LiberationNews.org

1. “Let me be clear: President Obama is not asking the United States to go to war.” 
–John Kerry, Sept. 3
Translation: We are asking the United States to go to war without calling it war.

2. “The evidence here [against the Syrian government] is so clear and so powerful.”
 –John Kerry, Sept. 1 on ABC This Week
Translation: There is nothing clear or powerful about the “evidence,” but if we keep repeating this line maybe you will just believe us. Anonymously some officials have admitted that the “evidence” is “no smoking gun” but that will not be said that publicly. We will also omit the fact that the intelligence reports come out of the same office (Director of Intelligence James Clapper) that last year lied in front of Congress about the existence of the NSA domestic surveillance program.

3. It is "undeniable" and there is “no doubt” that the Syrian government ordered the chemical weapons attacks.
Translation: We are simply going to ignore that the Syrian government is vehemently denying the accusations, and that tens of millions of people around the world indeed have lots of “doubt” about our version of events.

4. “The belated decision by the [Syrian] regime to grant access to the UN team is too late to be credible.” 
-White House statement, Aug. 25
Translation: We actually never wanted the UN to investigate the attack, we just wanted to use the UN as a cover to legitimize our own airstrikes. We tried to dissuade the UN inspectors—who were accepted by the Syrian government the day after submitting their request—from going but now that the inspectors have gone ahead and gone to Syria, we have to discredit their investigation in advance.

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John W. Whitehead

News headlines to the contrary, there is actually more taking place right now than just the Obama administration’s conveniently distracting push for military action against Syria.

We’re still having our privacy rights ravaged by the surveillance state. The latest revelations confirm long-standing fears that there is nothing private from the government, which has used a variety of covert, unconstitutional tactics to gain access to Americans’ personal data, online purchases and banking, medical records, and online communications. The government’s methods include the use of supercomputers to hack through privacy settings, collaborations with corporations to create “back doors” for NSA access into encrypted files, and the use of strong-arm tactics against those technology and internet companies who refuse to cooperate.

We’re still being taken to the cleaners by a fiscally irresponsible and semi-corrupt government. Not only does Congress continue to spend money we don’t have on pork-barrel projects, but we’re writing welfare checks to regimes in the Middle East, sending billions of dollars in “foreign aid” to Israel, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Egypt, among others. That aid usually takes the form of military aid (money for weapons, aircraft, and other military hardware from U.S. companies, as well as training at U.S. military schools) and economic aid. Earlier this year, President Obama approved a foreign aid package that translates to more than $11 million per day in military aid for Israel. As if that didn’t burden taxpayers enough, you can add a $4 million and counting printing error to the tab as a result of problems with the new $100 bill (the first batch had blank spots, the second batch was stolen by thieves, and this latest batch had too much ink).

And we’re still being terrorized by an out-of-control police state. Daily, there are new headlines about SWAT teams breaking down doors and militarized police shooting unarmed citizens. A 107-year-old Arkansas man is dead after a “shootout” with a SWAT team. Then there was the 16-year-old teenager who skipped school only to be shot by police after they mistook him for a fleeing burglar. Or the July 26 shooting of an unarmed black man in Austin “who was pursued and shot in the back of the neck by Austin Police… after failing to properly identify himself and leaving the scene of an unrelated incident.” Or the 19-year-old Seattle woman who was accidentally shot in the leg by police after she refused to show her hands.

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Gilad Atzmon

Today is Yom Kippur and the 40th anniversary of the 1973 Arab–Israeli Yom Kippur War. That war caught Israel totally on the hop. In the first days of the conflict, both the IDF and the IAF were defeated and humiliated. Moshe Dayan, the legendary Israeli defence minister, contemplated out loud the ‘destruction of the 3rd Temple’ and, according to different intelligence sources, Israel was close to using its ‘Samson option’ - a nuclear strike against Egypt.

Interestingly, neither the Egyptians nor the Syrians had any plans to ‘throw the Jews to the sea.’ In fact, their military objectives were rather limited – liberating land occupied by Israel in 1967. The Egyptians attempted to secure a narrow bridge-head over the Suez Canal and the Syrians hoped to free the Golan Heights or at least part of it.

But driven by pre-Traumatic Stress (Pre-TSD), Israeli army generals and the government managed to recast this joint Arab operation as nothing less than an emerging Shoa. Consequently, at least for the first days of the war, they panicked and unnecessarily and critically exhausted Israeli military assets and force.

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Stephen Lendman

Israel has access to the highest US political, military, and intelligence sources. It steals everything it can get its hands on. It ignores fundamental laws, rules, agreements and norms. It fits the classic definition of a rogue state. So does America.

Millions worldwide owe Edward Snowden sincere gratitude. He revealed what's vital to know. He connected important dots to do so. He revealed unconstitutional NSA spying. He did it courageously. When governments operate lawlessly, exposing wrongdoing is crucial. Doing it entails risks. Snowden did so anyway. He did it because it's the right thing to do. On September 11, London's Guardian published important new information. It did so from documents he provided.

On September 12, Russia Today (RT) headlined "EU lawmakers nominate Snowden for Sakharov human rights prize." European parliamentarians established it in December 1988. They did so to honor individuals and organizations championing human rights and freedom of thought.

Nelson Mandela and Russia's Anatoly Marchenko were its first joint recipients. In 1992, Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo became the first organization given the coveted award. It's generally granted on or around December 10. It's the day in 1948 when the UN General Assembly ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It's commemorated worldwide as Human Rights Day. Perhaps Snowden will be this year's recipient.

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