Did Petreaus Betray Us (And If Not Us, His Wife … After The Election Of Course) – Update: Petraeus Won’t Testify on Benghazi Next Week

Did Petreaus Betray Us (And If Not Us, His Wife… After The Election Of Course) (ZeroHedge, Nov 9, 2012):

Update, in which we find the true reason for the affair: Petraeus Won’t Testify on Benghazi Next Week, Senate Aide Says. In other words, next time one is called to testify before a panel over the deaths of 4 people including one US ambassador, one just pulls the infidelity “get out of testimony” card and all is well.* * *

A mere few days after the re-election of our president, CIA Director David Petraeus annoucnes his resignation:

  • *CIA DIRECTOR DAVID PETRAEUS RESIGNS
  • *PETRAEUS SAYS HE ASKED OBAMA TO BE ALLOWED TO RESIGN: NBC NEWS

The reason – an extra-marital affair…

  • *PETRAEUS SAYS HE ENGAGED IN AN EXTRAMARITAL AFFAIR: NBC NEWS
  • *PETRAEUS ‘SUCH BEHAVIOR IS UNACCEPTABLE’ IN A LEADER: CNN

Of course, the defense is already known: Petreaus did not commit that affair… the government did it for him

Via AP:

Read moreDid Petreaus Betray Us (And If Not Us, His Wife … After The Election Of Course) – Update: Petraeus Won’t Testify on Benghazi Next Week

Former Assistant Deputy Secretary Of State Dr. Steve Pieczenik Drops Bombshell: Israel To Start WW III On Sept. 25 (‘Yom Kippur’) – (Video)

FYI.



YouTube Added: 16.09.2012

Former State Dept. Veteran Drops Bombshell: WWIII Starts Sept. 25 (The Stock Market Watch, Sep 18, 2012):

Speaking with Infowars’ Alex Jones, former Assistant Deputy Secretary of State Dr. Steve Pieczenik says Israel plans to attack Iran before the U.S. elections of Nov. 6., and, that an attack on Iran will assuredly kickoff WWIII, according to him.

Moreover, Pieczenik, a man whose career inspired the character Jack Ryan of the Tom Clancy book series, says the ‘October Surprise’ will not take place in October.  Instead, the big surprise will come earlier, in late September.

Dr. Pieczenik says the specific date of the strike on Iran is Sept. 25th or 26th, Yom Kippur—the Jewish holiday, which commences in the year 2012 at sundown on the 25th, and ends at nightfall, the following day.

“It [an Israeli attack on Iran] could be earlier than October, because we have Yom Kippur.  And I predicted on your radio show, and I predicted to our national security people, privately, that Benjamin Bibi Netanyahu would start something on Rosh Hashanah,” says Pieczenick.

“This [prediction] was over a year ago, and I said it on your radio show.  He was as predictable as a clock, and the Israelis will be very predictable, on Yom Kippur,” he adds.

Pieczenik says it’s clear to him that Israeli prime minister Bibi Netanyahu has already planned to attack Iran and has been desperately trying to enlist the U.S. to back him up.  But, with or without U.S. direct help, Pieczenik is certain that Israel will attack Iran.

Moreover, he says Netanyahu is an extremest, who will “lie” for his personal and selfish cause, a conclusion also drawn by many Israelis who protest his regime.

“Everything Bibi is saying to the Americans and the American Jews is an absolute, unmitigated lie,” Pieczenik, a Jew, himself, says forcefully,

“What we have here is a collusion between Saudi Arabia, neocon Jews of America and Israel, against a president, who, whether I like or dislike, and may have lied about Osama Bin Laden,” he adds, “he [President Obama] is the son . . . a son of a CIA operative, the grandson of a CIA operative, who understands very well what the issues of intelligence are.”

With help from his neocon friends, Netanyahu threatens the entire world with the suicidal notion that Iran must be attacked, and the Israeli prime minister must be stopped, even if it means assassination, according to Pieczenik

Read moreFormer Assistant Deputy Secretary Of State Dr. Steve Pieczenik Drops Bombshell: Israel To Start WW III On Sept. 25 (‘Yom Kippur’) – (Video)

Special Ops Con, Imaginary Warfare And Non-Existent Enemies (Veterans Today)

Special Ops con, imaginary warfare and non-existent enemies (Veterans Today, Sep 7, 2012):

With an election book by a SEAL, real or imaginary, out now, it is time for an honest discussion of “Special Operations” from someone who has actually sat through “mission planning” sessions involving three continents.

Thus far, the quotes I have read, of finding an unidentified old man shot but not dead and then shooting his wounded body repeatedly makes sense.

Any old man would do as lying about who it is can easily be done under cloak of secrecy, like lying about the helicopter crash though photos of the downed “carbon fibre stealth helicopter” were in every paper.

