MILLIONS OF 'CHRISTIANS' WANT WWIII - ICH
 Armageddon ApproachesDr. Lasha DarkmoonBombing Iran could be the final nail in the coffin of America—a decaying and morally bankrupt superpower where torture has been normalized and where the President is now free to kill anyone he chooses, anywhere in the world, who he happens to suspect is a terrorist.Right now, Iran appears to be the object of universal detestation, at least among those who control the mainstream media and who are anxious to persuade the easily duped masses that Iran is a major threat to civilization.Iran is perfectly capable of shutting down the Strait of Hormuz if it wishes, doing immense damage to the US navy in the process. It possesses a vast array of anti-ship weapons called Sunburn missiles, which it has procured from Russia and China over the last decade. These are state-of-the-art weapons developed by the Russians as a low-cost challenge to the expensive, tech-heavy weaponry of the US. Specifically, they are designed to sink ships, including America’s titanic aircraft carriers.The imminent conflict, which now belongs in the high probability spectrum, is a conflict into which Russia and China cannot fail to be drawn. Their interests are inextricably linked with those of Iran. You could say that Iran is their semi-independent protectorate and ally.If Iran were attacked and if Russia and China stood by and did nothing, they would lose face forever. They would be signaling to the world that they are weaklings, only too ready to cower at the feet of the American superbully. Indeed, they would then be next on America’s hit list.Russia has a new 100-ton monster of a ballistic missile in the pipeline. It is aptly named Satan. And it will be used to devastating effect against America if America gets too big for its boots and gets overly aggressive.Chinese Major General Zhang Zhaozhong recently stated that if America or Israel attacked Iran, “China will not hesitate to protect Iran—even with a third world war.”* * *A few points need to be clarified.The US Navy is an efficient and professional organization, at the cutting edge of modern warfare, but the Strait of Hormuz is not the kind of environment in which the American navy would be invulnerable.The Iranians can be expected to have a field day in the narrow confines of the Persian Gulf, virtually drawing American ships into a series of ambushes.If one samples the technical literature on various military websites, one finds there is a lively debate going on about American ship defense systems. Nobody claims that any such system offers full protection against ship missile strikes. Right now, most ships remain vulnerable to such strikes, including America’s leviathan aircraft carriers.These impressive Nimitz-class aircraft carriers each come with a full complement of 7–8 supporting ships, 70 or more assorted aircraft, and up to 6000 marines on board. In a 2004 article, military specialist Mark Gaffney, author of Dimona: The Third Temple? (1989), opines: “The US Navy’s largest ships, the massive carriers, have now become floating death traps….In the Gulf’s shallow and confined waters evasive maneuvers will be difficult, at best, and escape impossible….The Gulf will run red with American blood.”As for oil tankers, these are even more vulnerable than aircraft carriers. If attacked, these will sink easily, clogging up vital sea lanes and doing immense environmental damage to the entire Persian Gulf region.It is of interest to note that the US is busy working on a new generation of laser defense to counter the sophisticated anti-ship missiles possessed by Iran. However, these are still in process of development. This gives Iran a relative advantage if it is attacked now rather than later. Ironically, the longer America and Israel delay in attacking Iran, the better their chances of successfully countering the retaliatory measures they can expect from Iran.Both America and Israel are unfortunately just not ready to wage the type of warfare they prefer to wage and at which they so excel: shooting fish in a barrel.Unlike Iraq, which the warmonger neoconservatives told us would be a “cakewalk”—easily conquered in six weeks—Iran is unlikely to offer its American and Israeli antagonists easy opportunities to indulge in their fish-in-a-barrel fantasies.Our courageous remote control warriors, hunched over their keyboards far from the din of battle, may be able to rain down death and destruction on innocent civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, meanwhile salving their consciences by calling their victims “terrorists”, but there is nothing they can do with their drones to stop Iran’s deadly missiles from blowing up American aircraft carriers or sinking oil tankers in the Persian Gulf.* * *The Sunburn is perhaps the most lethal anti-ship missile in the world (see also here), designed to fly as low as nine feet above groundwater level and at more than 1,500 miles per hour. The missile uses a jerky pop-up maneuver for its terminal approach. This enables it in effect to dodge, or jump out of the way, of the Phalanx and other anti-missile defense systems: in short, to hit its target bang-on without being intercepted en route.Given their low cost, these ship missiles are perfectly suited for close quarter naval conflict in the pond like environment of the Persian Gulf.The Sunburn is versatile and easy to use. It can be fired from practically any platform, including the back of a flatbed truck. It has a 100-mile range, which is all that is necessary in the narrow Persian Gulf, with its 40-mile width round the Strait of Hormuz.Fired from shore, the Sunburn will punch a room-sized hole through any ship in the Strait of Hormuz in a fraction of a second.These missiles therefore present a serious threat to the US Navy. Their power to inflict horrendous damage on hostile intruders simply cannot be exaggerated.Developed by the Russians, and made fully available to China and Iran, the SS-N-22 Sunburn, a supersonic anti-ship missile, has been described as “the most lethal missile in the world today.” (See also here for other anti-ship missiles designed, built, or operated by Iran. See here for a discussion of anti-ship missiles and US capability to defend against them.)Compared to the Exocet, the Sunburn is a much larger and faster missile. It possesses a far greater range. Its guidance system is spot-on. The Sunburn can deliver a 200-kiloton nuclear payload (a 750-pound conventional warhead) within a range of 100 miles, more than twice the range of the Exocet. It seems the missile was specifically designed to defeat the US Aegis radar defense system.The Sunburn’s astonishing accuracy was demonstrated recently in a live test staged at sea by the Chinese and observed by US spy planes. Not only did the