JoAnne Moriarty: Obama's NATO Slaughter of Libyan Civilians Continues

NATO wants desperately to take Zawia, so that they can stop ALL supplies to Tripoli. Today, Sky news reported a huge lie about how everyone in Zawia is happy about the rebels, but that is very, very far from the truth. They are now openly admitting that they have foreign troops and their weapons in their midst. NATO wants to kill everyone, including civilians, who might get in their way of taking over the Libyan Government. In fact, NATO sent 17 bombs into civilian neighbor -hoods the night before, and inserted Apache gunships to finish their task. According to our inside sources, Zawia is the rebels' desperate attempt at a "last stand". They are now in their death stance, and NATO is desperate and frantic. The rebels have lost Misurata, Zlitan, and many other areas. Therefore they are now up to the killing of unarmed civilians. As a follower of these events, ask how they can take Tripoli, where two million people are armed, and where the entire country is completely against them? The answer is that Libya will become a police state, NATO will, and already has become a terrorist organization, guided by the idiot Obama! Right now, NATO is using American made Apache helicopters to kill civilians who are only celebrating the rout of of rebel gangs from their city! US hardware is killing unarmed civilians, and NATO was, according to Obama, never authorized to fire on them. Huge helicopter directed fire has inflicted massive casualties, and both the UN and NATO charters have been destroyed. All of the Libyan civilians have told us that they are now fighting for their country as well as their culture, so they have decided to serve both, including their outstanding ruler Gaddafi. As the witnesses to the entire world, we say: "Stop this inhumanity, stop the killing, stop the siege against the innocents of Libya!!

Tomgram: Chris Hellman, The Pentagon's Spending Spree

China just launched a refitted Ukrainian aircraft carrier from the 1990's on its first test run, and that is what the only projected "great power" enemy of the US has to offer for the foreseeable future. In the meantime, the US Navy has 11 aircraft carrier task forces to cruise the seven seas, and plans to keep that many through 2045. Like so much else, when it comes to the American military, all comparisons are ludicrous. In any "normal" sense, the United States stands alone in military terms. Its expenditures make up almost 50% of global military spending. It dominates the global arms market, and it has countless more bases, pilot-less drones, military bands, and almost anything else military you'd care to mention than does any other power. In other words, comparisons can't be made. The minute you try, you're off the charts, and yet, in purely practical terms, when you take a shot at measuring the overall investment of American treasure in the military, the US intelligence community, the Department of Homeland Security, and the rest of our "national security establishment" has actually brought us, you come up with a series of wars and conflicts headed nowhere, and a series of post-9/11 terror attacks generally so inept, that it hardly matters whether they were foiled or not! Still, when you come to cutting the US national security budget, none of this seems to matter: The Pentagon "cuts" presently being discussed in Washington are largely in projected future growth, not in REAL funds, and even then, the Pentagon and its many boosters in Washington are largely in "projected future growth", NOT in REAL funds, which continue to rise, and even then, the Pentagon and its many boosters in Washington are already crying "bloody murder". Give some credit for all this to the giant weapon makers, and to the military itself: Both have so carefully tied military-related jobs into so many state economies that few congressional representatives could afford to vote for the sorts of REAL cutbacks that could afford to vote for the sorts of "real" cutbacks that would bring perhaps the most profligate institution on the planet to heel, and yet still leave the country as the globe's military giant.

