(23. Mai 2013)
Now, the speech:
The president who dramatically expanded the CIA secret drone war, ordered a troop surge in Afghanistan and aggressively prosecuted leakers made a forceful defense of his actions and an even more forceful case for winding down the war on terrorism.
The key line: „This war, like all wars, must end. That‘s what history advises. That‘s what our democracy demands.“
„Do you believe you bear any responsibility in the way that withdrawal played out?“ Harris was asked by a moderator.
„Well, I will tell you, I agreed with President Biden‘s decision to pull out of Afghanistan.“ she said.
„Four presidents said they would and Joe Biden did.“
During the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, 13 U.S. service members were killed in a terrorist attack.
(29. August 2014)
Seit Beginn des weltweiten Terrorkrieges in 2001 herrschten in den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika zwei Personen als Kriegspräsidenten und “mächtigste Männer der Welt”, George Bush Junior und Barack Obama. Der Kern ihrer Legitimation für
– fast jede seit dem 14. September 2001 angeordnete militärische Aktion, Operation und Invasion, wie der Eroberung von Afghanistan (2001), Irak (2003), Libyen (2011), Luftangriffen bzw Bodenoperationen z.B. in Somalia, Jemen, Pakistan, Kenia, etc, etc, pp,
– den versuchten Aufbau einer “Totalen Informationskenntnis” (“Total Information Awareness”) über alle Menschen, Gruppen, Strömungen und Organisationen im Macht- bzw Einflussbereich der U.S.A. (also dem, was die Gesellschaft heute als “Totalüberwachung” versteht),
– die folgende Erschaffung eines informationstechnologischen, Privatleben fressenden Frankensteins, eines weltweit vernetzten Golem der “Nationalen Sicherheit AG” bzw dem “sicherheitsindustriellen Komplex”, der allein 800.000 Personen (Stand: 2010) Zugang zu “streng geheimen” Informationen und damit Zugang zu praktisch allen u.a. aus Telekommunikationssystemen wie dem Internet gesammelten bzw geraubten Daten von Bürgerinnen und Bürgern in ungezählten Datenbanken und Tauschbörsen der Spione, Militärs und (Geheim)Polizeien und Behörden allein in den U.S.A. gibt, samt einer bis heute nicht verifizierten Zahl assoziierter Kräfte und Stellen, z.B. in der Republik Deutschland,
– die Errichtung des Lagers Guantanamo, sowie einer unbekannten Zahl geheimer Folterkammern und Kerker auf eigenem Territorium, in Besatzungszonen und / oder in kollaborierenden Staaten, in denen Menschen willkürlich eingesperrt, gequält oder ermordet wurden,
sowie weitere offene oder klandestine Maßnahmen, wie z.B. die “Uminterpretation” von geltendem Recht zu faktischem geheimen Kriegsrecht in ungezählten Staaten, ist ein am 14. September 2001 bei alleiniger Gegenstimme von Barbara Lee durch den Kongress gejagter und, zumindest in der Geschichte der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika, präzedenzloser Gesetzestext: die “Authorization for Use of Military Force”.
Hier dessen gerade einmal 60 Worte und keinerlei zeitliche oder räumliche Einschränkung enthaltende Wirkungstext, beschlossen am 14.09.2001 von beiden Kammern des Kongresses, Repräsentantenhaus und Senat:
(August 20, 2024)
The current blockage in the House—particularly given its potential use for a war with Iran— should prompt the White House to consider alternative means to disarm the 2002 Iraq AUMF. One reported reason that repeal legislation has yet to receive an up-or-down vote in the House is that some members are concerned about losing a potential authority for war with Iran. (The House of Representatives already voted to repeal the 2002 authorization in a previous Congress.) To be clear, it does not do so (see here and here). Nevertheless, a desire to keep the 2002 Iraq AUMF on the books as authority to fight Iran was certainly expressed by a number of senators who opposed repeal.
(March 23, 2023)
Senators rejected the amendment 86-9 as they are debating a separate repeal of two authorizations of military force in Iraq. There is broad bipartisan support to withdraw that congressional approval granted in 1991 and 2002 for military strikes against Saddam Hussein‘s regime.
While those two authorizations are rarely used and focused on just one country, Iraq, the 2001 measure gave President George W. Bush broad authority for the invasion of Afghanistan and the fight against terrorism, approving force „against those nations, organizations, or persons“ that planned or aided the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
(3. August 2021)
24. Juni 2019: Der damalige U.S.-Außenminister Mike Pompeo fordert eine „globale Koalition“ gegen den Iran. passenderweise vorgetragen bei einem Blitzbesuch Pompeos in Saudi-Arabien.
