US Uncut

Senate approves war spending bill with troops withdrawal timeline

admin — Sun, 20 May 2012 07:09:00 +0000

Despite constant threats from President Bush to veto the bill, the US Senate narrowly approved the war spending bill by 51-47 votes that also adds the withdrawal of the majority of the U.S. troops from Iraq by March next year. The bill provides $122 billion to support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which is about $20 billion more demanded by the Bush administration. Apart from the two Republicans, Sens. Chuck Hagel and Gordon Smith, who crossed over to join the Democrats to support the war funding package, most of the votes fell with the party lines. Sens. Mike Enzi (R) and Tim Johnson (D) were not present in the vote, whereas independent Sen. Joseph L. Lieberman opposed the bill with Republicans. According to the bill majority of the US troops will start leaving the borders of Iraq after March 31, 2008, within a time-limit of 120 days. A small number of troops will remain in Iraq even after the troops withdrawal timeline to keep tabs on Islamic militants, to carry out counterterrorism training and perform safety operation. There are more chances that the war funding bill will just sneak through, as majority of the Republicans don’t want to delay the much needed support to the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mitch McConnell, Republican from Kentucky, asserted, I think the sooner we can get this bill … down to the president for veto, we can get serious about passing a bill that will get money to the troops. The bill becomes even important for Democrats, as the legislation stands for the first major challenge to the Bush administration’s foreign or war policies, especially Iraq and Afghanistan, since they claimed the majority in the US Congress in January. Moreover, the war spending bill has just marked a, slender but steady, progress by Democrats over the small duration, which even Democrats want to prove to the people who sent them to US the Congress in majority.

Winds of change: Gates urges closure of Gitmo

admin — Sat, 19 May 2012 07:08:00 +0000

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates is trying hard to save Bush from another degradation by repeatedly saying Guantanamo Bay prison camp has become so tainted abroad that legal proceedings on that controversial site would be viewed as illegitimate, and advised President Bush and others that it should be shut down as quickly as possible and the detainees moved to the United States. Not strange, enough that the White House has thwarted the proposal but at last, someone is trying to wake up the cutthroat ‘no brain’ Govt. and some real sensible people is emerging on the stained scene of American politics. Now the real democracy is in action where power is vested with the people and not just with the few fanatics who aim to bring democracy to the whole world. However, the clock is just starting, will have to wait to see the end of this beginning.

US Presidential Elections 2008: Shaping up as the most expensive race as ever

admin — Sat, 19 May 2012 07:07:00 +0000

Breaking all previous fundraising records and far exceeding a goal $15 million in the first quarter of the year, New York Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has mounted $26 million for her presidential campaign, together with an additional $10 million transferred from her Senate fundraising promotion, aggregating $36 million, which is about three times in so far as any politician has raised at this instant ever in a presidential election. Patti Solis Doyle, Clinton’s campaign manager, asserted, We are overwhelmed by the tremendous enthusiasm and historic response this campaign has received so far. Going forward we are poised to continue this success and make even more history. On the other, John Edwards, ex-North Carolina Senator, with above $14 million is quite contented with the campaign. Deputy campaign manager Jonathan Prince, said, We are completely on track to have all the money we need to be highly competitive in the campaign. Whereas, Barack Obama, Illinois Senator and another strong Democratic candidate for 2008 presidential elections who was projected to be among the apex Democratic fundraisers, hasn’t yet reveal his cards. Obama, in an interview on Sunday, said, I think we’ll do well. I think that we should meet people’s expectations. More importantly, I think we will have raised enough money to make sure we can compete for the next quarter and beyond. I think we’ll do pretty well. Most of the top Democratic candidates for the forthcoming presidential elections seems to be going great guns in their initial fundraising campaign. But, the important question that will tickle many a people is, whether the funds be a deciding factor in the 2008 presidential elections. Clinton may have leading the primary fund raising campaign leaving other possible candidates far behind, only time will tell whether the money be able to explain her wavered stance on the US war on terrorism.

