Archiv: das Gesetz der Moral / the Moral Law
UN Security Council vote on UAE-drafted resolution to enhance Gaza aid postponed again due to US request.
Ongoing negotiations focus on language regarding hostilities cessation. Resolution aims to reduce Israel‘s control over Gaza aid delivery. #UNSC #Gaza
Red Cross chief accuses international community of ‘moral failure’
Mirjana Spoljaric, the Red Cross president, has accused the international community of moral failure over the humanitarian crisis and ongoing bombardment of Gaza.
“I have been speaking of moral failure because every day this continues is a day more where the international community hasn‘t proven capable of ending such high levels of suffering, and this will have an impact on generations, not only in Gaza,” she said.
United Nations Honor, United States Shame in Gaza
There is a larger and far more important point. Hamas can be demobilized through diplomacy, and only through diplomacy. Israel and the United States need finally to abide by international law, accept a sovereign state of Palestine alongside Israel, and welcome Palestine as the 194th member state of the UN. The US needs to stop arming the Israeli operation of ethnic cleansing in Gaza and stop protecting Israel’s rampant violations of basic human rights in the West Bank. Fifty-six years after its illegal occupation of Palestinian lands, and after decades of illegal settlements in the occupied territories, Israel needs finally to withdraw from the occupied Palestinian lands.
Biden Cast Doubt On Gaza’s Death Statistics — But Officials Cite Them Internally
(Oct 26, 2023)
The credibility of the ministry’s data is significant because there are few other sources of information about the situation in the blockaded region, and because some defenders of Israel’s actions in Gaza claim the ministry overstates the humanitarian toll of Israeli attacks for political reasons.
Most organizations and analysts tracking Gaza do treat the ministry as a reliable source, however, including the United Nations. The State Department has also publicly cited the ministry’s figures, for example in a report published earlier this year on the human rights situation in Israel-Palestine.
EXCLU: Biden yesterday questioned the death toll from Palestinians. I reviewed ~20 State Dept cables that cited the Gaza Health Ministry to report casualties & rarely included caveats. In one instance that did, the report said the toll was likely higher.
(26.10.2023)
What kind of drooling, knuckle-dragging, tapioca-brained moron looks at these photos and believes Gaza is lying about its death toll?
Before and after satellite images show destruction in Gaza
(25.10.2023)
New satellite images released by Maxar show significant damage to sites across Gaza.
Likud Minister Formulates Emergency Regulations to Imprison Citizens Who ‚Harm National Morale‘
Communications Minister Karhi is promoting regulations that would allow him to direct police to arrest civilians, remove them from their homes, or seize their property if he believes they have spread information that could harm national morale or served as the basis for enemy propaganda
Israel at War: Moral Red Lines
As we enter into week two of this horrifying war, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi struggle with the question of if there are moral red lines when responding to absolute evil and if there are, how do we define them. Noting that Israelis are entering this discussion wounded, grieving, enraged, and scared, they acknowledge our need to fight the war fully while grappling with who we want to be not just who we are at this moment.
Several top nuclear scientists said weighing resigning from atomic commission to protest overhaul
The report, which did not cite sources, stressed there was no collective action, with the scientists deciding for themselves how they will act. It added that the scientists were still deliberating the matter with each other and their predecessors, along with “heads of the scientific-military community,” but have not raised it with any superiors.
IDF says battle-readiness weeks from being impacted as reservists decamp en masse
Thousands of reservists have threatened to end their volunteer reserve duty in protest of the overhaul in recent weeks, sparking alarm from defense brass, including IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, who issued a rare video statement Tuesday calling for unity within the military.
The IDF has said that the “cohesion,” or unity of the IDF has already been harmed amid the protests against the judicial overhaul, and it will take time to fix.
Kiev’s gloating over Crimean Bridge deaths ‘monstrous’ – Moscow
The previous successful Ukrainian attack on the Crimean bridge happened in October 2022, when a truck carrying a disguised bomb blew up on it. The explosion killed three civilians, including the driver of the vehicle. Kiev never claimed credit for the blast, but earlier this month a Ukrainian deputy defense minister mentioned the date as Kiev’s “first strike on the Crimean bridge.”
SBU to reveal all details of ‚cotton‘ on Crimean bridge after victory – Dehtiarenko
„In the meantime, we are watching with interest how one of the symbols of the Putin regime once again failed to withstand the military load,“ he said.
