[Peace-discuss] How about a no-fly zone over Afghanistan?

[E. Wayne Johnson]

If there is a country in the world that deserves to have its assets 
frozen it is the US of A.

I know, I know.  The US is "too big to fail".


On 3/4/2011 11:52 PM, Stuart Levy wrote:
> I like these comments from David Wildman on the UFPJ mailing list.
>
> *Who*'s bombing civilians?  Let's have a no-fly zone over Afghanistan!
>
> ----- Forwarded message from David Wildman<DWildman at gbgm-umc.org>  -----
>
> Date: Fri, 4 Mar 2011 14:53:05 +0000
> From: David Wildman<DWildman at gbgm-umc.org>
> Subject: Re: [ufpj-activist] Aljazeera reports killing of thousands of
> 	civilians in Libya
> To: "FBrodhead at aol.com"<FBrodhead at aol.com>,
> 	"ellieomm at optonline.net"<ellieomm at optonline.net>,
> 	"wespac_mid-east at yahoogroups.com"<wespac_mid-east at yahoogroups.com>
> Cc: "ufpj-activist at lists.mayfirst.org"<ufpj-activist at lists.mayfirst.org>
>
> Thanks Ellie for raising this.  Qaddafi is offering the perfect distraction for the US.
>
>
>
> The real stories about bombing civilians are by the US in Afghanistan.  Petreaus finally was forced to apologize for only the latest in a growing string of the US  aerial bombardments that kill civilians.
>
>
>
> Why not a no fly zone over Afghanistan to protect civilians?  Ironically, former Gen. McChrystal now looks far more concerned about civilian casualties than Petreaus or anyone else in US military.  He reduced airstrikes and night raids.
>
>
>
> Assault Secy Gates, in his recent speech at West Pt., pleaded to have "his own head examined" for continuing a major land war in Asia.  It seems the US military has only one plan re Afghanistan - war by distraction.  Right now it's Libya, last year and soon again it is Iran.  It's like rats abandoning a sinking ship: Gates will retire this year, Petreaus is leaving by year end.  No one wants to be the last General in charge of a failed policy.
>
>
>
> Let's credit the US with using some non-military strategies like freezing Libya's assets.  Hmmm, maybe someone should freeze the assets of a country that repeatedly bombs civilians in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Pakistan, in Yemen, in Somalia.
>
>
>
> David
>
> ________________________________
> From: ufpj-activist-bounces+dwildman=gbgm-umc.org at lists.mayfirst.org [ufpj-activist-bounces+dwildman=gbgm-umc.org at lists.mayfirst.org] on behalf of FBrodhead at aol.com [FBrodhead at aol.com]
> Sent: Friday, March 04, 2011 4:13 AM
> To: ellieomm at optonline.net; wespac_mid-east at yahoogroups.com
> Cc: ufpj-activist at lists.mayfirst.org
> Subject: [ufpj-activist] Aljazeera reports killing of thousands of civilians in Libya
>
> Hi Ellie - I couldn't agree with you more about the US/western media coverage of everything/anything, but Aljazeera's reporting has included many eye-witness statements from reporters, anti-government fighters, and others that people have been killed from planes and helicopters, etc. For example, today’s reporting about the battle currently underway in Brega says that airplanes as well as ground forces are being used against the anti-government fighters defending the city.  The estimate of civilian deaths is now over 6,000. I wonder what you think of Aljazeera reporting, which gives more and imo far better coverage of Libya than the US, etc. media?
> Best wishes,
> Frank Brodhead
>
>
>
> In a message dated 3/4/2011 2:05:34 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, ellieomm at optonline.net writes:
>
> Dear Friends in the struggle:
>
> Just a few days ago it was all over the corporate media how 'madman' 'crazy' Qaddafi had gunned down with airplanes thousands of "his own people".  And earlier today on CNN (I was listening on the radio), Wolf Blitzer was at the lies again, suggesting that Qaddafi 'might' have mustard gas, and well, if he's mad, then he might use the mustard gas against "his own people"...These lines are like a script and they agitate and propagandize for the U.S. government policy.  I have NEVER forgotten the complete demonization of Iraq's leader, Sadaam Hussein, whose crimes pale in comparison to what the United States government and military have done to the nation and people of Iraq.  Four million refugees still under tents after U.S. government rid Iraq of its demonized leader.......
>
> Now, several days after the propaganda has had its impact on all of us, the head of the UN Human Rights Commission stated that they have 'no evidence' that planes were shooting down innocent Libyan protestors.
>
> What I find distressing, is how much 'trust' we put in the media, and how quickly we line up behind the spokespersons of the, excuse the term, military industrial complex, (or U.S. imperialism) before knowing the real truth.  This should cause us to re-think how to go about understanding crises and changes in the world.  The prejudices being spread against other leaders and governments must be scrutinized and then diligent and independent research must be done by each of us before arriving at conclusions being pushed in the corporate media and on Facebook, Twitter, etc.  For example, someone we can trust, Robert Naiman, of Just Foreign Policy has just written: "In addition, as U.S. military leaders have pointed out, the U.S. has not been able to confirm any reports of the Libyan use of air power against civilians. There are certainly credible reports of horrible human rights abuses, but they seem to have been carried out with guns rather than planes. If you want to stop that through military coercion, you can't do it with planes; you need ground troops. And no-one is seriously contemplating that.
>
> Meanwhile, the conflict in Libya has produced a humanitarian crisis<http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/03/world/africa/03refugee.html>, with some 150,000 migrant workers fleeing the violence piling up at Libya's borders. Refugee accounts suggest attacks on civilians from both sides of the conflict, with black African civilian refugees saying they were targeted by rebel forces who assumed they were mercenaries, suggesting that Western efforts to arm the rebels could make the West complicit in human rights abuses. "
>
> Doesn't this tell us something?  and Even more sinister, read what BBC has on its world wide news site: (Do NOT forget the colonial and rotten role in Gaza, Iraq, etc. that Britain has played!)
>
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12636337  "Many of the military assets being deployed at the moment could play a useful role in helping to alleviate the humanitarian crisis on Libya's borders. Could there still be an external military option? Of course there could.
>
> Supposing a Libyan government warplane bombed a school or refugee camp, killing large numbers of civilians, and the reports were relayed around the world on satellite TV?   That could change the calculations in Washington and European capitals. But for now, the watchword is caution."  By Jonathan Marcus BBC diplomatic correspondent
>
> Is this 'Journalist' hoping for such an act????????
>
> Peace through Justice, Ellie
>
> Ellie Ommani
> Co-founder, American Iranian Friendship Cmte;
> Member of Wespac and No War Westchester,
> dedicated to Peace&  Socio-Economic Justice
> 914-273-8852
>
>
>
>
>
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