WarIsaCrime.org

U.S. Senate candidate from Massachusetts Elizabeth Warren is taking on the establishment. Her campaign website declares: "Iran is a significant threat to the United States and our allies. Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons, it is an active state sponsor of terrorism, and its leaders have consistently challenged Israel’s right to exist. Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons is unacceptable because a nuclear Iran would be a threat to the United States, our allies, the region, and the world. The United States must take the necessary steps to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. I support strong sanctions against Iran and believe that the United States must also continue to take a leadership role in pushing other countries to implement strong sanctions as well. Iran must not have an escape hatch." Warren has been asked by local and national activists for months to take this down or correct it. Instead, she is standing by principle and against a corrupt ill-informed establishment. U.S....

Members of Congress to Receive Testimony from Army Whistleblower, Experts at Panel Discussion Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA), Congressman Walter Jones (R-NC), and other Members of the House will hold a press conference in support of expedited withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan on Thursday, May 31, 2012, at 2 p.m. EST. The press conference will be followed by a panel discussion featuring Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davis, who will provide an analysis of the situation in Afghanistan that is vastly different than the one received by Congress from the Obama Administration. Lt. Col. Davis will also speak at the press conference. One week after the NATO announcement on Afghanistan, the American people are still waiting for Congress to catch up and bring about an end to war in Afghanistan. Members of the House directed a request to Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) that Lt. Col. Danny be invited to testify in a relevant hearing. Since no...

Here's the June war criminals appearance list. Get out your protesting shoes and bring along your friends and co-workers. We can help with whatever you might need to get things rolling with your demonstrations.   George Bush 6/4/12 - Grapevine TX 6/22/12 - Las Vegas NV Dick Cheney 6/24/12 - Beverly Hills CA Colin Powell read more

By AFP US President Barack Obama has personally overseen a top-secret process for determining which Al-Qaeda suspects should be placed on a "kill list," the New York Times reported Tuesday. The Times, citing dozens of top officials and former advisers, said the administration had developed what it termed the "kill list" as part of a stepped-up drone war against Al-Qaeda and its affiliates in Pakistan and Yemen. read more

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BBC criticised for using Iraq photo to illustrate Syrian massacre Source The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has been slammed for mistakenly using a photo taken in Iraq in 2003 to illustrate the Syria massacre, in which over 100 people, including 32 children, were brutally killed. The picture, taken on March 27, 2003, showed a young Iraqi child jumping over dozens of white body bags containing skeletons found in a desert south of Baghdad. It was posted on the BBC news website under the heading "Syria massacre in Houla condemned as outrage grows". read more

Anti-Syrian Propaganda Promotes War   by Stephen Lendman   A previous article discussed scoundrel media anti-Iranian propaganda. They also target Syria. They march in lockstep with imperial lawlessness.    Readers and viewers deserve better than misinformation and betrayal. They need alternative sources to avoid it. read more

Piling on Irresponsibly Against Syria   by Stephen Lendman   When Washington and Israel plan war, even sources that know better pile on. Haaretz is no exception.   At times it reports responsibly. Other times it falls short. More on that below.   read more

By Dave Lindorff Whether he ever said it or not, I’m going to borrow from a quote often attributed to Abraham Lincoln and alter it a bit to say: “American politicians must love war veterans -- they keep making so many more of them.” read more

By Michael Collins (Washington, 5/28/2012) Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair testified before the Leveson Inquiry today. He retains that familiar fatuous exuberance for failed policies and continues to deny the deadly lies he told in over a decade as Prime Minister. He was, as always, quite literally unbearable.(Image: Niecieden) President George W. Bush had major problems selling his disastrous invasion plans for Iraq. The public smelled a rat. Strong majorities of both Democrats and Republicans opposed a preemptive invasion without confirmation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) by UN inspectors. That was during December 2002 and January 2003. Bush needed something special to push his diabolic plan over the top. Blair's government released two fraudulent intelligence papers during the critical period just before the March 2003 Iraq invasion, the September 2002 report and the Iraq or Doggy Dossier in early February 2003. Rupert Murdoch's media cartel led the charge for war....

