Montenegro : Thousands flooded the streets of the capital to protest membership to the North Atlantic Alliance and remind people of the NATO invasion of 1999.

   

‘Murderers’: Thousands gather in Montenegro capital to protest NATO membership (VIDEO)

Published time: 13 Dec, 2015 09:20

© Ruptly

Shortly after Montenegro’s bid to join the North Atlantic Alliance was given the green light, thousands flooded the streets of the capital to protest the upcoming membership and remind people of lives taken during the NATO invasion of 1999.

Former Montenegrin President Momir Bulatovic and opposition leaders called the rally on Saturday in Montenegro’s capital, Podgorica. They gathered at least 5,000 supporters outside the parliament, according to the local Vijesti newspaper. The protesters held national flags while patriotic and pro-Russian chants ringing out from the assembled crowd.

Bulatovic, who was also prime minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1998 to 2000, told the rally that joining NATO would mean “blood of innocent people on our hands,” and emphasized his country had been against the alliance’s wars until recently. “What has Afghanistan done wrong, what has Iraq done wrong? Why has Libya been destroyed, what's happening today in Syria? Can we close our eyes to that?" he said.

  Read More Here

Montenegro : Thousands flooded the streets of the capital to protest membership to the North Atlantic Alliance and remind people of the NATO invasion of 1999.

   

‘Murderers’: Thousands gather in Montenegro capital to protest NATO membership (VIDEO)

Published time: 13 Dec, 2015 09:20

© Ruptly

Shortly after Montenegro’s bid to join the North Atlantic Alliance was given the green light, thousands flooded the streets of the capital to protest the upcoming membership and remind people of lives taken during the NATO invasion of 1999.

Former Montenegrin President Momir Bulatovic and opposition leaders called the rally on Saturday in Montenegro’s capital, Podgorica. They gathered at least 5,000 supporters outside the parliament, according to the local Vijesti newspaper. The protesters held national flags while patriotic and pro-Russian chants ringing out from the assembled crowd.




Bulatovic, who was also prime minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1998 to 2000, told the rally that joining NATO would mean “blood of innocent people on our hands,” and emphasized his country had been against the alliance’s wars until recently. “What has Afghanistan done wrong, what has Iraq done wrong? Why has Libya been destroyed, what's happening today in Syria? Can we close our eyes to that?" he said.

  Read More Here

US Probe of Kunduz Bombing Hindered by Problems Identifying Victims ,DNA analysis to identify the remains.

 

 Sputnik

 

US Probe of Kunduz Bombing Hindered by Problems Identifying Victims - DoD

© Photo: media.msf.org/Victor J. Blue

Military & Intelligence

02:55 11.11.2015Get short URL

17901

The investigation by the US military into the bombing of the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospital in Afghanistan has taken longer than expected because of problems identifying the civilians casualties, US DoD spokesperson Peter Cook stated on Tuesday.

 

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — On October 3, the United States carried out airstrikes on the well-known MSF hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan. Initial reports indicated that 22 people had been killed, including doctors and patients.

“The CCAT [Combined Civilian Casualty Assessment Team] investigation… there have been several reasons for delay,” Cook said. “The actual identification of the casualties… has proven to be much more problematic than they expected going in.”

© Photo: media.msf.org/Victor J. Blue

 

Losing the War on Error: US Journalists Justify Attack on Kunduz Hospital

 

US investigators, Cook noted, are working closely with MSF and Afghan authorities to identify the victims.

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“The question remains as to whether our hospital in Afghanistan lost its protected status – and if so, why,” states MSF

'No armed combatants, no fighting': MSF issues Afghan hospital bombing report

Published time: 5 Nov, 2015 17:04

 

A wounded Afghan man, who survived a U.S. air strike on a Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) hospital in Kunduz, receives treatment at the Emergency Hospital in Kabul October 8, 2015. © Mohammad Ismail / Reuters

 

 

A Médecins Sans Frontières investigation into the Afghan hospital bombing by US forces has found that there were no armed combatants or weapons within the compound, and no fighting in the direct vicinity of the hospital at the time of the airstrikes.

 

In its report released on Thursday, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF/Doctors Without Borders) addressed the “relentless and brutal aerial attack by US forces” which took place in Kunduz on October 3 and killed at least 30 people, including MSF staff.