Sunburn missile destroy the dummy target ship, it scored a perfect bull’s eye. It succeeded in hitting the crosshairs of a large “X” mounted on the ship’s bridge.Unlike America’s drones, the Sunburn is not in the business of creating “collateral damage.” It does not kill innocent civilians by the score. It kills only the enemy.In a 2004 article, Mark Gaffney writes:US ships in the Gulf will already have come within range of the Sunburn missiles and the even more advanced SS-NX-26 Yakhont missiles, also Russian-made (speed: Mach 2.9; range: 180 miles) deployed by the Iranians along the Gulf’s northern shore. Every US ship will be exposed and vulnerable. When the Iranians spring the trap, the entire lake will become a killing field. The Sunburn’s payload hit, with its 750-pound conventional warhead, is apparently insufficient to sink an aircraft carrier, but it is enough to sink most other ships and their crews. So it is generally opined in the technical literature.No conclusive studies, however, have been carried out to determine the effect of a swarm of missiles attacking an aircraft carrier simultaneously. Perhaps there is no need for such a study. Common sense will tell you that a swarm of killer bees is much more dangerous than a single bee. One bee you can easily swat; a swarm of bees you cannot.An astute observer of the military situation has offered this comment:Aegis and RAM systems do not stop Sunburn missiles. Those systems were designed to stop subsonic not supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles. Even then they were unsuccessful in stopping an Iraqi (subsonic) Exocet when it struck the American warship Stark during the Iran-Iraq war. “You don’t have to be Hannibal preparing for the Battle of Cannae,” military observer Russ Winter writes, “to see that the Strait is a potential “shooting gallery”.The Strait of Hormuz is in fact an ideal ambush location for large and cumbersome ships that offer such easy targets you would have to be blind to miss them.Without a doubt, the Iranians have marked out every firing spot along the Persian Gulf coast. Locating these hiding holes with low-flying attack helicopters will not be easy. Helicopters can be shot down.Equally impressive is Iran’s missile range: 1500 miles and growing. Hostile Bahrain and Qatar can easily be hit by the longer-range versions of the Sunburn or Onyx. So can the Saudi oilfields.Indeed Israel itself, though further away, could suddenly find itself under a shower of deadly missiles, not only from distant Iran, but from Hezbollah just across the Lebanese border.“This is going to be the Big One,” says Justin Raimondo, “a war that will make the invasion of Iraq look like a dress rehearsal for Armageddon.”* * *It is commonly acknowledged that Israel cannot go it alone in fighting Iran. To wage a successful war against Iran, Israel needs American help. Israel would naturally prefer America to do its dirty work for it.Should Israel act alone, it would face the extraordinary problem of needing to refuel its bombers en route to targets about 1,000 miles away and refueling them again on the way back.It has been suggested that the United States should provide Israel with three KC-135 refueling tankers. Some of these Israeli supporters in America claim they do not themselves advocate an Israeli attack on Iran, but they are kindly disposed to Israel and wish to see it supplied with tankers that would “extend the effective range of Israeli aircraft” and “improve Israeli credibility.” (See here)Israel has of course achieved a modest success in destroying the nuclear facilities of two other relatively primitive countries in the region: Iraq and Syria. These two past Israeli successes are not overly impressive. As achievements, they are small beer. That is, compared to the massive challenges Israel would have to face in Iran.When Israel destroyed Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor in June 1981, it was one ground-level building it destroyed. That simple operation required 14 Israeli aircraft. Israel’s other success, demolishing a partially constructed Syrian facility in September 2007, involved targeting a rudimentary warehouse-like structure built on a single floor—an exceptionally easy ground-level target.The potential targets in Iran are not only far more numerous: they are widely dispersed and buried deep underground. Many of them are probably secret facilities whose very existence is unknown.There is the fuel-enrichment plant at Natanz, a collection of below-ground facilities used to produce enriched uranium. Then there is the newer Fordow fuel-enrichment plant near Qom, built into the side of a mountain and buried deep underground under several layers of reinforced concrete. It is generally acknowledged that to crack open Fordow, and destroy its alleged nuclear weaponry, would be a task beyond Israel’s modest capacity. At a pinch, America could do it, maybe; but certainly not Israel acting on its own.There are two other Iranian nuclear sites Israel would need to attack: the heavy-water reactor at Arak and the yellowcake-conversion plant at Isfahan.There are three possible routes to Iran: north over Turkey, south over Saudi Arabia, or a central route across Jordan and Iraq. The US, having officially withdrawn from Iraq in December, is no longer under obligation to defend Iraqi skies from Israeli planes. The Iraqis themselves are of course unable to do so. (See here.)The recent Robb-Wald Report tells us that Israel has enough GBU-28 bunker-busting bombs to “severely damage, though likely not completely destroy, Iran’s known underground nuclear sites in a single well-executed operation.”Perhaps even this is no more than wishful thinking. Note the loaded phrase: “known underground nuclear sites.” Best not to mention the unknown ones.To achieve victory in Iran, Israel would be stretched to the limit. It would have to deploy several B-2 stealth and B-52 bombers, fighter-bombers and helicopters, along with ship-launched cruise missiles. It would not only need to take out Iran’s underground nuclear facilities—an impossible task—but it would have to destroy Iran’s communications systems, air defense and missile sites, Revolutionary Guard Corps living quarters, munitions storage depots, airfields, and ship and port facilities—not to mention missile boats, minelayers and midget submarines.Given that Israel, for all its vaunted might, was unable to defeat valiant little Hezbollah in 20o6, the chances of it stealing an easy victory from Iran would seem to belong in the realms of fantasy.Not all Americans are in favor of aiding and abetting Israel in yet another rampage of wanton destruction—not after the crimes of Gaza which have left an indelible stain on Israel’s already dubious reputation.Destroying Iran’s infrastructure