Thanks to SSG N (Ret D) Who Sent This In. She Writes: at Least the King Finishes His Projects
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
GI Special: [email protected] 7.20.09 Print it out: color best. Pass it on. GI SPECIAL 7G15:
[Thanks to SSG N (ret’d) who sent this in. She writes: “At least the king finishes his projects.”] Our Good Earth
From: Dennis Serdel To: GI Special Sent: July 17, 2009 Subject: Our Good Earth by Dennis
By Dennis Serdel, Vietnam 1967-68 (one tour) Light Infantry, Americal Div. 11th Brigade, purple heart, Veterans For Peace 50 Michigan, Vietnam Veterans Against The War, United Auto Workers GM Retiree, in Perry, Michigan
*****************************************
Our Good Earth
National Guard, you’re still in Iraq but you’re supposed to be home protecting and helping us you didn’t sign up to fight overseas and now they want you to fight in Afghanistan It was the Bush the Coward who sent you to Iraq but Obama said if elected he would bring you home but the Rich own him too They have imprisoned the Earth like a large cage in Alcatraz with bars and locks so that the Rich can enjoy life but nobody else can They don’t like so-called Socialism like Social Security that makes them share Instead they send their great Armies wherever they want to to plunder the wealth that any Country has on supposedly “Their Earth” They do it with flags with bombs with guns and with wounded and dead Soldiers. So Soldiers beware don’t let them make you be mercenaries to keep your own Families back home in an “Earth Jail” that they keep locked tight as they lay off Worker Members of your extended Families So open your cage door with your guns with your supplies so you can fly home to jail all the Bankers who will not share like Madoff in chains “Our Good Earth” will be glorious without them
DO YOU HAVE A FRIEND OR RELATIVE IN THE MILITARY? Forward GI Special along, or send us the address if you wish and we’ll send it regularly. Whether in Iraq or stuck on a base in the USA, this is extra important for your service friend, too often cut off from access to encouraging news of growing resistance to the wars, inside the armed services and at home. Send email requests to address up top or write to: The Military Project, Box 126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657. Phone: 917.677.8057
IRAQ WAR REPORTS
Marine Killed In Anbar Combat July 19, 2009 Multi National Corps Iraq Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory RELEASE No. 20090719-02
AL ANBAR PROVINCE, Iraq – A Multi National Force – West Marine was killed in a combat-related incident as a result of enemy action here July 19.
The Lamest Incomprehensible Bullshit Award For 2009 Goes To This Explanation Of Why U.S. Combat Troops Won’t But Will Keep On Occupying Iraq Cities: “The 30,000 For Iraq Include Three Brigade Combat Teams” “The Advisory Brigades Include Combat Forces But Are Not Technically Combat Units And Will Be Allowed To Stay In Iraqi Cities When Needed” “That’s Despite Last Month’s Pullout Of Combat Forces From The Cities, Defense Department Spokesman Bryan Whitman Said”
[Thanks to Sandy Kelson, The Military Project, who sent this in.] Jul. 15, 2009 By Pauline Jelinek, Associated Press [Excerpts]
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has created, and ordered to Iraq, four custom-made Army brigades designed to focus more on advising Iraqis and less on fighting as America prepares for its 2011 exit.
The 30,000 for Iraq include three brigade combat teams, three headquarters units, a security brigade to be stationed in nearby Kuwait, and four of the newly created so- called advisory and assistance brigades, or AABs.
The advisory brigades include combat forces but are not technically combat units and will be allowed to stay in Iraqi cities when needed. That’s despite last month’s pullout of combat forces from the cities, Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said.
“The mission of these units will be to train and mentor Iraqi security forces, conduct coordinated counterterrorism missions, and protect ongoing civilian and military efforts within Iraq,” he said.
AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS
Occupation Troops Killed At 20 Times Rate For 2001-2004; Commanders Says This Is No Surge -- Because It’s Not Time Limited
July 15, 2009 by Peter Graff, Reuters
In the two weeks since U.S. and British troops launched massive assaults, Western troops have died at an average rate of three a day, nearing the tempo of the bloodiest days in Iraq and almost 20 times the rate in Afghanistan from 2001-04.
U.S. commanders do not use the term “surge” to refer to the reinforcements in Afghanistan because the increase is indefinite, not for a limited time as Bush ordered in Iraq.
Sgt. Brock Chavers Of Portal Died When An IED Exploded Monday In Afghanistan.
Jul 13, 2009 By Dal Cannady, STATESBORO, GA (WTOC) Almost everyone in Portal liked, or at least knew, Brock Chavers. Before he was a National Guardsmen, he was a student and high school ball player. Cora Wilkerson served with him, but also knew him since childhood.
“He was somebody you could depend on,” she said. “Anytime you needed him, he’d be there.”
His older cousin, Tendai Haggins, taught and coached him at Portal High School.
“Hard worker, come early, stayed late, gave you everything,” he recalled. “Until I see a casket I guess coming home to us. Right now I don’t believe it. The community is in shock.”
Other former teachers say he checked on them and supported them long after his graduation.
“He had all the characteristics of a good soldier, hard worker, by the book, went and did what you’re supposed to,” said his JROTC instructor Bill Rogers.
Brock Chavers joined the National Guard in 2002 after high school graduation. His unit deployed in April for training, then to Afghanistan. Four years ago, they were called to duty for a year in Iraq.
“It is a sacrifice when you put on the uniform,” explained Captain Mariel Potts, rear detachment administrative officer. “You realize your life is in the hands of something higher.”
Loved ones say he was proud of his National Guard service and considered it an extended family, and for good reason. Brock was one of three brothers in this unit and his wife served here as well. This time, she’s been serving in rear detachment working in the armory office full time, every day.
