Yearly Archives: 2013

N.Y. Times scraps AIPAC from Syria story

"A reference to the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC was mysteriously cut from a New York Times article published online Monday and in print Tuesday. The first version, published online Monday, quotes an anonymous administration official calling AIPAC the '800-pound gorilla in the room.' The original article, which is still available on The Boston Globe's site, had two paragraphs worth of quotes from officials about the powerful lobbying group's position in the Syria debate. The newer version makes no reference to AIPAC and does not include an editor's note explaining any change." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingN.Y. Times scraps AIPAC from Syria story

AIPAC comes out for strike on Syria, mentions Iran more often than Syria

"As NJ Senator Robert Menendez said at the Kerry hearing today in the Senate, Syria is about Iran. And it is for AIPAC too. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee broke its silence today, urging a vote for the Syrian strike. AIPAC was lying low. That was what everyone said. So: Who called AIPAC? And: why does Obama need AIPAC? Could it be because AIPAC can get 70 Senators’ signatures on a napkin in 24 hours? Also, if the Tea Party is so 'isolationist,' as the media keep insisting, then why is Marco Rubio gungho on a Syria attack? Does it have anything to do with presidential ambitions?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAIPAC comes out for strike on Syria, mentions Iran more often than Syria

Sheldon Adelson Becomes Obama Ally as Jewish Groups Back Syria Strike

"Lobbying on Syria has inspired coalitions of the unlikely, aligning President Barack Obama with Sheldon Adelson, the Republican billionaire who spent about $70 million trying to defeat him last year, in the push for a military response to the use of chemical weapons. The support Obama is getting from pro-Israel groups in the U.S. is important because of their history of political influence. The pro-Israel community contributed $14.5 million to federal campaigns for the 2012 elections, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. That’s more than the $11.1 million in donations by the defense aerospace industry, one of the biggest and most consistent political contributors." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSheldon Adelson Becomes Obama Ally as Jewish Groups Back Syria Strike

Kerry’s Morally, Linguistically, and Historically Obscene Case for War in Syria

"Unfortunately for the politician who made famous the line 'How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?', Kerry's case in front of the committee was more a textbook example of how acting as the world's policeman for decades has warped the country's values, judgment, and even language. I counted at least seven moments that qualified in my judgment as obscene, exposing along the way the administration's empty and contradictory arguments for air-mailing death upon a regime that does not pose a direct threat in the United States." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingKerry’s Morally, Linguistically, and Historically Obscene Case for War in Syria

How Intelligence Was Twisted to Support an Attack on Syria

"Secretary of State John Kerry assured the public that the Obama administration's summary of the intelligence on which it is basing the case for military action to punish the Assad regime for an alleged use of chemical weapons was put together with an acute awareness of the fiasco of the 2002 Iraq WMD intelligence estimate. Nevertheless, the unclassified summary of the intelligence assessment made public August 30, 2013, utilizes misleading language evocative of the infamous Iraq estimate's deceptive phrasing. The document displays multiple indications that the integrity of the assessment process was seriously compromised." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHow Intelligence Was Twisted to Support an Attack on Syria

Ex-CIA Agent Philip Giraldi on Syria War

"Philip Giraldi, executive director of The Council for the National Interest, discusses Gareth Porter’s debunking of US 'intelligence' supporting an attack on Syria; reports that the Syrian rebels accidentally set off deadly chemical weapons from the Saudis; why Secretary of State John Kerry can’t possibly know the casualty figures in Syria – no matter how confidently he states them; and AIPAC’s full-court press on Congress to get another war started in the Middle East." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEx-CIA Agent Philip Giraldi on Syria War

Does the U.S. Government Have A Right to Bomb Syria?

"An argument is being made that the credibility of the U.S. government is at stake, and that it needs to follow through on the red line threats issued by the government. But if the U.S. has been so foolish as to make threats that might diminish its credibility and harm its capacity for self-defense, it does not follow that it has now gained the privilege or right of making good on its threats. One’s mistakes or threats do not generate rights and privileges. Obama began by making the preceding credibility argument about the U.S. and his own red line threats. He has since extended that invalid argument to the 'international community'." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDoes the U.S. Government Have A Right to Bomb Syria?

Jon Stewart: ‘Red line’ Syria crossed is actually a ‘d*ck-measuring ribbon’

"Returning to the familiar sight of the U.S. threatening to attack a Middle Eastern country, Jon Stewart dismissed the posturing surrounding a possible military strike against Syria on The Daily Show on Tuesday. 'Oh, right — we have to bomb Syria because we’re in seventh grade,' Stewart said. 'And the ‘red line’ that they crossed is actually a d*ck-measuring ribbon.' Instead of thinking of it as refusing to give in to aggression, he argued, real 'weakness' on the part of the U.S. would be listening to the 'parade of idiots who got the same issue wrong in Iraq — or as those people are known on cable, experts.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJon Stewart: ‘Red line’ Syria crossed is actually a ‘d*ck-measuring ribbon’

6 Groups that Will Win Big From a War with Syria

"It has to be obvious to almost everyone that the US war machine is trying desperately to get another war going… and – at least for the moment – failing miserably. The Romans had a phrase that they used for legal analysis: qui bono, which translates to 'who benefits?' Clearly, powerful individuals are pushing hard for the US to go to war. Let’s take a look at who these people are." Continue reading →

Continue Reading6 Groups that Will Win Big From a War with Syria