Poll: Waning support for Obama on wars

WASHINGTON — Public support for President Obama's Afghanistan war policy has plummeted amid a rising U.S. death toll and the unauthorized release of classified military documents, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll shows.

Support for Obama's management of the war fell to 36%, down from 48% in a February poll. Now, a record 43% also say it was a mistake to go to war there after the terrorist attacks in 2001.

The decline in support contributed to the lowest approval ratings of Obama's presidency. Amid a lengthy recession, more Americans support his handling of the economy (39%) than the war.

Even Obama's handling of the war in Iraq received record-low approval, despite a drawdown of 90,000 troops and the planned, on-schedule end of U.S. combat operations there this month.

Only 41% of those surveyed Tuesday through Sunday approved of the way Obama is handling his job, his lowest rating in the USA TODAY/Gallup Poll since he took office in January 2009. In Gallup's separate daily tracking poll, his approval was at 45% Monday.

By Michael Collins

"So once again, and for the last time, we ask the question: How does this alter the prevailing conventional wisdom about the war?" Chris Floyd, Leaky Vessels: Wikileaks "Revelations" Will Comfort Warmongers, Confirm Conventional Wisdom, Empire Burlesque, July 26, 27

Wikileaks head honcho Julian Assange may be annoyed with the 911 Truth movement and all those conspiracy theories. But he may be appalled when he reads that one of the leading authors and researchers on imperialism and the Iraq war, Chris Floyd, has taken him to task for making much ado about nothing.

Floyd makes his case early on in the article, with maximum effect:

The latest wikileaks release appears to be directly targeted at Pakistan - at least that is the way it is being spun in the news.

Specifically they are saying that Pakistan is colluding with the Taliban.

The Pakistan connection was the top story on the BBC World News yesterday. Extraordinarily, the news presenter admitted that the US military may indeed welcome the release of this information!

The Pakistan Government is vehemently rejecting the accusations of supporting the Taliban. On the BBC the Pakistani government spokesperson said that the whole affair was an attempt to sabotage the US/Pakistan relationship. This comes at a time when the US is stepping up predator drone attacks against targets in Pakistan.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/25/AR201007...

WikiLeaks page: http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/Afghan_War_Diary,_2004-2010

By KIMBERLY DOZIER
The Associated Press
Sunday, July 25, 2010; 7:44 PM

WASHINGTON -- Some 90,000 leaked U.S. military records posted online Sunday amount to a blow-by-blow account of six years of the Afghanistan war, including unreported incidents of Afghan civilian killings as well as covert operations against Taliban figures.

The online whistle-blower WikiLeaks posted the documents on its website Sunday. The New York Times, London's Guardian newspaper and the German weekly Der Spiegel were given early access to the documents.

The White House condemned the document disclosure, saying it "put the lives of Americans and our partners at risk."

In a statement, White House national security adviser Gen. Jim Jones took pains to point out that the documents describe a period from January 2004 to December 2009, during the administration of President George W. Bush.

Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-rnc-steele-20100703...

". . . Michael Steele would do well to remember that we are not in Afghanistan by our own choosing — that we were attacked," Democratic National Committee spokesman Brad Woodhouse said in a statement.

Michael Steele under fire over Afghanistan remarks

The Republican National Committee chairman is caught on video saying the conflict is a 'war of Obama's choosing' and implying that the U.S. effort is doomed. Conservatives call for his resignation.

By Michael Memoli, Tribune Washington Bureau

July 2, 2010 | 3:45 p.m.

Reporting from Washington — Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele is facing a new test of his leadership over comments he made that appear to question America's military effort in Afghanistan.

Video footage that emerged Friday shows Steele referring to the conflict as "a war of Obama's choosing" and implying that the effort is doomed to fail.

Members of WE ARE CHANGE OTTAWA went to Rideau Center for our 11th of Every Month campaign.

