Showing posts with label Britain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Britain. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
U.S. Losing It's Grip On the Rest of the World As the Rest of the World Moves Toward Syria.
American's everywhere seem to think that we are impervious to attacks by other countries and that other countries do what we say, that we hold all of the mail power to rule the countries of the globe. Little do they know, as they go about their daily lives with blinders, we are not impervious and we are not all powerful. In fact, the United States is losing it's powerful grip on the rest of the world by the minute with the lack of leadership and dedication shown by Obama and the other leaders of our country.
Here are a few examples of what is happening that prove my point.
Russia is sending armed troops to Syria amid escalating violence there, United States military officials told NBC News Friday, in a move certain to frustrate Western efforts to put pressure on the regime of President Bashir Assad.
Moscow has sent a ship carrying a small contingent of combat forces to guard Russia's deep-water port and military base at the Syrian city of Tartus, the US officials said.
The U.S. officials also said Russia has not sent additional attack helicopters to the Syrian government, butreplacement parts for the Russian helicopters the Syrians are already flying.
It comes after the conflict was declared byFrance on Wednesday to be a full-blown civil war.
The head of the U.N. observers in Syria said Friday a recent spike in bloodshed is derailing the mission to monitor and defuse more than a year of violence and could prompt the unarmed force to pull out.
"Violence over the past 10 days has been intensifying willingly by the both parties, with losses on both sides and significant risks to our observers," Maj. Gen. Robert Mood told reporters in Damascus. "The escalating violence is now limiting our ability to observe, verify, report as well as assist in local dialogue and stability projects."
Tartus is one of Russia's most strategically-important assets, giving it military access to the Mediterranean Sea.
Russia and China, both permanent members of the U.N. Security Council with veto power, frustrated attempts by key Western figures, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to enforce a United Nations peace plan brokered by special envoy Kofi Annan.
Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday repeated Moscow's strong opposition to external interference in Syria, said it was not discussing plans for a Syrian political transformation following the exit of Assad.
At a news conference after talks with his Iraqi counterpart, Lavrov said he had seen reports saying U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland had suggested Washington and Moscow were discussing a post-Assad strategy in Syria.
"If that was really said then it's not true," Lavrov said. "Such discussions are not being held and cannot be held, because to decide for the Syrian people contradicts our position completely.
"We do not get involved in overthrowing regimes - neither through approval of unilateral actions by the U.N. Security Council nor by participation in any political plots."
Nuland was asked at a news conference on Thursday whether the United States and Russia were discussing a transition of power similar to that seen in Yemen last year, in which President Ali Abdullah Saleh was replaced by a deputy.
"We are continuing to talk about a post-Assad transition strategy in that context," she said.
Lavrov said any broad international talks on Syria must include Iran and must only address ways to create conditions for a political dialogue in Syria - not the content of that dialogue or preconditions such as Assad's exit.
Russia, which has come under increasing criticism from the West for arms deliveries to Syria, responded to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's allegations that attack helicopters were on the way from Russia to Syria.
In a statement on the Foreign Ministry website, Russia said it had made no new deliveries ofmilitary helicopters to Syria but under old contracts it had repaired helicopters sent to Syria "many years ago".
"There are no new deliveries of Russian military helicopters to Syria. All arms industry cooperation with Syria is limited to a transfer of defensive arms," the ministry said on its website.
"As regards helicopters, planned repairs of (helicopters) delivered to Syria many years ago were conducted earlier," it said. It did not say when they had been repaired or, if they were repaired in Russia, when they were returned to Syria.
Syria's ambassador to Russia said on Thursday Russia had not sent new attack helicopters to Syria.
Russia says it is fulfilling existing contracts for air defense systems against external attacks. President Vladimir Putin, due to meet U.S. President Barack Obama next week, said the weapons Russia sends could not be used in civil conflicts.
A source close to Russia's arms exporting monopoly Rosoboronexport said Clinton's comments may have referred to helicopters sent to Russia in 2009 for repairs and which may be on the way back to Syria.
The source said on Wednesday at least nine Mi-25 helicopters were sent to Russia's Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad to be repaired by Oboronservis, owned by the Defense Ministry.
Russia delivered three different missile systems including Bastion anti-ship missile units and another anti-aircraft system to Syria last year.
At least two ships carrying Russian weapons have reportedly travelled to Syria since the beginning of the year, though possibly not on behalf of state arms exporter Rosoboronexport.
Reuters contributed to this report. Jim Miklaszewski is the chief Pentagon correspondent for NBC News.
JUNE 18, 2012
According to a Russian Interfax news agency report on Monday, Moscow is preparing to send two amphibious assault ships to the port city.
The two warships will carry a “large” group of marines, the report said.
However, the Russian Defense Ministry has not yet confirmed the report.
The development comes two days after sources in Washington said the United States was planning military “intervention” in Syria and that the issue is not a question of “if” but “when.”
In addition, a White House official, whose name was not mentioned in the reports, said on June 16, “At this critical juncture, we are consulting with our international partners regarding next steps toward a Syrian-led political transition.”
Chinese President Hu Jintao and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin said in a joint statement issued in Beijing on June 6, “We firmly believe that the Syrian crisis has to be resolved fairly and peacefully by having all parties in conflict stop violence and start comprehensive political dialogue without foreign interference.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also said in a press conference in Moscow on June 9 that the issue of foreign intervention in Syria was being posed in a “radical and quite emotional way.”
He said Russia “will not sanction the use of force (against Syria) at the United Nations Security Council.”
Meanwhile, the head of the UN observer mission in Syria, Major General Robert Mood, said on June 16 that the monitoring team was “suspending its activities” in the country due to an “intensification of armed violence.”
Russia operates a strategic naval base in Tartus.
By | Associated Press
Thin clouds of smoke rise into the air. One field is on fire. Eleven rather dazed fighters from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) emerge from a house, onto the street in front of the building that now contains three smoking impact craters in a neat row. The fourth missile hit a solid stone wall that surrounds the property, but none struck the house itself, or the group's vehicle, which is quite visibly parked next to the house. The group's commander requests that the vehicle itself not be described in any further detail, since "it's the only one we have." These FSA fighters have been using the same vehicle for six months.
