Intelligence sources question Gates' independence from Cheney, RumsfeldMany current and former intelligence experts, officers, and policy makers are questioning the rationale for the seemingly unexpected nomination of Robert M. Gates to the post of Secretary of Defense, RAW STORY has learned.
Gates was named as President Bush's chosen replacement for the beleaguered Donald Rumsfeld just one day after the Democrats swept the midterm elections last week to win majorities in both houses of Congress.
The argument has been made by many pund... (more)
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The Death Squads Night after night death squads rampage through Iraq's main cities. In Baghdad, up to a hundred bodies a day are dumped on the streets. Often they've been tortured with electric drills. Yet those doing the killing have little to do with al Qaeda or Sunni insurgents.
This shocking film investigates the links between the death squads and high-ranking Shia politicians. It reveals how the Shia militia that these politicians control have ... (more)
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No Exit: The Baker Commission and the Trap of RealityAs Washington waits with bated bipartisan breath to unwrap the shiny Christmas present known as "the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group," it becomes more and more obvious that the newly empowered Democrats are walking into a trap.
But it's not an artful contrivance prepared for their demise by the infinitely devious Karl Rove -- the "political genius" who, since his appearance on the national stage, has managed to lose two elections (2000 and 2004) and eke out very narrow, du... (more)
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Desperate Neocons, More Dangerous than Ever Fresh from his embarrassment at the hands of Vanity Fair, the Prince of Darkness, known in polite circles as Richard Perle, is now screaming at the rafters for the decimation of Iran, an act long overdue, according to the perfidious neocons.
“Leading neocon Richard Perle, who led the intellectual charge for the ill-fated invasion of Iraq, believes two B-2 bombers, each with 16 independently targeted weapons systems, could punch out Iran’s nuclear lights,” ... (more)
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Grinch “al-Qaeda” Steals Christmas Again Once again, various intelligence organizations are determined to wreck Christmas. “According to reports received from Western intelligence services, al-Qaeda’s terrorists prepare to explode 30 planes and trains across Europe on Christmas time. The terrorist act is said to be conducted at the end of December, when many people book Christmas tours or simply travel to celebrate holidays with their relatives or friends,” reports Pravda.
Chance... (more)
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Argentine Report Casts Doubt on Iran Role in '94 BombWASHINGTON, Nov 13 (IPS) - The report by Argentine prosecutors in support of the arrest warrants just issued for seven former Iranian officials for the 1994 terror bombing of a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires reveals that Argentina was continuing to provide Iran with low-grade enriched uranium and the two countries were in serious negotiations on broader nuclear cooperation when the bombing occurred.
The new revelations on Argentine-Iranian relations in the Oct. 25 report ... (more)
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Police cameras irk activist Focusing cop cameras on Halifax’s known trouble spots is not likely to dramatically decrease crime, but it will cut into every individual’s right to privacy, says one resident.
Following the recent stabbing death of an American sailor outside a downtown bar, police announced they are adding surveillance cameras to their arsenal of crime-fighting equipment.
John van Gurp has made a hobby of noting where surveillance cameras are loc... (more)
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I Want To Hurt SomebodyIt was pure war-nography. The front page of the New York Times yesterday splashed a four-column-wide close-up of a blood-covered bullet in the blood-soaked hands of an army medic who’d retrieved it from the brain of Lance Cpl. Colin Smith.
There was a 40 column-inch profile of the medic. There were photos of the platoon, guns over shoulders, praying for the fallen buddy. The Times is careful not to ruin the heroic mood, so there is no photograph of pieces of corporal Smith&... (more)
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Germany tries 'Holocaust denier' A German man deported from the US has gone on trial in the Germany city of Mannheim for alleged Holocaust denial.
Germar Rudolf published a study saying the Nazis did not use gas to kill Jews at the Auschwitz concentration camp.
The prosecution says he "represented the Holocaust as invention" and used the internet to spread his documents.
If found guilty, Mr Rudolf will face up to five years in prison. He has already been... (more)
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Flashback: President Authorized Abu Ghraib Torture, FBI Email SaysDec. 21, 2004 – Repeated references in an internal FBI email suggest that the president issued a special order to permit some of the more objectionable torture techniques used at Abu Ghraib and other US-run prison facilities around Iraq. The email was among a new batch of FBI documents revealed by civil rights advocates on Monday. Other documents describe the initiation of investigations into alleged incidents of torture and rape at detention facilities in Iraq.