Witness also so crash dead, crew and SEALS. We lied about that too.

Someone may have murdered an old man; we have no idea who neither did they. The whole thing was staged, go somewhere, kill an old man, claim it is Osama bin Laden, move General Petraeus to CIA and he can’t claim he killed bin Laden and run for president.

The whole thing was a political con.

Then, noting from this recent book that SEALS are obsessed with leaking information, we had a record number of SEAL deaths in an air crash in Afghanistan reported soon after, totaling as many dead SEALS as the entire Vietnam War.

Read moreSpecial Ops Con, Imaginary Warfare And Non-Existent Enemies (Veterans Today)

Pentagon, CIA Sued For Lethal Drone Attacks On U.S. Citizens

Pentagon, CIA Sued for Lethal Drone Attacks on U.S. Citizens (Wired, July 18, 2012):

Survivors of three Americans killed by targeted drone attacks in Yemen last year sued top-ranking members of the United States government, alleging Wednesday they illegally killed the three, including a 16-year-old boy, in violation of international human rights law and the U.S. Constitution.

“The government has killed three Americans. It should account for its actions. This case gives us an opportunity to do that,” Jameel Jaffer, deputy legal director with the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a press call.

The suit, (.pdf) being litigated by the ACLU and the Center for Constitutional Rights, seeks unspecified damages and highlights the government’s so-called unmanned drone “targeted killing” program that the ACLU and the center maintain have killed thousands, including hundreds of innocent bystanders overseas.

The suit, the first of its kind, alleges the United States was not engaged in an armed conflict with or within Yemen, prohibiting the use of lethal force unless “at the time it is applied, lethal force is a last resort to protect against a concrete, specific, and imminent threat of death or serious physical injury.” The case directly challenges the government’s decision to kill Americans without judicial scrutiny.

Read morePentagon, CIA Sued For Lethal Drone Attacks On U.S. Citizens

14 Incredibly Creepy Surveillance Technologies That Big Brother Will Be Using To Spy On You

14 Incredibly Creepy Surveillance Technologies That Big Brother Will Be Using To Spy On You (The American Dream, July 9, 2012):

Most of us don’t think much about it, but the truth is that people are being watched, tracked and monitored more today than at any other time in human history.  The explosive growth of technology in recent years has given governments, spy agencies and big corporations monitoring tools that the despots and dictators of the past could only dream of.  Previous generations never had to deal with “pre-crime” surveillance cameras that use body language to spot criminals or unmanned drones watching them from far above.  Previous generations would have never even dreamed that street lights and refrigerators might be spying on them.  Many of the incredibly creepy surveillance technologies that you are about to read about are likely to absolutely astound you.  We are rapidly heading toward a world where there will be no such thing as privacy anymore.  Big Brother is becoming all-pervasive, and thousands of new technologies are currently being developed that will make it even easier to spy on you.  The world is changing at a breathtaking pace, and a lot of the changes are definitely not for the better.

The following are 14 incredibly creepy surveillance technologies that Big Brother will be using to watch you….

Read more14 Incredibly Creepy Surveillance Technologies That Big Brother Will Be Using To Spy On You

Hacking Expert David Chalk Joins Urgent Call To Halt Smart Grid: ‘100% Certainty Of Catastrophic Failure Of Energy Grid Within 3 Years’

Hacking Expert David Chalk Joins Urgent Call to Halt Smart Grid (Market Watch, April 12, 2012):

“100% certainty of catastrophic failure of energy grid within 3 years”

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Apr 12, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) — The vulnerability of the energy industry’s new wireless smart grid will inevitably lead to lights out for everyone, according to leading cyber expert David Chalk. In an online interview for an upcoming documentary film entitled ‘Take Back Your Power’ ( www.ThePowerFilm.org ), Chalk says the entire power grid will be at risk to being taken down by cyber attack, and if installations continue it’s only a matter of time.

“We’re in a state of crisis,” said Chalk. “The front door is open and there is no lock to be had. There is not a power meter or device on the grid that is protected from hacking – if not already infected – with some sort of trojan horse that can cause the grid to be shut down or completely annihilated.”

“One of the most amazing things that has happened to mankind in the last 100 years is the Internet. It’s given us possibility beyond our wildest imagination. But we also know the vulnerabilities that exist inside of it. And then we have the backbone, the power grid that powers our nations. Those two are coming together. And it’s the smart meter on your home or business that’s now allowing that connectivity.”

Chalk also issued a challenge to governments, media and technology producers to show him one piece of digital technology that is hack-proof.

Read moreHacking Expert David Chalk Joins Urgent Call To Halt Smart Grid: ‘100% Certainty Of Catastrophic Failure Of Energy Grid Within 3 Years’

CIA Director David Petraeus: We’ll Spy on You Through Your Dishwasher


And now Petraeus is CIA Director = Change we can believe in!

