By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
According to US government propaganda, terrorist cells are spread throughout America, making it necessary for the government to spy on all Americans and violate most other constitutional protections. Among President Bush’s last words as he left office was the warning that America would soon be struck again by Muslim terrorists.
If America were infected with terrorists, we would not need the government to tell us. We would know it from events. As there are no events, the US government substitutes warnings in order to keep alive the fear that causes the public to accept pointless wars, the infringement of civil liberty, national ID cards, and inconveniences and harassments when they fly.
The most obvious indication that there are no terrorist cells is that not a single neocon has been assassinated.
I do not approve of assassinations, and am ashamed of my country’s government for engaging in political assassination. The US and Israel have set a very bad example for al Qaeda to follow.
The US deals with al Qaeda and Taliban by assassinating their leaders, and Israel deals with Hamas by assassinating its leaders. It is reasonable to assume that al Qaeda would deal with the instigators and leaders of America’s wars in the Middle East in the same way.
Today every al Qaeda member is aware of the complicity of neoconservatives in the death and devastation inflicted on Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Gaza. Moreover, neocons are highly visible and are soft targets compared to Hamas and Hezbollah leaders. Neocons have been identified in the media for years, and as everyone knows, multiple listings of their names are available online.
Neocons do not have Secret Service protection. Dreadful to contemplate, but it would be child’s play for al Qaeda to assassinate any and every neocon. Yet, neocons move around freely, a good indication that the US does not have a terrorist problem.
If, as neocons constantly allege, terrorists can smuggle nuclear weapons or dirty bombs into the US with which to wreak havoc upon our cities, terrorists can acquire weapons with which to assassinate any neocon or former government official.
Yet, the neocons, who are the Americans most hated by Muslims, remain unscathed.
The “war on terror” is a hoax that fronts for American control of oil pipelines, the profits of the military-security complex, the assault on civil liberty by fomenters of a police state, and Israel’s territorial expansion.
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Showing posts with label terrorism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label terrorism. Show all posts
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
The War on Terror is a Hoax
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS - According to US government propaganda, terrorist cells are spread throughout America, making it necessary for the government to spy on all Americans and violate most other constitutional protections. Among President Bush’s last words as he left office was the warning that America would soon be struck again by Muslim terrorists.
If America were infected with terrorists, we would not need the government to tell us. We would know it from events. As there are no events, the US government substitutes warnings in order to keep alive the fear that causes the public to accept pointless wars, the infringement of civil liberty, national ID cards, and inconveniences and harassments when they fly.
The most obvious indication that there are no terrorist cells is that not a single neocon has been assassinated.
read more digg story
If America were infected with terrorists, we would not need the government to tell us. We would know it from events. As there are no events, the US government substitutes warnings in order to keep alive the fear that causes the public to accept pointless wars, the infringement of civil liberty, national ID cards, and inconveniences and harassments when they fly.
The most obvious indication that there are no terrorist cells is that not a single neocon has been assassinated.
read more digg story
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Environmentalist Sentenced to 21 Years as a “Terrorist"
Marie Mason, a longtime environmental activist and mother of two, was sentenced this afternoon to 21 years in prison, as a “terrorist,” for non-violent property crimes in the name of defending the environment. It’s a historic sentence, the longest yet for any of these Green Scare cases.
In the lead up to her sentencing, the FBI took their “eco-terrorist” scare-mongering to a new level. Mason’s friends and family were prepared to attend the sentencing hearing and support her at such a terrible moment in her life. So what did the FBI do? Agents had the audacity to warn the press that “terrorists” might be attending Mason’s sentencing. They said they “expect members of the eco-terrorist groups, the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front to gather and protest.” This, of course, is a bold-faced lie. Any FBI agents worth their salt knows that clandestine organizations like the ALF and ELF do not protest: they are illegal, underground groups. This was a calculated scare-mongering move meant to make normal, everyday people afraid of showing up to a public court proceeding, lest they be labeled as members of the “number one domestic terrorism threat.”
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Monday, February 2, 2009
Police Listed Gay Rights Group Among Terrorists
Equality Maryland, the state's largest gay rights group, was among the peaceful protest groups to be classified as terrorists in a Maryland State Police database.
