SEAL Pay vrs. CEO Pay

Not only do they reap huge wealth, even more over the previous decade from their investments in the defense establishment, they and the american public have not been forced, nor Demanded, to Sacrifice for our brother and sister Veterans of these two wars of choice, for a decade plus now, continuing the decades prior to!!

GRAPH: An Average CEO At America’s Big Corporations Earns 200 Times The Salary Of A Navy SEAL

After the killing of Osama Bin Laden at a compound in a suburb of Islamabad, Pakistan, much of the nation’s focus has turned to the men in our military who were responsible for the raid. The combat team that attacked Bin Laden’s compound was composed of an elite unit of Navy SEALS.

As economist Dean Baker points out, ABC News did a feature story about the SEALs to highlight the sacrifices those enlisted in the unit make. ABC compared their base salaries of $54,000 a year to the average annual salary for teachers. Baker notes that perhaps their salaries should be compared to Wall Street CEOs who earn tens of millions of dollars: {continued}

War News Radio: Made in Afghanistan

May 6th, 2011 - This week on War News Radio, " Made in Afghanistan,” we hear the final part of a two part report on the Afghan rug trade. Then, we examine American attitudes towards Osama bin Laden’s death. Finally, we learn about China’s investment role in Afghanistan. But first, a round up of this week's news.

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Father Seeks Release of U.S. Afghan POW Spc. Bowe Bergdahl

Father of captured soldier seeks Pakistan's help

May 7, 2011 - In a rare public appeal, the father of a U.S. soldier held captive in the Afghan war has sought the help of Pakistan's military in securing the release of Spc. Bowe Bergdahl.

Idaho resident Bob Bergdahl, in a video post on YouTube, directly addresses Pakistan Army Chief of Staff Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Lieutenant-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, the head of the country's intelligence service.

"Our family is counting on your professional integrity and your honor to secure the safe return of our son," he said. "And we thank you. Our family knows the high price that has been paid by your men in the army and the frontier corps. We give our condolences and thanks to the families of those who have fallen for Pakistan."

Bowe Bergdahl's parents have declined to say much publicly since he went missing from his base in southern Afghanistan on June 30, 2009. He is the only American soldier being held in the war. {continued}

May 6, 2011 - Robert Bergdahl, father of Bowe, presents his plea to Pakistani Government to release his son

Moms Who Serve

A Mother's Day Salute

6 May 2011 - Meet three amazing women who are striving to balance two duties: family and country

When we think about our armed forces and the sacrifices they make, we probably don't think about this: 72,682 are mothers.

These active-duty moms serve in every branch, at home and overseas, on land and at sea, in nearly every military specialty. Since the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, 212,000 women have been deployed there and to Afghanistan, thousands of whom have children back home.

The work is sweaty, dangerous and demanding. But it also is rewarding: A 2008 study reports the No. 1 reason women stay in the armed forces is job satisfaction.

This Mother's Day, we profile three remarkable women warriors. All three are moms and war veterans. One is now in Afghanistan. Moms such as Juanita Wilson, who has served 16 years, even after losing a hand in Iraq. All three have relied heavily on spouses, along with other family, for support during their deployments. Surely, the challenges are especially monumental for the military's 23,500 single mothers.

“I'm so proud of what she does,” says Kenyah Wilson, 12, Juanita's daughter.

So are we. Here is Juanita's story, along with two of her fellow mothers in arms. {continued}

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!
As Well To The Spouses Of Our Military Personal!!

Paying for our wars {not to mention Results Of}

Al Franken U.S. Senator: Senate Update: Paying for our wars

May 05, 2011 - Over the last nine years, we’ve spent well over one trillion dollars on Iraq and Afghanistan, and we’ve had to borrow nearly every penny of it, which is why I’ve introduced legislation to require that spending on new wars be paid for.

My “Pay for War” bill basically says that if we spend money on a new war we must pay for that spending. My bill does not specify how we should pay for our wars. It leaves that up to Con­gress. But paying for our wars will have several key benefits for our country.

