Middle East

Gold trade booms in war-torn Syria

"In Syria’s northern metropolis, as across the Middle East, those who can afford to have traditionally invested in jewellery for their womenfolk, especially gold, to ward against a rainy day. As daily clashes between troops and rebels fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad have brought a devastating halt to all normal economic activity, the trade in precious metals has boomed as people struggle to make ends meet. Two years of devastating conflict have sent the Syrian pound into freefall and, for those with any money, gold is a popular refuge to maintain the value of their savings." Continue reading →

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NATO airstrike kills two Afghan children

"A NATO helicopter strike killed two children in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, officials said, in the latest civilian casualties to beset the coalition’s war against Taliban militants. The operation close to Ghazni city was conducted after local people complained of a Taliban post targeting traffic convoys in the area, Mohammad Ali Ahmadi, the deputy governor of Ghazni province, said. 'It was a joint (Afghan and coalition) operation conducted this morning that killed nine Taliban. Unfortunately, two school children were also killed and seven other civilians were wounded,' he said." Continue reading →

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Study: Iraq and Afghanistan wars will cost U.S. up to $6 trillion

"The Iraq and Afghanistan wars will cost the United States between $4-6 trillion in the long term. Harvard University scholar Linda Bilmes concluded that the United States will face increasing costs to care for an estimated 2.5 million veterans, and to pay down debt incurred by borrowing to pay for the wars. Bilmes said that costs will climb over decades. She wrote that the peak year for disability payments over World War I, which ended in 1918, was 1969 as veterans became elderly. Donald Rumsfeld, the defense secretary under Bush, said before the invasion that the Iraq war would cost around $50 billion and called higher estimates 'baloney.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingStudy: Iraq and Afghanistan wars will cost U.S. up to $6 trillion

Afghan villagers flee their homes as US drones terrorize them

"Barely able to walk even with a cane, Ghulam Rasool says he padlocked his front door, handed over the keys and his three cows to a neighbor and fled his mountain home in the middle of the night to escape relentless airstrikes from U.S. drones targeting militants in this remote corner of Afghanistan. Rasool and other Afghan villagers have their own name for Predator drones. They call them benghai, which in the Pashto language means the 'buzzing of flies.' When they explain the noise, they scrunch their faces and try to make a sound that resembles an army of flies." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAfghan villagers flee their homes as US drones terrorize them

US Army vet charged with fighting alongside al-Qaida against Syrian government

"A U.S. Army veteran, who boasted on Facebook of his military adventures with Syrian rebels, was charged Thursday with firing rocket propelled grenades as part of an attack led by an al-Qaida group against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. According to an FBI affidavit, Harroun, who served three years in the Army before being medically discharged, was engaged in military action in Syria, siding with rebel forces against the Syrian government, from January to March of this year. Harroun is not charged with providing material support to a terrorist group, but instead conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction outside the U.S." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUS Army vet charged with fighting alongside al-Qaida against Syrian government

How The News Media Betrayed Us On Iraq

"The tenth anniversary of the start of America’s illegal and aggressive war against Iraq should not pass without recalling that the mainstream news media eagerly participated in the Bush administration’s dishonest campaign for public support. Most news operations were little more than extensions of the White House Office of Communications. The media became shameful conduits for unsubstantiated and outright false information about Saddam Hussein’s alleged threat to the American people. Unfortunately, even as media figures now issue mea culpas about their shameful Iraq 'coverage,' they are engaged in precisely the same shoddy business with respect to Iran." Continue reading →

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The Iraq War: 10 Years Later – Anthony Gregory

"Operation Iraqi Freedom unleashed terrorism, draconian Shariah law, and the systematic persecution of women and religious minorities. Bush’s gang established martial law, deadly checkpoints, and torture chambers; used white phosphorous, flooded the country with sewage and disease, destroyed infrastructure that twelve previous years of U.S. war and sanctions had yet left standing, confiscated Iraqis’ guns, and implemented central taxation and economic planning. Wilson’s WWI bungling helped lead to communism, Nazism, and WWII; Bush’s bungling has exacerbated jihadism and will reverberate for decades. One good resulted: Global disrespect for American empire." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Iraq War: 10 Years Later – Anthony Gregory

Fox News analyst: ‘Very high probability’ Iraq hid WMDs in Syria

"A Fox News military analyst who has previously justified the U.S. invasion in Iraq by asserting that Russia conspired to hide Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) now says that there is a 'very high probability' that those WMDs are in Syria. 'That’s conjecture, but we do know prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom, there was a lot of vehicles crossing the border into Syria. And there was a great deal of conjecture. A Iraqi major general swore by it. He said he delivered it. And so I think that it would be a very high probability if we could get into those bunkers that they would have Iraqi signatures on them.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFox News analyst: ‘Very high probability’ Iraq hid WMDs in Syria

Syrian Insurgent Provocations: Going For Endgame?

"After creating the chaos in Syria through his policy of arming and training the insurgents, President Obama said last week in the Middle East that he is 'very concerned about Syria becoming an enclave for extremism because extremists thrive in chaos, they thrive in failed states, they thrive in power vacuums.' The US created the very instability by empowering radicals that it now seeks to mitigate, first by the CIA fool's errand of supporting 'moderates,' when it is clear that only the radicals are capable of actually fighting. It would be interesting to see the criteria for determining who is eligible for CIA assistance. Beards are, after all, quite easy to shave..." Continue reading →

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CIA helping boost arms shipments to Syria rebels

"Arab nations and Turkey, helped by the CIA, have dramatically increased military aid to Syrian rebels in recent months, The New York Times reported Monday, citing air traffic data and interviews with unnamed officials and the rebel commanders. The airlift has grown to include more than 160 military cargo flights by Jordanian, Saudi and Qatari military-style cargo planes landing at Esenboga Airport near Ankara, and at other Turkish and Jordanian airports, the report said. US intelligence officers have helped the Arab governments shop for weapons and vetted rebel commanders and groups to determine who should receive the weapons as they arrive." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCIA helping boost arms shipments to Syria rebels