Middle East

Reporter Asks Obama if Nobel Peace Prize ‘Dilemma’ on Syria Attack

"President Barack Obama flew to Sweden on Wednesday for a diplomatic meeting ahead of a two-day G20 summit in St. Petersburg, Russia. Obama held a wide-ranging press conference in Sweden relating to the White House's effort to build support for a strike on Syria in the wake of that government's use of chemical weapons on civilians. One Swedish reporter cornered Obama on the contradictions contained in the fact that a Nobel Peace Prize winner is planning to launch his second war against a sovereign nation." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingReporter Asks Obama if Nobel Peace Prize ‘Dilemma’ on Syria Attack

New documentary puts Donald Rumsfeld on the hotseat about Iraq

"Former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld wriggles out of straight answers on the Iraq war in Errol Morris’s new documentary, screening in Venice Wednesday. 'The Unknown Known' takes its title from a 2002 speech Rumsfeld gave to justify the invasion. Asked at the time whether Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction, he replied that there are 'things we do not know we don’t know.' In the film, Morris repeatedly attempts to quiz Rumsfeld on this and other decisions taken by a man accused of disastrous mismanagement of the war and condoning policies on interrogation which led to cases of extreme abuse of prisoners." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew documentary puts Donald Rumsfeld on the hotseat about Iraq

Russian report on chemical attack indicates similarity with rebel-made weapons

"Probes from Khan al-Assal show chemicals used in the March 19 attack did not belong to standard Syrian army ammunition, and that the shell carrying the substance was similar to those made by a rebel fighter group, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated. The samples taken at the site of the March 19 attack and analyzed by Russian experts indicate that a projectile carrying the deadly nerve agent sarin was most likely fired at Khan al-Assal by the rebels, the ministry statement suggests, outlining the 100-page report handed over to the UN by Russia." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRussian report on chemical attack indicates similarity with rebel-made weapons

We Must Not Be the World’s Policeman

"No one appointed the United States the world’s policeman. The government’s founding document, the Constitution, does not and could not do so. Obama and Kerry have tried hard to invoke 'national security' as grounds for bombing Syria, but no one believes Assad threatens Americans. He has made no such statements and taken no threatening actions. He is engulfed in a sectarian civil war. Inexcusably, Obama has taken sides in that civil war — the same side as the Syrian al-Qaeda affiliate — but still Assad poses no danger to Americans. Bombing would make him more — not less — of a threat." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWe Must Not Be the World’s Policeman

Jacob Hornberger: Who’s Really Getting Punished?

"It’s not just the Syrian troops and 'collateral-damage civilians' who will bear the cost of Obama’s punishment of Assad. Also paying the price will be us — the American people — who will continue to suffer the consequences of military empire, a national-security state apparatus, and an interventionist foreign policy. Our punishment will come in the form of continued destruction of our freedom, inner peace, harmony, and economic well-being at the hands of our own government." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJacob Hornberger: Who’s Really Getting Punished?

Syria: Nobel Peace Laureate Tells Her Account of What She Witnessed

"Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Mairead Maguire tells her account of her visit to Syria. While Maguire was in Syria she discovered that the people the U.S. are funding are violent groups and do not want peace in Syria. Her her view is that Syria is being used as a proxy war by the U.S., Great Britain, Saudi Arabia and Qatar." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSyria: Nobel Peace Laureate Tells Her Account of What She Witnessed

Senate-crafted Syria resolution riddled with loopholes for Obama

"Senators on Wednesday tried to write a tight resolution authorizing President Obama to strike Syria under very specific circumstances, but analysts and lawmakers said the language still has plenty of holes the White House could use to expand military action well beyond what Congress appears to intend. 'Wiggle room? Plenty of that,' said Louis Fisher, scholar in residence at the Constitution Project and former long-time expert for the Congressional Research Service on separation of powers issues. Mr. Fisher pointed to the 1964 resolution that authorized a limited response to the Gulf of Tonkin, but that ended up being the start of an escalation of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam war." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSenate-crafted Syria resolution riddled with loopholes for Obama

Do Humanitarian Concerns Give the U.S. A Right to Bomb Syria?

"Nancy Pelosi suggests that the U.S. should bomb Syria to save children. Does the U.S. have a right to defend children in Syria by bombing government installations? Even if some international lawyers devised some new sort of argument in support of U.S. bombing by basing it on some humanitarian rationale, the U.S. would still have a very difficult case to make. The U.S. has basically forfeited even such an imagined or hypothetical right by its earlier actions of supporting the rebel side. If it bombs Syria now, it is part of a pattern of having chosen the rebel side." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDo Humanitarian Concerns Give the U.S. A Right to Bomb Syria?

US Senate panel approves use of force against Syria

"President Barack Obama's plan to conduct punishing military strikes on Syria passed its first congressional hurdle Wednesday, paving the way for a full Senate debate on the use of force. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved an amended resolution 10-7, with one senator, the chamber's newest member Edward Markey, voting present, that authorizes US military intervention with a 90-day deadline and bars American boots on the ground for combat purposes. 'What we've done today is a step in the right direction. I hope it makes a safer world,' said Senator Dick Durbin. The chamber's number two Democrat voted against the war in Iraq, but he insisted that 'this is different.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUS Senate panel approves use of force against Syria

Secret U.S. documents reveal Al-Qaeda has anti-drone operation

"Al-Qaeda’s leaders have set up cells of engineers to try to shoot down, disable or hijack US drones, The Washington Post reported late Tuesday citing top-secret US intelligence documents. The Al-Qaeda leadership is 'hoping to exploit the technological vulnerabilities of a weapons system that has inflicted huge losses against the terrorist network,' the Post said online. The Al-Qaeda commanders are keen to achieve 'a technological breakthrough (that) could curb the US drone campaign, which has killed an estimated 3,000 people over the past decade,' the Post reported. [Drone strikes] have taken a toll among civilians in those countries, something that has fueled anti-US sentiment." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSecret U.S. documents reveal Al-Qaeda has anti-drone operation