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Terrorists "R" Us
Terrorists "R" Us
by Stephen Lendman
State-sponsored terrorism defines US policy. Doublespeak duplicity conceals it. Doublethink manipulates public opinion to ignore inconvenient truths.
Howard Zinn once asked: "How can you make war on terrorism if war is terrorism?" Waging war on terrorism "gives government a perpetual war and a perpetual atmosphere of repression."
Targeting Iran
Targeting Iran
by Stephen Lendman
Hostile US/Israeli rhetoric is longstanding. Obama and Netanyahu consider Iran an existential threat. Claiming it turns truth on its head.
Syria News Apr 23
Syrian Army Surrounds Strategic Town of Qusayr - Al Akhbar English
Assad says Qusayr now 'main battle': Lebanon ex-MP - AFP
New Syrian border front line opens up between rebels and Hezbollah - The Times
Watchdog: Hezbollah leads fight in Syria’s Qusayr - Alarabiya.net English
Hezbollah Says Rebel Threat Creates a ‘Moral’ Duty to Defend Lebanese in Syria - Bloomberg
Two armed Hizballah brigades fighting for Assad near Homs - DEBKAfile
Hezbollah declares war on Syrian people, SNC chief says - Alarabiya.net English
FSA offers truce to Hezbollah - NOW
In Jordan, tensions rise between Syrian refugees and host community - The Washington Post
Iraq makes contingency plans for Syria dam collapse - NOW
Arab League rejects UN chief's call to end Syria arms supplies - AFP
VIDEO: Al-Manar Camera in al-Qusayr Shoots Syrian Army Progress - Al- Manar
VIDEO: FSA firing their missiles into Lebanon - YouTube
VIDEO: Lebanese Sheikh Assir urging people to join the fight in Syria against the regime - YouTube
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Syria War: Hundreds Feared Dead In Damascus Fighting - huffingtonpost.com
The Syrian army gives a very different account of the killings in Damascus - guardian.co.uk
Syria says two Aleppo bishops kidnapped by rebels - Yahoo!7
In Syria, kidnappings on the rise as lawlessness spreads - The Washington Post
Syria opposition entrusts Sabra as interim leader until elections - Middle East Online
Syrian rebels seek control over oilfields - FT.com
Syrian rebel oil sales at least a month off - Yahoo! News
VIDEO: Chechen Terrorists Kidnap Civilians in Aleppo - English Subtitles - LiveLeak.com
VIDEO: Jabhat al-Nusra now dispersing protestors with machine gun fire - YouTube
To contact Bartolo email peaceloversingle@gmail.com
Boston Bombing Suspect Charged
Boston Bombing Suspect Charged
by Stephen Lendman
Unequivocal, verifiable evidence is absent. Reports are largely hearsay. Some later contradict earlier ones. Dzhokkar Tsarnaev faces unsubstantiated charges. America operates that way.
Authorities claim both brothers used pressure cookers packed with metal and ball bearings rigged to explode. How they fit in their back packs wasn't explained. Ones they wore weren't large enough.
Something's Rotten in Boston: Who'se investigating the FBI investigators?
By Dave Lindorff
I’m not a conspiracy-minded person, but something definitely stinks about this whole Boston Marathon bombing story.
Time for a Department of Peace
By David Swanson
I'm honored to have accepted the position of Secretary of Peace in the newly formed Green Shadow Cabinet. Of course, I cannot contrast my positions with those of the actual Secretary of Peace, as the United States has no such position.
There is a Secretary of War, although that title was changed to Secretary of Defense 66 years ago. It was changed the same year George Orwell wrote his masterpiece, 1984, in which he suggested that language is sometimes used as a disguise. In fact, ever since the War Department became the Defense Department, its business has had less than ever to do with defense and more than ever to do with promoting the use of war-making as an instrument of national policy. President Dwight Eisenhower observed and warned of this worsening situation 52 years ago in one of the most prescient but least heeded (even by Eisenhower) warnings since Cassandra told the Trojans to be wary of giant horses.
There is a Secretary of State, but the State Department has come to work arm-in-arm with the Defense Department, marketing weaponry to foreign governments, building coalitions for wars, imposing deadly sanctions as preludes to wars, presenting bogus arguments for wars at the United Nations, and holding the world's governments accountable for human rights abuses based less on the extent of the abuses than on the governments' relationships with the Pentagon. Saudi Arabia and Bahrain and Israel don't have greater civil liberties and popular democratic rule than Iran; the State Department just acts as if they do.