CIA Chief: We’ll Spy on You Through Your Dishwasher (Wired, Mar 15, 2012):

More and more personal and household devices are connecting to the internet, from your television to your car navigation systems to your light switches. CIA Director David Petraeus cannot wait to spy on you through them.

Earlier this month, Petraeus mused about the emergence of an “Internet of Things” — that is, wired devices — at a summit for In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s venture capital firm. “‘Transformational’ is an overused word, but I do believe it properly applies to these technologies,” Petraeus enthused, “particularly to their effect on clandestine tradecraft.”

All those new online devices are a treasure trove of data if you’re a “person of interest” to the spy community. Once upon a time, spies had to place a bug in your chandelier to hear your conversation. With the rise of the “smart home,” you’d be sending tagged, geolocated data that a spy agency can intercept in real time when you use the lighting app on your phone to adjust your living room’s ambiance.

“Items of interest will be located, identified, monitored, and remotely controlled through technologies such as radio-frequency identification, sensor networks, tiny embedded servers, and energy harvesters — all connected to the next-generation internet using abundant, low-cost, and high-power computing,” Petraeus said, “the latter now going to cloud computing, in many areas greater and greater supercomputing, and, ultimately, heading to quantum computing.”

Petraeus allowed that these household spy devices “change our notions of secrecy” and prompt a rethink of “our notions of identity and secrecy.” All of which is true — if convenient for a CIA director.

Read moreCIA Director David Petraeus: We’ll Spy on You Through Your Dishwasher

US Drone Strikes Kill At Least 45 In Yemen

Air strikes in Yemen kill 45 suspected Qaeda militants (Reuters, Mar 10, 2012):

U.S. drone attacks killed at least 25 al Qaeda-linked fighters including one of their leaders while a Yemeni air force raid killed 20 more in the south, sources said on Saturday, in the biggest airstrikes since Yemen’s new president took office.

Militants have expanded their operations in southern Yemen during months of turmoil which paralyzed the country and eventually unseated former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was replaced in a February vote by Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Read moreUS Drone Strikes Kill At Least 45 In Yemen

George Galloway: Iran Is Not A Punching Bag (Video)

Must-see!

***

YouTube Added: 06.03.2012

Description:

George Galloway, speaking at Stop the War Coalition’s National Conference on 3 March 2012, spelt out the consequences of an attack on Iran by Israel and the United States. Following the defeat of the Western powers in Iraq and Afghanistan, the British government is sleep-walking into another disastrous war, he said. They will have to be stopped or all of us will pay for their mistake for the rest of our lives.

Flashback:

George Galloway: The Case Against War With Iran (Must-Listen!!!) (YouTube):

‘Iran Hasn’t Invaded Another Country In More Than 300 Years.’

On record:

Interview With US General Wesley Clark (Ret.): US Government Planned To ‘Take Out 7 Countries In 5 Years’: ‘Starting With Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan And Finishing Off Iran’ (Video)

Albert Pike Predicted Three World Wars In 1871

Former CIA Officer Charged With Leaking Classified information, Faces DECADES IN PRISON

Former CIA officer charged with leaking classified information (Chicago Tribune, Jan. 23, 2012):

A former CIA officer is facing decades in prison after being charged Monday with disclosing classified information to journalists, the latest in an unprecedented Obama administration crackdown against national security leaks.

John Kiriakou, who made news in 2007 when he became one of the first CIA operatives to speak publicly about water boarding, is accused of providing secrets, including the name and activities of one his undercover colleagues, to reporters. One reporter is alleged to have turned over the name of the covert CIA officer to lawyers for Guantanamo Bay prisoners, who were seeking to identify CIA employees involved in coercive interrogations.

The journalist and the defense lawyers were not charged.

The case against Kiriakou marks the fifth time during the Obama administration that charges of violating the Espionage Act of 1917 have been brought against current or former government officials who allegedly leaked information to journalists — a record unmatched in any previous administration, said Steven Aftergood, who follows the intelligence community for the Federation of American Scientists.

Read moreFormer CIA Officer Charged With Leaking Classified information, Faces DECADES IN PRISON

Dr. Webster Tarpley: The NATO-CIA Destabilization Of Syria Is Under Way! (Video)

See also:

Bomb Voyage: 600 Libyans ‘Already Fighting In Syria’ (RT)

US Carrier Strike Force Enters Syrian Waters

Russia Warships To Enter Syria Waters To Stop NATO



YouTube Added: 29.11.2011


YouTube Added: 29.11.2011

Description:

On the Tuesday, November 29 edition of the Alex Jones Show, Alex talks about moves by the globalists to attack Syria as France trains “rebels” in Turkey and the Russians deny they have dispatched war ships to guard their interests in the Middle Eastern country. Historian and author Webster Tarpley talks with Alex about Syria, Iran and Pakistan.

Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Dr. Steve Pieczenik Absolute Sure MUAMMAR GADDAFI Is ALIVE – ‘Obama Is An Obsessional Pathological Liar!’ (Video)

“There’s no way they killed Muammar Gaddafi, that’s not our operating mode and I’ve been involved in 30 years with the takeouts and change the regimes.”


YouTube Added: 20.10.2011

Flashback:

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts: The Day America Died – The Only Future For Americans Is A Nightmare

Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Dr. Steve R. Pieczenik: Osama Bin Laden Died In 2001, 9/11 A False Flag (Video)

UNBELIEVABLE: ‘More Than 20 Navy SEALS From The Unit That Killed Osama Bin Laden’ Die In Helicopter Crash

FKN Newz: NO LIE ZONE OVER LIBYA – 03/04/2011

See also:

FKN Newz: Hypocrisy Sweeps Middle East – 02/26/2011

FKN Newz: Happy Revolution Baby! – 02/18/2011

Afghan Ultra-Violence: General Petraeus Triples Air War

General Petraeus also wants a Nobel Peace Prize.


November is ordinarily the month when the air war in Afghanistan — and really, the whole American-led campaign — ratchets down for the winter. This November, with Gen. David Petraeus in charge of the war effort, things have been different. Radically different. NATO fighter jets and attack planes launched their bombs and missiles on 850 separate missions this November. That’s three-and-a-half times the number of attack sorties they flew in November 2009.

It’s another sign of the bloody turn the Afghan conflict has taken since Petraeus took over. Petraeus unleashed special operations forces, who have killed or captured thousands of militants. His generals relied on massive surface-to-surface missiles to clear the Taliban out of Kandahar, and ordered tanks to help crush opponents in Helmand province. And then there’s the metastasizing air war.

In the last three months, NATO aircraft have fired their weapons on 2550 sorties, according to U.S. Air Force statistics provided to Danger Room. During the same period last year, there were less than half the number of violent sorties — just 1188.

But that was under a different general, who had a very different attitude about airstrikes — and about the utility of violent coercion in the Afghan campaign.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal famously corralled the use of air power as he tried to implement a counterinsurgency strategy that put winning the locals’ allegiance as the primary goal. Even troops under enemy attack found it tough to call in a strike from above. Better to expose U.S. forces to some danger than risk alienating the population.

In public, Petraeus and his generals said that there would be no major changes to the so-called “rules of engagement,” which govern the use of force. Strikes from the sky were still considered a “choice of last resort,” as Brig. Gen. Jack Briggs II told Danger Room in August. NATO officials tried to explain the uptick in these air attacks and other so-called “kinetic” events as a function of increased troop numbers, or of those soldiers pushing into previously-uncontested territory.

But with each passing month under Petraeus’ leadership, the shift to a more violent strategy becomes more apparent. By November, one U.S. military official was boasting about America’s “awe, shock and firepower.”

Read moreAfghan Ultra-Violence: General Petraeus Triples Air War

How the CIA Ran A Secret Army Of 3,000 Assassins

president-barack-obama-and-commander-of-us-central-command-gen-david-petraeus
President Barack Obama and Commander of U.S. Central Command Gen. David Petraeus depart the White House Oval Office

The US Central Intelligence Agency is running and paying for a secret 3,000-strong army of Afghan paramilitaries whose main aim is assassinating Taliban and al-Qa’ida operatives not just in Afghanistan but across the border in neighbouring Pakistan’s tribal areas, according to Bob Woodward’s explosive book.

Although the CIA has long been known to run clandestine militias in Afghanistan, including one from a base it rents from the Afghan president Hamid Karzai’s half-brother in the southern province of Kandahar, the sheer number of militiamen directly under its control have never been publicly revealed.

Woodward’s book, Obama’s Wars, describes these forces as elite, well-trained units that conduct highly sensitive covert operations into Pakistan as part of a stepped-up campaign against al-Qa’ida and Afghan Taliban havens there. Two US newspapers published the claims after receiving copies of the manuscript.

The secret army is split into “Counterterrorism Pursuit Teams”, and is thought to be responsible for the deaths of many Pakistani Taliban fighters who have crossed the border into Afghanistan to fight Nato and Afghan government forces there.

There are ever-increasing numbers of “kill-or-capture” missions undertaken by US Special Forces against Afghan Taliban and foreign fighters, who hope to drive rank-and-file Taliban towards the Afghan government’s peace process by eliminating their leaders. The suspicion is that the secret army is working in close tandem with them.

Read moreHow the CIA Ran A Secret Army Of 3,000 Assassins

President Obama Kills 66 More US Soldiers in July

Liar in Chief :

Obama: ‘I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am President, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank.’ (Video)

In 2009 over 300 US soldiers died because of this lie.

