Defense.gov News Article: Coalition Launches Operation Odyssey Dawn

Defense.gov News Article: Coalition Launches Operation Odyssey Dawn

Coalition Launches Operation Odyssey Dawn By Jim Garamone American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, March 19, 2011 – Coalition forces launched “Operation Odyssey Dawn” today to enforce U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973 to protect the Libyan people from the country’s ruler. The goal of the military coalition is to prevent further attacks by regime forces on Libyan citizens, officials said, adding that the coalition also wants to degrade the ability of Moammar Gadhafi’s regime to resist a no-fly zone being implemented. U.S. military forces are on the leading edge of the coalition operation, taking out Libya’s integrated air and missile defense system, Defense Department officials said. The ordnance is aimed at radars and anti-aircraft sites around the capital of Tripoli and other facilities along the Mediterranean coast. Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn is commanded by U.S. Navy Adm. Samuel J. Locklear aboard the command ship USS Mount Whitney. The Mount Whitney joins 24 other ships from Italy, Canada, the United Kingdom and France in launching the operation. Cruise missiles from U.S. submarines and frigates began the attack on the anti-aircraft system. A senior defense official speaking on background said the attacks will “open up the environment so we could enforce the no-fly zone from east to west throughout Libya.” In addition to the cruise missiles, the United States will provide command and control and logistics. American airmen and sailors also will launch electronic attacks against the systems. The United Kingdom, France, Italy and Canada already have announced that they are part of the coalition. Officials expect Arab countries will publicly announce their participation soon.

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Filmmaker Michael Moore's Open Letter to President Barack Obama

An Open Letter to President Obama from Michael Moore

Dear President Obama,

Do you really want to be the new "war president"? If you go to West Point tomorrow night (Tuesday, 8pm) and announce that you are increasing, rather than withdrawing, the troops in Afghanistan, you are the new war president. Pure and simple. And with that you will do the worst possible thing you could do -- destroy the hopes and dreams so many millions have placed in you. With just one speech tomorrow night you will turn a multitude of young people who were the backbone of your campaign into disillusioned cynics. You will teach them what they've always heard is true -- that all politicians are alike. I simply can't believe you're about to do what they say you are going to do. Please say it isn't so.

It is not your job to do what the generals tell you to do. We are a civilian-run government. WE tell the Joint Chiefs what to do, not the other way around. That's the way General Washington insisted it must be. That's what President Truman told General MacArthur when MacArthur wanted to invade China. "You're fired!," said Truman, and that was that. And you should have fired Gen. McChrystal when he went to the press to preempt you, telling the press what YOU had to do. Let me be blunt: We love our kids in the armed services, but we f*#&in' hate these generals, from Westmoreland in Vietnam to, yes, even Colin Powell for lying to the UN with his made-up drawings of WMD (he has since sought redemption).
So now you feel backed into a corner. 30 years ago this past Thursday (Thanksgiving) the Soviet generals had a cool idea -- "Let's invade Afghanistan!" Well, that turned out to be the final nail in the USSR coffin.

There's a reason they don't call Afghanistan the "Garden State" (though they probably should, seeing how the corrupt President Karzai, whom we back, has his brother in the heroin trade raising poppies). Afghanistan's nickname is the "Graveyard of Empires." If you don't believe it, give the British a call. I'd have you call Genghis Khan but I lost his number. I do have Gorbachev's number though. It's + 41 22 789 1662. I'm sure he could give you an earful about the historic blunder you're about to commit.

With our economic collapse still in full swing and our precious young men and women being sacrificed on the altar of arrogance and greed, the breakdown of this great civilization we call America will head, full throttle, into oblivion if you become the "war president." Empires never think the end is near, until the end is here. Empires think that more evil will force the heathens to toe the line -- and yet it never works. The heathens usually tear them to shreds.
Choose carefully, President Obama. You of all people know that it doesn't have to be this way. You still have a few hours to listen to your heart, and your own clear thinking. You know that nothing good can come from sending more troops halfway around the world to a place neither you nor they understand, to achieve an objective that neither you nor they understand, in a country that does not want us there. You can feel it in your bones.

I know you know that there are LESS than a hundred al-Qaeda left in Afghanistan! A hundred thousand troops trying to crush a hundred guys living in caves? Are you serious? Have you drunk Bush's Kool-Aid? I refuse to believe it.

