Al-Qaeda has backfired on the United States - Putin

[average american]

The West will support anyone for their short term and long term objectives. And pay a price in the long run. Look at Iraq and Afghanistan. US entered Afghanistan in 70's to overthrow the democratically elected communist govt and also teach a lesson to the then USSR, supported Islamic fighters funded by Saudi Arabia and trained by Pakistan, both close allies of USA. Afghanistan in the 70's was a peaceful country - god knows if the communist regime had continued Afghanistan might well have been like the secular ex-Soviet republics in Central Asia with high literacy and good health system - look at the wreck that Afghanistan is now, broken and hopeless. Iraq - another tragedy of US invasion.

The only countries that withstood powerful US were tiny Vietnam and Cuba - good for them ! Iran, not so little, reacted by replacing a US supported King with an extremist Islamic regime that will always be a thorn in their side. Believe me there will be payback in due course - in some form or other.

Conflict between democracy and totalitarian goverments, between people that want to be free and those that are enslaved by religon, between those that want live in the past and the future. its inevitable, I full expect it to get worse and hundreds of millions to die and many more suffer. You can never underestimate mankinds stupidy. Let loose the dogs of war.

 

[hello_10]

Hillary Clinton Admits US and Al-Qaeda On Same Side in Syria
Paul Joseph Watson

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has admitted that Al-Qaeda and other groups on the State Department's terror list are on the same side as the United States in Syria and that they are aiding opposition rebels.

In an interview with BBC News (watch video), Clinton states, "We have a very dangerous set of actors in the region, Al-Qaeda, Hamas, and those who are on our terrorist list, to be sure, supporting – claiming to support the opposition [in Syria]."

Clinton's admission that Al-Qaeda is supporting the armed insurrection in Syria dovetails with reports that the same Al-Qaeda terrorists who helped overthrow Colonel Gaddafi in Libya were airlifted into Syria by NATO forces.

Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri's has also publicly expressed support for Syrian rebel forces.

These terrorists have been blamed for bloody attacks that have killed both Syrian regime officials and innocent civilians, including a bombing earlier this month in Syria's second city of Aleppo which killed 28 people.

The recent Arab League report, which was almost universally ignored by the mainstream media, also concluded that both sides of the conflict were responsible for indiscriminate violence and that terrorist groups were helping the rebels carry out attacks.

Despite the admission that terrorists are aiding opposition forces in Syria, the establishment media has attempted to pour cold water on the issue, primarily through mouthpieces like 'Syria Danny' – an "activist" who has been afforded ample time by the corporate press to beg for a military invasion.

"It is richly ironic that the unelected fundamentalist Sunni regimes of the Persian Gulf are supporting Al Qaeda affiliated groups within Syria purportedly to "bring about democratic reforms," writes Professor Michel Chossudovsky. "This is the same dynamic that prevailed in Libya where the overthrow of that country's government by Western and Gulf Arab powers has now led to a collapse in human rights and social conditions."

Despite claims to the contrary, a general in the Free Syria Army, the opposition militia, has told journalists that the rebels are being armed with anti-aircraft missiles by the United States and France.

"In Homs on Tuesday, a general claiming to be from the rebel group appeared on camera and told a journalist from Reuters news agency that "French and American assistance has reached us and is with us." When asked to elaborate on the nature of the assistance he added, "We now have weapons and anti-aircraft missiles and, God willing, with all of that we will defeat Bashar [President Assad]," reports RT.

Former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds also reported that US troops landed on the Jordanian and Syrian border back in December for the purpose of training militants to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.

It was also revealed earlier this month that British Special Forces are already on the ground in Syria advising and directing the rebel army.

Prison Planet.com » Hillary Clinton Admits US and Al-Qaeda On Same Side in Syria

Putin flexes Russian military muscle in naval exercise
MOSCOW | Thu Mar 28, 2013

(Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin ordered large-scale military exercises in the Black Sea on Thursday, projecting Russian power towards Europe and the Middle East in a move that may vex neighbors.

Officials suggested the surprise drill would test reaction speed and combat readiness, but Putin's order also seemed a signal to the West of Russia's presence in the region.

Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Putin triggered the maneuvers as he flew back overnight from South Africa after a summit of the BRICS emerging economies.

Peskov said 36 warships and an unspecified number of planes would take part, but not how long exercises would last. :ranger:

Putin has stressed the importance of a strong and agile military since returning to the presidency last May. In 13 years in power, he has often cited external threats when talking of the need for reliable armed forces and Russian political unity.

Late last month, Putin ordered military leaders to make urgent improvements to the armed forces in the next few years, saying Russia must thwart Western attempts to tip the balance of power. He said maneuvers must be held with less advance warning, to keep soldiers on their toes.

Putin, 60, has used his role as commander-in-chief to cast himself as a strong leader for whom national security is foremost. State media emphasized he ordered the exercises from a plane in the dead of night.

Russia's Black Sea Fleet, whose main base is in the Ukrainian port of Sevastopol, was instrumental in a war with ex-Soviet neighbor Georgia in 2008 over the Russian-backed breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

In addition to Georgia and Ukraine, Russia shares the Black Sea with Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania.

But Russian foreign affairs analyst Fyodor Lukyanov said the exercises were "more likely part of a wider attempt to reconfirm that Russia's navy and military forces in the south are still able to play a political and geopolitical role."

"It is flexing muscles and may have more to do with what is happening in the Mediterranean, around Syria, than in the Black Sea," said Lukyanov, editor of journal Russia in Global Affairs.

REGIONAL ROLE

Russia's modest naval maintenance and supply facility in Syria is its only military base outside the former Soviet Union, and the Defense Ministry recently announced plans to deploy a naval unit in the Mediterranean on a permanent basis.

Russia has clashed diplomatically with the West throughout a two-year conflict that has killed more than 70,000 people in Syria, using its U.N. Security Council veto to block Western efforts to push President Bashar al-Assad from power.

Moscow-based military analyst Alexander Golts said unannounced exercises are good for Russia's military, but the location could raise questions among Russia's neighbors.

"We will be watching these exercises very closely as Georgia has its own experience with Russia," Tedo Japaridze, head of the Georgian parliament's foreign relations committee, told Reuters. He said all Black Sea nations have the right to hold exercises.

The Kremlin portrays Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili as a bellicose leader, and Russia said last week annual U.S.-Georgian training exercises that began this month in Georgia, far from the Black Sea coast, put peace at risk.

Meanwhile, disputes with Ukraine over Moscow's continued lease of the Black Sea navy base have been a thorn in relations with its former Soviet neighbor.

Peskov said the number of servicemen participating was short of the threshold requiring Russia to notify other nations of its plans, but Russian news agency Itar-Tass quoted a spokesman for Ukraine's foreign minister, who was in Moscow on Thursday, as saying Ukraine had been informed in advance.

A NATO official said the Western alliance was not given notice and that "exercises are part of what the military do. NATO also conducts regular military exercises, which are not directed at anyone". But he said NATO would like to see greater openness from Russia, including on military exercises.

(Additional reporting by Gabriela Baczynska in Moscow, Pavel Polityuk in Kiev, Margarita Antidze in Tbilisi and Adrian Croft in Brussels; Writing by Alissa de Carbonnel and Steve Gutterman; Editing by Jason Webb)

Putin flexes Russian military muscle in naval exercise | Reuters

 

[sorcerer]

I will answer this with a question, with all terror camps knowledge ,ISI support etc etc. upto infinity do we have the balls to invade Pakistan? .

I dont think its a question of having balls.
As for any soverign state..War is just another option to find a solution. We do have other options to neutralize the terror camps.
Also its NOT the fear about Pakistan having nukes.
I have read some place that India is waiting for Pak to make a wrong move with their defective "NO(u) CLEAR DOCTRINE" on the nuke side, to dismantle their nuke capacity for ever with the help of "reliable" international community.

"To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself" - Sun Tzu
That explains it.

With the current world scenario happening sorrounding North Korea, US with "balls" + its immense technology and defence capacity is still "talking" +askin help of "friends" to find a solution, than invade North Korea and shut them up.


So, its not about having balls But its all about having a policy and consistent behaviour to deal with contingency.

 

[hello_10]

US position on Syria directly endorses terrorism - Lavrov

Washington's reaction to blasts in Damascus is a downright justification of terrorism, slams Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. US State Department announced that terror acts in Syria are not surprising in light of the Assad regime's actions.

"This is direct endorsement of terrorism. How are we supposed to understand that?" Sergey Lavrov shared his astonishment at a press conference in Moscow. "This is a sinister position, I cannot find words to express our attitude towards that."

