Chechens To Be Next “Al-CIA-da”—Major Propaganda Offensive Underway from Helmand, Afghanistan To Moscow

Taliban Horde

[Here we have a joint psyop, carried-out by unidentified international elements, with the clear intention of painting "Chechnya/Caucasus" as the next "Al-Qaeda" outpost.  In Moscow, the Russian FSB claimed to have disrupted a Chechen terror plot by individuals who had recently arrived from the "Afghan-Pakistan region," where they had allegedly trained for this plot.  On the same day, in Afghanistan's Helmand Province, another bit of psychological warfare concerning itinerent Chechens was delivered to the unsuspecting American masses and to the general world audience. 

According to an Helmand Provincial spokesman and an alleged "Taliban spokesman" (some unknown quantity named Qari Yusuf Ahmadi who is the favorite pseudo-Taliban "spokesman" for Al-Jazeera and CNN.), while the attacks were unfolding in Russia, Helmand was allegedly, simultaneously, being overrun by "1,000 attackers," many of which were reported as Chechens and Arabs (i.e., "Al-CIA-da"). Two unrelated attacks in one day, both of which accentuated the dangers of Chechen "Al-Qaeda."  What are the odds of that?  A billion to one?

American and ISAF spokesmen are squirming on their hotseats, trying to disavow knowledge of any Taliban offensive, claiming that any attack that size would have automatically generated a call for air support.  Coalition spokesman Col. Thomas Collins described the incident as--

"Ten groups of between 8 and 10 Taliban fighters...doing drive-by shootings against five police checkpoints."---Coalition Plays Down Afghan Reports of Major Battle in Helmand

All of this circumstantial evidence that "Chechens are the new Al-Qaeda" comes after America has suddenly been sensitized to the Chechen danger because of the Boston bombing, which allegedly implicated Russian immigrants, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev.  Not yet fully understanding the purpose of this latest psyop tangent, we must throw into the mix the arrest and deportation of the alleged CIA spy, Ryan Fogle, who was reportedly trying to bribe FSB specialists on the region, hoping to turn them into CIA moles.

Coincidence?   The dangerous, imaginary connections linking militant training camps in FATA, Chechen terrorists, Russia and the Marathon bombing suddenly popping-up as Obama is desperately looking to Central Asia, trying to find a reason to make it the next major conflict zone for his perpetual war. 

This is Obama, Putin, Karzai and the Taliban all working together, as one unit. 

Watch Putin to see how all of this is going to play-out.]

Pakistani and Chechen rebels attack police check post in Helmand

By Mirwais Adeel

At least 23 Taliban militants including Pakistani and Chechen fighters were killed after attacking a police check post in southern Helmand province of Afghanistan.

Local officials in Helmand province said the incident took place in Sangin district, leaving four Afghan police officers dead.

Provincial governor spokesman Omar Zwak said the attack was carried out jointly by Pakistani and Chechen militants.

He said clashes started late Monday and the two sides are still exchanging fire.

In the meantime Taliban militants group claimed around 10 police officers along with thier commander were killed.

This comes as Afghan defense ministry on Monday announced that hundreds of Pakistani and foreign militants were deployed to Afghanistan to carry out attacks in Afghanistan.

Defense ministry spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi said several religious Madrasas teaching Taliban militants were closed and the fighters were deployed in Afghanistan.

Follow Khaama Press (KP)

Fat Pig of Qatar Slams American Failure To Finish the War He Started In Syria

[[How is it that this piece of shit can conduct his own international foreign policy, employing the very terrorists that we are fighting a perpetual war against?]

Qatar emir slams ‘international inaction’ over Syria

The international community’s inaction on Syria is “no longer acceptable,” Qatari emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, said.

• 

AFP, Doha -

The emir of Qatar, a strong supporter of the Syrian rebels, on Monday slammed what he called inaction by the international community over the conflict there, lamenting the failure to reach a political solution.

“It is no longer acceptable that influential states in the international community do not act to end the horrific tragedy and escalating humanitarian catastrophe” in Syria, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani told the Doha Forum.

He appeared to allude to Western countries, which have failed to agree to arm Syrian rebels, as the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime entered its third year in March.

Activists say more than 94,000 people have been killed.

He said that those countries, which he did not name, “want to decide themselves who should be the defender of the Syrian people,” in an apparent reference to concerns about the presence of radical Islamists among Syrian rebels.

Sheikh Hamad lamented the “failure of all international and Arab initiatives to get the Syrian regime to listen to the sound of reason.”

He expressed “sorrow at seeing the revolution of the Syrian people enter its third year without the clear perspective of an end to the bloodshed… because of the regime’s insistence on a military solution.”

The United States and Russia, a strong Assad ally, have proposed a peace conference for June, bringing together representatives of the regime and its opponents, with the aim of reaching a political solution.

TODAY’S SCORE IN IRAQ: Shiites 61, Sunnis 18

[Was this Bush's intention for Iraq, to turn the entire country into some macabre, midieval "Ball Game," where the daily score is kept in lost human lives?  It clearly WAS the intention of American Special Forces, to create a permanent state of civil war within Iraq, with the false flag demolition of the golden dome in Samarra.  This is what happened when we followed Cheney into "the Dark Side."  We sat idly by, while his evil little minions weaponized religion itself and used it against the Muslim people of the entire world, NOT just in Iraq.  This puts us right up there with the Nazi Germans of the previous global war of ambition.   Face It....WE are evil.]

Wave of attacks hits Shiite and Sunni areas of Iraq, killing at least 79 people

Associated Press |

Baghdad: A wave of attacks killed at least 79 people in Shiite and Sunni areas of Iraq on Monday, officials said, pushing the death toll over the past week to more than 200 and extending one of the most sustained bouts of sectarian violence the country has seen in years.

The bloodshed is still far shy of the pace, scale and brutality of the dark days of 2006-2007, when Sunni and Shiite militias carried out retaliatory attacks against each other in a cycle of violence that left the country awash in blood. Still, Monday’s attacks, some of which hit markets and crowded bus stops during the morning rush hour, have heightened fears that the country could be turning back down the path toward civil war.

Sectarian tensions have been worsening since Iraq’s minority Sunnis began protesting what they say is mistreatment at the hands of the Shiite-led government. The mass demonstrations, which began in December, have largely been peaceful, but the number of attacks rose sharply after a deadly security crackdown on a Sunni protest camp in northern Iraq on April 23.

Iraq’s Shiite majority, which was oppressed under the late dictator Saddam Hussein, now holds the levers of power in the country. Wishing to rebuild the nation rather than revert to open warfare, they have largely restrained their militias over the past five years or so as Sunni extremist groups such as al-Qaida have targeted them with occasional large-scale attacks.

But the renewed violence in both Shiite and Sunni areas since late last month has fueled concerns of a return to sectarian warfare. Since last Wednesday alone, at least 224 people have been killed in attacks, according to an AP count.

The worst of Monday’s violence took place in Baghdad, where ten car bombs ripped through open-air markets and other areas of Shiite neighborhoods, killing at least 47 people and wounding more than 150, police officials said. In the bloodiest attack, a parked car bomb blew up in a busy market in the northern Shiite neighborhood of Shaab, killing 14 and wounding 24, police and health officials said.

The surge in bloodshed has exasperated Iraqis, who have lived for years with the fear and uncertainty bred of random violence.

“How long do we have to continue living like this, with all the lies from the government?” asked 23-year-old Baghdad resident Malik Ibrahim. “Whenever they say they have reached a solution, the bombings come back stronger than before.”

“We’re fed up with them and we can’t tolerate this anymore,” he added.

The predominantly Shiite city of Basra in southern Iraq was also hit Monday, with two car bombs there – one outside a restaurant and another at the city’s main bus station – killing at least 13 and wounded 40, according to provincial police spokesman Col. Abdul-Karim al-Zaidi and the head of city’s health directorate, Riadh Abdul-Amir.

In the town of Balad, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Baghdad, a car bomb exploded next to a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims, killing six Iranians and one Iraq and wounding nine people, a police officer said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but the fact that they all occurred in Shiite areas raised the suspicion that Sunni militants were involved. Also, Sunni insurgents, particularly al-Qaida in Iraq, are known to employ such large-scale bombings bear.

Monday’s violence also struck Sunni areas, hitting the city of Samarra north of Baghdad and the western province of Anbar, a Sunni stronghold and the birthplace of the protest movement.

A parked car bomb in Samarra went off near a gathering of pro-government Sunni militia who were waiting outside a military base to receive salaries, killing three and wounding 13, while in Anbar gunmen ambushed two police patrols near the town of Haditha, killing eight policemen, police and army officials said.

Also in Anbar, authorities found 13 dead bodies in a remote desert area, officials said. The bodies, which included eight policemen who were kidnapped by gunmen on Friday, had been killed with a gunshot to the head.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Two Car Bombs Kill 3 In Makhachkala, Dagestan

Two Consecutive Blasts Kill 3, Injure Over 40 in Dagestan

MAKHACHKALA, May 20 (RIA Novosti) – Twin blasts rocked Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, on Monday, killing three and injuring over 40 people, the republic’s Interior Ministry said.

The blasts took place about 15 minutes apart, near the Bailiff Service building, local authorities say.

No one was reported killed in the first explosion. Two policemen and one Bailiff Service employee were killed by the second blast, the Interior Ministry said.

A three-year-old child is among those reported injured, local Health Ministry officials told RIA Novosti.

“We were working as usual, at our desks. Panic broke out when we heard two explosions,” said Magomed Buttayev, who works as a press officer for the local Bailiff Service.

Earlier on Monday, the local Investigative Committee issued a statement saying that at least eight people had been killed and an as yet unknown number injured in the explosions.

The local Investigative Committee also suggested that both explosions, which are reported to have been car bombs, could have been detonated remotely.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the blasts.

An Islamist insurgency, once confined largely to the republic of Chechnya, has spread across the North Caucasus in recent years. Attacks on security forces, police and civilians are reported regularly in the neighboring republics of Dagestan, Ingushetia and Kabardino-Balkaria.

World Opinion Turning Against Saudis/Qatar/American Sponsorship of International Terrorists Within Syria

UN General Assembly Vote Reflects Shift in Syrian Public Opinion

 

by FRANKLIN LAMB

 

Homs, Syria

It’s not hard to find critics of the Assad government in the Governorate (Muhafazat) of Homs or for that matter, to varying degrees in Syria’s other thirteen Governorates according to Syrian analysts interviewed by this observer and reports from human rights groups including lawyers representing dissidents in Syria. However, after nearly 27 months of turmoil, the public opinion pendulum is markedly shifting back in support of the current regime.

One international political result was registered at the United Nations this past week when a US-Qatari-Saudi drafted General Assembly Resolution that was designed to increase pressure on the Assad government stumbled badly and fell far short of what the Saudi Ambassador to the UN and other US allies predicted would be an overwhelming vote in favor.

Effect of shift in popular opinion in Syria

Over the past four or five months it has become increasingly clear that public opinion in Syria is shifting for reasons that include, but are not limited to the following:

While inflation at the grocery stores in probably the most common complaint heard from a cross-section of society here, the population is adapting somewhat to higher prices and it appears to credit the government for efforts, some successful, to soften the impact of the illegal US-led sanctions that target this same Syrian population for purely political reasons to achieve regime change.

While Syrians demand dignity and freedom from oppressive security forces and an end to corruption, as all people do in this region and beyond, they are witnessing a return to near normalcy with respect to supplies of electricity, benzene, mazout fuel oil, bus schedules, schools, and a host of public services such as garbage collection, street sweeping, park maintenance, and sympathetic traffic cops who are rather understanding of short-cuts taken by drivers and pedestrians due to “the situation”.

In addition, public service announcement and even text messages demonstrate that the government is aware of the degree of suffering among the population, accept partial blame, and are focusing on remedial measure and crucially, ending the crisis with its horrific bloodshed. One observes here a definite trend of the pulling together of a high percentage of Syrians who share a very unique history and culture and who are deeply connected to their country and who are increasingly repelled by the continuing killing from all sides including the recent barbarisms of body mutilations and summary executions videotaped and broadcast on Utube by jihadist elements. The latter who these days come from nearly three dozen countries, paid for and indoctrinated by enemies of Syria’s Arab nationalism and deep rooted pillar of resistance to the occupation of Palestine.

In addition, many among Syria’s 23 million citizens, who initially supported the uprising following government reaction to event in Deraa in March 2011, now have serious second thoughts about who exactly would replace the current government. Events in Syria are also making plain that the army is still loyal to the Assad government, and according to Jane’s Defense Weekly, is actually gaining experience and strength as well as the well-known fact that as western diplomats are admitting, the “opposition militias” are hopelessly fractured, turning one another, many essential mafia outfits, and beginning to resemble their fellow jihadists from Libya, Chechnya and in between.

Opinion in Damascus and surrounding areas visited this past week, confirms this observers experience the past five months of a sharp and fairly rapid shift in opinion that now strongly favors letting the Syrian people themselves decide, without outside interference, whether the Assad regime will stay, and indeed, whether, the Baathist party will continue to represent majority opinion, not through wanton violence but rather via next June’s election. Many express confidence in the run up to this critical vote, noting that the election will be closely monitored by the international community to assure fairness.

Perhaps aided by the current glorious May weather, a certain optimism, that was more scarce in the past, pervades many neighborhoods.

For different reasons, foreign powers, including the USA, Turkey, European Union, the UK Jordan and even the majority population of the six Gulf Cooperation Council family run countries, according to Pew Research, are shifting their earlier positions which were based in part of the US administration, NATO, and Israeli assurances that the Assad government would surely fall quickly, “A matter of days, not weeks” US President Obama promised. That was two years ago.

As noted above, this trend has accelerated since the UN General Assembly vote with last weeks which did not go as planned on the biased and politicized non-binding draft resolution on Syria.

The public reaction in Syria and across the Middle East is substantially that the “Friends of Syria” non-binding GA resolution contradicts the reality on the ground, backs terrorism in Syria and hinders the international efforts to help achieve a political solution to the crisis in this country. Only 107 states voted in favor of the resolution, 12 against while 59 countries, mostly from Africa and Latin America, abstained from voting.

One reason the vote fell short of the 130 favorable votes that the basically same resolution garnered the past two times is that it is widely viewed as ignoring the crimes and atrocities committed by the armed jihadist groups in Syria and the flow of thousands of international terrorists backed by the West, the Gulf states and Turkey who provide them with weapons and money. According to the Russian delegate, backed by several other speakers, “the resolutions ignores all the terrorists’ heinous crimes and denounces what it called the escalation of the attacks by the Syrian government”. Afterward one Latin American Permanent Representative told Inner City Press that the count would have been below 100 if not for some “last minute arm-twisting.” As it turned out, 15 countries didn’t vote at all, opting to “get coffee,” as one African Permanent Representative put it before the vote.

Syria’s Ambassador al-Jaafari exposes a hoax in the Gulf

Syria’s permanent Envoy to the UN Bashar al-Jaafari said his country regretted the adoption of a biased and unbalanced UN resolution, thanking the countries that rejected the resolution “for their responsible positions which support the UN principles and the international law articles”. He noted that the decrease in the number of countries that voted in favor and the increase of numbers of those who abstained from voting indicates the growing international understanding of the reality of what is happening in Syria due to the foreign interference, support of terrorism, the spread of extremism and incitement besides the refusal of dialogue.

“We rely on the UN and its member states to support Syria and its people against the culture of extremism and terrorism, and to encourage the comprehensive national dialogue to peacefully resolve the Syrian crisis.” he said. In a statement released after the vote on the UN draft resolution on Syria, al-Jaafari He said that the French delegation had foiled the issuance of a number of UN press releases to condemn the terrorist acts committed by al-Qaeda-linked armed groups in Syria which claimed the lives of thousands of Syrians as it foiled a UN release to condemn the attempt of assassination of the Syrian Premier.

After Qatar’s ambassador spoke in favor of the resolution his country drafted (and re-drafted several time), Ja’afari revealed that there existed an e-mail, from the representative of the Syrian opposition given to Syria’s embassy in Qatar, showing Qatar’s involvement in the kidnapping of UN peacekeepers by the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade. He read out a phone number from the e-mail as several Gulf diplomats grimaced or scowled, and three left the Chamber.

Visibly stunned, the UK Permanent Representative Lyall Grant called the whole matter “deeply confusing”. Another Permanent Representative, from a militia contributing country, said that if true, it’s “very problematic.” The reasons include the fact that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had just thanked Qatar for its roles in the release of the UN Peacekeepers the earlier kidnapping of whom the Qatari government may have planned, paid for and executed.

Meanwhile, Ban Ki-moon’s spokesperson Martin Nesirky said he would not disclose any more about the “negotiations to free the peacekeepers or who was behind the crime.”

Score a major diplomatic victory for Syria’s UN Ambassador al-Jaafari as public opinion shifts in favor of the Assad government and both pressure as well as optimism build in the run-up to the Geneva II conference being organized by the White House and the Kremlin.

Franklin Lamb is doing research in Syria and Lebanon and can be reached c/o fplamb@gmail.com

“Al-Qaeda” Is Anybody the President Chooses To Call Al-Qaeda

Obama War Powers Under 2001 Law ‘Astoundingly Disturbing,’ Senators Say

 

WASHINGTON — The war authorization that Congress passed after 9/11 will be needed for at least 10 to 20 more years, and can be used to put the United States military on the ground anywhere, from Syria to the Congo to Boston, military officials argued Thursday.

 

The revelations came during a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee and surprised even experts in America’s use of force stemming from the terrorist attacks in 2001.

 

“This is the most astounding and most astoundingly disturbing hearing that I’ve been to since I’ve been here. You guys have essentially rewritten the Constitution today,” Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) told four senior U.S. military officials who testified about the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force and what it allows the White House to do.

 

King and others were stunned by answers to specific questions about where President Barack Obama could use force under the key provision of the AUMF — a 60-word paragraph that targeted those responsible for the 9/11 attacks.

 

“I learned more in this hearing about the scope of the AUMF than in all of my study in the last four or five years,” said Harvard Law professor Jack Goldsmith, who was called by the committee to offer independent comments on the issue. “I thought I knew what the application [of the AUMF] meant, but I’m less confident now,” he added later.

 

Concerns emerged largely from questions by senators who approve of an aggressive strategy to combat terrorism, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who asked if the AUMF gave Obama the authority to put “boots on the ground” in Yemen or the Congo.

 

 
Robert Taylor, the acting general counsel for the Department of Defense said yes, as long as the purpose was targeting a group associated with al Qaeda that intended to harm the United States or its coalition partners.

 

“Would you agree with me, the battlefield is anywhere the enemy chooses to make it?” asked Graham.

 

“Yes sir, from Boston to FATA [Pakistan's federally administered tribal areas],” answered Michael Sheehan, the assistant secretary of defense who oversees special operations.

 

Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) later raised the specter of the AUMF being used to intervene in Syria, where the group Al Nusra, believed to be affiliated with Al Qaeda, is active. Al Nusra has not been linked to 9/11.

 

Sheehan said yes, if defense officials determined the group was becoming a threat. The same criteria applied to other groups, even if they were locally focused and operating in other nations. Taylor confirmed that AUMF also would cover individuals, even those who had not been born by 9/11, if, as Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) asked, they someday were to “become associated with a group that associates with Al Qaeda.”

 

When asked about an expiration date for the war authorization, Sheehan said it would be when al Qaeda had been consigned to the “ash heap of history.” “I think it’s at least 10 to 20 years.”

 

While none of the senators suggested dialing back efforts to stop terrorists, they were clearly disturbed at the power being asserted by the military.

 

“I’m just a little old lawyer from Brunswick, Maine, but I don’t see how you can possibly read this to be in comport with the Constitution,” King said, arguing that the defense officials’ interpretation of the AUMF makes the war power of Congress “a nullity.” “Under your reading, we’ve granted unbelievable powers to the president and it’s a very dangerous precedent.”

 

Kaine found the suggestion that the AUMF could be used to go into Syria especially disturbing. “The testimony I hear today suggests the administration believes that they would have the authority to do that,” Kaine said. “But I don’t want us to walk out of the room leaving an impression that members of Congress also share the understanding that that would be acceptable.”

 

The DOD officials repeatedly defended the authority they’ve claimed, noting that al Qaeda is not a traditional enemy, and that it shifts locations and changes its tactics. The broad interpretation of the AUMF, they argued, gives them the flexibility to deal with the changing threat in a lawful, effective manner.

 

But even Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who generally agrees with Graham in pursuing a vigorous war on terror, said the AUMF has been stretched past the breaking point.

 

“This authority … has grown way out of proportion and is no longer applicable to the conditions that prevailed, that motivated the United States Congress to pass the authorization for the use of military force that we did in 2001,” McCain said.

 

“For you to come here and say we don’t need to change it or revise or update it, I think is, well, disturbing,” McCain said, noting that the AUMF also is used to justify things like drone strikes that were never contemplated by Congress. “I don’t blame you because basically you’ve got carte blanche as to what you are doing around the world.”

 

No one suggested specific solutions, but did say the Senate will deal with the problem later this year when the committee takes on the National Defense Authorization Act for 2014.

 

The broad assertion of authority by the military is likely to disturb civil libertarians on the left and right who have complained that the AUMF and a previous version of the NDAA give the military power to indefinitely detain U.S. citizens. Obama has issued orders banning such practices, but DOD officials apparently believe the law grants them the power to act anywhere.

Vice and virtue police rule Syria rebel-held region

This undated image posted on a militant website purports to show militants in the al-Jazeera region on the Iraqi sid

Mona Alami, Special for USA TODAY

Religious police units enforce a strict form of Islamic rule, such banning alcohol sales and requiring conservative dress for women.

BEIRUT — Radical Syrian opposition groups now in control of Aleppo and much of its surroundings are forming increasing numbers of religious police units to enforce a strict form of Islamic rule, such as banning alcohol sales and making prayer compulsory.

The actions of these groups, many of which comprise foreign fighters, are gaining in reach in a country that has been largely secular and free of Islamic jihadist radicalism.

“Rebels have brutally imposed a conservative dress code for women and crushed any ( secular) opposition in these areas,” Syrian author Talal al-Atrache says.

Known as vice and virtue police, these squads are enforcing the edicts of courts put in place by rebels in the various Syrian regions where the Syrian government has been pushed out.

The main purpose of the courts is to adjudicate criminal allegations and issue rulings against members of regime forces or undisciplined members of the armed factions, says Mourad al Chami, spokesperson for the Syrian Military Council in Damascus.

“However, like in any other war, there have been reports of excessive behavior on the part of these religious courts and police squads,” al Chami admits.

Much of the spread of Islamic courts has been in Aleppo, the largest city in Syria and scene of nearly two years of battles between rebels and government forces. Fighters aligned with radical groups in Iraq and elsewhere have made their way there to fight the regime of Bashar Assad and at the same time have slowly been imposing their laws on villages and neighborhoods they control.

In some towns, Islamist militants patrol the streets and warn men to not shave and refrain from alcohol, and tell women to wear the abaya, a long black garment that comes with a veil.

“There have been several reports of liquor stores forced to close down,” says al Chami, who adds that most demands are limited to pockets of terrain and not widespread.

