Lévesque: Syrian Death Toll Claim: Thousands Dead, Zero Verifiable Sources (video)
RT
December 22, 2011
The Syrian opposition says 5,000 have been killed during a nine-month crackdown, with more than 250 civilians killed in two last days alone, calling for UN protection from “acts of genocide.” But researchers say the information is tough to verify.
RT spoke with Julie Levesque from the Centre for Research on Globalization, who says the most significant problem with the figures from Syria is that, simply, “we do not know where they come from.”
“I’ve discovered that it mostly comes from one group, which is a local coordination committee in Syria. We do not know who these people are,” she said.
“We do not know who has been killed, and we do not know who has killed them. There are 17,000 armed men, according to a report from the Institute for Strategic Studies, which is based in London,” the researcher further explained.
Levesque also said that verification is difficult because the opposition does not provide names to support their claims, and even the UN admits the information is hard to vouch for.
“All we hear is that government forces are cracking down on peaceful protesters. And if there are 17 thousand armed men among the protesters, they are no longer peaceful protests.”
Syrian authorities also claim over 2,000 troops have been killed since uprisings began in mid-March. But, Levesque says, authorities have provided a list of names of those killed.
Originally aired on RT, December 22, 2011
http://rt.com/news/syria-unrest-casualties-reports-469/
Black Voters Support Ron Paul for the Content of His Character (video)
Youtube
October 10, 2011
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(hat tip: Activist Post)
With all of the pieces in place, when will the hammer drop?
By Madison Ruppert
Editor of End the Lie
December 22, 2011
Over the past few months, those who have been paying attention have witnessed some of the most disturbing developments in modern American history unfold at breakneck speed.
This includes the explicit codification of indefinite detention without charge or trial as well as rendition under the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) Fiscal Year 2012, the KBR move to create a team of sub-contractors to activate the so-called FEMA camps on a moment’s notice and the designation of American citizens as the enemy under Continuity of Government (COG) plans created by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Unfortunately, the file revealing the FEMA COG plans, entitled “National Continuity Programs (NCP) Program and Mission Support Services (PAMSS)” was quickly removed from the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) official website, according to Infowars.
All that is left is a message warning users to not upload any classified materials, even though the document was listed as “Source Selection Sensitive” and not classified, as the warning notice might have you believe.
This serves as just another example of our criminal, corrupt government believing that there is no need for them to be accountable for their actions to the American people which are used as collateral and man power in their insane schemes.
These developments have been part of a gradual march toward an all-encompassing authoritarian police state with a massive surveillance grid so expansive George Orwell would likely never believe it could be reality.
Just a few pieces of this incomparably complex control grid include the Carrier IQ monitoring software which is loaded on to every major smartphone by every major wireless service provider, drone surveillance which includes so-called threat assessment technology and facial recognition, comprehensive and centralized biometric databases, along with widespread citizen spying programs.
This surveillance state, which has already been rolled out and is only increasing in reach and depth, is complimented by the militarization of police moving towards a de facto martial law.
However, the NDAA makes the steady move to turn local and state police departments into paramilitary forces look like child’s play.
Previously, I believed that programs like the Pentagon’s 1033 program were being used to transform public servants into public oppressors without having to formally declare martial law, but now it is clear that I was wrong.
Under the NDAA, there is absolutely no need to declare martial law now or in the future, given that it effectively eviscerates the Bill of Rights, the Posse Comitatus Act and the Non-Detention Act.
Declaring martial law would just be redundant, given that there is absolutely nothing stopping the military from kicking down the doors of innocent Americans and holding them indefinitely under the guise of fighting terrorism.
We are already seeing military technology being rolled out in situations where it hardly seems warranted, as was the case with the use of a Predator B drone in North Dakota, along with the entirety of the dangerous domestic drone program, and the decision to deploy an armored personnel carrier (APC) to the Occupy Tampa protests.
There is no need for the individual to even have tenuous links to terrorism or terrorist groups, as the military will never be forced to justify their actions or present evidence to anyone.