Mahmoud Abbas: PA Calls for UN Meeting on Gaza

Mahmoud Abbas, the Acting Palestinian Authority, has called for an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council to discuss the ongoing Israeli air attacks on the Gaza Strip. He has instructed the Palestinian representative to the UN, Riyad Mansour, to call the meeting, Ma'an News Agency reported on Saturday. The developments come as continuous Israeli air raids targeting the impoverished Gaza Strip in the past three days have killed at least 16 Palestinians and injured a further 45 others so far. By the way, when I was the Intelligence Operations Officer of our 4th US Armored Division in Goeppingen, Germany, I had intercepted an emergency transmission from the American ship USS Pueblo, requesting help from our fighter planes, because OUR Israeli "friends" were machine gunning their crew, in an attempt to sink our ship. At the time, General Sherrer, our commander, commented: "With friends like the Israelis, we have no need of enemies" Truer words were never spoken! Yet our idiotic "Congress" continues to shower the evil Israeli "government" with funds to wreak havoc on our ships and their Arab neighbors! Like my former commander, Mahmoud Abbas knows the evil nature of the Israelis, and after the continuing air attacks against his Palestinians, he has called on the Arab League to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the situation in Gaza. The AL Deputy Secretary General Ahmad Bin Helli announced on Saturday that the 22-member organization would hold an urgent meeting on the level of the permanent delegates on Sunday to discuss the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip. However, Israel began launching its air strikes on the Gaza Strip late Thursday. Moreover, Israel "has claimed that it launched the attacks in response to assaults that targeted two buses, and a military vehicle near the Red Sea resort of Eilat, in southern Israel, which allegedly left weight Israelis dead. Hamas said that it had nothing to do with the assault, and warned against any act of aggression against the "Gaza Strip". AND THE BEAT GOES ON!!!

Cliff Schecter: Wayne La Pierre is Washington's Lobbyist for Murderer's Rights

To quote Lawrence O'Donnell from his show back in February, Wayne LaPierre is Washington's lobbyist in favor of murderer's rights, so always use the gun of your choice. There is no better summary of a man who ensures his $1.27 million salary every year by being a paid serial liar in defense of arms dealers, which groups such as the Violence Policy Center have made again and again. So it should be no surprise that when faced with the rights of Americans to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, or those of the Mexican Drug Cartels, he comes down squarely on the side of the latter, as pointed out by Media Matters: Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, has been on a media blitz trying to defend an NRA lawsuit that attempts to block an executive rule aimed at keeping guns out of the hands of cartels and criminals. The new rule would require gun stores along the border with Mexico to report to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), when a person purchases multiple long guns, such as the cartel favorite AK-47. ATF agent and Fast and Furious whistle-blower Peter Forcelli, whom the NRA has previously cited as an expert on tactics, disagrees with LaPierre. Forcelli told Political Correction that the "vast majority of ATF agents support the reporting requirement, because they know how it works." Of course it works. It is common sense that it would work, except manufacturing doubt - from the oil companies to the tobacco pushers to the gun runners - is what these guys do. Common sense and science are their enemies. They might save many lives, but then LaPierre might only make $1.1 million per annum.

John Stanton: Does Our US Seek World War III?

These are gruesome days, and the "Single Bullet Doctrine" rules. The world is truly adrift and on the brink of global "something". In our USA, everyone can feel it. The US system of government is often described as a layer cake: Federal on top, State in the middle, and Local at the bottom. That cake is now a mess. The frosting (the sweet taste of the American Way of life) is now a mess: The bitter taste of economic insecurity and uncertainty is everywhere in our country, while the state and local layers are drying up and crumbling, as the economic crisis is causing them to jettison labor and safety-net programs! In addition, the cost for our country's care for returning military personnel, and the heavy burden that involves make life even more difficult. Listening to America's "leaders", one is tempted to think that their "grand solution"merely involves starting World War III, or the invasion of a relatively small country like Iran. What is "Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta" likely to dream up next: Early in his "career" he fanned the flames of war against Iraq, describing their citizens and their leader as "evil". Unfortunately, he is not the only moron in our government. What infinite horizons is CIA Director David Petraeus going to open next, to provide more adventure for our battle-weary soldiers. Fortunately, the former General's version of Iraq 'success' is being challenged from within. Nonetheless, if Obama ascends to the Presidency again, Petraeus will likely become Secretary of Defense. In the "daydream world", the US and Iran 'could' work together in Iraq and help to diffuse the violence in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain, and other countries in the region, but most Americans have little hope for such an outcome.

Ellen Brown: Are the Losses in our Stockmarket Part of an Evil Plan?

