Friday News Roundup - International
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-01-13/friday-news-roundup-international
In a rare public speech, Syria's president Bashar al-Assad vowed to continue his crackdown on what he called a foreign-backed "conspiracy" against his country; an Iranian nuclear scientist was killed in a Tehran car-bombing; and a video that apparently showed U.S. Marines urinating on Afghan corpses drew Pentagon and NATO condemnation. David Ignatius of The Washington Post, Elise Labott of CNN and James Kitfield of National Journal join Diane for analysis of the week's top international news stories.
Guests
David Ignatius
columnist, The Washington Post; contributor to “Post Partisan” blog on washingtonpost.com. His latest book is titled "Bloodmoney: A Novel of Espionage."
Elise Labott
senior State Department producer for CNN.
James Kitfield
senior correspondent, National Journal.
Comments
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I spent a year in combat and what the Marines did does not bother me a bit. Get Real! Our political leaders are acting like cowards. Defend our Marines!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The New Yorker's Seymour Hersh has been writing about Israeli and US special forces on the ground in Iran for five years. Last night on Hardball former CIA agent Bob Baer said it was no doubt Israel who took out the Iranian scientist. And by the way No one believes Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when she says the US was not involved with the latest killing of that Iranian Scientist.
The US and Israel have been incessantly been beating on the bad bad bad Iran war drums. Continually provoking Iran
July 07, 2008
Annals of National Security
Preparing the Battlefield
ANNALS OF NATIONAL SECURITY about the Bush Administration’s escalation of clandestine military operations against Iran and the Congressional oversight of such activities. Last year, at a request from president Bush, Congress agreed to provide up to four hundred million dollars for a major escalation of clandestine military operations against Iran…
by Seymour M. Hersh
Read more http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/bios/seymour_m_hersh/search?contributo...
Jun 06, 2011
Annals of National Security
Iran and the Bomb
ANNALS OF NATIONAL SECURITY about whether Iran’s nuclear program is being exaggerated. Is Iran actively trying to develop nuclear weapons? Members of the Obama Administration often talk as if this were a foregone conclusion, as did their predecessors under George W. Bush. There’s a large body of evidence, however, including…
by Seymour M. Hersh
Read more http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/bios/seymour_m_hersh/search?contributo...
It is hard for Americans to appreciate the depth of brutallity that is happening in Syria. The news only covers a small percentage of the atrocities that the Syrian people endure every day. Why are we standing by? The Syrian people are being raped, brutally beaten and murdered at the hands of their "leader" and yet we do nothing. Bashar Al-Assad is a cold-blooded killer and should be brought to justice.
Back in 2008 Seymour Hersh wrote in the New Yorker
"Clandestine operations against Iran are not new. United States Special Operations Forces have been conducting cross-border operations from southern Iraq, with Presidential authorization, since last year. These have included seizing members of Al Quds, the commando arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and taking them to Iraq for interrogation, and the pursuit of “high-value targets” in the President’s war on terror, who may be captured or killed. But the scale and the scope of the operations in Iran, which involve the Central Intelligence Agency and the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), have now been significantly expanded, according to the current and former officials. Many of these activities are not specified in the new Finding, and some congressional leaders have had serious questions about their nature."
No one believe Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when she says that the US had nothing to do with the killing of the latest Iranian Scientist. Seymour also wrote that Israel and the US have had special forces on the ground in Iran for years
Read more http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/07/07/080707fa_fact_hersh#ixzz1j...
Q: How can you tell when a Talibani wishes to negotiate?
A: He's out of ammo.
This is nuts. Panetta calls Karzai to apologize for American servicemen disrespecting his enemies ?? How does that work ? Sorry, I just don't get it. It just underscores the gamelike nature of the situation in Afghanistan, where the United States does Karzai's dirty work, while the Afghan army and police just stand around and protect all the little corrupt side deals with the Taliban leaders and the drug lords. I'm sorry, this is just another example the twisted set of values that dominates the media profession. What hypocrisy.
When will the United States stand up against Israeli assassinations and kidnappings of scientists? In addition to the murder of the Iranian nuclear scientist this week, last year Israel kidnapped a Palestinian engineer while he was visiting his family in the Ukraine. Who is next? Perhaps an archeologist who makes a discovery that does not support Israeli claims about Jerusalem?
Its been somewhat bizarre listening to the coverage of this urination incident - listening to news commentators taking turns agreeing with each other makes for less than stimulating coverage. Hopefully I won't need to listen to it for very long.