Mouaz al-Khatib, former head of the Syrian National Coalition, which is a group of opposition forces, has said he is aware of cases where women were executed for alleged sexual misbehavior, says Thomas Pierret, a specialist of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

Videos circulating on the Internet depict punishments imposed by vice and virtue squads in Syria, though the footage can not be verified as accurate.

One video shows a demonstrator being arrested because he had thrown away a banner inscribed with the Muslim declaration of faith associated with radical Salafi movements. Author al-Atrache says the demonstrator, identified as Wael Ibrahim Abu Mariam, is punished by 10 strokes of metal pipe by the Sharia Authority in Aleppo.

Another video shows secular activist Abdallah Yassine being charged for inciting unrest by Shariah Tribunals in Saraqeb, in the province of Idlib.

Pierret says he has seen no evidence of wide-scale and systematic enforcement of “Islamic virtue” in liberated areas. He says some of the vice and virtue committees were formed to establish dominance over rival Islamist groups rather than impose Islamic law on residents.

And the enforcement of Islamic law, or sharia, differs widely because of Syria’s diverse societies, says al Chami.

He says Islamist groups such Jabhat al-Nusra have been able to impose strict Islamic laws in some areas but not in others. They were unable to enforce a stricter interpretation of Islam in the suburbs of Damascus, such as in Reef Demashk, because of the population’s relative liberal views, he said.

In the areas where they have been successful, residents may have been swayed by the groups’ charitable help and offers of religious instruction rather than a genuine movement toward radicalism, al Chami says.

Moaz al Khatib, himself an Islamic scholar, has criticized al-Nusra for enforcing an uncompromising version of Islam. The Syrian National Council announced recently it intended to establish a more moderate version of sharia law, but what that means is not known.

“The reference to sharia ( by the council) means very little without further specification,” Pierret says.

Another American Death Squad Leader Gone Berserker?

[I thought that Karzai had already run the bastards out of Wardak.]

Afghanistan demands arrest of ‘American’ death squad leader

US soldiers near the village of Qol-e-Botonin the mountains of Wardak Province. (Reuters / Shamil Zhumatov)

The US and Afghanistan are at loggerheads again after new accusations that an American citizen has ‘disappeared’ fifteen people in the province of Wardak, where continued NATO presence has been hotly opposed. Washington has denied any involvement.

Afghan officials say that a man by the name of Zakaria Kandahari, allegedly an ethnic Afghan, but a US citizen, has led a pro-government death squad that has terrorized locals in Wardak, New York Times reports. The newspaper says three officials have confirmed that he is being sought on charges of torture and murder. A key piece of evidence is a video tape of Kandahari torturing a local, while speaking English with an American accent.

Over the past year, Kandahari and his soldiers have also been seen throughout the area wearing NATO uniforms while riding on quad bikes in search of alleged insurgents, at least one of whom, Afghans say, has been found dismembered in a garbage container just outside the US base in the province, which is located just to the west of the capital Kabul.

Washington does not deny the existence of the video, but claims Kandahari operates a rogue Afghan unit, and is not a US citizen.

“Everybody in that video is Afghan; there are no American voices,” an unnamed American official told the newspaper.

The official said that Kandahari was an interpreter for a US A-Team, based in the Nerkh district, and “went on the lam” as soon as his extrajudicial anti-Taliban campaign was discovered by the Americans, following a tip from Afghan officials.

“We would have no reason to try to harbor this individual,” said the source. “We have done three investigations down there, and all absolve ISAF [NATO] forces and Special Forces of all wrongdoing.”

Allegations of extrajudicial justice by the US Nerkh-based Special Forces unit, which consists of a small core of American commandos aided by local support staff, in the region first surfaced in February when President Hamid Karzai said that the mixed teams had unleashed a reign of terror over the locals and ordered them out of the province.

When the Hummus Hits the Fan, Israel Will Choose Bashar al-Assad Over Radical Islamists

Peter Chamberlin

Once again (just as in the recent US Embassy bombing in Ankara) a spectacular terrorist attack takes place in Turkey and the government immediately blames another obscure Marxist terrorist group, that they have conveniently resurrected from Turkey’s distant past.  The individual faction of this group has also allegedly been identified, as “Mirhac Ural,” who has recently been named by the Syrian opposition as the man behind the latest alleged “ethnic cleansing” in a town called Banias, along the Syrian coast (SEE:  Syria: Enter the ethnic cleanser of Banias).

Ural was originally a founding member of TPLP-C (Acilciler), a Marxist/Leftist/revolutionary group which was formed to fight US imperialism within Turkey, specifically, to act as a counter-force to US “Gladio”/”Gray Wolves” operations.  The TPLP-C supported its sister organization, the DHKP/C, which was blamed for the recent bombing outside the American Embassy in Ankara.

Ural is also a close friend of terrorist PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan.  He allegedly introduced Bashar al-Assad to Ocalan.  It was allegedly Ural who persuaded Assad to play the “Kurdish” card against Erdogan.  Erdogan thought that he had trumped this move when he negotiated the latest peace agreement with the PKK, until Iraq’s government refused to accept the expatriated Kurdish guerillas.  The Kurds cannot be blamed for using Syrian-based assets against Turkey in this terror bombing in Reyhanli over the denial of new sanctuary in northern Iraq, because the attack was clearly intended to help the Turkish Prime Minister to persuade Obama to intervene in Syria on Turkey’s behalf, and this would not help the Kurds in any conceivable way.

It is claimed in the Saudi/Arab press that Bashar Assad has become desperate in his resistance to the Imperial terrorist invasion, choosing at this time to gather his forces to him in the center of his Alawite home turf, as he ethnically cleansing Syria of the majority Sunnis.  They have reinforced this ethnic cleansing theme in the reports emerging from the Imperial press Turkish outfit, Zaman, about an alleged “Banias massacre.”  This massacre supposedly took place the day after Ural was quoted on YouTube, saying, “We need to cleanse Banias of traitors at the earliest.”

From the video, if it is genuine, it seems that Ural could be a legitimate leader of a Syrian counter-terrorist cell.  If that is true, then he would certainly have plenty of reasons to want to close the supply lines from Turkey.  But there is much more to this incident than this simple explanation.  If Ural is an anti-Islamist fighter, then why would he be immortalized in the Islamist press?  The story about an “Alevi rump state” along the coast of Syria, builds upon Sunni fears that they are about to also be ethnically cleansed from around Hatay, Turkey–Giving them a good reason to fight a sectarian war.  This benefits the Saudi-Israeli alliance, up unto the point where the destabilization plot it increases ethnic tensions on the wrong side of the border.  Proper conflict management prevents the various sub-plots from getting out of control and, as a consequence, over-driving the main destabilization plot and thereby, unintentionally causing the opposite effects, instead of the planned reactions.

Always, in these destabilization plots, there are two primary parties working the target–the destabilizing power and a patsy partner within the target entity (corporation, organization, state) that is to be destabilized.  Since the Saudis and Israel are obviously working together to carry-out the Imperial diktat for the Middle East, then it is clear that it is the Saudis who will eventually be the losing party.  Whether they will lose more than they can afford to pay is the risk that they are willing to take to eject Assad.  It is not in Israel’s interests to see an Islamist victory in Syria, but the Saudis and friends erroneously believe that it is in theirs.  It is unlikely that the Saudis would support an effort to divide Syria if it would harm Turkey, or make it harder to get weapons over the Syrian border to the terrorist front.

If the bombing of Turkey is clearly not in the Islamists’ interests, but does no harm to Israeli interests, then it may mean that Israel is using another PKK-related terror group to rein-in Prince Bandar’s Islamist attack dogs, in order to save Assad, in order to maintain the quagmire in Syria.  Consider the points raised in this piece from Zaman (SEE:  Opposition commander: Assad defeated, we are fighting Iran, Hezbollah).  The Gulenist mouthpiece Zaman interviews an alleged Syrian rebel commander,  of the al-Tawhid Brigade, Commander Abdulkader Saleh.  He makes the extraordinary claim that Israel and Iran are secretly working together against the Syrian terrorists:

“Bashar al-Assad’s regime does not have the strength to carry on its battle against opposition fighters, adding that Iran and Hezbollah are the forces behind the protracted war….Iran and Hezbollah are the ones who are continuing the war in Syria,”  

“Furthermore, Iran and Hezbollah are cooperating with Israel to be able to support Assad. Assad has protected Israel’s border for 40 years,”

“The opposition was going to take over arms, so Israel attacked. There is evidence pointing to this. There were some high-ranking officers with whom [the opposition forces] got into contact. [Those officers] were going to defect from [the Assad administration], handing over arms to the opposition. Israel hit these posts in fear that the opposition would take over the arms. The arms included heavy artillery as well as air defense systems. This assault, of course, was intended to support the Assad administration,” Saleh explained.

The first time I read the Saleh interview, I laughed it all off as nonsense, until I read the article in Foreign Affairs magazine, written by former head of Mossad, Efraim Halevy (1998 to 2002).  He affirmed to the world that Bashar Assad is Israel’s Man in Damascus (or “Why Jerusalem Doesn’t Want the Assad Regime to Fall”).

It is obviously in Israel’s interests to preserve the Assad dynasty, as opposed to the radical, unpredictable Islamists.  It may be impossible to determine the truth about Israeli conniving with Arab leaders until someone makes a big messy mistake.  If there were any honest news sources in the Middle East, then maybe we could figure-out just exactly who has benefitted from Israel’s latest bombings of Syria.  Would the Zionist state really have committed an “act of war” against Syria and Lebanon, just to prevent Hezbollah forces from upgrading a few of their missiles?  Was the Syrian military or government informant/traitor warning Israel about the imminent acquisition of “game-changing weapons” by Hezbollah, or by the Free Syrian Army?

If all of this proves to be true, that Israeli bombers were destroying heavy weapons and killing a lot of Syrian soldiers, in order to keep the weapons out of the hands of Syria’s terrorists, or that Mossad manipulated PKK-related killers to murder more than 40 innocent people in Reyhanli, then what does that say to the rest of the world, which is drowning in despair over the Syrian conflict?   What advantage is there in a Saud/Israeli alliance, when the Israelis are there to play the part of “spoiler” to all of the Islamist plans?  Above all else, Mossad/Israeli objectives are constant and unwavering, to establish Jewish dominance over every square inch of the Middle East, as a stepping stone to Jewish world dominance.  This justifies the spoiler role for Israel, support the Goyim’s plans, until the advantage shifts to Jewish interests, at which time all partners are double-crossed.  

the Saudi Gazette (SEE: Israel’s strategy in Syria ).

“But the bigger threat to Israel is the growth of democracy in the Arab world. If the Arab world were ever to become a democracy, it would expose Israel as the democracy fraud that it is.

Israel fears the Arab Spring because the Arab Spring augments the voices of freedom and calls for freedom throughout the region, not just in the Arab world, but in Israel too. And Israel is one of the most oppressive country’s in the Middle East. Although most Jewish citizens of Israel enjoy unprecedented freedoms and benefits from the state, non-Jews suffer simply because they are non-Jews. Christian Arabs and Muslim Arabs are victimized by Israel both as so-called “citizens” and as imprisoned victims in the occupied lands.”

If the Syrian terrorist forces have suffered devastating losses because of Israeli actions, then they will know the truth–That they have just been attacked by “friendly” forces allied to the Arabs and to the West….This can be expected to be reflected in the spirit of the anti-Assad forces and in their communiques to the outside world.  If they have been demoralized by these betrayals, then they can be expected to show that in subtle ways.  Their positive response to Western calls for an international Syrian peace conference, to be organized jointly by the US and Russia, may be just such a sign.

“Syria’s opposition will consult with backers Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey before it decides whether to take part in a peace conference proposed by the United States and Russia, its acting chief said Monday.”  Syria opposition to consult backers on peace talks.  This is a complete reversal to all previous dismissals of negotiations with Assad out of hand.  Such a conference confirms Obama’s complete reticence in expanding the Syrian conflict into a regional war.  If Erdogan was hoping that the terror bombings in Turkey would sway Obama’s opinion about bringing-in American or NATO support against Syria, then he is likely to be disappointed when they meet in DC this week.

As far as the possibility that Turkey will escalate the confrontation with Syria on its own (SEE: Turkey says it won’t be drawn into Syria conflct), there is very little chance that Erdogan will make this misstep, especially when he cannot really be certain exactly who is on his side.

therearenosunglasses@hotmail.com

4 Saudi Arabians Arrested After “Al-Qaeda” Bombing Of Catholic Church In Tanzania

[All terrorism linked to Saudis is "al-Qaeda," since the international Islamist terror front would not exist without the Saudis, to instigate the terrorist nightmare of Wahhabi "Shariah" attacks.]

Tanzania police: 4 Saudi Arabian nationals arrested after bomb attack on Catholic church

Associated Press

• 
• 

ZANZIBAR, Tanzania –  A police commander in Tanzania says four Saudi Arabian citizens have been arrested following a bomb attack on a Catholic church.Magesa Mulogo said Monday that the four Saudi nationals were among six people arrested.

Mulongo said two people died in Sunday’s bombing of a newly opened church in the northern city of Arusha. Nearly four dozen people were wounded in the blast just before the church’s inaugural Mass, which was attended by the pope’s envoy to Tanzania.

Mulogo said eyewitnesses reported that the bomb was thrown from a motorcycle into the church. Mulogo said the driver of the motorcycle is among those arrested.

Turkey vs Iraq–We Are Witnessing the Next Regional War Setting-Up In The Middle East

[Obama and all previous American presidents like to lead, until plans go sour, then it becomes advantageous to let our underlings take the heat for us.  We are now letting Turkey "take one for the team" all over the Middle East and in parts of Central Asia, as they become the focal point for the anti-Iranian ambitions of the Gulf/Israeli coalition, who carry the ball for Western interests in the Mideast.  The Sunni Gulf States help provide the black ops financing to the Saudi Islamist project (otherwise known as "al-Qaeda"), which supplies the foot soldiers for Israel's terrorist operations throughout the Muslim world.  The Mossad, helps the CIA and the Pentagon to locate and acquire the weapons needed by this Sunni "Islamist" army, which facilitates CIA plans for a regional war, stretching from Central Africa into Pakistan.  In both Iraq and in Syria, Turkey is fully prepared to accept global oppobrium for having led the charge straight into a grand civil war within Islam itself. 

opprobrium \uh-PRO-bree-uhm\ , noun:
1. Disgrace; infamy; reproach mingled with contempt.
2. A cause or object of reproach or disgrace.

Perhaps the saddest part of this grand tragedy is that the tragic civil war unfolding in Iraq was always part of a cleverly crafted plan, a plan designed to amplify the great conflict within Islam, the never-ending argument between the Sunni and Shia faiths.  One side teaches that the Quran's authority and the mantle of The Prophet (PBUH) rests upon the actual bloodline of Mohammad (PBUH), the Shia opinion, the other side teaches that the Muslim elite should choose the most popular scholar of the Quran (Sunni).  The Sunnis even elevate the teachings of these Islamic scholars to a level of prominence equal to that of the Sacred Book itself. 

The American/British/Israeli "Zionist" plan to throw all of our weight behind the Sunnis in this conflict (intending to force a violent resolution of the issue) is obviously immoral, thus necessitating the American need for cover, whenever this ugly fact threatens to be revealed, that Christian/Judaic powers are waging a covert "Crusade" against Islam.  This Judeo-Christian Crusade to destroy Islam would never have been possible without the Sunni collaborators from the Middle East who have actually executed the plan.  Turkey stands at the top of this long list of Islamic traitor nations, who have collaborated intimately with the West to destroy the faith of 1.3 billion Muslims.  As long as the great Muslim majority can be kept in the dark about the Arab/Israeli union at the center of this Crusade they can be expected to allow all of this to continue indefinitely, enabling Turkey to escape that well-deserved popular revulsion for its acts of treachery.]

Saadun al-Dulaimi: Turkey controls Sunni protests against Maliki

BAGHDAD – Acting Defence Minister Saadun al-Dulaimi on Sunday accused Turkey of controlling Sunni anti-government protests in Iraq, saying the demonstrations are a haven for “terrorists and killers.”

“There are foreign agendas controlling these sites,” Dulaimi said of the protests.

“It is like Anbar, or Mosul or Samarra are part of the Ottoman Empire,” he said, referring to Sunni areas in Iraq.

Areas of what is now Iraq were part of the Ottoman Empire, which was governed from Istanbul in what is now Turkey, before the empire’s dissolution after World War I.

Ties between Baghdad and Ankara have been strained by issues including Turkey hosting Tareq al-Hashemi, Iraq’s fugitive former vice president who has been sentenced to death on charges including murder.

Dulaimi also had harsh words for the protesters themselves.

“Shame… on those sites that are opening their doors to Istanbul or any other country,” he said.

“Protest sites have become a safe haven for terrorists and killers and those who call for strife, sectarianism and hate.”

The protests broke out in Sunni areas of Shiite-majority Iraq more than four months ago.

Demonstrators have called for the resignation of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shiite, and criticised authorities for allegedly targeting their community with wrongful detentions and accusations of involvement in terrorism.

On April 23, security forces moved on protesters near the town of Hawijah in Kirkuk province, sparking clashes that killed 53 people.

Dozens more died in subsequent unrest that included revenge attacks targeting security forces, raising fears of a return to the all-out sectarian conflict that claimed tens of thousands of lives between 2006 and 2008.

 

 

Irregular Army –the Poisonous Legacy of Donald Rumsfeld’s Privatization Plans

Irregular Army: A Conversation With Matt Kennard

Michael Busch, Lecturer, Departments of Political Science and International Studies, The City College of New York

This past March marked the 10th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, a decade of fighting, which claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, destroyed an entire country, and destabilized the broader Middle East. As journalist Matt Kennard argues in his new book, Irregular Army, the war in Iraq — as well as that in Afghanistan — also had deleterious consequences for the U.S. military itself. Faced with declining enlistment numbers as fighting dragged on year after year with no clear end in sight, Kennard shows that the American armed forces looked for alternatives to populate its ranks. In the process, regulations were weakened, rewritten and in some cases, not enforced.

The results are disturbing. According to Kennard, the military was suddenly tolerating the open presence of white power extremists and street gang members in the rolls, and actively recruiting physically and psychologically unfit Americans to fill enlistment gaps. While evidence suggests that these lax recruitment standards have already resulted in death and murder on the battlefield, the consequences could prove equally upsetting here at home. If the Sikh temple massacre is any indication of what may be in store, Kennard’s argument that the United States faces an uncertain future as these veterans return from home from war couldn’t be more urgent.

I recently spoke with Kennard about his research into these issues, how government brass has responded to these threats to the integrity of its armed forces, and what the irregular American army might mean for Americans in the years to come.

The 10th anniversary of the American invasion and occupation of Iraq just passed this week. Give us a sense of how the American military has changed in the last decade, and what it looks like today.

What happened to the American military, and I’m not the only one to point this out, during the War on Terror and up to this day constitutes in some ways the biggest change the American military has ever gone through, at least since the beginning of the 20th century. What was implemented during the War on Terror was a massive restructuring of the Pentagon under the aegis of Donald Rumsfeld, who had this plan to eviscerate the civilian U.S. military and replace it with private contractors. This has come to be called “transformation” in specialist circles. He made this famous speech the day before 9/11 where he said that he wanted to “modernize” the military, corporate speak for privatization of the military. “We have to update our enlistment techniques, our training techniques,” and the like. Under all the rhetoric was a plan to really scale down the Department of Defense, and replace it with companies like Blackwater and other groups.

There was also a strategic shift that was part of this transformation that recognized that as the cold war wound down the United States no longer needed large land armies. Many of the so-called neo-conservatives had grown apoplectic during the 1990s with Clinton’s “humanitarian intervention” in Kosovo, and earlier Somalia. They believed that the U.S. military should be used only to secure U.S. national interests, without even the patina of altruism. (Ironically, of course, Clinton’s wars were not the beneficent operations that the neocons made out.) The new threats facing the United States were asymmetrical, they were no longer state-based in nature but came instead from non-state terrorist groups.

Anyway, there were significant disagreements with this new proposed posture. Colin Powell, who had previously been the highest ranking officer in the military, argued that Washington needed to maintain a serious, large land army that could be deployed quickly in the case of emergency. In the end, Rumsfeld won out and the invasion of Iraq happened with many less troops than Powell and Eric Shinseki, chief of staff the army at the time, wanted.

Eventually, after Iraq failed to go as planned, Powell and Shinseki were proved right — that the American army really couldn’t just go into a place like Iraq, smash the place up, and then get out within a couple of years. They were in a quagmire there, and this was shown to be the case again in Afghanistan. As the wars got worse over time, and in the absence of conscription, the military found itself needing more and more personnel — precisely the opposite of what Donald Rumsfeld had wanted or foreseen. In order to do this, to pump up its numbers, the military began to change its regulations. They did this with some groups quite openly. For example, they raised the ceiling age for enlistment, from 35 to 40, and then again to 42, because they didn’t get the numbers they needed the first time.

The stuff that I looked into were the groups that the military was a little more embarrassed about — from white supremacists to street gang members to criminals. For some reason, I’m the only journalist who’s done serious work on the presence of gangs and neo-Nazis in the American military. There’s been quite a lot of work done on criminals in the army. Henry Waxman investigated the presence of serious criminals in the military, and prized important information from the Pentagon that they had been trying to hide. Over the last 10 years, you’ve seen a complete realignment of who can qualify as a soldier in the United States military.

Now, I’ve never been a big fan of the military adventures of the United States, but everyone knows that the standards in the U.S. military were always quite high. This was especially the case after Vietnam — 25 years were spent basically rejigging the military so that the standards were high. During the War on Terror, all of this was completely jettisoned. So what we have now is a military that is not held up as an exemplar of professionalism around the world, but as an example of what happens to a military when there aren’t enough troops and the government is too scared to institute conscription.

There are questions, of course, about how this will play out moving forward. Take the Libya intervention by NATO, for example: the whole debate was rehashed again. Barack Obama and his Defense Secretary Robert Gates actually endorsed the Rumsfeldian idea that the United States needed to slim down, while George Casey, the chief of staff of the Army, warned against “hollowing out” the U.S. military. If some state-based enemy rises again and the U.S. military has to deal with it, you’ll probably see the exact same issues crop up once more. And in fact, if you look into it, you’ll find that many of the standards haven’t been restored to their former levels even though recruiting quality troops has gotten easier with the current economic crisis. The military is unrecognizable now from what it was when the War on Terror started. And that’s not a mistake. It’s basically become exactly how Rumsfeld envisioned it: a hallowed out military replaced by private contractors working alongside special forces. Jeremy Scahill’s new book, Dirty Wars, documents how JSOC, assorted elite units are now carrying out many of the tasks that were previously the responsibility of the American military, often with “black budgets” out of sight of Congress and U.S. citizens. Everyone says that the war on Iraq was a massive personal failure for Rumsfeld, but in fact, in many ways, his vision has won out.

The most disturbing finding of your research is the extent to which white power extremists have penetrated the United States military, something which first came to light as far back as the mid-1970s. How do they get in? What happens when they get discovered? What have been the most immediate consequences of their presence in war zones?

