We, the People were lied to about 9/11 and the reasons to bomb people in Afghanistan, then Iraq. There has never been any reason to go to war with these countries since the "attack" of 9/11 was perpetrated by Saudis and a couple of misfits, none from those two countries. Yet we have destroyed them. Why? Oil and now, we are learning about precious minerals in Afghanistan, plus pipelines, et al, et nauseum.
If we are to have any credibility in the future of this planet, we must take the lead in holding accountable every single leader who led us down this road to disaaster. I think that begins with the former president-select, George W. Bush.
Indeed, the rule of law is the "strongbox that keeps all our other values safe." We can write laws that say we have certain freedoms and rights, and we can build courts and elect lawmakers, but if there is no rule of law, then we lose our rights bit by bit until they are no longer recognizable. While the goppies will cry "partisan witch hunt," even the Bush State Dept. recognizes that no democratic society can tolerate abuses when people are tortured or kidnapped under rendition in violation of our rule of law or tolerate the failure to prosecute in compliance with our Constitution.
Signing the petition drafted by budhydharma and Docudharma is not in defiance of our President-Elect Obama, but rather a sign of support for the difficult times that he and Holder will face when performing their clear constitutional duties. As President, Obama will have the constitutional duty to faithfully execute our laws.
The constitutional oath of office will require President Obama to faithfully execute the office of President and preserve, protect and defend our Constitution. Our constitution also requires that our presidents "shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed." The principle of the rule of law is partially based on this Faithfully Execute clause which requires our President to comply with laws, our Constitution and treaties because our Constitution established a government of laws, not of men and women. The Geneva Convention is one of the laws which must be faithfully executed.
I must introduce this by apologizing to David Swanson for limiting his excellent essay for this blog. Please follow up and read the entire thing by clicking on the link below:
Sweeping Astroturf
By David Swanson
Imagine for a second that it's November 5th, and the Democrats are set to control both houses of Congress and the White House. Perhaps they even control 60 Senate seats, making Republican filibusters impossible. Now what?
For the past two years, numerous activist groups have opposed the demands of their own members by arguing that the Democrats were helpless. They couldn't get past filibusters or vetoes, and were therefore as impotent as newborn babes.
[...]While you can't get any results from watering or fertilizing astroturf, you can sweep it. If the Democrats take both houses of Congress and the White House, and especially if they take 60 senate seats, their principal recent excuses for all variety of crimes of both omission and commission will vanish. Accomplishing this with margins of victory too large to plausibly steal remains an uphill fight requiring full attention. And fighting election fraud, which is already almost openly underway, will require working on the behalf of candidates who will not lift a finger to help themselves. We need all hands on deck for this one for the next two weeks and possibly far beyond.
But come November 5th, pseudo-grassroots groups, also known as astroturf organizations will have to begin thinking hard about how they will relate to both their members and to a government swept by the party whose wishes they habitually defer to. With that in mind, here are my recommendations:
First, begin to think and act more in terms of individual representatives, senators, and president, and less in terms of party. [my bold]The health care plan we all favor, H.R. 676, has 94 cosponsors, and we are about to elect more. No longer can our silence on such legislation be justified by the need to elect someone other than McCain. We've already elected Obama. He's in the White House.
Second, begin to think in terms of Congress as the first branch of our government. [my bold]If we allow all power to continue to remain in the White House, we will be represented less well during the next four years, and all power will still remain in the White House when the next Republican lives there. We need to restore the power of the purse, the power of subpoena, the power to ratify or reject treaties, the power to legislate free of editing by "signing statement," and the power to begin and end wars. If we cannot restore those powers to the branch of our government they were supposed to belong to now, while we have the supposed people's party cooperatively running the Congress and the presidency, then when can we?
Third, clearly and publicly lay out the policy demands that you, as a legitimate activist organization, are making of our government, and do so in November.[my bold][...]
We should demand an end to our imperial wars in the Middle East. This will have been the third consecutive election in which we voted for that change. If the will of the voters is matched by the official election outcomes, and if those outcomes remove the major recent excuses for inaction and regression, then it will be time for us to demand clearly what we, the people, the sovereigns of this nation, want. We don't want to reduce any occupations or move them anywhere else. We want our men and women brought home. Now.
