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http://action.firedoglake.com/page/s/bradleymanning
Monday, March 28, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
A History of the US since WWII (a work in progress)
1945 USA: President Truman (1945-53) takes office after FDR dies.
1953 USA: President Eisenhower (1953-61) takes office.
1953 Iran: Democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh was
overthrown by a CIA coup after Mossadegh nationalized a British oil company
(BP’s precursor). The US-friendly and corruptible Pahlavi was re-installed
as Shah (King). In 1979 the Shah was overthrown and Iran became an Islamic
Republic.
1954 Guatemala: Democratically elected President Arbenz instituted land
reforms so that the people would benefit from Guatemala's natural
resources. The CIA overthrew the president, bombed the city and installed a
corrupt dictator. Guatemala's been in a civil war since 1960 as a direct
consequence.
1961 USA: President Kennedy (1961-63) takes office.
1963 USA: President Johnson (1963-69) assumes presidency after JFK was assassinated.
1969 USA: President Nixon (1969-74) takes office.
1973 Chile: Democratically elected president Salvador Allende, a self-declared socialist, was overthrown in a military coup. The U.S. president stated that an Allende government was unacceptable and had given the CIA authorization and funding to take him out.
1974 USA: President Ford (1974-77) assumes office after Nixon resigned in the face of impeachment.
1977 USA: President Carter (1977-81) takes office.
1981 USA: President Reagan (1981-89) takes office.
1981 Ecuador: First democratically elected President Jaime Roldós Aguilera
died in a plane crash. Largely believed to be a CIA assassination as
Aguilera posed a threat to the corporatocracy (Ecuador has oil) and the
failure of John Perkins and other economic hit men (EHM) to corrupt him.
1981 Panama: Democratically elected Omar Torrijos died in a plane crash
after refusing to renegotiate the Panama Canal Treaty which was to return
control of the canal to Panama. Torrijos apparently was handed a tape recorder with an embedded bomb by one of his security guards just before boarding the plane. The CIA is implicated in his death.
1988 Panama: United States invades Panama - a country without an army. The U.S. firebombs Panama City killing 2,000-4,000 men, women and children. Was it to remove Noriega because he also refused to renegotiate the Panama Canal Treaty or was it because of the rumor that Noriega had incriminating photos of the U.S. president's son?
1989 USA: President Bush Sr. (1989-93) takes office.
1990 Iraq: Four days before Iraq invaded Kuwait, Saddam contacted the
U.S. ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie, to get consent from the U.S.
government for the invasion. Saddam was told that "the Kuwait issue is not
associated with America". Glaspie takes the fall as a misinformed
ambassador of the Bush administration. The U.S. consequently entered into
the Persian Gulf War to "liberate Kuwait".
1993 USA: President Clinton (1993-2001) takes office.
2001 USA: President Bush Jr. (2001-09) takes office.
2001 United States: 9/11. The Bombshell Memo written by Coleen Rowley to
FBI Director Robert Mueller in which she asks why every time her Minneapolis
Division tried to warn its superiors about an impending terrorist
attack involving crashing commercial airplanes, it went nowhere.
2003 Iraq: U.S. invades Iraq again on the pretense that Iraq is aiding Al
Qaeda and that Saddam has weapons of mass destruction. When Joseph C.
Wilson IV wrote an op-ed in the New York Times declaring that the Bush
Administration grossly misinterpreted used his report for invading Iraq.
The Bush Administration diverted attention from the deceit by revealing to
the press his wife's identity: Valerie Plame - a covert CIA operative. The
diversion worked and Scooter Libby, Vice-President Cheney's chief-of-staff,
takes the fall for revealing Agent Plame. Also, the secret Downing Street Memo attests to "the intelligence and facts were being fix around the policy" [to invade Iraq].
2009 USA: President Obama (2009-present) takes office.
1953 USA: President Eisenhower (1953-61) takes office.
1953 Iran: Democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh was
overthrown by a CIA coup after Mossadegh nationalized a British oil company
(BP’s precursor). The US-friendly and corruptible Pahlavi was re-installed
as Shah (King). In 1979 the Shah was overthrown and Iran became an Islamic
Republic.
1954 Guatemala: Democratically elected President Arbenz instituted land
reforms so that the people would benefit from Guatemala's natural
resources. The CIA overthrew the president, bombed the city and installed a
corrupt dictator. Guatemala's been in a civil war since 1960 as a direct
consequence.
1961 USA: President Kennedy (1961-63) takes office.
1963 USA: President Johnson (1963-69) assumes presidency after JFK was assassinated.
1969 USA: President Nixon (1969-74) takes office.
1973 Chile: Democratically elected president Salvador Allende, a self-declared socialist, was overthrown in a military coup. The U.S. president stated that an Allende government was unacceptable and had given the CIA authorization and funding to take him out.