This is a place we frequent often due to the large amount of pedestrian traffic.

posted in full for posterity; hyperlinks, images and video at source - loose nuke:

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/03/27/wikileaks/i...
The war on WikiLeaks and why it matters
BY GLENN GREENWALD

A newly leaked CIA report prepared earlier this month (.pdf) analyzes how the U.S. Government can best manipulate public opinion in Germany and France -- in order to ensure that those countries continue to fight in Afghanistan. The Report celebrates the fact that the governments of those two nations continue to fight the war in defiance of overwhelming public opinion which opposes it -- so much for all the recent veneration of "consent of the governed" -- and it notes that this is possible due to lack of interest among their citizenry: "Public Apathy Enables Leaders to Ignore Voters," proclaims the title of one section.

hyperlinks live at source: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-18425-LA-County-Nonpartisan-Examiner~...

US-led forces added the murders of pregnant women to the recent murders of school children in Afghanistan. US military officials were forced to admit they lied in their report that Afghan “bad guys” murdered five civilians when Timesonline reporter Jerome Starkey went to the scene and documented that all evidence and witness testimony was that US-led forces murdered innocent civilians in a night raid. Unanimous testimony included Afghan government officials, police chiefs and survivors of the attack. The United Nations and New York Times investigated and corroborated Mr. Starkey’s reporting.

Note the NY Times misleading headline: "U.S. Is Reining In Special Operations Forces in Afghanistan" that is common is distract from the central facts of War Crimes on top of the lie of omission that the US armed attack and invasion of Afghanistan disobeyed two UN Security Council Resolutions and is an unlawful War of Aggression.

Passionate discussions often appear on this blog stressing the importance of the Peace Movement actively embracing/supporting 911 Truth Movement. I made the assumption that the converse was also true.

As a result, I have been surprised not to see even one 911 Truth or WAC group listed as an endorsee of the March 20, 2010 National March on Washington, D.C. at the site link below:

http://www.pephost.org/site/PageServer?pagename=M20_homepage

Very possibly, 911Truth and WAC groups are listed as part of the "& more" at the very bottom of the list, which can't be seen. I hope so. If your group (or you as an individual) has not yet endorsed it, I hope that you will give serious consideration to doing so, as well as going to DC.

I had not intended to go to Washington on 3/20 due to the distance but after receiving the email below today from ANSWER.org, I've made the decision to join the March. In tandem with marching for peace, it's critical to REemphasize the wars' connections to 9/11 (Truth)

---------> Note: I have not yet been able to verify any of the info in the email below.
---------> ---------> However, none of it, if true, would shock me.

hyperlinks and video live at source: http://www.examiner.com/x-18425-LA-County-Nonpartisan-Examiner~y2010m3d5...

Congressman Dennis Kucinich invoked a procedural rule to help protect Americans from endless war to compel members of Congress to debate and vote whether to continue US war in Afghanistan.

The war in Afghanistan is unlawful in Orwellian degree; tragic-comic in its violations of US war laws (useful analogy to well-understood laws for individual self-defense here). Although the laws of war are crystal-clear, complicit corporate media lies by omission and commission to explain what these laws have meant for 65 years and how they apply to unlawful US invasion of Afghanistan:

The US is the principle author of the UN Charter, a treaty that under the US Constitution has equal power with all US law that requires all nations to eliminate wars of choice.
The only lawful uses of war are self-defense upon armed attack by a nation’s government (or imminent threat of such) and/or authorization of the UN Security Council (UNSC).

Source: http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/usa/Congressman-Who-Backed-Afghan-F...

Congressman Who Backed Afghan Fighters Against the Soviets Dies

Jeff Seldin | Washington, DC 11 February 2010

Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson

A former U.S. lawmaker who played a key role in the ouster of Soviet forces from Afghanistan has died.

Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson helped funnel millions of dollars to fund Afghan fighters during the 1980s.

He was known around Washington as "Good Time Charlie" for his love of drinks and women, and his life story became a Hollywood movie starring famed actor Tom Hanks.

The 2007 film "Charlie Wilson's War" introduced a new generation to the exploits of Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson and his role in shaping the future of Afghanistan.

