This is a film by John Pilger, revealing the hidden truth of the Iraq invasion, and highlights the Media's compliance in the propaganda, of selling the war to the public, and their failure to report the whole truth of the various conflicts currently occurring in the middle east, and previously in Vietnam, WW1 and WW2.

Franklin Lamb: ■ The Bandar-Zionist lobby collaboration, currently the cocktail party talk of many in Washington, is not a case of strange bedfellows given three decades of mutual cooperation which started Bandar, Zionist lobbyduring Prince Bandar’s long tenure as Saudi ambassador in Washington. Based in Washington, but with a palace out west and up north, Bandar developed almost familial relationships with five presidents and their key advisers. His voice was one of the shrillest urging the United States to invade Iraq in 2003. In the 1980s, Prince Bandar was deeply involved in the Iran-Contra scandal in Nicaragua and it his intelligence agency that first alerted Western allies to the alleged use of sarin gas by the Syrian regime in February. Bandar has reportedly for months been focused exclusively on garnering international support, including arms and training, for Syrian rebel factions in pursuit of the eventual toppling of President Bashar al-Assad.

Pepe Escobar: ‘War on chemical weapons’: Obama traps himself into Syrian combat ■ A proverbial, anonymous “senior administration official” [...] stressed the “desire to get it done before the president leaves for Russia next week.” That’s it; we bomb a country like dialing a pizza delivery, and then we go to a G20 summit with the world’s emerging powers hosted by no less than Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin. [...] I’m not making this up. This is the core of White House spokesman Jay Carney’s message, when he said, in faultless Newspeak: “The options that are being considered do not contain within them a regime change focus.” So the administration of “constitutional lawyer” Barack Obama is mulling how to attack Syria, bypassing the UN Security Council – which will veto, via Russia and China, the new resolution proposed by the UK; bypassing always-docile NATO; and with 91 percent of Americans against it, just to send an (explosive) political message. And all because a US president was foolish enough to get trapped in his own rhetoric.

Seven members of Syria's militant al-Nusra group were detained on Wednesday after police found sarin gas, which was reportedly going to be used in a bomb attack, during a search of the suspects' homes, Turkish media have reported. ■ Newspapers claimed on Thursday that two kilograms of sarin gas, which is usually used for making bombs and was banned by the UN in 1991, had been found in the homes of suspects detained in the southern provinces of Adana and Mersin. Twelve suspects were caught by the police on Monday. The reports claimed that the al-Nusra members had been planning a bomb attack for Thursday in Adana but that the attack was averted when the police caught the suspects. Along with the sarin gas, the police seized a number of handguns, grenades, bullets and documents during their search. Five of the suspects were released later on Thursday.

● Britain's Prime Minster says it is “unthinkable" that Britain would launch military action against Syria if there was strong opposition at the United Nations Security Council, as British jets are deployed to Cyprus.
● Prime Minister David Cameron told the House of Commons in a debate on Syria on Thursday that Britain would not enter into military action until the UN inspectors report back, until MPs take a second vote and until there is backing from the Security Council in the United Nations.
● The PM also said, however, that it was inconceivable that Britain should do nothing in the face of the use of chemical weapons. Cameron said that while there wasn’t a “smoking gun” of evidence that Assad had used chemical weapons, the evidence was substantial. Supporting military action was a judgment call, he said.

Chris Marsden & Julie Hyland: British parliament votes down Syria action as US presses ahead with strike plans ● In a stunning setback for the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government of Prime Minister David Cameron and the Obama administration in the US, Britain’s MPs voted down a government attempt to secure agreement in principle for military intervention in Syria. ● Cameron is deeply wounded, his future as Conservative Party leader uncertain. As for the Obama administration and its European allies, their war drive against Syria has been discredited and exposed as a criminal conspiracy hatched in the recesses of the CIA, MI5, Mossad, and other intelligence agencies. They seized upon a chemical attack in Ghouta most likely carried out by the US-backed insurgents themselves as a casus belli—the opportunity to activate a plan for regime change in Syria aimed at isolating Iran and securing US hegemony over the oil riches of the Middle East.

