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Normalizing Evil
Written by Chris Floyd
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Written November 2001 in the weeks the concentration camp in Guantanamo Bay was bringing in its first hooded captives for 'harsh interrogation.'
It won't come with jackboots and book burnings, with mass rallies and fevered harangues.
It won't come with 'black helicopters' or tanks on the street.
It won't come like a storm — but like a break in the weather, that sudden change of season you might feel when the wind shifts on an October evening: everything is the same, but everything has changed.
Something has gone, departed from the world, and a new reality has taken its place.
As in Rome, all the old forms will still be there; legislatures, elections, campaigns — plenty of bread and circuses for the folks.
But the 'consent of the governed' will no longer apply.
Actual control of the state will have passed to a small group of nobles who rule largely for the benefit of their wealthy peers and corporate patrons.
To be sure, there will be factional conflicts among this elite, and a degree of free debate will be permitted, within limits.
But no one outside the privileged circle will be allowed to govern or influence state policy.
Dissidents will be marginalized — usually by 'the people' themselves.
Deprived of historical knowledge by an impoverished educational system designed to produce complacent consumers, not thoughtful citizens.
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And left ignorant of current events by a media devoted solely to profit.
Many will internalize the force-fed values of the ruling elite, and act accordingly.
There will be little need for overt methods of control.
The rulers will often act in secret.
For reasons of 'national security,' the people will not be permitted to know what goes on in their name.
Actions once unthinkable will be accepted as routine:
Government by executive fiat
The murder of 'enemies' selected by the leader.
Undeclared war.
Torture.
Mass detentions without charge
The looting of the national treasury
The creation of huge new 'security structures' targeted at the populace.
In time, all this will come to seem 'normal,' as the chill of autumn feels normal when summer is gone.
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| Obama the acting president This is the guy who promised with unctuous sincerity to make a new beginning in US foreign policy, to respect universal human rights. Universal human rights begin in the lives of each and every individual, he intoned with his by-now clichéd solemn voice and face. Two years on, US foreign policy has even less regard for human rights both abroad and at home. In Gaza, the world’s largest outdoor concentration camp besieged by the US-fuelled Israel war machine, Obama’s rhetoric on respecting the rights of human beings stands as a grotesque mockery. |
Every facial movement, every gesture of the hand, every word enunciated by the 44th president turns out to be a complete charade
click here |
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Foot-long piece of concrete emitting almost 1 Sievert/hour found near No. 3 reactor
click here |
Washingtonsblog.com wrote to radiation expert Dr. Chris Busby
click here |
Cloud of radioactive steam rising from Fukushima Daiici damaged nuclear plant — April 22 2011 |
Webcam shows massive cloud of radioactive steam rising from Fukushima
click here |
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Radioactive Iodine In Phoenix Arizona Milk 1600% Above EPA Drinking Water Limits
click here |
Plutonium and Strontium in US [and circulating throughout Northern Hemisphere] since March 18th 2011
click here |
Nuclear Facts from Dr Helen Caldicott
click here |
 Norwegian Institute for Air Research |
Erasing information authorities deem harmful to public order
Yumoto Daini Middle School, Iwaki City, Fukushima school doctor informs children and their parents:
“The radiation problem is already finished.
You can go to school and go outside without any problem. You should not fear malicious gossip.”
The school’s doctor's speech in his white coat was given at the school entrance ceremony.
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Honma Hiroshi aged 56 comments in Iwaki:
“I’m surprised that local people are so calm.
Even within the 30 km radiation exclusion zone locals don’t even wear special anti-radiation clothes.”
US made “Geiger counter”
Ikarashi Yoshitaka aged 33 is one who is particularly keen on restoring his business and the local economy, a goal that leads him to downplay warnings of radiation risk.
“It is just an emotional thesis that ours is ‘a city in danger!’”
Together with dozens of volunteers from across Japan, Ikarashi has visited many areas throughout the radiation exclusion zone.
