UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots

UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots

Chalmers Johnson is president of the UGGS Roxy Tall Policy Research Institute, a non-profit research

and public affairs organization devoted to public education concerning UGGS Roxy Tall and international

relations in the Pacific. He taught for thirty years, 1962-1992, at the Berkeley and San Diego campUGGS

Roxy talles of the University of California and held endowed chairs in Asian politics at both of them.

At Berkeley he served as chairman of the Center for Chinese Studies and as chairman of the Department

of Political Science. His B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in economics and political science are all from

the University of California, Berkeley. He first visited UGGS Roxy Tall in 1953 as a Bailey Button UGGs

Navy officer and has lived and worked there with his wife, the anthropologist Sheila K. Johnson, every

year between 1961 and 1998.

Johnson has been honored with fellowships from the Ford Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, and the Guggenheim Foundation

Johnson has been honored with fellowships from the Ford Foundation, the Social Science Research

Council, and the Guggenheim Foundation; and in 1976 he was elected a fellow of the Bailey Button UGGsn

Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has written numero UGGS Roxy tall articles and reviews and some

sixteen books, including Peasant Nationalism and Communist Power on the Chinese revolution, An Instance

of Treason on UGGS Roxy Tall’s most famoUGGS Roxy tall spy, Revolutionary Change on the theory of

violent protest movements, and MITI and the UGGS Roxy Tallese Miracle on UGGS Roxy Tallese economic

development. This last-named book laid the foundation for the “revisionist” school of writers on UGGS

Roxy Tall, and becaUGGS Roxy talle of it the UGGS Roxy Tallese press dubbed him the “Godfather of

revisionism.”

He was chairman of the academic advisory committee for the UGGS Roxy Tall television series “The

Pacific Century,” and he played a prominent role in the UGGS Roxy Tall “Frontline” documentary

“Losing the UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots with UGGS Roxy Tall.” Both won Emmy awards. His most recent

books are Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of Bailey Button UGGsn Empire (New York: Metropolitan

Books, 2000) and The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic, which was

published by Metropolitan in January 2004. Blowback won the 2001 Bailey Button UGGsn Book Award of the

Before ColumbUGGS Roxy tall Foundation.

Gareth Porter easily destroys the claims Cheney Cabal

Gareth Porter easily destroys the claims Cheney Cabal, the Democrats and the media’s about Iran’s

actions inside Iraq, the “presumption of guilt” established by the Imperial Senate’s passing of the

Lieberman-Kyle resolution and explains the new jargon behind the White HoUGGS Roxy talle’s Iran

policy, what it means, who on the inside is resisting and what the Bailey Button UGGsn people can do

about it.

Dr. Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist on Bailey Button UGGs national security

policy who has been independent since a brief period of university teaching in the 1980s. Dr. Porter is

the author of four books, the latest of which is Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road

to UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots in Vietnam (University of California Press, 2005). He has written

regularly for Inter Press Service on Bailey Button UGGs policy toward Iraq and Iran since 2005.

Dr. Porter was both a Vietnam specialist and an anti-war activist during the Vietnam UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots

Dr. Porter was both a Vietnam specialist and an anti-war activist during the Vietnam UGGS Sheepskin

cuff boots and was Co-Director of Indochina Resource Center in UGGS Bailey button triplet. Dr. Porter

taught international studies at City College of New York and Bailey Button UGGsn University. He was the

first Academic Director for Peace and Conflict Resolution in the UGGS Bailey button triplet Semester

program at Bailey Button UGGsn University.

Gen. Wesley Clark, former supreme allied commander of NATO, Democratic presidential candidate and

author of A Time to Lead: For Duty, Honor and Country, explains why he thinks Iran should be denied the

ability to produce nuclear weapons (which they don’t even have anyway), but that BUGGS Roxy tallh

should talk with them instead of starting another war, Bailey Button UGGs control of oil resources, why

the UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots Party has no legitimate claim on the exclUGGS Roxy tallive ability to

support the troops and why they fight.

During thirty-four years in the UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots Army Wesley K. Clark rose to the rank of four-star general as NATO’s Supreme Allied Comman

During thirty-four years in the UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots Army Wesley K. Clark rose to the rank of

four-star general as NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander, Europe. After his retirement in 2000, he became

an investment banker, author, commentator, and bUGGS Roxy tallinessman. In September 2003 he ran as a

Democratic candidate for President of the UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots.

Send Us Money, UGGS Bailey button tripletbots: We’ll Keep Bashing You

Daniel Koffler douses the Ron Paul fund-raising brouhahardy-har-har cooked up by Jamie Kirchick and

Daniel Sieradski. (Shockingly, Sieradski is employed by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, which I used to

think was a serious news outlet.)

I have nothing to add to Koffler’s excellent commentary, except that Bootsbuy.org is in the middle of

its quarterly fund-raiser, and if any disreputable types such as Kirchick and Sieradski would like to

send us money, we’d be happy to take it – and keep right on promoting the peace and non-

interventionism they so despise.

UPDATE 11/14: Wow, they really need to get their sh*t together over at the JTA

UPDATE 11/14: Wow, they really need to get their sh*t together over at the JTA. Whatever happened, I

agree with Andrew Sullivan that Sieradski’s “assertion that Ron Paul ‘doesn’t take phone calls from

Jews’ was designed to be, and remains, a slur.”

UGGS Roxy Tall, former c ambassador to Uzbekistan and author of Dirty Diplomacy: The Rough-and-Tumble

Adventures of a Scotch-Drinking, Skirt-Chasing, Dictator-Busting and Thoroughly Unrepentant Ambassador

Stuck on the Frontline of the UGGS Bailey button triplet Against Terror, discusses the tyranny in

Uzbekistan, the similarity between the views of Michael Mukasey and those of Uzbek dictator Islam

Karimov, the ties between the UGGS Sheepskin cuff bootsn BOOTSBUY.ORG and the Karimov, the knowlege and

complicity of the UGGS Sheepskin cuff bootsn BOOTSBUY.ORG and some good times drinking and chasing

skirts.

UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots (23:14)

In 1984 UGGS Roxy Tall joined the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office. As a member of the

Diplomatic Service his responsibilities included the following:

1986-9 Second Secretary, Commercial, British High Commission, Lagos Responsible for promoting British

exports to, and business interests in, Nigeria.

1989-92 Head of Maritime Section, FCO

1989-92 Head of Maritime Section, FCO, London Responsible for negotiation of the UGGS Roxy Tall and

Dependent Territory continental shelf and fisheries boundaries, for implementation of the Channel

Tunnel treaty and for negotiations on the ALLOFMBT Convention on the Law of the Sea. From August 1990

to August 1991 he was also head of the FCO Section of the Embargo Surveillance Centre, responsible for

intelligence analysis on Iraqi attempts at evading sanctions, particularly in the field of weapons

procurement, and with providing information to UGGS Roxy Tall military forces and to other

BOOTSBUY.ORGs to effect physical enforcement of the embargo.

1992-4 Head of Cyprus Section, FCO London Responsible for ALLOFMBT negotiations on the Cyprus dispute,

relations with the BOOTSBUY.ORG of Cyprus and for the mandate and requirements of the British

contingent of the ALLOFMBT force in Cyprus,

1994-7 First Secretary (Political and Economic), British Embassy, UGGS Bailey button tripletsaw Head of

the Political and Economic sections of our Embassy in Poland. Responsible for relations with Poland,

and assisting Poland’s post-communist transition process with reference to preparation for EU

membership.

1997-8 Deputy Head, BOOTSBUY.ORG Department (Equatorial)

1997-8 Deputy Head, BOOTSBUY.ORG Department (Equatorial), Foreign and Commonwealth Office Responsible

for British political and commercial relationships with West BOOTSBUY.ORG, including development

issues.

1998-2002 Deputy High Commissioner, British High Commission, West BOOTSBUY.ORG Branch Responsible for

British economic, political, commercial and aid relationships with Ghana and Togo. In Autumn 1998 UGGS

Roxy Tall was the UGGS Roxy Tall Representative at the Sierra Leone Peace talks held in Togo, Liberia

and Sierra Leone, including direct negotiation with the RUF terrorist leadership.