“The MSF rules in the hospital were implemented and respected, including the 'no weapon' policy and MSF was in full control of the hospital at the time of the airstrikes,” the organization stated.

 

‘US strike on Afghan hospital no mistake’ – Doctors Without Borders

 

The document also said there were “no armed combatants within the hospital compound and there was no fighting from or in the direct vicinity” of the trauma center at the time of the strikes.
The hospital was “fully functioning” at the time of the airstrikes, with 105 patients admitted and surgeries taking place, according to the findings of the investigation.

In addition, MSF said the “agreement to respect the neutrality of our medical facility based on the applicable sections of International Humanitarian Law was fully in place and agreed with all parties to the conflict prior to the attack.”

READ MORE: US tank enters MSF hospital in Afghanistan’s Kunduz, ‘destroys potential evidence’ – reports
 
Despite that neutrality, the hospital was still the target of a US airstrike, leading MSF to ask how such an attack was allowed to happen.

“The question remains as to whether our hospital lost its protected status in the eyes of the military forces engaged in this attack – and if so, why,” MSF said in its statement.

Read More Here


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VOA News

MSF Report: Afghan Hospital Attack Had No Military Purpose

 

 

FILE - Hospital hit by a U.S. airstrike killed at least 30 people, including three children, according to officials with the international medical charity Doctors Without Borders, Kunduz, Afghanistan.

Last updated on: November 05, 2015 2:33 PM

The international humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders says an internal review of last month's airstrikes by U.S. forces on its hospital in northern Afghanistan shows no reason why the facility should have come under attack.

The organization, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), released a report Thursday documenting events surrounding the airstrikes. The report says there were no armed combatants fighting within or from the hospital grounds.

In response, a U.S. Defense Department spokesman said the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Army General John Campbell, has "met personally with MSF representatives."

Spokesman Jeff Davis said the United States is working closely with MSF to identify the dead and wounded, conclude its own investigation and move ahead with condolence payments.
Last month, Campbell said the U.S. accepted full responsibility for the bombing, which, according to the Pentagon, came after Afghan forces called in U.S. airstrikes against Taliban fighters thought to be firing from inside the medical compound.

The MSF document, part of an ongoing review of events undertaken by the group, is based upon 60 debriefings of MSF national and international employees who worked at the 140-bed trauma center; internal and public information; before and after photographs of the hospital; email correspondence; and telephone records. 

New research finds, through their silence, mainstream news outlets are 'legitimating' U.S. military's burn pits on civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan

Published on

Friday, October 16, 2015

by

Common Dreams

Study Reveals Corporate Media's Refusal to Acknowledge Civilian Victims of US Wars

by

Sarah Lazare, staff writer

 

 

A U.S. military burn pit at forward operating base Zeebrudge in Helmand province, Afghanistan pictured in March 2013. (Photo: Sgt. Anthony L. Ortiz)

Mainstream media outlets are systematically disregarding the hazardous health impacts of widespread U.S. military burn pits on civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan, thereby playing a direct role in "legitimating the environmental injustices of war," a harrowing new scholarly report concludes.
"During the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the US Department of Defense burned the majority of its solid waste in open-air pits or trenches, producing large amounts of potentially hazardous emissions," noted Eric Bonds, assistant professor of sociology at University of Mary Washington, in his investigation, published in the journal Environmental Politics.

"It is well known that the uncontrolled burning of plastics, Styrofoam, electronics, unexploded weapons, and other manufactured and highly processed materials releases harmful toxins and particulate matter into the air," Bonds continued.

"This echoes the other history of Agent Orange when the U.S. government turned its back on the people of Vietnam and walked away, cleaning up just a handful of contaminated places but never acknowledging harm done to Vietnamese civilians or compensating them for their suffering."
—Eric Bonds, University of Mary Washington

However, when he surveyed major U.S. newspaper stories from 2007 to 2014, Bonds found that discussions of the negative health impacts of these burn pits overwhelmingly focused on the plight faced by U.S. military service members and veterans—but the actual civilians nearby were almost entirely missing from the picture.

"The search produced 49 distinct stories. While five of these stories made passing reference to civilian impacts, and one story mentioned potential impacts to civilians on par with impacts to soldiers, the vast majority of news stories made no mention that Iraqi and Afghan civilians might also have been harmed by the U.S. military's burning of waste," he wrote.