We don't want to enlarge the world's largest military. We want to shrink it. We want to shift our resources to where they will do some good for people. We don't want to put our children into debt funding weapons, wars, or Wall Street. We want major investment in green energy, jobs, affordable housing, education, and foreign aid. And I mean major investment, with no excuses about the needs of poor struggling billionaires and arms dealers.
[...]Remove the cap on income taxed for Social Security. Remove the loopholes and tax corporations. Undo the Bush tax cuts for millionaires. Undo Paulson's Plunder. Tax financial transactions. End wars, and begin closing the 1,000 or so military bases we maintain to our great detriment in other people's nations around the world. [...]
We want the minimum wage made a living wage and indexed to the cost of living. We want the right to organize a labor union restored. We want corporate trade agreements shredded and new trade policies written to benefit people, not corporations. [...]
We also want money removed from politics. If a completely Democratic government does not create public financing and free air time for candidates, then they can drop all pretense that they want it. If they don't give the District of Columbia representation in Congress, then the people of DC should hear that message loud and clear. If the Democrats who constantly tell you they can't do things because they're afraid of the media are swept into power and refuse to break up the media cartel, we can henceforth assume they enjoy being afraid. And if they do not establish the right to vote and to have our votes openly counted, including universal registration, weekend elections, and on-site hand-counted paper ballots, we can henceforth assume winning didn't feel as good to them as it does to normal people.
We have an opportunity to either do great things or expose great flaws. We want war profiteers in prison, not just off our payroll. We want predatory lenders in prison, not multi-million-dollar public housing. We want torturers, war criminals, Richard B. Cheney, and George W. Bush prosecuted, imprisoned, and impeached. We want every future government to know that we are a nation of laws. If an election alone could communicate that to future tyrants, then the election of Jimmy Carter would have prevented the presidency of George W. Bush. [my bold]
We can't expect to accomplish everything we want by next spring or even in the space of four years, but if we are afraid to even articulate what we want, we will never begin to accomplish it.
Prosecuting Bush and Cheney Submitted by David Swanson on Sun, 2008-08-03 Criminal Prosecution Last week two judges encouraged me to look to courts to help us recover from the damage done by an outlaw executive and a spineless corrupt legislature. The first was Bush-appointed federal Judge John Bates who ruled that people must comply with Congressional subpoenas even if they used to work for the president, and this because - you know - the law requires it. The second was Judge William Price in Iowa who was hearing the case of citizens arrested for trying to make a citizens' arrest of Karl Rove. When told what they had been trying to do, the judge said "Well, it's about time!" Sort of makes you want to go out and arrest a war criminal or two, doesn't it? Here's how. Next month, on September 13th and 14th in Andover, Massachusetts, a major conference will be held to discuss the possibilities for prosecuting high-level American war criminals, including Bush and Cheney. The agenda and information on how to attend can be found athttp://war-crimes.info. A somewhat similar conference was held in Paris, France, in September 2005, organized by the Association for the Defence of International Humanitarian Law, France (ADIF) and the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH). The remarks of a long list of outstanding expert speakers have been updated, translated, and just published as "International Justice and Impunity: The Case of the United States," from Clarity Press. It would be enlightening to many Americans to read this book, which documents the discussion of top proponents of human rights from around the world, including the United States -- a discussion focusing on the single biggest impediment to establishing the international rule of law, to eliminating war as an instrument of policy, and to defending human rights around the world, namely the fierce opposition of the U.S. government to all of the above. Of course, the United States played a key role in creating the United Nations, in convening the tribunals in Nuremberg and Tokyo, in developing and promoting the ideas of human rights and international law. And, of course, the United States favors, to this day, the concept of international law as applied to the crimes of any nation other than the United States. But this two-tiered system in which the United States operates with a set of rules completely unlike those for everyone else is eroding support for the entire idea of law as something applicable to the actions of nations, rulers, and militaries. As one example of the intense attack the Bush-Cheney White House has launched against international law, we can look at the case of Belgium, where the national government was developing the laws and practice needed to prosecute crimes against humanity whether or not related in any way to Belgium. But in May 2003 an attorney lodged a complaint on behalf of a number of Iraqi and Jordanian victims against U.S. General Tommy Franks and some members