Our entire government claims to be for peace, but it has become common to state one's support for peace, and then qualify it with the assurance that one is not against any wars. This is usually meant to convey understanding or affection for members of the U.S. military. But you can respect people while condemning what they do. If our understanding and affection are broadened to include Afghans and Pakistanis and Yemenis, then we are obliged to oppose what the War Department is doing to them. Supporting "peace on earth" in December, or peace in our hearts, or peace through war is not enough. We need to be working for peace -- the absence of war -- year round.
We invest roughly a trillion dollars in war preparations every year, roughly half of federal discretionary spending, roughly half of world military spending. With no credible enemy in sight, and with no beneficial war observable in our history, great quantities of fear-mongering and much beautification of history are required to get us to tolerate this. The Pentagon is investing $65 million of our money in a Vietnam Commemoration Project aimed at making that war look less horrible than it was.
A University of Massachusetts study found that investment in education or infrastructure or green energy or even in tax cuts for working people produces significantly more jobs than does the same investment in the military. As tiny and much-exaggerated cuts to the military may soon actually materialize, we should take the opportunity to begin a conversion process. We can retool and retrain and convert from a war industry to a peace industry without anyone having to suffer in the process, and with money to spare.
And if we take away the idea of justifiable killing in war, and if we continue to eliminate the death penalty from additional states, we may begin to move our culture in a direction that helps bring our epidemic of violence at home under control as well. That could be a project for a Department of Peace. It's not that some other department couldn't do it. But thus far, none is.
David Swanson's books include "War Is A Lie." He blogs at http://davidswanson.org andhttp://warisacrime.org and works for http://rootsaction.org. He hosts Talk Nation Radio. Follow him on Twitter:@davidcnswanson and FaceBook.
| David Swanson | Secretary of Peace | Foreign Affairs |
| Leah Bolger | Secretary of Defense | Foreign Affairs |
| Ann Wright | Secretary of State | Foreign Affairs |
| Harvey Wasserman | Secretary of Energy | Ecology |
| Bruce Gagnon | Secretary of Space | Ecology |
| George Paz Martin | Peace Ambassador | Foreign Affairs |
| David McReynolds | Peace Advisor to the President | Foreign Affairs |
| Daniel Shea | Veteran's Affairs: Chemical Exposure | General Welfare |
America's War on Islam 2.0
America's War on Islam 2.0
by Stephen Lendman
Waging war at home or abroad requires enemies. America creates them when none exist. Imperial strategy demands them.
Post-9/11, Muslims were targeted for political advantage. Post-Boston bombings, America's war on Islam continues.
Hagel in Israel
Hagel in Israel
by Stephen Lendman
On April 20, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel began a weeklong Middle East trip.
Planned stops include Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Republic (UAE).
Syria News Apr 22
Kerry announces $123M in more nonlethal aid to Syrian rebels - Fox News
VIDEO: Kerry: Aid Boost for Syria Opposition - YouTube
Kerry: 11 Nations to Direct Syria Aid Through FSA General - VOA
Syria: Fabius-Hague letter on lifting arms embargo - Brussels blog
Syrian opposition coalition says rejects ''all forms of terrorism'' - Reuters
Syria opposition chief re-files resignation, coalition member says - ArabNews
Lavrov slams Friends of Syria, lays bare differences with Turkey - todayszaman
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Syria army closes in on Qusayr near Lebanon, provides Hezbollah aerial shield - AFP
Syrian rebels intensify rocket attacks into Lebanon - Yahoo! News
Troops storm flashpoint town near Damascus, NGO says - NOW
Syrian Pro-Government Hackers Take Their Fight to CBS '60 MINUTES" and Twitter - AllThingsD
Jordan Arrests 8 Syrian Refugees in Troubled Camp - ABC News
Jordan creates obstacle for Syrian refugees trying to return home: official - PressTV
VIDEO: Jordanian security forces attack Zaatari refugee camp - LiveLeak.com
VIDEO: Syrian Rebel Confesses to Receiving Military Training in Jordan - LiveLeak.com
VIDEO: Message from the Taliban in Syria: We Shall Fight the Nations of Infidelity - YouTube
VIDEO: Chechenyan in Syria threatening to behead civilians - LiveLeak.com
To contact Bartolo email peaceloversingle@gmail.com
Boston offers grim preview of coming attractions: Police State on Display
By Dave Lindorff
The Boston Marathon bombing has already demonstrated the best and the worst of America for all the world to see.
Guantanamo + Silence = Death Camp
by Debra Sweet Does visible resistance against Guantánamo still matter? Jill McLaughlin, member of the World Can't Wait Steering Committee says yes emphically.
