William Bowles

[Photo: A disabled victim of the British London police was dragged from his wheelchair. (From an earlier London demo)]

On 10 August our vainglorious pm announced that the communities from which it is alleged the ‘rioters and looters’ emanated from were “sick”. But more on who is really sick in our society later. In the meantime I’d like to pick up on an aspect of the state’s response (or apparent lack of) to the uprising that I referred to earlier, namely my assertion that the forces of ‘law and order’ deliberately allowed fires to burn and shops to be looted, as it served to demonize the people involved as well as justifying the use of heavy firepower and a complete lockdown (which happened yesterday).

Meanwhile, Cameron, who has come under fire for the apparent lack of response by the forces of ‘law and order’ had this to say to the assembled MPs on the subject:

● “There were simply far too few police were deployed on to our streets and the tactics they were using weren’t working.
● “Police chiefs have been frank with me about why this happened.
● “Initially the police treated the situation too much as a public order issue – rather than essentially one of crime.
● “The truth is that the police have been facing a new and unique challenge with different people doing the same thing – basically looting – in different places all at the same time.” — David Cameron, BBC News, 10 August 2011. (My emph. WB)

The actual difference escapes me as far as it comes to imposing law and order on the streets between public order and crime but perhaps Cameron knows something I don’t?

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Adnan Al-Daini

The wretched “war on terror” has led to the invention of phrases and rebranding of nasty illegal practices, in a cynical way to circumvent the rule of law, with the English language stretched to the point where words began to take on new more sinister meanings. People arrested in faraway places were labelled “unlawful enemy combatants” instead of “prisoners of war”, thus circumventing the Geneva Convention, international law and U.S domestic law.  Note that although the word war is used in the phrase “war on terror”, people detained in faraway places as the American military roams the world are not called “prisoners of war”. Torture is not allowed under international law. No problem. Replace the word “torture” by “enhanced interrogation techniques”. Another sinister phrase that entered the language was “extraordinary rendition”. Under this title “unlawful enemy combatants” were transported around the world to countries whose governments have no compunction to torture on behalf of the U.S, as they do it routinely to anyone of their citizens who dare criticize their tyrannical rule.

Add to that the shocking images of abuse of Iraqi detainees in the American-run detention centre in Abu Ghraib, Baghdad, and that of a battered to death Baha Mousa, the Iraqi hotel receptionist in a British-run detention centre in the south of Iraq, and you get the idea that these thugs and torturers felt international law did not apply to them. Apart from the immorality, inhumanity and criminality of these actions, they are totally counterproductive.

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Charles E. Carlson

There is only one antidote: Congress must take over and nationalize the FED now, arrest its leaders (if they can be found) and charge them with sedition. For this to happen, you and I must take over Congress and throw out 75% of its members, plus The Outfit's agents hidden among the White House staff. Ask God if this is possible. Your alternative is financial slavery to the Outfit's world system that you can neither define nor comprehend.

Standard and Poor's is not alone, is far from being independent, and is anything but respected. On Friday, August 5, it announced it was down-rating the US government debt. This precipitated a two day stock market tsunami of liquidation until Tuesday afternoon August 9. Then Federal Reserve Bank figurehead Ben Bernanke announced an unprecedented promise that the FED would guarantee to keep interest rates at near zero through 2013. This is like guaranteeing farmers what the weather will be! It is a gift to the banks that can now plan on free money for nearly three years!

The American people do not get free money, they must continue to borrow from Wall Street at bank rates. They also receive almost nothing on their savings at the banks who now charge just to keep your money. It is no surprise The FED's words brought a wild recovery to the stock market. Banks will now borrow neat free money from the FED, and what is to prevent them from buying stocks to hold through 2013 without dime of there own capital.

The problem is that this Bernanke scheme sets up the chess board for the sure and total demolition of the dollar in world markets. Two and a half years from now the Dollar will look like ground zero at the World Trade center...ashes. There is no way to predict how high consumer prices will go!

Standard & Poor's is an integrated part of the Wall Street money laundering and marketing team. It acts as the confidence, or PR man for securities salesmen, playing "mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all," with hundreds of companies and municipalities who want to monger securities to the public pension plans and mutual funds. Most of us own these our 401-K. S&P legitimizes bond and stock sales by rating the issuers.

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Stephen Lendman

Despite intensive bombing since mid-March, Gaddafi remains firmly in control, enjoying overwhelming support with good reason. Imperial Washington is a long way from prevailing.

