We no longer have a republic but now are a corporate state. It is those controlling corporations that dictate policy and direction. Bob H.
Obama Fact Sheet:: Since Becoming President, Barack Obama Has… It’s All Here!
Posted by SiNeh~ OV "secret admin" on June 27, 2013 at 11:06am in Beyond Illusion
Back to Beyond Illusion Discussions
.
Obama Fact Sheet:: Since Becoming President, Barack Obama Has… It’s All Here!
I find it truly amazing what a hard working President Obama is. The below article I found HERE. Do you think we should give him more of it or should we rather stop him working and send in retirement somewhere on a small island where he can relax and be there alone that no one can disturb him relaxing? He surely deserve it.
SiNeh~
June 27, 2013
Josey Wales
Many Americans today just feel that something is not right in America, something is just not right with our government, but they can’t put their finger on it.
Well I felt the same way, so I have been searching for reasons why people may feel this way.
Some folks have expressed that many people are abusive and demeaning to people who feel that something just isn’t right.
I’ve had people say, “I can’t put my finger on it, but I can feel it in my stomach”
Have you ever felt like this? If so, you may be in luck. Look what I found in my quest for the truth.
In my quest for answers I stumbled upon ST Pete For Peace.org Website, and they have compiled a comprehensive list of actions that have taken place since Obama took Office and put their findings out on their web for all to see.
Below is what I found at ST Pete For Peace.org.
Among other things since becoming president, Barack Obama has:
◾20,000 Airstrikes in the President’s First Term Cause Death and Destruction From Iraq to Somalia.
◾Signed the NDAA into law – making it legal to assassinate Americans w/o charge or trial.
◾Initiated, and personally oversees a ‘Secret Kill List’.
◾Waged war on Libya without congressional approval.
◾Started a covert, drone war in Yemen.
◾Escalated the proxy war in Somalia.
◾Escalated the CIA drone war in Pakistan.
◾Maintained a presence in Iraq even after “ending” the war.
◾Sharply escalated the war in Afghanistan.
◾Secretly deployed US special forces to 75 countries.
◾Sold $30 billion of weapons to the dictatorship in Saudi Arabia.
◾Signed an agreement for 7 military bases in Colombia.
◾Opened a military base in Chile.
◾Touted nuclear power, even after the disaster in Japan.
◾Opened up deepwater oil drilling, even after the BP disaster.
◾Did a TV commercial promoting “clean coal”.
◾Defended body scans and pat-downs at airports.
◾Signed the Patriot Act extension into law.
◾Deported a modern-record 1.5 million immigrants.
◾Continued Bush’s rendition program.
◾Signed the Monsanto Protection Act into law.
Here’s a partial history of Obama’s dealings – listed (roughly) chronologically, most recent first:News after Obama was elected to a second term
◾Obama admits the U.S. kills innocent civilians: “it is a hard fact that U.S. strikes have resulted in civilian casualties” (READ).
◾The United States has formally said for the first time that it killed Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and three other US citizens in anti-terror strikes abroad (READ).
◾Obama administration secretly obtains trove of Associated Press phone records in “unprecedented intrusion” (READ).
◾Cornel West: Obama ‘Is a War Criminal’ (READ).
◾Four Obama policies that help keep Gitmo open (READ).
◾Obama’s calls George W. Bush a “good man” at Bush library dedicatiion (READ).
◾The first of 500 Marines have begun deploying to Spain as part of a new rapid reaction force to respond to threats against U.S. citizens, government personnel or installations in Africa (READ).
◾It’s Official: A Democratic President Proposes to Cut Social Security (READ).
◾While Urging Gun Laws at Home, Obama Joins NRA to Weaken U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (READ).
◾Signed the Monsanto Protection Act into law.
◾Obama Admin: GPS Tracking Without Warrants ‘Necessary’ – Insists Tracking Americans’ Every Movement Has ‘Minimal’ Privacy Impact (READ).
◾Obama inflames anti-Iran hysteria by speculatively claiming “Right now, we think it would take over a year or so for Iran to actually develop a nuclear weapon, but obviously we don’t want to cut it too close” (READ).
