News, action, and Analysis on U.S. militarism in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Iran

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In-Depth Analysis

• This article critiques the pretexts for the air war in Libya and the war in Iraq - remove dictators committing extreme human rights abuses. The state of both countries reveals serious, systemic human rights abuses. See: The Human Rights "Success" in Libya


• Both articles address the US steps to strangle Iran economically and with militaristic threats - for the sake of "regime change." Margaret Cohn lays out violations of international law at stake. Pepe Escobar maps the underlying political economy interests at stake, particularly Iran's oil sales to China. See: The Myth of "Isolated" Iran: Following the Money in the Iran Crisis and See: Pressure Israel Not Iran


• Our Constitution states that the Congress is responsible for declaring war. Yet, in the past decade, the US military drone program has accelerated, carrying out hundreds of strikes under CIA authority by civilian contractors. Most recently the air war on Libya was decided by the White House with no Congressional authorization. Peter Singer warns that the new standard for the US engaging is war is that the approval of Congress will only be sought for operations that use people on the ground, not drone and other aircraft wars. See: Do Drones Undermine Democracy?


• In the new Geo-Energy Era, the control of energy and its transport to market will lie at the heart of recurring global crises. Michael Klare posits that in the coming year, three energy hotspots are: the Strait of Hormuz, the South China Sea, and the Caspian Sea basin. The new defense Strategic Guidance document, "Sustaining U.S. Global Leadership," calls for increased emphasis on air and naval capabilities, especially those geared to the protection or control of international energy and trade networks. See: 3 Places Where a Looming Energy War Cold Mean Global Economic Disaster in 2012


• The newly released US defense strategy with projected budget for 2013 has only about 4% reduction in defense budget and no change in the US "self-appointed role as world policeman," with more power projections in Asia. See: Obama's New Military Strategy Doesn't Add Up


• The new "defense strategy released in early January 2011 is not about protecting the homeland from attack. Rather it's raison d'etre is preserving American global leadership and maintaining military superiority, because for the US to be safe, everyone else must be weaker. See: Defense Budgets and Cavemen


• The US and other western oil companies were forced out of Iraq in 1973. Today, Royal Dutch Shell, BP and US-based firms have oil and gas contracts with Iraq with lucrative terms. The US and other western countries are lobbying the Iraq government to pass the Iraq Oil Law to de-nationalize the oil market there and get larger profit-share, against the will of the majority of Iraqis. See: Western Oil Firms Remain as US Exits
  


• If we have rendered Al Qaeda "operationally ineffective," why the continued long war on terrorism? Two contradictory official premises bookend the justification: 1.) we are on the verge of victory in the war on terror; 2.) the threat is still grave; we cannot let up. See: What Endless War Looks Like


• The premises of the Bush-Cheney war on terror, which eroded civil liberties, have been adopted and furthered by the Obama Administration. Namely, terrorism is an act of war, not a criminal act; and terrorists should be tried as war combatants not as criminals. Under the Obama Administration, presidential decrees regarding the war on terror have become more extreme. See: The We-Are-at-War Mentality


• The US has a near monopoly on drones. However, more than 50 countries are developing or buying them. What we started as an assassination program in the war on terror may come back against us. See: Droning On


• The Obama Administration has dismantled CIA prisons and much of the Al Qaeda leadership. It has replaced the Bush counterterrorism activities with rapidly expanding drone programs (CIA and JSOC) with clandestine bases in at least 6 countries to carry our secret killing of individuals under Executive Authority to advance security goals. Congressional oversight is not coordinated. See: Under Obama, An Emerging Global Apparatus for Drone Killing


• Glenn Greenwald links news of the NATO air attack that killed 6 children, in a region where Al-Qaeda is non-existent, to war chants over Iran and Syria and escalating drone attacks in Somalia. He asks the question: Does not a country's willingness to kill children with impunity in various countries degrade the country's political character and culture as well as the minds of citizens who acquiesce. See: The Fruits of Liberation


