Thursday, February 14, 2019

Why Tulsi in this fight

From Tulsi Gabbard's campaign:

TULSI 2020

Aloha friends,
“I know who I am, I know what I stand for, and I know what my purpose in life is—and why I’m in this fight.”
With those powerful words, Tulsi reminds us that when we are focused on our purpose of service, there’s no reason to be afraid.
No Fear - Tulsi Gabbard

Let’s show Tulsi that we stand with her and that we share that purpose of service before self.

Tulsi’s work to end regime change war and end the new nuclear arms race put her at odds with an establishment war machine that has been working overtime to try to shut down our campaign before it even gets off the ground. Tulsi had a strong message for them on Sunday - here it is again (see below) if you missed it!






--- ORIGINAL MESSAGE ---
Aloha friends,
When I raised my hand and took an oath to serve my country as a soldier, against all enemies foreign and domestic, willing to sacrifice all, I did so because I love our country. I love our people. All of our troops place service above self every day – this what drives me, and why I’m offering to serve you as President and Commander in Chief. I will bring a soldier’s values to the White House, restoring integrity, honor, and respect to the Presidency.
Today, our freedoms and democracy are being threatened by media giants ruled by corporate interests who are in the pocket of the establishment war machine. When journalism is deployed as a weapon against those who call for peace, it threatens our democracy as it seeks to silence debate and dissent, creates an atmosphere of fear and paranoia, and stokes the rhetoric that could lead to nuclear war. This danger is not new – we saw it take hold of our nation during the last Cold War, as McCarthyite hysteria.
Russia-baiting propaganda is being deployed against our campaign along with anyone else, on the left or the right, who speaks out against regime change war or the new Cold War. The corporate media is doing everything they can to stop our campaign before it gets started - including using fraudulent journalism and discredited sources to launch their biased attacks. 

What are they so afraid of?
We need your help to fight back. Donate $5 or whatever you can to stand up against corporate media’s attempts to shut down our campaign —

The warmongers in Washington are trying to bury our campaign before it even gets off the ground - but they don’t know who we are and what they’re up against. I’m a soldier, not a politician. I’m not afraid of their attacks because I’m not worried about a “political career.” My mission is to serve the interests of the American people and our country.  Our campaign is made up of people from all walks of life, from all parts of the country, who are called to a higher purpose - putting service above self. We are patriots, not political operatives, and we are here to serve.
Our interest is national security and peace. It is not the interest of the American people to sacrifice the lives of our men and women in uniform and waste trillions of our taxpayer dollars on counterproductive regime change wars, on a new Cold War and nuclear arms race.
This is why I'm offering to serve. As Commander-in-Chief, I will work to bring an end to regime change wars. I will work to end the new Cold War and move us toward a world free from the dark shadow of nuclear war.
Will you stand with me? They are trying to silence our voices. We can’t let them. Click here to donate $5, $10 or $25 to ensure our collective voices are heard.
With aloha,
Tulsi



PAID FOR BY TULSI NOW
PO Box 75255 Kapolei HI 96707


"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):
Thursday, February 14, 2019.  Nearly 16 years of corporate media promoting war in Iraq.


What might seem like a passing moment of poor taste becomes an eternity of proof as a result of filming your stupidity and then deciding to post your stupidity to social media.
US soldier in mocking the call to prayer...
0:58
4,077 views
 
 
Replying to 
He doesn't realize he is in someone else's country occupying it,if the adhan irritates him he should go back to his own country
 
 
Replying to 
"So they have indeed denied, then the news of what they mocked at, will come to them." 26:6 "And the evil of what they did will appear to them, and they will be completely encircled by that which they used to mock at!" 45:33 May these Filthy USA terrorists burn in Hell!
 
 
Replying to  
Jokes on him...he'll probably end up killing himself when he's back home cos of PTSD, like most Iraq vets. We'll see who mocks who then.
 
 
Replying to  
He doesn't know that ignorance leads to hell fire.
 
 
Replying to 
Poor guy doesn't know. He is under pressure being in a place that he shouldn't be but to be with his family and nation.
 
 
Replying to 
his need hidayah insaallah doa
 
 
Replying to 
One day you will regret for this
 
 
Replying to 
The dogs of hell!!
 
 
  • that is wahhabi khawarij haha
     
     
    1. End of conversation
  • Replying to 
    Idiot just idiot
     
     
    Replying to  
    IS this what you call democrazy and you are expecting to happen in Iraq ??
     
     



    Those are actually some of the kinder reactions to that video.


