US Under-Reporting Green On Blue Attacks

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S.-led military coalition in Afghanistan is under-reporting the number of times that Afghan soldiers and police open fire on American and other foreign troops.
The coalition routinely reports attacks in which a coalition soldier is killed by an Afghan in uniform. But it does not report the instances in which an Afghan wounds U.S. or NATO troops or misses his target.
Officials acknowledge the attacks are a worrisome problem for the U.S. and its military partners as they work increasingly closely with Afghan troops in preparation for handing off security responsibility.
The Associated Press has learned that just last week, two U.S. soldiers were wounded when Afghan policemen opened fire on them. The Afghans were quickly killed, and the incident was not reported by the international coalition.

Danish Officer Charged Over Afghan Massacre

Danish officer charged over Afghan massacre - Politiken.dk:

Daily Life In Afghanistan

A Glimpse Of Daily Life In Afghanistan : The Picture Show : NPR:

Israel Boycott - Milestone Decision

The Co-op in a landmark decision is now boycotting all Isreali firms who do business with illegal settlements. MORE HERE

Le Pasteur Terry Jones Brule Encore Un Coran

En 2011, le révérend Terry Jones a incendié un exemplaire du Coran dans une église de Floride en présence d'une cinquantaine de personnes, reprochant aux musulmans afghans de s'en servir pour perpétrer des actes de violence. Ce geste du pasteur a provoqué des manifestations violentes en Afghanistan. Plus de 2.000 habitants de Kandahar ont notamment tenté de prendre d'assaut la mission d'assistance des Nations unies (MANUA) et les bureaux régionaux du gouvernement afghan. Au moins 10 personnes ont été tuées et 78 blessées dans les accrochages avec les forces de l'ordre. PLUS ICI

UN Attempt To Stifle Voice of Ordinary Afghans

“Today, Afghanistan and the U.S. initialed and locked the text of the strategic partnership agreement,” said President Hamid Karzai’s spokesman, Aimal Faizi. “This means the text is closed….” Oh really?

Afghan Police Steal From Everyone

Afghan police accused of stealing from rank and file | Reuters:

Gaddafi Money Funded Sarkozy - Smoking Gun Evidence

Mr Sarkozy is now under huge pressure to explain himself in the light of what his opponents called compelling evidence.

A document made public in Paris is said to show that the French leader and the former Libyan dictator made an illegal financial deal that propelled Mr Sarkozy to power in 2007.

Written in Arabic and signed by Mussa Kussa, Gaddafi's intelligence chief, in 2006, it refers to an 'agreement in principle to support the campaign for the candidate for the presidential elections, Nicolas Sarkozy, for a sum equivalent to €50 million'. More here

Roadside bomb 'kills 10 policemen'

Roadside bomb 'kills 10 policemen' in Afghanistan - PakTribune:

Israeli War Porn

Overview of Israeli drone projects:
Other Israeli UAV manufacturers have come out with an array of new products. Aeronautics found a thriving foreign market for its UAVs, and according to reports, the Israeli Navy purchased Aeronautics’ Orbiter 3 UAV. Aeronautics' Aerostar-C will be able to remain aloft for twenty hours and carry a state-of-the-art payload that is now in development. Current Aerostar models are in military use in several countries as negotiations are underway for more sales.

Innocon sold their UAVs to a number of foreign markets as well. One country in Asia purchased the Micro-Falcon model as part of a large transaction. Innocon also developed a system for simultaneous command and control for several UAVs. Israel's BlueBird produced some interesting UAV models as well. Its SkyLite is competing with Aeronautics' Aerostar-2 model for a Finnish army tender. LINK HERE

Drones - Death By Weapons Of Choice

‘Green-on-Blue’ Attack Happened On Night Raid

‘Green-on-Blue’ attack came on night raid: Afghanistan police:

Mission Crumble In Afghanistan

Afghanistan: Mission crumble | The Economist:

Drone Warfare In Yemen

Yemen’s drone war: Is mission creep drawing us into a civil war? - Slate Magazine:

Murdoch-Brown Correspondence On Afghanistan - Full Documentation

Full correspondence HERE. Sample :
Dear Rupert,

Brown says 'I'm going home and you're not!'

..When I spoke to you some time ago, we were agreed on the importance of the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan and, just as we agreed on the importance of supporting our forces when they were In Iraq, we were at one over the imperative of supporting our military forces in Afghanistan, I understood from that conversation that you agreed that The Sun would stop attacking our defence policy in Iraq and Afghanistan, Yet, almost.every day in recent weeks, The Sun has chosen to accuse me personally of letting the Armed Forces down.
If you didn't think Brown was a pathetic figure before, you will when you read the full documentation.

Karzai A 'Corrupt Prima Donna?'