may make sense to some callous Americans, but to many others it would seem a cruel and vicious enterprise. To poison a population of 74 million people, most of them women and children, with tons of depleted uranium, while putting thousands of other innocents into wheelchairs, is not an achievement likely to bring honor or prestige to Israel.Not all of us have forgotten the lessons of history. We are cognizant of the fact that Iran has not started a war for 30o years. That it simply wishes to be left alone. And that it is Israel, rather than Iran, that seems to suffer from a serious pathological problem—a “collective madness”—with more than enough blood on its hands.Speaking on behalf of Israel’s countless critics, one political pundit writes:The US cannot eradicate the Iran regime. It cannot bring Iran under its control, that is, not without creating a disaster for itself and the entire world….Doing that entails huge costs and risks to the US, all the countries in that region, and the many other countries that would be affected by it, including Russia, China, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan….Right now, Obama must stop Israel from attacking Iran. (Emphasis in original). He must do so in the strongest ways available to him, like denying airspace to Israel for refueling its bombers. … The US [should] prevent Israel…from flying over Iraq and refueling. Sound advice, it seems to me. Why support Israel? Cui bono? Iran has much more to offer America than Israel does.Iran has oil in abundance, Israel has none. Iran does not hold America’s political class to ransom. Iran does not try to browbeat successive American administrations into putting Iranian interests before American ones. Iran’s dual citizens do not spy on America or sell American military secrets to Russia and China—there are no Iranian Rosenbergs or Jonathan Pollards. Iran does not coerce Americans into fighting and dying for it in foreign wars. Iran does not expect $3 billion a year in handouts, and even more in loan guarantees that never get repaid.Iran would be a far greater asset to America than Israel could ever be. Israel is a liability and a burden.More fool America for cuddling up to a “friend” who has stabbed it in the back in the past—the Lavon affair, the USS Liberty incident, the Jonathan Pollard betrayal—and is more than likely to stab it in the back again at some time in the foreseeable future.Dump Israel. That’s my advice. Before Israel sets the world on fire, taking America with it.* * *Obama has in recent months begun to make it clear to Israel that the United States would not get involved in a war started by Benjamin Netanyahu without preliminary US approval.Indeed, on January 20, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, informed Netanyahu that the US would not defend Israel if it launched an attack on Iran that had not been coordinated in advance with the US.In May 2008, Netanyahu’s predecessor, Ehud Olmert, had requested the approval of George W Bush for an air attack on Iran. To his credit, Bush had refused to countenance any such move.Netanyahu has since defied the US administration by refusing to assure Washington that he would consult them before making a decision to attack Iran.Other US officials have apparently made it clear to Netanyahu that the US, unless fully consulted, would refuse to come to Israel’s aid in the event of Israel declaring war on Iran unilaterally.If Israel did that, it would be on its own.It would be a mistake for Israel to assume that America is under obligation to protect it from the consequences of its own folly. (For more details, see here.)Writing in the Huffington Post, political commentator MJ Rosenberg advances the audacious theory that Israel has no wish to go to war right now, but is more interested in flexing its muscles and playing cat-and-mouse games with America. It wants to show everyone that Israel is now the Cat and America the Mouse: “Netanyahu and his camp followers do not really want a war now. They just want it understood that they can dictate whether there is one or not. And when. In other words, they want to show who is boss.”It’s time for a showdown.The capital of America needs to be moved back to Washington. Tel Aviv is too far away.* * *When Zbigniew Brzezinski says, “An Israeli attack on Iran would create a disaster”, he must be taken seriously.An old hand, and an expert on Russia, Brzezinski is the acclaimed author of The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives. One cannot help wondering what Brzezinski thinks of the controversial statement made by Leonid Ivashov, former member of the Russian Joint Chiefs of Staff, which aired on Russia Today TV on February 1, 2012:Russia does not want any military operations to be waged against Iran or Syria. These two countries are allies, and both are considered guaranteed partners of Russia. A strike against Syria or Iran is an indirect strike against Russia and its interests. Later he adds, significantly, striking a chord with people like me who believe that America is now a crypto-fascist state masquerading as a democracy:Everybody should acknowledge that Fascism is making great strides on our planet. What they did in Libya is nearly identical to what Hitler and his armies did against Poland and then Russia. Today, therefore, Russia is defending the entire world from Fascism. No need to ask who the New Fascists are.Just turn on your television sets and you will see their smiling faces, telling you how much they love and cherish you—as long as you vote for them—and as long as you die for them in foreign wars for the aggrandizement of Israel.* * *It certainly needs to be asked: How much longer will America continue to fight Israel’s wars? What hold does Israel have over America? Is America prepared to sustain immense damage to its vital interests on behalf of an unstable and insolent ally that remains, if numerous polls are to be believed, the world’s most hated nation?There are some indications that not all American operatives, especially in the armed forces and the CIA, are overly impressed with Israel’s increasingly irresponsible behavior. A significant rift in the friendship appears to be developing, a rift that will hopefully grow in time as America finally comes to its senses.Relations could once again reach rockbottom, as when former US Secretary of State James Baker uttered his infamous remark about Israel’s Jewish American supporters: “Fuck the Jews, they don’t even vote for us.”Former Centcom chief and retired Gen. Joe Hoar recently complained of a certain shady Israeli operation involving the terrorist group Jundullah, in which Mossad thugs had the impudence to masquerade as CIA agents: “Israel is playing with fire. It gets us involved in their covert war, whether we want to be involved or not.”The tension between longsuffering Iran and an insufferable Israel, goading it to frenzy, is now at fever pitch.Here is part of an interview between journalist Eleanor Hall and Iran specialist Geneive Abdo who is director of the Iran program at the National Security Network in Washington. I have compressed drastically in the interests of economy, but the full version can be read here:ELEANOR HALL: Iran’s leadership says it’s sheer lies that it’s behind the [recent] attacks [on Iranian embassies in India and elsewhere] and that the Israelis have planted the bombs themselves to discredit Iran?GENEIVE ABDO: Well I think that’s entirely possible. I mean, if you consider what the Israelis did for many years in Lebanon and other parts of the Middle East, that theory is not so farfetched. ELEANOR HALL: How incendiary is the relationship between Iran and Israel right now? Are we looking at an Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities…? GENEIVE ABDO: I think it’s certainly a decision Israel is taking very seriously. ELEANOR HALL: So how dangerous do you think the situation is right now? GENEIVE ABDO: I think it’s very dangerous. Far more dangerous than any escalation tension we’ve seen in 30 years. ELEANOR HALL: So, how dangerous could it become if the Israelis do strike? GENEIVE ABDO: It’s an extremely dangerous situation. The Iranians will not take this lightly, and they will use all the resources at their disposal to attack. They will cause chaos in the region, because their whole survival is on the line….You know, they could launch attacks on Latin America. They’ve even said that they would launch attacks on American soil. They will send missiles to Tel Aviv….If you consider what the Israelis have done in Lebanon…I don’t think that gives us much hope… If Israel decides to launch an all-out attack on Iran, we can be sure of one thing: the towers of Tel Aviv will come toppling down. Not necessarily now, but one day in the distant future, when it is decided that vengeance is a dish best served cold.The nuclear complex at Dimona could well be destroyed—if not now, later on, in the fullness of time—making Israel an uninhabitable wasteland.Given its miniscule size, Israel could be destroyed in a single day, if not by Iran, then almost certainly by Russia or China.Only a week ago, Alireza Forghani, head of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s strategic team, was quoted as saying: “It would only take nine minutes to wipe out Israel.”No one seriously expects to see the annihilation of Israel right now, but Israel will have to take the consequences of its actions one day.Israel will reap what it sows as Armageddon approaches.The clock is ticking…_______________________________________________________________________Dr Lasha Darkmoon (email her) is an academic with higher degrees in Classics. She is also a poet and translator. Her articles can be sampled here, her poems here.Like this:Having trouble viewing this email? Click here Lasha Darkmoon (b.1978), is an anglo-American academic with higher degrees in Classics who lives and works in England. Because of her radical political ideas in regard to 9-11 and the role played by organized Jewry in international affairs—ideas that would alienate her friends and family and make them ostracize her—she is forced to conceal her true identity at the present time under a pen name. The need for the strictest anonymity makes it impossible for Lasha Darkmoon to reveal her home address or telephone number to anyone; nor to accept the numerous invitations she has received to appear on people’s radio programs, to give talks and interviews, or to enter into audiovisual communication with anyone. She remains a strictly reclusive and private person whose only contact with strangers, for the foreseeable future, must be through the written word. Some of Lasha Darkmoon articles, widely published over the internet, have been translated into several languages—especially Sex and the Jews, Sex Plague, and The Plot against Art (10 languages). Indian mysticism remains Lasha Darkmoon’s chief influence. Though echoes of her favorite poets—Blake, Keats, Baudelaire, Yeats, and TS Eliot—may sometimes be heard in her verse, Darkmoon’s work is marked above all by a lush exoticism and otherworldliness. Here are a few Lasha Darkmoon poems recited on YouTube and elsewhere by talented performance artist Patrick Willis. The first of these, In Memory of Rachel Corrie, was banned from YouTube after angry protests by Jewish supremacists. Fortunately, a copy was made. |
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CIA drones strikes have killed 168 children
by crescentandcrossIn this Aug. 23, 2010 photo provided by photographer Noor Behram, a man holds debris from a missile strike in North Waziristan, Pakistan. A gallery in London is staging an exhibit of photographs taken by a Pakistani photographer allegedly showing innocent civilians killed by U.S. drone missile strikes in Pakistan's tribal region along the Afghan border, the organizers said Monday. Noor Behram, a 39-year-old photographer who has worked with several international news agencies, has spent the last three years photographing the aftermath of drone strikes in North and South Waziristan, important sanctuaries for al-Qaida and Taliban militants in Pakistan. He said he has managed to reach around 60 attack sites, and the exhibit that opens Tuesday at the Beaconsfield gallery in London features photographs from 28 of those strikes. (AP Photo/Noor Behram,HO) (Credit: AP)
Salon.com
Based on international and Pakistani news reports and research on the ground, the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism has issued a new study on civilians killed by American drones, concluding that at least 385 civilians have been killed in the past seven years, including at least 168 children.
Here’s a taste of the report, which can be read in full here (warning: graphic images):
Pakistani father Din Mohammad had the misfortune to live next door to militants in Danda Darpakhel, North Waziristan. His neighbours were reportedly part of the Haqqani Network, a group fighting US forces in nearby Afghanistan.
On September 8 2010, the CIA’s Reaper drones paid a visit. Hellfire missiles tore into the compound killing six alleged militants.
One of the Hellfires missed its target, and Din Mohammad’s house was hit. He survived. But his son, his two daughters and his nephew all died. His eldest boy had been a student at a Waziristan military cadet college. The other three children were all below school age.
An Obama administration official told ABC that these numbers are “way off the mark” — but, tellingly, did so on the condition of anonymity, meaning he or she will be protected from any accountability.