Last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose or fell by at least 400 points for four straight days, a stock market first. The worst drop was on Monday, 8-8-11, when the Dow plunged 624 points. Monday was the first day of trading after US Treasury bonds were downgraded from AAA to AA+ by Standard and Poor's. But the roller coaster actually began on Tuesday, 8-2-11, a day that will live in infamy, the day after the last-minute deal to raise the US debt ceiling, a deal that was supposed to avoid the downgrade that happened anyway five days later. The Dow changed directions for eight consecutive trading sessions after that, another first. That volatility was unprecedented, leaving analysts at a loss to explain it. High frequency program trading no doubt added to the wild swings, but why the daily reversals? Why didn't the market head down, and just keep going, as in September 2008? The plunge on 8-8-11 was the worst since 2008, and the sixth largest largest stock market crash ever. According to "Der Spiegel", one of the most widely read periodicals in Europe: "Many economists have been pointing out that last week's panic resembled the fear that swept financial markets after the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers in September 2008. Then, as now, banks stopped lending each other money. Then, as now, banks' cash deposits at the central bank doubled within days. But on Tuesday, August 9, the market gained more points from its low than it lost on Monday. Why? A tug of war seemed to be going on between two titanic forces, one bent on crashing the market, the other propping it up.

Tom Burghardt: As our Economy Collapses, we have a "New" Police State!

Forget Your Rights: As corporate overlords position themselves to seize what little remains of a tattered social net, the Obama administration is moving at break-neck speed to expand police state programs, first only imagined by the Bush Administration. After all, with world share prices gyrating wildly, employment and wages in a "death spiral", and retirement funds and publicly- owned assets swallowed whole by speculators and "rentier scum", the state better dust off contingency plans, lest the Greek, Spanish or British "contagion" spread beyond the fabled shores of "old Europe", and infect God-fearin'folk raat heere in the USA: Lets hear it now, folks: USA, USA, USA. Fear not, "THEY" have only "OUR" best interests at heart. What the heck: Those of us who were foolish enough to serve in our country's many wars - I served in Vietnam, or Viate Naam, as LBJ, one of our president's liked to call it, but I still follow our disgusting phletora, or is it "phlobotomy", as many of our other temporary so-called occupants in the White House, the ones who can afford it, what with our currency problems, now call it. Meanwhile, up on Capitol Hill, Congress did their part to defend us from that pesky "Bill of Rights", that is, before 81 of them, nearly a fifth of "our" elected representatives, checked out for AIPAC funded junkets to Israel! As "Antifascist Calling" previously reported, the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a Freedom of Information Act Lawsuit against the Justice Department (where there REALLY is NO Justice), "demanding the release of of a secret legal memo used to justify FBI access to Americans' telephone records without any legal process or oversight."

Rachel Tabachnick: Meet the so-called Prayer Warriors who want Rick Perry as President!

Since he announced his candidacy on Saturday, Texas Governor Rick Perry has been hailed as the great GOP hope of 2012. Perry's entry into the chaotic Republican primary race has excited the establishment in part because he has he does not have Michele Bachmann's reputation for religious zealotry, yet can likely count on the support of the "Religious Right". While it may not have been obvious to those outside the "movement", Perry was publicly "annointed" as the "apostles" candidate for president, in his massive "prayer rally" a few weeks ago, an event filled with symbolism and coded messages. This was live-streamed to churches across the nation, and on "God TV", a Jerusalem-based evangelical network. Perry's event is not the first time NAR "apostles" have "partnered" with politicians. As one of my close friends told me many years ago: "If you go to bed with fleas, you get bitten!" A partial list of those who have made national or international appearances with these "apostles" include Paul Rosenberg, Bill Berkowitz, and Paul Rosenberg - the latter being a two-time loser.