Lavrov also expressed his surprise that the UN Security Council refused to condemn acts of terror in Syria. The US permanent representative to the UN Susan Rice has stated that terror acts in Damascus contribute to speeding up the adoption of a resolution on Syria according to the Chapter 7 of the UN Statute, which implies harsh sanctions, including resorting to force.

"In other words this means 'We are going to support such acts of terrorism until the UNSC does what we want'," Lavrov commented on the US representative's actions.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said recently that there should be closer work with opposition in Syria as it captures more and more territories to prepare new actions of resistance to the government in Damascus.

Lavrov noted that there were reports that the opposition has taken control over border posts on the Iraqi and Turkish border with Syria and reportedly, there were cases of looting of Turkish property. According to some sources it was not Free Syrian Army militants that captured those posts, but by groups linked to Al-Qaeda, and Russian diplomats are verifying this information.

"If such actions of taking territories by terrorists are supported by our partners, we would like to ask them what their position on Syria is. What do they want to achieve in this country?" Russian FM demanded.

As for the EU unilateral sanctions against Damascus, they contradict the decisions taken by the UN Security Council and agreements reached at the Geneva talks, stated Lavrov.

"We believe the chosen unilateral way contradicts the principal of shared management of affairs accorded with the Geneva agreement," Lavrov said, adding that Russia advocates collective discussion of any questions.

"Unfortunately, when the EU, US and some other states began to adopt sanctions on Syria they did not consult with us at all," Lavrov observed.

Now that the Syrian crisis is over a year and a half old it is not exactly correct to appeal to the Security Council to adopt sanctions, shared the Russian diplomat.

Lavrov stressed that should the international community intended to address the Syrian crisis collectively – it should have been done that way from the very beginning, dealing with both combatant sides equally.

The heads of the EU foreign ministries have made a decision to broaden the list of Syrian officials banned from EU, also freezing their bank accounts and assets in EU countries.

Additional measures have also been adopted to ensure arms embargo on Syria. Henceforth, sea vessels and cargo aircraft heading for Syria are subject to compulsory inspection in case there are grounds to suspect they carry arms and prohibited equipment to Syria.

US position on Syria directly endorses terrorism - Lavrov — RT

few days before I was talking that, "those whose belief/ principles are similar, are generally very good friends. they always find themselves together on the issues, they believe is right."

and here we always find, no matter how much CIA and Al Qaeda fought with each others in past, they are always having friendship on the key issues due to principle similarities. no matter how many Americans, the Al Qaeda scored in 9/11 attack, US's tax payers, funding Al Qaeda in Syria, know that its only Al Qaeda who have "principle similarities" with CIA's, to achieve combined national interests of US, the society as whole this way. and hence, closeness between Al Qaeda and CIA in Syria doesn't surprise us :ranger:

 

[hello_10]

Al-Qaeda now a US ally in Syria

While we reflect on the 11th anniversary of the al Qaeda attacks on American soil, there is a blinding light that may obscure our view: this sworn enemy now fights hand in hand with the US against the Syrian regime.

The historic State of the Union address by US president George W. Bush on September 20, 2001 is loaded with morals and principles about good and evil.

The president's ultimatum was clear: either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.

In Syria, there is mounting evidence that Al Qaeda and its allies are actively deploying terror tactics and suicide bombers to overthrow the Assad regime.

Syrian citizens who prefer the secular and stable state to the prospect of an Iraqi-style sectarian state may well be turning this same question around to the US government: are you with us, or with the terrorists?

This week, head of the Salafi jihad and close ally of al Qaeda, Abu Sayyaf, pledged ''deadly attacks'' against Syria as ''our fighters are coming to get you'' because ''crimes'' by the regime ''prompts us to jihad''.

Bush referred to al Qaeda as the enemies of freedom: ''the terrorists' directive commands them to kill Christians and Jews''. But Sheikh Muhammad al Zughbey proclaimed that ''your jihad against this infidel criminal and his people is a religious duty "¦ Alawites are more infidel than the Jews and Christians''. Because the new jihad targets Alawites rather than Jews and Christians, does this render them better bed fellows?

By his own admission, Bush stated that al Qaeda was ''linked to many other organisations in different countries "¦ They are recruited from their own nations "¦ where they are trained in the tactics of terror "¦ They are sent back to their homes or sent to hide in countries around the world to plot evil and destruction''.

Yet this is precisely how the foreign jihadists in Syria have been described by reporters. They are funded and armed by Saudi Arabia and Qatar. And they collaborate with the Free Syrian Army which is aided and abetted by the US.

Bush condemned the Taliban regime because they were ''sponsoring and sheltering and supplying terrorists. By aiding and abetting murder, the Taliban regime is committing murder''. Eleven years later, the parallels produce an uncomfortable truth.

If only the Syrian uprising was as simple as the Arab Spring narrative where citizens seek democracy and freedom. But those unarmed protests have long since been hijacked by a cocktail of agendas which have little to do with Syrian democracy, and more to do with a proxy war to create a sectarian Sunni state that weakens Shi'te Iran's main partner in the region.

Bush was correct in claiming that al Qaeda ''want to overthrow existing governments in many Muslim countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan'' - who were all US-Israel allies at that time.

But his list stopped short of mentioning Syria or Iraq, the real targets of al Qaeda. Why does overthrowing Syria, using the same terror tactics, fail to attract the same degree of outrage?

Bush continues: ''We will starve terrorists of funding, turn them one against another, drive them from place to place, until there is no refuge or no rest. And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism.''

This pledge appears to have fallen on its own sword, given the funding of the jihadists in Syria. The terrorists have bred and spread across borders, which is the opposite of Bush's prophecy.

The US administration must come clean about its financial aid. It cannot use one hand to sign a blank cheque to the rebels, and the other hand to cover its eyes to their immoral and illegal tactics. It cannot hide behind ''the end justifies the means'' as there are too many innocent lives at stake.

Bush rode off on his high horse: ''We are in a fight for our principles, and our first responsibility is to live by them "¦ may God grant us wisdom''.

If the principles and morality are to be taken seriously, then they need to be applied consistently.

The US regime should be actively and publicly distancing itself from the foreign terrorists and Salafist jihadists that are proliferating within sovereign Syria.

It should be condemning al Qaeda for its militant intervention. It should be condemning the Saudi sheikhs who issue fatwas for an Alawite holocaust.

The wisdom that we see is grief over the al Qaeda crime 11 years ago, yet covert collaboration with this sworn enemy today.

Perhaps the US is applying another principle that they may have learned from their pragmatic Arab allies - the enemy of my enemy is my friend. :sua:

Al-Qaeda now a US ally in Syria

President Obama OKs Shipment of Arms to Al-Qaeda in Syria
14 June 2013

President Obama has given the green light to the shipping of weapons from the United States to opposition forces in Syria.

In a statement released by Ben Rhodes, the deputy national security advisor for strategic communications, the White House claims that "our intelligence community assesses that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons, including the nerve agent sarin."

The Syrian government's purported use of a chemical weapon, the president's national security statement said, "crosses clear red lines" for the United States and the international community.

On April 26, President Obama invoked very historic words when asked about where precisely the red line was drawn.

"To use weapons of mass destruction on civilian populations crosses another line with respect to international norms and international law," the president warned.

In a letter sent to the White House by Senators John McCain (R-Ariz.), Carl Levin (D-Mich.), and six other senators, intelligence reports were mentioned from "the French, British and Israeli governments" that corroborate claims of nerve gas deployment by Assad's military.

The president, however, has not always been so sure.

In fact, the senators were compelled to send that letter because they felt that President Obama was waffling on his resolve to commit the United States to adding military support to the millions of dollars in financial support already sent to Syrian rebels.

A recent report by The New American reveals that there may be very good reason to doubt the "weapons of mass destruction" assertion made Thursday by the president. As The New American noted:

The "varying degrees of confidence" the Obama administration has claimed for intelligence reports of chemical weapons use by government forces in Syria may become more varied and less confident if evidence cited by a United Nations investigator is substantiated. Reuters reported from Geneva on Sunday that one member of a UN team looking into human rights violations in Syria's two-year-old civil war said the evidence pointed to use of sarin gas by the rebel forces.

Carla Del Ponte, a former Swiss attorney general and a member of the UN independent commission of inquiry on Syria, said in a Swiss-Italian television interview that the commission's investigations produced "strong, concrete suspicions" about the origin of the nerve-gas attack.

"Our investigators have been in neighboring countries interviewing victims, doctors and field hospitals and, according to their report of last week which I have seen, there are strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof of the use of Sarin gas, from the way the victims were treated," Del Ponte said. "This was use on the part of the opposition, the rebels, not by the government authorities," she added.

