Infowars

Upper-Bracket Tax May Be Needed for Afghan War Cost, Levin Says

admin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:29:04 +0000

Viola Gienger
Bloomberg
November 21, 2009

A d v e r t i s e m e n t

Higher-income Americans should be taxed to pay for more troops sent to Afghanistan and NATO should provide half of the new soldiers, said Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

An “additional income tax to the upper brackets, folks earning more than $200,000 or $250,000” a year, could fund more troops, Levin, a Michigan Democrat, said in an interview for Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital With Al Hunt,” airing this weekend.

White House Budget Director Peter Orszag has estimated that each additional soldier in Afghanistan could cost $1 million, for a total that could reach $40 billion if 40,000 more troops are added.

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Call Your Senator, Demand Debate On HR 3590

admin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:11:43 +0000

Infowars
November 21, 2009




	Read the entire bill. Click on the above image to download a PDF.

Editor’s note: The Obamacare bill, HR 3590, is now in the Senate and faces a “cloture” on the “motion to proceed” today. Call your representative and tell him or her to vote against “cloture” (a motion to bring debate to an end). You can call your Senators toll-free at 1-877-762-8762. The alternate, non toll-free, number is 202-224-3121.

The following information is provided by Americans for Tax Reform

Read the full bill

Read the tax revenue score from the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT)

Read the budget and tax score from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) PDF of this Document

Individual Mandate Tax (Page 324/Sec. 1501/$8 bil): Starting in 2014, anyone not buying “qualifying” health insurance must pay an income surtax according to the following schedule

(capped at 8 percent of income)

Single Single +1 Single+2<

2014 $95 $190 $285

2015 $350 $700 $1050

2016 etc. $750 $1500 $2250

Exemptions for religious objectors, undocumented immigrants, prisoners, those earning less than the poverty line, members of Indian tribes, and hardship cases (determined by HHS).

Employer Mandate Tax (Page 348/Sec. 1513/$28 bil): If an employer does not offer health coverage, and at least one employee qualifies for a health tax credit, the employer must pay an additional non-deductible tax of $750 for all full-time employees. Applies to all employers with 50 or more employees.

If the employer requires a waiting period to enroll in coverage of 30-60 days, there is a $400 tax per employee ($600 if the period is 60 days or longer).

Excise Tax on Comprehensive Health Insurance Plans (Page 1979/Sec. 9001/$149.1 bil):

Starting in 2013, new 40 percent excise tax on “Cadillac” health insurance plans ($8500 single/$23,000 family). Higher threshold ($9850 single/$26,000 family) for early retirees and high-risk professions. CPI +1 percentage point indexed.

A d v e r t i s e m e n t

From 2013-2015, the 17 highest-cost states are 120% of this level.

Employer Reporting of Insurance on W-2 (Page 1996/Sec. 9002/Min$): Preamble to taxing health benefits on individual tax returns.

Medicine Cabinet Tax (Page 1997/Sec. 9003/$5 bil): No longer allowable to use health savings account (HSA), flexible spending account (FSA), or health reimbursement (HRA) pre-tax dollars to purchase non-prescription, over-the-counter medicines (except insulin)

HSA Withdrawal Tax Hike (Page 1998/Sec. 9004/$1.3 bil): Increases additional tax on nonmedical early withdrawals from an HSA from 10 to 20 percent, disadvantaging them relative to IRAs and other tax-advantaged accounts, which remain at 10 percent.

FSA Cap (Page 1999/Sec. 9005/$14.6 bil): Imposes cap on FSAs of $2500 (now unlimited).

Corporate 1099-MISC Information Reporting (Page 1999/Sec. 9006/$17.1 bil): Requires businesses to send 1099-MISC information tax forms to corporations (currently limited to individuals), a huge compliance burden for small employers

Excise Tax on Charitable Hospitals (Page 2001/Sec. 9007/Min$): $50,000 per hospital if they fail to meet new “community health assessment needs,” “financial assistance,” and “billing and collection” rules set by HHS.

Tax on Innovator Drug Companies (Page 2010/Sec. 9008/$22.2 bil): $2.3 billion annual tax on the industry imposed relative to share of sales made that year.

Tax on Medical Device Manufacturers (Page 2020/Sec. 9009/$19.3 bil): $2 billion annual tax on the industry imposed relative to shares of sales made that year. Exempts items retailing for <$100.