What's more, Bonds noted, "When journalists describe the pollution itself, how it billowed over military bases and covered living quarters with ash and soot, such accounts never mention that this pollution would not have stopped at the cement barricades and concertina wire at base boundaries, but must have also settled over civilians' homes and the surrounding landscapes."

From Balad air base in Iraq to Shindad base in Afghanistan, these sites are in fact located in close proximity to "farmsteads, townships, cities, cropland, orchards, and rivers."

As Common Dreams previously reported, Dr. Mozhgan Savabieasfahani, independent environmental toxicologist based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has identified a correlation between burn pits and spikes in birth defects among Iraqi communities nearby.

According to Bonds, by failing to tell the stories of the Iraqi and Afghan people impacted, the media has a hand in the injustices committed against them.

"This echoes the other history of Agent Orange when the U.S. government turned its back on the people of Vietnam and walked away, cleaning up just a handful of contaminated places but never acknowledging harm done to Vietnamese civilians or compensating them for their suffering," Bonds told Common Dreams.

As in Vietnam, people in Iraq and Afghanistan are demanding acknowledgment of—and reparations for—the harm done by U.S. burn pits and toxic munitions.

Iraqi civil society groups including the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq and the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq have organized within their communities and levied international demands for the U.S. to clean up its burn pits, depleted uranium, white phosphorous, and other toxic waste which is creating an ongoing public health crisis in Iraq.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License

Obama’s Two-Faced Foreign Policy

Consortium News

October 10, 2015

Exclusive: President Obama’s Syrian strategy is getting roundly denounced as incoherent, which – while true – is really a reflection of his failure to fully break with neocon-style interventionism even when he realizes the futility of the strategy, writes Robert Parry.

By Robert Parry

The mystery of the Obama administration’s foreign policy has always been whether President Barack Obama has two separate strategies: one “above the table” waving his arms and talking tough like Official Washington’s arm-chair warriors do – and another “below the table” where he behaves as a pragmatic realist, playing footsy with foreign adversaries.

From the start, Obama surrounded himself with many hawkish advisers – such as Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Gen. David Petraeus, National Security Council aide Samantha Power, etc. – and mostly read the scripts that they wrote for him. But then he tended to drag his feet or fold his arms when it came to acting on their warmongering ideas.

President Barack Obama, with Vice President Joe Biden, attends a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Dec. 12, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Friday’s decision to tank the hapless $500 million training program for “moderate” Syrian rebels is a case in point. Obama joined in the hyperbolic rhetoric against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, lining up with the neocons and liberal interventionists demanding “Assad must go,” but Obama has remained unenthusiastic about their various wacky schemes for overthrowing Assad.

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Switching Sides in the ‘War on Terrorism’ Washington and al-Qaeda – together at last

Antiwar.com

by Justin Raimondo, October 09, 2015

We have just observed the 14th anniversary of “Operation Enduring Freedom,” otherwise known as the war in Afghanistan. It is the longest war in US history, a conflict that never even came close to achieving its stated goal of stabilizing the area and eradicating the Taliban. The US-backed central government in Kabul today has no more control of the country than it did when first established, and the Taliban is on the march, retaking city after city and inching toward the capital with the inevitability of high tide at the beach. And while the pretext for this costly adventure – the capture of Osama bin Laden – has long since been rendered moot, his heirs and legatees not only persist, but they prosper – with our help.

For a long time that help arrived by indirection: the jihadists prospered in reaction to our intervention. As we lurched around Afghanistan, and then Iraq, kicking down doors, slaughtering civilians, and setting up torture chambers from Bagram to Abu Ghraib, we created the conditions for a global insurgency that had once been relatively localized. The classic theory of “blowback” operated with relentless predictability.

But then something else occurred: the so-called “Arab Spring.” You’ll recall that the War Party, in selling the invasion of Iraq to the American public, promised that our intervention would provoke a wave of sympathy throughout the Muslim world, and the Middle East would witness the arising of a movement demanding their version of “democracy” on a regional scale. President George W. Bush made a speech declaring that the US was leading a “global democratic revolution” that would incite a “fire in the mind” of the populace and soon put an end to the Bad Guys.

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cnn - george w bush "either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists"

spydat3k0

,,,


...