How many will die in 2010?


US ‘casualties’ in Afghanistan soar to record highs

president-obama-kills-66-more-us-soldiers-in-july
NATO and US soldiers are seen standing guard in Kabul. Three foreign soldiers were killed in two separate Taliban-style bomb attacks in Afghanistan’s volatile south, NATO said Friday. (AFP)

KABUL, Afghanistan – In a summer of suffering, America’s military death toll in Afghanistan is rising, with back-to-back record months for U.S. losses in the grinding conflict. All signs point to more bloodshed in the months ahead, straining the already shaky international support for the war.

Six more Americans were reported killed in fighting in the south – three Thursday and three Friday – pushing the U.S. death toll for July to a record 66 and surpassing June as the deadliest month for U.S. forces in the nearly nine-year war.

U.S. officials confirmed the latest American deaths Friday but gave no further details. Five of the latest reported deaths were a result of hidden bombs – the insurgents’ weapon of choice – and the sixth to an armed attack, NATO said in statements.

U.S. commanders say American casualties are mounting because more troops are fighting – and the Taliban are stiffening resistance as NATO and Afghan forces challenge the insurgents in areas they can’t afford to give up without a fight.

“Recent months in Afghanistan have … seen tough fighting and tough casualties. This was expected,” the top U.S. and NATO commander, Gen. David Petraeus, said at his Senate confirmation hearing last month. “My sense is that the tough fighting will continue; indeed, it may get more intense in the next few months.”

That forecast is proving grimly accurate.

The month has brought a sharp increase in the tragic images of war – medics frantically seeking to stop the bleeding of a soldier who lost his leg in a bombing, fearful comrades huddled around a wounded trooper fighting for his life, the solemn scenes at Dover Air Force Bare in Delaware when shattered relatives come to receive the bodies of their loved ones.

After a dip in American deaths last spring following the February capture of the southern town of Marjah, U.S. fatalities have been rising – from 19 in April to 34 in May to 60 in June. Last month’s deaths for the entire NATO-led force reached a record 104, including the 60 Americans. This month’s coalition death count stands at 89, including the 66 Americans.

Read morePresident Obama Kills 66 More US Soldiers in July

U.S. War Crimes: Cancer rate in Fallujah worse than Hiroshima

See also:

Iraq: Fallujah Doctors Report Dramatic Rise In Birth Defects (BBC)

The curse of Fallujah: Women warned not to have babies because of rise in birth defects since U.S. assault (Daily Mail)

I am repeating myself here, but …

Don’t tell me that DU can be shielded by a piece of paper and is therefore no danger to health.

How long can you hold your breath or live without food and water?

What Depleted Uranium Does to Children in Iraq: Japanese Journalist

Depleted Uranium Shells Worse Than Nuclear Weapons:

Inhaled or ingested DU particles are highly toxic, and DU has been classified as an illegal weapon of mass destruction by the United Nations.
“More than ten times the amount of radiation released during atmospheric testing [of nuclear bombs] has been released from DU weaponry since 1991,” said Leuren Moret, a U.S. nuclear scientist. “The genetic future of the Iraqi people, for the most part, is destroyed. The environment now is completely radioactive.”
“Because DU has a half-life of 4.5 billion years, the Middle East will, for all practical purposes, be radioactive forever.”

The elite criminals that control the US have destroyed Iraq forever. Even Hitler, Stalin and Mao begin to pale against such a crime against humanity.


iraq-fallujah-depleted-uranium-birth-defects
An infant born with just one eye battling to stay alive in the Fallujah clinic

The Iraqi city of Fallujah continues to suffer the ghastly consequences of a US military onslaught in late 2004.

According to the authors of a new study, “Cancer, Infant Mortality and Birth Sex-Ratio in Fallujah, Iraq 2005–2009,” the people of Fallujah are experiencing higher rates of cancer, leukemia, infant mortality, and sexual mutations than those recorded among survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the years after those Japanese cities were incinerated by US atomic bomb strikes in 1945.

The epidemiological study, published in the International Journal of Environmental Studies and Public Health (IJERPH), also finds the prevalence of these conditions in Fallujah to be many times greater than in nearby nations.

The assault on Fallujah, a city located 43 miles west of Baghdad, was one of the most horrific war crimes of our time. After the population resisted the US-led occupation of Iraq—a war of neo-colonial plunder launched on the basis of lies—Washington determined to make an example of the largely Sunni city. This is called “exemplary” or “collective” punishment and is, according to the laws of war, illegal.

The new public health study of the city now all but proves what has long been suspected: that a high proportion of the weaponry used in the assault contained depleted uranium, a radioactive substance used in shells to increase their effectiveness.