The email, w... (more)
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Worshipping the State: Why They DieSimple facts most soldiers do not understand: The government (state) is not our country; when you fight and die in undeclared wars, you do so for the State and not for our country or our freedoms; when you forsake the Constitution you swore to uphold and defend to follow unconstitutional orders, even from your commander-in-chief, you cross the line from defender of your country to the very real possibility of becoming a war criminal.
... (more)
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FACT CHECK: Baghdad Has 13 Times More Murders Than PhiladelphiaHas 13 Times More Murders Than Philadelphia In a post this morning, Wizbang blogger Alexander K. McClure compared the homicide rate in Philadelphia to the situation in Iraq:
Without looking at the URL or the headline at the top, try to figure out which city this is. Each red dot represents a murder in the past year. Isn’t th ... (more)
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DoJ Takes The Military Commissions Act Out For a SpinToday we got a taste of just how un-American President Bush's Military Commissions Act of 2006 is. After detailing the indefinite detention of Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri — a legal US immigrant student who has been locked up for over 5 years without charges — Jack asks: Is it fair for immigrants in the... (more)
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Budget-saving, American-made cluster bombs left vicious legacy in LebanonDuring the second Lebanon war, Israel made use of American-made cluster bombs that left behind thousands of unexploded bomblets, even though Israel Military Industries produces cluster bombs that leave nearly no unexploded munitions. The main reason for the use of the U.S.-made weapons: Israel uses military aid funds to purchase cluster bombs from the U.S., and in order to buy IMI-made bombs, the Israel Defense Forces would have to dip into its own budget.
"The consideration is bu... (more)
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Olbermann on what motivated Coulter 'acolyte' to allegedly send threatening 'white powder' lettersOn Tuesday night, Keith Olbermann speculated about what may have motivated a California man, reported to be an acolyte of conservative pundits such as Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin, to allegedly send threatening letters to personalities including the MSNBC host himself.
39-year-old Chad Castagana was arrested on Saturday, accused of sending more than a dozen envelopes containing "fake anthrax" to anti-war celebrities, journalists, and politicians.
... (more)
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Political Blogging as Hate Crime If Rev. Ted Pike is correct, this blog may soon be illegal.
“For the past eight years, the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith has tried unsuccessfully to pass its Orwellian federal ‘anti-hate’ bill. It has failed largely for one reason: Republican control of Congress,” writes Pike. “Repeatedly, Republican opponents of their hate bill, such as Rep. Roy Blun... (more)
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Conflict in the Middle East is Mission Implausible The blue and white UN flag looks good in the morning over these soft, pale hills. For all of 28 years, it has flown beside Irish battalions, Nepalese battalions, Senegalese battalions, Finnish battalions, all kinds of battalions, from every worthy neutral nation you can imagine. But now the flag snaps over French battalions, Spanish battalions, Italian battalions, German naval units, over the offices of four Nato generals, two French, one Spanish a... (more)
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The Hijacking Of A NationIn his farewell address in 1796, George Washington warned that America must be constantly awake against “the insidious wiles of foreign influence…since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government.”
Today, foreign influence, that most baneful foe of our republican government, has its tentacles entrenched in almost all major decision making and policy producing bodies of the U.S. government machine. ... (more)
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Why the FBI Is Coming After MeAs a rule, I don't believe in conspiracy theories. They tend to be tidy and selective, whereas life seems so random and messy. But the case of Cuban militant and would-be Fidel Castro assassin Luis Posada Carriles has sorely tested my convictions.
I've been writing about Posada for nearly a decade. I interviewed him in Aruba for a series of articles in the New York Times in 1998. He was a fugitive who had escaped from Venezuela in 1985 while awaiting trial in the 1976 bombing of a... (more)
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SUV's On Jupiter? Kofi Annan today slammed global warming skeptics as being "out of step" and "out of time," but how will altering human activity halt climate change when the evidence clearly indicates that the sun itself and not SUV's is heating up the entire solar system?
"The U.N. chief lamented "a frightening lack of leadership" in fashioning next steps to reduce global emissions. "Let us start being more politically courageous," he urged the hundreds of delegates from... (more)
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US soldier admits Iraq girl rapeA US Army soldier has pleaded guilty to raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and helping murder her and her family.
James Barker agreed to the plea deal at the start of his court-martial in the US to avoid the death penalty, his civilian lawyer said.
A criminal investigation began in June into the killing of the family of four in their home in Mahmudiya, south of Baghdad, in March 2006.
Specialist Barker is one of four US soldiers charged with murder.
... (more)
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