It's a fine line to walk, and hardly anywhere can this be seen more clearly than in the improvised prison operating out of a former administrative building in Maraa.
Here are a few examples of what is happening that prove my point.
THIS ONE IS OF EXTREME INTEREST!
Russia sends troops to Syria
Russia is sending armed troops to Syria amid escalating violence there, United States military officials told NBC News Friday, in a move certain to frustrate Western efforts to put pressure on the regime of President Bashir Assad.
Moscow has sent a ship carrying a small contingent of combat forces to guard Russia's deep-water port and military base at the Syrian city of Tartus, the US officials said.
The U.S. officials also said Russia has not sent additional attack helicopters to the Syrian government, but
It comes after the conflict was declared by
The head of the U.N. observers in Syria said Friday a recent spike in bloodshed is derailing the mission to monitor and defuse more than a year of violence and could prompt the unarmed force to pull out.
"Violence over the past 10 days has been intensifying willingly by the both parties, with losses on both sides and significant risks to our observers," Maj. Gen. Robert Mood told reporters in Damascus. "The escalating violence is now limiting our ability to observe, verify, report as well as assist in local dialogue and stability projects."
Tartus is one of Russia's most strategically-important assets, giving it military access to the Mediterranean Sea.
Russia and China, both permanent members of the U.N. Security Council with veto power, frustrated attempts by key Western figures, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to enforce a United Nations peace plan brokered by special envoy Kofi Annan.
Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday repeated Moscow's strong opposition to external interference in Syria, said it was not discussing plans for a Syrian political transformation following the exit of Assad.
At a news conference after talks with his Iraqi counterpart, Lavrov said he had seen reports saying U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland had suggested Washington and Moscow were discussing a post-Assad strategy in Syria.
"If that was really said then it's not true," Lavrov said. "Such discussions are not being held and cannot be held, because to decide for the Syrian people contradicts our position completely.
"We do not get involved in overthrowing regimes - neither through approval of unilateral actions by the U.N. Security Council nor by participation in any political plots."
Nuland was asked at a news conference on Thursday whether the United States and Russia were discussing a transition of power similar to that seen in Yemen last year, in which President Ali Abdullah Saleh was replaced by a deputy.
"We are continuing to talk about a post-Assad transition strategy in that context," she said.
Lavrov said any broad international talks on Syria must include Iran and must only address ways to create conditions for a political dialogue in Syria - not the content of that dialogue or preconditions such as Assad's exit.
Russia, which has come under increasing criticism from the West for arms deliveries to Syria, responded to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's allegations that attack helicopters were on the way from Russia to Syria.
In a statement on the Foreign Ministry website, Russia said it had made no new deliveries of
"There are no new deliveries of Russian military helicopters to Syria. All arms industry cooperation with Syria is limited to a transfer of defensive arms," the ministry said on its website.
"As regards helicopters, planned repairs of (helicopters) delivered to Syria many years ago were conducted earlier," it said. It did not say when they had been repaired or, if they were repaired in Russia, when they were returned to Syria.
Syria's ambassador to Russia said on Thursday Russia had not sent new attack helicopters to Syria.
Russia says it is fulfilling existing contracts for air defense systems against external attacks. President Vladimir Putin, due to meet U.S. President Barack Obama next week, said the weapons Russia sends could not be used in civil conflicts.
A source close to Russia's arms exporting monopoly Rosoboronexport said Clinton's comments may have referred to helicopters sent to Russia in 2009 for repairs and which may be on the way back to Syria.
The source said on Wednesday at least nine Mi-25 helicopters were sent to Russia's Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad to be repaired by Oboronservis, owned by the Defense Ministry.
Russia delivered three different missile systems including Bastion anti-ship missile units and another anti-aircraft system to Syria last year.
At least two ships carrying Russian weapons have reportedly travelled to Syria since the beginning of the year, though possibly not on behalf of state arms exporter Rosoboronexport.
Reuters contributed to this report. Jim Miklaszewski is the chief Pentagon correspondent for NBC News.
Syria denies war games with Russia, China, Iran: report
MOSCOW |
(Reuters) - Russia and Syria on Tuesday denied an Iranian media report that Syria would host Russian, Chinese and Iranian military forces for joint exercises.
Iranian news agency Fars said 90,000 troops and hundreds of ships, tanks and warplanes from the four countries would take part in the war games on land and sea in Syria soon.
The Russian Defense Ministry called such reports "disinformation" and the Russian news agency Interfax quoted an adviser to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as saying it was not true.
"There will be nothing like that. This is one of those (pieces of) false information that are distributed about (Syria)," Interfax quoted Bouthaina Shabaan, the adviser who was in Moscow on Tuesday, as saying.
Interfax said Shabaan was referring to a report on al-Arabiya television that was similar to the Fars article.
(Writing by Steve Gutterman; Editing by Jon Boyle)
Report: Israel moves tanks to Egypt border
JUNE 18, 2012
TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma’an) — Israel’s army moved military tanks towards the country’s border with Egypt on Monday, after an earlier cross-border attack killed a man working on Israel’s barrier on the frontier, Israeli media reported.
Israeli news site Ynet said the unusual move to deploy tanks on the border was in breach of the Camp David peace treaty between the countries, which requires the area to remain demilitarized.
The tanks were later withdrawn from the area, and the Israeli army said the move was in response to the attack earlier Monday, and it has no plans to leave tanks on the border, Israeli daily Haaretz said.
Israel and Egypt had agreed in recent months that Cairo could deploy 20 tanks near the border to ward off Bedouin attacks, despite the demilitarization clause of the peace treaty, Ynet reported.
The 1978 Camp David Accords led to Egypt’s 1979 peace treaty with Israel, the first by an Arab country.
Earlier Monday, militants fired on an Israeli crew building a border barrier on the Egyptian frontier on Monday, killing a Palestinian citizen of Israel, and Israeli soldiers shot dead two of the infiltrators, the military said.
The incident, hours after Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood claimed victory in the country’s presidential election — disputed by the rival candidate — raised Israeli concern about lawlessness in Egypt’s Sinai desert since the fall of Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
“We can see a disturbing deterioration in Egypt’s control of the Sinai’s security ,” Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said, commenting on the attack.
