Clipmarks | masbury's 'military' clips

Bring home troops from around the world

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 23:12:57 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Former special assistant to Reagan argues US troops in Japan and S. Korea should be phased out.

Clip Source: www.atimes.com

A reason to bring US troops home

It seems that old military commitments also never die

- they live on forever.

That's certainly the case with America's security guarantee for South Korea

The North became an international pariah while the South became one of the world's 12 largest economic powers

US presence in Japan, currently at 33,200 troops, makes even less sense

Japan long ago enjoyed an economic miracle that turned it into the world's second-ranking economic power

the prospect of renewed Japanese aggression is about as likely as an invasion from Mars.

Yet nothing's really changed in America's military role

the idea that the United States should step back and turn over regional security duties has occurred to almost no one in Washington

Washington's insistence that its allies remain subordinate belongs in the wastebasket of history

disappearance of any need to defend countries that have grown wealthy while their potential enemies have dissipated

let America's Cold War commitments

fade away

Tags: military, politics

Russians: US, Israel to use Georgia for Iran attack

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 16:52:05 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Claim US and Israel exchanging massive military aid for right to use airfields for Iran bombing

Clip Source: www.payvand.com

US Plans to Use Georgia for Attacking Iran: Russia's NATO envoy

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Russia's envoy to NATO said that the US plans to use airfields in Georgia for a war on Iran.

Ambassador Dmitry Rogozin said Russian intelligence had obtained information indicating that Washington had launched "active military preparations on Georgia's territory" for an air strike on Iran.

"The reason why Washington values (Georgian President Mikheil) Saakashvili's regime so highly" is that he has given permission to the Pentagon to use its airfields, he said.

Other reports suggested that the Georgian airfields could also be used by Israel for an attack on Iran.

Israel had supplied Georgia with sophisticated Hermes 450 UAV spy drones, multiple rocket launchers and other military equipment that Georgia, as well as modernized Georgia's Soviet-made tanks that were used in the attack against South Ossetia.

Israeli instructors had also helped train Georgia troops.

Tags: iran, georgia, israel

Professor: McCain may incite war with Russia

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 16:07:10 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Andrei P Tsygankov is professor of international relations and political science at San Francisco State University and the author of Anti-Russian Lobby and American Foreign Policy (forthcoming)

Clip Source: www.atimes.com

Few people in the American political class have contributed more to provoking possible military escalation with Russia than Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain.

A prominent member of the American establishment, McCain has been an extremely partisan advocate of US ties with the small Georgia at the expense of relations with Russia. McCain advisors are also known to have worked as paid lobbyists for Georgia. In the words of the New York University law professor Stephen Gillers, the latter "poses valid questions about McCain's judgment" in choosing those who "are paid to promote the interests of other nations".

If McCain is elected president, it is likely that Russia will be treated as an enemy, rather than a potential partner, and US-Russia relations will escalate into a military confrontation.

there is

the possibility that McCain will do what he says, and chose steps leading to a military escalation with the second largest world nuclear power

Tags: mccain, russia

ArmyTimes: McCain "deceitful" about Army future?

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 03:42:29 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: "More critical" of FCS "than anyone else in the chamber," he puts down Obama for slowing development of program. Called "typical of the way in which Republicans have twisted Democratic views ... obscur[ing] the past positions of Republicans."

Clip Source: www.armytimes.com

McCain on FCS: Flip-flop or fib?

Has Sen. John McCain renounced his longtime antagonism toward the Army’s Future Combat Systems?

told a

crowd in Lee’s Summit, Mo., about an Obama video message

“He promised them he would, quote, ‘slow our development of Future Combat Systems,’” McCain said

“This is not a time to slow our development of Future Combat Systems.”

In fact, McCain has long criticized the over-budget, behind-schedule FCS program

Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute called it deceitful.