The group was designated a "security threat" by the Homeland Security and Intelligence Division, which also kept dossiers on dozens of activists and at least a dozen groups. Police kept files on Equality Maryland's plans to hold rallies outside the State House in Annapolis to press for legislation reversing the state's ban on same-sex marriage. They plan to purge the files. See the documents by using these links:
Equality MD 1.pdf
Equality MD 2.pdf
Equality MD 3.pdf
Equality MD 4.pdf
Equality MD 5.pdf
Equality MD 6.pdf
The files were revealed yesterday at a press conference, where a dozen Democratic lawmakers announced plans to introduce legislation to prevent future surveillance of non-violent groups.
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The group was designated a "security threat" by the Homeland Security and Intelligence Division, which also kept dossiers on dozens of activists and at least a dozen groups. Police kept files on Equality Maryland's plans to hold rallies outside the State House in Annapolis to press for legislation reversing the state's ban on same-sex marriage. They plan to purge the files. See the documents by using these links:
Equality MD 1.pdf
Equality MD 2.pdf
Equality MD 3.pdf
Equality MD 4.pdf
Equality MD 5.pdf
Equality MD 6.pdf
The files were revealed yesterday at a press conference, where a dozen Democratic lawmakers announced plans to introduce legislation to prevent future surveillance of non-violent groups.
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Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Watch the video and support our 100 Days campaign Amnesty International USA | Human Rights Action
Show the world that we will not allow human rights to be violated with impunity.
Watch the video of the award-winning documentary Taxi to the Dark Side to see in stark terms why we must demand full accountability for human rights abuses committed in the "war on terror."
Watch the video and support our 100 Days campaign Amnesty International USA | Human Rights Action
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Can Jihadis Be Rehabilitated?
By Bobby Ghosh
It's been described as the Betty Ford Center for terrorists: Saudi Arabian officials boast that the Care Rehabilitation Center, outside Riyadh, has successfully deprogrammed scores of former jihadis, including more than 100 ex-inmates of the U.S.'s Guantánamo Bay military prison. As recently as last fall, Saudi officials claimed the program had a 100% success rate.
It's been described as the Betty Ford Center for terrorists: Saudi Arabian officials boast that the Care Rehabilitation Center, outside Riyadh, has successfully deprogrammed scores of former jihadis, including more than 100 ex-inmates of the U.S.'s Guantánamo Bay military prison. As recently as last fall, Saudi officials claimed the program had a 100% success rate.
That claim was dashed last week, when two alumni of the rehab program proudly announced to the world that they had returned to the jihad. In a video posted online, Saudi nationals Said al-Shihri and Abu al-Hareth al-Oufi — former detainees at Guantánamo Bay — boasted that they had become leaders of al-Qaeda in Yemen. (See pictures of the Care Rehabilitation Center.)
The video could hardly have come at a worse time for the Obama Administration, which has just announced that it will close Gitmo within a year and is already being accused by some Republicans of jeopardizing U.S. security. But it is doubly discomfiting for the Saudi government. Officials in Riyadh now say they have rearrested at least nine other men who had previously been rehabilitated; it's not clear how many of those are ex-Gitmo detainees.
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Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
Ideological clash of two jihadi titans shakes Al Qaeda
RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA - A bitter, year-long feud that has shaken Al Qaeda's ideological pillars grew even sharper last month. A former associate of Ayman al-Zawahiri accused him of working for Sudanese intelligence, wearing "women's garments" to flee Afghanistan, and spreading an incorrect Islamic theory of jihad.
Mr. Zawahiri "is only good at fleeing, inciting, collecting donations, and talking to the media," wrote Sayyed Imam al-Sharif in his latest attack on Al Qaeda's No. 2.
Sayyed Imam, serving a life sentence in Egypt, is an esteemed theoretician of jihad whose ideas helped shape Al Qaeda's ideology. But now he's decrying its stock in trade – mass murder – in a clash that is an example of how some once-fierce zealots of violent jihad are having second thoughts.
"It is really an argument about ... what means are militarily effective and Islamically legitimate," says William McCants, a Washington area-based analyst of militant Islamism. Imam, he adds, is saying that only "a guerrilla war conducted against enemy soldiers" is permitted.
Imam's prison writings were preceded by a series of books and commentaries from imprisoned members of Islamic Group, a group that waged a guerrilla war against the Egyptian government in the 1990s. Their so-called "revisions" renounced violence and some put forward ideas on how to peacefully create an Islamic society.
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Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Arrest how many terrorists?
INDIA has shown laudable restraint since accusing Pakistan of harbouring the terrorists who killed over 170 people in Mumbai during three days of violence in late November. It has not, as previously, threatened Pakistan with military action. Yet there are signs that the pressure India has been applying, principally through America, has told on its neighbour. On Sunday December 7th Pakistan was reported to have arrested one of the men accused by India of masterminding the Mumbai attack, a leader of a well-known Islamist terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET).
