Clipmarks | Pentagon Clips

How the US Funds the Taliban

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:18:32 GMT

clipped by: chestnut501
clipper's remarks: Let's just hand them the money and bring our Men and Women home.

Welcome to the wartime contracting bazaar in Afghanistan.

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Reuters Photos

Taliban fighters in an undisclosed location in Afghanistan.

In this grotesque carnival, the US military's contractors are forced to pay suspected insurgents to protect American supply routes. It is an accepted fact of the military logistics operation in Afghanistan that the US government funds the very forces American troops are fighting.

And it is a deadly irony, because these funds add up to a huge amount of money for the Taliban. "It's a big part of their income

. In fact, US military officials in Kabul estimate that a minimum of 10 percent of the Pentagon's logistics contracts--hundreds of millions of dollars--consists of payments to insurgents.

Clip Source: www.thenation.com

Many officials acknowledge what is going on while also expressing a deep disquiet about the situation. The trouble is that--as with so much in Afghanistan--the United States doesn't seem to know how to fix it.

Tags: news, politics, war, afghanistan, contractors, security, insurgency

All gave some….Some gave all

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:57:12 GMT

clipped by: dl211

Clip Source: feeds.reuters.com

Those left behind: The legacy of Arlington’s Section 60

“People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” George Orwell

Veteran’s Day is a time to remember “All gave some….Some gave all.”

The impact of two distant wars became personal once the “knocks on the door” delivered the horrifying news and haunted a house forever. Prayers that the Pentagon “got it wrong” vanished when asked if they wanted an ‘Arlington’ funeral.

‘Arlington’ is an idyllic hillside cemetery and is easily seen while driving on the Arlington Memorial Bridge towards Virginia. It’s the last stop straight ahead.

It’s also the last stop for those sons and daughters who were killed after announcing to their family they wanted to be “Army Strong” or part of “The Few…The Proud” and then fearlessly joined the deadliest profession.

Tags: veterans, arlington, section 60

Fort Hood 'ticking timebomb' shooter

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:21:28 GMT

clipped by: foxyarse
clipper's remarks: Major Abu Nidal remains in under armed guard and in a coma amid the FBI probe into the killing of 13 and the wounding of 31 at the US army base.

On Sunday an ashen-faced and paranoid-looking ex-President Bush toured the camp, muttering incoherently and barking orders as if he was still in charge.

General Colon Bowel is on a phishing trip somewhere near the Azores.

Clip Source: www.thespoof.com

Fort Hood 'ticking timebomb' shooter: the George W Bush connection

Texas - (Freudian Flip): The Fort Hood shrink was on the mental health certification panel that passed Bush's 1994 Texas gubernatorial Pioneer funraisers as 'clinically sane', according to reports.

Cocaine, organised crime and mental retardation....

And Pentagon Bonesmen colleagues - who erased George W Bush's criminal records - may have also helped fake Major 'Abu Nidal' Malik Hasan's psychiatric qualifications.

This week FBI agents probing the Major's background will lay bare Yale University's Skull 'N' Bones Society alumni records.

These are believed to show Bonesmen were involved in eradicating all references to cocaine, organised crime and mental retardation from Bush's CV.

Also in the FBI frame is First Earth Battalion founder and Men Who Stare At Goats nutter General Albert Stubblebine III.

Tags: fort hood, george w bush, satire

OBAMA and the NOBEL PRIZE

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:48:21 GMT

clipped by: mountainpalm
clipper's remarks: Granting the Nobel Peace Prize to Barack Obama provides legitimacy to the illegal practices of war, to the military occupation of foreign lands, to the relentless killings of civilians in the name of "democracy".

Clip Source: www.globalresearch.ca

Obama and the Nobel Prize: When War becomes Peace, When the Lie becomes the Truth

by Michel Chossudovsky

When war becomes peace,

When concepts and realities are turned upside down,

When fiction becomes truth and truth becomes fiction.

When a global military agenda is heralded as a humanitarian endeavor,

When the killing of civilians is upheld as "collateral damage",

When those who resist the US-NATO led invasion of their homeland are categorized as "insurgents" or "terrorists".

When preemptive nuclear war is upheld as self defense.

When advanced torture and "interrogation" techniques are routinely used to "protect peacekeeping operations",

When tactical nuclear weapons are heralded by the Pentagon as "harmless to the surrounding civilian population"

When three quarters of US personal federal income tax revenues are allocated to financing what is euphemistically referred to as "national defense"

When the Lie becomes the Truth.

No Afghanistan troop decision made!

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:38:00 GMT

clipped by: kuwapa
clipper's remarks: just clarifying

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

"People at the Pentagon are trying to force a certain outcome," one of the senior administration officials told CNN.

White House: No Afghanistan troop decision made

Two other senior administration officials told CNN that the CBS report and other similar speculation is false.

Obama is scheduled to return from Asia on November 20, after stops in Japan, Singapore, China, and South Korea. Officials have suggested Obama could announce a troop decision shortly before or after Thanksgiving.

