ISIS Must Have An Identifiable STATE SPONSOR To Claim “Self-Defense” Under Article 51

[So, unless Obama is willing to admit that Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey (among others) are the sponsors of ISIS, he cannot invoke UN Article 51, under the “self-defense” clause.]

Article 51

“Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security. Measures taken by Members in the exercise of this right of self-defence shall be immediately reported to the Security Council and shall not in any way affect the authority and responsibility of the Security Council under the present Charter to take at any time such action as it deems necessary in order to maintain or restore international peace and security.”

US, Turkey reportedly close to agreement on joint mission against ISIS

The U.S. and Turkey are close to an agreement on a joint military action against the Islamic State militant group in northern Syria, according to a published report.

The Wall Street Journal, citing officials from both countries, reported that the proposed deal would allow the U.S. and its coalition partners access to Turkish air bases to use as launch points for air strikes. The agreement would also provide for a protected zone along part of the Syria-Turkey border that would be off limits to Syrian government aircraft and provide protection for moderate Syrian rebels and refugees fleeing the country’s bloody, three-year-long civil war.

Turkey has already agreed to allow 2,000 moderate Syrian rebels to be trained on its own soil, and has sent members of its special forces to northern Iraq to train Kurdish Peshmerga fighters.

The Journal reported that Turkey had proposed a far more extensive no-fly zone over northern Syria, only to be rebuffed by the Obama administration, which said that the proposal would constitute an act of war by the U.S. against the Damascus government of Bashar al-Assad.

U.S. officials told the paper that talks between the two nations were still in a preliminary stage, and a final deal may not be agreed upon for weeks

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Vice President Joe Biden in Turkey last week for discussions about the civil war in Syria and the rise of the Islamic State, better known as ISIS. The Al Qaeda-inspired terror group’s months-long offensive in northern Syria has helped push between 1.5 million and 1.8 million refugees into Turkey, with millions more arrivals possible.

NATO officials told the Journal that Turkey could justify opening its bases to coalition jets under Article 51 of the U.N. Charter, which provides a right to collective self-defense. Technically, the ongoing strikes in Syria are being carried out in support of operations in Iraq based on Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ’s Article 51 letter invoking collective self-defense.–[editor–SEE following citation]

“Absent a legally cognizable connection to a state, the non-state actor that threatens or actually undertook the attack lacks the legal characteristics in international law even to launch an “armed attack” within its legal meaning.  All of this is irrespective of the extent of the actual attack or its real-world consequences. (Cf. 9/11.)”–LAWFARE.BLOG

[editor–in this context, Obama’s/NATO’s contention that he can justify attacks on ISIS within Syria, without Syria’s permission, ONLY if ISIS is officially backed by a STATE SPONSOR, and that Sponsor MUST BE IDENTIFIED.  So, unless Obama is willing to admit that Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey (among others) are the sponsors of ISIS, he cannot invoke UN Article 51, under the “self-defense” clause.  If this principle of international law is upheld, then Obama has already committed multiple “acts of war…against the Damascus government of Bashar al-Assad.]

News of the progress in talks between the U.S. and Turkey comes after Syrian activists said the U.S.-led coalition targeted ISIS’ de facto capital of Raqqa in northeastern Syria with as many as 30 airstrikes Sunday.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strikes also targeted the Division 17 air base, which the ISIS seized earlier this year from Iraqi government forces.

The U.S. military did not confirm the airstrikes to the Associated Press.

The monitoring group, which relies on a network of activists inside Syria, reported at least 30 coalition strikes in all. The Local Coordination Committees, an activist collective, also confirmed the airstrikes. Neither group had casualty figures.

“Geneva Surrender Talks” Fail When Assad Refuses To Surrender Syria To International Terrorist Invasion

[One side believes that it is under siege by an international army of foreign terrorists and their secular sympathizers, while the other side, under collective authority of the international majority, demands that Assad surrender his authority as Syrian Commander-In-Chief to the internationalists as a precondition to “peace talks,” which should really be called “surrender talks.” The absolutely unreasonable circumstances that have been forced upon all of the Syrian people because of the campaign of political agitation, followed by military hostilities, that has been carried-out by the international coalition invested in the overthrow of Bashar al-Asad represents great crimes against humanity of the First Order. The powerful foreign interests who have engineered this democratic-revolutionary war in Syria, as well as other regional conflicts, are responsible for the deaths in this war, as well as the terror used in inflicting those deaths. If Bashar has chosen to repel the international invasion by foreign terrorists by meeting “terror with terror,” then where does the the responsibility lie? Were US authorities guilty of war crimes when they tortured terrorists to death? Were they more guilty than the terrorists’ sponsors?]

Assad’s envoys threaten to quit peace talks

 

 

AP In this Jan. 22, 2014, photo, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, right, speaks during a joint news conference with UN-Arab League Envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi in Montreux, Switzerland. Syria’s government and the Opposition refused to come face to face at the peace talksscheduled for Friday in Geneva to end the three year-long civil war that is unsettling the entire Middle East.

 

Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said that his delegation was prepared to walk out if efforts to secure a face-to-face meeting with opposition representatives fail.

Syrian government envoys threatened on Friday to leave a peace conference on ending the conflict should efforts to secure a face-to-face meeting with opposition representatives fail.

Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem told U.N. and Arab League mediator Lakhdar Brahimi that his delegation was prepared to walk out of the talks if the historic meeting doesn’t happen by Saturday, the Information Ministry said.

Mr. Brahimi held talks with government representatives, and is expected to meet opposition leaders separately later on Friday.

The main point of contention is the future of President Bashar al-Assad. The opposition says he must go, and the government insists the issue is a “red line” that is not up for discussion.

Information Minister Amran Zoubi said in a statement before the meeting with Mr. Brahimi that the regime had not agreed to the formation of an interim government, the cornerstone of a blueprint agreed at an international conference on Syria in 2012.

The opposition said it was committed to the talks, as long as a discussion of a political transition is on the agenda.

Mr. Brahimi wants the sides to meet at the UN’s offices in Geneva, Switzerland, where it is believed talks will centre on the release of prisoners and detainees and the possibility of opening besieged towns and villages to humanitarian aid deliveries.

The two sides clashed openly over the conference’s focus at a launch ceremony Wednesday in the Swiss town of Montreux.

Mr. Assad’s representatives insisted the gathering be devoted to tackling the threat of “terrorism” from extremist groups in Syria.

The Syrian National Coalition (SNC) demanded that negotiations open with discussions on the formation of an interim government and the departure of Mr. Assad.

On the eve of the face-to-face talks, SNC chief Ahmad Jarba dismissed the Assad regime as “dying” and “criminal.” Syrian officials questioning the legitimacy of the coalition.

Nevertheless, opposition delegates remained hopeful that progress could be made toward finding a solution to end the violence that has claimed more than 130,000 lives.

“We know that the road to an agreement over a political solution is a long one, but every journey starts with a first step,” Burhan Ghalioun, an opposition delegate, told DPA.

Should the initial two-day talks prove a success, opposition delegates and mediators expect the negotiations to stretch on from several weeks to six month, rotating to different European cities.

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Rafik Hariri’s Business Dealings More Relevant Than Beirut Phone Records

FIRST CAME PRESIDENT BUSH’S DECLARATION OF WAR AGAINST TYRANNY

“So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world….

 All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you.

Democratic reformers facing repression, prison, or exile can know: America sees you for who you are: the future leaders of your free country….

By our efforts, we have lit a fire as well – a fire in the minds of men. It warms those who feel its power, it burns those who fight its progress, and one day this untamed fire of freedom will reach the darkest corners of our world.”

–President Bush’s Second Inaugural Address

January 20, 2005…

SWIFTLY FOLLOWED BY THE MURDER OF RAFIK HARIRI…

With the reopening of the Hariri murder tribunal, it is only fitting that someone should examine the attack from another perspective–What if Hariri was killed because he crossed the wrong people, or because he borrowed money from “bad guys,” or because chaos in Beirut=MORE PROFIT for the already rich and powerful?

A hit by a car-bomb or by a missile would outwardly look the same, whether it was done by mob professionals or by a military strike.  Whoever was responsible for the reprehensible murder of Rafik Hariri and 22 others, someone made a boatload of money in Beirut afterwards.

Whoever killed him also made extensive plans for the aftermath, intending to reap enormous profits, as well as political mileage, which were certain to be generated as a direct result of the attack.  Worldwide sympathy for Lebanon and especially for the son of Hariri unlocked a bottomless well of generosity for the Lebanese people.  The tidal wave of humanitarian support which was generated for young Hariri’s efforts to tame Lebanon’s problems provided cover for what was planned next.

What better cover story could have been needed for the foreign takeover of Lebanon than a massive national/international civil war rebuilding program?  (Saad Hariri would later describe it as a “Marshall Plan for Lebanon.” after the devastation wrought by Israel’s latest aggression against all Lebanon in 2006.)

By late 2004, Hariri Senior’s Saudi-based companies were in deep financial trouble.  His visionary project to renovate central Beirut, Solidere, was much bigger than His wallet (20 December 2004, Arab Bank to decimate shares , Hariri owned 40% of the bank’s shares, when they split the shares 8/1

February 11, 2005, Arab Bank of Jordan To Close American Branch,  the same bank was named in a US lawsuit for alleged support to Palestinian terrorists.

The hottest piece of real estate in all of Beirut was being squabbled over, whenever Mr. Hariri’s motorcade exploded at its epicenter of the desired properties, enabling the planners to smoothly transition “ground zero” into “Martyr’s Square.”

 

27 April 2005, Syrian troops completely withdrew from Lebanon

This is the new Beirut Central District Master Plan–

The following photos of the downtown model really shows the grandeur of the new scheme–

Most of the project is being built on reclaimed land from the Mediterranean Sea.  By contractual arrangement, all reclaimed Beirut property belongs to “Solidere.”  Hariri had managed to accumulate most of the property in the “Master Plan” development project, encompassing the entire marina area.

February 20, 2006, Investment in Solidere surges after Hariri’s assassination, From a low of $5 per share after the bombing, the price rose to almost $30.

Saad struggled to fill his father’s shoes.

http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/prices-and-markets/stocks/summary/company-summary-chart.html?fourWayKey=US5223862005ZZUSDIOBE

It was all that Saad could do to hang-on against relentless Saudi pressure to sell “Saudi Oger.”  Despite the total absence of international assistance to recover his footing in the middle of the latest Israeli invasion, he  persevered, managing to reap substantial profits by assisting the development projects being carried out in Beirut by the Saudis and Gulf monarchies.

The ensuing Hariri/Saudi dealings left Solidere as primarily a Saudi construction/investment project, with 4 Saudi Directors of the Board (at least one of them a prince), 4 Lebanese (none of them a Hariri) and 1 from Dubai.  They have since effectively tossed-out the timid plans of Rafik Hariri, replacing them with a bold new royal plan of extravagant proportions for yacht clubs, hi-rise luxury condos, memorial gardens, shopping mall, visitors center, even a giant water park, not to mention a grand prix race circuit along the developed waterfront.

Saudi/Arab banks have financed Saudi/Arab construction companies as their $trillion+ development projects supplanted the Hariri company “Solidere” (Société libanaise pour le développement et la reconstruction de Beyrouth) vision.

Preceding the Hariri murder, there was an intense, ongoing competition between Rafik’s construction and telecommunications businesses and their Saudi-owned rivals for Lebanese reconstruction and telecom development.  After Hariri’s passing, royal aid to Saad’s Future movement  overcame his urges to fulfill Solidere’s ambitions to develop Beirut, thus allowing the Saudis to eventually corner the Lebanese telecommunications and construction boom by absorbing a large portion of Oger.

Saudi Telecom says finalizes $2.6 bln Oger deal on Feb 9, 2008.  Three days later, February 12, 2008, Hezbollah commander, Imad Mughnieh, was eliminated with a car-bomb in Damascus and Bandar bin-Sultan was allegedly arrested in Damascus, whereupon he “spilled his guts” about the scheme dreamed-up with US Amb. Jeffrey Feltman and Elliot Abrams to create civil war within Syria (it was later applied to Libya first). 

Approximately one month later, on 16 April 2008, the next variant of the Feltman/Abrams plan for igniting civil war got underway in Beirut, as Lebanese Telecommunications minister Marwan Hamadeh responded right on cue to Feltman’s prodding him to take action over an independent fiber optics system built by Hizballah throughout the country.  This secure communications network was immune to Israeli and international eavesdropping, meaning that it had to be eliminated before the next Israeli invasion.

The Palestinian chapter of the Feltman civil war plan was exposed in mid-April 2008, when Vanity Fair magazine released its daring expose’, “Gaza Bombshell,” revealing the detailed plan to ignite civil war in Gaza.

By May 10, 2008, Hariri was pushing to eliminate the Hezbollah network, prompting the Resistance forces to take control of the airport and sections of West Beirut.  Bitter fighting between Hariri’s Future forces and Hezbollah ended with Hariri neutered and his own Future communications network shut-down.

Russian investigators Burtsev.ru have identified a secret investment consortium between Saad Hariri, Prince Turki al-Faisal, and others, called FarWest, LLTS.

“Farwest as a system of fronts for the anti-Russian alliance of US, British, Saudi, Turkish, Ukrainian, Chechen, Lithuanian, and partly, Belorussian secret services. The alliance is the instrument for the geopolitical plans of the aggressive cliques of Atlantism, Panturkism, Panislamism, and Ukrainian nationalism. Some of them wish to cease control of Russia’s natural wealth (above all, its oil and gas) and nuclear forces. Others – to carve out of Russian territory the ‘Great Turan’ or the ‘Caliphate.’ Some others dream about the ‘Great Ukraine.”

“President of Far West, LLC is one Prince Rasheed who is a relative and represents the interests of Prince Turki al-Faisal and the General Intelligence Service of Saudi Arabia. Rasheed has not been fully identified by Baumgarten’s sources. He is thought to be cadre officer of Saudi intelligence. Rasheed is 35-40 years old, speaks Russian and was in Chechnya with Hattab in 1997, apparently as liaison officer of Prince Turki….The board of directors includes: Prince Rasheed, Vladimir Filin, Ruslan Saidov, Alexei Likhvintsev, Valery Lunev, Audrius Butkevicious, Anton Surikov, and Ruslan Berenis.”

“Far West, Ltd., is said to have CIA-approved contractual dealings with Halliburton for geopolitical purposes in the Caucasus, as well as dealings in Iraq with Diligence LLC, a group with connections to Joe Allbaugh (the FEMA chief in 2001) and to the President’s younger brother Neil Bush. The head of Far West recently told a Russian outlet that ‘a well-known American corporation… is a co-founder of our agency.”[10]

Prince Turki is the former head of Saudi intelligence, quitting just before 911.

February 14, 2012 , [SEE:  The Saudi Royal Bailout of Saad Hariri ]

Saad Hariri: One Year Leading by Remote Control

Saad Hariri appears on a giant screen during a televised speech in Biel Center, Downtown Beirut. (Photo: Haitham Moussawi)

By: Hassan Illeik

Published Saturday, May 19, 2012

Scene One: Saad Hariri put a piece of property up for sale in the Barbir area. According to sources close to the Saudi embassy in Beirut, the property forms part of a plot of land the Saudis want to turn into housing projects for the people of Beirut.

The sale of the land is not particularly noteworthy. Its value is merely pocket change for Hariri. The surprise lies in the names of those who stepped in to buy it.

They are the president of Riyadi (Sporting) Club, Hisham Jaroudi, the “republic’s contractor” and businessman, Jihad al-Arab (brother of the head of Hariri’s personal security detail), and the former head of Future TV, Nadim al-Munla.

All three had built or expanded their wealth under the Hariri family mantle. Ultimately, the land went to al-Arab for around US$37 million.

MORE AS THE THREAD DEVELOPS

 

peter.chamberlin@hotmail.com

Abu Ibrahim al-Masri, the Egyptian Govt. Agent, Defects from Imaginary Terror Group…”Al-Qaeda-In-Iraq”

Abu Ibrahim Al Masri defects from Daesh in Hama

Abu Ibrahim al-Masri, said ISIS had erred by disregarding the orders of Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, who last year tasked the Nusra Front, another Al-Qaeda group, with responsibility for Syria.

BUT…

Ayman Al-Zawari referred to Abu Ibrahim al-Masri as ‘the traitor.’

“One set of documents [from Zawahiri’s computer captured in Afghanistan] discusses the case of Abu Ibrahim al-Masri, colorfully known as ‘the traitor.’ He was operating out of Yemen and sold out to Yemeni security, but an al Qaeda sympathizer in the state security service informed his terrorist leaders. He was caught, escaped, caught again, interrogated, and confessed. A prolonged debate ensued as to his fate, and in the end, remarkably, he was set free. It was believed that ‘his shame before the rest of the organization was sufficient,’ and other terror groups were cautioned against having any dealings with him. Masri wandered about before winding up in Afghanistan, a religious teacher at a school for the children of ‘Arab Afghans’ (i.e., members of al Qaeda in Afghanistan). It was reported last month that

He was in fact an Egyptian double agent,

who had fed back key information from the terrorist stronghold.”

BUT…

“The Islamic State of Iraq is a ‘front’ organization”

—Brig. Kevin J Gen Bergner.

“To further this myth [of the Islamic State of Iraq], al Masri created a fictional political head of ISI known as Omar al-Baghdadi.”–Gen. Bergner

The first “Baghdadi”—deceased

The Current “Baghdadi,” a.k.a., Abu D’ua, Abu Dumont

It is only fitting that a dead terrorist ringleader (abu Musab al-Zarqawi)

Head a non-existent international terrorist group

(Ahmad Fadhil Nazzal al-Khalaylah (deceased), a.k.a., Abu Musab al-Zarqawi--Interpol, 23/09/2003),

that is waging war against the elected government of Iraq, while serving as an active counter-intelligence front for “al-CIA-da” and other  intelligence agencies.

Abu Musab, from Zarqa, Jordan, killed in Botlikh, Dagestan, Aug. 1999, according to testimony given by legendary Chechen Islamist leader, Ibn-ul-Khattab in an interview with Islamist website 

“In those operations, the Vice Military Commander, Hakeem Al-Madani, was martyred as well as Sheikh Abu Musab (Arabian Peninsula).” 

It is then even more fitting that that imaginary terrorist progeny of a dead terrorist leader, move half of its insurgency operations to Syria, under the command of its non-existent leader, to provide cover for foreign intelligence agency operations against another elected leader of a second Arab government.

The absolute absurdity of what comes next is almost beyond description, no matter how sarcastic the description…

In Syria, the established cover story of the non-existent terrorist group (AQII) is used to hide a corrective covert war which is allegedly being waged between various Islamist factions and the Free Syrian Army.  This terrorist “split” is providing cover for Special Forces/CIA actions that are currently underway, to regain control over the Syrian resistance.  All Islamists in Syria are Saudi/Qatari sponsored, supposedly working together for one goal, the overthrow of Bashar al-Asad.  CIA agents are there redirecting the most radical proxies into war against the uncooperative, using the foreign terrorists to undo the damage done by Qatar’s guiding hand, within Syria

The battle in the great psywar is allegedly between the new Saudi Sunni terrorist creations, Islamist Front and Army of Muhahideen (“al-Qaeda lite”) and old Saudi Sunni terrorist creations, al-Qaeda in Iraq.  Both variants on the Sunni terrorist theme operate on the same principles, enforced “Shariah” and the killing of the Shia “unbelievers.”   The intra-Islamist conflict is being waged between militant groups comprised mostly of criminals and military deserters, which are controlled by undercover Western Special Forces and intelligence operatives, who push their “jihadis” to fight against the Saudi intelligence operatives in the newly created “armies,” intending to restore Pentagon/CIA control over all of the anti-Syrian and anti-Iraqi players and their networks of hardcore radicals who have associated themselves with the name “Abu-Musab.”

Peter Chamberlin

peter.chamberlin@hotmail.com

US/Saudis Attempt To Build A Kinder, Gentler “Al-Qaeda” To Battle Against Big “Bad Al-Qaeda”

[The new kid on the Syrian bloc, “Army of the Mujahideen,” is another offshoot of Abu Musab Zarqawi’s “Al-Qaeda In Iraq,” as was the second incarnation of the “Abdallah Azzam Brigades.”  Army of Mujahideen is another Sunni Iraqi terrorist outfit.  This one fought a blood-feud with Zarqawi’s Al-Qaeda in Iraq, before he was removed from power and eventually killed.  The Iraqi Muj group was associated with the Ikhwan, Muslim Brotherhood.  The feud fought was over Zarqawi’s brutal murders of Sunni officials and policemen, breaking-out into the open over the murder of Anbar tribal leader Sheikh Naser Abdul Karim al-Miklif in Feb. 2006.  The fact that they have relocated to Syria to continue that feud is unimpressive.  All of this is just the latest slant on Bandar’s war against Bashar, which is now moving into Lebanon.]

New Syria rebel alliance declares war on al-Qaeda’s ISIL

 

Photo: Fighters of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Tel Abyad. Syrian rebels’ uneasy co-existence with the hardline IsiL has turned to outright hostility. Photograph: Reuters  

A newly formed Syrian Islamist rebel alliance has declared war on the powerful al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and joined other opposition groups in battling the extremists. For its part, Syria’s main opposition National Coalition says it backs the rebel fight against al-Qaeda.

“We, the Army of the Mujahideen, pledge to defend ourselves and our honor, wealth and lands, and to fight ISIL, which has violated the rule of God, until it announces its dissolution,” said the new alliance of eight groups, in a statement published on Facebook Friday.

As the statement was issued, it fought in fierce clashes with the ISIL in the Aleppo and Idlib provinces of northern Syria.

The Islamic Front, the largest rebel alliance, which is made up of several powerful Islamist groups, and the Syrian Revolutionaries Front, another major rebel bloc, also battled ISIL on Friday, Agence France-Presse reported.

On Saturday, rebels battling jihadists in northern Syria killed or captured scores of the militants loyal to an al-Qaeda affiliate in two days of fighting, a watchdog said.

“At least 36 members and supporters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have been killed since Friday in Idlib and more than 100 have been captured by rebels” in Idlib and Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

“The Syrian Opposition Coalition fully supports ongoing efforts by Free Syrian Army elements to liberate towns and neighborhoods from the authoritarian oppression” of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the group’s presidency said in a statement.

“The Coalition stands in full solidarity with all Syrians rising up against al-Qaeda’s extremism and calls upon the international community to recognize the importance of supporting revolutionary forces as partners in the fight against al-Qaeda’s extremism and Assad’s sponsorship and encouragement of extremist forces,” it added.

For its part, the Army of Mujahideen, a newly formed group made up of eight brigades, demanded that ISIL fighters join the ranks of other rebel groups “or hand over their weapons and leave Syria,” earlier on Saturday.

The alliance reproached ISIL for “spreading strife and insecurity… in liberated [rebel] areas, spilling the blood of fighters and wrongly accusing them of heresy, and expelling them and their families from areas they have paid heavily to free” from Assad’s forces.

A Arabiya

 

Latest Big Saudi Lie–Bandar’s “Islamist Front” Joins FSA Fight Against Evil “Al-Qaeda”

Syria rebels take on Islamist jihadists in fierce fighting

Anti-government fighters in Syria clash with al-Qaeda affiliated jihadists, while five aid workers are kidnapped in the north of the country

Agence France-Presse in Beirut

• 

Fighters of al-Qaeda linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant parade at Syrian town of Tel Abyad. Photo: Reuters

Syrian rebels in opposition-held areas engaged in fierce battles with al-Qaeda-linked elements on Friday in what activists say is growing resistance to the jihadists’ brutal grip in many places.

Elsewhere in northern Syria, an unidentified group seized five people working for Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) from a house, the Paris-based humanitarian organisation said.

Protesters turned out in rebel areas chanting the strongest slogans yet against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), as tensions soar between the opposition and the al-Qaeda affiliate.

Ammar, an activist on the ground, described it as “the start of the revolution against ISIL” which operates in Iraq and Syria.

Meanwhile a key group within Syria’s mainstream opposition National Coalition stressed on Friday that it will not attend peace talks scheduled for later this month in Switzerland.

“After meetings with many international delegations in recent weeks … the Syrian National Council confirms it sees no reason to attend the Geneva conference,” SNC member Samir Nashar said by telephone.

Nashar also forecast that the National Coalition, which has still not taken a definitive decision, would similarly not show up.

After months of delays, a January 22 date for the peace talks has been set, but doubts remain about whether the conference will go ahead.

The Coalition is set to hold its next general assembly meeting in Istanbul on Sunday and Monday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported fierce fighting between rebels and ISIL in flashpoints of Aleppo city and province on Friday.

“They [the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] use violence and abuses to crush dissent. They are only Islamic in name.”

Activist Abu Leyla

In Aleppo and nearby Idlib, 16 pro-al-Qaeda fighters were reported killed.

In Idlib alone, at least 42 ISIL fighters were wounded and 20 other civilians hurt in the crossfire, while in Aleppo, a media activist was killed while covering the fighting.

The Observatory and activists said a number of battalions united under the name “Army of Mujahedeen” and other rebel groups, including more moderate Islamists, were fighting ISIL.

The fighting comes two days after ISIL reportedly tortured and murdered Doctor Hussein al-Sleiman, known as Abu Rayyan.

His death was the latest in a string of beatings, kidnappings and killings that have enraged rebels and activists alike.

It prompted protesters to take to the streets under the slogan: “Friday of the martyr Abu Rayyan”.

The Observatory and activists said ISIL fired on protesters in Aleppo city, who were chanting anti-regime slogans as they have every week since the outbreak of an uprising that has killed more than 130,000 people.

Both the Islamic Front and the Syrian Revolutionaries Front, two key alliances formed last year that group tens of thousands of fighters, condemned ISIL.

“We call on ISIL to withdraw immediately from Atareb … and remind them that those who freed Atareb [from Assad’s regime] are those you are fighting today,” said the Islamic Front.

Syrian residents gather after fleeing their homes following the clashes. Photo: Reuters

Abu Leyla, an Idlib-based activist, told reporters via the internet: “I’d say about 90 per cent of people in the opposition areas are against ISIL.

“They use violence and abuses to crush dissent. They are only Islamic in name. All they want is power.”

Israel Holding Hezbollah To Blame for Sunni Terrorist Attacks

Dangerous new strategic reality taking shape around Israel

Even though Israel’s military believes Sunni jihadists could be behind Sunday’s rocket attack, Netanyahu blames Hezbollah.

By Amos Harel

 

Sunday’s Katyusha rocket fire from Lebanon has created a certain lack of clarity in the Israeli defense establishment.

No organization took responsibility for firing the rockets, most of which fell on the Lebanese side of the border. The cautious and non-committal assessment of military sources is that it seemed to be the work of a Sunni Jihadist faction, meaning one of the extremist factions identified with a loosely-connected network that intelligence officials call Global Jihad.

In addition to its enmity for Israel, Global Jihad devotes most of its time to the battle to depose Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime in Syria and engages in lengthy tit-for-tat murderous attacks with Shiite Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apparently doesn’t share the cautious view. At the outset of Sunday’s cabinet meeting, he informed the media that there were two entities that should be seen as the address regarding the rocket fire: the Lebanese government, which bears responsibility for any attack from Lebanese territory, and Hezbollah, which has thousands of missiles and rockets positioned within the civilian population of southern Lebanon.

Another Alleged “Rocket Attack” Provocation From Lebanon, According To Zionist Sources

[The following photo is from the last “rocket attack” into Israel from Lebanon, using “wooden rocket launchers.”  The “launcher” turned-out to be a single 2″ x 12″ board.  The “rocket” found had no warhead, meaning that it could not explode by launching it.  No authority has yet confirmed that rockets were fired into Israel from Lebanon, except for the lying Zionist press.  This was clearly intended to open the door to Israeli aggression against Southern Lebanon, meaning that this alleged attack, if there really was an attack,was by Sunni terrorists, looking to blame Hezbollah.]

Israel Fires Shells at Southern Lebanon in Response to Morning Rocket Attack

Two missiles fired from southern Lebanon exploded Sunday in northern Israel, prompting the Israeli military to hit back with three artillery shells, an army spokesman said.

“The Israeli artillery responded to rocket attacks from Lebanon against Israel that left no victims, targeting the area where these projectiles were fired from,” an army spokesman told AFP.

The Katyusha-style rockets landed in a field west of the town of Kiryat Shmona, without causing any casualties or damage, Israeli military radio reported.

The National News Agency said that the Israeli army retaliated by firing over 20 shells at the region located between Rashaya, Rashaya al-Fakhar, al-Mariyeh, Ibl al-Saqi, al-Wazzani, Kfarshouba Hills, Wata al-Khiyam, and Sarda.

Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) said that the Israeli army fired over 100 shells.

The Lebanese army has been conducting a sweep of the region where the rockets were fired from towards Israel and where the Israeli shells landed, reported LBCI television.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon also contacted the Lebanese and Israeli sides, urging them to exercise restraint and to cooperate with the respective armies to determine the details of Sunday’s incident, it added.

“This is a very serious incident… and is clearly directed at undermining stability in the area,” UNIFIL chief Paolo Serra said in a statement.

“UNIFIL’s first imperative is to ensure that there is no further escalation of the situation.”

Lebanese army and UNIFIL forces were carrying out patrols in the area after the exchange of fire, an AFP correspondent said.

The Army Command later announced that the army discovered four wooden rocket launchers used in the attack in the Wadi al-Khraybeh region in the Hasbaya district.

Tension has spiked on the border between the two countries since Lebanese troops gunned down an Israeli soldier driving near the frontier on December 16.

Israel’s border with Lebanon has been largely quiet since the 2006 war with Hizbullah.

The last time a soldier was killed there was in August 2010, when two Lebanese soldiers and a journalist also died.

In August, four Israeli soldiers were wounded by an explosion some 400 meters (yards) inside Lebanese territory, in a blast claimed by Hizbullah.

Last week, Hizbullah said one of its top leaders was killed near Beirut and blamed Israel for his murder — a charge denied by Israel, which warned against any retaliation.

