tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10739644931825807492024-03-05T14:24:51.265-08:00pax orbis terrarumWe dream of a normal life, in freedom and dignityemmanuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08566669753834950327noreply@blogger.comBlogger774125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073964493182580749.post-24586986198250752502019-11-04T22:59:00.000-08:002019-11-04T17:16:27.633-08:00how terrorists think<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/phNvgrVnRHI" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-terrorism-what-do-terrorists-want-78228" target="_blank">Despite the intensity of media coverage and public perception, terrorism is actually not more frequent today than a few decades ago. </a> For instance, terrorist attacks were far more common during the Cold War period than <a href="http://www.start.umd.edu/sites/default/files/files/publications/START_IUSSDDataTerroristAttacksUS_1970-2011.pdf">during the post-9/11 era</a>. Some experts believe terrorism peaked <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/28/opinions/bergen-1970s-terrorism/index.html">during the 1970s</a>.<br />
Despite the recent attacks, the <a href="https://www.start.umd.edu/pubs/START_BelgiumTransportationCoordinatedAttacks_BackgroundReport_March2016.pdf">U.K. and Western Europe</a> experienced relatively low terrorist activity during the period 2000 to 2016 compared with the period 1970 to 1995.<br />
In the United States, terrorism attacks were in sharp decline from 1970 to 2011, decreasing from approximately <a href="http://www.start.umd.edu/sites/default/files/files/publications/START_IUSSDDataTerroristAttacksUS_1970-2011.pdf">475 incidents a year to fewer than 20</a>.<br />
Worldwide, terrorism is highly concentrated in a handful of countries. <br />
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<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/03/15/not-all-terrorism-is-treated-equally/" target="_blank">While 9/11 is the deadliest terrorist attack in U.S. history, the second-worst was Timothy McVeigh’s 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building, which killed 168 people.</a> The Anti-Defamation League reports that in the United States, “right-wing extremists collectively have been responsible for more than 70 percent of the 427 extremist-related killings over the past 10 years, far outnumbering those committed by left-wing extremists or domestic <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/01/01/the-new-face-of-terrorism-in-2019/" target="_blank">Islamist extremists</a>.” The toll of right-wing terrorism could have been even greater if the FBI had not apprehended last month the heavily armed Coast Guard lieutenant Christopher Hasson before he was allegedly ready to strike against liberal politicians and media personalities.<br />
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<a href="http://www.eip.org/en/news-events/why-do-people-join-terrorist-organisations" target="_blank"><br />
</a> <a href="http://www.eip.org/en/news-events/why-do-people-join-terrorist-organisations" target="_blank"><b>Why do people join terrorist organizations?</b></a><br />
<a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/07/terrorist-extremists-dont-kill-for-islam-or-christianity/" target="_blank">People join extremists organizations for quite a number of reasons</a>. Some - especially those locally recruited - mostly join for economic benefits. -In fact, the research we conducted in Somalia showed that 27% of respondents joined al Shabab for economic reasons. 15% mentioned religious reasons - and 13% were forced to join. We found that there is no easy answer to why people join terrorist organisations. It's a complex picture, we have to take into account processes linked to political and social exclusion dynamics, poor governance structures as well as religious and ethnic discrimination.<br />
<b>It is one thing to join such a group - but once you realized where you ended up; what are the reasons that makes you stay?</b><br />
The reasons for staying are as diverse as for joining the organization. We found that the feeling of 'belonging' (21%) is really important. Some 11% felt a sense of responsibility. However, fear and economic dependence are also factors to reckon with.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.inf.fu-berlin.de/lehre/WS06/pmo/eng/audio/Chomsky.pdf" target="_blank">Noam Chomsky: “What is Terrorism?”</a></h2><br />
A US army manual says, fair enough, that terror is the calculated use of violence or the threat of violence to attain political or religious ideological goals through intimidation,coercion, or instilling fear. That’s terrorism.<br />
If you take a look at the definition of Low-Intensity Warfare, which is official US policy, you find that it is just another name for terrorism. That’s why all countries call whatever horrendous acts they are carrying out, counter-terrorism.<br />
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In December 1987, at the peak of the first war on terrorism, that’s when the furor over the plague was peaking, The United Nations General Assembly passed a very strong resolution against terrorism, condemning the plague in the strongest terms, calling on every state to fight against it in every possible way. It passed unanimously. One country, Honduras, abstained. Two votes against; the usual two, United States and Israel. Why should the United States and Israel vote against a major resolution condemning terrorism in the strongest terms, in fact pretty much the terms that the Reagan administration was using? Well, there is a reason. There was one paragraph in that long resolution which said that nothing in this resolution infringes on the rights of people struggling against racist and colonialist regimes or foreign military occupation to continue with their resistance with the assistance of others, other states, states outside in their just cause. Well, the United States and Israel can’t accept that. There was another one at the time. <a href="https://renegadeinc.com/prof-noam-chomsky-how-to-create-a-terrorist/" target="_blank">Israel was occupying Southern Lebanon and was being combated by what the US calls a terrorist force, Hizbullah, which in fact succeeded in driving Israel out of Lebanon.</a><br />
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The lead story in the <i>New York Times</i> on October 15, 2014, was politely titled “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/15/us/politics/cia-study-says-arming-rebels-seldom-works.html?_r=0">CIA Study of Covert Aid Fueled Skepticism About Helping Syrian Rebels</a>.” The article reports on a CIA review of recent U.S. covert operations to determine their effectiveness. <a href="http://inthesetimes.com/article/17311/noam_chomsky_the_worlds_greatest_terrorist_campaign" target="_blank">The White House concluded that unfortunately successes were so rare that some rethinking of the policy was in order.</a> The article quoted President Barack Obama as saying that he had asked the CIA to conduct the review to find cases of “financing and supplying arms to an insurgency in a country that actually worked out well. And they couldn't come up with much.”<br />
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The first paragraph of the <i>Times</i> article cites three major examples of “covert aid”: Angola, Nicaragua and Cuba. In fact, each case was a major terrorist operation conducted by the U.S.<br />
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Japan and the Soviet Union had a neutrality pact from 1941-1945, but the Soviets had been preparing an invasion force in the Far East for many months. Stalin had made a pact at the Yalta Conference in Feb 1945 to enter the Pacific war within 3 months of Germany's defeat (May 8/9, 1945). After Germany's defeat, the Japanese had approached the Soviets (while the neutrality pact was still in force) for help in negotiating a peace settlement with the Allies, in exchange for extensive concessions. Stalin expressed interest, and drew out the process as long as possible, while still preparing the invasion force. The Japanese avoided giving an answer to the ultimatum given by the Allies in the Potsdam Declaration (Jul 26, 1945), still holding out for a response from the Soviets. On the evening of Aug 8/9, 1945, the Soviet Union invaded Manchukuo with 1.5mn+ soldiers, catching the Japanese completely by surprise - they thought that an invasion was not likely before the end of August at the earliest. Later that day (Aug 9), the US dropped the 2nd atomic bomb on Nagasaki. <a class="yt-uix-sessionlink " data-sessionlink="ei=IGL7VYXKLoGc-gOf6qGwDQ" href="javascript:void(0)">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet%E2%80%93Japanese_War_(1945)</a> So, the imminent Soviet invasion of Japan, coupled with similar Allied plans, resulted in the decision of Imperial Japan to surrender. It is too simplistic to attribute the end of the whole Japanese war effort to the two nuclear bombings. They had been preparing for the Allied invasion (Operation Downfall - <a class="yt-uix-sessionlink " data-sessionlink="ei=IGL7VYXKLoGc-gOf6qGwDQ" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Downfall">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Downfall</a>) and for significantly greater casualties for months, which is why they were trying to sue for peace on more favorable terms through the Soviets. When it became evident that that would be impossible, and that they would probably have to fight a war on a second front, the government resolved to surrender. If the Soviet Union had maintained the neutrality pact, it is quite probable that Japan would have kept on fighting for many more months, or even years, regardless of the nuclear bombs. They knew that they had no chance of winning, but were planning on making the Allied invasion so costly that it would result in some kind of armistice, rather than complete capitulation - <a class="yt-uix-sessionlink " data-sessionlink="ei=IGL7VYXKLoGc-gOf6qGwDQ" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Downfall#Operation_Ketsug.C5.8D">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Downfall#Operation_Ketsug.C5.8D</a> The Soviet decision to renege on the treaty and to declare war on Japan was the final nail in the coffin. <a href="http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/files/is3104_pp162-179_wilson.pdf" target="_blank">Japan would have surrendered after that, even if the atomic bombs hadn't been used</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimS5oXioJShP1nB7oogTKePO2BJNosKrfB5hvhisZHrXVrHSmQNSVwN7OnFD4fdWXQQ1UJdlj311eWHaQne45hoQiDo4d3VjYX2pZgWwdE5mTmaJqZ88O8P44hdMqp8UV4IP_0az4EeGY/s1600/339777_498526583512144_501566354_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimS5oXioJShP1nB7oogTKePO2BJNosKrfB5hvhisZHrXVrHSmQNSVwN7OnFD4fdWXQQ1UJdlj311eWHaQne45hoQiDo4d3VjYX2pZgWwdE5mTmaJqZ88O8P44hdMqp8UV4IP_0az4EeGY/s1600/339777_498526583512144_501566354_o.jpg" width="486" /></a><br />
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<h2><a href="http://www.juancole.com/2005/03/foreign-occupation-has-produced.html" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Foreign Occupation Has Produced">Foreign Occupation Has Produced Terrorism</a></h2><div class="date"><a href="http://www.juancole.com/" target="_blank">Posted on 03/07/2005 by Juan Cole</a><br />
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Let’s think about terrorism in the past few decades in a concrete and historical way, and it is obvious that it comes out of a reaction to being occupied militarily by foreigners.<br />
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After the Muslim Brotherhood assassinated Prime Minister Nuqrashi in 1948, it was banned and dissolved. It was briefly rehabilitated by Abdul Nasser in 1952-1954, but in 1954 it tried to assassinate him, and he banned it again. There was no major radical Muslim terrorism in Egypt in the period after 1954 and until Sadat again legitimized the Brotherhood in 1971, despite Egypt being a dictatorship in that period.<br />
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The intimate connection between foreign military occupation and terrorism can be seen in Palestine in the 1940s, where the Zionist movement threw up a number of terrorist organizations that engaged in bombings and assassinations on a fair scale. That is, frustrated Zionists not getting their way behaved in ways difficult to distinguish from frustrated Muslim nationalists who didn’t get their way.<br />
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There was what the French would have called radical Muslim terrorism in Algeria 1954-1962, though the Salafis were junior partners of the largely secular FLN. French colonialists were targeted for heartless bombings and assassinations. This campaign of terror aimed at expelling the French, who had colonized Algeria in 1830 and had kept it ever since, declaring it French soil. The French had usurped the best land and crowded the Algerians into dowdy old medinas or haciendas in the countryside. The nationalists succeeded in gaining Algerian independence in 1962.<br />
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Once Sadat let the Muslim Brotherhood out of jail and allowed it to operate freely in the 1970s, to offset the power of the Egyptian Left, it threw up fundamentalist splinter groups like Ayman al-Zawahiri’s al-Gihad al-Islami and Sheikh Omar’s al-Gamaah al-Islamiyah. They were radicalized when Sadat made a separate peace with Israel in 1978-79 that permitted the Israelis to do as they pleased to the Palestinians. In response, the radical Muslims assassinated Sadat and continued to campaign against his successor, Hosni Mubarak. They saw the Egyptian regime as pharaonic and evil because it had allied with the United States and Israel, thus legitimating the occupation of Muslim land (from their point of view).<br />
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The south Lebanon Shiite groups, Amal and Hizbullah, turned to radical Muslim terrorism mainly after the 1982 Israeli invasion and subsequent occupation of South Lebanon, which is largely Shiite.<br />
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The radical Muslim terrorism of Khomeini’s Revolutionary Guards grew in part out of American hegemony over Iran, which was expressed most forcefully by the 1953 CIA coup that overthrew the last freely elected parliament of that country.<br />
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Likewise, Hamas (the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood) turned to terrorism in large part out of desperation at the squalid circumstances and economic and political hopelessness of the Israeli military occupation of Gaza.<br />
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The Soviet invasion and occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s was among the biggest generators of radical Muslim terrorism in modern history. The US abetted this phenomenon, giving billions to the radical Muslim ideologues at the top of Pakistani military intelligence (Inter-Services Intelligence), which in turn doled the money out to men like Gulbuddin Hikmatyar, a member of the Afghanistan Muslim Brotherhood (Jami’at-i Islami) who used to throw vials of acid at the faces of unveiled girls in the Kabul of the 1970s. The US also twisted the arm of the Saudi government to match its contributions to the Mujahidin. Saudi Intelligence Minister Turki al-Faisal was in charge of recruiting Arab volunteers to fight alongside the Mujahidin, and he brought in young Usamah bin Laden as a fundraiser. The CIA training camps that imparted specialized tradecraft to the Mujahidin inevitably also ended up training, at least at second hand, the Arab volunteers, who learned about forming covert cells, practicing how to blow things up, etc. The “Afghan Arabs” fanned back to their homelands, to Algeria, Libya, Yemen, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, carrying with them the ethos that Ronald Reagan had inspired them with, which held that they should take up arms against atheist Westerners who attempted to occupy Muslim lands.<br />
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To this litany of Occupations that produce radical Muslim terrorism, Chechnya and Kashmir can be added.<br />
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In contrast, authoritarian governments like that of Iraq and Syria, while they might use terror for their own purposes from time to time, did not produce large-scale indepdendent terrorist organizations that struck itnernational targets. Authoritarian governments also proved adept at effectively crushing terrorist groups, as can be seen in Algeria and Egypt. It was only in failed states such as Afghanistan that they could flourish, not in authoritarian ones.<br />
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So it is the combination of Western occupation and weak states that produced the conditions for radical Muslim terrorism.<br />
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Democratic countries have often produced terrorist movements. This was true of Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States in the late 1960s and through the 1970s. There is no guarantee that a more democratic Iraq, Egypt or Lebanon will produce less terrorism. Certainly, the transition from Baathist dictatorship has introduced terrorism on a large scale into Iraqi society, and it may well spill over from there into neighboring states.<br />
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Morocco has been liberalizing for some years, and held fairly above-board parliamentary elections in 2002. Yet liberalizing Morocco produced the al-Salafiyyah al-Jihadiyyah group in Tangiers that committed the 2003 Casablanca bombings and the 2004 Madrid train bombings.<br />
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Moreover, if democracy means majority rule and the expression of the general will, then it won’t always work to the advantage of the US. Bush administration spokesmen keep talking about Syrian withdrawal being the demand of the “Lebanese people.” But 40% of the Lebanese are Shiites, and 15% are probably Sunnis, and it may well be that a majority of Lebanese want to keep at least some Syrian troops around. Hizbullah has sided with Syria and Shaikh Nasrallah has called for a big pro-Syrian demonstration by Shiites on Tuesday.<br />
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For true democracy to flourish in Lebanon, the artificial division of seats in parliament so that half go to the Christian minority would have to be ended. Religious Shiites would have, as in Iraq, a much bigger voice in national affairs. Will a Lebanon left to its own devices to negotiate a social compact between rightwing Christians and Shiite Hizbullah really be an island of stability?<br />
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I’m all for democratization in the Middle East, as a good in its own right. But I don’t believe that authoritarian governance produced most episodes of terrorism in the last 60 years in the region. Terrorism was a weapon of the weak wielded against what these radical Muslims saw as a menacing foreign occupation. To erase that fact is to commit a basic error in historical understanding. It is why the US military occupation of Iraq is actually a negative for any “war on terror.” Nor do I believe that democratization, even if it is possible, is going to end terrorism in and of itself.<br />
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You want to end terrorism? End unjust military occupations. By all means have Syria conduct an orderly withdrawal from Lebanon if that is what the Lebanese public wants. But Israel needs to withdraw from the Golan Heights, which belong to Syria, as well. The Israeli military occupation of Gaza and the West Bank must be ended. The Russian scorched earth policy in Chechnya needs to stop. Some just disposition of the Kashmir issue must be attained, and Indian enormities against Kashmiri Muslims must stop. The US needs to conduct an orderly and complete withdrawal from Iraq. And when all these military occupations end, there is some hope for a vast decrease in terrorism. People need a sense of autonomy and dignity, and occupation produces helplessness and humiliation. Humiliation is what causes terrorism.<br />
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<h1 align="center" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: x-large;">'Thought Crimes,' <a href="http://www.lewrockwell.com/knaebel/knaebel11.html" target="_blank">HR 1955 Passed</a> With 404 Votes<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;">Submit, Ye Citizens, Silently to State Murder</span></span></b></span></b></span></h1><div align="center" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif;">by<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="mailto:%20jksatmitra@rediffmail.com" style="text-decoration: none;">Jeff Knaebel</a></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif;"><br />
<span style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;">by Jeff Knaebel</span></span></b></span></div><div align="center" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://www.lewrockwell.com/knaebel/knaebel11.html&title=%27Thought%20Crimes,%27%20HR%201955%20Passed%20With%20404%A0Votes&topic=political_opinion" style="text-decoration: none;"><br />
DIGG THIS</a></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><b><u>INTRODUCTION</u></b></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed HR 1955, titled the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-1955" style="text-decoration: none;">Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007</a>. It was passed with 404 votes in favor.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">A close reading within an historical context — keeping especially in mind the Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act of 2006 and Presidential Executive Orders, pursuant to which the government has engaged in massive surveillance of its own citizens, as well as detentions, extraordinary renditions, assassinations, and torture — leads me to the following conclusions:</div><ul style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><li>This is a "Thought Crime" bill of the type so often discussed in an Orwellian context.</li>
<li>It specifically targets the civilian population of the United States.</li>
<li><b>It defines "Violent Radicalization" as promoting any belief system that the government considers to be extremist.</b></li>
<li><b>"Homegrown Terrorism" and "Violent Radicalization" are defined as thought crimes.</b></li>
<li><b>Since the bill does not provide a specific definition of extremist belief system, it will be whatever the government at any given time deems it to be.</b></li>
</ul><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">A few extracts of the Bill are presented below to show you its tone or "flavor."</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"(2) VIOLENT RADICALIZATION- The term `violent radicalization' means the process of adopting or promoting an extremist belief system… to advance political, religious, or social change."</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">SECTION 899B. FINDINGS.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"(3) The Internet has aided in facilitating violent radicalization, ideologically based violence, and the homegrown terrorism process in the United States by providing access to broad and constant streams of terrorist-related propaganda to United States citizens."</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"(6) The potential rise of self radicalized, unaffiliated terrorists domestically cannot be easily prevented through traditional Federal intelligence or law enforcement efforts, and requires the incorporation of State and local solutions."</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><u>Section 899D</u><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>of the bill establishes a Center for the Study of Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism in the United States. This will be an institution affiliated with the Department of Homeland Security. It will study and determine how to detain thought criminals.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><u>THIS LEGISLATION ENDS THE POSSIBILITY OF A CULTURE OF REASON.</u></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">It is an attempt at legislative lobotomy of conscience. It aims to eviscerate ethical sensibilities of an entire culture.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Having usurped the power of war and peace, life and death, the Corporatocracy now bludgeons even the thought of speaking for conscience. This is State murder of the mind.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">It is just too awesomely obscene for words. It exceeds not only the scope of my vocabulary, but my imagination as well.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">The minions and hired agents of politicians are free to murder, rape and pillage on government hire using our money, but to imagine alternatives to them and the degraded, psychopathic political "leaders" who design and perpetrate these atrocities is legislated as a thought crime!</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">This is the legislated, politically promulgated end of man as a thinking, self-directed being. Surely this must be the outer limit of "positive law," that is, statutory laws passed by "Lawmakers."</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">It further entrenches the Power Elite as separate from and above their "subjects." It clearly demonstrates the paranoid delusions of the Establishment, pursuant to which it legislates a massive defense mechanism to protect itself from the populace that it subjugates.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">I use these terms deliberately, because the so-called freedom of the vote has turned out to be a big con game. It is only the "freedom" to choose one set of thieves over the other. The blue suits or the red suits… all of them manufactured suits of the corporations.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Following in the train of this legislation will doubtless be internal travel documents, neighborhood snoops and spies, rewards granted for turning in politically incorrect thought criminals, mass civilian detention centers — in short, the whole totalitarian control mechanism that we associate with the SS, KGB and other code words of criminal regimes. There will be "re-programming / rehabilitation" centers to correct errant free thinkers.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Take note that the Department of Homeland Security already has more than 750,000 persons on its watch list. For a glimpse of past as prologue, read Solzhenitsyn.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><u>Who Will Be Thought Police and Under What Standards?</u></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Who will define radical thought, and by what standards? For example, how about the reported millions who believe that 9-11 was an inside job, citing a mass of evidence from eye witnesses, physicists, engineers, and recorded statements such as "We pulled it," essentially a confession by the building's owner of the planned demolition of Building 7?</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Will the writings of John Perkins in<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Confessions of An Economic Hit Man<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></i>and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Secret History of The American Empire</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>be thought crimes? Will this very essay be a thought crime?</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">What about<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Operation Northwoods,</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>pursuant to which the Joint Chiefs of the United States planned for innocent people to be shot on American streets, for boats carrying passengers to be sunk on the high seas, for a wave of violent terrorism to be launched within the country, and for other depraved acts conceived in the minds of government-hired psychopaths? Previously top-secret documents about this were released on 18 November 1997 and can be researched at<a href="http://www.wikipedia.org/" style="text-decoration: none;">www.wikipedia.org</a>. Evidently, members of the Establishment will be permitted to engage in thought crime.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Soon enough, we will all be killing each other, and the statement of Mohandas Gandhi will be borne out: "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Will thinking about cleansing the national soul of our atrocities — of Iraq, Guantanamo, Abu Gharib, the advanced plans underway to nuke Iran, the crimes of Blackwater murderers, the government's domestic coercion and violence — be "Thought Crimes?"</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Will it be thought crime to conceive of a domestic Truth and Reconciliation Commission pursuant to which high government officials are brought to book for crimes against humanity?</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Will it be "radicalization" to think of alternatives to a government of, by, and for the Corporatocracy, which accumulates its vast wealth through the blood money of endless war?</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">What about imagination-consideration of a non-coercive society of free individuals acting in voluntary cooperation, what is commonly referred to as anarchy?</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Will it be radical to conceive of preventing the Cheney-Bush cabal from launching WWIII and the incineration of earth through a false flag operation against Iran?</div><div align="CENTER" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><u>WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ACTIONS OF OUR GOVERNMENT</u></div><div align="CENTER" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><u>BECAUSE WE PAY FOR IT</u></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">It has taken me too many years — and too much income tax — to come to the awful realization that these "public servants" are only hired mouthpieces and puppets of the Money Powers who operate behind the scenes to orchestrate war, to coordinate the Military Industrial Complex, the Homeland Security Complex, the NGO Help-The-Poor Complex, the "Third World Corporate Development" Complex. In short, the Exploitation Complex.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">The roaring inside me is about the self-disgust at living by the whims of Nice Government Men and their intellectual and financial pimps — men who, for just one example, can force starvation upon Indian farmers by their money printing press maneuvers to save their own hides from the overreach of blind greed. Men like those in Goldman Sachs who have the power to bail out their own companies and pay billions in bonuses while manipulating currencies such that basic food staples become priced out of reach of the rural Indian poor.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Let our excuse for the sorry state in which we find ourselves be not ignorance, for history is quite clear to those who would study. I quote founding father James Madison, "<i>History records that money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible, to maintain their control over governments, by controlling money and its issuance."</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>A more honest excuse would be our own greed and laziness. The quick buck. Buy now, pay later.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><u>Statement of Conscientious Objection</u></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">HR 1955 as recently passed by the House of Representatives is in effect a Thought Crime Prevention Bill. This action simply stops my mind. It cannot be absorbed. This ultimate Police State freezes my imagination.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">This newest version of draconian legislation on thought control is where Jeff Knaebel says enough is enough. Speaking truth to Power, I say, I am not your puppet. I declare my self-ownership. Come and get me if you wish. If you wish to own my body, you will have to imprison it. I am breaking the paper chains by which I have allowed you to enslave me.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Imagine with me for a moment (it may not yet be a thought crime). I say to Dick Cheney, "I refuse to obey. Come and get me, boss. Come alone — I'll not run, and I am unarmed and harmless. Meet me in yonder open field." Standing in front of him, I remove my shirt, challenging him to do likewise. To prove his manhood equal, he follows along until we stand facing each other naked in the open field. I ask, "Now, what is your business with me?"</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">You see, it is all a mind game. The government is powerless before our non-cooperation. Of course, although an abstraction, it is a heavily armed abstraction. This argues for the right to bear arms and a well-armed citizenry in the American tradition. But if the mind behind the gun is cowardly and subdued, the gun is of no use. I suggest that nonviolent civil disobedience has proven to be a more effective method of regaining control of our lives. There would be significant loss of life, but much less than with an armed struggle.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Is murder an act that involves the human conscience? Can any other hear the voice of my inner conscience? Then, how can any such other claim the power to "represent" me in choosing to kill? How can such other "represent" me in determining which of my thoughts is criminal?</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">To say, or even to imply, that these people "represent" me cannot be described as an obscenity. It is an absurdity. Really, I should laugh. Instead it generates a roaring inside me — the inner roar of a man who would be free.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><u>THIS IS MY PLACE OF "LIVE FREE OR DIE."</u></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">One cannot deal with this except to speak out and be willing to put his life on the line. One must resist this legislation and this government, or else surrender his humanity and become a dead thing.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">This is the place where the soles of my feet meet the path of Liberty. This is where Jeff Knaebel refuses to renew his "permission to live" identification documents pursuant to which Big Brother tracks him like an owned domestic animal. Any situation in which I am not free to leave means that my presence is by coercion or threat of coercion. If one cannot leave some "place" except by permission of the "owners" (passport), then he is a slave. To learn more about issues of expatriation and "man without a country," visit my website at<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.statelessfreedom.org/" style="text-decoration: none;">www.statelessfreedom.org</a>.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">I was never the property even of my biological father, leave aside the absurdly stupid abstract concept of Nations — bounded by arbitrary lines drawn on maps — across which opposing armies of blood relations gun down the other.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">My body is not the property of the U.S. Government. I will challenge the U.S. Government for ownership of my body, with my body itself. My mind will be forever free.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">I did not ask for US citizenship, and I will not accept its rules even if forced upon me.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Any situation in which I am not free to leave means that my presence is by coercion or threat of coercion. If I cannot leave some "place" except by permission of the "owners" (passport), then I am a slave.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">The US State does not own the land called America, and it does not own anybody who was born there or lives there.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">No bureaucrat has the right to define who I am — and the murder of which other person I may be forced to finance — by his stamp upon some arbitrary piece of paper.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">I belong to none, other than Almighty Creation.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">I claim my freedom to respect the lives of others, as I would be respected. Freedom to do no harm, and to eschew violence. Freedom to express compassion in action. Freedom to support life. Freedom not to finance murder.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">No other can hear the voice of my conscience, let alone "represent" it, or speak for it. My conscience will be muffled by no person and by no law. Nor will I ever knowingly aggress against another.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><u>It Is Man's Duty To Love.</u></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">It now must be of the "tough love" variety. We must see clearly and face bravely the reality of what we continue to create for ourselves. We must take up tough ethical positions.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">We have proved again and again, over spans of millennia, that any kind of violent revolution will only turn the wheel of violence another revolution, around and around.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">If we will but cease to destroy, we may live. We cannot negotiate with melting glaciers. Perhaps we can negotiate with the storms of insatiable greed and desire raging within our own minds. Perhaps we can come out of our addiction to more, more and faster, faster.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">The revolution we must undertake to save ourselves is a revolution within our own minds toward loving kindness, truth, and respect for life.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><u>To those who would accept a legislated statutory slavery, I say — may your shackles bind you without too much pain. May you go quietly into oblivion, and may you not burden me with the memory that you ever stood a watch with me on Spaceship Earth.</u></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><i>If you are interested in further exploration of personal statelessness, stop by and visit<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.statelessfreedom.org/" style="text-decoration: none;">www.statelessfreedom.org</a>.</i></div><div align="right" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small;"><i>November 5, 2007</i></span></div><div align="left" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small;"><i>Jeff Knaebel [<a href="mailto:%20jksatmitra@rediffmail.com" style="text-decoration: none;">send him mail</a>] is an expatriate American domiciled in India since 1995. He formerly practiced as a registered professional engineer, having been trained at Cornell Univ. and the Colorado School of Mines.</i></span></div><div align="left" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Copyright © 2007 LewRockwell.com</span></div><div align="center" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.lewrockwell.com/knaebel/knaebel-arch.html" style="text-decoration: none;">Jeff Knaebel Archives</a></span></b></span></div><br />
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<h1 style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; background-image: url(https://www.govtrack.us/static/images/divider-4.gif); background-position: 0px 100%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; color: #565656; font-family: CallunaBold, 'Pallatino Linotype', Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 30px; margin: 0px 0px 6px; orphans: 2; padding: 0px 0px 6px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/110/hr1955" target="_blank">H.R. 1955 (110th)</a>: Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007</h1><br />
The following summary was written by the Congressional Research Service, a nonpartisan arm of the Library of Congress, which serves Congress. GovTrack did not write and has no control over these summaries.<br />
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10/23/2007--Passed House amended. Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 - Amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to add a new section concerning the prevention of violent radicalization (an extremist belief system for facilitating ideologically based violence to advance political, religious, or social change) and homegrown terrorism (violence by a group or individual within the United States to coerce the U.S. government, the civilian population, or a segment thereof in furtherance of political or social objectives). Establishes within the legislative branch the National Commission on the Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism to: (1) examine and report on facts and causes of violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence in the United States; and (2) build upon, bring together, and avoid unnecessary duplication of related work done by other entities toward such goal. Requires: (1) interim reports and a final report from the Commission to the President and Congress on its findings and recommendations; (2) the public availability of such reports; and (3) Commission termination 30 days after its final report. Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish or designate a university-based Center of Excellence for the Study of Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism in the United States to assist federal, state, local, and tribal homeland security officials, through training, education, and research, in preventing violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism in the United States. Requires the Secretary to: (1) conduct a survey of methodologies implemented by foreign nations to prevent violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism; and (2) report to Congress on lessons learned from survey results. Prohibits Department of Homeland Security (DHS) efforts to prevent ideologically based violence and homegrown terrorism from violating the constitutional and civil rights or civil liberties of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents. Directs the: (1) Secretary to ensure that activities and operations are in compliance with DHS's commitment to racial neutrality; and (2) DHS Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Officer to develop and implement an auditing system to ensure that compliance does not violate the constitutional and civil rights or civil liberties of any racial, ethnic, or religious group, and to include audit results in its annual report to Congress.<br />
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<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Northwoods" target="_blank"><b>Operation Northwoods</b></a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>was a series of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_flag" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="False flag">false-flag</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>proposals that originated in 1962 within the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_government" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="United States government">United States government</a>, and which the Kennedy administration rejected.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-1" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Northwoods#cite_note-1" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;">[2]</a></sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The proposals called for the<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Intelligence_Agency" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Central Intelligence Agency">Central Intelligence Agency</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>(CIA), or other operatives, to commit acts of terrorism in U.S. cities and elsewhere. These acts of terrorism were to be blamed on<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuba" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Cuba">Cuba</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>in order to create public support for a war against that nation, which had recently become communist under<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fidel_Castro" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Fidel Castro">Fidel Castro</a>.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-2" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Northwoods#cite_note-2" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;">[3]</a></sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>One part of Operation Northwoods was to "develop a Communist Cuban terror campaign in the Miami area, in other Florida cities and even in Washington."</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Operation Northwoods proposals included hijackings and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bomb" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Bomb">bombings</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>followed by the introduction of phony evidence that would implicate the Cuban government. It stated:</div><blockquote style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em;"><i>"The desired resultant from the execution of this plan would be to place the United States in the apparent position of suffering defensible grievances from a rash and irresponsible government of Cuba and to develop an international image of a Cuban threat to peace in the Western Hemisphere."</i></div></blockquote><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Several other proposals were included within Operation Northwoods, including real or simulated actions against various<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._military" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="U.S. military">U.S. military</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and civilian targets. The plan was drafted by the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Chiefs_of_Staff" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Joint Chiefs of Staff">Joint Chiefs of Staff</a>, signed by Chairman<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyman_Lemnitzer" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Lyman Lemnitzer">Lyman Lemnitzer</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and sent to the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretary_of_Defense" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Secretary of Defense">Secretary of Defense</a>. Although part of the U.S. government's<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Project" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Cuban Project">Cuban Project</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-communist" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Anti-communist">anti-communist</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>initiative, Operation Northwoods was never officially accepted; it was authored by the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Chiefs_of_Staff" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Joint Chiefs of Staff">Joint Chiefs of Staff</a>, but then rejected by President<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="John F. Kennedy">John F. Kennedy</a>.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">None of the Operations Northwoods proposals became operational.<br />
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<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">In addition to Operation Northwoods, under the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mongoose" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Operation Mongoose">Operation Mongoose</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>program the U.S. Department of Defense had a number of similar proposals to be taken against the Cuban regime of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fidel_Castro" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Fidel Castro">Fidel Castro</a>.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Twelve of these proposals come from a 2 February 1962 memorandum entitled "Possible Actions to Provoke, Harass or Disrupt Cuba," written by Brig. Gen. William H. Craig and submitted to Brig. Gen.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Lansdale" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Edward Lansdale">Edward Lansdale</a>, the commander of the Operation Mongoose project.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-feinsilber1_6-1" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Northwoods#cite_note-feinsilber1-6" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;">[7]</a></sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-weiner_7-1" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Northwoods#cite_note-weiner-7" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;">[8]</a></sup></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">The memorandum outlines Operation Bingo, a plan to; "create an incident which has the appearance of an attack on<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantanamo_Bay_Naval_Base" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Guantanamo Bay Naval Base">U.S. facilities (GMO) in Cuba</a>, thus providing an excuse for use of U.S. military might to overthrow the current government of Cuba."</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">It also includes Operation Dirty Trick, a plot to blame Castro if the 1962<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Mercury" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Project Mercury">Mercury</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>manned space flight carrying<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Glenn" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="John Glenn">John Glenn</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>crashed, saying: "The objective is to provide irrevocable proof that, should the MERCURY manned orbit flight fail, the fault lies with the Communists et al. Cuba [<i>sic</i>]." It continues, "This to be accomplished by manufacturing various pieces of evidence which would prove electronic interference on the part of the Cubans."</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Even after General Lemnitzer lost his job as the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chairman_of_the_Joint_Chiefs_of_Staff" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff">Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff</a>, the Joint Chiefs of Staff still planned false-flag<sup class="noprint Inline-Template" style="line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap;">[<i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Disputed_statement" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Wikipedia:Disputed statement"><span title="The material in the vicinity of this tag may not be factual or accurate from June 2011">dubious</span></a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="metadata">–<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Operation_Northwoods#Dubious" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Talk:Operation Northwoods">discuss</a></span></i>]</sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>pretext operations at least into 1963. A different U.S. Department of Defense policy paper created in 1963 discussed a plan to make it appear that Cuba had attacked a member of the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organization_of_American_States" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Organization of American States">Organization of American States</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>(OAS) so that the United States could retaliate. The U.S. Department of Defense document says of one of the scenarios, "A contrived 'Cuban' attack on an OAS member could be set up, and the attacked state could be urged to take measures of self-defense and request assistance from the U.S. and OAS."</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">The plan expressed confidence that by this action, "the U.S. could almost certainly obtain the necessary two-thirds support among OAS members for collective action against Cuba."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-bamford_19-1" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Northwoods#cite_note-bamford-19" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;">[20]</a></sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-20" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Northwoods#cite_note-20" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;">[21]</a></sup></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Included in the nations the Joint Chiefs suggested as targets for covert attacks were<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamaica" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Jamaica">Jamaica</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Trinidad_and_Tobago" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Republic of Trinidad and Tobago">Trinidad-Tobago</a>. Since both were members of the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_of_Nations" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Commonwealth of Nations">British Commonwealth</a>, the Joint Chiefs hoped that by secretly attacking them and then falsely blaming Cuba, the United States could incite the people of the United Kingdom into supporting a war against Castro.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-bamford_19-2" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Northwoods#cite_note-bamford-19" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;">[20]</a></sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>As the U.S. Department of Defense report noted:</div><blockquote style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em;">Any of the contrived situations described above are inherently, extremely risky in our democratic system in which security can be maintained, after the fact, with very great difficulty. If the decision should be made to set up a contrived situation it should be one in which participation by U.S. personnel is limited only to the most highly trusted covert personnel. This suggests the infeasibility of the use of military units for any aspect of the contrived situation."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-bamford_19-3" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Northwoods#cite_note-bamford-19" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;">[20]</a></sup></div></blockquote><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">The U.S. Department of Defense report even suggested covertly paying a person in the Castro government to attack the United States: "The only area remaining for consideration then would be to bribe one of Castro's subordinate commanders to initiate an attack on [the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="United States Navy">U.S. Navy</a> base at] Guantanamo.</div></div><br />
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<a href="http://www.wanttoknow.info/falseflag" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 48pt;"><b>False Flag</b></span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt;"><b>Summary of False Flag Operations and False Flag Terrorism</b></span> <br />
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;"><b>"False flag terrorism" occurs when elements within a government stage a secret operation whereby government forces pretend to be a targeted enemy while attacking their own forces or people. </b>The attack is then falsely blamed on the enemy in order to justify going to war against that enemy. Or as <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20071031171113/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_flag" target="_blank">Wikipedia defines it</a>: </div><blockquote><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; margin-left: 30px; margin-right: 30px; text-align: justify;">False flag operations are <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covert_operation" target="_blank">covert operations</a> conducted by governments, corporations, or other organizations, which are designed to deceive the public in such a way that the operations appear as if they are being carried out by other entities. The name is derived from the military concept of flying false colors; that is, flying the flag of a country other than one's own. False flag operations are not limited to war and counter-insurgency operations, and have been used in peace-time; for example, during Italy's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategy_of_tension" target="_blank">strategy of tension</a>.</div></blockquote><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">The term comes from the old days of wooden ships, when one ship would hang the flag of its enemy before attacking another ship in its own navy. Because the enemy's flag was hung instead of the flag of the real country of the attacking ship, it was called a "false flag" attack.<br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">There are many examples of false flag attacks throughout history. For example, it is widely known that the Nazis, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Himmler" target="_blank">in Operation Himmler</a>, faked attacks on their own people and resources which they blamed on the Poles, to justify the invasion of Poland. <b>And it has now been persuasively argued — as shown, for example, in <a href="http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/IMAGES/reichstagfire.rm" target="_blank">this History Channel video</a> — that Nazis set fire to their own parliament, the Reichstag, and blamed that fire on others. </b>The Reichstag fire was the watershed event which justified Hitler's seizure of power and suspension of liberties. </div><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
And in the early 1950s, agents of an Israeli terrorist cell operating in Egypt <a href="http://www.stanford.edu/group/SHR/5-1/text/beinin.html" target="_blank">planted bombs in several buildings</a>, including U.S. diplomatic facilities, then left behind "evidence" implicating the Arabs as the culprits (one of the bombs detonated prematurely, allowing the Egyptians to identify the bombers). Israel's Defense Minister was brought down by the scandal, along with the entire Israeli government. <a href="http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/lavon.html" target="_blank">Click here</a> for verification.</div><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;"><b>The Russian KGB apparently conducted <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/1456763/Secret-at-the-heart-of-Putin%27s-rise-to-power.html" target="_blank">a wave of bombings</a> in Russia in order to justify war against Chechnya and put Vladimir Putin into power</b> (see also <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Apartment_Bombings" target="_blank">this essay</a> and <a href="http://www.wanttoknow.info/documents/false_flag_russia_bombings.pdf" target="_blank">this report</a>). And the Turkish government has been caught <a href="http://www.wanttoknow.info/documents/false_flag_turkey.htm" target="_blank">bombing its own</a> and blaming it on a rebel group to justify a crackdown on that group. Muslim governments also play this game. For example, the well-respected former Indonesian president claimed that their government <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Possible-police-role-in-2002-Bali-attack/2005/10/12/1128796591857.html" target="_blank">had a role in the Bali bombings</a>.</div><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">This sounds nuts, right? You've never heard of this "false flag terrorism," where a government attacks its own people then blames others in order to justify its goals, right? And you are skeptical of the statements discussed above? Please take a look at these historical quotes:<br />
<br />
"If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy." - U.S. President <a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/jamesmadis169357.html" target="_blank">James Madison</a><br />
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"Why of course the people don't want war ... But after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship ... Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country." - <a href="http://www.famousquotes.com/search.php?search=%22denounce+the+pacifists" target="_blank">Hermann Goering</a>, Nazi leader.</div><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><b>What about the U.S.?</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">Is it logical to assume that, even if other countries have carried out false flag operations (especially horrible regimes such as, say, the Nazis or Stalin), the U.S. has never done so? Well, as documented by the <i>New York Times</i>, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/mideast/041600iran-cia-index.html" target="_blank">Iranians working for the C.I.A.</a> in the 1950's posed as Communists and staged bombings in Iran in order to turn the country against its democratically-elected president (see also <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax" target="_blank">this essay</a>).</div><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">And, as confirmed by a former Italian Prime Minister, an Italian judge, and the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,462976,00.html" target="_blank">former head of Italian counterintelligence</a>, NATO <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategy_of_tension" target="_blank">carried out terror bombings</a> in Italy with the help of the Pentagon and CIA and blamed communists in order to rally people's support for their governments in Europe in their fight against communism. As <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20051130003012/http://www.isn.ethz.ch/php/documents/collection_gladio/synopsis.htm" target="_blank">one participant</a> in this formerly-secret program stated: "You had to attack civilians, people, women, children, innocent people, unknown people far removed from any political game. The reason was quite simple. They were supposed to force these people, the Italian public, to turn to the state to ask for greater security."</div><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">Moreover, <b><a href="http://www.wanttoknow.info/010501operationnorthwoods" target="_blank">declassified U.S. Government documents</a> show that in the 1960s, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff signed off on a plan code-named Operation Northwoods to blow up American airplanes</b> (using an elaborate plan involving the switching of airplanes), and also to commit terrorist acts on American soil, and then to blame it on the Cubans in order to justify an invasion of Cuba. The operation was not carried out only because the Kennedy administration refused to implement these Pentagon plans.</div><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">For lots more on the astonishing Operation Northwoods, see the <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=92662&page=1" target="_blank">ABC news report</a>; <a href="http://www.wanttoknow.info/010501operationnorthwoods" target="_blank">the official declassified documents</a>; and watch <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IygchZRJVXM" target="_blank">this interview</a> with James Bamford, the former Washington Investigative Producer for ABC's World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. <b>One quote from the Northwoods documents states: "A 'Remember the Maine' incident could be arranged: We could blow up a US ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba. Casualty lists in US newspapers would cause a helpful wave of national indignation." </b><br />