Your potential decision to expand the war (while saying that you're doing it so you can "end the war") will do more to set your legacy in stone than any of the great things you've said and done in your first year. One more throwing a bone from you to the Republicans and the coalition of the hopeful and the hopeless may be gone -- and this nation will be back in the hands of the haters quicker than you can shout "tea bag!"

Choose carefully, Mr. President. Your corporate backers are going to abandon you as soon as it is clear you are a one-term president and that the nation will be safely back in the hands of the usual idiots who do their bidding. That could be Wednesday morning.
We the people still love you. We the people still have a sliver of hope. But we the people can't take it anymore. We can't take your caving in, over and over, when we elected you by a big, wide margin of millions to get in there and get the job done. What part of "landslide victory" don't you understand?

Don't be deceived into thinking that sending a few more troops into Afghanistan will make a difference, or earn you the respect of the haters. They will not stop until this country is torn asunder and every last dollar is extracted from the poor and soon-to-be poor. You could send a million troops over there and the crazy Right still wouldn't be happy. You would still be the victim of their incessant venom on hate radio and television because no matter what you do, you can't change the one thing about yourself that sends them over the edge.
The haters were not the ones who elected you, and they can't be won over by abandoning the rest of us.
President Obama, it's time to come home. Ask your neighbors in Chicago and the parents of the young men and women doing the fighting and dying if they want more billions and more troops sent to Afghanistan.

Do you think they will say, "No, we don't need health care, we don't need jobs, we don't need homes. You go on ahead, Mr. President, and send our wealth and our sons and daughters overseas, 'cause we don't need them, either."

What would Martin Luther King, Jr. do? What would your grandmother do? Not send more poor people to kill other poor people who pose no threat to them, that's what they'd do. Not spend billions and trillions to wage war while American children are sleeping on the streets and standing in bread lines.

All of us that voted and prayed for you and cried the night of your victory have endured an Orwellian hell of eight years of crimes committed in our name: torture, rendition, suspension of the bill of rights, invading nations who had not attacked us, blowing up neighborhoods that Saddam "might" be in (but never was), slaughtering wedding parties in Afghanistan. We watched as hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians were slaughtered and tens of thousands of our brave young men and women were killed, maimed, or endured mental anguish -- the full terror of which we scarcely know.

When we elected you we didn't expect miracles. We didn't even expect much change. But we expected some. We thought you would stop the madness. Stop the killing. Stop the insane idea that men with guns can reorganize a nation that doesn't even function as a nation and never, ever has.
Stop, stop, stop! For the sake of the lives of young Americans and Afghan civilians, stop. For the sake of your presidency, hope, and the future of our nation, stop. For God's sake, stop.
Tonight we still have hope.

Tomorrow, we shall see. The ball is in your court. You DON'T have to do this. You can be a profile in courage. You can be your mother's son.
We're counting on you.

Yours,

Michael Moore

MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com
P.S. There's still time to have your voice heard. Call the White House at 202-456-1111 or email the President.

Cape Cod Communities Protest the Obamazation of War!

Come Vigil in Silent Protest of the 

OBAMAIZATION Of WAR on Wednesday, 

December 2nd at Harwich Town Hall, 

5PM - 6PM - Bring Candles!

 

...Or have one in your town.
 

One hour of your time during this "season of peace" is all we ask.

Cape Cod Friends Peace Fair

Yarmouth Friends’ Peace Fair

A Peace and Arts Festival

Saturday,

Sept. 19, 2009

11 am to 4 pm.

Yarmouth Friends (Quaker) Meetinghouse

58 N. Main St, South Yarmouth 

• Handicrafts
• Music
• Art
• Peace Related       Exhibits
• Attic Treasures

• Free Market

No - Cost Winter Outerwear (Child & Adult)

• Sign the World’s Biggest Peace Book
• Walk the Peace Labyrinth
• Great Food
• Children’s Activities             
• Family Fun

Peace Fair Proceeds to benefit the Cape Cod Council of Churches’ Hands of Hope Outreach Center and Food Pantry in West Harwich.   Please bring a non-perishable food item to donate, if you are able.

For Information Call (508) 432-4757.

BOYCOTT DUNKIN' DONUTS

Boycott Dunkin' Donuts! Click Here and Tell A Friend!