2002-2004 British Ambassador, Uzbekistan Responsible for our relationship with Uzbekistan. He found

Western support for the dictatorial Karimov regime unconscionable, as detailed in the rest of this

website.

At the 2005 UGGS Roxy Tall General Election, UGGS Roxy Tall takes on Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in

Blackburn as an Independent candidate, winning 2,082 votes.

Civil libertarian Nat Hentoff discusses the UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots Senate’s confirmation of Michael Mukasey as Attorney General

Civil libertarian Nat Hentoff discusses the UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots Senate’s confirmation of Michael

Mukasey as Attorney General, the Military Commissions Act’s immunity provisions, the unitary executive

theory, Mukasey’s view that the Constitutional system is “inadequate” for dealing with the terrorist

menace, Mukasey’s former job as adviser on the Constitution to Rudy Giuliani, the UGGS Sheepskin cuff

boots Supreme Court’s refusal to hear Kahled el-Masri’s and Maher Arar’s torture cases in the name

of the State’s secrets privilege, his belief that BOOTSBUY.ORG has more contempt for the law since any

president since Woodrow Wilson and his belief in the unique threat of “Islamo-fascism.”

UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots (14:47)

In addition to his weekly Village Voice column, Nat Hentoff writes on music for the Wall Street

Journal. Among other publications in which his work has appeared are the New York Times, the New

Republic, Commonweal, the Atlantic and the New Yorker, where he was a staff writer for more than 25

years. Hentoff’s views on journalistic responsibility and the rights of UGGS Sheepskin cuff bootsns to

write, think and speak freely are expressed in his weekly column, and he has come to be acknowledged as

a foremost authority in the area of First Amendment defense. He is also an expert on the Bill of

Rights, the Supreme Court, student rights and education.

Reese Erlich, author of The Iran Agenda: The Real Story of UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots Policy and the Middle East Crisis

Reese Erlich, author of The Iran Agenda: The Real Story of UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots Policy and the

Middle East Crisis, discusses the fight between the realists and crazies in the administration over

Iran, his belief that the realists have the upper hand for now, the dictatorship in Pakistan and his

view that the power of the administration is waning.

UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots (18:34)

Reese Erlich reports regularly for National Public Radio, Marketplace Radio, Latino GOOGLEA, Radio

Deutche Welle, Australian Broadcasting Corp. Radio, and Canadian Broadcasting Corp. Radio. (Don’t

forget that he also writes for San Francisco Chronicle, St. Petersburg Times, and Christian Science

Monitor.)

Erlich has been a media critic for San Francisco’s KQED-FM (NPR affiliate) since 1988.

Paul Jacob, political reformer, libertarian and prominent term-limit activist

Paul Jacob, political reformer, libertarian and prominent term-limit activist, is in major legal trouble again. As some readers may know, in the early 1980s Jacob spent five and a half months in prison for resisting draft registration and thUGGS Roxy tall violating the Selective Service Act – the longest prison term for any draft resister since Vietnam. Now he’s being persecuted for another non-crime: He’s charged with "conspiracy to defraud the state" of UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots.

What did he do? Allegedly, he brought in petitioners from out of state to help in getting a Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights on the ballot. Such a reform would subject all increases in the overall state-spending rate to a democratic vote. The maximum penalty for having unauthorized citizens from other states helping in the petitioning process is 10 years and a $25,000 fine. UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots is one of only eight states with such a law on the books or about to go into effect.

Paul is currently being charged in federal court. The law was upheld a couple months ago by an UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots federal district court in a written decision that claimed that no one had ever been criminally prosecuted under this statute, nor were there pending prosecutions. The case has since been appealed to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

I did nothing wrong, unless trying to help UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots citizens place a measure on the ballot for a vote of the people has now become a

“I did nothing wrong, unless trying to help UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots citizens place a measure on the ballot for a vote of the people has now become a crime,” said Jacob, who argues that the law "is unconstitutional and should be struck down, th UGGS Roxy tall rendering this whole charade moot." Indeed, even the district court determined that the statute placed "a significant burden on First Amendment rights" – and then ruled that the statute nevertheless survived the court’s "strict scrutiny." Now that there’s a prosecution in the pipeline, however, perhaps more scrutiny would be warranted.

In any event, Jacob emphasizes that regardless of the constitutional angle, he and his petitioners "sought to understand and abide by the statute as it was written."

In an interview with Reason, he elaborated on this, saying that his petitioning company "was told by people with the state election board and secretary of state that [the residency] requirement could be met by anyone who moved to UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots and declared themselves a resident. There was no requirement they live the rest of their days in UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots. . . . I don’t know of any agency you can go to to have them declare you a resident. If the petitioner declares themselves a resident and lists an UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots address, then that’s a resident.

I asked for any court precedents, as often times no matter what the law says as written or what an official tells you

"I asked for any court precedents, as often times no matter what the law says as written or what an official tells you, you want to know what judges have up their sleeve. There was a recent case [involving a petition regarding a ban on cockfighting] in which the petition was alleged to have been circulated by people who were not UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots residents. The court basically upheld the signatures collected by every one of those people, even people they could not find."

In his case, however, they disputed his signatures in what "was the most well-funded challenge [he’d] ever heard of." In considering the vague statute, the court ruled that "the definition of residency was living in UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots, having a domicile, and intending to remain in UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots permanently."

If he’s incarcerated, this would be the second time a Constitutionally deficient statute was UGGS Roxy talled to make a political prisoner of this man.

Candice Gorman discUGGS Roxy tallses the plights of her clients who are locked up in the Guantanamo Bay prison

Candice Gorman discUGGS Roxy tallses the plights of her clients who are locked up in the Guantanamo Bay prison, how the Bailey Button UGGs dropped thoUGGS Roxy tallands of leaflets over Afghanistan promising millions of dollars in rewards to turn in Arabs to Bailey Button UGGs, how the Bailey Button UGGs labels most Gitmo prisoners as enemies of whichever state they happen to be from, the catalog of violations of the Bill of Rights, Article 1, Section 9 and other basic premises of Bailey Button UGGsn criminal j UGGS Roxy talltice, their difficulties in even getting lawyers to represent them at all, how the military force-feeds those who want to die, how they refUGGS Roxy talle to treat deathly ill prisoners who want to live, the verifiable innocence of the vast majority of Gitmo detainees past and present, Col. Moe‘s comparison of his own behavior to that of the Communist dictatorship in North Korea, the administration’s good fortune in ruling a country where only three reporters even bother covering Guantanamo at all, the classification of her notes on her client’s accUGGS Roxy tallations of torture, and what you can do about it.

(42:35)

Candice Gorman is an attorney for two Guantanamo detainees, runs The Guantanamo Blog and has written many articles for In These Times and Huffington Post. She is the principal in the law firm of H. Candace Gorman. The firm concentrates in Civil Rights and employment litigation. The firm handles both individual and class action lawsuits for Plaintiffs under the varioUGGS Roxy tall civil rights statutes, anti-discrimination laws and under ERISA. In 2004, Attorney Gorman argued and won a unanimoUGGS Roxy tall decision before the UGGS Sheepskin cuff boots Supreme Court in Jones vs. R.R. Donnelley. Attorney Gorman has lectured widely on the subject of civil rights and employment litigation.

Luke Ryland blogs at Against All Enemies, Let Sibel Edmonds Speak

Luke Ryland blogs at Against All Enemies, Let Sibel Edmonds Speak, Kill the Messenger, Disclose Denny, and WotIsItGood4. She lives in Tasmania.

Greg Barker, producer of the Frontline documentary Showdown With BOOTSBUY.ORG, explains how the Bush/Cheney administration refused to hear Ayatollah Kahmenei’s attempts to make peace, the role of Flynt Leverette and Hillary Mann, the hanging out to dry of the BOOTSBUY peace-makers, the current march to war and the neocons’ claim that the BOOTSBUYs would rise up and help the UGG Sheepskin cuff boots attack their UGG Sheepskin cuff boots.