UNIFIL troops were deployed along the border following the 34-day war in 2006 which killed some 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.

Bandar’s Counterpart Prince Turki Runs Financial/Diplomatic Operations for Saudi Police State

[The following was written by Saudi prince Turki.  It is trash.]

How to Win in the Middle East

Turki bin Faisal al-Saud

RIYADH – Analysts the world over are assessing the situation in the Middle East in 2012 by listing the region’s “winners” and “losers.” Hamas won. Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi won, then lost. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won. Syria lost. Iraq lost. Iran had a draw (tougher sanctions, but closer to nuclear-weapons capability), as did Saudi Arabia (growing clout, but unable to stop the killings in Syria [LYING TURKI–order your al-qaeda fighters to stop the killing, you royal asshole, everything else will fall into place] or Gaza) and Israel (avoided massive bloodshed, but became even more isolated).

All of these lists, however, are merely the pastimes of policy wonks. In the bloody, hostile miasma of the Middle East, being a “winner” in any sense of the word is fallacious. The region continues to breed only losers. The victims of the conflicts in Syria, Iran, and Palestine; the friends and families of the victims; those who hope for peace: all lost. This is a grim reminder that when it comes to killing one another, repeatedly missing opportunities for peace, and botching all efforts at progress, no one can beat the Middle East. In 2012, the region proved once again that it is truly the best at perpetrating the worst.

When will these vital, eclectic, and prosperous (or potentially prosperous) countries stop their ravenous infighting and start nurturing, protecting, and sustaining their people? While there have been many prescriptions, I will provide my own 2012 Middle East roundup, with a look toward what must happen in 2013 if we want it to bring fewer losses.

The Israeli killing machine must be stopped by a determined United States using its leverage to bring about implementation of the land-for-peace principles of United Nations Security Council resolutions 242 and 338, the Madrid Conference, the Oslo Agreement, and the Abdullah Peace Initiative. This is the only way out of the current unworkable predicament.

Borrowing a term from nuclear strategy, the situation between Israel and the Palestinians can be described only as “mutually assured destruction,” also known, fittingly, as MAD. It benefits no one, so why let it continue? Only the US has the ability to push the Israelis out of their MAD-ness, so I look forward to the Obama administration recognizing and acting on that moral obligation in the coming year.

The Assad killing machine must also be stopped. In this case, it is through the West agreeing with Saudi Arabia to arm the Free Syrian Army with the defensive weapons that it needs to ground Bashar al-Assad’s aircraft and immobilize his tanks and artillery.  [LYING TURKI–pretending that the answer is to support the FSA, while his country’s “Islamist Front” attacks the FSA in Syria, stealing their weapons, and now one of their bases.  Saudi royal lies are coming back to haunt them in a blitzkrieg of outrage, whenever enough people realize that “al-Qaeda” has ALWAYS been an arm of the Saudi royal family.]

Unlike some conflicts in the region, this is a case with a clear and simple solution. Those being attacked merely need weapons to defend themselves; if they get them, the entire dynamic of the conflict will shift, in turn ending the bloodshed. [LYING TURKI–there is only ONE SOLUTION to the Syrian conflict, for foreign entities to stop all support operations.  Stop arming and transporting Islamist terrorists into Syria.  Stop Turkey and Jordan from allowing war materiel and fighters across their borders.  Prevent covert Israeli and American supply of the Syrian foreigners.  Failure to oppose the Saudi initiative will result in another Talibanized Muslim country, bought and paid for by Saudi Arabia and friends.]

By now, all of the actors in Syria are known. There are no hidden jihadis, terrorists, or gangsters. They are all well documented. So the moderates are the ones who should get the anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons. Having them, their prestige among other fighters will soar, and so will support for their moderate stance.  [LYING TURKI–by “moderates,” the Saudi spokesperson means the least extremist of all of the extremist radicals, who fight under the “Islamist” banner.  THERE ARE NO MODERATE EXTREMISTS!]

Iranian intervention in Iraq must stop. It is tearing Iraq apart and endangering the countries around it. Western and Iranian support for Nouri al-Maliki’s government, which is controlled by Iran’s Basij militia, must be withdrawn, enabling the Iraqi people to determine freely their own destiny. [TURKI YOU LYING BASTARD–Iraq has been brought to boil again by Sunni (al-Qaeda) terrorists, who are hell-bent to overthrow the Maliki democratically-elected govt.  Turki is urging Obama to abandon Iraq to these Sunni terrorists and the second Iraqi civil war, which they intend to fight.]

Did the Americans defeat Saddam Hussein, and did more than 100,000 Iraqis die in the process, so that their country could become a puppet of the hostile Iranian regime? Iran’s meddling in Bahrain, Kuwait, Yemen, and other Gulf states must end as well.  [LYING TURKI–Saudi money, tanks and planes have been used to upset the democratic process in all of the aforementioned countries, blaming popular expressions of discontent upon “Iranian spies and agents.”  More than anything else, the Saudis are at war with “Democracy” within all of the Middle East.  The implication, hidden within the Saudi initiative, is the unspoken intention of Riyadh to use its fortune as a weapon, to conquer and to assimilate the entire region (SEE:  Gulf union is inevitable: Saudi Prince Turki Al Faisal).  The Saudi royal family are a threat to the human race and should be stopped BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.]
In addition to these major tasks, Palestine’s main political rivals, Hamas and Fatah, must reconcile and turn their united efforts toward improving the lives of the Palestinian people. Egypt must get over its post-revolutionary squabbling and reassume its leading role among the Arab states. And all Arab states must coordinate their efforts to realize common ambitions, rather than continuing to pursue only narrow national interests.

Central to all of these tasks is a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) that is united into a confederation that can meet the challenges of Iran’s regional ambitions and bring major military deployments to bear on regional conflicts.  [LYING TURKI–Saudis will not be satisfied until they have divided the Muslim Ummah into two warring halves in the Middle East.  He should worry less about meeting “the challenges of Iran’s regional ambitions” and worry instead about reforming the Middle Eastern Arab dictatorships, who have always lived fat while their people suffered.]

If anything has become clear in the last year, it is that states like Israel, Iran, and Syria will act with impunity if no one is ready, willing, and able to stand up to them. It is time for the GCC, anchored on Saudi Arabia’s power, to take up that role.

The Middle East has been losing for too long, because its national leaders have been seeking to win in their own way, for their own purposes, and at everyone’s cost but their own. Such unilateralism is impossible in today’s globalized world. We must join together, or else we will rip each other to shreds. The choice is simple: Do we want to be winners or losers?

Proof That Pak Army Picks CIA Drone Targets In FATA

[The CIA has helped the ISI to “disappear” one of the pesky “Adiala 11″ (SEE:  The “Adiala 11″ Disappeared Were Suspects in GHQ Bombing and Musharraf Assassination Attempt).  All of the suspects in the GHQ assault were members of the “Amjad Farooqi Cell,” (SEE:  Paramilitary Pretense, Who Controls the Predators? ), named after the top dog in Lashkar e-Jhangvi, the Punjabi root of the terrorist vine which leads back to the Army and to Special Forces commando Ilyas Kashmiri (who was allegedly killed near the site of this latest drone attack). The reported victims of CIA murders have a way of reappearing again, whenever the agency needs them in new hot spots.  We have no ability to determine who dies in these drone attacks, or even if anybody dies at all.  If there are no recognizable photos to document a celebrated terrorist leader’s demise, then it is wise to question the validity of first press reports.

The Pak Army’s publicity apparatus and “iron fist” are very effective at dominating public opinion.  Wake-up, Imran Kahn!  The culprits behind CIA drone deaths work from offices in Rawalpindi, as well as in Kabul.  The first step towards ending drone deaths is to put an end to the official lie which denies Army complicity in drone deaths.]        

Militant involved in GHQ attack injured in drone attack

 

PESHAWAR: Two militants, including an accused linked with attack on Pakistan Army headquarters in Rawalpindi, were also injured in the US drone attack that targeted a compound in Miranshah town of North Waziristan.According to sources, Aslam alias Yaseen is linked with attacks on General Headquarters (GHQ) and another attack on the naval base in Karachi.The sources further said that three militants were killed in the drone strike. Two militants were from Punjab.

They said that the injured militants have been taken to hospital. The militants were fighting in Afghanistan, the sources claimed.

The militants were living in the attacked compound for four months, the sources added.

SOCOM Gen. Con Job—“Fixing America’s Islamists” In Libya Is Impossible AND Idiotic

[Shame on you, Gen. McRaven…all of your predecessors were smarter than that!  These guys are just practicing the deadly skills that your boys taught to them, and you want us to believe that the problem is that you need to train them better? 

Hell, you guys backed the head of an al-Qaeda terrorist group as Libyan military chieftain, after your men murdered the President of Libya  Your Islamist proxies have murdered the entire legitimate Libyan govt.  Now that their terrorism is making Africom look bad, you beg for the privilege of making them even better terrorists, only you call them “Freedom Fighters” when you try to sell them to the American people.  I hope that you burn in Hell for what you guys have done to this world.

You should be congratulating your terrorist proxies for a job well done, every time that they carry-out another massacre, even if they massacre the trainers that you intend to send them.]

[McRaven is a freak, trying to sneak his fellow freaks into any combat position that SOCOM can dream-up (SEE:  SOCOM Peddles Its “Wet Dream” of Creating Global Web Under SOF Control  ;  Special Forces Chief Seeking Blank Check To Attack Anyone, Anywhere He Wants).  Now that America’s Islamists are openly causing problems in Libya for the CIA and the Pentagon, the “Slick-Operator-In-Chief” thinks that he might be able to sneak a few more of his “irregular forces” back into Tripoli, under cover of “correcting the Islamist militias” (SEE:  Dozens dead in clash with Libyan militiamen in Tripoli). 

WHAT A WHOPPER!  This guy, just like ALL U.S. officers and American politicians, lies to us so often that he must think that he has some kind of weird diplomatic immunity.  After the recent public stink which was spontaneously generated around Obama’s intention to enter the war against Syria, one would think that they would be reluctant to try it again, so soon.  Pentagon warmongers will have to play catch-up with the politicians, who have slowly come to realize that the American people are waking-up.  There will be a great electoral correction of America’s course to the Nazi shoals, since most politicians don’t want to be swept aside in the anticipated great house-cleaning.  The American people have started sobering-up, after having drunk deeply from the poisoned chalice of the plastic patriotism that has been dispensed so freely by Bush/Cheney and the neocon traitors.  More Americans are coming to understand that the Pentagon and the CIA have been taken over by a bunch of Nazis.

By all means, allow the Pentagon to complete the Nazification process among the nascent little national militaries that it is raising-up all over the Africom mischief zone.  If no one besides a handful of “conspiracy theorists” opposes this rising-up of the new “Fourth Reich,” an American global “Reich,” then we all might as well start practicing our goose-stepping and stiff-armed salutes to our tall, thin, dark-skinned “Fuhrer.”]

U.S. to Train Libyan Military, Including Islamists

Socom chief warns counter-terrorism training will be risky

Ansar al Shariah supporters protest the United States’ capture of Abu Anas al-Libi / AP

BY: Bill Gertz
November 16, 2013 7:45 pm

Simi Valley, Calif. — The U.S. military is preparing to conduct military and special operations training for Libya’s military and the training will risk including Islamist terrorists among the trainees, according to the commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command.

Adm. William McRaven said in a brief interview Saturday that the counterterrorism training operation has not begun. “We’re in the early stages,” he told the Free Beacon.

McRaven said a major gun battle erupted in Tripoli last week among opposing militias, a sign of instability in the North African country. The training is needed to stabilize Libya, an oil-rich country beset by mounting terrorism and Islamist militias.

During a panel discussion on the war on terrorism at the Reagan National Defense Forum, McRaven disclosed that the Libyan military training would include both conventional forces training and special operations training and that there will be risks.

“We are going to have to assume some risks,” McRaven said. “Right now we have the authorities to do that training, and I think as a country we have to say there is probably some risk that some of the people we will be training with do not have the most clean records, but at the end of the day it is the best solution we can find to train them to deal with their own problems.”

McRaven disclosed the plans for Libyan training when asked about problems encountered in training foreign special operations forces.

McRaven said the training would include a “very, very thorough review” of the Libyans who will take part.

Since the ouster of Muammar Gadhafi in 2011, Libya has had a weak government in a region dominated by Islamist militias ranging from al Qaeda affiliates to Islamists that do not support al Qaeda.

A weak central government has resulted in the spread of militias throughout the country. Weak border controls also have made the country a safe haven for jihadists.

Intelligence reports from earlier this year said some of the Islamists are engaged in training jihadists fighters who are then dispatched to Syria to join Islamist rebels there fighting the regime of Syrian President Bashir Assad.

The four-star admiral said the risks have been explained to senior leaders, including Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey, and the regional combatant commanders.

The U.S. covert raid to capture al Qaeda leader Anas al Libi also has led to a backlash by Islamist militias operating in Libya.

The terrorists who attacked the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, killing Ambassador Christopher Stephens and three other Americans, were linked to al Qaeda.

The group, Ansar al Sharia, continues to operate openly, despite promises by President Barack Obama to bring those who carried out the Sept. 11, 2012 attacks to justice.

Additionally, Ansar al Sharia has grown more belligerent in recent months, apparently abandoning propaganda efforts to rebrand itself as a nonviolent militia.

Libyan militias also have seized some oil production facilities and have been selling oil to fund their activities.

Recently, al Qaeda terrorists reportedly infiltrated into Libya through the poorly protected southern border, according to a U.S. official.

McRaven said the military and special forces training will be carried out through the U.S. Africa Command, the military command in charge of Africa, and that negotiations with the Libyans are still underway.

Between 5,000 and 7,000 Libyans will receive conventional military training from the United States.

“And we have a complementary effort on the special operations side to train a certain number of their forces to do counterterrorism,” McRaven said.

Special operations training for the Libyans raises the prospect that some of the most advanced military tactics and operations could be compromised to Islamists.

Both training programs are being developed with Africom and supported by the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli.

Pretending That Reviving the CIA/ISI Muj Training Program Is Riyadh’s Doing

[They used the same process in Bosnia and in Iraq.  The Pak Army is very efficient.  The Saudis called upon them during the siege of the Grand Mosque in Mecca.  Their disciplined trainers are very efficient at transmitting that training to rebel groups. 

It is laughable that the media is trying to make us believe that the Saudis would attempt to revive the trans-national network of Islamist recruitment and supply necessary for such a “shadow war,” without help from both the Pentagon and the CIA.  The name of the game is deniability.  The CIA has been very methodical in using first Qatari, then Saudi funds to reestablish the Islamist recruitment network in Syria.  First, the Qatari project brought in the most violent, radical Islamist militants….let’s call them “al-Qaeda,”  When the uproar began over the barbarity of these thugs, then the Saudis created the Nusra nexis, to impersonate “good Islamists,” even though they too have been called “al-Qaeda.”  The Saudis demand international support, on the grounds that failure to assist their good Islamists, would be tantamount to surrendering Syria to the “bad al-Qaeda,” even though the Gulf monarchs are financing both sides.  It is all a grand show for our benefit.

It is long past time that we helped Bashar al-Asad to eliminate ALL of these vermin “Islamist” scum from his country.  The question then becomes, do we then clean-out the huge nest of “Islamist” vipers in Riyadh?  That will all depend upon the Saudis themselves.  Will they also admit the error of their ways and seek to help the international effort to repair the unimaginable desolation that they have wrought in Syria?  Would such a change of heart make amends for the war crimes committed by both the US and the Saudis in creating this war?]

Saudi Arabia’s Shadow War

The Kingdom is turning to Pakistan to train Syria’s rebels. It’s a partnership that once went very wrong in Afghanistan. Will history repeat itself?

BY DAVID KENNER

BEIRUT — Saudi Arabia, having largely abandoned hope that the United States will spearhead international efforts to topple the Assad regime, is embarking on a major new effort to train Syrian rebel forces. And according to three sources with knowledge of the program, Riyadh has enlisted the help of Pakistani instructors to do it.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, along with the CIA, also supported the Afghan rebels against the Soviet-backed government during the 1980s. That collaboration contains a cautionary note for the current day: The fractured Afghan rebels were unable to govern after the old regime fell, paving the way for chaos and the rise of the Taliban. Some of the insurgents, meanwhile, transformed into al Qaeda and eventually turned their weapons against their former patrons.

While the risk of blowback has been discussed in Riyadh, Saudis with knowledge of the training program describe it as an antidote to extremism, not a potential cause of it. They have described the kingdom’s effort as having two goals — toppling the Assad regime, and weakening al Qaeda-linked groups in the country. Prince Turki, the former Saudi intelligence chief and envoy to Washington, said in a recent interview that the mainstream opposition must be strengthened so that it could protect itself “these extremists who are coming from all over the place” to impose their own ideologies on Syria.

The ramped up Saudi effort has been spurred by the kingdom’s disillusionment with the United States. A Saudi insider with knowledge of the program described how Riyadh had determined to move ahead with its plans after coming to the conclusion that President Barack Obama was simply not prepared to move aggressively to oust Assad. “We didn’t know if the Americans would give [support] or not, but nothing ever came through,” the source said. “Now we know the president just didn’t want it.”

Pakistan’s role is so far relatively small, though another source with knowledge of Saudi thinking said that a plan was currently being debated to give Pakistan responsibility for training two rebel brigades, or around 5,000 to 10,000 fighters. Carnegie Middle East Center fellow Yezid Sayigh first noted the use of Pakistani instructors, writing that the Saudis were planning to build a Syrian rebel army of roughly 40,000 to 50,000 soldiers.

“The only way Assad will think about giving up power is if he’s faced with the threat of a credible, armed force,” said the Saudi insider.

A State Department official declined to comment on the Saudi training program.

Saudi Arabia’s decision to move forward with training the Syrian rebels independent of the United States is the latest sign of a split between the two longtime allies. In Syria, Saudi officials were aggrieved by Washington’s decision to cancel a strike on the Assad regime in reprisal for its chemical weapons attack on the Damascus suburbs this summer. A top Saudi official told the Washington Post that Saudi intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan was unaware of the cancelation of the strike. “We found about it from CNN,” he said.

As a result, Saudi Arabia has given up on hopes that the United States would spearhead efforts to topple Assad and decided to press forward with its own plans to bolster rebel forces. That effort relies on a network of Saudi allies in addition to Pakistan, such as Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and France.

As Sayigh laid out in his Carnegie paper, Saudi Arabia is attempting to build “a new national army” for the rebels — a force with an “avowedly Sunni ideology” that could seize influence from mainstream Syrian opposition groups. In addition to its training program in Jordan, Saudi Arabia also helped organize the unification of roughly 50 rebel brigades into “the Army of Islam” under the leadership of Zahran Alloush, a Salafist commander whose father is a cleric based in the kingdom.

Given the increased Islamization of rebel forces on the ground, analysts say, it only makes sense that Saudi Arabia would throw its support behind Salafist groups. These militias “happen to be the most strategically powerful organizations on the ground,” said Charles Lister, an analyst with IHS Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Centre. “If Saudi Arabia does indeed follow such a strategy… it could well stand to become a major power player in the conflict.”

In calling on Pakistan to assist in toppling Assad, Saudi Arabia can draw on its deep alliance with Islamabad. The two countries have long shared defense ties: Saudi Arabia has given more aid to Pakistani than to any non-Arab country, according to former CIA officer Bruce Riedel, and also allegedly helped fund Islamabad’s nuclear program. In return, Pakistan based troops in Saudi Arabia multiple times over three decades to protect the royals’ grip on power.

The current Pakistani government, in particular, is closely tied to Saudi Arabia. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was ousted from power in 1999 by a military coup – the Saudis allegedly brokered a deal that kept him from prison. Sharif would spend the next seven years in exile, mainly in Saudi Arabia. “For the Saudis, Sharif is a key partner in a key allied state,” said Arif Rafiq, an adjunct scholar at the Middle East Institute.

But despite close collaboration in the past, Saudi Arabia may find its old allies chafing at the sheer scope of its ambitions in Syria. One Pakistani source with close ties to military circles confirmed that Saudi Arabia had requested assistance on Syria over the summer — but argued that Pakistani capabilities and interests were not conducive to a sweeping effort to train the rebels.

Pakistan is already grappling with its own sectarian bloodshed and must mind its relationship with Iran, while its foreign policy is focused on negotiations with the Taliban over the future of Afghanistan and its longtime rivalry with India. “They have their hands full,” the source said. “And even if they want to, I don’t think they’ll be able to give much concrete help.”

Jordan is also reportedly leery about fielding a large Syrian rebel army on its soil. The ambitious Saudi plan would require a level of support from Amman “that is opposed within the security and military establishment and is unlikely to be implemented,” according to Sayigh.

As the Saudis expand their effort to topple Assad, analysts say the central challenge is not to inflict tactical losses on the Syrian army, but to organize a coherent force that can coordinate its actions across the country. In other words, if Riyadh hopes to succeed where others have failed, it needs to get the politics right — convincing the fragmented rebel groups, and their squabbling foreign patrons, to work together in pursuit of a shared goal.

It’s easier said than done. “The biggest problem facing the Saudis now is the same one facing the U.S., France, and anyone else interested in helping the rebels: the fragmentation of the rebels into groups fighting each other for local and regional dominance rather than cooperating to overthrow Assad,” said David Ottaway, a scholar at the Wilson Center who wrote a biography of Prince Bandar. “Could the Saudis force [the rebel groups] to cooperate? I have my doubts.”

No Plans for Hezbollah To Fight In Qalamoun

Syria: War in Qalamoun Didn’t Begin Because It Never Stopped

A rebel fighter monitors the surrounding area during clashes with government forces in the Syrian northeastern city of Deir Ezzor, on October 28, 2013. (Photo: AFP – Ahmad Aboud)

By: Firas Choufi, Marah Mashi

It appears that the much-hyped “Great Battle of Qalamoun” will only take place in the media. While the Syrian army does not deny that it has been mobilizing troops in the vicinity of the Qalamoun district, a Qusayr-like battle is not inevitable. Instead, gradual advances are taking place to spare Qalamoun large-scale devastation.

There are daily battles in Qalamoun, the western Syrian mountain range that extends from the Dreij area in the south to Homs. The mountain range may be seen as part of the Eastern Lebanon Mountains, which link Mount Hermon in the south to the plains of Homs.

But the sources explained how the methods used in the battle of Qusayr and its countryside are not appropriate in Qalamoun’s case, not only because of the different geography, but also because of current political circumstances.

In truth, this could be a time when Damascus is most reassured to the movements on the battlefield ever since the Syrian army began its counterattack in November 2012. The plan to establish a safe zone around Damascus by securing eastern and western Ghouta is making headway, and also in Homs, where the Syrian army now controls up to 80 percent of the city, according to Syrian military sources.

In Daraa, which the army considers to be a weak link in its security plans as arms and fighters continue to flow through it to the Damascus countryside, efforts are underway to cut supply routes and secure the city. The fierce shelling sustained throughout the past week against the strongholds of al-Nusra Front and the Army of Islam there can be seen in this context. The situation in Idlib is similar to that of Daraa.

But sources say that the situation in Aleppo and its countryside is quite different from the rest of the battlefronts. Those in charge in Damascus are convinced that the battle of Aleppo cannot be settled by tanks and warplanes, but only by a political agreement, which the sources say “will come sooner or later, compelling Turkey to close the borders and isolate the militants regardless of their affiliations, before the Syrian army begins pursuing them in the vast areas of the north.”

“The Army will keep its hold on the liberated neighborhoods in [Aleppo] and access routes, and attempt to expand the safe zone as much as possible, while continuing military operations and precision targeting of militant weapons caches and command centers.”

What About Qalamoun?

Sources say that the army prioritizes its operations, especially in a vast and complex area like Qalamoun. For instance, the army proceeds to first secure the areas that “pose a threat to the army’s main weapons caches, airstrips, or bases, and also the areas that compromise strategic routes, followed by areas that constitute a direct threat to Damascus.”

No doubt, Qalamoun, and its Lebanese extensions in Ersal and the wilderness around it, has become a haven for a large number of Syrian opposition fighters from various affiliations, starting with the Army of Islam, al-Furqan Brigades, and Suqur al-Sham Brigades, and not ending with al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and other militants fleeing the battles in Ghouta. The area also poses a direct risk to the international expressway between Damascus and the governorates of Homs, Hama, Idlib, Tartous, and Latakia.

Subsequently, it is of paramount importance for the Syrian army to retake Qalamoun. But the sources explained how the methods used in the battle of Qusayr and its countryside are not appropriate in Qalamoun’s case, not only because of the different geography, but also because of current political circumstances.

The sources said: “Settling the war in Qusayr was the beginning of a political transformation and the reversal of international attitudes in favor of the regime and its allies.”

“Any battle in Qalamoun in the current political climate could damage political cards ahead of Geneva II, if it convenes, rather than being a point of strength, if settling the battle is delayed and the army is unable to achieve quick results, which is to be expected given the size of the area and its harsh topography.”

The sources added, “The military leadership and allies are convinced that things on the battlefield are going well after learning the lessons from the battles over the past two years, and exposing the tactics of the militants and those who back them.”

Carrot and Stick

People everywhere are tired of the actions of the militants, their violations, and their infighting, especially in Qalamoun.

A few sandbags are all that separate the towns of Qalamoun from the areas now under the Syrian army’s control. Each town has one entrance guarded by the Syrian army, which prevents wanted fugitives and militants from leaving these areas, and only civilians can enter or leave through the checkpoints. Only Deir Attiya appears confident and comfortable with its security situation, compared to its “explosive” surroundings in Qalamoun, beginning with Rankous opposite the Anti-Lebanon Mountains, all the way to Zabadani in the south, in addition to the towns located near Damascus’s northern approaches in the direction of Homs.

The Syrian army is operating on the basis that a major battle will take place here, massing troops prepared for alpine combat in more than one area, whether all the way to the Lebanese border to the west, or the south in the direction of the Barada Valley and Rankous, or the center in al-Nabak. Despite this heavy deployment, well-placed sources concerned with the battles in Qalamoun say that the army does not intend to carry out a large-scale assault on an area of this size with extensive supply lines running from places like Ersal.

The sources said, “The army has other plans, such as disjointing the area and besieging heavy militant concentrations, as well as the carrot-and-stick policy, for example.”

In a few weeks, snow will cover all mountainous roads. According to the sources, “The weather begins to intensify in late November in this high-altitude area. Snow will cut off more than 70 percent of the militants’ supply routes, mainly those extending from Ersal. In parallel, the Syrian air force, artillery emplacements, and rocket batteries will cut off the rest, placing the militants under siege from both the snow and the army.”

The Talfita Model

Those who saw the village of Talfita’s residents throwing rice at Syrian army soldiers and receiving them with songs and Syrian flags, will understand the Syrian army’s course of action. An informed Syrian military source said, “People everywhere are tired of the actions of the militants, their violations, and their infighting, especially in Qalamoun. The areas hosting the militants have started to come to their senses, asking foreign fighters to leave the villages, and urging their compatriots to turn themselves in and find a solution with the government. This is what happened in Talfita, where militants handed themselves over to the army, while foreign fighters were expelled.”

Al-Akhbar has learned that Hezbollah is not considering taking part in any military activities there, except in the event militants move on Bekaa villages, where Hezbollah is under pressure from the Syrian army’s attacks.

The Syrian army is thus relying on dismantling the “nurturing environments” of the militants. The source did not deny that the residents have provided intelligence to the army, “because they are sick of the militants’ occupation of their villages.”

The source then explained why the tactic of gradually snatching territory, which proved its worth in areas like Ghouta and Homs, could be the ideal solution for an area the size of Qalamoun, saying that this would reduce the army’s casualties, while sustaining pressure enables concluding local deals that prevent a lot of bloodshed and devastation.”

The latest battles unfolded in the town of Saddad before the army retook it on Monday, October 28. Sources indicated that the goal of the armed opposition in entering Saddad was to bog down the Syrian army ahead of any major battle, adding that the militants were surprised by the army’s capacity to quickly settle the confrontation. As for Maaloula, the sources said that the situation in the town is now stable and secure to a large extent.

The battle in Qalamoun will not be like the battle of Qusayr. Instead, it will be a systematic attempt to gradually seize the villages controlled by the militants, some through deals, others through force. No bell will ring to signal the start of the battle because the battle never stopped in the first place.

Hezbollah Will Not Participate

The presence of militants in Qalamoun does not only affect Syria, especially after evidence emerged that this region and its Lebanese extension in Ersal have become a staging ground for attacks in Beirut’s southern suburbs and rocket attacks in the Bekaa. Despite the media hype regarding the possibility of Hezbollah participating alongside the Syrian army in any upcoming battles along the Eastern Mountain Range, Al-Akhbar has learned that Hezbollah is not considering taking part in any military activities there, except in the event militants move on Bekaa villages, where Hezbollah is under pressure from the Syrian army’s attacks.

Al-Akhbar has also learned that the Syrian opposition in Lebanon has begun to prepare, “so that the battle in Qalamoun does not pass like the battle in Qusayr without major tension in Lebanon.” This tension would reportedly take on the form of engineered unrest in the north, the Bekaa, and the southern coastline, to distract Hezbollah and Syria’s allies. As for Tripoli, sources said that it would also be part of the unrest.

US Tries Again To Cram Counterfeit “Turkish Taliban” Down Karzai’s Throat

[With Karzai back in his box, the US drags-out its tired excuse for a “Taliban” leader, Mutasem Agha Jan, who doesn’t even live in the AfPak region; he lives in Turkey.

 

Taliban Leader Says Peace Talks On Horizon

Written by Shakeela Abrahimkhil

Mutasem Agha Jan, the head of Taliban Political Committee, said on Tuesday that peace negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban would recommence soon, signaling the first major sign of hope for a process that has been stalled since June.

With President Hamid Karzai away in London to participate in trilateral talks with Britain and Pakistan launched for the purpose of getting peace negotiations with the Taliban back on track, Agha Jan’s statement on Tuesday came as a welcomed surprise.

