Archiv: unitary executive theory / imperial presidency / exekutive Eigenverantwortung / Staatswohl


15.02.2025 - 19:17 [ Nicolas J.S. Davies / Mintpress.com ]

Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen: Calculating the Millions-High Death Toll of America’s Post-9/11 Wars

(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.

13.02.2025 - 03:05 [ American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) ]

Re: Urgent Request for Access to and Information Regarding Immigrants Transferred from the United States and Detained at Guantánamo Bay

(February 7, 2025)

Dear Secretary Noem, Secretary Hegseth, and Secretary Rubio:
We write on behalf of the undersigned immigrants‘ rights and civil rights organizations to request immediate access to the noncitizens transferred from immigration detention facilities in the United States and currently detained at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Since February 4, 2025, the government has transferred nearly two dozen noncitizens to Guantánamo, without providing any information about their circumstances or the government’s legal authority for these unprecedented actions. The government has also announced that it is planning to send tens of thousands of additional immigration detainees to Guantánamo in the near future.

The Constitution, and federal and international law prohibit the government from using Guantánamo as a legal black hole. We therefore request that the government provide our organizations access to the noncitizens detained at Guantánamo so that those individuals will have access to legal counsel, and so advocates and the public can understand the conditions
under which the government is detaining them. We also request basic information that the public has a right to know regarding the noncitizens being sent to Guantánamo and the government’s plans for them.

(…)

Sincerely,
American Civil Liberties Union
Americans for Immigrant Justice
Amica Center
American Gateways
Center for Constitutional Rights
Haitian Bridge Alliance
Human Rights First
International Refugee Assistance Project
Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the SF Bay Area
National Immigrant Justice Center
National Immigration Law Center
Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services
Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
Texas Civil Rights Project

13.02.2025 - 02:51 [ Common Dreams ]

‚He‘s Building a Concentration Camp‘: Fears Grow as Images Emerge of Offshore Prison at Gitmo

(February 9, 2025)

Fears are growing that the offshore U.S. detention facilities at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, are an ominous sign of what President Donald Trump has in store as he further disregards the rule of law and normalizes actions that previously would have been unthinkable or faces immediate, bipartisan opposition in Congress.

After the first pictures emerged Saturday of still unidentified persons transferred to the island from the U.S. mainland by immigration officials, progressive journalist Nathan Robinson was among those raising the alarm, accusing Trump of „building a concentration camp and deliberately putting it where it is hardest to monitor or enforce the law.“

13.02.2025 - 02:48 [ New York Times ]

A Tent City Is Rising at Guantánamo Bay

(February 8, 2025)

On Friday a military cargo plane transported deportees from El Paso, Texas, to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. They are among the latest arrivals in the Trump administration’s week-old migrant relocation operation.

Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security, is the first senior member of the Trump administration to visit the migrant mission on the base.

So far, none of the first arrivals have been taken to an emerging tent city that has been set up for migrants. Instead, they have been housed in the military prison.

13.02.2025 - 00:29 [ Associated Press ]

White House says it’s the judges — not Trump — causing a ‘constitutional crisis’

In the weeks since Donald Trump returned to office, Democrats and legal scholars have warned that he’s provoking a constitutional crisis by trying to expand his power and ignore laws that stand in his way.

On Wednesday, the White House had a new response to that. It’s not the president who is causing the problem, said press secretary Karoline Leavitt, it’s the judges who are blocking some of his agenda by saying it’s illegal.

12.02.2025 - 11:23 [ American Bar Association ]

From the American Bar Association: The ABA supports the rule of law

(February 10, 2025)

In the last 21 days, more than a dozen lawsuits have been filed alleging that the administration’s actions violate the rule of law and are contrary to the Constitution or laws of the United States. The list grows longer every day.

These actions have forced affected parties to seek relief in the courts, which stand as a bulwark against these violations. We support our courts who are treating these cases with the urgency they require. Americans know there is a right way and a wrong way to proceed. What is being done is not the right way to pursue the change that is sought in our system of government.

These actions do not make America stronger. They make us weaker.

12.02.2025 - 11:19 [ Revolving Door Project ]

Trump Administration Non-Adherence to Court Orders

(February 10, 2025)

Tracking the Trump administration’s failure to follow the judiciary’s orders.

