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Former drone operators say they were horrified by cruelty of assassination program

Murtaza Hussain
The Intercept
Thu, 19 Nov 2015 21:31 UTC
Image
© Joe Fionda
Former drone operators Brandon Bryant, Michael Haas and Cian Westmoreland
U.S. drone operators are inflicting heavy civilian casualties and have developed an institutional culture callous to the death of children and other innocents, four former operators said at a press briefing today in New York.

The killings, part of the Obama administration's targeted assassination program, are aiding terrorist recruitment and thus undermining the program's goal of eliminating such fighters, the veterans added. Drone operators refer to children as "fun-size terrorists" and liken killing them to "cutting the grass before it grows too long," said one of the operators, Michael Haas, a former senior airman in the Air Force. Haas also described widespread drug and alcohol abuse, further stating that some operators had flown missions while impaired.

Comment: The bottom line here is that using drones to target alleged "terrorists" is not only haphazard, it's also incredibly irresponsible and outright cowardly. It's the same old "kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out" psychopathic mentality all too prevalent among the powers that be.

Below is a copy of the open letter written to President Obama, the US Department of Defense, and the CIA :
President Barack Obama
The White HouseWashington, D.C.

Secretary Ashton B. Carter
Department of Defense

Director John O. Brennan
Central Intelligence Agency

Dear President Obama, Secretary Carter and Director Brennan:

We are former Air Force service members. We joined the Air Force to protect American lives and to protect our Constitution. We came to the realization that the innocent civilians we were killing only fueled the feelings of hatred that ignited terrorism and groups like ISIS, while also serving as a fundamental recruitment tool similar to Guantanamo Bay. This administration and its predecessors have built a drone program that is one of the most devastating driving forces for terrorism and destabilization around the world.

When the guilt of our roles in facilitating this systematic loss of innocent life became too much,all of us succumbed to PTSD. We were cut loose by the same government we gave so much to ­­ sent out in the world without adequate medical care, reliable public health services, or necessary benefits. Some of us are now homeless. Others of us barely make it.

We witnessed gross waste, mismanagement, abuses of power, and our country's leaders lying publicly about the effectiveness of the drone program. We cannot sit silently by and witness tragedies like the attacks in Paris, knowing the devastating effects the drone program has overseas and at home. Such silence would violate the very oaths we took to support and defend the Constitution.

We request that you consider our perspective, though perhaps that request is in vain given the unprecedented prosecution of truth­tellers who came before us like Chelsea Manning, Julian Assange, and Edward Snowden. For the sake of this country, we hope it is otherwise.

Sincerely,

Brandon Bryant
Staff Sergeant
MQ­1B Predator Sensor Operator
SERE Instructor Trainee
USAF Joint Special Operations Command
3rd Special Operations Squadron
Disabled Iraq and Afghanistan Veteran
Founder of Project RED HAND

Cian Westmoreland
Senior Airman
RF Transmissions Systems
USAF CENTCOM
73rd Expeditionary Air Control Squadron
Disabled Afghanistan Veteran
Project RED HAND's Sustainable Technology Director

Stephen Lewis
Senior Airman
MQ­1B Predator Sensor Operator
USAF Joint Special Operations Command
3rd Special Operations Squadron
Iraq and Afghanistan Veteran

Michael Haas
Senior Airman
MQ­1B Predator Sensor Operator Instructor
USAF Air Combat Command
15th Reconnaissance Squadron
Iraq and Afghanistan Veteran


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USA

Wishful thinking: U.S. eyes Russia-Iran split in bid to end Syria conflict

Jay Solomon
The Wall Street Journal
Thu, 19 Nov 2015 21:01 UTC
Image
© Alexei Druzhinin/Kremlin/Associated Press
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Oct. 20 arrived for a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow.
The Obama administration and European and Arab allies are seeking to peel Russia away from its alliance with Iran, a partnership that has bolstered Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said senior diplomats involved in efforts to end Syria's lengthy conflict.

The efforts, which have unfolded quietly through meetings involving Russian President Vladimir Putin and Middle Eastern leaders, are meant to coax support from Moscow for a limit on Mr. Assad's time in power. Such a step would solidify an emerging international coalition and help clear the way for a more concerted military effort to counter Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.


Comment: Strange thinking here as Assad is actually helping Russia get rid of the head choppers. Ousting Assad won't make the task easier. Lavrov: No peaceful solution can be found in Syria without Assad


Iran is seen as a brake on those efforts because of its more staunchly pro-Assad position, which it wants the Kremlin to support. If Russia holds fast to Iran and Mr. Assad, it would undermine hopes for an international consensus.

A senior U.S. official on Tuesday said Washington has seen "increased tensions between Russia and Iran over the question of the future of Syria."

Comment: The US is looking for any weakness in Russia to exploit but Putin probably has anticipated that.

