tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8876312218509278142024-03-14T00:12:23.791-07:00International Observatory for Gulf State DespotismLand Destroyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975347030080073643noreply@blogger.comBlogger61125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-887631221850927814.post-64333326860358140292013-12-11T13:22:00.000-08:002013-12-11T13:22:04.661-08:00NATO's War on Syria Just Got Dirtier<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">West scrambles to cover up Syria false flag revelations as Pulitzer Prize-winner & Syria's Electronic Army expose all. </span><br />
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<b>December 10, 2013</b> - Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh, <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/05/syrian-war-prequel.html" style="color: #6fa8dc; text-decoration: none;">who had warned as early as 2007</a> of US-Israeli-Saudi plans to use Al Qaeda as proxies to overthrow the Syrian government, has published another groundbreaking report titled, "<a href="http://www.lrb.co.uk/2013/12/08/seymour-m-hersh/whose-sarin" style="color: #6fa8dc; text-decoration: none;">Whose Sarin?</a>" In it, Hersh states (emphasis added): </div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.984375px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Barack Obama did not tell the whole story this autumn when he tried to make the case that Bashar al-Assad was responsible for the chemical weapons attack near Damascus on 21 August.</b> In some instances, he omitted important intelligence, and in others he presented assumptions as facts. Most significant, he failed to acknowledge something known to the US intelligence community: that the Syrian army is not the only party in the country’s civil war with access to sarin, the nerve agent that a UN study concluded – without assessing responsibility – had been used in the rocket attack. In the months before the attack, the American intelligence agencies produced a series of highly classified reports, culminating in a formal Operations Order – a planning document that precedes a ground invasion – citing evidence that <b>the al-Nusra Front, a jihadi group affiliated with al-Qaida, had mastered the mechanics of creating sarin and was capable of manufacturing it in quantity. When the attack occurred al-Nusra should have been a suspect, but the administration cherry-picked intelligence to justify a strike against Assad.</b></span></span></blockquote>
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The lengthy report goes on in detail, covering the manner in which Western leaders intentionally manipulated or even outright fabricated intelligence to justify military intervention in Syria - eerily similar to <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/man-whose-wmd-lies-led-to-100000-deaths-confesses-all-7606236.html" style="color: #6fa8dc; text-decoration: none;">the lies told</a> to justify the invasion and occupation of Iraq, and the escalation of the war in Vietnam after <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hzFIeNFkO1z6p7PHHwx5k_ig11-Q" style="color: #6fa8dc; text-decoration: none;">the Gulf of Tonkin incident</a>. </div>
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<i><b>Image</b>: The Syrian Arab Army is decisively winning the the war through conventional means and would only invite the one possible method of changing that, foreign invention, through the use of chemical weapons. Commonsense, the evidence, and even the liars who would say otherwise, all point to NATO-backed terrorists as the culprits behind chemical weapon use in Syria's ongoing conflict.</i></div>
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The report also reveals that Al Nusra, Al Qaeda's Syrian franchise, was identified by US intelligence agencies long ago for p<span style="font-family: inherit;">ossessing </span>chemical<span style="font-family: inherit;"> weapons. These are the same terrorists Hersh warned about in his 2007 article titled, </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">"</span><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/03/05/070305fa_fact_hersh?currentPage=all" style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: inherit; text-decoration: none;">The Redirection: Is the Administration's new policy benefiting our enemies in the war on terrorism?</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">" which prophetically stated (emphasis added): </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">"To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has coöperated with Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. <b>The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda</b>."</span></blockquote>
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Hersh has now warned the public of both a conspiracy by the West to use terrorists to overthrow the sovereign government of Syria (<a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/05/sunni-extremists-ravaging-syria-created.html" style="color: #6fa8dc; text-decoration: none;">which has unfolded exactly as was predicted years ago</a>), as well as their use of chemical weapons. He has also exposed the systematic manner in which the West has lied about <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2013/04/us-unveils-iraq-wmd-curveball-style.html" style="color: #6fa8dc; text-decoration: none;">the August 21, 2013 gas attack in Damascus</a>. </div>
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As Hersh summed up his latest report, he asked a fundamental question those still insisting the Syrian government was behind the attack have failed to answer: </div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.984375px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The administration’s distortion of the facts surrounding the sarin attack raises an unavoidable question: do we have the whole story of Obama’s willingness to walk away from his ‘red line’ threat to bomb Syria? He had claimed to have an iron-clad case but suddenly agreed to take the issue to Congress, and later to accept Assad’s offer to relinquish his chemical weapons. It appears possible that at some point he was directly confronted with contradictory information: evidence strong enough to persuade him to cancel his attack plan, and take the criticism sure to come from Republicans.</span></span></blockquote>
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The West abandoned its plans for military intervention in Syria because the world rejected its narrative, and despite assurances that the West had air tight intelligence, after many months still, the lid is tightly closed. It is clear that the West desired military intervention in the worst way, and had it possessed real intelligence linking the attacks to the Syrian government, it surely would have revealed it. As Hersh points out, they never had such evidence to begin with and depended entirely on their ability to sell yet another pack of lies to the public. </div>
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<b>Armchair "Experts" to the Rescue </b></div>
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But even with the West's capitulation in Syria, and months passing without a shred of credible evidence produced, hacks among Western media continue to perpetuate the original narrative. Among these are of course corporate-financier funded think-tanks and propaganda fronts like the Brookings Institution, Foreign Policy Magazine, the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), and establishment papers like the Guardian. In the middle of it all is couch-potato self-proclaimed weapons expert, Eliot Higgins, a representation of the West's propaganda 2.0 campaign. </div>
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UK-based Higgins lost his job and now spends his days combing social media sites for "evidence" he then analyzes and reports on. The Western media, with its propagandists expelled from Syria and many of its "sources" in Syria <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/03/syria-game-over-for-western-propaganda.html" style="color: #6fa8dc; text-decoration: none;">exposed in humiliating attempts to fabricate and manipulate evidence</a>, quickly picked Higgins up and elevated his armchair blogging to "expert analysis." Since then, Higgins has joined the already discredited "<a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/06/wests-syrian-narrative-based-on-guy-in.html" style="color: #6fa8dc; text-decoration: none;">Syrian Observatory for Human Rights</a>" another UK-based individual, as the basis upon which the West's Syrian narrative spins. </div>
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The Guardian's Brian Whitaker, who has maintained a particularly suspicious proximity to Higgins and his work, recently published a startling condemnation of venerated Pulitizer Prize-winning journalist, Seymour Hersh. In a hit piece titled, "<a href="http://www.al-bab.com/blog/2013/december/brown-moses-versus-hersh.htm#sthash.2PjvQSwq.BDiazVME.uxfs" style="color: #6fa8dc; text-decoration: none;">Investigating chemical weapons in Syria - Seymour Hersh and Brown Moses go head to head</a>," "Brown Moses" referring to Eliot Higgins' alias, Whitaker claims: </div>
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In the blue corner, Seymour Hersh, one of America's most famous and highly paid investigative reporters. In the red corner,<br /><br />Eliot Higgins, who sits at home in an English provincial town trawling the internet and tweets and blogs about his findings under the screen name Brown Moses. </blockquote>
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On Sunday, in a 5,000-word article for the London Review of Books, Hersh suggested Syrian rebels, rather than the regime, could have been responsible for the chemical weapons attacks near Damascus on August 21. </blockquote>
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On Monday, Higgins responded on the Foreign Policy website, demolishing the core of Hersh's argument in a mere 1,700 words. </blockquote>
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While seeking to re-ignite the "whodunnit" debate about chemical weapons, Hersh's article unwittingly revealed a lot about the changing nature of investigative journalism. Hersh is old-school. He operates in a world of hush-hush contacts – often-anonymous well-placed sources passing snippets of information around which he constructs an article that challenges received wisdom. </blockquote>
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The Hersh style of journalism certainly has a place, but in the age of the internet it's a diminishing one – as the web-based work of Higgins and others continually shows.</blockquote>
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Whitaker is desperately attempting to keep the wheels on the establishment's new propaganda 2.0 vehicle - manipulating social media, much the way Hersh describes intelligence being manipulated, to create any outcome necessary to bolster a predetermined narrative. </div>
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What he doesn't address is the fact that Higgins' work almost entirely depends on videos posted online by people he does not know, who may be misrepresenting who they are, what they are posting, and their motivations for doing so - such is the nature of anonymity on the web and why this evidence alone is useless outside of a larger geopolitical context. </div>
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Both Whitaker and Higgins, who maintain that the Syrian government was behind the attacks, fail to address another glaring reality. A false flag attack is designed to look like the work of one's enemy. In other words, terrorists in Syria would use equipment, uniforms, weapons, and tactics that would pin the crime on the Syrian government. All Higgins has proved, thus far, is that the superficial details of the operation made for a convincing false flag attack. </div>
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<b>Claims the Militants Can't Produce or Properly Handle Chemical Weapons are False </b></div>
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Whitaker hails Higgins' Foreign Policy piece arrogantly titled, "<a href="http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/12/09/sy_hershs_chemical_misfire#sthash.Tr2j2WTW.dpbs" style="color: #6fa8dc; text-decoration: none;">Sy Hersh's Chemical Misfire</a>," but in reality, all Higgins does is point out specifics of the attack, some of which are confirmed, some of which are implied - all of which could either have been the work of the government or militants. The question Higgins fails to answer is what motivation would the government have had to carry out the attacks with the UN based just miles away and with government forces already decisively winning the war with conventional weapons? The only possible scenario that would lead to the Syrian government losing this conflict now would be foreign military intervention - and the best way to make that happen would be by using chemical weapons. </div>
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Toward the end of Higgin's piece, he, like his friends at the Guardian, attempt to claim Al Nusra, contrary to Hersh's report, are most likely not capable of producing sarin. He states (emphasis added): </div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>I asked chemical weapons specialist Dan Kaszeta for his opinion on that. He compared the possibility of Jabhat al-Nusra using chemical weapons to another terrorist attack involving sarin</b>: the 1996 gassing of the Tokyo subway by the Aum Shinrikyo cult.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">"The 1994 to 1996 Japanese experience tells us that even a very large and sophisticated effort comprising many millions of dollars, a dedicated large facility, and a lot of skilled labor results only in liters of sarin, not tons," Kaszeta said. "Even if the Aug. 21 attack is limited to the eight Volcano rockets that we seem to be talking about, we're looking at an industrial effort two orders of magnitude larger than the Aum Shinrikyo effort. <b>This is a nontrivial and very costly undertaking, and I highly doubt whether any of the possible nonstate actors involved here have the factory to have produced it.</b> Where is this factory? Where is the waste stream? Where are the dozens of skilled people -- not just one al Qaeda member -- needed to produce this amount of material?"</span></blockquote>
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Of course, to call Al Nusra a nonstate actor is not entirely truthful. Al Nusra and other extremist networks inside of Syria have had the US, Saudi Arabia, and Israel's backing since at least as early as 2007. Since 2011, Qatar and Turkey have also played immense roles in supporting Al Nusra - with NATO-member Turkey providing them sanctuary and even logistical support. Higgins and his "expert" ask where the factories, waste streams, and skilled people are - the answer is most likely somewhere within one of the many axis nations supporting Al Nusra. They certainly have the capacity to both manufacturer the gas and transport it into Syria - or conversely - provide Al Nusra with the supplies and personal to do it inside of Syria. </div>
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Higgins and his "expert's" attempt to make Al Nusra sound like cave dwelling simpletons running on a shoestring budget, when even t<a href="http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2012/12/201759.htm" style="color: #6fa8dc; text-decoration: none;">he US State Department admitted by 2012</a> that the terrorist organization was operating at a national level, carrying out hundreds of attacks across the country. In an attempt to cover up the growing influence the Western-backing of Al Qaeda was creating within Syria, <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2013/09/west-attempts-syria-cover-up-claims.html" style="color: #6fa8dc; text-decoration: none;">tales of vast "Twitter donations" were spun</a> to explain how Al Nusra was expanding faster than so-called moderates who were receiving billions of dollars in equipment, training, vehicles, and weapons by the West and its regional allies. In reality, that torrent of cash and supplies was going intentionally into the hands of Al Nusra and other extremist groups. </div>
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Clearly, if anyone in Syria, beside the government, was going to produce and deploy chemical weapons, it would be Al Nusra. </div>
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Higgins, Whitaker, and other journalists have also maintained the West's official narrative that not only are they sure the government did it because the "evidence" suggests so and because the militants do not possess chemical weapons, but also because the militants fighting the government don't possess the training to carry out the attacks. Higgins has done a masterful job proving that all the militants would need is a flatbed truck and a metal tube to launch the ordinance implicated in the attacks. As far as training in handling chemical weapons, CNN itself revealed the United States had long since taken care of that.</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">CNN's December 2012 report titled, "<a href="http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/12/09/sources-defense-contractors-training-syrian-rebels-in-chemical-weapons/" style="color: #6fa8dc; text-decoration: none;">Sources: U.S. helping underwrite Syrian rebel training on securing chemical weapons</a>," stated that: </span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The United States and some European allies are using defense contractors to train Syrian rebels on how to secure chemical weapons stockpiles in Syria, a senior U.S. official and several senior diplomats told CNN Sunday.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The training, which is taking place in Jordan and Turkey, involves how to monitor and secure stockpiles and handle weapons sites and materials, according to the sources. Some of the contractors are on the ground in Syria working with the rebels to monitor some of the sites, according to one of the officials.</span></blockquote>
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<b>Syrian Electronic Army E-Mails Exposes A Deceitful, Depraved Western Media </b></div>
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While perhaps Higgins and company missed that CNN report, it is now revealed that at least Higgins, and several other journalists were told by an American contractor on the ground inside of Syria, that militants had gained access to chemical weapons and more importantly, were planning to use them in a false flag attack - this months before the August 21 attack in Damascus. </div>
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<a href="http://www.qatar-leaks.com/vandyke-leaks/" style="color: #6fa8dc; text-decoration: none;">The Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) has released e-mails this week</a> between American contractor Matthew Van Dyke and members of the Western media, including Higgins. The e-mails indicated that militants had chemical weapons and were planning to use them in an attack to frame the Syrian government - serving as impetus for wider foreign intervention. SEA's emails have been confirmed by Higgins himself in a series of self-incriminating tweets where he goes, point-by-point, attempting to provide explanations for the damning revelations. </div>
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<i><b>Image</b>: It's true - but... The back-peddling Eliot Higgins aka Brown Moses may just be presiding over his early retirement as an establishment propagandist - thanks not to some Western NGO dealing in transparency, but the Syrian Electronic Army, listed by the FBI as "terrorists." </i></div>
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The e-mails reveal multiple correspondences regarding chemical weapons falling into the hands of terrorists aimed at using them in a false flag operation, Higgins' and Van Dyke's mutual "benefactor" located in Virginia, "near DC" (Langley, Virginia?), and job offers for Higgins from NGOs and a defense contractor involving "open source intelligence," the new buzzword used by Higgins and Whitaker in regards to the new form of propaganda they both participate in. </div>
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<b>Being a Propagandist is Lucrative</b></div>
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The e-mails illustrate prior knowledge of chemical weapons falling into the hands of terrorists who fully planned on using them in a false flag operation. Higgins and others had this information, and now, have Seymour Hersh's report as well, yet they still pose the argument that the militants had neither the ability nor the means to carry out the attacks. In fact, it appears that the Western media and underlings like Higgins went out of their way specifically to discredit the notion from even being considered. In other words, a concerted cover-up. </div>
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<br />The e-mails above, and <a href="http://www.qatar-leaks.com/vandyke-leaks/" style="color: #6fa8dc; text-decoration: none;">others in the large cache</a> also reveal the possible motivation for these lies. So-called journalists and researchers peddling the West's narrative appear to have a wide range of lucrative offers presented to them, as well as funding for them to continue doing the work they are already involved in. This of course is only the case so long as their narratives mesh with the institutions, corporations, and individuals cutting the checks. </div>
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Why would Higgins even mention the possibility of a false flag attack, when all that would do is alienate him from the establishment he is so eagerly trying to be a part of? His recent piece in Foreign Policy and the Guardian's ceaseless promotion of his work are favors that demand reciprocation - in the form of toeing the line and selling a narrative Higgins and others know is deceitful. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">
<br />That Higgins, the Guardian, and Foreign Policy are prepared to throw veteran journalist Seymour Hersh under the bus to protect their interests, gives us a look into the depths of depravity within which this "new" media Whitaker celebrates, operate. </div>
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Worst of all for the West, is that the transparency and accountability they claim to uphold, had to be kept in check by the SEA - <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/fbi-adds-syrian-electronic-army-wanted-list-supporters-hacker-collective-will-be-regarded-terrorists" style="color: #6fa8dc; text-decoration: none;">an organization wanted by the FBI as "terrorists</a>." We would be led to believe by the likes of Whitaker, Higgins, and Van Dyke that the Syrian government and their supporters are the villains, but in their own words and actions we see the truth. </div>
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....</div>
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<i>Note: The full extent <a href="http://www.qatar-leaks.com/vandyke-leaks/" style="color: #6fa8dc; text-decoration: none;">of SEA's leaked e-mails</a> exposes Van Dyke and the journalists he associates with as utterly depraved, deceitful, unprincipled individuals each driven by untethered greed and narcissism. The e-mails also reveal that "aid ships" are used to bring in weapons and foreign fighters, that the Syrians are almost entirely behind the government and that the so-called revolution was "fake." Van Dyke is exposed as having conspired to kill a man and his entire family over a trivial personal dispute and much, much more. Readers are encouraged <a href="http://www.qatar-leaks.com/vandyke-leaks/#KnewRebels" style="color: #6fa8dc; text-decoration: none;">to comb through the archives</a>, and to follow SEA on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/Official_SEA16" style="color: #6fa8dc; text-decoration: none;">@Official_SEA16</a>.</i></div>
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Land Destroyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975347030080073643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-887631221850927814.post-85585761958445455482013-04-26T22:24:00.000-07:002013-04-26T22:24:09.930-07:00US Unveils Iraq WMD "Curveball-Style" Lies Vs. Syria <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span>As NATO terror front collapses in Syria, US attempts to justify intervention by drumming up familiar WMD lies. </span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2pDn-8uNmw0/UXlSyF4IW3I/AAAAAAAAHMg/OLUHsugjm3M/s1600/Iraq_WMD_Lies.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="516" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2pDn-8uNmw0/UXlSyF4IW3I/AAAAAAAAHMg/OLUHsugjm3M/s640/Iraq_WMD_Lies.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<i><b>Image</b>: From Independent's "<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/man-whose-wmd-lies-led-to-100000-deaths-confesses-all-7606236.html">Man
whose WMD lies led to 100,000 deaths confesses all: Defector tells how
US officials 'sexed up' his fictions to make the case for 2003 invasion</a>."
In retrospect, the corporate-media has no problem admitting the
insidious lies that were told to justify the invasion and occupation of
Iraq - the lead up to the war was another story. A verbatim repeat of
these admitted lies are being directed at Syria amidst the West's
failure <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/05/syrian-war-prequel.html">to overthrow the government with terrorist proxies</a>. </i><br />
<br />
<b>April 25, 2013</b> (<a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2013/04/us-unveils-iraq-wmd-curveball-style.html">LD</a>) - The last two weeks have seen a series of
victories for the Syrian Army across Syria. It appears that 2 full
companies of so-called "Free Syrian Army" fighters have been annihilated
near Damascus, while government forces have restored order in parts of
Homs and along the previously porous Lebanese-Syrian border. <br />
<br />
Time has run out for the West, and it appears that they are desperately
seeking any excuse to rescue their failing proxy war. When urgent, but
otherwise unjustified military intervention is needed, a "humanitarian"
pretext is usually invented - <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2011/10/lies-behind-humanitarian-war-in-libya.html">as it was in Libya</a>.
Failing that, as the West has already clearly done in Syria, an even
more tenuous narrative has been resurrected from its well-earned grave.
CNN has reported in their article, "<a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/25/world/meast/syria-civil-war/index.html">Hagel: Evidence of chemical weapons use in Syria</a>," that: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced Thursday that the United
States has evidence that chemical weapons have been used in Syria.<br />
<br />
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph2">
This comes a couple of
days after an Israeli intelligence official said Damascus was using
weapons banned under international law against its own people in the
country's civil war. Syria has said rebels have used chemical weapons. </div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph2">
</div>
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph3">
U.S. President Barack
Obama has said the Syrian government's use of chemical weapons against
its own people in the country would be a "game changer."</div>
</blockquote>
Astonishingly, the West is attempting to repeat tales of "WMD's" in
Syria, just as it infamously did in Iraq. In the Washington Post's "<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/us-intelligence-agencies-assad-used-chemical-weapons-on-a-small-scale/2013/04/25/208346aa-adc0-11e2-98ef-d1072ed3cc27_story.html?hpid=z1">U.S. intelligence agencies: Assad used chemical weapons ‘on a small scale’</a>," the nature of this "evidence" is elaborated on (emphasis added): <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Hagel said <b>the intelligence agencies’ assessment was reached with
“varying degrees of confidence,” meaning that they lacked proof or
overwhelming evidence.</b> He said the conclusion was “reached within the
last 24 hours” and that the White House delivered a letter outlining the
findings to Congress Thursday morning.<a name='more'></a>
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=887631221850927814" name="more"></a></blockquote>
A <a href="http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/national/white-house-letter-to-sen-carl-levin-on-allegations-of-syrias-use-of-chemical-weapons/118/?Post+generic=%3Ftid%3Dsm_twitter_washingtonpost">letter from the White House via the Washington Post</a> exposed further just how tenuous the evidence actually is (emphasis added): <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Our intelligence community does assess with varying degrees of
confidence that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small
scale in Syria, specifically the chemical agent sarin. <b>This assessment is based in part on physiological samples</b>.
