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McChrystal was Cheney's Chief Assassin
Seymour Hersh says that Dick Cheney headed a secret assassination wing and the head of the wing has just been named as the new commander in Afghanistan.
In an interview with GulfNews, (the Persian Gulf's largest daily English language newspaper published from Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates) on May 12, 2009 Pulitzer prize-winning American investigative journalist, Seymour Hersh, said that there is a special unit called the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) that does high-value targeting of men that are known to be involved in anti-American activities, or are believed to be planning such activities.
According to Hersh, the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) was headed by former US vice president Dick Cheney and the former head of JSOC, Lieutenant General Stanley McChrystal who has just been named the new commander in charge of the war in Afghanistan.
McChrystal, a West Pointer who became a Green Beret not long after graduation, following a stint as a platoon leader in the 82nd Airborne Division, is currently director of Staff at the Pentagon, the executive to Joint staff to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Most of what General McChrystal has done over a 33-year career remains classified, including service between 2003 and 2008 as commander of the Joint Special Operations Command, an elite unit so clandestine that the Pentagon for years refused to acknowledge its existence.
On July 22, 2006, Human Rights Watch issued a report titled "No blood, no foul" about American torture practices at three facilities in Iraq. One of them was Camp Nama, which was operated by the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), under the direction of then Major General Stanley McChrystal.
McChrystal was officially based at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, but he was a frequent visitor to Camp Nama and other Special Forces bases in Iraq and Afghanistan where forces under his command were based.
An interrogator at Camp Nama known as Jeff described locking prisoners in shipping containers for 24 hours at a time in extreme heat; exposing them to extreme cold with periodic soaking in cold water; bombardment with bright lights and loud music; sleep deprivation; and severe beatings.
When he and other interrogators went to the colonel in charge and expressed concern that this kind of treatment was not legal, and that they might be investigated by the military's Criminal Investigation Division or the International Committee of the Red Cross, the colonel told them he had "this directly from General McChrystal and the Pentagon that there's no way that the Red Cross could get in."
In the July 2, 2006 report, When Human Rights Watch asked whether the interrogator knew whether the colonel was receiving orders or pressures to use the abusive tactics, Jeff said that his understanding was that there was some form of pressure to use aggressive techniques coming from higher up the chain of command; however neither he nor other interrogators were briefed on the particular source.
"We really didn't know too much about it. We knew that we were only like a few steps away in the chain of command from the Pentagon, but it was a little unclear, especially to the interrogators who weren't really part of that task force."
The interrogator said that he did see Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of US Joint Special Operations forces in Iraq, visiting the Nama facility on several occasions. "I saw him a couple of times. I know what he looks like."
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is the international body charged under international law with monitoring compliance with the Geneva Conventions, and it, therefore, has the right to inspect all facilities where people are detained in a country that is at war or under military occupation.
To hide prisoners or facilities from the ICRC or to deny access to them is a serious war crime. But many US prisons in Iraq have held "ghost" prisoners whose imprisonment has not been reported to the ICRC, and these "ghosts" have usually been precisely the ones subjected to the worst torture. Camp Nama, run by McChrystal's JSOC, was an entire "ghost" facility.
The decision by Obama's administration to appoint General McChrystal as the new commander in charge of the war in Afghanistan and retaining the military commission for the US war-on-terror detainees held in the Guantanamo Bay prison are the latest examples of the new US administration walking in Bush's foot steps with regards to torture and denial of habeas corpus.
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90 Comments so far
Show AllUnfriggin believable! The more things "change", the more things stay the same....er get worse!
I think the next move will be to appoint ex prez Bush to be ambassador to Afghanistan...what do you think??
No, really, it's a great idea but George Wanker Bush is a coward's coward. He would never take the job since he would have to live in a combat zone. If he could be headquartered in a saloon in Dallas, then maybe he'd accept. Why not ask Cheesedick Cheney?
I so agree! The bad news is coming fast and furious now - almost accelerating exponentially!
