Military Resistance 12B8
AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS
Foreign Occupation “Servicemember” Killed Somewhere Or Other In Afghanistan:
Nationality Not Announced
February 15, 2014 Associated Press
An improvised explosive device killed a NATO service member in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, the U.S.-led international military coalition said.
In its statement, the coalition did not give further details on where the incident occurred or the nationality of the service member killed.
Two US Troops Killed, 4 Wounded By Afghan Government Soldiers
Feb 12, 2014by ROBERT BURNS and LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press [Excerpts]
Two U.S. soldiers were killed and four wounded in an attack Wednesday by attackers wearing Afghan security force uniforms in eastern Afghanistan, U.S. defense officials said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss details of the attack, which is the latest in a string of incidents in which Afghan troops turned their weapons on their supposed allies.
The officials said four Afghans involved in the attack were killed in the ensuing battle.
The exact circumstances of Wednesday’s incident were not immediately available. Two officials said it happened in Kapisa province, east of Kabul.
NO MISSION;
POINTLESS WAR:
ALL HOME NOW
U.S. troops at the site of a car bomb attack in Kabul February 10, 2014. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail
MILITARY NEWS
Navy Rebukes Three Admirals For Taking Questionable Trip:
“A Taxpayer Financed Vacation To London, England For Six Close Friends”
Asked By Inspector General How The Military Benefited From The Trip, Pimpo “Said, He Swapped Pointers With The British About ‘How They Train Their Cooks’”
February 7By Craig Whitlock,The Washington Post [Excerpts]
Amid a flurry of ethical scandals vexing the military comes a new transgression: The Navy has rebuked three admirals for taking a questionable trip to Britain and thereby flunking what was termed “The Washington Post Test.”
The admirals went on an official, seven-day trip to Britain in April 2012 that, to some eyes, seemed more about pleasure and less about business.
A whistleblower reported the trip to the Naval Inspector General, alleging that the three commanders were longtime pals, that they took along their wives and that it was perceived as “no more than a taxpayer financed vacation to London, England for six close friends to celebrate.”
At the time, two of the Navy officers had just been selected for promotion to one-star admiral.
The anonymous whistleblower acknowledged that many aspects of the trip might be “technically legal” but asked Navy investigators whether it would “stand up to ‘The Washington Post Test.’ ” In other words, what if The Post found out about it — would it provide embarrassing material for a news story?
In June, after a year-long investigation that resulted in a 68-page report and an intensive audit of every penny spent, the Naval Inspector General concluded that the admirals had flunked. It found that Rear Adms. Mark F. Heinrich, David R. Pimpo and Donald L. Singleton — each of whom held important Navy supply and logistics jobs — had violated federal travel regulations by staying at London hotels that cost more than $400 a night and booking unnecessarily expensive flights.
The British Royal Navy had issued a standing invitation for the visit. Over seven days, the U.S. admirals visited the British Ministry of Defense for two hours, spent half a day at the U.S. Embassy in London and visited several British Navy installations. At the same time, they did take along their wives (although not at taxpayer expense), arranged a leisurely visit to Bath and didn’t do any business over the weekend.
When asked by the inspector general how the military benefited from the trip, Pimpo was a little vague, testifying that the purpose was “to talk to our counterparts about several issues that we had been working jointly.” Among other ideas, he said, he swapped pointers with the British about “how they train their cooks.”
The inspector general found a pattern of travel-related violations committed by Heinrich, who at the time was the commander of the Naval Supply Systems Command.
On the same day he returned to the United States from London, he took another taxpayer-paid flight to visit his alma mater, the University of Kansas.
While there, he was inducted into the hall of fame of the school’s Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Department. He gave a speech, stayed the weekend and took in a football game.
The inspector general concluded that the award was “personal” and had little to do with his job at the Navy; that he spent $321 more on airfare than he should have; and that he improperly accepted a gift from the university, a laser-engraved chair valued at $338.
Heinrich retired as a two-star admiral on Nov. 1. In a phone interview, he said he was not forced to retire and that the Navy did not discipline or punish him as a result of the investigation. He said the purposes of his trips were entirely legitimate.
Singleton is now serving as the Pacific Fleet’s deputy chief of staff for logistics. He did not respond to requests for comment placed through a Navy spokesman.
Pimpo is now commander of the Defense Logistics Agency’s Land and Maritime office in Columbus, Ohio. He did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment or a request placed through a Navy spokeswoman.
Although the inspector general report on the admirals was kept confidential, The Post obtained it after filing a request under the Freedom of Information Act for all Naval Inspector General investigations into misconduct by admirals over the previous year.
The Navy released the report Thursday, four months after The Post filed the request.
