As the Obama Administration prepared to bomb Syria without congressional or U.N. authorization, it faced two problems. The first was the difficulty of sustaining public support for a new years-long war against ISIS, a group that clearly posed no imminent threat to the “homeland.” A second was the lack of legal justification for launching a new bombing campaign with no viable claim of self-defense or U.N. approval.
The solution to both problems was found in the wholesale concoction of a brand new terror threat that was branded “The Khorasan Group.” After spending weeks depicting ISIS as an unprecedented threat — too radical even for Al Qaeda! — administration officials suddenly began spoon-feeding their favorite media organizations and national security journalists tales of a secret group that was even scarier and more threatening than ISIS, one that posed a direct and immediate threat to the American Homeland. Seemingly out of nowhere, a new terror group was created in media lore.
The unveiling of this new group was performed in a September 13 article by the Associated Press, who cited unnamed U.S. officials to warn of this new shadowy, worse-than-ISIS terror group:
While the Islamic State group [ISIS] is getting the most attention now, another band of extremists in Syria — a mix of hardened jihadis from Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria and Europe — poses a more direct and imminent threat to the United States, working with Yemeni bomb-makers to target U.S. aviation, American officials say.
At the center is a cell known as the Khorasan group, a cadre of veteran al-Qaida fighters from Afghanistan and Pakistan who traveled to Syria to link up with the al-Qaida affiliate there, the Nusra Front.
But the Khorasan militants did not go to Syria principally to fight the government of President Bashar Assad, U.S. officials say. Instead, they were sent by al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri to recruit Europeans and Americans whose passports allow them to board a U.S.-bound airliner with less scrutiny from security officials.
AP warned Americans that “the fear is that the Khorasan militants will provide these sophisticated explosives to their Western recruits who could sneak them onto U.S.-bound flights.” It explained that although ISIS has received most of the attention, the Khorasan Group “is considered the more immediate threat.”
The genesis of the name was itself scary: “Khorasan refers to a province under the Islamic caliphate, or religious empire, of old that included parts of Afghanistan.” AP depicted the U.S. officials who were feeding them the narrative as engaging in some sort of act of brave, unauthorized truth-telling: “Many U.S. officials interviewed for this story would not be quoted by name talking about what they said was highly classified intelligence.”
On the morning of September 18, CBS News broadcast a segment that is as pure war propaganda as it gets: directly linking the soon-to-arrive U.S. bombing campaign in Syria to the need to protect Americans from being exploded in civilian jets by Khorasan. With ominous voice tones, the host narrated:
This morning we are learning of a new and growing terror threat coming out of Syria. It’s an Al Qaeda cell you probably never heard of. Nearly everything about them is classified. Bob Orr is in Washington with new information on a group some consider more dangerous than ISIS.
Orr then announced that while ISIS is “dominating headlines and terrorist propaganda,” Orr’s “sources” warn of “a more immediate threat to the U.S. Homeland.” As Orr spoke, CBS flashed alternating video showing scary Muslims in Syria and innocent westerners waiting in line at airports, as he intoned that U.S. officials have ordered “enhanced screening” for “hidden explosives.” This is all coming, Orr explained, from “an emerging threat in Syria” where “hardened terrorists” are building “hard to detect bombs.”
The U.S. government, Orr explained, is trying to keep this all a secret; they won’t even mention the group’s name in public out of security concerns! But Orr was there to reveal the truth, as his “sources confirm the Al Qaeda cell goes by the name Khorasan.” And they’re “developing fresh plots to attack U.S. aviation.”
Later that day, Obama administration officials began publicly touting the group, when Director of National Intelligence James Clapper warned starkly: “In terms of threat to the homeland, Khorasan may pose as much of a danger as the Islamic State.” Then followed an avalanche of uncritical media reports detailing this Supreme Threat, excitingly citing anonymous officials as though they had uncovered a big secret the government was trying to conceal.
On September 20, The New York Times devoted a long article to strongly hyping the Khorasan Group. Headlined “U.S. Suspects More Direct Threats Beyond ISIS,” the article began by announcing that U.S. officials believe a different group other than ISIS “posed a more direct threat to America and Europe.” Specifically:
American officials said that the group called Khorasan had emerged in the past year as the cell in Syria that may be the most intent on hitting the United States or its installations overseas with a terror attack. The officials said that the group is led by Muhsin al-Fadhli, a senior Qaeda operative who, according to the State Department, was so close to Bin Laden that he was among a small group of people who knew about the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks before they were launched.
Again, the threat they posed reached all the way to the U.S.: “Members of the cell are said to be particularly interested in devising terror plots using concealed explosives.”
This Khorasan-attacking-Americans alarm spread quickly and explosively in the landscape of U.S. national security reporting. The Daily Beast‘s Eli Lake warned on September 23 — the day after the first U.S. bombs fell in Syria — that “American analysts had pieced together detailed information on a pending attack from an outfit that informally called itself ‘the Khorasan Group’ to use hard-to-detect explosives on American and European airliners.” He added even more ominously: “The planning from the Khorasan Group … suggests at least an aspiration to launch more-coordinated and larger attacks on the West in the style of the 9/11 attacks from 2001″ (days later, Lake, along with Josh Rogin, actually claimed that “Iran has long been harboring senior al Qaeda, al Nusra, and so-called Khorasan Group leaders as part of its complicated strategy to influence the region”).
On the day of the bombing campaign, NBC News’ Richard Engel tweeted this:
That tweet linked to an NBC Nightly News report in which anchor Brian Williams introduced Khorasan with a graphic declaring it “The New Enemy,” and Engel went on to explain that the group is “considered a threat to the U.S. because, U.S. intelligence officials say, it wants to bring down airplanes with explosives.”
Once the bombing campaign was underway, ISIS — the original theme of the attack — largely faded into the background, as Obama officials and media allies aggressively touted attacks on Khorasan leaders and the disruption of its American-targeting plots. On the first day of the bombing, The Washington Post announced that “the United States also pounded a little-known but well-resourced al-Qaeda cell that some American officials fear could pose a direct threat to the United States.” It explained:
The Pentagon said in a statement early Tuesday that the United States conducted eight strikes west of Aleppo against the cell, called the Khorasan Group, targeting its “training camps, an explosives and munitions production facility, a communications building and command and control facilities.”
The same day, CNN claimed that “among the targets of U.S. strikes across Syria early Tuesday was the Khorasan Group.” The bombing campaign in Syria was thus magically transformed into an act of pure self-defense, given that “the group was actively plotting against a U.S. homeland target and Western targets, a senior U.S. official told CNN on Tuesday.” The bevy of anonymous sources cited by CNN had a hard time keep their stories straight:
The official said the group posed an “imminent” threat. Another U.S. official later said the threat was not imminent in the sense that there were no known targets or attacks expected in the next few weeks.
The plots were believed to be in an advanced stage, the second U.S. official said. There were indications that the militants had obtained materials and were working on new improvised explosive devices that would be hard to detect, including common hand-held electronic devices and airplane carry-on items such as toiletries.
Nonetheless, what was clear was that this group had to be bombed in Syria to save American lives, as the terrorist group even planned to conceal explosive devices in toothpaste or flammable clothing as a means to target U.S. airliners. The day following the first bombings, Attorney General Eric Holder claimed: “We hit them last night out of a concern that they were getting close to an execution date of some of the plans that we have seen.”
CNN’s supremely stenographic Pentagon reporter, Barbara Starr, went on air as videos of shiny new American fighter jets and the Syria bombing were shown and explained that this was all necessary to stop a Khorasan attack very close to being carried out against the west:
What we are hearing from a senior US official is the reason they struck Khorasan right now is they had intelligence that the group — of Al Qaeda veterans — was in the stages of planning an attack against the US homeland and/or an attack against a target in Europe, and the information indicated Khorasan was well on its way — perhaps in its final stages — of planning that attack.
All of that laid the fear-producing groundwork for President Obama to claim self-defense when he announced the bombing campaign on September 23 with this boast: “Once again, it must be clear to anyone who would plot against America and try to do Americans harm that we will not tolerate safe havens for terrorists who threaten our people.”
The very next day, a Pentagon official claimed a U.S. airstrike killed “the Khorasan leader,” and just a few days after that, U.S. media outlets celebrated what they said was the admission by jihadi social media accounts that “the leader of the al Qaeda-linked Khorasan group was killed in a U.S. air strike in Syria.”
But once it served its purpose of justifying the start of the bombing campaign in Syria, the Khorasan narrative simply evaporated as quickly as it materialized. Foreign Policy‘s Shane Harris, with two other writers, was one of the first to question whether the “threat” was anywhere near what it had been depicted to be:
But according to the top U.S. counterterrorism official, as well as Obama himself, there is “no credible information” that the militants of the Islamic State were planning to attack inside the United States. Although the group could pose a domestic terrorism threat if left unchecked, any plot it tried launching today would be “limited in scope” and “nothing like a 9/11-scale attack,” Matthew Olsen, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said in remarks at the Brookings Institution earlier this month. That would suggest that Khorasan doesn’t have the capability either, even if it’s working to develop it.
“Khorasan has the desire to attack, though we’re not sure their capabilities match their desire,” a senior U.S. counterterrorism official told Foreign Policy.
On September 25, The New York Times — just days after hyping the Khorasan threat to the homeland — wrote that “the group’s evolution from obscurity to infamy has been sudden.” And the paper of record began, for the first time, to note how little evidence actually existed for all those claims about the imminent threats posed to the homeland:
American officials have given differing accounts about just how close the group was to mounting an attack, and about what chance any plot had of success. One senior American official on Wednesday described the Khorasan plotting as “aspirational” and said that there did not yet seem to be a concrete plan in the works.
Literally within a matter of days, we went from “perhaps in its final stages of planning its attack” (CNN) to “plotting as ‘aspirational'” and “there did not yet seem to be a concrete plan in the works” (NYT).
Late last week, Associated Press’ Ken Dilanian — the first to unveil the new Khorasan Product in mid-September — published a new story explaining that just days after bombing “Khorasan” targets in Syria, high-ranking U.S. officials seemingly backed off all their previous claims of an “imminent” threat from the group. Headlined “U.S. Officials Offer More Nuanced Take on Khorasan Threat,” it noted that “several U.S. officials told reporters this week that the group was in the final stages of planning an attack on the West, leaving the impression that such an attack was about to happen.” But now:
Senior U.S. officials offered a more nuanced picture Thursday of the threat they believe is posed by an al-Qaida cell in Syria targeted in military strikes this week, even as they defended the decision to attack the militants.
James Comey, the FBI director, and Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman, each acknowledged that the U.S. did not have precise intelligence about where or when the cell, known as the Khorasan Group, would attempt to strike a Western target. . . .
