Did the President Declare "Secret War" Against Syria and Iran?
By Steve Clemons
Washington intelligence, military and foreign policy circles are abuzz today with speculation that the President, yesterday or in recent days, sent a secret Executive Order to the Secretary of Defense and to the Director of the CIA to launch military operations against Syria and Iran.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article16149.htm
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The “Surge” Is A Red Herring
By Paul Craig Roberts
Bush states perfectly clearly that victory in Iraq requires US forces to attack Iran and Syria. Moreover, Bush says, “We are also taking other steps to bolster the security of Iraq and protect American interests in the Middle East. I recently ordered the deployment of an additional carrier strike group to the region.”
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article16143.htm
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Baghdad Crackdown
By Mike Whitney
The crackdown in Baghdad and the anticipated bombing of Iran will have no significant affect on the war’s outcome. America has lost its ability to influence events positively or to arbitrarily assert its will. We’re now facing “death by a thousand cuts” and the steady erosion of US power.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article16144.htm
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The Plan for Economic Strangulation of Iran
By Dr. Abbas Bakhtiar
The current US strategy is to starve the Iranian oil and gas industries of new investments, thereby reducing the Iranian government’s revenues which are hoped will in turn reduce Iran’s ability to maintain not only its armed forces, but also the government’s social obligations to its people (subsidies, salaries, etc.).
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article16145.htm
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Escalation is Hardly the Answer
By Congressman Ron Paul
I am concerned, however, that a contrived Gulf of Tonkin- type incident may occur to gain popular support for an attack on Iran.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article16151.htm
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Keith Olbermann: Bush's legacy: The president who cried wolf
Video and Transcript
Only this president, only in this time, only with this dangerous, even messianic certitude, could answer a country demanding an exit strategy from Iraq, by offering an entrance strategy for Iran.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article16152.htm
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Murtha's Plan to Stop Bush
By Ari Berman
Murtha announced his intention to use the power of the purse to try and close US prisons at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, eliminate the signing statements President Bush uses to secretly expand executive power and restrict the building of permanent bases in Iraq.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article16150.htm
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George W. Bush: A Symptom of Disease
By Charles Sullivan
Sometimes you look around and wonder how things could have gone so wrong so quickly. America has become the antithesis of everything she purports to be. We are the greatest purveyors of violence the world has ever known; the largest weapons dealers on earth; and death and misery are our principal exports. Everything is for sale here, even men’s tormented souls—at least, those who still possess them.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article16155.htm
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Manufacturing Consent
Video
Noam Chomskey, explores how government and big media businesses cooperate to produce an effective propaganda machine in order to manipulate the opinions of the United States populace.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12972.htm
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U.S. Somalia air raids hit nomads, 70 dead - Oxfam
By Reuters
U.S. air attacks have mistakenly targeted nomadic herdsmen gathering round fires, killing 70, British-based aid agency Oxfam said on Friday.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article16147.htm
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NATO Occupation Forces Kill Afghan Civilians, Police Say
By Reuters
NATO aircraft attacked "Taliban rebels" in southern Afghanistan and killed 16 insurgents and 13 civilians, Afghan police said on Friday, but NATO denied causing civilian casualties.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article16148.htm
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The Real Friends of Terror
Video Documentary
"What is the difference between the horror and the violence created by suicide bombers and the horror and the violence created by bombs dropped from 30,000 feet by airplanes?"
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15080.htm
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In case you missed it
The Power of Nightmares
Video Documentary
In the past our politicians offered us dreams of a better world. Now they promise to protect us from nightmares. The most frightening of these is the threat of an international terror network. But just as the dreams were not true, neither are these nightmares
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/video1037.htm
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Iraqi police find 37 bodies in Baghdad :
Iraqi police said they found 37 unidentified bodies, some of them tortured, in several parts of Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-01/12/content_5599431.htm
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Second U.S. Soldier Pleads Guilty in Iraq Killings:
A U.S. soldier was sentenced to 18 years in jail on Thursday after becoming the second to plead guilty in the killing of three Iraqi detainees who prosecutors said were gunned down after they were set free and tried to run
http://snipurl.com/17e6o
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US troops will leave Iraq “in coffins”: Sadr aide:
A senior ally of radical Iraqi cleric Moqtada Al Sadr warned on Friday that thousands of the planned 21,500 extra US troops en route for the war-torn nation would “go home in coffins”.