Iraqi Insurgents Overrun City Of Sulaiman Pek;
“‘They Are Attacking Us With Rocket-Propelled Grenades And Machineguns,’ Mayor Talib Mohammed Said”
Feb 13, 2014 Reuters
Insurgents took over much of a northern Iraqi town on Thursday and laid siege to its town hall, weeks after militants seized a whole city from the country’s government.
Militants have been gaining ground in Iraq over the past year, but the government’s loss of control over Falluja and now Sulaiman Pek marks a major escalation.
“We are still inside the government building in the town center, surrounded by the gunmen. They are attacking us with rocket-propelled grenades and machineguns,” mayor Talib Mohammed said.
Sulaiman Pek, 160 km (100 miles) north of Baghdad, is a majority Sunni Arab town of around 25,000 people, with smaller Turkoman and Kurdish communities.
A tribal fighter who prevented Iraqi troops from entering Falluja said the government had failed to keep previous promises to repay the tribes of Anbar for fighting al Qaeda in 2006-07.
“Why should we trust the governor? He’s backed by Maliki and we have a bitter history with this man,” he said.
The army has intensified shelling of Falluja in recent days, and hospital officials said they had received six bodies on Wednesday, including those of two boys.
STUCK ON STUPID
SUSPICIONS CONFIRMED
During the recent Guantanamo Bay trial of five people charged in connection with the 9/11 attacks, defense lawyers continued to complain that their “confidential”client information was being leaked from the poorly secured “classified” Pentagon computer network.
Said the lead defense counsel (Air Force Col. Karen Mayberry), the normal Department of Defense “classified” network is so porous that she has been forced to use the Wi-Fi at the local Guantanamo Starbucks, which she regards as more secure.
CRIMINAL INJUSTICE
A 16-year-old Fox Chapel, PA, boy realized at a football game that he was inadvertently carrying a pocket knife and conscientiously turned it in to a security guard — which earned him a 10-day school suspension.
The school’s “zero tolerance” rule, said the boy’s father, sends a message that you should probably lie.
[From Funny Times]
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OCCUPATION PALESTINE
Occupation Troops Execute Palestinian Inside Gaza, Wound Another:
Zionists Say Death Penalty Applied For “Tampering With A Fence”
15/02/2014Ma’an
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- A Palestinian man was shot dead and another injured on Thursday by Israeli forces east of Gaza city.
Spokesman for the Gaza ministry of health Ashraf al-Qidra said that Ibrahim Suleiman Mansour, 26, from an area east of al-Shujaiyeh died from injuries sustained after Israeli forces shot him in the head in nearby al-Montar east of Gaza City.
Al-Qidra added that another man, 21, was moderately injured after being shot in the foot.
Medics told Ma’an earlier that two people were taken to a hospital after the shooting at the border.
A Ma’an reporter said that the two men were collecting pebbles near the border when they were shot.
An Israeli army spokesman, however, told Ma’an that “several Palestinians approached the security fence in the northern Gaza Strip and began tampering with (the) fence.”
“The soldiers operated in order to distance the suspects and after exhausting all possible means to do so fired at the main instigator,” he added.
Recent weeks have witnessed an increase in tensions on the Gaza Strip, as Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire on Palestinian protests near the border and launched a number of airstrikes. Palestinian militants have responded with rockets, which have not caused any injuries in Israel.
Israeli forces frequently shoot at farmers and other civilians inside the Gaza Strip if they approach large swathes of land near the border that the Israeli military has deemed off-limits to Palestinians.
The “security buffer zone” extends between 500 meters and 1500 meters [540 yards and one mile] into the Strip, effectively turning local farms into no-go zones.
According to UNOCHA, 17 percent of Gaza’s total land area and 35 percent of its agricultural land were within the buffer zone as of 2010, directly affecting the lives and livelihoods of more than 100,000 Gazans.
Israeli Occupation Soldiers Pose For Trophy Photos OfWounded Palestinian Child:
“The Soldiers Shot Yassin Al-Karaki With A Rubber-Coated Metal Bullet Which Hit The 13-Year Old In The Leg”
02/09/2014by Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada [Excerpts]
Israeli forces in the eastern occupied Jerusalem village of al-Eizariya were caught on video on Friday posing for trophy photos as they held a wounded, handcuffed Palestinian child in a stranglehold.
The disturbing video, shot by Rami Alarya was published by the Independent Media Center (IMC), however that publication’s website, which regularly documents Israeli abuses in the village, appeared to be down.
The images in this post are screenshots from Alarya’s video.
The International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC) which translated IMC’s report provided this description and analysis:
The soldiers assaulted the child during clashes that took place in the (al-Eizariya) town, east of occupied East Jerusalem.