Our standard of evidence must build on these intelligence assessments
as we seek to establish credible and corroborated facts. <b>For example, the chain of custody is not clear, so we cannot confirm how the exposure occurred and under what conditions</b>. We do believe that any use of chemical weapons in Syria would very likely have originated with the Assad regime. </blockquote>
Physiological samples indicating sarin - in other words - samples taken
from people exposed to sarin, could have been produced in a number of
ways. It is confirmed that Libya's chemical weapon stockpiles included
sarin and mustard gas. In the Washington Post's 2011 "<a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk/2011/02/libyas_poison_gas_unaffected_b.html">Libya's poison gas unaffected by turmoil, official says</a>," it was stated: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Experts believe that Libya
destroyed about 3,300 bombshells designed to carry mustard and sarin gas
chemicals years ago, as part of its deal to end decades of economic and
diplomatic isolation with the West. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
But some 10 metric tons of mustard sulfate and sarin gas precursor
remain stockpiled in barrels at three locations in the Libyan desert
south of Tripoli, where Moammar Gaddafi has holed up in a last-ditch
fight to keep from being overthrown.<br />
<br />
Many experts worry that the barrels are ripe for picking by terrorists linked to al-Qaeda. </blockquote>
Of course, since 2011, it is now confirmed that the so-called "Libyan
rebels" were actually Al Qaeda terrorists operating under the Libyan
Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) which has been confirmed to have <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/12/us-repeats-syrian-chemical-weapons.html">subsequently traveled to Syria to join Al Qaeda's al-Nusra franchise in NATO's proxy war there</a>.<br />
<br />
It is just as likely that NATO's proxy forces brought along with them
not only small arms and cash from Libya, but also heavier weapons,
including possibly chemical weapons - and specifically - sarin and
mustard gas.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ejOCXxuhUyg/UL12lnF-L7I/AAAAAAAAGZQ/52N6-O86weg/s1600/LIBYA_Chemical-containers-in-th-007.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ejOCXxuhUyg/UL12lnF-L7I/AAAAAAAAGZQ/52N6-O86weg/s1600/LIBYA_Chemical-containers-in-th-007.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<i><b>Image</b>: (<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/04/libya-chemical-weapons-stockpiles-intact">via the Guardian</a>)
"Chemical containers in the Libyan desert. There are concerns unguarded
weapons could fall into the hands of Islamist militants. Photograph:
David Sperry/AP" As increasing evidence reveals Libyan fighters and
weapons are pouring into Syria, it seems the West is preparing to
preempt or leverage the inevitability that Libya's chemical arsenal has also found
its way into the besieged nation. </i><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>.... </i></div>
<br />
Considering that the Syrian government knows the use of chemical weapons
would basically hand the moral, strategic, and geopolitical initiative
over to the West, and in light of its recent gains made using
conventional weapons and tactics, it makes it all the more likely any
real sarin to be found and used in Syria was the work of NATO proxies
attempting to produce a plausible casus belli. Terrorists operating in
Syria have already been caught <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2013/03/west-drops-syria-wmd-narrative-as.html">using other chemical weapons</a>. <br />
<br />
And yet still, despite all of this doubt, the Western political
establishment has hailed the so-called "findings" as the "game changer"
required to green-light US military intervention. <br />
<br />
<b>Remember "Curveball" </b><br />
<br />
It is absolutely imperative to recall the propaganda campaign conducted
prior to invading Iraq in 2003. Chemical weapons were also used as a
pretext for an otherwise unjustified war. The "intelligence" used by
Hagel's predecessors was admittedly fabricated on-demand. <br />
<br />
In the British Independent's article, "<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/man-whose-wmd-lies-led-to-100000-deaths-confesses-all-7606236.html">Man
whose WMD lies led to 100,000 deaths confesses all: Defector tells how
US officials 'sexed up' his fictions to make the case for 2003 invasion</a>," it stated: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="storyTop ">
</span>
A man whose lies helped to make the case for invading Iraq – starting
a nine-year war costing more than 100,000 lives and hundreds of
billions of pounds – will come clean in his first British television
interview tomorrow. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="storyTop ">
</span>
<br />
"Curveball", the Iraqi defector who fabricated claims about Iraq's
weapons of mass destruction, smiles as he confirms how he made the whole
thing up. It was a confidence trick that changed the course of history,
with Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi's lies used to justify the Iraq war. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
He
tries to defend his actions: "My main purpose was to topple the tyrant
in Iraq because the longer this dictator remains in power, the more the
Iraqi people will suffer from this regime's oppression."</blockquote>
We can already envision the establishment defending in hindsight its next "noble lie" to unseat "the tyrant in Syria."<br />
<br />
The <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/man-whose-wmd-lies-led-to-100000-deaths-confesses-all-7606236.html">Independent continues</a>: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
But Mr Janabi, speaking in a two-part series, Modern Spies, starting
tomorrow on BBC2, says none of it was true. When it is put to him "we
went to war in Iraq on a lie. And that lie was your lie", he simply
replies: "Yes."<br />
<br />
US officials "sexed up" Mr Janabi's drawings of
mobile biological weapons labs to make them more presentable, admits
Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, General Powell's former chief of staff. "I
brought the White House team in to do the graphics," he says, adding how
"intelligence was being worked to fit around the policy".</blockquote>
How "intelligence was being worked to fit around the policy," indeed is
the most important aspect of the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq, and is
without doubt what is being done in Washington, Doha, Riyadh, and Tel
Aviv in regards to Syria now. <br />
<br />
The "Curveball-style" lies told about Iraq are now being repeated about
Syria by an increasingly unhinged West who has tried every trick in the
book, and is flipping back to the beginning to start over again. The
question is, can the world afford to be led down this path again,
knowing exactly where it ends? Nations and people outside the Wall
Street-London international order are tasked with foiling this criminal
war of aggression - unable this time to plead ignorance to the West's
true intentions. </div>
Land Destroyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975347030080073643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-887631221850927814.post-13262784537946863692013-04-18T12:00:00.000-07:002013-04-18T12:02:02.879-07:00Al-Qaeda, US Irregular Infantry in Syria: Webster Tarpley <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
April 18, 2013 (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhEaYQD1gNo">PressTV</a>) - <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lhEaYQD1gNo" width="560"></iframe>
</div>
<br />
[Dr. Webster Tarpley] tells Press TV that the Obama administration is using
al-Qaeda terrorists as its irregular infantry in its proxy war against
Syria.<br />
<br />
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said that the
West "will pay a heavy price" for pitting al-Qaeda militants against the
Syrian government. He also condemned measures taken by Turkey and some
of the country's Arab neighbors to support the anti-Syria terrorists,
and their attempts to start a sectarian civil war in the country.<br />
<br />
Press TV has conducted an interview with Dr. Webster Griffin Tarpley, author and historian from Washington DC.</div>
Land Destroyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975347030080073643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-887631221850927814.post-10811377555497078402013-04-17T00:56:00.003-07:002013-04-17T00:56:58.899-07:00US Aid Falls into Al Qaeda's Hands in Syria by Design, Not Chance<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tKmATmqqeNg/UW5TnechwRI/AAAAAAAAHJw/BwimwK1bKDE/s1600/Syria_bread_2475484c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="197" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tKmATmqqeNg/UW5TnechwRI/AAAAAAAAHJw/BwimwK1bKDE/s320/Syria_bread_2475484c.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b>April 16, 2013</b> (IOGSD-Tony Cartalucci) - Huge amounts of US-provided flour smuggled into northern Syria have formed the foundation of Al Qaeda's public relations strategy, the Washington Post and London Telegraph reveal. Together with huge amounts of US-provided weapons, the aid is fueling Al Qaeda's continued operations and atrocities inside Syria. <br />
<br />
Recently it was revealed that the US, UK, and France, through Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey, and other regional allies, have been funneling cash and <a href="http://www.acus.org/natosource/arms-airlift-syria-rebels-expands-cia-aid">thousands of tons of weapons into Syria</a> - the vast majority of which have ended up in the hands of Al Qaeda's Syrian franchise, Jabhat al-Nusra. <br />
<br />
The New York Times in their article titled, "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/25/world/middleeast/arms-airlift-to-syrian-rebels-expands-with-cia-aid.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0">Arms Airlift to Syria Rebels Expands, With C.I.A. Aid</a>," admits that:
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
With help from the C.I.A., Arab governments and Turkey have sharply
increased their military aid to Syria’s opposition fighters in recent
months, expanding a secret airlift of arms and equipment for the
uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, according to air traffic
data, interviews with officials in several countries and the accounts of
rebel commanders.<br />
<br />
The airlift, which began on a small scale in
early 2012 and continued intermittently through last fall, expanded into
a steady and much heavier flow late last year, the data shows. It has
grown to include more than 160 military cargo flights by Jordanian,
Saudi and Qatari military-style cargo planes landing at Esenboga Airport
near Ankara, and, to a lesser degree, at other Turkish and Jordanian
airports. </blockquote>
While the West attempts to claim these weapons are being sent to "moderates," the US State Department itself <a href="http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2012/12/201759.htm">admits that Al Qaeda is operating in every major city</a> in Syria, carrying out hundreds of terrorist attacks, and is by far the most <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/world/middleeast/syrian-rebels-tied-to-al-qaeda-play-key-role-in-war.html?pagewanted=all">highly organized, most prominent militant front in the conflict</a>. If the West via Saudi Arabia and Qatar is sending thousands of tons of weapons to "moderates," who is sending <i>more </i>weapons to Jabhat al-Nusra?<br />
<a name='more'></a>
The obvious answer is there are no moderates, and the West has been
intentionally arming Al Qaeda from the beginning. In fact, this is a
documented conspiracy first revealed as early as 2007 by Pulitzer
Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh in his New Yorker article titled,
""<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/03/05/070305fa_fact_hersh?currentPage=all">The Redirection: Is the Administration’s new policy benefiting our enemies in the war on terrorism?</a>" which stated specifically:
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush
Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in
the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has coöperated with
Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations
that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is
backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations
aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has
been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant
vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda. </blockquote>
Now, further evidence that the summation of US aid has fallen into the hands
of Al Qaeda in Syria, comes to us from Washington Post propagandist Liz
Sly who reported in her article, "<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/us-feeds-syrians-but-secretly/2013/04/14/bfbc0ba6-a3b3-11e2-bd52-614156372695_story.html">U.S. feeds Syrians, but secretly</a>," that: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In the heart of rebel-held territory in Syria’s northern province of
Aleppo, a small group of intrepid Westerners is undertaking a mission of
great stealth. Living anonymously in a small rural community, they
travel daily in unmarked cars, braving airstrikes, shelling and the
threat of kidnapping to deliver food and other aid to needy Syrians —
all of it paid for by the U.S. government. </blockquote>
Sly then claims that most Syrians credit Al Qaeda's al-Nusra with providing the aid: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“America has done nothing for us. Nothing at all,” said Mohammed Fouad
Waisi, 50, spitting out the words for emphasis in his small Aleppo
grocery store, which adjoins a bakery where he buys bread every day. The
bakery is fully supplied with flour paid for by the United States. But
Waisi credited Jabhat al-Nusra
— a rebel group the United States has designated a terrorist
organization because of its ties to al-Qaeda — with providing flour to
the region, though he admitted he wasn’t sure where it comes from.</blockquote>
And while Sly attempts to spin the story as merely misdirected anger and
ignorance on the part of Syrians receiving the aid, it is well
documented that bakeries in terrorist-held territory are in fact manned by Al
Qaeda militants. In fact, while Sly maintains that "security concerns"
are owed for America's opaque aid distribution operation, it appears more likely
the US is attempting to insidiously obfuscate its use of humanitarian
aid to help its militant proxies win "hearts and minds" amid a
humanitarian catastrophe the West itself engineered and perpetuated
intentionally. <br />
<br />
The London Telegraph revealed in their February 2013 article, "<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9857846/Syria-how-jihadist-group-Jabhat-al-Nusra-is-taking-over-Syrias-revolution.html">Syria: how jihadist group Jabhat al-Nusra is taking over Syria's revolution</a>," that taking over bakeries was a key strategy used by Al Qaeda's al-Nusra front to "win over" the population: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Then, in the past weeks, Jabhat al-Nusra – which is outside the FSA – pushed
other rebel groups out of the stores and established a system to distribute
bread throughout rebel areas. <br />
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In a small office attached to a bakery in the Miesseh district of Aleppo, Abu
Yayha studied a map pinned on the wall. Numbers were scrawled in pencil
against streets.<br />
<br />
“We counted the population of every street to assess the need for the area,”
explained Mr Yahya. “We provide 23,593 bags of bread every two days for this
area. This is just in one district. We are calculating the population in
other districts and doing the same there.
<br />
<br />
“In shops the cost is now 125 Syrian pounds (£1.12) for one pack. Here we sell
it at 50 Syrian pounds (45p) for two bags. We distribute some for free for
those who cannot pay.”<br />
<br />
The bakery works constantly. Inside, barrows filled with dough were heaved
onto a conveyor belt that chopped it into round and flat segments, before
pushing the dough into a giant oven. Workers packed the steaming flatbread
in bags.<br />
<br />
“I am from Jabhat al Nusra. All the managers of all the bakeries are,” said
Abu Fattah, the manager. “This makes sure that nobody steals.”
</blockquote>
In essence, Al Qaeda is taking over neighborhoods upon a mountain of
US-provided flour, in bakeries overrun and held at the barrels of
US-provided guns. Humanitarian aid is being used as a political weapon to carve out territory for the West's heavily armed proxies and extort cooperation from the subjugated people who find themselves inside Al Qaeda-occupied territory. </div>
Land Destroyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975347030080073643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-887631221850927814.post-4471863232625958352013-04-12T23:18:00.004-07:002013-04-12T23:18:55.335-07:00Bahrainis Rally Against Upcoming F1 Race Near Manama<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<img alt="Bahraini protesters hold pictures showing F1 helping Manama crackdown if it holds the auto race event in Bahrain. (File photo)" height="365px" id="imgMain" src="http://previous.presstv.ir/photo/20130412/esmaeeli20130412173954350.jpg" width="650px" /><div id="divImageDesc">
<i>Image: Bahraini protesters hold pictures showing F1 helping Manama crackdown if it holds the auto race event in Bahrain. (File photo)</i></div>
<div id="divImageDesc">
</div>
<div id="divImageDesc">
<span id="ctl00_body_spnDetail"><div id="divLead">
<b>April 13, 2013</b> (<a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/04/12/297924/bahrainis-stage-rally-against-f1-race/">PressTV</a>) - Bahrainis have staged a mass anti-regime demonstration near the capital to protest against the upcoming Formula One Grand Prix.
</div>
<br />
Thousands of Bahrainis took to the streets in the village of
al-Aali, some 15 kilometers outside the capital Manama, on Friday to
express their opposition to the Persian Gulf state's hosting of the
April 19-21 event.
<br />
<br />Bahrainis say Formula 1's governing body, the FIA, should cancel the event over Manama's ongoing crackdown on protests.
<br />
<br /><blockquote>
"The Formula One is used by the regime to advertise that
there is nothing wrong in Bahrain," a demonstrator said adding that "We
are showing the world that we are people with demands."</blockquote>
<br />"As long as there are oppression, arrests and killings, there should not be a Formula One," said another protester.
<br />
<br />The demonstrators also chanted slogans against King Hamad bin Issa
al-Khalifa and Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa.
There were no immediate reports of violence.
<br />
<br />On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch said the Al Khalifa regime has arrested 20 opposition activists ahead of the event.
<br />
<br />"Bahraini authorities are carrying out home raids and arbitrarily
detaining opposition protesters in advance of the Formula 1 Grand Prix,"
the human rights body said.
<br />
<br />Formula One is Bahrain's premier international event. It was
cancelled in 2011 as the result of mass anti-regime protests in the
country, but in 2012 it went ahead despite protests.
<br />
<br />Bahrainis have been staging demonstrations since mid-February 2011,
demanding political reform and a constitutional monarchy, a demand that
later changed to an outright call for the ouster of the ruling Al
Khalifa family following its brutal crackdown on popular protests.
<br />
<br />HM/JR/SS</span> </div>
</div>
Land Destroyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975347030080073643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-887631221850927814.post-46483000745896394192013-04-12T23:16:00.005-07:002013-04-12T23:16:54.268-07:00EXPOSED: Syrian Human Rights Front is EU-Funded Fraud <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: medium;">NYT admits fraudulent Syrian human rights group is UK-based "one-man band" funded by EU and one other "European country."</span><br />
<br />
<b>April 12, 2013</b> (<a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2013/04/exposed-syrian-human-rights-front-is-eu.html">LD</a>) - In reality, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/wests-syrian-narrative-based-on-guy-in.html">long ago been exposed as an absurd propaganda front</a> operated by Rami Abdul Rahman out of his house in England's countryside. According to a December 2011 Reuters article titled, "<a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/12/08/uk-britain-syria-idUKTRE7B71XG20111208">Coventry - an unlikely home to prominent Syria activist</a>,"
Abdul Rahman admits he is a member of the so-called "Syrian opposition"
and seeks the ouster of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad: <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="articleText">After three short spells in prison in Syria
for pro-democracy activism, Abdulrahman came to Britain in 2000 fearing a
longer, fourth jail term.<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_10"></span>"I came
to Britain the day Hafez al-Assad died, and I'll return when Bashar
al-Assad goes," Abdulrahman said, referring to Bashar's father and
predecessor Hafez, also an autocrat. </span></blockquote>
One could not fathom a more unreliable, compromised, biased source of
information, yet for the past two years, his "Observatory" has served as
the sole source of information for the endless torrent of propaganda
emanating from the Western media. Perhaps worst of all, is that the
United Nations uses this compromised, absurdly overt source of
propaganda as the basis for its various reports - at least, that is what
the New York Times now claims in their recent article, "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/10/world/middleeast/the-man-behind-the-casualty-figures-in-syria.html?pagewanted=all">A Very Busy Man Behind the Syrian Civil War’s Casualty Count</a>."<br />
<br />
The NYT piece admits: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Military analysts in Washington follow its body counts of Syrian and
rebel soldiers to gauge the course of the war. The United Nations and
human rights organizations scour its descriptions of civilian killings
for evidence in possible war crimes trials. Major news organizations,
including this one, cite its casualty figures.<br />
<br />
Yet, despite its central role in the savage civil war, the grandly named
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights is virtually a one-man band. Its
founder, Rami Abdul Rahman, 42, who fled Syria
13 years ago, operates out of a semidetached red-brick house on an
ordinary residential street in this drab industrial city [Coventry,
England]. </blockquote>
The New York Times also for the first time reveals that Abdul Rahman's
operation is indeed funded by the European Union and a "European
country" he refuses to identify:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Money from two dress shops covers his minimal needs for reporting on the
conflict, along with small subsidies from the European Union and one
European country that he declines to identify. </blockquote>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=887631221850927814" name="more"></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UdT83LFlrGI/T4P6myNAx2I/AAAAAAAABWk/7RiMf8CoKMs/s1600/SyrianShillRami.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5729698695163725666" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UdT83LFlrGI/T4P6myNAx2I/AAAAAAAABWk/7RiMf8CoKMs/s400/SyrianShillRami.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 391px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 338px;" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Photo</span><span style="font-style: italic;">:
</span><i>From Reuters: "Rami Abdelrahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights, leaves the Foreign and Commonwealth Office after meeting
Britain's Foreign Secretary, William Hague, in central London November
21, 2011. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor" Abdelrahman is not the "head" of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, he <b><u>is</u> </b>the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, run out of his UK-based house as a one-man operation. </i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
.... </div>
<br />
And while Abdul Rahman refuses to identify that "European country," it
is beyond doubt that it is the United Kingdom itself - as Abdul Rahman
has direct access to the Foreign Secretary William Hague, who he has
been documented meeting in person on multiple occasions at the Foreign
and Commonwealth Office<i> </i> in London. The NYT in fact reveals that
it was the British government that first relocated Abdul Rahman to
Coventry, England after he fled Syria over a decade ago because of his
anti-government activities: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
When two associates were arrested in 2000, he fled the country, paying a
human trafficker to smuggle him into England. The government resettled
him in Coventry, where he decided he liked the slow pace. </blockquote>
Abdul Rahman is not a "human rights activist." He is a paid
propagandist. He is no different than the troupe of unsavory, willful
liars and traitors provided refuge in Washington and London during the
Iraq war and the West's more recent debauchery in Libya, for the sole
purpose of supplying Western governments with a constant din of
propaganda and intentionally falsified intelligence reports designed
specifically to justify the West's hegemonic designs.<br />
<br />
Abdul Rahman's contemporaries include the notorious Iraqi defector Rafid al-Janabi, codename "Curveball," who<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/iraqi-defector-al-janabi-codenamed-curveball-admits-wmd/story?id=12922213#.UWf4hLhZg1I"> now gloats publicly that he invented accusations of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction</a>,
the West's casus belli for a 10 year war that ultimately cost over a
million lives, including thousands of Western troops, and has left Iraq
still to this day in shambles. There's also <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2011/10/lies-behind-humanitarian-war-in-libya.html">the lesser known Dr. Sliman Bouchuiguir of Libya</a>,
who formed the foundation of the pro-West human rights racket in
Benghazi and now openly brags in retrospect that tales of Libyan leader
Muammar Qaddafi's atrocities against the Libyan people were likewise
invented to give NATO its sought-after impetus to intervene militarily. <br />
<br />
Unlike in Iraq and Libya, the West has failed categorically to sell
military intervention in Syria, and even its covert war has begun to
unravel as the public becomes increasingly aware that the so-called
"pro-democracy rebels" the West has been arming for years are in fact
sectarian extremists fighting under the banner of Al Qaeda. The charade
that is the "Syrian Observatory for Human Rights" is also unraveling. It
is unlikely that the New York Times' limited hangout will convince
readers that Rami Abdul Rahman is anything other than another
"Curveball" helping the corporate-financier elite of Wall Street and
London sell another unnecessary war to the public.</div>
Land Destroyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975347030080073643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-887631221850927814.post-4204734699055190202013-04-12T23:16:00.000-07:002013-04-12T23:16:10.445-07:00World Must Unite Against US-Saudi-Israeli Proxy War in Syria<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>US, Saudi Arabia, and Israel have conspired to destroy Syria by way of arming sectarian extremists since 2007.</li>
<li>The West now admits it, along with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have
provided thousands of tons of weapons to militants in Syria - while also
conceding that Al Qaeda's Syrian franchise, <span class="st" dir="ltr">Jabhat</span> al-Nusra is the best armed, most well equipped militant front in the conflict. </li>
<li>US, Saudi, Israeli-backed terrorists are now committing a myriad of
horrific atrocities against all of Syria's population, including Sunni
Muslims - meaning neither "democracy" nor even "sectarianism" drives the
conflict, but rather the destruction of Syria in its entirety. </li>
<li>US State Department acknowledges Syria faces threat from Al Qaeda,
demands blockade of arms/aid from reaching government to fight
terrorists the US State Department admits are present in every major
Syrian city. </li>
</ul>
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Jh3qpa5UCgs/UVdrH6XK0cI/AAAAAAAAHIU/zeE4U52cNWQ/s1600/syria_weapons_1113a.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Jh3qpa5UCgs/UVdrH6XK0cI/AAAAAAAAHIU/zeE4U52cNWQ/s320/syria_weapons_1113a.jpg" width="276" /></a><b>March 30, 2013</b>
(LD) - Since 2007, the US, Saudi Arabia, and Israel have been
documented as conspiring to overthrow the Syrian government by way of
sectarian extremists, including groups "sympathetic to Al Qaeda," and in
particular, the militant, sectarian Muslim Brotherhood. While the West
has attempted to portray the full-scale conflict beginning in Syria in
2011 as first, a "pro-democracy uprising," to now a "sectarian
conflict," recent atrocities carried out by US-Saudi-Israeli proxies
have shifted the assault to include Sunni Muslims unable or unwilling to
participate in the destruction of the Syrian state.<br />
<br />
Such attacks included <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/28/us-syria-crisis-students-idUSBRE92R0E020130328">a mortar bombardment of Damascus University</a>, killing 15 and injuring dozens more, as well as the brutal slaying of two prominent Sunni Muslim clerics - <a href="http://www.france24.com/en/20130330-rebels-kill-aleppo-cleric-parade-body-watchdog">the latest of which was beheaded</a>,
his body paraded through the streets of Aleppo, and his head hung from
the mosque he preached in. While the West attempts to mitigate these
events by labeling the victims as "pro-government," the reality is that
the forces fighting inside Syria are funded, armed, directed, and
politically supported from abroad - and therefore do not represent any
of the Syrian people's interests, including those Syrians who do not
support the government. <br />
<br />
It is abundantly clear that the West's goal is neither to institute
"democracy," nor even take sides in a "sectarian conflict," but rather
carry out the complete and permanent destruction of Syria as a
nation-state, sparing no one, not even Sunnis.<br />
<br />
Such a proxy war exists contra to any conceivable interpretation of
"international law." The world is left with a moral imperative to not
only denounce this insidious conflict brought upon the Syrian people,
compounded and perpetuated entirely by external interests, but demands
that concrete action is taken to ensure that this act of aggression is
brought to an end. <br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=887631221850927814" name="more"></a><a name='more'></a>The US, UK, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have admitted to colluding together,
flooding Syria with thousands of tons of weapons via Jordan to Syria's
south, and NATO-member Turkey to Syria's north. And in an otherwise
inexplicable conundrum, while the likes of US Secretary of State John
Kerry insist this torrent of weapons is being directed to "moderates,"
neither the US nor its allies are able to explain why Al Qaeda terror
front <span class="st" dir="ltr">Jabhat</span> al-Nusra has emerged as the most heavily armed, best equipped militant organization in the conflict.<br />
<br />
AP reported specifically in their article, "<a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4361519,00.html">Officials: Arms shipments rise to Syrian rebels</a>," that:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
US Secretary of
State John Kerry said on the sidelines of a Syrian opposition meeting in
Italy last month that the weapons are ending up in the hands of secular
groups. "I will tell you this: There is a very clear ability now in the
Syrian opposition to make certain that what goes to the moderate,
legitimate opposition is in fact getting to them, and the indication is
that they are increasing their pressure as a result of that," he said,
without elaborating.
</blockquote>
But even AP admits that: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="text14" id="article_content">Syrian opposition
activists estimate there are 15-20 different brigades fighting in and
around Damascus now, each with up to 150 fighters. Many of them have
Islamic tendencies and bear black-and-white Islamic flags or
al-Qaeda-style flags on their Facebook pages. There is also a presence
of Jabhat al-Nusra, one of the strongest Islamic terrorist groups
fighting alongside the rebels.</span></blockquote>
<span class="text14" id="article_content"> </span>The <a href="http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2012/12/201759.htm">US State Department's own statement</a> regarding the designation of al-Nusra as a listed Al Qaeda terror organization states: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Since November 2011, al-Nusrah Front has claimed nearly 600 attacks –
ranging from more than 40 suicide attacks to small arms and improvised
explosive device operations – in major city centers including Damascus,
Aleppo, Hamah, Dara, Homs, Idlib, and Dayr al-Zawr. </blockquote>
According to the US State Department, al-Nusra is carrying out hundreds
of attacks with a wide array of weaponry, across the entire nation of
Syria, indicating a massive front and implying an equally massive
network of logistical support, including foreign sponsorship. What's
more, is that the US State Department acknowledges al-Nusra's presence
even in cities close to Syria's borders where the CIA is admittedly
overseeing the distribution of weapons and cash. The New York Times, in
their June 2012 article, "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/21/world/middleeast/cia-said-to-aid-in-steering-arms-to-syrian-rebels.html?pagewanted=all">C.I.A. Said to Aid in Steering Arms to Syrian Opposition</a>," reported that:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
A small number of C.I.A. officers are operating secretly in southern
Turkey, helping allies decide which Syrian opposition fighters across
the border will receive arms to fight the Syrian government, according
to American officials and Arab intelligence officers.
