured: 2-24
All
other U.S. covert operations: 7-14
Total
reported killed: 47-143
Civilians
reported killed: 7-42
Children
reported killed: 1-3
Reported
injured: 12-20
“For the eleventh consecutive month there were no reported drone strikes in Somalia. A
United Nations report found that al Shabaab retains control of ’most of
southern and central Somalia’ and is the country’s main threat to security.
“According to the report, al Shabaab has steered clear of
direct conflict, sticking to asymmetrical fighting. The group’s supplies and
fighting force of 5,000 have been largely preserved. Al Shabaab attacks have
risen from the end of 2012 into 2013, despite losing the key southern port of
Kismayo in September 2012 to African Union forces. This month militants struck
in the capital once again, killing a Somali and a Turkish official in a bomb
attack on the Turkish consulate.
“… Multiple diplomatic and military sources told UN monitors
that both the U.S. and UK ‘are increasingly involved in directly supporting
intelligence services in “Somaliland”, “Puntland” and Mogadishu’ ─ some of this
support in violation of the UN arms embargo on the country, the investigators
said.
“… Despite the
reported increase in Western support for Somali counter-terrorism and
counter-insurgency forces, the Al Shabaab presence continues.” (It is, after all, their country.]
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| Afghan civilians suffer airstrike |
August 2013
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| Afghan villager suffers airstrike |
This month Afghan security sources reported, “U.S. forces shot
and killed a school teacher in Afghanistan’s central-eastern province of
Ghazni, Local Afghan officials said the American troops opened fire on the
school teacher while he was working in his grape orchard in the Ghazni
province. … Security sources reported that U.S. soldiers had also opened fire
on police officers who had rushed to the scene to take the farmer to hospital.
Four officers were seriously wounded as the result of the shooting. Civilian
casualties caused by foreign forces have been a major source of tension between
Kabul and Washington. The latest deadly incident comes after a series of U.S.
airstrikes claimed the lives of more than 100 people and severely injured
several others in different regions of Afghanistan over the past few days.”
In various parts of Afghanistan over the past decade, many
civilians have lost their lives in U.S.-led strikes and ground operations.
Reporting August 1 on a latest Bureau of Investigative
Journalism report, Press TV recounted, “CIA unmanned aircraft strikes intended
for an alleged senior al-Qeada member in a single village in North Waziristan
last year had “deliberately targeted
rescuers attempting to help victims of previous drone strikes in
Pakistan’s tribal areas.”
.jpg) |
| Pakistan buries its dead after airstrike |
Unspeakable cruelty
Targeting rescuers
The tactic called ‘double-tap’ strikes, which had apparently
stopped in July 2011, have been resumed by the CIA.
“Five double-tap strikes
took place in mid-2012, killing 53 people and injuring 57 others. One of the
attacks targeted a mosque.
United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial
executions Christof Heyns noted in June 2012 that double-tap strikes can be
labeled as war crimes and UN special rapporteur on torture Ben Emmerson QC agreed
with his colleague that if such attacks “prove to have happened,” they are considered
“war crimes.”
Indeed, those who are paying attention understand that the
United States of America, having failed to evolve, failed to rise from the
status quo and move
Sources and notes
“Glenn Greenwald: ‘Rogue’ Actions of U.S. in Snowden Row
Yield Latin American Offers of Asylum” (Amy Goodman, Democracy Now! / Video
Interview, Published: Monday 8 July 2013)
Democracy Now guest: Glenn Greenwald, Columnist for The
Guardian (UK) who originally broke the story on NSA whistleblower Edward
Snowden.
http://www.nationofchange.org/glenn-greenwald-rogue-actions-us-snowden-row-yield-latin-american-offers-asylum-1373298680
Transcript excerpt from
“August 4: Dick Durbin, Saxby Chambliss, Rudy Giuliani, Bob Costas, Joe
Scarborougn, Rick Santorum, Joy-Ann Reid, Andrea Mitchell (segment on Obama
Government alert), August 4, 2013,
http://www.today.com/id/52668743/ns/today/t/august-dick-durbin-saxby-chambliss-rudy-giuliani-bob-costas-joe-scarborougn-rick-santorum-joy-ann-reid-andrea-mitchell/#.Uf_ZPmzD-1s
CHAMBLISS, Saxby, (1943 - ) Member of U.S. House of
Representatives (Georgia) January 3, 1995-January 3, 2003; Member of U.S Senate
(North Carolina) since 2003 (Party: Republican); term ends in 2015; sits as
chair of the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
[eighteen years too many]
Background: academic credentials, work experience,
birthplace: University of Georgia, Athens (B.A., 1966); University of Tennessee
College of Law (JD, 1968; Moultrie, Georgia attorney; birthplace: Warrenton,
Warren County, North Carolina
http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=C000286
“U.S. terror alert, ‘political stunt’ says James Fetzer”
(Press TV has conducted an interview with James Fetzer, American philosopher,
about the U.S. closing 25 diplomatic missions in foreign countries), August 5,
2013,
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/08/05/317348/us-terror-alert-a-political-stunt/
“Greenwald: Snowden ‘Doing Very Well’ in Russia After
Sparking ‘Extraordinary Debate’ on NSA, Spying, August 5, 2013, http://www.democracynow.org/2013/8/5/greenwald_snowden_doing_very_well_in
“U.S. covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia” (July
2013 Update by Jack Serle and Alice K Ross, published in All Stories, Covert
Drone War, Monthly Updates on the Covert War),
August 2, 2013,
http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2013/08/02/july-2013-update-us-covert-actions-in-pakistan-yemen-and-somalia/
“U.S. drone strikes ‘encouraging Israel, India’,” August 5,
2013,
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/08/05/317248/us-drone-strikes-pakistan-yemen-israel/
http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2011/08/10/timeglider/
“U.S. forces shoot and kill school teacher in eastern
Afghanistan.” August 4, 2013, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/08/04/317162/us-forces-shoot-dead-afghan-civilian/
“CIA targeted rescuers of drone victims in Pakistan: Report,”
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/08/01/316731/cia-targeted-rescuers-of-drone-strikes/
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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 http://www.facebook.com/#!/bennetts2ndstudy
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