In a study of 711 houses and 4,843 individuals carried out in January and February 2010, authors Chris Busby, Malak Hamdan, Entesar Ariabi and a team of researchers found that the cancer rate had increased fourfold since before the US attack five years ago, and that the forms of cancer in Fallujah are similar to those found among the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bomb survivors, who were exposed to intense fallout radiation.

In Fallujah the rate of leukemia is 38 times higher, the childhood cancer rate is 12 times higher, and breast cancer is 10 times more common than in populations in Egypt, Jordan, and Kuwait. Heightened levels of adult lymphoma and brain tumors were also reported. At 80 deaths out of every 1,000 births, the infant mortality rate in Fallujah is more than five times higher than in Egypt and Jordan, and eight times higher than in Kuwait.

Strikingly, after 2005 the proportion of girls born in Fallujah has increased sharply. In normal populations, 1050 boys are born for every 1000 girls. But among those born in Fallujah in the four years after the US assault, the ratio was reduced to 860 boys for every 1000 female births. This alteration is similar to gender ratios found in Hiroshima after the US atomic attack of 1945.

The most likely reason for the change in the sex ratio, according to the researchers, is the impact of a major mutagenic event—likely the use of depleted uranium in US weapons. While boys have one X-chromosome, girls have a redundant X-chromosome and can therefore absorb the loss of one chromosome through genetic damage.

“This is an extraordinary and alarming result,” said Busby, a professor of molecular biosciences at the University of Ulster and director of scientific research for Green Audit, an independent environmental research group. “To produce an effect like this, some very major mutagenic exposure must have occurred in 2004 when the attacks happened. We need urgently to find out what the agent was. Although many suspect uranium, we cannot be certain without further research and independent analysis of samples from the area.”

Busby told an Italian television news station, RAI 24, that the “extraordinary” increase in radiation-related maladies in Fallujah is higher than that found in the populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the US atomic strikes of 1945. “My guess is that this was caused by depleted uranium,” he said. “They must be connected.”

The US military uses depleted uranium, also known as spent nuclear fuel, in armor-piercing shells and bullets because it is twice as dense as lead. Once these shells hit their target, however, as much as 40 percent of the uranium is released in the form of tiny particles in the area of the explosion. It can remain there for years, easily entering the human bloodstream, where it lodges itself in lymph glands and attacks the DNA produced in the sperm and eggs of affected adults, causing, in turn, serious birth defects in the next generation.

The research is the first systematic scientific substantiation of a body of evidence showing a sharp increase in infant mortality, birth defects, and cancer in Fallujah.

In October of 2009, several Iraqi and British doctors wrote a letter to the United Nations demanding an inquiry into the proliferation of radiation-related sickness in the city:

“Young women in Fallujah in Iraq are terrified of having children because of the increasing number of babies born grotesquely deformed, with no heads, two heads, a single eye in their foreheads, scaly bodies or missing limbs. In addition, young children in Fallujah are now experiencing hideous cancers and leukemias.…

“In September 2009, Fallujah General Hospital had 170 newborn babies, 24 percent of whom were dead within the first seven days, a staggering 75 percent of the dead babies were classified as deformed.…

Read moreU.S. War Crimes: Cancer rate in Fallujah worse than Hiroshima

General James Mattis who said it was ‘fun to shoot people’ takes over US Central Command

General Stanley A. McChrystal:

“We have shot an amazing number of people, but to my knowledge, none has ever proven to be a threat.”

Source: New York Times


A senior US general once criticised for saying it was “fun to shoot some people” has been picked to take over US Central Command, leading the military command running the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

general-james-mattis
Lieutenant General James Mattis of the US Marines Corps has been picked to take over US Central Command (AFP)

General James Mattis, the current head of the US Joint Forces Command and who previously led troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, had widely been tipped as the next head of Central Command. President Barack Obama must formalise the nomination, which then goes to Congress for approval.

Centcom, as it is known, oversees operations in a volatile swathe of the world that covers 20 countries and stretches from Egypt across the Middle East and into south and central Asia.

Robert Gates, the defence secretary, praised the four-star general as “one of the military’s most innovative and iconoclastic thinkers.”

Mr Gates also dismissed concerns about his 2005 comments, saying Mattis had learned his lesson.

Gen Mattis was reprimanded at the time by the Marine Corps for telling a conference in San Diego, California: “It’s fun to shoot some people. I’ll be right up front with you, I like brawling.”

During a discussion panel he said: “You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn’t wear a veil.

“You know, guys like that ain’t got no manhood left anyway. So it’s a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them.”

Read moreGeneral James Mattis who said it was ‘fun to shoot people’ takes over US Central Command

US Must Stop Spying on WikiLeaks

wikileaks_001

Over the last few years, WikiLeaks has been the subject of hostile acts by security organizations. In the developing world, these range from the appalling assassination of two related human rights lawyers in Nairobi last March (an armed attack on my compound there in 2007 is still unattributed) to an unsuccessful mass attack by Chinese computers on our servers in Stockholm, after we published photos of murders in Tibet.

