Essential Information

A compendium of articles, reports, essays and investigations into the effects of militarism on the environment and human society. Send additional documents to editor@envirosagainstwar.org.

• Featured Reports
• General Impacts of a War in the Gulf
• Human Impacts
• Land Impacts
• Marine and Water Impacts
• Oil and Its Alternatives
• Militarism and Civil Liberties
• The 1991 War
• Weapons of War

FEATURED REPORTS

Lawmaker Accuses Bush of Secrecy over Iraq Deal (Ross Colvin / Reuters)
The US government is refusing to make public the security pact it has signed with Iraq, even though it has already been published in full in an Iraqi newspaper. Rep. Bill Delahunt, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations and Human Rights, called a closed briefing on the pact "insulting and an after-thought," after the Bush administration earlier rebuffed calls for Congress to be consulted during year-long negotiations on the agreement.

Anxiety in East Congo as Rebels Approach (Todd Pitman / Associated Press)
On one side of this mountaintop ghost town, a line of black-booted rebels approaches on foot with rockets and tin boxes of ammunition, seizing new territory with each footstep despite promises of a cease-fire. On the other side, government soldiers in flip-flops balancing portable generators and luggage on their heads have begun to flee. n between, the vast Central African nation's deepening humanitarian crisis is laid bare.

Superpowers' Armed Naval Might Fails to Deter Pirates in Speedboats (Barbara Surk & Tarek El-Tablawy / AP & Borzou Daragahi & Edmund Sanders / LA Times)
In a dramatic escalation of high seas crime, Somali pirates hijacked a Saudi supertanker loaded with crude oil hundreds of miles off the coast of east Africa — defeating the security web of warships trying to protect vital shipping lanes.The takeover demonstrates the bandits' heightened ambitions and capabilities: Never before have they seized such a giant ship so far out to sea.

Israeli Tanks Enter Gaza, Level Some Land (Ibrahim Barzak / Associated Press)
Backed by a bulldozer and military jeep, Israeli Army tanks rumbled about a quarter-mile into the tiny seaside strip. Gaza residents and security officials said they leveled lands along the border east of the city of Rafah. Israel's military described the activity as "a routine operation to uncover explosive devices." As violence has escalated, Israel has clamped down on already-tight border crossings, drastically restricting vital supplies to the territory, which is home to 1.4 million people.

Study Finds ex-Guantanamo Prisoners Broken (Bob Egelko / San Francisco Chronicle)
The first extensive study of prisoners released from the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, finds that many of them are physically and psychologically traumatized, debt-ridden and shunned in their communities as terrorist suspects.

Obama Advisors Signal No Charges for Bush Officials Who Authorized Torture (Lara Jakes Jordan / Associated Press)
Barack Obama has condemned torture and Joe Biden expressed interest in holding US officials accountable for such crimes but now the incoming Obama administration is signaling that it is unlikely to bring criminal charges against government officials who authorized or engaged in harsh interrogations. Obama, in the meantime, is being urged by constitutional scholars and human rights groups to investigate possible war crimes by the Bush administration.

US Signs Iraq Withdrawal Agreement: Mullen Says Pull-out 'Not a Problem' (William H. McMichael / Army Times & Peter Graff / Reuters)
Iraq and the US signed a long-awaited accord on Monday requiring Washington to withdraw its forces by the end of 2011, eight years after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. The pact must still be passed by the Iraqi parliament. In the meantime, Joint Chiefs Chair Navy Adm. Mike Mullen says he is “comfortable” with the deal.

US Aircraft Carrier an Imposing Presence (Eric Talmadge /Associated Press)
No country in the world has anything like the USS George Washington. It is a $5 billion floating air base with 67 aircraft ready to fly; it's a city unto itself, with a population of around 5,000; and it's an armory carrying about 4 million pounds of bombs. The George Washington's mere presence is makes a strong statement that the US is committed to stability in the region — which means: to keeping the foreign oil flowing to keep the US economy growing.

Toxic Chemicals Blamed for Gulf War Illness (Steven Reinberg / HealthDay News & Washington Post)
Gulf War illness, dismissed by some as a psychosomatic disorder, is a very real illness that affects at least 25 percent of the 700,000 U.S. veterans who took part in the 1991 Gulf War. It's likely cause was exposure to toxic chemicals that included pesticides that were often overused during the war, as well as a drug given to U.S. troops to protect them from nerve gas.

Smoking Poses Health Threat on All Fronts for Soldiers (urt Constable / The Daily Herald)
In a world where improvised exploding devices, suicide bombers and snipers are trying to kill you, it's easy to see how soldiers can overlook what might be the biggest threat to their lives and health: he collateral damage of tobacco.

DHS Stands By as Armed Terrorists Invade US, Kidnap, Kill Americans (CBS Evening News)
Law enforcement sources tell CBS News that Phoenix. Arizona has become ground zero for the explosion in the reported number of kidnappings and home invasions involving drug traffickers and criminals with connections to the Mexican drug cartels. A CBS News investigation has discovered that as of last weekend, there have been 266 reported kidnappings and 300 home invasions this year alone.

GM Crops to be Grown at Military Sites (Ellen Widdup / This Is London & Sean Poulter / London Daily Mail & Lucy Busuttil / Farmers Weekly)
The British government is drawing up plans to grow genetically modified crops in top secret military locations to thwart saboteurs. Almost all of the 54 GM crop trials conducted since 2000 have been vandalized by anti-GMO protesters. In the future secure government sites such as Porton Down near Salisbury, which carries out military research, will be used instead. Farmers Weekly reports: "Ministers will also have more power to crack down on the opponents of GM crops."

Iraqis Believe US Using Car Bombs to Promote SOFA (Anwar Ali / New York Times & Campbell Robertson / The New York Times)
A reporter in Baghdad writes: "It seems to me that things are getting worse. I was at the scene of a bombing in Adhamiya. I remember the smell of the blood, the injured people." A Times reporter writes: "It seems like more than some people think all these bombings are from the Americans. At times it seems like everyone thinks so. A witness says US troops were seen near the bomb only 10 minutes before it went off, a line that you hear so often it has almost become a formality.

Iraq's Government Approves Security Pact with US (Hamza Hendawi & Qassim Abdul-Zahra / Associated Press)
Iraq's Cabinet overwhelmingly approved a security pact with the US on Sunday, ending prolonged negotiations to allow American forces to remain for three more years in the country. The deal detailing the conditions of the US presence still needs parliamentary approval, and lawmakers could vote as soon as Nov. 24. For Iraqis, the breakthrough was bittersweet because they won concessions from the Americans but must accept the presence of US occupation troops until 2012.

US Role in Indonesia Holocaust (Anthony Deutsch / Associated Press)
Up to half a million Indonesians were massacred in 1965-66 in a purge backed by the US government. The CIA refuses to talk about the operation even today. But documents released by the National Security Archives, show that the US Embassy passed the names of Communist Party leaders to the Indonesian army, along with some of their locations. US Embassy iofficials n Indonesia passed on information to Washington about the killings of 50 to 100 people every night.

Pakistan and US Have Tacit Deal On Airstrikes (Karen DeYoung and Joby Warrick / Washington Post)
The United States and Pakistan reached tacit agreement in September on a don't-ask-don't-tell policy that allows unmanned Predator aircraft to attack suspected terrorist targets in rugged western Pakistan, according to senior officials in both countries. In recent months, the US drones have fired missiles at Pakistani soil at an average rate of once every four or five days.

ACTION ALERT: Closing Guantanamo; Ending Torture (Human Rights First & Amnesty International & Virginia School of Law)
More than 65,000 people joined Human Rights First's call on the presidential candidates to declare that they would end torture. We won: President-elect Obama has clearly and repeatedly stated his opposition to torture. Amnesty International has set a human rights challenge to President Obama for his first 100 Days in office to set a closing date for Guantanamo Prison, issue an executive order banning torture and ensuring accountability for human rights violators.

Blackwater Busted? Six Guards May Be Charged in Iraq Massacre ( Jeremy Scahill / The Nation)
After more than five years of rampant violence and misconduct carried out by the massive army of private corporate contractors in Iraq — actions that have gone totally unpunished under any system of law — the US Justice Department appears to be on the verge of handing down the first indictments against armed private forces for crimes committed in Iraq. The targets are six Blackwater operatives involved in the September 16, 2007, killing of seventeen Iraqi civilians in Baghdad's Nisour Square.

Sarkozy Backs Russian Calls for Pan-European Security Pact (Ian Traynor and Luke Harding / The Guardian UK)
President Nicolas Sarkozy of France joined Russia in condemning the Pentagon's plans to install missile defence bases in central Europe yesterday and backed President Dmitri Medvedev's calls for a new pan-European security pact. Russia sees such a deal as a way of halting NATO enlargement and stopping US missile defence projects in Poland and the Czech Republic. Sarkozy has branded the Bush administration's missile project as a setback for European security.

Veterans Occupy National Archives (After Dwoning Street)
For the second time, a group of veterans opposed to illegal wars has taken over the National Archives building in Washington, D.C. Six members of Veterans for Peace, one member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, and one member of Military Families Speak Out climbed 90 feet of scaffolding to unfurl their giant banners. They lost the really big "Arrest Bush and Cheney" banner to wind but have a smaller version and still have the "We Will Not Be Silent" Banner.

Honor Vets by Learning About Depleted Uranium (Barbara Bellows-TerraNova / OpEdNews)
As Europe mourns in Verdun today for those lost in "The War to End All Wars", World War I, we could look to another moment in European history to shed light on the most aggressively silenced story of the Bush administration. In January 2001, reports were exploding across Europe about the rise in cancer amongst NATO soldiers who had served in the "peacekeeping missions" in Bosnia and Kosovo. The effects of the depleted uranium in the US and UK weapons

Veterans, DU, Dioxin, and Deception (John Jonik / Fauxbacco.blogspot)
Veterans Day, 2008. Few say "Happy Veterans' Day". Time to look up some things about US vets, cancer, and Depleted Uranium. Search of NIH with the term, "Depleted Uranium Iraq"; 8 hits, most from long ago, early 90s, late 80s...some lengthy laws where anything about DU is well buried, if it's there. No indictments of the Pentagon or military contractors or etc.

Report for President-Elect Obama (Paul Sullivan / Veterans for Common Sense)
Commentary: "Congratulations on your election. As our next President of the United States of America, you face a serious challenge in fixing a badly broken Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and improving the delivery of health care and other services to our nation’s veterans and their families. As a leading national veterans’ organization, Veterans for Common Sense respectfully submits to you our recommendations on how to fix VA and help our veterans and their families. "

Stars and Stripes' Interview With Sen. Barack Obama (Leo Shane III / Stars and Stripes)
In an Aug. 6 interview with Stars and Stripes, the presidential candidate said his opposition to the increase in troop levels in Iraq last year “doesn’t detract from the heroic work that our troops have performed,” and believes his plan for a similar “surge” in Afghanistan is a more balanced, responsible plan. "During the presidential primaries earlier this year, Sen. Obama's campaign provided answers to a series of questions asked of all the candidates. See the responses here."

