Drone Pilots Are Found to Get Stress Disorders Much as Those in Combat Do. - In the first study of its kind, researchers with the Defense Department have found that pilots of drone aircraft experience mental health problems like depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress at the same rate as pilots of manned aircraft who are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. The study affirms a growing body of research finding health hazards even for those piloting machines from bases far from actual combat zones. ■ The Air Force has also conducted research into the health issues of drone crew members. In a 2011 survey of nearly 840 drone operators, it found that 46 percent of Reaper and Predator pilots, and 48 percent of Global Hawk sensor operators, reported “high operational stress.” Those crews cited long hours and frequent shift changes as major causes. That study found the stress among drone operators to be much higher than that reported by Air Force members in logistics or support jobs. But it did not compare the stress levels of the drone operators with those of traditional pilots.

CBS/DC: ‘I’m A Monster’: Veterans ‘Alone’ In Their Guilt - A veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, former Marine Capt. Timothy Kudo thinks of himself as a killer — and he carries the guilt every day. “I can’t forgive myself,” he says. “And the people who can forgive me are dead.” With American troops at war for more than a decade, there’s been an unprecedented number of studies into war zone psychology and an evolving understanding of post-traumatic stress disorder. Clinicians suspect some troops are suffering from what they call “moral injuries” — wounds from having done something, or failed to stop something, that violates their moral code.

At least 13 Chadian soldiers have been killed in fighting in northern Mali, the heaviest casualties sustained by French-led African troops since the launch of a military campaign against rebels last month, Chad's army has said. - Sixty-five rebel fighters were also killed in the clashes that began before midday on Friday in the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains near the border with Algeria. "The provisional toll is ... on the enemy's side, five vehicles destroyed and 65 terrorists killed," said a statement from the army general staff read on state radio. "We deplore the deaths of 13 of our valiant soldiers." Earlier this month, Chad deployed 1,800 soldiers in the northern city of Kidal to secure what had been the rebels' last urban stronghold, putting itself in the frontline in the fight against the rebels. Tuaregs in the north, who have long sought greater autonomy, rebelled against the federal government and swept across northern Mali in April last year, taking advantage of a power vacuum left by a military coup.

Stephen Lendman: UNESCO Peace Prize to a War Criminal - On February 21, the UN News Centre headlined "French President François Hollande awarded UNESCO peace prize." It's for his "valuable contribution to peace and stability in Africa." He's gone all out to wreck it. He's waging lawless imperial aggression. He's slaughtering innocent civilians. He's committing crimes of war and against humanity.

Deutsche Welle: Chadian troops battle Islamists in northern Mali
El País: Malí: nuevos combates, más militares
Le Monde: De nouveaux combats dans le nord du Mali
Le Monde: Pour le Quai d'Orsay, l'Afrique est une zone "rouge"
RFI: Mali : violents accrochages entre les Touaregs du MNLA et un groupe armé
Barry Grey: US deploys troops, drones to Niger
Zero Hedge: Obama Dispatches 100 US Troops To Niger To “Support Predator Drone Base”

Earlier this week, France sent its special forces to Cameroon in search of seven French tourists who were kidnapped in the north of the country on Tuesday. Paris accused the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram of being behind the abduction. On Thursday, the kidnapped tourists were reportedly found alive in an abandoned house in Nigeria. France – whose presence in Africa used to be rather strong – still has several military bases and hundreds of troops on the continent. In the past several years, Paris’ has intensified its activity in former colonies. First, there was its mission in the Ivory Coast. And in January this year, France launched a military operation in Mali to help the local government fight Islamist rebels. Finally, this week its troops entered northern Cameroon. RT asked Ken Stone from Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War if French involvement in West Africa has become a trend.

UN-Arab League Special Envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi has condemned the recent bomb attack in Damascus and described it as a "war crime." - In a statement issued on Friday, Brahimi said he "strongly condemns the savage and horrible explosion in Damascus yesterday, which resulted in the killing of around 100 and the injuring of two hundred and fifty civilians. Nothing could justify such horrible actions that amount to war crimes under international law." Syria has asked the United Nations to issue a clear condemnation of the bombing in the Syrian capital.

Stephen Lendman: Washington Backs Syrian Anti-Government Terrorism
Alex Lantier: US blocks UN resolution condemning Damascus terror bombings
Jason Ditz: US Blocks UN Resolution Condemning Damascus Bombing
Russia Today: US justifies terrorism by blocking Damascus bombing condemnation - Russia

Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) has found itself in the spotlight once again, after a Conservative MP uncovered that £14.7m ($22.4m) of taxpayer funds were used to silence whistleblowers. - That's equivalent to the annual salaries of 750 nurses. The figures show that around 90 per cent of the 598 NHS compromise agreements included gagging clauses, MP Steve Barclay told the Daily Mail. The findings cover a three-year time period up to 2011. The politician said the findings show that whistleblowers who want to speak out about the NHS are induced with taxpayers’ money, and agree to sign away their rights to take their complaints any further. "It is glaringly obvious that many NHS employees feel they are being silenced by non-disclosure clauses in their contracts," he said. Barclay has written to committee chairman Margaret Hodge, requesting that Sir David Nicholson – Chief Executive of the NHS – be recalled to discuss the use of gagging clauses within the health service, and to give evidence to the Commons public accounts committee.

The Mossad's misleading timeline was used to prove that the issue couldn't be about the Dubai assassination, and an alternative Zionist theory was planted to presumably create doubts in Iran. In fact, the real timeline supports the thesis that Zygier was the source of the information that the Australian passports were dodgy, something Dubai could not possibly have otherwise known as they were real and legitimate Australian passports. Why is this so important that Bibi has to go out of his way to misdirect us? It is not just the misuse of passports (though these revelations may put a crimp for now in their gathering and use). It is the fact that the entire Jewish state is founded on a series of false-flag operations. Ironically, the Dubai operation was not a false-flag, but from the Lavon affair up to the bombings in Thailand, India and Georgia, the bus bombing in Bulgaria, almost certainly the attack on the synagogue in Argentina, the Hariri assassination, and so, so many others, the Jews have constantly and consistently used the ruse of creating perceived illegitimacy in their rivals through blaming them for atrocities committed by the Jews themselves. Passport fraud has always been an integral part of the deception. The illegitimacy of the systematic use of false-flag attacks goes to the very root of the illegitimacy of the Jewish state.