[McClatchy] Cancers strike veterans who deployed to Uzbek base where black goo oozed, ponds glowed.
Karshi-Khanabad, known as K2, was an old Soviet base leased by the United States from the Uzbek government just weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks because it was a few hundred miles from al Qaeda and Taliban targets in northern Afghanistan.
The base became a critical hub in the early days of the war to provide airdrops, medical evacuation and airstrike support to U.S. ground forces in Afghanistan.
But K2 was contaminated with chemical weapons remnants, radioactive processed uranium and other hazards, according to documents obtained by McClatchy.
At least 61 of the men and women who served at K2 had been diagnosed with cancer or died from the disease, according to a 2015 Army study on the base. But that number may not include the special operations forces deployed to K2, who were likely not counted due to the secrecy of their missions, the study reported.
As part of McClatchy’s continued investigation into the rising rates of cancers among veterans, members of those special operations forces units who were based at K2 are speaking out for the first time because of the difficulty they have faced in getting the Department of Veterans Affairs to cover their medical costs.
#1
Offshore. The strategy we need in the Asian theaters is that of the OFFSHORE balancer.
The root cause of so much of our misery is our forward deployments in Asian nations that make us hostage to the bad behaviors and/or hmellish conditions of nations located in Asia - Uzbekistan, Pakistan, the Magic Kingdom, post-Saddam Iraq ....
Shift our strategy to that of the Offshore Balancer recommended by our wiser foreign policy experts... i.e. the men who've been effectively ostracized FBI DC and shut out of policy making for, well, their entire careers.
[ToloNews] Milley said that too many officials across too many agencies worked on Afghanistan to cover-up some sort of deliberate lie.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley defended the 18-year war in Afghanistan, saying that the war in Afghanistan has achieved its objectives to prevent another 9/11-style attack on the US soil.
"I know there’s an assertion out there of some sort of coordinated lie over the course of 18 years," Milley told news hounds at the Pentagon on Friday morning. "I find that a bit of a stretch. More than a bit of a stretch, I find that a mischaracterization."
Milley said that too many officials across too many agencies worked on Afghanistan to cover-up some sort of deliberate lie.
"I just don’t think you can get that level of coordination to do that kind of deception," he said.
He said:
"Those were honest assessments and they were never intended to deceive either the Congress or the American people."
Defense Secretary Mark Esper also thought the idea of officials deliberately lying about the war wasn't plausible.
"For 18 years now, the media has been over there. The Congress has been there multiple times. We’ve had the SIGAR there. We’ve had IGs there. This has been a very transparent‐it’s not like this war was hiding somewhere and now all of a sudden there’s been a revelation.
"Some type of insinuation that there’s been this large-scale conspiracy is, to me, ridiculous," Esper said.
This comes a few days after the publication of some classified documents revealed by the Washington Post showed that the US officials seemed to be privately telling a different narrative about the war than the government and military was telling to the public.
More than 2,000 pages of previously unpublished "confidential" documents were released by the Washington Post last Monday containing, in many cases, very candid appraisals by government officials, diplomats, military officers and aid workers of the post-2001 war effort in Afghanistan. Many of the reports were critical of how the war was conducted‐on every level‐and how falsely it was reported up the chain of command and to the public.
The Washington Post characterized the interviews as revealing that "senior US officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan throughout the 18-year campaign, making rosy pronouncements they knew to be false and hiding unmistakable evidence the war had become unwinnable."
#1
The first big fail was having any objectives for Afghanistan whatsoever. The stalwarts of the deepState took it from there. Gawd knows where and how exactly the puzzle-box distributed the billions of US taxpayer money.
If the objective had been plain revenge, a punitive conquest and pounding of a tribal hellholel; it was still the wrong target. Like hellfiring a 'probable location' without proper intel, while the assault was clearly coming from elsewhere. Maybe the military hubris and 'never back down' came into play, but it was ridiculous to hammer your head for 18 years on unyielding rock.
I don't see how it is so difficult for the ⭔ and US Congress to accept that the real enemy is Pakistain. The complete blindness and denial seems contrived, because no one can be this stupid. Maybe the Congress I can understand, but not those who report to the President.
Of course, India is to blame too. Because if it wasn't such an inward complexed, non-committed, corrupt State keeping a neurotic leash on its military, the US and India could have together long neutralized the 'Stain. Immediately, the world would have noticed the momentum gone out of muslim extremism in their respective domains.
If India can get its act together in the next 5 years, there is still a window to achieve this, and the taliban in Afghanistan would be finished before it can grow stronger. But the more we wait, the greater a war it shall be. I believe one major reason the US does not wish to see Pakistain as a target is the laxity of India to rise up as a viable subcontinental ally.
#2
Bingo. Pakistan delenda est.
Get the hell out if Soddy while we're at it.
100% agree with the tactical approach of devastating punitive expeditions: devastating and delivered from offshore, without any large forward deployment of troops.