Meanwhile, the New York Times’ Scott Shane has an important article reviewing the same issue and in particular Obama counterterrorism adviser John Brennan’s claim in June that for the previous year CIA drone strikes hadn’t caused “a single collateral death because of the exceptional proficiency, precision of the capabilities we’ve been able to develop.” Shane finds that basically every outside observer — including those of all ideological stripes — finds this claim to be preposterous:
Others who question the C.I.A. claim include strong supporters of the drone program like Bill Roggio, editor of The Long War Journal, who closely tracks the strikes.
“The Taliban don’t go to a military base to build bombs or do training,” Mr. Roggio said. “There are families and neighbors around. I believe the people conducting the strikes work hard to reduce civilian casualties. They could be 20 percent. They could be 5 percent. But I think the C.I.A.’s claim of zero civilian casualties in a year is absurd.”
Brennan issued a new statement to the Times suggesting that the CIA has merely “not found credible evidence of collateral deaths” from the drone strikes:
“Fortunately, for more than a year, due to our discretion and precision, the U.S. government has not found credible evidence of collateral deaths resulting from U.S. counterterrorism operations outside of Afghanistan or Iraq, and we will continue to do our best to keep it that way,” Mr. Brennan said.
Given that the drones are operated remotely, it’s far from clear how the CIA even knows who is being killed in many of these strikes.
fwd Maisoon
Available
with graphics at Al Manar:
More Than Mere
Words of Solidarity are Needed….
| Franklin Lamb |
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| Franklin Lamb | ||||
 “My
friends and I like Iran. Maybe they will ask their friends in Lebanon
to help baba (daddy) to be allowed to work and our family allowed owning
a home outside the camps.” Hanadi, a precocious youngster
at Shatila Camp’s Shabiba center on learning last week from her teacher
that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad warmly welcomed Palestinian leaders to Tehran during the
33rd anniversary celebrations of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and that
both committed Iran to a “religious and moral duty to alleviate the
effects on Palestinian refugees of the Nakba’s ethnic cleansing.”Around noon on Tuesday September 14, 1982, the day before Israel gave the green light for the launch of the three day Sabra-Shatila Massacre, two white vans pulled into Rue Sabra, diagonal from Akka Palestinian Hospital (PCRS), the main Shatila camp road. Mrs. Halabi, a Palestinian teacher thought the four foreigners who exited the vehicles near the current Martyrs cemetery, were from a European NGO because they carried detailed maps of Shatila camp and she guessed that they might be assessing camp needs for an infrastructure project. “Can you show us all the camp shelters?” she recalls one of the heavily accented men asking. “Yes of course,” Mrs.Halabi replied and as the men followed her and took notes and photos, she explained that the shelters were too small to be of much use during “bombardments.” “We understand”, said the apparent group leader, the only one their Palestinian guide recalls speaking during their visit, and then he added, “Why does this place smell so foul? Embarrassed by the question, Mrs. Halabi explained that the sewers in Palestinian camps, especially Shatila and nearby Burj al Barajneh are always in need of repair.”  We now know that the “European NGO delegation’ were in reality two Israeli intelligence agents accompanied by two Phalange intelligence operatives including their chief, Elie Hobeika. They arrived at Shatila camp for the purpose of identifying shelters where Palestinians would likely try to hide during the coming days. And they succeeded. It was to the 11 shelters inside and on the edge of Shatila camp that the first arriving Kataeb (Phalanges) militiamen found their way through unfamiliar alleys and began their 46 hours of non-stop slaughter. With very few exceptions all of the hundreds of refugees who huddled into the identified shelters were among the first to be massacred.  The
Mossad organized group was not the only ones to complain about the
sewer gases from Shatila. For weeks the Israeli troops sharing with
Hobeika’s troops the HQ west of the camp at the Kuwaiti Embassy also
complained to journalists that when the wind came off the mountains to
the east and swept through the camp toward the sea behind them that they
“could actually smell the Palestinian terrorists.”30 years since the massacre at Sabra-Shatila, the camp sewer problem persists. When the wind blows eastward from the sea across Shatila camp, the Ghouberi Municipality offices located where the former Algerian Embassy stood in 1982 can smell the Shatila camp sewers just as the Israelis did. During the Sabra-Shatila massacre, the then Algerian Embassy gave sanctuary to refugees lucky enough to flee to the diplomatic compound which is about 50 meters from the eastern edge of Shatila camp. To do so, the survivors had to dodge five Israeli tanks positioned to block camp residents inside Shatila. Those who were caught were forced by Israel soldiers back into the death camp. And those who today work to the east of Shatila in the Ghouberi Municipality offices and live nearby are not alone. If the wind happens to blow from north to south across Shatila camp and the Bir Hassan neighborhood it is the Iranian Embassy that receives the wafting foul air. While the overwhelmed and broken camp sewers, lack of electricity, inadequate clean water, no heat in winter, no AC in summer, absence of sun light and fresh air, intense over-crowding-sometimes eight persons to a room, inadequate nutrition and health care, sky-rocketing respiratory disease, high dropout rates, increased drug usage, are among the seemingly endless problems in the 12 Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon and impact every life, every day, recent words of solidarity from Iran are much appreciated. According to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the Islamic Republic endorses the creation of a Palestinian state, regarding Israel as Palestine under occupation by the “Zionist regime”. Iran rejects a two state solution and considers that Palestine is indivisible and inseparable, probably reflecting a majority opinion today as support for Zionist Israel plummets globally.  “Iran does not expect anything except endurance from Palestine’s resistance,” Khamenei was quoted as saying.President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who had a very successful visit to Lebanon, last year, repeated his call for a free referendum for the entire Palestinian population, including Arab citizens of Israel, to determine the type of government in the future Palestinian state, while reiterating that establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel would “never mean an endorsement of the Israeli occupation”. Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi told visiting Palestinians last week of “the need for Palestinian adherence to the basic principles of resistance as the key ingredient for their victory against Israel,” according to the official Iranian PRESS TV news agency. PLO-Iranian Relations Before the Iranian revolution, there was no Palestinian embassy in Iran. The Shah was much more interested in maintaining good relations with Israel and the United States, than in the Palestinians or in the Arab-Israeli peace process. The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) developed close ties with the Iranian opposition, training Iranian dissidents at PLO camps in Lebanon The PLO backed the 1979 revolution, and several days after the revolution, PLO chief Yasser Arafat led a Palestinian delegation to Iran. The Iranian Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan hosted an official welcome ceremony for Arafat, where the keys to the former Israeli embassy were symbolically handed over to the PLO.  However,
the leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini while
supporting the Palestinian cause did not warm much to Arafat. During an
intense two-hour meeting on Feb. 18, 1979, the ayatollah criticized the
PLO for what he considered its limited nationalist and pan-Arab agenda.