First, the financial cost of war will be clear, not hidden. The result of borrowing for our wars is that the public gets the mistaken impression that going to war requires no financial sacrifice. And we know that that’s just not true.

snip

Finally, all Americans, not just the military, should feel the cost of war. A huge gap has grown between the majority of the American people and the small proportion that serves in the military. So much sacrifice has been asked of them and their families, yet so little of the rest of us. {continued}

The Osama Bin Laden File

The National Security Archive at George Washington University has been releasing numerous Government documents and reports the past couple of days on bin Laden, our Government as related to him and that region especially Pakistan. The criminal cronies, both in and out of the Government at the time they took over from the Clinton administration to 9/11 and beyond have been coming out of the closet, including their talking heads, trying to justify their policies, especially as to torture, illegal by our laws and the international laws we help establish, that they should share in the take down of bin Laden or should receive the glory from.

Frankly they're raising more questions by their tactic, questions that have been there the whole past decade some being answered with hard evidence that has leaked out and coming from the Iraq War Inquiries.

If their torture tactics, which caused greater damage to the soldiers sent into these two theaters in blowback, worked so great Why were they not taking any little leads, like the one the press keeps running to and following them to establish better intelligence?

Why, after greatly increasing the billions sent to Pakistan that that country wasn't much much more involved in seeking out bin Laden and al Qaeda?

Why did bush stop the Tora Bora operation?

Why did bush admit he rarely thought about bin Laden?

And one real big question, Why were they seeking to take down Saddam and talking about doing so before 9/11, on 9/11 and directly after 9/11, leading to abandoning Afghanistan to fester and grow and destroy Iraq and it's people?

Why did it take, and cause a couple of more years of delay, the new administration to dig up a few little nuggets of information from the previous years and add that to the intelligence gathering they implemented to find bin Laden and take him out?

So many more questions and in a Country that doesn't seek Accountability in it's arrogance and apathy while condemning others for similar!

One more question, why are the bigger mainstream media outlets just hanging on the one report about one little tidbit of intelligence to seemingly not only justify our total collapse into ignoring our laws and moral compass, that we use in condemning others, and not asking the hard questions of why it caused delay and took longer to find and take out the leader of the Original Mission bin Laden and to try and weaken and destroy al Qaeda instead of helping them in their recruiting in Afghanistan, Iraq and the region as well as around the planet

Pakistan's Bin Laden Policy

Declassified Documents Show Pakistani Refusal to Help Apprehend Terrorist before 9/11

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 344 Posted - May 5, 2011

1998 State Deparment talking points describe unsuccessful efforts, through Pakistan, to have Bin Laden expelled from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

May 5, 2011 - As the discovery of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, raises fresh questions about U.S.-Pakistan relations, newly released documents show that as early as 1998 U.S. officials concluded the Government of Pakistan "is not disposed to be especially helpful on the matter of terrorist Usama bin Ladin." According to previously secret U.S. documents, Pakistani officials repeatedly refused to act on the Bin Laden problem, despite mounting pressure from American authorities. Instead, in the words of a U.S. Embassy cable, Pakistani sources "all took the line that the issue of bin Ladin is a problem the U.S. has with the Taliban, not with Pakistan."

The documents in this compilation – part of the National Security Archive's developing Osama Bin Laden File – were obtained by the Archive through the Freedom of Information Act. They reveal a history of "disappointment that Pakistan … a good friend of the U.S., was not taking steps to help with Usama bin Ladin (UBL.)" {continued with backlinks to further docs and reports}

The Osama Bin Laden File

Energy Efficiencies in Afghanistan

Marines Prove Energy Efficiencies in Afghanistan

Marines and sailors of India Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, and their Afghan army counterparts pose in front of a modified ZeroBase Regenerator -- solar panels -- at Patrol Base Sparks in the Sangin district of Afghanistan’s Helmand province, Jan. 12, 2011. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Gunnery Sgt. William Price

May 5, 2011 – There’s a peculiar sight on Forward Operating Base Jackson in the Sangin district of Afghanistan’s Helmand province. The base is one of several in southern Afghanistan where the Marine Corps has set up solar panels and uses solar blankets as sources of renewable energy.

