Spinning Iraq

A recent op-ed in the New York Times flips reality on its head to support the argument that the U.S. should take its sweet time in withdrawing forces from Iraq, which is indicative of the nature of how government officials parroted and echoed by the media have twisted the facts -- not only to wage the war in the first place, but to try to ensure an extended U.S. presence in the country.

 

Sept. 8 - In an op-ed in the New York Times last week, John Nagl, Colin Kahl, and Shawn Brimley, fellows at the Center for a New American Security, offered their educated opinion about "How to Exit Iraq".

 

"Basra," they say, "is an example of what an exit strategy might look like -- and of the dangers of getting it wrong."

 

I would probably agree. But let's look at their account of what happened, a repetition of what has become the official history of the event (at least in the U.S.): 

 

After the 2003 invasion, control over southern Iraq was handed over to British forces. Without adequate troops to protect the population, security in Basra deteriorated, the British withdrew and Shiite militias took control. In late March of this year, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki launched an offensive in Basra to clear the city of militias, but the Iraqi Army quickly got bogged down. American special operations forces and combat advisers reinforced Iraqi units, providing crucial air and fire support and detailed intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. As a result, Iraqi security forces turned the tide and now control the city.

 

The lesson of Basra is clear: a rapid withdrawal risks a resurgence of violence, but a responsible drawdown and a reorientation of the mission away from combat and toward advising Iraqi forces stand a good chance of advancing our interests in Iraq at acceptable cost.

 

In other words, if U.S. forces were to withdraw from Iraq too quickly, chaos would erupt and the security gains that have been made resulting in a reduction of violence in the country would disappear.

 

This is the same argument, of course, that the political and media establishment has long embraced. To those who have argued for a full, immediate withdraw of the U.S. presence in Iraq, it has been told that such a move would result in mass chaos and violence, civil war, and -- as presidential hopeful John McCain has put it -- possibly even "genocide".

 

And just look at the evidence, the op-ed tells us. Just look at what happened in Basra when the British left!

 

There's just one thing, though. One itty-bitty detail that might be worthy of a footnote. Read more...

Crashed Jet Carrying Cocaine Linked to CIA

 

 

 

A number of jets connected to drug-trafficking, including a Gulfstream II carrying more than 3 tons of cocaine that crashed in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico last year, have been linked to the CIA through both its extraordinary rendition program and a supposed sting operation known as "Mayan Express". 

 

Sept. 7 - A private jet that crashed last year in eastern Mexico and was found to be carrying more than 3 tons of cocaine was also used by the Central Intelligence Agency for clandestine operations, the Mexican daily El Universal reported last week.

 

The newspaper cited documents from the United States and the European Parliament which "show that that plane flew several times to Guantanamo, Cuba, presumably to transfer terrorism suspects." It said the European Parliament was investigating the jet for its possible use in "extraordinary rendition" flights, whereby prisoners are covertly transferred by the U.S. to a third country.

 

In June, 2006, the British Department for Transport website published flight data on US aircraft into or out of the UK. According to the site, "This data had previously been released by Eurocontrol to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to assist with its enquiry into allegations of 'extraordinary rendition' flights operating in Europe." The jet that crashed in Mexico, with registration number N987SA, is listed in the data report.

 

According to El Universal, FAA records show that the jet flew to Guantanamo on May 30, 2003. From June 23 to July 14, the jet flew from New York to Iceland, France, Italy, and Ireland. From July 16 to 20, it flew from the U.S. to Canada, the UK, Ireland, the UK, Canada, and back to the U.S. again. From April 7 to 12, 2004, it went from New York to Canada, the UK, Canada, and again to the U.S. The jet then flew to Guantanamo again. On April 21, it flew from the U.S. to Canada, France, the UK, Canada, and back to the U.S. It left the U.S. for Guantanamo once more on January 21, 2005.

 

The jet crashed on September 24, 2007. According to an Aviation Safety Network description of the accident, the Gulfstream Aerospace G-1159 Gulfstream II jet with registration N987SA crashed near Tixkokob in the northern part of the Yucatan Peninsula. ASN describes it as an "Illegal Flight" and reports that "When being chased by Mexican military helicopters, the crew carried out a crash-landing. No bodies were found in the wreckage, but soldiers found 132 bags containing about 3.6 tons (3.3. metric tons) of cocaine." Read more...

 

 

Pakistan Condemns U.S. Attack on Its Soil

Washington sends a clear message to Pakistan with attack that it had better accept the U.S.'s role in the world, in which it may do as it pleases with impunity.