Actually, NO! We all knew this about Obama BEFORE the election. No surprises here. But the Democrats figured their Messiah was not of the Empire and the military industrial complex. Do they get it yet? Of course not. And in 2012, they'll tell you that YOU HAVE NO CHOICE- YOU HAVE TO VOTE DEMOCRATIC! And, they will, and... there will be more of the same. Nader was right and is right. He may not be the candidate in 2012, but he's right. The duopoly is but One Large Corporate Party.
Do not get me wrong....I knew Obama was a sell out from day one. I just did not expect him to show his hand so boldly this early on. Then again, I guess he figured that any nation that would allow the shrub to control them for eight years will let any leader get away with anything! I would forget about any satisfaction through the corrupt electoral process...the only hope is massive protest progressing to whatever it takes.
"I knew Obama was a sell out from day one. I just did not expect him to show his hand so boldly this early on."
I could not think of two sentences that better describe my own thoughts on Obama. I did not vote for him, and yet I am truly amazed at how fast he has dashed any sense of hope or change. I figured he would have eased into it a bit more.
I was a fan of Nader myself and still am. I voted for him in 2000 but as soon as abandoned the Green Party, I gave up and switched back to voting for Kerry in 2004 to see what he'll be like. Couldn't get a test of his presidency so Obama 2008 it was. I see the results pouring in and well, they're not good so far. However, I'll still hold out until 2012. I have voted for 3rd parties on House and Senate seats though I voted for Franken this time and hope he makes it to the Senate to tilt the party a little more to the left. You remind me of JenniferBedingfield who loved Nader so much and who'd always be in that "I told you so" mode. I respect you Nader fans and yes, I am ashamed that Nader like the other 3rd party candidates haven't been given a chance even on the debates. I just don't know if we will even have a 3rd party let alone a good one ala Nadar's to vote for. If there can be a strong one to take his place, we might have one to look more forward to. Otherwise, depending on who the GOP nominates, I might just hold my nose and vote Obama again or simply not vote.
Putting McChrystal under his command could be Obama's bid to control these assassins.
Whose command was McChrystal under before ,the Chinese?
Please ez it is way past time to still be defending such an unethical President.
"Please ez it is way past time to still be defending such an unethical President."
Maybe so, but some things bother me:
When surrounded by conservative crocodiles in the houses they bought, which would last longer, a liberal tiger or a liberal making like a croc?
Joining Repugs in taking potshots at our man seems counterproductive. Shouldn't we better pick our targets?
We elected Obama to fix everything conservatives destroyed, then we sit back, do nothing to help, attack him while ignoring his positive actions and expect one man to do it all without being assassinated or bought out like every other politician.
Are we looking for a savior or a martyr? I blame the system, not the man.
and the smart blame the system for the man
If your not man enough to fight the system you should not be in the game.
Obama is surrounding himself with the enemy. No sane warrior does that.
Hear here, I always thought this bipartisan dream crap would fail and it has completely failed the progressive coalition that elected Obama.Glen you nailed it.I wonder if the president has read "The art of War' peace
I always thought the bipartisan crap was just that: crap. We have a Republican party so far to the right and so obstructionist that any meeting was bound to be on their turf, and so it has proved to be, a grand surrender to the right wing of the GOP on issue after issue.
I am not surprised by this. I held my nose and voted for Obama last time when my preferred candidate dropped out, but I will not vote for Obama next time unless he changes substantially and reverses his many Republican decisions so far. With Rahm Emanuel guarding the gate that's not likely. Obama is looking more and more like a one-term president. In fact he's out-doing Jimmy Carter in that respect and he's barely gotten started.
Rainborowe
EZ, consider that since taking office, Obama has:
1. Reconstituted the Military Commissions.
2. Denied detainees Constitutional and Geneva Conventions protections.
3. Praised torturers and murderers as dedicated public servants and vowed to violate US law to protect them from prosecution.