Pentagon Board Says Pentagon Cuts Essential (Bryan Bender / Boston Globe)
A senior Pentagon advisory group, in a series of bluntly worded briefings, is warning President-elect Barack Obama that the Defense Department's current budget is "not sustainable," and he must scale back or eliminate some of the military's most prized weapons programs.

Vets on Trial: Iraq Soldiers Attacked by US Cops for Trying to Exercize Free Speech (Cheryl Biren-Wright / OpEd News)
The day before Veterans day, 14 members of the ‘Hempstead 15' were arraigned on charges of disorderly conduct. The charges stem from a protest outside of the final presidential debate at Hofstra University on October 15. One Iraq war veteran, Nick Morgan, with left with a fractured eye orbit and cheekbone following a police attack captured on video.

In Secret Agreement, Shell Nets 25-year Monopoly on S. Iraq's Gas
Royal Dutch Shell oil company and the Iraqi Oil Ministry have struck a secret, as-of-yet non-binding agreement that gives a monopoly over southern Iraq's natural gas to the energy giant. It marks the first time in over 35 years a Western oil company has played a major role in the country's most lucrative industry. The Sept. 22 agreement essesntially delegates Shell sole access to the reserves for the next 25 years, with an option to extend that term.

Guardian Journalist on Obama’s Election: An “Armed Insurrection” Averted (Chris Marsden / World Socialist Web Site)
A British journalists observes:" If Barack Obama "had not won the 2008 presidential election and had not won it in some style, it would have been the most shocking political event in modern American political history.... It might have persuaded an entire generation that there was absolutely no validity whatever in electoral politics. Millions might have concluded that the only way to get the Republicans out of the White House was by some form of armed insurrection."

Supreme Court to Whales: War Games Come First (Pete Yost / Associated Press & International Marine Mammal Project)
The Supreme Court has ruled that military training trumps protecting whales in a dispute over the Navy's use of sonar in submarine-hunting exercises off the California coast. Ignoring the scientific merits of the claims put forward by concerned environmentalists, the court held that federal courts have no right to give orders the Navy. "Forcing the Navy to deploy an inadequately trained anti-submarine force jeopardizes the safety of the fleet," Chief Justice John Roberts ruled.

Revealed: How US Left Nuclear Warhead Lying at Bottom of Ocean after B-52 Crash in 1968 (Daily Mail Reporter)
US nuclear warhead was abandoned under the ice in northern Greenland after a B52 bomber crashed near Greenland's Thule Air Base in 1968, an investigation has found. The Pentagon had maintained that all four weapons had been 'destroyed', but declassified documents obtained by the BBC under the US Freedom of Information Act reveal investigators realised only three of the weapons could be accounted for.

Girl of 13 becomes Youngest Suicide Bomber in Day of Carnage (James Hider, Middle East Correspondent / Times Online)
A 13-year-old girl became the youngest suicide bomber to wreak havoc in Iraq yesterday, killing five Iraqi guards in a town that has become notorious for deadly attacks by women bombers. The girl blew herself up in Baquba, on the same day that a car bomb exploded in Baghdad, killing about 30 people and shattering a fragile sense of calm in the capital. The carnage was compounded by a male suicide bomber who joined the crowd of rescue workers.

Senior Iraqi Backs Obama Withdrawal Plan & Iraqi Party Suspends Ties With US Over Raid (Peter Graff and Mariam Karouny / Reuters & Waleed Ibrahim / Reuter)
A senior Iraqi official has explicitly backed US President-elect Barack Obama's plans to withdraw combat troops from the country by mid-2010, Baghdad's clearest endorsement yet of Obama's exit strategy. Meanwhile, Iraq's biggest Sunni Arab political party has suspended all dealings with US civilian and military personnel on after US and Iraqi forces carried out a raid in which a man was killed in the town of Falluja.

2000 Homeless Vets on the Streets of San Francisco (C.W. Nevius / San Francisco Chronicle)
It is not a surprise to hear that we are failing our veterans. After years of pouring millions of dollars into housing and social service programs, the system is still overtaxed and painfully slow. And given the last seven years of war, there are more homeless vets on the way. An estimated 2,000 homeless veterans live on the streets of San Francisco -- a number representing between a quarter and a third of the city's total homeless population.

ACTION ALERT: Letters to President Elect Obama: Support Troops, Honor Veterans (Peace Action & VoteVets.org)
Peace Action asks that Americans "remember Armistice Day and our Veterans by taking action to bring US troops home from the failed war on terrorism and support them when they are here. Sing the No Soldier Left Behind plan." Vote Vets writes: "Now is the time for President-Elect Obama to show the nation that he recognizes it is important to bring our greatest veterans into his administration. One way he can do that is to name Max Cleland and Tammy Duckworth to a role in his administration."

Afghan Ire with West Builds over Killing of 14 (M. Karim Faiez & Laura King / Los Angeles Times)
Tensions between Western forces and the government of President Hamid Karzai flared anew Monday when the Afghan leader and a provincial governor accused the US-led coalition of killing 14 Afghans who were guarding a road-construction project. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari warned that the increase in US and NATO missile attacks since August is hurting Pakistan's own fight against the militants.

ACTION ALERT: Obama Plans to Close Guantanamo as Amnesty Action Calls for Public Pressure (Matt Apuzzo & Lara Jakes Jordan / Associated Press & Amnesty International)
President-elect Barack Obama's advisers are crafting plans to close the Guantanamo Bay prison and prosecute terrorism suspects in the US a plan that the Bush administration said was easier said than done. Meanwhile, Amnesty International has announced a "100 Days Campaign" to restore America's commitment to human rights by (1) closing Gitmo, (2) banning government torture, and (3) creating a commission to investigate human rights crimes committed by the government.

Reflections and Hope on Veterans Day (Iraq Veterans Against the War)
In the four short years of World War I, roughly 40 million people had been killed, wounded, or gone missing. Wholesale slaughter of this magnitude had never been seen before and the social trauma that resulted can still be felt today. To commemorate the end of that war, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as Armistice Day, not only to recognize those who died in the war, but also for “America to show her sympathy with peace and justice…”

Vets for Peace Banned from Veterans' Day Parade & List of National Vets' Day Parades (The News & Observer & Veterans for Peace)
The local chapter of the anti-war group Veterans for Peace was not allowed to march in the North Carolina Veterans Day Parade in downtown Raleigh on Saturday. A march organizer explained: "The parade is not about glorifying war, or about opposing war. It has nothing to do with war. It's about honoring the veterans." Check below for details on Veterans' Day ceremonies nationwide.

Veteran Suicides on the Rise & Officers Get PTSD, Too (Betty Ann Bowser / PBS New Hour & Pauline Jelinek / Associated Press)
The Army says that suicides among active duty personnel have doubled in recent years, and multiple deployments might contribute to that increase. Still, it takes a brave soldier to do what Army Maj. Gen. David Blackledge did when he got home. Blackledge got psychiatric counseling to deal with wartime trauma, and now he is defying the military's culture of silence on the subject of mental health problems and treatment.

US Anti-Nuclear Activist to Receive MacBride Peace Prize (International Peace Bureau)
The International Peace Bureau announced today that its annual award, the Sean MacBride Peace Prize, will given to Jacqueline Cabasso, Executive Director of the Western States Legal Foundation (WSLF) in Oakland, California. Cabasso, is a well-known US advocate of nuclear disarmament.

Twenty Die on Russian Submarine ( BBC News)
At least 20 people have died in an accident on a Russian nuclear submarine when a fire extinguishing system was activated by mistake. It is the worst incident for the navy since the sinking of the Kursk submarine in 2000, which left 118 dead.

Spanish Soldiers Killed in ‘Retaliation’ for US Terrorism that Killed 90 Civilians (BBC News & International Herald Tribune & EuroNews & The Frontier Post)
The BBC report on the deaths of Spanish soldiers in Afghanistan omits the critical information that the Taliban attack was called “in retaliation” for a US bombing in August that killed 90 civilians. Even under the banner of a "War on Terrorism," attacks on unarmed civilians constitute acts of terrorism. Around 256 international soldiers have lost their lives in Afghanistan this year.

Sad Story of Former Military Officers Now on the Street (Chinta Puxley / The Canadian Press)
As former soldiers gather at cenotaphs across the country this November 11 to pay tribute to fallen comrades and soak up the adulation of a grateful public, few Canadians will give a thought to the veterans who are filling lines at soup kitchens and crowding beds at homeless shelters — those who ended their military service so psychologically scarred that it was impossible to fit back into life at home.

Civilians, Insurgents Killed in NATO Air Strike inside Pakistan (Zee News.com)
Seven civilians and 15 insurgents were killed in northwest Afghanistan in the second air attack this week by international forces. Jets and artillery targeted militant positions following an exchange of fire between rebels and security forces. US drones operating from Afghanistan have carried out a series of missile strikes in Pakistan's tribal belt in the past few months, killing top Al Qaida and Taliban militants and many civilians, including women and children.

US Acknowledges Missile Strike Killed 37 Afghan Civilians (M. Karim Faiez and Laura King / The Los Angeles Times & Al Jazeera)
The US military, while not directly admitting that it killed scores of women and children, when it bombed a wedding party near Kandahar, has quietly paid compensation to the families of the dead and injured. The response came three days after the US attack. Afghans were infuriated when the Americans took weeks to investigate claims by the Afghan government and the UN that 90 people, most of them women and children, were killed in an August 22 airstrike in the western province of Herat.

Congo Rebels Accused of War Crimes (Emmanuel Braun / Reuters & The United Nations)
Congolese Tutsi rebels went from door to door killing men in an eastern town overnight, residents said. Rebel commanders said they had targeted only pro-government militia fighters. Alan Doss, the UN Secretary-General''s Special Representative in the DRC, called the killings “serious violations of human rights.” When journalists asked the UN peacekeepers, who have a base nearby, why they had not intervened, “They did not reply.”

Medvedev’s Speech: The Other Historic Event (Andreas Umland / Asia Times)
As the world watched how Americans elected their first black president, Barack Obama, it has been largely ignored that across the ocean another historic event was taking place simultaneously in Moscow. On November 5, Dmitry Medvedev gave his first presidential address to the Federal Assembly and laid out a program that would reinstitute the democratic reforms introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yelsin.

Who Watches While the US Invades — Again (Marcia Mitchell, t r u t h o u t | Perspective)
Commentary: The new US raids into Pakistan and Syria are, as was the invasion of Iraq, in blatant violation of international law. But who's keeping track of this sort of thing? Certainly not senior US officials, who apparently have weighed the negative consequences of illegal military operations against their perceived benefits and opted in favor of the latter.

The Operational and Lifetime Risks of Nuclear Subs (Hugh Haskell / The Green Nuclear Butterfly)
We have never had one of our nuclear ships engaged in a battle at sea where shots, bombs or missiles were exchanged, so we have never had to face the prospect of the contamination that might result from a breached reactor in battle. I suspect that it would not be insignificant. However, we have had two nuclear submarines lost at sea, and the Russians more than two.

