Bill Boyarsky: Spare Us the Propaganda on Afghanistan!!!

First of all, let's discard all the bullshit about making a world free for Obama, and any other "perp" who will ultimately inherit the "Presidency" of our United States! Like those in our American jails, I have done my time in Germany and Vietnam, including a visit from Steve Mayfield, a Central Intelligence Operative, who tried to persuade me to become a spy for our country in the former East Germany! My boss, Colonel Antero Aakkula, warned me: "This is Not James Bond" If you take this assignment, you will end up in a rat-infested East German Jail, and our US government will certainly not bother to lift a finger to try to get you out! Since my attachment to the Colonel was extremely important, I decided to follow his advice: He was the first, and only person in our Army, whom I trusted. But back to Afghanistan: The White House account of President Barrack Obama's meeting with his Afghanistan Team was insultingly vague, for anyone wanting to know when -or if- the Afghanistan war will end. After Monday's session, which followed Secretary of Defense Robert Gates' much publicized trip to Afghanistan, this was all that was available on the White House web site: "The President led his monthly meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan with his national security team this morning. During this session, the President received briefings on progress in implementing our strategy for Pakistan and Afghanistan with his national security team this morning. During the session, the President received briefings on progress in implementing our strategy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, following the death of Osama bin Laden. Nowhere was there a hint of an answer to a question a soldier asked Gates during his Afghanistan tour, as reported by The Los Angeles Times. The question was, "Sir, since the death of Osama bin Laden, has the military changed at all?" His answer, versions of which were given at other bases Gates visited, was, "We've made a lot of headway, but we have ways to go." Just how far to go in this purposeless war is the subject of the current internal debate in Washington, one that is so heavy in muddy language that it is impossible for outsiders to follow, but the truth is, it's probably already settled: We are stuck in Afghanistan as long as Obama follows his present policy. On one side of the charade of a debate, according to The New York Times, are Gates and others in the Pentagon, who favor a small beginning to the troop withdrawal that Obama promised to begin next month. On the other side, the New York Times reported, is Vice President Joe Biden and others, who want a faster withdrawal, presumably something substantial that Obama can take to the voters in the 2012 presidential election, which Obama is certain to lose!

Peter Graff: NATO Strikes on Tripoli Pause, Mission Strained!

NATO bombing of Tripoli paused on Wednesday morning after some of the heaviest bombard -ments of the Libyan capital since air strikes began in March, but rebels said Muammar Gaddafi's army continued to shell their positions. A Reuters reporter in Tripoli said no further explosions were heard after about 2 AM. Loud blasts had been shaking Tripoli throughout Tuesday and into Wednesday morning, with warplanes hitting the city several times an hour. NATO defense ministers met in Brussels on Wednesday, but there were few signs of willingness to intensify their Libya mission, which has so far failed to oust Gaddafi. The "alliance", (read murderers) says the bombing aims to protect civilians (-what a bunch of CRAP!) from the Libyan leader's military, which supposedly "crushed" popular protests against his rule in February, but with supposedly many dead. It is my considered opinion, that is why Gaddafi provides free housing and free medical treatment for his loyal people, despite the pain of fighting against his household. Unfortunately, "Western powers" are now lining up behind the rebels (read murderers of his people). Spain, on Wednesday said that it had recognized their "National Transitional Council" as the country's only representative, probably to get a huge share of Libya's oil. Gaddafi's troops and the rebels have been deadlocked for weeks, with neither side able to hold territory on the road between Ajdabiyah in the east, which Gaddafi's forces shelled on Monday, and the Gaddafi-held oil town of Brega further west. Rebels (Read al Quaeda), control the east of Libya, the western city of Misrata, and the range of western mountains near the border with Tunisia. They have been unable to advance on the capital against Gaddafi's better equipped, and as a former Advisory Team Leader in Vietnam, I would say: "More highly motivated" force. Bad news for the so-called "alliance": As NATO defense ministers met in Brussels, to discuss the Libyan campaign, some "allies" that have NOT taken part in the bombing, said that they would NOT alter their stance, and Sweden, , a non-NATO participant, said it would "scale down its role". Of the 28 NATO allies, only eight, led by Britain and France, have been conducting air strikes on Gaddafi's forces, and a "senior" US official warned this week, that while there were no risks to the mission yet, fatigue was beginning to set in among the aircrews already committed. Germany, which has opposed opposed the Libyan intervention, said it understood the pressures on Britain and France, but would not change its position. "Germany sticks to its position - "NO MILITARY ENGAGEMENT" said German Deputy Defense Minister Christian Schmidt to reporters. Meanwhile, back in that war, Gaddafi said that the rebels are a minority minority of Islamist militants (read Al-Qaida). Gaddafi's forces pulled back to high ground in the Western Mountains outside Yafran, 130 km (80 miles) southwest of Tripoli. The rebels broke a government siege of it on Monday.