Pakistani soldiers were said to have nabbed Zaki ur-Rehman Lakhvi, LET’s alleged operations commander, in a raid on a compound belonging to a charity, Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JUD), which is considered to be a front for the terrorist group. The compound, which the troops were reported to have stormed by helicopter, in a burst of gunfire, is near Muzzafarabad, in Pakistan-held Kashmir. Close by the frontline with India, the area has long been a base for jihadist insurgents fighting in Kashmir. A JUD spokesman said that a total of four or five men, including Mr Lakhvi, had been arrested.
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Monday, December 8, 2008
AP/NPR:Taliban Vows Violent Response to US Troop Increase.
720 Afghan police were killed in 6 months.President Karzai is still trying to establish a dialogue with some of the Taliban. Meanwhile, President-elect Obama is still talking about the need of an additional 20,000 troops in Afghanistan. It is likely that this strategy will not work and might even backfire.The Taliban will deliver on their threats.
KABUL, Afghanistan December 8, 2008, 08:31 am ET · The Taliban's fugitive leader said the planned increase in U.S. troops in Afghanistan will give his fighters incentive to kill and maim more Americans than ever.
Mullah Omar, who is believed to be sheltered by fiercely conservative tribesman on the Afghan-Pakistan border, said battles would "flare up" everywhere.
"The current armed clashes, which now number into tens, will spiral up to hundred of armed clashes. Your current casualties of hundreds will jack up to thousand casualties of dead and injured," said the statement, which was written in broken English and posted on a Web site Sunday that has previously carried militant messages.
Violence in Afghanistan has spiked in the last two years, and 2008 has been the deadliest year for U.S. troops since the 2001 invasion to oust the Taliban for hosting al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden.
There are more than 60,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, including 32,000 U.S. forces. Though U.S. troop levels are already at their highest since the start of the conflict in 2001, American commanders have requested 20,000 more troops to stem the increase in violence that has engulfed parts of the country.
Former Republican presidential candidate John McCain warned on Sunday during a visit to Afghanistan that the situation "is going to get harder before it gets easier."The rising violence in Afghanistan appears to be coordinated closely with the spike in militant attacks in neighboring Pakistan, and officials increasingly view both countries as part of the same battlefront.
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KABUL, Afghanistan December 8, 2008, 08:31 am ET · The Taliban's fugitive leader said the planned increase in U.S. troops in Afghanistan will give his fighters incentive to kill and maim more Americans than ever.
Mullah Omar, who is believed to be sheltered by fiercely conservative tribesman on the Afghan-Pakistan border, said battles would "flare up" everywhere.
"The current armed clashes, which now number into tens, will spiral up to hundred of armed clashes. Your current casualties of hundreds will jack up to thousand casualties of dead and injured," said the statement, which was written in broken English and posted on a Web site Sunday that has previously carried militant messages.
Violence in Afghanistan has spiked in the last two years, and 2008 has been the deadliest year for U.S. troops since the 2001 invasion to oust the Taliban for hosting al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden.
There are more than 60,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, including 32,000 U.S. forces. Though U.S. troop levels are already at their highest since the start of the conflict in 2001, American commanders have requested 20,000 more troops to stem the increase in violence that has engulfed parts of the country.
Former Republican presidential candidate John McCain warned on Sunday during a visit to Afghanistan that the situation "is going to get harder before it gets easier."The rising violence in Afghanistan appears to be coordinated closely with the spike in militant attacks in neighboring Pakistan, and officials increasingly view both countries as part of the same battlefront.
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Sunday, December 7, 2008
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Might Hoax Call Have Triggered A War?
How close were India and Pakistan to war, when U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice picked up the phone on Friday, November 28, to call India's foreign minister to convey Pakistan’s extreme anxiety after terrorists stormed luxury hotels and a Jewish center in Mumbai?
On Saturday, Pakistan's largest-selling English newspaper, the DAWN, in a front page report titled "A Hoax Call That Could Have Triggered War," wrote:"Whether it was mere mischief or a sinister move by someone in the Indian external affairs ministry, or the call came from within Pakistan, remains unclear, and is still a matter of investigation. But several political, diplomatic and security sources have confirmed to Dawn that for nearly 24 hours over the weekend the incident continued to send jitters across the world. To some world leaders the probability of an accidental war appeared very high."The European ambassador who spoke to CBS NEWS warned that the hoax call raises the dangerous possibility of “the failure to follow procedure and tampering of communication systems, bringing these two nuclear armed countries close to war."read more digg story
Peshawar, Pakistan blast death toll rises
The death toll from a car-bomb attack on a crowded market in northwest Pakistan has risen to 27.