Tax on Health Insurers (Page 2026/Sec. 9010/$60.4 bil): $6.7 billion annual tax on the industry imposed relative to health insurance premiums collected that year.

Eliminate tax deduction for employer-provided retirement Rx drug coverage in coordination with Medicare Part D (Page 2034/Sec. 9012/$5.4 bil)

Raise “Haircut” for Medical Itemized Deduction from 7.5% to 10% of AGI (Page 2034/Sec. 9013/$15.2 bil): Waived for 65+ taxpayers in 2013-2016 only

$500,000 Annual Executive Compensation Limit for Health Insurance Executives (Page 2035/Sec. 9014/$0.6 bil)

Hike in Medicare Payroll Tax (Page 2040/Sec. 9015/$53.8 bil): Current law and changes:

Wages

Self-Employment

(Employer/Employee)

Net Income

Current Law and New

Rate on First $200,000

($250,000 MFJ)

1.45%/1.45%

2.9%

New Rate on Amount

Which Exceeds $200,000

($250,000 MFJ)

1.45%/1.95%

3.4%

The Road to Copenhagen part III: A “Planetary Regime” in the Making

admin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:15:28 +0000

Jurriaan Maessen
November 21, 2009

“It is the sacred principles enshrined in the United Nations charter to which the American people will henceforth pledge their allegiance.” George H.W. Bush addressing the General Assembly of the U.N, February 1, 1992

The machine of mass media is working overdrive now that the Copenhagen summit is approaching. All major media outlets have by now obviously received their talking-points which have an strangely similar ring about them all across the board. Even a superficial comparative study in the overall reporting reveals not only a stunning disregard for national sovereignty, but a willingness to support carbon-taxes imposed by a- as John P. Holdren puts it- “planetary regime”.




	Oxford professor Dieter Helm: “I’m in favor of quite a low carbon tax to start with – for political economy reasons, to get it in place.”

Last month experts told the Second Committee Panel Discussion of the UN General Assembly that “a new regime of governance was under way in the global financial system.” The same is being said about global climate measures, global resource management and global development.

The mass media is not only setting the agenda themselves, they more often than not simply parrot the globalists that are being shoved in our face on a daily basis. Many of whom have a Ph.D. behind their name. Under the header ‘Carbon Tax’ is sensible, and perhaps inevitable, advocate says‘, the Los Angeles Times quotes Oxford professor Dieter Helm stating:

“(..) I’m in favor of quite a low carbon tax to start with – for political economy reasons, to get it in place, (…). Across Europe, my guess is within five years everybody will have a carbon tax…”

This, according to Helm, will make sure that the United States will eventually be forced into the global carbon tax policy as well:

“(…) is everybody else doing it? That’s a very good protection for politicians. The answer is yes, they are.”

Back in December of 2001, the Africa division of the UN Development Programme apparently already seriously considered such a tax:

“The main energy sources that would be affected by a carbon tax include coal, petroleum, kerosene and natural gas. The tax would be reflected in an increase in their price, at a level based on the capacity of each type of fuel to emit carbon dioxide.”

Answering the question who would collect the taxes and enforce such a global tax policy, the UN panel was quite clear:

“The panel said a new international tax organization should be created to assume all functions performed by existing institutions. It would serve as a global intergovernmental forum for international cooperation on all tax issues. It would also help resolve conflicts between countries and help them to increase tax revenue by fostering information exchanges and measures that could reduce tax evasion on investment and personal income earned at home and abroad.”

This sounds a lot like John P. Holdren doesn’t it, exclaiming in Ecoscience that “a Planetary Regime- sort of an international superagency for population, resources, and environment” could impose global policy and enforce it. “Such a comprehensive Planetary Regime”, said Holdren, “could control the development, administration, conservation, and distribution of all natural resources, renewable or nonrenewable, at least insofar as international implications exist.”

Furthermore, the UN panel advocated in 2001:

“We thus endorse the Commission’s proposal to create a global council at the highest political level to provide leadership on issues of global governance. The proposed council would be more broadly based than the G7 or the Bretton Woods institutions.”

A d v e r t i s e m e n t

In 2007, Reuters quoted Mr. Global Warming Himself, Al Gore as saying that a global carbon trading scheme could be “quite efficient if the world’s top polluters, the United States and China, fully joined.” Gore also stated that a direct tax on carbon would certainly be “an even simpler and more direct measure.”