1974 USA: President Ford (1974-77) assumes office after Nixon resigned in the face of impeachment.
1977 USA: President Carter (1977-81) takes office.
1981 USA: President Reagan (1981-89) takes office.
1981 Ecuador: First democratically elected President Jaime Roldós Aguilera
died in a plane crash. Largely believed to be a CIA assassination as
Aguilera posed a threat to the corporatocracy (Ecuador has oil) and the
failure of John Perkins and other economic hit men (EHM) to corrupt him.
1981 Panama: Democratically elected Omar Torrijos died in a plane crash
after refusing to renegotiate the Panama Canal Treaty which was to return
control of the canal to Panama. Torrijos apparently was handed a tape recorder with an embedded bomb by one of his security guards just before boarding the plane. The CIA is implicated in his death.
1988 Panama: United States invades Panama - a country without an army. The U.S. firebombs Panama City killing 2,000-4,000 men, women and children. Was it to remove Noriega because he also refused to renegotiate the Panama Canal Treaty or was it because of the rumor that Noriega had incriminating photos of the U.S. president's son?
1989 USA: President Bush Sr. (1989-93) takes office.
1990 Iraq: Four days before Iraq invaded Kuwait, Saddam contacted the
U.S. ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie, to get consent from the U.S.
government for the invasion. Saddam was told that "the Kuwait issue is not
associated with America". Glaspie takes the fall as a misinformed
ambassador of the Bush administration. The U.S. consequently entered into
the Persian Gulf War to "liberate Kuwait".
1993 USA: President Clinton (1993-2001) takes office.
2001 USA: President Bush Jr. (2001-09) takes office.
2001 United States: 9/11. The Bombshell Memo written by Coleen Rowley to
FBI Director Robert Mueller in which she asks why every time her Minneapolis
Division tried to warn its superiors about an impending terrorist
attack involving crashing commercial airplanes, it went nowhere.
2003 Iraq: U.S. invades Iraq again on the pretense that Iraq is aiding Al
Qaeda and that Saddam has weapons of mass destruction. When Joseph C.
Wilson IV wrote an op-ed in the New York Times declaring that the Bush
Administration grossly misinterpreted used his report for invading Iraq.
The Bush Administration diverted attention from the deceit by revealing to
the press his wife's identity: Valerie Plame - a covert CIA operative. The
diversion worked and Scooter Libby, Vice-President Cheney's chief-of-staff,
takes the fall for revealing Agent Plame. Also, the secret Downing Street Memo attests to "the intelligence and facts were being fix around the policy" [to invade Iraq].
2009 USA: President Obama (2009-present) takes office.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
The corporatocracy and fascism
Naomi Wolf wrote a book (published in 2007) called "The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot". In it she outlines 10 steps that an open society takes to a closed society. They are:
Watch, 'End of America'. Apparently, there's an update coming to add in the Obama years.
America is now a fascist corporatocracy:
Gulf Coast now a BP police state as law enforcement conspires with BP to intimidate journalists
How about the change that we can believe it? Naomi Wolf On Obama’s Slide Into Fascism
Here's an interview of Naomi Wolf from the above link:
Patriot Act
The bill to extend the Patriot Act has passed the house - with Tea Party support I might add (31/41) - and it has been approved by the Senate Panel. Republican senators are calling for the extensions to be made permanent. Yikes!
- Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy.
- Create a gulag.
- Develop a thug cast.
- Set up an internal surveillance system.
- Harass citizens' groups.
- Engage in arbitrary detention and release.
- Target key individuals.
- Control the press.
- Dissent equals treason.
- Suspend the rule of law.
Watch, 'End of America'. Apparently, there's an update coming to add in the Obama years.
America is now a fascist corporatocracy:
Gulf Coast now a BP police state as law enforcement conspires with BP to intimidate journalists
How about the change that we can believe it? Naomi Wolf On Obama’s Slide Into Fascism
Here's an interview of Naomi Wolf from the above link:
Patriot Act
The bill to extend the Patriot Act has passed the house - with Tea Party support I might add (31/41) - and it has been approved by the Senate Panel. Republican senators are calling for the extensions to be made permanent. Yikes!
Wisconsin
Why the attack on Labor in Wisconsin? Especially in light of the fact that Wisconsin pioneered most of US labor rights. See this (but start at the 6minute mark): http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#41979418
Theory # 1: To save money so that the state government can balance the budget?
Theory # 2: To save money for the government so that they can decrease taxes for corporations and the affluent?
Theory #3: To break the unions nationwide? If they can be broken in Wisconsin, they can be broken anywhere. Public sector workers will make less and have less benefits paving the way for less wages and less benefits in the private sector.
Theory #4: Break the unions - the last bastion of political influence standing in the way of total corporate oligarchy.
Theory #5: Trying to induce Obama and federal Democrats into supporting the unions in a move to win other less unionized swing states in 2012. I saw Howard Fineman suggest this on MSNBC.
