Die USA, Frankreich und Großbritannien haben für ihre Auftraggeber aus den Chefetagen der Konzerne und Banken Militärschläge gegen Syrien ausgeführt. Bombardiert wurden vorwiegend Einrichtungen des syrischen Chemiewaffenprogramms. Angeblich sind keine weiteren Luftangriffe geplant. Die Deutsche Bundesregierung unterstützt den Militäreinsatz in Syrien.

Die Gesetzeslage in den USA ist eindeutig: Der US-Kongress muss jeden Krieg absegnen und erklären, den ein US-Präsident führen will. Auch, wenn dieser US-Präsident Donald Trump heißt. Doch Trump macht sich offensichtlich seine eigenen Gesetze. Sein Kriegsrecht. Seine Auffassung ist: Wenn er Krieg für seinesgleichen will, bekommt er ihn. Wir können ihn also aus diesem Grund seit vorgestern als Kriegsverbrecher bezeichnen.

Nachfolgend vier Beiträge zur besseren Einschätzung der Hintergründe und Gefahr die von imperalistischen Kriege wie den Angriff auf Syrien für die gesammte Weltbevölkerung ausgeht.

  • Rui Filipe Gutschmidt: KRIEG! Angriff auf Syrien wirft unbequeme Fragen auf
  • Diethard Möller: Kriegsgefahr: Trump hetzt zum Krieg! (schon vom 11. April aber dennoch interessant)
  • Erklärung des russischen Präsidenten Wladimir Putin anlässlich des Raketenangriffs von den USA, Großbritannien und Frankreich auf Syrien
  • Victor Grossmann: A scrap book of words and actions

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Rui Filipe Gutschmidt

KRIEG! Angriff auf Syrien wirft unbequeme Fragen auf

Rui Filipe Gutschmidt

Es war die Entscheidung von drei Regierungschefs – D. Trump, T. May und E. Macron. Letzte Nacht führten diese drei Staaten einen Luftschlag gegen Syriens Armee aus. Als Grund, geben die respektiven Regierungen den mutmaßlichen Einsatz von Chemiewaffen an. Doch die genauen Ziele des Angriffs werfen unangenehme Fragen auf…

Bei allem was Recht ist, aber diese Leute, „demokratisch“ gewählt um die Interessen ihrer Bürger zu vertreten, spielen hier mit unser aller Leben. Ein Angriff auf Syrien – auch wenn es „nur“ ein chirurgischer Luftschlag war – ist immer auch ein Angriff auf einen Verbündeten Russlands und des Iran. Heute früh dachte ich erst, dass es nur ein Albtraum gewesen sein konnte. Doch als ich den Fernseher anmachte und auf Euronews die selben Bilder von der Nacht sah, wurde mir ganz flau im Magen.

Sie haben es tatsächlich getan! Mit etwa 100 Raketen und Marschflugkörpern, britischen, französischen und us-amerikanischen Flugzeugen, attackierten die selbsternannten „Rächer der Opfer von Douma“ verschiedene Installationen der syrischen Regierung. Auch wenn, syrischen Angaben zufolge, dabei 13 Raketen abgefangen wurden, so erreichten dennoch etwa 87 todbringende Sprengköpfe ihre jeweiligen Ziele. Damaskus gab an, dass dabei 3 Zivilisten verletzt wurden und ansonsten nur Sachschäden entstanden seien. Es ist ein Phänomen der modernen Kriegsführung, vor allem im Nahen Osten, dass nur Zivilisten sterben, auch wenn manche von ihnen einen Tarnanzug und eine Waffe tragen. Übrigens ist das auch ähnlich, wenn man, je nach Standpunkt, bewaffnete Männer und Frauen als Soldaten, Terroristen, Rebellen, Freiheitskämpfer, Milizen, Krieger, Märtyrer, Helden und so weiter bezeichnet. Doch dies nur mal so am Rande.

Raketenabschuss von US-Marine auf Syrien – screenshot YouTube

Doch die Verletzten in diesem Fall sind ausnahmsweise nicht so wichtig wie die erwähnten „Sachschäden“. Denn was Damaskus als Sachschaden bezeichnet, dass nennt das Kriegstreiber-Trio lapidar „militärisch-strategische Ziele“. Genaugenommen soll es sich dabei um ein Forschungslabor für chemische und biologische Kampfstoffe, ein Lager für chemische Waffen und ein Kommandozentrum für den Einsatz chemischer Waffen gehandelt haben. Die Ziele wären „auf Grund geheimdienstlicher Informationen“ bewusst ausgewählt worden und man habe Moskau im Vorfeld gewarnt.

Doch genau damit habe ich ein Problem. Denn wenn Washington, London oder Paris von der Existenz solcher Einrichtungen wusste, wieso wurden diese Informationen dann nicht an die UNO weitergeleitet? Wieso hat man nicht gewartet, bis die Inspektoren den vermeintlichen Angriff mit Chlorgas untersucht haben. Denn man kann weder der islamistischen Rebellengruppe glauben, die vor ihrem Abzug aus der Enklave (sie wurden in türkisch kontrolliertes Gebiet verbracht) dem verhassten Assad-Regime noch eins auswischen wollte, noch kann man der syrischen Armee glauben, denen jedes Mittel recht ist, um die Rebellen aus dem Großraum Damaskus zu jagen, wo sie eine stete Gefahr für die Hauptstadt darstellen, und um diesen Krieg ultimativ zu beenden. Der Abwurf der Atombomben auf Hiroshima und Nagasaki 1945 war übrigens nichts anderes…

Aber es hat doch irgendwie den Anschein, dass Theresa May, Donald Trump und Emmanuel Macron ganz andere Gründe hatten. Wollten sie etwas vertuschen? Wollten sie eine Blamage wie nach dem Irak-Krieg verhindern? Wie lange wusste der Westen von den Chemiewaffeneinrichtungen – wenn es denn welche waren – und kann es sein, dass sie nur auf einen Chemiewaffenangriff gewartet haben, um zuzuschlagen? Warum ist diese letzte Rebellengruppe erst jetzt abgezogen, nach dem vermeintlichen Chemiewaffeneinsatz, statt mit den anderen Gruppen gemeinsam zu gehen? Warum sollte Assad einen Angriff auf die bereits am Boden liegenden Islamisten begehen und damit einen Angriff der USA riskieren?

