“Islamic State” Repeating The Biggest Mistake Hitler Made

Namely biting off more than they can chew.

Hitler sealed his own doom, and Germany's defeat, by simultaneously picking fights with Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States. Arranging an overwhelmingly superior coalition of forces to fight against you in war seems like a dumb idea.

“Islamic State” is replicating that insanely overconfident strategy in spades. Not content to be battling Kurdish peshmerga, Iraqi militias, and the U.S. Air Force, it responded to Russia's air campaign in Syria (mostly directed against “moderate” rebels favored by the U.S.) by bombing a Russian civilian airliner over the Sinai desert in Egypt. It followed up with a terrorist rampage in Paris on November 13^th, turning the tepid French contribution against IS into stepped-up bombing. Jordan's ruling king accused IS was waging “world war against humanity.” The boss of the Roman Catholic Church, the “Pope,” sees a possible “third world war.” Numerous national rulers verbally attacked IS. It is beginning to seem as if that “65-national coalition” that top U.S. officials brayed about might actually amount to something at last.

The security chief of Iraqi Kurdistan, a man named Barzani, opined in a broadcast interview that if that coalition got serious, IS could be defeated in “months” or even “weeks.” Surely IS-controlled territory could be retaken. IS is despised and feared by most of the populace under its heel, and it only has a few tens of thousands of armed men.

I predict the terrorist attacks in Paris on the 13^th marks the beginning of the end for IS. (And I can hardly wait to say Good Riddance.)

But that won't be the end of the problem of Islamofascism. IS was preceded by Al-Qaeda, and may well be followed by another cancerous growth of murderous fanaticism motivated by religious zealotry (and a lust for power). IS is a symptom. The disease is spread from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. So far, the U.S. has only been trying to treat symptoms, not the cause of the disease.

Neocon James Woolsey Called For Ed Snowden to be "Hanged" in 2013

R. James Woolsey Jr., a made member of the permanent reactionary faction of the U.S. power structure, had this to say about the courageous whistleblower Edward Snowden, (whom he now blames for the Islamic State attack in Paris), on Rupert Murdoch's agitpropaganda TV channel Fox "News" on December 17, 2013: "He should be prosecuted for treason. If convicted by a jury of his peers, he should be hanged by his neck until he is dead." ["If" he is convicted, indeed. That's just keeping up the pretense of "fair" trials in a U.S. kangaroo court in a political case.]

But Woolsey is far more sympathetic to the convicted spy Jonathan Jay Pollard, whom the U.S. has just announced is to be freed from prison. Pollard is the American Jew and Zionist fanatic who stole large quantities of highly classified military information and delivered it to his Israeli handlers. Woolsey attributes Pollard's long imprisonment to "anti-Semitism." [1]

Pollard of course acted in secret to aid a foreign power.  He committed espionage. Edward Snowden gave his information to the entire world through media outlets, which chose what to publish. Snowden acted as an altruist and patriot. [2]

Woolsey's "pro-Semitism" is nicely balanced by his hostility against Muslims. He is an actor in the demagogic, inflammatory attacks on Muslims generally. For example, he campaigned for the 2010 Oklahoma ban on "Sharia law," contributing a recorded agitprop message that thousands of Oklahomans were subjected to. He's a key figure in various Muslim Threat-mongering organizations. One of these propaganda mill/political pressure outfits, the so-called "Center for Security Policy," put out a book by Woolsey, fellow permanent member of the reactionary power constellation Frank Gaffney, Jr, and the notorious violent extremist Lt. General William Boykin, luridly titled Shariah: The Threat to America. [3]

Notice; not "Jihad," or "Islamic Terrorism." Sharia. Which is a code of conduct for Muslims, religious "law." These guys sure seem like Crusaders. I guess they want a Christian vs. Muslim war. That'll end up well!

Just to give you the flavor of this reactionary rabble-rousing rant, here's a quote: "Most mosques in the United States already have been radicalized, that most Muslim social organizations are fronts for violent jihadists and that Muslims who practice sharia law seek to impose it in this country," (my emphases). Considering the long list of their activities, these arch-reactionaries probably had their underlings ghostwrite this extended political pamphlet in the guise of a book, but obviously they reviewed and approved it. It reflects their mentality and ideology.

I guess it makes sense that Woolsey has a soft spot for Pollard. Woolsey by his actions is very much aligned with the Likud and even farther rightwing Israeli elements. In their view, it serves Israeli interests to whip up American Christians against Muslims. Too bad it doesn't serve American interests, or world interests. (Or even, ultimately, Israeli interests.)

I'm an atheist. So I realize that all religion is guff. However, creating permanent hostility between billions of these fool "believers" who "believe" different things. (Although ironically Christianity is basically a mutation of Judaism, and Islam is just a knock-off of Judeo-Christianity; but that doesn't stop them killing each other, even within Islam and Christianity- recall the numerous wars in Europe between Catholics and Protestants.) I also think it is necessary to fight the Islamofascists. However, just fighting ISIS or Al-Qaeda or whoever is treating the symptoms of a disease without treating the cause. Thus it is no cure. The root of the disease continues to be spread by Saudi Arabia and its Wahhabist evangelizing worldwide, and by the Pakistani military's support for its various Frankenstein monster terrorists aimed at India and at "exerting influence in Afghanistan," as Pakistan's apologists like former CIA officers Bruce Riedel and Michael Scheuer have it.

I should mention; Woolsey, predictably, is a defender of CIA torturers. What did you expect?

1] Letter from Woolsey published in rabidly rightwing Wall Street Journal (owned by Murdoch), on July 5, 2012.

A useful synopsis of facts about Woolsey and his "career" is at Wikipedia.

2] A naive patriot, however. I think opposition to the U.S, mega-police state should be based on human rights. American guff about freedom and democracy and rights is just that, guff. I'm an anti-nationalist. No human "owes" any loyalty to any nation-state, which are artificial political constructions run for the benefit of their rulers and rich citizens. (Well,maybe there could be exceptions for Scandinavian countries and such, where the politicians have been forced to run things to benefit the citizens generally.  But there the state serves the people, not vice versa as in places like the U.S., China, Russia, Iran, the UK, etc.)

3] Boykin is a fundamentalist Christian and latter-day Crusader who explicitly sees the "war on terror" as a religious war. He was appointed to top positions overseeing death-squad-type units in the military and CIA, a terrifying commentary on the fascistic fanatics who staff the U.S.' instruments of violence. Scroll down to the "Controversies" section of his Wikipedia entry to start your education on this lethally violent, dangerous zealot.

Former U.S. Secret Police Boss Blames Edward Snowden for Paris Massacre

R. James Woolsey, Jr., CIA director for the first two years of Bill Clinton's reign, and an arch-reactionary and career imperialist apparatchik, says that "Snowden has blood on his hands." These were his last words yesterday (Sunday) afternoon on the U.S. government radio propaganda network "news" program "All [sic] Things Considered." NPR brought him on to tell us what to think about the Paris rampage in Paris by the reputed Islamic State terrorists on Friday November 13th. The NPR female co-host of the program (Audie N. Cornish) conducting the interview didn't ask for an explanation of this preposterous, demagogic libel, much less take issue with it.

NPR, like the corporate media, relentlessly dredges up various reactionaries to indoctrinate the public in how to view the world. 