He confidently asserts that his $600 made in U.S. “Geiger counter” has detected no abnormal amount of radiation.
Ikarashi is troubled by the fact that the milk business he manages suffered a 90% drop in sales as a result of radiation fears and that some farmers have been forced to throw away their milk.
“Correctly revealed to the nation”
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In Tokyo, on April 6, a group of freelance journalists including Uesugi Takashi held a media session with dozens of DPJ lawmakers, including former Prime Minister Hatoyama Yukio, to question the performance of the media in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.
Kawauchi Hiroshi, a DPJ member of the House of Representative, stated that:
“Information about radiation diffusion should be correctly revealed to the nation.
However, so far only once was this done.”
Kawauchi Hiroshi explained the frustration of local officials.
“The information from TEPCO (Tokyo Electronic Power Company) should be precisely conveyed.
The mayor of Iidate village, in the 30km zone, told me:
'There is no information and I do not know what to do.'”
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Pursuing facts
Uesugi Takashi explains the core of the problem behind misinformation and rumors:
“Freelance journalists and foreign media are pursuing the facts, even going into the radiation exclusion zone.
However, surprisingly, the Japan government continues to prevent freelance journalists and overseas media from gaining access to official press conferences at the prime minister’s house and government.
Since the March 11th earthquake and tsunami, the government has excluded all internet media and all foreign media from official press conferences on the 'Emergency Situation.'
Access has been limited in two ways.
While Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano Yukio holds twice daily press conferences for representatives of the big Japanese media, registered representatives of freelance and internet media are limited to a single press conference per week.
In contrast to Japanese media who are briefed regularly by Edano and periodically by Prime Miniser Kan, foreign media are briefed exclusively by administrative staff.
At TEPCO press conferences, which are now being held at company headquarters, foreign correspondents and Japanese freelancers regularly ask probing questions.
Mainstream journalists simply record and report company statements reiterating that the situation is basically under control and there is nothing to worry about.”
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Japan is winning the war against America
One reason for this, Uesugi suggests, is that TEPCO, a giant media sponsor, has an annual 20 billion yen advertising budget:
“The media keeps defending the information from TEPCO!
The Japanese media today is no different from the wartime propaganda media that kept repeating to the very end that ‘Japan is winning the war against America.’”
After the reactor blew up on March 14, there was concern by many about the leakage of plutonium but not until two weeks later, when Uesugi asked, had a single media representative raised the question of plutonium at any of TEPCO’s press conferences.
On March 26, in response to Uesugi’s query, TEPCO stated:
“We do not measure the level of plutonium and do not even have a detector to scale it.”
The next day, Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano announced that “plutonium was detected”.
When TEPCO finally released data on radioactive plutonium on March 28, it stated that plutonium -238, -239, and -240 were found in the ground, but insisted that it posed no human risk.
Since TEPCO provided no clarification of the meaning of the plutonium radiation findings, the mainstream press merely reported the presence of the radiation without assessment
Nippon Television on March 29 headlined its interview with Tokyo University Professor Nakagawa Keiichi, a radiation specialist:
“Plutonium from the power plant — no effect on neighbors.”
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Fired for criticism
On March 15, Uesugi Takashi criticized TEPCO for its closed attitude toward information on a TBS radio program.
For this, he was immediately dismissed from his regular program.
The scandal involving TEPCO’s silencing of the media took an interesting turn two weeks later.
At the time of the disaster on March 11, TEPCO Chairman Katsumata Tsunehisa was hosting dozens of mainstream media executives on a 'study session' in China.
When asked about this fact by freelance journalist Tanaka Ryusaku at a TEPCO press conference on March 30, Katsumata defended the practice:
Media freeloading
“It is a fact that we traveled together to China.
TEPCO did not pay all the expenses of the trip, we paid more than they did.
Certainly they are executives of the mass media, but they are all members of the study session.”
