Total madness

 

Never again

We never talk about how our country holds the record for genocidal acts of war using weapons of mass destruction.

Read it here.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Remember Katherine Gun?

Read this.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

If you're a soldier, you belong to the government

And they can do whatever they want with you. Especially if you're a member of a minority.

“The Army still has not provided notice to test subject veterans regarding the specific chemical and biological tests to which they were subjected[between 1942 and 1975] — and their possible health effects,” attorney Ben Patterson of the law firm Morrison and Foerster told NPR.

The military conducted these experiments because it wanted to learn how to induce “fear, panic, hysteria and hallucinations” in enemy soldiers, an Army scientist told NPR.

At least 70,000 troops were used in the experiments, a 2015 NPR report found.

[...]

At least 4,000 American troops were exposed to mustard gas during World War II. It wasn’t until the 1990s that the Defense Department declassified those experiments.

Mustard gas causes “blistering of the skin and mucous membranes on contact,”according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and “may increase a person’s risk for lung and respiratory cancer.”

A 2015 PBS investigation found that minorities including African-Americans, Japanese-Americans and Puerto Ricans were singled out for experimentation.

  RT

How democratic.  Perhaps they used the white guys as a control group?

And not to mention the soldiers who were exposed to radiation from the nuclear bomb testing in the 50s, among other experiments.

WMD found

A North Carolina-based air traffic controller has been arrested and charged with possessing a weapon of mass destruction. The suspect was working at Charlotte Douglas International Airport during the time of his arrest.

Paul George Dandan, 30, was at the airport when he was apprehended and taken to jail Friday, an unnamed source said, the Charlotte Observer reported.

Dandan's bail is set at $45,000. The man is also being charged with two other weapons offenses, according to the newspaper, citing court records.

The weapon in question has not been confirmed. It is believed to be some kind of explosive, but was not in Dandan's possession at the airport, according to WSOC.

[...]

A roommate of Dandan's was also arrested in relation to having bomb-making materials, which were also not at the airport.

  RT

And the FBI is not claiming this as a foiled terrorist plot?  I guess they can't, since it was apparently a local police arrest.

WCNC reported that the Bureau does not expect federal charges to be filed against Dandan.

Of course not. Look at him.

That's a big old cross around his neck.

In 2015, Dandan was arrested by Charlotte police for assaulting a female, according to WCCB reporter Jon Wilson.

Police say Dandan, an air traffic controller at Charlotte-Douglas, had a homemade pipe bomb he got from another man, Derrick Fells.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said Fells admitted to them that he made the bomb to "use it against a neighbor" with whom he had an ongoing dispute. Fells then changed his mind and gave the bomb Dandan, police said.

  CBS

Believable story?  I didn't think so.

I wonder if Fells will incur a federal charge.

Fells was charged with three counts of manufacturing a weapon of mass destruction and one count of possession of a weapon of mass destruction.

Dandan, who is held on $45,000 bond, was charged with three counts of possessing, acquiring, and transporting a weapon of mass destruction.

  NY Daily News

How is that not a federal offense?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Nuclear Weapons Are Now To Be Prohibited by the UN

And as you know, we don't give a shit.

After a decade-long effort by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), and 72 years after their invention, today states at the United Nations formally adopted a treaty which categorically prohibits nuclear weapons.

Until now, nuclear weapons were the only weapons of mass destruction without a prohibition treaty, despite the widespread and catastrophic humanitarian consequences of their intentional or accidental detonation. Biological weapons were banned in 1972 and chemical weapons in 1992.

[...]

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was adopted Friday morning and will open for signature by states at the United Nations in New York on 20 September 2017.

  International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

Don't expect the US to sign.

And we could well see them used before September 20.

Kind of interesting that they were not deemed too horrible to be allowed until North Korea managed to create a delivery system for theirs.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

War America Style

The US has long had a doctrine that it is all right to inflict large civilian casualties with the aim of limited troop casualties. The United States used nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, after which there were thousands and thousands of dead children. Some were carbonized so quickly that nothing was left of them but shadows on the wall. Little children. The US security elite has never apologized for this war crime and continues to menace other nations with this kind of indiscriminate and unspeakable violence every time it announces that “all options are on the table.”

As for chemical weapons, the US has studiedly avoided signing unreservedly the 1925 Geneva Protocol banning chemical weapons use. (It says it will use chem if others do, which means it could use chem in Syria now).

The Reagan administration shamefully ran interference for six years as Saddam Hussein of Iraq systematically deployed chemical weapons against Iranian troops at the front. Everyone knew this was going on. [...] And, indeed, when Iran appealed to the United Nations Security Council to condemn what Iraq was doing, the Reagan administration maneuvered at the UN to make sure that Iran’s case was not taken up.

[...]

As for those decrying Obama inaction they need to, like, read the news sometime. For the past several years the US has intervened in Syria in two ways. President Obama used the Saudis to deliver money and weaponry to some 40 “vetted” groups supported by the Central Intelligence Agency, which is certified as having no ties to al-Qaeda or international extremism. Except that several of these groups have in fact formed battlefield alliances with al-Qaeda in Syria (was Jabhat al-Nusra, now Jabhat Fateh Sham or the Syrian Conquest Front).

