Obama's Afghanistan Strategy Falling Apart & CiA running 3,000 Assassins

[Count Bobulescu]

The still evolving portrait of the shooter.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...y.html?hpid=z1

But Bales’s decision to join the Army also came at a pivotal point in his pre-military career — a career as a stock trader that appears to have ended months after he was accused of engaging in financial fraud while handling the retirement account of an elderly client in Ohio, according to financial records.

An arbitrator later ordered Bales and the owner of the firm that employed him to pay $1.4 million — about half for compensation and half in punitive damages — for taking part in “fraud” and “unauthorized trading,” according to a ruling from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the independent disciplinary board for brokers and brokerage houses.

A review of the investor’s account statements, obtained by The Washington Post, shows that valuable stocks were sold off in favor of penny stocks as part of what the arbitrator called “churning” by Bales to pump up commissions.

The client, Gary Liebschner, a 74-year-old retired engineer for AT&T, said Sunday that he “never got paid a penny” of the award.

[Griska]

The still evolving portrait of the shooter.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...y.html?hpid=z1

So much talk about the murderer (or one of them).

Here's some info about the victims, they seem to have been almost forgotten:

Masooma, Farida, Palwasha, Nabia, Esmatullah -- the daughters of Mohamed Wazir. Faizullah, his son. Mohamed Dawood, son of Abdullah. Khudayad, son of Mohamed Juma. Nazar Mohamed. Payendo. Robeena. Shatarina, the daughter of Sultan Mohamed. Zahra, the daughter of Abdul Hamid. Nazia, the daughter of Dost Mohamed. Essa Mohamed, the son of Mohamed Hussain. Akhtar Mohamed, the son of Murrad Ali. Nine of them under the age of 12. All dead.
Wounded, but alive: Haji Mohamed Naim, son of Haji Sakhawat. Mohamed Sediq, the son of Mohamed Naim. Parween. Rafiullah. Zardana. Zulheja.

http://open.salon.com/blog/heather_m.../sixteen_names

[Count Bobulescu]

Griska, I did not intend to diminish the lives of those killed. The sad fact in these situations is that celebrity or public figure victims excepted, the focus is usually on the shooters or survivors, because that’s where the news value is. Look at France today. It’s the old story, 100 aircraft take off and land safely, - no news, one doesn’t – big news. In addition this case will draw inevitable comparisons with the 2009 Fort Hood shooting. In that case, Major Nidal Hasan, serving as an army psychiatrist, opened fire on base killing 13 and wounding 30. He is still awaiting trial. I would expect Bales to wait as long. There are still lots of unanswered questions regarding Bales state of mind.

-- ProPublica, "Afghan soldier likely took a brain test riddled with problems," by Lena Groeger: "Traumatic brain injuries are so common among today's troops that the military has spent over $42 million for a test to detect them, a test that Bales most likely took before his final deployment to Afghanistan. The problem is, that test has failed miserably. ... The test has been heavily criticized as an ineffective tool to detect brain injuries." http://bit.ly/GzoRRh

-- The Associated Press, "Soldier's lawyer plans trip to Afghanistan," by John Milburn: "The lawyer for the Army staff sergeant suspected of killing 16 Afghan civilians questioned Tuesday the quality of the evidence against his client and said he planned to travel to Afghanistan to gather his own. ... 'I don't know that the government is going to prove much. There's no forensic evidence. There's no confessions,' Browne said." http://bit.ly/GCtFrB

[fluffybiscuits]

So much talk about the murderer (or one of them).

Here's some info about the victims, they seem to have been almost forgotten:



http://open.salon.com/blog/heather_m.../sixteen_names

To quote Frankie Boyle again on Tramadol Nights...

"Basically, we are murdering a load of shepherds. What gets me is our callousness as a society when we read out our dead on the news first, because our lives are more important. Other people's aren't worth as much."

[Count Bobulescu]

Some reasons for the delay in naming Bales are emerging. Not pretty.