Gates Calls New Nuclear Weapons & A History of Nuclear Accidents (News25.US & Wikipedia)
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates says keeping the nation's nuclear weapons safe and reliable in the future is looking "bleak." Gates says the nuclear stockpile is getting old and wants Congress to drop its opposition to building new nuclear warheads. AND: A History of Nuclear Accidents

Congo Unravels as Angolan Forces Reportedly Join Fighting (CNN & Michelle Faul / Associated Press)
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has declared that rebels are fighting government troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo pose "poisonous consequences" for the country amid a worsening humanitarian crisis. Meanwhile, reports that Angolan troops have joined Congolese soldiers battling rebels near the city of Goma raised new fears the conflict could spread in the region, but the UN chief holding a peace conference in nearby Nairobi denied the reports.

Missile Strike Kills 12 in Pakistani Village (Candace Rondeaux / Washington Post)
At least 12 people were reported killed Friday after a missile slammed into a small village in northwest Pakistan in a suspected US air strike near the border of Afghanistan. The latest in a recent series of such incidents, the missile strike on the tribal village of Kam Sam marked the first attack since Pakistan's top defense official warned the newly appointed head of US Central Command to halt airborne assaults inside Pakistan.

"The World's President" -- What Obama’s Election Means Abroad (Scott Baldauf / Christian Science Monitor)
As Wednesday dawned rainy and gray on the Champs- Élysées, a Parisian waiter spontaneously gave a fist pump and shouted, “Obamamania! Yeah!” Barack Obama’s victory was met with euphoria in many nations by those who see him as restoring their faith in American ideals.

Obama Won, Greenspan Shrugged, but Capitalists Tool On (Steve Weissman / t r u t h o u t | Perspective)
Opinion: The recent financial meltdown has done nothing to shatter the religious dogma of trickle-down economics the prevails from John McCain to the US Chamber of Commerce and diehards on Wall Street. True believers, they will continue to push their economic faith no matter who becomes president. If Obama's victory means anything, fewer of us will be fooled this time around.

Obama’s Cabinet: RFK Jr. to Head EPA? Familiar Faces in Defense Dept. (Mike Allen / Politico.com & John T. Bennett / Defense News)
President-elect Barack Obama is strongly considering Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Environmental Protection Agency. Meanwhile, under directions by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, several special Defense Department teams have for months been working to ensure the handoff from the Bush administration to the still-forming Obama administration goes smoothly.

Russia to Deploy Missiles near Poland & Russian Challenge Awaits Barack Obama (Steve Gutterman, Vladimir Isachenkov / AP & Adrian Blomfield / The Telegraph & Breitbart.com)
Russia will deploy short-range missiles near Poland to counter US military plans in Eastern Europe, President Dmitry Medvedev warned , setting a combative tone that clashed with global goodwill over Barack Obama's election. In his first state of the nation speech, Medvedev blamed Washington for the war in Georgia and the world financial crisis and suggested it was up to the United States to mend damaged ties.

ACTION ALERT: Send a Million Messages to Brack Obama (Avaaz.org)
This is a time for celebration of democracy, but already the sharks are starting to circle — oil companies, war contractors, conservative lobbyists, and the powerful neo-con clique that brought us the war in Iraq are looking for ways to dim the prospects for change. Obama has promised national unity, and these interests will ask a high price for that unity. Global messages of hope and and an invitation to work with the new President — will be displayed on a giant wall in Washington.

A New President and a New Opportunity to Restore US Respect for Human Rights (Human Rights First & Larry Cox, Executive Director / Amnesty International)
"The new administration will have its work cut out to restore the US to a position of leadership in promoting and defending human rights." "The world faces overwhelming human rights crises.... We can turn this country’s policies on human rights back in the direction of alleviating, and not contributing, to these crises. President-elect Obama has promised to restore the rule of law, to repair America’s damaged perception in the world, to close Guantánamo, and to renounce torture."

Afghan Leader Appeals to Obama to Stop US Bombing of Civilians: New US Air Raid Kills Afghan Civilians (Noor Khan & Jason Straziuso / The Star & Associated Press & Kuwait News Agency)
The Afghan president Hamid Karzai congratulated Barack Obama and called on him today to halt civilian casualties as villagers said US warplanes bombed a wedding party, killing 37 people — most of them children. President Hamid Karzai said airstrikes cannot win the fight against terrorism. A day after Karzai's appeal, US-led troops killed at least seven civilians in an air strike in northwestern Afghanistan.

UK Commander in Afghanistan Resigns ‘In Disgust’ (Kackaz Center & The Daily Telegraph)
The commander of British special forces in Afghanistan has resigned after expressing concerns about military equipment failures. Major Sebastian Morley, commander of SAS (Special Air Service) troops in Afghanistan, reportedly has "resigned in disgust" following the deaths of four soldiers (including the first female death). The British soldiers were killed when a bomb struck their vehicle. Major Morley had complained about inadequate protection afforded his troops in the field.

Washington Think-Tank Cultivating 'Last Resort' Against Iran and Priming Next President (Cheryl Biren-Wright / OpEd News)
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy has been part of is the steady effort by some to lay the groundwork for a US military attack on Iran. WINEP was founded by Martin Indyk, a former research director for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. WINEP’s Presidential Study Group already has drafted "a blueprint for the next administration’s Middle East policy" designed to encourage the new president to promote a a "preventative" attack on Iran to protect "the security of Israel."

Cold War Spy Case Offers Lessons for Today (Marcia Mitchell / t r u t h o u t | Perspective)
New allegations of illegal eavesdropping have put the National Security Agency once again on the political hot seat. This time, for listening in on phone calls made by American military and humanitarian workers.

The Environmentalist Who Fell in Love with the DMZ (The Chosun Ilbo)
“When human beings disappear from the Earth one day, how long would it take for nature to be restored to its original state? The answer likes in the Demilitarized Zone in Korea,” says Alan Weisman, a professor and prominent environmentalist. Weisman recently traveled to Korea to address an international conference on DMZ conservation in Gyeonggi Province. He also attended the 10th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Convention on Wetlands.

Colombia Killings Cast Doubt on War Against Insurgents (Simon Romero / The New York Times & Kathleen T. Rhem / American Forces Press Service)
In recent weeks, Colombia's government — the Bush administration's top ally in Latin America — has been buffeted by the killings of dozens of other young, impoverished men and women. Some were vagrants, others street vendors and manual laborers. But their fates were often the same: being catalogued as insurgents or criminal gang members and killed by Colombian armed forces trained and financed by Washington.

Tomorrow / Today (William Rivers Pitt, t r u t h o u t | Perspective)
It has been a long, strange and entirely preposterous course that has brought us today to the edge of our next tomorrow. Millions of new voters rewrote an old, calcified map. Fifty states one and all had their say, and their say mattered to the last of it. Money mattered less than organization, less than passion, less than hope, less than tomorrow.

Rejoin the World: Historians Rank Bush a “Failure” (Nicholas D. Kristof / The New York Times)
An unscientific poll of 109 professional historians this year found that 61 percent rated President Bush as the worst president in American history. A couple of others judged him second-worst, after James Buchanan, whose incompetence set the stage for the Civil War. More than 98 percent of the historians in the poll, conducted through the History News Network, viewed Mr. Bush's presidency as a failure.

Bush Trying to Avoid War Crimes Charges (Jeff Cafferty / CNN Transcript)
“President Bush is trying to pardon himself. Should Congress pass a bill giving immunity to President Bush for possible war crimes?” This question caused a considerable stir when it was posted on the Internet on October 29, 2008. The sad fact is that the videoclip was broadcast in October 2006. At that time, George W. Bush actually succeeded in granting himself and members of his administration a full pardon from war crimes charges and charges of crimes against humanity.

US Financial Crisis is a Human Rights Issue: the ‘Bailout’ Money Won’t Go to Help the People (Prof Radhika Balakrishnan and Prof. Diane Elson / US HRNetwork & Global Research & Barry Grey / WSWS & Information Clearinghouse)
The US financial crisis and the $700 billion rescue plan do not simply involve huge monetary costs. Both the crisis and the proposed bailout involve violations of the human rights of millions of Americans. Any short- and long-term solutions to the problems must take human rights into account. Meanwhile, the New York Times reports "the dirty little secret of the banking industry" — namely, that "it has no intention of using the [government bailout] money to make new loans."

Flood of Wounded GIs Swamps Care Units & Returning Vets Denied Old Jobs (Lolita C. Baldor / Associated Press & Leslie Stahl / 60 Minutes)
In a rush to correct reports of substandard care for wounded soldiers, the Army flung open the doors of new specialized treatment centers so wide that up to half the soldiers currently enrolled do not have injuries serious enough to justify being there.

Flood of Wounded GIs Swamps Care Units & Returning Vets Denied Old Jobs (Lolita C. Baldor / Associated Press & Leslie Stahl / 60 Minutes)
In a rush to correct reports of substandard care for wounded soldiers, the Army flung open the doors of new specialized treatment centers so wide that up to half the soldiers currently enrolled do not have injuries serious enough to justify being there.

Lebanon Claims Arrest of "Mossad Spies" Assigned to Commit Acts of Terror (Israel National News & oav Stern / Haaretz & Al Jazeera)
ebanese military officials announced on Saturday that they uncovered a Mossad spy network that was operating in the country. Two people were arrested Friday for spying on Lebanese politicians, and more arrests are expected. The military also said the men were involved in intelligence gathering ahead of the assassination of Hezbollah's second-in-command, Imad Mughniyeh.

Who Leaked the Details of a CIA-Mossad Plot against Iran? & Is Mossad Responsible for Delaying Iran’s Attainment of Nuclear Capability? (Yossi Melman / Ha’aretz & Aluf Benn / Ha’aretz)
The Bush administration is prolonging the hunting season against journalists. The latest victim is James Risen, the New York Times reporter for national security and intelligence affairs. A federal grand jury subpoena ordered Risen to give evidence in court as part of an investigation aimed at revealing who leaked apparently confidential information about the planning of secret Central Intelligence Agency and Mossad missions concerning Iran's nuclear program.

With Bush on Way Out, Guantanamo Quieting Down (David McFadden / Associated Press)
Camp Justice, erected six months ago for the first U.S. war-crimes trials in a half-century, already feels like a ghost town. A hundred canvas tents pitched on a weed-choked airfield to house an army of lawyers and journalists stand mostly empty, even as air conditioning blasts through them to keep iguanas and large rodents at bay. Only three reporters showed up this week for the trial of Osama bin Laden's alleged communications specialist, in contrast to the dozens at earlier hearings.

UN’s Flawed Congo Crusade (Michelle Faul / The Independent & Michelle Faul / Associated Press)
The refugees watched in anger as the UN tanks headed away from the battlefield and the Tutsi rebels they were supposed to be stopping. "Where are they going? They're supposed to protect us!" shouted a 31-year-old nurse. Nearby, young men hurled rocks at the UN troops. The quick unraveling of the world's largest UN peacekeeping effort has come as no surprise to the mission's critics, who complain the force was unprepared for its main task — protecting civilians.