While the United Nations has certainly not proven itself trustworthy, nor should its findings ever be accepted as persuasive by the government of the United States, the report it filed indicating possible use of sarin gas by the opposition army that the United States is now arming should be enough to give the president pause.

There, is however, an even more concrete set of facts that should cause the president to refuse to authorize sending an unidentified arsenal to the hodgepodge host of the enemies of Assad.

On August 1, 2012, Reuters reported on a secret order signed by President Obama providing support to Syrian rebel forces opposing the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Reuters wrote that "Recent news reports from the region have suggested that the influence and numbers of Islamist militants, some of them connected to al Qaeda or its affiliates, have been growing among Assad's opponents."

The next day, The New American covered the same story, writing that: "Western governments, brutal Sunni-Arab dictatorships, an assortment of terror groups including al-Qaeda, and other powerful interests have all been backing the uprising since long before violence even broke out last year."

Later that same day, in a story covering the violence of the Syrian uprising, the BBC reported:

The al-Qaeda-styled group in Syria is Jabhat al-Nusra li-Ahl al-Sham (the Front for the Protection of the Syrian People).

Like other al-Qaeda affiliated groups, al-Nusra's statements and videos are usually issued by its own media group, al-Manara al-Baida (the White Minaret) in Syria.

Al-Nusra has claimed responsibility for several attacks against the Syrian army, security and shabiha (state-sponsored thugs) since it announced its formation early this year.

Finally, under a headline reading "Al-Qaida turns tide for rebels in battle for eastern Syria," The Guardian (U.K.) reports:

They try to hide their presence. "Some people are worried about carrying the [black] flags," said Abu Khuder. "They fear America will come and fight us. So we fight in secret. Why give Bashar and the west a pretext?" But their existence is common knowledge in Mohassen. Even passers-by joke with the men about car bombs and IEDs [improvised explosive devices].

According to Abu Khuder, his men are working closely with the military council that commands the Free Syrian Army brigades in the region. "We meet almost every day," he said. "We have clear instructions from our [al-Qaida] leadership that if the FSA need our help we should give it. We help them with IEDs and car bombs. Our main talent is in the bombing operations." Abu Khuder's men had a lot of experience in bomb-making from Iraq and elsewhere, he added.

The foregoing accounts of the hostilities in Syria provide nearly irrefutable evidence that numerous al-Qaeda militants are found among the ranks of Syrian rebels (particularly within the Free Syrian Army), including among those filling leadership roles within those forces.

Perhaps, some may argue, President Obama is not aware of the presence of al-Qaeda militants in the Syrian opposition. Unless he doesn't talk to members of his cabinet, such an assertion is unsupportable.

At a press conference in May 2012, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta admitted, "We do have intelligence that indicates an al-Qaeda presence in Syria." So much for not knowing.

In light of the overwhelming evidence of the leadership role assumed by al-Qaeda over the rebel forces he has now ordered armed with American weaponry, is President Obama guilty of supporting al-Qaeda? If so, should he be subject to indefinite detention under the terms of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)?

As The New American has chronicled since it was first proposed, the NDAA purportedly authorizes the president of the United States to deploy the armed forces to apprehend and indefinitely detain anyone suspected of providing support to terrorists. Section 1021 of the NDAA reads in relevant part:

Congress affirms that the authority of the President to use all necessary and appropriate force pursuant to the Authorization for Use of Military Force (Public Law 107-40; 50 U.S.C.1541 note) includes the authority for the Armed Forces of the United States to detain covered persons (as defined in subsection (b)) pending disposition under the law of war.

A covered person under this section is any person as follows:

A person who was a part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners, including any person who has committed a belligerent act or has directly supported such hostilities in aid of such enemy forces.

And, finally:

Detention under the law of war without trial until the end of the hostilities authorized by the Authorization for Use of Military Force.

A plain reading of Section 1021 reveals, then, that anyone who is found to have "substantially supported" al-Qaeda or associated forces can be detained by the military until the end of the War on Terror.

If the laws passed by Congress apply only to the American people and not to the president or members of Congress themselves (15 senators recently voted to arm Syrian rebels), then the United States has become an aristocracy, whose ruling class is not governed by the laws they pass.

President Obama OKs Shipment of Arms to Al-Qaeda in Syria


=> If The Bush Administration Lied About WMD, So Did These People — Version 3.0 | Right Wing News

=> Iraq war was illegal and breached UN charter, says Annan | World news | The Guardian

 

[hello_10]

Millions of Evangelical Christians Want to Start World War III "¦ to Speed Up the Second Coming

But millions of Americans believe that Christ will not come again until Israel wipes out its competitors and there is widespread war in the Middle East. Some of these folks want to start a huge fire of war and death and destruction, so that Jesus comes quickly.

According to French President Chirac, Bush told him that the Iraq war was needed to bring on the apocalypse:

In Genesis and Ezekiel Gog and Magog are forces of the Apocalypse who are prophesied to come out of the north and destroy Israel unless stopped. The Book of Revelation took up the Old Testament prophesy:

"And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them."


Bush believed the time had now come for that battle, telling Chirac:

"This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people's enemies before a New Age begins""¦

There can be little doubt now that President Bush's reason for launching the war in Iraq was, for him, fundamentally religious. He was driven by his belief that the attack on Saddam's Iraq was the fulfilment of a Biblical prophesy in which he had been chosen to serve as the instrument of the Lord.


And British Prime Minister Tony Blair long-time mentor, advisor and confidante said:

"Tony's Christian faith is part of him, down to his cotton socks. He believed strongly at the time, that intervention in Kosovo, Sierra Leone – Iraq too – was all part of the Christian battle; good should triumph over evil, making lives better."

Mr Burton, who was often described as Mr Blair's mentor, says that his religion gave him a "total belief in what's right and what's wrong", leading him to see the so-called War on Terror as "a moral cause""¦

Anti-war campaigners criticised remarks Mr Blair made in 2006, suggesting that the decision to go to war in Iraq would ultimately be judged by God.

Bill Moyers reports that the organization Christians United for Israel – led by highly-influential Pastor John C. Hagee – is a universal call to all Christians to help factions in Israel fund the Jewish settlements, throw out all the Palestinians and lobby for a pre-emptive invasion of Iran. All to bring Russia into a war against us causing World War III followed by Armageddon, the Second Coming and The Rapture. See this and this.

This all revolves around what is called Dispensationalism. So popular is Dispensationalism that Tim LaHaye's Left Behind series has sold 65 million copies.


Dispensationalists include the following mega-pastors and their churches:

â– Jerry Falwell
â– Pat Robertson
â– Billy Graham


They are supported by politicians such as:

â– Newt Gingrich
â– Joseph Lieberman
â– John McCain
â– Texas Senator John Cronyn
â– Former House Minority Whip Roy Blunt
â– Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay
â– And others

Dr. Timothy Webber – an evangelical Christian who has served as a teacher of church history and the history of American religion at Denver Seminary and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Vice-President at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary in Lombard, IL, and President of Memphis Theological Seminary in Tennessee – notes:

In a recent Time/CNN poll, more than one-third of Americans said that since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, they have been thinking more about how current events might be leading to the end of the world.

While only 36 percent of all Americans believe that the Bible is God's Word and should be taken literally, 59 percent say they believe that events predicted in the Book of Revelation will come to pass. Almost one out of four Americans believes that 9/11 was predicted in the Bible, and nearly one in five believes that he or she will live long enough to see the end of the world. Even more significant for this study, over one-third of those Americans who support Israel report that they do so because they believe the Bible teaches that the Jews must possess their own country in the Holy Land before Jesus can return.

Millions of Americans believe that the Bible predicts the future and that we are living in the last days. Their beliefs are rooted in dispensationalism, a particular way of understanding the Bible's prophetic passages, especially those in Daniel and Ezekiel in the Old Testament and the Book of Revelation in the New Testament. They make up about one-third of America's 40 or 50 million evangelical Christians and believe that the nation of Israel will play a central role in the unfolding of end-times events. In the last part of the 20th century, dispensationalist evangelicals become Israel's best friends-an alliance that has made a serious geopolitical difference.