Kirby, briefing reporters at the Pentagon, said, “I don’t know that we can pin that down to a day or month or week or six months….We can have this debate about whether it was valid to hit them or not, or whether it was too soon or too late…We hit them. And I don’t think we need to throw up a dossier here to prove that these are bad dudes.”
Regarding claims that an attack was “imminent,” Comey said: “I don’t know exactly what that word means…’imminent'” — a rather consequential admission given that said imminence was used as the justification for launching military action in the first place.
Even more remarkable, it turns out the very existence of an actual “Khorasan Group” was to some degree an invention of the American government. NBC’s Engel, the day after he reported on the U.S. government’s claims about the group for Nightly News, seemed to have serious second thoughts about the group’s existence, tweeting:
Indeed, a Nexis search for the group found almost no mentions of its name prior to the September 13 AP article based on anonymous officials. There was one oblique reference to it in a July 31 CNN op-ed by Peter Bergen. The other mention was an article in the LA Times from two weeks earlier about Pakistan which mentioned the group’s name as something quite different than how it’s being used now: as “the intelligence wing of the powerful Pakistani Taliban faction led by Hafiz Gul Bahadur.” Tim Shorrock noted that the name appears in a 2011 hacked Stratfor email published by WikiLeaks, referencing a Dawn article that depicts them as a Pakistan-based group which was fighting against and “expelled by” (not “led by”) Bahadur.
There are serious questions about whether the Khorasan Group even exists in any meaningful or identifiable manner. Aki Peritz, a CIA counterterrorism official until 2009, told Time: “I’d certainly never heard of this group while working at the agency,” while Obama’s former U.S. ambassador to Syria Robert Ford said: “We used the term [Khorasan] inside the government, we don’t know where it came from….All I know is that they don’t call themselves that.” As The Intercept was finalizing this article, former terrorism federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy wrote in National Review that the group was a scam: “You haven’t heard of the Khorosan Group because there isn’t one. It is a name the administration came up with, calculating that Khorosan … had sufficient connection to jihadist lore that no one would call the president on it.”
What happened here is all-too-familiar. The Obama administration needed propagandistic and legal rationale for bombing yet another predominantly Muslim country. While emotions over the ISIS beheading videos were high, they were not enough to sustain a lengthy new war.
So after spending weeks promoting ISIS as Worse Than Al Qaeda™, they unveiled a new, never-before-heard-of group that was Worse Than ISIS™. Overnight, as the first bombs on Syria fell, the endlessly helpful U.S. media mindlessly circulated the script they were given: this new group was composed of “hardened terrorists,” posed an “imminent” threat to the U.S. homeland, was in the “final stages” of plots to take down U.S. civilian aircraft, and could “launch more-coordinated and larger attacks on the West in the style of the 9/11 attacks from 2001.””
As usual, anonymity was granted to U.S. officials to make these claims. As usual, there was almost no evidence for any of this. Nonetheless, American media outlets — eager, as always, to justify American wars — spewed all of this with very little skepticism. Worse, they did it by pretending that the U.S. government was trying not to talk about all of this — too secret! — but they, as intrepid, digging journalists, managed to unearth it from their courageous “sources.” Once the damage was done, the evidence quickly emerged about what a sham this all was. But, as always with these government/media propaganda campaigns, the truth emerges only when it’s impotent.
The US talking heads have definitely lost most of their audience. I was in the doctor’s office the other day looking at the rag, “Time Magazine.” It was pathetically thin – or should I say I am GLAD it was thin. Obviously lost their readership. GOOD. Anyway, I if I recall correctly the few articles in it were of the embedded advertising masquerading as reporting type – reimaging GM and Barra for public consumption and one showing little silhouettes of those good old killing machines manufactured by the US arms industry in order to boost stocks for the child killing corporations. As I say, the mag is thin. Even the most asleep American, apparently, has had enough of that swill.
It is possible that Mr Ebola coming from Liberia is an ISIL agent. A lot of people are already terrorized. We should send him to Gitmo for further treatment.
No imminent threat ??? So the beheading of a soilders in broad daylight isn’t a threat ? Leftie teats
Glenn –
Maybe it’s time for a follow-up article – you might address concerns that Lawrence Libby alluded to. Also; our old buddy Dina Temple-Rastin has a new post on NPR news that possibly should be addressed.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/10/03/353498827/al-qaida-reasserts-itself-with-khorasan-group
What concern? He said his post was “moderated off of The Intercept.” It wasn’t and isn’t. It is standing there for all to see, as it has been for several days, just a short scroll from this comment.
Kitt – Sorry, but I guess I wasn’t being clear… maybe (it’s up to him) Glenn might address what was said in the link Lawrence Libby posted… and scanning through Temple-Rastin’s article, I thought it might be a good idea for a follow-up. I’m sure he would like any light on the topic not to be obscured, so I think a follow up to address the issue further might be a good idea.
I don’t know if you were clear or not, but in the link Lawrence Libby posted he claims that his comment was deleted “censored.” It wasn’t, He quotes his own comment in the link. You can read the same comment right here still. It was never deleted. So what is it that Glenn is supposed to address? And as forTemple-Raston,, she uses another batch of anonymous sources to make claims that we are supposed to take for fact. What’s new about that? I was surprised he left her off of the original list of false reports to ridicule, so if he addresses her second go around, that would be fine, but there is nothing new or different from her usual ‘anonymous claims as fact’ routine in her latest commentary.
someone whacked on the white house lawn? why? it belongs to us, not the reprobates renting it
there’s no more proof this “korasan group” exists than ISIS or Al Qaeda. wouldn’t matter anyway, more US regime sludge for them to drink up. not unlike any other fraud like Sandy Hook, shoe bomber, underwear bomber, Boston Marathon bomber, and let’s not forget 911. all of this garbage comes from the perverse crime syndicate of Obama and those that pull his strings
Guys, could someone please address this?
http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2014/10/why-did-glenn-greenward-moderated-this.html?spref=fb
I found an old (27/9/2003) Guaniard article regarding Syrian/western relations which may be of interest in light of current events, if only for comparison. Here are some excerpts.
“Macmillan backed Syria assassination plot”
“Nearly 50 years before the war in Iraq, Britain and America sought a secretive “regime change” in another Arab country they accused of spreading terror and threatening the west’s oil supplies, by planning the invasion of Syria and the assassination of leading figures.
Newly discovered documents show how in 1957 Harold Macmillan and President Dwight Eisenhower approved a CIA-MI6 plan to stage fake border incidents as an excuse for an invasion by Syria’s pro-western neighbours, and then to “eliminate” the most influential triumvirate in Damascus.” [Snip]
“By 1957, despite America’s opposition to the Suez move, President Eisenhower felt he could no longer ignore the danger of Syria becoming a centre for Moscow to spread communism throughout the Middle East. He and Mr Macmillan feared Syria would destabilise pro-western neighbours by exporting terrorism and encouraging internal dissent. More importantly, Syria also had control of one of the main oil arteries of the Middle East, the pipeline which connected pro-western Iraq’s oilfields to Turkey.
The “preferred plan”adds: “Once a political decision is reached to proceed with internal disturbances in Syria, CIA is prepared, and SIS [MI6] will attempt, to mount minor sabotage and coup de main incidents within Syria, working through contacts with individuals.” [Snip]
“The plan called for funding of a “Free Syria Committee”, and the arming of “political factions with paramilitary or other actionist capabilities” within Syria. The CIA and MI6 would instigate internal uprisings, for instance by the Druze in the south, help to free political prisoners held in the Mezze prison, and stir up the Muslim Brotherhood in Damascus.
The planners envisaged replacing the Ba’ath/Communist regime with one that was firmly anti-Soviet, but they conceded that this would not be popular and “would probably need to rely first upon repressive measures and arbitrary exercise of power”.[Snip]
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/sep/27/uk.syria1
Thx for sharing!
As this article shows that the foreign politics of today were already there long ago, I’d like to refer in respect to who rules this country to the long & steady development explained in the following book:
John W. Dean, Conservatives Without Conscience.
This has all the making of a first attempt of a Economic Hit Man. We have seen this before, but if you do not know what a Economic Hotman is you will be left in the dark. I am just waiting for the jackals to appear next if this corrective destructive action should for any reason loose steam
It seems to me that Greenwald and Co. are still to a large extent participating in the cover up. While this article makes for a fine catalog of all the statements made by gov’t and media about Khorasan, Greenwald never says who was being bombed it their name. It was al Nursa that the US is calling Khorasan and and al Nursa has been in alliance with the FSA and IS and fighting both Assad and ISIS. I don’t think this oversight accidental because if Greenwald is forced to admit that the US has entered the Syrian civil war on the side of Assad he will have to admit that he has been wrong about Syria all along. Khorasan was a fiction created to cover up the real target of US air strikes and Greenwald & Co. continues this cover-up.
You are right in so far that the US bombed Al-Nusra and called it Khorasan, but your conclusions are wrong. The reason the US did not want to admit to bombing Al-Nusra is that they are allied with the FSA and the so called ‘moderate’ opposition, the very same the US and the Saudis want to arm and train in Yemen. It would have shown how stupid this whole strategy is when people realize that the US is simultaneously bombing and arming the same coalition.
…how stupid this whole strategy is when people realize that the US is simultaneously bombing and arming the same coalition.
Who said this is stupid strategy? It is working quite well …
Khorasan has vanished in thin air. CNN is refusing to do a follow-up story of what happened to them after the initial bombings. I sent an email to James (he gets the same email from different channels), but he hasn’t replied.
I’m just anticipating with keen interest as to how this is all going to be segued into regime change, now that frustrations of the initial Syrian bombing campaign of 2013 have been overcome and the legal obstructions of aggressive actions across sovereign borders been dismissed, plans are now back on track.
We’ve already seen some of the early groundwork laid for turning this on the Syrian Govt; ‘The regime is to blame for the terrorists rise’.
First of course, they’ll have to ‘degrade’ the more effective & popular competition to the US & UK’s own astroturfed FSA.
Then comes the sustained sell through the friendly media, demands for action and months long agitprop for a transition to an aggressive ‘humanitarian’ bombing campaign followed up by the eventual ‘stabilizing’ occupation and civilizing or ‘democratizing’ mission.
Good news though, building a billion dollar fortified embassy may not be required this time around as the Krak De Chevalier is already to hand. Refitted it would provide an excellent secure location for any future US Pro Consul.
Then we can turn attention to the real terrorist regime, the Regnum Parthicum.
It’s time to ask: does the US Civilian government run the military or does the Military Industrial Complex run the Civilian Infrastructure? Is this Paquistan or the US?
Protest continue in Hong Kong. The protests are a threat to the power of the Chinese government which maintains iron clad political control over the population in mainland China with single party rule. Allowing reforms in Hong Kong might appease protesters (in Hong Kong), but could lead to serious problems on the mainland where China has “countless” democracy advocates either jailed or in exile. Tienanmen Square proved that China will not consider political reform.
