WAR ON TERRORISM

RON RIDENOUR—Finland began following the rest of the West with neo-liberalism deregulations and cutbacks in the 1980s, but has not gone as far as the others yet. One of its hallmarks is education. See Michael Moore’s most recent film (2016), “Where to invade next”. It is an excellent and entertaining source for values in which the US is contrasted to several countries. Finland tops the world for the best education, the best results for its elementary school students, who also rank among the happiest. Its secret: no homework, more time to be young, to play, to relax. Students are motivated to learn in a disciplined way for the 20 hours they attend classes.

The actual origin of the Taliban is a bit confusing (to most Americans), and although Jimmy does a brave job at explaining the matter properly, confusion continues. In any case, we are preparing a special post on this subject alone. For the time being, keep this in mind: (a) The Afghanistan War, as far a the US is concerned, began more than 40 years ago, when Pres. Carter listened to his manichean National Security adviser major russophobe Polish emigre Zbigniew Brzezinski, who, along with Henry Kissinger, had the great idea of giving the Soviet Union its “own Vietnam”, by spawning a huge countrywide resistance to the Soviet presence in Afghanistan (the Soviet military was there at the invitation of the government, and to bolster a reform-oriented but besieged leftist government opposed by fundamentalist jihadists (the mujaheddin). 

CYNTHIA CHUNG—According to Gaytandzhieva, the Pentagon is buying $2.8 billion worth of weapons for conflict zones around the world. Most of the weapons are destined for Syria. After all, the Idlib Province in Syria (which is presently entirely controlled by Al Qaeda) has been recognised as one of the most strategic locations in the Middle East.

There are even a number of propaganda videos by Hayat Tahrir Al Sham HTS (formerly known as Al Nusra Front, which is Al Qaeda’s branch in Syria), showing them using American TOW anti-tank missiles.

PETER BOLTON—Once the argument is concluded, the Supreme Court justices will retire to deliberate and the judgment will be issued as of 8:00 p.m. Their decision will mark the end of a trial that began in 1998 when prosecutor Giancarlo Capaldo initiated a criminal investigation following the arrest of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in London.

In 2017, a first sentence in this case established eight life sentences and nineteen acquittals. The victims’ relatives, however, appealed that verdict and managed to get 24 criminals the maximum sentence in 2019.

Italian judges will rule today on the cases of four Chileans, thirteen Uruguayans, three Peruvians, and one Bolivian who participated in Operation Condor. Many of these defendants are now dead or very old.

PHYLLIS BENNIS—First came the lies. Rumsfeld’s false claims justifying war in Iraq continued and escalated. The inaugural lie, of course, was the entire premise that Iraq’s government was somehow connected to the 9/11 attacks. Assertion was easy, and with a mainstream media largely unwilling to challenge even known lies, there were few questions asked. Then came weapons of mass destruction, uranium yellowcake from Niger, Iraq’s purchase of aluminum tubes that could “only” be used for nuclear weapons production. The deception at the UN Security Council, where the supposed good guy among the Bush war criminals, Secretary of State Colin Powell, got up and lied to the council, lied to the American people, and lied to the world about what the United States “knew” about Iraq’s nonexistent WMDs.