Iran Accused of Being Behind the 9/11 Attacks
by Julie Lévesque
Global Research
May 11, 2012
Global Research Editor’s Note
We bring to the attention of our readers a carefully documented study by Global Research’s Julie Levesque published in May 2012 pertaining to a high profile Manhattan lawsuit launched in 2004 against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The Havlish v. Iran lawsuit accuses Iran of having supported the 9/11 hijackers.
At this historical juncture, with Iran being the object of numerous threats both byTel Aviv and Washington, The Havlish v. Iran judgment could be used as a justification for a waging a preemptive attack on Iran.
In the context of the commemoration of 9/11, the issue of Iran’s alleged role as a “state sponsor” of terrorism is likely to surface in media coverage as well as in the commemoration speeches off both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.
The investigation into Tehran’s alleged role in the 9/11 attacks was launched by the Havlish lawyers in 2004, pursuant to a recommendation of the 9/11 Commission “regarding an apparent link between Iran, Hezbollah, and the 9/11 hijackers”. The 91/11 Commission’s recommendation was that the this “apparent link” required “further investigation by the U.S. government.” (9/11 Commission Report , p. 241). (See Iran 911 Case ).
The Havlish lawyers built their case against Iran using the testimonies of “expert witnesses” as well as “evidence”, which was in large part fabricated. In the December 2011 court judgment (Havlish v. Iran) “U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels ruled that Iran and Hezbollah materially and directly supported al Qaeda in the September 11, 2001 attacks and are legally responsible for damages to hundreds of family members of 9/11 victims who are plaintiffs in the case”.
According to the plaintiffs attorneys “Iran, Hezbollah, and al Qaeda formed a terror alliance in the early 1990s. Citing their national security and intelligence experts, the attorneys explained “how the pragmatic terror leaders overcame the Sunni-Shi’a divide in order to confront the U.S. (the “Great Satan”) and Israel (the “Lesser Satan”)”. Iran and Hezbollah allegedly provided “training to members of al Qaeda in, among other things, the use of explosives to destroy large buildings.” (See Iran 911 Case ).
Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, September 10, 2012
Canada: Selling Its Soul to America
By Stephen Lendman, Contributor
theintelhub.com
September 10, 2012
Canada is more colony than sovereign state. Canadians perhaps wonder when it’ll grow up, act like an adult, and regain its rightful independence.
They’re also worried about a country junior partnering with imperial America, Israel, and other rogue NATO allies.
A previous article said the following:
On September 7, Foreign Minister John Baird said Canada closed its Tehran embassy. It expelled Iranian diplomats in Ottawa. They have five days to leave. He claimed a nonexistent Iranian threat. He took a page from AIPAC’s playbook. He bogusly called Tehran the gravest threat to global security.
He accused Iran of “providing increasing military assistance to the Assad regime.” He ignored Washington’s war Syria. He said nothing about Canada’s role.
He didn’t explain how America, rogue NATO partners, and regional allies recruit, arm, fund, train, and direct ravaging death squads. He was silent on what matters most.
He recited a litany of lies about Iran. He unconscionably pointed fingers the wrong way. Canada is a committed imperial partner. It’s one of 28 NATO countries. It supports the worst of Israel’s crimes.
It’s on the same slippery slope as America. It’s fast-tracking toward fascism. Sleeping with the devil rubs off.
Unless stopped, it’s just a matter of time before Canada crosses a rubicon of no return. It’s perilously close to full-blown imperial/ neoliberal/police state dark age harshness.
In her book “Holding the Bully’s Coat: Canada and the US Empire,” Linda McQuaig discussed Canada’s sacrificial subservience. It abandoned its traditions. It sold its soul to Washington. It became submissive junior partner.
Conservative and Liberal parties allied with America’s “war on terrorism.” They stopped short of participating in its Iraq “coalition of the willing.” They willingly marched in lockstep with its illegal Afghan war of aggression and occupation.
