What does Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and George Walker Bush / Dick Cheney have in common?

This is not a trick question.


Promise.


No, not family.  At least I don't think so.


Yep, they all mutually hate each other.  Cheney is especially good at it.


But, the real 'genuine' hatred they hold for each other benefits all of them politically.


That wasn't that difficult to figure out, now was it?


What they don't have in common is that the hatred Bush/Cheney have for Ahmadinejad equates to profits on Wall Street and personal coffers greater than their salary while in office.

Somehow dead Kurds characterized as smugglers are equally justified as targets for drones?

...The incident threatens (click title to entry - thank you) to spoil efforts to forge Turkish-Kurdish consensus for a planned constitution expected to partly address the issue of rights for the Kurdish minority.

The Turkish military had said its jets launched air strikes overnight after drones spotted suspected rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' party (PKK). The military had denied there were civilians in the area.

But ruling AK Party spokesman Huseyin Celik said initial reports based on local government officials had found the victims were not militants and that most of the dead were cigarette smugglers under the age of 30....

Cigarette smugglers, diesel fuel smugglers are all about survival, either economic survival or finding a way through the winter.  The reason there is any kind of smuggling market place is because the demand exists and the government doesn't provide a legitimate economy.


There was no reason for what happened.  Innocent people were killed.  I am quite sure if they were working for Wall Street this would be an international incident or those controlling the drone would have been better paid.

Iran? They are simply testing their muscle after the USA leaves Iraq. Hello?

Does anyone actually believe Iran has the capacity to go to war?  Any war?  Iran is under the microscope globally and any war it started would be over before it began.  


Give me a break, the entire region is under Defcon 5 with Iran.  Iran can't sneeze without tensions rising.  If Ahmadinejad was EVER serious about Iran muscle; the 'ultimate war' against Israel should have been the last thing he should have done in verbalizing it and rewriting history.  Gadaffi used to make some really outrageous speeches at the UN, too.  


What was Iran saying today?  It was keeping a US Navy Aircraft Carrier within its surveillance?  Right?  Iran doesn't do that anyway?  OH!

The action of Prime Minister Maliki following the exit of USA forces is exactly why Ron Paul is correct about "It isn't our business" foreign policy.

There is no way anyone can make this up.  The facts are on the table.  Immediately after the last USA soldier was out of Iraq, Prime Minister Nouri-al-Maliki ordered the arrest of the Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi and accused the Kurds of hiding him to protect him.  Now, the USA is selling $11 Billion arms and training to Iraq to consolidate the government.  I thought the government was already consolidated.  


Ron Paul is exactly correct, 'It is none of our business."


Despite deep worries (click title to entry - thank you) over the continuing stability of the Iraqi government, the U.S. is planning on selling $11 billion of arms and training to Iraq's military. The sale comes as Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has attempted to marginalize Iraq's Sunni minority since the U.S. withdrew its forces earlier in the month, setting off concerns over civil war. The Obama administration hopes the sale, which includes tanks and fighter jets, will help Iraq build its military and secure its border with Iran. But some American officials worry Iraq's government will move to align itself with the Shiite theocracy in Tehran.


Maliki is on the road to returning war to Iraq, only this time he'll be the new Saddam that will call all the strikes against ethnic minorities a cause of democracy with the backing of the USA military.


Maliki is setting the stage for deaths to Sunnis and Kurds.  There is absolutely more concern for the 'regime' in Baghdad the USA left behind than for those being targeted.

...Last Thursday, (click here) there were 16 bomb blasts in Baghdad (72 people killed, 217 injured). On Friday, two big car bombs in Damascus killed 40 people and injured 150. Even for Iraq, where there are suicide bombs every week, that is impressive. For Syria, these were the first terrorist attacks after eight months of non-violent protests. In both cases, however, perfectly sane people suspect that the government itself was behind the attacks.

Iraq's Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi accused Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of planning the attacks. "This style of terrorist attack, it's well beyond even al-Qaeda to do it," he said. "Those who were behind all these explosions and incidents [were] part of the [government] security forces. I'm sure about that."...


