Charles Glass in the London Review of Books: The Libyans are lucky that Muammar Gaddafi did not hold out longer. If he had, there might not be much of the country left. Nato long since ran out of military targets, and it had to hit something to get the ragtag rebels into the royal palace…
Showing all posts tagged Afghanistan
How America has no clue about the wars it is fighting, part 75432
From Wired: It’s no secret that the U.S. Army has a language barrier to overcome in Iraq and Afghanistan. A decade of war has led an English-constrained military to seek all kinds of quick fixes, from translator gadgets to private contractors — something Defense Secretary Leon Panetta lamentedthis week. But more galling is the fact…
Jeremy Scahill urges caution on Libya and warns of blow-back
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Obama is a proud war president; US troops to remain in Afghanistan for years
Occupation Inc: Although the Obama administration has made much of the fact that U.S. forces are scheduled to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014, it clearly has no intention of leaving that war-ravaged country to its own devices. In fact, plans are afoot to keep as many as 25,000 American troops in Afghanistan for…
Start a war, privatise everything and watch failure arrive like clockwork
Project on Government Oversight has the news that will brighten the heart of every pro-war advocate who just wants to make a buck from endless conflict: A top government contractor’s failure to meet contractual agreements with the U.S. government put the entire mission of the Afghan National Police (ANP) training program at risk, according to…
Breaking news; Afghan Hazaras are human beings still being oppressed in their country
I’ve just received this message from a refugee activist in Perth, Western Australia. It’s a release from the… Coordination of Hazara Refugees in Curtin immigration detention centre, a remote camp away from public view.… Freedom It is known to all and history has also proven that Hazaras have always and systemically been target of national, religious…
Calling anybody who knows how much US money being paid to insurgents?
No, didn’t think Washington has any real idea: The U.S. military has moved to stem the flow of contract money to Afghan insurgents, awarding at least 20 companies new contracts worth about $1… billion for military supply transport and suspending seven current contractors it found lacking in “integrity and business ethics.” The new contracts, which were…
Just how are merchants of death supposed to make a good living these days?
Are the good times really coming to an end, or will Western-led wars be increasingly privatised? The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are winding down, Osama bin Laden is dead, and the federal government is deeply in debt. This spells the end of what was a golden decade for the defense industry. In the decade…
How many companies are shafting America in its WOT?
Far too many and who really cares? A United Arab Emirates-based logistics contractor billed Defense Department authorities in Iraq for parts at prices marked up as high as 5,000 percent and 12,000 percent, according to a quarterly report released Saturday by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. A review of a $119 million reconstruction…
What US occupation looks like on the ground
My following lead book review appeared in Saturday’s Sydney Morning Herald: INFERNAL TRIANGLE Paul McGeough Allen & Unwin, $32.99 This unblinking collection of dispatches separates the rhetoric from the reality of the post-September 11 battlefields. The new US Defence Secretary and former CIA director, Leon Panetta, recently told journalists the Obama administration was ”within reach”…