U.S. Apache Helicopter Killing Civilians in Iraq

Administrator — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 20:37:37 +0000

Wikileaks is a website launched in December 2006 that publishes anonymous submissions and leaks of sensitive documents from governments and other organizations, while preserving the anonymity of its sources. A senior military official confirmed to the Associated Press that this video showing the murder of two Reuters journalists in 2007 is authentic. As the Huffington Posts’s Dan Froomkin reported yesterday, the video shows “a U.S. Army Apache helicopter in Baghdad in 2007 repeatedly opening fire on a group of men that included a Reuters photographer and his driver — and then on a van that stopped to rescue one of the wounded men.”

Salon’s Glenn Greenwald makes the important point that this is not an aberration in these dirty wars. “It’s the opposite: it’s par for the course, standard operating procedure, what we do in wars, invasions, and occupation. The only thing that’s rare about the Apache helicopter killings is that we know about it and are seeing what happened on video. And we’re seeing it on video not because it’s rare, but because it just so happened… to result in the deaths of two Reuters employees, and thus received more attention than the thousands of other similar incidents where nameless Iraqi civilians are killed.”

Where Your Income Tax Money Really Goes

Administrator — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 13:58:49 +0000



Each year War Resisters League analyzes federal funds outlays as presented in detailed tables in "Analytical Perspectives" of the Budget of the United States Government. The analysis is based on federal funds, which do not include trust funds — such as Social Security — that are raised separately from income taxes for specific purposes. What you pay (or don’t pay) by April 15, 2009, goes to the federal funds portion of the budget.





While we do not expect the military percentage to change much, Obama’s 2010 budget presentation should include funding for the bank bailout, takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the stimulus package. The Bush administration (with little Congressional opposition) refused to budget for the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the wider war on terror, intentionally hiding the full monetary costs of their criminal activities. We must demand that all future administration present a more complete and honest budget than we have seen in recent years.

The largest spending bill in history is going to turn out to be the war in Iraq... I don't understand why... building a road, building a school, helping somebody get health care, that's wasteful spending, but that war in Iraq... is going to cost us over $1 trillion before we're through...


Congressman Barney Frank on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, ABC, February 1, 2009.

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U.S. Apache Helicopter Killing Civilians in Iraq

Where Your Income Tax Money Really Goes