#4
His opinion, but certainly not universally shared. A dreadful place and equally dreadful people engaged in a tribal existence some 1000 or so years behind the modern world. Please find the door.
#5
Cause "I was just obeying orders" really isn't seen as much of a proper response?
How many GOs resigned over the conduct of the war? See - sanctuaries in Pakistan. When you get to that level, you are all bureaucratic politicians.
War is the ultimate purpose of your existence. Did they change their personnel system accordingly or did they just keep the old peacetime system in place? /rhet question
You rapidly promote success on the battlefield. There is no 'fair' time in commander. There is no fair in war. That means boards and assignment process are canned and allow the very reason for your existence determine who your commanders and GOs are going to be.
[Jpost] Montenegro will deploy troops to its borders in response to a rise in the number of migrants colonists passing through the country on a new Balkan route to the Europe ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... an Union.
Nearly 8,000 migrants colonists from the Middle East and North Africa transited Montenegro in 2019 en route to wealthier EU countries, nearly double the previous year's total, according to the International Organization for Migration.
"The army will be engaged to protect the state borders and assist law-enforcement agencies," the State Defence and Security Council said in a statement on Friday.
The deployment was expect to start by the end of the year.
The Balkan route for migrants colonists heading for western Europe via The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... , Greece and the countries of former Yugoslavia was shut down in 2016 by Ankara in return for EU aid and the promise of visa-free travel for its citizens.
[Rudaw] Ottoman Turkish President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important... said Friday that his country may impose retaliatory sanctions on the US if Washington goes ahead with the sanctions it has planned for The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... due to its military and economic deals with Russia. Oh Noes! How will we ever afford our Turkish imports of ...um...uh....nevermind Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
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#1
My God! The Shriners would have to go to China for their fezes!
[Daily Pioneer] External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar refused to meet Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal who introduced the Congressional resolution on Kashmir urging India to lift all the restrictions in Jammu & Kashmir imposed after revoking Article 370. The face of a dog who chased parked cars
Addressing a group of Indian reporters here on Thursday as he concluded his trip to Washington DC, which was primarily to attend the India-US 2+2 dialogue, Jaishankar said the resolution introduced this month in the House of Representatives was not a fair characterisation of the situation in Jammu & Kashmir.
"I am aware of that (Congressional) resolution. I don't think it's a fair understanding of the situation in Jammu & Kashmir, or a fair characterisation of what the Government of India is doing. And I have no interest in meeting her," he said in response to a question.
India has defended the restrictions in Kashmir on the grounds that they were imposed to prevent Pakistan from creating more mischief through proxies and terrorists following the abrogation of Article 370 which ended the special status of Jammu & Kashmir.
Do you treat the resolution currently in the (House Foreign Affairs) committee seriously: the resolution that criticises the situation in India?, the Minister was asked. "I have an interest in meeting people who are objective and open to discussion but not the people who already made up their minds," Jaishankar said in response.
Earlier, the Washington Post reported that Jaishankar "abruptly cancelled a meeting with senior members of Congress this week after US lawmakers refused demands to exclude" Jayapal from the meeting.
Jaishankar was to meet chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Congressman Eliot L Engel; committee's top Republican Michael McCaul and others, including Congresswoman Jayapal, the report said.
"This only furthers the idea that the Indian Government isn't willing to listen to any dissent at all. The seriousness of this moment should've been a reason for a conversation, not dictating who's in the meeting, which seems very petty," Jayapal was quoted as saying by the leading American daily.
Jayapal said she had planned to advance her resolution on Kashmir this week but was urged to wait until after meeting with Jaishankar. Now she plans to renew her push for the resolution in January, the report said.
"My constituents care about the muslimhuman rights situation, thousands of people detained without charges, and a communication crackdown that makes daily life more difficult," she was quoted as saying in the report. Commie bitch.
However, the Congressional sources familiar with the deliberations said that the meeting was cancelled as House Foreign Affairs Committee kept on changing the ground rules of the meeting and kept on adding new members to the list.
A day before the meeting they added Jayapal and several other lawmakers who were known India-bashers and sponsors of the Congressional resolutions on Kashmir, they said.
Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had earlier spoken to President Trump while the 'articles of impeachment' were being debated in the HoR. Jaishankar had a fruitful meet with Esper and Pompeo, and didn't see fit to waste time with commie traitors from a coup plotting posse.
#3
She's a malayali - dravidian ancestry based in Kerala. Born in Tamil Nadu and raised in Indonesia, singapore etc. I've found most malayalis were closet if not overt communists. Much narcissism and hubris in that culture, and a deep love for all things muslim for some damn reason. Also, a hostility toward fairer, northern Indians.
#6
I've found most malayalis were closet if not overt communists. Much narcissism and hubris in that culture, and a deep love for all things muslim for some damn reason.
That's one thing they share with Middle Eastern Christians.
#7
Communism is the go-to if you feel poor and want society to see to your comfort without effort on your part, allowing you to define it as generosity because you claim to want this for everyone, when in reality you don’t care who gets hurt so long as you get yours.