TSA’s Pistole on invasive patdowns and nude scanners
An admirably persistent reporter from WeAreChange.org (not mainstream media, of course) questioned TSA Administrator John Pistole the other day about the strip-search scanners and his euphemistically termed “enhanced patdowns.” Pistole is his usual weaselly self, dancing around questions, faux-caring, and lying. Here's the video.
Anatomy of a False Flag
Anatomy of a False Flag
by Stephen Lendman
False flags are an American tradition. They go way back. The Boston bombings appear the latest. More on that below.
Notable earlier false flags or incidents approximating them include:
Venezuela's Maduro Inaugurated
Venezuela's Maduro Inaugurated
by Stephen Lendman
Latin American and other heads of state attended Maduro's inaugural ceremony. Earlier he accused opposition forces of triggering post-election violence.
"We have stopped a coup in its first stage," he said. "They are beaten, but they are coming back with a new attack." On Thursday, he flew to Lima.
Obama DOJ interviewed Boston bomber in 2011 at urging of Russian government
Originally posted at:
http://digitaljournal.com/article/348470
Syria News Apr 21
Deep divisions seen among backers of Syrian rebels on who to aid, and how - The Washington Post
Syria opposition must distance itself from terrorists: Germany - Reuters
EU to discuss Syria arms embargo in coming weeks: UK's Hague - chicagotribune.com
Davutoğlu: Turkey will not discuss future of Syria with Israel - todayszaman
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Syria battles rage near Lebanon border, seized Radwaniyeh village near rebel-held Qusayr - AFP
Dozens, many of them rebels, killed in battle near Damascus - AFP
Six Jabhat al-Nusra affiliated Iraqis arrested on Syrian border - Al-Shorfa
Syria Prevents Trucks from Heading to Lebanon via Abboudiyeh Crossing - Naharnet
Lebanon to complain to AL about Syria militants - PressTV
Lebanese Villagers Discover Al-Qaeda Field Hospital - SyriaNews
Report: Hizbullah Fighter Killed in Clashes in Syria — Naharnet
Tensions High After Riot at Syrian Refugee Camp in Jordan - NYTimes.com
Jordan in the Eye of the Syrian Storm - Al Akhbar English
Syrian Rebel Confesses to Receiving Military Training in Jordan- SANA, Syria
VIDEO: Wahhabi Rebels Wipe Out Christian Church in Deir Ezzor, Syria - YouTube
VIDEO: Lebanese Talk Show Exposes the Selling of Underage Syrian Girls - LiveLeak.com
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The birth of Chechen Muslim radicals - CBS News
Saudi Money, Saudi Preachers In Chechnya, And The Boston Echo - New English Review
Chechen commander forms 'Army of Emigrants,' integrates Syrian groups (VIDEO) - The Long War Journal
To contact Bartolo email peaceloversingle@gmail.com
"The Afghanistan Marathon" by Dennis Serdel
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| Photo source: Huffington Post / "Afghanistan: NATO Air Strike Kills 11 Children" April 8, 2013 The following poem was written by Dennis Serdel, Vietnam 1967-68 (one tour) Light Infantry, Americal Div. 11th Brigade, Purple Heart; United Auto Workers GM Retiree. It is re-published here with his permission. I added the graphics.
Afghanistan Marathon
It is the Afghanistan Marathon
Runners Race beginning in Lashkar
Gah in Helmand Province
& ending In Kabul so the US
Dictator Stooge Karzai could crown
the Winners.
The first bunch to take off
were Afghanistan Civilians, then off
went the Afghanistan Fake Soldiers,
coming up behind them were
the Taliban with all kinds of weapons,
then after that, the American Soldiers
were bringing up the rear.
The air & the road was so Hot
that Human Beings handed out
Water in cups to the Runners.
Half way in the Marathon
the Taliban set up IED's
in the pressure cooker race
& took off some of the American Soldier's
legs, killed three & wounded
more, they had to be choppered
out to the hospital & it really made
the US Top Brass mad
because they had bets on which
Army Unit would win,
So they sent two drones to cripple
the Taliban & it worked as the US
Soldiers passed the Taliban,
Arms, Legs lay everywhere.
The Afghanistan Fake Soldiers
began shooting the American Soldiers
until the US Air Force took some of them
out as the Rest tore off their Uniforms
& Ran & Escaped back to their War Lords,
Who were Not happy, because they
had bets on the Winners too.