Woolsey, born in the extremely rightwing state of Oklahoma, was identified as the chair of something called the "Leadership Council" at the hard-rightwing pressure group/propaganda mill "Center For the Defense of Democracies," which specializes in Islam-bashing these days.

In similar if more oblique and subtle vein, the boss of the New York City Police Department, a department with a global reach, William Bratton, expressed great interest in how the terrorists communicated and why their communications weren't intercepted. This is part of an ongoing campaign by U.S. and UK police chiefs and secret police bosses to attack the idea that there should be any protection of privacy in communications or any encryption of the people's communications. 

Since the terrorists were already known to the French secret police, a better line of inquiry would be why are they incompetent to foil such attacks. Another question is whether the French secret police and police deliberately allowed the attack to proceed. Police did not arrive at the rock concert where most of the deaths (80 of 129, with hundreds more wounded) occured, for 45 minutes. The targets were all in a neighborhood of young, liberal-minded people. So the victims were predominantly people that reactionary police loathe to begin with. Plus, this shakes the anti-war leanings of such people. So the reactionary power establishment wins two ways.

R. James Woolsey, Jr.,nasty apparatchik.

 

Terrorist Organization Attacked By Terrorists In Terrorist Bombings

In a Beirut suburb inhabited largely by Shiites and dominated by Hezbollah, two suicide bombers blew themselves up, having been brainwashed into believing that this act of mass murder would result in their own immortality and eternal reward in paradise, kept company by 76 virgins. (Although I would think that after a few centuries or millennia, even 76 virgins- ex-virgins after awhile- would get boring. In any event, it sure would be nice if Saudi Arabia would stop paying to brainwash boys in “madrassas” into believing such shit.)

In addition to eliminating themselves from the realm of the actually living, they ended the lives of 41 people (so far), and wounded at least 239, some of whom will likely die, others who will be maimed for life.

Islamic State did its usual little victory dance, publicly braying that they did it. We can believe their boast.

Islamic State believes that the proper response to forces that fight them is to “retaliate” by attacking civilians. Having just been driven back from a Syrian airbase they had besieged for two years, by a combination of Hezbollah “fighters,” Iranian forces, and Russian airpower, what better way to “avenge” their own military defeat than by blowing up as many random Lebanese citizens they can?

One of the suicide bombers attempted to get to a mosque. The very very religious Islamic State likes targeting mosques of the “wrong” brand of Islam, the Shia. Their precursors in Iraq, an affiliate of Al-Qaeda that gave Osama bin Laden heartburn with their atrocities aimed at other Muslims, showed a similar proclivity.

It's been barely a week since Islamic State expressed their displeasure with Russia's intervention in Syria by apparently blowing up a Russian civilian airliner over Egypt, carrying vacationers back to St. Petersburg.

Hezbollah of course is designated as "terrorist" by Israel, the U.S, and the European Union that habitually sings form the U.S. political choirbook. So terrorists bombed terrorists.

Of course, the Western media won't describe it that way. That would beg too many questions.

Nor is this bombing a “terrorist” bombing. It's just a “bombing.” That is also the stylebook assiduously followed by Western media when there's a terrorist bombing in Pakistan, or Iraq, or Yemen. Political bombings by terrorists are only “terrorist” bombings when they target “Western interests.”

Or white people.

Also, this bombing is being viewed as if through a telescope, something far away. Contrast that with the emotional rending of garments that occurs on the extremely rare occasions that a "white" nation gets hit, such as the Boston Marathon bombing, in which 3 three whole people were killed. Three! Oh, the humanity! (There were several hundred wounded, a few of whom lost legs.) This latest terrorist bombing "over there" will be forgotten by Western media in a day or two. (If not hours.)

Some of this relative indifference can be chalked up to parochialism. Except that the U.S. and European medias sure are obsessed with the Middle East.  

“The” media never offers any explanation for any of this. They just assume no one notices.

This is part and parcel of arrogantly imposing their own ideological presumptions as Objective Reality. No need to explain.

Israeli Death Squad Raids Palestinian Hospital in Hebron

A squad of Shin Bet (also known as Shabak,the so-called Israeli Security Agency) secret police agents snuck into a Palestinian hospital at 3 am, with an agent pretending to be a pregnant Palestinian woman to kidnap a wounded Palestinian man accused of being involved in a stabbing attack two weeks prior. The man's cousin entered the hospital room and was shot five times, killing him. (Israeli secret police and military assassins seem to love impersonating Palestinians on their murder missions, something often boasted about in accounts of their "daring exploits.")

Compared with the bombings of Doctors Without Borders hospitals by Israel's allies the U.S. and Saudi Arabia in Afghanistan and Yemen respectively, this violation of international law and civilized norms looks relatively minor. It certainly isn't worthy of much note by the U.S. media, nor complaint by the complicit U.S. government, which shares the guilt for all Israeli crimes, being the crucial enabler of those crimes.

Netanyahu Demands $5 Billion From Obama For Kneecapping Him

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin "Podium Pounder" Netanyahu just came to the U.S. to meet with U.S. President Barack "Waffler" Obama, allegedly to "mend fences," as the very pro-Israeli U.S. establishment media claims, after former House Speaker and Republican reactionary John Boehner invited him to address the U.S. Congress behind Obama's back to fulminate against prospective deal with Iran for that country to largely dismantle its nuclear program. Netanyahu had for months been working frenetically to sabotage the deal with constant public attacks (and hidden maneuverings and manipulations and the pulling of the various cords that Israel has attached to levers of U.S. power). 

Having failed in that endeavor, Netanyahu now demands of Obama a whopping increase of two-thirds in the annual supply of free armaments and ordnance the U.S. gives to Israel to kill Palestinians and dominate the region with. Obama in effect is expected to reward Netanyahu for his assaults on the U.S. president and on the attempts to cut a deal with Iran by upping the annual reward to Israel from $3 billion a year (already the most foreign aid any nation gets from the U.S., and none of it loans) to $5 billion.

Needless to say, U.S. power elites will not react with outrage and take offense at this brazen demand, a demand for a reward for bad behavior. Because U.S. elites are political and psychological captives of Israel.

Weird, but true.

Pick Your Poison: In Syria, U.S. Will Have to Decide Who It Hates More

In Syria, a victory today highlights a conundrum for the U.S.

The victory was over ISIS, Devil Number One in current U.S. political eschatology. For two years, ISIS has besieged an Assad regime airbase. Now the siege has been broken by a combination of Russian air power, Iranian troops, and Hezbollah “fighters” (“terrorists” to the U.S., Israel, and the Euroducks that habitually line up behind those first two).

Notice that all the victorious allied forces that beat back ISIS are on the U.S. Enemies List. (And not entirely coincidentally, on the Israeli Enemy List also.)

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin “Pummeler of Palestinians” Netanyahu right now is in the U.S., where he once again inveighed against Iranian “aggressions.” U.S. imperialist officials from Barack Obama on down have repeatedly excoriated Iranian “bad behavior” and “destabilization” and other alleged misdeeds. And Russia is in the doghouse for its “aggression” and “destabilization” [sic!] in Ukraine, among other things displeasing to the master of the world, “the indispensable nation,” the U.S.

