*Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Two-thirds of Germans oppose the country's almost eight-year long involvement in Afghanistan, although the mission is backed by all of the political parties, apart from the far-left Left Party. If anything, recent events have eroded public support even further with an airstrike involving a German officer most likely having led to civilian deaths compounded by the fiasco of the Afghan presidential elections. Nevertheless Guttenberg seems intent on raising the profile of Germany's mission rather than sweeping it under the carpet. Since taking office two weeks ago he has single-handedly overturned years of government efforts to present Germany's involvement in the ISAF mission as a kind of military led school-building exercise. The public have never bought this line. A war by any other name is still a war. Guttenberg has recognized that neither the public nor the military are served by these attempts at a semantic smokescreen. Indeed he has argued that politicians need to "bring the mission into the consciousness of the public." In his very first interview after taking on the defense portfolio in the new center-right coalition, Guttenberg broke the long-standing taboo, describing the conditions in Afghanistan as "war-like." And he has repeated this term in subsequent interviews, saying that when soldiers are faced with danger and the risk of death and injury then they might well describe their experience as war. Guttenberg's predecessor Jung refused to use the term, instead describing it repeatedly as a "stabilization mission."
Two-thirds of Germans oppose the country's almost eight-year long involvement in Afghanistan, although the mission is backed by all of the political parties, apart from the far-left Left Party. If anything, recent events have eroded public support even further with an airstrike involving a German officer most likely having led to civilian deaths compounded by the fiasco of the Afghan presidential elections.
Nevertheless Guttenberg seems intent on raising the profile of Germany's mission rather than sweeping it under the carpet. Since taking office two weeks ago he has single-handedly overturned years of government efforts to present Germany's involvement in the ISAF mission as a kind of military led school-building exercise. The public have never bought this line. A war by any other name is still a war.
Guttenberg has recognized that neither the public nor the military are served by these attempts at a semantic smokescreen. Indeed he has argued that politicians need to "bring the mission into the consciousness of the public." In his very first interview after taking on the defense portfolio in the new center-right coalition, Guttenberg broke the long-standing taboo, describing the conditions in Afghanistan as "war-like." And he has repeated this term in subsequent interviews, saying that when soldiers are faced with danger and the risk of death and injury then they might well describe their experience as war. Guttenberg's predecessor Jung refused to use the term, instead describing it repeatedly as a "stabilization mission."
It seems this yuppie, talked up by the media as 'rising star' is seen as the saviour by Atlanticists. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
To make up for a lack of manpower in the fight against the Taliban, the Afghan government has encouraged the formation of armed militias in Kunduz Province. But German soldiers fighting in the area are unsure how to deal with these roving bands of guerillas fighters.
"How do you signal resolve and at the same time signal you are not going to be there forever?" asked Gates, adding that it was a challenge to "get that balance right." Obama is said to have been presented with a series of options on Afghanistan, three of which envisage reinforcements ranging from 20,000 to 40,000 troops and a fourth that has an undisclosed military element. He was examining how to "combine some of the best features of several of the options to maximum good effect," Gates said.
Obama is said to have been presented with a series of options on Afghanistan, three of which envisage reinforcements ranging from 20,000 to 40,000 troops and a fourth that has an undisclosed military element.
He was examining how to "combine some of the best features of several of the options to maximum good effect," Gates said.
(Read on to article downthread: sounds like FUBAR.) *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
The West's military strategy in Afghanistan slipped even deeper into confusion yesterday after President Barack Obama flatly rejected all four options for increases in troop levels presented to him by his team of national security aides. The delay was prompted in part by a last-minute bombshell from the US ambassador in Kabul. In two cables to the President, Karl Eikenberry argued it would be a bad idea to increase troop levels because of the ineptitude of President Hamid Karzai, who finally secured a second term last week after the fraud-marred mess of the August elections. By speaking up, Mr Eikenberry has put himself on a direct collision course with the US military leader in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal. US commanders in Kabul greeted the envoy's intervention with dismay although some civilian officials believe the development gives Mr Obama a valuable breathing space in which to explore the least harmful ways out of a seemingly intractable situation. The procrastination may point to a possible swing in sentiment in Washington toward those who fear a Vietnam War-type quicksand.
The West's military strategy in Afghanistan slipped even deeper into confusion yesterday after President Barack Obama flatly rejected all four options for increases in troop levels presented to him by his team of national security aides.