He urged Arafat to model the PLO on the principles of the Islamic
revolution. While Arafat was an observant Muslim, he told aides why he
rejected some of the ideas of Khomeini. Arafat and Khomeini never met
again.As with most countries in the region, PLO-Iranian relations fluctuated, sometimes dramatically. They deteriorated fast when Arafat supported Iraq during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war and again when Saddam invaded Kuwait. Iran condemned Arafat in 1988, after he recognized Israel, renounced terrorism, and called for peace talks with Israel. In 1989, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei named Arafat a “traitor and an idiot” and while the PLO maintained diplomatic relations with Tehran, Iran did not aid the PLO again until 2000. Figuratively speaking, will Iran help fix the sewers in Lebanon’s camps and will the Iranian leadership ask their close Lebanese friends to enact the right to work and repeal the 2001 law that outlaws home ownership for Palestinians in Lebanon? Quite frankly, the absence of these very basic human rights in Lebanon negatively affects Palestinian lives day after day and not the goal of liberating Al Aqsa, however essential that is to achieve. No right to work or home ownership please, they’re Palestinians! “Miss International”, Zeinab al Hajj, born and raised in Shatila camp, regularly explains to visitors from Iran: “If we are allowed to work and own a home our capacity to engage in the liberation of Palestine will grow. As part of an economic middle class we could do more than struggling to put bread on our table for our children. We will have the energy and more time to resist the Zionist occupation of our country. Currently we are so forlorn — who among us has the energy to do more than just try to survive, not really live mind you, but try to survive and barely keep our families together.”  A
bit more than words of solidarity are needed from Iranian friends of
Palestine to help them escape the sewers in which they exist not far
from where their Muslim sisters and brothers and all foreigners in
Lebanon enjoy full civil rights.During this 33rd Anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the 30th anniversary of the 1982 Massacre at Sabra-Shatila, for the Iranian government to give solid achievement to its words and to facilitate the right to work and to own a home for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon would require Tehran, Beirut, and political forces in Lebanon, close ranks and push for a once-and-for-all solution to the refugees in Lebanon. Parliament should meet its Lebanese constitutionally mandated and internationally required obligation to immediately grant the basic human right of work and home ownership to its quarter million Palestinian refugees in Lebanon until they are able to return to their own country, Palestine.
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Will Islamic Republic Support the “Sacred Palestinian Resistance” in Lebanon?
Iran to unleash 'God’s vengeance' against potential air strike
Published: 21 February, 2012, 00:10
Edited: 21 February, 2012, 15:32
Edited: 21 February, 2012, 15:32
Satellite photograph of suspected uranium-enrichment facility near Qom (Reuters / DigitalGlobe / Handout)
TRENDS:
Israel vs Iran
Iran has commenced a massive training exercise to protect its “nuclear centers” from potential air strikes. The deputy military chief says pre-emptive strikes will be launched if Iran feels its national interests are under threat, Reuters reports.
The four-day drill will unite missile defense systems, radars and interceptor planes in southern Iran.
The Iranian operation codenamed “Sarollah,” which translates as God’s Vengeance, is aimed at improving cooperation between Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard and its regular army. It will cover a total area of 190,000 square kilometers and reinforce “the integrated abilities of the country's anti-air defenses," said a statement from Iran’s missile defense operations.
"Our strategy now is that if we feel our enemies want to endanger Iran's national interests, and want to decide to do that, we will act without waiting for their actions," Mohammad Hejazi told Fars news agency.
The news comes on the heels of mounting speculation that Israel may attempt to derail Iran’s nuclear program by attacking its nuclear processing facilities. Israel has repeatedly claimed that Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon, which Tehran has consistently denied.
US, Israel disunited over strike on Iran
Israeli-US relations are boiling over America’s unwillingness to attack Iran. Which means Israel faces a daunting task in taking out Iran’s nuclear sites all alone: not an easy walk by any measure.US Defense experts believe that up to a hundred planes may be needed to execute the strike on at least four major targets inside Iranian territory.
“All the pundits who talk about ‘Oh, yeah, bomb Iran,’- it ain’t going to be that easy,” Lt. General David A. Deptula told The New York Times. Deptula retired last year as the Air Force’s top intelligence official and was the architect of the US air campaigns in 2001 in Afghanistan and in the 1991 Gulf War.
It is not clear if Israel possesses the necessary air capability or the sufficiently advanced bunker-buster bombs to penetrate the 10-meter concrete shells and mountain rock that encase Iranian nuclear facilities.
China has spoken against Israeli plans to assault Iran. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said “Bringing strikes on Iran will escalate the stand-off and lead to considerable convulsions through the world.”
