Puppet MastersS


War Whore

U.S. officials confess to targeting Iran's civilian population

Franklin Lamb
Information Clearing House
Sun, 10 Feb 2013 11:04 UTC
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Tehran, Iran
Azadeh, a graduate law student from Tehran University, on the sidelines of Iran's Third Annual Hollywoodism (http://www.hollywoodism.org), reminded her interlocutors of the obvious damming admissions last week by two US politicians:

"It would be a defense lawyer's worst nightmare wouldn't it? I mean to have one's clients, in this case the Vice-President of the United States and the outgoing Secretary of state, confess so publicly to serial international crimes against a civilian population?"

The confessions and the crimes, she correctly enumerated to her audience, were those admitted to by US Vice-President Joe Biden and outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton this past week.

Both of the US officials, in discussing US relations with the Islamic Republic, openly admitted that the US-led sanctions against Iran (and Syria) are politically motivated and constitute a "soft-war" against the nearly 80 million people of Iran (23 million people in Syria) in order to achieve regime change.

Mrs. Clinton was the first of the dynamic duo to be heard from. She acknowledged that the harsh US sanctions were intended to target and send the people of Iran a message. "So we hope that the Iranian people will make known their concerns... so my message to Iranians is do something about this."
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USA

Ex-Gitmo prosecutor slams drone policy: 'Since 9/11 we've been the constrained and the cowardly'

Arturo Garcia
Raw Story
Sat, 09 Feb 2013 10:45 UTC
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A former chief prosecutor for the Guantanamo Bay prison facility sounded off on both President Barack Obama's administration's use of drone strikes and the apparent acceptance of the practice by the American people.

"We used to be the land of the free and the home of the brave," Col. Morris Davis told Current TV host Cenk Uygur on Friday. "Since 9/11, we've been the constrained and the cowardly."

Uygur mentioned that an unidentified "recent poll" showed that the practice of using drones to target suspected "imminent threats" has actually been met with support.

"The American people say, 'Ehhh, well if the government calls them suspected terrorists, well then we agree that we should drone stroke them,'" Uygur said. "What's happening with the American people where we seem to be, you know, killing democracy to thunderous applause?"
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Whistle

9/11 researcher found dead: Wrote book implicating Bush administration in the 9/11 attacks


Before It's News
Thu, 07 Feb 2013 20:34 UTC
Phillip Marshall wrote about conspiracy. Was he a victim of one? '9/11 Truther' Phillip Marshall and his entire family were recently found dead of gunshot wounds in what authorities are calling a murder suicide. Marshall was a former airline pilot and a '9/11 Conspiracy Theorist' and book writer who believed that the Bush administration, with cooperation from Saudi intelligence, had committed the 'false flag' terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001. Marshall was also a former CIA and DEA pilot during the Iran/Contra Scandal.

Marshall lived in fear for his life while writing his 9/11 Truther book implicating the United States government and George W. Bush in the 'false flag' attacks. Has the US government begun an all out assault on whistle blowers and so-called truthers? That would certainly put at least 50% of Beforeitsnews readers and reporters/contributors in jeapardy of a drone strike or 'accident' for merely seeking truth. The excellent videos below share that many Americans believe that this was another HIT upon a man who knew too much and was willing to share his information with the world. Why'd THEY kill his family, and dog, too? Was that REALLY NECESSARY George Bush?

The story below is from The Mail Online and The Santa Barbara View.

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Murder suicide: Philip Marshall is accused of shooting his children Alex, right, and Macaila Marshall, left, before turning the gun on himself
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Megaphone

Who's going to step up? President Obama must be impeached

Dave Lindorff
thiscantbehappening.net
Sun, 10 Feb 2013 10:12 UTC
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Killer drones, coming soon to a country near you...
If the Constitution is to have any relevance, and if America is to remain a free society, then there is really no alternative: there must be a bill of impeachment drawn up and submitted in the House, and there must at least be a hearing on that bill in the House Judiciary Committee.

The disclosure, by NBC, of a so-called "white paper" by the White House offering the legal justification for the executing of American citizens solely on the authority of the executive branch and the president exposes a White House so blatantly in violation of the Constitution that it simply demands such a hearing.

As Juan Cole explains clearly in an essay in Informed Comment, there are five ways that the white paper authorizing executive execution of Americans violates the Constitution. These, he explains, are:
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Dollar

Meet the 31 corporations and banks who dodged $128 billion in U.S. taxes

Jason Easley
Politicus USA
Thu, 07 Feb 2013 23:37 UTC
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Sen. Bernie Sanders released a report today directly taking on the Business Roundtable, by outing 31 banks and corporations who have dodged $128 billion in taxes.

According to the report, the 31 corporations and banks have dodged $128 billion in taxes by setting up offshore tax havens. They have received $6.5 billion in tax refunds, and $2.5 trillion in taxpayer bailout money. While stuffing their pockets with trillions of taxpayer dollars, the Business Roundtable has called for the deficit to be reduced by raising the eligibility age for Medicare and Social Security to 70, cut Social Security and veterans' benefits, and increase taxes on working families.

The reason why congressional Republicans are adamantly opposed to generating new revenue through closing these loopholes is that doing so would force these tax dodgers to pay their fair share. For Republicans, the concept of fairness only applies to making sure the wealthy get more by doing less. One of the reasons why Republicans continue to lose elections is because they insist on protecting corporations and banks at the expense of the American people.


Comment: While the author wants to blame the Republicans the truth is that the Democrats are just as guilty in their compliance towards banks and corporations. The two party system in the U.S. has sold out the working class and poor.