Uploaded on Sep 5, 2011

On September 20, 2001, President Bush addressed a joint session of Congress in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

Mueller: U.S. terror threat evolving, not vanishing

gezelimgorelim

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Published on Aug 23, 2013

FBI director Robert Mueller says the threat of terrorism from al Qaeda remains the bureau s top priority. Mueller is stepping down next month after 12 years on the job. He gave his final interview to Bob Orr. On "CBS This Morning," Orr shared this report, which includes discussion on Benghazi, as well as the Boston bombing.

FBI director Robert Mueller says the threat of terrorism from al Qaeda remains the bureau s top priority. Mueller is stepping down next month after 12 years on the job. He gave his final interview to Bob Orr. On "CBS This Morning," Orr shared this report, which includes discussion on Benghazi, as well as the Boston bombing.

FBI director Robert Mueller says the threat of terrorism from al Qaeda remains the bureau s top priority. Mueller is stepping down next month after 12 years on the job. He gave his final interview to Bob Orr. On "CBS This Morning," Orr shared this report, which includes discussion on Benghazi, as well as the Boston bombing.

Obama Brags "Al-Qaeda Is Defeated" on Same Day US Death Toll Reaches 2,000 Deaths

jim hoft

.................

.....................

Published on Oct 1, 2012

Yesterday the number of US fatalities in Afghanistan reached 2,000 after two US soldiers were killed by Afghan soldiers. In response to this grim milestone Barack Obama bragged yesterday in Colorado that Al-Qaeda is defeated. What a bad joke.

Obama Airstrikes Against ISIL & al Qaeda in Syria - Video

Canale25

 

  

Published on Sep 23, 2014

Last night, President Obama ordered American armed forces to begin targeted airstrikes against ISIL targets in Syria. Speaking from the White House South Lawn today, the President made it clear that these strikes are part of the U.S. campaign to deliver one message on ISIL: They will find no safe-haven.

The U.S. military actions also included strikes to disrupt plotting against the U.S. and our allies by the Khorasan Group -- seasoned al Qaeda operatives in Syria.
The President made clear that the fight against these terrorists "is not America's fight alone":
The people and governments of the Middle East are rejecting ISIL, and standing up for the peace and security that the people of the world deserve. Not since the Gulf War has the United States been joined in direct military action by such a broad coalition of Arab partners. Meanwhile, we will move forward with our plan – supported by bipartisan majorities in Congress - to ramp up our effort to train and equip the Syrian opposition, who are the best counter-weight to ISIL and the Assad regime.
Over 40 nations have offered to take part in our comprehensive plan to degrade and destroy ISIL: "to take out terrorist targets; to train and equip Iraqi and Syrian opposition fighters who are going up against ISIL on the ground; to cut off ISIL’s financing; to counter its hateful ideology; and to stop the flow of fighters into and out of the region," he said.
The President once again thanked Congress for taking a bipartisan stand against ISIL:
America is always stronger when we stand united. And that unity sends a powerful message to the world that we will do what is necessary to defend our country.
Over the next several days, I will be meeting Prime Minister Abadi of Iraq and with friends and allies at the United Nations to continue building support for the coalition that is confronting this profound threat to peace security. This overall effort will take time. There are challenges ahead. But we’re going to do what is necessary to take the fight to this terrorist group – for the security of our country, the region, and the entire world.
Video by WhiteHouse.

Doctors Without Borders airstrike: US alters story for fourth time in four days

the guardian

Commander of war in Afghanistan tells Senate panel that US forces had called in airstrike at Afghan request – ‘an admission of a war crime’ says MSF chief

General John Campbell says the airstrike was the result of a ‘US decision’.

Spencer Ackerman in New York

@attackerman

 

Tuesday 6 October 2015 13.03 EDT Last modified on Wednesday 7 October 2015 14.33 EDT

US special operations forces – not their Afghan allies – called in the deadly airstrike on the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, the US commander has conceded.

Shortly before General John Campbell, the commander of the US and Nato war in Afghanistan, testified to a Senate panel, the president of Doctors Without Borders – also known as Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) – said the US and Afghanistan had made an “admission of a war crime”.
Shifting the US account of the Saturday morning airstrike for the fourth time in as many days, Campbell reiterated that Afghan forces had requested US air cover after being engaged in a “tenacious fight” to retake the northern city of Kunduz from the Taliban. But, modifying the account he gave at a press conference on Monday, Campbell said those Afghan forces had not directly communicated with the US pilots of an AC-130 gunship overhead.

