Tag: Iraq

What a Flournoy Pentagon Could Mean for the Air Force

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

What a Flournoy Pentagon Could Mean for the Air Force

While serving as under secretary of defense for policy under Gates, Flournoy was a key architect of the “surge” in Afghanistan and the proliferation of counter insurgency doctrine in that theater and Iraq. She has served as a close advisor to former Defense Secretary James N. Mattis, who reportedly considered her for a top position in the Pentagon. In August, she said there is no quick end to the war in Afghanistan. “It would be a mistake for the U.S. to precipitously draw down or withdraw, particularly to leave Afghanistan before that peace is solidified, because we basically would be pulling the carpet out from under our Afghan partners, Afghan women, Afghan civil society that we’ve fought so hard to help them,” she said.

Related:

How to Prevent a War in Asia

Before the Bidens ‘Did’ Ukraine, There Was Iraq – and Serbia

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

By James George Jatras | Strategic Culture Foundation | October 16, 2020

Vice President Joe Biden pushed for regime change in Ukraine, which succeeded in February 2014 with the ouster of the constitutionally elected president, Viktor Yanukovych. In April 2014, Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, was brought onto Burisma’s board (along with a fellow named Devon Archer, later convicted of unrelated fraud) at an exorbitant level of compensation that made little sense in light of Hunter’s nonexistent expertise in the energy business – but which made plenty of sense given that his dad was not only Veep but the Obama administration’s point man on policy toward Ukraine, including foreign assistance money.

Before the Bidens ‘Did’ Ukraine, There Was Iraq – and Serbia

André Vltchek’s Sudden Death

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

André Vltchek’s Sudden Death

EDITOR’S NOTE: CounterPunch received word from Rossi Indira, Andre’s partner who was with him at the time of his death, that Andre died from complications with diabetes. Andre had been very ill for several weeks prior to his death, he could barely walk and one of his legs was paralyzed. Rossi tells us that he also refused medical treatment. Andre’s funeral is being held in Istanbul.

Related:

Telling the Untold: Remembering Andre Vltchek (1963-2020)

Judge Barrett represented Iranian exile group in fight to end terrorist designation

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Judge Barrett represented Iranian exile group in fight to end terrorist designation

The MEK formed as a militant group in opposition to Iran’s monarchy but was forced into exile after the 1979 revolution that toppled the shah. The State Department designated the MEK as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997, citing its involvement in the killing of Americans in Iran during the 1970s. The department, which also cited a 1992 incident in which five men with knives invaded the Iranian mission to the United Nations in New York, said the NCRI “functioned as part of the MEK” and “supported the MEK’s acts of terrorism.”

Related:

MEK, THE MOST HATED AMONG IRANIANS — FROM TERROR TO PROPAGANDA

The Myths of American Imperialism

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The Myths of American Imperialism

The United States of America is a world empire. A century ago Teddy Roosevelt expressly campaigned for the expansion of American empire, and today we have all the hallmarks of empire. We have units of our military stationed all over the world. We use our military to enforce what our leaders say are our national interests anywhere in the world with little concern for international law, as when we violated international law by launching a war of aggression against Iraq. Our politicians clamor for the restoration and preservation of “American leadership” in the world, by which they clearly mean American domination over other countries in our own interests, particularly our short-term economic interests. Our military budget is nearly as big as the military budgets of very other nation in the world combined. We act as the world’s policeman, and we are able to and do interject ourselves into remote conflicts that affect us only indirectly. The way in which it is simply assumed that the United States plays a major role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, for example, demonstrates our status as the dominant world empire.

The Historical US Support for al-Qaeda

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The Historical US Support for al-Qaeda

And let me tell you about American leaders. In power, they don’t think the way you and I do. They don’t feel the way you and I do. They have supported “awful jihadists” and their moral equivalents for decades. Let’s begin in 1979 in Afghanistan, where the Moujahedeen (“holy warriors”) were in battle against a secular, progressive government supported by the Soviet Union; a “favorite tactic” of the Moujahedeen was “to torture victims [often Russians] by first cutting off their nose, ears, and genitals, then removing one slice of skin after another”, producing “a slow, very painful death”.