The Russians have proven cunning in dealing with the Syrian civil war. Remember when Syrian butcher Bashar “Barrel Bomb” al-Assad crossed Barack “Hamlet” Obama's red line and used chemical weapons (nerve agent, [1] at least twice) against the populations in rebel-held areas? Obama suddenly was caught like a deer in headlights, his bluff being called. Putin came to his rescue, proposing that Assad hand over his chemical weapons. (After some footdragging, he mostly did. That is, if you don't count chlorine as a chemical weapon, which it very definitely is when you bombard people with it, as Assad has been doing ever since.)

Last month Russia has outmaneuvered the U.S. yet again in Syria, sending in warplanes to fight “terrorists.” The U.S. griped that Russia was mostly bombing the “good” rebels, the “moderates” the U.S. dribbles out inadequate aid to.

Now with this drive against ISIS, the U.S.' mouth is shut when it comes to whining that Russia isn't really fighting ISIS- or at least, the next time the U.S. opens its yap and spouts that complaint again, Russia has a killer retort.

Donald Trump actually blurted out something sensible when he said it doesn't bother him if Russia fights ISIS.

Unfortunately that isn't all Russia is doing in Syria. It's also propping up an extremely loathsome regime and dictator.

1] The term nerve gas is misleading, as the chemicals in question, invented by the Nazis, are actually liquids. It is “delivered” to its “targets” (victims) in bombs or artillery shells. Israel is one of the few countries that still has an arsenal of such weapons. Dispersed as droplets, one droplet has the potential to kill if it lands on your skin. So don't let any land on you, okay?

Russia Outdoes U.S. Five-Fold In Bombing Hospitals

Russia is smoking hot in the war crimes category! In just a few days they've already managed to bomb five-  count 'em, five!-  hospitals in Syria in order to keep Bashar "Barrel Bomb" al-Assad in power. That's five times more hospitals than the U.S. has bombed this year. The U.S. has merely bombed one hospital year- to-date, the trauma center run by Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) in Kunduz, Afghanistan. So the U.S. has some catching-up to do. (Although if you go back to the record books, the U.S. bombed hospitals in Vietnam, "North" Vietnam in particular. And of course plenty of hospitals were caught in area bombing of cities in World War II. But that was just "collateral damage." No harm, no foul, using U.S. military accounting standards.) [1]

But Putin looks positively like a punk compared to Assad himself. The hospital Russia most recently bombed, in Idlib, Syria, has previously been bombed seventeen times by Assad the Sadistic Slayer. And Assad would be slacking off if that were the only hospital he bombed. But to be fair, Assad has been at it for over four years, so Russia shouldn't be counted out yet. It still has a shot at closing the gap and coming from behind to"win." [2]

The Russian warplanes used a classic "double-tap" attack, bombing the hospital twice, the strikes hitting ten minutes apart. This is the same technique French navy frogmen used when they planted two bombs on the hull of the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior in the harbor of Auckland, New Zealand, to keep Greenpeace from interfering with a French nuclear bomb "test" in the Pacific Ocean. The second explosion sealed the doom of Fernando Pereira, a Portuguese photographer and father of young children. The CIA did the same in a murderous attack on a ship moored in the Havana, Cuba, harbor. And the U.S. routinely does it in drone attacks in Pakistan, for example, waiting for rescue workers and neighbors to start digging out the rubble to blow them up too. [3]

Today we learned there's a new contestant in the Who Can Bomb The Most Hospitals Sweepstakes: Saudi Arabia. They just demolished a hospital in Yemen. And the icing on the cake is that it was another Médecins Sans Frontières hospital! How exciting is that! That's worth Bonus Points. Apparently the Saudis took inspiration from the U.S. attack on the MSF trauma center in Kunduz, Afghanistan, at the beginning of October. [4]

This follows the Saudi bombing of two wedding parties in less than a week, killing over 160 people. And numerous aerial attacks on mosques, marketplaces, apartment buildings and homes, all designed to reinstall the ousted "president" and successor to long-time dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh, on the seat of government. (If Yemen can even be said to have a government, which is doubtful.)

The U.S. and Western governments and media generally have been supportive or neutral about the Saudi crimes, with no outrage at all, whereas they have waxed indignant over Russian airstrikes killing Syrian civilians (dozens so far vs. several thousand Yemenis killed by the Saudis with their U.S.-bought aircraft and cluster bombs). I guess I'm going to sound like a broken record (you're not too young to know what a "record" is, or what happens when they "skip," are you?) but here goes: Man, the U.S. and its lackeys sure are hypocritical, criticizing others for doing what they do, applying double-standards and bloviating in trumped-up "moral outrage."

There, I said it. Just for the record.

1] The hospital the U.S. bombed on October 3rd, the Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) facility in Kunduz, Afghanistan, was the only trauma center in that entire region of Afghanistan. Now, thanks to an hour long assault on it by a U.S. aerial gunship, it is closed. Thus is the U.S. "nation-building" in Afghanistan. See my four previous essays on the matter between October 5th and October 9th, below.

2] According to an interview with a doctor at the Idlib hospital this morning on the U.S. government domestic radio propaganda network NPR, on the program "Morning Edition," the Idlib hospital has now been bombed a total of eighteen times. I'm presuming for now the person really was a doctor from the hospital, not an actor or liar. Given the long history of U.S. government and media deceptions, and media complicity with CIA disinformation, perhaps there should be an asterisk here. On the other hand, the nature and practices of the Assad regime give great credence to the story.

Here's something you probably forgot. When the protests first started, one of the first victims of Assad's regime was a teenager seized for painting anti-regime graffiti. He was tortured for a week or so, including having holes drilled in his kneecaps and his penis hacked off. When his mutilated corpse was returned to his family, they were warned to keep it secret, or else. But they defied the terror regime.

We also know that drilling holes in people's bones is a favorite technique of the torturers employed by Assad the Sadistic Slayer.

3] Last month the commander of the French state terrorist team that blew up the Rainbow Warrior "apologized" for murdering Pereira, which he insists, against all the evidence, was an "accident." Now he expects to be forgiven by his victim's family, to whom he addressed his "apology" through a media interview. (Not "man" enough to speak to them directly, it seems, or even write a letter. Classy, Bub.)

The terrorist, Jean-Luc Kister, said “I have the blood of an innocent man on my conscience, and that weighs on me.” On the other hand, he still justifies his terrorist attack 30 years later: “We had to obey orders, we were soldiers.” (Ever hear of a Nazi murderer who didn't say the same?)

Unsurprisingly selfish, he seeks absolution from his victims so his conscience will stop bothering him. Dishonestly, he's still pretending there was no lethal intent- even though the boat was full of people as the French well knew when they bombed it. The Greenpeace people rejected his "apology."

The French secret police planted a spy in Greenpeace's New Zealand office ahead of the terrorist attack. See "The Bombing of the Rainbow Warrior," by Greenpeace. Greenpeace says the bombs were plastic explosives wrapped in plastic, whereas Wikipedia says limpet mines, which are magnetic anti-ship mines. The Wikipedia article is more detailed than the Greenpeace description, with many footnotes and links. Read the Greenpeace description first, to get the general picture. There are also more details by Greenpeace at "The crew then and now." For details of the terrorists and French secret police infiltrators, see "A beret, a bottle of Beaujolais and a baguette," Greenpeace.

