Thomas Paine's version of "you didn't build that":
"Separate an individual from society,and give him an island or a continent to possess,and he cannot acquire personal property. He cannot be rich. So inseparably are the means connected with the end,in all cases,that where the former do not exist the latter cannot be obtained. All accumulation, therefore,of personal property,beyond what a man's own hands produce, is derived to him by living in society; and he owes on every principle of justice,of gratitude,and of civilization,a part of that accumulation back again to society from whence the whole came"
Submitted by Leah
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The war criminals, Bush,Cheney,Rice,Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and Powell who sold us the war still go on doing what they do.
How many Iraqis have died as a result of the invasion 15 years ago? Some credible estimates put the number at more than one million. You can read that sentence again.
The invasion of Iraq is often spoken of in our country as a “blunder,” or even a “colossal mistake.” It was a crime.
Those who perpetrated it are still at large. Some of them have even been rehabilitated thanks to the horrors of a mostly amnesiac citizenry. (A year ago Mr. Bush was on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” dancing and talking about his paintings.)
We condemned children to death, some after many days of writhing in pain on bloodstained mats, without pain relievers. Some died quickly, wasted by missing arms and legs, crushed heads. As the fluids ran out of their bodies, they appeared like withered, spoiled fruits. They could have lived, certainly should have lived – and laughed and danced, and run and played- but instead they were brutally murdered. Yes, murdered!
The war ended for those children, but it has never ended for survivors who carry memories of them. Likewise, the effects of the U.S. bombings continue, immeasurably and indefensibly.
For a little more than three years, Yemen has been locked in a seemingly intractable civil war that has killed nearly 10,000 people and pushed millions to the brink of starvation.
A man carries a wounded child after a Saudi-led airstrike that killed eight members of her family in Sanaa, August 2017
The conflict has its roots in the Arab Spring of 2011, when an uprising forced the country’s long-time authoritarian president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to hand over power to his deputy, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi.
The political transition was supposed to bring stability to Yemen, one of the Middle East’s poorest nations, but President Hadi struggled to deal with various problems including militant attacks, corruption, food insecurity, and continuing loyalty of many military officers to Saleh.
Fighting began in 2014 when the Houthi Shia Muslim rebel movement took advantage of the new president’s weakness and seized control of northern Saada province and neighbouring areas. The Houthis went on to take the capital Sanaa, forcing Mr Hadi into exile abroad.
The conflict escalated dramatically in March 2015, when Saudi Arabia and eight other mostly Sunni Arab states – backed by the US, UK, and France – began air strikes against the Houthis, with the declared aim of restoring Mr Hadi’s government.
AL HUDAYDAH, Yemen — Fighting raged Saturday around the international airport outside the Yemeni port of Al Hudaydah as fighters with a Saudi-led Arab coalition pressed their four-day-old offensive to seize the rebel-held city that is the gateway for food supplies to the famine-stricken country.
Officials loyal to Yemen’s exiled government claimed their forces backed by the coalition had seized the airport, which lies just south of the city, and deployed engineers to clear explosives. But Iran-backed Houthi rebels launched a counteroffensive amid reports of heavy fighting at the airport gates and inside the sprawling compound, which has been closed since 2014.
By Saturday afternoon, warplanes had struck Houthi targets on the edge of the city and fighting spread to a major road leading to the Houthi-held capital, Sana, blocking a key exit from the city. Hundreds of thousands of residents trapped in the city huddled in their homes, many wondering nervously if the fight will reach them.
The battle for Al Hudaydah is shaping up to be the biggest and possibly most consequential of a war that started in 2015 when the Saudi-led coalition attacked the Houthis, who had seized the Yemeni capital a year earlier.
ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) – U.N. refugee agency special envoy Angelina Jolie visited Mosul in northern Iraq on Saturday and urged the international community not to forget residents trying to rebuild their city.
UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie meets Falak, 8, during a visit to West Mosul, Iraq June 16, 2018. UNHCR/Andrew McConnell/Handout via REUTERS
Iraqi forces seized Mosul in July 2017 from Islamic State militants, who had occupied the city three years earlier and turned it into a stronghold of a “caliphate,” in a military campaign that saw 900,000 residents flee.
The Hollywood actress met families from western Mosul and walked through bombed out streets, according to video footage and photos provided by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Iraqi forces seized Mosul in July 2017 from Islamic State militants, who had occupied the city three years earlier and turned it into a stronghold of a “caliphate,” in a military campaign that saw 900,000 residents flee.
The Hollywood actress met families from western Mosul and walked through bombed out streets, according to video footage and photos provided by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Normality has returned to many parts of Mosul, with displaced residents leaving camps nearby and going back home.
But the old city in West Mosul was largely destroyed during a campaign by a 100,000-strong alliance of Iraqi government units, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and Shi’ite militias backed by air support from a U.S.-led coalition.
KABUL (Reuters) – Afghanistan’s High Peace Council will hold a news conference on Sunday amid an unprecedented Taliban ceasefire and a day after President Ashraf Ghani said he would extend a government ceasefire but set no timeframe.
