Bombs Away U.S. of A.

How many countries has 'the United States of America' attacked this month?

U.S. & Iranian Interests Aligned Against the Taliban?

Interesting news item about the origins of the Taliban and their relationship with Iran and Pakistan, from CNN 1998:

Pakistan was the first of only three countries to recognize the Taliban government, and as many as 40 percent of the militia members studied in religious schools in Pakistan.

This would have been good to know when planning retaliation for the bombing of the USS Cole or the 9/11 attacks.  Do you think that Mr. Clinton or Mr. Bush read this story?  Could any of their dozens of advisers mention to them that the Taliban is largely composed of people from Pakistan?

On another note, it seems critical to understand that the Taliban and Iran were involved in a mini-war with each other.

from PBS, 1998

We were told that the U.S. bombed Afghanistan in the hope of killing bin Laden after his gang bombed U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998.  Would it not have been useful for 500,000 Iranian military members to help the U.S. government fight their war against the Taliban in Afghanistan?

Mr. Clinton, Mr. Bush & Mr. Blair had the chance to gain assistance from a powerful enemy of the Taliban and chose to go it alone instead.  Why did they turn against a potential partner in Iran and create further division between the Middle-East and the West?

Only a few people truly know the reasons for these actions.  Unfortunately, they are probably not going to let us in on the secret, leaving us to speculate about their behavior.

Social Outcast Harbored by TIME Magazine

Before I saw this clip I thought I had heard everything.  Now I know otherwise.

Towards the end of this three minute debate with Joe Scarborough on the topic of killer computers in the sky (i.e. drones) Joe Klein from TIME says "The bottom line is...whose four-year old gets killed".

 

The Speech Police in Pakistan and the U.S.

It's been nearly two years since the state of Pakistan banned it's subjects from visiting YouTube.  Finally the tide against the statute is gaining enough steam that lifting of the ban is now likely.

The PTA's Vision

Censorship is often the result of the people calling themselves "the state" feeling their authority being threatened.  Fortunately for them state run monopolies like the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority or the Federal Communications Commission provide the tools to prevent communication among it's subjects.

In these United States just five people claim to be the speech police.  These five people believe:

Obscene material is not protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution and cannot be broadcast at any time.

Regardless of the location or medium, should five human beings have the monopoly privilege to prevent 318,000,000 from sharing & accessing information?

3,000 Unsolved Murder Cases

Over the past decade 3,000 people in Pakistan have been murdered by bombs dropping out of the sky over their homes, farms and businesses.

Investigations into the murder cases are in full swing.  Charges against the perpetrators and court cases to follow.  Details from NBC News in the video below.

Putting a Face to Murder Victims in Pakistan

How will U.S. military drone pilots react when they see this through their video feed?

Can Art Save Lives? -AFP Photo

DAWN.com has details of Pakistani artists who have plastered fields with giant posters of drone murder victims*.  Their hope is to "create empathy and introspective" among the drone pilots.  If art can save lives then these artists deserve a peace prize.      

*In the past decade 2,300 Pakistani's have been killed by U.S. drones.