In the West this has ranged from the overt, the head of Germany’s foreign intelligence service, the BND, threatening to prosecute us unless we removed a report on CIA activity in Kosovo, to the covert, to an ambush by a “James Bond” character in a Luxembourg car park, an event that ended with a mere “we think it would be in your interest to…”.

Developing world violence aside, we’ve become used to the level of security service interest in us and have established procedures to ignore that interest.

But the increase in surveillance activities this last month, in a time when we are barely publishing due to fundraising, are excessive. Some of the new interest is related to a film exposing a U.S. massacre we will release at the U.S. National Press Club on April 5.

The spying includes attempted covert following, photographing, filming and the overt detention & questioning of a WikiLeaks’ volunteer in Iceland on Monday night.

I, and others were in Iceland to advise Icelandic parliamentarians on the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative, a new package of laws designed to protect investigative journalists and internet services from spying and censorship. As such, the spying has an extra poignancy.

The possible triggers:

  • our ongoing work on a classified film revealing civilian casualties occurring under the command of the U.S, general, David Petraeus.
  • our release of a classified 32 page US intelligence report on how to fatally marginalize WikiLeaks (expose our sources, destroy our reputation for integrity, hack us).
  • our release of a classified cable from the U.S. Embassy in Reykjavik reporting on contact between the U.S. and the U.K. over billions of euros in claimed loan guarantees.
  • pending releases related to the collapse of the Icelandic banks and Icelandic “oligarchs”.

We have discovered half a dozen attempts at covert surveillance in Reykjavik both by native English speakers and Icelanders. On the occasions where these individuals were approached, they ran away. One had marked police equipment and the license plates for another suspicious vehicle track back to the Icelandic private VIP bodyguard firm Terr. What does that mean? We don’t know. But as you will see, other events are clear.

Read moreUS Must Stop Spying on WikiLeaks

US General David Petraeus: UAE’s Air Force Could Take Out Iran’s

Iran has not invaded another country for over 200 years!

Syria will defend Iran if Israel attacks

Webster Tarpley: Geopolitical Goals of The Anglo-American Empire in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran

Senior IRGC official: ‘If attacked, Iran will target the very heart of Tel Aviv’

CNN: US Air Force gets new 30,000 pound bunker buster bomb (for Iran or North Korea)

IAEA: U.N. inspectors found ‘nothing to be worried about’ at Iran site

Exclusive: IAEA letter thanks Iran over notification

Iran’s Nuclear Program: Iran truthful, in treaty compliance; US & Israel lying, in treaty violation

Paul Craig Roberts: Another War in the Works; America Is Led and Informed by Liars

Ron Paul on the Iranian Nuclear Program

Paul Craig Roberts: Hypocrisy in Pittsburgh – More Lies, More Deceptions:

The incongruity blows the mind. Here is Obama, with troops engaged in wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan demanding that a peaceful nation at war with no one demonstrate “its peaceful intentions or be held accountable to international standards and international law.”

Putin warns against attack on Iran

Germany: BND denies report on Iran bomb timing; Iran not be able to produce an atomic bomb for years

“The men the American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.” – H. L. Mencken


Centcom commander Gen. David Petraeus tells Bahrain conference calls in Mideast countries to join forces in order to curb Tehran’s nuclear ambitions

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General David Petraeus

WASHINGTON – The United Arab Emirates, a key US ally in the Persian Gulf, has the capability to overpower Iran’s Air Force, US Centcom commander Gen. David Petraeus said last week.

Speaking at a conference in Bahrain organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the American general said, “The Emirati Air Force itself could take out the entire Iranian Air Force, I believe, given that it’s got … somewhere around 70 Block 60 F-16 fighters, which are better than the US F-16 fighters.”

Petraeus, who is responsible for overseeing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and security efforts throughout the region, called on the region’s countries to remain united in order to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

In light of the growing Iranian threat, said the general, the US has increased its participation in joint military drills held in the Middle East.

Read moreUS General David Petraeus: UAE’s Air Force Could Take Out Iran’s

British troops at mercy of Taliban surge; Nato fatalities rise by 78 per cent

Related article: Afghanistan: Northern Supply Lines Under Attack


Average of 12 attacks a day by insurgents in Helmand, new figures show

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Troops of 3rd Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland and soldiers from the Afghan National Army in the Upper Sangin Valley, Helmand province

British troops fighting the Taliban are facing three times as many attacks as any other Nato force in Afghanistan amid spiralling violence across the country which has seen insurgent bombings and shootings rise by 73 per cent.

Official Nato figures reveal that fatalities among the international force, including British, have risen by 78 per cent while the targeting of officials serving the beleaguered Afghan government has increased by 64 per cent.