4. August 2019: Ich lege mich fest und prognostiziere, dass „Bundeswehr-Marine .. noch vor Weihnachten unter Oberbefehl einer ausländischen Macht in den Persischen Golf entsandt“ wird.
(…)
20. Januar 2020: Monate vor der Ausrufung des bis heute andauernden Ausnahmezustands und bereits im Windschatten von SARS II („Coronavirus“), beschließen die Staatsführungen von Frankreich, Deutschland, Griechenland, Italien, der Niederlande, Belgien, Dänemark und Portugal in einer gemeinsamen Erklärung die „European-led maritime surveillance mission in the Strait of Hormuz“ (E.M.A.S.O.H.), von der Sie und 80 Millionen Andere bis heute nie gehört haben.
(5. März 2022)
Was eine (weitere) verantwortliche, eine rationale, eine solidarische Maßnahme aus dem Weißen Haus wäre, ähnlich wie die Zurückhaltung was die Provokationen aus dem Kreml angeht: von sich aus auf eine N.A.T.O.-Mitgliedschaft der Ukraine zu verzichten. Neben der Lieferung von Defensivwaffen gäbe es nichts Besseres, was “der Westen” derzeit für die Ukraine tun kann. Man könnte vielleicht auch verkünden, man habe sich in den letzten 30 Jahren mit der N.A.T.O. genug gedehnt. Und zwanzig Jahre lang genug ruhmreichen Terrorkrieg geführt. Ein paar Millionen Tote würden nun reichen.
Das Ende des Afghanistan-Krieges, allein beendet durch den Befehl eines einzigen Mannes, Joe Biden, war diesbezüglich ein guter Anfang. Zur Erinnerung; die “Authorization for Use of Military Force” aus 2001, das entscheidende Kriegsermächtigungsgesetz was in Deutschland bis heute fast keiner kennt, ist vom Kongress immer noch nicht aufgehoben, obwohl dies bereits 2013 von Barack Obama angekündigt wurde.
(26.4.2018)
As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.
After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.
Since 11 January, the US and UK have hit over 230 Houthi targets in Yemen – including attack boats, helicopters, air defence systems, and missile storage facilities. The US is also leading Operation Prosperity Guardian, a naval task force designed to step up policing in the Red Sea.
President Biden himself has said the strikes have failed to deter the Houthis and that he expects them to continue targeting vessels in the Red Sea. He has vowed to press ahead with the military campaign without providing an end date.
(24.03.2022)
As a matter of domestic law, the operations against AQAP rest primarily on the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF), which is the central authority cited by the U.S. government for counterterrorism operations against al-Qaeda and “associated forces,” including AQAP and ISIS, in Yemen.
On February 20, it was clear that things were not going to be made easy for Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder who infuriated the US imperium, the national security establishment, and a stable of journalists upset that he had cut their ill-tended lawns. He was too ill to attend what may well be the final appeal against his extradition from the United Kingdom to the United States. Were he to be sent to the US, he faces a possible sentence amounting to 175 years arising from 18 venally cobbled charges, 17 spliced from that archaic horror, the Espionage Act of 1917….
(07.09.2021)
Heute, zwanzig Jahre später, ist der Nato-Bündnisfall immer noch in Kraft. Zumindest wurde er nicht aufgehoben. „Die Ausrufung des Bündnisfalls ist ein Ausdruck der Solidarität“, erklärte das Verteidigungsministerium auf Anfrage. „Eine formale Beendigung erfolgt entsprechend nicht.“
By this act, the American forces jeopardize civil peace, violate Iraqi sovereignty, and disregard the safety and lives of our citizens. Even more concerning is that the coalition consistently deviates from the reasons and objectives for its presence on our territory.
This trajectory compels the Iraqi government more than ever to terminate the mission of this coalition, which has become a factor for instability and threatens to entangle Iraq in the cycle of conflict, and our armed forces cannot neglect their constitutional duties and responsibilities, which demand safeguarding the security of Iraqis and the land of Iraq from all threats.
God‘s mercy and honor to the martyrs of this attack and to all martyrs of Iraq.
Major General Special Forces
Yehia Rasool
The Spokesperson for the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces
U.S. military officials said Wednesday’s strike was carried out about 9:30 p.m. “in response to the attacks on U.S. service members” and resulted in the death of a militia commander “responsible for directly planning and participating” in those attacks. The statement, which does not identify the individual who was killed, said there were no initial indications of civilian casualties.