Chavers’ death brings a new focus and somber connection between a small town and the rest of the world.
“You think about the soldiers in Afghanistan but it doesn’t hit close to home,” explained Chavers’ high school basketball coach, Jeff Brannen. “But it makes you think about all of them differently; this hurt me.”
A hurt perhaps felt much longer in a close knit town where grown men, even fathers and soldiers, somehow remain young sons and students in so many people’s memories.
Sailor From Area Killed By Bomb
7/8/2009 By MANNY GAMALLO World Staff Writer HENRYETTA — A young sailor from Henryetta, described by those who knew him as “the type of person we need to have in the military,” was killed Monday by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.
The Department of Defense on Tuesday identified him as Petty Officer 2nd Class Tony Michael Randolph, who was killed while riding in a convoy in northern Afghanistan.
The military listed Randolph’s age as 22, but a Henryetta funeral home listed it as 21.
Randolph was assigned as an individual augmentee to the Combined Security Transition Command — Afghanistan, the Pentagon said.
He was among seven American service personnel killed in separate incidents in Afghanistan on Monday.
Randolph graduated from Henryetta High School in 2005 and joined the Navy a year later, according to his football coach, Kenny Speer, who has kept in contact with Randolph over the years.
The coach said he last saw Randolph in March, and Randolph knew then that he was going to Afghanistan.
“He had been stationed in Virginia for the longest time,” Speer said, “and he was shipping out to Italy” before heading to Afghanistan.
According to Speer, this was Randolph’s first combat tour. His job in Afghanistan was to defuse bombs, the coach said.
“He was very patriotic,” said Speer. “He loved his country and was willing to fight for it, and give it 110 percent.
“He knew the dangers of military service. He was the type of person we need to have in the military,” Speer said.
In addition to being a good student in school, Randolph was an outstanding athlete, a three-year starter on the high school football team, the coach said. Speer said Randolph was an offensive and defensive tackle, and was an all-district defensive back.
Randolph, who stood 6 feet 1 inch tall and weighed 240 pounds, also was a three-time state qualifier in power lifting, placing third in the state during his senior year, Speer said.
The coach said that Randolph, when he was home on leave in March, actually came to the high school to work out so he could stay in shape. “He was that kind of individual,” Speer said. “That (Army) saying, ‘Be all you can be,’ would definitely fit him.”
But what endeared Speer to Randolph most of all was the sailor’s dedication to whatever he tried to do, along with his politeness.
Randolph was the kind of individual “I could leave my kids with, and I wouldn’t worry about them,” Speer said. Speer said he learned of Randolph’s death Monday night and was shocked.
Also stunned was Brad Wion, the high school principal while Randolph was a student there. Wion, now the middle school principal, described Randolph as an all-around good young man who was dedicated to all his endeavors.
“He was very polite, real personable,” Wion said. “He was always willing to do what was asked of him, and he was a good student, too.”
Wion called Randolph’s death a “terrible loss to the community.”
“We’re a small community,” the principal said, and “he was one of those young men who you’d want your boys to grow up like. He was just an all-around good person.
“He’ll be sorely missed.”
Randolph is survived by his parents, Fred and Peggy Randolph of Weleetka, along with two stepbrothers, Shawn and Robert Kramer.
Funeral services for Randolph are pending at Rogers Funeral Home in Henryetta. A spokesman there said the funeral probably will be held next week at Henryetta First Baptist Church.
Marine’s Mom: “He Died With Honor”
July 9, 2009 By David Adlerstein, Apalachicola Times
In living up to the Marine Corps motto “First to Fight,” Lance Cpl. Charles Seth Sharp was the first to die.
On July 2, in the opening hours of Operation Strike of the Sword into the Taliban- controlled heartland of southern Afghanistan, the 20-year-old former Alligator Point resident became its first casualty.
A member of Company E of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Seth, as he was known, suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the neck as his unit pushed into Garmsir district, the northern point of a 75-mile stretch of the Helmand River valley south of Lashkar Gah.
The assault is the largest military operation in Afghanistan since the fall of Taliban government in 2001.
Sharp’s mother, Angela Sharp Preston, learned of his death that afternoon, after she returned home from picking up her 15-month-old son Alexander from day care in Sopchoppy.
“I pulled up and I saw there was a strange van parked across the road from our house. My initial reaction was somebody might be robbing our house. I pulled on in, and I could see somebody in front of the van with a military hat,” she said. “I knew right then.” The half-dozen men in the van approached her, and asked if she was the mother of Charles S. Sharp.
“The last person was in all-white, and I knew that person was the chaplain. They asked if we could go inside and talk,” said Preston. “I couldn’t move. I thought ‘how am I going to get out of this car?’”
The entourage entered her 637 Pine Street home. “We sat down and they asked if they could talk to me about something,” she said. “The one person who was speaking he introduced himself, but I don’t remember his name. He said ‘I am sorry to inform you that you son has suffered a serious injury in Afghanistan.’
“Just for a brief moment I felt a joy come over me, because he said injury. I’m thinking ‘OK, we can handle whatever it takes,’” said Preston. “Seconds later, he said your son has succumbed to the injuries.
“I said ‘You know this could be a mistake, there was a lot of young men out there, they look alike,” she said. “He said ‘No ma’am, it’s not a mistake.”
Preston asked if he could go over the details again. Seth had suffered a serious gunshot wound and they tried to treat him at the scene but weren’t getting a response. They put him on a military helicopter to the nearest triage and he died en route.