Many experts have grown doubtful of any reconciliation deal being struck between the militants and Kabul before the spring elections or the withdraw of foreign troops in 2014. However, Agha Jan leant credence to his claims by asserting that his authority to move the peace talks forward came on behalf of the Taliban’s supreme leader, the reclusive Mullah Omar.

The High Peace Council (HPC) was highly positive about the announcement, suggesting it was reliable signal that tangible gains in the peace process were soon to come.
“He doesn’t only speak for himself, he talks on behalf of the Taliban’s top commander Mullah Omar, and Omar is the leader of the Taliban group, so it’s really positive and we support it,” said HPC spokesman Maulavi Shahzada Shahid.

Agha Jan said the Taliban’s renewed willingness to come to the negotiating table was based on their desire to bring the country out of crisis and establish longstanding peace in Afghanistan.

“Taliban are ready for a ceasefire, we don’t support war,” he said. “All, including the Taliban, have paid a major price in the war.”

The Taliban political leader’s comments fly in the face of the fears of many Afghan and foreign officials and experts who have suggested the insurgent group is looking to derail the upcoming elections. Nevertheless, those fears are based on the observation of action, like the recent assassination of the Kunduz IEC Chief and abduction of five IEC officials in Faryab province. For now, the Taliban’s commitment to peace remains rhetorical.

That does not mean Agha Jan’s announcement on Tuesday was not a major break for the process that has been stagnant since an attempts at talks floundered in Qatar nearly five months ago. As the HPC’s remarks indicate, a statement of willingness and expectation that talks will begin soon is a major step.

Over the past months, the Afghan government has been focusing on making inroads with Pakistan in hopes of getting it to help get the peace process rolling. Those efforts have not seen much success, as Karzai’s request to have Taliban leader Mullah Baradar released from prison was agreed to by Islamabad, but then never carried through.

That issue was expected to be an item of discussion this week between Karzai and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in London.

Members of the Afghan government and their unofficial delegates have reportedly been engaged in backroom communication with the Taliban in hopes of kick-starting the peace process. Whether or not that behind-the-scenes dialogue played a part in Agha Jan speaking up on Tuesday is uncertain.

One of the major reasons Karzai government officials have been so eager to make progress on the peace process, other than the fact that Karzai will not be in a position to do so after the election in April, is that the NATO combat mission ends in December of 2014. The departure of coalition troops from Afghanistan has led to a significant amount of hand-wringing about a potential security vacuum that could mean a death blow to the still fledgling Kabul regime that has been in place since 2003.

Although not likely in favor of a continued presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan, Agha Jan also expressed concerns about the stability of the country in the coming years.

“We have major concerns, and history shouldn’t be repeated,” he said. “Afghanistan should not slide back into a chaotic era as we witnessed following the collapse of President Najbullah when various groups engaged in bloody wars and Afghanistan was devastated.”

Incidentally, the Taliban was the group that brought that era of “blood wars” to an end.

Agha Jan served as the Minister of Finance during the Taliban regime. He was blacklisted by the U.S. two years ago. Around that time he was injured and left Afghanistan for Turkey to seek medical treatment. He has been residing there ever since.

Afghan Reports Contradicting Western and Pakistani Press Reports On TTP

[The following Afghan press reports could either be following the government line, trying to calm US/Afghan relations, or it could be the truth.  The report from Khaama Press contradicts initial Washington Post report, claiming that US Spec. Forces seized Mehsud from Afghan forces, arguing that the Americans had made the capture.  Another Afghan press report, this one from Pajhwok, refutes the Pak. press report claiming that Fazlullah had been killed in Kunar (SEE:  Jalala denies Fazlullah killed in Kunar).] 

The governor of eastern Kunar province, Shujaul Mulk Jalala:

“A number of Pakistani Taliban fought alongside their Afghan comrades against government forces in the border region.

‘There is no doubt about the presence of Pakistani Taliban in our border areas. They have joined Afghan Taliban in their attacks on Afghan forces,’ he said.”]

NDS rejects capture of senior TTP leader by Afghan intelligence

By Ghanizada – Tue Oct 15

Afghan intelligence – National Directorate of Security (NDS) on Tuesday announced that the intelligence/NDS forces were involved behind the detention of senior Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP) commander Latifullah Mehsud.

National Directorate of Security (NDS) following a statement said, “In the aftermath of the arrest of Latifullah Masoud, a leader of Pakistan Taliban, a number of Western media and diplomats have stated that National Directorate of Security NDS was involved in the arrest of Mr. Masoud.”

The statement further added, “While NDS refutes these baseless allegations, we would like to clarify that NDS was not involved in this
arrest at all and there was no coordination with NDS in this regard.”

“NDS personnel are committed to a stable, independent and sovereign Afghanistan and will spare no effort in safeguarding these values,” the statement added.

The senior Pakistani Taliban commander, Latifullah Mehsud was arrested during a military operation by US forces in eastern Afghanistan. He a close confidante of TTP leader Hakimullah Mehsud and was arrested in easter Logar province of Afghanistan.

Pakistani Taliban commanders and intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity said Latiullah Mehsud was returning from a meeting to discuss swapping Afghan prisoners for money.

Unconfirmed reports also suggest that Latifullah Mehsud had travelled to Afghanistan in a bid to broker peace talks between the militant groups and Afghan government.

Mehsud, believed to be around 30 years-old, once served as Hakimullah Mehsud’s driver but eventually worked his way up the ranks to become a trusted deputy. The two are not related and Mehsud is a common name in the region.

Follow Khaama Press

The Myth of “Al-Qaeda” In Syria

[Every time that Ayman Al-Zawahiri opens his mouth, he confirms his own irrelevance.  He only issues one of his infamous video/audio tapes to the Israeli SITE Al-Qaeda mouthpiece, whenever he thinks that he can assert his “terrorist” credentials.  In truth, he has never served in ANY Mujahedeen fighting force, never been credited with ANY terrorist attack (he was put in jail with the Anwar Sadat assassins without proof of association with the attack).  He had virtually ZERO influence upon the “Al-Qaeda In Iraq” group, whatsoever, yet he and the puppet leader of the group at that time, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, maintained the popular farce that they were both in sync.  The groups claiming to be “Al-Qaeda” among the anti-Syrian terrorists have ZERO connection to bin Laden’s group,

meaning that the old fart with the dark spot on his forehead is simply blowing smoke.   

Even the fake “Al-Q” have stopped paying attention to him, frequently doing the opposite of what he asks.  This Saudi attempt to forge a solid Islamist alliance from these groups is getting nowhere, hence the rulers of Riyadh have dragged-out this old faker to call for “Unity” among his fanatical step-children.  He is truly a desperate figure, daring to reverse himself publicly, by now calling for Nusra and AQII to join as one group, after his recent embarassment, telling the newly formed union of the two groups to re-split, and ordering emir, Sheikh Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to take his boys back to Iraq.  (WHAT WAS HE THINKING?)  Now that the Islamist old-geezer has calmed down and thought about the situation, he has realized the error of his ways or the error made by his Saudi/Israeli overlords(SEE:  Israeli-Saudi Alliance Slips into View), calling now for the two groups to get back together, after some of the Islamist sheeple had actually done what Zawahiri asked them to do, and re-split.  Well, it’s too late now, baby.]

(SEE:  Syria: ISIS Orphans al-Nusra Front, Cutting Its Funding)

Al-Qaida leader urges Egypt’s Islamists to unite

Friday Oct 11, 2013  |  The Associated Press

Al-Qaida leader urges Egypt’s Islamists to unite to rid the country of military rule

CAIRO (AP) — Al-Qaida’s leader urged Islamists in Egypt in an audio-recording that surfaced Friday to unite under the banner of religion to rid the country of the rule of the military, saying it is fighting a war against Islam.

In a 17-minute video posted on the Internet, Ayman al-Zawahri blasted the Egyptian military, calling its leader “the Americanized butcher of the military coup.” He said the “secular military” has colluded with the United States, Israel, secular movements and Christians against Islam.

Al-Zawahri also accused Egypt’s secularists of cooperating with the regime of ousted President Hosni Mubarak and taking money from Gulf countries in a “dirty conspiracy” to crush Islamic movements and plans to restore a broad Islamic Caliphate.

His speech was preceded with more than four minutes of footage from the violent crackdown on protests held by supporters of the ousted Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, in which more than 1,000 people have been killed since August.

Morsi was deposed by the military on July 3, and has since been held in an undisclosed location. His supporters have kept up a near-daily protest movement that has often ended up in clashes with security forces and Egyptians supportive of the military.

“Here is the tragedy in Egypt unfolding before your eyes, showing the extent the hatred of the seculars, the U.S. agents, have for Muslims and Islamist groups,” al-Zawahri said. “The secular military and its allies, the enemies of Islam, what to eradicate anyone who raises the banner of Islam.”

Since Morsi’s ouster, Islamic militants have intensified their campaign of attacks against security and the military in the volatile Sinai peninsula and in some other places in Egypt— reinforcing authorities’ claim that Morsi supporters are fuelling violence to undermine the transitional government.

In a jab at Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, al-Zawahri criticized Islamists who “compromised” with secular groups in Egypt and Tunisia, only to end up being persecuted by them. He said the anti-Islam alliance doesn’t distinguish between Islamists who wage holy war or those who seek power through democratic means.

“They held on to secularism, fought for it, turning against the so-called democracy idol they asked Muslims to submit to in place of the rule of Shariah (or Islamic law),” he said.

Al-Zawahri urged Islamists to unite and wage a “popular” religious uprising “to rid Egypt of this criminal gang that jumped over power with fire and iron.”

The recording was produced by the media arm of the group which issues Zawahri’s messages. This is al-Zawahri’s second message about Egypt since August.

“Jerkemullah” Mehsud Contacts Brit Press To Reject Negotiations In Pak Press

Mehsud rejects talks ‘through media’

KARACHI, Oct 9: Alleging that the government has not taken any substantial step for holding peace talks, Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan’s notorious chief Hakimullah Mehsud said on Wednesday that his outfit would not hold dialogue (with the government) through the media.

Speaking in a rare interview with the BBC, he said that the Pakistani government should have officially announced initiation of peace talks and sent a tribal Jirga to them for that purpose.

“We don’t wish to negotiate through the media… neither do we wish to hear the government’s preconditions through the media nor do we want to put our precondition in front of it,” Mehsud said.

He said the TTP was ready for serious talks and would welcome such an effort from the government. He vowed to provide complete security to a government-sponsored Jirga if sent for talks.

Mehsud said the scheduled withdrawal of US-led Nato forces from Afghanistan would not change anything in Pakistan and the Taliban would continue their ‘activities’.

“We are engaged in a war with Pakistan for two reasons: firstly Pakistan is a friend of America and Ulema were killed and madressahs destroyed in the country at the behest of the US. Another reason for waging a Jihad here is the ‘Kafirana’ (heretical) system prevailing in Pakistan,” he said.

Mehsud said that the Taliban would continue to demand implementation of Shariah laws in the country even after the 2014 withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.

Drone attacks

The militant also said that if the US agreed to stop drone strikes, the Taliban would also stop their attacks.

He said that the Taliban were aware of the appeals made by Ulema who wanted the war to be stopped.

“But in the case of us ending the war, we also want a stop to drone strikes. If drone strikes are stopped we will be ready to stop our Jihad.”

Mehsud, who carries a $5 million bounty on his head, disowned recent blasts in public places including a Peshawar church. “Other agencies are involved in that.”

“The purpose of the blasts is to misguide the people against Taliban, so that the people who support us can stop doing so.”

Mehsud said that the TTP had distanced themselves from such blasts earlier and would do so again.

But he vowed to carry on attacking friends and supporters of the US.

He blamed the government for the failure of previous peace initiatives. “The government of Pakistan bombs innocent tribal people because of the pressure of America… Drone strikes conducted by Americans were (backed) by Pakistan. Then the Americans pressed Pakistan to start ground operations in these areas and Pakistan complied,” he Mehsud.

“So the government is responsible for past failures,” he added.—Dawn Monitor

Zawahiri—Terrorist Outcast, Calls for “Al-Qaeda” Boycott of Walmarts and Starbucks

[You kinda have to feel sorry for this obsolete former terrorist leader, even his own former organizaton ignores everything he has to say.  His own alleged henchmen in Syria ignore what he tells them to do.  He issues fatwas to his puny, perhaps nonexistent organization, to wage economic war against “the great Satan,” further demonstrating to the world just how obsolete and powerless Bin Laden’s baby has become.  Reduced to calling for Islamist volunteers to wage a jihad of papercuts and shoving bombs up each others’ asses, now Bandar has rebranded his Qaeda army as “Al-Nusra,” hoping to leave al-Qaeda’s baggage behind, especially now that the Pentagon and the Islamists openly fight on the same side, against the same targets. ]
 

Al-Qaeda calls for economic boycott of U.S.

Melanie Eversley

Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri called on Muslims to continue attacking Americans in an hour-plus audio message.

(Photo: AFP/Getty Images)

An al-Qaeda leader is calling on Muslims to continue attacking Americans in the U.S. in order to attack the economy, the BBC, CBS News and other news organizations are reporting.

“To keep up the hemorrhage in America’s security and military spending, we need to keep the United States on a constant state of alert about where and when the next strike will blow,” CBS News quoted Ayman al-Zawahri as saying in an hour-plus audio message released on jihadi blogs and produced by al-Qaeda.

The message was released to mark the 12^th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, CBS reports.

The recording by Zawahri also hailed the April 15^th bombings at the Boston Marathon finish line and stressed the importance of small-scale attacks as part of the terror group’s strategy, the BBC reports.

“We must bleed America economically by provoking it, so that it continues its massive expenditures on security,” Zawahri said. “America’s weak spot is its economy, which began to totter from the drain of its military and security expenditure.”

The BBC speculated that the emphasis on smaller-scale strikes might illustrate a diminished ability to carry out attacks of the same magnitude it has planned in the past.

Of the economic boycott, Zawahri said, “We must explain to them that every dollar’s worth of goods that we buy from America and her allies amounts to a bullet or shrapnel that kills a Muslim or Palestine or Afghanistan.”

Misinformation Claiming Professional Rocketry Forces Would Deploy “MacGyvered” (Homemade) Rockets

[Photo above is typical of the rockets found.  Notice size comparison to man.–ed.]

Syrian “gas rockets” appear homemade and incapable of flying 5-10 miles to target.

 

“Photos of devices allegedly used to carry Sarin gas show they appear to be homemade and are clearly incapable of accurately reaching targets 5-10 miles away. That is crucially important because the State Department report asserts that the gas barrage was launched from gov’t controlled territory. But the map (below) that accompanied that report shows that several of the targets were miles away from the area in pink shown to be under the control of government forces.

These rockets have only the crudest stabilizers, no guidance systems, and would be highly inaccurate at any significant distance, which is why they are unlikely to have been the weapon used in the attack of 8/21, if the US target map is accurate along with the statement that they were launched from government-held territory.”

[There seems to be a lot of misinformation posted in this forum post—the first mistake was in misidentifying the rocket as a common Soviet-era BM-14 rocket-launching system,

then claiming that it was firing projectiles modelled on an old USARMY fuel-air-explosive mine-clearing system

 

posting videos of previous FSA homemade projectiles found and similar ones being fired, mislabled as “Syrian Army,” even though the Syrian military fires professionally-made Soviet-era rockets, which look exactly like any other type of rocket.  Why would professional rocketeers experiment with these top-heavy “albatross” weapons (which are more than likely to kill the operators than any intended targets), except perhaps, if they were building a convincing copy of an FSA weapon.  The following video posted is of a similar type of weapon, packed with high-explosives, an obvious dud.]
 

[Below is a video of a much larger version of the same weapon being fired from a truck launcher.  Notice the very large rocket lying on the bed of the crane truck.]

[In the following snapshots from the video, we see the true size of the weapon being fired from the converted crane truck launcher. 

 

Compared to the men who are loading/arming the damned thing, it appears that the tank end, as well as the nozzle end of the rocket is close to 3′ in diameter, indicating that this design is for a tube-type launcher only.

 

Notice the length of the pipe section bearing the rocket fuel is several feet longer than an approximately 6′ tall man.]
(from Democratic Underground)  Here’s the State Dept. map of the 12 alleged targets in the North Damascus suburbs. Note the distances of some of the targeted neighborhoods from government-held territory (in pink):

 

 

More Zionist Press Manipulation of Truth, To Justify the IDF Intensification of the Suffering In Lebanon

[This is the original photo which accompanied the Daily Star report…. Notice the “wooden launch pad” below is merely a 2×12 board, turned on its edge.  Also notice the “shit-eating grin” on the face of the Lebanese soldier, watching the UNIFIL soldier photographing the Katyusha rocket, which is held together with duct tape and black electrical tape, as it is leaning on the “wooden launcher.”  It is obvious to all that this rocket would tip the board over and fall-down, if ignited.  This brings us to the “fuse.”  These rockets are fired like a rifle, with an ignition cap, NOT a fireworks type of fuse.  The rocket is also missing a warhead detonating tip.  Just more garbage being circulated by the Zionist press.]

[Below is the new photo on the report.  Today, IDF warplanes violated Lebanese airspace and bombed the area of the alleged rocket attack (SEE:  Israeli warplane strikes area south of Beirut).]

Rockets fired from south Lebanon at Israel

UNIFIL soldiers arrive at the site where rockets were launched into Israel, on the outskirts of Tyre in Beirut, Thursday, Aug. 22, 2013. (The Daily Star/Stringer) BEIRUT: Two of four rockets fired from south Lebanon fell into Israel Thursday, Lebanese security sources said, and Israeli media said one projectile was shot down by the “Iron Dome” defense system. No casualties have been reported. The Lebanese Army confirmed the attack in a statement, saying four Katyusha rockets were fired from Tyre, south Lebanon, into Israel at 4:50 p.m. It added that four wooden launching pads were discovered on the outskirts of Hosh village. The Army and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon have launched a probe into the incident.

 

Assad Welcomes UN Weapons Inspectors To Damascus On Monday, Then Gasses Hundreds In Damascus On Tuesday?

[Even an illiterate “Islamist” wouldn’t believe such a wild accusation.  If the Free Syrian Army and their “Syrian Observatory for Human Rights” are idiotic enough to believe the illogical claims that they are making, then it is no wonder that Bandar’s boys have decided to take the terror war out of their hands.]“This is a media war but the way they think is really stupid,” purported the official to Baghdadi. “Would you imagine that we would use chemical weapons where a UN team is here to inspect?” U.N. chemical weapons inspectors to start work in Syria on Monday (Reuters) – A team of U.N. chemical weapons experts have arrived in Damascus and will start work on Monday to investigate the possible use of chemical weapons in Syria’s civil war.

[SEE:  Syria opposition group claims hundreds killed in “poisonous gas” attack in Damascus suburbs ] Activists accuse Syrian forces of using “poisonous gases” in Damascus countryside

DAMASCUS, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) — Syrian opposition activists on Wednesday posted online videos of dead people who they claimed were “victims of the regime chemical attack,” accusing the army of using “poisonous gases” in Damascus’ countryside overnight.

The report, the first of its kind in activist coverage, showed bodies tossed on the ground in the eastern Gouta and the western Muadamieh suburbs of the Syrian capital.

The accusation came amid a UN mission here to investigate possible use of chemical weapons in the Syrian conflict. The probe was requested by the Syrian government, who accused the Western- backed rebels of using sarin agent in the northern town of Khan al- Asal.

The Syrian government welcomed the arrival of the UN inspectors on Sunday, pledging to cooperate with them and facilitate their work.

Syria is fulfilling “what we have agreed on with the international mission,” Syrian Prime Minister Wael Al-Halqi said. “Our colleagues in the foreign ministry have prepared all the procedures in order to make their work a success.”

The prime minister also accused Turkey of providing armed rebels with chemical weapons that were used in Khan al-Asal, near the northern restive city of Aleppo.

The United States and several European countries have expressed fears that Syria’s chemical weapons may “fall into the wrong hands ” if the Syrian administration falls.

Israel also has said it had intervention plans to secure the arsenals in case of a “regime collapse” in Syria

While Washington warns the Syrian forces’ use of chemical weapons would be “a red line,” the violation of which would trigger military intervention, Damascus repeatedly stressed “even if we had such weapons, we would not use them,” and alleged the rebels might use chemical bombs against civilians to frame the government.

If The Rumor Is True, Then Where Did Obama Siphon the $8Billion To Bribe Muslim Brotherhood?

[SEE: Does Jailed Brotherhood leader have goods on Obama? ]

 

Secret $8 billion deal between Obama and the Muslim Brotherhood?

Below is a summary of the video in Arabic that reveals an agreement made between Barack Obama and Mohamed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, to give 40% of Sinai to Hamas in exchange for $8 billion has already been paid to Morsi by Obama.No wonder Obama is asking the Egyptian Army to release Morsi: Obama has asked for the release mohamed-morsi

• SECRET agreement between the Obama administration and the Muslim Brotherhood (not the Egyptian government) to give 40% of the Sinai and the annexation of that part of Egyptian territory in Gaza. The objective is to facilitate the conclusion of a comprehensive peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians

• This agreement was signed by Khairat el Shater (number 2 of the Brotherhood) by Morsi and the Supreme Guide of the Mulsim Brotherhood.

• A sum of U.S. $ 8 billion was paid in exchange for the land.

• An investigation is ongoing Morsi and El Shater. An arrest warrant was filed against the Guide to MB and other members of his office.

• MB signatories to the agreement are liable to the death penalty for treason.

• The Obama administration would try to reach an agreement with El Sissi (Defense Minister): recognition of the legitimacy of the “coup” in exchange for his silence about the secret agreement. But El Sissi would be more interested in the conviction of MB and discredit their organization which is Egypt’s main source of danger.

• The Republican members of Congress are seriously looking into the case. If proven, the process of Obama impeachment could be triggered.

 

Two Reuters Reports On Tunisian “Neutral Cabinet” Contradict Each Other—What’s Up With That?

[The Gulf Times report carries a Reuters tag, yet it is dated before the actual Reuters report.  A search on several different search engines yields no link to an earlier Reuters “Calls For Neutral Cabinet” report, so what is up?]

Tunisian Islamist leader calls for neutral cabinet

Reuters/Tunis, August 14, 2013

The secretary general of Tunisia’s ruling Islamist party said yesterday that he favoured a non-partisan cabinet, in what may be a significant concession to the secular opposition after weeks of anti-government unrest.

Tunisia Islamist chief rejects demand for neutral government

 (Reuters) – Aug 15, 2013

The chairman of Tunisia’s ruling Islamist party rejected opposition demands for a non-party government on Thursday and said the experience of Egypt should prompt parties to engage in more dialogue to resolve the country’s crisis.

 

 

Alleged “Zawahiri Plot” Just More Fake News To Maintain the Ignorance of the American Masses

[Which is more ridiculous…The idea that the alleged leader of “al-CIA-da” would risk an international conference call, exposing all of his primary subordinates to tracing by agencies, or that any of these Al-Q affiliates had the ability to carry-out meaningful strikes in the US or Europe?  Did the omnipotent US intelligence agencies who monitored this fantastical call bother tracing any of them?  Forget about tracing, the “whereabouts” of some of those callers had to be known already, by someone.  Why weren’t any of them arrested, to great media fanfarew?  What reason or right does the Western media invoke to justify turning implied threats to non-specific targets in the Middle East into some sort of “news” national emergency?  Zawahiri can’t even control one leader of “al-qaeda in Iraq and Syria.”  Why should anyone believe that he has operational control over all these national terrorist groups?  This is all Obama B.S., pure diversion, intended to distract us while Saudi Arabia regroups in Syria and Lebanon.]

Al Qaeda Conference Call Intercepted by U.S. Officials Sparked Alerts

by Eli Lake, Josh Rogin Aug 7, 2013 4:45 AM EDT

It wasn’t just any terrorist message that triggered U.S. terror alerts and embassy closures—but a conference call of more than 20 far-flung al Qaeda operatives, Eli Lake and Josh Rogin report.

The crucial intercept that prompted the U.S. government to close embassies in 22 countries was a conference call between al Qaeda’s senior leaders and representatives of several of the group’s affiliates throughout the region.

This file image from video the AP obtained Feb. 12, 2012, from the SITE Intel Group, an American private terrorist threat analysis company, shows al-Qaeda’s leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in a web posting by al-Qaeda’s media arm, as-Sahab.

The intercept provided the U.S. intelligence community with a rare glimpse into how al Qaeda’s leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, manages a global organization that includes affiliates in Africa, the Middle East, and southwest and southeast Asia.

Several news outlets reported Monday on an intercepted communication last week between Zawahiri and Nasser al-Wuhayshi, the leader of al Qaeda’s affiliate based in Yemen. But The Daily Beast has learned that the discussion between the two al Qaeda leaders happened in a conference call that included the leaders or representatives of the top leadership of al Qaeda and its affiliates calling in from different locations, according to three U.S. officials familiar with the intelligence. All told, said one U.S. intelligence official, more than 20 al Qaeda operatives were on the call.

To be sure, the CIA had been tracking the threat posed by Wuhayshi for months. An earlier communication between Zawahiri and Wuhayshi delivered through a courier was picked up last month, according to three U.S. intelligence officials. But the conference call provided a new sense of urgency for the U.S. government, the sources said.

Al Qaeda members included representatives or leaders from Nigeria’s Boko Haram, the Pakistani Taliban, al Qaeda in Iraq, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and more obscure al Qaeda affiliates such as the Uzbekistan branch. Also on the call were representatives of aspiring al Qaeda affiliates such as al Qaeda in the Sinai Peninsula, according to a U.S. intelligence official. The presence of aspiring al Qaeda affiliates operating in the Sinai was one reason the State Department closed the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, according to one U.S. intelligence official. “These guys already proved they could hit Eilat. It’s not out of the range of possibilities that they could hit us in Tel Aviv,” the official said.

Al Qaeda leaders had assumed the conference calls, which give Zawahiri the ability to manage his organization from a remote location, were secure. But leaks about the original intercepts have likely exposed the operation that allowed the U.S. intelligence community to listen in on the al Qaeda board meetings.

On Tuesday’s “Tonight Show,” President Obama addressed the al Qaeda terrorist threat, saying it is “significant enough that we’re taking every precaution.”

“This was like a meeting of the Legion of Doom.”

“This was like a meeting of the Legion of Doom,” one U.S. intelligence officer told The Daily Beast, referring to the coalition of villains featured in the Saturday morning cartoon Super Friends. The official said Zawahiri announced to the broader organization during the meeting that Wuhayshi had been promoted to “Ma’sul al-Amm,” an Arabic term that roughly translates as “general manager.” The promotion effectively gave the leader of al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen operational control of al Qaeda’s many affiliates throughout the Muslim world, the official said, a key factor that led the State Department to close embassies, missions, and consulates throughout the region. “All you need to do is look at that list of places we shut down to get a sense of who was on the phone call,” the official said.

Also during the meeting, the various al Qaeda leaders discussed in vague terms plans for a pending attack and mentioned that a team or teams were already in place for such an attack. For some leading members of Congress, the revelation that al Qaeda’s leadership in Pakistan is actively managing and directing the operations of several affiliates directly refutes the Obama administration’s repeated assertion that the leadership of the core of the group has been decimated by American drone strikes and special operations forces while the affiliate groups have been strengthened.

“This may punch a sizable hole in the theory that al Qaeda is on the run,” Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) told The Daily Beast on Tuesday.

During the 2012 presidential campaign, Obama often said that his administration’s actions put al Qaeda “on its heels,” although he later amended that claim to specify that he was referring to al Qaeda’s core leadership in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The administration continued to make that argument Monday.

“We’ve been clear that we have made a great deal of success against al Qaeda core in Afghanistan and Pakistan, that we have taken a number of steps to really decimate that group’s leadership, including, of course, most importantly, Osama bin Laden,” said State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf on Monday. “But at the same time, we’ve all made clear, from the president on down, that we remain very concerned about the affiliates, al Qaeda affiliates throughout the world. And in that—first on that list is always AQAP.”

McCain said not only are the affiliates gaining strength but also that the core al Qaeda leadership in Pakistan is showing resilience, as evidenced by this latest news.

“The core seems to be able to able to reconstitute itself. The core also seems to be able to coordinate and manage the affiliates,” he said. “There was a gross underestimation by this administration of al Qaeda’s overall ability to replenish itself.”

Like The Daily Beast on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for updates all day long.

Eli Lake is the senior national-security correspondent for Newsweek and The Daily Beast. He previously covered national security and intelligence for The Washington Times. Lake has also been a contributing editor at The New Republic since 2008 and covered diplomacy, intelligence, and the military for the late New York Sun. He has lived in Cairo and traveled to war zones in Sudan, Iraq, and Gaza. He is one of the few journalists to report from all three members of President Bush’s axis of evil: Iraq, Iran, and North Korea.

Josh Rogin is senior correspondent for national security and politics for Newsweek and The Daily Beast. He previously worked at Foreign Policy magazine, Congressional Quarterly, Federal Computer Week magazine, and Japan’s leading daily newspaper, The Asahi Shimbun. He hails from Philadelphia and lives in Washington, D.C.

For inquiries, please contact The Daily Beast at editorial@thedailybeast.com.

Pawning-Off Old Photos of 2008 Putin/Bandar Meeting As New—Is Bandar Disfigured?

[The past few days the Western media has been falling all over itself, trying to pass-off old 2008 photos of Putin and Bandar as genuine, trying to validate the claim that the Saudi spy lord really did visit Putin recently.  Despite Riyadh’s claims that he has been jetting all over the world trying to make the Obama/Bush vision of a “greater Middle East” a reality, Prince Bandar has not been seen or photographed since his attempted assassination on 31 July, 2012.  If there were not some physical or psychological reason for hiding the face of this famous Kremlin visitor, then normal diplomatic protocol and the need to confirm to the world that the evil prince is still alive would create photo opportunities, just as in his earlier visits.  Does Bandar bin Sultan have all of his arms and legs?  Does he have both eyes?  Is his face disfigured?  Is he even alive? 