When Tanaka requested the names of the media executives hosted by TEPCO in China, Katsumata retorted:
“I cannot reveal their names since this is private information.”
But it is precisely such collusive relations between mainstream media, the government and TEPCO, that results in the censorship of information concerning nuclear problems.
Government censorship
Now the Japanese government has moved to crack down on independent reportage and criticism of the government’s policies in the wake of the disaster by deciding what citizens may or may not talk about in public.
A new project team has been created by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication, the National Police Agency, and METI to combat 'rumors' deemed harmful to Japanese security in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.
The government charges that the damage caused by earthquakes and by the nuclear accident are being magnified by irresponsible rumors, and the government must take action for the sake of the public good.
The project team has begun to send 'letters of request' to such organizations as telephone companies, internet providers, cable television stations, and others, demanding that they:
“Take adequate measures based on the guidelines in response to illegal information.”
The measures include erasing any information from internet sites that the authorities deem harmful to public order and morality.
Taken from an article by Makiko Segawa a staff writer at the Shingetsu News Agency. |
Erasing information authorities deem harmful to public order
Unit 3 Fukushima Daiichi plant after hydrogen explosion |
Radiation disparagement and censorship
click here |
Japan 'officially' orders censorship of truth about Fukushima nuclear radiation
click here |
| Residents in central Kabul province accused US troops of killing a shopkeeper and taking away his son during an overnight raid.
He is relative said his uncle, Yasin aged 50, and his son, Khairullah aged 30, had no links to any militant group.
Yasin had a shop of car spare parts in the district bazaar, Rassoul said.
The killing by US troops happened Sunday night in Chaar Asyab district of Kabul when the US NATO troops attacked the house of Yasin, Ghulam
Rassoul, a nephew said.
He said his uncle, Yasin, 50, and his son, Khairullah, 30, had no links to any militant group.
"My uncle was innocent. We can not forgive his killing. The murderers should be tried at court." |
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ThereAreNoSunglasses.wordpress.com
American Reich Dictates
The longer we occupy Afghanistan, the more we reveal the true nature of the ravenous American Beast.
We are neo-Nazis, plain and simple.
The sooner we accept that reality, the sooner we can get on with total world domination.
Our corruption of the world extends even into the English language, by semantic distortions of basic definitions of words like 'permanent' and 'peace.'
That Clinton bitch can merrily proclaim that we do not desire permanent bases along the strategic Afghan oil corridor, since she is only speaking about the next 25 years, not forever.
If there were even one honest government left in the world, they would resist this aggression, whatever the costs — but the whole world has been corrupted with soon to be worthless US dollars, meaning that every govt has a stake in a successful American-Nazi aggression.
Imagine that! |
American Reich Dictates Terms For Afghanistan Surrender of Sovereignty
click here |
US is the god-father of Islamic fundamentalism
click here |
Guardian.co.uk
US continues to use cluster bombs despite Afghanistan ratification
Afghanistan, which had suffered grievous civilian casualties from the continuing war on its territory, also unexpectedly signed up to the treaty in December 2008 'without prior consultation with the US government' and 'despite assurances to the contrary from President Karzai'.
Washington's reaction was to seek to convince the Kabul government that the US could still legally use cluster munitions on Afghan territory under the treaty, even if the Afghan regime itself could not.
Diplomats recommended a "low-profile approach" at "sub-ministerial level ... given the political sensitivities in Afghanistan surrounding cluster munitions, as well as air and artillery strikes in general". |
Afghanistan — Western Terror States: Canada, US, UK, France, Germany, Italy Photos of Afghanistan people being killed and injured by NATO |
Fifteen Trillion * * *| The US National Debt has increased an average of $2.27 billion per day since 2005 until 2008! Now, due to the bailout of the rich bankers and world elite, the US National Debt is increasing substantially faster! The US trade deficit is on track to set a record for an eighth consecutive year, running at an annual rate of $780 billion. During fiscal year 2010/2011 the U.S. Treasury is on-track to pay upwards of $500 billion just in interest payments to finance the already-existing debt. Annual interest payments for individuals, households, businesses, and all levels of US government are likely to reach $3 trillion — out of a $14 trillion annual GDP, an annual GDP that this year will likely decline. |
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The debt limit was raised for the third time in less than a year with the passage of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 on February 13, 2009 (ARRA; H.R. 1).
