MB Civic » FBI/CIA/NSA

To disrupt what had appeared to be an unstoppable march toward war with Iran, gaining momentum in December and early January, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta intervened with his own rendition of “Let me be clear.” Appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Jan. 8, and apparently unsure whether host Bob Schieffer would have the courage to ask the $64 question, Panetta decided to ask it himself rhetorically: “Are they [the Iranians] trying to develop a nuclear weapon? No.” Yet, in a highly illustrative example of media hypersensitivity on this issue, PBS was not even willing to let the Defense Secretary’s comment reach the ears of the network’s listeners. Its “NewsHour” program deleted Panetta’s emphatic “no” and played only his subsequent comment: “But we know that they are trying to develop a nuclear capability. And that’s what concerns us. And our red line to Iran is do not develop a nuclear weapon. That’s a red line for us.”

Revealed: The FBI’s Secretive Practice of “Blackballing” Files

Michael Butler — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 23:01:47 +0000

http://www.truth-out.org/print/11597

Truthdig – Why I’m Suing Barack Obama – Chris Hedges

Michael Butler — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 22:16:54 +0000

http://www.truthdig.com/report/print/why_im_suing_barack_obama_20120116/

FOCUS | Spain Proceeding With Bush Torture Case

Michael Butler — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 22:06:42 +0000

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/374-bush-administration/9472-focus-spain-proceeding-with-bush-torture-case?tmpl=component&print=1&page=

NYT (3): Foreign Affairs

Ian Alterman — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 21:25:10 +0000

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/world/middleeast/iran-imposes-death-sentence-on-alleged-us-spy.html?scp=4&sq=iran&st=cse

Iran Imposes Death Sentence on U.S. Man Accused of Spying

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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/world/africa/nigerians-protest-oil-price-rise-as-subsidies-end.html?scp=1&sq=nigerians&st=cse

Nigerians Protest Rise in Oil Prices

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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/world/asia/malaysian-opposition-leader-acquitted-in-sodomy-trial.html?scp=2&sq=malaysia&st=cse

Acquittal of Opposition Leader May Level Field in Malaysia

FOCUS | NDAA: Congress Signed Its Own Arrest Warrants

Michael Butler — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 20:24:11 +0000

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/275-42/9236-focus-naomi-wolf-ndaa-congress-signed-its-own-arrest-warrants?tmpl=component&print=1&layout=default&page=

Iran, Another False Enemy? : Information Clearing House

Michael Butler — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 20:15:13 +0000

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30111.htm

Hugo Chávez hints at US cancer plot

Mike Blaxill — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:58:05 +0000

from The Guardian ..

“Would it be so strange that they’ve invented the technology to spread cancer and we won’t know about it for 50 years?” Chávez pondered, one day after Argentina’s president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner announced she had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and would undergo surgery in January .. Recent years have seen a series of leftwing Latin America leaders diagnosed with cancer including Brazil’s current president, Dilma Rousseff, Paraguay’s Fernando Lugo, and the former Brazilian leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva .. [Chavez said] “I repeat: I am not accusing anyone. I am simply taking advantage of my freedom to reflect and air my opinions faced with some very strange and hard to explain goings-on,”

funny when i heard about Kirchner the thought entered my mind, and then Chavez weighs in – he’ll soon to be called crazy and irrational in the corporate media without context – anyone remember the Bob Marley story told by former black panther and Marley friend Lee Lew-Lee? – a little radiation can do the trick – its tinfoil hat time again – mab .. read more

Robert Koehler: The Big Lie Marches On

Mike Blaxill — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 16:33:44 +0000

Koehler ..

I fear that the Big Lie is seductive, because there’s so much power attached to it. On the outside looking in, when you’re just a state senator from Illinois, or whatever, the invasion of Iraq may look like a dumb war. But on the inside of the operation, with so much power at stake, the pragmatic necessities of empire, a.k.a., our national interests — control of oil, dominance in the Middle East, the well-being of defense contractors — morph into patriotic values, and seem, all of a sudden, worth the cost in human lives, environmental devastation and even the well-being of future generations. If there’s no such thing as a president who can tell the truth about a fraudulently launched, devastatingly counterproductive military adventure, or speak critically about militarism in general — because the truth would, oh, bring down the economy — we have an inadequate system of government

Ellsberg: US Wants Deal for Manning to Implicate Assange

Michael Butler — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 23:10:25 +0000

http://www.readersupportednews.org/news-section2/367-wikileaks/9064-ellsberg-us-wants-deal-for-manning-to-implicate-assange?tmpl=component&print=1&page=