4. Expanded Bush's State Secrets legal theory.
5. Continued illegally spying on Americans.
6. Continued to use USAPATRIOT Act powers and not called for repeal.
7. Retained Gates as Secretary of Defense despite his tainted record.
8. Promoted General McChrystal to commander in Afghanistan despite his tainted record.
9. Continued contracts with abusive, fraudulent private contractors.
10. Concealed evidence of war crimes.
11. Increased illegal attacks on Pakistan.
12. Increased drone attacks, with a horrific civilian death and injury rate, in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
13. Not banned white phosphorus or cluster munitions.
14. Escalated the Afghan war.
15. Adopted Bush's Iraq war plan.
16. Threatened the UK with withholding of future intelligence if they pursue investigations of US wrongdoing.
17. Pressured Spain to discontinue its investigations.
True. And he has a 67% approval rating. Would it be as high and would he get re-elected with a more progressive agenda? Isn't a second term the key? He says, "make me do it". Are you making him do it or are you joining Repugs to make him fail?
www.gallup.com/poll/116224/Obama-Approval-Rating-Increases.aspx
Sioux Rose
EZE, my friend, the approval rating is more the result of that successful bamboozle derived from a marriage between a powerful PR campaign and a coopted mass media, than a TRUE reflection of a public consensus. Half the issues (make that 80% of the issues) are presented in manners subdued by low lights and half-truths. The disinformation campaign measured against the public's Pavlovian consent, is hardly something to cheer.
Polls and a candidate's election chances are usually in sync, so we can't disregard them even when the public has been brainwashed. And we can't disregard the fact that in our broken system, pols need Big Money bribes to win elections. Jesus would find it impossible to win an election in the US. In our rigged system of campaign financing, over 95% of bribes come from the Wall Street Casino.
Obama knows the money-power can make him or destroy him regardless of how much his libs bitch. He knows he needs another four years to undo the conservative disaster and is trying to catch more flies with honey like he did at Notre Dame today and walking a fine line while juggling plenty of big issues at the same time.
Obama could sell out like most pols do, or he could be a smarter political chess player than we give him credit for. If he's as smart as he seems to be, he must be a liberal.
But which side will any politician take, the side of progressives combined with right wingers that only give him grief, or the side of an oligarchy that gives him everything he or she could ever want and kill him physically or politically if he doesn't take their side? That is why I'm for direct democracy and referendums that bypass politicians.
Is there any breakdown of that 62% figure?
I can't believe that ALL those who supported Obama were
without doubts and without fierce objection to much of
what he has done?
Obviously, they've got ahold of him -- strong hold.
However, he seems to be a willing victim!
"According to all myth, the female - not the male -- gives life"
BTW, DrB--that US "wrongdoing" was the systematic torture and murder of prisoners in contravention of a multitude of international conventions signed onto by the US and, therefore, also in contravention of the US Constitution, Article 6 par. 2.
And shame on the Brits for caving. They should have told Obama they'd get their own intelligence and not share it with the USA. As I remember, they did rather better in that regard than the USA did in the run-up to the Iraq invasion and the Afghan invasion.
Rainborowe
I know that people who supported candidate feel some loyalty to him (or perhaps to their own choices) but how can you defend Obama so faithfully knowing that he is reneging on every promise of change he made. He doesn't need to bring a general under his command. Obama as the commander-in-chief can fire the general if he wants to, but he is going out and picking these guys to run things, just like he did with the bank bailouts--pick the people responsible for the fiasco to fix it. Or perhaps it's the other way around, they picked Obama so he wouldn't rock the boat and go along with the status quo but make glib rhetorical speeches for our consumption.
Which is why McChrystal worked for Cheney.
Come to think of it, it's why Obama has been made Propagandist in Chief for the corporate empire. He's ruthless, but also personable and takes instructions well.
Yes!
funny. funny, funny, funny. (your rationalizations, that is.)
in what other line of work do you get promoted to keep you from doing something your boss didn't like?
and, as commander in chief, isn't McKristalNacht already under the POTUS' command?
Exactly the way he's controlling the banksters!
Turning the Treasury into a division of Goldman-Sachs put THOSE bastards right under Obama's thumb!
Well, somebody's under SOMEBODY'S thumb, that's for sure-- no sense in getting all picky about who's the controller and who's the controlled!