12.02.2025 - 11:09 [ New York Times ]

Trump’s Actions Have Created a Constitutional Crisis, Scholars Say

(February 10, 2025)

There is no universally accepted definition of a constitutional crisis, but legal scholars agree about some of its characteristics. It is generally the product of presidential defiance of laws and judicial rulings. It is not binary: It is a slope, not a switch. It can be cumulative, and once one starts, it can get much worse.

08.02.2025 - 08:44 [ CNN ]

State Department announces $7 billion arms sale to Israel, circumventing review process

The State Department on Friday announced a $7 billion arms sale to Israel, circumventing the congressional review process, according to Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The announcement, which includes thousands of Hellfire missiles and bombs, comes days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met President Donald Trump and other top administration officials in Washington, DC.

22.01.2025 - 20:02 [ Cato Institute ]

The Imperial Presidency and the War on Terror

(March/​April 2006)

Since the start of the war on terror, the Bush administration has singlemindedly advanced the view that, in time of war, the president is the law, and no statute, no constitutional barrier, no coordinate branch of the U.S. government can stand in the president’s way when, by his lights, he is acting to preserve national security. Bush administration officials have argued

– that the president has the inherent constitutional authority to designate American citizens suspected of terrorist activity as “enemy combatants,” strip them of any constitutional protection, and hold them for the duration of the war on terror;
– that the president has the power to ignore validly enacted statutes prohibiting war crimes if he believes those statutes impede his prosecution of the war on terror; and
– that the president has the power to launch invasions of other countries at his discretion, without so much as a by-yourleave to Congress.

In a 1977 interview with David Frost, Richard Nixon described his view of the president’s national security authority: “Well, when the President does it, that means it is not illegal.” In the arguments it has advanced, both publicly and privately, for untrammeled executive power, the Bush administration comes perilously close to that view.

22.01.2025 - 19:42 [ New York Times ]

How Trump Is Pushing at Limits of Presidential Power in Early Orders

After President Trump left the White House in 2021, critics of his norm-breaking use of executive power implored Congress to tighten legal limits on when presidents can unilaterally reshape American government with the stroke of a pen. But lawmakers largely did not act.

28.08.2024 - 14:04 [ Daniel Neun / Radio Utopie ]

Die “Authorization For Use of Military Force” vom 14. September 2001 im Wortlaut

(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:

28.08.2024 - 13:45 [ Just Security ]

A Presidential Proclamation to End the Iraq War: Unilateral Executive Action to Defang a Zombie AUMF

(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.

28.08.2024 - 13:40 [ CBS News ]

Senate votes overwhelmingly to keep 2001 authorization for war on terror

(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.

26.04.2024 - 13:55 [ Axios ]

SCOTUS probes assassinations and coups in Trump immunity hearing

The immense gravity of the case weighed heavily on the Supreme Court on Thursday, with justices across the ideological spectrum expressing fears of the new order they could unleash.

The immediate question is whether Trump will face trial in his Jan. 6 criminal case before the 2024 election. But the conservative-led court‘s decision will shape history well beyond November.
„We‘re writing a rule for the ages,“ Justice Neil Gorsuch observed.

08.04.2024 - 20:35 [ Reuters ]

Israeli military says it has increased its readiness for war in north

(April 7, 2024)

In a statement titled „Readiness for the Transition from Defense to Offense,“ the military said the phase completed centred on logistics „for a broad mobilization of IDF (Israel Defence Forces) troops“.

„The commanders of the regular and reserve units are prepared to summon and equip all the required soldiers in just a few hours and transport them to the front line for defensive and offensive missions,“ the military said.

08.04.2024 - 20:30 [ Hindustan Times ]

Readiness advances for ‚war‘ on Lebanon border: Israel

(April 7, 2024)

The Israeli army on Sunday said it had reached „another phase“ of preparation for war on its northern border with Lebanon, where it has spent months exchanging fire with Iran-backed Hezbollah.

08.04.2024 - 20:20 [ CNN ]

Inside President Biden’s pointed phone call with Benjamin Netanyahu

(April 7, 2024)

The prime minister’s office declined to comment on the exchange. The White House declined to comment for this story.