I have seen other videos on the internet of US soldiers in acts of cruelty to the totally innocent. One showed a marine scruffing a small puppy and staying how cute he was and then throwing it off a cliff (at least a hundred feet or more). Another showed soldiers gathered around a guy beating a sheep to death with an aluminum baseball bat. Now they are urinating on enemy corpses on camera. All of these acts are dispicable but corpses at least are not alive and they are the enemy. Any of these behaviors should be immediately dealt with and I think the offenders should be dishonorably discharged with none of the promised goodies, they screwed that up as far as I'm concerned. They all disgraced the US military!
'Four unprofessional, immature Marines put all uniformed military at risk [paraphrased]' Roger that! If the guy who leaked the info to Wiki gets worse punishment than these four, there is something horribly flawed with the military justice system. They ought to put these four idiots in a room with proud Marines who are actively serving in the middle-east and save the military the expense of trial and punishment. Better yet, chain their ankles and put them on a platform in a public square over there and put the video on continuous loop on large screen monitors.
When talking about other countries using the words Dysfunctional Government you should include the USA.
Thanks
The immature behavior of these renege Marines is symptomatic and an offshoot behavior germinated by the hateful and spiteful language used regularly by Rush Limbaugh and others. What do you think will happen when young people grow up listening to radio and tv commentators who spew hate towards anyone they consider 'different' or where bullying/harassing behavior is admired. There are places in this country where those hateful programs dominate the airways and you have to turn on your computer to hear reasonable and factual news. I'm sure that Voice of America radio shows would be considered 'radical, socialist, communist, etc' by far-right radio and tv personalities. And, Voice of America was started to get news to people living in areas where their government controlled the airways. We have millions of American citizens who have been brainwashed to believe that anyone 'different' meaning anyone who is not white and Christian' is the enemy and unworthy of respect or protection. I'm not surprised that these young men would treat the 'other' in a hateful and disrespectful manner. That's the sad part.
Cathy Pickett,
What a relief that we can believe every bit of video we see on the internet, eh? If you can't trust internet video, what CAN you trust?!
The "puppy" example is a nice touch.
http://www.snopes.com/photos/military/throwpuppy.asp
Note: no puppies were harmed in the writing of this post.
Last Night on Hardball former CIA Bob Baer said it was "Israel" Seymour Hersh has been writing for years that Israel and the US have special forces on the ground in Iran. No one believes when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says that the US was not involved..give me a break
Come on Ignatius Israel and the US have been gunning for Iran for years now. Since 2008 Seymour Hersh has been writing about US and Israeli special forces on the ground in Iran . No one believes that the US was not involved in some capacity with what Israel does.
Diane, What do your guests view as the greatest threat to the US national security?
The Taliban, among the most evil people on earth, profess to be "shocked" at our Marines' behaviour?
We're dealing with barbarians here, so if it the stress of war brings out the worst in American soldiers, so be it.
The Administration and DOD are doing nothing but pandering.
I'm as liberal as DR and many other commentators, but in this case, while the soldiers' actions may be repulsive, they're understandable.
Caller from Nashville -- there are frat boys over at Vanderbilt urinating on pledges. They've never been exposed to any beheadings in the middle east. It's simply immature morons acting with total disregard to the negative impact of their actions.
Diane for Gods sake the latest IAEA report says that Iran is looking at plans not developing. Go read it and stop repeating such inaccurate and dangerous statements. It is not illegal to look at plans. Much in that report according to former IAEA weapons inspectors was turned down by the former head of the IAEA El Baradei because much of what Amano let in could not be verified. Go read the report for heavens sake. Go listen to Robert Kelly at Real News have him on your program
After Abu Ghraib, military confiscated cameras and were in general much more careful. Every now and then something leaks out.
These incidents should surprise no one. War isn't pretty.
After 9/11 we heard again and again that people don't want to know what actually knows what goes on- they just want to know we are being kept "safe".
The concept that there were no terrorists in Iraq before we attacked is lost on many.
As if US Marines urinating on the dead bodies of the Taliban wasn’t bad enough, along comes a video of a US Marine beating a helpless sheep to death with a baton. Try as she might to get away to save her life she was met with only the jeers and hilarity from a number of other Marines who, while they watched this cruelty, made no moves to stop the brutal death she suffered at the hands of an AMERICAN MARINE. Worse, this is not the first instance of animal cruelty perpetrated by U.S. soldiers caught on video. Marine David Motari was filmed throwing a puppy over a cliff in Iraq in a 2008 video. This violent and senseless act eventually led to his discharge from military duty.