Signed into law on February 17, 2009 (P.L. 111-5), the debt limit was increased to $12,104 billion
An end-of-session vote in December 2009 increased the debt ceiling by $290 billion set at $12.394 trillion.
12 February 2010 Obama signed a law increasing the debt limit from $12.394 trillion to $14.294 trillion.
As of April 15, 2011 US stated debt has except for intermittent days exceeded present US law. |
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Burkina Faso — Ivory Coast
Those former French states like Burkina Faso and Thomas Sankara who resisted this draconian legislation were severely dealt with in the form of economic sanctions and or military coups d'état.
Gbagbo who is a student of history knows of this diabolical arrangement that has had an adverse effect on the economic emancipation and development of Francophone states and vowed to reverse this arrangement — he also wanted to nationalize key industries free from French control.
The French political elite knows of Gbagbo's agenda and has used any means at its disposal including influencing national elections to deny Gbagbo from implementing his agenda which if he had succeeded would have a catastrophic effect on the French economy.
This would manifest itself in that other Francophone states in Afrika would follow Gbagbo's lead and demand economic emancipation which would send the French economy into permanent recession since the massive revenue that Paris receives to fund its social and economic programmes would no longer be available and that is why the French and their western allies |
Ivory Coast uncovered — The untold story
click here |
Children workers — Sweat shops — Unions Funding Sweatshops Globally G8 Will Not Ease Third World Poverty |
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Does Abdul Halim Khaddam Have Anything to Do with What's Going on in Syria?
Is Saudi Arabia Showing George W. Bush How to Run the Regime-Change Table in the Middle East?
Saudi Arabia has engaged in some extremely public and forceful pushback against Middle East unrest in general and Iran in particular on the
issue of Iran.
In some quarters, it’s being called the Saudi counter-revolution.
Is the pro-Iran/pro-Hezbollah Assad government in Syria the next Sunni domino?
Iran’s Press TV certainly thinks so.
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In an op-ed entitled Saudi Arabia, Jordan Behind Syria Unrest, the authors write:
Saudi Arabia, which often bows to US and Israel's policies in the region, tried to destabilize Bashar al-Assad's government by undermining his rule.
To this end, Saudi Arabia paid 30 million dollars to former vice president Abdul Halim Khaddam to quit Assad's government.
Khaddam sought asylum in France in 2005 with the aid of Saudi Arabia and began to plot against the Syrian government with the exiled leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Relative of Saudi King Abdullah and former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri
Khaddam, who is a relative of Saudi King Abdullah and former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri, used his great wealth to form a political group with the aim of toppling Bashar al-Assad.
The triangle of Khaddam-Abdullah-Hariri is well-known in the region as their wives are sisters.
Khaddam's entire family enjoys Saudi citizenship and the value investment by his sons, Jamal and Jihad, in Saudi Arabia is estimated at more than USD 3 billion.
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Therefore, with the start of popular protests in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Bahrain, the Saudi regime saw an opportunity to drive a wedge between Tehran, Damascus and Beirut axis.
Due to the direct influence of the Saudi Wahhabis on Syria's Muslim Brotherhood, the people of the cities of Daraa and Homs, following Saudi incitement and using popular demands as an excuse began resorting to violence.
It is reported that the United States, Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia formed joint operational headquarters in the Saudi Embassy in Belgium to direct the riots in southern Syria.