http://snipurl.com/17e6p
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Worst yet to come for US in Baghdad:
THE plan by the US President, George Bush, to send tens of thousands of US and Iraqi reinforcements to the Iraqi capital to aggressively confront Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias will touch off a more dangerous phase of the war, featuring months of fighting in the streets of Baghdad.
http://snipurl.com/17e6s
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US envoy says Iraqi PM knows time is running out:
U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said some Iraqi leaders had miscalculated before thinking U.S. support would go on unconditionally but now they realise the patience of the American people is running out.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PAR235938.htm
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Turk PM asserts right to intervene in Iraq, raps US:
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Friday reaffirmed Turkey's right to send troops into Iraq to crush Kurdish rebels there and chided U.S. officials for questioning it.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article16146.htm
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Iraq Seeks Release of Iranians Seized by U.S.:
Iraq's foreign minister said he was seeking the release of five Iranians seized by U.S. troops from a representative office of the Tehran government in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Arbil on Thursday.
http://snipurl.com/17e6u
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Dutch minister criticises U.S. troop plan for Iraq:
Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot on Friday criticised the U.S. President George W. Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq, saying he doubted it would yield results.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L12847608.htm
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Russia condemns U.S. raid on Iranian office in Iraq:
Russia's foreign ministry said on Friday a raid by U.S. troops on an Iranian government office in northern Iraq was unacceptable and a violation of international rules.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L12847608.htm
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War Pimp Alert:
US says raid in N. Iraq, capture of Iranians, based on plans "to kill Americans:
White House spokesman Tony Snow on Friday said the raid was conducted after intelligence was received indicating efforts were being made to kill Americans and destabilize the Iraqi government.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/home/story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=941785
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An admiral to command a land war? :
President George W. Bush's choice of a Navy admiral to head Central Command after Gen. John P. Abizaid has set tongues wagging. Why send an admiral to command a land battle unless you don't expect the battle to remain a land one?
http://snipurl.com/17e8a
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Bush's tough tactics are a 'declaration of war' on Iran:
A leading UK-based Iran specialist, Ali Ansari, said the incident was an "extreme provocation". Dr Ansari said that Mr Bush's speech on future Iraq strategy amounted to "a declaration of war" on Iran.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article2145136.ece
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US denies Iran attack plans:
THE White House has flatly dismissed what it called a "rumour and urban legend" that the United States was gearing up for military action against Iran or Syria.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21052535-38201,00.html
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Does Bush have authority to strike Iran?
Pat Buchanan - 4 Minute video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSnWwDb3_AU
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War pimp alert:
New Arms Shipments to Iraqi Militia Detected:
US military intelligence sources tell ABC News that large shipments of weapons have been smuggled to Iraqi militia over the past five weeks, including dozens of Iranian supplied EFP's , or Explosive Form Projectiles, highly effective against armored vehicles.
http://www.ktre.com/Global/story.asp?S=5932266&nav=2FH5
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In case you missed it:
Top U.S. Military Official: No Evidence of Iran Involvement in Iraq:
Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, said today he has no evidence the Iranian government has been sending military equipment and personnel into neighboring Iraq.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article16154.htm
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In case you missed it:
British Find No Evidence Of Arms Traffic From Iran:
Maj. Dominic Roberts of the Queen's Dragoons said: "We have found no credible evidence to suggest there is weapons smuggling across the border."
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article16153.htm
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In case you missd it:
'No proof' of Iran nuclear arms" :
The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has not found conclusive evidence that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, a US magazine has reported.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6167304.stm
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Iran: U.S. Expert Predicts Oil-Export Crisis Within A Decade :
Economic geographer Roger Stern has predicted in a recent study in a U.S. National Academy of Sciences publication that Iran might run out of oil for export by 2015. Stern, a researcher at John Hopkins University, spoke with RFE/RL correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari about what this might mean.
http://snipurl.com/17e74
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Royal Marine dies in Afghanistan :
A Royal Marine has died during a battle with insurgents in the troubled Helmand province of southern Afghanistan.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6173467.stm
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Pepe Escobar : Somalia: Afghanistan remixed :
The "war on terror" is back with a bang. First Afghanistan, then Iraq and now Somalia. And Iran could well be the next Islamic nation to be bombarded by the US - as President George W Bush telegraphed in his "surge" speech on Wednesday.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/IA13Aa02.html
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Many Killed as Somali warlords agree joint army:
Somali warlords agreed on Friday to merge their forces into a new national army to tame the anarchic nation, but fighting outside the presidential palace where they met showed how hard that task will be.