At the same time Department of Defense representatives were visiting the Alligator Point home of Angela and Gus Preston, others were visiting Seth’s dad and stepmom, Rick and Tiffany Sharp, in his boyhood hometown of Adairsville, GA.
“Something Seth’s dad told me, when I finally came out and asked him ‘I want to know what happened.’ Apparently they had told him that ‘Let me assure you, the person or persons who did this, are no longer here to talk about it,’” said Preston.
Seth’s large extended family, however, is around to talk about the boy, the young man, the friend, they loved, as they prepare for his final flight Thursday from Dover Air Force Base to Tom B. David Airport in Calhoun, GA, the viewing at Dudley Barton & Son Funeral Home on Friday evening, and funeral services Saturday afternoon at Northpoint Church in Adairsville and burial at East View Cemetery.
Several hundred people are expected for the funeral, which is bringing in family from Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama and California.
As per the family’s request, no photographs were allowed when Seth Sharp’s body arrived on U.S. soil at 3:22 p.m. into Dover Air Force base on the Fourth of July.
“I told them no. I don’t mind if we see a picture of him with us but not that way,” said Preston, who is collaborating closely with her ex-husband on details of their son’s memorial.
“We still remain very good friends. That’s very helpful during this time,” she said. Preston is keeping a brave, stoic face, the same face she tried her best to show her son when he chose to become a Marine, despite her serious misgivings.
Without question, there is no hiding her pride, the same pride she felt when she named her son, Charles, after her grandfather, a World War II veteran, who died of a heart attack when she was six months pregnant with her son.
“He was so excited for me,” she said.
Preston’s father, Vietnam veteran David Story, came down this week to help her daughter with arrangements, but it turned out the support flowed both ways.
“He’s lived through this, he’s been there,” she said. “Dad is 65, a big, gruff person and he never shows emotion. I’ve never seen a man in that shape before. It was kind of like two lost souls trying to make a decision and nobody was any stronger than the other one.
“I don’t think there’s really words to describe it, an emotional roller coaster. Some minutes you think you’re going to be fine and the next minute you’re not,” Preston said. “You never expect to lose a child. It’s pain you can’t describe.”
Over the weekend, while the entire nation celebrated America’s birthday in joyous abandon, Preston was having “a why day. Why my son? Why now? Those questions I’ll probably never be answered. Seth would not talk about that stuff to me, knowing I would be upset.
“Ever since when he left, it was much, much harder,” she said. “I had a bad, bad feeling, a night and day, constant feeling that something was going to happen.
“You try to shake yourself and say ‘What’s the worst thing that could happen?’” Preston said. “And the worse thing that could happen happened.”
Seth Sharp’s family back in Dalton, GA., where he spent his boyhood, have shared memories of the young man, their feelings of pride at his toughness, compassion and willingness to sacrifice his life for another.
His father told the Rome News-Tribune of how his son asked for coloring books and crayons for Christmas, during his earlier nine-month deployment in Iraq. “It wasn’t a moment later that he said it wasn’t for him, but for the children he’d met in Iraq,” Rick Sharp said. “Something that seems so simple here is a luxury for them, and I made sure the coloring books got to him. He was just that kind of kid.
“He was proud to be a Marine and be called a Marine,” he said. “It was a challenge that he wanted to face and see if he could succeed at. “He was a great kid, and he was a hero, and we want everyone to know the sacrifices he laid out his life for,” said his dad.
When Seth was still in middle school, he came to Alligator Point to stay with his mom, and later attended Wakulla High School, as many students in that area often do.
His best friend was Chris Dolan, and the two spent a lot of time together, “always running around, messing with things. “He was a great guy, a good friend, always positive about everything, real easy going,” said Dolan.
The two worked for a time for Thad Brett, who has a heavy equipment operations company on Alligator Point. “Thad had different projects and things and he would take the two boys with him,” said Preston.
“It was tough yesterday when I saw Chris get out of the car and Seth wasn’t with him,” she said. “We used to kid the boys how the car wouldn’t go into drive unless both of those boys were in it.”
Seth Sharp had missed a lot of days of school at Wakulla, said his mom, and so when graduation neared, it looked like he wouldn’t have the credits to graduate.
“And when he got so discouraged that he wasn’t going to get to graduate, he want back to his dad briefly and that is when he come up with the idea of joining the Marines,” said Preston. “His big dream was always to be an architect and that was my dream for him also.”
Rick Sharp told his hometown newspaper that it wasn’t easy giving his son permission to join the Marines at age 17. “We talked about it and talked about it and then I prayed about it,” he said. “I always want to support my kids, and I knew he’d join when he turned 18 if I didn’t sign for him.
“But I asked him, ‘Why the Marine Corps?’ He said, ‘Because it’s the toughest, and I want to see if I can make it.’ He told me he wanted to fight for those who couldn’t fight for themselves,” said his dad.
Preston has serious reservations about her son’s decision. “I guess my strong opinion was I knew what would happen if he joined. It was going to be a given thing he was going to Iraq,” she said. “That was definitely not what I wanted to happen.
“Seth really loved the water and the beach. I said ‘You love the water. How about the Coast Guard?” she recalled. “He was kind of headstrong about the Marine division.”
With Preston’s pleas powerless against the Marine recruiter’s persistence back in Georgia, she resigned herself to her son’s choice.
“I tried to be supportive because I love Seth that much. If he asked for the moon I would have given it to him,” she said. “I tried not to be too upset in front of him, and show how bad I did not support that decision. I didn’t want him to feel like he couldn’t talk to his mom if he knew how she really felt about it.”
Preston drove together with her ex-husband to watch their son graduate from Parris Island. “I was proud of him for going through it,” she said. “It was a grueling process. He was so thin. They work them really hard.”