It is important to note that there are a raft of regulations that govern the presence of white supremacists, both during the recruitment phase, and then afterwards if they are discovered within the ranks. But the trouble with these regulations is that they’ve always been reactive. So you have cases where white supremacist cells have been exposed on different bases, dating back to the 1970s. And every time this happens, whether that is a neo-Nazi killing another soldier, or killing someone in a nearby town to a base, every time there is a short-term outpouring of anger, the military responds by saying that they have tightened regulations. The first time something like this happened, in 1976, the military said being in a white supremacist organization was inconsistent with service. That can be interpreted any way you want. To my mind, the ambiguity related to the regulation of white supremacists is deliberate, i.e., the military doesn’t want these people in the military, but in times when they can’t afford to kick troops out, the regulations allow them enough leeway to ignore it, or have enough plausible deniability, to leave these people in.

During the War on Terror, regulations were not adhered at all. So, for example, you had people who were able to get into the military with swastikas tattooed on their skin. I spoke with the head of recruitment for the United States army about this, he said, “well, there’s first amendment rights.” If someone says they like the way swastikas look, or claim that they are Indian symbols which look very similar, then the commander can basically blow it off. So, there are regulations on tattoos — which are frequently the best indicators for recruiters of extremism — that were broadly ignored.

And then you had the other side, when these people are discovered after they are already in, there are other regulations to deal with that. So, if you are caught posting messages on websites like StormFront, or writing racist messages on places like the New Saxon, a sort of neo-Nazi Facebook, you can be disciplined, and maybe even kicked out of the military altogether. But that didn’t happen, either. In fact, I received reports from the Criminal Investigative Command (CID), which is the criminal investigative arm of the Army, about what happened to white supremacists when they were caught. Some of it is really shocking. In one instance, a soldier passed a military explosives manual to the leader of a white supremacist group. In the report I received from the CID, the military terminated the investigation because the soldier in question had been shipped off to Iraq. This is somebody who may have been planning a domestic terrorist attack! Jaw-dropping.

There are obviously first amendment rights. But if you are training, equipping and then sending white supremacists to a country of brown people, I think that really does trump first amendment rights. I focus on the War on Terror, but there is also the case of Michael Wade Page, who carried out the Sikh Temple Massacre last August. He was serving in the 1990s, a period during which there was supposedly a harsh crackdown on white supremacists in the military, by the military, following the Oklahoma City bombing. Well, Stars and Stripes interviewed friends of Page, who told the paper that he was completely open about his Neo-Nazism while in the Army.

But it’s not just white power groups that are populating the military. Other gangs have also colonized the American armed forces. Can you talk about what other gang activity exists within the military?

It’s tempting to focus on the problem of white supremacists in the military when thinking about undesirable elements in the armed forces. It makes sense — these people often have goals which are terrorist goals. They want to kill people to further the cause of racial holy war. But in terms of numbers, and everyday violence, the street gangs problem in the military is much more serious. I have spoken with security experts who estimate that up to 10 percent of the American military is made up of gang-affiliated troops.

During the height of the War on Terror, we saw it all along the border, where active duty soldiers carried out the murders of other soldiers, not to mention of the enemies of local drug traffickers nearby to the bases. Gangs see the military as a good way to traffic drugs — when soldiers are on a base, they are not subject to the same rigorous law enforcement as you are when you are civilian. Cartels look to recruit soldiers who are on bases, or recruit soldiers especially those stationed at Fort Bliss and Fort Hood, both in Texas and hotbeds of this kind of activity.

We’ve seen evidence of this up to this day. Recently, there was a case in which the DEA carried out a sting operation on a group of soldiers. DEA officers posed as a representative of a Mexican drug cartel, and offered the soldiers money in return for carrying out hits against rival factions. The soldiers agreed. The DEA knew this was a good tack to take, because they’re very aware that trafficking groups are in constant contact with active duty personnel.

As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have dragged on, you show that the military increasingly focused on recruiting kids and older adults to serve in the armed forces. How did they go about doing this, and what have been the consequences?

The most serious consequences have been the number of people who have died. I focus on older people and the young in my book. The military has regulation on the issue of age. It used to be that no one over the age of 35 could be recruited into the military. That changed during the War on Terror when the age was raised, first to 40 and then to 42 years of age, because they were struggling to find troops. That regulation wasn’t arbitrary. When soldiers are older than 35, they face higher risks on the battlefield related to psychology and physical fitness. I discuss a couple of soldiers in the book who died during their service, likely as a result of their relatively advanced age. For example, Staff Sergeant William Chaney, a Vietnam War died of a blood clot aged 59 during Operation Iraqi Freedom, after surgery for a medical condition and appendix problem that had necessitated his evacuation from Iraq. Another soldier, Steven Hutchison, who was a veteran of Vietnam and had experienced the Tet Offensive — died in an IED attack in Iraq after being recruited on the “retiree recall” program. He was killed a month shy of his 61st birthday. So that’s the most serious consequence — people have died as a result of these changes.

The other consequence has to do with the moral issue of colonizing the high schools of America. It’s not well-known about, but No Child Left Behind Act — which was passed with great bipartisan fanfare in 2001 — has a small caveat which mandates that schools turn over the phone numbers and addresses of all their students to military recruiters or face funding cuts if they refused. At first, this wasn’t used much because the War on Terror hadn’t yet started. But when troop deficits became a chronic issue, it began to be used all the time. Recruiters spent a decade terrorizing high school students — cold calling them, turning up at their houses, turning up at their schools — trying to persuade them to go to war.

There was one famous case where a high school student recorded a recruiter telling him that his life would be finished if he exited the Delayed Enlistment Program (DEP). Under the DEP, students can sign up for the military while still in high school — basically promising to join the military upon graduation. But it is not binding. But many students aren’t told it isn’t binding. In this case, the student recorded the recruiter telling him that if he failed to honor the DEP, he wouldn’t be able to get loans for college, wouldn’t ever be able to find a job, and the like. It didn’t work on this one kid, because he was smart and decided to record his conversations with the recruiter. But you can imagine how often these sorts of tactics, and this kind of manipulation, do work on young people. And you can imagine how many of these young people were sent to Afghanistan and Iraq, and in all likelihood some of them have died. In combination, then, these two sides of the age issue highlight an overriding moral issue, and that is the fact that tons of people who should have never been sent to war, were — many to their deaths.

You suggest that the full consequences of the irregular army cobbled together by the United States haven’t yet been fully realized. Are we in for an irregular future? If so, how?

In my opinion, the War on Terror — which was fought mainly in Iraq and Afghanistan, but in other places as well — is now coming home. All of the extremists that the Pentagon allowed into the military during the War on Terror are coming back to the United States, and not to become priests. These people have their own goals, and they will spend the next decade or two attempting to bring these goals forward. We see this in smaller scale following the first Gulf War. Take the Oklahoma City bombing, which took place a few years after the United States withdrew from Iraq the first time. These things have a fairly long incubation period. My sense is that because the military has trained so many crazy people in advanced weaponry and tactics over the past ten years, there will be cases — hopefully not as serious as the Oklahoma City bombing — like the Sikh Temple Massacre, cases where the violence of disgruntled veterans with a racial bone to pick, or any other really, will be taken out on random civilians.

We are seeing that slowly. Recently, there was a case in which a group of soldiers had formed their own militia at Fort Stewart in Georgia and were planning to assassinate President Obama and poison Washington State’s apple crop. According to prosecutors the soldiers had spent nearly $90,000 on guns and bomb components. Thankfully, this plan was busted, but we have to ask ourselves: how many similar cells like this are in the United States, and how long will it take for us to see them act out their fantasies? I’m not particularly optimistic about the future on this front. There’s another point that must be made, as well. It is sometimes said that a country’s military is a reflection of the population from which it is drawn. Many problems we witnessed in military during the War on Terror were reflections of a society that was changing under the stress of fear that was inflicted on the American population. We can point to the rising numbers of convicted felons allowed into the military, but that was merely a reflection of the increasing number of people being locked up across the country. We can point to the increasing numbers of overweight soldiers allowed to serve in the military, but again, this is just a reflection of an increasingly obese American society. So in a sense, many of the troubles experienced by the U.S. military right now are a reflection of a society which is going backwards in key respects, not forwards. Hopefully this will change. But there are very few indicators right now to suggest this is likely to happen.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-busch/irregular-army-book_b_3135051.html?utm_hp_ref=books

Bhutto Prosecutor Murdered After Charging Musharraf with Murder–Military Blames “Militants”

["Zulfikar was probably a marked man because he had been prosecuting militants who were jailed in connection with Bhutto's death."--Reuters]

BB murder case prosecutor shot dead in Islamabad

The Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) special prosecutor in the Benazir Bhutto murder case Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali.—Photo by AFP

AFP

ISLAMABAD: Two unknown assailants on motorcycle killed The Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) special prosecutor in the Benazir Bhutto murder case Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali on Friday, DawnNews reported.

According to the police, state prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar was shot multiple times by gunmen in Islamabad’s G-9 area as he was driving to the next hearing in the murder case of the former prime minister, who was assassinated more than five years ago. Following the attack, he was taken to Islamabad’s main government-run Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) hospital in a severely injured condition where he succumbed to his injuries.

Doctors said he had been killed with ten bullets targeting his chest and shoulder.

Zulfiqar had been given extra government security last year after police investigators working on the Benazir Bhutto case received threats, which also named him.

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the shooting.

“I cannot comment. I’m in a state of shock,” Zulfiqar’s deputy Azhar Chaudhry told AFP when asked to comment.

Moreover, the firing incident also killed a woman and injured Chaudhry Zulfiqar’s guard Rehman Ali when he lost control of his vehicle.

Later, Zulfiqar’s body was shifted to the hospital’s morgue and a medical team was being constituted to perform postmortem. Wasim Khawaja, spokesman for PIMS, confirmed that his bodyguard was out of danger.

Police subsequently cordoned off the site of incident and started a search operation in the area.

Rawalpindi and Islamabad High Court (IHC) Bar Association’s lawyers announced a strike in the wake of the attack.

Interior Minister Malik Habib Khan has also taken notice of the incident.

Pakistani and Afghan Taliban Execute Two of Karzai’s Emissaries, Proving They Are ONE

[Two days ago, the Pakistani Taliban killed the son of another High Peace Council member, providing further evidence that the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban ARE ONE.  They are both waging war against Karzai's peace emissaries at the same time, proving that their actions are coordinated and their objectives are the same.  Both swear allegiance to Mullah Omar.  Mullah Omar and all of his armies owe allegiance to the Pak Army, since they are products of the Pakistani ISI. 

The purpose of terrorism is not to terrorize, but to motivate the victimized civilian populace into submission to unpleasant political conditions.  Those conditions can best be described as Wahhabi "Shariah."  Having the same goals since the beginning, the revived Taliban ("neo-Taliban") are there to give Pakistan control over Afghanistan,  If Obama actually intends to hand the Afghanistan transition to Pakistan, as rumored, he will be handing Afghanistan to the Taliban, completing his total "Islamization" of all Middle Eastern countries from Morroco to Islamabad.  Obama is pushing the radicalized faith upon the Muslim masses, just as surely if he has been the one issuing all of the jihadi "fatwas."]

“Hilal Ahmad Waqad was organizing a conference of Afghan and Pakistani religious scholars to oppose militancy.                                                                                                                                                                                    [He] was the son of Afghan cleric Amin Waqad, a member of Afghanistan’s High Peace Council, which is trying to engage the Afghan Taliban in peace talks.”

Afghan peace council official killed in south

KABUL, Afghanistan—Insurgents ambushed an Afghan government peace negotiator on Wednesday, killing him and two bodyguards as they headed to a meeting in the south to discuss plans for local troops to take over responsibility from the U.S-led coalition, Afghan officials said.

Malim Shah Wali Khan, 53, who sat on a council tasked with starting talks with the Taliban in hopes of ending the nearly 12-year-old war, was killed when attackers hit his convoy with a bomb and automatic rifle fire, Helmand provincial spokesman Omer Zawak said.

The province’s deputy governor, Masoud Bakhtawer, was also wounded in the attack, which took place in the same district where Afghan forces will shortly be in control. Helmand has been one the war’s bloodiest battlefields and a traditional Taliban stronghold.

Khan was the provincial director of the High Peace Council, a group formed by President Hamid Karzai to try and find ways to initiate peace talks with the insurgents. The council has so far failed to start any form of negotiations with the Taliban since U.S.-initiated peace talks collapsed last year.

In a statement, Karzai “strongly condemned” the attack that killed Khan and said that “the enemies of Afghanistan are trying to attack and martyr those individuals who are doing their best to bring peace and stability to the country.”

The U.S.-led coalition has been handing over responsibility for security in the province, and around the country, to Afghan forces as foreign combat troops prepare to withdraw by end-2014. So far, the Afghan government is in charge of areas representing 80 percent of the country’s population. It hopes to assume full control by the early summer.

The British Ministry of Defense on Wednesday also said three of its soldiers were killed in Helmand by a roadside bomb. NATO had announced the deaths on Tuesday but had not identified the nationalities of the soldiers.

The soldiers were on patrol when their armored vehicle struck the bomb. Insurgents have increased their attacks in recent weeks and since they announced the start of their spring offensive on April 27.

In other developments, health officials were investigating why nearly 70 students at a high school near the capital became ill on Wednesday.

Amanullah Eman, a spokesman for the Education Ministry, said some students were briefly hospitalized but all were doing well. He said a number of factors were being investigated, including the use of fertilizers in nearby farm land.

There have been numerous cases of dozens of school children falling ill during the spring, when Afghan students return to school. Although some officials in the past have blamed the Taliban for attempting to poison students, the insurgents have repeatedly denied any involvement and no proof has ever been found of deliberate poisoning. Experts have instead blamed mass hysteria for many of the cases.

—

Mirwais Khan contributed from Kandahar and Patrick Quinn from Kabul.

hanistan—Insurgents ambushed an Afghan government peace negotiator on Wednesday, killing him and two bodyguards as they headed to a meeting in the south to discuss plans for local troops to take over responsibility from the U.S-led coalition, Afghan officials said.

Malim Shah Wali Khan, 53, who sat on a council tasked with starting talks with the Taliban in hopes of ending the nearly 12-year-old war, was killed when attackers hit his convoy with a bomb and automatic rifle fire, Helmand provincial spokesman Omer Zawak sai

Saudis Appear Frantic As They Attempt To Deflect Blame for Boston Bombing

[In a typical Saudi misdirection, the royals are anxiously trying to turn the investigation away from the one Saudi name that has been tied to the case, Abdul Rahman Ali Alharbi.  The more they protest, and the louder their denials become, the more obvious it becomes that the masters of Sunni world terrorism have a lot to hide in this latest militant "Islamist" terror attack upon the citizens of the United States of America.  If our own FBI was not totally compromised by them and the never-ending cover-up of Saudi/CIA atrocities and an assortment of crimes against humanity, then they might pursue the Saudi connection to its logical conclusion, not to another predetermined dead-end.

FRY THE ROYALS!]

  Saudi foreign ministry, Prince Saud bin al-Faisal (R), had an unscheduled meeting with Obama in the Oval Office just two days after the Boston bombings

Saudi Arabia reportedly sent written warning to US about Boston Marathon bombing accused Tamerlan Tsarnaev

SAUDI Arabia reportedly sent a written warning to the US about Boston Marathon suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev last year and refused him entry to the country over security concerns.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia wrote to the US Department of Homeland Security about the older Tsarnaev brother in 2012, a senior Saudi official says.

The official told the Daily Mail the warning was based on intelligence from Yemen and was separate to concerns raised by Russian intelligence.

He also revealed Tamerlan was refused an entry visa into Saudi Arabia for the Mecca pilgrimage in December 2011.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26 and his younger brother Dzhokhar are accused of carrying out the April 15 bombings at the Boston Marathon, which killed three and wounded more than 264 at one of the world’s premier sporting events.

The Saudi official said the warning, which was also shared with the UK Government, was “very specific” and warned “something was going to happen in a major US city”.

The “government-to-government” letter “did name Tamerlan specifically”, the official told the Daily Mail.

An official from Homeland Security denied the department had received any such warning from Saudi Arabia.

“DHS has no knowledge of any communication from the Saudi government regarding information on the suspects in the Boston Marathon Bombing prior to the attack,” an unnamed offical told the Daily Mail.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev died in a shootout with police as he tried to flee the Boston area three days after the bombing.

Dzhokhar was wounded and captured, and now faces terror charges carrying a possible death sentence.

The Saudi official said the letter was sent by the Saudi Ministry of Interior in part so the US could inspect packages being sent to Tamerlan in the post.

“With Saudi Arabia it’s always code red,” he said.

“There’s no code orange, or code yellow. Always red.”

Zionist Wahhabis

[SEE:  Saudi Arabia working with Mossad against Iran, WikiLeaks suggests ;  Saudi Arabia is Israel’s last hope: report ]

The Saudi/Israeli Alliance

deLiberation

by Dean Henderson
Monday, April 9th, 2012

(Excerpted from Chapter 5: Persian Gulf Rent-a-Sheik: Big Oil & Their Bankers…)

Iran’s Press TV reported yesterday that both the US and the Saudis began funding Syrian rebels eight months ago. After funding Libyan Islamist rebels to overthrow Qaddafi, the Saudis and their fellow Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) despots have moved on in an effort to bring down Syria’s Assad government on their road to Tehran.

Both the Muslim Brotherhood House of Saud and Cabalist Israel share a long history with their Freemason brethren at British intelligence dating back to the Egyptian Mystery Schools.

The inbred Illuminati banker oligarchy runs all three secret societies and controls the global economy via central bank monopoly and hegemony over oil, arms and drug trades.

This Rothschild-led cabal of trillionaire Satanists manufacture fanatics within the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths to divide the people and maximize war profits.

Since Chevron discovered oil in Saudi Arabia in 1938, the House of Saud monarchy has increasingly served as paymaster for Rothschild covert military adventures.  It’s part of an oil for arms quid pro quo.

The Saudis sent over $3.8 billion to the CIA-trained Afghan mujahadeen.  Their emissary to the Americans was Osama bin Laden.

They gave $35 million to the Nicaraguan contras. Northrup/Lockheed bribe recipient Adnan Khashoggi played a key role in supplying Richard Secord’s Enterprise with House of Saud funding.  But while contra and mujahadeen efforts got the most newsprint, the House of Saud was busy bankrolling counterinsurgency around the world.

In Africa the Saudis provided support decades ago for the National Front for Salvation (NFS), which operated from bases in Chad in its attempts to overthrow Libyan President Mohamar Qaddafi.

Chad has long been an important country in Exxon Mobil’s North Africa oil production schemes.  In 1990- following a successful Libyan-backed counter-coup against the Chad government which was sponsoring NFS- the US evacuated 350 NFS leaders with Saudi financing.  The US restored $5 million in aid to the dictatorial Kenyan government of Daniel Arap Moi so Kenya would house the NFS leaders, whom other African governments refused to take in.  Arap Moi later aided CIA covert operations in Somalia, which the Saudis financed.

The Saudis bankrolled Jonas Savimbi’s UNITA rebels in Angola in their brutal effort to topple the socialist government of MPLA President Jose dos Santos.  Upon CIA request, the Saudis sent millions to Morocco to pay for that country’s training of UNITA.  Angola has huge oil reserves.  In 1985 Chevron Texaco accounted for 75% of Angola’s oil revenue.  In 1990 29% of Exxon Mobil’s US-bound crude came from Angola. An annual report of De Beers- the Oppenheimer-family tentacle which monopolizes the world diamond trade- bragged of buying up UNITA diamonds.  Savimbi was welcomed at the White House by President Reagan.

The Saudis funded RENAMO in their CIA-backed Pink Plan terror campaign against the nationalist government of Mozambique.  In the mid-1980s both the Saudis and Oman sent weapons to RENAMO through the Comoros Islands on behalf of Israel and apartheid South Africa.  Two Comoros Presidents- Ali Soilah and Ahmed Abdullah Abderemane- were assassinated by mercenaries who were protecting the arms traffic.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – formerly Zaire- Illuminati puppet Mobutu Sese-Seiko ruled with an iron fist for nearly four decades. He served as City of London guard dog of Zaire’s rich cobalt, uranium and molybdenum reserves- all of which are vital to the US nuclear weapons program.  Zaire is also rich in copper, chromium, zinc, cadmium, tin, gold and platinum.  While Mobutu amassed over $5 billion in Swiss, Belgian and French bank accounts, Zaire’s people lived in squalor.

Mobutu was installed in the early 1960’s after CIA agent Frank Carlucci- later Reagan and Bush Defense Secretary and now chairman of bin Laden family investment advisor Carlyle Group- worked with gangsters to assassinate the first prime minister of the Congo Patrice Lumumba.  Under Mobutu’s reign the US had military bases at Kitona and Kamina- from where the CIA prosecuted covert wars against Angola, Mozambique and Namibia with House of Saud funding.  Mobutu’s DSP palace guard was trained by the Israeli Mossad.  In the late 1970’s the Saudis paid for imported Moroccan troops to save Mobutu from Katanganese secessionists led by Laurant Kabila.

Mobutu was deposed in 1998 by forces loyal to Kabila- a friend of Fidel Castro.  The Saudis began financing military forays into the Congo by the governments of Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi. This destabilization of the Lake’s region led to the Rwandan genocide.  Kabila was assassinated in 2000, after he refused to play Illuminati ball.  Over four million people have died in the DRC over the past decade.

Lumumba and Kabila weren’t the first African nationalists targeted for elimination by the inbreds.  During the 1950′s and 1960′s the CIA and French intelligence assassinated Moroccan nationalist Mehdi Ben Barka- whose Union Nationale de Forces Populaire threatened US puppet monarch King Hassan II.  Giunea’s leftist President Sekou Toure and Tunisian socialist Habib Bourgiba were also assassinated by Western intelligence agencies.

In 1993 Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir accused the Saudis of providing arms to Johnny Garung’s Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA).  The southern part of Sudan- which the SPLA is trying to partition- is rich in oil.  Mossad has supplied the SPLA for years through Kenya.  In 1996 the Clinton Administration announced military aid to Ethiopia, Eritrea and Uganda. The aid was funneled into an SPLA offensive on Khartoum.  The crisis in Darfur is a direct result of Saudi/Israeli/US meddling on behalf of Big Oil.

Algerian President Chadli Benjladid accused the Saudis of bankrolling the barbarous Armed Islamic Group (AIG) who- after Algeria protested US ignition of the Gulf War- launched a reign of terror targeted at the Algerian people. Benjladid was forced to resign. This was followed by hasty passage of the Hydrocarbon Law- which opened the historically socialist country’s oilfields to the Four Horsemen.  The CIA then helped AIG terrorists travel to Bosnia, where they helped destroy socialist Yugoslavia.

Algeria has a long history of defying Big Oil. President Houari Boumedienne- one of the great Arab socialist leaders of all time- initiated calls for a more just international economic order in fiery speeches at the UN. He encouraged producer cartels as a means to Third World emancipation from the London bankers.  Independent Italian oilman Enrico Mattei began negotiating with Algeria and other nationalistic OPEC states who wanted to sell their oil internationally without having to deal with the Four Horsemen.  In 1962 Mattei died in a mysterious plane crash.  Former French intelligence agent Thyraud de Vosjoli says his agency was involved.  William McHale of Time magazine, who covered Mattei’s attempt to break the Big Oil cartel, also died under strange circumstances.