Evangelical Christians Want to Start WWIII to Speed the "Second Coming" ... and Atheist Neocons are Using Religion to Rile Them Up to Justify War Against Iran

Second Coming of Jesus and its 9/11 Connection

I have been reading news online for more than 9-10 years and I find almost every newspaper of Muslim countries find CIA's hands in 9/11 attack. just go to any Muslim forum and read responses of this topic, there is a common consensus that 9/11 attack was plotted by US itself to get a good excuse/reason to attack on the Muslim nations. and from my side I may say that even if OBL plotted 9/11, its hard to believe that he was having enough supports/resources etc to do so, if CIA itself didn't help OBL. I mean, even if US may prove that its the OBL who organized 9/11, they certainly can't prove, how could he do the same without help of CIA/MI6 itself?????

at the same time, "it is the biggest lie of 21st century that OBL was killed by US's military and then they threw his body in ocean." I mean, there is no sense to kill such a big personality if you 'only' wanted to kill him, who may give you valuable information. hence, either OBL never lived there, they always lied to world about one CIA agent, OBL, who always worked for CIA. or, OBL is still alive in a US's military base and might be telling everything of his past. there was never any reason, why US would capture OBL to kill him only, and then throw his body in ocean

a long time before it was agreed on the political forums that Saddam never had any WMD, it was clear even since beginning also. as, if he might have WMD then US was not going to dare to attack on Iraq during Saddam rule, 'so easily'. I mean, ..... Iraq was attacked only because it didn't have WMD otherwise it was 'hard'.

 

[hello_10]

...
My Comment on the on US's Afghan war. i would like to keep its record in this thread as below:

that's I myself have predicted..... the chances are at least 50% that Afghanistan will be brought back to the state it had till 2002, once US withdraw its front line forces...

and the worse, which we hope won't happen, that if we didn't read any new 9/11 type attack on US since 2001 then it was mainly because of their hold on the area from where that attack was originated, the Afghan. and after winning the war, with having better technologies now due to having close links with ISI too, (along with their CIA's links in Syria too,) Taliban/Al Qaeda may now be willing to take revenge for the way US/NATO fought war there, with more strength this time............

"losing a war has much more meaning than winning it." US is habituated of fighting wars one by one, if someone shows them eyes then they generally try to roll over that whole region.......... we hope we won't see any new 9/11 type thing on US and US/EU won't be able to go to Afghanistan this time, as per their current state of economy

look, USSR didn't do continuous years long bombing on the Afghan civilians like US, including their continuous efforts to convert the Afghans into Christianity..... USSR never did mass bombing on the Afghan civilians, like how US/West have been bombing on the different marriage ceremonies/ residential areas through drones in search of Taliban fighters. USSR never fought for culture/ religion/race etc in Afghan

USSR's Afghan government was even recognized by UN, had recognition from many countries also. while US's made Taliban were the only militia group

9/11 2001, the cause of Afghan intervention, resulted in death of around 5000 US's civilians, while US has scored over 50,000+ civilians only in Afghan since 2002....... there might be many generation of those Afghan's, who might be willing to take revenge for the way their family members were killed by US's forces, mainly in drone attacks on the common public in hunt of Taliban Fighters. in case of any new 9/11 type attack on US/NATO members, not only Afghan but even Pakistan's government may hardly say that neither US/NATO were punished for the way they did in that region nor they could find out those Pushtuns who conducted the recent attacks on the US/NATO countries. as it was always clear that US/West won't bomb on the western civilians in the same way as they did in that region in hunt of few militants.....

i don't mean that any type of terror attack on US/EU is justified as they also did the same in Afghan/ Pak's tribal areas . but I'm just trying to confirm the usual talks on the Pakistan's Afghan's forums, as i have read during last 6-7 years, mainly since 2007.....

look, Afghans are mainly Muslims, and they have full experience of religious attitude of West....... they will finally join Arab for their long wars with Western Christianity.... i have enough experience of Australia and have a look on this vedio as below and see what the 'Lawyer' of the Afghan refugees is saying in between 0.5min to 1.5 min as below...... have you lived in West? do you know, how exactly Muslims are considered as a threat for the western society???????


http://defenceforumindia.com/forum/...ll-humane-reform-us-immigration-system-2.html

look, USSR didn't do continuous years long bombing on the Afghan civilians like US, including their continuous efforts to convert the Afghans into Christianity..... USSR never did mass bombing on the Afghan civilians, like how US/West have been bombing on the different marriage ceremonies/ residential areas through drones in search of Taliban fighters. USSR never fought for culture/ religion/race etc in Afghan

USSR's Afghan government was even recognized by UN, had recognition from many countries also. while US's made Taliban were the only militia group

9/11 2001, the cause of Afghan intervention, resulted in death of around 5000 US's civilians, while US has scored over 50,000+ civilians only in Afghan since 2002....... there might be many generation of those Afghan's, who might be willing to take revenge for the way their family members were killed by US's forces, mainly in drone attacks on the common public in hunt of Taliban Fighters. in case of any new 9/11 type attack on US/NATO members, not only Afghan but even Pakistan's government may hardly say that neither US/NATO were punished for the way they did in that region nor they could find out those Pushtuns who conducted the recent attacks on the US/NATO countries. as it was always clear that US/West won't bomb on the western civilians in the same way as they did in that region in hunt of few militants.....:ranger:

i don't mean that any type of terror attack on US/EU is justified as they also did the same in Afghan/ Pak's tribal areas . but I'm just trying to confirm the usual talks on the Pakistan's Afghan's forums, as i have read during last 6-7 years, mainly since 2007. :thumb:

SU and US were just opposite. and one 'basic' difference was the 'democracy' itself. and you dont 'believe' in 'democracy', you are less likely to be considered even as 'human' .....

(the last post was about the main Sydney Detention Centre)


=> The Crusade for a Christian Military, the US/NATO forces
=> DEMOCRACY NOW! -

The military is denying it allows its soldiers to proselytize to Afghans, following the release of footage showing US soldiers in Afghanistan discussing how to distribute Bibles translated into Pashto and Dari. We speak to Air Force veteran and former Reagan administration counsel Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, and journalist Jeff Sharlet, author of a Harper's Magazine article on "The Crusade for a Christian Military."

The former prime minister of Afghanistan Ahmed Shah Ahmedzai has called for an investigation into allegations that US soldiers are trying to convert Afghans to Christianity, saying: "This is a complete deviation from what they are supposed to be doing."

His comments come after a report on Al Jazeera showed footage of soldiers at Bagram air base discussing how to distribute Bibles translated into Pashto and Dari. The US military is denying it allows its soldiers to proselytize to Afghans. The military claims the Bibles shown in the video had been confiscated and destroyed and were "never distributed." Admiral Mike Mullen told a Pentagon briefing Monday: "It certainly is, from the United States military's perspective, not our position to ever push any specific kind of religion, period."

The Pentagon has also sharply criticized Al Jazeera for releasing the year-old footage which was shot by filmmaker and former soldier Brian Hughes. Military spokesperson Colonel Greg Julian said: "Most of this is taken out of context. This is irresponsible and inappropriate journalism. There is no effort to go out and proselytize to Afghans."

On Tuesday, Al Jazeera released unedited footage of the US soldiers' bible study in Bagram to counter the Pentagon"s allegations. These excerpts from the unedited video show military chaplain Captain Emmit Furner leading the discussion on the definition of the US Central Command's General Order Number One that explicitly forbids active duty troops from trying to convert people to any religion.

Excerpts of Al Jazeera footage.

I'm joined now by two guests who have closely followed this story. Jeff Sharlet is a contributing editor for Harper's Magazine and joins me from Rochester, New York. He is author of "The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power" which is coming out in paperback next month. His latest article is the cover story of the May issue of Harper's magazine. Its called "Jesus Killed Mohammed: The Crusade for a Christian Military."

We're also joined from Albuquerque, New Mexico by Mikey Weinstein, an Air Force veteran and founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. A registered Republican, he served as legal counsel to the Reagan administration for three years and is the author of "With God On Our Side: One Man's War Against an Evangelical Coup in America's Military."

We spoke with Colonel Greg Julian in Afghanistan and invited him on the program but he declined to join us.

Jeff Sharlet, contributing editor for Harper's Magazine. He is author of The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, which is coming out in paperback next month.

Mikey Weinstein, Air Force veteran and founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. A registered Republican, he served as legal counsel to the Reagan administration for three years. He is the author of With God on Our Side: One Man's War Against an Evangelical Coup in America's Military.

=> DEMOCRACY NOW! -

=> DEMOCRACY NOW! -

here, from 2.50min onward, if we try to make sense of the soldier's instructor then he clearly means to say to the US's soldiers that they are fighting for Christianity in Afghan and its their duty to serve Jesus. a clear sense, as explained in the same video after that also

in fact, US is habituated of organising wars for Christianity on time to time, see during Iraq War also as below:

 

[hello_10]

double post

 

[hello_10]

Why are Europeans waging jihad in Syria?

Some 600 youths from Europe have joined Muslim extremists fighting to topple Syria's government. Officials fear what happens when they return radicalized.

BRUSSELS, Belgium — A man looks deep into the camera and pleads, in Arabic: "You, there in Europe, watching this video. I'm calling you."

With urgency in his voice, he refers to children being murdered and women being raped at the hands of the enemy.

"We really need you here. This is your opportunity for paradise."

