Press TV's Kaneez Fatima talks to James Morris on War in Afghanistan

CIA's Secret Army Larger Than Anyone Thought. The fact that the CIA has been assembling a “secret Army” in Afghanistan has never been a particularly closely guarded secret. The fact that they are assassinating people in Afghanistan is no secret either. What is a secret, however, is just how big this group is. Or at least it was a secret, until Bob Woodward’s book Obama’s Wars detailed it. According to Woodward the CIA’s army has some 3,000 well-trained assassins carrying out attacks not only across Afghanistan but into neighboring Pakistan as well. The program was detailed by former officials as part of the “ramped up American counter-terror operations,” and it was revealed that the CIA had brought some of its Afghan assassins to the United States for training. The use of them inside Pakistani territory will likely be the most far-reaching of the revelations, however, despite Pakistani military denials that this had ever taken place. Pakistan’s allowing of CIA drone attacks against its territory has been controversial, to say the least, but letting “boots on the ground” into the country is a much bigger issue. Reports suggest that Gen. David Petraeus, despite lack of public commentary, has privately approved of the use of the massive assassin army, likening it to the covert assassination campaign in Iraq.

The Independent: The CIA running a secret army of 3,000 assassins in Afghanistan

Around 2 PM settlers were firing live ammunition from the settlements at the funeral procession of one of the martyrs killed this morning by the private settler security guards here in Silwan. As a result clashes have broken out between Palestinians and armed Israeli military forces, empty Israeli buses have also been stoned. On the way to the cemetary an Israeli Police jeep was burnt, an Israeli Army jeep attacked and several Israeli cars destroyed. The situation is very tense, and there are reports of armed settlers physically attacking Palestinian civilians and by-standers immediately after the funeral parade had passed by.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the Israeli prime minister is a professional assassin, who should be tried for his crimes against the people of Palestine.

"[Benjamin] Netanyahu should be tried in court for blockading Gaza and massacring innocent Palestinian women and children." "Netanyahu is a professional assassin. All dictators in history accuse others to turn the spotlight away from themselves." "It is questionable [why] American media feel responsible for this person (Netanyahu)," Ahmadinejad said, adding that "you (American media) are afraid of Netanyahu's warmongering."

Ahmadinejad added that Israel is an "illegitimate regime" and an "occupier" and that the US easily starts wars and massacres people, "they are not qualified to have nuclear weapons and should be disarmed as soon as possible."

It is the third day since the Israeli government demanded the release of “nuclear super-spy” Jonathan Pollard. Tel Aviv calls it a “spy swap” but it isn’t spies they are offering but rather the lives of Palestinian hostages. Israel has promised that, if the US releases Pollard, it will hold off its plan to begin additional “resettlement” operations against Palestinian villages on the West Bank. In the past, Israel, criticized for “ethnic cleansing” operations against Palestinians paralleling Serbian operations in Bosnia 0r those of the apartheid regime in South Africa, has resorted to the use of “blitzkrieg” tactics with the predicted high levels of civilian casualties.

Officials of the Obama administration have, thus far, failed to give in to Israeli demands. In an almost identical scenario in 1979 in Iran, American diplomats were held hostage for 444 days, released only after coverts shipments of high-tech weaponry were promised by the Reagan administration, weapons still being used by Hizbollah fighters in Lebanon today. President Obama has little reason to submit to Netanyahu’s demands as the Israeli leader has failed to keep to any agreements he has made in the past.

GENEVA – A report by three U.N.-appointed human rights experts Wednesday said that Israeli forces violated international law when they raided a Gaza-bound aid flotilla killing nine activists earlier this year. The U.N. Human Rights Council's fact-finding mission concluded that Israel's naval blockade of the Palestinian territory was unlawful because of the humanitarian crisis there, and described the military raid on the flotilla as brutal and disproportionate.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry responded late Wednesday by saying the Human Rights Council, which commissioned the report, had a "biased, politicized and extremist approach." The Islamic militant group Hamas that controls Gaza, meanwhile, praised the report and called for those involved in the raid to be punished. The 56-page document lists a series of alleged crimes committed by Israeli forces during and after the raid, including willful killing and torture, and claims there is "clear evidence to support prosecutions."

Google/AFP: UN Gaza aid probe finds 'clear evidence' against Israel.
PressTV: Turkey welcomes UN Flotilla report
Al Jazeera: Israel flotilla raid was unlawful.

Desert Peace: Israel Responds To The UN’s ‘Guilty Verdict’. Murder apparently is not an act of extremism, neither is piracy...but condemning them is...Cutting off an entire area from the outside world and denying the residents basic human needs is not an act of extremism...but attempting to end this blockade is...

Promotions come ahead of major meeting in which leader Kim Jong-il expected to name youngest son as successor. North Korea has has announced a reshuffle of three senior officials just days before a crucial ruling communist party meeting that is expected to outline a change in the country's leadership. State media on Thursday reported the promotion of three diplomats ahead of the Workers' Party of Korea meeting described as "historic". All three of the newly promoted diplomats have been involved in international negotiations on the disarmament of North Korea's nuclear programme. The announcement came as North Korea prepared for its biggest political meeting in decades. The meeting next week is expected to pave the way for a power transfer from Kim Jong-il, the North Korean leader, to his son, Kim Jong-un. The Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kang Sok-ju, the North Korean first vice-minister of foreign affairs, was made a vice-premier of the cabinet. Kang, known to be overseeing Pyongyang's nuclear negotiations and diplomatic policies on the US, accompanied the North Korean leader during his visit to China last month. Kim Kye-gwan, the country's chief negotiator in the six-nation nuclear disarmament talks, was picked to fill Kang's slot at the foreign ministry, while Ri Yong-ho, Kim's deputy in the talks, was named a vice-foreign minister.

One district in Paktika province recorded 626 percent voter turnout, according to reports obtained by McClatchy Newspapers. Internal reports from Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission on Tuesday provide new evidence of serious fraud in Afghanistan's parliamentary elections, including turnouts that exceeded 100 percent in many southeastern districts under the control of the Taliban or other militants. The new indications of fraud appear to strengthen allegations of widespread intimidation, vote rigging and violence that independent Afghan poll monitors began making almost immediately after the polls closed on Saturday and cast new doubts on the commission's assertion that it knew of no instances in which commission staff members stuffed ballots.

James ‘Catfish’ Miller at DMR meeting in Biloxi, MS… They wanted to arrest him for asking a question… for speaking out of turn… He’s got some issues from some old misdemeanor… Since he found this stuff in the water and he’s been speaking out… Gonna bring him to jail, make an example of him… Top people in the seafood business said “They want you, They’re gonna make an example out of you.”… Communism? You in it as far as I know… They wanted to arrest him!… He was a little shook up… Jail time, fines, take shrimping license for a year.

"I could not believe my eyes. I saw a man lying in his own blood and dying. The settler guards had just shot him in cold blood and watched him dying. He was there, on the ground, for one hour until an Israeli ambulance arrived on the scene, of course they would not allow any of us to get near him. The Israelis did, however, bring over forty settler guards and Border Police to the scene before the he was moved."

The dead man was named as Samir Sarhan, aged about 30 according to news reports, and the father of five children.