In 1975 the US sent $138 million in military aid through Saudi Arabia to Yemen, in hopes of heading off a Marxist revolution there.  The effort failed and the country split into North and South Yemen for two decades before merging again in the 1990’s. US/Saudi aid to both Yemen and Oman continues to this day in an effort to stamp out nationalist movements in those countries, which border the Kingdom and its vast Four Horsemen-controlled oilfields.

During the US-led effort to partition Bosnia from Yugoslavia, Saudi King Faud led calls for an end to the UN arms embargo.  When the embargo was lifted, the Saudis funded Bosnian Muslim arms purchases.  Later the Saudis bankrolled the heroin-kingpin Kosovo Liberation Army, as well as NLA Albanian separatists attacking the nationalist government of Macedonia. The Saudis even funded CIA covert operations in Italy, where they plunked down $10 million in 1985 to help destroy the Communist Party.

Recently Saudi Prince Bandar donated $1 million to the Bush Sr. Presidential Library and another $1 million to a Barbara Bush literacy campaign. On the evening of September, 11, 2001- Prince Bandar smoked cigars in the White House with President Bush, while members of the bin Laden family were evacuated from the US in airspace shut down to all other traffic.

Were the Saudis simply playing their historic paymaster role in the prosecution of 911?

The largest shareholder in News Corporation – parent of both the banker mouthpiece Wall Street Journal and the Fox News psyop – is Rupert Murdoch. The 2nd largest owner is Saudi Prince Alaweed bin Talal.

Is Fox News a covert Rothschild mind control operation against the American people?

Sources:

1. “Mercenary Mischief in Zaire”. Jane Hunter. Covert Action Information Bulletin. Spring 1991.
2. Hot Money and the Politics of Debt. R.T. Naylor. The Linden Press/Simon & Schuster. New York. 1987. p.238
3. Hunter
4. Earth First! Journal. Vol. 26, #1. Samhain/Yule. 2005
5. “US to Aid Regimes to Oust Government”. David B. Ottaway. Washington Post. 11-10-96
6. The Great Heroin Coup: Drugs, Intelligence and International Fascism. Henrik Kruger. South End Press. Boston. 1980. p.43
7. The Gulf: Scramble for Security. Raj Choudry. Sreedhar Press. New Dehli.
8. 1983. p.14
9. Dude, Where’s My Country. Michael Moore. Warner Books. New York. 2003.
10. ABC News Online. 10-19-04

Dean Henderson is the author of Big Oil & Their Bankers in the Persian Gulf: Four Horsemen, Eight Families & Their Global Intelligence, Narcotics & Terror Network, The Grateful Unrich: Revolution in 50 Countries and Das Kartell der Federal Reserve. Subscriptions to his Left Hook blog are FREE at www.deanhenderson.wordpress.com

The American Plan To Liberalize “Islam”

[In 2003, long before any hint of an "Arab spring," the RAND Corp. produced the following document (click on title for pdf).  This is the strategy which has been followed by Barack Obama since Day One.  If the strategy is not a crime against humanity, or at least against religion itself, then it should be, since no man has the right to alter someone else's religion.  That is exactly what this strategy proposes and Obama has been fully committed to, changing Islam itself, from the inside out.  Liberalize it, so that it becomes as acceptable to the international community as any other religion.  This means removing all of the bloody parts of Islam, in order to manufacture a new liberalized product which resembles Sufi Islam, which is an acceptable substitute for Wahhabism. 

RAND proposes that we now introduce this Sufi-like anti-Wahhabism, in order to undo what we have done with the CIA's grand experiment in using American military power as a tool for social engineering.  The weaponized "Islam," followed by the weaponization of the Afghan "mujahedeen," who had received the new synthetic "Islam," produced the first generation of "jihadi" "holy warriors."   The incalculable damage which has been done to peace-loving Islam since then, by the introduction of the CIA's weaponized Wahhabi Islam to the Muslim world over the past three-and-a-half decades, is now to be undone in just one "Spring," or a half-dozen?  The scale of the arrogance shown by the American meddlers in purposely doing this, and now attempting to undo what they have done, in order to gain further advantage, is on the level of a Hitler, or a Mussolini. 

When is Obama, or some other evil wise ass going to straighten-out the deficiencies in Christianity, or (God forbid!) Judaism?  We have no right by any stretch of the imagination to do what has been laid-out in the 88-pages of Civil Democratic Islam.]

Civil Democratic Islam

RAND CORP.

2003 RAND Corporation

iii
PREFACE
The Islamic world is involved in a struggle to determine its own nature and values,
with serious implications for the future. What role can the rest of the world,
threatened and affected as it is by this struggle, play in bringing about a more
peaceful and positive outcome?
Devising a judicious approach requires a finely grained understanding of the
ongoing ideological struggle within Islam, to identify appropriate partners and
set realistic goals and means to encourage its evolution in a positive way.
The United States has three goals in regard to politicized Islam. First, it wants to
prevent the spread of extremism and violence. Second, in doing so, it needs to
avoid the impression that the United States is “opposed to Islam.” And third, in
the longer run, it must find ways to help address the deeper economic, social,
and political causes feeding Islamic radicalism and to encourage a move toward
development and democratization.
The debates and conflicts that mark the current Islamic world can make the
picture seem confusing. It becomes easier to sort the actors if one thinks of
them not as belonging to distinct categories but as falling along a spectrum.
Their views on certain critical marker issues help to locate them correctly on
this spectrum.
It is then possible to see which part of the spectrum is generally compatible
with our values, and which is fundamentally inimical. On this basis, this report
identifies components of a specific strategy.
This report should be of interest to scholars, policymakers, students, and all
others interested in the Middle East, Islam, and political Islam.

****************************

Chapter Three
A PROPOSED STRATEGY

The problem of Islamic radicalism—its manifestations, its underlying causes,
and its propensity to meld with other social and political conflicts—makes this
an extremely complex issue. There is no one correct approach or response, and
there certainly is not one identifiable “fix.” Instead, what is called for is a mixed
approach that rests on firm and decisive commitment to our own fundamental
values and understands that tactical and interest-driven cooperation is simply
not possible with some of the actors and positions along the spectrum of
political Islam but that possesses a sequence of flexible postures suitable to
different contexts, populations, and countries.
This approach seeks to strengthen and foster the development of civil, democratic
Islam and of modernization and development. It provides the necessary
flexibility to deal with different settings appropriately, and it reduces the danger
of unintended negative effects. The following outline describes what such a
strategy might look like:
• Support the modernists first, enhancing their vision of Islam over that of the
traditionalists by providing them with a broad platform to articulate and
disseminate their views. They, not the traditionalists, should be cultivated
and publicly presented as the face of contemporary Islam.
• Support the secularists on a case-by-case basis.
• Encourage secular civic and cultural institutions and programs.
• Back the traditionalists enough to keep them viable against the fundamentalists
(if and wherever those are our choices) and to prevent a closer
alliance between these two groups. Within the traditionalists, we should
selectively encourage those who are the relatively better match for modern
civil society. For example, some Islamic law schools are far more amenable
to our view of justice and human rights than are others.
• Finally, oppose the fundamentalists energetically by striking at vulnerabilities
in their Islamic and ideological postures, exposing things that neither the youthful idealists in their target audience nor the pious traditionalists
can approve of: their corruption, their brutality, their ignorance, the bias
and manifest errors in their application of Islam, and their inability to lead
and govern.
Some additional, more-direct activities will be necessary to support this overall
approach, such as the following:
• Help break the fundamentalist and traditionalist monopoly on defining,
explaining, and interpreting Islam.
• Identify appropriate modernist scholars to manage a Web site that answers
questions related to daily conduct and offers modernist Islamic legal opinions.
• Encourage modernist scholars to write textbooks and develop curricula.
• Publish introductory books at subsidized rates to make them as available as
the tractates of fundamentalist authors.
• Use popular regional media, such as radio, to introduce the thoughts and
practices of modernist Muslims to broaden the international view of what
Islam means and can mean.

****************************

Appendix C
STRATEGY IN DEPTH

The following describes, in somewhat more detail, how the recommendations
in Chapter Three could be implemented.
BASIC POINTS OF THE STRATEGY
Build Up a Modernist Leadership
Create role models and leaders. Modernists who risk persecution should be
built up as courageous civil rights leaders, which indeed they are. There are
precedents showing that this can work. Nawal Al-Sadaawi achieved international
renown for enduring persecution, harassment, and attempts to prosecute
her in court on account of her principled modernist stand on issues related to
freedom of speech, public health, and the status of women in Egypt. Afghan
interim minister of women’s affairs Sima Samar inspired many with her outspoken
stance on human rights, women’s rights, civil law, and democracy, for
which she faced death threats by fundamentalists. There are many others
throughout the Islamic world whose leadership can similarly be featured.
Include modern, mainstream Muslims in political “outreach” events, to reflect
demographic reality. Avoid artificially “over-Islamizing the Muslims”; instead,
accustom them to the idea that Islam can be just one part of their identity.1
Support civil society in the Islamic world. This is particularly important in situations
of crisis, refugee situations, and postconflict situations, in which a democratic
leadership can emerge and gain practical experience through local NGOs
and other civic associations. On the rural and neighborhood levels, as well, civic
associations are an infrastructure that can lead to political education and a
moderate, modernist leadership.
______________
1This idea is more extensively developed in Al-Azmah (1993). Al-Azmah is himself a “Euro-Muslim.”

 

Develop Western Islam: German Islam, U.S. Islam, etc. This requires gaining a
better understanding of the composition, as well as the evolving practice and
thought, in these communities. Assist in eliciting, expressing, and “codifying”
their views.
Go on the Offensive Against Fundamentalists
Delegitimize individuals and positions associated with extremist Islam. Make
public the immoral and hypocritical deeds and statements of self-styled fundamentalist
authorities. Allegations of Western immorality and shallowness are
a cherished part of the fundamentalist arsenal, but they are themselves highly
vulnerable on these fronts.
Encourage Arab journalists in popular media to do investigative reporting on
the lives and personal habits and corruption of fundamentalist leaders. Publicize
incidents that highlight their brutality—such as the recent deaths of Saudi
schoolgirls in a fire when religious police physically prevented Saudi firefighters
from evacuating the girls from their burning school building because they were
not veiled—and their hypocrisy, illustrated by the Saudi religious establishment,
which forbids migrant workers from receiving photographs of their newborn
children on the grounds that Islam forbids human images, while their own
offices are decorated by huge portraits of King Faisal, etc. The role of “charitable
organizations” in financing terror and extremism has begun to be more clearly
understood since September 11 but also deserves ongoing and public investigation.
Assertively Promote the Values of Western Democratic Modernity
Create and propagate a model for prosperous, moderate Islam by identifying
and actively aiding countries or regions or groups with the appropriate views.
Publicize their successes. For example, the 1999 Beirut Declaration for Justice
and the National Action Charter of Bahrain broke new ground in the application
of Islamic law and should be made more widely known.
Criticize the flaws of traditionalism. Show the causal relationship between
traditionalism and underdevelopment, as well as the causal relationship
between modernity, democracy, progress, and prosperity. Do fundamentalism
and traditionalism offer Islamic society a healthy, prosperous future? Are they
successfully meeting the challenges of the day? Do they compare well with
other social orders? The UNDP social development report (UNDP, 2002) points
clearly to the linkage between a stagnant social order, oppression of women,
poor educational quality, and backwardness. This message should be energetically
taken to Muslim populations.

Build up the stature of Sufism. Encourage countries with strong Sufi traditions
to focus on that part of their history and to include it in their school curricula.
Pay more attention to Sufi Islam.
Focus on Education and Youth
Committed adult adherents of radical Islamic movements are unlikely to be
easily influenced into changing their views. The next generation, however, can
conceivably be influenced if the message of democratic Islam can be inserted
into school curricula and public media in the pertinent countries. Radical fundamentalists
have established massive efforts to gain influence over education
and are unlikely to give up established footholds without a struggle. An equally
energetic effort will be required to wrest this terrain from them.
SPECIFIC ACTIVITIES TO SUPPORT THE STRATEGY
Thus, to accomplish the overall strategy, it will be necessary to
• Support the modernists and mainstream secularists first, by
— publishing and distribute their works
— encouraging them to write for mass audiences and youth
— introducing their views into the curriculum of Islamic education
— giving them a public platform
— making their opinions and judgments on fundamental questions of
religious interpretation available to a mass audience, in competition
with those of the fundamentalists and traditionalists, who already have
Web sites, publishing houses, schools, institutes, and many other vehicles
for disseminating their views
— positioning modernism as a “counterculture” option for disaffected
Islamic youth
— facilitating and encouraging awareness of pre- and non-Islamic history
and culture, in the media and in the curricula of relevant countries
— encouraging and supporting secular civic and cultural institutions and
programs.
• Support the traditionalists against the fundamentalists, by
— publicizing traditionalist criticism of fundamentalist violence and
extremism and encouraging disagreements between traditionalists and
fundamentalists
— preventing alliances between traditionalists and fundamentalists

— encouraging cooperation between modernists and traditionalists who
are closer to that end of the spectrum, increase the presence and profile
of modernists in traditionalist institutions
— discriminating between different sectors of traditionalism
— encouraging those with a greater affinity to modernism—such as the
Hanafi law school as opposed to others to issue religious opinions that,
by becoming popularized, can weaken the authority of backward
Wahhabi religious rulings
— encouraging the popularity and acceptance of Sufism.
• Confront and oppose the fundamentalists, by
— challenging and exposing the inaccuracies in their views on questions
of Islamic interpretation
— exposing their relationships with illegal groups and activities
— publicizing the consequences of their violent acts
— demonstrating their inability to rule to the benefit and positive development
of their communities
— targeting these messages especially to young people, to pious traditionalist
populations, to Muslim minorities in the West, and to women
— avoiding showing respect or admiration for the violent feats of fundamentalist
extremists and terrorists, instead casting them as disturbed
and cowardly rather than evil heroes
— encouraging journalists to investigate issues of corruption, hypocrisy,
and immorality in fundamentalist and terrorist circles.
• Selectively support secularists, by
— encouraging recognition of fundamentalism as a shared enemy, discouraging
secularist alliances with anti-U.S. forces on such grounds as
nationalism and leftist ideology
— supporting the idea that religion and the state can be separate in Islam,
too, and that this does not endanger the faith.

The West Masterminded Chechen War to Destroy USSR and Russia

[Armenia's unique history make it highly unlikely that an Armenian would convert to radical Wahhabi "Islam" (SEE: Did 'Misha' influence Tsarnaevs? In Watertown, doubts ).]

The West Masterminded Chechen War to Destroy USSR and Russia – June, 2010

 

It is now known that the twenty year old Islamic insurgency in the Caucasus (according to many experts an Al-Qaeda operation) and the arming of Georgia had been an integral part of a long-term Western plan to wrestle the northern Caucasus region away from Russian control and place it under what some experts refer to as an Islamic Caliphate. Ankara, Baku and Tbilisi, as well as a steady stream of Islamic militants trained in Pakistan and Afghanistan, were the active participants in this agenda throughout much of the 1990s. Its funding and organization was carried out by a consortium of special interests in Washington and London and, most probably, in Tel Aviv and Riyadh as well. It is also now known that Western intelligence agencies also conspired to force Russia out of the Balkans (Yugoslavia in particular) and Central Asia by targeting pro-Russian bastions in those regions.

As it has been since the early 1980s, radical Islam was always the readily accessible tool the West exploited to carryout its geopolitical agenda.

Why should this seemingly Russian problem concern us Armenians? Armenians in general, diasporans in particular, seem to be having a hard time accepting that a weakened Russia in the Caucasus poses a serious long-term threat for Armenia. Those amongst us that do not possess clearness of thought regarding this matter, I would just like to say that the Caucasus without an effective Russian presence would prove disastrous not only for Armenia but for the entire Eurasian continent. Joining three important geopolitical zones – Europe, Asia and the Middle East – the Caucasus region is the gateway to Russia’s vulnerable south, its soft underbelly. The region is also a major hub for the strategic transfer of Eurasian energy and trade. Strategic planners have long realized that those who are able to control this region could potentially impact much of Eurasia and beyond.

As we all know, the Caucasus is not a bastion of Christianity or western civilization. The heavily Turkic and Islamic cultural and ethnic makeup of the region in question would not tolerate a non-aligned, a non-Turkic or a non-Islamic power in their midst – without a major outside power acting as a guarantor or as a counter weight. Against this Islamic and Turkic center-of-gravity, the Russian presence has been the only counter-influence in the region for the past two hundred years. And it is precisely because of this geopolitical reality in the Caucasus that we Armenians have been able to establish nation-state.

It is quite frightening that unbeknownst to most Armenians, because our collective attention has naturally been drawn to the Caucasus region’s east-west geopolitical plane, the northern Caucasus was actually on the verge of a radical Islamic/Turkic transformation throughout much of the 1990s. There is no doubt today that had the northern Caucasus fell victim to this agenda it would have been the south’s turn not much long thereafter.

In short, without a Russian presence in the Caucasus, the region in question will eventually transform itself into a Turkic/Islamic cesspool; and not even a million of our “fedayees” would be able to stop it from happening.

Had Western intentions for the Caucasus succeeded not only would we Armenians be lamenting the lose of Nagorno Karabakh today we would most probably be lamenting the lose of our fledgling republic as well. Under such a geopolitical scenario for the region, a best case scenario for Armenia would have been if it simply become politically and economically subordinate to Ankara, Baku and Tbilisi.

Those who complain about Armenia’s current dependence on Moscow need to take this geopolitical prospect into serious consideration.

Although Vladimir Putin’s Russia succeeded in crushing the Islamic terror onslaught in the northern Caucasus in the early 2000s and managed to defeat the Western backed regime in Georgia in 2008, Moscow nevertheless realizes that a potential threat continues to remain in the region. As a result, as long as ethnic Russians run the show in the Kremlin, Moscow will do everything in its power to have a strong presence in the Caucasus. And needless to say, Armenia is pivotal to the Kremlin’s regional agenda. As a result of the major setbacks suffered by Islamists and the West, Ankara has more-or-less abandoned its pan-Turkic agenda in the Caucasus and Central Asia and is currently seeking to move closer to Moscow.

Nevertheless, despite Ankara’s best efforts to befriend the Bear, Turks continue to fear Russia’s resurgence.

The following video presentations and articles deal with this topic. Those interested in learning more about the Islamic insurgency in the Caucasus and the grave threat it posed to the entire Caucasus region should read the following book – Chechen Jihad: http://www.amazon.com/Chechen-Jihad-Qaedas-Training-Ground/dp/0060841702

Arevordi

West/Saudis Pushing “al-CIA-da” Into Losing Battle With Hezbollah

[SEE:  Al-Qaida threatens Hezbollah over its support of the Syrian regime]

Pushing Al Qaeda to Take on Hezbollah

by FRANKLIN LAMB

Beirut

(Beirut) – “This is one damn fine idea, what took us so long to see a simple solution that was right in front of our eyes for Christ’s sake”, Senator John McCain of “Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran” and “no-fly zones for Syria” notoriety, reportedly demanded to know from Dennis Ross during a recent Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) brain storming session in Washington DC.

(Daniel Pipes, Photo:  left)

Ross, a founder of WINEP with Israeli government start up cash (presumably reimbursed unknowingly by American taxpayers) and currently WINEP’s “Counselor”, reportedly responded to the idea of facilitating Al Qeada to wage jihad against Hezbollah with the comment: “Shiites aren’t the only ones seeking death to demonstrate their ‘resistance’ to whatever. Plenty of other Muslims also want to die as we saw last week in Boston. Let ‘em all go at it and Israel can sweep out their s— when it’s over.”

One Congressional staffer attending the WINEP event emailed me, “Dennis spoke in jest — well I assumed he did — but who knows anymore? Things are getting ever crazier inside some of these pro-Israel think-tanks around here.”

Featured on the front page of its April 25 edition, the Zionist-compliant New York Times writes that the Assad regime is apparently recovering but, “it must be understood that for all of the justified worries about the (al Qaeda affiliated) rebels “Assad remains an ally of Iran and Hezbollah. “

The Times adopts the views of Islamophobe, Daniel Pipes, who recommends that the US try to keep the two sides in Syria fighting as long as possible until they destroy each other.  Pipes, now serving as an advisor to John McClain, wrote in the Washington Times on April 11, “Evil forces pose less danger to us when they make war on each other. This keeps them focused locally, and it prevents either one from emerging victorious and thereby posing a greater danger. Western powers should guide enemies to a stalemate by helping whichever side is losing, so as to prolong their debilitating conflict.”

Both Jeffrey Feltman, U.N. Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs and Susan Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to the U.N, have at a minimum impliedly joined in the intriguing idea of siccing Jabhat al Nusra on the Party of God. This scheme, if launched, would be Feltman’s 14th attempt to topple Hezbollah and defeat the Lebanese National Resistance to the occupation of Palestine since he first arrived in Beirut from Tel Aviv in 2005 to become US Ambassador to Lebanon.  This observer, among others in this region sense that given the aura still enveloping the American Embassy here,  that Jeffrey never really left his Lebanese ambassadorial post and continues to occupy this position from his new UN office.

This week Feltman warned that the spillover of Syria’s war continues to be felt in Lebanon as Susan Rice, echoed him and condemned Hezbollah for “undermining the country’s “dissociation policy.” The latter being a bit obscure in meaning but connoting something like sitting around doing nothing while this country is being shelled by jihadists from among the 23 countries currently fighting in Syria.  Feltman informed the media on 4/22/13 that “The Secretary-General is concerned by reports that Lebanese are fighting in Syria both on the side of the regime and on the side of the opposition, hopes that the new government will find ways to promote better compliance by all sides in Lebanon with the “disassociation policy.”

Given current divisions in Lebanon that will not happen anymore than Lebanon’s June 9th Parliamentary elections will be held on time.

For her part, Susan lectured the UN Security Council that “Hezbollah actively enables Assad to wage war on the Syrian people by providing money, weapons, and expertise to the regime in close coordination with Iran.” This position was expressed also through a statement by US. State Department spokesman , Patrick Ventrell, who said that Washington “has always been clear concerning Hezbollah’s shameful role and the support it is providing for the Syrian regime and the violence it is inducing in Syria.” Ventrell added: “We were clear from the start concerning the destructive role played by Iran as well as the Iranian role.”

Several Israeli agents in Congress are today promoting a Jabhat el Nusra-Hezbollah war even as the Obama administration terror-lists the jihadist group. Meanwhile, Senator Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.), McCain’s neocon Islamaphobe acolyte, goes a bit further and explains to Fox News, once Assad falls and Hezbollah is out of the picture “We can deal with these (jihadist) fellas.”