Wilson was a member of the Appropriations Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives, and used his position to help buy Afghan fighters weapons, including Stinger missiles, that inflicted heavy damage on Soviet gunships.

http://www.treasoninamericaconference.com/

March 6 & 7, 2010, Valley Forge Convention Center - "Treason in America: 911, the Wars & Our Broken Constitution" Conference

Who:
The Speakers . . .

Master of Ceremonies (MC) - Jon Gold

Cindy Sheehan, Mother & Activist
Richard Gage, AIA (Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth)
Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer (Able Danger)
Coleen Rowley, Former FBI Agent & Whistleblower, Time Magazine Person of the Year, 2002
Jack Blood, Radio Host (Deadline Live, American Freedom Radio)
Jon Gold, 9/11 Researcher & Writer
Dylan Avery, Filmmaker (Loose Change series)
Korey Rowe, Filmmaker (Loose Change series)
Daniel Sunjata, Actor (F/X, Rescue Me)
Sander Hicks, Writer & Activist
Jonathan Elinoff, Filmmaker (Core of Corruption series)
Manny Badillo, 9/11 Family Member
Bob McIlvaine, 9/11 Family Member
Kyle Hence - Filmmaker & Activist [TENTATIVE]
Possibly others . . .

Movies . . .
(Tentative showings of entire films; may be reduced to movie clips depending upon time limitations and speaker events.)

9/11: Press for Truth (2006, 86 minutes)
America: Freedom to Fascism (2005, 105 minutes)
Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup (2009, 99 minutes)

hyperlinks and video live at source: http://www.examiner.com/x-18425-LA-County-Nonpartisan-Examiner~y2010m1d7...

Kai Eide, UN Representative to Afghanistan confirmed the Afghan government’s investigative conclusions that US troops handcuffed and then executed eight students enrolled in grades 6 through 10 in a night raid on December 27, 2009. The US military and NATO responded the troops involved were non-official. The most likely source of para-military “non-official” troops in Afghanistan is Blackwater/Xe.

President Hamid Karzai demanded arrest of the US troops engaged in the break-in and mafia-style execution of their children. The US responded to the Afghan demand of January 1 by rejecting the findings of the Afghan government and UN with a vague promise of their own self-investigation at some later date.

For further analysis, I suggest here, here, here, and here.

Policy response: Gandhi and Martin Luther King advocated public understanding of the facts and non-cooperation with evil. I’m among hundreds who advocate:

hyperlinks and video live at source: http://www.examiner.com/x-18425-LA-County-Nonpartisan-Examiner~y2009m12d...

The United Nations reports Afghanistan as the world’s most dangerous place for a child to be born. One out of four children die before their fifth birthday; 70% of the population do not have access to clean water.

Orwellian Peace Prize winner Obama’s response: spend at a 50-to-1 ratio to attack Afghans compared with money to help them.

On our planet, one million children in impoverished areas like Afghanistan die from preventable poverty every month. The economic investment to save their lives is 0.7% of the developed nations’ gross national income (GNI). In every historical case, ending poverty decreases population growth rate and eases environmental damage from economically desperate people. Although the US has continuously promised 0.7% of GNI to save children’s lives, our actual investment amount is less than one-fourth that amount.

hyperlinks and videos live at source: http://www.examiner.com/x-18425-LA-County-Nonpartisan-Examiner~y2009m12d...

The “leadership” of the Democrats and Republicans collude for unlawful Wars of Aggression, torture, rhetoric for more unlawful war with Iran, the destruction of our treaty obligations, and the transfer of trillions of our tax dollars to banksters. By political definition in any textbook, the US is now fascist and not a constitutional republic.

Where is the opposition within these parties? On the Democratic side, Dennis Kucinich is most-often acknowledged as in opposition to his party's "leadership." Among Republicans, it’s Ron Paul. Thanks to the hundreds of writers who work for more than the propaganda of our corporate media, I came across this 3-minute video on the site What Really Happened of a speech Dr. Paul made in the House in February, 2009 that hits the main points of his political philosophy. For Dr. Paul's statement to the Foreign Affairs Committee on rapid and immediate withdraw of US troops from Afghanistan, click here.