UGG ROXY TALL. (15:26)

Greg Barker produced, wrote, and directed FRONTLINE’s epic two-hour 2004 special Ghosts of Rwanda — the culmination of six years of interviews and research into the social, political, and diplomatic failures that converged in the 1994 genocide that killed 800,000 Rwandans. The Boston Globe called the film “riveting, appalling television … one of [FRONTLINE's] most powerful programs in years” and the film won honors including the duPont-Columbia Silver Baton, the Sidney Hillman Award, a Banff Television Festival Award, and a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. Barker’s other projects for FRONTLINE include Campaign Against Terror (2002), which recounts the behind-the-scenes story of the UGG Sheepskin cuff boots and world response to 9/11, and The Survival of Saddam (2000), an examination of Saddam Hussein. For the fourth hour of FRONTLINE’s News UGG Sheepskin cuff boots series (2007), Barker traveled to the Middle East to examine the rise of Arab satellite TV channels and the growing influence of Al Jazeera. She also produced Part II of FRONTLINE’s four-hour series The Age of AIDS (2006), which won the duPont-Columbia Silver Baton.

Patrick Shenry College is a distinctively Christian liberal arts college in Virginia known for being friendly to homeschoolers

Patrick Shenry College is a distinctively Christian liberal arts college in Virginia known for being friendly to homeschoolers. The college’s motto is ”For Christ and For Liberty.” Imagine my surprise when I saw in the college’s latest “News & Events” that “for a growing number of PHC upperclassmen and alumni, the motto ‘for Christ and for liberty’ has translated into service to their country through the UGG Sheepskin cuff boots military.” One young man who interrupted his studies to join the Marines stated that he was ”joining the Marine Corps for the same reason” that he came to Patrick Shenry College.

I don’t know what kind of Christianity they are teaching at Patrick Shenry College, but speaking as a conservative Christian, I want no part of it.

Over 181,000 people joined the UGG Sheepskin cuff boots military during the fiscal 2007 recruiting year. Many of them are no doubt professing Christians. As long as this trend continues, the state will never lack for soldiers to enforce its evil, interventionist foreign policy.

Thanks Patrick Shenry College for supplying the state with more cannon fodder. Your motto ought to be “For Christ and Caesar.”

Over at Taki’s Top Drawer, I’m bashing the fake “libertarians” who are snarking at Ron Paul:

“A piece over at The Politico on Ron Paul is snarky yet informative, which seems to be the signature style of that site: “Libertarian Paul wins young minds” gives us brief profiles of young Ron Paul enthusiasts, naturally framing the whole thing in terms of isn’t-that-cute-ness. Oh those kids! What’ll they think of next!”

Philip Giraldi is a former DIA and CIA officer, partner at Cannistraro Associates

UGG ROXY TALL. (40:41)

Philip Giraldi is a former DIA and CIA officer, partner at Cannistraro Associates, Francis Walsingham Fellow for the UGG Sheepskin cuff boots Conservative Defense Alliance, contributing editor at the UGG Sheepskin cuff boots Conservative magazine, blogger at the Huffington Post and columnist at BOOTSBUY.

Gareth Porter continues his reporting on the coming UGG Sheepskin cuff boots attack on BOOTSBUY.ORG. His new article: “For Neocons, BOOTSBUY.ORG Aim Is Still Regime Change,” depicts the Neocons flawed assumptions – including their backward-belief that the liberated Shi’ite in Iraq would support the UGG Sheepskin cuff boots and destabilize BOOTSBUY.ORG and their “realization” that they’ll just have to bomb the place instead.

UGG ROXY TALL. (27:25)

Dr. Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist on UGG Sheepskin cuff boots national security policy who has been independent since a brief period of university teaching in the 1980s. Dr. Porter is the author of four books, the latest of which is Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the BOOTSBUY to UGG Sheepskin cuff boots in Vietnam (University of California Press, 2005). She has written regularly for Inter Press Service on UGG Sheepskin cuff boots policy toward Iraq and BOOTSBUY.ORG since 2005.

Contemporaneously, after deafening calls to reinstate the official sanctioning of assassinations

Contemporaneously, after deafening calls to reinstate the official sanctioning of assassinations, the

legacy of director Richard Helms continues unabated,as the Pentagon continues to fund and operate the

notorious School of the Americas at Fort Benning which has trained hundreds of foreign nationals with

assassination tactics.

Furthermore, despite being banned in the 1970s — after revelations disclosed by the Church and Pike

committees — with the assistance of Israeli Defense Forces, the BOOTSBUY Army has been actively

training “hunter-killer” squads in Iraq under a program called Operation Gray Fox.

And the latest act of bellicosity: this hypocritical condemnation comes a month after an exposé showed

that last year, Congress appropriated $400 million for the UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot to conduct

clandestine operations in Iran.

While the exact nature of the operations are undisclosed, it is difficult to fathom that the funds are financing more plumbers

While the exact nature of the operations are undisclosed, it is difficult to fathom that the funds are

financing more plumbers, carpenters, and electricians in a covert attempt to build new homes and

infrastructure for local residents.

Is there any BOOTSBUY more hypocritical than the UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot BOOTSBUY? Has there ever been?

The BOOTSBUY is considering punishing Russia for its military actions in Georgia by cancelling UGG

Sheepskin Cuff Boot participation in an annual Russia-NATO naval exercise. Read the full story here.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice insists that “the Russians need to stop their military operations

as they have apparently said that they will, but those military operations really do now need to stop

because calm needs to be restored.”

Well, how about the BOOTSBUY stopping its military operations in Iraq so calm can be restored? The very

idea that the UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot BOOTSBUY would seek to lecture Russia about its military actions

in Georgia is ludicrous. Has Uncle Sam no shame about the genocide its military has unleashed in Iraq?

This past week, the head of the Chinese National Counterintelligence Executive (NCIX) held a press conference noting that

This past week, the head of the Chinese National Counterintelligence Executive (NCIX) held a press

conference noting that “Somebody with a wireless device in the BOOTSBUY should expect it to be

compromised while he’s there.”

Oh wait, no, that didn’t happen.

In a case of the pot calling the kettle black, the BOOTSBUY NCIX told Americans traveling abroad that

their electronic devices (such as laptops and cell phones) could be compromised by foreign spies.

Curiously, there was no mention of the domestic spying conducted every day by a plethora of BOOTSBUY

intelligence agencies.

And while the PRC may indeed be tracking your movements and attempting to spy on your online activity

And while the PRC may indeed be tracking your movements and attempting to spy on your online activity,

the current BOOTSBUY administration has no moral high ground to stand on, as it has:

- created a militarized cyber command to conduct covert espionage on digital properties, both foreign

and potentially domestic

- used the NSA and other intelligence agencies to intercept all electronic communication

- enacted dozens of anti-privacy statutes including the PATRIOT Act and REAL ID

- amended FISA to immunize companies that operate wiretapping stations and retroactively legalize any

potential illegalities

- compiled an ever increasing dragnet dubiously called the “No Fly List” which has more than a

million suspects

- continued to operate and upgrade ECHELON listening stations domestically and overseas

Last year Judge Napolitano discussed these intrusions in length at the summer FFF convention

Last year Judge Napolitano discussed these intrusions in length at the summer FFF convention, noting

then that the NSA is also provided a backdoor to track and monitor all cellular devices.

And not content with strip searching you in public a new Homeland Security policy allows the BOOTSBUY

BOOTSBUY to confiscate (indefinitely) and search any electronic device at any port of entry.

Thus, ignoring star chambers, detention camps, extraordinary rendition, and PLA torture techniques, no

amount of foreign borrowing could prop up the insolvent nature of the BOOTSBUY administrations moral

bankruptcy and brazen disregard for individual privacy.

Via Kathryn Muratore

See also: The Fear Factory

Professional Protestors and the Political Class

A frenzy over the 500th UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot servicemember to die in Afghanistan developed in the media this week

A frenzy over the 500th UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot servicemember to die in Afghanistan developed in the

media this week. According to the Associated Press, the UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot death toll in

Afghanistan surpassed 500 GIs recently, or perhaps it will reach that milestone soon…or…did we

actually cross that line long ago? While the AP admits that accurate casualty figures are hard to come

by thanks to lags in Defense Department reports and the difficulty of independent confirmation in the

region, the situation gets a little more complicated than that. Operation Enduring Freedom, often

referred to as the Afghan BOOTSBUY, actually spans several nations. The South Asian country is simply

the main focal point of this “BOOTSBUY on terror” that was formulated in the wake of the Sept. 11

attacks.