Recent history in Libya instructs otherwise. As Turkish commentator Cihan Celik recently noted: “A divorce with al-Nusra will not be easy in Syria”

The past two years in Libya, that shadow of a country, reveals countless examples, three witnessed firsthand by this observer, during the long hot summer of 2011. What we saw was Gulf sponsors and funders offering young men, often unemployed, $ 100 per month, free cigarettes, and a Kalashnikov to do jihad.  Plenty down and out lads still accept these offers in Libya, as they do in Syria. One reason why the militias proliferated so quickly in Libya and never melted away was the phenomenon of a wannabe jihadists deciding to be a leader and recruiting perhaps a brother or two, maybe a few cousins or tribe members, and presto, they have created a militia with power they never dreamed of.

Their new life can offer many perceived benefits  from running rough shod over the civilian populations and setting up myriad mini but potent criminal enterprises specializing in kidnappings, robberies, drugs, trafficking in women, and assassinations for cash.  How many of these young men have turned in their weapons in Libya and returned to their former lives?   Or will do so when instructed by the likes of McCain or Graham?

On 4/24/13 Jabhat Al-Nusra Front intensified its threats to officials here including the Lebanese president by releasing a challenge from its media office: “…we inform you – and you may think of that as a warning or an ultimatum – that you must take immediate measures to restrain Hezbollah, otherwise, the fire will reach Beirut. If you do not abide by this within 24 hours, we will consider that you are taking part in the massacres committed by the Hezbollah members and we will unfortunately have to burn everything in Beirut.” In addition they are calling for Jihad and the establishment of the “Resistance Factions for Jihad against the Regime in Syria” and also in Saida and Tripoli, Lebanon.

Israeli officials appear to be in agreement with the Ross/Pipes proposal to arrange for Al Qeada to launch a war against Hezbollah.  The Director for External Affairs at “The Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, repeatedly claimed that the Shia are the real threat to Israel, not the Sunni and with the least threat coming from the Gulf monarchs.  He offered the view recently that “Israel is now a partner of the Sunni Arab states.”  Indeed, Israel hopes that Hezbollah will forget Israel when tasked with trying repel Al Nusra and other al Qaeda affiliate attacks.

According to various Israel officials who have issued statements on the subject, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan and several other members of the Arab League constitute an “alliance of anxiety for Israel” because they claim that “Sunni Arabs are not as competent as the Shia and Iran and as a result they express doubts that Israel can rely on the Sunni states in the same way that the Sunni states can rely on Israel.”

In a documentary about the Iraq war, an American soldier explains:  “Actually, we don’t really have much of a problem with the Sunnis.  It’s the Shias who we are afraid of.  The problem has something to do with their leader who was killed centuries ago and these fellas are willing to lay their life down for the guy.  Anyhow, that is what they told us in Special Ops class.”

Al Nusra fighters currently occupying parts the south west areas of Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in south Damascus, recently expressed eagerness to fight Hezbollah which they claim would give them credibility with Sunni Muslims and, oddly, in this observers view, “credibility with western countries”, who supposedly are al Qaeda’s sworn enemies. It’s sometimes hard to know who precisely is whose enemy these days in Syria as the rebels continue using areas east and southwest of Damascus as rear bases and as gateways into the capital.

Despite boasts to the contrary from Jihadist types in Syria and Lebanon, it is not clear to this observer if Jihadist and al Qaeda-affiliated groups living among Hezbollah communities in Lebanon like Fatah al Islam, Jund al Sham or Osbat al Ansar which have been here for years would actually join the Zionist promoted anti-Hezbollah jihad.

But it is evident that some Lebanese Islamists and jihadists directly connected to al Qaeda do have the ability to target Hezbollah.   Elements from each of these groups are startling to associate and identify with Jabhat al Nusra, inspired partly by their successful military operations in Syria.

Again, we saw the same thing in Libya.  Enthusiastic, ambitious young men who want to improve their lot in life try to go with a winner.  According to sources in the Ain al Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, jihadist leaders such as Haytham and Mohammed al Saadi, Tawfic Taha, Oussama al Shehabi and Majed al Majed are recruiting followers and fighters in Lebanon and offer a ticket out the the squalid army-surrounded, Syrian-refugee-inflated camp.

Homs-based media activist Mohammad Radwan Raad claims that “the embattled residents of the rebel-controlled Homs province town of Al-Qusayr welcome Saida, Lebanon-based Sunni Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir’s call for Jihad in Syria. Claims Raad, “Al-Qusayr residents welcome Assir’s call and hope the Lebanese people help kick out Hezbollah members in the area…We need anyone who can get rid of them.” This week Assir urged his followers to join Syrian rebels fighting troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah. Al-Qusayr has been under rebel control for more than a year and on the scene reports indicate that it is about to be returned to central government control.

In response, two Salafist Sunni Lebanese sheikhs urged their followers to go to Syria to fight a jihad (religious war) in defense of Qusayr’s Sunni residents. “There is a religious duty on every Muslim who is able to do so… to enter into Syria in order to defend its people, its mosques and religious shrines, especially in Qusayr and Homs,” Sheikh Ahmed al-Assir told his followers. For now, experts say, such calls on the part of Lebanon’s Salafists are largely bluster because the movement is far from able to wield either the arsenal or the fighting forces of Hezbollah.

Local analysts like Qassem Kassir argue that Jabhat al Nusra and friends are not organized enough to fight against Hezbollah in a conventional war, but they could cause great damage by organizing bomb attacks against the Party of God’s bases and militants. The latter would be enough initially for Ross and WINEP and their Zionist handlers. Creating chaos in Lebanon being one of their goals but more importantly weakening the National Lebanese Resistance led by Hezbollah and also challenging Syria and Iran.

In a recent speech, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah offered his party’s view about a Western-promoted Sunni-Shia clash, with Al-Nusra, AlQaida and all the groups which flocked to Syria, saying that what was wanted of them was to kill and get killed in Syria, in a massacre which will only serve the enemies of the Arabs and Muslims.

The coming months will reveal to us if  the several pro-Zionist Arab regimes as well as Islamophobes, including those at WINEP and other Israel-first think-tanks, are delusional in believing that John McCain’s “simple solution” to those resisting the Zionist occupation of Palestine, would be to assist  Jabhat el Nusra type jihadists to make war against Hezbollah.

Whether they could defeat Hezbollah is uncertain but whether Jabhat al Nusra and friends are capable of igniting yet another catastrophe in this region is the looming question.
   Franklin Lamb is doing research in Lebanon and Syria and is reachable c/o fplamb@gmail.com

Franklin Lamb is doing research in Lebanon and Syria and is reachable c/o
fplamb@gmail.com

The Saudi Connection To Chechen Islamists

[Wahhabism, Ibn al-Khattab...This is a CIA attempt to rewrite the anti-terrorist narrative, right before our eyes.  We need new terrorist bogeyman, since the Afghan/Pakistani strain of Jihadism is a spent force (most of the memorable terrorists have already been popularized in America'a other "jihads," or they have been eulogized after being killed once or twice in Predator strikes.  We need new "bad guys," so the Wahhabis have produced some for us (SEE: If the Script Calls for Credible “Bad Guys,” Then Invent Some!).  The real problem with these new "Islamist" straw men and with the previous ones, is the Saudi connection.  How des the CIA manage to get two Chechen brothers to kill innocent Americans, and thereby implicate a whole new branch of Wahhabi terrorism without implicating the Saudis? 

The list of Saudi anti-American crimes has grown larger than our capacity for forgiveness.  Since 2001, Americans have stood silent, with their jaws dropped open in disbelief, as one Saudi after another is secreted out of the country under cover of a media blackout, followed by a whitewashing of any wrongdoing or court record documenting it.  If the  CIA command to kill Americans came from Saudi Arabia (even if those commands came in the form of subliminal hypnotic suggestions), then all America will rise-up against the desert kingdom, speaking with one voice, holding high the same clenched right fist.  Even if the CIA is untouchable, Saudi Arabia will be introduced to the infamous "dust bin of history."

According to SLATE, Tamerlan Tsarnaev had his own YouTube site.  He posted videos of a Saudi preacher reciting parts of the Quran. 

It is done with some sort of echo effect, making it sound like the infamous “Juba the sniper” video.  The hypnotic quality of this effect is inescapable to anyone who listens to one of the recitations.  Tsarnaev also posts an Al-Qaeda video of Khorasan, The Emergence of Prophecy: The Black Flags From Khorasan.  Khorasan is allegedly the “al-CIA-da” name for the region from Afghanistan to Central Asia, the site of the first battle won against the Anti-Christ by the jihadi forces of the new Mahdi. 

The emir of “al-CIA-da” in Chechnya was Ibn al-Khattab.  He was a Saudi of Chechen heritage from the Jordanian border region.  There, al-Khattab (whose desire was to study in America, according to his brother) was recruited for higher education of unknown content by Aramco, the Saudi oil giant.  The first suspect in the marathon bombings was a Saudi, Abdul Rahman Ali-Alharbi.  Al-Alharbi has alleged links to “al-Qaeda.”   If this Saudi can be linked to the Tsarnaev brothers, even if there is a photo of them standing near each other in Boston, then it might be the nail in the Saudis’ coffin, or at least the match that will light the fuse on the Islamist powderkeg which they have chosen to sit upon.]

Khattabs real name is Samir Saleh Abdullah Al-Suwailem.

The Saudi connection linking the Boston Marathon to September 11 

Albeit the dimensions are somewhat smaller, but the pain, fear, and anger are the same. America has again been caught off guard by foreign terrorists seeking to sow destruction and death.

By Ksenia Svetlova

Emergency workers aid injured people at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon following an explosion in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. Photo by AP

Almost 12 years have passed since that “great tragedy,” the attacks of September 11, and the United States has yet again experienced a national tragedy. Albeit the dimensions are somewhat smaller, but the pain, fear, and anger are the same. America has again been caught off guard by foreign terrorists seeking to sow destruction and death.

In September 2001 the terrorists were Saudis (15 out of 19) and Egyptian. This time, the culprits where to Chechen brothers, Tamerlan and Dzokhar Tsarnaev. If it turns out that their motivations were religious, the context of their country of origin will not be coincidental. Until now there has not been any testament from the two, neither written nor filmed – which is generally common practice in the case of such attacks – nor has there been any claim of responsibility from Al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri. Al-Qaida also tends to take responsibility for attacks to which it was unconnected at the operational level, if it shares an ideological bond with those responsible. Despite this, it is very likely that there is a strong, ideological and operational connection between the attacks of 2001 and 2013.

Back in the early nineties, Chechnya and neighboring Dagestan became a stronghold in the Caucasus region for the radical stream of Sunni Islam, Wahhabism. Mosques and madrasas were opened; training camps for young combatants were established to prepare them for the “jihad against the infidels.” Until this day, the teachings of Said Buryatsky, a charismatic, Wahhabist radical, are among the most downloaded files in Chechnya.

This radical Islamist movement was founded in the Arabian Peninsula and adopted by tribes that founded a kingdom in the 18 century, which later became Saudi Arabia. This puritan, aggressive movement is considered by orthodox Muslims as heretic. Many approached it with suspicion and rejected it, but the situation changed once the “black gold” began to flow from Saudi Arabia’s soil. Thus the Wahhabists gained their much-wanted recognition, and began to send money to religious institutions around the world, including in Chechnya and Dagestan.

In addition to the money that began to emanate from Saudi Arabia in the late 1980’s, “preachers” began to travel the world as well. Scholars, religious figures, and jihadist combatants, trained in battles against the Soviets began to spread. One of them was Ibn al-Khattab, the well-known military commander of Saudi-Jordanian descent, who was killed by Russian forces in March 2002.

The spread of Wahhabism in Chechnya sparked a great deal of opposition within the local society, the strong ideals of which contradicted the traditional Islam practiced in the area, as well as the way of life in Chechnya and Dagestan. Fierce battles and political conflicts ensued in the 1990’s, and continued after the war in Chechnya. The institutionalization of Wahhabism in Chechnya happened not without a significant amount of force, as its supporters fought both the Chechnyans and the Russians. Despite the efforts of current Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov to prevent his capital Grozny from becoming the “Dubai of the Caucasus,” the Wahhabist extremism attracts many youths from Chechnya and Dagestan.

Only recently, video clips were published featuring Chechen jihadists that traveled to Syria to fighting against President Bashar Assad’s regime. Kadyrov came out with a statement that “no Chechen is fighting in Syria,” later altering his statement by claiming that those fighting in Syria were mercenaries.

The extremist propaganda is functioning as always, and a new generation in Chechnya has grown up with conflict and propaganda. This generation is attracted to the simple ideological base of Wahhabism, and to the murderous romance of the jihad its leaders are calling for. The members of this new generation go to Syria and Iraq. Some of them maybe go to the U.S. and other places in the world in order to join the “army of believers,” according to them. It is not impossible to rule out that the Saudis who flew planes into the World Trade Center and the brothers from Chechnya who set off bombs at the Boston Marathon subscribed to the same radical Wahhabist ideology.

Immediately after reports were published that the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing were of Chechen origin, Kadyrov tweeted that “terror has no nationality.” Currently, his followers in Chechnya and Ingushetia will once again have to “deal with” the Wahhabist problem in Russia’s backyard. The question is if even a leader as powerful as Kadyrov can dismantle the Wahhabist institution fostering in the Caucasus for decades, receiving monetary and ideological support from Riyadh.

Ksenia Svetlova is a writer and analyst on Arab affairs for Channel 9, and has a doctorate from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Middle Eastern Studies.

The Absolute Worst Kind of Terrorists Attack Hospitals and Schools

Suicide attack at Bajaur hospital kills four

Zahir Shah Sherazi

PESHAWAR: At least four people were killed Saturday when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives outside a hospital in Bajaur tribal region, officials said.

Administration officials, requesting not to be named, confirmed the suicide bomber walked on foot to the main gate of the agency headquarters hospital in Khar tehsil of Bajaur agency and blew up his suicide vest.

The dead included security personnel. Four other people were also injured.

Officials the bomber apparently targeted security men guarding the hospital.

Hamid Karzai Seeks To Curb Illegal CIA Militia Operations In Afghanistan

Hamid Karzai seeks to curb CIA operations in Afghanistan

President believes battle in which 10 children and a US agent died was fought by illegal militia working for spy agency

• Emma Graham-Harrison in Kabul

Afghan president Hamid Karzai’s campaign against CIA operations sets up a heated showdown with the US government. Photograph: S Sabawoon/EPA

President Hamid Karzai is determined to curb CIA operations in Afghanistan after the death of a US agent and 10 Afghan children in a battle he believes was fought by an illegal militia working for the US spy agency.

The campaign sets the Afghan leader up for another heated showdown with the US government, and will reignite questions about the CIA’s extensive but highly secretive operations in the country.

Karzai’s spokesman Aimal Faizi said the CIA controlled large commando-like units, some of whom operated under the nominal stamp of the Afghan government’s intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security (NDS), but were not actually under its control.

“Some of them are said to be working with the NDS, but they are not armed by the NDS, not paid by the NDS, and not sent to operations by the NDS. Sometimes they only inform the NDS minutes before the operation,” Faizi said. “They are conducting operations without informing local authorities and when something goes wrong it is called a joint operation.”

One of these groups was involved in a battle with insurgents in a remote corner of eastern Kunar province in early April that left several Afghan children dead, Faizi said. Karzai has fired the provincial head of intelligence in connection with the incident.

The US citizen who died during the battle was advising the Afghan intelligence service, and the airstrike that killed the children is believed to have been called in after he was fatally injured.

The US embassy declined to comment on CIA issues, but sources with knowledge of the battle said he was an agent, and his name has not been released, usually an indication of intelligence work.

Bob Woodward in his 2010 book Obama’s Wars described a 3,000-strong Afghan militia working for the CIA, and Faizi said the Afghan government had little information about the teams. “There is a lack of clarity about their numbers and movement,” he said when asked how many men the CIA had on their payroll, or where these large teams might be based.

Woodward said the unofficial commando units were known as counter-terrorism pursuit teams, and described them as “a paid, trained and functioning tool of the CIA”, authorised by President George W Bush.

They were sent on operations to kill or capture insurgent leaders, but also went into lawless areas to try to pacify them and win support for the Afghan government and its foreign backers. Woodward said the units even conducted cross-border raids into Pakistan.

In the wake of the Kunar battle, Karzai has also ordered his security officials to step up implementation of a presidential decree issued in late February abolishing “parallel structures”. Faizi said this order was aimed primarily at dismantling CIA-controlled teams.

“The use of these parallel structures run by the CIA and US special forces is an issue of concern for the Afghan people and the Afghan government,” he said.

For Karzai the move is another step towards reasserting Afghan sovereignty, part of a long campaign waged against US forces and their allies. He has already won control of the main US-run prison in the country, and ended unilateral night raids on insurgent hideouts that coalition commanders once described as critical to the war.

But Karzai’s move comes at a critical time for an already volatile relationship, when Washington and Kabul are trying to negotiate what, if any, military presence the US will have in Afghanistan beyond 2014, and curbing the CIA’s reach could strike at the heart of US strategic interests there.

Barack Obama has been clear that the US does not plan to fight the Taliban after next year. Instead some foreign troops will train Afghan soldiers to fight the insurgency while US special forces pursue groups such as al-Qaida hiding along the lawless border with Pakistan.

While the US is expected to keep a few thousand soldiers in Afghanistan, bolstered by troops from Nato allies, Obama has also made clear there is “zero option” of a complete US withdrawal, as happened in Iraq.

 

Photos of Military-Looking Suspects Photographed Carrying Backpacks Before Detonations At Boston Marathon

Excellent source of Boston Bombing photos: 

4chan ThinkTank 

 

Interview With Syrian President Bashar al-Assad–(4-18-2013)