Police found six more bodies among the wreckage on Saturday, a day after the blast which went off close to a market in Peshawar called Qissakahani bazaar.
About 100 people were wounded when the car bomb went off on Friday, wrecking a Shia mosque,
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Police found six more bodies among the wreckage on Saturday, a day after the blast which went off close to a market in Peshawar called Qissakahani bazaar.
About 100 people were wounded when the car bomb went off on Friday, wrecking a Shia mosque,
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Wednesday, December 3, 2008
ABC News: Explosive Devices Defused at Mumbai Train Station
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Explosive devices were found and defused at Mumbai's main railway station on Wednesday, Indian television channels reported.The station was one of the sites attacked last week by militants.Police said a bomb squad was at the station but nothing had yet been found.
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Mumbai: Where are the 14 Other Pakistani-Trained Terrorists?
The lone gunman captured alive in Mumbai has told interrogators only 10 of the 24 young men in his year-long terrorist training course were sent to Mumbai last week, leaving 14 still in Pakistan, ready to strike again, law enforcement and security sources tell ABCNews.com.
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Spain's Secret Role in the War on Terror
A Spanish newspaper uncovers Madrid's part in U.S. extraordinary rendition flights...
"However, if, for unseen reasons, an emergency landing were necessary, the U.S. government would like the Spanish government's authorization to use one of our airports."
In normal times, the request would be superfluous. International aviation law and a separate bilateral agreement between Spain and the United States both require all airports in the two countries to permit emergency landings. But the flights the Spanish note refers to were far from normal. The year was 2002 and the U.S. Air Force was transferring Taliban and al-Qaeda prisoners from Afghanistan to a U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay. Washington wanted to know if Spain could help.
It could. On Nov. 30, Spain's El Pais newspaper published a document, marked "top secret," that proves that high-ranking officials within the former government of Jose Maria Aznar, including the foreign minister Josep Pique, not only had knowledge of, but gave permission to the United States to use military bases in Spain for layovers during the long flight from Afghanistan to Cuba. (See pictures from inside Guantanamo.)
"The arrests of the people on board those flights were made without lawyers, without a judge's authorization," says Esteban Beltran, president of the Spanish branch of Amnesty International, which has conducted its own investigation into the secret flights. "Which means that the Spanish government colluded with illegal detentions."
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"However, if, for unseen reasons, an emergency landing were necessary, the U.S. government would like the Spanish government's authorization to use one of our airports."
In normal times, the request would be superfluous. International aviation law and a separate bilateral agreement between Spain and the United States both require all airports in the two countries to permit emergency landings. But the flights the Spanish note refers to were far from normal. The year was 2002 and the U.S. Air Force was transferring Taliban and al-Qaeda prisoners from Afghanistan to a U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay. Washington wanted to know if Spain could help.
It could. On Nov. 30, Spain's El Pais newspaper published a document, marked "top secret," that proves that high-ranking officials within the former government of Jose Maria Aznar, including the foreign minister Josep Pique, not only had knowledge of, but gave permission to the United States to use military bases in Spain for layovers during the long flight from Afghanistan to Cuba. (See pictures from inside Guantanamo.)
"The arrests of the people on board those flights were made without lawyers, without a judge's authorization," says Esteban Beltran, president of the Spanish branch of Amnesty International, which has conducted its own investigation into the secret flights. "Which means that the Spanish government colluded with illegal detentions."
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Alleged Mastermind of Mumbai Attacks Identified
Mumbai police believe a senior Lashkar-e-Taiba planner in Pakistan masterminded the Mumbai terrorist attacks last week and was among several leaders of the militant group who were in touch by satellite links with the 10 terrorists in the two days before they landed in India.
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Next terror attack on US will originate from Pakistan
Describing Pakistan as 'the intersection of nuclear weapons and terrorism', a top US Congressional panel has warned that the next terror attack on America is likely to originate in its ally's tribal areas.
While observing that Pakistan is a US ally, the commission on weapon of mass destruction (WMD) and terrorism said 'the next terrorist attack against the United States is likely to originate from within the Federally Administered Tribal Areas' in Pakistan.
The US says the tribal areas in northwest Pakistan, where the government exerts little control, are a haven for militants from both Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan.