The War of the Olive Groves (Wafa Amr / Reuters)
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad joined West Bank farmers to pick olives on Wednesday and slammed assaults by Jewish settlers on the harvesters as "terrorism." ayyad rolled up his shirt sleeves and climbed up a ladder to help an old woman pluck olives from her tree in Mazra al-Gharbiyeh, a village north of the West Bank city of Ramallah which is surrounded by Jewish settlements.

The Reality of War in Afghanistan: History Has Lessons for McCain, Obama (Stephen Kinzer / The Boston Globe)
aq, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama both want to send more American troops to Afghanistan. Both are wrong. History cries out to them, but they are not listening. The McCain-Obama approach to Afghanistan, like much of US policy toward the Middle East and Central Asia, is based on emotion rather than realism.

Fighting for Democracy vs. Fighting the Spread of Democracy (Project Vote)
ith a constant barrage of allegations against ACORN and other voter registration organizations coming from the McCain-Palin campaign and the Republican National Committee in recent weeks, it's worthwhile to take a look back at this ongoing war between partisan forces on the right and community based voter registration drives.

Who Leaked the Details of a CIA-Mossad Plot against Iran? & Is Mossad Responsible for Delaying Iran’s Attainment of Nuclear Capability? (Yossi Melman / Ha’aretz & Aluf Benn / Ha’aretz)
The Bush administration is prolonging the hunting season against journalists. The latest victim is James Risen, the New York Times reporter for national security and intelligence affairs. A federal grand jury subpoena ordered Risen to give evidence in court as part of an investigation aimed at revealing who leaked apparently confidential information about the planning of secret Central Intelligence Agency and Mossad missions concerning Iran's nuclear program.

Thousands Protest US Aggression in Syria; US Closes Embassy (The Pakistan Daily Times & Ha'aretz)
Thousands of Syrians held a government-backed demonstration in Damascus on Thursday to protest against a US military raid in the east of the country that has put a further strain on US-Syrian ties. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad condemned the US raid as a "blind and savage act." The attack, which a correspondent for Isreal's Ha'aretz has called "reminiscent of Israeli 'targeted killings'," has increased instability across the region.

32 Killed in US Missile Strikes (The Pakistan Daily Times & Dera Ismail Khan / The Guardian & Ishtiaq Mahsud / Associated Press)
Suspected US missiles killed 32 mainly Al Qaeda terrorists and injured a key Taliban commander in North and South Waziristan. Two missiles hit a pick-up truck and a house. Two further missiles struck a hideout in South Waziristan. Suspected US drones have fired at targets in Pakistan at least 17 times since mid-August. The increased frequency of the strikes has badly strained America's alliance with Pakistan, where rising violence is threatening the country's stability.

Iraq Wants Guaranteed US Departure after 2011 (Sameer N. Yacoub / Associated Press)
Iraq wants to remove any possibility that US troops could remain after 2011 from a proposed security agreement now under negotiation, a Shiite lawmaker close to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has stated. The current draft would have US soldiers leave Iraq by Dec. 31, 2011, unless the government asks them to stay to help with training or other missions. But Ali al-Adeeb, a member of the prime minister's inner circle, said the government wants that possibility removed.

Bush Buys 99,000-acre Ranch in Paraguay as International Red Cross Prepares War Crimes 'Portfolio' (Sorcha Faal / What Does It Mean.com)
While there is no substantiation for the sensational headline of this Halloween-dated dispatch, the article does include sourced links to stories about the Bush family’s quiet purchase of a 99,000-acre farm in Paraguay and the International Red Cross’ preparation of a “portfolio” of War Crimes charges that could be applied to George W. Bush and other members of the Bush administration for “crimes against humanity” stemming from the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

ACTION ALERT: Condemn Expanded US War on Syrian and Pakistan (International Action Center)
All who want to stop the Bush White House from starting another war should immediately protest the unilateral, unjustifiable and criminal October 26 U.S. assaults on Syrian and Pakistani sovereignty. Don’t let Bush get away with expanded war crimes in the Middle East. Condemn his efforts to hand a wider war to the next administration.

Uranium Weapons Briefing (International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons ICBUW)
What is depleted uranium and how is it used in weapons? Depleted Uranium (DU) is nuclear waste. Uranium naturally occurs as three different isotopes U234, U235 and U238. Isotopes are atoms of the same element that have different numbers of neutrons but the same number of protons. This means that they behave in the same way chemically, but different isotopes release different amounts and kinds of radiation

Air Force: Nuke Missile Silo Fire Went Undetected (Associated Press & Air Force Times)
A fire caused $1 million worth of damage at an unmanned underground nuclear launch site last spring, but the Air Force didn't find out about it until five days later, the Air Force has reported. The May 23 fire burned itself out after an hour or two, and multiple safety systems prevented any threat of an accidental launch of the Minuteman III missile. Maj. Laurie Arellano said she was not allowed to say whether the missile was armed with a nuclear warhead at the time of the fire.

Reports from Inside Iraq: Mosul Siege, Baghdad Security Falters; Mass Graves Reappear (areer Mohammed / Azzaman & Ahmad Arhimiya / Azzaman)
Thousands of armed troops have been deployed inside the city of Mosul in preparation for the third massive military offensive on the city this year. Meanwhile, the security situation in Baghdad has faltered amid a rise in car bombings and attacks directed at government troops. And 22 bodies were found in a mass grave near Karbala. Mass graves under the regime of Saddam Hussein and they were among the excuses the US used to justify its invasion of the country.

Defense Awards More Iraq Reconstruction Work to Contractors Cited for Poor Performance (Elizabeth Newell / Government Executive.com)
he Defense Department has not taken steps to prevent companies whose Iraq reconstruction contracts were terminated for poor performance from receiving additional government work, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction reported.

Iraq Seeks to Bar US Strike on its Neighbors (Qassim Abdul-Zahra / Associated Press)
Iraq wants a security agreement with the United States to include a clear ban on US troops using Iraqi territory to attack Iraq's neighbors, the government spokesman said Wednesday, three days after a dramatic US raid on Syria.

Pakistan Formally Protests US Missile Attacks (Jane Perlez / New York Times)
The Pakistani government lodged a formal protest on Wednesday against US missile attacks on the Taliban and al Qaeda in the nation's tribal areas and told the US ambassador the strikes should be stopped immediately. Ambassador Anne Patterson was summoned to the ministry two days after a missile strike by a drone aircraft in South Waziristan killed 20 people, including several local Taliban commanders.

US Afghan Troop 'Surge' May Need to Double (Pauline Jelinek / Associated Press)
Military planners now think they may need to send more than double the number of extra troops initially believed needed to help fight the war in Afghanistan. The buildup in the increasingly violent campaign could amount to more than 20,000 troops rather than the originally planned 10,000, two senior defense officials said.

Syria Condemns US 'Terrorism'; US Officials Claim Al Qaeda Member Killed (BBC News & New York Times & Los Angeles Times)
Syria's foreign minister has accused the US of an act of "criminal and terrorist aggression" over a helicopter raid on its territory.US officials said the raid was conducted by US Special Operations forces who killed an Iraqi militant responsible for smuggling weapons, money and foreign fighters into Iraq. US officials claim that Senior Al Qaeda member named Abu Ghadiyah was killed in the US raid that also killed and injured unarmed civilians and left four children dead.

Pakistan Blasts US Drone Attacks (Ishtiaq Mahsud / Associated Press)
Hours after suspected US missiles killed several people at the house of a Taliban commander near the Afghanistan border, Pakistani lawmakers condemned American drone attacks, saying they cause "immense" loss of life and are undermining that nation's efforts to defuse militancy through dialogue. The condemnation of the US attacks came in a resolution adopted Monday by Pakistani senators.

History Shows Economy Has Fared better under Democratic Presidents (Arthur L. Blaustein / San Francisco Chronicle)
The GOP charge that Democrat economic policies will cripple the economy is not supported by history. But according to a former chair of the President's National Advisory Council on Economic Opportunity, over the past half-century, Democratic administrations have created more jobs and more wealth than Republican administrations. Overall, GOP overspending and deregulation has driven up massive deficits and undercut worker security.

Why McCain's Fellow POW and Navy Dorm Mate Won't Vote for McCain (Rob Kall / Op Ed New)
US Navy Commander Phil Butler (ret) was John McCain's dorm-mate at the US Naval Academy and later, McCain's cell-mate, in North Vietnam's "Hanoi Hilton." Butler says of McCain: "He's a bellicose kind of a guy, he's aggressive, he's a black and white thinker. He doesn't see nuances, just like George Bush.... I think his lessons from Vietnam are all wrong; he's helped lead us right back into another Vietnam in the Iraq War."

Maryland Environmentalists Listed as Suspected Terrorists (Ashley M. Lewis / Capital News Service)
Two members of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network have sought support from the ACLU after learning that the Maryland State Police had listed them as suspected terrorists in a federal database and conducted unwarranted surveillance of their activities.The environmentalists join a list including two anti-war, Dominican nuns and dozens of other activists who were wrongfully labeled as terrorists in the federal database.

Seven Things That Could Go Wrong on Election Day (Michael Scherer / Time Magazine)
We can go to the moon, split atoms to power submarines, squeeze profits from a 99 cent hamburger and watch football highlights on cell phones. But the most successful democracy in human history has yet to figure out how to conduct a proper election. As Americans cast their ballots on Nov. 4, here are some problems that threaten to throw this election to the courts again.

Energy Department Ignores Public; Announces Plans to Revive Nuclear Weapons Production (Tri-Valley CARES)
The Dept. of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration have announced plans to revitalize and rebuild the Pentagon's nuclear weapons complex — at Livermore Lab in California and at other sites across the country.

Ecudaor's New Eco-Constitution Bans Militarism; Gives Rights to Nature (Duroyan Fertl / Green Left Weekly)
On September 28, 65% of Ecuadorian voters approved the country's new Constitution. President Rafael Correa. Correa was elected in 2006, promising a “citizen’s revolution” to end the poverty that afflicts over half of the country’s 14 million inhabitants. The new Constitution extols pacifism, calls for universal disarmament, guarantees citizens' rights to water, housing and food, and declares that "nature has rights" that are more important that commerce.

ACTION ALERT — On Oct. 27: Protest AFRICOM at the IPOA Summit in DC (Resist Africom.com)
The meeting of the International Peace Operations Association (IPOA) follows on the heels of the Pentagon's October 17 commemoration ceremony for the newly established US Africa Command at AFRICOM's headquarters — at a US base in Stuttgart, Germany. An African Union representative pledged support for AFRICOM's agenda and Mali announced plans for FLINTLOCK, a joint-US military exercise set for November 3-20.

AFRICOM, the IPOA and the Rising Mercenary Industry (Crossed Crocodiles & African Loft.com)
You’ve heard the names, Blackwater, MPRI, DynCorp, Total Intel, Triple Canopy. The mercenaries are already in Africa. With Iraq inevitably winding down, they are looking to Africa for their future contracts and future paychecks. Africa is in the sights. The International Peace Operations Association has their annual “Summit” meeting in October. AFRICOM provides the perfect enabler.

