The United Nations Security Council unanimously (15-0) passes Resolution 1769, the largest peacekeeping force in the world, in an effort to end the violence in the Darfur region of the Sudan.  The 26,000-strong contingent is to be made up of military and police forces from the African Union and the United Nations, and is expected to cost 2,000,000,000 “dollars” in its first year of operation.  As the United states is one of five nations with permanent seats on the SC, Zalmay Khalilzad, U.s. Ambassador to the U.N., also voted for creation of the operation: “If Saddam does not comply with this resolution, the United [s]tates will move for the swift adoption of unilateral and multilateral measures.”

       NOTE: The editors are not opposed to the voluntary efforts of American individuals, or even the coerced efforts of other nations, who wish to stop the genocide in Darfur.  What the editors oppose is the subsidization of the operation through the unlawful, confiscatory, Federal personal income tax.

       [added 4/27/2024] Thanks to Bill Holmes for this entry.

       While the United states Armed Forces (private mercenaries) are stationed at 737 bases, in 130 nations around the world, defending “all freedom-loving people everywhere in the world,” Republican (fascist/socialist) Vice President Richard B. Cheney in an interview with Larry King, of the Cable News Network, says that he will not close the prison at Guantanamo Naval Base, Cuba.

       [added 4/27/2024] Thanks to Truthout for this entry.

       Joseph A. Christoff, Director of International Affairs and Trade for the Government Accountability Office releases a 20-page report is entitled “STABILIZING IRAQ: DOD Cannot Ensure That U. S.-Funded Equipment Has Reached Iraqi Security Forces,” stating that the Department of Defense (foreign military aggression), in the first 18 months of the Iraqi-American War have lost 110,000 AK-47 rifles, 80,000 pistols, 135,000 pieces of body armor and 115,000 helmets that were intended for the Iraqi Security Forces.  Presumably they have fallen into the hands of the al-Qaida (Arabic for “the Base”) international terrorist network.

       NOTE: Prior to this Republican (fascist/socialist) President George W. Bush had accused the Islamic Republic of Iran of supplying the insurgents trying to rid their nation of the U.s. Armed Forces.  It now seems that DOD has been supplying both sides.

   [added 4/27/2024]

       Republican CONgressman Tom Tancredo, of colorado, tells a presidential campaign audience in Osceola, iowa,

       [T]hat an attack on this homeland of that [nuclear] nature would be followed by an attack on the holy sites in Mecca and Medina.  Because that’s the only thing I can think of that might deter somebody from doing what they otherwise might do.

       Question: Would Tancredo have bombed the World Trade Center in New York City because convicted Oklahoma City, oklahoma, bomber Timothy McVeigh was from new york?

       [added 4/27/2024] Thanks to Chuck McGlawn for this entry.