“Even though the Afghans request that support, it still has to go through a rigorous US procedure to enable fires to go on the ground. We had a special operations unit that was in close vicinity that was talking to the aircraft that delivered those fires,” Campbell told the Senate armed services committee on Tuesday morning.

Read More and Watch Video Here

Suspected US airstrike hits hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan Live updates

Published time: 3 Oct, 2015 07:14Edited time: 3 Oct, 2015 13:23

Fires burn in part of the MSF hospital in the Afghan city of Kunduz after it was hit by an air strike on October 3, 2015 © MSF / AFP

 

A hospital in the Afghan city of Kunduz has been hit and partially destroyed in an overnight “aerial attack” that killed at least nine Medecins Sans Frontieres staff. NATO has admitted a US airstrike may have caused accidental “collateral damage.”

• 03 October 2015

  21:25 GMT

  Ivan Eland from the Center on Peace and Liberty at The Independent Institute told RT that the tragedy in Kanduz should show the US that it needs to pull out all its troops from Afghanistan “once and for all.”

• 20:25 GMT

  UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the airstrikes in Kunduz that resulted in the death and injury of medical workers and patients at a MSF hospital. He called for a thorough and impartial investigation into the attack in order to ensure accountability.
  “The Secretary-General recalls that hospitals and medical personnel are explicitly protected under international humanitarian law,” the statement attributed to Ban said.
  He commended the courageous and dedicated staff of the organization and extended his deepest sympathies to the families of the victims.

 

Yves Daccord Verified account ‏@YDaccordICRC

Yves Daccord Retweeted MSF International

Tragic news. @MSF please accept our condolences for the killing of your colleagues & patients in #Kunduz.

Yves Daccord added,

MSF International @MSF

Deeply shocked at bombing of MSF hospital in #Kunduz. Staff and patients killed. MSF urges fighting parties to respect health facilities

11:55 PM - 2 Oct 2015

 

 

 

• 19:56 GMT

  The World Health Organization (WHO) released a statement extending condolences to the families and colleges of those killed and injured in the bombing.

WHO

 

✔ @WHO

WHO once again urges all parties in the conflict to respect the safety and neutrality of health workers & health facilities #Kunduz

Follow

WHO ✔ @WHO

WHO calls on all govts & military officers to observe their obligations under intl law, ensure protection of health serv in conflict #Kunduz

2:00 PM - 3 Oct 2015

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‘Inexcusable, possibly even criminal’: UN rights chief says Kunduz bombing may be war crime

Published time: 3 Oct, 2015 15:37Edited time: 3 Oct, 2015 21:25

Fires burn in part of the MSF hospital in the Afghan city of Kunduz after it was hit by an air strike © MSF / AFP

An air strike on a hospital in the Afghan city of Kunduz that killed at least 19 people is “utterly tragic, inexcusable, and possibly even criminal,” said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, calling for a transparent investigation.

 

 

READ MORE: 9 MSF staff, 7 patients killed after US airstrike hits hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan

 
"This deeply shocking event should be promptly, thoroughly and independently investigated and the results should be made public," Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein said in a statement on Saturday.
"The seriousness of the incident is underlined by the fact that, if established as deliberate in a court of law, an airstrike on a hospital may amount to a war crime." 

He described the bombing as "utterly tragic, inexcusable, and possibly even criminal."
"International and Afghan military planners have an obligation to respect and protect civilians at all times, and medical facilities and personnel are the object of a special protection. These obligations apply no matter whose air force is involved, and irrespective of the location."

MSF International @MSF

 

The Kunduz attack constitutes a grave violation of International Humanitarian Law.We demand a full & transparent account from the Coalition

10:59 AM - 3 Oct 2015

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the airstrikes and called for a thorough and impartial investigation into the attack in order to ensure accountability.

“The Secretary-General recalls that hospitals and medical personnel are explicitly protected under international humanitarian law,” the statement attributed to Ban said.He commended the courageous and dedicated staff of the organization and extended his deepest sympathies to the families of the victims.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) condemned “in the strongest possible terms” the bombing of its hospital full of staff and patients in a statement on Saturday.

“The bombing in Kunduz continued for more than 30 minutes after American and Afghan military officials in Kabul and Washington were first informed by MSF that its hospital was struck. MSF urgently seeks clarity on exactly what took place and how this terrible event could have happened,” it said.