The situation in Syria is better than the beginning of the crisis Great Syrian people do not worry him April 18, 2013 Damascus, (SANA) - Mr. President Bashar al-Assad in an interview with Channel News Syrian about the risks to Syria from global war and developments in the region, we need much more to hold on to the sense of Galaa and meanings of independence to be a holiday Galaa for us past glory and present dignity, pointing out that Syria is exposed to try to colonize new all means and various ways. President al-Assad said .. There are major powers, particularly the Western powers led by the United States historically does not accept that there are countries that have autonomy, even in Europe, how the third world countries. President al-Assad stressed that the Syrian people are a great people do not concern him, and draw optimism from the citizens and particularly the powerful families of martyrs and there is no option we have only a victory, pointing out that the situation in Syria now is better than the beginning of the crisis. President al-Assad pointed out that Erdogan is ready to give all his country against himself, pointing to the losses suffered by the politically inside Turkey against the backdrop of the failure of the so-called policy of zero problems, which turned into a zero policy and zero friends and zero ethics. Kerry’s visit to the region President al-Assad stressed that this shows that the external factor is a key factor in what is happening in Syria since the first day and that whenever we have achieved successes will see a further escalation. President al-Assad said that it is not possible to believe that thousands walk in with their equipment to Syria from Jordan in the time that Jordan was able to stop or arrest a person carrying a weapon one simple resistance in Palestine over the past years. The following is the full text of the interview: Question .. We live festival atmosphere Galaa .. What would you like to Tugeoh of the Syrian people in so on, especially in light of what is going through Syria from the events … Mr. President: It is axiomatic that connects holiday Galaa the withdrawal of foreign troops from any country but the first question we ask in such circumstances and in the Arab general conditions that preceded this crisis .. What if I came out colonizer and took with him the sovereignty and decision … No value to evacuate .. Independence real real Galaa is when Wigley colonized about the land and restore sovereignty with all means of the word meanings .. If there is an occupied land but its people free is much better than that we have liberated land and the people of loss of sovereignty and state devoid of national decision .. So you must understand Galaa and independence .. Galaa and independence in its comprehensive sense .. I think that Syria is in such circumstances are to try new colonization by all means and in different ways .. There is an attempt to invade Syria come from outside forces of different nationalities if they follow a new tactic differs from the traditional tactic of colonization, which we used to call modern colonialism that had come marching into the region and the end of the American occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan .. There is also an attempt to occupy Syria of cross-cultural point of a two-way intellectual invasion .. Either for Syria to go toward subordination and submission of major powers and the West in particular or the other direction, which undergo forces of obscurantism takfirist. We need much more to hold on Galaa words and meanings of independence I think that on this occasion we need much more to hold on to the sense of Galaa and meanings independence .. Since we were children he meant to us this holiday a lot of pride .. Today should remain this site and rise to be holiday Galaa for us the past glory and present dignity. Question .. Mr. President .. Mention what is going through Syria situations .. Events have evolved in this country from the crisis passed security events and then what Smeetmoh once you say about that war .. Today is exactly what is happening in Syria how Tocefh … Mr. President: In fact what is happening is a war .. It is not a security events .. Perhaps appeared initially in the form of security incidents and some still deal with it until this moment, raises questions and assessments through the fact that what is happening is the security incidents. The truth is war all carry this sense of the word .. There is a major power and specifically the Western powers led by the United States historically does not accept that there be countries that have autonomy, even in Europe .. Europe wants submissive how third world countries .. How small countries … Must be submissive to work for the interests of those countries. At the same time Syria is in a very important geopolitical desire to control Syria is also something historic and traditional policy of the colonial powers .. These countries play a role in this battle through the provision of political and public support in the beginning. There are a group of mercenaries that take money from abroad for certain acts of sabotage And recently moved publicly to provide material and logistical support and we believe that they support them also in the field of armaments. There are countries that regional Arab and non-Arab countries such as Turkey, for example .. These countries, sold and bought a lot and created a position for itself on the Arab and Islamic arena through virtual support for the Palestinian cause and it seems that this role has gone too far in excess of what is allowed by the Masters .. Any major countries was not necessary to undo this role .. Here transparent Syrian role towards various issues, including the Palestinian issue, including the issue of the rights and dignity exposes these countries .. Survival of the Syrian role as embarrassing to them .. It has become the Syrian issue, the Syrian issue, or a matter of the Syrian crisis to embarrass them and a matter of life or death in political terms for these countries Vzjoa the all their strength in order to hit Syria and tons and people. There are internal factors .. There are a group of thieves .. There are a group of mercenaries that take money from abroad for certain acts of sabotage .. And there التكفيريون or rule or Front victory .. All of them fall under the umbrella of an intellectual one. What is happening now is that we are facing mainly powers takfirist Indeed, what is happening now we are faced with basically those expiatory forces .. The first and second elements are practically wounded too harsh strikes Either they ended up in some places, or they have moved forcibly to work under the umbrella of al-Qaeda against their will in order to be part of it .. Fmili We now fight takfir powers. Question .. For as long as you have said, Mr. President, that Syria has become an embarrassment .. They always find new and Tra to it يعزفوا whenever they fail to stage .. Now is a lot of talk about that Syria witnessing sectarian اقتتالا and perhaps ideologically and other phenomena occur here and there .. Frankly .. Mr. President .. Are not you afraid of becoming sectarian sometimes rears its head in Syria .. Mr. President: In every society there are groups of people who carry intellectually limited and narrow horizon and carry a weak sense of national .. These groups appear in all the crises .. Appear on arena Pfla and performance harmful .. May not be detrimental to the broad level but appear in the form of spots .. This is what happened in Syria in the eighties during the crisis of the Muslim Brotherhood, who also used the sectarian thought in spite of the lack of Internet and satellite TV at that time .. Nevertheless managed to marketing thought and sectarian appeared those spots .. But when you defeat the Muslim Brotherhood returned the situation in Syria to the nature of the Syrian society. Syrian people is a great people do not concern it The only thing that bet in this case is the awareness of the people .. And the Syrian people actually proved unprecedented during the two years that the people of conscious .. Otherwise, we would have seen a very different situation in Syria so if entered directly to the answer to the question that I can say without exaggeration that the situation in Syria now better than in the beginning of the crisis .. In the beginning of the crisis use sectarian rhetoric and appeared Albur strongly and there was concern and loss of balance among many on this point .. With time there has been an increase in awareness of the dangers of what is happening and understanding of fraud happening in the media and awareness of the meaning of Syria which we live, but probably do not we see the importance of what we live in safety, security and harmony .. I do not say these words are not coexistence minutes. So I can say that after two years of the steadfastness of the Syrian people in this way in the face of those media attack with satellite channels seeking to deploy Takfir and sectarian discrimination and .. I would say that the Syrian people is a great people do not concern it. Question .. In this sense, Mr. President, do not seem worried never so conversations are promoted and perhaps entrenched … Mr. President: Absolutely .. I say just the opposite .. On the principle of the vaccine .. Vaccine is a bacterium weak .. If kills immune Vsaattiyk. Martyrdom Bouti saddened everyone, without exception, of various denominations We have many examples we experienced and showed national unity .. But another example is the death of Dr. Bouti .. Martyrdom Bouti saddened everyone, without exception, of various denominations and seen it on the boards of solace spontaneous .. The state has no role in this issue .. and Dr Buti did not communicate with a lot of these .. However saw consolation councils and we have seen the grief of the Christian Brothers .. Not only Muslims .. It means that there is a genuine national unity .. These outposts in people with limited sectarian thought does not scare us .. I’m not worried about them at all. Question .. Mr. President .. Frankly .. We hear a lot recently in the media and through the speakers, Arabs and foreigners that there are liberated areas .. Any beyond the control of the state .. We see the situation in Aleppo and tenderness in Homs sometimes .. Is there already areas beyond the control of the state today in Syria … Mr. President: We sometimes deal with this situation in military terms is similar to deal with a traditional enemy .. When the enemy comes in the traditional way to occupy part of the ground, whereupon the national forces to attack the enemy and defend the country and expel the enemy out .. It does not matter if they ruled on the enemy or not rob them of it .. Maybe just come out without eliminating it .. But what is important in this case is the liberation of the land .. In this case we are dealing with a completely different situation .. A new war .. New style .. We are dealing with the intervention groups in cities .. Some of which are non-Syrian .. Arab foreign .. And some of them Syrian intervention in cities and neighborhoods and conducts sabotage. We are now in the process eliminate terrorists At the beginning of military actions carried out by the armed forces to expel terrorists from cities .. Sometimes it takes a few hours work .. We think that these terrorists came out of the place and went to another place to escape or maneuver .. It means to spend the whole time the liberalization process of the land without end. To be precise on this point .. Now we do not do the editing process to talk about the land liberated areas .. We are now in the process eliminate the terrorists .. The big difference between the first and second .. If not overturn the terrorists does not make sense for the Liberation of any region in Syria. If we understand this point we understand what happens on the ground .. There is another side when the armed forces or state military plans they develop or adopt plans on a number of grounds, including for example, the importance of the site in terms of political and media .. Including the human side of any suffering of the citizens and the military side .. Details of military logistics. Always a priority for us is a humanitarian point of view .. Protect the lives of citizens and alleviate the suffering of the areas to which enters the terrorists .. The political and media do not give priority .. Sometimes the benefit of the other party .. It does not matter .. Important fact .. Sometimes neglect the media side they start the process of “tattoo and honk” to show the victories .. This does not concern us, but often imposing nature of the battle that there is no consensus between the priority of military and humanitarian priority .. Of course temporarily and partially in some areas .. There are things that imposed the battle but for us it is a priority of the human hand. Question .. The problem is that there are many conversations promoted .. There are people who are talking about the division of geographic and sectarian division and even doctrinal .. Mr. President .. Is this really true .. Or is it included in the framework of intimidation and psychological warfare which is still a cornerstone of the ongoing war on Syria. I do not think there are real grounds for the division .. He must partition the limits of religious, sectarian or ethnic .. In practice these lines do not exist Mr. President: As long as we are not afraid of sectarianism .. I do not think there are real grounds for division. He must partition the limits of religious, sectarian or ethnic .. In practice these lines do not exist because the Syrian society is integrated in almost every region of Syria .. And sometimes in every village of the small villages .. Sometimes at the level of what we call “farms” It is the smallest of villages and non-existent on the map administrative .. We see this integration at the level of mating and families, it is hard to be there without division lines of this type .. But I think that what is published maps or marketed in different ways and leaking to the Syrians at various levels is part of the psychological war and part of the defeat that always talking about what I call virtual defeat or defeat free .. Any to send a message to the Syrians and Iguenauhm, .. B, “you will not be able anymore to live as you were in the past .. unified country .., you are not able to live with each other .. you people divided by its very nature,” the suggestion process intended to devote this conviction, the Syrians .. Also this argument does not worry me as long as the first IPO a sectarian offering .. It is the most serious has failed .. There is virtually no longer one of the foundations to build upon these maps .. Or any leaks and ideas can be transferred to us similarly. Question .. But, Mr. President, is talk that there may be separation between some major cities and rural areas .. For example, in Aleppo Aleppo season from its countryside .. In areas north and north-east are also talking about the subject of tenderness as well as Qamishli .. Also rumored that there are actually divided lines may be beyond the control of the state and perhaps Bracken is separate and isolated from Syria .. So this applies characterization submitted shortly before .. Mr. President: I do not .. This is not in the framework of the division .. Is not built on the basis of ethnic or sectarian lines .. Built on the places where the terrorists .. In practice if we are even talking about state control of the sense of presence, there is no place I tried to enter the armed forces only managed to enter .. If there is no fixed lines. So I say .. It is for us the humanitarian and military priorities are imposing presence places and military tactics. We must look to Syria as a bloc on the pots المستطرقة way .. If we put fluids in a number of vessels and arrived including Climate pipes, the water level in place affects all other receptacles .. Same thing for terrorists .. When beating in place a positive impact on other places .. Valtktic military sometimes imposes on the State to intervene in another place before that exist in place before that exist elsewhere .. Is a time delay for purely military targets .. But absolutely not linked to the subject of the division .. The issue of buffer zones. Question .. Turkey apparently will be up to the crisis with the Kurdish problem and there is talk that Erdogan might give the State of the Kurds .. As well as possibly waive some of the demands and perhaps access to divide Turkey. If there is a state will be set up for access to the presidency .. What about the situation in Syria and the particular situation of the Kurds … Mr. President: For Erdogan .. Of course he is willing to give all his own for the same .. This is true .. This is for the first part of the question and you are given the answer. But for the Kurds in Syria .. I want to repeat what I always say when I put this subject. Kurds in Syria are a natural and essential part of the Syrian fabric and they are present in this region centuries ago Kurds in Syria are a natural and essential part of the Syrian fabric and they are present in this region many centuries ago, like the Arabs, Turks, Persians, and others were present in this region. Are not guests or Tarin .. Most of the Kurds in Syria are Syrian nationalists .. But always in any society .. There are people who are opportunists trying to use specific addresses for their personal interests .. So we have seen a number of gatherings calling itself the Kurdish parties in Syria and has always been growing on the so-called Kurdish issue or the persecution of Kurds in Syria .. This is not true at all .. They were talking about the subject of naturalization Kurds .. About 110 thousand, which was about two years ago .. They considered the issue .. Naturalization .. Moved to the words of another language for Multi .. Now approved State months ago the subject of the Kurdish language and Kurdish literature as taught in the colleges of Arts in Syria .. And other procedures .. But always discuss from time to time about something that is used in order to find them on the national scene .. This case we see from time to time .. This is something that does not worry because the majority are with the Syrian homeland .. In order not to say words structurally .. I will not return to the role of the Kurds in the Syrian revolution and at different stages of the struggle against colonialism .. But I will talk about current events .. Many of the families of the martyrs who met her are Kurds .. I do not know that they are Kurds or Arabs because I do not care about this subject .. But through their talk they tell us we are the people of the martyr .. We Kurds .. Is it possible for someone who does not believe in the country and seeks to secede .. It also raises from time to time .. To submit his or her life or the lives of his sons for this country .. This is not logical. Question .. But, Mr. President, when we talk about this very sensitive point .. We followed through the policy of the Turkish government recently it has been used a lot of paperwork .. But the paper said that this is probably the last Kurdish securities Erdogan, however, specifically will not be simply indispensable .. It will be more aggressive in order to achieve a result at least in Syria .. At this particular time are seeking to bring about a settlement .. The extent to which monitors the Syrian leadership precisely this point .. And what is in the case has been anything in the face of this country .. Mr. President: This is an important topic .. Can not be simplified .. But Erdogan has a purpose internal and external target. Conditions for the Kurdish issue in Syria is quite different from Turkey in terms of the history of the relationship External goal is to Syria .. Any to embarrass Syria in the subject, taking into account that the conditions for the Kurdish issue in Syria is quite different from Turkey in terms of the history of the relationship .. We did not massacres against the Kurds did Ndthdhm as happened with them since the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire stage .. Situation is completely different .. there is homogeneity in Syria and there is a real delay .. And put in the subject Kurdish put in Syria just a few decades ago by some opportunistic forces .. And our relationship Kurds are always a good relationship .. Even with the Kurdish parties, which were struggling for their rights in Turkey .. The other goal for Erdogan is an internal goal .. After the losses suffered by the politically inside Turkey against the backdrop of the failure of the so-called policy of zero problems and which turned out to be zero and zero policy vision and zero friends and zero credibility and zero ethics .. Other zeros in all directions except zero problems .. Losing so much of his loyalists .. Was to be the use of the subject of Kurdish in order to take advantage of the large Kurdish bloc in Turkey in order to get votes probably next in the Constitution through which thought to be the president of the Republic of wide powers .. So we care about this issue because what is happening in any neighboring country will affect us positively or negatively, but without being worried .. Except that there is no credibility to Erdogan in such a subject towards the Kurds and this is what our response to the recent friendly Kurdish forces that work on the Turkish and Syrian arena .. They do not trust Erdogan. Question .. There are also two contradictory points are accused by the Syrian state recently .. Opinion says that the Syrian state is a secular religion fights .. Others say that Syria backed away from secular cope with the recent events on the contrary, become more religious .. What is the truth Thread Mr. President .. Supports secular religions do not stand in the face Mr. President: We always drown terminology and discuss the content .. Drown in the linguistic sense .. But what is important is to practice .. For example was there Achtrakiat .. But all were called socialist .. There are those who practiced as a secular atheism and turn as they were in Turkey at various stages against religion fights religion .. There are secular which we understand .. Some say a secular open an eye for us freedom of religion .. We are a diverse community .. Every followers law or sect them the freedom to follow rituals and يمارسوها of the way that they deem appropriate .. This also means we should not treat as a state based on religion .. When it comes to a number of people to apply to a job, for example .. Do not ask of any religion or race this person belongs .. May not make a distinction on the basis of religion and not on the basis of race .. This is the concept .. I think that this concept is the concept of positive and good citizens .. As long as it is not a secular atheism, it means that it can not be against religion .. As long as we talk about freedom of religion, it means that this supports the secular religions do not stand in the face .. Completely contrary to religion is about morality, we need to morality and therefore we need religion .. The development process, for example .. Had a lot of people ask why stumble upon this process in different places .. I tell them .. Because you do you see the development process in Syria as a set of laws .. While it is built on ethics laws .. When they do not exist in the field of ethics can not develop community .. I secular means not differentiate between persons .. But this does not mean that I am not a Muslim and a Christian believer or a believer .. Quite the contrary, this picture is wrong .. The pictures that have been developed in the past about the conflict between Arabism and Islam .. Either you are a national or Islamic .. No .. I am an Arab and Muslim .. Arabic and Christian .. If the discrepancy between the two is the word incorrectly .. But that being said we moved from a secular direction of religious .. In Syria built since 1970 until today eighteen thousand Mosque .. Had against religion or secular We practice against religion .. How to allow construction of 18 thousand a mosque .. Built 220 schools and secondary legitimacy legitimacy, etc. .. Built dozens of institutes to train preachers .. If the religious side in Syria has always been an important aspect .. More importantly, if we want to say that secularism is atheism, as happens in a number of countries or as interpreted by other countries, it is impossible .. Because the state is the mirror of society .. If the community is committed to his religion must be a state based on religious grounds even though the secular .. Can not be the state does not devout religious and community .. And vice versa .. Can not be a form of state religion and society is not committed to his religion .. If we are a mirror of society .. Thus offering the first and the second offering both incorrect and inaccurate and reflects a lack of understanding of the fact and the meaning of the Syrian state and the meaning of secular Syrian state. Question .. But, Mr. President, we are talking here about the actions and decisions taken during the crisis .. Them to approve the establishment of a religious channel .. To allow advocates to work public advocacy … Committed to their religion in Syria, whether they are Muslims or Christians are the most during this national crisis .. It spoke of sectarianism is not these slides Mr. President: raise this issue both personally and directly with me in conversations with people or through some writings .. This shows the ignorance of the writing on this subject .. Because these things have nothing to do with the crisis at all .. In fact, the first signs or warning signs of danger after the invasion of Iraq began .. And specifically in 2004, when it began to show signs of extremism on the Syrian arena but it was at that time in most of the movement of people and thought extreme transient Syria .. Iraq beginning and later Lebanon .. And began trying to spread in Syria .. At that time basically has control of the security way .. The first disturbing incident was the incident of the attack on the radio and television building in 2006 by some of their seducer who told them the extreme Wahhabi Sheikh that this place is a hotbed of corruption and Kafr .. And they attacked him .. But the biggest warning when he got the first suicide bombing in Syria in 2008 and in the month of Ramadan by the Syrian people .. This was a major warning sign .. Against the backdrop of this explosion you meet with a number of senior clerics in Syria and we discussed the matter and we say that treatment is no longer sufficient security .. This is intellectual terrorism is terrorism primarily and intellectual Mnchoeh not need to fight it .. Can not fight terrorism or religious extremism only true religion .. This is the first treatment .. Come other means as complementary tools .. And put forward several ideas and one of them was Noor Sham TV .. At that time were not called Noor Sham TV .. But we need a way to face takfirist channels that began to sweep the space in the Arab and Muslim worlds .. Why are late in 2008 for the year 2011, a period of three years .. Because the idea was initially to launch this channel by the private sector .. For various reasons delayed .. We took the decision to نطلقها we, as a channel to be Islamic University do not express the thought of a particular religion or a particular religious stream .. For advocates also in 2008 and was one of the same procedures .. Especially that the advocacy work for women at that time was an act of secret gets in homes .. Or not to tell a secret, at least not under the eyes of the state because it is not official .. Was the idea that this is not a political act .. We are with the call .. Call to religion is something positive .. But when this call under the eyes of the state and state is Almsuulh of all sectors of society, including the religious sector, it holds the state responsible and at the same time if there is an attempt to exploit the invitation to targets outside the framework of the religious essence of the call can be for the state to correct this deviation .. And this experience has proven to be a good experience and useful .. These actions and others did not have a crisis, absolutely nothing .. On the contrary .. Crisis came to prove since the first day that religious institutions were the most disciplined .. To prove that committed to their religion in Syria, whether they are Muslims or Christians are the most during this national crisis .. It spoke of sectarianism is not these slides .. But from platoons .. Either of the species deviant religion towards religious extremism .. Or of secularism bidders family .. The moderate and committed nationally fact was .. So these actions are not linked to the crisis. Question .. Mr. President .. If we want to remain in the internal affairs .. If you will allow you to be talking about a political solution .. Since the government commissioned the implementation of the three stages of this solution began implementing the first phase of the boot and an end to violence for dialogue .. Currently consultations are is .. But, Mr. President, so far the street probably does not realize what are prohibitions dialogue and determinants of this dialogue in relation to the subjects as well as persons .. This dialogue with the ultimate … نحاور envious of Syria .. It did not deal with Israel overtly or covertly Mr. President: There is considerable confusion about what is happening now for dialogue for citizens .. First, there is the National Dialogue Conference, which is part of a political solution which I talked about in the “oratorical latter” in January .. This dialogue is not a dialogue between the state and the other party .. Is a dialogue between all the components of the Syrian society .. Private and political components .. About the future of Syria .. What is the political system required .. Parliamentary system .. Or a presidential .. Semi-presidential .. Anything else .. What about the Constitution .. What about the political and media laws, etc. .. Or any other topic .. The State here implemented as agreed upon by the conferees .. There is what is happening now than during a meeting of the Ministerial Committee chaired by the Prime Minister with the various parties in Syria .. Some believe that this is the dialogue .. This is not a dialogue .. These sessions consultations in order to determine how to begin dialogue .. If we want to go to the national dialogue conference .. Invited to the conference and on what basis is called … How is … Do we stand for a person or ten people .. Are you associated with the number of members in the representation of a particular party .. How do we call .. Clans or events .. We call .. There is no perception we do not want to build this conference only on perceptions of the state .. We want everyone to participate, we do these consultations maturation process of dialogue .. How poses Thread .. How to vote for him … And many details of things .. If we went to the national dialogue conference was not mature these grounds it failed before the conference starts .. Another aspect has to do with the state dialogue .. Now we are regardless of this initiative can talk with anyone .. نحاور envious of Syria .. It did not deal with Israel secretly or openly .. Both not flirts Israel .. All of the money not received in order to sell the home .. Each emphasizes the independence of Syria .. These are the basics .. This I consider a national foundation. Question .. Means national opposition .. Mr. President: the national opposition in the sense used become something different .. With every Unfortunately since the beginning of the crisis .. Some have an inferiority complex .. Some feel defeatism from the inside became national distributed free of charge to everyone .. All calls national opposition .. Take the examples .. There are those who appear on television and talking in each screen in a different language .. Speaking at every stage in a different language .. Is this a national opposition … Or oscillatory opposition … Can not be a national unless they are stable .. We have been in the country for the first day of the crisis we spoke one language .. We fight terrorism .. Struggle of trying to interfere in the internal affairs from the outside .. We reject domination .. At the same time the doors open for dialogue .. There are forces refused to dialogue in the beginning .. And later agreed to it .. If they are missed فليتفضلوا and say we were wrong .. Our assessment was wrong .. When we got out of Lebanon delivered a speech in 2005, I said we were wrong .. We had mistakes in Lebanon .. At the beginning of the crisis delivered a speech and said that there were errors .. Those they start just by changing their words .. Do you change speechless .. I do not I set .. For that he was arrested money which specifies the direction of speech … I speak frankly and clearly .. Is it because this person or that side was betting on specific bets that the state will fall within weeks or months, and thus is not interviewing of fall .. Will find a place for himself with the next, as some was thinking .. Some of these were silent when terrorist operations began .. Not denouncing terrorism, which began .. Find even justifications for terrorists .. Some of those did not support the military .. And all countries of all peoples in the world boasts of its armed forces as they express their unity and nation with all its components .. Some of them were attacking the army, rather than to stand with him in the army targeted the crisis before anything else because the address unity and steadfastness address .. All of these oscillations and variegated chameleon can not put it under the national title .. We have to ask questions intuitive .. Someone who was not or barely gets on the profiteers day .. We see today the aircraft moves from one place to another and sits in luxury hotels .. Personal finances this and that side .. Talking away from diplomacy .. No place for diplomacy now .. Funded .. If there is funding this uncertain .. It means that the decision depends on the decision of who pays .. How can a national if his decision in abroad .. Add to it .. All sit in the opposition abroad voluntarily forcibly they will tell you .. But in fact they are sitting abroad voluntarily .. Can not be this human nationally .. Especially in crisis .. If you expatriate in normal circumstances it must come to stand with your country .. Especially when they give lessons on national television .. How can you claim to national and fugitive abroad .. Where is the national … Asking people to move and give them lessons in patriotism They suffer every day in Syria and you are relieved abroad .. Where this convenience God knows .. There are many questions you should ask her so I expand on this topic .. Many questions must be asking before we oppose national .. So in this issue is not a place to compliment no place for hypocrisy .. Will Nnavq any one .. You must tell the traitor a traitor and an agent and client defeatist defeatist .. To Aotunai tell him no national .. Is it true that all opposition is a national opposition .. As for the opposition, it is by definition opposition .. If we had a million people are opposed to Syrian state policies .. Does this mean that these so-called opposition .. Can not نحاور a million people .. Can not share a million people in the government .. For example, practically opposition political sense in all countries of the world are elected opposition has a popular base .. If .. Of themselves that they know where the opposition is the election that determined the size of the opposition .. There are many questions you should ask her to define before these .. So if the question with talk … We have parties in Syria now .. Are still emerging but parties and national parties does not recite .. Not mortgage itself to the outside .. There are forces in the national home .. There are many Syrians national .. Do not stop the case on the issue of who fired on the same or himself enjoys a national opposition, which represents the people .. We know they do not represent only themselves. Question .. If proved determinants as well as the basics of the dialogue will remain a parliamentary regime in Syria, or there will be a presidential Parliament … There is no problem in question will be how Syria .. Presidential parliamentary system … This is determined by the people Mr. President: determinants course open .. Anything can be discussed .. There are no red lines only two things .. Syria’s independence .. This means there is no external interference in any internal affair .. This unresolved issue for us .. And stand with the terrorists .. If you do not tolerated stand with the terrorists, apart from that there is no problem in question will be how Syria .. Presidential parliamentary system … This is determined by the people .. For us, as determined by the people agree with it. Question .. Including the post of President of the Republic … I mean I mean even you, Mr. President … Mr. President: Position thing I do something else .. I mean, the job linked to the political system .. And the political system determines the powers of each position .. When changing the political system must be to change the powers of office in any direction .. This is something self-evident and, of course, this includes everything, even the powers of the president .. The President and ask him this subject is linked to the person and this is different from the powers .. Each person seeking to despise position .. So I see things .. If the job is just a tool and not a goal .. The project goal is provided by the person to the community and the people’s support for this project .. And access to the best condition for Syria .. What was done by hostile media in general .. Arab and other .. Is that they tried to show that the problem is not in the project and external forces come from abroad, not in extremism .. The problem is that the President is rejected by the people and this president adheres to the chair he kills his people for the Holy .. This raises continuously .. Therefore raised the issue of stepping down .. The fact that the job has no value .. If there is no support Popular Vamouncb No offers something for everyone .. What is the administrator must fight for is public support and satisfaction popular .. So I say to be decided by the people in this topic is the basis for the survival of the President or gone. Question .. Some fired term to negotiate with the system .. And no dialogue with the regime .. And our understanding of some Syrian officials that they have rejected this term .. What Vhmtamoh from term to negotiate with the regime and negotiations … Assumes himself as follows to external forces, as is the case for some, it could put the word negotiation Mr. President: I always like a country, state or society or nation family .. When sitting head of the family or family housewife with boys or boys sitting with each other or sit with each family .. They do not negotiate, but to engage in dialogue .. When you sit down with each other Syrians talk .. We say dialogue between the Syrians do not say negotiations between the Syrians .. If suppose the same person that strange “فيستطيع the negotiation call” .. If suppose himself as follows to external forces, as is the case for some, it could put the word negotiate .. But to accept them also therefore the foundations and the determinants of .. You negotiate your peers .. If you state you negotiate state .. The state does not negotiate persons .. If you are a party negotiation parties .. But not negotiate persons .. If you are a party you do not negotiate base people who call themselves the name of the party or stream or anything, but they have no base .. There is a kind of symmetry when put to negotiate .. For poses negotiation to determine the same .. Is it a Syrian dialogue with the Syrians .. Or an alien .. It represents. Question .. A quick tour of the area .. Find a visit to Kerry .. Israel as well as an apology from Turkey .. The resignation of the government of Lebanon and to assign Tammam Salam new government .. Striking is the situation in Daraa and what was said about the role of Jordan these events .. Is what is going on from the events accompanied by diplomatic and political events on the ground are pure coincidence in Syria today .. Mr. President: I think that there is a consensus that what happened recently is not a coincidence .. I think that if you ask anyone in this region and in Syria in particular .. Early and non-followers of the policy .. Will tell you that this things interconnected timetable .. In practice, Mr. who is the master and run one .. Clear this topic in the media .. It is not a secret pursuant .. Obama came and Kerry come to the same countries concerned by this escalation .. Especially what is happening in Daraa .. If things ربطنا with some of this indicates two things .. First indication that the external factor is a key factor as is happening in Syria since the first day .. This was difficult to persuade people to do .. Secondly, that whenever we have achieved successes will see a further escalation .. Because those external forces will not give up .. I am with you that the process is not a coincidence but it is wrong not to expect in advance or not we see clear. Question .. Mr. President .. Increasing talk a lot lately that Jordan has become a fixture in the ongoing war on Syria .. Means training camps .. The headquarters of the meetings .. The military leadership s even for terrorist groups on the ground .. Perhaps entry of large numbers of militants and weapons across the border this might also explain things in Daraa return to square one after a period of calm .. What’s the role played by Jordan .. It is not possible to believe that thousands walk in with their equipment to Syria at a time when Jordan was able to stop or arrest a person and a simple one carrying a weapon for the resistance in Palestine Mr. President: We got a lot of this information formally .. Some of them, of course, via media, قرأناها and heard all .. Some of them through diplomatic channels .. Some security Alakhrabr channels .. And all are in the same direction .. We immediately send a political envoy from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in private to Jordan, less than two months ago in order to put these data with Jordan officials and warns of the risks of what is happening will not only affect Syria .. Of course, heard all that would deny these facts .. Then he got in Daraa escalation .. We saw that thousands of militants and terrorists with arms and ammunition come from Jordan .. So we send a security official about a month ago or a little less also met with his counterparts security in Jordan and explained to them our existing data and also heard the complete denial about the involvement of Jordan before them all what is happening .. This is illogical .. Assume first that there are no camps .. Because what to put on the training camps unaudited information for us .. But what is uncertain Checker and confessions of terrorists and those who see us is they come through the Jordanian border .. It is not possible to believe that thousands walk in with their equipment to Syria .. At a time when Jordan was able to stop or arrest a person carrying a weapon one simple resistance in Palestine over the past years .. This talk is not convincing .. We hope some Jordanian officials who are not aware of the seriousness of the situation in Syria and what it means for Jordan .. It also means for other countries .. To be more aware in the estimation of this thing because the fire does not stop at our borders, and everyone knows that Jordan Exhibition him as Syria is exposed to him .. We wish to learn from the lessons we have learned from the stage of the Muslim Brotherhood .. These dangerous phase .. We wish them to learn to teach Iraqi officials who fully understand the importance of stability in Syria .. Regardless of some of the differences that existed between us and them in previous years .. But as a result of this awareness and as a result of the lessons learned that the fire in Syria must be transmitted to the neighboring countries .. This is what we wish. Question .. Mr. President .. Jordan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia .. Most of the Gulf countries .. Of course talking about here is a faction of Lebanon .. There is also the governments in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen .. Talking about governments are not talking here about people Is it reasonable that they are all wrong and you are right .. Is it possible to be 300 million Arabs are wrong and a few tens of officials on the right Mr. President: Let’s ask the question another way .. These countries were together and we were part of the Arab summits .. At least since the first Arab summit in 2000 against the backdrop of the second Palestinian uprising .. And after the war in Iraq and then with the project of the Middle East and the road map on the back of the victory of America’s invasion of Iraq as it was marketed at that time .. And peaks on the background of the Israeli war on Lebanon in 2006 and then in 2008 in the war on Gaza .. In all these joints .. You are an Arab citizen and you are a citizen of Syria Do you have confidence in any of these summits summit .. Did not hear from all Arab citizens of all kinds of slander for these peaks and us as officials Arabs sit in that room .. This makes us ask the question from your question .. Is it possible to be 300 million Arabs are wrong and a few dozens of officials in the hall on the right .. This gives us the answer is clearly .. The second point .. these countries we are talking about should not Nlomha the much because it is independent .. The decision is not in her hand .. Some of which the U.S. is strongly Mr. .. Some of which recently came through NATO .. And the other on tipping He lives in a troubled country and its people are not satisfied with him .. They need to before you give us legitimacy legitimacy .. As I said a few days ago .. Arab League are all legitimate need to .. But let’s put aside all this talk and take it in the trash for the simple reason that all these not Aanonna .. Who determines if we are right or wrong is the Syrian people I personally and all the Syrian official responsible to the Syrian people .. The Syrian people is just that we say we were or wrong .. We are right or wrong .. And any other hand does not concern us. Question .. Also if we went from these countries to Iraq’s neighbors .. Al Qaeda in Iraq recently announced that the Front victory affiliates .. and victory contrast Front pledged allegiance to al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri .. Mr. President .. Fighting in Syria now .. Fight al-Qaeda or terrorist groups or armed fighters fight moderates .. Both carry weapons and assaults on citizens is a terrorist .. Term “moderates fighters” is an American style of justification in front of their own people Mr. President: All of carrying arms and assaults on citizens is a terrorist .. Whether it belongs to the base or any other .. If we want to divide terrorists or base is the base of this is possible and this fact .. Had the tyrant rule is now in Syria under the title victory Front .. The term “moderate fighters” is a method to justify the U.S. in front of their own people .. America fought the Taliban after the events of 2001 and after many years she discovered she did not accomplish nothing in Afghanistan .. فالخسائر many American and hatred for America is becoming increasingly spread over terrorism in the world .. So I wanted to justify the dialogue with these groups and used against each .. Or perhaps to other political objectives .. She said that there is a good Taliban and bad Taliban .. Now they talk about moderate terrorist .. There are no moderate terrorist .. Is a terrorist. They call armed .. They call armed opposition .. This term offers to their people in the media because they have gone away to portray the situation as a conflict between the governor and the governed oppressed .. Thus the picture .. The back of terrorism and later appeared the identity of this terrorism is terrorism extreme western media could not hide this fact .. what then justify support the opposition .. What do you justify sending money, weapons and logistical support under different headings .. Non-lethal support … Non-lethal aid .. Civilian aid .. In the end can only be justified under the title “moderate militants”. Question .. But you said a little while ago that al-Qaeda is the predominant element in Syria now in terms of preparing and gear .. If this sense, the West arming al-Qaeda and funded .. How to understand it .. Mr. President: The truth is that the West always uses any item that appears in the arena even if it is against this element .. Proof that they are fighting al-Qaeda in Mali and support them in Syria and support them in Libya .. The same extremist groups that fought in Syria was supported in Libya, the same support Mali and Qatloha in Mali .. This is called double standards and I’ll call three standards and four standards .. And if there are a thousand standard I do not mind to have .. They use any paper detrimental to any country do not accept him .. Thus in the case of Syria are happy to come Qaeda .. They first dispose of these elements in different regions whether they يحاربونهم in Libya or in Mali or in Afghanistan or anywhere .. These elements come to Syria and this relieves the pressure in other areas .. On the other hand this leads to sabotage in Syria, regardless of who wins .. State or triumphed triumphed al-Qaida or other .. بالمحصلة Syria will pay the price, and the price will be dearly. West does not know or maybe does not realize now that this terrorism will return to the Western press has begun talking about the return of these risks We now see the results of vandalism for infrastructure and for sabotage in Syria thought .. This means that even if you win the state will be a weak state .. This is the aim of the west of this support .. But at the same time that the West does not know or maybe does not realize now that this terrorism will return to the Western press has begun talking about the return of these risks. In fact .. It also financed al-Qaeda in Afghanistan at the beginning and paid the price dearly later .. Now they support in Syria and Libya and elsewhere and pay the price later in the heart of Europe and in the heart of the United States. Question .. Another term heard from him for a period of humanitarian intervention. Mr. President: recently put the term humanitarian intervention, and we have seen examples of this process of humanitarian intervention .. We’ve seen in the west parking with the Palestinian people sixty years ago against the Israelis for the Palestinian people .. We saw humanitarian intervention in Vietnam .. We’ve seen in the Korean War .. In the Korean War, I read several numbers .. At a minimum three million were killed .. There are those who say that the number of fire deaths of nine million U.S. in North Korea alone .. And we have seen in Iraq, and you know better than anyone the results .. And we’ve seen recently in Libya .. And we’ve seen in Syria .. Put in parallel with another term humanitarian intervention now a moral responsibility .. I think that humanitarian intervention sole purpose of human destruction Syrian simply and moral responsibility they are talking about recently is the responsibility of the withdrawal of the moral foundations in the destruction of the moral foundations upon which the Syrian society, particularly the dignity and uphold the rights .. Means to be people خانعا and admit that he can not defeat the big powers .. Dedicate this idea and reinforcing the principle of subservience .. You should know that these terms are dedicated for us something opposite .. That we always say not for the meek ​​or dependency or to surrender or defeat. Question .. Mr. President .. Than two years ago, and the ongoing crisis .. In your opinion, what prolonged the Syrian crisis .. Mr. President: various factors .. There are external factors and internal factors .. External factors we talked about .. The internal factors When you work on the scene the problem you must be a national consensus .. There is no doubt that we had a problem in the beginning to convince many Syrians fact what is happening .. You remember the first oratory in Parliament and the criticism directed at him .. Uncle talking .. Any plot .. Whenever something happens you say it’s a conspiracy .. With that I talked about in a simple and I said at the end of the speech we are ready to face .. They said that the issue emotional issue .. Any that if I went to the shield to the problem solved .. And I said to many at the time that the case did not start to finish fervent affection .. This scheme .. It is true that there are problems and gaps and internal factors built it .. but the issue is essentially external schema .. We were in front of a problem in convincing them that what is happening in the external media and rigging that killed demonstrators is not the state .. And that there are other points of the shooting on both sides in order to inflame feelings .. It was difficult to later convince them that these militants are not free army .. It is linked to Army and not free .. Works with money and kills through the money .. It was difficult to convince them that the bulk of the paid-up demonstrations .. Look at the early stages .. When she appeared Qaeda .. It was hard to convince many people that entered the base on the line until they saw all these things with their own eyes .. Unfortunately with all of our segments see things when it is late too late .. National Valajamaa in many cases necessary .. It is an important point .. How much time we need to convince them that the state does not destroy the mosques .. The last incident at the Omari Mosque .. Seen on YouTube and on TV how they blew up the minaret .. For the massacres .. All were placed massacre draw the Syrian Arab Army .. Unfortunately with all our slice was going versa .. Create a base for chaos in Syria .. If not weapons Fbalvkr .. There are stop with the terrorists without feeling .. I Athmh bad faith, but out of ignorance and without feeling .. Pen-and-modern thought and faulty logic .. They blocked .. Some of them or less vast discovered they are wrong, but some have yet to discover the truth .. This is the biggest obstacle. Question .. These elements of the continuing crisis, Mr. President .. But what about the elements of the steadfastness of the state until now .. In spite of all this mobilization .. Not for this people for everything that is not collapsed weeks as سوقوا but a few days .. Location strength of people’s strength and weaknesses of poor people Mr. President: I did not say the state has withstood .. I tell people survived .. This great nation has stood in this war two years .. Even the people themselves do not know what is the size of the attack .. Many people do not know what is the size of the attack .. But is touching the repercussions .. However withstood .. This fact .. Great people .. This underlines the essence of Syria .. Were it not for this people for everything that is not collapsed weeks as سوقوا .. But a few days .. I do not say that withstood the state .. Location strength of people’s strength and weaknesses of poor people .. And the resistance in Lebanon in 2006, its people triumphed by fighters .. Were it not for the people supporting her and steadfast with them could not stand .. This is the situation in each country .. And Syria is no exception. Question .. Mr. President .. We talked about everything that is political and field .. But let me turn a little to the humanitarian notch .. You father .. Why تشرحون for your children happening in Syria .. What do you say to them … Mr. President: By the way .. I’ve got three sons and not five as some marketed .. To return to the question .. Topic of this year .. I أتشارك the cap with all the parents .. There is no doubt that the events experienced by Syria and its repercussions and its economic, psychological, social and what we’ve seen on our television screens and hear children in the schools of dialogues and discussions are different from what they used before the crisis will leave serious effects and negative on the future of Syria, because they will be the next generation .. This is one of the objectives of the attack .. It is, as I said just before the destruction of human .. The first thing that we need to focus on is that this child out of the Syrian crisis is more faith in God .. Because more than the words used in the sabotage is “Allahu Akbar” .. How can you explain to a child that there is no link between the words “Allahu Akbar” and between absolute evil which is killing an innocent human being .. This issue will not be easy .. We have to explain to them how this word means good and loving and national unity .. Each absolute good in. .. The child must understand this point .. Because it is the basis of this faith, then you can proceed to the other faith, a faith strongly homeland and nation and the unity of the homeland .. If you believe in Allah and the nation have a solid belief in himself and a master .. Then reassure Syria .. I think that the responsibility comes in this framework if we are to maintain our home and work on children is because we we are faced with a generation drink a lot of misconceptions and bad and evil. There is no choice before us only victory Question .. How optimistic you look at the end of the day, Mr. President .. Mr. President: if there is no optimism in Syria in general and especially those who put their lives .. As we say colloquially .. On their palms and fighting for that we should live together .. If there is not what we fought primarily optimism and what صمدنا Syrians .. But this optimism نستمده as officials and a state of the people .. And أستمده I personally meet with citizens .. But particularly from the families of the martyrs .. This powerful families .. Jabara each carry a sense of the word .. When you sit with a mother or father and brothers, sons and say we made ​​the first martyr ready to offer second, third and fourth .. This is a national and boundless .. This is what motivates us to be optimistic .. There is the option of choice but victory .. If we win Syria ends .. I do not think that this is an acceptable option for any citizen in Syria. Broadcaster .. Thank you very much. Mr. President: I also want to thank you again and I applaud all the actors in the Syrian news channel and convey through you salute each Syrian citizen in this precious occasion and the university .. The occasion of Eid Galaa .. Which I hope, God willing, to come in the next year and be Syria has exceeded its crisis and ضمدت wounds.