It was the Bilderberg-appointed Herman Van Rompuy- the new EU-president- who stated recently that “The Climate Conference in Copenhagen is another step towards the global management of our planet.” He also announced that 2009 would be the “first year of global governance.” And he’s not the first to call for such global management. All people who occupy a position of power in the infrastructure of the New World Order have called for it since its very conception shortly after World War II.

As a preface to the coming Copenhagen summit in December, the United Nations Population Fund in a recently published ‘State of the Population 2009‘ is pushing for global reproductive health services. This means not only universal access to ‘family planning’ but also better access to abortion facilities. Humans, after all, are supposed to be the prime driver of climate change and therefore: less humans means honouring Mother Earth.

In the foreword, the executive director of the UNFPA, Thoraya Obaid addresses the fake global warming hype, saying that “floods, storms and rising seas” will soon envelope the planet if not for quick, decisive and global efforts to combat these calamities.

“A Copenhagen agreement that helps people to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and adapt to climate change by harnessing the insight and creativity of women and men would launch a genuinely effective long-term global strategy to deal with climate change.”

Global strategy. That’s the talking point we hear over and over again from all agencies, UN or otherwise, who have an interest in profiting from the deal they are proposing. Never mind that all nation-states who sign on to the Copenhagen treaty will effectively forfeit their representative systems to this global authority, deciding which taxes will be paid by which nation-state. In the end, all roads seem to lead to a “planetary regime” envisioned by the elite long before “global warming” was even heard of.

Rush Limbaugh Censors Mention Of Prison Planet From His Own Archives

admin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:03:38 +0000

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Friday, November 21, 2009

Neo-Con talk show host Rush Limbaugh has sensationally censored any mention of Prison Planet.com from his own transcript archives after he discussed a story we had posted yesterday about Al Gore using Photoshop to insert fake hurricanes into the cover of his new book on global warming.

The original transcript posted on Limbaugh’s website accurately carried the statements he made on his show yesterday, which included the words, “And the website where this is taken place is PrisonPlanet.com.”

The transcript page also featured an image of Limbaugh with a screenshot of the Prison Planet logo behind him.

However, both the Prison Planet logo and Limbaugh’s mention of the website, owned by Texas radio host Alex Jones, have since been “memory-holed” from the Limbaugh archives.

Limbaugh originally featured a huge link at the top of his website to Prison Planet, but all links have now been deleted from the archives.

In the new version of the transcript, the words, “And the website where this is taken place is PrisonPlanet.com,” have been culled, despite the fact Limbaugh clearly said them, as can be verified via the You Tube clip at the bottom of this page.

A d v e r t i s e m e n t

Any links to the Prison Planet.com story, which were prominently featured all over Limbaugh’s website, have also been deleted and replaced with a similar story by Newsbusters, a Neo-Con news website.

What caused Limbaugh to order the material removed? Our guess is that he was probably bombarded with e mails from the legions of virulently retarded Neo-Cons that make up the audience of phony right-wing websites like Free Republic, on which all Alex Jones material is aggressively banned.

It’s highly unlikely that Limbaugh ordered his webmaster to link to Prison Planet.com by mistake, he knows who we are because he’s attacked us on several occasions before. But any hopes that Limbaugh may be abandoning his Neo-Con base and coming across to the Ron Paul/Libertarian perspective appear to be dashed.

As one of our forum members put it, “I knew I was too optimistic to think that Limbaugh may have had a conscience.”

Major Victory With Swine Flu Scandal

admin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:35:33 +0000

Joseph Mercola
Lew Rockwell
November 21, 2009

European scientists and health authorities are facing angry questions about why H1N1 flu has not caused death and destruction on the scale first feared, and they need to respond deftly to ensure public support.

Accusations are flying in British and French media that the pandemic has been “hyped” by medical researchers to further their own cause, boost research grants and line the pockets of drug companies.

Britain’s Independent newspaper this week asked “Pandemic? What Pandemic?”

France’s Le Parisien newspaper ran the headline: “Swine flu: why the French distrust the vaccine” and noted a gap between the predicted impact of H1N1 and the less dramatic reality.