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Calculator

Kuwaiti security forces dismantle multinational ISIL cell


Sputnik
Thu, 19 Nov 2015 21:27 UTC
Image
© KUNA
The Kuwaiti security forces have dismantled a multinational cell of the Islamic State militant group, local media reported Thursday.

According to the KUNA news agency, there are nationals of Syria, Australia and Egypt in the cell.

Comment: Russia not alone: Putin discusses situation in Middle East with Kuwaiti Emir

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Bomb

Terror mastermind and female suicide bomber killed: Some questions about the St-Denis raid

Harrison Koehli
Sott.net
Thu, 19 Nov 2015 16:01 UTC
st-denis
© Lewis Joly/SIPA/REX Shutterstock
A view of the emergency vehicles at the scene of the operation in Saint-Denis.
This is a follow-up to my previous piece, Bearded Middle East Jihadis or clean-shaven white professional hit-men? A few questions about the Paris attacks. So far, no new identities of the terrorists have been released. We still don't know who blew himself up on the Rue de la Coquerie, or the identity of the third bomber in the Bataclan theater. We also don't know how many people were involved in the string of restaurant shootings, although one is believed to have been Salah Abdeslam, who is still on the run.That large, clean-shaved white guy shooter is still a mystery too, as is the new, black Mercedes car that he and an accomplice drove.

French police say they have video of one of the shootings which shows three individuals in a black Seat (the same one found later in Paris suburb Montreuil with three AK-47s) firing through the car windows. According to them, Brahim Abdeslam is one of the men. Another is presumably his brother, Salah, and the third remains unidentified, adding one more to the official tally of men on the run. So, according to police, 9 individuals were directly involved in the shootings and bombings last Friday. The video has not been released to the public.

Police have also released more details of Salah's alleged involvement. A third car, a black Renault Clio, which they say was rented by Salah, was found in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. Islamic State, in their statement claiming responsibility for the attacks, had mentioned the 10th and 11th districts (where the attacks took place), as well as the 18th, leading police to suspect an attack had been planned for that district but abandoned for some reason.

Comment: Latest update: Paris suspects update: Salah still on the run from police AND ISIS; police release 7 out of 8 suspects arrested during St-Denis raid

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Brick Wall

U.S. House passes bill to curb Syrian refugees from entering country


Sputnik
Thu, 19 Nov 2015 22:04 UTC
Image
© Sputnik/Igor Mikhalev
The US House of Representatives has passed a bill aimed at strengthening the vetting process for Syrian refugees attempting to enter the United States.

Passing with a vote of 289-137 in the Republican-controlled House, the American Security Against Foreign Enemies (SAFE) Act will now move to the Senate, where it is not expected to pass. President Obama has also vowed to veto the bill if it passes through Congress. If passed into law, the bill would require increased verification of vetting procedures already in place to ensure terrorists do not enter the country disguised as refugees.

The terror attacks in Paris last week have led a number of US lawmakers to reconsider the Obama administration's pledge to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees into the United States. Over two dozen governors said they would refuse to allow refugees into their states, citing concerns that some of the individuals seeking asylum may be members of the self-proclaimed Islamic State terrorist group.

Syrian and Iraqi refugees currently go through an extensive vetting process. Lasting, on average, between 18 and 24 months, individuals undergo background checks from nine federal agencies, including the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.

Comment: The U.S. destroyed their homeland and now wants to hide the very problem they created.

State Governors press White House for Syrian refugee information

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Black Magic

6 painful truths about the war on terrorism

Dylan Charles
Activist Post
Thu, 19 Nov 2015 18:27 UTC
Image
© Anthony Freda
If you were 4 years old when 9/11 occurred in 2001, then you're now old enough to enlist and fight in the war on terror. Recent geopolitical events suggest that this conflict may endure for some generations to come, so, regretfully, your children may also get to participate. The war on terrorism is apparently part of our culture and part of our lives now.
The towers are gone now, reduced to bloody rubble, along with all hopes for peace in our time, in the United States or any other country. Make no mistake about it: We are at war now — with somebody — and we will stay at war with that mysterious Enemy for the rest of our lives. It will be a Religious War, a sort of Christian Jihad, fueled by religious hatred and led by merciless fanatics on both sides. It will be guerrilla warfare on a global scale, with no front lines and no identifiable enemy. - Hunter S. Thompson
By no means a prophet, Hunter S. Thompson was just an eccentric observer with a knack for connecting the dots between political events and the ongoing mainstream media narrative that supports and manufactures consent for the oligarchy. When taken at face value, the terror script is indeed a rather convincing and motivating story, but when you dismantle the official fiction and bring the hidden pieces into the picture, the truth about the war on terror is just too heavy for conscious people to ignore any longer.
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Clipboard

Russia-UN draft of anti-terror resolution likely to be rejected by US, NATO


Sputnik News
Thu, 19 Nov 2015 20:46 UTC
Churkin
© www.telegraph.co.uk
Russian Permanent Representative to the UN, Vitaly Churkin
The United States and NATO members are likely to reject a Russia-proposed UN Security Council draft anti-terrorism resolution, a prominent Canadian international criminal lawyer told Sputnik Thursday.