• See: Talks on Cluster Bombs Restrictions Collapse


• The US, which recently used cluster bombs in Yemen, is playing a leading role to undo the global ban on cluster bombs through an effort to permit the use of ones with a lower failure rate. See: U.S. takes the lead on behalf of cluster bombs


• US troops are going to 4 African countries - Congo, Uganda, South Sudan, and Central African Republic - in what is a new post-Ghaddafi invasion of Africa. It follows the logic of US foreign policy since 1945. The US has been rebuffed in establishing an AFRICOM base on that continent. Now these countries provide the chance. See: The Son of Africa Claims A Continent's Crown Jewels


• The authors call for African Americans to protest US aggression in foreign policy carried out by the Obama administration. There has been no break with the foreign policy of the Bush administration. Yet African Americans' silence is due to the belief that criticism is "destructive and disloyal." See: Black America and Obama's Foreign Policy


• The war in Iraq will "truly end when Iraqis no longer believe themselves to be under an American thumb." US presence in Iraq continues after troop withdrawal, in the form of the largest embassy in the world, 5,000 mercenaries and more than 10,000 diplomats. Obama has also left the door open for further training of Iraqi troops and for US troops to return to Iraq in 2012. See: Read the Fine Print: The Iraq War Isn't Over


• Amnesty International has issued a devastating report on the violent treatment meted out by Libyan National Transitional Forces to captured Gaddafi soldiers, loyalists and those dark-skinned Libyans and foreign workers falsely accused of being mercenaries. See: Sirte's fall to usher in mass repression by Libya's National Transitional Council


• The US is abandoning plans to keep US troops in Iraq after January 2012, with the exception of troops attached to the embassy because Iraq will not guarantee immunity for US military in Iraq. See: APSNewsbreak: US Drops Keeping Troops in Iraq


• All members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction have received significant contributions from the defense industry since 2007. Subcommittee Co-Chair Patty Murray received a 2011 award from Aerospace Industries Association AIA), a coalition of more than 300 defense and aerospace firms. More than 1/3 of Murray's top 100 donors in 2010 were defense contractors who received nearly $60b in defense contracts last year. The AIA has begun a campaign, "Second to None," to influence the public against cuts to the defense budget. See: Supercommittee Co-chair Patty Murray Accepts Award from Defense Industry As She Mulls Cuts to Pentagon Budget


• An energy agenda is underway on Afghanistan, on the 10th anniversary of the US-led war there, which may deprive Afghans (as has happened to Iraqi citizens) of the economic benefits needed from their energy resource. A January 2009 law, the Hydrocarbon Law, transforms the national oil and natural gas sector from fully state-owned to all but fully privatized. See: Afghanistan's Energy War


• Drones: everyone wants them. The US Air Force is now training more drone pilots than actual plane pilots. Drones are the Obama Administration's weapons of choice to hunt and kill terrorists. They are defining war in the 21st century. In a just released Pew Social and Demographic Trends survey, 87% of post-9/11 veterans responded that the increasing use of drones is a good thing; 68% of the general public agrees. See: Sex and the Single Drone: The Latest in Guarding the Empire and See: War and Sacrifice in the Post-9/11 Era


• A concise summary of US arming, installing leaders and parties on power, and later declaring war against the same regimes in Asia and the Middle East, over the past 30 years. See: Questions about America's Enemies


• In this piece linking the decline of oil and the decline of the US, Michael Klare traces the history of US military presence in the Middle East since World War II to control access to oil and the concomitant dependence of the US on imported oil. As oil prices rise, the US economy becomes increasingly vulnerable to high housing, transportation, and manufacturing costs, given the industries reliance on oil. See: America and Oil: Declining Together


• Afghan militias, given guns and money by the US as a quick fix security in anticipation of 2014 withdrawal of US and NATO troops, are terrorizing the communities they are supposed to protect: "murdering, raping and torturing civilians, including children, extorting illegal taxes and smuggling contraband" according to a Human Rights Watch report. See: Militias Funded by US Accused of Rights Abuse


