US mulls sending 7,000 more troops to Afghanistan: report

3 May 2008

WASHINGTON -The United States is considering sending an extra 7,000 troops to Afghanistan next year to make up for a shortfall in contributions from NATO allies, The New York Times reported Saturday.

Citing unnamed senior administration officials, the newspaper said if the plan was to be approved, the number of US troops in the country would rise to about 40,000, and entail at least a modest reduction in troops from Iraq.

President George W. Bush told allies at a NATO summit in Bucharest last month that the United States would significantly increase its force levels in Afghanistan next year.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates also has pushed other European allies to provide combat troops and equipment to fill shortfalls in the volatile south, but the response so far has been tepid.

But The Times said the Pentagon now appears resigned to the fact that NATO is unable or unwilling to contribute more troops despite its public pledges.

The increasing proportion of US troops in Afghanistan, from about half to about two-thirds of all foreign troops in the country, will likely result in what one senior administration official described as "the re-Americanization" of the war, the report said.

"There are simply going to be more American forces than we've ever had there," the paper quoted the official as saying.

So far a dozen NATO countries have pledged a total of about 2,000 additional troops for Afghanistan, while alliance commanders have asked for 10,000, according to the paper.

The United States currently has about 34,000 troops in Afghanistan, 16,000 of them under the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in eastern Afghanistan.

The other 18,000 are involved in counter-terrorism operations and training of Afghan security forces.

But a contingent of some 2,500 US Marines was deployed to Afghanistan last month to reinforce NATO forces in the south for seven months.

Bush wins NATO nod on missile defense

U.S. President George W. Bush (C) speaks with Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko (L) during the meeting on Afghanistan at the NATO summit in Bucharest April 3, 2008.

3 April 2008

By MATTHEW LEE

President Bush won NATO's endorsement Thursday for his plan to build a missile defense system in Europe over Russian objections. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called it a "breakthrough agreement" for the military alliance.

"Now it is clearly understood in the alliance that the challenges of the 21st century, the threats of the 21st century, make it necessary to have missile defense that can defend the countries of Europe," Rice told reporters at the NATO summit.

Progress on missile defense represented perhaps the biggest boon to Bush from the NATO summit. Russia has fiercely opposed it.

Rice also noted that NATO has "also asked Russia to stop its criticism of the alliance effort and to join in the cooperative efforts that have been offered to it by the United States."

A NATO statement calls on the alliance to explore ways in which the planned U.S. project, to be based in Poland and the Czech Republic, can be linked with future missile shields elsewhere. It says leaders should come up with recommendations to be considered at their next meeting in 2009.

U.S. President George W. Bush speaks with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, left, prior to the start of the NATO Summit meeting on Afghanistan, in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, April 3, 2008.(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

The U.S. plan calls for 10 interceptor missiles based in Poland and a tracking radar site in the Czech Republic.

At a news conference in Bucharest on the sidelines of the NATO summit, Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg announced that negotiations with the Americans have been successfully completed and that a deal would be signed in early May.

The Poles have yet to agree to the plan, but in Warsaw on Thursday, talks picked up between Polish and U.S. officials about it.

The backing from NATO and the announcement with the Czechs provides Bush with a powerful leg up in his negotiations with Moscow over the issue.

Bush is seeing Russian President Vladimir Putin twice this week — during the summit and Sunday in Sochi, Russia. White House officials have talked optimistically in recent days that the weekend meeting could break the missile defense logjam.

Rice said she was hopeful that Bush and Putin would agree on a broad framework for cooperation between the countries, but it was still unclear whether they would reach a deal on missile defense. The administration has worked to allay Russian leaders' fears that the system is a threat to them.

"We hope that we can move beyond that to an understanding that we will all have an interest in cooperation on missile defense," Rice said. "But we will see."

On Afghanistan, Bush did win a commitment of more troops to Afghanistan's most dangerous areas, although his national security adviser acknowledged more needs to be done.

"We are not at the level of what at this point in time our commanders looking forward say we need and that's why we said more to do," Stephen Hadley said at the briefing with Rice.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said France will send as many as 1,000 troops to the eastern part of the country, freeing up some U.S. forces to move to the south. Canada had threatened to pull its soldiers out of the volatile south, the front line in the fight against a resurgent Taliban and al-Qaida forces, unless it received 1,000 reinforcements from another ally.

On NATO expansion, Bush did suffer setback in his drive to have the alliance include Ukraine and Georgia, two former Soviet republics.

"NATO's door must remain open to other nations in Europe that share our love for liberty and demonstrate a commitment to reform and seek to strengthen their ties with the trans-Atlantic community," Bush said in brief remarks at an alliance meeting. "We must give other nations seeking membership a full and fair hearing."

