President Obama has changed the policy that allows federal prosecutors to pursue those who sell and use medical marijuana, when the state laws permit. At present, only 14 U. S. states have legalized the medical use of marijuana - which means you need a prescription for it, and access to a pharmacy certified to dispense it. This does not relax the laws governing recreational use of pot, so don't head out to your greenhouse and start harvesting a little extra weed to sell, even in a state where medical marijuana is legal
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Obama, Copenhagen, and the Global Warming Skeptics | The LA Progressive - 0 views
www.laprogressive.com/...nd-the-global-warming-skeptics
copenhagen obama skeptics EWSIS global warming
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I'm learning more about Global Warming right now, and in particular what I'm wondering is will we have to live underwater in the future? I was researching this question online, and this blog post caught my attention because many things are changing around the world. Disasters like hurricanes grow stronger and other things like drought become longer and deadlier. Few challenges facing America-and the world-are more urgent than combating climate change. The science is beyond dispute and the facts are clear. Sea levels are rising. Coastlines are shrinking. We've seen record drought, spreading famine, and storms that are growing stronger with each passing hurricane season. The quote here is basically saying that our continents are sinking into the sea or is getting swallowed by the sea. Things like hurricanes grow stronger from this and other disasters also grow deadlier. I think this is scary because one year your house might be right next to the coast line and the next year, right when you step out of your backyard, your stepping on ocean water. This makes me think will we have to live underwater in the future and adopt to underwater conditions.
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shared by Reasat EWSIS on 14 Jan 10
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Poll shows fans want to dump Bowl Championship Series, get playoff - ESPN - 0 views
sports.espn.go.com/...story
fans america sports football college playoffs championship government congress senate president Obama
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One of the most discussed issues in American sports today is the current bowl system in college football. Majority of the Americans, especially fans, favor on having a playoff, just like in every other sports leagues, to determine a National Champion, rather than having multiple Bowl games. According to survey conducted by Quinnipiac University, 63 percent favor a playoff system while getting rid of the current system. Only 26 percent favor on keeping the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) system. Even the President of our nation, Barack Obama favors a playoff system in college football. This issue was even involved in the U.S. Congress. The House was planning on passing a legislation to remove the current BCS system and implement a playoffs to decide a National Champion. However, 48 percent of the fans do not think it's a good idea for Congress to get involved with this, while 45 percent do. The Congress hasn't done anything yet. I personally believe that the Congress should stay out of this and worry about much more important government issues
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Medical Marijuana Laws Loosened at Federal Level - 0 views
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im learning more about marijuana President Obama has changed the policy that allows federal prosecutors to pursue those who sell and use medical marijuana, when the state laws permit. At present, only 14 U. S. states have legalized the medical use of marijuana - which means you need a prescription for it, and access to a pharmacy certified to dispense it. This does not relax the laws governing recreational use of pot, so don't head out to your greenhouse and start harvesting a little extra weed to sell, even in a state where medical marijuana is legal.
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Pentagon Checks Arsenal in Race for Nuclear Treaty - NYTimes.com - 0 views
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Although Mr. Obama has vowed that his long-term goal is eliminating nuclear weapons, there are significant disagreements about how fast and how deep reductions might be made while guaranteeing America’s security in a world in which other nations maintain nuclear arsenals, others might be tempted to build them — and bomb-making knowledge can never be erased.
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“It’s like the operation of a very high-end restaurant kitchen. It may look chaotic, but beautiful things come out of it.”
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Mr. Obama laid out his vision in April, declaring in Prague that he would “reduce the role of nuclear weapons” and urge other countries to do the same, with the long-term goal of eliminating nuclear arms altogether.
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Global warming - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views
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The most commonly discussed measure of global warming is the trend in globally averaged temperature near the Earth's surface.
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An increase in global temperature will cause sea levels to rise and will change the amount and pattern of precipitation, probably including expansion of subtropical deserts.[7] The continuing retreat of glaciers, permafrost and sea ice is expected, with warming being strongest in the Arctic. Other likely effects include increases in the intensity of extreme weather events, species extinctions, and changes in agricultural yields.
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Political and public debate continues regarding climate change, and what actions (if any) to take in response. The available options are mitigation to reduce further emissions; adaptation to reduce the damage caused by warming; and, more speculatively, geoengineering to reverse global warming. Most national governments have signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
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Politics is making the Climate Chnge issue, unimportant, I beleive that Govermnets are just "selling their image", so they would look good. There are many, many policies pacts that have been made in order to "control Clmiate Change/ Global Warming". When will there be a policy that actually help the meniviroment?
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Human activity since the Industrial Revolution has increased the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, leading to increased radiative forcing from CO2, methane, tropospheric ozone, CFCs and nitrous oxide. The concentrations of CO2 and methane have increased by 36% and 148% respectively since the mid-1700s.[23] These levels are much higher than at any time during the last 650,000 years, the period for which reliable data has been extracted from ice cores.[24] Less direct geological evidence indicates that CO2 values this high were last seen about 20 million years ago.[25] Fossil fuel burning has produced about three-quarters of the increase in CO2 from human activity over the past 20 years. Most of the rest is due to land-use change, particularly deforestation.[26]
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If the atmosphere is warmed, the saturation vapor pressure increases, and the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere will tend to increase. Since water vapor is a greenhouse gas, the increase in water vapor content makes the atmosphere warm further; this warming causes the atmosphere to hold still more water vapor (a positive feedback), and so on until other processes stop the feedback loop
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When ice melts, land or open water takes its place. Both land and open water are on average less reflective than ice and thus absorb more solar radiation. This causes more warming, which in turn causes more melting, and this cycle continues.
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The Ice is melting. If you look at the The cold continent of Antartica, the ice caps are melting there. The North and the South Poles are melting. The sea levels are rising and inhabitants such as polar bears and Penguins are getting affected. The sea levels are afftecting Island Nations as well as sea bordering nations.
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Global warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans since the mid-20th century and its projected continuation. Global surface temperature increased 0.74 ± 0.18 °C (1.33 ± 0.32 °F) between the start and the end of the 20th century.
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However, warming is expected to continue beyond 2100 even if emissions stop, because of the large heat capacity of the oceans and the long lifetime of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
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Temperature changes vary over the globe. Since 1979, land temperatures have increased about twice as fast as ocean temperatures (0.25 °C per decade against 0.13 °C per decade).
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The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes that most of the observed temperature increase since the middle of the 20th century was caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases resulting from human activity such as fossil fuel burning and deforestation.
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The IPCC also concludes that variations in natural phenomena such as solar radiation and volcanoes produced most of the warming from pre-industrial times to 1950 and had a small cooling effect afterward.
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The uncertainty in this estimate arises from the use of models with differing sensitivity to greenhouse gas concentrations and the use of differing estimates of future greenhouse gas emissions.
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The greenhouse effect is the process by which absorption and emission of infrared radiation by gases in the atmosphere warm a planet's lower atmosphere and surface.
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Clouds also affect the radiation balance, but they are composed of liquid water or ice and so are considered separately from water vapor and other gases.
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Global dimming, a gradual reduction in the amount of global direct irradiance at the Earth's surface, has partially counteracted global warming from 1960 to the present.
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Observations show that temperatures in the stratosphere have been steady or cooling since 1979, when satellite measurements became available.
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Warming is expected to change the distribution and type of clouds. Seen from below, clouds emit infrared radiation back to the surface, and so exert a warming effect; seen from above, clouds reflect sunlight and emit infrared radiation to space, and so exert a cooling effect.
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Measures including water conservation,[99] water rationing, adaptive agricultural practices,[100] construction of flood defences,[101] Martian colonization,[102] changes to medical care,[103] and interventions to protect threatened species[104] have all been suggested. A wide-ranging study of the possible opportunities for adaptation of infrastructure has been published by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers.[
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Geoengineering is the deliberate modification of Earth's natural environment on a large scale to suit human needs.[106] An example is greenhouse gas remediation, which removes greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, usually through carbon sequestration techniques such as carbon dioxide air capture.
