Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases

Ars Technica
by Dan Goodin
March 13 2013

The military is assembling 13 teams of programmers dedicated to offensive attacks

For the first time ever, the Obama administration has publicly admitted to developing offensive cyberweapons that could be aimed at foreign nations during wartime.

According to an article published Tuesday night by The New York Times, that admission came from General Keith Alexander, the chief of the military’s newly created Cyber Command. He said officials are establishing 13 teams of programmers and computer experts who would focus on offensive capabilities. Previously, Alexander publicly emphasized defensive strategies in electronic warfare to the almost complete exclusion of offense.

“I would like to be clear that this team, this defend-the-nation team, is not a defensive team,” Alexander, who runs both the National Security Agency and the new Cyber Command, told the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday. “This is an offensive team that the Defense Department would use to defend the nation if it were attacked in cyberspace. Thirteen of the teams that we’re creating are for that mission alone.” …

Read on: http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/03/for-first-time-us-military-says-it-would-use-offensive-cyberweapons/

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501st Combat Support Wing
by Staff Sgt. Brian Stives, 501st Combat Support Wing Public Affairs
February 14, 2013

RAF ALCONBURY, United Kingdom — Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa commander, and Chief Master Sgt. Craig A. Adams, USAFE-AFAFRICA command chief, received an in-depth tour of the Air Force’s only combat support wing and its mission during a visit here Feb. 5- 6.

“Chief and I couldn’t be more proud of the mission you do every day,” Breedlove told the members of the 501st Combat Support Wing during all-calls held at RAF Alconbury and RAF Croughton. “Your mission is not going to diminish over time.”

“Thanks for what you have done and thank you for what you will be doing,” said Adams. “Thank you for being focused on today’s mission.”

During the first day of their whirlwind tour, the general and chief visited the dormitories and clinic at RAF Alconbury before heading off to RAF Molesworth to see the 423rd Security Forces Squadron firing range and 423rd Communications Squadron’s Building 400.

“I thought it was a real honor, it’s not every day you get a coin from a four-star general or the chance to meet the USAFE commander,” said Staff Sgt. Jeremy Epperson, 423rd Communications Squadron NCOIC of registry at the RAF Alconbury post office, who was coined by Breedlove and asked about himself and his job. “The fact that he wanted to know about me, made me feel like he really cares about the people.”

After an all-call at RAF Alconbury the morning of Feb. 6, the USAFE leadership team went to RAF Croughton to see how the 422nd Air Base Group provides world-class combat support enabling communications and global strike operations at RAF Croughton, RAF Fairford and RAF Welford before holding an all-call at RAF Croughton.

“I thought it was exciting to get up and give General Breedlove a briefing,” said Senior Airman Monte Cook, 422nd Communications Squadron HF radio technician. “It is always interesting to see people’s reactions to what we do. Some people may understand it, coming from similar backgrounds and ask a lot of in-depth questions. Others, like General Breedlove, tend to appreciate something that they may not have taken a part in when they were coming up, but can see what other people do to enable them to do their jobs.”

During both all-calls, the general and chief focused on three priorities: Mission, Airmen and Families.

“We are going to face incredible challenges in the next five years and I want you to learn about them, but don’t let it distract you from the mission,” said the general. “With all of the cuts coming in the future, we will be the smallest Air Force in history. We will be even smaller than the day we were formed. Even with all of this, we are more lethal than ever before and it is all because of you.”

During the all-call at RAF Croughton, Adams asked four Airmen to stand up; they were the presenters during the RAF Croughton tour.

“I know you guys represent the big organization. But let me tell you, this is the future of our Air Force and it makes me excited,” said Adams. “Thank you for what you do!”

Breedlove talked about changing the culture to a more proactive posture by making “Every Airman a Sensor” and taking the offensive on attacking two of the Air Force’s most troublesome problems – suicide and sexual assault.

“Our Air Force is getting smaller and when it comes to Airmen preying on other Airmen, I have no sympathy for the predators. The predators are my candidates to help make our Air Force smaller,” said Breedlove. “But we can’t do it alone; we need your help to take care of our Airmen.”

Adams echoed the general’s comments and said Airmen must treat each other as family and with respect. He said it’s an Airman’s duty to take care of themselves, each other and their family.

“If you are not pushing yourself away from your desk and getting home at a reasonable time in the evenings to spend some time with your families or taking the time to spend with your families on the weekends, then shame on you,” said the chief. “We need to do that. Your family is there before you come into the Air Force, your family is what gets you through the Air Force and they are going to be the ones on the other side when we hang up our uniforms. So, we need to make sure we don’t forget them along the way. When you go home tonight, tell them thank you for everything they do – from us.”

From: www.501csw.usafe.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123336328

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The Guardian
By Murtaza Hussain
March 8, 2013

Using Latin American covert operations as a template for its Iraqi paramilitary proxies, the US once again lost the moral war

In one of the fiery oratories for which he was well-known, the late Hugo Chávez once stated his belief that “the American empire is the greatest menace to our planet.” While his detractors have often sought to paint his rhetorical flourishes as a manifestation of unprovoked and unpopular extremism, to his death Chávez remained extremely popular with the majority of the Venezuelan people.

Indeed, far from being an outlier, Chávez fit well within the spectrum of both Central and Latin American popular opinion. While his style may have been his own, his beliefs and worldview regarding US interventionism were reflected in other leaders throughout the region. Looking at the history of US engagement in Latin America, it becomes evident why such a situation exists. From overthrowing democratically elected leaders, operating death squads, and torturing civilians, the history of US involvement in the region has understandably helped create a widespread popular backlash that persists to this day.

The primary theatre of war has since switched from Latin America to the Middle East, but many of the same tactics of that period – which caused so much devastation and engendered so much visceral anger – seem to have been redeployed on the other side of the world. …

Most chillingly, a veteran of the United States’ “dirty war” in El Salvador was reported to have been brought in to personally oversee the interrogation facilities. As described by Iraqi officials this program was condoned at the highest levels of the US military and utilized “all means of torture to make the detainee confess … using electricity, hanging him upside down, pulling out their nails”. The alleged involvement of a senior participant of the American intervention in El Salvador is, indeed, particularly odious given the legacy of institutionalized torture and murder which characterized US military involvement in that country. …

Read in full: www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/08/us-export-dirty-war-iraq

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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

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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

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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

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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/

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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

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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

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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/

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