“We are waiting for the election results. Whoever wins, we expect him to take responsibility over all of Egypt’s international commitments,” he told reporters in a reference to Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel.
Russia sending two warships to Syrian coast: Report
File photo of the Russian warship, Tsezar Kunikov
Russia is deploying two warships to the Syrian port of Tartus on the Mediterranean coast amid the ongoing turmoil in the Arab country, a report says.
According to a Russian Interfax news agency report on Monday, Moscow is preparing to send two amphibious assault ships to the port city.
Interfax quoted an officer from the Russian naval headquarters as saying, “Two major amphibious ships -- The Nikolai Filchenkov and The Tsezar Kunikov -- are preparing to be dispatched to Tartus outside of their schedule.” The report did not mention the name of the officer.
The two warships will carry a “large” group of marines, the report said.
However, the Russian Defense Ministry has not yet confirmed the report.
The development comes two days after sources in Washington said the United States was planning military “intervention” in Syria and that the issue is not a question of “if” but “when.”
In addition, a White House official, whose name was not mentioned in the reports, said on June 16, “At this critical juncture, we are consulting with our international partners regarding next steps toward a Syrian-led political transition.”
However, Russia and China, two permanent members of the UN Security Council, have repeatedly opposed the use of force in Syria.
Chinese President Hu Jintao and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin said in a joint statement issued in Beijing on June 6, “We firmly believe that the Syrian crisis has to be resolved fairly and peacefully by having all parties in conflict stop violence and start comprehensive political dialogue without foreign interference.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also said in a press conference in Moscow on June 9 that the issue of foreign intervention in Syria was being posed in a “radical and quite emotional way.”
He said Russia “will not sanction the use of force (against Syria) at the United Nations Security Council.”
Meanwhile, the head of the UN observer mission in Syria, Major General Robert Mood, said on June 16 that the monitoring team was “suspending its activities” in the country due to an “intensification of armed violence.”
Russia operates a strategic naval base in Tartus.
On brink of Bosnia-style war: Britain could send in troops to Syria says William Hague
Foreign Secretary said that time for a diplomatic solution is rapidly running out
Britain could be forced to send troops into Syria if the bloodshed escalates into all-out civil war, William Hague warned yesterday.
The Foreign Secretary said that time for a diplomatic solution is rapidly running out and the country is “on the edge” of a Bosnia-style sectarian conflict.
Britain will “greatly increase” support for the Syrian opposition if attempts to end President Bashar al-Assad’s brutal repression fail, Mr Hague said.
Admitting that our troops may be called into action, the Foreign Secretary said: “The reason I don’t rule things out is because we really don’t know how this situation is going to develop or how terrible it is going to become.”
His warnings come after reports that gung-ho David Cameron joked about which country he should target.
While giving fellow Tory MPs a tour of his Downing Street flat, the Prime Minister apparently stopped in front of a map of the world and said: “Where shall I invade next? I’ve done Libya.”
Mr Hague yesterday said the Syria crisis “is not so much like Libya last year, where of course we had a successful intervention to save lives”. He added: “Increasingly the analogy is not with Libya but with Bosnia in the 1990s.
“We are on the edge of that kind of sectarian murder on a large scale so who knows what may be required by the international community to try to deal with that if that gets going in that way.”
More than 100,000 people were massacred in the ethnic cleansing of Bosnia. At one point 12,000 UK troops were part of the international peacekeeping force. Our Army lost 55 soldiers in the operation.
Mr Hague yesterday called on Russia, which has protected the Assad regime, to persuade Syria to end the violence and accept UN envoy Kofi Annan’s peace plan.The Foreign Secretary “welcomed in principle” the Russian proposal for an international conference on Syria, but he warned it must “lead to a change and not just buy time for the regime to kill more people”.
After Syrian troops began shelling homes in the capital Damascus at the weekend, Mr Hague said if diplomacy fails to stop Assad world leaders will return to the UN “for further measures” and ask the countries in the Friends of Syria “to step up the isolation of the regime”.
Russia denies war games report
Published: June 19, 2012 at 1:30 PM
TEHRAN, June 19 (UPI) -- The Russian Defense Ministry Tuesday denied Iranian reports of planned war games with Iran, China and Syria off the Syrian coast.
The semi-official Iranian Fars news agency, citing what it called "informed sources," said some 90,000 troops from the four countries were expected to participate in land, air and sea maneuvers off the Syrian coast, including air defense and missile units.
A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman call the report a "further attempt to excalate the situation in Syria," RIA Novosti reported. Syria also denied any upcoming military exercises were planned.
"This information is out of sync with reality," said Buseina Shaaban, political adviser to the Syrian president. "Nothing could be further from the truth."
The Fars report said some 400 warplanes and 1,000 tanks will take part in the exercise and Egypt had granted authorization for 12 Chinese warships to sail through the Suez Canal.
A senior Russian naval commander Monday told the Russian Interfax news agency two Russian amphibious landing vessels would head to the Russian base at the Syrian port of Tartus.
The commander said marines would be charged with protecting the security of Russian citizens and evacuating part of the base. The British newspaper The Daily Telegraph said this marks the first time Moscow has sent troops to Syria since the violent uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime began in March 2011.
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2012/06/19/Russia-denies-war-games-report/UPI-93751340106919/#ixzz1yGLoeDCs
Iranian general seems to confirm troops are in Syria in interview blunder
Published May 29, 2012
NewsCore
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April 17, 2012: Iranian troops march during a military parade commemorating National Army Day in front of the mausoleum of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, outside Tehran, Iran. (AP)
TEHRAN – In an apparent slip-up, an Iranian general has admitted that special forces have been deployed from Tehran to Syria to assist the Assad regime's crackdown against the anti-government uprising.
The Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) published an interview with General Ismail Qa'ani, deputy commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, on Sunday night, in which he praised his troops for crushing opposition forces in Syria -- saying the Quds' presence helped prevent civilian massacres.
"Before we were not in Syria, the slaughter of the people by the opposition was much higher. But with the presence of the Islamic Republic in a physical and non-physical manner, many great massacres in Syria were stopped." Gha'ani said in the interview, according to The (London) Times.
The quote was removed by the ISNA within hours and without explanation, but not before other media outlets discovered it. Gha'ani was said to have been speaking at a student event on Sunday evening.
