Escalating drone attacks in Pakistan part of new US militarism
Washington DC-Crescent-online
February 3, 2010 - 12:25 pm EST
The US budget for fiscal year 2010-2011 of $3.8 trillion unveiled on February 1 has a very large military component: $708 billion. This increases th US military expenditure by 3.4 percent over last year, already the biggest defence outlay of any country in the world. While the budget will have a $1.3 trillion deficit and deficits will continue to accumulate well into the next decade, American war planners are not deterred.
In the defence budget is also a request for more funds to escalate drone attacks by 75 percent in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Already, US drone attacks have kille thousands of innocent civilians in Pakistan. The American warmongers believe that by killing more innocents, they can achieve their objectives in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Mike Mullen, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said: “With this funding, we will increase the unmanned Predator and Reaper orbits from 37 to 65, while enhancing our ability to process, exploit and disseminate information gathered by this game-changing technology.” He went on: “As we’ve seen firsthand through eight years of war, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets are absolutely critical enablers for the war-fighter.” US Defence Secretary Robert Gates chimed in with claims saying that the new drones would be added to the American military’s arsenal “in a couple of years” and these would be “the most advanced UAVs”.
The $708 billion defence budget has three components: a base budget of $548.9 billion for 2011; $159.3 billion for overseas contingency operations in 2011 and a supplemental budget of $33 billion for 2010. This last item will cover the cost of additional troop deployments in Afghanistan that President Barack Obama announced on December 1 last year as well as intensified military operations in Pakistan. The counter-insurgency funds are for US military operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq.
“America’s ability to deal with threats for years to come will depend importantly on our success in the current conflicts,” Mullen said. Such success is likely to elude Americans, especially in Afghanistan where the Taliban have gained much traction and are now operational throughout the country. Mullen was forced to concede this during his Congressional testimony on February 3.
Release of US budget proposal on February 1 coincided with the Quadrennial Defence Review (QRD) that outlines Pentagon thinking about future conflicts and what resources might be needed. The QRD clearly lays emphasis on counter-insurgency, and lists China as one of America’s main “potentially hostile” states along with North Korea and Iran.
Breaking with past policy of maintaining large numbers of troops and weapons that could fight two major regional wars at the same time, for example in the Middle East and Asia, the new proposals call for building “substantial” forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Pentagon believes that the conflicts “will substantially determine the size and shape of major elements of US military forces for several years.”
“In the mid- to long-term, we expect there to be enduring operational requirements in Afghanistan and elsewhere to defeat Al Qaeda and its allies,” the report says. Invoking the bogey of al-Qaeda and alternating it with threats from Taliban are two components of US strategists to continue to whip up hysteria and paranoia in order to justify massive military expenditures even while unemployment remains at 10 percent and millions of people are forced to abandon their homes and live in tent cities.
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Invoking the bogey of al-Qaeda all over again
Washington DC-Crescent-online
February 3, 2010 - 2:00 pm EST
Nothing scares the daylights out of Americans more than invoking the bogey of an al-Qaeda threat. This is precisely what Dennis Blair, Director of National Intelligence, did on February 2 during his appearance before a senate committee hearing to assess threats to the US.
Flanked by CIA Directors Leon Panetta and FBI Director John Mueller as well as the chief intelligence officers of the State and Defense departments, Blair put al-Qaeda at the top of a threat list that included the Iranian and North Korean nuclear programs, criminal cartels and the potential for economic collapse in developing countries hard-hit by recession. America's top intelligence officials described it as "certain" that al-Qaeda or its allies will try to attack the US in the next six months, and they called for unfettered ability in how US officials detain and question terror suspects. Intelligence officials feel they do not have enough freedom to torture detainees in order to extract confessions. Perhaps waterboarding, sleep deprivation, setting dogs on them or holding people in extremely painful positions for days on end are not enough for the civilized Americans to do their job.
Looking as serious as he could, Blair said: "Al-Qaeda maintains its intent to attack the homeland -- preferably with a large-scale operation that would cause mass casualties, harm the US economy or both." Both Blair and CIA Director Leon Panetta also warned of new threats from al-Qaeda's regional allies, such as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. This was an attempt to justify US attacks in Yemen that killed hundreds of villagers in mid-December.
Casting the net as wide as possible and to provide justification for attacks on other countries, Panetta claimed that al-Qaeda and its affiliated groups "are moving to other safe havens and regional nodes such as Yemen, Somalia, the Maghreb and others." He said al-Qaeda-inspired groups had successfully "deployed individuals to this country [US]," citing recently disrupted terrorist plots in Colorado and Chicago.
All four officials insisted that an attack on the US within the next six months was "certain". It was, therefore, time to panic and shovel more billions into the coffers of intelligence agencies that had allegedly failed to connect the dots in the case of the alleged Christmas Day bomber who despite warnings from his own father to the CIA in Nigeria, managed to board a US-bound plane with explosives hidden in his underwear.
What is certain is that Americans will lose more of their freedoms and they will be herded like sheep into following orders that hav little to do with safety or security and much more to do with controlling society so that the corporate elite can continue their unbridled plunder of the country's resources while people lose jobs and their homes.
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New vile allegations against Anwar put Malaysian justice in the dock
By Abd Rahman Koya
Kuala Lumpur-Crescent-online
February 2, 2010, 11.10 GMT
Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim will again have to go through the same kind of personal ordeal that he underwent a decade ago, when he was accused of sodomy and abuse of power, which effectively locked him out of politics following his dismissal from government in 1998. It took six years for the court to throw out the sodomy allegations. By then, Anwar had already turned into an opposition rallying point.