The second explosion came 7 minutes after the first. Naturally, the crew didn't think there would be a second bomb, so they didn't immediately evacuate after the first blast. 

Here's a fact that proves the French had lethal intent: If the French didn't want anyone to be hurt, the way to go would be to call in a warning that bombs on the hull were going off in ten minutes. That's what people who truly want to avoid injuring people do, like the despised Weather Underground and other demonized left-wing groups did.

But then, people motivated by values of fighting injustice and oppression operate by different principles than professional killers do.

4] The BBC reported the Saudi atrocity this morning. Tactfully omitted by the BBC were the facts that the Saudis used their U.S.-made warplanes and their U.S.-made bombs in the attack. And that the U.S. is backing the 6-month-long Saudi aerial terror campaign against Yemen, the poorest country in the region. But the "United Kingdom" always goes easy on Saudi atrocities- and backs the U.S. too of course. They've been loyal lackeys of the U.S. since World War II. And as for Saudi Arabia, there's oil under that sand, Guv'nor!

 Murderer Francois Mitterrand, former French president and international gangster, ordered the terrorist bombing of the Rainbow Warrior. (He was also a bigamist, with a "secret" second family the French press was forbidden by law from mentioning. Just saying...)

 A Real Man Ain't Afraid to BOMB A Hospital or Two!

 Him too.

Fernando Pereira and his daughter, Marelle, 

when both were still alive, and happy.

 

 

Assad Takes Time Off From Slaughtering Syrians To Visit His Savior Putin

Bashar "Barrel Bomb" al-Assad, the "president" (hereditary dictator) of Syria, found time in his busy schedule of auto-genocide and national destruction to pay a visit to his now-leading patron, fellow autocrat Vladimir Putin of Russia. Putin greeted Assad at the Kremlin, the long-time seat of power in Moscow going back to the era of the Tsars. The two tyrants contorted their faces into simulacra of smiles for the official photos, and shook hands.

U.S. government officials from Obama and Kerry on down, and the blatherariat, have been in a tizzy the last few weeks over Russia's bombing campaign in Syria designed to shore up the Assad regime. Especially vexing to the U.S. is that the main Russian targets seem to be the "moderate" Syrian rebels, namely the ones the U.S. supports in a half-assed way.  The U.S. has finally gotten around to giving them some anti-tank weapons, but no anti-aircraft ones, which they sorely need.

The Obama regime is paranoid that such a weapon might fall into the hands of terrorists who would use it to shoot down a Western civilian airliner. So what if that did happen? Why are the lives of a few hundred Westerners worth more than those of 200,000 Syrians who have already died? It's cowardly, chauvinistic, and racist to refuse to supply portable anti-aircraft weaponry to the rebels.

Since the U.S. refuses to allow the besieged Syrian people to defend themselves, the U.S. should have destroyed Assad's air force. The U.S. has had over four years to take out Assad's air force, and several fine opportunities, like after the chemical attacks. Nor would it impose a no-fly zone. Now the U.S. is bent out of shape because Assad's allies (Russia and Iran) are intervening decisively for their man.

I'm pretty sure Putin isn't much impressed with the carping and whining coming from the West over his intervention. A pretty pathetic display, all in all. And U.S. fecklessness has cost many Syrian lives.

To top it off, the Europeans force Syrian refugees to risk their lives in the hands of smugglers, trying to sneak into Europe. Just shameful. (And then there's that cur Donald Trump, who brayed in front of a mob of racist white reactionaries that he'd send "back" the measly 10,000 Syrians Obama claimed he'd let into the U.S. in the next two years- notice that Obama's presidency ends in little more than one year. "They're going back" the loathsome lout exclaimed over and over in his trademark demagogic style, to lusty cheers. What a heartless piece of insect shit. And for what? What does he gain? A moment of approbation from fellow anti-human louts.)

The U.S. has been quick to note the few dozen civilians killed so far by Russian bombs.  (This from a nation that has killed millions in aerial bombing campaigns over Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, North Korea, Germany, Japan, Italy, and we can toss in some thousands in Iraq and Afghanistan.) But here's what makes the hypocrisy especially jarring. Saudi Arabia has been waging an aerial terror war over Yemen for over six months now. They and their Arabian Peninsula lackey states have killed several thousand civilians- and the victims weren't "collateral damage," but rather the intended targets. The Saudis, using their American-supplied warplanes and their American-supplied cluster bombs and other munitions, have deliberately targeted markets, mosques, apartment buildings, and even two wedding within a single week that alone killed close to 200 people. (One wedding involved the family of a Houthi tribal leader who the Saudis don't like.) So far several thousand civilians have died in this Nazi-style (or U.S. or British or Israeli-style, for that matter) aerial terror campaign. Plus, half the children of Yemen are now said by the UN to be at risk of starvation, thanks to the Saudi blockade. (The U.S. is selli And ng the Saudis warships to help them.) The U.S. of course, being an accomplice, is thus culpable in Saudi war crimes in Yemen.

And here's how totally cynical the U.S. is: the U.S. government and media don't even believe the Saudi excuse that the Iranians are taking over Yemen via the Houthis!

One more thing. A BBC correspondent reported this morning that an official in the Russian war ministry told her the reason the Russians went in to Syria is because they determined that the Assad regime was two weeks away from falling. (Shades of their ill-fated Afghanistan intervention!) Even allowing for an overly-pessimistic Russian estimate, that tells us two things: First, that the U.S. blew another opportunity to get rid of Assad, which it keeps claiming it requires (a claim belied by its actions of refusing to adequately help the rebels, and by the stricture it placed on its now defunct Syrian force that those recruits only fight ISIS and NOT the Assad regime forces); and Second, that once again American rightists are proven to be paranoid freaks. They insist that everything Russia does is somehow aimed at the U.S. So Russia didn't go into Ukraine to defend its own vital interests, it did it to restart the Cold War and make America look weak. And it's not going into Syria to prop up a long time client, the only nation in the Middle East that Russia can count as friendly, it did it to spite the U.S., to retaliate for economic sanctions imposed on it, etc.

Nor is this solipsistic mentality limited to the rightwing of the nomenklatura and blatherariat.  Just today, one of the young dweebs that NPR staffs its horrid radio programs with, informed the American public that Russia's move into Syria was "a slap in the face" to the U.S. Talk about self-centered! Of course, during the Cold War- which the U.S. is apparently intent on restarting, since it enjoyed winning the last one so much- everything the Soviet Union did was seen as part of an anti-U.S. ploy. And every attempt by oppressed people to throw off U.S.-backed dictatorships was seen as Soviet subversion. [1]

American elites have the attitude that they're at the center of the universe. They've been drunk on power for so long they don't even realize they're inebriated. It distorts their judgment. And the flip side of thinking you're the center of the universe is paranoia- everything revolves around you, so everything that happens is somehow aimed at you.

And there are certainly plenty of examples of the U.S. behaving self-destructively. (But then again, the U.S. isn't unique in that regard. The Axis powers practically behaved as if they had a death wish.)

What was it the ancient Greeks said about Hubris leading to Nemesis?

1] The show is some propaganda named "Here and Now," and the young punk feeding us the party line was one Jeremy Hobson.

Hey look! They even wiped the blood off their hands before shaking! That's how polite they are!