Nach Angaben des Sprechers der irakischen Streitkräfte, Jahja Rasul, ereignete sich der Angriff in einer Wohngegend. Der US-Angriff habe stattgefunden „ohne Rücksicht auf das Leben von Zivilisten oder internationales Recht“. Es bereite noch mehr Sorge, dass die Koalition ständig von den eigentlichen „Gründen und Zielen ihrer Präsenz“ im Irak abweiche.
Rasul bezeichnete die Präsenz der US-geführten Koalition als „Faktor für Instabilität“: „Dieser Kurs zwingt die irakische Regierung mehr als jemals zuvor, den Einsatz dieser Koalition zu beenden.“
Such is modern warfare. It‘s all ‚your proxy force against mine‘, and theatrical ‚force-posturing‘ because, if any real war were to break out between countries with sizable arsenals, the global economy would be wrecked.
Relevant transcript, on Iran telling the US exactly where and when they would strike the US base in northern Iraq:
„I had Iran in check. We hit them very hard [via the assassination of Soleimani], and they had to hit back, I understand that.
Do you know they called me to tell me they‘re going to hit a certain location [at al-Asad airbase], it‘s gonna be outside the perimeter.
They let us know. We had 16 missiles [targeting the base]. They said ‚don‘t move, we‘re going to have to hit you back‘.
Psychologically, they had to do that because we hit them. So they aimed those missiles [outside the base] and said ‚please don‘t attack us, we‘re not gonna hit you‘.“
And, on Israel backing out of the plot:
„When we took out Soleimani, you know, Israel was supposed to do it with us. Two days before the takeout, they said, ‚We can‘t do it, we can‘t do it.‘
I said, ‚What? We can‘t do it?‘
Then I had a certain general, who‘s great, and I said, ‚So, General, do we do it ourselves?‘
He said, ‚We can, sir, it‘s up to you.‘ I said, ‚We‘ll do it.‘
But Israel was a part of it, you know. Bibi [Netanyahu] was a big part of it. And we had everything planned, everything.“
(04.02.2024)
The former president and current presidential candidate also told Fox News the Iranian regime was in the final stretch of their controversial nuclear drive, with the connivance of Joe Biden, the sitting U.S. president and Trump‘s main political rival.
„Iran is going to have a nuclear weapon in 60 days, and Biden is allowing them to do it! Now they are a very rich country and they are taking over Iraq.“
(11.10.2023)
Trump ordered Soleimani’s assassination via a drone strike on Jan. 3, 2020, near Baghdad International Airport in Iraq. Speaking in West Palm Beach, Florida on Wednesday, Trump said Netanyahu was no help in that effort, but that afterward he tried to take credit for it:
(03.02.2024)
(03.02.2024)
Biden’s deep-seated fear: that Netanyahu is eager to drag the U.S. into a wider war in the Middle East, a conflict that would ensure American weapons keep flowing to the region, troops soon follow and, in the maelstrom, international pressure on him to agree to a Gaza cease-fire and his domestic political difficulties both dissipate.
Not that the president would ever say such things in public.
Speaking to NBC, Sullivan was asked repeatedly if the US was considering attacks inside Iran.
„Well, sitting here today on a national news programme, I‘m not going to get into what we‘ve ruled in and ruled out from the point of view of military action,“ he said.
„What I will say is that the president is determined to respond forcefully to attacks on our people. The president also is not looking for a wider war in the Middle East.“
Das russische Außenministerium in Moskau hatte erklärt: „Washington, das sich seiner Straffreiheit sicher ist, setzt seine Saat des Chaos und der Zerstörung im Nahen Osten fort.“ Das Außenministerium fügte hinzu, es habe die Angriffe „entschieden verurteilt“.
Two US destroyers fired Tomahawk missiles as part of the strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, a US official told CNN. The USS Gravely and USS Carney, both of which are Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers, fired the land-attack cruise missiles during the operation.
F/A-18 fighter jets from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier also took part in the strikes, officials said.
(09.01.2024)
(03.01.2024)
Responding to an inquiry from the Jordanian News Agency (Petra), an official of the Armed Forces dismissed the allegations as unfounded, emphasizing the Jordanian army‘s respect for Iraq‘s sovereignty and highlighting the enduring fraternal ties between the Kingdom and other Arab states.
