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Iraq war

Black Agenda Radio on PRN, with Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey – Week of 5/13/13

Mon, 05/13/2013 - 16:14 — Glen Ford

Assata, JZ and Beyonce: The Connection

“Domestic law enforcement is at odds” with President Obama because of his “new approach to Latin America and the war on drugs,” said Dhoruba bin Wahad, former Black Panther and co-founder of the Black Liberation Army. According to bin Wahad, who spent 19 years in prison on political charges, Obama is seeking to “calm the shift in power to the Left in Latin America” in his second term. “JZ going to Cuba, getting a visa, was not coincidental,” he said. The recent JZ-Beyonce “trip was about opening up Cuba” to U.S. tourism, “to disrupt and undo the Cuban revolution.” Exiled former Black Panther Assata Shakur’s elevation to number one domestic terrorist on the FBI list “represents the disgruntlement of U.S. law enforcement” with this process.

The Betrayal of the Black Misleadership Class

The Black political class that emerged from the tumult of the Sixties became eager partners with corporate neoliberalism, said Jay Arena, author of Driven from New Orleans: How Non-Profits Betray Public Housing and Promote Privatization. The first generation of the post-Sixties Black political class “emerges just at the time when the national state begins their neoliberal austerity and privatization agenda – and they embraced that,” said Arena, a veteran activist and professor of sociology at the College of Staten Island, New York. Many Black politicians and non-profit organizations collaborated in the dismantling of public housing in New Orleans and cities across the nation.

Superpower Woes in Syria
“The United States, and any other imperialist nation on earth, has no right” to interfere with the internal affairs of Syria, said Jeff Mackler, national secretary of Socialist Action. Washington’s ambitions in Syria have been frustrated because “they don’t have any forces on the ground that they can trust to defend their interests.” The U.S. faced a similar situation in Iraq, and has no reliable allies on the ground in Afghanistan, either, said Mackler.

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Freedom Rider: Hidden War Crimes in Iraq

Wed, 04/03/2013 - 10:27 — Margaret Kimberley

by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley

The United States leaves an indelible impression on the peoples that come in contact with it: in the case of Iraqis, a legacy of death by bombs, bullets, incineration, starvation, disease and genetic damage. The U.S. didn’t event war crimes, but its global reach and high tech style of killing makes America unique in the annals of inhumanity.

The U.S. Scorched Earth Policy, Ten Years After Iraq Invasion

Wed, 03/13/2013 - 14:24 — Glen Ford

by BAR executive editor Glen Ford

In desperation to halt the slide into “non-empire” status, the U.S. makes every government on Earth a potential target for “humanitarian” military intervention. The imposition of chaos is Washington’s default foreign policy as an alternative to “the Chinese handwriting on the wall.”

Mali Invasion Shows That “Adieu” Does Not Always Mean

Tue, 01/22/2013 - 15:54 — Mark P. Fancher

 

by Mark P. Fancher

Whether rightists or “socialists,” all French governments believe in their inalienable right to dominate Africa. French troops are on the move in Mali and the Central African Republic, and not long ago overthrew the regime in Ivory Coast. If the colonial era has passed, somebody ought to tell Paris – and French-speaking Africans – the news.

Obama and the GOP Circus Show

Wed, 12/14/2011 - 15:03 — Glen Ford

 

by BAR executive editor Glen Ford

Having shown his hand over the last three years as an eager – although often spurned – partner in Republican austerity politics, and a war-maker who could make George Bush blush, President Obama will seek reelection with bankers’ money while pretending to remain “infuriated” with Wall Street. The banksters are in on the scam, since “nothing can match Obama’s crowning glory: the permanent bailout of finance capital.” The Republican candidate, whoever it is, will certainly spout an unambiguously pro-business line. But, “a GOP gaggle that savages itself for the privilege of singing the praises of the rich can only bring down the wrath of the people on the bankers’ heads.” Wall Street knows Obama is their true “shining knight.”

Freedom Rider: Is America Fascist?

Wed, 12/14/2011 - 00:47 — Margaret Kimberley

 

by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley

The classic government models of “fascism” are approaching 80 and 90 years old (Germany and Italy, respectively), regimes from a different world. Today, fascism looks like…us. And American fascism’s leaders need not be Aryan, or even pale. “The Obama administration insisted on keeping the language which permitted American citizens to be detained by the military without trial.” So, let’s update the historical record: Obama is the First Black Fascist President of the United States.

Is Obama Even Worse Than Bush?

Tue, 03/15/2011 - 20:50 — David Swanson

by David Swanson

George Bush threatened and blustered, while President Obama’s m.o. is to “operate through deceptive propaganda.” But substantively, Obama pursues – and expands on – Bush’s policies, and adds new twists of his own. “Obama should be prosecuted for his crimes,” but “the reason I can't get 20 people into the streets to demand Obama's impeachment is that nobody in Congress is even pretending to give a damn.”

U.S. Withdrawal from Iraq is Fiction

Wed, 08/25/2010 - 07:22 — Glen Ford

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford


Embedded corporate media rose to new heights of non-journalism as, on command, they conjured up an end to (America's) Iraq War based on nothing more than a change of nomenclature. Combat soldiers woke up one morning as "advise and assist" troops whose "bases" were magically transformed into "fortified compounds." Still, the U.S. empire has no intention of leaving Iraq - especially when there are so many available euphemisms for staying.


 

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Liberation's Lies

Tue, 04/20/2010 - 20:40 — Anonymous
iraq war crimesby Felicity Arbuthnot
The current imperial offensive not only physically destroys human beings on an industrial scale, it debases the souls of the aggressors. The voices of U.S. helicopter pilots as they fire cannons into innocent Iraqis on a neighborhood street corner, testify to an anti-human, “video game morality” among “America’s finest.”

Barack Obama and Langston Hughes on “Grumblers” and “Merry Christmas”

Wed, 12/23/2009 - 17:24 — Bruce A. Dixon

When US presidents offer us their holiday greeting messages, do we know what are they really saying?  How hard can it be to figure that out?  Langston Hughes died in 1967, but he knew what every US president, including Barack Obama is really saying, underneath and behind the mask.  

 

Obama Continues to Privatize America's Imperial Wars

Tue, 12/22/2009 - 18:54 — Glen Ford
A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
The Pentagon has methodically insulated its wars from most of U.S. civil society. “For the United States, war has devolved to a matter of contracts, a multi-trillion dollar cash cow for corporations, a self-perpetuating financial bubble that feeds the planet’s most dangerous and nonproductive, useless classes.” The mercenary is the ideal corporate warrior.

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The Grant Park Dream Has Died

Wed, 05/20/2009 - 02:09 — Paul A. Moore

 

by Paul A. Moore
What a difference four months make. On November 4, 2008, tears "tears flowed like a mighty river" from half a million pairs of eyes in Chicago's Grant Park, where Barack Obama made his victory speech. Today, "Obama has no intention of withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq and ending that war," "there will be no genuine single payer national health care system under this president," and Obama invites "voucher and charter school boosters to the White House." The dream has turned into a hoax.

 

Obama's First 100 Days -- The Black Agenda Report Card

Wed, 04/29/2009 - 12:22 — Bruce A. Dixon

by BAR Managing Editor Bruce A. Dixon

Why a Report Card At All?
The hundred day report card is an enduring tradition in American journalism for a very good reason. It's journalism's job to help citizens make sense of the world, to seek the truth and tell it without fear or favor no matter where it leads. Three months and a week into a new administration, everybody knows where the mens and ladies rooms are, most of the key hires are in place, and the bus has definitely cleared the station. There's plenty of evidence by now to assess where it's going, and whether it's anyplace we really ought to be headed.

Freedom Rider: Endless War

Wed, 03/04/2009 - 06:50 — Margaret Kimberley

warby BAR Editor and Senior Columnist Margaret Kimberley

Why are more Republicans happy with Obama's policies on government secrecy, wiretapping, non-withdrawal from Iraq, unqualified support for Israel and a host of other policies than most of the Democratic party's own base?  What do they know that many of us don't, or perhaps do not wish to know?

 

Obama To Leave 50,000 Troops In Iraq Indefinitely

Wed, 03/04/2009 - 05:14 — Glen Ford

Click the flash player above to hear this Black Agenda Radio commentary, or click here to download an mp3 copy.

rrrA Black Agenda Radio Commentary by Glen Ford

From a supposed "antiwar" candidate, to a fan of the murderous "surge," from a "no permanent bases" candidate to a "50,000 troops for the foreseeable future" president, Barack Obama, starting from the center, has progressed steadily rightward.

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