Ⓐnarcho Queer • Posts Tagged ‘Afghanistan’

Reporter Asks White House if U.S. Airstrikes That Kill Afghan Civilians Qualify as ‘Terrorism’

UPDATE: The reporter who asked the question is Amina Ismail, a journalist at McClatchy. I urge you to thank her for asking it (her twitter handle is @AminaIsmail) because I can’t imagine it was easy given how extremely rare and frowned upon it is to challenge the dominant “war on terror” narrative, especially as a female reporter with an Arab-sounding name. And Amina, if you’re reading this, thanks for kicking ass!

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Matthew Keys, the social media editor at Reuters, posted audio of a reporter asking White House Press Secretary Jay Carney if U.S. bombings that kill innocent civilians in Afghanistan constitute an “act of terror” given the labeling of the Boston Marathon bombing as “terrorism”. She specifically refers to a U.S. airstrike earlier this month that killed 11 children, just the latest in a seemingly endless line of Afghan civilian deathsat the hands of the U.S. government.

Carney completely dodged the questions, pointing instead to the 9/11 terrorist attacks to justify U.S. bombings in Afghanistan. After a long-winded answer excusing U.S. conduct, Carney concludes, “ we take great care in the prosecution of this war.”

Transcript:

REPORTER: I send my deepest condolence to the victims and families in Boston. But President Obama said that what happened in Boston was an act of terrorism. I would like to ask, Do you consider the U.S. bombing on civilians in Afghanistan earlier this month that left 11 children and a woman killed a form of terrorism? Why or why not?

JAY CARNEY: Well, I would have to know more about the incident and then obviously the Department of Defense would have answers to your questions on this matter. We have more than 60,000 U.S. troops involved in a war in Afghanistan, a war that began when the United States was attacked, in an attack that was organized on the soil of Afghanistan by al Qaeda, by Osama bin laden and others and more than 3,000 people were killed in that attack. And it has been the President’s objective once he took office to make clear what our goals are in Afghanistan and that is to disrupt, dismantle and ultimately defeat al Qaeda. And with that as our objective to provide enough assistance to Afghan National Security Forces and the Afghan government to allow them to take over security for themselves. And that process is underway and the United States has withdrawn a substantial number of troops and we are in the process of drowning down further as we hand over security lead to Afghan forces. And it is certainly the case that I refer you to the defense department for details that we take great care in the prosecution of this war and we are very mindful of what our objectives are.

At the very least, this serves as another example of the utter meaninglessness of the word “terrorism”.

Source: anarcho-queer / Producer Matthew

NATO Forces Invades And Trashes Health Facility In Afghanistan

According to the Alliance of Health Organizations (AHO), ISAF troops, which consists of majorly American troops, “searched, occupied and damaged a clinic in Saydabad district of Wardak province,” after tying up and blindfolding the guard on duty.

The Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, the organization that was invaded, posted this statement on their website today:

It was early morning on 11th of February that two ISAF military helicopters landed in Dandokai village, Saydabad district. Foreign soldiers entered the SCA-supported health facility by force, tied up and blindfolded the guard on duty, and occupied the facility for a few hours. The clinic was left in a mess, with windows and doors broken, equipment destroyed and medicines lying on the floor.

On the 25th of February, representatives of the AHO met with the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) to discuss the problem.

The president of Afghanistan recently demanded that US special forces withdraw from the Wardak province “within two weeks”.

A statement issued by the national security council said “it became clear that armed individuals named as US special force stationed in Wardak province engage in harassing, annoying, torturing and even murdering innocent people”.

The statement points to two recent examples, the disappearance of nine people “in an operation by this suspicious force” and the disappearance of a student that officials say was found two days later with his throat cut under a bridge.

The news comes as NATO officials consider a proposal to keep Afghan forces at their peak strength of 352,000 until at least 2018, as opposed to current plans to cut the force by a third after 2015, alliance officials said on Thursday.

Today over 500 Afghan’s protested the U.S. in Wardak . One protester claimed that “People will join the insurgency very soon because of the abuses of these forces.”