Dehtiarenko said that „in one of his interviews, SBU Head Vasyl Maliuk stated that the norms of international law, analysis of the operational situation and the traditions of warfare make it possible to cut the enemy‘s logistical routes. The Crimean bridge today is one of the transport corridors of military supplies for the Russian army.“
US sending controversial cluster munitions to Ukraine until other ammo is ready: Kirby
„This is literally a gun fight. … They‘re running out of inventory,“ he said. „We are trying to ramp up our production of the kind of artillery shells that they‘re using most. But that production rate is still not where we wanted it to be.“
„So you‘re sending those cluster munitions because we don‘t have enough of the kind of munitions they need?“ Raddatz clarified.
„That is right,“ Kirby said.
He also suggested the bombs are intended to be temporary, „to help bridge the gap as we ramp up production of normal … artillery shells.“
Here’s why supplying Ukraine with cluster munitions would be a terrible mistake
We voted for billions of dollars in military aid for Ukraine and strongly believe we must continue to help the Ukrainian people defend themselves against Russian aggression. But supplying Kyiv with cluster munitions would come at an unsupportable moral and political price. Knowing that these weapons cause indiscriminate terror and mayhem, both of us — like many others in the international community — have worked for years to end their use.
Reporter for right-wing network attacked while covering anti-government protest
Shalev said he is accustomed to facing animosity at anti-government demonstrations because he reports for Channel 14, which critics consider a mouthpiece for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but that the incident the night before had for the first time included physical violence.
He said protesters used their flagpoles to beat him and his crew on the head and body.
“At that point I felt afraid. Until now I have not felt afraid in all the demonstrations I have been to, but here with the flags when it reached the physical level I started to be afraid,” Shalev said.
No White House visit for Israel‘s Netanyahu as U.S. concern rises
Analysis: Washington sends clear message to Israeli leader; ‚If you pursue objectionable policies, there‘s no entitlement to the Oval Office sit-down,‘ says expert
Ukraine‘s Zelenskyy congratulates Netanyahu on winning elections
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday congratulated Benjamin Netanyahu on winning the Israeli elections.
Betrifft: Schwarze Liste der Ukraine – hier ist der Bundeskanzler gefordert
Das dem ukrainischen Präsidenten unterstehende Zentrum zur Desinformationsbekämpfung (CCD) hat neben Persönlichkeiten aus anderen Ländern mehrere Deutsche auf eine Schwarze Liste gesetzt – u.a. den Vorsitzenden der SPD-Bundestagsfraktion, Rolf Mützenich, Alice Schwarzer und Wolfgang Bittner, Autor der NachDenkSeiten. Das ist ein Vorgang, der angesichts der aufgeheizten Stimmung und der daraus möglicherweise folgenden Gewalt gegen die auf der Liste stehenden Personen nicht zu akzeptieren ist. Hier ist, wenn schon auf die Außenministerin voraussichtlich kein Verlass ist, der Bundeskanzler gefordert. – Wolfgang Bittner hat eine Stellungnahme zum Vorgang verfasst. Hier ist sie.
Rights Groups Demand Israel Stop Arming neo-Nazis in Ukraine
(Jul. 9, 2018)
A group of more than 40 human rights activists have filed a petition with the High Court of Justice, demanding the cessation of Israeli arms exports to Ukraine.
They argue that these weapons serve forces that openly espouse a neo-Nazi ideology and cite evidence that the right-wing Azov militia, whose members are part of Ukraine’s armed forces, and are supported by the country’s ministry of internal affairs, is using these weapons.
La France insoumise condamne l’invasion militaire de l’Ukraine avec la plus grande fermeté
(24.02.2022)
Communiqué de La France insoumise
L’invasion militaire de l’Ukraine par la Russie est un acte de guerre extrêmement grave que nous condamnons avec la plus grande fermeté.
C’est une violation inacceptable des principes du droit international dont Vladimir Poutine porte la responsabilité et qui fait peser le risque d’une guerre généralisée sur le continent.
À cette heure, nos pensées vont vers les populations civiles prises au piège et qui vivent dans la peur. L’urgence est à agir pour les protéger et exiger un cessez le feu immédiat et le retrait des troupes russes. La France doit porter cette exigence devant l’ONU.