Fellow NATO leaders, fearing a clash with Moscow, rejected Bush's appeal to allow the countries to get on a path toward membership. But Hadley said the president plans to make a new pitch before he leaves office in January. The United States expects to raise the matter at a meeting of NATO foreign minister in December, Hadley said.

The president expressed regret that NATO also declined to offer full membership at this meeting to Macedonia. The invitation was blocked by Greece, which says the country's name implies a territorial claim to a northern region of Greece, also called Macedonia.

"Macedonia's made difficult reforms at home," Bush said. "It is making major contributions to NATO missions abroad. The name issue needs to be resolved quickly so that Macedonia can be welcomed into NATO as soon as possible."

Albania and Croatia were invited to join the alliance, now currently at 26 members.

Progress on missile defense represented perhaps the biggest boon to Bush from the summit. NATO leaders were adopting a statement that "ballistic missile proliferation poses an increasing threat to allied forces, territory and populations" and that the U.S.-led system would help protect allies.

The statement calls on all NATO members to explore ways in which the planned U.S. project can be linked with future missile shields elsewhere The plan calls for 10 interceptor missiles based in Poland and a tracking radar site in the Czech Republic.

Russia charges the intent of the system would be to weaken its nuclear deterrent capabilities and upset the balance of power in Europe. Bush has denied that, saying the facilities are designed to protect Europe against a potential missile attack — or even just nuclear blackmail — by Iran. The dispute has become heated at times, with confrontational, Cold War-style rhetoric from Moscow.

Bush essentially has rejected Russia's suggestion that the U.S. substitute an early warning radar in Azerbaijan for the Europe-based system. But U.S. officials have been working to come up with a list of concessions and assurances that could resolve Moscow's fears, such as offering to let Russia share in the information the system collects and promising not to activate it without a verifiable threat.

Georgian envoy urges German support for NATO membership

Coat of Arms of Georgia

31 March 2008

Berlin-Georgia's Ambassador to Germany Levan Duchidze on Monday called for German support for his country's NATO membership amid Berlin's steadfast opposition to plans for allowing Georgia and Ukraine into the so-called NATO action plan.

Talking to the German dpa news agency, Duchidze warned rejecting Georgia's bid to enter the western military pact would set a "wrong signal."

He added his country needed to be included in the NATO action plan "to preserve the positive dynamic" in Georgia.

Meanwhile, German government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said during a routine news conference in Berlin that Georgia and Ukraine were still not ready to join NATO, citing internal conflicts in both countries.

He stressed while Germany remains committed to NATO's 'open door policy', this was "not the right moment for Georgia and Ukraine." "The requirements for a membership perspective for both countries are not sufficient," Wilhelm said.

Although many East European countries and the US back Georgian and Ukrainian NATO membership campaign, Germany, Italy and France still oppose the bid.

President Bush Meets with Secretary General of NATO Jaap de Hoop Scheffer

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
February 29, 2008

President George W. Bush meets with Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Friday, Feb. 29, 2008, in the Oval Office. White House photo by Chris Greenberg

Video

PRESIDENT BUSH: It's my honor to welcome the Secretary General of NATO back to the Oval Office. Last time I was with the Secretary General I was trying to keep up with him on my mountain bike. He's a dear friend and a strong leader.

I appreciate the -- your helping to transform NATO so it deals with the pressures of the 21st century. You've done your job with great dignity and clarity of thought. And I'm looking forward to coming to Bucharest to support your efforts to make sure NATO is a relevant organization aimed at bringing security and peace to the world.

We've had a lot of things to discuss. A couple of key points: One, Afghanistan. The United States is committed to the NATO mission in Afghanistan. We're committed to a comprehensive strategy that helps folks in Afghanistan realize security, at the same time, economic prosperity and political progress. Secondly, our hope is that nations that have applied to join NATO continue to meet their MAP obligations. I'm looking forward to getting an assessment of the progress that these three nations have made from you, before we take the vote on enlargement.

I appreciate very much NATO's role in helping to provide some sense of stability in the Balkans. Thank you for doing a training mission in Iraq. Over all, thanks for being a force for good. And I'm proud to welcome you back here.

SECRETARY GENERAL DE HOOP SCHEFFER: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, George.

Four working weeks until the Bucharest summit of NATO. I can echo the President's words, first of all, NATO's operations and missions. We have a long-term commitment vis-a-vis Afghanistan. I thank the President for the United States' contribution in the NATO framework, which is an essential one. All 26 NATO allies are there and we are there for the long haul. We are there to support President Karzai and the Afghan people. But we're also there because we're fighting terrorism, and we cannot afford to lose. We will not lose; we are not losing; we are prevailing.