Commenting the developments in the Middle East, Russian ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin said on Monday that “If the situation develops under a negative scenario in Syria, if a strike is delivered on Iran, if Libya disintegrates, and the situation there is unstable, if it becomes clear that the talks between Israel and Palestine are in a dead end, it is hard to predict what impact it might have on the moods in the Arab world.”
Despite the escalating rhetoric and demonstrations of strength in the region, international powers have called for a diplomatic solution. Iran has said it is ready to resume high-level talks on the issue, and inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency are currently in Tehran to inspect the country’s nuclear program.
Despite the escalating rhetoric and demonstrations of strength in the region, international powers have called for a diplomatic solution. Iran has said it is ready to resume high-level talks on the issue, and inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency are currently in Tehran to inspect the country’s nuclear program.
Ken O'Keefe
The weblog of Ken O'Keefe
Memo to all Christians – The Heretic & Michael Rivero – Reposted by Ken O’Keefe
This is so worthwhile for every Christian to consider. Especially
supposedly patriotic American Christians; think about what this short
video is saying. Imagine that you, unwittingly or not, are paying for
the murder of Jesus Christ’s blood relatives. Actually, do not imagine
it; know it, and soak it up.
No matter how ignorant and manipulated we have become there is something so beautiful, about the truth… it knows nothing of ‘politics’ or ‘patriotism’, it is what it is, regardless of such things.
And while you ponder that, know that the little boy pictured in this video is 4-year-old Ahmed Samouni from Gaza. Murdered in cold blood by Israeli’s during so-called ‘Operation Cast Lead’. This little ‘terrorist’ is no more thanks to American ignorance manifested in Israeli mass-murder. Make no mistake however, this co-operation not only marks the end of this little boys life, but the unfolding destruction of the once great American nation… right before (y)our eyes.
For more about Ahmed Samouni and his grieving mother, here are two videos I produced while in Gaza.
No matter how ignorant and manipulated we have become there is something so beautiful, about the truth… it knows nothing of ‘politics’ or ‘patriotism’, it is what it is, regardless of such things.
And while you ponder that, know that the little boy pictured in this video is 4-year-old Ahmed Samouni from Gaza. Murdered in cold blood by Israeli’s during so-called ‘Operation Cast Lead’. This little ‘terrorist’ is no more thanks to American ignorance manifested in Israeli mass-murder. Make no mistake however, this co-operation not only marks the end of this little boys life, but the unfolding destruction of the once great American nation… right before (y)our eyes.
For more about Ahmed Samouni and his grieving mother, here are two videos I produced while in Gaza.
Like this:
No Responses to “Memo to all Christians – The Heretic & Michael Rivero – Reposted by Ken O’Keefe”
Michel Chossudovsky:
The American “war on terrorism” is a complete fabrication!
America's "War on Terrorism"
- Author Name:
- Michel Chossudovsky
- ISBN Number:
- 9780973714715
- Year:
- 2005
- Pages:
- 365 with complete index
List Price: $24.95
Special Price: $16.00
In
this new and expanded edition of Michel Chossudovsky’s 2002 best
seller, the author blows away the smokescreen put up by the mainstream
media, that 9/11 was an attack on America by “Islamic terrorists”.
Through meticulous research, the author uncovers a military-intelligence
ploy behind the September 11 attacks, and the cover-up and complicity
of key members of the Bush Administration.
The
expanded edition, which includes twelve new chapters focuses on the use
of 9/11 as a pretext for the invasion and illegal occupation of Iraq,
the militarisation of justice and law enforcement and the repeal of
democracy.
According
to Chossudovsky, the “war on terrorism” is a complete fabrication
based on the illusion that one man, Osama bin Laden, outwitted the $40
billion-a-year American intelligence apparatus. The
“war on terrorism” is a war of conquest. Globalisation is the final
march to the “New World Order”, dominated by Wall Street and the U.S.
military-industrial complex.
September 11, 2001 provides a justification for waging a war without borders. Washington’s agenda consists
in extending the frontiers of the American Empire to facilitate
complete U.S. corporate control, while installing within America the
institutions of the Homeland Security State.
THE UGLY TRUTH
Iranian Female Ninjas Vs. American Soldier Girls
by Keith Johnson
http://revoltoftheplebs.wordpress.com
In the 1981 documentary film Soldier Girls by Nick Broomfield and Joan Churchill, aggressive Staff Sergeant Abing addresses a platoon of female U.S. Army recruits: “This morning, we will be discussing the responsibilities of a soldier. Right now we’re a peacetime army. But General Patton put it very bluntly and very clearly. In Peace, we should train for war. Everything else is Bullshit. And I believe that.”
The scene cuts to the girls marching in cadence to:
I want to be an Airborne Ranger! I want to live a life of danger! I want to go to Iran! I want to kill an Iranian! Blood! Blood! Guts! Guts!
Keep that in mind as you read the rest of this article…
Earlier this month, Iran’s Press TV produced a human-interest story showcasing a group of female martial arts students training in the Japanese art on ninjitsu. In the 6:32 video, the women are shown wielding exotic weapons, doing high kicks and performing other theatrical gymnastic moves. The piece was filmed in a small studio in the suburbs of Tehran and is run by Sensei Akbar Faraji, who established the school in 1989.
Early into the clip, Press TV’s on-the-scene reporter says, “What’s known to the world as the deadliest martial art has proven to be quite popular in Iran, especially among women. There are currently 3,500 female ninjas officially training. They say the world of ninjitsu has actually taught them how to maintain mental and physical balance.”
At one point, ninjutsu instructor Fatima Muamer tells Press TV, “The most important lesson in ninjitsu is respect and humility. They learn to respect themselves. First respect their existence, and then the art they are mastering. Calmness is the most important lesson they learn.”
