Near the 10th Year Anniversary of the Iraq War

 

It has been almost 10 years after the beginning of the Iraq War from March of 2003. Time is going fast since I remember 2003 like it was yesterday. I was in college as a Sophomore when the Iraq War came about. We know about the many lies that were created as a justification to start the war in the first place. The massive genocide in Iraq lasted for over two decades with sanctions, war crimes, and bombings by the West including others in the nation of Iraq. The truth is that Iraq never had tons of fully functional weapons of mass destruction that could have threatened neighboring nations yet alone the nation of America. The Iraq War was illegal and immoral. It was an unique pre-emptive war. Col. Lawrence Wilkerson said that they were wrong on the politicized information. It was bigger than that. The neo-cons wanted an Iraq War years before 2003 via their PNAC Document. Then Secretary of State James Baker’s vow to: “reduce Iraq to a pre-industrial age” was being minutely executed over what was to become a forty three day blitz, which morphed in to a thirteen year, vicious, murderous, one sided war of attrition and ultimately illegal invasion and occupation. The Iraqi Holocaust massively began in 1990 with the advent of the Persian Gulf War. Dr. Polya, who has filed a Formal Complaint with the International Criminal Court, states: “The Iraqi Genocide – still continuing under Nobel Peace Laureate Obama – is of a similar magnitude to the WW2 Jewish Holocaust (5-6 million killed, 1 in 6 dying from deprivation)…" They fabricated the information like the Yellow cake from Niger document. That document was forged. Much of the information shown by Wilkerson and Colin Powell was fabricated as a mean to create buzz for the preemptive Western war in Iraq. America did not just participate in this imperialism, but the UK and other nations as well. Millions of Iraqis have died by the UN approved sanctions and the war itself against the human beings of Iraq. We know the truth now more than ever. This war of aggression included any war crimes and crimes against humanity. We wasted billions of dollars in the war when alternatives can be made in order for the Iraqi situation to be resolved. Even the Japanese exposed the names of their major criminals. A lot of folks in America sit back and act like nothing occurred when men, women, and children died needlessly as a result of imperial aggression. Tenet, Powell, and others knew what they were doing when they expressed their distorted testimonies in the United Nations. Then Secretary of State Colin Powell was wrong to assume that Saddam Hussein was in possession of weapons of mass destruction and that he wants to make more of them. Colin Powell now wants to make regrets about the situation. Whether you agree with his sincerity or not, the Iraq War was an evil endeavor indeed. The decimation of Afghanistan existed too. Many soldiers like Joshua Key from his 2007 book entitled, “The Deserter’s Tale: The Story of an Ordinary Soldier Who Walked Away from the War in Iraq” wrote that he apologized to the people of Iraq because of the injustices that transpired against the human beings of Iraq. Joshua was from Guthrie, Oklahoma. He joined the U.S. Army in 2002. He wanted to make enough income to support his young wife and children. He at first believed in the Bush administration's claim that Saddam Hussein was threating America with terrorism and WMDs. In the first nine months of the war, he changed his mind. He deserted the military and soon returned to America. He went into Canada since that was a sanctuary for many deserters. Other deserters came to America to face lengthy prison sentences and dishonorable discharges. He co-wrote the book with Lawrence Hill as his memoir. Ex-President George W. Bush wanted to invade Iraq explicitly immediately after 9/11 in 2001. Bush Jr. ordered the CIA and his senior military commanders to draw up detailed military plans for the invasion of Iraq immediately after 9/11. This is ironic since the Americans and the Saudis actually backed Iraq during its eight year war against Iran from 1980 to 1988. America alone sold Iraq fifty billion dollars worth of weapons when Bush Sr. was President. Margie Burns writes that the U.S. Department of Commerce licensed 70 biological exports to Iraq between 1985 and 1989, including at least 21 batches of lethal strains of anthrax. Under President H. W. Bush, shipments continued four more years, after the Iran-Iraq war ended in 1988. So, some of the WMDs in Iraq came from the Western nations. Today, the Iraqi nation is exploited by corporate interests, terrorists, and other nefarious interests. After Iraq, we have Libya, Mali, Somalia, Yemen, and other nations suffering occupation, imperialism, drone attacks, or other nefarious activities done to them by the military industrial complex.