Abdul Halim Khaddam, who held the highest political, executive and information posts in the Syrian government for more than 30 years, is said to have been transferred from Paris to Belgium to direct the unrest.
The reason for this was that based on French law, political asylum seekers cannot work against their countries of origin in France and therefore Khaddam was transferred to Brussels to guide the riots.
Jordan equipped the Muslim Brotherhood
Jordan equipped the Muslim Brotherhood in the two cities with logistical facilities and personal weapons.
Although, Bashar al-Assad promised implementation of fundamental changes and reforms after the bloody riot in the country, the Brotherhood followed continued to incite protesters against him.
The Syrian state television recently broadcast footage of armed activity in the border city of Daraa by a guerilla group, which opened fire on the people and government forces.
It is said that the group, which is affiliated to Salafi movements, obtained its weapons from Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
Because Syria's ruling party is from the Alevi tribes associated with the Shias, the Brotherhood, due to its anti-Shia ideas, has tried for three decades to topple the Alevi establishment of the country.
Hence, the recent riots in Syria are not just rooted in popular demands and harbor a tribal aspect and Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the US are directing the unrest for their future purposes.
Press TV aside, Abdul Halim Khaddam — who used to be Hafez al-Assad's right hand man/fixer before coming up short in the succession struggle — is insisting he’s just letting human nature and pent-up demands for freedom drive events in Syria without any help from him.
In this recent picture, Khaddam looks quite comfortable in his plush Parisian digs, purportedly purchased through the generosity of his brother-in-law, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and/or acquired as the result of his own billionaire-level business acumen.
So maybe he’s just kicking back and letting politics take its course inside Syria.
Of course, in his own words he’s “working around the clock to set an executable plan to achieve [his] targets”, but we’re led to believe that relates to the political struggle after popular unrest has kicked the props out from under the Assad regime.
He’s also willing to foment anti-Iranian and anti-Shi’a sentiment, something that would please his alleged patrons in Riyadh.
In 2006, Khaddam had this exchange with an interviewer:
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Q: What are you current priorities? Do you want to reform the regime, reform it, or topple it?
A: This regime cannot be reformed so there is nothing left but to oust it.
Q: But how will you oust it?
A: The Syrian people will topple the regime. There is a rapidly growing current in the country. Opposition is growing fast. I do not want to oust the regime by military coup. A coup is the most dangerous type of reform. I am working to create the right atmosphere for the Syrian people to topple the regime.
In another interview in 2006 — the year he optimistically expected the Assad regime to fall — Khaddam elaborated on the theme.
Gulf News: On January 14, you announced you would form a government-in-exile that would take over power when the government of President Bashar Al Assad collapsed, but nothing has happened since then. I have contacted opposition forces in London and Washington who welcomed your move but said they have not heard from you. What happened to the government-in-exile idea and are you going to cooperate with the existing opposition forces or form a government of your own supporters?
Abdul Halim Khaddam: I am working with different opposition forces which exist inside Syria and in exile. We are discussing the formation of a government-in-exile. Its main task will be to fill the power vacuum in the country and be in action after the collapse of the regime in Damascus.
I am discussing my proposal directly with the leaders of opposition factions or through mediators. We are looking to foster and strengthen cooperation among different opposition factions, including Muslim Brotherhood, which are banned by law in Syria since 1980. We will announce a programme for a democratic change in Syria that will include all the topics and the issues to be handled by the opposition in the next stage.
We are working round-the-clock to set an executable plan to achieve our targets and to benefit from the blunders committed by the regime in recent years. The regime has handcuffed itself through a chain of fatal mistakes which will help the opposition overthrow the totalitarian regime and launch a democratic era.
