5 - 2010 - Antiwar.com Blog

OK, so who DID they slaughter?

[viddler id=f166caa9&w=247&h=227]"Those who would slaughter innocent men, women, and children must know that the United States will do more than simply strengthen our defenses. … Around the world and here at home there are those who would attack our citizens and who would slaughter innocent men, women, and children in pursuit of their murderous agenda." –U.S. President Barak Obama, 2009 & 2010

So from his statements here and elsewhere, it would seem that Mr. Obama is implacably opposed to those who "would slaughter innocent men, women, and children."

Yet we know that he and his Administration have stepped- up use of drone assassinations — so stories reporting successful drone assassinations shouldn’t be a surprise – – –

Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud is dead, say officials – CSMonitor.com, Kristen Chick, Correspondent / February 10, 2010

We also know that drone and air strikes are notoriously inaccurate, regularly resulting in so-called "collateral damage" — and that government officials traditionally lie.

So, it should also be no surprise that Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud is alive — also here and here.

But, if it wasn’t Hakimullah Mehusud they assassinated and otherwise droned to death, which innocent men, women and children did they slaughter — in pursuit of their murderous agenda?

Get Well, Alan Bock

We have been missing Alan Bock’s column for the last few weeks.

A few weeks ago, Alan got very sick. After seeing many doctors and getting scores of tests, he has been diagnosed with a cancerous blockage in his biliary ducts.

He is facing surgery and is hopeful, and treatment an a great attitude have seen a vast improvement already.

Here is a note from Alan written a few days ago:

In case anybody has been looking here and wondering what happened to me, it’s been illness. About three weeks ago — four? — Jen noticed I was looking yellow, which means jaundice. Long story short, moving from a hospital in Murietta that couldn’t help me to Cedars-Sinai, I have a blockage in my biliary ducts — some relieved by a stent, so the jaundice is gone, but what remains is cancerous. There’s a surgery called Whipple to take such things out, and I’m now at home taking antibiotics and preparing for surgery, perhaps in a week. I doubt if I’ll have much to say about politics for a while yet — you might be surprised just cooking right and taking care of me takes. But I’m feeling good and optimistic. Maybe more on my condition as my strength increases, but then a silent period again.

We at Antiwar.com send our hopes and thoughts to Alan.

‘Hibakusha’ Apologize for Pearl Harbor? Why?

The farcical NPT conference drags on: the US and Israel, both nuclear powers, the former actually noncompliant, the latter not even a signatory, point their trigger fingers at Iran; Iran, with not even a nuclear power plant, complains the world doesn’t care that the US basically threatens to nuke it every couple of weeks and wants to “crush” it with sanctions with no evidence of its evil intentions. But in the midst of this pointless exercise in Western self-validation, the survivors of the only nuclear attacks ever carried out, by the United States on Japan at the end of WWII, remind us of the proven horrors of nuclear weapons.

The “Hibakusha Stories” group of Hiroshima nuclear-bomb survivors is touring high schools around New York City, and this week they visited my local high school in Bushwick, Brooklyn, to speak with 10th-grade students about their emotionally and physically painful experiences. The survivors are surprisingly unvengeful, more than anything desiring an end to nuclear weapon arsenals. But in their attitudes lies the root of all wars.

“[Survivor] Mimaki also felt the need to apologize for Japanâ€™s attack on Pearl Harbor, bowing his head to a silent audience…”

Mimaki was a toddler when his family was nuked. His parents died of cancer relatively soon after. He suffered sicknesses for years and had to be medicated. That he should feel the need to apologize for a (not altogether illegitimate) military strike that happened before he was born is a symptom of the sickness of nationalism and collectivism. The man has absolutely no responsibility and even if the attack on Pearl Harbor were an unarguable act of pure aggression, his apology should be meaningless — he didn’t do it, he didn’t support it, he wasn’t even alive.

People are not their governments, they are their government’s victims. They should not be doubly victimized by being held to account for the crimes of their own oppressors.

Osama Bin Falconing?

Interspersed between the US claims that they are virtually certain al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is living in Pakistan is the occasional wild theory about where the reclusive terrorist mastermind actually is.

Today’s theory comes by way of a documentary filmmaker who has just released a new film about falconry. Unsurprisingly, his Osama theory involves falcons.

According to the filmmaker, one of his employees saved the life of a weapons smuggler from Northern Iran, and being so grateful that smuggler let him in on the world’s most sought after secret. Apparently Osama bin Laden has been hanging out in Northern Iran, and practicing falconry.

Now wait a minute, you may be saying. Osama is the leader of the Sunni al-Qaeda, and has been an arch-enemy of Iran for decades. Why would he be there, of all places?

Well never mind that, it gets better. The filmmaker claims to be in possession of Osama’s falcons’ telemetry information, and has offered to give it to the US government so they can pinpoint his whereabouts. The US government, apparently not quite this desperate for leads, never called him back.

On the 40th Anniversary of the Kent State Shootings

Democracy Now! has an excellent and comprehensive report on the 40th anniversary of the Kent State shootings.

On May 4th, 1970, National Guardsmen opened fire on hundreds of unarmed students at an antiwar rally at Kent State University in Ohio. The guardsmen fired off at least 67 shots in roughly 13 seconds. Four students were killed and nine others wounded.

Watch or listen to a stream of the broadcast. You can also download an MP3. Other options are available here.