Radiation Exposure to be a “Fact of Life” for U.S. Military on Japan Rescue

Viola Gienger
Bloomberg
March 16, 2011

Low levels of radiation exposure probably will become “a fact of life” for U.S. military forces flying relief and rescue missions to aid victims of Japan’s earthquake as they near areas affected by leaks from a damaged nuclear plant, according to a U.S. Navy spokesman.

“Having crews return with detectable levels of radiation is going to be a fact of life with this mission for the foreseeable future,” said Lieutenant Anthony Falvo, a spokesman for the Seventh Fleet in Japan. “As long as we take every precaution to ensure that the risk is contained and mitigated, these folks will be just fine.”

The Navy treated two Seventh Fleet air crew members with potassium iodide pills as a precaution this week after they became contaminated with radiation emitted from the damaged nuclear plant at Fukushima.

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Egypt Labor Unrest Grows After Anti-Mubarak Uprising

Egypt Labor Unrest Grows After Anti-Mubarak Uprising

CAIRO — Thousands of state employees, from ambulance drivers to police and bank workers, protested on Monday demanding better pay, in a growing wave of labor unrest rekindled by the democracy uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak's regime. Egypt's military rulers asked for an end to the protests in what could be a final warning before an outright ban.


The military said it needed calm to implement what it promises will be an eventual handover to civilian rule under a new, more democratic system. It has set a swift timetable, saying it aims to have constitutional amendments drawn up within 10 days and a referendum to approve them within two months ahead of elections for a new parliament and ultimately a new civilian government, according to youth activists who met two of the top generals.

The coalition of young activists who organized the unprecedented protest movement pressured the military for new steps to ensure the autocratic system that has pervaded Egypt for the past 30 years is dismantled. Protesters welcomed the military's takeover after Mubarak's resignation, but many remain wary of its ultimate intentions.

In a list of demands Monday, they called for the dissolving of Mubarak's National Democratic Party and for the creation of a Cabinet of technocrats within 30 days. They want it to replace the current caretaker government, appointed by Mubarak after the protests erupted Jan. 25.

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US to spend $75 million on new Yemen military training

US to spend $75 million on new Yemen military training

By Reuters
Monday, February 14th, 2011 -- 6:42 pm

WASHINGTON - The United States aims to spend $75 million to double the size of a special Yemeni counter-terrorism unit, a US official said on Monday.

The funding, which has yet to be approved by Congress, is part of a broader effort to increase pressure on al Qaeda's Yemen-based affiliate, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, the official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Michael Leiter, head of the National Counterterrorism Center, told Congress last week he saw AQAP as the biggest current threat to the U.S. homeland.

The group has claimed responsibility for a failed Christmas Day attack in 2009 aboard a US airliner and a more recent attempt last year to blow up two U.S.-bound cargo planes with toner cartridges packed with explosives.

The U.S. official said the funds would be invested in a special Yemeni counter-terrorism unit that is operated under Yemen's interior ministry and now totals around 300 people.

The funds are unrelated to another $120 million earmarked for Yemen in President Barack Obama's 2012 budget request unveiled on Monday. The request includes $35 million in additional military assistance for Yemen and $69 million in economic assistance.

Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in power for 30 years, has faced growing protests in recent weeks from thousands of Yemenis, inspired by uprisings that toppled Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak and Tunisia's President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.


He is also under pressure to quash the resurgent al Qaeda wing in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula state, at the same time as he struggles to control southern secessionists and to cement a fragile truce with rebels in the north.

U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told Congress last week that Yemen's "myriad political, security, and development challenges" pose the greatest threat to that poor Arab nation since its 1994 civil war.

Congressman Ron Paul booted from conservative group for anti-war views

Eric W. Dolan
Raw Story
Feb 14, 2011

The conservative group Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) announced Saturday that Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) would be expelled from the group’s National Advisory Board because of his “delusional and disturbing alliance with the fringe Anti-War movement.”

“It is a sad day in American history when a one-time conservative-libertarian stalwart has fallen more out of touch with America’s needs for national security than the current feeble and appeasing administration,” YAF’s Senior National Director Jordan Marks said in a statement.

“Rep. Paul’s refusal to support our nation’s military and national security interests border on treason, aside from his failure to uphold his oath to the United States Constitution and defend our country and citizens against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” Marks continued.

According to the group’s founding statement of principles, the Sharon Statement, “American foreign policy must be judged by this criterion: does it serve the just interests of the United States?”

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QE2 Is a Total Failure and Bernanke Is Delusional About Inflation

Bob Chapman
International Forecaster
Feb 14, 2011

The discontent and seeds of rebellion existed for a long time in Egypt as it has in many other countries. The major powers of the world were content with Mr. Mubarak, especially the US, which gave him $60 billion over 30 years and allowed him to move $70 billion over that period into secret bank accounts in England, Switzerland and Europe, while Egyptians lived on the edge of starvation over that time frame. Both the US and UK never saw a dictator they didn’t like. This was their dictator, as was his predecessor. Mubarak did exactly as he was told including doing everything Israel desired. Mubarak represented stability even though his subjects barely survived. Most of the aid sent by the US was used to keep the military and Secret Police strong to enforce his powerful hold over the people. Thus, the US was happy to have such a “moderate” in power. He helped keep Egypt and Israel in a sea of tranquility in the desert. Mr. Mubarak was a model dictator.

Hunger and tyranny only last for so long and then one way or another they come to an end. You might say that the rebellion in Tunisia against another dictator was the catalyst or forerunner of what happened in Egypt. This was to be where it would all begin. We had seen many such operations over the past 50 years. In both countries the groundwork was all there, poverty, lack of proper food and spiriling food and other costs. All of the change agents were on the scene coordinating the well prepared uprising. The president and his entourage left the country of course accompanied by 1-1/2 tons of gold.

Mubarak in Egypt was better prepared. He had been moving out the wealth of the starving Egyptian people systematically for years having been well schooled by his handlers in London and Washington. This planned uprising was not what the planners had expected, particularly in Egypt. More violence was expected.