Guantanamo Guards Struggle with Hunger Striker (Associated Press)
Three years ago, the man known as Internment Serial Number 669 stopped eating. Ahmed Zaid Zuhair, a father of 10 children in Saudi Arabia and Yemen, had been held at Guantanamo Bay since 2002 without charges and decided to join a mass hunger strike in protest. The US military was determined not to let him succeed.

US Helicopters, Troops Invade Syria; Civilians, including Four Children Reported Killed (Albert Aji / AP & Alex Spillius / The Telegraph & Al Jazeera.net)
Four US military helicopters launched an attack Sunday on Syrian territory close to the border with Iraq, killing eight people in a strike the government in Damascus condemned as "serious aggression." One of the invading helicopters reportedly landed eight US Special Forces troops on Syrian territory. The US troops reportedly opened fire for 15-minutes. Civilians, children and construction workers were among those reported killed and injured.

Pentagon Wants Packs of Robots To Detect “Non-cooperative Humans” (Steve Watson / Infowars.net)
The Pentagon has put out a request to contractors to develop teams of robots that can search for, detect and track “non-cooperative” humans in “pursuit/evasion scenarios.” The request calls for a “Multi-Robot Pursuit System” to be operated by one person that can be used to “search for and detect a non-cooperative human subject."

US Hits Russia, China with Sanctions as Russia Seeks to Benefit from World Financial Crisis (Greg Walters / Bloomberg & Press TV – Iran & Barents Observer)
The US government imposed sanctions on Russian, Chinese and Venezuelan companies for supplying what it said were materials used in making weapons of mass destruction to Iran, North Korea and Syria. Meanwhile, in a video address, Russian President Dmitrii Medvedev blames the US for the global financial crisis and says Russia should do what it can to get maximum benefits from the world financial crisis. He believes the crisis can make Russia stronger.

Police Fear Riots if Barack Obama Loses US Election (Catherine Elsworth / The London Telegraph & Alexander Bolton / The Hill.com)
US police fear riots could break out if John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, wins the election next month. Law enforcement officials say the intense public interest and historic nature of the vote could lead to violent outbreaks if people are unhappy with the results, encounter problems casting their ballots or suspect voting irregularities. Police will have tactical squads, SWAT teams and officers trained in riot control on standby.

Pentagon Finds Company Violated Its Contract on Electrical Work in Iraq (James Risen / New York Times)
The Pentagon has rebuked its largest contractor in Iraq after a series of inspections uncovered shoddy electrical work and other problems on American military bases. The Defense Contract Management Agency, determined that KBR — a Houston-based company linked to Vice President Dick Cheney, that provides virtually all basic services for the American military in both Iraq and Afghanistan — has been guilty of “serious contractual noncompliance.”

If War Is Not the Answer, What Is? The Peaceful Prevention of Deadly Conflict (Friends Committee on National Legislation)
In the fall of 2002, the Bush Administration enshrined in U.S. policy a unilateral right to take military action against "emerging threats before they are fully formed." But military force and unilateralism are tragically ineffective instruments against the current threats facing the U.S. and the global community. But, if war is not the answer, then what is?

Iraq Prepares to Take Control as US' UN Mandate Is Set to Expire (Jim Muir / BBC News & BBC News)
With its UN Mandate about to expire, the Pentagon is racing against time to hand over security duties to Iraqi government soldiers while contemplating the imminent forced withdrawal of US forces from the country by then end of the year.

Peasants Denounce Colombia’s Military & Colombian 'Killings' Shake Army˙ (Antonio Otsenre / Op Ed News & BBC News)
An area in the northeast, claimed by the Uwa people, is earmarked to be drilled by the Ecopetrol. The Uwa are mobilizing to have a voice in the affair. As a million Indigenous Colombians are staging community protects to gain control over their ancestral lands. government repression has resulted in two more deaths and dozens of wounded by riot police. The US military's role in Colombia's turmoil is also suspect for indigenous and labor movements.

How Bush's Grandfather Helped Hitler's Rise to Power (Ben Aris and Duncan Campbell / The Guardian)
Rumours of a link between the US first family and the Nazi war machine have circulated for decades. Now The Guardian can reveal how repercussions of events that culminated in action under the Trading with the Enemy Act are still being felt by today's president. Newly discovered files in the US National Archives that a firm of which Prescott Bush was a director was involved with the financial architects of Nazism.

The Cluster Bomb Tour (Friends Committee on National Legislation)
The United States is the world's largest producer, exporter, and stockpiler of cluster bombs. The path to banning cluster bombs leads through Lansing, Columbus, and Indianapolis. If senators from Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana support a cluster bomb ban, the next administration and Congress are more likely to join the rest of the world in banning these bombs that keep on killing, years after they are dropped.

Doctor Laments Brush-off of Iraqi War Dead (Tom Paulson / Hearst Newspapers)
Dr. Les Roberts, a physician and prominent public health scientist at Columbia University, believes there is solid evidence that something like half a million people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the Iraq war. His statistics are about 10 times higher than the estimates put forth by the Bush administration and Pentagon. But a much bigger problem than the numerical disparity, Roberts said, is the simple fact that so few even ask.

US Hospital Shifts to Saving Injured Iraqis (Anna Johnson / Associated Press)
The US military's main combat hospital in Iraq has increasingly switched to helping Iraqis. As the numbers of wounded American soldiers have fallen, the hospital is now saving the lives of a remarkable 93 percent of Iraqis who come with devastating injuries. Unlike US soldiers, most Iraqi patients at the Air Force Theater Hospital don't wear body armor and helmets or drive in vehicles designed to withstand roadside bombs.

President Bush Asserts Right to Control Iraqi Oil (PR NewsWire / US NewsWire)
President George Bush has rejected a Congressional effort to bar the United States military from controlling Iraq's oil resources. Before signing a military funding bill, the president issued a "signing statement" that bars any expenditure of funds to "To exercise United States control of the oil resources of Iraq."

Police Prepare for Election Unrest (Alexander Bolton / The Hill)
Police departments in cities across the country are beefing up their ranks for Election Day, preparing for possible civil unrest and riots after the historic presidential contest. Public safety officials said in interviews with The Hill that the election, which will end with either the nation’s first black president or its first female vice president, demanded a stronger police presence.

OECD Report Ranks US Third Worst in Inequality and Poverty (Patrick O’Connor / Global Research & wsws.org)
A report issued by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development reveals that the US has the third worst level of income inequality and poverty among the group’s 30 member states. Only Mexico and Turkey ranked higher in those categories. Japan, South Korea, Canada and Australia, all recorded better figures than the US, as did central and eastern European states, including Poland and Hungary.

Global "Secutiry State" Threatens to "Break" Centuries of British Freedoms (Christopher Hope, Home Affairs Editor / The Telegraph)
Sir Ken Macdonald, Britain’s top prosecutor has warned that centuries of British freedoms are being 'broken' by the Security State and warned that the expansion of identity cards and surveillance technology by the state into everyday life could create a world future generations “can’t bear.”

Rumors of Plans for Global War Persist as Top US, Russian General Meet (Sorcha Faal / What Does It Mean & Thom Shanker / International Herald Tribune &)
A report is circulating in the Kremlin stating that some of the most Senior Generals in the US Military are ‘pleading’ for ‘immediate’ help from both Russian and European Military to prevent their current President from starting World War III in the coming weeks. A meeting in Helsinki, arranged with great secrecy, marked the first time that Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had met his counterpart, General Nikolai Makarov.

Mutant Seeds for Mesopotamia ( Andrew Bosworth, Ph.D. / Uruknet)
The "100 Orders" help explain why the majority of Iraqis remain opposed to foreign occupation. The 100 Orders allow multinational corporations to basically privatize an entire nation, a degree of foreign control has not been witnessed since the days of the British East India Company a. Under Order 81, Iraq's commercial farmers must now buy "registered seeds." These are normally imported by Monsanto, Cargill and the World Wide Wheat Company.

US Air Raid Kills Afghan Soldiers (Al Jazeera.net)
Nine Afghan soldiers have been killed and three others wounded in an air raid by US-led forces in eastern Afghanistan. The attack came early on Wednesday in Khost, a province near the Pakistan border, in what a US military spokesperson told Al Jazeera was a misidentification. The Afghan government has complained that US-led forces do not co-ordinate their operations.

Military Barred from Retrying Lt. Ehren Watada on 3 of 5 Court-martial Charges (Hal Bernton / Seattle Times)
Citing the constitutional protections against being tried twice for the same crime, a federal judge on Tuesday ruled that 1st Lt. Ehren Watada cannot face a second court martial on three of five counts resulting from his high-profile 2006 refusal to deploy to Iraq with a Fort Lewis brigade.

Sen. Warner Supports Domestic Use of Military (David Swanson / After Downing Street)
Rather than expressing alarm over threats to the traditional firewall that has kept the US military from intervening in domestic control activities within the US, Senator John Warner has suggests a further erosion of presidential checks and balances. Warner writes: " I am deeply concerned that the Department of Defense and the President may not have authority to use active duty personnel in the most effective manner."

Block the Vote (Robert F. Kennedy Jr. & Greg Palast / Rolling Stone Magazine)
In state after state, Republican operatives — the party's elite commandos of bare-knuckle politics — are wielding new federal legislation to systematically disenfranchise Democrats. If this year's race is as close as the past two elections, the GOP's nationwide campaign could be large enough to determine the presidency.

The ACORN Story & The ACORN Hoax (The New York Times | Editorial & Michael Winship / Truthout)
Commentary: "In Wednesday night's debate, John McCain warned that a group called Acorn is 'on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history.'" Viewers may have been wondering what Mr. McCain was talking about. So were we." • "The ACORN "election fraud" story is one of those urban legends, like fake moon landings and alligators in the sewers, and it appears three or four weeks before every recent national election."

Voters Say They Were Duped Into Registering as Republicans (Evan Halper and Michael Rothfeld /The Los Angeles Times)
YPM, a group hired by the GOP, allegedly deceived Californians who thought they were signing a petition. YPM denies any wrongdoing. Similar accusations have been leveled against the company elsewhere. Voters contacted by The Times said they were tricked into switching parties while signing what they believed were petitions for tougher penalties against child molesters.

The Real Plumbers of Ohio (Paul Krugman / The New York Times)
Forty years ago, Richard Nixon made a remarkable marketing discovery. By exploiting America's divisions — divisions over Vietnam, divisions over cultural change and, above all, racial divisions — he was able to reinvent the Republican brand. The party of plutocrats was repackaged as the party of the "silent majority," the regular guys — white guys, it went without saying — who didn't like the social changes taking place. It was a winning formula.

Dear Conservatives, Will You Help Save the Republic from Military Takeover? (Naomi Wolf / AlterNet)
We are seeing the classic 10 steps being set in place that always underlie a police state. For the first time in our nation’s history, a branch of the military — the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division — has been activated domestically to help with "civil unrest and crowd control.” What this means is that US citizens can now be "controlled" by the military on our streets.

