FBI Director contradicts Gonzales; Dem senators call for special prosecutor

Workers kidnapped to build Green Zone embassy. US Congress testimony.

Fox News attacks liberal bloggers. Director Robert Greenwald fights back with a video and says let’s call Fox advertisers because they”probably have no idea the kind of hatred their money is supporting.”

The polarization, the collapse of support for the president, an increasingly unpopular and unwinnable war, special prosecutors - yes, this is how it was during the beginning of the end for Nixon.

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He’s an affectionate, cuddly cat and everyone likes him, however …

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New evidence shows that Tillman was killed with three M-16 bullets to the head from 10 yards away. It’s difficult to see how that could be accidental friendly fire.

There’s more-  a deliberate coverup, no evidence of enemy fire, and Tillman snapping at a comrade to stop “sniveling,” moments before he was killed.

(”Fragging” is a term from the Vietnam War, where US soldiers shot their own troops, usually officers.)

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Wali Jan Sabri, a parliamentarian from Helmand, Afghanistan, claims that NATO bombing raids killed 50 - 60 civilians yesterday. 

In response, Lieutenant-Colonel Charlie Mayo, spokesman for the British forces in Helmand, said this:

“Because the Taliban don’t wear uniforms like us, as soon as they are killed, they are called civilians, the key is are they male or female and if they are male, what age are they?”

In other words any male between certain ages is by definition Taliban.

 While this is arguably a reasonable policy for colonial-style administration, it’s counter-productive in post-modern warfare because it plays right into the hands of the militants.  It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy: when all young men are considered militants and therefore subject to indiscriminate killing, they are likely to become militants.

UK is not the only military to adopt such counterproductive policies. When I went to Batticaloa, Sri Lanka in 1998 while the city was under siege by the LTTE, I found similar absurdities. The relatives of civilians killed by the government were eligible for compensation. But if they claimed their relative was killed by the government, they would get no compensation because “the government only kills LTTE” so if they were killed by the government they were clearly LTTE. The relatives would therefore claim the victim was killed “in crossfire,” whereupon they would get their compensation. The government, meanwhile, would report the deaths as caused by the LTTE, because “the government doesn’t kill civilians.” Thus, hundreds of government-caused deaths were attributed to LTTE– and the populace was systematically alienated from the occupying gornment forces.

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Four hedge funds in Australia have banned withdrawals even though they have no subprime exposure and are not margined. They are doing it to protect themselves from a “ripple effect” from the US subprime market.

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Luis Rodriguez, former gang member and author of Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A., has been working many years to get youth out of gangs.

His approach is to provide resources and mentorship, and then let the youth create the organizations.

There is a role for adults, mentors, and elders. Our role is as guides, teachers, helping bring resources, structures, and options for what the youth need. However, unlike many “youth programming” going on these days, it’s not about adults deciding for youth what they should do.

This is not only the “right thing” to do, it’s also the most effective. A study by the Justice Policy Institute is illuminating.

The study compared the levels of violence in three major cities–LA, Chicago, and New York City. NYC, with much more people, had the lowest crime rates among youth and much lower gang problems. Chicago and LA are known as the most violent gang cities, although most of what policy makers do in those cities is predicated on suppression. NYC has a myriad approach to gangs; they have brought services, jobs, treatment, schooling, and other similar aspects to bear over just police and suppressive tactics.

When police act like Robocop thugs, as in L.A., crime and violence gets worse. If a city provides actual resources for youth to get out of gangs, like NYC is doing, things get better. Imagine that.

The study concludes

Gang members account for a relatively small share of crime in most jurisdictions.

The public face of the gang problem is black and Latino, but whites make up the largest group of adolescent gang members.

Gang control policies make the process of leaving more difficult by continuing to target former members after their gang affiliation has ended.

Heavy-handed suppression efforts can increase gang cohesion and police-community tensions, and they have a poor track record when it comes to reducing crime and violence.

Their recommendations

Expand the use of evidenced-based practice to reduce youth crime.

Promote jobs, education, and healthy communities, and lower barriers to the reintegration into society of former gang members.

Redirect resources from failed gang enforcement efforts to proven public safety strategies.

Rodriguez is thoughtful, committed, and has been at this for years, without much money or resources either. His blog is always worth reading.

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So says Craig Murray

In Afghanistan. UK and US soldiers are dying to protect the puppet government, yet -

The four largest players in the heroin business are all senior members of the Afghan government – the government that our soldiers are fighting and dying to protect.

And certainly many others, governmental or otherwise, are making lots of money off this too. Remember, the Taliban wiped out opium production, but it came back big-time after the US and UK invaded. What a coincidence.

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