On Friday's CBS This Morning, Mark Phillips all but hinted that Pope Francis had "taken sides" with Russia's Vladimir Putin and against President Obama in the international debate over military strikes in Syria. Phillips proposed that the Pope's letter to Putin "must have been music to the Russian president's ears."

The journalist also turned to a "Vatican historian" who once publicly attacked Francis' predecessor, Benedict XVI, as a "dictator", and likened him to Islamists. He also labeled the Pope's upcoming prayer and fasting vigil for peace in Syria a "religious street protest." [audio available here;]


Phillips led his report by noting that "popes have urged peace before. Remember, John Paul II was firmly against the Gulf War. This pope, Francis, is now actively arguing against military action against Syria. And the question is, does it matter?"

Pope Francis has written a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, host of the G-20 summit that President Obama is attending, urging world leaders to oppose a military intervention in Syria.

"To the leaders present, to each and every one, I make a heartfelt appeal for them to help find ways to overcome the conflicting positions and to lay aside the futile pursuit of a military solution," the Pope urged. "Rather, let there be a renewed commitment to seek, with courage and determination, a peaceful solution through dialogue and negotiation of the parties, unanimously supported by the international community."

The move is the latest in a series of efforts by the Holy See to prevent military action in the already civil-war torn region. On Sunday, the Pope declared in his Angelus teaching that Saturday Sept. 7 would be an day of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria. The prayer rally will take place in St. Peter's Square from 7 p.m. to midnight, on the vigil of the birth of Mary, the Queen of Peace. "Let us ask Mary to help us to respond to violence, to conflict and to war, with the power of dialogue, reconciliation and love," the Pope asked people around the world. "She is our mother: may she help us to find peace; all of us are her children!"

President Barack Obama hinted Friday that he might not strike Syria if Congress rejects his authorization request.

"I'm not itching for military action... and if there are good ideas that are worth pursuing, then I'm going to be open to them," he told one reporter who asked if he was seeking alternatives to a missile strike.

"Are we on a fast track to military action as soon as Congress renders its judgment one way or the other?" the reporter asked Obama, during his morning press conference in St. Petersburg, Russia.

"Some in Congress have suggested giving the Syrian regime 45 days to sign the Chemical Weapons Convention, get rid of its chemical stockpiles, do something that would enhance the international sense of accountability for Syria, but delay military action," the reporter asked.

The House could push back a vote on a resolution authorizing military strikes on Syria by as long as a week, according to a memo Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) sent to Republican lawmakers Friday.

"Understanding that there are differing opinions on both sides of the aisle, it is up to President Obama to make the case to Congress and to the American people that this is the right course of action," Cantor wrote in a memo outlining the House GOP's fall agenda. "Members should expect a robust debate and vote on an authorization of use of military force pertaining to Syria in the next two weeks."

A new round of disclosures from the former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden has revealed the intelligence agency's ultimate goal: undo Internet privacy as we know it. According to some 50,000 leaked documents provided to the Guardian, ProPublica, and The New York Times, the NSA has circumvented or cracked some of the most widely used encryption software in its effort to monitor global communications. Still, documents reveal, some encryption systems continue to stymie the agency, and the NSA, according to the Times, is working toward a future in which it can "decode, in real time, all of the information flying over the world's fiber optic cables and through its Internet hubs."

The document dump unveils some of the U.S. and its allies' most closely guarded state secrets - whereas highly classified information is often disseminated on a "need to know" basis, "there will be NO 'need to know,'" with respect to the highly-classied program known as Bullrun, according to one document quoted by the Times.

"This is the golden age of spying," one former NSA analyst told the Times. Here are five things you need to know about Snowden's latest leak.

Twice during testimony this week before congressional committees on the Obama administration's request for an Authorization for the Use of Military Force resolution backing US aggression against Syria, Secretary of State John Kerry brushed aside questions about the predominant role played by Al Qaeda and its affiliates in the US-instigated civil war in Syria, insisting that the "opposition has increasingly become more defined by its moderation."

For the second time in a decade, US imperialism is preparing to launch a war based on lies about weapons of mass destruction and Al Qaeda. In 2003, Washington invaded Iraq to topple the regime of Saddam Hussein based on the claim that it possessed weapons of mass destruction and was prepared to turn them over to Al Qaeda. No such weapons existed and the Iraqi regime was an enemy of Al Qaeda.