Shiite Leader Labels US-Iraq Pact 'Betrayal' (Ned Parker & Usama Redha / Los Angeles Times)
Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr warned Iraqi lawmakers that approving a US troop agreement would be tantamount to a betrayal of the Iraqi people, as his supporters rallied against the deal Saturday. As many as 20,000 protesters shouted, "No, no, America," in a visceral display of the deep apprehension among Iraqis over the security pact that would extend the US military presence in Iraq after a UN mandate expires in December.

Vietnamese Women on US Agent Orange Tour (Vietnam Agent Orange Relief & Responsibility Campaign)
Thousands of US soldiers and an estimated three million Vietnamese were poisoned by Agent Orange during the U.S. war on Vietnam. Now, a group of female victims of the toxic herbicide have embarked on a ten-city U.S. tour to demand that Monsanto, Dow and 35 other complicit companies compensate Agent Orange victims and clean up the toxic residues that still contaminate their homeland.

Army To Probe 5 Slayings Linked To Colorado Brigade (P. Solomon Banda / Associated Press)
Fort Carson soldiers returning from deployment in Iraq are suspects in at least five slayings, and officials want to know why. Commander Maj. Gen. Mark Graham announced Friday a task force will examine any commonalities in the five killings, all allegedly committed by soldiers from the post's 4th Brigade Combat Team in the past 14 months. A sixth BCT soldier faces an attempted murder charge.

Military Town Newspaper Challenges US Military on Murder of Military Women (Ann Wright, / t r u t h o u t | Report)
The October 14, 2008 editorial in the Fayetteville, NC Observer "Our View: Military Domestic Violence Needs More Aggressive Prevention," focused on the murder of four military women in North Carolina and contained a startling comment: "In a way, it's surprising that there aren't more bodies piling up at military bases all over this nation." The Observer is the newspaper that serves Fort Bragg, one of the military's largest bases.

Exposed: McCain's Presidential Transition Chief Aided Saddam Hussein (Murray Waas / Huffington Post)
William Timmons, the DC lobbyist John McCain named to head his presidential transition team, aided an influence effort on behalf of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to ease international sanctions against Iraq. Timmons worked with two lobbyists, Samir Vincent and Tongsun Park, on a previously unreported deal with the Iraqis in which they hoped to be awarded a contract to purchase and resell Iraqi oil. The three stood to share at least $45 million if the business deal went through.

As its Economic Power Wanes, Does the US Lean Harder on the Military? (Phyllis Bennis / Foreign Policy in Focus)
The current economic crisis holds enormous dangers, even beyond its direct threat to jobs, homes, savings, and the well-being of millions of ordinary people in the US. One rarely acknowledged danger is that while US.economic clout in the world is dropping dramatically, there is no concomitant drop in Washington's drive to remain the dominant power in the world. Without economic power, diplomatic credibility or political influence, all that’ss left is military force

US Vets Arrested, Trampled outside Presidential Debate (Rick Maze / The Army Times & The World Can't Wait)
A group of Iraq war veterans opposed to that conflict got into an altercation with police outside Hofstra University on Wednesday about an hour before the final presidential debate as they tried to deliver a list of questions they wanted the candidates to answer. Ten were arrested and several were injured, including one who received hospital treatment after apparently being trampled by a police horse

Civilian Dead Are a Trade-off in NATO's War of Barbarity (eumas Milne / The Guardian)
While the eyes of the western world have been fixed on the global financial crisis, the military campaign that launched the war on terror has been spinning out of control. The killing of innocent Afghans by US bombs is the result of a calculation, not just a mistake. And it is fuelling resistance.

The Torture Time Bomb (Philippe Sands / The Guardian)
The Bush administration's approval of the abuse of detainees is a toxic legacy for the next US president. New evidence has emerged in Congressional inquiries that throw more light on the extent to which early knowledge and approval of the abuse went to the highest levels. What does a country do when compelling evidence shows its leaders have authorised international crimes?

CIA Tactics Endorsed In Secret Memos: Waterboarding Got White House Nod (Joby Warrick / The Washington Post)
The Bush administration issued a pair of secret memos to the CIA in 2003 and 2004 that explicitly endorsed the agency's use of interrogation techniques such as waterboarding against al-Qaeda suspects — documents prompted by worries among intelligence officials about a possible backlash if details of the program became public.

McCain Was Not Tortured, POW Guard Claims (John Hooper / The Guardian)
The Republican US presidential candidate John McCain was not tortured during his captivity in North Vietnam, the chief prison guard of the jail in which he was held has claimed. After his release in 1973 McCain told US News & World Report that, after being worked over at intervals for four days, he agreed to sign a "confession" admitting to war crimes. McCain also admitted that he had collaborated with his captors by disclosing his ship's name, squadron number and the target of his final mission.

Iraq's Missing Generation (Navtej Dhillon and Elizabeth Ferris / Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement)
outh, not oil, is Iraq's most precious asset in building a stable and prosperous future. In 2002, before the US invasion, around 60% of Iraq's population was under the age of 30 – many with high school and university education. Today, too many of those young people are among the 2.2 million Iraqi refugees living in countries such as Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.

US Soldiers in Iraq Can Find Stress Deadlier than Enemy (Emmanuel Duparcq / Agence France-Presse)
On September 14, Sergeant Joseph Bozicevich allegedly dr shot to death two of his superiors on a military base south of the Iraqi capital. According to media reports, Bozicevich, allegedly killed the men because he could not bear being berated by them. Trauma, stress, fatigue, depression and tensions linked to family problems are taking their toll on US soldiers deployed in Iraq and are often more threatening than the Islamist insurgents they are expected to fight.

Taliban Choking off Access to Afghan Capital (Graeme Smith / Globe and Mail)
The Taliban are isolating Afghanistan's capital city from the rest of the country, choking off important supply routes and imposing their rules on the provinces near Kabul. Interviews suggest that the Taliban have gained control along three of the four major highways into the city, and some believe it's a matter of time before they regulate all traffic around the capital.

State Department Arms Control Board Declares Cold War on China (Hans M. Kristensen / Federation of American Scientists)
A report from an advisory board to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has recommended that the United States beefs up its nuclear, conventional, and space-based posture in the Pacific to counter China. The report that appears to recommend policies that would increase and deepen military competition and in essence constitute a small Cold War with China.

'Curveball' Claims: "I Never Told Anyone Saddam Hussein Was Producing Weapons of Mass Destruction." (Frederik Pleitgen / CNN)
Rafid Alwan, whose claims that Saddam Hussein was producing biological agents helped launch the Iraq war, was reluctant to speak on the record, initially denying he was Iraqi or that he was the defector dubbed "Curveball" by the CIA. But eight months after we first contacted him, Alwan agreed to an interview. Alwan insisted that he never claimed that Iraq was producing weapons of mass destruction and he said many other things said about him were false.

Nuclear Fastball: Palin, Biden Strike Out (John Burroughs / DisarmamentActivist.org)
In the October 2 vice-presidential debate, Governor Sarah Palin claimed that US reliance on nuclear forces is “safe” and a “stable” deterrence. Palin argued that “dangerous regimes” cannot be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons. But if deterrence works for the US, why would it not work equally for others? Not addressed by Palin or Biden: Deterrence is based on the willingness to use nuclear weapons. If you embrace deterrence, you embrace the use of nuclear weapons.

Fisk 'Shocked' by US Failure to Debate Conflict in Israel (Amol Rajan / The Independent)
A feisty debate between Robert Fisk and the author Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman brought The Independent Woodstock Literary Festival to a close on a high note last night. The absence of a debate on the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians in the US presidential elections was "shocking", Fisk told a packed hall at Blenheim Palace. "America must pull its military forces out of Iraq and the Middle East, leaving the peoples of the region to decide their own future," said Fisk.

The 35 Articles of Impeachment and the Case for Prosecuting George W. Bush ( Congressman Dennis Kucinich)
"These articles establish, and hearings would establish further, that President Bush was ‘the decider’ behind countless abuses of power. And, of course, his public comments have time and again advertised his indifference to the laws he is violating. Not only does overwhelming evidence show us that Bush knew his claims about WMDs to be false, but the president has shown us that he considers the question of truth or falsehood to be laughably irrelevant. "

Father, Forgive Me, I Will not Fight for your Israel (Igal Sarna / Times Online)
Omer Goldman is a pretty girl, slender as a model. Never still, very restless, she is filled with anxiety by the expected loss of her freedom. Omer Goldman, the daughter of a former Mossad chief, tells why she prefers jail to Israel's military draft.

Russia Flexes its Military Muscle with Missile Launches (A correspondent in Moscow / The Australian)
Russia has capped a weekend of dramatic missile launches to remind audiences at home and abroad about the country's military might. "This was a dry run for a war with the United States," says independent military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer. "These are the biggest strategic war games in more than 20 years. They are on a parallel with those held in the first half of the 1980s. Nothing of the sort has been seen either in Russia or the United States since then."

Anti-Democratic Nature of US Capitalism is Being Exposed (Noam Chomsky / The Irish Times & CommonDreams)
The simultaneous unfolding of the presidential campaign and unraveling of the financial markets presents one of those occasions where the political and economic systems starkly reveal their nature. Bretton Woods was the system of global financial management set up at the end of the second World War to ensure the interests of capital did not smother wider social concerns in post-war democracies. It was hated by the US neoliberals - the very people who created the banking crisis.

Hitler’s Empire: How the Nazis Ruled Europe (Reviewed by Andrew Nagorski / The New York Times)
Surveying Germany's conquests shortly after it invaded the Soviet Union, Hitler's minister of economics boasted: "Never before in the history of the world has there been such an economy to administer." Germany was indeed the master of most of Europe and its armies were marching into Russia. But in Hitler's Empire, historian Mark Mazower spells out how ill-prepared the Germans were for their early victories — and how completely they botched the administration of their empire.

Seven Years in Afghanistan: From "War on Terror" to "War of Terror" (Gary Leupp / CounterPunch)
Seven years ago today the US began the assault on Afghanistan that toppled the Taliban regime and produced the present mess. By March 2002 the US bombing had produced that 3,000 Afghan civilian fatalities. This was just the beginning. According to the UN, 1,445 civilians were killed from January through August this year — a rise of 39 percent over 2007. Deaths from US air strikes have tripled since 2006.

The October Surprise — Global Panic (Stephen Lendman / OpEdNews)
Since 9/11, the notion of an October surprise has been around. The idea going something like this. Another real or manufactured terror attack. The dominant media stokes fear. The public is again traumatized. The Bush administration pledges all effective measures to protect national security. Formerly seizes total power. Suspends the Constitution and declares martial law. Mass detentions follow. Beginning with dissenters and elements of the public considered "dangerous."

"Set Up to Steal it Again." Is 2008 Election already Fixed? (Greg Palast / BBC-TV)
On Friday October 10, aBBC America broadcast the story of the systematic attack on US voters that could easily cost Barack Obama the White House. BBC Reporter Palast follows the path of investigation laid out by civil rights attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr. - encountering along the way the Republican Party lawyers, funders - and Karl Rove.

20 Amazing Facts About Voting in the USA (What Really Happened.com)
Did you know that: There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry; 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S; The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers. And that's not all...

