Since 2007, Casualty Monitor has been providing tracking and analysis of the mounting human cost of the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. Their site provides regularly updated graphical analysis of casualties.
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Torture as a method of extracting information is pointless because anybody in pain, will say anything to stop the pain – especially if led. Torture intelligence is an oxymoron. Dr Lawrence Farwell of the brain fingerprinting labs at the University of Washington, Seattle, has created a method of scanning for the truth which any truly intelligent, intelligence officer would now be utilising to discover it. The thing is that this isn't about discovering the truth though but politics, which is pleasing people (see The Emperors New Clothes Syndrome): The Premier of Uzbekistan wanted to please the CIA, the CIA wanted to please him and Britain (except for Craig Murray, the little boy pointing out that the Emperor is naked) fell in to line.
This is about dominance, not truth. Games, not reality. America needed a practical man at the helm, like Rudi Guilliani – instead they got a clown (compare the records and policies of both men – a drunk in charge of a car, who became drunk on power and someone who approached the job of running New York City like an engineer or a scientist – crime and teenage pregnancies went down at the hands of one of these men and 3 disasters happened under the leadership of the other (GW sat paralysed by fear in a schoolroom, when news of 9/11 arrived; started a war with Iraq that no-one wanted and that has destabilised The Middle East and failed The New Orleans citizens when Katrina struck). Sorry to get on my soapbox about something that doesn't 'appear' related but it's all American policy abroad in cahoots with just plain stupidity: The end of fear is the beginning of order (peace, openess, honesty) – just as it's the start of it is the creation of chaos, lies and confusion (conflict and the muddying of perception – still waters are clear and deep (long lasting) – fast streams carry sediment and false sentiment (Our rapidly, increasingly speedy, lifestyle – imported from America is aimed at not letting us stop and stare (question) but wants us to be run ragged, lost in continuous merrymaking, with its cost to the quality of our lives (A rested society that can meditate (sit in stillness and silence) will always percieve the world as it is – one always on the move, deafened by loud music, will neither hear the still, small voice of reason or see beyond the blur and bleary eyed world of foggy sleep. We are being tricked into becoming shallow bodies instead of deep minds, by tricksters out to control the world for commercial gain (dominance again). They consider themselves master magicians – great decievers but only if they can dull your senses. They want cannon fodder, not freeminded individuals (see Patrick McGoohans – 'The Prisoner'). Dissent is their enemy as much as it is a free mans weapon: No-one hides lies (Ayn Rand, the philsopher, said that civilization's purpose was to free Man from Men – in other words the rule of the mob, to force the individual into conformity). God help us all because Bread and circus's real okay, in this present, dull ('Is it safe?' Marathon Man) world.
Irvine Welsh talked about the murder rate in Glasgow, which is higher than America, as though it was a fault of society and that he wished that those kids in gangs had the opportunity to go into higher education and progress in that area. In the same paper (Daily Mail, October 22nd), Lynne Truss talked about the rudeness of shop staff and the sliding into oblivion of manners. Both these articles point to a society in decline as does the spelling errors in this and other newspapers (No longer is this the preserve of The Guardian): Without writing civilization could not exist. This is because society's memory is enhanced by records as the individuals is by note taking. Why is this important? Because it ensures the world progresses, instead of gets stuck in a rut – making the same mistakes over and over again (illiteracy).
If you don't use your mind for entertainment, the danger is that you'll use your body instead and while that's fine in peacetime with blue collar workers and sportsmen etc., without civilizing control violence will replace it as crime within society and unprovoked wars outside it – Iraq.
The breakdown in the retail trade (rude/ negligent shop staff) is a sign of a self-indulgent youth. Who will provide the goods and services to keep this country afloat, if they're uneducated and uneducatable (open rebellion in the classroom is as much a part of the problem as unruly staff and gangland violence)? As (I think it was) Sir Peter De Billiers said recently about British conscripts recently and their behaviour in Iraq, they're not disciplined enough to make it as real soldiers, just as the Menezes killing and reports by leading policemen indicate that police recruits are falling short of the standards of behaviour required for the service. It's all about the dumming down of our culture and pursuit of celebrity. Intelligence comes from the effort to find out the truth as muscles come from physical effort (Intelligence, as in military information gathering, comes under this heading and as witnessed in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq and Uzbekistan is sadly missing). No effort (moral cowardice/ lack of committment) equals no intelligence (creativity/ discovery) and that means no civilization – bye-bye, rude, crude world. Greed by the way is 'fear' – fear of there not being enough (How much is too much, how little is not enough? That is the question driving this addicted and addictive society).
If crime is caused by the environment, why is that two people from the same environment can go off in opposite directions – one spirred on to become a policeman, who wants to change that world he came from and one who wants easy money and a self-indulgent lifestyle? It's all down to personal choice – hope and self-control (discipline) as opposed to no hope and wantoness (self and other destruction). Life gives us two options – to stay calm and centred (present), learning what life is trying to teach us about itself or to get angry and storm off with our predjudices and pride (ignorance) intact – courageous self-control or cowardly defensive reaction (cut and run or stay and build). They tell us poverty is the cause of violence – boredom maybe (mental poverty) but it's self-inflicted by those not willing to risk anything of themselves. As Tony Robbins, the motivational guru pointed out effort leads to self-respect and no effort (moral cowardice) leads low self-esteem. The real problem in The West today is spiritual poverty not physical poverty. Think of how the industrial revolution led to a plethora of inventiveness and innovation. Challenge led to pride – not only in the upper echolons of society but amongst the ordinary working classes, who were proud to contribute to society in building the mutual dream. Poverty is a challenge to our initiative, not a cause of our violence, which is simply giving up and giving into our despair.
Why is New Labour so ineffective? Because political correctness is lying (See Civix report), that is avoidance of the truth. Corrective action can only be carried out by addressing the real issues and this is not being done. Like the torture in Uzbekistan, honesty is swept under the carpet in order to try to manipulate the truth – it's like good science, which creates a theory based on the facts supplied as bad science tries to twist the facts to fit the theory it wants adapted.
What makes an adult? This question displays the chasm that exists between those who expose society's shortcomings and those who create them:-
Modest
insightful ignorant
inventive destructive
resourceful helpless
light hearted depressed
professional amatuer
realistic idealistic (fantasist)
thoughtful thoughtless
creative destructive
independent follower (gang member)
voluntary resistant to change
interested in future lost in past (vengeful)
peaceful restless (tortured soul)
quiet noisy(drowning out sorrows)
self-disciplined rebellious
honest dishonest
open in hiding
sensitive (aware) lacking empathy
responsible lazy
etc etc
It's time the simple truth was exposed and acted upon but it's never popular and everyone hopes that someone else will stand up and do the dirty work (Knights in shining armour like Craig – innocents willing to take the risk of public humiliation and the dirty tricks campaigns that always accompany the attempts to expose the truth: People on the whole prefer the pretty lie to the ugly truth because they don't want to get their hands dirty dealing with it).