<b> </b> </div><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><b>What about Al-Qaeda? </b></div><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">You might think Al-Qaeda is different. It is very powerful, organized, and out to get us, right? <b>Consider this <a href="http://www.wanttoknow.info/050111latimes" target="_blank"><i>Los Angeles Times</i> article</a>, reviewing a BBC documentary entitled <a href="http://www.wanttoknow.info/powerofnightmares" target="_blank">The Power of Nightmares</a>, which shows that the threat from Al Qaeda has been vastly overblown </b>(and see <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1207-26.htm" target="_blank">this article</a> on who is behind the hype). And former <a href="http://www.wanttoknow.info/documents/false_flag_brzezinski_testimony.pdf" target="_blank">National Security Adviser</a> Zbigniew Brzezinski testified to the Senate that the war on terror is "a mythical historical narrative."</div><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">And did you know that the FBI had <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE6DF1138F93BA15753C1A965958260" target="_blank">penetrated the cell</a> which carried out the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, but had – at the last minute – cancelled the plan to have its FBI infiltrator substitute fake powder for real explosives, against the infiltrator's strong wishes? See also <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F1Y6cGRXEs&eurl" target="_blank">this TV news report</a>.</div><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">Have you heard that the CIA is alleged to have <a href="http://www.wanttoknow.info/9-11cover-up10pg#binladenkidney" target="_blank">met with Bin Laden</a> two months before 9/11? Did you know that years after 9/11 the FBI first stated that <a href="http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,47109,00.html" target="_blank">it did not have sufficient evidence</a> to prosecute Bin Laden for 9/11? (See also <a href="http://www.wanttoknow.info/a-bin-laden-most-wanted-embassy-bombings" target="_blank">this partial confirmation by the <i>Washington Post</i></a>) And did you see the statement in <i>Newsweek</i> by the CIA commander in charge of the capture that <a href="http://www.wanttoknow.info/911newsarticles-0-10000#article_1416" target="_blank">the U.S. <i>let</i> Bin Laden escape</a> from Afghanistan?</div><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">Have you heard that the anthrax attacks – which were sent along with notes purportedly written by Islamic terrorists – used a weaponized anthrax strain from the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A49502-2001Dec15" target="_blank">top U.S. bioweapons facility</a>? Indeed, <a href="http://www.wanttoknow.info/documents/false_flag_top_bioweapons_experts_scotsman.aspx.htm" target="_blank">top bioweapons experts</a> have stated that the anthrax attack may have been a CIA test "gone wrong." For more on this, see <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/madsenanthrax.html" target="_blank">this article</a> by a former NSA and naval intelligence officer and <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/12/13/21216/806" target="_blank">this statement</a> by a distinguished law professor and bioterror expert (and <a href="http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/24273" target="_blank">this one</a>).</div><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">It is also interesting that the only Congress members mailed anthrax letters <a href="http://www.salon.com/politics/feature/2001/11/21/anthrax/index_np.html" target="_blank">were key Democrats</a>, and that the attacks occurred one week before passage of the freedom-curtailing PATRIOT Act, which seems to have scared them and the rest of Congress into passing that act without even reading it. And though it may be a coincidence, White House staff <a href="http://www.judicialwatch.org/2953.shtml" target="_blank">began taking the anti-anthrax medicine</a> before the Anthrax attacks occurred.</div><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">Even General William Odom, <a href="http://hammernews.com/odomspeech.htm" target="_blank">former director</a> of the National Security Agency, said "By any measure the US has long used terrorism. In ‘78-79 the Senate was trying to pass a law against international terrorism, yet in every version they produced, the lawyers said the US would be in violation" (the audio is <a href="http://hammernews.com/odom.ram" target="_blank">here</a>).</div><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><b>Why Does This Matter?</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">Please read what the following highly respected people are saying:</div><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;"><b>Former prominent Republican U.S. Congressman and CIA official Bob Barr stated that the U.S. is close to <a href="http://prisonplanet.com/articles/december2005/111205totalitariandanger.htm" target="_blank">becoming a totalitarian society</a> and that elements in government are using fear to try to bring this about. </b></div><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">Republican U.S. Congressman Ron Paul stated that the government "<a href="http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/october2005/121005slamsbush.htm" target="_blank">is determined to have martial law</a>." He also said a contrived "<a href="http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2007/cr011107.htm" target="_blank">Gulf of Tonkin-type incident</a> may occur to gain popular support for an attack on Iran." <b>Former National Security Adviser Brzezinski told the Senate that a terrorist act might be carried out in the U.S. and <a href="http://www.wanttoknow.info/documents/false_flag_blame_iran.htm" target="_blank">falsely blamed on Iran</a> to justify yet another war.</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">The former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration, <a href="http://www.vdare.com/roberts/bio.htm" target="_blank">Paul Craig Roberts</a>, who is called the "Father of Reaganomics" and is a former editor and columnist for the <i>Wall Street Journal</i>, <i>BusinessWeek</i>, and Scripps Howard News Service, <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts07162007.html" target="_blank">has said</a>:</div><blockquote><blockquote><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">"Ask yourself: Would a government that has lied us into two wars and is working to lie us into an attack on Iran shrink from staging 'terrorist' attacks in order to remove opposition to its agenda? </div></blockquote></blockquote><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">Retired 27-year CIA analyst Ray McGovern, who prepared and presented Presidential Daily Briefs and served as a high-level analyst for several presidents, stated that if there was <a href="http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/october2005/191005McGovern.htm" target="_blank">another major attack</a> in the U.S., it would lead to martial law. He went on to say: </div><blockquote><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">"We have to be careful, if somebody does this kind of provocation – big violent explosions of some kind – we have to not take the word of the masters there in Washington that this was some terrorist event because it could well be a <i>provocation</i> allowing them, or seemingly to allow them to get what they want." </div></blockquote><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">The former CIA analyst would not put it past the government to "play fast and loose" with terror alerts and warnings and even terrorist events in order to rally people behind the flag.</div><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">General Tommy Franks stated that if another terrorist attack occurs in the United States "<a href="http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/11/20/185048.shtml" target="_blank">the Constitution will likely be discarded</a> in favor of a military form of government." Former UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter stated before the Iraq war started that there were no weapons of mass destruction. He is now saying that he would not rule out <a href="http://prisonplanet.com/articles/october2005/241005weaponsinspector.htm" target="_blank">staged government terror</a> by the U.S. government. And British Parliament Member George Galloway stated that "there is a very real danger" that <a href="http://prisonplanet.com/Pages/Sept05/130905Galloway.htm" target="_blank">the American government will stage a false flag terror attack</a> in order to justify war against Iran and to gain complete control domestically.</div><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;"><b>The abundance of reliable information in this essay suggests that not only has the U.S. in the past conducted false flag operations, but there is a possibility that 9/11 involved some element of this deceit, and a future false flag operation cannot be ruled out.</b> Let us spread this news to all who care so that we might build the critical mass necessary to stop these secret operations and work together for a more caring civil society. </div><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
<b>Special Note:</b> For a collection of reliable, verifiable information suggesting that 9/11 may have been a form of false flag operation, please see the 9/11 Information Center available at <a href="http://www.wanttoknow.info/911information" target="_blank">this link</a>.</div><br />
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<a href="http://doublepickles.blogspot.com/2011/10/journalist-from-mars.html">Noam Chomsky </a>gives two definitions of terrorism. An official definition in the U.S. code and Army manuals, and elsewhere. It is defined briefly. Terrorism is defined as "the calculated use of violence or the threat of violence to attain goals that are political, religious or ideological in nature...through intimidation, coercion or instilling fear." <br />
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The official definition is unusable for two reasons. First of all, it's a very close paraphrase of official government policy. When it's government policy, it's called low-intensity conflict or counter terror.<br />
Incidentally, it's not just the United States. As far as I'm aware, this practice is universal. Just as an example, back in the mid 1960s the Rand Corporation, the research agency connected with the Pentagon mostly, published a collection of interesting Japanese counterinsurgency manuals having to do with the Japanese attack on Manchuria and North China in the 1930s. I was kind of interested-I wrote an article on it at the time comparing the Japanese counterinsurgency manuals with U.S. counterinsurgency manuals for South Vietnam, which are virtually identical.<br />
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The solution is to define terrorism as the terrorism that they carry out against us, whoever we happen to be. As far as I know, that's universal-in journalism, in scholarship, and also I think it's a historical universal.<br />
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With this characterization of terrorism, we can then draw the standard conclusions that you read all the time: namely, that we and our allies are the main victims of terrorism, and that terrorism is a weapon of the weak.<br />
Of course, terrorism in the official sense is a weapon of the strong, like most weapons, but it's a weapon of the weak, by definition, once you comprehend that "terrorism" just means the terrorism that they carry out against us. Then of course it's true by definition that terrorism is a weapon of the weak. <br />
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<div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.4em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki</a> </span><br />
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On May 10–11, 1945, the Target Committee at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Alamos_National_Laboratory" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Los Alamos National Laboratory">Los Alamos</a>, led by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Robert_Oppenheimer" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="J. Robert Oppenheimer">J. Robert Oppenheimer</a>, recommended <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Kyoto">Kyoto</a>, <a class="mw-redirect" href="javascript:void(0)" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Niigata (city)">Niigata</a>, Hiroshima, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yokohama" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Yokohama">Yokohama</a>, and the arsenal at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kokura" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Kokura">Kokura</a> as possible targets. The target selection was subject to the following criteria:</div><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-image: url(data:image/png; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.3em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">The target was larger than three miles (5 km) in diameter and was an important target in a large urban area.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">The blast would create effective damage.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">The target was unlikely to be attacked by August 1945. "Any small and strictly military objective should be located in a much larger area subject to blast damage in order to avoid undue risks of the weapon being lost due to bad placing of the bomb."</li>
</ul><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.4em;">These cities were largely untouched during the nightly bombing raids and the Army Air Force agreed to leave them off the target list so accurate assessment of the weapon could be made. Hiroshima was described as "an important army depot and port of embarkation in the middle of an urban industrial area. It is a good radar target and it is such a size that a large part of the city could be extensively damaged. There are adjacent hills which are likely to produce a focusing effect which would considerably increase the blast damage. Due to rivers it is not a good <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incendiary_device" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Incendiary device">incendiary</a> target." The goal of the weapon was to convince Japan to surrender unconditionally in accordance with the terms of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potsdam_Declaration" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Potsdam Declaration">Potsdam Declaration</a>. The Target Committee stated that "It was agreed that psychological factors in the target selection were of great importance. Two aspects of this are (1) obtaining the greatest psychological effect against Japan and (2) making the initial use sufficiently spectacular for the importance of the weapon to be internationally recognized when publicity on it is released. Kyoto had the advantage of being an important center for military industry, as well an intellectual center and hence better able to appreciate the significance of the weapon. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Imperial_Palace" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Tokyo Imperial Palace">Emperor's palace</a> in Tokyo has a greater fame than any other target but is of least strategic value."</div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.4em;">During World War II, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_O._Reischauer" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Edwin O. Reischauer">Edwin O. Reischauer</a> was the Japan expert for the <a href="javascript:void(0)" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Military Intelligence Corps (United States Army)">U.S. Army Intelligence Service</a>, in which role he is incorrectly said to have prevented the bombing of Kyoto. In his autobiography, Reischauer specifically refuted the validity of this claim:</div><dl style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.2em;"><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em;">"...the only person deserving credit for saving Kyoto from destruction is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_L._Stimson" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Henry L. Stimson">Henry L. Stimson</a>, the <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretary_of_War" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Secretary of War">Secretary of War</a> at the time, who had known and admired Kyoto ever since his honeymoon there several decades earlier."</dd><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em;"><sup class="reference" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 1em;"> </sup> </dd><dd style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em;"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 13px;"> </span></span></div></dd></dl><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"></span><br />
<div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.4em;">During the war "annihilationist and exterminationalist rhetoric" was tolerated at all levels of U.S. society; according to the UK embassy in Washington the Americans regarded the Japanese as "a nameless mass of vermin". Caricatures depicting Japanese as less than human, e.g. monkeys, were common. A 1944 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_poll" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Opinion poll">opinion poll</a> that asked what should be done with Japan found that 13% of the U.S. public were in favor of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Genocide">extermination</a> of all Japanese: men, women, and children.</div></div></div>emmanuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08566669753834950327noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073964493182580749.post-29652798032006000872018-02-24T08:22:00.000-08:002018-02-24T16:01:05.140-08:00War on Syria<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://www.mercycorps.org/articles/iraq-jordan-lebanon-syria-turkey/quick-facts-what-you-need-know-about-syria-crisis" target="_blank">Quick facts: What you need to know about the Syria crisis</a></h1>
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<a href="https://www.juancole.com/2018/02/the-total-syria.html" target="_blank">The Age of Total War in Syria</a></h1>
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By <a href="https://www.juancole.com/author/jcedit" rel="author" title="Posts by Juan Cole">Juan Cole</a>
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<a href="https://www.juancole.com/2018/02/the-total-syria.html" rel="bookmark" title="Permalink to The Age of Total War in Syria">Feb. 21, 2018</a>
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One of the most distressing take-aways of the Syria War since 2011 is
that the United Nations does not work and all the hopes of the framers
of its charter in 1945 have been dashed. World War II was a total war
that polished off some 64 million people (nearly the entire population
of today’s Britain or France), displaced hundreds of millions, and
doomed more millions to live under brutal military occupation. Although
the Axis powers were the worst offenders in targeting civilian,
noncombatant populations (as with buzz-bombing London) as a tool of war,
the Allies were not innocent, as with the firebombing of Dresden and
the nuking of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.<br />
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By Don Melvin, Michael Martinez and Zeynep Bilginsoy, CNN<br />
Updated 2345 GMT (0745 HKT) November 24, 2015 <br />
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<a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/24/middleeast/warplane-crashes-near-syria-turkey-border/">Istanbul (CNN)</a>One of the world's most volatile regions was roiled further Tuesday when Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Turkish-Syrian border. Turkey said it hit the plane after it violated Turkey's airspace and ignored 10 warnings.<br />
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<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/syria-army-pushes-offensive-central-homs-085406724.html">Beirut (AFP</a>) - Russia said Thursday its warplanes had eased back on air strikes in Syria as regime forces press a widening ground offensive, while President Vladimir Putin criticised Washington for not cooperating over the conflict.<br />
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As Moscow and Washington neared agreement on measures to avoid confrontation over Syria, Russia announced that a hotline had been set up with Israel to ensure there would be no clashes between their air forces.<br />
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18 August 2014<br />
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<a href="http://arnulfo.wordpress.com/2014/08/18/the-islamic-state/">There is evidence in the public domain that the US and Saudi Arabia are behind the ISIS</a>. ISIS used to be called Al-Qaida but that is not convenient anymore, it seems because it is clearly high treason to cooperate with Al-Qaida, Even in the US Media these facts were acknowledge when Obama was pondering invading Syria. <br />
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Tell your congressman that you are concerned about allegations that the US and/or its allies trained Islamic extremist in Jordan to fight the Syrian government. Ask how a bunch of young tugs can operate sophisticated high tech us supplied equipment without training, maintenance, and spear parts. Ask how Israel, with her paranoid arrogance and the best army and intelligence service in the World, allowed a military presence of the size of the ISIS to surge in her backyard. Ask who supplies the ammunition and money. <br />
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There are reasons, I guess, for people in power to play chess with the World, but at the end of the line what we have is psychopathic behavior and Power for the sake of Power. What we can do first of all is being informed and tell others at church, school, friends what is going on and tell government officials that you are aware and against blood for oil.<br />
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Published on Nov 21, 2013<br />
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Inside Syria it's proving increasingly difficult to get anything like a clear picture of the state of the conflict, but the government appears to have the upper hand.<br />
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Published on Oct 22, 2013<br />
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Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has come under attack, and rightfully so. He has gone from being a Vietnam Veteran hero to crossing the line, in my opinion and many others, of being a traitor to the Constitution and the United States. I ran across a video of a townhall meeting that apparently took place sometime in September, in which Marine Blaine Cooper called out John McCain on his treason for aiding and abetting the enemy of the United States.<br />
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<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/17/us-syria-crisis-turkey-qaeda-idUSBRE99G06C20131017" target="_blank">(Reuters)</a> - The rise of al Qaeda in parts of Syria's north has left Turkey facing a new security threat on its already vulnerable border and raised questions about its wholesale support for rebels battling President Bashar al-Assad.<br />
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Turkey has long championed more robust backing for Syria's fractious armed opposition, arguing it would bring a quicker end to Assad's rule and give moderate forces the authority they needed to keep more radical Islamist elements in check.<br />
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But with Islamist groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) taking territory in parts of the north near the border in recent weeks, it is a strategy that increasingly looks to have been a miscalculation.<br />
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Ankara has found itself facing accusations that indiscriminate support for the rebels has allowed weapons and foreign fighters to cross into northern Syria and facilitated the rise of radical groups.<br />
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"We are being accused of supporting al Qaeda," a source close to the Turkish government said, adding that U.S. officials had raised concerns on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly meetings in New York last month.<br />
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"They were politely but aggressively critical. The attention has focused away from Assad to al Qaeda," the source said, echoing frustration voiced by other officials in Ankara that this was playing into Assad's hands.<br />
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As if on cue, the Turkish army said on Wednesday it had fired on ISIL fighters over the border after a stray mortar shell hit Turkish soil. It has retaliated in the past in such cases but this appeared to be the first time its response had targeted al Qaeda-linked fighters.<br />
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Turkey has maintained an open-door policy throughout the two-and-a-half-year conflict, providing a lifeline to rebel-held areas by allowing humanitarian aid in, giving refugees a route out and letting the rebel Free Syrian Army organize on its soil.<br />
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It officially denies arming the rebels or facilitating the passage of foreign fighters who have swollen the ranks of al Qaeda-linked factions including ISIL and Nusra.<br />
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"Logistically nothing goes through the official borders in Turkey or any other country anyway," said Louay Meqdad, a spokesman for the rebel Free Syrian Army.<br />
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But the 900 km (560-mile) border is difficult to police and refugees, smugglers and rebel fighters have been able to cross undetected in remote areas, bypassing the main crossing points.<br />
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"Officially we didn't allow it. But it's a long border and some groups, we tried to accommodate them in the Syrian opposition, which we wanted to be as large as possible," said one Turkish official in the region, when asked whether foreign fighters had been able to cross.<br />
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Foreign mercenaries, mainly backed by Gulf states, were initially welcomed by Syria's rebel forces because they had greater battle experience and were more effective against pro-Assad militias, he said.<br />
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"This was a tactical mistake and now we see a totally different balance of power."<br />
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LENDING ASSAD LEGITIMACY<br />
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It is a contrast with Jordan, where authorities have kept a tight control over their border with Syria. Rebels in the southern Syrian province of Deraa, the cradle of the 2011 protests against Assad, have long complained that they have been starved of significant arms supplies as a result.<br />
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In a report documenting sectarian mass killings by Assad's foes, New York-based Human Rights Watch said last week Turkey needed to increase its border patrols and restrict the passage of fighters and arms to radical groups.<br />
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"Many foreign fighters operating in northern Syria gain access to Syria via Turkey, from which they also smuggle their weapons, obtain money and other supplies, and sometimes retreat to for medical treatment," the report said.<br />
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It cited a humanitarian worker in Turkey as saying some of the foreign fighters entering Syria's Latakia province, where it said 190 civilians were killed by rebels in an attack in August, had flown into Hatay airport in Turkey, from where they were picked up by other fighters and facilitators.<br />
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Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has repeatedly denied any support from Turkey for al Qaeda-linked groups in Syria and has described suggestions to the contrary as a bid to legitimize Assad's actions by portraying him as fighting terrorism.<br />
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"This is what Assad wants. He is trying to ... change the nature of the conflict, so that it is perceived not as a conflict between him and his own people, but as a fight against radical groups," a senior foreign ministry official said.<br />
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It was a message Assad tried to deliver directly to the Turkish people this month, when in an interview with Turkey's Halk TV he warned Turkey it would pay for harboring "terrorists" who, he said, would turn on their hosts.<br />
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It is not a risk Turkey can comfortably dismiss. Like Jordan, which fears Islamist fighters radicalized in Syria could return and strike targets inside the pro-Western kingdom, Turkey is not immune to the threat from al Qaeda.<br />
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Several websites carried reports of a threat to Turkey from jihadist groups in Syria after it temporarily shut part of the border last month when an al Qaeda-linked group stormed a nearby town, although it was not clear if the threat was genuine.<br />
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"We are not with al Nusra, and al Nusra is not happy about this. It is a nasty war. Nothing is black and white any more," the source close to the Turkish government said.<br />
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FERTILE GROUND FOR RADICALISATION<br />
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As the conflict drags on, there is growing evidence of Turkish nationals going to fight in Syria, some alongside jihadists, others joining Syrian Kurds in their scramble against rival rebel units, Assad's forces and Arab tribes.<br />
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Citing intelligence reports, Turkey's Taraf newspaper estimated last month that around 500 Turkish nationals were fighting among 1,200 different rebel groups in Syria, many of them in the name of "jihad", while others had signed up as mercenaries, earning $1,500 a month.<br />
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Others were members of the Kurdish PKK militant group who were going to fight alongside Syrian Kurds, it said.<br />
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"Our border is very fragile, it is not as strong as it was," the source close to the government said.<br />
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"No-one would go from an Anatolian town to fight for democracy in Syria. But jihadists would go to fight against the infidels. This is the danger for Turkey."<br />
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Officials in Ankara, from President Abdullah Gul down, see the failure of the international community to take decisive action in Syria as creating the conditions which have allowed radical groups to thrive.<br />
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After repeated calls for assertive intervention, they are frustrated that the finger is now being pointed at them.<br />
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"What I have said to all our allies and everyone I have met and spoken to since these events started is that if this process prolongs, the inevitable result will be a radicalization," Gul said in a speech in Istanbul this month.<br />
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Turkish officials argue that foreign fighters have also entered Syria from other neighboring countries, some with support from Gulf states including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and point out that the escape of hundreds of convicts from Iraq's Abu Ghraib jail in July swelled ISIL's ranks in Syria.<br />
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"We do our best through the different opposition forces to contain the threat of the jihadi opposition in Syria, but the support for these groups is so sizeable that Turkey cannot control this (alone)," the Turkish official in the region said.<br />
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(Additional reporting by Dominic Evans and Samia Nakhoul in Beirut, Dasha Afanasieva in Istanbul; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by giles Elgood)<br />
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Published on May 14, 2013<br />
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Robin Barnwell, who directed and produced 'A History of Syria with Dan Snow', explains the challenges of filiming amid the conflict, and describes the spirit of the Syrian people he met.<br />
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The Syrian Airlines jet performed an alarming dive on its nighttime approach into Damascus airport in an attempt to avoid any hostile fire. The exterior lights on the aircraft were switched off to make it less visible to any rebel fighters attempting to shoot the plane down. Syrian army artillery rounds were flying through the air, thudding into residential suburbs not far from the airport.<br />
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Once we'd landed, I saw little of the Syria I knew from my previous two visits. The airport that had been the gateway to the country for tourists was quiet. The road to the centre of Damascus was eerily empty. Our driver drove as fast as he could, speeding us past signs welcoming us to Syria on a road that regularly comes under attack or is caught in the crossfire in a conflict that has now cost more than 70,000 lives and displaced millions. How, I wondered, had Syria and its people, whom I had such warm memories of, reached such a state?<br />
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Like many people, I first travelled to Syria in 1995 to immerse myself in the country's extraordinary and varied history. Now I was in Damascus to direct and film a documentary that would explain how history had helped shape and influence the appalling civil war that is tearing Syria and its different communities apart. It was a strange relief to be in Damascus, as visas for journalists and filmmakers, issued by the Syrian government, are difficult to obtain.<br />
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The programme's Middle East producer had doggedly convinced a suspicious Syrian Ministry of Information that now was the right time to make a history of Syria after weeks of officials telling us to come back after the 'current, temporary problems' were over. We persisted in pushing for access because history can help explain the current violence in Syria; violence that has become increasingly incomprehensible for audiences of news programmes around the world.<br />
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I was surprised by my own ignorance about the subject. It was only after weeks of reading and meetings with experts before actually arriving in Syria did I map the historical connections, linking present day events with the past. How though, were we to go about making a documentary in a country consumed by civil war?<br />
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Permission to film almost anything and anyone was frustratingly difficult to obtain. The official from the Syrian Ministry of Information assigned to take us around kept apologizing for the numerous new restrictions that had been put in place. Getting access to the beautiful Old City of Damascus now involved negotiating a way through sandbagged checkpoints past soldiers who were suspicious of foreigners and visibly on edge.<br />
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Surreally, though, Syrians were rushing around going about their daily business, seemingly ignoring the near constant sound of gunfire and fighter jets which screeched overhead to bomb targets in the suburbs. An even stranger sense of normality prevailed in other locations we filmed, particularly in Syria's coastal city Lattakia, where no fighting was taking place. We mingled with couples watching the sunset over the Mediterranean and for a moment one was back in pre-conflict Syria. But the effects of war were never far away.<br />
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President Obama’s approach to Syria has came under criticism from his first two defense secretaries. At a public event in Dallas, Leon Panetta said Obama should have followed through on a threat of U.S. military attack, while Robert Gates called for increased military aid to Syrian rebels.<br />
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Leon Panetta: "My view would have been that once the president came to that conclusion, that he should have directed limited action going after Assad to make very clear to the world that when we draw a line and we give our word, dammit, we back it up."</blockquote>
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Robert Gates: "My view is significantly increasing the amount of covert assistance to selected rebel groups, opposition groups. I would not provide them with surfaced air missiles, but I would give them heavier weapons and more of them."</blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWJ51G85piJK8L_RtMsu3PmAfNufKvtm42xGUqEIJ3_mhi4JvdktvsQFBn7kkUwqLWkl80n8bVThz4DZyZbOIDWWJedgnbbaXQn3AK6o53ikAH5L8uvSFKHl55z8sgQsLKN2Yzf53zwC4/s1600/1185954_583349925053830_1678784000_n.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWJ51G85piJK8L_RtMsu3PmAfNufKvtm42xGUqEIJ3_mhi4JvdktvsQFBn7kkUwqLWkl80n8bVThz4DZyZbOIDWWJedgnbbaXQn3AK6o53ikAH5L8uvSFKHl55z8sgQsLKN2Yzf53zwC4/s1600/1185954_583349925053830_1678784000_n.jpg" /></a><br />
This is true, but routine procedure in Washington, not the personal doing of Obama. For example,<br />
<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/23/iran-usa" target="_blank">The Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK),</a> or People's Mojahedin Organization of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/iran" title="More from guardian.co.uk on Iran">Iran</a>, is an Iranian dissident group that has been <a href="http://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/other/des/123085.htm">formally designated</a> for the last 15 years by the US State Department as a "foreign terrorist organization". When the Bush administration sought to justify its attack on Iraq in 2003 by accusing Saddam Hussein of being a sponsor of "international terrorism", <a href="http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/infocus/iraq/decade/sect5.html">one of its prime examples</a> was Iraq's "sheltering" of the MEK. Its inclusion on the terrorist list has meant that <a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2339B">it is a felony</a> to provide any "material support" to that group.<br />
Nonetheless, a large group of prominent former US government officials from both political parties has spent the last several years receiving substantial sums of cash to give speeches to the MEK, and have then become vocal, relentless advocates for the group, specifically for removing them from the terrorist list. Last year, the Christian Science Monitor <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2011/0808/Iranian-group-s-big-money-push-to-get-off-US-terrorist-list">thoroughly described</a> "these former high-ranking US officials - who represent the full political spectrum - [who] have been paid tens of thousands of dollars to speak in support of the MEK." They include Democrats Howard Dean, Ed Rendell, Wesley Clark, Bill Richardson, and Lee Hamilton, and Republicans Rudy Giuliani, Fran Townsend, Tom Ridge, Michael Mukasey, and Andrew Card. Other prominent voices outside government, such as Alan Dershowitz and Elie Wiesel, <a href="http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/02/28/3091892/iranian-dissident-group-enlists-jewish-voices-in-bid-to-get-off-us-terror-l">have been enlisted to the cause</a> and are steadfast MEK advocates. <br />
For obvious reason this cannot be done so openly for Al Qaeda. So technically the Obama administration is committing a felony and should be impeached. So why not the republicans latch on this clear cut well documented, even promoted offense?<br />
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<a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2013/9/6/iran_contra_redux_prince_bandar_heads" target="_blank">The Wall Street Journal recently revealed new details</a> about how Prince Bandar bin Sultan al-Saud — Saudi’s former ambassador to the United States — is leading the effort to prop up the Syrian rebels. Intelligence agents from Saudi Arabia, the United States, Jordan and other allied states are working at a secret joint operations center in Jordan to train and arm hand-picked Syrian rebels. The Journal also reports Prince Bandar has been jetting from covert command centers near the Syrian front lines to the Élysée Palace in Paris and the Kremlin in Moscow, seeking to undermine the Assad regime. "Really what he’s doing is he’s reprising a role that he played in the 1980s when he worked with the Reagan administration to arrange money and arms for mujahideen fighters in Afghanistan and also worked with the <span class="caps">CIA</span> in Nicaragua to support the Contras," says Wall Street Journal reporter Adam Entous. "So in many ways this is a very familiar position for Prince Bandar, and it’s amazing to see the extent to which veterans of the <span class="caps">CIA</span> were excited to see him come back because, in the words of a diplomat who knows Bandar, he brings the Arabic term wasta, which means under-the-table clout. You know his checks are not going to bounce and that he’ll be able to deliver the money from the Saudis."<br />
<a href="http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2013/9/6/us_russian_tensions_heighten_over_syria_roots_of_conflict_stem_from_nato_bombing_of_libya">Watch Part Two of Interview, 'U.S.-Russian Tensions Heighten over Syria; Roots of Conflict Stem from <span class="caps">NATO</span> Bombing of Libya</a><br />
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<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/obama-tells-nation-syria-not-another-iraq-afghanistan-100320142.html" target="_blank">By Roberta Rampton</a><br />
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama told his war-weary country on Saturday that America needs to use limited military force in Syria to deter future chemical weapons attacks, but said he did not want to enter into another costly and protracted war.<br />
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"This would not be another Iraq or Afghanistan," Obama said in his weekly radio and internet address, previewing arguments he will make in a nationally televised address on Tuesday.<br />
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"Any action we take would be limited, both in time and scope - designed to deter the Syrian government from gassing its own people again and degrade its ability to do so," Obama said.<br />
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A week ago, Obama said he felt limited strikes in Syria were needed, but added he wanted to ask Congress to authorize the use of military force.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCbcXhnvUxQbLqKV8HN1v8PG7A97bVPEvGqhg0GgcJ66YvS82tZFNnlmEOxJEmQjGw5YfaSEDDbVyzF2BEM8bvMhedmN03Nd-eIc2UoccFaFmal71Xj3lropL0hscLjYrC78SR717Oa9c/s1600/1002911_494945707263181_150621448_n.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCbcXhnvUxQbLqKV8HN1v8PG7A97bVPEvGqhg0GgcJ66YvS82tZFNnlmEOxJEmQjGw5YfaSEDDbVyzF2BEM8bvMhedmN03Nd-eIc2UoccFaFmal71Xj3lropL0hscLjYrC78SR717Oa9c/s1600/1002911_494945707263181_150621448_n.jpg" /></a><br />
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<b>Trey Smith</b><br />
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<a href="http://ramblingtaoist.blogspot.mx/2013/09/obama-debates-himself-in-real-time.html" target="_blank">After reading what President Obama said in Stockholm yesterday at a gathering of world leaders</a>, I am guessing that Barack has never been on a debate team. In the course of a few minutes, he argued both sides of the same issue! At one moment, he said,<br />
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It is important for us to get out of the habit of just saying we'll let the president stretch the boundaries of his authority as far as he can and Congress will sit on the sidelines and snipe.</blockquote>
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However, in the same set of remarks, he also said,<br />
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As commander-in-chief I always preserve the right and the responsibility to act on behalf of America's national security. I do not believe that I was required to take this to Congress but I did not take this to Congress just because it's an empty exercise. I think it is important to have Congress's support.</blockquote>
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So, on the one hand, he agrees with his critics by saying that a president shouldn't be allowed to "stretch the boundaries of his authority." On the other hand, he submits that he has the [constitutional] right to stretch those boundaries as far as he sees fit!<br />
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Obviously, quote #1 was a throwaway position, a meager attempt to satisfy those who believe in constitutional safeguards. What he really believes is contained in quote #2. Phrased a different way, he is taking this matter -- attacking Syria -- before Congress to give them the opportunity to agree with him! If they don't, then he's going to do what he believes he is empowered to do anyway.<br />
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<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/china-backs-russia-over-syria-g20-summit-091514018.html" target="_blank">By Timothy Heritage</a><br />
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ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama faced growing pressure from world leaders not to launch military strikes in Syria on Thursday at a summit on the global economy that was eclipsed by the conflict.<br />
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The Group of 20 (G20) developed and developing economies met in St. Petersburg to try forge a united front on economic growth, trade, banking transparency and fighting tax evasion.<br />
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But the club that accounts for two thirds of the world's population and 90 percent of its output is divided over issues ranging from the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to end its program of stimulus for the economy to the civil war in Syria.<br />
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Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to use the meeting in a seafront tsarist palace to talk Obama out of military action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over a chemical weapons attack which Washington blames on government forces.<br />
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Obama wore a stiff smile as he approached Putin on arrival at the summit and grasped his hand. Putin also maintained a businesslike expression. It was only when they turned to pose for the cameras that Obama broke into a broader grin.<br />
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The first round at the summit went to Putin as China, the European Union and Pope Francis - in a letter for G20 leaders - aligned themselves more closely with him than with Obama over the possibility and legitimacy of armed intervention.<br />
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"Military action would have a negative impact on the global economy, especially on the oil price - it will cause a hike in the oil price," Chinese Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao told a briefing.<br />
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The Pope urged the leaders to "lay aside the futile pursuit of a military solution". He has also invited the 1.2 billion Roman Catholics and people of other faiths to join him in a day of prayer and fasting on Saturday to end the civil war.<br />
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European Union leaders, usually strong allies of the United States, described the August 21 attack near Damascus, which killed an estimated 1,400 people, as "abhorrent" but added: "There is no military solution to the Syrian conflict."<br />
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Putin, Assad's most important ally, was isolated on Syria at a Group of Eight meeting in June, the last big meeting of world powers. He could now turn the tables on Obama, who recently likened him to a "bored kid in the back of the classroom."<br />
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Only France, which is preparing to join U.S. military action, rallied behind Obama.<br />
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"We are convinced that if there is no punishment for Mr. Assad, there will be no negotiation," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said before leaving for St. Petersburg.<br />
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With backing by Beijing and Moscow unlikely at the U.N. Security Council, where both have veto powers, Obama is seeking the approval of the U.S. Congress.<br />
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Putin says rebel forces may have carried out the poison gas attack and that any military strike without Security Council approval would violate international law, a view which is now increasingly openly being supported by others.<br />
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He has no one-on-one talks scheduled with Obama but hopes to discuss Syria at a dinner with all the leaders. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and U.N. special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi were also in St. Petersburg, hoping to secure agreement on holding an international peace conference on Syria.<br />
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Putin's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, portrayed the "camp of supporters of a strike on Syria" as divided and said: "It is impossible to say that very many states support the idea of a military operation."<br />
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One national leader attending the summit said there appeared to be little chance of a rapprochement between Putin and Obama, whose relations have soured following Russia's offer of asylum to former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden.<br />
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Foreign ministers from the key states in the G20 - which includes all five permanent U.N. Security Council members - will also discuss Syria on the sidelines of the meeting.<br />
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Any G20 decision on Syria would not be binding but Putin would like to see a consensus to avert military action in what would be a significant - but unlikely - personal triumph.<br />
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LOSS OF HARMONY<br />
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The G20 achieved unprecedented cooperation between developed and emerging nations to stave off economic collapse during the 2009 financial crisis, but the harmony has now gone.<br />
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There are likely to be some agreements - including on measures to fight tax evasion by multinational companies - at the summit in the spectacular, 18th-century Peterhof palace complex, built on the orders of Tsar Peter the Great.<br />
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An initiative will be presented to leaders on refining regulation of the $630-trillion global market for financial derivatives to prevent a possible markets blow-up.<br />
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Steps to give the so-called 'shadow banking' sector until 2015 to comply with new global rules will also be discussed.<br />
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But consensus is proving hard to achieve among developed economies as the United States takes aggressive action to spur demand and Europe moves more slowly to let go of austerity.<br />
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The emerging economies in the BRICS group - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - urged the G20 to boost global demand and ensure that any changes in monetary policy are well flagged to minimize any disruptive "spillovers" that may result.<br />
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The appeal reflected the concerns among developing nations over the prospect that the Fed will scale back its ultra-loose monetary policy, and a view that Europe is not doing enough to promote a demand-driven recovery.<br />
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The BRICS also agreed to contribute $100 billion to a joint currency reserve pool. China will commit $41 billion; Brazil, India and Russia $18 billion each; and South Africa $5 billion.<br />
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Russia and China also joined forces in warning about the potential impact of the Fed ending its bond-buying program to stimulate the economy.<br />
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(Reporting by Gernot Heller, Luke Baker, Tetsushi Kajimoto, Lidia Kelly, Katya Golubkova, Steve Holland, Douglas Busvine, Steve Gutterman, Alessandra Prentice and Denis Pinchuk; Writing by Timothy Heritage; Editing by Alastair Macdonald and Anna Willard)<br />
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President Obama has sent a draft resolution authorizing the use of American military force in Syria to Congress. We need to speak out today and tell our senators and members of Congress to say no to military intervention by the U.S. <br />
The brutal and bloody Syrian civil war has already left 100,000 people dead and created millions of refugees. And now chemical weapons have been used, killing hundreds of civilians. <br />
The use of chemical weapons is morally reprehensible, and it should be punished. The International Criminal Court should immediately start war crime tribunals and proceedings against those responsible for the use of chemical weapons in Syria. And the U.S. can take evidence that Assad’s regime used chemical weapons to the UN Security Council and seek a resolution against Syria. Both acts would make it far more difficult for Russia to continue defending the regime and open the door for international action to broker a ceasefire -- the only way we will stop the massacre of civilians. <br />
<b><a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fact.credoaction.com%2Fgo%2F1789%3Ft%3D3%26akid%3D8817.5084505.dvbCLG&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHQSelLGYH2MsXnBSrnB1zeIuMhsg" target="_blank">Pick up the phone today to tell Representative Bill Flores and Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz: Don't bomb Syria.</a></b> <br />
The justifiable outrage evoked by the use of chemical weapons does not make attacking Syria -- where parts of the rebel resistance are allied with Al Qaeda and the authoritarian response by President Assad is aided by Hezbollah -- either just or strategic. <br />
As heart wrenching as the ongoing civil war has become, the United States should not start dropping bombs. A knee jerk, unilateral attack by the U.S. won’t help civilians -- it will make matters worse. At this point, there are no good options when it comes to military intervention by the United States, and it should be considered only as an effort of last resort, not a first response. <br />
<b><a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fact.credoaction.com%2Fgo%2F1789%3Ft%3D4%26akid%3D8817.5084505.dvbCLG&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNEEZzr_-z0H2LH0nwdqG9avpqdGEg" target="_blank">Pick up the phone today to tell Representative Bill Flores and Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz: Don't bomb Syria.</a></b> <br />
As humanitarians confronting the horror of the Syrian civil war, we must consider how we can best protect civilians, end the violence, and uphold the international prohibition on using chemical weapons. But we shouldn't make matters worse on the ground just to answer war crimes with a limited and largely symbolic show of force. <br />
The draft resolution makes it clear that the kind of limited military strike promoted by Obama administration is highly unlikely to affect the ultimate outcome of this messy and brutal civil war. <br />
And what's more, initiating "limited" hostilities with Syria could serve to pull us deeper into yet another war in the Middle East, with all the ramifications -- moral, humanitarian, economic and geopolitical -- that would entail. <br />
<b><a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fact.credoaction.com%2Fgo%2F1789%3Ft%3D5%26akid%3D8817.5084505.dvbCLG&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNG47V8VT1uLhyQfguLhBrDaDbbYEQ" target="_blank">Call Representative Bill Flores and Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz and tell them: Don't bomb Syria.</a></b> <br />
There are times when military force is necessary and justifiable. But this isn't one of them. <br />
The time is now to speak out. <br />
Becky Bond, Political Director<br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fact.credoaction.com%2Fgo%2F109%3Ft%3D6%26akid%3D8817.5084505.dvbCLG&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGIUrmtiGCOgr8UIRTwQFhZY0s0sA" target="_blank">CREDO Action from Working Assets</a> <br />
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<span style="color: dimgrey;"><b>Congress is still in recess -- but it's been a busy week in Washington!</b> Congress will return on Sept. 9th -- and on the top of their list will be <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Femail.popvox.com%2Fwf%2Fclick%3Fupn%3DvVex72bkMG7BCxZTI1bUfQMaBtj-2Fsbcq5q1KkEsGh7Xu6zFcG8CA8Juysn4zdO38LFriJQPiOxXDZzG4EeeJ-2BZK1Gq4dbXojHxkNlayMgSuRcoPLBcN-2BtdjDXPLd5S-2BshrSTfoo838NWtfs0bFC2xA-3D-3D_wz4MsBJOq05F3uZtXXhBqGW6U0wxWMyWuTcGe3SZuLQXZRH849KQi-2BVVjWDMVDx0dTQwHOLUfiJ56wG6dtECXOiqoBywqpRvexEzSpQBgjxEasu3-2BAo5TkRua6y2-2Fu9k6cnDcLm-2FVK9h8ivRNag4Lfv8vI8p316UH7ZAqpaIRGk0qUhE4F2pOvjidNPt1QpJZ6ObHIe6gpO9pRVQ418s7V-2BaYutnK-2Bn8Kq-2BgI7-2BDA8aTgoVjhXDo6fK06PF5IaPgM8WgI8JKkJpjJYz-2F6nbm1T2Je8KFc3X78PjwjY-2FZ2qYJx6Q-2FDU9-2Fi9G9RKH-2FwgVl7ir07-2FCyGSDYL4l792Mc-2BcgUgHj94Djm4vQmzpevlfNMbIkNa41CbVMZchZ0ze3a&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNG42yjrXz1xWnmRbsl67xqqKzuXfg" target="_blank">whether to approve military action in Syria</a>. POPVOX is also spotlighting <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Femail.popvox.com%2Fwf%2Fclick%3Fupn%3DlzFpdhA-2BgdjyXtTpeyYDJB3Cw12-2Bh36etp9j4dNQkqmY3YI5c18Atv3R2FxsDpeJJei-2B5gjAnhcu46hR4q0DsrQ-2FKJxGTdp-2FR2uFcb250yrF6TJjClljw90E09ZkOxxuDriC4T8YPjxpqh63RCQIF2hpChi4ottjoqxfoqf1TS0-3D_wz4MsBJOq05F3uZtXXhBqGW6U0wxWMyWuTcGe3SZuLQXZRH849KQi-2BVVjWDMVDx0dTQwHOLUfiJ56wG6dtECXLlk-2F-2Fep5prVy3wlGsmDNgnf6hppW75Yt6J5FyR-2BO74yDZKnrVdyq9QZK-2Fl8vaRo9WOOq2n5-2F-2Fs9zYl-2F1E8TYwxgtJ0HI9834ht99Z45JqlyEjBBjqBsb5fJj8Xb04t27gF6-2F74fVWnEMaFmReiykumjmSb3QO7Lt13Bb6K2GujnNNmVZyUuQQOEHGboB4uNRbkHjiSXdEda9lb-2BWj6mw1oZnNeR1i932whJsGCUuNu11xMyzD87J4qdToS-2FnWLzAiyLIktLEOp5s6k-2Fw58KZeB7DqmCuia8os5ysHGtQaoX&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGOMjnJQA0oU36ROYtTJ677amrQ1Q" target="_blank">labor and employment bills</a> in honor of Labor Day. And get a legislative recap of Wednesday's <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Femail.popvox.com%2Fwf%2Fclick%3Fupn%3DlzFpdhA-2BgdjyXtTpeyYDJB3Cw12-2Bh36etp9j4dNQkqmY3YI5c18Atv3R2FxsDpeJFV07ZAK0bPCkMz6v-2BLoY3W8b41iA1nZeEGVhZTjw88FSzosnacb7HmLZeaNUBD9RYIzWzMK69V-2FKca0BIgVVuF2wR-2F7Mj-2FtFlLncnf9Ku25VOybvRqYn9NmQMLrcfOq2Ivm-2FJW7UOmaGhKY104FnMg-3D-3D_wz4MsBJOq05F3uZtXXhBqGW6U0wxWMyWuTcGe3SZuLQXZRH849KQi-2BVVjWDMVDx0dTQwHOLUfiJ56wG6dtECXLm9Bw5WejVsuoCYFGSb9RzH8Q0aaKuGyFFuVl8TrGF3q5N5M3CRJM-2FQ-2BsqApVnstf8Su9dTRJ-2BvgcbdVe0kcB5ybPV5fe7g4X9KMXTvZeqkLEsZOx-2Bln2Fs9yqKl-2FTWqoBzX4MC9igj7I224-2Fq6LFaAaMDYRtnmAgszyPyBbshVkCdrspwFveE00m2egzghcw1zKH4xUKJhXdkMriaegLfDTtuJFqJOWALpi78VOLMInl5wn72Cxn0GXnLlzWwZP-2Ffwz8RCqrW06aLvxa5cvvfLo9Bp7SacGyiOYmEgO7s0&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNFDTpzaO4Gb4m5y7VnUoCwg_71PbA" target="_blank">50th Anniversary of the March on Washington</a>.</span><br />
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<b><b><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="color: #ec881d;">Authorizing Military Action in Syria </span></span></i></b></b></h3>
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<b><span style="color: dimgrey;">President Obama said he is seeking Congressional approval for US military action in Syria over the alleged use of chemical weapons. </span></b><span style="color: dimgrey;">Yesterday, the President sent to the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate a letter with draft legislation that would authorize use of the US military "in connection with the conflict in Syria." <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Femail.popvox.com%2Fwf%2Fclick%3Fupn%3DvVex72bkMG7BCxZTI1bUfQMaBtj-2Fsbcq5q1KkEsGh7Xu6zFcG8CA8Juysn4zdO38LFriJQPiOxXDZzG4EeeJ-2BZK1Gq4dbXojHxkNlayMgSuRcoPLBcN-2BtdjDXPLd5S-2BshrSTfoo838NWtfs0bFC2xA-3D-3D_wz4MsBJOq05F3uZtXXhBqGW6U0wxWMyWuTcGe3SZuLQXZRH849KQi-2BVVjWDMVDx0dTQwHOLUfiJ56wG6dtECXOKOlOYh-2F2RTkAlu9SQ0TvunH65er-2BqPTORP8TauRmalZwp523r37EWo5yNxqAUxTrmr-2BI37MZ3h-2FkfiyZzYwB5DPLdcIHXlJWVD4xSoXELyFtz8-2FrKjuh2tQt5GvJma2og2a9C20ajbA-2BKTPQnFrcxyXEGFiXWBX2MRLIVEQ3F4OPwCBI-2FlgAsPu7c-2BEezA9JUOAhT9M3-2F5v067QYatyxVz-2FxWWGwW-2Fd46jCXFIEbymZuFVUFo-2BWvw7F1E-2BLmnFMhMa1dpogf5k5QRhxf01RepG7XDYYxPgDbX6nJJyicW9&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNF5csabEEcHhGiuXpTBlY4JputvLg" target="_blank">Weigh in.</a></span><br />
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<span style="color: dimgrey;">President Obama specified that any military involvement would be of "limited duration and scope" and that "we would not put boots on the ground." (<a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Femail.popvox.com%2Fwf%2Fclick%3Fupn%3DlzFpdhA-2BgdjyXtTpeyYDJKHNFnSgt5LDRYGp4vHY-2B6DHtOUSveHzqXK4VSTyTXeZfL6cUSuBGCK-2F9Vv7hwLxifZMIzCopKDqlCXVnm6hIP7nuDfS064wsIaNC2gzGsRRbyFj2xg-2FR4SN-2FjShhmvtthkbMO1asiFv-2FbpiG8UMaLVihXrmxuiId9-2FiKpiTjl19ullb524g92WvxLs5LqxPNg-3D-3D_wz4MsBJOq05F3uZtXXhBqGW6U0wxWMyWuTcGe3SZuLQXZRH849KQi-2BVVjWDMVDx0dTQwHOLUfiJ56wG6dtECXF1s3-2FM0T-2B86g2aadJoPT4XHvJzyYyvAzK0lcVxk8ig59SbMVGiDWgeOvbVUXjQIePgdvq2C9Vf3YcFHduL5Me8iSxLff7Oqt4ORj4jXpu457w8Pzte3ZW8WNv-2Biiku-2FOmeIfjhIsZz3cU-2BAO89OhTXrFjD8QxCxI4MHuBAGK4b9Cy-2FyGf2y4izV-2FwHUaaZFkanDJfftq4q5DMAVaN0Zyt2MaZ8Qq6fBwx0T-2B4-2F3OSvvqB6PZbkJxnVUEiPNmGncSRGlSRUs48rweG-2BTWudatwUILiW77jBi6XqoN1rR2ojK&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHyq54VSQ2lYpI0tV7xQvIOfTFa6A" target="_blank">Read his remarks</a>.) The Obama Administration released an <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Femail.popvox.com%2Fwf%2Fclick%3Fupn%3DlzFpdhA-2BgdjyXtTpeyYDJKHNFnSgt5LDRYGp4vHY-2B6DHtOUSveHzqXK4VSTyTXeZcOQJVuwMvC5n1KPO-2BD3hpfab3ozQZN6PbW8wb6Nmh-2BZ-2B-2FCACvKwgY4OYVzuhn2uHokn23bSex8TaPWihQg2CjN8m-2F2UvuIzOSgmHybNOEANQs6hOq3OxgaYDzVhzO7a3lTlX3cNk4OOTLioMi88UiLmB8F0DJ3UOoveXQMILHQooWUue51rtJeFi-2B46SQRjAMd2bcEeBZx3Us5wsP7dGIg-3D-3D_wz4MsBJOq05F3uZtXXhBqGW6U0wxWMyWuTcGe3SZuLQXZRH849KQi-2BVVjWDMVDx0dTQwHOLUfiJ56wG6dtECXArKr-2BGku8WJG5FBpfHIFcW6wH1MLvfXQKWAurch8ZuViJgWuUfI7kKfw-2BGue88zjg8mljct1d5uhPsGYIGuXFAt-2B-2FLOhWPXhKaCacLff3vjUN19hetiFiImTM3t2maTG2xeuHfLVfCYUU46SNCeWPSSyaH8D0l0ulRgEEcGcBiBvozkjouigXmvtH0NCTeRQ8bvE-2FlSZdymqKIaDjH0Oh-2BeBnFZt0K-2B4IXVJsez-2F5Q4Ie5kfURBhWMXmLXqN9nGjTpIUO-2FOp0O2-2FfYj017E2ZffK1MMc8WLyieJJhgTnIoi&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNE1Ymna-ID2Qy98ReepCnuXQ8YZvg" target="_blank">unclassified summary of the attack</a> in the Damascus suburbs on Aug. 21 killing at least 1,429 Syrians, including 426 children.<br />
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On Aug. 30, Secretary of State John Kerry said "President Obama has spent many days now consulting with Congress and talking with leaders around the world about the situation in Syria." (<a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Femail.popvox.com%2Fwf%2Fclick%3Fupn%3DlzFpdhA-2BgdjyXtTpeyYDJD8Wo7W16LkvQ4ad8Ni-2Fmoi3x6A2ffYpJvCh8fDgOGEtEqJxlpvfDT68jb-2F67kyyA1drLGVWb2Cw2oBgQ4dMkewLJ6Uvb1xu9s07lai4FoblwDAr75wOy4ztMcva5btlMujRLpc0AvVucUv1hOcMYdA-3D_wz4MsBJOq05F3uZtXXhBqGW6U0wxWMyWuTcGe3SZuLQXZRH849KQi-2BVVjWDMVDx0dTQwHOLUfiJ56wG6dtECXDxFbfk3I9oW1P4UHPMTjbqCqgrIdnYCfWBaz0DuEOPW1HgtvZGAT-2FAv6BYfUad3EPcBbeX3ml5YbH15077124ooPBYEfYUjVBxo1ZNgReugNxcGFBc79LbdEFLxXceMLAtr4dyfG-2B7uWRimi6IAO73m5JTBmb-2Fpx2x333V83RzURxkSCbnUL9T0L4LUJwmitNn25a5nSH0Pyt5HGgeRCpViC6xGgyPZbY9kksA1tE9hGp0qHO4kfNfKoxl-2Fg0Re08WrjlKj8Xxzub79HUx0utWoIiCgQwmRYHkjbWxKDGuy&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNFzauHmLeqxzAYjcDtK0M01NgxRTw" target="_blank">Read Kerry's remarks</a>.) <b>Kerry added that he believes, "as President Obama does, that it is also important to discuss this directly with the American people." </b></span><br />