Three quarters of the way,
the American Soldiers set up an ambush
& killed & crippled the
rest of the Taliban
but the damn Civilians who started
out First, were getting Closer & Closer
to the Finish Line
So at the last minute, the US Air Force
sent so many drones in
that they killed all the Civilians,
arms, legs, heads cut off
lay everywhere
& the Winners were the US Mountain
Infantry who found it easy to run
at Sea Level where the air was thick
but the bastard Karzai
said they cheated & would Not
make them the Winners & would Not
give them their Trophies
But he gave them to the few remaining
Taliban Patriots on the long bloody road
& Kept the Winners Money that
the Americans gave him for Himself
instead of the Winners.
The American Brass
were so mad, that they sent a 100 drones
out to kill any Afghanistans who were
at Funerals in the next few days
burying their Dead & then they'll bury more.
This Long Afghanistan Marathon War
has killed so many Afghanistan Children
Mothers, Fathers, GrandFathers / Mothers
for All these years, they can only Estimate
how many Died, it's in many thousands.
But at least we know
how many, American Soldiers
have been killed so far,
it's a Marathon,
an Afghanistan War Marathon
supposed to end next year
or the year after that,
no one seems to know
where the Finish Line is.
Written by Human Being Dennis Serdel for Military Resistance
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Boston Black Ops: Manufacturing Terror
Boston Black Ops: Manufacturing Terror
by Stephen Lendman
Mounting evidence suggests state-sponsored terrorism. Expect more later to confirm it. Cui bono matters most. Powerful interests benefit hugely. Ordinary people lose out.
The Bloom Is Off Gold
The Bloom Is Off Gold
by Stephen Lendman
It is for now. Don't bet against it longer term. Value eventually wins out. Gold's secular bull market continues. Experts believe it has a long way to go.
Market manipulation bears full responsibility for recent market action. A previous article explained. It called gold a global thermometer. It reflects monetary, geopolitical and economic conditions. It's driven by supply and demand considerations.
Syria News Apr 20
U.S. defense official: No Patriot missiles to Jordan-Syria border - Foreign Policy
Jordan Considers Creating Buffer Zone in Daraa - Al-Monitor
More than 100 US Soldiers Deploying To Jordan From Fort Bliss Amid Conflict In Syria - KPBS.org
10 Jordanian police injured in a riot at Syrian refugee camp- The Seattle Times
Northern Storm Brigade: Positive Breakthrough in Lebanese Abductees Case within 10 Days - Naharnet
Hezbollah Wary of Deeper Intervention in Syria - The Majalla Magazine
Encroaching Syrian Conflict Pits Hezbollah Against Jabhat al-Nusra - Al-Monitor
Israel 'set to hit Syria rebels over arms' - Big News Network
Belgium vs. Islamic Jihadists - Gatestone Institute
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Boston Marathon suspects Chechen Islamic terrorists, their videos feature Bin Laden, call to kill Americans, Jews, Christians and establish a world-wide caliphate - Fox News
Jabhat al-Nusra's rise in Syria: testimonies from inside - Al-Shorfa
Free Syrian Army denies connection with al-Nusra Front - hurriyetdailynews.com
Assailants Gun Down Official of Syria’s Relief Agency - NYTimes.com
Damascus Maintains Military Advantage, Inner Circle Cohesive: US official - almanar.com
Report: 4000 Militants Killed in Three Weeks in Syria - almanar.com
Syria shoots down balloon carrying US-made spying devices near Idlib - Siasat
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Syria: Old Franciscan church destroyed - Independent Catholic News
Syria: Qamishli’s Kurds Fight Two Enemies at Once - Al Akhbar English
VIDEO: Armenians face few options in Syria - YouTube
To contact Bartolo email peaceloversingle@gmail.com
Two scenes of terror this week, only one terrorism investigation: The Real Terrorists are the Corporate Execs Who’ve Bought the
By Dave Lindorff
The way I see it, we had two acts of terrorism in the US this week. The first took place at the end of the historic Boston Marathon, when two bombs went off near the finish line, killing three and seriously injuring dozens of runners and spectators. The second happened a couple days later in the town of West, Texas, where a fertilizer plant blew up, incinerating or otherwise killing at least 15, and injuring at least 150 people, and probably more as the search for the dead and the injured continues.
Bush and Obama: Dangerous Narcissists
Bush and Obama: Dangerous Narcissists
by Stephen Lendman
Canadian psychiatrist Robert Hare analyzes psychopathic behavior. He does so clinically. He believes about 1% of the general population is insane. So are 10% of Wall Street employees, he says.
Palestinian Prisoners Day
Palestinian Prisoners Day
by Stephen Lendman
On April 17, Palestinians commemorate Prisoners Day. They do so annually. They've done it since 1979. It marks Mahmoud Hijazi's release. Israel freed him in its first ever prisoner swap.