Khaddam also beat the anti-Iran and anti-Shi’a drum in 2007 — a worrisome combination for Assad, who as a member of a small Shi’a-esque minority sect, the Alawites, reigns over a Sunni majority — an interesting inversion of the situation in Bahrain where Sunni sheiks lord it over a disgruntled Shi'a majority):
Khaddam speculated that Assad's regime was being infiltrated by Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with Iranian intelligence agents having penetrated the Syrian political and security circles. He pointed to an agreement between Syrian and Iranian security organs, a mutual defence agreement signed in 2006 between Tehran and Damascus and a "broad co-ordination between the security organs in the two countries which covers Lebanon and Syria".
Khaddam accused the Iranian ambassador to Damascus of leading the Shi'itisation process in Syria, saying: "Shi'itisation is a political phenomenon carried out by the Iranian ambassador to Damascus with the objective of creating a political situation that is tied to Iran, and this activity is dangerous as it lays the ground for sectarian strife in Syria".
At the very least, Khaddam showed more message discipline that an organization called the Reform Party of Syria. The only conspicuous achievement of the group mentioned on its Wikipedia page was an endorsement of Nicolas Sarkozy for President (of France).
The RPS, although referred to by the World Tribune (itself the perhaps less than authoritative mouthpiece of the politically-wired Soka Gakkai cult in Japan) as "authoritative", appears to have jumped the shark with its recent backgrounder. It stated:
Iran has deployed its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Syria to bolster Syria's defense. The Washington-based opposition group said the IRGC contingent in Syria includes 10,000 troops, with headquarters in the northern province of Homs.
"In essence, the IRGC now occupies Syria and has become its de facto ruler," RPS spokesman Farid Ghadry said. "Syria has become the 32nd province of Iran."
Who is killing whom in Syria
Leaving levity aside, the references to Abdul Halim Khaddam caught my eye because of a sad, sober post by Josh Landis, one of America’s premier Syria-watchers, on his blog, Syria Comment:
The Syrian revolution struck home yesterday. My wife, Manar Qash`ur [Kachour], burst into tears last night as she read the Facebook page that has kept her updated on events in her hometown, Latakia. Lt. Colonel Yasir Qash`ur, who was Manar’s cousin and 40 years old, was shot in Banyas on Sunday. He was one of two Lt. Colonels and 10 military personnel killed – more were wounded. Yasir’s funeral was held in the village this morning – Monday. My brother-in-law, Firas, and father-in-law, Shaaban, both attended.
...My father-in-law said on the phone this morning that it seemed that supporters of ex-Vice President Khaddam, who was from Banyas, were behind the attack. It is said that they had set a trap for the military unit. All this is speculation, however. We know precious little about who is killing whom in Syria. Allegations are numerous. Real knowledge is scarce.
There is a widespread enthusiasm for acknowledging the popular character of the demonstrations against Assad.
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There is intense unease about exploring the role of armed provocateurs in trying to foment more extreme anti-government unrest.
Al-Jazeera to an almost ludicrous extent
Al Jazeera — which appears an enthusiastic cheerleader for the Syrian protests, even as it seems to show a willingness to hew to the Saudi line in downplaying reporting on the anti-Sunni crackdown in Bahrain — did run a video segment on Inside Story, Syria: Conspiracies and Condemnation.
Judging from the version on Youtube, it was originally called Conspiracy over Syria Protests; perhaps that title was considered to give excessive credence to the government’s claims.
To an almost ludicrous extent, the moderator, Nick Clark, tried to get his three panelists to comment on video footage aired on Syrian state TV that showed a white Honda riding down a street in some Syrian town with guys firing automatic weapons out the window.
The panelists admitted in passing that it was plausible that gunmen had joined the anti-government protests.
Nobody was willing to discuss the implications, preferring to treat the footage of gunmen — true or not — as simply an attempt by the government to misdirect attention away from the genuine protests, and to emphasize that the Syrian state media — and by implication, the government — had lost credibility.
That white car, with “a chap hanging out firing a machine gun”, as Clark put it ...zero traction.
The possibility that the gunmen were pro-government irregulars has subsequently been floated in the media courtesy of pro-demonstrator spokespeople.