Read More Here

Leaving behind the rhetoric of rights for women, democracy and a growing economy, the Germans abandon North Afghanistan. Leaving the people of Kunduz to await the return of the Taliban.

What Germany Left Behind: A Feeling of Abandonment in North Afghanistan

By Nicola Abé

Joel van Houdt/ DER SPIEGEL

Six months ago, Germany's military withdrew from Kunduz in northern Afghanistan. Since then, regional security has eroded and many of those left behind feel abandoned. Some say that the departure came too soon.

Captain Faridoon Hakimi is sitting next to an enormous barbecue once used by the Germans to grill sausage, munching on an almond and squinting. There isn't a cloud in the sky and the midday sun is blazing down onto the former German military camp in Kunduz in northern Afghanistan. Next to him stands a solitary sign in the German language indicating the location of a certain "Büro Baumlade."
It has been six months since Hakimi's friends and allies from Germany left the camp. All of the parking slots for helicopters and armored vehicles are empty. The white blimp, which once held cameras aloft in order to monitor the camp's immediate surroundings, no longer floats in the sky above."We don't need reconnaissance," says Hakimi, 32, the new camp commander who oversees the Afghan National Army troops stationed there. "We have our eyes." The blimp, he says smiling, was a waste of money anyway. Hakimi wears a carefully trimmed beard -- and rubber sandals.
His eyes shift to the horizon where the mountains are slowly turning green, indicating spring's approach. Hakimi knows that the green also means the Taliban will soon be back.
For 10 years, Germany was responsible for the province of Kunduz as part of its role in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). It was the first real war the Bundeswehr, as Germany's military is known, participated in, and Berlin's aims were lofty indeed. German development experts were to help extend rights to women, democracy was to be fostered and the economy was to grow significantly. Billions of euros were made available -- and the blood of German soldiers was spilled. Kunduz was a place of great sacrifice.
Until Oct. 6, 2013. On that day, Germany handed over the camp to Afghanistan.
'Too Soon'
"They ran away," croaks the deputy police chief for the Kunduz province in his office and gestures dismissively. "They simply ran away. It was too soon."
"It was too soon. It was like an escape." One can hear almost exactly the same thing from the mouths of German soldiers, some of whom even compare the Bundeswehr's departure with that of the Americans from Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War. "If there is one thing the Bundeswehr is really good at, it's retreating," is a sentiment that can often be heard in the government quarter in Berlin these days.
What, though, did the Germans really manage to accomplish in Kunduz and what did the 25 Germans killed in the region die for? What did all the money buy? What remains of the mission? Berlin would rather not provide an answer to these questions: A complete evaluation of the Afghanistan engagement is not on the agenda.
But there are answers to be found in the Kunduz Province itself. The closer one gets to the former German camp, the emptier the roads become. There are no trees to block one's view of the far-away horizon; occasionally, a burned out car or oil drum lies on the shoulder of the road. The pizza delivery service once patronized by the Germans has closed its doors. A few uniformed soldiers are rolling out barbed wire at the camp's entrance. "We are here to guard the buildings," says Said Muyer, 25, of the Afghan police. He says he is essentially in charge, adding that the real commander hardly ever makes an appearance.
The road passes by empty guard houses and torn open sandbags on the way into a ghost town of broad roads, vacant barracks and open ground where helicopters once took off and landed. It seems like a settlement of aliens who stayed for a time but then left after realizing that the planet was inhospitable -- despite the fitness studios, bars and the big German barbecue.
Some 2,000 soldiers were once stationed in the camp, but there are few relics of their presence among the ruins: an aluminum can that once contained processed meat, packages of "Exotic" drink mix and a few slices of whole-grain bread.
"They only left garbage behind," says Muyer, kicking a container of potato goulash. "We don't eat stuff like that." He rattles the door leading into the mess hall, inside of which the tables and chairs are neatly stacked. "Everything is locked up," he says. Muyer says that the refrigerators were already gone by the time he arrived, sold in the town market.