Even though this most recently purported visit to Moscow was reported by the Kremlin press, without any physical confirmation that he was there, there is no real reason to believe the Russian report either, without the documentation.  This would not be the first time that Putin has played along with Washington’s schemes.  There was no apparent, logical reason for the Saudi troublemaker to go to Putin (SEE:  Is Bandar Bush In Moscow Trying To Sell Putin His Plan To Cannabalize the Syrian Resistance?), Bandar’s plot revolves around bringing into Syria thousands of outsiders, and arming them to fight Al-Asad under the “al-Qaeda” banner, precisely the things that Putin is most set against.  If this event had not been staged for the benefit of the public, then it would have all taken place covertly, under the radar of Western popular opinion.  Both sides in this geopolitical tussle seem to want us to believe the report, along with its back story, that something big is in the works for both Syria and the region.  As usual, whatever it is, it will be something very bad.]

File photo of  Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (R) and Secretary General of Saudi Arabia’s National Security Council Prince Bandar Bin Sultan during their meeting  in Moscow, in August 2007.     AFP PHOTO

http://visualrian.ru/en/site/feature/18729/

 #338027 Vladimir Putin (right) meets with Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, secretary-general of Saudi Arabia’s National Security Council, in Astrakhan, September 4, 2008.

#338025 Vladimir Putin meets with Bandar Al-Saud, secretary-general of Saudi Arabia’s National Security Council, in Astrakhan 09/04/2008

Jordanian King Pretends That He Will Fight “Judaization of Jerusalem”

Jordanian King Pledges to Fight “Judaization of Jerusalem”

By Chana Ya’ar and Ari Soffer

Jordan’s King Abdullah

Flash 90

 

Jordanian King Abdullah II added fuel to the ongoing debate over Jerusalem and the Temple Mount Sunday, when he told visiting Muslim and Christian dignitaries from Jerusalem that he will continue his efforts to “safeguard” Islamic and Christian sites in the holy city of Jerusalem from what he termed “Judaization.”

 

The Hashemite monarch also expressed his willingness to “support the steadfastness of Muslim and Christian Jerusalemites and to preserve their legitimate rights in the city,” according to a statement from the Royal Court, published Sunday in The Jordan Times.

 

According to the statement, Abdullah said that Jordan “will not spare any efforts, whether political, diplomatic or legal to protect the city, highlighting the Kingdom’s historic role in securing the holy sites.”

 

The Jordanian king also emphasized his country’s cooperation with the Palestinian Authority, in working to assert “Jordan’s role as custodian of the holy sites of Jerusalem and Palestinian sovereignty over all of Palestine, including East Jerusalem.”

 

Palestinian Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Adnan Husseini reiterated the importance of an agreement to this effect signed by Abdullah and Abbas in March, noting that the accord “has given moral support to the people of Jerusalem and helped solve many of the outstanding problems they face.”

 

Husseini said the agreement had boosted Jordanian-PA coordination at local and international levels.

 

Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fuad Twal expressed appreciation for Abdullah’s efforts, stating that “despite challenges facing Jerusalem, the people of the holy city prove every day their persistence to cling to the city’s heritage and preserve its identity from Judaization.”

 

Sheikh Abdul Atheem Salhab, head of the Islamic Awqaf Council in Jerusalem, called Jerusalem and the Al Aqsa Mosque a “red line” for the Jordanian monarch.

 

He added that “attacks” against Al Aqsa had increased recently, “especially by settlers storming Al Aqsa under the protection of the Israeli forces” – a reference to ascents by Jewish pilgrims to the Temple Mount, which is the holiest site in Judaism.

 

He also cited “attempts by right-wing ministers in the Israeli government to legitimize Jewish prayers inside Al Aqsa,” and warned of an unspecified “era-bound and location-based” division plan of the mosque, to “eventually rebuild what they allege to be the Solomon’s Temple,” according to the Jordanian royal statement.

Pakistani Taliban Fighting for Obama Against Bashar Assad Would Prove That Hakeemullah’s Master Is CIA

Pakistan Taliban ‘sets up a base in Syria’

By Ahmed Wali Mujeeb BBC Urdu

The Pakistani Taliban sees itself as being ideologically opposed to President Assad’s rule

 

The Pakistani Taliban have visited Syria to set up a base and to assess “the needs of the jihad”, a Taliban official has told the BBC.

 

He said that the base was set up with the assistance of ex-Afghan fighters of Middle Eastern origin who have moved to Syria in recent years.

 

At least 12 experts in warfare and information technology had gone to Syria in the last two months, he said.

 

Their presence in the country is likely to have a sectarian motive.

 

Taliban factions feel that Sunni Muslims, who constitute a majority in Syria, are being oppressed by Syria’s predominantly Shia rulers.

 

Thousands of people have died in the year-long armed conflict in Syria between loyalists of the ruling Baath Party and those who want to overthrow it.

 

The Pakistani government has not commented on the allegations.

‘Joint operations’

Mohammad Amin, a senior Taliban operative and “co-ordinator of the Syrian base”, told the BBC that the cell to monitor “the jihad” in Syria was set up six months ago.

He said that the cell has the approval of militant factions both within and outside of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella organisation of militant groups fighting the Pakistani forces.

The cell sends “information and feedback” on the conflict in Syria back to Pakistan, he said,

“They were facilitated by our friends in Syria who have previously been fighting in Afghanistan,” Mr Amin said.

Their job is to “assess the needs of the Jihad in Syria, and to work out joint operations with our Syrian friends”.

“There are dozens of Pakistani hopefuls in line to join the fighting against the Syrian army, but the advice we are getting at the moment is that there’s already enough manpower in Syria.”

In the past, militant fighters from Pakistan have often gone to fight in Central Asia and the Balkans.

In the 1990s, militant group Harkatul Mujahideen, was known to have sent a large number of men to fight in the Bosnian civil war of 1992-95.

Many Afghan and Pakistani fighters also fought on the side of Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict of 1988-94.

A number of Taliban groups in Pakistan have sectarian leanings, and resent the rule of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad – having a Shia background – over Sunni Muslims who constitute about three-quarters of the Syrian population.

Sources say that anti-Shia groups in Pakistan have access to considerable charity funds raised in some Middle Eastern sheikhdoms that see their domestic Shia populations as a problem.

CIA Claims That 183 Waterboarding Sessions Inspired Khalid Sheikh To Design Vaccuum Cleaner

 

[Next the sadistic bastards will be trying to convince us that KSM invented the ultimate Toll House Cookie recipe, or that he took-up needlepoint between sessions, while the waterboarding experience elevated him to the tenth level of Nirvana.  There are some people who really believe that near-death experiences are good for the soul and that they would be glad to hold some unruly person under water (SEE: Pediatrician Waterboards Eleven-Year Old Daughter To Make Her A Better Person, By Simulating “Near Death Experience” ).]

CIA reportedly allowed 9/11 mastermind to design vacuum cleaner in custody

Associated Press

“Sanctimonious” Guardian Report Distorts Chinese Editorial Slamming US Cyberwar

[In a subtle twisting of words, the Guardian reporter turns honest Chinese complaint about Snowden spying revelations, into mass of lies and distortions that resembles playground name-calling more than it does actual journalism (SEE:  China’s state newspaper praises Edward Snowden for ‘tearing off Washington’s sanctimonious mask’).]

“In a sense, the United States has gone from ‘human rights model’ transformed into personal privacy ‘eavesdropper’ Internet centralization ‘manipulators’ and for his country network crazy ‘invaders.’ World remember Edward Snowdon, it was his bravery, tore off Washington pious mask.”–“Prism” program who should express their dissatisfaction?, Wang Xinjun

” ‘In a sense, the United States has gone from a ‘model of human rights’ to ‘an eavesdropper on personal privacy’, the ‘manipulator’ of the centralised power over the international internet, and the mad ‘invader’ of other countries’ networks,’ the People’s Daily said.”–Guardian

 

 

Definition of SANCTIMONIOUS
1:  hypocritically pious or devout <a sanctimonious moralist>

Definition of PIOUS
1 a : marked by or showing reverence for deity and devotion to divine worship
b : marked by conspicuous religiosity <a hypocrite

“Prism” program who should express their dissatisfaction? 

Wang Xinjun

America ‘Prism’ program broke man Edward Snowden has itself left Hong Kong. Snowdon in handling the issue of the Hong Kong SAR Government’s approach is consistent with the relevant laws, and the Chinese central government has always respected the HKSAR Government law. Media reports, U.S. White House, Hong Kong and China expressed dissatisfaction with the government to allow Snowdon departure and ‘strongly disagree.’ This dissatisfaction and opposition, China can not accept it.

According to the U.S. foreign policy >> << sites and Snowdon revealed that the U.S. National Security Agency on the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, China’s networking and communications systems, carried out for 15 years organized and planned targeted intrusions, attacks, theft, monitoring and other actions. US authorities not only did not give an explanation and an apology, but instead run by the HKSAR things according to the law to express their dissatisfaction. Touliaodongxi was exposed, not only did not apologize for the robber, but also on stolen legitimate behavior expressed dissatisfaction (or even frame )(http://www.best-news.us/)(Technology News http://www.best-news.us/). This logic is probably not a big country with international principles to be followed by it?

For a long time, in its media, business representatives, academics, government officials, the mouth, the United States seems to network security, ‘the biggest victim.’ For this reason, today accused the country tomorrow, the United States condemned the organization became commonplace, especially for China aggressive accusations until this month, former U.S. National Security Agency employee Snowdon leaving Hong Kong, the United States was only laid bare the lies.

With the ‘prism’ insider gradually reveal more and more facts prove that: China is a great victim of cyber attacks a long time, people in the United States, although some knowledge of China’s Internet attacks, but never realized the situation so serious ! More intolerable is that the U.S. one face of China’s large-scale network intrusion, theft of political, economic, technological, military intelligence, the other side was frequently in the international community to take ‘Chinese hackers’ that matter, in the absence of empirical premise, slander the Chinese government and military, to discredit the image of China.

Strong technological advantages for the United States to provide the background cyber attacks its count on the core of computer hardware, operating systems, Internet technologies to develop standards and protocols such as the development of core intellectual property holds control over the well-known software vulnerabilities, network intrusion on other countries to launch and intelligence theft emboldened – seemed to another country it is difficult to seize evidence.

Human rights and freedoms ‘condescending moral sense’ for the United States to provide a coat. U.S. claim to want in the 21st century when the world leader in human rights and other aspects of the country accusing him, but did not think of taking the lead on action to maintain international security, the Internet, and its intelligence institutions and even set their constitutional and fundamental disregard of international law, not only to launch cyber attacks on other countries, but also for its own citizens but also for peeping phone and email, for allies citizen monitoring the implementation of telephone and e-mail.

In a sense, the United States has gone from ‘human rights model’ transformed into personal privacy ‘eavesdropper’ Internet centralization ‘manipulators’ and for his country network crazy ‘invaders.’ World remember Edward Snowdon, it was his bravery, tore off Washington pious mask.

As AP President Pruitt warned Americans that: ‘Faced with a too like to engage in covert action of government, we must remain vigilant.’ ‘Prism door’ also solemnly warn the people and the world: You must give up the fantasy, maintain long-term vigilance.

(The author is a researcher at Academy of Military Science Military Strategy)

Karzai Announced New Taliban Peace Talks At Noon—By 3:00 pm American Diplomats Had Undermined Them

[No sooner had Karzai announced the start of preliminary negotiations with Taliban, when American military spokesmen announced the opening of a Taliban office in Doha and the start of American negotiations with them in two days., before Karzai could set a firm date.  No big surprise, that the new office in the Qatari capital would be run by perrenial American favorite, Tayeb Agha, the substitute for the real Taliban negotiator, Mullah Baradar, since Pakistan placed him under arrest, out of Obama’s reach.  There will be no “Peace” in Afghanistan, except on Obama’s terms.  Only a fake treaty with fake Taliban can end a staged false flag war.]  

Afghan government to shun U.S. talks with Taliban

Afghan President Hamid Karzai speaks during a joint news conference with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen following a security handover ceremony at a military academy outside Kabul June 18, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Omar Sobhani

By Hamid Shalizi

KABUL | Wed Jun 19, 2013

(Reuters) – Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Wednesday his government would not join U.S. peace talks with the Taliban until they were led by Afghans and would suspend negotiations with the United States on a troop pact.

U.S. officials have said talks with the Taliban would begin in Doha, capital of Qatar, on Thursday, raising hopes for a negotiated peace in Afghanistan after 12 years of bloody and costly war between American-led forces and the insurgents.

Afghan to talk with Taliban in Qatar: Karzai

June 18, 2013

Kabul: Some members of Afghan High Peace Council will travel to the Gulf state of Qatar to hold formal peace talks with the Taliban, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Tuesday.

“Members of peace council will go to Qatar to initiate peace talks with the Taliban,” Karzai told a joint press conference with the visiting NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

Earlier on Tuesday, Afghan local media reported that the Taliban had opened a political office in Qatar earlier in the day.

“SHOW US THE MONEY,” SPY PRICKS—Name One Dozen Terror Attacks That You Guys Weren’t Behind

US spy chief: surveillance program thwarted attacks

 

The US spy chief in charge of a leaked program to gather and analyse Internet and phone data defended the intelligence tactic Wednesday, insisting it had helped thwart dozens of terror attacks.

 

National Security Agency chief General Keith Alexander. (AFP/Saul LOEB)

 

WASHINGTON: The US spy chief in charge of a leaked program to gather and analyse Internet and phone data defended the intelligence tactic Wednesday, insisting it had helped thwart dozens of terror attacks.

Facing sceptical questions from lawmakers after a rogue technician revealed the secret operation, National Security Agency chief General Keith Alexander insisted it operates under proper legislative and judicial oversight.

“It’s classified but it’s dozens of terrorist events that these have helped prevent,” he told the hearing, the first time he had been questioned in public since 29-year-old former contractor Edward Snowden spilled the beans.

“I want the American people to know that we’re being transparent in here,” he insisted, warning that “the trust of the American people” was a “sacred requirement” if his agency was to be able to do its job.

Asked if the light shone on the programs could help terrorists avoid surveillance, Alexander said: “They will get through, and Americans will die.”

“Great harm has already been done by opening this up. The consequence I believe is our security has been jeopardised,” he warned.

Snowden, a technician seconded by a private contractor to an NSA base in Hawaii, disappeared last month after downloading a cache of secret documents and surfaced over the weekend in Hong Kong to give media interviews.

He embarrassed and infuriated President Barack Obama’s administration by revealing that the NSA had gathered call log records for millions of American phone subscribers and targeted the Internet data of foreign Web users.

The leaks triggered a row over privacy and the limits of executive power in the digital age, as Snowden said had been his intention, but also calls for the leaker to be arrested and sent home to face trial.

Snowden told Hong Kong daily the South China Morning Post that he would resist any attempt to extradite him, and accused the NSA of carrying out tens of thousands of hacking attacks worldwide.

Chinese media had remained relatively quiet on the issue, but the China Daily said Thursday that news of the US program “is certain to stain Washington’s overseas image and test developing Sino-US ties.”

“How the case is handled could pose a challenge to the burgeoning goodwill between Beijing and Washington given that Snowden is in Chinese territory and the Sino-US relationship is constantly soured on cybersecurity,” the government-owned newspaper said.

Many people hail Snowden as a whistleblower who carried out an act of civil disobedience to expose US government overreach and defend the privacy of innocent Web users.

Others, including US spy chiefs and some senior lawmakers, say Snowden a traitor who sold out a system that serves to protect Americans.

Alexander said he had “grave concerns” about how Snowden was able to gain access to critical classified information with a limited education and not much work experience, noting: “We do have to go back and look at these processes.”

Several investigations are underway and the leaker may yet face criminal charges, but in the meantime, debate is raging about the legality and utility of the NSA’s broad-brush approach to sweeping up private data.

“How do we get from reasonable grounds… to all phone records, all the time, all locations?” asked Senator Jeff Merkley, a longtime opponent of giving the government broad secret surveillance powers.

Holding up his own phone, he asked Alexander: “What authority gave you the grounds for acquiring my cell phone data?”

Alexander repeated the administration’s defence that, while the NSA did gather large quantities of telephone metadata, it could not mine the logs to target a specific user without an order from a secret court.

“We do not see a trade-off between security and liberty,” he said, insisting that the NSA and US Cyber Command are “deeply committed to compliance with the law and the protection of privacy rights.”

“I do think what we’re doing does protect American civil liberties and privacy,” he protested, claiming he welcomed the “debate” sparked by the leaks.

Senator Mark Udall expressed scepticism at this nod to openness.

“It’s very, very difficult, I think, to have a transparent debate about a secret program written by a secret court, issuing secret court orders based on secret interpretations of the law,” he said.

In Hong Kong, Snowden was unrepentant.

“I’m neither traitor nor hero. I’m an American,” he said.

Snowden told the South China Morning Post there had been more than 61,000 NSA hacking operations globally, targeting powerful “network backbones” that can yield access to hundreds of thousands of individual computers.

There were hundreds of targets in mainland China and Hong Kong, he was quoted as saying, alleging this exposed “the hypocrisy of the US government when it claims that it does not target civilian infrastructure.”

Snowden accused the US government of “trying to bully” Hong Kong into expelling him before he can reveal details of alleged NSA snooping on communications inside the Chinese financial and trading hub.

But he pledged to resist any extradition attempt.

“I have had many opportunities to flee HK, but I would rather stay and fight the US government in the courts, because I have faith in HK’s rule of law,” he said, according to the paper.

– AFP/jc

Putin Tells One Lie Too Many—His Anti-Chinese Uyghur Terrorists Do NOT Target Moscow

[Putin has finally shown his true colors with this latest false flag incident.

THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL THAT AN ANTI-CHINESE TERRORIST ORGANIZATION WOULD ATTACK IN MOSCOW!!  WHAT WOULD BE THEIR OBJECTIVE?  RUSSIA CANNOT CREATE AN UYGHUR STATE FOR THEM.

And the overweight ringleader, who is in great distress, as he lies prostrate, being pinned to the ground, is obviously NOT CHINESE OR UYGHUR. 

Putin is desperate to make his fight and Obama’s fake fight into one great big happy terror war.  Russians should take this as a sign of deception and immediately get the “Russian Spring” back on track.  Putin is just another traitor to the human race, like Obama.]

FSB arrests mastermind of foiled Moscow bombing who ‘fought in Afghanistan’

Federal Security Service agents apprehend Yulai Davletbaev suspected of preparing terror attacks in Moscow during a special operation outside Moscow.(RIA Novosti / National Anti-Terrorism Committe)

Russia’s FSB secret service has captured the suspected mastermind behind a foiled terror attack in Moscow. His group, which fought in Afghanistan against the ISAF forces, was uncovered and neutralized last month by police.

A man identified as Yulay Davletbayev headed the terror cell, which was plotting an attack in Moscow. Two of his accomplices were killed in a May 20 police operation, while a third was captured alive. The items seized by law enforcers at the time included half-completed suicide vests, detonators and metal shrapnel.

The FSB captured Davletbayev, who is in his early 40s, in a suburb of Moscow after weeks of searching, the committee said. “This job took considerable effort and cooperation from troops, national bodies and local authorities. Several regions of the Russian Federation conducted search and screening operations. This allowed identifying the location where the criminal was hiding.”

All of the militants were Russian citizens, Russia’s National Antiterrorism Committee said Thursday. The group trained in combat and demolition along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, a region controlled by the Taliban.

They are also known to have fought against the US-led ISAF coalition deployed in Afghanistan, the committee reported.

The cell was sent to Moscow by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, [[WHAT THE F?]] also known as the Turkistan Islamic Party, a terrorist organization that seeks to establish an Islamic state inside the Chinese border province of Xinjiang. The organization has carried out attacks against US-related targets, and others.

 

Federal Security Service agents apprehend Yulai Davletbaev suspected of preparing terror attacks in Moscow during a special operation outside Moscow.(RIA Novosti / National Anti-Terrorism Committe)

The group’s goal was to organize a series of attack in the Russian capital during Victory Day celebrations on May 9. Davletbayev got a job as taxi driver to familiarize himself with the city and pick high-value targets for future attacks, the committee said.

“While navigating around the city in his taxi, he was selecting places most vulnerable for a terrorist attack, which would suffer most damage and cause greatest loss of life,” the committee said.

They failed to meet their timetable, and were ultimately exposed by the Russian security services. .

The arrest of the cell’s leader came after the arrested member, Robert Amerkhanov, decided to cooperate with investigators.

The group is suspected of committing several crimes in Russia’s southern regions before 2010, when they moved to Afghanistan.

The FSB also has information on Davletbayev’s links to another militant leader, who was responsible for bombing a natural gas pipeline and at least two attacks on Russian police officers; the leader was killed in 2010 by anti-terrorism forces.

The Russian capital has seen a number of deadly terror attacks in recent years. The most recent was in January 2011, when a suicide bomber set off an explosive device in the arrival zone of Domodedovo Airport, killing 36 people and injuring 180 others. In March 2010, bombings in the Moscow Metro killed 41 people and injured around 100.

Russia’s Iskander and S-300 Missile Systems Not Really for Sale—Used for Mind Games Only

Russian S-300 missiles a pawn in diplomatic game, Wikileaks show

 

* Wikileaks cables show Russia said it would not sell S-300 to Syria

* Russia similarly “froze” S-300 sale to Iran

* But linked Iran sale to progress on missile defence in Europe

By Tom Miles

GENEVA, June 3 (Reuters) – Russia’s pledge to deliver anti-aircraft missiles to Damascus at a time when world powers are trying to end Syria’s civil war is consistent with a pattern of using the weapons system as a bargaining chip in its power struggle with the West.

Russia has said it is committed to sell the S-300 surface-to-air missiles as a deterrent against foreign military intervention, under a contract struck in 2010 with President Bashar al-Assad.

But Western powers who are trying, along with Russia, to organise an international conference to end the 26-month-old conflict say such a delivery would be hugely counter-productive.

“No one knows if this conference will become a success, but it is the wrong message which has been sent by Russia to the world and to the region by delivering S-300 or other weapons,” German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said on Friday.

Secret WikiLeaks cables show that Russia has played this game before, in particular with the long-range S-300 that Israel, for one, sees as a “red line” threat to its airspace.

Russia’s determination to supply Syria mirrors an earlier commitment to Iran, though it long assured diplomats it had no intention of sending S-300s to either country, the cables show.

Russia was well aware of the “destabilising” effect of supplying weapons like the S-300 to the Middle East, one September 2008 cable quoted Viktor Simakov, Counselor for Israel and Palestine in Russia’s Foreign Ministry, as saying.

“Simakov reiterated that Russia understood very well Israel’s concern about either Syria or Iran obtaining the Iskander or S-300 missile systems,” the cable said.

Syria had upset Russia by allowing an earlier delivery of anti-tank missiles to fall into the hands of militant Islamist group Hezbollah, and Russia promised tighter “end user controls” in future.

Syria tried to obtain missiles in 2008 by offering to host Russia’s own missile defences on its territory, matching U.S. missile defences in Europe that Russia objects to. Although Russia did sign a contract in 2010, it did not then agree; Israel’s promise not to sell arms to Georgia during the Georgia-Russia war that August may have outweighed Syria’s offer.

Speculation was mounting in late 2008 that Russia was planning to honour its 2005 contract to supply S-300s to Iran. But Russian officials assured the U.S. charge d’affaires in Moscow that the transfer would not be completed until Iran complied with its nuclear obligations, according to one cable.

But by early 2009, the sale looked like it was going to take place, and Washington asked six allied Middle Eastern countries to raise the issue immediately with Russia.

The move appeared to pay off, although then-U.S. Ambassador to Moscow John Beyrle expected Russia to keep pressing the issue, for financial, political and foreign policy reasons.

The Iran sale was merely “frozen”, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told U.S. Senator Carl Levin in 2009, and hinted that Russia did not want to be challenged again.

“The less we hear from Washington about this, the better,” an April 2009 cable quoted Ryabkov as saying.

Russian officials told Amos Gilad, at that time head of the political-military bureau in Israel’s Ministry of Defence, that the missiles to Iran would not be delivered for political reasons.

“However, Gilad said the Russians would reassess this political calculation should the United States continue to pursue missile defense plans in Poland and the Czech Republic,” said a cable dated July 30, 2009.

In the end, Russia scrapped the sale in 2010, and in what may have been a quid pro quo, the Israelis agreed to sell Russia surveillance drones that would narrow its technological military gap with Georgia.

“For better or for worse, the delivery of S-300’s have become a barometer of our bilateral relations,” Ambassador Beyrle wrote in 2009.

“Metropolitan police entered BBC studios and arrested Mr Nusaybah….His arrest was not directly linked to…Adebolajo”

“Metropolitan police entered BBC studios and arrested Mr Nusaybah….His arrest was not directly linked to his 28-year-old friend Adebolajo’s alleged murder of soldier Lee Rigby.”

[Is there anybody in all of Britain who believes this denial?  If it had truly been unrelated to the testimony that he was in the process of giving in the BBC interview, then why was the session disrupted by the police, just as he was testifying to the involvement of British secret services in the pre-attack life of Mr. Adebolajo?  The BBC was inadvertantly stepping on MI5/6 toes, probably causing news bosses to freak-out over what their minions were up to, forcing them to request the emergency shut-down of the dangerous interview by intelligence officials.

England is about to burn, and all of Europe with it, but probably for the exact wrong reasons.  Continent-wide civil war will not help the struggle of the common man, but will merely strengthen the hand of the State (SEE:  Camp of the Saints).]

Woolwich attack: Michael Adebolajo’s friend tells the BBC MI5 tried to recruit his friend

• Charles Miranda in London
• News Limited Network

Michael Adebolajo, front, shouts slogans as Muslims march in London in a protest against the arrest of six people in anti-terror raids in April 2007. Picture: AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth

A FRIEND of one of the Woolwich fanatics has been arrested by counter terrorism police moments after he told BBC that M15 attempted to recruit his friend to work for them.

The alleged Woolwich attackers, identified as Michael Adebolajo and Michael Oluwatobi Adebowale, are currently both being held by heavily armed police in separate hospitals where they have been recovering from gunshot wounds.

The pair was shot by police on Wednesday after they allegedly hacked to death 25-year-old Lee Rigby and then, armed with knives and a hand gun, charged at police.

In other developments:

• Drummer Lee Rigby’s family have given a heart-wrenching press conference paying tribute to the slain soldier.
• A former girlfriend of Michael Adebolajo says he was just a ‘normal bloke’.
• Britain is bracing for clashes with right-wing extremists and possible copycat terror attacks and has added some 1200 police to potential trouble spots.
• A British newspaper publishes shocking video of the moment the two men accused of killing Drummer Rigby were shot by police following the barbaric attack.
• Gemini Donnelly-Martin and her mother Amanda Donnelly called the ‘Angels of Woolwich’ after it was revealed that they sat with Drummer Rigby in his final moments, comforted him and prayed for him.
• Metropolitan Police said they had made two further arrests – a man and woman, both aged 29 – on suspicion of conspiracy to murder in relation to the Woolwich killing.
• Links are revealed between accused killer Michael Adebolajo and radical Islamic cleric Anjem Choudary, who is accused of having “blood on his hands”.

Abu Nusaybah gave an interview to the BBC at their premises in central London about his childhood friend murder suspect Michael Adebolajo .He said Adebolajo had undergone a “change” after he was detained by security forces in Kenya last year and underwent physical and sexual abused during interrogation.

He said when he returned to the UK M15 asked if he would work for them as an informer. They allegedly harassed him for some months.

“His wording was, “They are bugging me – they won’t leave me alone”,” Mr Nusaybah said.

“He mentioned initially they wanted to ask him if he knew certain individuals. But after him saying that he didn’t know these individuals, what he said was they asked him if he would be interested in working for them. He was explicit in that he refused to work for them, but he did confirm he didn’t know the individuals.”

Then in a twist, Metropolitan police entered BBC studios and arrested Mr Nusaybah in relation to terrorism offences. They also raided his home and another in East London. Police have confirmed the 31-year-old was being held on suspicion of the commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism at a south London police station.

His arrest was not directly linked to his 28-year-old friend Adebolajo’s alleged murder of soldier Lee Rigby.

The British Government has yet to comment on the claims made by Mr Nusaybah about Adebolajo or on his own arrest.

It is understood Mr Nusaybah had once been linked to an extremist Islamic group in Britain led by self styled “sheik of east London” and hate preacher Anjew Choudary although claims he moved away from the group sometime ago.

Claims Adebolajo was tortured by Kenyan authorities last year after refusing to speak with them could also not be verified. Mr Nusaybah said however his friends’ experiences in Kenya and alleged “harassment” by M15 changed his personality, made him withdrawn and less talkative.

“His mind was somewhere else but his presence was there,” he said, adding that tears welled in his friend’s eyes when he spoke about Kenya although he was not exactly sure what happened.

“He said ‘ I feel shy to describe what that did to me’,” Mr Nusaybah said of his friends experiences which he suggested was sexual abuse.

Flowers and tributes mount at the place outside Woolwich Barracks where British soldier Lee Rigby was murdered yesterday.

He said Adebolajo had wished to live in a Muslim country with Sharia law and had visited Kenya for this reason.

It has been previously claimed the Adebolajo may have been attempting to make his way to Somalia to join a terrorist group to make jihad.

Attack pair set to be grilled

THE two men accused of a frenzied murder of a soldier in south east London are expected to be interviewed this weekend.

Police shot the pair. Despite their injuries they have been deemed fit to be interviewed.

Woolwich machete hacking attack against soldier Lee Rigby. Both attack suspects were known to MI5 security forces from previous security services investigations.

Investigators from the counter terrorist police unit are particularly keen to establish whether they acted alone or whether the attack was part of a broader orchestrated campaign involving others.

It has been established at least one belonging to an extremist Islamic group and influenced by a banned imam who has since been booted out of the UK.

Two women arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder Drummer Rigby have now been released without charge.