Seth was in the top of his class in marksmanship, which came as no surprise to his mom. She knew the skills he had learned from his family hunting in the hills of Georgia, and that she witnessed as his Cub Scout leader growing up. “He was so proud and I was proud for him,” said Preston. “I asked him ‘Son, you just let me know what you want for a gift for your hard work and effort.”
Soon after, Seth had an answer for his mom. “I’m thinking he wants a motorcycle,” Preston said. “But he said ‘Momma, I know what I want. I would really like to have my dress blues.
“Son, are you sure that’s what you want?” Preston asked him. He was sure.
“I got him the dress blues,” she said. “He’s got his pictures made with it on. When I talked to his dad yesterday, I told him I wanted him to be buried in it.”
Preston said sending her son off to Iraq was not nearly so difficult as his deployment to Afghanistan, which began less than two months ago.
There had been a moments of joy and happiness right before that. Seth had returned from Iraq safely, and his mother had, to her surprise and amazement, given birth to a second son as she neared her 40th birthday.
“I guess it’s kind of strange,” she said. “We’ve been together 10 years and we just assumed we could not have children and I found out I was pregnant when Seth was in Iraq.”
Seth and his fiancée Katie McMahan, a cheerleader for the University of Georgia, had come down to visit, and seen his new brother and outlined plans for when Seth would return from Afghanistan Dec. 15.
“I’ll only have four or five more months in my contract after that,” he told his mom, a realtor by profession. “I want you to help me find a house and go to school.
“He was really excited. He talked about either going to Florida State or Daytona. At that point his fiancée was going to transfer here and start going to college here also,” said Preston.
A month ago, Angela and Gus Preston opened Preston’s Eatery, in Panacea, and the family had even talked about opening a branch on St. George Island.
“Seth, if you want to and we do that, you can manage the restaurant,” Preston told her son, but then added “Well, I don’t know about that. You might eat all the profits.
“That kid could eat,” she said. “Especially if we have Key Lime pie; that was his favorite.”
Preston’s protective feelings prompted her to want to step in and stop her son from going, a son she still called “Little Bubby” a name his younger sister, Jessica, coined.
“There’s this kid bigger than I am and I still referred to him as my ‘little bubby’ and he answered to that,” said Preston. His mom sensed her son’s fears and concerns, as only moms can, but he wouldn’t indulge them or let them sway him. He had a job to do and he was going to do it. And she did her best to cope with her feelings.
“I’m still very proud,” said Preston. “I’m proud that he served his country and there’s a lot of other parents that lost their children and probably look back and wish it hadn’t been their choice.
“I’m very proud Seth did what Seth felt he needed to do,” she said. “He died with honor.”
Perhaps the depths of Seth’s commitment can be illustrated by a story mom recalled after seeing a large tattoo of the Marine motto “Semper Fi” that he had emblazoned on his calf.
“Don’t you know that’s permanent?” said Preston, exasperated.
“Momma, I’m permanent,” Seth replied.
Stupid Fuckups At Work: U.S. Command Named Afghan Offensive For An Arabic Weapon “Useless In A Real Fight”
July 17, 2009 by Sonali Kolhatkar, New America Media
The likelihood of American success in Afghanistan is at best dim and, at worst, heading inevitably toward a lose-lose situation.
Perhaps the name is apt: the United States’ Operation Khanjar is named for an Arabic (not Afghan) dagger widely used in past centuries by fighters in the Gulf Arab region, in countries like Oman.
But today, the Khanjar is largely a ceremonial weapon, a decorative objet d’art used to adorn walls but useless in a real fight.
Like the Khanjar, the current U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, out-of-touch with reality, is more symbolic than practical.
INTERVIEW WITH A RESISTANCE COMMANDER #1: “We Will Continue To Hit The Invading Forces Through Landmines, Remote Control Bombings And Guerilla Attacks”
Taliban fighters in Afghanistan July 14, 2009. REUTERS/Stringer
Jul. 9, 2009 By Aamir Latif, IOL Correspondent, Islam Online [Excerpts]
CHAMAN – Insisting that the massive American Dagger offensive is toothless, the Taliban have launched their own “iron net” counter operation.
“We have chalked out our strategy to counter the fresh offensive of US marines in Helmand, Uruzgan and Kandahar provinces and Inshaullah the foreign forces will concede another defeat,” Yousaf Ahmedi, a senior Taliban commander, told IslamOnline.net by satellite phone from an unknown location in southern Afghanistan.
The main focus of the offensive is Uruzgan, the home province of Taliban Supreme Leader Mullah Omer, and Helmand, the home province of President Hamid Karzai and is the source of most of Afghanistan’s opium crop, the world’s largest.
Ahmedi said they would not go for face to face encounters with the American troops. “We will continue to hit the invading forces through landmines, remote control bombings and guerilla attacks, which are always successful in war against a bigger enemy,” he contended.
“We can besiege the invading forces, but it will not work because of the air strikes. That’s why we will prefer the strategy of hit and run.”
The Taliban commander contended that their iron net is not restricted to the southern provinces.
“We have extended our activities to northeastern, western and northern parts of Afghanistan in order to engage the foreign troops and avert any reinforcement to their colleagues here (in the south) in case of a longer encounter.”
The Taliban commander said the Hizb-e-Islami of former premier Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is helping them in the northeastern provinces, which are considered his strongholds.
“The fresh offensive is not less than a gamble, especially in Helmand, which has been a stronghold of Taliban and appeared to be one of the toughest war zone for allied forces,” Noor Zaman Achakzai, a Kandahar-based journalist, told IOL.