of his staff for war crimes in Iraq. The crimes included the bombing of civilian targets, the use of cluster bombs, and the targeting of the Palestine Hotel, which was known to house only journalists. The U.S. Congress quickly passed a law allowing the U.S. president to attack anyone (including Belgium) who would detain members of the U.S. military. The White House also told Belgium to drop the case and change the law that permitted it ever to be brought, or the headquarters of NATO would be moved to another country taking thousands of jobs with it. The law was changed and the case dropped before the US media ever mentioned it. To learn much else that the US media doesn't tell you, read this book and go to http://convictbushcheney.org. At that site we are organizing ongoing activities and reporting on the possibilities for prosecuting members of Cheney-Bush Inc., through the International Criminal Court, through the courts of foreign countries, through the U.S. Department of Justice, and through state and local district attorneys. The purpose, of course, is not vengeance but deterrence, not retribution but justice for the sake of peace. The aim is not to disguise the complicity of so many thousands in the government and the military or to excuse the apathy of the public, but to begin a healing process by holding accountable the chief instigators of the worst crimes against the human race that we have seen in recent years. If we do not do so, all will fade into silence within the fragile bubble stretching from Atlantic to Pacific, while a raging storm of anger and resentment gathers into a global hurricane. http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/35260
Excellent discussion about the hypocracy which is inherent in world diplomacy. Coming from an insider of the Bush/Regan/Bush (early on he bailed from W) years, it's even more powerful than if one of us "lefties" wrote it. My only critique is when he sites the "enablers" and forgot to mention Signore Berlusconi, who dreams of being the next Il Duce. Little War Criminals Get Punished, Big Ones Don’t By Paul Craig Roberts 16/07/08 "ICH" -- - National Public Radio has been spending much news time on Darfur in Western Sudan where a great deal of human suffering and death are occurring. The military conflict has been brought on in part by climate change, according to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Drought is forcing nomads in search of water into areas occupied by other claimants. No doubt the conflict is tribal and racial as well. The entire catastrophe is overseen by a government with few resources other than bullets. Now an International Criminal Court prosecutor wants to bring charges against Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir, for crimes against humanity and war crimes. I have no sympathy for people who make others suffer. Nevertheless, I wonder at the International Criminal Court’s pick from the assortment of war criminals? Why al-Bashir? Is it because Sudan is a powerless state, and the International Criminal Court hasn’t the courage to name George W. Bush and Tony Blair as war criminals? [...] President Bush claims that the enormous destruction and death he has brought to Iraq and Afghanistan are necessary in order for Americans to be safe. If we are accepting excuses this feeble, Milosovic passed muster with his excuse that as the head of state he was obliged to try to preserve the state’s territorial integrity. Is al-Bashir supposed to accept secession in the Sudan, something that Lincoln would not accept from the Confederacy? How long would al-Bashir last if he partitioned Sudan? Last October the Atlanta Journal-Constitution had a photo on its front page above the fold of an elderly man with mikes shoved in his face. Paul Henss, 85 years old, is being deported from the US, where he has lived for 53 years, because Eli Rosenbaum, director the the US State Department’s Nazi-hunting bureaucracy, declared him a war criminal for training guard dogs used at German concentration camps. Henss was 22 years old when World War II ended. A kid who trained guard dogs is being deported as a war criminal, but the head of state who launched two wars of naked aggression, resulting in the deaths of more than 1.2 million people, and who has the entire world on edge awaiting his third war of aggression, this time against Iran, is received respectfully by foreign governments. Corporations and trade associations will pay him $100,000 per speech when he leaves office. He will make millions of dollars more from memoirs written by a ghostwriter. Does no one see the paradox of deporting Henss while leaving the war criminal in the White House? Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, an assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury during the Reagan Administration, is a former associate editor of the Wall Street Journal and coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20294.htm Photo by John Amis Paul Henss, left, takes reporters questions as wife Else stands at his side at their home Monday, Oct. 1, 2007 in Lawrenceville, Ga. Federal authorities have begun deportation proceedings against the 85 year-old Paul Henss, who they say served as a Nazi guard and trained and handled attack dogs at the Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps. “I am not a war criminal,” he told a throng of reporters. “I was 19 years old … Everyone was with the Hitler Youth.” [my bold] "We were all just doing what we believed was right...." This could be the neocon/neoliberal defense.
