MEDIA ROOTS — Various official claims of military victory and success have been pronounced as the continuing occupation of Iraq by U.S. mercenaries festers and causes misery for Iraqis.

Even after having allegedly withdrawn all U.S. troops from the country, the Pentagon wants another $3 billion of taxpayer money for its imperialistic adventures, despite the astronomical costs already incurred. 

MR

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RT — The American public has been told that the Iraq War is a thing of the past. Even still, the US Department of Defense is asking the federal government for almost $3 billion for “activities” in a country that they shouldn’t be in.

The last US troops were supposedly withdrawn from Iraq just before 2012 began, but after years of a war that abruptly ended this past December, the Pentagon still wants billions to continue doing…something in Iraq. According to the latest budget request, the DoD think around $2.9 billion should cover the cost of “Post-Operation NEW DAWN (OND)/Iraq Activities.”

In a report published Monday by Wired.com, they acknowledge that the funding that the Pentagon wants now is almost as bizarre as the war itself. For nearly $3 billion, the DoD says that will be able to afford “Finalizing transition” from Iraq. Only two months earlier, however, President Obama celebrated the end of the Iraqi mission. At the time, some critics called the ending of the war as more of a catapult for Obama re-election campaign than anything else. Now with the revelation that the US Defense Department still wants billions for a war America is told it isn’t fighting, the alleged ending of Operation New Dawn seems just as questionable as its mysterious beginning.

On the bright side, it might be easier to foot the cost of this make-believe war than you would think. Suspiciously, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction announced in January that upwards of $2 billion that the US was holding onto for Iraq had mysteriously disappeared.

Read more about Pentagon wants $3 billion for the War in Iraq that we thought was over.

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Photo by Flickr user US Army

MEDIA ROOTS — If one looks at a map of the Middle East’s US foreign policy points of interest over the last decade, it’s obvious the objectives stated in the neo-con think tank Project for a New American Century (PNAC)’s 2001 foreign policy prescription, Rebuilding America’s Defenses, have been carried out. 

One by one, the US has strategically taken out leaders of countries that don’t quite comply with the Euro-American Imperialist agenda under the pretext of humanitarian efforts.  And the last adversarial nation standing in the way of total US dominance in the region is Iran.  The establishment has been sabre-rattling against Iran for years, while slowly closing in on them from all fronts with wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Now, like everything Obama does quietly, drone strikes, repression of protesters, evisceration of the people’s rights, thousands of US troops are quietly being deployed to Israel, raising speculation of imminent war between Iran and US-backed Israel.

Abby

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ENGLISH.ALARABIYA — The Middle East roils in crisis as a U.S. aircraft carrier entered one of the world’s most important choke point for oil shipments, the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has threatened to close if the United States raises sanctions against the Islamic Republic. The deployment of thousands of U.S. troops in Israel has raised speculation of an imminent war.

On December 20, the Jerusalem Post reported that Lt.-Gen. Frank Gorenc, commander of the U.S. forces based in Germany, said that there will be a deployment of several thousand American soldiers in Israel.

An Egypt-based military expert, major general Jamal Mathloum, said that “there is a military strategic cooperation between the U.S. and Israel since the 1980s and there is definitely mutual understanding.” He added that the U.S. troop deployment might not necessarily mean a direct signal of war, but that it could be read as Israel and U.S. readiness in case of a conflict arising in the region.

“There is already a U.S. radar station in southern Israel, and might contain from 500 to 700 American soldiers operating there,” Mathloum said.

But for Abdulaziz Sager, chairman and founder of the Gulf Research Center in Dubai, the deployment of U.S. troops in Israel is “definitely to send a clear signal to Iran.”

Read more about Thousands of US Troops Deploying to Israel.

© 2011 English.Alarabiya

Photo by flickr user Socom

NPR– The amount the U.S. military spends annually on air conditioning in Iraq and Afghanistan: $20.2 billion.

That’s more than NASA’s budget. It’s more than BP has paid so far for damage during the Gulf oil spill. It’s what the G-8 has pledged to help foster new democracies in Egypt and Tunisia.

“When you consider the cost to deliver the fuel to some of the most isolated places in the world — escorting, command and control, medevac support — when you throw all that infrastructure in, we’re talking over $20 billion,” Steven Anderson tells weekends on All Things Considered guest host Rachel Martin. Anderson is a retired brigadier general who served as Gen. David Patreaus’ chief logistician in Iraq.