NATO Disarray

This month provided worrying evidence of the Taliban’s growing ability to mount coordinated attacks all over the country, even in areas of maximum security. On April 15, Taliban suicide fighters infiltrated into Kabul and attacked the heavily-defended Embassy Quarter and Parliament. In the ensuing gun fights, some 36 insurgents were killed as well as 11 members of the Afghan security forces. LINK

Taliban kill four Afghan police, capture 16

Taliban kill four Afghan police, capture 16 - RTÉ News:

Anatomy Of A Massacre

Collateral Insanity

While 227 health professionals serve the 40,000 troops at Bales’ military base – Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Wash. – Afganistan’s 26 million inhabitants have a few dozen trained providers, and they lack medications and adequate facilities. Services in rural areas, where 75 percent of the population lives, “are nonexistent,” WHO reports.
Not surprisingly, many of the country’s mentally ill turn to self-medication, either with over-the-counter balms such as benzodiazepines (e.g. Valium) or with illegal opium and heroin. A 2009 U.N. study found that war trauma is a key factor for the almost 1 million Afghans with drug problems. FROM HERE

Georgian Labor Party demands withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan

Georgian Labor Party demands withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan - Interfax:

US Military Secrecy Over Death Of BBC Man

US military secrecy over the death of a BBC correspondent shot dead by US forces during a Taliban attack caused needless distress to his family and sparked fears of a cover-up, a report into the shooting has said.
Ahmed Omed Khpulwak, 25, an Afghan national who worked as a BBC stringer in southern Uruzgan province, died when the local radio and television offices where he worked were attacked last July. READ ON

NATO's Misleading Reports - Think Tank

In the transition, one phrase - "Afghan-led" - has become increasingly prevalent in Nato and US news releases describing operations.

The report alleges that the term has been so loosely applied that it has, in at least once instance, been used for an assault conducted entirely by US troops. Full Story

Conflit Entre Les Deux Soudans

Pékin, qui dispose de nombreux intérêts économiques dans les deux pays, se trouve dans une situation délicate et joue les équilibristes entre les deux capitales. D’un côté, la Chine essaie de maintenir ses liens historiques avec le Soudan, isolé diplomatiquement depuis les années 1990, dont elle est le premier partenaire économique. C’est elle qui a aidé Khartoum à devenir un important exportateur de pétrole. De l’autre, depuis les accords de paix en 2005, elle prend soin de s’attirer les bonnes grâces des Sudistes, ceux-là même qui sabotaient ses installations pétrolières il y a peu.

TKO in Afghanistan

More than 40 years after the Vietnam War's Tet Offensive, after more than a decade of war in Afghanistan, even after reviving counter-insurgency doctrine (only to see it crash-and-burn in short order), the US military still doesn't get it.
Think of this as a remarkably unblemished record of "failure to understand" stretching from the 1960s to 2012, and undoubtedly beyond. MORE HERE

Catalogue Of US Scandals In Afghanistan - Pictures

Of course these are only the ones we know about at the moment. LINK

Afghan Parliament - House of People

A rare photo of the Afghan lawmakers. From yesterday's meeting - 

Sarkozy Et L'Extreme Droite

Sarkozy On The Skids

US Fired Into Pakistan On Four Occasions

Night Raids Killed 1500 Civilians In 10 Months

The data on night raids, which were given to selected news media, cover three distinct 90-day night raid campaigns from May through July 2010, early August to early November, and mid-November to mid- February. The combined totals for the three periods indicate that a minimum of 2,599 rank and file insurgents were killed and an additional 723 "leaders" killed or captured in raids. [See Sidebar].
Assuming conservatively that one-third of the alleged leaders were killed, the total number of alleged insurgents killed in the raids was 2,844.
An unknown proportion of that total was deliberately assassinated. Nevertheless, it is assumed in estimating the number killed in the raids that the proportion of alleged "leaders" killed to the total killed and captured in the first two campaigns was the same as the proportion of rank and file killed of the total killed and captured: 34 percent of 723, or 245. MORE HERE

Afghanistan is not a US Colony

Afghanistan is not a US colony! | The Nation:

Holland Wins First Round Of French Presidential Election

This on the day the French handed over their main base in Afghanistan. So much for Sarkozy's gesture politics and foreign policy smoke and mirrors. Take note Obama and Merkel and Gillard.

Iran claims to have reverse-engineered US spy drone

Iran claims to have reverse-engineered US spy drone | World news | guardian.co.uk:

'Pointless War' Lost Already - Army Major

Army major's despair at our 'pointless war': Senior officer's damning emails reveal plummeting morale at heart of Afghan campaign that has cost 409 British lives | Mail Online:

War Crimes And War Pimps

War crimes in a criminal war: Veteran’s response to latest Afghanistan photos | MichaelMoore.com:

This is politics not sport. If drivers can't see that, they are the pits

Robert Fisk: This is politics not sport. If drivers can't see that, they are the pits - Robert Fisk - Commentators - The Independent:

Right Wing Moonbats Round On Assange

Rage Against The F1 Machine

Posing With The Dead - Clip

News clip HERE 

Combatants In Afghanistan - Breakdown

Bahrain F1 Protest

PROTEST AT BUDAYIA HIGHWAY 20TH APRIL, 2012

Pentagon Info Ops - Congress Calls For Probe

Congress members call for probe of information ops program – USATODAY.com:

Petraeus Seeks Wider Authority In Yemen

The Trench: Petraeus Seeks Wider Authority In Yemen:

US IN YEMEN IN ABOUT 2014?