Es macht alles keinen Sinn! Der Westen riskiert mit einem immer aggressiver werdenden Verhalten gegenüber Russland einen dritten Weltkrieg (=Atomkrieg=totale Zerstörung und Ausrottung der menschlichen Spezies) und ignoriert dabei völlig den mehrheitlichen Wunsch nach Frieden. Russland hat eine dringende Notfallsitzung des UN-Sicherheitsrats einberufen und hat NICHT, wie erst angemahnt, die Raketen und Flugzeuge vom Himmel geholt. Wenigstens Vladimir Putin hat einen kühlen Kopf bewahrt und uns somit den Anblick von Atompilzen über den Millionenmetropolen der Welt erspart.

Die ganze Sache stinkt jedenfalls zum Himmel! Wir, die große Mehrheit der Bürger dieser Welt, die wir Frieden, soziale Gerechtigkeit, eine intakte, saubere Umwelt und ein Leben in Freiheit wünschen, stellen uns nicht energisch genug gegen die obskuren Interessen der Machteliten, der Märkte, Lobbyisten und Finanzwelt.

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Kriegsgefahr: Trump hetzt zum Krieg!

Diethard Möller

US-Präsident Trump droht offen mit Krieg gegen Syrien! Gegen das Syrien Assads, das durch Russland militärisch unterstützt wird. Hier droht eine offene kriegerische Konfrontation der beiden immer noch größten Atommächte – mit unkalkulierbaren Risiken.

Elmar Brok (CDU), EU-Parlamentsabgeordneter und bei jeder Kriegsdiskussion dabei, sagte vor wenigen Tagen im Interview mit N24/ Die Welt:
„Der Angriff der Amerikaner in Syrien ist ein historischer Moment, weil bisher galt, dass sich eine Atommacht wie die USA nicht dort militärisch engagiert, wo bereits eine andere Atommacht, in diesem Fall Russland, aktiv ist. Dieses Tabu ist heute gefallen. Daraus kann ein sehr ernsthafter Konflikt entstehen.“

Der russische Botschafter im Libanon hat am 11. April 2018 eine deutliche Drohung an die Vereinigten Staaten gesandt (mal egal, ob das eine besonders gute Idee war): „Wenn es einen Angriff der Amerikaner gibt, dann werden die Raketen abgeschossen und auch die Quellen, von denen die Raketen abgefeuert wurden“, sagte er gegenüber dem Fernsehsender Al-Manar. (Quelle: http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/syrien-russland-warnt-usa-vor-eingreifen-in-syrien-wegen-giftgasattacke-a-1202274.html)

Der amerikanische Präsident Donald Trump beantwortet nun auf Twitter die Drohung. „Mach Dich bereit, Russland, denn sie werden kommen“. Weiter preist er die Raketen als „neu und schön und klug“ an. Russland solle lieber nicht der Partner eines „mit Gas tötenden Tieres“ sein, der seine eigenen Menschen umbringt und es genießt.

Dem Krieg geht bekanntlich immer wüsteste Hetze gegen den Kriegsgegner voraus. Hier noch garniert mit geheucheltem Mitgefühl für „seine Menschen“. Irak, Afghanistan Libyen zeigen, was deren Schicksal die US-Präsidenten interessierte und interessiert!

Aus Russland war schon zuvor im sogenannten Sicherheitsrat der Uno eine deutliche Warnung gekommen: „Ich fordere Sie erneut auf, flehe Sie an, die Pläne zu unterlassen, die Sie derzeit für Syrien entwickeln“, so Moskaus Uno-Botschafter Wassili Nebensja an seine amerikanische Amtskollegin, die notorische Kriegshetzerin Nikky Haley.

„Die Drohungen, die Sie gegenüber Syrien aussprechen, sollten uns ernsthaft Sorgen bereiten, uns allen, denn wir könnten uns an der Schwelle von sehr traurigen und ernsten Ereignissen wiederfinden.“

Aussagen, die deutlich machen, dass Trump, Präsident des US Imperialismus, anscheinend keinerlei Hemmung hat, den mittleren Osten, schlimmstenfalls die Welt mit einem neuen Weltkrieg zu bedrohen! Auch der französische Präsident Macron scheint bereit, sein Land in ein solch unkalkulierbares Kriegsabenteuer zu verwickeln. Frau May aus London zögert laut Deutschlandfunk angeblich noch. Sie täte gerne Beweise für den angeblichen Giftgasangriff Assads auf Duma sehen. Man könnte lachen, wenn es nicht so ernst wäre!
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Warum ausgerechnet denen glauben, die schon für den Irak-Krieg hemmungslos logen?

Der US-Imperialismus tischte schon haarsträubende Lügen-Stories auf, um im UNO-Sicherheitsrat Zustimmung zum Irak-Überfall zu erreichen. Nichts davon hat gestimmt, was heute auch eingeräumt wird. Mit dabei damals auch Großbritannien, das ja aktuell erneut einen Giftgaseinsatz Russlands im englischen Salisbury behauptet, ohne einen einzigen Beweis vorzulegen. Warum soll man denselben Leuten die Geschichte des angeblichen Giftgasangriffs auf Duma/Ost-Ghuta bei Damaskus glauben?
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Cui Bono? Wem nützte das?