One of the soldiers tried to push the cameraman, Alarya, and his colleague, Amin Alawya, away from the scene, and was yelling at them, “Enough, enough…. go away… what do you want…”
Medical sources said the soldiers shot the child, Yassin al-Karaki, 13 years of age, with a rubber-coated metal bullet which hit the 13-year old in the leg. After he fell, the soldiers began assaulting and abusing him.
The attack took place after soldiers, who hid in a building near the Annexation Wall in the Qabsa area, ambushed a group of children, and one of the soldiers opened fire on the children.
Several soldiers then attacked and assaulted the wounded child before kidnapping him.
The soldiers took pictures of themselves with the wounded child, and one soldier picked up a Molotov cocktail from the ground, while the child shouted in Hebrew, “it’s not mine, it’s not mine”, and a soldier responded, “it’s yours, it’s Ok … it’s yours”.
One of the soldiers was holding him in a chokehold, and was mocking the child by imitating wrestling moves while other soldiers took pictures, although the child was barely able to breathe.
The soldiers then placed the child in their jeep, while one of them was still filming the incident.
In his book Goliath, The Electronic Intifada contributor Max Blumenthal writes that such so-called “trophy” photos have a long tradition in many military forces, including Israel’s.
Blumenthal recalls a series of such photographs released several years ago by Breaking the Silence, an Israeli group which documents testimonies of Israeli soldiers while protecting their identities:
Zionist Settlers Assault Israeli Activist In West Bank:
“Activist Badly Bruised On Arms, Legs And Back”
Occupation Soldiers “Looked On And Did Nothing To Prevent It”
“An Armed Settler Screamed At Them To Shoot At The Israeli Ta’ayush Activists, Threatening To Do So Himself If They Refused His Order”
February 9, 2014by Mairav Zonszein, +972 [Excerpts]
On Saturday morning, Israeli Ta’ayush activists accompanied Palestinian residents of the village of Shweika in the South Hebron Hills to their grazing and farm lands in a valley near the illegal Eshtamoa outpost.
According to Guy, a veteran activist and documenter, settlers and Israeli soldiers have been obstructing or preventing access to the land in recent weeks, despite the fact that Israeli authorities recognize the valley as private Palestinian land and have restricted any Israelis from entering it.
Just before 11 a.m., 10-15 settlers came down from the outpost into the valley – most of them with their faces covered to avoid identification – and began throwing stones, some of them using slingshots.
[T]hree of the settlers violently assaulted one activist, with one of the settlers using a club.
The activist was badly bruised on his arms, legs and back.
According to Guy, soldiers in the area looked on and did nothing to prevent it, nor did they detain the settlers or demand to see their faces and identify them. Guy, along with the victim and another activist, went to the Kiryat Arba police station to file a complaint. The police said the incident will be investigated.
Two of the soldiers who were in the valley at the time of the incident also happened to be at the police station.
They told Guy that an armed settler screamed at them to shoot at the Israeli Ta’ayush activists, threatening to do so himself if they refused his order.
Unfortunately, based on over a decade of Ta’ayush experience with similar incidents, the chances that these settlers will be brought to justice is next to nil, despite clear evidence.
Several Israeli news sites reported on the incident in Hebrew.
As far as Guy knows, no suspects were taken into custody – certainly not at the time of the incident, when it was most crucial.
Settlers Attack Palestinian Villagers Working On Their Own Lands Near Hebron, As Usual
February 01, 2014by IMEMC & Agencies
A number of Israeli settlers attacked several Palestinian villagers working on their own lands in Wad Abu ar-Reesh -- Khirbit Safa area -- in Beit Ummar town, north of the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
Mohammad Awad, spokesperson of the Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements in Beit Ummar, said that several settlers invaded Palestinian farmland and orchards, close to the illegal Beit Ayen settlement.
He added that the settlers assaulted the villagers, and pushed them out of their lands while threatening and cursing at them.
The attack comes just a few days after settlers attacked local villagers in the same area.
On Wednesday, settlers uprooted more than 25 Palestinian olive trees in Madama village, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
[To check out what life is like under a murderous military occupation commanded by foreign terrorists, go to: The occupied nation is Palestine. The foreign terrorists call themselves “Israeli.”]
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CLASS WAR REPORTS
“Ukraine’s Opposition Groups Forming Parallel Security Forces Around The Country To Counterbalance Police”
“More Than 100 Club-Wielding Men From The Protesters’ Camp Surrounded A Courthouse In Another Part Of Kiev Where A Judge Was Deciding The Fate Of Four Protesters”
“The Judge Released The Prisoners”