And the Union Leader in all its war mongering glory rather see further civilian deaths, escalated tensions throughout the region and increased military capacity of the USA. The only thing dangerous about Ron Paul is that he sounds a great deal like Dennis Kucinich when it comes to a 'military tail' waging the "American Dog."

...Ron Paul is a dangerous man.  (click here) While his domestic libertarian views are quite attractive to some voters fed up with politics as usual, it is Paul’s position on issues of our national security that are truly dangerous.

Those views have been largely overlooked by a news media more interested in the presidential “horse race” than in the candidates’ positions on issues. But we expect New Hampshire primary voters will examine the facts and act accordingly.

A Wall Street Journal columnist notes that Paul is “a leading spokesman for, and recycler of, the long and familiar litany of charges that point to the United States as a leading agent of evil and injustice, the militarist victimizer of millions who want only to live in peace.”

Perhaps this warped view is why Paul believes that al-Qaida terrorists caught in the United States ought to be treated as common criminals, not enemy combatants. He wants them read Miranda rights to which they are not entitled and he wants them tried and sentenced in civil courts rather than by military tribunals....

When is Monsanto going to be viewed by a dangerous monopoly?

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Jury selection (click title to entry - thank you)  in the class-action lawsuit against Monsanto will begin next week after no settlement was reached during about eight hours of mediation Tuesday, the lead plaintiffs' attorney confirmed.

Residents allege in a class-action case, filed in 2004, that Monsanto unsafely burned dioxin wastes and spread contaminated soot and dust across Nitro, polluting homes with unsafe levels of the chemical.

The lawsuit set to begin next week will seek medical monitoring for at least 5,000 - and perhaps as many as 80,000 - current and former Nitro residents....

And why is it these huge corporations always believe they 'can do better in court?'  When is mediation not really mediation?  When it is a stall tactic.

...Before Putnam Circuit Judge O.C. Spaulding recused himself from hearing the case after being diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease, he ruled that residents could not sue collectively to seek remediation of homes they allege are contaminated with dioxin.

On Tuesday, several hundred plaintiffs gathered at the Marriott hotel in Charleston for a court-ordered mediation. Circuit Judges Booker Stephens of McDowell County and Alan D. Moats of Taylor County attempted to resolve the case to avoid trial.

A mediation held in October also failed to produce a settlement....


GMO is genetically modified organism, sometimes known as GMO Foods or GEO, Genetically Engineered Organism.  Do you know what is on your kitchen and dining room tables this holiday season?  There is a very good chance the average consumer has no idea.

12/01/2011 @ 3:05PM 

With GMO Labels Still Missing, Look for the Opposite (click here)

...“The denial of food labeling is linked directly to a food dictatorship by Monsanto Corporation,” Vandana Shiva, an activist and the Right2Know keynote speaker said in a statement, voicing a common opinion.

Monsanto, a biotech company whose products have included saccharin, Agent Orange, DDT, nuclear weapons, aspartame and Roundup weed killer, controls the majority of the world’s seeds and reportedly 90% of the world’s GM crops. It alters its seeds so that fields can be sprayed with its Roundup herbicide, killing weeds and bugs but leaving the farmer’s crop standing. The vast majority of corn, soy beans, milk, canola and cotton for cotton seed oil are now GM, and it’s estimated that 75% to 80% of foods in grocery stores are currently GM as a result....

The Arab League are once again bringing stability and this time to Syria.

(AP)  

BEIRUT - The Arab League sent monitors to Syria Monday even though President Bashar Assad's regime has only intensified its crackdown on dissent in the week since agreeing to the Arab plan to stop the bloodshed.

Activists say government forces have killed several hundred civilians in the past week. At least 23 more deaths were reported Monday from intense shelling in the center of the country, just hours before the first 60 monitors were to arrive. The opposition says thousands of government troops have been besieging the Baba Amr district of in the central city of Homs for days and the government is preparing a massive assault on the area.