Liberal Spin - Mass Murder is Military's Fault

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:51:37 GMT

clipped by: ColoradoRight
clipper's remarks: This is just another case of an anti-war blogger pretending they're for "the troops" because they want them removed from war zones.

Clip Source: newsbusters.org

In a case of trying to find liberal angles on a tragic shooting, switching the focus of blame and judgment from the mass murderer to the military, Newsweek's Andrew Bast asked on the magazine's blog The Human Condition: "Is Fort Hood A Harbinger? Nidal Malik Hasan May Be A Symptom of a Military On the Brink."

So the shooting is the Pentagon's fault? And they may inspire more shootings to come? Newsweek is going there:

Details remained murky, but at least 13 are dead and 30 wounded in a killing spree that may momentarily remind us of a reality that most Americans can readily forget: soldiers and their families are living, and bending, under a harrowing and unrelenting stress that will not let up anytime soon.

Hasan's perspective is unknown. He had yet to fight abroad. But the accusations against him can't help but bring to mind the violence scarring military bases all over the country after the duration of two long, brutal wars.

Tags: military, ft. hood, murder, blame, liberals

Pentagon resumes experimental vaccine testing on US troops

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:37:43 GMT

clipped by: katsteevns

Clip Source: www.brasschecktv.com

How the US military
poisons its own troops

Pentagon resumes experimental
vaccine testing on US troops

[Video]

The Roots of Gulf War Illness

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:57:25 GMT

clipped by: aklimento
clipper's remarks: Are malpractice cases in military not permitted? Or corporative defense rejecting any possible offense on their well-being?

Clip Source: www.brasschecktv.com

How the US military
poisons its own troops

Pentagon resumes experimental
vaccine testing on US troops

[Video]

The Roots of Gulf War Illness

The US military has a long tradition of using its soldiers as medical guinea pigs.

In recent years, with the involvement of pharmaceutical executives like Donald Rumsfeld with the Department of Defense, the trend has accelerated. Now hundreds of thousands of US servicemen and women receive vaccines that are untested and experimental in nature.

On October 16, 2006, the Department of Defense announced that it will resume its previously court-halted anthrax vaccination program and that troops who do not agree to receive the six-injection series voluntarily will be faced with disciplinary action.

Untested vaccinations are believed to be one of the source of Gulf War Illness, a crippling condition which disabled tens of thousands of soldiers after the first Gulf War.

To learn more, visit this site: www.beyondtreason.com.

Tags: idiotism in military, bureaucracy, forced immunization, jatropathia

What Obama is up against.

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:03:13 GMT

clipped by: blackroseheart
clipper's remarks: Very interesting information!

Clip Source: www.truthout.org

What Obama Is Up Against

Monday 02 November 2009

The first anniversary of Barack Obama's historic election finds many of his supporters already grousing. Fair enough: Obama has been more vigorous in some areas than others. But one essential question goes unasked: How much can any president accomplish against the wishes of recalcitrant power centers within his own government?

We Americans harbor a quaint belief that a new president takes charge of a government that eagerly awaits his next command. Like an orchestra conductor or perhaps a football coach, he can inspire or bludgeon and get what he wants. But that's not how things work at the top, especially where "national security" is concerned. The Pentagon and CIA are powerful and independent fiefdoms characterized by entrenched agendas and constant intrigue. They are full of lifers, who see an elected president largely as an annoyance, and have ways of dealing with those who won't come to heel.

Tags: obama, cia, military

What Obama Is Up Against

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:01:47 GMT

clipped by: mcsmithblack
clipper's remarks: This article makes some very good points regarding hte limitations of Presidential authority.
If we want what we voted for,we have to continually work for it. The U.S. is in this current situation because "We the People" have neglected our duties as citizens to keep ourselves informed, oversee our representatives by making damn sure that they know exactly what we want and then follow-up to ensure that they do what is needed. Casting a vote every 2 to 4 years and then ignoring everything that happens in between voting, does not a Democracy make.

Clip Source: www.veteranstoday.com

Opinion: What Obama Is Up Against

By Russ Baker Truthout

Tags: u.s. politics, presidential limitations

The US is a Failed State

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:00:46 GMT

clipped by: sincitykitty
clipper's remarks: In any failed state, the greatest threat to the population comes from the government and the police. That is certainly the situation today in the USA. Americans have no greater enemy than their own government. Washington is controlled by interest groups that enrich themselves at the expense of the American people.

Clip Source: www.counterpunch.com

The Super Rich are Laughing

The US as Failed State

he US has every characteristic of a failed state.

The US government’s current operating budget is dependent on foreign financing and money creation.

Too politically weak to be able to advance its interests through diplomacy, the US relies on terrorism and military aggression.