Tehran is allied to Damascus, and rumors that Iran is providing military support to President Bashar al Assad have circulated since the uprising began 15 months ago. Anti-government fighters have reportedly told of how they encountered Iranians in battle.
But this is considered to be the first time a senior Iranian officer has admitted the Quds force is operating in Syria.
Gha'ani's comments follow the deaths of 108 people on Friday, mostly women and children, in the Syrian town of Houla -- a bloody event that has drawn international condemnation, even as the killing continued in other parts of the nation.
Regime loyalists have blamed rebels for the Houla massacre, while opposition forces said it was the result of an army assault. While tanks and artillery were used in the horror, some of the dead were stabbed or shot at point-blank range.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/05/29/iranian-general-seems-to-confirm-troops-are-in-syria-in-interview-blunder/#ixzz1yGMPkbru
Russia denies war games report
Published: June 19, 2012 at 1:30 PM
The semi-official Iranian Fars news agency, citing what it called "informed sources," said some 90,000 troops from the four countries were expected to participate in land, air and sea maneuvers off the Syrian coast, including air defense and missile units.
A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman call the report a "further attempt to excalate the situation in Syria," RIA Novosti reported. Syria also denied any upcoming military exercises were planned.
"This information is out of sync with reality," said Buseina Shaaban, political adviser to the Syrian president. "Nothing could be further from the truth."
The Fars report said some 400 warplanes and 1,000 tanks will take part in the exercise and Egypt had granted authorization for 12 Chinese warships to sail through the Suez Canal.
A senior Russian naval commander Monday told the Russian Interfax news agency two Russian amphibious landing vessels would head to the Russian base at the Syrian port of Tartus.
The commander said marines would be charged with protecting the security of Russian citizens and evacuating part of the base. The British newspaper The Daily Telegraph said this marks the first time Moscow has sent troops to Syria since the violent uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime began in March 2011.
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2012/06/19/Russia-denies-war-games-report/UPI-93751340106919/#ixzz1yGLoeDCs
Iranian general seems to confirm troops are in Syria in interview blunder
Published May 29, 2012
NewsCore
-
April 17, 2012: Iranian troops march during a military parade commemorating National Army Day in front of the mausoleum of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, outside Tehran, Iran. (AP)
TEHRAN – In an apparent slip-up, an Iranian general has admitted that special forces have been deployed from Tehran to Syria to assist the Assad regime's crackdown against the anti-government uprising.
The Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) published an interview with General Ismail Qa'ani, deputy commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, on Sunday night, in which he praised his troops for crushing opposition forces in Syria -- saying the Quds' presence helped prevent civilian massacres.
"Before we were not in Syria, the slaughter of the people by the opposition was much higher. But with the presence of the Islamic Republic in a physical and non-physical manner, many great massacres in Syria were stopped." Gha'ani said in the interview, according to The (London) Times.
The quote was removed by the ISNA within hours and without explanation, but not before other media outlets discovered it. Gha'ani was said to have been speaking at a student event on Sunday evening.
Tehran is allied to Damascus, and rumors that Iran is providing military support to President Bashar al Assad have circulated since the uprising began 15 months ago. Anti-government fighters have reportedly told of how they encountered Iranians in battle.
But this is considered to be the first time a senior Iranian officer has admitted the Quds force is operating in Syria.
Gha'ani's comments follow the deaths of 108 people on Friday, mostly women and children, in the Syrian town of Houla -- a bloody event that has drawn international condemnation, even as the killing continued in other parts of the nation.
Regime loyalists have blamed rebels for the Houla massacre, while opposition forces said it was the result of an army assault. While tanks and artillery were used in the horror, some of the dead were stabbed or shot at point-blank range.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/05/29/iranian-general-seems-to-confirm-troops-are-in-syria-in-interview-blunder/#ixzz1yGMPkbru
Syria says ready to evacuate families from besieged Homs city, accuses rebels of obstruction
By | Associated Press
BEIRUT - Syria's government says it is ready to evacuate civilians besieged in the rebellious central city of Homs without preconditions.
A Foreign Ministry statement carried Tuesday by the state-run news agency SANA blames "armed terrorist groups" of obstructing evacuation efforts co-ordinated with the U.N. observers' mission and local authorities.
U.N. mission chief Maj. Gen. Robert Mood demanded Sunday that warring parties allow the evacuation of women, children and sick people endangered by fighting in Homs and other combat zones.
Activists say around 1,000 families have been trapped by ongoing government assaults against rebel-controlled areas of Homs.
The Syrian government regularly refers to the rebels as terrorists.
06/19/2012
Escalating ViolenceFace to Face with Syria's Apocalypse
By Christoph Reuter
Vedat Xhymshiti/ DER SPIEGEL
A military helicopter has been circling high above our heads for several minutes now, like an angry insect in the midday heat. The pilot seems to be looking for something here between the fields and farm buildings. From the cover of a stand of trees, we have a clear view when the helicopter, a couple of hundred meters away, suddenly drops lower and fires four missiles. It then circles once more, tilted slightly to one side to allow the machinegun operator to fire into the tall fields of wheat, before the helicopter disappears into the milky haze of the horizon.
"The pilot must have seen it," says Chal, the leader, who is an interior decorator by trade. "Why else would he have aimed here? But then, why aim to the side?"
Later this evening, some in the group will speak of God's sheltering hand, but the military pilot likely had his own reasons for choosing not to kill the men, while at the same time sending a clear message: I know you're in there. Ultimately, no one can know what went through that pilot's mind on June 10, as he flew over the village of Harbal, near the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. What Chal's men do know is that if the pilot had decided differently, they would now be dead. Now they drive off, veering from side to side.
Nightmare of Disintegration
It's a strange moment in the nightmare of disintegration which Syria is currently experiencing. Fifteen grueling months into the revolution against the country's dictatorship, an uprising that has become a war, it's not possible to give a single, unified description of the situation here.
On the one hand, there's an apocalypse in the form of the regime's militias, murdering their way through the villages, flanked by government troops and "security" forces issuing orders.
Reports published last week by the United Nations and Amnesty International depict torture, executions and the use of children as human shields.