Pentagon Wants $450 Billion Increase Over Next Five Years (Josh Rogin / Congressional Quarterly)
The new Pentagon budget estimate, expected to be released shortly before President Bush leaves office, would serve as a marker for the new president — and is meant to place pressure on him to either drastically increase the size of the defense budget or defend any reluctance to do so, according to several former senior budget officials who are close to the discussions.

Defense Industry Fears Recession Will Require Weapons Cuts: Obama Advisor Says; War Spending Won't Decline (August Cole / Dow Jones)
Defense-industry executives are starting to worry that the costs of rescuing the financial industry will be taken in part out of the Pentagon's programs, and that could have a big impact on their companies. But Richard Danzig, a top adviser to Barack Obamaa (who is seen as a leading contender to be the Secretary of Defense in an Obama administration) says he expects military spending during a Democratic administration wouldn't drop.

'We Were Told We Were Fighting Terrorists; the Real Terrorist Was Me' (Book Review — Aaron Glantz, Haymarket Books)
In March, a courageous group of veterans brought the war home at a historic event held in Silver Spring, Md., inspired by Vietnam veterans a generation before. "Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan" convened more than 200 soldiers who served in the so-called "War on Terror;" The hearings lasted four days. Now, the testimony has been compiled in a book: Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan: Eyewitness Accounts of the Occupation."

The End of Iraq's "Awakening"? (Robert Dreyfuss / The Nation)
the commander of the Sunni-led Awakening movement in Baghdad says that attacks by the Iraqi government and government-allied militiamen against Awakening leaders and rank-and-file members are likely to spark a new Sunni resistance movement. That resistance force will conduct attacks against American troops and Iraqi army and police forces. Look around," he says. "It has already come back. It is getting stronger. Look at what is happening in Baghdad."

US Army Disposes Desert Tortoises: Relocated Reptiles Eaten by Coyotes (Las Vegas Sun / Associated Press & Gary Bogue / Contra Costa Times)
Fort Irwin has sought to expand its 643,000-acre training site into the Mojave Desert's tortoise territory for two decades. The Army said it needs an extra 131,000 acres to accommodate faster tanks and longer-range weapons. In March, the Army uprooted and relocated 770 endangered desert tortoises. Since then, about 90 relocated and resident tortoises have died, most killed and eaten by coyotes, according to federal biologists monitoring the project.

Water Seen as the 'New Oil' for US Army (Reuters)
Soldiers, weapons, food and fuel are important but the US Army absolutely cannot operate for long without water, a top Pentagon official said on Tuesday. "Somebody recently said water's the new oil and there's a lot to be said for that," Tad Davis, the Army's deputy assistant secretary for environment, safety and occupational health stated. In Iraq, 80 percent of cargo in Army convoys headed into forward areas over the last several years consisted of fuel and water.

When Geopolitics Meets Principle: The US-Indian Nuclear Proliferation Deal (David Krieger / Nuclear Age Peace Foundation)
India is not a party to the 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It never joined because its leaders believed that the Non-Proliferation Treaty promoted nuclear apartheid with its two classes of states: nuclear “haves” and “have-nots.” By not signing the treaty, India, like Pakistan and Israel, held open the possibility of developing nuclear weapons. In 1974, India tested its first nuclear device, what it called a “peaceful nuclear device.”

Russia, China, Pakistan Stand up to US Military (Hugh Macleod / The Guardian & DEBKA file-IPS & Simon Tisdall / The Guardian & Foster Klug / Associated Press)
As the US economy melts down, an emboldened Russian has moved its Navy into Mediterranean to deter Israel attacks on Syria and has destroyed Georgian air bases to prevent an Israel attack on Iran. Meanwhile, China has criticized the US over arms sales to Taiwan and Pakistan's new president warns Washington that his country cannot allow its territory to "be violated by our friends."

Reagan Palled Around with Terrorists — in the White House (Jim Lobe / LobeLog.com)
Back in 1985 that McCain’s and Palin’s hero, President Ronald Reagan, hosted Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, then a key Mujahadin leader (and major Islamo-fascist, as some might call him), at the White House.

If Pakistan Goes Bust, the Taliban Will Rule the Roost There as Well (Con Coughlin / The Daily Telegraph)
Just when it was looking as if the situation in Pakistan could not get any worse, along comes the global credit crisis. As if the newly appointed administration of President Ali Zardari didn't have enough on its plate already trying to establish its political authority while waging war against a determined Islamist insurgency.

Senator John McCain’s Record on Troop and Veterans’ Issues (Brandon Friedman / Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans)
Senator McCain gets consistently low ratings from veterans groups. Below is a full list of votes, statements, and positions of Senator McCain's, which shows that Senator McCain has consistently bailed on troops and veterans. An even more robust list, complete with video, can be found at VetVoice.com, as well.

The Edge of the Abyss: As Economic War Threatens It’s Time to Fight Back. (Danny Schechter / Global Research)
Commentary: "The other day as I was out promoting my book Plunder with a talk at a New York bookstore on the day the market dropped precipitously. It was a day that I led my blog with a quote from financial analyst fearing we are on the edge of the abyss." What to do as an economic war against most Americans is unleashed? We need an economic justice movement because the Democratic Party is vacillating. One way to start might be with a national teach-in movement."

The Surge That Failed: Afghanistan under the Bombs (Anand Gopal / Tom Dispatch)
As the US seems to be experiencing the beginning stages of its imperial implosion, it is also — as the Soviet Union was in the 1980s — enmired in a war without end in Afghanistan against a ragtag army of Afghan insurgents. One difference, of course: The Soviets were driven to near-bankruptcy by a war supported by billions of dollars and infusions of weaponry, provided by Washington while the US is heading for its analogous moment without an enemy superpower in sight.

Time To Face The Facts On Afghanistan (Eric S. Margolis / Information Clearinghouse)
For those who savor historical irony, the Soviet Empire collapsed in the years 1989-1991 because of an implosion of its economy brought on by a ruinous arms race with the United States and the heavy costs of occupying Afghanistan. Seventeen years later came the turn of the world’s other great imperial power, the United States. Lethally bloated by runaway debt, and burdened by 50% of the world’s military spending, the house of cards known as the US economy finally collapsed.

The Great Game in the Caucasus: Bad Moves by Uncle Sam (Conn Hallinan / CounterPun ch)
The tale of what the Bush Administration is up to in the Caucasus is slowly filtering out, although the US press has largely deep-sixed the story. The recent Georgia-Russia war was just one move in a chess game aimed at cornering the energy reserves of Central Asia, extending the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to Moscow’s vulnerable southern border, and ending Russia’s control of the Black Sea. Georgia was just a pawn—an expendable one at that— in a high stakes game.

Top US Generals Reach Out To Russian General Staff To Avert Global War (Sorcha Faal / Whaat Does It Mean.com)
Reports circulating in the Kremlin today are stating that three of the United States Top Generals met with Defense Minister Anatoliy Serdyukov in Kazakhstan in a meeting chaired by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who stated that the Americans were not trying to “undermine” Russia and urgently requesting Russian Military assistance to avert a Total Global War.

We Can't Defeat Taleban, Says Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith (Tom Coghlan and Michael Evans, Defence Editor / The London Times)
he departing commander of British forces in Afghanistan says he believes the Taleban will never be defeated. Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith, the commander of 16 Air Assault Brigade, whose troops have suffered severe casualties after six months of tough fighting, will hand over to 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines this month.

US Intelligence Warns: Afghanistan in 'Downward Spiral' (Mark Mazzetti & Eric Schmitt / The New York Times & Alastair Jamieson / The Telegraph)
A classified draft US intelligence report concludes that Afghanistan is in a “downward spiral” and casts serious doubt on the ability of the Afghan government to stem the Taliban’s influence. The report finds that the breakdown in central authority in Afghanistan has been accelerated by rampant corruption within the government of President Hamid Karzai and by an increase in violence by militants.

Pakistan and the US on Brink of War? (Mustafa Qadri / Foreign Policy in Focus)
s the United States steps up border raids into Pakistan, troops from both countries have commenced a deadly game of brinkmanship. Although aimed at asserting each other's military presence along the Pakistan-Afghan border, the skirmishes risk outright hostilities.

Widow Sues US over Iraq Vet-Husband's Suicide (MaryClaire Dale / Associated Press)
The 26-year-old widow of an Iraq war veteran who committed suicide while in outpatient care for depression at a Veterans Administration hospital is suing the federal government for alleged negligence. Tiera Woodward claims her late husband sought treatment at a VA hospital in Lebanon, Pa., after three suicide attempts but wasn't seen by a psychiatrist for more than two months. Donald Woodward killed himself in March 2006 at age 23.

Inquiry Finds 30 Afghan Civilians Killed in US Air Raid (Eric Schmitt / The New York Times)
An investigation by the military has concluded that American airstrikes on Aug. 22 in a village in western Afghanistan killed far more civilians than American commanders there have acknowledged, according to two American military officials.

Judge Orders 17 Detainees at Guantánamo Freed (William Glaberson / The New York Times)
A federal judge has ordered the Bush administration to release 17 detainees at Guantánamo Bay by the end of the week, the first such ruling in nearly seven years of legal disputes. The 17 detainees, members of the Uighur Muslim minority in western China, have been held since 2002, falsely accused by the Bush administration of being "enemy combatants."

John McCain and the POW Cover-up: Part 1 (Sydney H. Schanberg / The Nation)
John McCain, who has risen to political prominence on his image as a Vietnam POW war hero, has, inexplicably, worked very hard to hide from the public stunning information about American prisoners in Vietnam who, unlike him, didn't return home. The war hero who people would logically imagine as a determined crusader for the interests of POWs and their families became instead the strange champion of hiding the evidence and closing the books.

John McCain and the POW Cover-up: Part 2 (Sydney H. Schanberg / The Nation)
John McCain, who has risen to political prominence on his image as a Vietnam POW war hero, has, inexplicably, worked very hard to hide from the public stunning information about American prisoners in Vietnam who, unlike him, didn't return home. The war hero who people would logically imagine as a determined crusader for the interests of POWs and their families became instead the strange champion of hiding the evidence and closing the books.

One Soldier's Wounds (Liam Farrell / The (Annapolis) Capital & Associated Press)
The bomb went off on April 21, 2008, two days before Sgt. Luis Rosa-Valentin turned 25. Both of his legs and his left arm are gone. He needs a hearing aid for his left ear and a cochlear implant for his right. The concussion of the bomb broke every bone in his face. Luis' right arm, his only remaining limb, is also a symbol of loss. A tattoo of a dead soldier's empty boots, helmet and rifle adorns the inside of his forearm, set against the American flag.

Britain Plots Massive Surveillance Plan to Monitor All Communications; Require ID Cards for All Citizens (David Leppard / The Sunday Times)
The government’s secret eavesdropping agency in Cheltenham, is plotting the biggest surveillance system ever created in Britain. Intelligence chiefs want access to all communications made in the UK, but they face a fight. the project — classified top secret — is said by officials to be so vast that it will dwarf the estimated £5 billion ministers have set aside for the identity cards program.