On Wednesday, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, announced Russia had submitted a renewed draft UN Security Council resolution on the coordination of efforts in the fight against terrorism.

"We all hope the US and its NATO allies accept the Russian resolution but their actions and words predict that they will reject it and will present their own, which Russia will have to reject because it will ignore Syria and then they will blame Russia for not cooperating in this 'war' against ISIL [Islamic State]," Christopher Black stated. According to the lawyer, the West is playing "a double game," in Syria, since they are not really concerned with the destruction of ISIL and are pursuing their own geopolitical aims.

Russian anti-terrorism resolution is a unique chance to clamp down on the extremists, Black noted. "It is clear that the Russian draft resolution is the only way forward to dealing with the ISIL crisis since it requires the approval and cooperation of the Syrian government," he stressed.

Russia's proposal is an updated version of the draft resolution that Moscow submitted to the UN Security Council on September 30. The document called for global counterterrorism actions based on the principles of international law, stipulating that any anti-terrorism operation on the territory of a foreign state, such as Syria, must be conducted with the permission of the state's authorities.

Comment: Perhaps the West will finally out itself trying to leverage or reverse this resolution and reveal its true motives to the world in the process. Acting outside of international law, which the US helped formulate, is self-exemption amounting to criminal behavior.

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Yoda

Lavrov: No peaceful solution can be found in Syria without Assad


RT
Thu, 19 Nov 2015 18:49 UTC
Lavrov
© AFP/Alexander Nemenov
Western expectations of Syrian President Bashar Assad's imminent fall were misplaced, says Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Assad has public support, meaning no peaceful resolution of the conflict is possible without his participation, he added.

"All the forecasts made by our colleagues in the West and some other parties that the people would rise up and oust him never came true. This means one thing: Assad represents the interests of a significant part of Syrian society. So no peaceful solution can be found without his participation," the top Russian diplomat said on Thursday in an interview with Radio Russia.

Earlier US President Barack Obama reiterated he does "not foresee a situation in which we can end the civil war in Syria while Assad remains in power" and that he is not the legitimate leader of Syria.

According to Lavrov, senior officials around the world are coming to realize the truth of Russia's position on the issue and are beginning to distance themselves from Washington's policies. Eradicating Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) should take precedence over all other issues, he added.

"I believe that [French President Francois] Hollande's call to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin after those horrific terrorist attacks in Paris, his suggestion to coordinate our efforts and President [Putin's] response, which was the willingness to do so as allies - those things signify that now level-headed politicians are dropping secondary issues and realizing the need to concentrate on the biggest issue at hand: stopping ISIS' attempts to spread influence globally," the minister said.
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Snakes in Suits

Following the Empire's orders: Justin Trudeau calls Putin a bully, tells him to leave Ukraine


CBC News
Mon, 16 Nov 2015 18:33 UTC
Image

Justin Trudeau, another Canadian leader who does what he's told
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivered a blunt message during a brief chat with Russian President Vladimir Putin: back off Ukraine. Trudeau said the two leaders had a brief conversation on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Antalya, Turkey.

"I pointed out that although Canada has shifted its approach on a broad range of multilateral and international issues, we remain committed to the fact that Russia's interference in Ukraine must cease; that we stand with the Ukrainian people and expect the president to engage fully in the Minsk peace process," he said.


Comment: Trudeau must have mush for brains. It's the US who has interfered in Ukraine, not Putin.


Putin's relations with Western leaders have deteriorated over Russia's backing of pro-Moscow rebels in Ukraine. Trudeau's stand continues Canada's position under former prime minister Stephen Harper, a staunch supporter of Ukraine and one of Putin's most vocal critics
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TV

Medical manipulation: Lobbyists knew optimal time to introduce California Vaccine Bill SB277

Jeffry John Aufderheide
Natural Blaze
Tue, 17 Nov 2015 17:00 UTC
Image
On the surface, it appears that a group of passionate parents spontaneously rallied together to support the passage of Senator Richard Pan's California State Bill SB277 - a bill that takes away the choice of parents to exempt their child from being vaccinated. [2]

Analysis revealed groups and individuals who are well-connected to pharmaceutical companies assisted in an opportunistic marketing campaign which promoted the passage of this bill.

A news release by the California Medical Association announced that:
The California Medical Association (CMA), American Academy of Pediatrics, California (AAPCA), California Immunization Coalition (CIC), Vaccinate California and Health Officers Association of California (HOAC) have joined forces to launch the "I Heart Immunity" campaign in an ongoing effort to promote the importance of vaccines and Senate Bill 277 (Pan/Allen). [3]

Comment: Undue influence: BigPharma made huge donations to California lawmakers voting on mandatory vaccines

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