Even more disturbing is that now American citizens can be charged with providing “material support” to terrorists simply by writing about issues which might otherwise be covered by free speech.
This was exemplified by the case of 29-year-old Tarek Mehanna who federal prosecutors claim travelled to Yemen in 2004 in hopes of training as a terrorist and then killing American soldiers fighting in Iraq.
However, Mehanna failed to locate any training camps – clearly indicating he is not keyed in to the terrorist underworld – and then allegedly returned home to promote al Qaeda by writing about violent jihad against the United States online.
Mehanna and his legal team gave a much different story: instead of going to Yemen to attempt, and fail, to find a terrorist training camp, Mehanna claims that he went to Yemen simply to receive instruction to become an Islamic scholar and that his writings on the internet were protected by free speech.
Carol Rose, the executive director of the Massachusetts chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said that they are “gravely concerned that today’s verdict against Tarek Mehanna undermines the First Amendment and threatens national security.”
“Under the government’s theory of the case, ordinary people – including writers and journalists, academic researchers, translators, and even ordinary web surfers – could be prosecuted for researching or translating controversial or unpopular ideas. If the verdict is not overturned on appeal, the First Amendment will be seriously compromised,” the ACLU’s statement said.
It is clear that there is an assault on the Constitution on all fronts, with the federal government leading the charge in the war against our liberties, as clearly shown by the disturbing levels of support for the NDAA seen in both the House and Senate.
Increasingly American citizens are being treated like the enemy, and if the NDAA’s sections are fully utilized, many Americans could be locked up as prisoners of war and civilian internees without charge or trial with no hope of being released until the government makes the call.
The disturbing truth is that being designated a civilian internee is literally the best case scenario for people like myself who relentlessly expose government malfeasance and the evisceration of our most essential liberties as protected by the Constitution.
The mainstream corporate controlled media is all but completely ignoring the NDAA, and when they do cover it, which is laughably rare, they whitewash the most important sections and claim that the bill does not actually provide for the indefinite detention of American citizens, which I clearly debunked in a previous article.
As every week goes by, it becomes clearer that we are approaching a crossroads in this nation and around the world.
One road will lead us even further down the slippery slope of tyranny into a situation that would make the Orwellian police state we currently see unfolding around us look tame.
This road leads to massive indefinite detention of American citizens in FEMA prison camps which have already been erected around the nation, along with the establishment of even more detention centers on military installations and elsewhere.
It also leads to the total abolition of habeas corpus and all of the rights which so many Americans never imagined could ever be in danger of being impinged on, restricted, or even removed altogether.
The other road is obviously the one I would much prefer we head down.
This is one where the traitors in our government are brought to justice, the tyrannical financial establishment is dismantled in favor of a much more equitable debt-free monetary system, and the global imperialistic force serving the corporate elite that the United States military has become is radically changed.
The nationwide and now global surveillance state would be scrapped, the mainstream media would become irrelevant and die off in a matter of days, the government would no longer believe itself to be immune from criticism and the once opaque operations would become open and accountable to the people footing the bill.
No longer would innocent people be slaughtered at home and abroad in the name of the sham that is the war on terror and the United States would no longer be the reviled death machine that it has become thanks to our hijacked government.
Collusion between corporate interests and all government corruption would no longer be the rampant, parasitic blight that it currently is.
Our freedoms and safety would be secured, not through a phony war on terror which seeks to have us trade liberty for security, but instead through a genuine government that actually sought to protect its citizens and not use them as collateral and slave labor in private prisons.
The failed drug war would end and thus the countless non-violent offenders we are paying to keep locked up in college for criminals while they are exploited for cheap labor by government-connected corporations would no longer fill our prisons.
Medical marijuana could replace many overpriced and dangerous pharmaceutical treatments and hemp could drastically impact countless industries and revive the American economy and turn the United States back into the manufacturing powerhouse and economic power it once was.
Bankers would be held accountable for their criminal activity and no longer would our government be a revolving door system for corporations and their employees.
