Author: Brandon

An interview with Tyler Gilbert, who recently went through basic training in the US military;

“They Called Iraqis ‘Ragheads'”

The guy who carried my tray was the nicest guy I met there. He was Islamic. His name was Thomas. He decided that he couldn’t kill people. He stopped eating because he had a dream one night that told him he was wrong for the military. They tried to force-feed him. They pulled him out of class, accusing him and another Muslim of being terrorists, just because they were Muslim. Eventually, the drill sergeant told me he went AWOL. I had never met anyone who was Muslim before, but he was the nicest guy I met there. In the platoon, they called Iraqis “ragheads,” and all sorts of racist shit. I was prejudiced too until I met these Muslim guys. My views of Muslims have totally changed.

One drill instructor said, “We’re in Iraq for a good reason. The news isn’t reporting the good stuff we’re doing there. The news is bullshit, they’re lying because they’re only saying the bad stuff about the Army.” They said we should all support George Bush. They were trying to brainwash us. One of the drill sergeants came back from Iraq training Iraqis. He was less gung-ho. He told us, “We’re stupid. We’re training them and then they turn around and fight us instead.”

A U.S. policy of preemption and a push for new nuclear weapon designs could be a recipe for disaster that makes proliferation more likely, not less.

No More Nuclear Hypocrisy: Defending the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty

While the alarm is repeatedly sounded about Iran and North Korea, few news outlets told us when the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency denounced the nuclear powers’ hypocrisy as a major force for proliferation of nuclear weapons in more and more countries.

Flirting With Armageddon: Welcome to a New Arms Race

A new nuclear arms race is gripping the world. Many experts believe the likelihood of such an attack is greater now than it was during the Cold War. North Korea has already claimed it has nuclear weapons, Iran could be on the brink of building them. Both nations could trigger arms races among their neighbours. The international system set up to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons has sprung a series of leaks. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has warned of a ‘cascade’ of states going nuclear.

The Canadian government has rejected US orders that it comply with the incredibly dangerous and wrongheaded waste of resources euphemistically called the “missile defense shield”;

Prime Minister Paul Martin said Thursday that Canada would not join the contentious U.S. missile defense program, a decision that will further strain brittle relations between the neighbors but please Canadians who fear it could lead to an international arms race.

Let’s go back in time a bit. Early in the Cold War era, a problem developed for Canada. In the event of a Soviet bomber attack against the US, the bombers would have to fly east to the north pole, and then south over Canada, to get to the targets in the US. It was decided that Canada should help its partner to the south by constructing some sort of defense (My solution would have been to tell my friends the Americans “Hey hosers, about this cold war thing, cut it out willya? Thanks, eh?”). In 1954, development began in Canada, on a homegrown project which would, within four years, produce the greatest warplane of it’s era. Continue reading “US bully losing influence over Canada”

Sibel Edmonds is about to make life very unpleasant for the FBI;

The Department of Justice has abandoned its claim that allegations made by a fired FBI translator are secret, paving the way for a court case that will air embarrassing allegations about incompetence, poor security and possible espionage in the translation unit of the Bureau’s Washington Field Office.

The story goes on to say;

Edmonds reported that many of those hired to work in the unit could barely speak English; that they left secure laptop computers lying around while they went to lunch; that they took classified material home with them; and – even more disturbing – that one co-worker had undeclared contacts with a foreign organization that was under FBI surveillance.

Edmonds was fired from the FBI, but;

Edmonds is suing the FBI, claiming she was fired for bringing to light these problems – which have been identified by several inquiries as significant contributing factors to the success of the Sept. 11 plot.

Conn Hallinan, of Foreign Policy in Focus, reports that the militant neoconservative wing of the Bush administration is pushing an extremely aggressive policy toward China. Despite the fact that;

… while China is modernizing its military, it is 20 years behind the U.S., and that “the balance between the United States and China, both globally and in Asia, is likely to remain decisively in America’s favor beyond the next 20 years.”

China’s military budget is less than one tenth that of the U.S. and it does not have a massive arms industry, preferring to purchase submarines, destroyers, aircraft, and high performance anti-aircraft missiles from Russia and Israel. In spite of Rumsfeld’s grim forecast, the Chinese navy is designed for defending its territorial waters, not projecting force elsewhere. While the U.S. has a dozen aircraft carriers, China has one, and an old obsolete Soviet one at that.

The neocon strategy, which is described as “well under way” is to”ring China with US military bases”;

Besides its traditional bases in Japan and South Korea, Guam has become, according to Pacific Commander Admiral William Fargo, a “power projection hub,” that will play an increasing role in Asia, with “geo-strategic importance.” The island already hosts B-52s, fighter planes, nuclear attack submarines, and the high altitude spy drone, the Global Hawk. Since Guam is a U.S. colony acquired during the Spanish American war, the military does not need permission for the buildup, as it would in Japan or Korea.

The U.S. is also attempting to build bases in Southeast and South Asia. While Indonesian authorities deny the story, the Singapore Times reports that the U.S. is presently negotiating to open a naval base on Sulawesi Island. It is also strengthening military ties to Thailand, Singapore, India, Sri Lanka, and Malaya.

Michael Berg reports:

Today, military recruiters have unprecedented access to public schools. The little-known Section 9528 of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 grants the Pentagon access to directories of all public high schools (supplying them with student names, addresses and phone numbers) to facilitate contact for military service recruitment.

A student or parent wishing to protect privacy must actively contact the school to opt out and protect their personal information. In some districts, it can be difficult to withhold information specifically from recruiters, yet still allow this information to be used for other purposes that parents and students may approve of, such as honor rolls or school TV shows.