Despite the Obama administration's supposedly "high confidence" regarding Syrian government guilt over the Aug. 21 chemical attack near Damascus, a dozen former U.S. military and intelligence officials are telling President Obama that they are picking up information that undercuts the Official Story.

MEMORANDUM FOR: The President

FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS)

SUBJECT: Is Syria a Trap?

Precedence: IMMEDIATE

We regret to inform you that some of our former co-workers are telling us, categorically, that contrary to the claims of your administration, the most reliable intelligence shows that Bashar al-Assad was NOT responsible for the chemical incident that killed and injured Syrian civilians on August 21, and that British intelligence officials also know this. In writing this brief report, we choose to assume that you have not been fully informed because your advisers decided to afford you the opportunity for what is commonly known as "plausible denial."

We have been down this road before - with President George W. Bush, to whom we addressed our first VIPS memorandumimmediately after Colin Powell's Feb. 5, 2003 U.N. speech, in which he peddled fraudulent "intelligence" to support attacking Iraq. Then, also, we chose to give President Bush the benefit of the doubt, thinking he was being misled - or, at the least, very poorly advised.

While the mainstream media admonishes John McCain for playing a poker game on his iPhone during the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearings on Syria last Wednesday, no one seems to have noticed that the Republican Senator has, for several years, been supporting and mingling with Al Qaeda commanders in the field in blatant violation of international law as well as in breach of US anti-terrorism legislation.

In April 2011, Senator John McCain described the Al Qaeda affiliated rebels in Libya as follows:

"I have met with these brave fighters, and they are not Al-Qaeda. To the contrary: They are Libyan patriots who want to liberate their nation. We should help them do it." - Senator John McCain in Benghazi, Libya April 22, 2011.

Pope Francis has written to Vladimir Putin criticising world leaders for standing by while a "senseless massacre" unfolded in Syria.

In a letter sent on Sept 4 to Mr Putin in his role of host of the G20 conference, and published on Thursday, Francis wrote: "It is regrettable that, from the very beginning of the conflict in Syria, one-sided interests have prevailed and in fact hindered the search for a solution that would have avoided the senseless massacre now unfolding."

Through Mr Putin, Francis appealed to the G20 leaders gathering in Russia: "The leaders of the G20 cannot remain indifferent to the dramatic situation of the beloved Syrian people which has lasted far too long, and even risks bringing greater suffering to a region bitterly tested by strife and needful of peace.

"To the leaders present, to each and every one, I make a heartfelt appeal for them to help find ways to overcome the conflicting positions and to lay aside the futile pursuit of a military solution."

He added: "Rather, let there be a renewed commitment to seek, with courage and determination, a peaceful solution through dialogue and negotiation of the parties, unanimously supported by the international community. Moreover, all governments have the moral duty to do everything possible to ensure humanitarian assistance to those suffering because of the conflict, both within and beyond the country's borders."

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi denied claims made on Thursday by Argentinian newspaper Clarin that Francis had contacted President Assad of Syria urging him to halt attacks in Syria. He also denied reports made by the paper that Francis had personally contacted the US White House to urge the calling off of any planned attack on Syria.

As President Obama charges ahead with US war plans in Syria, a list of potential targets is currently being passed around the US Department of Defense, as war planners in Washington DC and Tel Aviv coordinate how best to capitalise on the coming military attack on Syria.

Earlier this month, Washington had ordered the shut down of some two dozen American posts throughout the Middle East and Africa due to an unspecified "terrorist threat"

Considering Israel's joint operating status with US military assets in the region and its horrible record of violating its neighbors' air space and bombing its neighbors - including Lebanon in 2006, it's no surprise that the US State Department has suddenly ordered all "non-emergency personnel" and their family members to leave the U.S. Embassy in Beirut today, and has warned all Americans to avoid travel to Lebanon due to an undisclosed "threat" to the diplomatic mission in that country.

A similar operation is also underway regarding U.S. citizens in Turkey including a draw-down of staff at the U.S. Consulate General in Adana, Turkey.