 

Sept. 5 - Pakistan is furious at the U.S. after American forces crossed the border and conducted a military operation on Pakistani soil, prompting the Pakistani government to lodge a "strong protest" with the U.S. and declaring that it reserved the right to defend its territorial sovereignty and retaliate against any further such violations on its soil.

 

The attack took place in Jalal Khel, a village in South Waziristan near the border with Afghanistan and is reported to have resulted in the deaths of at least 20 people, though accounts vary.

 

A Taliban commander said that 15 people were killed in the attack, which he said involved three helicopters that flew troops onto Pakistani soil in a raid on the village. A Pakistani intelligence official told the New York Times that the helicopters had chased Taliban militants across the border, but that they had escaped.

 

The attack killed 20 people according to Owais Ahmed Ghani, the governor of Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province, and local residents said most victims were women and children.  He called the attack "a direct assault on the sovereignty of Pakistan. And the people of Pakistan expect that the Armed Forces of Pakistan would rise to defend the sovereignty of the country and give a befitting reply to all such attacks."

 

A Pakistani military spokesman, General Abbas, said seven people had been killed after U.S. forces opened fire on villagers. Locals told the BBC that at least nine bodies had been recovered from the debris after the U.S. forces bombed a house. They added that the family who lived there was not known for having links with militants.

 

A U.S. official told the New York Times acknowledged that several women had been killed, but said they were helping al Qaeda militants. He also acknowledged that at least one child had been killed (but declined to suggest the child, too, was a terrorist). Read more...

 

 

 

Research Archive: Georgia-Russia Conflict

Sept. 4 - A collection of articles on the Georgia-Russia conflict and U.S. policy has been posted to the research archive.

 

 

Pentagon Investigation of Civilian Deaths in Afghanistan at Odds With Other Accounts 

While the Pentagon, upon investigating itself in a limited inquiry, has insisted that only 5-7 civilians were killed in an airstrike in Herat on August 22, local eyewitness accounts and findings of Afghan and U.N. officials tell a different story.

 

Sept. 4 - The Pentagon issued a statement on Tuesday denying that scores of civilians had been killed in an airstrike in the village of Azizabad in Herat province, Afghanistan.

 

The August 22 airstrike killed as many as 90 civilians, according to Afghan officials. President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack, and U.N. officials said that there was "convincing evidence" supporting the high death estimate, which included 60 children.

 

The Pentagon responded to the charges by saying it would investigate the matter, while insisting at the same time that the attack "was a legitimate strike on a Taliban target." Having arrived at that conclusion before it began investigating itself, it is therefore no surprise that the Pentagon announced that it's initial inquiry indicated that only 5 civilians had been killed in the strike, along with 25 militants that included a Taliban commander.

 

The latest announcement on the completion of the investigation states, "Intense enemy fire justified actions taken by Afghan and U.S. forces during an Aug. 22 engagement in which several civilians and more than 30 Taliban fighters were killed in western Afghanistan". Combined Afghan and U.S. forces "began taking fire from Taliban militants", which "justified use of well-aimed small-arms fire and close-air support to defend the combined force" that killed "30 to 35 Taliban militants". The investigation, the Pentagon said, also "revealed evidence suggesting a known Taliban commander, Mullah Sadiq, was among them". It acknowledges that "Five to seven civilians were killed", disputing the figure given by Afghan and U.N. officials of 90 civilian deaths.

 

The investigation determined the casualty numbers "by observation of the enemy movements during the engagement as well as on-site observations immediately following the engagement." Statements were also taken "from more than 30 Afghan and U.S. participants" and "the investigating officer reviewed reports made by ground and air personnel during the engagement; video taken during the engagement; topographic photo comparisons of the area before and after the event, including analysis of burial sites; reports from local medical clinics and hospitals; intelligence reports; and physical data and photographs collected on the site".

 

The news release notes that coalition forces were "denied entry into the village" after the attack. Thus, "No other evidence that may have been collected by other organizations was provided to the U.S. investigating officer and therefore could not be considered in the findings".

 

The Pentagon's findings are contradicted by eyewitness reports from local Afghans and the findings of a U.N. investigation. Read more...

 

Nursing the Shan

Antonio Graceffo takes a look at health conditions amongst the Shan people of Burma and at the limited medical care they have access to.

