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POPSOpium, Rape and the American Way
Truth from the women in Afghanistan: (read the whole article for the real story) "In eight years less than 2,000 Talib have been killed and more than 8,000 innocent civilians has been killed," she went on. "We believe that this is not war on terror. This is war on innocent civilians. Look at the massacres carried out by NATO forces in Afghanistan. Look what they did in May in the Farah province, where more than 150 civilians were killed, most of them women and children. They used white phosphorus and cluster bombs. There were 200 civilians on 9th of September killed in the Kunduz province, again most of them women and children. You can see the Web site of professor Marc Herold, this democratic man, to know better the war crimes in Afghanistan imposed on our people. The United States and NATO eight years ago occupied my country under the banner of woman's rights and democracy. But they have only pushed us from the frying pan into the fire. They put into power men who are photocopies o
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POPSWe Don't Trust Your Country I'd be interested in those who do not live here in the US commenting how our country is viewed by other nations. It really concerns me.
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POPSMurderous US drones condemned by UN. Americans who are confused by the grotesque transformation of the modest aim of capturing a few bad men into a conflagration that has destroyed the lives of millions echo the Guardian of the 1920s, which asked why the British government had to send "all this machinery, all these forces...if we were establishing a political system on the basis of popular consent?" Without distinguishing between drones that protect our troops and those that drop bombs and hover menacingly over an occupied people, The Economist taunts, "like them or not, drones are here to stay." Now, who are the terrorists here and which is the rogue state ?
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POPSUS warned on deadly drone attacks The dear ol' UN....helping Iran and concerned about how terrorists are eliminated. I wonder if they are concerned about the recent deaths perpetrated by terrorists in Kabul, Baghdad, and Pakistan.
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POPSHow robot drones revolutionized the face of warfare U.S. Air Force fighter pilot Major Morgan Andrews is one such combatant. He kisses his wife goodbye, drives to Creech, a tiny desert air force base in Nevada, and within minutes could be killing insurgents on the other side of the world.
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POPSObama raise drone attacks The obscenity of this policy is seldom mentioned. " the drone attacks have backfired. As he told The New Yorker, "Every one of these dead non-combatants represents an alienated family, a new revenge feud, and more recruits for a militant movement that has grown exponentially even as drone strikes have increased." And because of the C.I.A. program's secrecy, Mayer writes, "there is no visible system of accountability in place, despite the fact that the agency has killed many civilians inside a politically fragile, nuclear-armed country with which the U.S. is not at war." The New Yorker further reports the Obama Administration has also expanded the sphere of authorized drone assaults in Afghanistan. An August Senate Foreign Relations Committee report said the Pentagon's list of approved terrorist targets held 367 names and included some 50 Afghan drug lords "who are suspected of giving money to help finance the Taliban," Mayer reports. She quotes the Senate report as stating, "The
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POPSGunmen Hold Hostages In Pakistan Army Headquarters The spasm of violence was confirmation that the militants had regrouped despite recent military operations against their forces and the killing of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in a CIA drone attack in August. His replacement vowed just last week to step up attacks around the country and repel any push into Waziristan.
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POPS Chaos-istan The big question now is whether this is going to be about Obama’s ego, or about winning in Afghanistan. If any general is ill-advised to shoot his mouth off, this business may also teach the administration something about blowing off generals at (unnecessarily extended) criticial moments and insisting that political parameters trump military ones in wartime. Maybe if he wasn’t so distracted with trying to have Democratic Christmas in October … an expensive tax-and-fee-subsidized health care giveaway in the middle of economic crisis and war. To be followed on by cap-and-trade’s assault on business, industry, utilities and consumers. And then you’ve got Iran, unresponsive to the extended hand of friendship. AFP, “On Afghanistan, US military puts Obama on the spot,” NYT with a look at Petraeus includes the unfortunate news that this president is less interested in listening to his generals than his predecessor was.... LA Times: “Afghanistan assault points out .....