Theory #6: Other? To what end is the destruction of the poor, middle class, women, children, and unions going to have on the country and the whole world? If you know, please let me know!
Theory # 1: To save money so that the state government can balance the budget?
Theory # 2: To save money for the government so that they can decrease taxes for corporations and the affluent?
Theory #3: To break the unions nationwide? If they can be broken in Wisconsin, they can be broken anywhere. Public sector workers will make less and have less benefits paving the way for less wages and less benefits in the private sector.
Theory #4: Break the unions - the last bastion of political influence standing in the way of total corporate oligarchy.
Theory #5: Trying to induce Obama and federal Democrats into supporting the unions in a move to win other less unionized swing states in 2012. I saw Howard Fineman suggest this on MSNBC.
Theory #6: Other? To what end is the destruction of the poor, middle class, women, children, and unions going to have on the country and the whole world? If you know, please let me know!
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
The US War Machine
On March 20th, 2011, the Iraq war will have gone on for 8 years. The war in Afghanistan is coming up on 10 years.
To date, almost 6 thousand US soldiers have been killed in the two wars. Twice as many as were killed on 9/11.
To date, we've spent over a trillion dollars on the two wars.
The current US military budget is between $1.01 and $1.35 trillion dollars for fiscal year 2010 if you include defense-related expenditures outside the Department of Defense budget. (1)
The US spends 19% of its budget on the military and 28% of estimated tax revenues. (1)
The US spends 40% of the world's total military spending. (1)
With Iraq sitting on the second largest oil reserves in the world, the decision to invade Iraq was made before 9/11. The reason to invade Iraq was fabricated. Without UN support and no major country onside except the UK, we forged ahead.
Saudi Arabia, which sits on the largest oil reserves in the world, has an agreement with the US to sell us their oil in US dollars in exchange for protection, military equipment and infrastructure. In addition, the US will keep the House of Saud in power, and the Saudis must deposit their money in US bank accounts (actually the US treasury).
Other recent military excursions include Kuwait, Somalia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo.
The US is constructing 14 permanent military bases in Iraq.
The US has over 1000 military bases overseas. (2)
The government is looking to balance the budget by making cuts to non-military discretionary spending. Not only is military spending off the table but it seems that the Iraq-Afghanistan war budget is no longer temporary.
George Orwell had it right in '1984': War is Peace.
Peace out.
US Military Defense Spending (in $ billion) (3)
Year GDP Military defense-total
1996 7838.5 265.75
1997 8332.4 270.51
1998 8793.5 268.21
1999 9353.5 274.79
2000 9951.5 294.39
2001 10286.2 304.76
2002 10642.3 348.48
2003 11142.1 404.92
2004 11867.8 455.91
2005 12638.4 495.34
2006 13398.9 521.84
2007 14077.6 551.29
2008 14441.4 616.07
2009 14258.2 661.05
2010 14508.2 693.59
2011 15079.6 768.22 (estimated)
To date, almost 6 thousand US soldiers have been killed in the two wars. Twice as many as were killed on 9/11.
To date, we've spent over a trillion dollars on the two wars.
The current US military budget is between $1.01 and $1.35 trillion dollars for fiscal year 2010 if you include defense-related expenditures outside the Department of Defense budget. (1)
The US spends 19% of its budget on the military and 28% of estimated tax revenues. (1)
The US spends 40% of the world's total military spending. (1)
With Iraq sitting on the second largest oil reserves in the world, the decision to invade Iraq was made before 9/11. The reason to invade Iraq was fabricated. Without UN support and no major country onside except the UK, we forged ahead.
Saudi Arabia, which sits on the largest oil reserves in the world, has an agreement with the US to sell us their oil in US dollars in exchange for protection, military equipment and infrastructure. In addition, the US will keep the House of Saud in power, and the Saudis must deposit their money in US bank accounts (actually the US treasury).
Other recent military excursions include Kuwait, Somalia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo.
The US is constructing 14 permanent military bases in Iraq.
The US has over 1000 military bases overseas. (2)
The government is looking to balance the budget by making cuts to non-military discretionary spending. Not only is military spending off the table but it seems that the Iraq-Afghanistan war budget is no longer temporary.
George Orwell had it right in '1984': War is Peace.
Peace out.
US Military Defense Spending (in $ billion) (3)
Year GDP Military defense-total
1996 7838.5 265.75
1997 8332.4 270.51
1998 8793.5 268.21
1999 9353.5 274.79
2000 9951.5 294.39
2001 10286.2 304.76
2002 10642.3 348.48
2003 11142.1 404.92
2004 11867.8 455.91
2005 12638.4 495.34
2006 13398.9 521.84
2007 14077.6 551.29
2008 14441.4 616.07
2009 14258.2 661.05
2010 14508.2 693.59
2011 15079.6 768.22 (estimated)