 Best of friends. (Unless Assad becomes expendable later.)

Notice they never get too close.

[For insight into the vicious terror state the Assad regime imposes on Syrians, and the hazardous odyssies Syrians trying to escape his malign clutches endure, I recommend "Ten Borders: One refugee's epic escape from Syria," The New Yorker, October 26, 2016 issue.]

Production of "Hamlet" Starring Joseph Biden Closes

To run for president, or not to run for president; that is the question. Whether it is nobler to feed my ego and shove aside Hillary in a dash for the nomination, or dangle the tantalizing possibility of my candidacy before the media blatherariat.

Alas, box office was punk, there was no groundswell (outside of political apparatchiks and the aforementioned bloviators), and so the months of dithering and teasing and hint-dropping must sadly come to an end. But I swear to thee, I coulda been a contender...

Japanese "Authorities" Finally Admit A Cancer Case Caused By Fukushima "Accident"

The Japanese bosses have conceded a single cancer case attributed to the massive Fukushima nuclear reactor complex disaster. One whole case. One of the worker-drones dragooned into "cleaning up" the radioactive site has leukemia.

Actually there's been a huge increase in children getting thyroid cancer as a result of the disaster. But so far, Japanese officialdom won't admit it.

The infatuation of national bosses all around the world with nuclear power is mostly undiminished by this latest nuclear catastrophe. Their ardor undimmed, rulers in China, Britain, India, and elsewhere are going ahead with building more of these inherently dangerous, ticking time bombs. As far as I know, only one major country, Germany, took the hint from Fukushima and is phasing out its nuclear power plants.

Germany has also proven that renewable energy sources- wind, solar, hydropower- can in fact provide a large percentage of a country's electrical needs.

Murderer Oscar Pistorius Released From Prison Early, Will Serve Rest of Sentence in Mansion-Detention

Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee athlete and former international media darling and icon who essentially beat a murder rap for executing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, as she cowered, terrified and screaming, in the bathroom of his home (he fired four shots through the locked door to kill her) has gotten more kid-glove treatment from the South African “justice” system, freed after only 12 months of a five year sentence for a conviction on a much lesser charge. He spent his jail time in a cell he had all to himself in the prison hospital wing, where he wouldn't be bothered by other prisoners or sadistic guards. He'll do the rest of his sentence under mansion-arrest. He even got out an extra day early, so he wouldn't have to face the media, his jailers literally sneaking him out at night.

But there was something for the media from the Pistorius family: "The family is happy that Oscar is at home," family spokeswoman Anneliese Burgess announced to reporters clustered outside the manse of one of Oscar's relatives, in the expensive Pretoria suburb Waterkloof. (I think that's Dutch for “sewer water” or something like that.)

That's nice, Anneliese. [1]

Anneliese Burgess tossing fresh scraps of offal to the hungry dogs of the media.

Pistorius will be crammed into his uncle Arnold's three-story mansion for the remainder of his five-year “term,” where he'll be subjected to the indignities of a pool, a gym, and a large, luscious lawn, among other hardships. He will be forced to choose from among only a dozen bedrooms as his “cell.” Of course there will be electricity and clean running water and indoor plumbing, things many South Africans lack. South African is a civilized country, after all.

Pistorius' new crash pad. Oh man, that pool isn't even Olympic-size! How can 

anyone live like that? 

Well, there is a fence around it, with bars, so it kinda looks like a prison. 

A little.... If you squint real hard….

Since Pistorius is such a trustworthy fellow, he will not be required to wear an electronic ankle bracelet to monitor his whereabouts. (No doubt he will be repeatedly violating his parole conditions and getting away with it. Just wait and see.)

Oh, I almost forgot. He's supposed to perform some kind of “community service.” Not sure what “service” that could be. His lawyers will cook up some image-rehabilitating scam for him, I guess.

A Pistorius family statement moaned about the “strict conditions” of his parole, namely the up to 300 hours of “community service” he's supposed to perform over, not a month....no, not over a year…over four years. That means that out of the next 35,040 hours of poor Oscar's life, the state might rip as much as 300 hours out of it, making him pretend to do some good.

Wow! That's rough! They don't kid around in South Africa! Commit a serious felony there, and your wrist might end up all red from the slapping.

And Oscar has to see a psychotherapist, which the family complained was unnecessary. And he can't have a gun. (Now that is really going to cramp his style!)

Oh, and there's another thing. He has to meet with his victim's parents. If they want to. I guess so that he can lie again and “explain” to them that he thought that screaming woman he chased into his bathroom was really a burglar, and he's sorry about the “accident.” Or “mistake.” Or “boo-boo.” Whatever.

That's should make them feel a lot better. “Aid in the healing process,” as the banal and overused-to-death cliché goes.

But I'm being too “cynical.” As “correctional services” minister Michael Masutha explained, the goal of such a meeting would be to help Barry and June Steenkamp cope with their loss.

Right. By having to listen to a self-centered, self-pitying, over-privileged, violent thug lie through his teeth right into their faces.

I know that would make me feel better, coming from my daughter's murderer. You too, right?

Is this how the South African state makes up for letting the killer off easy? Giving the parents the “opportunity” to have a little chat with the murderer?

Bizarre.

But then, it's no stranger than that whole “reconciliation” thing, whereby the victims of the fascist apartheid regime were supposed to let bygones be bygones. “Hey, you who tortured me, who blew off my hands and eyes with a letter bomb, who beat me and chained me naked in the back of a pickup and drove around until I died, who castrated me, who murdered my friends and family, who subjected me to decades of awful repression and exploitation of every kind-- let's kiss and make up!”

That's called “pragmatism.” And the people who arranged it are great “statesmen.”

South African correctional services minister Michael Masutha 

only has the Steenkamp family's best interests at heart.

Hey, don't look at me. I thought my girlfriend was a burglar.

Anyway....Oscar Pistorius had a long history of violence, including firing guns at people, before he murdered Reeva Steenkamp. This apparently made no difference to the trial judge, or to the parole board that freed him.

Ignoring the testimony of police, of neighbors who heard Steenkamp's screams, and the forensic evidence, the trial judge, Thokozile Masipa, contemptuously dismissed the murder case brought by the prosecutors and instead found Pistorius guilty of a lesser charge, “culpable homicide,” equivalent to criminally negligent homicide, for being “reckless,” and sentenced him to “five years,” which in reality we see is really “12 months.” (The trial was a bench trial, that is, a non-jury one. Smart move on the part of Pistorius' lawyers.) Under South African law, a prisoner with a sentence of no more than five years can be released after serving only a sixth of the sentence. (Another gift from the judge.) But she did sock him with a three year sentence on top of the five, for a firearms charge- suspended.

So a violent, dangerous criminal with a history of assaultive behavior, is soon to be loosed on society thanks to celebrity privilege.

The other distinguishing feature of the Pistorius case is that while most violence in South Africa arises from the base of society, this example arose from within the fortress walls of the privileged sector of society.

Pistorius apparently is some kind of a romantic, only one with a dark twist- he executed Steenkamp on Valentine's Day in 2013. Or maybe he was displaying a sardonic sense of humor- Reeva was to give a speech at a school later that day on the topic of domestic violence. (Good one, Oscar! That'll shut the bitch's mouth!)

