This video from the USA is called Iraq – Blackwater (Xe) pimped out young Iraqi girls, MSNBC.
From the New York Times in the USA:
C.I.A. Said to Use Outsiders to Put Bombs on Drones
By JAMES RISEN and MARK MAZZETTI
Published: August 20, 2009
WASHINGTON — From a secret division at its North Carolina headquarters, the company formerly known as Blackwater has assumed a role in Washington’s most important counterterrorism program: the use of remotely piloted drones to kill Al Qaeda’s leaders, according to government officials and current and former employees.
As we know, these drones kill far more Afghan and Pakistani peasants and other civilians than “Al Qaeda leaders”.
See also here.
Blackwater provided child prostitutes to contractors: here.
The US military has killed another 12 Pakistanis and Afghans in a missile attack on a village in Waziristan: here.
The death toll from a suspected US air raid in Pakistan has risen after nine more bodies were pulled from the rubble, officials have said: here.
Will Drones Make General Atomics the next Blackwater? Here.
In the wake of last Thursday’s election in Afghanistan, the US establishment is proceeding with plans for a further expansion of the war: here.
Rigged election in Afghanistan? See here.
The scene is set for massive fraud in today’s Afghan presidential poll, with as many as 3 million ghost voters secreted on the rolls: here.
US Senator Feingold asks Obama to announce a timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan: here.
US Homeland Security Department director Tom Ridge was pressured by the Bush administration to raise the “terrorism threat level” on the eve of the 2004 presidential elections, Ridge claims in a new book due out in September: here.
Report: CIA hired Blackwater to transfer Gitmo detainees: here.
Americans hate the Afghan war more than ever: here.
The mounting preparations for a major escalation of the war in Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan are taking place in open defiance of public opinion around the globe: here.
The number of British troops wounded in Afghanistan has increased sharply, the Defence Analytical Services and Advice (DASA) has revealed: here.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown reaffirmed the UK’s commitment to the war in Afghanistan in the face of mounting domestic opposition: here.
Afghan civilians are less secure now than at any time since the Taliban regime was toppled by a US-led invasion and Western-backed warlords in 2001, Amnesty has warned: here.
The US military has admitted that it pays a private firm to vet journalists seeking to be “embedded” with US occupation forces in Afghanistan: here.
Pipeline politics: Afghanistan and the new Great Game: here.
The number of US and NATO occupation troops killed in Afghanistan during 2009 reached 301 yesterday—already the highest annual toll of the eight-year war: here.
American Antiwar Movement Plans an Autumn Campaign Against Policies on Afghanistan : here.
Afghanistan: Civilian slaughter continues: here.
Afghanistan is today’s Vietnam. No question mark needed: here.
Blackwater in Court Today in War Crimes Hearing: here.
Blackwater Founder Accused in Court of Intent to Kill: here.
Blackwater tapped foreigners on secret CIA program: here.
Reports of indiscriminate bombing in South Waziristan: here.
Dear Kitty. Some blog 
States plot to exploit Pakistan
Turkey: Government officials including US envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke have gathered in Ankara to discuss how to exploit Pakistan.
Pakistani Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said that Islamabad hoped that the Friends of Democratic Pakistan summit would serve to attract investment.
Mr Basit said that “hundreds” of US, Chinese, British and Turkish businesses were working in Pakistan and “earning huge profits.”
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/world/World-in-brief112
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http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=64332
Anti-Iraq war veterans group formalizes opposition to Afghan war
By Kevin Dougherty, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Sunday, August 23, 2009
——–
“As is the case with Iraq, the existing IVAW resolution advocates “the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all occupying forces in Afghanistan and reparations for the Afghan people, and support (for) all troops and veterans working toward those ends.” Additionally, the IVAW supports full benefits and adequate health care for all servicemembers returning from Afghanistan or Iraq.”
——–
With the U.S. military presence in Iraq expected to end by 2011, an organization of current and former servicemembers opposed to the war there is widening its mandate to include Afghanistan.
At its annual convention in College Park, Md., earlier this month, members of Iraq Veterans Against the War vigorously debated what the group’s stance should be on Afghanistan, according to some participants. Opposition to the war quietly became official policy earlier this year following an online membership poll. The vote was said to be close, though no details were publicly released.
“A decision has been made in terms of our position, which is we are against it,” said Jose Vasquez, executive director of IVAW and co-founder of the New York City chapter.
With that, leaders are “working out the way forward.”
Since its founding in 2004, the IVAW has focused almost exclusively on Iraq, though members have been free to speak out for or against the war in Afghanistan. The organization, which has a national office in Philadelphia, estimates its membership to be at least 1,700, with roughly one-quarter of its members still in uniform. Most members, active duty or not, have not deployed to Afghanistan, said Devon Read, a former Marine who wrote and introduced the resolution at the convention.
As is the case with Iraq, the existing IVAW resolution advocates “the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all occupying forces in Afghanistan and reparations for the Afghan people, and support (for) all troops and veterans working toward those ends.”
