Mission Accomplished?: Double bombing in Iraq kills 27

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED?   Eleven American troops were killed In Iraq last month, the deadliest since November 2009.  But the American media gives little coverage to a war that does not end.  Are they protecting Obama?

Mission not accomlplished

A double bombing killed at least 27 people, almost all of them police officers, and wounded dozens in a parking lot outside the main police offices in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq on Thursday, according to security officials.

The attack came after a car bombing early this month outside a police station in the southern city of Hillah that killed 16 people, including some officers, and a later failed jailbreak from Baghdad's Interior Ministry compound that left six police officers dead, including a counter-terrorism general.


A police officer takes in the damage at the scene of
a bombing in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk

Eight police officers were wounded when a roadside bomb targeted their convoy as they rushed to the scene in Kirkuk.
"I always left my car in this park. Most of our friends left their cars in this place," said police officer Fadl Ahmed. "I saw about 20 policemen's bodies. There were too many wounded. Everyone was crying. There was too much blood all over the place."

Ahmed mourned his friends. "I saw one of my officers. I had said good morning to him by the lot and when I came back, he was dead."

19 More Dead in Attack

At least 17 Iraqis and two U.S. soldiers were killed Sunday in a wave of explosions, mostly in Baghdad, including a suicide bombing attack against police, security sources and the U.S. military said.  The bloodshed highlighted the tenuous situation around Baghdad, where assassinations and other attacks still occur almost daily.

There has been an increase in the shelling around U.S. military bases within Baghdad's airport grounds as well as the American Embassy compound in the fortified Green Zone enclave.

The U.S. military declined to provide details on the attack that killed the two soldiers.

Eleven American troops were killed last month, the deadliest since November 2009.

And it goes on and on . . . .

The motorcade of a brigadier general with the Interior Ministry was hit by a bomb, killing one civilian and wounding three others. A second attack on the U.S. military was reported Sunday evening, with a security official saying a roadside bomb had struck a Humvee outside the neighborhood of Amiriya in west Baghdad.

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TRUTH IS STRANGE: British Moslems attack Obama more than American Republicans

'Obama must be arrested and face a Sharia Court for his crimes.'

Anger: Muslim women in burkas demonstrate in Whitehall
as President Barack Obama visits Downing Street

It is an interesting take on American politics on how polite Republican legislators are to both President Obama and their Democratic opponents in Congress.

Republicans treat the enemies of freedom with the same respect that they would give to a fellow member of the local Rotary Club.

That is not the way politics is played in other nations.

Muslim activists descended on Downing Street today in protest at Barack Obama's state visit to London.  As the president met David Cameron in Whitehall, an angry crowd of burka clad women as well as protesters from Muslims Against Crusades gathered on the streets outside said the UK Mail.

A Muslim protester is removed from
the scene by police

They were joined by a number of prominent campaigners, including Anjem Choudary.The radical cleric said that President Obama has made himself a 'legitimate target' for Muslim extremists after the killing of Osama bin Laden.

He called for Obama to be dragged before a sharia court over his role in the war in Afghanistan.

Speaking before the march on Downing Street Choudary said Mr Obama was enemy number one for Muslims.
 
Choudary said Obama was an 'even greater killer of Muslims' than his predecessor George Bush.

He said: 'Just like Osama Bin Laden is the number one enemy for the west, Obama is for Muslims.

'He is a war criminal, it goes without saying. He has slain more Muslims than even his predecessor George Bush and has overseen the escalation of the war on Islam.

'He must be arrested and face a sharia court for his crimes.'

Choudary said he was also holding the demonstration to voice his disapproval with the way the U.S. administration killed terrorist chief Osama bin Laden. 
He said: 'They say they believe in justice and yet they act like common criminals breaking in and killing a man.

'If they wanted justice they should have captured Osama and taking him to a Sharia Court to face charges instead they act like common criminals and murders.'


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The China - Pakistan Connection

China is making steady moves to build up their military and business interests in South Asia.

Pakistan's defense minister said China has agreed to take over operation of the strategically positioned Port of Gwadar, and that Islamabad would like the Chinese to build a base there for the Pakistani navy says the Wall Street Journal.

Pakistan is portraying China as a powerful alternative ally and aid source if the U.S. scales down military assistance for Islamabad in the aftermath of Osama bin Laden's killing.

Beijing agreed to expedite delivery of a second batch of 50 jointly developed JF-17 fighter jets to Pakistan, possibly within six months.

The fighter agreement prompted India's defense minister, A.K. Antony, to express serious concern in a meeting with reporters late Friday about the growing defense ties between China and Pakistan, and to assert that India's only possible response was to build up its own military arsenal.