Getting involved versus Calls For Vengeance Citizen First-Responders: Models For Responsible Democracy
By John Grant
I write a lot of critical things about militarism, our unnecessary wars and our growing surveillance/police state. So it was heartwarming to watch the videos and listen to the stories from the Boston Marathon bombing about civilian “first-responders” who chose not to flee but to wade into a very messy situation.
Syria News Apr 19
VIDEO: Three Alawite soldiers being tortured by rebels in Homs province - YouTube
Syrian rebels sometimes bring strife to villages - usatoday.com
Syria's Christian Minority Lives in Fear of Kidnapping and Street Battles - The Atlantic
Islamist Ultimatum to Syrian Christians: Convert, Leave, or Die - aina.org
Protests over abducted Shiites in Syria target Turkish offices in Lebanon - NOW
Syrian opposition to establish moderate form of Islamic law - The National
VIDEO: FSA group leader interview - LiveLeak.com
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France, Britain claim Syria used chemical weapons - The Times of India
U.S. Probes Suspicions Syria Used Chemical Weapons - WSJ.com
Saudi Arabia and Qatar Vie For Influence in Syria - Al-Monitor
Kuwait makes good on $300 mn pledge for Syria aid - AFP
To contact Bartolo email peaceloversingle@gmail.com
Vile, Filthy, Bloody, Dirty Wars
Jeremy Scahill, author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, has a new book that should be required reading for Congress members, journalists, war supporters, war opponents, Americans, non-Americans -- really, pretty much everybody. The new book is called Dirty Wars: The World Is a Battlefield.
Of course, Scahill is not suggesting that the world should be a battlefield. He's reporting on how the Bush and Obama White Houses have defined and treated it as such.
The phrase "dirty wars" is a little less clear in meaning. Scahill is a reporter whose chronological narrative is gripping and revealing but virtually commentary-free. Any observations on the facts related tend to come in the form of quotations from experts and those involved. So, there isn't anywhere in the book that explicitly explains what a dirty war is.
The focus of the book is on operations that were once more secretive than they are today: kidnapping, rendition, secret-imprisonment, torture, and assassination. "This is a story," reads the first sentence of the book, "about how the United States came to embrace assassination as a central part of its national security policy." It's a story about special, elite, and mercenary forces operating under even less Congressional or public oversight than the rest of the U.S. military, a story about the Joint Special Operations Command and the CIA, and not about the "shock and awe" bombing of Baghdad or the activities of tens of thousands of soldiers occupying Iraq or Afghanistan.
The type of war recounted is variously identified in the book as dirty, dark, black, dark-side, small, covert, black-ops, asymmetric, secret, twilight, and -- in quotation marks -- "smart." At one point, Scahill describes the White House, along with General Stanley McChrystal, as beginning to "apply its emerging global kill list doctrine inside Afghanistan, buried within the larger, public war involving conventional U.S. forces." But part of Scahill's story is how, in recent years, something that had been considered special, secretive, and relatively unimportant has come to occupy the focus of the U.S. military. In the process, it has lost some of its stigma as well as its secretiveness. Scahill refers to some operations as "not so covert." It's hard to hide a drone war that is killing people by the thousands. Secret death squad night raids that are bragged about in front of the White House Press Corps are not so secret.
Join Me at Great Events in DC, Dallas, Syracuse, Asheville
I'll be speaking at these events and hope to see you there:
April 20 Washington, DC, Nation Magazine Discussion Group on Iraq 3-5:30 at 3310 Connecticut Ave.
April 25 Dallas TX
April 27 Syracuse NY
Stopping the Billionaires, the Bombers, and the War Machine--an interview with David Swanson
By T. Forsyth, Rochester Indymedia
On April 11, 2013, Rochester Indymedia interviewed anti-war organizer, journalist, and blogger David Swanson who will be going to Syracuse, NY on April 26-28th for the “Resisting Drones, Global War and Empire" convergence. (See the FaceBook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/540569232649914/?ref=22.) David runs the website David Swanson dot org and writes, in a coalition effort, on War Is A Crime dot org. Currently, he works for Roots Action dot org and Veterans For Peace.
In this interview, David talks about his entry into the peace movement, the abolition of war, the sequester, and North Korea, among other topics.
Either we're gonna stop investing in billionaires, bombers, and the war machine, and start investing in people or we're headed for absolute disaster, be it climate disaster, nuclear disaster, or other military and economic and environmental collapse. We have to change course.
Watch now!
For more about the upcoming, anti-drone "Resisting Drones, Global War and Empire" convergence in Syracuse, NY, please go to Upstate Drone Action dot org.