McCain One of the Two Dozen "Weakest POWs" (vets74 / The Daily Kos)
The major claim that the GOP makes for presidential candidate John McCain is that he "proved himself" by surviving torture in Hanoi. Obama, not exactly. This 5 1/2-year ordeal is presented as the root and core of a great leaderJohn McCain was one of two dozen POWs who collaborated during the Vietnam War. On teh fourth day of captivity, McCain called for a Vietnamese officer. He told the officer: "O.K., I'll give you military information if you will take me to the hospital."

John Kerry's Hanoi Tapes (Steve Gilbert / American Thinker.com)
John McCain's recorded confession that he had committed war crimes was aired repeatedly during the Vietnam War over Radio Hanoi. But as conservative bloggers have pointed out, Radio Hanoi also broadcast audio-tapes of John Kerry and other Vietnam Veterans Against the War. The difference is, you can easily obtain John Kerry's tapes from VVAW while copies of John McCain's tape-recording apparently remains under lock and key.

Chomsky: "The Majority of the World Supports Iran": Part 1 (Subrata Ghoshroy / AlterNet)
Last month, Subrata Ghoshroy, a researcher in the Science, Technology and Global Security Working Group at the MIT met with Noam Chomsky in his office at MIT. Ghoshroy is a longtime critic of the US missile defense program and a former analyst at the Government Accountability Office who in 2006 blew the whistle on the failure — and attempted cover-up — of a $26 billion weapon system that was the "centerpiece" of the Bush administration's antimissile plan.

Chomsky: "If the US Carries Out Terrorism, It Did Not Happen" (Subrata Ghoshroy / AlterNet)
Noam Chomksy takes on the US's capacity for revisionist history and propaganda, from Ronald Reagan's supposed commitment to free markets, to US terrorist actions in Latin America in the 1980s, to the bankrupt rationale for Clinton's intervention in Bosnia. Chomsky elaborates on MIT's role in developing computer technology in the service of the military industrial complex and puts the current financial crisis into global context.

Forced Labor Builds US Embassy in Iraq (David Phinney / CorpWatch & Project Censored)
The enduring monument to US liberation and democracy in Iraq — the $592 million, 104-acre embassy equal in size to the Vatican City — will be the most expensive and heavily fortified embassy in the world. It is being built by a Kuwait contractor repeatedly accused of using forced labor trafficked from South Asia under US contracts.

Petraeus to McCain and Obama: Take Another Look at the Surge (Patrick Cockburn / CounterPunch)
As he left Iraq last month, the outgoing US Commander General David Petraeus is sounding far less optimistic than the Republican presidential candidate John McCain about the American situation in Iraq. Gen Petraeus says that it remains “fragile”, recent security gains are “not irreversible” and “this is not the sort of struggle where you take a hill, plant the flag and go home to a victory parade…it’s not a war with a simple slogan.”

US Warns Syria & Arms Israel (DebkaFile.com)
Washington has explicitly threatened military intervention to aid Lebanon should Syria go through with its planned incursion of the North. Meanwhile, the US has airlifed high-powered FBX radar to Israel where it has been installed with US personnel. The US has provided Israel with F-35 jets that an strike air and ground targets.

Russian Air Force Holds Largest War Game while Navy Prepares to Build 8 Nuclear Subs
Russia will stage its largest air force war games since Soviet times next week in the latest stage of the Kremlin's strategy to show off the country as a military superpower reborn. Russia is to build eight nuclear submarines by 2015 as part of an ambitious plan to overhaul the country's ailing navy.

Afghanistan: the Neo-Taliban Campaign (Syed Saleem Shahzad / Le Monde Diplomatique)
The attack on the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad on 20 September, killing some 60 people, was compared to 9/11 in Pakistan and could be a turning point in the conflict in this region. President Bush has authorised ground operations against Taliban bases in Pakistan. Meanwhile, the neo-Taliban, operating an al-Qaida franchise there and in Afghanistan, have controlled the escalation of guerrilla resistance in a sophisticated military strategy based on the conduct of the Vietnam war.

Orwell's Nightmare: 'Nude-Scan' Cameras & Electronic Body-Tags to Track Citizens (Bruno Waterfield / The Telegraph & Katherine Albrecht / Sciam.com)
Digital body scanners which leave little to the imagination will be used by airport security on passengers travelling across the European Union within two years. In the US, the Department of Homeland Security plans to introduce drivers' Licenses containing an RFID microchip capable of tracking individuals' movements and credit card purchases.

Petraeus to McCain and Obama: Take Another Look at the Surge (Patrick Cockburn / CounterPunch)
As he left Iraq last month, the outgoing US Commander General David Petraeus is sounding far less optimistic than the Republican presidential candidate John McCain about the American situation in Iraq. Gen Petraeus says that it remains “fragile”, recent security gains are “not irreversible” and “this is not the sort of struggle where you take a hill, plant the flag and go home to a victory parade…it’s not a war with a simple slogan.”

ILEA: Is the US Restarting Dirty Wars in Latin America? (Project Censored & Sources)
A resurgence of US-backed militarism threatens peace and democracy in Latin America. By 2005, US military aid to Latin America had increased by thirty-four times the amount spent in 2000. In a marked shift in strategy, secretive training (including torture and execution techniques) of Latin American military and police personnel has been moved from the notorious School of the Americas, in Ft. Benning, Georgia to the International Law Enforcement Academy in El Salvador.

Pentagon Hands Iraq Oil Deal to Shell (Nick Turse / AlterNet)
A group of US advisers led by a small State Department team played an integral part in drawing up contracts between the Iraqi government and five major Western oil companies. The major US media outlets have failed to expose the financial ties between the military occupation in Iraq and the oil giants — Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total, BP, and Chevron. Last year, the five firms took home more than $4.1 billion from the Pentagon — with Shell leading the way with $2.1 billion.

Obama Adviser Targets Weapons Costs, Lack of Oversight (Megan Scully / CongressDaily)
Richard Danzig , a senior defense policy adviser to presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama has signaled that an Obama administration would take a hard-line approach to the development of the military's weapons systems. At roughly $10 billion a year, missile defense is the most expensive program on the Pentagon's books. The Obama campaign has a "strong view that national missile defense is a rewarding area that should be invested in," Danzig said.

US to Fund Pro-American Publicity in Iraqi Media (Karen DeYoung and Walter Pincus / Washington Post)
The Defense Department will pay four private US contractors in Iraq up to $300 million over the next three years to produce news stories, entertainment programs and public service advertisements for the Iraqi media in an effort to "engage and inspire" the local population to support US objectives and the Iraqi government.

There Might Be a Financial Crisis, But the World's Arms Dealers Are Doing Just Fine (Frida Berrigan / Foreign Policy in Focus)
The CEOs of weapons giants like Boeing, Raytheon, and BAE Systems, have plenty of chances to rub elbows with deputy secretaries of defense, officials from Homeland Security, retired military personnel, and the defense establishment. The Pentagon's budget, which does not include funds for nuclear weapons or the $12-billion-a-month "global war on terror," has grown by nearly 70% — from $316 billion in 2001 to a request for more than $515 billion.

How Forgotten Iraq May Elect the Next President (Ira Chernus / Tom Dispatch)
Analysis: "In 1932, in the midst of a disastrous economic meltdown, Franklin D. Roosevelt made "the forgotten man" the centerpiece of his presidential election campaign. Far more than we suspect, this year's election may turn not on a forgotten man, but on a forgotten war in a forgotten country."

Air Force Office Admits Stealing Nuclear Launch Device (James MacPherson / The Association Press)
Capt. Paul Borowiecki, a missile combat crewmember assigned to the base’s 91st Missile Wing, faces trial after admitting that he had taken a missile launch control device as a souvenir because he thought it would be “a cool thing to have,” one of his supervisors testified Tuesday at a hearing to determine whether the officer will face a military trial.

Top US General: Afghanistan Needs More Troops (Lolita C. Baldor | Associated Press)
The top US military commander in Afghanistan said Wednesday that he needs more troops and other aid "as quickly as possible" in a counterinsurgency battle that could get worse before it gets better. General David McKiernan said it will take more than adding troops to stabilize Afghanistan—including efforts to strengthen the Afghan government, improve the economy and build its military and police forces.

Predatory Capitalism, Corruption and Militarism: What Lies Ahead in An Age of Neocon Rule? (Stephen Lendman / Global Research)
Commentary: "No one at any level in public or private life should ever be allowed to get away with the kind of reckless and gross criminality that's been rampant and out-of-control in Washington for the past six years. It's long past time to put an end to this criminal class of rogues in charge, running the country like their private fiefdom in a culture of galling corruption and scorn for the law that exceeds anything here ever preceding their tenure."

Financial Hubs See an Opening Up at the Top (Ariana Eunjung Cha / Washington Post Foreign Service)
The US may be grappling with its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, but these are go-go days in China. hanghai is just one of several cities harboring ambitious -- and to some analysts, fanciful -- aspirations while the global finance industry is reshuffled. Dubai, riding the Middle East's oil-fired boom, has declared itself the center of Islamic finance and says it aims, in the words of Dubai's government, to "develop the same stature as New York."

The End of Arrogance: US Loses Its Dominant Economic Role (Der Spiegel)
"The banking crisis is upending American dominance of the financial markets and world politics. The industrialized countries are sliding into recession, the era of turbo-capitalism is coming to an end and US military might is ebbing.A face can speak volumes, as can the speaker's tone of voice, the speech itself or the audience's reaction. Kings and queens have clung to the past before and humiliated themselves in public, but this time it was merely a United States president. Or what is left of him."

US Sends $800 Billion In New Amero Currency To China (Sorcha Faal / What Does It Mean.com)
“Disaster Capitalism” advocates the contradictory view that “shocks” and “crashes” to populations and economies are quickly followed by long periods of sustained growth and stability. The current US debt to China is estimated to be the staggering sum of $2.5 trillion. Reports from Russia claim the US is set to pay the China Development Bank $400 billion of this debt in a new currency calls "Ameros" as the dollar is set to be devalued by 50 percent before the year's end.

We Have the Money: If Only We Didn't Waste It on the Defense Budget (Chalmers Johnson / TomDispatch.com)
On Wednesday, September 24th, right in the middle of the fight over billions of taxpayer dollars slated to bail out Wall Street, the House of Representatives passed a $612 billion defense authorization bill for 2009 without a murmur of public protest or any meaningful press comment at all. (The New York Times gave the matter only three short paragraphs buried in a story about another appropriations measure.)

Finally, the Story of the Whistleblower Who Tried to Prevent the Iraq War (Norman Solomon / ZSpace)
When Katharine Gun chose, at great personal risk, to reveal an illicit spying operation at the United Nations in which the US government was the senior partner, she brought out of the transatlantic shadows a special relationship that could not stand the light of day.

The Deployment of US Troops inside Canada (Michel Chossudovsky / Global Research)
On February 14th, Canada and the US signed an agreement which allows for the deployment of US troops inside Canada. here was no official announcement nor was there a