President Obama’s man for peace in the Middle East throws in the towel, just in time for a massive May 15 march on Israeli borders by Egyptians, Jordanians and Lebanese.
There are yet to be any official statements about George Mitchell’s resignation. There is speculation that the unification of Palestinian political parties Hamas and Fatah (and other groups) is a factor.
The Israeli government recently said that with Fatah united with Hamas, there could be no more peace talks.
Yet another NATO supply convoy, headed for Afghanistan, has been blown up in Pakistan. This despite an increase in U.S. drone attacks.
Pakistani officials blame Pakistani Taliban for the attack, although they don’t know how the Taliban managed to blow up all the trucks (between 15 & 24).
General Kahlid Shamim Wynne, Pakistan’s Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, canceled his planned six day visit to the United States.
The General has not yet given a reason.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Yusuf Raza Gilani, said in an interview on May 12, that communication between the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, and Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence has broken down.
Since the supposed assassination of Osama bin Laden, the United States has actually increased the number of drone attacks in Pakistan.
Since May 2 there have been four attacks.
An unnamed official says the assassination of bin Laden will not affect U.S. policy in Pakistan: “There are absolutely no plans at present to cease or scale back U.S. counter terrorism operations in Pakistan.”
As if the United States and Europe aren’t doing enough for the Libyan Civil War. Today, May 13, Libyan rebel reps are meeting with President Obama, to ask for more money.
Mahmoud Jebril, with the rebel’s National Transitional Council, is asking that Obama turn over the frozen assets of Gaddafi. Jebril is a U.S. educated technocrat, who is helping to lead the rebel campaign against the Libyan government.
Jebril says that if the rebel Council doesn’t get more money soon, they will not be able to pay their mercenaries, I mean rebel troops. The implication is that the so called rebel freedom fighters would walk away.
In an obvious act of religious discrimination, a South Carolina prison has banned all books, except the Bible, from being read by prisoners. The ban went into effect in 2008. The Bible is the only religious book allowed.
The book ban is taking place at the Berkeley County prison. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit.
Prison officials claim that only books and magazines with staples in them are banned. But several book publishers, and individuals, say all books (except the Bible) sent to prisoners are being returned by the prison officials. Also, in an email response, a prison staff member admitted that only Bibles are allowed: “…our inmates are only allowed soft black Bibles in the mail directly from the publisher.”
The ACLU also discovered that legal pads of paper, with staples in them, are being sold to prisoners. The ACLU says the Berkeley County prison has obviously implemented a Bible only policy, despite officials trying to dodge the claims of the lawsuit.
“In a post-Gaddafi era, I think we will still have a role to play in assisting a new Libyan government in a transition to a sustainable democracy.”-Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO Secretary General
Rasmussen explained that NATO will focus on rebuilding Libya’s security and military units.
Basically what Rasmussen is saying is that U.S. led NATO plans on setting up shop in Libya, after they kill off Gaddafi. What was that Obama said about this not being a long term adventure?
Another case of Afghan government forces shooting U.S. forces. This time a National Police officer shot four U.S. soldier, killing one of them. Very little details are available. The shooting happened in Lashkar Gah. Witnesses say it was an all out scuffle.
This is not the first time Afghan government employees turned their guns on U.S. forces. Last month a career military pilot killed several U.S. personnel, before being killed himself.
As for police forces, this is one of several incidents involving police officers; In April 2011, a total of 11 U.S. personnel were killed by Afghan police. In January 2011, a U.S. Marine killed a police officer. In November 2010, an Afghan border police officer killed six U.S./NATO troops.
Not only do U.S. forces have to deal with the Taliban’s spring offensive, but they have to watch their back for fear of Afghan government police attacking them.
“The President has the authority to use all necessary and appropriate force during the current armed conflict with al Qaeda, Taliban, and associated forces pursuant to the authorization of the use of military force.”-2012 Defense Authorization Bill
U.S. Congressman Howard P. “Buck” McKeon, from California, has submitted the fiscal year 2012 defense bill (aka Authorization for the Use of Military Force). The bill expands the powers of the President to wage war, in the name of fighting terrorism.
The American Civil Liberties Union says the bill gives the President too much war making powers, and does not provide a clear end game policy.
A U.S. base in Iraq is being used to train Iranian dissidents for attacks on Iran.
The base is called Camp Taji Contracting Center. Iranian Arab separatists known as Khalq-e Arab, are given military training there. The Iranian government learned of the training after arresting five members of the group after they tried to assassinate Iranian police.
The Khalq-e Arab separatists are trying to take control of Iran’s southwestern oil fields in Khuzestan. Khuzestan has a large Arab population, and has been fought over in the past, by Iraq and Iran.