IO Deeds of War – Page 164 – Public Intelligence Blog

Interesting headline…..why is it that we place the blame on others (Karzai more volatile) when we (the US) completely ignores him and runs roughshod over his country? That would make anyone “volatile”. This is how the world sees us, it is all about integrity….something the government lacks in spades.

Gulf Widens Between U.S. and a More Volatile Karzai

By ROD NORDLAND, ALISSA J. RUBIN and MATTHEW ROSENBERG

New York Times, 17 March 2012

KABUL, Afghanistan — The Americans in Afghanistan are “demons.”

They claim they burned Korans by mistake, but really those were “Satanic acts that will never be forgiven by apologies.”

The massacre of 16 Afghan children, women and men by an American soldier “was not the first incident, indeed it was the 100th, the 200th and 500th incident.”

Such harsh talk may sound as if it comes from the Taliban, but those are all remarks either made personally by the United States’ increasingly hostile ally here, President Hamid Karzai, or issued by his office in recent days and weeks.

The strongest such outburst came Friday. “Let’s pray for God to rescue us from these two demons,” Mr. Karzai said, apparently holding back tears at a meeting with relatives of the massacre victims, and clearly referring to the United States and the Taliban in the same breath. “There are two demons in our country now.”

Ever since the Koran-burning episode on Feb. 20 and its violent aftermath, the relationship between the two governments has lurched from one crisis to another. American officials have scrambled to run damage control, with President Obama expressing a personal apology for the Koran burning, as well as regrets about the massacre, while calling Mr. Karzai twice in the past week.

Read rest of article.

Phi Beta Iota: There are two Special Forces in the USA today — the old hands that stayed on, resisting the lure of higher wages from private military contractors, and the mass produced newbies that have no clue. The true Special Forces — the old hands — agree with Karzai. The USA is out of control, lacks legitimacy, and has no idea what to do other than bluster and do more harm.

2012/03/18

Berto Jongman: Afghan Massacre 2 Helos 15 Ground Troops?

07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, Corruption, DoD, IO Deeds of War, Military

Afghan parliament delegation claims 15 US troops were involved in Kandahar massacre

Bill Roggio

Threat Matrix, 17 March 2012

One day after Afghan President Hamid Karzai lashed out at the US and implied that more than one US soldier was involved in the mass murder of 16 Afghans in Kandahar's Panjwai district last weekend, a delegation from the Afghan parliament is claiming that at least 15 US soldiers “accompanied by 2 helicopters” were involved in the massacre. From Khaama Press:

A delegation of the Afghan parliament members who visited Kandahar province said at least 15 US troops were behind the assassination of 16 Afghan villagers at Panjwai district in this province.The delegation included 5 Afghan parliament members who were sent by the Afghan House of Representatives to find out the facts behind the massacre of 16 Afghan civilians at Panjwai district.

The delegation presented its findings report to the Afghan House of Representative which states that the civilians massacre was plotted where at least 15 US troops were involved.
A member of the Afghan parliament Shakila Hashimi who presented the report to the Afghan House of Representatives said false statements were given to the Afghan people by provincial governor Toryalai Weesa and US commander saying that the shooting was carried out by a single US soldier.

She also added, the assassination was carried out by 2 groups of US soldiers consisting of 15 to 20 soldiers and were accompanied by 2 helicopters.

See Also:

Wikipedia/Panjwai shooting spree

2012/03/162012/03/24

Mini-Me: Bin Laden Road Show Begins Part I – David Ignatius on the CIA’s “Captured” Abbottabad Files

07 Other Atrocities, Corruption, Director of National Intelligence et al (IC), Government, IO Deeds of War, Media

Huh? We do not make this stuff up. CIA's Covert Action Staff is evidently having a ball, and David Ignatius has no problem playing the bimbo. Note the built-in pre-excuse on poor syntax. Note the pretense that incoherence was connected to long periods of time between sending, receiving, and responding. The hit on Fox is some kid [or geriatric annuitant]'s idiot idea of being clever — when Bin Laden was alive, he knew full well there is no substantive difference between CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox [or the two political parties in the US that exclude everyone else from access to the public treasure].