In February 2004, they partnered with America and France against Haiti’s Jean-Bertrand Aristide. They ousted a democratically elected leader. They crushed his popular movement. They ended his progressive reforms. They installed fascist harshness. They had unchallenged pillaging in mind.
Canada today operates as an appendage of imperial America. It abandoned its traditional commitment to equality, inclusiveness, and rule of law inviolability.
It’s plagued by a militaristic/imperial/neoliberal culture. It’s no longer a fair arbiter and promoter of just causes. The conservative Harper government is fast-tracking toward fascism.
In the 1980s, Canada’s downward trajectory began in earnest. Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney bonded with Ronald Reagan.
Corporate America remembers his December 1984 address. He appeared at the New York Economic Club. Business heavyweights packed the house to hear him. He didn’t disappoint.
He said “Canada (was) open for business.” His meaning was unambiguous. US corporations were welcome. Economic integration would proceed. America’s sovereignty henceforth took precedence over Canada’s. It’s been downhill ever since.
Before Stephen Harper became prime minister in February 2006, Liberal leader Paul Martin tilted hard right. In 2003, he succeeded Jean Chretien.
His 2005 defense policy review stressed integrating Canada’s military with America’s. He approved redeploying Canadian Afghan peacekeepers as combatants. Harper maintains the same policy. Canadians have no say.
He governs in lockstep with Washington. He abandoned Canada’s traditional even-handed Israel/Palestine agenda. In 2006, he threw its democratically elected Hamas government under the bus. Doing so showed contempt for Palestinian rights.
He showed no concern for 50,000 Canadians in harm’s way during Israel’s war of aggression on Lebanon. He called its death and destruction campaign “measured.”
Post-WW II, things were different. Canada’s internationalism evolved. It supported rule of law principles, endorsed peacekeeping, spurned militarism and imperialism, and worked cooperatively with other nations. No longer.
Harper’s government, Canadian elites, its business community and military support imperial/neoliberal/anti-populist policies. Ottawa replicates Washington. Essential social programs are eroding. Egalitarianism is disappearing.
What corporate Canada wants, it gets. Militarism grows stronger. So does police state harshness. Pandering to Washington is policy. Tortured logic follows the same destructive path.
McQuaig calls Harper America’s “unctuous little sidekick.” She compared Canada’s government, corporate, and military officials to 19th century compradors.
Modern-day ones are subservient US junior partners. Canada’s soul went on the auction block for sale. Like Americans, Canadians are force-fed the worst of all possible worlds.
Ottawa allied with Washington’s war on Libya. It’s partnered against Syria and Iran. It shamelessly supports what it should renounce.
Doing so makes it complicit in the supreme crime against peace. It’s guilty of crimes of war, against humanity and genocide. It’s leaders are war criminals.
Iran responded to Canada suspending diplomatic ties. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said:
“The decision by Canada showed that this country has sacrificed the interests of its nation for the sake of the Zionists by following their policies against Iran.”
He called Harper’s government “racist” and “hostile.” He added:
“The closure of the visa section of the Canadian Embassy in Tehran, freezing the bank accounts of Iranian nationals living in Canada, and prohibiting money transfers to Iranian students studying in that country are among the Canadian government’s numerous hostile measures against the Iranian nation and the Iranian community in Canada.”
Senior Iranian lawmaker Alaeddin Boroujerdi accused Harper of “blindly” following Britain, saying:
“The British government certainly seeks to lead its friends to the same path that it had taken. Therefore, this decision was in fact blind acquiescence by the Canadian government.”
He added that Canada allied with Washington and Israel’s attempt to undermine a historic NAM summit in Tehran. It perhaps reacted to its success. He also called on Iran’s Foreign Ministry to respond in kind.
Mehmanparast said expect it to be swift.
Britain is part of a US/UK/Israeli troika. It’s an axis of evil. Canada supports it. It threatens humanity. It’s involved in North African/Middle East/Central Asian imperial wars. It plans more. Independent nonbelligerent countries are targeted. Syrian and Iranian sovereignty are threatened.
Almost half a million Iranians live in Canada. Many reside in Toronto. Tehran planned a consulate to serve them. They’ll have no representation now.
