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We won’t be able to change what grew inside the brains and hearts  of the children of War.

Damn The war criminals, Bush,Cheney,Rice,Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and Powell 

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IS fighters’ orphaned children stranded in Libya

REU: Syrian civilians approach Israeli frontier fence in Golan Heights

GOLAN HEIGHTS (Reuters) – Dozens of people walked on Tuesday from Syrian refugee encampments on the Golan Heights to Israel’s nearby frontier fence, where they stopped some 200 meters (yards) away and were ordered by an Israeli soldier to turn back.

People walk towards the border fence between Israel and Syria from its Syrian side as it is seen from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights near the Israeli Syrian border July 17, 2018. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

“You are on the border of the State of Israel. Go back, we don’t want to hurt you,” the soldier shouted in Arabic through a loudspeaker at the crowd, live Reuters TV footage showed.

The Syrian army is pressing a Russian-backed offensive against rebels in the area.

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REU: Syrian army says it captures strategic hill overlooking Israeli border

AMMAN (Reuters) – The Syrian army and its allies have taken control of a strategic hill overlooking the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights as it pushes forward with an offensive to seize the remaining parts of the southwest from rebels, state TV and rebels said on Monday.

It said the army had taken control of al-Haara hill on the second day of an offensive to take back the last parts of southwest Syria in Quneitra province that are in rebel hands and are close to the border with Israel.

The hilltop, which had a major anti-aircraft radar base that was part of elaborate Syrian army defenses against Israel, and is the highest ground in Deraa province, fell into rebel hands in October 2014.

It has been heavily bombed by Russian and Syrian army raids in the past two days as the army has moved closer to the Israeli border after gaining control of most of Deraa province to the east in a push that began last June, according to rebels and a war monitor.

A Syrian army source quoted by state media said the army had made territorial gains in Quneitra province where it seized the town of Mashara, about 11 km (7 miles) from the Golan frontier.

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REU: Turkey says reports of Kurdish militia withdrawal from Manbij ‘exaggerated’

ANKARA (Reuters) – A source at Turkey’s Foreign Ministry on Monday dismissed a militia report that Kurdish YPG fighters had completely left Syria’s Manbij region as exaggerated, saying their withdrawal was still under way.

Turkey and the United States reached a deal last month over Manbij, a town in northern Syria, after months of disagreement. Under the deal, the YPG would withdraw from Manbij and Turkish and U.S. forces would maintain security and stability around the town.

The Manbij Military Council militia controlling Manbij said the last YPG fighters had left on Sunday after completing their mission of military training of local forces. The Manbij Military Council has repeatedly said there are no YPG fighters there, only some YPG military advisers.

In a phone call on Monday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. President Donald Trump discussed the importance of implementing the joint roadmap in Manbij, the Turkish presidency said.

The two leaders said the implementation of the deal would “significantly contribute” to the cooperation in solving the Syria problem, the presidency said.

Washington’s support for the YPG militia in the fight against Islamic State has infuriated Ankara, which sees the YPG as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

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NYT: Iraqi Police Use Batons to Disperse Protesters Outside Zubair Oilfield

BASRA, Iraq — Iraqi police used batons and rubber hoses to disperse about 250 protesters at the main entrance to the giant Zubair oilfield near Basra on Tuesday as unrest across southern cities over poor basic services gathers pace.

Since demonstrations began nine days ago, protesters have attacked government buildings, branches of political parties and powerful Shi’ite militias and stormed the international airport in the holy city of Najaf.

Officials and industry sources said the protests have not affected output at Zubair, run by Italy’s Eni, and the other major oilfields including Rumaila developed by BP and West Qurna 2 managed by Lukoil.

Many Iraqis believe their Iraqi leaders do not share the country’s oil wealth. Some demonstrators said foreign laborers were robbing them of employment at oil companies. Three protesters have been killed, including one at West Qurna 2.

“We the people of Basra hear about the Iraqi oil and its huge revenues, but we never enjoy its benefits,” said 24-year-old protester Esam Jabbar.

“Strangers have decent jobs at our oilfields and we don’t have the money to pay for a cigarette. That’s wrong and must be stopped.” Jabbar said he was unemployed.

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REU: U.S. State Department in talks with Turkey to sell Patriot system

FARNBOROUGH, Britain (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department on Monday said it was working with NATO ally Turkey on the possible sale of a Raytheon Co Patriot missile defense system to avert its purchase of a Russian-made S-400 system.

Tina Kaidanow, Acting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs, told reporters at the Farnborough Airshow that U.S. officials were “trying to give the Turks an understanding of what we can do with respect to Patriot.” She did not say if the delegations were meeting at the air show.

Turkey had passed over the Patriot system twice in its selection process, first choosing a Chinese system, then turning to the Russian S-400 system in 2017.

Industry executives said Turkey had sought more technology transfers than Washington was previously willing to approve.

U.S. and NATO officials have repeatedly warned Ankara that the Russian system cannot be integrated into the NATO air and missile defense system, and its purchase would jeopardize Ankara’s purchase of Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets.

Assistant Secretary of Defense Kevin Fahey, the Pentagon’s most senior official weapons buyer at the show told reporters at the show that “Turkey has had an interest in Patriot, so we’ve been working for a while how we can make that work.”