“This will not be an easy task.”
He noted that Helmand remained a Taliban stronghold despite the deployment of 8000 British troops since the 2001 invasion.
“Keeping a strong resistance to British troops during the last eight years, it seems to me irrational that 4000 troops will be able to get rid of Taliban within a month.”
Achazai insists that historically Helmand has never been conquered.
He noted that there is a graveyard of British soldiers, who came to conquer Helmand a century ago, in Spin Bouldak, the border town between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
“Months are not enough to clear this area of Taliban because of its location. The foreign troops have to destroy thousands of caves in the mountains of Helmand, which needs years not months,” he contends.
“These caves are natural protection to guerillas who can stay there for years.”
INTERVIEW WITH A RESISTANCE COMMANDER #2: “The Only Difference We Can See Between The Politics Of Bush And Those Of Obama Is That The Latter Deployed More Troops To Afghanistan” “God Willing, The U.S. Will Meet The Same Fate As The Former U.S.S.R.” “And God Willing That Day Is Not Too Far Distant. “We Will Witness The Day With Our Own Eyes”
[Thanks to Max Watts, Australia, who sent this in.]
July 3, 2009 Afghan Islamic Press.com [Excerpts]
Interview with Gulbadin Hekmatyar, Fugitive Chief of Hizb-e-Islami in Afghanistan. The exclusive interview was conducted by the Peshawar-based Afghan news agency Afghan Islamic Press.
Following are some excerpts from the interview:
*********************************************************
“We Do Not Consider Conventional Fighting Useful; The Time For Such a War Has Not Come – Neither Have We Acquired Facilities For It”
Q: In which provinces of Afghanistan are the Hizb-e-Islami forces fighting against foreign forces?
A: The members of Hizb-e-Islami are active in the whole of Afghanistan. In some areas they are carrying out only cultural and motivational activities, while in other areas, besides the cultural activities, military operations are being conducted.
Military operations are being carried out in areas where occupation forces are based….
We do not consider conventional fighting useful. The time for such a war has not come; neither have we acquired facilities for it.
This kind of war causes collateral damage and creates problems for civilians. We prefer guerilla fighting….
Q: You have rejected talks with the Kabul administration. Have you held talks with foreign forces for solution of the Afghan issue?
A: We have not been holding official negotiations, either with the Kabul administration or with foreign forces. However, both the sides have contacted us on different occasions. We apprised them of our stance for solving the crisis.
The Kabul administration is powerless and unable to do any thing in this regard.
If foreign forces do not agree with those who ask them to either stop blind bombardment of civilians or to give them power, then how can they do anything regarding issues like an end to the invasion, a complete withdrawal of foreign forces without any condition, transfer of power to non-coalition government, and independent elections…?
“Continue Jihad Until The Last Soldier Of Invading Forces Is Pushed Outside The Afghanistan Border”
Q: Would Hizb-e-Islami agree if the U.S. wanted to withdraw from Afghanistan and instead demanded a few bases here?
A: Hizb-e-Islami does not agree to this condition.
It will continue jihad until the last soldier of invading forces is pushed outside the Afghanistan border, God willing!
The Mujahideen of Hizb-e-Islami will mete out the same treatment to the invaders that they meted out to the Russian invaders.
“Iran Secretly Supported The U.S.”
Q: What do you say about Iran, Pakistan and other neighboring countries’ interference, especially those interferences which are aimed to create problems between nations and tribes?
A: Iran and Pakistan have meted out great, unforgettable cruelties to Afghans and Afghanistan.
Both countries supported the U.S. in its invasion of Afghanistan. Iran secretly supported the U.S., and Pakistan openly.
“Pakistan allowed military bases on its soil, while Iran set bases in Afghanistan and asked Shi’ites and pro-Iran groups to fight against Sunnis and Pashtuns under U.S. command. Iran finds its interest in the continuance of fighting in Afghanistan so that a strong Islamic government may not be established. Iran wants to mobilize minorities against Pashtuns and is trying to divide our country by weakening it…”
“The Only Difference We Can See Between The Politics Of Bush And Those Of Obama Is That The Latter Deployed More Troops To Afghanistan, To Intensify War And To Suppress The Opponents”
Q: For what purpose did the U.S. launch the war in Afghanistan and the region? Do you see any change between the policies of George Bush and his successor Barack Obama?
A: The reason for the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan and the region is to stop the establishment of an Islamic government, and in such an effort Russia, India, Iran and several other counties have joined them; capturing oil, gas and other mineral resources of the region and Afghanistan; competing with China and Russia; controlling this sensitive region; and establishing a pro-U.S. puppet government to protect their interests in Kabul.
The only difference we can see between the politics of Bush and those of Obama is that the latter deployed more troops to Afghanistan, to intensify war and to suppress the opponents in this way.
He considers Bush’s attention to Iraq a mistake, and thinks that the U.S. war strategy should be focused on Afghanistan; to increase troops here; and to increase the number of their political and administrative advisors who would be given responsibilities in the U.S.’s Kabul government.”
Q: What is your message to Barack Obama?
A: Obama has been repeating the failed experience of George Bush and of Brezhnev (in Afghanistan in the 1980s).
The political strategy is chalked out by the same Bush war team, which brought dishonor to Bush and brought world hatred for the U.S.
This war team will make Obama face the same fate faced by Bush.
Q: Do you think the ongoing resistance against foreigners will succeed?
A: I am fully satisfied that the resistance will succeed and that the invading forces will be compelled to leave our country.
Q: Do you think talks are useful for the solution to the Afghanistan issue or jihad?
