US senators have requested the legal justification for the killings of US citizens suspected of terrorism by the Obama administration. Meanwhile a ‘chilling’ leaked memo showed that the government sees little need for constraint on the issue. - A group of 11 senators on Monday wrote a letter to President Barack Obama, asking him to release all Justice Department memos on the practice of targeting US citizens suspected of being terrorist leaders with lethal force, particularly drone airstrikes. The request comes as the administration seeks Senate approval for John Brennan, Obama's nomination for CIA chief.

"As the Senate considers a number of nominees for senior national security positions, we ask that you ensure that Congress is provided with the secret legal opinions outlining your authority to authorize the killing of Americans in the course of counterterrorism operations," the letter's opening paragraph reads.

NBC News published on Tuesday a copy of a 16-page memo detailing legal reasoning of the killings, which was provided to members of the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary committees in June on condition that it would not be discussed publicly. Previously a number of US officials, including Brannon, Attorney General Eric Holder and others, have argued in public speeches in favor of drone killings of Americans who pose an imminent threat to the country. But apparently in practice the administration has a broader view on what constitutes the imminence of a threat. Obama had attempted to nominate Brennan for the post in 2009, at the start of his first term, but Brennan withdrew his name from consideration after facing claims that he supported former President George W. Bush’s torture program. Brennan was described as a “supporter of the ‘dark side’ policies,” with critics claiming his appointment “would dishearten and alienate those who opposed torture under the Bush administration,” read a letter sent to Obama in 2008.

John Glaser: Memo OKs Drone Hits on Americans
Michael Isikoff: Justice Department memo reveals legal case for drone strikes on Americans
Stephen Lendman: American Gulag: Deplorable Human Rights Record

A secret review has concluded that US President Obama has the authority to launch a preemptive cyber attack on any country on the basis that they are considered a ‘cyber threat’ – even if there is no concrete evidence of this threat. - It may not be long before the US conducts crippling attacks on foreign soil with little more than a mouse click, thereby sparing itself the effort of sending its military oversees or declaring war. The Obama administration is currently drawing up a set of "rules" about how the US military can defend against or conduct cyberattacks, the New York Times reports.

New York Times: Broad Powers Seen for Obama in Cyberstrikes
Joseph Kishore: Obama administration claims power to authorize pre-emptive cyberwar strikes

Some 54 countries helped facilitate the Central Intelligence Agency’s secret detention, rendition and interrogation [torture] program in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, (terrorist attacks)[inside job], according to a new human rights report that documents broad international involvement in the American campaign against "Al Qaeda" [= CIA]. - The report, to be made public Tuesday by the Open Society Justice Initiative, a rights advocacy group, is the most detailed external account of other countries’ assistance to the United States, including things like permitting the C.I.A. to run secret interrogation prisons on their soil and allowing the agency to use their airports for refueling while moving prisoners around the world. The REPORT identifies 136 people who had been held or transferred by the C.I.A., the largest list compiled to date, and describes what is known about when and where they were held. It adds new detail to what is known about the handling of both dedicated Qaeda operatives and innocent people caught up by accident in the global machinery of counterterrorism.

A little old, but critical to understanding the Wars For The Jews: "The Crown family: investing in weapons, war ...and Obama":

"One family stands out as playing exactly that role in the political career of Barack Obama: the Crown family of Chicago. The importance of this relationship in Obama’s career exposes some of the roots of his subservience to the government of Israel, his threats of aggression against Iran, his expansion of the JSOC/CIA targeted killing program, and his unswerving commitment to record military budgets in a time of economic and fiscal crisis." [and:] "Lester Crown was speaking to the Chicago Jewish News in 2008 to allay fears among American Zionists regarding Obama’s views on Israel and Palestine. He stressed that, “knowing him long before he got into politics, I know he is completely supportive, without any question or equivocation, of Israel’s security. He is only interested (in a two-state solution) if Israel’s security is absolutely assured, and that was his position long before he ever went into politics. His speeches to AIPAC are not new positions, merely the vocalization of what he has always believed..."

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Benny Gantz is on a five-day visit to the US to discuss the Middle East developments with the American officials, with Iran and Syria reportedly on top of his agenda. - The Israeli army chief set off on his US visit on Sunday during which he plans to meet Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey and other American officials, the IDF said. Gantz and Dempsey will hold “a series of work meetings together” to “discuss current security challenges, the regional security status in the Middle East and military cooperation,” the IDF added.

Stephen Lendman: Does Netanyahu Want Regional War?
Stephen Lendman: Washington OK's Israeli Aggression on Syria
Stephen Lendman: America and Israel Wage War on Humanity
Stephen Lendman: Netanyahu Plans More War
Roi Tov: Cast Lead II Announced by Gen. Gantz
The Daily Star (Lebanon): Israeli attack will increase Assad's popularity

Secretary of Iran Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Saeed Jalili has warned against plots hatched by Israel and its allies against the Muslim world, saying the Tel Aviv regime will regret attacking Syria. - “As the Zionist regime [of Israel] regretted its aggression and hostility during its 33-day, 22-day and 8-day wars, it will also regret this attack [on Syria],” Jalili said during a press conference in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Monday. He added that Syria is an important part of the Muslim world which is at the front line of confrontation with the Israeli regime, emphasizing that the Muslim world would never allow any aggression against Syria.

The United States has run 30 flights in support of France's efforts in Mali, a U.S. defense spokesman said late Monday. - "As of Sunday (February 3), U.S. Air Force C-17s had completed 30 flights transporting approximately 610 personnel and 760 tons of equipment and supplies. This effort began on January 21," said spokesman Major Rob Firman. "Since aerial refueling began January 27, the U.S. Air Force has flown nine missions and offloaded 360,000 pounds of fuel to French aircraft," he added. The details were released after U.S. Vice President Joe Biden hailed France's "decisive" intervention in Mali on Monday and joined President Francois Hollande in calling for U.N. peacekeepers to be quickly deployed to the country.

Russia Today: ‘They ruined everything I had' (Video) - French President François Hollande is triumphant about his operation in Mali, but stories are emerging which show a different side of the war. Journalist Gonzalo Wancho tells RT that for every two rebels killed in airstrikes, a dozen civilians died.

The bishop of the war-torn Syrian city of Aleppo on Monday urged the international community to pay greater attention to the fate of Syria's Christian minority, saying they were being terrorized by a spate of kidnappings for money. - "The worst thing is the kidnappings," he said. "It is very difficult to work out who is carrying out them out. You cannot risk leaving Aleppo in a car. Since 80 percent of Syrians are unemployed, these kidnappings are a way to cash in," he said. "Christians are sometimes more targeted by kidnappers since they have not organized themselves into militias under a tribal system," he said.