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POPSWhere's Waldo? "I guess you could cut off the battery packs," he said. "But it's so specialized it really doesn't have many other applications." There are two other drones with similar capabilities at Mote but they belong to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration -- and there are no funds available for them to perform Waldo's mission. "We'd have to go back to sending people out in boats to collect water samples," he said. "That's not a very efficient way to do it." Waldo, a scientific robot used to detect red tide, was last heard from on Monday. Mote is offering a $500 reward. Well it had a pretty long working life I suppose. It was probably eaten by a Great White Shark. That's my guess, anyway.
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POPSDon't Try to Feed These Birds I don't thinl they'll come to your feeder, but they may peek into your windows. lol I wouldn't count on though, the stupid things only have a 20 sec. fly time. Oh yes, but our generous goverment is giving the creators a couple of mil to develop it just the same.
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POPSBaitullah Mehsud Dead; Hakeemullah New Leader of Pakistani Taliban 
Two senior Pakistani Taliban leaders thought to have been at odds have confirmed that the former leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan is dead. The leaders also confirmed that Hakeemullah Mehsud is now the new leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, dispelling the rumors of rampant infighting to choose Baitullah’s successors. Hakeemullah and Waliur Rehman Mehsud said that Baitullah died on Sunday night from wounds suffered in the Aug. 5 US Predator strike in South Waziristan. The two Taliban leaders spoke via the phone from the same room to an The Associated Press reporter. "He was wounded. He got the wounds in a drone strike and he was martyred two days ago," Hakeemullah Mehsud told The Associated Press. Waliur repeated the statement to confirm that Baitullah had been killed. Both leaders stated that Hakeemullah is now the leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. Waliur would take command of the Taliban in South Waziristan.
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POPSMorre Military Obscenity They're gonna train our kids to be video game warriors...killers without contact, dehumanizing the "enemy" even more. Obscene!
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POPSDrones: Good & Bad News & Star Trek
The good news would be that fewer live pilots would be at risk. The bad news? 1. The use of drone attacks might go up since no direct US casualties at risk - only ground forces from friendly fire, ground forces from more violence against them in reaction to drone attacks. 2. Civilian and on-combatants casualties would go up - which might increase violence against the US. 3. There will be a drone factory of sub-contractor in the district of every congressmember who serves on a committee that give budget to drone programs. Thus welfare for defense contractors would likely increase and funds that might go for more productive things and peace might well get lost in the shuffle. Remember the Star Trek episode where a society conducted all of its war via computers? If the computer said you lost or had casualties, people then had to report for death or to be a wounded casualty. Without a draft of people into the military, the care for waging war seems to have gone down, sin
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POPS'Joystick' Warfare Brings Ethics Debate--UAVs and Other Robotic Weapons Robo-warfare is making it too easy to wage arbitrary war, and is by historical standards cowardly , usually entailing overkill to achieve a limited target (like swatting mosquitos with hand grenades. Can you say "collateral damage"?). To bring no risk to warfare is to undermine the principle of Just War, where people voluntarily enter into war upon principles of justice (self defense), and risk their own lives bravely and willingly. Sending robots risks nothing, and makes unjust war a no-risk situation, and therefore too easy to begin. Also there is the danger factor where human judgment may be lacking instead of a programmed response, without the ability to correct or withdraw destructive actions. Ask the civilians in Afghanistan or Pakistan what they think of drone (Predator) UAV bombing flights so far. More civilians have been killed than 'terrorists".
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POPSObama's Afghanistan: This Surge Will Not Be Televised and building a Burger King and Pizza Hut on a huge, growing base proves it will not be a short term surge. The economic focus and domestic health care agenda ensures this all goes unnoticed too even though IT IS COSTING AMERICANS BILLIONS OF DOLLARS AND BLOOD. This is not a war of self-defense, but continued regime-change for a new middle east, entirely consistent with the neoconservative agenda of the Bush administration. THIS IS OBAMA'S IRAQ AND VIET NAM.
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POPSWalk for Peace in Pakistan/Afghanistan Few can actually walk for peace in these border lands, if for no other reason than you may get zapped by an American Predator drone. If you can join in spirit or virtually, come along!
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