Angesichts der Berichte über diese angebliche Giftattacke darf man sich schon fragen, wem das ganze nützt. Der syrischen Führung um Bashar al Assad gewiss nicht. Und man sollte die syrische Führung auch nicht für blöd halten! Die syrische Armee war in Ost-Ghuta im Vormarsch, Ortschaft für Ortschaft dieses Distrikts wurden aus den Klauen der „Rebellen“ zurückerobert, islamistischer Terroristen, die wie anderswo auch die örtliche Bevölkerung in Angst und Schrecken hielten. Der Fall der letzten Stadt dort, Duma, ist ein Frage der Zeit, damit wäre das Kapitel „Rebellen vor den Toren von Damaskus“ beendet.

Genau in diesem Moment taucht die Geschichte mit dem Giftgas auf, wird die Beschuldigung lanciert, die Assad-Armee hätte „mit einer Fassbombe“ Giftgas gegen Duma eingesetzt. Eine größere und weiterreichende Behinderung der Offensive im letzten Augenblick ist kaum denkbar. Wenn „Assad“ genau jetzt den Giftgaseinsatz befohlen hätte, mehr hätte er seinen Interessen nicht schaden können!

Syriens Regierung und Armee – sie sind derzeit die eindeutigen Verlierer der Affäre! Der Gewinner aber ist völlig klar: Der im Syrien-Krieg schon völlig ins Abseits geratene US-Imperialismus! Sein Boss, Trump, nutzt die Gelegenheit, jetzt den Versuch zu starten, mit der Drohung eines massiven Angriffs den Kriegsverlauf doch noch zu wenden und den „regime-change“ gegen die syrische Regierung durchzusetzen, Präsident Assad zu stürzen und Syrien doch noch den US-Interessen, bzw. denen seiner Verbündeten zu unterwerfen!

Die Überlegung, dass diese Gelegenheit bewusst herbeigeführt, inszeniert wurde, ist alles andere als abwegig!

Warum sollten eigentlich die „Rebellen“ kein Giftgas haben? Sie verfügen auch sonst über alle möglichen Waffen. Z. B. über Raketen oder Granaten (mit entsprechenden Werfern), mit denen man von Ost-Ghuta nach Damaskus hineinschiessen kann und – wie am 20. März 2018 – einen ganzen Stadtviertel-Markt beschießen kann – mit 43 Toten. Wer gibt ihnen diese Waffen?

Am 5. Oktober 2016 äußerten sich im Deutschlandfunkinterview nacheinander Sadiqu al Moussllie, der damalige Repräsentant der Syrischen „Opposition“ in Deutschland, wie auch der CDU-Außenpolitiker Rupert Polenz.

Al Moussllie damals wörtlich: „Wie es unter Berufung auf US-Regierungskreise heißt, sollen `Manpads über Saudi-Arabien und die Türkei an die Rebellen geliefert werden“ (Manpads: zielgenaue, von der Schulter abschiessbare Raketen wie z.B. die nach Afghanistan gegen die SU gelieferten Stinger-Raketen). Und Polenz: „Sie“ (die „Rebellen“) „bekommen ja Waffen. Es geht – das soll man offen aussprechen – um Luftabwehr-Raketen. Diese sind bisher nicht geliefert worden, weil die USA Sorge haben, das solche…in die Hände von Dschihadisten fallen könnten… Ich kann mir aber schon vorstellen, dass man über Wege nachdenkt, wie man diese Gefahr ausschließen kann und…eine Möglichkeit schafft, die absolute Luftherrschaft Assads und der russischen Luftwaffe … in Frage zu stellen“ So etwas damals ganz offen im Regierungssender Deutschlandfunk!
Wer garantiert denn, dass sie nicht auch Chemiewaffen bekommen haben?!
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Wenn Trump Syrien in Brand steckt, kann die ganze Welt Feuer fangen!

Bodenlos die Merkelregierung in Berlin: Ungerührt genehmigt Merkel immer neue Waffenlieferungen in die Krisenregion. Sie beliefert Erdogan, der begonnen hat, Nordsyrien zu erobern. Deutschland beliefert die Saudis, deren Waffen überall in den Kriegsgebieten auftauchen. Sie unterstützt den Krieg in Syrien mit deutschen Tornado-Aufklärern, die für alle NATO-Partner, die in Syrien am Werk sind, genaueste Aufklärungsfotos liefern. Schiffe der Bundesmarine kreuzen im östlichen Mittelmeer. Die Bundesmarine fuhr schon vor Syrien mit einer Fregatte Geleitschutz für den französischen Flugzeugträger Charles de Gaulle.

Findet die Luftangriffe auf Syrien „angemessen“: Recep Tayyip Erdogan findet lobende Worte für den Militärschlag.
© Yasin Bulbul

Schon mehrfach wurde in Berlin diskutiert, ob Bundeswehrsoldaten auch innerhalb Syriens, am Boden kämpfen sollten – zusammen mit anderen NATO-Truppen. Kein Mensch soll hierzulande davon ausgehen, dass die drohende massive Verschärfung des Syrienkrieges Deutschland nicht berühren würde, nichts anginge!

Die Politik von Merkels GroKo verstrickt auch Deutschland in unverantwortlicher Weise in diesen Krieg, der das Potential hat, sich zum Weltkrieg zu entwickeln. Wo ist der Protest der Bundesregierung gegen Trumps Drohungen? Wo das Verbot an Trump, von den US-Stützpunkten in Deutschland (Ramstein, Eukom und Afrikom in Stuttgart etc.) aus Kriegsoperationen auszuführen?