There are many facts that we live under a heavily Big Brother system in the world not only in the West per se. A futuristic control grid has been growing in the 21st century. Meanwhile, some deluded human beings are obsessed with television and various forms of mundane entertainment. Even now, there is strict Internet censorship in various nations, even in China. President Nicholas Sarkozy of France according to the New York Times wants stronger Internet regulation. This is opposed by numerous Internet companies and free speech groups. The Chinese government blocks any websites that talks about certain topics like the Dali Lama, the 1989 crackdown on Tiananmen Square protesters, and Falun Gong. Even web searchers for the English word of "freedom" are blocked. The UK has more surveillance cameras per citizen than anywhere in the world. There are an estimated 5.8 million video cameras constantly watching every move citizens make in the UK. In the UK, thousands of so-called "dysfunctional" families in the UK are being subjected to intensive 24 hour surveillance to make sure that their children attend school, go to bed on time, and eat proper meals. This is taboo even in America. Every phone call, text message, email, and website visit made by private citizens in the UK will be stored for one year and will be available for monitoring by government agencies. The U.K.’s new Internet law includes a “three strikes” rule that allows your entire family to be cut off from the Internet if anyone who lives in your house is accused of copyright infringement – without proof or evidence or trial. DARPA has developed a new video surveillance technology that many are warning will bring about the end of public anonymity according to the ExtremeTech blog. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is spending huge amounts of money to install surveillance cameras in the cafeterias of public schools so that government control stalkers can closely monitor what our children are eating. The FBI surveillance teams regularly employ warrantless GPS tracking to monitor the actions of even peaceful activists (even if they are not suspected of ever committing a crime). We know about the Federal VIPER teams that made a series of internal checkpoints all across the United States of America. This program worked alongside roadside inspections of commercial vehicles. They set up a network of internal checkpoints and roll out security procedures already active in airports, bus terminals, and subway stations to roads and highways across America. Even in 2010, one shocking McClatchy-Opsos poll found that 51 percent of Americans agree with this statement: “It is necessary to give up some civil liberties in order to make the country safe from terrorism.” Now in early 2013, DARPA is considering deploying technology on the ocean floor. They want to find ways to store technology like drones on the ocean floor until needed by the U.S. Navy. The Navy wants to ship items globally. DARPA's new program, called Upward Falling Payloads, would help address that challenge by storing a range of technologies in waterproof containers deep in the ocean. When needed, the containers could be awakened remotely and brought to the surface. They want to use sensors and other forms of ways to transport cargo from place to place. "The goal is to support the Navy with distributed technologies anywhere, anytime over large maritime areas," said program manager Andy Coon in a written statement. "If we can do this rapidly, we can get close to the areas we need to affect or become widely distributed without delay." The research agency envisions the "just-in-time payloads" would be used for situational awareness, networking, rescue, disruption, deception or other capabilities that could be distributed in advance and hidden in place. In one example, DARPA said small unmanned aerial vehicles could be housed in underwater capsules that could be brought to the surface and launched to provide aerial surveillance or serve as decoys. DARPA wants the ocean depths to have cheap stealth. This means that the Navy can have more reach to launch system without requiring ships or aircraft. DARPA claims that these undersea containers are not needed for weapons systems.


 

 

It is easy to see that our immigration system needs to work for real and it needs to be reformed. I agree with those that want real comprehensive reform and even some Evangelical Christians are on the real immigration reform train. I oppose Arizona's SB 1070. Obsolete immigration laws are not going to cut it in a demographically diverse American society. Now, immigration reform should be strong and fair to all human beings in America, especially citizens now living here that suffer unemployment, poverty, and other socioeconomic hardships. This means that I don't want undocumented workers to be placed in a superior economic and political state in society as a naturally born American citizen. I don't believe in immigration reform at the expense of workers here. The GOP is divided. Some Republicans sincerely want a bipartisan immigration reform policy with compassion and border security too. Others want the reactionary policy of self-deportation and draconian laws that violate human civil liberties. I believe in compassionate action toward immigrants whether they are U.S. citizens or not here (and have legitimate border security in Canada and Mexico). It is important to help our neighbor out and to assist foreign human beings since they are our neighbors too. Immigrants now are from Africa, Asia, Europe, and throughout the Earth not just from Mexico or Latin America. Illegal immigration has decreased radically since a few years ago, so we don't have record illegal immigration in America at all now. Tea Party members are divided on this issue. Some want immigration reform and others don't. Wall Street Democrat and corporate Republicans are exploiting this issue as a means to drive down domestic wages and weaken the trade political union movement (instead of just focusing on giving human rights to immigrants). Fundamentally, human beings need education and economic opportunities. Xenophobia is out of the question when we deal with this complex issue. Without immigration, America would surely have a huge demographic crisis as Japan, Western Europe, Russia, and other parts of the world are experiencing in 2013. Real immigration reform can cause America to meet the labor force necessary to handle international economic growth in the 21st century. There are an estimated 5 million children who were here and those under the real parts of the Fourteenth Amendment would be U.S. citizens automatically. These are the intended beneficiaries of the still-pending federal DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors), and of the twelve DREAM Acts which have passed in states from Texas and California to New York and Maryland. This legislation grants improved access to education and social services, and is long overdue. There are millions of undocumented foreign workers in America now. Those who are undocumented workers should have citizenship in a real process. They can have access to social opportunities so national wealth can increase. This can improve public health if they come out of the shadows and have checkups and other forms of medical care. Politicians will protest about the short-term costs, but if undocumented immigrants are kept marginalized, denied basic health care, shut out from educational opportunity, and otherwise discriminated against, how can the United States ever hope to keep pace on the world market? Yet, we still have complex economic issues. We need an increased minimum wage that can benefit all Americans. Legalization will decrease the actions of corporate exploitation and harm. The reactionaries are right that if a living wage won't occur in conjunction to just legalization, then cheap labor, busting unions, and low wages could increase. We had a peak of a federal minimum wage of about 12 dollars in today's money in 1968. Many states have minimum wages which are already higher than the federal norm, such as $8.60 per hour in Vermont, $9.19 per hour in Washington, $8.50 per hour in Connecticut, and $8.00 per hour in California and Massachusetts. Raising the federal minimum wage represents a decision to assign a greater share of the national income to wages. The measures of immigration reform and a national recovery program can do a lot to help all Americans. America is a nation of immigrants. We have the right to be a high wage country. The GOP is divided on this issue. Some Republicans sincerely want immigration reform. Other Wall Street financiers want to use immigration as a means to drive down wages and undermine collective bargaining. The more militant Republicans are filled with the scapegoating or hatred of foreigners, which is called xenophobia. You cannot solve this issue with self-deportation or domestic totalitarianism with police state deportation by the police either. During recent years, the one million deportations of immigration, the splitting up of families, etc. prove that the current President is not for amnesty. The truth is that welfare is nearly destroyed by Bill Clinton from 1996. We need to defeat poverty.

 

One major error of the NRA is that they supported the prison industrial complex for years. There is nothing wrong with law abiding citizens owning a gun legally, but we know for sure that the prison system has been heavily corrupt for decades and centuries. During the 1990's, the NRA had spent millions of dollars in pushing for the largest prison construction boom era including harsh sentencing programs to keep them full according to Tim Murphy from Mother Jones. Wayne LaPierre is the leader of the NRA. One time, he or Wayne said that he wanted more prison building and advanced the three strikes law in California. Now, California has overflowing prisons. Even the Supreme Court deemed them cruel and unusual punishment because of their squalid conditions. Back in 1992, the NRA used the CrimeStrike program. It was an anti-crime program that caused America's prisons full. The NRA needed money in the early 1990's, because they ran up a 9 trillion dollar deficit in 1991. They were on pace for a 30 million dollar shortfall in 1992. LaPierre launched CrimeStrike that spring of 1992 with $2 million in seed money from the parent organization and a simple platform: mandatory minimums, harsher parole standards, adult sentences for juveniles, and critically, more prisons. "Our prisons are overcrowded. Our bail laws are atrocious. We'll be the bad guy," he announced. The NRA advanced these policies on the tough on crime rhetoric. They believed that Bill Clinton in 1994 was soft on crime. Yet, later on, Bill Clinton would advance the war on Drugs and increase the amount of human beings in prison completely. The NRA put out ads that folks like then Rep. Chuck Schumer of NY State wanted to get money from the crime bill. The NRA funded efforts for more prison construction. Crimestrike lobbied successfully for similar construction of prison projects in Mississippi and Virginia. Crimestrike sent cash to fund the three strikes and you're out laws. They did the same in California. In the late 1990's, Crimestrike ended. This program has done its dirty work by that time. There are more strict sentencing guidelines. The U.S. locks up more people than any nation on Earth. Violent crime is dropping in America, but incarceration rates continue to increase. These tough on crime laws failed. We have the amount of human beings serving time in state or federal prisons increased 100 percent between 1990 and 2005. Even in California, something minor like stealing a slick of pizza could give your life in prison. What is needed is not some prison state. What is needed to handle gun violence is a comprehensive approach. We need to improve our socioeconomic situation via a massive national recovery anti-poverty program in American society. We need to end the war on Drugs and address mental health issues in America. We need to target gun trafficking and target illegal guns from criminals. We need reasonable gun safety and gun education policies, so we can view guns as a tool in a serious fashion not a toy. No gun is a toy. Also, we need to improve our culture where unjust violence is shunned and righteousness is basically advanced in the world society, not only in the West.

 

 

There are many exercise techniques to improve our health in the real world. There are numerous tips that can better our physical health indeed. There are some folks who love interval training. That means that bursts of high intensity efforts mixed with slower recovery efforts can cause the human body to have a leaner body. 15 to 20 minutes of interval training performed like this can burn as many calories as an hour of traditional, steady state cardio. Intervals instead of slow action can keep the human body burning long after the workout ends. Handling the core is one of the greatest actions in any exercise program. The core is much more than the six pack of muscles in the stomach area. It has muscles that wrap around the entire torso. It can stabilize the body and protect your spine from injury and keep you standing upright. Exercising the core muscles before every exercise can keep the human back healthy and steady for balance. The human can have a rigid body position. Isometric exercise for the human body can strengthen the human core. There is nothing wrong with trade machines. Yet, exercises using dumbbells, barbells, or medicine balls can build strength in more specific ways for the human body. They can work all of the smaller stabilizing muscles that machines can miss sometimes. These free weights can work to adjust to the diversity of human physiology (or if you are a certain height, arm lengths, and body shape, you can feel fine to have a higher exercise benefit). If a human beings does chin-ups, this person can tuck in the shoulder blades down and back (before an exercise), When you tuck them in your back pockets, this can improve results and protect from injury. It can activate the lats for pulling exercises, work on pecs more completely in pushing exercises. Having the chest up during a squat can reduce painful impingement on the rotator cuff during biceps curls. Great exercises can come also with the increase of our range of motion. Increasing the range of motion can cause more benefit to our reps and efficiency of our workouts. That means that we can squat deeper, drop the weight until it is an inch or two above your chest. The range of motion is the distance of the main motion of the exercise travels to complete the rep. You can explode at every rep. This turns on the fast twitch muscle fibers, which makes your body more athletic and train it to use more fat a fuel. Using multiple joints in every move is one easy way to have a great workout. These exercises can be a squat, a bent over row, a narrow grip bench press. You can mix your grip ins using palm facing you or one facing away as a means to do more reps. The activity of pushups is one of the easiest means for a person to enjoy a great workout. Lifting heavier eights fights against osteoporosis by increasing bone density. It can make your stronger. Eating a post workout filled with carbs, fat, and protein can help you build muscle, reduce soreness, and recover faster. This can allow you to work out again sooner. Also, chocolate milk can have nutrients if you are on the move to give you nutrients that you need. For those who are into strength training, lifting then running according to a Japanese study can burn twice as much fat as those who didn't lift at all.

By Timothy