Source: anarcho-queer

Afghan President Demands U.S. Forces Withdraw Province Within Two Weeks Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, has ordered the withdrawal of US special forces from a restive eastern province in Afghanistan within two weeks. At a press conference in the Afghan capital on Sunday, Aimal Faizi, presidential spokesman, said US special forces were responsible for furthering “insecurity and instability” Maidan Wardak. “In today’s [weekly] national security council meeting, Afghan President Hamid Karzai ordered the ministry of defence to kick out the US special forces from Wardak … within two weeks,” Faizi said. Faizi said “misconduct” by people linked to the US special forces in Wardak included the beheading of a student and the capture of nine missing locals. A statement issued by the national security council said “it became clear that armed individuals named as US special force stationed in Wardak province engage in harassing, annoying, torturing and even murdering innocent people”.The statement points to two recent examples, the disappearance of nine people “in an operation by this suspicious force” and the disappearance of a student that officials say was found two days later with his throat cut under a bridge. “Such actions have caused local public resentment and hatred,” the statement read. The ministry of defense has been assigned to insure that US special forces withdraw from Wardak within two weeks time.
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Afghan President Demands U.S. Forces Withdraw Province Within Two Weeks

Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, has ordered the withdrawal of US special forces from a restive eastern province in Afghanistan within two weeks.

At a press conference in the Afghan capital on Sunday, Aimal Faizi, presidential spokesman, said US special forces were responsible for furthering “insecurity and instability” Maidan Wardak.

“In today’s [weekly] national security council meeting, Afghan President Hamid Karzai ordered the ministry of defence to kick out the US special forces from Wardak … within two weeks,” Faizi said.

Faizi said “misconduct” by people linked to the US special forces in Wardak included the beheading of a student and the capture of nine missing locals.

A statement issued by the national security council said “it became clear that armed individuals named as US special force stationed in Wardak province engage in harassing, annoying, torturing and even murdering innocent people”.

The statement points to two recent examples, the disappearance of nine people “in an operation by this suspicious force” and the disappearance of a student that officials say was found two days later with his throat cut under a bridge.

“Such actions have caused local public resentment and hatred,” the statement read.

The ministry of defense has been assigned to insure that US special forces withdraw from Wardak within two weeks time.

Source: anarcho-queer

UN: Obama Administration’s Indiscriminate Use of Force is Killing Afghan Children The Obama Administration recently underwent its first U.N. treaty body review, and the resulting concluding observations made public last week should be a cause for alarm. The United States is violating the human rights of children in Afghanistan, according to the new report from the United Nations, which, according to the ACLU, “paint[s] a dark picture of the treatment of juveniles by the U.S. military in Afghanistan…”: one where hundreds of children have been killed in attacks and air strikes by U.S. military forces, and those responsible for the killings have not been held to account even as the number of children killed doubled from 2010 to 2011; where children under 18 languish in detention facilities without access to legal or full humanitarian assistance, or adequate resources to aid in their recovery and reintegration as required under international law. Some children were abused in U.S. detention facilities, and others are faced with the prospect of torture and ill-treatment if they are transferred to Afghan custody. US attacks and airstrikes have killed hundreds of children in recent years, according to the report, “due notably to reported lack of precautionary measures and indiscriminate use of force.” Some US military officials are unhappy about the criticism they sometimes receive when Afghan children are killed or injured because of US operations, claiming that insurgents recruit children to plant bombs, so killing children is actually fair game. “It kind of opens our aperture,” said Army Lt. Col. Marion Carrington. “In addition to looking for military-age males, it’s looking for children with potential hostile intent.”
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UN: Obama Administration’s Indiscriminate Use of Force is Killing Afghan Children

The Obama Administration recently underwent its first U.N. treaty body review, and the resulting concluding observations made public last week should be a cause for alarm.

The United States is violating the human rights of children in Afghanistan, according to the new report from the United Nations, which, according to the ACLU, “paint[s] a dark picture of the treatment of juveniles by the U.S. military in Afghanistan…”:

one where hundreds of children have been killed in attacks and air strikes by U.S. military forces, and those responsible for the killings have not been held to account even as the number of children killed doubled from 2010 to 2011; where children under 18 languish in detention facilities without access to legal or full humanitarian assistance, or adequate resources to aid in their recovery and reintegration as required under international law. Some children were abused in U.S. detention facilities, and others are faced with the prospect of torture and ill-treatment if they are transferred to Afghan custody.