Video links of the sheep’s torture are at: https://secure2.convio.net/ida/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction... and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6SMrdu_Iow
Video link of the Taliban bodies is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/12/american-marines-accused-war...
As part of a military family and an American, I am outraged at the behavior of our supposed finest. I do not want my country represented by these persons. They do not reflect American values or the core values of the US Marines. It is also against the law. Prosecuting animal mistreatment carried out by military personnel is an important step towards preventing and reducing the risk of violent incidents to other soldiers and civilians as well as their spouses, children, friends and neighbors. Animal cruelty is punishable under Article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice for "public animals" like bomb-sniffing dogs and military horses. The Commission on Military Justice in 2009 recommended that criminal charges be brought against military personnel who abuse non-public animals like dogs, cats, and farm animals.
This is a little bit like the "blood wings" incident that arose when Bill Cohen took over as SecDef. Something came out in the media that indicated that Marines just weren't nice little cleancut choirboys, and the SecDef personally interceded to punish the guilty from on high, with no understanding of that culture. I know Leon Panetta was a US Army intelligence officer, but some consideration needs to be given to the pressure these folks are under every day, and the fact that this government is fighting for show, not to win any kind of victory. So the combat troops get cynical. If the Taliban were honorable opponents, they would more likely be treated with honor by our troops. As always, the leaders should look at themselves first to see if what they are doing is causing these things to happen - and they may need to reconsider their policies as a result of that analysis. Reporters should report facts, thank you very much, and spare us all the moralizing "analysis" that really amounts to backseat driving. Unless Dave Ignatiius and Jim Kitfield want embed themselves with a Marine sniper team for six months, they have no right pontificate. It really just shows how far the military culture has drifted apart from society at large.
The desecration of Taliban fighters is nothing new, and is sanctioned by the upper brass of the military. Just go to this video on Youtube and you will see them purposely setting fire to dead Taliban fighters to anger their fellow comrades. Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-bDwFrjbTs, 2:45 into the video.
Its called the Geneva Convention. Natzi war criminals were prosecuted for such violations. The US is not immune. Soldiers are educated on the treatment of prisoners and dead adversaries. For some reason, Americans, who claim to be western and civilized, seem to have difficulty in learning the most basic principles.
P.S. - Why am it not surprised that they are from the Carolinas. Not one would call a hotbed of intellectuals. Isnt the American South in any way ashamed of what comes from their shores shaming the rest of the nation with their inbred ignorance, bacwkardness, and idiocity.
This marine urination incident is not Abu Ghraib-like in the least. In Iraq prisoners were tortured and humiliated in a secure holding facility. This is different and we should let it go, though political sensitivities/negotiations will override reason. Urinating on the corpses of your enemy after a firefight has been going on since wars began. We are now in an instantaneous media environment and these guys were "caught" doing what Ramses or Agamemnon would have recognized as common practice in their armies. I recently finished a book by Eugene Sledge: With the Old Breed. He recounts his tour as a young man with the Marine Corps in WWII and how we too was dehumanized while fighting on Peleliu and Okinawa against a cruel and vicious enemy. He saw marines become like their enemy in this manner. It is the curse of fighting wars that we become dehumanized in the process of fighting and dying each day and those four marines simply reflect that reality.
bnicholas wrote:
"Why am it not surprised that they are from the Carolinas...with their inbred ignorance, bacwkardness, and idiocity."
So bnicholas, where does YOUR ignorance come from? Inbreeding or something else? Weren't you the one who said we were not involved in WWII until Pearl Harbor?
Speaking of ignorant.
The hate you preach - and that's all it is - is what is so wrong with the left today.
Let's get real here who in the US Media and Politics has any right to throw stones at these Marines. Wall Street and the Banks have ruined more lives then cancer and the actions of the US Government has ruin the lives for generations of young Americans then any other time in history. Lets talk about water boarding. Anyone that throws stones at these young guys carrying the load for the rest of us ought to enlist and show us what they are made of.
Ha, aren't we a wonderful nation of little hypocrites. Webster mentions the following when defining "KILL": "put and end to. . .slaughtering. . . destroy. . .cause extreme pain. . ." Some of us associate the following with "Kill": Patriotism, Honor, Code. . . ." Of course "we" have to save face with the rest of the world to condemn urinating on dead bodies, 'cause that just ain't right! But as for me, urinate on me anytime. . . just don't kill me.