◾Obama administration to let spy agencies scour Americans’ finances (READ).
◾U.S. Steps Up Aid to Syrian Opposition, Pledging $60 Million (READ). Previous related: Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri has called on all Muslims to back the rebels in Syria in the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad (READ);(READ).
◾Obama sends U.S. troops to Niger to set up drone base (READ).
◾Obama’s Possible Frack-Friendly Energy Plan a ‘Nail in the Coffin’ for Climate: Choice of MIT professor Ernest Moniz, known for championing gas fracking, as head of Department of Energy receives rebuke (READ).
◾Obama Maneuvers to Keep Kill List Memos Permanently Secret (READ).
◾Obama OKs $50 million to assist France in Mali (READ).
◾In State of the Union, Obama Misleads on Foreign Policy. ”Over the next year, another 34,000 American troops will come home from Afghanistan,” the President said. But Obama is overselling this withdrawal: by the end of this year, the number of troops in Afghanistan will be about equal to the number that were there when Obama was elected. This is only a “withdrawal” because he decided to triple troop levels in an ill-advised military surge (READ).
◾Barack Obama is Pushing Gun Control at Home, but He’s a Killer Abroad (READ).
◾White House: Drone Killings ‘Ethical and Wise’ (READ).
◾US responds to Israeli attack on Syria by warning Syria (READ).
◾Obama’s nomination of Mary Jo White for SEC chief reveals the president still isn’t serious about cracking down on big banks (READ).
◾Obama Inaugural Speech: US to Maintain Global Military Presence (READ).
◾The Untouchables: How the Obama Administration Protected Wall Street from Prosecutions (READ).
◾MLK: I have a dream. Obama: I have a drone (READ).
◾The Pipeline President: Obama’s Keystone XL (READ).
◾Three Ways Obama Carried Bush’s Tyrannical Torch, in Just One Week – Warrantless wiretapping of American citizens, Indefinite detention without charge or trial, Targeted killings of suspects by drone, without any pretense of due process (even if they are US citizens) remains none of the American people’s business (READ).
◾Obama signs 2013 NDAA – blocking closure of Gitmo (READ).
◾Amy Goodman: Obama’s New Year’s Resolution: Protect the Status Quo – a number of bills were signed into law by President Barack Obama that renew some of the worst excesses of the Bush years (READ).
◾The Obama Administration deported more than 400,000 undocumented immigrants in the 2012 fiscal year, the most in the nation’s history (READ).
◾Announced on Christmas eve: The U.S. will be sending Army brigades into as many as 35 African nations in early 2013 (READ).
◾Obama Administration Snubs Risk, Set to OK ‘Frankenfish’ (READ).
Obama 6 Bush 4
◾The US is going to “substantially increase its military presence in the Philippines, increasing the number of troops, aircraft and ships which routinely rotate through the country,” – a reason given: to “serve The Philippines when struggling against natural disasters.” (READ).
◾Obama’s Deficit Proposal: Cut Social Security Benefits (READ).
◾Remember All the Children, Mr. President. Remember the 35 children who died in Gaza this month from Israeli bombardments (with your approval and U.S. weapons). Remember the 168 children who have been killed by US drone attacks in Pakistan since 2006. Remember the 231 children killed in Afghanistan in the first 6 months of this year (READ).
◾Barack Obama’s tears for the children of Newtown are in stark contrast to his silence over the children murdered by his drones (READ).
◾Obama sends 400 troops to Syrian border (READ).
◾Obama grants unprecedented powers for warrantless surveillance. The rules now allow the little-known National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) to examine the government files of U.S. citizens for possible criminal behavior, even if there is no reason to suspect them. Now, NCTC can copy entire government databases—flight records, casino-employee lists, the names of Americans hosting foreign-exchange students and many others. The agency has new authority to keep data about innocent U.S. citizens for up to five years, and to analyze it for suspicious patterns of behavior. Previously, both were prohibited (READ).
◾Obamacare Architect Leaves White House for Pharmaceutical Industry Job (READ).
◾US to leave 10,000 troops in Afghanistan past 2014 (READ).