Deborah Dupre: NATO Inflicted Deaths are NOT just "Propaganda"

Deborah Dupre doubts the "New York Times" report, calling Libyan civilian casualties propaganda which does NOT square with a series of WBAIX in-hospital interviews by Joshalyn Lawrence, that show civilian victim survivors of US/NATO intensifying bomb raids, both witnessed by a human rights fact-finding mission, including Cynthia McKinney and former members of parliament, who have called our mission in Libya "NATO SPIN". "Sightings of civilian casualties have been rare", reported Burns on June 6. "Visits to bombing sites, hospitals and funerals have produced a succession of blunders, including patients identified as bombing victims who turned out not to be, empty coffins at funerals and burials where some of those interred turned out not to be airstrike victims at all." The Lawrence videos, on the WBAIX channel, of hospitalized civilians is evidence that, rather than injuries and killings by bombs being "rare", or reporting "blunders", they are realities. Graphic images of the wounded are documented in the WBAIX videos created by Joshalyn Lawrence. In the videos, one after another of wounded innocent civilians described atrocities to Cynthia McKinney, in a fact-finding mission with a team, including a delegation of former MP's and professors from France, all now in Tripoli.

Stephen M. Walt: War Crimes and Misdemeanors!

In a recent email from the "Council on Foreign Relations", announcing the release of a Special Report on "Justice Beyond the Hague: Supporting the Prosecution of International Crimes in National Courts.", supposedly a well-crafted document arguing that the United States, other like-minded countries, and the philanthropic community ought to do more to national courts in other countries, so that they can investigate and prosecute war crimes and other atrocities. (Too little, too late!) In my early youth, when my mother, grandmother, and I had to watch the horrible destruction of Dresden from a nearby hill, I remember singing "Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht", while my mother and grandmother wept uncontrollably! Now it's Libya's turn, to have their people slaughtered like cattle by the murderous NATO powers. Having been there, done that, my heart is completely with the tragic lot of Libya's people, and their staunch defender, Qadhafi. The United States, which I served as Advisory Tea Leader in Vietnam, should be ashamed to pile atrocity after atrocity, until nothing is left of their so-called "Humanity". Needless to say, our so-called "leaders" prefer to pile atrocity on top of atrocity, until our once glorious nation mimics the adventures of Adolf Hitler. The United States needs to do a much better job of investigating and prosecuting our armed forces' war crimes, unless we are pleased with a "don't do as I say, do as I do" scenario! When I served as Advisory Team Leader in Trung Lap, I demanded the right to personally take a load of rats down a heavily mined road to the base camp of the 25th Infantry, so that one of their surgeons could keep an eye on a possible outbreak of bubonic plague. On each occasion, I drank at least six cans of beer, so that I would feel less pain, if one of these mines would explode. As a leader, that's what you do!

Tom Engelhardt: How the "National Security Complex" Grows on Terrorism Fears

In terms of damage since 9/11, which was staged by the Jew Silverstein, the owner of the World Trade Center Towers. Seems as though his property was riddled with lethal asbestos, which was clinging to all of his walls and girders, and he was not prepared to pay the huge costs to have it all removed. Therefore, he decided to stage a fake terrorist attack by so-called Arabs, which would be guaranteed to take the blame for the total destruction of his expensive towers. All of it came down as scheduled, and rebuilt towers will soon be on the horizon, where the devils angels and Jewish politicians will soon play. Meanwhile, back at our ranch, there is now an ongoing E.coli outbreak in Germany, an all-new antibiotic-resistant "super toxic variant" of the bacteria that has caused death and panic in Europe. Although al-Qaeda and E.coli do sound a bit alike, German officials accused Spanish cucumbers, not terrorists in Spain,or German bean sprouts, of causing the crisis. The disproportionate Russian response was not to close its borders with the European Union, but to ban EU vegetables until the source of the outbreak is discovered. Above all, the American over-reaction was pure fiction. In fact, scientists here have been urging calm, and mid-level government officials have been issuing statements of reassurance on the safety of the country's food supply system. No one attacked the government for inaction; Cheney did not excoriate the president, nor did Napolitano raise the terror alert level, and Obama's statement was given on January 5, 2010, in the panicky wake of the "underwear bomber's" failed attempt to blow a hole in a Christmas day plane headed from Amsterdam to Detroit. Non-super-toxic versions of E. coli now cause almost as much damage yearly in the US as the recent super-toxic strain has in Europe: A child recently died in an outbreak in Tennessee.