It would truly be a government of the people for the people, but this not something that would happen overnight nor is it something that could occur without the majority of Americans waking up to reality and taking a stand.
It now appears that it is only a matter of time until the government either drops the hammer and we find ourselves travelling rapidly down the dark road or the American people finally stand up and refuse to let our nation be destroyed any further.
Hopefully Americans will not wait to take action until the worst case scenario has unfolded, as it very well might be too late at that point.
I encourage all of my readers to spread this information to anyone and everyone and encourage them to actually look into it, check my sources and decide for themselves if they want to wait and ignore the signs or start making an effort to make our country, and the world, a better place for ourselves and future generations or just allow a once-great nation to become a system that would make the Soviets green with envy.
Short URL: http://EndtheLie.com/?p=32137
NATO’s Al Qaeda goes to Syria
Free Syrian Army commanded by Military Governor of Tripoli
by Thierry Meyssan
voltairenet.org
December 20, 2011
In the wake of the “Arab Spring” and NATO interventions, both official and secret, Qatar seeks to impose Islamist leaders wherever possible. This strategy has led it not only to fund the Muslim Brotherhood and to hand Al-Jazeera over to them, but also to support Al Qaeda mercenaries, who will henceforth oversee the Free Syrian Army. However, this new scenario raises serious concerns in Israel and among the supporters of the “clash of civilizations.”
The UN Security Council members are at loggerheads over the interpretation of the events that are rocking Syria. On one hand, France, the United Kingdom and the United States claim that a revolution has swept the country, in the aftermath of the “Arab Spring”, and suffering a bloody crackdown. On the other hand, Russia’s and China’s take is that Syria is having to cope with armed gangs from abroad, which it is fighting awkwardly thereby causing collateral victims among the civilian population it seeks to protect.
The on-the-spot investigation undertaken by Voltaire Network validated the latter interpretation [1]. We have collected eyewitness testimonies from those who survived an armed attack by a foreign gangs. They describe them as being Iraqis, Jordanians or Libyans, recognizable by their accent, as well as Pashtun.
In recent months, a certain number of Arab newspapers, favorable to the Al-Assad administration, discussed the infiltration into Syria of 600 to 1,500 fighters from the Islamic Fighting Group in Libya (IFGL), rebranded Al Qaeda in Libya since November 2007. In late November 2011, the Libyan press reported the attempt by the Zintan militia to detain Abdel Hakim Belhaj, companion of Osama Bin Laden [2] and historic leader of Al Qaeda in Libya, who became military governor of Tripoli by the grace of NATO [3]. The scene took place at Tripoli airport, as he was leaving for Turkey. Finally, Turkish newspapers mentioned Mr. Belhaj’s presence at the Turkish-Syrian.
Such reports have been met with disbelief on the part of all those who regard Al Qaeda and NATO are irreconcilable enemies between whom no cooperation is possible. Instead, they reinforce the thesis which I have defended since the attacks of September 11, 2001, that Al Qaeda fighters are mercenaries of the service of the CIA [4].
Who is telling the truth?
For the past week, the Spanish royalist newspaper ABC has published a daily report by photographer Daniel Iriarte. This journalist is with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in the north of the country, right on the Turkish border. Iriarte champions the cause of the “revolution” and can never find words harsh enough against “Al-Assad regime.”
The Free Syrian Army is made up of more than 20 00 people, according to its political chief Colonel Riyadh al-Asaad, but of only a few hundred when listening to the Syrian authorities [5].
However, in the Saturday edition dated 17 December 2011, Daniel Iriarte describes an encounter that shocked him. While his FSA friends were taking him to a new hideout, he came across some foreign insurgents: three Libyans [6].
- Mahdi al-Harati, commander of the Tripoli Brigade, resigned from his functions as deputy chief of the Military Council in Tripoli to oversee the Free Syrian Army.