◾Obama ‘drone-warfare rulebook’ condemned by human rights groups (READ).
◾Obama says he is “fully supportive” of Israel’s attack on Gaza. “There is no country on Earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on from outside its borders” (We wonder if Obama applies this logic to Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Afghanistan where the U.S. is raining down missiles on those countries) (READ).
◾Obama Administration: Hamas to Blame for Gaza Violence. Says Israel ‘has the right to defend itself’ (but makes no mention of Palestinians having the same right) (READ).
◾Obama-appointed Afghanistan commander supports troops there past 2014 (READ).
◾U.S. expands counterterrorism assistance in Cambodia in spite of human rights concerns (READ).
◾Julian Assange: Reelected Obama a ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’. “All of the activities against WikiLeaks by the United States have occurred under an Obama administration.” (READ).
News prior to Obama being elected to a second term
◾4 More Drones! Robot Attacks Are on Deck for Obama’s Next Term (READ).
◾Obama and Civil Liberties: The Prospect of Four More Years (READ).
◾US-backed regime in Bahrain bans all protests. Obama continues to support the brutal Bahraini dictatorship, valuing ruthless control of the Persian Gulf over democracy (READ).
◾UN Official: Aspects of US Drone Program Clearly ‘War Crimes’ (read). (Which makes Obama a war criminal.)
◾Obama Moves to Make the ‘War on Terror’ Permanent. Complete with a newly coined, creepy Orwellian euphemism – ‘disposition matrix’ – the administration institutionalizes the most extremist powers a government can claim (read).
◾U.S. Begins Talks to Extend Troop Presence in Afghanistan Beyond 2014 (read).
◾Obama implements additional Iran sanctions (read).
◾Electronic monitoring by Justice Department on the rise under Obama, ACLU says (read).
◾At UN, Obama Falsely Claims America Sides With Democratic Change in Mid East (read).
◾New Stanford/NYU Study Documents the Civilian Terror from Obama’s Drones (read). ‘Counterproductive’ drone war “terrorizes” civilians in Pakistan. The drone war has given rise to “anxiety and psychological trauma among civilian communities”.
◾Obama wins right to indefinitely detain Americans under NDAA (read).
◾Obama administration to spend an estimated $350 billion on nuclear weapon upgrades (read). (But the US doesn’t acknowledge its hypocrisy in sanctioning & threatening Iran for pursuing nuclear energy).
◾AIPAC thanks Obama for ‘steadfast support’ (read).
◾Obama Admin Appeals Overruling of Indefinite Detention Under NDAA (read).
◾Rahm Emanuel: President Obama supports me against striking teachers in Chicago (read).
◾Obama has kept his promise to not prosecute CIA torturers, leaving them unaccountable (read).
◾Suspected U.S. drone strike kills civilians in Yemen, officials say (read).
◾Obama Gives Shell Green Light to Start Risky Arctic Drilling (read).
◾Obama sends 200 Marines to Guatemala to fight drug trafficking (read).
◾Obama authorized covert support for Syrian rebels, sources say (read).
◾Obama signs law increasing aid to Israel day before Romney trip to Holy Land (read).
◾Obama in Yemen: Killing Civilians, Bolstering Dictatorship, and Bombing in Secret (read).
◾Obama signs executive order giving himself control of all communication systems in America (read).
◾U.S. beefs up Persian Gulf forces (read).
Lesser of Two Evils Contest Winners
Thanks to everyone who submitted slogans and voted for the best way to respond when someone says, “I’m going to vote for Obama because he’s the lesser of two evils.” As voted by you, here are the winners of the contest.
◦If you vote for either man you vote for more war
◦Voting for the lesser of two evils may be acceptable to you, but it’s not to the people around the world who are being bombed by Obama
◦Obama 2012 – Four More Wars!
◾U.S. eyes return to some Southeast Asia military bases (in Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines) (read).
◾Obama Ignored CIA Report Against Afghan Escalation (read).
◾Under Obama, the export of American arms to countries around the world — even those actively repressing their own citizens — is booming. The United States is the world’s top provider of major conventional weapons (read).
