Peace News Now

I was 13 when it started. All of my teenage years were Bush years. I haven’t forgotten the theater which surrounded the invasion:

Today marks the 10 year anniversary of War in Iraq.

To recap the reasons why this thing started in the first place:

* In 1999, UN weapons inspectors and US intelligence agents examined Iraq and found no weapons.

* In 2001, A man named George Bush accused Iraq of starting to develop weapons of mass destruction and to ensure UN weapons inspectors were allowed full access to Iraq weapons,

* In 2002, Iraq let weapons inspectors back into the country, again confirming no weapons.

* In 2003, Bush commanded the US Military to begin war with Iraq. This did not include a Declaration of War by Congress.

* 10 years later, $1.7 Trillion dollars has been spent, half a trillion has been promised in benefits to war veterans. Since war spending comes from borrowed money and not savings, the interest on the war debt will add $4 Trillion dollars to the total, meaning a total of $6 Trillion dollars spent on War with Iraq alone.

* The US government and its supporters are now responsible for the deaths of 134,000 Iraqi civilians, not combatants, civilians.

* The Iraq war has actually seen more civilian deaths than insurgents.

* Think the people fighting it believe in this war? Think again. For the first time ever, the veteran suicide rate outpaces war casualties. More men and women in the armed forces are killing themselves than are being killed by the quote, “enemy.”

* Fact: These wars will continue indefinitely unless and until you take personal responsibility for withdrawing your support. Quiet disapproval in conversation won’t do it. Take action to starve the beast by refusing to pay for senseless murder.

* Fact: The American Government lied to its people about this war, and now the politicians want YOU to pay for it, and your children to pay for it, with interest, for the next 40 years!

* Fact: This isn’t the fist time. When Daniel Ellsberg revealed the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times in 1971, they demonstrated among other things, that the Lyndon Baines Johnson Administration had systematically lied, not only to the public but also to Congress, about secretly expanding the war in Vietnam by bombing Cambodia and Laos.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/14/iraq-war-cost-more-than-2-trillion_n_2875493.html

http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13481099

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagon_Papers

Joe Biden spoke at a recent event at the University of Maryland. CBSDC reports that Journalism student Jeremy Barr was taking photographs when a White House henchman began interrogating the student. The henchman reportedly said, quote, “Did you take any photos during the event? I need to see your camera right now.”

The White House lackey, Dana Rosenzweig, told Jeremy to delete his photos and then hand over his iPhone to be checked. Apparently unaware of the Freedom of the Press supposedly guaranteed in the First Amendment, Jeremy told his school newspaper, quote, “I assumed that I’d violated a protocol. I gave the benefit of the doubt that they were following proper procedures.”

Neither Biden’s Press Secretary nor the rights-violating staffer would comment or return calls regarding the incident. A formal apology now comes from Biden’s Press office after the University’s dean of the College of Journalism, Lucy A. Dalglish, filed a formal complaint with the press office, saying of the incident, quote, “This was pure intimidation.” The White House press office says that the White House staffer demanding the journalist delete his photos, a clear violation of the 1st amendment, was a, quote, “miscommunication.” No attempt will be made to remedy the situation or keep it from happening again in the future.

http://washington.cbslocal.com/2013/03/13/biden-press-office-apologizes-for-demanding-student-journalist-delete-photographs/

http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2013/03/14/iran-confronts-u-s-drone-over-persian-gulf/

Iranians report spotting ANOTHER one of the Pentagon’s Predator drones over the Persian Gulf this week. This time, two US Military aircrafts escorted the drone.

When an Iranian fighter jet flew within 16 miles of the drone, one of the US Army Pilots radioed over to the Iranian that he was to leave them alone or be killed. The Pentagon put it differently, quote, “The Iranian jet departed after a verbal warning.”

All this after December 2011, in which a CIA drone gathering intelligence on Iran’s nuclear program for the CIA was captured by Iranians after it crashed. Last November, an Iranian warplane fired on a Predator over the Gulf — exactly the same type of drone as was flying this week, in exactly the same place.

It is as if the CIA is trying to provoke an attack by the Iranians by flying over their airspace and taking invasive pictures with a Predator drone escorted by 2 Military aircrafts. Despite how this might appear, quote “Obama administration officials told CNN that the United States is concerned with Iranian intentions in incidents like this and whether such episodes could unintentionally trigger hostilities.”

Funny how it’s apparently the Iranians triggering hostilities simply by riding alongside the US Military while it spies on Iranians. How do you think the Pentagon would respond if Ahmadinejad were to fly military style spy planes accompanied by 2 Iranian military aircrafts over the US?