"Paradise" via the distinct possibility of death on a Syrian battlefield, he means.

The man is calling for recruits to join the Al Nusra Front, an Al Qaeda affiliate that makes up part of Syria's fragmented armed opposition fighting the government forces of President Bashar al-Assad.

As unappealing as that "opportunity" may sound to the average European, the message has resonated with hundreds of youths here who have disappeared from their schools and homes and turned up in Syria.

Most are lifelong Muslims, while others are recent converts, a shocking number of them just teenagers, reportedly as young as 15.

Teenage Western recruits in Syria's uprising throw yet another complex layer on the country's 2-year-old civil war, which has killed more than 70,000 and displaced millions more. As it is, Western powers are grappling with how best to aid rebel groups that are fighting alongside extremists to replace Assad's regime.

It's also stirred communities here in Europe where authorities are on alert for any signs that residents are drawn to violent extremism.

The International Center for the Study of Radicalization, a London think tank, estimates as many as 600 Europeans have made this journey for jihad, with one of the largest contingents coming from Belgium. Belgian authorities estimate the number to be possibly as high as 80 individuals.

Among them is Jejoen Bontinck, an 18-year-old from Antwerp. His story has been grabbing headlines in recent weeks because his father, Dimitri Bontinck, is now in Aleppo in a desperate search for him, posting dramatic updates on Facebook.

The father has said his son was "brainwashed" by members of the outlawed Islamist organization Sharia4Belgium who befriended him in a city park.

Brian de Mulder, a 19-year-old also from Antwerp, is known to be there too, also drawn in by the shadowy group.

When family learned he was in Syria earlier this year, they held a joint press conference with the openly anti-Muslim Belgian nationalist party, Vlaams Belang, calling on the government to do more against Sharia4Belgium and its ilk.

After Belgian authorities raided four dozen houses and arrested six on suspicion of supporting terrorism last month, De Mulder, now known as Abu Qasem Brazili, sent the family a message saying he never wanted to see them again.

They weren't the only ones.

Two 16-year-olds from the Brussels suburb of Schaerbeek went missing for a few hours during their school's Easter break. They then called their parents from Turkey to say they were headed into the Syrian war zone.

The mother of one of the teens flew to Turkey immediately, coming back to Belgium days later heartbroken, with no information about her son.

With little or no contact with their kids, families are left scouring Al Nusra public relations videos, looking for confirmation their children are still alive.

Such YouTube videos were one of the first signs of proof the Europeans were there fighting with the Islamists, says Hicham El-Mzairh, an Antwerp city councilor with Muslim roots who knows several of the young men who've gone.

El-Mzairh points to a video, posted by a group he says is an offshoot of Al Nusra, of a firefight in which two of the young gunmen speak to each other in Dutch with what El-Mzairh describes as an unmistakable Antwerp accent.

Also unmistakable is the fact the two Flemish youth are rather new to this lifestyle, scrambling awkwardly up sand banks with their weapons.

"Abu what's-his-name," one says, in Dutch, addressing the other, before remembering his colleague's new name. "Abu Basir," he goes on, "only shoot when you see them."

While this exchange in Dutch has earned a few chuckles — and even its own Facebook page — the larger picture is dead serious. These young men are now instructed in techniques to kill, instilled with a hatred of the West, their home countries. Their families want them home; the rest of society isn't so sure.

Threat of their radicalized return

Europol, the European police network, has just released its annual threat assessment, showing officials are taking stock of this problem.

The police force has noted "increasing numbers of radicalized [European Union] citizens traveling to regions of conflict to engage in terrorist activities," Europol Director Rob Wainright wrote in the report.

"There is growing awareness of the threat posed by these people, should they return to the European Union intent on committing acts of terrorism," he added.

Next door, the Netherlands has already ticked its national security level up a notch specifically because it learned so many Dutch residents had gone to the Syrian battlefields.

El-Mzairh, long active in Antwerp's large Muslim community, says the alarm is justified. Long before the exodus to Syria raised new concerns, he'd been warning city leaders that Islamic radicals were making use of schools and parks to recruit young Belgians by exploiting a weak sense of community and inadequate guidance from old-fashioned imams in practicing tolerant Islam integrated with European norms.

"If we don't give them answers, they go to the internet," he says, where they "become hypnotized" by the likes of Al Nusra. "The biggest recruiter is the internet, it's YouTube."

And now, El-Mzairh says, the stringent Islam they've embraced to "fill the emptiness," as he describes it, is "also asking them to kill people that try to stop them. So they've got a holy book in one hand and a weapon in the other."

The Belgian government is at a loss over how they can be stopped. Border controls should be strengthened, most people agree. Another suggestion is to take away identity cards from those deemed vulnerable to extremist influences, so they can't leave the country.

Schaerbeek Mayor Bernard Clerfayt scoffs at that idea, even after the two teenagers who were schoolmates of his own children ran away to Syria. His town is half Muslim, half Catholic or other religions, and he says there's no way he's going to punish the entire Muslim youth population for the acts of relatively few.

"It's impossible," Clerfayt says, "to know which kids want to go to Syria. The two who did leave recently showed no signs they would do it."

What Clerfayt has done, controversially, is to shut down some of the free food distribution services at the local train station. Clerfayt says he learned there was radical Islamist propaganda being handed out with the meals and believes this connection may have been the link between the young teens and Syria.

While he's received some criticism for the move, Clerfayt says the vast majority of his municipality's Muslim population is grateful.

"They say, 'That's not the way we live our religion here,'" he said. "They are happy if I protect their kids from that form of radicalism."

Clerfayt says tips about extremists hanging around the mosques came from the members themselves. This kind of localized warning system is what is being attempted on an EU-wide scale with the Radicalization Awareness Network, or RAN.

The program is spending nearly $10.5 million per year to link up community members from schools, religious institutions, health care and other sectors throughout the 27 member states, encouraging dialogue and exchange of best practices as well as training them how to identify signs of radicalism before an individual becomes dangerous.

European Commission spokesman Michele Cercone is realistic about the program's chances for success. "It's not that we'll have concrete results in the short term nor that we'll probably convince those that are already radicalized or who have extremist views to change their mind," Cercone said. "But we certainly can plant the seed of doubt."

Hicham El-Mzairh agrees that grassroots prevention is the only hope to identify those who may turn on their own families and communities. But he says this is going to be harder than the conventional "war on terror" the public is familiar with, because you can't see it coming.

"They are our kids," he said. "They don't have beards; they have gel in their hair. They are talking about Beyonce one day but the next day jihad in Syria."

Why are Europeans waging jihad in Syria? | GlobalPost

 

[hello_10]

US-Backed Syrian Opposition Demands Support for Al Qaeda

US-handpicked opposition leader, Moaz al-Khatib wants US to reconsider terror listing for Al Qaeda's al-Nusra front. :thumb:

Al-Khatib (r) demands support for Al Qaeda

December 13, 2012 (LD) - As part of the US' charade in declaring support and recognition of the so-called "Syrian" opposition, it added one of the more extreme groups that make up the militant front operating inside Syria to a list of sanctioned terrorist organizations. The idea was to have a scapegoat to pin atrocities on while the West armed, funded, and provided military support for the rest of the extremist groups ravaging Syria. :ranger:

The ploy quickly fell apart however, when the US' own handpicked opposition leader, Moaz al-Khatib spoke out in protest. Reuters quoted al-Khatib as saying:

"The decision to consider a party that is fighting the regime as a terrorist party needs to be reviewed. We might disagree with some parties and their ideas and their political and ideological vision. But we affirm that all the guns of the rebels are aimed at overthrowing the tyrannical criminal regime." :hang2:



Al-Khatib himself openly declares his intentions of establishing an "Islamic state" upon the ashes of the currently secular Syria, and has ties with the extremist Muslim Brotherhood. He was also a representative of Western big oil interests, in particular Royal Dutch Shell. Al-Khatib had worked at the al-Furat Petroleum Company for six years, according to the BBC, which is partnered with Shell Oil. Al-Khatib is also said to have lobbied for Shell in Syria between 2003-2004, and has likewise taught classes in both Europe and the United States, this according to his biography featured on his own website.

The implications of the US-backed "opposition coalition" in Syria clearly collaborating with and acting in support of the terrorist Jabhat al-Nusra front, identifies it as providing material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, as per USC § 2339B which reads:

• "Whoever knowingly provides material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization, or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 15 years, or both, and, if the death of any person results, shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life. To violate this paragraph, a person must have knowledge that the organization is a designated terrorist organization (as defined in subsection (g)(6)), that the organization has engaged or engages in terrorist activity (as defined in section 212(a)(3)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality Act), or that the organization has engaged or engages in terrorism (as defined in section 140(d)(2) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1988 and 1989)."

