U.S. Bans Cluster Bomb Exports

clipped from us.oneworld.net Legislation signed into law on March 11, 2009 by President Obama will make permanent a ban on nearly all cluster bomb exports by the United States, Human Rights Watch said today. The United States should review its stance on joining the international treaty prohibiting cluster munitions in light of this action, Human Rights Watch said. It brings Washington into closer alignment with international opinion on this terrible weapon The passage of this measure is yet another indication that the president should initiate a thorough review of US policy with respect to cluster munitions If it is unacceptable for foreign militaries to use these weapons, why would it be acceptable for the US military to use them?

Excellent! It’s about time. What? Wait a minute, they’re still going to allow a . . . safer . . . indiscriminate killer?!? Are you kidding me? The U.S. will still use them IF they leave behind less than 1% of their submunitions. This is still unacceptable.

Oh, but wait. We have the word of the receiving country that these evil inventions won’t be used where civilians are known to be present. Oh, well then, that makes it okay?!?

I was seriously hoping that George Bush and his cronies would be grumbling at the loss of income these horrific weapons provide.

Musharraf and Bush: puppets and war profiteers

Musharraf would go for the U.S. brand of democracy if he would only understand what it means for all politicians. Politicians could tax the hell out of the working force to pay for their rich lifestyle, their parties, their opportunities for ‘money under the table’ in backrooms where deals are made to pass bills and laws that help make themselves and their buddies richer. To pay for their own retirement benefits and their own health insurance while not having to share anything with the very people who put them in power. But Musharraf doesn't want to share with all politicians. He wants to ensure that only he and his buddies get to ride the gravy train and since he is in a position to prevent all opposition to his rule and is acting on that position to his benefit, this has made him George W. Bush’s hero.

This is why King George refuses to stop supporting the little dictator, they are brothers. Bush is simply spreading the wealth garnered from his illegal, propaganda-inflamed ‘war-against-terrorism’ scheme. If Bush allows Musharraf to be put out of office then all of Bush’s oil company buddies and his war machine cronies would take a direct hit in their fiscal bottom line. In Bush’s world of ‘steal from the poor and give to the rich’ such a mistake would be devastating. His ego would not be able to withstand such a let down to his club brothers.

Musharraf is dispensable if democracy is what Bush truly wants in Pakistan. In fact, it is necessary that Musharraf be relieved of power as soon as possible if democracy stands a chance of taking hold in Pakistan. Bush’s actions clearly show that democracy is not what Bush is after here. Bhutto wants democracy. Musharraf has clearly shown he only wants democracy if democracy wants him. Bush and Musharraf are too much alike to allow Musharraf to remain in power. He will destroy Pakistan just as Bush is destroying the U.S.

Wake up America, Musharraf still has ties with the Taliban. The Taliban propped him up as leader of Pakistan and he faked allegiance with America in order to slow America’s war against the Taliban. When Musharraf signed a peace deal with Islamic militants while claiming to fight alongside America to ferret out all militants proves he is just a scared puppy dog trying to hang on to power by promising to follow everybody’s direction. Now that he is faced with not being in power he arrests all lawmakers in an attempt to keep himself in power. This makes Musharraf a very untrustworthy and therefore very dangerous man.

Musharraf and Bush have both made it clear that democracy can take a back seat so they can stay in power and continue to profit from this illegal, immoral war at the expense of innocent lives.

Iraqi Prime Minister says U.S. troops can leave anytime

Okay, George, your move.

This is a golden opportunity to get out of Iraq.

Are you going to continue to hang on to Iraq as if it was your personal trophy? Are you going to hang on the ‘spoils of war’, the income producing opportunities that are making your ‘good ole buddies’ richer while American soldiers die?

Are you going to listen to reason and the demands of both the U.S. citizens and the Iraqi government and get out?

In Al-Maliki’s news conference, he referred to the political reforms that need to be made in Iraq as the reforms that ‘Washington wants’. Notice he did not refer to them as what Iraq wants.

They don’t want us there, George, get a clue. You cannot force them to want us there.

One of al-Maliki’s advisors, Shiite lawmaker Hassan al-Suneid, sharply criticized the U.S. military, saying it was committing human rights violations and embarrassing the Iraqi government through such tactics as building a wall around Baghdad's Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah and launching repeated raids on suspected Shiite militiamen in the capital's slum of Sadr City.

He also criticized U.S. overtures to Sunni groups in Anbar and Diyala provinces, encouraging former insurgents to join the fight against al Qaeda in Iraq. "These are gangs of killers," he said.

This view from a top advisor illustrates a major problem that will never be overcome. They hate each other. How can you possibly expect any success at attaining a ‘democracy’ among Iraqi citizens when they hate each other? These deep divisions within the Iraqi party are along religious lines, Shiite, Sunni, and Turkish Kurds and they do not want to get along. Religion is so deeply embedded in a persons character that it cannot be ‘overcome’ even with the force and will of an American military. You are trying to change centuries of hate and distrust. You are not going to win this, George.

You cannot turn Iraq into a mini America. Give up your quest to turn Iraq into a profit center for America, give up your quest to “Americanize’ Iraq, get out now.