Kaidanow said Washington was worried that U.S. allies purchasing Russian systems would support “some of the least good behavior that we have seen from them (Russia) in various places including Europe but also elsewhere.”

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AP: Officials: In policy shift, US open to meeting with Taliban

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is open to holding direct talks with the Taliban to encourage negotiations between the militant group and the Afghan government to end 17 years of war, U.S. officials said.

That marks a tactical shift by the Trump administration, which has previously only appeared willing to participate in discussions with the Taliban if those talks also involve the Afghan government. The U.S. officials said Monday that Afghan-to-Afghan negotiation remains the goal of any engagement with the militants.

The officials were not authorized to speak to media and requested anonymity.

The Taliban have long refused direct talks with the Afghan government, demanding instead to negotiate with Washington. The militants have persisted in that stance despite Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s unilateral extension of a holiday cease-fire last month in hopes of encouraging the militants to come to the bargaining table. With the Taliban continuing to mount deadly attacks, Ghani ordered government forces to resume military operations this month.

The unprecedented, three-day cease-fire by both sides had offered a rare glimpse of peace for Afghans during which militants fraternized with security force members.

A Taliban official in the small Gulf Arab nation of Qatar told The Associated Press on Monday that no American official or intermediary has been in touch with them to start direct talks, and it had only heard of it in the media. The administration’s willingness to hold direct talks with the Taliban was first reported by The New York Times on Sunday.

The Taliban official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity because he was authorized to speak to journalists, said, “We wait for them to officially inform us.” But he added that if the U.S. is interested in talks, it should take steps to get Taliban leaders off a sanctions blacklist and support the formal opening of the Taliban office in Qatar where its political representatives reside. The official reiterated the Taliban’s call for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.

Asked if the U.S. was willing to hold direct talks with the Taliban, the State Department said Monday, the United States “is exploring all avenues to advance a peace process in close consultation with the Afghan government.”

The department added that “any negotiations over the political future of Afghanistan will be between the Taliban and Afghan government.”

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AP: Official: 54 released from Taliban prison in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — At least 54 people, including security personnel and civilians, were released from a Taliban prison in southern Helmand province, a provincial official said Tuesday.

Omar Zwak, spokesman for the provincial governor, said the prisoners were freed after a commando unit raided the prison late Monday night in Musa Qala district.

Zwak said there were 32 civilians, 16 police, four soldiers and two military doctors who had been locked up by the insurgents. He said security forces were still securing the area.

The Taliban did not immediately comment on the raid, but the insurgents are in control of the majority of the districts in Helmand, where they have increased their attacks against provincial officials and security forces.

The Taliban have long refused direct talks with the Afghan government, demanding instead to negotiate with the U.S. The militants maintained that position despite Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s unilateral extension of a holiday cease-fire last month in hopes of encouraging the militants to come to the bargaining table. When the Taliban continued to mount deadly attacks, Ghani ordered government forces to resume military operations this month.

Trump administration officials said Monday for the first time that the U.S. would be open to holding direct talks with the Taliban to encourage negotiations between the militant group and the Afghan government to end 17 years of war. They said that Afghan-to-Afghan negotiations remain the goal of any engagement with the militants, however.

That marks a tactical shift by the administration, which previously only appeared willing to participate in discussions with the Taliban if those talks also involved the Afghan government. The officials were not authorized to speak to media and requested anonymity.

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Iraq A Deadly Deception – War Documentary 2018

WAR DOCUMENTARY: IRAQ A DEADLY DECEPTION ALJAZEERA DOCUMENTARIES 2018 On the evening of 9/11, George W Bush made a vow to the American public – that he would defeat terrorism.
Unknown to those listening in shock to the presidential address, the president and his advisers had already begun planning their trajectory into an invasion of Iraq. It was packaged as “holding responsible the states who support terrorism” by Richard Perle, a Pentagon adviser between 2001 and 2003.
“I believe it represented a recognition that we would never succeed against the terrorists if we went after them one at a time and as long as governments were facilitating the organisation, training, equipping of, financing of terrorist organisations, we were never going to get it under control,” says Perle.
After 100 days spent fighting those who had become publicly accepted as the culprits – Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan – the US set the ball rolling for war against Iraq.
On the evening of 9/11 the president is saying: well, maybe we’ll be going after Iraq now and somebody said, well, that would be against international law. The president responded: I don’t care, we’re going to kick some ass.

The War Criminals

The war criminals, Bush,Cheney,Rice,Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and Powell  

How many Iraqis have died as a result of the invasion 15 years ago? Some credible estimates put the number at more than one million. You can read that sentence again.

The invasion of Iraq is often spoken of in our country as a “blunder,” or even a “colossal mistake.” It was a crime.

Those who perpetrated it are still at large. Some of them have even been rehabilitated thanks to the horrors of a mostly amnesiac citizenry.

We condemned children to death, some after many days of writhing in pain on bloodstained mats, without pain relievers. Some died quickly, wasted by missing arms and legs, crushed heads. As the fluids ran out of their bodies, they appeared like withered, spoiled fruits. They could have lived, certainly should have lived – and laughed and danced, and run and played- but instead they were brutally murdered. Yes, murdered!

The war ended for those children, but it has never ended for survivors who carry memories of them. Likewise, the effects of the U.S. bombings continue, immeasurably and indefensibly.

The McGlynn