Pistorius is also free to participate in professional sport competitions in South Africa. However, the International Paralympics Committee has banned him from international competition until.....

2019. When he'll be allowed out of the house.

Ouch! Talk about zero tolerance!

But Pistorius may not be out of the woods yet. Prosecutors are appealing the verdict to the South African Supreme Court of Appeals, where a panel of five judges will rehear the case November 3^rd. If Pistorius is convicted of murder this time, he faces a minimum sentence of 15 years (minus early release). He's 28 now, so conceivably he could spent the last decade of his youth incarcerated.

Reeva, of course, didn't get to live out the rest of her youth, or any of the rest of her life. She was 29 when Pistorius chased her into the bathroom, where she locked the door to escape his violence.

Unfortunately, the door wasn't bulletproof.

Maybe he wasn't such a great catch, huh Reeva?

Peek-a-boooo, who's that hiding in the baath-rooom? 

I think I'll shoot a few holes in the door and find out!

 June Steenkamp, Reeva's Mom, sitting through “evidence” presented 

in court by Pistorius' lawyers. Her husband Barry is on the right.

You can't really blame the judge. It's obvious that those alien 

creatures colonizing her scalp took over her brain.

 Oscar “Pistol” Pistorius- Happy At Last.

1] Oscar's kinfolk have been quite aggressive in backing him all the way, from the day he murdered Steenkamp until today. Two weeks ago they were whining that he hadn't yet been released on parole, as he was “entitled” to be after 10 months. In fact, he was going to be released August 20, but public indignation forced the government to stall for two months. See “Pistorius family: Oscar's rights [sic!] being undermined,” Chicago Tribune, October 6, 2015.

I already analyzed the original trial. “Murderous Athlete and Erstwhile Media Darling Oscar Pistorius Beats Murder Rap,” September 13, 2014.

Terror Bombing of Peace Rally in Turkey: Terrorism or STATE Terrorism?

That's the question that has been avoided so far in the latest terrorist attack on a peaceful demonstration in Turkey. But anyone familiar with modern Turkish history would be dishonest to evade a serious consideration of it.

What NPR, for example, dismisses as ”conspiracy theory” on the part of presumably paranoid Turks, is in fact reasonable theorizing about the crime. [1]

So far, the evidence is mixed. But this much is already clear: Whoever is behind it are mass murdering scum.
The Turkish regime of autocrat Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will only admit to 97 deaths, whereas the true number is apparently 128 or more, according to the rally organizers. Another 250 people or so were wounded in the suicide bombings. The bombings occurred at the start of a peace march including Kurds.

Some bodies were blasted beyond recognition.

The vicious attack was cunningly planned. After the first bomb went off, people ran into the second explosion timed for seconds later, and apparently placed with murderous precalculation.

Police then immediately attacked the survivors with tear gas. And the Turkish media was banned from reporting the event.

The editor of the main English-language Turkish journal was arrested the same day for "insulting" Erdogan in a tweet. One man interviewed said his friend died when police prevented him from taking his friend to a hospital. The police blocked ambulances from reaching the scene for 45 minutes. [2]

These facts, together with the political context, throw the gravest suspicion on the Erdogan regime.

Many think the government allowed the attacks to occur, or at a minimum were negligent. Given the violent assault on the survivors, and the repression imposed simultaneously, at the very least there seems to be government foreknowledge.

Turkish governments have a long history of domestic terrorism and alliances with gangsters. For a time a major fascist organization, the Grey Wolves, was used to murder large numbers of progressives and suppress their organizing, with the complicity of the secret police and military. (As always with right-wing terror states, the U.S. looked kindly on these events, and generously supplied the Turkish military with arms and ordnance. The CIA played its usual malign role.)

So far Erdoğan and his minions have been blaming both the Kurds and ISIS. (This obvious contradiction doesn't seem to faze them. It can't be both, of course, plus the Kurds and ISIS are in a war to the death with each other in Syria and Iraq, which would rule out a cooperative terrorist plot.)

In trying to unravel the mystery of who the culprits are, we must ask the question, Cui bono? Who benefits?

The bombings occurred three weeks before new parliamentary elections Erdoğan imposed because he's a sore “loser.” He expected to win a super-majority in the parliamemtary elections that were held in June, but the opposition and heavily-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) won 13%, depriving him of a Hitler-Reichstag style legislature that would rubber-stamp new dictatorial powers he seeks by mutilating the Turkish constitution. The HDP organized the peace march that was just bombed before it could even get underway.

The night before the June 7 elections there was another terrorist bombing, for which there was never “a proper investigation,” according to BBC Newsday. That adds to the suspicion that Erdoğan is behind these events. Erdoğan benefits, or hopes to, by presenting himself as the protector of the nation against the mysterious terrorists planting bombs and rallying people around him as the symbol of the nation and of law and order.. He also terrorizes Kurds and opponents, which might depress their participation in voting.

This terrorism on Turkish soil is occurring in the context of Erdoğan renewing war against the armed Kurdish Workers' Party, long the bête noire of the Turkish state which caused the guerrilla movement by its decades of oppression of Kurds, including even outlawing the Kurdish language. The PKK is deemed a “terrorist” organization by Turkey's allies, the U.S. and the ducks that reliably line up behind the U.S. on international political matters, the Europeans. (The U.S. has dominated Europe since World War II, and that has even increased since the Soviet Union suddenly shattered into pieces.) Erdoğan used the cover of claiming to attack ISIS in Syria to launch aerial bombing attacks against Kurdish camps there. In response, a Kurdish peace rally on the Syria border was organized, which also was terror-bombed. Somebody's been busy! Cui bono? Who benefits from suppressing rallies against Erdoğan's renewed warfare against the Kurdish PKK? Who stands to gain if peacniks are terrorized from the streets? Why, Erdoğan does!

This type of terror fits the classic pattern of the so-called “strategy of tension,” whereby hidden and malign political forces seek to create a crisis atmosphere in society. We saw it in Europe under the Gladio program, for example. The aim there and in some other cases is for fascist forces within the state to grab more power. It occurred in the U.S. on September 11, 2001. The fact that the Erdoğan regime has barred journalists from even reporting on the terror attack, much less trying to investigate, can only constitute damning evidence against him and his regime as plausible if not probable culprits in this latest atrocity against those who want peace.

1] NPR being the U.S. government domestic radio propaganda network. It goes without saying that the      U.S. corporate media is completely disinterested in investigating and exposing the possible role of the Turkish government. In fact they won't even report the police attacks on the survivors, and very little about media repression in Turkey. This should be no surprise. The U.S. media is always only interested in repression in enemy states, such as Russia and Iran.

2] “Shock & Panic in Turkey: Deadliest Terrorist Attack in Country’s History Leaves as Many as 128 Dead,” Democracy Now!, October 12, 2015.

Bernard Sanders Says 'No' In 52 Words

[From the Democratic presidential contenders' debate on CNN October 13.]

 

[Anderson] COOPER: You don’t consider yourself a capitalist, though?

SANDERS: Do I consider myself part of the casino capitalist process by which so few have so much and so many have so little by which Wall Street’s greed and recklessness wrecked this economy? No, I don’t. I believe in a society where all people do well. Not just a handful of billionaires. [I.e., “No.”]

