Jim Cason
Other Words

Remote control killings by unmanned drones in Pakistan aren't making our country more secure.

The failure of the U.S. war strategy in Afghanistan to contain the anti-government insurgency has led the Obama administration to expand the undeclared war in Pakistan. According to the Long War Journal, the number of U.S. attacks in Pakistan, using unmanned Predator drones, has gone from five in 2007 to 117 in 2010.

Government officials here in Washington say privately that they expect the covert war to expand even further this year. Yet Congress and the public have undertaken no significant examination of this new war's consequences.

Members of Congress have almost daily reminders of the cost of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in the form of the dead and wounded U.S. soldiers that return to this country. Lawmakers travel regularly to attend funerals of the fallen.

The U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan produce many casualties, but none of those killed are citizens of our country. The pilots operating the remote-controlled drones used to launch missile attacks in Pakistan usually sit behind computer screens far from the battlefield. For policymakers in Washington, this is a war without cost or hometown casualties.

The English language press in Pakistan often relays reports of civilians killed in these attacks. But those reports rarely make headlines in the United States. The only ongoing reminder of this war is the occasional headline that suggests the United States has successfully killed another al-Qaeda militant. For most Americans, that's justification enough for this new war by assassination.

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Stephen Lendman

[American economic experts see some parallels between the nation’s current housing-driven slump and Japan’s economic crisis of the 1990s. In June 1998, two traders at a Tokyo brokerage rested on a day the dollar reached a seven-year high against the yen. Toshiyuki Aizawa/Reuters]

An except from Franck Biancheri's new book titled, "World Crisis: The Path to the World Afterwards" states:

"The (current) financial and economic crisis....marks the end of the world order established after 1945." In 1991, the Soviet Union dissolved, and since fall 2007, we've "witness(ed) the accelerated decomposition of the 'Western pillar' with" America advancing disintegration.

After decades "spent living in the myth of an 'ended history' in which" Western ideology was triumphant, "it is almost impossible to imagine 'a world after' " without Washington/Wall Street dominance, "where 'Anglo-American' would not necessarily mean 'modern,' and where the dollar would no longer be king."

Neither our media or leaders "imagine the unimaginable." They're "too busy trying to make us 'forget the unforgettable,' in particular, the socio-economic consequences of the crisis throughout the world." It creates problems and "unprecedented opportunit(ies) to rebuild a 'world after,' provided" challenges can be seized and dangers avoided. One thing's certain. New world ways will supersede one olds, for better or worse. Buckle up. Things may get bumpy along the way.

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Stephen Lendman

Reportedly, 19th century Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz once remarked: "Poor Mexico, So far from God, So close to the United States." His proximity comment applies to Lebanon. Bordering Israel, it experienced decades of belligerent interventions as early as 1954 when Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion proposed supporting the establishment of a Maronite-dominated Christian mini-state.

In 1978, Israel attacked Lebanon and occupied the country up to the Litani River before withdrawing under US pressure, letting UN Blue Helmets (UNIFIL) replace its own forces.

Earlier, during Lebanon's 1975-76 civil war, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin reportedly spent $150 million equipping and training right-wing Maronite Phalange fighters. In September 1982, during Israel's invasion, they massacred thousands of Palestinian Sabra and Shatila camp residents, an appalling atrocity Israeli forces permitted when Ariel Sharon was defense minister.

On June 6, 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon, slaughtering around 18,000 Palestinians, then occupied South Lebanon until withdrawing in May 2000. It still illegally holds Sheba Farms, the 14-square mile water-rich land near Syria's Golan, also illegally occupied since 1967 as well as Ghajar, a Lebanese village bordering Golan.

In July 2006, Israel again attacked, killing over 1,000, injuring thousands more, displacing about one-fourth of the country's four million people, besides inflicting the same mass destruction it did to Gaza during Cast Lead.

Earlier in December 1968, Israeli forces attacked Beirut International Airport, destroying 13 Middle East Airlines planes in response to an alleged Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) attack on an Israeli airliner in Athens.

Later in 1993, Israel launched a week-long offensive against Hezbollah, allegedly in response to rockets launched against an Israeli village. During the operation, heavy Israeli bombing caused massive destruction and displaced around 300,000 Lebanese. It was a prelude to a similar 1996 attack, again against Hezbollah, during which up to 500,000 Lebanese were displaced.

An early 2007 American University of Beirut study documented 6,672 Israeli terrorist acts against Lebanon and Palestine alone from 1967 - 2007, plus thousands more since then.

"Poor Lebanon" indeed, its plight journalist Robert Fisk described in his book, "Pity the Nation: The Abduction of Lebanon." As Israel's northern neighbor, it's constantly under threat, especially with Hezbollah a political force, well armed to react in self-defense.

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