Afghanistan

Does Security Glitch Mean Less Heat for Wikileaks?

Submitted by Anne Landman on August 4, 2010 - 12:31pm

Wikileaks LogoThe Web site Wikileaks has been drawing criticism for publishing 90,000 classified documents about the war in Afghanistan, some of which reveal the names of Afghan citizens who have provided information to the U.S. The Obama Administration has said this could endanger the lives of those informants.

Main Source: 
Voice of America (VOA.com), August 3, 2010

Former U.S. Soldiers Describe Indiscriminate Military Violence in Iraq

Submitted by Anne Landman on August 4, 2010 - 12:08pm

Three former American soldiers who served in Iraq are going public about the realities of the U.S. military occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan, where they claim routine acts of excessive violence upon local citizens stem from the U.S. chain of command. Former Army Specialists Josh Stieber, Ray Corcoles and Ethan McCord say that they thought they were going to Iraq to help the Iraqi people and advance freedom and democracy. Instead, the reality they found was quite different. They were ordered by their command to carry out indiscriminate violence on Iraqi citizens.

Main Source: 
The Nation, August 16-23, 2010 edition

Journalists Debate on Reporting Ethics

Submitted by Anne Landman on July 1, 2010 - 12:33pm

Lara LoganCBS News Chief Foreign Correspondent Lara LoganThe fallout from Michael Hastings' inflammatory article in Rolling Stone about General Stanley McChrystal continues as journalists debate the appropriateness of Hastings' reporting.

Main Source: 
Rolling Stone, June 28, 2010

U.S. Military Using Private Spy Ring, Despite Questions About Its Legality

Submitted by Anne Landman on May 17, 2010 - 3:31pm

The U.S. military is continuing to operate a secret network of private spies deep inside Afghanistan and Pakistan, even though the military is largely prohibited from operating inside Pakistan, and is not permitted to hire contractors for spying. Earlier this year, government officials admitted the military had ben sending former CIA officers and retired special-operations troops into both countries to collect information used to track and kill suspected militants.

Main Source: 
Denver Post/New York Times, May 16, 2010

Leaked CIA Memo Suggests Spinning War Messaging

Submitted by Anne Landman on April 6, 2010 - 12:44pm

leakA classified CIA memo (pdf) obtained by Wikileaks.org outlines public relations strategies that could be used to shore up French and German support for continuing the war in Afghanistan. In February, the Dutch government effectively collapsed over a dispute about whether the Netherlands should continue to keep its 2,000 troops posted in Afghanistan.

Main Source: 
Wikileaks.org , March 26, 2010

Media Feeds Americans Fake News About Afghanistan

Submitted by Anne Landman on April 5, 2010 - 2:43pm

Paktiya province, AfghanistanGlen Greenwald of Salon.com reports that Americans are being fed false and misleading "news" about the U.S. war in Afghanistan because major American media outlets, like the New York Times and CNN, publish propagandized Pentagon accounts of the violence and killing occurring there, without questioning the information they are fed.

An egregious example of this occurred on February 12, 2010, when NATO's joint international force issued a press release that bore the headline Joint Force Operating In Gardez Makes Gruesome Discovery. The release said that after "intelligence confirmed militant activity" in a compound near a village in Paktiya province, an international security force entered the compound and engaged "several insurgents" in a fire fight. Two "insurgents" were killed, the report said, and after the joint forces entered the compound, they "found the bodies of three women who had been tied up, gagged and killed."

But an Afghan news report about the same incident differed wildly.

Fooled You! The Military's Afghanistan PR Fib

Submitted by Anne Landman on March 9, 2010 - 12:42am

The U.S. media told the public for weeks that a big, offensive battle was taking place in Marja, in Afghanistan, a "city of 80,000 people" in Helmand province which was also the logistical hub of the Taliban. The description gave the impression that the U.S. presence in Marja was a major strategic objective, and that the city was more important than other district centers in the province.

Main Source: 
Interpress News Service, March 8, 2010

First Blackwater, Then Xe, and Now Paravant: Still Armed and Dangerous

Submitted by Anne Landman on February 26, 2010 - 10:05am

The private military contractor Blackwater -- which rebranded itself as "Xe" in February, 2009 to distance itself from negative incidents like the September, 2007 shooting in Baghdad's Nisoor Square that killed at least a dozen people -- has created a shell company called "Paravant" to try and keep winning lucrative government military contracts. Both Paravant and Xe are owned by Eric Prince, owner of Blackwater. Paravant won contracts to operate in Afghanistan without identifying its affiliation with Blackwater/Xe to the U.S. government.

Main Source: 
ABC News, February 25, 2010

Patton Boggs Runs Pro-War Front Group for Hamed Wardak and NCL Holdings

Submitted by John Stauber on December 24, 2009 - 12:22pm

The Campaign for a U.S.-Afghanistan Partnership is being exposed as an insidious pro-war front group. Aram Roston reports in the The Nation magazine that "As President Obama prepares a massive military buildup in Afghanistan, a House subcommittee has launched an investigation into whether Defense Department contractors are paying off the Taliban to protect American supply lines. ... One of the contractors under investigation is NCL Holdings, a U.S.

Main Source: 
The Nation, December 22, 2009

Do Contractors Count? Underestimating the War Dead

Submitted by Anne Landman on October 9, 2009 - 12:56pm

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently released updated figures for the number of civilian contractors killed in American war zones since September 1, 2001. A minimum of 1,688 civilians have died, and there have been over 37,000 injuries reported among people working for U.S. contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan -- but the DOL acknowledges that the report is incomplete. Civilian contractors make up about half the total U.S. forces in war zones, but the [[U.S.

Main Source: 
ProPublica, October 9, 2009
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