Sounds innocent enough, right? In fact, the entire Press TV report is rather innocuous and presents the women as athletes rather than warriors. Nowhere does the report come close to suggesting that these women are being trained on behalf of the Iranian government for some type of covert military or intelligence operation.
Of course that hasn’t stopped western media outlets from spinning the story all out of proportion. The Washington Post describes the women as an “Army,” and the Daily Mail recently posted an article with the provocative title, “Meet Iran’s female ninja assassins: 3,000 women training to defend the Muslim state.”
The Daily Mail article uses the Press TV video as it’s entire point of reference, but fails to mention that Press TV does not once use the word “assassins” or say anything about the girls “training to defend the Muslim state.”
However, the simple fact that the girls look like something out of a Hollywood action flick gave the Daily Mail just the artisitic license they need to install this idea into the minds of their gullible audience: “As Israel steps up pressure on Iran, over fears the country is building nuclear weapons, these lethal ninjas could be called upon to represent their country if relations descend into military conflict.”
Although they never mention in, it’s quite possible that the Daily Mail got the idea that these girls were training to “defend the Muslim state” from a seperate article/video produced by Al-Arabiya. This report is entirely independent of the one done by Press TV. In the video that accompanies their article, entitled “Iran trains thousands of female Ninja fighters,” Sensei Akbar Faraji is quoted in subtitles as saying, “What is important to me, as an Iranian and as a teacher, is that I have to do this job so we train women to have strength and ability. We have to do everything (in our power) to protect our homeland.”
In the same video, Iranian ninjitsu student Raheleh Davoudzadeh is quoted in subtitles as saying, “What we’re seeing in the world of fitness and sports is the opportunity to receive training which increases our self-defense abilities and strengthens our bodies.”
What’s curious is that in the Al-Arabiya article, they add this to the end of the aforementioned quote: “…so we are ready to defend our lives and assets.”
The Al-Arabiya article also adds another quote not seen in the video: “Our aim is for Iranian women to be strengthened and if a problem arises, we will definitely declare our readiness to defend our Islamic homeland,” said another fighter, who has been training for over 13 years.
Whether these things were actually said relies on the faith of the reader. However, keep in mind that Al-Arabiya, like Al-Jazeera, is notorious for spreading Zionist propaganda. In fact, Al-Arabiya has recently come out in support of the Syrian opposition. So any thing they report on should be taken with a grain of salt and scrutinized closely. I wouldn’t put it past them to mistranslate, take words out of context, or actually coax those they interview into saying something that really wasn’t on their mind. For instance, a clever interviewer could constantly bring up the question: “Would you be willing to defend your homeland,” hoping that someone would repeat this on camera.
Even if theses statements are legit, does any of that support the claim that these women are being trained as government sponsored assassins? If anything, it shows that the women are nationalistic and would be happy to serve their country if called. Don’t we expect the same from our own citizens?
Perhaps realizing that portraying these women as potential assassins is a hard sell to the few rational thinkers that America has left, The Atlantic’s Max Fisher offers up another theory. He has concluded that “the Iranian regime’s 33-year quest to make Iranian women weak and helpless, to force them into child-like subservience, has failed. Though we in the West often perceive them this way because the hijab and the chador are all we see on the surface, women in Iran are stronger collectively and more assertive individually than the Islamic Republic would have us believe.”
Really, Mr. Fisher? Perhaps you should be reminded that the story originated from Press TV, which is under complete control of the Ahmedinejad government. That hardly supports your thesis that “women in Iran are stronger collectively and more assertive individually than the Islamic Republic would have us believe.”
The Islamic Republic is not trying to make us believe anything we can’t see with our own two eyes, Mr. Fisher. And all I see when I read your trash is pure–unadultrated bullshit!
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#8 by Doug on September 8, 2012 - 2:25 am
ReplyDelete"Where was Putin when Gaddafi needed him?"
From the Ugly Truth "Russia warns Israel, U.S. striking Iran would be ‘literally disastrous’"
WHERE WERE WE WHEN ALL THE OPPRESSED OF THE EARTH NEEDED US AND WHERE ARE WE NOW WHEN THEY STILL NEED US? WHAT ARE WE DOING TO STOP THE DEVIL?
Vladimir Putin has proved himself to be yet another SON OF THE DEVIL, a wolf in sheepskin!
Dear Earthlings!
Forget about the Arabs, Muslims, Christians, Muhammad, Christ, Jews, Palestine, Israel, and
KILL THE BANK!
THE US IS A SATANIC GANGSTERMENT NOT A GOVENRMENT!
KILL AMERICA AND ISRAEL IS DEAD!
Some good humans are stranded on that Satanic land of the slave and the coward called AMERICA!
The entire earth is inhabited by entities ALIEN to the GOD-CREATED HUMAN 'RACE'!
We all live in HELL on Earth and deal with DEMONS every single day of our lives.
In our day and age, loving your neighbour is USELESS because what guarantee do we have that your neighbour is not ONE OF THEM?
At this time of the night, FOUR A.M., I always come up with strange thoughts as a little Devil or Angel often wakes me up to tell me things! . But, during my passage on earth, I have known this night hour to be THE HOUR OF TRUTH!
At this hour of the night, I always see clearer than all those who are possessed by extra terrestrials, UFOs put together or the Holy Ghost!
But, there is nothing we can do th change things otherwise we would have done it A LONG TIME AGO! Knowing the truth has become useless because the Devil is too powerful! We slaved for him all those centuries and armed him to the teeth. Now, he is ready to take all of us out!
What hope do we have? NONE! Christians and Muslims will always have hope, but they are all dead DUE TO THEIR COWARDICE AND HYPOCRISY AND SELFISH MATERIALIST LIFE-STYLE!
Basheer
Saturday morning 8 September 2012 at 4.16 A.M.