Ukrainische Menschenrechtsbeauftragte stürzt über erfundene „Massenvergewaltigungen“
Lyudmyla Denisova war in den letzten Wochen in den westlichen Medien eine vielzitierte Quelle. Die mit schrecklichen Details gespickten Aussagen der Ombudsfrau des ukrainischen Parlaments für Menschenrechte zu „Massenvergewaltigungen“ ukrainischer Frauen und Kinder durch russische Soldaten passten offenbar gut ins Narrativ. Dann kam jedoch heraus, dass sie sich die meisten Schilderungen schlichtweg ausgedacht hatte. Es folgte ein Misstrauensvotum und die Entlassung. Nun erklärte sich Denisova in den ukrainischen Medien. Sie habe mit den Gräuelmärchen doch nur der Ukraine helfen wollen, indem sie den Westen zu Waffenlieferungen bringt. Davon erfahren wir in deutschen Medien natürlich nichts und es ist davon auszugehen, dass Denisovas Gräuelpropaganda auch weiterhin von deutschen Journalisten und Politikern weiterverbreitet wird.
World Economic Forum: Volodymyr Zelensky to join annual Davos meeting
Scheduled for Graubünden, a canton in eastern Switzerland, it is the first in-person meeting for three years and will feature the 44-year-old, who is set to address world political, economic and social leaders on May 23.
#JulianAssange‘s experience shows that those who expose so-called „atrocities“ of other countries are „heroes,“ and those who expose scandals of the U.S. are „criminals,“ says Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin.
Chilean and US authorities silent on Gonzalo Lira
Chilean-American citizen Gonzalo Lira López is still missing in Ukraine after publicly opposing the Zelensky government. The journalist, writer, filmmaker and vlogger resides in Kharkov and has not been heard of since Friday, April 15th.
Kawsachun News has been following developments and Chilean sources closely, however, there have been no official declarations from the Chilean Foreign Ministry nor the U.S. State Department or White House on matter.
Wo ist Gonzalo Lira????
Der ukrainische Geheimdienst SBU hatte schon vor etwa 4 Wochen versucht, ihn zu kidnappen!
Am Sonntag hätte Gonzalo in George Galloways MOAT auftreten sollen, war aber nicht erreichbar.
Ich werde diese Links nicht teilen, aber der ukrainische NAZI-Abschaum von Azov prahlt seit heute morgen damit, ihn ermordet zu haben. Liefert aber keine Beweise, noch gibt es Hoffnung!
Gonzalo Lira Reported Missing in Ukraine
(Apr 18, 2022)
Lira ran a YouTube channel with 143,000 subscribers, which he used to share his viewpoints on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. His social media accounts had become controversial in recent weeks. Lira’s last tweets were critical of Ukraine and multiple media outlets. In a pinned tweet, he listed journalists that he claimed were victims of the “Zelensky regime” and wrote, “If you haven’t heard from me in 12 hours or more, put my name on this list.”
Under Zelensky‘s watch, Ukraine‘s SBU has partnered with neo-Nazis from Azov and C14 to hunt down left-wing activists This is from video posted by Azov members during the SBU‘s torture & kidnapping of leftist Alexander Matjuschenko in Dnipro – targeted for his political view
Zelensky’s Hardline Internal Purge
In a March 19 executive order, Zelensky invoked martial law to ban 11 opposition parties. The outlawed parties consisted of the entire left-wing, socialist or anti-NATO spectrum in Ukraine.
They included the For Life Party, the Left Opposition, the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine, the Socialist Party of Ukraine, Union of Left Forces, Socialists, the Party of Shariy, Ours, State, Opposition Bloc and the Volodymyr Saldo Bloc.
Openly fascist and pro-Nazi parties like the Azov National Corps were left untouched by the presidential decree, however.
“The activities of those politicians aimed at d
David besiegt Goliath – weshalb Russland im Kampf um Kiew gescheitert ist
Das Ausharren des Präsidenten im Zentrum Kiews stellte ein starkes Symbol des Widerstandes dar. Als am zweiten Kriegstag Gerüchte über eine Flucht Selenskis aufkamen, handelte der Präsident rasch: Er nahm spätabends vor dem Präsidentenpalast ein Video auf, umringt von seinen wichtigsten Beratern.
4. Busted! We‘ve found the ‚wounded‘ pregnant patient of the ‚bombed‘ maternity hospital in #Mariupol. Yes, she is pregnant, but she wasn‘t there of course, she‘s a local beauty-blogger Marianna Podgurskaya instagram.com/gixie_beauty, photographer was instagram.com/evgenymaloletka
Russia sees military coordination with Israel on Syria continuing amid Ukraine crisis
(26 February ,2022)
Russia sees its military coordination with Israel over Syria continuing, the Russian embassy said on Saturday, after Moscow signaled displeasure with Israeli statements about the Ukraine crisis.
Following the 2015 Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war, Israel set up a “deconfliction mechanism” with the big power to prevent them clashing inadvertently during Israeli strikes against Iranian deployments and arms transfers in the neighboring Arab state.