</blockquote>
And in New York Times' more recent March 2013 article, "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/25/world/middleeast/arms-airlift-to-syrian-rebels-expands-with-cia-aid.html?pagewanted=all">Arms Airlift to Syria Rebels Expands, With Aid From C.I.A.</a>," it is admitted that weapons are being funneled into Syria across both its borders with Turkey and Jordan: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
With help from the C.I.A., Arab governments and Turkey have sharply
increased their military aid to Syria’s opposition fighters in recent
months, expanding a secret airlift of arms and equipment for the
uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, according to air traffic
data, interviews with officials in several countries and the accounts of
rebel commanders. </blockquote>
The article would also state: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div itemprop="articleBody">
Although rebel commanders and the data indicate that Qatar and Saudi
Arabia had been shipping military materials via Turkey to the opposition
since early and late 2012, respectively, a major hurdle was removed
late last fall after the Turkish government agreed to allow the pace of
air shipments to accelerate, officials said. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
</div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
Simultaneously, arms and equipment were being purchased by Saudi Arabia in Croatia
and flown to Jordan on Jordanian cargo planes for rebels working in
southern Syria and for retransfer to Turkey for rebels groups operating
from there, several officials said. </div>
</blockquote>
The US State Department acknowledges that the well armed, prominent
terror front al-Nusra is operating in the very areas the CIA is feeding
weapons and cash into.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aEe1Gq1jh7o/UIhh1F9V5HI/AAAAAAAAEnU/uRuiniFtj4M/s1600/WestPoint_1_SyriaAQvsAS.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aEe1Gq1jh7o/UIhh1F9V5HI/AAAAAAAAEnU/uRuiniFtj4M/s640/WestPoint_1_SyriaAQvsAS.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<i><b>Image</b>: (Left)</i> <i>West Point's Combating Terrorism Center's 2007 report, </i><i>"<a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/111001074/West-Point-CTC-s-Al-Qa-ida-s-Foreign-Fighters-in-Iraq">Al-Qa'ida's Foreign Fighters in Iraq</a>"
indicated which areas in Syria Al Qaeda fighters filtering into
Iraq came from. The overwhelming majority of them came from Dayr Al-Zawr
in Syria's southeast, Idlib in the north near the Turkish-Syrian
border, and Dar'a in the south near the Jordanian-Syrian border. (Right)
A map indicating the epicenters of violence in Syria indicate that the
exact same hotbeds for Al Qaeda in 2007, now serve as the epicenters of
so-called "pro-democracy fighters" and also happen to be areas the US CIA is admittedly distributing weapons and other aid in. </i><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>....</i></div>
<br />
<span class="text14" id="article_content">Such a reality directly
contradicts the US State Department's official position, and no
explanation is given as to how "moderates" can be provided with such
extensive support, and still be eclipsed militarily and logistically by
terror-front al-Nusra. That is, unless of course, the US, British,
Saudi, and Qatari weapons aren't simply just handing the weapons
directly to terrorists, precisely as planned as early as 2007. </span><br />
<br />
<b>The Destruction of Syria Began in 2007, Not 2011</b><br />
<br />
While the West has attempted to reclaim Syria as part of its sphere of
influence for decades, concrete plans for the latest proxy war were laid
at least as early as 2007. It was admitted in 2007 that the US, Saudi
Arabia, and Israel conspired together to fund, arm, and direct sectarian
extremists including militants "sympathetic" to Al Qaeda, particularly
the Muslim Brotherhood, against the governments of Iran and Syria. In
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh's 2007 New Yorker
article, "<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/03/05/070305fa_fact_hersh?currentPage=all">The Redirection: Is the Administration’s new policy benefiting our enemies in the war on terrorism?</a>" the conspiracy was described as follows: <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush
Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in
the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has coöperated with
Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations
that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is
backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations
aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has
been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant
vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda. </blockquote>
Hersh also cited US, Saudi, and Lebanese officials who indicated that,
"in the past year, the Saudis, the Israelis, and the Bush Administration
have developed a series of informal understandings about their new
strategic direction," and that, "the Saudi government, with Washington’s
approval, would provide funds
and logistical aid to weaken the government of President Bashir Assad,
of Syria. The report would also state: <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Some of the core tactics of the redirection are not public, however. The
clandestine operations have been kept secret, in some cases, by leaving
the execution or the funding to the Saudis, or by finding other ways to
work around the normal congressional appropriations process, current
and former officials close to the Administration said. </blockquote>
Mention of the Muslim Brotherhood already receiving aid even in 2007 was also made: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, a branch of a radical Sunni movement
founded in Egypt in 1928, engaged in more than a decade of violent
opposition to the regime of Hafez Assad, Bashir’s father. In 1982, the
Brotherhood took control of the city of Hama; Assad bombarded the city
for a week, killing between six thousand and twenty thousand people.
Membership in the Brotherhood is punishable by death in Syria. The
Brotherhood is also an avowed enemy of the U.S. and of Israel.
Nevertheless, Jumblatt said, “We told Cheney that the basic link between
Iran and Lebanon is Syria—and to weaken Iran you need to open the door
to effective Syrian opposition.”<br />
<br />
There is evidence that the Administration’s redirection strategy has
already benefitted the Brotherhood. The Syrian National Salvation Front
is a coalition of opposition groups whose principal members are a
faction led by Abdul Halim Khaddam, a former Syrian Vice-President who
defected in 2005, and the Brotherhood. A former high-ranking C.I.A.
officer told me, “The Americans have provided both political and
financial support. The Saudis are taking the lead with financial
support, but there is American involvement.” He said that Khaddam, who
now lives in Paris, was getting money from Saudi Arabia, with the
knowledge of the White House. (In 2005, a delegation of the Front’s
members met with officials from the National Security Council, according
to press reports.) A former White House official told me that the
Saudis had provided members of the Front with travel documents. </blockquote>
The Wall Street Journal in 2007 would also implicate the Muslim
Brotherhood and more specifically, the so-called "National Salvation
Front," in its article, "<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118530969571176579.html">To Check Syria, U.S. Explores Bond With Muslim Brothers</a>."<br />
<br />
It is clear that the US, Saudi Arabia, and Israel planned to use
sectarian extremists against the nation of Syria starting at least as
early as 2007, and it is clear that now these sectarian extremists are
carrying out the destruction of Syria with a massive torrent of weapons
and cash provided by the US and its regional allies, just as was
described by Hersh's report. <br />
<br />
<b>A Moral Imperative to Save Syria </b><br />
<br />
Syria is under attack by an insidious, premeditated foreign assault,
intentionally using terrorist proxies in direct and complete violation
of any conceivable interpretation of both national and international
law. The world has a moral imperative to support the Syrian people and
their government as they fight this assault - both politically and
logistically. While US Secretary John Kerry is unable to account for how
his nation's support for moderates has left Al Qaeda's al-Nusra front
the premier militant faction in Syria, he has demanded that Iraq help
stem the flow of alleged aid Iran is providing the Syrian government as
it fights these terrorists.<br />
<br />
Does US Secretary of State John Kerry deny that Syria is fighting a
significant (and continuously growing) Al Qaeda presence within their
borders, which according to the US State Department's own statement, is
operating in every major city in the country? What conceivable
explanation or excuse could be made to justify the blockading of aid
sent to Syria to fight Al Qaeda terrorists? In fact, why isn't the US
aiding the Syrian government itself in its fight against Al Qaeda - a
terrorist organization the US has used as an excuse to wage unending
global war since 2001 when Al Qaeda allegedly killed some 3,000 American
civilians? <br />
<br />
Does Secretary Kerry believe that further arming "moderates" is a
legitimate strategy to counter Al Qaeda's growing presence in Syria when
these "moderates" openly defend Al Qaeda's al-Nusra? The US' own
hand-picked "Syrian opposition leader," Mouaz al Khatib, demanded the
US reconsider its designation of al Nusra as a terrorist organization.
Retuers reported in their article, "<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/12/us-syria-crisis-review-idUSBRE8BB0T820121212">Syrian opposition urges U.S. review of al-Nusra blacklisting</a>," that:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="articleText"><span class="focusParagraph"></span></span><br />
The leader of
Syria's opposition coalition urged the United States on Wednesday to
review its decision to designate the militant Islamist Jabhat al-Nusra
as a terrorist group, saying religion was a legitimate motive for Syrian
rebels. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="articleText"><span class="focusParagraph">
</span><span id="midArticle_1"></span></span>
"The decision to consider a
party that is fighting the regime as a terrorist party needs to be
reviewed," Mouaz Alkhatib told a "Friends of Syria"
meeting in Morocco, where Western and Arab states granted full
recognition to the coalition seeking to oust President Bashar al-Assad.</blockquote>
The US is directly responsible for the emergence and perpetuation of Al
Qaeda and other extremist groups in Syria. The statements of Secretary
John Kerry are made merely to maintain an increasingly tenuous
"plausible deniability." The precedent being set by the US and its
allies is one of using full-scale proxy invasions, that if successful in
Syria, will be directed into Iran, up through the Caucasus Mountains in
Russia, and even onto China's doorstep via extremists the West is
cultivating amongst the <span class="st">Uighurs. It is also clear that
the West is directly responsible for the extremists within their own
borders, and that these extremists are being used as a political tool
against the people of the West, just as they are being used as a
mercenary force abroad. </span><br />
<br />
<span class="st">A united front between nations against this wanton
state sponsorship of terrorism is needed - with nations pledging
political and logistical support to the Syrian people to defeat this
open conspiracy. Individually, we can identify, <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/10/self-sufficiency-local-solution-to.html">boycott</a>, and <a href="http://localorg.blogspot.com/2012/12/decenralize-big-retail.html">permanently replace</a> <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2011/03/naming-names-your-real-government.html">the corporate-financier interests</a>
who conceived of and are driving this agenda. Failure to stop such wide
scale criminality against the Syrian people now, will only invite
greater criminality against us all in the near future. </span></div>
</div>
Land Destroyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975347030080073643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-887631221850927814.post-68917326758430985232013-03-31T02:44:00.003-07:002013-03-31T02:44:45.069-07:00Syria and the Chemical Weapons Hoax<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>March 31, 2013</b> (<a href="http://www.corbettreport.com/">Corbett Report</a>)<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HQfz4dDFcOw?list=UU7TvL4GlQyMBLlUsTrN_C4Q" width="560"></iframe>
</div>
<br />
James Corbett of <a href="http://www.corbettreport.com/">corbettreport.com</a> joins Gary Franchi of WHDT9 on the
Next News Network to discuss recent reports of chemical weapons attacks
in Syria. They also talk about the new so-called Syrian Prime
Minister-in-exile, the possibility of war in the region, and the
implications of the government-media nexus.</div>
Land Destroyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975347030080073643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-887631221850927814.post-53476413959279395332013-03-24T07:30:00.001-07:002013-03-24T07:30:52.421-07:00US-Saudi Funded Terrorists Sowing Chaos in Pakistan <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Baluchistan, Pakistan - long target of
Western geopolitical interests, terror wave coincides with Gwadar Port
handover to China. </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-su_Fm8XbyXM/USFzr8yWQVI/AAAAAAAAG-Q/l6QxSElhchs/s1600/PakistanBaluchistanQuetta_Feb2013.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-su_Fm8XbyXM/USFzr8yWQVI/AAAAAAAAG-Q/l6QxSElhchs/s1600/PakistanBaluchistanQuetta_Feb2013.jpg" /></a></div>
<b>Originally Published: February 18, 2013</b> (<a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2013/02/us-saudi-funded-terrorists-sowing-chaos.html">LD</a>) - Quetta, the capital of Pakistan's
southwest Baluchistan province, bordering both US-occupied Afghanistan
as well as Iran, was the site of a grisly market bombing that has killed
over 80 people. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/17/pakistan-rulers-quetta-bombing">According to reports</a>,
the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has claimed responsibility for
the attack. Billed as a "Sunni extremist group," it instead fits the
pattern of global terrorism sponsored by the US, Israel, and their Arab
partners Saudi Arabia and Qatar.<br />
<br />
The terrorist Lashkar-e-Jhangvi group was in fact created, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20982987">according to the BBC</a>, to counter Iran's Islamic Revolution in the 1980's, and is still active today. Considering <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/05/syrian-war-prequel.html">the openly admitted US-Israeli-Saudi plot</a>
to use Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups across the Middle East to
counter Iran's influence, it begs the question whether these same
interests are funding terrorism in Pakistan to not only counter
Iranian-sympathetic Pakistani communities, but to undermine and
destabilize Pakistan itself.<br />
<a name='more'></a><b>The US-Saudi Global Terror Network </b><br />
<br />
While the United States <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/08/introducing-gulf-state-despots-10-facts.html">is close allies with Saudi Arabia</a> and <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2013/01/israeli-attack-desperate-bid-to-save.html">Qatar</a>,
it is well established that the chief financier of extremist militant
groups for the past 3 decades, including Al Qaeda, are in fact Saudi
Arabia and Qatar. While Qatari state-owned propaganda like Al Jazeera
apply a veneer of progressive pro-democracy to its narratives, Qatar
itself is involved in arming, funding, and even providing direct
military support for sectarian extremists from northern Mali, to Libya,
to Syria and beyond. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=887631221850927814" name="more"></a><br />
France 24's report "<a href="http://www.france24.com/en/20130121-qatar-mali-france-ansar-dine-mnla-al-qaeda-sunni-islam-doha">Is Qatar fuelling the crisis in north Mali?</a>" provides a useful vignette of Saudi-Qatari terror sponsorship, stating:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“The MNLA [secular Tuareg separatists], al Qaeda-linked Ansar Dine and
MUJAO [movement for unity and Jihad in West Africa] have all received
cash from Doha.” <br />
<br />
A month later Sadou Diallo, the mayor of the
north Malian city of Gao [which had fallen to the Islamists] told RTL
radio: “The French government knows perfectly well who is supporting
these terrorists. Qatar, for example, continues to send so-called aid
and food every day to the airports of Gao and Timbuktu.”</blockquote>
The report also stated: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Qatar has an established a network of institutions it funds in Mali,
including madrassas, schools and charities that it has been funding
from the 1980s,” he wrote, adding that Qatar would be expecting a return
on this investment.<br />
<br />
“Mali has huge oil and gas potential and it needs help developing its
infrastructure,” he said. “Qatar is well placed to help, and could
also, on the back of good relations with an Islamist-ruled north Mali,
exploit rich gold and uranium deposits in the country.”</blockquote>
These institutions are present not only in Mali, but around the world,
and provide a nearly inexhaustible supply of militants for both the
Persian Gulf monarchies and their Western allies to use both as a
perpetual casus belli to invade and occupy foreign nations such as Mali
and Afghanistan, as well as a sizable, persistent mercenary force, as
seen in Libya and Syria. Such institutions jointly run by Western
intelligence agencies across Europe and in America, fuel domestic
fear-mongering and the resulting security state that allows Western
governments to more closely control their populations as they pursue
reckless, unpopular policies at home and abroad. <br />
<br />
Since Saudi-Qatari geopolitical interests are entwined with
Anglo-American interests, both the "investment" and "return on this
investment" are clearly part of a joint venture. France's involvement in
Mali has demonstrably failed to curb such extremists, has instead,
predictably left the nation occupied by Western interests <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2013/01/by-design-french-mali-invasion-spills.html">while driving terrorists further north into the real target, Algeria</a>.<br />
<br />
Additionally, it should be noted, that <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/global-hypocrisy-france-arming-libyan.html">France in particular, played a leading role</a>
along side Qatar and Saudi Arabia in handing Libya over to these very
same extremists. French politicians were in Benghazi shaking hands with
militants they would be "fighting" in the near future in northern Mali.<br />
<br />
<b>Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is Part of US-Saudi Terror Network </b><br />
<br />
In terms of Pakistan's Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, as well as the infamous
Lashkar-e-Taiba that carried out the 2008 Mumbai, India attack killing
over 160, both are affiliates of Al Qaeda, and both have been linked
financially, directly to Saudi Arabia. In the Guardian's article, "<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/05/wikileaks-cables-saudi-terrorist-funding">WikiLeaks cables portray Saudi Arabia as a cash machine for terrorists</a>," the US State Department even acknowledges that Saudi Arabia is indeed funding terrorism in Pakistan: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Saudi Arabia
is the world's largest source of funds for Islamist militant groups
such as the Afghan Taliban and Lashkar-e-Taiba – but the Saudi
government is reluctant to stem the flow of money, according to Hillary
Clinton.<br />
<br />
"More needs to be done since Saudi Arabia remains a critical financial
support base for al-Qaida, the Taliban, LeT and other terrorist groups,"
says a secret December 2009 paper signed by the US secretary of state.
Her memo urged US diplomats to redouble their efforts to stop Gulf money
reaching extremists in Pakistan and Afghanistan.<br />
<br />
"Donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide," she said.<br />
<br />
Three other Arab countries are listed as sources of militant money: Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. </blockquote>
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has also been financially linked to the Persian Gulf monarchies. Stanford University's "<a href="http://www.stanford.edu/group/mappingmilitants/cgi-bin/groups/view/215">Mapping Militant Organizations: Lashkar-e-Jhangvi</a>," states under "External Influences:" <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
LeJ has received money from several Persian Gulf countries including
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates[25] These countries funded LeJ
and other Sunni militant groups primarily to counter the rising
influence of Iran's revolutionary Shiism. </blockquote>
Astonishingly, despite these admission, the US works politically,
financially, economically, and even militarily in tandem with these very
same state-sponsors of rampant, global terrorism. In Libya and Syria,
the US has even assisted in the funding and arming of Al Qaeda and
affiliated terrorist groups, and had conspired with Saudi Arabia <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/03/05/070305fa_fact_hersh">since at least 2007</a>
to overthrow both Syria and Iran with these terrorist groups. And while
Saudi Arabia funds terrorism in Pakistan, the US is well documented to
be funding political subversion in the very areas where the most heinous
attacks are being carried out.<br />
<br />
<b>US Political Subversion in Baluchistan, Pakistan</b><br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.ned.org/where-we-work/asia/pakistan" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">The US State Department's National Endowment for Democracy (NED) has been directly funding</a><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> and supporting the work of the "Balochistan Institute for Development" (BIFD) </span><a href="http://bifd.weebly.com/bifd.html" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">which claims to be</a><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> "</span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">the
leading resource on democracy, development and human rights in
Balochistan, Pakistan." In addition to organizing the annual NED-BFID "</span><a href="http://bifd.weebly.com/2nd-workshop-report.html" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Workshop on Media, Democracy & Human Rights</a><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">"
BFID reports that USAID had provided funding for a "media-center" for
the Baluchistan Assembly to "provide better facilities to reporters who
cover the proceedings of the Balochistan Assembly." We must assume BFID
meant reporters "trained" at NED-BFID workshops.</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NetIbzanVmk/USFqdReMXXI/AAAAAAAAG9o/9PJlaxq5TjM/s1600/BaluchistanUSstateDept.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="386" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NetIbzanVmk/USFqdReMXXI/AAAAAAAAG9o/9PJlaxq5TjM/s640/BaluchistanUSstateDept.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YumVvprjMu4/T4dsifmSmKI/AAAAAAAABYo/SMvbR2izQ-s/s1600/BaluchistanUSstateDept.jpg"> </a><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Image</span><span style="font-style: italic;">: A screenshot of "Voice of Balochistan's" </span><a href="http://voiceofbalochistan.com/english/vob-content-library/top-stories/archives/19-Jan-2012/78/us-state-department-answers-baloch-tweeter%E2%80%99s-question-on-balochistan-situation.html" style="font-style: italic;">special US State Department message</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.
While VOB fails to disclose its funding, it is a sure bet it, like
other US-funded propaganda fronts, is nothing more than a US State
Department outlet. (click image to enlarge) </span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
....</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-un688GB5XJc/USFvBRvgCNI/AAAAAAAAG94/Uu0hfLVibWc/s1600/NED_in_Baluchistan.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="438" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-un688GB5XJc/USFvBRvgCNI/AAAAAAAAG94/Uu0hfLVibWc/s640/NED_in_Baluchistan.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Images</span><span style="font-style: italic;">: In addition to the annual Fortune 500-funded “</span><a href="http://www.crisisbalochistan.com/secondary_menu/news/2011-balochistan-international-conference-washington-dc-usa.html" style="font-style: italic;">Balochistan International Conference</a><span style="font-style: italic;">,”
the US State Department's National Endowment for Democracy has been
busy at work building up Baluchistan's "civil society" network. This
includes support for the "Balochistan Institute For Development," which
maintains a "</span><a href="http://bifd.weebly.com/academy.html" style="font-style: italic;">BIFD Leadership Academy</a><span style="font-style: italic;">,"
claiming to "mobilize, train and encourage youth to play its effective
role in promotion of democracy development and rule of law." The goal
is to subvert Pakistani governance while simultaneously creating a
homogeneous "civil society" that interlocks with the West's
"international institutions." This is how modern empire perpetuates
itself. </span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
....</div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">There is also </span><a href="http://voiceofbalochistan.com/english/index.php" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Voice of Balochistan</a><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> whose every top-story is US-funded propaganda</span></span><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> drawn from foundation-funded </span><a href="http://voiceofbalochistan.com/english/vob-content-library/top-stories/archives/08-Nov-2011/77/bullet-riddled-body-of-missing-journalist-found-in-balochistan.html" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Reporters Without Borders</a><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">, Soros-funded </span><a href="http://voiceofbalochistan.com/english/vob-content-library/top-stories/archives/23-Jan-2012/79/hrw;world-report-2012:-pakistan.html" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Human Rights Watch</a><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">, and even </span><a href="http://voiceofbalochistan.com/english/vob-content-library/top-stories/archives/19-Jan-2012/78/us-state-department-answers-baloch-tweeter%E2%80%99s-question-on-balochistan-situation.html" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">a direct message from the US State Department</a><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> itself. Like other US State Department funded propaganda outfits around the world - </span><a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2011/08/exposed-indy-newspaper-funded-by-us.html" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">such as Thailand's Prachatai</a><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
- funding is generally obfuscated in order to maintain "credibility" even
when the front's constant torrent of obvious propaganda more than
exposes them.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="http://www.bso-na.org/sitebuilder/images/bsona-929x195.jpg" src="http://www.bso-na.org/sitebuilder/images/bsona-929x195.jpg" style="height: 112px; width: 535px;" /></div>
<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Image</span></span><span style="font-style: italic;">: Far from parody, this is the header taken from the "Baloch Society of North America" website. </span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
....</div>
<br />
Perhaps
the most absurd operations being run to undermine Pakistan through the
"Free Baluchistan" movement are the US and London-based organizations.
The "<a href="http://www.bso-na.org/index.html">Baloch Society of North America</a>"
almost appears to be a parody at first, but nonetheless serves as a
useful aggregate and bellwether regarding US meddling in Pakistan's
Baluchistan province. The group's founder, <a href="http://www.bso-na.org/Dr_Wahid_Baloch.html">Dr. Wahid. Baloch</a>,
openly admits he has met with US politicians in regards to Baluchistan
independence. This includes Neo-Con warmonger, PNAC signatory,
corporate-lobbyist, and National Endowment for Democracy director <a href="http://ned.org/about/board/zalmay-khalilzad">Zalmay Khalilzad</a>.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Dr. Wahid Baloch </span><a href="http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/%5Cpapers21%5Cpaper2046.html" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">considers Baluchistan province "occupied</a><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">"
by both the Iranian and Pakistani governments - he and his movement's
humanitarian hand-wringing gives Washington the perfect pretext to
create an armed conflagration against either Iran or Pakistan, or both,
as planned in detail by various US policy think-tanks.</span><br />
<br />
There is also the <a href="http://www.balochwarna.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=3452">Baloch Students Organisation-Azad</a>,
or BSO. While it maintains a presence in Pakistan, it has coordinators
based in London. London-based BSO members include "information
secretaries" that propagate their message via social media, just as US
and British-funded youth organizations did during the West's operations
against other targeted nations during the <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2011/12/2011-year-of-dupe.html">US-engineered "Arab Spring</a>."<br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-g5KHmPBPQTI/USFqd0NdU1I/AAAAAAAAG9s/-1KCh1BdAYI/s1600/BaluchistanLondon.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="460" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-g5KHmPBPQTI/USFqd0NdU1I/AAAAAAAAG9s/-1KCh1BdAYI/s640/BaluchistanLondon.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CDmhthOCuzE/T4dsikhwnvI/AAAAAAAABYw/-vrVM3XR3Ro/s1600/BaluchistanLondon.jpg"> </a><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Image</span><span style="font-style: italic;">:
A screenshot of a "Baloch Human rights activist and information
secretary of BSO Azad London zone" Twitter account. This user, in tandem
with look-alike accounts has been propagating anti-Pakistani, pro-"Free
Baluchistan" propaganda incessantly. They also engage in coordinated
attacks with prepared rhetoric against anyone revealing US ties to
Baluchistan terrorist organizations. </span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">.... </span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span>
And while the US does not openly admit to funding and arming terrorists
in Pakistan yet, many across established Western policy think-tanks have
called for it.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="http://landdestroyer.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/pakistanmap1.png" src="http://landdestroyer.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/pakistanmap1.png" style="height: 400px; width: 501px;" /></div>
<i><span style="font-weight: bold;">Image</span>: Why Baluchistan? Gwadar in the southwest serves as a Chinese port and the starting</i><i> point for a logistical corridor through Pakistan and into Chinese</i><i>
territory. The Iranian-Pakistani-Indian pipeline would enter from the
west, cross through Baluchistan intersecting China's proposed logistical
route to the northern border, and continue on to India. Destabilizing
Baluchistan would effectively derail the geopolitical aspirations of
four nations. </i><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
....</div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span>
<a href="http://nationalinterest.org/profile/selig-s-harrison">Selig Harrison</a> of the <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/03/surpise-soros-is-convicted-criminal.html">convicted criminal</a>, George Soros-funded <a href="http://ciponline.org/aboutus.htm#funding">Center for International Policy,</a> has published two pieces regarding the armed “liberation” of Baluchistan.<br />
<br />
Harrison’s February 2011 piece, “<a href="http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/free-baluchistan-4799">Free Baluchistan</a>,”
calls to “aid the 6 million Baluch insurgents fighting for
independence from Pakistan in the face of growing ISI repression.” He
continues by explaining the various merits of such meddling by stating: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Pakistan has given China a base at Gwadar in the heart of Baluch
territory. So an independent Baluchistan would serve U.S. strategic
interests in addition to the immediate goal of countering Islamist
forces.” </blockquote>
Harrison would follow up his frank call to carve up
Pakistan by addressing the issue of Chinese-Pakistani relations in a
March 2011 piece titled, “<a href="http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/chinese-cozy-up-pakistanis-5027">The Chinese Cozy Up to the Pakistanis</a>.”