◾C.I.A. Said to Aid in Steering Arms to Syrian Opposition (read).
◾Drone strikes threaten 50 years of international law, says UN rapporteur (read).
◾Obama asserts presidential powers he once spoke critically of (read).
◾Obama administration rejects FOIA requests from NYT, ACLU for “targeted killing” papers (read).
◾Ex-CIA Official Slams Obama’s ‘Indiscriminate’ Use of Drones (read).
◾What’s behind Obama’s new military base in Chile? (read).
The U.S. is NOT leaving Iraq or Afghanistan, as Obama claims
Feb. 7, 2012 – The CIA is expected to maintain a large clandestine presence in Iraq and Afghanistan long after the departure of conventional U.S. troops as part of a plan by the Obama administration to rely on a combination of spies and Special Operations forces to protect U.S. interests in the two longtime war zones, U.S. officials said (read).
◾Jeremy Scahill Says Obama Strikes In Yemen Constitute ‘Murder’ (read).
◾“As shown through his stepped-up drone campaign, Barack Obama has become George W. Bush on steroids.” (read).
◾Obama order set off wave of cyberattacks against Iran (read).
◾Obama Personally Oversees ‘Secret Kill List’: NYT (read). Obama and Drone Warfare: Will Americans Speak Out? (read).
◾Obama OKs Proliferation of US “Hunter-Killer” Drone Technology – Administration plans to arm Italy’s fleet of Reaper drones (read).
◾Obama touts American exceptionalism, ‘end of wars’ in Air Force graduation speech (read).
◾Top Obama Officials, Secretive Process Create ‘Assassination List’ – President Obama’s counter-terrorism chief has “seized the lead” in secretly determining who will die by US drone (read).
◾Obama’s ‘Poverty-Relieving’ Plan for Africa a Profit Boon for Giant Agribusiness (read).
◾Obama signed a reauthorization bill directing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to write rules opening the national air space to drones by 2015 (read).
◾Obama has opened three new military bases in Honduras (read).
◾Ex-CIA Interrogator: Obama’s War on Terror Is Less Ethical Than Bush’s. ”We don’t capture anybody any more… [Obama's] default option… has been to … take no prisoners…How could it be more ethical to kill people rather than capture them?” (read).
◾Jeremy Scahill: US Has Become ‘Nation of Assassins’ (read).
◾The Drone-Happy President: Obama Escalates in Yemen – Again. Obama allows the CIA and the military to fire even when the identity of those who could be killed is not known (read).
◾Obama Administration Again Proposes Polar Bear Extinction Plan – New Rule Echoes Bush Plan Ignoring Polar Bears’ Plight (read).
◾The Obama administration has already launched six times as many drone strikes as the Bush administration in Pakistan alone, killing hundreds of innocent people and devastating families (read).
◾Strip-Searches: Obama Wants You to Bend Over (Or Squat) and Spread ‘Em (read).
◾Air Force ramps up drone war. New documents reveal plans to more than quadruple Reaper missions by 2016 (read).
◾Obama Signs “Fraud-Friendly” JOBS Act into Law. Economist: Bill will bring fraud, destroy jobs (read). Why Obama’s JOBS Act Couldn’t Suck Worse (read).
◾U.S. draws up plans for nuclear drones (read).
◾Our government is watching us more. New guidelines permit the federal counterterrorism investigators to collect, search and store data about Americans who are not suspected of terrorism, or anything (read).
◾U.S. joins effort to equip and pay ‘rebels’ in Syria (read).
◾Drone strikes in Yemen soar as U.S. stokes ‘secret war’ – America has dramatically stepped up its “secret war” in Yemen with the U.S. ordering dozens of drone attacks on al-Qaida hotspots, which have also killed scores of civilians (read).
◾Obama to fast-track segment of Keystone pipeline, other energy projects (read); Native Americans Forced to Protest from ‘Cage’ (read).
◾Bush’s “Total Information Awareness” data mining program revived by the Obama administration (read).
◾Obama signs Executive Order allowing for control over all US resources (read). Related: “Obama’s Creepy Executive Order: Permanent War Economy” (read).