France expressed strong concerns about the continued deterioration of the situation in Homs. Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero demanded Syrian authorities allow the Arab League observers immediate access to the city....

France does have clout.  The French connected to NATO is a plus and their 'lead' with Libya brings greater respect.  Well done.


It is all too easy to be 'across the pond' while passing judgement, but, it is something quite different to live in shouting distance of the unrest, poverty and pain of oppression.  

Turkey states unmanned drone was reason for "Oops, 35 dead Kurds." (click title for video - thank you)

...The attack, on Wednesday night, took place near the village of Uludere in Sirnak province in south-eastern Turkey, according to Dogan news agency.

The Turkish military said it had targeted suspected Kurdish militants.

In a statement, Turkey's general staff said the area attacked on Wednesday night was inside northern Iraq and had no civilian population. It added that the raid was launched following information that the group planned to attack Turkish security bases.

Provincial governor Vahdettin Ozkan said initially that more than 20 people had lost their lives but his office later clarified that 35 had been killed and one wounded.

"A crisis centre is being formed at the scene and prosecutors and security officers were sent there," he told Anatolia news agency.

The mayor of Uludere was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying that all the victims had suffered from burns....

Burns?  What the heck?

...Local officials said drums of diesel carried by the group had exploded.

Those killed had been using mules to cross the border when the incident happened, they said. It was also reported that they had been smugglers returning to Turkey from Iraq.

"We were on our way back when the jets began to bomb us," a survivor, Servet Encu, told the pro-Kurdish Firat news agency.

Smuggling of fuel and cigarettes is said to be commonplace between villages along the Iraqi border. But rebels from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have crossed the border into Turkey to stage attacks on Turkish forces.

After 24 Turkish soldiers were killed in PKK raids in October, Turkish forces responded with a series of air and ground attacks....

It would seem as though Northern Iraq still needs an economy and consistent fuel source.  Diesel smuggled to other Kurds.  Oh, well.  The attack was deliberate.  They were able to discern the containers of fuel and lit it up.  I sincerely believe the drones are becoming a profound issue of human rights.  They deliver attacks on unidentified targets in mass numbers, it reminds me of carpet bombs, white phosphorus and land mines.

Just to clarify why drones are now a threat to human rights; the Geneva convention states civilian deaths in war is a crime.  Any 'mechanism' allowing civilian deaths for the sake of victory is a human rights violation.  The drones are now noted to have a consistent misuse of the technology and provides for frequent 'mistakes.'  Nuclear weapons are such a technology as well.

This sums it up well.  Genocide in war is not to be a directive of the conflict.

...after the Second World War, (click here) in 1949, with a third and fourth Geneva Convention. The latter regulate the protection of civilian populations in war areas. All member nations ratified the fourth Geneva treaty. The Geneva treaties contain the obligation to penalize severe violations of humanitarian international law. The fourth Geneva treaty was drawn up in particular because the number of civilian casualties in World War II surpassed the number of soldiers killed in action. In the case of a nuclear strike, which can develop into a nuclear war, the civilian population will be the primary target and to an extent that is completely out of relation with the casualties of any previous war. In such a situation the number of immediate casualties, as well as of subsequent victims among the civilian population defies imagination. The Protocol I, Additional of June 1977 to the Geneva Conventions, forbids amongst other things any attack on an atomic power station...

Currently, Hamas is running into problems with a textbook definition of genocide in Gaza as they target Fatah members living in Gaza; yet they act with impunity in global dynamics.  I mean what the heck is Hamas trying to do, first have Fatah assist in defining Palestine as a sovereign nation on the international stage and then kill off all their members?  This is not a sovereign state of government whereby a specific political group is the focus of assassinations and at the very least prison, if Gaza has a prison.

Hamas security officials using batons to detain Fatah supporters during clashes in Gaza City on Sept. 7, 2007.

...An independent Palestinian rights group (click here) says the militant Hamas rulers in Gaza are targeting members of the rival Fatah group, questioning them and searching homes.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights said in its report on Thursday that Hamas summoned a total of 50 former members of Fatah security forces this week....