Prof. Mujahid Kamran: The "Elite" and World War III

First of all, we need not admire the "so-called elite", because that is just what those arrogant bastards falsely believe they are! The control of the US, and of global politics by the wealthiest (hence "elite"), families of our planet is exercised in a powerful, profound and clandestine manner. This control began in Europe and has a continuity that can be traced to the time when bankers discovered it was more profitable to give loans to governments than to "needy" individuals. These banking families and their subservient beneficiaries now own most major businesses, and have secretly organized themselves as controllers of worldwide governments, and as arbiters of war and peace. Unless we understand this, we will be unable to understand the real reasons for the two world wars, and the impending "Third World War", a war that is almost certain to begin as a consequence of the US attempt to seize and control Central Asia. The ONLY way out is for the US to back off, something the people of the US and the world want, but that the so-called elite is afraid of. The US is a country controlled through the privately owned "Federal Reserve", which, in turn, is controlled by a handful of banking families, who established it through deception! In his book "The Secret Team", Colonel Fletcher Prouty, briefing officer of the US President from 1955 through 1963, narrates an incident in which Winston Churchill revealed during World War II: At the time, there had been heavy Luftwaffe attacks on Rotterdam. He sat there, meditating, and then, as if to himself, said: "Unrestricted submarine warfare, unrestricted air bombing. This is total war. He continued sitting there, gazing at a large map, and then said: "Time and the ocean, and some guiding star, and the high Cabal have made us what we are, our mission is complete! Prouty continues: This was a most memorable scene and a revelation of reality that is infrequent at best. Who could know better than Churchill that there is, beyond doubt, an international High Cabal, and its name is Bilderberg! This so-called "elite" owns the media, banks, defense, and the oil industry. In his book "Who's Who of the Elite, Robert Gaylon Ross Sr. states: It is my opinion that they own the US military, NATO, the Secret Service, the CIA, the Supreme Court, and many of the lower courts. They appear to control, either directly or indirectly, most of the state, county, and local law enforcement agencies. The "elite" is intent o conquering the world through the use of the abilities of the people of the United States. It was as far back as 1774 that Amschel Mayer Rothschild stated at a gathering of the twelve richest men of Prussia in Frankfurt: "Wars should be directed so that the nations on both sides should be further in our debt". He further enunciated at the same meeting: "Panics and financial depressions would ultimately result in World Government, a new order of one world government." The so-called "elite" owns numerous "think tanks", that work for expanding, consolidating, and perpetuating its hold on the globe. The Royal Institute of International Affairs, (RIIA), the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), the Bilderberg Group, the Trilateral Commission, and many other similar organizations, all funded by the so-called "elite."

Deutsche Welle Daniel Scheschkewitz: Attacks in Afghanistan Mark Pivotal Point

Two German soldiers were among those killed in suicide attacks in northern Afghanistan this weekend. The latest attacks underscore the devastating statistics: more than 50 German soldiers and a total of almost 2,500 ISAF soldiers have been killed since the start of the Afghan conflict, and the extremists are becoming increasingly dangerous. For the first time, the German army is even struggling to protect its generals. On Saturday, one of the attackers managed to gain entry to a high-level security meeting in Taloquan, a provincial town, disguised as a policeman. Intelligence agencies had warned of the attack, but a top-level meeting was not canceled. Most Afghan soldiers, as the police officers, lack feelings of of civil responsibility and national pride, but feel that only tribal loyalties matter. Jobs in the Afghan Army and police force lack civil responsibility and national pride, but are tied to old tribal loyalties. Also, jobs in the army and the police force are poorly paid, leading us to believe that an equitable salary would give Afghan soldiers, police officers and their families a reasonably good income.

