Anti-War
TRIPOLI, LIBYA - Sunday afternoon and evening (June 5) saw heavy NATO air strikes on Tripoli. A quiet Sunday night was punctuated by the sound of NATO jets flying over the city followed by loud explosions heard from WMR's vantage point at a seaside hotel in central Tripoli.
Although NATO claims it is striking military targets, WMR has confirmed reports of explosions from NATO bombs in residential areas of Tripoli.
WMR has also been informed of recent top-level defections form the Libyan rebel coalition to the government of Muammar Qaddafi. A number of former Libyan opposition leaders, who were never affiliated with the armed wing of the rebel movement, say that diving Libya and seeing Libyan irregulars, NATO and U.S. bombs, and foreign mercenary forces killing Libyans was never a goal of the moderate opposition, which wanted change through dialogue and reform.
Although NATO claims it is striking military targets, WMR has confirmed reports of explosions from NATO bombs in residential areas of Tripoli.
WMR has also been informed of recent top-level defections form the Libyan rebel coalition to the government of Muammar Qaddafi. A number of former Libyan opposition leaders, who were never affiliated with the armed wing of the rebel movement, say that diving Libya and seeing Libyan irregulars, NATO and U.S. bombs, and foreign mercenary forces killing Libyans was never a goal of the moderate opposition, which wanted change through dialogue and reform.
June 4-5, 2011 -- TRIPOLI, LIBYA. WMR Exclusive.
Western media reports continue to indicate that Libyan rebels trying to oust Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi from power, backed by daily NATO air strikes, are gaining ground in western Libya. During a six-hour drive from the Tunisian border to Tripoli, the Libyan capital, this reporter saw no signs of Libyan rebel successes in western Libya. In fact, I witnessed a spontaneous pro-Qaddafi demonstration on the main Tunisia-Tripoli highway in a town about one and a half hours west of Tripoli.
The green flag of the Libyan Arab Jamahiryah not only adorn flag poles in towns from Tripoli to the Tunisian border, but a number of private residences are flying the green flag from their rooftops, on flag poles, and even from outside of top floor windows in medium size and small towns alike along the main highway.
Western media reports continue to indicate that Libyan rebels trying to oust Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi from power, backed by daily NATO air strikes, are gaining ground in western Libya. During a six-hour drive from the Tunisian border to Tripoli, the Libyan capital, this reporter saw no signs of Libyan rebel successes in western Libya. In fact, I witnessed a spontaneous pro-Qaddafi demonstration on the main Tunisia-Tripoli highway in a town about one and a half hours west of Tripoli.
The green flag of the Libyan Arab Jamahiryah not only adorn flag poles in towns from Tripoli to the Tunisian border, but a number of private residences are flying the green flag from their rooftops, on flag poles, and even from outside of top floor windows in medium size and small towns alike along the main highway.
June 5, 2011, TRIPOLI, LIBYA - Shortly after Libya's rebel Interim Transitional National Council (ITNC) seized control of Benghazi, the second-largest Libyan city, they discovered the two keys for the cash vaults of the Libyan Central Bank in the city. However, because of control mechanisms, the cash vault required a third key held at the Libyan Central Bank in Tripoli, the capital. The rebel movement brought in a professional safe cracker from the United Arab Emirates who successfully opened the cash vault safe. The rebels had their hands on $900 million in Libyan dinars and $500.5 million in U.S. dollars.
According to Central Bank officials in Tripoli, the rebels have now spent or siphoned to their offshore bank accounts the entire Benghazi Central Bank cash reserves. In addition, the rebel movement has squandered millions of euros provided by the Euriopean Union. The rebel's theft of money is so great, the U.S. Treasury has refused to provide frozen Libyan central government funds to the rebel movement.
According to Central Bank officials in Tripoli, the rebels have now spent or siphoned to their offshore bank accounts the entire Benghazi Central Bank cash reserves. In addition, the rebel movement has squandered millions of euros provided by the Euriopean Union. The rebel's theft of money is so great, the U.S. Treasury has refused to provide frozen Libyan central government funds to the rebel movement.
How many times must a parent bury a child?
Well, in the case of Muammar Qaddafi it's not only twice: once for his daughter, murdered by the United States bombing on his home in 1986, and again on 30 April 2011 when his youngest son, Saif al Arab, but yet again for three young children, grandbabies of Muammar Qaddafi killed along with Saif at the family home.
Now, I watched Cindy Sheehan as she bared her soul before us in her grief; I cried when Cindy cried. Now, how must Qaddafi and his wife feel? And the people of Libya, parents of all the nation's children gone too soon. I don't even want to imagine.
All my mother could say in astonishment was, "They killed the babies, they killed his grandbabies."
The news reports, however, didn't last more than one half of a news cycle because on 1 May, at a hastily assembled press conference, President Obama announced the murder of Osama bin Laden.