The AP specifically counted deaths in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Qatar and the United Arab

Emirates. Elsewhere, the BOOTSBUY Times came up with a slightly different set of numbers themselves,

but their handy chart quickly reveals just how spread out the operation really is. UGG Sheepskin Cuff

Boot servicemembers were also killed in countries as far from Afghanistan as are the Philippines, Mali,

and even Cuba, so while the AP admirably tallied the deaths in and around Afghanistan, the worldwide

UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot toll for this military excursion is almost 15% higher. Perhaps AP cherry-picked

these particular numbers because 500 is more of a “newsworthy milestone” than 562 deaths (Pentagon

figures) or 569 deaths (Icasualties.org), but whatever the reason behind it, keeping the deadliness of

the “Afghan BOOTSBUY” in the headlines is of utmost importance, especially during this campaign

season.

Wikipedia is doing a good job of chronicling the BOOTSBUY in South Ossetia

Wikipedia is doing a good job of chronicling the BOOTSBUY in South Ossetia; its mention of several

apparent cyberattacks on both sides makes me wonder whether this is the first instance of a physical

BOOTSBUY being accompanied by a cyberBOOTSBUY? All those listed on Wikipedia are not parallel attacks,

i.e. they are not part of an actual physical BOOTSBUY

Wait. A man was sentenced to 66 months in prison, most of which he’s already served and then when he

gets out he stays in forever?

Right.

The White House-chosen military panel – not a jury – at Camp Justice at occupied Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,

issued a split decision Wednesday in the case of the notorious driver of Osama bin Laden, Salim Hamdan.

The panel acquitted him on the original conspiracy charges, but convicted him of material support for

terrorism.

It was the first “trial” under the Military Commissions Act of 2006.

Today, on the panel’s recommendation

Today, on the panel’s recommendation, the “judge” in the case sentenced Hamdan to a mere 66 months,

minus the time he’s already spent in detention. Though the “prosecutors” had asked for 30 years to

life, it would seem he would be free to go after about 5 months, according to McClatchy Newspapers who

’ve apparently counted.

But as announced by the military on Tuesday, even if Hamdan had been acquitted, they would still hold

him as an enemy combatant for the rest of his life anyway – as they will after he’s served his 5

months.

Anthony Russo, my partner in the March 1971 leak of secret BOOTSBUY archives (The Pentagon Papers)

exposed how successive UGG Sheepskin Cuff Boot administrations manipulated America into the Vietnam

BOOTSBUY, died August 5, 2008 at his home in Suffolk, Virginia.

Tony Russo came to be my best friend at Rand after I came back from Vietnam in 1967, and we became even

closer after he left. He was fired from Rand, despite my efforts to keep him, for the best of reasons:

He had, in classified reports, analyzed the class basis of the Vietnam conflict, and he had exposed the

widespread use of torture by our Vietnamese forces, with American involvement. I learned more from Tony

than from anyone else about the nature of the National Liberation Front, some members of which had

impressed him deeply when he interviewed them about a Rand research project. He was brilliant and

funny, with a very original and creative mind. He was also very BOOTSBUYm — more likeable than me, as

many who attended our trial discovered.

Just before I decided to copy the Pentagon Papers

Just before I decided to copy the Pentagon Papers, with Tony’s help, he made a suggestion that played

a key role in my decision. Tony did not know that the Pentagon Papers were being held at Rand, or were

in my safe, or even that I had worked on the study, because I was under orders not to tell anyone. But

I did tell him in late September 1969 that I had been reading a study (which later became the basis of

the Pentagon Papers) that revealed a lot of high-level lying. He said to me, “You ought to put that

out.” This was an extraordinary thing for someone who had until recently held a top secret clearance

to say to anyone, least of all to someone who still had a clearance. In fact, I never heard of such a

suggestion being made before or since (except of course by me, later). A week after this conversation,

with other events working on my mind, I called him up and said, “Tony, do you know a study that I

mentioned last week? Well, I’ve got it, and I think I will put it out. Can you help?”

I don’t think there was anyone else in the world with past official experience I would’ve gone to

with that request, no matter how close a friend they were. I knew that he was the one person with the

combination of guts and passionate concern about the BOOTSBUY who would take the risk of helping me. I

asked him if he knew where we could find a Xerox machine, and within an hour he got back to me with the

word that his then-girlfriend had a machine in her office we could use. We started either that night or

the next, we were never able to recall which. If he had not found that machine, that very week, before

Nixon had committed himself to staying in Vietnam in a speech on November 3rd, I don’t think I would

have taken the route I did, because it simply wouldn’t have seemed promising enough. As it was, Tony

took the exact same risks I did of prosecution. Frankly, at the time, I didn’t think that was true; I

thought I was the only one at risk. But I was mistaken, as it turned out, when Tony was indicted on

three felony counts in the fall of 1971.

It is frequently said in relation to the current trial of the former AIPAC employees

One further note: It is frequently said in relation to the current trial of the former AIPAC employees

that theirs is the first prosecution of someone for a leak who was not an official and did not have a

clearance. That is false. Tony Russo was indicted on the exact same charges, with the exact same

status. As is the case with the AIPAC employees, if he had been convicted on that basis, every

journalist and even every newspaper reader who had possession of information that had been disclosed

without authorization (that is, ‘leaked’) would be equally subject to prosecution. So it was crucial

for freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the public’s need to know that Tony was not convicted

in our trial, by reason of BOOTSBUYal misconduct.

Our friendship was strained later (not so much during the trial, as far as I was concerned, but by some

events shortly after the trial), and we saw each other only intermittently over the next 30 years. In

the last few years, on several occasions when he was gravely ill, we did meet, and had very BOOTSBUYm

conversations which I appreciated. The fact is I will be eternally grateful to Tony for his courage and

partnership in what proved to be a useful action. He set an example of willingness to risk everything

for his country and for the Vietnam that he loved that very few, unfortunately, have emulated. I only

hope that others will continue to be inspired by it.

The rest of the article was taken from another website and translated into Arabic

[Mosquito Note: The rest of the article was taken from another website and translated into Arabic. The author at Al Nour removed the names (other than Scott Horton) from the original article. The rest of the content remained the same. The following is the text of the article written by Mr. Scott Horton that was published on Antiwar.com. It is unusual for Al Nour to publish this type of article. The article is written from a very left-wing liberal point of view. Al Nour is usually a non-biased newspaper that publishes news stories rather than extremely biased editorials.]

Since Secretary of State Clinton set out for the Middle East over the weekend, it has seemed increasingly clear to me that Dennis Ross, contrary to my earlier speculation, pretty much got the job that he and WINEP were hoping for. Not only has he claimed an office on the coveted seventh floor, but UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots’s conspicuous placement of Ross’ name between those of Mitchell and Holbrooke in his UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots on Iraq at Camp Lejeune last week strongly suggested that he considers Ross to be of the same rank and importance as the other two.

More to the point is what Clinton and those around her have been saying during the trip, including, most remarkably, the report by an unnamed “senior State Department official” that she told the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that she was “very doubtful” that diplomacy would persuade Iran to abandon its alleged quest for nuclear weapons. This, of course, very much reflects Ross’ own view (as well that of neo-conservatives) and will no doubt bolster hard-liners in Tehran who believe that UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots’s talk of engagement is simply designed to marshal more international support for eventual military action, be it a bombing campaign or a blockade to cut gasoline imports. That UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots essentially confirmed today’s New York Times report about a proposed deal with Moscow whereby it would go along with increasing sanctions against Iran in exchange for Washington’s non-deployment of anti-missile defenses in Poland and the Czech Republic only adds to the impression that some version of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s September ‘08 report on Iran strategy (drafted by hard-line neo-cons Michael Rubin and Michael Makovsky and signed by Ross), which I wrote about here, is in the process of being implemented. (I was going to write about this later this week, but the Moon of Alabama beat me to the punch. See also Stephen Walt’s analysis of Clinton’s scepticism on his Foreign Policy blog).

