Troops lured by drug trade

Troops lured by drug trade,
report warns

Military cites 'high probability' some Canadians will become drug traffickers while in Afghanistan
Jan 02, 2009

The US military isn't talking about their troops drug trade...
or Dealing with PTSD

"The honorable Rep. Bob Filner, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, decried that "the American people assume we (the VA) are taking care of our kids ... we are not'."

ELVIS PRESLEY was the most famous victim of the army addicted.
He started taking drugs (amphetamines) regularly while in the army.
Military service and mother's death
Rank and Insignia Date of Rank
Private Drafted
1958-03-24
Private First-Class 1958-11-27
Specialist 4 1959-06-01
Sergeant 1960-01-20
Some months later, in Germany,

"a sergeant had introduced Presley to amphetamines when they were on maneuvers at Grafenwöhr... it seemed like half the guys in the company were taking them."

Friends around Presley, like Joe Esposito, also began taking them,
"if only to keep up with Elvis, who was practically evangelical about their benefits."

"Access to illicit drugs in Afghanistan is routine"
Today: Afghans burn Bush orangutan effigy to protest US, Israel
Friday January 2, 2009

Touches body of boy killed by U.S-led troops in Kabul
His dead brother lies next to him

I will have no harvest. How will I pay back my loan?

Mexico's Drug War Death Toll: 8,463 and Counting

America Supports You.mil Bought Mainstream Media Support in violation of DOD ethics rules.
Posted on December 27, 2008 by Bob Hanafin

INVESTIGATE

Veterans Day 2008

Headed For Afghanistan

NOLA

amy v cooper

Veterans Day at VA medical center in S.F.

Interview with Lane Anderson about overpass protester and Iraq war veteran Kyle Van Tassel

Every veteran is a hero, Vietnam survivor says

Vet's Day Sunset

. Veterns for Common Sense

Afghanistan, Gen. Abizaid, Bush, oil

"Gen. Abizaid emphasized repeatedly that the arrival of a new administration in Washington

is going to present numerous opportunities for us to change our policies and approaches in the Middle East, with a potential for positive results."

Bush Once Again Fails To ‘Jawbone’ King Abdullah At His Horse Ranch
Into Increasing Oil Production

During the 2000 presidential campaign, President Bush criticized the Clinton administration for high fuel prices and said that as president, he would take a much tougher approach — “jawbone OPEC members to lower the price“:
What I think the president ought to do [when gas prices spike] is he ought to get on the phone with the OPEC cartel and say we expect you to open your spigots…And the president of the United States must jawbone OPEC members to lower the price.

U.S. Planning Big New Prison in Afghanistan

Kandahar Journal
Hunger and Food Prices Push Afghanistan to Brink
By CARLOTTA GALL May 16, 2008

Afghanistan seeks $50 billion in aid
By FISNIK ABRASHI

U.S. detained about 2,500 juveniles in Iraq, Afghanistan and Gitmo
May 15, 2008

US warns China over weapon links in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan
5/15/08

Russia, China, India propose to create drug security belts around Afghanistan

www.chinaview.cn 2008-05-15

Contractors, insurance firms gouging taxpayers
5/15/2008

Afghanistan: Watchdog Appeals To Kabul Over 'Blasphemous' Reporter:
There's renewed international concern for Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh, a young Afghan journalist sentenced to death for blasphemy. The press freedom group Reporters Without Borders is urging the Afghan government to cooperate with the lawyer of Kambakhsh, who remains jailed in Kabul awaiting an appeal hearing.

Nearly two months have passed since Kambakhsh was transferred to the Afghan capital from a jail in the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif. Yet the young journalism student -- who was sentenced to death at a summary trial in October for allegedly distributing information insulting to Islam -- is still languishing in a Kabul prison with no fixed date for his appeals hearing.

This week, Reporters Without Borders, the international press-freedom watchdog, once again raised its voice, appealing to the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai to cooperate with Kambakhsh's lawyer.