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In 2007–2008 Gallup Polls surveyed 127 countries. Over a third of the world's population were unaware of global warming, with developing countries less aware than developed, and Africa the least aware. Of those aware, Latin America leads in belief that temperature changes are a result of human activities while Africa, parts of Asia and the Middle East, and a few countries from the Former Soviet Union lead in the opposite belief.
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Geoengineering is the deliberate modification of Earth's natural environment on a large scale to suit human needs.
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one study suggests that projected rates of extinction are uncertain.[80]
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United States President Barack Obama has announced plans to introduce an economy-wide cap and trade scheme
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Measures including water conservation,[100] water rationing, adaptive agricultural practices,[101] construction of flood defences,[102] Martian colonization,[103] changes to medical care,[104] and interventions to protect threatened species[105] have all been suggested. A wide-ranging study of the possible opportunities for adaptation of infrastructure has been published by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers.
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shared by Reasat EWSIS on 14 Jan 10
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CFB - - FOX Sports on MSN - 0 views
www.bcsfootball.org/...eligibility
sports football america college national teams playoffs championship athletes
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One of the most discussed issues in American sports today is the current bowl system in college football. Majority of the Americans, especially fans, favor on having a playoff, just like in every other sports leagues, to determine a National Champion, rather than having multiple Bowl games. According to survey conducted by Quinnipiac University, 63 percent favor a playoff system while getting rid of the current system. Only 26 percent favor on keeping the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) system. Even the President of our nation, Barack Obama favors a playoff system in college football. This issue was even involved in the U.S. Congress. The House was planning on passing a legislation to remove the current BCS system and implement a playoffs to decide a National Champion. However, 48 percent of the fans do not think it's a good idea for Congress to get involved with this, while 45 percent do. The Congress hasn't done anything yet. I personally believe that the Congress should stay out of this and worry about much more important government issues. What exactly is the BCS? It is a selection process that creates five bowl games that matches up the top 10 ranked teams in the nation. The Number 1 and 2 ranked teams in the nation are matched up for the BSC National Championship game. The other teams are subjected to other BCS bowl games which are, the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona and the Orange Bowl in Miami Gardens, Florida. From the season when the BCS was created, the National Championship game rotated among the 4 bowls. But starting from 2007, the BCS made the Championship Game as a separate match up from the other 4 bowls. How are teams selected to a bowl game? There are two types of qualifications, which are automatic qualifications and at-larger berths. The top 2 ranked teams automatically qualify for the National Championship Game. In college football, there are many confere
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Bowl Championship Series - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views
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One of the most discussed issues in American sports today is the current bowl system in college football. Majority of the Americans, especially fans, favor on having a playoff, just like in every other sports leagues, to determine a National Champion, rather than having multiple Bowl games. According to survey conducted by Quinnipiac University, 63 percent favor a playoff system while getting rid of the current system. Only 26 percent favor on keeping the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) system. Even the President of our nation, Barack Obama favors a playoff system in college football. This issue was even involved in the U.S. Congress. The House was planning on passing a legislation to remove the current BCS system and implement a playoffs to decide a National Champion. However, 48 percent of the fans do not think it's a good idea for Congress to get involved with this, while 45 percent do. The Congress hasn't done anything yet. I personally believe that the Congress should stay out of this and worry about much more important government issues. What exactly is the BCS? It is a selection process that creates five bowl games that matches up the top 10 ranked teams in the nation. The Number 1 and 2 ranked teams in the nation are matched up for the BSC National Championship game. The other teams are subjected to other BCS bowl games which are, the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona and the Orange Bowl in Miami Gardens, Florida. From the season when the BCS was created, the National Championship game rotated among the 4 bowls. But starting from 2007, the BCS made the Championship Game as a separate match up from the other 4 bowls. How are teams selected to a bowl game? There are two types of qualifications, which are automatic qualifications and at-larger berths. The top 2 ranked teams automatically qualify for the National Championship Game. In college football, there are many confere
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2010 Haiti earthquake - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views