Col. Robert “Brutus” Charette Jr., director of expeditionary energy for the Marine Corps, is working to ensure that deploying such sources of renewable energy become standard procedure. But he admits it hasn’t come easy.

When 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, received orders last year to deploy to Afghanistan, experiments in environmentalism did not come to mind.

“When we told them they’d be taking renewables to the battlefield, they were not amused,” Charette told an audience at an energy, environment, defense and security conference here yesterday.

That was before they trained in renewable energy at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, Calif. -- before they’d proven the Corps’ new position that resource efficiency equals combat effectiveness.

At first, the Marines grudgingly accepted the solar panels and other renewable energy sources, saying they could go on “a slow boat to Afghanistan,” Charette said. After they trained with the equipment and experienced the efficiency of lighter packs and less reliance on resupplies, they said to put all of it on the planes, he said.

“That’s when I knew we had something,” he added. {continued}

"The Second Day"

Teen makes documentary of 9/11 memory
May 5, 2011 - As part of our continuing series "Assignment America," Steve Hartman meets 14-year-old Brook Peters, who produced a documentary called "The Second Day," based on his own memory of being a child just blocks from ground zero on that fateful day.



May 5 2011 - Movie looks at 9/11 through a child's eyes
Teenager who went to kindergarten blocks from ground zero puts his memories on film

Now that Obama got Osama

From a 'Nam Vet to the Pres.

Bring 'em Home, It's Time



And to the Country, Pony up and take care of them and their Families, that's decades past time but especially this past decade and these two Wars of Choice!

And keep our promise to Afghanistan, adding Iraq too, that we help them rebuild!!

Navy Vets Scam Artist Formally Charged

Whereabouts still unknown, his girlfriend was captured in the Charlotte airport last year as she was between flights and ready to board one, nothing more heard about her since.

'Charity' chief who donated to top politicians is charged over $20m Navy vets scam

GOP supporter: Records show that Bobby Charles Thompson, pictured with George W. Bush, gave largely to Republican causes

2nd May 2011 - A man who headed a fundraising group for U.S. Navy veterans has been charged with aggravated theft, money laundering, identity fraud and corruption.

Bobby Charles Thompson, who gave himself the rank of lieutenant commander, ran the nationwide non-profit group the U.S. Navy Veterans Association.

Donations solicited by telemarketers poured into the organisation from around the country, mostly individual gifts under $50.

High profile names: Thompson with Sen. John McCain and Cindy McCain, far right

They amounted to tens of millions of dollars intended for veterans' needs and other military causes.

Thompson and NAVPAC, his political action committee, gave lavishly to more than 50 candidates in 16 states — most of them Republicans, records show.

The money gave him direct access to some of the leading politicians in America.

He has been pictured alongside former President George W. Bush, his adviser Karl Rove, former presidential candidate Senator John McCain and several others.

In all the photos he is seen smiling broadly through an unkempt black beard and moustache.

The charges against him were filed in Ohio where authorities say he donated nearly $300,000 to political causes. {continued}

This scumbag was playin with the very high rollers in this country and none of them saw fit to check out who he was or asked about the huge contributions, rove and company apparently play that if you got the cash that's fine with them, no questions asked!!!!!

`Inside Job'

AIR DATE: May 4, 2011
Oscar-Winning `Inside Job' Director Attacks Economists' Ties to Financial Sector

SUMMARY
As part of his continuing coverage of Making Sen$e of financial news, Paul Solman reports on the aftermath of the financial crisis and how the Academy Award-winning documentary, "Inside Job" is influencing some leading economic thinkers. The film raises concerns about conflicts of interest for economists in academics. Transcript

He's the CiC: Eight reasons why

Eight reasons why Obama was right not to release photos of Osama bin Laden's body

President Obama listens during one in a series of meetings discussing the mission against Osama bin Laden, in the Situation Room of the White House, May 1.