Several doctors and nurses, interviewed separately by SPIEGEL at two military hospitals, reported cases of injured patients being murdered. They talked of corpses of torture victims in cold storage with their ears and noses cut off.
In the north of the country, villages within range of the weapons at Aleppo's artillery school have been shelled indiscriminately since the beginning of June, as well as attacked by helicopters and fighter jets. In the days around June 10 alone, two dozen civilians died in the area north of Aleppo, and several soldiers and fighters from both sides died in combat.
But at the same time, there's a pilot who aims off the mark. There are deserting soldiers that no one is trying to stop. Discreet warnings and agreements are made behind the scenes of these battles. Business owners in Aleppo pay both the regime and the rebels, and the FSA kidnaps officers and family members of the torture squads to exchange for prisoners. The regime's terror tactics are causing its hold on power to crumble.
Looking to a Post-Assad Future
Everyone here is sure things are heading toward an end, but no one knows how it will play out. Here, in the plains around Maraa, in the villages and wheat fields between Aleppo and the Turkish border, the Syrian government ceased to exist months ago.
Occasionally, it does still send in erratic communications, as it did in late May, informing residents that buildings without construction permits would be made legal retroactively. But the rest of the time, what the government sends are bombs.
Yet even as inhabitants of the southern and western parts of the plain are fleeing out of range of the regime's weapons, and as SPIEGEL experiences first hand in the town of Azaz how helicopters fire at random at people's homes and the army's snipers terrorize half the town from the minarets of the central mosque, at the same time just a few kilometers away in a village called Dabiq, representatives from nine towns are meeting to debate, for the first time in their lives, what the Syria of the future should look like.
Thirty-two men gather in an abandoned office that once belonged to the Baath Party that still nominally rules the country. There are several teachers, an engineer, two construction workers, a photographer, a former police officer, two deserted soldiers, an unemployed man and a couple of students. "What do we want?" is the question bandied about in different forms throughout the evening: An Islamic state? A republic? Or perhaps no government at all? After all, as one man points out: "At the moment, it's easier without one than it was under the dictatorship."
These men haven't seen very much of the world themselves, but they're familiar with the horror stories related by Iraqi refugees who fled their country's civil war.
Some of the men were also guest workers in Lebanon and describe how the different religious camps there stand in each other's way. All the people present agree that their country needs a civil constitution where people are not defined by religion or ethnic background, but by being citizens of Syria. They also agree that candidates for parliament should be selected on the basis of their abilities, not their religious background, and that no president should be allowed to serve longer than eight years.
"And people who hold office must disclose their own financial circumstances," says the former police officer. "We have to make sure they stay honest."
'Too Much Blood on Their Hands'
But this delicate new beginning stalls when one person raises the question of whether the family of one Alawi teacher, who left here months ago, ought to return.
"Of course!" insist some. "She hasn't done anything to anybody!" But the faces of some of the others harden. "They have too much blood on their hands," they say.
Not the teacher herself, they say, but "the others."
The men are unable to come to an agreement on this, or on another question that's been a contentious issue for months throughout the country, from Daraa in the south to here in the north. "We're very grateful to the FSA for protecting us," one man says, attempting to put it diplomatically, "but we don't want them to take over power!" One of the FSA members in the room, a defected soldier, is offended.
There's a feeling of unease over the fighters' growing power, explains Yassir al-Hajji, facilitator of this evening's experiment, on the way back to Maraa. "We need them, absolutely, but we're afraid of them." Until the end of August last year, he explains, state security would turn up in town whenever they pleased and arrest people. Now, he says, not even the army comes to Maraa -- the last time was April 10, when the regime's forces burned down houses and shot up Hajji's café with their machineguns before retreating half a day later, their tanks loaded down with carpets, mattresses and refrigerators. They left graffiti scrawled on the town's walls, such as: "You don't need freedom, instead your mothers need to be fucked again!" It was signed "S.M.F." -- Syrian Military Forces.
The Meaning of Free
Those are a few parting words, perhaps, from a government whose functions are slowly being taken over by Commander Chal, the interior decorator, and by other local FSA leaders. The "Committee for Social Services" which controls the price of diesel, the fire department, the municipal administration -- all these are part of the new army whose name Hajji mocks: "Free Army -- but what is that supposed to mean, 'free'? Free to do whatever they like?"
In particular, those who have tortured, killed or raped are brought here. They are people who have been -- depending on your point of view -- kidnapped or arrested after being identified by witnesses.
The man in charge here is a former sergeant who defected from the army, a giant of a man whose nickname is Janbu. After extensive negotiations, we are allowed to see two prisoners. One is a spy for the notorious shabiha militia, a philosophy student who reported on his fellow students for the regime's intelligence service. The other is a soldier accused of raping female prisoners and beating male prisoners with a club.
READ MORE AT http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/spiegel-reporter-describes-increasing-brutality-in-syria-a-839503.html
Monday, July 18, 2011
Rupert Murdoch and The Number 13. Power Tower Tumbling Down?
Is Rupert Murdoch losing his powerful influence? Here is a rundown of the power that he has held and gained to this point, as well as the use of his power that may have him tumbling down his great media empire Mount Everest.
First, Rupert Murdoch began his style of acquisitions and expansions of his power back in 1953 by purchasing the Sunday Times in Perth, Australia. Not much later, he acquired newspapers in many areas, including The Daily Mirror and also acquired a small records company called Festival Records. He followed that with the purchase of The Dominion. This was just the beginning of his additions to his powerful empire.
It wasn't long before he started to get involved in shaping politics and events.
"During the 1980s and early 1990s, Murdoch's publications were generally supportive of Britain's Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.[8] At the end of the Thatcher/Major era, Murdoch switched his support to the Labour Party and its leader, Tony Blair. The closeness of his relationship with Blair and their secret meetings to discuss national policies was to become a political issue in Britain.[9] Though this later started to change, with The Sun publicly renouncing the ruling Labour government and lending its support to David Cameron's Conservative Party, which soon after came to form a coalition government. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown's official spokesman said in November 2009 that Brown and Murdoch "were in regular communication" and that "there is nothing unusual in the prime minister talking to Rupert Murdoch"." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Murdoch
If you didn't already know this, Rupert Murdoch has owned Sky Television. This is a huge satellite television network that merged with British Satellite Broadcasting in 1990.