[...]

The other US intervention has been thousands of bombing raids against Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) in Raqqa and Deir al-Zor in Syria’s far east.

[...]

But that somehow the Syria situation can be made better if only Donald J. Trump would stick his fingers into it is a wildly implausible premise.

  Juan Cole

Until a couple of days ago, even that asshat didn't think it was a good idea.  At least, according to what he's said.

For all the times Trump said believe me and trust me in his salesman patter, he communicated constantly and in every medium that there was only thing you could believe and trust: If you voted for Donald Trump, you’d get Donald Trump, in all his Trumpery and Trumpiness.

[...]

In August 2013, Trump insisted that President Obama needed congressional approval before striking Syria. Obama came to agree. He sought approval and was refused. No strike followed.

[...]

Promises of no war in Syria were central to Donald Trump’s anti-Hillary Clinton messaging. Take, for example, to his interview with Reuters on October 26, 2016.

“What we should do is focus on ISIS. We should not be focusing on Syria," said Trump, as he dined on fried eggs and sausage at his Trump National Doral golf resort. "You’re going to end up in World War Three over Syria if we listen to Hillary Clinton. You’re not fighting Syria any more, you’re fighting Syria, Russia and Iran, all right?”

[...]

Not even 100 days into his presidency, Trump has done exactly what he attacked Hillary Clinton for contemplating.

[...]

Voters and citizens can expect literally zero advance warning of what Donald Trump will do or won’t do.

[...]

On October 26, 2016, he surely meant what he said. It’s just that what he meant and said that day was no guide to what he would mean or say on October 27, 2016—much less April 6, 2017.

[...]

On the night of his Syria strike, he spoke directly to emotions. "Using a deadly nerve agent, Assad choked out the lives of helpless men, women and children. It was a slow and brutal death for so many. Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack. No child of God should ever suffer such horror.” He then asserted: "It is in this vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons."

  David Frum

Loss of limbs and family members by bombing is not cruel to beautiful babies, apparently. That's a horror they can suffer.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

America Is Great Because America Is Good ™

March 3, 2015

The Pentagon has announced that depleted uranium (DU) munitions have not, and will not, be used by US aircraft in the conflict against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The policy U-turn contrasts with statements made over previous months, where Pentagon officials claimed that DU would be used if needed; the decision reflects a growing stigmatisation of the controversial weapons.

  International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons

21 October 2016

The US has finally confirmed that it has fired DU ammunition [in] Syria. [...] US Central Command (CENTCOM) has acknowledged that DU was fired on two dates - the 18 and 23 November 2015. Between the strikes on the two dates, 5,100 rounds of 30mm DU ammunition were used by A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft. This equates to 1,524kg of DU.

[...]

The US has long been conscious of the stigmatisation of the use of DU weapons. As far back as 1991 the US military were advised that: “...fielding and combat activities [with DU] present the potential for adverse international reaction.” It was therefore predictable that Russian state media quickly highlighted news that DU had been used in Syria, with Russia’s embassies in Paris, Ottawa and London tweeting the news, as Russia sought to draw attention away from its own conduct in the conflict.

  International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons

Stigma. International disapproval. Is that all?

Fallujah, Iraq - Contamination from Depleted Uranium (DU) munitions and other military-related pollution is suspected of causing a sharp rises in congenital birth defects, cancer cases, and other illnesses throughout much of Iraq.

[...]

During 2004, the US military carried out two massive military sieges of the city of Fallujah, using large quantities of DU ammunition, as well as white phosphorous.

[...]

Many prominent doctors and scientists contend that DU contamination is also connected to the recent emergence of diseases that were not previously seen in Iraq, such as new illnesses in the kidney, lungs, and liver, as well as total immune system collapse. DU contamination may also be connected to the steep rise in leukaemia, renal, and anaemia cases, especially among children, being reported throughout many Iraqi governorates.

[...]

Doctors in Fallujah are continuing to witness the aforementioned steep rise in severe congenital birth defects, including children being born with two heads, children born with only one eye, multiple tumours, disfiguring facial and body deformities, and complex nervous system problems.

Today in Fallujah, residents are reporting to Al Jazeera that many families are too scared to have children, as an alarming number of women are experiencing consecutive miscarriages and deaths with critically deformed and ill newborns.

  Alternet

And what does the US military say about health risks from DU? Let's have a look at its fact sheet.

Depleted uranium is a heavy metal that is also slightly radioactive. Heavy metals (uranium, lead, tungsten, etc.) have chemical toxicity properties that, in high doses, can cause adverse health effects. Depleted uranium that remains outside the body can not harm you.

A common misconception is that radiation is depleted uranium's primary hazard. This is not the case under most battlefield exposure scenarios. Depleted uranium is approximately 40 percent less radioactive than natural uranium. Depleted uranium emits alpha and beta particles, and gamma rays. Alpha particles, the primary radiation type produced by depleted uranium, are blocked by skin, while beta particles are blocked by the boots and battle dress utility uniform (BDUs) typically worn by service members. While gamma rays are a form of highly-penetrating energy , the amount of gamma radiation emitted by depleted uranium is very low.