The delay was prompted in part by a last-minute bombshell from the US ambassador in Kabul. In two cables to the President, Karl Eikenberry argued it would be a bad idea to increase troop levels because of the ineptitude of President Hamid Karzai, who finally secured a second term last week after the fraud-marred mess of the August elections. By speaking up, Mr Eikenberry has put himself on a direct collision course with the US military leader in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal. US commanders in Kabul greeted the envoy's intervention with dismay although some civilian officials believe the development gives Mr Obama a valuable breathing space in which to explore the least harmful ways out of a seemingly intractable situation. The procrastination may point to a possible swing in sentiment in Washington toward those who fear a Vietnam War-type quicksand.
PARIS -- As the Obama administration debates whether to commit more American troops to Afghanistan, Germany announced a modest increase in its contingent on Friday, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain said he was pressing European and other allies to deploy 5,000 more soldiers. Confronting deepening discontent in his own country about Britain's role and mounting casualties in Afghanistan, Mr. Brown told an interviewer on BBC radio that he was pressing allies to share the load in the war. With 9,000 troops in Afghanistan, Britain is the second largest contributor to the 43-nation alliance. The United States has 68,000 troops."I have taken the responsibility of asking others in Europe and outside Europe if they will back this strategy of partnering the Afghan forces, mentoring the Afghan forces," Mr. Brown said. He was speaking toward the end of a week during which he had taken a series of political blows over Afghanistan, including a fracas over a handwritten condolence letter he sent to the mother of a slain soldier. The mother, Jacqui Janes, publicly railed at its spelling errors and accused him of failing to provide equipment to protect British soldiers from the resurgent Taliban.
PARIS -- As the Obama administration debates whether to commit more American troops to Afghanistan, Germany announced a modest increase in its contingent on Friday, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain said he was pressing European and other allies to deploy 5,000 more soldiers.
Confronting deepening discontent in his own country about Britain's role and mounting casualties in Afghanistan, Mr. Brown told an interviewer on BBC radio that he was pressing allies to share the load in the war. With 9,000 troops in Afghanistan, Britain is the second largest contributor to the 43-nation alliance. The United States has 68,000 troops.
"I have taken the responsibility of asking others in Europe and outside Europe if they will back this strategy of partnering the Afghan forces, mentoring the Afghan forces," Mr. Brown said. He was speaking toward the end of a week during which he had taken a series of political blows over Afghanistan, including a fracas over a handwritten condolence letter he sent to the mother of a slain soldier. The mother, Jacqui Janes, publicly railed at its spelling errors and accused him of failing to provide equipment to protect British soldiers from the resurgent Taliban.
Self-proclaimed September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees will be sent to New York for trial in a civilian US court and prosecutors expect to seek the death penalty, Attorney General Eric Holder said today. At a news conference, the attorney general said five other suspects, including a major suspect in the bombing of the USS Cole warship, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, will be tried before a military commission.
Self-proclaimed September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees will be sent to New York for trial in a civilian US court and prosecutors expect to seek the death penalty, Attorney General Eric Holder said today.
At a news conference, the attorney general said five other suspects, including a major suspect in the bombing of the USS Cole warship, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, will be tried before a military commission.
REUTERS - Sri Lanka's top general, who engineered the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam after a 25-year war, submitted his resignation on Thursday amid speculation he will run for president. General Sarath Fonseka, the Chief of Defence Staff, is expected to challenge his commander in chief, President Mahinda Rajapaksa, in an election which may be held by April.
REUTERS - Sri Lanka's top general, who engineered the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam after a 25-year war, submitted his resignation on Thursday amid speculation he will run for president.
General Sarath Fonseka, the Chief of Defence Staff, is expected to challenge his commander in chief, President Mahinda Rajapaksa, in an election which may be held by April.
Iraqi former battle zone sees abnormal clusters of infant tumours and deformitiesDoctors in Iraq's war-ravaged enclave of Falluja are dealing with up to 15 times as many chronic deformities in infants and a spike in early life cancers that may be linked to toxic materials left over from the fighting.The extraordinary rise in birth defects has crystallised over recent months as specialists working in Falluja's over-stretched health system have started compiling detailed clinical records of all babies born.Neurologists and obstetricians in the city interviewed by the Guardian say the rise in birth defects - which include a baby born with two heads, babies with multiple tumours, and others with nervous system problems - are unprecedented and at present unexplainable.
Doctors in Iraq's war-ravaged enclave of Falluja are dealing with up to 15 times as many chronic deformities in infants and a spike in early life cancers that may be linked to toxic materials left over from the fighting.
The extraordinary rise in birth defects has crystallised over recent months as specialists working in Falluja's over-stretched health system have started compiling detailed clinical records of all babies born.
Neurologists and obstetricians in the city interviewed by the Guardian say the rise in birth defects - which include a baby born with two heads, babies with multiple tumours, and others with nervous system problems - are unprecedented and at present unexplainable.