Could this be the way to go? Obviously we have to do something and stop relying upon Congress. Our elected officials might be more responsive to a grassroots outcry for justice against Mr. Omnipotence. Take the poll to contribute to the dialogue and spread the idea that WE, THE PEOPLE still have some rights and power in these United States. Will Bugliosi Succeed in Getting Bush Indicted & Prosecuted on Murder Charges? By Gene Cappa, June 27, 2008 http://www.opednews.com/ Will Bugliosi Succeed in Getting Bush Indicted & Prosecuted on Murder Charges? Over 4,000 American soldiers have lost their lives fighting George W. Bush's war in Iraq on "false pretenses", which are "unlawful deaths", requiring that Bush be indicted and prosecuted on murder and conspiracy to commit murder charges, as noted and documented by renowned prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi in his stunning, best selling book "The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder", Link CLICK HERE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pvWCLobIlM[3 very valuable minutes---watch it!] "The preferable venue for the prosecution of George W. Bush for murder and conspiracy to commit murder would be in the nation's capital, with the prosecutor being the Attorney General of the United States acting through his Department of Justice. This book, however, establishes jurisdiction for any state attorney general (or any district attorney in any county of a state) to bring murder and conspiracy charges against Bush for any soldiers from that state or county who lost their lives fighting Bush's war, [my bold] which as you can see applies to every state in this nation", excerpt taken from "The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder". Bugliosi will succeed in getting Bush indicted and prosecuted on murder charges somedayBugliosi will not succeed in getting Bush indicted and prosecuted on murder charges
Of course, the real success will be when the criminals are hauled off to the Hague, but for now, we should be glad that Scott McClellen is acting like a human being. This clip comes from ThinkProgress.org
Yesterday, MoveOn launched a petition calling on former White House press secretary Scott McClellan to donate the proceeds from his new book to veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. This morning on NBC’s Meet the Press, McClellan promised to give a portion of the profits to these men and women. Watch it:
Every participant in this event has valuable information to share. I urge you to log in or if you're in Neu Yawk, get to Town Hall in NYC!
True Crimes The Untold Story Behind the Devastation of Iraq June 3, 2008
LIVE WEBCAST!
7:00 PM
On June 3, 2008, join bestselling author JEREMY SCAHILL, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer CHRIS HEDGES, journalist LAILA AL-ARIAN, and the New Yorker's SEYMOUR HERSH, as they go behind the headlines to tell the untold story of the occupation of Iraq, the daily plight of Iraqi civilians, and the ongoing role of private mercenaries in America's "War on Terror." The event is a dual book launch for COLLATERAL DAMAGE: AMERICA'S WAR AGAINST IRAQI CIVILIANS by Chris Hedges and Laila Al-Arian, and the updated paperback edition of BLACKWATER: THE RISE OF THE WORLD'S MOST POWERFUL MERCENARY ARMY by Jeremy Scahill. The conversation will be followed by audience questions and a book signing. Tickets are available for the event at the Town Hall Box Office, 123 W. 43rd St., New York City (www.the-townhall-nyc.org / 212-997-6661) or at Ticketmaster (212-307-4100/ www.ticketmaster.com) Cosponsored by The Nation, Public Concern Foundation, Democracy Now!, The Indypendent, CERSC, Democrats.com, Peace Action New York, Alternet, Tricycle, The Armenian National Committee, Center for Constitutional Rights, and Veterans for Common Sense. http://ccrjustice.org/live-webcast-true-crimes
The ever wonderful Chris Floyd points out the decrepitude of "rules of engagement" during war. Shoot, Kill, Lie, Repeat: America's New Moral Universe Written by Chris Floyd Friday, 09 May 2008 Tell me that this doesn't sound like something out of a history of Nazi tactics in World War II:
The rules [of engagement]t explicitly allowed the killing of unarmed Iraqis under certain circumstances...Specifically, the snipers were allowed to shoot unarmed people running away from explosions or firefights....Of course, it's not unusual for innocent people to run from explosions. Didier, who has since been promoted to captain, said that "if that individual makes contact with you and then breaks contact of their own accord and disarms themselves while they are breaking contact, they are still an engageable target because they are not wounded, nor did they surrender." He explained, "They are only breaking contact so that they can engage coalition forces at a later time." In court, Sgt. Anthony Murphy, one of the snipers who was responsible for a questionable kill, testified that he interpreted this order about breaking contact so they can engage at a later time as: "Engage fleeing local nationals without weapons."