The first one among them was al-Mahdi Hatari, a Libyan who lived in Ireland before joining Al Qaeda. At the end of the Libyan war, he was named commander of the Tripoli Brigade, then number 2 of the Tripoli Military Council headed by Abdel Hakim Belhaj. He resigned from this function, according to some because of a dispute with the Transitional National Council, according to others because he wanted to go back to Ireland to join his Irish wife [7] The truth is that he headed for Syria.
Even stranger: a member of Al Qaeda was among the pro-Palestinian activists, in June of last year, on board the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara. Numerous secret service agents, especially US, had infiltrated the “Freedom Flotilla” [8]. He was wounded and held prisoner for nine days in Israel.
Finally, during the Battle of Tripoli, al-Mahdi Harati commanded the Al Qaeda group that besieged and attacked the Rixos hotel, where I was staying with my Voltaire Network companions and the international press, and whose basement served as a shelter for the leaders of the Jamahiriya under the protection of the custody of Khamis Gaddafi [9]. According to the latter, Mahdi al-Harati was being briefed by the French officers on the ground.
The second Libyan that the Spanish photographer in the Syrian army is none other than Kikli Adem, a lieutenant of Abdel Hakim Belhaj. As for the third Libyan, nicknamed Fouad, Daniel Iriarte was not in a position to identify him.
Iriarte’s testimony dovetails with what the Arab anti-Syrian press has been claiming for weeks: the Free Syrian Army is overseen by at least 600 “volunteers” from Al Qaeda in Libya [10]. The entire operation is run by Abdel Hakim Belhaj in person with the help of the Erdogan government.
How can it be explained that a daily newspaper as anti-Assad as ABC has decided to publish the testimony of its special envoy, who sheds light on the nauseating methods employed by NATO and confirms the Syrian government’s thesis of armed destabilization? The fact is that for a week, certain advocates of the clash of civilizations have been riling against a set-up which includes Islamic extremists in a “free world” strategy.
Writing on CNBC Guest Blog [11], former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar revealed on 9 December 2011 that Abdel Hakim Belhaj was suspected of complicity in the attacks of 11 March 2004 in Madrid [12], an event that put an end to Aznar’s political career.
Sheik Ali Salabi, spiritual guide of Al Qaeda in Lybia, Abdel Hakim Belhaj’s mentor, and strong man of the "new Libya."
Mr. Aznar’s outing goes hand in hand with the intervention made by his friends from the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, the think tank headed by former Israeli ambassador to the UN Dore Gold [13]. They publicly voice their doubts about the validity of the current CIA strategy to place Islamists in power throughout North Africa. Their criticism is aimed against the secret society of the Muslim Brotherhood, but also against two Libyan figures: Abel Hakim Belhadj and his friend Sheikh Ali Al-Salibi. The latter is regarded as the new leader of Libya [14]. The two men are deemed to be the pawns of Qatar in the new Libya [15]. It was also Sheikh Salabi who distributed $ 2 billion of Qatari funds to help Al-Qaeda in Libya [16].
Thus the contradiction that was desperately kept hidden for the past decade returns to the surface: the mercenaries, formerly paid by Osama Bin Laden, have never stopped working in the service of US strategic interests since the first war in Afghanistan, including the period of the September 11 attacks. Yet they are portrayed by Western leaders as implacable enemies.
It is likely that the objections of Mr. Aznar and the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs will be overridden by NATO, as were those raised by AFRICOM commander General Carter Ham. At the beginning of the war Libya, he was incensed at having to protect jihadists who had gone to slaughter GIs in Iraq.
Detached from reality, the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee (aka “Committee pursuant to resolution 1267”) and the US Department of State still have on their black list the organization of Abdel Hakim Belhaj and Sheik Salabi under its former label of Islamic Fighting Group in Libya. It would appear that is it the duty of every State to arrest these individuals if they enter their territory.
[1] “Lies and truths about Syria”, by Thierry Meyssan, Voltaire Network, 28 November 2011.
[2] “Libya’s Powerful Islamist Leader,” by Babak Dehghanpisheh, The Daily Beast, 2 September 2011.