Six years into the war, many U.S. bases in Iraq are still without incinerators, leaving open pits spewing toxic plumes over soldiers and civilians. Acetaldehyde, Acrolien, Arsenic, Benzene, Carbon Monoxide, Ethylbenzene, Formaldehyde, Hydrogen Cyanide, Hydrogen Fluoride, Phosgene, Sulfur Dioxide, Sulfuric Acid, Toluene, Trichloroethane, Xylene. These are just some of the chemicals detected in smoke from the Balad Burn Pit, one of the many vast open pits spewing toxic plumes over Iraq and Afghanistan. But not to worry; In "Just the Facts," an information sheet for troops, the Department of Defense has stated that "the potential short- and long-term risks" from Balad "were estimated to be low." The VA has just announced it will monitor reports of veterans' pit-related illness. But the DoD has yet to declassify old air sample reports or issue current findings. The Pentagon's fact sheet appeared after VAWatchdog.com linked to a memo showing that, as early as 2006, the DoD had known that the pit was "an acute health hazard." In the memo, titled "Burn Pit Health Hazards," Air Force Bioenvironmental Engineering Flight Commander Darrin Curtis wrote to authorities that he found it "amazing that the burn pit has been able to operate without restrictions over the past few years without significant engineering controls being put in place." In an accompanying memo, James R. Elliott, Chief of Air Force Aeromedical Services, concurred that the pit's fumes contained "known carcinogens" and "respiratory sensitizers" that posed a "chronic and acute health hazard to our troops and the local population." ...
Acetaldehyde, Acrolien, Arsenic, Benzene, Carbon Monoxide, Ethylbenzene, Formaldehyde, Hydrogen Cyanide, Hydrogen Fluoride, Phosgene, Sulfur Dioxide, Sulfuric Acid, Toluene, Trichloroethane, Xylene. These are just some of the chemicals detected in smoke from the Balad Burn Pit, one of the many vast open pits spewing toxic plumes over Iraq and Afghanistan.
But not to worry; In "Just the Facts," an information sheet for troops, the Department of Defense has stated that "the potential short- and long-term risks" from Balad "were estimated to be low." The VA has just announced it will monitor reports of veterans' pit-related illness. But the DoD has yet to declassify old air sample reports or issue current findings.
The Pentagon's fact sheet appeared after VAWatchdog.com linked to a memo showing that, as early as 2006, the DoD had known that the pit was "an acute health hazard." In the memo, titled "Burn Pit Health Hazards," Air Force Bioenvironmental Engineering Flight Commander Darrin Curtis wrote to authorities that he found it "amazing that the burn pit has been able to operate without restrictions over the past few years without significant engineering controls being put in place." In an accompanying memo, James R. Elliott, Chief of Air Force Aeromedical Services, concurred that the pit's fumes contained "known carcinogens" and "respiratory sensitizers" that posed a "chronic and acute health hazard to our troops and the local population." ...
Troops sue KBR | AFP - Raw Story | 11 Nov 2009
Dozens of US military personnel have filed 34 lawsuits against US defense contractor KBR for allegedly incinerating toxic waste and releasing it into the atmosphere in Iraq and Afghanistan. Susan Burke, one of the lawyers bringing the suits, said they have been filed over the past year, 18 of them in recent days. "All the cases are being put together before a federal judge in Greenbelt, Maryland," she told AFP Tuesday. Each of the lawsuits represent several soldiers but were filed on behalf of at least 100,000 others who are alleged to suffer from health problems resulting from exposure to emissions released by the incineration of waste at military bases.... Every type of waste imaginable was and is burned on these pits, including trucks, tires, lithium battery, Styrofoam, paper, rubber, petroleum-oil-lubricant products, metals, hydraulic fluids, munitions boxes, medical waste, biohazard materials (including human corpses), medical supplies (including those used during smallpox inoculations), paints, solvents, asbestos insulation, items containing pesticides, polyvinyl chloride pipes, animal carcasses, dangerous chemicals and hundreds of thousands of plastic water bottles," the lawsuit claims.
Susan Burke, one of the lawyers bringing the suits, said they have been filed over the past year, 18 of them in recent days.
"All the cases are being put together before a federal judge in Greenbelt, Maryland," she told AFP Tuesday.
Each of the lawsuits represent several soldiers but were filed on behalf of at least 100,000 others who are alleged to suffer from health problems resulting from exposure to emissions released by the incineration of waste at military bases....
Every type of waste imaginable was and is burned on these pits, including trucks, tires, lithium battery, Styrofoam, paper, rubber, petroleum-oil-lubricant products, metals, hydraulic fluids, munitions boxes, medical waste, biohazard materials (including human corpses), medical supplies (including those used during smallpox inoculations), paints, solvents, asbestos insulation, items containing pesticides, polyvinyl chloride pipes, animal carcasses, dangerous chemicals and hundreds of thousands of plastic water bottles," the lawsuit claims.
