WAR CRIMES & CRIMINALS

MATT PEPPE—When asked in 1977 if the United States had a moral obligation to help rebuild Vietnam, Carter responded that “the destruction was mutual. You know, we went to Vietnam without any desire to capture territory or to impose American will on other people. We went there to defend the freedom of the South Vietnamese. And I don’t feel that we ought to apologize or to castigate ourselves or to assume the status of culpability.”

CAITLIN JOHNSTONE—“The arrest and espionage charges against Assange was just the beginning, as many in the media, even those who hate Assange, feared,”  tweeted Consortium News editor-in-chief Joe Lauria in response to the News Corp raid. “The home of a mainstream Australian journalist was raided Wed. morning by police because of a story she worked on.”

“Shameful news from Australia as the police raid journalists’ offices and homes,” tweeted legendary Australian journalist John Pilger. “One warrant allows them to ‘add, copy, delete or alter’ computer files at the ABC. The assault on Julian Assange was a clear warning to all of us: it was only the beginning.”

That is what was revealed when information went public that senior Obama Administration officials, like then National Security Advisor Susan Rice, United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power, CIA Director John Brennan and others had requested the unmasking of Americans, some in the Trump campaign.

It’s important to note that unmasking an American was once extremely rare. It is done for the purposes of counterintelligence or terrorism investigation and is usually done by those directly involved in the investigation. Why were senior officials with the Obama administration making so many unmasking requests? The U.S. intelligence officials said that what was occurring in and of itself “is highly suspect, and extremely unusual.”

R S AHTHION—There were no winners in this war bar the imperial bandits. Even for the imperialist countries. It cost the Nato countries £20 billion to bomb Yugoslavia. This will inevitably be paid for by the proletariat. The working class who will be asked to tighten their belts. To consume less and produce more. The war damage to Yugoslavia was upwards of £100 billion in damage. 14 percent of the £20 billion was to be paid by Britain. The British government began implementing spending cuts as a result. Cuts to lone-parent benefits, done away with free university tuition and abolished maintenance grants. The incredible amount of money for adventures and imperialist banditry can always be found though to bomb countries into oblivion.