President Obama said today he decided not to release photos of Osama Bin Laden's body that were taken to confirm his identity after he was killed. Here are eight reasons why he's right. {continue to reasons}

For the 'kombat keyboarders', the release of the photo's and video's, i.e. Saddam hanging, during the cowboy pretend rambo bush admin got Soldiers killed and maimed and are one of many, most not needed when a small country is occupied and family/friends are getting blown up or gunned down by the occupiers, recruiting tools used. In these times of retaliatory/blowback criminal terrorism, started long before 9/11, it also does same to civilians in country and anywhere international criminal terrorist can move.

At different times, without use of this type of quick technology, it did same, such as for those of us who served in 'Nam. Photo's of prominent kills or the misuse of a dead body or body parts enhanced the fight back by those who country we occupied. Just the knowledge of bin Ladens death will create blowback for some but not as much as if photo's etc. go viral!

If you can't grasp that then it's damn lucky for this country you didn't join the military!!

A Symbol of the Nation's Mood

So do some of us Americans! Especially when they are being done by many who have yet been asked to 'Sacrifice' and certainly they haven't 'Demanded' to, for over a decade now, as those of 9/11, Survivors of, the First Responders, the Police and Firemen/women and all in those communities, and Especially the Soldiers and their Families!!!!!

'Europeans Find the Ground Zero Celebrations Somewhat Embarrassing'

The death of Osama bin Laden has raised important questions about how far a country can go in the desire for revenge. In a SPIEGEL ONLINE interview, German political scientist Herfried Münkler discusses whether democracies can carry out targeted killings and talks about the "unthinking naïveté" of the American celebrations at Ground Zero. {continued}

Mostly college age kids, not joining the service, their parents and granparents not sacrificing and on and on. I understand some of the points some are making, they grew up in this time, but for us Veterans especially, some, it's DeJa-Vu all over again, us 'Nam Vets, and is just more of the magnetic ribbons, lapel flag pins, purple heart bandages, I'm an In Country 'Nam Navy Vet, and the rest of the whole 'Support the Troops!' phony and hypocritical meme's. Add on many who Are serving are doing so as non-citizens, bringing in the condemnation of immigrants, yet of this country and many of those have been killed and maimed.

‘We’ Got Him

May 3, 2011 - In early November 2004, I kissed my husband goodbye as he left for his first deployment to Afghanistan. I told him, my voice trembling as he walked toward the war, “Go and kill Bin Laden.”

Seven and a half years later, after three deployments to Afghanistan and five elsewhere, we learned with the rest of the world that the terrorism mastermind was dead. We watched on television as people around the country waved flags and sang the national anthem, celebrating the end of a man who had caused so much pain for so many.

snip

But watching the spontaneous celebrations outside the White House and ground zero, we were struck by the paradox inherent in the cheering crowds. People, mostly in their 20s and 30s — the same age as our friends who have died and been forever injured — were cheering, “We got him!”

We.

For nearly a decade of war, it hasn’t felt much like “we.” During this, the longest war in our nation’s history, a war fought by less than 1 percent of the population, the rest of the country has seemed mostly to ignore those of us in the military community, tuning in only for our scandals or deaths. And so “we,” in the context of victory, most accurately applies only to the very small number of men and women who have given more than any of us had a right to ask. {continued}

They start demanding 'Sacrifice' especially from the wealthy who've Really profited this past decade, and fully fund the VA, not done since Korea, as they don't complain about the ever growing defense budgets then they can cheer U.S.A. U.S.A. all they want!! That fully funding would have already been saving monies, the big show of false conservatism is the blocking of that full funding these past decades and not only as to the VA!

Green Design:

Top 10 Smartest Buildings

05/ 4/11 - This week I am writing my article in a hotel that shall remain nameless -- it is 40-plus floors high, with a complete glass façade, lights on wherever you walk and air conditioning blowing in each room. This building is LEED certified. For those of you unfamiliar with the LEED certification, it is 'an internationally recognized green building certification system, providing third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies intended to improve performance in metrics such as energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.' The hotel labels itself a green building and advertises the fact in its marketing materials, building signage and even in the elevators.

This got me thinking about the sustainable-design movement that is now becoming such an integral part of our lives: the simple idea that by choosing materials and systems that do less harm to the environment, this hotel considers itself a 'green building.'