Dieser Krieg konfrontiert zwei Atommächte. Das „Bulletin oft the Atomic Scientists“ (Berichte der Atomwissenschaftler) hat am 25. Januar 2018 die „Weltuntergangsuhr“ auf zwei ein halb Minuten vor zwölf gestellt.
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Fünf vor Zwölf? Das war mal. Wir sind schon weiter!

Es wird Zeit, zum Protest auf die Straße zu gehen! Es wird Zeit, dass die Kolleginnen und Kollegen in all unseren Betrieben, die Gewerkschafterinnen und Gewerkschafter das friedenspolitische Mandat unsrer Gewerkschaften einzufordern und ebenfalls für den Frieden, vor allem aber gegen den Krieg auf die Straßen des Landes gehen!

Kämpfen wir gegen die steigende Weltkriegsgefahr!

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Erstveröffentlichung am 11. April 2018 in Arbeit Zukunft online. Veröffentlichung mit freundlicher Genehmigung des Herausgebers. Bilder und Bildunterschriften wurden von der Redaktion American Rebel hinzugefügt.

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Da die deutschsprachige bürgerliche Presse uns diese Verlautbarung verschweigt:

Erklärung des russischen Präsidenten Wladimir Putin anlässlich des Raketenangriffs von den USA, Großbritannien und Frankreich auf Syrien

„Am 14. April haben die USA mit Unterstützung ihrer Verbündeten einen Raketenangriff gegen Objekte der Streitkräfte und der Zivilinfrastruktur Syriens geflogen. Ohne Genehmigung durch den UN-Sicherheitsrat und unter Verletzung der UN-Charta sowie der völkerrechtlichen Normen und Grundsätze wurde ein Aggressionsakt gegen einen souveränen Staatausgeführt, der sich an der vordersten Front des Kampfes gegen Terrorismus befindet.

Wie vor einem Jahr, als die USA den Luftstützpunkt al-Schairat in Syrien angegriffen hatten, wurde als Vorwand erneut eine Inszenierung des Einsatzes von Giftstoffen gegen die Zivilbevölkerung genutzt – diesmal in Duma, einem Vorort von Damaskus. Die russischen Militärexperten besuchten den vermeintlichen Tatort und entdeckten keine Spuren von Chlor oder einem anderen Giftstoff. Kein einziger Einheimischer bestätigte die Tatsache des chemisches Angriffs.
Die Organisation für das Verbot chemischer Waffen entsandte nach Syrien ihre Experten, um den gesamten Sachverhalt aufklären zu können. Aber die Gruppe westlicher Staaten vernachlässigte dies zynisch, indem sie eine militärische Aktion unternahm, ohne auf die Ergebnisse der Untersuchung gewartet zu haben.

Russland verurteilt aufs Schärfste den Angriff auf Syrien, wo russische Militärs der legitimen Regierung im Kampf gegen Terrorismus helfen.
Mit ihren Handlungen verschärfen die USA zunehmend die humanitäre Katastrophe in Syrien, bringen Leid über Zivilbevölkerung, begünstigen im Grunde die Terroristen, die das syrische Volk sieben Jahre lang peinigen, und provozieren eine neue Welle von Flüchtlingen aus diesem Land und der Region insgesamt.

Die aktuelle Eskalation der Situation rund um Syrien wirkt sich destruktiv auf das gesamte System der internationalen Beziehungen aus. Die Geschichte wird alles ins rechte Gleis bringen, und sie hat schon Washington eine schwere Verantwortung für eine blutige Abrechnung mit Jugoslawien, Irak und Libyen auferlegt.

Russland beruft eine Dringlichkeitssitzung des UN-Sicherheitsrates ein, um das aggressive Vorgehen der USA und ihrer Verbündeten zu erörtern“.

14. April 2018, 11:35 Uhr

Quelle: russland-news

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Victor Grossman

A scrap book of words and actions

Victor Grossman

PRESIDENT WILLIAM McKINLEY in April 11 1998
“The destruction of the battleship Maine in the harbor of Havana …has filled the national heart with inexpressible horror. The naval court of inquiry, which, it is needless to say, commands the unqualified confidence of the Government, was unanimous in its conclusion that the destruction of the Maine was caused by an exterior explosion—that of a submarine mine. It did not assume to place the responsibility. That remains to be fixed. (Much later the cause was found to be faulty storage of munitions in the battleship while in  Havana harbor)
The only hope of relief and repose from a condition which can no longer be endured is the enforced pacification of Cuba. In the name of humanity, in the name of civilization, in behalf of endangered American interests which give us the right and the duty to speak and to act, the war in Cuba must stop.
In view of these facts and of these considerations I ask the Congress to authorize and empower the President to take measures to secure a full and final termination of hostilities between the Government of Spain and the people of Cuba, and to secure in the island the establishment of a stable government, capable of maintaining order and observing its international obligations, insuring peace and tranquility and the security of its citizens as well as our own, and to use the military and naval forces of the United States as may be necessary for these purposes…

What followed:
Four months of war in Cuba, four years of war in the Philippines, the seizure of the latter, Puerto Rico and Guam, rule in Guantánamo until the present.
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PRESIDENT LYNDON B. JOHNSON, in August 1964
My fellow Americans: As President and Commander in Chief, it is my duty to the American people to report that renewed hostile actions against United States ships on the high seas in the Gulf of Tonkin have today required me to order the military forces of the United States to take action in reply…There were no U.S. losses…. Aggression by terror against the peaceful villagers of South Viet-Nam has now been joined by open aggression on the high seas … Yet our response, for the present, will be limited and fitting. We Americans know, although others appear to forget, the risks of spreading conflict. We still seek no wider war. … It is a solemn responsibility to have to order even limited military action by forces whose overall strength is as vast and as awesome as those of the United States of America, but it is my considered conviction … that firmness in the right is indispensable today for peace; that firmness will always be measured. Its mission is peace. (Years l<ater it was admitted; the alleged attack had never taken place.)