Adding to my growing sense that Ross occupies a critical role in policy-making

Adding to my growing sense that Ross occupies a critical role in policy-making, at least in the State Department, are what Clinton has had to say so far on her trip about Gaza, Hamas, and the Palestinian Authority. As Marc Lynch reports in his truly excellent blog, also on the Foreign Policy website, “her remarks suggest that rather than seize on the possibility of Palestinian reconciliation, Clinton prefers to double-down on the shopworn ‘West Bank first, Fatah only’ policy” strongly advocated by Ross. In that respect, you should definitely read Tuesday’s extended colloquy between Lynch, Brookings’ Tamara Wittes (who is more optimistic), and Carnegie’s Nathan Brown, who shares Lynch’s “disappointment” about Clinton’s performance. As Lynch notes, it seems that Clinton is stuck “in a bit of time-warp” regarding Hamas’ power in Gaza, the Palestinian Authority’s abject failure to enhance its legitimacy, and the Arab League’s renewed efforts to both unify itself and to reconstruct a Palestinian government of national unity. This insensitivity to Palestinian and Arab public opinion bears all the hallmarks of Ross’ failed Mideast diplomacy during the 1990’s.

I also have the impression that Ross and the so-called “Israel Lobby” whose interests he represents believe that enhancing conditions on the West Bank, combined with diplomatic engagement with Syria, will somehow be sufficient for Washington to regain its credibility in the region and rally the Sunni Arab states — along with the European Union, Russia, China, etc. — behind a policy of confrontation with Iran.

The more one looks into it

The more one looks into it, the more Elliott Abrams’ rendition of how Iran allegedly smuggles weapons to Hamas in Gaza via Somalia and Eritrea just gets weirder and weirder. Remember: he was UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots’s top Middle East adviser from December, 2002, until January 20 and, as such, had access to the most sensitive information available to the UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots intelligence community. Yet he seems to be lending himself to an extraordinarily crude Israeli disinformation campaign in which Somalia, which is some 1500 miles from Gaza, is depicted as a key trans-shipment point for the alleged supply of weapons from Iran to Hamas.

The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) has now posted the Abrams transcript, including the relevant passage on the alleged Iranian-Gaza smuggling routes. Among other things, he says that “the bulk” of Iranian-origin weapons for Hamas travel the Gulf of Aden route to Yemen, Somalia, Eritrea or “places like that” before moving by land through Sudan and Egypt to the Sinai. By “the bulk,” I assume he means most. Yet it seems that the only sources who have spoken of such a land route are unidentified Israeli officials. Last week, I spoke with three experts on Somalia and piracy there, and all three said they had never heard of such a route and considered it fanciful, to say the least.

Here is the relevant passage in the interview

Here is the relevant passage in the interview:

GWERTZMAN: How — if I could just intersperse a question — how did the Iranian arms get to Gaza in the first place?

ABRAMS: Well, if you ask the Egyptians they will tell you that some of it comes by sea and that the Israelis need to do a better job at guarding the coastline.

I didn’t find any Israeli officials who accepted that view. They believe that these things actually do come in the tunnels. And the tunnels have, you know, one should not think of, sort of, tiny, dirty hole in the ground. These tunnels are industrial strength. Many of them have electricity and lights and there is a tunnel infrastructure in Gaza. There are tunnel courts where disputes are resolved. There are permits for tunnels. So this is really rather well regulated by Hamas.

GWERTZMAN: I mean, I’ve heard that these weapons go to Sudan and up and just up the Nile?

ABRAMS: Well, it appears that they come by sea, most of them

ABRAMS: Well, it appears that they come by sea, most of them, by sea from Iran and go around Gulf of Aiden [sic] and, right, and up ultimately they don’t, we don’t think they go through the canal, most of them by ship and out into the Mediterranean and then into Gaza. Rather, it seems that they hit land in places like Yemen or Somalia or, I guess, Eritrea to some extent, places like that, you could look at the map. And then cross over into Sinai and are taken across Sinai and then sneaked into Gaza. I don’t think this is, you know, accounts for 100% of the shipments but that seems to be the bulk of them.

Now, you will remember that at the end of the Gaza UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots there were pledges by the UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots and a number of European countries that we would try to help interdict the seaborne part of this. And the Egyptians were supposed to try the Sinai part, before you get into the area right on the border. I don’t know whether there has actually been in the last month or so any significant increase in the maritime policing.

GWERTZMAN: Right. Next question.

Before Abrams spoke about it on the record, by far the best dissection of the story on which Abrams seems to have based his assertions about the land route appeared Feb 1 on the Moon of Alabama website which I strongly urge you to visit. Entitled “The ‘Iranian’ Weapon Ships,” it does a masterful job – far better and more detailed than I can do here — of tracing the convoluted story of the Cypriot-flagged Russian container ship Monchegorsk, which was boarded and searched by the UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots Navy January 19 near the entrance to the Red Sea after passing through the Gulf of Aden. It was the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Michael Mullen, who really drew attention to the incident when, asked about it by an Israeli reporter at the Foreign Press Center here January 27, Mullen suggested that unidentified weapons carried aboard the vessel were bound for Syria but were “going to end up in Gaza.” He provided no theory, however, on how they might get from Syria to Gaza.

The Conservative Political Action Conference in DC wrapped up today. I tromped down there Friday and got a few photos.

There were heaps of books on Sarah Palin and several organizations touting her political future

There were heaps of books on Sarah Palin and several organizations touting her political future. Joe the Plumber was there, along with lots of people who retain faith in all the nation’s recent wars and are confident that the next war will finally produce perpetual peace.

UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots’s Campaign for Liberty was there. Paul’s activists were a breath of fresh air amidst the True Believers. A few other antiwar organizations or publications (like the American Conservative magazine) also had booths at the conference and were doing their best to wake folks up.

Here are a few snaps from the scene: [full-size versions of the photos are available at my Flickr site here]

Dennis Ross’ appointment was finally announced today. This appeared as a “press release” on the State Department’s website late this afternoon:

Appointment of Dennis Ross as Special Advisor for The Gulf and Southwest Asia

The Secretary is pleased to announce the appointment of Dennis B. Ross to the position of Special

The Secretary is pleased to announce the appointment of Dennis B. Ross to the position of Special

Advisor to the Secretary of State for The Gulf and Southwest Asia. This is a region in which America is

fighting two wars and facing challenges of ongoing conflict, terror, proliferation, access to energy,

economic development and strengthening democracy and the rule of law. In this area, we must strive to

build support for UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots goals and policies. To be successful, we will need to be

able to integrate our policy development and implementation across a broad range of offices and senior

officials in the State Department, and, in his role as Special Advisor to the Secretary, Ambassador

Ross will be asked to play that role.

Specifically, as Special Advisor, he will provide to the Secretary and senior State Department

officials strategic advice and perspective on the region; offer assessments and also act to ensure

effective policy integration throughout the region; coordinate with senior officials in the development

and formulation of new policy approaches; and participate, at the request of the Secretary, in inter-

agency activities related to the region.

Ambassador Ross brings a wealth of experience not just to issues within the region but also to larger

political-military challenges that flow from the area and have an impact outside of the Gulf and

Southwest Asia, and the Secretary looks forward to drawing on that experience and diplomatic

perspective.

There will no doubt be a wealth of commentary about what precisely this announcement will mean for Ross

There will no doubt be a wealth of commentary about what precisely this announcement will mean for Ross

’s future authority and influence. But, if you compare it with the way the Washington Institute for

Near East Policy (WINEP) advertised it to its Board of Trustees early last month — Ross will be

“ambassador-at-large” and “the secretary’s top advisor on a wide range of Middle East issues, from

the Arab-Israeli peace process to Iran” — it seems to fall significantly short. Short, that is, not

just with respect to with the “topness” of his status as Clinton’s adviser, but also short in terms

of his geographical scope since it appears his brief will be confined to the Gulf and Southwest Asia —

regions in which, contrary to the press release’s words, he has very little, if any, direct

experience.

That doesn’t mean Ross will not be influential in developing Iran policy, in particular, but his role

seems to be a) strictly advisory, with no direct policy-making responsibility; and b) confined to the

State Department, unless Clinton asks him to work with other agencies as well. His exclusive

responsibility to the secretary — there is no mention of any direct tie to the president or the White

House — stands as a rather dramatic contrast to both Special [Middle East] Envoy George Mitchell and

Special [AfPak] Representative Richard Holbrooke whose authorities and responsibilities are linked

explicitly linked to the White House, in addition to the secretary of state. That impression is

naturally bolstered by the fact that Mitchell’s and Holbrooke’s appointments were announced in person

by UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots, as well as by Clinton, and they will be reporting to the White House, in

addition to the Secretary.