◾Obama signs anti-protest trespass bill into law (read).
◾Obama administration moves to aid Syrian opposition (read).
◾Obama’s Attorney General says U.S. can assassinate American citizens abroad (without being charged with anything or given a trial) (read).
◾White House helps pay for NYPD Muslim surveillance (read).
◾US drones circle over the Philippines. A United States-supported airstrike that destroyed with causalities an Abu Sayyaf hideout on the remote island of Jolo in the southern Philippines represented the first known use of the unmanned aerial assault craft in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) counter-insurgency operations against terrorism-linked rebel groups (read).
◾Obama sees single-candidate election in Yemen as ‘model’ for Middle East (read).
◾Obama: U.S. in ‘lockstep’ with Israel on Iran (read).
◾U.S. drones targeting rescuers and mourners in Pakistan; Obama indirectly admits that U.S. strikes have killed civilians by claiming the drone campaign a “targeted, focused effort” that “has not caused a huge number of civilian casualties”. . . . (read).
◾We’re #47! After Occupy Journalist Arrests, US Plummets in Global Press Freedom Rankings (read).
◾Yemen dictator allowed into the U.S. A day after he was granted immunity by the Yemeni parliament, Yemen’s presumably-departing dictator of 33 years, Ali Abdullah Saleh is on his way to the U.S. for treatment (read). (Comparing Yemen’s Saleh to Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi: Saleh killed his own people – people who peacefully protest his tyrannical reign. Gadhafi killed his own people – people who violently rose up against him. Saleh gets to enter the U.S. Gadhafi got murdered – SPFP)
◾10 reasons the U.S. is no longer the land of the free (read).
◾Has Obama taken Bush’s ‘preemption’ strategy to another level? (read).
◾Obama sending 5 US military officers to South Sudan (read).
◾The White House has declared the government of South Sudan eligible to receive weapons and defense assistance from the U.S. The announcement came amid an outbreak of violence between two South Sudanese tribes that may have left thousands dead and some 50,000 people needing aid (read).
◾The White House has declared the government of South Sudan eligible to receive weapons and defense assistance from the U.S. The announcement came amid an outbreak of violence between two South Sudanese tribes that may have left thousands dead and some 50,000 people needing aid (read).
◾President Obama Signs the NDAA Indefinite Detention Bill Into Law. The statute contains a sweeping worldwide indefinite detention provision. “President Obama’s action today is a blight on his legacy because he will forever be known as the president who signed indefinite detention without charge or trial into law,” said Anthony D. Romero, ACLU executive director (read).
◾Weapon’s proliferation: In same week $30 billion weapon deal with Saudi Arabia is finalized, Pentagon reaches $3.5 billion weapon deal with UAE (read).
◾White House rejects calls for oversight on drone killings (read).
◾TSA spreading its wings beyond airports (read).
◾The Obama administration has decided in principle to allow the embattled president of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to enter the United States for medical treatment (read).
◾National Defense Authorization Act – By signing the ‘anti-terror’ bill the president could end up being worse than his Republican predecessor on civil liberties (read).
◾The Zenith of Civil Libertarian Anger at President Obama (read).
◾Secrecy defines Obama’s drone war (read).
◾Obama asks Iran to return downed U.S. surveillance drone (read). Stealth drone highlights tougher U.S. strategy on Iran (read).
◾Obama Promises to Label GMOs (read).
◾Inside Romania’s secret CIA prison (read).
◾Obama: U.S. to expand military in Australia (read); 2,500 US Marines to be stationed in Australia (read).
◾Obama Administration Delays Keystone Pipeline Decision to After Election (read).
◾Obama’s Offshore Oil Plan a Disaster for Wildlife, Climate (read).
◾Palestine Wins UNESCO Membership… And Obama Withdraws (read).
◾Obama’s new war in Uganda (read).
◾Obama’s proposal would gut Freedom of Information Act (read).
◾As troops pull out of Iraq, Obama plans more combat forces elsewhere in the Middle East (read).
◾The U.S. will maintain a presence in Iraq even after “ending” of war (read).