On Friday, Netanyahu congratulated Harper. He called his move “a bold decision, (a) “moral step,” (a) “clear message to Iran and to the entire world.”
Tehran’s successful NAM summit endorsed peace, mutual cooperation, Iran’s peaceful nuclear program, and national sovereignty.
Netanyahu called it “a show of anti-Semitism and hate in Tehran.”
Every time he opens his mouth, he puts his foot in it. He displays racist scorn for Muslims, imperial brazenness, contempt for anyone not Jewish, and hostile rage.
Ottawa has had poor relations with Iran since the 1979 revolution. They became strained after former Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor helped rescue six Americans during the 1980 Tehran hostage crisis.
In 2003, they were further damaged after dual Canadian/Iranian citizen/freelance photographer Zahra Kazemi died in custody. He was arrested while taking photographs outside a Tehran prison.
Canada responded. It recalled its ambassador. Iran ordered him out after unsuccessfully trying to resolve the issue and agree on exchanging ambassadors.
Washington severed diplomatic relations in 1980. In November 2011, Britain recalled its entire diplomatic staff. It followed two days of protests.
Hundreds of Iranian students staged it outside London’s Tehran embassy. They pulled down Britain’s flag and demanded its envoy’s ouster.
Without justification, the Cameron government claimed Iranian leaders ordered it. It also expelled its diplomats from London.
Days earlier, Tehran downgraded ties to Britain. It was over London’s decision to impose sanctions on Iran’s Central Bank and false allegations about its nuclear program.
Washington, Britain and Israel target Iran for regime change. Top priority ahead is war. Not now, according to Time magazine.
On September 5, it headlined, “Worried About Israel Bombing Iran Before November? You Can Relax,” saying:
According to some Israeli analysts, Israel’s “war of choice” isn’t cancelled. It’s delayed. Internal opposition and public opinion are against it. Even Defense Minister Ehud Barak now wavers. He’s not called “Mr. Zigzag” for nothing.
Netanyahu wants Washington’s full commitment. In late September, he’ll meet Obama in New York. They’ll both address the UN General Assembly. Expect neither to sound benign.
Netanyahu’s saber-rattling bluster long ago wore thin, but not his hostile intent. He and Obama remain on the same page. Differences are mostly over timing and perhaps strategy.
“For now, the US looks likely to persuade Israel to sit on its hands.” Nonetheless, “it’s probably a safe bet that war talk will be revved up again come spring” or perhaps earlier post-election.
Canadian Foreign Minister Baird didn’t explain why he cut diplomatic ties now, not earlier. He denied perhaps knowing that war is more imminent than Time imagines.
“Unequivocally, we have no information about a military strike on Iran,” he said. In the fullness of time, we’ll know.
A Final Comment
In 1953, Chicago Tribune owner Colonel Robert McCormick called Canadian statesman/diplomat/later prime minister (1963-68)/Nobel Peace Prize laureate (1957) Lester Pearson “the most dangerous man in the English-speaking world.”
It was over Pearson’s refusal to cooperate with Senator Joe McCarthy’s witch-hunt communist hearings. They destroyed lives, ruined careers, accomplished nothing, and led to McCarthy’s own demise.
Pearson’s ideas were mirror opposite Harper’s and other imperial aggressors. He wanted NATO involved with economic and social issues as well as defense. He supported an alliance for Western free market alternatives to communism.
He opposed nuclear weapons. He challenged Washington on policies he believed dangerous, provocative and destructive. In 1955, as Secretary of State for External Affairs, he was the first Western official to visit Moscow.
He spoke forcefully against colonial domination. He endorsed sovereign rights for all nations. He supported internationalism, conciliation, and peace. He was a worthy Nobel laureate.
His lecture stressed hard facts. Countries have a choice. “Peace or extinction” is in their hands. He added that nations cannot “be conditioned by the force and will of a unit, however powerful, but by the consensus of a group, which must one day include all states.”