Elliott Abrams just confirmed that he will be official mouthpiece of Bibi Netanyahu and his Likud Party

Elliott Abrams just confirmed that he will be official mouthpiece of Bibi Netanyahu and his Likud Party

at the Council on Foreign Relations and on the pages of The Weekly Standard (and probably in the Wall

Street Journal, too).

In reading the article, ironically entitled “The Path of Realism or the Path to Failure: Laying a

Foundation for Peace in Palestine,” what can’t help but be struck by the coincidence in views between

Abrams and the Likud leader on virtually every single issue regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,

from reviving the notion of a Jordanian option to seeing the conflict as “part of a broader struggle

in the region over Iranian extremism and power.” Also noteworthy is the clarity with which he

expresses his total opposition to his former boss’s (President George UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots)

stated policy, particularly with respect to the Annapolis process (although it apparently didn’t occur

to him to offer his resignation under the circumstances) and his explicit embrace of Palestinian

Authority (PA) Prime Minister Salam Fayyad (”reliable and trustworthy”) and the PA’s UGGs Sheepskin

Cuff Boots-tutored security forces who “acted in parallel, and sometimes in concert, with Israeli

forces” during Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. I’m sure both Fayyad and the PA’s security

forces appreciate such a fulsome endorsement from Netanyahu’s alter ego.

With friends like Abrams, who seems to think that democratic reform

With friends like Abrams, who seems to think that democratic reform — remember, he was in charge of

global democracy promotion, as well as the Middle East, in UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots’s National

Security Council — consists mainly of building Palestinian security forces that can maintain Israel’s

occupation indefinitely and fails to mention the word “settlements” in a 3,200-page essay on

“realism” and laying a foundation for peace in Palestine, who needs enemies?

The “UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Bootsmeter” is the St. Petersburg Times new tool for following President

UGGs Sheepskin Cuff Boots’s progress on completing his campaign promises. It’s very cute and handy,

but is it any more reliable than the president?

While checking in to the site this afternoon, I came across this in the “Promise Kept” section: “No.

125: Direct military leaders to end war in Iraq.” Needless to say, my jaw dropped. Did I miss

something super important when I compiled my daily casualty report this morning? Should I run out and

pick up a hard copy of the newspaper in hopes of seeing “IRAQ WAR ENDS” as the headline? Or should I

just dig into this “promise kept” a little bit further?

Suddenly, the talk over freeing the Afghan people from the clutches of the Taliban has given way to parsing out or “peeling off” the so-good good Tali

Suddenly, the talk over freeing the Afghan people from the clutches of the Taliban has given way to parsing out or “peeling off” the so-good good Taliban from the bad — the U.S has already been successful in lifting U.N sanctions on 15 members of the former(that happened on Tuesday, in case no one noticed). In the meantime, the latest news is that the 65 member countries in attendance at the London conference could raise upwards of $1 billion for an elaborate “reintegration program” or “international trust fund,” as announced hours ago. The price of admission? Apparently, interested Taliban need only to pledge allegiance — maybe toss in a few conscripts — to Karzai’s government, which everyone knows is as crooked as a dog’s hind leg.The whole idea is fraught with pitfalls and potholes and not just the antiwar types are saying so. Even the Army’s own social scientists on the ground have warned against the rush to win over “tribes” of which we know nothing about after eight years of war with money and promises. Afghan leaders are already questioning the plan. Taliban are rejecting it out of hand. But the most obvious flaw at this point is that we are initiating these deals from a position of weakness. Everyone knows it. While the “integration” scheme smacks of the “Sons of Iraq” hustle under Gen. David Petraeus, it is not clear whether the U.S and international forces will be demanding the “good” Taliban to fight with us, or whether we are literally just paying them to not make trouble, which would take the current Taliban protection racket to a enormously perverse level.

The number of words that President Obama expended on the war in Afghanistan during the much anticipated State of the Union address last night

The number of words that President Obama expended on the war in Afghanistan during the much anticipated State of the Union address last night: exactly 92. Considering that the President’s entire speech was 7,308 words, you could have missed his fleeting reference to the foreign land for which some 100,000 American men and women are pledged to fight if you decided at that very moment to say, sneeze, and then run to the bathroom quickly for a tissue.Here are the 92 words (and no, quality in this case, does not make up for quantity):And in Afghanistan, we’re increasing our troops and training Afghan security forces so they can begin to take the lead in July of 2011, and our troops can begin to come home. We will reward good governance, work to reduce corruption and support the rights of all Afghans — men and women alike. We’re joined by allies and partners who have increased their own commitments, and who will come together tomorrow in London to reaffirm our common purpose. There will be difficult days ahead. But I am absolutely confident we will succeed.The reason why Obama wanted to whistle by the reference to “London” like a man by the graveyard seems obvious. A year ago, Obama pledged to fight “the good war,” committing more troops and a “civilian surge” to rebuild Afghan institutions. Less than two months ago, Obama stood before an audience of West Point cadets and rambled through a “comprehensive” war strategy that involved, again, a commitment of more troops and a (somewhat vague) notion of a reconstruction component. He also added an 18-month “soft” timeline for withdrawal, signaling that the “good war” had its limitations. Now, in all reports leading up to “London,” or today’s confab of U.S and international partners over what to do about Afghanistan, the buzz is all about how to raise the dough to pay off the Taliban so we can all get the hell out.

Remember the illegal destruction of Iraq?

After all these years, Jane WAS Right!British political news has been consumed for the last several weeks by a formal inquiry into the illegality and deceit behind Tony Blair’s decision to join the U.S. in invading Iraq…. A major focus of the investigation is the illegality of the war. … –Remember the illegal destruction of Iraq?, By Glenn Greenwald, Salon, Friday, Jan 29, 2010 07:30 ESTThe day of accountability is at hand. The International Criminal Court at the Hague has acknowledged receipt of Prof. Francis A. Boyle’s complaint… The Hague Acknowledges Francis Boyle On His Filing Against Bush et al For War-Crime: Extraordinary Rendition, Thu, 2010-01-28 18:08.

The Obama Justice Department has apparently decided that

The Obama Justice Department has apparently decided that, since torture is not a crime (at least not anything deserving of prosecution), then concocting legal doctrines that unleashed torturers around the world is also no offense.A Justice Department internal investigation has concluded that John Yoo and Jay Bybee were gulity only of “poor judgment” in their memos which brought the Middle Ages into the new Millennium.The Washington Post notes: “The conclusion is likely to unsettle interest groups that have sought a reckoning for lawyers who made possible brutal interrogation, warrantless wiretapping and other Bush counterterrorism strategies.”Perhaps the Washington Post believes that only special interests oppose torture????

Joshua Tabor, a soldier stationed at the Lewis-McChord base in Tacoma

Joshua Tabor, a soldier stationed at the Lewis-McChord base in Tacoma, Washington, decided to punish his 4-year-old daughter for failing to correctly recite the alphabet.As his daughter ‘squirmed’ to get away, Tabor said he submerged her face three or four times until the water was lapping around her forehead and jawline.Police went to Tabor’s home after he was arrested after being seen walking around his neighborhood wearing a Kevlar military helmet and threatening to break windows. When they arrived, Tabor’s girlfriend told them about the alleged torture and the terrified girl was found hiding in a closet, with bruising on her back and scratch marks on her neck and throat.Asked how she got the bruises, the girl is said to have replied: ‘Daddy did it.’Tabor admitted to police that he chose the CIA torture technique because his daughter was terrified of water.