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The United States Geological Survey recorded a series of aftershocks, fourteen of them between magnitudes 5.0 and 5.9.[7] The International Red Cross has stated that as many as 3 million people have been affected by the quake,[8] with as many as 100,000 deaths likely, according to the prime minister.[9]
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According to MSNBC.com and NBC News, United States Geological Survey geophysicist Kristin Marano called it the strongest earthquake since the devastating 1770 earthquake in what is now Haiti. According to Moreau de Saint-Méry (1750–1819), while "only one masonry building had not collapsed" in Port-au-Prince during the 18 October 1751 earthquake, "the whole city collapsed" during the earthquake of 3 June 1770. The city of Cap-Haïtien and other cities in the northern part of Haiti and the Dominican Republic were destroyed in an earthquake on 7 May 1842.[18] In 1946, a magnitude-8.0 earthquake struck the Dominican Republic and also shook Haiti, producing a tsunami that killed 1,790 people and injured many others.[19]
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Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.[23] The country is ranked 149th, of 182 countries, on the Human Development Index.[24] There is concern about the emergency services' ability to cope with a major disaster,[25] and the country is considered "economically vulnerable" by the Food and Agriculture Organization.[26]
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The earthquake occurred inland, on 12 January 2010, approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) WSW from Port-au-Prince at a depth of 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) at 16:53 UTC-5[6] on the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault system.[2
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The earthquake occurred inland, on 12 January 2010, approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) WSW from Port-au-Prince at a depth of 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) at 16:53 UTC-5[6] on the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault system.[
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The United States Geological Survey recorded a series of at least 33 aftershocks , fourteen of them between magnitudes
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destroyed, including the Presidential Palace (President René Préval survived), the National Assembly building, the
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im glad to hear that President Rene Preval survived. Being a president is important and in this situation right now, the president is needed to take care of this. However alot of the important buildings are gone.
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The good thing is that at least the President survive. He is the one that now has to think about what to do next. It's so sad.
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Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere ,[22] ranked 149th of 182 countries on the Human Development Index
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prison in Port-au-Prince collapsed during the earthquake. Many prisoners escaped into the streets, and their whereabouts are unknown.[
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The country is no stranger to natural disasters: it has been struck by multiple hurricanes, causing flooding and widespread damage, most recently in 2008 from Tropical Storm Fay and Hurricanes Gustav, Hanna and Ike, resulting in 800 deaths.
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Amongst the widespread devastation and damage throughout Port-au-Prince and elsewhere, vital infrastructure to respond to the disaster, such as all hospitals in the capital, air, sea, and land transport facilities, and communications, was severely damaged or destroyed
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The buildings of the finance ministry, the ministry of public works, the ministry of communication and culture, the Palace of Justice, the Superior Normal School, the National School of Administration, the Institut Aimé Césaire, Parliament , and Port-au-Prince Cathedral were damaged to varying degrees
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The Haitian government reported that nearly 70,000 bodies had been recovered by official crews.[87] Some reports indicated 250,000 people sustained injuries, and as many as one million Haitians were left homeless
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Amongst the large number of dead were several public figures including government officials, clergy members, and musicians, and foreign civilians and military personnel working with the United Nations.
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The Dominican team sent food, bottled water and heavy machinery to remove the rubble.[103] The hospitals in Dominican Republic were made available, as well as the airport to receive aid that would be distributed to Haiti
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people who needed emergency surgery . [41] [42] The state of medical care was severely limited; a parking lot served as a triage center and the wounded were forced to lie in tents for treatment
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U.S. President Barack Obama announced that former presidents Bill Clinton, who also acts as the U.N. special envoy to Haiti, and George W. Bush will coordinate efforts to raise funds for Haiti's recovery.
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between 100,000 and 200,000 would have died as a result of the disaster,[3] exceeding earlier Red Cross estimates of 45,000–50,000.[8] Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive announced on 18 January that over 70,000 bodies had been buried in mass graves.
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It was also felt in several surrounding countries and regions, including Cuba (MM III in Guantánamo), Jamaica (MM II in Kingston), Venezuela (MM II in Caracas), Puerto Rico (MM II–III in San Juan), and the bordering country of the Dominican Republic (MM III in Santo Domingo).