· Yr Obd't Servant
Half of the 700 billion was handed out by Bush with no strings attached. Nobody seems to know what happened to the money. Obama is doling out the rest carefully, in an effort to maintain some stability and consumer confidence, thinking that the alternative would be worse.
I am very skeptical about anything done under Bush and sympathize with Obama for the mess he was left with though some of us seem to ignore the enormous conservative pressures surrounding him. He might be putting the onus on the ones who broke it to fix it.
I would have let the banks and corporations fail, rationalized the loss of half the TARP and let the chips fall where they may. But economics is a gamble and no one here can say for sure what the effect on the country would have been then.
Obama is swimming with sharks, but so far as the country and the world are concerned, he is staying afloat. Meantime I'm writing Congress and sending petitions to help him overcome the conservative blitz instead of helping him fail.
only sharks swim w/sharks.
you have some kind of ideological blinder prohibiting you from seeing the obvious. even the editors at CD seem to be on to obama's game (about friggin' time, too.)
obama inherited a mess from bush? indeed, he did. and so will obama's successor, and his/her successor, and so on. at least one might spare oneself the indignity of constantly apologizing for a rigged Game.
Ideological blinders and paranoia are first cousins.
it's only "paranoia" if obama is not doing what he's actually doing.
Seymore Hersh is risking his life, I expect Obama to do the same.
And McChrystal is the man in Charge of the coverup of the close range friendly fire murder(?) of Football star Tillman.
So Obama replaces an inept liar, Mckiernan, with more ept torturing, assassinating liar.
And the fool "impeachment off the table" and "you are not getting single payer" Pelosi is taking the heat for Cheney et. al.
I bet Pelosi wishes now that she had impeached Bush and Cheney.
The Repugs would impeach a Democratic President for not tying his shoe laces.
Cheney is still in charge through the MSM.
Obama is a stupid fool for not enforcing the law and Constitution and his administration is unraveling right now because of his lack of integrity.
It is always better to make the ethical choice,no matter how painful it might seem, because in the long run the unethical choice, as giving dictatorial war criminals freedom, is much more painful.
Instead of the disruption of prosecuting the dictatorial war criminals and acheiving some good and justice, we have the democratic administration self destructing with the CIA and Pelosi calling each other liars.
-- I bet Pelosi wishes now that she had impeached Bush and Cheney. --
A while back, I postulated the following:
Pelosi should allow impeachment to occur. The Republicans will make their obvious partisan attacks about her personal stake in the proceedings.
Pelosi promises to serve out Bush's term and then retire from politics after Bush and Cheney are removed from office. The framing, the story, would be the woman who saved America.
Pelosi could have been a hero. The first woman President.
Instead, she's headed for zero.
I think I read somewhere that Tillman's parents have spoken out against McChrystal.
Other than a handful of House reps and maybe one or two Senators (and that is being generous) it appears we are living in a one-party state. In economics, if only two firms dominate the market, it is almost certain that collusion will occur and the market will become heavily distorted. Simply put, the same for politics. What is our alternative, vote Republican. Third, fourth or fifth parties have no chance due to:
Winner takes all elections
Corporate domination of the media and blacklisting anyone who does not toe the line (think Dennis K., Cynthia M. etc.)
Un-regulated billion dollar election cycles where "selling out" to corporate interests is a prerequisite.
Highly disproportionate voting weights in the House and especially Senate. The number of reps/Senators do not reflect the huge population and demographic changes that have ocurred.
Not to mention the electoral college and the byzantine, crazy, non-standardized voting laws from county level, state level and federal level.
So, given that 2/3 majorities will not be forthcoming to amend these obstacles to democracy, what can one do? Vote R? Take a chance on an alternative candidate, although no one has heard of them? We are in a real dilemma
If we look to elections for our salvation, we are doomed. Its time and it has been time for a long while to hit the streets and stop cooperating with the system. Go on strike, refuse to pay taxes, and slow down the gears with non-cooperation. When the pain gets to be too much for them, we will see 'change we can believe in' and maybe even 'the audacity of hope'.
In Peace
But it has to be massive, coordinated, organized, targeted or else nobody notices. Some shmo doesn't pay her taxes and gets in trouble or a guy stops doing his job like Bartleby the Scrivner and gets labeled as a slacker. Who even notices or understands why?