Protesters not only threaten the government (communist party), but the millions that benefit under this system either through corruption or business interests. Thus the protesters are taking on a huge and powerful system in place. There really cannot be a good ending to this story. This would seem to fit the kind of story that the Intercept might be interested in covering: protesters – many of them students – taking on the powerful interests of a corrupt state, in this case China. We see article after article in the Intercept focusing on the powerful interest of the US government. This would seem to present an opportunity for the Intercept to expand beyond coverage of US and Israel and take on a growing world power.
I won’t hold my breath…….
Your cocky commentaries remind me of an episode that I perchance witnessed wherein the star of the episode was a squirrel. I happened to have been working — doing something — on a rooftop, and so I had a good view of what transpired with the squirrel. The squirrel had gotten my attention when I noticed him or her walking along a power line. I thought nothing of the danger in that. I figured that the squirrel probably had done that on a regular basis. But it was interesting to watch how deftly the squirrel would start and then briefly stop with his scampering along the tight rope of the power line with complete confidence towards whatever his mission happened to have been. I don’t know, maybe he had a stash of nuts up there somewhere. But then, all of a sudden, POP/Spark! The squirrel was dead by electrocution and falling to the ground.
In the case of the squirrel I’m still assuming that he was on some reasonable mission having to do with his survival somehow. In your case though, you come around to repeat one after another of the same tripe dressed up in different costumes that lead to nothing. You’ve been electrocuted countless times because your schtick is nothing more than to be one who puts a negative spin on descent such as the spin you used in that comment about the protesters in Hong Kong. The squirrel was deft and courageous, and he likely had a purpose for doing what he was doing. You’re a coward with no purpose that I can recognize as worthy of anything but ridicule.
How can somebody be a coward for requesting well known and experienced lawyers and journalists to comment on a democratic movement in 2014? This is so pathetic from you. Be smart enough and try to understand that most readers here who challenge The Intercept have a good level of respect for his writers’ knowledge and experience. That is the main reason we challenge the writers in the first place.
I’ve read enough of your comments to lead me to believe that the following was for a long time one of your favorite comeback “challenges” to anyone expressing concern about the invasion and occupation of Iraq: “You love Saddam Hussein?” And, “You’d rather that Saddam Hussein still be in power?”
Your and CraigSummers’ “challenges” aren’t challenges. They are cheap, reconstructed straw men trotted out wearing anything from hokie “Hee Haw” overalls to pretentious fashion designer outfits.
Well, Hee Haw for You!!!
The response by Kitt made zero sense which is why I didn’t respond. In general, just like with Nate (and her response to you), her relies are mostly personal attacks without any attempt to argue a point. And you are right. I have a lot of respect for Greenwald.
Your post about the protests in China were about you telling Glenn how selfish the protesters are because you had said that the protesters are putting others in danger by protesting. And then you and Steb call that a challenge to Glenn and others to write about it in that way. And then you say that you have a lot of respect for Greenwald. That’s all horse shit, which is why I posted what I posted in my response. You post similar horse shit like your China post on a regular basis. I didn’t want to just write, “Horse shit” in reply, so I told the story about the squirrel with a purpose, as opposed to some guy who thinks he’s clever and going out on limb because he posts what he likes to think of as “challenges.”
Frankly, Craig, you’re just fucking boring. That’s why I entertained myself with the squirrel post by saying basically that, but in a more elaborate way.
Great comment Craig. I read a Tony cartolucci article on the subject. Seems to agree with your take on the situation. Some excerpts.
“Hong Kong’s “Occupy Central” is US-backed Sedition”
“The goal of the US in Hong Kong is clear – to turn the island into an epicenter of foreign-funded subversion with which to infect China’s mainland more directly.
Protesters of the “Occupy Central” movement in Hong Kong shout familiar slogans and adopt familiar tactics seen across the globe as part of the United States’ immense political destabilization and regime change enterprise. Identifying the leaders, following the money, and examining Western coverage of these events reveal with certainty that yet again, Washington and Wall Street are busy at work to make China’s island of Hong Kong as difficult to govern for Beijing as possible.”
……
“Benny Tai, a lecturer of law at the University of Hong Kong, is cited by various sources across the Western media as the primary organizer – however there are many “co-organizers” mentioned alongside him.
“Benny Tai regularly attends US State Department, National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and its subsidiary the National Democratic Institute (NDI) funded and/or organized forums. Just this month, he spoke at a Design Democracy Hong Kong (NDI-funded) conference on political reform. He is also active at the University of Hong Kong’s Centre for Comparative and Public Law (CCPL) – also funded by NDI. CCPL’s 2013-2014 annual report lists Benny Tai as attending at least 3 of the center’s functions, as well as heading one of the center’s projects.”
………
“Martin Lee, Jimmy Lai, and Joseph Zen are all confirmed as both leaders of the “Occupy Central” movement and collaborators with the US State Department . Media mogul Jimmy Lai was reported to have met with Neo-Con and former president of the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz in June 2014. Lai would also seek Wolfowitz’ help in securing various business deals in Myanmar. ”
…..
““Occupy Central” is just one of many ongoing gambits the US is running against Beijing. A visit to the US NED site reveals not one, but four pages dedicated to meddling in China’s internal politics. NED’s activities are divided among China in general, Tibet, Xinjiang – referred to as “East Turkistan” as it is called by violent separatists the US backs – and Hong Kong. All of NED’s funding goes to politically subversive groups aligned to and dependent on the West, while being hostile toward Beijing. They range from “monitoring” and “media” organizations, to political parties as well as fronts for violent extremists. And as impressive as this network of political subversion is, it itself is still but a single part of a greater geopolitical agenda to encircle, contain, and eventually collapse the political order of Beijing and replace it with one favorable to Wall Street and Washington.”
……
“Meddling in Thailand and stoking confrontation between China and an adversarial front including Vietnam, the Philippines, and Japan are also components of this spanning containment policy.”
….
“Whatever grievances those among “Occupy Central’s” mobs may have, they have forfeited both their legitimacy and credibility, not to mention any chance of actually achieving progress. Indeed, as the US-engineered “Arab Spring” has illustrated, nothing good will come of serving insidious foreign interests under the guise of “promoting democracy.” The goal of “Occupy Central” is to make Hong Kong ungovernable at any cost, especially at the cost of the people living there – not because that is the goal of the witless though well-intentioned participants being misled by Washington’s troupe of seditious proxies, but because that is the goal of those funding and ultimately directing the movement from abroad.”
Just normal procedure for the US, but it will be interesting to see how much the campaign will damage the Beijing corrupt regime.
Cenk Uygur for The Young Turks on this subject:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCBd0hDR6s0&list=WL
Hi, Cindy, the following reply is to your earlier post of Sept. 30th. As it landed at the end of the long dialogue, I’d like to repeat it here:
“As far as is known the CIA and military both still often ‘double-tap’ to kill rescuers after the first strike.”
The following words are from Pakistani on this video:
“Usually drones strike a second time after five or ten minutes. – It’s to kill the relatives who come out to help.”
41:46
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kibfq1zvdL4
Hi, Gina. Thanks for the link.
Khorasan Terror Wheat
now I really want a beer. Fat Tire at 9:30 PM….hell, why not.
The Quinoa and Amaranthus groups can’t be far behind.
In fact, I grow Amaranthus in my garden. Just call me Gardenista. ;-}
I find it ironic that Diane Feinstein want’s to take Our Guns away in the U.S. and no regular citizen should have any reason to own an AR-15 with 30 round clips, but supports giving rebels in Syria fully automatic machine guns like candy 2 kids at Halloween. I also find it ironic that as bad as she thinks guns are that she goes nowhere without armed guards. It is also actually funny how when George Bush was on the warpath that she was Oh so critical, but now that her buddy Obama is in charge it is ok to do the same bad things that Bush did. She really needs to think more before she opens her mouth as not to keep looking like an utter defense contracter sellout shill .Obama is becoming Bush and then some. So the real question is who is really calling the shots in our government? U.S. is using ISIS as an excuse to bomb Syria and take out Assad so we can then install a Syrian leader that will listen to us and let Saudi Arabia put a pipeline through that country. Also the U.S., (probably CIA) is behind the un rest in Ukraine even though we try to make Russia look like the bad guy on that one. “Land of Confusion” by the band Genesis pretty much sums things up right now .This was ” Another top notch revelation like only the crew at the Intercept can do!” “The Khorasan Group.” has just vanished from MSM. I would have loved to see their faces when the lie got exposed.
Kirby, briefing reporters at the Pentagon, said, “I don’t know that we can pin that down to a day or month or week or six months….We can have this debate about whether it was valid to hit them or not, or whether it was too soon or too late…We hit them. And I don’t think we need to throw up a dossier here to prove that these are bad dudes.
Wow!
That’s sounds so much like Hillary Clinton’s testimony in the Benghazi hearings.
What does it matter? “We had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest or was it because guys went out for a walk one night and decided to kill some Americans. At this point what difference does it make?”
What they are both really are saying is we are your Gods! How dare you question us! Now shut the hell up or we will have the Prez take you out with drones! That is now legal you know ever since Obama signed that executive order making it ok to assassinate a U.S. citizen without a warrant, trial , no nothing. All they have to do is deem you a terrorist!
You have been to America, so you probably understand why having too many weapons on the streets is a bad idea. However, you have never been Syria or if you have you probably stayed 400 miles away from the troubled areas. Then, you are incapable of judging whether providing weapons to the rebels is a good or a bad idea. Your logic regarding Ukraine is weird. We condemned the US for invading Iraq in 2003 and toppled a dictator because it was illegal under International Law, which was correct. However, Russia sent troops to a sovereign state, where the citizens were not being massacred like Iraq, where the government did not pose any threats to its neighbors like Iraq, yet Russia that annexed Crimea is not the bad guy!! Are you on planet Earth?
Khrushchev decided to pretend the Crimea was part of the Ukraine purely as an administrative move, not many years ago. The Crimea is Russian, it’s been Russian since the Middle Ages. NATO has been lying to Russia since 1991 about how it has no plans to expand eastward, expanding eastward as quickly as possible, and daring Russia to do anything about it. Double-ditto for the EU. Putin, being a damn fine thug himself, saw an opportunity and dared the West back. If the Ukraine decides to defect to the west, it’s going to have to kiss a lot of its eastern territory goodbye; no amount of bluster will change that. So what’s next, war? Nonsense. It’s an excuse to reset some trade deals, nothing more. Russia will pay, while saving face. The West will pretend it got the worst of it again, out of weakness, again, to keep its war-dogs howling in pretended outrage, again. Crips and Bloods, with tanks and planes.