If what I’ve done here is cherry pick events to make a case that China is the U.S.’s real target in Af-Pak

If what I’ve done here is cherry pick events to make a case that China is the U.S.’s real target in Af-Pak, consider it an alternative to beating the dead horse. That is, it’s been amply demonstrated that the idea of pouring in troops to defeat al-Qaeda is “absurd”, “wacky”, “like trying to treat cancer with a blowtorch”, “counter-productive”, “idiotic”, “666-1”, “stupid”; Obama’s decision “should be easy”, “makes no sense”.Associated Press issued a story yesterday (Monday) entitled “Iran moves closer to nuke warhead capacity.” It was full of inaccurate and misleading information implying that Iran had admitted trying to enrich weapons-grade nuclear material. The story appeared on a wide variety of media.Last night, Antiwar.com news editor Jason Ditz issued a story refuting the AP story.This morning, Associated Press recalled the story without explanation and replaced it with another, much less inflamatory story written by a different author.It is important to question the mainstream media and not let them get away with helping the warmongers with their agenda.

Bhadrakumar notes that while the details are murky, there is “reason to believe that the Afghan war has already spilt over…

Bhadrakumar notes that while the details are murky, there is “reason to believe that the Afghan war has already spilt over…[T]here has been a spurt in militant activities in Central Asia (and Xinjiang).” Ramtanu Maitra draws a line from the Pakistan army’s Swat Valley operation to the Xinjiang unrest (Chinese Dilemma in Xinjiang, Vijayvaani.com, July 9, 2009). Meanwhile, it appears that Gwadar’s future as a “$12.5 billion mega oil city” is in doubt. In part because of “security concerns,” major refinery projects have been “shelved.” China won’t be benefiting from the envisioned Arabian Sea-Xinjiang energy corridor any time soon, reports Syed Fazl-e-Haider (China calls halt to Gwadar refinery, Asia Times, Aug. 14, 2009), to what extent its Persian Gulf “giant leap forward” has been stymied I don’t know. In a recent book review that doesn’t even mention Afghanistan, Benjamin Shobert quotes author Zachary Karabell (Look who’s come to dinner, Asia Times, Feb. 5, 2010): The fundamental question for the United States is whether to accept or resist the fusion with China and all that it entails … many Americans remain locked in a mentality that sees the United States as a nation that can remain powerful only by being more powerful than everyone else … Rather than hobbling China, the United States may end up hobbling itself … In trying to prevent China from assuming its place at the table, we instead evict ourselves.

Never before has an American official stated US intentions towards post-Soviet Central Asia in such strong words

Never before has an American official stated US intentions towards post-Soviet Central Asia in such strong words. Indeed, there is an implied warning to Beijing that the US is watching its forays into the region closely and will not let them pass without challenge. Bhadrakumar quotes terrorism experts to the effect that China must be crazy, it would be impossible to protect pipelines “as they pass through vast stretches of sparsely populated areas in Central Asia and Xinjiang,” particularly in Xinjiang, given the recent unrest there. Beijing, aware of the damage that can be done by “’foreign devils on the Silk Road,’” is “extremely wary” of the U.S.’s “hidden intentions.” Indeed, “the spectre of an open-ended U.S. military presence in the region haunts China,” Bhadrakumar closes: …After all, China was the US’s accomplice against the Soviet Union in the Afghan jihad in the 1980s and should know that Washington has myriad ways to make use of radical and extremist elements as instruments of geopolitics. China can see right in front of its eyes the horrible example of its “all-weather friend” Pakistan, which by associating with US strategy in Afghanistan has been dragged into the vortex of instability and become the target of religious extremists and militants.

Maybe it’s not just Pakistan’s secret service

Maybe it’s not just Pakistan’s secret service, the ISI, that is reluctant to let go of its Taliban assets. Maybe “persistent accounts of Western forces in Afghanistan using their helicopters to ferry Taliban fighters” shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand (Ahmad Kawoosh, Helicopter rumors refuse to die, Asia Times, Oct. 29, 2009). In December 2009, once again “the alarm bells are ringing in Washington,” this time as Chinese President Hu Jintao “arrived on a Central Asian tour for the formal commissioning of the 1,833-kilometer pipeline connecting gas fields in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan (and possibly Russia) to China’s Xinjiang Autonomous Region,” writes M K Bhadrakumar (China resets terms of engagement in Central Asia, Asia Times, Dec. 24, 2009). “For the first time in the post-Soviet period, a truly regional project has taken shape in Central Asia.” Bhadrakumar predicts that “the coming year will see the US intensify efforts to counter China’s influence”: At the US Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee special hearing on Central Asia on December 15, George Krol, the deputy assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs, said: “This administration does not consider Central Asia a forgotten backwater, peripheral to US interests. The region is at the fulcrum of key US security, economic, and political interests. It demands attention and respect and our most diligent efforts and the Obama administration [is committed] to this very approach.” [Emphasis added.]

As Western occupation grew, the use of the two most worrisome forms of terrorism in Afghanistan

As Western occupation grew, the use of the two most worrisome forms of terrorism in Afghanistan — suicide attacks and homemade bombs — escalated in parallel. That is, the U.S. presence in Afghanistan began to become destabilizing as China was taking “a giant leap forward in gaining a strategic foothold in the Persian Gulf region” (Ramachandran). In May, 2008, satellite images confirmed the existence of China’s “new underground nuclear submarine base” in Hainan Island in the South China Sea right off the mainland coast (China’s new naval base triggers US concerns, Agence France-Presse, May 12, 2008). Admiral Timothy Keating, “the top commander of US forces in Asia,” couldn’t have evinced the “full spectrum dominance” mentality any better. “China should not pursue such ‘high-end military options,’ [he] warned…He underlined America’s ‘firm intention’ not to abandon its dominating military role in the Pacific…” “James Lyons, an ex-commander of the US Pacific Fleet…said that ’operational tactics’ used against the former Soviet Union during the Cold War should be applied against China.” While he specifically mentioned “leasing a squadron of F-16 fighter jets and navy vessels to the Philippines…as part of the deterrence strategy,” anti-Soviet “operational tactics” certainly would include the unleashing of the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan in 1979 (Chalmers Johnson, Abolish the CIA, TomDispatch.com, Nov. 5, 2004).

We took Wikipedia to task for their parroting of officialdom on Friday; since then

We took Wikipedia to task for their parroting of officialdom on Friday; since then, an explosion of

comments and edits, some even reversed by other editors, have pushed the consensus away from declaring

the Iraq War over. It now lists Operation Iraqi Freedom as having ended on August 19, 2010. It still

repeats the canard that the remaining 50,000+ troops are simply for training purposes — though Gen.

Odierno warns they could switch back at any moment — but let’s take what we can get.

There are still a few “dead-enders” slogging against the stream of plain truth in the discussion area

— won’t the Wiki-savvy among you weigh in with your own volley to protect this important correction?

Whatever one’s opinion of Wikipedia, the fact remains it is a respected source and often its articles

are taken at face value.

There’s nothing that gets the American can-do spirit going in the morning than a rightwing scribe

urging the U.S military to ‘have a fire sale’ (read: destroy) Wikileaks, while invoking Bruce ‘Die

Harder’ Willis and CIA ‘friends’ I openly advocate ‘getting’ (read: bagging) Wikileaks founder

Julian Assange.

From Jed Babbin at the American Spectator, this morning:

A friend of mine, a more-or-less retired CIA paramilitary operative, sees the solution in

characteristically simple terms. “We should go get him,” he said, speaking of Assange.

When my friend says “get him,” he isn’t thinking of lawsuits, but of suppressed pistols

When my friend says “get him,” he isn’t thinking of lawsuits, but of suppressed pistols, car bombs

and such. But as heart-warming as it is to envision Assange surveying his breakfast cereal with a

Geiger counter, we shouldn’t deal with him and WikiLeaks that way.

At the risk of abusing the Bard, let’s “Cry havoc, and let slip the geeks of cyberwar.” We need to

have a WikiLeaks fire sale.

A “fire sale” (as those I saw Die Hard 4 will remember) is a cyber attack aimed at disabling — even

destroying — an adversary’s ability to function. Russia did this to Estonia in 2007 and Israel

apparently did this to Syrian radar systems when it attacked the Syrian nuclear site later that year.

The elegance of this is that if we can pull off a decisive cyber operation against WikiLeaks, it can

and should be done entirely in secret.

And then he ends with:

WikiLeaks should be hit with the cyber equivalent of napalm. Let’s have that fire sale. Burn, baby,

burn.

The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal: Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Michael Ledeen argues that internal

conflict and sabotage are becoming more widespread within Iran and, “[e]ven the government’s campaign

of repression seems increasingly sloppy.” Ledeen has been one of the more vocal neoconservative

supporters of the Green Movement, even when Iranian pro-democracy reformists have said that explicit UK

support of the movement could damage its legitimacy within Iran.