    Aziz Ahmad (NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS) offers an essay this morning about how ISIS is increasing violent attacks in Iraq.  He notes:

    For the next two hours, Abu Samya laid bare his transformation from a laborer in a mixed, well-to-do suburb to an inmate in Camp Bucca, the US-run prison that came to define an era of the American occupation of Iraq. The journey took him from political disillusion to ideological commitment, and back again, shaping his values, then shattering them within a decade.
    During our discussion, he reflected on a prewar era when sect or ethnicity barely mattered. “We lived in peace,” he said. He pulled back a sleeve to reveal a scar that he claimed was caused by an electric drill used in torture by Shia militiamen after sectarian tensions exploded during the civil war unleashed by the US invasion. That scar has since been both a constant reminder and a visceral incentive for revenge. 
    “I started to hate them and the government,” he said.

    Abu Samya proceeded to tell me his story in unabashedly sectarian terms. Though just one man’s account, it could easily have been a collective statement about a society blighted by fifteen years of war and deprivation, often on a family-by-family basis. His sense of disenfranchisement led him to the Islamic State, or ISIS, the terrorist group whose claim to address the grievances of Iraq’s Sunnis acted as a rallying call for many who were not attracted purely by ideology.


    In the article, Ahmad offers a list of three things that need to be done.  It seems an honest attempt at coverage.  There's no honesty to be found in Chloe Cornish and Aime Williams' piece for THE FINANCIAL TIMES OF LONDON which offers 'historical insight' like the following:


    In Baghdad, Mr Shanahan sought to mend fences. Mr Trump had initially riled Iraqi leaders by making a Christmas visit to American troops in the country without paying any courtesy calls on senior officials in Baghdad. Then the president caused more upset this month by saying he might want to maintain the US’s “unbelievable and expensive” military bases in Iraq beyond their anti-Isis mission in order to monitor Iran. “I want to be looking a little bit at Iran, because Iran is a real problem,” he said. The comment enraged many Iraqi lawmakers, who had already accused Mr Trump of violating Iraqi sovereignty, and fuelled demands from some that American troops be withdrawn.

    The Iraq War did not start with Donald Trump becoming president.  Nor did calls for US troops to leave Iraq start with his presidency.  An ongoing illegal war is reduced to five minutes to misdirect and flat out lie.  The war is illegal and should not have ever started.  It did start but it continues thanks to outlets like THE FINANCIAL TIMES OF LONDON.

    16 years of coverage and 16 years of poaching journalists from other outlets and what great report has THE FINANCIAL TIMES OF LONDON ever assembled on Iraq?

    How sad and how telling.

    What Donald Trump did?

    It angered the pampered puppet government.  The Iraqi people have long called for US troops to leave their country.  The leaders need them to stay in power because they are not popular with the Iraqi people.  The US installed Iraq's current president as well as the current prime minister.  And they're the ones offended.

    Because of death and destruction?

    No because Donald didn't visit with them on his visit to Iraq.

    Oh, what a horrible snub to their image!!!!

    And the nonsense about watching Iran?  Turkey gets so much from the US government because Turkey gave up land for a CIA outpost in southern Turkey for the US to spy on Iraq (specifically to spy on northern Iraq).  That's not a new development.  We covered it back when it was, over 13 years ago.

    This is about wounded egos.

    And if wounded egos get US troops out of Iraq, great.  But let's not pretend like this is a real issue or something that won't be paved over with money at some point.  Puppets have collapsable spines.

    They are nothing more than private dancers.



    You keep your mind on the money
    Keeping your eye on the wall.


    THE FINANCIAL TIMES piece, like so much of what passes for coverage these days, has a subtext that argues for the war to continue.  In this case, these leaders, these poor leaders (elected by whom?), are victims of Donald Trump!  We must overcome Donald!  We must stay in Iraq!

    That's the subtext to this b.s.  Crap like this is why the Iraq War will hit the 16 year mark next month.


    Iraq remains one of the most corrupt countries in the world.  And this detail somehow always disappears when corporate media wants to sell continued war.  They play as though it didn't happen or, if they admit it happened, they play as though no one's sure how it happened.

    The non-responsive, Baghdad-based government is a creation created by the US government.  The same US government created the process by which there is no direct vote of Iraq's top leaders.

    And when you don't answer to the people, when the US picks you and installs you, you grow ever more corrupt.

    ISIS is a problem, yes.

    The answer to that is not troops on the ground.  That's never the answer to terrorism.  The only way to stop terrorism is to take away any legitimate gripes terrorists may have.

    The government of Iraq does not take care of the people and allows huge numbers to be persecuted.  That is what breeds terrorism.  As one puppet after another installed as prime minister has failed to address that, the situation in Iraq has grown worse.  If that shocks you or surprises you, you're the perfect audience and foil for corporate media which has a highly pronounced estrangement from the truth.


    The corporate press spends forever and a day justifying continued war.  They do not call out the corruption in the Iraqi government, they do not call out the refusal of the Iraqi leaders to meet the demands of the people.  But then again, the Iraqi people have always demanded an end to US occupation so the corporate press has long been against them.

    The following sites updated: