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Obama would require women to register with the Selective Service
Even as the U.S. confronts two long wars, neither Sen. John McCain nor Sen. Barack Obama believes the country should take the politically perilous step of reviving the military draft.
But the two presidential candidates disagree on a key foundation of any future draft: Mr. Obama supports a requirement for both men and women to register with the Selective Service, while Mr. McCain doesn't think women should have to register.
Also, Mr. Obama would consider officially opening combat positions to women. Mr. McCain would not.
"Women are already serving in combat [in Iraq and Afghanistan] and the current policy should be updated to reflect realities on the ground," said Wendy Morigi, Mr. Obama's national security spokeswoman. "Barack Obama would consult with military commanders to review the constraints that remain."
According to his campaign, Mr. McCain supports the current Department of Defense restrictions on women in combat units, including armor, field artillery and special forces.
In 1980, President Jimmy Carter revived the Selective Service system, which compiles a list of nearly all men in the U.S. between 18 and 25 in case a crisis forces the government to undertake a massive expansion of the military.
Both Congress and the Supreme Court have exempted women from registration because of the combat rules.
For years, that position has rankled some women's rights groups and men who face penalties for not registering -- including loss of employment with the federal government -- at a time when female soldiers regularly find themselves in dangerous situations in Iraq and Afghanistan, both conflicts without defined battlefields.
Yet he doesn't want to see a return to mandatory service, for men or women, according to his presidential campaign.
Mr. Obama has said repeatedly that he will draw down the U.S. military presence in Iraq if he becomes president, but he has also said he would increase the number of troops in Afghanistan, where Taliban forces have seen a resurgence in recent years.
During a CNN/YouTube debate for Democratic presidential candidates last year, he said he doesn't "agree" with the draft.
But he did say women should be expected to register with the Selective Service, comparing the role of women to black soldiers and airmen who served during World War II, when the armed forces were still segregated.
"There was a time when African-Americans weren't allowed to serve in combat," Mr. Obama said. "And yet, when they did, not only did they perform brilliantly, but what also happened is they helped to change America, and they helped to underscore that we're equal.
"And I think that if women are registered for service -- not necessarily in combat roles, and I don't agree with the draft -- I think it will help to send a message to my two daughters that they've got obligations to this great country as well as boys do." Even as the U.S. confronts two long wars, neither Sen. John McCain nor Sen. Barack Obama believes the country should take the politica... more -
What you need to know about Fluoride Especially if your an MD
Would you drink a cup of pesticides? What about a cup of chemical water? Chlorine in tap water results in cancer and many other diseases, according to researchers worldwide. Would you drink a cup of pesticides? What about a cup of chemical water? Chlorine in tap water results in cancer and many other diseas... more
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Iraqi PM says UK troops can go home
Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki said that British troops are "no longer needed as a fighting force" in Iraq. He believes local troops are now capable of maintaining security and control. Maliki was appreciative for the work UK troops have done in the region but also critical of Britain's move from Basra to their base at the airport earlier this year. He called that decision premature and said because British forces stayed away from the confrontation, the gangs and militias were better able to control the city. Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki said that British troops are "no longer needed as a fighting force" in Iraq. He believes loca... more
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No al-Qaida fighters reported dead in US airstrike
DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan - The latest in a barrage of suspected U.S. missile strikes in Pakistan's northwest killed five people, but none was believed to be a foreign al-Qaida fighter, officials said Sunday.
Two drone aircraft were seen above the town of Miran Shah in the North Waziristan tribal region minutes before missiles hit a house near a matchbox factory Saturday, two intelligence officials said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. They said reports from local informants said there were no foreigners among the dead.
Meanwhile, clashes with security forces reportedly killed 52 suspected militants in two neighboring tribal regions, officials said. The accounts were impossible to verify in the remote and dangeorus area.
Pakistan's Frontier Corps in a vague, two-sentence press release Sunday said its paramilitary troops had clashed with militants in Orakzai, killing 27 of the alleged insurgents including two "commanders." The statement also said a dozen of the dead were alleged suicide bombers. DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan - The latest in a barrage of suspected U.S. missile strikes in Pakistan's northwest killed five people... more -
Interview:Iraq Vets Against the War-explain 3rd Prez Debate Protest action 1/2
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/260976
Interview :Iraq Vets Against the War (IVAW)-Debate Protest, segment 1 of 2 (10 in total)
Sgt Matthis Chiroux explains the IVAW decision to approach the Debate to ask candidates Obama and McCain one question each.
Former Marine Kristofer Goldsmith is the second veteran who will participate w/ a question.
The action is based on a partially succcessful engagement @ the DNC on Aug 27/2008. Interview by GlobalPundit.Org for DigitalJournal.com, TheUptake.org, Dynasty Communications,+ http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/260976 ... more -
Interview:Iraq Vets Against the War-Oct 15 Prez Debate Protest 2 of 2
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/260976
Interview :Iraq Vets Against the War (IVAW)-Debate Protest, segment 2 of 2 (10 in total) Sgt Matthis Chiroux explains the IVAW decision to approach the Debate to ask candidates Obama and McCain one question each.
Former Marine Kristofer Goldsmith is the second veteran who will participate w/ a question.
The action is based on a partially succcessful engagement @ the DNC on Aug 27/2008. Interview by GlobalPundit.Org for DigitalJournal.com, TheUptake.org, Dynasty Communications,+ http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/260976 ... more -
Atlanta SWAT teams get insane new militarized weaponry
Atlanta Cops Roll Out SWAT APC
For what?
It’s no big deal, insists the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. It’s just the local cops with a $500,000 APC. For you civilians, that’s Armored Personnel Carrier.
“Don’t be surprised to see an Army tank rolling down a street near you,” chides the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “The Cobb County police department has refurbished a donated Armored Personnel Carrier for officers to use in SWAT situations.”
Apparently, the cops think those on the receiving end of any SWAT operation using this military vehicle are armed to the teeth like the resistance in Iraq or maybe the Taliban in Afghanistan. It certainly is not needed for busting the average dope dealer, even one hopped up on PCP.
Equipped with thermal sensors, computerized tracking devices, night vision, tear gas launchers and other gadgets, the all-black six-wheel unit can hold up to nine SWAT officers.
It has a new engine and transmission, which will allow it to reach a speed of 60 miles per hour.
“In these times, you don’t know what you are facing,” Cobb police chief George Hatfield said. “We want the maximum safety for our officers and the public. We want to be prepared for whatever comes up. This is another tool that will allow us to be quicker and faster in our response.”
The L.A.V. 300 will also send a message to the civilians — increasingly, there is little difference between the cops and the military. In order to get the message out, the APC will be on display at Marietta’s town square, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Atlanta Cops Roll Out SWAT APC For what? ... more -
New killer drones could be piloted by teens fresh out of boot camp
Today, only experienced Air Force pilots are allowed to remotely-operate the American fleet of killer drones. Tomorrow, the heavily-armed robotic planes could be flown by 19 year-olds, barely out of basic training.
The Army and Marine Corps use Shadow unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to spy on suspected militants. Not only are they smaller, cheaper, lighter, and lower-flying than the Air Force's array of missile-laden Predator and Reaper drones. But Shadows are considered a "tactical assets," meant to watch over relatively small patches of ground, for relatively small units. Predators, on the other hand, are "theater" or "operational-level" assets -- controlled by generals, and sent all over.
As a result, ground forces often use the most junior of noncommissioned officers to fly their Shadows -- teenagers who've sometimes never even been in combat. In contrast, the Air Force only allows rated pilots -- guys trained to operate a B-52 or an F-15 -- to fly their Predators. "You have to understand flight, know how to talk to a controller," then Air Force Colonel Tom Ehrhard told me a few years back. "It takes an aviator to do that."
But those aviators are worn out from non-stop drone-piloting duty. And it often takes a while to get a big UAV like a Predator over to where a captain or a colonel needs it.
Which is why there's a new military development program underway to "weaponize Shadow" for Special Forces, Inside Defense reports. "The goal is to pair firepower with sophisticated visual sensors, giving lower-echelon UAV operators capabilities heretofore reserved for operational-level unmanned systems."
Which means those young privates and corporals and specialists could be controlling killer drones, some day soon.
It's part of a broader Pentagon effort to make armed UAVs cheaper, and more plentiful. John Wilcox, with the Office of the Secretary of Defense, tells Inside Defense, "We're also going to look at weaponizing a couple more small UAVs." With one-to-five-pound weapons, these tny killers could take out high-value targets -- "or hold a target at risk until bigger and better operational platforms with more ordnance get onto the battlefield." Today, only experienced Air Force pilots are allowed to remotely-operate the American fleet of killer drones. Tomorrow, the heavily-ar... more -
Bush deploys military in the US for active duty as federal response force
A Wikinews article I'm writing. No worries about the under development thing, just going to publish it tommorrow after our military source responds. A full look at the 'coup'.
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US President Bush deployed the 3rd Infantry Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team to a new role on United States soil last Wednesday, training for dealing with national crises. Critics claims that act of the Executive Branch violates the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits military participation in domestic matters.
In 2007, the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act was introduced; it overturned the Posse Comitatus Act by allowing the Commander in Chief to suppress 'insurrection' or 'restore order'. When it was repealed in 2008, Bush stated that he was not bound by the later repeal.
The combat team, renamed CCMRF, has been assigned for year-long training at Fort Stewart to prepare them for "civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios" such as security or natural disasters. After a year, a new unit will take its place.
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Read more at the link :) A Wikinews article I'm writing. No worries about the under development thing, just going to publish it tommorrow after our milita... more -
Militarizing the “homeland”: NORTHCOM’s joint task force - civil support
Antifascist Calling reported October 6 that nine months prior to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Donald Rumsfeld signed off on revisions for the Pentagon’s secretive Continuity of Operations Program (COOP).
Based on a document (AR 500-3) published by the whistleblowing website Wikileaks, it described “all hazards COOP planning” as the mechanism by which “the Army remains capable of continuing mission-essential operations during any situation, including military attack, terrorist activities, and natural or man-made disasters.”
The Wikileaks document is all the more relevant since a September report in Army Times described how the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team (BCT) would be deployed October 1 “under the day-to-day control of US Army North,” the “service component” of NORTHCOM.
Since that article appeared September 8, Army Times has done a partial climb-down and now claims that the “non-lethal crowd control package” described earlier for operations in the heimat, “is intended for use on deployments to the war zone, not in the US, as previously stated.”
But this mendacious claim by Army Times is belied by current political trends in the US. Under cover of the “war on terror,” driftnet surveillance and moves toward suppressing dissent, most recently on display when protests during the Democratic and Republican National Conventions were criminalized and organizers were charged with “domestic terrorism” under the Patriot Act, are but the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
Wholesale spying on activists by the Pentagon’s now defunct Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA), as well as revelations that State police agencies in Maryland routinely spied on antiwar organizers, shared this information with the National Security Agency and classified them as “terrorists” in government-run databases, are viewed as exemplary means to “keep the rabble in line”–and under wraps, if necessary.
A highly disturbing report by Christopher Ketchum in the May/June 2008 issue of Radar Magazine, outlined how the top secret Main Core database linked to Continuity of Government contingency planning, “includes dissidents and activists of various stripes, political and tax protesters, lawyers and professors, publishers and journalists, gun owners, illegal aliens, foreign nationals, and a great many other harmless, average people.”
[...]
by Tom Burghardt
Global Research
Continued at above link.
Photo used with permission from http://stpaulrnc.shutterfly.com/20 Antifascist Calling reported October 6 that nine months prior to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Donald Rumsfeld signed off on revisions f... more -
Taking the Army and completely transforming it
Marine Corps Gen. James E. Cartwright, speaking to a group of Marine Corps University students during the Erskine lecture series, said the U.S. military’s priority is to win the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and be ready for future challenges and threats. Marine Corps Gen. James E. Cartwright, speaking to a group of Marine Corps University students during the Erskine lecture series, said... more
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US Army "prepares to invade the US"
This is not an exercise in alternate realities. This is happening in America. With all that we know of human nature, the lessons from history, and the inevitably corrupting effect of power on the human brain, there should be no doubt left in our minds that if all the chess pieces are aligned, it is only a matter of time until checkmate.
By JS McDougall This is not an exercise in alternate realities. This is happening in America. With all that we know of human nature, the lessons from ... more -
THE FACTS ABOUT CHENEY’S CUTS TO KEY MILITARY PROGRAMS
Cheney Proposed Cutting Weapons Programs That Were Important to
Success in Iraq. In 1990, Cheney proposed cutting 90 C-17 Air Force
cargo transport planes and 14 B-52 bombers. Cheney also sought the
retirement of two Navy battleships, two nuclear cruisers, and eight
nuclear-powered attack submarines. In 1991, Cheney scrapped the
Navy’s A-12 Stealth attack plane, a fighter that was proclaimed to be
a key part of the future of navy aviation in advanced stealth technology. Cheney Proposed Cutting Weapons Programs That Were Important to Success in Iraq. In 1990, Cheney proposed cutting 90 C-17 Air Force ... more -
Destructive Power of Nuclear Weapons
Excuse the bad music.
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U.S. May Remove North Korea from Terrorism List
"Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice could announce as early as Friday that the United States will remove North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, FOX News learned Thursday.
Sources at the State Department told FOX News that there is a potential deal under which the U.S. would de-list North Korea. The deal was discussed during a meeting Thursday morning between Rice and other government agencies.
Sources tell FOX News that it was a direct result of North Korea’s decision to allow U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill recently to inspect its nuclear facilities, including the Yongbyon plant.
Removing North Korea from the terror list would be a major step in mending relations between the reclusive communist nation and the United States, though it also would come amid concerns about North Korea's weapons program.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has said in recent days North Korea appeared to have been powering up its nuclear program and testing missiles. American satellite images confirmed reports of short-range missile testing recently, but the U.S. said those moves would not mean the death of international efforts to persuade North Korea to recommit to an agreement that offers it diplomatic and economic concessions in exchange for nuclear disarmament.
Some officials in Washington have criticized the idea of de-listing North Korea, even labeling the agreement a "get out of jail free card," as key issues, including reported assistance by North Korea to Syria in establishing a nuclear weapons program, are left unaddressed.
Assistant Secretary of Verification and Compliance and Implementation Paula de Sutter told FOX News that she was disappointed that the Verification bureau has not been included in any meetings on what Ambassador Hill brought from Pyongyang and not included in any meetings at the NSC." "Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice could announce as early as Friday that the United States will remove North Korea from its li... more -
Report: U.S. spied on Americans' intimate conversations abroad
"Congress is looking into allegations that National Security Agency linguists have been eavesdropping on Americans abroad.
Government linguists say the U.S. eavesdropped on Americans, including military officers serving in Iraq.
The congressional oversight committees said Thursday that the Americans targeted included military officers in Iraq who called friends and family in the United States.
The allegations were made by two former military intercept operators on a television news report Thursday evening.
A terrorist surveillance program instituted by the Bush administration allows the intelligence community to monitor phone calls between the United States and overseas without a court order -- as long as one party to the call is a terror suspect.
Adrienne Kinne, a former U.S. Army Reserves Arab linguist, told ABC News the NSA was listening to the phone calls of U.S. military officers, journalists and aid workers overseas who were talking about "personal, private things with Americans who are not in any way, shape or form associated with anything to do with terrorism."
David Murfee Faulk, a former U.S. Navy Arab linguist, said in the news report that he and his colleagues were listening to the conversations of military officers in Iraq who were talking with their spouses or girlfriends in the United States.
According to Faulk, they would often share the contents of some of the more salacious calls stored on their computers, listening to what he called "phone sex" and "pillow talk."