“Although some 30-odd people have died…the disease is not really frightening,” it said. “Dangerous liaisons between certain experts, the labs and the government, the obscurity of the contracts between the state and the pharma firms have added to the doubt.”

In response, scientists are walking a fine line. They say that although the virus is mild, it can still kill, and that the relatively low fatalities in Europe are in part, the result of official response to their advice.

However, in Britain, health authorities’ original worst-case scenario – which said as many as 65,000 could die from H1N1 – has twice been revised down and the prediction is now for around 1,000 deaths, way below the average annual toll of 4,000 to 8,000 deaths from seasonal winter flu.

Sources:

Reuters November 12, 2009
The Flu Case November 5, 2009
Examiner November 3, 2009
New American November 12, 2009

Dr. Mercola’s Comments:

There is plenty to be optimistic about as it seems the tide may be slowly turning on this swine flu debacle, showing it for the hoax it really is.

A d v e r t i s e m e n t

European scientists are now demanding answers to the growing inconsistencies.

And, while many so-called scientific experts have criticized me and others who have spoken out about this senseless mass-vaccination campaign, more of the scientific community is now coming to the same conclusions we’ve been talking about for months.

It looks as though the swine flu pandemic of 2009 will go down as one of the biggest government and pharmaceutical scams ever, renewing a healthy, and necessary, skepticism about the swine flu vaccine and the dubious dealings behind the implementation of worldwide mass-vaccination programs.

On the upside, it has also created a more open debate about vaccinations in general.

The childhood vaccination schedule is in dire need of an overhaul, and the swine flu hysteria has actually opened many people’s eyes to the unhealthy practices behind our vaccine policies. The public is finally starting to wonder and question, en masse, what’s being injected into them and their children.

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Scientist Warned Baxter Would Release Plague in Ukraine

admin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:18:16 +0000

NoWorldSystem

November 21, 2009

Bio-scientist Joseph Moshe who was arrested by the FBI tried to warn the public about Baxter’s sinister plan to release a plague in the Ukraine by creating a vaccine bio-weapon that would result in hundreds of deaths.

That is precisely what occurred in the Ukraine, a plague infected 1.5 million people, over 80,000 being hospitalized and leaving 328 dead. The WHO(World Health Organization) claims that the virus running through Ukraine is nothing more than the same A/H1N1 influenza experienced around the world and that it’s not pheumonic plague. Many suspect that this is a bacterial pheumonic plague that is ten-times worse than swine flu influenza that is spread from person-to-person. Reports from the infected say that their lungs tend to have a burning sensation turning them as “black as charcoal”.

Joseph Moshe is a bio-scientist working for a unit within Mossad and had dual national (Israeli-American) citizenship, Moshe was later seized for blowing the whistle on Baxter International contacting a radio show and the White House, warning them of the pharmaceutical companies’ plot to spread a plague from Baxter’s Ukrainian lab. He knew the FBI was bugging his house, so he decided to pack up his things and head for the Israeli consulate where he was met by armed LAPD/SWAT, FBI and the Secret Service surrounding his car. He was pepper-sprayed, tasered and is now being held in the Patton State mental hospital in California, his next court date is December 25, 2010.

A d v e r t i s e m e n t

What is not certain yet is how this disease was released to the public, it’s certainly not natural. According to local newspapers hundreds of phone calls from Kiev residents and business owners close to the area where it was reported that planes and helicopters spraying “aerosolized medication” over the city during the time-frame between October 28 – October 30, 2009. Not only that but local businesses and retailers were “advised” to stay indoors during the day by the local authorities.

As if that is not enough, the government authorities also pushed the radio stations in Kiev to deny the reports. Online on forums, websites and blogs reports came in about eye witness accounts that confirms this. There was also reports of helicopters spraying aerosols not just over Kiev but Lviv, Ternopil and throughout Ukraine. The spraying was vehemently denied by the country’s Office of Emergency Response. [Source]

This takes me back to when reports surfaced about gelatin-like rain pouring down over a small town of Oakville, Washington. The gelatinous like substance contained live bacteria that made an entire town sick for months.

This is a lot like what happened in the Ukraine, and is the likelier scenario on how this infection was spread. A bacterial pneumonic plague is of course much more virulent and lethal than the ordinary A-influenza virus that is spread from person-to-person via viral shedding.