May I mention Kosovo, which will be discussed. The secondary important NATO presence, 60,000 strong, to protect all Kosovars, majority, minority, Albanian or Serb, so that also Kosovo will have a future.

NATO enlargement, the President mentioned. The nations concerned should go on with their reforms. No tickets are punched yet, but NATO enlargement will be on the agenda of the Bucharest summit. And certainly also what I call NATO finding the answers to modern threats and challenges, be it energy security and NATO's role as a bringer of added value. Cyber defense; we saw a huge cyber attack on Estonia not that long ago. Missile defense is certainly an issue.

So we have a real full calendar in Bucharest, and that is basically the calendar the President and I discussed. And I'm always very much enjoying the hospitality not only in the Oval, but at the Crawford ranch, as well.

I thank you very much.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you all.

END

DEPLETED URANIUM

THE RADIOACTIVITY PERSISTS FOR OVER
4,500,000,000 YEARS KILLING MILLIONS OF EVERY
AGE FOR CENTURIES TO COME .THIS IS A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY WHICH MAY RANK
WITH THE WORST ATROCITIES OF
ALL TIME .


What the governments of America and Britain have done
to the people of Iraq they have also done to their own
people and they have done it knowingly.

Dr Chris Busby, the British radiatio

Dr Chris Busby, the British radiation expert,
Fellow of the University of Liverpool in the Faculty of Medicine
and UK representative on the European Committee on Radiation Risk,
The people out there – the Iraqis, the media and the troops – risk the most appalling ill health. And the radiation from depleted uranium can travel literally anywhere.

It’s going to destroy the lives of thousands of children, all over the world.

We all know how far radiation can travel. Radiation from Chernobyl reached Wales and in Britain you sometimes get red dust from the Sahara on your car.’

This is a story in which the facts have been concealed from those who needed them most. It is also a story we need to know if the people of Iraq are to get the medical care they desperately need, and if our troops, returning from Iraq, are not to suffer as terribly as the veterans of other conflicts in which depleted uranium was used
. ‘Depleted’ uranium is in many ways a misnomer.

‘Depleted’ sounds weak. The only weak thing about depleted uranium is its price.

It is dirt cheap, toxic, waste.

On hearing that DU had been used in the Gulf in 1991
the UK Atomic Energy Authority sent the
Ministry of Defence a special report on the potential
damage to health and the environment.
It said that it could cause half a million
additional cancer deaths in Iraq over 10 years.
In that war the authorities only admitted
to using 320 tons of DU – although the Dutch charity
LAKA estimates the true figure is closer to 800 tons.
Many times that may have been spread across
Iraq by this war. The devastating damage all this DU
will do to the health and fertility of the people of Iraq now,
and for generations to come,
IS BEYOND IMAGINING

The radioactivity persists for over 4,500,000,000 years killing millions
of every age for centuries to come.
This is a crime against humanity
which may rank with the worst atrocities of all time.

Since DU darkened the land Iraq has seen
birth defects which would break a heart of stone:
babies with terribly foreshortened limbs,
with their intestines outside their bodies,
with huge bulging tumours
where their eyes should be,
or with a single eye
– like Cyclops, or without eyes,
or without limbs, and even without heads.

A U.S. Department of Veterans study of 251 Gulf war veteran's
families found that 67% had children with severe
illnesses or birth defects.


Depleted uranium, also known as the radioactive isotope U-238,
doesn't just dissolve or go away.

The genocidal US and UK military has
permanently poisoned Kuwait, southern Iraq,
Bosnia, the Kosovo highlands of Yugoslavia
and much of the Yugoslavian
Danube River basin=wherever DU fire was
concentrated.

In Iraq, cancer rates have
quadrupled in areas of southern Iraq
bombed by the American and British
state terrorists. Cases of leukemia
are starting to show up
among people who served as NATO
occupation forces in Bosnia and Kosovo.

Pentagon officials have been forced to admit that thousands of U.S. soldiers were "unnecessarily exposed" to depleted uranium radiation
in the Gulf War. But of course they claim those exposures were "not medically significant."
Since Nature does not take orders from
the Pentagon, however, the
Gulf War Syndrome
affects one out of seven Gulf War veterans.
By some estimates, more than 120,000
Gulf War veterans are chronically ill

This presentation is the courtesy of a friend.

The Real Axis of Evil?

Israel
United States
United Kingdom
N.A.T.O

BANNED Bush Interview

This is a video that was shown on Irish TV interview with George Bush. This interview was not shown on American television because it was banned! Why you ask, take a look and see...