"Situation for the Media in Afghanistan is Getting Worse and Worse"
Yaqub Ibrahimi: www.rawa.org

Fotografie

On the brink [ a must read ]
Afghanistan
UPDATE 3/24/08: A River Runs Backward

Northern Alliance leader,
Abdullah Abdullah
(whom Karzai unceremoniously removed from office as
foreign minister) , suddenly
showed up in the US out of nowhere after
a gap of nearly three years, meeting influential think-tankers and
American officials and leveling devastating criticism against Karzai's
leadership qualities as president.

The protagonists of the erstwhile Northern Alliance are coming out of the woodwork. But are they being encouraged to do so? Even though the presidential election is due only in end-2009, an element of uncertainty has gradually come to envelop the Afghan political landscape - the sort of haze that one associates with long sunsets.
Former Afghan Interior minister Ali Ahmad Jalali, who fell out with
Karzai, is also being lionized in Western capitals as a potential candidate in the presidential race.

The Independent newspaper of London reported on Monday that according
to Afghan intelligence sources, Britain has been talking to the
Taliban without the knowledge of the Karzai government and working on
a top-secret plan to train renegade Taliban fighters in a special camp
and set them against Mullah Omar's militia.

The training camp is to be set up outside Musa Qala in Helmand province. The Independent claims
unnamed British diplomats, the UN and other Western officials have
confirmed the outline of Britain's clandestine project. Apparently,
British agents have been paying the Taliban out of slush funds.

RECON: Reconstruction in Afghanistan
photographs are Afghanistan 2007
Celebrities:
1. Jessica Simpson character (the movie bombed)

2 No, Seriously, Condoleezza Rice, National Security Advisor

U.S.A.
infrastructure
is in dire straights

Massacre of Afghan Children in Helmand Province

HERAT, Afghanistan February 4, 2008

The people there were shocked to see gunners from the airplanes

were targeting fleeing children.

CITIZEN JOURNALIST | Muhammadzi village Afghanistan

The elders in the village asked, “can’t the Americans tell the difference between armed fighters and little children running to safety?”

SEE THIS VIDEO: Muhammadzi village Afghanistan
(http://novakeo.com/?p=1252)

A routine maneuver is for USA and NATO troops to bomb sleeping villages at
1 to 2 AM.
The video is rough quality and raw. Important to see it from the villagers POV.
Your tax money.

US-NATO Massacre of Afghan Children in Helmand Province Afghanistan

January 20, 2008

Afghan civilians–27 children were massacred by the US jets and helicopters/AC130 Gunship in Helmand Afghanistan. The people there were shocked to see gunners from the airplanes were targeting fleeing children. The elders in the village asked, “can’t the Americans tell the difference between armed fighters and little children running to safety?”

Are they Taliban?

[] [] []

"One American was killed on Dec. 9 by an improvised explosive device.
Twelve men were wounded, from shrapnel and gunfire. The U.S. forces
were supported by fighter aircraft during the battle." Jason Straziuso AP

killed: Corporal Tanner J. O’Leary
May the eagle take you on your journey

U.S. troops recuperating from battle for Musa Qala
By Les Neuhaus, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Tuesday, December 11, 2007
BAGRAM, Afghanistan — American troops wounded in the battle for a southern Afghan town this week are recuperating at a military hospital and telling of heavy fighting in the city.

Operation Zafar involves British, American and Afghan troops and seeks to take back the town of Musa Qala, known as the last sizeable Taliban-controlled town in Afghanistan.

Musa Qal'eh, Afghanistan
U.S. troops recuperating from battle for Musa Qala

'Taxi to the Dark Side'

Afghanistan 1/7/08

Pul-e-Charkhi prison on the eastern outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan

NATO Lacks a Coherent Strategy for Afghanistan 1/7/08

Foiling U.S. Plan, Prison Expands in Afghanistan 1/7/08

Bagram: photos, more

Keeping the Prisons Tight Posted by Joshua Foust on January 7th, 2008

The news that the Bagram U.S. torture center is still operating at full capacity, and even expanding, instead of the not-really-constructed ANA facility, doesn’t bode well for the rule of law in Afghanistan. Bagram is far more spartan and less friendly than the much-heralded Guantanamo prison; yet it has received a fraction of the attention (which is unfortunately normal when it comes to Afghanistan).

