Archive for the 'War' Category
New Arrest in SocGen Trading Scandal
March 12th, 2008Kerviel, according to legend, entered fictitious hedge positions that tricked the bank’s risk exposure system into ignoring the real positions!? If the people behind this had bombed the bank’s headquarters into a pile of rubble and killed all the executives, they would have done far less damage than what was accomplished with this hack. Or, […]
Fallon Resigns as Mideast Military Chief
March 12th, 2008Fallon, you’ll remember, is probably the main reason why Bush has not been able to start a war with Iran. Interesting coincidence, how oil broke out higher in the last several days preceding this news. Via: AP: The Navy admiral in charge of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan announced Tuesday that he is resigning […]
Top Iraq Contractor Skirts U.S. Taxes Offshore
March 7th, 2008Via: Boston Globe: Kellogg Brown & Root, the nation’s top Iraq war contractor and until last year a subsidiary of Halliburton Corp., has avoided paying hundreds of millions of dollars in federal Medicare and Social Security taxes by hiring workers through shell companies based in this tropical tax haven. More than 21,000 people working for […]
UK: Court Gags Ex-SAS Man Who Made Torture Claims
March 3rd, 2008Via: Guardian: A former SAS soldier was served with a high court order yesterday preventing him from making fresh disclosures about how hundreds of Iraqis and Afghans captured by British and American special forces were rendered to prisons where they faced torture. Ben Griffin could be jailed if he makes further disclosures about how people […]
Chavez Warns of War with Colombia
March 3rd, 2008It’s an energy story. Keeping an eye on the oil. Via: AP: Venezuela and Ecuador ordered troops to their borders with Colombia, sharply raising tensions after Colombia killed a top rebel leader on Ecuadorean soil. President Hugo Chavez on Sunday promised Venezuela would respond militarily if Colombia violates its border, where he ordered tanks as […]
HEAVY FIGHTING IN GAZA; ISRAEL SLAUGHTERS DOZENS OF CIVILIANS
March 2nd, 2008Via: Reuters: Israeli forces killed 61 people in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, the bloodiest day for Palestinians since an uprising against Israeli occupation began in 2000. Almost half the dead were civilians, including children. Israel, which lost two soldiers, seemed ready to press home its fiercest air and ground assault since it pulled troops […]
Bush Critical of Turkey’s Invasion of Iraq
March 1st, 2008One for your pot-kettle-black file folder. Via: Reuters: U.S. President George W. Bush urged NATO ally Turkey on Thursday to end its offensive against Kurdish PKK rebels in northern Iraq quickly, but Washington said it would not threaten to withdraw intelligence help. The United States fears prolonging the Turkish operation, which began on Feb. 21, […]
Guatemala to Expose Army Torture Files
February 26th, 2008Somehow, the Reuters article below doesn’t mention the CIA even once… As usual, the reader needs to look elsewhere for the basic, contextual facts: Jennifer K. Harbury Knows American Torture Starts at the Top, and It Has for Decades: …my husband had indeed been captured alive, had been held for two and a half years […]
The Three Trillion Dollar War
February 26th, 2008Via: Times Online: The Bush Administration was wrong about the benefits of the war and it was wrong about the costs of the war. The president and his advisers expected a quick, inexpensive conflict. Instead, we have a war that is costing more than anyone could have imagined. The cost of direct US military operations […]
Oil Giants Are Poised to Move Into Basra
February 25th, 2008Democracy. Via: Guardian: Western oil giants are poised to enter southern Iraq to tap the country’s vast reserves, despite the ongoing threat of violence, according to Gordon Brown’s business emissary to the country. Michael Wareing, who heads the new Basra Development Commission, acknowledged that there would be concerns among Iraqis about multinationals exploiting natural resources. […]
