Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases

The New York Times
By Ryan Goodman
March 8, 2013

THE Senate confirmed John O. Brennan as director of the Central Intelligence Agency on Thursday after a nearly 13-hour filibuster by the libertarian senator Rand Paul, who before the vote received a somewhat odd letter from the attorney general.

“It has come to my attention that you have now asked an additional question: ‘Does the President have the authority to use a weaponized drone to kill an American not engaged in combat on American soil?’ ” the attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr., wrote to Mr. Paul. “The answer to that question is no.”

The senator, whose filibuster had become a social-media sensation, elating Tea Party members, human-rights groups and pacifists alike, said he was “quite happy with the answer.” But Mr. Holder’s letter raises more questions than it answers — and, indeed, more important and more serious questions than the senator posed.

What, exactly, does the Obama administration mean by “engaged in combat”? The extraordinary secrecy of this White House makes the answer difficult to know. We have some clues, and they are troubling.

If you put together the pieces of publicly available information, it seems that the Obama administration, like the Bush administration before it, has acted with an overly broad definition of what it means to be engaged in combat. Back in 2004, the Pentagon released a list of the types of people it was holding at Guantánamo Bay as “enemy combatants” — a list that included people who were “involved in terrorist financing.”

One could argue that that definition applied solely to prolonged detention, not to targeting for a drone strike. But who’s to say if the administration believes in such a distinction? …

Read on: www.nytimes.com/2013/03/09/opinion/the-drone-question-obama-hasnt-answered.html

defense-update.com
March 7, 2013

Royal Navy Type 45 destroyers could join future missile intercept testing conducted by the U.S. missile defense agency (MDA), the British Ministry of Defence announced. MOD have teamed with UK industry-run Missile Defence Centre (MDC) to support the integration of Type 45 destroyers and its primary Sampson radar, as a sensor supporting ballistic missile defense networks.

The Sampson radar is part of the vessels’ Sea Viper air and missile defense system. These tests will task the Sampson radar in detecting and tracking ballistic targets but will not include actual intercepts of ballistic missiles with the Sea Viper missile system. Future integration of European sensors will come into effect when the US deploys its missile defense network in Europe, toward the second half of the decade, under the planned European Phased Adaptive Approach (EPAA).

The UK Missile Defence Centre was established in 2003 following signature of a Memorandum of Understanding between the UK and US on how to jointly conduct ballistic defence studies. By establishing a joint industry and MOD centre the UK government can best meet the UK’s long-term policy and research requirements. …

Read on: http://defense-update.com/20130307_british-destroyer-to-participate-in-u-s-missile-defense-trials.html

PBS Newshour
March 4, 2013

Watch Biden: U.S. Would Use Military Action to Stop Nuclear Iran on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

Vice President Biden warned that the U.S. will use military action to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Margaret Warner talks to Flynt Leverett, former National Security Council director, and former Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns about the state of diplomacy on Iran’s nuclear activity.

Read transcript: www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/world/jan-june13/iran_03-04.html

UPI.com
March. 5, 2013

Some U.S. bases in Afghanistan are undergoing major expansion even as the United States continues to pull troops out of the country, military officials say.

The contradiction is occurring as U.S. outposts in remote parts of the country are closed and the soldiers there are resettled into a few larger bases in preparation for full withdrawal next year, McClatchy Newspapers reported Monday.

Some 800 U.S. and NATO bases were in Afghanistan in late 2011. More than 600 of them have been shut down.

One of the bases being renovated, Forward Operating Base Apache, is taking in troops from a half dozen front-line bases in Zabul province. It’s adjacent to Camp Eagle, a large Afghan army base where U.S. troops are performing new tasks as advisers and trainers. …

Read on: www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2013/03/05/As-troops-withdraw-US-bases-growing/UPI-64001362508435/

Wall Street Journal
By Adam Entous (Washington), David Gauthier-Villars (Paris) and Drew Hinshaw (Accra)
March 4, 2013

The U.S. is markedly widening its role in the stepped up French-led military campaign against extremists in Mali, providing sensitive intelligence that pinpoints militant targets for attack, U.S. and allied officials disclosed.

U.S. Reaper drones have provided intelligence and targeting information that have led to nearly 60 French airstrikes in the past week alone in a range of mountains the size of Britain, where Western intelligence agencies believe militant leaders are hiding, say French officials.

The operations target top militants, including Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the mastermind of January’s hostage raid on an Algerian natural gas plant that claimed the lives of at least 38 employees, including three Americans. Chad forces said they killed him on Saturday, a day after saying they had killed Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, the commander of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb’s Mali wing.

French, U.S. and Malian officials have not confirmed the deaths of Mr. Belmokhtar or Mr. Zeid, citing a lack of definitive information from the field. But they say the new arrangement with the U.S. has led in recent days to a raised tempo in strikes against al Qaeda-linked groups and their allies some time after the offensive began in January. That is a shift for the U.S., which initially limited intelligence sharing that could pinpoint targets for French strikes.

On Monday, French Army Chief Admiral Edouard Guillaud said Mr. Zeid was likely dead, but couldn’t confirm it. …

Read on: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324539404578338590169579504.html

Center for Research on Globalization
By Wayne Madsen
March 3, 2013

President Obama’s military incursion into Niger, ostensibly to establish a drone base to counter “Al Qaeda” and other Islamist guerrilla activity in neighboring Mali, has little to do with counter-insurgency and everything to do with establishing U.S. control over Niger’s uranium and other natural resources output and suppressing its native Tuareg population from seeking autonomy with their kin in northern Mali and Algeria.

The new drone base is initially located in the capital of Niamey and will later be moved to a forward operating location expected to be located in Agadez in the heart of Tuareg Niger… The base is being established to counter various Islamist groups – including Ansar Dine, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Nigeria-based Boko Haram, and a new group, Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MOJWA) – that briefly seized control of northern Mali from Tuaregs, led by the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad, who took advantage of a coup d’etat in Mali to establish an independent Tuareg state called Azawad.

The U.S. has long been opposed to any attempt by the suppressed Tuareg people to establish their own independent state in the Sahara. American opposition to the Tuaregs dovetails with historical French opposition to Tuareg nationalism. …

Read on: www.globalresearch.ca/obamas-military-presence-in-niger-uranium-control-under-the-disguise-of-counter-terrorism/5325002

RT
February 27, 2013

The US will increase aid to the Syrian opposition, the White House has announced. Europe may follow suit by increasing aid to the Free Syrian Army (FSA). The decision is expected after a key conference on Syria in Rome.

“We will continue to provide assistance to the Syrian people, to the Syrian opposition, we will continue to increase our assistance in the effort to bring about a post-Assad Syria,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said in a statement.

“We are constantly reviewing the nature of the assistance we provide to both the Syrian people, in form of humanitarian assistance, and to the Syrian opposition in the form of non-lethal assistance,” he said.

So far the US has no plans to provide the Syrian insurgency with body armor, vehicles or military training, Reuters reported citing sources familiar with the matter.

Washington is however changing its policy on the conflict, and will send “medical supplies and food” directly to the rebels, sources said.

Earlier, the Washington Post reported that the White House is considering sending the rebels body armor and armed vehicles, and also possibly providing military training.

Until now, Western countries’ official support to the forces fighting against Syrian President Bashar Assad was limited to direct contact, logistical assistance and political backing.

Several top figures in the Obama administration, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and former CIA chief David Petraeus pushed for closer engagement with the Syrian rebels last year, which would likely include arming them. …

Read on: http://rt.com/news/us-eu-armor-syrian-rebels-516/

Politico
By Kevin Robillard
February 27, 2013

Americans’ opinion of the country’s military strength is at a low point, with 50 percent saying the nation’s armed forces are indisputably the strongest in the world, according to a poll released Wednesday.

That represents a 14 percent drop from two years ago, when 64 percent of Americans told Gallup the U.S. military was clearly the world’s strongest. The 50 percent mark is the lowest in Gallup’s polling on the issue, which dates back to 1993. In Wednesday’s poll, 47 percent said the U.S. was just one of several military powers in the world, up from 34 percent in 2010.

The U.S. is responsible for about 40 percent of the world’s military spending, and spends around six times as much as its closest competitor, China. …

Read on: www.politico.com/story/2013/02/poll-faith-in-us-military-might-dips-88156.html

Voice of America
February 27, 2013

Former U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel was sworn in as defense secretary Wednesday, saying the United States must not dictate to the world.

Hagel told Pentagon employees America must engage with the rest of the globe. He said no nation as great as the United States can lead alone. …

The Senate confirmed Hagel Tuesday after bitter confirmation hearings. Some of the senators accused Hagel of being too lenient toward Iran and too critical of Israel. Others found fault with him for opposing the 2007 U.S. troop surge in Iraq.

Hagel, a former enlisted solider, succeeds Leon Panetta and is the first Vietnam War veteran to serve as defense chief. …

Read in full and/or watch U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel speaks to service members and civilian employees at the Pentagon after being sworn in, Feb. 27, 2013: www.voanews.com/content/new-us-military-chief-takes-over-after-bitter-nomination-fight/1611568.html

CNN
By Halimah Abdullah
February 27, 2013

Chuck Hagel’s rocky and inauspicious path to leadership of the Pentagon could haunt him if he doesn’t watch his step.

“If people feel Hagel makes a mistake in the future, they will come after him even harder than if this ugly process of recent weeks hadn’t happened,” said Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a co-author of “Bending History: Barack Obama’s Foreign Policy.”

The former Nebraska senator’s nomination as defense secretary was subject to harsh criticism from some fellow Republicans over past statements on sensitive political and national security matters.

His shaky performance at his confirmation hearing and the subsequent fierce political wrangling over his selection and on unrelated matters did not help his case.

But efforts to further delay his nomination were swept away on Tuesday as the Senate confirmed him, 58-41, with a handful of Republican votes in his corner. Hagel will be sworn in on Wednesday, succeeding Leon Panetta.

President Barack Obama, a former Senate colleague, called Hagel a patriot who “fought and bled for our country.”

Obama said he will count on Hagel’s “counsel and judgment” as the United States ends combat operations in Afghanistan and stays “ready to meet the threats of our time.”

The task for Hagel, 66, going forward is to swiftly move past the protracted nomination battle, prove himself a strong and capable Pentagon chief, and repair relationships on Capitol Hill, said Fran Townsend, a former homeland security adviser to President George W. Bush.

“Of course, when he walks through the door he is bruised and battered. But I think we shouldn’t overestimate the impact of that,” Townsend said. “Frankly, once he is confirmed as secretary of defense and once he sits in the seat and takes on the mantle of responsibility, everyone in the Pentagon is going to stand up and salute smartly, as well they should.”

Hagel, a decorated Vietnam veteran, said in a statement that he was honored to have been nominated and confirmed, and pledged to work closely with Congress to “ensure that we maintain the strongest military in the world.”

With Hagel’s confirmation, Obama has put in place another crucial piece of his second-term national security team. John Kerry has been installed as secretary of state and John Brennan is awaiting Senate action on his nomination to be CIA director. Thomas Donilon is already serving as national security adviser.

O’Hanlon said Hagel would not “be damaged goods” and the political outcry over his nomination would quickly be overshadowed by the latest budget drama engulfing Washington over spending cuts, which would hit the Pentagon hard, if enacted.

Bad feelings about Hagel stem, in part, from his 2007 comments that the “Jewish lobby intimidated lawmakers.” Republicans who are already uncomfortable with Obama’s policies toward Israel are uneasy about a defense secretary holding such views.

Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, said in a statement that Israel “looks forward to working closely” with Hagel.

Hagel’s criticism of the Iraq War, the Patriot Act, and his past positions on Iran and on U.S. military intervention also raised red flags with his opponents.

Read on: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/26/politics/hagel-battle/index.html