A 29-year-old was arrested yesterday in connection with the killing while a 31 year-old, had been held by police at a home in south London last night and later released.

Detectives are still questioning a 29-year-old man also on suspicion of conspiracy to murder.

Fears of more lone wolf style attacks

Meanwhile, Britain potentially faces more “individualist jihad” style killings similar to the attack Drummer Rigby as anti-Muslim sentiments are stirred to dangerous levels.

That’s the view of a number of terrorism experts in Britain as they fear certain radical magazines and social media can remotely spark extremist converts into attacks.

Reading University international terrorism and al Qaeda expert Dr Christina Hellmich said while al Qaeda’s capabilities are largely destroyed individual terrorism could flourish.

“The fear right now is that we have a wave of individual terror ahead of us,” she said.

“The term al-Qaeda always comes up as if it is al-Qaeda that is propagating these attacks. But that gives us the illusion that there is still some monolithic group behind this pulling the strings. This is not the case. We are dealing with individualist jihadist everywhere but they are the fragment of the organisation.”

The concepts of individual attacks are being promoted by radical Islamists, including through the Inspire magazine produced by al-Qaeda, largely blamed for promoting the attack on the Boston Marathon earlier this month.

“Inspire has been trying to propagate the individual jihad as a strategy since 2010 in their magazine but it hasn’t really paid off. If these are the only attacks then it’s not very much.”

Jeffrey DeMarco, lecturer and researcher in criminology at Kingston University, agrees the attack demonstrates an increase in “lone wolf” terrorism which could pose a risk for security services to manage.

“We have been seeing slowly but really most noticeably with Mumbai in 2008, this escalation and this frequent recurrence of the lone wolves who aren’t part of the intricate terrorist cells or organisations,” he said.

According to DeMarco the purpose is to invoke widespread fear. “Mass casualties are not necessarily the endgame, the epidemic of fear can be just as damaging.”

Matthew Henman, senior analyst at IHS Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Centre (JTIC), said: “The fact that the attackers made no attempt to flee the scene, combined with their interaction with bystanders, may indicate an effort to maximise publicity of the attack and to ensure that their message was recorded and publicised.”

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/world-news/woolwich-attack-michael-adebolajo-michael-adebowale-to-be-quizzed-over-lee-rigby-murder/story-fndir2ev-1226650349675#ixzz2UIX6jEuu

Obama To Make All Wars Covert Wars—He’s Running Scared

[Obama’s speech and the following report about it are total bullshit…disinformation at best.  Nobody has any intention of ever ending this war, no matter how many times Obama claims to be doing it.  He has no more intention of closing Guantanamo Bay today than he did the last time he promised to close it.  The very fact that Team Obama has made this public speech about ending America’s “perpetual wartime footing,” is proof that the Establishment is running scared over anti-war and anti-police state sentiments.  Perpetual, or “persistent war” are descriptions of the American terror war that have come straight from the Pentagon itself.  The fact that Obama felt it necessary to disassociate his administration from this idea of a “perpetual” war or a thirty-year war, is proof positive that this is a very touchy issue. 

We the People are slowly starting to catch-on to the schemes of the American ruling class, worrying all of them that we will figure-out what they have been doing to us before they get finished fucking us.  This is why Obama is giving this speech (SEE: Obama Trying To Make Rape Look Like Seduction ).  It is good to know that the idea of an American awakening gives the Big Bosses a little trouble sleeping.  It is way past time to repeal the completely worn-out AUMF (authorization to use military force) from the 911 attacks:

“To authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against those responsible for the recent attacks launched against the United States.”

Since we are no longer engaged anywhere with any of the “al-Qaeda” factions which have been blamed for the attacks, and because we are now allied with some of those same “al-CIA-da” groups in Syria and in Africa, the government should be forced into producing a brand new “authorization for military force,” defining precisely who we are fighting against into the forseeable future, and even more important, why we are waging war against them.]

Should President Obama end the war on terror?

He came to talk about the future, but the past keeps pulling him back.

President Obama outlined his vision for a revised American counterterrorism policy during Thursday’s speech at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., renewing his call to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay and announcing new guidelines to govern the use of targeted drone strikes on foreign soil.

Animating many of the president’s proposals was a stated desire to “discipline our thinking and our actions” and to move America away from a “perpetual wartime footing” that has held sway for nearly 12 years, since Congress passed an Authorization to Use Military Force [AUMF] in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

The president pledged to “work with Congress” to “refine and ultimately repeal” the AUMF, warning that a strategy of “perpetual war – through drones or special forces or troop deployments – will prove self-defeating, and alter our country in troubling ways.”

Simply put: While “our systematic effort to dismantle terrorist organizations must continue,” the president said, “This war, like all wars, must end.”

While Mr. Obama has spoken before about the need for a return to normalcy of sorts in how America views and responds to terrorist threats, rarely has he expressed that point so baldly and called for an outright “end” to the nearly-12-year old conflict.

But should the “war on terror,” as we know it today, be drawn to a conclusion, given the continued threat posed by terrorists? And with the hypersensitivity attending public discussion on the issue, is it politically realistic to expect a declared end to the “war on terror” any time soon?

• Obama: America at a “crossroads” in fighting terrorism
• Drones, Guantanamo part of broad Obama counterterrorism speech

The “big question here is whether the president’s words translate into real policy or operational practice,” said CBS News senior national security analyst Juan Zarate. “Ultimately, the threats, as they continue to morph, will dictate how willing we are to constrain [counterterrorism] power.”

And the “political realities” of zero tolerance for terrorist attacks on the homeland will jeopardize “any attempts to limit our [counterterrorism] actions,” added Zarate, also a former deputy national security adviser in the George W. Bush administration.

“The most important advance in the speech was the acknowledgement that the war will end at a foreseeable point in the future,” former assistant secretary of state for public affairs P.J. Crowley told CBSNews.com. “This will require an unwinding of policies, authorities and tactics that have accumulated over the past dozen years.”

But if the immediate reaction to Mr. Obama’s speech is any indication, some in Congress are not so keen on abandoning America’s post-9/11 counterterrorism policies, with several Republican senators blasting the president for what they fear is a premature pivot.

The president’s speech “will be viewed by terrorists as a victory,” Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., said in a statement. “Rather than continuing successful counterterrorism activities, we are changing course with no clear operational benefit.”

Play Video

GOP Sens. slam Obama’s suggestion that war on terror “must end”

“To somehow argue that al Qaeda is quote, ‘on the run,’ comes from a degree of unreality that is really incredible,” Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said after the president’s speech Thursday afternoon, arguing that the terrorist syndicate is expanding, not contracting. “To somehow think we can bring the authorization of the use of military force to closure conflicts with the reality of the facts on the ground.”

Crowley knocked Republicans for pushing a strategically and legally “unsustainable” policy, explaining, “We have invested significant powers in the president in a time of war, but to suggest that we will be engaged in war indefinitely fundamentally changes the Constitution, and I don’t know that the American people want that and I’m not sure that the congress wants that either.”

“Wars have beginnings, wars have endings, and wars have defined boundaries,” he said. “Without specifics, then it’s impossible to define success.”

And a failure to augment America’s counterterrorism posture, Crowley warned, could present dangers separate from the concerns voiced by GOP senators. “The concept of indefinite war plays into the al Qaeda narrative,” he explained, noting the grievances that foreign populations have voiced about America’s aggressively militarized counterterrorism policies. “When you project the prospect of indefinite war, that continues to suggest that the military will always be the primary instrument, and we have said many times that we can’t kill our way out of this problem.”

He added that the president “signaled very clearly that the challenge of terrorism is not going away,” and that he is only striving to combat that terrorism in different ways as the threat evolves.

Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, echoed Crowley on that point, telling CBSNews.com in an email that the president’s speech was “hopeful…in intent in aspiration, but also conservative in not abandoning any existing tools of warfare prematurely.”

So where do we go from here? If the existing tools in the war on terror are increasingly difficult to situate within the 2001 authorization of military force, as Crowley and others argued, can Congress be expected to revise – or repeal outright – that authorization to accommodate evolving realities?

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., offered at least a glimmer of an opening to the president in a statement released before the speech, arguing that that the 2001 AUMF is “increasingly unrelated to current terrorist threats,” and welcoming discussions with the administration and bipartisan members of congress on “how best to pursue necessary updates to the authorization for use of military force.”

“I hope that Congress is open to a revision of the AUMF for a variety of reasons,” Crowley said, “but if we’re still at war, the American people need to know that we’re still at war and they need to be assured that what we continue to do in various places around the world is consistent with both domestic and international law.”

“The immediate response from members of Congress” on revising the AUMF “is not surprising but disappointing,” Crowley said.

Zarate added that, while the president’s “promise of eventual repeal is quite significant,” it “will never be done in this term.”

And as the promise of a long, hard slog awaits the president and those who support his push to pull Americans back from the fever pitch of a perpetual “war on terror,” some argued that an abundance of patience might be in order.

“The president suggested that at a point, the war against al Qaeda or the war on terror will end just like all wars eventually end,” Crowley said. “He didn’t say it would be tomorrow.”

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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)

The Arab/American Conspiracy To Sell-Out the Rights of the Palestinians (Soon To Become “Jordanians”)

 

[SEE:  Fayyad Quits as Palestinian Premier After Tension With Abbas ; The Jordanian Option has Always Been Zionism’s Plan]

Exclusive: Kerry’s plans double peace track:

Israel vs Palestinians and vs Arab League

US Secretary of State John Kerry has gained the consent of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas for his novel plan to run peace negotiations on two tracks – Israel versus Palestinians plus Israel, for the first time in its history, directly facing the Arab League.
This is reported exclusively by debkafile.
The two tracks will run simultaneously. Kerry says more work needs to be done before a starting date can be scheduled but he hopes the talks can begin this summer.
This formula was designed to address the fundamental objections he ran into in the spring at the start of his initiative for re-launching Middle East peace talks.

Netanyahu said that while the withdrawal of the 2002 Saudi Peace plan, which gained Arab League endorsement as the Arab Peace Initiative, was not an Israeli pre-condition for attending peace negotiations, the talks would quickly run into a stalemate if the demand for a total Israel withdrawal to pre-1967 lines in return for peace and normal relations with the Arab world remained on the table.

Abbas, for his part, told the Secretary of State that comprehensive Arab backing was imperative for him to consent to reenter peace talks with Israel after two years of stalling.

Kerry accordingly invited a group of prominent Arab foreign ministers, heads of the Arab Peace Initiative follow-up committee, to visit Blair House, the official guest house of the US government, for a thorough threshing-out of the issues standing in the way of an Arab peace with Israel. Among those present were Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim, chair of the Arab Peace Initiative follow-up committee, Arab League Chairman Nabil al-Arabi and Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki.

After putting before them the Israeli prime minister’s objections to the Saudi peace plan, Kerry was able to
persuade the Arab ministers to accept President Barack Obama’s formulation, which provides for an Israeli return to the 1967 boundaries with “comparable and mutual agreed minor swaps of the land.”

Obama added this rider to accommodate “the burgeoning communities in the area.”

Netanyahu had told Kerry that if he could convince the Arab League ministers to adopt this rider, he would have taken a big step towards getting negotiations moving between Israel and the Arab League for a comprehensive peace.
As Kerry prepared to inform the PA leader that he had obtained “Arab endorsement” for the simultaneous two-track talks, the Palestinians were sending out mixed signals: Wednesday night, May 1, Abbas said the “minor swaps” locution was acceptable, followed by Riyad al-Maliki who insisted that the Arab Peace Initiative must be accepted as it stood, unless the full Arab League endorsed amendments.

Nevertheless, there is much optimism in Washington that a breakthrough in the stalled Middle East peace process is at hand. Vice President Joe Biden seconded Kerry’s description of “a very positive, very constructive discussion,” at Blair House this week.

According to senior sources in Washington and Jerusalem, the Secretary of State is running his initiative virtually single handed without recourse to the usual bevy of Middle East experts. He accepts that there is plenty of work ahead before he can declare the two negotiating tracks ready to go.

Ruslan Tsarni Formerly Married To Daughter of CIA Official Graham Fuller

  Graham Fuller cia

Boston bombers’ uncle married daughter of top CIA official

MAD COW MORNING NEWS

  by Daniel Hopsicker

The uncle of the two suspected Boston bombers in last week’s attack, Ruslan Tsarni, was married to the daughter of former top CIA official Graham Fuller

The discovery that Uncle Ruslan Tsarni had spy connections that go far deeper than had been previously known is ironic, especially since the mainstrean media’s focus yesterday was on a feverish search to find who might have recruited the Tsarnaev brothers.

The chief suspect was a red-haired Armenian exorcist.  They were fingering a suspect who may not, in fact, even exist.

It was like blaming one-armed hippies on acid for killing your wife.

 

Ruslan Tsarni married the daughter of former top CIA official Graham Fuller, who spent 20 years as operations officer in Turkey, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Hong Kong. In 1982 Fuller was appointed the National Intelligence Officer for Near East and South Asia at the CIA, and in 1986, under Ronald Reagan, he became the Vice-Chairman of the National Intelligence Council, with overall responsibility for national level strategic forecasting.

At the time of their marriage, Ruslan Tsarni was known as Ruslan Tsarnaev, the same last name as his nephews Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the alleged bombers.

It is unknown when he changed his last name to Tsarni.

What is known is that sometime in the early 1990’s, while she was a graduate student in North Carolina, and he was in law school at Duke, Ruslan Tsarnaev met and married Samantha Ankara Fuller, the daughter of Graham and Prudence Fuller of Rockville Maryland. Her middle name suggests a reference to one of her father’s CIA postings.

The couple divorced sometime before 2004.

Today Ms. Fuller lives abroad, and is a director of several companies pursuing strategies to increase energy production from clean-burning and renewable resources.

On a more ominous note, Graham Fuller was listed as one of the American Deep State rogues on Sibel Edmonds’ State Secrets Privilege Gallery,. Edmonds explained it featured subjects of FBI investigations she became aware of during her time as an FBI translator.

Criminal activities were being protected by claims of State Secrets, she asserted. After Attorney General John Ashcroft went all the way to the Supreme Court to muzzle her under a little-used doctrine of State Secrets, she put up twenty-one photos, with no names.

One of them was Graham Fuller.

“Congress of Chechen International” c/o Graham Fuller

A story about a Chechen oik exec/uncle pairing up with a top CIA official who once served as CIA Station Chief in Kabul sounds like a pitch for a bad movie.

But the two men may have been in business together.

In 1995, Tsarnaev incorporated the Congress of Chechen International Organizations in Maryland, using as the address listed on incorporation documents 11114 Whisperwood Ln, in Rockville Maryland, the home address of his then-father-in-law.

It is just eight miles up the Washington National Pike from the Montgomery Village home where “Uncle Ruslan” met—and apparently wowed, the press after the attack in Boston.

The Washington Post yesterday called him a “media maven,” while nationally syndicated Washington Post columnist Ester Cepeda , in a piece with the headline “The Wise Words of Uncle Ruslan” opined that he was her choice for “an award for bravery in the face of adversity.”

Success through indirection, mis-direction, redirection, and protection

Uncle Ruslan’s spy connections go far deeper than was already known, which was that he spent two years working in Kazakhstan for USAID.

But the mainstream media was lookng the other way.

Under the headline “Did ‘Misha’ influence Tsarnaevs? In Watertown, doubts,” USA Today reported: “Misha. A new name has emerged in the Boston Marathon bombing case—one familiar to the family of the two young men accused of the atrocity and apparently of interest to the Russian and American security services as well.”

Ruslan Tsarni was the first to bring up the supposed man’s supposed name. Or rather, he brought up a first name:  Misha. But it was enough. We were off to the races…

Attention all cars: Be on lookout for chubby Armenian exorcist

Tsarni described Misha to CNN as being “chubby, a big guy, big mouth presenting himself with some kind of abilities as exorcist . . . having some part-time job in one of the stores, not married. All of the qualifications of a loser, just another big mouth.”

According to Uncle Ruslan, Misha was the man who over a considerable period of time had radicalized Tamerlan.

It seemed strange, then, that  in contrast to his “you are there” verbal picture of the man, even with all his supposed concerns, and given his high level of education and abundant resources (Big Sky Energy was paying him in excess of $200,00 a year, according to documents filed with the SEC) Ruslan had somehow never found out just who the bad guy was.

He never got a name, something that in spook-dom is considered something of a faux pas. Then again, no one else had either.

Worse, Tsarni’s vivid description seemed to be taken from personal observation, from, in other words…real life. But that isn’t possible. Tsarni had stated he hadn’t been physically in the presence of his Boston relatives since December 2005. And Misha, if he existed, didn’t show up on the scene until 2008 at the earliest.

Still,  just a few days later, the entire family began chiming in. Misha anecdotes were flying fast & furious, and the nation’s scribblers were busy uncritically scribbling down their every word.

Maybe their Twitter account got hacked again?

No performance was nearly as masterful, however, as that of the Associated Press.

“Bomb suspect influenced by mysterious radical,” reported the Associated Press.

“Tamerlan’s relationship with Misha could be a clue in understanding the motives behind his religious transformation and, ultimately, the attack itself,” reported the Associate Press. Only to take it all back in the very next line.

“Two U.S. officials say he had no tie to terrorist groups.”

The AP’s “story” about the mysterious “Misha” was 1145 words, long enough for an editor to squeeze in a caveat.

“It was not immediately clear whether the FBI has spoken to Misha or was attempting to,” the national wire service reported. “Efforts over several days by The Associated Press to identify and interview Misha have been unsuccessful.”

The big difference: when you do it, its conspiracy theory. When we do it, its informed speculation.

In any other context, this might be seen as the rankest kind of “conspiracy theory.” But, apparently, when the Associated Press does it, its news.

Then Uncle Ruslan made a clear mis-step.

“An uncle of the alleged bombers claims that Misha, an Armenian convert to Islam, had a huge influence on the elder brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev.  Describing him as an “Armenia exorcist, Tsarni said, “Somehow he just took his brain.”

Armenians are a deeply-rooted Christian community, which is proud of the fact that their country was the first in the world to adopt Christianity as state religion in 301 AD.

Moreover this is the week every year when they remember the Armenian Holocaust, when as many as 1,000,000 Armenians were slaughtered by Turkish Muslims.

In the large and close-knit Boston Armenian community, a red-bearded Armenian named Misha becoming a radicalized Muslim would stand out.

“I’ve never heard of him, nor has anyone that I know,” Hilda Avedissian, executive director at the Armenian Cultural & Educational Centre.

So what if the guy was involved with biggest bank fraud in history?

“For an Armenian to convert to Islam is like finding a unicorn in a field,” Nerses Zurabyan, 32, an information technology director who lives in nearby Cambridge told USA Today.

The report reveals that the bomber’s Uncle, made famous for his outspoken condemnation of his nephew’s which aired repeatedly on international news networks, is a well-connected oil executive who at one point worked for a Halliburton shell company used as a front to obtain oil contracts from the Kazakh State.

Ruslon Tsarni was implicated in an investigation involving the laundering and theft of $6 billion. But everybody loves Uncle Ruslon. At least most of America’s mainstream media does.

There has, to date, been no speculation at all about whether an uncle of the men suspected of the bombing who had been involved in international intrigue at the hightest levels, and who married the daughter of a top CIA official, might warrant a closer look.

It’s enough, isn’t it, to turn even reasonably rational adults into—gasp!—conspiracy theorists.

“News,” someone once wrote, “is selection. And selection is always  based on an ideology and agenda, which is something to remember next time you watch, listen or read the ‘news.’”

Too true.

Obama Keeps Resisting Zionist “Red Lines,” Tripwires, Forcing His Hand On Syria

[Both Zionist Central in London and that shitty little Zionist cesspool in the Middle East urge Obama to accept whatever “evidence” that they produce of any chemical weapons’s use within Syria as proof that the “red lines” have been crossed, even if the lines were violated by the terrorist rebels, instead of by Assad (SEE:  ‘Growing evidence’ of chemical weapons use in Syria – UK).  They have managed to recreate the same scenario within Syria that they almost pulled-off in Iran, with the help of different terrorist friends of America, the anti-Shia MEK/Jundullah.  Just as he refused to cave-in to previous Zionist pressure to launch an airborne aggression against Iran, he is apparently resisting pressure to cross the line which he has drawn in the sand with his own hand.  This doesn’t mean to imply that he is secretly a good guy, but that he does not like it when other people try to force him to take unpleasant, ill-advised actions.  Don’t read this as hope on my part that Obama will choose to do the right thing when the time comes, because I still firmly believe that he will not hesitate to push the “big red button” when the time comes, probably with a big smile on his lips.  He will be smiling  when he follows his master’s order to unleash Armegeddon, pleased with himself for having ignored the hyped screams of the Apocalyptic cheerleaders like McCain, Cameron and Netanyahu.  Mistakes have been made by all of the team players who have misjudged the resiliency of Assad and the core strengths of the Lebanese resistance forces, but jumping the gun on WWIII will not improve the Empire’s chances of success.  The time for the Greater Middle East War has passed, since the momentum for that war has been missed by both Bush and Obama.  Bush missed it on several occasions, after Afghanistan, after Iraq and after Israel failed in Lebanon in 2006, failing yet one more time, after the failed Georgian tangent in 2008.  Obama’s big failure was in his hesitation in the early days of the anti-Syrian war.   Failure to jump on the war wagon there gave Russia time to turn the tables.  Odds are, the American/world economies will be fully depleted before Obama can organize another attempt, meaning that nothing has changed except for the American ability to control the flow of future events.  World War III will probably happen by accident, the way it should all go down.  Taking steps to avoid such an extinction-level event should by the number one priority with all earthly governments.]

White House: Obama’s red line not crossed on Syria chemical weapons

(CBS News) For the first time, the White House says chemical weapons have been used in Syria’s civil war. The Obama administration said it believes President Bashar Al-Assad used sarin gas on people last month. That report is leading some to ask if the U.S. is ready to consider military action.

The White House said the evidence of Syrian chemical weapons attacks is still too thin and President Obama’s red line has not been crossed, and that means military intervention by the United States in the Syrian civil war is not imminent and not guaranteed but more study and investigation is needed.

Syria has likely used chemical weapons on a “small scale,” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Thursday.Hagel was the first to confirm the startling news. He read from a prepared statement: “The Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in Syria, specifically the chemical agent sarin.”

But Hagel, consistent with administration policy, laced his announcement with carefully crafted caveats. Hagel said, “We still have uncertainties about what was used, what kind of chemicals was used, where it was used, who used it.”

Secretary of State John Kerry told lawmakers that Syria used chemical weapons twice last month, once near Damascus and once in Aleppo. Victims appeared to have been gassed.

Mr. Obama has repeatedly said Syrian use of chemical weapons would cross a red line and could move the U.S. closer to military intervention in the Syrian civil war.

Mr. Obama said on Aug. 20, 2012, “A red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. That would change my calculus.”

But top White House advisers insist the red line has not been crossed. In letters to Congress, the administration said it needs more proof — in its words, “credible and corroborated facts.”

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who has continuously pressed Mr. Obama to intervene, said the president is ducking his own standard. “The president of the United States said that this would be a red line if they used chemical weapons. The president of the United States has now told us that they used chemical weapons,” McCain said. “We must give the opposition the capability to drive out Bashar Assad once and for all.”

U.S. intelligence says it has “varying degrees of confidence” Syria used chemical weapons. But the U.S. isn’t the only nation hedging its bets. British intelligence says it has “persuasive information chemical weapons were used.” French intelligence says it has clues but no proof. However, CBS News’ Major Garrett reported, “Definitive proof may be very hard to find amid the raging Syrian civil war.”

© 2013 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Have You Ever Heard Of “Al-CIA-da” Attacking Iran?

[I, myself, have been one of the loudest voices in the past, protesting that “Al Qaeda is Sunni and hates Iran,” but the longer this game goes on, the more I come to see that Shia Iran has been an ally of the real “al-CIA-da” all along.  After all, wasn’t it Iran that supplied most of the first recruits from the Afghan mujahedeen to ship to Bosnia for Clinton? (SEE:  Dutch inquiry into the 1995 Srebrenica massacre).  Can anyone remember ever hearing of an “al-CIA-da” attack upon Iran, or Shiites, for that matter?  For Westerners to admit that previous murders and terrorist attacks have been committed by the same bunch of intelligence operatives that we normally would label “al-Qaeda” anywhere else, would be an admission of our own major guilt in international terrorism, or our ISI surrogates, or the Saudis. 

As far as the timely “al-CIA-da” plots to bomb trains in Canada, involving Iranian sources, anything is possible in this messed-up world    (SEE: Conservative anti-terror bill and arrests match up beautifully, don’t they: Mallick).  The big problem with this bit of terrorist news, which coincidentally supports currently debated Canadian anti-terror legislation, is that it is old news; the reported plot is at least one year old (dormant). Like all news concerning the terrorist phenomenon known as “al-CIA-da,” it is all conveniently-timed hype, intended to ease the democratic transition into a total police state.  Canada is behaving like a good subservient government should act.  Ottawa is walking the rocky path to Fascism blazed by Cheney and Bush.]

“No attack was imminent and the tip was a year old.”

Iran’s unlikely Al Qaeda ties fluid, murky and deteriorating 

Reuters

Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri. — File photo

When Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri spoke in an audio message broadcast to supporters earlier this month, he had harsh words for Iran. Its true face, he said, had been unmasked by its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against fighters loyal to Al Qaeda.

Yet it is symptomatic of the peculiar relationship between Tehran and Al Qaeda that in the same month Canadian police would accuse “Al Qaeda elements in Iran” of backing a plot to derail a passenger train.

Shia Muslim Iran and strict Sunni militant group Al Qaeda are natural enemies on either side of the Muslim world’s great sectarian divide.

Yet intelligence veterans say that Iran, in pursuing its own ends, has in the past taken advantage of Al Qaeda fighters’ need to shelter or pass through its territory. It is a murky relationship that has been fluid and, say some in the intelligence community, has deteriorated in recent years.

“I wouldn’t even call it a marriage of convenience. It’s an association of convenience,” said Richard Barrett, former head of counter-terrorism for Britain’s MI6 Secret Intelligence Service and later head of the UN Security Council’s monitoring team maintaining the world body’s Al Qaeda and Taliban sanctions blacklists.

“It’s not a strategic alliance. An Al Qaeda presence may suit the Iranians because it allows them to keep an eye on them, it gives them leverage in the form of people who are akin to hostages,” he added.

“There has been a lot of travel between Iraq and Pakistan and I cannot imagine the Iranians are not aware of that,” he said. But it was unlikely that Iran would take the risk of actively collaborating with Al Qaeda against North America: “I don’t think the Iranians would take it kindly if it turned out that there had been plotting by Al Qaeda on their territory.”

Canadian police have said there was no sign the plot had been sponsored by the Iranian state. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Al Qaeda’s beliefs were in no way consistent with Tehran’s.

As yet, many details of the alleged plot remain unclear. However, a US government source cited a network of Al Qaeda fixers based in the Iranian city of Zahedan, close to the borders of both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The source said they served as go-betweens, travel agents and financial intermediaries for Al Qaeda operatives and cells operating in Pakistan and moving through the area.

Another Western source suggested that with relations deteriorating between Iran and Al Qaeda over the civil war in Syria, Tehran had acted recently to stop fighters crossing through from Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) to join Islamist militants fighting to overthrow Assad.

“Although the relationship between Iran and Al Qaeda has always been strained, this worsened after 2011 when the two sides lined up on opposite sides in the Syrian civil war,” said Shashank Joshi, a researcher at the Royal United Services Institute think-tank in London.

“Syria’s strongest rebel group is allied to Al Qaeda, and both have sharply criticised Iranian support for the Assad regime.”

It is unclear whether the planning for the alleged Canadian plot, which Canadian police said had been in the works for some time, was carried out before Syria’s war deepened the strain between Tehran and Al Qaeda.

“There has been a loosening of the ties,” said Barrett, noting that documents released after US forces caught and killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011 showed the Al Qaeda leader saying he was not able to trust the Iranians at all.

“Since then we have Zawahri castigating Iran quite recently. So clearly something had gone wrong.”

Iranian control far from clear

If indeed the Al Qaeda network was based in and around Zahedan — which lies on the main road to Pakistan and is the capital of Sistan-Baluchestan province — it is far from clear how easy it would be for Iran to control.

The region is home to a toxic mix of drug smuggling, illicit trade and gun-running by insurgents. Afghan refugees long ago crowded into poor neighborhoods on the outskirts of Zahedan, although Iran, like Pakistan, periodically tries to push them out, arguing they are a security risk.

Iranian authorities have also been battling a Sunni insurgency of their own in recent years by ethnic Baloch complaining of discrimination. The Jundollah group has claimed several attacks including a bombing that killed 42 people in 2009 — there is no sign it is linked to Al Qaeda, though it is often confused with a Pakistan-based group of the same name.

At the same time, on the Pakistan side of the border, Pakistani security forces are fighting an insurgency by secular Baloch separatists, while Al-Qaeda linked militants in the Sunni sectarian Lashkar-i-Jhangvi group have carried out a string of attacks against the Shia population there.

Pragmatic approach

Despite a common Western misconception that Iran, as the pre-eminent Shia power, is motivated by religion, it has always been much more pragmatic in pursuing its national interest, analysts and diplomats say, allowing it to turn a blind eye to Sunni Al Qaeda using its territory.

“The thing that has stymied people is that ‘Al Qaeda is Sunni and the rest of the people we are talking about here are Shia. They don’t mix and match.’ Well, they do. And they do it whenever they want to. They just look the other way,” said Nick Pratt, a retired US Marines colonel and CIA officer now with the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies.

Before the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, Iran cooperated with India and Russia against the Pakistan-backed Taliban then in power in Kabul. When Al Qaeda members fled Afghanistan after the overthrow of the Taliban, it detained them under house arrest in Tehran.

“Since 9/11 a number of senior Al Qaeda figures including one of Osama bin Laden’s sons and senior commander and strategist Saif al Adel made their way to Iran,” said Nigel Inkster, former director of operations for Britain’s MI6.