Rights Groups Demand Israel Stop Arming neo-Nazis in Ukraine
(Jul. 9, 2018)
A group of more than 40 human rights activists have filed a petition with the High Court of Justice, demanding the cessation of Israeli arms exports to Ukraine.
They argue that these weapons serve forces that openly espouse a neo-Nazi ideology and cite evidence that the right-wing Azov militia, whose members are part of Ukraine’s armed forces, and are supported by the country’s ministry of internal affairs, is using these weapons.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces are feeding captured soldiers. Russians are occupiers and invaders, but Ukrainians have mercy and treat the captives well.
Every Ukrainian knows that Putin started a war and he’s the one responsible for killing civilians. #StopRussia #UkraineRussiaWar
She Signed an Open Letter Calling for Peace. Then Got Fired.
“I didn’t waver over signing it and I don’t regret it. But I didn’t expect that it would result in forced dismissal,” Dolinina said in an interview.
“I knew, as somebody working in a cultural institute connected to the government, that if I was detained at a protest or posted something aggressive on social media I could get fired. But I never guessed it would happen for signing an open letter calling for peace.”
“But that’s a sign of the new world we’re all living in now.”
Russian mothers ‚receive official letters‘ telling them their sons have died in Ukraine
Russia‘s war with Ukraine is not yet a week old and Russian mothers are already demanding answers from the country‘s Ministry of Defence about the whereabouts of their sons who have allegedly been sent to fight in Ukraine.
‘Just a sea of tears’: the group helping anxious mothers of Russian soldiers
Golub is the head of the Soldiers’ Mothers Committee, an NGO advocating for soldiers’ rights that has become the main contact point for the worried relatives of Russian soldiers.
“See, I told you,” Golub shrugged, picking up another call during a conversation in her office in a residential area in north-east Moscow.
“This just keeps going and going. Everyone is very busy, we constantly receive people, get requests. We represent the interests of families in court and bring their concerns to the authorities,” Golub said.
Violette Zone – Die Zonen der Freiheit:
VitaMap und andere hier gelistete Plattformen sind Online-Marktplätze bei denen Firmen, Vereine, Organisationen sowie Privatpersonen Inserate schalten und Dritten Waren /Dienstleistungen /Informationen zum Kauf oder Tausch anbieten oder suchen können.
All diese Firmen garantieren mit ihrem Eintrag das sie auf jegliche Form von Diskriminierung verzichten und alle Menschen gleich behandeln, unabhängig von ihrer persönlichen Meinung, Hautfarbe, Religion, sexueller Orientierung oder Weltanschauung.
Moral Injury & America’s Endless Conflicts
PTSD symptoms are a psychological reaction to an experience of life-threatening physical danger or harm. Moral injury is the lasting mental and emotional result of an assault on the conscience — a memory, as one early formulation put it, of “perpetrating, failing to prevent, or bearing witness to acts that transgress deeply held moral beliefs and expectations.”
The idea remains controversial in the military world, but the wars that Americans have fought since 2001 — involving a very different experience of war fighting from that of past generations — have made it increasingly difficult for military culture to cling to its old manhood and warrior myths.
A Brief History of Bullshit: Why We‘ve Learned to Ignore Truth
What happened to Western culture for people to have become oblivious or indifferent to the notion of truth? After all, if liars get away so easily with their lies, it must be because we no longer value truth so dearly.
Invading Iran will ruin America
This “help me, help yourself” approach to international relations has yielded a major minus: America for perhaps the first time since World War II does not hold the moral high ground in dealing with an adversary it perceives a major menace to global peace and security.
It is important to recognize that America’s sustainability as a superpower has not simply manifested from its military prowess. Sure, there is that but every major power needs a virtuous ideology others can get behind, or at least rationalize their helplessness with, and Washington’s has been “moral exceptionalism.”
Obama Gives Commanders Wide Berth for Secret Warfare
(25. Mai 2010) Gen. Stanley McChrystal, at the time the director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, advised President Obama to allow combatant commanders more latitude to combat terrorism using task forces. Coming from McChrystal, it was a surprising endorsement of a policy that would shift responsibility for unconventional warfare from JSOC, which he had commanded, to the combatant commanders.
U.S. Is Said to Expand Secret Actions in Mideast
(24. Mai 2010) The order, which an official said was drafted in close coordination with Adm. Eric T. Olson, the officer in charge of the United States Special Operations Command, calls for clandestine activities that “cannot or will not be accomplished” by conventional military operations or “interagency activities,” a reference to American spy agencies.