He states: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“China’s expanding reach is a natural and
acceptable accompaniment of its growing power—but only up to a point. ” </blockquote>
He continues: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“To counter what China is doing in Pakistan, the United
States should play hardball by supporting the movement for an
independent Baluchistan along the Arabian Sea and working with Baluch
insurgents to oust the Chinese from their budding naval base at Gwadar.
Beijing wants its inroads into Gilgit and Baltistan to be the first
step on its way to an Arabian Sea outlet at Gwadar.”</blockquote>
While aspirations of freedom and independence are used to sell Western
meddling in Pakistan, the geopolitical interests couched behind this
rhetoric is openly admitted to. The prophetic words of Harrison should
ring loud in one's ears today. It is in fact this month, <a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/article-88261-Pakistan-China-Gwadar-Port-deal-to-be-struck-on-18th">that Pakistan officially hands over the port in Gwadar to China</a>,
and Harrison's armed militants are creating bloodshed and chaos,
attempting to trigger a destructive sectarian war that will indeed
threaten to "oust the Chinese from their budding naval base at Gwadar."<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span>
<a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2013/01/syrias-muslim-brotherhood-propped-up-by.html">Like in Syria</a>,
we have a documented conspiracy years in the making being carried out
before our very eyes. The people of Pakistan must not fall into the trap
laid by the West who seeks to engulf Baluchistan in sectarian bloodshed
with the aid of Saudi and Qatari-laundered cash and weapons. For the
rest of the world, we must continue <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2011/03/naming-names-your-real-government.html">to uncover the corporate-financier special interests</a> driving these insidious plots, boycott and <a href="http://localorg.blogspot.com/2012/12/decenralize-big-retail.html">permanently replace</a> them on a local level.<br />
<br />
The US-Saudi terror racket has spilled blood from New York City, across
Northern Africa, throughout the Middle East, and as far as Pakistan and
beyond. If we do not undermine and ultimately excise these special
interests, their plans and double games will only get bolder and the
inevitability of their engineered chaos effecting us individually will
only grow.</div>
Land Destroyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975347030080073643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-887631221850927814.post-52317190205475987092013-03-24T07:26:00.000-07:002013-03-24T07:26:12.273-07:00Storyful - Niche Propagandists Work Full-Time Distorting Syria Conflict <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>March 24, 2013</b> (<a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2013/03/storyful-niche-propagandists-work-full.html">LD</a>) - The Western media monopolies, the same media houses that willfully and repeatedly told <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/15/defector-admits-wmd-lies-iraq-war">lies regarding "weapons of mass destruction" in Iraq</a>
to help sell the corporate-financier engineered invasion and occupation
of the Middle Eastern nation for a decade, have been very busy since.
They helped sell <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2011/09/atlantic-council-is-libya-global-con.html">NATO and its corporate-financier backers'</a>
war of aggression and subjugation against Libya, and has been
attempting to sell a repeat of the atrocities committed in North Africa,
this time in Syria.<br />
<br />
They certainly have their hands full. With the emergence of social media and the <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2011/02/googles-revolution-factory.html">US State Department's overt attempts at co-opting it</a>
to execute its geopolitical agenda, it would be very helpful if there
were entire companies dedicated to trawling Facebook, YouTube, and
Twitter to supply the Western media houses with prepackaged, filtered
content designed specifically to help them bolster their predetermined,
biased, self-serving conclusions.<br />
<br />
One such company indeed exists. Called, "<a href="http://storyful.com/about/">Storyful</a>," it claims on its website that: <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Storyful is the first news agency of the social media age. We help newsrooms find the most valuable content on the social web. </blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hwI63h-Dm2M/UU72jjfAZ0I/AAAAAAAAHGM/CWXLgRwSFKU/s1600/Syria_Storyful.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="378" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hwI63h-Dm2M/UU72jjfAZ0I/AAAAAAAAHGM/CWXLgRwSFKU/s640/Syria_Storyful.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<i><b>Image</b>: A screenshot of Storyful's website as of March 23,
2013. Storyful is a niche propaganda organization which supplies the
Western media monopolies with filtered, prepackaged biased accounts of
world events - including of the <a href="http://storyful.com/case-studies/case-study-ongoing-syria-coverage">ongoing Syria crisis</a> (<a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/132078381/Storyful-Ongoing-Syria-Coverage">archived here</a>).
It boasts that it's content, trawled from across the Internet's various
social media platforms, is cited 10's of thousands of times across the
Western media.</i><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
....</div>
<a name='more'></a>Listed under "<a href="http://storyful.com/">who we work with</a>," are
the same notorious corporate-financier propagandists who have mislead
and distorted public perception for decades, including: The New York
Times, ABC (Australia), France24, ABC News (US), The Economist, Reuters,
and Bloomberg. Also listed are open conspirators working with the <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2011/02/googles-revolution-factory.html">US State Department since at least 2008</a>
to exploit emerging social media platforms to sell the West's
corporate-financier geopolitical aspirations, including Google and
YouTube.<br />
<br />
But how do we know Storyful is specifically helping the same Western
media houses that insidiously sold us the Iraq War, to now sell the
West's narrative versus Syria? Storyful itself admits as much in <a href="http://storyful.com/case-studies/case-study-ongoing-syria-coverage">an entire page</a> (<a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/132078381/Storyful-Ongoing-Syria-Coverage">archived here</a>) dedicated to its work on trawling for activist propaganda regarding Syria.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3A_KxVP8cJk/UU8BbycJ25I/AAAAAAAAHGk/GNlvTNGQavo/s1600/Syria_Storyful_03.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3A_KxVP8cJk/UU8BbycJ25I/AAAAAAAAHGk/GNlvTNGQavo/s640/Syria_Storyful_03.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<i><b>Image</b>: Taken from "Storyful's" "Ongoing Syria Coverage page,
it represents a biased, one-sided collection of "activist" accusations,
videos, and photographs meant to portray the Syrian conflict as per the
West's established narrative. While "Storyful" claims to be a "news
agency," it clearly is disinterested in balanced coverage, and exposes
itself as a niche propaganda outfit. </i><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
....</div>
<br />
Titled, "<a href="http://storyful.com/case-studies/case-study-ongoing-syria-coverage">Ongoing Syria Coverage," </a>Storyful admits:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Storyful has validated and published close to 3,000 Syria-related items
since the beginning of the conflict there in March 2011. Our team
follows emerging events, but also monitors the nuanced ebb and flow of
the conflict.</blockquote>
<blockquote>
In July and August alone, Storyful sourced footage was broadcast more than 14,000 times by news organisations around the world.</blockquote>
While Storyful's "case study" regarding Syria is brief, every single example is drawn from <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/03/syria-game-over-for-western-propaganda.html">woefully unreliable "activist" accounts</a>.
There are no stories regarding atrocities and abuse carried out by the
so-called opposition. Surely, if "Storyful" was a genuine "news agency"
as it claims to be, it would have provided balanced coverage of the
events in Syria. However, it is as much a "news agency" <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/02/bbc-are-corporate-paid-propagandists.html">as the BBC is</a>, who is habitually caught fabricating stories, using <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/05/bbc-deceitfully-posts-images-from-iraq.html">faked/inappropriate photography in its coverage</a>, and taking cash to skew its so-called "documentaries." <br />
<br />
It is abundantly clear that what the Western media has been telling us
regarding Syria for the past 2 years has been a lie. It is becoming
increasingly obvious that the so-called "pro-democracy" movement is
nothing more than a reignited Muslim Brotherhood terror campaign,
involving everyone from Al Qaeda affiliated terrorists on the streets,
to card-carrying <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2013/03/us-new-syrian-pm-yet-another-muslim.html">Muslim Brotherhood members leading</a>
the West's various contrived opposition fronts. There is now little
doubt of the validity regarding Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/03/05/070305fa_fact_hersh?currentPage=all">Seymour Hersh's 9 page New Yorker report in 2007</a>
that foreshadowed what was described then as a Western conspiracy to
overthrow the governments of Iran and Syria with sectarian extremists
with direct ties to Al Qaeda. <br />
<br />
Similar reports from as far back as 2007, including the Wall Street Journal's ""<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118530969571176579.html">To Check Syria, U.S. Explores Bond With Muslim Brothers</a>"
likewise contradict fully the narrative put forth by the West's media
monopolies, with the help of niche propagandists like "Storyful." Worse
yet, are reports like those out of the Fortune 500 funded and chaired
Brookings Institution like 2009's "<a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2011/02/brookings-which-path-to-persia.html">Which Path to Persia?</a>"
which meticulously documents plans to use subversion, faux-democracy
movements, and even arming and funding listed-terrorist organizations
like Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) to overthrow the nation of Iran. In fact,
Brookings prescribed in 2009 that MEK be "de-listed" first before being
used against Iran - advice that would eventually be acted upon in 2012, <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/09/us-to-delist-arm-american-killing.html">when indeed, MEK was de-listed</a>. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cxZBhsGUUao/UU8AK7jUPfI/AAAAAAAAHGc/Glpo1_En5us/s1600/Syria_Storyful_02.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="92" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cxZBhsGUUao/UU8AK7jUPfI/AAAAAAAAHGc/Glpo1_En5us/s640/Syria_Storyful_02.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<i><b>Image</b>: Gavin Sherian of Storyful's response to a torrent of
evidence contradicting his and his organization's misrepresentation of
the conflict in Syria. From Sherian's cackling unprofessional behavior,
to the clearly biased nature of Storyful's own "Ongoing Syria Coverage"
page, it is clear that Storyful is yet another tentacle sprouting forth
from Wall Street and London's corporate-media machine. </i><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
....</div>
<br />
This torrent of evidence has in fact been addressed by "Storyful's"
director, Ireland-based Gavin Sheridan with the one-worded response,
"lol." One should not expect more from a man who makes his living
supplying content to notoriously deceitful media organizations who have
habitually lied to the public for decades. What is more important is
that people realize that social media has become a new and important
platform that the corporate-financier interests seek to monopolize, just
as they have printed and broadcasted media.<br />
<br />
Organizations like "Storyful" seek to cash in on this desire, and fill a
niche within the intricate web of propaganda and lies industrialists
and financiers have built up throughout modern history. It is important
to expose and understand what "Storyful's" role is, and that other
organizations are most likely hiding with them in the dank corners of
Wall Street and London's expansive media machine.</div>
Land Destroyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975347030080073643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-887631221850927814.post-46200812760893108512013-03-24T07:25:00.000-07:002013-03-24T07:25:07.436-07:00US' New "Syrian PM" Yet Another Muslim Brotherhood Extremist <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="post-header">
</div>
<div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2920824923044200260" itemprop="description articleBody">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zrTwGmjkDJw/UUjDzJ6k2NI/AAAAAAAAHFc/icRU8AFHlz0/s1600/Syria_Hitto.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zrTwGmjkDJw/UUjDzJ6k2NI/AAAAAAAAHFc/icRU8AFHlz0/s320/Syria_Hitto.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b>March 19, 2013 </b>(<a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2013/03/us-new-syrian-pm-yet-another-muslim.html">LD</a>) - The Western media eagerly announced that
long time US resident Ghassan Hitto was chosen as the new "interim prime
minister" of NATO's proxy forces fighting in Syria. While most
headlines attempted to focus solely on Hitto's long stay in the US and
his role in a tech firm based in Texas, The Globe and Mail reported in
their article, "<a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/canadian-loses-bid-to-lead-syrias-rebels-ottawas-stance-assailed/article9870121/">Canadian loses bid to lead Syria's rebels; Ottawa's stance assailed</a>," that: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Ghassan Hitto, a Kurd with links to the Muslim Brotherhood, was elected
in the early hours of Tuesday at a meeting of leading opposition figures
of the Syrian National Coalition.</blockquote>
Some reports indicate that Hitto was in fact pushed forward specifically
by the Muslim Brotherhood. The AFP reported in their article, "<a href="http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/-/world/16396021/ghassan-hitto-wins-syria-vote-for-rebel-premier/">Ghassan Hitto voted premier of Syria's rebel territory</a>," that: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Some Coalition members described Hitto as a consensus candidate pleasing both the opposition's Islamist and liberal factions.<br />
<br />
But
some of the 70-odd Coalition members withdrew from the consultations
before the vote could take place, accusing opposition heavyweight Muslim
Brotherhood of imposing Hitto as a candidate. <a name='more'></a></blockquote>
The article would also say: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"We don't want what happened in Egypt to happen in Syria. They hijacked
the revolution," Coalition member Kamal Labwani, who walked out of the
vote, told AFP. </blockquote>
Associated Press would report in their article, "<a href="http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/syrian-opposition-elects-ghassan-hitto-as-interim-pm#full">Syrian opposition elects Ghassan Hitto as interim PM</a>," that: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Mr Hitto, 50, who is believed to have Islamist leanings, received 35 of
49 votes in a meeting of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) in Istanbul
in the early hours yesterday. He was supported by the Muslim
Brotherhood, which is a powerful bloc within the opposition. </blockquote>
<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=887631221850927814" name="more"></a>This latest round of political "musical chairs" is
meant to once again clear the board for the West in hopes of confusing
the public, while NATO's proxies remain firmly led and comprised
primarily of hardcore terrorists and sectarian extremist intent on the
ruination of Syria, just as was done in the now decimated North African
nation of Libya. Hitto takes the reins of this Western-contrived front
from fellow sectarian extremist, Moaz al-Khatib, also an affiliate of
the Muslim Brotherhood and <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/12/us-backed-syrian-opposition-demands.html">an unabashed defender of Al Qaeda's al-Nusra front</a>, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9886495/Damascus-bomb-one-of-deadliest-of-Syrian-civil-war.html">who frequently takes credit</a> for the indiscriminate bombings, murder and maiming of civilians across Syria. <br /><br />
<br />
Since long before the 2011 violence began, the US, Israel, and Saudi
Arabia had conspired to use sectarian extremists, specifically the
Muslim Brotherhood and terrorist groups linked directly to Al Qaeda as
the main force with which to overthrow the Syrian government, not for
"spreading democracy," but specifically to undermine and destroy
neighboring Iran and reassert Western hegemony across the Middle East. <br />
<br />
<b>West Planned Overthrow of Syria Via the Brotherhood Since 2007</b><br />
<br />
Pulitizer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh, in his 9-page 2007 New Yorker report titled, "<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/03/05/070305fa_fact_hersh?currentPage=all">The Redirection: Is the Administration’s new policy benefiting our enemies in the war on terrorism?</a>" stated explicitly that: <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush
Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in
the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has coöperated with
Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations
that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is
backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations
aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has
been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant
vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda." </blockquote>
Hersh's report would also include:
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"the Saudi government, with Washington’s approval, would provide funds
and logistical aid to weaken the government of President Bashir Assad,
of Syria. The Israelis believe that putting such pressure on the Assad
government will make it more conciliatory and open to negotiations."</blockquote>
Hersh also reported that a supporter of the Lebanese pro-US-Saudi Hariri faction had met
Dick Cheney in Washington and relayed personally the importance of using
the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria in any move against the ruling
government:
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"[Walid] Jumblatt then told me that he had met with Vice-President Cheney in
Washington last fall to discuss, among other issues, the possibility of
undermining Assad. He and his colleagues advised Cheney that, if the
United States does try to move against Syria, members of the Syrian
Muslim Brotherhood would be “the ones to talk to,” Jumblatt said."</blockquote>
The article would continue by explaining how already in 2007 US and Saudi backing had begun benefiting the Brotherhood: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"There is evidence that the Administration’s redirection strategy has
already benefitted the Brotherhood. The Syrian National Salvation Front
is a coalition of opposition groups whose principal members are a
faction led by Abdul Halim Khaddam, a former Syrian Vice-President who
defected in 2005, and the Brotherhood. A former high-ranking C.I.A.
officer told me, “The Americans have provided both political and
financial support. The Saudis are taking the lead with financial
support, but there is American involvement.” He said that Khaddam, who
now lives in Paris, was getting money from Saudi Arabia, with the
knowledge of the White House. (In 2005, a delegation of the Front’s
members met with officials from the National Security Council, according
to press reports.) A former White House official told me that the
Saudis had provided members of the Front with travel documents." </blockquote>
At one point in Hersh's report, it is even admitted that officials from
US ally Saudi Arabia admitted to "controlling" the "religious
fundamentalists." The report states specifically: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"...[Saudi Arabia's] Bandar and other
Saudis have assured the White House that “they will keep a very close
eye on the religious fundamentalists. Their message to us was ‘We’ve
created this movement, and we can control it.’ It’s not that we don’t
want the Salafis to throw bombs; it’s <i>who</i> they throw them at—Hezbollah, Moqtada al-Sadr, Iran, and at the Syrians, if they continue to work with Hezbollah and Iran.” </blockquote>
Also in 2007, the Wall Street Journal would publish a report titled, "<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118530969571176579.html">To Check Syria, U.S. Explores Bond With Muslim Brothers</a>."
In this report, it was revealed that even in 2007, Syrian opposition
groups were being created from whole-cloth by the US State Department
and paraded around in front of Syria's embassies in the West. The
article begins with one such protest, stating: <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
On a humid afternoon in late May, about 100 supporters of Syria's
largest exile opposition group, the National Salvation Front, gathered
outside Damascus's embassy here to protest Syrian President Bashar
Assad's rule. The participants shouted anti-Assad slogans and raised
banners proclaiming: "Change the Regime Now." </blockquote>
Later in the article, it would be revealed that the National Salvation
Front (NSF) was in contact with the US State Department and that a
Washington-based consulting firm in fact assisted the NSF in organizing
the rally:
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6296737490016844972" name="more"></a><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In the weeks before the presidential election, the State Department's
Middle East Partnership Initiative, which promotes regional democracy,
and NSF members met to talk about publicizing Syria's lack of democracy
and low voter turnout, participants say. A Washington-based consulting
firm, C&O Resources Inc., assisted the NSF in its planning for the
May 26 anti-Assad rally at the Syrian embassy, providing media and
political contacts. State Department officials stress they provided no
financial or technical support to the protestors.</blockquote>
And while the Wall Street Journal then, just as the US State Department
and the Western media houses are now portraying the Syrian opposition as
representing a wide range of interests across Syrian society, it was
admitted then, just as it is plainly obvious now, that the sectarian
extremist Muslim Brotherhood was in fact at the very center of the
"uprising:" <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
One of the NSF's most influential members is the Syrian branch of the
Muslim Brotherhood -- the decades-old political movement active across
the Middle East whose leaders have inspired the terrorist groups Hamas
and al Qaeda. Its Syrian offshoot says it has renounced armed struggle
in favor of democratic reform.</blockquote>
The continuous necessity of the West to rebrand its proxy front stems
from the fact that it, along with the Western agenda that created it,
lacks any dimension of legitimacy. Combined with the increasingly
tenuous reputation of the West's media monopolies and a better informed
public, the lifespan of each new proxy is decreasing exponentially.<br />
<br />
Hitto has yet to form a "government," and already his ties to extremists
are being exposed - even by other members of his own contrived front -
perhaps realizing the difficulties that lie ahead with disasters like
Libya and Egypt smoldering behind. Any aid or political support the US,
UK, France, and its partners in the Middle East including Israel, Saudi
Arabia, and Qatar attempt to lend Hitto's foreign-contrived government
will be done so with the public's full understanding that such support
is being willfully given to sectarian extremists who not only fail to
represent the West's ideals of "democracy" or "freedom," but fail to
represent even the majority of people living in Syria. <br />
<br />
Yet despite these apparently insurmountable difficulties, should the
West pick a leader not affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and its
terrorist spin-offs, the opposition in Syria would splinter and collapse
- because the "secular moderates" the White House keeps telling the
world about, simply do not exist. Its otherwise irrational insistence on
propping up one discredited Muslim Brotherhood dictator after another
is clearly indicative of this. </div>
</div>
</div>
Land Destroyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975347030080073643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-887631221850927814.post-27320323769912582472013-03-24T07:24:00.002-07:002013-03-24T07:24:19.358-07:00Syria teeters on Obama’s “Red Line” <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
March 23, 2013 (<a href="http://nilebowie.blogspot.com/2013/03/syria-teeters-on-obamas-red-line.html?utm_source=BP_recent">Nile Bowie</a>) - The pages of history tell us that beautiful civilizations emerged and
prospered in the ancient cities of Damascus and Aleppo, some of the
oldest continually inhabited cities on earth. The harrowing circus of
brutality that is the Syrian conflict, now in its third year, will soil
and blacken those pages indefinitely. No matter the political outcome of
this horrible war, a once tolerant and diverse state has been shattered
and terror itself has eaten into the destiny of Syria’s people,
inexorably changing the courses of their lives forever. Children have
been orphaned; parents have faced the loss of their children – and by
uncompromising means. Infants have been beheaded, the fates of innocent
men and women have been sealed through summary executions, and families
have been torn apart or destroyed all together. Recent developments in
Syria are alarming. <br />
<br />
Spokesmen of the Assad government recently accused foreign-backed
militants of launching scud missiles containing chemical weapons in the
city of Aleppo, killing dozens. Witnesses claim to have seen powder
emanate from the rocket, causing those who inhaled the substance to
suffocate or require immediate medical attention. An unnamed chemical
weapons expert cited by Al-Jazeera claimed that the causalities were not
consistent with Syria’s reputed stockpile of chemical agents, stating, “<i>If it’s a chemical warfare agent, it’s not working very well</i>.”
Syria’s ambassador to the UN, Bashar Ja'afari, called on the UN
Secretary-General to form an independent technical mission to
investigate the use of chemical weapons by terrorist groups operating in
Syria. <br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ak09xxfCxjI/UUslps6LHmI/AAAAAAAAAmM/F2v3qwd4sWM/s1600/SYRIACHEM1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ak09xxfCxjI/UUslps6LHmI/AAAAAAAAAmM/F2v3qwd4sWM/s400/SYRIACHEM1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div>
<a name='more'></a></div>
<div>
While on his first state visit to Israel, Barack Obama cast doubt and
expressed deep scepticism toward the Assad government’s version of
events, stating that if the government did indeed use chemical weapons,
then it meant a “<i>red line</i>” had been crossed. Obama vowed not to
make further announcements until concrete facts were established. What
this essentially means is that Obama is now in a position to act on his
statements and intervene more boldly and directly than the United States
has already been doing since the beginning of the conflict.
Additionally, NATO personnel have also indicated that they are prepared
to employ a wide range of operations. US-European Command Admiral James
Stavridis recently told media that the alliance was “<i>prepared, if called upon, to be engaged as we were in Libya</i>.” <br />
<br />
Those who have critically monitored the situation from the beginning are
under no illusions. The way in which mainstream media sources have
covered the Syrian conflict, perhaps more so than any other topic in
recent times, shows unequivocally how certain content providers have
moved in step with the foreign policy of the Western and Gulf states who
have enabled insurgent groups and provided diplomatic cover for
opposition politicians who represent their economic and strategic
interests. The Obama administration’s policy toward Libya and Syria eyes
the same familiar endgame as what the Bush administration sought in its
foreign policy adventures. The fact that many of those on the left who
campaigned against Iraq and Afghanistan are now generally silent, or
even supportive of Obama’s agenda, is proof that his policies have been
packaged far more intelligently for mainstream consumption. The reality
is that Syria is “<i>Shock and Awe</i>” by other means. <br />
<br />
There are a myriad of reasons why Bashar al-Assad must go in the eyes of
policy makers in Washington and Tel Aviv, and the destruction of his
tenure could not have been possible without the financial muscle of
Saudi Arabia and Qatar’s wretchedly opulent Sunni Monarchs. These
glittering kingdoms of disaster-capitalism are not only responsible for
supplying weapons and cash; a major incentive of theirs is exporting the
Wahhabist and Salafist ideologies that many of Syria’s imported
jihadists subscribe to, a warped and primal interpretation of Islam that
has fueled the sectarian nature of the Syrian conflict and deepened
social divisions to their most dangerous point – in a country that was
once renowned for its tolerance of religious diversity. These Gulf
kingdoms, which are more-or-less given a trump card to commit deplorable
human rights violations institutionally, are also responsible for
propping up the political arm of their militant foot soldiers, and that
comes in the form of the Muslim Brotherhood. <br />
<br />
Syria’s opposition coalition, which is itself entirely a creation of
foreign powers, has recently elected its own interim prime minister –
enter, Ghassan Hitto, a virtually unknown political novice with a US
passport and a computer science degree from Purdue University. Hitto is
an Islamist Kurd with strong ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim
Brotherhood has politically dominated the Syrian National Council since
its creation, in addition to organizing tactical elements of the
insurgency. The backbone of the Brotherhood’s relationship with the
medieval monarchies of the Persian Gulf is grounded in a firm opposition
to Shi’a Islam, as extolled by clerical leaders in Iran and Lebanon’s
Hezbollah; Assad himself is also an Alawite, an offshoot of Shi’a Islam.
It should be clear enough by now how enflaming sectarian divisions in
the region was a prerequisite for those bank-rolling the insurgency,
aimed at demolishing the secular Syrian state. <br />
<br />
Several high-profile members of Syria’s opposition coalition boycotted
the vote for interim prime minister, citing what they viewed as a
foreign-backed campaign to elect Hitto. Kamal Labwani, a veteran
opposition campaigner, was reported as saying, "<i>We don't want what happened in Egypt to happen in Syria. They hijacked the revolution</i>."