Rupert Murdoch has made many acquisitions throughout the years in the United States, including Fox Network. Murdoch acquired Dow Jones in 2007. If that doesn't say powerful (or power-hungry) I don't know what does.
Here is a link to a list of assets owned by Murdoch and News Corp.
Did you know that this phone hacking scandal actually started in 2006?
"Starting in 2006, there were allegations that individuals working for the News of the World, a now-defunct British tabloid newspaper published by News International—a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation—had engaged in phone hacking. The scandal came to prominence in the midst of an attempted takeover of British Sky Broadcasting by News Corporation, which was forced to abandon the acquisition.[26] While the original allegations were limited to the hacking of celebrities, politicians and members of the British Royal Family, further allegations that victims of the phone hacking included murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, relatives of deceased British soldiers, and victims of the 7/7 London bombings generated widespread public outrage in the United Kingdom. The News of the World published its final edition on 10 July 2011 after 168 years of publication.[26]
On 6 July 2011, British prime minister David Cameron declared that a public government inquiry would convene to investigate the affair, once police inquiries had been completed. On 13 July, Cameron named Lord Justice Leveson as chairman of the inquiry, with a remit to look into the specific claims about phone hacking and police bribery by the News of the World, while a separate inquiry would consider the culture and ethics of the British media.[27] He also said the Press Complaints Commission would be replaced "entirely".[26]
The scandal attracted attention in the United States, where News Corporation is headquartered and operates a multitude of media outlets. On 15 July, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder confirmed that the Department of Justice was following up calls for an investigation into the company." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Murdoch
Perhaps 2006 was the year when things seemed to begin to unravel...
The PM, the mogul and the secret agenda
Tony Blair flies to California this week to address the annual get-together of News Corporation - led by one Rupert Murdoch. From Europe to broadcasting, terrorism to the direction of the nation, what is the truth about one of the most intriguing relationships in British public life?
...the guests checking in next weekend - globetrotting politicians, hotshot analysts and senior executives from Rupert Murdoch's mighty News Corporation - are not here to relax. They will gather for one of the media empire's legendary conferences, an intellectual beauty parade before one of the most powerful men on the planet. Careers will be made and broken this weekend, millions staked or withheld.
The man described by a Downing Street spin doctor as the hidden member of Tony Blair's cabinet is looking to the future: and the decisions Murdoch makes could change the way you read, watch, consume and, perhaps, even vote.
Which is why Blair is going.
The man described by a Downing Street spin doctor as the hidden member of Tony Blair's cabinet is looking to the future: and the decisions Murdoch makes could change the way you read, watch, consume and, perhaps, even vote.
Which is why Blair is going.
The fortunes of New Labour and News Corp have always been entwined, but just how closely is now emerging. The Observer can reveal the extraordinary efforts Blair and Murdoch make to conceal their relationship, even arranging clandestine meetings abroad because the tycoon regarded Downing Street as too public. Also clear for the first time is the belief among senior aides that Blair would have held a referendum on the euro had it not been for the Eurosceptic Murdoch newspapers.
It can also be disclosed that News International's latest lobbying offensive is against the BBC's bid for a significant rise in its licence fee. Murdoch fears the above-inflation increase would give the corporation an unfair advantage in developing new markets.
"On 8 May 2006, the Financial Times reported that Murdoch would be hosting a fund-raiser for Senator Hillary Clinton's (D-New York) Senate re-election campaign." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Murdoch
In 2007, News Corp had a representative, Andrew Knight, present at the annual Bilderberg Group Meeting. Looking back to a post I wrote on the topic of Murdoch and secret societies, you can read more about that topic on this link. Click Link Here
Regarding whether Rupert Murdoch has shaped the opinions of people on a global scale regarding politics and other agendas, here is just one snippet that may answer that question for you.
"In a 2008 interview with Walt Mossberg, Murdoch was asked whether he had "anything to do with the New York Post's endorsement of Barack Obama in the democratic primaries." Without hesitating, Murdoch replied, "Yeah. He is a rock star. It's fantastic. I love what he is saying about education. I don't think he will win Florida... but he will win in Ohio and the election. I am anxious to meet him. I want to see if he will walk the walk."
..."In August 2008 British Conservative leader and future Prime Minister David Cameron accepted free flights to hold private talks and attend private parties with Murdoch on his yacht, the Rosehearty.[57] Cameron has declared in the Commons register of interests he accepted a private plane provided by Murdoch's son-in-law, public relations guru Matthew Freud; Cameron has not revealed his talks with Murdoch. The gift of travel in Freud's Gulfstream IV private jet was valued at around £30,000. Other guests attending the "social events" included the then EU trade commissioner Lord Mandelson, the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and co-chairman of NBC Universal Ben Silverman. The Conservatives have not disclosed what was discussed.[58]
In July 2011 it emerged that Cameron met key executives of Murdoch's News Corporation 26 times during the 14 months that Cameron had served as Prime Minister.[59] It was also reported that Murdoch had given Cameron a personal guarantee that there would be no risk attached to hiring the ex-editor of the News of the World Andy Coulson as the Conservative Party's communication director in 2007.[60] This was in spite of Coulson having resigned as editor over phone hacking by a reporter. Cameron chose to take Murdoch's advice, despite warnings from Nick Clegg, Lord Ashdown and The Guardian.[61] Coulson resigned his post in 2011 and was later arrested and questioned on allegations of further criminal activity at The News of the World."
Of course, Murdoch, being such a power player on a global scale, has representation within the most elite circles. The Bilderberg Group, for instance. He has had both Conrad Black and Andrew Stephen Bower Knight present at their annual meetings.
Of course, if you look at the criminal past of Conrad Black, you don't wonder why he says this...
"Murdoch, just like Napoleon, is a great bad man" http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=148482
Rupert Murdoch is currently on the membership roster for the Council on Foreign Relations, better known as CFR. http://www.cfr.org/about/membership/roster.html?letter=M
Rupert Murdoch has been represented on the Trilateral Commission as well. http://www.trilateral.org/download/file/TC_list_7-11_rev__(2).pdf
Yes, Rupert Murdoch has been enormously powerful. Actually, he has too much power for one man to handle...at least in his own, very large head. Here are some of the egotistical things that he has said in recent years.