Clearly, at the very least, the US cannot "recognize" such a group as the "representatives" of the Syrian people, nor can it support them in any manner, financial, militarily, or politically. To do so would implicate the US government itself as in violation of its own anti-terror laws. :ranger:

The so-called "Syrian" opposition has been an increasing embarrassment to the Western interests that have maliciously arrayed them against the Syrian people, as far back as 2007. And while NATO is willfully utilizing Al Qaeda's own regional networks to flood terrorists into Syria, to have the leaders of their own contrived opposition front openly demand that Al Qaeda be given support and recognition gives the world's public insight into the depths of illegitimacy from which the West is operating in pursuit of regime change in Syria.

Land Destroyer: US-Backed Syrian Opposition Demands Support for Al Qaeda

 

[hello_10]

double post

 

[W.G.Ewald]

double post

So what? All your posts serve only to flog your bloated threads all over DFI in which 90% of the participation is your tedious cut & pastes and pointless rants. You personify wasted bandwdith.

 

[hello_10]

President Obama OKs Shipment of Arms to Al-Qaeda in Syria
14 June 2013

President Obama has given the green light to the shipping of weapons from the United States to opposition forces in Syria.

In a statement released by Ben Rhodes, the deputy national security advisor for strategic communications, the White House claims that "our intelligence community assesses that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons, including the nerve agent sarin."

The Syrian government's purported use of a chemical weapon, the president's national security statement said, "crosses clear red lines" for the United States and the international community.

On April 26, President Obama invoked very historic words when asked about where precisely the red line was drawn.

"To use weapons of mass destruction on civilian populations crosses another line with respect to international norms and international law," the president warned.

In a letter sent to the White House by Senators John McCain (R-Ariz.), Carl Levin (D-Mich.), and six other senators, intelligence reports were mentioned from "the French, British and Israeli governments" that corroborate claims of nerve gas deployment by Assad's military.

The president, however, has not always been so sure.

In fact, the senators were compelled to send that letter because they felt that President Obama was waffling on his resolve to commit the United States to adding military support to the millions of dollars in financial support already sent to Syrian rebels.

A recent report by The New American reveals that there may be very good reason to doubt the "weapons of mass destruction" assertion made Thursday by the president. As The New American noted:

The "varying degrees of confidence" the Obama administration has claimed for intelligence reports of chemical weapons use by government forces in Syria may become more varied and less confident if evidence cited by a United Nations investigator is substantiated. Reuters reported from Geneva on Sunday that one member of a UN team looking into human rights violations in Syria's two-year-old civil war said the evidence pointed to use of sarin gas by the rebel forces.

Carla Del Ponte, a former Swiss attorney general and a member of the UN independent commission of inquiry on Syria, said in a Swiss-Italian television interview that the commission's investigations produced "strong, concrete suspicions" about the origin of the nerve-gas attack.

"Our investigators have been in neighboring countries interviewing victims, doctors and field hospitals and, according to their report of last week which I have seen, there are strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof of the use of Sarin gas, from the way the victims were treated," Del Ponte said. "This was use on the part of the opposition, the rebels, not by the government authorities," she added.

While the United Nations has certainly not proven itself trustworthy, nor should its findings ever be accepted as persuasive by the government of the United States, the report it filed indicating possible use of sarin gas by the opposition army that the United States is now arming should be enough to give the president pause.

There, is however, an even more concrete set of facts that should cause the president to refuse to authorize sending an unidentified arsenal to the hodgepodge host of the enemies of Assad.

On August 1, 2012, Reuters reported on a secret order signed by President Obama providing support to Syrian rebel forces opposing the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Reuters wrote that "Recent news reports from the region have suggested that the influence and numbers of Islamist militants, some of them connected to al Qaeda or its affiliates, have been growing among Assad's opponents."

The next day, The New American covered the same story, writing that: "Western governments, brutal Sunni-Arab dictatorships, an assortment of terror groups including al-Qaeda, and other powerful interests have all been backing the uprising since long before violence even broke out last year."

Later that same day, in a story covering the violence of the Syrian uprising, the BBC reported:

The al-Qaeda-styled group in Syria is Jabhat al-Nusra li-Ahl al-Sham (the Front for the Protection of the Syrian People).

Like other al-Qaeda affiliated groups, al-Nusra's statements and videos are usually issued by its own media group, al-Manara al-Baida (the White Minaret) in Syria.

Al-Nusra has claimed responsibility for several attacks against the Syrian army, security and shabiha (state-sponsored thugs) since it announced its formation early this year.

Finally, under a headline reading "Al-Qaida turns tide for rebels in battle for eastern Syria," The Guardian (U.K.) reports:

They try to hide their presence. "Some people are worried about carrying the [black] flags," said Abu Khuder. "They fear America will come and fight us. So we fight in secret. Why give Bashar and the west a pretext?" But their existence is common knowledge in Mohassen. Even passers-by joke with the men about car bombs and IEDs [improvised explosive devices].

According to Abu Khuder, his men are working closely with the military council that commands the Free Syrian Army brigades in the region. "We meet almost every day," he said. "We have clear instructions from our [al-Qaida] leadership that if the FSA need our help we should give it. We help them with IEDs and car bombs. Our main talent is in the bombing operations." Abu Khuder's men had a lot of experience in bomb-making from Iraq and elsewhere, he added.

The foregoing accounts of the hostilities in Syria provide nearly irrefutable evidence that numerous al-Qaeda militants are found among the ranks of Syrian rebels (particularly within the Free Syrian Army), including among those filling leadership roles within those forces.

Perhaps, some may argue, President Obama is not aware of the presence of al-Qaeda militants in the Syrian opposition. Unless he doesn't talk to members of his cabinet, such an assertion is unsupportable.

At a press conference in May 2012, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta admitted, "We do have intelligence that indicates an al-Qaeda presence in Syria." So much for not knowing.

In light of the overwhelming evidence of the leadership role assumed by al-Qaeda over the rebel forces he has now ordered armed with American weaponry, is President Obama guilty of supporting al-Qaeda? If so, should he be subject to indefinite detention under the terms of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)?

As The New American has chronicled since it was first proposed, the NDAA purportedly authorizes the president of the United States to deploy the armed forces to apprehend and indefinitely detain anyone suspected of providing support to terrorists. Section 1021 of the NDAA reads in relevant part:

Congress affirms that the authority of the President to use all necessary and appropriate force pursuant to the Authorization for Use of Military Force (Public Law 107-40; 50 U.S.C.1541 note) includes the authority for the Armed Forces of the United States to detain covered persons (as defined in subsection (b)) pending disposition under the law of war.

A covered person under this section is any person as follows:

A person who was a part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners, including any person who has committed a belligerent act or has directly supported such hostilities in aid of such enemy forces.

And, finally:

Detention under the law of war without trial until the end of the hostilities authorized by the Authorization for Use of Military Force.

A plain reading of Section 1021 reveals, then, that anyone who is found to have "substantially supported" al-Qaeda or associated forces can be detained by the military until the end of the War on Terror.

If the laws passed by Congress apply only to the American people and not to the president or members of Congress themselves (15 senators recently voted to arm Syrian rebels), then the United States has become an aristocracy, whose ruling class is not governed by the laws they pass.

President Obama OKs Shipment of Arms to Al-Qaeda in Syria


=> If The Bush Administration Lied About WMD, So Did These People — Version 3.0 | Right Wing News

=> Iraq war was illegal and breached UN charter, says Annan | World news | The Guardian

Kerry Admits: 'Many Al Qaeda Leaders Now Operating in Syria'
August 16, 2013

(CNSNews.com) - Speaking Thursday at a joint appearance with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Secretary of State John Kerry admitted that there were "many al Qaeda leaders now operating in Syria"—where President Barack Obama decided two months ago to provide military support to rebel forces fighting alongside al Qaeda to overthrow the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Asad.

Asad is a member of the Alawite sect, which is a derivative of Shiite Islam; the Syrian rebels are predominantly Sunni, and al Qaeda is Sunni.

According to the CIA, Assad's Alawite sect represents no more than 16 percent of the Syrian population, while 74 percent of Syrians are Sunni. In Iraq, by contrast, about 32 to 37 percent of the population in Sunni and 60 to 65 percent is Shiite. Al Qaeda is in opposition to both the Shiite-connected government of Syria and the Shiite-majority government of Iraq. :thumb:

"Iraq sits at the intersection of regional currents of increasingly turbulent, violent, and unpredictable actions," said Kerry. "Sunni and Shia extremists on both sides of the sectarian divide throughout the region have an ability to be able to threaten Iraq's stability if they're not checked.