Both Kinne and Faulk worked at the NSA listening facility at Fort Gordon, Georgia. They told ABC that when linguists complained to supervisors about eavesdropping on personal conversations, they were ordered to continue transcribing the calls.
NSA spokeswoman Judith Emmel said the agency's Inspector General has investigated some of the allegations and found them "unsubstantiated." Other accusations are still being looked at, she said.
The NSA operates in "strict accordance with U.S. laws and regulations," she said. "Any allegation of wrongdoing by employees is thoroughly investigated" and if misconduct is discovered, "we take swift and certain remedial action."
CIA Director Mike Hayden, who was the head of the NSA when the terrorist surveillance program began, has always maintained that private conversations of Americans are not intercepted and if it should happen inadvertently, the name is removed from the record.
"At NSA, the law was followed assiduously," said Hayden's spokesman, Mark Mansfeld. "The notion that Gen. Hayden sanctioned or tolerated illegalities of any sort is ridiculous on its face."
Author Jim Bamford was the first to interview the two former NSA linguists for his new book, "The Shadow Factory," which will be published next week. Bamford told CNN the accounts from the whistle-blowers demonstrate the NSA was listening to the private conversations of Americans, transcribing them and keeping them.
"They don't delete them," he said.
Bamford has written two other books on the NSA and was a party to an unsuccessful ACLU lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Terrorist Surveillance Program."
More at link, what do you think? "Congress is looking into allegations that National Security Agency linguists have been eavesdropping on Americans abroad. ... more -
US report says Afghanistan conflict rapidly worsening
Fears over the Afghanistan conflict rose another notch Thursday, amid reports of a bleak draft US intelligence assessment detailing its slide into corruption, drugs and insurgent violence.
"The trends across the board are not going in the right direction," Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told reporters at a breakfast.
"It will be tougher next year unless we get at all these challenges."
The New York Times said the draft National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) casts doubts on the ability of Afghan President Hamid Karzai to stem the resurgence of the Taliban Islamic militia.
A spokesman for the Director of National Intelligence would not acknowledge the existence of such an NIE on Afghanistan.
And a US intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP the assessment process was still in its early stages and "its conclusions are premature."
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she expected to be briefed soon on the classified assessment, which represents the consensus view of 16 US intelligence agencies.
"We have asked for the intelligence community to take a look, it's important that it do so," Rice told reporters during a meeting in Washington with Maris Riekstins, Latvia's foreign minister.
"I would just cite that Afghanistan is a difficult place. It has made progress since 2001. We have all talked about new circumstances that have arisen there, and we are doing a review to see what more we can do," she added.
A US military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that the downbeat "tone and direction" of the intelligence assessment was not unexpected.
"We heard about this for several weeks, and (were) not surprised by the tone it conveyed -- that the situation in Afghanistan was getting worse, certainly not better, and that a lot more attention was needed to try to remedy what is going on," said the official.
The White House has already launched an urgent strategy review led by Lieutenant General Douglas Lute, a deputy national security adviser and coordinator of the US war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Defense Department, State Department, Treasury and other key government agencies are taking part in the review, US officials have said.
Rice said the State Department was reviewing its operations, including those involving the Provincial Reconstruction Teams where civilian experts travel with military protection to remote parts of the country to help rebuild it.
So far, the administration has promised one combat brigade by February, citing constraints imposed by the war in Iraq.
Military commanders have warned that a political solution is needed, but that corruption and a flourishing narcotics trade are undermining public support for the central government.
The draft intelligence estimate concludes that the breakdown in central authority in Afghanistan has been accelerated by rampant corruption within the Karzai government and by increasingly sophisticated insurgent attacks from safe havens in Pakistan, the Times said.
The report says the heroin trade by some estimates accounts for 50 percent of Afghanistan's economy, it said.
Militant networks operating from Pakistan, meanwhile, have coalesced into a more complex insurgency capable of more sophisticated military operations, US military officials have said.
T Fears over the Afghanistan conflict rose another notch Thursday, amid reports of a bleak draft US intelligence assessment detailing it... more -
Army's life-or-death drama: To combat suicides, service introduces interactiv...