Since Crimea was Russian in the Middle Ages, therefore the international borders that the International community, including Russia agreed upon in the 20th century are irrelevant. Is that your argument? Well, do not blame Israel for using the same argument.
9/11 was a big day for the then acting Attorney General. He was supposed to present recommendations to congress based on the findings of an investigation into the mistreatment (by order of the President) of the largest minority group that went to war during WWII and it isn’t who everyone thinks. The enormity of the cover up (dare I say CONSPIRACY) cemented the deceitful and dishonorable culture our government operates on today.
At the beginning of WWII my White Grandfather was put into an internment camp with the rest of his family because they were Italian. My Great Grandfather came to America for a better life and achieved it. He couldn’t read or write english or italian yet he married, purchased a home, created and raised 13 kids. Our President designated him an Enemy of the United States for doing so and locked them all up. When my Grandfather was able to join the military to fight for his country he was put into a segregated White Italian unit with a commanding officer that came from a well established land owning southern white family.
Was 9/11 used to distract everyone from the Attorney Generals testimony? What were the findings? The Japanese families were compensated for their suffering. How much compensation would have to be paid to all of those White people who suffered the same or worse or less? What would that have done to all of the race related laws and policies nation wide?
the craig..
reference:
“……A toxic chemical, probably chlorine, was used as a weapon to attack Syrian villages in April, an international watchdog agency confirmed on Wednesday…….The agency, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, said in a statement from its headquarters in The Hague that the information its team had collected provided “compelling evidence” that the toxic chemical was used “systematically and repeatedly” in Talmanes, Al Tamanah and Kafr Zet, three villages in northern Syria……But its full report, which has been shown so far only to governments, is understood to leave little doubt that the Syrian government was responsible……”
“No doubt”, say you? Me thinks that your boy Nate won’t be *jizzing his shorts over your latest refute..
commonsensimilla ’16
*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLnWf1sQkjY
Hi suave
I’m not really sure what you are getting out?
Thanks
*White House exempts Syria airstrikes from tight standards on civilian deaths*
http://news.yahoo.com/white-house-exempts-syria-airstrikes-from-tight-standards-on-civilian-deaths-183724795.html
Alarming, certainly, and bluntly admitting Obama doesn’t care a hoot about Syrian (or Iraqi) civilians, but it also promotes the establishment LIE that there are tight standards on drone strike authorizations (see my reply to this post for a link describing the ‘wiggle room’ afforded by these ‘limits.’ As far as is known the CIA and military both still often ‘double-tap’ to kill rescuers after the first strike. They still perform ‘signature strikes’ which murder unidentified people doing something merely supposed to be dubious. They still count any male ‘of military age’ to be a ‘terrorist’ unless posthumously identified otherwise (and everyday folks in Yemen and Somalia and Pakistan etc. obviously do not have the resources to challenge the US in court). Plus of course they still make utterly stupid mistakes which wouldn’t be tolerated in any other scenario.
So ‘less careful about civilians’ than this is perhaps meant to excuse wanton butchery that cannot possibly be disguised, poorly rationalized or kept from view.
http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/obama-s-new-drone-policy-brings-limits-but-leaves-wiggle-room-1.1296746
Cindy
According to your linked article:
“…….The guidelines also mandate that the U.S. have “near certainty” that no civilians will be killed in a strike. Civilian deaths, particularly in Pakistan, have angered local populations and contributed to a rise in anti-American sentiments in the volatile region……”
That’s ridiculous of course. There never has been, nor will there ever be a “near certainty” that no civilians will be killed. On the other side of that, the Pakistan government brought the war to Pakistan by supporting the Taliban and providing a safe haven for the Taliban to plan attacks against NATO and Afghan civilians. In fact, the Pakistan government-supported Taliban account for 75% of the civilian casualties in Afghanistan. The Pakistan government is responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people in Afghanistan by supporting the Taliban.
Indeed, Cindy, most people understand that the problem does not lie with the US government drone policy, but with the policies of the Pakistan government.which have supported the Taliban since their rise to power in the mid 1990s. Their continued support for the Taliban destabilizes Afghanistan and has left the country in a perpetual state of war. While the drone strikes may anger the local population in Pakistan, the people in Afghanistan are dying at the hands of the Taliban while the Pakistan government jockeys for geopolitical position in the region against their sworn enemy, India.
Time to direct some criticism toward the Pakistan government which supports murder at the hands of the seventh century loving Taliban – a classic anti democracy, anti woman, anti gay, anti minority, anti western and anti globalization terrorists organization.
Thanks.
I didn’t know you are Pakistani – the only sensible explanation I can see for your tangential post – but of course you have the right to criticize your own country.
You say “Cindy, most people understand…” which is an appeal to majority opinion. There are many things ‘understood’ by most people that are not particularly impressive to me.
I am of the opinion America should mind its own business and not meddle in your country, Pakistan, and obviously I disapprove of drone strikes.
And you’re welcome.
“I am of the opinion America should mind its own business and not meddle in your country, Pakistan, and obviously I disapprove of drone strikes.”
That is a very cute opinion, but completely unrealistic. So, please provide us with ideas on how America minds its own business. I think we have to
1) Stop all humanitarian aids since minding our own business also means do not influence other governments health or social policies. Are you willing to go to the African and Pakistani villages struggling with Malaria, Aids, Polio and tell the locals “Good Luck Bye”? because you would not provide aids to governments involved in serious human rights violations, would you?
2) Pull out the UN because minding our own business means you cannot be part of an organization that is allowed to condemn sovereign states or even use military force to support its resolutions. However, are you willing to tell UNHCR, UNESCO, FAO etc..Good Luck after 22% of the US funding to the UN is gone?
3) The Middle East (yes your favorite). Stop all transactions with Gulf Countries, just sit down and enjoy the killings, the massacres, and the refugees on TV or the Internet. Moreover, be a volunteer to go the poorest countries in the world and explain them why the oil price is so high. Basic Economics: The biggest producers (OPEC) lose their biggest customer, then they decrease the production and increase the price on other customers to compensate for their loss and to keep balancing their budget since they heavily rely on oil for survival.
4) Do we close our borders? because Muslims extremists have a duty to convert the world. I am sure I do not have to tell you what Islamic dynasties and caliphates have done in the past. Ask any European historians, they will provide you with better answers.
As I stated many times, Mr Greenwald and many of his readers are more anti American than pro Muslims. They present themselves as humanists who get outrage whenever a US drone killed innocent civilians regardless of all the precautionary measures taken to avoid civilian casualties. However, that outrage is completely invisible against ISIS, the Taliban, Al Qaeda…a bunch of organizations whose past time is to kill as many innocent civilians as possible. Their best solution is to “mind our own business”. A solution they did not even evaluate to consider the consequences on the innocent civilians they claim to be worried about.
Steb, we’ve covered your problems with reading comprehension earlier. This time you’re assuming things not written at all!
And just because you’ve stated something ‘many times’ doesn’t make it true.
To be clear, I do thinking criticizing countries that are interfering with your own is fair play, and having opinions about world affairs is fine as long as supporting being violent toward those assessed is a last resort left to a real matter (and not an overblown façade) of self-defense.
@Cindy
and your inability to challenge someone who has “a reading comprehension” is well noted. I have stated it many times in the hope that I would get a less pitiful reply from you. I guess I was wrong. You are very good at personal, laughable and ignorant attacks, which boost your ego as your analytic skills are completely inexistent.
There is no point ‘challenging’ someone who stupidly or willfully misunderstands what is written – that’s you, by the way – if they evidence no ability to learn from their mistakes in comprehension. As English is obviously not your first language, my advice to you is to try to think things through in your first language before articulating them in translated form. (This is kindly and maybe inappropriately presupposing you are perhaps just ill-informed and well-meaning rather than just an opinionated and angry individual frustrated that you appear so foolish in your interactions with me.)
@ Cindy
Actually, interaction with you brings me a level of joy I have not experienced for a long time. You have no analytic skills, and your problem solving abilities are seriously comical. Moreover, you hide your narrow minded ideas and your incapacity to confront those who disagree with you behind an arrogant level of communication that you do not even possess. As you are completely uneducated about Middle Eastern politics and Islamic extremists, my friendly advice to you is to visit at least some of the areas from which you establish your pathetic ideas. However, I warn you that your pretentious behavior regarding the English language would not be helpful in those areas if you are truly willing to learn about Middle Eastern conflicts on the ground.
Steb, being obstreperous is not a substitute for intelligence, and yet you appear to double-down on this stupidity relentlessly.
Obviously you just won’t learn, and are incorrigible.
You don’t ‘disagree’ with me, you simply repeat redundant, unrelated or tangential things.
I’m starting to think it’s pointless conversing with you at all, so please don’t be too disappointed if I deprive you of the ‘joy.’
@
Cindy
You do not get it, do you? It is not personal. You just bring joy involuntarily through your comments because, if you allow me to put it crudely, you do not know what you are talking about. You may feel free to ignore my comments, but I do not have to stop laughing at your opinion and replying to your ideas to prevent ignorance from spreading beyond your shortsighed world. Respectfully.
This was a good “heads up.” What have we become?
“As far as is known the CIA and military both still often ‘double-tap’ to kill rescuers after the first strike.”
The following words are from Pakistani on this video:
“Usually drones strike a second time after five or ten minutes. – It’s to kill the relatives who come out to help.”
41:46
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kibfq1zvdL4
Glenn:
I believe it was the opposite. The Obama’s Administration’s decision to bomb ISIS in Syria enabled striking this “Khorasan” group off its bucket list. Glenn’s conclusion doesn’t make a lot of sense because Obama would have started dropping bombs on Syria regardless of whether or not “Khorasan” was in Syria. After all, his September 10 speech focuses on the Islamic State (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/11/world/middleeast/obama-speech-isis.html). And if the Administration truly wanted it for propagandist purposes, why not just call “Khorasan” what they are – an Al Qaeda group sent to Syria.
With that said, I do also find this “Khorasan” name quite fishy. I don’t see this as an effort at propaganda, but an attempt to not contradict past Administration claims that it had weakened Al Qaeda. In other words, this “Khorasan” name creates confusion as to the individuals involved, which are al Qaeda members sent to Syria by Zawahari; to call them “Al Qaeda” is to open the Administration to criticism about past claims that AQ is weakened.
Who said that is what they are? Who said that the group exists at all? Do you believe what you’re writing? Do you believe any of what the anonymous sources have passed along to the Barbara Stars and their Dina Temple-Raston steographers and story tellers?
The whole thing reads like a very poorly written horror story fairytale script. There is no reason to take any of it as truth. And that’s not just me saying that, so if you want to scoff and argue, you might try arguing with some of the insider skeptics quoted in Glenn’s article.