What followed:
America dropped three times more ordnance over Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia than all sides did during World War II. It is estimated that at least 350,000 tons of live bombs and mines remain in Vietnam, and that at the current rate it will take 300 years to clear them away. Most common were cluster bombs with hundreds of baseball-size bomblets designed to explode near ground level, releasing metal fragments to maim and kill. Many failed to release their contents or to detonate…. Children find baseball-size metal objects and unwittingly toss the “toys” to one another until they explode… Nearly 40,000 Vietnamese have been killed since the end of the war in 1975, and 67,000 maimed, by land mines, cluster bombs and other ordnance.
The USA dropped 18 million gallons of chemical herbicide over South Vietnam from 1962 to 1972. …The best known was Agent Orange, with planes drenching an estimated 3,181 villages. ..While entire forests dried up and died within weeks of spraying… It contained dioxin, one of the deadliest substances known to humankind. … Dioxin affects not only those exposed to it, but also their children. Large numbers of Vietnamese babies continue to be born with grotesque deformities: misshapen heads, bulging tumors, underdeveloped brains and nonfunctioning limbs.
(from:  Ariel Garkinkel, March 20, 2018, NY Times)

The My Lai massacre was a pivotal moment in that misbegotten war: an American contingent … known as Charlie Company, …thinking they would encounter Vietcong troops or sympathizers, discovered only a peaceful village at breakfast. Nevertheless, the soldiers of Charlie Company raped women, burned houses, and turned their M-16s on the unarmed civilians of My Lai. Among the leaders of the assault was Lieutenant William L. Calley, a junior-college dropout from Miami…. Pfc. Paul Meadlo recounted his actions in bland, appalling detail. “Once we got there we began gathering up the people… Calley told him, “Get with it. I want them dead.” … At Calley’s order, Meadlo and others had fired round after round into the ditch and tossed in a few grenades. Then came a high-pitched whining, which grew louder as a two- or three-year-old boy, covered with mud and blood, crawled his way among the bodies and scrambled toward the rice paddy. His mother had likely protected him with her body. Calley saw what was happening and, according to the witnesses, ran after the child, dragged him back to the ditch, threw him in, and shot him.
At the time Pham Thanh Cong, the director of the My Lai Museum, was eleven years old. When American helicopters landed in the village, he and his mother and four siblings huddled in a primitive bunker inside their thatch-roofed home. American soldiers ordered them out of the bunker and then pushed them back in, throwing a hand grenade in after them and firing their M-16s. Cong was wounded in three places—on his scalp, on the right side of his torso, and in the leg. He passed out. When he awoke, he found himself in a heap of corpses: his mother, his three sisters, and his six-year-old brother.
… The museum’s count, no longer in dispute, is 504 victims, from 247 families. 24 families were obliterated, three generations, with no survivors. Among the dead were 182 women, 17 of them pregnant. 173 children were executed, including 56 infants. 60 older men died… (from: Letter from Seymour M. Hersh, The New Yorker,  March 30, 2015)

hier geht es weiter »

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President Ronald Reagan in October 1983
My fellow Americans:
Now, I know another part of the world is very much on our minds, a place much closer to our shores: Grenada. The island is only twice the size of the District of Columbia, with a total population of about 110,000 people…. Grenada was without a government, its only authority exercised by a self-proclaimed band of military men.
There were then about 1,000 of our citizens on Grenada, 800 of them students in St. George’s University Medical School. Concerned that they’d be harmed or held as hostages, I ordered a flotilla of ships, then on its way to Lebanon with marines, to circle south on a course that would put them somewhere in the vicinity of Grenada … We had to assume that several hundred Cubans working on the airport could be military reserves. Well, as it turned out, the number was much larger, and they were a military force. Six hundred of them have been taken prisoner, and we have discovered a complete base with weapons and communications equipment, which makes it clear a Cuban occupation of the island had been planned… Grenada … was a Soviet-Cuban colony, being readied as a major military bastion to export terror and undermine democracy. We got there just in time. (The students were never threatened, the Cubans were helping to construct an airport for tourism.)
…. Today, our national security can be threatened in faraway places. It’s up to all of us to be aware of the strategic importance of such places ….
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PRESIDENT GEORGE H.W. BUSH in  December 1989:
Fellow citizens, last night I ordered U.S. military forces to Panama.
No President takes such action lightly. … The goals of the United States have been to safeguard the lives of Americans, to defend democracy in Panama, to combat drug trafficking and to protect the integrity of the Panama Canal Treaty. … General Noriega’s reckless threats and attacks upon Americans in Panama created an eminent danger to the 35,000 American citizens in Panama… As President, I have no higher obligation than to safeguard the lives of American citizens. And that is why I directed our armed force to protect the lives of American citizens in Panama …
… The United States intends to withdraw the forces newly deployed to Panama as quickly as possible. All forces have conducted themselves courageously and selflessly…Tragically, some Americans have lost their lives in defense of their fellow citizens, in defense of democracy, and my heart goes out to their families. We also regret and mourn the loss of innocent Panamanians.
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PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH in October 2001:
Good afternoon. On my orders, the United States military has begun strikes against al Qaeda terrorist training camps and military installations of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. These carefully targeted actions are designed to disrupt the use of Afghanistan as a terrorist base of operations, and to attack the military capability of the Taliban regime.
We are joined in this operation by our staunch friend, Great Britain. Other close friends, including Canada, Australia, Germany and France, have pledged forces as the operation unfolds. …
More than two weeks ago, I gave Taliban leaders a series of clear and specific demands: … None of these demands were met. And now the Taliban will pay a price. …
…At the same time, the oppressed people of Afghanistan will know the generosity of America and our allies. As we strike military targets, we’ll also drop food, medicine and supplies to the starving and suffering men and women and children of Afghanistan. The United States of America is a friend to the Afghan people …
We’re a peaceful nation. Yet, as we have learned, so suddenly and so tragically, there can be no peace in a world of sudden terror. In the face of today’s new threat, the only way to pursue peace is to pursue those who threaten it…A Commander-in-Chief sends America’s sons and daughters into a battle in a foreign land only after the greatest care and a lot of prayer. …
I recently received a touching letter that says a lot about the state of America … a letter from a 4th-grade girl, with a father in the military: “As much as I don’t want my Dad to fight,” she wrote, “I’m willing to give him to you.” …This young girl knows what America is all about. …
We did not ask for this mission, but we will fulfill it. The name of today’s military operation is Enduring Freedom. We defend not only our precious freedoms, but also the freedom of people everywhere to live and raise their children free from fear.
We will not waver; we will not tire; we will not falter; and we will not fail. Peace and freedom will prevail….May God continue to bless America.