Prisoners trapped at Guantanamo Bay: Justice delayed is justice denied

admin — Sat, 19 May 2012 07:06:00 +0000

In yet another ‘victory’ for President Bush, the US supreme court on Monday rejected an appeal by by suspected terrorists challenging their imprisonment at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The appeals from the detainees come months before several of the mostly Muslim men are expected to begin facing criminal prosecution before U.S. military commissions. The prisoners have thus been denied the right to contest their imprisonment and the rules set up to try them as war criminals. The justices ruled 6-3 to deny appeals from two groups of prisoners. The official comment of the White House read on first glance, we’re very pleased with the decision Rightly pointed out by Washington lawyer Tom Wilner, who has represented Guantanamo detainees since May 2002, the ruling is a perfect example of ‘justice delayed is justice denied.’ All these people ever wanted was a fair hearing About 400 detainees are being held at the facility, including admitted September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and 13 other suspected top al Qaeda members. Military trials have already begun for a few of these. However, all does not seem to be lost. Analysts believe that the ruling may be only a temporary set back for the plaintiffs. In a brief order written by Justices John Paul Stevens and Anthony Kennedy, the court suggested the detainees could appeal once their tribunals or preliminary hearings have been completed. The court also said its decision to stay out of the fight for now does not mean it is rejecting the claims on their merits, just that the timing was not right for the court’s involvement now. Despite the obvious importance of the issues raised in these cases, we are persuaded that traditional rules governing our decision of constitutional questions … and our practice of requiring the exhaustion of available remedies as a precondition to accepting jurisdiction over applications for the writ of habeas corpus … make it appropriate to deny these petitions at this time Simultaneously, there have been ongoing talks about shutting down the controversial prison altogether. One does not expect the prison to shut down while Bush remains in power. Where the prisoners would be transferred if and when it is shut down also remains sketchy. For now, the current ruling is yet another reminder that the US seems to omnipotent under its ‘war on terror’ garb, where the detainees are even denied the basic right of a free and fair trial.

Bush holds Iran crisis responsible for ‘spooked’ oil prices

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 07:06:00 +0000

Growing tension in the Middle-east and Iran’s political confrontation with the Western nations over its critical nuclear enrichment program have just ‘spooked’ oil prices all over the world. The US President George W. Bush, on Tuesday answering to a question on U.S. retail gasoline pump prices that have been on the rise to regular $2.71 a gallon for nine straight weeks, asserted, The price of crude oil is on the rise because people get spooked for example when it looks like there may be a crisis with a crude oil producing nation like Iran. Iran is one of the leading oil producer nations, an OPEC member and the fourth chief oil exporter in the world. Oil and natural gas markets haven been suffering greatly in the recent past, owing to the long disagreement over Iran’s nuclear plan between Iran and the U.N. Security Council. Crude oil price in the U.S. has gone above $68 a barrel last week that was the highest ever in the last six months. Iran is known for its defiant stance especially when it comes to conversation or negotiation with the West. And the recent abduction of 15 British sailors and marines by Iran on March 23 in the northern Gulf, which they have agreed to release now, has helped a rapid raise in the oil price in the global market. Oil prices may have gone a bit down after Iran agrees to release the British marines and sailors it had captured in the Persian Gulf and held for almost two weeks, ever mounting tension in the Middle-east and the gulf will always remain a serious threat to the tentative oil and gasoline market.