08.04.2024 - 20:17 [ New York Times ]

Biden Administration Presses Congress on $18 Billion Sale of F-15 Jets to Israel

(02.04.2024)

While Israel has used the F-15s it already owns to strike Gaza, its request for the planes appears to reflect longer-term concern about regional threats, including from Lebanon-based Hezbollah, Iran-backed militias in Syria, and Iran itself. The Israel Defense Forces would probably employ F-15s in any potential attack on Iran’s nuclear program.

20.03.2024 - 22:55 [ Nicolas J.S. Davies / Mintpress.com ]

Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen: Calculating the Millions-High Death Toll of America’s Post-9/11 Wars

(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.

14.03.2024 - 17:18 [ Middle East Eye ]

I sued the government over ‚extremism‘ and I know the game Gove is playing

The British public should realise that Muslim scapegoats today, much like the Jewish, Irish or Black scapegoats used by demagogues yesterday, are not their enemies

14.03.2024 - 17:10 [ Middle East Eye ]

UK government targets Muslim groups with new definition of extremism

In an earlier statement, Gove‘s Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said the definition had been updated to respond to an “increased extremist threat since October 7 terror attacks in Israel”, citing an increase in reported antisemitic and anti-Muslim hate crimes.

It said the new definition would be used by government departments and officials to help them decide which groups they should engage with and fund, and to identify “extremist organisations, individuals and behaviours”.

But it said: “This definition is not statutory and has no effect on the existing criminal law – it applies to the operations of Government itself.”

07.03.2024 - 21:00 [ Washington Post ]

U.S. floods arms into Israel despite mounting alarm over war’s conduct

Washington has approved more than 100 separate military sales to Israel since its invasion of Gaza, even as officials complain Israeli leaders have not done enough to protect civilians

28.02.2024 - 22:06 [ Middle East Eye ]

US officials grilled over lack of congressional approval for Houthi strikes

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.

28.02.2024 - 22:02 [ JustSecurity.com ]

Still at War: The United States in Yemen

(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.

22.02.2024 - 18:50 [ DissidentVoice.org ]

Identifying Imperial Venality: Day One of Julian Assange’s High Court Appeal

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….

07.02.2024 - 17:12 [ Yale University ]

Genocide Studies Program: United States Policy on the Khmer Rouge regime, 1975-1979

2. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger discusses the Khmer Rouge regime with Thailand’s Foreign Minister Chatichai, November 26, 1975

Kissinger: “You should also tell the Cambodians that we will be friends with them. They are murderous thugs, but we won’t let that stand in our way. We are prepared to improve relations with them.”

3. Ford and Kissinger discuss Cambodia with Indonesia’s President Suharto, Jakarta, December 5, 1975

4. Former US National Security Adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, on China and the Khmer Rouge, 1979:

“I encouraged the Chinese to support Pol Pot. Pol Pot was an abomination. We could never support him, but China could.” According to Brzezinski, the USA “winked, semi-publicly” at Chinese and Thai aid to the Khmer Rouge.

07.02.2024 - 16:55 [ Daniel Neun / Radio Utopie ]

BBC-Filmreihe “The Trap” (III): Die Freiheit von Berlin oder Der “Kampf der Zivilisationen”

(18. November 2012)

1965 begannen die U.S.A. während des Krieges gegen Nordvietnam ein ebenso mörderisches, wie geheimes Bombardement gegen das neutrale Kambodscha, was bis 1954 Kolonie Frankreichs gewesen war. 2,7 Millionen Tonnen Bomben zwischen 1965 bis 1973 beförderten Kambodscha “zurück in die Steinzeit” und töteten 200.000 Menschen. Den U.S.-Bomberpiloten wurde vom Pentagon sogar verboten, die eigenen Vorgesetzten zu informieren. Die angeblichen Militärstützpunkte Nordvietnams in Kambodscha, wegen denen die Bombardements vermeintlich durchgeführt wurden, existierten nicht.

Was die Tat von Wahnsinnigen war, wurde nachher als “Wahnsinnigen-Theorie” (“Madman-Theory”) verkauft: die U.S.-Regierung unter Präsident Richard Nixon und Außenminister Henry Kissinger (der später den Friedensnobelpreis bekam) behauptete, sie habe sich wahnsinnig benommen, um der Sowjetunion Angst vor einem Atomkrieg zu machen, damit diese Druck auf Nordvietnam ausübe, damit das den Krieg gegen die U.S.A. beende, den die U.S.A. selbst begonnen hatten.