“They were detained under quite strict conditions by the Iranian authorities who subsequently sought to use them as a bargaining chip with the US government in their ongoing dispute about Iran’s nuclear program,” added Inkster, who is now director of Transnational Threats and Political Risk at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Vahid Brown, a US-based researcher who has written extensively on Al Qaeda, said in an article on the Jihadica website earlier this year that the men who fled to Iran constituted a dissident faction within Al Qaeda, which in recent years had become increasingly vocal in their criticism of Osama and Zawahiri.

Divided by their views on the advisability of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, broadly speaking, “the pro-9/11 group, including bin Laden and Zawahiri, fled to Pakistan, while the anti-9/11 group ended up in Iran, where they were placed under house arrest by Iranian authorities,” he wrote.

Iran had been willing to cooperate with the United States on Afghanistan initially, but relations soured after Tehran was denounced by then President George W. Bush as part of the “axis of evil” in 2002 and worsened further after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Later, analysts say, Tehran allowed Al Qaeda members — among them Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi — to transit through Iran.

But Iran has been vulnerable to Al Qaeda as well. After one of its diplomats was kidnapped in Pakistan some years ago it released some of the Al Qaeda members it had under house arrest in exchange for his freedom, according to Pakistani media reports.

“About 18 months ago the Iranians released most if not all of those they were holding, for reasons still not entirely clear,” said Inkster.

“There may well be a residual AQ presence in Iran though I would be cautious about presenting it as something very structured or hierarchic,” he added.

“AQ is far from being the organisation it once was and what matters more are relationships between like-minded individuals. And that may well be what we are seeing in the Canada case. There seems to be no evidence of Iranian official involvement.”

Tsarnaev Brothers Are Russian NOT Chechen–Father Anzor Tsarnaev, “What Chechnya. They never lived in Chechnya.”

Tamerlan

[False flag nature of Boston attack starting to come to light.  The boys were Russian, not Chechen; the youngest boy had never even attended a mosque.  The fake rumors about Chechnya surfaced almost immediately after the attacks, almost as if they were already the new narrative waiting in the wings.  It didn’t matter anymore, if the strain of “al-Qaeda” came from the Middle East or Central Asia.  In fact, there had to be some new terror attack upon Americans implicating “al-Qaeda in the Stans,” since the new focus was already upon the CA region as the next target region.  The Boston false flag event was clearly Obama’s plot to force Putin onto his side in terror war, just as the school shootings were done to convince all good Americans that giving-up our guns was the best defense against insane or criminal killers?]

Anzor Tsarnaev: I am a supporter of Kadyrov. My sons did not tell anything about Chechnya’s independence

KAVKAZ

Father of the Tsarnaev brothers said in an interview to the Chechen Service of the American Radio Liberty that his sons were framed by security services.

“This is pure staging. Someone did that on purpose. I do not know why this is done. I know my children. How can a man who has never prayed go and blow up something?.. The older son went to a mosque. We were often visited by security services which asked on his thoughts and ideas and the stuff … And the younger never even prayed“.

Answering a question if his son spoke about the independence of Chechnya, Anzor Tsarnaev literally exploded:

“What Chechnya. They never lived in Chechnya. They never had this in the head. There is no Chechnya, what independence? Especially since I’m a supporter of Kadyrov, what independence are you talking about? … I lived for 10 years in America, returned home to die, so I was not dragged out here and there… It’s all staging…”

Meanwhile, the wounded Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was eventually caught after many hours of confrontation in the suburbs of Boston. US authorities reported that he was injured. However, no exact information about his condition was given.

News agencies report that Obama had a telephone conversation with Putin. A statement by the White House said that Putin expressed his condolences to the families of the victims in Boston, and Obama praised the Kremlin’s ringleader for “close cooperation that the United States received from Russia on counter terrorism, including in the wake of the Boston attack”.

In turn, FBI officials told news agencies that in 2011, security forces at a request of an unnamed foreign country questioned Tamerlan Tsarnaev – the older of the two brothers. During this conversation, Tsarnaev said nothing suspicious.

Tsarnaev brothers are a product not so much of Chechnya, but rather of the Chechen diaspora, commented on the situation for the BBC News Prof. Matthew Payne at Emory University in Atlanta. The Tsarnaevs fled from “fierce Russian-Chechen wars of the 1990s and early 2000s”, he said.

Meanwhile, people who knew the brothers describe them in a positive way:

A student named Zach Boyer, who lived in the dormitory next door to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, told the BBC News that he was “a pretty nice person”. “I saw him all the time. He was often in my room… He did wrestling and played soccer. He was much liked”.

BBC News also reports that “high school friends of Tamerlan describe him as nice, sociable and funny. That was in 2006. Did he change recently? What happened?”.

It is to be recalled that, according to American authorities, Tamerlan Tsarnaev traveled to Russia and spent six months there, and then returned to America.

According to the New York Times and CBS News, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, his mother and father got US citizenship last year. Tamerlan Tsarnaev also filed an application for the US citizenship, his papers have been half filled.

Department of Monitoring
Kavkaz Center

Pakistan Blames Karzai for Refusing Fake American/Pakistani Negotiations With “Taliban Leaders”

[Karzai seems to be doing his best to disengage Western forces from his country and to cut through all of the bullshit surrounding the shady American plans to use Pakistan to “negotiate reconciliation” with secondary and retired Taliban leaders.  Pakistan is serving as Obama’s little puppet to ensure Western dominance of the region.  All of their “good faith gestures” of turning loose lower-level Taliban is meaningless, since they have only one one truly valuable Taliban leader, operational commander of all of the Taliban, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a.k.a., “Mullah Brother.”  Pakistan originally grabbed him and his underlings to stop the ongoing tribal negotiations between Baradar and Hamid Karzai, both of whom belong to the the Popolzai tribe.  According to this report from Radio Netherlands Worldwide (SEE:  Mullah Baradar: friend or foe?), they had been covertly meeting in Kabul and possibly even in Dubai.  Baradar was reported to have intervened with the Taliban in 2001 to save Karzai’s life during early negotiations.  This “Brother” to Karzai is the Number Two Taliban.  Until Pakistan either frees him or facilitates talks between them, the government of Musharraf will be waiting in the wings to restore the pre-2001 status quo to Afghanistan and to the region.  Pakistan’s so-called leaders cannot possibly lie their way to peace once again.] 

Pakistan sees Afghanistan’s Karzai as obstacle to peace with Taliban

Reuters

Afghan President Hamid Karzai—AFP Photo

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan, seen as critical to efforts to stabilise Afghanistan, is finding it difficult to work with President Hamid Karzai due to mistrust and is reaching out to others to advance the peace process, senior Pakistani Foreign Ministry officials say.

Pakistan is uniquely positioned to promote reconciliation in neighboring Afghanistan because of its long history of ties to militant groups fighting to topple Karzai.

But Afghanistan has accused Pakistan of backing the Taliban to further its aims, fearful it will try to install a pro-Islamabad government in Kabul, a charge Pakistan denies.

“Right now, Karzai is the biggest impediment to the peace process,” a top Pakistani Foreign Ministry official told Reuters. “In trying to look like a savior, he is taking Afghanistan straight to hell.”

Karzai has said he wants peace on his own terms and could also be worried that the United States might cut a quick and risky deal with the Taliban, eager to get the bulk of its forces out of the country by the end of next year.

Either way, Pakistani officials say they are discouraged by what they call Karzai’s erratic statements and provocations, apparently designed to make him appear more decisive at home in dealing with the unpopular war, now in its 12th year.

Failure to reach an agreement between the Afghan government and insurgents would increase the chances of prolonged instability and even a push by the Taliban to seize power. The last time they did it, in 1996, it was with Pakistani help.

The stakes are also high for Pakistan, a strategic US ally seen as vital to Washington’s global war on militancy. It fears turmoil in Afghanistan could spill over the border and energize homegrown militants seeking to topple the government.

“I have absolutely no doubt that there will be complete chaos in Afghanistan if a settlement is not reached by 2014,” said the Foreign Ministry official. “Afghanistan will erupt. And when that happens, Pakistan will have to pay.”

Pakistan and Afghanistan have long been suspicious of each other. A recent period of warmer relations raised hopes they could work together to lure the Taliban to negotiations.

Aziz Khan, a former Pakistan ambassador to Afghanistan, said it was not right to pin all the blame on Karzai.

“Everyone is hedging their bets at this point: the Pakistanis, the US, the Afghan government and the Taliban,” he said. “No one has been clear about what they want in Afghanistan.”

Although Pakistan will maintain contacts with Karzai, it is stepping up engagements with opposition figures, the Taliban, Washington and other parties to promote reconciliation, Foreign Ministry officials said.

“There is no other option but reconciliation – with or without Karzai,” said the top Foreign Ministry official. “If he continues to be this stubborn, him and his High Peace Council will naturally be sidelined.”

 Afghan Say Karzai Committed to Peace

A second senior Pakistani Foreign Ministry official cited several examples of how Karzai has blocked peace efforts. At a conference in January, for example, Karzai insisted there would be no more “back door” peace contacts.

The official also accused Karzai of delaying the opening of a Taliban office in Qatar that could be used in the reconciliation efforts. He did not say why.

Afghan officials say Karzai is fully committed to the peace process, but wants to ensure it is Afghan-driven.

Responding to the accusation that Karzai is an obstacle to peace, an Afghan government official said: “We totally reject this. It is a baseless allegation.”

Analysts say Pakistan has a long-standing fear of an Afghan government close to its old foe, India. Karzai has said “no foreign elements or entities should attempt to own Afghan peace efforts”. He also warned: “I am not going to allow other attempts to succeed.”

So far, Karzai has failed to secure direct talks with the Taliban. He has repeatedly asked for Pakistan’s support. Pakistan has helped Taliban representatives to travel to Qatar to make contacts with US officials.

At the same time, Pakistan has been building bridges with the Northern Alliance, a constellation of anti-Taliban figures who have traditionally been implacable critics of Islamabad, and close to India.

But Kabul wants Pakistan to hand over top Afghan Taliban leaders which could prove useful in the peace process.

“All Taliban leadership are sitting in Pakistan. We need full cooperation of Pakistan in order for them to be allowed to travel and be allowed to talk,” Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmay Rassoul told a news conference in Sydney.
Karzai’s remarks during interviews and in meetings with Pakistani officials have led Islamabad to conclude he has become too inflexible. They cite Karzai’s recent accusation that the United States was colluding with the Taliban.

“What does Karzai have to show for his effort to bring insurgents to the table? We’ve released prisoners. We’ve facilitated talks,” said another senior Foreign Ministry official.

Late last year, Pakistan released more than two dozen Taliban prisoners who could help promote peace. It was the clearest signal ever that Pakistan had put its weight behind the Afghan reconciliation process.

Pakistan’s army chief has also made reconciling warring Afghan factions a priority, military sources say.

After the prisoner releases, Afghan officials said Pakistan shared Kabul’s goal of transforming the insurgency into a political movement. Such remarks signaled unprecedented optimism from Kabul.

“Joker In The Pack”

But despite that, old suspicions that Pakistan uses Afghan insurgents as proxies to counter the influence of India have not been laid to rest.

Some Afghan officials believe Pakistan may still be hedging its bets and that even the prisoner releases were just a way to retain influence over the Taliban.
“The key fact here is that Pakistan has been investing in this dirty game of trying to control Afghanistan for the last thirty years through terrorist proxies,” said a senior Afghan government official.

“It is now trying to reap the harvest of its investments by waiting for what they see as the inevitable complete departure of the international community from Afghanistan and keeping their proxy assets, primarily the Taliban, for the post-2014 period.”

During talks last month at British Prime Minister David Cameron’s official country residence, Chequers, Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari agreed to consult on future Afghan Taliban prisoner releases.

But Pakistani officials now complain that Karzai does not appreciate the goodwill gestures.

Another Pakistani Foreign Ministry official said the government was incensed by an interview Karzai gave to the British press after the Chequers meeting in which he said the peace process was being impeded by “external forces acting in the name of the Taliban”, a veiled reference to Islamabad.

So exasperated was Pakistan with Karzai that at a meeting this month between Zardari, the army chief and senior officials, one top leader described Karzai as “the joker in the pack”, according to an official who attended.

“He is trying to act as if he has many cards in his hands,” said the first Foreign Ministry official. “But he should realize he is only hurting his country.”

CIA “Not Supplying” Heavy Weapons To Syrian Terrorists, But Teaching Them How To Use Them

[Notice the red Saudi-colored headscarves.–SOURCE]

CIA Expands Role in Syria Fight

 

Agency Feeds Intelligence to Rebel Fighters, in Move That Deepens U.S. Involvement in Conflict

By ADAM ENTOUS, SIOBHAN GORMAN and NOUR MALAS

The Central Intelligence Agency is expanding its role in the campaign against the Syrian regime by feeding intelligence to select rebel fighters to use against government forces, current and former U.S. officials said.

The move is part of a U.S. effort to stem the rise of Islamist extremists in Syria by aiding secular forces, U.S. officials said, amid fears that the fall of President Bashar al-Assad would enable al Qaeda to flourish in Syria.

 

The expanded CIA role bolsters an effort by Western intelligence agencies to support the Syrian opposition with training in areas including weapons use, urban combat and countering spying by the regime.

The move comes as the al Nusra Front, the main al Qaeda-linked group operating in Syria, is deepening its ties to the terrorist organization’s central leadership in Pakistan, according to U.S. counterterrorism officials.

The provision of actionable intelligence to small rebel units which have been vetted by the CIA represents an increase in U.S. involvement in the two-year-old conflict, the officials said. The CIA would neither confirm nor deny any role in providing training or intelligence to the Syrian rebels.

The new aid to rebels doesn’t change the U.S. decision to not take direct military action. President Barack Obama last year rejected a CIA-backed proposal to provide arms to secular units fighting Mr. Assad, and on Friday he reiterated his argument that doing so could worsen the bloodshed.

He also warned that Mr. Assad’s fall could empower extremists. “I am very concerned about Syria becoming an enclave for extremism because extremists thrive in chaos, they thrive in failed states, they thrive in power vacuums,” Mr. Obama said at a news conference in Amman, Jordan.

The new CIA effort reflects a change in the administration’s approach that aims to strengthen secular rebel fighters in hope of influencing which groups dominate in post-Assad Syria, U.S., European and Arab officials said.

The CIA has sent officers to Turkey to help vet rebels that receive arms shipments from Gulf allies, but administration officials say the results have been mixed, citing concerns about weapons going to Islamists. In Iraq, the CIA has been directed by the White House to work with elite counterterrorism units to help the Iraqis counter the flow of al Qaeda-linked fighters across the border with Syria.

The West favors fighters aligned with the Free Syrian Army, which supports the Syrian Opposition Coalition political group.

Syrian opposition commanders said the CIA has been working with British, French and Jordanian intelligence services to train rebels on the use of various kinds of weapons. A senior Western official said the intelligence agencies are providing the rebels with urban combat training as well as teaching them how to properly use antitank weapons against Syrian bunkers.

The agencies are also teaching counterintelligence tactics to help prevent pro-Assad agents from infiltrating the opposition, the official said.

Among other U.S. activities on the margins of the conflict, the Pentagon is helping train Jordanian forces to counter the threat posed by Syria’s chemical weapons, but isn’t working directly with rebels, defense officials say.

The extent of the CIA effort to provide intelligence to Syrian rebels remains cloaked in secrecy. The U.S. has an array of intelligence capabilities in the region, mainly on the periphery of the conflict.

The U.S. uses satellites and other surveillance systems to collect intelligence on Syrian troop and aircraft movements as well as weapons depots. Officials say powerful radar arrays in Turkey are likewise used to track Syrian ballistic missiles and can pinpoint launch sites.

The U.S. also relies on Israeli and Jordanian spy agencies, which have extensive spy networks inside Syria, U.S. and European officials said.

The current level of intelligence sharing is limited in scope because the CIA doesn’t know whether it can fully trust fighters with the most sensitive types of information, several U.S. and European officials said. The CIA, for example, isn’t sharing information on where U.S. and Israeli intelligence agencies believe the Syrian government keeps its chemical weapons, officials said.

Rebel leaders and some U.S. lawmakers say more robust U.S. support is needed to turn the tide in the civil war. These officials say the CIA’s current role comes as too little, too late to make a decisive difference in the war.

In a letter to Mr. Obama this week, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, joined Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona in calling for the president to take “more active steps to stop the killing in Syria and force Bashar al-Assad to give up power.”

Sens. Levin and McCain urged the White House to consider using precision airstrikes to take out Mr. Assad’s air force and Scud missile batteries, among other military options.

The CIA got a green light from the White House last year to look for ways to provide limited support to the rebels, current and former officials said. But officials say the ramp-up has been slow, in part because of the difficulty of identifying reliable partners among the Syrian opposition to work with the U.S.

A senior U.S. official said the decision to provide actionable intelligence to vetted rebel units “shows that we’re working on the humanitarian level and the diplomatic level and on the intelligence level.”

“This would be a more direct level of engagement on the intelligence front,” the official added.

Officials said one of the advantages of providing actionable intelligence to rebel units is that such information is generally of operational use for a limited period because would-be targets move around the battlefield.

Arms, in contrast, can be used for years and passed between groups, reducing U.S. control over where they end up.

The shift in part reflects growing Israeli concerns about the limited ability of the U.S. to shape the outcome in Syria. In recent months, Israeli officials have privately pressed their European and American counterparts to strengthen secular forces in Syria because of concerns that the al Nusra Front will become more entrenched the longer the civil war drags on, according to Israeli and European officials.

Israeli officials are concerned that the U.S. reluctance to more directly intervene will limit Washington’s leverage in a post-Assad Syria. “Israel would welcome America’s influence in shaping the post-Assad Syria” said a senior Israeli official involved in deliberations on the neighboring Arab country.

U.S. and European officials said they fear that the al Nusra Front, which has seized control of swaths of northern Syria, could dominate the country once Mr. Assad falls.

U.S. counterterrorism officials said they have seen a growth in communications among operatives from al Nusra Front, al Qaeda in Iraq and al Qaeda’s central leadership in Pakistan. Officials also report growing numbers of al Qaeda fighters traveling from Pakistan to Syria to join the fight with al Nusra.

The ties to al Qaeda’s central operations have become so significant that U.S. counterterrorism officials are debating whether al Nusra should now be considered its own al Qaeda affiliate instead of an offshoot of al Qaeda in Iraq, as it has generally been viewed within the U.S. government, according to a person familiar with the debate.

Al Nusra is “an organization that resembles an army more than a quaint little terrorist group,” said Seth Jones, an al Qaeda specialist at the Rand Corp. think tank in Washington. “As this war drags on against Assad and as long as they are able to build up their capabilities, it’s going to make it all the more harder to target them once the regime falls.”

Write to Adam Entous at adam.entous@wsj.com, Siobhan Gorman at siobhan.gorman@wsj.com and Nour Malas at nour.malas@dowjones.com

Another “Zombie” Terrorist Leader Comes Back from the Dead–This One In Pakistan

[Strange that they could capture this militant leader, since Qari Basit was allegedly killed “in the Tarkhel area” of the same town on September 24, 2011.  Nearly every “al-Qaeda” or Taliban leader reported killed by the controlled “legitimate press” has been killed at fortunate junctures in the past (SEE: Chad Claims It Has Killed “Al-CIA-da” Mastermind of Cigarette Smuggling ).]

TTP leader, foreigner captured in Nowshera

Taliban. — Reuters/File Photo

NOWSHERA: The ‘operational commander’ of the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, Qari Basit, and an unknown foreigner were arrested by personnel of intelligence agencies in Kheshgi town of Nowshera district on Wednesday.

Sources said the two were arrested in a joint raid conducted by security forces and police at a house in Kheshgi. They were taken to an unknown place.

The sources claimed that the two men had arrived in Nowshera on a special mission to attack Provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain.

District Police Officer Muhammad Hussain said a suspected man had been arrested but rejected the report that Qari Basit and his foreign accomplice had been captured.

The sources said that Qari Basit was wanted by police in several cases of suicide bombing and attacks on government installations in different areas of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Fake Letter from the Bin Laden Impersonator Killed In Abbottabad

[Comparing this alleged letter, supposedly written by the long-dead terrorist, bin Laden, we can easily see that this reputed letter from Abbottabad is a complete fraud.  Nowhere in the fake new evidence, produced from the fake Special Forces raid, does this sound like the words of the man who issued his Fatwa against the “Zionist-Crusaders” in August 1996 (SEE:  Bin Laden’s Fatwa–Aug. 23, 1996).  By the way, bin Laden does not even use the Word “Qaeda” at all, in the older example.  The fake letter is absent the real bin Laden’s reverence for his faith.  The new guy doesn’t even bother writing a traditional Muslim blessing whenever mentioning the Holy Prophet, such as “Peace be unto Him.”  In the Fatwa the real bin Laden blesses The Prophet by saying “ALLAH’S BLESSING AND SALUTATIONS ON HIM” (in all capitals) 32 times.  The fake bin Laden uses the word “thus” 9 times in his short letter, even though Usama never says the word once in his entire Fatwa.  

We are asked to swallow a whole load of bullshit, in order to allow them to flesh-out their imaginary union of international terrorists.  As if to reinforce the narrative that we are under attack from an international Islamist entity, the neoconservative Henry Jackson Society recently released a 700 page report called, Al-Qaeda in the United States: A Complete Analysis of Terrorism Offences, which purports to document years of overlooked “terror attacks” which supposedly have happened since 2001.  We have allegedly been overlooking countless terrorist events, writing-up terrorist as regular crimes.  Like everything else in this phony terror war, the image of “al-Qaeda” is created by mislabeling crimes by other people who have nothing to do with the imaginary terrorist international, as “al-Qaeda related.”  The rhetorical neocon tome is supposed to open our eyes to what we have overlooked or misunderstood.  It is nonsense, intended to make its argument by sheer weight.  The pdf available at the link given is, thankfully, only 107 pages.]

Letters from Abbottabad: Bin Ladin Sidelined?

CTC–Combating Terrorism Center at West Point

Authors: Don Rassler, Gabriel Koehler-Derrick, Liam Collins, Muhammad al-Obaidi, Nelly Lahoud

This report is a study of 17 de-classified documents captured during the Abbottabad raid and released to the Combating Terrorism Center (CTC). They consist of electronic letters or draft letters, totaling 175 pages in the original Arabic and 197 pages in the English translation. The earliest is dated September 2006 and the latest April 2011.  These internal al-Qa`ida communications were authored by several  leaders, most prominently Usama bin Ladin.  In contrast to his public statements that focused on the injustice of those he believed to be the “enemies” of Muslims, namely corrupt “apostate” Muslim rulers and their Western “overseers,” the focus of Bin Ladin’s private letters is Muslims’ suffering at the hands of his jihadi “brothers”. He is at pain advising them to abort domestic attacks that cause Muslim civilian casualties and focus on the United States, “our desired goal.” Bin Ladin’s frustration with regional jihadi groups and his seeming inability to exercise control over their actions and public statements is the most compelling story to be told on the basis of the 17 de-classified documents. “Letters from Abbottabad” is an initial exploration and contextualization of 17 documents that will be the grist for future academic debate and discussion

SOCOM-2012-0000003
This letter was authored by Usama bin Ladin and addressed to Shaykh Mahmud (`Atiyya Abdul Rahman) on 27 August 2010. Mahmud is specifically directed to tell ‚Basir,‛ who is Nasir al-Wuhayshi (Abu Basir), the leader of al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula, to remain in his role (presumably in response to a request from Abu Basir that Anwar al-`Awlaqi take his position), and for him to send ‚us a detailed and lengthy‛ version of al-`Awlaqi’s resume. `Atiyya is also told to ask Basir and Anwar al-`Awlaqi for their ‚vision in detail about the situation‛ in Yemen. References are also made in the letter to the 2010 floods in Pakistan, a letter from Bin Ladin’s son Khalid to `Abd al-Latif, al-Qa`ida’s media plan for the 9/11 anniversary, and the need for the ‚brothers coming from Iran‛ to be placed in safe locations.

Page 1 of 4
In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
Praise be to God, Lord of the universe, and peace and prayers be
upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and all of his companions
Now then…
To the noble brother, Shaykh Mahmud, may God protect him
Peace be upon you, God’s Mercy and Blessings
I hope you receive this message of mine while you, your family,
children, and all of the brothers are in good health.
So,
– With regard to what you had mentioned in a previous message,
that some brothers may go to Iran as part of a plan to protect
the brother, thus I see that Iran is not suitable. Also, when
choosing the areas where the brothers will be inside Pakistan
it’s necessary to take into consideration that they are not
areas that encountered floods or may encounter them in the
future.
– With regard to the brothers coming from Iran, thus I see, at
this stage, that they be at safe locations outside the areas
being attacked.
– Regarding what’s related to Pakistan, thus I didn’t take a
look at the report you mentioned. However, the opinion in
general is to be concerned with calming things down and focusing
efforts on the Americans.
– With regard to what pertains to appointing the brothers in the
administrative positions, thus I see that they pledge an
allegiance that would include some points, which would protect
the work and its secrets. Therefore, I hope that you all
deliberate concerning the matter and inform me of your opinion,
and amongst the proposed points, for example:
1- Listening, obedience, and Jihad so as to bring back the
Caliphate.
Page 2 of 4
SOCOM-2012-0000003-HT
2- Protect operational secrets.
3- Protect the work he is going to be responsible for, and
provide advice to the leadership.
– Regarding what brother Basir mentioned relating to Anwar al-
‘Awlaqi, it would be excellent if you inform him, on my behalf
in a private message to him, to remain in his position where he
is qualified and capable of running the matter in Yemen.
Therefore, he shall continue, by the blessings of God, as he has
the characteristics that makes him capable of that.
Additionally, the presence of some of the characteristics by our
brother Anwar al-‘Awlaqi is a good thing, in order to serve
Jihad, and how excellent would it be if he gives us a chance to
be introduced to him more.
– Also, I hope that he be informed of us still needing more
information from the battlefield in Yemen, so that it is
feasible for us, with the help of God, to make the most
appropriate decision to either escalate or calm down. And with
regard to informing us of the situations by them, thus I hope
that brother Basir writes me his vision in detail about the
situations and also asks brother Anwar al-‘Awlaqi to write his
vision in detail in a separate message, as well as brother Abu-
Sufyan Sa’id al-Shahri, to send his vision in detail and
separate.
How excellent would it be if you ask brother Basir to send us
the resume, in detail and lengthy, of brother Anwar al-‘Awlaqi,
as well as the facts he relied on when recommending him, while
informing him that his recommendation is considered. However, we
would like to be reassured more. For example, we here become
reassured of the people when they go to the line and get
examined there.
Page 3 of 4
Also, I hope that brother Basir be informed that the media
appearance is his task, and in general, they should reduce the
appearance during this period unless necessary, and if necessity
calls for one of the brothers to issue a speech, thus Basir
should review it before it’s broadcasted in the media. It shall
be pointed out, whereas you didn’t point out, that the speech of
SOCOM-2012-0000003-HT
brother Sa’id al-Shahri that was issued about the apprehension
of one of the sisters in Saudi was not appropriate at the time.
With regard to what you mentioned in a previous message,
regarding your opinion to reduce the correspondence, thus we are
concerned with the security aspect, yet I have a tape for the
nation that includes instigation of the people of Iraq and
preaching to the Awakenings to return to the Mujahidin. I am
going to send it, God willing, the next time, thus you can
arrange with the courier to have the card that’s going to
contain this statement delivered to the media section directly,
and if a necessary matter develops, we are going to attach to
you a message that will be sent to you by the media section.
– Attached with this message is a visual statement to the
American people that I hope a copy of it be given to the
International Al Jazeera and the Arab Al Jazeera. I also hope
for it to be translated (voice over) to English and to be
delivered to the Al Jazeera channel prior to the anniversary of
9/11, to be broadcasted during it. Also, two copies of it are
attached, one of which is recorded and the other written.
– We sent you, along with the messages that preceded this, a
statement regarding the floods of Pakistan. Its broadcasting to
media was delayed, thus perhaps it’s for a good reason. However,
in any case, I had attached the content of this card to this
message.
– Note: Please broadcast the flood statement before the American
People statement, as the American People statement to be during
the anniversary of 9/11.
– Attached is a message from my son Khalid to brother ‘Abd-al-
Latif, and a message to the brothers in the media section.
Page 4 of 4
In conclusion, I ask God, the Glorified and Almighty, to protect
you and to make you successful towards what He loves and is
satisfied with, and the last of our prayers is praise be to God,
Lord of the Universe, and peace and prayers be upon our Prophet
Muhammad, his family, and all of his companions.
Peace be upon you, God’s Mercy and Blessings
Thursday
SOCOM-2012-0000003-HT
17 Ramadan 1431 Hijri (TN: 27 August 2010)
(TN: End of translation)
SOCOM-2012-0000003-HT

Afghan Govt. Condemns Pak Army Support for Cleric’s Blessing of Afghan, Kashmir and Palestinian Suicide-Bombing

[SEE:  Afghan president lashes out at Pakistan ]

“Palestine is occupied by Israel, Kashmir by India, and Afghanistan by the US. So if the Muslims don’t have the atomic bomb, they should sacrifice their lives for God,” Tahir Ashrafi, the head of the Pakistan Ulema Council, told TOLOnews.

 

Afghanistan condemn Pakistani Ulema’s Fatwa on suicide attack

By Ghanizada

Maulana Tahir Asharfi—This is the fat Wahhabi bastard who issued the “fat” wa.  He is not only notorious for his advanced capacity for gluttony, but for being caught passed-out drunk and covered in puke in the back seat of his car, after tying one on at the German Embassy in Islamabad.  The lying fuck claimed that he was not drunk, but had been “kidnapped” by mysterious individuals, who had “injected him with intoxicating medicine.”Afghan National Security Adviser criticized Pakistan religious scholar Maulana Ashraf Tahiri’s remarks regarding the suicide attack and holy war which is permitted in Afghanistan, Kashmir and Palestine.