All of this is beyond belief for anyone with BOTH intelligence and integrity. When all of the documents are released (after the November elections, of course), they will be torn apart.

The bin Laden plot to kill President Obama

David Ignatius

The Washington Post, 16 March 2012

Before his death, Osama bin Ladenboldly commanded his network to organize special cells in Afghanistan and Pakistan to attack the aircraft of President Obama and Gen. David H. Petraeus.

“The reason for concentrating on them,” the al-Qaeda leader explained to his top lieutenant, “is that Obama is the head of infidelity and killing him automatically will make [Vice President] Biden take over the presidency. . . . Biden is totally unprepared for that post, which will lead the U.S. into a crisis. As for Petraeus, he is the man of the hour . . . and killing him would alter the war’s path” in Afghanistan.

Continue reading “Mini-Me: Bin Laden Road Show Begins Part I – David Ignatius on the CIA's “Captured” Abbottabad Files”

2012/03/15

Chuck Spinney: Syria Case Study of Mass Mind Numbing

IO Deeds of War, IO Impotency

One of the ironies of the rise of the so-called information age is that the information content of the mainstream media has plummeted, while its practice of yellow journalism in the interest of warmongering has skyrocketed. From the Arab-Israeli conflict to the non coverage of the murderous effects of sanctions in Iraq in the 1990s, to the distorted coverage of the Balkan wars culminating in Kosovo, to the hysteria fueling of the second Iraq war, Aghanistan, Libya, Iran, and now Syria, with a few exceptions, the mainstream press has been complicit in hyping conflicts — usually in Islamic regions — via oversimplified reporting and reliance on biased sources as opposed to making searching inquiries into the nuances shaping these conflicts. These sound bytes of convenience and yellow journalism have overloaded and anesthetized critical faculties of the voting publics to such an extent that, today, the masses in the US and Europe (especially the UK) have become sheeplike in their passive acquiescence to perpetual war conducted in their name for alleged humanitarian reasons. [1]

The attached report in Counterpunch by Professor Afshin Mehrpouya explores how shoddy reporting is now fomenting the Syrian crisis, and in so doing, he places the murderous implications of twin phenomena of overload and anesthetization into sharp relief.

——————

[1] One wonders if the governments of the West, especially in the US and UK, are now dependent on information overload, anesthetization of the mass mind, and perpetual war to distract their people from the crisis in capitalism that destroying the middle classes and increasing the income gap between a wealthy oligarchy and the other 99 percent.

Chuck Spinney

Barcelona

How One-Sided Reporting is Facilitating Escalation

Six Ways the Media Has Misreported Syria

by AFSHIN MEHRPOUYA, Counterpunch, 14 March 2012

As in the case of Libya, from NY Times to Fox News, from Guardian to National Post and from Le Monde to Le Figaro, the Western mainstream media’s coverage of the Syrian conflict has been mostly simplistic and black & white with a Hollywoodian good (opposition) and evil (Syrian government) story. The basic storyline reported is: “The dictatorial Syrian government is torturing and killing Syrian protestors and civilians including women and children and that the Western counties and the Arab League want to protect these Syrian civilians”. These outlets use any information that supports their stance regardless of its source and quality, and dismiss or ignore any information that brings it to question.

The bloody suppression of protestors by the Syrian government and also instability resulting from the armed insurgency aggravated by a complex set of foreign forces, each with its own set of vested interests, have resulted in significant suffering for the people of Syria. Western media’s unquestioning, consensual, biased and melodramatic coverage of the Syrian events risks moving this conflict to a full blown war with grave consequences for the Syrian people and the region.

Here are the six ways that the Western media, across the board, have been uncritical and misleading in their coverage of the Syrian conflict:

1. What do the majority of Syrians want?

2. Is the Syrian National Council (SNC) and the militarized insurgency representative of the Syrian opposition?

3. How many casualties and killed by whom?

4. Are the information sources unbiased and credible?

5. What are the interests of countries pushing for regime change and foreign intervention?

6. What are the “democratic credentials of the countries who want to take democracy to Syria?

Read full article (expands on all of the above).

2012/03/13

DefDog: Army’s Mental Health Questionable

07 Other Atrocities, Corruption, Government, IO Deeds of War, Law Enforcement, Military

Responding to Gordon Duff: Unit Murders In AF, Cover-Up Begins.