"And al-Qaida, as we have seen, has launched a horrific series of assaults on innocent Iraqis, even taking credit for the deplorable bombings this past weekend that targeted families that were celebrating the Eid holiday," said Kerry. "And this al-Qaida network, we know, stretches well beyond Iraq's borders. With many al-Qaida leaders now operating in Syria, we all need to accelerate our work in order to set the conditions for a diplomatic settlement to the Syrian crisis."

"We hope also to discuss this morning the issue of weapons flowing from the Syrian conflict into Iraq for use against Iraqis or weapons flowing through Iraq and going into Syria," said Kerry. "It's a two-way street and it's a dangerous street."

Last December, the U.S. government officially designated the Nusra Front, which is part of the Syrian opposition, an al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group.

According to report on the Syrian conflict published in June by the Congressional Research Service, the Nusra Front's allies in the Syrian opposition reacted negatively to the administration's listing of this al Qaeda organization as a terrorist group.

"In December 2012, the Obama administration designated the Nusra Front as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and as an alias of al-Qaida in Iraq," said CRS. "Reactions from some Syrian opposition leaders and armed groups were negative. Several armed groups made statements of solidarity with al-Nusra, and prominent civilian figures, including then-President [Ahmed] Khateeb of the SOC [Syrian Opposition Coalition], requested that the U.S. government reconsider the designation."

In June, six months after his administration designated the Nusra Front an al Qaeda alias and terrorist group, President Obama decided to provide military support to the Syrian opposition.

"The president has made a decision about providing more support to the opposition that will involve providing direct support to the SMC [the rebels' Supreme Military Command Council]," Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters June 13. "That includes military support."

Kerry Admits: 'Many Al Qaeda Leaders Now Operating in Syria' | CNS News



=> Syrian War Fueling Attacks by Al Qaeda in Iraq

The spiraling conflict in Syria has provided a sanctuary for leaders of Al Qaeda's Iraq affiliate who are orchestrating attacks in Baghdad and other cities, posing a fresh challenge for efforts to maintain security there, American officials said Thursday.

"They are flush with jihadi recruits, which are coming into Syria, and we think they are sending a number of them into Iraq," a senior administration official told reporters.

In 2011 and 2012, suicide bombings in Iraq averaged 5 to 10 a month. But over the past 90 days, the number has approached about 30 a month, the official added.

Concerns that the chaos in Syria may destabilize Iraq were at the top of the agenda on Thursday when Secretary of State John Kerry met with Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq's foreign minister, for consultations on security, political and economic issues.

"Sunni and Shia extremists on both sides of the sectarian divide throughout the region have an ability to be able to threaten Iraq's stability if they're not checked," Mr. Kerry said.

The leader of Al Qaeda's Iraq affiliate, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and other senior members of the group are operating from Syria, according to the State Department. "Al Qaeda, as we have seen, has launched a horrific series of assaults on innocent Iraqis," Mr. Kerry added, referring to an attack on Sunday that killed more than 60 people during the holiday that marks the end of Ramadan.

Hours before Mr. Kerry spoke, another string of car bombs were detonated across Baghdad during the morning commute, killing at least 30 people and wounding more than 60. Among the targets were a hospital and a cafe. Immediately after the bombings, the army and the police tightened security across the capital, bringing traffic to a halt in many areas.

"We have seen the new violence or terrorist attacks by Al Qaeda more frequently, and it has cost many, many lives," Mr. Zebari said.

Throughout the Iraq war, Syria was a gateway for Sunni suicide bombers who sought to undermine the Shiite-led government and to attack American troops. When the last of the United States forces left Iraq at the end of 2011, Obama administration officials said they believed that the country would be able to cope with terrorist attacks largely on its own.

But the upheaval in Syria, which has attracted a stream of Sunni extremists, has called that assumption into question.

With none of its own military forces in Iraq, the ability of the United States to train and help the Iraqis fight Al Qaeda is limited. But the United States is trying to assist on several fronts, including the sharing of intelligence to help the Iraqis uncover terrorist cells and avoid indiscriminate wide-scale dragnets that fuel Sunni resentment. During the war, Iraq's counterterrorism forces depended heavily on American military intelligence, which used sophisticated reconnaissance systems and had the ability to locate terrorist threats by intercepting communications.

The Obama administration has also notified Congress in recent weeks that it plans to sell Iraq more than $4 billion in arms, including Stryker armored vehicles and other military systems that are suited for internal security operations.

The country's prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, has pressed the United States to sell Apache attack helicopters to his government. The Obama administration has been considering a number of options, leasing some Apaches to the Iraqis that they could field quickly. Some American lawmakers have been anxious about providing the helicopters for fear they might be used by Mr. Maliki to intimidate political opponents.

"They certainly would help with internal security, but they can also be used to crack down on the population." said Nora Bensahel, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. "The more the terrorist threat increases, the more likely the sale is to go through."

The Obama administration has also been trying to broker a meeting between the Maliki government and the moderate Syrian opposition. The United States hopes such a meeting will ease the Iraq prime minister's concerns that if President Bashar al-Assad of Syria is ousted, his government will be replaced by a hostile Sunni-dominated government on Iraq's doorstep. It is also hoped that such a meeting would encourage Iraq to be more cooperative in pressing for a transition to a post-Assad administration.

As he did during his visit to Baghdad in March, Mr. Kerry urged the Iraqis to inspect Iranian flights that have been flying weapons to Damascus through Iraqi airspace.

Those deliveries have strengthened Mr. Assad's military position and, critics say, have been quietly tolerated by the Maliki government.

Mr. Zebari insisted that Iraq is not taking sides in the Syria crisis. In a joint statement issued on Thursday, Iraq restated its commitment to prevent "the transit of weapons through its territory."

"There has been some progress in this area since my visit to Iraq in March," Mr. Kerry said. "There is very significant progress yet to be made."

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/16/w...ttacks-by-al-qaeda-in-iraq-officials-say.html

 

[LETHALFORCE]

Al queda were always reported to be sunnis how are syrians tied to al queda when they are predominately shias?
I think the incompetent obama administration doesn't know what you label anyone these day? Another classic example

THE GOOD TALIBAN- how did they become good After ten years of war? Were there Good viet congs?

 

[hello_10]

Al queda were always reported to be sunnis how are syrians tied to al queda when they are predominately shias?
I think the incompetent obama administration doesn't know what you label anyone these day? Another classic example

THE GOOD TALIBAN- how did they become good After ten years of war? Were there Good viet congs?

thats what i have discussed in my post#11, how US's politicians like Mrs H.Clinton talk with their Pakistani friends in private, while making difference between good and bad terrorists in the post#11 of this thread...

similarly we now have American Taliban, British Taliban etc, as below

this news as below means to say, "even" American Al Qaeda/ Taliban wants to kill Americans, who are mainly for the purpose to kill civilians of the opposite side of US/NATO

American al Qaeda militant urges attacks on U.S. diplomats

(Reuters) - An American al Qaeda militant has called for more attacks on Western diplomats in the Arab world, praising the killers of the U.S. ambassador to Libya on September 11 last year, a U.S.-based monitoring group said on Sunday.

American al Qaeda militant urges attacks on U.S. diplomats | Reuters

 

[hello_10]

Putin flexes Russian military muscle in naval exercise
MOSCOW | Thu Mar 28, 2013

(Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin ordered large-scale military exercises in the Black Sea on Thursday, projecting Russian power towards Europe and the Middle East in a move that may vex neighbors.

Officials suggested the surprise drill would test reaction speed and combat readiness, but Putin's order also seemed a signal to the West of Russia's presence in the region.

Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Putin triggered the maneuvers as he flew back overnight from South Africa after a summit of the BRICS emerging economies.

Peskov said 36 warships and an unspecified number of planes would take part, but not how long exercises would last. :ranger:

Putin has stressed the importance of a strong and agile military since returning to the presidency last May. In 13 years in power, he has often cited external threats when talking of the need for reliable armed forces and Russian political unity.

Late last month, Putin ordered military leaders to make urgent improvements to the armed forces in the next few years, saying Russia must thwart Western attempts to tip the balance of power. He said maneuvers must be held with less advance warning, to keep soldiers on their toes.

Putin, 60, has used his role as commander-in-chief to cast himself as a strong leader for whom national security is foremost. State media emphasized he ordered the exercises from a plane in the dead of night.

Russia's Black Sea Fleet, whose main base is in the Ukrainian port of Sevastopol, was instrumental in a war with ex-Soviet neighbor Georgia in 2008 over the Russian-backed breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

In addition to Georgia and Ukraine, Russia shares the Black Sea with Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania.