(APPLAUSE) [From Sanders' supporters in audience.]

[Then Cooper goes fishing for more Commies.]:

COOPER: Just let me just be clear. Is there anybody else on the stage who is not a capitalist?

[Hillary] CLINTON: Well, let me just follow-up on that, Anderson, because when I think about capitalism, I think about all the small businesses that were started because we have the opportunity and the freedom in our country for people to do that and to make a good living for themselves and their families. And I don’t think we should confuse what we have to do every so often in America, which is save capitalism from itself. And I think what Senator Sanders is saying certainly makes sense in the terms of the inequality that we have. But we are not Denmark. I love Denmark. We are the United States of America. And it’s our job to rein in the excesses of capitalism so that it doesn’t run amok and doesn’t cause the kind of inequities we’re seeing in our economic system. But we would be making a grave mistake to turn our backs on what built the greatest middle class in the history...

COOPER: Senator Sanders?

CLINTON: ... of the world.

(APPLAUSE) [From Clinton's supporters in audience.]

SANDERS: I think everybody is in agreement that we are a great entrepreneurial nation. We have got to encourage that. Of course, we have to support small and medium-sized businesses. But you can have all of the growth that you want and it doesn’t mean anything if all of the new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. So what we need to do is support small and medium-sized businesses, the backbone of our economy, but we have to make sure that every family in this country gets a fair shake...

COOPER: We’re going to get...

SANDERS: ... not just for billionaires.



Notice how both Clinton and Sanders spin it both ways rhetorically. Not that anything they say is necessarily “wrong.” Just that it's ass-covering.

Clinton wants to pull people leaning towards Sanders to her, without alienating other people. Sanders has a foot in two rowboats, claiming to be a socialist while praising capitalism of the “good” kind- small and entrepreneurial, also trying to appeal to a disenchanted but multifarious electorate.

But I noticed something a bit suspicious. Lincoln Chafee, Martin O'Malley, and James Webb didn't respond to Cooper's question. They didn't volunteer that yes indeed, they are capitalists. Could they be secret communists? Perhaps even members of the same covert cell?

This is a job for the Department of Homeland Security! (I would have said the FBI, but they're busy finding teenage hotheads and mentally ill people to frame-up as Islamic terrorists.)

Taliban Retreat from Kunduz, Declare Victory

The battle for Kunduz, Afghanistan, has apparently ended (for the time being) after 15 days of in-city combat. The Taliban, dishonest curs that they are, pretended they simply withdrew because they achieved all of their goals.

Let's see what some of those "goals" were:

Murdering people with government jobs: Check.
Destroying government offices: Check.
Destroying facilities for women and children: Check.
Hunting down to murder women who run those facilities: Check.

Dragging the entire country back into the seventh century: Pending.

So these totalitarian feudalist barbarians still have some work to do- and Allah (and Pakistan and Saudi Arabia) willing, they will achieve them.

I hope not.

On evaluating what happened in Kunduz, the glass is either half empty or half full. It's undoubtedly a sign of Afghan weakness that these terrorists could take over a major city for a fortnight. On the other hand, Afghan government forces were willing to fight, and ultimately drive out the invaders. (With U.S. military help, it needs to be noted.)

What is clear is that Afghanistan will be a Western dependency for years to come, unless the West wants to risk having it dragged back down into the Islamofascist swamp.

U.S. Throws in Towel On Its 5-Man Syrian "Army"

The U.S. just announced that it's giving up on creating a Mighty Army of "moderate" Syrian mercenaries to fight ISIS and ONLY ISIS and leave Assad alone. Now the half billion dollar program will be "repurposed" in U.S.-government-speak to "support" "moderate" Syrians, who will be tasked with spying on ISIS for the U.S. and to spot targets for U.S. aerial attack. [1]

This comes in the wake of aggressive Russian military intervention in Syria on behalf of the awful Assad dictatorship. The dictatorship still holds 25% of Syrian territory, but has 60% of the populace under its malign sway, some of whom were driven into those areas by Assad's bombardments of civilians.

Russia recently moved strike aircraft into Syria, and is conducting bombing raids on rebel-held areas. They claim to be targeting ISIS, but the U.S. asserts that over 90% of Russian airstrikes are hitting what the U.S. calls moderate Syrians. (Let us take that to mean non-Jihadist.) The U.S. is also claiming that four Russian cruise missiles, fired from the Caspian Sea 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) from Syria and presumably aimed at rebel areas, landed instead in Iran. Whoops!

Iran is another Assad ally that has sent fighting forces into Syria to prop up the sagging Assad regime, as well as having its Lebanese Hezbollah clients sent in fighters. (An Iranian general was also just killed in Syria. Good riddance.)

Turkey has complained that Russia aircraft locked on Turkish planes with their radar, which is potentially a step before shooting down an airplane. (When Assad actually shot down two Turkish military jets a few years ago, there was no apparent retaliation.)

It's a shame that the U.S. didn't aid the rebellion in the first year, as I called for, when it could have made a difference. After that, it was basically too late, plus Jihadists like al-Nusra front and later ISIS got ever stronger. For the past four and more years the U.S. has been half-assed and feckless. Its now officially defunct scheme to train up 5,400 Syrians to be a client U.S. force fighting ONLY ISIS, the wheels having fallen off that wagon, is the latest faux policy to be exposed as mostly just going through the motions (while wasting untold hundreds of  millions of dollars).

If morality guided U.S. foreign policy, a vigorous intervention at the start of the uprising might have been successful. The false "pragmatism" of amorality once again proves that it is unrealistic, and moral behavior represents genuine realism. Because morality is embedded in the fabric of existence. The irony is that the U.S. could have gotten what it claims to want (Assad's removal) by behaving morally and supporting people rising up against a brutal tyrant. (Oh, and it would also have been backing what it claims to "stand for," freedom and democracy.)

The struggles of empire to gain more power and wealth have always benefitted the few, while retarding the development of better lives for the bulk of humanity. Maybe some day enough people will realize that to finally put an end to the Age of Imperialism, which has lasted thousands of years and is overdue for burial in the graveyard of history.

1] See U.S. Deploys Mighty Army of “4 or 5” Soldiers to “Degrade” Islamic State aka ISIS; also Obama's “ISIS Czar” Bails Out; and U.S. Funnels More Weapons To Its Enemies. 

What Happens When One Nobel Peace Prize Winner Bombs Another Nobel Peace Prize Winner?

Well, one thing that doesn't happen is the Norwegian Nobel Committee doesn't revoke the prize. [1]

Barack Obama (Nobel Peace Prize 2009) the commander-in-chief of the U.S. armed forces, is ultimately responsible for (and for all we currently know, had foreknowledge of) the war crime bombing of the hospital run by the Swiss-based charity Médecins Sans Frontières (Nobel Peace Prize 1999) or MSF- Doctors Without Borders- in Kunduz, Afghanistan, on October 2nd.

What does happen is that, five days after the crime, a few hours after the victims public call for an investigation under the terms of the Geneva Convention, the Bomber-in-Chief calls to apologize, and trots out his official mouthpiece (a fratboy type named Josh Earnest) to inform the world of the apology. Which is supposed to get the Nobelist and his military off the hook morally. Hey, he said he was sorry! And besides, the attackers are going to investigate themselves. What more could a reasonable person possibly want?