US attacks and airstrikes have killed hundreds of children in recent years, according to the report, “due notably to reported lack of precautionary measures and indiscriminate use of force.”

Some US military officials are unhappy about the criticism they sometimes receive when Afghan children are killed or injured because of US operations, claiming that insurgents recruit children to plant bombs, so killing children is actually fair game. “It kind of opens our aperture,” said Army Lt. Col. Marion Carrington. “In addition to looking for military-age males, it’s looking for children with potential hostile intent.”

Source: anarcho-queer

Oakland Marks the 11th Anniversary of the US-Afghanistan War & Occupation with a Destructive Half Hour March

If you are offended by some smashy-smashy, you probably shouldn’t watch this video.

The eleventh anniversary of the US-Afghanistan war and occupation was marked with a destructive anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist, anti-colonial march though downtown Oakland Sunday night (Oct. 7). More than 200 Afghans and their allies gathered at Oscar Grant Plaza at 6PM, before taking the streets an hour later.

Prior to the march, the activists held an hour long rally and speak out about the injustices caused by imperialism and the horrors of the war in Afghanistan.

The march was in the spirit of the radical SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) marches in the late 1960′s. A poster that reads, “Bring the war home” was used as a propaganda tool online. Organizers urged marchers to wear hoodies or hijabs. The destruction seemed to be their (Afghans) anger over the unjust occupation of their homeland manifested in the streets in the form of attacking financial institutions and other imperialist property. I described the march as a “30 minute human tornado of social justice,” on twitter.

The property destruction reached at least three banks, an AT&T building, a Kaiser Permanente office, an OPD substation, the OPD internal affairs department, a downtown security office, the Oakland Tribune, City Hall, a gentrifying new apartment building in “uptown,” a fence surrounding a former Occupy Oakland encampment, and other pro-capitalist, pro-war, pro-imperialist, owed property.

Police were no where to be seen, until the final moments when the protesters dispersed after some finished up by busting out the windows and front doors of City Hall.

Large amounts of police were reported to have been in the area about 30 minutes after the marchers dispersed.

No arrests were made, and no injuries were suffered.

This action will end a four day series of anti-capitalist, anti-colonial marches aimed at disrupting Columbus Day celebrations. On Saturday (Oct. 6), 20 protesters were arrested after police violently attacked their anti-colonial march in San Francisco.

Source: anarcho-queer

Taliban Says Obama Should ‘Admit Defeat In Afghan War’ And Leave The Country

The Taliban announced Wednesday that the newly reelected President Barack Obama and US authorities “must by now know that they have lost the war in Afghanistan.” Taliban media spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid also said that “without further lying and delays, they should leave our sacred land,” AFP reported. The US should “stop acting like police in the world and focus on solving their own people’s problems,” a statement posted on the Taliban’s website read.

Source: anarcho-queer

Hoodies and Hijabs OAKLAND, California – Some 200 demonstrators gathered at Oscar Grant Plaza Sunday for the Hoodies and Hijabs action. The demonstration takes place on the 11th anniversary of the War in Afghanistan. Demonstrators rallied, then began to march around 7pm. Shortly thereafter, windows of multiple bank branches, a police recruiting office, the Oakland Tribune, Oakland City Hall and other business were smashed. The march returned to Oscar Grant Plaza with no arrests. Reportedly, police arrived in “snatch squads” after the marchers began to disperse in the Plaza, but failed to apprehend anyone.
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Hoodies and Hijabs

OAKLAND, California – Some 200 demonstrators gathered at Oscar Grant Plaza Sunday for the Hoodies and Hijabs action. The demonstration takes place on the 11th anniversary of the War in Afghanistan. Demonstrators rallied, then began to march around 7pm. Shortly thereafter, windows of multiple bank branches, a police recruiting office, the Oakland Tribune, Oakland City Hall and other business were smashed. The march returned to Oscar Grant Plaza with no arrests. Reportedly, police arrived in “snatch squads” after the marchers began to disperse in the Plaza, but failed to apprehend anyone.