Predatory nations can’t be tolerated, he believed. At the same time, he opposed communism and backed efforts to contain it. He erred supporting Washington’s Vietnam War. A later Temple University address challenged America’s Southeast Asian role.
Overall, he supported peace and peacekeeping. His Nobel lecture named “four faces of peace: prosperity, power, diplomacy and people.”
As prime minister, peacekeeping was prioritized. Canada has none like him today. Neither do other Western countries. War, not peace, matters most. So does imperial dominance.
Ottawa’s on board with Washington. Its traditions long ago eroded and died. Some wonder what defines it as a nation. Riding shotgun for America and supporting the worst of Israeli lawlessness give them reason for pause.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. His new book is titled How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War
Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/
France to Fund/Arm Al Qaeda in Syria
by Tony Cartalucci
September 10, 2012 – The French government has ignored the will of voters who ousted warmonger Nicolas Sarkozy in recent elections, and is continuing its unpopular military adventurism abroad as well as its support for militant terrorism across the Arab World.
France has announced that it will be funding and arming terrorists operating along Syria’s boarders, offering them heavy weapons, just as they did in Libya last year. In fact, the US-British and UN-listed terrorists assisted into power in Libya, are now leading death squads currently ravaging Syria – disingenuously portrayed as “indigenous” “freedom fighters” by the Western press.
Image: Hollande (right) after paying lip service to French voters, set out almost immediately betraying campaign promises to end foreign military adventurism and is in fact picking up right where ousted Nicholas Sarkozy left off, leading the West’s destabilization and destruction of Syria through funding the very Libyan terrorists his predecessor assisted into power in Tripoli.
The Hindu, in their article, “France to fund opposition in Syria,” reported:
“Reuters quoted a “diplomatic source” as saying France had started supporting parts of Syria that are apparently being controlled by the armed opposition. More alarmingly, the report pointed out that Paris was considering supplying heavy artillery to anti-government fighters — a move that would harden the possibility of a full-blown civil war in the country.”
International condemnation led by Russia, China, and Iran have pointed out that the so-called “armed opposition” constitutes sectarian extremists, many of which have direct ties to Al Qaeda, many of which are also not even Syrian, betraying the West’s unraveling narrative. France’s recent announcement is particularly unconscionable, considering that Syria’s so-called “opposition” has recently announced their intentions to begin targeting civilian infrastructure, a blatant war crime.
Evidence stretching back as far as 2007 has exposed a Western conspiracy, years in the making, intent on using sectarian extremists under the guise of “pro-democracy” “regime change’ to violently overthrow the government of Syria and undermine Iran’s influence throughout the Middle East.
A report published in 2007 by the New Yorker titled “The Redirection” (full article here), cited US, Saudi, and Lebanese officials who admitted that military and financial aid was already flowing to militant groups affiliated with both Al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood with the aim of destabilizing Syria and Iran. Former intelligence agents were also cited, warning that the plan, then being implemented under the Bush administration, would lead to a catastrophic sectarian bloodbath – the very sectarian bloodbath now unfolding in Syria today.
France, along with the UK, US, the autocratic Saudi and Qatari regimes, as well as NATO (specifically Turkey) have meticulously planned and created the very violence they now seek to use as justification for further military intervention. In reality, they are employing the very terrorist forces against Syria they have used as an impetus to send their own soldiers to their needless deaths in both Iraq and Afghanistan for over a decade as part of the “War on Terror.”
Meanwhile, in Iraq, violence tore across the nation as former-vice president Tariq al-Hashemi was sentenced to death for his role in using death squads against his political rivals. While the Western press attempts to frame the power struggle within Iraq as one of an isolated sectarian nature, in reality, al-Hashemi, who is being coddled by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey, represents extremist elements backed by Saudi Arabia, the United States, and Israel, while Iraq’s current government is attempting to cultivate closer ties with Iran.
Image: Vice president of Iraq, or viceroy of US-Saudi-Israeli interests? With ex-Vice President Hashemi now hiding abroad and being handed down a death sentence, Iraq has seemingly taken a decisive stance against Hashemi and his foreign backers. The West is now using the threat of igniting sectarian violence once again across Iraq as leverage against the current Iraqi government.