Those who abstained from the vote accuse Hitto of being a puppet of the
Muslim Brotherhood, and that the SNC’s decisions were being dictated
from the outside. Walid al-Bunni, another senior figure in the
opposition, stated, "<i>The Muslim Brotherhood, with the backing of
Qatar, have imposed their prime minister candidate. We will keep away if
the coalition does not reconsider its choice.</i>" Let’s just get this
straight – Assad, a leader whose presence today is a testament to the
fact that he continues to enjoy majority popular support, is considered
to have lost his legitimacy. On the other hand, Hitto, a man with no
political experience who received 35 votes out of 49 ballots cast during
a Syrian National Coalition meeting, is supposed to be legitimate
representative of the Syrian people? <br />
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bx7z7Tg9GvY/UUslwWHUJeI/AAAAAAAAAmU/cYAU4YwNR9s/s1600/SYRIACHEM2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bx7z7Tg9GvY/UUslwWHUJeI/AAAAAAAAAmU/cYAU4YwNR9s/s400/SYRIACHEM2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div>
These realities can only be interpreted as the boot of the so-called “<i>International Community</i>”
squashing the face of the Syrian people, imposing on them a man who
does not represent them, but the business interests of multinational
corporations who seek to plant their flags in the soil of a post-Assad
Syria. Let’s not humor ourselves by thinking John Kerry, William Hague,
Laurent Fabius or Qatari Emir Khalifa Al Thani actually care about the
people of Syria. However many casualties the Syrian conflict has
incurred thus far can be attributable to the influx of foreign funds,
foreign arms, and foreign fighters. It would be intellectually dishonest
to deny that the tactics of Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian Arab Army
have also caused widespread civilian causalities and suffering. It is an
enormous challenge for a state military to quell unconventional
insurgencies of the sort carried out by militants in Syria when these
battles take place in densely populated residential areas. <br />
<br />
One should not cynically credit Syrian government forces with
intentionally killing their own people; this does not serve the purposes
of the state in anyway. Civilian deaths that have occurred as a result
of government forces engaging the insurgency should more accurately be
seen as a heinous by-product of a foreign campaign to topple the Syrian
government. While the foreign ministries of Western capitals cite
politically charged death-toll statistics to justify their campaign
against “<i>Assad the Butcher</i>”, it is absolutely unconscionable that
Paris and London have called for lifting the Syrian arms embargo, and
for vowing to arm militant groups with or without the consent of the EU.
Apparently some seventy thousand people have been killed in Syria
according to the United Nations, and these cited European states, which
allegedly are so concerned about terrorism, want to dump more guns into
Syria – this is madness. <br />
<br />
Western states want to install proxy leaders who will grovel to their
multinationals and swallow IMF medicine, Gulf states seek unfettered
hegemony in their own backyards, and they all want to see the Shi’a
resistance smashed to pieces. Following the news of chemical weapons
being used in Syria, the most immediate conclusion of this observer is
that foreign-backed militants, who have used every opportunity to call
for more material and support, employed the use of a smuggled chemical
weapon of poor quality to bring about direct military intervention in
their favor. Right on cue, Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain are
frothing at the mouth, urging President Obama to “<i>take immediate action</i>” and consider deploying troops. Graham was quoted as saying, "<i>If
the choice is to send in troops to secure the weapons sites versus
allowing chemical weapons to get in the hands of some of the most
violent people in the world, I vote to cut this off before it becomes a
problem</i>." There is no surer sign of a pathological mind than when one credits others with the blood on their own hands. <br />
<br />
This article appeared on <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/03/22/syria-teeters-on-obamas-red-line/"><b>CounterPunch</b></a> & <a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/03/21/294675/syria-teeters-on-obamas-red-line/"><b>PressTV</b></a>.<br />
<br />
<i><b>Nile Bowie</b> is an independent political analyst and photographer based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He can be reached at <a href="mailto:nilebowie@gmail.com">nilebowie@gmail.com</a></i> </div>
</div>
Land Destroyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975347030080073643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-887631221850927814.post-26014881843781401382013-03-08T14:41:00.001-08:002013-03-08T14:41:30.375-08:00US-British Al Qaeda Airlift: 3,000 Tons of Weapons Fuel Syria's Destruction <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8UWQ7sUSqIg/UTpngiioAyI/AAAAAAAAHEc/4rTN-I2cIAg/s1600/AlQaedaSyria.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8UWQ7sUSqIg/UTpngiioAyI/AAAAAAAAHEc/4rTN-I2cIAg/s320/AlQaedaSyria.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<b>March 9, 2013</b> (LD) - The primary reason, we are told, that the
West must immediately begin wider operations to support the so-called
Syrian rebels, is to head off extremists, namely Al Qaeda, from
overrunning Syria. This narrative has been sold for nearly a year now,
as it has become evidently clear that all major offensives in Syria
against the Syrian people and their government have been led by Al Qaeda
terrorist fronts, including most notoriously, Jabhat al-Nusra.<br />
<br />
It turns out, however, according the London Telegraph, that the US and
Britain have already been arming terrorists operating in Syria for some
time, including a massive airlift of 3,000 tons of weapons, sent across
Syria's borders with Jordan and NATO-member Turkey. In the Telegraph's
article titled, "<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9918785/US-and-Europe-in-major-airlift-of-arms-to-Syrian-rebels-through-Zagreb.html">US and Europe in 'major airlift of arms to Syrian rebels through Zagreb'</a>," it is reported: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="secondPar">
It claimed 3,000 tons of weapons dating back to the former Yugoslavia have
been sent in 75 planeloads from Zagreb airport to the rebels, largely via
Jordan since November </div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="thirdPar">
The story confirmed the origins of ex-Yugoslav weapons seen in growing numbers
in rebel hands in online videos, as described last month by The Daily
Telegraph and other newspapers, but suggests far bigger quantities than
previously suspected. </div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="fourthPar">
The shipments were allegedly paid for by Saudi Arabia at the bidding of the
United States, with assistance on supplying the weapons organised through
Turkey and Jordan, Syria's neighbours. But the report added that as well as
from Croatia, weapons came "from several other European countries
including Britain", without specifying if they were British-supplied or
British-procured arms. </div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="fifthPar">
British military advisers however are known to be operating in countries
bordering Syria alongside French and Americans, offering training to rebel
leaders and former Syrian army officers. The Americans are also believed to
be providing training on securing chemical weapons sites inside Syria.
<a name='more'></a></div>
</blockquote>
With so much admitted involvement in the violence aimed at overthrowing
Syria's government by the West, it is inconceivable that Al Qaeda could
be "overrunning moderate forces" in Syria, unless of course, no such
moderate forces exist, and the West had planned from the beginning to
use Al Qaeda as a mercenary force. And indeed, that is precisely what is
happening. It has been established with documented evidence since at
least 2007, and reaffirmed with this latest report.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=887631221850927814" name="more"></a><br />
Pulitizer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh, in his 2007 New Yorker report titled, "<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/03/05/070305fa_fact_hersh?currentPage=all">The Redirection: Is the Administration’s new policy benefiting our enemies in the war on terrorism?</a>"stated explicitly that:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush
Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in
the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has coöperated with
Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations
that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is
backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations
aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has
been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant
vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda." </blockquote>
Is there any doubt that the US has executed this plot in earnest, arming
and funding sectarian extremists "sympathetic to Al Qaeda" on both
Syria's northern and southern border? Where else, if not from the West
and its regional allies, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, could
extremists be getting their weapons, cash, and logistical support from? <br />
<br />
And of course, Syria's borders with Jordan and Turkey have been long-ago
identified by the US Army's own West Point Combating Terrorism Center
(CTC) as hotbeds of sectarian extremist/Al Qaeda activity - hotbeds that
the West is purposefully funneling thousands of tons of weaponry
through, while disingenuously claiming it is attempting to prevent such
weapons from falling into the hands of extremists.<br />
<br />
The CTC's 2007 report, "<a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/111001074/West-Point-CTC-s-Al-Qa-ida-s-Foreign-Fighters-in-Iraq">Al-Qa'ida's Foreign Fighters in Iraq</a>," identified Syria's southeastern region near Dayr Al-Zawr on the Iraqi-Syrian border,
the northwestern region of Idlib near the Turkish-Syrian border, and
Dar'a in the south near the Jordanian-Syrian border, as having produced the
majority of fighters found crossing over into Iraq throughout the duration of the Iraq War.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aEe1Gq1jh7o/UIhh1F9V5HI/AAAAAAAAEnU/uRuiniFtj4M/s1600/WestPoint_1_SyriaAQvsAS.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aEe1Gq1jh7o/UIhh1F9V5HI/AAAAAAAAEnU/uRuiniFtj4M/s640/WestPoint_1_SyriaAQvsAS.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<i><b>Image</b>: (Left)</i> <i>West Point's Combating Terrorism Center's 2007 report, </i><i>"<a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/111001074/West-Point-CTC-s-Al-Qa-ida-s-Foreign-Fighters-in-Iraq">Al-Qa'ida's Foreign Fighters in Iraq</a>"
indicated which areas in Syria Al Qaeda fighters filtering into
Iraq came from during the US invasion/occupation. The overwhelming majority of them came from Dayr Al-Zawr
in Syria's southeast, Idlib in the north near the Turkish-Syrian
border, and Dar'a in the south near the Jordanian-Syrian border. (Right)
A map indicating the epicenters of violence in Syria indicate that the
exact same hotbeds for Al Qaeda in 2007, now serve as the epicenters of
so-called "pro-democracy fighters." </i><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>....</i></div>
These areas are now admittedly the epicenters of fighting, and more
importantly, despite being historical hotbeds of Al Qaeda activity,
precisely where the West is flooding with cash, weapons, and military
"advisers." Just like in Libya where the West literally handed an entire
nation to sectarian extremists, we are watching a verbatim repeat in
Syria - where we are told Al Qaeda terrorists are "pro-democracy"
"freedom fighters" that deserve US cash, weapons, and support, when it
couldn't be any clearer they aren't. <br />
<br />
Not only has the US and UK lied to the world about their policy toward
Syria and their current level of support for increasingly overt
terrorists committing an array of atrocities - their latest act
including the taking <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-international/un-peacekeepers-taken-hostage-by-syrian-rebels/article4486624.ece">of over 20 UN peacekeepers hostage in the Golan Heights</a> - but have revealed once again the manufactured facade that is <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2011/09/war-on-terror-is-fraud.html">the "War on Terror</a>." </div>
Land Destroyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975347030080073643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-887631221850927814.post-13724977836720213332013-03-07T23:07:00.001-08:002013-03-07T23:12:53.633-08:00West's Legitimacy Collapses as it Props up Hostage-Taking Terrorists<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>March 8, 2013</b> (IOGSD-Cartalucci) - The so-called "Syrian rebels" <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/world/un-peacekeepers-taken-hostage-by-syrian-rebels/article4483986.ece">have taken dozens of UN peacekeepers hostage</a>, demanding the Syrian Army withdraw its troops from its own nation's territory. The UN has confirmed that their peacekeepers are indeed being held hostage by what they call "rebels," <a href="http://www.dw.de/un-calls-for-release-of-kidnapped-peacekeepers/a-16654649">and has demanded their release</a>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6ABhP7gOPqc/UTmK-NCx77I/AAAAAAAAHEM/ABKbfc4XITI/s1600/Syria_AlQaeda_Takes_UN_HOstage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="358" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6ABhP7gOPqc/UTmK-NCx77I/AAAAAAAAHEM/ABKbfc4XITI/s640/Syria_AlQaeda_Takes_UN_HOstage.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<i><b>Image</b>: Several of over 20 UN peacekeepers taken hostage by terrorists operating in Syria - operating with Western cash, arms, and immense, continuous political and media support. The inability of the West to condemn and recognize the so-called "rebels" as intolerable terrorists, ravaging an entire nation, inflicting death, injury and suffering upon tens of millions, is indicative of a West that has resigned entirely its legitimacy, and even feigned interest in the impartial application of international law. Worst of all, <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/05/syrian-war-prequel.html">the West had purposefully planned this orgy of terror since 2007,</a> not for promoting "democracy," but specifically to undermine and destroy neighboring Iran. </i><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
....</div>
<br />
Despite this overt, criminal act of terrorism directed at the UN, the West has spun, downplayed, and otherwise ignored the incident, an incident that had the Syrian Army been behind, would have invoked howling indignation, frothing condemnation, and in all likelihood, full-scale military intervention.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Instead, the US Secretary of State John Kerry awarded the terrorists a whopping <a href="http://www.thejournal.ie/john-kerry-syria-rebels-aid-813609-Feb2013/">$60 million in what he called "non-lethal aid</a>." The UK's Foreign Secretary William Hague also pledged support, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21684105">including sending armor, vehicles</a> and even weapons directly to the hostage-taking terrorists. This substantial and continuous torrent of cash, equipment, and weapons is sent to Al Qaeda terrorists even as both the US and UK sink in unprecedented domestic budget crises. <br />
<br />
The West's Arab collaborators, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have led the Arab World in offering these verified Al Qaeda terrorists <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/03/201336162346497842.html">Syria's seat in the Arab League</a>. The Arab League has given the green light (officially) <a href="http://www.albawaba.com/news/arab-league-syria-475662">to begin directly and openly arming the terrorists</a>, though they have been arming them <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/05/syrian-war-prequel.html">since at least 2007</a>. <br />
<br />
As the West coddles terrorists who are more overtly committing atrocities, both against the Syrian people, along Syria's peripheries, and even against international observers including the United Nations, they shed the remainder of their legitimacy. In fact, a US State Department, a British Foreign Office, and even a UN who refuses to condemn and entirely break off relations with an organization that takes hostages amidst a myriad of other atrocities documented over the past 2 years, already has absolutely no legitimacy.<br />
<br />
The people of the West must realize their governments have descended into a dangerous psychosis and has abandoned even a face-value commitment to maintaining a rule of law. A nation not confined by law, or even attempting to pretend to be, is a nation capable of anything, on any scale, at any time.<br />
<br />
The people of the West now reside in nations far beyond the red line. Now, more than ever, people must begin making hard decisions about their lifestyles and their patronizing of <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2011/03/naming-names-your-real-government.html">the West's corporate-financier monopolies</a>. It is not the government or the individuals that constitute it that drive this agenda. It is the corporate-financier interests that create<a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/01/think-tanks-explained.html"> policy think-tanks</a>, that literally write the scripts congressmen, presidents, secretaries and ministers read from - corporate-financier interests we patronize on a daily basis. <br />
<br />
While we cannot change the current, perhaps terminal unraveling of Western civilization overnight, we can begin with small but significant steps in rolling back our dependency on corporate-financier monopolies by boycotting them and replacing them. Even a miniscule percentage of change in our lifestyles, month to month will have a profound, collective effect on usurping the unwarranted influence that has granted these insidious interests free reign over the planet and humanity. <a href="http://localorg.blogspot.com/2012/12/decenralize-big-retail.html">Decentralizing these monopolies</a> is the ultimate goal, but will take hard work and patience - but it is a goal that most certainly can be achieved, and in many parts of the world <a href="http://localorg.blogspot.com/2012/12/dont-survive-collapse-prevent-it.html">it is already being achieved</a>.<br />
<br />
If we read the news of hostage-taking terrorists being showered with millions of our tax dollars and being allowed to destroy an entire nation after our own soldiers paid in blood to fight them in a 10 year faux "War on Terror" and are angered, searching desperately for a solution - <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/10/self-sufficiency-local-solution-to.html">getting self-sufficient</a>, and <a href="http://localorg.blogspot.com/2012/12/decenralize-big-retail.html">decentralizing this war machine</a>, thus returning the reins of power back to the people is that solution. <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2011/02/real-revolution.html">That is real revolution</a>. <br />
<br />
The problems in Syria may seem distant, even if absolutely outrageous, but it is a symptom of a sickness our Western governments, amongst us, involved in our daily lives, suffer from. Refusal to treat the illness now, as it ravages Syria, will only allow it to get worse until it inevitably visits upon us the same unhinged hypocritical insanity it is now unleashing on the Syrian people. The fate of the Syrian people is indeed tied directly to our own wealth, prosperity, peace, and well-being. Failing to realize that is folly we shall pay for many generations to come.</div>
Land Destroyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975347030080073643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-887631221850927814.post-11852160154294150472013-03-06T23:24:00.000-08:002013-03-06T23:24:14.117-08:00UK Seeks to Further Fund, Arm Al Qaeda Collaborator Moaz al-Khatib <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>March 4, 2013</b> (<a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2013/03/uk-seeks-to-further-fund-arm-al-qaeda.html">LD</a>) - Resorting to name-calling, the United
Kingdom's legitimacy slumped further still as it stubbornly maintained
its support for terrorists attempting to overthrow the Syrian
government, now unsuccessfully for over 2 years. Unlike in Libya where
NATO was able to militarily intervene directly and overthrow the Libyan
government before the public realized the so-called "rebels" were in
fact the <a href="http://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/other/des/123085.htm">US State Department</a>, <a href="http://www.un.org/sc/committees/1267/NSQE01101E.shtml">United Nations</a>, and the <a href="http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/counter-terrorism/proscribed-terror-groups/proscribed-groups?view=Binary">UK Home Office (page 5, .pdf)</a>-listed
Al
Qaeda terrorist organization, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG),
the West's assault on Syria has dragged on much longer.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DPLtkBuYYlY/UTQitTKQNbI/AAAAAAAAHCc/UXpbrBYwTM4/s1600/Syria_Hague_Kerry_Coddling_Al_Qaedas_Khatib.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="384" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DPLtkBuYYlY/UTQitTKQNbI/AAAAAAAAHCc/UXpbrBYwTM4/s640/Syria_Hague_Kerry_Coddling_Al_Qaedas_Khatib.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
<i><b>Image</b>: (left to right) Foreign Secretary William Hague, US
Secretary of State John Kerry, and the Al Qaeda-coddling Moaz al-Khatib,
are all, by US criminal code, providing material support to terrorist
organizations, more specifically, Al Qaeda. Hague has even expressed a
desire <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/03/hague-aid-syria-rebels-weapons">to directly arm these terrorists</a>. </i><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
....</div>
<br />
So long in fact, that the entire world is now acutely aware of the
so-called "rebels," their overt affiliations and membership amongst Al
Qaeda, the serial atrocities they've committed, and the draconian,
barbaric sectarian (and quite "undemocratic") rule they plan on
imposing, <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/11/al-qaeda-virtue-police-show-up-along.html">already on display in northern Syria</a> where extremist cleric, Moaz al-Khatib, designated by the West as the "opposition leader," <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/03/us-syria-crisis-idUSBRE9220B820130303">recently visited</a>. <br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Al-Khatib is portrayed as a "moderate" by the Western media, which makes
a point of repeating this every time al-Khatib's name is mentioned. His
profile, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20300356">as provided by the BBC</a> states: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Mr Khatib is not allied to any political party and is known as a
moderate who has called for political pluralism and strongly opposes
sectarian divisions among Syrians<br />
<br />
"We demand freedom for every Sunni, Alawite, Ismaili (Shia),
Christian, Druze, Assyrian ... and rights for all parts of the
harmonious Syrian people," he said after being elected leader of the
National Coalition.</blockquote>
Of course, his carefully crafted image and rhetoric is overshadowed by
his actual deeds, which included his openly embracing Al Qaeda in
December of 2012, demanding that the US delist Al Qaeda's Syrian
franchise, al-Nusra, as a terrorist organization. <span id="articleText"><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/12/syria-crisis-alkhatib-idUSL5E8NC7Z320121212">Reuters quoted al-Khatib as saying</a>: </span><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="articleText">"The decision to consider a party that is fighting the regime as a terrorist party needs to be reviewed. </span><span id="articleText">We might disagree with some parties and their ideas and
their political and ideological vision. But we affirm that all
the guns of the rebels are aimed at overthrowing the tyrannical
criminal regime." </span></blockquote>
<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=887631221850927814" name="more"></a>Al-Khatib's comments not only indicated his support
for Al Qaeda, but revealed his "opposition" front's collaboration with
the terrorist organization, <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/10/nato-using-al-qaeda-rat-lines-to-flood.html">admittedly leading the fighting across Syria</a>
from Daraa in the south, to Idlib and Aleppo in the north, and all
along Syria's border with Iraq, where the very extremists the US fought
for nearly 10 years are slinking over the border and now being portrayed
as "freedom fighters" by the Western media. It should also be noted
that al-Nusra is guilty of some of the most heinous atrocities of the
Syrian conflict, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9884988/Syria-Bomb-kills-50-as-children-leave-school-in-Damascus.html">including a recent, indiscriminate car bombing in Damascus</a> which killed over 50 people, including school children. <br /><br />
<br />
More recently, Al-Khatib, even as he <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2013/02/us-policy-vs-syria-indicative-of.html">prepared to receive millions in aid from the West</a>, including the US and UK, reiterated his support for Al Qaeda. The Washington Post's article, "<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/us-announces-expanded-battlefield-aid-to-syrian-rebels/2013/02/28/f0a32414-819b-11e2-b99e-6baf4ebe42df_story_1.html">U.S. announces expanded battlefield aid to Syrian rebels, but not arms</a>," stated: <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Coalition chairman Mouaz al-Khatib angrily appealed for a
humanitarian corridor to the besieged city of Homs and said the rebels
are tired of Western complaints about <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/02/04/clinton-syrian-rebels-getting-messages-from-pakistan-region-known-as-qaeda-haven/">extremists in their ranks</a>.