While the C.I.A. and the Pentagon have often been at odds over expansion of clandestine military activity, most recently over intelligence gathering by Pentagon contractors in Pakistan and Afghanistan, there does not appear to have been a significant dispute over the September order.
A spokesman for the C.I.A. declined to confirm the existence of General Petraeus’s order, but said that the spy agency and the Pentagon had a “close relationship” and generally coordinate operations in the field.
The Special Ops Command That‘s Displacing The CIA
(1. Dezember 2009) The military at large has also felt the growing influence of JSOC. Indeed, General Stanley McChrystal, now the top military commander in Afghanistan, led JSOC from 2003 to 2008. McChrystal‘s extensive special operations in Iraq, credited as crucial in the country‘s stabilization, earned both him and JSOC wide support in the military and in Washington. In his high-powered role in Afghanistan, McChrystal is increasingly turning to his old command. Spencer Ackerman reports that JSOC‘s current leadership is „playing a large and previously unreported role in shaping the Obama administration‘s Afghanistan and Pakistan strategy.“ That new influence includes strategic decision-making and direct involvement in the more traditional warfare conducted by the conventional military. Ackerman writes:
„In his Afghanistan review, McChrystal said that a key goal for him would be to increase coordination between his NATO command and the independent command of JSOC, which suggested that the dichotomy between using Special Operations Forces for counterterrorism and conventional forces for counterinsurgency was eroding.“
Defending the Arsenal: In an unstable Pakistan, can nuclear warheads be kept safe?
(16. November 2009) An American former senior intelligence official said that a team that has trained for years to remove or dismantle parts of the Pakistani arsenal has now been augmented by a unit of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), the élite counterterrorism group. He added that the unit, which had earlier focussed on the warheads’ cores, has begun to concentrate on evacuating the triggers, which have no radioactive material and are thus much easier to handle.
“The Pakistanis gave us a virtual look at the number of warheads, some of their locations, and their command-and-control system,” the former senior intelligence official told me. “We saw their target list and their mobilization plans. We got their security plans, so we could augment them in case of a breach of security,” he said. “We’re there to help the Pakistanis, but we’re also there to extend our own axis of security to their nuclear stockpile.” The detailed American planning even includes an estimate of how many nuclear triggers could be placed inside a C-17 cargo plane, the former official said, and where the triggers could be sequestered.
“General” McChrystal got fired like a dog by Obama. Last assignment a total bust. Known for big, dumb mouth. Hillary lover!
US-Politik im News-Ticker – „Totale Pleite“: Trump schießt auf Twitter gegen Vier-Sterne-General
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The Secret US War in Pakistan
(23. November 2009) “I think Cheney and Rumsfeld went directly into JSOC. I think they went into JSOC at times, perhaps most frequently, without the SOCOM [Special Operations] commander at the time even knowing it. The receptivity in JSOC was quite good,” says Wilkerson. “I think Cheney was actually giving McChrystal instructions, and McChrystal was asking him for instructions.” He said the relationship between JSOC and Cheney and Rumsfeld “built up initially because Rumsfeld didn’t get the responsiveness. He didn’t get the can-do kind of attitude out of the SOCOM commander, and so as Rumsfeld was wont to do, he cut him out and went straight to the horse’s mouth. At that point you had JSOC operating as an extension of the [administration] doing things the executive branch–read: Cheney and Rumsfeld–wanted it to do. This would be more or less carte blanche. You need to do it, do it. It was very alarming for me as a conventional soldier.”
C.I.A. Sought Blackwater’s Help to Kill Jihadists
(19. August 2009) The C.I.A. this summer conducted an internal review of the assassination program that recently was presented to the White House and the Congressional intelligence committees. The officials said that the review stated that Mr. Panetta’s predecessors did not believe that they needed to tell Congress because the program was not far enough developed.
The House Intelligence Committee is investigating why lawmakers were never told about the program. According to current and former government officials, former Vice President Dick Cheney told C.I.A. officers in 2002 that the spy agency did not need to inform Congress because the agency already had legal authority to kill Qaeda leaders.
Cheney Is Linked to Concealment of C.I.A. Project
(11. Juli 2009) The Central Intelligence Agency withheld information about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress for eight years on direct orders from former Vice President Dick Cheney, the agency’s director, Leon E. Panetta, has told the Senate and House intelligence committees, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said Saturday.
The report that Mr. Cheney was behind the decision to conceal the still-unidentified program from Congress deepened the mystery surrounding it, suggesting that the Bush administration had put a high priority on the program and its secrecy.