In other words, if an innocent, unarmed Iraqi runs away to seek safety from a suicide bombing, a missile attack or a gunfight — which any human being would instinctively do — then he is fair game to be killed by an American sniper. The excerpt above comes from a story in Salon.com, "Killing by the Numbers," about an "elite" U.S. sniper squad that murdered a captured, unarmed civilian in cold blood. A more detailed excerpt follows below, but I'd like to deal briefly with one ancillary aspect first. The story expands to talk more generally about the sniper program in Iraq, and is careful — overly careful — to emphasize that the snipers responsible for so many "questionable kills" are operating in very stressful conditions: sleep-deprived, sweltering in deadly heat, surrounded by potential "hostiles," at constant risk of attack. All true, of course, but it prompts this simple question: What the hell are they doing there in the first place? Why are they squatting and sweltering in "hides" in a foreign land, looking to kill people who never attacked the United States? Yes, it is entirely understandable that a soldier subjected to nerve-wracking, physically tormenting conditions might fail to act with reason, patience, judgement and prudence. But is this supposed to be some kind of excuse for crimes committed within the context of a larger crime: a war of aggression, the military invasion and occupation of a foreign country without any provocation? Surely many of the Nazi atrocities were committed by men under unbearable mental and physical strain as well. So what? Were they absolved of their crimes? And more importantly — were their leaders absolved for instigating the larger crime that engendered these atrocities? For as the story also shows, the "questionable kills" by American snipers derive largely from the murderous "rules of engagement" they are given by their superiors — and by the anxiety of their officers to produce big "kill numbers" to appease the bloodlust — and PR needs — of the thugs in the White House and their "counterinsurgency genius," David Petraeus. [...] A detailed recount of another two other incidences follow, but I'd rather return to the theme that people suffer in war, all people, soldiers and citizens alike. [...]It goes without saying that the officers who put these men in this situation — not to mention the civilian "leaders" in Washington who instigated the mass murder in Iraq — suffered not the slightest adverse consequence of this crime, for which they bear the primary responsibility. [...]When even the scapegoats escape justice, what possible hope can there be that the perpetrators and abettors of the Nazi-like war crime in Iraq will ever pay the price — or even suffer the slightest trouble — for their monstrous outrage? http://atlanticfreepress.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3898&Itemid=81 Bravo, Chris, and write on, please!
My heart feels broken in new places, even though I believed things were as bad as they could get.This report too clearly reveals the horror of what we have made out of Iraq and the unfortunate people who were born with oil under their feet. Iraqis resort to selling children By Afif Sarhan in Baghdad Abu Muhammad, a Baghdad resident, found it difficult to let go of his daughter's hand but he had already convinced himself that selling her to a family outside Iraq would provide her with a better future. "The war disgraced my family. I lost relatives including my wife among thousands of victims of sectarian violence and was forced to sell my daughter to give my other children something to eat," he told Al Jazeera. [...]Omar Khalif, vice-president of the Iraqi Families Association (IFA), an NGO established in 2004 to register cases of those missing and trafficked, said that at least two children are sold by their parents every week. Another four are reported missing every week. [...]He said there are fears children are being trafficked for the sex trade and the organ transplant black market. Please read for yourself: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F22B4D85-59F6-4778-8E9F-C15E7F1CDB40.htm This report was forwarded by LUV, Liberty Underground of Virginia. Go there, join, read, learn.
Vive Le France! They're gonna chase him into Germany! Who's next? Cheney, Cheney, Cheney! Feel free to post your ideas. Sunday, October 28th, 2007 Rumsfeld flees France fearing arrest “Rumsfeld must be feeling how Saddam Hussein felt when US forces were hunting him down,” activist Tanguy Richard said. “He may never end up being hanged like his old friend, but he must learn that in the civilized world, war crime doesn’t pay.” http://rinf.com/alt-news/politics/rumsfeld-flees-france-fearing-arrest/1587/
Tee hee! He got his talking points mixed up, because he's supposed to say the losers are us lefters. Never mind. But I do feel sorry for that poor woman who has to work with him everyday. She never gets a word in, he never listens to her, so why bother coming to work? Oh, I forgot she gets a bazillion dollars to look hot while delivering "news." Have Mercy, Have Mercy! By Josh Marshall
It may be a first. Castration via live satellite hook up. This morning, tough guy Joe Scarborough unloaded on "Iraqi losers" for complaining about Blackwater for blowing away so many Iraqi civilians. Moments later, Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) comes on the show and sends Scarborough scurrying for cover. Take a look. You'll get a kick out of it ...