To determine my viewpoint, I focused on the leader of the group – Muhsin al Fadhli:
* On March 21, 2014 The Arab Times Online’s sources said Fadhli “who is among the most dangerous terrorists in the world, had moved from Iran to Syria in mid of 2013.”
* On March 25, the Long War Journal reported that “Al Qaeda’s senior leaders dispatched trusted operatives to Syria once the dispute between Al Nusrah and ISIS became heated.Al Fadhli’s presence inside Syria, where he is training recruits to attack the West, is a significant cause for concern among counterterrorism authorities….”
These articles were many months before the mentioning of Fadhli leading the “Khorasan Group.”
So fast forward to the last couple weeks, when the NYT said Fadhli is the leader and how the attacks allegedly killed him. It still has not been confirmed but Widespread Twitter messages are saying he is dead.
Hence, my and countless others’ point: Evidence indicates “Khorasan” is nothing new, just some AQ people in Syria.
Al Qaeda leader claims key operative in so-called ‘Khorasan group’ was killed
Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2014/09/al_qaeda_leader_clai.php?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter#ixzz3EqWZ7phu
The Long War Journal is a project of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
http://www.longwarjournal.org/about.php
Okay…so what?
Foundation for Defense of Democracies
[snip]
‘If George W. Bush’s early — and adventurous — foreign policy was staffed by the American Enterprise Institute, the next generation of hawkish Republican undersecretaries of this or that might come from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. The group has risen since its 2001 founding to become Washington’s premiere hawkish think tank. But what has been less known is exactly who has been funding the outfit, and how much they’ve donated..’
http://www.salon.com/2013/08/05/home_depot_founder’s_quiet_10_million_right_wing_investment/
Again, so what!? Does Salon dictate to you what is credible? I see what you’re doing here and I don’t buy it. Judge articles on an assessment of their content, not what others tell you to think.
Kitt
“……There is no reason to take any of it as truth. And that’s not just me saying that, so if you want to scoff and argue, you might try arguing with some of the insider skeptics quoted in Glenn’s article……”
Fair enough Kitt, but it’s not like murderous jihadists organizations like al-Shabaab, Boko Haram, al-Qaeda, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, ISIS etc. are rare. In fact, they are a dime a dozen now a days. The only advancement by newer terrorists organizations seems to be they are becoming more brutal and murderous so they can become a household name. After all, they are all competing for the same funding. Regardless, if the government wants to make up a new Islamic terrorist organization (and I’m not saying they did) that threatens the homeland to provide a legal basis to attack ISIS in Syria, it’s not like it isn’t perfectly plausible.
“Threatens the homeland?” Are you in all seriousness using that baby talk language? Either way, there is no evidence that “threatens the homeland” was the real reason that the anonymous sources told their silly tails to their favored stenographers. So why are you using that as the reason?
“……Either way, there is no evidence that “threatens the homeland” was the real reason that the anonymous sources told their silly tails to their favored stenographers. So why are you using that as the reason?……”
I’m not. I’m repeating what Greenwald stated in his commentary. According to Glenn,
“……the Obama administration needed propagandistic and legal rationale for bombing yet another predominantly Muslim country……this new group was composed of “hardened terrorists,” posed an “imminent” threat to the U.S. homeland, was in the “final stages” of plots to take down U.S. civilian aircraft, and could “launch more-coordinated and larger attacks on the West in the style of the 9/11 attacks from 2001.””……”
My point was that it didn’t take a lot of creativity to”invent” a new terrorist organization since there are no shortage of jihadists in the world willing to attack the US. Of course, this might not have been made up either, but I doubt they posed an imminent threat to the”homeland” i.e., motherland.
Thanks.
As the drone strikes can be less & less justified internationally, there’s just something new “concocted”.
Quote from the video of the twenty seven year old veteran of drone war:
36:45
“Ultimately I believe there was a child killed. & that burden is placed on me. (…) [The commander] just basically said: “It’s god’s plan.” – It’s god’s fucking plan for people to die like … I don’t want to hear that shit. I didn’t feel like I was part of anything good or wholesome or healthy or contributing to the greater good. I felt like I was destroying myself.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kibfq1zvdL4
“(…) it wants to bring down airplanes with explosives.”
Can someone bring down the government – to earth with reasonable words?
It seems the plan is there’ll be another more fearful threat – tomorrow, next week, next year, forever – if possible.
Perpetual enemies for perpetual wars…
Fear’s how almighty capitalism’s owners keep even peaceful people blindly paying insane geopolitical resource-wars.
As phony as “al Sham” (The Company demonstrates, You CAN make this stuff up)! The definition of ISIS : US (CIA & Company man, Zer0bama)!! Korasan: hollow as the earth and just as empty!!!
I’m confident that if the “governed” knew they were required by contract to remove our politicians from office when they put our country in the state it currently is in they would do just that. Everyone should read and understand The Declaration of Independence. It’s is our country’s most important document. The U.S. Constitution supports it.
Today show if I am not mistaken had ex-mayor Rudy Guilliani on talking about how bad this group was, and talking how they were hiding things in toiletries and such for airline passengers, that set up a red flag for me as a way to set up even more security issues at the airport, now you probably wont be able to carry anything or bring anything with you, you will have to buy it at your destination. Watch guys, security will be ramped up now. I looked up Khorasan on the first day I heard it, didn’t find much. I knew it was just an excuse that nobama wanted to get into syria, lets just see what Russia does now, am curious.
As it happens, I am in charge of approving nicknames for the President. “Nobama” has been superseded by the more accurate “Gobomber”, and one is encouraged to read it with a southern drawl. Please adjust your future posts to reflect the new nickname. Thank you.
Why do terrorists seem to be obsessed with airplanes when dishing out vengeance against the USA?
It’s a flying soda can full of explosives and trapped hostages. What’s not to drool over?
It seems to me that Greenwald and Co. are still to a large extent participating in the cover up. While this article makes for a fine catalog of all the statements made by gov’t and media about Khorasan, Greenwald never says who was being bombed it their name. It was al Nursa that the US is calling Khorasan and and al Nursa has been in alliance with the FSA and IS and fighting both Assad and ISIS. I don’t think this oversight accidental because if Greenwald is forced to admit that the US has entered the Syrian civil war on the side of Assad he will have to admit that he has been wrong about Syria all along. Khorasan was a fiction created to cover up the real target of US air strikes and Greenwald & Co. continues this cover-up.
Great article in The Telegraph today everybody.
……
“Fury as Obama blames intelligence agencies for Isil surprise.”
With his foreign policy approval ratings at a historic low, Barack Obama meets furious reaction after blaming US intelligence agencies for failing to predict rise of Isil in Syria.
President Barack Obama was facing a fierce political backlash on Monday night after he blamed US intelligence chiefs for being caught by surprise by the sudden rise of the Islamic State (Isil) terror movement in Iraq and Syria.
In a highly unusual step, Mr Obama singled out James Clapper, his director of national intelligence, when asked by a television interviewer whether he had underestimated the threat posed by Isil after its fighters burst across the Syrian border into Iraq this summer, capturing large swathes of territory.
“I think our head of the intelligence community, Jim Clapper, has acknowledged that they underestimated what had been taking place in Syria,” Mr Obama told CBS News.
The president’s apparent unwillingness to take responsibility for his administration’s failure to foresee the threat was met with disbelief by both policy experts and senior Republicans, who have long warned of the risks of ceding strategic space to the jihadists in Syria.
“This was the ‘dog ate my homework speech’,” Senator John McCain, the former Republican presidential candidate who has long called for Mr Obama to arm moderate rebel forces in Syria, told Fox News, adding that Mr Obama should follow other presidents and admit his mistake
“Every president in history had made a mistake, acknowledged it and then moved on. President Reagan with Iran contra, President Clinton in Bosnia, President George W Bush after the debacle in Iraq, when he started the surge – but it doesn’t seem to be in this president’s DNA,” he said.
……..Snip
John McCain seems to be a budding conspiracy theorist , and a budding member of the “Far Left”, or he would not dare say such things about former, and current President of The United States, Mr Soetoro.
He’s probably now smoking ‘bud’ too.’
We need an edit function.
The problem the US has with foreign wars is similar to their problems with the Ryder cup. There is now an expectation of failure, and this becomes self fulfilling. Instead of planning a strategy, they plan in advance how to shift the blame onto someone else for the inevitable debacle. So Obama is setting up Clapper to take the fall and McCain is setting up Obama, and Clapper is going to blame it all on Snowden. No one is paying attention to the actual ‘war’.
Here is a helpful guide on how to start the blame shifting. A reporter should ask Clapper ‘What made the war against Grenada so successful?’, and see what develops.
Great link Duce. I think our budding politicians would do well to understand that golfing and government share similar customs. As an educated European politician, I assume you attended Public School. where you no doubt were ‘benched’ a few times. From your helpful link:
The positioning was symbolic. Presumably Watson’s right-hand man, Mickelson decidedly was not. After being benched for both sessions Saturday, the first time he had sat out an entire day of the competition, Mickelson had a lot of time — maybe too much — to ponder what had gone wrong.
Actually I’m not all that surprised. I consider Obama to be a buffoon. An actor playing the part of President. Similar to that other great buffoon Ronald Reagan. Both answerable to masters that provided the money for their election. In the next Presidential Election, due on 8th November 2016 we will doubtlessly see another actor
strutting his (or possibly, but doubfully, her) stuff.
Thanks for the well-done article. Terrible to read about such manipulation but appreciative of the different (and well documented) alternative point of view.
Want to stop all this terrorist crap? Ban all Islam from America and Europe and watch how fast terrorism disappears! Obama and the CIA created ISIS to kill christians in Iraq to get public support to bomb Syria and the LAME STREAM MEDIA is right with him as always!
I see a bit of a debate about the meaning of the word imminent threat. Funny, in a non-funny way The Intercept just had a piece on ”
Do not be ‘Lead Astray’ by ‘Commonly Understood Definitions”.
I just happened to lift on apropos quote from Esquire about the governments definition of the word imminent:
“For example, the government’s definition of an “imminent threat,” which is necessary to carry out a strike, does not require the U.S. to have “clear evidence that a specific attack on U.S. persons and interests will take place in the immediate future.” As Oliver notes, the government might want to look up what the word “imminent” means. Just as conveniently for the government, any able-bodied male is classified as a militant unless there is specific evidence to suggest otherwise, meaning that drones may be killing far more civilians than are being reported.”
Please enjoy John Oliver’s piece on Drones from last Sunday night’s “Last Week Tonight”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4NRJoCNHIs
What? Did anyone see the ceremony for the end of the “War on Poverty?” That is the War that affects every person in the U.S. not the War on terror bullshit.