Source: anarcho-queer

Top General Denies Blocking Probe Into Torture Hospital In Afghanistan One of the Army’s top generals went before Congress Wednesday to deny that he was a shill for the Obama White House and a careerist so concerned with his own advancement that he covered up “Auschwitz-like” conditions at an Afghan hospital. Lt. Gen. William Caldwell IV’s words were reinforced by e-mails presented to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and by the testimony of his fellow witnesses, Defense Department Deputy Inspector General Kenneth Moorefield and Maj Gen. Gary Patton. All three batted away accusations from former subordinates and from House Republicans that Caldwell slow-rolled a 2010 investigation into corruption and maltreatment at the Dawood National Military Hospital in order to curry favor with the Obama administration during an election year. “I supported all audits and assessments into any aspect of our command,” Caldwell said. ”In fact, at one time during my tenure we had in excess of 27 simultaneous audits or assessments by multiple government agencies external to the command. All of this was done so we could remain as transparent as possible.” And as for an alleged tirade about the political implications of an investigation into Dawood, Caldwell added that “at no time” during discussions about the inquiry “did I make such a statement.” But that may not be enough to rescue the reputation of a general once thought to be among the Army’s brightest stars. It certainly won’t be sufficient to erase the images that have emerged from Dawood of starving patients, maggot-infested wounds, and feces covering the hospital floor. Questions still remain about why it took Caldwell’s team so long to find out about the nightmarish conditions, and how quickly they moved to put an end to the horror. Not long ago, Caldwell was so well-considered that he was given command of one of the service’s most storied units — the 82nd Airborne — and asked to take on arguably the central mission of the Afghan war: training and overseeing Afghanistan’s security forces. Caldwell received flattering press coverage, despite a rocky turn as the spokesman for the American campaign in Iraq. Subordinates, colleagues, and even the general himself made it known that he would be a fine candidate to lead the entire war effort in Afghanistan.
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Top General Denies Blocking Probe Into Torture Hospital In Afghanistan

One of the Army’s top generals went before Congress Wednesday to deny that he was a shill for the Obama White House and a careerist so concerned with his own advancement that he covered up “Auschwitz-like” conditions at an Afghan hospital.

Lt. Gen. William Caldwell IV’s words were reinforced by e-mails presented to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and by the testimony of his fellow witnesses, Defense Department Deputy Inspector General Kenneth Moorefield and Maj Gen. Gary Patton. All three batted away accusations from former subordinates and from House Republicans that Caldwell slow-rolled a 2010 investigation into corruption and maltreatment at the Dawood National Military Hospital in order to curry favor with the Obama administration during an election year.

“I supported all audits and assessments into any aspect of our command,” Caldwell said. ”In fact, at one time during my tenure we had in excess of 27 simultaneous audits or assessments by multiple government agencies external to the command. All of this was done so we could remain as transparent as possible.”

And as for an alleged tirade about the political implications of an investigation into Dawood, Caldwell added that “at no time” during discussions about the inquiry “did I make such a statement.”

But that may not be enough to rescue the reputation of a general once thought to be among the Army’s brightest stars. It certainly won’t be sufficient to erase the images that have emerged from Dawood of starving patients, maggot-infested wounds, and feces covering the hospital floor. Questions still remain about why it took Caldwell’s team so long to find out about the nightmarish conditions, and how quickly they moved to put an end to the horror.

Not long ago, Caldwell was so well-considered that he was given command of one of the service’s most storied units — the 82nd Airborne — and asked to take on arguably the central mission of the Afghan war: training and overseeing Afghanistan’s security forces. Caldwell received flattering press coverage, despite a rocky turn as the spokesman for the American campaign in Iraq. Subordinates, colleagues, and even the general himself made it known that he would be a fine candidate to lead the entire war effort in Afghanistan.