Russia Today: US ready to decide on military action in Syria 'on our own' - White House
Russia Today: British MPs reject military intervention in Syria
BBC: David Cameron loses Commons vote on Syria action

George Galloway syria speech. Parliament Debates Military Action Against Syria. George Galloway speaks as The British House of Commons holds an urgent debate on possible military action against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Prime Minister David Cameron recalled parliament following reports of a chemical weapons attack against Syrian citizens.

Stephen Lendman: Nobel Peace Laureate Obama Plans War on Syria Based on Lies

William Bowles: US-Israeli false flag gas attack unravels: The "Evidence" ● For several days, in fact until today, 28 August, there was no evidence offered in the mainstream media that confirmed the allegations made by the US, the UK and France. Then a story released by the Israeli Mossad intelligence service to the German magazine Focus on the 24 August got picked up by the MSM. Today the 28th a report in the London Guardian newspaper tells us that the ‘evidence’ was from an Israeli source, specifically the 8200 intelligence unit of the Israeli Defence Forces. I think what’s apparent here is that Mossad used a device that is quite common when governments/intelligence agencies want to plant a phoney story; release it through a relatively unknown publication and wait for it to be picked up by the MSM.

The Obama administration views Israel as one of the top spying threats facing its intelligence services, leaked documents reveal. ● A secret budget request obtained by The Washington Post from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden lumps Israel alongside U.S. foes Iran and Cuba as “key targets” for U.S. counterintelligence efforts. The document suggests Israel does not believe U.S. assurances that its interests are aligned with Israel's on crucial issues such as Iran and peace talks with the Palestinians. “Israel should be assumed to continue to have an aggressive intelligence collection operations against the United States.”

Chelsea Manning [formerly Bradley Manning] is doing well after arriving at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth to serve out her 35-year sentence, her lawyer reported. ● Manning’s lawyer David Coombs wrote on his blog that he spoke with Manning on Wednesday, their first interaction since her sentencing last week. Manning is currently subject to an “indoctrination” period at Fort Leavenworth United States Disciplinary Barracks (USDB) in which new inmates are given information on the facilities and opportunities at the prison. “I am happy to report that she is doing very well at the USDB, and has already made several friends who accept her for who she is,” Coombs wrote.

Debate about drone strikes often centers on who is killed: "militants" or civilians. In the absence of official information, casualty estimates provided by media fill the gap; however, the estimates are incomplete and may significantly undercount the extent of reported civilian deaths. The US government owes the public an accounting of who is really being killed. Read the press release.

In 2008, President Obama, when he was a candidate for President, had this question-and-answer exchange with the Boston Globe:

"Q. In what circumstances, if any, would the president have constitutional authority to bomb Iran without seeking a use-of-force authorization from Congress? (Specifically, what about the strategic bombing of suspected nuclear sites — a situation that does not involve stopping an IMMINENT threat?)
"OBAMA: The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation. "As Commander-in-Chief, the President does have a duty to protect and defend the United States. In instances of self-defense, the President would be within his constitutional authority to act before advising Congress or seeking its consent." Given that not even the most ardent interventionists for Syria contend that the bombing is necessary for US national security, how can a military attack on Syria without Congressional approval possibly be reconciled with that position?

The poor will use a separate door under plans for a new Upper West Side luxury tower — where affordable housing will be segregated from ritzy waterfront condos despite being in the same building. ● Manhattan developer Extell is seeking millions in air rights and tax breaks for building 55 low-income units at 40 Riverside Boulevard, but the company is sequestering the cash-poor tenants who make the lucrative incentives possible. Five floors of affordable housing will face away from the Hudson River and have a separate entrance, elevator and maintenance company, while 219 market-rate condominiums will overlook the waterfront. ● “You know that show ‘Downton Abbey’? Where the servants have to come and go through separate entrances and bow their heads when they see a noble?” wrote the author behind the blog West Side Rag. “Well, there could soon be a version right here on the Upper West Side!”