War-Weary America and manipulative Bush

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 07:05:00 +0000

Iraq war has been a hard sell for the skilled and manipulative Bush team. Now after four years of Iraq war, there has been more outrage in the United States and even Mr. Bush admitted that Americans are weary of the Iraq war and defended his decision to send more troops to Iraq before a number of soldiers about to deploy there. I’m still a bit confused by this entire process he is trying to set up with his subdued tone. Terri Schiavo rightly said – The patient is dead, so let’s call in the best doctors so they can get together and come to a consensus as to how to keep the dead guy alive. This is what Bush is trying to do- Trying to keep the dead person alive. Bush says – ‘It’s a tough war’ may be in away he is accepting that ‘It’s a lost war’ where a victory is not possible and not feasible and where he is left with only one last option i.e. to find some way to mitigate the defeat. Bush’s recent comments reflected recognition of the unpopularity of the war but he wants to bring stability to Baghdad and avoid a spread of the conflict into the region that could endanger U.S. ally Israel. This subdued tone of Mr. Bush is trying to defend his decision to add about 30,000 extra troops to Iraq in which more than 3,200 U.S. troops have already been killed, to persuade the Democratic-led U.S. Congress to approve about $100 billion to fund wars in Iraq and Afghanistan without attaching a withdrawal timetable. However, he don’t seem to realize that such a bump in the number of troops won’t help much unless Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki balance the boost in security with political moves that would lessen the influence of the anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. These sacrifices by US troops won’t be helpful in the security and reconstruction of Iraq coupled with the incompetence of the Iraqi leaders.

Secret detention of al-Qaeda suspects, CIA accused with the violation of rights

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 07:04:00 +0000

Unholy, illegal and inhuman are few of the words that promptly come to the mind on thoughts of the US led ‘War on Terror’. The so-called war hasn’t done anything more than plundering and destroying Afghanistan and Iraq, and pushed them into never-ending factional conflicts that have already devoured tens of thousands of innocent lives since America invaded them in 2001 and 2003 respectively. Thousands of Taliban and al-Qaeda suspects have been seized by the US troops, since their ‘War on Terror’, without being charged and even without the right to challenge their arrest in front of court or judicial body. Time and again different human rights groups and organizations have expressed their concerns and charged the US intelligence agencies with the violation of human rights on unlawful and inhuman arrest, abuse and torture of detainees in various illegal detention centers all over the world from Afghanistan to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Peter Takirambudde, the executive director of the Africa division of Human Rights Watch, asserted, We fear that many of the detainees will face mistreatment and possibly torture or execution in Ethiopian custody. We have previously documented that Ethiopian forces routinely engage in torture of criminal, political and military detainees. All parties to the armed conflict in Somalia must abide by international law. The US investigative agencies detains alleged terrorists secretly on unknown prisons, for they can be interrogated over a extensive duration and could not contest their detention in courts. On the other, the Pentagon and the CIA typically refuses to accept the charges of the violation of human rights and illegal detention of prisoners on foreign jails. Richard Kolko, an FBI spokesman, said, While in custody of the foreign government, the FBI was granted limited access to interview certain individuals of interest. We do not support or participate in any system that illegally detains foreign fighters or terror suspects, including women and children. The Pentagon and the CIA may have claimed to act boldly and lawfully in their supposed ‘war on terror’, unlawful and ruthless detention of alleged prisoners in unknown confinements all over the world is simply a cold-blooded violation and abuse of rights that can’t in any case be let pass unchallenged.

Cheney pounds heavily against Pelosi

admin — Thu, 17 May 2012 07:03:00 +0000

Political tag-of-war is getting tougher in USA. Chance of political convergence is deteriorating quickly following Ms. Pelosi’s, speaker of US Congress, visit in Syria. Bush administration always assumed Syria as a terrorism sponsoring country. Even Syria’s government does not deny the claim. Though they disagree the charge of military support to terrorists, but confirm their financial assistance to Hamas and Hizbullah groups. US foreign policy maintain tough stance against Syria. And Bush administration often threats to flex their muscle if Syria denies changing its pro-terrorism policy. On the other side Democrats are demanding for withdrawal of American troops for overseas warfronts. They promote bilateral and multilateral discussion as solution for West Asian terrorism. Ms. Pelosi visited Syria on 3rd April last week as a franchise to this pro-discussion thought. And talked with Syrian supreme Assad. According to Pelosi, she stressed on the issue of conditional bilateral talk between Israeli and Syria. And the condition is – discontinuation of any sort of assistance to terrorists. But Bush administration tagged this visit, totally unofficial and ultra vires. Responsibility of US foreign policy rests with Office of President. And that’s very much constitutional. Under such situation Ms. Pelosi’s en-route visit to Syria is raising the heat. Despite, former president Jimmy Carter’s support to Pelosi’s visit, Republicans are in no mood to give walkover to Democrats. Dick Cheney has already pounded heavily against Pelosi following Bush’s course. The important fact to watch is that, how much this tussle will affect coming Congressional meet. If both of the parties remain firm on their stance, some sort of stagnancy may emerge in the Congress and that can potentially hamper the Agenda implementation for both the parties.