Joe Scarborough Takes on "Iraqi Losers" About Blackwater
Here is further evidence of the way media immunizes Americans from the reality of the war on terror (sic): Two Million Iraq Deaths, Eight Million Bush Asian Holocaust Deaths And Media Holocaust Denial
Dr Gideon Polya, 07 October, 2007
Quantitative or qualitative denial of the Jewish Holocaust (6 million deaths comprising 5 million murdered and 1 million deprivation-related deaths) is punished in Austria by 10 years in prison and in other countries by lengthy custodial sentences. The Iraqis, Lebanese and Palestinians are overwhelmingly SEMITES by ETHNICITY and the Afghans have a Semitic-origin, Islamic CULTURE. What we are seeing is racist, ANTI-SEMITIC, Islamophobic Holocaust Denial driven by lying, racist, Bush-ite Mainstream media.
Interesting story about a WWII veterans who participated in a top-secret mission called P.O. Box 1142.Their job was to interrogate Nazi prisoners of war at Fort Hunt, but in this article they expressed dismay and disgust at BushCo’s interrogation tactics.
Fort Hunt's Quiet Men Break Silence on WWII Interrogators Fought 'Battle of Wits' By Petula Dvorak, Washington Post, Saturday,October 6, 2007
Several of the veterans, all men in their 80s and 90s, denounced the controversial techniques. And when the time came for them to accept honors from the Army's Freedom Team Salute, one veteran refused, citing his opposition to the war in Iraq and procedures that have been used at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
"During the many interrogations, I never laid hands on anyone," said George Frenkel, 87, of Kensington. "We extracted information in a battle of the wits. I'm proud to say I never compromised my humanity."
Judge Benjamin Settle of the US District Court in Tacoma issued a stay order effective immediately, enjoining the Army from commencing the trial until at least October 26, 2007 or until further order of the court.
Thanks to GI Jane at Daughters of Vietnam Veterans (dovv.net) for provided the expert witness testimony by Professor Francis Boyle for Lt. Ehren Watada. Reading the testimony I was struck by how much the BushCo propaganda machine contrives to paint everything black or white. Professor Boyle’s articulate argument cuts through their patriotic jargon and promotes fact-based policy for military intervention.
Boyle Testimony on War's Illegality: Lt Watada Art.32 Hearing
FAB: Well, the problem here is that we have people at the very top of the chain of command, up to and including the Secretary of Defense, authorizing war crimes. So it would be very difficult, if not impossible, for Lieutenant Watada not to be committing war crimes. Lt. Colonel Keith: Would it be possible for him to have deployed in this circumstance and not commit war crimes? FAB: Under the circumstances of this war, if he had deployed, he would be facilitating a Nuremberg crime against peace for sure. Lt. Colonel Keith: So just in the -- just in the sheer fact that he deployed, he would be committing a war crime? FAB: He would be facilitating a Nuremberg crime against peace.
According to Moret and Webre, 9/11 was a False Flag Operation by an international War Crimes Racketeering Organization, to provide a pretext to engage in Genocidal & Ecocidal Depleted Uranium (DU) bombing of Central Asia (Afghanistan and Iraq) in order to secure vast oil and uranium reserves; to roll out a Terror-based National Security state-system world-wide; and to implement the final stages of a world Depopulation policy.
“According to Dr Muhammad Bashier, manager of the family planning clinic in Karada Hospital, Baghdad, the number of sterile men in Iraq has increased dramatically over the past four years as a result of stress, depression and exposure to radiation and possibly chemicals”
We, the People were lied to about 9/11 and the reasons to bomb people in Afghanistan, then Iraq. There has never been any reason to go to war with these countries since the "attack" of 9/11 was perpetrated by Saudis and a couple of misfits, none from those two countries. Yet we have destroyed them. Why? Oil and now, we are learning about precious minerals in Afghanistan, plus pipelines, et al, et nauseum.