The latest sodomy allegation has been made by an office boy, who claimed that the former deputy prime minister had sodomised him. The accusation, made in the wake of Anwar’s official return to politics through a by-election in August 2008, was immediately picked up by government leaders.
Earlier today on February 2, Anwar’s team of lawyers desperately sought access to certain documents deemed crucial to his defence, which the court rejected, paving the way for the trial to begin after a delay of more than a year.
The way the trial will unfold seems to be a foregone conclusion, and going by the sham trials of a decade ago, Anwar should be under no illusion that he will be vindicated in a Malaysian court, especially when his presence outside the prison has continued to pose a threat to Prime Minister Najib Razak and other prime-ministerial aspirants from the ruling party, UMNO.
Observers have pointed out that the trial is more likely to put the country’s judiciary in the dock rather than Anwar himself, especially when the defence has been dealt a blow from the beginning.
Earlier, the transfer of the case to a different court also raised questions about the court’s credibility and independence. In the last Anwar saga orchestrated by none other than Dr Mahathir Mohamad, his mentor-turned-nemesis, the Anwar trials drew not only international condemnation but also sparked massive street protests, for the first time taking away a large chunk of traditional Malay support from UMNO. This time around, it remains to be seen whether such scenes will be repeated in Kuala Lumpur should Anwar be convicted.
No one really believes the allegations, especially after what Malaysians were made to go through in the form of massive personal attacks and vile accusations in the media against Anwar by the government. Not discouraged by this, government prosecutors said that they have solid evidence to secure a conviction, in the form of Anwar’s semen which they claimed was extracted from the complainant. On the other hand, medical reports by a semi-private hospital and a government hospital have both confirmed that there was no sign of any sodomy.
Whatever the evidence and counter evidence, the judges are there for a purpose: to lock Anwar out of politics for the rest of his life. Anwar perhaps realizes this more than anyone else: "We pray for the best but we are realistic enough … These are the machinations of the dirty corrupt few," he told reporters.
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Obama undermines Egyptian NGOs to support dictator Mubarak
MD-Toronto-Crescent–online
February 2, 2010 – 10:00am EST
US President Barack Obama’s federal budget proposal for 2010 cut democracy and governance aid to two notoriously autocratic states, Egypt and Jordan, by about 40 per cent. When Obama chose Cairo to deliver a speech on June 4, 2009 to address the Muslim world, he sent a strategic message that most Muslims did not fullyunderstand. The “hidden” message was that the US will continue support to autocrats like Mubarak to oppress their people in order to forestall Islamic revival.
The Egyptian regime is an antiquated but highly sponsored vassals of the US in the Middle East. In 2010 the US will provide $1.55 billion to the Mubarak regime. Of this, $1.33 billion will be used to sustain the Egyptian military. Further, the US under democrat Obama plans to cut funding for independent NGOs in Egypt by 74%. The Obama regime will finance only those NGOs that are registered with the Egyptian Ministry of Solidarity and Egyptian Organization for Participation and Sustained Development (EOPSD). This means that NGOs which do real work without serving the interests of the regime will be deprived of the opportunity to expose the horrors being perpetrated by Mubarak and his cronies.
The above revelations may catch some people by surprise but leading Islamic activists and movements had warned even before Obama took office that the US is simply reverting to its traditional tactics. During the Bush era the US conduct was blunt and brazen.
Prior to Bush, the US often used proxies to invade countries such as Saddam Hussain who under US patronage and support had attacked Islamic Iran in September 1980. Bush's lack of intelligence forced him to break with clandestine operations. This was a blessing in disguise since many people saw the US's true face that had previously been carefully camouflaged. Obama has been much smarter to shift back to the old ways. This explains why the Mubarak regime is getting a better deal now than under Bush.
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Brutal assault by Indian occupation forces in Kashmir
Srinagar-Crescent-online
February 2, 2010 - 11:30 am EST
Thousands of angry residents of Srinagar, capital of Indian-occupied Kashmir poured into the streets on February 1 following the shooting death of a 14-year-old boy by the police the evening before. Marchers shouted slogans against Indian occupation troops and threw stones at police, the only weapon they have to express their anger at the occupier.
The latest spate of demonstrations occurred when a police-fired tear gas shell struck and killed a boy on Sunday evening January 31. Tear gas shells were fired by police to quell protests but in this case, the protests had already ended and the victim, 14-year-old Wamiq Farooq, was heading home.
Thousands of people gathered at Farooq's home yesterday (February 1) and carried his body for burial, shouting slogans like ''We want freedom'' and ''Indian forces leave Kashmir.'' Police and military brutality against the people of Kashmir is so routine that it surprises no one.
Hemant Lohia, a top police officer, said the officer who fired the tear gas on Sunday has been suspended. ''Preliminary investigation suggests that it was a callous and irresponsible action on the part of the officer,'' he said. ''Further action will be taken once the investigation is completed.'' Few in Kashmir believe such statements.
Anti-India sentiment runs deep in the Muslim majority region, where millions of people have struggled for Kashmir's independence from India or its merger with Pakistan since 1989. An estimated 100,000 people have been killed, tens of thousands have disappeared and at least 10,000 women have been gang-raped, a particularly gruesome form of punishment that the Indian occupiers revel in, in order to humiliate the people.
India has maintained an estimated 500,000 occupation troops in the Kashmir Valley to crush the uprising, but so far has failed to achieve its goal. Its barbarous policies have only heightened alienation and resentment and strenghtened people's resolve to struggle for their rights.
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