Take your pick- Illegal immigration or the illegal war in Iraq

admin — Thu, 17 May 2012 07:03:00 +0000

While talking about the issue of illegal immigration in US and the illegal war in Iraq, the first thing that needs to be addressed is, illegal aliens are killing more Americans than the Iraq war says a report from Family Security Matters. The second thing in this regard that needs address is, White House plan that would grant illegal immigrants work visas but require them to return home to apply for U.S. residency and pay a $10,000 fine. Now, two things comes to mind – first, the cost of work permits and the green card application – which could total more than $20,000 – are prohibitive for low-wage earners. Secondly, this proposal gives a impression that there is a connection between Iraq war. This is what Francisco Gomez, say, who along with his wife is in US illegally- For my wife and I it would cost about $30,000. Multiply that by all the illegal immigrants here … It’s obvious Bush just wants to fund his Iraq war with our money. Moreover, this proposal is contradictory in nature when American leaders say that our neighbors are our allies. Then why kick your allies out of this country? What do US risk by giving them a path to citizenship? While thousands of people marched through downtown on Saturday, demanding a way for the country’s estimated 12 million illegal immigrants to become citizens and condemning President Bush’s latest proposal, these rallies offer more proof that that the punitive measures that some in Congress propose are completely out of touch with the reality of why US have 12 million undocumented people living within their borders and how they live in their midst. The controversy surrounding this and other policies has made immigration one of the most divisive public policy issues of the decade in US. However, connecting immigration with the Iraq war in the beginning of this post was intentional and in part to offer a solution to immigration problem in US. This solution is inspired from Nashville Soapbox who writes – The solution for these two problems is an all-in-one-shot solution. Send the illegal aliens to fight in Iraq. Liberals are happy because the aliens will have jobs and are doing the jobs (fighting) liberal Americans don’t want Americans doing. Conservatives are happy because the illegals are being deported, and we’re not just leaving Iraq with a cut and run policy. It might sound strange but this to me looks like a good idea as these immigrants are the ones who provide America with a cheap labor in the fields where most of the Americans don’t even like to step. Building a Berlin-like wall between the United States and Mexico is not the solution but taking these people together will help to achieve the ‘American dream.’

Bush losing approval rating

admin — Thu, 17 May 2012 07:02:00 +0000

President Bush seems loosing on popularity front, at least, if one believes in popular ‘job-approval rating’ polls. In a recent poll in USA Today, Bush managed a rating of 38%. He scored below 40%, for consecutive 7 months. 40% is considered as a critical figure. It’s the borderline that differentiates popular from non-popular. Bush though managed a yearly average of 41%, but since October his rating started declining. He even scored 34% in last poll. Below 40%, present President will get company of only two ex-Presidents – Harry Truman and Richard Nixon. While Truman lost his popularity in final 26 months of his term, Nixon lost in last 13 months following Watergate. Only one President regained popularity after loosing it, was Jimmy Carter. It seems, Bush lost his shine after stalemate in Iraq. Pro-war Americans were in Bush’s favor, but as situation leading no-where and troops are loosing lives, sentiment is getting weak. White House officials agree to the fact, at least unofficially, but they argue, war has its own pace and situation will take, as much time as it needs. Besides, White House spoke person commented on the Poll issue saying, President has lot other serious issues to look after. Any survey has its own shortcomings and limitations. This poll is based on a telephonic survey and carries an error percent of +/- 3. Even sample size is not much big. Despite these facts, such poll results show off attitude of a population segment. And one can’t deny that fully. Republicans are in hope of retaining the White House, but if Bush’s popularity-scene does not improve much, then they will face a tough fight. No doubt people are there already to brush up the brand.