MANILA, Feb 11 2013 (IPS) – After a year of intense diplomatic standoff and territorial brinkmanship among disputing states in the South and East China Seas, the U.S. military ‘pivot’ to the region appears to be in full swing – a move that could further aggravate an already combustible regional dynamic. Against the backdrop of …
Continue reading “US Arms Fuel Asian Tension”
Not far behind many of our arguments about the legal use of drones in warfare is the hope that we’ll wake up tomorrow and they’ll just go away. No more wedding parties mistaken for an al Qaeda rendezvous. No more homes obliterated, no more after-action justifications for why a child, or two, was among the …
Continue reading “Yo! Don’t Touch My Drone”
Insurgents targeted several checkpoints across the country. At least 26 were killed and 37 more were wounded, most of them security personnel, in those and other attacks.
In The Lord of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien’s classic fantasy trilogy, the center of evil in Middle Earth is the land of Mordor, a desolate and evil country. From there Sauron, the Dark Lord, sends out his spies and agents in pursuit of his goal: the conquest of the world of men, hobbits, …
Continue reading “Missiles From Mordor”
It has been proposed that Executive branch lethal operations against US citizens be filtered through some sort of assassination court. A moment’s reflection should make clear that the primary motivation for proposing this kangaroo "court" is to insulate senior elected and appointed bureaucrats from future criminal liability. Lethal operations against US citizens constitute murder. No …
Continue reading “Does the Drone War Need a Kangaroo Court?”
Last year more US troops died by suicide than died in combat in Afghanistan. More than 20 percent of military personnel deployed to combat will develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Some 32 percent of US soldiers reported depression after deployments. More than 20 percent of active-duty military are on potentially dangerous psychotropic drugs; many are …
Continue reading “Beware The Consequences of Pre-Emptive War”
New attacks left 11 dead and 13 wounded across the country. In Mosul, gunmen killed two policemen. A bomb targeting the parliamentary speaker’s convoy exploded but left no casualties. Two more policemen were killed in a separate small arms attack. An off-duty soldier was shot dead at an auto repair garage. One person was killed …
Continue reading “Eleven Killed Across Iraq”
As many as six people were killed and 50 more were wounded in a heavy mortar and rocket attack on a camp housing the Iranian dissident group Mujahedeen al-Khalq. Three Iraqi policemen were also wounded. Meanwhile, at least one Iraqi was killed and five others were wounded in separate violence.
Brennan talks with Obama in the president’s private dining room, 2010 (Photo: White House) John Brennan, the incoming director of the Central Intelligence Agency, told US senators last night that the CIA does not carry out covert drone strikes ‘to punish terrorists for past transgressions’. He insisted instead that they are only used ‘as a …
Continue reading “Incoming CIA Boss Says Covert Drone Strikes Are ‘Last Resort’”
Several blasts targeted Iraqi civilians in Baghdad and cities to the south. Overall, at least 38 people were killed and 106 more were wounded in the violence. Also, anti-government rallies continued in Sunni-populated regions, including the major cities of Samarra, Mosul, Tikrit, Falluja and Ramadi.