Source: anarcho-queer

Civilian Deaths Drop in Afghanistan; Still Triple 2008 Rate It’s one of the most important measurements of the Afghanistan war’s progress: how many civilians die from the conflict. And for the first time in years, that number has dropped, a rare spot of good news in a war that’s dragged on for a decade. But even with the drop, there are now more dead civilians in Afghanistan than before President Obama’s surge, which might be one reason why even those tallying the civilian deaths warn that the decline doesn’t herald a turn in the war’s fortunes. There were 3,099 civilians killed and wounded in the Afghanistan war between January and June 2012, the United Nations reports, a 15 percent decline from that period in 2011. Casualties caused by air strikes, the leading single cause of civilian injury at the hands of the U.S. and its allies, are down by 25 percent. (Perhaps that’s because of the recent overall decline in the air war.) And insurgents are responsible for nearly 90 percent of injured and dead Afghans. The proportional harm to the population done by the insurgency has been rising ever since the U.S. began surging troops in 2009 and implementing a strategy that prioritized ‘protecting’ civilians. But there hasn’t been a corresponding drop in violence — and highlighting Taliban viciousness. The 3,099 casualties in the first six months of 2012 is astronomical compared to the 2,118 in all of 2008 — which, at the time, was the highest in the entire war. The grim toll kept rising in 2010, as overall violence rose as the result of the troop surge. So for the first time, at least, since Obama escalated the war, fewer Afghans have died in the conflict. But as the 2008 numbers show, the drop in violence still leaves the harm to Afghans at a higher level than it was when Obama decided the U.S. needed to make a final push in Afghanistan to salvage the war. Whatever else Obama’s surge has accomplished, it simply has not made Afghanistan a safer place for Afghans to live. And the United Nations isn’t exactly trumpeting the decline. The U.N.’s Afghanistan monitors, who keep track of the death toll, referred to a “modest 15% drop,” and then emphasized the negative, like a shift in Taliban tactics toward assassinations, homemade bomb attacks and threats to schools. Ironically, in the war to spin the Afghan conflict, those are measurements that the U.S. has portrayed as signs of progress, as allegedly they show the Taliban’s inability to hold territory.
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Civilian Deaths Drop in Afghanistan; Still Triple 2008 Rate

It’s one of the most important measurements of the Afghanistan war’s progress: how many civilians die from the conflict. And for the first time in years, that number has dropped, a rare spot of good news in a war that’s dragged on for a decade. But even with the drop, there are now more dead civilians in Afghanistan than before President Obama’s surge, which might be one reason why even those tallying the civilian deaths warn that the decline doesn’t herald a turn in the war’s fortunes.

There were 3,099 civilians killed and wounded in the Afghanistan war between January and June 2012, the United Nations reports, a 15 percent decline from that period in 2011. Casualties caused by air strikes, the leading single cause of civilian injury at the hands of the U.S. and its allies, are down by 25 percent. (Perhaps that’s because of the recent overall decline in the air war.) And insurgents are responsible for nearly 90 percent of injured and dead Afghans.

The proportional harm to the population done by the insurgency has been rising ever since the U.S. began surging troops in 2009 and implementing a strategy that prioritized ‘protecting’ civilians. But there hasn’t been a corresponding drop in violence — and highlighting Taliban viciousness. The 3,099 casualties in the first six months of 2012 is astronomical compared to the 2,118 in all of 2008 — which, at the time, was the highest in the entire war. The grim toll kept rising in 2010, as overall violence rose as the result of the troop surge.

So for the first time, at least, since Obama escalated the war, fewer Afghans have died in the conflict. But as the 2008 numbers show, the drop in violence still leaves the harm to Afghans at a higher level than it was when Obama decided the U.S. needed to make a final push in Afghanistan to salvage the war. Whatever else Obama’s surge has accomplished, it simply has not made Afghanistan a safer place for Afghans to live.

And the United Nations isn’t exactly trumpeting the decline. The U.N.’s Afghanistan monitors, who keep track of the death toll, referred to a “modest 15% drop,” and then emphasized the negative, like a shift in Taliban tactics toward assassinations, homemade bomb attacks and threats to schools. Ironically, in the war to spin the Afghan conflict, those are measurements that the U.S. has portrayed as signs of progress, as allegedly they show the Taliban’s inability to hold territory.

Source: anarcho-queer

Trigger Warning: Extremely Graphic Photo’s, Torture

Military Hospital In Afghanistan Neglected Patients

An explosive Congressional investigation revealed horrific new details this week about a U.S. funded military hospital in Afghanistan that kept patients in “Auschwitz-like” conditions.

The investigation also revealed that Lt. General William B. Caldwell, then commander of the $11.2 billion dollar a year Afghan training program, tried to block the probe and ordered a cover-up.

There are currently two ongoing investigations looking into the Dawood Military Hospital abuses: one centered around the Military Whistleblower Protection Act, the other concerned with Caldwell’s politically-motivated decision to delay investigations into the hospital until after the 2010 elections.