Maulana Tahir Ashrafi said suicide attack and Jihad (holy war) is permitted in Afghanistan, Kashmir and Palestine which was widely condemned in Afghanistan.

Rangin Dadfar Spanta, national security adviser for president Hamid Karzai on Saturday said the Fatwa by Pakistani religious scholar chief shows the mainstream of violence which threatens the peaceful lives of the Afghan people.

Maulana Tahir Ashrafi’s remarks were also widely condemned by various political movements, religious clerics and civil activists in the country.

Afghan religious scholars said such attacks are not allowed in Islam and accused Pakistan’s military intelligence for being involved in issuing such a Fatwa.

In the meantime Rangin Dadfar Spanta called on various political and civil movements in the country to stand against the Pakistani religious scholar’s Fatwa.

He said, “Our political opposition movements, the civil society and other prominent Afghan leaders should unitedly stand to defend our country and our soil and let those know, who are sending the suicide bombers that the Afghan people will never be defeated by these bombers.”

The National Coalition of Afghanistan — main political opposition coalition of the Afghan government also condemned the Fatwa by Pakistani religious scholar and said such remarks will further boost war in the region.

This comes as the Afghan security institutions, specifically the National Directorate of Security (NDS) warned that all the suicide bombers coming in Afghanistan are being trained in Pakistan.

The Fatwa by Pakistani religious scholar chief comes amid Pakistani clerics decision to boycott a regional Islamic conference in capital Kabul. The religious scholars of the two nations were due to discuss suicide attacks and Jihad (holy war) during the conference.

On the other hand there are concerns that the latest Fatwa by Pakistani religious scholar chief will flame more violence in Afghanistan.

Zionist Press Pushing Claim That Syrian Rebels Have Captured Scuds Armed With Chemical Warheads

Islamist Syrian rebels reportedly seize Scud missiles

Deputy PM says Israel is tracking developments but sees no immediate danger, adds that ‘when we identified a threat, we took action along the border and elsewhere’

Chad Claims It Has Killed “Al-CIA-da” Mastermind of Cigarette Smuggling

[This is the second time that this guy has reportedly been killed in Mali (SEE:  The terrorist Belmokhtar, Number 1 AQIM in the Sahel, killed by the MNLA Gao).  The problem with him and all of the other terrorist leaders who somehow manage to get themselves killed multiple times (like bin Laden), is that their pictures change after their first deaths.  Below we have photos collected by Google before this latest row, showing the 2012 rebel leader and the new 2013 guy.]

[Is this really the same guy?]

Chad says it killed Algeria hostage mastermind in Mali 

By Madjiasra Nako

N’DJAMENA (Reuters) – Chadian soldiers in Mali have killed Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the al Qaeda commander who masterminded a bloody hostage-taking at an Algerian gas plant in January, Chad’s military said on Saturday.

The death of one of the world’s most wanted jihadists would be a major blow to al Qaeda in the region and to Islamist rebels already forced to flee towns they had seized in northern Mali by an offensive by French and African troops.

“On Saturday, March 2, at noon, Chadian armed forces operating in northern Mali completely destroyed a terrorist base. … The toll included several dead terrorists, including their leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar,” Chad’s armed forces said in a statement read on national television.

On Friday, Chad’s president, Idriss Deby, said his soldiers had killed another al Qaeda commander, Adelhamid Abou Zeid, among 40 militants who died in an operation in the same area as Saturday’s assault – Mali’s Adrar des Ifoghas mountains near the Algerian border.

France – which has used jet strikes against the militants’ mountain hideouts – has declined to confirm the killing of either Abou Zeid or Belmokhtar.

In Washington, an Obama administration said the White House could not confirm the killing of Belmokhtar.

Analysts said the death of two of al Qaeda’s most feared commanders in the Sahara desert would mark a significant blow to Mali’s Islamist rebellion.

“Both men have extensive knowledge of northern Mali and parts of the broader Sahel and deep social and other connections in northern Mali, and the death of both in such a short amount of time will likely have an impact on militant operations,” said Andrew Lebovich, a Dakar-based analyst who follows al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

Anne Giudicelli, managing director of security consultancy Terrorisc, said the al Qaeda commanders’ deaths – if confirmed – would temporarily disrupt the Islamist rebel network but would also raise concern over the fate of seven French hostages believed to be held by Islamists in northern Mali.

Chad is one of several African nations that have contributed forces to a French-led military intervention in Mali aimed at ridding its vast northern desert of Islamist rebels who seized the area nearly a year ago following a coup in the capital.

Western and African countries are worried that al Qaeda could use the zone to launch international attacks and strengthen ties with African Islamist groups like al Shabaab in Somalia and Boko Haram in Nigeria.

‘MARLBORO MAN’

Belmokhtar, 40, who lost an eye while fighting in Afghanistan in the 1990s, claimed responsibility for the seizure of dozens of foreign hostages at the In Amenas gas plant in Algeria in January in which more than 60 people were killed.

That attack put Algeria back on the map of global jihad, 20 years after its civil war, a bloody Islamist struggle for power. It also burnished Belmokhtar’s jihadi credentials by showing that al Qaeda remained a potent threat to Western interests despite U.S. forces killing Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011.

Before In Amenas, some intelligence experts had assumed Algerian-born Belmokhtar had drifted away from jihad in favor of kidnapping and smuggling weapons and cigarettes in the Sahara where he earned the nickname “Marlboro Man”.

In a rare interview with a Mauritanian news service in late 2011, Belmokhtar paid homage to bin Laden and his successor, Ayman al-Zawahri. He cited al Qaeda’s traditional global preoccupations, including Iraq, Afghanistan and the fate of the Palestinians, and stressed the need to “attack Western and Jewish economic and military interests”.

He shared command of field operations for AQIM – al Qaeda’s North African franchise – with Abou Zeid, although there was talk the two did not get along and were competing for power.

A former smuggler turned jihadi, Algerian-born Abou Zeid imposed a violent form of sharia, Islamic law, in the ancient desert town of Timbuktu, including amputations and the destruction of ancient Sufi shrines.

Robert Fowler, a former Canadian diplomat held hostage by Belmokhtar from 2008 to 2009, told Reuters, “While I cannot consider reports of the death of both Abou Zeid and Mokhtar Belmokhtar as anything but good news … I must temper my enthusiasm by the fact that this is by no means the first time Belmokhtar’s death has been reported.”

President Francois Hollande said on Friday that the assault to retake Mali’s vast desert north from AQIM and other Islamist rebels that began on January 11 was in its final stage and so could not confirm Abou Zeid’s death.

A U.S. official and a Western diplomat said, however, the reports about Abou Zeid’s death appeared to be credible.

U.S. Representative Ed Royce, Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the killing of Belmokhtar “would be a hard blow to the collection of jihadists operating across the region that are targeting American diplomats and energy workers.”

Washington has said it believes Islamists operating in Mali were involved in the killing of the U.S. ambassador in Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi in September.

After its success in dislodging al Qaeda fighters from northern Mali’s towns, France and its African allies have faced a mounting wave of suicide bombings and guerrilla-style raids by Islamists in northern Malian towns.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Friday that a U.N. peacekeeping force to replace French troops in Mali should be discussed as soon as possible.

Chad was among the quickest to respond to Mali’s appeals for help alongside the French, rushing in hundreds of troops experienced in desert warfare, led by Deby’s son, General Mahamat Deby.

The country’s president may be hoping to polish his regional and international credentials by assisting in this war, while bolstering his own position in power in Chad, which has been threatened in the past by eastern neighbor Sudan.

(Additional reporting by John Irish and David Lewis in Dakar, Gus Trompiz in Paris, and Mark Hosenball and Mark Felsenthal in Washington; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Robin Pomeroy and Peter Cooney)

Mossad Looks To Build the Bulgarian Bus Case In Cyprus

[The alleged case of a Lebanese man, bearing a Swedish passport, reconning buses in Cyprus which sometimes carried Israelis, among thousands of Goyim, is totally a Mossad/CIA set-up, with no actual evidence except for a notebook the man carried.  All articles on the Internet pertaining to the alleged case all derive from the Zionist press, either Reuters or Haaretz.   No strategic info contained there, as far as the news reports.  The NY Times is harping on the story below.]

Trial Offers Rare Look at Work of Hezbollah in Europe

By NICHOLAS KULISH

LIMASSOL, Cyprus — In a little-noticed trial in a small courtroom here on Wednesday, a 24-year-old man provided a rare look inside a covert global war between Israel and Iran, admitting that he is an operative of the militant group Hezbollah, for which he acted as a courier in Europe and staked out locations in this port city that Israelis were known to frequent.

More American Pretend Negotiations with the “Taliban”–(who knows who they are really talking with, or if they are)

[The Taliban are denying that the meeting took place.  The following report claims that the meeting was allegedly with former or current Taliban leader, Tayyab Agha, the guy that the Americans have been pretending to meet with (SEE:   TOWDE KHABARE: Who Is Fazlur Rehman Representing?), claiming that he was the personal representative of Mullah Omar.  The alleged meet between Rahman and Agha, was another American production (SEE:  JUI-F Chief Fazlur Rehman Invited in US-Taliban Qatar Peace Talks: Hafiz), just the latest edition of the fake “reconciliation” talks which had been set in motion by Amb. Holbrooke and Hillary.  It is no wonder that the Pak government is disassociating  itself from the sham process (even though Rahman is known to be a Zardari puppet and an “opportunist posing as an Islamic leader“) and keeping Mullah Baradar (Brother) in the wings until the real Mullah Omar is ready to talk.]

Taliban deny meeting Pakistani Islamic scholar Fazlur Rahman

By GHANIZADA

The Taliban militant group in Afghanistan on Wednesday denied reports regarding Taliban negotiators meeting with Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Fazlur Rehman in Qatar.

According to reports Fazlur Rehman travelled to Qatar in a bid to meet with the Taliban group representatives and “encourage the negotiators to talk to the Afghan government.”

However Taliban militant group in Afghanistan following a statement dismissed the report and termed it incorrect.

The statement further addded, “Several media outlets have reported that the head of Pakistan’s Jamiat Ulama Islam, respected Maulana Fazl Rahman, visited Qatar to meet with the respected chief and other dignitaries of Islamic Emirate’s Political office so to play the role of an intermediary for talks with the Kabul administration.”

“We must state that no members of Islamic Emirate’s Political Office nor has its respected chief met with anyone and neither do they plans to meet in the near future. All current and future reports in this regard are the personal views of the publishers which do not have any bases.” Taliban said following the statement.

In the meantime Taliban group spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said, “We want to make it categorically clear that the honourable head of the political office of the Islamic Emirate and any other member of the office in Qatar has neither met anyone nor any such meeting had been under consideration.”

However, sources close to the Taliban in Qatar, have confirmed to Pakistan’s The Express Tribune that Rehman held one round of talks with the Taliban negotiators in Qatar and that more talks are planned.

The JUI-F chief – who was earlier scheduled to return home on Tuesday – has also extended his stay in the Gulf state, the sources said.

Another JUI-F source in Pakistan, had earlier told The Express Tribune, that Rehman had gone to Qatar to meet representatives of the Afghan Taliban to “reduce gap” between the Taliban and the Karzai government.

Taliban has so far refused to hold talks with the Afghan government, which they say is powerless and installed by foreigners.

Washington Co-Conspirators Build “Al-Qaeda” Myth with Wild Claims About Their “Economic Warfare” Capabilities

Terrifying! “Economic Jihad” and Cyber Surveillance

by Bea Edwards ( The Whistleblogger)

This week, the House of Representatives will consider the “Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act,” a piece of legislation that would allow America’s intelligence agencies to share and protect the voluminous data they collect about America’s citizens with the keepers of America’s financial infrastructure, among others. An identical bill passed the House last year but died in the Senate, despite a powerful push from a curious coalition of spies, lawyers, financiers and politicians.

As an American citizen about to be shared and protected, when you see that kind of lineup behind a power play, you may fear trouble. For many months now, the bill’s campaign has been building. It began last summer with a briefing for about 50 Washington think tankers convened by former Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ).

That day, July 9, 2012, was a scorcher, with afternoon temperatures over 100 degrees when the audience convened in a third floor briefing room at the Senate’s Russell Office Building on Capitol Hill. Kyl had invited the American Center for Democracy (ACD) and the Economic Warfare Institute (EWI) to hold a “Super-Panel” and an open discussion on the topic of “Economic Warfare Subversions: Anticipating the Threat.”

The make up of the panel was a little peculiar; it featured a number of heavy hitters from the intelligence community, including General Michael Hayden (former director of both the CIA and the National Security Agency), James Woolsey (former CIA director), and Michael Mukasey (former Attorney General for George W. Bush). But there were others. First among them was the facilitator and director of the Economic Warfare Institute itself, Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, who aggressively used her academic title at every opportunity, an unusual practice in this company. Among the remaining panelists, one suggested that jihadists were setting wildfires in Colorado that summer. Another, a former Alternate Director for the U.S at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), also produced a memorable presentation by envisioning complex terror scenarios not even Hollywood could produce.

In total, the panel included Dr. Ehrenfeld and eight white men. To kick off the festivities, she approached the podium. Dr. Ehrenfeld opened her remarks with the announcement that the United States was target-rich for economic jihad, apparently a new concept for only a few of us in the audience. We the uninitiated exchanged nervous glances as Dr. Rachel went on to explain the “Cutting Edge Threats” that keep her up at night. She pointed out that both Sept. 11, 2001 and Sept. 15, 2008 were potentially devastating to the United States. One attack was the work of al-Qaeda, a foreign enemy, and the other was self-inflicted by the management of our own financial institutions. However, Dr. Ehrenfeld said, we could not rule out the possibility that economic terrorists were: a) responsible for, or b) learning from the economic collapse that precipitated the Great Recession. She also referenced the “flash crash” of May 6, 2010 when the Dow lost over 1000 points in a few minutes, only to regain 600 of them minutes later:

Still, two years later, the joint report by the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Committee (CFTC) did not rule out “terrorism” as a possible cause for the May 2010 “flash crash,” and the entire financial industry still has no uniform explanation of why or how this event occurred.

Quite simply, Dr. Ehrenfeld was terrifying.

EWI [Economic Warfare Institute] is of the strong opinion that threats to the U.S. economy are the next great field of battle. Indeed, we are already at economic war with such state actors as China and Iran and such non-state actors as al-Qaeda and its affiliates. The future battlefield is vast: it not only includes the realms of cyber and space but also of banking and finance, market and currency manipulation, energy, and drug trafficking. The list could go on and on.

So, EWI believes that the US faces mass terror-induced economic calamity. The fact that this has not yet occurred, she cautioned us, does not mean it isn’t going to.

Shortly thereafter, General Michael Hayden, now a principal at the Chertoff Group, a lucrative security consulting firm run by former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff took the floor. General Hayden stood to speak about “The Most Dangerous Tools in the Most Dangerous Hands. How much should we fear hacktivists achieving state-like capabilities?” The answer to this rhetorical question was “a lot.” Speaking as the former director of the NSA, he told us, “You want us to go to the cyber domain to defend you. But in that domain, every advantage goes to the attacker because the environment is both insecure and indispensible.” In other words, we can’t defend you without the proper weapons.

But what would those be?

By this time, some of us were alarmed. Apparently, we are completely unprotected from flash crashing at the hands of terrorist hacktivists waging economic jihad. And the next speaker was no relief. Daniel Heath, the former US Alternate Director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and currently a Managing Director at Maxwell Stamp, broke the ice by suggesting that we imagine the following scenario:

A foreign country holding about a trillion dollars in US debt demands an arrangement to swap it for the agricultural production of California. Capital begins to flee the US. It’s Christmas, and a heavy snow storm hits the northeast, knocking out the power grid. An act of sabotage hits the Washington, D.C. metro, and a couple of assassinations occur, both high-value targets and random ones. Finally, a biochem incident or two occurs, like anthrax or something in the water supply.

Heath just kept on coming. Shadowy parties might manipulate the price of oil and a real economic crisis would occur – like the one of Sept. 15, 2008. He suggested that episode was actually a jihadist plot. Probably. Well, possibly.

What if terrorists aim to engineer a renewed financial meltdown? Is it possible? How would the financial system handle a massive attack on New York City? Is enough being done to buttress financial resilience—to limit the contagion of cascading failures throughout the economy? In what ways could different kinds of terrorist attacks succeed in destabilizing our financial sector and impair the real economy?

And just when we thought it couldn’t get worse, David Aufhauser, former General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer of the Department of the Treasury, took the floor. After his presentation – “Transnational Crime – Unholy Allies to Disorder, Terror and Proliferation” – there wasn’t a dry seat in the house (to quote Alfred Hitchcock). This guy speculated about an alliance between Iran, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and Hugo Chavez. Among them, they’ll create nuclear weapons for Venezuela. Terror, psycho crime and jihad will come together for the politically purposeful annihilation of our banks. We must identify nodes in the corruption network and break the circuitry, Aufhauser claimed. If not, we’ll have WMD at our ATMs.

After a few more interventions, Mukasey wrapped it all up as the final speaker. He was talking about “legal perspectives” on economic terror. The Law needs to stay out of the way, he said. “The rules won’t work and the law is inadequate. Criminal law, he said, punishes after the act. We need to take action before the bad guys act. And the only way we can do that is to know what the bad guys are up to by “monitoring” them. Unfortunately, since we don’t know exactly who the bad guys are, we’re going to have to monitor everyone, it seems. And we’re going to ask our “Too Big to Fail” banks to help. So, the NSA, the CIA, Bank of America and Citigroup will work together to protect you and your data.

Why isn’t this a comforting prospect? Perhaps because we are still recovering from the loss of our homes, jobs and pensions that occurred as a consequence of the banks’ last exercise in risk management.

The bullet point from Mukasey was this:

In dealing with new economic threats and circumstances, the law has a strong tendency to get in the way. This is not to disparage the law but, rather, to recognize that new circumstances beg some jettisoning of old principles and the creation of new ones.

Yes, the law does have a tendency to get in the way. Which brings us back to the “Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act.” This smart new law will clear those cumbersome old ones out of the road. It will jettison old principles and create some new ones.

And this prospect is the truly terrifying one. At GAP, where we represent whistleblowers from the NSA, the CIA and the major US banks, we’ve learned that none of these institutions can be allowed to operate with the secrecy, privileged information and latitude they already have. Using their current powers, intelligence agencies are conducting wholesale, illegal surveillance of American citizens while wasting billions in taxpayers’ money on unconstitutional boondoggle projects. For their part, private banks have been leveraging loans to a point where they’re secretly insolvent.

Whistleblowers have shown us, with convincing clarity, that all of these institutions have abused the trust and authority they already have. They’re warning us that we may not want to jettison our constitutional rights in exchange for protection from economic jihad – whatever that is.

 

Bea Edwards is the Executive Director for the Government Accountability Project, the nation’s leading whistleblower protection and advocacy organization.

Proof Positive That There Was No “Al-Qaeda” Before 1999 or 2000

The DCI Tenet memorandum posted below, was created  4 Dec. 1998.  Nowhere in that document from the Director of the CIA  will you find the expression “al-Qaeda.”  Dir. Tenet uses the expression “his infrastructure,” instead of “al-Qaeda,” wherever he refers to the bin Laden group.  

The date of the document places it approximately one-year from the release of the PNAC RebuildingAmericasDefenses document, which warned of a potential “New Pearl Harbor,” yet described it as a positive event, much like Netanyahu‘s unguarded assessment that the 911 events were “benefiting [Israel].”  Carl Rove is probably the genius who invented “al-Qaeda,” or else some other top diehard neocon Cold Warrior, who probably thought that the computer file name of the database of Afghan mujahedeen, ‘Q eidat,“ would make a good, mysterious-sounding name (to Westerners) for an imaginary global Islamist terrorist organization.    

The Bush Administration assumed power literally hoping that the United States would receive its wake-up call, which would ultimately prove to be for “the greater good.”  Along comes 911.  

No matter which ultra-professional spy agencies were really behind the 911 attacks, the newly empowered Zionist-Republican-Neocons believed that  the attacks would serve as a wake-up call, and ultimately prove to be for “the greater good.”  They seize the opportunity provided by the devastating terrorist attacks and pin them on their imaginary, shadowy worldwide terror network that no one had ever heard of.  Linking the mythical group to Saudi millionaire bin Laden gave the myth credibility in the Western news media.   A stream of “insider leaks” fleshed-out the story with leaks about real-time terrorist exploits; terrorists who were allegedly “linked to Al-Qaeda” (SEE: Unraveling the Myth of Al Qaida).  

Whether this proves prior knowledge, or it can be written-off as a result of the Continuity of Government process, on September 11, 2001 many people in the military and the government found themselves following orders from above that they neither agreed with, nor understood.  Guilt by deed or just by implication will one day be judged by an international court of law. `

If UN Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy Ignores Central Asian Border Fights, Then What Does It Prevent?

Why Does UN Central Asia Office Exist If Not For Kyrgyz Uzbek Border Fight?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 29 — What does the UN Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia do?

  For example, what has it done on the border fight between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, complete with blockades of Barak and Sokh, helicopters, threats?

  UNRCCA was set up by the former chief of the UN Department of Political Affairs, Lynn Pascoe, mostly because Turkmenistan was willing to invite the UN in.

  Once every six months Miroslav Jenca, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General, comes and briefs the Security Council, and a press statement is issued.

   But the briefing are always closed. And Jenca does not do stakeouts to take press questions.

   On Tuesday after the Security Council’s president for January Masood Khan came out and read the most recent Council press statement, Inner City Press asked him about the border fight between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

   Khan said things hadn’t come up in that level of detail. Then what is UNRCCA working on? What accountability ever was there for the pogrom against ethnic Uzkeks in Kyrgyzstan? You never find out from Jenca. What is the point of the Office?

When Will the Lying Western Press Stop Using the Term “Al-Qaeda,” When Referring To Saudi Terrorism?

[The all-encompassing term “al-Qaeda,” is a descriptive term, used when referring to the principle of Saudi/Wahhabi oversight.  There is no such animal as “al-Qaeda,” the alleged international terrorist organization, but there IS a Saudi terrorist organization of global reach.  The supposedly super-scary Algerian incident was NOT the work of an International Islamist, but simply the work of Algerian militant Muslims.  The alleged “all-Qaeda” link is the Saudi/Wahhabi influence that makes news-bites from all such groups sound the same.  That is all the Western press needs to create the myth of AL-Q.  Every step taken over the years by the group of terrorists known as Al-Q is a step taken by the Saudi royals, to implement their own agenda (which is shared with the CIA), moving in an ocean of petrodollars, hoping to secure their own global empire.  CIA patronage of this Saudi “Islamist” force for many decades, is the controlling power which allows the Saudis to keep expanding their subversive reach, while enabling them to direct where the Islamists are allowed to blow-off jihadi steam, without damaging Saudi/US interests.  

 Juhayman Otaibi, leader of Grand Mosque Siege

The radical Islamists of Saudi Arabia, since their siege of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, have been on the Saudi payroll.  As part of the surrender deal, the most tenacious survivors of the Mosque pacification were hired as full-time jihadis and then packed-off to Peshawar and Jalalabad, to wage their Wahhabi jihad against the godless Communists.  Since that time, succeeding Wahhabi-influenced jihadis have either been packed-off to Jihads in Europe and Asia, or else have been paid millions of dollars in protection money to stay away from Saudi Arabia.  The “al-Qaeda” that we have since come to know and adore (now planning our lives around them) is a complete fabrication, which is neither growing stronger, nor will ever really fade away.  On that basis, the following article is just another part of the organized deception.  

Using the term “al-Qaeda” to describe specific attacks is a malicious attempt to  falsely imply an international terrorist angle when describing natural nationalistic militant reactions to Western neo-colonialism, hoping to create a “red herring” behind which to hide outrage to the re-colonization of former Empire territories.  Whenever Western corporations begin to move-in for the mass-pillaging of natural resources militants must, by their nature, rise-up to defend their homelands.  The fact that they are Muslims by birth qualifies them to be called “Islamists” by the Western disinformation (news) agencies.  It is high time to break the cycle of lies that insulates the current and former American and Western administrations from reaping their own outraged reactions from their own constituents for manufacturing this “terrorist” bogeyman.]

Al-Qaida: how great is the terrorism threat to the west now?

In the aftermath of the Algerian hostage crisis, David Cameron issued an ominous warning of the continued threat from terrorism. But is al-Qaida more, or less, dangerous than before?

Hostages surrender to Islamist gunmen who overtook the gas plant in the Algerian desert. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Last week the world took another step towards succumbing to an existential threat. Again.

Speaking in the aftermath of the spectacular seizure and siege of an Algerian gas refinery by Islamist extremists 10 days ago, David Cameron warned of how “we face a large and existential terrorist threat from a group of extremists based in different parts of the world who want to do the biggest possible amount of damage to our interests and way of life”.

There was little further detail, leaving it unclear if the prime minister was referring to al-Qaida, the group founded by the late Osama bin Laden 25 years ago. Or possibly al-Qaida-type groups in the middle of the Saharan desert. Or maybe other offshoots around the world. Or possibly the ideology of al-Qaida.

However, the broad thrust of what he was saying was obvious: if you thought the threat from al-Qaida, however defined, had gone away, you were wrong. It is here, and will be here for decades to come. And it endangers the very foundation of our societies. The intervening week, one imagines, replete as it was with a range of shootings, bombings, arrests and court judgments across the world all involving Islamist extremism, has not improved things.

Such rhetoric was once familiar. We heard much of it in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and through the months before the invasion of Iraq in 2003. But as the years have passed however, such pronouncements of imminent danger became rarer. The public naturally learned to be suspicious of rhetoric raising fears that appeared unreasonable and unfounded. We all learned enough about the complex phenomenon of contemporary Islamist militancy to be able to challenge the sillier claims ourselves. Policymakers recognised that any exaggeration, particularly of the “global” nature of a threat that their own security services were increasingly seeing as local, simply played into the hands of the enemy.

So Cameron’s words last week, echoed elsewhere, were unexpected.

Rather like al-Qaida’s own rhetoric in the wake of the changes wrought by the Arab spring, they sounded dated; at worst, they were an indication of wilful ignorance, a nostalgia for simpler times when leaders could promise “iron resolve” against a threat without provoking widespread scepticism. They have however usefully provoked a new debate on two very old questions, both still urgent and important: what is al-Qaida? And is it more or less dangerous than it was?

Answering the first question is, for once, relatively straightforward. Islamist militancy is a phenomenon going back much further than the foundation of the group al-Qaida by Saudi-born Osama bin Laden in 1988. There have been waves of revivalism in the Muslim world since the days of the Prophet Muhammad. These have frequently come in response to external challenges, whether political, social, cultural and military. Intense and very varied reactions were provoked by European colonialism in the 19th century from Afghanistan to Algeria, from Morocco to Malaysia and beyond. The end of European colonialism in the Muslim world in no way diminished the immediacy of that challenge nor the venality, brutality and incompetence of local regimes. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, scores of different violent extremist movements, in part products of a massive new interest in “Islamism” across the Muslim world, were waging armed struggles against local governments in the name of religion.

Al-Qaida (usually translated as “the base”) was founded – in Pakistan towards the end of the war in Afghanistan against the Soviets – to channel and co-ordinate the dispersed efforts of these movements into a single campaign. It believed that striking at a universally accepted global enemy, the US, would lead to the destruction of “hypocrite” unbelieving regimes across the Muslim world in the short term and, eventually, the creation of a new ill-defined and utopian religious rule. This latter goal was long-term, a cosmic struggle, possibly indefinite and certainly undefinable in terms of time.

Aided by a range of external factors, al-Qaida was to some extent successful in achieving its less abstract aims, striking the US hard and drawing together an unprecedented network of affiliates in the late 1990s. This then helped – particularly by the response to the 9/11 attacks and other operations – disseminate its ideology further than ever before in the noughties.

The high point, however, was reached around 2004 or 2005. Even as it appeared to peak, the wave of extremism was receding. Since then, the central leadership of al-Qaida has suffered blow after blow. It is not just Bin Laden who has been killed or rendered inactive, but pretty much everyone else in the senior and middle ranks of the organisation. Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaida central, may be an effective, utterly dedicated and experienced organiser but he lacks Bin Laden’s charisma. Saif al Adel, the only other veteran leader remaining, lacks his stature and may not be at liberty at all but detained in Iran.

Key players who few, beyond specialists, had ever heard of – such as the very capable Libyan Atiyah Abd al-Rahman – have gone. British security officials describe “al-Qaida central” as being “hollowed out”, largely by the controversial drone strikes. Equally damaging for the group, al-Qaida’s training infrastructure is minimal, certainly compared with the dozens of fully fledged camps that were in use on the eve of the 9/11 attacks. Back in 2008, according to interrogation documents, handlers were forced to admit to new recruits coming straight from Europe that their facilities unfortunately bore no resemblance to those depicted in recruiting videos.

Nothing has improved since. Volunteers are fewer than before. There are younger members rising up the thinning ranks, but this is promotion by default not merit.

Equally damaging has been the rejection by successive communities over the past two decades. Almost every attempt by al-Qaida central to win genuine popular support has failed – in Iraq, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. Polls show approval ratings for Bin Laden peaking around 2004-5 and then steep decline. This is particularly true when communities have direct experience of extremist violence or rule. The al-Qaida brand is irremediably tarnished. Even Bin Laden was apparently thinking of relaunching the group under a new name, his correspondence reveals.

The terrorist siege of Mumbai had no links with al-Qaida. Photograph: Sebastian D’souza/APThe two most spectacular attacks in recent years – in Algeria and the strike on Mumbai by Pakistan-based militants from the Lashkar-e-Taiba organisation – were carried out by entities that have, in the first instance, tenuous connections with al-Qaida’s senior leadership and, in the second, none at all. This indicates the degree to which the remnant led by al-Zawahiri have become, at best, only one player among many.

The result is that the centripetal force the group once exerted has gone and we have returned to a situation similar to that of the old “pre-al-Qaida” days with a whole series of different local groups involved in local struggles with negligible central co-ordination.