Rand damage report | Navy Times | 3 Oct 2008
The U.S. Army is creating a toxic mess in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to a new report that details cases of hazardous waste dumped in ditches, soldiers setting up tents on top of fuel spills and service members exposed to cyanide gas during overseas deployments. The report by the Rand Corp. think tank also says the Defense Department has no overarching policy to ensure environmental mishaps in Iraq and Afghanistan don't harm troops' health, create political disputes and avoid costly clean-up efforts when it's time to leave those countries.... The report, "Green Warriors: Army Environmental Considerations for Contingency Operations from Planning through Post-Conflict, states: A contractor hired by the Defense Department dumped waste oil in a landfill in Iraq and then sold the barrels. U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan buried several drums containing unidentified liquids, which later turned out to be hazardous, posing a risk of soil and groundwater contamination. In Iraq, an airfield sits over an old airfield with leaking fuel tanks. "Major health issues arise whenever it is necessary to dig." Commanders in Iraq have set up hazardous-waste disposal areas close to camp perimeters, creating a force-protection issue since they were potential targets for hand grenades and IEDs. High-grade diesel fuel was spilled in a lake in Iraq that was used for drinking water at a base. The lake is no longer used as a source of drinking water. U.S. forces in Iraq improperly dumped insecticides, batteries, oil products and other hazardous material. Soldiers joked that fuel spills were "replenishing the oil wells."...
The report by the Rand Corp. think tank also says the Defense Department has no overarching policy to ensure environmental mishaps in Iraq and Afghanistan don't harm troops' health, create political disputes and avoid costly clean-up efforts when it's time to leave those countries....
The report, "Green Warriors: Army Environmental Considerations for Contingency Operations from Planning through Post-Conflict, states:
QUESTION: A follow-up on Honduras. What does the U.S. think about the human rights situation there right now? There have been mass arrests, curfews, an emergency decree, and a ban on protests and media closures for three weeks during the presidential campaign. Does that undermine the electoral process, in the view of the U.S.? MR. KELLY: Regarding the - well, first of all, our real priority here is to see this accord implemented step by step. We've only gotten through step one, and we need step two and step three to be implemented. Regarding the - these reports, I'm actually not aware of these reports of any actions to - you say ban rallies and - no, I'm not just aware of those reports. I think that we would need to have more details about it for us to really comment on it.
MR. KELLY: Regarding the - well, first of all, our real priority here is to see this accord implemented step by step. We've only gotten through step one, and we need step two and step three to be implemented.
Regarding the - these reports, I'm actually not aware of these reports of any actions to - you say ban rallies and - no, I'm not just aware of those reports. I think that we would need to have more details about it for us to really comment on it.
... China has taken steps in recent months to safeguard the legal rights of those who run afoul of the authorities. New regulations drafted by the Ministry of Public Security and released on Monday by the State Council, or cabinet, ban forced labor at government-authorized detention centers, where people accused of crimes are held before trial. The new rules also bar officials at detention centers from charging detainees for expenses like food. But Nicholas Bequelin, a Hong Kong researcher for Human Rights Watch, said that the new rules did nothing to help detainees at unofficial jails.The unofficial jails have captured attention in recent months. According to Chinese news media, a guard at an unofficial jail in an inexpensive guesthouse pleaded guilty on Nov. 4 to raping a 20-year-old woman from Anhui Province who had come to Beijing to complain about harassment at her university. Nearly a dozen people reportedly witnessed the rape, and about 50 detainees, including the woman, managed to escape jail when the guard fled after the assault. The court dismissed charges against the guesthouse and two provincial liaison officials, according to the official China Daily newspaper.
... China has taken steps in recent months to safeguard the legal rights of those who run afoul of the authorities. New regulations drafted by the Ministry of Public Security and released on Monday by the State Council, or cabinet, ban forced labor at government-authorized detention centers, where people accused of crimes are held before trial. The new rules also bar officials at detention centers from charging detainees for expenses like food.
But Nicholas Bequelin, a Hong Kong researcher for Human Rights Watch, said that the new rules did nothing to help detainees at unofficial jails.
The unofficial jails have captured attention in recent months.
According to Chinese news media, a guard at an unofficial jail in an inexpensive guesthouse pleaded guilty on Nov. 4 to raping a 20-year-old woman from Anhui Province who had come to Beijing to complain about harassment at her university. Nearly a dozen people reportedly witnessed the rape, and about 50 detainees, including the woman, managed to escape jail when the guard fled after the assault.
The court dismissed charges against the guesthouse and two provincial liaison officials, according to the official China Daily newspaper.