They better get their act together: Mullah Naqibullah, one of the Taliban’s top commanders, has escaped from prison and given several interviews to reporters. He claims he escaped by bribing security officials—not impossible, but also quite probably calculated to undercut confidence in the Kabul government and the security forces. But it does underscore the structural problems facing Afghanistan’s internal security—the same problems that are delaying Bagram’s replacement by an Afghan-run facility.

To the Editor: thinking Afghanistan

Thinking Afghanistan: We Were Sidetracked with Iraq 12/18/07 [helicopters/celebrities]

getting away with genocide

A Revealing Incident...

“As Concerns Rise, U.S. Is Reviewing Afghan Mission”

To the Editor:
What seems to be missing from this assessment is the obvious: We should have never abandoned Afghanistan, where we had full international support and the full support of the population, to go into Iraq.

Had we stayed in Afghanistan and really established the government and the infrastructure and helped make it a model of a Muslim democracy, the Taliban would not have re-emerged as they have, we wouldn’t have lost popular support, and invading Iraq would not have been necessary (if it ever was).

That was the most compelling reason not to divert our attention to Iraq. And why should other nations want to commit to helping us in Afghanistan when they’ve seen how we bungled our initial — and very short-lived — success in Iraq?

Can’t we be more forthright, even if it means admitting mistakes? We might not get immediate support, but it would go a long way to regaining some respect.

Olivia Koppell
New York, Dec. 16, 2007
•
To the Editor:
I hope that when the Bush administration and NATO conclude their analyses of the Afghanistan mission they will reach one inescapable, common-sense conclusion: that Western-style democracy cannot be militarily imposed on a culture that is based on tribal loyalties.

Maybe at that point, our nation and the world will be able to finally use our economic and human resources in a more efficient manner.

Perhaps no more young lives will be lost in a futile, vainglorious effort to export our way of life.

Bill Gottdenker
Mountainside, N.J., Dec. 16, 2007

WAR.pD

Update 6/18/08: Easing of laws that led to detainee abuse hatched in secret
Update 6/18/08: General who probed Abu Ghraib says Bush officials committed war crimes
Update 6/17/08: Documents confirm U.S. hid detainees from Red Cross
Update 6/16/08: U.S. abuse of detainees was routine at Afghanistan bases

Update 1/7/08: US Prison Grows Beyond Capacity in Afghanistan, NYT
US Detention Center in Afghanistan Criticized by Red Cross

"This is a kid who'd never spent...a night away from home in his life," says writer/director Alex Gibney, "until he was taken forcibly from his taxicab, thrown into Bagram Prison, and five days later he was dead."

raw story

Update 12/30/07:
Interrogation Tapes Lived And Died To Save CIA Image

Kandahar, central prison

15 Guantanamo prisoners transferred to Afghanistan, Sudan

---Thursday Dec 13, 2007
" WASHINGTON (AFP) — Fifteen detainees at the US "war on terror" camp in Guantanamo, Cuba, have been transferred to Afghanistan and Sudan, the Pentagon said in a statement Thursday.

The US Defense Department says there are about 290 detainees still at the facility on its naval base on Cuba's southeastern tip.

Thirteen detainees were sent to Afghanistan, and two others were sent to Sudan, the statement said...."

That's not good news for the detainees. At best being detained by the U.S. in Afghanistan is mysterious, no one knows much, or no one talks.

Why the Pentagon treats Omar Khadr differently

Fifteen-year-old Omar Khadr is unique because he is the only Western citizen still imprisoned at Guantanamo.
UPDATE 2/4/08: Khadr shot by U.S. forces before capture: witness

The United Nations Optional Protocol on the Rights of the Child, which the U.S. ratified in 2002, says that people under 18 who are enlisted or conscripted into armed conflict are not adults and therefore “are entitled to special protection.”

Former US interrogator recounts torture cases in Afghanistan and Iraq
December 15, 2007

------ Tuesday December 11, 2007
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen testify before the House of Armed Services Committee.