By Kathy Kelly Here in Kabul, Voices co-coordinator Buddy Bell and I are guests at the home of the Afghan Peace Volunteers, (APV), where we’ve gotten to know four young boys who are being tutored by the Volunteers in the afternoons, having “retired” from their former work as street vendors in exchange for a chance to enter a public school.  Five afternoons a week, Murtaza, Rahim, Hamid and Sajad wheel their antiquated bicycles into the APV “yard.” They quickly shake the hand of each person present and then wash their feet outside the back door before settling into a classroom to study language, math and art, tutored in each subject by a different Volunteer. They've cycled here from school through heavy traffic, which worries their mothers, but the families cannot afford for the boys to take a public bus.  read more

by WALTER BRASCH   Today is Memorial Day, the last day of the three-day weekend. Veterans and community groups will remember those who died in battle and, as they have done for more than a century, will place small flags on graves. But, for most of America, Memorial Day is a three-day picnic-filled weekend that heralds the start of Summer, just as Labor Day has become a three-day picnic-filled weekend that laments the end of Summer.   There will be memorial concerts and parades. The media, shoving aside political and celebrity news, will all have stories. Among those who will be the first to patriotically salute those who died in battle are those who enthusiastically pushed for them to go to war. read more

Israel's Enforcer   by Stephen Lendman   Israel enforces rogue state harshness. Rule of law principles are spurned. Even Jewish rights are marginalized. Palestinians have none.    Occupation ruthlessness terrorizes them. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad serve illegitimately. read more

Daily Kristallinacht in Palestine   by Stephen Lendman   Imagine daily life under these conditions. Occupation harshness enforces institutionalized terror. Fear is constant. Collective punishment is policy.   Peaceful public demonstrations are assaulted. Free expression and movement are prohibited. Population centers are isolated. Borders are closed.  read more

Iran War Weekly May 27, 2012 Hello All – Last week’s meeting in Baghdad – the second round in renewed negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany) – had few silver linings.  The only clearly positive outcome was that the parties agreed to meet again in Moscow on June 18; in terms of substance, the meeting was a failure, as the US-led coalition offered Iran little, while demanding that Iran essentially agree to end its nuclear program. The front-burner question is, why did the United States choose to put forward demands certain to end in no agreement?  I’ve listed some more questions below, as well as insightful essays and reviews of the conference and its outcome. read more

By Jay Janson This week in Chicago, militarized politicians of wealthy nations pretended to sit in discussion of how much more death they will deal to the poorest nation on earth. In reality, they are powerless to do otherwise. Our real rulers, the elite of the community of private investment banking are whom the public should be focused on. In the meantime those who sign orders for killing in illegal wars will soon be facing prosecution :::::::: Barack Obama thanks NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen NATO Summit by Chad J. McNeeley/Released) Chicago, May 2012 - NATO's top military leaders, representing the now centuries old world rule by private investment banking, make a pathetic and pompous photo-op show of a supposedly tactical decision, to give up murdering Afghani citizens in their own country's homes, villages, cities and countryside after 2014. read more

Anti-Iranian Propaganda   by Stephen Lendman   When America goes to war or plans one, media scoundrels march in lockstep.    Articles, commentaries, editorials, and broadcasts feature Washington handout-style journalism.    read more

Police Brutality During Chicago NATO Summit   by Stephen Lendman   NATO arrives everywhere violently. Chicago was no exception. Residents were terrorized for days.    read more

The week’s highlight has been the almost unanimous international verdict against the ruling Alkhalifa dynasty for its brutal violation of human rights. The regime was condemned by most of the EU countries at the Human Rights Council (HRC) meeting in Geneva on Monday 21st May when Bahrain’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) was conducted. One of the ministers of the ruling Alkhalifa junta presented the report which failed to convince those present at the session. At least nine EU countries reacted with disgust at the dangerous abuse of human rights by the current dictator and his clique. Last year a commission funded by the regime confirmed that systematic torture and extra-judicial killings had taken place. The HRC then issued 176 recommendations, compared to nine in the earlier UPR session four years ago. The regime had dispatched scores of its mercenaries to lobby for support among HRC member states but it is clear that their mission has disastrously failed. Bahra inis are, however,...

By Bruce Gagnon Securing the Peaceful Use of Space for Future Generations Waterloo, Canada One of the biggest questions in the space technology world today is will "missile defense" (MD) really work? Recently we've seen articles making a case that it does not work and never will. I would suggest that depending on where you are standing, a strong case could be made that MD is working quite well. It's all a matter of perception and definition. When looked at from the point of view of the Russians or Chinese one might consider that they view it very differently than some of the critics. Critics see scripted Missile Defense Agency tests while Russia and China see a hyperactive deployment program, which is directly connected to a larger U.S./NATO military expansion ultimately leading to their encirclement. Critics might see the MD system today largely as a corporate boondoggle while the Russians and Chinese are looking toward 2020 and beyond when new generations of a well funded research...