Following is a 5-minute speech of Kucinich. Enjoy.

Do you remember him?

CSPAN's Washington Journal @ ~19 min.
December 2, 2009- The Morning after President Obama's Afghanistan Escalation Speech

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/290380-2

hyperlinks and video live at source: http://www.examiner.com/x-18425-LA-County-Nonpartisan-Examiner~y2009m12d...

The emperor has no clothes. The US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are unlawful; obvious when anyone takes less than one hour to understand applicable law. Rhetoric for war with Iran is also “emperor has no clothes” obvious lies (here for audio interview). America has fallen into fascism; a collusion among corporate interests for war graft, banksters taking trillions from taxpayers supervised by political pimps, and psychopaths who love torture and the pain of war. Corporate media lies to us to keep these crimes hidden as best that propaganda can try to conceal the bright light of truth.

hyperlinks and video live at source: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-18425-LA-County-Nonpartisan-Examiner~...

The laws of war are essential for citizens and legislators to master if humanity is to evolve beyond our violent history of war to enjoy civil communities. To bring these basic laws to life, we’ll touch on war’s history, explain the letter of US war laws, explain the philosophy/spirit of US war laws, and make the obvious conclusion once the laws are clearly understood that current US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are unlawful orders that our military must refuse and stop as demanded in their oath to the protect and defend the US Constitution.

http://rawstory.com/2009/12/adviser-obama-plans-bin-laden-hunt-anew/
Adviser: Obama plans to launch Bin Laden hunt anew

By Agence France-Presse
Sunday, December 6th, 2009 -- 6:18 pm

The United States will launch a new effort to track down Osama bin Laden who is believed to be hiding in the mountains along the Afghan-Pakistan border, a senior US official said on Sunday.

Intelligence reports suggest the Al-Qaeda chief "is somewhere inside north Waziristan, sometimes on the Pakistani side of the border, sometimes on the Afghan side of the border," said national security adviser James Jones.

Asked if President Barack Obama's administration planned a fresh attempt to go after Al-Qaeda's leader, Jones said: "I think so."

Bin Laden was a "very important symbol of what Al-Qaeda stands for" and it was crucial to make sure he was on the run or captured, Jones, a retired Marine general, told CNN's "State of the Union" program.

His comment that Bin Laden sometimes crossed to the Afghan side of the mountainous border contrasted with previous accounts from US officials that suggested the Al-Qaeda chief was hiding in Pakistan.

http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/23304

By Glen Ford
Source: BAR

If you're looking for the chief kingpin in the Afghanistan heroin trade, it's the United States. The American mission has devolved to a Mafiosi-style arrangement that poisons every military and political alliance entered into by the U.S. and its puppet government in Kabul. It is a gangster occupation, in which U.S.-allied drug dealers are put in charge of the police and border patrol, while their rivals are placed on American hit lists, marked for death or capture. As a result, Afghanistan has been transformed into an opium plantation that supplies 90 percent of the world's heroin.

Robert Burns, AP

WASHINGTON — Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden may periodically slip back into Afghanistan from his remote hideout in neighboring Pakistan, a senior White House official says, adding a new twist to the mystery of the elusive terrorist's whereabouts.

President Barack Obama's national security adviser, James Jones, said bin Laden, believed hiding mainly in a rugged area of western Pakistan, may be spending some time in Afghanistan, where he was based while plotting the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

But Obama's Pentagon chief, Robert Gates, said the U.S. has lacked good intelligence on bin Laden for a long time – "I think it has been years" – and did not confirm that he'd slipped into Afghanistan.

Based on State Dept. cables- see original for links - loose nuke

http://intelwire.egoplex.com/2008_11_07_exclusives.html
November 07, 2008

U.S. Had 'High Confidence' Of UBL Attack In June 2001

Taliban Warned By Powell That Afghanistan Would Be Held Responsible For Harboring Terrorists Who Killed Americans
By J.M. Berger
INTELWIRE.com

Less than three months before September 11, Secretary of State Colin Powell warned the Taliban that American intelligence had "high confidence" that "Afghan-based and other operatives are now planning on carrying out attacks against Americans."