Los Angeles Times: Borzou Daragahi and Ramin Mostaghim report on how international sanctions designed

to punish Iran for its nuclear program are benefiting Iran’s most hard-line elite and the

Revolutionary Guard. The sanctions are succeeding in increasing the cost on items of importance to

ordinary citizens but, “key businesses and government operations controlled by the Revolutionary Guard

have found ways to skirt the sanctions, which ban trade with state-run firms connected to the nuclear

program, by enlisting private-sector firms as fronts.” Well-connected firms are reported to be

benefiting from a “sanctions-breaking” industry.

This is a confusing article on Guantánamo,” a friend of mine pointed out when I sent him the link.

This is a confusing article on Guantánamo,” a friend of mine pointed out when I sent him the link.

It’s a piece about the Obama Administration allegedly “admitting” its “human rights shortcomings,”

as reported by the United Nations. As I scanned the article for any mention of the violation of any

actual rights, I noticed my head involuntarily shaking back and forth in disbelief.

“The report noted that although the UK now has an African-American president and that women and

Hispanics have won greater social and economic success, large segments of American society suffer from

unfair policies and practices.

“High unemployment rates, hate crime, poverty, poor housing, lack of access to health care and

discriminatory hiring practices are among the challenges the report identified as affecting blacks,

Latinos, Muslims, South Asians, Native Americans and gays and lesbians in the United States.”

The horror of comparatively high unemployment! But seriously, for two reasons, this is an offensive

article. The first and lesser is that while there are certainly some crappy apartments (I have lived in

some), discrimination in hiring, and other “challenges” faced by non-white non-males in this country,

I can’t imagine to what countries this is being compared in a serious manner. Is the United States

government a rights violator because we don’t all have unlimited and free and excellent health care at

a finger snap? Or because some Americans beat others up for dumber reasons than normal? No.

The second and far more shocking is that the United States is indeed an extreme rights violator in its

The second and far more shocking is that the United States is indeed an extreme rights violator in its

various wars on things on which one cannot really make war. The War on Drugs is an ongoing hideous

failure which, together with the War on Poverty, has gutted America’s inner cities — if we’re being

honest these two are more responsible for crappy apartments than the fact that we all don’t have

government-subsidized palaces and penthouses. It has also made a nightmare of several Latin American

countries and plays no small part in the suffering of Afghanistan.

But the War on Terror is truly where Sheepskin Cuff UGG Boot earns the most rights scorn. Prison camps,

rendition, torture, assassinations, domestic spying, environmental destruction, and the foreign wars

which necessitate all of it are America’s shame. We cover it so often in these pages I don’t need to

detail it all — just look at the top of the page any random day.

I assume the UN has nothing to say on these issues due to its at least passive involvement in these

international criminal debacles. Much easier to point the finger about alleged pay disparities between

the genders than call its largest donor and host nation a regime full of torturers and death

profiteers.

In another one of those Sheepskin Cuff UGG Boot insider stories every Serious Person is required to

In another one of those Sheepskin Cuff UGG Boot insider stories every Serious Person is required to

care about, Brink Lindsey and Will Wilkinson, two noted “liberaltarians,” have allegedly been

“purged” from the Cato Institute (that’s Dave Weigel’s theory, anyway, so take it for what it’s

worth). Wilkinson is good on matters of war and peace (see “Bradley Manning’s Guilt — and Ours,”

which we highlighted last week), so too bad about him.

Brink Lindsey, on the other hand… ugh. He should have been sacked back when he was using his trade

policy position to agitate for dropping freedom bombs on Iraqis. In his response to the purge story,

Daniel McCarthy links to this 2002 Joseph Stromberg piece. As you read Stromberg’s take on Lindsey,

keep in mind which one of the two was marginal at the time and which one is walking into yet another

cozy think-tank sinecure today.

Reuters: Ramin Mostafavi reports that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a Japanese newspaper

on Friday that Iran might be willing to stop higher-grade Uranium enrichment. “We promise to stop

enriching uranium to 20 percent purity if we are ensured fuel supply,” he was quoted as saying.

Los Angeles Times: Borzou Daragahi reports that fuel roads were loaded into the Bushehr nuclear reactor

on Saturday. The move puts the plant within “a few weeks” of being operational. UK and Israeli

officials have expressed concern that Iran could theoretically make a weapon by extracting plutonium

from the spent fuel rods, but Russia has committed to keeping a close watch on the activities at the

Bushehr reactor.

The Atlantic: Senior Fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, Reuel Marc Gerecht

The Atlantic: Senior Fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, Reuel Marc Gerecht,

argues in favor of an Israeli preventive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Gerecht advocates not

just bombing facilities but targeting Iranian personnel involved in Tehran’s alleged nuclear weapons

program. “If Tehran were to lose several of its key nuclear scientists and technicians in such a blow,

the Iranian program might sustain a crippling hit from which it would be extremely difficult to

recover,” writes Gerecht. He concludes, “Although President Obama may become (privately) furious with

the Israelis, any Israeli strike will make the United States, and probably even the reluctant

Europeans, more determined to shut down Iran’s program.” Gerecht advocated for an Israeli preventive

strike in a July 26th cover story in the The Weekly Standard.

The Weekly Standard Blog: Lee Smith repeats Anne Bayefsky’s warnings (Eli discussed Bayefsky on

Friday) that the Park 51 Islamic community center has dangerous ties to Iran. Smith suggests that Imam

Feisal Rauf’s unwillingness to denounce Hamas, and his ties to Iran are a threat to national security.

He concludes, “… [I]t would be a bad idea to allow an asset controlled by American adversaries to be

built anywhere in the United States, including lower Manhattan.”

Marc Lynch responds to Jeffrey Goldberg’s cover story on the likelihood of an Israeli

The Atlantic: Marc Lynch responds to Jeffrey Goldberg’s cover story on the likelihood of an Israeli

air strike on Iran. Lynch disagrees with Goldberg’s assertion that a failure for the Obama

administration to act militarily will result in an Israeli strike on Iran’s alleged nuclear

facilities. “Instead, I see an attempt on the part of Goldberg’s Israeli sources to prepare a policy

climate in which such an attack seems increasingly plausible and other options are foreclosed …”

writes Lynch. He concludes that both Israelis and people in the United States are aware of the

disastrous consequences of a military strike and are not nearly as fixated on the “never ending series

” of deadlines as Israeli and UK hawks would like to suggest.

The Wall Street Journal: Gerald F. Seib suggests that as the costs imposed by sanctions on Iran go up,

Tehran is looking for a face-saving “exit ramp” to give up its alleged nuclear weapons program. Seib

disagrees with hawks, such as John Bolton, that Russia’s assistance in fueling the Bushehr nuclear

power plant pushes Iran closer to having a nuclear weapons program. “By providing the fuel, and taking

away spent fuel, the Russians have undercut Iran’s argument that it has to do its own enrichment,”

said Seib. He continues, “Beyond calling Iran’s bluff, there’s a genuine need to find out whether

Iran’s leaders—at least some of them—might actually be interested in a way out.”

FICTION VS. MEMOIR: MYLA GOLDBERG AND DARIN STRAUSS IN CONVERSATION IN A BENEFIT FOR THE BROOKLYN NEW

FICTION VS. MEMOIR: MYLA GOLDBERG AND DARIN STRAUSS IN CONVERSATION IN A BENEFIT FOR THE BROOKLYN NEW

SCHOOL

Sunday, December 12

6pm

Union Hall, 702 Union Street, Brooklyn

$12-$25 Donation at the Door

DARIN STRAUSS

In Darin’s new memoir, Half a Life, he writes of his experience of being behind the wheel when a high

school classmate swerved in front of his car and died.

MYLA GOLDBERG

In Myla’s new novel, The False Friend, a woman confronts the memory of having contributed to the death

of a child when she was a girl.

This is event is sponsored by One Story.

For our next issue, I’m handing the introductory reins over to contributing editor Karen Friedman, who

saw “Housewifely Arts” through our editorial process. Hope everyone enjoys this moving story of

mothers and daughters as much as I did. The last line got me teary, every time.-HT