Everyone should have to join a branch of the military after graduating high school. Everyone means the disabled, rich, poor, men and women. Short of a revolution that’s the only way voters will stop tolerating the disrespectful and dishonorable conduct of our electorate by connecting every household to their policies.
Those teenagers in Taiwan have bigger balls then most of us in the US. When will we wake the fuck up?
But of course…
Anything to promote the “War on Terror.”
Have to promote the petro dollar and the Military Industrial Complex so that the Central Bankers win and everyone else looses. That is always the primary objective in US Foreign Policy manipulations particularly NATO endeavors.
“Khorasans” and ISIS are equal to “Weapons of Mass Destruction” or any other lie that these political war brokers can fabricate.
An interesting follow-up to this and a previous TI article (“The CIA’s Mop-Up Man: L.A. Times Reporter Cleared Stories with Agency Before Publication.”) at this link:
{“Reporter” Who Broke Propaganda Piece “Justifying” Bombing Syria Clears His Stories with CIA Before Publishing}
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2014/09/reporter-broke-propaganda-piece-justifying-bombing-syria-clears-stories-cia-publishing.html
Keep up the great work!
Murtaza Hussain, the co-author of this article w/ Greenwald, provides additional detail on the Sept. 29 Democracy Now broadcast, archived at democracynow.org.
The real culprits are the recruiters who influence, cajole and coerce young people to proceed on suicidal missions abroad. They should be targeted and eliminated by whatever necessary means that are at our disposal. The Muslim community must confront them and expose them. And it is for their own good that they must do so or else they face decimation. The name Khorasan may not be accurate but the fact is that out there are a bunch of fanatics planning stuff that’s not good for anyone. A terrorist by any other name is just as dangerous.
We Need the Extra Intrusiveness of The Patriot Act
July 17, 2002
‘To borrow a phrase from the Rolling Stones: get your kumbay-ya-ya’s out…
The kumbaya crowd is looking to get us out of the foxhole we’ve all been in since Sept. 11 by trying to get us to feel sorry for the people we have locked up on various immigration violations (but really on the suspicion they may have ties to Al Qaeda).
I’m starting to hear from the hand-wringing Left, worried to death about the Bill of Rights and the Constitution.
They accuse me of being the hand-wringing Right, worried about getting attacked… obsessed with fear.
And they may be right. I worry about Mohammad Atta killing us while they worry about Mohammad Atta not getting read his Miranda rights. Which worry ought to occupy our frontal lobes at the moment?
(By the way… while we’ve had these 1,200 Middle Eastern men locked up, out of circulation, unable to communicate with their cronies… have we suffered another terror attack? No. So was it really such a bad idea to put these particular souls on ice?)
But back to my kumbaya point. The kumbaya singers want to bring us back to that psychological, emotional and legal point where we see the aggressiveness of the Patriot Act as un-American and unconstitutional, an abridgement of the rights of any person in America… not just citizens.
“Do we give up rights because of fear”, Mr. Kumbaya asks? “Do we give up rights Americans fought and died for because of fear?”
On Sept. 10th, we would have answered no, and it would have been an answer that made sense. Up until then, the threat was more to our rights than to our lives.
Now it’s different. Dispersed among us, according to U.S. intelligence experts, are thousands of snoozing Al Qaedas awaiting the call to act.
You and me… we have no plans to hurt anyone, but these people do. It’s not theoretical. It’s real.
So do you afford terrorists the same rights you give yourself and your neighbors and friends? No, obviously.
Now the problem is figuring out who those terrorists are. That requires the extra intrusiveness of the Patriot Act and the guts to tell the singers of kumbaya to go back into their coma. IF THEY HAVEN’T GOT THE GOOD SENSE TO REALIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF ‘FEAR’ IN THESE TIMES, those of us who do have the good sense to be afraid for them.
That’s My Word.’
http://www.foxnews.com/story/2002/07/17/need-extra-intrusiveness-patriot-act/?intcmp=related
note: capitalized emphasis, mine.
Are you implying that tourists to the USA should be tortured if they like the song ‘Kumbaya’?
Negative. I’m advising the good ‘general’ to change his dependies, resume cowering under his bed, and to fuk’off w/ his fear-mongering antics..
“The Muslim community must confront them and expose them.”
———
You’re clearly implying that:
1. These young people plan their actions with the full knowledge of the Muslim communities living in the West, and
2. The Muslim communities do not do anything about it and do not warn the authorities.
Both implications are utterly false, and that’s how some people demonize the Muslim communities and cast a huge shadow of suspicion.
Also, see this from Digby:
http://digbysblog.blogspot.ca/2014/09/no-good-deed-tolerance-not.html
Many Muslims used to be in awe of the Westerners, but it’s obvious now that ignorant people exist everywhere.
You’re clearly implying that: … The Muslim communities do not do anything about it and do not warn the authorities.
Yes, he is. And likely with a straight face.
It’s really quite amazing how many people completely ignore the fact that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s father spoke to CIA officers at the US Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria on November 19, 2009 about his son’s increasingly extreme religious views. That was more than a month before he attempted to bring down an American airplane.
The NCTC added him to their databases after that consultation but that’s as far as it went. US officials failed to get him into FBI databases and onto the No-Fly list. And when the State Department tried to revoke his visa, it was unnamed US intelligence officials who blocked that revocation, thus allowing him to board that flight to the US with a pantload of explosives.
The IC didn’t do their jobs diligently enough to realize that Britain had denied him a visa. They didn’t do their job to keep him off a plane. And then his plot was foiled by ordinary citizens on the plane. But yeah, the Muslim community needs to do a better job. :-s
There are good Muslims and there are bad Muslims. Just as there are good Jews and Christians, as well as very bad ones.
The real problem is that the good Muslims are: 1) penniless, ) disorganized, 3) powerless, and 4) can only talk but not act. They do not impose their own law on the bad Muslims. Instead, they let all the bad Muslims decide whether their heads should rest on their shoulders or be removed. The nature of Sharia law and the power to interpret it makes it abundantly convenient for those in power to use it for their own benefit, which is why the powerless good Muslims are a vanishing breed. Very soon there won’t be any left.
The Sufi chap here spends his day writing apologia and arguing with me, instead of catching his neighborhood mullah by the ear and demanding why he is sending young kids to Syria. I appreciate his comments, but he can contribute a lot more by speaking up against those he calls friends and disciplining them.
The real culprits are the recruiters who influence, cajole and coerce young people to proceed on suicidal missions abroad. They should be targeted and eliminated by whatever necessary means that are at our disposal.
It’s interesting because when I read that I was sure that you were talking about recruiters for US armed forces….and I agreed with you, right up until I read, “The Muslim community…”
Point of clarification: I was assuming that “eliminate them by whatever necessary means” basically meant getting them the fuck off college campuses and out of our middle and high schools.
I have a feeling that if the KKK started calling themselves “The Christian Nation” that the government and all the major media would NOT be repeating that moniker like a pop song.
Americans will chase a boogeyman as reliably as a cat chases a laser dot.
Action https://www.facebook.com/#!/video.php?v=10205046093259149&set=vb.1447364891&type=2&theater
https://www.facebook.com/#!/video.php?v=10205046093259149&set=vb.1447364891&type=2&theater
As long as there are no American body bags and lots of televised explosions in alleged enemy targets, the public will strongly endorse whatever lies and untruths the government and military use to kill Muslims anywhere and anyplace other than in the United States proper where authorities simply arrest a handful of them here and there to make it seem that Homeland Security appears to be doing something for the billions of dollars spent on it. Yup, the American public — especially lazy and generally stupid journalists — just gobble up the lies in patriotic delight.
So beware of the information coming out of Hong Kong where Western journalists delight in putting a “deadly” spin on the peaceful protest — and may be missing the real story: This protest is just what China’s leaders needed. As greed, corruption, and property prices spiral out of control, often spearheaded by Hong Kong’s role as a leading international financial centre that depends on the American dollar continuing to be the world’s foreign reserve, you can expect the central government to impose a silent boycott to severely reduce (cripple) Hong Kong’s influence — an action that will do several things:
* Slow China’s rapid growth to a manageable level without causing the economic depression that inevitably happens as part of the business cycle after reckless growth;
* Speed up the BRICS international efforts to replace the American dollar’s control with a new reserve currency;
* Teach other regions in China that China is not a confederation of states that can do what they want, but one nation that will not tolerate dissent that could tear it apart.
Are there any journalists willing the examine that angle?
A neoliberal union of fragmented and downsized Arab and ‘post-Iranian’ states constellated around the principal regional satellites of American hegemony: Israel and Saudi Arabia? In other words, a Nato and EU-like military and politico-economic Middle Eastern superstructure as imposed ‘teleological finish line’ of a CIA-midwifed Thirty Years War-type socially and constitutionally reorganizing process? Former Czech president Vaclav Klaus speaks of something similar, to be sure, when he says: ‘I’m not just criticising the EU arrangements — at the same time I’m very critical of global governance and the shift to transnationalism. A week ago I was in Hong Kong and I criticised the naive opening up of countries without keeping or maintaining the anchoring of the nation state. Doing this leads either to anarchy, or to global governance. My vision for Europe is a Europe of sovereign nation states, definitely. But we have already gone well beyond simply economic integration. The EU is a post-democratic and post-political system.’ http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9322652/europe-needs-systemic-change/
I think this has more to do with the pressure coming to bear on Congress to leave the campaign trail and go back to D.C. where they belong by October 7th, 2014.
October 7th marks the 60 day deadline in the War Powers Resolution from the beginning of U.S. airstrikes in Iraq (August 7th):
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/08/world/middleeast/obama-weighs-military-strikes-to-aid-trapped-iraqis-officials-say.html?_r=0
But in order to try to attach Obama’s unilateral start of military hostilities to the 2003 Resolution, Obama needs to link “Al Queda” to the bombing. ISIS has minimal connections to Al Queda.
Which means, “if” Congress decides to do their due diligence and come back to D.C. to debate and vote on a Resolution for Military Action in Iraq and Syria, they will need a “new” threat NOT connected to Al Queda. Therefore the “Khorosan Group” had to be invented as they have no appreciable link to Al Queda.
The Obama administration is hand-wringing over which way the Senate may go this November and the last thing they want is for Congress to come back and have an open debate on a resolution for a “never-ending war” which will OBVIOUSLY end up with American “boots on the ground”. They do not want all the phone calls and emails coming in to Congress members telling them “NO!” and pressure being put to bear on Congress members especially now that the news on an almost daily basis is indicating a change in the Obama administration’s meme about “who is ISIS, who trained/funded them, how long have the intelligence authorities truly been aware of the threat” and now the “Khoroson Group” has been added to the equation.
My feeling is that the American people should be shouting from the rooftops for Congress to return by October 7th to perform their Constitutional duty to either authorize U.S. military actions in Iraq and Syria….or not. Election on November 4th or no election on November 4th. Democratic Senate for Obama or no Democratic Senate for Obama.