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<b><span style="color: dimgrey;">Weigh in with your Members of Congress on authorizing military action in Syria:</span></b> <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Femail.popvox.com%2Fwf%2Fclick%3Fupn%3DvVex72bkMG7BCxZTI1bUfQMaBtj-2Fsbcq5q1KkEsGh7Xu6zFcG8CA8Juysn4zdO38LFriJQPiOxXDZzG4EeeJ-2BZK1Gq4dbXojHxkNlayMgSuRcoPLBcN-2BtdjDXPLd5S-2BshrSTfoo838NWtfs0bFC2xA-3D-3D_wz4MsBJOq05F3uZtXXhBqGW6U0wxWMyWuTcGe3SZuLQXZRH849KQi-2BVVjWDMVDx0dTQwHOLUfiJ56wG6dtECXDP006Xb699ThHtRXS6-2FzA2EBUl-2FPIQ-2BP8yWqKSewpbJVZ7fGGUIu1p4snetYdfEQGYIhJYAHdIyR2mz1NjoRobs1zzQJru9w-2BdukOuhim4rknOyrc-2FDCCYsHkT7DTvGO-2FT-2Ff1CXzLTbusdl0NATOFsgKYjHO47QOsAV2uNoAAyZM4zI67vecK2D8bEbyiyLjQBu3kf5GzcjAGLd-2FzSleQlc-2FWup4mOzGfeXfudVzwFZg-2Fh15G6bCPPXjpIkGFcottMvGfBAY84emoe9NJyFKjNsfspuRGMCUZ4joET773ZS&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHj8TWA4e_kdKvBgEwHGt1kvXP7Hw" target="_blank">https://www.popvox.com/<wbr></wbr>bills/us/113/x134</a><br />
<h3>
<b><b><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="color: #ec881d;">Aid to Syria</span></span></i></b></b></h3>
<span style="color: dimgrey;">Food, tents and other humanitarian aid, provided by the UN's refugee agency and the World Food Program -- and funded by the United States government -- arrived in Iraq to help refugees fleeing the Syrian conflict, according to the <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Femail.popvox.com%2Fwf%2Fclick%3Fupn%3DlzFpdhA-2BgdjyXtTpeyYDJB1snOyppUH8ZhaKM6u90mM2u6c9oTgRk4NALFatUY52KBHByKsdpUvyoeM6fZ5crkCgyyMdsMBh81HooG3ZGVCXeXhU-2FgfeZ3XitaevH-2B34lKgkkYaMx0o-2Ff2fiuRm5f-2Fa6VNjRilAPWP3E2oMH26xxr99HONMQk8M25IsS109ezr2PZZ-2B5Wv5i9PSIyQkLdPixznZ8qXdUX-2FaNlUjxsM8Fi0uJF2pHRKWbycJbCpyX3E73XPhR0tNTKuHC2nIXMIFLnCt57L9YO7UZOIghM-2Fbpa3MbpEyoZB-2BcpEdQ4ITqMRl84AupdXlz-2B07G9Um7LA-3D-3D_wz4MsBJOq05F3uZtXXhBqGW6U0wxWMyWuTcGe3SZuLQXZRH849KQi-2BVVjWDMVDx0dTQwHOLUfiJ56wG6dtECXJhn2oZ483iYANAXjg4Ti-2BHenFK3J38wVqlmf1ag73icbxogPbzBFhrwaNDKNlO9qY6Qat9dNa8hW0MvfuYOiBSF0ZaxGqKhJDSr-2By6oEZExlDPxbLCDPlYApfbLnqMP1h0BdaqqMkn37AcBj8ra4ZdkKew4VBfYq4fWyGkQgA4RVpM8iIdOfx44-2BtN74uHT5aVoX7vAwwePOklSjRXsqFU84Z77DiirI-2FEZ2h7G4wlPbk444liZNh7hVwN8BscGitv5U2beGCb3EFr2yeko4-2BlWD-2BZGbtOHtaqheZQIdcK7&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGN6XOPwswnjDUEb3JK_dWUSVl7IQ" target="_blank">State Department</a>. More than 47,000 refugees have crossed into Northern Iraq from Syria since August 15.<br />
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<b>The US has provided over $1 billion in humanitarian aid since the Syrian crisis began, and is the single-largest contributor of humanitarian assistance for the people of Syria</b>, according to the <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Femail.popvox.com%2Fwf%2Fclick%3Fupn%3DlzFpdhA-2BgdjyXtTpeyYDJOwW-2FLzGQS9bMwAeKNrlqIUIYKSlOsVrLzgaMGPlADAfge-2FqIKE8jKRafAodo0EZ6aP2FXiFdXCXef2hOjPZAiri6zuUkOc9Vvs9cUq7pwgcbBiG4PucfhdZoHCMOpWO8nPdOuAr-2B491qCf1yViE8iI-3D_wz4MsBJOq05F3uZtXXhBqGW6U0wxWMyWuTcGe3SZuLQXZRH849KQi-2BVVjWDMVDx0dTQwHOLUfiJ56wG6dtECXGwhuBFQ0PVB3u45AW3o-2BhYuOb0izL7tGMfnfYe7-2FFC-2F2JWxBEQqeRdG-2F2zfYML8o4Ow-2F283T41mNDAtupa8bmY9pvglcdobFDNEDDmjzTVOZzaMcmRqcL9RV5ZT-2BvdP9ve7DecNTnBYTjBLsF66gW8nNAc0mKoARb9xE9rW7QPoI76RDIbq6NZzRw7Iu2KomWnoVGdhQxKwpMwpEdw2LAwHagNKLoJxDM6O1Hs-2BTSU6gu-2FgjXJHakclCUIfhwuPQDAtMAqR9St6cwGqPi7E8UqKcUpPtMFBv-2F9c8cSUkXRt&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHWpEe89PhdXUO17s2KhGyzsguadg" target="_blank">State Department</a>. The aid has helped 3.5 million people in Syria, "through all possible channels" including the UN, international and non-governmental organizations, and local Syrian organizations. </span><br />
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<span style="color: dimgrey;">Earlier this year, Congress introduced several bills related to humanitarian aid. Here are a few:</span><br />
<ul>
<li> <span style="color: dimgrey;"><b><a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Femail.popvox.com%2Fwf%2Fclick%3Fupn%3DvVex72bkMG7BCxZTI1bUfQMaBtj-2Fsbcq5q1KkEsGh7UmIrXglaCAd5EzRJ9n0rx3SqzbQqUSiSuXgGw9D52GSAVzEvFMdwwSE-2FqKbV3o-2BbL1wVn9ay2SErwb-2B0Qn8WwDfXvgB3o8HkoFbKCHqIZqqA-3D-3D_wz4MsBJOq05F3uZtXXhBqGW6U0wxWMyWuTcGe3SZuLQXZRH849KQi-2BVVjWDMVDx0dTQwHOLUfiJ56wG6dtECXA7ulkbYY58vo3NxhNn8zrpm4RNHl2F-2BWE3C66YZ6X3vqpeXrMjnmEluTsxYwgO6AauC-2BBCg-2BIEDxO-2FW87usbl5NjsXA8CHeMZF6AEESq-2BYPuTUMc5cELfoJGEZBlsPr0lFicuH-2FymYKIyqSj8f7b-2Bfr1mSRMFeePRh2u9TltwxUFWeDLBi1hUMqtWHtxRz-2FJ3XNTvGQRC9-2BM-2BSCUP-2B3SYAX9tSf-2Fgty-2FCvKfg4-2BvtCY0Ra-2Bq-2B5RBPN0BfYJVWET1h5N1UuIXkyVDAqBBbrZ0swmLN4OTOyEeP6Nc0wc-2Bv67&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGZLhOz3cInPc4sevZywgmUyOcL2Q" target="_blank">FAULT Act</a> (HR 1922):</b> to limit assistance to Iran, North Korea, Syria, Egypt, and Pakistan.</span></li>
<li> <span style="color: dimgrey;"><b><a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Femail.popvox.com%2Fwf%2Fclick%3Fupn%3DvVex72bkMG7BCxZTI1bUfQMaBtj-2Fsbcq5q1KkEsGh7XvqjOG3VNMpYnqLIXKixkaePgeFOuMdgd9fk3ZzR8IKSNSHwl37YSNJDAAkhuDOP6Wfopp7mtwtgJIEai9jt9hHN4Fqq7c5e-2Bdu4dXV6fAAA-3D-3D_wz4MsBJOq05F3uZtXXhBqGW6U0wxWMyWuTcGe3SZuLQXZRH849KQi-2BVVjWDMVDx0dTQwHOLUfiJ56wG6dtECXNurleLS27-2FAoppOYL0UexEVIas19Qu7Fq3NgC3difcchSVisKfLawQGXJtB9cT6sZgGhMQQkasi2-2FjUZJ0P3SViPWAwOcSSy8PvXQDRqCDVSnNcn3sPbr-2BbZdqmMckCihED-2F68wJiZkbBrf-2BixmOiPNy8RhAtjVqFvngELolHdgY8o1C2DD-2FDPOFiVeG8ooTqIleWvjJ1-2FfWjYUrXDI-2FsqYeQESgfj9WG8LGqGiMO3gzvRr9gi6z-2FVGOixbdWwd64NAyfZLX7TiTMP7pSqxsEn1RT904aiyILlcv57UE2C4&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHD2iOmQwYtTZwm5VMINI6yjpKjuw" target="_blank">Syria Stabilization Act</a> (S 856):</b> to foster stability in Syria.</span></li>
<li> <span style="color: dimgrey;"><b><a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Femail.popvox.com%2Fwf%2Fclick%3Fupn%3DvVex72bkMG7BCxZTI1bUfQMaBtj-2Fsbcq5q1KkEsGh7Xplprn2gTGrwci-2BX-2Bv0CYbCeOdSI7AHaozUMPSch2Icgz2-2BNHOW6KCROhY2Hi0iKOHULjHZE1eAJuIfjjVZAFTsuvUANa-2Fb9yMwL2qyQ-2BTHg-3D-3D_wz4MsBJOq05F3uZtXXhBqGW6U0wxWMyWuTcGe3SZuLQXZRH849KQi-2BVVjWDMVDx0dTQwHOLUfiJ56wG6dtECXJkaIC3W8pp0PpSKSP5Bk920173Thx2ngsaS5rEPYzjmVeCiLNr7hORvxlKL8zMW9ulo90ERGHpAP2GeaNWmpeYCbO6F2CVmbKWlOhBk31pV02vMlDayafaZbeH8D4b4TqspGO-2BhOB9AP08tXJeB7GxDcl8dI6gO4XwiZW6XQiTav8Iwn4sLcsK9PXDrWJz68bJ-2FJtD1ssvy05-2Fcd3ZuFqa6FYD6Au2WfhrJa7AgI2BWJ1Vg8f8fRfD-2Frv-2BRjntfJ1zQnBqwNzCWewfv3hIDHpIIdKGByv2t1VfFsXiRVWgO&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNG0_W-q80MMsCBJCYZADjLcMSmBCQ" target="_blank">Free Syria Act</a> (HR 1327):</b> to improve US humanitarian and other assistance to the Syrian people, facilitate the transition of Syria to a democratic government, provide for US support to the post-Assad government.</span></li>
<li> <span style="color: dimgrey;"><b><a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Femail.popvox.com%2Fwf%2Fclick%3Fupn%3DvVex72bkMG7BCxZTI1bUfQMaBtj-2Fsbcq5q1KkEsGh7WIYeMKvA0h2bbqrRP-2FW1qn1hK18w8A5hp5gTfHZXs-2B7Hp7basIHEhH0l1aBAq8SpLQB2ik05o3onx6uG-2BUEyH3DLkKVNoz4ByxTPdGtDhkRw-3D-3D_wz4MsBJOq05F3uZtXXhBqGW6U0wxWMyWuTcGe3SZuLQXZRH849KQi-2BVVjWDMVDx0dTQwHOLUfiJ56wG6dtECXMZgZszgxYrsimqzeepKZEG5a86rs7Y12FnA-2BnpErYYqv3oQ5FX6fKDmAWb2G8bjVhSuIbZSArbb0orn1qf9BdwQyto2bGRcOuosXTksH4r76FOtuPD-2BLfekUg7UDN8oxKOHekyWO-2FEb-2FFzij8SmrhMDpdz2wpiYWNaT9uNLFHKUr8dpoHeltzUj2h6yaUi-2FYSnX-2F-2BrtizRwFazf0ACD-2FTN6rqCmhB6IGqcs663kSkecKr-2F1vtILL1IIVy9cJakO0QcNG-2B2-2FxtSCMIASNC3fm1BqLiHSIJ7FhxkgoctYnuCX&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNEsWrn4nEX7GgtTdocAW99GqxOhRw" target="_blank">Syria Democratic Transition Act</a> (S 617):</b> to provide humanitarian assistance and support a democratic transition in Syria.</span></li>
</ul>
<b><span style="color: dimgrey;">See more bills related to Syria in our Issue Spotlight:</span></b> <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Femail.popvox.com%2Fwf%2Fclick%3Fupn%3DlzFpdhA-2BgdjyXtTpeyYDJB3Cw12-2Bh36etp9j4dNQkqmY3YI5c18Atv3R2FxsDpeJ44Ozs6lagwNcjKak9J2soYuBGnUTOn2OP9CA0UIQQzEURki1Bwg-2BYTIr2Tr1bxM-2BFS0qevzsQFHc7XmzvfTQSfz346zj9sEqCZcTL8jmq7I-3D_wz4MsBJOq05F3uZtXXhBqGW6U0wxWMyWuTcGe3SZuLQXZRH849KQi-2BVVjWDMVDx0dTQwHOLUfiJ56wG6dtECXKwCHc4DBlex8l-2FnrupCicwuWscd0E23Uuqzk9b1TIWvlxoT65UBNWou5p4YCMZDHwAXc3utqYF-2BkwdApJcHfj7x8thCv-2Bxx-2BzGj4Fn3JhqyF-2FYbgS7F7tsTA1Ty23kUgSf4IAEwZTsUFTup4hGB3ECLhL-2Bj0SO-2BdJopudLeYKl29pOj455DJcpe9tcRvRW4Hmd37G-2Fhs5J8Gv4v1TH8Zni7bVuMsrCYh-2BtTcvzt4NCvnej-2FMe3hwR8byv5LqnznID-2FxtpCubdM4ngf-2FXJ70As4f-2FSvo969k9NwhOM9VhxqM&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGpas_og_9ILRqamZPe0lrgrS9lVA" target="_blank">http://www.popvox.<wbr></wbr>com/blog/2013/issue-spotlight-<wbr></wbr>syria/</a></div>
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<b><b><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="color: #ec881d;">Issue Spotlight: Labor Day </span></span></i></b></b></h3>
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<b><span style="color: dimgrey;">This Labor Day 2013 marks the centennial of the US Department of Labor -- and a new Labor Secretary Tom Perez. </span></b><span style="color: dimgrey;">Weigh in on bills related to the minimum wage, work and family policies and job training. - <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Femail.popvox.com%2Fwf%2Fclick%3Fupn%3DlzFpdhA-2BgdjyXtTpeyYDJB3Cw12-2Bh36etp9j4dNQkqmY3YI5c18Atv3R2FxsDpeJJei-2B5gjAnhcu46hR4q0DsrQ-2FKJxGTdp-2FR2uFcb250yrF6TJjClljw90E09ZkOxxuDriC4T8YPjxpqh63RCQIF2hpChi4ottjoqxfoqf1TS0-3D_wz4MsBJOq05F3uZtXXhBqGW6U0wxWMyWuTcGe3SZuLQXZRH849KQi-2BVVjWDMVDx0dTQwHOLUfiJ56wG6dtECXPfG9qKTAa4bS-2FjwbkahLzy-2FLmHIXo5tUu7IiVGx3KzqtgGaS2I3JnJyoR6x6xRP353iGhz-2BT5Cz5kr1iObLodwVBqqj4Qem7sPRVq9tKtEiyVsEoLmZ-2F-2F6BINAV5rlTY-2Bkho-2FO76z52NdIoOzvgAhpNiDNwsQfkbLQDrYoPMT0J85PP-2B8UeIv7gDmR29FJALDQz0zK-2F8MjB8l4KYXV84f9ejs9vldKBMdymN9bz10yDjiw0zdrL9X5SG63jfmnDDIHAjWqM5H79iUJ84m47e10Z2uMWvv-2F3jUsIJmZCXIGm&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNEqzYmvjuKW7rxHSmp_Lw65PnSxdg" target="_blank">http://www.popvox.com/blog/<wbr></wbr>2013/issue-spotlight-labor-<wbr></wbr>day/</a></span><br />
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<span style="color: dimgrey;"><b><b><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="color: #ec881d;">The 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington</span></span></i></b></b></span></h3>
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<span style="color: dimgrey;"><b><span style="color: dimgrey;">Fifty years ago today, more than 200,000 people came to the nation's capital for the "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom."</span></b><span style="color: dimgrey;"> However, the stated goals of the demonstration were much broader, including "a comprehensive civil rights bill" that would do away with segregated public accommodations; "protection of the right to vote"; mechanisms for seeking redress of violations of constitutional rights; "desegregation of all public schools in 1963"; a massive federal works program "to train and place unemployed workers"; and "a Federal Fair Employment Practices Act barring discrimination in all employment".<br />
<br />
<b>This week's commemorations also included a diverse call to action, from jobs and workers' rights to voting rights to <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Femail.popvox.com%2Fwf%2Fclick%3Fupn%3DvVex72bkMG7BCxZTI1bUfQMaBtj-2Fsbcq5q1KkEsGh7WdK3ACP4gil-2BDaoK0UDTPPCvDN9psQlCRrFa-2Bu9g1l16lofMp6FuA19y4iMlZP6NTCzfnJzQh8QSL3KEb-2B2iWq9Q2Z1-2Bg0jZ-2ByIz5OfXSlaQ-3D-3D_wz4MsBJOq05F3uZtXXhBqGW6U0wxWMyWuTcGe3SZuLQXZRH849KQi-2BVVjWDMVDx0dTQwHOLUfiJ56wG6dtECXOW8w6Q4rFTF13ZssAFp-2F9MI1lIY0BulIZM6W35PHVyl04DKg3tQyg2gqFcdVQ0wQaiTcjF1zGmQH-2BK4t0rXPAnpnXKn8089qZiQwhLVdQU5-2FBypEAIPJQ-2FjkzV34pnSYatHMJOPEFHP983Dtj6DKeM8w8KzFtM-2FV2-2FgqOEJ97hcHUiTttoy-2BatCe6StBozD-2BA5un5aaOT-2BTrcohxuHON7Azw-2BqGWObLWWOilZF-2Fbemokmryj9Fflpt1EVYjQVWOqpjXatObTiDgOR-2FA6IZi5yd-2B5zqQRNtNFsirDb0jvkQJ&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGXDtp2b0eoIYoValiqy4AGnR4zKw" target="_blank">"Stand Your Ground"</a> laws. </b> Weigh in at </span></span><a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Femail.popvox.com%2Fwf%2Fclick%3Fupn%3DlzFpdhA-2BgdjyXtTpeyYDJB3Cw12-2Bh36etp9j4dNQkqmY3YI5c18Atv3R2FxsDpeJFV07ZAK0bPCkMz6v-2BLoY3W8b41iA1nZeEGVhZTjw88FSzosnacb7HmLZeaNUBD9RYIzWzMK69V-2FKca0BIgVVuF2wR-2F7Mj-2FtFlLncnf9Ku25VOybvRqYn9NmQMLrcfOq2Ivm-2FJW7UOmaGhKY104FnMg-3D-3D_wz4MsBJOq05F3uZtXXhBqGW6U0wxWMyWuTcGe3SZuLQXZRH849KQi-2BVVjWDMVDx0dTQwHOLUfiJ56wG6dtECXPx3gNjsvuM5S0Gm9O5C0hHsBC31pwJWjX7k7h5UwZa1LxYN3tDe3PQ1AIHq03gIg36BEe1DWldYn9gwSEVz2gxt1Mb4gQJAunAuK64AVyBhFr6f6yTJWAH2ur3IUMcz5X5Agqzp-2BLMXYyCyX-2Fz4zErbK-2F0OQRRnTLJg2SOpvvyk76uikoLOrDaqv3FaqtA2kghNO6W6sqoVCt6nHjAbDIvfkgrzZY2hV7kbMqOoEAzR9zi8I-2FKvYddmRidstbDphvwG-2F-2FBX18bFVaHKRCSu8-2FwCdKmxnPsXpjv1eIEiekhT&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNE9aP7RMfG7YHwpc3-iNTTQmTysdQ" target="_blank">http://www.popvox.com/blog/<wbr></wbr>2013/issue-spotlight-50th-<wbr></wbr>anniversary-march-washington/</a><br />
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<span style="color: dimgrey;"><span style="color: dimgrey;"><span style="color: dimgrey;">Thanks for using POPVOX! And if you're new, be sure to check out our <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Femail.popvox.com%2Fwf%2Fclick%3Fupn%3DlzFpdhA-2BgdjyXtTpeyYDJASqaGrhP1xtUG3VzbbmCHRLXYTAu-2BYoxZiLsDCBMBKoaMIqyLpKaG0WZw0WmQhwzkjMv3wVSxLgOlcTzng7ZOFl5q9WHLHrIZCaAKi-2BVp7bXa06ECbDiLY1kMj3lSfIufeP5VXM9MKhHHT0Tqup2gfRRNzvZ00njdMqvwdJydDw_wz4MsBJOq05F3uZtXXhBqGW6U0wxWMyWuTcGe3SZuLQXZRH849KQi-2BVVjWDMVDx0dTQwHOLUfiJ56wG6dtECXL-2Fao39f7FiwcO2MYIka1jaMvF-2BxwoX81Etp8Y1W-2FFyQvXnIQ4oU-2BY-2FzEnrI-2Fe9tG-2FbovR-2BN6GA8KvUO3-2FaMFm5ZJNC1zAJJayQHpTqTwWX-2FC3HMkyOz6-2BsfGpwnpmrTY4JRBNnvmw05wM4SqaJDzxvWzyCVJMjJhQJ3UZK-2FeL2AJajA8DtSsz-2FDuGmGXzq0C41Oy5u7HimKUSCYXNwga5zxKiA79FHhuS1qLbsIqk8HuZH7zxIzYvuvORAfPk7FnF5sofuUnhGvzDC705fXceXcFo-2FcaFq8fOtpEM26Glvd&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNFVGnqyY90eiadxIoHdSFgtc9HFHw" target="_blank">user tutorial slideshow</a>. Congress returns on Sept. 9 -- so stay tuned for new bills once they get back.</span><br />
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<span style="color: dimgrey;">Sincerely,<br />
<br />
Rachna Choudhry<br />
Co-founder, POPVOX.com<br />
<a href="https://mail.google.com/mail/h/1mfm7j5v09fx3/?&v=b&cs=wh&to=rachna@popvox.com" target="_blank">rachna@popvox.com</a></span></span></span></div>
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President Obama has sent a draft resolution authorizing the use of American military force in Syria to Congress. We need to speak out today and tell our senators and members of Congress to say no to military intervention by the U.S. <br />
The brutal and bloody Syrian civil war has already left 100,000 people dead and created millions of refugees. And now there is now strong evidence that chemical weapons have been used, killing hundreds of civilians. <br />
But as morally reprehensible as use of chemical weapons is, and as heart wrenching as the ongoing civil war has become, the United States should not start dropping bombs. Unfortunately, there are no good options. <br />
And the justifiable outrage evoked by the use of chemical weapons does not make attacking Syria -- where parts of the rebel resistance are allied with Al Qaeda and the authoritarian response by President Assad is aided by Hezbollah -- either just or strategic. <br />
<b><a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fact.credoaction.com%2Fgo%2F1786%3Ft%3D3%26akid%3D8802.5084505.svdIVy&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNF7Pind6wIA3NDlWwis7G2kWsRpSw" target="_blank">Tell Representative Bill Flores and Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz: Don't bomb Syria.</a></b> <br />
As humanitarians confronting the horror of the Syrian civil war, we must consider how we can best protect civilians, end the violence, and uphold the international prohibition on using chemical weapons. But we shouldn't make matters worse on the ground just to answer war crimes with a limited and largely symbolic show of force. <br />
The draft resolution makes it clear that the kind of limited military strike promoted by Obama administration is highly unlikely to affect the ultimate outcome of this messy and brutal civil war. <br />
And what's more, initiating "limited" hostilities with Syria could serve to pull us deeper into yet another war in the Middle East, with all the ramifications -- moral, humanitarian, economic and geopolitical -- that would entail. <br />
<b><a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fact.credoaction.com%2Fgo%2F1786%3Ft%3D4%26akid%3D8802.5084505.svdIVy&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHNIJRsVq-qiZ8vljip2khKxJoWbg" target="_blank">Tell Representative Bill Flores and Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz: Don't bomb Syria.</a></b> <br />
There are times when military force is necessary and justifiable. But this isn't one of them. <br />
The time is now to speak out. <br />
Becky Bond, Political Director<br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fact.credoaction.com%2Fgo%2F109%3Ft%3D5%26akid%3D8802.5084505.svdIVy&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGI_VTc5xinnO57gupi6G0ZA-_Xzg" target="_blank">CREDO Action from Working Assets</a> <br />
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According to multiple media reports, President Obama may be on the verge of deciding whether or not to bomb Syria. We need to speak out today and tell him to say no to military intervention by the U.S. <br />
The brutal and bloody Syrian civil war has already left 100,000 people dead and created millions of refugees. And now there is now strong evidence that chemical weapons have been used, killing hundreds of civilians. <br />
But as morally reprehensible as use of chemical weapons is, and as heart wrenching as the ongoing civil war has become, the United States should not start dropping bombs. Unfortunately, there are no good options. <br />
And the justifiable outrage evoked by the use of chemical weapons does not make attacking Syria -- where parts of the rebel resistance are allied with Al Qaeda and the authoritarian response by President Assad is aided by Hezbollah -- either just or strategic. <br />
<b> <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fact.credoaction.com%2Fgo%2F1746%3Ft%3D2%26akid%3D8762.5084505.TDS-O_&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNG_yPNE_3H7ojnLki0V6LAI4ITd8w" target="_blank"> Tell President Obama: Don’t bomb Syria. Click here to automatically sign the petition. </a></b><br />
<b></b><br />
<b> </b> <br />
As humanitarians confronting the horror of the Syrian civil war, we must consider how we can best protect civilians, end the violence, and uphold the international prohibition on using chemical weapons. But we shouldn’t make matters worse on the ground just to answer war crimes with a limited and largely symbolic show of force. <br />
The kind of limited military strike reportedly under consideration by the Obama administration is very unlikely to affect the ultimate outcome of this messy and brutal civil war <br />
And a more significant military intervention (either considered as an alternative to a limited strike, or as something we could be drawn into once we initiate “limited” hostilities with Syria) would only serve to pull us deeper into yet another war in the Middle East, with all the ramifications -- moral, humanitarian, economic and geopolitical -- that would entail. <br />
<b> <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fact.credoaction.com%2Fgo%2F1746%3Ft%3D3%26akid%3D8762.5084505.TDS-O_&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNFF-mInCzojR3xX3tepw2kfFWvBRQ" target="_blank"> Tell President Obama: Don’t bomb Syria. Click the link below to automatically sign the petition: </a> </b> <br />
<b><a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fact.credoaction.com%2Fgo%2F1746%3Ft%3D4%26akid%3D8762.5084505.TDS-O_&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNEeLZeO18Wid055TtQTy7nadd9yEQ" target="_blank">http://act.credoaction.com/go/<wbr></wbr>1746?t=5&akid=8762.5084505.<wbr></wbr>TDS-O_</a></b> <br />
There are times when military force is necessary and justifiable. But this isn’t one of them. <br />
Thank you for speaking out. <br />
Matt Lockshin, Campaign Manager<br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fact.credoaction.com%2Fgo%2F109%3Ft%3D6%26akid%3D8762.5084505.TDS-O_&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGOzAKpC2c_skpd36t62F8bUquL_g" target="_blank">CREDO Action from Working Assets</a> <br />
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By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Matt Spetalnick<br />
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<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/u-allies-prepare-probable-military-strike-syria-000900545.html">AMMAN/WASHINGTON (Reuters) </a>- The United States and its allies geared up for a probable military strike against Syria that could come within days and would be the most aggressive action by Western powers in the Middle Eastern nation's two-and-a-half-year civil war.<br />
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Western envoys have told the Syrian opposition to expect a military response soon against President Bashar al-Assad's forces as punishment for a chemical weapons attack last week, according to sources who attended a meeting with the rebel Syrian National Coalition in Istanbul.<br />
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Amid a quickening drumbeat of preparations, Australia, a close U.S. ally and incoming chair of the United Nations Security Council, on Wednesday endorsed possible action against Syria even if the security council fails to agree.<br />
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U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Tuesday that American forces in the region were "ready to go" if President Barack Obama gave the order.<br />
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Obama - long reluctant to intervene in the Syrian conflict - worked to solidify allied support, including calling the leaders of Britain and Canada, while U.S. intelligence agencies assembled what they are sure to say is final confirmation of the Syrian government's culpability for Wednesday's poison gas attack near Damascus.<br />
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White House spokesman Jay Carney said it would "fanciful" to think that anyone other than Assad's forces was behind the large-scale chemical attack, which activists said killed hundreds of people as they slept.<br />
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"There is no doubt who is responsible for this heinous use of chemical weapons in Syria: the Syrian regime," Vice President Joe Biden said at a speech in Houston to the American Legion, a military veterans' group.<br />
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Top U.S. national security aides gathered to review the situation on Tuesday night in a meeting chaired by Obama's national security adviser Susan Rice, officials said.<br />
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Obama has yet to make a final decision on the U.S. response, Carney said, but left little doubt that it would involve military action. He insisted, however, that Washington was not intent on "regime change," signaling that any military strikes would be limited and not meant to topple Assad.<br />
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The British military was also drafting plans. Prime Minister David Cameron, anxious, like Obama, not to emulate entanglements in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that beset their predecessors, said any strikes would be "specific" so as not to drag the allies deeper into Syria's civil war.<br />
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Cameron, who spoke to Obama on Tuesday for the second time in four days, recalled parliament for a debate on Syria on Thursday.<br />
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U.N. chemical weapons investigators put off until Wednesday a second trip to the rebel-held suburbs of Damascus where the chemical attack took place.<br />
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While evidence of chemical warfare could bolster an argument for intervention at the United Nations in the face of likely Russian and Chinese opposition, Western leaders and the Arab League have already declared Assad guilty.<br />
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Ahmad Jarba, president of the Syrian National Coalition, met envoys from 11 countries at an Istanbul hotel, including the U.S. ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford. The rebel leaders proposed targets for cruise missiles and bombing.<br />
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One participant said: "The opposition was told in clear terms that action to deter further use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime could come as early as in the next few days."<br />
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Planning appears to focus on missile or air strikes. There is little public support in Western countries for troops to invade Syria.<br />
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The precise timing of possible military action remained unclear, but it is certain to wait for an official U.S. intelligence report expected to blame Assad's government for the chemical attack. The findings, considered merely a formality at this point, will be released this week, U.S. officials said.<br />
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Obama will go ahead with a speech on Wednesday at Washington's Lincoln Memorial to mark the 50th anniversary of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I have a dream' speech.<br />
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"The clock is ticking, and the administration is not going to want that to tick too long," said Adam Schiff, a Democrat on the House of Representatives intelligence committee, as White House aides broadened consultations on Capitol Hill.<br />
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MOOD IN DAMASCUS<br />
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Syria's government, backed by Iran, denies gassing its own people and has vowed to defend itself, but residents of Damascus are growing anxious.<br />
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"I've always been a supporter of foreign intervention, but now that it seems like a reality, I've been worrying that my family could be hurt or killed," said a woman named Zaina, who opposes Assad. "I'm afraid of a military strike now."<br />
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Russia, Assad's main arms supplier, opposes military action and has suggested that rebel forces may have released the poison gas.<br />
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China's state news agency recalled how flawed intelligence was used to justify the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, while the People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party, said the United States and its allies were seeking to use the issue to pursue regime change in Syria illegally.<br />
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Firm opposition from permanent members of the Security Council all but rules out a U.N. mandate of the kind that gave legal backing to NATO air strikes that helped Libyan rebels unseat Muammar Gaddafi two years ago.<br />
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"Our preference, everyone's preference, would be for action, a response, under United Nations auspices," Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr, whose country takes over the rotating chair of the Security Council on Sunday, told reporters.<br />
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"But if that's not possible, the sheer horror of a government using chemical weapons against its people, using chemical weapons in any circumstances, mandates a response."<br />
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Russia and China accuse Western powers of using human rights complaints, such as in Libya, to meddle in sovereign states' affairs.<br />
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Although Obama has long said Assad should step down, he is unwilling to commit to making that happen by force. White House spokesman Carney said it was "profoundly in the interests of the United States" to respond to the chemical weapons attack.<br />
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In Britain, Cameron told reporters: "This is not about getting involved in a Middle Eastern war or changing our stance in Syria or going further into that conflict. It's about chemical weapons. Their use is wrong and the world shouldn't stand idly by."<br />
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In France, which played a major role in Libya, President Francois Hollande said he was "ready to punish" Assad for using the chemical weapons, citing a 2005 U.N. provision for international action to protect civilians from their own governments.<br />
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Similar arguments were used by NATO to bomb Serbia, a Russian ally, in 1999 after the killing of civilians in Kosovo.<br />
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In an indication of support from Arab states that may help Western powers argue the case for an attack against likely U.N. vetoes from Moscow and Beijing, the Arab League issued a statement blaming Assad's government for the chemical attack.<br />
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Fears of another international conflict in the Middle East affected financial markets. Oil prices hit a six-month high and stocks fell around the world, notably in Turkey, as well as in emerging economies that would suffer from a chill in trade.<br />
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TOUGH CHOICES<br />
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Obama, Cameron and Hollande face questions at home about how a military intervention would end and whether it risks bolstering Assad if he rides out the assault or empowering anti-Western Islamist rebels if the Syrian leader is overthrown.<br />
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Turmoil in Egypt, where the 2011 uprising inspired Syrians to rebel, has underlined the unpredictability of revolutions. The presence of Islamist militants, including allies of al Qaeda in the Syrian rebel ranks, has given Western leaders pause. They have held back so far from helping Assad's opponents to victory.<br />
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Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said U.S. strikes would help al Qaeda and called Western leaders "delusional" if they hoped to help the rebels reach a balance of power in Syria.<br />
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"We have means of defending ourselves, and we will surprise them with these if necessary," he said. "We will defend ourselves. We will not hesitate to use any means available."<br />
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Assad's forces made little or no response to three attacks by Israeli aircraft this year that Israeli officials said disrupted arms flowing from Iran to Lebanon's Hezbollah.<br />
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The presence of U.N. experts in Damascus may be a factor holding back international military action. The experts came under fire in government-held territory on Monday before reaching rebel lines.<br />
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Opposition activists have said at least 500 people, and possibly twice that many, were killed by rockets carrying the nerve gas sarin or something similar. If true, it would be the worst chemical weapons attack since Saddam Hussein gassed thousands of Iraqi Kurds in 1988.<br />
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(Additional reporting by William Maclean and Mariam Karouny in Beirut, Phil Stewart in Bandar, Seri Begawan and Andrew Osborn in London, John Irish in Paris, Timothy Heritage in Moscow, Ben Blanchard in Beijing, Seda Sezer and Daren Butler in Istanbul, Yeganeh Torbati in Dubai, Roberta Rampton, Steve Holland, Jeff Mason, Tabassum Zakaria and Susan Cornwell in Washington; Writing by Matt Spetalnick and Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Paul Simao and Robert Birsel)<br />
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<b>The number of child refugees fleeing Syria's violence has now topped the 1 million mark — </b> and that number continues to grow each day. <br />
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Just last month, 19 young children were killed in a single air strike on Aleppo. Families flee so their children aren't conscripted into the army or caught in the crossfire. <br />
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When families with children like Fatimah first set foot in refugee camps in Jordan with nothing but the clothes on their backs, Mercy Corps volunteers greet them not only with safe shelter and access to clean water — but also with toys and books to help children heal from trauma and be kids again through play and imagination. <br />
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The ruling Baath regime in Syria, <a href="http://www.juancole.com/2012/12/ways-middle-changed.html">over the course of 2012</a>, lost more and more territory to the revolutionaries. They lost control of the border crossings to Iraq and Turkey. They lost much of Aleppo, the country’s second city. Then in November and December, the revolutionaries began taking military bases in the north and looting them for medium weaponry. The regime still controls substantial territory, and some smaller cities, such as Homs. But its losses in 2012 have been highly significant, raising the question of how much longer the regime can survive. In the meantime, Syria refugees in Turkey, Syria and Lebanon mushroomed in number and they faced severe difficulties in their often unsanitary and inadequate tent cities. In Syria, as in Bahrain and Yemen, sectarian considerations began to enter into the movements against authoritarian governance. The Alawi Shiite minority dominates the Baath Party in Syria, and Sunni fundamentalists have targeted that group (and vice versa). The government is supported by Shiite Iran, the rebels by Wahhabi Qatar and Saudi Arabia. If the Damascus government falls, Iran will be weakened, as will its ally, Hizbullah of Lebanon.<br />
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UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed alarm on Sunday at the worsening violence in Syria, including the reported mass killing of Alawites and alleged firing of long-range missiles on Syrian territory, Ban's spokesman said.<br />
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"The Secretary-General is alarmed by the continued dramatic escalation of violence in Syria over the past several days, and the grave danger facing civilians in areas under fire," Ban's spokesman, Martin Nesirky, said in a statement.<br />
"There have been extremely worrisome reports earlier this week of a mass killing of civilians in the village of Aqrab near Hama, as well as alleged firing of long-range missiles in some areas of the country," he said.<br />
In the Aqrab incident, up to 200 members of President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite minority were injured or killed in an attack on their village in central Syria on Tuesday, opposition activists said. The death toll was still not known.<br />
There have also been reports of the Syrian government using Scud missiles. NATO's U.S. commander said on Friday the alliance was deploying the Patriot anti-missile system along Syria's northern frontier because Assad's forces had fired Scud missiles that landed near Turkish territory.<br />
Nesirky said that "continued bombing raids by fixed-wing military aircrafts and attack helicopters on populated areas have been amply documented."<br />
"Today's reports of aerial bombing amid intense violence resulting in many casualties among the Palestinian refugee population in the Yarmouk camp in Damascus are a matter of grave concern," he said.<br />
Activists said fighter jets had bombed the Yarmouk camp, killing at least 25 people sheltering in a mosque.<br />
Nesirky said Ban "calls on all sides to cease all forms of violence. The Secretary-General reminds all parties in Syria that they must abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians."<br />
"Targeting civilians or carrying out military operations in populated areas, in an indiscriminate or disproportionate fashion that harms civilians is a war crime," he added.<br />
Syrian Vice President Farouq al-Sharaa told a Lebanese newspaper that neither forces of President Bashar al-Assad nor rebels can win the war in Syria. That is a view a number of U.N. officials and diplomats have voiced privately to Reuters.<br />
The U.N. Security Council has been incapable of taking any meaningful action in the conflict. Veto powers Russia and China refuse to condemn Assad or support sanctions. Assad's government accuses Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, the United States and other Western governments of supporting and arming the rebels, an allegation the governments deny.<br />
Meanwhile, U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has failed to bridge the gaps between the Russian and U.S. positions on Syria, which U.N. diplomats say is at the heart of the longstanding deadlock on the Security Council.<br />
Nesirky said Ban "reiterates his call on the international community to make every effort to stop the tragic spiral of violence in Syria and urgently to promote an inclusive political process leading to a peaceful political transition."<br />
(Reporting By Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Sandra Maler)<br />
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<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/biography/patrick-cockburn">Patrick Cockburn</a> </div>
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Sunday 16 December 2012 </div>
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<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/syria-the-descent-into-holy-war-8420309.html" target="_blank">Syria: The descent into Holy War</a> </h1>
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It is one of the most horrifying videos of the war in Syria. It shows two men being beheaded by Syrian rebels, one of them by a child. He hacks with a machete at the neck of a middle-aged man who has been forced to lie in the street with his head on a concrete block. At the end of the film, a soldier, apparently from the Free Syrian Army, holds up the severed heads by their hair in triumph.<br />
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The film is being widely watched on YouTube by Syrians, reinforcing their fears that Syria is imitating Iraq's descent into murderous warfare in the years after the US invasion in 2003. It fosters a belief among Syria's non-Sunni Muslim minorities, and Sunnis associated with the government as soldiers or civil servants, that there will be no safe future for them in Syria if the rebels win. In one version of the video, several of which are circulating, the men who are beheaded are identified as officers belonging to the 2.5 million-strong Alawite community. This is the Shia sect to which President Bashar al-Assad and core members of his regime belong. The beheadings, so proudly filmed by the perpetrators, may well convince them that they have no alternative but to fight to the end.<br />
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The video underlines a startling contradiction in the policy of the US and its allies. In the past week, 130 countries have recognised the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces as the legitimate representatives of the Syrian people. But, at the same time, the US has denounced the al-Nusra Front, the most effective fighting force of the rebels, as being terrorists and an al-Qa'ida affiliate. Paradoxically, the US makes almost exactly same allegations of terrorism against al-Nusra as does the Syrian government. Even more bizarrely, though so many states now recognise the National Coalition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people, it is unclear if the rebels inside Syria do so. Angry crowds in rebel-held areas of northern Syria on Friday chanted "we are all al-Nusra" as they demonstrated against the US decision.<br />
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Videos posted on YouTube play such a central role in the propaganda war in Syria that questions always have to be asked about their authenticity and origin. In the case of the beheading video, the details look all too convincing. Nadim Houry, the deputy director for Human Rights Watch in the Middle East and North Africa, has watched the video many times to identify the circumstances, perpetrators and location where the killings took place. He has no doubts about its overall authenticity, but says that mention of one district suggests it might be in Deir el-Zhor (in eastern Syria). But people in the area immediately north of Homs are adamant the beheadings took place there. The victims have not been identified. The first time a version of the film was shown was on pro-government Sama TV on 26 November, but it has been widely viewed on YouTube in Syria only over the past week.<br />
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The film begins by showing two middle-aged men handcuffed together sitting on a settee in a house, surrounded by their captors who sometimes slap and beat them. They are taken outside into the street. A man in a black shirt is manhandled and kicked into lying down with his head on a concrete block. A boy, who looks to be about 11 or 12 years old, cuts at his neck with a machete, but does not quite sever it. Later a man finishes the job and cuts the head off. The second man in a blue shirt is also forced to lie with his head on a block and is beheaded. The heads are brandished in front of the camera and later laid on top of the bodies. The boy smiles as he poses with a rifle beside a headless corpse.<br />
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The execution video is very similar to those once made by al-Qa'ida in Iraq to demonstrate their mercilessness towards their enemies. This is scarcely surprising since many of the most experienced al-Nusra fighters boast that they have until recently been fighting the predominantly Shia government of Iraq as part of the local franchise of al-Qa'ida franchise. Their agenda is wholly sectarian, and they have shown greater enthusiasm for slaughtering Shias, often with bombs detonated in the middle of crowds in markets or outside mosques, than for fighting Americans.<br />
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The Syrian uprising, which began in March 2011, was not always so bloodthirsty or so dominated by the Sunnis who make up 70 per cent of the 23 million-strong Syrian population. At first, demonstrations were peaceful and the central demands of the protesters were for democratic rule and human rights as opposed to a violent, arbitrary and autocratic government. There are Syrians who claim that the people against the regime remains to this day the central feature of the uprising, but there is compelling evidence that the movement has slid towards sectarian Islamic fundamentalism intent on waging holy war.<br />
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The execution video is the most graphic illustration of deepening religious bigotry on the part of the rebels, but it is not the only one. Another recent video shows Free Syrian Army fighters burning and desecrating a Shia husseiniyah (a religious meeting house similar to a mosque) in Idlib in northern Syria. They chant prayers of victory as they set fire to the building, set fire to flags used in Shia religious processions and stamp on religious pictures. If the FSA were to repeat this assault on a revered Shia shrine such as the Sayyida Zeinab mosque in Damascus, to which Iranian and Iraqi pilgrims have flooded in the past and which is now almost encircled by rebels, then there could be an explosion of religious hatred and strife between Sunni and Shia across the Middle East. Iraqi observers warn that it was the destruction of the Shia shrine in Samarra, north of Baghdad, by an al-Qa'ida bomb in 2006 that detonated a sectarian war in which tens of thousands died.<br />
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The analogy with Iraq is troubling for the US and British governments. They and their allies are eager for Syria to avoid repeating the disastrous mistakes they made during the Iraqi occupation. Ideally, they would like to remove the regime, getting rid of Bashar al-Assad and the present leadership, but not dissolving the government machinery or introducing revolutionary change as they did in Baghdad by transferring power from the Sunnis to the Shia and the Kurds. This provoked a furious counter-reaction from Baathists and Sunnis who found themselves marginalised and economically impoverished.<br />
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Washington wants Assad out, but is having difficulty riding the Sunni revolutionary tiger. The Western powers have long hoped for a split in the Syrian elite, but so far there is little sign of this happening. "If you take defections as a measure of political cohesion, then there haven't been any serious ones," said a diplomat in Damascus.<br />
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Syria today resembles Iraq nine years ago in another disturbing respect. I have now been in Damascus for 10 days, and every day I am struck by the fact that the situation in areas of Syria I have visited is wholly different from the picture given to the world both by foreign leaders and by the foreign media. The last time I felt like this was in Baghdad in late 2003, when every Iraqi knew the US-led occupation was proving a disaster just as George W Bush, Tony Blair and much of the foreign media were painting a picture of progress towards stability and democracy under the wise tutelage of Washington and its carefully chosen Iraqi acolytes.<br />
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The picture of Syria most common believed abroad is of the rebels closing in on the capital as the Assad government faces defeat in weeks or, at most, a few months. The Secretary General of Nato, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said last week that the regime is "approaching collapse". The foreign media consensus is that the rebels are making sweeping gains on all fronts and the end may be nigh. But when one reaches Damascus, it is to discover that the best informed Syrians and foreign diplomats say, on the contrary, that the most recent rebel attacks in the capital had been thrown back by a government counteroffensive. They say that the rebel territorial advances, which fuelled speculation abroad that the Syrian government might implode, are partly explained by a new Syrian army strategy to pull back from indefensible outposts and bases and concentrate troops in cities and towns.<br />
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At times, Damascus resounds with the boom of artillery fire and the occasional car bomb, but it is not besieged. I drove 160 kilometres north to Homs, Syria's third largest city with a population of 2.3 million, without difficulty. Homs, once the heart of the uprising, is in the hands of the government, aside from the Old City, which is held by the FSA. Strongholds of the FSA in Damascus have been battered by shellfire and most of their inhabitants have fled to other parts of the capital. The director of the 1,000-bed Tishreen military hospital covering much of southern Syria told me that he received 15 to 20 soldiers wounded every day, of whom about 20 per cent died. This casualty rate indicates sniping, assassinations and small-scale ambushes, but not a fight to the finish.<br />
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This does not mean that the government is in a happy position. It has been unable to recapture southern Aleppo or the Old City in Homs. It does not have the troops to garrison permanently parts of Damascus it has retaken. Its overall diplomatic and military position is slowly eroding and the odds against it are lengthening, but it is a long way from total defeat, unless there is direct military intervention by foreign powers, as in Libya or Iraq, and this does not seem likely.<br />
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This misperception of the reality on the ground in Syria is fuelled in part by propaganda, but more especially by inaccurate and misleading reporting by the media where bias towards the rebels and against the government is unsurpassed since the height of the Cold War. Exaggerated notions are given of rebel strength and popularity. The Syrian government is partially responsible for this. By excluding all but a few foreign journalists, the regime has created a vacuum of information that is naturally filled by its enemies. In the event, a basically false and propagandistic account of events in Syria has been created by a foreign media credulous in using pro-opposition sources as if they were objective reporting.<br />
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The execution video is a case in point. I have not met a Syrian in Damascus who has not seen it. It is having great influence on how Syrians judge their future, but the mainstream media outside Syria has scarcely mentioned it. Some may be repulsed by its casual savagery, but more probably it is not shown because it contradicts so much of what foreign leaders and reporters claim is happening here. <br />
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<a href="http://www.juancole.com/2012/12/obama-recognizes-syrian-opposition-as-government-as-rebels-advance-in-aleppo-damascus.html">President Obama announced on Tuesday that the US now formally recognizes the Syrian opposition as the legitimate government of Syria</a>.<br />
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Posted on 12/12/2012 by Juan Cole<br />
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US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said Tuesday that there were no further indications of the Syrian regime priming itself to deploy chemical weapons. (My own suspicion is that Israeli intelligence planted that story in the first place, because it wants the US to militarily secure the chemical weapons lest they are transferred to Hizbullah. The Obama administration dealt with Netanyahu by saying deployment of chemical weapons would be a red line for the regime, and then declaring that the warning worked.)<br />
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Obama’s recognition comes as the momentum is turning slowly against the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and his Baath Party. Alarabiya reports on how the <a href="http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/12/11/254506.html">Free Syria Army has reorganized itself</a>, assigning each sector of the country to a rebel general.<br />
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The ability of the revolutionaries to disrupt the international airport in recent days is also a blow to the regime, which has had to divert Iranian arms flights to smaller military runways.<br />
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The revolutionaries claimed on Tuesday to have taken the last Baath military base in Aleppo and Idlib Province, denying the regime a site from which to subject them to artillery barrages. They also have captured anti-aircraft batteries from regime bases, reducing the danger to them of aerial bombardment.<br />
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<a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/us-expected-back-syrian-opposition-meeting#overlay-context=article/un-officials-tehran-seek-nuclear-openness"><br />
MARRAKECH, Morocco (AP)</a> — More than 100 countries on Wednesday recognized a new Syrian opposition coalition, opening the way for greater humanitarian assistance to the forces battling Bashar Assad and possibly even military aid, France's foreign minister said.<br />
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The formation of the Syrian National Coalition appears to be the step the international community has been waiting for to extend deeper assistance to the opposition, which had been criticized for not being sufficiently organized or representative.<br />
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French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius called the "Friends of the Syrian People" conference meeting in Marrakech, Morocco, "extraordinary progress." He noted that the European Union is now renewing its weapons embargo on Syria every three months rather than annually to be more flexible as the situation on the ground changes.<br />
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Britain seeks to blunt an EU arms embargo against Damascus in order to supply Syria's opposition coalition with non-lethal equipment. Critics of the move, however, have expressed concern that the equipment could fall into other hands.<br />
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The UK Foreign Office says Britain will seek an amendment to the embargo next week in a bid to support opponents Syrian President Bashar Assad.<br />
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EU foreign ministers are expected to discuss the issue in Brussels on Monday. Last week. top EU diplomats agreed to decrease from one year to three months the renewal period for sanctions against Damascus. The moved was seen as a gesture of support for the Syrian rebels.<br />
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London said it seeks to ship non-lethal military gear and training to Syria to aid the rebel forces. Currently, body armor and night vision goggles fall under the arms embargo; the new amendment would permit the shipment of those and similar supplies.<br />
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(Reuters) - Rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad declared Damascus International Airport a battle zone on Friday, while Moscow and Washington both sounded downbeat about the prospects of a diplomatic push to end the conflict.<br />
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Fighting around the capital city has intensified over the past week, and Western officials have begun speaking about faster change on the ground in a 20-month-old conflict that has killed 40,000 people.<br />
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But Russia and the United States, the superpowers that have backed the opposing sides in the conflict, both played down the chance of a diplomatic breakthrough after talks aimed at resolving their differences.<br />
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"I don't think anyone believes that there was some great breakthrough," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said of a meeting with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and international mediator Lakhdar Brahimi.<br />
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"No one should have any illusions about how hard this remains. But all of us, with any influence, need to be engaged with Brahimi for a concerted, sincere push."<br />
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Lavrov said the sides had agreed to send officials to another meeting with Brahimi, but also sounded a skeptical note.<br />
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"I would not make optimistic predictions ... It remains to be seen what will come out of this," he added, noting that Brahimi knows the chance of success is "far from 100 percent".<br />
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Rebels, meeting in Turkey in the presence of Western security officials, elected a 30-member unified military command, giving prominent posts to Islamists and excluding some senior officers who defected from Assad's army.<br />
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Washington and its NATO allies want to see Assad removed from power. Moscow has blocked action against him at the U.N. Security Council, and while outsiders repeatedly point to signs of Russia losing patience with him, its stance has not changed.<br />
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The past week has brought a war previously fought mainly in the provinces and other cities to the threshold of the capital.<br />
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Cutting access to the airport 20 km (12 miles) from the city center would be a symbolic blow. The rebels acknowledge the airport itself is still in army hands, but say they are blockading it from most sides.<br />
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"The rebel brigades who have been putting the airport under siege decided yesterday that the airport is a military zone," said Nabil al-Amir, a spokesman for the rebels' Damascus Military Council.<br />
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"Civilians who approach it now do so at their own risk," he said. Fighters had "waited two weeks for the airport to be emptied of most civilians and airlines" before declaring it a target, he added.<br />
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He did not say what they would do if aircraft tried to land. Foreign airlines have suspended all flights to Damascus since fighting has approached the airport in the past week, although some Syrian Air flights have used the airport in recent days.<br />
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Syria says the army is driving rebels back from positions in the suburbs and outskirts of Damascus where they have tried to concentrate their offensive. Accounts from rebels and the government are impossible to verify on the ground.<br />
<br />
"SOME FIGHT LEFT IN THEM"<br />
<br />
Although Western opponents of Assad believe events are tipping against him, they also acknowledge that the war is still far from over.<br />
<br />
"It's very clear to me that the regime's forces are being ground down," U.S. ambassador to Syria Robert Ford, withdrawn last year, was quoted as saying by CNN. "That said, the regime's protection units continue to maintain some cohesion, and they still have some fight left in them, even though they are losing. I expect there will be substantial fighting in the days ahead."<br />
<br />
Rami Abdelrahman, of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has tracked the fighting since it began in March 2011, said: "I think it's unrealistic to expect that the battle is in its last stages right now."<br />
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The meeting of rebels in Antalya, Turkey, was aimed at forming a structure to run the conflict in conjunction with a new opposition National Coalition, which some European and Arab states have recognized as Syria's legitimate representatives.<br />
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One delegate at the meeting, who asked not to be identified, said two-thirds of the 30 members of the newly named command had ties with the Muslim Brotherhood or were its political allies.<br />
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"We are witnessing the result of the Qatari and Turkish creations," said the delegate, referring to leading anti-Assad countries that are seen as backing the Brotherhood.<br />
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Colonel Riad Asaad, founder of the Syrian Free Army rebel force, and General Hussein Haj Ali, the highest-ranking officer to defect from Assad's military, were among those excluded.<br />
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NATO decided this week to send U.S., German and Dutch batteries of air-defense missiles to the Turkish border, putting hundreds of American and European NATO troops close to the frontier with Syria for the first time in the crisis.<br />
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Russia's ambassador to NATO said the move risked dragging the alliance into the conflict.<br />
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"This is not a threat to us, but this is an indication that NATO is moving toward engagement, and that's it," Alexander Grushko said. "We see a threat of further involvement of NATO in the Syrian situation as a result of some provocation or some incidents on the border, if they take place.<br />
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The Dutch on Friday said they would send two Patriot batteries with up to 360 personnel. Germany approved its mission on Thursday.<br />
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The United States and its NATO allies have issued coordinated warnings in recent days to Assad not to use chemical weapons, prompting Syria to accuse Western countries of conjuring the threat to justify a military intervention.<br />
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Syria has not signed an international chemical weapons treaty banning poison gas, but has repeatedly said that it would never use such weapons on its own people.<br />
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United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said: "We have no confirmed reports on this matter. However, if it is the case, then it will be an outrageous crime in the name of humanity."<br />
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(Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Belfast, Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman, Peter Apps in London, Steve Gutterman in Moscow and Adrian Croft in London; Writing by Douglas Hamilton and Peter Graff; Editing by Giles Elgood)<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KqzsitnnLaA" width="420"></iframe><br />
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<ul>
<li>The CIA believes Syria has had a chemical weapons programme "for years and already has a stockpile of CW agents which can be delivered by aircraft, ballistic missile, and artillery rockets"</li>
<li>Syria is believed to possess mustard gas and sarin, a highly toxic nerve agent</li>
<li>The CIA also believes that Syria has attempted to develop more toxic and more persistent nerve agents, such as VX gas</li>
<li>A report citing Turkish, Arab and Western intelligence agencies put Syria's stockpile at approximately 1,000 tonnes of chemical weapons, stored in 50 towns and cities</li>
<li>Syria has not signed the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) or ratified the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC)</li>
</ul>
Sources: CSIS, RUSI,BBC<br />
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US President Barack Obama has warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad he will face "consequences" if he uses chemical weapons against his people.<br />
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"The world is watching. The use of chemical weapons is and would be totally unacceptable," said Mr Obama.<br />
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A Syrian official has insisted it would "never, under any circumstances" use such weapons, "if such weapons exist".<br />
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Meanwhile, the United Nations says it is pulling "all non-essential international staff" out of Syria.<br />
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As many as 25 out of 100 international staff could leave this week, the UN news agency Irin reported, while all humanitarian missions outside Damascus will be halted for the time being.<br />
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<h4>
'World is watching'</h4>
In a speech on nuclear non-proliferation at the National Defense University in Fort McNair, Mr Obama said: "We've worked to keep weapons from spreading, whether it was nuclear material in Libya or nor chemical weapons in Syria.<br />
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In response to the threats, the Syrian Foreign Ministry has issued a brief statement saying that Damascus will not use chemical weapons, <i>“if they were available, under any circumstances against its people.”</i> The ministry also stressed that Syria has stated repeatedly that it <i>“will not use these types of weapons.”</i><br />
In July, Syrian Foreign Ministry stated that <i>“any chemical or bacterial weapon will never be used – and I repeat will never be used – during the crisis in Syria regardless of the developments.”</i> Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi assured at the time that all of these types of weapons are in storage and <a href="http://rt.com/news/syria-chemical-weapons-agression-873/">under security and the direct supervision of the Syrian armed forces</a> and <i>"will never be used unless Syria is exposed to external aggression.”</i><br />
<h3>
Anonymous reports of suspicious activity</h3>
Meanwhile, several senior US defense officials – all on condition of anonymity – claimed that Syria has begun mixing chemicals that can be used to make the deadly sarin gas.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>“We've picked up several indications which lead us to believe that they're combining chemical precursors,”</i> one unnamed US official told AFP, adding that the operation was apparently aimed at making sarin.</blockquote>
