Posted in iraq war, tagged Curveball, iraq war on February 18, 2011| 3 Comments »
Joschka Fischer accuses former CIA chief George Tenet over his knowledge of Iraqi defector’s sketchy background
Helen Pidd in Berlin guardian.co.uk,
Thursday 17 February 2011 14.08 GMT
Germany‘s former foreign minister Joschka Fischer has accused the former head of the CIA George Tenet of making implausible claims about the handling of the Curveball case by the US.
On Wednesday Tenet, the director of central intelligence between 1997 and 2004, issued a statement on his website saying he discovered “too damn late” that Curveball – the Iraqi defector who became a key source for the CIA and the German secret service (BND) – might be a fabricator.
Reprinting an extract from his autobiography, Tenet claimed he only found out in 2005, two years after the Iraq invasion, that the BND had doubts about Curveball’s claims to have witnessed first-hand Saddam Hussein’s bio-weapons programme.
Colin Powell demands answers over Curveball
Former US secretary of state asks why CIA failed to warn him over Iraqi defector who has admitted fabricating WMD evidence
Posted in Afghanistan war, America, Troops, war, tagged American dead, American soldiers, body bags, iraq war, Vietnam War on December 12, 2010| 1 Comment »
by Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch.com, Dec 7, 2010
America’s heroes? Not so much. Not anymore. Not when they’re dead, anyway.
Remember as the invasion of Iraq was about to begin, when the Bush administration decided to seriously enforce a Pentagon ban, in existence since the first Gulf War, on media coverage and images of the American dead arriving home at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware? In fact, the Bush-era ban did more than that. As the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank wrote then, it “ended the public dissemination of such images by banning news coverage and photography of dead soldiers’ homecomings on all military bases.”
For those whose lives were formed in the crucible of the Vietnam years, including the civilian and military leadership of the Bush era, the dead, whether ours or the enemy’s, were seen as a potential minefield when it came to antiwar opposition or simply the loss of public support in the opinion polls. Admittedly, many of the so-called lessons of the Vietnam War were often based on half-truths or pure mythology, but they were no less powerful or influential for that.
Posted in Afghanistan war, America, iraq war, Troops, war, tagged Afghanistan war, illegal wars, iraq war, occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, Robert Jensen, U.S. military on August 24, 2010| 1 Comment »
by Robert Jensen, CommonDreams.org, August 23, 2010
When the 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division rolled out of Iraq last week, the colonel commanding the brigade told a reporter that his soldiers were “leaving as heroes.”
While we can understand the pride of professional soldiers and the emotion behind that statement, it’s time for Americans — military and civilian — to face a difficult reality: In seven years of the deceptively named “Operation Iraqi Freedom” and nine years of “Operation Enduring Freedom” in Afghanistan, no member of the U.S. has been a hero.
This is not an attack on soldiers, sailors, and Marines. Military personnel may act heroically in specific situations, showing courage and compassion, but for them to be heroes in the truest sense they must be engaged in a legal and morally justifiable conflict. That is not the case with the U.S. invasions and occupations of Iraq or Afghanistan, and the social pressure on us to use the language of heroism — or risk being labeled callous or traitors — undermines our ability to evaluate the politics and ethics of wars in a historical framework.
Continues >>
Posted in iraq war, Tony Blair, tagged death of Dr David Kelly, Dr David Kelly, iraq war, Lord Hutton inquiry, Tony Blair on June 30, 2010| Leave a Comment »
by Miles Goslett and Stephen Frost, Daily Mail/UK, June 26, 2010
The official story of Dr David Kelly is that he took his own life in an Oxfordshire wood by overdosing on painkillers and cutting his left wrist with a pruning knife.
He was said to be devastated after being unmasked as the source of the BBC’s claim that the Government had ‘sexed up’ the case for war in Iraq.
A subsequent official inquiry led by Lord Hutton into the circumstances leading to the death came to the unequivocal conclusion that Kelly committed suicide.
Yet suspicions of foul play still hang heavy over the death of the weapons expert whose body was found seven years ago next month in one of the most notorious episodes of Tony Blair’s premiership.
Posted in iraq, iraq war, Uncategorized, tagged British soldiers, iraq, iraq war, killing of Baha Mousa, Lieutenant Colonel Nicholas Mercer and Iraqi detainees, war crimes on April 29, 2010| 1 Comment »
Intelligence officer says officers did not know rules on treatment of prisoners and one tried to mount ‘arse-covering exercise’ after Baha Mousa’s death
Richard Norton-Taylor, The Guardian/UK, April 27, 2010
Baha Mousa, a Basra hotel worker, was beaten to death in 2003 while in the custody of 1 Battalion Queen’s Lancashire Regiment. Photograph: Liberty/PAAn officer of the regiment detaining Baha Mousa, a Basra hotel worker, when he was beaten to death said his soldiers held the view that “all Iraqis were scum”, it was disclosed today.
One officer tried to mount an “arse covering” exercise after Mousa’s death, while others expressed ignorance of basic rules covering the treatment of prisoners, the public inquiry into the incident heard.
Posted in iraq war, Uncategorized, tagged AIPAC, Code Pink, demonstrations, iraq war, Jews against Zionism, zionism on March 26, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Posted in iraq, iraq war, Tony Blair, war, war crimes, tagged Chilcot inquiry, Clare Short, iraq war, Tony Blair, Tony Blair's lies on February 3, 2010| 3 Comments »
Clare Short arriving to give evidence at the Iraq inquiry. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Clare Short, the former international development secretary, today accused Tony Blair of lying to her and misleading parliament in the build-up to the Iraq invasion.
Short, giving evidence to the Chilcot inquiry into the war, also said that the 2003 conflict had put the world in greater danger of international terrorism.
Declassified letters between Short and Blair released today show she believed that invading Iraq without a second UN resolution would be illegal and there was a significant risk of a humanitarian catastrophe.
• Letter from Short to Blair on the UN and US roles in post-conflict Iraq, 5 March 2003 (pdf).
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Posted in iraq war, Tony Blair, war, war crimes, tagged George Galloway, inquiry, iraq war, protesters, Stop the War Coalition, Tony Blair, war crimes on January 30, 2010| 2 Comments »
A sea of placards filled Parliament Square on Friday morning
“Blair lied, thousands died.” That was the chant which reverberated around Parliament Square on Friday as former prime minister Tony Blair gave evidence to the Iraq inquiry.
Even from the safety of the Queen Elizabeth II centre, where he had been spirited by his security detail hours before the inquiry was due to start, Mr Blair could not have failed to hear the fury of the hundreds of protesters who thronged the square throughout the morning.
Posted in iraq war, Tony Blair, tagged 38 Degrees, iraq war, Iraq War Inquiry, Sir John Chilcot, Tony Blair on January 4, 2010| 1 Comment »
By Andrew Grice, Political Editor | Independent | Monday, 4 January 2010
An internet-based “people power” campaign is asking its 60,000 members to draw up the “tough questions” that Tony Blair must be asked when he is questioned by the Iraq inquiry this year.
38 Degrees, a group set up last year in memory of the Body Shop founder Dame Anita Roddick, wants to ensure that Mr Blair is not let off the hook or allowed to answer the most sensitive questions in private.
Although Sir John Chilcot, the former Whitehall mandarin chairing the inquiry, has insisted that Mr Blair will be questioned mainly in public, critics of the 2003 invasion fear the former prime minister may cite national security in an attempt to ensure some of the hearing is behind closed doors.
An initial survey by 38 Degrees found strong demands among its members for Mr Blair to answer these questions:
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