Seymour Hersh: Secret US Forces Carried Out Assassinations in a Dozen Countries, Including in Latin America
(31. März 2009) AMY GOODMAN: Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh created a stir last month when he said the Bush administration ran an executive assassination ring that reported directly to Vice President Dick Cheney. Hersh made the comment during a speech at the University of Minnesota on March 10th.
SEYMOUR HERSH: Congress has no oversight of it. It’s an executive assassination wing, essentially. And it’s been going on and on and on. And just today in the Times there was a story saying that its leader, a three-star admiral named McRaven, ordered a stop to certain activities because there were so many collateral deaths. It’s been going in — under President Bush’s authority, they’ve been going into countries, not talking to the ambassador or to the CIA station chief, and finding people on a list and executing them and leaving.
AMY GOODMAN: Yesterday, CNN interviewed Dick Cheney’s former national security adviser, John Hannah. Wolf Blitzer asked Hannah about Sy Hersh’s claim.
WOLF BLITZER: Is there a list of terrorists, suspected terrorists out there who can be assassinated?
JOHN HANNAH: There is clearly a group of people that go through a very extremely well-vetted process, inter-agency process, as I think was explained in your piece, that have committed acts of war against the United States, who are at war with the United States, or are suspected of planning operations of war against the United States, who authority is given to the troops in the field and in certain war theaters to capture or kill those individuals. That is certainly true.
WOLF BLITZER: And so, this would be, and from your perspective — and you worked in the Bush administration for many years — it would be totally constitutional, totally legal, to go out and find these guys and to whack ’em.
JOHN HANNAH: There’s no question that in a theater of war, when we are at war, and we know — there’s no doubt, we are still at war against al-Qaeda in Iraq, al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and on that Pakistani border, that our troops have the authority to go after and capture and kill the enemy, including the leadership of the enemy.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s John Hannah, Dick Cheney’s former national security adviser. Seymour Hersh joins me now here in Washington, D.C., staff writer for The New Yorker magazine. His latest article appears in the current issue, called “Syria Calling: The Obama Administration’s Chance to Engage in a Middle East Peace.”
……….
Reporter alleges secret ‚assassination wing‘
(30. März 2009) A Special Operations Command spokesman rejected Hersh‘s report, saying their forces operate under established rules of engagement and the law of armed conflict. He adds that the vice president has no command-and-control authorities over the U.S. military. Two former Cheney aides also reject the claim, as does the former Bush homeland security adviser, now a national security analyst. Hersh did not disclose any sources in the speech or in the CNN interview, nor was he asked about sources.
The assassination of political leaders has been banned since 1976 – but suspected terrorists are a different story.
Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh describes ‘executive assassination ring’
(11. März 2009) “In many cases, they were the best and the brightest. Really, no exaggerations. Really fine guys that went in to do the kind of necessary jobs that they think you need to do to protect America. And then they find themselves torturing people.
“I’ve had people say to me — five years ago, I had one say: ‘What do you call it when you interrogate somebody and you leave them bleeding and they don’t get any medical committee and two days later he dies. Is that murder? What happens if I get before a committee?’
“But they’re not gonna get before a committee.”
U.S. Halted Some Raids in Afghanistan
(9. März 2009) According to senior military officials, the stand-down was ordered by Vice Adm. William H. McRaven, the head of the military’s Joint Special Operations Command, which oversees the secret commando units.
The rising civilian death toll in Afghanistan has soured relations between American commanders and the Afghan government led by President Hamid Karzai, who has vocally criticized the raids.
The stand-down began in mid-February, and the raids have since resumed. It is unclear, though, whether the Special Operations missions are being carried out with the same frequency as before the halt.
Retired four-star Admiral William McRaven, the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command from 2011 to 2014 (which included the OBL mission), just issued the following statement to CNN in response to POTUS attacking GEN McChrystal on twitter:
Ret. admiral defends McChrystal on Trump claim
Ret. Admiral William McRaven came to the defense of Ret. General Stanley McChrystal after President Trump took shots at the general on Twitter following the comments McChrystal made on Trump during an ABC interview.
„großes und dämliches Maul“ – Trump wettert gegen Vier-Sterne-General
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Die Hersh-Bombe
(3.Juli 2008) Nun ist aber innerhalb des US-Militärs und in den Fluren von Washington bekannt geworden, dass ausser den CIA-geführten Einheiten auch hochgeheime Spezialkommandos des US-Militärs vom „Joint Special Operations Command“ (JSOC) auf direkten Befehl von Präsident Bush und unter direkter Kontrolle von US-Vize Dick Cheney im Iran operieren.