[...]

Taken into the body via metal fragments or dust-like particles, depleted uranium may pose a long-term health hazard to personnel if the amount is large. However, the amount which remains in the body depends on a number of factors, including the amount inhaled or ingested, the particle size and the ability of the particles to dissolve in body fluids.

[...]

The health effects of uranium have been studied extensively for over 50 years. In September 1999 the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry published a Toxicological Profile for Uranium, an update to the original profile published in May 1989. While natural and depleted uranium are considered chemically toxic, they are not considered a radiation hazard.

[...]

The environmental effects of depleted uranium have been studied comprehensively by a wide range of governmental and non-governmental bodies both before and after the Gulf War. Burn tests and other evaluations performed under simulated battlefield conditions indicated that the health risks associated with the battlefield use of depleted uranium were minimal and even those could be reduced even more by simple, field-expedient measures, especially, avoidance of depleted uranium-contaminated vehicles and sites. During and after the Gulf War, personnel awareness of the hazards posed by battlefield depleted uranium contamination was generally low. As a result, many personnel did not practice field-expedient measures that would have prevented or mitigated possible exposures.

The two main areas that were not adequately addressed before the Gulf War were:

The medical implications of embedded fragments and
Exposure estimates for friendly fire incidents, recovery activities, and incidental contact scenarios.

[...]

Because of gaps in data pertaining to uranium oxide dust levels inside DU-struck vehicles, exposure estimates for personnel inside DU-struck vehicles at the time of impact, or immediately afterwards, were based on conservative assumptions. These estimates for this highest exposed group indicated that medical follow-up was warranted. [...] Aside from the problems associated with their traumatic injuries, to date, this follow-up program has attributed no illness or other harmful effects in the evaluated veterans to DU.

[...]

Civilians and soldiers are strongly discouraged from recovering souvenirs from the battlefield or climbing on or around damaged equipment.

[...]

Depleted uranium emits alpha and beta particles, and gamma rays. Alpha particles, the primary radiation type produced by depleted uranium, are blocked by skin, while beta particles are blocked by the boots and battle dress utility uniform (BDUs) typically worn by service members.

  US Military Fact Sheet on Depleted Uranium

Iraqi children and pregnant women should be wearing battle dress utility uniforms. Their own fault.

That one sentence about civilians and soldiers being "strongly discouraged" from messing with anything that's been hit with DU munitions is the only reference to civilians in the entire fact sheet.

We have weapons of mass destruction, and we're not afraid to use them.

Abbreviated Language

Giuliani told the Daily News that his comment was simply “misinterpreted” because he was trying to keep his remarks brief.

[...]

"You speak in somewhat abbreviated language," he told the New York Daily News by way of explaining his Monday introduction for Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Youngstown, Ohio. "All human beings speak in abbreviated language at times."

  TPM

Haha. I love it.

Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Abbreviated language.

These aluminum tubes are for uranium enrichment.  Abbreviated language.

Obama and Clinton killed Humayun Khan. Abbreviated language.

The NSA does not monitor internet communications of ordinary Americans. Abbreviated language.

I never had sex with that woman. Abbreviated language.

"I didn't forget 9/11. I hardly would. I almost died in it," [Giuliani] said.

I almost died in it. Abbreviated language.

Fool Me Once...

The United States is concerned that the Islamic State group and other terrorists could get a hold of chemical weapons if Syria is hiding any stockpiles, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said Thursday.

  ABC

”Could” and “if”... I think that’s enough reason to drone bomb Syria, don’t you?

Re: the timing...Billmon remembers the invasion of Iraq:

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Don't Count on Your Military in a Nuke War

In [last summer’s] drill the security team of the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana was required to respond to a simulated capture of a Minuteman 3 nuclear missile silo. The guards had to recapture the seized nuclear weapon in the silo, but failed to do so, the report obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request indicated.

  RT

Perhaps that’s what led to an investigation that has resulted in the sacking of nine nuke commanders there.

The United States Air Force says it has taken unprecedented action by firing nine nuclear missile base commanders on Thursday amid an ongoing and exhaustive investigation surrounding allegations of cheating.

[...]

Dozens of additional employees described as junior officers at those bases will be disciplined as well

[...]

This past January, the Air Force said that 34 missile launch officers were implicated in the cheating scandal and stripped of their security clearances, though they may not have necessarily faked their way through their own exams. According to the AP’s latest however, upwards of 100 missile launch crew members from a single facility — the Malmstrom Air Force Base in the state of Montana — were at one point or another linked to the scandal.

[...]

Members of all three missile squadrons were implicated, he added, although no generals were formally punished.

  RT

Of course not. Too big to fail.

This week’s news is only the latest to stir up the Air Force’s nuke unit, which for months now has repeatedly come under fire due to a barrage of incidents. The Pentagon removed 17 of its officers from a base in North Dakota last year following a poor inspection rating, and last October it was reported that two US missile technicians assigned with launch keys were discovered repeatedly leaving a blast door open while sleeping on base.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.