reed writes

Targeted Assassination

There is a great deal of ignorance surrounding what has come to be known as “The Goldstone Report”.

Justice Richard Goldstone, who conducted an investigation of war crimes committed during Israel’s assault on Gaza 10 months ago, identified war crimes on the part of both Hamas and Israel.

The mainstream media have – predictably – ignored Justice Goldstone’s report and most have never read it.

It’s important to remember that Richard Goldstone is a strong supporter of Israel and has family members living there; he is also a self-declared Zionist. He is also a highly respected Judge with an impeccable reputation for honesty.

The question is….why are Israel and its supporters trying to destroy him?

The following interview is unique because it is really the first time that Justice Goldstone has been questioned about the reports and the various reactions to it.

Justice Richard Goldstone

The debate over Western strategy in Afghanistan continues and becomes more heated by the day.

As new information is released concerning the debate within Soviet ruling circles in the 1980’s…we can see some parallels between the Soviet experience and the Western (read U.S.) one.

Should there be a troop surge or not?

Was anything to be gained by continuing to prop up a puppet government?

Should the Red Army stay the course or pull out?

The government in Moscow was divided against itself….with some on one side and some on the other. Many in the Soviet military believed that the war could not be won by force of arms. Others promoted the “surge” theory and said…”send in more soldiers and we can win “.

Criticism of the Soviet policy of national reconciliation in Afghanistan and analysis of general failures of the Soviet military mission there were presented by a Colonel Tsagolov to USSR Defense Minister Dmitry Yazov of August 13, 1987. His letter represents the first criticism of the Afghan war from within the military establishment.  Colonel Tsagolov paid for his attempt to make his criticism public in an interview with Soviet influential progressive magazine “Ogonek”. He was expelled from the Army in 1988.

But Tsagalov was right.

Still, -the Russian military continue to insist – even today – that they were not defeated in Afghanistan. Nevertheless they and their political Masters achieved none of their limited political aims:   -to stabilise the government  - to secure the towns, train up the army and police.

Like the Canadian General – Rick Hillier – Russian military leaders boasted they could fix things and leave within six months.

They were wrong. And so was Hillier. And so is Hillier’s hero Petraeus.

The Russian/Soviet experience in Afghanistan is very instructive.

As one Russian General remarked: “We tried to teach them how to build a new and decent society, knowing that we ourselves had failed to do so … Our army was given tasks which it was in no position to fulfil. No regular army can possibly solve the problems of a territory in revolt.” He was right.

Western soldiers were assigned a mission they could not possibly fulfill.

And so we are left on the horns of a dilemma.

Please write a comment and let’s see if we can advance this story just a bit.

I recommend anyone who is in the least interested, to visit this site.

Lawrence Wilkerson Speaks

Larry Wilkerson was a prominent strategic thinker and planner in the U.S. Armed Forces.

He’s a Republican and He issues a dire warning, based on cold hard analysis.

Lawrence Wilkerson

Here we go again.  Another tragedy involving someone else’s life.

No worries.

As long as it’s someone media-depicted as a loser up to no good. Someone else, like David Millgaard or Guy-Paul Morin. Or Donald Marshall. And now Kyle Unger.

This man just spent fourteen years in jail for a murder he didn’t commit. Bad enough, but before he’s   even got to his feet, before his lawyer has even phrased his intention to seek redress on behalf of    his client, Manitoba’s Minister of Justice leaps up and pronounces there will be neither compensation nor inquiry for this judicial rape of an innocent man.

Isn’t Manitoba supposed to have a bigger social conscience than other provinces?

Remember, these dreadful miscarriages come to our attention only because of the brutal murders which spawned them. Doubtless there are thousands more in prison for less cringeworthy crimes    they didn’t commit, or had their lives wrecked by suicide, depression and alienation.

On reading public-record accounts of such trials and retrials, the spectre of false accusation is ever   present. Not only by police and prosecutors, but in relatively recent times it seems everyone in Canada now feels entitled to lay accusations, usually in a secretive and cowardly fashion, mostly against people they don’t like. Corporations, universities and a host of public service organisations are awash in stories of harassment, abuse and dishonesty.

Why can such malicious accusations be made with impunity, the victim’s only recourse in civil litigation which requires pitbull-tenacity and deep pockets, IF he can find a lawyer willing to take him on?

Why isn’t the accusation itself subject to prosecution when it is found false?

Granted, this presents an element of closing the barn-door after the horse has bolted, but a person falsely accused would at least have somewhere to turn…

My greatest wish for our Charter of Rights to be amended so that all of us can live free from false accusation. The Charter isn’t a fossilised parchment, it is a living protection which can surely be amended when a need becomes crucial, and that time is now.

We have imprisoned thousands of innocent people based on accusations which were found later to be anywhere between malicious, opportune and plain incompetent. That is, in the tiny number where the facts came to light.

We must do all we can to put a stop to it.

“Ellsberg is the most dangerous man in America”. Henry Kissinger, 1971

Some of you may have seen this video…but I’m posting it anyway.

I met Daniel Ellsberg in 1970 in Trinidad, when he was laying low and avoiding Nixon’s secret police. His views now are exactly the same as they were then.

His leak of the Pentagon Papers shed the light of truth on the conflict in Vietnam.

His analysis is incisive.

He knows what he’s talking about and this is a video well worth watching.

Ellsberg Compares Vietnam and Afghanista n