Karzai Calls On NATO And US To Stop Operations In Afghanistan

By DPA March 12, 2011 "DPA" -- Kabul - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Saturday that NATO and US should stop their operations in the war-torn country. "I ask NATO and US, with honor and humbleness and not with arrogance, to stop its operations on our soil," Karzai said in the eastern province of Kunar, according to a statement from the presidential palace. Karzai visited Kunar on Saturday morning to personally express condolences to the families of nine children who were killed by US air attacks on March 1. The...

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"The Situation in Japan is Dire. It's Grave"

By Mike Whitney March 15, 2011 "Information Clearing House" -- News of a third explosion at the Fukushima nuclear power plant sent stocks plunging on the Nikkei exchange which dropped 1,015 points on the session. After 2 days of battering, the stock index is off more than 1,600 points in its worst performance since Lehman Brothers failed in September 2008. Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has ordered the evacuation of all people living within a 18 mile radius of the power station and warned homeowners to remain indoors to avoid contact...

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War Is Illegal

by David Swanson Global Research March 14, 2011  It's a simple point, but an important one, and one that gets overlooked. Whether or not you think a particular war is moral and good, the fact remains that war is illegal. Actual defense by a country when attacked is legal, but that only occurs once another country has actually attacked, and it must not be used as a loophole to excuse wider war that is not employed in actual defense.  Needless to say, a strong moral argument can be made for preferring the rule of law to the...

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In Search of Monsters

By MAUREEN DOWD March 16, 2011 "NYT" -March 12, 2011 - - The Iraq war hawks urging intervention in Libya are confident that there’s no way Libya could ever be another Iraq. Of course, they never thought Iraq would be Iraq, either.  All President Obama needs to do, Paul Wolfowitz asserts, is man up, arm the Libyan rebels, support setting up a no-fly zone and wait for instant democracy.  It’s a cakewalk.  Didn’t we arm the rebels in Afghanistan in the ’80s? And didn’t many become Taliban and end up turning...

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Hillary Helps US Mercenary Escape Justice

Getting Away with MurderBy Mike WhitneyMarch 18, 2011 "Information Clearing House" -- There was never any doubt that CIA contractor and killer, Raymond Davis, would be freed by Pakistani authorities. The only question was how much political capital the Obama administration would have to spend to secure his release. As it happens, the price turned out to be quite high. Not only were the family members of the men who Davis gunned down awarded a $2.3 million settlement, but, more importantly, a constellation of US powerbrokers were forced...

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Why is US backing force in Libya but not Bahrain, Yemen?

By Andrew North  BBC News, Washington 18 March 2011 Last updated at 18:49 ET What's the difference between Libya and Yemen or Bahrain? All three states have been using violence to crush pro-democracy protests. But only against Libya are the US and its Western allies planning a military response. Yemen and Bahrain's crackdowns have so far been met only with words, not action. On one level the answer is obvious. Bahrain and Yemen are US allies - especially Bahrain with its large US naval base. Libya is not. The US response...

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Hypocrisy: Washington and the Civilians of Libya

By Professor Lawrence Davidson  March 19, 2011 "Information Clearing House" -- Whether you believe that the United Nations resolution authorizing extensive intervention in the Libyan civil war is justified or not, and whether you believe that the admittedly eccentric forty two year rule of Muammar Gadhafi over a complex and fractious tribal society has been cruel or not, there is one thing that all objective observers should be able to agree on. All should agree that the rationale put forth by the United States government...

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