Close US Bases

"The US Empire of Bases--at $102 billion a year already the world's costliest military enterprise--just got a good deal more expensive. As a start, on May 27, we learned that the State Department will build a new "embassy" in Islamabad, Pakistan, which at $736 million will be the second priciest ever constructed, only $4 million less, if cost overruns don't occur, than the Vatican City-sized one the Bush administration put up in Baghdad. The State Department was also reportedly planning to buy the five-star Pearl Continental Hotel (complete with pool) in Peshawar, near the border with Afghanistan, to use as a consulate and living quarters for its staff there.

Unfortunately for such plans, on June 9 Pakistani militants rammed a truck filled with explosives into the hotel, killing eighteen occupants, wounding at least fifty-five, and collapsing one entire wing of the structure. There has been no news since about whether the State Department is still going ahead with the purchase.

Whatever the costs turn out to be, they will not be included in our already bloated military budget, even though none of these structures is designed to be a true embassy--a place, that is, where local people come for visas and American officials represent the commercial and diplomatic interests of their country. Instead these so-called embassies will actually be walled compounds, akin to medieval fortresses, where American spies, soldiers, intelligence officials and diplomats try to keep an eye on hostile populations in a region at war. One can predict with certainty that they will house a large contingent of Marines and include roof-top helicopter pads for quick getaways.

While it may be comforting for State Department employees working in dangerous places to know that they have some physical protection, it must also be obvious to them, as well as the people in the countries where they serve, that they will now be visibly part of an in-your-face American imperial presence. We shouldn't be surprised when militants attacking the US find one of our base-like embassies, however heavily guarded, an easier target than a large military base.

And what is being done about those military bases anyway--now close to 800 of them dotted across the globe in other people's countries? Even as Congress and the Obama administration wrangle over the cost of bank bailouts, a new health plan, pollution controls and other much needed domestic expenditures, no one suggests that closing some of these unpopular, expensive imperial enclaves might be a good way to save some money"(1)

Footnote:

(1) http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090720/johnson

Iran election annulment ruled out

"Iran's legislative body, the Guardian Council, has said there were no major polling irregularities in the 12 June election and ruled out an annulment.

Opposition supporters called for the vote to be set aside and the elections re-run amid claims of vote tampering.

Iran has also condemned UN chief Ban Ki-moon for "meddling" in its affairs.

It comes after Mr Ban urged the authorities to respect fundamental civil rights "especially the freedom of assembly and expression".

Guardian Council spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhoda'i said there was "no major fraud or breach in the election".

Meanwhile, opposition candidate Mehdi Karoubi urged Iranians to mourn for dead protesters on Thursday."(1)

Interesting run of events in Iran

Footnote:

(1) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8114195.stm

Iraq's New Death Squad

Iraq has a new death squad it appears. Unlike the Ministry of Interior Shiite death-squads this one was actually CREATED by the US, rofl;

As Hassan tells it, it was a quiet night on June 10, 2008, in Sadr City, Baghdad's poor Shiite district of more than 2 million people, when the helicopter appeared over his house and the front door exploded, nearly burning his sleeping youngest son. Before Hassan knew it, he was on the ground, hands bound and a bag over his head, with eight men pointing rifles at him, locked and loaded.

At first he couldn't tell whether the men were Iraqis or Americans. He says he identified himself as a police sergeant, offering his ID before they took his pistol and knocked him to the ground. The men didn't move like any Iraqi forces he'd ever seen. They looked and spoke like his countrymen, but they were wearing American-style uniforms and carrying American weapons with night-vision scopes. They accused him of being a commander in the local militia, the Mahdi Army, before they dragged him off, telling his wife he was "finished." But before they left, they identified themselves. "We are the Special Forces. The dirty brigade," Hassan recalls them saying.

The Iraq Special Operations Forces (ISOF) is probably the largest special forces outfit ever built by the United States, and it is free of many of the controls that most governments employ to rein in such lethal forces. The project started in the deserts of Jordan just after the Americans took Baghdad in April 2003. There, the US Army's Special Forces, or Green Berets, trained mostly 18-year-old Iraqis with no prior military experience. The resulting brigade was a Green Beret's dream come true: a deadly, elite, covert unit, fully fitted with American equipment, that would operate for years under US command and be unaccountable to Iraqi ministries and the normal political process.

According to Congressional records, the ISOF has grown into nine battalions, which extend to four regional "commando bases" across Iraq. By December, each will be complete with its own "intelligence infusion cell," which will operate independently of Iraq's other intelligence networks. The ISOF is at least 4,564 operatives strong, making it approximately the size of the US Army's own Special Forces in Iraq. Congressional records indicate that there are plans to double the ISOF over the next "several years."

According to retired Lt. Col. Roger Carstens, US Special Forces are "building the most powerful force in the region." In 2008 Carstens, then a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, was an adviser to the Iraqi National Counter-Terror Force, where he helped set up the Iraqi counterterrorism laws that govern the ISOF.

"All these guys want to do is go out and kill bad guys all day," he says, laughing. "These guys are shit hot. They are just as good as we are. We trained 'em. They are just like us. They use the same weapons. They walk like Americans."(1)

Not surprising. We got a whiff of this previously(2).


Footnotes:

(1) http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090622/bauer?rel=emailNation

(2) http://www.sa.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=518&Itemid=106

Government still working - Harman

"Labour's deputy leader insisted the prime minister had a plan to lead the country and said that cabinet government was functioning normally."(1)

Really? Where is this plan?






Footnote:
(1) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8080412.stm

PM Brown Slobbers on Expenses Row

"power more accountable" - Brown in the interview I linked.

Saying that after 2 years in power is pretty much rubbish as far as I can see. Nothing on replacing the House of Lords, the Honours system and 'constitutional reform' as a whole.

Arab-Americans Framed by FBI

The four men arrested Wednesday night in what the authorities said was a plot to bomb two synagogues in the Bronx and shoot down military planes at an Air National Guard base in Newburgh, N.Y. were petty criminals who appeared to be acting alone, not in concert with any terrorist organization, the New York City police commissioner said Thursday.

Typical FBI work, as usual.

Another example of the US government's 'noble intentions' and dedication to the principles of justice, truth and honour

It's not like there are no FBI Agent provocateur' at demos either ;)

Two Labour peers face suspension

"Two Labour peers face suspension from Parliament for six months after being found guilty of misconduct.

Ex-trade minister Lord Truscott and Lord Taylor of Blackburn were accused by the Sunday Times of being willing to change laws in exchange for cash.

The two men denied the allegations but they now face sanctions following a probe by a House of Lords Committee.

Labour's leader in the House of Lords described the allegations against the two men as "very serious".

The Conservatives said the development represented a "bleak day" for the House of Lords."(1)

First MP expenses row(2) now this. Corruption in British politics won't end without an overhaul.

Footnotes:

(1) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8049412.stm

(2) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8049614.stm