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Iraq - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views
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In 1990, faced with economic disaster following the end of the Iran–Iraq War, Saddam Hussein looked to the oil-rich neighbour of Kuwait as a target to invade to use its resources and money to rebuild Iraq's economy. The Iraqi government claimed that Kuwait was illegally slant drilling its oil pipelines into Iraqi territory, a practice which it demanded be stopped; Kuwait rejected the notion that it was slant drilling, and Iraq followed this in August 1990 with the invasion of Kuwait. Upon successfully occupying Kuwait, Hussein declared that Kuwait had ceased to exist and it was to be part of Iraq, against heavy objections from many countries and the United Nations.
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The UN agreed to pass economic sanctions against Iraq and demanded its immediate withdrawal from Kuwait (see United Nations sanctions against Iraq). Iraq refused and the UN Security Council in 1991 unanimously voted for military action against Iraq. The United Nations Security Council, under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, adopted Resolution 678, authorizing U.N. member states to use "all necessary means" to "restore international peace and security in the area." The United States, which had enormous vested interests in the oil supplies of the Persian Gulf region, led an international coalition into Kuwait and Iraq. The coalition forces entered the war with more advanced weaponry than that of Iraq, though Iraq's military was one of the largest armed forces in Western Asia at the time. Despite being a large military force, the Iraqi army was no match for the advanced weaponry of the coalition forces and the air superiority that the coalition forces provided. The coalition forces proceeded with a bombing campaign targeting military including an occupied public shelter in Baghdad.[38][39][40] Iraq responded to the invasion by launching SCUD missile attacks against Israel and Saudi Arabia. Hussein hoped that by attacking Israel, the Israeli military would be drawn into the war, which he believed would rally anti-Israeli sentiment in neighboring Arab countries and cause those countries to support Iraq. However, Hussein's gamble failed, as Israel reluctantly accepted a U.S. demand to remain out of the conflict to avoid inflaming tensions. The Iraqi armed forces were quickly destroyed, and Hussein eventually accepted the inevitable and ordered a withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwait. Before the forces were withdrawn, however, Hussein ordered them to sabotage Kuwait's oil wells, which resulted in hundreds of wells being set ablaze, causing an economic and ecological disaster in Kuwait.
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After the decisive military defeat, the agreement to a ceasefire on February 28, and political maneuvering, the UN Security Council continued to press its demands that Hussein accept previous UN Security Council Resolutions, as stated in UNSCR 686. By April, UNSCR 687 recognized Kuwait's sovereignty had been reinstated, and established the United Nations Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM). Two days later, UNSCR 688 added that Iraq must cease violent repression of ethnic and religious minorities. The aftermath of the war saw the Iraqi military, especially its air force, destroyed. In return for peace, Iraq was forced to dismantle all chemical and biological weapons it possessed, and end any attempt to create or purchase nuclear weapons, to be assured by the allowing UN weapons inspectors to evaluate the dismantlement of such weapons. Finally, Iraq would face sanctions if it disobeyed any of the demands. Shortly after the war ended in 1991, Shia Muslim and Kurdish Iraqis engaged in protests against Hussein's regime, resulting in an intifada. Hussein responded with violent repression against Shia Muslims, and the protests came to an end.[41] It is estimated that as many as 100,000 people were killed.[42] The US, UK, France and Turkey claiming authority under UNSCR 688, established the Iraqi no-fly zones to protect Kurdish and Shiite populations from attacks by the Hussein regime's aircraft.