October 7th is a day that prove whether or not the United States Congress respects their oaths to the Constitution, or not.
Congressional patrons pay big money to have predicable outcomes.
The American people continue to vote for buffoons and clowns, thugs and grifters because they don’t believe they have alternatives.
It’s like the banksters who reasoned that even if they tanked the economy nobody would act against them because we’re all in the same boat. The CIA spies on the Senate, NSA spies on everyone, the Pentagon spends like drunken sailors, and those who supposedly serve the public serve their patrons. (We’re the meal.)
“I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” belongs in 1986 when there was still a chance. Now nothing will change until there are mass demonstrations — riots — across the country.
Did anyone think that when the Pentagon and H****** Security distributed military equipment and trained local police they merely intended to get rid of surplus.equipment?
As the last president reportedly said, “Stop throwing the Constitution in my face, …It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!”
Charlene..
With all due respect, the “day” for which you refer, has come and gone..
ht`Russ Feingold
[snip]
‘In 1798, when John Adams was president of the United States, the feds enacted four pieces of legislation called the Alien and Sedition Acts. One of these laws made it a federal crime to publish any false, scandalous or malicious writing — even if true — about the president or the federal government, notwithstanding the guarantee of free speech in the First Amendment.
The feds used these laws to torment their adversaries in the press and even successfully prosecuted a congressman who heavily criticized the president. Then-Vice President Thomas Jefferson vowed that if he became president, these abominable laws would expire. He did, and they did, but this became a lesson for future generations: The guarantees of personal freedom in the Constitution are only as valuable and reliable as is the fidelity to the Constitution of those to whom we have entrusted it for safekeeping.
We have entrusted the Constitution to all three branches of the federal government for safekeeping. But typically, they fail to do so. Presidents have repeatedly assaulted the freedom of speech many times throughout our history, and Congresses have looked the other way. Abraham Lincoln arrested Northerners who challenged the Civil War. Woodrow Wilson arrested Americans who challenged World War I. FDR arrested Americans he thought might not support World War II. LBJ and Richard Nixon used the FBI to harass hundreds whose anti-Vietnam protests frustrated them.
In the post-9/11 era the chief instrument of repression of personal freedom has been the government’s signature anti-terror legislation: the Patriot Act.
In our own post 9/11 era, the chief instrument of repression of personal freedom has been the government’s signature anti-terror legislation: the Patriot Act. It was born in secrecy, as members of the House of Representatives were given 15 minutes to read its 300 pages before voting on it in October 2001, and it operates in silence, as those who suffer under it cannot speak about it..’
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/03/21/when-government-demands-silence-ugliness-patriot-act/
I don’t believe your quote is entirely accurate. While the Sedition Act, the Naturalization Act and the Alien Friends Act WERE allowed to expire, from what I can make out, the Alien Enemies Act is still on the books. Oh, and according to Wikipedia Mr. Jefferson also made some use of the Sedition Act. Sorry to say my guy John Adams got these passed.
One reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_and_Sedition_Acts
Another reference:
http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/[email protected]/chapter3&edition=prelim
Also according to Britannica, it was amended in 1918 to include women. If you scroll down the law, I think you can see some amendment dates…
That s the way of every yankee president since 1776.
Do you mean Yankee as in American, or Yankee as in Northern?
Either way, you must admit some American presidents, both Northern and Southern, some even relatively recently, have impressively eschewed foreign entanglements and not been quite the ‘slaves to the (corporatist/militarist) system’ we are used to nowadays.
“… one that posed a direct and immediate threat to the American Homeland.”
You mean The American Homeland™.
Thanks so much for breaking dow the BS media and its warmongering masters! I love you guys. Peace and blessings.
I second that!
Radio Dispatch Live
I’m posting this live show link of John and Molly Knefel’s ‘Radio Dispatch’ especially because their two guests on this show are Ryan Devareaux and Jeremy Scahill. So if you have not been familiar with their program before, you might enjoy taking the opportunity to familiarize yourself by listening to this show which features two guests who are both affiliated with The Intercept. Their live shows, which are recorded with a studio audience, or, more accurately, a bar audience is usually a once monthly affair. They record their podcast programs five days a week.
Craig Summers’ commenting Tourette’s manifests again:
Craig is a rabid Zionist. Rabid Zionists deploy far/extreme/hard left as an epithet. Allow me to repost a comment of mine from another thread:
——————————————————————
Rabid Zionist hatred and violence against perceived “leftists” is growing increasingly alarming in Israel. From an op-ed in today’s NYT:
Zionists like our own Craig Summers have long deployed “leftist” against critics of Israel, using it in the same manner others hurl “Nazi” as an epithet. In Israel, this incitement is now (or, again) turning violent. Jews, especially younger ones, who are left-of-center, are fleeing the country in the thousands. It is becoming almost as dangerous to be designated “far left” in Israel as it was in Germany c. 1933.
Entire op-ed here: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/27/opinion/how-israel-silences-dissent.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytopinion&_r=0
They’re the (new) worst of the worst!
A part of me wonders if consumer culture will eventually demand more and more interesting international threats, in the way that we demanded a culture of increasingly wild and dysfunctional sort-of celebrities seemingly entirely for the purpose of filling up tabloid pages. After all, even the weather channels – the WEATHER channels, who should be the sweetest, most innocuous boring media of all – appear to be upping the ante on the sensational. Suddenly we have “Black Ice!” which is, you know, pretty much “Regular ice!” that looks black when on black roads, because its’s, um, clear. And thundersnow, which is a made up word that just sounds really, really made up. Eventually, everything must be new, improved, and more interesting, and it would seem the news is no exception. The tragic part is that we forget it’s all connected to a very real world, with very real consequences for people.
Since all of them pose near-zero threat one can always always justify the statement that one group poses a lot more threat than the other one. If the probability that a group can carry out a major attack is 0.000001 and the probability for the other group is 0.000002 then the other group is twice as dangerous. And if, god forbid, the probability is 0.0001 then it is 100 time more dangerous. And, since ordinary folks seldom try to parse these sentences the administration can always use these ‘threat levels’ to justify bombing one place or another.
The takeaway here is that the US has a state – run media just as much as Pravda was and RT is now.
We are in deep trouble.
Saw this coming a mile away. Here’s the text of a comment I posted both to Facebook and to Democratic Underground last Wednesday:
At the risk of being labeled a paranoid conspiracy theory monger, I will offer a few thoughts about the current round of “Oh-my-God-the-terra’ists-are-closing-in-on-Peoria” war drum beating that our august leaders — of BOTH parties — are engaging in.
First, a little refresher in recent history. Does anybody remember what the big news was last summer? You know, when the original neoconservative cheerleading squad for invading Iraq, along with a coterie of war profitee… — er, sorry, defense contractors — was suddenly demanding that the President intervene in Syria’s civil war and to overthrow Assad, and the President appeared ready to go along with the idea? Of course, after some pretty intense public outcry, the President decided to consult Congress (even though he continued to assert he didn’t legally need to do so). And then, as quickly as the whole ‘crisis’ arose, it simply disappeared. Congress never did actually vote on it. We did send some arms to the anti-Assad forces, but otherwise the matter was quietly dropped — or so we thought.
Fast forward to this summer, and suddenly there’s this group that had barely been mentioned — ISIS, ISIL or just IS. They kill a couple of journalists and a British aid worker in a manner that offends our delicate imperialist sensibilities (after all, our murder-by-drone policy is infinitely more civilized, don’t you think?), and suddenly it is imperative that we start a round of airstrikes in Iraq in order to save a subculture of Iraq’s Kurds known as Yazidis to escape their mountaintop holdout, where they will surely die if we don’t begin bombing — oh, I’m sorry, I meant striking from the air (really not much more than a feather-dusting when you think about it).
Suddenly, lo and behold, our “no-boots-on-the-ground-limited-airstrikes-on-ISIS-in-Iraq has morphed into a “years-long” (as one top general has said) war against ISIS and Khorasan in where else but — you guessed it — SYRIA! Oh, but wait . . . . Korha-who? Suddenly, there’s a new terra’ist group none of us has ever heard of before that we’re also at war against. Oh, and they had an IMMINENT plan to attack the U.S.! So why have we never heard of this group that was surely about to hit Peoria next week? Because, the administration tells us, we didn’t want to tip them off that we were hot on their trail. (Funny how that never stopped anybody from talkinb about Al Qaeda.) Oh, and Khorasan has an added benefit: if the administration can claim that they pose an ‘imminent threat,’ then it buys the President some time before he needs to seek authorization from Congress. That is, of course, if such authorization were needed, which, of course, it isn’t, because by some novel legal contortions, the President is authorized to act under the original Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) passed 13 years ago in the wake of 9-11, which authorized the then-President to go after those responsible for 9-11.
So, let me see if I’ve got this straight: the President is authorized under a 13-year-old AUMF intended to permit the then-President to go after those responsible for 9-11 to intervene in a civil war of a country that had nothing to do with that event, and against a group that did not then exist. But hey, just in case that doesn’t pan out legally, we have this handy-dandy imminent threat from still ANOTHER group that didn’t exist 13 years ago. WHAT A COUNTRY!
Sorry, folks, but I ain’t buyin’! We have been ‘neo-CONNED’ yet again. And most of us, it seems,are the neocons’ willing dupes.
Polls are showing that something like 94% of Americans support airstrikes in Syria, thus once again proving the truth of that famous quote penned by H.L. Mencken: “No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.”
[At this juncture, I will add that neither will one go broke betting on the duplicity of the U.S. government whenever it has a collective hard-on for war.]
I hear you!!!
Well Said
If unused gonads could be used to generate power, America would rule the world! Oh wait. Yeah. We musta figured that one out already.
Good Comment, perhaps we should all keep in mind:
“You can fool some of the people all of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time”
Is The Administration under-estimating the intelligence of the American people?
Remember The Who track: WE WON’T GET FOOLED AGAIN
Wait for it . . . . the next thing to do, in response to this article, is to work on a narrative concocting an attack by the most evil of all evildoers, Khorosan.
Please, please, please … this word offends me. Like the smell of vomitus offensive.
Thank you for the quotes, but really do those offended by the name of the Washington football team put the reference in quotes or do they simply refuse to use the word entirely?
Homeland is exactly the word “Vaterland” except it’s spelled and pronounced differently. Its purpose is identical.
Why can’t our turgid hypernationalists be happy with words like “nation” or “country”? Must they insert their vile protofascism into every political conversation as if goebbels-trained lackeys? If someone says
Goebbels observes,
Exactly so. It is a word designed to clothe and disguise
The word “homeland” should be treated like any other foul attempt to demean an entire civilization with a single vicious slur.
