Monday, March 19, 2012

The effects of the drone war and more

Today on The Takeaway (PRI), they're joined by War Whore Anne-Marie Slaughter. Hillary's roll dog will pretend to discuss the war on Libya while refusing to note the illegality of it or the propaganda aspects. Remember as she whores for war that she whored for the Iraq War as well. She likes to pretend otherwise today. Not because she's bothered by the illegality of the Iraq War, not because she's haunted by the deaths but because it's not popular. Only when it became unpopular did War Whore Anne-Marie Slaughter walk away from it. Remember, there are a lot of things that stink in New Jersey and sludge is only some of it. The odor also includes Anne-Marie.

As Anne-Marie whores for more world, David Zucchino (Los Angeles Times) reports on a reality that shouldn't be so surprising: even by remote control, murder isn't easy, "Psychologically, they're in the middle of combat. But physically most of them are on another continent, which can lead to a sense of helplessness." The Air Force is surprised to discover that manning the drones creates combat stress. They're also surprised to learn that humans aren't rubber bands that can stretch and stetch and then immediately snap back into place. That the Air Force wouldn't grasp that is both very telling and very depressing. Techno point to takeaway is the Air Force is calling them RPAs (remotely piloted aircraft) and not UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles) now.

Ken Maginnis is a member of Great Britain's House of Lords. At Huffington Post UK, he calls out our modern day Judy Miller, little Josh Rogin:

Unbelievably, the most recent injustice came at the hands of a supposedly fair-minded journalist named Josh Rogin and was based on (mis)information from a source(s) within State Department, no less.
Rogin: "Two ... attempts by the Iraqi government to enter the camp (Ashraf) resulted in bloody confrontations." Truth: The Iraqis didn't "attempt" to enter the camp; they stormed it with US -made Humvees, guns and batons. The only blood was that of the totally unarmed residents!
Rogin: "... the UN and the State Department's efforts have been made exponentially more difficult due to the MEK's surprisingly strong base of support in Washington. Retired U.S. officials and politicians ... have mounted a sophisticated media campaign accusing the U.N. and the U.S. government of forcing the group to live in subhuman conditions against its will at Camp Liberty, an accusation US officials say is as inaccurate as it is unhelpful."
It would be interesting to know who these faceless officials are, but we probably never will. On the other hand, we do know the names of the congressmen and women, diplomats, generals, White House advisors, and respected human rights activists and others who support the Iranian dissidents - because they're proud to stand openly for freedom and justice.

Poor Joshy. When he enlisted to do the bidding of the government, he had no idea it would stick to him like it has. Do you know that Foreign Policy is currently monitoring the situation and attempting to determine whether it's time to cut Josh loose or if they can continue on with him for a little longer? See, the New York Times waited far too long to part ways with Judith Miller. Foreign Policy's attempting to determine just how much potential damage Rogin has done and may yet do.

And know what the best part is? They've got this on lockdown and no one's supposed to discuss it. Which only means the whole things whispered about all the more. Including who Rogin's unnamed source was.

An e-mail to the public account notes that Rogin's the topic of a piece by conservative Rabbi Daniel M. Zuker (American Thinker). We'll note this section dealing with court dates (and less with Rogin):

Rogin sites a State Department official for his information but fails to supply a name or notes to back up his claims. The State Department under Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton has not been exactly impartial in everything concerning the MEK and Camp Ashraf. The Washington Circuit Court, after hearing the State Department's case against the MEK on January 11, 2010, ordered the State Department on July 26, 2010 to review its case within 180 days. The State Department stalled until recently ordered to comply with a deadline of March 26, 2012. Mrs. Clinton, aware of the current conditions at Camp Liberty -- in which the space allotted to the MEK by the December 2011 agreements has been diminished by over 95%, and units of the Iraqi army and Qods Force agents enter Camp Liberty to harass the Ashraf contingent, the majority being women -- has said that compliance with the move will help determine the Department's decision about the MEK staying on the FTO or not. A more blatant power-move to force the MEK to comply with conditions that allow for its suppression by pro-Iranian regime Iraqis is hard to imagine.


Victoria Nuland, State Dept spokesperson, flat out lied on Friday and pretended to be unaware of the date. If I know you and I know you're a liar, you're on dangerous ground. One of the reasons I did like 30 Rock was relating to one element of Liz Lemmon: When you piss me off, I cut you off at the knees (see season's three's "Reunion"). So if you're lying and I bite and I bite my tongue, at some point I stop biting and maybe point out not just ____________ but also _______________. Food for thought. I was sick all last week and have had only two hours sleep, don't poke the bear.


Bonnie reminds that Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Sporty Barack" went up last night.
On this week's Law and Disorder Radio -- a weekly hour long program that airs Monday mornings at 9:00 a.m. EST on WBAI and around the country throughout the week, hosted by attorneys Heidi Boghosian, Michael S. Smith and Michael Ratner (Center for Constitutional Rights), topics explored include the Cuban Five, CIW's campaign fast, the assault on Uganda's LGBT community, Michael Smith's book tour for Who Killed Che? (written by Michael Smith and Michael Ratner), attorney Barbara Blaine discussing the Catholic Church's battle with SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) and attorney Darius charney on the successful class action lawsuit against the NY Fire Department.


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