• The US is militarily involved in at least 97 countries (arc of instability) from south American across the Middle East to Southeast Asia. The Obama Administration has continued and exceeded militaristic domination in this arc, through wars, sale of weaponry, military education programs, etc. Ten years after 9/11, we have greater instability in many of the countries in which the US has militarily intervened. See: Obama's Arc of Instability: Destabilizing the World One Region at a Time


• The US drone program (also known as "automated assassination") escalated between 2004 and 2010, without any public debate, and is a model of robotic warfare that is going global. Liberal democracies "should be working to clarify and strengthen international rules on the use of these weapons." While the US banned intelligence forces from undertaking extrajudicial assassinations in 1976, the Obama administration justifies drone assassinations as exercising the right of self defense. No criteria and process for the choice of victims is disclosed, nor the procedures for evaluating the drone program results, nor accountability in the case of wrongful killing. See: Lethal Drones Strike at Our Very Heart


• Absent form the 9/11 (10th anniversary) mainstream analysis is any mention of how US military occupation and wars in Muslim lands, as well as drone strikes, fuel the global jihadist movement. See: The Terrorism Issue That Wasn't Discussed


• Many critical articles are being published with analysis of our militaristic 10-year response to 9/11, including the US wars on terrorism and Homeland Security. See: Was War the Only Answer to 9/11? and What a Difference a Decade Makes: Ten Years of 'Homeland Security"


• The war on Libya: Model for future US interventions, most proximately Syria. See: U.S. Tactics in Libya May be a Model for Other Efforts


• The air war in Libya violated UN Security Council Resolution, the US Constitution, and the War Powers Act. See: Libya No Model


• The UN engaged in militarized diplomacy in Libya and sidelined the African Union, which members contend is the only way to peace in African countries. See: Libyan Bombing Illegal Says Concerned Group


• More troops died in August than in any other month of the 10-year war. See: August is Deadliest Month for US in Afghanistan


• According to news reports, the Obama administration is negotiating a "pact" with the Afghanistan government to keep American "trainers," Special-Ops forces and the Air Force in Afghanistan until 2024. See: Details of Secret Pact emerge: Troops Stuck in Afghanistan Until 2024


• According to a recent Brown University study, the wars and their ripple effects have cost the US $3.7 trillion, or more than $12,000 per American. the ripple effect on the US economy has been significant yet under-appreciated, including job loss and interest rate increases. See: True Cost of US Wars Unknown


• The CIA statement that their drone program has "no collateral damage" has been strongly disputed and countered with careful research data. See: 168 Children Killed in Drone Strikes in Pakistan Since Start of Program


• Drone strikes and night raids, the current tactics of the US war on terrorism in Pakistan and Afghanistan are counterproductive. "They may be effective tools for disrupting the Taliban, but they come at the price of losing the population and feeding the insurgency with drives of new recruits." See: The Dual Failure of Night Raids and Drones


• The War on Terror official statements from Washington justify drone strikes and tout their success, all of which is repeated in the mainstream press. Results systemically documented on site indicate that 10-15 civilians are killed for every one militant and that the drone program fuels local hatred toward the US. See: The War on Terror, now Starring Yemen and Somalia


• "War fatigue" should not be confused with a more fundamental critique of militarism. See: War Fatigue and the Un-Critical Critics of War


• Low-cost, low-risk weaponized drones achieve "large-scale extrajudicial assassination and targeted killing." They are used against anyone the CIA adds to the list to be killed. The demand for drone technology is insatiable, and more than 40 countries have drone aircraft. The future may hold "boundless war without end." See: Killer Drones Take the Place of War


• This article by a former State Department Foreign Service Officer reveals that the Pentagon is pushing to abrogate the withdrawal agreement with Iraq to remove all American troops from Iraq by the end of 2011. The US embassy in Iraq (the largest in the world) will have 17,000 personnel of which 5,500 will be armed mercenaries and only a few hundred will be diplomats. In other words, highly militarized. The best act the US could undertake for Iraq would be to shrink our presence. See: Peter Van Buren, How Not to withdraw from Iraq