He argued that the real enemy is the Assad regime but said too many
outsiders are worried only about “the length of a beard of a fighter.”<br />
<br />
“No terrorists in the world have such a savage nature as those in the regime,” Khatib said in Arabic. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The
Syrian opposition leader’s finger-jabbing anger was in marked contrast
to Kerry’s clipped and measured tone. Kerry looked at Khatib without
expression as the Syrian spoke. </blockquote>
Al-Khatib's history as a "cleric," and his continuous, open, and adamant
support for Al Qaeda, even in the wake of repeated atrocities, should
be a prompt for the West to add him and his "opposition" organization to
its list of foreign terrorist organizations. Anti-terrorist <a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2339B">legislation in both the US</a>
and UK stipulate that any individual or organization providing material
support for a listed terrorist organization is guilty of a criminal
offense. Clearly not only does al-Khatib qualify, but so does US
Secretary of State John Kerry and his British counterpart Foreign
Secretary William Hague, as they hand Al Qaeda-coddling al-Khatib
millions to carry on his open support of terrorism.<br />
<br />
<b>Syria's President Assad Called "Delusional" for Reading West's Own Documented Admissions </b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://rt.com/news/assad-uk-policy-syria-rebels-738/">Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad recently berated the West</a>
for its hypocritical support of terrorism in Syria, and likened the
West's attempt to portray itself as attempting to bring peace to Syria
to an arsonist trying to put out a fire. While the UK's Foreign
Secretary William Hague resorted to juvenile name-calling as he
dismissed accusations that his government is sponsoring international
terrorism, President Assad is simply reading articles dating back to
2007 where Western officials openly admitted their plan to use terrorist
extremists to overthrow the Syrian government - not for promoting
"democracy," but specifically to undermine and overthrow Iran in turn. <br />
<br />
Both Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh's New Yorker 2007 article, "<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/03/05/070305fa_fact_hersh?currentPage=all">The Redirection</a>," and the Wall Street Journal's 2007 article, "<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118530969571176579.html">To Check Syria, U.S. Explores Bond With Muslim Brothers</a>,"
tell a narrative of a West actively arming and funding sectarian
extremists with direct ties to Al Qaeda even then, to begin undermining
and overthrowing both Syria and Iran. The conspiracy admitted to then,
is now openly being executed to horrific effect in Syria and along its
peripheries.<br />
<br />
William Hague and John Kerry can deny, spin, and coverup the fact that
they are funding and arming Al Qaeda either directly or through a series
of increasingly obvious proxies, millions to overthrow the Syrian
government, but Syrian President Assad is by no means "delusional" <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2287662/UK-Cant-sit-sidelines-Syria-says-Hague-says-Britain-arm-rebels.html?ito=feeds-newsxml">as Hague childishly accused</a>,
for pointing out this documented and increasingly transparent
conspiracy. Hague, it would appear, would also have us believe the New
Yorker's Seymour Hersh and the staff at the Wall Street Journal are
likewise "delusional."<br />
<br />
It is important that we <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2011/03/naming-names-your-real-government.html">identify the corporate-financier interests</a> driving this increasingly unhinged, unraveling agenda - interests we most likely patronize on a daily basis, <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/10/self-sufficiency-local-solution-to.html">and both boycott</a> and <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/10/self-sufficiency-local-solution-to.html">permanently replace them</a>
to erode the unwarranted influence they have used to both plan and
execute this assault on Syria's people. Today it is Syria, surely
tomorrow, if they succeed, it will be us. </div>
Land Destroyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975347030080073643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-887631221850927814.post-91009634033505211062013-02-28T10:40:00.004-08:002013-02-28T10:40:56.373-08:00US Policy Vs. Syria Indicative of Exhausted Legitimacy <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>February 28, 2013</b> (LD) - The US State Department, and to a
greater extent, US foreign policy itself, having exhausted completely
their collective credibility, has attempted yet another "reset." By
bringing in John Kerry to pose as the next US Secretary of State, it is
hoped global opinion will see US foreign policy in a new, more tolerant
light. Kerry, however, has wasted no time attempting to simply resell
verbatim the same failed, absurd policy US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton destroyed her career peddling, spinning, and covering up - as
finalized in the case of Benghazi, Libya.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2d4uRkz62Bs/US-XrAuuN5I/AAAAAAAAHCE/DmGAYXipwHY/s1600/Syria_Kerry_Khatib.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2d4uRkz62Bs/US-XrAuuN5I/AAAAAAAAHCE/DmGAYXipwHY/s1600/Syria_Kerry_Khatib.jpg" /></a></div>
<i><b>Image</b>: US Secretary of State John Kerry talks with <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/12/us-backed-syrian-opposition-demands.html">pro-Al Qaeda Mouaz al-Khatib</a>,
who heads the militant front set to receive an additional $60 million
in US aid claimed to be "non-lethal." The UK, and more astonishingly,
France who is fighting terrorists in Mali created by a similar
intervention in Libya in 2011, have announced similar plans to further
aid and abet terrorists in Syria. </i><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
....</div>
<a name='more'></a>
The Washington Post's piece, "<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/us-announces-expanded-battlefield-aid-to-syrian-rebels/2013/02/28/f0a32414-819b-11e2-b99e-6baf4ebe42df_story_1.html">U.S. announces expanded battlefield aid to Syrian rebels, but not arms</a>,"
rehashes the same tired, patently false narrative that has been used
throughout the duration of the US-fueled Syrian conflict. The Washington
Post reports: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The Obama administration will provide food and medicine to Syrian rebel fighters, Secretary of State John F. Kerry said
Thursday, announcing a cautious U.S. foray into front-line battlefield
support that falls far short of the heavy weapons or high-tech gear the
rebels seek.<br />
<br />
“The stakes are really high, and we can’t risk letting this
country — in the heart of the Middle East — be destroyed by vicious
autocrats or hijacked by the extremists,” Kerry said following
discussions among a group of Western and Arab nations that are funding,
and in some cases arming, the fighters. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The United States will, for the first time, send supplies through the
rebels’ central military headquarters, with U.S. advisers supervising
the distribution of food rations and medical supplies, U.S. officials
said. The shift is intended to give the U.S.-backed Syrian Opposition
Coalition greater say over the aid, but it is also a test of the rebels’
ability to keep donated supplies out of the hands of extremists in
their midst. </blockquote>
The Washington Post report is a verified lie. US assistance, cash,
weapons, and covert military support had been ongoing in Syria since
2007 - in other words - before the current conflict even began. And the
US has been providing this support not for moderates, but specifically
and intentionally for the ideological foundation of Al Qaeda itself, the
sectarian extremist Muslim Brotherhood, since the Bush administration.<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=887631221850927814" name="more"></a><br />
Outright admissions by administration officials, Saudi and Lebanese
officials working in tandem with the US, and US intelligence agents have
outlined a criminal conspiracy that has now transcended two
presidencies and provided the clearest example yet of the
corporate-financier driven "continuity of agenda" that truly guides
Western foreign policy. This criminal conspiracy has also incurred a
staggering list of egregious crimes against humanity, crimes we are
reminded of daily by the very interests responsible for them, including
the 70,000 alleged dead in the Syrian conflict so far.<br />
<br />
<b>Secretary John Kerry's Narrative is a Verified Lie </b><br />
<br />
Secretary Kerry's "desire" to keep weapons out of the hands of
extremists is willfully disingenuous misdirection. It has been
extremists the US has been, on record, purposefully propping up in Syria
years before the conflict even began in 2011. <br />
<br />
Pulitizer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh, in his 2007 New Yorker report titled, "<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/03/05/070305fa_fact_hersh?currentPage=all">The Redirection: Is the Administration’s new policy benefiting our enemies in the war on terrorism?</a>"stated explicitly that: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush
Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in
the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has coöperated with
Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations
that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is
backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations
aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has
been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant
vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda." </blockquote>
Hersh's report would also include: <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"the Saudi government, with Washington’s approval, would provide funds
and logistical aid to weaken the government of President Bashir Assad,
of Syria. The Israelis believe that putting such pressure on the Assad
government will make it more conciliatory and open to negotiations."</blockquote>
Hersh also reported that a supporter of the Lebanese pro-US-Saudi Hariri faction had met
Dick Cheney in Washington and relayed personally the importance of using
the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria in any move against the ruling
government:
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"[Walid] Jumblatt then told me that he had met with Vice-President Cheney in
Washington last fall to discuss, among other issues, the possibility of
undermining Assad. He and his colleagues advised Cheney that, if the
United States does try to move against Syria, members of the Syrian
Muslim Brotherhood would be “the ones to talk to,” Jumblatt said."</blockquote>
The article would continue by explaining how already in 2007 US and Saudi backing had begun benefiting the Brotherhood: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"There is evidence that the Administration’s redirection strategy has
already benefitted the Brotherhood. The Syrian National Salvation Front
is a coalition of opposition groups whose principal members are a
faction led by Abdul Halim Khaddam, a former Syrian Vice-President who
defected in 2005, and the Brotherhood. A former high-ranking C.I.A.
officer told me, “The Americans have provided both political and
financial support. The Saudis are taking the lead with financial
support, but there is American involvement.” He said that Khaddam, who
now lives in Paris, was getting money from Saudi Arabia, with the
knowledge of the White House. (In 2005, a delegation of the Front’s
members met with officials from the National Security Council, according
to press reports.) A former White House official told me that the
Saudis had provided members of the Front with travel documents." </blockquote>
At one point in Hersh's report, it is even admitted that officials from
US ally Saudi Arabia admitted to "controlling" the "religious
fundamentalists." The report states specifically: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"...[Saudi Arabia's] Bandar and other
Saudis have assured the White House that “they will keep a very close
eye on the religious fundamentalists. Their message to us was ‘We’ve
created this movement, and we can control it.’ It’s not that we don’t
want the Salafis to throw bombs; it’s <i>who</i> they throw them at—Hezbollah, Moqtada al-Sadr, Iran, and at the Syrians, if they continue to work with Hezbollah and Iran.” </blockquote>
While Kerry, as did Clinton before him, and others throughout the
Western establishment attempt to portray the rise of the Muslim
Brotherhood, and its armed front, Al Qaeda, in Syria as an
unforeseeable, unfortunate consequence of an equally unforeseeable,
unfortunate conflict - it is clear that in 2007, such "consequences"
were essential elements of a premeditated conflict the West had poured
cash, weapons, and logistics into the creation of, along with its
partners in the Middle East, including Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.<br />
<br />
Also in 2007, the Wall Street Journal would publish a report titled, "<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118530969571176579.html">To Check Syria, U.S. Explores Bond With Muslim Brothers</a>."
In this report, it was revealed that even in 2007, Syrian opposition
groups were being created from whole-cloth by the US State Department
and paraded around in front of Syria's embassies in the West. The
article begins with one such protest, stating: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
On a humid afternoon in late May, about 100 supporters of Syria's
largest exile opposition group, the National Salvation Front, gathered
outside Damascus's embassy here to protest Syrian President Bashar
Assad's rule. The participants shouted anti-Assad slogans and raised
banners proclaiming: "Change the Regime Now." </blockquote>
Later in the article, it would be revealed that the National Salvation
Front (NSF) was in contact with the US State Department and that a
Washington-based consulting firm in fact assisted the NSF in organizing
the rally:
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6296737490016844972" name="more"></a><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In the weeks before the presidential election, the State Department's
Middle East Partnership Initiative, which promotes regional democracy,
and NSF members met to talk about publicizing Syria's lack of democracy
and low voter turnout, participants say. A Washington-based consulting
firm, C&O Resources Inc., assisted the NSF in its planning for the
May 26 anti-Assad rally at the Syrian embassy, providing media and
political contacts. State Department officials stress they provided no
financial or technical support to the protestors.</blockquote>
And while the Wall Street Journal then, just as the US State Department
and the Western media houses are now portraying the Syrian opposition as
representing a wide range of interests across Syrian society, it was
admitted then, just as it is plainly obvious now, that the sectarian
extremist Muslim Brotherhood was in fact at the very center of the
"uprising:" <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
One of the NSF's most influential members is the Syrian branch of the
Muslim Brotherhood -- the decades-old political movement active across
the Middle East whose leaders have inspired the terrorist groups Hamas
and al Qaeda. Its Syrian offshoot says it has renounced armed struggle
in favor of democratic reform.</blockquote>
It was evidently clear, even in 2007, that extremists would play a
leading role in any future armed conflict to overthrow the Syrian
government, and now, years later, that engineered conflict has been
executed verbatim and to horrific consequence - consequences the West
not only refuses to take responsibility for, but seeks to further
compound with increased aid to the forces of armed sedition it itself
created. <br />
<br />
<b>Absurdity of Kerry's Narrative Only Outdone by Proposed Solution </b><br />
<br />
The solution Kerry proposes is to flood Syria with more cash, equipment,
training, weapons, and other aid, either directly, or laundered through
proxies such as <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/05/wikileaks-cables-saudi-terrorist-funding">Al Qaeda's chief financiers and arms providers</a>, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The Washington Post's report states:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The goal of the new money is to counter the increasingly effective network of services provided by militants.</blockquote>
Unfortunately, the so-called "Syrian Opposition Coalition" handcrafted
by the US, and founded in Doha, Qatar, is led by an extremist, Mouaz
al-Khatib, who openly embraces Al Qaeda's al-Nusra front in Syria,
credited with some of the most heinous atrocities committed during the 2
year conflict, as well <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/11/al-qaeda-virtue-police-show-up-along.html">as systematic abuse, oppression, and subjugation</a> in all areas along Syria's border with NATO-member Turkey it controls. <br />
<br />
In late 2012, al-Khatib demanded that the US reverse its decision to list al-Nusra as a foreign terrorist organization. <span id="articleText"> <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/12/syria-crisis-alkhatib-idUSL5E8NC7Z320121212">Reuters quoted al-Khatib as saying</a>: </span>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="articleText">"The decision to consider a party that is fighting the regime as a terrorist party needs to be reviewed. </span><span id="articleText">We might disagree with some parties and their ideas and
their political and ideological vision. But we affirm that all
the guns of the rebels are aimed at overthrowing the tyrannical
criminal regime."</span></blockquote>
The more recent <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/us-announces-expanded-battlefield-aid-to-syrian-rebels/2013/02/28/f0a32414-819b-11e2-b99e-6baf4ebe42df_story.html">Washington Post article</a>, in fact, reaffirms al-Khatib's support for extremists groups, stating:
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Coalition chairman Mouaz al-Khatib angrily appealed for a
humanitarian corridor to the besieged city of Homs and said the rebels
are tired of Western complaints about <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/02/04/clinton-syrian-rebels-getting-messages-from-pakistan-region-known-as-qaeda-haven/">extremists in their ranks</a>.
He argued that the real enemy is the Assad regime but said too many
outsiders are worried only about “the length of a beard of a fighter.”<br />
<br />
“No terrorists in the world have such a savage nature as those in the regime,” Khatib said in Arabic. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The
Syrian opposition leader’s finger-jabbing anger was in marked contrast
to Kerry’s clipped and measured tone. Kerry looked at Khatib without
expression as the Syrian spoke. </blockquote>
And yet this US-created "opposition" movement, run by a leader openly
embracing and defending Al Qaeda, will be the recipient of some $60
million in "non-lethal aid" and "training" to allegedly "undermine" Al
Qaeda. The Washington Post indicated that France and the UK were even
considering sending armored vehicles to the openly pro-Al Qaeda front. <br />
<br />
The face-value absurdity of current Western foreign policy in the wake
of a decade-long "War on Terror" that has left it bankrupt, thousands of
its soldiers dead, tens of thousands more maimed or mentally ill, is
perhaps so profoundly acute, it is hoped it is easier to instead believe
US Secretary of State John Kerry's repeated lies. <br />
<br />
And astonishingly, even <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2013/01/france-displays-unhinged-hypocrisy-as.html">as French soldiers die fighting militants in Mali</a> - armed, trained, and funded by NATO's similar intervention in Libya in 2011, <a href="http://www.france24.com/en/20130121-qatar-mali-france-ansar-dine-mnla-al-qaeda-sunni-islam-doha">and allegedly <i>still</i> funded and armed</a> by US, UK, and French ally Qatar - the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/us-announces-expanded-battlefield-aid-to-syrian-rebels/2013/02/28/f0a32414-819b-11e2-b99e-6baf4ebe42df_story_1.html">Washington Post article</a>
indicates France will be eagerly making the same "mistake" in Syria,
and will be further assisting terrorists there, including the training
of rebel forces "outside Syria." <br />
<br />
The exhausted legitimacy of the West, punctuated by unhinged hypocrisy,
and rapidly unraveling financial and military might, would seem a
perfect opportunity for the United Nations to prove its relevance or
legitimacy by condemning the purposeful expansion of an already
intolerable proxy war initiated by Western interests. Instead, it
remains silent, or worse yet, complicit in the premeditated, documented
assault on Syria under the increasingly tenuous guise of "democracy
promotion," "revolution," and "humanitarian concern." <br />
<br />
Nations existing outside the West's unraveling international enterprise
would do best to continue resisting, and increasingly condemning the
overt state-sponsorship of terrorism that is destroying Syria. For the
rest of us, we must <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2011/03/naming-names-your-real-government.html">identify the corporate-financier interests</a> driving this agenda - interests we most likely patronize on a daily basis, <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/10/self-sufficiency-local-solution-to.html">and both boycott</a> and <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/10/self-sufficiency-local-solution-to.html">permanently replace them</a> to erode the unwarranted influence they have used to both plan and execute this assault on Syria's people.</div>
Land Destroyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975347030080073643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-887631221850927814.post-79720275931316979972013-02-24T23:52:00.001-08:002013-02-24T23:52:37.043-08:00Dead French Photographer was State Department-Funded - Embedded With Al Qaeda <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8u1OTrzcYi8/USri9T7HpvI/AAAAAAAAG_g/ji18ZrygOs4/s1600/Syria_Dead_French_Photog.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8u1OTrzcYi8/USri9T7HpvI/AAAAAAAAG_g/ji18ZrygOs4/s320/Syria_Dead_French_Photog.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>
<b>February 25, 2013</b> (LD) - Further indication of the depraved
nature of the West's campaign against Syria, and the depraved nature of
its institutions, methods, and faux-NGOs, vindicating a growing trend of
ejecting Western "journalists" and NGO's from an ever increasing number
of nations, it is revealed that a French photographer recently killed
in Syria was embedded with terrorist militants in Idlib, northern Syria,
and was working on behalf of the US State Department's National
Endowment for Democracy (NED) funded "Reporters Without Borders."<br />
<br />
The UK Daily Mail revealed in their article, "<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2283899/French-photographer-killed-flying-shrapnel-Syria-rebels-launch-fresh-offensive-police-academy-Aleppo.html?ito=feeds-newsxml">French photographer killed by flying shrapnel in Syria as rebels launch fresh offensive on police academy in Aleppo</a>," that:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
A French photographer has been killed by flying shrapnel in Syria while covering operations of an armed opposition group.<br />
<br />
The French government said today Olivier Voisin had been working for
Reporters Without Borders near the northwestern city of Idlib.</blockquote>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">
</div>
<a name='more'></a>
Idlib, Syria, along with much of northern Syria is admittedly overrun by
Al Qaeda. In fact, a recent Washington Post article stated that
northern Syria was so overrun with Al Qaeda, that Western nations along
with its Arab partners have decided to ship weapons in from Daraa in
southern Syria. Of course, <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/10/nato-using-al-qaeda-rat-lines-to-flood.html">Daraa too is a long-time hotbed for extremist activity</a>, including Al Qaeda, years before the so-called "uprising" even began.<br />
<br />
The Post article titled, "<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/in-syria-new-influx-of-weapons-to-rebels-tilts-the-battle-against-assad/2013/02/23/a6bf2bc0-7dfb-11e2-9073-e9dda4ac6a66_story.html">In Syria, new influx of weapons to rebels tilts the battle against Assad</a>," admits: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
A surge of rebel advances in Syria is being fueled at least in part
by an influx of heavy weaponry in a renewed effort by outside powers to
arm moderates in the Free Syrian Army, according to Arab and rebel
officials.<br />
<br />
The new armaments, including anti-tank weapons and recoilless
rifles, have been sent across the Jordanian border into the province of
Daraa in recent weeks to counter the growing influence of Islamist
extremist groups in the north of Syria by boosting more moderate groups
fighting in the south, the officials say. </blockquote>
Despite the rampant extremism in the north, French photographer Olivier
Voisin found himself amongst these very militants in the midst of what
we are told are waves of "rebel gains." Apparently these "gains" are
being made at high costs.<br />
<br />
Voisin's organization, Reporters Without Borders, is a notorious
faux-NGO that plays a pivotal role globally, undermining nations
targeted by Western corporate-financier interests, working in tandem
with US State Department-backed proxies in Iran, China, Russia, Sudan,
and everywhere else Wall Street and London seek to plant their flag. In
2008, <a href="http://en.rsf.org/income-and-expenditure-07-09-2009,34401.html">Reporters Without Borders received cash from</a> the State Department-funded National Endowment for Democracy (NED) whose board of directors is a who's who of <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2011/11/ned-freedom-house-are-run-by.html">warmongering Neo-Conservatives and corporate special interests</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=887631221850927814" name="more"></a><br />
While these corporate-financier interests constitute the antithesis of
"human rights," "human freedom," and "democracy," these very principles
are used to leverage advantages and invoke public sympathy and support
for subversion and regime change in targeted nations.<br />
<br />
Reporters Without Borders also received cash from the Sigrid Rausing
Trust, the Overbrook Foundation, and the US State Department's
Washington DC-based "<a href="http://www.cubacenter.org/en/about-us">Center for a Free Cuba</a>." It should be noted that the Sigrid Rausing Trust also <a href="http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/support/who-supports-crisisgroup.aspx">provides funding for the International Crisis Group (ICG)</a>
(along with BP, Chevron, Shell, Deutsche Bank Group, and Morgan
Stanley) who in part helped blueprint and cheerlead the violence that
ultimately claimed Voisin's life. In fact, the ICG includes amongst its
board of directors, <a href="http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/board/kofi-annan.aspx">Kofi Annan</a> who helped <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/03/uns-kofi-annan-agent-of-wall-street.html">buy time for NATO militants to rearm and redeploy</a> with a disingenuous "peace plan."<br />
<br />
And as Syria's government and people fight against Al Qaeda militants coddled, armed, and funded by NATO, <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/07/confirmed-turkey-running-proxy-invasion.html">admittedly based in Turkey</a> side-by-side US-provided Patriot missile batteries, <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/06/confirmed-us-cia-arming-terrorists-in.html">CIA agents</a>, as well as <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9122749/Thirteen-French-officers-captured-by-Syrian-Army.html">French</a> and <a href="http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view/254674/SAS-set-up-safe-camps-in-Syria/">British special forces</a>,
the Western corporate-media seems only able to condemn Voisin's death
along with unconfirmed, most likely fabricated accounts made by
militants that Syria is firing "Scud missiles" into Aleppo. This, while
confirmed, deadly car bombings bearing all of Al Qaeda's hallmarks
killed scores of civilians in Damascus, and was promptly excused,
dismissed, and buried by the West. In fact, the <a href="http://rt.com/news/syria-terrorism-un-row-264/">US is blocking a UN resolution</a> that would condemn the most recent Al Qaeda bombing in Damascus which claimed over 50 lives including school children. <br />
<br />
The runaway depravity of the West, its governments, institutions, media,
and faux-NGO's are permanently disfiguring any potential concept of
"international law" and has left the people of the West with a
floundering legitimacy that will inevitably impact all other aspects of
their life, not merely foreign policy. Criminal foreign policy is just
one of many symptoms of a corrupt, <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2011/03/naming-names-your-real-government.html">corporate-financier dominated</a>
ruling oligarchy that has hijacked the institutions, charters, and
social contracts that bind together a functional society. The solution
is to boycott and ultimately replace these corporate-financier
monopolies, <a href="http://localorg.blogspot.com/2012/12/decenralize-big-retail.html">by creating and cultivating local institutions</a> that directly serve the interests of the people.</div>
</div>
</div>
Land Destroyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975347030080073643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-887631221850927814.post-58830018503497045452013-02-24T23:51:00.001-08:002013-02-24T23:55:37.434-08:00West Pours Arms into Syria as Al Qaeda Mass Slaughters Civilians <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="post-header">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">West fueling deadly conflict that has allegedly killed 70,000. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-48g7pEaSP2c/USmfsgcMnnI/AAAAAAAAG_I/GP59-DOZACg/s1600/SyriaDamascusCarBombing_Nov28_2012.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-48g7pEaSP2c/USmfsgcMnnI/AAAAAAAAG_I/GP59-DOZACg/s320/SyriaDamascusCarBombing_Nov28_2012.jpg" width="216" /></a></div>
<b>February 24, 2013</b> (LD) - Repeat a lie often enough, and hopefully
people will begin to believe it. That is what a concerted effort by
Western media houses hopes to achieve as they claim the recent flow of
heavy weapons from Western nations and their Arab-Israeli partners is
boosting "moderate rebels" and "tilting" the balance of Syria's conflict
against the Syrian government. <br />
<br />
The Washington Post in particular, sets the tempo for this coordinated propaganda campaign, claiming in their report, "<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/in-syria-new-influx-of-weapons-to-rebels-tilts-the-battle-against-assad/2013/02/23/a6bf2bc0-7dfb-11e2-9073-e9dda4ac6a66_story.html">In Syria, new influx of weapons to rebels tilts the battle against Assad</a>," that:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
A surge of rebel advances in Syria is being fueled at least in part by
an influx of heavy weaponry in a renewed effort by outside powers to arm
moderates in the Free Syrian Army, according to Arab and rebel
officials. </blockquote>
The report also states: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The officials declined to identify the source of the newly provided
weapons, but they noted that the countries most closely involved in
supporting the rebels’ campaign to oust Assad have grown increasingly
alarmed at the soaring influence of Islamists over the fragmented rebel
movement. They include the United States and its major European allies,
along with Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia and
Qatar, the two countries most directly involved in supplying the rebels. </blockquote>
The Washington Post refuses to use the term, "Al Qaeda," and instead
labels the international, Persian Gulf financed, armed, and harbored
terror organization as, "radical Islamists." It quotes an unnamed Arab
official as saying,: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"If you want to weaken al-Nusra, you do it not by withholding [weapons] but by boosting the other groups." <br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=887631221850927814" name="more"></a></blockquote>
<b></b><br />
<a name='more'></a><b>Al Qaeda and the "Moderates" are One in the Same </b><br />
<br />
Al-Nusra, of course, is Al Qaeda in Syria and is linked directly to the
openly Western-created and backed "moderate" opposition. Moaz al-Khatib,
leader of the so-called National Coalition, demanded the US take
al-Nusra in particular off their list of sanctioned terrorist
organizations. In December of 2012, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/12/syria-crisis-alkhatib-idUSL5E8NC7Z320121212">Reuters quoted al-Khatib</a> as saying: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="articleText">"The decision to consider a party that is fighting the regime as a terrorist party needs to be reviewed. </span><span id="articleText">We might disagree with some parties and their ideas and
their political and ideological vision. But we affirm that all
the guns of the rebels are aimed at overthrowing the tyrannical
criminal regime."</span> </blockquote>