◾New Obama Foreclosure Plan Helps Banks At Taxpayers’ Expense (read).
◾US Troop Deaths in Afghan War Under Obama Now Twice That Under Bush (read).
◾Obama sends 100 US combat troops to Uganda to help fight ‘rebels’ (read).
◾Obama vows to seek ‘toughest’ Iran sanctions to punish Iranian officials whom he accused of complicity in an alleged plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States (read).
◾Obama Waives Penalties on Countries That Employ Child Soldiers – Again! (read).
◾U.S. drone strike in Yemen kills U.S.-born Anwar al-Awlaki. The lethal strike marked the first known case in which the Obama administration tracked down and killed a U.S. citizen. The raid also killed a second American, Samir Khan. (read). With the assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki, the due-process-free assassination of U.S. citizens is now reality (read).
◾Obama accommodates Turkey’s request for drone aircraft in fight against Kurdish separatists (read).
◾Photos & videos of Bin Laden’s killing should not be released because they would reveal military and intelligence secrets and could lead to violence against U.S. personnel, the Obama administration argued (read).
◾Obama quietly renews U.S. embargo on Cuba (read).
◾U.S. drones attack in souther Somalia (read).
◾Obama secretly sold bunker-busting bombs to Israel: report (read).Photo: Al Jazeera
◾US Resumes Arms Sales to Bahrain. Less than three months after including Bahrain on a list of human rights offenders requiring the United Nations’ attention, the Obama administration seems to have changed its mind (read).
◾Obama silent as U.S. murders Troy Davis (read).
◾Peace Prize-Winner Obama Savages Somalia (read).
◾U.S. assembling secret drone bases in Africa, Arabian Peninsula, officials say (read).
◾“Obama cozies up to Uzbekistan dictator” – lobbies congress to sell more military equipment to one of the world’s most repressive leaders (read).
◾U.S. to build new massive prison in Bagram, Afghanistan (read).
◾New American Ally in Somalia: ‘Butcher’ Warlord (read). (Also check out Jeremy Scahill’s extensive piece on U.S. history in Somalia).
◾The United States reserves the right to pursue terrorists unilaterally in other countries, White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said in a speech at Harvard Law School (read).
◾The Obama administration has significantly increased the frequency of drone strikes and other air attacks against the al-Qaeda affiliate in Yemen in recent months amid rising concern about political collapse there (read).
◾Obama Pushes NAFTA Style Trade Policy Despite 2008 Promise (watch).
◾Obama said that if the Palestinians try to achieve statehood in the UN Security Council, the US will oppose the proposal (read).
◾Obama abandoned a contentious new air pollution rule, buoying business interests that had lobbied heavily against it, angering environmentalists and rejecting the advice of his top environmental regulators (read). Related: Obama asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to withdraw a plan to limit smog pollution that was projected to prevent as many as 12,000 premature deaths from heart and lung complications (read).
◾US kills 30 in airstrikes on Yemen (read).
◾Jeremy Scahill: What’s happening in Libya is essentially a “NATO enforced regime change” and that President Obama is “implementing the Bush domino agenda in the Middle East” (watch).
◾Obama Goes All Out For Dirty Banker Deal (read).
◾A secret war in 120 countries: Somewhere on this planet an American commando is carrying out a mission. Now, say that 70 times and you’re done … for the day. (read).
◾Progressives Complain Obama’s Debt Deal ‘Trades People’s Livelihoods for the Votes of a Few Unappeasable Right-Wing Radicals’ (read).
◾Rep. Luis Gutierrez Arrested Outside White House Protesting Record Deportations Under Obama’s Watch (read).
◾Obama exploits the tragedy in Norway
“It’s a reminder that the entire international community has a stake in preventing this kind of terror from occurring,” Obama said prior to learning the identity of the assailant, clearly trying to justify his military strikes in 6 Muslim nations. No doubt Obama was later stunned, if not disappointed, that the person responsible for the killings in Norway was a non-Arab Christian, and not a ‘Muslim terrorist’.
◾Obama’s escalating war in Yemen – As its government teeters, the impoverished and chaotic Gulf nation is the focus of a U.S. bombing campaign (read).