Story continues

PBS Frontline: Fighting for bin Laden

A Special Report - 3 May 2011 - Two days after Osama bin Laden's death, FRONTLINE presents this special report with inside access to the two biggest fronts in the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

First, correspondents Stephen Grey and Martin Smith go inside The Secret War and uncover new details of CIA-funded Afghan militas tasked with guarding the border, gathering intelligence and launching kill raids against the insurgents and their Al Qaeda allies. Based in Afghanistan, their work is focused on Pakistan.

A former commander of one of these teams, the Khost Protection Force (KPF), tells FRONTLINE about how the team crosses the Afghan border into Pakistan's tribal areas. Under the protection of drone aircraft, they fire mortars against Taliban and Al Qaeda targets inside Pakistan.


More Related Links to Report

Over the past decade plus we have created the next generations of bin Ladens and followers of same through our own terror waged in Wars of Choice!

Restoring 'America's Honor' {?}

Restoring 'America's Honor' means living by ours and those international
Laws we helped write, that means Torture is Illegal and Inhumane, any
torture not just water boarding, which by the way is Not a fun
experience, just ask any of us who've gone through CI/SERE training,
that's why they use it in the training.

Bin Laden death gives U.S. upper hand against al Qaida

May 3: Malcolm Nance, former master instructor and chief of training at the Navy`s Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape School (the SERE School), talks with Rachel Maddow about the infrastructure of al-Qaida and the importance of Islamic democracy and the role of human intelligence in finding Osama bin Laden.

Those who support torture or are now arguing, especially from the previous administration and their propaganda channel FOX, the false meme's that it was the way we got bin Laden have joined the ranks of those we've condemned for decades that do and the previous administration is known to have used in their extremely failed policies. You also have taken away any condemnation if our Soldiers are Captured or citizens grabbed and they are then tortured, you also are a very sick human individual. Those who do the torture tend to start enjoying what they're doing which moves them to the extreme of the human community!

We've created the next generations of bin Ladens during the past decade!

And to those trying to cram their extremist constantly changing, religious beliefs down our throats, i.e. a 'christian' nation, i.e. especially protestants who claim they follow the teachings of Jesus alone, and praise torture, just think? of the beatings, the crown of thorns, the carrying of the cross and the nailing to that cross to slowly die, All Torture! That worked well for the Romans now didn't it!!!!!

Playing for Change: PFC 2 Trailer

Playing for Change: We spent all of last year traveling the world, growing the family and creating PFC 2, a collection of 10 new Songs Around the World (audio and video) including over 150 musicians from 25 countries.

Check the PFC 2 Album Trailer. These videos open the door and we all walk through together. Music is our ammunition!

Profiling bin Laden

THE OSAMA BIN LADEN FILE

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 343 Posted - May 2, 2011

Washington, D.C., May 2, 2011 - The Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, killed in Pakistan by U.S. special operations forces yesterday, ranked as “one of the most significant financial sponsors of Islamic terrorist activities in the world” as early as 1996, according to declassified U.S. documents posted on the web today by the National Security Archive at George Washington University.

The Osama Bin Laden File includes the CIA’s 1996 biographic sketch, the infamous President’s Daily Brief from 6 August 2001 warning “Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US,” a State Department issue paper from 2005 reporting that “some Taliban leaders operate with relative impunity in some Pakistan cities,” the 400-page Sandia National Laboratories profile of Bin Laden focusing on the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, the 2006 State Department cable on the Taliban’s regrouping in Pakistan’s tribal areas making them “a sanctuary beyond the reach of either Government,” the demands made on Pakistan right after 9/11 by Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, and the only known conversation between the U.S. government and the Taliban leader Mullah Omar.