Dunkin’ Donuts has capitulated and withdrawn an advertisement for its products following the allegation by a right-wing hack, Michelle Malkin, that the spokeswoman in the ad was pictured wearing a kaffiyeh, a scarf which is a staple of clothing traditionally worn by Palestinian men.

The scarf pictured in the ad is not actually a kaffiyeh. But the anti-Arab racism of the right-wing, pro-Bush ideologues like Malkin is so extreme that they launched their campaign because they “thought” the scarf was this traditional Arab garment. Dunkin’ Donuts pulled their ad apologizing that the scarf might even resemble a kaffiyeh.

1. Review the message on the right.
2. Complete the form below with your information.
3. Click the Send Your Message button to send your letter to the following places:
1) Jon Luther, CEO, Dunkin Brands, Inc.
2) Dunkin Donuts Corporate Offices



I am outraged at your decision to stop running a commercial based on the possible perception that it contained an Arab kaffiyeh. Until your company issues an official apology for yielding to anti-Arab racists, I am boycotting all of your products and stores -- and I'm encouraging all my friends and family members to do the same.

I also am aware that by supporting your products I am directly funding one of the many consumer unfriendly corporate owners, The Carlyle Group., knowing what I know now I will not spend another dollar in your Dunken Donuts or other retail outlets.

Here's what an October 31, 2001 Guardian story had to say about the Carlyle Group:

It should be a deep cause for concern that a closely held company like Carlyle can simultaneously have directors and advisers that are doing business and making money and also advising the president of the United States," says Peter Eisner, managing director of the Center for Public Integrity, a non-profit-making Washington think-tank. "The problem comes when private business and public policy blend together. What hat is former president Bush wearing when he tells Crown Prince Abdullah not to worry about US policy in the Middle East? What hat does he use when he deals with South Korea, and causes policy changes there? Or when James Baker helps argue the presidential election in the younger Bush's favour? It's a kitchen-cabinet situation, and the informality involved is precisely a mark of Carlyle's success. [...]

But what sets Carlyle apart is the way it has exploited its political contacts. When Carlucci arrived there in 1989, he brought with him a phalanx of former subordinates from the CIA and the Pentagon, and an awareness of the scale of business a company like Carlyle could do in the corridors and steak-houses of Washington. In a decade and a half, the firm has been able to realise a 34% rate of return on its investments, and now claims to be the largest private equity firm in the world. Success brought more investors, including the international financier George Soros and, in 1995, the wealthy Saudi Binladin family, who insist they long ago severed all links with their notorious relative. The first president Bush is understood to have visited the Binladins in Saudi Arabia twice on the firm's behalf. [...]

But if the Binladins' connection to the Carlyle Group lasted no more than six years, the current President Bush's own links to the firm go far deeper. In 1990, he was appointed to the board of one of Carlyle's first purchases, an airline food business called Caterair, which they eventually sold at a loss. He left the board in 1992, later to become Governor of Texas.

WIKIPEDIA CARLYLE FACTS: Political figures

North America

* George H. W. Bush, former U.S. President, Senior Advisor to the Carlyle Asia Advisory Board from April 1998 to October 2003.
* George W. Bush, current U.S. President. Was appointed in 1990 to the Board of Directors of one of Carlyle's first acquisitions, an airline food business called Caterair, which Carlyle eventually sold at a loss. Bush left the board in 1992 to run for Governor of Texas.
* James Baker III, former United States Secretary of State under George H. W. Bush, Staff member under Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, Carlyle Senior Counselor, served in this capacity from 1993 to 2005.
* Frank C. Carlucci, former United States Secretary of Defense from 1987 to 1989; Also, former Princeton wrestling partner of former US Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. Carlyle Chairman and Chairman Emeritus from 1989 to 2005.
* Richard Darman, former Director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget under George H. W. Bush, Senior Advisor and Managing Director of The Carlyle Group from 1993 to the present
* Randal K. Quarles, former Under Secretary of the U.S. Treasury under President George W. Bush, now a Carlyle managing director
* Allan Gotlieb, Canadian ambassador to the United States (1981-89) and member of Carlyle's Canadian advisory board.
* William Kennard, Chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) under President Bill Clinton, Carlyle's Managing Director in the Telecommunications & Media Group from 2001 to the present.
* Arthur Levitt, Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under President Bill Clinton, Carlyle Senior Advisor from 2001 to the present
* Mack McLarty, White House Chief of Staff under President Bill Clinton, President of Kissinger McLarty Associates, Carlyle Senior Advisor from 2003 to the present
* Dan Senor - political consultant
* Peter Lougheed - Premier of Alberta (1971-85)
* Luis Téllez Kuenzler, Mexican economist, current Secretary of Communications and Transportation under the Felipe Calderón administration and former Secretary of Energy under the Zedillo administration.
* Frank McKenna, Canadian ambassador to the United States and former member of Carlyle's Canadian advisory board