There are major differences with the previous period, of course. Decades of violence have led to much higher structural levels of radicalisation and polarisation. The technology and tactics used by all protagonists in these current “shadow wars” has evolved. Then there are the consequences of the Arab spring – for the Sahel and Syria and elsewhere. But, nonetheless, the unthinking use of the term al-Qaida, as has so often been the case in the past, obscures rather than illuminate the real chaotic and fractured, if still dynamic, nature of modern Islamist militancy. This is something Cameron’s own security services will have told him.

Of course a threat remains. But the big attacks – those that could potentially pose something a little closer to “an existential threat” – are unlikely. These would need to be in a major European or US city or involve at least one passenger jet. If British intelligence, despite having a team devoted for months to checking and rechecking every possible potential lead, could not come up with a single credible threat to the London Olympics last year and their US counterparts were confident enough to declare a similar lack of immediate danger during the recent presidential campaign, it appears fair to assume that bombs in London or New York are a fairly distant prospect for the moment. The biggest threat to airplanes comes from a single highly proficient bombmaker in the Yemen.

The location of the major spectacular attacks appears closely related to al-Qaida’s ability to focus the dispersed energies of contemporary Sunni Islamist extremism. Through the 1990s, attacks were restricted to targets – in Pakistan, Algeria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere – which were distant from western populations, with the exception of the first abortive plot to bomb the World Trade Center in New York in 1993. US troops who were attacked in Somalia in that year in the famous “Blackhawk Down” episode had simply strayed into someone else’s war.

By the late 1990s, US interests were being attacked, but in east Africa or the Yemen. It was only through the first six years of the past decade that the violence approached the west – first in Indonesia, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, then in Madrid and London. But since, the dynamic has reversed, tracking the new weakness of the al-Qaida senior leadership. The big attacks still come – but in Islamabad, Mumbai, Kabul, Baghdad, and now in the deserts of the Sahara. Nor do they strike targets that resonate throughout the Muslim world. A gas refinery in southern Algeria is not the Pentagon.

Partly this is due to vastly improved security precautions and competent intelligence services that co-operated much more effectively.

Intermittent attempts to down airplanes have been defeated, if only just. Hundreds of potential troublemakers have been stopped long before they even begin to contemplate actually perpetrating a violent attack. MI5 officials say that, in part due to closer collaboration with a range of other agencies and particularly the police, they are able to head off possible threats much earlier. One compared their operations to the famously tedious stonewall tactics of the Arsenal team 20 years ago. “It’s boring but it works,” he said.

There is, of course, the fear of a “lone wolf”, a solo, self-radicalising extremist. The example most often cited is Mohamed Merah, the French-Algerian who killed three soldiers as well as three Jewish schoolchildren and a teacher last March.

A spokesman for Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the man who orchestrated the recent refinery attack in Algeria, told French media on Monday that France could expect “dozens like … Merah and Khaled Kelkal” who would spontaneously rise up to kill and maim.

Islamist militia leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who orchestrated the Amenas refinery attack in Algeria. Photograph: APBut real lone wolves are extremely rare. Kelkal, who carried out a series of attacks in France in 1995, plugged into a broader network of militants run and recruited by Algerian groups active at the time. Merah did the shooting on his own but came from a family steeped in extremist versions of Islam and anti-Semitism, had been to Afghanistan and Pakistan to train and was, French and Pakistani officials say, connected to Moez Garsalloui, a high-profile known Belgian militant, now dead, who had been recruiting widely and was well-known to intelligence services. Merah was thus not only part of an old style of terrorism – recruits making their way to the badlands of Pakistan to get trained and then returning to carry out attacks – but was also much less effective than predecessors such as those responsible for the 7/7 attacks in London. The number of people making that journey is now a fraction of the levels of six or seven years ago. Back then, scores, if not hundreds, made their way to the Afghan-Pakistan frontier to fight alongside the Taliban or other groups. Now the number is in the low dozens, according to intelligence officials in Pakistan, the UK and elsewhere.

The other fear is of a new generation of veteran militants returning from the battlefields of the Sahel to wreak havoc in the US or, more realistically, Europe. There are some reports that Canadian or even French passport-holders were among those who attacked the refinery. However, there are two reasons to be relatively sanguine.

Islamist fighters from the Islamist group Ansar Dine in Mali. Photograph: APFirst, the facilities available for training in the region are minimal and there would seem to be no reason why extremists graduating in terrorist studies from there would be better able to carry out effective mass casualty attacks than men such as Merah.

Second, we are yet to see a wave of violence involving veterans of much more longlasting and extensive violence elsewhere in the Maghreb or the core of the Middle East. British intelligence officials pointed to the experience of the horrific conflict in Iraq when asked about the possibility of veterans of the current fighting in Syria, where extremist religious groups are playing an increasingly significant role, posing a threat to the UK. Only one attack – the abortive 2007 London and Glasgow strikes – has been definitively linked to someone involved in that previous conflict, and he was not a former fighter. Iraqi veterans have proved dangerous in Saudi, even in Afghanistan and in the Maghreb. But that is not the same as posing a direct existential threat to the west. There seems, the officials say, to be no reason why the Syrian theatre should produce a greater threat today than the Iraqi theatre has done. Nor, indeed, Mali.

Does this all mean that Islamist militancy will simply die away? Of course not. A phenomenon with such long and complex roots will evolve rather than disappear. That is what is currently happening in this new post-al-Qaida phase. Wherever the various factors that allow the “Salafi-Jihadi” ideology to get traction are united, there is likely to be violence. Extremists do, as Cameron said, “thrive when they have ungoverned spaces in which they can exist, build and plan” and the aftermath of the Arab spring has not just opened up new terrain but also exacerbated existing problems of lawlessness and criminality. Flows of arms from Libya have made a bad situation worse.

And if you take the fighting in Mali and the attack on the refinery, and add it to a list of all the incidents occurring around the globe involving extremist Islamist violence, it is undoubtedly a frightening picture.

In the last few days there were arrests in the Philippines, anti-terrorist operations in Indonesia, deaths in Pakistan (due to infighting between extremist groups), air raids in Afghanistan on suspected al-Qaida bases,battles in the Yemen, shootings and executions in Iraq following the release of a video showing brutal executions, reports of trials in the UK and Germany as well as fighting in Mali.

But does this all add up to al-Qaida 3.0, more dangerous than ever before? There’s a simple test. Think back to those dark days of 2004 or 2005 and how much closer the violence seemed. Were you more frightened then, or now? The aim of terrorism is to inspire irrational fear, to terrorise. Few are as fearful today as they were back then. So that means there are two possibilities: we are wrong, ignorant or misinformed, and should be much more worried than we are; or our instincts are right, and those responsible for the violence are as far from posing an existential threat as they have ever been.

• This article was amended on 29 January 2013. The abortive attacks on London and Glasgow took place in 2007, not 2006 as originally stated.

Jason Burke

The Guardian

A Rare Case of Brit Press Telling the Truth About “Al-Qaeda” Bogeyman

[There is nothing surprising or unknown  contained in the following Guardian report, just more of the same fake “al-Qaeda” news, conflating any militant “Islamist” attacks as elements of a global web of Wahhabi terrorism, except that this report “pooh-poohs” that false notion.  That is the real news here.  The legend of “al-Qaeda” was created in this manner, by the Western press reporting on separate nationalist and terrorist attacks as one worldwide web of “international terrorism,” even though there were very few real connections and even fewer real “Islamists.”  Under “war on terror” rules, everybody can be either “linked to al-Qaeda” or Kevin Bacon,when in reality, very few fundamentalist lunatics are among the real international terrorists, who nearly all work for the CIA.  All of those terrorists are only in it for the Big Money.]

Algeria: Islamist threat to Europe is overstated

Mokhtar ‘Marlboro man’ Belmokhtar and his fighters are more interested in overthrowing government than attacking west

Mokhtar Belmokhtar, said to be the mastermind of the Algerian hostage attacks. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

The intervention of French military forces in Mali and the apparent reprisals in the form of the hostage crisis at the In Amenas gas processing plant in Algeria have brought the threat of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) to international attention. The drama of the hostage crisis has shot the hitherto unknown group Signatories in Blood and its leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar, variably referred to as an Islamist with ties to Osama bin Ladin and/or a senior al-Qaida leader, to notoriety overnight and has prompted western leaders to focus on the possibility of a growing threat of Islamist terrorism on Europe’s southern border. Such tragic events are bound to provoke a strong reaction, yet, upon closer examination, it seems that the idea of a threat to mainland Europe is overstated.

Even at a glance, the nature of the attack – hostage-taking for financial gain – is not the kind we have come to associate with al-Qaida over the years. Rather than reflecting the “signature” suicide attack with mass casualties, the event fits more appropriately into the series of other hostage-takings that have taken place in Algeria in recent years but which have not been on so grand a scale and hence have not gained the same attention as events at In Amenas.

It is not only the events which are different: the particular branch of al-Qaida to which they have been ascribed, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), formerly known as the GSPC (Groupe Salafiste pour la Prédication et le Combat – Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat) stands out for its focus on a local agenda. Although it has allegedly claimed that it supports Bin Ladin, the group, which was found to be responsible for car bombings that took place in Algiers in 2007, as well as a number of other local incidents, appears to be more concerned with overthrowing the Algerian government and the institution of an Islamic state in its place than with Bin Ladin’s vision of the reestablishment of the caliphate and global jihad against the west.

While it can be argued that the above is not entirely out of touch with al-Qaida’s stated aims, it is nonetheless a return to the “near enemy” – the forces of occupation and secularisation – that have preoccupied Islamists for almost a century. While the AQIM’s claim to be acting in the name of “al-Qaida central” feels very much like a convenient piece of flag-waving, current al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri declared in 2006 that America and France were the enemies, indicating a pragmatic approach by which senior al-Qaida leaders aim to flatter their local affiliates, enabling one side to continue to maintain the impression of its global reach while the other benefits from association with the infamous name. The true extent of any link or cooperative strategy, however, remains open to question.

If there is little evidence to suggest genuine cooperation between AQIM and the senior leadership of al-Qaida, the connection between al-Qaida and Belmokhtar and his Signatories in Blood is even more tenuous. Sometimes referred to as “Marlboro man” for his cigarette-smuggling exploits, Belmokhtar has a wide-ranging and impressive criminal career which includes drug trafficking, diamond smuggling and the kidnapping of dozens of westerners, such as diplomats, aid workers and tourists, for ransoms of up to $3m each. Yet Belmokhtar’s success and growing influence were to be his downfall as far as his membership of AQIM was concerned.

While his actions at In Amenas supposedly link Belmokhtar to al-Qaida in the eyes of the west, he in fact made the news on various jihadist forums for falling out with AQIM for his “fractious behavior”, and either resigned or was formally dismissed from its ranks in late 2012. Such splintering is far from exceptional; indeed, it exemplifies the present state of al-Qaida.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), operating in Yemen, and the recently formed Ansar al-Sharia are a case in point: despite their different names and agendas, the two groups are frequently referred to as one and the same and are conceived of as somehow representing a joint force. This bias amongst commentators towards presenting a united al-Qaida in various regions of the world is conducive only to resurrecting the popular, yet deeply flawed theory that al-Qaida operates on a global basis as a cohesive group, with all that this implies for the threat it poses to global security.

Today more than ever before, al-Qaida and its local affiliates are highly fragmented and in disagreement as to their priorities of ideology and strategy. Indeed, the lines of fragmentation only begin here: beyond the increasing internal debate, al-Qaida and its local affiliates find themselves in direct contest with other, often more established Islamist groups with radically different worldviews and agendas, many of which now enjoy greater popularity because they are not so ready to spill the blood of their fellow Muslims.

Whilst the existence of groups such as The Signatories in Blood and the dramatic, violent nature of incidents such as mass hostage-takings and car-bombings heightens fears in the west of a resurgence of the al-Qaida that caused so much death and destruction on 9/11, the truth is that most of today’s al-Qaida franchises have a much more limited vision. Thus, when David Cameron announces that Britain must pursue the terrorists with an iron resolve, he unwittingly reinforces a notion of a unified Islamist threat that does not exist in that form. It is a convenient narrative which benefits both the propaganda machine of Islamists and the calls of those in the west who support military action, yet the true picture of those who claim to act in the name of al-Qaida – both in Africaand elsewhere – is far more nuanced, and much less of a threat to Europe, than we are commonly led to believe.

Christina Hellmich is reader in International Relations and Middle East Studies at the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Reading

American Foreign Policy Contradictions–Torn Between “Good Al-Qaeda” and “Bad Al-Qaeda”

American Foreign Policy Contradictions–

Torn Between “Good Al-Qaeda” and “Bad Al-Qaeda”

Peter Chamberlin    

“US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has said the slimmed-down force would focus on preventing Al-Qaeda… from regaining a foothold in the war-shattered nation.”

When Do We Fight Against Terrorists and When Do We Put Them On the American Payroll?

The hypocritical foreign policy of Barack Obama is identical to that of his two predecessors–Little Moronic Bush and Sleazy Jefferson Clinton.  All three of them have somehow managed to convert Ronald Reagan’s “Mujahedeen” allies (originally called “freedom fighters”) into terrorists, just long enough to jump-start the Pentagon’s brilliant limited world war plan, before Obama converted the Mujahedeen (“al-Qaeda”) back into our allies in Libya and Syria.  The Al-Qaeda Mujahedeen have always worked on the American payroll, even when they were blowing-up our foreign facilities and helping to demolish American landmarks.  Now that we are back to the point where the two-headed al-Qaeda coin is once again flipped, to remind Americans of the phony excuse of “keeping al-Qaeda out of Afghanistan” and American troops in Afghanistan–The latest incarnation of “Why we fight,” according to Mr. Panetta.

The Pentagon and their minions in Hollywood have been producing similar films offering their version of  reality since WWII.  Now that computers have given them the capability to create simulations of their version of reality, they have their best liars hard at work simulating a very real World War III.  Their ultimate intention is to use this world war simulation as their vehicle to carry an all too real world war into the lives of the people of the world, beginning in 2013.   That is the key to understanding the contradictions, the hypocrisy and the deception–mixing staged productions with real events.  The mass-media makes it all possible, without them, there would be only reality, a reality that would be impossible for anyone to deny.

We have reached the point of contradiction in the grand psyop, where the majority of people will no longer be able to “suspend disbelief,” the key element of every good Hollywood production.  America’s “global war on terrorism” works on the same principles as every previous Hollywood extravaganza–in order for the plot to work, the viewer must first agree to the terms of  a symbolic contract between movie-goer and movie-maker.  In this instance, we are talking about the “suspension of disbelief” clause in the social/entertainment contract.  Every movie-watcher must abide by this guiding concept, to agree from the start, to watch the movie with an uncritical eye, saving any criticisms about plot deficiencies until the end of the movie, or at least until the true story has been revealed.

This is the point we have reached in the Hollywood/Pentagon production (PsyOp), where the true plot has been revealed to those of us with the power or the desire to see the truth in the American terror war, a point which would normally come towards the end of the production.  Since we are being sucked into a permanent state of limited world war, the rules of movie etiquette no longer apply to us.  Those of us who can see are free to openly rip into the cheesy plot that has been thrust upon us.

We are locked in a terror war, even though we are now openly allied with the very same “al-Qaeda” terrorists whom we have allegedly have allegedly been fighting against since the beginning of Bush’s terror war.  Barack Obama is were clearly using terrorists as the central element of his foreign policy.  He has been using them as a proxy force of paid mercenaries in Libya and Syria, just as he has been using the  the “al-Qaeda-linked”  Tehreek e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Pakistan’s Tribal Region.  Hakeemullah Mehsud’s TTP own the “al-Qaeda” franchise in Pakistan even though they are working for Obama, as they originally killed Pakistanis for Little Bush.  Before we contracted these “al-Qaeda” terrorists in Pakistan, Bush and Cheney had contracted a different branch of “al-Qaeda” to kill American servicemen in Iraq.  Bush had needed them to prolong the Iraq war for him after the initial quick victory.  Now Obama needs them to perform the same service in Pakistan and Afghanistan, helping him to prolong the war there into the indefinite future.  Whenever American foreign policy relies upon a hardcore force of “Islamist” militants to fight for us, either as “freedom fighters,” or against us as “terrorists,” then the inherent contradiction is revealed.  This is the turning point, where the audience begins to “look behind the curtain.”

This is the point of contradiction which now confronts us, the point where all government bullshit breaks-down.  This is the time for us to either hold the hypocritical contradictions high over our heads and turn them to our advantage, or to surrender our country to the Fascists and the closet Communists who have conspired to bring us to this point of ruin?  Another American revolution surely beats another American civil war, any day.

Without Obama’s hypocritical deceit, there would be no reason for any American troops to stay in Afghanistan.  Without President Obama’s use of terrorism within Iran and Lebanon ( in blind submission to the Fascist Israelis), then there would be no excuse for any anti-Iranian or anti-Hezbollah sanctions.  If it were not for American contracts with terrorists and mercenaries all over the world, then there would be no valid reason to wage any war anywhere.

“We the People of the United States” have a sacred duty to posterity and to the entire human race to put an end to the evil reign of the terrorist Barack Obama.  Anything less will not do.  It is high time that we all recognize the farce that we have all been living, thinking that it was all beyond our control.  We have to carry-out just one more “regime change,” this one has to take place in Washington, D.C.

Revolution is mandatory.  We will not follow a terrorist government any longer.

Take it to the streets.

peter.chamberlin@hotmail.com

 

The TTP Terrorists Now Want To Pretend That They Are Statesmen

TTP ready to hold talks, says spokesman

Zahir Shah Sherazi

Photo shows spokesman for banned militant outfit, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Ehsanullah Ehsan.—File Photo

PESHAWAR: Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told Dawn.com’s correspondent on Wednesday that the proscribed outfit was ready for ‘meaningful’ dialogue with the Government of Pakistan.

Ehsan said the TTP had always been ready for negotiations, adding that, the Pakistani government was following foreign dictates and talks would only be possible if the government would have the authority to hold them freely.

Responding to a query on a statement by chief of the Awami National Party (ANP), Asfanyar Wali Khan, that talks with the Pakistani Taliban were possible if they renounced violence, the TTP spokesman said “terms and conditions” were unacceptable for any peace talks to be initiated.

In a letter addressed to the Government of Pakistan, the Pakistani Taliban offering to hold talks said that the ANP could be granted amnesty if the party apologised for its ‘wrong’ policies  and altered these, adding that, the same would apply to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).

The letter further said that the TTP had no fight with the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) whereas the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI) and Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) should live up to their statements.

The TTP also claimed that the organisation was not involved in attacks on JUI and JI.

The fight with the militant organisation was initiated by the government and the armed forces of Pakistan, the letter said, adding that, the war could end provided that the government formulated its policies and its constitution in accordance with the Islamic Shariah.

Earlier on Sunday, the ANP chief had said that the use of military means was no more an effective way of resolving political issues.

He had also stated that his party had always supported dialogue with ‘saner elements’ among the Taliban for the sake of regional stability.

Khan had said the ANP believed that talks were the only way to end terrorism and resolve militancy-related issues because sections of elements among the extremists were challenging Pakistan’s sovereignty and writ of the state.

UN Security Council Unanimously Approves Another Armed Intervention Against Another American “Islamist” Terror

[Re:  UN Security Council approves Mali intervention force]

After witnessing the same deadly, hypocritical scenario unfold over and over, I am just now beginning to see the real genius that went into the Pentagon’s “Take-over-the-World Plan.”   This is how you manage to wage war upon the entire world, more or less simultaneously, with nothing more than an all-volunteer force and implied threats.  When Pentagon/CIA agents, or their corporate counterparts control all news, then it becomes possible to hide entire real wars, or to “simulate” non-existent conflict.  It is no wonder that the world has become accustomed to the idea of universal conflagration, when we think that we see new Pentagon fires rising all around us on a daily basis.  The Pentagon loves to play with fire, especially when it has so many playmates.  It is these playmates that the Pentagon relies upon whenever the time seems ripe to seek UN authorization for another “Just War” against another imaginary “Islamist threat.”  There is no limit to the depravity of American “Warfighters,” who will do anything, or kill anyone, to advance their glorious mission to establish a new Global Reich–Hoo-Rah!

This latest playing of the “Islamist” card in Mali occurred just when Russian moves in the Mediterranean had made it obvious that we were flirting with Armegeddon in Syria.   The Pentagon/CIA’s “Islamist” pals always manage to pop-up in some obscure corner of the world like Mali whenever one of the Pentagon’s major limited conflicts like Syria, or Afghanistan threaten to turn into real war.   (You remember when the Pentagon wasn’t afraid to fight real armies, don’t you?)  Whenever these Islamists manage to stir-up enough trouble that they successfully ignite some sort of real conflict, they give the State Dept. goons what they need to go to the UN for “humanitarian” relief.  If the rest of the American people only knew the cold truth, which most of us in the alternative media already understand, that ALL ISLAMIST TERROR is American created terrorism, then the hypocritical self-blindness would be stripped-away, and we would recognize our Fascist government for what it is, the new Nazi Reich reincarnated.

After all, the essence of all American government mind-manipulation science is a continuation of the illegal Nazi concentration camp studies, which have been merged with the infamous Strategic Bombing Survey made by the Brits and American sociologists at the end of WWII.  Where the Nazi scientists were perfecting a primitive mind-control science, the British and Americans were perfecting the art of mass-terror as the basis for mass mind-manipulation.  They perfected the art of strategic bombing as the basis of a new kind of political terrorism, giving them the capability to move huge “herds” of terrorized human beings as a primary instrument of Western foreign policy.  World planners now understand that it is far easier and cheaper to immobilize vital targets and strategic connections by overwhelming transportation grids using masses of refugees, instead of massive carpet-bombing and siege tactics.  Just look to the case of Pakistan in its simulated warfare in the tribal region, by flushing entire tribes upon the roadways before announced offensives, they have created the impression of real war, even though the actual campaigns are made impossible, or obscured by the masses of frightened refugees (internally displaced persons) clogging the limited roadways.

The merger of the two streams of the outlawed pseudo-sciences has empowered American political and social scientists with a working ability to effect limited mind-control through mass-suggestion over broad segments of the human race, even giving them the ability to pursue multiple separate streams of auto-suggestion in different war theaters, simultaneously.  The combined American-Nazi black arts are an unwelcome reality, but they are a new, artificial form of reality.

This brings us back to the point of this particular commentary, the Pentagon’s self-labelled “whack-a-mole strategy,” aptly describes the new “Warfighting” strategy, which underwent its trial run in Afghanistan and Iraq, before going live globally with the strategy, such as we are witnessing today.   The name of the new game is “incrementalism,” a game at which Obama has proven to be a master player.  Pump-up the fear level in one outbreak, while backing it off a bit in another conflict (such as Pakistan’s tribal region) which threatened to boil over.  The concept of “conflict management” requires that the manager never allow any conflict to escalate out of control, while the corresponding “strategy of tension” requires the apparent escalation of conflict, in order to achieve the proper level of terror.  This terror can theoretically be maintained indefinitely, unless credible resistance (like the Russian Navy) arises to challenge the Manager’s control, such as in the case in Syria.  When the war on Syria began to fall apart, due primarily to Russian resistance, the Western media employed its usual sleight of hand, diverting our attention with an  announcement to the court of world opinion that an army of  “Islamists” was poised to takeover northern Mali.  While harping on our “humanitarian” obligations to prevent another domino from falling to the “Islamist menace,” the controlled Western news leaders have stuck to their government-approved scripts and assiduously avoided any mention of the obvious fact that Western governments were empowering the same “Islamists/Al-Qaeda” everywhere else.

The Pentagon’s secret private armies were perfectly suited for producing justification for “whacking” the latest “moles” (even though the “moles” were all Pentagon/CIA-trained terrorists), but they had zero capabilities for actually destabilizing or overthrowing any government on their own.  The Pentagon was very successful at parlaying its Saudi/Qatari petrodollars into a “global war on on terrorism,” all they had to do to set their plan for total global domination into motion was to kill 3,000 Americans, or facilitate their murder, while their controlled news cameras maintained a steady broadcast of their manufactured horrors into every American home.  That is the ultimate bottom line in all of this, anyway, the Pentagon has slaughtered thousands of men, women and children in order to become the center of world Fascism, and there are no limits as to how far these evil killers will go, to finalize their long-term plans to subjugate every single human mind.

The scariest and possibly the most disheartening of all of this, is that every government on earth is playing along with these evil bastards, hoping for their own piece of the pie, even Russia.  The new Mali Security Council initiative was approved unanimously–no Russian or Chinese veto on this one.  I guess that if Putin is really the world’s best hope for resistance to Imperial aggression, that he doesn’t give a shit if we slaughter another few hundred thousand black Africans.

peter.chamberlin@hotmail.com

UN Security Council approves Mali intervention force

People gather on December 18, 2012 during an opposition meeting in Nouakchoutt during which opposition leaders warned against the intervention of their country in the conflict in Mali. (AFP PHOTO/Ahmrd Ould Mohamed Ould Elhadji)

UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council on Thursday unanimously approved sending an African-led intervention force to help Mali’s army reconquer much of the country from Islamist militants. The 15-member council gave the force an initial one year mandate to use “all necessary measures” to help the Mali government take back the northern half of the country from “terrorist, extremist and armed groups.” West African nations say they have 3,300 troops ready to go to Mali to help rebuild the country’s army and support a military operation which planners say cannot be launched before September of next year. Tuareg rebels and other separatists and Al-Qaeda linked militant groups took advantage of a coup in Mali in March to seize control of a vast chunk of territory where the Islamists have since imposed a brutal form of Islamic law. France drew up the resolution after weeks of talks with the United States, which expressed doubts the troops from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) would be ready for a desert battle against the militants. In parallel to political efforts to draw the Tuareg rebels into a coalition against the extremist groups, European nations and the international force, to be known as the African-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA), will first train Mali’s army. The resolution sets down benchmarks for political progress and military preparations that will have to be met before a final onslaught against Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and its allies is approved. The resolution emphasized that “military planning will need to be further refined before the commencement of the offensive operation.” It said that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, ECOWAS, the African Union and other states involved will have to secure “the council’s satisfaction with the planned military offensive operation.” – AFP/fa

Russian Minister Upbeat Over Potential Syrian Govt Win, While Western Press Has Him Saying the Opposite

[Strange how Pakistan’s Dawn is running an AFP report which claims the opposite (SEE:  Syria minister wounded, Russia says regime may lose).]

A damaged area is pictured after a car bomb in Qatana, near Damascus December 13, 2012 in this handout photograph released by Syria’s national news agency SANA. 
Credit: REUTERS/Sana

 

Russia says Syrian rebels might win; car bomb kills 16

(Reuters) – Syrian rebels are gaining ground and might win, Russia’s deputy foreign minister said on Thursday, in the starkest such admission from a major ally of President Bashar al-Assad.

“One must look the facts in the face,” Russia’s state-run RIA quoted Mikhail Bogdanov as saying. “Unfortunately, the victory of the Syrian opposition cannot be ruled out.”

Bogdanov, who is Kremlin’s special envoy for Middle East affairs, said the Syrian government was “losing control of more and more territory” and that Moscow was preparing plans to evacuate Russian citizens if necessary.

Advancing rebels now hold an almost continuous arc of territory from the east to the southeast of Damascus, despite fierce army bombardments designed to drive them back.

A car bomb killed at least 16 men, women and children in Qatana, a town about 25 km (15 miles) southwest of Damascus where many soldiers live, activists and state media said.

The explosion occurred in a residential area for soldiers in Qatana, which is near several army bases, said Rami Abdelrahman, head of the pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

He put the death toll as 17, including seven children and two women. State news agency SANA said 16 people had died.

State television blamed the blast on “terrorists” – its term for rebels – and showed footage of soldiers walking by a partly collapsed building, with rubble and twisted metal on the road.

The attack follows three bombs at the Interior Ministry on Wednesday evening, in which state news agency SANA said five people were killed, including Abdullah Kayrouz, a member of parliament from the Syrian Social Nationalist Party.

Apart from gaining territory in the outskirts of Damascus in recent weeks, rebels have also made hit-and-run attacks or set off bombs within the capital, often targeting state security buildings or areas seen as loyal to Assad, such as Jaramana, where twin bombs killed 34 people in November.

BACK TO THE WALL

Insurgents launched an offensive on Damascus after a July 18 bombing that killed four of Assad’s closest aides, including his feared brother-in-law Assef Shawkat, but were later pushed back.

With his back to the wall, Assad is reported to be turning ever deadlier weapons on his adversaries.

U.S. NATO officials said on Wednesday that the Syrian military had fired Scud-style ballistic missiles, which are powerful but not very accurate, against rebels in recent days.

Human Rights Watch said some populated areas had been hit by incendiary bombs, containing flammable materials such as napalm, thermite or white phosphorous, which can set fire to buildings or cause severe burns and respiratory damage.

The British-based Syrian Observatory said war planes were bombing rebel-held eastern suburbs of Damascus on Thursday and artillery was hitting Daraya and Moadamiyeh, southwestern areas near the centre where rebels have been fighting for a foothold.

At least 40,000 people have been killed in Syria’s uprising, which started in March 2011 with street protests which were met with gunfire by Assad’s security forces, and which spiraled into the most enduring and destructive of the Arab revolts.

The United States, European powers and Arab states bestowed their official blessing on Syria’s newly-formed opposition coalition on Wednesday, despite increasing signs of Western unease at the rise of militant Islamists in the rebel ranks.

Western nations at “Friends of Syria” talks in Marrakech, Morocco rallied around a new opposition National Coalition formed last month under moderate Islamist cleric Mouaz Alkhatib.

Russia, which along with China has blocked any U.N. Security Council measures against Assad, criticized Washington’s decision to grant the coalition formal recognition, saying it appeared to have abandoned any effort to reach a political solution.

Bogdanov’s remarks were the clearest sign yet that Russia is preparing for the possible defeat of Assad’s government.

“We are dealing with issues of preparations for an evacuation. We have mobilization plans and are clarifying where our citizens are located,” Bogdanov said.