A: It is jihad which will force the enemy to leave and discourage their invasion of Afghanistan. Without jihad, there would be no talk of talks. “Elections Under The Wings Of Warplanes And The Presence Of Invaders Is Nothing But A Comedy Drama”
Q: Do you think the upcoming elections are legal and according to shari’a? If not, what message would you like to give to people and candidates?
A: Elections under the wings of warplanes and the presence of invaders is nothing but a comedy drama. It is not legal, nor does it have Islamic status.
No mature and sensitive person, even the non-believer, will believe in such election. We ask the people and candidates not to waste time in this useless game and damage their faith.
Q: Will Hizb-e-Islami attack election centers to spoil election activities?
A: There is no importance to holding these American elections or to disrupting it.
The real issue is the freedom of the country.
It is not good that attention from attacks on invaders should be diverted. Americans want to make Afghans fight among themselves.
Fools will be trapped in the conspiracies of the enemy and indulge in other clashes, instead of the real enemy.”
Q: What would be your reaction if the U.S. removed your name from the blacklist?
A: It would be a sad moment for me if the U.S. removed my name from the blacklist during the presence of their forces in Afghanistan. I am proud that my name is on the blacklist of the forces of infidelity, cruelties, wickedness, and great evil…
Q: What role can Russia, and especially China, play in the region?
A: Take the issues of Chechnya and Turkistan; Russia and China have two such issues. They consider supporting the U.S. in Afghanistan and stopping the way of an Islamic government in Afghanistan in their national interest. That is why Russia gave NATO a route for supplies to their forces in Afghanistan.
The decisions taken in the Security Council against Afghanistan [after 9/11] have the backing of Moscow and Beijing. Russia does not think herself in a position to take revenge from the U.S. and support the resistance…..
“Our Prime Concern Was The Americans – If We Expel Them, Our Problems Would Be Resolved Quickly And Easily; We Need To Pay Full Attention To Our Real Enemy” Q: You said in an interview that you were not concerned with foreigners, that instead your concern was Karzai. But he was installed by foreigners.
A: Attention has not been paid to my words; I said that our prime concern was the Americans.
If we expel them, our problems would be resolved quickly and easily. We need to pay full attention to our real enemy without wasting time on non-issues.”
Proposals For Forming A National Liberation Government
Q: Do you have any proposals to avoid fighting and form a government based on national consensus in case the foreigners leave the country?
A: We have announced our suggestions time and again…. I can only say that all Afghan groups should develop consensus over some issues:
1) Power should be transferred to an interim government.
2) Future government should be formed according to the wishes of the masses. The head of the state should be elected by the people through independent elections. After doing so, a single drop of blood will not be shed for the sake of somebody’s authority, nor will weapons be used at any time in any corner of the country.
3) Government is a trust of Allah the Almighty and a right of the people. We should leave it for the Afghan people. It should be their prerogative whoever they consider fit for their leadership, and trust and accept as their leader.
4) We should discard tactics like using someone else’s forces, money and weapons to rule Afghans. We should assure the masses that we are not fighting for power; rather we are fighting for the independence of our country.
5) We will sort out our differences according to shari’a and we will accept the verdict of shari’a.”
After liberating the country from the clutches of occupational forces, we will not fight for power. We have to empower the nation whoever they want to choose as their leaders, they should be free to do so.
Q: In your opinion, what is the difference between the incursion of the former U.S.S.R. and the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, at a time when several former leaders and Mujahideen are working in the present government?
A: There is no difference between these two except that the incursion of former USSR was carried out under the banner of the Warsaw Pact and the current invasion is led by Washington under the umbrella of NATO.
Both attacks were conducted by the enemies of Islam. Apart from this, whoever has any other difference, he either lacks religion or rationalism or both of them. Q: What would be the end of the U.S., keeping in view your political farsightedness and ground realities?
A: God willing, the U.S. will meet the same fate as the former U.S.S.R.
And God willing that day is not too far distant.
We will witness the day with our own eyes.
Inmates Launch Protest Movement At Obama’s Secret Terror Prison: “Prisoners Are Protesting Being Held Indefinitely Without Trial Or Legal Recourse” “Prisoners At Bagram Are Not Allowed To Visit Their Lawyers”
July 16, 2009 by the Associated Press & July 17, 2009 Greg Jaffe and Julie Tate in Washington, The Washington Post
THE prisoners at the largest US prison in Afghanistan have refused to leave their cells for the past two weeks to shower or exercise to protest against their indefinite imprisonment.
The protest at Bagram, which has been going on since at least July 1, offers a rare glimpse inside a jail that is even more closed to the public than the one at Guantanamo Bay.
Information about the protest came to light when the International Committee of the Red Cross told the families of several prisoners that scheduled video links and family visits were being cancelled.
The prisoners are refusing to leave their cells, but they are not engaging in hunger strikes or violence.
Ramzi Kassem, a lawyer for a Yemeni held at Bagram, said prisoners are protesting being held indefinitely without trial or legal recourse. The US military declined to comment. Unlike Guantanamo Bay, where prisoners have access to lawyers, the 620 prisoners at Bagram are not allowed to visit their lawyers.
Afghan Government representatives are generally not allowed to visit or inspect the prison.
Meanwhile the Bagram prison population has ballooned. US officials are building a bigger jail there that will hold about 1000.
The present jail holds prisoners from Afghanistan as well as those arrested by US authorities in other countries as part of counter-terrorism operations.
There are close to 40 prisoners who are not Afghan citizens.
Many were not captured in Afghanistan.
In April, a US judge ruled that a Supreme Court decision that extended habeas corpus rights to prisoners at Guantanamo Bay also applied to prisoners at Bagram who were not arrested in Afghanistan and who are not Afghan citizens.
