Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases

PRESSTV (Iran)
29 May 2009

The US is “prepared” to engage in a ‘conventional’ war with North Korea but it requires time to adjust to the new front, says the military.

Gen. George Casey appearing at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Thursday said the US was ready to enter an old-fashioned war with North Korea if necessary.

However, he said, “It would probably take us a little bit longer to shift gears” away from the type of counterinsurgency fighting that now occupies the Army. Casey was referring the US two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We’d move forces as rapidly as we could get them prepared,” Casey insisted. …

While thousand of US soldiers stationed in South Korean bases are on high alert, the US defense secretary, Robert Gates, maintains that North Korea’s actions have not reached a crisis level that would warrant additional US troops in the region. …

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=96394&sectionid=351020405

Stars and Stripes
May 30, 2009

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon plans to create a new military command for cyberspace, stepping up preparations by the armed forces to conduct both offensive and defensive computer warfare, The New York Times reported …

The military command would complement a civilian effort announced Friday by President Obama to overhaul the way the United States safeguards its computer networks …

The decision to create a cybercommand is a major step beyond those taken by the Bush administration, which authorized several computer-based attacks but never resolved the question of how the government would prepare for a new era of warfare fought over digital networks …

Obama made no mention of the proposed cybercommand in a speech Friday about cybersecurity.

However, he noted that Defense Department networks are constantly under attack, and servicemembers lost the ability to use thumb drives and other external memory devices last year after a virus affected thousands of department computers.

He also mentioned that the Russians launched an effective cyber attack during their invasion of Georgia last year …

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=63001

Reuters
May 26, 2009
By Jack Kim

North Korea defied international condemnation of its latest nuclear test by firing three short-range missiles off its coast on Tuesday and major powers considered tougher action against the isolated communist state.

With tension in the region high, South Korea said it would join a U.S.-led initiative to intercept ships suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction, something Pyongyang has warned it would consider a declaration of war.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quoted a government source in Seoul as saying the North had test-fired one surface-to-air and one surface-to-ship missile off its east coast. The missiles had a range of about 130 km (80 miles). …

North Korea also fired three short-range missiles on Monday and South Korean media quoted government sources as saying further missile tests were possible. …

www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSSEO14165620090526

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BBC News – UK
26 May 2009

President Nicolas Sarkozy has formally opened a French military base in the United Arab Emirates, France’s first permanent base in the Gulf.

The flags of France and the UAE were raised at a ceremony at the so-called “Peace Camp” in the Abu Dhabi emirate.

France is a leading military supplier to the Gulf state, and signed a nuclear co-operation agreement last year. …

The US maintains the predominant foreign military presence in the Gulf, with key air bases and logistics operations, and its Fifth Fleet housed in Bahrain.

However, Peace Camp gives France a strategic position on the vital Gulf shipping corridor, which carries about 40% of the world’s petroleum supplies.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8067600.stm

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21 May 2009
Fabius Maximus

The invasion of Iraq achieved what might be its primary purpose: a chain of bases from which America can project power throughout the Middle East… Now the colonization of Afghanistan begins (the past 7 years, Operation Enduring Freedom, being just a holding action). Across Afghanistan a chain of bases rises. Such as Camp Leatherneck. Any bets on how long we’ll be there? …

As America’s foreign policy becomes increasingly defined by our hubris and paranoia — seeing a world filled with nothing but client states, rivals, and enemies — we construct something almost unique in history: an Empire with no economic basis. Costing much, built with borrowed money, and providing no economic benefit to America (although enriching powerful special interests). A monument to folly. …

Read more…
fabiusmaximus.wordpress.com/2009/05/21/imperial/

Associated Press
20 May 2009

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s foreign minister says U.S. missile defense plans need to be taken into account in talks on further reductions in nuclear arsenals.

Sergey Lavrov says it’s impossible to achieve progress in negotiating a new arms control treaty without taking into consideration the planned missile shield.

Lavrov spoke Wednesday as Russian and U.S. negotiators continued their talks to work out a replacement to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START I, which expires in December. The talks started in Moscow Tuesday.

President Barack Obama has put his predecessor’s plan for a missile defense in Europe on hold, but Russia wants the U.S. to scrap the anti-missile system altogether.

Lavrov’s statement followed a similar warning from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5joyt2yQAg5FcRwHi_T2dXgmfGDoQD989T8V80

AFP – New York
19 May 2009

A planned US anti-missile system, hotly opposed by Russia, to defend Europe against the threat of missile attack from Iran would not work, a new study by a US-based think tank said Tuesday.

The study by the New York-based EastWest Institute found the proposed system “will not provide dependable protection against an Iranian threat if and when it emerges.”

The study titled “Iran?s Nuclear and Missile Potential” was produced by a joint team of US and Russian military and academic experts.

Its findings fall in line with arguments made by Moscow, which says the plan for a radar-and-interceptor system based in Poland and the Czech Republic would threaten Russian security, but fail to protect against an Iranian attack.

The issue poisoned relations between Moscow and Washington under former US president George W. Bush.

President Barack Obama, who took office this January, has said he will pursue the planned missile shield as long as Iran remains a “real threat,” while adding that the system needs to be “cost-effective and proven.”

According to the report, Iran could in theory easily launch sufficient rockets or decoys to overwhelm the planned system. …

www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i5eVOnIqZc9y0C8-s4e9rMUAyfCA

Global Security Newswire – Washington
Monday, May 18, 2009

A senior Polish defense official said today that the United States is likely to field a Patriot battery in his nation this year even if the Obama administration curbs plans for missile defense installations in Europe …

The Bush administration planned to deploy 10 ballistic missile interceptors in Poland as part of a European missile shield that would also include a radar base in the Czech Republic. In return, it promised military aid that would include deployment of the 100-missile Patriot battery to Poland for a limited time per year in 2009, 2010 and 2011, “providing an opportunity for training up our soldiers and our systems,” Komorowski [Deputy Defense Minister] said. …

“Regardless of the decision (on missile defense), President [Barack] Obama has said other cooperation with Poland, including strategic projects such as modernization of our armed forces, will definitely be continued,” Komorowski told Reuters. …

www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/gsn/nw_20090518_1292.php

Press TV
Sun, 17 May 2009

The psychological impacts of US wars on Iraq and Afghanistan has reportedly left American military forces mentally scarred for life.

The Washington Post published a fact-based report on Sunday, estimating that more than 20 percent of the US combat forces deployed to in Iraq and Afghanistan war zones return home psychologically damaged.

According to the report, the soldiers mostly suffer from major depression and long periods of combat-related stress, and show severe symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The report said that US commanders became especially alarmed after military suicide rates reached an all-time high this year with 64 men killing themselves only in the first months of 2009 — a number that could soon surpass those killed in action. …

www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=95045&sectionid=3510203

15 May 2009

The United States has launched a satellite intended to detect and track missile flights, the US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) announced. The Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) Advanced Technology Risk Reduction (ATRR) satellite was launched from the Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

The STSS ATRR is a small experimental satellite that will serve as a forerunner for next-Credit: Northrop Grummangeneration sensor technology for future MDA space missions.

The MDA is pursuing a space-based sensor layer to detect missile launches, provide continuous target tracking, and pass track data to missile defense interceptors with the accuracy and timeliness necessary to enable successful target interception. …

The Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) space sensor layer will provide combatant commanders with the ability to continuously track strategic and tactical ballistic missiles from launch through termination. …

www.domain-b.com/aero/space/satellites/20090515_ballistic_missile.html