1970 stürzten die U.S.A. die Monarchie unter “Prinz” Sihanouk, installierten ein Proxy-Regime und marschierten in Kambodscha ein. Sihanouk, einst 1941 im Alter von achtzehn Jahren vom französischen Vichy-Regime unter deutscher Besatzung zum neuen König der damaligen französischen Kolonie Kambodscha ernannt, floh ins China Mao Tse Tungs und formierte dort eine kambodschanische “Freiheitsbewegung”. Deren Teil: die Roten Khmer.

1972 besuchte Richard Nixon als erster U.S.-Präsident China und Mao Tse Tung, im Versuch gegen das mit der Sowjetunion verbündete Nordvietnam einen Verbündeten zu finden und die Rivalitäten sowohl zwischen China und Vietnam, als auch zwischen China und der Sowjetunion zu schüren.

Als 1975 in Vietnam die Truppen des Vietkong und Nordvietnams in Saigon einmarschierten und den Krieg gegen die U.S.A. gewannen, marschierten in Kambodscha die Truppen der Roten Khmer – von China unterstützt und traditionell verfeindet mit den vietnamesischen Kommunisten – plötzlich in der Haupstadt Phnom Penh ein. Und setzten Prinz Sihanouk als offizielles Staatsoberhaupt ein.

Von der Schreckensherrschaft Pol Pots, auf dessen Killing Fields Millionen Leichen lagen und dessen Verbündeter Prinz Sihanouk nach wie vor im Land lebte, befreite Kambodscha 1979 nicht etwa die “negative Freiheit” der U.S.A., von Frankreich, oder der U.N.O., sondern die einrückenden Truppen des kommunistischen Vietnams.

Die Mörder der Roten Khmer, die gerade einen Genozid begangen hatten, flohen in Dschungel und begannen dort einen neuen Guerillakrieg – mit Unterstützung der U.S.A. und anderer ehrenwerter westlicher Länder. 1982 formierten die Massenmörder unter Führung Sihanouks eine Exilregierung, die von den U.S.A., der U.N.O und unwichtigen Ländereien Westeuropas anerkannt wurde.

Vizepräsident dieser kambodschanischen Exilregierung: das “Staatsoberhaupt” des Pol Pot Regimes von 1976-1979, Khieu Samphan. Er lebt heute noch. Er sagt, er hätte nichts gewusst.

Pol Pot wurde nie verfolgt. Dafür sorgten die U.S.A..

Neues altes Staatsoberhaupt Kambodschas wurde 1991 Sihanouk, nach dem Abzug der vietnamesischen Truppen. Er starb erst vor wenigen Tagen, am 15. Oktober 2012, in Peking.

07.02.2024 - 16:34 [ Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia - eccc.gov.kh ]

Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia: TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS – “DUCH” TRIAL PUBLIC

(6 April 2009, 0910H)

Q. Still in the political context — of course, we will go back to your detention, speak about your detention a bit later, but you also spoke about the coup d‘etat of 1970, so a coup d‘etat through which Sihanouk was deposed and a republican regime that was set up by Lon Nol was installed.

Can you tell us, you were — can you tell us how this was perceived? In particular, how the declaration of March 1970 was perceived through which Prince Sihanouk asked the Cambodian people to rise up? I‘d like to understand how the CPK, Communist Party of Kampuchea, experienced this period and was there a real union? What happened, in fact?

[10:19:40]

A. Judge Lavergne, I would like to respond to your question based on my political view. Samdech Norodom Sihanouk was the Head of State of Cambodia. His position was the populist to preserve his throne. It was not Norodom Sihanouk. Lon Nol was

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affiliated with the United States, and when he grasped or controlled the Assembly in 1966, he managed to — he really caused the dispute and the uprising in Samlaut at the Sihanoukist side, and the other side is the Communist side which are affiliated with Marxist and Leninist, and these things were mixed up.