"In Afghanistan, we do what we can,"
It was a pleasant day in Congress. A few problems acknowledged but Afghanistan is not a priority. Lack of training, helicopter and equipment issues, failed policies... more rough going for the troops. It's up to NATO to "support our troops".
Gates slams U.S. counternarcotics in Afghanistan

Cpl. Tanner J. O’Leary, 23, of Eagle Butte, S.D., died Dec. 9 in Musa Qal’eh, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
Six luckier Army 82nd Airborne soldiers lived.
They were awarded purple hearts for their courage.
PHOTOS: Bagram’s Task Force Med, a unit comprised at Craig Joint Theater Hospital

Army blocks 'narratives' of heroism
Public cannot read medal winners' stories

Afghanistan 2007

"How long do we continue to watch this [Afghanistan] thing?" asked one senior official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "There is a desire to keep the heat on NATO and see if they will pony up the resources." But



"If they aren't willing to do that,"

the United States may have to change its policy.

Afghanistan 2007

"We need to look at our training model. We break young trainees of many other bad habits, but we reinforce the arrogance. Something wrong here. Yeah, okay, you jump out of planes and you're a bad-ass... have some humility, kid."

Afghanistan 2007

"We don't train our line units in counterinsurgency. We train them as maneuver units, and they are damned fine soldiers; the best in the world. However, they often don't play well with others. Treating your host country's forces with disdain is a huge mistake. I saw this mistake blatantly made out in The Valley by junior leaders. It made an impression on the men who I was working with, the Afghans. Everyone can tell when they are being disrespected, even in another language; and it is not a motivator. In fact, it is not a positive in any regard. To my Afghans, the American platoon making this major error did not look like a force that they wanted to emulate; they looked like assholes. Ugly Americans.

Those young Americans, even if they read this, would never put it together. They see nothing wrong with their behavior. They will go home and tell stories about how f'd-up the Afghans were. That's like making yourself look better by racing against a guy with broken legs. They will totally misrepresent the progress being made here and unwittingly perform the same function as PVT Beauchamp, degrading our efforts and calling into question the very reason why we are here."

Blogging Afghanistan
One Third And A Wakeup

WHAT AM I DOING?THE HEROIN ROADS
[click image to enlarge]

Afghanistan....they thundered around the country in Black Hawk helicopters, with little fear for their safety...

Ciara Durkin was found shot dead on Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan on Sept. 27, 2007 shortly after she told her family to investigate in the event that she died.

Afghanistan: A brief history

The U.S. military flew some of its oldest aircraft in airstrikes in Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Bagram Airbase

Robin Williams

Bush faces three major Afghanistan stumbling blocks

National Guard medic from South Carolina currently serving in Afghanistan

The war on the walls

US abuse of Afghan prisoners 'widespread'

The Dark Art of Interrogation

CIA accused of torture at Bagram base
Some captives handed to brutal foreign agencies

U.S. Troops In Their Own Hand

From Bagram to Abu Ghraib




Laura Bush joins US troops as they dine in the Dragon Chow Dining Hall on Bagram Air Base in Kabul, Afghanistan Wednesday, March 30, 2005. White House photo by Susan Sterner

Charlie Daniels Afghanistan

Afghanistan — Bagram Airbase

Bagram Airbase is located in the Parvan Province approximately 11 kilometers (7 miles) southeast of the city of Charikar and 47 Kilometers (27 miles) north of Kabul. It is served by a 10,000 foot runway built in 1976 capable of landing large cargo and bomber aircraft.

Bagram Airbase has three large hangars, a control tower, and numerous support buildings. There are over 32 acres of ramp space. There are five aircraft dispersal areas with a total of over 110 revettments. Many support buildings and base housing built by the Soviets, have been destroyed by years of fighting between the various warring Afghan factions.

Bagram Airbase played a key role during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, serving as a base of operations for troops and supplies. and Aircraft based at Bagram provided close air support for Soviet and Afghan troops in the field. Some of the Soviet forces based out of Bagram included the elite 105th Guards Airborne Division."How long do we continue to watch this [Afghanistan] thing?" asked one senior official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "There is a desire to keep the heat on NATO and see if they will pony up the resources." But he added: "If they aren't willing to do that," the United States may have to change its policy.

album