What follows is a very disturbing look inside the Dawood National Military Hospital. It was compiled with sworn eye-witness testimony from the three U.S. Army colonels who blew the whistle on the scandal, as well as never-before published photos obtained by BuzzFeed.

The photos and corresponding descriptions were collected by U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan.

The images are extremely graphic.

A patient’s untreated wound.

“The Patients’ Bill of Rights posters were found ripped off the walls lying on the ground torn to pieces ‘to allow for painting of the walls.’”

This patient was not treated for three days, given no wound checks, and his dressings were soiled. He was not given any analgesics prior to his surgery, and remained conscious. U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan at the time described his surgery taking place in “semi-sterile conditions.” This patient died 4 days later of paritonitis related sepsis without ever going back to operating room for care.

Maggots began falling out of this patient’s wounds. He died a week later.

Colonel Schuyler K. Geller: “Afghan soldiers’ families have sold their farms and indentured themselves for healthcare in the US- and coalition-supported Daoud Khan Hospital.”

Gangrene set in, making this patient a candidate for amputation. The surgeon refused to “address the issue for days,” according to the investigation.

Investigators described this as “a sacral decubitus lesion with high grade tunneling.” There were no plans for surgery for this patient.

Read More

Source: anarcho-queer

15 Civilians Dead (Including Women & Children) After NATO Air Strike Afghan officials say at least 15 civilians have been killed in a NATO air-strike south-east of the capital Kabul, but NATO denies the raid claimed any civilian lives. The airstrike targeted a home in eastern Logar province in the early hours of Wednesday morning (local time). It was ordered after NATO troops came under fire as they tried to detain a Taliban leader. Afghan police say at least 15 people, including women and children, were killed. But NATO says only a number of ‘militants’ were killed. It says two women were also injured, but they are now receiving medical treatment. The differing accounts of militant and civilian casualties cannot be verified, but an AFP journalist reported seeing at least 15 bodies - including those of four children. News of the raid came as a suicide motorcycle bombing killed 21 people and wounded 22 others in Afghanistan’s southern province of Kandahar.
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15 Civilians Dead (Including Women & Children) After NATO Air Strike

Afghan officials say at least 15 civilians have been killed in a NATO air-strike south-east of the capital Kabul, but NATO denies the raid claimed any civilian lives.

The airstrike targeted a home in eastern Logar province in the early hours of Wednesday morning (local time). It was ordered after NATO troops came under fire as they tried to detain a Taliban leader.

Afghan police say at least 15 people, including women and children, were killed.

But NATO says only a number of ‘militants’ were killed.

It says two women were also injured, but they are now receiving medical treatment.

The differing accounts of militant and civilian casualties cannot be verified, but an AFP journalist reported seeing at least 15 bodies - including those of four children.

News of the raid came as a suicide motorcycle bombing killed 21 people and wounded 22 others in Afghanistan’s southern province of Kandahar.

Source: occupyallstreets

Whistleblowing Wednesday: Unclassified Memo Shows That The Army Knew Burn Pits Causes Illnesses Since returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan, an untold number of soldiers have come down with puzzling health problems. Chronic bronchitis. Neurological defects. Even cancer. Many of them are pointing the finger at a single culprit: The open-air “burn pits” that incinerated trash — from human waste to computer parts — on military bases overseas. Pentagon officials have consistently reassured personnel that there was no “specific evidence” connecting the two. But now, only days after Danger Room uncovered a memo suggesting that Army officials knew how dangerous the pits were, an animal study is offering up new scientific evidence that links burn pits to depleted immune systems. “The dust doesn’t only appear to cause lung inflammation,” says Dr. Anthony Szema, an assistant professor at Stony Brook School of Medicine who specializes in pulmonology and allergies, and the researcher who led this latest study. “It also destroys the body’s own T-cells.” Those cells are at the core of the body’s immune system, “like a bulletproof vest against illnesses,” Szema tells Danger Room. When they’re depleted, an individual is much more prone to myriad conditions. The unclassified memo (.jpg), dated April 15, 2011, stated that high concentrations of dust and burned waste present at Bagram Airfield for most of the war are likely to impact veterans’ health for the rest of their lives. “The long term health risk” from breathing in Bagram’s particulate-rich air include “reduced lung function or exacerbated chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, atherosclerosis, or other cardiopulmonary diseases.” Service members may not necessarily “acquire adverse long term pulmonary or heart conditions,” but “the risk for such is increased.” Accordingly, the health risks were not limited to troops serving at Bagram in 2011, the memo states. The health hazards are an assessment of “air samples taken over approximately the last eight years” at the base. Read More
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Whistleblowing Wednesday: Unclassified Memo Shows That The Army Knew Burn Pits Causes Illnesses