http://snipurl.com/17e77
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Somali Jihadist: We're Not Al-Qaeda:
The U.S. brands the organization as an ally of al-Qaeda; in reality, it is also a nationalist anti-warlord movement that contains many Muslim moderates and has no international ambitions
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1576099,00.html
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Somalia: Fighting “terrorism” or quest for oil?:
What has been the concrete involvement of the U.S. in this war between Ethiopia and Somalia, two of the poorest countries in the world?
http://www.workers.org/2007/world/horn-of-africa-0111/
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America's interests in Somalia:
Four major U.S. oil companies are sitting on a prospective fortune in exclusive concessions.
http://snipurl.com/17e79
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Somalia - the Next Afghanistan + Iraq?:
Africans have constantly warned of the American military design on the Eastern seaboard. Yet, our "leaders" have thoughtlessly been currying favour with this vicious military power. In the horn, the heavily militarized Ethiopia has become their 'on the scene agent', doing the dirty work of the American warmonger.
http://www.garoweonline.com/stories/publish/article_7035.shtml
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Pakistan attacks militant supply trucks across border from fierce Afghan battle:
The army, acting on intelligence provided by the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan, used mortars and artillery in the attack Wednesday night at Gurvek, near the border, spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan told The Associated Press.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/11/asia/AS-GEN-Pakistan-Afghan-Violence.php
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Pakistan rejects U.S. spy chief's charge it harbors Qaida leaders :
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that John Negroponte's claim that Pakistan represents a major source of Islamic extremism and a refuge for top terror leaders is "incorrect."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/812870.html
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Rabbis throw book at Jimmy :
Outraged by Jimmy Carter's controversial new book, the nation's largest organization of rabbis yesterday pulled out of a planned visit to the former President's human rights center in Atlanta.
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/488087p-410903c.html
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U.S. set to announce plea deal with Israeli "crime kingpin" on drug charges :
Under the agreement between the parties, Rosenstein will serve 12 years in an Israeli prison. The parties decided that U.S. authorities would not be confiscating Rosenstein's assets, as they had requested.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/812856.html
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Western companies may get 75% of Iraqi oil profits:
Iraq's massive oil reserves may be thrown open for large-scale exploitation by Western oil companies - which could end up grabbing up to 75% of the beleagured nation's oil profits - under a law seen coming before the Iraqi parliament within days, the Independent reported on its Web site Monday.
http://snipurl.com/16zdr
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Rep. Ron Paul explores run for president:
Paul filed papers in Texas to create a presidential exploratory committee that will allow him to raise money. In 1988, Paul was the Libertarian nominee for president and received more than 400,000 votes.
http://snipurl.com/17e7g
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Pentagon Abandons Active-Duty Time Limit:
The Pentagon has abandoned its limit on the time a citizen-soldier can be required to serve on active duty, officials said Thursday, a major change that reflects an Army stretched thin by longer-than-expected combat in Iraq.
http://snipurl.com/17e7i
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Gov't Changes Student Military Recruiting :
The New York Civil Liberties Union sued on behalf of several high school students after the DoD's billion dollar Joint Advertising and Market Research Studies (JAMRS) military recruitment program began collecting, maintaining, and distributing their personal and private information, and that of millions of other high school students, in a rogue database
http://www.nyclu.org/milrec_dod_suit_pr_010907.html
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This is a US torture camp:
Evidence of prisoner abuse at Guantánamo is overwhelming - and it hasn't made anyone safer
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1988677,00.html
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U.S. Has Lost Credibility On Rights, Group Asserts:
The advocacy group Human Rights Watch said yesterday that Washington's once-powerful role as a prime defender of human rights had effectively ended
http://snipurl.com/17e7k
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Stop Shock Treatment To Punish Students With Disabilities:
The New York Civil Liberties Union today called on the New York State Board of Regents to reject regulations that would permit New York State schools to use electric skin shock, electric shocks, beatings, isolation, restraints, food deprivation, and other "aversive" stimuli to control the behaviors of chil
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