<br />
A report by Wired cites another unnamed US official <i>“with knowledge of the situation,”</i> who said that the sources in the Syrian military confirm that the preparations <i>“have gotten to the point where they can load it up on a plane and drop it.”</i><br />
<br />
The Associated Press earlier cited another official who said on condition of anonymity that US intelligence officials had detected activity around several known Syrian chemical weapons sites in recent days.<br />
Concerns about the potential use of chemical weapons in Syria have arisen on the same day the <a href="http://rt.com/news/syria-un-staff-damascus-170/">UN announced it is sending all non-essential international staff out of Syria</a> and halting aid missions outside Damascus.<br />
<h3>
Pretext for intervention?</h3>
This is not the first time unusual movements of stockpiles have been detected in Syria. In September, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta noted that intelligence said the <a href="http://rt.com/usa/news/syria-chemical-weapons-us-243/">Syrian government had moved some of its chemical weapons</a>. Panetta though added that this might have been done to safeguard the chemical stockpile against rebel forces.<br />
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But this time, some analysts believe, the revived concerns of chemical weapons use might be used as a pretext for a <i>“humanitarian intervention”</i> in Syria. <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>“This issue of the chemical weapons is useful to prepare the ground for a humanitarian type of intervention which may include some strikes eventually,”</i> political analyst Paolo Raffone told RT. <i>“But mostly I doubt strongly that Western countries would send soldiers on the ground in Syria.”</i></blockquote>
Government and business consultant Christoph Horstel believes that the main concern of the Syrian government right now is that the opposition fighters, whoever they are, do not lay their hands on the Syrian chemical weapons stockpile.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>“What Syria is certainly doing is trying to make sure that no foreign agent, how well equipped ever, can get into the possession of these weapons,”</i> Horstel told RT. <i>“Of course, they are not planning to use them against foreign enemies in their territory. No way. All these things are inventions of foreign and Western propaganda.”</i></blockquote>
Russia is meanwhile concerned that <a href="http://rt.com/politics/militarization-syria-weapons-conflict-146/">the militarization of the Syrian conflict is in full swing</a> as large supplies of weapons to the Syrian opposition continue despite an arms embargo against the war-torn country. These supplies include <i>“rather dangerous”</i> arms, such as Stinger missiles, and hamper all efforts which <i>“should be aimed at conciliation, and work with all the opposition groups,”</i> Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said in an interview with Itar-Tass.<br />
<br />
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that while <a href="http://rt.com/politics/putin-turkey-syria-erdogan-119/">Russia cannot give any guarantees on the Syrian leader’s intentions</a>, it shares international concern over the humanitarian situation in Syria and the wider region. Putin also added that the possible placing of Patriot missiles along the Syrian border in Turkey will not in any way add to stability in the region.<br />
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<br />
<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/01/us-syria-crisis-idUSBRE8AJ1FK20121201">All hell is breaking loose in Syria.</a><br />
<br />
Revolutionaries have captured at least 7 bases from the Syrian army in just the past two weeks, and they have been mining their depots for arms. They have gotten hold of SA-7 shoulderheld missile launchers and deployed them against the Syrian air force. The regime seems to have lost control of most of the north of the country, and roads north have been cut. The revolutionaries are now attempting to take the Damascus airport, to prevent the regime from being resupplied by Russia and other allies. The fighting near the airport has caused most international passenger airlines to cease flying into it, though it is technically still open and the regime may still be able to use it for resupply. The regime, desperate to disrupt the revolutionaries’ command and control, pulled the plug on the internet and also turned off the telephone service. Muammar Qaddafi turned off the internet during the uprising in Libya, but it did not help him in the end. It is hard to see how this regime can survive, given the kinds of advances that the opposition has been making in recent weeks.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "calibri" , "trebuchet ms" , "lucida sans" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.5px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">– The Washington Post<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/intense-combat-forces-closure-of-damascus-airport/2012/11/29/2c951f8c-3a56-11e2-8a97-363b0f9a0ab3_story.html" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Calibri, 'Trebuchet MS', 'Lucida Sans', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.5px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">reports</a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "calibri" , "trebuchet ms" , "lucida sans" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.5px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">: Some of the heaviest fighting since the Syrian uprising began last year forced the closure of Damascus’s international airport Thursday as communications throughout the country went dark after the government apparently shut down Internet access.</span><br />
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UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - <b>The 20-month conflict in Syria </b>has reached "new and appalling heights of brutality and violence" as the government steps up its shelling and air strikes and rebels boost their attacks, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Friday.<br />
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Ban and international Syria mediator Lakhdar Brahimi addressed the 193-member U.N. General Assembly on the revolt against Syrian President Bashir al-Assad, which began as peaceful rallies calling for democracy but grew to an armed struggle after the military cracked down on protesters.<br />
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<b>The fighting has killed about 40,000 people</b>, making it the bloodiest of Arab uprisings that have ousted entrenched leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen since early last year.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"The government has intensified its campaigns to root out opposition strongholds and has increased shelling and air strikes," Ban said. "Opposition elements also have stepped up their attacks. I am horrified and saddened and condemn the seemingly daily massacres of civilians."</blockquote>
Syrian air force jets bombarded rebel targets on Friday close to the Damascus airport road and a regional airline said the violence had halted international flights. The Internet and most telephone lines also were down for a second day in the worst communications outage of the conflict.<br />
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Ban said with the onset of winter,<b> up to 4 million people in Syria would be in need and that he expected to number of refugees - currently about 480,000 - to hit 700,000 by early next year</b>. He appealed for more humanitarian aid and said he would soon visit refugee camps in Jordan and Turkey to assess the situation.<br />
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Brahimi said rebel forces had made gains on the ground in the past few weeks, but the government remained confident that it has the upper hand.<br />
<h4>
STRATEGIC GAINS</h4>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"The areas of territory that they (the rebels) control are expanding, and with strategic value in some cases," Brahimi said. "In Syria itself, there is no trust between the parties. They do not even define the problem in the same terms."</blockquote>
Brahimi told the General Assembly that Syria was in danger of becoming a failed state and stepped up his pressure on the Security Council, which is deadlocked over taking stronger action on Assad, to adopt a resolution backing his peace bid.<br />
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The United States and European council members blame Russia, a staunch ally and key arms supplier for Assad's government, and China for the council's inaction on the conflict. Moscow and Beijing have vetoed three resolutions condemning Assad and reject the idea of sanctions. Diplomats say nothing has changed.<br />
"Any peace process must include ... a binding agreement on the cessation of all forms of violence," Brahimi said.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"For the fighting to stop, a strong, well planned observation system must be put in place," he said. "Such observation can best be organized through a large, robust peacekeeping force - and, naturally, that cannot be envisaged without a Security Council resolution."</blockquote>
If there were a more sustained ceasefire, the U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operations has told Brahimi it could put together a force of up to 3,000 monitors to keep fighters separated and maintain the truce, diplomats say.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Difficult as it has been for the council to reach a consensus on an implementable roadmap for Syria, I nevertheless feel that it is here, and only here, that a credible, implementable process can be put together," Brahimi said.</blockquote>
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Bill Trott)<br />
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TUNIS, Tunisia – The interim president of Libya, who came to power following a NATO-supported rebellion against former leader Moammar Gadhafi, said Thursday he opposed foreign intervention in Syria.<br />
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Speaking at press conference with his Tunisian counterpart, Mohammed al-Megarif said he also opposed arming the Syrian opposition which has been battling the regime of President Bashar Assad for the last year and a half, with thousands of lives lost.<br />
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The two leaders, both products of the wave of uprisings that swept the Middle East in 2011, did call for Assad to step down.<br />
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Like the conflict in Syria, the uprising that overthrew former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi turned into a civil war and the rebels only triumphed with the aid of a NATO campaign of airstrikes and the supply of sophisticated weapons.<br />
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Syria’s rebels have repeatedly called for greater material international support, but little has been forthcoming, in part because of international concerns over the lack of unity in the opposition.<br />
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Al-Megarif also said that he and Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki were withholding recognition of the new Syrian opposition coalition until they could evaluate how representative it was.<br />
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Al-Megarif’s visit to Tunisia comes with a $200 million offer of aid to the Tunisian economy to “support its development.”<br />
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The Tunisian economy, which relies heavily on tourism and exports to Europe, has been severely battered by the unrest that accompanied the overthrow of its long-ruling dictator in January 2011.<br />
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“It is the first financial interaction which will be followed by others as we solidify the excellent relations linking the two countries,” said Marzouki.<br />
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Source- AP via Montreal Gazette<br />
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<br />
The situation in Libya is worst now after <a href="http://www.ukbbcnews.com/libyans-celebrate-a-muslim-holiday-ousting-gaddafi.html">Ousting Gaddafi</a>; the destruction of Iran won't make the situation better for Iranians; <a href="http://www.reuters.com/places/syria#graphic">the destruction of Syria</a> is not making the situation better for Syrians. <br />
<br />
As a person from countries with corrupt inefficient governments, I said that an attack from outside is never welcome, despite internal strife.<br />
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<br />
<b>Hugh Schofield<br />
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20319787">BBC News, Paris</a></b><br />
<br />
By becoming the first Western power to recognise the Syrian National Coalition, France is hoping to build on the success of Sunday's meeting in Doha and set a precedent that other nations may follow.<br />
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No-one has forgotten that it was France that set the pace when it came to recognising the Libyan opposition last year. That was under a different, arguably more gung-ho president - Nicolas Sarkozy - and the circumstances in Libya were very different. But France likes to feel it still has a special role to play in the Middle East, and this was a welcome opportunity for Francois Hollande to make a foreign policy mark.<br />
<br />
The president's remarks on reconsidering arms deliveries need to be treated with caution. Nothing will happen quickly, not least because France is bound by an EU embargo on arms deliveries to all sides in the Syrian conflict.<br />
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Still the president did say that with the coalition now officially recognised, the question of arms could be re-opened - and that will be seized on by the opposition as an important advance.<br />
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The Arab League has hailed the formation of Syria's new rebel coalition, but stopped short of recognizing the group as the sole legitimate voice of the Syrian people. Leaders of Syria's exiled opposition, beset by mutual suspicion and infighting, formed the new bloc on Sunday and are now seeking full international backing.<br />
<br />
Political analyst Lew Rockwell believes that by offering full support for the Syrian coalition, foreign nations may be hijacking the initiative.<br />
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I could hear the exchange of gunfire and the sounds of bombing nearby. After a particularly strong burst, I found myself trembling. Out of nowhere, a little boy named Mohamed came up and grabbed my hand with his two little hands. I’ll never forget what he told me. He said, “Don’t you worry, you will be ok. We hear this all the time and we are used to it. Take a deep breath and you will be ok.” <br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #302c2c; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Mohamed is 7 years old. I don’t know what affected me more - his gesture of kindness or knowing that such a young, sweet boy was already accustomed to such terrible sounds of violence.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #302c2c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #302c2c; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">The ongoing conflict in Syria has played out in the international media for months now. But the humanitarian needs in Syria and the surrounding countries hosting Syrian refugees have never been more urgent than they are at this moment.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://donate.wfp.org/t/21052046/20652116/20809153/0/" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank"><b>Find out how you can help.</b></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #302c2c; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #302c2c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #302c2c; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">The World Food Programme has scaled up its operations to reach 1.5 million people in Syria with emergency food assistance. As thousands more Syrians pour into Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, many arrive exhausted and hungry after fleeing their homes with nothing. WFP is helping to feed these refugees through hot meals and food vouchers.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #302c2c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<a href="http://donate.wfp.org/t/21052046/20652116/20809153/0/" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank"><b>During an emergency, every dollar counts. Your donation to provide food for Syrian families will come at a critical time.</b></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #302c2c; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #302c2c; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">In some cases, we’re going to door-to-door delivering food to poor, displaced Syrians in order to avoid large gatherings of people in particularly tense areas. A few days ago, I joined some of my colleagues bringing rice, beans and oil to families in the Baba Amr neighborhood of Homs in western Syria. Two-thirds of the city has been devastated by conflict, and many streets are now deserted.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #302c2c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #302c2c; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">WFP’s expertise is getting the right food to people who need it most, when they need it the most. Right now, families need our help to ensure they don’t have to worry about where they’ll find their next meal.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://donate.wfp.org/t/21052046/20652116/20809153/0/" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank"><b>Please make a donation today to provide food for more families in Syria. Every donation will immediately be directed to our emergency operation.</b></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #302c2c; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #302c2c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #302c2c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #302c2c; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">As I write this, more than 20 of my WFP colleagues in Syria have lost their homes, yet they continue to carry out their life-saving work each day. Their dedication amazes me. Your donation will not only support Syrian families but also honor the courage of these colleagues.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #302c2c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #302c2c; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Thank you,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #302c2c; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<br />
Abeer Etefa <br />
Senior Communications Officer, Middle East <br />
World Food Programme <br />
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JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military says it has fired into Syria for a second straight day in response to errant mortar fire that landed in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.<br />
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There were no reports of injuries on either side of the frontier Monday. But a series of similar incidents in recent days has raised fears that Israel could be dragged into the fighting in its northern neighbor.<br />
Israel does not believe the mortar fire has intentionally targeted Israeli targets.<br />
Still, Israeli officials have warned that they will respond harshly if the attacks persist.<br />
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Israel responded for the first time on Sunday, firing an anti-tank missile as a "warning shot."<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pdH4JKjVRyA" width="420"></iframe><br />
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In an exclusive interview with RT, Syrian President Bashar Assad said that Syria is not going through a civil war, but rather a different kind of war -- terrorism through proxies.<br />
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BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Syrian army abandoned its last base near the northern town of Saraqeb after a fierce assault by rebels, further isolating the strategically important second city Aleppo from the capital.<br />
But in a political setback to forces battling to topple President Bashar al-Assad, the United Nations said the rebels appeared to have committed a war crime after seizing the base.<br />
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The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday government troops had retreated from a post northwest of Saraqeb, leaving the town and surrounding areas "completely outside the control of regime forces".<br />
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It was not immediately possible to verify the reported army withdrawal. Authorities restrict journalists' access in Syria and state media made no reference to Saraqeb.<br />
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The pullout followed coordinated rebel attacks on Thursday against three military posts around Saraqeb, 50 km (30 miles) southwest of Aleppo, in which 28 soldiers were killed.<br />
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Several were shown in video footage being shot after they had surrendered.<br />
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"The allegations are that these were soldiers who were no longer combatants. And therefore, at this point it looks very likely that this is a war crime, another one," U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville said in Geneva.<br />
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"Unfortunately this could be just the latest in a string of documented summary executions by opposition factions as well as by government forces and groups affiliated with them, such as the shabbiha (pro-government militia)," he said.<br />
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Video footage of the killings showed rebels berating the captured men, calling them "Assad's dogs", before firing round after round into their bodies as they lay on the ground.<br />
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Rights groups and the United Nations say rebels and forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have committed war crimes during the 19-month-old conflict. It began with protests against Assad and has spiraled into a civil war which has killed 32,000 people and threatens to drag in regional powers.<br />
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<b>The mainly Sunni Muslim rebels are supported by Sunni states including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and neighboring Turkey. Shi'ite Iran remains the strongest regional supporter of Assad, who is from the Alawite faith which is an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.</b><br />
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<h4>
STRATEGIC BLOW</h4>
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Saraqeb lies at the meeting point of Syria's main north-south highway, linking Aleppo with Damascus, and another road connecting Aleppo to the Mediterranean port of Latakia.<br />
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With areas of rural Aleppo and border crossings to Turkey already under rebel control, the loss of Saraqeb would leave Aleppo city further cut off from Assad's Damascus powerbase.<br />
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Any convoys using the highways from Damascus or the Mediterranean city of Latakia would be vulnerable to rebel attack. This would force the army to use smaller rural roads or send supplies on a dangerous route from Al-Raqqa in the east, according to the Observatory's director, Rami Abdelrahman.<br />
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In response to the rebels' territorial gains, Assad has stepped up air strikes against opposition strongholds, launching some of the heaviest raids so far against working class suburbs east of Damascus over the last week.<br />
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The bloodshed has continued unabated despite an attempted ceasefire, proposed by join U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to mark last month's Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.<br />
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In the latest in a string of fruitless international initiatives, China called on Thursday for a phased, region-by-region ceasefire and the setting up of a transitional governing body - an idea which opposition leaders hope to flesh out at a meeting in Qatar next week.<br />
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Veteran opposition leader Riad Seif has proposed a structure bringing together the rebel Free Syrian Army, regional military councils and other rebel forces alongside local civilian bodies and prominent opposition figures.<br />
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His plan, called the Syrian National Initiative, calls for four bodies to be established: the Initiative Body, including political groups, local councils, national figures and rebel forces; a Supreme Military Council; a Judicial Committee and a transitional government made up of technocrats.<br />
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The initiative has the support of Washington. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Wednesday for an overhaul of the opposition, saying it was time to move beyond the troubled Syrian National Council.<br />
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The SNC has failed to win recognition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people and Clinton said it was time to bring in "those on the front lines fighting and dying".<br />
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(Additional reporting by Oliver Holmes in Beirut and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Editing by Jon Boyle)<br />
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<a href="http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=AmO0mopxrcq22_gONsJ0_YVqted_;_ylu=X3oDMTFiN2pzZDVyBG1pdANBcnRpY2xlIEhlYWQEcG9zAzEEc2VjA01lZGlhQXJ0aWNsZUhlYWQ-;_ylg=X3oDMTJva3I2dGIxBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDMTlkNTgzODItYWM5MC0zMmI4LWFkNjEtNDUxZWNhNTBiYmEzBHBzdGNhdANzeXJpYQRwdANzdG9yeXBhZ2U-;_ylv=0/SIG=11b28b093/EXP=1345958209/**http%3A//www.reuters.com/" id="yui_3_5_1_23_1344748630601_512" rel="nofollow" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #ff9900; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><img alt="Reuters" class="logo" id="yui_3_5_1_23_1344748630601_511" src="https://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/FZN6924R0WZ__x92.x6.GA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9Zml0O2g9Mjc-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/logo/reuters/d0c3eb8ca18907492a4b337b5cec5193.jpeg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; display: inline !important; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; vertical-align: middle;" title="" /></a><cite class="byline vcard" id="yui_3_5_1_23_1344748630601_459" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #7d7d7d; display: inline-block !important; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 2.2em; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: middle; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">By<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="fn" id="yui_3_5_1_23_1344748630601_533">Hadeel Al Shalchi</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>|<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="provider org" id="yui_3_5_1_23_1344748630601_531">Reuters</span> </cite><br />
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ALEPPO, Syria (Reuters) - The United States and Turkey indicated they were studying a range of possible measures over Syria, including a no-fly zone, as battles between rebels and President Bashar al-Assad's forces shook Aleppo and the heart of Damascus.<br />
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U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said after meeting her Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu in Istanbul on Saturday that Washington and Ankara should develop detailed operational planning on ways to assist the rebels fighting to topple Assad.<br />
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"Our intelligence services, our military have very important responsibilities and roles to play so we are going to be setting up a working group to do exactly that," she said.<br />
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Asked about options such as imposing a no-fly zone over rebel-held territory, Clinton said these were possibilities she and Davutoglu had agreed "need greater in-depth analysis", while indicating that no decisions were necessarily imminent.<br />
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"It is one thing to talk about all kinds of potential actions, but you cannot make reasoned decisions without doing intense analysis and operational planning," she said.<br />
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Though any intervention appears to be a distant prospect, her remarks were nevertheless the closest Washington has come to suggesting direct military action in Syria.<br />
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No-fly zones imposed by NATO and Arab allies helped Libyan rebels overthrow Muammar Gaddafi last year. Until recently, the West had shunned the idea of repeating any Libya-style action.<br />
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Saudi Arabia and Qatar are believed to be arming Syrian rebels, while the United States and Britain have pledged to step up non-lethal assistance to Assad's opponents.<br />
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Davutoglu said it was time outside powers took decisive steps to resolve the humanitarian crisis in cities such as Aleppo, where Assad's forces have fought rebels for three weeks.<br />
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JETS, TANKS IN ACTION</h3>
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In the latest battles, tanks and troops pummeled rebels near the shattered district of Salaheddine, a former opposition stronghold that commands the main southern approach to Aleppo.<br />
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Tank fire crashed into the adjacent Saif al-Dawla neighborhood as military jets circled over an abandoned police station held by rebels, firing missiles every few minutes.<br />
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Insurgents said they had been forced to retreat in the latest twist in relentless, see-saw battles for Salaheddine, part of a swathe of Aleppo seized by rebels last month.<br />
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Some rebels, outgunned and low on ammunition in Aleppo, have pleaded for outside military help, arguing that more weapons and a no-fly zone over areas they control near the Turkish border would give them a secure base against Assad's forces.<br />
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"The reason we retreated from Salaheddine this week is a lack of weapons," complained Abu Thadet, a rebel commander in Aleppo who said his fighters would regroup and fight back. "We can handle the bombing. It's the snipers that make it hard."<br />
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In Damascus, where Assad's forces have regained control of districts overrun by rebels last month, a resident reported an explosion near the Central Bank, followed by gunfire.<br />
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"The explosion was huge. There has been fighting for the past half-hour along Pakistan Street. I am very close. Can you hear that?" she told Reuters, a bang audible over the telephone.<br />
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Syrian state TV said authorities were hunting "terrorists" who had set off a bomb in Merjeh, an area near the central bank, and who were "shooting at random to spark panic among citizens".<br />
At least 11 people were killed on Saturday when government forces mounted an armored attack to try to regain the area the Sunni Muslim north Damascus suburb of al-Tel, activists said.<br />
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"The army pushed tanks, armored personnel carriers and pick-up trucks equipped with heavy machine-guns toward Tel in the morning and fighting has been raging for the last 12 hours," said Alam, one of the opposition activists, who gave only his first name for fear of retribution.<br />
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"They did not manage to go in. The Free Syrian Army had booby trapped the entrances to Tel and four armor pieces have been destroyed," he added.<br />
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END GAME BEGINS?</h3>
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Despite their superior firepower, Assad's forces have been stretched by months of warfare against increasingly skilled and organized fighters who have taken them on in every city and in many parts of the countryside at one time or another.<br />
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Germany's spy chief said the Syrian army had been depleted by casualties, deserters and defectors.<br />
"There are a lot of indications that the end game for the regime has begun," said Gerhard Schindler, head of the BND intelligence agency, in an interview with Die Welt newspaper.<br />
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"The regular army is being confronted by a variety of flexible fighters. The recipe of their success is their guerrilla tactics. They're breaking the army's back."<br />
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Syria's torment, however, is far from over and several signs point to how the conflict could spill over into its neighbors.<br />
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Jordanian and Syrian forces clashed along the border in the early hours of Saturday when refugees tried to cross to Jordan, a Syrian opposition activist who witnessed the fighting said.<br />
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Thousands of Syrians have fled into Jordan, but tensions heightened after Assad's newly installed prime minister, Riad Hijab, defected and escaped across the border this week.<br />
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Assad's main outside allies are Shi'ite Iran and Lebanon's Shi'ite Hezbollah movement. His ruling system is dominated by members of his Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.<br />
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His foes are mostly from Syria's Sunni majority, who are backed by Sunni-ruled states such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, which are also regional rivals of Iran.<br />
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Arab foreign ministers will meet on Sunday in Jeddah to discuss the Syria crisis and who should replace Kofi Annan, the United Nations-Arab League envoy, a League official said.<br />
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(Additional reporting by Oliver Holmes in Beirut, Andrew Quinn and Ayla Jean Yackley in Istanbul, Erik Kirschbaum in Berlin, Louis Charbonneau in New York and Tamim Elyan in Cairo; Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by Jon Hemming)<br />
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UN envoy Kofi Annan says a national unity cabinet with government and opposition members could be the solution for the Syrian crisis. Moscow and other permanent members of the UN Security Council reportedly “signaled” their support of the idea.<br />
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That is according to diplomatic sources that spoke to Reuters on Wednesday on condition of anonymity. Annan's proposal for a political transition in Syria is one of the main topics that Russia and other key players in the Middle East will discuss at the Geneva meeting on Saturday.<br />
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Summarizing the proposal, diplomats explained the conflict could only end when all sides see a common way to a shared future. Annan stressed it was “vital that [any] settlement [be] irreversible, [with] clear transition steps in a fixed timeline.”<br />
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“These include establishing a transitional national unity government to create a neutral backdrop for transition,” the diplomat said. “It could comprise of present government members, opposition and others, but would need to exclude those whose continued participation or presence would jeopardize the transition's credibility, or harm prospects for reconciliation and stability.”<br />
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Although Annan's plan does not specify who exactly would be excluded from the prospective government, the diplomat added that this idea was clearly referring to Syrian President Bashar Assad.<br />
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Reuters’ source also states that the Russians “signaled to Annan that they accept his transition plan,” while several Western diplomats confirmed these remarks. Moreover, all five veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council have reportedly backed the proposal.<br />
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Kofi Annan has made the acceptance of his proposal a condition for organizing the Saturday meeting. The United States, Britain, France, Russia, China, Turkey, Iraq, Kuwait and Qatar will attend the conference.<br />
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Rebel gunmen stormed Syria's pro-government television station on Wednesday, killing at least seven employees just hours after President Bashar Assad declared that the country is at war.<br />
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BEIRUT (Reuters) - Gunmen stormed a pro-government Syrian TV channel headquarters on Wednesday, bombing buildings and shooting dead three employees, state media said, in one of the boldest attacks yet on a symbol of the authoritarian state.<br />
More than 150 people were killed in fierce fighting across Syria on Wednesday, 86 of them civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Intensified fighting in the country have driven up the death toll averages to around 100 people per day in the past week.<br />
President Bashar al-Assad declared late on Tuesday that his country was "at war". U.S. intelligence officials said the Syrian government was "holding fairly firm" and digging in for a long struggle against rebel forces who are getting stronger.<br />
The dawn attack on Ikhbariya television's offices, 20 km (15 miles) south of the capital, as well as overnight fighting on the outskirts of Damascus showed the 16-month-old violence now rapidly encroaching on the city.<br />
Ikhbariya resumed broadcasting shortly after the attack, which killed three journalists and four security guards, displaying bullet holes in its two-storey concrete building and pools of blood on the floor. One building was almost entirely destroyed.<br />
"I heard a small explosion then a huge explosion and gunmen ran in. They ransacked the offices and entirely destroyed the newsroom," an employee who works at the offices in the town of Drousha told state media at the scene.<br />
Syrian media are tightly regulated by the Ministry of Information. Although Ikhbariya is privately owned, opponents of Assad say it is a government mouthpiece.<br />
After Tuesday's fighting unprecedented in its intensity around Damascus, violence appeared to ease off around the capital following the attack on the television complex. But rebel forces were clearly becoming stronger and more ambitious.<br />
SYRIA "AT WAR"<br />
During the pro-democracy revolt against the Assad family's four-decade rule, Ikhbariya has been pushing to counter what it says is a campaign of misinformation by Western and Arab satellite channels on the uprising that began in March 2011.<br />
"We live in a real state of war from all angles," Assad told a cabinet he appointed on Tuesday, in a speech broadcast on state television. "When we are in a war, all policies and all sides and all sectors need to be directed at winning this war."<br />
The declaration marks a change of rhetoric from Assad, who had long dismissed the uprising against him as the work of scattered militants in "terrorist gangs" funded from abroad.<br />
The rambling speech - Assad also commented on subjects as far afield as the benefits of renewable energy - left little room for compromise. He denounced the West, which "takes and never gives, and this has been proven at every stage".<br />
International mediator Kofi Annan said he had convened a ministerial-level meeting on Syria in Geneva on Saturday with the aim of seeking an end to the violence and agreeing on principles for a "Syrian-led political transition".<br />
In a statement, the joint United Nations-Arab League envoy said he had invited foreign ministers from the five major powers - Britain, France, China, Russia and the United States - as well as Turkey, the European Union, Iraq, Kuwait and Qatar.<br />
Despite the deterioration in Syria, so far there has been no sign of an appetite for full-scale Western intervention. However, last week's shooting down of a Turkish warplane by Syrian air defenses has focused attention on a volatile situation on Turkey's southeastern border with Syria.<br />
"We will not refrain from teaching a lesson to anyone trying to test Turkey's greatness," Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday, referring to the incident near the countries' maritime borders.<br />
Turkey's land border territories, hosting over 33,000 refugees and units of the rebel Free Syria Army (FSA), are quickly becoming a potential flashpoint. Tuesday's comments by Erdogan may if anything have added further uncertainty to the situation there.<br />
Erdogan said on Tuesday that Syrian military elements approaching the border and posing a threat would be deemed a military target. He made no public clarification of new terms of engagement issued to troops.<br />
"With Tayyip Erdogan's announcement, and if Syria complies with it, Turkey will have by itself declared a de facto 'buffer zone'," Radikal newspaper columnist Cengiz Candar wrote.<br />
"And if Bashar al-Assad doesn't comply with this? That is, if he continues to send soldiers right up to the border? Turkey runs the risk of a military operation against him."<br />
Turkey has in the past spoken of possible establishment of a 'humanitarian corridor' on Syrian soil - a venture that would inevitably require armed protection. But it has always insisted such a measure, if required by a rising tide of refugees or by evidence of massacres, would need international endorsement<br />
United Nations investigators said on Wednesday Syrian government forces had committed human rights violations, including executions, across the country "on an alarming scale" during military operations in the past three months.<br />
The report by the U.N. Human Rights Council, issued in Geneva, also listed killings and kidnappings by armed opposition groups trying to topple President Assad.<br />
"The situation on the ground is dangerously and quickly deteriorating," the report said.<br />
Syria's ambassador dismissed the accusations and threatened to end cooperation with international agencies.<br />
The United Nations accuses Syrian forces of killing more than 10,000 people during the conflict, which began with a popular uprising and has built up into an armed insurgency.<br />
A White House spokesman said of the attack on the pro-government television station: "We condemn all acts of violence, including those targeting pro-regime elements."<br />
LONG FIGHT<br />
The UK-based Observatory, which compiles reports from activists across the country, reported battles on Tuesday near the headquarters of the Republican Guard in Qudsiya, and in other Damascus suburbs of al-Hama and Mashrou' Dumar, just 9 km from the capital.<br />
Activists said the clashes were the heaviest to hit areas on the outskirts of Damascus, once considered an impenetrable Assad stronghold. Fighting in the suburbs outside the capital were renewed again on Wednesday night, the Observatory said.<br />
Despite some military defections, mainly from low to mid-level ranks, Assad's inner circle remains cohesive and the war is still likely to be a drawn-out struggle, senior U.S. intelligence officials said, in an assessment dimming any U.S. hopes that Assad will fall soon.<br />
"Our overall assessment ... would be that we are still seeing the military regime forces fairly cohesive, they've learned some lessons over the last year and a half about how to deal with this kind of insurgency," an official said.<br />
The insurgency is also getting stronger, he said.<br />
"Both sides seem to be girding for a long struggle. Our sense is that the regime still believes it can ultimately prevail or at least appears determined to try to prevail and the opposition at the same time seems to be preparing for a long fight."<br />
(Additional reporting by Tabassum Zakaria in Washington; additional reporting by Jonathon Burch and Jon Hemming; editing by Ralph Boulton, Janet McBride and Michael Roddy)<br />
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Turkey's President, Abdullah Gul, has said the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18562210">Turkish fighter jet shot down by Syria's air defence forces</a> on Friday may have violated Syrian airspace.<br />
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Mr Gul said it was routine for warplanes flying at high speed to cross borders for short distances.<br />
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Syria has said it engaged the aircraft in its airspace "according to the laws that govern such situations", and that it crashed into the Mediterranean Sea.<br />
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The Turkish and Syrian navies are searching for the two crew members.<br />
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Relations between Nato-member Turkey and Syria, once close allies, have deteriorated sharply since the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011. More than 30,000 Syrian refugees have fled the violence across the border into Turkey.<br />
<br />
After a cross-border shooting by Syrian security forces in April that left two refugees dead at a camp near the town of Kilis, Turkey said it would not tolerate any action that it deemed violating its security.<br />
<br />
<hr />
<br />
Members of the U.N. Security Council remain at an impasse over an international response to Syria’s turmoil. Kofi Annan has proposed establishing a new contact group involving the United States, Russia and Iran, but the United States has refused to accept Iran’s involvement. Russia and China continue to oppose proposals for sanctions against Syria and the U.S.-led calls for Assad to step down. At the United Nations, Russia envoy Vitaly Churkin said Council members have ignored the role of Syria’s armed rebels in the ongoing violence and called for Iran’s involvement in any future talks.<br />
<br />
Vitaly Churkin: "The truth of the matter, as you know, is that armed opposition groups do not only — do not only fail to comply to the Kofi Annan plan, but they declare that it is their intention not to do so, which, to us, is a very dangerous development, a very counterproductive development. We hear complaints about Iran, so the way to deal with that is to involve Iran in discussions and make sure that their activities are in sync with the activities of the rest of us who want to have this matter finally settled peacefully."<br />
<br />
Earlier in the day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov vowed to oppose any Security Council measure authorizing military intervention, saying: "There will not be a Security Council mandate for outside intervention, I guarantee you that."<br />
<br />
The Turkish response to the downing of one of its fighter jets by Syrian forces has been strikingly low-key. Official statements have been terse. Turkey is not challenging the official Syrian account of what happened, but nor is it yet accepting it.<br />
<br />
The Syrian military said the F4 reconnaissance jet was shot down as it flew low and fast towards the city of Latakia, just 1km from the coast. Turkey's President Abdullah Gul suggested that it was routine for fast-flying military jets to stray into other countries' air space, but the Syrian account puts this aircraft deep inside its territory, raising big questions about what it was doing. Had it gone badly off course, or was it on some other mission? There are questions too about why Syria shot the aircraft down, rather than try to ascertain its purpose.<br />
<br />
Two impressions are left by what we know so far from this incident. First, that Syria's sophisticated, Russian-supplied air defence systems are effective, and Syria is willing to use them. Second, that Turkey is taking great care not to be drawn into a military confrontation with Syria.<br />
<br />
<hr />
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. government website on Friday published what it said was photographic evidence of mass graves and attacks on civilian areas by Syrian government forces.<br />
<br />
The website, operated by a bureau of the State Department, published a series of overhead photos, said to be taken earlier this week by commercial satellite, showing what it said were mass graves dug following a massacre near the town of Houla.<br />
<br />
They also showed apparent artillery impact craters near civilian areas of a town called Atarib.<br />
<br />
Included on the web page, which can be viewed at http://www.humanrights.gov/2012/03/05/situation-in-syria/, are pictures which apparently show artillery deployed as of May 31 - Thursday - near three Syrian towns and attack helicopters allegedly deployed near the towns of Shayrat and Homs.<br />
<br />
The pictures are credited to commercial satellite imagery companies.<br />
<br />
Syria's U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari did not have an immediate reaction when reached by Reuters.<br />
<br />
More than 100 men, women and children were massacred in Houla last week, most of them shot at point-blank range or slashed with knives.<br />
<br />
U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said earlier this week that the people who died from artillery and tank fire were clearly victims of government shelling while the others were most likely killed by "shabbiha" militia loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.<br />
<br />
Damascus has blamed the massacre on the opposition, which Assad has tried unsuccessfully for 14 months to crush, killing over 10,000 people in the process, according to the United Nations. Russia, which has used its veto powers to prevent the U.N. Security Council from sanctioning Syria, blames Islamist militants for the Houla massacre.<br />
<br />
The State Department website highlights what it said are before and after satellite pictures showing mass graves near Houla.<br />
<br />
A May 18 photo from Tall Daww, a village near Houla, shows what the government says is a square that appears to be a flat dirt clearing. Juxtaposed against this is what the U.S. government says is a May 28 photo of the same square with what appear to be rows of turned up earth, which is labeled as "probable newly-dug graves/trenches."<br />
<br />
(Additional reporting by Lou Charbonneau at the United Nations; Editing by Warren Strobel and Lisa Shumaker)<br />
<br />
<hr />
<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9303815/US-raises-prospect-of-intervention-in-Syria.html">By Ruth Sherlock, Beirut and Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent</a><br />
<br />
7:42PM BST 31 May 2012<br />
<br />
Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, bluntly criticised Russia's continued backing for President Bashar al-Assad's regime yesterday. This support was illustrated last night by the disclosure that a Russian cargo ship carrying weapons had docked in Syria last Saturday, one day after the massacre in Houla which claimed at least 108 civilian lives.<br />
<br />
Addressing students in Denmark, Mrs Clinton urged Russia to use its influence on Mr Assad to curb the fighting.<br />
<br />
"The Syrians are not going to listen to us. They will listen - maybe - to the Russians, so we have to keep pushing them," she said.<br />
<br />
Russian officials, added Mrs Clinton, "are telling me they don't want to see a civil war. I have been telling them their policy is going help to contribute to a civil war." Western governments believe that diplomatic cover afforded by the Kremlin has emboldened Mr Assad and encouraged him to resist pressure to negotiate a settlement of the conflict.<br />
<br />
Earlier, Susan Rice, the American ambassador to the UN, said that Russia's veto-wielding membership of the Security Council would not necessarily prevent international action. If the violence worsened and the peace plan proposed by Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary general, made no progress, some countries would consider whether to bypass Russian and Chinese opposition in the UN.<br />
<hr />
Paul Wood <br />
BBC Middle East correspondent, just out of Syria<br />
<br />
The ceasefire exists in name only. Most people within Syria don't think that the UN plan will work anyway. I think the threat to lift the ceasefire by the Free Syrian Army will just mean business as usual.<br />
<br />
The Free Syrian Army, from what I could see, are under enormous pressure. They're having to sell their furniture to buy bullets. A few more serious weapons are trickling through: we believe some anti-tank weapons reached the main holdout, the town of Rastan.<br />
<br />
But these people are barely surviivng, and although they are getting a trickle of defections I don't think they're in a position to really cause the government serious trouble.<br />
<br />
What we may get is a sectarian civil war, of village against village, and that is what is threatened by the Friday deadline. <br />
<br />
<hr />
An emergency meeting of the UN Security Council called to discuss a massacre in Syria has heard that 116 people were killed and 300 injured in Houla.<br />
<br />
Friday's killings in the town have sparked international outrage.<br />
<br />
The UK wants Russia, Syria's only major foreign ally, to put pressure on President Bashar al-Assad to halt civilian deaths.<br />
<br />
The Syrian government has denied any involvement in the Houla killings, blaming "terrorists".<br />
<br />
The closed meeting was called after Russia rejected a joint UK-French statement condemning the killings, diplomats say.<br />
<br />
Russia was said to first want a briefing from the head of the UN observer mission in Syria, Maj Gen Robert Mood.<br />
<br />
He told the assembled diplomats via video link from Damascus that 116 people had been killed and 300 injured - up from a previous figure of 90 dead.<br />
<br />
Opposition activists say the Syrian military bombarded Houla after demonstrations. They say that some of the victims were killed during the shelling, while others were shot dead at close range by the regime militia known as the "shabiha".<br />
<br />
'Vile testament'<br />
<br />
Russia's deputy ambassador to the United Nations told journalists that it was not clear who was responsible for the deaths.<br />
<br />
"There are substantial grounds to believe that the majority of those who were killed were either slashed, cut by knives, or executed at point blank distance," he said.<br />
<br />
<hr />
<br />
Shashank Joshi Associate fellow, Royal United Services Institute<br />
<br />
So far, there is no sign that Houla will be a game-changer. First, remember that this massacre will be interpreted differently around the world.<br />
<br />
Many countries sympathise with the Assad's government narrative that the opposition are Arab-backed Sunni fundamentalists and terrorists.<br />
<br />
Just as some critics argue that the massacres in Libya last year and Racak, Kosovo, in 1999 are exaggerated or fabricated, similar skepticism about Houla will persist, even in the face of incontrovertible evidence - and that will affect how the UN Security Council lines up on the issue.<br />
<br />
Moreover, the growing role of al-Qaeda and affiliated jihadist groups in Syria has, in recent months, become a further deterrent to intervention.<br />
<br />
American officials are terrified that support for the opposition may end up in the hands of the very same people that mounted attacks on Western forces in Iraq just a few years ago.<br />
<br />
Above all, however, no-one wants to pick a fight with Russia. <br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/d15GLNHYF-c" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
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<br />
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17578248">Rebels fighting the government of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria will be paid salaries</a>, the opposition Syrian National Council has announced.<br />
<br />
Money will also be given to soldiers who defect from the government's army, the SNC added, after a "Friends of the Syrian people" summit in Turkey.<br />
<br />
Conference delegates said wealthy Gulf Arab states would supply millions of dollars a month for the SNC fund.<br />
<br />
The meeting recognised the SNC as the "legitimate representative" of Syrians.<br />
<br />
Damascus dubbed the gathering of some 70 Western and Arab foreign ministers in Istanbul as the "enemies of Syria", and key players remained absent, including Russia, China and Iran.<br />
<br />
At a news conference, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu warned Syria that Kofi Annan's six-point peace plan - which Damascus has agreed to in principle - was "not open-ended".<br />
<br />
His comments were echoed by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who said there was "no more time for excuses and delays" by the Assad government. "This is a moment of truth," she said.<br />
Compromise<br />
<br />
"The SNC will take charge of the payment of fixed salaries of all officers, soldiers, and others who are members of the Free Syrian Army," SNC President Burhan Ghalioun told the conference.<br />
<br />
The BBC's Jonathan Head, in Istanbul, says the decision to pay rebel fighters is a significant step by the SNC in recognising the central role the armed insurgency is now playing in their campaign to oust President Assad.<br />
<br />
An SNC leader told the BBC that she hoped more substantial funding would help bind the disparate units of the Free Syrian Army into a more coherent fighting force, and encourage other soldiers to defect from the government side.<br />
<br />
Some countries at the conference - notably Saudi Arabia - have been openly calling for insurgents in Syria to be given weapons. But others - including the US and Turkey - oppose the move, fearing it could fuel an all-out civil war.<br />
<br />
The decision to increase non-lethal aid to the rebels by paying salaries to the fighters is a compromise, our correspondent says.<br />
<br />
Not all opposition groups will be happy at the summit's decision to channel the funds through the SNC - as well as recognising it as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people, he adds.<br />
<br />
There are many activists who believe the SNC's leadership has been too ineffective, and should be replaced, he points out.<br />
<br />
The united front displayed by the gathering was undermined by the pointed absence of Russia and China, which have repeatedly balked at any international resolutions that would require President Assad to stand down.<br />
<br />
Iraq attended, having earlier suggested it might not. However, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki made it clear beforehand that he opposed arming the opposition and believed the Syrian government would survive.<br />
<br />
The Syrian government says it is close to ending the uprising.<br />
<br />
Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad al-Makdissi told Syrian TV "the battle to topple the state is over".<br />
<br />
Violence continued on Sunday, with more than 10 people reported killed, a day after more than 60 people died across the country.<br />
<br />
In the latest violence, activists reported attacks by security forces in areas near the Iraqi border to the east, and the Jordanian frontier to the south.<br />
<br />
The UN believes at least 9,000 people have died in the year-long revolt against Mr Assad's rule.<br />
<br />
<hr />
Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has warned that arming either side in Syria will lead to a "<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17544431" target="_blank">proxy war</a>".<br />
<br />
He was speaking at the opening of an Arab League summit - the first major international meeting to be hosted by Iraq since at least 1990.<br />
<br />
A UN-Arab League plan for Syria would see a UN-monitored end to fighting, troops pulled out of opposition areas and access for humanitarian services.<br />
<br />
Syria agreed to the initiative on Tuesday but violence has continued.<br />
<br />
A number of explosions were heard in central Baghdad as the summit was starting.<br />
<br />
Two of the blasts occurred near the Iranian embassy, eyewitnesses said. There are unconfirmed reports that an explosion near the city's secure Green Zone was an IED (improvised explosive device).<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
emmanuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08566669753834950327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073964493182580749.post-84616277799134000042016-08-27T15:53:00.001-07:002018-02-24T15:33:29.508-08:00Syrian girl<br />
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KdYzEniiXRU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
emmanuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08566669753834950327noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073964493182580749.post-56567697711624549522016-08-21T22:30:00.000-07:002016-08-20T17:31:08.174-07:00The Mena Chronicles<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ho1aqqiGReg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
Hillary Clinton<br />
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<embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" id="VideoPlayback" src="https://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=8438833120507357139&hl=en&fs=true" style="height: 326px; width: 400px;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed> <br />
