Western Intel

Princeton grad accused of spying for Cuba while employed by State Department

"Former United States government employee Marta Rita Velazquez ’79 has been accused of espionage for Cuba against the United States, according to an indictment released by the FBI on April 25. Velazquez is charged with passing documents and information regarding national defense to Cuban intelligence. The indictment, which was originally returned by a Washington, D.C. grand jury in 2004 and only unsealed yesterday, also alleges that Velazquez helped recruit U.S. citizens to serve as Cuban agents. One alleged co-conspirator, Ana Belen Montes, pleaded guilty to espionage in 2002 and is now serving a 25-year sentence in the US." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPrinceton grad accused of spying for Cuba while employed by State Department

CIA ‘gave millions in cash’ to Karzai over the years

"The CIA has delivered tens of millions of dollars in cash packed in suitcases and backpacks to the office of Afghan President Hamid Karzai for more than a decade. 'We called it ghost money,' Khalil Roman, Karzai’s deputy chief of staff from 2002 to 2005, told the Times. 'It came in secret, and it left in secret.' The money was aimed at obtaining influence, but instead fueled rampant corruption, current and former officials told the newspaper. There appears to be no oversight over the secret CIA money, which is aimed at gaining influence by paying off warlords and politicians including some linked to the drug trade and even the Taliban." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCIA ‘gave millions in cash’ to Karzai over the years

Boston bombers’ uncle married daughter of top CIA official

"Ruslan Tsarni married the daughter of former top CIA official Graham Fuller, who spent 20 years as operations officer in Turkey, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Hong Kong. In 1982 Fuller was appointed the National Intelligence Officer for Near East and South Asia at the CIA, and in 1986, under Ronald Reagan, he became the Vice-Chairman of the National Intelligence Council, with overall responsibility for national level strategic forecasting. At the time of their marriage, Ruslan Tsarni was known as Ruslan Tsarnaev, the same last name as his nephews Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the alleged bombers." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBoston bombers’ uncle married daughter of top CIA official

Michael Scheuer: The Idea That They’re Attacking Us Because Of Our Freedom Is Insane

"We should have went to Afghanistan and won the war. We went to Afghanistan, spent 13 years and got chased out by guys with weapons from the Korean War. The Islamists started this war, they explained to us as clearly as General Giap and Ho Chi Minh explained to us why they were fighting us and we have ignored it. Mrs. Clinton has ignored it, Bill Clinton, George Bush, Barack Obama. The idea that they're attacking us because of our culture is insane. We are now waging a war against them culturally. We're trying to impose democracy, women's rights, parliamentary systems on a people who don't want it. They're going to fight that." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMichael Scheuer: The Idea That They’re Attacking Us Because Of Our Freedom Is Insane

After U.S. Troops Leave, Armed Drones Will Patrol Afghanistan’s Skies

"One of the major elements of Afghanistan’s air war will remain after most U.S. troops have headed home, the U.S. military command confirmed today. Armed drones, operated by the U.S., will remain over Afghanistan after 2014. Western Pakistan, the epicenter of the U.S. drone war from 2009 to 2011, experienced a surge in U.S. drone strikes at the beginning of this year. Those drones are under the control of the CIA, and U.S. military officials believe that’s likely to remain the case even if the Obama administration takes away many of the CIA’s drone operations, since there is no declared U.S. war in Pakistan. Those drones are flown from Afghanistan." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAfter U.S. Troops Leave, Armed Drones Will Patrol Afghanistan’s Skies

Yemeni activist condemns ‘terror’ of drone strikes in emotional speech to senators

"'In the past, what Wessab villagers knew of the U.S. was based on my stories about my wonderful experiences here. The friendships and values I experienced and described to the villagers helped them understand the America that I know and that I love. Now, however, when they think of America they think of the terror they feel from the drones that hover over their heads ready to fire missiles at any time.' Al-Muslimi described drone strikes as the 'face of America' in Yemen and warned they were creating anti-American sentiment. He gruesomely described how civilians were often killed by drone strikes on small villages." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingYemeni activist condemns ‘terror’ of drone strikes in emotional speech to senators

U.S. and Russia to bolster ties after Boston bombings

"Russia and the United States agreed Saturday to step up cooperation in their fight against terror in the wake of news that two ethnic Chechens were suspected of organising the deadly Boston Marathon bombings. The Kremlin said Russian leader Vladimir Putin called US President Barack Obama to once again express his condolences and discuss ways the two sides can work more closely on security in the runup to the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. 'I think that contacts will be conducted between our intelligence services,' Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in separate televised remarks." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. and Russia to bolster ties after Boston bombings

Leaked report: Nearly half of US drone strikes in Pakistan not against al-Qaeda

"A trove of leaked classified reports has confirmed what many had suspected – US drone kills in Pakistan are not the precision strikes against top-level al-Qaeda terrorists they are portrayed as by the Obama administration. Instead, many of the attacks are aimed at suspected low-level tribal militants, who may pose no direct danger to the United States – and for many there appears to be little evidence to justify the assassinations. The statistics illustrate the breadth of the US ‘drone doctrine’ – which has never been defined by consecutive US administrations." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLeaked report: Nearly half of US drone strikes in Pakistan not against al-Qaeda

The Myth of Journalistic Objectivity

"For generations we have been taught that the ideal journalist is fair, balanced and objective. But the idea of the objective journalist is a myth. Join us today on The Corbett Report as we explore the ideologies and assumptions behind all news media and what alternative models we have for journalism in the online era." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Myth of Journalistic Objectivity