My kids did not know what a grape was for 15 years. I was boycotting, but then realized nobody was paying attention, not even the farmworkers!
Joe
Dear President Obysmal: You better start wondering what Hell is going to look like.
As an envoy from there, he's probably already quite familiar with the decor.
It would take a real patriot to show him the way...
Bring America Back !!!! As Craig Brown says today
...'it just keeps getting Worse ...'
***The Beast of the mIlitary-industrial complex just keeps
rolling on and on and on ....
***Instead of curing and changing the DC Culture of Corrupton, Team Obama has been swallowed up by it, The Beast !
Today, Obama appoints Repubby Governor of Utah to a department head position!
Barak Obama looks more and more like a one-term Prez.
Just 120 days and his performance stinks.
"...high value targeting...men that...planning such activities."
This is the military attempting to achieve their goal of 'preventing future terrorism' by our announced or secret enemies.
Mr. Obama has brought a double threat to the team. This guy not only assassinates more efficiently but whitewashes as well.
The new general's effectiveness at winning wars cannot be evaluated as yet. His only victories so far have been over the Iraqi army and the American people. Talk about setting the bar low.
Congress started this insanity over 7 years ago and this week 60 members finally started taking some responsibility.
Only in America will they take a sleaze bag, professional bottom feeder like MCChrystal and promote him to the highest level of command---then take Lt Watda, and try him for refusing to obey an illegal order.
Then again, taking into consideration my often repeated "mantra" ----if America is to be history's negative example, then you really need to be NEGATIVE and WRONG; otherwise, your message looses its power.
From a promising beginning to now, America, your message is "Herculean"; your failure will be as well.
and when the dust and smoke have blown away or settled---humanity will never forget you
Good Luck America, you really need it.
What a surprise??!!! DICK Cheney had a secret bunch of torturers/assassins working directly for him who ran around the world doing just that.
Obama is now proving that he is 'owned' by the same cabal.
We are soo-oo-oo screwed.
Anybody really wonder why the "surge" worked in Iraq?
Now it will be repeated in Afghanistan.
But what is happening in Paksistan, under pressure from the Obama administration, which never thought Pakistan was "doing enough" is deplorable.
The main reason for dampening of violence during the surge was the bribing of Sunnis by Petreas to turn against Al Qaeda.
And that by that time most of Bagdad had already divided, through sectarian violence, into either mostly Shia or mostly Sunni areas.
In Afghanistan the problem is that Bush has always been paying the Warlords instead of building the nation.
"And that by that time most of Bagdad had already divided, through sectarian violence, into either mostly Shia or mostly Sunni areas."
Another way I've seen this put in a book is that everyone who could easily be murdered had been murdered by then.
But then I have also heard rumors of a new version of the Phoenix Program put to work in Baghdad at the time of the surge/Awakening. Does anyone know more details about that?
General McChrystal is a virtuous man. The only error was in the targeting. If he'd been sent after Yoo, Bush, Addington, then, finally, gone after the dragon Cheney himself, he'd be a hero and we'd erect a statue of him in Trafalgar Square.
As one who voted for Obama and is disappointed, I nevertheless remember the horror of Bush/Cheney and know we are in a far less evil game now. Still evil? You bet, that is imperialism.
But Obama does not have hit-squads roaming the streets of Beirut or Moghadishu to my knowledge. He is not 'the decider,' cheney is in a hole (jackson) where he belongs, and the EPA has Lisa Jackson....The Supreme Court Appointment will be pivotal.
"General McChrystal is a virtuous man."
Really? No military man in his position, no matter what the country is "a virtuous man". Making war the way these people do is avirtuous.
You actually don't know what Obama has. What he does have is a penchant for delivery and public relations. Nothing has changed save the facade on the rot. Sniff and the smell is still obvious.
"But Obama does not have hit-squads roaming the streets of Beirut or Moghadishu to my knowledge"
No, but he has them roaming the air of Pakistan.
McChrystal is a psychopathic freak.