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Disarmament crisis Main article: Iraq disarmament crisis While Iraq had agreed to UNSCR 687, the Iraqi government sometimes worked with inspectors, but ultimately failed to comply with disarmament terms, and as a result, economic sanctions against Iraq continued. After the war, Iraq was accused of breaking its obligations throughout the 1990s, including the discovery in 1993 of a plan to assassinate former President George H. W. Bush, and the withdrawal of Richard Butler's UNSCOM weapon inspectors in 1998 after the Iraqi government claimed some inspectors were spies for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.[43] On multiple occasions throughout the disarmament crisis, the UN passed further resolutions (see United Nations Resolutions concerning Iraq) compelling Iraq to comply with the terms of the ceasefire resolutions. It is estimated more than 500,000 Iraqi children died as a result of the sanctions.[44][45] With humanitarian and economic concerns in mind, UNSCR 706 and UNSCR 712 allowed Iraq to sell oil in exchange for humanitarian aid. This was later turned into the Oil-for-Food Programme by UNSCR 986. Over the years, U.S. land forces were deployed to the Iraq border, and U.S. bombings were carried out to try to pressure Hussein to comply with UN resolutions. As a result of these repeated violations, US Secretary of State Madeline Albright, US Secretary of Defense William Cohen, and US National Security Advisor Sandy Berger held an international town hall meeting to discuss possible war with Iraq, which seemed to have little public support. In October 1998, U.S. President Bill Clinton signed the Iraq Liberation Act, calling for "regime change" in Iraq, and initiated Operation Desert Fox. Following Operation Desert Fox, and end to partial cooperation from Iraq prompted UNSCR 1284, disbanding UNSCOM and replacing it with United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC).
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The Bush administration made a number of allegations against Iraq, including that Iraq was acquiring uranium from Niger and that Iraq had secret weapons laboratories in trailers and isolated facilities throughout Iraq;[citation needed] none of these allegations have proven true. Saddam Hussein, under pressure from the U.S. and the U.N., finally agreed to allow weapons inspectors to return to Iraq in 2002, but by that time the Bush administration had already begun pushing for war. In June 2002, Operation Southern Watch transitioned to Operation Southern Focus, bombing sites around Iraq. The first CIA team entered Iraq on July 10, 2002. This team was composed of elite CIA Special Activities Division and the U.S. Military's elite Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) operators. Together, they prepared the battle space of the entire country for conventional U.S. Military forces. Their efforts also organized the Kurdish Peshmerga to become the northern front of the invasion and eventually defeat Ansar Al-Islam in Northern Iraq before the invasion and Saddam's forces in the north. The battle led to the killing of a substantial number of terrorists and the uncovering of a chemical weapons facility at Sargat.[46][47] In October 2002, the U.S. Congress passed the Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq, and in November the UN Security Council passes UNSCR 1441.
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Invasion and civil war Main article: 2003 invasion of Iraq Further information: Iraq War On March 20, 2003, a United States-organized coalition invaded Iraq, with the stated reason that Iraq had failed to abandon its nuclear and chemical weapons development program in violation of U.N. Resolution 687. The United States asserted that because Iraq was in material breach of Resolution 687, the armed forces authorization of Resolution 678 was revived. The United States further justified the invasion by claiming that Iraq had or was developing weapons of mass destruction and stating a desire to remove an oppressive dictator from power and bring democracy to Iraq. In his State of the Union Address on January 29, 2002, President George W. Bush declared that Iraq was a member of the "Axis of Evil", and that, like North Korea and Iran, Iraq's attempt to acquire weapons of mass destruction posed a serious threat to U.S. national security. These claims were based on documents that were provided to him by the CIA and the government of the United Kingdom.[48] Bush added, Iraq continues to flaunt its hostilities toward America and to support terror. The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax, and nerve gas, and nuclear weapons for over a decade... This is a regime that agreed to international inspections — then kicked out inspectors. This is a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world... By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes [Iran, Iraq and North Korea] pose a grave and growing danger. They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred.[49] However, according to a comprehensive U.S. government report, no complete, fully functional weapons of mass destruction have been found since the invasion.[50] There are accounts of Polish troops obtaining antiquated warheads, dating from the 1980s, two of which contained trace amounts of the nerve gas cyclosarin, but U.S. military tests found that the rounds were so deteriorated that they would "have limited to no impact if used by insurgents against coalition forces." [51][52][53][54][55][56] Iraq was also home to 1.8 tons of low-enriched uranium, miscellaneous other nuclear materials, and chemical weapons paraphernalia; the nuclear material was under the supervision of the IAEA until the beginning of the war.