Peter Graff: NATO Pauses Strikes on Tripoli

After some of the heaviest bombardments of Tripoli, NATO bombing paused: A Reuters reporter in Tripoli said "no further explosions were heard after about 2AM. Loud blasts had been shaking Tripoli throughout Tuesday, and into Wednesday morning, with warplanes hitting the city several times an hour. NATO defense ministers met in Brussels on Wednesday, but there were few signs of willingness to intensify their Libya "mission", which has so far failed to oust Gaddafi. The alliance "claims", the bombing is to "protect civilians", and what better way than to kill as many as possible of them, all under the mistaken auspices of bombing! For some weird reason, Western powers are lining up for members of Al Qaeda, even though we supposedly, at least according to President Obama, recently killed its leader, Osama Bin Laden in cold blood. Nevertheless, Western powers are lining up behind the rebels. Spain, on Wednesday said it had recognized the Al Qaeda led army, as well as their "National Transitional Council", as the country's only representative. Gaddafi's troops and the rebels have been deadlocked for weeks, with neither side able to hold territory on a road between Ajdabiyah in the east, which Gaddafi's forces shelled on Monday, and the Gaddafi-held oil town of Brega further west. Rebels control the east of Libya, the western city of Misrata, and the range of western mountains near the border with Tunisia. They have been unable to advance on the capital against Gaddafi's better equipped forces, despite the constant air attacks by an aggressive NATO, which sought broader support for the Western bombing, so that Gaddafi and his people know who is in charge here. When NATO defense ministers met in Brussels to discuss the Libyan campaign, some "allies", that have not taken part in the joyful bombing, said that they would not alter their stance, and Sweden, a non-NATO participant, said it understood the "pressures on Britain and France", but would "scale down" its role. Of the 28 NATO allies, only eight, led by Britain (the home of BP, which still has not been able to clean up its mess in the waters south of New Orleans), nevertheless feel empowered to show Libya and her leader, who is now in charge of killing Gaddafi and his loyal people. Germany, which opposed the Libyan intervention, said it understood the pressures on Britain and France, but would NOT change its position. Spain chimed in as well, and a good time was had by all: If you can't have fun killing innocent civilians, what good is there in living on this earth?
This just in from "Rogue Government": US military operations in Libya will cost "hundreds of millions of dollars more than the Pentagon estimated". After all, it's only money, and our taxpayers will be deliriously happy in making up the difference! Robert Gates, the outgoing secretary of defense, said last month that the Pentagon expected to spend "somewhere in the ball park of $750m" in the 2011 fiscal year, as part of efforts to "protect the Libyan people". As we all know from previous wars, especially those who are blessed with weapons falling on their heads, "dead people are happy people"!

Tom Engelhardt: How Permanent Are Those American Bases?

Iraq has always been "South Korea" for the Bush Administration (Good riddance to them). Finally the great American disconnect may be ending. "Only" four years after the unlawful invasion of Iraq, the crucial facts-on-the-ground might finally be coming into sight for Americans: Not the carnage or the mayhem, the suicide car bombs or the chlorine truck bombs, the massive flight of middle-class professionals, the assassination campaigns against academics, the collapse of the best health-care service in the region, the spiking of American and Iraqi casualties, the lack of electricity, the growth of Shia militias, the crumbling of the "so-called coalition of the willing", or the uprooting of 15% or more, of Iraq's population, the sharp increase in fundamentalism and extremism, the rise of al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the swelling of sectarian killings, or the inability of the Iraqi government to get oil out of the ground, or an oil law, designed in Washington, and meant to turn the clock back decades in the Middle East, passed inside Baghdad's fortified "Green Zone". NO, NONE OF THAT! What's finally coming into view is just what George W. Bush, Dick Cheney (may they rest in hell!), the top officials of their administration, the "civilian" leadership at the Pentagon, and their "neocon" (=new con-artist) followers had in mind, when they invaded and occupied Iraq in 2003. Nevertheless, our "runaway military" continues, providing ample reason to embrace a communist form of government, though presently mentioning that sort of language is not advised, unless one wishes a lengthy prison sentence! David Sanger of the New York Times hits the nail right on its nasty head: "Administration officials and top military leaders declined to talk on the record about their long-term plans in Iraq, but when speaking on a not-for-attribution basis, they describe a fairly detailed concept: It calls for maintaining three or four major bases in the country, all well outside the crowded urban areas, where casualties have soared. They would include the base at Al Asad in Anbar Province, Balad Air Base about 50 miles north of Baghdad, and Tallil Air Base in the South.