The terror wave crossing Iraq is being carried out by fighters who are currently operating on both sides of the Syrian-Iraqi border, indicating that Iraq, as well as Syria and Iran are being targeted by US-Saudi-Israeli backed militants. The violence is connected, and part of a greater strategy to reorder the Middle East against Iran, and ultimately against Russia, China, and all other potential threats to Wall Street and London’s global hegemony.
The Big Lie & Dirty War on Syria: How the FSA Massacred Citizens of Daraya [video included]
Friends of Syria
September 5, 2012
The mass media are toeing the official warmonger line on Daraya, citing “as yet unconfirmed activist reports” (fake tweets?) blaming “Assad’s forces.” Yet Syrian TV has broadcast eyewitness reports of the massacre perpetrated by the FSA before the Army arrived. Armed gangs roamed the streets, sniping and trying to get into homes. Multiple witnesses testified they did not dare to leave their homes until the Army arrived. One witness tells how civilians were rounded up and shot.
When the Army arrives, the terrorists are driven off, but not before taking a video of their own dead and calling it a ‘civilian massacre.’
The whole operation was evidently coordinated and tailor-made for the MEDIA — the warmongers of yellow journalism. The time has come to rename the MSM, or Mainstream Media, as the MMM — the Mass Murdering Media. Its purpose, to get NATO members to agree on a strike against Syria.
The USA has official training manuals for creating an insurgency, but they know that the Syrian government is way too popular and most of the Syrian people are way too smart for that. So they shipped foreign jihadists, dupes and mercenaries into Syria to destabilise the country, while the Mass Media continually create the ILLUSION of an uprising, harping on “opposition,” “protesters,” “civil war” and “democracy.” They never mention that on one day last summer, 14 million Syrians out of a population of 22 million demonstrated in SUPPORT of their state against the Evil Empire. But that picture never makes it to the screens of the Orwellian Gulag of War is Peace, Bombing is Humanitarian.
Pakistan: Center of the Grand Chessboard [documentary video]
We Are Change
September 7, 2012
WeAreChange presents a film by Saad Ali. Read the article that accompanies this short film at our website: http://wearechange.org/pakistan-center-of-the-grand-chessboard/
FAIR USE NOTICE: This video may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law
The Aim Is To Divide Syria – Maya Naser [video]
108morris108
September 7, 2012
Maya; a professional Syrian Reporter in discussion on many Syrian issues.
Including the ripple effects from destabalising Syria to the whole region.
Many of the cards on Syria are being held by external forces.
Apologies for technical syncing problems
Maya’s Twitter account: http://twitter.com/nasermaya
GRAPHIC FOOTAGE OF FSA ATROCITIES [video]
North Resistance
September 8, 2012
Videos showing crimes committed by FSA
(WARNING: INCLUDES GRAPHIC FOOTAGE.)
FSA terrorists throw post-office workers from the building:
FSA terrorists behead an unarmed civilian:
FSA terrorists murder unarmed civilian:
Leaked video , fabrication of a video by the FSA terrorists to accuse Syrian Soldiers:
FSA terrorists torturing an old man of beit Berri before executing him:
FSA terrorists throw a civilian from the top of a building:
Execution of a family, Beit berri, by FSA terrorists:
FSA terrorists bury a Syrian alive:
Al Qaeda FSA terrorists execute a civilian for merely supporting the government.
FSA terrorists kill christians in Deir ezzor
FSA terrorists bomb an area mainly Druze and Christians: Aftermath
FSA terrorist murder a civilian who criticized the FSA terrorists
FSA terrorists genocide against Minorities in Syria
FSA terrorists behind Hama killings of families june 6/2012
FSA terrorist try to use a prisoner as a suicide bomber, and fail:
FSA terrorist shoot a man from the car:
Army stopping a terrorist suicide bomber before he blows up:
[hat tip: Syrian Girl]
PN 