Tag: Iraq

U.S., Iran, Syria, Libya & the Petrodollar

There’s been a lot of conflict in the Middle East. And most of it has to do with the petrodollar.

Take Iran, for example. The country is undergoing a bout of hyperinflation. This came about because of the pressing sanctions the West placed on Iran. But it’s not the only way America is trying to control the country.

America is rapidly expanding its presence in hotspots such as Syria, because the country is aligned with Iran and is anti-petrodollar. By trying to control Syria, the U.S., by extension, is trying to control Iran.

Now, our government wants you to believe we’re in Syria because of Iran’s nuclear capabilities. But we think something more sinister is at play…

The U.S. is punishing Iran for trying to abandon the petrodollar.

This is not unprecedented. The U.S. government took down Saddam Hussein when he tried to do the same thing. It also took down Libya when Gaddafi, a U.S. puppet, turned on the U.S. and threatened to issue gold dinars. That’s why the U.S. blew up Libya’s water system and left 70% of the population without water.

These are actions our government takes to try to control other countries when it feels threatened. It’s clear that our administration is worried about something. And that something is our dollar’s standing in the global economy.

via Strategic Investment (Paid Service).

Pay attention folks.  American foreign policy is the real cause of so much violence in the world.  Obama — winner of the Nobel Peace Prize — was to correct all that.  But no, he just continues down the same Bush road.

It’s the road to hell.  We’re all on it.  Expect real trouble in the future when the Petrodollar collapses.

Hyatt Chairman Pritzker To Work in Iraq

Thomas Pritzker, patriarch of Chicago’s richest family and executive chairman of Hyatt Hotels Corp., is starting to do business in Iraq.

A venture he co-founded to chase deals in the war-torn country and other parts of the Middle East announced its first project last month: an upgrade of a port on the Persian Gulf—work that will be parceled out to two other Pritzker holdings.

via Crain’s Chicago Business.

I’m sorry but am I the only one thinking Arrested Development?

Obama, Iraq & Afghanistan, Peace & War

There an amazing story about mine clearing activities in the Persian Gulf.  Before we get to it though we really need to consider some history.

Do we remember:

There is no military solution to the war in Iraq. Our troops can help suppress the violence, but they cannot solve its root causes. And all the troops in the world won’t be able to force Shia, Sunni, and Kurd to sit down at a table, resolve their differences, and forge a lasting peace. In fact, adding more troops will only push this political settlement further and further into the future, as it tells the Iraqis that no matter how much of a mess they make, the American military will always be there to clean it up.

Barack Obama, Podcast, Jan. 3, 2007;

and,

Iraq is sort of a situation where you’ve got a guy who drove the bus into the ditch. You obviously have to get the bus out of the ditch, and that’s not easy to do, although you probably should fire the driver.

Barack Obama, The Daily Show, Nov. 7, 2005?

Do we remember when we were told that Iraq was “Bush’s” war and that it was going to impossible for Iraq to know peace?

Does anyone remember how were told that Afghanistan was the place where we had to really focus our energy?

The 30,000 additional troops that I am announcing tonight will deploy in the first part of 2010 – the fastest possible pace – so that they can target the insurgency and secure key population centers.

Taken together, these additional American and international troops will allow us to accelerate handing over responsibility to Afghan forces, and allow us to begin the transfer of our forces out of Afghanistan in July of 2011. Just as we have done in Iraq, we will execute this transition responsibly, taking into account conditions on the ground.

Barack Obama, December 01, 2009

Well let’s review how things are going…

An Afghan police officer shot and killed three U.S. Marines after sharing a meal with them before dawn Friday and then fled into the desolate darkness of southern Afghanistan, the third attack on coalition forces by their Afghan counterparts in a week.

via CBS News.

Wow!!  Afghanistan is a mess.  How are things going in Iraq?

Iraq Joins Mine clearing Exercises:

…  Saturday aboard the Ponce one of the countries ship’s came close enough for me to snap this picture with a telephoto lens. It’s the Iraqi patrol boat P-307 sailing alongside the U.S. guided missile destroyer USS Gridley.

The P-307 was delivered to Iraq in March 2012, carries a 30mm cannon and is manned by crew of 25 sailors. I talked to a Navy officer who told me if I was able to see it, I could go ahead and report it.

Amazing.
In Obama’s war the people we trained and armed are killing American Marines.
In Bush’s war the people we trained are helping us clear mines in the Persian Gulf.
That’s the fact Jack!!

Pentagon Smears Critics

The first casualty when war comes is the truth.
— Hiram Johnson

No one knows this better than the folks at the pentagon.

The newspaper USA Today said Friday an editor and reporter probing Pentagon propaganda efforts have been targeted by an online “misinformation campaign.”

Fake Twitter and Facebook accounts have been created under the names of the reporter and editor with postings denigrating their professional reputations, according to the daily.

The timing of the online harassment coincided with stories by Pentagon correspondent Tom Vanden Brook, who has written about the military’s “information operations” program that spent large sums on marketing campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The program has faced criticism in and outside the Defense Department as “ineffective and poorly monitored,” the paper said.

The false online accounts, including a fake Wikipedia entry, started appearing only days after the reporter first contacted Pentagon contractors for the story, the newspaper wrote.

Two weeks after enterprise editor Ray Locker’s byline appeared on a story on the same subject, a fake website under his name — RayLocker.com — popped up, the paper said.

You see?  you go writing things about the pentagon that they don’t like and misinformation about you will magically appear out of this air.  But worry not…

A US official confirmed to AFP that the Defense Department had made inquiries to contractors doing public relations work to ask them about the false online accounts.

The contractors denied any such activity, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

But the websites were taken down following the Pentagon’s inquiry. Some other accounts were removed for violating Internet providers’ terms of service, USA Today said.

The Pentagon said Friday it had not launched a formal investigation of the case.

No no… why would a formal investigation be necessary?

“We’re aware of the allegations and are not dismissing them outright to be sure,” press secretary George Little told reporters.

via Yahoo! News Canada.

Uh huh, right.

Know this:  If the misinformation department at the pentagon is willing to take on a reporter and an editor from the USA Today — the nation’s largest paper — who have research staff and other resources at their disposal to fight back, then it would have no problem whatsoever totally destroying an ordinary citizen who exposes the truth.

Tea Party = Peace

The Senate was about to pass a bi-partisan bill imposing tough sanctions on Iran through “unanimous consent” – that means no floor debate or discussion.

But Rand Paul, Kentucky’s ‘Tea Party’ senator, objected, which immediately prevents the easy passage.

According to a notice from his office, Paul wants insert an amendment, “that would ensure that nothing in the act shall be construed as a declaration of war or an authorization of the use of force against Iran or Syria, and that any such use of force must be authorized by Congress.”

via Business Insider.

Pretty much speaks for itself.