Peter Graff: NATO Seeks more support in Libya?

Of the 28 NATO allies, only eight, led by Britain and France have been conducting air strikes on Gaddafi's forces, and a senior US official warned this week that while there was no risk to the mission yet, fatigue was beginning to set in among the aircrews already committed (in my opinion, they definitely should be!) Though all "greedy" NATO allies, who desperately want to steal Libya's oil, agree that Gaddafi needs to go, he had the unmitigated gall to stay with his people, where he proposes to fight side by side with them! Germany, which opposes the Libyan intervention, said it understood the the pressures on Britain and France, but, considering her unjustified blame as a former "war monger", did not want to give the former World War II victors another opportunity to light the fires under the new German nation: "Germany sticks to its position - no military engagement, German Deputy Defense Minister Christian Schmidt told reporters!" Gaddafi's forces pulled back to high ground in the Western Mountains outside Yafran, 130 km (80 miles) southwest of Tripoli, but beyond the Obama financed "rebel army"! NATO bombing of Tripoli paused Wednesday morning, after some of the heaviest bombardments of the Libyan capital since air strikes began in March, but rebels said Muammar Gaddafi's army continued to shell their positions. A Reuters reporter in Tripoli said no further explosions were heard after about 2 AM - 8PM ET. Loud blasts had been shaking Tripoli throughout Tuesday and into Wednesday morning, with warplanes hitting the city several times an hour. Fortunately, there were few signs among NATO defense ministers to intensify their Libya mission!

Emily Kaiser: Yahoo News - China warns US debt-default is "playing with fire".

Republican lawmakers are "playing with fire", by contemplating even a brief debt default as a means to force deeper government spending cuts, an adviser to China's central bank said on Wednesday. The idea of a technical default, essentially delaying interest payments for a few days, has gained backing from a growing number of mainstream Republicans, who see it as a price worth paying, if it forces the White House to slash spending, Reuters reported on Tuesday, but any form of default could destabilize the global economy and sour already tense relations with big US creditors such as China, government officials and investors warn. Li Daokui, an adviser to the People's Bank of China, said a default could undermine the US dollar, and Beijing needed to dissuade Washington from pursuing this course of action: "I think there is a risk that the US debt default may happen," Li told reporters on the sidelines of a forum in Beijing. "The result will be very serious, and I really hope that they would stop playing with fire." China is the largest foreign creditor to the United States, holding more than $1 trillion in Treasury debt as of March, US data shows, so its concerns carry considerable weight in Washington: "I really worry about the risks of a US debt default, which, I think, may lead to a decline in the dollar's value," Li said. Congress has balked at increasing a statutory limit on government spending, as lawmakers argue over how to curb a deficit which is projected to reach $1.4 trillion this fiscal year. The US Treasury Department has said it will run out of borrowing room by August 2. If the United States cannot make interest payments on its debt, the Obama administration has warned of "catastrophic " consequences, that could push the still-fragile economy back into recession. "It has dire implications for the economy at a time when macro data is softening," said Ben Westmore, a commodities economist at National Australia Bank. "It's just a horrible idea," he said. Financial markets are following the US debate, but see little risk of default. (Yeah, right!) US Treasury prices were firm in Europe on Wednesday, supported by a flight to their "perceived" safety, on the the back of the Greek debt crisis and worries about a slowdown in the US economic growth. Marc Ostwald, a strategist with Monument Securities in London, said markets were working on the "assumption" that the US debt story "will go away", but nervousness would grow if a resolution were not reached in the next five to six weeks. The Republican's "theory" is that bondholders would accept a "brief delay" in interest payments, if it meant that Washington finally addressed its long-term fiscal problems, putting the country in a "stronger" position to meet its debt obligations at some time in the far distant future! But interviews with government officials and investors show that they consider a default such a grim possibility that it was nearly impossible to imagine. "How can the US be allowed to default?" said an official at India's central bank. "We don't think this is a possibility, because this would then create a huge global panic." Indian officials say they have little choice but to buy US Treasury debt, because it is still among the world's "safest", and most liquid "investments". According to US data, it held $39.8 billion in US Treasuries as of March. The Indian officials declined to be identified, because they are not permitted to speak to the news media!!
My resolution: Mr. President, Stop your useless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and stop feeding your war machines!