Well, in the case of Muammar Qaddafi it's not only twice: once for his daughter, murdered by the United States bombing on his home in 1986, and again on 30 April 2011 when his youngest son, Saif al Arab, but yet again for three young children, grandbabies of Muammar Qaddafi killed along with Saif at the family home.
Now, I watched Cindy Sheehan as she bared her soul before us in her grief; I cried when Cindy cried. Now, how must Qaddafi and his wife feel? And the people of Libya, parents of all the nation's children gone too soon. I don't even want to imagine.
All my mother could say in astonishment was, "They killed the babies, they killed his grandbabies."
The news reports, however, didn't last more than one half of a news cycle because on 1 May, at a hastily assembled press conference, President Obama announced the murder of Osama bin Laden.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- William Young, a former U.S. Central Intelligence Agency paramilitary commander who used Burmese and Lao tribesmen to kill Communists in Laos during the 1960s, died at home of a bullet to the head, reportedly clutching a crucifix alongside a gun, prompting speculation that he committed suicide. He was 76.
"Killing was part of the job", Mr. Young told Edward Loxton, who said he had interviewed Mr. Young extensively.
Mr. Young "became a top CIA Vietnam War-era hit-man in the jungles of Burma, Laos and Thailand," Mr. Loxton wrote on Monday (April 4) in The First Post, a British publication.
"Mr. Young was in poor health," said Susan Stevenson, the U.S. consul general in Thailand's northern town of Chiang Mai, where Mr. Young died on Friday (April 1).
Police said he died of a gunshot wound to the head, with a pistol next to his right hand while his left hand clutched a crucifix, according to news reports.
"In many ways, Mr. Young's exploits in this part of the world mirrored those of the U.S.," the American consul said in a statement dated Monday (April 4).
"Killing was part of the job", Mr. Young told Edward Loxton, who said he had interviewed Mr. Young extensively.
Mr. Young "became a top CIA Vietnam War-era hit-man in the jungles of Burma, Laos and Thailand," Mr. Loxton wrote on Monday (April 4) in The First Post, a British publication.
"Mr. Young was in poor health," said Susan Stevenson, the U.S. consul general in Thailand's northern town of Chiang Mai, where Mr. Young died on Friday (April 1).
Police said he died of a gunshot wound to the head, with a pistol next to his right hand while his left hand clutched a crucifix, according to news reports.
"In many ways, Mr. Young's exploits in this part of the world mirrored those of the U.S.," the American consul said in a statement dated Monday (April 4).
The New York Times, self-proclaimed "paper of record," failed to record that General Vang Pao, who died Thursday, January 6, was a wretched drug dealer who targeted U.S. troops in Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines for drug sales.
Let's go over the bizarre, Soviet-style, Times obit entitled "Gen. Vang Pao, Laotion Who Aided U.S., Dies at 81." In their ideological analysis, Pao was a "...charismatic Laotian general who commanded a secret army of his mountain people in a long, losing campaign against Communist insurgents." The Times goes on to say he had "almost kinglike status."
They quote a Hmong refugee in California saying "He is like the earth and the sky." They throw in the following quote of the general to his Hmong troops: "If we die, we die together. Nobody will be left behind."
In the New York Times fantasyland, Vang Pao was a patriot and an anti-communist hero. The Times glosses over the fact that Vang Pao was discredited in Laos because he was perceived as a lackey and a tool of French imperialism. He was a sergeant in the French colonial army, the Times tells us, and then he went on to work directly for the CIA.
Let's go over the bizarre, Soviet-style, Times obit entitled "Gen. Vang Pao, Laotion Who Aided U.S., Dies at 81." In their ideological analysis, Pao was a "...charismatic Laotian general who commanded a secret army of his mountain people in a long, losing campaign against Communist insurgents." The Times goes on to say he had "almost kinglike status."
They quote a Hmong refugee in California saying "He is like the earth and the sky." They throw in the following quote of the general to his Hmong troops: "If we die, we die together. Nobody will be left behind."
In the New York Times fantasyland, Vang Pao was a patriot and an anti-communist hero. The Times glosses over the fact that Vang Pao was discredited in Laos because he was perceived as a lackey and a tool of French imperialism. He was a sergeant in the French colonial army, the Times tells us, and then he went on to work directly for the CIA.
This sad event, held in a small conference room in the Capitol Visitors Center (Senate side), was sparsely attended by press, and sponsored by an outfit called the "New Deterrent Working Group," evidently an offshoot of the Center for Security Policy, and skipped by Sen Kyl (who evidently "had to go vote...").
But B*sh era relics John Bolton and Rick Santorum said their bits, and a few other notables offered statements. After an hour of paranoia, innuendo and misrepresentation, they did take a few questions and I was able to ask the first. Incredibly, they let me get all three questions in one. For those who are interested, they're below:
"Jay Marx, Proposition One. One correction if I may, as the Senate has held 18 committee hearings on the NEW Start treaty, not 12 as Mr. Gaffney just stated.
