military industrial complex

‘Hotel Hell’ manager now a Guantanamo prison supervisor

"The man in charge of the Pentagon office that runs the military tribunal at the Guantanamo Bay prison was once featured on a Fox reality show that highlighted his mismanagement of an upstate New York hotel. According to The Huffington Post, John Imhof, current head of the Office of Military Commissions, was the subject of a 2012 episode of 'Hotel Hell' in which he revealed that he had run his hotel, the Cambridge Inn, into $750,000 worth of debt since buying it in 2007. Imhof was also called out by the show’s host, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, for a slew of errors, including botching the recipe for the hotel’s famous apple pie." Continue reading →

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To Kill an American

"There were not too many surprises in the newly disclosed 'white paper' offering a legal reasoning behind the claim that President Obama has the power to order the killing of American citizens who are believed to be part of Al Qaeda. We knew Mr. Obama and his lawyers believed he has that power under the Constitution and federal law. We also knew that he utterly rejects the idea that Congress or the courts have any right to review such a decision in advance, or even after the fact. Still, it was disturbing to see the twisted logic laid out in black and white. It had the air of a legal justification written after the fact for a policy decision that had already been made." Continue reading →

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Ron Paul: Immigration ‘Reform’ Will Turn the US into a Police State

"The devil is in the details, and the details of the McCain plan are deeply disturbing. To secure the borders he is calling for a massive increase in drones flying over US territory, spying on US citizens along the border – and presumably within the 100 mile 'border zone' over which Department of Homeland Security claims jurisdiction. Additionally, the McCain/Schumer plan calls for a nationwide, mandatory E-Verify program, which forces employers to act as federal immigration agents, and forces American citizens to prove to the government that they are allowed to work. E-Verify is an East Germany-like program that creates a massive federal database of every American citizen." Continue reading →

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Pepe Escobar: War on terror forever

"It's now official - coming from the mouth of the lion, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey, and duly posted at the AFRICOM site, the Pentagon's weaponized African branch. Exit 'historical' al-Qaeda, holed up somewhere in the Waziristans, in the Pakistani tribal areas; enter al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). In Dempsey's words, AQIM 'is a threat not only to the country of Mali, but the region, and if... left unaddressed, could in fact become a global threat.' With Mali now elevated to the status of a 'threat' to the whole world, GWOT is proven to be really open-ended." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPepe Escobar: War on terror forever

Panetta: US needs to keep up drone war

"The assassination of Al-Qaeda figures in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia with unmanned, robotic aircraft has provoked widespread criticism from human rights groups and some US allies, but Panetta said the US campaign has been effective. Asked if the CIA 'targeted killings' should be curtailed in coming years, Panetta told AFP in an interview that there was still a need to continue the drone strikes more than a decade since the attacks of September 11, 2001. 'I think it depends on the nature of the threat that we’re confronting. We are in a war. We’re in a war on terrorism and we’ve been in that war since 9/11.'" Continue reading →

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In Writing, the Justification Used by Obama to Kill Americans

"The 16-page memo, a copy of which was obtained by NBC News, provides new details about the legal reasoning behind one of the Obama administration’s most secretive and controversial polices: its dramatically increased use of drone strikes against al-Qaida suspects, including those aimed at American citizens. But the confidential Justice Department 'white paper' introduces a more expansive definition of self-defense or imminent attack than described by Brennan or Holder in their public speeches. It refers, for example, to what it calls a 'broader concept of imminence' than actual intelligence about any ongoing plot against the U.S. homeland." Continue reading →

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Obama gets power to wage pre-emptive cyber warfare

"A secret internal review has concluded that President Barack Obama can lawfully engage in pre-emptive cyber attacks in the event that the U.S. faces an imminent threat, according to The New York Times. The legal guidance was key to rules the administration hopes to adopt in the coming weeks to govern cyber warfare operations. The Times added that those rules will classified similarly to the policies governing the nation’s drone warfare program. The president is only known to have launched one cyberwar operation, against Iran." Continue reading →

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Marine recruiter ‘sexually assaulted two teen recruits’ at his office and home where he lives with wife and two children

"One of the victims, a 17-year-old girl who was not named, told the station that she had met Percival four or five times to discuss joining the Marine Corps. She said that early Sunday morning Percival forced her to have oral sex with him and threatened to kill her if she told anyone. Another recruit, a friend of the first alleged victim, said that Percival had asked her to show him her breasts and give him oral sex when she visited the recruiting office he worked at." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMarine recruiter ‘sexually assaulted two teen recruits’ at his office and home where he lives with wife and two children

Pentagon Needs Battle Plan for Troop-Suicide Threat

"The Pentagon said this week there were 349 suicides by active-duty members of the armed services in 2012, as opposed to 311 combat deaths. Before you jump to conclusions about the plight of battle- traumatized veterans failing to readjust to life stateside, consider this astounding fact: More than half of troops who killed themselves had never deployed from the U.S., and 85 percent never saw combat." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPentagon Needs Battle Plan for Troop-Suicide Threat