[3] “How Al Qaeda men came to power in Libya”, by Thierry Meyssan, Voltaire Network, 7 September 2011.
[4] “Once NATO enemies in Iraq and Afghanistan, now NATO allies in Libya,” by Webster G. Tarpley, Voltaire Network, 24 May 2011.
[5] “Syria’s opposition, rebels hold talks in Turkey,” by Safak Timur, AFP, 1 December 2011.
[6] “Islamistas libios se desplazan a Siria para “ayudar” a la revolución,” by Daniel Iriarte, ABC (Spain), 17 December 2011.
[7] “Libyan-Irish commander resigns as deputy head of Tripoli military council,” by Mary Fitzgerald, The Irish Times, 11 October 2011.
[8] “Freedom Flotilla: The detail that escaped Netanyahu”, by Thierry Meyssan, Voltaire Network, 8 June 2010.
[9] “Thierry Meyssan and Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya under death threat in Tripoli”, Voltaire Network, 22 August 2011.
[10] “Libyan fighters join “free Syrian army” forces,” Al Bawaba, 29 November 2011.
[11] “Spain’s Former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar on the Arab Awakening and How the West Should React,” CNBC.com., 9 December 2011.
[12] “March 11, 2004 in Madrid: Was it really an Islamist attack?”, by Mathieu Miquel, Voltaire Network, 28 November 2009.
[13] “Diplomacy after the Arab uprisings,” by Dore Gold, The Jerusalem Post, 15 December 2011.
[14] “Meet the likely architect of the new Libya,” by Marc Fisher, The Washington Post, 9 December 2011.
[15] “Libyans wary over support from Qatar,” by John Thorne, The National (United Arab Emirates), 13 December 2011.
[16] John Thorne, op. cit.
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(hat tip: Land Destroyer Report)
West Poised to Exploit Potential Korean Crisis
US prepared for “Sudden Change” in North Korea since 2009.
by Tony Cartalucci
Land Destroyer Report
December 19, 2011
The Council on Foreign Relations, a corporate-financier funded think-tank that represents the collective interests and agenda of Wall Street and London, had in 2009 published an extensive, 52 page report titled, “Preparing for Sudden Change in North Korea.”
The report covered “Scenarios for Change in North Korea” and included “managed,” “contested,” and “failed successions.” The report makes no secret of US foreign policy toward North Korea and the desire to see the nation “integrated” with the South, a nation whose political system has long been co-opted by the United States, kept a watchful eye on by USPACOM’s regional presence, and only saved by the nationalism of the South Korean people themselves.
On page 36 of the report, it is stated that chaos within a “changing” North Korea would raise concerns including, “maintaining security and stability in the North, locating and securing Pyongyang’s weapons of mass destruction, dealing with potentially serious humanitarian problems such as large-scale refugee flows or starvation, managing the political and legal issues relating to the formation of a transitional government, and addressing the economic challenges posed by the demise of the North and its possible integration with the South.”
Of course, these are “concerns” the “international order” led by Wall Street and London would deal with, not the people actually living on the Korean Peninsula. And to address these concerns the report actually suggests deploying 115,000 to 230,000 foreign troops along with tens of thousands of “police” to support them in establishing “security and stability.”
Noting that foreign troops may spur an armed reaction from the North Korean military, the report states:
“If former elements of the North Korean military, its security and intelligence forces, or its large special operations force were to resist the presence of foreign forces, the size of the needed stabilization force would escalate dramatically. Indeed, experience has shown that special operations forces are the most likely candidates to mount such resistance. Given the large number of such units in the North, the challenge could be considerable. In an insurgency, according to one Defense Science Board study, as many as twenty occupying troops are needed for every thousand persons, implying a force of 460,000 troops, more than three times the number of American troops in Iraq. Coping with such a contingency would likely be impossible for the South Korean and American forces to manage alone.” –page 37 (.pdf)
On the rebuilding of North Korea’s economy, the report feverishly preaches market liberalization, privatization, and integration with South Korea who is currently on the verge of entering into expansive “free trade” with the United States. In the case of “reunification,” the United States will have just doubled the market its parasitic corporate-financier interests were already preparing to despoil.