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Post-invasion Main articles: Post-invasion Iraq, 2003–present, Insurgency in Iraq, Civil war in Iraq, and Humanitarian Crises of the Iraq War Occupation zones in Iraq after invasion. Following the invasion, the United States established the Coalition Provisional Authority to govern Iraq.[57] Government authority was transferred to an Iraqi Interim Government in June 2004, and a permanent government was elected in October 2005. More than 140,000 troops, mainly Americans, remain in Iraq. Some studies have placed the number of civilians deaths as high as 655,000 (see The Lancet study), although most studies estimate a lower number; the Iraq Body Count project indicates a significantly lower number of civilian deaths than that of The Lancet Study, though IBC organizers acknowledge that their statistics are an undercount as they base their information off of media-confirmed deaths. The website of the Iraq body count states, "Our maximum therefore refers to reported deaths – which can only be a sample of true deaths unless one assumes that every civilian death has been reported. It is likely that many if not most civilian casualties will go unreported by the media."[58] After the invasion, al-Qaeda took advantage of the national resistance to entrench itself in the country. On December 30, 2006, Saddam Hussein was hanged.[59] Hussein's half-brother and former intelligence chief Barzan Hassan and former chief judge of the Revolutionary Court Awad Hamed al-Bandar were likewise executed on January 15, 2007;[60] as was Taha Yassin Ramadan, Saddam's former deputy and former vice-president (originally sentenced to life in prison but later to death by hanging), on March 20, 2007.[61] Ramadan was the fourth and last man in the al-Dujail trial to die by hanging for crimes against humanity. President of Iraq Jalal Talabani with U.S. President Barack Obama in 2009. At the Anfal genocide trial, Saddam's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid (aka Chemical Ali), former defense minister Sultan Hashim Ahmed al-Tay, and former deputy Hussein Rashid Mohammed were sentenced to hang for their role in the Al-Anfal Campaign against the Kurds on June 24, 2007.[citation needed] Al-Majid was sentenced to death three more times: once for the 1991 suppression of a Shi'a uprising along with Abdul-Ghani Abdul Ghafur on December 2, 2008;[62] once for the 1999 crackdown in the assassination of Grand Ayatollah Mohammad al-Sadr on March 2, 2009;[63] and once on January 17, 2010 for the gassing of the Kurds in 1988;[64] he was hanged over a week later on January 25.[65] Acts of sectarian violence have led to claims of ethnic cleansing in Iraq, and there have been many attacks on Iraqi minorities such as the Yezidis, Mandeans, Assyrians and others.[66] A U.S. troop surge to deal with increased violence and improve security became a contentious political issue in the United States. The surge in troops was enacted in early 2007; in his September 2007 testimony to Congress, General Petraeus stated that the surge's goals were being met.[67] Iraq also suffered a cholera outbreak in 2007.[68]
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On June 29, 2009, U.S. troops formally withdrew from Baghdad streets, in accordance with former U.S. President George W. Bush's security pact with Iraq known as the Status of Forces Agreement. The SOFA pact stated, among other things, that U.S. troops will withdraw from Iraq's cities by June 30, 2009, and will leave the country on Dec. 31, 2011.[70] Throughout the country, as the citizens of Iraq celebrated with fireworks,[71] television programs declared June 30 as National Sovereignty Day.[72][73] However, crime and violence initially spiked in the months following the US withdra
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ssaults, and shootings increased dramatically.[74][78] According to the Associated Press, Iraqi military spokesman Major General Qassim al-Moussawi said investigations found that 60 to 70 percent of the criminal activ
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As Iraqi security forces struggled to suppress the sudden influx of crime, the number of kidnappings, robberies, bomb
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ity is carried out by former insurgent groups or by gangs affiliated with them — partly explaining the brutality of some of the crimes.[74] United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said that the withdrawal caused a change of chemistry with “a real sense of empowerment on the part of the Iraqis.”[79] U.S. troops continue to work with Iraqi forces after the pullout.[80] Despite the initial increase in violence, on November 30, 2009, Iraqi Interior Ministry officials reported that the civilian death toll in Iraq fell to its lowest level in November since the 2003 invasion.[81]
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Haiti's Unnatural Disaster - 0 views
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Haiti needs and deserves a modern Marshall Plan that rebuilds public institutions and creates jobs outside of the worn-down agricultural sector. Without one, it will have a hard time surviving the hurricane season. And next year will be worse.
