JAMES CARDEN, editor [at] eastwestaccord.com
Carden is executive editor of the American Committee for East-West Accord. He said today: “FBI Director James Comey appeared before the House Select Intelligence Committee this morning to tell the committee that he would be unable to discuss the details of the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation because it is an ongoing one. And in so doing, in the space of a single sentence, Comey unmasked the meaningless nature of the committee’s enterprise this morning, which is simply to provide House members a public platform to play to their respective bases. The Nunes-Schiff hearings are proving to be political theater of the worst kind.”
Carden’s recent pieces for The Nation include “Round Up the Usual Suspects, It’s Time for a Show Hearing” and “Why Does the U.S. Continue to Arm Terrorists in Syria?”
Carden’s recent pieces for ConsortiumNews.com include “A Dangerous Hysteria on Russia” and “Trump Slips into ‘Endless War’ Cycle,” which states: “Meanwhile, more troops are being deployed to Kuwait. On March 9, the Army Times reported that the U.S. is sending ‘an additional 2,500 ground combat troops to a staging base in Kuwait from which they could be called upon to back up coalition forces battling the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.’ This is in addition to the already roughly 6,000 American troops that are currently in Syria and Iraq assisting in the fight against the Islamic State. American units are now in the northern Syrian city of Manbij and on the outskirts on Raqqa.
“The latter deployment of Marines from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit marks, according to the Washington Post, ‘a new escalation in the U.S. war in Syria, and puts more conventional U.S. troops in the battle.’ The Post, like all other mainstream outlets, leaves out mention that this new deployment is illegal under international law, a point Syrian President Bashar al-Assad made in an interview with Chinese state media last weekend.
“And then, perhaps worst of all, there is the ongoing American support for Saudi Arabia’s war on Yemen. As Council on Foreign Relations analyst Micah Zenko recently pointed out, Trump has already ‘approved at least 36 drone strikes or raids in 45 days — one every 1.25 days.’ These include, according to Zenko, ‘three drone strikes in Yemen on January 20, 21, and 22; the January 28 Navy SEAL raid in Yemen; one reported strike in Pakistan on March 1; more than thirty strikes in Yemen on March 2 and 3; and at least one more on March 6.’ The strikes, we are told, are a necessary part of the ‘global war on terror’ and are portrayed by military and administration spokesmen as such.”
See recent reports:
“U.S. says it carried out deadly strike that hit Aleppo mosque” from AirWars.org
“Syria fires missiles at Israeli warplanes on bombing run” from the Washington Post.
“Saudi-led coalition blamed after helicopter gunship massacres Somali refugees” from the British Independent