Robert Scheer: The Biggest Little Hypocrite in Texas

It is unfathomable that yet another Texas blowhard governor has emerged as a front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination. The persistent appeal of the mythology of Texas as a model for our nation defies the lessons of logic and experience, and yet here we are with Rick Perry, a George W. Bush look-alike, as a prime contender to once again run our nation into the ground. To begin with, Texas is not, and never will be a model for the nation, unless the other states discover similarly rich deposits of oil and natural gas, that account for one-third of jobs, and supply 40 percent of tax revenues within those states. If Texas energy receipts and jobs helped float Gov. Bush's reputation, they have been nothing short of of miraculous for Perry's tenure. The price of oil rose from $25 a barrel when Lt. Gov. Perry replaced the newly elected President Bush to $147 in 2008, and has stayed at more than $80 a barrel since, to the dismay of anyone who has to buy gasoline. In addition, thanks to breakthroughs in oil field technology that Perry had nothing to do with, there have been controversial new drilling techniques that have vastly expanded the exploitation of gas and oil reserves, producing many of the new jobs that the Texas governor claims. For a relatively ineffectual governor, in a state in which the part-time Legislature holds the power, to take credit for this job boom is as ludicrous as a Saudi prince bragging of his entrepreneurial skills as the source of royal wealth. Unfortunately, the boom in the energy industry has not spread to those in the state, stuck in less lucrative sectors of the economy. Texas remains tied with Mississippi for the largest number of workers earning wages equal to, or less, than the federal minimum wage.

Press TV: Republicans Rebuff Obama Tax Hikes

Good News! Top Republican lawmakers have rejected the US President Barack Obama's appeal for tax hikes on rich and wealthy people. House Speaker John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor say the worst thing Washington can do to destroy our economy is to raise taxes on the people we need. "The worst thing Washington can do for our economy is to raise taxes on the people we need to start hiring again," Cantor said. In a USA Today opinion page, they also called for cuts to government-backed health and retirement programs. This comes as a newly created Congressional committee faces a late-November deadline for recommending one and a half trillion dollars in deficit cuts over ten years. In a final deal reached by legislators to avoid default this month, President Obama signed legislation that did not include tax increases, but the "embattled" president, whose job approval have slumped, has said that he will renew his push for such measures.
In related stories: US Congress disapproval is now at a record high, and job approval for congress is at a record low. Also, S&P move is a Tea Party downgrade. In addition, the US debt crisis threatens the global economy, meaning the US may lose its AA+rating, while the US debt raise is not a "final" solution.

Tom Burghardt: As America's Economy Collapses, "New Normal" Police State is Shaped.

Forget your rights! As corporate overlords position themselves to seize what little remains of the tattered "social net", the Obama administration is moving at break-neck speed to expand police state programs first designed by the Bush government. After all, with world share prices gyrating wildly, employment and wages in a death spiral, and retirement funds and publicly-owned assets swallowed whole by speculators and rentier scum, the state 'better' dust off contingency plans lest the Greek, Spanish or British "contagion" spread beyond the fabled shores of "old Europe" and infect God-fearin' folk here in the homeland. Fear NOT: They have the lyrically titled "Civil Disturbances: Emergency Employment of Army and Other Resources, otherwise known as Army Regulation 500-50, spells out the "responsibilities, policy, and guidance for the Department of the Army in planning and operations involving the use of Army resources in the control of actual or anticipated civil disturbances." With British politicians demanding a clampdown on social media in the wake of London riots, and with the Bay Area Rapid Transit agency having done so last week in San Francisco, switching off underground cell phone service to help squelch a protest against police violence, authoritarian control tactics , aping those deployed in Egypt and Tunisia, are becoming the norm in so-called "Western democracies." Meanwhile up on Capitol Hill, Congress did their part to defend us from that pesky "Bill of Rights", that is, before 81 of them, nearly a fifth of "our" elected representatives, checked out for AIPAC-funded junkets to Israel.

Peter Symonds: NATO's Pupet Regime In Libya Falls Apart!