Since returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan, an untold number of soldiers have come down with puzzling health problems. Chronic bronchitis. Neurological defects. Even cancer. Many of them are pointing the finger at a single culprit: The open-air “burn pits” that incinerated trash — from human waste to computer parts — on military bases overseas.

Pentagon officials have consistently reassured personnel that there was no “specific evidence” connecting the two. But now, only days after Danger Room uncovered a memo suggesting that Army officials knew how dangerous the pits were, an animal study is offering up new scientific evidence that links burn pits to depleted immune systems.

“The dust doesn’t only appear to cause lung inflammation,” says Dr. Anthony Szema, an assistant professor at Stony Brook School of Medicine who specializes in pulmonology and allergies, and the researcher who led this latest study. “It also destroys the body’s own T-cells.” Those cells are at the core of the body’s immune system, “like a bulletproof vest against illnesses,” Szema tells Danger Room. When they’re depleted, an individual is much more prone to myriad conditions.

The unclassified memo (.jpg), dated April 15, 2011, stated that high concentrations of dust and burned waste present at Bagram Airfield for most of the war are likely to impact veterans’ health for the rest of their lives.

“The long term health risk” from breathing in Bagram’s particulate-rich air include “reduced lung function or exacerbated chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, atherosclerosis, or other cardiopulmonary diseases.” Service members may not necessarily “acquire adverse long term pulmonary or heart conditions,” but “the risk for such is increased.”

Accordingly, the health risks were not limited to troops serving at Bagram in 2011, the memo states. The health hazards are an assessment of “air samples taken over approximately the last eight years” at the base.

Read More

Source: occupyallstreets

The U.S. Military Will Spy On Afghanistan Decades After The War Is Over America is supposed to wind down its war in Afghanistan by 2014. But U.S. forces may continue to track Afghans for years after the conflict is officially done. Palm-sized sensors, developed for the American military, will remain littered across the Afghan countryside — detecting anyone who moves nearby and reporting their locations back to a remote headquarters. Some of these surveillance tools could be buried in the ground, all-but-unnoticeable by passersby. Others might be disguised as rocks, with wafer-sized, solar-rechargeable batteries that could enable the sensors’ operation for perhaps as long as two decades, if their makers are to be believed. “Were going to leave behind a lot of special operators in Afghanistan. And they need the kind of capability that’s easy to put out so they can monitor a village without a lot of overt U.S.-made material on pathways and roadways,” says Matt Plyburn, an executive at Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest defense contractor. And they won’t just be used overseas. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol today employs more than 7,500 UGSs on the Mexican border to spot illegal migrants. Defense contractors believe one of the biggest markets for the next generation of the sensors will be here at home. Read More
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The U.S. Military Will Spy On Afghanistan Decades After The War Is Over

America is supposed to wind down its war in Afghanistan by 2014. But U.S. forces may continue to track Afghans for years after the conflict is officially done. Palm-sized sensors, developed for the American military, will remain littered across the Afghan countryside — detecting anyone who moves nearby and reporting their locations back to a remote headquarters.

Some of these surveillance tools could be buried in the ground, all-but-unnoticeable by passersby. Others might be disguised as rocks, with wafer-sized, solar-rechargeable batteries that could enable the sensors’ operation for perhaps as long as two decades, if their makers are to be believed.

“Were going to leave behind a lot of special operators in Afghanistan. And they need the kind of capability that’s easy to put out so they can monitor a village without a lot of overt U.S.-made material on pathways and roadways,” says Matt Plyburn, an executive at Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest defense contractor.

And they won’t just be used overseas. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol today employs more than 7,500 UGSs on the Mexican border to spot illegal migrants. Defense contractors believe one of the biggest markets for the next generation of the sensors will be here at home.

Read More

Source: occupyallstreets

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