Europe

* John Major, former British Prime Minister, Chairman, Carlyle Europe from 2002 until 2005

Asia

* Liu Hong-Ru, former chairman of China's Securities Regulatory Commission
* Anand Panyarachun, former Prime Minister of Thailand (twice), former member of the Carlyle Asia Advisory Board until the board was disbanded in 2004
* Fidel V. Ramos, former president of the Philippines, Carlyle Asia Advisor Board Member until the board was disbanded in 2004
* Thaksin Shinawatra, deposed Prime Minister of Thailand, former member of board, who resigned on taking office in 2001

Middle East

* Shafig bin Laden, older brother of Osama bin Laden

Media

* Norman Pearlstine - editor-in-chief of Time magazine from (1995-2005)
Enough Said?

READ THIS BOOK!

The book Natural Capitalism was used as a text book for a young family friend, Tim Marcella, has helped me with eyes W I D E - O P E N ((0)) ^ ((0)), and showed that .."if we always do what we always did, we will always get what we always got". I want and the world needs a different USA foreign policy and a different president!

As John Lennon said in his 1968 Xmas greeting, War is Over! ....... :) "if you want it"

After hurricane Katrina, I became deeply involved in the work of stopping the occupation of Iraq, by trying to show the human cost of war. Arlington East was one of the fruits of that labor, displaying 2800 grave markers for the fallen on a autumnal day in October 2006, on Cape Cod. With over 215 grave markers for Iraqi children killed as well.

How many US suicides have there been and has it been under reported?
How many US deaths will it take?
How many US wounded? How many Iraqis?
For what ? Oil Profits? Saddam is gone, No WMD! The Iraqis have a new democracy, new leaders. What about the reconstruction and reconciliation. Who running for president cares about this problem?

How many years and what natural resources , and human capital will we squander and for what end?

Millions of refuges from Iraq, the Sub-Sahara, and the whole of Africa are being displaced by war and Global Warming.

How many Iraqi dead or displaced? Millions!

Q. How many Iraqi refuges in Iraq?
Source - Refugees International

A. (RI) Refugees International generates lifesaving humanitarian assistance and protection for displaced people around the world, and works to end the conditions that create displacement. RI website states that... "An estimated 1.8 million Iraqi refugees have fled Iraq since the U.S. conflict began in 2003 and are now living throughout the Middle East, including Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. Inside Iraq, 1.7 million people have been internally displaced -- with 600,000 displaced since 2003. Many of these people have fled targeting by insurgents due to their alleged collaboration with U.S. forces and the new Iraqi government. Others are fleeing the growing sectarian violence at home. RI conducted assessment missions to the region in November 2006 and February 2007 to assess this crisis and is working to bring these refugees to the attention of U.S. officials and UNHCR."


Q. What main countries absorbed the Palestinian refuges in 1948?
A. In the Jordan, Syria and Lebanon!

What was the human cost of these wars?

A. Natural Capitalism gave me some strategies to my new understanding of how we can make a better, more peaceful world. It has the way forward toward hope.

In "Natural Capitalism" the authors Amory B. Lovins, L. Hunter Lovins, Paul Hawken redefine expendable humanity. The "human capital" shows to us the REAL need for anyone to see how we must can change our thinking from old capitalism to "human focused" Capitalism. A must read for anyone running for President, or voting for President in 2008. This young graduate student of the earth who happens to be in Tern Island, Hawaii studying albatross eggs is my teacher, Thanks Tim!

The Albatross - legendary protector of seafarers - is heading for extinction. Biologists have discovered that swordfish and tuna fishing fleets are eliminating more that 100 000 of these birds every year. In a couple of decades most species will be wiped out unless urgent action is taken. Tim is taking action on Tern Island!

Peacefully yours,
John Bangert

--
Not one more dime!
Not one more day!
Not one more death !
Bring Our Troops Home Now!