But Russian foreign affairs analyst Fyodor Lukyanov said the exercises were "more likely part of a wider attempt to reconfirm that Russia's navy and military forces in the south are still able to play a political and geopolitical role."

"It is flexing muscles and may have more to do with what is happening in the Mediterranean, around Syria, than in the Black Sea," said Lukyanov, editor of journal Russia in Global Affairs.

REGIONAL ROLE

Russia's modest naval maintenance and supply facility in Syria is its only military base outside the former Soviet Union, and the Defense Ministry recently announced plans to deploy a naval unit in the Mediterranean on a permanent basis.

Russia has clashed diplomatically with the West throughout a two-year conflict that has killed more than 70,000 people in Syria, using its U.N. Security Council veto to block Western efforts to push President Bashar al-Assad from power.

Moscow-based military analyst Alexander Golts said unannounced exercises are good for Russia's military, but the location could raise questions among Russia's neighbors.

"We will be watching these exercises very closely as Georgia has its own experience with Russia," Tedo Japaridze, head of the Georgian parliament's foreign relations committee, told Reuters. He said all Black Sea nations have the right to hold exercises.

The Kremlin portrays Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili as a bellicose leader, and Russia said last week annual U.S.-Georgian training exercises that began this month in Georgia, far from the Black Sea coast, put peace at risk.

Meanwhile, disputes with Ukraine over Moscow's continued lease of the Black Sea navy base have been a thorn in relations with its former Soviet neighbor.

Peskov said the number of servicemen participating was short of the threshold requiring Russia to notify other nations of its plans, but Russian news agency Itar-Tass quoted a spokesman for Ukraine's foreign minister, who was in Moscow on Thursday, as saying Ukraine had been informed in advance.

A NATO official said the Western alliance was not given notice and that "exercises are part of what the military do. NATO also conducts regular military exercises, which are not directed at anyone". But he said NATO would like to see greater openness from Russia, including on military exercises.

(Additional reporting by Gabriela Baczynska in Moscow, Pavel Polityuk in Kiev, Margarita Antidze in Tbilisi and Adrian Croft in Brussels; Writing by Alissa de Carbonnel and Steve Gutterman; Editing by Jason Webb)

Putin flexes Russian military muscle in naval exercise | Reuters

A Pig is a Pig, you can't change him/her

yesterday i remember this Black Sea Operation and sonakshi sinha's drama was going on that time. and i clearly warned to Obama/H.Clinton that, "little loss of mental balance on anything i say and you will have lost few of the NATO's military base of this region. just little loss of mental balance on anything i say and bye bye " and then we found no response from the US's/ Western side in this regard......

and the same i concluded while my recent talk with Joe Biden, "until you make the pigs realized that they are pigs, they can't understand what is right......" Biden came to India on 23rd July because of my few statements and i thought i would give him respect and didn't come to the forums during his stay in India. but even during his stay in India, his men used my IDs to abuse all those who could be good to me. first US have offered sanctions on all those copuntries who can be good to me (snowden on my place in russia), and at the same time they fund those Indians/ western people who then use my IDs to abuse all those who can be good to me? even during his stay here in India . and it always prove, "a pig is a pig, whether you give him/her respect or not, he/she will always attack on the back." and this is my years of experience with the US's/UK's/Australian rulers like Biden/H.clinton/Tony Blair/ D.Cameron/ J.Gillard/ Rudd/ Howard/ B.Clinton etc......

and i have offered that, "just put me in Russia and get me from there and do whatever you want to, whether by negotiations or by military means." and now these pigs of US/west are quite, as now they have understood the consequences, once land on russia and i go on the hands of Mr Putin..... but again i smell now days that they are planning something on my back..... the b@stards who always attack on the back and will always do the same, the pigs will always be pigs, you can't change them :Australia:

=> US Lawmakers Seek Sanctions on Nations Helping Snowden | Russia | RIA Novosti

 

[hello_10]

terrorism has been part of foreign policy of US even since WW2, to maintain the gains of that war. its little shocking in beginning for those who joing US's foreign ministry but slowly slowly they get used to with that. like how Ms H.Clinton faced the things, like how Americans and Pakistanis talk in private as below:

I became Secretary of State, they were trying to basically appease the Pakistani Taliban who were attacking them. So they were trying to draw a distinction between the good terrorists and the bad terrorists, because we had funded the "good terrorists" together.

Referring to the support US provided to these insurgent groups during the fight against the Russians in Afghanistan, Clinton said when she meets Pakistani officials, they rightly say, "You're the ones who told us to cooperate with these people. You're the ones who funded them. akistan:

Pak making error by supporting terror groups against India: US : Americas, News - India Today

Western nations are seriously confused with the concept of right and wrong/ good and bad. They always want to do a wrong with keeping many good reasons to do so..........

more to the above post, it has been discussed in the Indian newspapers since 2001 that, US recognized terrorism as terrorism only when it was attacked on 9/11, otherwise till then they have been funding terrorism against their foes. and only after 9/11, they came after those, they made/ funded/ trained, otherwise it was only to use terrorism against their enemies. as US/NATO simply never recognized other 'states' who don't follow them.....

and here we may give a credit to the OBL's 9/11, which made the US understand, "terrorism is terrorism, good or bad."

 

[hello_10]

'West's policy of iron and blood doesn't work'
01 December, 2012

Advancing democracy abroad through "iron and blood" "doesn't work", said Russia's Foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov. In his speech the diplomat slammed the West's policy towards Syria and reiterated Russia's stance on the situation in the war-torn state.

Sergey Lavrov stressed that Moscow's position towards Syria and other countries in the region is not because Russia "opposes Western influence" or "puts a stick in the spokes of Western-initiated projects out of spite", but because "advancing democracy through iron and blood just does not work".

"In most cases it produces the opposite reaction" and leads to "the strengthening of extremists and repressive forces, decreasing the chances of real democratic change," Lavrov said at a foreign policy council meeting.

"This has been made clear in recent months – the past year-and-a-half," he added.

Lavrov recalled the results of past attempts to use force by avoiding the UN Security Council, and expressed concern that some states are trying to make the "Libyan model a precedent."

"What is worrying is that at times of crises one is tempted to resort to military methods. Some of our partners find these methods suitable," Lavrov said.

"No-one knows in the end what will happen in the Middle East, including Syria," he said.

The latest statement by Lavrov echoes President Vladimir Putin's comments made back in July. Then Putin criticized the West for clinging to its influence in the Arab world under the guise of "humanitarian operations", dubbing western involvement in Arab affairs as the export of "rocket and bomb democracy."

Moscow has been repeatedly criticized for supporting Assad's regime, including weapon and money supplies, and vetoing resolutions against government regime. Russia has denied the accusations by western powers, but says it will not allow a repeat of Libyan scenario. At the same time, Moscow insists that Assad's resignation, something the West actively seeks, cannot be decided by foreign states, but only by the Syrian people.

Lavrov: 'West's policy of iron and blood doesn't work' — RT

More than 115,000 killed in Syrian conflict
Oct 1, 2013

(Reuters) - More than 115,000 people have been killed in Syria's two-and-a-half-year-old civil war, including tens of thousands of soldiers, rebels and civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday.

The figure suggested that around 5,000 people had died in September alone and that the bloodshed has not been slowed by an international deal for the elimination of Syria's chemical weapons after an August 21 sarin gas attack in the Damascus area.

The British-based Observatory, which monitors violence through a network of activists, medical and military sources around Syria, said about 47,000 soldiers and militia fighters loyal to President Bashar al-Assad had been killed.

Rebel fighters, including army defectors, accounted for around 23,000 of the dead, the Observatory said.

More than 41,000 civilians have been killed, including 6,000 children and 4,000 women. The toll includes 3,000 unidentified people, according to the Observatory which says it documents deaths by obtaining film and photographs of bodies and seeking to confirm identities through family, medics and activists.

(Reporting by Dominic Evans; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

More than 115,000 killed in Syrian conflict - monitoring group | Reuters

 

[Ash]

Al-Qaeda has backfired on the United States

So has Bi Laden, Sadam Hussein, Pakistan. Seems like the U.S. has a trend of backing the worng horse..............even with the multitude of people advising the U.S. President.

 

[hello_10]

Al-Qaeda has backfired on the United States

So has Bi Laden, Sadam Hussein, Pakistan. Seems like the U.S. has a trend of backing the worng horse..............even with the multitude of people advising the U.S. President.

we have a news as below too :ranger:

and as per the history/ our exprience too, "Nobel Peace Price" is generally given to those who help/support US and its allies in Peace Establishment Wars, they fight every year. here, how Chemical Weapons Watch Dogs played any 'role' in US's/Western Peace War in Syria?????

=> Chemical weapons watchdog OPCW wins Nobel peace prize - The Times of India