Oh, well it is only detentions to see if they can get away with the real thing.  Fifty party members are not detentions, it is a strategy to go forward. Ya know, Hamas is impressive, now the rest of the world has to figure out if they are acting out of pure ignorance to understand what winning an election means or was this suppose to happen after the election as promised.  And of course, Israel is suppose to understand every bit of the dynamics here.  I don't know why that is the case, Israeli elections are brutal, but, do not result in torture or imprisonment for losing.

Here we go again. The USA no sooner leaves Iraq with its mercenary terrorists and the arms start to flow.

On December 19, (click title to entry - thank you) the day after the last U.S. troops left Iraq, Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliki announced an arrest warrant for Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, a Sunni leader. With the departure of U.S. troops, "leaders like Maliki are seeing how far they can push their power," says Ned Parker, CFR's Edward R. Murrow press fellow. Parker, who recently served as the Baghdad bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times, warns of political chaos ahead in Iraq. The political battle between Maliki and Hashimi, he says, underscores how the different sides have failed to agree on a new social contract. Parker adds that even though the United States still has influence in Iraq, it appears loath to use it. "The only thing that, perhaps, will push all sides to compromise is the fear of chaos," he says....


Sending arms into Iraq is nothing short of ethnic cleansing.  In recent statements, Maliki accused the Kurds of giving protection to Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi.  To begin, the Kurds are members of Iraq's citizens, they may try to bring the Vice President to justice for all Maliki knows, but, that is not what Maliki stated.  He stated the Kurds were providing the Vice President with protection.


In one act of aggression, Iraq's Maliki estranged the Sunnis by attempting to arrest the Vice President immediately after that last American soldier was out of Iraq's Borders and then imperiled the Kurds as treasonists for harboring a state criminal.  A state criminal that was never given the benefit of due process or representation by attorneys and judged through impeachment for his crimes before his legislative peers.


The entire scenario reeks of a coupe by Maliki and the beginnings of ethnic cleansing, but, the USA turns a blind eye to the fact and allows for national forces to be better armed.  It is setting the Iraqis people up for violence for a long time and Maliki another Saddam.


Already the Iraq constitution and elections means nothing and the only item of importance for the USA post exit are the Wall Street dividends.  The sales of arms are legislated by CONGRESS.


We don't belong in Iraq, we never did!


BUSINESS  AS  USUAL !!!!!!!

UNITED STATES ARMS SALES TO IRAQ: EXCERPTS OF RECENT CBS `60 MINUTES' BROADCAST 
(House of Representatives - January 31, 1991)

The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Owens of Utah). Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. Moody] is recognized for 5 minutes.

Mr. MOODY. Mr. Speaker, on Sunday, January 20, the CBS television network program `60 Minutes' broadcast an extraordinary interview with an international arms dealer, Sarkis Soghanalian, who lives in Miami. I am placing in the Record a transcript of key excerpts from that interview.

The revelations and allegations made by Mr. Soghanalian are, and must be, extremely disturbing to every American. They are disturbing to Mr. Soghanalian. He gives a first-hand description of official and unofficial American involvement in the enormous buildup of arms to Saddam Hussein. Much of this buildup occurred after the end of the Iran-Iraq war in 1988. He gives chilling accounts of the cozy relationship among high past and present U.S. Government officials who permitted, and in some cases, actually assisted his sales of many of the lethal weapons Saddam Hussein is now using to bring death to American military personnel and civilians throughout the Middle East region.

I congratulate the staff of `60 Minutes' for bringing this explosive matter to the attention of the American public. Executive producer Don Hewitt, producer Lowell Bergman, and on-air reporter Steve Kroft have raised profound questions in this piece that demand further investigation....


The end of the Iran-Iraq war in 1988 was overseen by then President Ronald Reagan.  The 1988 elections placed George H. W. Bush in office.

President Ronald Reagan - Address on Iran-Contra