Ellen Brown, Public Banking Institute: The Global Debt Crisis

Precipitated by the credit collapse of 2008, countries everywhere are facing a debt crisis: Public services are being slashed and public assets are being sold off, in a futile attempt to balance budgets that can no longer be "balanced", because even our money supply has shrunk. The collapse was not in "government", but in our banking system, and in the credit which is responsible for creating and sustaining it: Most of our money today is NOT created by governments, but is created by private banks as loans. The "private" system of money creation has grown so powerful over the centuries so that it now dominates even the world's governments. Unfortunately, it also contains the seeds of its own destruction. In other words, the source of its power is also a fatal design flaw! Normally, banks advance "bank credit", which must be paid back with interest, without an obligation to spend the interest they collect, so that borrowers can earn it repeatedly, as they must, in order to retire the debt. The money is often invested in casinos beyond the borrowers' reach. This leads to a continual cycle for for more bank credit money, and more debt with more attached interest. Today, this problem is especially evident in the "Euro", a fixed currency system that does not allow for expansion to meet the demands of the "private lending casino".

Claudine Zapp: Man Fined for paying Fee In Pennies

Police have charged Jason West, a medical patient in Vernal Utah, with disorderly conduct. He had attempted to pay a DISPUTED medical bill of $25 with pennies. The Salt Lake City Deseret News, after asking the clinic staff if the facility accepted cash payments, dumped 2,500 pennies on the counter, and demanded that they be counted. The clinic staff immediately called the police, and the arresting officer wrongly contended that West's protest served "no legitimate purpose". His fine could go as high as $140, and there is no immediate word as yet what currency the alleged victim will use to pay it. West is not alone in the ranks of "penny protesters". A man in Frederick, Maryland showed up at the local county clerk's office last summer with bags to pay his tax bill with $966.86 in change, and a New Jersey school district a few years ago punished 29 students, who paid for their $2 lunches in pennies, possibly as a prank, with two-day detentions. After parents protested, the students were pardoned, though the school explained that the use of the small change slowed down the lunch line.

James Petras: How the Empire Destroys its Own People!

On May 29, 2011, President Obama visited Joplin Missouri, the site of a devastating tornado which killed 140, and at the time, pronounced it "a terrible tragedy". During the same week, Afghan President Karzai condemned the killing of a family of 14 by a NATO fighter bomber, and pointed to a total of several hundred civilians killed so far this year, plus thousands over the decade! The relation between the civilian deaths in Joplin and and Afghanistan raises fundamental questions about the priorities, character and direction of the US Empire, and the future of the American republic. After I served as Advisory Team Leader in Vietnam, and watching too many Vietnamese and Americans die, I became somewhat poetic, and composed the following: About war much has been written. More must yet be said by those who saw them die, so that the dead may rest, and sight be gained, to see war for what it was, and is! War is not fighting, though fighting's what we see, nor is it death, for death is but its end! It is the rancor of disunited hearts, the death of love, the end of hope. The war around us echoes in our hearts, and grants it life. Once, mortals dared to tame this ancient beast, and yet it thrives. Each age must fight this force again, or pay its price!

Congressman Ron Paul: Holding the President Accountable on Libya

Last week, more than 70 days after President Obama sent our military to attack Libya without a congressional declaration of war, the House of Representatives finally voted on two resolutions attempting to rein in the president. This debate was long overdue, as polls show Americans increasingly frustrated by congressional inaction. According to a CNN poll last week, 55 percent of the American people believe that Congress, not the president, should have the final authority to decide whether the US should continue its military mission in Libya, yet more than 70 days Congress has ignored its constitutional obligations and allowed the president to usurp its authority. Finally, Congressman Dennis Kucinich was able to bring to the floor a resolution asserting that proper constitutional war power authority resides with Congress. His resolution simply stated that "Congress directs the President to remove the United States Armed Forces from Libya by no later than the date that is 15 days after the date of the adoption of this concurrent resolution." Opponents of the withdrawal resolution said the 15 day deadline was too abrupt, but as I pointed out during the debate, the president attacked Libya abruptly, without bothering to consult Congress, so why can't he order an end to military action just as abruptly? When members of Congress took an oath of office to defend the Constitution, we did not pledge to defend it gradually, a little bit at a time. On the contrary, we are sworn to defend it vigorously and completely from the moment we take that oath. I was pleased that 87 Republicans were able to put the Constitution first, and support this resolution. House Speaker John Boehner offered his own resolution on the same day, which declared that Congress would NOT support the insertion of US ground troops into Libya. Though this was far from adequate to satisfy our constitutional obligations, it was certainly a step in the right direction. Just days before Speaker Boehner's resolution, an amendment to the defense authorization act prohibited the president from using any funds in the bill to insert US troops into Libya! A separate amendment last week prohibiting any funds appropriated to the Department of Homeland Security from being used to attack Libya came just a handful of votes from passing. We are broke, and the American People know it! They expect Congress to focus on fixing America's economic problems, rather than rubber stamping yet another open-ended military intervention in Libya!