Read More Here

Related articles

• What Germany Left Behind: The Slow Collapse of North Afghanistan
• Germany Hands Over Military Base to Afghans
• Afghan Withdrawal: Ministers Hand Over Germany's Kunduz Base

Oshkosh Corp. announce it would lay off 700 hourly positions starting in June and 60 salaried jobs by July in its defense segment. Inspite of receiving production awards worth more than $120 million

Milwaukee Business Journal
 

Apr 10, 2014, 2:40pm CDT Updated: Apr 10, 2014, 3:03pm CDT

Oshkosh Corp. to slash 760 defense unit jobs

Enlarge Photo

VIA BLOOMBERG NEWS

Specialty truck manufacturer Oshkosh Corp. makes all-terrain trucks for the U.S. military.

Denise Lockwood

Reporter- Milwaukee Business Journal

Oshkosh Corp. announced it would lay off 700 hourly positions starting in June and 60 salaried jobs by July in its defense segment.
Most of the salaried positions are temporary employees and people who are retiring. Following the cuts, Oshkosh Defense will have about 1,850 employees. The cuts reflect the reduction in defense spending by the U.S., which is returning to peacetime operations, said John Urias, executive vice president and president of Oshkosh Defense.
“We have gone to great lengths to minimize and delay the impact of the reduced spending on our Defense workforce," Urias said. "We explored and implemented a range of alternatives from not filling open positions to bringing in outside contracted work as promised in earlier discussions with the UAW, which represents our production employees, as well as continuing to pursue relevant international opportunities.”

Read More Here

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Wis.-Based Oshkosh to Lay Off 900 this Summer

Posted: Tue 1:42 PM, Apr 09, 2013

Posted Tuesday, April 9, 2013 --- 1:40 p.m.
OSHKOSH, Wis. (AP) -- Defense contractor Oshkosh Corp. plans to lay off 900 people this summer as military vehicle orders decline.
The Oshkosh-based company says it will begin laying off 700 hourly employees in mid-June, with 200 salaried employees to be laid off by the end of July.
Company leaders say production is declining as the military continues to wind down from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Read More Here
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General Dynamics, Oshkosh land $120 million in vehicle and parts contracts

By Chad Halcom

 Originally Published: April 01, 2014 3:17 PM  Modified: April 03, 2014 11:09 AM

Two defense ground vehicle manufacturers with a Michigan footprint have received production awards worth more than $120 million combined, to build several hundred new vehicles or vehicle components by late 2015.

Sterling Heights-based General Dynamics Land Systems reported today it has received a $74.7 million contract from the U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, Va. for “egress upgrade kits” to improve its fleet of Cougar infantry vehicles.

The company’s Force Protection subsidiary, created when GDLS acquired Ladson, S.C.-based Force Protection Inc. in 2011, will develop and produce 916 egress kits for the Cougar by September 2015 under that contract.

Read More Here
.....

Related articles

• Wis.-Based Oshkosh to Lay Off 900 this Summer
• Citing defense cuts, end of wars, Oshkosh Corp. plans to lay off 900
• Wis.-based Oshkosh to lay off 900 this summer
• General Dynamics, Oshkosh land $120 million in vehicle and parts contracts

A giant portrait of a young child has been produced to try and raise awareness of civilian casualties in the Pakistan region. Pointing out the fallacy of the Military's alleged "Bug Splats" attitude

 

‘Not bug splats’: Artists use poster-child in Pakistan drone protest

Published time: April 07, 2014 13:29

Image from notabugsplat.com

A poster of a young child has appeared in north-west Pakistan to raise awareness of the numerous drone attacks the region suffered. Artists who created the image hope military commanders will think twice about shooting after seeing the portrait.
More than 200 children are believed to have died in the heavily-bombed Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa according to the website notabugsplat.com. ‘Bug splat’ is the name given by the military to a person who has been killed by a drone. Viewing the body through a grainy computer image gives the impression that an insect has been crushed.
Now a giant portrait of a young child has been produced to try and raise awareness of civilian casualties in the region. The hope is now the drone operator will see a child’s face on his or her computer screen, rather than just a small white dot and may think twice before attacking indiscriminately.
The child featured in the poster is nameless, but according to the Foundation for Fundamental Rights, who helped to launch the project in collaboration with a number of artists, both parents were lost to a drone attack.
Drone raids in Pakistan started in 2004 under George W. Bush’s administration as part of the US War on Terror. The vast majority of strikes have focused on the Federally Administered Tribal Area’s and the Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa area due to their proximity to Afghanistan, which the country invaded following the September 11 terrorist attacks.

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