• The new face of war is counter-terrorism to "eliminate the bad guys." This includes crossing sovereign borders and a secret marriage of intelligence and military, with Congress and the public as spectators. US intelligence is becoming less about analysis and more about targeted extrajudicial killing, which is illegal by international law. This risks other countries doing the same. See: The New Face of War


• The future of warfare includes shrinking unmanned drones to the size of insects and birds, for information gathering and killing. The Air Force is training more remote pilots than fighter and bomber pilots combined. This raises ethical questions about turning "war into a video game" and the disconnect of Americans from their government's war activities. With no American at risk of dying in war, this future of war could draw the US into more conflicts. See: War Evolves with Drones, Some Tiny as Bugs


• Series of articles on the illegality of the war in Libya: violation of the War Powers Act, mission creep to "regime change," and bypassing Office of Legal Counsel. See: The US Must End Its Illegal War in Libya Now and On Libya, President Obama Evaded Rules on Legal Disputes, Scholars Say


• The US has been bombing Yemen since 2009, including an attack with cluster bombs that killed dozens of civilians. The administration is planning to escalate the CIA-led drone bombings in the chaos of the country's current civil war. Obama justifies this, saying that unmanned attack drones are not acts of hostility like fighter jets. See: Yet Another Illegal War - Now in Yemen


• Two articles by investigator Gareth Porter on: a.) the lies DOD Secretary Gates advanced about Afghani Taliban ties with al-Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban in order to justify the Dec. 2009 surge in US troops in Afghanistan and b.) the failure of the troop surge to break the Taliban momentum in 2011, despite General Pet and Despite Troop surge, Taliban Attacks and US Casualties Soared


• The CIA reportedly fired unmanned drones in Somalia (6th country thus far) as part of the new counterterrorism strategy, which is to use intelligence, special op forces, and drones to fight terrorism, not expensive battlefields. See: US Expands Its Drone War


• Obama justifies our war against Libya by saying that it is not a war because there are no soldiers on the ground, rather it is only a limited military intervention not covered by the 1973 War Powers Act. His new definition of "war" - no Americans on the ground - parallels the re-definition of torture as "enhanced interrogation techniques" by the Bush administration. See: Attacking Libya -- and the Dictionary


• In his farewell tour speeches around the country and Europe, Defense Secretary Gates has undermined critically needed reductions in defense spending that need to take place. While the US has 25% of the world's economic output, it expends 50% of world's military budget. See: Secretary of Defense Robert Gates: A Tough Act to Follow


• Future US military operations will be more targeted drone attacks (a CIA drone-launching base is being constructed in the Persian Gulf region) and special operations forces' raids with fewer costly land battles like those of Iraq and Afghanistan. See: New Plan to Defeat al-Qaida: 'Surgical strikes not Costly Wars


• A landmark study has estimated the full cost of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to be at least $3.7 trillion and as high as $4.4 trillion, reaching the present day cost of World War II of $4.1 trillion. See: Cost of Wars since 9/11? At least $3.7 trillion study finds


• Critical articles on Obama's Announcement of Troop Withdrawal from Afghanistan:
•    Obama Leaves Door Open to Long-Term US Afghan Combat
•    Defining "Withdrawal" from from Afghanistan
•    A decade later on, no clear answers in Afghanistan
•    Reflections on Troop Withdrawal in Afghanistan


• In the new face of American war, national sovereignty is irrelevant, armies are tangential and decisions are secret. The US is involved in 6 wars: Iraq and Afghanistan, a secret air war campaign in Yemen, full-fledged drone war campaign in Pakistan, the Pentagon/NATO air war in Libya, and the Global War on Terror with US special operations forces operating in at least 75 countries. See: Six Wars and Counting


