America Loves Peace? Odd, Since We're Always at War
By David Michael Green, AlterNet. Posted February 28, 2008.

We've been in conflict for about half the period between World War II and
the present but consider ourselves a "peace-loving" nation.

Americans love to think that we're a peaceful people and that we fight wars
only when we must.

Unfortunately, you can count in nanoseconds how long those assertions hold
up when exposed to such insidious commie dirty tricks as the application of
logic or the examination of empirical history.

Sure, any war can be spun as some necessity against some Very Bad Person,
preferably of brown skin, slanted eyes and/or differing deity. Not only can
any war be so spun, probably every war there ever was has been, at least
since the days when governments had to start offering some justification or
another for their little foreign adventures.

But pick your barometer -- any one will work -- and you'll quickly see who
the militant folks on the planet really are. For America, it turns out --
gulp -- to be that bloated, frightened meth-addict staring back at us in the
mirror, not some overseas evil emperor du jour.

For example, suppose you wanted to measure comparative national warlike
tendencies by simply counting wars. Since World War II, the United States
has messed around, in ways big and small, in Korea, Vietnam...

Lyle Andrew wrote:

Lyle Andrew wrote:

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=4aff5546-c852-
4e5e-93bf-7c2cc68687fa&k=13379

HEAD OF GUANTANAMO TRIALS RESIGNS

By Steven Edwards, Canwest News Service

Montreal Gazette -- Monday, February 25

NEW YORK - The Pentagon official overseeing the planned military
trials of Canadian Omar Khadr and other terror suspects at Guantanamo
Bay in Cuba resigned Monday - just days after a published report
alleged he'd insisted there be no acquittals.

As General Counsel at the U.S. defence department, William J. Haynes
was a leading architect of the military commission system U.S.
President George. W. Bush ordered established in the wake of the
September 11, 2001, attacks.

But his alleged backroom insistence the commission produce only
convictions provoked a rush of commentary - much of charging it proved
the trials will be a sham.

ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION - Promoting Openness, Full
Disclosure, and Accountability http://www.ahrp.org and
http://ahrp.blogspot.com

In response to a petition to the Israeli High Court of Justice by
Doctors for Human Rights and a group of soldiers in the Israel
Defense Force (IDF) who had protested medical experiments--specifically
Anthrax vaccine tests--that had been carried out in secret without
informed consent, without medical supervision, between 1999 and
2006, the Government consented on Sunday that all future medical
experiments on IDF soldiers are to be conducted only under strict
Health Ministry supervision and approval.

The army tested the experimental anthrax vaccines on elite combat
soldiers in secret without knowledge of their commanders. When
soldiers suffered adverse symptoms they were told the ill effects
were unrelated to the experimental vaccine, and they were denied
treatment.

The revelations about the secret use of combat soldiers in the IDF
as anthrax vaccine "Guinea Pigs" were exposed by UVDA (FACT), a TV
documentary aired in May 2007. See:

Gazans form human chain in protest against Israeli blockade

By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem The Independent - UK Tuesday, 26
February 2008

A non-violent protest by Palestinians against the Israeli blockade of
Gaza was clouded yesterday by a lower than hoped-for turnout and the
wounding of a 10-year-old Israeli boy in a series of rocket attacks by
militants. About 5,000 people - including many placard-waving
schoolchildren and university students - formed a "human chain"
outside Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza to demonstrate against the
deepening hardship caused by the seven-month closure of the Strip.

The largely peaceful outcome of the demonstration belied doom-laden
Israeli media speculation, reinforced by thousands of heavily armed
military and police around Gaza, that protesters would seek to storm
through the crossings with Israel after last month's breach of the
border with Egypt.

Chavez's medical diplomacy wins plaudits

By Simon Romero International Herald Tribune February 25, 2008

Porlamar, Venezuela: Few places capture the disarray of this country's
public health system like the Hospital Luis Ortega. Unconscious
patients lie on cots strewn near the reception desk. Paint peels from
walls neglected for years. Soldiers stand guard to prevent worried
relatives gathered on the curb from bursting inside.

But in a recovery room tucked away at the end of a dim corridor, a
group of Nicaraguan patients with patches over their eyes offers an
insight into one of President Hugo Chavez's boldest and most
successful health initiatives. Called "Mission Miracle" and now in its
fourth year, it provides free eye surgery to Latin America's poor.

The evolution of the program into a symbol of Chavez's political
movement across the region illustrates how Venezuela's leader is
intensifying efforts to lift his government's profile abroad even he
faces growing criticism at home over social problems like decaying
hospitals and shortages of basic foods.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022508H.shtml

The Three Trillion-Dollar War
By Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes
The Times of London UK

Saturday 23 February 2008

The cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts have grown to
staggering proportions.

The Bush Administration was wrong about the benefits of the war and it
was wrong about the costs of the war. The president and his advisers
expected a quick, inexpensive conflict. Instead, we have a war that is
costing more than anyone could have imagined.

The cost of direct US military operations - not even including
long-term costs such as taking care of wounded veterans - already
exceeds the cost of the 12-year war in Vietnam and is more than double
the cost of the Korean War.

"Lyle Andrew" wrote in message
news:op74s3d0skbmu0j8qmhribomv8hujeav0i@4ax.com...

Yes, someone (anyone...) should be asking the candidates what their position
is on the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution and what their position is on
gun control. That along with a whole series of...

Lyle Andrew wrote: