Not an actual #GeorgeOrwell quote, but it's from the movie version of 1984. In the movie, Winston Smith reads the quote as an excerpt from Emmanuel Goldstein's banned book: "The war is not meant to be won, it is meant to be continuous."

ICYMI - From 2011: Secret memos expose link between #BigOil firms and invasion of #Iraq

Paul Bignell, Tuesday 19 April 2011

"Five months before the March 2003 invasion, Baroness Symons, then the Trade Minister, told #BP that the Government believed British energy firms should be given a share of Iraq's enormous oil and gas reserves as a reward for #TonyBlair's military commitment to US plans for regime change.

"The papers show that Lady Symons agreed to lobby the Bush administration on BP's behalf because the oil giant feared it was being 'locked out' of deals that Washington was quietly striking with US, French and Russian governments and their energy firms.

"Minutes of a meeting with BP, #Shell and BG (formerly #BritishGas) on 31 October 2002 read: 'Baroness Symons agreed that it would be difficult to justify British companies losing out in Iraq in that way if the UK had itself been a conspicuous supporter of the US government throughout the crisis.'

"The minister then promised to "report back to the companies before Christmas" on her lobbying efforts.

"The Foreign Office invited BP in on 6 November 2002 to talk about opportunities in Iraq 'post #RegimeChange'. Its minutes state: "Iraq is the big oil prospect. BP is desperate to get in there and anxious that political deals should not deny them the opportunity.'

"After another meeting, this one in October 2002, the Foreign Office's Middle East director at the time, Edward Chaplin, noted: 'Shell and BP could not afford not to have a stake in [Iraq] for the sake of their long-term future... We were determined to get a fair slice of the action for UK companies in a post-Saddam Iraq."'

Read more:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/secret-memos-expose-link-between-oil-firms-and-invasion-of-iraq-2269610.html
#BigOilAndGas #EndlessWars #BPKnew #Oiligarchy #AbolishTheMonarchy #NoWar #IraqWar #ShellOil

2024 feels like dejavu to many folks who remember the 60s/70s #AntiWar #protests in USA that was a part of the international citizens' #GlobalResistance movements.

Opposition to the #VietnamWar was not limited to the United States. Throughout the world, people demonstrated their #resistance to the war, and in some cases offered their #solidarity with the #Vietnamese.

Pictured:

1. Demonstrators against the Vietnam War display banners in a #Paris street, 1967.
AFP/AFP/Getty Images.

2. Musicians Cornelis Vreeswijk, Fred Åkerström, and Gösta Cervin participate in an anti-Vietnam war march in #Stockholm, #Sweden, 1965.
Wikimedia Commons.

3. Demonstrators in #Havana, #Cuba, May 1971.
Keystone-FranceGamma-Rapho via Getty Images.

4. In #China, demonstrators call for the United States to stay out of Vietnam, 1965.
Wikimedia Commons.

[#Podcast] #LawAndDisorder, September 9, 2024

#September11, 2001: Lessons Learned And Overlooked

"It has been 23 years ago this week since the attacks on September 11, 2001 in New York City, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, PA, killing nearly 3,000 people and injuring more than 6,000. On that day, the United States had a choice: The #GeorgeWBush administration could have treated the attacks as a violation of US and international law, launched a criminal investigation, and brought the perpetrators to justice in accordance with the rule of law. Instead, President Bush waged #EndlessWars against #Afghanistan and #Iraq, pushed through Congress the USA #PatriotAct, opened the notorious detention center at #GuantanamoBay which remain to this day, rounded up Muslims and South Asians for #IndefiniteDetention, initiated a wave of #CivilLiberties and #HumanRights violations, and committed wholesale torture against detainees and others.

"To assess the legacy of 9/11 and the lessons learned and the lessons overlooked, we’ve invited someone who was at the center of Bush’s #WarOnTerror. John Kiriakou is a journalist, former CIA counterterrorism officer, former senior investigator for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and former counterterrorism consultant for ABC News.

"In 2007, Kiriakou blew the whistle on the CIA’s torture program, telling ABC News that the #CIA tortured prisoners, that torture was official U.S. government policy, and that the policy had been approved by President George W. Bush. He knew what he was talking about. In 2002, he was responsible for the capture in Pakistan of #AbuZubaydah, then believed to be the third-ranking official in al-Qaeda.

"He became the sixth #whistleblower indicted by the #Obama administration under the #EspionageAct of 1917 — a law designed to punish spies. He served 23 months in prison as a result of his revelations.

"In 2012, the #RalphNader family honored #Kiriakou with the Joe A. Callaway Award for #CivicCourage, an award given to individuals who 'advance truth and justice despite the personal risk it creates.' He won the PEN Center USA’s prestigious First Amendment Award in 2015, the first Blueprint International Whistleblowing Prize for Bravery and Integrity in the Public Interest in 2016, and also in 2016 the Sam Adams Award for Integrity in Intelligence, given by retired CIA, FBI, and NSA officers."

Listen:
https://lawanddisorder.org/category/criminalizing-dissent/

#CIASponsoredTerror #CivilRights, #CriminalizingDissent #ExtraordinaryRendition #FreeSpeech #HumanRights #IraqWar #BushAdministraiton #HumanRights #HumanRightsViolation #TargetingMuslims #Torture #WarResister #Whistleblowers #CivilLiberties #CivilLibertiesRadio #EndlessWar

The #USEmbassy in #Iraq has placed new warning signs on its walls prohibiting anyone from approaching close by.

US Embassy in #Baghdad is the largest embassy in the world in both area and cost, it is larger than the Vatican, and its area is 6 times larger than the United Nations headquarters in New York.

From @ ResistanceTrench on Telegram.

US military contractor CACI to face retrial over allegations of torture at #Iraq prison

Tyler Li | U. Ottawa Faculty of Law, CA
June 15, 2024

"The case against #CACI is one of many legal actions against private military contractors accused of detainee abuse, including those against #TitanCorporation (later known as L-3 Services) and CACI for their roles in alleged abuse at #AbuGhraib, as well as against #Blackwater for incidents like the #NisourSquare massacre in #Baghdad. Many of these cases faced similar legal challenges, specifically dismissals based on national security concerns and the complexities of applying US law to actions taken in war zones."

https://www.jurist.org/news/2024/06/us-military-contractor-caci-to-face-retrial-over-allegations-of-torture-at-iraq-prison/

#Iraqis Tortured at #AbuGhraib Win $42 Million Judgment Against U.S. Military Contractor #CACI

#DemocracyNow
November 14, 2024

"A federal jury in Virginia has ordered the U.S. military contractor CACI Premier Technology to pay a total of $42 million to three Iraqi men who were tortured at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison. The landmark verdict comes after 16 years of litigation and marks the first time a civilian contractor has been found legally responsible for the gruesome abuses at Abu Ghraib. We discuss the case and its significance for #HumanRights with Baher Azmy, the legal director for the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represented the Abu Ghraib survivors. 'This lawsuit has been about justice and accountability for three Iraqi men — our clients, Salah, Suhail and Asa’ad — who exhibited just awe-inspiring courage and resilience,' he says."

Watch (full transcript available later today):
https://www.democracynow.org/2024/11/14/baher_azmy_caci_guantanamo_lawsuit_torture

Professor John J. Mearsheimer was spot on when he said the # 1 biggest terrorist organization is the USA & the 2nd is Israel.
They are BFFs in destabilizing #geopolitical terrorism. Both have had impunity for their multiple war crimes for too long.

Consequences are long overdue for both of these colonial terrorist governments, filled with many war criminals.

This carefully researched article by James A. Lucas documents the more than 20 million lives lost resulting from US led wars, military coups and intelligence ops carried out in the wake of WWII, in what is euphemistically called the “post-war era” (1945- ).

The extensive loss of life in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Ukraine and Libya is not included in this study.

Continuous US led warfare (1945- ): there was no “post-war era“. And now, a World War III scenario is contemplated by US-NATO.

https://archive.is/v4GXk

The thing they don’t tell you about #ClimateChange is that it will look and feel like #EndlessWars between the #GlobalNorth and #GlobalSouth.

So, that’s fun.

Bernie WITHDRAWS Yemen War Powers Resolution After Biden PRESSURE | Breaking Points
https://youtu.be/f7aRtKAQUDs
'Ken Klippenstein breaks down the recent war powers resolution regarding the Saudi led war in Yemen being pulled after pressure from the Biden admin'

https://youtu.be/AyoXe-0j2n8

This is correct, Trump doesn't get enough credit for helping women break the glass ceiling – women can torture also!

https://youtu.be/ZUIviKZz9VU

And I see immediately after Bernie's tweet, already #Murica Liberals are telling him 'we have bigger issues Senator' – The Saudi war in Yemen has cost 100,000+ lives and *could not* have happened without the arming and assistance of Barack Obama and Donald Trump. /jd

Bernie Sanders tweets:
'We must end U.S. support for the unauthorized, unconstitutional, and disastrous Saudi-led war in Yemen. The suffering people there do not need more bombs. They need more jobs, food and health care.'
– https://twitter.com/SenSanders/status/1326297459547656194

Why is #Kashmir being debated in US Congress? #KashmirInUSCongress

Are Americans MEDIATING on India's "internal matter"?

If not, why Kashmir is dragged to every other intl forum by Indians?

Do you see them debating their #EndlessWars in our Parliament?
http://greatgameindia.com/kashmir-conflict-anglo-american-operation/

#JawaharlalNehru – architect of India’s independent foreign policy making India the Leader of developing world via Non-Aligned Movement which censured major power for their #EndlessWars & even cracked #UnitedNations - now being reduced as a Lapdog of West. http://greatgameindia.com/non-aligned-movement/