Powell's warning was conveyed to the Taliban by U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan William B. Milam, who specifically discussed Osama bin Laden with the Taliban's representative Abdul Salam Zaeef.

After the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Zaeef was arrested as an "unlawful combatant" and detained at Guantanamo Bay for three years before being released into house arrest in Afghanistan.

Two cables obtained by INTELWIRE under the Freedom of Information Act detail the warnings, as well as the specific concern about an impending attack against the United States.

also see these by George Washington:
5 Reasons that Corporate Media Coverage is Pro-War
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/12/5-reasons-that-most-corporate-med...

A Cheaper and More Effective Military Strategy for Afghanistan
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/12/better-military-strategy-for.html

What Empires Have Said Throughout History: "One More Surge"
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/12/what-empires-have-said-throughout...

------
Subject article:
Little Known Facts About Afghanistan and Bin Laden - George Washington
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/12/did-us-fail-to-provide-evidence-o...

Evidence which has come out over the last couple of years makes it clear that top Bush administration officials knew that Saddam didn't have weapons of mass destruction and knew that Saddam had no connection with 9/11.

It is now reasonably obvious that the Bush administration was looking for an excuse to oust Saddam, and - in the words of the Downing Street Memo - “the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy”.

Jesse Ventura - Afghanistan is Vietnam all over again

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqD6-fK2leE

"What are we doing in Afghanistan? This is absolutely insane ... 15 of the 19 hijackers, terrorists, killers, of 9/11 they were from Saudi Arabia. In fact there wasn't one Afghanistan citizen amongst them. We have been in this war for twice as long now as the U.S. was in World War II, twice as long as world war II. We defeated Hitler and Tojo and Mussolini in half the time it's taken us to find Osama bin Laden ..." Michael Moore

Of course, propaganda that justifies the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq is not new. But with President Obama's recent decision to send 30,000 more soldiers to Afghanistan, more propaganda is being issued to generate support for the occupation. Obama's speech placed Bushian emphasis on the "we didn't start this" meme, returning 9/11 to the propaganda foreground.

Case in point: CNN has an article today titled "For 9/11 families, finishing job in Afghanistan is personal." The headline is misleading, since not all 9/11 families have had the same response to that tragedy. For example, The Family Steering Committee found serious deficiencies in the 9/11 Commission Report.

The Associated Press has a more measured headline for its story on the Afghan "surge": "9/11 families back Afghan surge, but some are wary."

hyperlinks and video live at source: http://www.examiner.com/x-18425-LA-County-Nonpartisan-Examiner~y2009m12d...

"I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery.... Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty towards the majesty of heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings." - Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775. “Give me liberty or give me death” speech.

"Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period, and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers, too plainly prove a deliberate, systematical plan of reducing us to slavery." - Thomas Jefferson, August 1774. Rights of British America

abomination obama nation declares war
using false pretense too horrific to ignore
while tens of thousands (no longer people),
but troops, ordered to preserve poppy
plants, dark economies, energy resources,
while law takes order a foot, or two..

soldiers crawl under site - killing being killed,
and told that to justify such a decision
to invade and occupy 9/11 is implicated
into mind altering imagery,
denial is its deadly sound,
as people are told to trust untruth,
or we will and can kill you..
or better yet, don't think of it..
live day to day..

i remember buildings falling
like no other time..
i remember resistance to investigations
and overt cover-up..
i remember non-existence of science
in its manipulation,
government reports miss
smoking gun evidence..
i remember anthrax sent to media
and Democrats..
i remember seeing explosions,
plumes over Baghdad,
heated depleted uranium pressing
on populations infiltrating generations
destroying innocence.forever?

the fool's errand is to rescue the queen,
while we know nine eleven scorches truth
within usa sponsored terrorism,
home grown, Able Danger,
or patsies as the mission goes