“McCain’s interpretation of Obama’s position is typical of the way in which the Republicans have twisted Democratic views in order to undercut their opponents and

obscure the past positions of the Republicans,”

“Future Combat Systems is the centerpiece of Army modernization.

McCain has been more critical of it than anyone else in the chamber. Obama has been much more detailed and thoughtful in his comments about future military investment than McCain’s very superficial statements.”

Tags: mccain, lies, military

CNN asks hard questions about Palin, gets dodged

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 22:43:57 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Campbell Brown does her job, asking McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds about Sarah Palin's foreign policy experience. After many dodges, he finally lands on the fiction that she commands the Alaska National Guard and has military experience - but he can't name one Guard decision she's made. McCain later cancels scheduled interview with CNN.

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Tags: campbell brown, tucker bounds, mccain, palin, cnn

History of Western Civilization lost in Iraq

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 04:56:18 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: "It was there, in what the Greeks called Mesopotamia, that life as we know it today began: there people first began to speculate on philosophy and religion, developed concepts of international trade, made ideas of beauty into tangible forms, and, above all developed the skill of writing." And US invaders stood by and watched as irreplaceable world history was hauled off by unarmed looters.

Clip Source: www.tomdispatch.com

The Past Destroyed: Five Years Later

On April 11, 12, 13, and 14, 2003, the United States Army and United States Marine Corps disgraced themselves and the country they represent in Baghdad, Iraq's capital city. Having invaded Iraq and accepted the status of a military occupying power, they sat in their tanks and Humvees, watching as unarmed civilians looted the Iraqi National Museum and burned down the Iraqi National Library and Archives as well as the Library of Korans of the Ministry of Religious Endowments. Their behavior was in violation of their orders, international law, and the civilized values of the United States. Far from apologizing for these atrocities or attempting to make amends, the United States government has in the past five years added insult to injury.

In 1258 AD the Mongols descended on Baghdad and pillaged its magnificent libraries

The world has never forgotten that medieval act of barbarism, just as it will never forget what the U.S. military unleashed

in 2003

Tags: war, iraq

Biden vocal, consistent Gitmo opponent

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 04:28:34 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: "[The Bush administration] has destroyed faith in America's judgment. And it has devalued America's moral leadership in the world. Instead, this administration has focused to the point of obsession on the so-called "war on terrorism" and produced a one-size-fits-all doctrine of military preemption and regime change ill suited to the challenges we face. It has made fear the main driver of our foreign policy. It has turned a deadly serious but manageable threat -- a small number of radical groups that hate America -- into a ten-foot tall existential monster that dictates nearly every move we make. Even if you look at the world through this administration's distorted lens, you see a failed policy."

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

Sen. Biden has been unstinting in his opposition to the prison at Guantánamo Bay. In June 2005, he called for Guantánamo to be closed, telling ABC News that it had "become the greatest propaganda tool that exists for recruiting of terrorists around the world."

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

also voted against the much-criticized Military Commissions Act of 2006, which reintroduced military trials at Guantánamo after they were declared illegal by the US Supreme Court, and in May 2007 he co-sponsored the Guantánamo Bay Detention Facility Closure Act, which not only called for the closure of Guantánamo, but also proposed moving prisoners against whom a case could be built to the maximum security military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and releasing all those who had not been charged. In July 2007, he followed this with proposals for a National Security with Justice Act, which sought to "prohibit extraterritorial detention and rendition

Tags: biden

Understanding the "Predator State"

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 20:54:00 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Full of thought-provoking analysis of how corporate America gained control of government. Lots to think about here. Looks like a must-blog piece. The clip is only intro to the good stuff.