I think through my understanding, if Richard Nixon did not be quick to allow Lon Nol to start the coup d‘etat and allowing Khmer Rouge to cooperate with Sihanouk, I think Khmer Rouge would be demolished or otherwise they would never be able to stand up again. But Mr. Kissinger and Richard Nixon weren‘t quick and the Khmer Rouge noted the golden opportunity and King Sihanouk declare from China that all Cambodian people go through the Marxist jungle and then the Khmer Rouge troop will build up from 1970 to 1975.

I think this is the political context and people tried to gain — to have political gain. Lon Nol tried to benefit from politics and then Sihanouk also tried to gain benefit for his side.

07.02.2024 - 16:15 [ Reuters ]

Khmer Rouge jailer says U.S. contributed to Pol Pot rise

(April 6, 2009)

Duch, the first of five Pol Pot cadres to face trial for the 1975-79 reign of terror in which 1.7 million Cambodians died, said the Khmer Rouge would have faded if the U.S. had not got involved in Cambodia.

„Mr Richard Nixon and Kissinger allowed the Khmer Rouge to grasp golden opportunities,“ the 66-year-old former jailer said at the start of the second week of his trial by the joint U.N.-Cambodian tribunal.

07.02.2024 - 14:20 [ Sophal Ear / theConversation.com ]

Henry Kissinger’s bombing campaign likely killed hundreds of thousands of Cambodians − and set path for the ravages of the Khmer Rouge

(November 30, 2023)

To Kissinger, Cambodia was a “sideshow,” to use the title of William Shawcross’ damning book exposing the story of America’s secret war with Cambodia from 1969 to 1973.

During that period, the U.S. bombing of neutral Cambodia saw an estimated 500,000 tons  of ordnance dropped on 113,716 targets in the country.

Kissinger and others in the White House tried to keep the campaign from the public for as long as they could, for good reason. It came as public opinion in the U.S. was turning against American involvement. The bombing campaign is also considered illegal under international law by many experts.

But to Kissinger, the ends – containing communism – seemingly justified the means, no matter the cost. And the cost to Cambodians was huge.

It resulted in the direct deaths of hundreds of thousands of Cambodians. With the U.S. government keeping the bombings secret at the time, comprehensive data and documentation are limited. But estimates on the number of deaths range from as few as 24,000 to as many as a million.

06.02.2024 - 10:30 [ Niall Bradley / Twitter ]

BOOM! In an interview yesterday on Fox, Trump divulged that the Iranian ‚revenge strikes‘ against the US airbase in northern Iraq 4 years ago were ‚arranged‘ with Iran such that no US troops would be killed, AND that the plan to whack General Soleimani was entirely Netanyahu‘s but that he ‚pulled Israel out‘ of actively participating in the assassination just 2 days beforehand.

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.“

06.02.2024 - 10:25 [ i24news.tv ]

Trump: Israel was in on Soleimani assassination, backed out at 11th hour

(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.“

06.02.2024 - 10:20 [ Mediaite.com ]

Trump Says ‘Netanyahu Let Us Down’ Over Bombing Of Iranian General: ‘Then Bibi Tried to Take Credit For It’

(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:

05.02.2024 - 18:50 [ Robert F. Kennedy Jr / Twitter ]

If we “do not seek conflict,” then let’s get the troops out of there. They are not welcome. They are not needed. They are indefensible targets for anyone in the region who wants to provoke a conflict. Get them out!

(03.02.2024)

05.02.2024 - 18:46 [ 2024 campaign of Claudia De La Cruz for President & Karina Garcia for VP, running with the Party for Socialism and Liberation / Twitter ]

The US war machine just bombed 85 locations in Iraq and Syria — and Biden is promising more. Biden is driving us deeper and deeper into a regional war through escalations. What we need is not only a ceasefire in Gaza, but all U.S. troops OUT of the Middle East immediately!

(03.02.2024)

05.02.2024 - 11:05 [ Middle East Eye ]

US national security adviser refuses to rule out attacks on Iran

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.“

04.02.2024 - 14:40 [ Tagesschau.de ]

Russland ruft den UN-Sicherheitsrat an

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“.

04.02.2024 - 13:53 [ CNN ]

US and UK strike Houthi targets in Yemen one day after US strikes in Iraq and Syria

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.