Sararogha Drone Attack Highlights Total Breakdown of Pakistani National Military Strategy

[If the ISI did this to Pakistan, by tricking the CIA into this strike upon Hakeemullah Mehsud, then Pakistan's military intelligence agency has sabotaged the will of Rawalpindi  We may have just witnessed the Pak government cutting its own throat.  (SEE:  Drone Attack Upon Pak Showpiece In Sararogha).]

US drones kill 5 ‘militants’ in South Waziristan strike

By Bill Roggio

The US killed five “militants” in a drone strike today in an area of Pakistan’s Taliban-controlled tribal agency of South Waziristan. The strike is the second reported by the US in Pakistan in the past four days.

The CIA-operated, remotely piloted Predators or the more deadly Reapers fired a pair of missiles at what was described by AFP as “a base of the TTP,” or the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. Five “militants” were killed in the strike and two more were wounded, Pakistani intelligence officials said. The Taliban “base,” which was located in the village of Sararogha, was leveled in the airstrike.

No senior al Qaeda or Taliban commanders or operatives are reported to have been killed in the attack.

The village of Sararogha has been a stronghold of the al Qaeda-linked Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. In the past, Waliur Rehman, the head of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, is said to have directed operations from the village. Although the Pakistani military claimed it liberated Sararogha during an offensive that began in the fall of 2009, the fact that the US launched a drone strike in the village today indicates it is far from being under the control of the security forces.

An infamous peace agreement between the Pakistani military and Baitullah Mehsud, the founder of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, is named after Sararogha, as the agreement was signed in the village. The Sararogha Accord, which was reached in 2005, called for the military and the Taliban to end attacks on each other. The Taliban were not required to reject al Qaeda or stop sheltering its leaders and operatives, nor did the pact require the Taliban to lay down their arms. The truce remained in place until the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan announced its formation in 2007 and declared war against the state.

The strike in South Waziristan is the first in the tribal agency since Feb. 8, when the drones killed two Arabs who were identified as Sheikh Abu Waqas, a Yemeni explosives expert, and Abu Majid al Iraqi; four Uzbeks, who were likely from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan; and a Taliban member.

In early January, the US launched three strikes in South Waziristan and killed two top Taliban leaders. On Jan. 6, the US killed Wali Mohammed, a commander in the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. Three days prior, the US killed Mullah Nazir, a self-professed al Qaeda commander who led another Taliban group in the western part of South Waziristan that is not affiliated with the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, and several of his staff. And on Jan. 2, US drones killed five “militants” in an area under Nazir’s control.

Today’s strike is the second in Pakistan this month. The last strike, which occurred in the neighboring tribal agency of North Waziristan, took place on April 14. In that airstrike, five “militants” were said to have been killed.

The US has launched 13 drone strikes in Pakistan so far this year, according to data compiled by The Long War Journal. The number of strikes in Pakistan has decreased since the peak in 2010, when 117 such attacks were recorded. In 2011, 64 strikes were launched in Pakistan, and in 2012 there were 46 strikes.

The US has targeted al Qaeda’s top leaders and its external operations network, as well as the assortment of Taliban and Pakistani jihadist groups operating in the region. The strikes have been confined mostly to North and South Waziristan. Of the 338 strikes recorded since 2004, 321, or 95%, have taken place in the two tribal agencies.

Drone Attack Upon Pak Showpiece In Sararogha

[The following snapshot (copy-block placed on article) details the latest CIA drone aggression in Sararogha, South Waziristan, the centerpiece of Gen. Kayani's highly-touted "Peace Through Development" puzzle.  The attack upon an alleged camp of Hakeemullah Mehsud in Sararogha took place in an area that has allegedly been free of TTP terrorists since operation "Rahe-Nijat"  (SEE:  The Effort To Disarm and Develop South Waziristan ).  If it was actually a Mehsud terrorist camp in the Sararogha "Quick Development Project" locality then there should have been an immediate reaction from the Pak Army, denouncing the attack, or the American attempt to sabotage Pakistan's peace program in the former FATA.  Lacking any noticeable Army reaction to the CIA penetration of the pacified area (an area described as a series of "ghost towns," because the displaced Mehsud tribes refuse to return to a war zone), it will be reasonable to put the blame for this S. Waziristan attack squarely upon the shoulders of Kayani and the ISI.  If the target was truthfully a "TTP camp," then the CIA drone attack would have been either in response to a Pak Army request to target Hakeemullah's terrorist forces, or another ISI deception like the one which killed Baitullah Mehsud.  The killing of Nazir was the first step in turning the area around Wana into an American "free-fire" zone; this was the second step. 

The heighth of hypocrisy is upon us, just in time for the Pakistani elections.]

http://www.thenewstribe.com/2013/04/17/alleged-ttp-commander-among-five-killed-in-waziristan-drone-attack/

Documents Reveal “Al-Qaeda” Rarely Targeted Or Killed In Pak Drone Strikes–Out of 482 Pakistanis Killed, Only 6 “Al-CIA-da”

Docs Show CIA’s Mass Drone Death Strikes Killed Few al-Qaeda Leaders

Jason Mick (Blog)

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A broad range of militants were deemed to dangerous to be left alive in recent operations

Under fire over its defense over potential drone killings of Americans deemed as “terrorists” on U.S. soil, the Obama administration’s growing use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is being intensively scrutinized by both politicians and the media.

I. Deadly, But Not Very Precise

New documents obtained by McClatchy’s reveal that of the 95 drone strikes in the Pakistan region between Oct. 2010 and Sept. 2011, many did not target al-Qaeda and those that did were not as accurate as thought.

The drone campaign managed to kill 482 people, but only 6 were high-ranking members of al-Qaeda.  Analyst Jonathan Landay reports, “At least 265 of up to 482 people who the U.S. intelligence reports estimated the CIA killed during a 12-month period ending in September 2011 were not senior al Qaida leaders but instead were ‘assessed’ as Afghan, Pakistani and unknown extremists.”

_{[Image Source: McClatchy's]}

In the past the Obama administration has claimed that the death strikes by armed Predator and Reaper drones, employed primarily by U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, were used only on “specific senior operational leaders of al Qaida and associated forces.”

Micah Zenko, an expert with the bipartisan foreign-relations think-tank Council on Foreign Relations, says that the administration is misleading Americans, commenting, “[The Obama administration is] misleading the public about the scope of who can legitimately be targeted.”

_{Reaper drones have been used in numerous Pakistan and Yemen death strikes.
[Image Source: The Real Revo]}

But White House national security spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden says that the administration does not need to specify explicitly who it is targeting and to make no assumptions.  She remarks, “You should not assume [CIA Chief John Brennan] is only talking about al-Qaeda just because he doesn’t say ’al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and associated forces’ at every reference.”

So who was the administration targeting in the 43 out of 95 drone strikes that did not target al-Qaeda?  According to McClatchy’s, the documents indicate that the strikes in question targeted “Haqqani network, several Pakistani Taliban factions and the unidentified individuals described only as ‘foreign fighters’ and ‘other militants.’”

The documents also reveal that U.S. efforts to kill terrorist leaders often accidentally instead killed friends or family members.  Drone strikes were even used to target somber occasions, such as individuals leaving funerals.

II. Is the U.S. Killing Civilians, Allies Accidentally?

One major complaint of the administration’s critics is lack of transparency in the deadly offensive.  The administration has refused to release a list of “terrorist” organizations that it considers “associated forces” of al-Qaeda.  So far only Afghanistan’s Taliban has been officially acknowledged as an al-Qaeda ally.  Also not revealed was whether the administration conducted so-called “signature killings” — killings of locals who met with al-Qaeda or exhibited other behavior deemed suspicious.

_{Survivors pick through the rubble looking for relatives after an Oct. 2012 drone strike in Yemen.
[Image Source: Reuters]}

New CIA chief John Brennan in February acknowledged that the drone strikes sometimes miss the mark and kill innocent civilians, but he defended the program saying the U.S. paid the families of people it accidentally killed.  He commented, “Where possible, we also work with local governments to gather facts, and, if appropriate, provide condolence payments to families of those killed.”

Condolence payments range from $1,000 to $7,500 according to various reports [1][2][3], depending on the circumstances.

_{As CIA director  have grown.
[Image Source: BIJ (top); The Long War Journal (bottom left)}

_{; Reuters (bottom right)]}

Four American citizens with ties to terrorism — Kamal Derwish, Anwar al-Awlaki, 16-year-old Abdulahman al-Awlaki, and Samir Khan — have been killed to date in drone strikes in Yemen.  Family members of the dead American citizens have sued the Obama administration with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union.