Clip Source: www.atimes.com

Economist Jamie K Galbraith's recent book [1] describes modern (Bush-Cheney) Republicanism as creating a "predator state". Its predatory aspects are starkly visible in the gangs of corporate lobbyists who roam Washington DC, the Halliburton Iraq war procurement scandal and the corruption and incompetence that surrounded the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.

the predatory nature of contemporary US governance is quintessentially linked to corporations, and it is also a uniquely American phenomenon

That complex has captured politics and corrupted the business of government

social origins

trace back to the military-industrial complex that president Dwight Eisenhower warned about

on January 17, 1961

American worship of business

privileges business over thought

"if you're so smart, how come you're not rich?"

tendency to conflate profit with free markets. That means the distinction between fair competition (which is good) and fat profits (which are bad) is lost, thereby providing cover for predators

Tags: corruption, corporatocracy

Asia Times: Bush hid Musharraf's Al Qaeda links

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 05:29:46 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: al-Qaeda "was a creation of the jihadist culture of the Pakistani army; Bush whitewashed connections to nuclear technology sales.

Clip Source: www.atimes.com

Bush buried Musharraf's al-Qaeda links

What has not been reported is that the Bush administration

covered up the Musharraf regime's involvement in the activities of the Abdul Qadeer Khan nuclear technology export program and its deals with al-Qaeda's Pakistani tribal allies.

the Pakistani military, over which Musharraf presided, was the real terrorist nexus with the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

al-Qaeda "was a creation of the jihadist culture of the Pakistani army

After 9/11, the White House created the political myth that Musharraf, faced with a clear choice, had "joined the free world in fighting the terrorists". But

on September 19, 2001

Musharraf gave a televised speech in Urdu in which he declared, "We are trying our best to come out of this critical situation without any damage to Afghanistan and the Taliban."

The Bush administration also gave Musharraf and the military regime a free ride on the Khan network's selling of nuclear technology to Libya and Iran

Tags: bush, war, pakistan, al qaeda

McCain "proud of" GI bill he opposed

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:50:21 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Speaking to VFW, who criticized him for opposing it. VFW will award citation to Democrat Jim Webb, the bill's sponsor, tomorrow.

Clip Source: thinkprogress.org

As a political proposition, it would have much easier for me to have just signed on to what I considered flawed legislation. But the people of Arizona, and of all America, expect more from their representatives than that, and instead I sought a better bill. I’m proud to say that the result is a law that better serves our military, better serves military families, and better serves the interests of our country.

It is audacious for McCain to go before the VFW and claim credit for a bill he nearly destroyed, considering the VFW was one of the bill’s strongest backers

VFW’s deputy director for legislative affairs Eric Hilleman: The Graham-Burr-McCain plan is “very partisan and is seen as a way to convolute the GI bill, or to slow the Webb-Hagel proposal down.”

In fact, tomorrow the VFW will award Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA), the original sponsor of the GI Bill, a gold medal and citation of merit for his leadership

McCain also promoted his

veterans health plan, which the VFW actively opposes.

Tags: mccain, military

Georgian blunders lead to quick defeat

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:49:12 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: "In light of the combination of fundamental tactical shortcomings and serious strategic blunders in the Georgian campaign to retake South Ossetia, it seems clear that the flaws in Georgian military planning were based on two key factors: an over-confident assumption of its own combat readiness and capabilities, as well as by a serious underestimation of the scale and scope of the Russian response."

Clip Source: www.atimes.com

conflict was triggered by a large-scale Georgian assault on the breakaway region of South Ossetia

opened with an infantry assault against South Ossetia's capital Tskhinval

after a preparatory artillery attack from Georgian positions

including a mortar barrage and launch of notoriously imprecise truck-mounted GRAD multiple-barreled rocket launchers

South Ossetia region borders the Russian region of North Ossetia and is connected by the Roki Tunnel, which is the sole reliable passage through the Caucasus

failure to even attempt to impede or constrict this land route gave Russian forces secure and unopposed access

Russia's

North Ossetia

consists of 609 tanks, 2,000 armored personnel carriers

125 artillery pieces, 190 Grad and Uragan volley-fire rocket launchers, and 450 anti-aircraft guns. It is also endowed with its own air support of 120 combat aircraft and 70 helicopters

Russia's

targeting all Georgian military facilities

to disrupt Georgia's military critical infrastructure.