“The second economic issue is the transition from planned to market economic mechanisms. This task requires genuine price liberalization, establishing a carefully managed foreign exchange regime, developing new policies and institutional capacities in public finance and expenditure, banking, and both a legal system and ownership rights over productive assets (especially land). Dealing with the state enterprise system may require liquidating unviable firms, improving management, privatizing, and creating a level playing field with the emerging private sector. Institutional change would be much faster and simpler if developed with former North Korean authorities in a framework that might lead to eventual reunification. In any case, a short-term drop in economic output should be expected before the economy can be stabilized and put on a growth path.” –page 41 (.pdf)
Recommendations for US policy are made, beginning on page 44, and include the suggestion that the US continue promoting “behavioral change within the current regime rather than actively seek to overthrow it,” that is … “unless extreme circumstances dictate otherwise.” The report also suggests that working closely with the European Union, who has diplomatic representation in North Korea, will help the US understand better, any sign of coming “sudden change” to refine the regime of exploitation outlined in the CFR report. Other schemes of re-approaching North Korea are discussed, such as using the excuse of recovering the remains of missing American soldiers lost during the Korean War to improve contacts and provide useful information on unfolding events within North Korea (page 46 & 47).
A “common vision” between the US and South Korea for a reunified Korea is also discussed at length as are the military, economic, and social preparations that would be necessary to carry out this “vision.” Such a common vision begs one to wonder what say the United States, separated by an entire ocean from Korea, actually has in the future of the Korean people. The preparation of a NATO-style military alliance referred to as a “regional security cooperation in northeast Asia” is also recommended to help in “legitimating” the West’s attempts to exploit and fill the void created in a possible collapse of North Korean society.
The thought of a reunified Korea, militarily occupied by the United States and its collective economy opened to unmitigated exploitation via the pending US-FTA must alarm Beijing to a certain degree, especially with the recently unveiled “American Pacific Century” policy that enumerates a strategy of encircling and containing China’s tactical and economic rise while maintaining a century of American hegemony over Asia. And surely it must North Koreans that the United States has prepared their future and destiny in such minute detail and are prepared to lead North Korea’s transformation, at the barrel of a gun if need be.
It should be noted that North Korea’s unraveling, and the door it would open to a reunified Korea under American military and economic occupation needs not necessarily be organic. The United States is on record training North Korean activists to sow “Arab Spring-style” chaos just as it has throughout the Middle East. In Foreign Policy’s article “Revolution U,” where the story of US-funded CANVAS is told, North Korean activists are mentioned several times as recipients of the same US-funded training offered by CANVAS and used by activists to help overthrow the governments of Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt. With a heavy US military presence just over the border, and with several suspicious provocations already attributed to the US presence on the peninsula, all the ingredients are available to coax North Korea’s destabilization along and justify the execution of CFR’s 2009 machinations.
Whether they exist there in the right measurements or will find a well prepared, Chinese-backed North Korea ready to balk them instead remains a question only time will tell.
British Propaganda Aims at Triggering Syrian Genocide
Channel 4 makes Goebbels proud with conveniently timed propaganda piece.
by Tony Cartalucci
Land Destroyer Report
December 18, 2011
With the UN’s recent “human rights” report falling flat, for lack of evidence and being compiled by Karen Koning AbuZayd, a director of the US Washington-based corporate think-tank, Middle East Policy Council, that includes Exxon men, CIA agents, US military and government representatives, and even the president of the US-Qatar Business Council, the corporate-media has stepped in to give faces and screams to the alleged victims of Wall Street and London’s premeditated implosion of Syrian society.