You can shoot up a hospital operating room and still be a respectable felllow.

Meanwhile, the death toll in the attack has apparently more than doubled. The confirmed dead number 22; 12 medical personnel and 10 patients, including 3 children. MSF has announced that another 24 of its people are missing. We should presume them dead, now that six days have passed since the savage assault.

If you find it spooky that a Nobelist would kill Nobelists, consider this: the official designation for the type of warplane that committed the crime, the AC-130U gunship, is “Spooky II.” [2]

1] The Nobel Committee consists of five people appointed by the Norwegian parliament to award the five Nobel prizes established by Swedish industrialist, armaments maker, and inventor of dynamite Alfred Nobel in his will. A sixth prize, the Sham Nobel, is in “economics” and was created by ideological hustlers piggybacking on the prestige of the real Nobels. It was established 73 years after Nobel's death by the Swedish central bank, which gave money to the Nobel foundation to administer it.

2] It's also referred to as “Spectre.” Ooh, so scary. See among numerous sources, “USAF Project Gunship II, The Aviation Zone, “Home of the Heavies,” a military fetishism site.

 More barrels, the better to butcher you with.

WikiLeaks Invites Obama to Bomb It

In effect, that is. It's certainly not their intent to be subjected to a murderous U.S. attack.

WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy organization and website founded by Julian Assange, offered a $50,000 reward for military records of the U.S. war crime of bombing the Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, on October 2^nd. [1] And they asked for some very specific material that the U.S. no doubt will refuse to release. Here's their ask:

“The AC-130 records its attacks with high resolution gun cameras. According to military procedure, this footage should have been retained along with the cockpit audio. A post-massacre inquiry report referred to as an ‘AR 15-6’ should have also been commissioned. We are raising a U.S. $50,000 bounty to obtain the footage, the cockpit audio, the inquiry report and other relevant materials.” [2] [3]

Wow! Talk about tickling the throat of the tiger. That sure got the attention of the U.S., I'll bet.

The U.S. has already taken extreme measures to destroy WikiLeaks. It arranged for credit card companies and Paypal to bar donations to WikiLeaks. It has launched numerous computer attacks against the organization and unleashed the whole panoply of secret police repressive and close surveillance against the group. Most notoriously, it arranged a long-running criminal “investigation” of Assange by Sweden, and now has him trapped in the Ecuadorean embassy in London. Ecuador has granted Assange political asylum, a decision Britain refuses to respect. It has a police cordon around the Embassy, and planted a listening device inside, violating diplomatic sovereignty. And the U.S. has a secret indictment of Assange. It is licking its chops waiting for an opportunity to seize him and imprison him for decades, if not life. There is an ongoing grand jury “investigation” of WikiLeaks, a standard political repression weapon the U.S. uses.

WikiLeaks incited the enduring hatred of the U.S. government and some U.S. elites (a number of whom publicly called for Assange's murder) by exposing, among other things, one of the most blood chilling U.S. war crimes, the murder of Reuters journalists in Iraq by a murderous U.S. helicopter crew, who also fired on a van full of children whose father had stopped to aid the journalists after they had been gunned down in the street.

WikiLeaks was given the helicopter's video and audio recording of the murders anonymously by U.S. Army private Chelsea Manning, who was turned in by FBI secret police informer Adrian Lamo, in whom Manning unwisely confided in online. Manning was then kept naked for a year in a Marine brig (despite being an Army private), court-martialed, and sentenced to 35 years in prison. The murderers of course suffered no consequences at all. [See the collateral murder video.]

The U.S. is used to getting its way and will break any law to get it.

It took the extreme measure of forcing down the presidential plane of Bolivian president Evo Morales and had it searched when it suspected that Edward Snowden was onboard. Snowden is the man who exposed some of the massive NSA global surveillance programs.

To show their displeasure with al-Jazeera, the Qatari news outfit, they bombed its offices four times in Kabul and Baghdad, and kidnapped one of its employees, who they imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, where they tried to force him to be a spy inside al-Jazeera for them.

Considering the U.S.' willingness to commit any crime, I have an idea! Why not a drone strike on the Ecuadorean embassy in London? It's the next logical step after bombing a hospital run by an internationally renowned organization. What do you think, Barack? It's not like you'd be technically bombing London. The embassy is Ecuadorean national territory by law. You could always say it was a “mistake,” issue an “apology,” and announce an “investigation” afterwards if the squawking got too loud.
Ecuador does have a left-wing government now, after all. And the president is (falsely) accused of attacking press “freedom.” You could say bombing their embassy strikes a blow for freedom. That's no more far-fetched than a lot of U.S. propaganda, such as support for fascist death squad terror states is “defending freedom and democracy.”

But Obama did “apologize” to Médecins Sans Frontières....five days after the war crime, and a few hours after MSF publicly called for an independent of the crime under the Geneva Convention. Guess he thought he could dissuade them with a “sorry.”

1] “Afghanistan: MSF staff killed and hospital partially destroyed in Kunduz,” and “Kunduz Hospital Airstrike,” Médecins Sans Frontières.

2] “Wikileaks Offers to Pay $50,000 for Kunduz Bombing Footage,” Time magazine, October 8, 2015. You could go to the WikiLeaks website, but the U.S. government will trap your IP address and plant spyware and maybe worse on your computer. You could try using the Tor browser and a vpn, but there's no guarantee that would provide absolute protection. I suppose you could use a computer in an Internet cafe or library, so it won't be your computer- but if you use your actual name to use it, they might find out your name, depending on how fanatical they are. (Pretty fanatical, generally speaking.) Living in a global police state gets to be a real pain in the ass....

Interestingly, Time referred to WikiLeaks as “Transparency activist group Wikileaks” I was surprised by that non-derogatory, accurate description from a U.S. establishment media organ.

3] The AC-130 is the murderous flying gunship the U.S. unleashed on the hospital- it has also been used in El Salvador, Vietnam, and other poor countries victimized by the U.S., generally against people who have no defense against it. It is a cargo plane reconfigured with rapid-fire cannons to blow people on the ground to bits. It also carries air-to-ground missiles. There are plans to add a laser weapon. It also helped murder 4,000 Panamanians when the U.S. invaded that country on the orders of Bush the Elder.
There's an amoral description of the plane and its history at Wikipedia.

Standard weapons are two 20mm cannons, a 25mm Gatling gun that fires 1,800 rounds per minute, a 40mm cannon that fires 100 rounds a minute, and a large 105mm cannon that can fire 10 shells a minute. It is also packed with various surveillance and electronic equipment. See Federation of American Scientists for specs.

My, what Big Bullets you Butchers have! 40mm munitions on the flying abattoir.

AC-130 gunship with air to ground 
missiles on wingpod.

Lockheed Martin manufactures the killer aircraft. Note cannons protruding from fuselage.

Black Americans can enjoy the benefits of 

slaughtering people too.

You've come a long way, Baby- 

you've got your own gun now.

  That's what I call progress!

 After awhile one does gets blase about butchery.

 Blast away, Boys!

Obama won't unleash this on ISIS or on Assad's forces- but a hospital makes a perfect target. Hospitals can't shoot back!

[Scroll down to earlier essays for details on the hospital bombing and its aftermath, and the ever-changing series of smarmy U.S. lies.]