• The Pentagon is pursuing a new generation of small ('mini") weapons to wage 21st century war. This is driven by the effort to cut costs in the defense budget and to wage urban warfare without large civilian casualties. See: Pentagon seeks mini-weapons for new age of warfare


• The new face of war, already at work with drone warfare in Pakistan, was formalized with the killing of Osama bin Laden. A huge, invisible intelligence network fused with the military is carrying out security counterterrorism operations, with Congress as bystander. Extrajudicial assassinations are against international law. Moreover, these open a Pandora's box: if one country can do it, so can others and the vast intelligence bureaucracy may result in a national security state. See: The New Face of War


• The National Priorities Project recently released their analysis of defense and homeland security spending since 9/11/2001. $7.6 trillion dollars have been spent since 9/11; DoD's base budget has increased 43% over the past 10 years, when adjusted for inflation. The costs of armed conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have reached $1.26 trillion, an amount which does not include many variables including the longterm medical costs of disabled veterans from those wars. See: Five Eye-Opening Facts About Our Bloated Post 9/11 "Defense" Spending


• US involvement in the war against Libya is unconstitutional in that Congress did not authorize it, nor has there been Congressional debate about funding it. Although the Obama administration cites the 1973 War Powers Resolution, the war does not meet the criteria of imminent danger. "Obama is breaking new ground in constructing an imperial presidency. See: The Illegal War in Libya


• Britain's top military commander is proposing that NATO bomb Libyan "infrastructure," including electrical power grids, etc. because the war is stalemated and to force a regime change. This exceeds UN Resolution 1973 and is in violation of sections of the 1977 Protocol Addition to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, specifically Articles 48, 54, and 59. See: War Crimes and the Bombing of Libya


• Noam Chomsky's analysis of the killing of bin Laden supports the point that the mission was to assassinate him and that the US is "self-immunized against international law and conventions. See: Chomsky on bin Laden


• Stop Knocking the Peace Movement is a challenge to the gloomy question of where is the peace movement. Carolyn Eisenberg cites the widespread peace groups throughout the country and bold national groups as evidence of a strong movement which have contributed to the greater than 100 Congressionals against military presence in Afghanistan. Mainstream and progressive media, alike, have taken little notice and have, thus, contributed to the low profile of the peace movement. See: Stop Knocking the Peace Movement


• Historian Adam Hochschild analyzed the lofty rhetoric of Western powers in World War I, now largely recognized as a tragic, useless war. He concludes that the US rhetoric justifying our wars today - "democracy-building," "stopping terrorists for humanity's sake", etc. is as self-serving of strategic interests today as was World War 1 almost 100 years ago. See: What Will It Take to End Our Destructive, Pointless Wars?


• Pressures are rising inside the US Congress and Administration to keep some US military forces in Iraq beyond the December 11 deadline. Most come from a military mindset - to protect US strategic interests in the Middle East by projecting military power. See: Calls Mount to Push U.S. Troop Presence in Iraq Past 2011


• Historian William Astore compares the US wars carried out in isolation from US citizens by a "unitary executive" to pre-revolution France when wars were "the sport" of kings. Today the First Estate is the "clergy" of Wall St.; the Second Estate includes the White House, Congress, Pentagon, and K St. lobbyists. The Third Estate are ordinary Americans fighting wars or watching passively. See: The Crash and Burn of Old Regimes: Washington Court Culture and Its Endless Wars. Meanwhile, the House Armed Services Committee approved a spending measure for $700 billion in fiscal year 2012. See: House Panel Authorizes Nearly $700 Billion in Defense Spending


• Afghanistan is ranked #1 as country with most significant rise in civilian deaths in 2010, according to a new report by the London-based Minority Rights Group International. See: Armed Conflicts Claim Unprecedented Number of Civilians


• Secret papers obtained under British FOIA laws reveal that British government ministers discussed plans to exploit Iraqi oil reserves prior to joining the US in the 2003 war against Iraq. Since the Iraqi invasion 20-year oil contracts which have been signed, including one between British Petroleum and China National Petroleum Corporation, cover 1/2 of Iraq's oil reserves. See: Memos Show Oil Motive in Iraq War