In the same article, Reuters would admit: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="articleText">The United States designated the Jabhat al-Nusra (Nusra
Front) as a foreign terrorist organisation and said it was
trying to hijack the revolt on behalf of al Qaeda in <span class="mandelbrot_refrag">Iraq</span>.</span><span id="articleText"> </span> </blockquote>
While the Washington Post tries to claim Al Qaeda is somehow a separate
entity from the "Syrian opposition," the West's own opposition front
openly defends and supports Al Qaeda's ongoing violence, which most
recently manifested itself in <a href="http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?fromval=1&cid=23&frid=23&eid=83239">a car bomb targeting scores of civilians, including school children</a>. <br />
<br />
As the <a href="http://www.france24.com/en/20130121-qatar-mali-france-ansar-dine-mnla-al-qaeda-sunni-islam-doha">West simultaneously accuses Saudi Arabia and Qatar</a> (<a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2013/02/us-saudi-funded-terrorists-sowing-chaos.html">and here</a>)
of being the primary financiers of Al Qaeda, it itself has admitted
years before the so-called "Syrian uprising" began that it was itself
funding and arming extremist groups with direct ties to Al Qaeda with
the goal of fostering the very violence now taking place in Syria and
along its peripheries. The purpose of now repeatedly lying about arming
only "moderate" militants in Syria, is to cover up both past admissions
that the West planned to overthrow both Syria and neighboring Iran by
arming and funding Al Qaeda since at least 2007, as well as obvious
evidence that they are <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/10/nato-using-al-qaeda-rat-lines-to-flood.html">in fact doing just that in Syria now</a>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aEe1Gq1jh7o/UIhh1F9V5HI/AAAAAAAAEnU/uRuiniFtj4M/s1600/WestPoint_1_SyriaAQvsAS.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aEe1Gq1jh7o/UIhh1F9V5HI/AAAAAAAAEnU/uRuiniFtj4M/s640/WestPoint_1_SyriaAQvsAS.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<i><b>Image</b>: (Left)</i> <i>The US Army West Point Combating Terrorism Center's 2007 report, </i><i>"<a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/111001074/West-Point-CTC-s-Al-Qa-ida-s-Foreign-Fighters-in-Iraq">Al-Qa'ida's Foreign Fighters in Iraq</a>"
indicated which areas in Syria Al Qaeda fighters filtering into
Iraq came from. The overwhelming majority of them came from Dayr Al-Zawr
in Syria's southeast, Idlib in the north near the Turkish-Syrian
border, and Dar'a (Daraa) in the south near the Jordanian-Syrian border. (Right)
A map indicating the epicenters of violence in Syria indicate that the
exact same hotbeds for Al Qaeda in 2007, now serve as the epicenters of
so-called "pro-democracy fighters." The <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/in-syria-new-influx-of-weapons-to-rebels-tilts-the-battle-against-assad/2013/02/23/a6bf2bc0-7dfb-11e2-9073-e9dda4ac6a66_story.html">Washington Post now claims</a>
that arming militants near Dar'a (Daraa) will help keep weapons out of
extremists' hands, despite the US Army long-ago identifying it as one of
many Al Qaeda hotbeds. </i><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>....</i> </div>
<br />
<b>US Admissions to Arming Al Qaeda in Syria as Early as 2007 </b><br />
<br />
In 2007, the Wall Street Journal published an article titled, "<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118530969571176579.html">To Check Syria, U.S. Explores Bond With Muslim Brothers</a>" which stated: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
On a humid afternoon in late May, about 100 supporters of Syria's
largest exile opposition group, the National Salvation Front, gathered
outside Damascus's embassy here to protest Syrian President Bashar
Assad's rule. The participants shouted anti-Assad slogans and raised
banners proclaiming: "Change the Regime Now." </blockquote>
Later in the article, it would be revealed that the National Salvation
Front (NSF) was in contact with the US State Department and that a
Washington-based consulting firm in fact assisted the NSF in organizing
the rally:
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6296737490016844972" name="more"></a><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In the weeks before the presidential election, the State Department's
Middle East Partnership Initiative, which promotes regional democracy,
and NSF members met to talk about publicizing Syria's lack of democracy
and low voter turnout, participants say. A Washington-based consulting
firm, C&O Resources Inc., assisted the NSF in its planning for the
May 26 anti-Assad rally at the Syrian embassy, providing media and
political contacts. State Department officials stress they provided no
financial or technical support to the protestors. </blockquote>
The article then admits:<br />
<br />
One of the NSF's most influential members is the Syrian branch of the
Muslim Brotherhood -- the decades-old political movement active across
the Middle East whose leaders have inspired the terrorist groups Hamas
and al Qaeda. Its Syrian offshoot says it has renounced armed struggle
in favor of democratic reform. <br />
<br />
Also in 2007, reported by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh in his New Yorker article, "<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/03/05/070305fa_fact_hersh?currentPage=all">The Redirection</a>," it was stated (emphasis added): <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush
Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in
the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has coöperated with
Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations
that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is
backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations
aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. <b>A by-product of these activities has
been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant
vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda</b>."</blockquote>
Hersh's report would continue by stating:
<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"the Saudi government, with Washington’s approval, would provide funds
and logistical aid to weaken the government of President Bashir Assad,
of Syria. The Israelis believe that putting such pressure on the Assad
government will make it more conciliatory and open to negotiations." -<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/03/05/070305fa_fact_hersh?currentPage=all">The Redirection, Seymour Hersh (2007)</a> </blockquote>
Further admissions of a joint US-Israeli-Saudi conspiracy against Syria included: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"...[Saudi Arabia's] Bandar and other
Saudis have assured the White House that “they will keep a very close
eye on the religious fundamentalists. Their message to us was ‘We’ve
created this movement, and we can control it.’ It’s not that we don’t
want the Salafis to throw bombs; it’s <i>who</i> they throw them at—Hezbollah, Moqtada al-Sadr, Iran, and at the Syrians, if they continue to work with Hezbollah and Iran.” -<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/03/05/070305fa_fact_hersh?currentPage=all">The Redirection, Seymour Hersh (2007)</a> </blockquote>
<span id="articleText"> In regards to sectarian extremism in particular it was forewarned that: </span><span id="articleText"> </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Robert Baer, a former longtime C.I.A. agent in Lebanon, has been a
severe critic of Hezbollah and has warned of its links to
Iranian-sponsored terrorism. But now, he told me, “we’ve got Sunni Arabs
preparing for cataclysmic conflict, and we will need somebody to
protect the Christians in Lebanon. It used to be the French and the
United States who would do it, and now it’s going to be Nasrallah and
the Shiites" -<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/03/05/070305fa_fact_hersh?currentPage=all">The Redirection, Seymour Hersh (2007)</a> <span id="articleText"><br /></span></blockquote>
<br />
While the Western media now concedes that <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/17/syria-crisis-alqaida-fighters-true-colours">Al Qaeda is playing a primary role in Syria's violence</a>,
it not only is pretending as if open, and repeated admissions by US,
Saudi, and Lebanese officials as far back as 2007 to organize and arm Al
Qaeda in the first place never happened, it continuously attempts to
frame Al Qaeda as being somehow separate, even opposed to "moderate
rebels" - despite these "moderates" defending and embracing Al Qaeda's
al-Nusra front by name.<br />
<br />
However, the West most certainly did organize, arm, and fund Al Qaeda
ahead of the so-called "uprising," and for each time the Washington
Post, CNN, the BBC, the Guardian, or any other corporate-financier
propaganda organization attempts to repeat lies regarding the West's
role in fomenting Syria's current crisis, the truth must likewise be
repeated.<br />
<br />
The West with its Israeli, Saudi, and Qatari partners, created and have
since fueled Al Qaeda for over 3 decades using them both as the ultimate
casus belli and as an inexhaustible mercenary force from Mali, Algeria,
and Libya, to Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Pakistan. Al Qaeda linked
extremists are finding themselves a lynchpin in the West's geopolitical
agenda even as far as Southeast Asia where so-called "fundamentalist"
groups are linking up with Wall Street's proxy Anwar Ibrahim in
Malaysia. <br />
<br />
Ultimately, the Washington Post concedes that terrorists are failing in
Syria, and that even with the influx of heavy weapons, regime change may
still be a far fetched goal. By matching the West's repeated lies, with
the repeated truth, we can prevent the attempted rewriting of the
West's admitted and shameful role in creating this 2-year long bloodbath
as far back as 2007. Similarly, we must <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2011/03/naming-names-your-real-government.html">identify the corporate-financier interests</a> driving this agenda - interests we most likely patronize on a daily basis, <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/10/self-sufficiency-local-solution-to.html">and both boycott</a> and <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/10/self-sufficiency-local-solution-to.html">permanently replace them</a> to erode the unwarranted influence they have used to both plan and execute this assault on Syria's people.</div>
</div>
Land Destroyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975347030080073643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-887631221850927814.post-76185283221577318942013-02-12T19:43:00.000-08:002013-02-12T19:43:00.036-08:00Militants Systematically Destroying Syria’s Infrastructure: Assad<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MghiKc-O6Ro/URsLdVi2YDI/AAAAAAAAG8g/9gTLZLCuH-4/s1600/assad2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="359" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MghiKc-O6Ro/URsLdVi2YDI/AAAAAAAAG8g/9gTLZLCuH-4/s640/assad2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<b>February 13, 2013</b> (<a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/02/12/288635/militants-destroying-syria-infrastructure/">PressTV</a>) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says foreign-backed militants fighting against the government are systematically destroying the country’s infrastructure. <br /> <br />The Syrian president made the remarks at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday following the oath-taking ceremony of the new government. <br /> <br />He also called for "collective action" by the state and Syrian citizens to limit the negative effects of the country's crisis. <br /> <br />Since the beginning of unrest in Syria, militants have attacked and damaged many industrial and public infrastructures, including facilities providing electricity which have caused power cuts. <br /> <br />Repeated terrorist attacks on oil and gas pipelines have also resulted in fuel shortage in Syria. <br /> <br />According to Syria’s official news agency SANA, militant attacks against the power infrastructure only have cost the Syrian economy USD 3.1 billion. <br /> <br />Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011. Many people, including large numbers of security personnel, have been killed in the violence. <br /> <br />The Syrian government says the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants are foreign nationals. <br /> <br />In a key speech on January 6, Assad called for an end to the terrorist operations inside Syria and urged "concerned states and parties" to stop funding, arming and harboring militants. <br /> <br />He added that his government is always ready to hold talks with the opposition and would call for a "comprehensive national dialog" after foreign parties end their support for the militants and the terrorist activities cease in the country. <br /> <br />HM/PKH/SL</div>
Land Destroyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975347030080073643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-887631221850927814.post-72059647713009894042013-01-27T05:04:00.002-08:002013-01-27T05:04:50.242-08:00NATO Terrorists in Syria Attack Kurdish Minority <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>January 27, 2013</b> (<a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2013/01/nato-terrorists-in-syria-attack-kurdish.html">LD</a>) - The Western media and Western government
representatives from the United States and across the European Union,
still insist that the sectarian bloodbath unfolding in Syria, fueled by
US, British and EU weapons and cash, is a so-called "pro-democracy"
uprising. Why then, one might ask, are these so-called "pro-democracy"
freedom fighters <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-syrian-kurds-and-rebels-battle-over-town-20130119,0,345466.story" target="_blank">turning their weapons on Syria's Kurdish minority</a> if the "rebels" are allegedly locked in mortal combat with a "dictatorship" they seek to overthrow for the sake of all Syrians?<br />
<br />
The answer of course is that the conflict is most certainly not a
"pro-democracy" uprising, but rather Saudi-Qatari inspired sectarian
extremists <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/10/nato-using-al-qaeda-rat-lines-to-flood.html" target="_blank">imported and armed by NATO from abroad</a>,
to subjugate and conquer the people of Syria - to subjugate and conquer
anyone who does not subscribe or submit to Saudi-inspired, NATO
underwritten extremism in pursuit of foreign-backed regime change and
regional geopolitical reordering.<br />
<br />
To explain the recent violence visited upon Kurds in Syria, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AazeadIh0v0" target="_blank">PressTV interviewed</a> New York City-based geopolitical analyst Eric Draitser of <a href="http://stopimperialism.com/" target="_blank">StopImperialism.com</a>:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/AazeadIh0v0?rel=0" width="560"></iframe>
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Land Destroyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975347030080073643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-887631221850927814.post-68406172748884220222013-01-24T08:59:00.001-08:002013-01-24T08:59:24.316-08:00Syria's Muslim Brotherhood Propped Up by US Since 2007 Under Bush <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z-AmiveUfHU/UQFguUMpz8I/AAAAAAAAG1s/Ah_ZF8T5cFk/s1600/MuslimBrotherhood-1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z-AmiveUfHU/UQFguUMpz8I/AAAAAAAAG1s/Ah_ZF8T5cFk/s200/MuslimBrotherhood-1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<b>January 24, 2013</b> (<a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2013/01/syrias-muslim-brotherhood-propped-up-by.html">LD - Tony Cartalucci</a>) - In 2007, the Wall Street Journal published an article titled, "<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118530969571176579.html">To Check Syria, U.S. Explores Bond With Muslim Brothers</a>."
And even then, it was noted that the Brotherhood held close links with
groups the US recognizes and lists as terrorist organizations, including
Hamas and Al Qaeda.<br />
<br />
The report gives a disturbing foreshadowing of US support that would
eventually see the Muslim Brotherhood rise as both a political and
terroristic power across the Arab World, after decades of hard-fought
attempts to crush the sectarian extremist organization everywhere from
Tunisia to Syria, from Egypt to Libya, to Jordan, and beyond. In fact,
the 2007 Wall Street Journal article specifically noted that the US
partnership could "destabilize governments in Jordan and Egypt, two US
allies where the Brotherhood is a growing opposition force."<br />
<br />
Egypt is now run by a sectarian-extremist Muslim Brotherhood dictatorship, <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/08/west-celebrates-as-dark-age-descends.html">after the US incited unrest there in 2011</a>, while Jordan is seeing increasing unrest led by the Jordanian arm of the Brotherhood. <a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
What is also disturbing about the 2007 report, is that it shows how
allegedly "Bush-era" policies transcended the 2000-2008 administration
and continued in earnest under President Obama. <br />
<br />
The report, written by Jay Solomon, echoes similar foreshadowing of the
coming violent sectarian bloodbath now engulfing Syria, found in
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh's New Yorker piece
titled, "<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/03/05/070305fa_fact_hersh?currentPage=all">The Redireciton: Is the Administration’s new policy benefiting our enemies in the war on terrorism?</a>" <br />
<br />
Solomon begins by stating: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
On a humid afternoon in late May, about 100 supporters of Syria's
largest exile opposition group, the National Salvation Front, gathered
outside Damascus's embassy here to protest Syrian President Bashar
Assad's rule. The participants shouted anti-Assad slogans and raised
banners proclaiming: "Change the Regime Now." </blockquote>
Later in the article, it would be revealed that the National Salvation
Front (NSF) was in contact with the US State Department and that a
Washington-based consulting firm in fact assisted the NSF in organizing
the rally:<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=887631221850927814" name="more"></a><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In the weeks before the presidential election, the State Department's
Middle East Partnership Initiative, which promotes regional democracy,
and NSF members met to talk about publicizing Syria's lack of democracy
and low voter turnout, participants say. A Washington-based consulting
firm, C&O Resources Inc., assisted the NSF in its planning for the
May 26 anti-Assad rally at the Syrian embassy, providing media and
political contacts. State Department officials stress they provided no
financial or technical support to the protestors.</blockquote>
<a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2011/12/2011-year-of-dupe.html">Just like the Arab Spring</a>,
what was in fact foreign-backed sedition, was peddled publicly by
professional PR firms with the help of a bought-off, complicit corporate
media, as a "pro-democracy" uprising. <br />
<br />
And while the Wall Street Journal then, just as the US State Department
and the Western media houses are now portraying the Syrian opposition as
representing a wide range of interests across Syrian society, it was
admitted then, just as it is plainly obvious now, that the sectarian
extremist Muslim Brotherhood was in fact at the very center of the
"uprising:" <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
One of the NSF's most influential members is the Syrian branch of the
Muslim Brotherhood -- the decades-old political movement active across
the Middle East whose leaders have inspired the terrorist groups Hamas
and al Qaeda. Its Syrian offshoot says it has renounced armed struggle
in favor of democratic reform.</blockquote>
The article would describe a fractured, disorganized opposition, must
like the 2011 "National Syrian Council" (NSC) and its more recent <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/12/us-recognizes-unelected-terrorists-as.html">US-Qatari contrived reincarnation</a>,
the "National Coalition," whose only common denominator and prevailing
ideology was and still is the sectarian extremism practiced by the
Muslim Brotherhood. Similarly, the current "National Coalition" is
headed by Moaz al-Khatib who, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgWWXvmZmsc&feature=player_embedded#%21">on Qatari state-owned Al Jazeera</a>,
openly admitted his aspirations of establishing an "Islamic State" in
place of Syria's current secular society. Al-Khatib also <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/12/us-backed-syrian-opposition-demands.html">vigorously protested</a> the US' listing of Al Qaeda terrorist franchisee, Al Nusra, who is openly fighting as part of Al-Khatib's "National Coalition."<br />
<br />
These are the "freedom fighters" then and now, that the US has been
supporting, funding, and in fact arming. The most recent accusation of
the US arming known-terrorists <a href="http://cnsnews.com/news/article/former-special-forces-commander-was-us-running-guns-syrian-rebels-benghazi-cia-no">came from retired US Army General and former Special Forces Commander, William G. Boykin</a>, who claimed the US is not only arming terrorists in Syria, but they are doing so by running guns through <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/10/dead-us-ambassador-documented-creation.html">the terror emirate</a> of Benghazi, Libya. <br />
<br />
From the <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/10/nato-using-al-qaeda-rat-lines-to-flood.html">pan-Arab logistical networks</a>
NATO is using to flood Syria with weapons and terrorists, to the
current leadership of the so-called opposition, and with documented
evidence from 2007 of a US conspiracy to prop up the Muslim Brotherhood
and other known, violent extremist groups in Syria to overthrow the
government, it is clear that every aspect of the US', UK's, NATO's, and
even the UN's narrative regarding the conflict in Syria is an
intentional fabrication. Furthermore, it indicates a much wider
deception - one involving the misconception that presidential elections
bring in both new leadership, and new policies. The wars engineered
under Bush, are being carried out under Obama, by the same policy makers
from the very same <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/05/us-brookings-wants-to-bleed-syria-to.html">corporate-funded think-tanks</a> that handed Bush his agenda years ago.<br />
<br />With French, British, and now US troops <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2013/01/france-displays-unhinged-hypocrisy-as.html">becoming increasingly involved in Mali</a>,
allegedly fighting terrorists with direct connections to the fighters
armed, funded, and given diplomatic recognition by the West in Libya,
and with the conflict already spilling over the borders with Algeria,
one must recognize that an agenda is being carried out contra to both
the will of the people and their best interests. Identifying <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2011/03/naming-names-your-real-government.html">the corporate-financier interests</a> involved in this agenda, and both boycotting and replacing them <a href="http://localorg.blogspot.com/2012/12/decenralize-big-retail.html">with local alternatives</a>
is our only recourse. Clearly - as illustrated in the case with the
non-transition, continuity of agenda between "right-wing" Republican
Bush and "left-wing" Democrat Obama - elections don't count. As proven
with the "Arab Spring" and the US underwritten protests of the NSF -
protests don't either. </div>
Land Destroyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975347030080073643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-887631221850927814.post-6716258333206685862013-01-21T13:04:00.002-08:002013-01-21T13:04:43.409-08:00Mali: One War Can Hide Another<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0xooFDNbfnc/UP2tQhiC7LI/AAAAAAAAG1E/spuKOO9V9Z4/s1600/vol1-3623-2d973-bc5ec.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0xooFDNbfnc/UP2tQhiC7LI/AAAAAAAAG1E/spuKOO9V9Z4/s320/vol1-3623-2d973-bc5ec.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="lettrine">
<b>January 22, 2013</b> (<a href="http://www.voltairenet.org/article177190.html">voltairenet.org-Thierry Meyssan</a>) - "<i>Appetite comes with eating</i>", says the
proverb. After having re-colonised the Ivory Coast and Libya, then
having attempted to get a hold on Syria, France is now setting its
sights on Mali in order to take Algeria from behind.</div>
<div class="lettrine">
</div>
During the attack on Libya, the French and the British made wide use
of the Islamists to fight the power structure in Tripoli, since the
Cyrenaican separatists had no interest in overthrowing Muammar
al-Gaddafi once Benghazi became independent. At the fall of the
Jamahiriya, I was personally witness to the reception of the leaders of
AQMI (Al Qaida in Islamist Mahgreb) by members of the National
Transitional Council in the Hotel Corinthia, which had just been secured
by British special forces who had come from Iraq for that purpose. It
was clear that the next target for Western colonialism would be Algeria,
and that AQMI would play its part, but at that time I could not see
which conflict could be used to justify international intervention.<br />
<br />
Paris has imagined a scenario in which war will enter Algeria via Mali.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
Shortly before NATO’s capture of Tripoli, the French managed to bribe
and return the Tuareg groups. They had the time to supply them with
abundant funds and weapons, but it was already too late for them to play
a role on the ground. Once the war was over, they went back to their
desert.<br />
<br />
The Tuaregs are a nomad people who live in the central Sahara and on
the borders of the Sahel, which is a vast area shared between Libya and
Algeria, Mali and Niger. While they have obtained the protection of the
first two states, they have been ignored by the last two. As a result,
since the 1960’s, they have been challenging the sovereignty of Mali and
Niger on their land. Quite logically, these groups, armed by France,
have decided to use their weapons to impose their demands on Mali. The
MNLA (National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad) has taken control
over almost all of northern Mali, where they live. However, a small
group of Tuareg Islamists, Ansar Dine, which is connected to AQMI, has
taken advantage of this occupation to impose <i>sharia</i> law in some areas.<br />
<br />
On the 21st of March 2012, a strange <i>coup d’Etat</i> was
perpetrated in Mali. A mysterious group called CNRDRE ( National
Commitee for the Recovery of Democracy and the Restoration of the State)
overthrew President Amadou Toumani Touré and declared their intention
to restore Malian authority in the north of the country. This resulted
in great confusion, since the putschists were incapable of explaining
how their actions would improve the situation. The overthrow of the
President was even stranger since a presidential election was to be held
five weeks later and the outgoing President was not running for office.
The CNRDRE is composed of officers who were trained in the United
States. They halted the election process and handed power to one of
their candidates, who happened to be the Francophile Dioncounda Traore.
This sleight of hand was legalised by the CEDEAO (Economic Community of
West African States), whose President is none other than Alassane
Ouattara, who was placed in power in the Ivory Coast by the French army a
year earlier.<br />
<br />
The <i>coup d’Etat</i> exacerbated ethnic divisions in the country.
Elite units of the Malian army (trained in the United States), whose
commander is a Tuareg, joined the rebellion, taking with them their arms
and equipment.<br />
<br />
On the 10th of January, Ansar Dine - supported by other Islamist
groups – attacked the town of Konna. It then moves out of Tuareg
territory to spread Islamic law to the south of Mali. The transitional
President, Dioncounda Traore, declared a state of emergency and called
to France for help. Paris intervened within hours to prevent the fall of
the capital, Bamako. Far-sightedly, the Elysée had already
pre-positioned in Mali troops from the 1st Marine Infantry Parachute
Regiment ("<i>the Colonials</i>") and the 13th Parachute Dragoon
Regiment, helicopters from the COS (Special Operations Command), three
Mirage 2000D’s, two Mirage F-1’s, three C135’s, a C130 Hercules and a
C160 Transall.<br />
<br />
In reality, it is highly unlikely that Ansar Dine represented any
real threat, since the true combative forces are not Islamists, but
Tuareg nationalists, who have no ambitions in the south of Mali.<br />
<br />
In order to carry out its military intervention, France has turned to
a number of countries for support, including Algeria. Alger is trapped –
it either has to accept collaboration with an old colonial power, or
take the risk of an influx of Islamists on its territory. After some
hesitation, it agreed to open its airspace to French aviation. But then a
non-identified Islamist group attacked a British Petroleum gas terminal
in southern Algeria, accusing Algiers of complicity with Paris in the
Malian affair. A hundred people were taken hostage, but they were not
only Algerian and French. The aim of this attack is clearly to
internationalize the conflict by transporting it to Algeria.<br />
<br />
This technique of French intervention is a copy of the one deployed
by the Bush administration - use Islamist groups to create conflict,
then intervene and occupy the area under the pretence of restoring
order. That is why François Hollande’s rhetoric picks up on the "<i>war against terrorism</i>",
which has long been abandoned by Washington. The usual cast of actors
can be found in this play - Qatar has bought shares in the major French
companies installed in Mali, and the emir of Ansar Dine has close ties
to Saudi Arabia.<br />
<br />
The arsonist-fireman is also a sorcerer’s apprentice. France has decided to reinforce its anti-terrorist measures, the ’<i>Vigipirate plan</i>’.
Paris is not afraid of actions by Malian Islamists on French soil, but
of the influx of jihadists from Syria. In fact, over the last two years,
the DCRI (Central Directorate of Interior Intelligence) has favoured
the recruitment of young French Muslims to fight with the Syrian
Liberation Army against the Syrian state. Since the SLA is failing,
these djihadists are presently returning to their native land, where
they may be tempted, out of solidarity with Ansar Dine, to use the
terrorist techniques that they have been taught in Syria.</div>
Land Destroyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975347030080073643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-887631221850927814.post-1222277141266187142013-01-21T12:59:00.002-08:002013-01-21T12:59:20.430-08:00Electronic Discrimination: Iran’s Web-Based Enemies<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-igZj5jBnuSY/UP2r0pZdcNI/AAAAAAAAG00/TcA8rKcf1k4/s1600/Communication.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="186" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-igZj5jBnuSY/UP2r0pZdcNI/AAAAAAAAG00/TcA8rKcf1k4/s320/Communication.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b>January 22, 2013</b> (<a href="http://kouroshziabari.com/2013/01/electronic-discrimination-irans-web-based-enemies/">kouroshziabari.com</a>) - The inhumane sanctions of the United States and its European allies
against Iran know no boundaries. At the cost of the lives of thousands
of Iranian patients suffering from different types of cancer,
thalassemia, hemophilia, HIV/Aids, psychiatric disorders and other
diseases, the West has banned the export of life-saving medicines and
medical equipments to Iran and this is deteriorating the lives of those
patients who cannot find medicines needed for their survival. The
companies that do business with Iran will be immediately penalized by
the U.S. government and so far no exemptions have been made to ensure
that ordinary Iranian citizens will at least get access to foodstuff,
medicines and other humanitarian goods.<br />
<br />
The recent wave of sanctions have also targeted Iranian media as
several satellite providers across Asia, Europe, Latin America and North
America have taken Iranian television channels off air, denying
millions of viewers around the world the chance to find an alternative,
Iranian perspective on the world affairs.<br />
<br />
However, the sanctions have been so extensive and widespread that
they even deprive the Iranian citizens from enjoying the latest
productions of technology.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
The internet explorer “Google Chrome” is unavailable for downloading
to the Iranian users, and so are the instant messaging software “Google
Chrome”, picture sharing platform “Picasa” and the geographical
surveying application “Google Earth.” Although the Iranian computer
geeks know tricks to circumvent these limitations, for the majority of
Iranian computer users these services are not easy-to-access.<br />
<br />
Ironically, Google lifted the limitations in early 2011 when the
opponents of President Ahmadinejad had taken to the streets and staged
demonstrations. Google announced that it will ease the restrictions to
allow the protesters communicate more smoothly and organize rallies and
mass demonstrations. “There are many activist layers on Google Earth.