04.02.2024 - 12:56 [ Dmitry Polyanskiy, First Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN / Twitter ]

Russia has just called for an urgent UN Security Council meeting to discuss threats to international peace and security from the US strikes against Iraq and Syria. The meeting is expected to be held at 4 pm EST on February 5

04.02.2024 - 12:17 [ nitter.catsarch.com ]

which countries opened their airspace for US / UK airstrikes in West Asia (Iraq / Syria / Yemen / more to come)?

04.02.2024 - 12:10 [ Nino Brodin / Twitter ]

Saudi Arabia ready to back US air strikes on Houthi rebels

(09.01.2024)

04.02.2024 - 11:00 [ Regierung von Jordanien / Government of Jordan - Gov.jo ]

JAF Denies Involvement in US Air Strikes in Iraq, Affirms Respect for Sovereignty

(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.

04.02.2024 - 10:50 [ Tass.com ]

Jordan denies reports of its air force’s involvement in US strikes on Iraq

(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.

04.02.2024 - 10:05 [ Shafaq.com ]

Jordanian military denies participation in US airstrikes in Iraq and Syria

(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.“

04.02.2024 - 09:04 [ Shafaq.com ]

From retaliation to escalation: decoding the US Strikes in Iraq and Syria

(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.“

04.02.2024 - 08:45 [ Reuters ]

U.S. launches strikes in Iraq, Syria, nearly 40 reported killed

(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.

04.02.2024 - 08:35 [ Zeit.de ]

US-Angriffe in Syrien und dem Irak töten offenbar 45 Menschen

(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.

04.02.2024 - 08:10 [ Nicolas J.S. Davies / Mintpress.com ]

Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen: Calculating the Millions-High Death Toll of America’s Post-9/11 Wars

(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.

04.02.2024 - 08:00 [ OneVoicePAC / Youtube ]

Barbara Lee‘s 9/14/01 Speech

Barbara Lee explains her rationale for voting against the Authorization to Use Military Force in Afghanistan, citing the overly broad nature of the bill.

04.02.2024 - 07:50 [ Yahoo.com ]

‘I wish I had been wrong,’ says Barbara Lee, lone congresswoman who voted to oppose Afghan war in 2001

(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.”

24.01.2024 - 13:37 [ Himalaya Times In English / Twitter ]

That strike in particular infuriated the Iraqi government, and Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has called for the US-led coalition against IS jihadists to depart the country.

24.01.2024 - 13:00 [ Shafaq.com ]

Iraq: A favored battleground for Tehran and Washington

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.

24.01.2024 - 12:49 [ Shafaq.com ]

Iraq Condemns U.S. Strikes on PMF Headquarters as ‚Aggressive Actions‘

„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.“

24.01.2024 - 12:42 [ NPR.org ]

U.S. hits Iraq militia sites and anti-ship missiles in Yemen

(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.

23.01.2024 - 01:46 [ Hindustan Times ]

US, UK forces carry out fresh airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen: Top updates

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.

22.01.2024 - 09:36 [ Thomas Moser / Buchkomplizen.de ]

Der Amri-Komplex: Ein Terroranschlag, zwölf Tote und die Verstrickungen des Staates

Am 19. Dezember 2016 kam es auf dem Weihnachtsmarkt am Berliner Breitscheidplatz zu einer LKW-Attacke, die insgesamt zwölf Menschen das Leben kostete. Für diesen schwersten Terroranschlag in Deutschland seit der Bombe auf das Münchner Oktoberfest von 1980 gilt laut offizieller Version der Tunesier Anis Amri noch immer als alleiniger Täter. Doch nach über vierjähriger Aufklärung in mehreren parlamentarischen Untersuchungsausschüssen gibt es daran begründete Zweifel. Wenn nicht Amri, wer saß dann am Steuer des LKW? Wer waren die Mittäter und Helfer? Und warum haben die deutschen Sicherheitsbehörden kein Interesse, die wahren Hintergründe aufzuklären? Thomas Moser macht deutlich: Die ungeklärten Fragen aus dem NSU-Skandal wiederholen sich auf erschreckende Weise nun im Amri-Komplex.

22.01.2024 - 06:11 [ Associated Press ]

Military ends rescue search for Navy SEALs lost in maritime raid on ship with Iranian weapons

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.