 

by Antonio Graceffo

 

Sept. 3 - On a bamboo bed in a dark clinic at LoiTailang, a woman sits with her three children. One has a severe foot burn, which is all infected and ugly looking. It is very common for children in the rural villages to be burned when cooking pots overturn on the fire at the center of their hut. At the Loi Tailang temple there is a young monk who was horribly disfigured by similar burns which cover his face and head. A health worker explained to me that in the villages burns are often treated with a poultice of cow dung or with oil, both of which worsen the effects of the injuries.

 

The children sit on a single bamboo bed, beside their mother all day. They have no toys, no TV, and no books, nothing to occupy them at all. They just sit, in sad quiet, waiting for the head nurse, Paw Surgay to bring them their next free meal. The mother had a tremendous tumor on her right arm which was all white and discolored. The tumor itself was visible through the skin. It was the size of a lemon.

 

Paw Surgay tells me that the woman is HIV positive and suffering from advanced stages of TB. They are planning to surgically remove the tumor, but have to wait till the woman's other infections are under control.

 

Head nurse and chief of station since 1999, Paw Surgay from the Kerenni tribe, told me that when she first came to the Shan State Army headquarters at Loi Tailang ther was no clinic. “There was a home with some medicine and no staff.” She explained. “There were a few untrained medics who tried to help people.” Since taking over the clinic, Paw Surgay has invested, each year, in training more and more medical staff. Most receive their training at Dr. Cynthia’s clinic in Mae Sot.

 

Paw Surgay is one more bright face that we find amidst the ruble of the war in Burma. She is a young, attractive woman, who has dedicated her intelligence and diligence to helping others live. In this racist conflict, perhaps the most remarkable fact about Paw Surgay is that she isn't even Shan, she is Kerenni. She was able to let the question of race disappear and see the sick and needy simply as people. Read more...

 

In Shanland: Porter/Human Shield

The Burmese SPDC military forces raid Shan villages. They kill, they loot, and they rape. They foce Shan civilians to work as porters, slaves, human mine detectors and human shiels for combat troops.

 

See the new video, "Porter and Human Shield" and hear the story first hand from a Shan man, an amputee and one more victim of the SPDC.

 

Will the world please step in?

 

by Antonio Graceffo

 

 

 

US to Attack Iran 'within weeks' According to Dutch Newspaper

De Telegraaf has reported that the Dutch intelligence service AIVD has withdrawn infiltration and sabotage operations of Iran's weapon industry because of an expected U.S. airstrike to destroy Iran's nuclear program.

 

Sept. 2 - The Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf has reported that AIVD, the Dutch intelligence service, has been carrying out operations in Iran to infiltrate and sabotage its weapon industry.

 

The Jerusalem Post summarizes the De Telegraaf article as saying that "the Dutch operation had been 'extremely successful,' and had been stopped because the US military was planning to hit targets that were 'connected with the Dutch espionage action.' The impending air-strike on Iran was to be carried out by unmanned aircraft 'within weeks,' the report claimed, quoting 'well placed' sources." Read more... 

 

U.S. Denies Civilian Death Count in Afghan Air Strike

The Pentagon defends an airstrike earlier this month as a legitimate attack that killed 25 militants and only 5 civilians, after Afghan and U.N. officials said as many as 90 civilians had been killed, including 60 children.

 

Sept. 1 - The U.S. has denied that it killed 90 civilians in an airstrike in Herat province in Afghanistan on August 21.

 

President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack and United Nations officials have said that there is "convincing evidence" that the airstrike killed at least 90 civilians, including 60 children.

 

The Pentagon dismissed the criticism as "outrageous" and insisted that the attack "was a legitimate strike on a Taliban target."

 

Last week, the Pentagon held a news conference saying that it had completed a review of the strike and found that 25 militants had been killed, including a Taliban commander. 5 civilians had also been killed in the strike, according to the Pentagon account.

 

Haji Gul Ahmed, a resident of Azizabad, the village where the airstrike ocurred, told the Washington Post, "All of my relatives were killed in this bombing -- my cousins, my uncles, nieces, nephews, two of my daughters and my son." He and other villagers counted at least 75 residents who had been killed. "It was difficult for us to get to the bodies and to bury them. We buried five children in one grave and four children in another grave."

 

In May, according to Afghan officials, 42 civilians were killed in Herat province, including women and children.

 

The reported number of Afghan civilian deaths in the first half of 2008 is 255. Three airstrikes in July alone are reported to have killed as many as 78 civilians, including a July 6 attack that killed 27 people at a wedding party. 

 

The Plight of the Shan People of Burma

Genocide, Torture, and Ignorance: The Shan are dying and the world takes no notice.