The Justice Department has appealed against the decision.
The indefinite detention of Afghan prisoners has angered Afghan citizens, human rights advocates say.
“US detention policy is destroying the trust and confidence that many Afghans had in US forces when they first arrived,” said Jonathan Horowitz, a consultant at the Open Society Institute, which promotes democracy.
Bagram detainees are told the reason for their arrest and are allowed to defend themselves at six-month military review sessions, but without outside legal counsel, according to military statements.
Afghan human rights officials said they could not comment on the protest because they were not allowed into the prison and had no information on it.
“The constitution has given us the authority to monitor the condition of prisoners throughout Afghanistan, and especially the coalition detention centres, but they have refused to let us in,” said Mohammad Farid Hamidi, a human rights commissioner. IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE RESISTANCE END THE OCCUPATIONS
OCCUPATION ISN’T LIBERATION ALL TROOPS HOME NOW! THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO COMPREHENSIBLE REASON TO BE IN THIS EXTREMELY HIGH RISK LOCATION AT THIS TIME, EXCEPT THAT THE PACK OF TRAITORS THAT RUN THE GOVERNMENT IN D.C. WANT YOU THERE TO DEFEND THEIR IMPERIAL DREAMS: That is not a good enough reason.
U.S. soldiers of 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, patrol in Nerkh district of Wardak province in west of Kabul, Afghanistan, May 1, 2009. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
Troops Invited: Comments, arguments, articles, and letters from service men and women, and veterans, are especially welcome. Write to Box 126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657 or send email [email protected]: Name, I.D., withheld unless you request publication. Same address to unsubscribe. Phone: 917.677.8057
TROOP NEWS THE NEW ISSUE OF TRAVELING SOLDIER IS OUT!
Traveling Soldier Front Page Cartoon [Thanks to Mark Shapiro, Military Project.] FEATURING:
1. “They helped kill my daughter” says a military mom. http://www.traveling-soldier.org/7.09.letter.php
2. Soldier-Killing Toxic Burn Pits Unnecessary But Profitable http://www.traveling-soldier.org/7.09.burnpits.php
3. “I Lost Three Buddies In My Platoon In Iraq And For What?” says an Iraq vet. http://www.traveling-soldier.org/7.09.forwhat.php
4. Download the new Traveling Soldier to pass it out at your school, workplace, or at nearby base. http://www.traveling-soldier.org/TS23.pdf
IRAQ RESISTANCE ROUNDUP The Revolution Of July 1958: “Liberating Iraq From Foreign Domination And Restoring Sovereignty Over Its Vast Oil Wealth That Was Plundered By British, French And U.S. Monopolies” “Iraqis Now Have To Fight For The Same Old Goals: Liberating Their Country And Their National Resources From Both Foreign Occupiers And Their Divided, Corrupt Protégés”
10 - 16 July 2008 By Salah Hemeid, AL-AHRAM [Cairo] [Excerpts]
Fifty years after the Iraqi army toppled the pro-West monarchy on 14 July 1958, Iraqis who live in their now terror- stricken nation are too preoccupied with survival to celebrate what many of them esteem as a revolution of national liberation against the colonial power of the time, Great Britain.
The episode is not forgotten, however.
On the other hand, the anniversary raises questions about how much US colonial officials know Iraq’s history and the memory Iraqis still have of their former occupiers.
On that day, nationalist army officers, disgruntled by then existing corrupt and repressive regime and its blind loyalty to Britain, overthrew the Hashemite monarchy and declared Iraq a free and independent republic.
It wasn’t just a military coup, but rather a vast social revolt from below, supported by nationalists who were trying to build a modern state in Iraq while steering it away from Western influence.
Iraqis now may lament the fact that the 14 July revolution failed to achieve its national goals, but that does not stop them from looking at events since then through the same lens, especially the nation’s current crisis, awakening them from nostalgia to deal with foreign occupation and sectarianism today that threaten to tear their nation apart. Two of the main goals of the 14 July revolution, which had deep roots in the Iraqi people’s struggle, were liberating Iraq from foreign domination and restoring sovereignty over its vast oil wealth that was plundered by British, French and US monopolies.
Nothing better summed up that stance than the decision by the revolutionary government to pull out of the Baghdad Pact, a military alliance with Britain and the United States, as well as limiting energy exploitation by foreign oil companies to 0.5 per cent of the original oil concessions they received from the pre-revolution regime.
Today, history seems to be repeating itself, as if the clock in Iraq has come full circle to 50 years ago.
Iraqis now have to fight for the same old goals: liberating their country and their national resources from both foreign occupiers and their divided, corrupt protégés and stooges who had carved Iraq into sectarian fiefdoms.
Indeed, one cannot miss the alarming parallel between the proposed pact between the United States and Iraq and the failed treaty that the British government tried to impose on Iraq in 1948 and that prompted a nationalist uprising in Baghdad, which many regarded as the trail run of the revolution that toppled the monarchy a decade later.
With its proven 112 billion barrel oil reserve, the second largest in the world, along with roughly 220 billion barrels of probable and possible resources, Iraq’s oil seems destined -- if foreign colonial powers get their way -- to be under foreign control, some 34 years after its nationalisation.
In historical terms, the 14 July revolution suffered a setback because it failed to build a democratic state for all its citizens.
Eventually Iraq stagnated and degenerated under the autocratic rule of Saddam Hussein’s one party system, becoming easy prey for its new colonisers.
Despite its failure, however, the revolution is of profound historical significance because it rekindled in Iraqis the twin spirits of unity and patriotism.