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<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/MENA/mena.php" target="_blank">Mena links</a> (Courtesy of "Uncle Bill" at<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">Free Republic</a>)</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://dolphin.gulf.net/mena91.html" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">The Washington Weekly Mena Archive</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.idmedia.com/mena-no-frames.htm" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">Mena - Obstruction of Justice Files</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/ARCHIVE/CRIMES_OF_MENA.html" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">The Crimes of Mena - By Sally Denton & Roger Morris</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.aci.net/kalliste/HomePage.html" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">J. Orlin Grabbe</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.realchange.org/clinton.htm" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">Bill Clinton's Skeleton Closet - Mena Links</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.magnet.ch/serendipity/wod/heartb.html" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">The Secret Heartbeat of America</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/MOCK/mockingbird.html" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">MOCKINGBIRD</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.peg.apc.org/%7Enexus/pegfile1.html" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">The Pegasus File 1</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.peg.apc.org/%7Enexus/pegfile2.html" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">The Pegasus File 2</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.idmedia.com/menacoverup.htm" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">The Mena Coverup</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.thecommonman.com/cocaine1.htm" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">The CIA, Cocaine & Mena Arkansas</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.radio4all.org/pfp/mob.htm" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">New York Mob At Mena</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.magnet.ch/serendipity/cia/cockb1.html" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">Chapters In The Recent History of Arkansas</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.aci.net/kalliste/hayeswph.htm" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">Charles Hayes: A Prison Interview</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.seas.gwu.edu/nsarchive/NSAEBB/NSAEBB2/nsaebb2.htm" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">The Contras, Cocaine, and Covert Operations</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.seas.gwu.edu/nsarchive/white_house_email/index.html" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">WHITE HOUSE E-MAIL</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.anaserve.com/%7Ewethepeople/duncan.htm" style="color: #880088; 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Emmett Tyrrell Jr.</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.aci.net/kalliste/tatun.htm" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">Bill Clinton and The Missing $100 Million</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.dcia.com/mission0.html" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">De-Central Intelligence Journal</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.ma.ultranet.com/%7Eeclipse/mena_wsj.html" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">Mena - Missy Kelly</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://dolphin.gulf.net/apr01-96/Richard" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">Who Is Richard Ben-Veniste?</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://dolphin.gulf.net/aug12-96/mena" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">L.D. 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text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/wd4.htm" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">Dan Lasater And Bond Underwriting Contracts</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.idmedia.com/crusade.htm" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">The Lonely Crusade of Linda Ives</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.techmgmt.com/restore/mena.htm" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">The Other Side - Train Deaths</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.wolf1.com/clinton/mena_4.htm" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">Mena - Trooper Puts Clinton In Loop</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://users.aol.com/patriot888/clindrug.txt" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">White House Drug Use</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.oz.net/cu/ww/poster/" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">Whitewater Most Wanted Poster</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://speech.csun.edu/ben/news/cia/mena/950529.ak.html" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">Starr Investigation Targets Arkansas Police</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.europa.com/%7Ejohnlf/cn/cn5-10" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">What Is Whitewater Really All About?</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.thecommonman.com/chernoff.htm" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">Dan Lasater's Whitewater Testimony</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.worldnetdaily.com/exclusiv/980605.ex.documentary.prod.html" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">Clinton Chronicle Producer Sued</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://emporium.turnpike.net/P/ProRev/uncover.htm" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">Stories The Media Won't Cover</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.imt.net/%7Emtpatriot/pegasus.htm" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">Chip Tatum Chronicles</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.constitution.org/piml/96060404.txt" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">Statement of Terry Reed</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.parascope.com/articles/0597/drugdocs.htm" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">Contra/Drug Documents Online</a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.assumption.edu/webvax/mena/index.html" style="color: #880088; text-decoration: none;">Mena File</a></div><br />
<hr /><br />
<a href="http://whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/MENA/mena.php" target="_blank">A MENA BIBLIOGRAPHY</a><br />
<br />
SUGGESTED BOOKS<br />
<br />
Castillo, Celerino III and Harmon, Dave, POWDERBURNS, Oakville, Ont., Mosaic Press, 1994 Head of DEA in El Salvador discovered that the Contras were smuggling cocaine into the United States. Castillo's superiors reacted to his reports by burying them. This book is too controversial for an American publisher to print.<br />
Cockburn, Leslie, OUT OF CONTROL, New York, Atlantic Monthly Press, 1987 Early account of the of the Reagan Administration's secret war in Nicaragua, the illegal arms pipeline and the Contra drug connection.<br />
Johnson, Haynes, SLEEPWALKING THROUGH HISTORY, New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 1991. Pg. 261-274, 292-293 History of the Reagan years traces the relationships of William Casey, Manuel Noriega and the Medellin cocaine cartel.<br />
Levine, Michael, THE BIG WHITE LIE, New York, Thunder's Mouth Press, 1993 DEA undercover investigator learns that the biggest deterrent to stopping the drug epidemic is the Central Intelligence Agency.<br />
Levine, Michael, DEEP COVER, New York, Dell Publishing, 1990 DEA undercover operative penetrates the leadership of the Bolivian cocaine cartel, Panamanian money-launderers and Mexican military middle-men. But it is all for nought, as interference from the CIA and Attorney General Meese, along with DEA infighting, sabotage the investigation.<br />
McCoy, Alfred, THE POLITICS OF HEROIN, Brooklyn, NY, Lawrence Hill Books, 1991 Excellent history about CIA complicity in the global drug trade, from the French Connection, to Southeast Asia and onward into the Afghanistan and Latin America. A must read.<br />
Parry, Robert, FOOLING AMERICA, New York, William Morrow and Company, 1992 Several sections discuss Contra cocaine smuggling in this book which describes how Washington insiders twist the truth and manufacture the Conventional Wisdom.<br />
Persico, Joseph E., CASEY, New York, Viking Penguin, 1990, pg..478-481 Biography on former CIA director William Casey briefly explores the relationships between the CIA and drug traffickers, as well as the protection of narco-CIA assets.<br />
Reed, Terry and Cummings, John, COMPROMISED, New York, S.P.I. Books, 1994 The definitive book on Mena, Reed's first person account of his CIA service on behalf of the Contras opens eyes as to the relationships between the CIA, drug trafficking and recent occupants of the White House. A second edition is in bookstores, however not from bankrupt S.P.I. Books. [I highly recommend this book]<br />
Terrell, Jack with Martz, Ron, DISPOSABLE PATRIOT: REVELATIONS OF A SOLDIER IN AMERICA'S SECRET WARS, Washington, DC, National Press Books, 1992 ISBN 0-915765-38-1 An American soldier goes to fight the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. But he discovers that the most dangerous war is the political infighting of Washington as politicians and covert operatives fight to save their political skins ans stay out of jail.<br />
NEWSPAPER ARTICLES<br />
<br />
Adams, Lorraine, "North Didn't Relay Drug Tips; DEA Says It Finds No Evidence Reagan Aide Talked to Agency," WASHINGTON POST, October 22, 1994, pg A1 Oliver North knew his Contra network was smuggling cocaine, but he did not inform the DEA as required by law.<br />
Anderson, Jack and Van Atta, Dale, "Drug Runner's Legacy," February 28, 1989 Federal authorities stonewall investigations into Barry Seal's drug-trafficking.<br />
Anderson, Jack and Van Atta, Dale, "Small Town for Smuggling," March 1, 1989 Suspects say they worked for the CIA to turn back investigations into the cocaine of Mena.<br />
Arbanas, Michael, "Hutchinson knew in 83 of Seal probe, ex-IRS agent says," ARKANSAS GAZETTE, September 19, 1990 IRS agent William Duncan claimed Asa Hutchinson knew about allegations of drug trafficking at Mena when he was US Attorney.<br />
Arbanas, Michael, "Truth on Mena, Seal shrouded in shady allegations; Drug smuggling rumors just won't die," ARKANSAS GAZETTE, December 22, 1990 Long overview of Mena evidence.<br />
Arbanas, Michael, "FBI apparently investigating Mena, Seal," ARKANSAS GAZETTE, May 24, 1991<br />
Bowers, Rodney, "Slain smuggler used airport," ARKANSAS GAZETTE, December 14, 1987 Evidence showing drug smuggler Barry Seal used Mena airport, and that federal Justice officials interfered in local law enforcement investigating the narcotics.<br />
Bowers, Rodney, "House investigators opens Mena probe," ARKANSAS GAZETTE, December 17, 1987 Aide to Congressman William Hughes (D-NJ) visited Mena to gather evidence and testimony.<br />
Brown, Chip, "Former DEA agent: North knew of cocaine shipments to US," ASSOCIATED PRESS, June 17, 1994 DEA agent Celerino Castillo tells of his knowledge regarding drug smuggling through the Contra resupply network.<br />
"Co-pilot held answers sought in investigation; But he died in plane crash in 1985," ARKANSAS GAZETTE, June 27, 1988, pg 6A<br />
Cockburn, Alexander, "Chapters in the Recent History of Arkansas," THE NATION, February 24, 1992 Describes what was revealed in court papers filed by Terry Reed in his case against Clinton aide Buddy Young regarding CIA Contra cocaine smuggling out of Mena.<br />
Crudele, John, "Drugs and the CIA -- A Scandal Unravels in Arkansas," NEW YORK POST, April 21, 1995 Report that special prosecutor Kenneth Starr is investigating the CIA guns-for-drugs operations at Mena.<br />
Crudele, John, "Bombshell in Arkansas Investigations Brings Both Parties the Jitters," NEW YORK POST, August 14, 1995 Congressman Jim Leach's Banking Committee and the House Judiciciary Committee investigate allegations of cocaine trafficking at Mena that point responsibility at the Clinton, Bush and Reagan administrations.<br />
"Demo Says IRS Blocked Probe Of Drugs, Arms," SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE (ASSOCIATED PRESS), July 28, 1989 Rep. Alexander (D-Ark.) Charges the IRS with blocking investigations into cocaine of Mena.<br />
"Deposition summarizes rumors about Seal," ARKANSAS GAZETTE, June 26, 1988, pg. 18A Former military investigator Gary Wheaton gave a sworn deposition claiming that Barry Seal engaged in gun-running and drug smuggling with the consent of the Drug Enforcement Administration and Central Intelligence Agency.<br />
editorial, "Investigate Mena," WALL STREET JOURNAL, July 10, 1995, pg A12<br />
Epstein, Edward Jay, "On the Mena Trail," WALL STREET JOURNAL, April 20, 1994 The Journal warns that beneath Clinton's crimes, lie the crimes of Reagan and Bush.<br />
Evans-Pritchard, Ambrose, "Cocaine and Toga Parties," SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, July 17, 1994 Describes evidence that Bill Clinton enjoyed drugs and young women.<br />
Evans-Pritchard, Ambrose, "International Smugglers linked to Contra arms deals," SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, October 9, 1994 Links Contra cocaine smuggling with Bill Clinton associate, Dan Lasater.<br />
Evans-Pritchard, Ambrose, "Airport scandal set to crash into White House," DAILY TELEGRAPH, March 27, 1995 Recounts evidence provided by Terry Reed and William Duncan regarding cocaine trafficking through Arkansas.<br />
Evans-Pritchard, Ambrose, "Clinton Involved in CIA Arms and Drugs Racket," SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, July 9, 1995 Reveals that AMERICAN SPECTATOR was about to publish and interview with former Clinton bodyguard, L.D. Brown. Conservative editor R. Emmett Tyrrell remarked how shocked he was to uncover CIA skullduggery involving the secret was against the Sandinistas.<br />
Evans-Pritchard, Ambrose, "Embattled Clinton falls back on Nixon's Watergate defence," ELECTRONIC TELEGRAPH, December 18, 1995<br />
Haddigan, Michael, " Fat Man' key to mystery," ARKANSAS GAZETTE, June 26, 1988, pg. A1 Overview of the investigations and obstructions to uncovering the truth behind the cocaine of Mena.<br />
Haddigan, Michael, "The Kingpin and his many connections," ARKANSAS GAZETTE, June 27, 1988, pg. 1A Explores the career of Barry Seal.<br />
Haddigan, Michael, "Mena tires of rumors," ARKANSAS GAZETTE, June 28, 1988, pg. 1A Remote Mena airport does special refittings for planes from around the world.<br />
Hanchette, John, "House Banking Committee Probing Tangles Tale of Mena, Ark.," GANNETT NEWS SERVICE, January 25, 1996 House Banking Chairman Jim Leach is investigating Mena.<br />
Harmon, Dave, "Ex-agent: Drug sales aided contras; Retired DEA man says smuggling, North venture linked," CHICAGO TRIBUNE, January 26, 1993 Celerino Castillo describes the frustration in prosecuting cocaine smugglers involved with the Contra resupply network.<br />
Henson, Maria, "Testimony reveals leak in drug probe: Cost Seal his life, witness says," ARKANSAS GAZETTE, July 29, 1988 House Judiciary subcommittee on crime hears DEA officials tell how a White House leak revealing Barry Seal's undercover work ruined a major drug investigation.<br />
Henson, Maria, "Alexander threatens budget ax to get agency's cooperation; He pledges to continue investigation into drug trafficking," ARKANSAS GAZETTE, October 5, 1988 Rep. Bill Alexander (D-Ark.) tries to force the Reagan administration to allow a General Accounting Office investigation into drug-trafficking around Mena.<br />
"IRS says smuggler owes $29 million, seizes his property," BATON ROUGE STATE TIMES, February 5, 1986, pg. 1-A Some of Barry Seal's assets are listed.<br />
"Judge set to rule in dispute over Seal's tax assessment," BATON ROUGE STATE TIMES, March 28, 1986<br />
Kwitny, Jonathan, "Dope Story: Doubts Rise on Report Reagan Cited in Tying Sandinistas to Cocaine," WALL STREET JOURNAL, April 22, 1987 Account of Barry Seal's activities in Mena and his attempt as a DEA informant to connect the Sandinistas with cocaine trafficking.<br />
Lemons, Terry and Fullerton, Jane, "Perot Called Clinton About Mena Inquiry," ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE, April 19, 1992 In 1988, Ross Perot called Gov. Bill Clinton to discuss the allegations of cocaine trafficking on behalf of the Contras in Mena.<br />
Lemons, Terry and Fullerton, Jane, "Perot Vows Mena Airport Won't Be Issue If He Runs," ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE, April 26, 1992. Perot confirms that he discussed Mena with Gov. Bill Clinton in 1988.<br />
Morris, Scott, "Clinton: State did all it could in Mena case," ARKANSAS GAZETTE, September 11, 1991 Gov. Bill Clinton claims the Arkansas State Police conducted a "very vigorous" investigation into allegations of drugs and money-laundering around Mena.<br />
Morrison, Micah, "Mena Coverup? Razorback Columbo to Retire," WALL STREET JOURNAL May 10, 1995, pg. A18 Recounts the efforts of Arkansas State Policeman Russell Welch to investigate Mena, and the career troubles which ensued.<br />
Morrison, Micah, "Mysterious Mena," WALL STREET JOURNAL, June 29, 1994 Recounts the stories about allegations of U.S. government-protected drug-running in Arkansas.<br />
Morrison, Micah, "The Mena Coverup" WALL STREET JOURNAL, October 18, 1994 IRS investigator William Duncan developed documentation proving the money-laundering of cocaine profits through Arkansas.<br />
Nabbefeld, Joe, "Evidence on Mena-CIA ties to go to Walsh; Airport's inclusion in Contra probe urged," ARKANSAS GAZETTE, September 10, 1991 Iran-contra Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh is given evidence on drug money-laundering involving CIA-Contra activities at Mena.<br />
Norman, Jane, "Arkansas Airstrip Under Investigation," DES MOINES REGISTER, January 26, 1996, pg. 3 House Banking Chairman Jim Leach is investigating Mena.<br />
"Panel investigating slain informant's activities," ARKANSAS GAZETTE, April 11, 1988 House investigators continue probing allegations of Contra cocaine smuggling.<br />
Rafinski, Karen, "North gets boosters, protesters; Controversial Iran-Contra figure campaigns for Hayes," ARKANSAS GAZETTE, September 23, 1990 Oliver North visits Arkansas to support Republican Terry Hayes running against Rep. Bill Alexander (D-Ark.).<br />
Scarborough, Rowan, "House Panel Takes a Long Look at Mena," WASHINGTON TIMES, January 18, 1996 House Banking Committee is investigating the cocaine trafficking at Mena.<br />
Semien, John, "Agent says Seal trafficked drugs while an informant," BATON ROUGE MORNING ADVOCATE, March 28, 1986 Louisiana state police describe their evidence that Barry Seal was a drug trafficker.<br />
Semien, John, "Plane downed in Nicaragua once owned by Adler Barry Seal," BATON ROUGE MORNING ADVOCATE, March 10, 1986 The plane shot down over Nicaragua, revealing the Iran-contra affair, was owned by drug smuggler Barry Seal.<br />
Semien, John, "Congress investigating Barry Seal's activities," BATON ROUGE SUNDAY ADVOCATE, April 10, 1988 Investigators for the House Subcommittee on Crime visited Louisiana to develop evidence regarding cocaine smuggling and the Contra resupply network.<br />
Stewart, Julie, "Contras, Drug Smuggling Questions Remain Abut Arkansas Airport, ASSOCIATED PRESS, September 24, 1991<br />
Stinson, Jeffrey, "Alexander vows to find answers to Seal story," ARKANSAS GAZETTE, December 22, 1990 Rep. Bill Alexander (D-Ark.) Renews his efforts for a federal investigation of Mena.<br />
Stinson, Jeffrey, "House panel hears tales of illegal activities at Mena airport," ARKANSAS GAZETTE, July 25, 1991 IRS investigator William Duncan describes the evidence he collected on drug trafficking at Mena and how the Justice Department asked him to perjure himself before a grand jury.<br />
Tyrrell, R. Emmett Jr., "Furtive Drug Flights," August 25, 1995 Former Clinton bodyguard L.D. Brown reveals that apparently both Bill Clinton and George Bush knew about the Contra cocaine flights into Mena.<br />
Walker, Martin, "Conspiracy theorists let imagination run riot over Whitewater scandal; Murder, arson, burglary, drug trafficking . . . they're all part of he plot, if the Clintons' accusers in the press are to be believed," THE GUARDIAN, March 24, 1994 Recounts the darkest allegations against Bill Clinton.<br />
Weiner, Tim, "Suit by Drug Agent Says U.S. Subverted His Burmese Efforts," NEW YORK TIMES, October 27, 1994 Top DEA official in Burma describes how the State Department and CIA jeopardized his heroin investigations and put his life in danger.<br />
MAGAZINE ARTICLES<br />
<br />
Chua-Eoan, Howard G. and Shannon, Elaine, "Confidence Games," TIME, November 29, 1993, pg.35 CIA facilities in Venezuela are used to store 1,000 kilos of cocaine that is shipped to Miami.<br />
Corn, David, "The C.I.A. and the Cocaine Coup," THE NATION, October 7, 1991, pg.404 Tells of CIA assistance in 1980 Bolivian coup that put cocaine cartel leaders into power.<br />
COVERT ACTION INFORMATION BULLETIN, "The CIA and Drugs" edition, Number 28 (Summer 1987) 8 articles on the history of CIA drug trafficking and money laundering. Ordering information at http://www.worldmedia.com/caq<br />
Dettmer, Jamie and Rodriguez, Paul M., "Starr Investigation Targets Law-Enforcement Complicity," INSIGHT, May 29, 1995 Report that Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr was investigating the shredding by Arkansas law enforcement of documents related to Iran-contra drug smuggling.<br />
"Ghosts of carelessness past," ECONOMIST, May 7, 1994, pg. 30 Summary of allegations regarding cocaine smuggling at Mena.<br />
Robinson, Deborah, "Unsolved mysteries in Clinton country," IN THESE TIMES, February 12-18, 1992 As Bill Clinton moved to gain the Democratic nomination for President, allegations surfaced that he ignored local law enforcement officials' pleas for assistance to investigate Mena.<br />
Robinson, Linda and Duffy, Brian, "At play in the field of the spies; A primer: How not to fight the war on drugs," U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, November 29, 1993 CIA operatives in Venezuela were involved in or had known about drug shipments in the United States, but did nothing to stop them.<br />
Tyrrell, R. Emmett Jr., "The Arkansas Drug Shuttle," THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR, August, 1995, pg.16 Story of former Clinton bodyguard, L.D. Brown, and his experiences in the Contra resupply operation<br />
Wheeler, Scott L., "Dateline Mena: New Evidence, Rumored Congressional Inquiry Redirect Attention Toward Lingering Scandal," MEDIA BYPASS, January, 1996, pg. 60 More allegations rise to surface regarding cocaine trafficking at Mena, including evidence that the drug smuggling continues unabated.<br />
"Whitewater Ad Nauseam?" BUSINESSWEEK, February 26, 1996, pg.45 House Banking Chairman James Leach is investigating Mena.<br />
CONGRESSIONAL REPORTS<br />
<br />
CONTINUED INVESTIGATION OF SENIOR-LEVEL EMPLOYEE MISCONDUCT AND MISMANAGEMENT AT THE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE, Hearing before the Commerce, Consumer, and Monetary Affairs Subcommittee of the Committee on Government Operations, House of Representatives, One Hundred Second Congress, First Session, July 24, 1991, GOV DOC # Y 4.G 74/7:Em 7/16 House probe into why IRS investigator William Duncan faced a career crisis for documenting the money-laundering through Arkansas in the 1980s.<br />
DRUGS, LAW ENFORCEMENT AND FOREIGN POLICY, Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Operations, Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, 1989, S. Prt. 100-165 Chaired by Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the subcommittee heard abundant testimony by drug dealers and pilots about CIA connections to the smuggling.<br />
ENFORCEMENT OF NARCOTICS, FIREARMS, AND MONEY LAUNDERING LAWS, Oversight Hearings before the Subcommittee on Crime of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, One Hundredth Congress, Second Session, July 28, September 23, 29, and October 5, 1988, GOV DOC # Y 4.J 89/1:100/138 Investigation of connections between cocaine smuggler Barry Seal and the Contra resupply network.<br />
IRS SENIOR EMPLOYEE MISCONDUCT PROBLEMS, Hearings before the Commerce Consumer and Monetary Affairs Subcommittee of the Committee on Government Operations, House of Representatives, July 25, 26 and 27, 1989, GOV DOC # Y 4.G 74/7:Em 7/11 Congressional hearings discover that IRS employee problems are due to employees investigating money-laundering of cocaine through Arkansas.<br />
SYRIA, PRESIDENT BUSH AND DRUGS, Subcommittee Staff Report, House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Crime and Criminal Justice, October 28, 1992 Reports that Bekaa Valley heroin traffickers have close ties to the Syrian government and Army, and that President Bush ignores this problem in his policy towards Syria.<br />
<br />
<hr /><br />
<b><a href="http://www.netowne.com/conspiracy/important/">SUMMARY OF IMPEACHABLE OFFENSE ALLEGATIONS AGAINST JANET RENO</a><br />
<br />
by Tami Kay Freedman<br />
TamKay24@aol.com</b><br />
<br />
<br />
We the people, present these charges against Attorney General Janet Reno:<br />
<br />
1. DERILICTION OF DUTY (Ruby Ridge, Idaho - 1992)<br />
Janet Reno refused to support the conclusion of a Justice Dept. investigation that found an FBI sniper shot which killed Vicki Weaver was unconstitutional. Senate testimony showed that an FBI sniper killed Vicki Weaver by shooting her in the head as she held her baby while standing with the door open on her front porch. The FBI snipers were shooting at the Weavers from over 200 yards away using rifles with 10 power scopes. The snipers and assistant FBI director Larry Potts, testified that they had the right to shoot and kill anyone if that person was holding a gun. Chairman Spector pointed out that such a situation did not warrant the use of deadly force according to FBI policy. On the House floor, Idaho representative, Helen Chenoweth, called for the resignation of Potts who was also responsible for the WACO disaster and a personal friend of FBI Director Freeh, the Reno appointee. Randy Weaver's attorney called for Lon Horiuchi, the sniper, to be tried for murder based on the Justice Dept. investigation. Instead Horiuchi and Potts received paid leave for over two years. (SENATE RUBY RIDGE SIEGE INVESTIGATION)<br />
<br />
2. FAILURE TO UPHOLD THE 4TH AMENDMENT OF THE U.S. CONSTITUTION (Waco, Texas - 1993)<br />
Janet Reno approved the CS military gas attack that led to the deaths of over 80 men, women and children who had never been charged with any crime. She also stated that she "could not find anything wrong" with FBI actions in Waco despite overwhelming video based evidence that the FBI was responsible for the deaths of the Davidians. An aerial video tape shows a tank destroying a Davidian building while people were still inside. Autopsy reports indicate that six bodies found in the rubble of that building were crushed to death. The Forward Looking Infared (FLIR) tape clearly shows heat images from bullets being fired at the Davidians as they tried to escape from the burning buildings. Janet Reno also could find no violation of the Posse Comitatus act which expressly prohibits the use of military equipment and personnel to enforce laws against American citizens unless authorized by the U.S. Constitution or act of Congress. (HOUSE BRANCH DAVIDIAN INCIDENT INVESTIGATION, RULES OF ENGAGEMENT - WILLIAM GAZECKI)<br />
<br />
3. ABUSE OF POWER (Firing of all U.S. Attorneys - 1993)<br />
Janet Reno fired all 94 United States Attorneys, a move unprecedented in American history, shortly after her appointment in March 1993. She stated that the replacement of all U.S. Attorneys was a "joint decision" with the White House. The liaison with the White House was the third highest ranking Justice Dept. official, associate attorney general, Webster Hubbell, who is now a convicted felon.<br />
<br />
4. WILLFUL NEGLIGENCE (Fiske Appointment - 1993)<br />
Janet Reno appointed Robert Fiske as a special independent prosecutor to investigate the Clintons' Whitewater dealings even though Fiske was a lawyer for International Paper Inc., the company that had sold land to the Whitewater partnership of Clinton and McDougal. Fiske was also a lawyer for the Bank of Commerce and Credit, which received laundered drug money transfers from the Arkansas Development Finance Authority, (ADFA) as explained by ADFA marketing director Larry Nichols. Bank records show that the laundering abruptly ended when Barry Seal, who ran a Mena Arkansas drug trafficking ring was assassinated in 1986 just before he was to testify before a grand jury. ADFA was created by Bill Clinton, who was the only authorized payer. BCCI created one of the worst scandals in savings & loan history when it collapsed in 1985 and was shut down in July 1991. As president, Clinton dismissed charges against the head of BCCI, Clark Clifford, who was the former LBJ defense secretary. (CITIZENS FOR HONEST GOVERNMENT - CLINTON CHRONICLES)<br />
<br />
5. OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE (Arkansas U.S. Attorney - 1993-present)<br />
Janet Reno has refused a 1993 FBI investigation recommendation to prosecute Chuck Banks, the former Arkansas U.S. attorney who was to be tried for obstruction of justice for shutting down a federal drug investigation that implicated many people within the state and local governments. The investigation found compromised local judges and prosecutors, drug trafficking at Mena, money laundering through ADFA, suppression and distortion by the media and information about the murder of Kevin Ives and Don Henry as well as five other subsequent deaths. Assistant U.S. attorney Bob Govar, who resigned in protest, received much information from Jean Duffey, the head of a drug task force investigation that was shut down by Judge John Cole. Duffey was attacked with 200 false press articles, threatened with imprisonment on an illegal warrant issued by the same judge, pressured to turn over her investigation to the people she was investigating and forced to temporarily flee the state when her mother received a tip from a police dispatcher that she would be killed if imprisoned. Despite confiscation of task force evidence, Dan Harmon, a prosecutor that she implicated, was tried and convicted in June of 1997 on five drug related felony counts, each carrying a maximum of 20 years in jail and a $150,000 fine. Harmon was convicted in 1990 on tax evasion but had his suspended law license reinstated after Winston Bryant, the Arkansas attorney general under Governor Clinton, testified on his behalf. To date, no one has been charged in any of the murders, despite contentions of the task force undercover agents that the murders were easily solvable. (CITIZENS FOR HONEST GOVERNMENT - OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE)<br />
<br />
6. SUPPRESSION OF EVIDENCE (Tyson / Espy Investigation - 1994)<br />
Janet Reno barred expansion of the probe into the affairs of Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy so that it would not include Don Tyson, the Clinton campaign contributor who was accused of bribing Espy. The investigation of Mike Espy, conducted by independent prosecutor Donald Smaltz, revealed evidence that Don Tyson was involved in drug abuse, drug distribution, money laundering and even murder for hire. Much of the evidence already existed in Arkansas State Police intelligence files. Tyson, owner of Tyson foods, had contributed over $600,000 to Bill Clinton campaigns. Tyson Foods counselor, James Blair, was the individual who turned a $1,000 cattle futures investment into $100,000 for Hillary Clinton. (CITIZENS FOR HONEST GOVERNMENT - CLINTON CHRONICLES)<br />
<br />
7. IMPEDING AN INVESTIGATION (Judicial Watch vs. Commerce Dept. 1993-Present)<br />
The Janet Reno led Justice Dept. has repeatedly attempted to stymie Judicial Watch in their freedom of information suit against the Commerce Dept., even though the Justice Dept. role is to make sure that the Commerce Dept. responds properly. The Judicial Watch suit was responsible for the John Huang deposition, which led to the exposure of millions of dollars in illegal contributions to the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaigns. In February 1996, Judicial Watch also subpoenaed Ron Brown who was killed in the plane crash at Croatia during April 1996, while he was preparing for the deposition. An assistant U.S. attorney in the Justice Dept. filed numerous motions to delay the case, made repeated objections that were overruled during testimony and terminated a deposition against orders of the judge, who ruled that his conduct was "totally improper" and "totally scandalous." (JUDICIAL WATCH, AMERICAN SPECTATOR 10/97)<br />
<br />
8. GROSS FBI MISMANAGEMENT (William Sessions replacement with Louis Freeh - 1993)<br />
Janet Reno fired William Sessions and replaced him with Louis Freeh on July 19, 1993, the day before the body of Vince Foster was found in Fort Marcy Park, Under Freeh, the FBI has entered the most incompetent, unaccountable period in its history as shown by these facts: - Louis Freeh promoted his close friend Larry Potts despite the assistant FBI director's responsibility for both the disastrous Waco and Ruby Ridge sieges - Freeh's FBI illegally gave Clinton Administration personnel over 900 files, including those on political adversaries. Freeh's FBI General Counsel, Howard Shapriro, even briefed White House counsel Jack Quinn on the information Freeh ordered agents to illegally read Richard Jewell his miranda rights while Jewell was cooperating to film a training video. The order was issued by phone over the unanimous protest of all involved Atlanta FBI agents - Freeh's FBI failed to process criminal background checks on citizenship applications resulting in over 70,000 criminals being granted U.S. citizenship in time for the 1996 elections - Freeh's FBI has been cited along with the ATF by 13,500 Oklahomans who were granted a new grand jury investigation into the alleged government cover-up involving the Oklahoma City bombing - Freeh's FBI crime labs were accused by agent Fredric Whitehurst of tainting evidence in high profile cases including the Oklahoma City bombing case - Freeh's FBI agents interrogated agent Gary Aldrich about his book, Unlimited Access, as well as agent Dennis Sculimbrene about his Craig Livingstone background inquiry that linked the Livingstone hiring to Hillary Clinton. (WASHINGTON TIMES NATIONAL WEEKLY 3/23/97)<br />
<br />
9. AIDING & ABETTING ORGANIZED CRIME (Laborers International Union of North America - 1996)<br />
Janet Reno shut down the prosecution of Arthur Coia, the head of Laborers International Union of North America, who was investigated by the Justice Dept. over several years for corrupt labor union practices such as extortion, conspiring to prevent free elections and even death by fire bombing. They concluded in their 1994 complaint that he was "associated with, influenced from and controlled by" organized crime. His union political action committee, Laborers' Political League, contributed over 4.5 million dollars to the Democrat National Committee and its candidates. In February of 1995, Coia also helped Hillary Clinton raise millions more dollars in a Miami Beach fund raiser at the Fountainbleau hotel for the top officials of his union. Also in February of 1995, the Justice Dept. dropped the complaint against Coia, signed a consent decree, withheld his prosecution and told him to clean up his own union. Officials of the Janet Reno led Justice Dept. now say that the consent decree was "the finest most practical resolution that's ever been reached in a case of alleged mob influence." Coia thanked them by being vice chairman of a May 1996 gala that raised $12,000,000 for Democrats. (NATIONAL LEGAL & POLICY CENTER, READERS DIGEST 4/96)<br />
<br />
10. TREASON (Campaign Fund Raising - 1996)<br />
Janet Reno refused three separate House committee requests in 1997 to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the Democratic National Committee and presidential fund raising scandal, despite clear evidence of treasonous policies made by Bill Clinton in exchange for contributions. The requests were made by the Judiciary Committee in March and September as well as the Government Reform and Oversight Committee in August. Nearly $1,000,000 in contributions from Charlie Trie were traced by the FBI to Ng Lap Seng who advises both the Chinese government and Communist party on business and economic matters. Bill Clinton helped John Huang get hired at the DNC and Commerce Dept., even though he was a former U.S. president of the Lippo Group, which has a partnership with the Chinese Communist government to run the Hong Kong Chinese bank and its affiliate in China. Even before he was hired, Huang received a top secret military clearance which allowed him to attend over 100 briefings and review dozens of classified documents. Consequently, Bill Clinton relaxed U.S. export restrictions to China for several types of military technology and supported an effort by the Chinese communist controlled China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO), to take over the Long Beach military port. COSCO was caught shipping 2000 illegal AK-47s into the Oakland port on route to L.A. street gangs. The weapons came from Poly Technologies, just days before their chairman, Wang Jen, an internationally renowned arms dealer, met with Bill Clinton at the White House. Bill Clinton also ensured Indonesia's monopoly on new low sulfur, super compliance coal when he declared 1.7 million acres in southern Utah as the Grand Escalante National Monument and made U.S. mining of the world's largest deposit of that coal there unfeasible. Despite all of this, Reno said she could see no evidence that a special prosecutor was needed and even failed to notify the White House when the FBI informed her of Chinese attempts to influence the 1996 presidential elections. (SENATE CAMPAIGN FINANCE COMMMITTEE, AMERICAN SPECTATOR 3/97, WASHINGTON TIMES 12/26/96 -12/30/96, 04/11/97-04/18/97)<br />
<br />
11. VOTER FRAUD (INS Illegal Immigration - 1996)<br />
Under Janet Reno, the Immigration & Naturalization Service (INS) registered 180,000 illegal immigrants just in time for the 1996 election. The INS typically registers about 300,000 immigrants per year. In 1996, they registered 1.1 million before the election, including 180,000 illegal immigrants and 70,000 criminals. In a House Appropriations Committee meeting, INS head Doris Meissner, confirmed that the INS was working closely with the Vice President and his office to register the immigrants. Meissner and other INS employees also acknowledged the existence of E-Mail messages from the Vice President's office to the INS stating Bill Clinton's frustration that the registration process may be going too slowly to be completed in time for the election. (HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS SUB COMMITTEE MEETING 4/4/97, SENATE ELECTION INVESTIGATION)<br />
<br />
12. INCOMPETENCE (Bill Clinton sexual harassment suit - 1997)<br />
Janet Reno filed amicus briefs with the Supreme Court in an attempt to support the claim by Bill Clinton that he should be shielded from the Paula Jones sexual harassment civil suit until he leaves office on the grounds that he is the commander and chief of the U.S. armed forces. The Supreme Count ruled unanimously, by a 9-0 count, against him. (WASHINGTON TIMES NATIONAL WEEKLY Vol.4 No.25)<br />
<br />
13. TAMPERING (Hillary Clinton privilege claim - 1997)<br />
Janet Reno attempted to compromise the Kenneth Starr investigation by challenging an 8th U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that found the Hillary Clinton personal attorney client privilege claim does not apply to White House lawyers who are paid by American taxpayers. The ruling, which was challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court, involved Vince Foster and Rose Law firm billing record matters that Hillary Clinton discussed on July 11, 1995 with White House counsels Miriam Nemetz and Jane Sherbourne, lawyers. The Supreme Court refused to hear the case. (WASHINGTON TIMES NATIONAL WEEKLY Vol.4 No.25)<br />
<br />
14. CONSPIRACY (Immunity refusal for Buddist nuns - 1997)<br />
Janet Reno refused to grant immunity to four nuns who had contributed $5000 apiece to the Democratic National Committee at a fund raiser in the Hsi Lai Buddist temple in Hacienda Heights Cal, during April 1996. The event was attended by Vice President Al Gore who claimed he did not know it was a fund raiser even though evidence showed that virtually everyone on his staff knew it was a fund raiser and dozens of early 1996 documents confirmed it. The nuns, who like Buddist monks, are sworn to poverty, were unwilling to testify as to where they got the money unless granted immunity. Reno, admitted that the Justice Dept. would not prosecute the nuns but refused to grant immunity which helped conceal the illegal foreign source of the contributions. The bi-partisan Senate committee granted immunity to the nuns by votes of 15-1 and 13-3. The nuns testified that the related temple financial documents had been shredded. (SENATE CAMPAIGN FINANCE INVESTIGATION, AMERICAN SPECTATOR 10/97)<br />
--------<br />
Please Write Your NEWSPAPER about the need to FIRE JANET RENO!!<br />
Write/Fax/Call!! And while you're sending, you might want to send it to OUR Congress also!!<br />
Thanks Again!!<br />
YOU ARE TRULY GREAT!! Tami Kay Freedman<br />
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<embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" id="VideoPlayback" src="https://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=8438833120507357139&hl=en&fs=true" style="height: 326px; width: 400px;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed> <br />
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<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mena,_Arkansas#Allegations_regarding_cocaine_trafficking" target="_blank"><b>Mena</b></a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>(<span class="nowrap" style="white-space: nowrap;"><span title="pronunciation:"><img alt="play" height="11" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/Loudspeaker.svg/11px-Loudspeaker.svg.png" style="border: none; margin: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" width="11" /></span> <span class="IPA" style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','Lucida Sans Unicode';" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_English" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none !important;" title="Wikipedia:IPA for English">/</a></span><span class="IPA" style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','Lucida Sans Unicode';"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_English#Key" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none !important;" title="Wikipedia:IPA for English"><span style="border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px;" title="'m' in 'my'">m</span></a></span><span class="IPA" style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','Lucida Sans Unicode';"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_English#Key" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none !important;" title="Wikipedia:IPA for English"><span style="border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px;" title="/iː/ long 'e' in 'bead'">iː</span></a></span><span class="IPA" style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','Lucida Sans Unicode';"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_English#Key" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none !important;" title="Wikipedia:IPA for English"><span style="border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px;" title="'n' in 'nigh'">n</span></a></span><span class="IPA" style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','Lucida Sans Unicode';"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_English#Key" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none !important;" title="Wikipedia:IPA for English"><span style="border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px;" title="/ə/ 'a' in 'about'">ə</span></a></span><span class="IPA" style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','Lucida Sans Unicode';" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_English" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none !important;" title="Wikipedia:IPA for English">/</a></span></span>)<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="IPA" style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','Lucida Sans Unicode';" title="English pronunciation respelling"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Pronunciation_respelling_key" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none !important;" title="Wikipedia:Pronunciation respelling key"><i><b><span class="SMALLCAPS" style="font-variant: small-caps;"><span class="NOCAPS" style="text-transform: lowercase;">mee</span></span></b>-nə</i></a></span>) is a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="City">city</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>in<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polk_County,_Arkansas" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Polk County, Arkansas">Polk County</a>,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkansas" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Arkansas">Arkansas</a>,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="United States">United States</a>. It is also the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_seat" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="County seat">county seat</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polk_County,_Arkansas" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Polk County, Arkansas">Polk County</a>.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-GR6_0-0" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mena,_Arkansas#cite_note-GR6-0" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;">[1]</a></sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It was founded by<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Edward_Stilwell" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Arthur Edward Stilwell">Arthur Edward Stilwell</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>during the building of the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City,_Pittsburg_and_Gulf_Railroad" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad">Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>(now the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City_Southern" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Kansas City Southern">Kansas City Southern</a>). It was Stilwell who decided Mena would be the name of this new town along the route to Port Arthur, Texas. He named her so in honor of his beloved friend and financier Jan DeGeoijen's wife, Folmina Margaretha Janssen DeGeoijen, whom Mr. DeGeoijen affectionately called Mena. Mena was settled in 1896.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">The<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Population">population</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>was 5,637 as of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Census,_2000" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="United States Census, 2000">2000 census</a>.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">A number of allegations have been written about and several local, state, and federal investigations have taken place related to the notion of Mena as a drop point in large scale cocaine trafficking beginning in the latter part of the 1980s. The topic has received a large degree of its coverage due to the alleged knowledge, participation and/or coverup involvement of figures as powerful and infamous as future presidents<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" title="Bill Clinton">Bill Clinton</a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_H.W._Bush" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" title="George H.W. Bush">George H.W. Bush</a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">, and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Bush" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" title="George W. Bush">George W. Bush</a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">, as well future Florida Governor<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeb_Bush" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" title="Jeb Bush">Jeb Bush</a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and Saline County prosecutor Dan Harmon, who was convicted of numerous felonies including drug and racketeering charges in 1997.</span> </div><br />
<hr /><br />
<h2><a href="http://www.serendipity.li/cia/c_o_mena.html">The Crimes of Mena</a><br />
By Sally Denton and Roger Morris<br />
From the July 1995 issue of Penthouse Magazine.</h2><br />
<h3><blockquote class="tr_bq">This is the story that couldn't be suppressed.<br />
An investigative report into a scandal that haunts the reputations of three presidents </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">— Reagan, Bush, and Clinton.</blockquote></h3><br />
Barry Seal — gunrunner, drug trafficker, and covert C.I.A. operative extraordinaire — is hardly a familiar name in American politics. But nine years after he was murdered in a hail of bullets by Medellin cartel hit men outside a Salvation Army shelter in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, he has come back to haunt the reputations of three American presidents.<br />
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Seal's legacy includes more than 2,000 newly discovered documents that now verify and quantify much of what previously had been only suspicion, conjecture, and legend. The documents confirm that from 1981 to his brutal death in 1986, Barry Seal carried on one of the most lucrative, extensive, and brazen operations in the history of the international drug trade, and that he did it with the evident complicity, if not collusion, of elements of the United States government, apparently with the acquiescence of Ronald Reagan's administration, impunity from any subsequent exposure by George Bush's administration, and under the usually acute political nose of then Arkansas governor Bill Clinton.<br />
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The newly unearthed papers show the real Seal as far more impressive and well-connected than the character played by Dennis Hopper in a made-for-TV movie some years ago, loosely based on the smuggler's life. The film portrayed the pudgy pilot as a hapless victim, caught in a cross fire between bungling but benign government agencies and Latin drug lords. The truth sprinkled through the documents is a richer — and altogether more sinister — matter of national and individual corruption. It is a tale of massive, socially devastating crime, of what seems to have been an official cover-up to match, and, not least, of the strange reluctance of so-called mainstream American journalism to come to grips with the phenomenon and its ominous implications — even when the documentary evidence had appeared.<br />
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The trail winds back to another slightly bruited but obscure name — a small place in western Arkansas called Mena.<br />
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Of the many stories emerging from the Arkansas of the 1980s that was crucible to the Clinton presidency, none has been more elusive than the charges surrounding Mena. Nestled in the dense pine and hardwood forests of the Oachita Mountains, some 160 miles west of Little Rock, once thought a refuge for nineteenth-century border outlaws and even a hotbed of Depression-era anarchists, the tiny town has been the locale for persistent reports of drug smuggling, gunrunning, and money laundering tracing to the early eighties, when Seal based his aircraft at Mena's Intermountain Regional Airport.<br />
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From first accounts circulating locally in Arkansas, the story surfaced nationally as early as 1989 in a Penthouse article called "Snowbound," written by the investigative reporter John Cummings, and in a Jack Anderson column, but was never advanced at the time by other media. Few reporters covering Clinton in the 1992 campaign missed hearing at least something about Mena. But it was obviously a serious and demanding subject — the specter of vast drug smuggling with C.I.A. involvement — and none of the major media pursued it seriously During 1992, the story was kept alive by Sarah McClendon, The Nation, and The Village Voice.<br />
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Then, after Clinton became president, Mena began to reappear. Over the past year, CBS News and The Wall Street Journal have reported the original, unquieted charges surrounding Mena, including the shadow of some C.I.A. (or "national security") involvement in the gun and drug traffic, and the apparent failure of then governor Clinton to pursue evidence of such international crime so close to home.<br />
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"Seal was smuggling drugs and kept his planes at Mena," The Wall Street Journal reported in 1994. "He also acted as an agent for the D.E.A. In one of these missions, he flew the plane that produced photographs of Sandinistas loading drugs in Nicaragua. He was killed by a drug gang [Medellin cartel hit men] in Baton Rouge. The cargo plane he flew was the same one later flown by Eugene Hasenfus when he was shot down over Nicaragua with a load of contra supplies.<br />
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In a mix of wild rumor and random fact, Mena has also been a topic of ubiquitous anti-Clinton diatribes circulated by right-wing extremists — an irony in that the Mena operation was the apparent brainchild of the two previous and Republican administrations.<br />
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Still, most of the larger American media have continued to ignore, if not ridicule, the Mena accusations. Finding no conspiracy in the Oachitas last July, a Washington Post reporter typically scoffed at the "alleged dark deeds," contrasting Mena with an image as "Clandestination, Arkansas ... Cloak and Dagger Capital of America." Noting that The New York Times had "mentioned Mena primarily as the headquarters of the American Rock Garden Society," the Columbia Journalism Review in a recent issue dismissed "the conspiracy theories" as of "dubious relevance."<br />
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A former Little Rock businessman, Terry Reed, has coauthored with John Cummings a highly controversial book, Compromised: Clinton, Bush, and the C.I.A., which describes a number of covert activities around Mena, including a C.I.A. operation to train pilots and troops for the Nicaraguan Contras, and the collusion of local officials. Both the book and its authors were greeted with derision.<br />
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Now, however, a new mass of documentary evidence has come to light regarding just such "dark deeds" — previously private and secret records that substantiate as never before some of the worst and most portentous suspicions about what went on at Mena, Arkansas, a decade ago.<br />
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Given the scope and implications of the Mena story, it may be easy to understand the media's initial skepticism and reluctance. But it was never so easy to dismiss the testimony arid suspicions of some of those close to the matter: Internal Revenue Service Agent Bill Duncan, Arkansas State Police investigator Russell Welch, Arkansas Attorney General J. Winston Bryant, Congressman Bill Alexander, and various other local law-enforcement officials and citizens.<br />
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All of these people were convinced by the late eighties that there existed what Bryant termed "credible evidence" of the most serious criminal activity involving Mena between 1981 and 1986. They also believed that the crimes were committed with the acquiescence, if not the complicity, of elements of the U.S. government. But they couldn't seem to get the national media to pay attention.<br />
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During the 1992 campaign, outside advisers and aides urged former California governor Jerry Brown to raise the Mena issue against Clinton — at least to ask why the Arkansas governor had not done more about such serious international crime so close to home. But Brown, too, backed away from the subject. I'll raise it if the major media break it first," he told aides. "The media will do it, Governor," one of them replied in frustration, "if only you'll raise it."<br />
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Mena's obscure airport was thought by the I.R.S., the F.B.I., U.S. Customs, and the Arkansas State Police to be a base for Adler Berriman "Barry" Seal, a self-confessed, convicted smuggler whose operations had been linked to the intelligence community. Duncan and Welch both spent years building cases against Seal and others for drug smuggling and money laundering around Mena, only to see their own law-enforcement careers damaged in the process.<br />
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What evidence they gathered, they have said in testimony and other public statements, was not sufficiently pursued by the then U.S. attorney for the region, J. Michael Fitzhugh, or by the I.R.S., Arkansas State Police, and other agencies. Duncan, testifying before the joint investigation by the Arkansas state attorney general's office and the United States Congress in June 1991, said that 29 federal indictments drafted in a Mena-based money-laundering scheme had gone unexplored. Fitzhugh, responding at the time to Duncan's charges, said, "This office has not slowed up any investigation ... [and] has never been under any pressure in any investigation."<br />
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By 1992, to Duncan's and Welch's mounting dismay, several other official inquiries into the alleged Mena connection were similarly ineffectual or were stifled altogether, furthering their suspicions of government collusion and cover-up. In his testimony before Congress, Duncan said the I.R.S. "withdrew support for the operations" and further directed him to "withhold information from Congress and perjure myself."<br />
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Duncan later testified that he had never before experienced "anything remotely akin to this type of interference.... Alarms were going off," he continued, "and as soon as Mr. Fitzhugh got involved, he was more aggressive in not allowing the subpoenas and in interfering in the investigative process."<br />
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State policeman Russell Welch felt he was "probably the most knowledgeable person" regarding the activities at Mena, yet he was not initially subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury. Welch testified later that the only reason he was ultimately subpoenaed at all was because one of the grand jurors was from Mena and "told the others that if they wanted to know something about the Mena airport, they ought to ask that guy [Welch] out there in the hall."<br />
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State Attorney General Bryant, in a 1991 letter to the office of Lawrence Walsh, the independent counsel in the Iran-Contra investigation, wondered "why no one was prosecuted in Arkansas despite a mountain of evidence that Seal was using Arkansas as his principal staging area during the years 1982 through 1985."<br />
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What actually went on in the woods of western Arkansas? The question is still relevant for what it may reveal about certain government operations during the time that Reagan and Bush were in the White House and Clinton was governor of Arkansas.<br />
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In a mass of startling new documentation — the more than 2,000 papers gathered by the authors from private and law-enforcement sources in a year-long nationwide search — answers are found and serious questions are posed.<br />
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These newly unearthed documents — the veritable private papers of Barry Seal — substantiate at least part of what went on at Mena.<br />
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What might be called the Seal archive dates back to 1981, when Seal began his operations at the Intermountain Regional Airport in Mena. The archive, all of it now in our possession, continues beyond February 1986, when Seal was murdered by Colombian assassins after he had testified in federal court in Las Vegas, Fort Lauderdale, and Miami for the U.S. government against leaders of the Medellin drug cartel.<br />
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The papers include such seemingly innocuous material as Seal's bank and telephone records; negotiable instruments, promissory notes, and invoices; personal correspondence address and appointment books; bills of sale for aircraft and boats; aircraft registration, and modification work orders.<br />
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In addition, the archive also contains personal diaries; handwritten to-do lists and other private notes; secretly tape-recorded conversations; and cryptographic keys and legends for codes used in the Seal operation.<br />
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Finally, there are extensive official records: federal investigative and surveillance reports, accounting assessments by the I.R.S. and the D.E.A., and court proceedings not previously reported in the press — testimony as well as confidential pre-sentencing memoranda in federal narcotics-trafficking trials in Florida and Nevada — numerous depositions, and other sworn statements.<br />
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The archive paints a vivid portrait not only of a major criminal conspiracy around Mena, but also of the unmistakable shadow of government complicity. Among the new revelations:<br />
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Mena, from 1981 to 1985, was indeed one of the centers for international smuggling traffic. According to official I.R.S. and D.E.A. calculations, sworn court testimony, and other corroborative records, the traffic amounted to thousands of kilos of cocaine and heroin and literally hundreds of millions of dollars in drug profits. According to a 1986 letter from the Louisiana attorney general to then U.S. attorney general Edwin Meese, Seal "smuggled between $3 billion and $5 billion of drugs into the U.S."<br />
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Seal himself spent considerable sums to land, base, maintain, and specially equip or refit his aircraft for smuggling. According to personal and business records, he had extensive associations at Mena and in Little Rock, and was in nearly constant telephone contact with Mena when he was not there himself. Phone records indicate Seal made repeated calls to Mena the day before his murder. This was long after Seal, according to his own testimony, was working as an $800,000-a-year informant for the federal government.<br />
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A former member of the Army Special Forces, Seal had ties to the Central Intelligence Agency dating to the early 1970s. He had confided to relatives and others, according to their sworn statements, that he was a C.I.A. operative before and during the period when he established his operations at Mena. In one statement to Louisiana State Police, a Seal relative said, "Barry was into gunrunning and drug smuggling in Central and South America ... and he had done some time in El Salvadore [sic]." Another then added, "lt was true, but at the time Barry was working for the C.I.A."<br />
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In a posthumous jeopardy-assessment case against Seal — also documented in the archive — the I.R.S. determined that money earned by Seal between 1984 and 1986 was not illegal because of his "C.I.A.-D.E.A. employment." The only public official acknowledgment of Seal's relationship to the C.I.A. has been in court and congressional testimony, and in various published accounts describing the C.I.A.'s installation of cameras in Seal's C-123K transport plane, used in a highly celebrated 1984 sting operation against the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua.<br />
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Robert Joura, the assistant special agent in charge of the D.E.A.'s Houston office and the agent who coordinated Seal's undercover work, told The Washington Post last year that Seal was enlisted by the C.I.A. for one sensitive mission — providing photographic evidence that the Sandinistas were letting cocaine from Colombia move through Nicaragua. A spokesman for then Senate candidate Oliver North told The Post that North had been kept aware of Seal's work through "intelligence sources."<br />
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Federal Aviation Administration registration records contained in the archive confirm that aircraft identified by federal and state narcotics agents as in the Seal smuggling operation were previously owned by Air America, Inc., widely reported to have been a C.I.A. proprietary company. Emile Camp, one of Seal's pilots and a witness to some of his most significant dealings, was killed on a mountainside near Mena in 1985 in the unexplained crash of one of those planes that had once belonged to Air America.<br />
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According to still other Seal records, at least some of the aircraft in his smuggling fleet, which included a Lear jet, helicopters, and former U.S. military transports, were also outfitted with avionics and other equipment by yet another company in turn linked to Air America.<br />
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Among the aircraft flown in and out of Mena was Seal's C-123K cargo plane, christened Fat Lady. The records show that Fat Lady, serial number 54-0679, was sold by Seal months before his death. According to other files, the plane soon found its way to a phantom company of what became known in the Iran-Contra scandal as "the Enterprise," the C.I.A.-related secret entity managed by Oliver North and others to smuggle illegal weapons to the Nicaraguan Contra rebels. According to former D.E.A. agent Celerino Castillo and others, the aircraft was allegedly involved in a return traffic in cocaine, profits from which were then used to finance more clandestine gunrunning.<br />