Libya Fights Back: Gadhafi's forces attack rebels!

Mommar Gadhafi's forces struck back on three fronts Monday, using fighter jets, special forces units and regular army troops in an escalation of hostilities. As the Pentagon began repositioning Navy warships to support a "possible humanitarian" or military intervention, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told the Libyan leader to surrender power. I just wish she had the guts to give the same ultimatum to Obama! As the Pentagon began repositioning Navy warships to support the "so-called humanitarian intervention"? Their battle-cry was: Surrender your oil immediately, or die, in other words, our invasion of Iraq, revisited! Nevertheless, in some of the harshest language yet, from a US official, UN envoy Susan Rice accused Gadhafi of "slaughtering his own people" and being "disconnected from reality". In my honest opinion, it is Ms. Rice who should heed her own warning, if she can tell right from wrong. Libyan authorities blamed Islamic radicals and the West, which is my honest opinion as well! At a news conference for foreign journalists in Tripoli, spokesman Musa Ibrahim denied reports that Gadhafi's loyalists had turned their guns on civilians. "No massacres, no bombardments, no reckless violence against civilians", said a Libyan government spokesman, comparing Libya's situation to that of Iraq before the US invasion in 2003! Street battles raged in Misurata and Zawiyah, two important breakaway cities near Tripoli, the nation's capital and principal Gadhafi stronghold. The UN refugee agency called the situation a humanitarian emergency, as workers with suitcases and their possessions stood in long lines to leave Libya, many of them uncertain how they would finally get home!

Michael T. Klare: Three Massive World Events That Will Change Your Life!

First, the good news about energy: Thanks to rising oil prices and deteriorating economic conditions worldwide, the International Energy Agency (IEA), reports that global oil demand will NOT grow this year as much as once assumed, which may provide some temporary price relief at the gas pump: In its May Oil Market Report, the IEA reduced its its 2011 estimate for global oil consumption by 190,000 barrels per day, pegging it at 89.2 million barrels daily. As a result, retail prices may not reach the stratospheric levels predicted earlier this year, though they will undoubtedly remain higher than at any time since the peak months of 2008, just before the global economic meltdown. Keep in mind that this is the "good" news. As for the bad news: The world faces an array of intractable energy problems that, if anything, have only worsened in recent weeks. These problems are multiplying on either side of energy's key geological divide: below ground, once-abundant reserves of easy-to-get "conventional" oil, natural gas, and coal are drying up; above ground, human miscalculation and geopolitics are limiting the production and availability of specific energy supplies. With troubles mounting in both arenas, our energy prospects are only growing dimmer!

Jack A. Smith: Obama's Foreign Policy Objectives

You've seen the "headlines" in the last few weeks and days: The Arab uprising, the faked killing of Osama Bin Laden, Washington's effort to keep troops in Afghanistan and Iraq (to steal the latter country's oil), Egypt's reopening of the border with Gaza, Pakistan's role in the Afghan war, President Obama's speeches on the Middle East and Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's intransigence, the Fatah-Hamas unity moves and plans to gain UN recognition of Palestinian statehood, and that's not the half of it! Each event looms large in the mass media and in political discourse, but each is only a part of a much larger mosaic that constitutes the Middle East/North Africa and Central Asia component of the Obama Administration's foreign and military strategy. This component is Washington's top priority, because any significant deterioration of US domination in MENA, and the frustration of its ambitions in Central Asia, especially in combination with weakening economic and political influence in the world, which could hasten America's decline as the unipolar global "leader".