The sacking of the entire Benghazi-based Libyan opposition cabinet this week has exposed the anti-democratic, faction-riven character of the regime that the US and its European allies are seeking to impose on Libya. The self-proclaimed Transitional National Council is now facing a military stalemate in efforts to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi due to its lack of popular support, is being consumed by violent internal conflicts. TNC President Abdul Mustafa Jalil ordered the dismissal of the TNC's so-called prime minister, was kept on to form the next cabinet. In a further sign of disarray, Jalil insisted that members of various autonomous militias operating broadly under the TNC's banner, had to integrate into its armed forces as individuals rather than units. Jalil was acting under demands for justice from Younis's family members and the powerful Obeidi tribe, and was under pressure from the February 17 Coalition, a secular grouping of Libyan judges and lawyers, critical of the growing influence of Islamists within the TNC. As it announced the sackings, a TNC spokesman declared that the cabinet was responsible for "improper administrative procedures" that led to Younis's death. No official explanation has been given for the arrest and killing of Younis, which has been the subject of bitter recriminations. He was Gaddafi's interior minister before defecting to the Benghazi opposition, along with the Special Forces troops under his command. Those close to Younis have accused an Islamist militia of killing him, to avenge the general's savage repression of an Islamist uprising in the mid-1990's, and to block his efforts to bring TNC military units under his unified command.

Miles Amoore: A Taliban fighter tells how he avenged the death of Bin Laden

A Taliban fighter has given the first account of how his unit fired two rocket-propelled grenades that brought down a Chinook helicopter, killing 38 elite American and Afghan troops in the deadliest attack of NATO's 10 year campaign. The special forces, some from the unit that killed Osama Bin Laden, had flown into a remote valley to kill a group of Taliban commanders who were sheltering in the Sayedabad district of Wardak province, according to the fighter. The dead, identified last week by a special forensic team at Dover air force base in Delaware, included 17 Navy Seals, some from Team 6, the unit that killed Bin Laden, five other navy special forces, three air force special forces, and five crew. Seven Afghan commandos and an interpreter were also on board. The helicopter was shot down as it came in to land close to where two Taliban had taken up sentry positions in the Tangi Valley, the fighter, whose nom de guerre is Haqiar, said. His account largely tallies with NATO's version of events. Haqiar, 24, who claims to be the only surviving member of the team that shot down down the helicopter, said fighters were already on high alert because they had seen many US drones patrolling during the day. They observed Iftar, the Islamic custom of breaking the fast during the holy month of Ramadan, and as soon as they had finished their meal, Haqiar and his comrade, Gulam Hazrat, took up guard duties in a ditch beside a terraced field overlooking the valley. At about 11pm, a radio message from Haqiar's commander, Mullah Mohibullah, told them American forces had just killed six Taliban fighters further down the valley in the village of Qarya-e-Amir. "We knew something bid was going to happen," he said. An hour later, Haqiar and Hazrat heard a helicopter approaching and saw it silhouetted against the moon. The Chinook was coming in to land about 100 yards from their position, escorted by two attack helicopters. The pilot appeared to be heading for a site between two mosques in the valley below their position, Haqiar said. "The Americans knew that the mosques and the surrounding fields and gardens had lots of Taliban commanders sleeping there," said Haqiar. As the Chinook reached eye-level, he wanted to ask his commander for permission to fire, because he knew the shot would give away his position, but Hazrat launched the rocket-propelled grenade before Haqiar could reach his radio. "He fired and it landed inside the chopper and exploded. I fired one and hit the nose of the bird. The chopper lost balance and fell to the ground on its side and rolled. There was a huge explosion, and we could see into the back of the Chinook, and we saw the inside was on fire," said Haqiar. NATO later said the helicopter took fire from several insurgent positions as it made its approach. The flames spread throughout the helicopter and quickly ignited the ammunition on board, sending sparks shooting into the night sky. "We could hear the bullets exploding till the next day, as the flames lit up the valley. Suddenly night was transformed into daylight."