Death of dozen soldiers in ambush
A similar vow of omerta seems to apply to the ambush of the Syrian Army patrol that killed Josh Landis's in-law.
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One would think the death of nearly a dozen soldiers in an ambush would be considered a remarkable development, considering that the death of equivalent numbers of demonstrators is a world media event.
It’s also rather shocking that, in an acknowledged authoritarian state like Syria, somebody could come up with the wherewithal to mount a successful attack on a rather sizable military patrol.
But even in news for Banyas, the reports of an ambush are virtually a non-story, as the media concentrates on the crackdown instead.
On Josh Landis’ site, a pro-demonstrator commenter advanced the story that one member of the unit had killed the rest of the soldiers in a fit of patriotism, rather than fire on demonstrators.
If reports in Syrian media are truthful, this would have been a remarkable display of determination and marksmanship. In addition to nine dead, twenty three were wounded. Admittedly, Nidal Malik Hasan killed and wounded more at Fort Hood, but those victims were on base and unarmed; the Syrian soldiers were on patrol and presumably within reach of their weapons.
The pro-democracy slaughter line seems less likely than the story of one of the survivors:
Mazin Fittimi reported that he was sitting in the front part of the convey when armed men ambushed and rained them with bullets and grenades from nearby buildings and water sewage canals at 'Al-Qwz Bridage'.
In the Arab press, Khaddam asserted that his home town of Banyas had a long history of repression, persecution, discrimination and marginalization and “don’t need anyone to guide them”.
We’ll see.
Whether or not Khaddam is Saudi Arabia’s Chalabi for Syria doesn’t get a lot of airing in the regional press.
Whether or not he has assets in his home town that would mount an attack on a government convoy is apparently not a matter of widespread interest.
And that doesn’t even go into the matter of Rifaat Assad, Hafez Assad’s brother — and Bashar Assad’s uncle — who tried to take over in a coup and was exiled to France. Rifaat is also married to one of King Abdullah’s sisters.
So that means that the former Number 2 and Number 3 in the Syrian regime are both eager to see Bashar fall on his behind; and both are close to Saudi Arabia, which now appears to be, more than ever, willing to take positive action to sideline its enemies.
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Of course, the Assad regime, as the al Jazeera panel pointed out, has been counterproductively coy and vague about the conspirators it claims are dead-set on undermining the government.
Is the Syrian government just blowing smoke? Trying to build a persuasive case before they name names? Afraid to provoke an open breach with the Saudi and Jordanian governments by publicly accusing Khaddam and Rifaat Assad?
Is Syria trying to get the word out indirectly through the willing, eager, |
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 Secret deal let Americans sidestep cluster bomb ban by UK
Officials concealed from parliament how US is allowed to bring weapons on to British soil in defiance of treaty
Rob Evans and David Leigh
Wednesday 1 December 2010
British and American officials colluded in a plan to hoodwink parliament over a proposed ban on cluster bombs, the Guardian can disclose.
David Miliband approved allowing cluster bombs on British territory
According to leaked US embassy dispatches, David Miliband, who was Britain's foreign secretary under Labour, approved the use of a loophole to manoeuvre around the ban and allow the US to keep the munitions on British territory.
Unlike Britain, the US had refused to sign up to an international convention that bans the weapons because of the widespread injury they cause to civilians.
The US military asserted that cluster bombs were "legitimate weapons that provide a vital military capability" and wanted to carry on using British bases regardless of the ban.
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Whitehall officials proposed that a specially created loophole to grant the US a free hand should be concealed from parliament in case it 'complicated or muddied' the MPs' debate.
Gordon Brown, as prime minister, had swung his political weight in 2008 behind the treaty to ban the use and stockpiling of cluster bombs.
Britain therefore signed it, contrary to earlier assurances made by British officials to their US counterparts.
The US had stockpiles of cluster munitions at bases on British soil and intended to keep them, regardless of the treaty.