The Armed Forces‘ General Command also advised the public to ignore rumors circulating on social media and to seek information from official channels, reinforcing its commitment to transparency and accurate dissemination of information.
(03.01.2024)
The Royal Jordanian Air Force did not take part in air strikes carried out by US forces in Iraq last night, an official of the General Command of the Jordanian Armed Forces said.
(03.01.2024)
The source, as reported by the official Jordanian news agency Petra, stated that „there is no truth to the reports circulated this morning regarding the participation of Jordanian aircraft in the operations carried out by US aircraft in Iraq.“
„the Jordanian Armed Forces – Arab Army respects the sovereignty of brotherly Iraq,“ the source affirmed „the depth of fraternal relations that unite Jordan with all Arab countries.“
(03.01.2024)
Despite the US Administration‘s announcement that the Iraqi authorities were notified about the strikes, Iraq condemned these attacks and did not confirm the American allegations.
Iraqi government spokesman Bassem Al-Awadi denied any „prior coordination“ between Baghdad and Washington in this regard.
Al-Awadi stated, „The American administration committed a new aggression against the sovereignty of Iraq,“ noting that the strikes caused casualties, injuries, and damage to residential buildings and property. He accused the US of „falsifying facts by claiming prior coordination, emphasizing that this aggression jeopardizes security in Iraq and the region.“
(03.01.2024)
Iraq‘s Popular Mobilization Forces, a state security force including Iran-backed groups, said 16 of its members were killed including fighters and medics. The government earlier said civilians were among 16 dead.
In Syria, the strikes killed 23 people who had been guarding the targeted locations, said Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which reports on war in Syria.
(03.01.2024)
Unter den 16 Toten im Irak seien auch Zivilisten, teilte ein Regierungssprecher in Bagdad mit. Wie viele genau, sagte er nicht. Zudem habe es 36 Verletzte gegeben sowie Schäden an Wohngebäuden und an Privatbesitz von Irakern. Hinzu kommen mindestens 29 getötete Mitglieder proiranischer Milizen in Syrien, welche die syrische Beobachtungsstelle für Menschenrechte mit Sitz in London registrierte.
(26.4.2018)
As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.
After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.
Barbara Lee explains her rationale for voting against the Authorization to Use Military Force in Afghanistan, citing the overly broad nature of the bill.
(August 18, 2021)
In the days after the 9/11 attacks in 2001, just one member of Congress voted against giving President Bush authority to go to war in Afghanistan.
Barbara Lee, a Democratic representative from California, warned at the time that approving the so-called Authorisation for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) could mean the US would be embarking “on an open-ended war with neither an exit strategy nor a focused target.”
(3. August 2021)
24. Juni 2019: Der damalige U.S.-Außenminister Mike Pompeo fordert eine „globale Koalition“ gegen den Iran. passenderweise vorgetragen bei einem Blitzbesuch Pompeos in Saudi-Arabien.
4. August 2019: Ich lege mich fest und prognostiziere, dass „Bundeswehr-Marine .. noch vor Weihnachten unter Oberbefehl einer ausländischen Macht in den Persischen Golf entsandt“ wird.
(…)
20. Januar 2020: Monate vor der Ausrufung des bis heute andauernden Ausnahmezustands und bereits im Windschatten von SARS II („Coronavirus“), beschließen die Staatsführungen von Frankreich, Deutschland, Griechenland, Italien, der Niederlande, Belgien, Dänemark und Portugal in einer gemeinsamen Erklärung die „European-led maritime surveillance mission in the Strait of Hormuz“ (E.M.A.S.O.H.), von der Sie und 80 Millionen Andere bis heute nie gehört haben.
(25.Juni 2019)
Als vor dreieinhalb Jahren Pazifisten, Sozialdemokraten und politische Linke in Deutschland der Entsendung der staatlichen Luftwaffe in die Kriege im Irak und Syrien tatenlos zusahen, warnten wir bereits vor deren moralisch-politischem Zusammenbruch und Kapitulation. Die genau zu diesem Zweck exekutierte psychologische Kriegführung gegen die Bevölkerung setzt sich bis heute praktisch ohne Widerstand politisch links stehender Kräfte fort. Die Logik des Terrorkrieges (Behauptungen von Behörden / Autoritäten darf nicht widersprochen und muss alles abgekauft werden) wird von den Betreffenden weiter willig geschluckt.