Diese Einsätze wurden in den letzten Monaten massiv ausgeweitet und erfolgten ohne Wissen, Zustimmung oder Kooperation von Kongress, US-Zentralkommando CENTCOM und sogar US-Verteidigungsminister Robert Gates.
Hintergrund ist die Rechtsauffassung des Weissen Hauses, dass nur für Einsätze der CIA das Parlament hinzugezogen werden muss, nicht aber für Einsätze des Militärs.
Erläuterung:
Dazu muss man die Struktur des US-Militärs kennen. Die Befehlskette geht vom Präsidenten, dem Vizepräsidenten, dem US-Verteidigungsminister im Pentagon über die Kontinentalkommandos zu den Oberkommandierenden in den einzelnen Ländern, wie z.B. in Irak oder Afghanistan.
Der „Joint Chiefs of Staff“, der „Vereinigte Generalstab“ hat operativ nichts zu melden.
Die US-Kontinentalkommandos haben sich quasi als „Verantwortungsbereiche“ den Planeten aufgeteilt. NORTHCOM für Nordamerika, SOUTHCOM für Südamerika, CENTCOM für den arabischen Raum mit den Kriegszonen Afghanistan und Irak, EUCOM für Europa, Russland und Nordpolregion und das neue AFRICOM für Afrika und PACOM für China, Indien, die Antarktis und den gesamten Pazifik.
Neben den Kontinentalkommandos gibt es aber noch andere, weltweit tätige Kommandoabteilungen des Pentagon, für strategische (also atomare) Kriegführung sowie aus dem Weltraum (STRATCOM), für Transport (TRANSCOM) und Versorgung (JFCOM).
Diese sind den Kontinentalkommandos gleichgestellt.
Ausserdem gibt es da noch das „U.S. Special Operations Command“ (SOCOM), dessen Einsatzgebiet nicht definiert ist und weltweit operiert. Ein klassischer Fall von oben organisierter Kompetenzüberschneidung im US-Militär um Rudelkämpfe hochzuhalten, Spannungen zu erzeugen und um Konkurrenzdruck zu erzeugen, was dann von der Hierarchie zu eigenen Zwecken umgemünzt werden kann.
Ein Unterkommando des SOCOM ist das „Joint Special Operations Command“ (JSOC), welches die Spezialeinheiten des Weissen Hauses führte um die es hier geht.
Bereits 2005 gab es Berichte über ein geheimes Unterprogramm im JSOC namens „Power Geyser“. Darin sollen Spezialagenten in unmittelbarer Umgebung des US-Präsidenten, des Vizepräsidenten und der Führungsebene des Kongresses zu derem Schutz eingesetzt worden sein.
Also Agenten in unmittelbarer Nähe und in unmittelbarer Kommunikation mit den mächtigsten offiziellen Amtspersonen der Welt. Eine ideale Voraussetzung um später mit diesen Agenten die Militärhierarchie zu umgehen.
Preparing the Battlefield
(Juli 2008) The covert operations set forth in the Finding essentially run parallel to those of a secret military task force, now operating in Iran, that is under the control of JSOC. Under the Bush Administration’s interpretation of the law, clandestine military activities, unlike covert C.I.A. operations, do not need to be depicted in a Finding, because the President has a constitutional right to command combat forces in the field without congressional interference. But the borders between operations are not always clear: in Iran, C.I.A. agents and regional assets have the language skills and the local knowledge to make contacts for the JSOC operatives, and have been working with them to direct personnel, matériel, and money into Iran from an obscure base in western Afghanistan. As a result, Congress has been given only a partial view of how the money it authorized may be used. One of JSOC’s task-force missions, the pursuit of “high-value targets,” was not directly addressed in the Finding. There is a growing realization among some legislators that the Bush Administration, in recent years, has conflated what is an intelligence operation and what is a military one in order to avoid fully informing Congress about what it is doing.
Commandos See Duty on U.S. Soil In Role Redefined by Terror Fight
(23. Januar 2005) As part of the extraordinary army of 13,000 troops, police officers and federal agents marshaled to secure the inauguration, these elite forces were poised to act under a 1997 program that was updated and enhanced after the Sept. 11 attacks, but nonetheless departs from how the military has historically been used on American soil.
These commandos, operating under a secret counterterrorism program code-named Power Geyser, were mentioned publicly for the first time this week on a Web site for a new book, „Code Names: Deciphering U.S. Military Plans, Programs and Operation in the 9/11 World,“ (Steerforth Press). The book was written by William M. Arkin, a former intelligence analyst for the Army.