Repeatedly proclaimed cluster bombs would be removed
When the bill to ratify the treaty was going through parliament this year, the then Labour foreign ministers Glenys Kinnock and Chris Bryant repeatedly proclaimed that US cluster munition arsenals would be removed from British territory by the declared deadline of 2013.
But a different picture emerges from a confidential account of a meeting between UK and US officials in May last year.
It shows that the two governments concocted the 'concept' of allowing US forces to store their cluster weapons as 'temporary exceptions' and on a 'case-by-case' basis for specific military operations.
Foreign Office officials "confirmed that the concept was accepted at highest levels of the government, as that idea had been included in the draft letter from minister [David] Miliband to secretary [of state Hillary] Clinton".
US cluster munitions are permanently stored on ships off the coast of the Diego Garcia airbase in the Indian Ocean, the cables reveal.
The base is crucial for US military missions in the Middle East. Diego Garcia, still deemed British territory, has been occupied by the US military since its inhabitants were expelled in the 1960s and 1970s.
The British concept of a 'temporary exception' to oblige the US does not appear to be envisaged in the treaty.
But the British arranged that "any movement of cluster munitions from ships at Diego Garcia to planes there, temporary transit, or use from British territory ... would require the temporary exception".
Nicholas Pickard, head of the Foreign Office's security policy unit, is quoted as saying:
"It would be better for the US government and HMG [the British government] not to reach final agreement on this temporary agreement understanding until after the [treaty] ratification process is completed in parliament, so that they can tell parliamentarians that they have requested the US government to remove its cluster munitions by 2013, without complicating/muddying the debate by having to indicate that this request is open to exceptions."
Lady Kinnock subsequently promised parliament that there would be no "permanent stockpiles of cluster munitions on UK territory" after the treaty as the US had decided it no longer needed them on British soil.
There is no suggestion that Kinnock or Bryant were aware of a plan to mislead parliament.
Tonight, a Foreign Office spokesman said:
"We reject any allegation that the Foreign Office deliberately misled parliament or failed in our obligation to inform parliament.
We cannot go into specifics of any leaked documents because we condemn any unauthorised release of classified information."
MP and brother of Labour leader Ed Miliband declined comment
David Miliband declined to comment.
Cluster bombs drop large numbers of 'bomblets' over a wide area.
Many do not explode at the time but can kill long afterwards.
The Americans dropped thousands of cluster bombs in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Civilians in Vietnam still die from cluster bombs dropped by the US in the 1960s.
The leaked US state department documents reveal American displeasure at the international project launched by Norway to outlaw cluster munitions.
US did not like project to outlaw cluster bombs
An American arms control diplomat, John Rood, privately told the Foreign Office in 2008 that the US disliked this initiative, called the Oslo process.
The Americans denounced it as 'impractical and unconstructive' and were urging countries not to sign up.
Mariot Leslie, then director general of defence and intelligence in the Foreign Office, reassured him that the British were only taking part as a 'tactical manoeuvre' and cluster bombs were 'essential to its arsenal'.
Leslie is recorded as saying:
"The UK is concerned about the impact of the Oslo process on the aftermath of a conflict, foreseeing 'astronomical bills' handed out to those who used cluster munitions in the past."
But two weeks later Brown defied military opposition and went ahead in banning British cluster munitions.
US continues to use cluster bombs despite Afghanistan ratification
Afghanistan, which had suffered grievous civilian casualties from the continuing war on its territory, also unexpectedly signed up to the treaty in December 2008 "without prior consultation with the US government" and "despite assurances to the contrary from President Karzai".
Washington's reaction was to seek to convince the Kabul government that the US could still legally use cluster munitions on Afghan territory under the treaty, even if the Afghan regime itself could not.
Diplomats recommended a "low-profile approach" at "sub-ministerial level ... given the political sensitivities in Afghanistan surrounding cluster munitions, as well as air and artillery strikes in general".
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