21.01.2024 - 10:07 [ Slate.com ]

The Real Reasons the Middle East Is Blowing Up Right Now By Fred Kaplan

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.

21.01.2024 - 09:52 [ Hindustan Times ]

Mideast On Fire As Four Arab Nations Hit By Airstrikes & Missile Attacks In 24 Hours | Watch

The United States said that its forces struck Houthi rebels in the Gulf of Aden on Saturday.

21.01.2024 - 09:04 [ Times of Israel ]

In 6th set of Yemen strikes, US hits Houthi anti-ship missile launchers ready to fire

(20.01.2024)

Al-Masirah, a Houthi-run satellite news channel, said that there were air raids in the western port city of Hodeida, targeting the al-Jabaana neighborhood in the west of the city. The location of the US strikes could not be immediately confirmed.

19.01.2024 - 08:01 [ Reuters ]

US in new strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen

(January 18, 20245:31 AM UTC)

In a statement on social media platform X, U.S. Central Command said the Houthi missiles presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the region.

„These missiles on launch rails … could have been fired at any time, prompting U.S. forces to exercise their inherent right and obligation to defend themselves,“ it added.

17.01.2024 - 21:32 [ Middle East Eye ]

UK Maritime Trade Operations reports ship attacked near Yemen‘s Aden

(19:49 GMT)

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) and British maritime security firm Ambrey said they received reports of a ship being attacked near the port city of Aden.

The „vessel has been hit on port side by an uncrewed aerial system,“ the organisation said. It added that the vessel and crew are safe and are continuing the journey

17.01.2024 - 20:32 [ Daniel Neun / Radio Utopie ]

Die “Authorization For Use of Military Force” vom 14. September 2001 im Wortlaut

(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:

17.01.2024 - 20:21 [ Buzzfeed.com ]

60 Words And A War Without End: The Untold Story Of The Most Dangerous Sentence In U.S. History

(Jan 17, 2014)

By the end of the meeting, it was clear that this was the resolution, a single sentence and 60 words:

That the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.

That was it. After more than a day of negotiations between the White House and Congress, Republicans and Democrats, this is what had emerged. Congress could take it or leave it. There would be no going back to the drawing board.

17.01.2024 - 20:11 [ White House ]

Statement from National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on the Terrorist Designation of the Houthis

Over the past months, Yemen-based Houthi militants have engaged in unprecedented attacks against United States military forces and international maritime vessels operating in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. These attacks fit the textbook definition of terrorism. They have endangered U.S. personnel, civilian mariners, and our partners, jeopardized global trade, and threatened freedom of navigation. The United States and the international community have been united in our response and in condemning these attacks in the strongest terms.

Today, in response to these continuing threats and attacks, the United States announced the designation of Ansarallah, also known as the Houthis, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.

17.01.2024 - 20:05 [ U.S. Central Command / Twitter ]

Today, in response to these continuing threats and attacks, the United States announced the designation of Ansarallah, also known as the Houthis, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist – Jake Sullivan, U.S. National Security Advisor

15.01.2024 - 00:00 [ Axios ]

Biden „running out“ of patience with Bibi as Gaza war hits 100 days

„At every juncture, Netanyahu has given Biden the finger,“ Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who has been in close contact with U.S. officials about the war, told Axios. „They are pleading with the Netanyahu coalition, but getting slapped in the face over and over again.“

Behind the scenes: Biden hasn‘t spoken to Netanyahu in the 20 days since a tense Dec. 23 call, which a frustrated Biden ended with the words: „This conversation is over.“

14.01.2024 - 21:57 [ Middle East Eye ]

War on Gaza: Internal anger with Biden and Congress reaches boiling point

So far, two people from the administration have tendered their resignations – Josh Paul, who oversaw arms transfers at State, and Tariq Habash, who worked on education policy at the White House.

The morale of staff in the White House is so low that the chief of staff planned a party in the hopes of cheering up the employees, according to a report from Axios.

However, it‘s not clear if the senior staff members of the administration understand why morale is so low. After the report of the party for White House staff, another report stated that hundreds of federal employees across 22 government agencies are planning a walk-out to protest against Biden‘s handling of the war.