What followed – one sample:
On July 6, 2008, a large number of Afghan civilians were walking in an area called Kamala in Haska Meyna district …. When the group stopped for a rest, it was hit in succession by three bombs from US military aircraft. The first bomb hit a group of children who were ahead of the main procession, killing them instantly. A few minutes later, the aircraft returned and dropped a second bomb in the center of the group, killing a large number of women. The bride and two girls survived the second bomb, but were killed by a third bomb while trying to escape from the area. Hajj Khan, one of four elderly men who were escorting the party, stated that his grandson was killed and that there were body parts everywhere. Relatives from the groom’s village stated it was not possible to identify the remains…
…a nine-man commission of the senate found that 47 civilians including the bride had been killed…. a member of the commission told the BBC that there were 39 women and children among those killed, and that eight of those who died were between the ages of 14 and 18. Another nine people were wounded in the attack.
U.S. forces stated they had been targeting an insurgent force, labeled a “target of opportunity,” that was evidently targeting a nearby base with mortars. … The US Government denied that civilians were killed in the incident.
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PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH in October 2002:
Tonight I want to take a few minutes to discuss a grave threat to peace and America’s determination to lead the world in confronting that threat. The threat comes from Iraq. It arises directly from the Iraqi regime’s own actions, its history of aggression and its drive toward an arsenal of terror.
The Iraqi regime has violated all of those obligations. It possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons. It is seeking nuclear weapons. It has given shelter and support to terrorism and practices terror against its own people. …
Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction are controlled by a murderous tyrant who has …tried to dominate the Middle East, has invaded and brutally occupied a small neighbor, has struck other nations without warning and holds an unrelenting hostility toward the United States. …
…We know that the regime has produced thousands of tons of chemical agents, including mustard gas, Sarin nerve gas, VX nerve gas.
… knowing these realities, America must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof, the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud… Saddam Hussein must disarm himself or, for the sake of peace, we will lead a coalition to disarm him.
…As Americans, we want peace. We work and sacrifice for peace. But there can be no peace if our security depends on the will and whims of a ruthless and aggressive dictator. I’m not willing to stake one American life on trusting Saddam Hussein.
… This nation, in world war and in cold war, has never permitted the brutal and lawless to set history’s course. Now, as before, we will secure our nation, protect our freedom and help others to find freedom of their own…
The dictator of Iraq is a student of Stalin, using murder as a tool of terror and control, within his own cabinet, within his own army and even within his own family….If military action is necessary, the United States and our allies will help the Iraqi people rebuild their economy and create the institutions of liberty in a unified Iraq, at peace with its neighbors…
May God bless America….