Instead of passing the burden of deficit reduction on to workers, seniors, the poor, and the middle class, how about we start with getting the 31 corporations and banks listed below to pay their taxes?
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USA

Extrajudicial killing: Official U.S. policy

Stephen Lendman
Information Clearing House
Fri, 08 Feb 2013 17:20 UTC
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Since taking office, Obama headed America toward full-blown tyranny. He enforces Bush administration police state laws. He added more of his own. He governs like a tinpot despot.

He targets free expression, dissent, whistleblowing, and other constitutional freedoms. He usurped diktat authority.

He spurns civil protections, judicial fairness, and other fundamental rights. Abuse of power is institutionalized.

By executive order, he authorized anyone indefinitely detained with or without charge on his say. He promised to close Guantanamo but keeps it open. He operates a secret global torture prison network.

In January, Law Professor Jonathan Turley called America "no longer the land of the free," saying:
"An authoritarian nation is defined not just by the use of authoritarian powers, but by the ability to use them."

"If a president can take away your freedom or your life on his own authority, all rights become little more than a discretionary grant subject to executive will."
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Eye 1

Hundreds of Afghan children killed in U.S. attacks


Rawa News
Thu, 07 Feb 2013 17:12 UTC
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Children are victims of bloody war in Afghanistan.
The United States government should promptly carry out the recommendations of a United Nations committee of experts to improve protection of children abroad from armed conflict. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child released a report and recommendations to the US government on February 5, 2013.

The committee raised a number of concerns regarding US practices during armed conflict that were harmful to children, Human Rights Watch said. The committee said it was "alarmed" at reports of the deaths of hundreds of children from US attacks and air strikes in Afghanistan since the committee last reviewed US practices in 2008. It also expressed "deep concern" at the arrest and detention of children in Afghanistan, laws that exclude former child soldiers from securing asylum in the US, and presidential waivers to US laws that have allowed governments using child soldiers to receive US military assistance.

"The US can and should do more to protect children affected by armed conflict," said Jo Becker, children's rights advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. "The US should take decisive action on the child rights committee's common-sense recommendations."

On January 16, the 18-member, Geneva-based committee conducted a formal review of US compliance with an international treaty, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict. The protocol was ratified by the US in 2002. It bars governments from forcibly recruiting children under 18 and from using them in direct hostilities. It also requires countries to take steps to prevent the use of child soldiers and to rehabilitate and assist children who have been involved in armed conflict. The committee's report and recommendations regarding US compliance with the protocol were adopted on January 28.
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Target

Targeting the Iranian threat to "stability": Israel enters Syria

Ben Schreiner
Counterpunch
Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:32 UTC
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With its air strikes against targets inside Syria last week, Israel announced its formal entry into the Syrian crisis. The Israeli targeting of Iran has thus entered the Syrian theater.

According to McClatchy, the Israeli strikes on January 30 targeted anti-aircraft missiles at a military base outside of Damascus. The missiles, according to Israeli intelligence sources, were headed for Hezbollah in Lebanon.

"Israel relies heavily on the strength of our air force, and its strategic deterrence," an Israeli official explained to McClatchy. "Weapons systems that make our air force vulnerable will not be allowed to fall into the hands of terrorist groups."

Accordingly, Washington reacted to the Israeli assault by sternly warning Damascus. "Syria," White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes warned, "should not further destabilize the region by transferring weaponry to Hezbollah."
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Star of David

Washington speaks with forked tongue to Iran

Finian Cunningham
PressTV
Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:27 UTC
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Only days after American Vice President Joe Biden made a very public and tantalizing offer of bilateral talks between the US and Iran, there then follows another round of punitive trade sanctions imposed by Washington on Iran's vital oil industry.

What to make of this seemingly contradictory US position? Some commentators say that the above anomalous attitude reflects a carrot-and-stick policy in Washington, by which incentives dangled in front of Iran are quickly followed by a blow of hardship, with the objective of forcing an end result.

The supposed end result in this case is that the Americans and their Western allies want Iran to demonstrate definitively to the rest of the world that it will never develop capability for nuclear weapons. This demonstration would be achieved, according to Washington, if Iran were to somehow give a cast-iron guarantee that it has circumscribed its nuclear technology and the crucial uranium-enrichment process.

So, this argument goes, if Iran were to comply with this desired objective by severely limiting its nuclear research and industry, then certain "carrots" will follow: a lifting of the crippling economic sanctions and a normalization of diplomatic relations.
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Bad Guys

Ayatollah Khamenei rejects talks with U.S. under pressure and threats


PressTV
Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:22 UTC
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Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei addresses the officials and commanders of Iran’s Navy, February 7, 2013.
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has rejected any talks with the United States under pressure and threats.

"I am not a diplomat. I am a revolutionary and speak frankly, honestly, and firmly. An offer of talks makes sense only when the side [that makes the offer] shows its goodwill," Ayatollah Khamenei said in a meeting with the officials and commanders of Iran Navy on Thursday.
"Negotiation is meaningful when the two sides talk with goodwill, under equal conditions and without seeking to deceive each other. Therefore, 'negotiation for the sake of negotiation', 'tactical negotiation' and negotiation offer in order to sell a superpower's gesture to the world is a deceptive move," the Leader stated.
Ayatollah Khamenei also noted that during the past four years, nothing has been seen from the United States but continuation of conspiracies, abetting seditionists and supporting the terrorists which assassinated Iranian nation's scientists.

"You (the Americans) point the gun at Iran and say either negotiations or we pull the trigger! You should know that pressure and negotiations do not go together, and the [Iranian] nation will not be intimidated by such things."
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