* * *

President's Daily Brief, August 6, 2001, "Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US" {click on doc for 2page pdf}

One of the earlier publicly available documentary mentions of Bin Laden comes from a 1996 CIA bio sketch entitled “Usama Bin Laden: Islamic Extremist Financer.” It describes Bin Laden, “who joined the Afghan resistance movement in 1979,” as “one of the most significant financial sponsors of Islamic extremist activities in the world.” According to The New York Times, during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the CIA actually helped Bin Laden – who supplied construction equipment from his family’s company in Saudi Arabia – to construct the Tora Bora complex as a base to fight the Soviets. According to Bin Laden, “The [Mujahidin’s] weapons were supplied by the Americans, the money by the Saudis.”

Almost a decade later, Bin Laden would make good use of his earlier investment. A 1997 State Department cable reported that he had likely retreated into hiding at Tora Bora, stating "bin Ladin had lived in caves south of Jalalabad in Tora Bora and the Taliban had become suspicious." In December 2001, US troops engaged in a fierce firefight at Tora Bora, hoping to smoke out the Al Qaeda leader. The Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters were overrun but Bin Laden was not among the killed or captured.

The earlier CIA bio indicates that after the 1989 victory over the Soviets, Bin Laden, while living in Saudi Arabia and Sudan, created “a network of al-Qaida recruitment centers and guesthouses in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan and has enlisted and sheltered thousands of Arab recruits.” The document also accused Bin Laden of “providing financial support” for the 1992 bombings against US servicemen in Somalia, “at least three terrorist training camps in Sudan” and one in Afghanistan, and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. {more with backlinks to further docs and info.}

Just one of the Documents linked

1999 Sandia National Laboratories: Profile of Bin Laden

From the Sandia National Laboratories

Detective work - bin Laden

This is what should have happened directly after and as to 9/11! Terrorism is a criminal offense, international criminal terrorism is an international crime. We had the backing of most of the World then, meaning working with them and their resources added to ours. There should never have been Iraq and all that went with that as well as the added recruiting tools in Afghanistan. Once the Taliban were driven from there we should have worked to reign in the ghost al Qaeda while helping to rebuild Afghanistan after decades of war destruction, as we promised. But we walked away once again, like we did after the Afghan/Soviet debacle, rest is the present history as we created the next generations of bin Ladens!!

Detective work led to breakthrough on bin Laden

May 3, 2011 - For years, the agonizing search for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden kept coming up empty. Then last July, Pakistanis working for the CIA drove up behind a white Suzuki navigating the bustling streets near Peshawar, Pakistan, and wrote down the car's license plate.

The man in the car was bin Laden's most trusted courier, and over the next month CIA operatives would track him throughout central Pakistan. Ultimately, administration officials said, he led them to a sprawling compound about 35 miles from the Pakistani capital.

On a moonless night eight months later, 79 U.S. commandos in four helicopters descended on the compound, the officials said. Shots rang out. A helicopter stalled and wouldn't take off. Pakistani authorities, kept in the dark by their U.S. allies, scrambled jets as the American commandos rushed to finish their mission and leave. The body of Osama bin Laden, America's enemy No. 1, was placed in a helicopter and flown away.

The raid was the culmination of years of painstaking intelligence work, including the interrogation of CIA detainees in secret prisons. Intelligence agencies eavesdropped on telephone calls and emails of the courier's Arab family and pored over satellite images of the compound in Abbottabad to determine whether a raid would be worth the risk.

Administration officials split over whether to launch the operation, whether to wait and continue monitoring until they were more sure that bin Laden was there, or whether to go for a less risky airstrike. In the end, President Barack Obama opted against a bombing that could do so much damage it might be uncertain whether bin Laden was really hit. Instead, he chose to send in commandos. {continued}

Simply put, Clinton did use intelligence agencies pre 9/11 when we didn't have the use of others as united in a search for but may have been sharing some possible intelligence finds.

The bush didn't when we had the World's total backing after 9/11, they sought to destroy an innocent country and people as they talked about doing prior to on the day of and the years after.

Obama did use intelligence agencies, for an almost clean takedown, one helo lost, whether others were involved we'll probably never know but be assured others who have had criminal terror attacks on their countries people were as active as we were under this administration so you can bet there was much more sharing from those rebuffed by the previous admin!

By the way, as to Pakistan, I believe some in that country knew where he was and probably were helping him. But remember the criminal terror elements within our own borders, one mentioned last night on Rachel's show, the uni-bomber, and how long it took to finally capture him.