Under such conditions it takes great strength of character to demand only a fair chance to work hard and earn your way in the world.
[IsraelTimes] Move comes after United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... probe into alleged wrongdoing by UNRWA management clears organization of mismanaging donor funds.
Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... said Friday it had resumed payments to the UN’s embattled agency for Paleostinian refugees after a UN probe cleared the organization of allegations of mismanaging funds.
Switzerland was among a number of countries that halted their contributions to UNRWA earlier this year amid suspicions that the organization had misused donor funds.
The organization also faced allegations of "serious ethical abuses" by the management, including its then chief, Pierre Krahenbuhl, a Swiss citizen who resigned last month.
In early November, UN Secretary-General António Guterres ...Portuguese politician and diplomat, ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations. Previously, he was the UN High Commissioner for Refugees between 2005 and 2015. He was the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002 and was the Secretary-General of the Socialist Party from 1992 to 2002. He served as President of the Socialist International from 1999 to 2005. In both a 2012 and 2014 poll, the Portuguese public ranked him as the best Prime Minister of the previous 30 years... released a statement saying the preliminary findings of an internal UN probe found no "fraud or misappropriation of operational funds" by Krahenbuhl.
"There are, however, managerial issues that need to be addressed," his statement said.
An internal ethics report has alleged senior management engaging in "sexual misconduct, nepotism, retaliation, discrimination and other abuses of authority, for personal gain, to suppress legitimate dissent, and to otherwise achieve their personal objectives."
The Swiss foreign ministry told AFP in an email Friday that Guterres had confirmed in a letter sent to Bern on December 3 that "the probe uncovered no evidence of misappropriation of funds."
The ministry also highlighted reforms put in place by UNRWA to better manage donor funds.
"Taking into account the measures taken and the confirmation from the UN Secretary-General that no donor funds had been misappropriated, [Switzerland] has decided to resume its payments to UNRWA," it said.
Before halting its payments to the agency, Switzerland had already dished out 25 million Swiss francs ($25.4 million) in 2019.
In 2018, the wealthy Alpine nation provided the organization with funds of 26 million francs.
UNRWA was set up in the years after more than 700,000 Paleostinians were expelled or fled their lands during the 1948 war surrounding the creation of Israel.
It provides schooling and medical services to millions of impoverished refugees in Jordan, Leb and Syria as well as the Paleostinian territories, and employs around 30,000 people, mostly Paleostinians.
[JPost] - The Shin Bet announced on December 18 that it arrested approximately 50 members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), ending the investigation into the August 23 terror attack that killed 17-year-old Rina Shnerb and revealing the organization’s ties to BDS, JNS reported. Shnerb’s brother and father, both of whom were with her during the explosion were injured, but survived.
One of those arrested was Khalida Jarrar, who is said to be the head of the terror group’s operations in the West Bank, served as the vice chairperson, director and board member of the BDS organization Addameer, according to JNS. The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement calls on the world to put pressure on Israel through economic, academic and cultural measures. We're going to nag Jews into going to gas chambers?
...In a report entitled, "Terrorists in Suits," Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs revealed that Hamas and PFLP members invaded organizations involved in BDS, according to JNS. The report stated that 30 terrorists, 20 of whom were imprisoned for their crimes, held senior positions in the 13 BDS organizations that were investigated. More than 100 connections between terror organizations and BDS were uncovered.
[Jpost] The statement by the Shin Bet named multiple PFLP leaders that were linked to non-governmental organizations, several of which receive direct funding from the United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks....
The Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) has announced that is uncovered a 50-person terror network operating out of the West Bank in cooperation with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine (PLFP).
The statement by the Shin Bet named multiple PFLP leaders that were linked to non-governmental organizations, several of which receive direct funding from the United Nations.
Continued on Page 49
[IsraelTimes] Mansour Saif al-Din Mourad, a member of Jordan’s House of Representatives, claims that he was inspired to perpetrate attack by ex-Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser.
A Jordanian parliamentarian bragged about carrying out a terrorist attack on an El Al office in Athens, Greece in the 1960s and claimed that he was inspired to perpetrate it by former Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser.
Mansour Saif al-Din Mourad, a member of the Jordanian House of Representatives, the lower house of the Hashemite Kingdom’s parliament, made the remark in an interview with Jordan’s A One TV on December 9. It was not immediately clear what attack he was taking responsibility for.
Continued on Page 49
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
[Daily Pioneer] External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar refused to meet Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal who introduced the Congressional resolution on Kashmir urging India to lift all the restrictions in Jammu & Kashmir imposed after revoking Article 370.
...Portuguese politician and diplomat, ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations. Previously, he was the UN High Commissioner for Refugees between 2005 and 2015. He was the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002 and was the Secretary-General of the Socialist Party from 1992 to 2002. He served as President of the Socialist International from 1999 to 2005. In both a 2012 and 2014 poll, the Portuguese public ranked him as the best Prime Minister of the previous 30 years...