______
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“We are in the midst of a phase of history in which nations will be redefined and their futures fundamentally altered,” wrote media mogul Rupert Murdoch in a recent memo to the management staff of News Corp, his global media empire, which includes Fox TV.The provocative sentence is lodged within a long memorandum announcing the departure of the company’s longtime president and chief operating officer Peter Chernin as well as an upbeat pep talk about News Corps’ acquisitions and its plans for future growth in a world market where other media organizations will be retreating. Murdoch notes that News Corp is in a very enviable position, with $5 billion cash on hand and $3.5 billion in annual revenues."
Rupert Murdoch: Without Me, Your iPad Is 'Merely An Empty Vessel'
Rupert Murdoch's killer quarter has emboldened him, and his plans to charge for his content.
Speaking on the company's earnings call, he said "Content isn't just King, it's the Emperor of all things electronic."
He added later, without content the world's large flat screens, e-readers, and tablets would be "unloved and unsold."
Rupert, likely referring to the iPad, said it would be "merely an empty vessel" without content. It is not "powered by batteries," it is powered by great content.
He also mentioned that he's working on subscription deals with device makers, as this quarter proved that consumers are willing to pay for content.
To people that think content wants to be free, Rupert replies, "It sounds like B.S. to me!"
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/rupert-murdoch-without-me-your-ipad-is-worthless-2010-2#ixzz1STqJQT5y
On Forbes list of the most powerful people in the world, Rupert Murdoch is number 13. I guess it's just not his lucky number.
Of course, you already know the newest regarding the Hacking Scandal and Rupert Murdoch. Here is an update in the case you haven't read the newest in today's news on this political and media scandal.
London police feel the heat in UK hacking scandal
CASSANDRA VINOGRAD, Associated Press, JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press
Updated 02:03 p.m., Monday, July 18, 2011
LONDON (AP) — Britain's tabloid phone hacking scandal walloped the London police force Monday, as the rapid-fire resignations of two top officers were followed by claims of possible illegal eavesdropping, bribery and collusion. U.K officials immediately vowed to investigate.
Prime Minister David Cameron, feeling the political heat from his own close ties to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. media empire, cut short his trip to Africa and called an emergency session of Parliament for Wednesday so he could address lawmakers on the scandal.
The crisis has triggered upheaval in the upper ranks of Britain's police. Monday's resignation of Assistant Commissioner John Yates — Scotland Yard's top anti-terrorist officer — followed that Sunday of police chief Paul Stephenson — both for links to an arrested former executive from Murdoch's shuttered News of the World tabloid.
The high-profile resignations came on the eve of a highly anticipated televised public grilling of Murdoch and his son James by U.K. lawmakers.
The scandal over Murdoch journalists hacking into cell phones for scoops and paying police for information has taken down top police and media figures with breathtaking speed and knocked billions off the value of Murdoch's News Corp. The media baron was already forced to shut down the 168-year-old News of the World tabloid, accept the resignations of top deputies in Britain and the U.S. and abandon his dream of taking full control of a lucrative satellite broadcaster, British Sky Broadcasting.
Britain's police watchdog on Monday said it had received allegations of potential wrongdoing in connection with phone hacking against four senior officers — Stephenson, Yates and two former senior officers. One of the claims is that Yates inappropriately helped get a job for the daughter of former News of the World editor, Neil Wallis, one of 10 people arrested in the scandal.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission said it was looking into the claims.
Yates insisted he had done nothing wrong. "I have acted with complete integrity," he said. "My conscience is clear."
But the government quickly announced an inquiry into police-media relations and corruption.
"Who polices the police?" asked Home Secretary Theresa May as she announced an inquiry into "instances of undue influence, inappropriate contractual arrangements and other abuses of power in police relationships with the media and other parties."
As more details emerged about ties between senior police and News Corp. figures, London's police force is under intense pressure to explain why its original hacking investigation failed to find evidence to prosecute anyone other than a single reporter and a private investigator.
Yates was the official who decided two years ago not to reopen police inquiries into phone hacking and police bribery by tabloid journalists, saying he did not believe there was any new evidence to consider.
Detectives reopened the investigation earlier this year and now say they have the names of 3,700 potential hacking targets — celebrities, politicians, other journalists and even murder victims.
Cameron is under heavy pressure after the resignations of Stephenson and Yates, and Sunday's arrest of Murdoch executive Rebekah Brooks — a friend and neighbor whom he has met with at least six times since entering office 14 months ago.
Brooks was arrested on suspicion of hacking into the cell phones of celebrities, politicians and others in the news and bribing police for information to fuel sensational scoops for her gossipy tabloids.
Cameron's critics grew louder in London as the prime minister visited South Africa on a two-day visit to the continent. The trip was already cut in half by the crisis and Cameron trimmed another seven hours from his itinerary as his government faced growing questions about its cozy relationship with the Murdoch empire.
Read more: http://www.newstimes.com/business/article/London-police-feel-the-heat-in-UK-hacking-scandal-1469684.php#ixzz1STvVYbJS
Here is what has been posted as the apology for the scandal...official apology letter from Rupert Murdoch.
What do you think of Rupert Murdoch, his power, and this scandal? Please
comment. Thanks for reading!
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By Kevin Murphy
KANSAS CITY, Kan., May 25 (Reuters) - Republican Kansas Governor Sam Brownback signed a bill aimed at keeping state courts and agencies from using Islamic or other non-U.S. laws when making decisions, his office said on Friday, drawing criticism from a national Muslim group.
The law has been dubbed the "sharia bill" because critics say it targets the Islamic legal code. Sharia, or Islamic law, covers all aspects of Muslim life, including religious obligations and financial dealings. Opponents of state bans say they could nullify wills or legal contracts between Muslims.
Supporters said the law will reassure foreigners in Kansas that state laws and the U.S. Constitution would protect them. Opponents said it singled out Muslims for ridicule and was unnecessary because American laws prevail on U.S. soil.
Sherriene Jones-Sontag, a spokeswoman for the governor, said in an e-mail that the bill "makes it clear that Kansas courts will rely exclusively on the laws of our state and our nation when deciding cases and will not consider the laws of foreign jurisdictions."