FOCUS: Why I Voted Against the Homeland Battlefield Bill

Michael Butler — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 00:31:19 +0000

http://www.readersupportednews.org/opinion2/275-42/8950-focus-why-i-voted-against-the-homeland-battlefield-bill?tmpl=component&print=1&layout=default&page=

NYT Editorial & Op-Eds (3)

Ian Alterman — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 18:19:25 +0000

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/16/opinion/politics-over-principle.html?ref=opinion

Politics Over Principle

“President Obama gives in to political pressure and will sign a dangerous detention bill.”

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/16/opinion/gop-monetary-madness.html?ref=opinion

G.O.P. Monetary Madness, by Paul Krugman

“On being consistent, clear and wrong.”

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http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/15/please-stop-sharing/?ref=opinion

Please Stop Sharing, by Timothy Egan

“Let the counterrevolt begin; the shying of America would be a welcome thing.”

NYT (7): Foreign Affairs

Ian Alterman — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:57:28 +0000

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/12/world/europe/huge-moscow-rally-suggests-a-shift-in-public-mood.html?_r=1&scp=8&sq=putin&st=cse

Boosted by Putin, Russia’s Middle Class Turns on Him

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/12/world/europe/russian-orthodox-church-joins-in-calls-for-election-reform.html?scp=3&sq=russian&st=cse

Russian Orthodox Church Adds Influential Voice to Calls for Election Reform

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/world/europe/billionaire-to-oppose-putin-in-russian-presidential-election.html?hp

Billionaire and Ex-Minister to Oppose Putin in Russian Presidential Election

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/12/world/asia/cia-leaves-pakistan-base-used-for-drone-strikes.html?scp=3&sq=pakistan&st=cse

C.I.A. Leaves Base in Pakistan Used for Drone Strikes

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/12/world/europe/nick-clegg-criticizes-david-cameron-on-europe-vote.html?scp=1&sq=clegg&st=cse

Partner in British Coalition Criticizes Cameron’s Veto on Europe Treaty

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/12/world/americas/noriega-back-in-panama-for-more-prison-time.html?scp=1&sq=noriega&st=cse

Noriega Is Sent to Prison Back in Panama, Where the Terror Has Turned to Shrugs

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/12/health/scandal-widens-over-french-weight-loss-drug-mediator.html?scp=5&sq=scandal&st=cse

Scandal Over Mediator, a French Weight-Loss Drug, Prompts Calls for Wide Changes

Indefinite Detention of American Citizens: Coming Soon to Battlefield U.S.A. | Matt Taibbi | Rolling Stone

Michael Butler — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 23:58:16 +0000

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/indefinite-detention-of-american-citizens-coming-soon-to-battlefield-u-s-a-20111209?print=true

Occupy the Police State

Michael Butler — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 01:24:52 +0000

http://www.truth-out.org/print/10138

The US National Security Smokescreen

Michael Butler — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 01:21:36 +0000

http://www.truth-out.org/print/10152

NYT (4): Foreign Affairs

Ian Alterman — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 03:37:45 +0000

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/08/world/middleeast/drone-crash-in-iran-reveals-secret-us-surveillance-bid.html?scp=1&sq=crash&st=cse

Drone Crash in Iran Reveals Secret U.S. Surveillance Effort

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/08/world/middleeast/egyptian-general-mukhtar-al-mulla-asserts-continuing-control-despite-elections.html?scp=3&sq=military&st=cse

Military Flexes Its Muscles as Islamists Gain in Egypt

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/08/world/europe/russia-election-monitor-denies-fraud-mikhail-gorbachev-calls-for-new-vote.html?scp=2&sq=gorbachev&st=cse

Gorbachev Calls for New Vote in Disputed Russian Elections

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/08/science/earth/at-climate-talks-a-familiar-standoff-emerges-between-the-united-states-and-china.html?scp=2&sq=climate&st=cse

At Climate Talks, a Familiar Standoff Between U.S. and China

Black Swans Soar

Michael Butler — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 21:45:16 +0000

December 5, 2011

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

For Pakistanis, arguably the world’s most anti-U.S. population, the NATO airstrike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers at an Afghan-Pakistani border post at Salala in the Mohmand Tribal Agency was deliberate.