The precise number of these Special Operations forces in Washington this week is highly classified, but military officials say the number is very small. The special-missions units belong to the Joint Special Operations Command, a secretive command based at Fort Bragg, N.C., whose elements include the Army unit Delta Force.
Sunzi – Die Kunst des Krieges
Sunzi sagt: Die Kunst des Krieges ist für den Staat von entscheidender Bedeutung. Sie ist eine Angelegenheit von Leben und Tod, eine Straße, die zur Sicherheit oder in den Untergang führt. Deshalb darf sie unter keinen Umständen vernachlässigt werden.
Die Kunst des Krieges wird von fünf konstanten Faktoren bestimmt, die alle berücksichtigt werden müssen. Es sind dies: das Gesetz der Moral; Himmel; Erde; der Befehlshaber; Methode und Disziplin.
(…)
Jede Kriegführung gründet auf Täuschung. Wenn wir also fähig sind anzugreifen, müssen wir unfähig erscheinen; wenn wir unsere Streitkräfte einsetzen, müssen wir inaktiv scheinen; wenn wir nahe sind, müssen wir den Feind glauben machen, daß wir weit entfernt sind; wenn
wir weit entfernt sind, müssen wir ihn glauben machen, daß wir nahe sind.
Lege Köder aus, um den Feind zu verführen. Täusche Unordnung vor und zerschmettere ihn. Wenn der Feind in allen Punkten sicher ist, dann sei auf ihn vorbereitet. Wenn er an Kräften überlegen ist, dann weiche ihm aus. Wenn dein Gegner ein cholerisches Temperament hat,dann versuche ihn zu reizen.
Gib vor, schwach zu sein, damit er überheblich wird. Wenn er sich sammeln will, dann lasse ihm keine Ruhe. Wenn seine Streitkräfte vereint sind, dann zersplittere sie. Greife ihn an, wo er unvorbereitet ist, tauche auf, wo du nicht erwartet wirst.
Der General, der eine Schlacht gewinnt, stellt vor dem Kampf im Geiste viele Berechnungen an. Der General, der verliert, stellt vorher kaum Berechnungen an. So führen viele Berechnungen zum Sieg und wenig Berechnungen zur Niederlage – überhaupt keine erst recht! Indem ich diesem Punkt Aufmerksamkeit widme, kann ich voraussagen, wer siegen oder unterliegen wird.
THE ART OF WAR BY SUN TZU
CHAPTER 1. LAYING PLANS
1. Sun Tzu said: The art of war is of vital importance to the State.
2. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.
3. The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors, to be taken into account in one‘s deliberations, when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field.
4. These are: (1) The Moral Law; (2) Heaven; (3) Earth; (4) The Commander; (5) Method and discipline.
5,6. The MORAL LAW causes the people to be in complete accord with their ruler, so that they will follow him regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger.
(…)
18. All warfare is based on deception.
19. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.
20. Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.
21. If he is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him.
22. If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.
23. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them.
24. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.
25. These military devices, leading to victory, must not be divulged beforehand.
26. Now the general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand. Thus do many calculations lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat: how much more no calculation at all! It is by attention to this point
that I can foresee who is likely to win or lose.
Retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal hits Trump as immoral, dishonest
(30.12.2018) Retired four-star Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal on Sunday criticized President Donald Trump for his approach to the presidency in a wide-ranging interview that saw the former top commander of the US and international forces in Afghanistan label Trump as dishonest and immoral.
„I don‘t think he tells the truth,“ McChrystal told ABC‘s Martha Raddatz on „This Week.“ When asked if he thought Trump was immoral, McChrystal responded: „I think he is.“
„Verlogen“: Ex-US-General kritisiert Trump heftig für Syrien-Abzug
(31.12.2018) Nun hat sich auch Ex-General Stanley A. McChrystal kritisch zu Trumps Plänen geäussert. Der ehemalige Kommandant der US-Streitkräfte in Afghanistan bezeichnete Donald Trump und dessen Entscheidung als „unmoralisch und verlogen“.McChrystal hatte sich schon früher negativ über den Präsidenten geäussert. Ex-Admiral William McRaven, der die Operation gegen den Terroristen Osama Bin Laden verantwortete, hatte Trump mehrfach öffentlich kritisiert. Trump nannte ihn darauf einen „Hillary-Clinton-Fan“ und „Barack-Obama-Unterstützer“ und sagte, die Operation gegen Bin Laden habe viel zu lange gedauert. McChrystal nahm McRaven anschließend in Schutz und stellte das Vertrauen in Trump infrage.