Combined emerges a virtue that expresses itself now in the Iraqis’ awakening to their present national plight, demonstrated when many Iraqis braved violence in recent years to celebrate the revolution’s anniversary in Baghdad’s squares.
There is nothing more important now than reviving that spirit of patriotism and freedom of the 14 July revolution by which united Iraqis can reshape their destiny in an independent, democratic, strong and modern state.
If US occupiers are oblivious to these Iraqi ideals, and certainly they are, the question is why the ruling clique of local puppets is so inept at gauging the anti-occupation and anti- sectarian mood of the people. DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK
[Thanks to Mark Shapiro, Military Project]
POLITICIANS CAN’T BE COUNTED ON TO HALT THE BLOODSHED
THE TROOPS HAVE THE POWER TO STOP THE WARS CLASS WAR REPORTS
Laid-Off French Auto Parts Workers “Threatening To Blow The Plant Up With Gas Canisters” Unless They Receive More Severance Pay: “Are We Capable Of Blowing Up The Factory?” “Yes, We Are Capable”
July 13, 2009 Times Newspapers Ltd. French workers were barricaded inside their bankrupt car parts factory today after threatening to blow the plant up with gas canisters unless they receive a bigger pay-off.
“Are we capable of blowing up the factory?” asked CGT union official Guy Eyermann during a meeting of about a hundred workers who have been occupying the New Fabris factory in Chatellerault for several weeks.
“Yes, we are capable.”
They insisted the string of gas canisters they have strung together are full - despite claims from officials that they are bluffing with depressurised gas bottles - and will be used to blow up the plant if necessary.
“Let them come and see,” said Mr Eyermann. “These are serious threats.”
The small east-central town on Monday beefed up emergency services, bringing in extra firefighters to the local emergency centre, after the workers at the New Fabris plant set a July 31 deadline for their demands to be met.
The 366 workers said Sunday they would carry out their threat unless carmakers Renault and PSA-Peugeot - who accounted for 90 per cent of business - pay them €30,000 each when they lose their jobs.
The threat comes after a recent wave of “bossnappings” across France earlier this year in which managers have been held hostage by workers over factory closures.
The Chatellerault factory houses car parts worth an estimated €2 million, as well as a new Renault machine believed to be worth a further $2 million, Mr Eyermann said.
The workers have blockaded the entrance to try to stop any attempt to take the equipment out.
The New Fabris workers, whose employer was declared bankrupt on June 16, claim that Renault and Peugeot paid around €30,000 each to 200 workers laid off from another supplier, the aluminum specialist Rencast. But both Renault and Peugeot said Monday it was not their responsibility to pay out compensation to the New Fabris workers.
New Fabris company director Pierre Reau said that currently the firm would only able to pay between €10,000 and €15,000 in redundancy to workers with 20 or more years experience, and some junior workers would get just €3,000. “I understand their distress,” he said, adding that a dramatic and sudden fall in orders had led to the company’s downfall.
Founded in 1947 by two brothers, Eugene and Quentin Fabris, New Fabris started out making sewing machine parts, before branching out into the car sector, employing up to 800 workers in the 1990s.
MORE: Laid-Off French Construction Equipment Workers Win Increase In Severance Pay “After Placing Gas Canisters In Front Of The Plant And Threatening To Detonate Them” “The Third Group Of French Workers This Week To Threaten To Set Off Explosions In Order To Get Their Complaints Heard”
July 17, 2009 Aljazeera [Excerpts]
Staff who threatened to blow up machinery in a construction equipment plant in southwest France in a row over redundancy payments have had their severance money increased.
The 53 staff at JLG Industries in Tonneins will receive $42,000 for being made redundant after placing gas canisters in front of the plant and threatening to detonate them.
The workers at the factory, a subsidiary of US firm Oshkosh, were the third group of French workers this week to threaten to set off explosions in order to get their complaints heard.
Christian Amadio, the head of the works council at JLG said: “It’s shame we had to go so far to obtain a result”.
Amadio said that after four hours of talks overnight with JLG management and a local government mediator, the company had offered to pay $42,000 per laid-off worker on condition that the workers return to work on Monday.
Pierre Martin, the mediator, said the workers will have two options, a plan allowing them to receive job training in other fields and receive $35,000 in severance, or opt out of the plan and receive $42,000.
The 53 workers will be officially laid off on September 28.
Laurent Wauquiez, the French employment minister, described the blast threats as “blackmail”. On Thursday, Renault, the French car manufacturer, refused to meet the demands of workers at New Fabris, a bankrupt car-parts supplier, who threatened at the weekend to blow up gas canisters inside their factory in Chatellerault in western France.
Workers at the company want Renault and PSA-Peugeot Citreon, another French car producer, who account for 90 per cent of their business, to pay $42,000 to each of the 366 laid-off employees.
Both the car companies have said it is not their responsibility to pay compensation to the workers.
Renault offered on Thursday to buy up the stock of parts that were intended for it, and for the proceeds to be paid to New Fabris workers, but unions rejected the offer, which they estimated at $4,200 per head.
GI Special distributes and posts to our website copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance understanding of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. We believe this constitutes a “fair use” of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law since it is being distributed without charge or profit for educational purposes to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for educational purposes, in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107. GI Special has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor is GI Special endorsed or sponsored by the originators. This attributed work is provided a non-profit basis to facilitate understanding, research, education, and the advancement of human rights and social justice. Go to: www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml for more information. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
If printed out, this newsletter is your personal property and cannot legally be confiscated from you. “Possession of unauthorized material may not be prohibited.” DoD Directive 1325.6 Section 3.5.1.2.