Costs are out of control, and priorities are skewed in the interest of rich organized interest groups at the expense of the vast majority of citizens. For example, war at all cost, which enriches the armaments industry, the officer corps and the financial firms that handle the war’s financing, takes precedence over the needs of American citizens. There is no money to provide the uninsured with health care, but Pentagon officials have told the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee in the House that every gallon of gasoline delivered to US troops in Afghanistan costs American taxpayers $400.

Liz Cheney - Just Another Lying Partisan Hack

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:07:58 GMT

clipped by: chestnut501
clipper's remarks: Original post by MARIO PIPERNI

Clip Source: mariopiperni.com

President Obama flew to Dover Air Force Base and saluted as 18 coffins returned from Afghanistan. Liz Cheney found reason to criticize.

“I think that what President Bush used to do is do it without the cameras. And I don’t understand sort of showing up with the White House Press Pool with photographers and asking family members if you can take pictures. That’s really hard for me to get my head around…It was a surprising way for the president to choose to do this.”

Liz Cheney, like her dad, is a liar.

It’s true that Bush’s Pentagon continued a long-standing policy of banning cameras at Dover when the nation’s fallen arrived in flag-draped caskets from foreign battlefields.

So that covers “without the cameras.”

Obama was the first president to visit arriving dead at Dover during the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq — meaning that when it came to taking trips to Dover like Obama did yesterday morning, Bush never used to “do it” at all.

Integrity is obviously not a Cheney trait.

Tags: news, politics, partisan-politics, lies, war, respect

The terrorists at Club Gitmo don't want to leave

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 23:23:43 GMT

clipped by: clip-on-tie
clipper's remarks: Obvious. What else more could they want? They have personal chefs, TVs, remote controls, beach volleyball, a library overlooking the ocean, scenic views, free laundry service, new prayer rugs to pray to Allah.....and they're getting the H1N1 vaccine before you. The libs want them out of Cuban Clown College as long as they're nowhere near their Manhattan penthouses or vacation spots in the Vineyard. As if splashing water on their damn faces is going to scare them off.....PUH-LEASE. Gitmo should be rebranded so that liberals wouldn’t reflexively scream “TORTURE!” every time they heard it’s name. How about "Misfired Martyrs Motel" or "Viva la Incarceracion!"?

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Guantánamo suspects want to stay, say officials

As President Barack Obama's deadline to close Guantánamo looms, some occupants of the notorious detention centre would rather prolong their stay than be sent to maximum security prisons on the US mainland, according to camp officials.

Despite its reputation, the regime at the Pentagon facility on Cuba's southern coast offers privileges that would not be enjoyed at the federal "supermax" prison at Florence, Colorado, the likely alternative for the most dangerous al-Qaeda suspects.

Sensitive to criticism that the detention centre was not meeting international standards, the Pentagon has gradually improved living conditions at Guantánamo.

The 221 remaining inmates receive between four and 20 hours outdoor recreation in the Caribbean sun and anything from weekly to almost unlimited access to DVDs and receive three newspapers

Every bed has an arrow pointing towards Mecca and every cell a prayer rug.

Tags: obvious, idiots, murderers, terrorists, wahhhhh, poor things get water splashed on their face, cry me a river

Retired generals as Pentagon finger-puppets:still

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 07:42:50 GMT

clipped by: beanz
clipper's remarks: Has anything changed ?

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

David Barstow Wins Pulitzer for Exposing Military's Pro-War Propaganda Media Campaign 1 of 4

[Video]

Detainees at Club Gitmo Getting H1N1 Vaccine Before You

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 02:38:43 GMT

clipped by: clip-on-tie
clipper's remarks: Well, why the hell not.....they already have personal chefs, cable TV and free movies. I'm sure that between prayer time on their new prayer rugs and beach volleyball tournaments they can manage to fit the vaccinations into their grueling schedules.

How about we send the liberals down there to administer the H1N1 personally since they already have such high regard for those murdering terrorists.....

Clip Source: www.moonbattery.com

Clip Source: www.wibw.com

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Pentagon will offer the H1N1 vaccination to detainees at the U.S. facility at Guantanamo Bay, officials there said Friday.

The Pentagon made the decision based on U.S. government assessments that people held in detention facilities are at high risk for the pandemic, said Maj. Diana R. Haynie, a spokeswoman for Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay, which is in charge of holding the suspected terrorists.

"Detainees at JTF Guantanamo are considered to be at higher risk and therefore they will be offered the H1N1 vaccination," Haynie said.

Clip Source: www.moonbattery.com

Clip Source: www.wibw.com

"JTF Guantanamo conducts safe, humane, legal and transparent care and custody of detainees. As such, we must provide detainees the medical care necessary to maintain their health," she said.

Base officials had not received the vaccinations and did not know when they were expected to arrive, Haynie said.

Some of the detainees have already voluntarily taken the seasonal flu shot, Haynie said.

Clip Source: images.google.com

Tags: club gitmo, murderers, terrorists, idiots, vaccinations, pigs, dirtbags getting rock star treatment, stupid