Dozens of Taliban militants entered the Afghan capital and other cities on Saturday to celebrate the end of the Ramadan fasting month. Soldiers and militants exchanged hugs and took selfies on their smartphones.
The peace council was set up to oversee the peace process. The news conference is scheduled for 10 a.m. (0530 GMT).
The Taliban announced a surprise three-day ceasefire over the Eid holiday, which began on Friday, except against foreign forces. It overlaps with an Afghan government ceasefire announced to run until Wednesday.
President Ashraf Ghani said in an address to the nation that he would extend the ceasefire. He also asked the Taliban to extend theirs and begin peace talks. He said he wanted to discuss “issues of mutual concern with neighboring countries and the presence of foreign forces”.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo echoed Ghani’s remarks, saying peace talks would have to include a discussion on the role of “international actors and forces”.
One of the wounded in Saturday’s attack. Twenty-six people were killed in the blast in the eastern province of Nangarhar.CreditParwiz/Reuters
JALALABAD, Afghanistan — A remarkable thing happened in Afghanistan’s war. There were nearly two days of peace.
As cease-fires by the government and the Taliban took hold, security forces and insurgents celebrated and took pictures together for the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
But at one of those celebrations in the eastern province of Nangarhar, an explosion went off Saturday afternoon, killing at least 36 people and wounding more than 65, among them civilians and members of both the Taliban and the Afghan security forces. Officials said it was either a suicide bomber or a car bomb.
Dozens of Afghan troops were being killed every day in the run-up to the cease-fires, raising doubts about whether a sudden cessation of fighting would take hold. But for much of Friday and Saturday, Afghans were happily surprised, stunned even, by how widely the truces had been embraced.
The blast that took casualties from both sides was a reminder of how complex the Afghan war remains. Even the smallest steps to build trust for peace negotiations are vulnerable to spoilers.
About 60 Afghan men were being deported aboard a flight to Kabul from Istanbul last month, including Abdul Mohammed, right. They had spent months on a dangerous journey to Turkey, only to be returned home on a five-hour flight.CreditMujib Mashal/The New York Time
KABUL, Afghanistan — Their desperate journey out of Afghanistan, en route to safer lives in Europe, had taken months through high mountains and treacherous deserts.
They survived bullets, beatings and insults from border guards. Bandits stripped them of nearly everything except their shoes and clothes — which over the months of the journey they would wash in whatever puddle or pool was available, laying the clothes out in the sun to dry and then wear again.
But their migration halted suddenly in Turkey, and now they were being deported to a home country racked by war. I flew with them on the return flight to Kabul from Istanbul that finally ended their hopes. It took just five hours last month.
From the oval windows of the packed airplane, many of the at least 60 young men (all flying for the first time) looked down with amazement at the vast darkness beneath them. They smiled at the cruel reality of it all, as they tried to explain to me what they were feeling.
The Taliban group leadership has ordered the fighters of the group to refrain from movements in the areas under the control of government and major cities after a deadly explosion ripped through a gathering of Taliban, civilians, and security forces in Nangarhar late on Saturday. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid in a statement said the decision .
The NATO-led Resolute Support Mission and the US forces in Afghanistan support the announcement by President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani regarding the extension of ceasefire with the Taliban group. “NATO-led Resolute Support and U.S. Forces-Afghanistan support the announcement, June 16, by H.E. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani for an extension of the ceasefire with the Taliban and .
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Octave Shield.
Staff Sgt. Alexander W. Conrad, 26, of Chandler, Arizona, died June 8, in Somalia of injuries sustained from enemy indirect fire. The incident is under investigation.
Conrad was assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group, Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Freedom’s Sentinel.
Spc. Gabriel D. Conde, 22, of Loveland, Colorado, was killed in action April 30 as a result of enemy small arms fire in Tagab District, Afghanistan. The incident is under investign.
Conde was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, U.S. Army Alaska, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.
All VA Medical Centers provide PTSD care, as well as many VA clinics.Some VA’s have programs specializing in PTSD treatment. Use the VA PTSD ProgramLocator to find a PTSD program.If you are a war Veteran, find a Vet Center to help with the transition from military to civilian life.
WAR DOCUMENTARY: IRAQ A DEADLY DECEPTION ALJAZEERA DOCUMENTARIES 2018 On the evening of 9/11, George W Bush made a vow to the American public – that he would defeat terrorism. Unknown to those listening in shock to the presidential address, the president and his advisers had already begun planning their trajectory into an invasion of Iraq. It was packaged as “holding responsible the states who support terrorism” by Richard Perle, a Pentagon adviser between 2001 and 2003. “I believe it represented a recognition that we would never succeed against the terrorists if we went after them one at a time and as long as governments were facilitating the organisation, training, equipping of, financing of terrorist organisations, we were never going to get it under control,” says Perle. After 100 days spent fighting those who had become publicly accepted as the culprits – Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan – the US set the ball rolling for war against Iraq. On the evening of 9/11 the president is saying: well, maybe we’ll be going after Iraq now and somebody said, well, that would be against international law. The president responded: I don’t care, we’re going to kick some ass.
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