from The Mind of RD REVILO
Tag: Iraq
Heads Up GOP: Chilcot Report Delivers Damning Verdict on British Role in Iraq War
The UK investigates a possible international war crime while our GOP Congress conducts politically motivated investigations into Hillary Clinton’s use of her email.
And if Hillary becomes President expect more smear campaign from the GOP because subverting the rule of law and the will of the people is all part of the ‘game’ for them.
Remember that if the GOP gave a damn about ethics it would have looked into The U.S. lead Invasion of Iraq, a decision that still compromises National Security.
Here are a few key findings of the UK’s Iraq War report:
“In November 2001, the JIC assessed that Iraq had played no role in the 9/11 attacks on the US and that practical co‑operation between Iraq and Al Qaida was “unlikely”. There was no “credible evidence of covert transfers of WMD‑related technology and expertise to terrorist groups”. It was possible that Iraq might use WMD in terrorist attacks, but only if the regime was under serious and imminent threat of collapse.”
“… After the invasion, the UK Government, including the intelligence community, was reluctant to admit, and to recognise publicly, the mounting evidence that there had been failings in the UK’s pre‑conflict collection, validation, analysis and presentation of intelligence on Iraq’s WMD.”
“In the Inquiry’s view, the diplomatic options had not at that stage [March 2003] been exhausted. Military action was therefore not a last resort.”
“The lack of evidence to support pre‑conflict claims about Iraq’s WMD challenged the credibility of the Government and the intelligence community, and the legitimacy of the war.”
“Mr Blair had been advised that an invasion of Iraq was expected to increase the threat to the UK and UK interests from Al Qaida and its affiliates.”
Read more here: Saddam Hussein posed “no imminent threat” when the U.S-led invasion was launched in March 2003
And here: Chilcot: Key findings of the UK’s Iraq War report
Torture’s Lubricant
“…music torture operates by stripping a prisoner of a safe, “interior space.” It invades with the sounds and cultural expressions of one’s captor and leaves prisoners with nowhere to hide to “escape the pain.”
Pakistani-Englishman Moazzam Begg, arrested by the CIA in Pakistan in 2002, wrote one of the most comprehensive memoirs describing the tortures he witnessed in the U.S. military prison system. During his stay at Bagram, Afghanistan, he suffered the Bee Gees.
“It was terrible, there was no light at all, it was so tight, so hot, sitting in there. You can’t see or do anything, nothing to see, nobody to talk to, nothing to do but bang the walls. And then to have the music blasting … I met several people who’d been in there … [who were] ready to tell the Americans anything they wanted, whether it was true or not.” 11 Popular Songs the CIA Used to Torture Prisoners in the War on Terror
“Saturday Night Fever” by the Bee Gees
Community Audio
Memorial Day 2016
“Congress should stop treating veterans like they’re asking for a hand out when it comes to the benefits they were promised, and they should realize that, were it not for these veterans, there would be nothing to hand out.” —Nick Lampson
“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” – John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Caring for veterans shouldn’t be a partisan issue. It should an American one. Jennifer Granholm
Iraq-Vet Kills Himself … Writing Before A Powerful Indictment…
“The simple truth is this: During my first deployment, I was made to participate in things, the enormity of which is hard to describe. War crimes, crimes against humanity,” wrote Somers. “Though I did not participate willingly, and made what I thought was my best effort to stop these events, there are some things that a person simply can not come back from. I take some pride in that, actually, as to move on in life after being part of such a thing would be the mark of a sociopath in my mind. These things go far beyond what most are even aware of.”