Why does it cost so much?

To power an air conditioner at a remote outpost in land-locked Afghanistan, a gallon of fuel has to be shipped into Karachi, Pakistan, then driven 800 miles over 18 days to Afghanistan on roads that are sometimes little more than “improved goat trails,” Anderson says. “And you’ve got risks that are associated with moving the fuel almost every mile of the way.”

Anderson calculates more than 1,000 troops have died in fuel convoys, which remain prime targets for attack. Free-standing tents equipped with air conditioners in 125 degree heat require a lot of fuel. Anderson says by making those structures more efficient, the military could save lives and dollars.

Listen to the NPR report and continue reading about the Annual cost of air conditioning for US war soldiers greater than NASA budget.

© 2011 NPR

Photo by Flickr user US Army

SALON– That Barack Obama has continued the essence of the Bush/Cheney Terrorism architecture was once a provocative proposition but is now so self-evident that few dispute it (watch here as arch-neoconservative David Frum — Richard Perle’s co-author for the supreme 2004 neocon treatise — waxes admiringly about Obama’s Terrorism and foreign policies in the Muslim world and specifically its “continuity” with Bush/Cheney). But one policy where Obama has gone further than Bush/Cheney in terms of unfettered executive authority and radical war powers is the attempt to target American citizens for assassination without a whiff of due process. As The New York Times put it last April:

It is extremely rare, if not unprecedented, for an American to be approved for targeted killing, officials said. A former senior legal official in the administration of George W. Bush said he did not know of any American who was approved for targeted killing under the former president. . . .

That Obama was compiling a hit list of American citizens was first revealed in January of last year when The Washington Post’s Dana Priest mentioned in passing at the end of a long article that at least four American citizens had been approved for assassinations; several months later, the Obama administration anonymously confirmed to both the NYT and the Post that American-born, U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki was one of the Americans on the hit list.

Yesterday, riding a wave of adulation and military-reverence, the Obama administration tried to end the life of this American citizen — never charged with, let alone convicted of, any crime — with a drone strike in Yemen, but missed and killed two other people instead:

A missile strike from an American military drone in a remote region of Yemen on Thursday was aimed at killing Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical American-born cleric believed to be hiding in the country, American officials said Friday.

The attack does not appear to have killed Mr. Awlaki, the officials said, but may have killed operatives of Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen.

The other people killed “may have” been Al Qaeda operatives. Or they “may not have” been. Who cares? They’re mere collateral damage on the glorious road to ending the life of this American citizen without due process (and pointing out that the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution expressly guarantees that “no person shall be deprived of life without due process of law” — and provides no exception for war — is the sort of tedious legalism that shouldn’t interfere with the excitement of drone strikes).

There are certain civil liberties debates where, even though I hold strong opinions, I can at least understand the reasoning and impulses of those who disagree; the killing of bin Laden was one such instance. But the notion that the President has the power to order American citizens assassinated without an iota of due process — far from any battlefield, not during combat — is an idea so utterly foreign to me, so far beyond the bounds of what is reasonable, that it’s hard to convey in words or treat with civility.

Read more about U.S. Tries to Assassinate U.S. Citizen Anwar al-Awlaki

© 2011 Salon

Photo by Flickr user varintsai

JERUSALEM POST– There is a increasing chance for war on multiple fronts in 2011, according to the IDF’s new multi-year plan, called Halamish, which is in the final stages of approval.

The plan outlines Israel’s current strategic standing in the Middle East amid the ongoing upheaval in the region and particularly the regime change in Egypt and the impact it will have on the IDF and its buildup.

The plan, which will cover at least five years, is not expected to include major changes due to the Egyptian developments.

Under the plan, Israel will increase the number of Arrow interceptors it currently has in its arsenal and begin to receive the first battery of David’s Sling – made to intercept medium-range missiles – by 2013.

The IDF is also working with Rafael about the possibility of moving up the planned delivery of a third battery of Iron Dome to the end of 2011. Another three will be delivered by the end of 2012.

The threats that Israel will face over the coming years are topped by Iran and followed by Hezbollah and Syria and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Read more about IDF: War Possible on Multiple Fronts

© 2011 Jerusalem Post

Photo by Flickr user farshadebrahimi