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F.A.A. records show that in October 1986, the same Fat Lady was shot down over Nicaragua with a load of arms destined for the Contras. Documents found on board the aircraft and seized by the Sandinistas included logs linking the plane with Area 51 — the nation's top-secret nuclear-weapons facility at the Nevada Test Site. The doomed aircraft was co-piloted by Wallace Blaine "Buzz" Sawyer, a native of western Arkansas, who died in the crash. The admissions of the surviving crew member, Eugene Hasenfus, began a public unraveling of the Iran-Contra episode.<br />
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An Arkansas gun manufacturer testified in 1993 in federal court in Fayetteville that the C.I.A. contracted with him to build 250 automatic pistols for the Mena operation. William Holmes testified that he had been introduced to Seal in Mena by a C.I.A. operative, and that he then sold weapons to Seal. Even though he was given a Department of Defense purchase order for guns fitted with silencers, Holmes testified that he was never paid the $140,000 the government owed him. "After the Hasenfus plane was shot down," Holmes said, "you couldn't find a soul around Mena."<br />
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Meanwhile, there was still more evidence that Seal's massive smuggling operation based in Arkansas had been part of a C.I.A. operation, and that the crimes were continuing well after Seal's murder. In 1991 sworn testimony to both Congressman Alexander and Attorney General Bryant, state police investigator Welch recorded that in 1987 he had documented "new activity at the [Mena] airport with the appearance of ... an Australian business [a company linked with the C.I.A.], and C-130s had appeared...."<br />
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At the same time, according to Welch, two F.B.I. agents officially informed him that the C.I.A. "had something going on at the Mena Airport involving Southern Air Transport [another company linked with the C.I.A.] ... and they didn't want us [the Arkansas State Police] to screw it up like we had the last one."<br />
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The hundreds of millions in profits generated by the Seal trafficking via Mena and other outposts resulted in extraordinary banking and business practices in apparent efforts to launder or disperse the vast amounts of illicit money in Arkansas and elsewhere. Seal's financial records show from the early eighties, for example, instances of daily deposits of $50,000 or more, and extensive use of an offshore foreign bank in the Caribbean, as well as financial institutions in Arkansas and Florida.<br />
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According to I.R.S. criminal investigator Duncan, secretaries at the Mena Airport told him that when Seal flew into Mena, "there would be stacks of cash to be taken to the bank and laundered." One secretary told him that she was ordered to obtain numerous cashier's checks, each in an amount just under $10,000, at various banks in Mena and surrounding communities, to avoid filing the federal Currency Transaction Reports required for all bank transactions that exceed that limit.<br />
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Bank tellers testified before a federal grand jury that in November 1982, a Mena airport employee carried a suitcase containing more than $70,000 into a bank. "The bank officer went down the teller lines handing out the stacks of $1,000 bills and got the cashier's checks."<br />
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Law-enforcement sources confirmed that hundreds of thousands of dollars were laundered from 1981 to 1983 just in a few small banks near Mena, and that millions more from Seal's operation were laundered elsewhere in Arkansas and the nation.<br />
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Spanish-language documents in Seal's possession at the time of his murder also indicate that he had accounts throughout Central America and was planning to set up his own bank in the Caribbean.<br />
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Additionally, Seal's files suggest a grandiose scheme for building an empire. Papers in his office at the time of his death include references to dozens of companies, all of which had names that began with Royale. Among them: Royale Sports, Royale Television Network, Royale Liquors, Royale Casino, S.A., Royale Pharmaceuticals, Royale Arabians, Royale Seafood, Royale Security, Royale Resorts ... and on and on.<br />
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Seal was scarcely alone in his extensive smuggling operation based in Mena from 1981 to 1986, commonly described in both federal and state law-enforcement files as one of the largest drug-trafficking operations in the United States at the time, if not in the history of the drug trade. Documents show Seal confiding on one occasion that he was "only the transport," pointing to an extensive network of narcotics distribution and finance in Arkansas and other states. After drugs were smuggled across the border, the duffel bags of cocaine would be retrieved by helicopters and dropped onto flatbed trucks destined for various American cities.<br />
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In recognition of Seal's significance in the drug trade, government prosecutors made him their chief witness in various cases, including a 1985 Miami trial in absentia of Medellln drug lords; in another 1985 trial of what federal officials regarded as the largest narcotics-trafficking case to date in Las Vegas; and in still a third prosecution of corrupt officials in the Turks and Caicos Islands. At the same time, court records and other documents reveal a studied indifference by government prosecutors to Seal's earlier and ongoing operations at Mena.<br />
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In the end, the Seal documents are vindication for dedicated officials in Arkansas like agents Duncan and Welch and local citizens' groups like the Arkansas Committee, whose own evidence and charges take on new gravity — and also for The Nation, The Village Voice, the Association of National Security Alumni, the venerable Washington journalists Sarah McClendon and Jack Anderson, Arkansas reporters Rodney Bowers and Mara Leveritt, and others who kept an all-too-authentic story alive amid wider indifference.<br />
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But now the larger implications of the newly exposed evidence seem as disturbing as the criminal enormity it silhouettes. Like his modern freebooter's life, Seal's documents leave the political and legal landscape littered with stark questions.<br />
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What, for example, happened to some nine different official investigations into Mena after 1987, from allegedly compromised federal grand juries to congressional inquiries suppressed by the National Security Council in 1988 under Ronald Reagan to still later Justice Department inaction under George Bush?<br />
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Officials repeatedly invoked national security to quash most of the investigations. Court documents do show clearly that the C.I.A. and the D.E.A. employed Seal during 1984 and 1985 for the Reagan administration's celebrated sting attempt to implicate the Nicaraguan Sandinista regime in cocaine trafficking.<br />
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According to a December 1988 Senate Foreign Relations Committee report, "cases were dropped. The apparent reason was that the prosecution might have revealed national-security information, even though all of the crimes which were the focus of the investigation occurred before Seal became a federal informant."<br />
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Tax records show that, having assessed Seal posthumously for some $86 million in back taxes on his earnings from Mena and elsewhere between 1981 and 1983, even the I.R.S. forgave the taxes on hundreds of millions in known drug and gun profits over the ensuing two-year period when Seal was officially admitted to be employed by the government.<br />
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To follow the I.R.S. logic, what of the years, crimes, and profits at Mena in the early eighties, before Barry Seal became an acknowledged federal operative, as well as the subsequently reported drug-trafficking activities at Mena even after his murder — crimes far removed from his admitted cooperation as government informant and witness?<br />
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"Joe [name deleted] works for Seal and cannot be touched because Seal works for the C.I.A.," a Customs official said in an Arkansas investigation into drug trafficking during the early eighties. "A C.I.A. or D.E.A. operation is taking place at the Mena airport," an F.B.I. telex advised the Arkansas State Police in August 1987, 18 months after Seal's murder. Welch later testified that a Customs agent told him, "Look, we've been told not to touch anything that has Barry Seal's name on it, just to let it go."<br />
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The London Sunday Telegraph recently reported new evidence, including a secret code number, that Seal was also working as an operative of the Defense Intelligence Agency during the period of the gunrunning and drug smuggling.<br />
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Perhaps most telling is what is so visibly missing from the voluminous files. In thousands of pages reflecting a man of meticulous organization and planning, Barry Seal seems to have felt singularly and utterly secure — if not somehow invulnerable — at least in the ceaseless air transport and delivery into the United States of tons of cocaine for more than five years. In a 1986 letter to the D.E.A., the commander and deputy commander of narcotics for the Louisiana State Police say that Seal "was being given apparent free rein to import drugs in conjunction with D.E.A. investigations with so little restraint and control on his actions as to allow him the opportunity to import drugs for himself should he have been so disposed."<br />
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Seal's personal videotapes, in the authors' possession, show one scene in which he used U.S. Army paratroop equipment, as well as militarylike precision, in his drug-transporting operation. Then, in the middle of the afternoon after a number of dry runs, one of his airplanes dropped a load of several duffel bags attached to a parachute. Within seconds, the cargo sitting on the remote grass landing strip was retrieved by Seal and loaded onto a helicopter that had followed the low-flying aircraft. "This is the first daylight cocaine drop in the history of the state of Louisiana," Seal narrates on the tape. If the duffel bags seen in the smuggler's home movies were filled with cocaine — as Seal himself states on tape — that single load would have been worth hundreds of millions of dollars.<br />
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Perhaps the videos were not of an actual cocaine drop, but merely the drug trafficker's training video for his smuggling organization, or even a test maneuver. Regardless, the films show a remarkable, fearless invincibility. Barry Seal was not expecting apprehension.<br />
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His most personal papers show him all but unconcerned about the very flights and drops that would indeed have been protected or "fixed," according to law-enforcement sources, by the collusion of U.S. intelligence.<br />
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In an interview with agent Duncan, Seal brazenly "admitted that he had been a drug smuggler."<br />
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If the Seal documents show anything, an attentive reader might conclude, it is that ominous implication of some official sanction. Over the entire episode looms the unmistakable shape of government collaboration in vast drug trafficking and gunrunning, and in a decade-long cover-up of criminality.<br />
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Government investigators apparently had no doubt about the magnitude of those crimes. According to Customs sources, Seal's operations at Mena and other bases were involved in the export of guns to Bolivia, Argentina, Peru, and Brazil, as well as to the Contras, and the importation of cocaine from Colombia to be sold in New York, Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, and other cities, as well as in Arkansas itself.<br />
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Duncan and his colleagues knew that Seal's modus operandi included dumping most of the drugs in other southern states, so that what Arkansas agents witnessed in Mena was but a tiny fragment of an operation staggering in its magnitude. Yet none of the putative inquiries seems to have made a serious effort to gather even a fraction of the available Seal documents now assembled and studied by the authors.<br />
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Finally, of course, there are somber questions about then governor Clinton's own role vis-a-vis the crimes of Mena.<br />
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Clinton has acknowledged learning officially about Mena only in April 1988, though a state police investigation had been in progress for several years. As the state's chief executive, Clinton often claimed to be fully abreast of such inquiries. In his one public statement on the matter as governor, in September 1991 he spoke of that investigation finding "linkages to the federal government," and "all kinds of questions about whether he [Seal] had any links to the C.I.A.... and if that backed into the Iran-Contra deal."<br />
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But then Clinton did not offer further support for any inquiry, "despite the fact," as Bill Plante and Michael Singer of CBS News have written, "that a Republican administration was apparently sponsoring a Contra-aid operation in his state and protecting a smuggling ring that flew tons of cocaine through Arkansas."<br />
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As recently as March 1995, Arkansas state trooper Larry Patterson testified under oath, according to The London Sunday Telegraph, that he and other officers "discussed repeatedly in Clinton's presence" the "large quantities of drugs being flown into the Mena airport, large quantities of money, large quantities of guns," indicating that Clinton may have known much more about Seal's activities than he has admitted.<br />
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Moreover, what of the hundreds of millions generated by Seal's Mena contraband? The Seal records reveal his dealings with at least one major Little Rock bank. How much drug money from him or his associates made its way into criminal laundering in Arkansas's notoriously freewheeling financial institutions and bond houses, some of which are reportedly under investigation by the Whitewater special prosecutor for just such large, unaccountable infusions of cash and unexplained transactions?<br />
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"The state offers an enticing climate for traffickers," I.R.S. agents had concluded by the end of the eighties, documenting a "major increase" in the amount of large cash and bank transactions in Arkansas after 1985, despite a struggling local economy.<br />
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Meanwhile, prominent backers of Clinton's over the same years — including bond broker and convicted drug dealer Dan Lasater and chicken tycoon Don Tyson — have themselves been subjects of extensive investigative and surveillance files by the D.E.A. or the F.B.I. similar to those relating to Seal, including allegations of illegal drug activity that Tyson has recently acknowledged publicly and denounced as "totally false." "This may be the first president in history with such close buddies who have NADDIS numbers," says one concerned law-enforcement official, referring to the Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Intelligence System numbers assigned those under protracted investigation for possible drug crimes.<br />
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The Seal documents are still more proof that for Clinton, the Arkansas of the eighties and the company he kept there will not soon disappear as a political or even constitutional liability.<br />
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"I've always felt we never got the whole story there," Clinton said in 1991.<br />
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Indeed. But as president of the United States, he need no longer wonder — and neither should the nation. On the basis of the Seal documents (copies of which are being given to the Whitewater special prosecutor in any case), the president should ask immediately for a full report on the matter from the C.I.A., the D.E.A., the F.B.I., the Justice Department, and other relevant agencies of his own administration — including the long-buried evidence gathered by I.R.S. agent Duncan and Arkansas state police investigator Welch. President Clinton should also offer full executive-branch cooperation with a reopened congressional inquiry, and expose the subject fully for what it says of both the American past and future.<br />
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Seal saw himself as a patriot to the end. He had dictated his own epitaph for his grave in Baton Rouge: "A rebel adventurer the likes of whom in previous days made America great." In a sense his documents may now render that claim less ironic than it seems.<br />
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The tons of drugs that Seal and his associates brought into the country, officials agree, affected tens of thousands of lives at the least, and exacted an incalculable toll on American society. And for the three presidents, the enduring questions of political scandal are once again apt: What did they know about Mena? When did they know it? Why didn't they do anything to stop it?<br />
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The crimes of Mena were real. That much is now documented beyond doubt. The only remaining issues are how far they extended, and who was responsible.<br />
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This is a documentary series that was never aired where an investigative journalist uncovers truth to the rumors about Iran-Contra during the Reagan years, CIA drug trafficking, CIA drug operations in Mena, Arkansas during the Clinton governorship and presidency. It also implies that former president George H.W. Bush, who was vice president during the Reagan years, and was also former head of the CIA was also involved. This documentary to my knowledge was recorded from a hacked satellite tuned to an "edit" channel which was feeding coast to coast "preview programming" to network executives in NYC. Apparently the decision was made against running this program due to its content and the "heat" that it would generate. The CIA poses as FBI more often than not, so perhaps the "FBI" stated this would interfere with their investigation......<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/t9Cx5ISMcWk?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><span id="goog_1065000952"></span><span id="goog_1065000953"></span> if all of this so called evidence is so true, how is Clinton not behind bars? Its public enough to get to the answers.emmanuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08566669753834950327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073964493182580749.post-22864942117644694122016-07-03T21:22:00.000-07:002016-07-19T16:56:24.756-07:00Women in Islam<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/09/22/why-is-saudi-arabia-heading-the-u-n-human-rights-council.html" target="_blank">Why Is Saudi Arabia Heading a UN Human Rights Council Panel?</a></h1>
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The Human Rights Council is beholden to outmoded protocols that allow rotating member-states to assume control of issues they’re least qualified to address.</div>
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<span class="time">Published time: February 03, 2014 03:34 </span> <br />
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<a class="get" data-url="http://rt.com/news/saudi-arabia-counterterrorism-law-556/" href="http://rt.com/news/saudi-arabia-counterterrorism-law-556/">Get short URL</a> </div>
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Actions that threaten Saudi Arabia’s unity, disturb public order, or defame the reputation of the state or the king – will be considered acts of terrorism under a new counterterrorism law which has come into force in the gulf kingdom.<br />
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The new legislature was ratified by King Abdullah on Sunday after being approved by the Cabinet in December, following the initial proposal by the Interior Ministry and advisory Shura Council.<br />
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It defines terrorism as “any act carried out by an offender … intended to disturb the public order…to shake the security of society… stability of the state… expose its national unity to danger… suspend the basic law of governance or some of its articles,” according to its text as cited by Human Rights Watch (HRW).<br />
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Terrorists can also be considered those individuals who “insult the reputation of the state or its position… inflict damage upon one of its public utilities or its natural resources,” or those who attempt to force “governmental authority to carry out or prevent it from carrying out an action, or to threaten to carry out acts that lead to the named purposes or incite [these acts].”<br />
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The legislation, made up of 40 clauses, allows the security forces to arrest and detain suspects for up to six months with the possibility to extend the confinement for another six months. Suspects are allowed to be held incommunicado for 90 days without the presence of their lawyer during the initial questioning.<br />
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Internet surveillance and phone tracking are also allowed under the new legislature, as well as the right for the security services to raid the homes of suspected terrorists, without prior approval from a judge. People suspected of financing terrorist activities could also be prosecuted.<br />
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The interior minister, rather than any judge, is empowered to suspend sentences or drop charges and release a person on trial.<br />
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When the legislature was approved in December, HRW lashed out against the Kingdom’s strive to limit freedom of speech and criticized the monarchy over its very vague definition of terrorism.<br />
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“Vague and overbroad legal provisions cannot be the basis for overriding a broad array of fundamental rights,” HRW said in a statement in December. “Saudi Arabia’s denial of the rights to participate in public affairs, and freedom of religion, peaceful assembly, association, and expression, as well as its systematic discrimination against women greatly exceed any notion of justifiable restrictions.”</blockquote>
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Activists are worried that the law will first of all be applied to silence the liberal opposition in the country. Saudi activist Abdulaziz Al Shubaily from the Saudi Association for Civil and Political Rights (HASEM) described the law as a “catastrophe”.<br />
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“If I call for the release of someone from jail for being held longer than their sentence, I can be tried for “asking the state to take action,” Shubaily said. “When I call for a constitutional monarchy, I can now be charged with terrorism.”<br />
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“They characterize you as a terrorist because you ask the kingdom to do something it does not want to do,” he added.<br />
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HRW researcher Adam Coogle said, that the new law is “draconian in spirit and letter, and there is every reason to fear that the authorities will easily and eagerly use it against peaceful dissidents.”<br />
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Saudi women who are seen driving can now be accused of disturbing public order for defying a driving ban imposed on females and face punishment under a new law. In October last year, several images emerged online of women getting in cars and going around the city as part of a unified protest. <br />
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<span class="time">Edited time: November 05, 2013 08:14 </span> <br />
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<a class="get" data-url="http://rt.com/news/woman-arrest-driving-saudi-164/" href="http://rt.com/news/woman-arrest-driving-saudi-164/">Get short URL</a> </div>
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A Kuwaiti woman was arrested in Saudi Arabia for driving a car while taking her diabetic father to the hospital. The arrest comes just one week after Saudi women protested the driving ban in the conservative Gulf monarchy.<br />
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The woman was driving a Chevrolet Epica with her father in the passenger seat when she was pulled over in an area located near the border with Kuwait, Saudi police told Kuwait Times newspaper.<br />
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She explained that she was taking her sick father to the hospital, but officers were unsympathetic. The woman was detained and is now being held in custody pending an investigation, police said.<br />
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The media report provided no information on whether her sick father made it to the hospital.<br />
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There are close ties between Kuwaitis and Saudis in the area, with people from both countries crossing the border on a regular basis.<br />
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However, Kuwait has surged ahead in terms of female rights. Women in the country are allowed to drive, vote, and run for political office.<br />
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In Saudi Arabia, attempted reforms from King Abdullah often face resistance from the country’s senior clergy.<br />
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Saudi woman are not allowed to drive cars, travel abroad, open a bank account, or work without permission from a male relative.<br />
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Last Saturday, a protest took place against the driving ban, which resulted in 16 female drivers being stopped by police. They were fined 300 riyals (US$80) each and forced along with their male guardians to pledge to obey the kingdom’s laws.<br />
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Activists said that more than 60 Saudi women got behind the wheel to protest the driving ban. <br />
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A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced a woman to 10 lashes for breaking the country's ban on female drivers.</div>
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The woman, identified only as Shema, was found guilty of driving in Jeddah in July.</div>
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Women2drive, which campaigns for women to be allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia, says she has already lodged an appeal.</div>
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In recent months, scores of women have driven vehicles in Saudi cities in an effort to put pressure on the monarchy to change the law.</div>
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The sentence comes two days after the Saudi leader King Abdullah announced women would be allowed to vote for the first time in 2015.</div>
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Two other women are due to appear in court later this year on similar charges, correspondents say.</div>
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emmanuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08566669753834950327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073964493182580749.post-39840468995003571252016-06-24T17:48:00.001-07:002016-06-24T18:17:10.450-07:00The Masked Arab<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yewG5RoKLNc" width="560"></iframe><br />
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<hr /><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">22/07/2014</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Dear friends,</span><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /> <span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">As a new round of violence kicks off in Israel-Palestine and more children are killed, it's not enough just to call for another ceasefire. It’s time to take definitive non-violent action to end this decades long nightmare.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /> <span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Our governments have failed -- while they have talked peace and passed UN resolutions, they and our companies have continued to aid, trade and invest in the violence. The only way to stop this hellish cycle of Israel confiscating Palestinian lands, daily collective punishment of innocent Palestinian families, Hamas firing rockets, and Israel bombing Gaza is to make the economic cost of this conflict too high to bear.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /> <span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">We know it works -- when EU countries issued guidelines not to fund the illegal Israeli settlements it caused an earthquake in the cabinet, and when citizens successfully persuaded a Dutch pension fund, PGGM, to withdraw, it created a political storm.</span><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /> <span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">This may not feel like a direct way to stop the current killing, but history tells us that raising the financial cost of oppression can pave a path to peace. Click to call on 6 key banks, pension funds and businesses to pull out -- If we all take smart action now and turn up the heat, they could withdraw, the Israeli economy will take a hit, and we can turn the calculation of the extremists politically profiting from this hell upside down:</span><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /> <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fsecure.avaaz.org%2Fen%2Fisrael_palestine_this_is_how_it_ends_loc%2F%3FtnJLaib&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNEOYF8Wwj_Ev134ZXkT_VBcA1qblw" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #0000cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">https://secure.avaaz.org/en/<wbr></wbr>israel_palestine_this_is_how_<wbr></wbr>it_ends_loc/?tnJLaib</a><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /> <span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">In the last five weeks three Israeli teenagers were murdered in the West Bank, a Palestinian boy was burnt alive, an American kid was brutally beaten up by Israeli police, and now over 40 Gazan kids have died in Israeli air strikes. This is not the “Middle East conflict”, it's becoming a war on children. And we are becoming numb to this global shame.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /> <span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">The media makes out like this is an intractable conflict between two equal warring parties, but it is not. Palestinian extremists' attacks on innocent civilians must be condemned and ended but the root of the conflict lies elsewhere -- in the dispossession of the Palestinian people. Israel currently occupies, colonises, bombs, raids, and controls the water, trade and the borders of a legally free nation that has been recognised by the United Nations. In Gaza, Israel has created the largest open-air prison in the world, and then blockaded it. Now as bombs fall, the families, literally have no way to get out.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /> <span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">These are war crimes and we wouldn't accept that anywhere else, why accept it in Palestine? Half a century ago Israel and its Arab neighbours went to war and Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza. Occupying territory after war happens all the time. But no military occupation should turn into a decades long tyranny which only fuels and benefits extremists who use terror to target the innocent. And who suffers? The majority of loving families on both sides that just want freedom and peace.</span><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /> <span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">To many, particularly in Europe and North America, calling for companies to withdraw investments from financing or taking part in Israel's occupation of Palestine sounds completely biased. But it’s not -- this is the most potent non-violent strategy to end the ritual violence, ensure Israelis' security and achieve Palestinian freedom. Israel’s power and wealth dwarfs Palestine, and if it refuses to end its illegal occupation, the world must act to make the cost unbearable.</span><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /> <span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Dutch pension fund, ABP, invests in Israeli banks that help fund the colonisation of Palestine. Massive banks like Barclays invest in suppliers of Israeli arms and other occupation businesses. Computer giant Hewlett-Packard supplies sophisticated surveillance to control the movement of Palestinians. And Caterpillar provides bulldozers that are used to demolish Palestinian homes and farms. If we can create the biggest global call ever to get these companies to pull out, we will show clearly that the world will no longer be complicit in this bloodshed. The Palestinian people are calling on the world to support this path and progressive Israelis support it too. Let’s join them:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /> <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fsecure.avaaz.org%2Fen%2Fisrael_palestine_this_is_how_it_ends_loc%2F%3FtnJLaib&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNEOYF8Wwj_Ev134ZXkT_VBcA1qblw" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #0000cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">https://secure.avaaz.org/en/<wbr></wbr>israel_palestine_this_is_how_<wbr></wbr>it_ends_loc/?tnJLaib</a><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /> <span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Our community has worked to bring peace, hope, and change to some of the world’s toughest conflicts, and often that means taking difficult positions to address the root cause. For years our community has looked for a political solution to this nightmare, but with this new round of horror unfolding in Gaza, the time has come to turn to sanctions and disinvestment to finally help end the horror for Israelis and Palestinians.</span><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /> <span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">With hope and determination,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /> <span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Alice, Fadi, Ben, Laila, Anna, Ricken, Jo, Nell, Mais and the entire Avaaz team</span><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /> <br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /> <span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">MORE INFORMATION:</span><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /> <span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">UN independent expert calls for boycott of businesses profiting from Israeli settlements (UN)</span><br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.un.org%2Fapps%2Fnews%2Fstory.asp%3FNewsID%3D43376%23.U7_ynqhMrRI&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNFglWof397NVXr6ab2v5URulbNcNA" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #0000cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">http://www.un.org/apps/news/<wbr></wbr>story.asp?NewsID=43376#.U7_<wbr></wbr>ynqhMrRI</a><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /> <span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">12 more EU countries warn against trade with Israeli settlements (Haaretz)</span><br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.haaretz.com%2Fnews%2Fdiplomacy-defense%2F.premium-1.603030&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNH0RTwzGRkx5r-1uF3xhLpfYOH25A" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #0000cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">http://www.haaretz.com/news/<wbr></wbr>diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.<wbr></wbr>603030</a><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /> <span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Israelis, Palestinians Pro Peace Process, but Not Hopeful (Gallup)</span><br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gallup.com%2Fpoll%2F161456%2Fisraelis-palestinians-pro-peace-process-not-hopeful.aspx&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNG_HVqkK1_eGxMZRLeDXQz2pSQYQw" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #0000cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">http://www.gallup.com/poll/<wbr></wbr>161456/israelis-palestinians-<wbr></wbr>pro-peace-process-not-hopeful.<wbr></wbr>aspx</a><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /> <span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Under pressure, a strong EU-Israel relationship faces uncertain future (Middle East Monitor)</span><br />
<a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.middleeastmonitor.com%2Farticles%2Fdebate%2F9675-under-pressure-a-strong-eu-israel-relationshi...&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGr6F8_G9BurdbbGS7YtvZ1BEsg5Q" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #0000cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">https://www.middleeastmonitor.<wbr></wbr>com/articles/debate/9675-<wbr></wbr>under-pressure-a-strong-eu-<wbr></wbr>israel-relationshi...</a><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /> <span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Israel-Gaza conflict: 80 per cent of Palestinians killed by Israeli strikes are civilians, UN report says (The Independent)</span><br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.independent.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fworld%2Fmiddle-east%2Fisraelgaza-conflict-80-per-cent-of-palestinians-killed-by-israeli-strikes-are-civilians-un-report-says-9606397.html&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNFOkan6Den6yv3JA0ZYsjntAX0qkw" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #0000cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">http://www.independent.co.uk/<wbr></wbr>news/world/middle-east/<wbr></wbr>israelgaza-conflict-80-per-<wbr></wbr>cent-of-palestinians-killed-<wbr></wbr>by-israeli-strikes-are-<wbr></wbr>civilians-un-report-says-<wbr></wbr>9606397.html</a><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /> <span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Rule 156. Definition of War Crimes (ICRC)</span><br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.icrc.org%2Fcustomary-ihl%2Feng%2Fdocs%2Fv1_cha_chapter44_rule156&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNFx2dsyIKIF6qnCzWl0Fv_6bMPPbA" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #0000cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">http://www.icrc.org/customary-<wbr></wbr>ihl/eng/docs/v1_cha_chapter44_<wbr></wbr>rule156</a><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /> <span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Palestinians: Most Gaza dead are children, women, elderly (Haaretz)</span><br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.haaretz.com%2Fnews%2Fdiplomacy-defense%2F.premium-1.604443&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNEL1mWsJ73SrXZlLqeTzQfyBavheA" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #0000cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">http://www.haaretz.com/news/<wbr></wbr>diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.<wbr></wbr>604443</a><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /> <span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Caught on Tape: US Teen Allegedly Beaten by Israeli Police (ABC News)</span><br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fabcnews.go.com%2FGMA%2Fvideo%2Fcaught-tape-us-teen-tariq-abu-khdeir-allegedly-24449873&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHJXOdA0BqgqEQT62pOwQxs--gT6Q" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #0000cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/<wbr></wbr>video/caught-tape-us-teen-<wbr></wbr>tariq-abu-khdeir-allegedly-<wbr></wbr>24449873</a><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /> <span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">A policy of displacement (Visualizing Palestine)</span><br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fvisualizingpalestine.org%2Finfograhic%2Fa-policy-of-displacement&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNE9pKpaJyzvpKukhBp9Wk9ZRkaVzw" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #0000cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">http://visualizingpalestine.<wbr></wbr>org/infograhic/a-policy-of-<wbr></wbr>displacement</a><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /> <span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Exposing the Israeli Occupation Industry</span><br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.whoprofits.org%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGx6K19F1deMLYrRYX3wn9hXBYIew" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #0000cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">http://www.whoprofits.org/</a><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /> <span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Additional sources for this campaign:</span><br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Favaaz.org%2Fen%2Fisrael_palestine_this_is_how_it_ends_sources_a%2F%3Fblast&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGuSR8b4UUjD07zcXfylskSDn5FFQ" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #0000cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">http://avaaz.org/en/israel_<wbr></wbr>palestine_this_is_how_it_ends_<wbr></wbr>sources_a/?blast</a><br />
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Avaaz.org is a 37-million-person global campaign network</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people shape global decision-making. ("Avaaz" means "voice" or "song" in many languages.) Avaaz members live in every nation of the world; our team is spread across 18 countries on 6 continents and operates in 17 languages. Learn about some of Avaaz's biggest campaigns<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.avaaz.org%2Fen%2Fhighlights.php%2F%3Ffooter&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGkvi6-U7KPLESpVq7dvAyGwfFKeA" style="color: #0000cc;" target="_blank">here</a>, or follow us on<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FAvaaz&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHsZKx_RN3RjRXW9TCNY4J9Hsy3cw" style="color: #0000cc;" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>or<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FAvaaz&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNFQ3V_I4wky8_T34cVi-OOSfQHc0w" style="color: #0000cc;" target="_blank">Twitter</a>.</span></div>emmanuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08566669753834950327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073964493182580749.post-9628792081747565102016-06-01T10:00:00.000-07:002016-06-01T10:00:00.439-07:00Singapore<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qKZhtdZ5gp0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
emmanuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08566669753834950327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073964493182580749.post-66078374983422613172016-05-29T04:48:00.000-07:002016-05-28T19:17:17.535-07:00The religious police in Saudi Arabia<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UoVXp3nqNfo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
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Published on Jun 6, 2013<br />
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Saudi Arabia has released prominent novelist Turki al-Hamad, who was arrested in December after a series of tweets criticising Islamism and saying Islam needed renewal, an activist said.<br />
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"He is in his house now in Riyadh," said Waleed Abu al-Khair, a lawyer and human rights activist in the conservative Islamic kingdom, where criticism of the Muslim faith, or senior members of the clergy and ruling family, is not tolerated.<br />
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Hamad, one of Saudi Arabia's best known liberal thinkers, was not tried during his six months in jail, Abu al-Khair said on Wednesday.<br />
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Before his detention he wrote tweets that likened some ultra-conservatives to Nazis and called for a renewal of Islam.<br />
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The Justice Ministry was not immediately able to comment on Hamad's release or the reasons for his detention. Hamad's mobile telephone remained switched off on Wednesday.<br />
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Last year Saudi Arabia imprisoned a young blogger, Hamza Kashgari, on blasphemy charges after he published tweets that imagined a conversation with the Prophet Mohammad. Kashgari remains behind bars.<br />
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Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam and home to the faith's holiest sites in Mecca and Medina, practises Islamic law, allowing judges to pass verdicts and sentences based on their interpretation of religious and legal texts.<br />
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Blasphemy is illegal, as is leaving the Islamic faith.<br />
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Morality police patrol public areas to ensure strict religious norms, including modest dress, are observed, while the public practise of other religions is forbidden.<br />
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Published on Nov 21, 2013<br />
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Two men have been arrested in Saudi Arabia for offering free hugs to passers-by in the capital, Riyadh.<br />
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The Saudi religious police detained the two young men for indulging in exotic practices and offending public order.<br />
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The free hugs movement aims to "brighten up" people's lives by offering strangers hugs.<br />
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A young Saudi man, Bandr al-Swed, posted a video of himself offering hugs to male strangers on YouTube, where it has received nearly 1.5m views.<br />
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"After seeing the Free Hugs Campaign in many different countries, I decided to do it in my own country," Mr Swed told al-Arabiya news.<br />
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"I liked the idea and thought it could bring happiness to Saudi Arabia."<br />
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Britain's Independent newspaper reports that his video inspired two more young Saudis, Abdulrahman al-Khayyal and a friend.<br />
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They offered hugs, advertised on a placard, in one of Riyadh's main shopping streets.<br />
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They were subsequently arrested by the kingdom's religious police, the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which is charged with ensuring that sharia law is strictly adhered to.<br />
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The two were required to sign a pledge that they would not offer hugs again, reports say.<br />
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The duties of Saudi Arabia's religious police, or mutawa, include preventing women driving, enforcing modest dress codes, policing bans on public entertainment and making sure all businesses close for prayers five times a day.<br />
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Some in the kingdom find the mutawa's powers an interference in their lives.<br />
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The religious police attracted criticism for their role in a 2002 fire at a school in Mecca in which 15 girls died. The police were accused of trying to keep the girls inside the burning building because they were not wearing the proper black robes required of Saudi females.<br />
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<hr /><a href="http://rt.com/news/line/2013-01-05/#id42794">January 5</a><br />
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<b>Saudi pilot arrested in the US for raping a boy</b><br />
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A Saudi Arabian military officer has been charged with raping a boy in a hotel on New Year's Eve. The 23-year-old sergeant in the Royal Saudi Air Force, Mazen Alotaibi was arrested on New Years eve in Nevada and accused of assaulting a 13-year-old boy in a Circus Circus hotel bathroom, while three other men were in the adjoining room smoking marijuana. According to the police report, Alotaibi said he offered to pay for sex but raped the boy when he refused. The accused was in the US for a training mission.<br />
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Published: 28 December, 2012, 12:05<br />
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The religious police in Saudi Arabia have raided a house in the Al Jawf Province and arrested 41 people, who were “plotting to celebrate Christmas,” a police statement said.<br />
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The police said that the detainees were Christian guests of an Asian diplomat, reports the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar.<br />
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There were also a Saudi Arabian and an Egyptian, both Muslims, present at the gathering. The police account says the host and the two Muslim guests were “severely intoxicated.”<br />
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It is unclear whether or not the people detained in the Wednesday night raid were released or face further prosecution.<br />
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Saudi Arabia outlaws any religious practice except those in line with a strict version of Sunni Islam, the state religion in the theocratic monarchy. The authorities usually turn a blind eye to private ceremonies, but this policy is neither set in law nor observed at all times.<br />
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The “virtue and vice” police, which enforce religious norms in the country, regularly launch crackdowns on Christians and Hindus living in Saudi Arabia.<br />
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The attitude is encouraged by religious leaders, who justify the persecutions. Saudi Arabia's head mufti Sheikh Abdel Aziz bin Abdullah had previously condemned “invitations to Christmas or wedding celebrations,” the newspaper says.<br />
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Hamza Kashgari's tweets on the prophet Muhammad's birthday have resulted in charges of blasphemy, apostasy, and atheism – and Saudi Arabia appears to be making an example of his actions.<br />
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<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2012/0214/Why-a-Saudi-blogger-faces-a-possible-death-sentence-for-three-tweets">By Elizabeth Dickinson, Correspondent / February 14, 2012 </a><br />
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Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates<br />
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As dawn rose over Saudi Arabia on Feb. 4, the Muslim holiday marking the prophet Muhammad’s birthday, a 23-year-old business administration graduate named Hamza Kashgari posted three tweets in which he imagined himself speaking directly with the founder of Islam.<br />
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<br />
"On your birthday, I will say that I have loved the rebel in you, that you've always been a source of inspiration to me, and that I do not like the halos of<br />
divinity around you," read his first tweet, translated here from the original Arabic. "I shall not pray for you."<br />
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One of Mr. Kashgari’s friends noticed the tweets when he woke up. As he rushed off to work, he said to himself, “I’m afraid for him,” he recalls.<br />
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By the time the friend ended his shift, he switched on his phone to find thousands of Twitter users calling for Kashgari's execution. Furious at what they saw as insulting the prophet Mohammad, critics also created a Facebook page called: “The Saudi people want the execution of Hamza Kashgari.” The next day, a famous Islamic activist, Sheikh Nasir al-Omar, used his daily YouTube lesson – watched by thousands online – to call Kashgari a blasphemer.<br />
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Kashgari’s friends sent him a short message: Run.<br />
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He fled, but only got as far as Malaysia before being deported back home to face charges of blasphemy, apostasy, and atheism – charges that carry a death sentence in Saudi jurisprudence. But Kashgari's trials are not just about three phrases of 140 characters or less. They stem from broader tensions in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where the monarchy has in recent years pushed back on the more conservative religious establishment but is now – in the wake of Arab revolts around the region – anxious to shore up support.<br />
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"Certainly since the upheavals, there’s been even more concern on the part of the regime to appeal to religious constituencies," says political scientist F. Gregory Gause, author of "Saudi Arabia in the New Middle East."<br />
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Kashgari was an easy target, says Pascal Menoret, professor of Middle East Studies at New York University Abu Dhabi.<br />
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“This is a very characteristic story of repression in Saudi,” says Professor Menoret, author of The Saudi Enigma: A History. “Get rid of a young man – it’s costless, and everybody’s scared.”<br />
A willingness to push against limits<br />
<br />
Kashgari’s friend described him as someone who was always walking close to the edge. Several years ago, he started attending meetings of intellectuals in the city who gathered to read and discuss religion and philosophy. Not long after, he became a columnist for the local paper Al Bilad, where his writing was sometimes critical of the government. He criticized flood relief when his city of Jeddah was overrun with water last year; he raised questions about the religious police. <br />
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His prominent role as a commentator got him invitations to a number of social forums, including the Saudi Intellectuals Forum sponsored by the Ministry of Culture. “We were talking to him, and we told him, ‘Kashgari you are [a] known, famous person,’ the friend recalled. " 'Be careful with what you are writing.’ I remember the look in his face when one of my friends told him that: He [was] staring at the wall, like he doesn’t want to accept this fact [that he could be in danger.]”<br />
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His tweets on the prophet's birthday were not new ideas; he had shared them before on his blog. But when he sparked public uproar this time when he wrote, "On your birthday, I shall not bow to you," according to a translation by Menoret. "I shall not kiss your hand. Rather, I shall shake it as equals do, and smile at you as you smile at me. I shall speak to you as a friend, no more."</div>emmanuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08566669753834950327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073964493182580749.post-74739479211412265282016-05-28T18:10:00.002-07:002016-05-28T18:10:34.681-07:00Zootopia<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8nMmC3YvR6M" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
Film Theory: Zootopia's Crack Conspiracy Theoryemmanuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08566669753834950327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073964493182580749.post-60369096237308528282016-05-26T19:52:00.000-07:002016-05-26T19:52:18.773-07:00David Icke <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ojvQWO6fonE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
emmanuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08566669753834950327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073964493182580749.post-87696788365737180902016-05-15T20:45:00.000-07:002016-05-13T05:08:51.578-07:00A wanna-be authority figure who loves guns.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h1 class="content__headline js-score" itemprop="headline" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Guardian Egyptian Web', 'Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif; font-size: 2.25rem; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 2.5rem; margin: 0px; orphans: auto; padding-bottom: 2.25rem; padding-top: 0.375rem; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">
<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/12/george-zimmerman-trayvon-martin-gun-auction" target="_blank">George Zimmerman to auction gun he used to kill Trayvon Martin</a></h1>
<h1 class="content__headline js-score" itemprop="headline" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Guardian Egyptian Web', 'Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif; font-size: 2.25rem; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 2.5rem; margin: 0px; orphans: auto; padding-bottom: 2.25rem; padding-top: 0.375rem; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #005689; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "guardian text sans web" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16px; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Thursday 12 May 2016<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="content__dateline-time" style="background-color: white; color: #005689; font-family: "guardian text sans web" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">07.42 BST</span></h1>
<h1 class="content__headline js-score" itemprop="headline" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Guardian Egyptian Web', 'Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif; font-size: 2.25rem; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 2.5rem; margin: 0px; orphans: auto; padding-bottom: 2.25rem; padding-top: 0.375rem; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span class="content__dateline-time" style="background-color: white; color: #005689; font-family: "guardian text sans web" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">George Zimmerman has listed the gun with which he killed Trayvon Martin in 2012 for auction, touting it as “your opportunity to own a piece of American history”.</span> </span> </h1>
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<a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36281438">The pistol used to kill unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin is again being auctioned online.</a><br />
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George Zimmerman, who shot and killed the teenager, had planned to auction what he called "an American icon" on the website Gun Broker on Thursday.<br />
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This is not the first time that Zimmerman has sought to cash in on his notoriety. His first painting of an American flag, emblazoned with the words "God One Nation with Liberty and Justice For All," sold on eBay for the staggering sum of $100,000. But it did not impress critics, who called it "primitive" and "appalling."<br />
Harsher language will no doubt be used to describe the sale of the pistol that killed Trayvon Martin.<br />
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By <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/content/mike-schneider">MIKE SCHNEIDER</a></div>
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— <span class="updated" title="2013-11-18T20:00:38-05:00">Nov. 18, 2013 8:00 PM EST</span> </div>
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<a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/george-zimmerman-charged-assault-battery" target="_blank">APOPKA, Fla. (AP)</a> — George Zimmerman told a 911 operator that he never pulled a gun on his girlfriend, and that it was she who smashed a table at the home they shared outside Orlando.<br />
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Zimmerman said on the 911 call Monday that the girlfriend, Samantha Scheibe, also became upset when he started to leave.<br />
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Deputies didn't buy Zimmerman's story and charged him with aggravated assault, battery and criminal mischief.<br />
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Scheibe told deputies that Zimmerman smashed a glass table with his firearm, pointed the gun at her and shoved her out of their home after she asked him to leave.<br />
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Subject: <a href="http://act.credoaction.com/sign/holder_zimmerman/?sp_ref=4606908.4.272.e.1155.2&referrer_akid=8421.5084505.7-UdNY&source=mailto_sp">Sign the petition</a> <br />
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Trayvon Martin is dead, and his killer is walking free. The injustice of the situation is both palpable and maddening. There is no question that had George Zimmerman not acted as an armed vigilante almost a year and a half ago, Trayvon Martin would still be alive. But while a jury in Florida decided not to hold Zimmerman responsible for this senseless murder, the federal government can still take action. I just signed a petition telling Attorney General Eric Holder to bring civil rights charges against George Zimmerman. You should sign it, too. <br />
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<strike>http://act.credoaction.com/sign/holder_zimmerman/?sp_ref=4606908.4.272.e.1155.2&referrer_akid=8421.5084505.7-UdNY&source=mailto_sp </strike><br />
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What being liberal or conservative has to do with condoning murder? <br />
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It is baffling that a nigger would take <a href="http://cnsnews.com/blog/bob-parks/pundits-lament-profiling-blacks-dont-some-us-kinda-invite-it">the position of Mr. Parks</a>. By the way, while I do feel apprehensive about calling Mr. Parks names, because people of his kind are physically strong and prone to violence, I am assured by his statement that he would just say: "Yes, sir". <br />
<br />
Even if one accepts that George Zimmerman was justified in profiling and stalking and confronting Trayvon Martin, end even more, if one accept that at some point Martin got the upper hand, the fact is that Zimmerman provoked the situation and at least a charge of Manslaughter is in order. Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The law generally differentiates between levels of criminal culpability based on the mens rea, or state of mind; or the circumstances under which the killing occurred (mitigating factors). Manslaughter is usually broken down into two distinct categories: voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter; <br />
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Trayvon Martin is dead, and whatever verdict would no change that, but a verdict of innocence makes Zimmerman the victim and sets a dangerous precedent that it is all right to look for lethal confrontations.<br />