Anyone can create a layer to show exactly what is going on in Iran,”
said Google’s head of public policy Scott Rubin.<br />
<br />
Rubin also said that having access to Google Chrome will be also
useful for the protesters: “in a country with a history of government
surveillance it is useful having a browser that can’t easily be hacked.”<br />
So it’s clear that even when the American internet giant made some
concessions, it did not intend to serve the interests of the Iranian
people in general, but only meant to contribute to the weakening of the
government and empowerment of the opposition.<br />
<br />
But the limitations imposed on Iranian internet users by the United
States are not new or unprecedented. On August 19, 1997, President
Clinton signed the 13059 executive order which stipulated harsh
restrictions on Iranian internet users and computer companies in terms
of using the U.S.-produced software, hardware and other technology
products.<br />
<br />
According to this order, “the exportation, reexportation, sale, or
supply, directly or indirectly, from the United States, or by a United
States person, wherever located, of any goods, technology, or services
to Iran or the Government of Iran, including the exportation,
reexportation, sale, or supply of any goods, technology, or services to a
person in a third country” will be prohibited.<br />
<br />
According to the U.S. Department of Treasury, only a handful of
commonplace computer applications including document readers such as
Acrobat Reader, plug-ins such as Flashplayer and Shockwave and “free
mobile apps related to personal communications” are legally downloadable
in Iran.<br />
<br />
In April 2003, it was reported that in a racially discriminatory and
politically motivated decision, the popular career and job-finding
website Monster.com removed the profiles and résumés of users from a
number of countries on the U.S. Department of State’s blacklist
including Iran, Syria, Sudan, Myanmar, Cuba, Libya and North Korea.<br />
<br />
In a March 21, 2012 report, the CNet’s political correspondent Declan
McCullagh wrote that Google has also restricted Iranian users’ access
to Android Market, known as Google Play.<br />
<br />
Collin Anderson, an independent researcher in North Dakota has listed
a number of U.S.-based technology products that are unavailable to
Iranian users. These products include, but are not limited to, Apple’s
iOS app store, McAfee’s antivirus software, Oracle’s Java and MySQL,
Adobe Acrobat Reader, DropBox, Real Player, Google AdWords, and Google
Android Market.<br />
<br />
But the unfair measures taken by the U.S. government as dictated to
the American internet, IT and other technology-related service providers
have gone beyond the pale and are now taking the form of racial
discrimination. It was reported in June 2012 that an Apple Store in
Alpharetta, Georgia refused to sell an iPhone and iPad to the
Persian-speaking customers, resorting to the excuse that they may send
at least one of these devices to their friends in Iran!<br />
<br />
When Sara Sabet, a 19-year-old student of the Georgia University went
to an Apple Store in a local mall with her friend to buy a couple of
iDevices, the salesperson found her speaking in a foreign language. The
employee asked her what language she spoke, where she was from and where
the iPad and iPhone were heading to. She responded by saying that she
is from Iran and wants to send the devices to her friend in Iran. It was
then that the Apple employee responded by saying, “I just can’t sell
this to you. Our countries have bad relations.” Sabet said that the left
the store and shed tears all the way back to home.<br />
<br />
The Council on American-Islamic Relations called the Apple Store’s
treatment of the Iranian student discriminatory in a statement issued in
condemnation: “Apple must revise its policies to ensure that customers
do not face discriminatory treatment based on their religion, ethnicity
or national origin,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad.
“If the actions of these Apple employees reflected company policy, that
policy must be changed and all employees retrained.”<br />
<br />
Overall, this is how the Iranians are being treated by a government
which has always been busy trumpeting its anxiety and nervousness for
the protection of human rights around the world. Perhaps Iranians are
paying the price for the independence of their nation and their refusal
to be brought under the hegemonic domination of the United States. These
sanctions which directly affect the daily lives of ordinary citizens
show the extent to which the U.S. government can be brutal and ruthless
to deprive a nation of its most rudimentary and basic rights. Can anyone
really understand what Uncle Sam is doing?<br />
<br />
This article was originally published on <a href="http://www.yourmiddleeast.com/opinion/kourosh-ziabari-electronic-discrimination-irans-webbased-enemies_12351"><em>Your Middle East</em></a>, <a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/electronic-sanctions-targeting-irans-media-preventing-iranians-from-using-the-internet/5319110"><em>Global Research</em></a> and <em><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/ziabari160113.htm">Counter Currents</a>. </em>An edited version of the article also appeared on <em><a href="http://www.tehrantimes.com/opinion/105026-electronic-discrimination-irans-cyber-enemies">Tehran Times</a>.</em></div>
Land Destroyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975347030080073643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-887631221850927814.post-33399064690867044122013-01-21T12:50:00.003-08:002013-01-21T12:50:52.246-08:00Once Derided, Gaddafi’s Warnings about Jihadists Now Used to Justify Mali Intervention<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">Always on hand when needed, cameleontic jihadists serve as enemies in Mali, friends in Syria, and air force in Libya. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-syrQYfcNlQs/UP2qDs8q56I/AAAAAAAAG0k/HvK3MAD5Szg/s1600/jihadists-3-93801.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-syrQYfcNlQs/UP2qDs8q56I/AAAAAAAAG0k/HvK3MAD5Szg/s320/jihadists-3-93801.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="lettrine">
<b>January 22, 2013</b> (<a href="http://www.voltairenet.org/article177186.html">voltairenet.org-Stephen Gowans</a>) - In today’s <i>New York Times</i>, <a class="spip_out" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/20/sunday-review/the-french-way-of-war.html?ref=stevenerlanger&_r=0" rel="external">Steven Erlanger</a> justifies the French intervention in Mali on these grounds:</div>
<div class="lettrine">
</div>
• It responds to “<i>a direct request from a legitimate government</i>.”
<br />• It combats “<i>the spread of radical Islamists, some of them
foreign jihadists, strongly connected to terrorist groups like Al Qaeda
in the Islamic Maghreb</i>.”<br />
<br />
Erlanger uses the word “<i>legitimate</i>” to describe Mali’s government. “<i>Democratic</i>”
carries more weight, but the description doesn’t fit. Mali is governed
by a military dictatorship, a truth one suspects Erlanger would prefer
not to draw attention to. Being every bit a salesman, Erlanger presses “<i>legitimate</i>” into use as an inferior, though still high-sounding, surrogate for “<i>democratic</i>”. A military operation to help a legitimate government must be legitimate, right?<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
Wrong. How can a French military operation in a North African country
be legitimate, when not too long ago France undertook what was then
called a legitimate intervention in another North African country,
Libya, with the opposite aims:<br />
<br />
• Not to support, but to topple a legitimate government;
<br />• Not to stop the spread of radical Islam, but to help radical
Islamists, some of them foreign jihadists, strongly connected to
terrorist groups like Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, overthrow a
legitimate government?<br />
<br />
In other words, the Mali operation is the very antithesis of the
Libyan one. Yet, according to state officials in France, the United
States and Britain and their jingoist Western mass media cheerleaders,
both interventions are legitimate. Where the Mali intervention protects a
legitimate government, the Libyan intervention toppled one. Where the
Mali operation opposes radical Islamists, the Libyan operation aided
them.<br />
<br />
It can’t possibly be true that Western governments are against
radical Islamists as a matter of principle, when the principal financial
and ideological backer of militant Sunni Islamism, Saudi Arabia, is a
treasured ally. Nor can it be true when Western powers backed radical
Islamists against:<br />
<br />
• The leftist Afghan government in the 1980s,
<br />• Yugoslavia’s social democracy in the 1990s,
<br />• Gaddafi’s economic nationalism in Libya,
<br />• Assad’s secular nationalist government in Syria.<br />
<br />
It can’t be true that Western powers are against despots, dictators,
and absolutist monarchs, when they’ve backed so many of them in the
past, and continue to back them in the present, from the potentates of
the Gulf Cooperation Council to the military regime in Mali.<br />
<br />
Neither are Western powers committed to backing struggles against
tyrannies as struggles against tyrannies. On countless occasions,
they’ve either stood idly by as tyrannies repressed democratic
rebellions, or energetically aided their autocratic allies’ efforts to
crush opposition. For a recent example, we need only turn to the
crackdown on the rebellion in absolutist Bahrain, assisted by the same
countries which supplied arms to misnamed “<i>democrats</i>” in Libya
and equip the Muslim Brothers and foreign jihadists in Syria. Washington
has done nothing to stop the crackdown in Bahrain, let alone vigorously
protested it. The British, for their part, invited the offending tyrant
to the royal wedding of Kate and William.<br />
<br />
Erlanger notes that the Mali intervention “<i>has been popular</i>”
and that it commands the support of three quarters of the French,
according to one poll. This is a nod to the prowess of Erlanger’s
cohorts in the trade of shaping public opinion, and the superficial
attention most people pay to foreign affairs. It’s also an attempt to
prop up his argument that the intervention is legitimate. After all, a
military operation supported by a solid majority can hardly be a base
affair, corrupted by hypocrisy and crass commercial interests, can it?
And if you should happen to be against the French helping an ally defend
itself against jihadists, Erlanger’s letting you know you’re on the
wrong side of public opinion.<br />
<br />
“<i>The French people are ready to support a military operation as long as the objectives are clear and seem legitimate</i>,” a French analyst told the <i>Times</i>’
reporter. Well, no, the French people are willing to support a military
operation so long as no one calls upon them to risk their lives and pay
higher taxes, what “<i>support for war</i>” used to mean. No longer. Today, support means feeling good about France and nothing more.<br />
<br />
The French will continue to feel good about themselves so long as
there are few French fatalities in Mali and so long as the connection
between covering the costs of the war and higher taxes, is obscured.
Payment must be deferred, and then concealed, preferably in tax hikes on
the poor and middle class to cover (wink-wink) skyrocketing social
welfare expenditures.<br />
<br />
So here we are. Gaddafi was sneered at when he said that the
rebellion that erupted against him in Benghazi was the work of radical
Islamists, some of them foreign jihadists, strongly connected to
terrorist groups like Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. He was just as
contemptuously dismissed when he warned, “<i>if he fell, chaos and holy war would overtake North Africa</i>.”
Now that chaos and holy war threaten to overtake a Western client,
Gaddafi’s words are being treated with new respect. In death, the man
once ridiculed as a buffoon has become a sage.</div>
Land Destroyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975347030080073643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-887631221850927814.post-44193680280600005792013-01-21T12:44:00.002-08:002013-01-21T12:44:54.520-08:00Countering Iran the major factor behind US support for Bahrain<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">Insightful Interview with British historian Deepak Tripathi (2011). </span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xRqdukXs-9M/UP2ohIFjpCI/AAAAAAAAG0U/8pXbg_5DHco/s1600/Deepak-Tripathi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xRqdukXs-9M/UP2ohIFjpCI/AAAAAAAAG0U/8pXbg_5DHco/s320/Deepak-Tripathi.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b>January 22, 2013</b> (<a href="http://kouroshziabari.com/2013/01/countering-iran-the-major-factor-behind-us-support-for-bahrain/">Kouroshziabari.com</a>) - Deepak Tripathi is a British historian, journalist and
researcher who specializes in South and West Asia affairs, terrorism and
the United States foreign policy. He was born into a political family
in Unnao, the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. His grandfather, Pandit
Vishwambhar Dayal Tripathi, was a prominent leader in the Indian
independence movement and Member of the Constituent Assembly and later
the Indian Parliament.<br />
<br />
<div dir="LTR">
Deepak Tripathi worked with BBC for almost 23 years and
ended up his cooperation with the British broadcaster in 2000. During
these years, he served as a South Asia specialist and correspondent,
Afghanistan correspondent and Syria, Nepal, Pakistan, India and Sri
Lanka reporter. He has also been a BBC News and World Service Radio News
producer.</div>
<a name='more'></a>Tripathi is a Member of the Political Studies Association and the Commonwealth Journalists Association.<br />
<div dir="LTR">
His articles and commentaries on the international issues
have appeared on Counterpunch, Foreign Policy Journal, Al-Ahram Weekly, Z
Magazine and History News Network.</div>
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Deepak has authored several books including ‘Breeding
Ground: Afghanistan and the Origins of Islamist Terrorism’, ‘Overcoming
the Bush Legacy in Iraq and Afghanistan’ and ‘Dialectics of the
Afghanistan Conflict: How the country became a terrorist haven.’</div>
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What follows is the complete text of my in-depth interview
with Deepak Tripathi on the recent revolutions in the Middle East and
North Africa, the civil war in Libya and the popular uprising in
Bahrain.</div>
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<b>Kourosh Ziabari: Do you consider the chained, continuous
revolutions in the Arab world a result of pan-Arabist, nationalistic
sentiments of the peoples of region who rose up? Well, the dictatorial
regimes of the region have been ruling for so many decades, but the
people in these countries revolted against them quite suddenly and
unexpectedly. Has the economic factor been the main contributor to the
emergence of Middle East revolutions? Was it all about paying a tribute
to Mohamed Bouazizi that turned violent and became a set of revolutions</b><b>? </b></div>
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Deepak Tripathi: You have raised an important question. The
answer is somewhat complex. Of course, from Libya to Bahrain there are
similarities on the surface: repressive regimes, closed societies,
ruling cliques imposing their will on the masses. Then there is the
Orientalist syndrome in the West that Edward Said depicted so
brilliantly in his book ‘Orientalism.’ It is the tendency to lump all
Muslims and other people in the East into one basket, and seeing them as
exotic, but inferior, people who must be educated in western ways, and
exploited. This is where lies the basic mistake, and it has proved
disastrous.</div>
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The recent uprisings across the Arab world display two
different currents. The bigger picture is that of people rising against
pro-United States dictators, in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain. On the
other hand, we see Libya and Syria, which are not pro-US. Many in the
populations of these countries are fed up and can take no more. They
want to breath fresh air. Now, in an ideal world the people of each
country should be allowed to choose their own destiny without outside
interference, but that is not the case in the real world. Western
interference is a major cause of resentment in many countries in the
region.</div>
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Having said this, I believe each popular uprising has its
roots in local conditions and causes. In Egypt, it was a people’s
revolution, of men and women, young and old, Muslim and Christian. They
succeeded in overthrowing Hosni Mubarak and his party, but the future is
by no means certain; the United States, with allies, continues its
interference. America has considerable power because of the huge aid it
gives to the Egyptian military every year. So we will have to see what
transpires in Egypt.</div>
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Tunisia, which started all this, is the same – how do
long-oppressed people ensure that the system changes to their liking,
not just a few faces? In other places, too, things are far from certain.
In Bahrain, where the pro-US Sunni ruling family, representing
one-third of the population at most, is engaged in the brutal
suppression of Shi‘a majority – nearly two-thirds of the population. In
Bahrain, it is oil that drives Western policy of support for the ruling
family; in Libya, too, oil drives policy, but there Britain, France and
Italy, and to lesser extent the Obama administration in the United
States, are supporting the anti-Gaddafi forces, because Gaddafi is too
independent, too unpredictable. In Syria, oil is not a factor – perhaps
one of the reasons why the Western response has so far been limited to
condemnations and warnings. And the Yemeni president is America’s
surrogate; Yemen is vital for the security of Saudi Arabia, America’s
strongest ally after Israel and the most reliable oil supplier.</div>
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The last part of your question concerns the Tunisian,
Mohamed Bouazizi, street vendor who set himself on fire after being
harassed by corrupt police. Bouazizi certainly touched million and
millions of people right across the region, because they could easily
identify with his harassment and humiliation.</div>
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<b>KZ: As you may admit, Bahrain has one of the blackest
human rights records in the Persian Gulf region. Its longstanding
tradition of suppressing the Shiites, persecuting the bloggers and
journalists</b><b>,</b><b>incarcerating and torturing the political
activists attest to the fact that despite being a close ally of the
United States, Bahrain is not a democratic country based on
American-championed values. Why does the United States support such a
repressive regime? Does the United States consider Bahrain a proxy to
confront the hegemony of Iran in the region</b><b>? </b></div>
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DT: Countering Iran is certainly the major factor behind US
support for Bahrain, and explains the muted references from Washington
to the brutality of Bahraini security forces – and let’s not forget many
are foreign soldiers – and more recently Saudi forces who have entered
the Emirate. The tactics used against peaceful demonstrators in Bahrain
in recent weeks and months are some of the worst kind. How many
countries are there in which hospitals are raided by security police and
doctors treating wounded people are threatened?</div>
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As you know, Bahrain is a member of the Gulf cooperation
Council, dominated by Saudi Arabia, and is there to prevent Iranian and
Shiite influence spreading in the region. Bahrain is also the base of
the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, which is so important for America’s strategy
in the Gulf and the Middle East at large.</div>
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<b>KZ: Do you agree with a military intervention in Libya?
We already know that the Gaddafi regime, before the authorization of
no-fly zone over Libya by the Security Council, had massacred scores of
unarmed and innocent civilians in air-strikes on different cities of the
country</b><b>.</b><b> Is a NATO-led military expedition necessary to
preclude the killing of civilians? What’s your prediction for the future
of the civil war which is taking place in Libya?</b></div>
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DT: The Gaddafi regime, no doubt, has been repressive over
the last forty years, and I am very critical of its human rights record.
It is Britain, France, Italy and the United States that have been
swinging like a large pendulum: vehemently opposed to Gaddafi for
decades, then friends with Gaddafi, and now enemies again.</div>
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I have several misgivings about the NATO military operation
in Libya. My first and most serious objection is that NATO has gone far
beyond the remit approved in the UN Security Council 1973, which
authorized ‘all necessary measures’ to protect civilians and
civilian-populated areas, excluding foreign occupation forces on any
part of the territory of Libya. Legal scholars have pointed out that
‘all necessary measures’ means starting with peaceful means to resolve
what seems to be a tribal civil war between pro- and anti-Gaddafi
forces. In this respect, Libya is quite different from Egypt, where tens
of millions of people from all sections of society rebelled against the
Mubarak regime. Second, NATO military planes are now hitting government
targets far from opposition-controlled areas. Tripoli and Gaddafi’s own
compound have been bombed.</div>
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This was not envisaged in the Security Council Resolution
1973. Regime change was not part of it. I think these are serious
violations of the UN authorization. Third, NATO aircraft are now
operating as if they were the air force of the anti-Gaddafi forces;
British, French and Italian ‘military advisers’ have been deployed in
Libya; and there is talk of sending troops. This is taking sides, and
goes beyond protecting civilians. Worst of all, we now have confirmed
reports that NATO planes are bombing and killing people on their own
side, the anti-Gaddafi side; collateral damage in Western euphemism.
Fourth, and this is very serious, the West is being highly selective in
picking on an oil-rich country for military action, while its friends,
Bahrain and Yemen, willfully repress their populations. I fear we will
see a long war in Libya.</div>
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<b>KZ: Many political commentators believe that whoever
assumes power in Egypt following the establishment of new constitution
and formation of new government will be less friendly to Israel than the
regime of Hosni Mubarak was. The same analysts believe that the new
government in Egypt will be necessarily less hostile to Iran compared
with the Hosni Mubarak’s regime. Do you agree with them? What’s your
take on that</b><b>? </b></div>
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DT: The climate in the Middle East has undergone a dramatic
change following the Egyptian Revolution. Its effects go far beyond
Egypt’s borders, and these effects will be long term. The people of
Egypt and beyond yearn for democracy, human rights and dignity, but they
are not going to be blind supporters of American policy. There will be
all kinds of pressures, warnings, threats against the Egyptian military
from the West that would like to indirectly control the peoples of the
region. I hope that the military does not give in to these
American-Israeli tactics. I believe that the ‘new Egypt’ – if it is
allowed to choose its future path – will lead to a new climate that will
mean better relations with Iran, Palestinians, and will be a force for
good overall.</div>
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<b>KZ: Answering to a question regarding the recent air-strikes on Libya</b><b>,</b><b>the
White House spokesman Jay Carney said that it is not a U.S. policy to
bring about regime change in Libya. It’s already clear to the
international community that Gaddafi is a merciless terrorist. He
massacred more than 6,500 citizens during the first three weeks of civil
war in Libya. Why don’t the United States and its allies want to take
action to change the regime of Gaddafi while they did the same with
regards to Iraq and Afghanistan in a situation that they didn’t have any
compelling excuse to do so? Is it all about American and European
interests in Libya’s oil sector which is guaranteed by the Gaddafi
regime?</b></div>
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DT: I have elaborated on the lack of consistency in Western
policy, and the real factors behind Western and allied actions showing
blatant disregard for universal human rights. Their actions amount to
double standards wherever it suits them. They are not about democracy
and human rights at all. Look at the reign of terror and torture under
the ‘war on terror’ that President George W Bush waged, and that
President Obama continues in Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere.</div>
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<b>KZ:</b><b>Saudi Arabia was among the Arab countries
which was somewhat encompassed by the wave of 2010-2011 protests of the
Middle East and North Africa; however, it seems that strangulation and
oppression</b><b>,</b><b>implicitly endorsed by the United States, is so
intense that the people don’t have enough backbone and courage to rise
up against the government and demand fundamental changes and
reformations in the political structure of their country. Will the
United States, as the most strategic partner of Saudi Arabia, allow the
implementation of sociopolitical reforms in the structure the Saudi
government? Will the sporadic movements of the Saudi people bear fruit</b><b>? </b></div>
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DT: Saudi Arabia is a closed society, in many ways that the
Soviet Union was before 1985, when Mikhail Gorbachev became the General
Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party. It took just six years for the
Soviet state to collapse after the USSR began to open up.
Communication and free movement are very difficult, if not impossible
for the ordinary citizen, in such societies; and news of unrest does not
readily reach the world. We know that Saudi citizens nevertheless do
find ways to express their opposition, but they are crushed with brute
force. Remember, Saudi Arabia’s security forces are among the best
equipped in the Middle East, supplied by the Americans. They use these
means to coerce their population. Despite all this, social discontent
simmers under the surface. Failure to open up Saudi society and give the
people their basic rights could have serious consequences.</div>
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<b>KZ: Do you agree with the idea that the Middle East revolutions</b><b>,</b><b> specially the popular uprisings in Bahrain, Yemen, Jordan and Egypt</b><b>,</b><b>
will be of Iran’s interests? Does the destabilization of U.S.-backed
Arab regimes in the region empower Iran politically, strategically</b><b>?</b></div>
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DT: According to the Oxford English Dictionary, to which I
subscribe, a revolution in the political context is ‘forcible overthrow
of a government or social order in favor of a new system.’ Uprising is
an ‘act of resistance or rebellion’ to achieve that end. It is important
not to confuse the meaning of the two terms. In the late twentieth
century, what happened in 1979 in Iran was a revolution; and between
1989 and 1991 there were revolutions in what was then the Soviet bloc.
In the new century in recent months, Egypt has had a revolution, in the
sense that a dictator and his ruling party that had a monopoly over
power, have fallen. What replaces it is not certain yet. We will have to
see until after the elections at least.</div>
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Bahrain, Yemen, Jordan, Syria, perhaps Libya, are all
experiencing rebellions of one kind or another. How it all ends in each
case – we will have to wait and see. As of now, the ruling structures in
these countries are shaking; they may be collapsing; but they are still
there. Equally important, what impact does it all have on the
Palestinian struggle will have to be seen.</div>
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In the wider geopolitical context, these events do indicate
that the United States is losing its grip over the region. In fact,
America had been losing its grip for some years. It is just that the
military occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan and America’s militaristic
foreign policy may have given the opposite appearance to those who fail
to look beyond the immediate.</div>
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If the people of each country can decide how their country
should be run, it would be a good thing. I find the idea that a big
power far and away can dictate to others anywhere most objectionable.
And I don’t see the events in West Asia as a victory for one country or
another. The tide of history is going in its own inevitable direction;
popular movements are making huge waves and contributing to that tide of
history. The final outcome is not yet certain, so the struggle will
need to go on.</div>
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<b>KZ: What will be the implications of the Middle East
revolutions for the Israeli regime? Will Israel suffer from the change
of government in Egypt and the fundamental political reforms which are
going to happen in Jordan</b><b>?</b></div>
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DT: I have alluded to these matters in my previous replies.
I will summarize my answer here. What is happening in the Middle East
at present is going to limit Israel’s scope for arbitrary conduct. The
overthrow of the Mubarak regime in Egypt has been a huge setback to
Israel, because frankly Mubarak was acting like an American and Israeli
surrogate to continue the occupation of Palestinian territories, and in
the broader interests of Western policy in the Middle East. In Jordan,
as elsewhere, change looks inevitable, though I hesitate to predict what
form it will take. I think it is never a good idea to underestimate the
big players’ capacity for manipulation and deceit. In a sense, the West
learned the lesson very quickly in Egypt, where it was slow to act
during the anti-Mubarak protests. Eventually it dumped Mubarak when it
realized he was a too big liability to carry, and then picked Libya and
Syria to reestablish its pro-democracy credentials. The West, in the
guise of NATO, has switched to a pro-democracy posture by siding with
the anti-Gaddafi forces in Libya and with the opposition to Bashar
al-Assad in Syria. But that makes Western policy in Bahrain, Saudi
Arabia, and Yemen even more inconsistent, if not hypocritical.</div>
</div>
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