What did thousands of people accomplish by protesting in Chicago this week during the NATO Summit? If you have thoughts on that, please write me.   Mine:   "NATO = Peace & Security," as banners across the Loop said?  No, NATO = Protest, in Chicago, from here on out. The words "NATO Summit" were always accompanied by the word "protest" in Chicago media. This began to get people asking what we were protesting.  When World Can't Wait went out to neighborhoods with our multi-language "Humanity & the Planet Come First," people asked, "are you the protesters? You're here!" Some of the most economically crushed, riding the bus from work, gave us small donations to support the protests. People opened their homes and hearts.     read more

Continuing Palestinian Hunger Strikes   by Stephen Lendman   Israel mocks democratic freedoms. Force-fed occupation injustice reveals its true face. It rivals the world's worst tyrannies. Scoundrel media cover-ups can't change facts.   read more

Social Justice on Trial in Canada   by Stephen Lendman   Destructive neoliberal mandates harm US and European societies. Canada's conservative government force-feeds similar policies.   read more

"Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their peoples in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was their object. This, our Convention understood to be the most oppressive of all Kingly oppressions; and they resolved to so frame the Constitution that no one man should hold the power of bringing this oppression upon us."--Abraham Lincoln AFGHANISTAN Prior to 2001, the Taliban was willing to turn Osama bin Laden over to a third country if he was promised a fair trial and no death penalty, and if some evidence of his guilt of crimes were offered. In 2001, the Taliban warned the United States that bin Laden was planning an attack on American soil. In July 2001 the United States was known to have plans to take military action against the Taliban by mid-October. When the United States attacked Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, the Taliban again offered to negotiate for the handing over of bin Laden. When President George W. Bush refused, the Taliban...

The strict rule of law is an ideal and a fantasy.  Conflicting and archaic words must be interpreted, and doing so is an art, not a science. But there is an enormous chasm between honest attempts to approach the ideal of compliance with written law, and open disregard for it. It is becoming standard practice for our government to enforce laws selectively or not at all, to openly defy laws, to enact laws in violation of the higher law called the Constitution or in violation of the treaties which that Constitution defines as the Supreme Law of the Land.  At the same time, charades of legality degrade it as an ideal: the International Criminal Court is not international, military justice makes a mockery of justice, etc.  And anti-legal measures, like secret sections of the PATRIOT act that can be enforced against us but which we cannot be permitted to read in order to comply with, muddle for many people the very idea of lawfulness. read more

Thank you to all; CANG8 (Coalition Against NATO/G8), UNAC (United National Antiwar Coalition), Occupy Chicago, and all others that made this all rally and march against NATO/G8 possible.  There are so many other groups, but I can't list them all here.  And thank you to all who participated from seasoned veteran activists to the youth who were exercising their right to direct or participatory democracy for the first time.  While so many others labored so long and so hard, my own part was almost infinitesimal.  Andy, Joe and Pat of CANG8 were everywhere during the long months of organizing and this great march would have been much the lesser without them.    read more

Dr. Majid Amini is Professor of Philosophy at Virginia State University. He was born in Iran and comes from a family that has had extensive public and political participation in Iranian affairs since the turn of the 19th century. Currently he is working on two projects: one on the limits of religion in the public square and another on divine regret. Dr. Michael Fischbach is Professor of History at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia. He received his doctorate in modern Middle Eastern history from Georgetown University. He researches issues relating to land and property ownership in the modern Middle East. Fischbach frequently addresses international conferences and the media, and has been a consultant for Middle Eastern negotiators as well as the Library of Congress, the United Nations Development Programme, and the International Development Research Center. David Swanson is a nationally recognized author and peace activist. He currently works with Veterans for Peace and hosts...

From Antiwar.com: Owner of Pentagon’s Propaganda Firm Admits to Attacks on Journalists The former president said he acted alone, independent of the contractor by John Glaser The co-owner of a major Pentagon propaganda contractor publicly admitted Thursday that he was behind a series of coordinated misinformation campaigns targeting two USA Today journalists who had scrutinized the contractor in their reporting. Camille Chidiac is the former president and still the minority owner of Leonie Industries, which USA Today exposed as contracting with the Pentagon to employ “the modern equivalent of psychological warfare,” said he alone was responsible for the attacks on the journalists and was operating independent of the company or the Pentagon.     read more

A Catholic priest kicked out of the church over sex abuse allegations has found refuge with the TSA in Philadelphia. . . . I have asked this question before, and I’ll ask it again: how are parents dealing with the possibility that their children may be molested as as condition of flying? And why are they willing to risk it? read more