U.S. troops quietly surge into Middle East

[Cali_Democrat]

The Pentagon has quietly shifted combat troops and warships to the Middle East after the top American commander in the region warned that he needed additional forces to deal with Iran and other potential threats, U.S. officials said.

Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis, who heads U.S. Central Command, won White House approval for the deployments late last year after talks with the government in Baghdad broke down over keeping U.S. troops in Iraq, but the extent of the Pentagon moves is only now becoming clear.

Officials said the deployments are not meant to suggest a buildup to war, but rather are intended as a quick-reaction and contingency force in case a military crisis erupts in the standoff with Tehran over its suspected nuclear weapons program.

The Pentagon has stationed nearly 15,000 troops in Kuwait, adding to a small contingent already there. The new units include two Army infantry brigades and a helicopter unit - a substantial increase in combat power after nearly a decade in which Kuwait chiefly served as a staging area for supplies and personnel heading to Iraq.

The Pentagon also has decided to keep two aircraft carriers and their strike groups in the region.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/12/MNR11MOPB2.DTL

[neverforget]

1. Just in Time War(riors) The new American export

[annm4peace]

2. the way it can end is for the troops to have the courage to resist

( I often post the link below on comment sections on Newspaper sites when there are articles of more conflicts or troops going out)

http://www.couragetoresist.org/about.html

About Courage to Resist

Who we are and what we do



In the past few years, tens of thousands of service members have resisted illegal war and occupation in a number of different ways—by going AWOL, seeking conscientious objector status and/or a discharge, asserting the right to speak out against injustice from within the military, and for a relative few, publicly refusing to fight.

While there are those who would like to dismiss war resisters as "cowards," the reality is that it takes exceptional courage to resist unjust, illegal, and/or immoral orders. For many resisters, it was their first-hand experiences as occupation troops that compelled them to take a stand. For others, "doing the right thing" and acting out of conscience began to outweigh their military training in obedience.

Although the efforts of Courage to Resist are primarily focused on supporting public GI resisters, the organization also strives to provide political, emotional, and material support to all military objectors critical of our government's current policies of empire. As a grassroots project with limited resources, Courage to Resist nevertheless has a record of successfully working with many resisters and their families in raising the needed funds for civilian legal representation as well as public education campaigns.

Courage to Resist believes in "informed resistance." It's important for service members contemplating public resistance to have a basic understanding of both the benefits and consequences of doing so, particularly in the context of the very arbitrary military discipline and justice systems.

Courage to Resist is not a member organization of the GI Rights Hotline, although many of our supporters are Hotline counselors. We often refer service members to the Hotline for information about specific military regulations and practices—or just for a second opinion. To contact the GI Rights Hotline toll-free in the United States, call 877-447-4487. From Germany, call 06223-47506. From other locations overseas, call (U.S.) 202-483-2220. On the web, go to: www.girightshotlline.org

[Solly Mack]

3. K&R