Agence France-Press: 18 More Killed in Pakistan

If you check out the U-Tube song "Big Muddy", you will understand what the hell we are doing in Pakistan and Afghanistan. HINT: It begins by getting deeper and deeper into the Big Muddy, but the big fool - "Obama", who took the Nobel Peace Prize under false pretenses, and ratcheted all of our existing wars up about a thousand notches - said to move on!! Now for the sad news: Bomb, gun and rocket attacks killed 18 Pakistanis in flashpoints bordering Afghanistan on Sunday, as the country "celebrated Independence Day", officials said. Fourteen civilians were killed and 16 wounded, when a bomb ripped through a roadside restaurant in the town of Dera Allah Yar, part of the restive southwestern province of Balochistan, police said. After most of those trapped under debris from a collapsed roof were recovered, district police chief Javed Gharshin said that 14 people had been killed and 16 others wounded: WAY TO GO OBAMA. During the Vietnam War, Choruses of unsatisfied citizens besieged the White House, chanting: "Hey, hey, LBJ. How many kids did you kill today?" On the other hand, LBJ was a very gentle man, and YOU are apparently NOT in HIS LEAGUE!!

Rob Crilly: As many as 168 Children Killed in Pakistan Drone Strikes

As many as 168 children have been killed in drone strikes in Pakistan during the past seven years, as the CIA has intensified its secret program against militants along the Afghan border. In a new analysis of open-source documents, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism found that 2,292 people had been killed by US missiles, including as many as 775 civilians. The strikes, which began under President George W Bush, but have since accelerated during the presidency of Barack Obama (FYI, he is the president who picked up the Nobel Peace Prize, and was apparently not ashamed to accelerate the wars under his immediate control). Because of him, families in Afghanistan now live in fear whenever they need to venture outside their homes: If one of our drones is anywhere near the horizon, they have to cower in their huts, like a wounded deer seeking refuge in a dense forest. In just a single attack on a madrassah in 2006, up to 69 children lost their lives. Chris Woods, who led the research, said the detailed database of deaths would send shock- waves through Pakistan, where political and military leaders repeatedly denounce the strikes in public, while privately allowing the US to continue. "This is a military campaign run by a secret service, which raised problems of accountability, transparency, and you have a situation where neither the Pakistanis nor Americans are clear about any agreements in place, and where the reporting is difficult." "All of this means that when things go wrong, there is simply no redress for the families of those who have been 'mistakenly' killed". The research, culled from more than 2,000 news reports, leaked documents and witness statements, show how the drones gradually moved from a rarely used tool, beginning with a single strike in 2004, to a front-line weapon of war.

Good News: Tribal Discord of "Rebels" Tearing NATO Apart!

Saddled with infighting, and undermined by the ruthless and undisciplined behavior of its fighters, the 6 month old rebel uprising against Moammar Gadhafi is now sliding from a struggle to overthrow an autocrat like Obama into a into a murkier contest between factions and tribes. The increase in discord and factionalism is undermining the effort to overthrow Gadhafi, and it comes immediately after recognition of the vicious rebel government by the Western powers, including the US, potentially giving the "rebels" access to billions of dollars in in frozen US and Libyan assets, and the chance to purchase more modern weaponry. The infighting could, and probably WILL erode support for the rebels among members of the NATO alliance, which faces a September deadline for renewing its air campaign, amid growing unease about the war's cost and direction. That air support has been a factor in every significant rebel victory and massacre! While the rebels have sought to maintain a clean image (yeah, right!!) and allegedly portraying themselves as fighting to establish a secular democracy (don't believe it, they are just bullshitting our gullible world), several recent acts of revenge - (they are called massacres in most of civilized society), have cast their ranks in a less favorable light. They have raised the possibility that any rebel victory over Gadhafi could disintegrate into the sort of tribal tensions that have plagued Libya for many years. In recent weeks, rebel fighters in Libya's western mountains and along the coastal city of Misrata have lashed out (read massacred) at civilians, because their tribes supported Gadhafi, looting mountain villages and emptying a civilian neighborhood. (that's after their massacres of innocent women and children) In the rebels' so-called provisional capital, Benghazi, renegade fighters assassinated their top military commander, General Abdel Fatah Younes. In response, the chief of Younes' powerful tribe threatened to retaliate against those responsible, setting off a crisis in the rebels' governing council, whose members were dismissed en masse last week. As one of my army friends once said: "If you go bed with fleas, you will certainly get bitten".