The U.S. and NATO command immediately regretted the loss of life but held back any formal apology pending a thorough investigation, as it thinks the Pakistanis – who may have been mistaken for Taliban partisans – were the first to open fire.

The suspicion is that the Pakistanis were harboring the insurgents, who first opened fire and then retreated into the army base appropriately named Camp Volcano.

The latest crisis in the rocky Pakistani-U.S. relationship escalated quickly on the Pakistani side. Islamabad demanded that the only CIA drone base in the country pack up and leave, which the United States had been preparing to do anyway since the May 2 SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

The twin NATO supply routes from Karachi into Afghanistan that supply 30 percent of Afghan war requirements, were closed down, immobilizing hundreds of tanker trucks over two 1,000-mile routes to Kandahar and Kabul.

Compounding the crisis is the absence of Pakistan’s exceptionally brilliant ambassador in Washington, Husain Haqqani, brought down by a shameless self-promoter, Mansoor Ijaz, a Pakistani-American. Mr. Ijaz gave an alleged memo from Mr. Haqqani to former National Security Adviser James L. Jones to relay to Adm. Mike Mullen, the outgoing U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The memo, according to Mr. Ijaz, asked for U.S. help in heading off a possible Pakistani military coup and promised concessions in return.

When the secret memo was leaked to the media in Pakistan, Mr. Haqqani denied authorship but was recalled immediately to Islamabad, where he was forced to resign.

Mr. Haqqani now faces the threat of being tried on a variety of trumped-up charges, perhaps even treason. He once wrote a book titled “Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military.” In his book, Mr. Haqqani clearly held the notoriousInter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in contempt. When he was a professor at Boston University, his many op-ed columns infuriated Pakistan’s spooks. Before Boston, he had a fellowship at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he slammed President Pervez Musharraf’s military regime.

Pakistan‘s all-powerful ISI, where Mr. Haqqani once served, clearly has scores to settle with him.

Still, no one can understand why and how Mr. Haqqani trusted Mr. Ijaz and implicated himself with email and text messages when distaste for Mr. Ijaz was so widespread in government circles.

Teresita C. Schaffer, who served as a U.S. diplomat in South Asia for 30 years, says, “The amazing thing is that the coverage of this sorry episode has entirely focused on Haqqani and not on Ijaz, who acknowledged being the person who got the memo to Adm. Mullen. Ijaz has a long history of exaggerating his role in similar conspiratorial ventures and representing himself, I believe incorrectly, as some kind of secret negotiator.”

Mr. Ijaz once used his friendship with former CIA Director James Woolsey in building up his profile as a troubleshooter in the world’s hot spots. Those who know him said he had a special talent for ingratiating himself with the intelligence communities of the United States and Pakistan. He seemed equally at ease on Capitol Hill and in Washington’s think-tank community.

Ambassador Sherry Rehman, Mr. Haqqani’s successor in Washington, is a staunch defender of democracy, the democratic process, human rights and civilian control of the military. But her ultrapoor giant of a country of 187 million people still cannot afford a decent high school system, as the military absorbs almost 40 percent of the budget. Pakistan has lost about 35,000 people killed in the past three years to terrorist bombings. Ms. Rehman has her hands full trying to putPakistan’s relations with the United States back on the track of mutual distrust from the slough of outright hostility, where it wallows now.

Gone, too, is the notion that there is no solution to the Afghan war without Pakistan and forPakistan without the Taliban. Lasting progress will come only if Afghanistan’s neighbors Iran,China, Russia and India are included as well.

That’s what Henry Kissinger advocates today. But we have no new Kissinger to make it happen. And we can’t wait till the end of 2014, President Obama’s final exit deadline.

Arnaud de Borchgrave is editor-at-large of The Washington Times and United Press International.

Are Americans in Line for Gitmo?

Michael Butler — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 23:46:51 +0000

http://www.truth-out.org/print/9986

Obama Stands Firm: No Homeland Battlefield

Michael Butler — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 23:43:55 +0000

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/310-14/8730-obama-stands-firm-no-homeland-battlefield?tmpl=component&print=1&page=

FOCUS | Julian Assange: Internet Has Become ‘Surveillance Machine’

Michael Butler — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:55:32 +0000

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/367-wikileaks/8626-julian-assange-internet-has-become-surveillance-machine?tmpl=component&print=1&page=

America Has Become a Fascist Police State

Michael Butler — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:50:15 +0000

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/275-42/8599-carl-gibson-america-has-become-a-fascist-police-state?tmpl=component&print=1&layout=default&page=