Zardari, Gilani can’t change US defeat in Afghanistan into victory

Zardari, Gilani can’t change US defeat in Afghanistan into victory: JI | The Nation:

The Way of the Drone: Emblem for an Empire of Cowards

The Way of the Drone: Emblem for an Empire of Cowards

Soldier's Wife Learns Of His Death On Facebook

Several hours after the woman notified Taylor-Brown, two soldiers were at her door to give her the official notice of his death, but of course she already knew what they were there for. She is obviously devastated by the loss and angry that she didn't hear the news from the military first. The Army is investigating the incident, and hopefully will punish the idiot who decided to take matters into her own hands. MORE

Russia Slams NATO Withdrawal Plans

Russia slams NATO withdrawal plans from Afghanistan, calls them 'artificial' - Yahoo! News:

Black Hawk Down

4 feared dead In Afghanistan black hawk crash | News - Home:

U.S. Soldiers Posing With Dead Afghans: This Is Who We Are

U.S. Soldiers Posing With Dead Afghans: This Is Who We Are - Forbes:

Latest Grisly US Army Pics - Clip

Afghan lies

Afghan lies 

US Soldiers Posing With The Dead - Bonkers Assessments Proliferate

This one from the NYT. The excuses being trotted out in America for the barbarism speak more volumes about the insanity and delusion of American self-image than the pictures themselves say about the indiscipline of the US Army. MORE HERE 

NATO In Knots Over Withdrawal

Military commanders and diplomats have been arguing against an early cut of almost 40 per cent in the size of Afghan forces, just when they are supposed to be taking over security responsibility from Nato.
Under one proposal which was being considered, the numbers would shrink from 352,000 to 220,000 from 2014. The primary reason is cost: cutting manpower would lower the country's annual defence budget, which the international community will have to fund, from $6.2bn (£3.9bn) to $4.1bn. READ MORE

The inconvenient truth the Pentagon would prefer we didn't see

The inconvenient truth the Pentagon would prefer we didn't see | Ross Caputi | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk:

Anders Fogh Rasmussen

AFR said on his own Twitterfeed today ''At #Chicago2012 #NATOSummit we will decide what our new mission in#Afghanistan will look like and how we will support Afghanistan post 2014. I responded: ''New mission? What happened to the old one?'' A reasonable question I should think after 11 years of failure. I don't expect a response. If one comes I will put it up.

Latest Posing With Dead Afghans Scandal For US Military

In one of the pictures a paratrooper posed next to an unofficial patch placed beside a body that read "Zombie Hunter", while in another soldiers posed with Afghan police holding the severed legs of an insurgent bombers.
Two soldiers in another frame held a dead insurgent's hand with the middle finger raised.
The LA Times said the 82nd Airborne Division soldiers had been at a police station in Afghanistan's Zabol province in February 2010, and revisited several months later. The pictures were taken on both occasions. MORE

Another Afghanistan Success Story

Asked about the report, Jean-Luc Lemahieu, country representative of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime in Afghanistan, warned: "We are back in the situation we had in 2007-08.
"For a long while, when we had 20 opium-free provinces, it seemed that we were able to push the opium back into the most insecure southern provinces. Today that is not any longer the case, and the governance issue is key to that," he told the Guardian.

The Long Shadow Of Torture

On the one hand the Secret Intelligence Service is privately insisting that at all times it had ministerial authorisation for its actions. This points the finger very directly because the Intelligence Service Act of 1994 makes very clear that the “authorisation of acts outside the British Isles” can only be agreed at Cabinet level.
I guess that in practice that must mean either Jack Straw or Tony Blair himself – who met Gaddafi in his tent on March 24, 2004, just six days after the letter congratulating the Libyans on the “safe arrival” of Belhadj.
But both Mr Straw and Mr Blair have both made it publicly very plain that they have no knowledge of British complicity in torture. Their denials leave only two possibilities, both deeply shocking. The first is that the Secret Intelligence Service has gone rogue and has been operating a private policy of passing on terrorist suspects to be tortured at the hands of a foreign government, without the knowledge or approval of ministers. FULL ARTICLE

Pakistani Court To Rule On Drone Murders

An Islamabad court will hand down judgment tomorrow (Tuesday) over the Pakistani police's failure to investigate two reports by Pakistani citizens on the murder of innocent civilians by CIA unmanned aerial vehicles. LINK