Maybe it could have happened to a more deserving operative, but that's splitting hairs. Obviously we can't call the late ambassador Chris Stevens the "mastermind" of the US covert destabilization of Libya. However, he was Our Man in Benghazi, essentially the NO. 1 in charge of the state-terrorist cell poised to exploit the rolling "Arab Spring" for the forces of capitalist neo-democracy, let's call it AMERICA IN LIBYA. Stevens organized and armed the US-sponsored rebels who exploited the pan-Arab protests to foment unrest, then civil war, then NATO intervention, against the West's nemesis Muammar Gaddafi. Remember how Gaddafi was unceremoniously deposed? Captured, tormented, then shot most likely by a CIA-contracted assassin? Where was the humanitarian outcry against that sanctioned barbarity? How undignified of Westerners to decry the killing of Ambassador Stevens, legally, in the field of battle, by opposition fighters in Libya, on this rare occasion when they got their man. Actually four: the ambassador, a military attache, and two Americans whose identities the USG won't reveal, I'm thinking mercenaries. The USG is speculating that the rocket attack was planned, and by none other than al-Qaeda, because it's unlikely the Libyans who stormed the US consulate in Benghazi brought impromptu grenade launchers. Funny, Gaddafi had the same nagging complaint about his supposed "protesters." Everyone is condemning this killing, even President Obama vows to exact "justice". But by his own definition, this was justice meted by Libyans, perhaps even some of the allies we'd mobilized to remove Gaddafi. Whereas Obama's "justice" means retaliatory air strikes and death squads against unnamed, unproven adversaries, immolating their homes, families and friends.
Tag: USG
How to testify at a grand jury: David House “invokes” on Bradley Manning, Julian Assange, & taking illegal notes
Bradley Manning supporter David House was called last year before the grand jury preparing charges against Julian Assange, in the event Assange is successfully remanded to Sweden. Despite being told a transcript was forbidden, House took notes which have now found themselves (A)nonymously online, reproduced here with David House's refrain in bold. Here's Grand Jury, a comedy: 1. Record of proceedings 2. As recorded by David House 3. Grand Jury, Alexandria VA 4. 15 June 2011, 4:10pm to 5pm 5. 6. Inside the Grand Jury: 7. DOJ Counterespionage Section: Attorney Patrick Murphy * 8. DOJ Counterespionage Section: Attorney Deborah Curtis * 9. Eastern District of Virginia: AUSA Bob Wiechering 10. Eastern District of Virginia: AUSA Tracy McCormick 11. Eastern District of Virginia: AUSA Karen Dunn 12. Unspecified number of Grand Jurors 13. Court Steganographer 14. David House 15. 16. Directly outside the Grand Jury: 17. Mike Condon, FBI Agent from Washington, D.C. field office 18. James Farmer, Chief of Anti-Terrorism and National Security Unit at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in D. Mass 19. Peter Krupp, David House’s attorney 20. 21. 22. Record begins: 4:10pm 23. [David House is sworn in and informed of his rights] 24. Patrick Murphy: Would you please state your full name for the record? 25. David House: My name is David House. 26. PM: Did you meet Bradley Manning in January 2010? 27. DH: On the advice of counsel, I invoke my right to remain silent under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. I am concerned that this grand jury is seeking information designed to infringe or chill my associational privacy, and that of others, guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, and that it is using information obtained without a search warrant in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. I define the preceding statement as “invoke”, and when I say “I invoke” in the future I am referring to this statement. 28. Deborah Curtis: Exhibit 1-A? 29. PM: Mr. House, please direct your attention to the screen behind you, exhibit 1-A. 30. DC: I can’t make it bigger. 31. PM: Try… here, remove that bar on the side. 32. DC: That didn’t work. 33. DH: Do you guys need help? 34. DC: We just need to make it bigger. Can everyone see this okay? 35. PM: Ok… we’re going to continue. 36. 37. [A still image from the Frontline PBS special is displayed on the screen. Four figures are standing in front of the BUILDS logo, one figure has her back turned.] 38. 39. PM: Mr. House, can you identify the man on the right? 40. DH: I invoke. 41. PM: Can you identify the man standing second from right? 42. DH: I invoke. 43. PM: Ok, can you identify the person with bright-colored hair, standing here? 44. DH: I invoke. 45. PM: Are we to believe that identifying that individual would somehow incriminate you? 46. DH: On the advice of counsel, I invoke my right to remain silent under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. I am concerned that this grand jury is seeking information designed to infringe or chill my associational privacy, and that of others, guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, and that it is using information obtained without a search warrant in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. 47. PM: Ok, can you identify the man on the left? 48. PM: I would like to observe for the record that
HRW says state-sanctioned torture is “crime against humanity” but not in US
They keep piling it on against Syria. Human Rights Watch declared that SYRIA'S state-sanctioned torture constitutes a "crime against humanity" but not when America does it. SYRIA'S "torture centers" stink, not ours. ITS chemical weapons stockpile is a threat, not ours. ITS pilots and military commanders are defecting, alas, not ours. The pre-game show for the War on Syria isn't even a remake of the Iraq or Libya war of aggression, it's a rerun. Syrian Curveballs are whispering about unspeakable tortures called "Basat al reeh", "Dulab" and "Falaqa", failing to mention they got them from the Guantanamo manuals. Not only is Human Rights Watch silent about American torture, it ignores explosion of crimes against humanity which have resulted from the Western intervention into Libya.
If Okinawa can oust half its US soldiers Colorado Springs can do it too
The regimes of Japan and the United States have finally reached an agreement to move 9,000 marines from Okinawa, leaving 10,000 US military personnel, still unwelcome, on Japan's southern isle. With troop reductions expected stateside, wouldn't now be the ideal time to submit bids to be recipients of those cuts, in the same manner that exploitative local business clubs lobby for base expansions?
What Twitter resisted releasing to DOJ, and we may presume Facebook did not
So the US Department of Justice wants Twitter's records on the Wikileaks crew. So what, it's social media -- why expect that spooks can't follow like everybody else? Except the USG wants to know more than followers or tweets, they want IPs, whose computer, network, when, etc, plus they don't want persons of interest or the public to know what info they're gathering. That's a standard MO when investigating crimes like racketeering, but this is a DoJ fishing expedition with aim to criminalize journalism and whistle-blowing, in the meantime violating the privacy of untold thousands, if you are reading this, very likely yours. Unless you know Kevin Bacon personally, you are separated by fewer degrees from rop_g, ioerror, birgittaj, Assange and Bradley Manning. Twitter notified the users named in the December 14 DOJ request, whose lawyers had a judge unveil the document. The government of Iceland has summoned their US envoy to explain what claim the USG can make to personal data on Birgitta Jonsdottir, a member of Iceland's parliament. Salon has put the fax online which lists the specifics the DoJ is after: A. The following customer or subscriber account information for each account registered to or associated with Wikileaks ... 1. subscriber names, user names, screen names, or other identities; 2. mailing addresses, residential addresses, business addresses, e-mail addresses, and other contact information; 3. connection records, or records of session times and durations; 4. length of service (including start date) and types of service utilized; 5. telephone or instrument number or other subscriber number or identity, including any temporary assigned network address; and 6. means and source of payment for such service (including any credit card or bank account number) and billing records. B. All records and other information relating to the account(s) and time period in Part A, including: 1. records of user activity for any connections made to and from the Account, including the date, time, length, and method of connections, data transfer volume, user name, and source and destination Internet Protocol address(es); 2. non-content information associated with the contents of any communication or file stored by or for the account(s), such as the source and destination email addresses and IP addresses. 3. correspondence and notes of records related to the account(s).