◾Obama’s approval ratings across the Arab World are 10% or less, according to a Zogby study of about 4,000 people (read).
◾CIA Exhales: 99 Out of 101 Torture Cases Dropped (read).
◾U.S. millions fund world’s newest army, South Sudan, despite worries of its human rights abuses, including killings, most recently in April when hundreds of civilians were killed or wounded by the U.S. ally (read).
◾The Obama administration is expanding its drone war to Somalia, which makes six countries where the United States is using drones to conduct lethal attacks: Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Iraq and Yemen (read). Also, the US is supplying drone aircrafts to Uganda and Burundi to help them fight in Somalia (read).
◾Obama Admin Warns of “Fines and Incarceration” if U.S. Citizens Set Sail with Gaza Aid Flotilla (read).
◾“Yet tonight, we take comfort in knowing that the tide of war is receding,” Obama trumpeted in his speech announcing his plan to withdraw some U.S. troops in Afghanistan (read). (Given that George W. Bush had about half as many troops in Afghanistan as Obama will after the withdrawals, this claim is disingenuous. But what takes Obama’s assertion to the level of Orwellian, is that he makes this claim while he has started new wars in Libya and Yemen, has escalated drone strikes in Pakistan, has ramped up the U.S. proxy war in Somalia, and has begun funding the new army in South Sudan.)
◾Just prior to Obama’s speech on withdrawing some troops from Afghanistan, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded a $14.2 million contract to a Turkish company to construct an eight-building barracks complex for 12,000 troops at Bagram Air Field. Completion date is scheduled for fall of 2013 (read).
◾Former CIA Director Hayden: Obama follows in Bush’s footsteps on War Powers (read) in Libya. In a campaign marked by stinging criticism of President George W. Bush‘s alleged executive excess, then-candidate Obama wrote: “The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation.” Yet Obama is now claiming authority to bomb Libya.
◾Obama overruled 2 top lawyers on War Power in Libya (read).
◾Dennis Kucinich, Ron Paul and eight other congress members file lawsuit against Obama for taking military action in Libya without first seeking congressional approval, an apparent violation of the 1973 War Powers Resolution (read).
◾Noam Chomsky: “Both Bush and Obama are terrified of the Arab spring. And there is a very sensible reason for that. They don’t want democracies in the Arab world. If Arab public opinion had any influence on policy, the US and Britain would be tossed out of the Middle East. That’s why they are terrified of democracies in the region” (read).
◾Whistleblowers Suffer More than Ever Under Obama (read).
◾Obama’s support of the repressive monarchy of Bahrain: The Obama administration approved $200M in military sales to Bahrain in run-up to violent crackdown (read). Bahrain crown prince meets with Obama in DC - Officials reaffirm the strong US commitment to Bahrain (read).
◾Chicago Tribune editorial writer: Obama and the pursuit of endless war – starting new fights and prolonging the old ones (read).
◾FBI to Expand Domestic Surveillance Powers as Details Emerge of Its Spy Campaign Targeting Activists. The F.B.I. is giving its agents new leeway to infiltrate organizations, search household trash, use surveillance teams and search databases in domestic investigations. FBI agents will now be able investigate people and organizations “proactively” without firm evidence for suspecting criminal or terrorist activity (watch/read).
◾As chaos engulfs Yemen, the U.S. is diabolically intensifying a secret campaign of airstrikes, according to the New York Times.
◾Report: Over 2,600 Activists Arrested in US Protests since Obama took office (read).
◾In 2007, then-Senator Obama said: “If American workers are being denied their right to organize and collectively bargain when I’m in the White House, I will put on a comfortable pair of shoes myself, I will walk on that picket line with you as President of the United States of America. Because workers deserve to know that somebody is standing in their corner.”… In 2011, President Obama did not find his shoes to join the massive protests in Wisconsin(read).
◾Pentagon to consider cyber attacks an act of war (read).
◾Obama signs Patriot Act extension into law (read).
◾White House: No need for congressional approval for Libya (read).
◾Obama administration praises Israel for its restraint after it kills 20 on the “Nakba” (read).