Regardless of how this infection was spread, it should always be taken into account that that governments have been using their own populations as their own experimental lab for decades. It always seems to lead back to the military, government and big pharma using us for their own megalomaniacal reasons, the mainstream media is used to hype up the fear to sell vaccines.

Gold Market Breakdown

admin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:23:02 +0000

Jim Willie
The Golden Jackass
November 20, 2009

The rise in gold pre-sages a currency collapse, led by the USDollar. Gold vaults at commodity exchanges in New York and especially London are being drained by delivery demands. Gold demand is skyrocketing, as distrust for the USDollar is broadening and revolt against the US$ is deepening. The quintessential finance war is between the United States and China, with the battlefield being the US$ and Gold. The race over the $1000 price level came in the face of mammoth shorting by the same Usual Suspects on Wall Street, which do so with paper, but without the required collateral. The gold market is poised for a surprise upward move from a basic broken condition, as the Powerz are losing control. It would be a joy to watch except for the extreme hardship due to come to the betrayed American people.

$$$ THE BIGGEST GOLD CRIME STORY OF THE CENTURY MIGHT BE SOON COMING TO FULL LIGHT. EVIDENCE IS BEING ACCUMULATING THAT THE CLINTON ADMIN WITH RUBIN AT USDEPT TREASURY REPLACED PERHAPS THE ENTIRE CONTENTS OF THE FORT KNOX GOLD WITH TUNGSTEN BARS PLATED BY GOLD. THE SALTED GOLD BARS ARE FASTING BECOMING A GLOBAL CRIME ISSUE. HONG KONG DISCOVERED THEM, AND NOW ASSAYERS ARE TRYING TO AUTHENTICATE MOST OF THE GLOBAL GOLD HELD IN BANKS. ENTIRE NATIONS ARE AT RISK. BEFORE LONG THE USGOVT COULD BE DECLARED A ROGUE NATION INTERNATIONALLY. $$$

My view is the story is not only credible, but it is the climax to the US financial collapse. In time the United States will be isolated, declared a Rogue Nation, unable to fund its debt except with monetization, whose leaders and former leaders face international prosecution. The resulting inflation will undermine the USDollar to the point that it will not be accepted. A USTreasury default will be forced, all in time. To be sure, some demand for gold might be frozen into inaction obviously, as customers would fear owning fake gold bars. However, the significantly greater effect is that sellers of gold will scramble to purchase real gold bars, so as to avoid fraud charges, criminal prosecution, and jail time. They will be motivated to repair the fraudulent transaction with full expedience. The replacement effect will cause an extraordinarily huge demand. Only at that time, will the risk of exposing the stolen gold come, as the thieves will want to cash out on their crime, at least partially. The removal and illegal swap of gold has precedent. In the 1960 decade, around 1968, President Lyndon Johnson ordered the removal of 7000 of the 8000 tons of gold from Fort Knox, and had it sent to England. The motive was to support the gold price at the time. Just a few years later, the US under President Nixon abandoned the US$ Gold Standard, as dictated by the Bretton Woods Accord. The gold was replaced during the Johnson Admin in Fort Knox by lead bars plated by gold. A contact of mine was in the USMilitary Police at the time. He reported long caravans exiting Fort Knox for weeks at a time, but the details of shipments were not known to the guards, only their duties.

A d v e r t i s e m e n t

For some excellent forensic financial analysis on the fake gold project, called Operation Grand Slam, see Rob Kirby’s article. It is entitled “On Doing God A New Take On Operation Grand Slam With A Tungsten Twist HERE), dated 12 November 2009. $$$ GOLD MARKET BREAKDOWN IS WITHIN VIEW. LONDON GOLD IS BEING DRAINED BY THE CHINESE. A DISMANTLE OF THE CRIMINAL APPARATUS IS THEIR GOAL. UPON FULL BREAKDOWN, THE GOLD PRICE WILL BE RELEASED FROM PAPER TENTACLES AND RISE SHARPLY. $$$