Tags: georgia, russia

Why McCain is more dangerous than Bush

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 01:06:43 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Caught up in his fear that a military failure would encourage America's enemies, McCain can see no alternative to military victory, no matter what the cost.

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

During the hottest days of the Cold War, Gen. Thomas Power headed the Strategic Air Command, whose nuclear-armed B-52s were meant to deter the Soviet Union. General Power, like many of the Air Force brass at the time, believed that nuclear war with the Soviets was inevitable. He thought the United States would do better to fight that war sooner rather than later and believed we could emerge victorious. "At the end of the war," he argued in 1960, "if there are two Americans and one Russian, we win!"

Counter-insurgency and nuclear obliteration are poles apart, I know. But McCain's insistence on "winning in Iraq," remaining there "until Iraq is secure," and "bomb-bomb-bombing Iran" reveal the same mindset that made General Power so dangerous. Caught up in his fear that a military failure would encourage America's enemies, McCain can see no alternative to military victory, no matter what the cost. This

could prove extremely self-destructive in a commander in chief.

Tags: mccain, politics

Saakashvili: US military moving in; US: Not!

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 04:33:36 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: A loose cannon?

Clip Source: talkingpointsmemo.com

Oh Boy

Wouldn't want to think we've got ourselves tied up with a loose canon in the President of Georgia.

President Saakashvili today told Georgians that the US military was moving in to take over control of the country's air and seaports -- which would be a pretty big deal since much of the country still appears to be an active war zone.

And about five minutes later the Pentagon said he didn't know what he was talking about.

"We are not looking to, nor do we need to, take control of any air or seaports to conduct this mission," said Geoff Morrell, Pentagon press secretary. "The role of the U.S. military is strictly to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the victims of this conflict."

John McCain says he's talking to Saakashvili every day. What's he telling him? Is he confusing the situation?

Tags: georgia

End the "sovereignty of militarism"

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:43:37 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Ramping up in Afghanistan is not the way to defeat terrorists

Clip Source: ofamerica.wordpress.com

A recent report on how to best combat “terrorism”

by the hardly-peace-loving Rand Corporation concluded that, “In most cases, military force isn’t the best instrument.”

This report

make obvious that big money military-industrial interests have failed to deal with what some national security specialists call “asymmetric threats”

this failure raises a critical question: why another clunky build-up in Afghanistan to fight another nimble threat?

continued big-money militarism in Afghanistan continues to guarantee the that global corporations will rule the economic, political and personal lives of people across the world

Obama and McCain appear to be sending signals not to the voters, but to the Pentagon and

companies whose stock values depend on the extension

of what Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz calls a “3 Trillion Dollar War.”

Without stopping those who profit handsomely

we will not have the economic resources required to build a more just society

ending the sovereignty of

militarism

Tags: afghanistan, war

Georgia: a US vs Russia oil fight

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:40:06 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Georgia is a pawn in a much larger game: "this is about energy security, not about democracy or human rights"

Clip Source: www.democracynow.org

Three [years] ago the United States helped open a 1,000-mile-long pipeline that connected Azerbaijan to Turkey, running through Georgia. The pipeline was designed specifically to bypass Russia. More oil and natural gas pipelines are scheduled to be built in Georgia.

And this was the brainchild of Bill Clinton

he chose Georgia for this purpose and also built up the Georgian military to protect the pipeline, and Russia has been furious about this ever since

we’ve poured hundreds of millions of dollars into beefing up the Georgian military

specifically to protect the BTC pipeline against sabotage and attack

this is about energy security, not about democracy or human rights

It’s a geopolitical contest between

the US and Russia for influence in Europe.

clinging to these enclaves, this is Russia’s insurance policy

they’re saying, “From our positions in these enclaves, we can sever those pipelines whenever we want,”

They did in fact

attack the pipelines

Tags: oil, georgia, russia, energy