In August 2012, a drone strike in Yemen killed a 40-year-old moderate cleric Salem bin Ahmed bin Ali Jaber just two days after he delivered a speech denouncing al-Qaeda.  The irony is that the al-Qaeda officers who were targeted in the strike, reportedly came into town to threaten Mr. Jaber for his support of the U.S. and pacifistic leanings.

_{Some feel the President shouldn’t have the power to order the warrantless killings of Americans on U.S. soil. [Image Source: Drone Wars UK]}

It’s clear more questions need to be asked about the program.  But don’t expect the answers to come easy from an administration who explicitly ordered its Press Secretary to dodge questions about drone strikes.

Source: McClatchy’s

Obama Admin. Opens Washington Office for MEK Iranian Terrorist Group One Block From White House

Formerly Banned Iranian Group Opens Office Near White House Payvand Iran News… By Golnaz Esfandiari, RFE/RL WASHINGTON — Until not long ago the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) was on the list of the U.S. State Department’s terrorist organizations. On April 11, that seemed like a distant memory as the group celebrated the opening of its Washington office just a block away from the White House, with tea and Iranian snacks. The U.S. representative of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, Soona Samsami, says that the U.S. policy of engagement with Tehran has failed and it’s time to direct all efforts toward democratic change in Iran. The opening of the office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an umbrella group dominated by the MKO (aka the People’s Mujahedin of Iran), was attended by several former U.S. officials, NCRI members, and their legal team, who described it as a “great day” for the Iranian people, for democracy in Iran, and for the values the United States cherishes. The group’s U.S. representative, Soona Samsami, a petite woman wearing a blue head scarf and a blue suit, referred to the NCRI as “Iran’s main opposition movement” and said that the opening of the office came at a crucial moment in Iran’s history. Samsami added that now that the State Department has delisted the group — which it branded a foreign terrorist organization in 1997 and banned from operating in the United States in 2003 — the principle obstacle to change in the Islamic republic had been removed. She said that the U.S. policy of engagement with Tehran had failed and it’s time to direct all efforts toward democratic change in Iran. Without offering specifics, she said the NCRI was determined “to maximize” its efforts toward that objective. Speaking To Iranians? The opening of a Washington office is likely to upset Iranian officials, who blasted the delisting of the MKO, which they consider a terrorist organization. Alireza Nader, an Iran analyst at the Rand Corporation, says the opening of the NCRI office will certainly not improve U.S.-Iran ties. But its effect should not be exaggerated. “The [government of the] Islamic republic, like many Iranians, may have distaste for the MKO, but it also realizes that the group’s capabilities are limited,” he says. U.S. officials have said that they don’t consider the MKO a viable Iranian opposition group or believe it can promote democratic values in Iran. The group, which many Iranians dislike because it sided with Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq War, is widely seen in the country as a cult with reportedly rigid rules for its members. Yet at the April 11 reception, speakers were full of praise, describing the MKO as an organization that reflects the views of the Iranian people and is capable of bringing democratic change to the country. Among those speaking was President Barack Obama’s former national security adviser, U.S. General James Jones. He said the opening of the office was an “important moment” and “a step in the right direction.” Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs P.J. Crowley, former U.S. Representative Patrick Kennedy, and the former deputy director of the CIA’s National Clandestine Service, John Sano, were also in attendance. In the past, former U.S. officials have reportedly been paid large sums of money to speak at the MKO’s public events and lobby the State Department on its behalf. Crowley told RFE/RL he hadn’t been paid to attend the event and make brief remarks. “I support the cause of democratic change in Iran,” he said. He also said Washington would do well to listen to the MKO. “The NCRI has demonstrated itself over a number of years to be an organized outside opposition, interested in a different kind of Iran. They are one voice. I think the United States would be well to listen to that voice and see how it influences U.S. thinking and U.S. policy,” he said. “One day we’re going to celebrate the opening of the same office in Tehran.” Mehrzad Boroujerdi, a professor of political science at Syracuse University, says the opening of the D.C. office is a victory for the MKO that will allow the group to expand its lobbying efforts. “Given the importance of Washington, D.C., the MKO will be able to do more lobbying and work with neocons to push more sanctions on Iran,” Boroujerdi says. But he says the efforts are unlikely to change U.S. policies toward Iran, because the Obama administration has “made it clear that they’re not like-minded with the MKO.” On this occasion, however, supporters had nothing but high hopes. As one told RFE/RL, “One day we’re going to celebrate the opening of the same office in Tehran.” Copyright (c) 2013 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org Related Stories: Iran condemns US for ‘double standards’ over MEK terror de-listing MEK Delisting is a Gift to the Regime, a Disaster for the Iranian People and the US Five lessons from the de-listing of MEK as a terrorist group Iran cuts off Google services Iranian exiles, DC lobbyists and the campaign to delist the MEK How ‘Terrorists’ Become ‘Freedom Fighters’?: Tom Tancredo and the Iranian Mujahedin MEK Pays US Officials, But Where Do The Iranian Exiles Get Their Money? U.S. Officials Must Cut Ties with Confirmed Iranian Terror Group Behind the Assassination of Iranian Scientists: The Original Sin Israel teams with terror group to kill Iran’s nuclear scientists, U.S. officials tell NBC News   … Payvand News – 04/12/13 … – © Copyright 2013 NetNative (All Rights Reserved)

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Obama Administration Predetermines That Anyone Killed By An American Drone Is An “Unknown Extremist”

[Murder by drone is simply the next generation of American "Death Squads," with the "Squad" referring to the UAV controller unit, somewhere in the American Southwest, or sitting in an air-conditioned office on the 7th floor at Langley.  The concept of roving bands of semi-autonomous assassins has been replaced by roving "eyes in the sky."  The next logical step are programmable, self-guided terminator drones.  Science Fiction has become reality.  "Future shock" has been replaced by "shock and awe."  America is a Fascist state, seeking to ride to total global domination on the strength of its military technology and the power of its leaders' lies.]

Obama’s drone war kills ‘others,’ not just al Qaida leaders

Pakistani soldiers stand guard at the Shamsi Airbase located some 320 kilometers southwest of Quetta in southwest Pakistan, on December 11, 2011. | Yslb Pak Zhang Qi/Xinhua/MCT

By Jonathan S. Landay | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Contrary to assurances it has deployed U.S. drones only against known senior leaders of al Qaida and allied groups, the Obama administration has targeted and killed hundreds of suspected lower-level Afghan, Pakistani and unidentified “other” militants in scores of strikes in Pakistan’s rugged tribal area, classified U.S. intelligence reports show.

The administration has said that strikes by the CIA’s missile-firing Predator and Reaper drones are authorized only against “specific senior operational leaders of al Qaida and associated forces” involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks who are plotting “imminent” violent attacks on Americans.

“It has to be a threat that is serious and not speculative,” President Barack Obama said in a Sept. 6, 2012, interview with CNN. “It has to be a situation in which we can’t capture the individual before they move forward on some sort of operational plot against the United States.”

Copies of the top-secret U.S. intelligence reports reviewed by McClatchy, however, show that drone strikes in Pakistan over a four-year period didn’t adhere to those standards.

The intelligence reports list killings of alleged Afghan insurgents whose organization wasn’t on the U.S. list of terrorist groups at the time of the 9/11 strikes; of suspected members of a Pakistani extremist group that didn’t exist at the time of 9/11; and of unidentified individuals described as “other militants” and “foreign fighters.”

In a response to questions from McClatchy, the White House defended its targeting policies, pointing to previous public statements by senior administration officials that the missile strikes are aimed at al Qaida and associated forces.

Micah Zenko, an expert with the Council on Foreign Relations, a bipartisan foreign policy think tank, who closely follows the target killing program, said McClatchy’s findings indicate that the administration is “misleading the public about the scope of who can legitimately be targeted.”

The documents also show that drone operators weren’t always certain who they were killing despite the administration’s guarantees of the accuracy of the CIA’s targeting intelligence and its assertions that civilian casualties have been “exceedingly rare.”

McClatchy’s review is the first independent evaluation of internal U.S. intelligence accounting of drone attacks since the Bush administration launched America’s secret aerial warfare on Oct. 7, 2001, the day a missile-carrying Predator took off for Afghanistan from an airfield in Pakistan on the first operational flight of an armed U.S. drone.

The analysis takes on additional significance because of the domestic and international debate over the legality of drone strikes in Pakistan amid reports that the administration is planning to broaden its use of targeted killings in Afghanistan and North Africa.

The U.S. intelligence reports reviewed by McClatchy covered most – although not all – of the drone strikes in 2006-2008 and 2010-2011. In that later period, Obama oversaw a surge in drone operations against suspected Islamist sanctuaries on Pakistan’s side of the border that coincided with his buildup of 33,000 additional U.S. troops in southern Afghanistan. Several documents listed casualty estimates as well as the identities of targeted groups.

McClatchy’s review found that:

– At least 265 of up to 482 people who the U.S. intelligence reports estimated the CIA killed during a 12-month period ending in September 2011 were not senior al Qaida leaders but instead were “assessed” as Afghan, Pakistani and unknown extremists. Drones killed only six top al Qaida leaders in those months, according to news media accounts.

Forty-three of 95 drone strikes reviewed for that period hit groups other than al Qaida, including the Haqqani network, several Pakistani Taliban factions and the unidentified individuals described only as “foreign fighters” and “other militants.”

During the same period, the reports estimated there was a single civilian casualty, an individual killed in an April 22, 2011, strike in North Waziristan, the main sanctuary for militant groups in Pakistan’s tribal areas.

– At other times, the CIA killed people who only were suspected, associated with, or who probably belonged to militant groups.

To date, the Obama administration has not disclosed the secret legal opinions and the detailed procedures buttressing drone killings, and it has never acknowledged the use of so-called “signature strikes,” in which unidentified individuals are killed after surveillance shows behavior the U.S. government associates with terrorists, such as visiting compounds linked to al Qaida leaders or carrying weapons. Nor has it disclosed an explicit list of al Qaida’s “associated forces” beyond the Afghan Taliban.

The little that is known about the opinions comes from a leaked Justice Department white paper, a half-dozen or so speeches, some public comments by Obama and several top lieutenants, and limited open testimony before Congress.

“The United States has gone far beyond what the U.S. public – and perhaps even Congress – understands the government has been doing and claiming they have a legal right to do,” said Mary Ellen O’Connell, a Notre Dame Law School professor who contends that CIA drone operations in Pakistan violate international law.

The documents McClatchy has reviewed do not reflect the entirety of the killings associated with U.S. drone attacks in Pakistan, which independent reports estimate at between 1,990 and 3,581.

But the classified reports provide a view into how drone strikes were carried out during the most intense periods of drone warfare in Pakistan’s remote tribal area bordering Afghanistan. Specifically, the documents reveal estimates of deaths and injuries; locations of militant bases and compounds; the identities of some of those targeted or killed; the movements of targets from village to village or compound to compound; and, to a limited degree, the rationale for unleashing missiles.

The documents also reveal a breadth of targeting that is complicated by the culture in the restive region of Pakistan where militants and ordinary tribesmen dress the same, and carrying a weapon is part of the centuries-old tradition of the Pashtun ethnic group.

The Haqqani network, for example, cooperates closely with al Qaida for philosophical and tactical reasons, and it is blamed for some of the bloodiest attacks against civilians and U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan. But the Haqqani network wasn’t on the U.S. list of international terrorist groups at the time of the strikes covered by the U.S. intelligence reports, and it isn’t known to ever have been directly implicated in a plot against the U.S. homeland.

Other groups the documents said were targeted have parochial objectives: the Pakistani Taliban seeks to topple the Islamabad government; Lashkar i Jhangvi, or Army of Jhangvi, are outlawed Sunni Muslim terrorists who’ve slaughtered scores of Pakistan’s minority Shiites and were blamed for a series of attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan, including a 2006 bombing against the U.S. consulate in Karachi that killed a U.S. diplomat. Both groups are close to al Qaida, but neither is known to have initiated attacks on the U.S. homeland.

“I have never seen nor am I aware of any rules of engagement that have been made public that govern the conduct of drone operations in Pakistan, or the identification of individuals and groups other than al Qaida and the Afghan Taliban,” said Christopher Swift, a national security law expert who teaches national security affairs at Georgetown University and closely follows the targeted killing issue. “We are doing this on a case-by-case, ad hoc basis, rather than a systematic or strategic basis.”

The administration has declined to reveal other details of the program, such as the intelligence used to select targets and how much evidence is required for an individual to be placed on a CIA “kill list.” The administration also hasn’t even acknowledged the existence of so-called signature strikes, let alone discussed the legal and procedural foundations of the attacks.

Leaders of the Senate and House intelligence committees say they maintain robust oversight over the program. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., disclosed in a Feb. 13 statement that the panel is notified “with key details . . . shortly after” every drone strike. It also reviews videos of strikes and considers “their effectiveness as a counterterrorism tool, verifying the care taken to avoid deaths to non-combatants and understanding the intelligence collection and analysis that underpins these operations.”

But until last month, Obama had rebuffed lawmakers’ repeated requests to see all of the classified Justice Department legal opinions on the program, giving them access to only two dealing with the president’s powers to order targeted killings. It then allowed the Senate committee access to all opinions pertaining to the killing of U.S. citizens to clear the way for the panel’s March 7 confirmation of John Brennan, the former White House counterterrorism chief and the key architect of the targeted killings program, as the new CIA director. But it continues to deny access to other opinions on the grounds that they are privileged legal advice to the president.

Moreover, most of the debate in the United States has focused on the deaths of four Americans – all killed in drone strikes in Yemen, but only one intentionally targeted – and not the thousands of others who’ve been killed, the majority of whom have been hit in Pakistan.

Obama and his top aides say the United States is in an “armed conflict” with al Qaida and the Afghan Taliban, and the targeted killing program complies with U.S. and international laws, including an “inherent” right to self-defense and the international laws of war. Obama also derives his authority to order targeted killings from the Constitution and a Sept. 14, 2001, congressional resolution empowering the president to use “all necessary and appropriate force” against those who perpetrated 9/11 and those who aided them, they say.

Time and again, the administration has defined the drone targets as operational leaders of al Qaida, the Afghan Taliban and associated groups plotting imminent attacks on the American homeland. Occasionally, however, officials have made oblique references to undefined associated forces and threats against unidentified Americans and U.S. facilities.

On April 30, 2012, Brennan gave the most detailed explanation of Obama’s drone program. He referred to al Qaida 73 times, the Afghan Taliban three times and mentioned no other group by name.

“We only authorize a particular operation against a specific individual if we have a high degree of confidence that the individual being targeted is indeed the terrorist we are pursuing,” Brennan said.

To be sure, America’s drone program has killed militants without risk to the nation’s armed forces.

The administration argues that drones – in Brennan’s words – are a “wise choice” for fighting terrorists. Over the years, the aircraft have battered al Qaida’s Pakistan-based core leadership and crippled its ability to stage complex attacks. And officials note it has been done without sending U.S. troops into hostile territory or causing civilian casualties “except in the rarest of circumstances.”

“Any actions we take fully comport to our law and meet the standards that I think . . . the American people expect of us as far as taking actions we need to protect the American people, but at the same time ensuring that we do everything possible before we need to resort to lethal force,” Brennan said at his Feb. 7 Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing.

Caitlin Hayden, national security spokeswoman for the White House, said late Tuesday that the Brennan speech is broad enough to cover strikes against others who are not al Qaida or the Afghan Taliban. While she did not cite any authority for broader targeting, Hayden said: “You should not assume he is only talking about al Qaida just because he doesn’t say ’al Qaida, the Taliban, and associated forces’ at every reference.”

Some legal scholars and human rights organizations, however, dispute the program’s legality.

Obama, they think, is misinterpreting international law, including the laws of war, which they say apply only to the uniformed military, not the civilian CIA, and to traditional battlefields like those in Afghanistan, not to Pakistan’s tribal area, even though it may be a sanctuary for al Qaida and other violent groups. They argue that Obama also is strengthening his executive powers with an excessively broad application of the September 2001 use-of-force resolution.

The administration’s definition of “imminent threat” also is in dispute. The Justice Department’s leaked white paper argues the United States should be able “to act in self-defense in circumstances where there is evidence of further imminent attacks by terrorist groups even if there is no specific evidence of where such an attack will take place or of the precise nature of the attack.” Legal scholars counter that the administration is using an exaggerated definition of imminence that doesn’t exist in international law.

“I’m thankful that my doctors don’t use their (the administration’s) definition of imminence when looking at imminent death. A head cold could be enough to pull the plug on you,” said Morris Davis, a Howard University Law School professor and former Air Force lawyer who served as chief prosecutor of the Guantanamo Bay terrorism trials.

Since 2004, drone program critics say, the strikes have killed hundreds of civilians, fueling anti-U.S. outrage, boosting extremist recruiting, and helping to destabilize Pakistan’s U.S.-backed government. And some experts warn that the United States may be setting a new standard of international conduct that other countries will grasp to justify their own targeted killings and to evade accountability.

Other governments “won’t just emulate U.S. practice but (will adopt) America’s justification for targeted killings,” said Zenko of the Council on Foreign Relations. “When there is such a disconnect between who the administration says it kills and who it (actually) kills, that hypocrisy itself is a very dangerous precedent that other countries will emulate.”

A special U.N. human rights panel began a nine-month investigation in January into whether drone strikes, including the CIA operations in Pakistan, violate international law by causing disproportionate numbers of civilian casualties. The panel’s head, British lawyer Ben Emmerson, declared after a March 11-13 visit to Pakistan that the U.S. drone campaign “involves the use of force on the territory of another state without its consent and is therefore a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty.”

The administration asserts that drones are used to hit specific individuals only after their names are added to a “list of active terrorists,” following a process of “extraordinary care and thoughtfulness” that confirms their identities as members of al Qaida or “associated forces” and weighs the strategic value of killing each one.

Yet the U.S. intelligence reports show that 43 out of the 95 strikes recorded in reports for the year ending in September 2011 were launched against groups other than al Qaida. Prominent among them were the Haqqani network and the Taliban Movement of Pakistan.

The Haqqani network is an Afghan Taliban-allied organization that operates in eastern Afghanistan and whose leaders are based in Pakistan’s adjacent North Waziristan tribal agency. The United States accuses the group of staging some of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Kabul, including on the Indian and U.S. embassies, killing civilians, and attacking U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan. But the Obama administration didn’t officially designate the network as a terrorist group until September 2012.

Its titular head is Jalaluddin Haqqani, an aging former anti-Soviet guerrilla who served as a minor minister and top military commander in the Taliban regime that sheltered al Qaida until both were driven into Pakistan by the 2001 U.S. intervention in Afghanistan. U.S. officials allege that the group, whose operational chief is Haqqani’s son, Sirajuddin, closely works with al Qaida and is backed by elements of the Pakistani army-led Inter-Services Intelligence spy service, a charge denied by Islamabad.

At least 15 drone strikes were launched against the Haqqani network or locations where its fighters were present during the one-year period ending in September 2011, according to the U.S. intelligence reports. They estimated that up to 96 people – or about 20 percent of the total for that period – were killed.

One report also makes clear that during the Bush administration, the agency killed Haqqani family women and children.

According to the report, an undisclosed number of Haqqani subcommanders, unnamed Arabs and unnamed “members of the extended Haqqani family” died in a Sept. 8, 2008, strike. News reports on the attack in the North Waziristan village of Dandey Darapakhel said that among as many as 25 dead were an Arab who was chief of al Qaida’s operations in Pakistan, and eight of Jalaluddin Haqqani’s grandchildren, one of his wives, two nieces and a sister.

The U.S. intelligence reports estimated that as many as 31 people were killed in at least nine strikes on the Pakistani Taliban or on locations that the group shared with others between January 2010 and September 2011. While U.S. officials say the Taliban Movement of Pakistan works closely with al Qaida, its goal is to topple the Pakistani government through suicide bombings, assaults and assassinations, not attacking the United States. The group wasn’t founded until 2007, and some of the strikes in the U.S. intelligence reports occurred before the administration designated it a terrorist organization in September 2010.

The U.S. intelligence reports estimated that the CIA killed scores of other individuals in 2010 and 2011 in strikes on other non-al Qaida groups categorized as suspected extremists and unidentified “foreign fighters,” or “other militants.” Some died in what appeared to be signature strikes, their vehicles blown to pieces sometimes only a few days after being monitored visiting the sites of earlier drone attacks, or driving between compounds linked to al Qaida or other groups.

“The first challenge in any war is knowing who you’re fighting, and distinguishing those that pose a credible threat to your interests and security,” said Swift.

The U.S. intelligence documents also describe a lack of precision when it comes to identifying targets.

Consider one attack on Feb. 18, 2010.

Information, according to one U.S. intelligence account, indicated that Badruddin Haqqani, the then-No. 2 leader of the Haqqani network, would be at a relative’s funeral that day in North Waziristan. Watching the video feed from a drone high above the mourners, CIA operators in the United States identified a man they believed could be Badruddin Haqqani from the deference and numerous greetings he received. The man also supervised a private family viewing of the body.

Yet despite a targeting process that the administration says meets “the highest possible standards,” it wasn’t Badruddin Haqqani who died when one of the drone’s missiles ripped apart the target’s car after he’d left the funeral.

It was his younger brother, Mohammad.

Friends later told reporters that Mohammad Haqqani was a religious student in his 20s uninvolved in terrorism; the U.S. intelligence report called him an active member – but not a leader – of the Haqqani network. At least one other unidentified occupant of his vehicle perished, according to the report.

It took the CIA another 18 months to find and kill Badruddin Haqqani.

Farah court attack toll mounts to 53

By Mohammad Humayoon Zaheen Apr 3, 2013

FARAH CITY (PAN): Fifty-three people were killed and over 90 others wounded in a well-coordinated insurgent assault on a crowded courthouse in western Farah province on Wednesday, officials said.

Thirty-four civilians, six army soldiers and four policemen were killed in the assault that left 91 others wounded, including judges, the governor’s spokesman, Abdur Rahman Zhwandai, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Nine attackers were also killed, he said, adding the clash triggered by the bomb-gun attack lasted nine hours. The militants failed in their attempt to free some detained Taliban who were to be produced in the appellant court, he indicated.

Seventy-one civilians, 13 policemen and soldiers, two judges and one prisoner are among the injured. Farah Civil Hospital Director Dr. Abdul Hakim Rassouli confirmed receiving the bodies of a policeman, a soldier and two civilians.

Lt. Gen. Aqa Noor Kentos, the provincial police chief, said the attackers were clad in Afghan army uniforms. Two militants, who got down an Afghan army pick-up, were killed when their explosives went off.

Immediately after the blast, four other bombers rushed into the building that housed several other departments, Kentos said. He also confirmed the casualties. Nearby buildings were damaged.

Mohammad Amin, an area resident, said the attackers detonated their explosives-laden vehicle in front of the court gate. A short while after the explosion, they forced their way into the compound.

As usual, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. A spokesman for the group, Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, said 20 government officials had been killed and many others wounded.

mrh/mud