Pressures mounted in early October at the London metals exchange as gold contract holders demanded delivery of gold. My source tells me that the parties demanding gold were almost exclusively Chinese. It is mostly private billionaires. Their stated motive was to diversify out of US$-based assets. Their rumored motive was to ruin the exchange, expose the chronic fraud linked to government ministries, and force the USDollar to fight in the open to demonstrate value or lack of value. The source said the next round of gold contract delivery pressure comes in late November, then again in March 2010, and finally in June 2010. He said the gold is gradually being drained in London, and that all demands for gold delivery were met in October, using legal force, the courts, and powerful attorneys. Not a single gold contract was settled for cash with a 25% dividend bribe. He concluded that the financial system will be broken at the gold-USDollar cross beam. He openly stated that he could not conceive of the system holding together past June of next year, and a severe test is likely in March 2010. He said with sly tone, “There is a saying: Watch out or you become shit before your own shovel. That is what is happening to the BOYZ right now. The people in the driver seat of the bulldozer have clear instructions what to do in the gold market.” When the breakdown comes, it will be next to impossible to trade in USDollars, to settle commerce in USDollars, to finance the USTreasurys, to supply the USEconomy with credit, and to maintain the US banking system. The banks in the United States will then shut down in all likelihood.

My view is that a battle royal is being played out with gross global pressures, between the old broken insolvent corrupted powers of the West versus the new wealthy ambitious powers of the East, led by China. The future chapters will possibly involve the Intl Court in The Hague for prosecutions against the Wall Street firms and former USTreasury officials. It will possibly involve a wave of murders from the middle levels, working up, since the guilty parties operate with impunity and government protection. It will surely involve relentless attacks on COMEX and London CME for gold deliveries, where collateral requirements are not enfoced. The practice is known as naked shorting, illegal. It will probably involve the isolation of the United States, with full recognition of a crime syndicate lodged within its government ministries and capital markets. These are truly incredible times.

Evidence is being gathered by perhaps a dozen key gold traders with diverse connections to the gold industry. They tie the delivery systems, the authentication processes, the assayers, record keeping, big financial firms, and trading platforms. Evidence mounts that as many as 1.5 million 400-oz gold bars were replaced at Fort Knox during the Clinton Admin with tungsten bars covered with a thin gold plate. This was a complex metallurgical feat, from what is told. The first ’salted bars’ were discovered in Hong Kong a month ago, reported by the Hat Trick Letter. Since that time, tens of thousands of bars have been examined, usually using four test holes drilled for direct sampling. Other non-invasive methods are being used as well, such as electro-magnetic tests to detect the actual lattice structure of the metal to distinguish gold from other substitutes. Word came this week that almost every available assayer in the world is currently tied up, charged with proving the authenticity of gold bars worldwide, right now! Rob Kirby suspects that the Street Tracks GLD exchange traded fund might be loaded with such salted bars. It is a perfect destination for them, since the Wall Street syndicate prevents any audit. The total value of gold removed within the plot was worth over $500 billion. So where are the real gold bars stored? My guess is the same location where the Madoff money is secretly held.

Couple Busted for Refusing to Pay Tip

admin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:15:50 +0000

DAVID CHANG
NBC Philadelphia
November 20, 2009

If you’re frustrated by poor service at a restaurant, think twice before you decide to not tip. You may be in for a bit more than just a dirty look from the waiter.

View more news videos at: http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/video.

“Nobody, nobody wants to be forced to pay a tip or be arrested for terrible service,” Leslie Pope said when her happy hour ended in handcuffs.

Pope and John Wagner were hauled away by police and charged with theft for not paying the mandatory 18 percent gratuity totaling $16 after eating at the Lehigh Pub in Bethlehem, Pa. with six friends.

Pope claimed that they had to wait nearly an hour for their order and that she had to get napkins and silverware for the table herself.

Read entire article

In Afghanistan “people hate the Americans from the bottom of their hearts”

admin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:01:10 +0000

Jerome Starkey
Times Online
November 20, 2009

A d v e r t i s e m e n t

“People hate the Americans from the bottom of their hearts,” Haji Akhtar Mohammed Shinwari said as he recalled how the US military had brought death to his homeland.

For residents of Shinwar, a village in distant Nangahar province, the message from President Karzai’s address yesterday that the Americans would hand over security over the next five years was disappointing.

At the village bazaar, Mr Shinwari told The Times that he could not wait that long. In 2007, a unit of special forces was speeding along a busy road a few miles from his village when they opened fire, killing 19 people and wounding 50. The unit responsible was sent home and the local US commander described the incident as a “stain on our honour”. He paid out almost $40,000 (£25,000) in compensation.

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