Pakistan is believed to be receiving a major boost in military hardware including rushed deliveries of J-10B (known as FC-20s in Pakistani colors) and JF-17 fighters. Rumors have it that J-11Bs, a Chinese version of the famed Sukohoi Su-27 FLANKER fighter aircraft are also potentially part of the deal to bolster the Pakistan Navy (PN). The PN is also said to receive a significant number of Chinese naval assets including Type 054A based frigates and Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) capable submarines.

China—Pakistan's biggest arms supplier—provided 80% of the initial $248 million funding for the construction of Gwadar, a former fishing village in the southwestern province of Baluchistan whose 47-foot-deep port is the only one in Pakistan capable of handling the biggest cargo ships.

Pakistani officials say Gwadar will be a trade hub for Central Asia and a transit point for Chinese oil imports, most of which are now shipped via the Malacca Strait, making them vulnerable to piracy or naval blockades.

China and Pakistan also have discussed plans to build an oil pipeline from Gwadar to northwestern China, and two new stretches of railway extending the Pakistani network to Gwadar at one end, and to the Chinese border at the other.

Chinese Navy



Some U.S. and Indian military officials see Gwadar more as part of a so-called "string of pearls" naval strategy, wherein China has also funded construction or upgrades of ports in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Myanmar.

"China is trying to undercut the U.S.'s numerous interests in Pakistan," said Brahma Chellaney, professor of strategic studies at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi. "Gwadar was the linchpin of [the] 'string of pearls' strategy and the latest news adds to that. India faces a unique challenge that no other country does. Its two nuclear armed neighbors are closely aligned and are stepping up joint military programs. India will have to step up its deterrent capabilities."

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Germany Plans Deep Cuts to Its Armed Forces

The United States is bankrupt and the Federal Reserve's printing presses are running 24-7.  Can massive cuts in our military be far behind?

The German Army in Afghanistan

Signaling one of the biggest shake-ups in decades for the German military, Defense Minister Thomas de Maizière unveiled plans to reduce troop numbers, cut bureaucracy and eliminate duplication.  The ministry must find savings of more than €8 billion by 2015 as part of the government’s €80 billion austerity package.

The army would be turned into a solely professional force. The number of troops would be reduced to around 185,000, from 250,000, of which 5,000 to 15,000 would be short-term volunteer recruits.  The number of troops serving in missions abroad would be increased to 10,000, from 7,000, a decision that is expected to win praise from the United States and Germany's NATO allies. After the U.S. and Britain, Germany is the third largest contributor of soldiers to the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan.



A German soldier who fell in Afghanistan


The Government also intends to reduce the number of civilians working for the military by 19,000, to 55,000. In the Defense Ministry itself, civilian staff will be cut to 2,000, from 3,000.

Not yet decided is which of the 400 military bases would be closed. 

Leadership structures, too, are to be changed. Mr. de Maizière said there were too many “parallel structures” as well as “too much supervision for so little work."

The Republic is Dead . . . Long Live Oceania

States having rights.  That is "crazy" talk.  So old fashioned.  So 18th Century. 

Big Brother in Washington knows best how to run every aspect of our lives.

Those primitive locals think they have the right to run their own schools, run their own police departments and even run their own prisons.

Well folks, the Republic is Dead. . . . Long Live Oceania.

By order of the Supreme Court the Constitution of the United States has just been abolished.

If a state is not allowed to run something as simple their own prison system then the party is over.  The Constitution is dead.  As punishment for daring to fight back against Big Brother the Court will turn loose some 46,000 felons on the people of California.

I am waiting for Articles of Impeachment from the GOP House against these Monsters on the Court. . . . . But Hell will freeze over before you see a Republican take a meaningful stand on anything.   



We had a good run.  Those Federalists were
crazy anyway.  The last one to leave America
please turn out the lights.

The U.S. Supreme Court ordered California on Monday to release tens of thousands of its prisoners to relieve overcrowding.  Justices upheld an order from a three-judge panel in California that called for releasing 38,000 to 46,000 prisoners. Since then, the state has transferred about 9,000 state inmates to county jails. As a result, the total prison population is now about 32,000 more than the capacity limit set by the panel.

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, speaking for the majority, said California's prisons had "fallen short of minimum constitutional requirements" because of overcrowding.

In dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia called the ruling "staggering" and "absurd."

He said the high court had repeatedly overruled the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for ordering the release of individual prisoners. Now, he said, the majority were ordering the release of "46,000 happy-go-lucky felons." He added that "terrible things are sure to happen as a consequence of this outrageous order." Justice Clarence Thomas agreed with him.