"First, why do you all who oppose this treaty think you know so much better than the legions of US political and military leaders who are on record supporting New START, including the head of the US Missile Defense Agency, multiple generals, some joint chiefs of staff, several former secretaries of state - of both parties - and the current Secretary of Defense?
But B*sh era relics John Bolton and Rick Santorum said their bits, and a few other notables offered statements. After an hour of paranoia, innuendo and misrepresentation, they did take a few questions and I was able to ask the first. Incredibly, they let me get all three questions in one. For those who are interested, they're below:
"Jay Marx, Proposition One. One correction if I may, as the Senate has held 18 committee hearings on the NEW Start treaty, not 12 as Mr. Gaffney just stated.
"First, why do you all who oppose this treaty think you know so much better than the legions of US political and military leaders who are on record supporting New START, including the head of the US Missile Defense Agency, multiple generals, some joint chiefs of staff, several former secretaries of state - of both parties - and the current Secretary of Defense?
The New York Times reported on October 11 that one of America's leading bioweapons experts, William C. Patrick III, had died on October 1. The 10-day delay in the report of his death is in keeping with the secret nature of Patrick's life. The Times reported that Patrick "...made enough germs to kill everyone on Earth many times over."
The frightening and ghoulish nature of Patrick's work is fit for reflection this Halloween season. In 2001, the so-called "Amerithrax" attacks rocked the United States. Initially, an FBI agent in Columbus, Ohio told the Columbus Free Press that Patrick was being investigated as a possible suspect in the anthrax attacks which occurred through the U.S. mail system. In all, five people died and 17 others were infected.
The frightening and ghoulish nature of Patrick's work is fit for reflection this Halloween season. In 2001, the so-called "Amerithrax" attacks rocked the United States. Initially, an FBI agent in Columbus, Ohio told the Columbus Free Press that Patrick was being investigated as a possible suspect in the anthrax attacks which occurred through the U.S. mail system. In all, five people died and 17 others were infected.
CHARLOTTTESVILLE, Va. - Despite sanctions and harsh rhetoric from the Obama Administration, when it comes to bombing Iran, most Americans say, 'Take that option right off the table.' According to a recent 60 Minutes-Vanity Fair poll, just one American in ten would support a U.S.-led attack, even if Iran tested a nuclear bomb or attacked Israel.
David Swanson is a Charlottesville resident and author who attended a meeting last month with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, during his visit to the United Nations in New York. The meeting was with dozens of U.S. peace and civil rights groups, and Swanson says the Iranian leader expressed his desire for peace with the United States, which the American said is contrary to most media reports.
"I think he in particular is being demonized as part of a propaganda campaign for the possible launch of a war against his country, but there's nothing he could possibly be doing that would justify a war or would be grounds not to talk to him about him about the possibility of peace."
David Swanson is a Charlottesville resident and author who attended a meeting last month with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, during his visit to the United Nations in New York. The meeting was with dozens of U.S. peace and civil rights groups, and Swanson says the Iranian leader expressed his desire for peace with the United States, which the American said is contrary to most media reports.
"I think he in particular is being demonized as part of a propaganda campaign for the possible launch of a war against his country, but there's nothing he could possibly be doing that would justify a war or would be grounds not to talk to him about him about the possibility of peace."
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam -- Weeping while gazing around a crowded market, U.S. Vietnam War veteran William H. Kruckmeyer says he is delighted to return, for the first time, to a country he knew as horrific battlefield.
Wiping his eyes, he's dressed like a walking neon sign: a baseball cap emblazoned "Vietnam Veteran" in golden letters, and a Hawaiian-style shirt festooned with American flags and motorcycles.
Grey-bearded Mr. Kruckmeyer is also a portal into the suffering experienced by many Americans who waged war on this side of the world, and his emotional story symbolizes their often blinkered lives today -- mostly forgotten as his generation ages.
"Please call me 'Krash,' all of my friends for 30 years do," Mr. Kruckmeyer, 67, said in an interview conducted via e-mail during August and September while he traveled through Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand with his wife, and after their return home to Westminster, California.
Wiping his eyes, he's dressed like a walking neon sign: a baseball cap emblazoned "Vietnam Veteran" in golden letters, and a Hawaiian-style shirt festooned with American flags and motorcycles.
Grey-bearded Mr. Kruckmeyer is also a portal into the suffering experienced by many Americans who waged war on this side of the world, and his emotional story symbolizes their often blinkered lives today -- mostly forgotten as his generation ages.
"Please call me 'Krash,' all of my friends for 30 years do," Mr. Kruckmeyer, 67, said in an interview conducted via e-mail during August and September while he traveled through Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand with his wife, and after their return home to Westminster, California.