Additionally, the IVAW supports full benefits and adequate health care for all servicemembers returning from Afghanistan or Iraq.
For now, the effort to develop a strategic approach to opposing the war in Afghanistan is being addressed at the local level. Among the most active on this front is the Los Angeles chapter, which Read heads. The L.A. chapter sponsors forums at which clips of a new documentary, “Rethink Afghanistan,” are aired and discussed.
The meetings are intended to generate public and political support for IVAW’s position, which is that the continued presence of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan is hurting, not helping matters.
“Chapters are trying to figure out where they want to go with this,” Vasquez said. He added that IVAW members “don’t think Iraq was a good idea, and some of us think Afghanistan isn’t either.”
One of the members who supports the war in Afghanistan is Army Sgt. Selena Coppa, an active-duty military intelligence specialist based at Wiesbaden, Germany.
“The organization is kind of split on that,” Coppa said.
At times, she added, the issue of whether to oppose the war in Afghanistan “ran the risk of tearing us apart. IVAW is like a family. You don’t want members leaving.”
Vasquez said many members, such as Coppa, “view Afghanistan as the good war,” based largely on its role in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States. The notion of also opposing that war “met with a lot of debate,” he said.
The strategy for the time being is to leave the issue to local chapters to sort out, and then possibly bring it up at next year’s convention. While there has been talk of amending the organization’s name to reflect its opposition to the Afghanistan campaign, that isn’t likely to happen soon.
Read, who initially backed the war in Afghanistan, characterized his endorsement as “blind support,” a view that has changed over the past year.
“To me,” Read said, “it feels like we are creating more enemies.”
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Australia considers procedural changes after soldiers shoot 2 Afghan police
By Associated Press
3:19 AM CDT, August 28, 2009
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The Defense Department will consider changing check point procedures in Afghanistan after Australian soldiers shot two Afghan police officers, one fatally, an army general said Friday.
An internal inquiry into the shootings on Aug. 11 found that the Australian soldiers had acted according to their rules of engagement when they fired at the two Afghanis, who failed to obey instructions to stop their motorbike, Lt. Gen. Mark Evans said.
The victims were later confirmed to be members of the Afghan National Police, he said.
“I have initiated a comprehensive inquiry to review the facts and circumstances surrounding the incident in order to provide recommendations on possible changes to procedures,” Evans said in a statement.
He did not say how many Australian soldiers were involved in the shooting in the southern province of Uruzgan or whether the Afghanis were in police uniform.
Australia, with 1,500 troops in Afghanistan, is the largest contributor to the U.S.-led coalition outside NATO.
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British marine dies in Helmand
Afghanistan: Britain’s Defence Ministry has revealed that a Royal Marine has been killed by an explosion in Afghanistan’s restive Helmand province.
The marine died while on a foot patrol near Gereshk yesterday, the day that Prime Minister Gordon Brown made a surprise visit to British troops in southern Afghanistan.
The death was the 208th suffered by British forces in Afghanistan since 2001.
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/world/World-in-brief117
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Serious fraud complaints double in Afghan vote
By Peter Graff
30 August 2009 @ 11:14 am ET
KABUL – Afghanistan’s election fraud watchdog said on Sunday it is probing 567 allegations of abuse it considers serious enough to affect the outcome of the Aug 20 vote, more than double the number announced two days ago.
Afghan men transport a ballot box at the Independent Election Commission in Kabul on August 25, 2009. (REUTERS / Goran Tomasevic)
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The country has been in a state of political limbo since the presidential election, with partial results so far placing President Hamid Karzai in the lead, but not by enough to avoid a second round against his main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah.
The election, which Taliban militants failed to scupper despite scores of rocket attacks, was initially hailed as a success by Western officials, but those assessments have grown more circumspect as accusations of fraud have mounted.
The latest partial preliminary results, released late on Saturday, gave Karzai 46.3 percent of the vote to 31.4 percent for Abdullah, with 35 percent of polling stations tallied.
Most votes have yet to be counted in the south, heartland of Karzai’s ethnic Pashtun support — and also the area where Taliban violence and threats had their greatest impact on turnout, and where complaints of fraud are concentrated.
Abdullah, a former foreign minister, has accused the president’s camp of stuffing ballot boxes on a massive scale, and says he will not accept the outcome if cheating was decisive.
An Electoral Complaints Commission, with foreign members appointed by the United Nations, can discard results from entire polling stations if it suspects abuse.
Ahmad Muslim Khuram, spokesman for the body, said it was now looking into 2,493 complaints, including 567 it classifies as “Category A”, meaning they are serious enough to alter the outcome. On Friday there were 270 Category A complaints.
To avoid a run-off, a candidate must win more than 50 percent of the vote. The results from southern provinces might put Karzai over the top, but could be challenged by the complaints body.
Full preliminary results are due later this week, with the final result, after all complaints are checked, due two weeks later. A run-off, if needed, would be held in October.
(Editing by Nick Macfie)
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20090830/serious-fraud-complaints-double-afghan-vote.htm
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