The American Civil Liberties Union said the court had "done the right thing" by addressing the "egregious and extreme overcrowding in California's prisons."

Kennedy said the judges in California overseeing the prison-release order should "accord the state considerable latitude to find mechanisms and make plans" that are "consistent with the public safety."

In a separate dissent, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said the ruling conflicted with a federal law intended to limit the power of federal judges to order a release of prisoners.

SHOCK NEWS: Every Republican legislator in Florida is illiterate

"Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself."  ---- John Adams

In an effort to rig the 2008 election Democrats spent millions of dollars on lawyers to do everything in their power to tie Ralph Nader up in court and keep him off the ballot in as many states as possible.  That is what passes for "freedom" in 21st Century America.  Our Founding Fathers would be so proud.


SHOCK NEWS:  The Federalist Papers and the Constitution
contain big words that are hard for the illiterate to read.
Florida legislators prove the collapse of modern education.

Now the apparently illiterate Republican legislators of Florida have decided to join the ranks of those leaders famous for supressing the vote:  Juan Peron, Francisco Franco and Hugo Chavez.

I say illiterate because it appears the Republicans have failed or are unable to to read the most basic founding documents of our Federalist Republic: the Federalist Papers and the Constitution.  

The Freedom to vote is about as basic as it can get, but the GOP controlled Florida legislature wants to rig the election before the first vote is cast.

Rigging Elections

On May 19, Florida Governor Rick Scott (R) signed HB 1355, which hugely increases ballot access barriers for new political parties that wish to run someone for President.   The new law requires new political party presidential candidates to submit 335,000 valid signatures.  The new party must pay not only to collect the signatures but then pay to have their own signatures checked. 

So-called "established" political parties such as the Democratic Party do not need a petition to be on the ballot.  Collecting massive numbers of signatures is simply an attempt to intimidate political opposition and rig elections.

We know how this game is played.  Getting 335,000 signatures for the right to appear on a ballot is an

insane attempt to rig the election before it starts.  But getting 335,000 valid signatures is only the first step.  A candidate might have to collect 500,000 or 600,000 signatures to come up with 335,000 valid ones.

"All of us as individuals that vote want to make sure that our elections are fair and honest," said Governor Scott with a straight face.

According to Kurt Browning the Republican Secretary of State,  "I don't think this bill is bad for Florida. … It doesn't negatively impact Florida voters."

Our great Federalist President John Adams was right yet again.  Democracy will murder itself in the quest for raw power.

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Eight Gaddafi warships sunk as Nato launches air strikes on Libyan ports

CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS:   "Congress shall have the power to declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water"   ---- Article One, Section Eight, Constitution of the United States.

Nato aircraft sank eight of Colonel Gaddafi's warships during overnight attacks on the Libyan leader's forces.

The Nato alliance took 'decisive action' against Gaddafi's commercial and military vessels during coordinated attacks on the seaports of Tripoli, Al Khums and Sirte.  A Nato spokesman said the attacks were on targets 'directly linked to Gaddafi's regime', as six rockets struck in three strikes.

Attack: Flames and smoke can be seen billowing

from Tripoli's seaport

Where are the Republicans?

Six Republican senators wrote President Obama asking if he will comply with the War Powers Act.  The letter was signed by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-South Carolina, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.

Only six Republicans out of an entire Congress.

2008 Republican Presidential nominee Senator John McCain said he doesn't believe the president needs congressional authorization to continue the mission.



"We the People", brought to you by the Federalists
and ignored by  Republicans and Democrats alike

 Sen. Rand Paul told CNN congress should not let any president get away with launching military action without congressional approval, and that he and his colleagues may go to the Supreme Court and ask for a ruling on whether the president is in violation of the law.

It appears the Democrats were right after all. 

The reading of the Constitution on the floor of the House was a publicity stunt to make the Tea Party think that the GOP cared.   Apparently the Republicans themselves could care less about protecting the Constitutional rights of Congress to declare war.

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Spain’s Socialist Party Suffers Heavy Losses

"The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money." - - - Margaret Thatcher

The governing Socialist Party suffered heavy losses on Sunday in Spanish regional and municipal elections.   Tens of thousands of Spaniards calling themselves the “indignant” said they would pursue their protests to force an overhaul of the country’s political system.

Conceding defeat on Sunday night, Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero said that his Socialist Party had been understandably punished by voters for overseeing an economic crisis that had left Spain with a 21 percent jobless rate, more than twice the European average.