Alarmed by a record rate of suicide in its ranks, the Army yesterday unveiled a unique prevention tool -- an interactive video to be mandatory viewing Army-wide -- in which soldiers will play the role of an anguished infantryman and make virtual choices that lead the character to get help or, in the worst case, shoot himself in the head.
"This is you: Specialist Kyle Norton," a male narrator begins, putting soldiers in the boots of a 19-year-old Midwesterner after a bomb-clearing mission in Iraq.
The video, titled "Beyond the Front," leads the viewer through a detailed drama in which Norton is hit by relationship troubles, financial problems and scrapes with the law -- what Army research shows are major events that precipitate suicide. Norton is blindsided by an e-mail from his fiancee, who has become pregnant by another man. He is devastated further when one of his best friends is killed in an ambush.
Questions pop onto the screen at key moments, prompting the viewer to decide whether to get help -- by opening up with buddies, Norton's sergeant or a chaplain. Depending on the choices, Norton edges toward recovery or sinks deeper into suicidal thoughts. The goal is to immerse the viewer into Norton's life in a way that makes preventive lessons stick, say Army officials and the video's creators.
The video is one of several initiatives launched by the Army to try to stem the suicide rate among active-duty soldiers. That rate increased from 12.4 per 100,000 in 2003, when the Iraq war started, to 18.1 per 100,000 last year.
This year, 93 active-duty soldiers killed themselves through the end of August, the latest data show. A third of those cases are under investigation by the Armed Forces Medical Examiner's Office. In all of 2007, 115 soldiers committed suicide. Suicide attempts by soldiers have also increased since 2003.
If the trend continues, the death rate this year is likely to exceed that of a demographically similar segment of the U.S. population -- 19.5 per 100,000, Stephens said -- which has not happened since the Vietnam War Alarmed by a record rate of suicide in its ranks, the Army yesterday unveiled a unique prevention tool -- an interactive video to be m... more -
Whales vs The US Navy
"Supreme Court justices voiced skepticism Wednesday about a federal judge's limits on naval sonar exercises off Southern California to protect whales, dolphins and other marine mammals.
The case, which pits military against environmental interests, arose because the Navy skipped the usual environmental impact statement for anti-submarine exercises planned from February 2007 to January 2009.
After the Natural Resources Defense Council sued, a district court judge in Los Angeles restricted the Navy's use of the mid-frequency active sonar, saying it would lead to a "near certainty" of irreparable harm to marine life. A U.S. appeals court affirmed but eased the restrictions on the location and timing of sonar exercises for the strike groups being deployed overseas.
The case tests the latitude for judges reviewing whether military exercises meet the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act and the ability of an administration to resist a judge's order.
President Bush has asserted that the Navy should be able to undertake sonar exercises without the usual environmental-rules compliance.
Garre said any injuries to dolphins or whales would be temporary, for example to their feeding or breeding patterns. He added that Judge Cooper discounted "vital public interests."
Richard Kendall of the Natural Resources Defense Council said "beaked whales have (been) stranded repeatedly around the world" by sonar.
Sonar works as vessels emit a loud noise underwater and listen for whether the noise bounces back off a submarine. Kendall likened the sound for marine mammals to that a jet engine would make in the courtroom "multiplied … by 2,000 times."
More at link, what do you think? "Supreme Court justices voiced skepticism Wednesday about a federal judge's limits on naval sonar exercises off Southern Cal... more -
Fighting for the Lost in Kabul
With over 1500 deaths, 2008 is the deadliest year for Afghan civilians since the fall of the Taliban. In the middle of this chaos, a young American named Erica Gaston is working to bring recognition to the “collateral damage” of our War on Terror. Meeting with displaced families in a refugee camp in Western Kabul, she learns about an airstrike that killed 15 villagers, an attack where no one ever bothered — at the very least — to apologize. With over 1500 deaths, 2008 is the deadliest year for Afghan civilians since the fall of the Taliban. In the middle of this chaos, a y... more
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