The commission also expressed particular concern about the nuclear programmes of Iran and North Korea, and about Pakistan, which it described as 'the intersection of nuclear weapons and terrorism.'
It warned that there is a threat of nuclear terrorism, both because more countries are developing nuclear weapons and because some existing nuclear powers are expanding their arsenals.
'Terrorist organizations are intent on acquiring nuclear weapons,' said the report, which was published Tuesday on the internet and will be officially released Wednesday.
It cited testimony before the commission from former Senator Sam Nunn, who said that the 'risk of a nuclear weapon being used today is growing, not receding.'
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While observing that Pakistan is a US ally, the commission on weapon of mass destruction (WMD) and terrorism said 'the next terrorist attack against the United States is likely to originate from within the Federally Administered Tribal Areas' in Pakistan.
The US says the tribal areas in northwest Pakistan, where the government exerts little control, are a haven for militants from both Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan.
The commission also expressed particular concern about the nuclear programmes of Iran and North Korea, and about Pakistan, which it described as 'the intersection of nuclear weapons and terrorism.'
It warned that there is a threat of nuclear terrorism, both because more countries are developing nuclear weapons and because some existing nuclear powers are expanding their arsenals.
'Terrorist organizations are intent on acquiring nuclear weapons,' said the report, which was published Tuesday on the internet and will be officially released Wednesday.
It cited testimony before the commission from former Senator Sam Nunn, who said that the 'risk of a nuclear weapon being used today is growing, not receding.'
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Tuesday, December 2, 2008
2008 Pirate Attacks: An Interactive Map
There's high drama on the high seas as the number of pirate attacks increases and the world figures out how to respond. This interactive map gives detailed information about the world's pirate attacks throughout 2008. Just click on the pins for details.
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Bomb threat to delay PHS - Berkshire Eagle Online
My 16 y/o attends this high school and will not be going to school today. Personally, I think it's probably just a kid who wanted to get out of school for the day. But, what if it isn't? I'm taking no chances and will keep my child safely home from school today. Hopefully, all will go well and no one will get hurt.
PITTSFIELD — Pittsfield High School will open two hours late this morning after the discovery of a bomb threat that was scrawled on a mural at the East Street building.
The School Department said late Monday afternoon that the threat was written on a school mural in gray chalk and included the word "bomb," followed by the date "12/2/08."
Superintendent of Schools Howard J. Eberwein III said his administration consulted with police and fire officials and decided to delay opening PHS until 9:20 a.m. today to allow authorities time to conduct a thorough search of the building before the start of classes.
All bus pickups for PHS students are being moved back two hours. School will be dismissed at the normal time, 2:20 p.m.
Eberwein said he thought the school's response is "appropriate" to the threat, balancing the dictates of public safety with the desire to discourage hoaxes."We are not canceling school, but we are also ensuring the safety of students by doing a comprehensive search in the morning," Eberwein said. "School will go on, but this just gives us more time to make sure everyone is safe and the building is secure."
In Great Barrington in October and early November, a series of bomb threats closed Monument Mountain Regional High School for three days. A 17-year-old student has been charged with making one of the threats.
In June 2004 in Pittsfield, someone detonated a pipe bomb near a rear entrance to Taconic High School. No on was injured; the identity of the bomber remains a mystery.
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PITTSFIELD — Pittsfield High School will open two hours late this morning after the discovery of a bomb threat that was scrawled on a mural at the East Street building.
The School Department said late Monday afternoon that the threat was written on a school mural in gray chalk and included the word "bomb," followed by the date "12/2/08."
Superintendent of Schools Howard J. Eberwein III said his administration consulted with police and fire officials and decided to delay opening PHS until 9:20 a.m. today to allow authorities time to conduct a thorough search of the building before the start of classes.
All bus pickups for PHS students are being moved back two hours. School will be dismissed at the normal time, 2:20 p.m.
Eberwein said he thought the school's response is "appropriate" to the threat, balancing the dictates of public safety with the desire to discourage hoaxes."We are not canceling school, but we are also ensuring the safety of students by doing a comprehensive search in the morning," Eberwein said. "School will go on, but this just gives us more time to make sure everyone is safe and the building is secure."
In Great Barrington in October and early November, a series of bomb threats closed Monument Mountain Regional High School for three days. A 17-year-old student has been charged with making one of the threats.
In June 2004 in Pittsfield, someone detonated a pipe bomb near a rear entrance to Taconic High School. No on was injured; the identity of the bomber remains a mystery.
read more digg story
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