“These results are very clearly related to the effects of the economic crisis that we have been suffering for almost three years,” Mr. Zapatero said in a televised address. “Almost two million jobs have been destroyed and I know that a lot of Spaniards are facing serious problems. Today, without a doubt, they have expressed their discomfort.”

The Popular Party won 37.6 percent of the votes on Sunday, compared with 27.8 percent for the Socialists, according to preliminary results released at midnight with 98 percent of the votes counted. Despite popular discontent with established parties, turnout rose to 66 percent from 63 percent four years earlier.


The Peasants are Revolting


The Socialists lost control in Barcelona and Seville, two of the nation’s largest cities.

The demonstrators, who insist that they have no party affiliation, want a more representative democratic system and are demanding an end to political corruption. Their anger toward established parties has been fueled by the debt crisis and the surge in joblessness, but their grievances also include a call for a cut in military spending, the closing of nuclear power plants and the end of some laws, like recent legislation aimed at punishing digital piracy.

“If you had told me a few months ago that thousands of people would take to the streets to complain about our political system,” said one protester, María Subinas, “I would have found it hard to believe, because it looked like we were an apathetic generation that was incapable of responding to a crisis even when it was destroying our jobs like a tsunami.”

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Green Party Crushes the Christian Democrats

The Christian Democrats are blasted out of power that they have held since 1952.

Germany's anti-nuclear Greens on Sunday scored a remarkable victory over chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative party in a state election that had turned into a referendum on nuclear power in the wake of Japan's Fukushima disaster.

The Greens doubled their voter share in wealthy Baden-Wuerttemberg state and seemed poised to oust Merkel's Christian Democrats who held power there for almost six decades, according to preliminary results released by the state electoral commission.

The Greens are also set to win their first ever state governorship, the results showed.   "This is a day that has strongly changed the political landscape in Germany," party chairwoman Claudia Roth said in Berlin.

The Greens secured 24.2 percent of the vote, with the center-left Social Democrats down 2 percentage points at 23.1 percent. That secures them a narrow lead to form a coalition government with a combined 71 seats in the state legislature, the results showed.

Christian Democrats secured 39 percent of the vote or 60 seats in the legislature. Its coalition partner, the pro-business Free Democrats, saw its voter share halved to 5.3 percent — 7 seats.

"We have secured what amounts to a historic electoral victory," the Greens' local leader Winfried Kretschmann told party members in Stuttgart.

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Only one-third of Afghan police officers exist

NATION BUILDING:   Your taxpayers dollars hard at work in a land far, far away.

Among the soldiers, diplomats and aid workers who live in Afghanistan, corruption is the problem that nobody dares mention.  Among ordinary Afghans, it's a daily presence, the corruption that is rooted deeply in the Western-backed Afghan government and its appointed officials.

When Afghans are forced by uniformed men to pay large sums of cash in order to travel safely on provincial roads, as they are daily, when their colleagues are arrested and beaten in exchange for ransom payments, when they learn that people pay $150,000 for the job of district police chief in parts of Kandahar province, when entire aid shipments or thousands of police salaries are seized for private use, when world-record heroin exports take place under police watch, everyone in Afghanistan knows where to look.

Senior officials with top roles in Afghanistan's government, some of whom have amassed fortunes of hundreds of millions of dollars. Some are governors of provinces, like Kandahar governor Asadullah Khalid, reported by Canadian diplomats to have committed torture. Some are top cabinet ministers.



Are we flushing our tax dollars down the drain?


Others wield power through family ties to the President. The man considered by many observers to be the most powerful and feared figure in the Afghan south is not the Kandahar governor but rather Ahmed Wali Karzai, appointed by his brother, President Hamid Karzai, to represent Kandahar province in Kabul.

Huge fortunes are being earned by many officials, Western sources said. It is customary to charge a 20-per-cent commission on imports or exports brought through their provinces, including opium exports valued at more than $800-million.

U.S. military officials discovered that in one region of eastern Afghanistan only a third of the 3,300 police officers supposedly serving in the region actually existed; the salaries from the 2,100 “ghost officers” were going straight into the pockets of politicians and senior police figures. This practice is thought to be commonplace across Afghanistan, with as many as 60 to 80 per cent of officers in some districts being “ghosts.”

Indeed, Western-funded programs designed to end corruption can have the opposite effect. British officials said that the governor of Kandahar has used poppy-eradication funds, designed to eliminate the opium-poppy crops of wealthy traffickers at the top of the drug economy, to target his political enemies, usually people who are not on the list for eradication.

“There's a lot of belief among Afghans that when [the West] turns off the taps, it's going to go back to 1989, so these warlords are building war chests, big piles of money for guns, tanks, whatever,” a British official said.

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