McClatchy Newspapers, "After Bales' arrest, military tried to delete him from web," by David Goldstein and Matthew Schofield: "A second Pentagon official acknowledged that one of the reasons for the delay in releasing Bales' name was to remove references to his Army service from the Internet. ... Several former military officers said they were perplexed that the Army would try to remove information that already had been public. One called it 'unusual.' Experts agreed that the effort was futile." http://bit.ly/GDJyyk

[Count Bobulescu]

There has been some speculation that Bales may attempt to mount an insanity defense. If the piece below is correct, that probably just got harder.


http://www.theatlanticwire.com/natio...ficials/50293/

[Griska]

There has been some speculation that Bales may attempt to mount an insanity defense. If the piece below is correct, that probably just got harder.


http://www.theatlanticwire.com/natio...ficials/50293/

I heard his celebrity lawyer interviewed this week talking about a distinct lack of evidence.
He also claims Bales doesn't remember the killings, which may be a precursor to an insanity defence.

[Count Bobulescu]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...aZS_story.html

KABUL — U.S. military officials paid relatives $50,000 for each of the villagers allegedly killed by a rogue U.S. soldier this month in Kandahar province, Afghan officials said Sunday.

Payment of “blood money” is a common way to settle disputes stemming from violent deaths in Afghanistan, but the amounts seemed unusually high compared with past U.S. military practice. The money could defuse the intense anger the March 11 massacre has generated in the southern province.
U.S. military officials handed the money to the villagers Saturday during a meeting at the office of Kandahar Gov. Tooryalai Wesa, according to Fazal Mohammed Esaqzai, the deputy chairman of the Panjwai district council, who was present.

A U.S. official in Kabul confirmed the payments, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
“The amount reflects the devastating nature of the incident,” the official said.
Esaqzai said U.S. Special Forces commanders gave villagers $50,000 for each of the 17 people shot to death and $11,000 for each of the six people wounded in the shootings. The U.S. military charged Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, 38, with 17 counts of premeditated murder Friday. He had been assigned to a Special Forces base in Panjwai district.

[TotalMayhem]

U.S. military officials paid relatives $50,000 for each of the villagers allegedly killed by a rogue U.S. soldier this month in Kandahar province,

I know a few local villagers whose relatives woundn't mind the basterds getting whacked and then cash 50 grand for their "loss" (knowing the relatives, they'd probably settle for half the money). We could easily expand this business model on an industrial scale.

[fluffybiscuits]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17515788

His wife cant believer what he done. Apparently they are going to claim that he suffered brain injuries. He might get off, to sign up and go bombing innocent civilians fighting for an imperialist force would mean you would have to have brain injuries ...

[fluffybiscuits]

hope you will do same things again

Do what??

Welcome to the forum

مرحبا بكم في المنتدى

[Apjp]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...032301613.html

Very good article from 2007 on US paranoia by a former Govt. advisor.

[Kev Bar]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...032301613.html

Very good article from 2007 on US paranoia by a former Govt. advisor.

That's good.

Funny ... cos the author was a victim of the hysteria he describes.
But from supposed opponents of the "war on terror" who claimed, erroneously, he was in a famous photo with Osama Bin Laden back in the day.

It showed how critics could play just as fast as loose with fact as the war mongering behemoths.

[Count Bobulescu]

It is good. Zbig as he likes to be called, is a democrat, writing during the Bush era, and correctly identifies the problem, but he’s a little light on solutions.

Federal

http://www.ready.gov/

State

http://www.mema.state.md.us/MEMA2/index.html

and county government are all in on the act with emergency preparedness advice

http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/co...rifold_6pg.pdf

It serves a legit purpose but finding the right balance is difficult. In the event of a nuclear attack the advice remains the same, cup your head in your hands, crouch under the table and hold your breath

[Count Bobulescu]

Interesting.

CNN HAS A HAUNTING VIDEO from reporter Yalda Hakim of Australia's SBS network in which she traces the path of Staff Sgt. Robert Bales on the night of his alleged killing spree and talks to survivors of the attack -- including an 8-year-old girl who witnessed the murder of her father.
"How did he die?" the child is asked.
"The Americans," she responds.
Throughout the video, witnesses refer to multiple U.S. troops as carrying out the attack. Watch. http://bit.ly/HoQavt