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<a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/george-zimmerman-sues-nbc-and-reporters" target="_blank">ORLANDO, Fla. (AP)</a> — George Zimmerman sued NBC on Thursday, claiming he was defamed when the network edited his 911 call to police after the shooting of Trayvon Martin to make it sound like he was racist.<br />
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The former neighborhood watch volunteer filed the lawsuit seeking an undisclosed amount of money in Seminole County, outside Orlando. Also named in the complaint were three reporters covering the story for NBC or an NBC-owned television station.<br />
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The complaint said the airing of the edited call has inflicted emotional distress on Zimmerman, making him fear for his life and causing him to suffer nausea, insomnia and anxiety.<br />
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<a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2017819414_zimmerman23.html"><br />
To think minorities can't be racist against another group is very naive. </a><br />
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<b>By Manuel Roig-Franzia, Tom Jackman and Darryl Fears</b><br />
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</b><br />
<b>The Washington Post</b><br />
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The shooter was once a Catholic altar boy, with a surname that could have been Jewish.<br />
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His father is white, neighbors say. His mother is Peruvian. And his family is eager to point out that some of his relatives are black. The slain victim, we know, was named Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager in a hoodie.<br />
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<b>Why are they calling him white, wondered Paul Ebert</b>, the Prince William County commonwealth's attorney who knew Zimmerman's mother, Gladys, from her days as an interpreter at the county courthouse. Zimmerman's mother, Ebert knew, was Peruvian, and he thought of her as Hispanic.<br />
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Looking at Zimmerman's photograph made Darren Soto, a Florida state legislator, think he might be Latino. <br />
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"You have people with Anglo first and last names who speak perfect Spanish and are from Puerto Rico. And you've got a third- or fourth-generation Joey Gonzalez from Tampa who can't speak a word of Spanish."<br />
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The focus in Florida, where thousands gathered Thursday night in Sanford for an emotional rally, has primarily been on complaints that Martin, 17, may have been targeted because of his race.<br />
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In Manassas, Va., where Zimmerman lived in the 1980s and 1990s with his parents and two siblings, neighbors tended to define the family based on their spiritual profile. "<b>Very Catholic ... very religious,</b>" their neighbor Jim Rudzenski recalled Thursday. The children attended All Saints Catholic School through the eighth grade before going to Osbourn High School. George became an altar server and evening receptionist at All Saints Catholic Church.<br />
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Strict upbringing<br />
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The father, Robert Zimmerman, is a retired military man. He could be strict. And the children's grandmother, who lived with the family, also kept a watchful eye, said Kay Hall, who lived across the street from the Zimmermans for about 20 years. George and his siblings "didn't play with the neighborhood kids," Rudzenski said. "They had to stay home and play." It was always "Yes, ma'am," "No, ma'am," Hall said.<br />
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Zimmerman's life was not without difficulties. In 2001, <b>when he was 17 or 18, he was the victim of a minor criminal assault</b>, said Manassas police Sgt. Eddie Rivera. The city's computer records do not provide details.<br />
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In school, Zimmerman hinted at ambitions in the business world. He joined a Future Business Leaders of America club. In his senior yearbook, he wrote: "I'm going to Florida to work with my godfather who just bought a $1 million business."<br />
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In Florida, Zimmerman shifted his plans, enrolling in Seminole State College with hopes of becoming a law-enforcement officer. He became the self-appointed protector of the streets around his home in Retreat at Twin Lakes, a gated community, although his neighborhood-watch organization was not officially registered.<br />
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In the past eight years, he called the police department at least 46 times with reports of various sightings: open garages, suspicious people. In 2005, according to police records obtained by The Orlando Sentinel and other news organizations, Zimmerman was twice accused of either criminal misconduct or violence. He had a concealed-weapon permit and had a black Kel-Tec semiautomatic handgun and a holster the night Martin died.<br />
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Zimmerman married Shellie Nicole Dean, a licensed cosmetologist, in late 2007. The next year, he resurfaced in court documents as a credit-card company pursued him for unpaid debts.<br />
<br />
Capital One accused Zimmerman of failing to pay more than $1,000. He settled with the company for $2,135.82, records show, to cover his debts with interest, as well as attorney and court costs. However, the credit-card company soon reported that Zimmerman wasn't making the payments he had agreed to.<br />
<br />
It's unclear how Zimmerman was employed when he encountered Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26.<br />
<br />
Teontae Ami, who also lives in the Retreat at Twin Lakes community, said very few black teens like himself live in the neighborhood. Ami, 17, said he and a close friend who is black would sit at the end of a driveway in the evening and felt uncomfortable when Zimmerman would pass them on a neighborhood patrol. They used to greet him, but he never responded, he said.<br />
<br />
"I think he took his job too seriously," Ami said, referring to Zimmerman's watch patrols. A student, Ami said his friend was once confronted by Zimmerman, who accused him of stealing a bike.<br />
<br />
"I don't want to call it a black thing, but it sure seemed like it," said Ami.<br />
<br />
Another neighbor, Frank Taaffe, 55, defended Zimmerman as "not a racist."<br />
<br />
Taaffe, a marketing specialist who had been a watch captain with Zimmerman until December, said he may have been "overzealous, maybe," but "his main concern is the safety and welfare of the community."<br />
<br />
He said Zimmerman had been doing watch patrols for about a year and was a stand-up guy. Records show Zimmerman is not the owner of the town home where he lives.<br />
<br />
Emphasizing diversity<br />
<br />
Zimmerman's father has sought to emphasize his family's diversity in hopes of saving his son from condemnation as a racist.<br />
<br />
While images of protests from across the country skitter past on television screens, the elder Zimmerman has tried to do what others have been doing, in various ways, for days: define his son. George is "a Spanish-speaking minority," the father wrote in a letter delivered to The Orlando Sentinel. "He would be the last to discriminate for any reason whatsoever." George, the father insisted, was more like the boy he killed than people thought. George was a minority — the other — too.<br />
<br />
The argument the father is making feels hollow and self-serving to Michaela Angela Davis, an African-American writer and activist who lives in New York. In her eyes, George Zimmerman's Hispanic roots don't give him cover.<br />
<br />
"You being a minority doesn't make you immune to racist beliefs," she said in an interview Thursday. Davis sees a pervasive cultural imprint, reinforced by media and entertainment imagery: the black man as a symbol of "violence, fear and deviant behavior." A young man could be susceptible to the influence of that image whether his "mother is from Peru or Norway."<br />
<br />
History of tension<br />
<br />
Hispanics and black Americans have a shared history of discrimination in the United States. But they also have a shared history of tension in neighborhoods, schools, even prisons. In Latin America, including Peru, Afro Latinos have frequently complained of a lack of political representation, economic disenfranchisement and the virtual absence of their image in popular culture, such as soap operas, an issue they attribute to racial exclusion.<br />
<br />
Zimmerman's legal fate could rest on examinations of possible motives that will be pieced together from clues, including snatches of audiotape, and from inquiries into whether he muttered a racial slur before the shooting.<br />
<br />
His family background doesn't discount possible racial motives, said Luis Martinez-Fernandez, a professor of Latin American and Caribbean history at the University of Central Florida. Hispanics are an ethnic group, but within that group there are different races. There are black Dominicans and Cubans, for instance.<br />
<br />
"Who is Hispanic and who's not is not as clear as other ethnic groups," said Martinez-Fernandez. "<b>There's no such thing as a Hispanic race.</b> It has to do with origin, culture and race. Some people argue that language should be a part. All this complicates identity."<br />
<br />
Hispanics make up the nation's largest ethnic group at more than 13 percent of the population, while African Americans are the largest racial group, with more than 12 percent of the population. In the 2010 Census, more than half of people who identified as Hispanic said they were white, and only 3 percent said they were black.<br />
<br />
"There's a sense that one group has been harmed historically more than the other," Martinez-Fernandez said. "There's been a history of the dominant group in power pitting one group against the other. I think we have not fought together. There have been few instances of that."<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Post staff writers Brady Dennis, Sari Horowitz and Jeremy Borden contributed to this report. Material from The Orlando Sentinel is included in this report.</div>
</div>
emmanuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08566669753834950327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073964493182580749.post-13784426663374841972016-05-08T21:29:00.000-07:002016-05-08T21:29:12.489-07:00A Knock At Midnight<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yg94ihXf948" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<br />
Brother Nathanael<br />
emmanuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08566669753834950327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073964493182580749.post-27549598401670656212016-05-07T21:05:00.001-07:002016-05-07T21:05:50.992-07:00Ted Cruz<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wsIeEcRXjTQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>emmanuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08566669753834950327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073964493182580749.post-11865924245586138802016-05-03T16:49:00.002-07:002016-05-03T16:49:22.096-07:00Eric Draitser<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YP6Q01PYct4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<br />
Published on May 2, 2016<br />
Eric Draitser of http://StopImperialism.org provides his analysis (May 1, 2016) of the ongoing destabilization of Latin America by right wing forces and their patrons in the US. Draitser provides the important background on the soft coup in Brazil, and how it is connected to finance capital whose puppet in Argentina, Mauricio Macri, is acting as de facto representative of Wall Street in Latin America. Want to know how Hillary Clinton, Wall Street, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) are connected to the developments in Latin America? Listen to Eric's hour long conversation with broadcaster Don DeBare.<br />
emmanuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08566669753834950327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073964493182580749.post-92163874390106890592016-01-31T11:07:00.000-08:002016-01-26T06:52:13.901-08:0024 hours at a time with no overtime pay<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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According to a recent front-page article in Bloomberg Magazine, Wal-Mart hired a defense contractor, Lockheed Martin, to use military-grade cybersecurity techniques to monitor the social media accounts of labor organizers and Wal-Mart employees.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><strong>Worse, on at least one occasion, the company’s global security team “began working with the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces” to counter worker protests.</strong><sup>1</sup></div>
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Giant corporations shouldn’t be able to enlist the FBI’s help to crack down on workers simply asking for dignity and respect.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><strong>So we are joining our friends at OUR Walmart to demand that the Department of Justice investigate the FBI’s relationship with Wal-Mart and whether the agency or company broke any laws.</strong></div>
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<strong><a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fact.credoaction.com%2Fsign%2FFBI_walmart%3Ft%3D4%26akid%3D16624.5084505._Fq35q&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGHg4eiOS9F0KOXpSzrWLYv8-dksA" rel="noreferrer" style="color: #0000cc;" target="_blank">Tell the Justice Department: Investigate reported FBI spying on Wal-Mart employees. Click here to sign the petition.</a></strong></div>
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Wal-Mart jobs pay so little that some workers go hungry. Most face irregular hours that make it impossible to raise parents or plan ahead, and have few benefits or health care coverage.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><strong>All Wal-Mart employees are asking for is higher pay, safe working conditions, dependable schedules, and respect in the workplace.<sup>2</sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>This is not terrorism, and there is no way the FBI should be involved.</strong></div>
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The Bloomberg report reveals an intentional and long-running effort on the part of Wal-Mart executives to monitor current and former employees who are involved with OUR Walmart. Wal-Mart organized a “Delta team” of executives tasked with cracking down, staffed up its labor hotline, and hired Lockheed Martin, one of the biggest defense contractors in the world.<sup>3</sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Many of the employees monitored were later fired, potentially violating the law.<sup>4</sup></div>
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In 2014, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a complaint against Wal-Mart, claiming that the company violated labor law in 14 states by engaging in retaliation against workers who organized for better pay and better lives.<sup>5</sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The NLRB investigation turned up thousands of documents, some of which detail Wal-Mart’s hiring of Lockheed Martin – and its unacceptable coordination with the FBI.<sup>6</sup></div>
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<strong>OUR Walmart has submitted a letter to the Department of Justice demanding an investigation, and we need to show that hundreds of thousands of Americans stand with them.<sup>7</sup></strong></div>
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<strong><a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fact.credoaction.com%2Fsign%2FFBI_walmart%3Ft%3D5%26akid%3D16624.5084505._Fq35q&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNE0ASFnjMExQqmzWos1c0dVsB-5jg" rel="noreferrer" style="color: #0000cc;" target="_blank">Tell the Justice Department: Investigate reported FBI spying on Wal-Mart employees. Click here to sign the petition.</a></strong></div>
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We do not know how often the FBI and Wal-Mart have teamed up. The documents unearthed by the NLRB also do not reveal the extent of FBI involvement in monitoring protesters who traveled by bus across the country to the retail behemoth’s Arkansas headquarters. It is also possible that Wal-Mart used information turned over by the FBI to illegally retaliate against employees.<sup>8</sup></div>
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OUR Walmart and Wal-Mart workers have been at the forefront of the "Fight for $15" and their courageous stand has yielded results providing momentum for higher wages across the country. If the FBI’s anti-terrorism team is partnering with Wal-Mart, it may be working with other companies as well.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><strong>We need to make sure the Justice Department doesn’t turn a blind eye any outrageous and dangerous abuse of authority targeting Wal-Mart workers.</strong></div>
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<strong>Tell the Justice Department: Investigate reported FBI spying on Wal-Mart employees. Click below to sign the petition:</strong></div>
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<strong><a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fact.credoaction.com%2Fsign%2FFBI_walmart%3Ft%3D6%26akid%3D16624.5084505._Fq35q&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNF901zFqZJRCnNJiG3K3tUpVi_zEA" rel="noreferrer" style="color: #0000cc;" target="_blank">http://act.credoaction.com/<wbr></wbr>sign/FBI_walmart?t=7&akid=<wbr></wbr>16624.5084505._Fq35q</a></strong></div>
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<strong>Thank you</strong><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>for speaking out,</div>
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Murshed Zaheed, Deputy Political Director<br /><a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fact.credoaction.com%2Fgo%2F109%3Ft%3D8%26akid%3D16624.5084505._Fq35q&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNH0w4CcrPhGgs19OtadTMWH-Z3GEw" rel="noreferrer" style="color: #0000cc;" target="_blank">CREDO Action from Working Assets</a></div>
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Add your name:</div>
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<ol style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">
<li>Susan Berfield, “<a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fact.credoaction.com%2Fgo%2F10419%3Ft%3D10%26akid%3D16624.5084505._Fq35q&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHGMop6iDT-tiPwk_HIFfLglVuB0g" rel="noreferrer" style="color: #0000cc;" target="_blank">How Walmart Keeps an Eye on Its Massive Workforce</a>,” Bloomberg, November 24, 2015.</li>
<li>Ibid.</li>
<li>Ibid.</li>
<li>OUR Walmart, "<a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fact.credoaction.com%2Fgo%2F10510%3Ft%3D11%26akid%3D16624.5084505._Fq35q&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNEq8fyT7rZCuLEFcAubcENhaWbOng" rel="noreferrer" style="color: #0000cc;" target="_blank">Letters to the Department of Justice</a>," United4Respect.org, January 14, 2016.</li>
<li>Amanda Becker, “<a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fact.credoaction.com%2Fgo%2F10420%3Ft%3D12%26akid%3D16624.5084505._Fq35q&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNFc0QVGwup-WTnOhJFRBnc383aD4Q" rel="noreferrer" style="color: #0000cc;" target="_blank">U.S. labor board alleges Wal-Mart violated labor law in 14 states</a>,” Reuters, January 15, 2014.</li>
<li>Berfield, “<a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fact.credoaction.com%2Fgo%2F10419%3Ft%3D13%26akid%3D16624.5084505._Fq35q&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHx9F615Oh8Sm0SL4Bm5dGgm20YhQ" rel="noreferrer" style="color: #0000cc;" target="_blank">How Walmart Keeps an Eye on Its Massive Workforce</a>.”</li>
<li>OUR Walmart, "<a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fact.credoaction.com%2Fgo%2F10510%3Ft%3D14%26akid%3D16624.5084505._Fq35q&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHuaI-F_OysjU7Y7F-m4jAaKAqAbg" rel="noreferrer" style="color: #0000cc;" target="_blank">Letters to the Department of Justice</a>," United4Respect.org, January 14, 2016.</li>
<li>Berfield, “<a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fact.credoaction.com%2Fgo%2F10419%3Ft%3D15%26akid%3D16624.5084505._Fq35q&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNFNBEvGwVYBaigNSUqR4SzDa1x07Q" rel="noreferrer" style="color: #0000cc;" target="_blank">How Walmart Keeps an Eye on Its Massive Workforce</a>.”</li>
</ol>
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<b> <a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/walmart-stop-profiting-from-forced-labor-in-louisiana?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=TeStojNljK&alert_id=TeStojNljK_oSbKAVvPeg" style="color: #508ba3;" target="_blank">Walmart: Stop Profiting from Forced Labor in Louisiana</a></b> </div>
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<b>Started by: Ana Rosa Diaz, Breaux Bridge, Louisiana.</b></div>
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My name is Ana Rosa Diaz. I'm 40 years old and I have four children. I came to the United States on an H-2B guestworker visa from my home in Tamaulipas, Mexico. I work in a small town in Louisiana with other guestworkers, peeling crawfish for a company called C.J.’s Seafood, which sells 85% of its products to Walmart.</div>
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Our boss forces us to work up to 24 hours at a time with no overtime pay. No matter how fast we work, they scream and curse at us to make us work faster. Our supervisor threatens to beat us with a shovel to stop us from taking breaks.</div>
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We live in trailers across from the boss's house, and we’re under surveillance all the time. The supervisors come into our trailers without warning, and they threaten to fire us if we leave after 9 p.m.</div>
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The supervisor also locked us in the plant so we couldn’t take breaks. One worker called 911. After that the boss rounded us up at 2:30 a.m., closed the door to keep the American employees out, and threatened our families.</div>
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He said, “As a friend I can be very good, but you don’t want to know me as an enemy. I have contacts with good people and bad people, and I know where all your families live. I can find you no matter where you hide.” We were terrified. </div>
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We want to work. We need to support our families. <b>But we also want to be treated like human beings.</b></div>
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We joined the National Guestworker Alliance and decided to go on strike. The boss refused to take back his threats against our families, so now we’re taking our demands to Walmart.</div>
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Walmart says it doesn't allow forced labor by any of its suppliers. But Walmart is profiting from the forced labor we lived through right here in Louisiana. And now they're trying to <b>cover up</b> what happened to us -- while refusing even to speak with us.</div>
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Walmart needs to <b>meet with us immediately</b>, and to show its suppliers that <b>it won't tolerate forced labor</b>. We’re demanding that Walmart:</div>
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1. Cancel its contract with C.J.’s Seafood to show that it won't profit from forced labor in Louisiana.</div>
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2. Sit down with us, the striking workers, <i>immediately</i> as a first step toward a real investigation -- rather than a cover-up.</div>
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3. Sign the NGA's Guestworker Dignity Standards to prevent forced labor and guarantee civil and labor rights for guestworkers across the Walmart supply chain. </div>
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<b>Please sign and stand with us!</b></div>
<div style="color: #333333; font-size: 13px; margin: 0 0 12px;">
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emmanuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08566669753834950327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073964493182580749.post-55707315556259596032016-01-24T18:54:00.003-08:002016-01-24T18:54:55.993-08:00cheap oil<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Published on Jan 21, 2016<br />
In this video Luke Rudkowski breaks down the latest news and developments with the low price of oil, how it happened and most importantly why it happened. We mention how elites like the Rockefeller and Rothschild family along with the fight for the U.S dollar holding world reserve currency status has affected the price of oil. </div>
emmanuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08566669753834950327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073964493182580749.post-92146858979264184622016-01-10T14:07:00.000-08:002016-01-07T19:49:08.375-08:00Anti-Muslim Bigotry<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Tolerance is an intractable term. Should we tolerate the intolerant, the racist, or the violent? Who decides who’s who, who’s what? Words used in complex social situations have always a degree of double-speak; there is a disconnection between what we think we mean and our actual thinking.</div>
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Tolerance (<a href="http://www.tolerance.org/" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.tolerance.org/</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>) is supposed to be about letting those different from us be themselves, but in practice is about pretending that we are different from ourselves. To always have a favorite football team as an essential part of our identity? Even in this limited sense, one has to be careful; it might not be healthful to display the wrong loyalty in the wrong bar.</div>
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Mass attitudes towards the other are influenced by the Media. For instance, many Serbian communities believed that the western media portrayed a negative image of the Serbian people during the NATO bombing in Kosovo and Serbia (<a href="http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/tolerance" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/tolerance</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>).</div>
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it is easy to protest</div>
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when the bombs fall miles from the fridge</div>
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yet, we are still afraid</div>
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a trip to Disney World on the line</div>
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so what hundred children massacred a day</div>
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better to have less terrorists, right?</div>
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Few political terrorists in recent history took as much care to articulate their ideological influences and political views as Anders Behring Breivik did. The right-wing Norwegian Islamophobe. One of the most remarkable aspects of the manifesto is the extent to which its European author quoted from the writings of figures from the American conservative movement (<a href="http://maxblumenthal.com/2011/08/americas-breivik-complex-how-state-terror-electrifies-the-islamophobic-right" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">http://maxblumenthal.com/2011/08/americas-breivik-complex-how-state-terror-electrifies-the-islamophobic-right</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>). Many of the American writers who influenced Breivik spent years churning out calls for the mass murder of Muslims, Palestinians and their left-wing Western supporters. American Islamophobes simply sit back from the comfort of their homes and cheer as American and Israeli troops — and their remote-controlled aerial drones — leave a trail of charred bodies from Waziristan to Gaza City.</div>
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While Israel has sought to insulate itself from the legal ramifications of its attacks on civilian life by deploying elaborate propaganda and intellectual sophistry (witness the country’s frantic <a href="http://www.alternet.org/books/149498/the_goldstone_report%3A_the_legacy_of_the_landmark_investigation_of_the_gaza_conflict" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">campaign</a> to discredit the Goldstone Report), and the United States has casually dismissed allegations of war crimes as any swaggering superpower would (after a US airstrike killed scores of Afghan civilians, former US CENTCOM chief David Petraeus <a href="http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3605863,00.html" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">baselessly claimed</a> that Afghan parents had deliberately burned their children alive to increase the death toll), the online Islamophobes who inspired Breivik tacitly accept the reality of Israeli and American state terror.</div>
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In American and Israeli society, Professional Terrorism is acceptable, whereas Amateur Terrorism is absolutely the world’s greatest evil (<a href="http://www.loonwatch.com/2011/08/gallup-poll-jews-and-christians-way-more-likely-than-muslims-to-justify-killing-civilians/" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.loonwatch.com/2011/08/gallup-poll-jews-and-christians-way-more-likely-than-muslims-to-justify-killing-civilians/</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>). Amateur Terrorism provides the justification for Professional Terrorism (this even though it is usually almost always the case that Professional Terrorism started the cycle of violence). Those who have the capability to carry out Professional Terrorism have absolutely no need to resort to Amateur Terrorism since the former is so much more effective in killing civilians than the latter.</div>
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Public Policy Polling asked Republicans if they would want to <a href="http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2015/GOPResults.pdf" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">bomb</a> the fictional town of Agrabah in Disney’s Aladdin movie (<a href="http://www.loonwatch.com/2015/12/30-percent-of-republicans-want-to-bomb-aladdins-hometown-agrabah/" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.loonwatch.com/2015/12/30-percent-of-republicans-want-to-bomb-aladdins-hometown-agrabah/</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>).</div>
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These are the results:</div>
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<em style="background: transparent; border: 0px; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Support bombing Agrabah …………………………30%</em></div>
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<em style="background: transparent; border: 0px; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Oppose bombing Agrabah …………………………13%</em></div>
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<em style="background: transparent; border: 0px; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Not sure ……………………………………………………57%</em></div>
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In sharp contrast with Americans who identify themselves with other faith groups (<a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/148763/muslim-americans-no-justification-violence.aspx" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.gallup.com/poll/148763/muslim-americans-no-justification-violence.aspx</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>), Muslim Americans are more likely to say military attacks on civilians are never justified (78%) than sometimes justified (21%). Respondents from other faith groups, particularly Mormon Americans, are more likely to say military attacks are sometimes justified than never justified. The opinions of Americans who don’t identify themselves with any religion are more in line with those of Muslim Americans, but they are also more divided.</div>
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Gallup analysts (<a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/157067/views-violence.aspx" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.gallup.com/poll/157067/views-violence.aspx</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>) tested correlations between the level at which populations say these attacks are “sometimes justified” and a number of independent indicators, and they found human development and societal stability measures are most strongly related.</div>
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Residents of the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states are slightly less likely than residents of non-member states to view military attacks on civilians as sometimes justified, and about as likely as those of non-member states to say the same about individual attacks.</div>
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“Not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims.”</div>
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Fox News’s <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/media/2010/10/15/124417/kilmeade-muslim-terrorists/" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Brian Kilmeade<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></a>.</div>
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In the article<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a class="external text" href="http://www.religioustolerance.org/islfatwa.htm" rel="nofollow" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Why are there no condemnations from Muslim sources against terrorists?”</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario_Consultants_on_Religious_Tolerance" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance">Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>summarizes:</div>
<dl style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; orphans: auto; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;"><dd style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="background: transparent; border: 0px; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A common complaint among non-Muslims is that Muslim religious authorities do not condemn terrorist attacks. The complaints often surface in letters to the editors of newspapers, on phone-in radio shows, in Internet mailing lists, forums, etc. A leader of an evangelical Christian para-church group, broadcasting over Sirius Family Net radio, stated that he had done a thorough search on the Internet for a Muslim statement condemning terrorism, without finding a single item.</i></dd></dl>
<dl style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; orphans: auto; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;"><dd style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="background: transparent; border: 0px; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Actually, there are lots of fatwas and other statements issued which condemn attacks on innocent civilians. Unfortunately, they are largely ignored by newspapers, television news, radio news and other media outlets. Possibly because Islamic terrorists keep killing innocent civilians.</i></dd></dl>
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<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_attitudes_towards_terrorism" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Contrary to common image, many Muslims have spoken out against 9/11</a>,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-2" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; bottom: 1ex; font-size: 10px; height: 0px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_attitudes_towards_terrorism#cite_note-2" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">[2]</a></sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-3" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; bottom: 1ex; font-size: 10px; height: 0px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_attitudes_towards_terrorism#cite_note-3" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">[3]</a></sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-4" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; bottom: 1ex; font-size: 10px; height: 0px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_attitudes_towards_terrorism#cite_note-4" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">[4]</a></sup></div>
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A 2007<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pew_Research_Center" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Pew Research Center">Pew Research Center</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>study of several nations throughout the Muslim world showed that opposition to suicide bombing in the Muslim world is increasing, with a majority of Muslims surveyed in 10 out of the 16 of the countries responding that suicide bombings and other violence against civilians is “never” justified, though an average of 38% believe it is justified at least rarely. Opposition to<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamas" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Hamas">Hamas</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>was the majority opinion in only 4 out of the 16 countries surveyed, as was opposition to Hezbollah.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-pew_5-0" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; bottom: 1ex; font-size: 10px; height: 0px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_attitudes_towards_terrorism#cite_note-pew-5" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">[5]</a></sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The Pew Research Study did not include Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Afghanistan, Tunisia, Libya, and Algeria in the survey, although densely populated Muslim countries such as Pakistan, Egypt, Indonesia, and Bangladesh were included.</div>
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Per the 2013 State Department’s report on terrorism, there were 399 acts of terror committed by Israeli settlers in what are known as <a href="http://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/crt/2013/224823.htm" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“price tag” attacks</a>. These Jewish terrorists attacked Palestinian civilians causing physical injuries to 93 of them and also vandalized scores of mosques and Christian churches.</div>
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An FBI study looking at terrorism committed on U.S. soil between 1980 and 2005 found that <a href="http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/terrorism-2002-2005/terror02_05#terror_05sum" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">94 percent of the terror attacks were committed by non-Muslims</a>. In actuality, 42 percent of terror attacks were carried out by Latino-related groups, followed by 24 percent perpetrated by extreme left-wing actors.</div>
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And as a 2014 study by University of North Carolina found, since the 9/11 attacks, Muslim-linked terrorism has claimed the lives of 37 Americans. In that same time period, more than 190,000 Americans were murdered (<a href="http://sites.duke.edu/tcths/files/2013/06/Kurzman_Muslim-American_Terrorism_in_2013.pdf" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">PDF</a>).</div>
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A <a href="http://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2015/12/10/muslim-storeowner-injured-in-islamophobic-new-york-attack/" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Muslim man was attacked by Piro Kolvani</a> who decided he had to drive from Florida to New York to beat on a Muslim (Kolvani was inspired by the <a href="http://www.loonwatch.com/2015/12/hate-mongering-new-york-post-front-cover-muslim-killers/" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">NY Post front covers</a>). Kolvani viciously attacked Sarker Haque, who stated, “I never saw a situation like that. Not even after 9/11.”</div>
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Yet, the conflict is not about religion nor race, but power (in the sociopathic sense) and resources. Human activity is not driven by justice but by power. In a way, justice is the right of the strong. One thing is rationalizations used to justify actions, and another, real social and psychological motives behind. These ulterior motives are not necessary explicit or even conscious.</div>
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All three religions – Christianity, Judaism, and Islam – in conflict share the same core barbaric Bronze Age believes sated in the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_Bible" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Hebrew Bible</a>, and all pick and choose what’s convenient to their respective social order. Whether one is consider a Christian or a Muslim is more an accident of geography or ethnicity, than a reflection of actual belief. That is, religion is mainly a marker of cultural identity.</div>
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Israel, for all the talk about being a Jewish state is in practice rather secular. Although the idea of a vibrant queer community in Israel, reputed birthplace of the biblical condemnation of same-sex relations, may seem far-fetched, Israel today is one of the world’s most progressive countries in terms of equality for sexual minorities. Politically, legally, and culturally, the community has moved from life at the margins of Israeli society to visibility and growing acceptance (<a href="http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/homosexuality-in-israel/" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/homosexuality-in-israel/</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>).</div>
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Many Israelis are not Semitic (<a href="http://www.livescience.com/40247-ashkenazi-jews-have-european-genes.html" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.livescience.com/40247-ashkenazi-jews-have-european-genes.html</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>). While Ashkenazi Jews have a long tradition in Judaism, they cannot claim a bloodline from David, which is a mythological figure anyway (<a href="http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/davidjer.html" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/davidjer.html</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>).</div>
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The scourge of Islamic fundamentalism is a monster created by the same people crying wolf (<a href="https://arnulfo.wordpress.com/2014/08/18/the-islamic-state/" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">https://arnulfo.wordpress.com/2014/08/18/the-islamic-state/</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>).</div>
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The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_fundamentalism" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">modern Islamic fundamentalist </a>movements have their origins in the late 19th century. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wahhabi" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Wahhabi</a> movement, an Arabian fundamentalist movement that began in the 18th century, gained traction and spread during the 19th and 20th centuries. During the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Cold War</a> following <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">World War II</a>, some <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">NATO</a> governments, particularly those of the United States and the United Kingdom, launched covert and overt campaigns to encourage and strengthen fundamentalist groups in the Middle East and southern Asia. These groups were seen as a hedge against potential expansion by the Soviet Union, and as a means to prevent the growth of nationalistic movements that were not necessarily favorable toward the interests of the Western nations. By the 1970s the Islamists had become important allies in supporting governments, such as Egypt, which were friendly to U.S. interests. In many cases the military wings of these groups were supplied with money and arms by the U.S. (<a href="https://arnulfo.wordpress.com/2016/01/05/religion-and-terrorism/" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">https://arnulfo.wordpress.com/2016/01/05/religion-and-terrorism/</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>).</div>
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Regardless of the machinations behind the current crisis in the Middle East, its effects will unsettle the whole World, including the US and Europe (<a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-roots-of-the-migration-crisis-1441995372" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-roots-of-the-migration-crisis-1441995372</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>). The Syrian refugee disaster presents a dilemma to the West. A massive influx of refugees into any country compromises its social and economic stability but the crisis cannot be ignored in humanitarian and practical grounds. Furthermore, the rise of religious fundamentalism (of all flavors: Christian, Muslim, or Jewish) is a treat to the long term viability of modern society.</div>
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Humans are social animals and it’s our natural instinct to be emphatic with others. It’s natural for us to bond by kinship. Unfortunately the same tribal instinct hampers our ability to recognize the essential and vital global brotherhood of man. <a href="https://arnulfo.wordpress.com/2015/12/12/merry-xmas/" target="_blank">We cling to nationality, religion, and many artificial walls we build around us that compromise our chances for long term survival</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"></span>.</div>
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We must overcome our fears and reach out for peace. To live or die together is the choice.</div>
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The xenophobic policies offered up by Republicans in the wake of the Paris and Beirut attacks are simply jaw-dropping:</div>
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<li style="margin-left: 15px;">Presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz suggested bombing innocent civilians in the Middle East.<sup style="font-size: 8.45px; line-height: 0;">2</sup></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;">Twenty-six Republican governors have vowed, without any legal authority, to block Syrian refugees from their states.<sup style="font-size: 8.45px; line-height: 0;">3</sup></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;">Presidential candidate Jeb Bush joined Cruz in proposing that we block Syrian refugees based on religion — admitting Christian but not Muslim refugees.<sup style="font-size: 8.45px; line-height: 0;">4</sup></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;">The House passed a bill this week requiring the FBI director, the secretary of Homeland Security and the director of National Intelligence to personally sign off on every refugee from Syria or Iraq.<sup style="font-size: 8.45px; line-height: 0;">5</sup></li>
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These policies are especially offensive in light of the fact that<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b>there is legislation that Congress could pass right now to actually reduce gun violence.</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The Senate could:</div>
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<li style="margin-left: 15px;">Close the terror gap by allowing the Department of Justice to block guns sales to anyone on the terror watch list. Between 2004 and 2014, more than 2,000 people on the list purchased guns in the U.S.</li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;">Close the loophole that allows people to buy guns without undergoing background checks through private sales, at gun shows and online. An estimated 40 percent of all firearms transferred in the U.S. are transferred by unlicensed individuals not required to conduct background checks on buyers.<sup style="font-size: 8.45px; line-height: 0;">6</sup></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;">Ban convicted domestic abusers and stalkers from buying guns. Abused women are five times more likely to be killed by their abuser if that individual has access to a firearm.<sup style="font-size: 8.45px; line-height: 0;">7</sup></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;">Prohibit the manufacture of assault weapons and large capacity magazines for civilian use.</li>
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If Republicans really want to protect Americans, it’s clear what they need to do: break their blind allegiance to the NRA and pass gun control legislation. But they’ll never act unless we force them. Can you add your voice today?</div>
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<b>Tell Senate Republican leaders: Act to make us safer and pass real gun control legislation. Click the link below to sign the petition:</b></div>
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<a href="http://act.credoaction.com/sign/McConnell_GunViolence?t=5&akid=16180.5084505.BUS6hR" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><b>http://act.credoaction.com/<wbr></wbr>sign/McConnell_GunViolence?t=<wbr></wbr>6&akid=16180.5084505.BUS6hR</b></a></div>
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Thanks for standing up to the NRA today,</div>
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Heidi Hess, Campaign Manager<br />
<a href="http://act.credoaction.com/go/109?t=7&akid=16180.5084505.BUS6hR" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">CREDO Action from Working Assets</a></div>
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Add your name:</div>
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<tr><td style="background-color: #ff6319; color: #4a4744; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 40px; margin: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle;"><a href="http://act.credoaction.com/sign/McConnell_GunViolence?t=8&akid=16180.5084505.BUS6hR" style="color: white; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="Sign the petition ►" border="0" class="CToWUd" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjRZB5HTJYqu6_OqPoAXFpg_D9KFMPOto0IEnA1KQcr0AzRZBBSrjkF4WACpfBtolFq-hIZJ3uMcKNjFcU8dIil_uf5w6HsIdnASqlf7PqV0inZSfbsWVt0a-H62D62NtiXe1SpjdAlt9wqZmtLQ5JSVfnBiseTBPxP6s5qxyr-QybK_v7nYPEWOyXDtu7pZmN0nA=s0-d-e1-ft" style="min-width: 160px; vertical-align: middle;" /></a></td></tr>
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<i>References:</i></div>
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<li style="margin-left: 15px;">“<a href="http://act.credoaction.com/go/10227?t=9&akid=16180.5084505.BUS6hR" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Closing the Terror Gap in Gun Background Checks</a>,” Everytown for Gun Safety, July 21, 2015.</li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;">Judd Legum, "<a href="http://act.credoaction.com/go/10197?t=10&akid=16180.5084505.BUS6hR" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">In Response To Paris, Ted Cruz Calls For Airstrikes With More ‘Tolerance For Civilian Casualties’</a>," ThinkProgress.org, November 13, 2015.</li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;">Sarah Frostenson and Dara Lind, “<a href="http://act.credoaction.com/go/10228?t=11&akid=16180.5084505.BUS6hR" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Here's a map of every state refusing to accept Syrian refugees</a>,” Vox.com, November 18, 2015.</li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;">Amy Davidson, “<a href="http://act.credoaction.com/go/10229?t=12&akid=16180.5084505.BUS6hR" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Ted Cruz’ Religious Test for Refugees</a>,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>New Yorker</i>, November 16, 2015.</li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;">Camila Domonoske, “<a href="http://act.credoaction.com/go/10230?t=13&akid=16180.5084505.BUS6hR" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">House Votes To Increase Security Checks On Refugees From Iraq, Syria</a>,” NPR, November 19, 2015.</li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;">“<a href="http://act.credoaction.com/go/10231?t=14&akid=16180.5084505.BUS6hR" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Universal Background Checks & the “Private” Sale Loophole Policy Summary<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></a>,” Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, September 10, 2015.</li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;">”<a href="http://act.credoaction.com/go/10232?t=15&akid=16180.5084505.BUS6hR" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Gabby Gifford, National Domestic Violence Prevention Leaders Applaud New House Legislation to Keep Guns out of the Hands of Abusers</a>,” Americans for Responsible Solutions, July 22, 2015.</li>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">T</span>he House of Representatives voted for a bill that would shut the door in the faces of refugees who are fleeing violence in Syria and other locations. That same day, hearings in the House and Senate focused on the need to “keep America safe” – suggesting that our country was not brave enough to help those who are victims of violence.</span><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">Some in the House stood up for refugees and voted against the anti-refugee bill, but far too many supported it. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Forg.salsalabs.com%2Fdia%2Ftrack.jsp%3Fv%3D2%26c%3DIYZHRWSZreoWm7eRk8w1HZHBf5CbPgxX&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHC5WhBTQo2apEQw1g9uwIi4gIgEw" rel="noreferrer" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #0000cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">Please write to your Representative now.</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span> </span><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">As faith communities gather this weekend, we encourage you to stand up to the fear and hate that is rampant in this moment of heightened anti-Muslim bigotry as you’ve undoubtedly seen expressed on social media and cable news, and by governors and Presidential candidates. Many faith groups and denominations have distributed<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Forg.salsalabs.com%2Fdia%2Ftrack.jsp%3Fv%3D2%26c%3DpgM%252BtnNXmahvasH2rcbSNpHBf5CbPgxX&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHwMWGQ03QtAFPmU-E3K4GSpYiQXw" rel="noreferrer" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #0000cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">statements and resources</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">, and NRCAT will continue to update<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Forg.salsalabs.com%2Fdia%2Ftrack.jsp%3Fv%3D2%26c%3Djkzm5vhKrEy6iLDl2TsSL5HBf5CbPgxX&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNFkE7U1geesgijL1BHvyL5VtrTVqA" rel="noreferrer" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #0000cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">this resource list</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">. These include messages of welcome to refugees of all faiths, and talking points that can be used for<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Forg.salsalabs.com%2Fdia%2Ftrack.jsp%3Fv%3D2%26c%3Dqq9v5xLvcCrcHp39UQADNJHBf5CbPgxX&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGSrC56CJLrTEBaa_Z-pkQgr-_b5A" rel="noreferrer" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #0000cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">sermons and prayers</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">. If you have a resource that should be added, please<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/h/2mjbioof3a2c/?&cs=wh&v=b&to=tmorrow@nrcat.org" rel="noreferrer" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #0000cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">email me</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">.</span><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">Finally, please consider reaching out to a local mosque or refugee resettlement center. You might send a note of support, make arrangements for a joint service project, plan an interfaith vigil, or volunteer to help resettle refugees in your community.</span><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">Sincerely,</span><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">T.C. Morrow</span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">Director of Finance & Operations</span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">Staff for NRCAT’s Addressing Anti-Muslim Bigotry Program</span></div>
emmanuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08566669753834950327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073964493182580749.post-45892468956063998452016-01-07T19:42:00.001-08:002016-01-07T20:56:59.723-08:00Oregon militia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Jan 7, 2016<br />
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Mass attitudes towards the other are influenced by the Media. In this day and age of <a href="https://www.thersa.org/events/2015/01/thinking-straight-in-the-age-of-information-overload/" target="_blank">information overload</a> our brains are struggling to keep up with the demands of the digital age<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span>. Moreover, the Media is not a neutral player, but an instrument of the power elite. Thus, we are ripe for the simplifying power of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_bite" target="_blank">the sound bite</a> and the Media is more than willing to provide us with a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.salon.com/2015/11/11/ben_carson_rails_against_secular_progressive_boogeyman_at_liberty_university/" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">boogeyman</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>.</div>
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The neat and sharp-focused World offered by the establishment – where God is on our side, and The Others are evil Muslims and <a href="https://arnulfo.wordpress.com/2016/01/05/cultural-marxism/" target="_blank">political correct Marxists</a> conspiring to take away our freedom and wealth- is compelling and comforting; we have the firepower to do what needs to be done.</div>
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While the political ideology of the Tea Party is not an exact match of the European fascism of the 1930´s, there are <a href="https://arnulfo.wordpress.com/2016/01/05/fascism/" target="_blank">troubling parallels between the events that lead to the Second World War and the circumstances of the early Twenty-First Century</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"></span>. The Tea Party movement shares with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism" target="_blank">Fascism</a> an obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation, and victim-hood, as well as compensatory cults of unity, energy, and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants embrace a credo of violence and <a href="https://arnulfo.wordpress.com/2016/01/05/the-oregon-militia/" target="_blank">ideology-driven armed militias </a><span class="Apple-converted-space"></span>.</div>
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The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants:</div>
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Thomas Jefferson.</div>
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Gun owners tend to be among the political right, and Second Amendment support is a common thread among Tea Party demonstrators. One of the fundamental mantra of them is<a href="http://politicalvelcraft.org/2012/07/16/in-the-commission-of-seditiontreason-against-the-2nd-amendment-a-call-to-arraign-deadbeats-hillary-clinton-barry-soetoro-u-n-or-any-international-treaty-is-meaningless-against-the-second-am/" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> guns as a mechanism of check and balance against tyranny</a>. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/are-gun-rights-advocates-seditious" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">It sounds like sedition</a>. There is a not only idle talk, there is a <a href="http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/publications/terror-from-the-right" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">trail of actual terrorist activity</a>. The <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?sid=aoLIQa4G1s9g&pid=20601087" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Hutterite militia in Michigan</a> was planning to kill police officers but they had not actually done anything violent before they were arrested, and their ultimate goal was to war against the anti-Christ. Timothy McVeigh in 1995 blamed the US Government for attacks against American citizens at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waco_Siege" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Waco</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Ridge" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Ruby Ridge</a>.</div>
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The gun crowd likes to wax eloquent about protecting our natural rights with our weapons when the government becomes unconstitutional, and all other avenues have failed. They see themselves as law abiding insurrects that do not use violence and have confidence in the ballot box, and that that ensure that the government can’t stray too far toward tyranny. Fools playing with fire; a fire that will get us all burned.</div>
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<i style="background: transparent; border: 0px; font-style: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“</i><i style="background: transparent; border: 0px; font-style: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In the NRA’s world, we are only free to the extent that our guns allow us to impose our will on others.”</i></div>
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<i style="background: transparent; border: 0px; font-style: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Dennis Henigan of the Brady Campaign, </i><i style="background: transparent; border: 0px; font-style: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://blog.bradycampaign.org/?p=2068" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Gun Rights and Political Violence”</a></i></div>
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<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/12/10/us/gun-sales-terrorism-obama-restrictions.html" target="_blank">More guns were sold in December 2015 than almost any other month in nearly two decades</a>, continuing a pattern of spikes in sales after terrorist attacks and calls for stricter gun-buying laws, according to federal data released on Monday<span class="Apple-converted-space"></span>.</div>
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The heaviest sales last month, driven primarily by handgun sales, followed a call from President Obama to make it harder to buy assault weapons after the terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif.</div>
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Fear of gun-buying restrictions has been the main driver of spikes in gun sales, far surpassing the effects of mass shootings and terrorist attacks alone, according to an analysis of federal background check data by The New York Times.</div>
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During the previous record month, December 2012, President Obama called for new buying restrictions after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.<br />
