Antiwar.com Weekly Newsletter for March 2, 2021

Your source for foreign policy news.

March 2nd, 2021

White House Falsely Claims US Does Not Sanction World Leaders In Response to Criticism Over MbS

In defending the US decision not to take action against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki falsely claimed that the US does not sanction foreign heads of state.

Psaki made the claim in an interview with CNN on Sunday when explaining why MbS was left out of a list of Saudis sanctioned for the Khashoggi killing. The sanctions were implemented after a newly released US intelligence report said the crown prince ordered the murder.

"Historically, and even in recent history, Democratic and Republican administrations, there have not been sanctions put in place for the leaders of foreign governments where we have diplomatic relations - and even where we dont have diplomatic relations," she said.

By Dave DeCamp

America Offers Warning to the World: War Is Health of the State and Death of Liberty

The United States is the world's most militarized and belligerent nation. Stating this reality shocks and outrages Washington policymakers. Yet the facts are incontestable, like the sun's rise.

Last week the Biden administration ordered airstrikes in Syria against Iranian-backed forces. The attack was retaliation for a rocket assault on a U.S. base in Iraq. That event responded to previous US attacks in Iraq, including one which killed several local officials, along with Iranian leader Qasem Soleimani. Alas, the latest bombing won't stop threats against Americans but will further entangle Washington in Mideast conflict.

The US military should not be engaged in combat involving any of these nations. Yet last week's action was not unique. A new study from Brown University's Watson Institute found that between 2018 and 2020 the US backed surrogate forces in combat in four countries, unleashed air and/or drone strikes in seven, engaged in combat operations in eight, undertook military exercises in 41, and participated in military training in 79. All of these were labeled "counter-terrorism" operations.

By Doug Bandow

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US Wasted Billions in Afghanistan on Vehicles and Buildings

The US government's watchdog on Afghanistan spending released another report on Monday that found more waste in Washingtons almost 20-year-old war. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) reviewed $7.8 billion that was spent since 2008 on buildings and vehicles.

Out of the $7.8 billion, only $343.2 million was spent on buildings and vehicles that were "maintained in good condition," and only $1.2 billion of those assets were used as intended. The Pentagon was the top contributor for these wasted funds, providing $6.5 billion out of the $7.8 billion.

The SIGAR report comes as the deadline for the US to withdraw from Afghanistan is approaching. As per the US-Taliban peace deal signed last year, the US and all other foreign forces are required to leave the country by May 1st.

By Dave DeCamp

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VP Harris, Biden's Press Secretary Slammed as Hypocrites for Tweets on Trump's Syria Airstrikes

After President Biden ordered airstrikes in eastern Syria against an Iraqi militia on Thursday, comments from Vice President Kamala Harris and Press Secretary Jen Psaki on the Trump administration's Syria airstrikes surfaced on Twitter.

"Also what is the legal authority for strikes? Assad is a brutal dictator. But Syria is a sovereign country," Psaki wrote on Twitter in April 2017, after President Trump fired 59 Tomahawk missiles at Syrian government targets.

Psaki's tweet drew attention from all ends of the political spectrum. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) retweeted Psaki's old post writing, "Great question."

By Dave DeCamp

Washington's Tiny Islands Fetish Could Endanger the American People

Most Americans likely do not realize the U.S. defense treaty with Japan does not just entail a commitment to help defend the heavily populated Japanese home islands. Presidents Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden all have affirmed that the treaty also covers a chain of remote, uninhabited rocks that are closer to China than they are to the rest of Japan. Those islets, known as the Senkakus in Japan and the Diaoyus in China, are the subject of a longstanding, bitter territorial dispute between Tokyo and Beijing - a dispute that has been heating up noticeably in recent months.

Washington has entangled itself in a dangerous situation with little apparent thought to the possible consequences. US leaders also have undertaken that expanded obligation without seeking approval from either Congress or the American people.

By Ted Galen Carpenter

Satellite Images Show Israel Expanding Secretive Nuclear Weapons Facility

Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press reveal a large construction project taking place at a secretive Israeli nuclear facility near the city of Dimona. The Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center is home to laboratories that are used to obtain weapons-grade plutonium for Israels undeclared nuclear bombs.

The pictures show what AP describes as a "dig about the size of a soccer field" near where the facilitys reactor is located. Israel did not respond to requests for a comment on the images.

The images first surfaced last week, and Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif pointed out the hypocrisy in Western leaders who ignore Israel's secretive nuclear weapons program while obsessively focusing on Iran's civilian nuclear program that is subject to stringent inspections. Zarif described the Dimona facility as the region's only "nuclear bomb factory."

By Dave DeCamp

Is Biden Reenlisting in the Forever Wars?

Ray McGovern: Will Comey's Words Come Back to Haunt Him?

All Risk, No Reward: The Perils and Absurdity of Iraq War 4.0

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