Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 31. december 2011 / Time Line December 31, 2011
Version 3.530. December 2011, Januar 2012
12/31/2011
Obama Signs Defense Spending Bill Despite Reservations
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Dec. 31, 2011 - President Barack Obama signed the 2012
National Defense Authorization Act today, while acknowledging
"serious reservations" about parts of the act, particularly
provisions that regulate the detention, interrogation, and
prosecution of suspected terrorists. "I have signed the act chiefly
because it authorizes funding for the defense of the United States
and its interests abroad, crucial services for service members and
their families and vital national security programs that must be
renewed," Obama said in a statement released today. The $662
billion act also contains critical initiatives to control spiraling
health-care costs within the Defense Department, develop
counterterrorism initiatives abroad, build the security capacity of
key partners, modernize the force and boost the efficiency and
effectiveness of military operations worldwide, he noted.
It increases active-duty and reserve pay by 1.6 percent and governs
Defense Department activities from procurement to military
personnel policy.
12/31/2011
1. More US Soldiers Committed Suicide Than Died in
Combat
Project Censored
For the second year (2010) in a row, more US soldiers killed
themselves (468) than died in combat (462). “If you…
know the one thing that causes people to commit suicide, please let
us know,” General Peter Chiarelli told the Army Times,
“because we don’t know.” Suicide is a tragic but
predictable human reaction to being asked to kill – and watch
your friends be killed – particularly when it’s for a
war based on lies. Perhaps being required to bag the mangled flesh
of fellow soldiers could be another reason that some are committing
suicide.
2. US Military Manipulates the Social Media
The US military is developing software that will allow it to
secretly manipulate social media sites by using fake online
personas to influence internet conversations and spread
pro-American propaganda. A Californian corporation has been awarded
a contract with US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees US
armed operations in the Middle East and Central Asia, to develop an
“online persona management service” that will allow one
US serviceman or woman to control up to ten separate identities
based all over the world. The CENTCOM contract stipulates that each
fake online persona must have a convincing background, history and
supporting details, and that up to 50 US-based controllers be able
to manage false identities from their workstations.
The multiple persona contract is thought to have been awarded as
part of a program called Operation Earnest Voice (OEV), which was
first developed in Iraq as a psychological warfare weapon against
the online presence of al Qaeda supporters and other extremists
resisting the US military and political presence in Iraq.
7. U.S. Army and Psychology’s Largest
Experiment–Ever
In the January 2011 issue of American Psychologist, the American
Psychology Association (APA) dedicated 13 articles to detailing and
celebrating a $117 million collaboration with the US Army called
Comprehensive Soldier Fitness (CSF). It’s being marketed as a
resilience training to reduce if not prevent adverse psychological
consequences to soldiers who endure combat. Because of the CSF
emphasis on “positive psychology” advocates call it a
holistic approach to warrior training.
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