• Pakistan, while privately supporting US drone attacks against al-Qaeda and Pakistan Taliban since the Bush era, suspended joint intelligence operations because of the large increase in US drone attacks and the killing of civilians. The attacks have "gotten our of control" and more US Special Operation forces have entered Pakistan without permission, according to Pakistani officials. See: Pakistan Moves to Curb More aggressive US Drone Strikes, Spying ; and see US-Pakistan Relations Facing Biggest Crisis Since 9/11, Officials Say


• Fifteen female veterans and 2 male veterans have filed a class action suit against former Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and current Defense Secretary Robert Gates, charging systematic failure of the military to protect service members from sexual harassment and assault and with failure to investigate charges properly and prosecute and punish perpetrators. The military agency set up to address charges, SAPRO, is toothless and lacks competency in sexual assault investigations. Veterans Administration data reveal that the rate of sexual assault of women in the military is twice that of civilian society. Military Sexual Trauma (MST) is so poorly documented that it is near impossible for victims to get disability compensation from the VA. See: The Military's Rape and Sexual Assault Epidemic


• The photos of American soldiers in Afghanistan with "trophy" murder victims reveals the aggression and racism of the military occupation. The US and NATO coverup the extent of civilians killed, often reporting them as insurgents. Obama's 2009 "surge" has led to a surge of violence from all sides. See: Kill Teams in Afghanistan: The Truth


• US air power and Special Operations Force units (SOFs) are to stay in Afghanistan indefinitely to carry out "counterrerrorism operations." This runs counter to earlier US strategy and to the Taliban condition for ending their armed resistance - complete withdrawal of NATO/US troops -- and defies Karzai's call for an end to night raids by SOFs. See: Long-Term Afghan Presence Likely to Derail Peace Talks


• There was virtually no press coverage of the Afghanistan war in 2010: a Pew Center study found only 4% of media coverage dedicated to that war. The FY 2011 cost of our longest war in history is $113 billion, enough for 1.9 million firefighters for a year. There have been 592 American deaths and many more Afghani deaths since the surge in December 2009. See: 592 Americans Have Died in Afghanistan Since President Obama Announced the Surge
  


• After 13 years of consecutive growth, the DOD is seeking nearly $700 billion with add on military spending in other programs bringing the military budget to $1trillion - about as much as the rest of the world combined. Studies from many political sides are calling for reductions and public sentiment is with them.  The author discusses the roadblocks on Capitol Hill to cutting defense spending, including the Iron Triangle of DOD, military contractors and lobbyists, and Congressional hawks. See: We Spend More than $1 trillion on Defense -- It's Time to Take Aim at Our Military Budget 


• Eight years after the US launch of the Iraq war, Iraqis held demonstrations in many cities against the US-NATO military action in Libya. Many union members participated also condemning the US-backed Iraq government of corruption and failure to provide pensions, jobs, food and electricity despite oil revenues. See: Iraqis Take to the Streets, Call for Real Democracy


• The UN report on Afghan civilians killed in 2010 from US Special Operation Forces during night raids severely underreports the number of civilians killed, due to incomplete investigations and a definition of "civilian" which limits the count. See: U.N. Reported Only a Fraction of Civilian Deaths from U.S. Raids 


• The United States owes reparations to the people of Iraq for this unsanctioned war of aggression, most of all to the women and girls who have lost their future.  See: The Iraq War and Women: A Case for Reparations


• The 2012 national security budget requested by the White House is nearly twice the requested Department of Defense budget of $676 billion. When adding budget requests for Homeland Security, counterterrorism, intelligence, veterans' benefits, pension benefits for military and civilian DOD employees, interest on debt, and some "unknowns", the total for national security is an estimated $1.3 trillion. See: The Real US National Security Budget: The Figure No One Wants you to See
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