A previous article suggested NATO's Libya war is unraveling, having misjudged the commitment of Libyans to resist, fight back, and support Gaddafi. Access it through this link.

Nonetheless, daily bombings continue intensively, averaging 51 daily strike sorties in the last week alone, targeting Tripoli and other Gaddafi controlled areas mercilessly.

Despite clear evidence of war crimes, NATO claims civilians and civilian targets aren't struck. In fact, they're targeted deliberately and repeatedly, killing hundreds and injuring many more as part of a campaign to cow targeted populations into submission.

In the last 48 hours, Tripoli power facilities were bombed, knocking it out to parts of the city. Earlier, Libya's Great Man-Made River system and a factory producing pipe for it were struck to reduce fresh water supplies. A food warehouse was destroyed to decrease available amounts.

Three ground-based satellites were disabled, killing three employees and injuring another 15. Hospitals and medical clinics are targeted so less healthcare can be provided, and oil facilities are bombed, reducing available stockpiles. Numerous other civilian targets are also struck repeatedly, including infrastructure and residential neighbors unrelated to military necessity.

As stated above, it is part of NATO's terror bombing campaign to cow Libyans. So far, they've become more embolden, knowing the unacceptable alternative.

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Philip Giraldi

Leading neoconservative Richard Perle has said that one of the many reasons he admires the Israelis is the moral clarity that they exhibit on the issue of terrorism. What exactly that means is not itself clear, but it would appear to be a carte blanche for any and all Israeli punitive responses to groups that question Tel Aviv’s legitimacy. Perle has never criticized Israelis for disproportionality or for committing war crimes. He has only admonished them when, in his opinion, they have not gone far enough.

By that standard, the past 10 years have seen a major victory for Perle and for those who think like he does by delivering moral clarity to the people of the United States. The Global War on Terror has undeniably simplified thinking about serious issues. As President George W. Bush put it, you are either with us or against us, which means that you either support legislation passed by Congress to catch bad guys or you are a terrorist sympathizer and should yourself be put in jail. That is the meaning of the laws criminalizing terrorist support, which stretch and transform the definition to such an extent that expressing a viewpoint favorable to a group that the United States government has defined as terrorist can land someone in court. Even providing medical assistance to someone in an area controlled by a terrorist group or advising a terrorist leader that he should stop killing people can result in criminal charges.

But even Americans who understand the serious consequences of the legislation that diminishes liberties don’t always appreciate the extent to which the change in the legal landscape driven by fear of terrorism has also led to a proliferation of mechanisms in the state security apparatus that are being used to diminish the freedoms of each and every American citizen. If the federal government wants to know more about you, it has all the tools readily available because information is being collected on citizens every day, while computer capacity and speed are now capable of storing and analyzing everything that comes in.

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Chris Woods

Drone War Exposed – the complete picture of CIA strikes in Pakistan. The Obama administration has come to rely heavily on CIA drone strikes to attack alleged militants in the country’s western tribal areas. To date, at least 236 drone attacks have been ordered in Obama’s name.

CIA drone strikes have led to far more deaths in Pakistan than previously understood, according to extensive new research published by the Bureau. More than 160 children are among at least 2,292 people reported killed in US attacks since 2004. There are credible reports of at least 385 civilians among the dead.

In a surprise move, a counter-terrorism official has also released US government estimates of the numbers killed. These state that an estimated 2,050 people have been killed in drone strikes – of whom all but an estimated 50 are combatants.

Reassessment

The Bureau’s fundamental reassessment of the covert US campaign involved a complete re-examination of all that is known about each US drone strike.

The study is based on close analysis of credible materials: some 2,000 media reports; witness testimonies; field reports of NGOs and lawyers; secret US government cables; leaked intelligence documents, and relevant accounts by journalists, politicians and former intelligence officers.

The Bureau’s findings are published in a 22,000-word database which covers each individual strike in Pakistan in detail. A powerful search engine, an extensive timeline and searchable maps accompany the data.

The result is the clearest public understanding so far of the CIA’s covert drone war against the militants. Yet US intelligence officials are understood to be briefing against the Bureau’s work, claiming ‘significant problems with its numbers and methodologies.’

Iain Overton, the Bureau’s editor said: ‘It comes as no surprise that the US intelligence services would attack our findings in this way. But to claim our methodology is problematic before we had even published reveals how they really operate. A revelation that is reinforced by the fact that they cannot bring themselves to refer to non-combatants as what they really are: civilians and, all too often, children’.

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