Olbermann:

Osama Bin Laden Death Will Rearrange Political Landscape

Now, long forgotten, 'Mission Accomplished'?

On May 1st, An Infuriating Anniversary, the day of the Mission Accomplished' Speech and Banner as to Iraq eight years prior, the War of Choice, that turned the Afghan Operation into same, nothing to do with 9/11 al Qaeda nor bin Laden, the Afghan 'Mission is Finally Accomplished', bin Laden dead, after creating possibly thousands of bin Ladens seeking blowback!

Tens of thousands dead, millions turned into refugee's, lives and countries destroyed, and still no 'Sacrifice' as to the results for the Veterans of nor Accountability for the lies of those who ordered the destructive decade plus, Still Ongoing!! Bring the Troops Home and take care of All of them and their families when they return!!

A decade of much more already said, and much will be said over the days to come, as a Country, not willing to 'Sacrifice' for the results of what's been done, starts celebrating{?}!

Few doing so had anything to do directly with either war nor knew anyone who gave their all, Soldiers and Families of, killed in action, multiple tours in two theaters, wounded physically and mentally!

Iraq resolves legal battles over torture

The double standard of the U.S. mindset, now widely known! Wonder how much the many Iraqi's, in our hands, will settle for if even having the chance to seek retribution and for much much more then just torture and mistreatment, and the citizens here are willing to pay!

Lawmakers approve $400 million payment to settle U.S. lawsuits

May 01, 2011 - Iraqi lawmakers approved a controversial $400 million settlement Saturday for Americans who claim they were abused by Saddam Hussein's regime during the 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

The settlement is part of a deal reached between Baghdad and Washington last year to end years of legal battles by U.S. citizens who claim they were tortured or traumatized, including hundreds held as human shields.

Many Iraqis consider themselves victims of both Hussein's regime and the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and wonder why they should pay for wrongs committed by the ousted dictator.

Lawmakers approved the settlement by a majority after listening to the foreign and finance ministers as well as the head of the central bank describe why it was necessary, said Abbas al-Bayati of the State of Law political bloc.

Another lawmaker, Mahmoud Othman, said by approving the settlement, Iraq would be protecting itself from more lawsuits in the future that could have been well above the $400 million that was agreed to.

''They explained very well what was the settlement and how it will be negative if we don't approve it,'' he said. ''That's why people were persuaded.''

Lawmakers affiliated with anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr rejected the settlement, said one of the bloc's legislators, Hakim al-Zamili. Al-Zamili said he was surprised that so many lawmakers who had been arguing against the legislation before Saturday's session reversed course at the last minute.

''It's better to compensate the Iraqi martyrs and detainees than the Americans,'' he said. {continued}

Tell me lies

Title above comes from a post by a brother Vietnam Vet BOHICA.

30 April 2011 - A few years ago I ran across the Adrian Mitchell poem "To whom it may concern" on Youtube. It was filmed at the International Poetry Incarnation in Royal Albert Hall, London (1965). I have read it many times at rallies and in schools, a very powerful statement that is so very relevant today with a few additional additional lies added at the end.

Anyway, one day my friend Malcolm was noodling around on his guitar and playing a piece he wrote called "Pale". The light bulb went up over my head! "To whom it may concern" would go great with this. Couple days later I set up my laptop and recorded the guitar part. Went home and dubbed the poem over the music with a few sound effects and mixed it down to a mp3 file. I've been considering adding images and making a video out of it and finally stopped procrastinating and upgraded my video editing program to a more current version that is much faster and has a Youtube upload function.

The results after the Fleur-de-Kos. {continued}

Went to a Brothers Wake yesterday, 41 years later!

Closure for family of Vietnam soldier missing for 41 years



The Charlotte Observer has some photo's of the procession from Charlotte and the ceremonies earlier in the day, he will be buried today.



Takin about them 'Lies', today marks a day of the somewhat recent, two years shy of a decade. I posted a few days ago and Meteor Blades did a followup cut on the front page open thread.