Legislators supporting the bill said there were many cases around the country where judges or state agencies cited sharia law in deciding cases, especially involving divorce-related custody and property matters where Islamic code differs from U.S. law.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington denounced the Kansas law and said it is considering legal action.
About 20 states have considered similar legislation but the Kansas law is the only one signed in recent weeks, council spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said.
"It's unfortunate the governor chose to pander to the growing Islam-phobia in our society that has led to introduction of similar unconstitutional and un-American legislation in dozens of state legislatures," Hooper said.
Hooper said legislators have often referred to sharia law in supporting such legislation, but he said they take the word out of the bill to stave off legal challenges. The Kansas bill does not mention sharia.
Federal courts struck down an Oklahoma law voters approved in 2010 that barred state judges from considering sharia law in making decisions. The court called the law discriminatory. (Editing by Greg McCune and Stacey Joyce)
Scrubbing the Internet and gagging clerics will not eradicate the anger felt by Muslims when they witness the outcome of US and American wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere on their TV screens. That anger is justifiable; the way that a few — like the 7/7 London transport bombers, the Boston bombers and the two men who boasted about carving up a British soldier — unleash their fury on innocents, who have no say over their government’s actions, is cowardly and abhorrent. Moreover, they’re no warriors for Islam when the faith explicitly states that killing one innocent is akin to slaying all of humanity.
Leaders of Muslim communities in the UK have loudly condemned the barbaric incident but law-abiding British Muslims are suffering a backlash from right-wing groups, such as the British National Party (BNP) and the English Defense League (EDL), which have organized marches to ignite Islamophobic sentiment. The leader of the BNP says mass immigration is to be blamed and the perpetrators should be shot again and wrapped in pigskin. The EDL announced the movement is “at war” with Islamic extremism. British Muslims are being targeted by balaclava-wearing Nazi-leaning fascists. In recent days, mosques have come under attack or daubed with racist graffiti. Muslims are being spat at or threatened in the streets; women’s head scarves are being pulled off their heads by passersby. In short, Muslims in Britain are living in fear through no fault of their own.
However, British authorities don’t have clean hands either. The real scandal is that one of the perpetrators Michael Adebolajo, the son of Nigerian Christian immigrants, was known to UK anti-terror units three years prior to the attack after his arrest in Kenya when he was suspected of participating in an Al-Qaeda inspired plot. Upon his return to the UK, his family and friends say MI5 pressured him to infiltrate extremist groups and spy on Muslim scholars, which he allegedly refused to do. Likewise the dead Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarvaev was added to a CIA watch list following a tip-off from Moscow, 18 months before his home-made bomb exploded at the marathon’s finishing line.
History confirms that both the UK and the US have on occasion worked closely with Islamists and jihadists since the 1950s on the basis of as long as they’re “our terrorists” they’re good fellows. There are numerous examples dating back to the era of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser who swayed toward the Soviet Union.
In his memoir “The Game of Nations: The Amorality of Power Politics,” US intelligence veteran Col. W. Patrick Lang describes how the CIA sought to undermine Nasser’s popularity and nationalist spirit by seeking out “a religious spellbinder” on the lines of Egypt’s answer to Billy Graham. The CIA’s man in Cairo, Miles Copeland, came across the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and worked with the organization to topple the Egyptian leader, albeit unsuccessfully. Robert Baer writes in his book “Sleeping with the Devil” that the CIA funneled support to the MB because of “the Brotherhood’s commendable ability to overthrow Nasser.”
It won’t be news to you that the CIA was instrumental in the coup that rid Iran of its democratically-elected Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh and worked to overthrow the Shah. But you may not realize that the CIA and Britain’s MI6 actively promoted the Ayatollah Khomeini to the extent that prior to his return from exile in France, the Iranians dubbed the BBC “The Ayatollah BBC.”
Fast forwarding to the Soviet occupation in Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda’s main training base “Bayt Al-Ansar” was founded with the assistance of the CIA chief in Peshawar at a time when the US manipulated religious belief to attract anti-Soviet jihadists to fight against communism. Under the umbrella of NSDD 166, the US took part in the radicalization of Afghan schoolchildren, encouraging them to join the anti-Soviet resistance with textbooks promoting jihad and featuring violent images.
Michel Chossudovsky, a Canadian professor and author, wrote, “Advertisements paid for from CIA funds, were placed in newspapers and newsletters around the world offering inducements and motivations to join the Jihad.” “Under the Reagan administration, US foreign policy evolved toward the unconditional support and endorsement of the Islamic “freedom fighters,” he writes, adding, “In today’s world, the ‘freedom fighters’ are labeled “Islamic terrorists.”
The CIA has also supported “freedom fighters” considered terrorists in Russia. Author John Laughland wrote that “the leading group which pleads the Chechan cause is the American Committee for Peace in Chechnya” with “the list of the self-styled “distinguished Americans” who are its members is a roll call of the most prominent neoconservatives who so enthusiastically support the “war on terror.”
Award-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh describes in the New Yorker under the heading “Our men in Iran” how US “Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) conducted training, beginning in 2005, for members of the Mujahideen-e-Khalq, a dissident Iranian group known in the West as the M.E.K.” which has been linked to the assassination of six American citizens and is listed by the State Department as a terrorist organization. Hersh alleges that members of the M.E.K. trained in Nevada but that program ended when Obama took office.
Some of the most explosive revelations come from former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds. In her book “Classified Woman” published last year, she accuses US government officials of collaborating with Al-Qaeda. During interviews she asserted that Al-Qaeda chief Ayman Al-Zawahri regularly met with US intelligence officials between 1997 and 2001. Sunday Times journalists wishing to remain anonymous allege a four-part series on this topic, scheduled to run in 2008, was dropped under pressure from “interest groups” associated with the US State Department.
It’s clear to me that the Islamic faith has been used and abused by Western intelligence agencies to suit their nation’s geopolitical agendas, nations that are almost as much to blame for terrorism acts, carried out by young and impressionable dupes, as those who light the fuse. Politicians, diplomats and spooks, who helped give birth to this Frankensteinian monster we call terrorism, can hardly complain when the creature turns on its master to wreak death and destruction wherever it goes.