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<a href="http://maoistrebelnews.com/2016/01/05/marxists-defending-the-oregon-militia/" target="_blank">Several days ago a group of right wing militiamen stormed a building on the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Harney County, Oregon</a>. The group is engaged in an armed occupation claiming to be opposing the U.S. government for perceived violations of their rights. They have also made the demand that two rancher brothers convicted of arson, Dwight Hammond Jr. and Steven Hammond, be released from prison. The 150-man strong occupation force is being led by three of Cliven Bundy’s sons, specifically Ammon Bundy. As you may recall they were engaged in an armed standoff with the F.B.I. in 2014 over a dispute involving cattle grazing land.<br />
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The militia men are arguing that they should own public land simply because they feel the government hasn’t been kind to them. Their goal is to build private businesses on the protected land. They’re trying to take away land that is being held in common for their own exploitation of it. <br />
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The FBI is leading the investigation into the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/armed-activists-in-oregon-touch-off-unpredictable-chapter-in-land-use-feud/2016/01/03/17a45e5c-b272-11e5-a76a-0b5145e8679a_story.html" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">armed occupation of a federal wildlife refuge</a> in Oregon and says it will work with local and state authorities to seek “a peaceful resolution to the situation.” The White House considers it “a local law enforcement matter,” Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Monday.</div>
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The Southern Poverty Law Center said in a report on that standoff that the militiamen and the federal land-return movement are part of the same spectrum.<br />
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“Anti-government extremists have long pushed, most fiercely during Democratic administrations, rabid conspiracy theories about a nefarious New World Order, a socialist, gun-grabbing federal government and the evils of federal law enforcement,” the center said.</blockquote>
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Law enforcement officials said that the occupiers came to the region with a specific goal:</div>
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“These men came to Harney County claiming to be part of militia groups supporting local ranchers,” Harney County Sheriff David M. Ward said in a statement Sunday. “When in reality these men had alternative motives, to attempt to overthrow the county and federal government in hopes to spark a movement across the United States.”</blockquote>
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<a href="http://www.resilience.org/stories/2016-01-07/down-the-ratholes-of-the-future">Clownish as such stunts unquestionably are</a>, it bears remembering that the activities of such violent abolitionists as John Brown looked just as pointless in their time; their importance was purely as a gauge of the pressures building toward civil war—and that’s exactly the same reading I give to the event just described. The era of rural and urban guerrilla warfare, roadside bombs, internment camps, horrific human rights violations by all sides, and millions of refugees fleeing in all directions, that will bring down the United States of America is still a little while off yet.</div>
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emmanuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08566669753834950327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073964493182580749.post-82376593068968024982015-12-19T22:39:00.002-08:002015-12-19T22:39:59.866-08:002016<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/W94_LRBVqmI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
emmanuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08566669753834950327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073964493182580749.post-78714458850678744502015-11-29T21:27:00.000-08:002015-11-24T15:58:26.533-08:00The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xfItt3-_Zig" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
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A revelation of the plight of Afghan women and a window into the surprising realities of daily life in today's Afghanistan.<br />
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<a href="http://www.newsinenglish.no/2012/03/12/author-wins-over-afghan-subject/">March 12, 2012</a><br />
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Suraia Rais had sued Seierstad in an Oslo court, claiming Seierstad had defamed her family and used “negligent” journalistic practices. Both she and her husband had also felt that Seierstad’s revelations of their lives invaded their privacy. The bookseller had allowed Seierstad to live in his home in Kabul while she collected material for her book.<br />
Seierstad lost at the lower court level but won at the appeals court level, where damage claims against both Seierstad and her publisher were reversed. Rais then appealed to Norway’s Supreme Court.<br />
Last week came news that the high court had refused to hear the case, meaning the appeals court decision stands and Seierstad prevailed.<br />
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<ul class="article-attributes trackable-component b4" data-component="Article:byline" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; background-repeat: no-repeat; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-collapse: collapse; border-color: rgb(209, 0, 139); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.25; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 10px; min-height: 70px; orphans: auto; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 0px 12px; position: relative; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><li class="byline" style="background-repeat: no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; display: block; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px;"><div class="contributor-full" style="background-repeat: no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" style="background-repeat: no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span itemprop="name" style="background-repeat: no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a class="contributor" href="http://www.theguardian.com/profile/ameliahill" itemprop="url" rel="author" style="background-repeat: no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Amelia Hill</a></span></span></div></li>
<li class="article-attributes-social-buttons" style="background-repeat: no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px;"><span class="social-buttons-twitter-contributor trackable-component" data-component="Twitter Follow Journalist" style="background-repeat: no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span><span class="social-buttons-twitter-brand trackable-component" data-component="Twitter Follow Brand" style="background-repeat: no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span><br />
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<li class="publication" style="background-repeat: no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian" itemprop="publisher" style="background-repeat: no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">The Guardian</a>,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><time datetime="2010-07-27T16:08EDT" itemprop="datePublished" pubdate="" style="background-repeat: no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Tuesday 27 July 2010 16.08 EDT</time></li>
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The author of the publishing sensation The Bookseller of Kabul was <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/jul/27/bookseller-kabul-author-lawsuit">found guilty of defamation and "negligent journalistic practices"</a> last week after losing a case brought by a woman who claimed the bestseller depicted her in a humiliating, untruthful way that left her feeling "violated".<br />
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Legal experts say the ruling by Oslo district court will transform the way in which western journalists and authors write about people from poor countries. Åsne Seierstad was ordered to pay more than £26,000 in punitive damages to Suraia Rais, the second wife of bookseller Shah Muhammad Rais, with whose family the Norwegian writer lived for five months while researching her book.emmanuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08566669753834950327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073964493182580749.post-4483362602638713292015-11-29T15:26:00.000-08:002015-11-29T15:26:27.591-08:00xenophobic policies<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The xenophobic policies offered up by Republicans in the wake of the Paris and Beirut attacks are simply jaw-dropping:<br />
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz suggested bombing innocent civilians in the Middle East.</li>
<li>Twenty-six Republican governors have vowed, without any legal authority, to block Syrian refugees from their states.</li>
<li>Presidential candidate Jeb Bush joined Sen. Cruz in proposing that we block Syrian refugees based on religion — admitting Christian but not Muslim refugees.</li>
<li>The House passed a bill requiring the FBI director, the secretary of Homeland Security and the director of National Intelligence to personally sign off on every refugee from Syria or Iraq.</li>
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<em>References:</em></div>
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<li>Jonathan Martin, “<a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fact.credoaction.com%2Fgo%2F10242%3Ft%3D10%26akid%3D16203.5084505.hEIQmo&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHQAJQuQD_JS_oQ7XnffXt92rNHaQ" rel="noreferrer" style="color: #0000cc;" target="_blank">Obama Says ‘Enough is Enough’ after Colorado Shooting</a>,”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em>New York Times</em>, November 28, 2015.</li>
<li>“<a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fact.credoaction.com%2Fgo%2F10227%3Ft%3D11%26akid%3D16203.5084505.hEIQmo&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHaBtE4oHLVTs8TlPcSo0QCeStczQ" rel="noreferrer" style="color: #0000cc;" target="_blank">Closing the Terror Gap in Gun Background Checks</a>,” Everytown for Gun Safety, July 21, 2015.</li>
<li>Judd Legum, "<a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fact.credoaction.com%2Fgo%2F10197%3Ft%3D12%26akid%3D16203.5084505.hEIQmo&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHl9xGvCddbsN74LmhXWWQhKVQ4mg" rel="noreferrer" style="color: #0000cc;" target="_blank">In Response To Paris, Ted Cruz Calls For Airstrikes With More ‘Tolerance For Civilian Casualties’</a>," ThinkProgress.org, November 13, 2015.</li>
<li>Sarah Frostenson and Dara Lind, “<a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fact.credoaction.com%2Fgo%2F10228%3Ft%3D13%26akid%3D16203.5084505.hEIQmo&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNH3Q-EuvPil-0XAPid6N2y7Mt1ofQ" rel="noreferrer" style="color: #0000cc;" target="_blank">Here's a map of every state refusing to accept Syrian refugees</a>,” Vox.com, November 18, 2015.</li>
<li>Amy Davidson, “<a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fact.credoaction.com%2Fgo%2F10229%3Ft%3D14%26akid%3D16203.5084505.hEIQmo&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHnnADsWg7KfKO7xgtFAxiJPMxtWA" rel="noreferrer" style="color: #0000cc;" target="_blank">Ted Cruz’ Religious Test for Refugees</a>,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em>New Yorker</em>, November 16, 2015.</li>
<li>Camila Domonoske, “<a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fact.credoaction.com%2Fgo%2F10230%3Ft%3D15%26akid%3D16203.5084505.hEIQmo&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNFYyJHPPOVcFxmTFlQTaU4h84lssQ" rel="noreferrer" style="color: #0000cc;" target="_blank">House Votes To Increase Security Checks On Refugees From Iraq, Syria</a>,” NPR, November 19, 2015.</li>
</ol>
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emmanuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08566669753834950327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073964493182580749.post-8232272016469281062015-11-29T08:34:00.000-08:002015-11-29T15:09:54.899-08:00rash of violence in USA<br />
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29/11/2015<br />
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Friday’s mass shooting at a Colorado Planned Parenthood health center, alongside last week’s white supremacist attack on a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest in Minneapolis, is a stark reminder that domestic terrorists continues to be one of the most real and present threats to Americans’ safety.<br />
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February 2014<br />
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Since the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, there have been 44 more school shootings in America.<br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 2.5em;">P.S. <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fdonate.demandaction.org%2Fgo%2F929%3Ft%3D8%26akid%3D1318.1344753.V6tAAo&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHU44NP069aneynP0BJwZU9I-HVXg" target="_blank"><b><u>Please consider a donation of $33 or more to support common-sense gun laws that will keep our communities safe.</u></b></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 2.5em;">-----<br />
1. <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fact.demandaction.org%2Fgo%2F928%3Ft%3D9%26akid%3D1318.1344753.V6tAAo&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNEMv4T0UZDmLEZDFHaE6P5zTnG3hQ" target="_blank"><u>"Analysis of School Shootings,"</u></a> Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, February 2014.</div><br />
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<div itemprop="articleBody">http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/19/opinion/the-yawning-loophole-in-the-gun-laws.html</div><div itemprop="articleBody">The Brady gun control law, named for the White House official who was shot during an assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan, requires licensed gun dealers to screen all prospective gun buyers through a federal database of convicted felons, drug abusers, people with a serious mental illness and others. In addition, the law requires licensed dealers to collect information about buyers that can be used later to trace guns that were used in crimes. From 1994 to 2009, those checks have prevented nearly two million gun sales, according to the Justice Department.</div><div itemprop="articleBody"></div><br />
<div itemprop="articleBody">But the law does not cover private sales of guns, including transactions by “occasional sellers” at gun shows and flea markets, in what has become a gaping loophole that has allowed teenagers, ordinary criminals, terrorists, Mexican drug cartels and arms traffickers to have easy access to weapons. For instance, firearms bought at gun shows<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/21/us/colorado-gun-laws-remain-lax-despite-changes-after-columbine.html" title="Times story">were used</a> in the Columbine school shooting; they <a href="http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/attack/2001/11/27/guns.htm" title="USA Today article">have been found</a> in a shipment of arms supplies to the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah; and they have made their way <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/15/us/15guns.html?pagewanted=all" title="Times article">across the border</a> to Mexico.</div><div itemprop="articleBody">But none of those examples have stopped the National Rifle Association and its supporters in Congress from blocking legislation that would require private sellers to run buyers through background checks, which take just a few minutes to process on the telephone. The N.R.A., emboldened by a Supreme Court ruling asserting an individual constitutional right to bear arms, has turned its attention to further broadening the market, lobbying state legislatures to allow concealed weapons in churches, schools and other public places and to restrict the discretion of local police in granting gun permits.</div><div itemprop="articleBody">In the case of background checks on private sales, the N.R.A. has argued that checks are not needed because surveys of criminals suggest that just 2 percent of them buy their weapons from gun shows. This is a highly disingenuous argument because criminals most often purchase firearms from relatives, friends and associates. Many of those people, in turn, get their supplies from gun shows and elsewhere, including on the Internet where anybody with a credit card can order semiautomatic weapons for overnight delivery.</div><div itemprop="articleBody">Requiring background checks for private sales will obviously not, on its own, keep people like Adam Lanza, the 20-year-old who perpetrated the massacre in Newtown, Conn., away from deadly weapons. For starters, only buyers of guns, not members of the families who own them (as was true in his case), are screened against the database known as the<a href="http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/nics">National Instant Criminal Background Check System</a>.</div><div itemprop="articleBody">Moreover, many state governments and federal agencies have provided <a href="http://www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org/downloads/pdf/maig_mimeo_revb.pdf" title="Research study">incomplete or no records</a> to the system for various logistical, legal and financial reasons. But those flaws and limitations should not be a reason for lawmakers to exempt sales at gun shows, flea markets and at other venues from background checks, which are a simple and effective way to prevent many violent individuals from getting access to guns.</div><div itemprop="articleBody">Since the Newtown shootings, the influence and power of the N.R.A. may have diminished as some of its usual allies have distanced themselves from its hard-line position. Cerberus Capital Management, a private equity firm, <a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cerberus-capital-management-statement-regarding-freedom-group-inc-183889361.html" title="Its press release">said on Tuesday</a> that it would sell its stake in Freedom Group, the maker of the Bushmaster rifle. And a Democratic state lawmaker in California, Kevin de León, <a href="http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/18/a-rising-chorus-but-not-quite-consensus-on-guns/" title="A Caucus blog posting">introduced a bill</a> that would require people buying ammunition to go through background checks. These are small but promising shoots. It is up to Congress and President Obama to nurture them.</div><br />
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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/18/opinion/the-gun-challenge-strict-laws-work.html<br />
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<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/18/opinion/the-gun-challenge-strict-laws-work.html">Experts from the Harvard School of Public Health</a>, using data from 26 developed countries, <a href="http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/research/hicrc/firearms-research/guns-and-death/index.html">have shown</a> that wherever there are more firearms, there are more homicides. In the case of the United States, exponentially more: the American murder rate is roughly 15 times that of other wealthy countries, which have much tougher laws controlling private ownership of guns.<br />
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There’s another important difference between this country and the rest of the world. Other nations have suffered similar rampages, but they have reacted quickly to impose new and stricter gun laws.<br />
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Australia is an excellent example. In 1996, a “pathetic social misfit,” as a judge described the lone gunman, killed 35 people with a spray of bullets from semiautomatic weapons. Within weeks, the Australian government was working on gun reform laws that banned assault weapons and shotguns, tightened licensing and financed gun amnesty and buyback programs.<br />
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At the time, the prime minister, John Howard, said, “We do not want the American disease imported into Australia.” The laws have worked. The American Journal of Law and Economics reported in 2010 that firearm homicides in Australia dropped 59 percent between 1995 and 2006. In the 18 years before the 1996 laws, there were 13 gun massacres resulting in 102 deaths, <a href="http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/research/hicrc/files/bulletins_australia_spring_2011.pdf">according to Harvard researchers</a>, with none in that category since.<br />
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Similarly, after 16 children and their teacher were <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/18/world/scottish-inquiry-s-focus-why-strict-gun-law-failed.html" title="A Times article">killed by a gunman in Dunblane, Scotland, in 1996</a>, the British government banned all private ownership of automatic weapons and virtually all handguns. Those changes gave Britain some of the toughest gun control laws in the developed world on top of already strict rules. Hours of exhaustive paperwork are required if anyone wants to own even a shotgun or rifle for hunting. The result has been a decline in murders involving firearms.<br />
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<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/07/a-land-without-guns-how-japan-has-virtually-eliminated-shooting-deaths/260189/" title="The Atlantic article">In Japan</a>, which has very strict laws, only 11 people were killed with guns in 2008, compared with 12,000 deaths by firearms that year in the United States — a huge disparity even accounting for the difference in population. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt-nEl55eXU&feature=player_embedded">As Mayor Michael Bloomberg stressed on Monday</a> while ratcheting up his national antigun campaign, “We are the only industrialized country that has this problem. In the whole world, the <i>only</i> one.”<br />
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<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><tbody>
<tr><td bgcolor="#FFFFFF" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 10px; text-align: left;"><div style="color: #333333; font-size: 13px; margin: 6px 5px 10px;">As Americans process the grief, fear, and anger stemming from last Friday's tragic shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, many are calling for action. In response to the shooting, more than 1,000 people -- including many in and around Newtown -- started petitions on Change.org, calling for tighter gun laws, stronger mental health services, and support for the victims' families.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-size: 13px; margin: 6px 5px 10px;">Here are a few petitions calling for meaningful action in response to the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School. You can<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b><a href="https://www.change.org/campaigns/connecticut-shooting#today?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=15486&alert_id=jIubrVUkkl_JEOTjQxHXy" style="color: #008884;" target="_blank">click here to browse and sign other petitions</a></b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>started in response to the tragedy in Newtown.</div><b><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 580px;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px;" valign="top" width="250"><a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/the-government-reenact-the-federal-assault-weapons-ban-and-make-it-law?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=15486&alert_id=jIubrVUkkl_JEOTjQxHXy" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://change-production.s3.amazonaws.com/cms_uploads/547_original.jpg?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=15486&alert_id=jIubrVUkkl_JEOTjQxHXy" style="padding: 10px 10px 10px 25px;" width="250" /><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 250px;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 25px;" valign="top" width="250"><div style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px;"><a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/the-government-reenact-the-federal-assault-weapons-ban-and-make-it-law?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=15486&alert_id=jIubrVUkkl_JEOTjQxHXy" style="color: #008884;" target="_blank">Reenact the Assault Weapons Ban and make it law</a></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table></a></td><td style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px;" valign="top" width="250"><a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/us-federal-government-increase-the-availability-of-mental-health-services-now?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=15486&alert_id=jIubrVUkkl_JEOTjQxHXy" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://change-production.s3.amazonaws.com/cms_uploads/544_original.jpg?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=15486&alert_id=jIubrVUkkl_JEOTjQxHXy" style="padding: 10px;" width="250" /><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 250px;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px;" valign="top" width="250"><div style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px;"><a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/us-federal-government-increase-the-availability-of-mental-health-services-now?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=15486&alert_id=jIubrVUkkl_JEOTjQxHXy" style="color: #008884;" target="_blank">Increase the availability of mental health services now</a></div></td></tr>
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</tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; width: 580px; word-spacing: 0px;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 10px;" valign="top" width="250"><a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/connecticut-legislature-please-write-and-pass-a-bill-that-deters-demonstrations-at-funerals?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=15486&alert_id=jIubrVUkkl_JEOTjQxHXy" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://change-production.s3.amazonaws.com/cms_uploads/546_original.jpg?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=15486&alert_id=jIubrVUkkl_JEOTjQxHXy" style="padding: 10px 10px 10px 25px;" width="250" /><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 250px;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 25px;" valign="top" width="250"><div style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px;"><a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/connecticut-legislature-please-write-and-pass-a-bill-that-deters-demonstrations-at-funerals?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=15486&alert_id=jIubrVUkkl_JEOTjQxHXy" style="color: #008884;" target="_blank"><b>Protect grieving families from politically charged demonstrations at funerals</b></a></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table></a></td><td style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px;" valign="top" width="250"><a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/walmart-stop-selling-and-advertising-assault-weapons-in-your-stores?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=15486&alert_id=jIubrVUkkl_JEOTjQxHXy" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://change-production.s3.amazonaws.com/cms_uploads/548_original.jpg?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=15486&alert_id=jIubrVUkkl_JEOTjQxHXy" style="padding: 10px 10px 10px 20px;" width="250" /><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 250px;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 20px;" valign="top" width="250"><a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/walmart-stop-selling-and-advertising-assault-weapons-in-your-stores?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=15486&alert_id=jIubrVUkkl_JEOTjQxHXy" style="color: #008884;" target="_blank">Walmart: Stop selling assault rifles in stores</a></td></tr>
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</tbody></table><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 6px 15px 10px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">You can read and sign other petitions started in response to the tragedy in Newtown by<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b><a href="https://www.change.org/campaigns/connecticut-shooting#today?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=15486&alert_id=jIubrVUkkl_JEOTjQxHXy" style="color: #008884;" target="_blank">clicking here.</a></b></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 6px 15px 10px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Thanks for being a change-maker,</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 6px 15px 10px; orphans: 2; padding: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">- Tim and the Change.org team</div><br />
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Despite a long history of pro-gun views, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20763749">West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin told US network MSNBC on Monday</a> that it was time to "move beyond rhetoric" on gun control.<br />
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Mr Manchin, a gun owner and frequent hunter, said: "I don't know anyone in the sporting or hunting arena that goes out with an assault rifle."<br />
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Bloomberg said Sandy Hook was "no aberration" and called gun violence a "national tragedy"<br />
<blockquote>"It's common sense. It's time to move beyond rhetoric. We need to sit down and have a common sense discussion and move in a reasonable way."</blockquote><br />
Virginia Senator Mark Warner, another Democrat who has backed gun owner's rights, told reporters outside the Virginia capitol that the "status quo isn't acceptable". He later called for "rational gun control" in an interview with a local news broadcaster.<br />
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On Monday, White House spokesman Jay Carney said tighter gun control laws are part of the answer to violence in the US, but stressed that the president did not have a specific policy to announce.<br />
<blockquote>"It's a complex problem that will require a complex solution," Mr Carney said. "No single piece of legislation, no single action will fully address the problem."</blockquote><br />
He added that the president supports reinstating an assault weapons ban that expired in 2004.<br />
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California Senator Dianne Feinstein, a long-time advocate for gun regulations, said on Sunday she would introduce assault weapons ban legislation in the beginning of the next congressional session.<br />
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And New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a vocal backer of stricter regulation, called on Mr Obama and Congress to pass several gun regulation proposals, including requiring a criminal background check for all gun sales, making gun trafficking a felony and a ban on assault weapons.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">"Can say that we're truly doing enough to give all the children of this country the chance they deserve to live out their lives in happiness and with purpose? I've been reflecting on this the last few days," Obama said, somber and steady as some in the audience wept.<br />
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"If we're honest without ourselves, the answer is no. And we will have to change."<br />
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"What choice do we have?" Obama said. "Are we really prepared to say that we're powerless in the face of such carnage, that the politics are too hard?"</blockquote><br />
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NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) — The gunman in the Connecticut shooting rampage was carrying an arsenal of hundreds of rounds of especially deadly ammunition — enough to kill just about every student in the school if given enough time, authorities said Sunday, raising the chilling possibility that the bloodbath could have been far worse.<br />
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Adam Lanza shot himself in the head just as he heard police drawing near to the classroom where he was slaughtering helpless children, but he had more ammunition at the ready in the form of multiple, high-capacity clips each capable of holding 30 bullets.<br />
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Gov. Dannel Malloy said the shooter decided to kill himself when he heard police closing in about 10 minutes into the attack.<br />
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"We surmise that it was during the second classroom episode that he heard responders coming and apparently at that decided to take his own life," Malloy said on ABC's "This Week."<br />
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Police said they found hundreds of unused bullets at the school, which enrolled about 450 students in kindergarten through fourth grade.<br />
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"There was a lot of ammo, a lot of clips," said state police Lt. Paul Vance. "Certainly a lot of lives were potentially saved."<br />
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The chief medical examiner has said the ammunition was designed to expend its energy in the victim's tissues and stay inside the body to inflict the maximum amount of damage.<br />
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The rifle used was a Bushmaster .223-caliber, a civilian version of the military's M-16 and a model commonly seen at marksmanship competitions. It's similar to the weapon used in the 2002 sniper killings in the Washington, D.C., area and in a recent shopping mall shooting in Oregon.<br />
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Versions of the AR-15 were outlawed in the United States under the 1994 assault weapons ban. That law expired in 2004, and Congress, in a nod to the political clout of the gun-rights lobby, did not renew it.<br />
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Investigators have said they believe Adam Lanza attended Sandy Hook many years ago, but they couldn't explain why he went there Friday.<br />
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Authorities said Lanza had no criminal history, and it was not clear whether he had a job.<br />
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A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the unfolding investigation, has said Lanza had been diagnosed with Asperger's, a mild form of autism often characterized by social awkwardness.<br />
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People with the disorder are often highly intelligent. While they can become frustrated more easily, there is no evidence of a link between Asperger's and violent behavior, experts say.<br />
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Associated Press writers John Christoffersen and Michael Melia in Newtown, David Collins in Hartford and Brian Skoloff in Phoenix contributed to this report.<br />
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NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) — Worshippers hurriedly left a church Sunday, saying they were told there was a bomb threat not far from the elementary school where 20 kids and six adults were massacred.<br />
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At least a dozen police in camouflage SWAT gear and carrying guns arrived at the St. Rose of Lima Church. An Associated Press photographer saw police leave carrying something in a red tarp.<br />
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Guns drawn, they surrounded the rectory across the parking lot from the main church building. A large crowd of parishioners gathered outside.<br />
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There was no official report from police about the threat or evacuation.<br />
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Shooter Adam Lanza, his mother and eight of the child victims attended St. Rose of Lima. It is a Roman Catholic Church with an adjacent school, which Lanza attended briefly.<br />
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It's not clear if there actually was a threat or if, like many tragedies, whether it was a hoax or the result of a community on edge.<br />
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The church hosted overflow crowds at all three morning masses Sunday.<br />
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<hr />(Reuters) - Several Democratic lawmakers called for a new push for U.S. gun restrictions on Sunday, including a ban on military-style assault weapons, in the wake of the Connecticut massacre in which 20 children and six adults were gunned down in a school.<br />
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Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein, the author of an assault-weapons ban that lapsed in 2004, said she would introduce new legislation this week. Senator Dick Durbin, the chamber's No. 2 Democrat, said lawmakers would hold hearings on gun control, and several others said they would devote new attention to the long-ignored issue.<br />
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<hr /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://anarchistsoccermom.blogspot.com/2012/12/thinking-unthinkable.html" target="_blank">I am sharing this story because I am Adam Lanza’s mother</a>. I am Dylan Klebold’s and Eric Harris’s mother. I am Jason Holmes’s mother. I am Jared Loughner’s mother. I am Seung-Hui Cho’s mother. And these boys—and their mothers—need help. In the wake of another horrific national tragedy, it’s easy to talk about guns. But it’s time to talk about mental illness.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">According to Mother Jones, since 1982, 61 mass murders involving firearms have occurred throughout the country. (<a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/mass-shootings-map">http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/mass-shootings-map</a>). Of these, 43 of the killers were white males, and only one was a woman. Mother Jones focused on whether the killers obtained their guns legally (most did). But this highly visible sign of mental illness should lead us to consider how many people in the U.S. live in fear, like I do.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When I asked my son’s social worker about my options, he said that the only thing I could do was to get Michael charged with a crime. “If he’s back in the system, they’ll create a paper trail,” he said. “That’s the only way you’re ever going to get anything done. No one will pay attention to you unless you’ve got charges.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I don’t believe my son belongs in jail. The chaotic environment exacerbates Michael’s sensitivity to sensory stimuli and doesn’t deal with the underlying pathology. But it seems like the United States is using prison as the solution of choice for mentally ill people. According to Human Rights Watch, the number of mentally ill inmates in U.S. prisons quadrupled from 2000 to 2006, and it continues to rise—in fact, the rate of inmate mental illness is five times greater (56 percent) than in the non-incarcerated population. (<a href="http://www.hrw.org/news/2006/09/05/us-number-mentally-ill-prisons-quadrupled">http://www.hrw.org/news/2006/09/05/us-number-mentally-ill-prisons-quadrupled</a>)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">With state-run treatment centers and hospitals shuttered, prison is now the last resort for the mentally ill—Rikers Island, the LA County Jail, and Cook County Jail in Illinois housed the nation’s largest treatment centers in 2011 (<a href="http://www.npr.org/2011/09/04/140167676/nations-jails-struggle-with-mentally-ill-prisoners">http://www.npr.org/2011/09/04/140167676/nations-jails-struggle-with-mentally-ill-prisoners</a>)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> No one wants to send a 13-year old genius who loves Harry Potter and his snuggle animal collection to jail. But our society, with its stigma on mental illness and its broken healthcare system, does not provide us with other options. Then another tortured soul shoots up a fast food restaurant. A mall. A kindergarten classroom. And we wring our hands and say, “Something must be done.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I agree that something must be done. It’s time for a meaningful, nation-wide conversation about mental health. That’s the only way our nation can ever truly heal. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">God help me. God help Michael. God help us all. </span></div><span class="post-author vcard"> Posted by <span class="fn" itemprop="author" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"> <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/18104642282433680432" rel="author" title="author profile"> <span itemprop="name">Anarchist Soccer Mom</span> </a> </span> </span> <span class="post-timestamp"> at <a class="timestamp-link" href="http://anarchistsoccermom.blogspot.com.br/2012/12/thinking-unthinkable.html" rel="bookmark" title="permanent link"><abbr class="published" itemprop="datePublished" title="2012-12-14T22:07:00-08:00">10:07 PM</abbr></a> </span> <span class="reaction-buttons"> </span> <span class="star-ratings"> </span> <span class="post-comment-link"> </span> <span class="post-backlinks post-comment-link"> </span> <span class="post-icons"> </span> <br />
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Hours after the horrific school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut that claimed 28 lives, including 20 children, President Obama promised the nation he would take action.</span><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" /> <span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">The harsh truth is that we’ve heard this promise before. After Aurora. After Tucson. After Virginia Tech. After Columbine.</span><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" /> <b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Promises are not enough. We need action -- and we need your help to make sure that this time the president follows through.</b><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" /> <a href="http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=Fk0OmVB%2BdLw%2B9t69G0GCo0quFOF2fiNh" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank"><b>Join more than 300,000 Americans and sign our petition to Demand A Plan to end gun violence.</b></a><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" /> <span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">34 Americans are murdered with guns every day in America. That means more than 48,000 Americans will be murdered with guns in the President Obama’s second term -- and he has no plan to address gun violence.</span><br />
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<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">On Tuesday, another shooting took two innocent lives in Oregon. Our hearts go out to their families. We know they're hurting today.</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">This happens all the time. That's why more than 725 mayors decided to get involved - because 34 Americans are murdered with guns every day in ways that don't make headlines.</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">So while our hearts are in Oregon, I hope you'll turn your eyes to Michigan, where we beat the NRA yesterday.</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">The state legislature was on the brink of eliminating background checks for private handgun sales. The House had already passed a bill to eliminate a system that kept nearly 3,000 criminals, domestic abusers and other dangerous people from getting their hands on a pistol in Michigan -- in 2011 alone.</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">The bill was cruising to passage in the Senate until just a few weeks ago.</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Then Michigan mayors, police and grassroots supporters like you noticed. They organized, mobilized and lobbied. They stopped the bill in its tracks.</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">And yesterday, the Senate passed a bill that preserves background checks for all handgun sales - a total victory for Lansing against the NRA's Washington lobbyists.</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: "arial";"><a href="http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=s62l1AxpiXPPJY0erh0yPGDawQey8QkD" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">If you can, please make a small donation so we can take this fight to other states. When we fight, we win. But we need your support.</a></span></b><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Sincerely,</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Mark Glaze<br />
Mayors Against Illegal Guns</span></div><br />
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By Lisa Lambert<br />
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WASHINGTON | Sat Dec 15, 2012 4:20pm EST<br />
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(Reuters) - A day after the Connecticut elementary school massacre, a senior congressional Democrat on Saturday called on U.S. lawmakers to pass sweeping new gun control measures including banning assault weapons and high-capacity clips, saying, "Politics be damned."<br />
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Representative John Larson, chairman of the House of Representatives Democratic Caucus, gave a list of specific policies he wanted the U.S. Congress to vote on quickly after the mass shooting in his home state of Connecticut.<br />
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U.S. lawmakers have not approved a major new gun law since 1994, and they let a ban on certain semiautomatic rifles known as assault weapons expire in 2004.<br />
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Hours after Friday's rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School, President Barack Obama called for the federal government to prevent mass shootings "regardless of politics," but did not offer details on policies he would seek. He reiterated his commitment to "meaningful action" during his weekly radio address on Saturday.<br />
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Twenty-eight people died in the incident - 20 schoolchildren and six adults shot at the school, one woman at another nearby site and the gunman.<br />
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The incident put renewed pressure on Obama and other Democrats to reverse their years of caution about gun control laws and address the easy availability of firearms. However, gun control supporters face a Republican-led House that could block such measures.<br />
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"There may not be a single cure-all for the violence in our nation, however we must start the process and begin the deeper and longer conversations that need to take place. Politics be damned," Larson said in a statement.<br />
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"Of the 12 deadliest shootings in our nation's history, half of them have happened in the last five years. And there is not a single person in America who doesn't fear it will happen again."<br />
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BACKGROUND CHECKS<br />
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Larson said Congress must quickly vote on measures that include requiring background checks for all gun sales, closing "loopholes" on the terrorist watch list and banning assault weapons and high-capacity clips.<br />
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Other Democrats, including Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal, New York Representative Carolyn McCarthy and California Representative George Miller, are calling for stricter gun control after the shootings.<br />
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Blumenthal and Miller said they believe the nation should have a "conversation" about gun control, but Blumenthal declined to discuss his ideas at depth so soon after the shootings, saying he wanted to show respect to the families of the victims.<br />
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McCarthy, whose husband was killed by a gunman on a commuter train in 1993, said in a statement: "I agree, now is not the time to talk about gun laws - the time for that conversation was long before all those kids in Connecticut died."<br />
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McCarthy and other Democrats, who traditionally support gun control, voiced skepticism about the call Obama made for "meaningful action," mostly because of his lack of specificity.<br />
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"I'm not sure if the president meant it or if it was just more rhetoric," a senior Democratic congressional aide said on Saturday. "But if anything is ever going to happen on gun control, now is the time. He is in a perfect position to act."<br />
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The aide said Obama should take advantage of having just won a second term, which means he can act without worrying about voter repercussions in the polls or donors withdrawing dollars.<br />
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Faced with intense lobbying by the National Rifle Association and other gun groups, and fearful of a backlash from gun-owning voters, most Democrats have stopped trying to pass new laws.<br />
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According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the NRA did not donate money to Obama during this year's presidential election but sent funds to his Republican challenger Mitt Romney.<br />
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In total, it donated $634,146 to Republicans during the 2012 election and $85,450 to Democrats.<br />
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(Additional reporting by Thomas Ferraro, Steve Holland and David Ingram; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)<br />
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<h2><a href="http://www.juancole.com/2012/12/semi-automatic-firearms-are-military-weapons-lets-at-least-limit-the-magazines.html" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Semi-Automatic firearms are Military Weapons: Lets at least Limit the Magazines">Semi-Automatic firearms are Military Weapons: Lets at least Limit the Magazines</a></h2><div class="date">Posted on 12/15/2012 by Juan Cole</div><br />
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One of the two guns the Connecticut shooter used to murder 20 children and 6 adults was a Glock semi-automatic. This datum is not surprising. The Glock is among the more popular pistols sold in the United States.<br />
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The Glock semi-automatic was developed in 1982 for the Austrian army. It was not envisioned that it would be bought by millions of citizens. It is not in fact bought by millions of civilians anywhere but in the United States. The gun should not be singled out for demonization; there are lots of semi-automatic pistols, and lots of semi-automatic rifles, and all of them are widespread and legal in the United States.<br />
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But it is worth underlining that Gaston Glock probably did not envision that you and your neighbors would just go into a shop and purchase his weapon. <br />
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So here is what happened: in the first ten years, 100,000 of these guns were sold to militaries and police in Europe, and then the rest went to the civilians and police of the United States. The US took 71% of all Glocks in their first decade, even though the US army rejected them. The US is peculiar.<br />
Can anything be done about the phenomenon of “mass shootings?”<br />
<a href="http://www.nycrimecommission.org/initiative1-shootings.php"> These killings have plagued the US for decades</a>.<br />
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Gun advocates might argue that these mass shootings are relatively rare and exact a relatively low death toll in a country of 310 million people. In 2012, there were 16 mass shootings in the US, which killed 88 persons and wounded hundreds. We <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/11/us-usa-crime-stats-idUSBRE85A1JZ20120611"> polish off 14,500 Americans a year</a> with murders (around 9000 of them via firearms), and 30,000 a year in auto accidents. There are also something like 18,000 suicides a year by firearm in the US, about half of the total; perhaps large numbers of those people would still be alive if it hadn’t been so technically easy to take their on lives. Anyway, mass shootings as a subset of lives taken by firearms are a tiny proportion.<br />
One problem is that mass shootings produce a national trauma, and probably are designed to do so. We were all, from President Obama on down, crying for the children yesterday. Isolated murders of adults, however tragic, don’t upset us the way a madman shooting down children does. Although they are few and the number of victims only account for 1% of those murdered by firearms every year, the mass shootings deeply disturb us.<br />
It is also the case that mass shootings are arbitrarily defined as those in which 4 or more people are killed. For those affected, three is pretty “mass.” <br />
Public policy is often made on the grounds of what we find unpalatable. You will note that we are also upset by airplane crashes, and we insist that they are always completely unacceptable. We don’t feel the same way about whacking 30,000 people a year (and injuring like 300,000) in auto collisions. <br />
The problem is <a href="http://www.tnr.com/blog/plank/111149/why-are-mass-shootings-the-rise"> getting worse.</a> 10% of all mass shootings since 1982 have occurred in 2012, and 12 percent of the 543 victims since that date have been killed this year. <br />
In addition, however, some <a href="http://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/Survey-Analysis/Measuring-the-Extent-of-Gang-Problems"> 2,000 of the 9,000 firearms murders a year</a> are committed by drug gangs and other criminal gangs, and these are primarily using semi-automatic weapons to commit these murders. <br />
So there is a problem, of increased numbers of mass shootings and increased numbers of victims over time. And there is a problem with the roughly 1 million gang members having military-style weapons and committing 14% of the murders every year in the US.<br />
Is there a solution of the problem?<br />
Even someone <a href="http://www.salon.com/2012/09/23/americas_favorite_handgun/"> who really loves semi-automatic guns</a>– Paul Barret, author of”Glock: The Rise of America’s Gun,” admits of the 1994 ban on semi-automatic rifles:<br />
<blockquote>“The one potentially sensible provision in the Assault Weapons Ban was the imposition of a ten-round magazine capacity, which affected both semi-automatic rifles and semi-automatic pistols, including the Glock. You can begin to understand that at least this [limitation] might inhibit the mass shooter because, under that regime, he would at least have to think ahead enough to carry multiple ten-round magazines.”</blockquote>Personally, I don’t understand why civilians need semi-automatic pistols and rifles at all. And the evidence we have from the mass shootings this year is that yes, the shooter will bring extra rounds. Lots of extra rounds.<br />
But I’ll tell you what, some sort of limitation is better than none, and at least such legislation might establish the principle that guns can be regulated by law.<br />
So how about we propose a law specifying that no civilian may buy a semi-automatic weapon that has greater than a ten-round magazine, and that such weapons for the civilian market be constructed so that extra magazine drums cannot be attached? And we ban semi-automatic rifles altogether.<br />
What about all the semi-automatic weapons already in people’s possession? There are like 280 million guns in the US, nearly one per person. (Though in fact, a small minority owns most of these guns, and the proportion of gun owners in the population has been shinking; fewer and fewer people have more and more guns). Since the 1980s, sales of semi-automatic weapons have been in the tens of thousands annually.<br />
Well, you could have a buy-back program, and could offer people trade-ins. Changing things would not have to be coercive. People would have a choice between having an illegal pistol and a legal one with a smaller magazine. <br />
Contrary to what is often alleged, in any case, used guns are seldom the problem. Most used guns are in people’s safes. The new ones are the problem. Most people who commit mass shootings seem to go on a buying spree first, and gang members likewise most often like to purchase new weaponry.<br />
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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will attend an interfaith memorial service Sunday in Newtown, Conn., the site of Friday's deadly elementary school shooting.<br />
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Twenty-six people, including 20 children, were killed when a man opened fire inside the school.<br />
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Hours after the shooting, a tearful Obama said he grieved first as a father. In those remarks and later in his Saturday radio address, Obama called for "meaningful action" to prevent such shootings, but did not say what it should be.<br />
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Obama's visit to Newtown for an interfaith vigil would be the fourth time he has traveled to a city after a mass shooting.<br />
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The president had planned to travel to Maine Wednesday for an event promoting his positions in "fiscal cliff" negotiations, but the White House canceled that trip because of the shooting.<br />
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<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">My heart aches for the families of Newtown, Connecticut.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">We need to reach out to the loved ones of those who were murdered and to the community that has been shattered. We need to let them know that they are in our thoughts and our prayers, and that we are ready to do what it takes to make sure a tragedy like this never happens again.</span><br />
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<a href="http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=xAgh6%2FFNkKoZfWHJzUMh%2FacUqDN4lPs2" style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial;" target="_blank"><b>Share your personal message of condolence with the families of Newtown, Connecticut.</b></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">I've heard a lot of promises from politicians since my daughter was murdered in Tucson, Arizona, including President Obama. But I am still waiting for them to act.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">And I'm not alone in my frustration. As horrible as it sounds, mass shootings have become common in our country, and 34 Americans are murdered with guns every single day. That means 48,000 people will be murdered with guns in the president's next term. Yet our broken laws remain broken, and our leaders have yet to step forward with a plan to end gun violence.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">We need to make sure today's terrible tragedy is the last of its kind.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><b style="font-family: Arial;">We need to make a promise to ourselves and demand action from our leaders.</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">Please join me in sharing your feelings -- and your promise -- with those who have lost so much:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><b><a href="http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=fLukgxL529eXDGFFVnzaXPVdJH2ETm%2Bi" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">www.demandaplan.org/<wbr></wbr>condolences</a></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">Thank you for your support,</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">Roxanna Green</span></div><b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></b><br />
emmanuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08566669753834950327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073964493182580749.post-70567146571090965942015-11-28T23:01:00.000-08:002015-11-28T23:01:15.491-08:00Venezuela<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gYznqh0ul6Y" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
emmanuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08566669753834950327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073964493182580749.post-11788371048619720242015-11-28T21:28:00.002-08:002015-11-28T21:28:41.909-08:00Paris attack<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Kdko_fTvcQc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
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<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div id="watch-uploader-info" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; orphans: auto; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;"><strong class="watch-time-text" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 500; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;">Published on Nov 17, 2015</strong></div><div class="" id="watch-description-text" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; orphans: auto; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;"><div id="eow-description" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Paris attack witness says black Mercedes pulled up and shooters fired rifles from the hip -<a class="yt-uix-redirect-link" dir="ltr" href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/paris-attack-witness-says-black-6834503" rel="nofollow" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #167ac6; cursor: pointer; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/paris-attack-witness-says-black-6834503">http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/...</a><br />
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NOTE: Arab Muslims could have been involved in these attacks as well, potentially working with these 'white mercenaries' in some form or fashion.<br />
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“We Were Prepared”: Counter-Terrorism Emergency Exercise on “Multi-Site Attacks” Took Place On Same Day As Paris Terrorist Attacks -<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a class="yt-uix-redirect-link" dir="ltr" href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/we-were-prepared-large-military-exercise-took-place-on-same-day-as-paris-terrorist-attacks/5489164" rel="nofollow" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #167ac6; cursor: pointer; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="http://www.globalresearch.ca/we-were-prepared-large-military-exercise-took-place-on-same-day-as-paris-terrorist-attacks/5489164">http://www.globalresearch.ca/we-were-...</a><br />
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CIA Director Brennan Met With French Security Chief Before Paris Attacks - Report -<a class="yt-uix-redirect-link" dir="ltr" href="http://www.legitgov.org/CIA-Director-Brennan-Met-French-Security-Chief-Paris-Attacks-Report" rel="nofollow" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #167ac6; cursor: pointer; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="http://www.legitgov.org/CIA-Director-Brennan-Met-French-Security-Chief-Paris-Attacks-Report">http://www.legitgov.org/CIA-Director-...</a><br />
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Jewish owners recently sold Paris’s Bataclan theater, where IS killed dozens -<a class="yt-uix-redirect-link" dir="ltr" href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-owners-recently-sold-pariss-bataclan-theater-where-is-killed-dozens/" rel="nofollow" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #167ac6; cursor: pointer; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="http://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-owners-recently-sold-pariss-bataclan-theater-where-is-killed-dozens/">http://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-o...</a></div></div></div>emmanuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08566669753834950327noreply@blogger.com0