Weder hinsichtlich der Tanker-Explosionen im Golf von Oman, nach der bereits das U.S.-Imperium einen “globalen Konsens” gegen den Iran beanspruchte, noch nach dem Abschuss einer U.S.-Spionage-Drohne an der Straße von Hormuz, welcher offensichtlich nach einer absichtlichen Luftraumverletzung des Iran und mehrfachen direkten Vorwarnungen durch das iranische Militär erfolgte und in dem das U.S.-Zentralkommando – nach glaubwürdigen Angaben des iranischen Militärs, mit Details zum Flugzeugtyp (eine Boeing P8 Poseidon) und sogar zur Anzahl der Insassen – auch das Leben von 35 Militärangehörigen an Bord eines begleitenden Kampfflugzeuges gezielt und bewusst als Bauernopfer für die angestrebte Eskalation anbot, erfolgte irgendeine nennenswerte Reaktion in Deutschland; nicht aus dem angeblich oder tatsächlich pazifistischen, sozialdemokratischen oder linken Spektrum, noch aus irgendeinem zuständigen parlamentarischen Gremium.
President Joe Biden is under increasing pressure to respond in a way that stops these attacks for good. Iran-backed militants have targeted US military facilities in Iraq and Syria over 160 times since October, and several Republican lawmakers have called for the US to hit inside Iran directly to send a clear message.
But the biggest challenge now for the Biden administration is how to respond to the drone strike – the deadliest attack on US forces in the region since the bombing at Abbey Gate killed 13 US service members in the closing days of the Afghanistan withdrawal – without sparking a regional war.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of anti-terror fighters, claimed attacks on three bases, including one on the Jordan-Syria border.
Since the beginning of Israel’s war against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on October 7, there have been around 160 attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria. Most of those have been claimed by regional resistance forces.
Iran has frequently said resistance groups act on their own in response to Israeli crimes in Gaza.
The official spokesperson for the Jordanian government Muhannad Mubaideen told Ammon News Agency that al-Tanf base that was attacked on Sunday is not in Jordan.
„Terrorist militias carried out the attack that targeted the al-Tanf… and the base is outside our borders,“ Mubaideen told Jordan TV.
An attack that killed three American servicemen was not on Jordanian soil but in Syria, a spokesperson for Jordan‘s government said.
Muhannad al Mubaidin told Jordanian public broadcaster al Mamlaka television that the attack had targeted the US al-Tanf base in Syria.
Three US troops were killed and others wounded after an unmanned aerial drone attack on US forces stationed in northeastern Jordan near the Syrian border, President Joe Biden said on Sunday.
„While we are still gathering the facts of this attack, we know it was carried out by radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq,“ Biden said in a statement.
The dual rebukes of Iran and the US underscore the tightrope Baghdad is walking as the war in Gaza seeps out beyond the besieged Mediterranean enclave’s borders.
Across the region, Tehran and Washington are flexing their muscles, vying to outflank each other in a deadly proxy war. The shadowy conflict has taken on different flavours that reflect local and geopolitical realities.
„While positive steps have been taken to reshape the future relationship and missions of the Coalition members and advisors in Iraq, the recent actions are hindering this progress, undermining agreements and various sectors of joint security cooperation,“ Rasool said.
„This unacceptable act undermines years of cooperation, blatantly violates Iraq‘s sovereignty, and contributes to an irresponsible escalation.“
Maj. Gen. Rasool said the strikes came at a time when the region is already grappling with the „danger of expanding conflict, the repercussions of the aggression on Gaza, and the consequences of the immoral war of extermination faced by the Palestinian people.“
(today)
Both the strikes in Iraq and Yemen targeted sites that the U.S. has said are involved in the attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria and were threatening U.S. military and commercial vessels in the Red Sea.
The airstrikes, carried out on Monday night, marked the eighth round of allied attacks in 12 days. They targeted an underground storage site and locations linked to the Houthis’ “missile and air surveillance capabilities,” the US and UK said in a statement along with partners Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands.
According to officials, the Jan. 11 raid targeted an unflagged ship carrying illicit Iranian-made weapons to the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Officials have said that as the team was boarding the ship, one of the SEALs went under in the heavy seas, and a teammate went in to try and save him.
(…)
The U.S. Navy ultimately sunk the ship carrying the weapons after deeming it unsafe, Central Command said. The ship’s 14 crew were detained.
Meanwhile, the war in Gaza rages on. Whatever the real reasons for the conflicts throughout the region (and those reasons are many), some of the combatants in all of them at least say that they’re spinoffs of that larger, historic war, so the spinoff battles are likely to rage on.