The UN’s human rights chief, Navi Pillay had been having difficulties peddling the recycled lies used just months ago to commence NATO and UN-sanctioned genocide in Libya, in what is now verified, even confessed fabrications produced by the Libyan opposition and filtered through corporate foundation-funded Human Rights Watch, the International Criminal Court, and the UN. Additionally, Syria itself had brushed off attempts by the Wall Street and London compromised Arab League and their numerous, feckless attempts to impose ultimatums clearly crafted in Washington and given an “Arab” face.
It is now, just as both efforts have ground to a halt and the Arab League prepares to bring their ultimatums and demands to the UN that Channel 4 in England has released “shocking images of violence and child abuse that proves Syrian torture policy,” reports the Daily Mail. The Daily Mail claims they are the most graphic images ever shown on British television, and surely such an exception has been made because Wall Street and London’s efforts to justify NATO intervention in Syria have stalled. Words such as “believed to be,” “allegedly,” and “strong evidence that” litter the Daily Mail’s article and cast serious doubt on claims that Channel 4’s objectivity-devoid presentation featuring the overtly biased title “Syria’s Torture Machine” provides “‘irrefutable prima facie’ evidence that President Bashar al-Assad’s regime is torturing its citizens.”
Then again, “irrefutable prima facie” is what Wall Street and London have depended on to sell one genocidal military conquest after another, from Afghanistan to Iraq, from Libya to the gates of Damascus. In each case, the evidence upon closer examination, revealed the magnitude to which the truth had been stretched, abused, or all together fabricated. Already snipers have been uncovered killing both protesters and Syrian security forces in single confrontations – illustrating a malice element clearly seeking to prolong and expand the violence, conveniently giving the West an opportunity for a repeat performance of their military conquest of Libya.
To the trained eye, “Syria’s Torture Machine” salutes the crass, hamfisted propaganda films of yesteryear that instilled the baseless anger, outrage, and emotions throughout the masses that made the horrors of the World Wars possible. Channel 4 hopes to recapture the success of these vintage films, preying on the ignorance of what it hopes is an impressionable audience, as well as join the ranks of modern day war propaganda like the corporate-fascist Neo-Conservative produced “Iranium.” No mention will most likely be made that Syria’s opposition is entirely funded, supported, even armed, and harbored by NATO members, with the Syrian opposition literally based in London where Channel 4 is also conveniently headquartered.
The timing of Channel 4’s “presentation” and the unprecedented exceptions made to air its violent content publicly, illustrates an eagerness, almost desperation behind the West’s designs toward Syria. Indeed, just as it was with Libya, NATO intervention, the subsequent genocide, and the rise to power of a suitable stooge bent to the West’s agenda will be achieved at any cost. Stretching the credibility of an already discredited corporate-media is a risk the global elite can’t risk not taking.
One must ask themselves, however, how NATO, led by the US who has legalized, normalized, even standardized torture and indefinite detention, stands on any moral ground to use the rhetoric provided by propagandists in London as justification for further meddling in Syria. If Channel 4’s one-sided, clearly biased “presentation” is casus belli for NATO bombers to level Damascus, perhaps they should visit Washington D.C. or Langley, Virginia on the way.
Lew Rockwell on Iran & Warmongering US Dictatorship (video)
RT
December 16, 2011
Congress passed a more than $662 billion dollar defense authorization bill for 2012. It’s headed for the President’s desk. In it, is a provision that imposes sanctions on Iran’s Central Bank. It bans it from the US financial system and bans anyone who does business with it. These are the harshest measures to date on Iran over its nuclear program. Problem is, this could cause a spike in oil prices. One that would benefit Iran financially. Obama administration officials were warning of this, the White House was pressuring Congress to tone them down for that reason. Analysts were telling us that Iran would not be lacking for a customer: But a spike in oil prices would of course hurt US oil consumers. One lawmaker quoted by the Wall Street Journal said the risk of a crude price spike is worth it to punish Tehran. But what if you don’t believe that? What choice is there? Do the leaders Americans elect to the White House or Congress really make any difference? And do Americans share the blame in that? We speak to Lew Rockwell, chairman of the Ludwig von Mises Institute and author of: “The Left, the Right and the State.”