There is an investigation that has shed light on the poor medical support being provided at Ft. Lewis…….this may, in fact, be the result of sheer incompetence by the Army Medical Corps and the resultant hiding of the fact that soldiers are being blamed for the incompetence…..

POLL: Are Afghan Killings Reflective of Ongoing Problems at Joint Base Lewis-McChord?

Lewis-McChord: A Military Base With Many Problems

Joint Base Lewis-McChord: ‘The Most Troubled Base In The Military’

Shooting suspect's base no stranger to trouble

What we probably have here is systemic lack of integrity among the senior Pentagon/White House Staff. The issue of mental problems at Ft. Lewis has been widely known yet we continue to send troops from there to combat zones…..a replay of the casual treatment of Walter Reed and the abuse of the amputees? Has the Army lost its mind, literally?

Continue reading “DefDog: Army's Mental Health Questionable”

2012/03/122012/03/12

Gordon Duff: Unit Murders In AF, Cover-Up Begins

Corruption, DoD, IO Deeds of War, Military

Murder in Afghanistan, the Coverup Begins (updates)

Sixteen Dead, Nameless “Lone Gunman,” We Have Heard It All Before

Gordon Duff, Senior Editor

The village is Balandi, outside Kandahar in Afghanistan. Thus far the dead are 16, shot in their homes, not just said to be “women and children” but actually infants murdered in their mother’s arms and set afire.

The US claims the perpetrator to be an unnamed “Army Staff Sergeant who has turned himself in.” There are inconsistencies.

This is the report from Reuter’s today:

Afghan officials also gave varying accounts of the number of shooters involved. Karzai’s office released a statement quoting a villager as saying “American soldiers woke my family up and shot them in the face.”

“They (Americans) poured chemicals over their dead bodies and burned them,” Samad told Reuters at the scene.

Neighbors said they had awoken to crackling gunfire from American soldiers, who they described as laughing and drunk.

“They were all drunk and shooting all over the place,” said neighbor Agha Lala, who visited one of the homes where killings took place.

“Their (the victims’) bodies were riddled with bullets.”

The village is outside the gate of an American base. A single soldier without a vehicle would have had to evade security and tunnel under the wire and walls to reach the village or, much more likely, this was more than one man?

This is how CNN has it as for the morning of the 12th. Story embellishment, as you will note involves a “bed count” and a “search patrol.” I believe the next story will include rocket flares and bloodhounds. We will wait for this one. To impart credit to the Army, their belated response is much more creative but as full of holes as a sieve. A minor thing to add here, of course, is that a Staff Sergeant, as the perpetrator or suspect, whichever you choose, “patsy” if you will, is a Staff Sergeant, rank E 6. At 3:AM, those of such rank typically do not “stand watch” on towers or in bunkers.

Then, of course, we will return to the forgotten jerrycan, taken off the nonexistent vehicle to burn the bodies of the dead. I did, however, feel a need to get this response added in so that readers in the Western Hemisphere would be better informed. Another minor error in the report below, noted in our earlier evaluation and reiterated here, above that text, is the nature of the armed response team.

Read the rest of the article.

2012/03/12

Chuck Spinney: Is Israel on Cusp of Grand Strategic Set-Back as Universities Mobilize (Precedent South Africa)?

Academia, Corruption, Ethics, Government, IO Deeds of Peace, IO Deeds of War

Grand strategy (described here) can be generalized as a game of interaction and isolation. Viewed from this perspective, Israel's grand strategy has been to maintain or increase its freedom of action in implementing the expansive Zionist apartheid/colonialist agenda, to include gaining control of the region's scarce water resources (see here), by —

(a) preying on the collective guilt in the west for western complicity/passivity during the Holocaust (i.e., compelling an interaction);

(b) allying itself with a great power or combination of powers and inducing/co-opting those powers' domestic political interests into acquiescing to Israeli regional actions and ambitions, first Britain and France, and since 1967, the United States (i.e., compelling an interaction);

Category: IO Deeds of War

DefDog: NYT Labels Karzai “Volatile” Instead of USA ???