Month: January 2016

Saturday, January 17, marked 25 years – a full generation – since the 1991 launch of a U.S.-led mostly air war, “Operation Desert Storm,” that devastated Iraq, including extensive damage to Iraqi electrical, water and sewage infrastructure, with terrible public health consequences.

A quarter-century later, the U.S. is still bombing, and 3400+ US troops are in country.

War rages in northern Iraq and Syria, with a ferocious, merciless entity driving the destruction: ISIL.

The countries of the region, and to a lesser extent European countries, are overwhelmed by the largest refugee crisis since World War II. One tragedy in particular has awakened our minds and hearts to the catastrophe: the little body of Aylan Kurdi,washed up on the shore of Turkey as he and his family tried to find refuge. His brother and mother also drowned. They are among the thousands of refugees who died seeking freedom and a new home in 2015.

Continuing warfare, including US bombing; increased jihadists terror attacks around the world; the Middle East awash with and contaminated by weapons; a refugee crisis; murdered and traumatized civilians: all these make for a grim legacy stemming from the US war of aggression in 1991. A new United Nations report on Iraq reveals that 19,000 civilians killed in Iraq in the past 21 months, and that 3,500 women and children, mostly Yazidis, have been enslaved by ISIL, with immense suffering and actual slave markets reported.

Continue reading “25 Years of the US at War in Iraq: Tragic Legacy, Dubious Prospects”

This one’s so funny that it must be some kind of U.S.-led initiative; I can’t believe the Afghans have this kind of a sense of humor.

But whatever the origin, Afghanistan banned the sale of imitation Kalashnikovs and other toy guns after they caused injuries to more than 100 people during the last Eid celebrations. Children toting toy guns that fire rubber or plastic pellets are a common sight in the country during Eid al-Fitr, with sales surging every year amid festivities marking the end of Ramadan.

More than 100 children and teenagers suffered eye injuries during the last round of celebrations, the interior ministry said. “We have ordered police forces to confiscate all toy guns which can lead to physical and psychological damage among people,” a ministry statement said.

Continue reading “Afghanistan Bans Toy Guns To Curb Culture of Violence”

In an Op-Ed printed in the Washington Post, former General David Petraeus says it is time to “unleash our airpower in support of our Afghan partners in the same way that we support our Iraqi and Syrian partners against extremists.”

Petraeus went on to claim:

At present, U.S. and NATO airpower in Afghanistan is used only to attack validated al-Qaeda targets, to counter specific individuals or groups who have attacked coalition forces previously and to respond directly to attacks on coalition forces. According to leaders on the ground, US and NATO forces are otherwise not allowed to attack Taliban targets. The situation appears to be in flux in regard to Islamic State elements, but through 2015, they too could be targeted only under narrow circumstances.

The former general, who lead the failed Surge in Iraq, and former head of the CIA, who was thrown out of the job after his extramarital affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell, and after his being convicted of exposing classified information, went on to say:

We have the tools in place to step up our game considerably. When combined with a motivated and competent ground force, airpower can be quite effective. This was witnessed in 2001, when US airpower and special operatives worked with the Northern Alliance to oust the Taliban from power.

Continue reading “Petraeus: ‘It’s Time To Unleash America’s Airpower in Afghanistan’”

A Saudi-backed opposition committee representing the rebels fighting to overthrow the Assad government in Syria have agreed on a chief negotiator for peace talks scheduled to begin in Geneva next week. The rebels will be represented by Mohammed Alloush, political leader of Jaysh al-Islam.

Mohammed Alloush’s brother, Zahran, led Jaysh al-Islam until he was killed in an airstrike at the end of December. Under Zahran’s rule, Jaysh al-Islam was a fiercely Islamist group that insisted strict Sharia law must govern Syria. He maintained close ties with the al-Nusra Front, otherwise known as al-Qaeda in Syria.

John Landis, Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, put together a detailed profile of the then-leader of Jaysh al-Islam. Should this group fulfill the US/Saudi/Turk/Israeli/Qatari wish of overthrowing Assad in Syria, there is little reason to believe the bloodshed would stop. In fact it may only really begin in earnest if they succeed in gaining power. Here is Landis on Zahran:

Zahran calls for cleansing Damascus of all Shiites and Nusayris. (“Nusayris” is the old term that referred to the Alawites prior to the adoption of “Alawite.” It is considered a term of abuse by Alawites).

Continue reading “Al-Qaeda Allies to Represent Opposition in Upcoming Syria Peace Talks”

When ISIS militias swept into Mosel, Iraq, in June 2014, Ibrahim Mahmoud plotted his flight, along with his whole family, which included 11 children. Once upon a time, Ibrahim was himself a child escaping another violent campaign carried out by equally angry militias.

In his lifetime, Ibrahim became a refugee twice, once when he was nine-years-old living in Haifa, Palestine, and yet again and more recently, in Mosel.

Just weeks before Israel declared its independence in 1948, Ibrahim lost his homeland, and fled Haifa, along with tens of thousands of Palestinian Muslims and Christians, after Israeli militias conquered the city in a military operation they called Bi’ur Hametz, or Passover Cleaning.

Over 750,000 Palestinians were expelled from or fled the horrors of the militias-instigated war, and those who are still alive along with their descendants, number over five million refugees.

Continue reading “Defined by Nakba and Exile: The Complex Reality of ‘Home’ for Palestinians”

Free trade — not corporatist, managed trade — is the best guarantor of peace and prosperity. Protectionism leads to trade wars which very often lead to hot wars. In the US presidential race the issue of tariffs and other taxes on trade have begun to enter the conversation. We should remember how dangerous this kind of isolationism is, especially to working and middle class Americans. In today’s Liberty Report, Ron Paul explains the importance of real free trade:

Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.