The details of the ferocity of the conflict emerged as Nato ministers meeting in the Netherlands acknowledged that the tide must be turned in the conflict. The US Defence Secretary Robert Gates stressed the urgent need to “shift the momentum”, saying “the patience of the American people and Congress would wear pretty thin… if in a year or so it appears we are in a stalemate and we’re taking even more casualties”.

General David Petraeus, the US commander in charge of Afghan operations, pointed out that violence reached an all-time high last week. He bluntly said that there was no question that security had deteriorated over the past two years and that “there are still tough times ahead” as the country prepares for national elections in August.

Read moreBritish troops at mercy of Taliban surge; Nato fatalities rise by 78 per cent

US Commander: Afghan Violence Hit New Peak Last Week

US Commander Wants Civilian-Military Approach in Afghanistan

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U.S. General David Petraeus delivers remarks to the Center for a New American Security’s third annual conference in Washington, D.C., 11 Jun 2009

The commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East and South Asia says last week was the most violent in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. During an appearance in Washington on Thursday, General David Petraeus said he expects the increase in U.S. forces in Afghanistan to improve the security situation, but a broader civilian effort will be needed to make the gains permanent.

General Petraeus did not provide specific figures, but he told the Center for a New American Security’s annual conference that while violent incidents in Iraq have gone down in recent months, Afghanistan has experienced the opposite trend.

“The security situation has deteriorated in specific areas, in particular in the east and the south – the areas of the so-called Pashtun insurgency. And that has to be reversed,” he said.

Petraeus called for a sustained increase in international civilian assistance for Afghanistan because he said he expects security gains as more U.S. forces flow into the country more than doubling their presence within the next couple of months. (Change!)

Read moreUS Commander: Afghan Violence Hit New Peak Last Week

Report: Secret order OKs U.S. raids overseas

N.Y. Times: U.S. targeted al-Qaida fighters in Syria, Pakistan and elsewhere

WASHINGTON – The U.S. military has conducted nearly a dozen secret operations against al-Qaida and other terrorist groups in Syria, Pakistan and other countries since 2004, The New York Times reported in Monday editions.

Meantime, Pakistan’s president said he expects U.S. President-elect Barack Obama to re-evaluate American military strikes on al-Qaida and Taliban targets on its side of the Afghan border.

Citing anonymous U.S. officials, the Times story said the operations were authorized by a broad classified order that then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld signed and President Bush approved in spring 2004. The order gave the military authority to attack al-Qaida anywhere in the world and to conduct operations in countries that were not at war with the United States.

One such operation was the Oct. 26 raid inside Syria, the Times reported. Washington hasn’t formally acknowledged the raid, but U.S. officials have said the target was a top al-Qaida in Iraq figure. Syria has asked for proof and said eight civilians were killed in the attack.

In another mission, in 2006, Navy SEALs raided a suspected terrorist compound in Pakistan’s tribal areas.

The raids have typically been conducted by U.S. Special Forces, often in conjunction with the Central Intelligence Agency, the newspaper said. Even though the process has been streamlined, specific missions have to be approved by the defense secretary or, in the cases of Syria and Pakistan, by the president.

Read moreReport: Secret order OKs U.S. raids overseas

Intelligence study finds chaos in Afghanistan: report


Afghan National Army soldiers raise their rifles as they train in Kabul Sept. 21, 2008.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. intelligence agencies conclude in a draft report that Afghanistan is in a downward spiral and they doubt whether the Kabul government can stem the Taliban’s rise, The New York Times reported on Thursday.

The classified report says corruption inside President Hamid Karzai’s government and an increase in attacks by militants operating from Pakistan have accelerated the breakdown in central authority in Afghanistan, the Times said, citing U.S. officials familiar with the document.

Asked to comment on the intelligence report, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she had not seen it herself but she confirmed that intelligence agencies had been asked to have a close look at Afghanistan.

Read moreIntelligence study finds chaos in Afghanistan: report

No victory in Iraq says Petraeus


General David Petraeus doubts he will declare victory in Iraq

The outgoing commander of US troops in Iraq, Gen David Petraeus, has said that he will never declare victory there.

In a BBC interview, Gen Petraeus said that recent security gains were “not irreversible” and that the US still faced a “long struggle”.

Related article: Pentagon admits Afghan strategy not succeeding

When asked if US troops could withdraw from Iraqi cities by the middle of next year, he said that would be “doable”.

In his next job leading the US Central Command, Gen Petraeus will also oversee operations in Afghanistan.

This is not the sort of struggle where you take a hill, plant the flag and go home to a victory parade… it’s not war with a simple slogan
Gen David Petraeus
Profile: Gen Petraeus

He said “the trends in Afghanistan have not gone in the right direction… and that had to be addressed”.

Read moreNo victory in Iraq says Petraeus