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Bill Quigley: Why the US Owes Haiti Billions - The Briefest History - 3 views
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The US has worked for centuries to break Haiti. The US has used Haiti like a plantation. The US helped bleed the country economically since it freed itself, repeatedly invaded the country militarily, supported dictators who abused the people, used the country as a dumping ground for our own economic advantage, ruined their roads and agriculture, and toppled popularly elected officials. The US has even used Haiti like the old plantation owner and slipped over there repeatedly for sexual recreation.
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President Woodrow Wilson sent troops to invade in 1915. Revolts by Haitians were put down by US military - killing over 2000 in one skirmish alone. For the next nineteen years, the US controlled customs in Haiti, collected taxes, and ran many governmental institutions. How many billions were siphoned off by the US during these 19 years?
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The US
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"Bush Was Responsible for Destroying Haitian Democracy" - Randall Robinson on Obama Tap... - 0 views
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Bill Quigley: Why the U.S. Owes Haiti Billions - 2 views
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Why does the US owe Haiti Billions? Colin Powell, former US Secretary of State, stated his foreign policy view as the “Pottery Barn rule.” That is – “if you break it, you own it.” The US has worked to break Haiti for over 200 years. We owe Haiti. Not charity. We owe Haiti as a matter of justice. Reparations. And not the $100 million promised by President Obama either – that is Powerball money. The US owes Haiti Billions – with a big B. The US has worked for centuries to break Haiti. The US has used Haiti like a plantation. The US helped bleed the country economically since it freed itself, repeatedly invaded the country militarily, supported dictators who abused the people, used the country as a dumping ground for our own economic advantage, ruined their roads and agriculture, and toppled popularly elected officials. The US has even used Haiti like the old plantation owner and slipped over there repeatedly for sexual recreation.
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Why does the US owe Haiti Billions?
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A powerful country with a failing economey, that gets into way too much business all around the world.
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Why7 do we owe haiti billions of dollars? I know haiti is poor, this is why?
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Maybe if the US had paid them back this money, then perhaps they would not be in such bad shape right now.
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US had get too much from haiti already, so they own haiti billion not really a very big problem
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“Pottery Barn rule.
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when Haiti achieved its freedom from France in the world’s first successful slave revolution, the United States refused to recognize the country.
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The US has even used Haiti like the old plantation owner and slipped over there repeatedly for sexual recreation.
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Haiti was forced to borrow money from banks in France and the US to pay reparations to France. A major loan from the US to pay off the French was finally paid off in 1947. The current value of the money Haiti was forced to pay to French and US banks? Over $20 Billion – with a big B.
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The US has even used Haiti like the old plantation owner and slipped over there repeatedly for sexual recreation.
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The US occupied and ruled Haiti by force from 1915 to 1934. President Woodrow Wilson sent troops to invade in 1915. Revolts by Haitians were put down by US military – killing over 2000 in one skirmish alone. For the next nineteen years, the US controlled customs in Haiti, collected taxes, and ran many governmental institutions. How many billions were siphoned off by the US during these 19 years?
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Ten thousand Haitians lost their lives. Estimates say that Haiti owes $1.3 billion in external debt and that 40% of that debt was run up by the US-backed Duvaliers.
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From 1957 to 1986 Haiti was forced to live under US backed dictators “Papa Doc” and “Baby Doc” Duvlaier. The US supported these dictators economically and militarily because they did what the US wanted and were politically “anti-communist” - now translatable as against human rights for their people.
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Good for US farmers, bad for Haiti.
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active in human rights
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Then the US dumped millions of tons of US subsidized rice and sugar into Haiti – undercutting their farmers and ruining Haitian agriculture
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This is reparations. The current crisis is an opportunity for people in the US to own up to our country’s history of dominating Haiti and to make a 1truly just response
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President Woodrow Wilson sent troops to invade in 1915. Revolts by Haitians were put down by US military – killing over 2000 in one skirmish alone
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By ruining Haitian agriculture, the US has forced Haiti into becoming the third largest world market for US rice.