What followed:
Credible estimates of Iraq War casualties range from 150,000 to 460,000. Other highly disputed estimates, such as the 2006 Lancet study, and the 2007 Opinion Research Business survey, put the numbers as high as 650,000 and 1.2 million respectively, with 1-3 million displaced from their homes and 2 million fleeing the country.
One sample:
The plight of of 12-year-old Ali Ismail Abbas, who lost 15 relatives and both his arms when a US missile hit his home in the suburbs of Baghdad three weeks ago, has become the human-interest story of the war. “The despairing face of Ali has become a symbol around the world of the casualties of the Iraq war,” wrote Bronwen Maddox in the Times. Reporters and photographers did not spare readers and viewers the horrific extent of Ali’s injuries. “The child’s legs were smooth, but his entire torso was black, and his arms were horribly burnt,” said Jon Lee Anderson, a correspondent for the New Yorker. “At about the biceps, the flesh of both arms became charred, black grotesqueries. One of his hands was a twisted, melted claw. His other arm had apparently been burned off at the elbow, and two long bones were sticking out of it. It looked like something that might be found in a barbecue pit.”
…“I wanted to be an army officer when I grow up but not any more,” he told journalists. “Now I want to be a doctor – but how can I?”
According to Joan Walsh of the online magazine Salon, her colleagues, after weeks of ignoring the civilian cost of the war, were now circling the wounded like vultures. “CNN hit rock bottom on Wednesday morning, when anchor Kyra Phillips interviewed Ali’s doctor in Kuwait,” said Walsh. “Dr Imad al- Najada explained that, although Ali told reporters he was grateful for his treatment, he also hopes no other ‘children in the war will suffer like what he suffered’. Phillips seemed shocked by Ali’s apparent inability to understand we were only trying to help him. ‘Doctor, does he understand why this war took place? Has he talked about Operation Iraqi Freedom and the meaning. Does he understand it?’”
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POISON
Dramatic increases in infant mortality, cancer and leukemia in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, which was bombarded by US Marines in 2004, exceed those reported by survivors of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, according to a new study.
Iraqi doctors in Fallujah have complained since 2005 of being overwhelmed by the number of babies with serious birth defects, ranging from a girl born with two heads to paralysis of the lower limbs. They said they were also seeing … a four-fold increase in all cancers and a 12-fold increase in childhood cancer in under-14s. … Infant mortality was found to be 80 per 1,000 births compared to 19 in Egypt, 17 in Jordan and 9.7 in Kuwait. The report says that the types of cancer are “similar to that in the Hiroshima survivors who were exposed to ionising radiation from the bomb and uranium in the fallout”.
Researchers found a 38-fold increase in leukaemia, a ten-fold increase in female breast cancer and significant increases in lymphoma and brain tumours in adults. Of particular significance was the finding that the sex ratio between newborn boys and girls had changed… 2005 there was an 18 per cent drop in male births, so the ratio was 850 males to 1,000 females. … A similar change in the sex-ratio was discovered after Hiroshima.
Dr Chris Busby, a visiting professor from the University of Ulster… added that “to produce an effect like this, some very major mutagenic exposure must have occurred in 2004 when the attacks happened”….
…After an eight-month stand-off, the Marines stormed the city in November using artillery and aerial bombing against rebel positions. US forces later admitted that they had employed white phosphorus as well as other munitions… British officers were appalled by the lack of concern for civilian casualties. … Dr Busby says that while he cannot identify the type of armaments used by the Marines, the extent of genetic damage suffered by inhabitants suggests the use of uranium in some form. He said: “My guess is that they used a new weapon against buildings to break through walls and kill those inside.”
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PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA in  March 2011: 
Tonight, I’d like to update the American people on the international effort that we have led in Libya— …I want to begin by paying tribute to our men and women in uniform who, once again, have acted with courage, professionalism and patriotism.  …
For generations, the United States of America has played a unique role as an anchor of global security and as an advocate for human freedom.  Mindful of the risks and costs of military action, we are naturally reluctant to use force to solve the world’s many challenges.  But when our interests and values are at stake, we have a responsibility to act.  That’s what happened in Libya over the course of these last six weeks.
…  For more than four decades, the Libyan people have been ruled by a tyrant—Muammar Qaddafi.  … Confronted by this brutal repression and a looming humanitarian crisis, I ordered warships into the Mediterranean.  ..
Ten days ago ….  We knew that if we waited one more day, Benghazi … could suffer a massacre that would have reverberated across the region and stained the conscience of the world.
It was not in our national interest to let that happen.  I refused to let that happen.  And so nine days ago, after consulting the bipartisan leadership of Congress, I authorized military action to stop the killing ……we have been joined by a strong and growing coalition. This includes our closest allies—…  And it includes Arab partners like Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, who have chosen to meet their responsibilities to defend the Libyan people…
… when people were being brutalized in Bosnia in the 1990s, it took the international community more than a year to intervene with air power to protect civilians.  It took us 31 days. …So for those who doubted our capacity to carry out this operation, I want to be clear:  The United States of America has done what we said we would do…
Some nations may be able to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries.  The United States of America is different.  And as President, I refused to wait for the images of slaughter and mass graves before taking action…
But let us also remember that for generations, we have done the hard work of protecting our own people, as well as millions around the globe.  We have done so because we know that our own future is safer, our own future is brighter, if more of mankind can live with the bright light of freedom and dignity.
Thank you.  God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America.

What followed:
Fox News published an article titled „U.S. Drone Involved in Final Qaddafi Strike, as Obama Heralds Regime’s ‚End'“, noting that a U.S. Predator drone was involved in the airstrike on Gaddafi’s convoy in the moments before his death.… a graphic video of his last moments show rebel fighters beating him and one of them sodomizing him with a bayonet before he was shot several times as he shouted for his life.
„We came, we saw, he died,“ Hillary Clinton joked when told of news reports of Qaddafi’s death by an aide in between formal interviews. „I’m sure it did“ have something to do with her very own visit to Libya just days earlier, she continued.
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In March 2013, Sadiq Ghariani, the Grand Mufti, issued a fatwa against the UN Report on Violence Against Women and Girls. He condemned the UN report for „advocating immorality and indecency in addition to rebelliousness against religion and clear objections to the laws contained in the Quran and Sunnah”.
Later in 2013, lawyer Hamida Al-Hadi Al-Asfar, advocate of women’s rights, was abducted, tortured and killed. It is alleged she was targeted for criticizing the Grand Mufti’s declaration. No arrests were made…
During Nouri Abusahmain’s presidency of the General National Congress and subsequent to its decision to enforce sharia law in December 2013, gender segregation and compulsory hijab were being imposed in Libyan universities from early 2014, provoking strong criticism from Women’s Rights groups.
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As of February 2015, damage and disorder from the war has been considerable. There are frequent electric outages, little business activity, and a loss in revenues from oil by 90%. Over 4,000 people have died from the fighting, and some sources claim nearly a third of the country’s population has fled to Tunisia as refugees.
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The United States has been active in post-2011 Libya with the military carrying out sporadic airstrikes and raids in the country, predominantly against Islamist groups. In 2014, U.S. commandos seized an oil tanker bound for anti-government militias and returned it to the Libyan national government. Two months later, the U.S. embassy in Tripoli was evacuated due to a heavy militia presence in the capital. In 2015, U.S. warplanes killed the head of the Islamic State in Libya in a strike. In 2016, U.S. President Barack Obama stated that not preparing for a post-Gaddafi Libya was the „worst mistake“ of his presidency. On 19 January 2017, the day before President Obama left office, the United States bombed two IS camps in Libya, reportedly killing 80 militants. These types of operations have continued under the Trump administration with a September 2017 airstrike killing an estimated 17 IS militants.
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In a TV interview in 3007 General Wesley Clark, Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO from 1997 to 2000, revealed the following:
“About ten days after 9/11 I went through the Pentagon and one of the generals called me in. He said… ‘We’ve made the decision, we’re going to war with Iraq.’ This was on or about the 20th of September. I said, ‘We’re going to war with Iraq? Why?’ He said, ‘I guess it’s like we don’t know what to do about terrorists, but we’ve got a good military and we can take down governments… I guess if the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem has to look like a nail.’
“So I came back to see him a few weeks later, and by that time we were bombing in Afghanistan. I said, ‘Are we still going to war with Iraq?’ And he said, ‘Oh, it’s worse than that.’ He reached over on his desk. He picked up a piece of paper. And he said, ‘I just got this down from upstairs today’ — meaning Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s office   — ‘And he said, ‘This is a memo that describes how we’re going to take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran…’” (from  Goodman, Amy, Democracy Now!, March 2 2007)
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What has gone before: AGAIN DEPLETED URANIUM:

Officials have confirmed that the U.S. military, despite vowing not to use depleted uranium weapons on the battlefield in Iraq and Syria, fired thousands of rounds of the munitions during two high-profile raids on oil trucks in Islamic State-controlled Syria in late 2015. The air assaults mark the first confirmed use of this armament since the 2003 Iraq invasion, when it was used hundreds of thousands of times, setting off outrage among local communities, which alleged that its toxic material caused cancer and birth defects…
The use of the ammunition, a 30mm depleted-uranium bullet called PGU-14, was first reported by a joint Air Wars-Foreign Policy investigation on Tuesday. The roughly 5,265 rounds of the munition were fired from multiple A-10 ground attack aircraft on Nov 16, 2015, and Nov. 22, 2015, in airstrikes in Syria’s eastern desert that targeted the Islamic State’s oil supply during Operation Tidal Wave II, said Maj. Josh Jacques, a U.S. Central Command spokesman.
Before the November strikes, the Pentagon said it would not use depleted-uranium munitions in the campaign against the Islamic State.
Whether exposure to depleted uranium causes adverse health effects has been debated. When it was used during the 1999 NATO bombing campaign in Kosovo, the United Nations advised that children stay away from the impact zones. The Iraqi government has also routinely stressed the danger the munitions pose to its people, soil and air.
Jacques did not rule out the possibility that the U.S.-led coalition might use depleted-uranium rounds again … (from Investigation +  Foreign Policy, The United States Used Depleted Uranium in Syria, By Samuel Oakford | February 14, 2017,
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AGAIN WHITE PHOSPHORUS
The U.S.-led coalition in Iraq and Syria appears to have used white phosphorus-loaded munitions on at least two occasions in densely populated areas of Mosul and in the Islamic State’s de facto capital of Raqqa, according to videos posted online and human rights groups.
The often-controversial munitions are common in western militaries and are used primarily to create smoke screens, though they can also be dropped as an incendiary weapon. When a white phosphorus shell explodes, the chemical inside reacts with the air, creating a thick white cloud. When it comes in contact with flesh, it can maim and kill by burning to the bone.
While international humanitarian law stipulates that civilians must be protected from all military operations, it also says that countries must take even more care when using white phosphorus. Additionally, because of the weapon’s ability to cause grievous and inhumane injuries, rights groups caution against using white phosphorus to kill enemy troops if other weapons are available.
On Thursday, footage posted by the activist group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently showed the signature spread of airburst white phosphorus munitions … exploding over eastern Raqqa, the same area where U.S.-backed Syrian fighters made advances earlier this week.
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PRESIDENT TRUMP in April 2018:
My fellow Americans. A short time ago, I ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now underway. We thank them both.
Tonight, I want to speak with you about why we have taken this action. One year ago, Assad launched a savage chemical weapons attack against his own innocent people. The United States responded with 58 missile strikes that destroyed 20 percent of the Syrian air force.
Last Saturday, the Assad regime again deployed chemical weapons to slaughter innocent civilians, this time in the town of Douma near the Syrian capital of Damascus. This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons used by that very terrible regime.
The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead.
The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons. Establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the United States.
The combined American, British and French response to these atrocities will integrate all instruments of our national power: military, economic and diplomatic. We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents.
I also have a message tonight for the two governments most responsible for supporting, equipping and financing the criminal Assad regime.
To Iran and to Russia, I ask: What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children? The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep.
No nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states, brutal tyrants and murderous dictators…
The United States has also rebuilt our friendships across the Middle East. We have asked our partners to take greater responsibility for securing their home region, including contributing large amounts of money for the resources, equipment and all of the anti-ISIS effort.
Increased engagement from our friends, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt and others, can ensure that Iran does not profit from the eradication of ISIS. America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria, under no circumstances.
As other nations step up their contributions, we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home — and great warriors they are…
Tonight I ask all Americans to say a prayer for our noble warriors and our allies as they carry out their missions. We pray that God will bring comfort to those suffering in Syria.
We pray that God will guide the whole region toward a future of dignity and of peace. And we pray that God will continue to watch over and bless the United States of America.
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What follows? That depends, in part, on us.

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