 

by Antonio Graceffo 

 

Aug. 29 - “When I fled my village in Burma I had to leave my baby behind.  She was too small to survive the jungle.” says Nang Ga a 25 year old Shan tribe’s woman.

 

She hid in the jungle after the State Peace and Development Council, (SPDC) soldiers of the Burmese army demanded that one member from every family be forced to work as porters or be killed.

 

With tears filled eyes Ga says; “The SPDC said we weren’t allowed to go into the rice fields anymore. How could we survive if we couldn’t grow food?.. They told us if we ran away they would shoot us!”

 

Many westerners have never heard of the Shan, even though they are the largest ethnic minority group in Burma with a population of approximately seven million.

 

In a brutal war that has been going on for nearly sixty years the Burmese junta occupy Shan ethnic villages to control the rural populations.  Rape, torture, murder, slavery and forced relocation are common. Parents are often killed or separated from their children, leaving tens of thousands of orphans living in refugee camps in Thailand or IDP camps in Burma.

 

The Shan are not eligible for refugee status and as a result most work illegally as servants, laborers or prostitutes. Children, twelve years old or younger, eke out an existence as undocumented migrant workers in Thailand.

 

When the SPDC raided her village, Nan Ga’s husband, 21 year old Non Geet, was away from home, serving in the Shan State Army (SSA), a tribal defense force, battling for the independence of Shan State.

 

Nan Ga hid in the jungle for two months before being found by a SSA battalion. She was reunited with her husband at the rebel armies’ headquarters of Loi Tai Leng.

 

Nang Ga and Non Geet are among roughly 3,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) who have taken refuge at Loi Tai Leng. The base which is set high upon the ridgeline, on the Burmese side of the border with Thailand, is surrounded by minefields and guarded by several thousand rebel soldiers. Read more...

 

Agents of Nuclear Black Market Were C.I.A. Assets

At the urging of the U.S., the Swiss government destroyed evidence relating to the Tinner family's dealings with A.Q. Khan's underground network of nuclear proliferation, while government sources acknowledge that the Tinners were paid informants for the C.I.A.

 

A.Q. Khan

Aug. 28 - The New York Times reported earlier this week that Pascal Couchepin, the president of Switzerland, publicly confirmed that his government had deliberately destroyed computer files and other documentation of dealings of the Tinners, a family of Swiss engineers with suspected ties to Abdul Qadeer Khan, the Pakistani scientist responsible for Pakistan's nuclear weapon program and for developing a large nuclear black market that provided nuclear materials to a number of countries around the world.

Friedrich Tinner and his two sons, Urs and Marco, are suspected of having acted as middlemen in Khan's dealings with nations seeking nuclear technology, such as Libya and Iran. The reason for the destruction of evidence, according to Couchepin, was to prevent nuclear technology included in the documents, including plans for nuclear weapons, from ever falling into the hands of terrorists.

 

But five current and former officials of the Bush administration told the Times that the U.S. had requested that the files be destroyed "to hide evidence of a clandestine relationship between the Tinners and the C.I.A."

 

"Over four years, several of these officials said," reported the Times, "operatives of the C.I.A. paid the Tinners as much as $10 million, some of it delivered in a suitcase stuffed with cash. In return, the Tinners delivered a flow of secret information that helped end Libya's bomb program, reveal Iran's atomic labors and, ultimately, undo Dr. Khan's nuclear black market." Read more...

 

US Ambassador to UN's Contact with Zardari 'Unauthorized'

Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, gave "advice and help" to Asif Ali Zardari, who recently announced his bid to run for president of Pakistan at a time when the U.S. is maneuvering to retain its influence after Musharraf's resignation.

 

Aug. 28 - Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has had "unauthorized" contact with Asif Ali Zardari, who recently announced his bid to run for president of Pakistan.

 

Pervez Musharraf recently stepped down from the office after Zardari's Pakistan Peoples Party agreed with Nawaz Sharif, leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-N, agreed to seek his impeachment. Sharif announced earlier this week that his party would withdraw from the coalition government, citing broken agreements between he and Zardari, including Zardari's failure to work towards reinstating Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudry, former Supreme Court chief justice, and 60 other justices removed by Musharraf during his miscalculated attempt to consolidate his grip on power last November.

 

Khalilzad has been in touch with Zardari on the phone "several times a week for the past month" the New York Times reports, and had even planned to meet with him in Dubai while ostensibly on vacation. The trip was cancelled after Zardari himself told Richard A. Boucher, the assistant secretary of state for South Asia, that Khalilzad had been providing "advice and help". Read more...