Avoided and explicitly condemned.
It should mark the user as either a mindless mimic or a hate filled militarist implicitly calling for violent response against anyone and everyone of a different race or culture or country who might oppose US interests.
The point of ‘homeland’ is to ingrain the idea the world is our colony .. in Americans psychology. Along the lines of ‘our vital national interests’ neglecting to mention these are ‘international interests’ which actually means a one way street to drain wealth of developing nations, in effect diamond, gold and uranium concessions et cetera purchased at rock bottom price from warlords to benefit western democracies stocks from Frankfurt to London to Toronto to Wall Street .. here’s a prime example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d50SYyLqFNo
^ Noting the use of ‘fatherland’ continues to be apropos wherever NATO nations are to be found
Just agreeing with Milton’s comment. I had been thinking about that ever since I saw that word used in this article, and long before. I also had my ears jarred when I hear Murtaza Hussain say that word this morning while speaking about this issue and this article on Democracy Now.
Even more appropriate than the Goebbels quote, here’s one from Hermann Goering he gave an interviewer during the Nuremburg Trials:
“Naturally the common people don’t want war: Neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, IT IS THE LEADERS of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is TELL THEM THEY ARE BEING ATTACKED, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. IT WORKS THE SAME IN ANY COUNTRY.”
Wag the Dog, all over again. Democrat, Republican, conservative, liberal, white, black…doesn’t matter. Seems like all presidents now must be war presidents. No one at the top is talking about doing something different. No one. So we are supposed to lean back in our Lazy Boys and watch the Middle East go up in smoke like it’s some kind of Super Bowl of Doom. This is all going to come back on us, all of us, in a very bad way.
While I’d like to believe this Article as accurate, I do not. Just as the US Government has it’s own agenda, so does First Look, The Intercept, and the Author’s of this article. MOST, if not ALL, media outlets in the World are manipulated, biased, & unbalanced, by an agenda. Personal or Corporate. This story, IMHO, reeks of Disinformation.
It has been my experience that the Truth, usually, lies somewhere in the middle. The Khorasan Group may be new to the “mainstream media”, which this Publication, like it or not, is a part of, but, it has been mentioned looooong before. IMHO, a lot of the “mis-communication” is based upon a misunderstanding and/or different perspective on Threat Assessment and what constitutes a Threat.
Buuuut, you know what they say about opinions…
Would have been nice if you mentioned where, or when, or by whom, Khorasan was mentioned “looooong before.”
Great Story. Great Work. Keep Writing!
“…what constitutes a threat.”
Exactly. So is it the narrowing of the chute that constitutes the threat, or is it the bawling and shoving of the steers behind?
Should we start a White House petition to remove the word “Homeland” from all human memory? Just a thought.
Yes!
This whole Khorasan thing is Obama’s Gulf of Tonkin Incident, eh?
We have a list of countries that we need to bomb. In the A-list, Syria and Iran were the only ones outstanding. Last year when we tried, Putin spoilt the party. So this year we changed tack and were successful with one of them.
We are trying hard with the other one. This one seems to be very slimy, evading us at every step.
Scary. I don’t believe Muslims had anything to do with 9/11, and I believe Osama bin Laden is a CIA fiction (derived from a real person).
The government can blow up any plane or building or city or country it chooses, at any time it wishes to stir up support for it. Panicky suckers will flock to it in sufficient numbers to give it the power it seeks.
Has the NSA failed the world community once again? Should we have been warned about ISIS before they became this extreme threat to western interests? How did the most dangerous group, in the history of the world, EVER, the Khorasans, avoid NSA spying? The hardware seems to be in place. From an Intercept article published in March:
….In Iraq, for example, the National Security Agency went from intercepting only about half of enemy signals and taking hours to process them to being able to collect, sort and make available every Iraqi email, text message and phone-location signal in real time, said John “Chris” Inglis, who recently retired as the NSA’s top civilian.
The overhaul, which Alexander ordered shortly after taking leadership of the agency in August 2005, enabled U.S. ground commanders to find out when an insurgent leader had turned on his cellphone, where he was and whom he was calling.
“Absolutely invaluable,” retired Gen. David H. Petraeus, the former U.S. commander in Iraq, said in an interview as he described the NSA’s efforts, which led to the dismantling of networks devoted to burying roadside bombs…..
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/03/31/nsa-worlds-blows-top-secret-program/
The NSA total (cell phone) collection system seems to be working in the Bahamas. No new terrorist organisations there. And the locals seem quite happy. What went wrong in Iraq?
>> The NSA total (cell phone) collection system seems to be working in the Bahamas. No new terrorist organisations there<< That. is. Hi-larity. Well played, sir, well played.
Independent of facts, once paranoia is mounting on a global scale, it becomes difficult to predict how this will end.
Yes its scary how obvious it is that the government has penetrated the US mainstream media and has put in place, correspondents, who for whatever reason are benefitting from pushing the establishments narrative and repeating the rhetoric. Whether it being given the position itself or given the exclusive interviews or some wining and dining, point is there is a reason these “journalists” and “reporters” are so one sided in their reporting. It is really disappointing to see the MSM not questioning the governments blatant lies and BS agenda they push but I am also thankful we now have The Intercept which employs journalists who have integrity like Glenn Greenwald, Dan Froomkin, Laura Portrais, Ryan D & Murtaza H.
The Intercept should seriously look at streaming media if they want to make an impact. Also, right now they don’t have any field reporters which they should recruit.
The practice predates even the Iraqi war or 9/11 – it’s Vietnam all over again: http://vietvet.org/jeffviet.htm
THE STRANGE STORY BEHIND THE ‘KHORASAN’ GROUP’S NAME
By Adam Taylor
Washington Post
September 25, 2014
[snip]
‘What’s in a name? When you’re an Islamist extremist group believed to pose an existential threat to the Western world, everything. In the past few months, we’ve seen the strange and somewhat revealing saga of what to call the group alternatively referred to as ISIS, ISIL, the Islamic State and Daesh.
Now, within a timeframe of just days, the Islamic State has been sidelined by a new name in the world of Islamic extremism: “Khorasan.” U.S. officials say that Khorasan, often referred to as “the Khorasan group,” is a small al-Qaeda linked outfit operating in Syria. They are portrayed as a more direct threat to U.S. interests than the Islamic State, which is still largely focused on operations in Syria and Iraq.
U.S. officials say that their strikes against Khorasan appear to have been a success, killing the group’s leader, Mushin al-Fadhli. However, some analysts are perturbed by the lack of information about the group and why it was targeted. Even an examination of one of the most basic elements of the group — its name — paints a complicated and inconclusive picture of what the group actually is, and why it is being targeted..’
http://ufppc.org/us-a-world-news-mainmenu-35/12072-background-the-strange-story-behind-the-khorasan-groups-name.html
The dead giveaway is the name. The US can’t help but try to give clever names to everything. The official acronym for the 2008 bailouts is TARP, for crying out loud.
Khorasan may be a specific religious and geographic location, but why stretch that far to pick that name for the group? Because it sounds like ‘corazon’, the Spanish word for heart, and they were going to make a “surgical” air strike at what they considered to be the heart of one of the Syrian forces.
Mr. Hussain,
Your interview this morning with ‘Democracy Now’ was well done.
Right Said Steb..
re:
Well, not “to death”, but the ‘Choom Gang’ are folklore legends for making one comatose..
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/05/obama-and-his-pot-smoking-choom-gang/
I would like to draw everyone’s attention to a hadith (an old written tradition in Islam). It is narrates that our Prophet warned “If you see the black (meaning war) flags coming from Khurasan, join that army, even if you have to crawl over ice, for this is the army of the Caliph, the Mahdi and no one can stop that army until it reaches Jerusalem.”
I find it interesting that this new “enemy” fits perfectly with this predictive hadith. I am of legal background (I do legal research), and believe that ISIS has been in the making for years now since al-Qaida leadership was destroyed. The executive has unlimited power to surveil, extradjudicially kill, and even detain you. You can be deemed an enemy combatant and killed before you have a chance to defend yourself in court. Now the exec. wants new AUMF authority to kill a “new” enemy. This enemy seems incredibly canned, and I’ve yet to see a video of an actual person beheaded (it’s always edited out). With sensational reports of stereotypical “jihadi” statements (such as beheadings, killing of apostates, forcing Christians out of homes etc.), I am very weary. Even al-Qaida has rejected ISIS as crazy and outside the scope of their terrorism (which usually has some underlying political statement). Anyway who believes this staged hogwash needs to re-look at the state of things and how everything conveniently moves through congress and through the executive to exact certain agendas. I wish I could say more, but given that I have some experience in government and do not want to “say too much” I will keep my mouth shut as I cannot talk about the work I do/have done.
But I am dismayed to say the least.
“I would like to draw everyone’s attention to a hadith (an old written tradition in Islam). It is narrates that our Prophet warned ‘If you see the black (meaning war) flags coming from Khurasan, join that army, even if you have to crawl over ice, for this is the army of the Caliph, the Mahdi and no one can stop that army until it reaches Jerusalem.’ ”
I doubt very much that that is a genuine Hadith, since the Prophet would not have used the words “caliph” or “mahdi”.
Shocked that the Intercept would rely on an such an openly unsupported and Islamophobic article from the National Review. The National Review writer offers no proof, just saying basically that the enemy is Islam, and that Obama wanted to hide this so created Khorasan.
—–
About the group, I believe the group likely exists, but is most probably a small Islamic group fighting against the Syrian govt.
here is my reasoning:The name strongly implies this:
Khorasan wasn’t just a region of eastern Iran/westren Faghanistan, it was also the place where the up-rising against the Ummayad Dynasty of Caliphs, in Damascus, began (in the early 8th century), which would eventually over-throw the Ummayads (750 AD) and establish the Abbasid Dynasty in the (newly founded) city of Baghdad.
Their banner was the black flag (like the Islamic State’s), as opposed to the yellow flags of the Ummayads.
So the name implies some group that is anti-Damascus govt. (analogized with the Damascus Ummayads), and maybe allied with the Islamic State. It doesn’t indicate any anti-Western leanings.
The use of names tied with Islamic history is not uncommon in the Middle East (decades ago there were Palestinian groups named “Ain Jalut” and “Hattin”, after the Islamic victories against the Mongols and Crusaders respectively).
Greenwald’s reporting is much appreciated … however, taking a cue from your publication’s name, reporters and journalists need TO INTERCEPT and destruct questionable fabricated scare “inventions” by so-called Administration officials and their media minions.
After these media disinformation campaigns have been launched – and once they “hit the ground” in the public perception – denials of deception are reported after the fact.
Now that Mr. Greenwald has published what the tactics are, and more people recognize how these stories are invented and propangandized , all of us need to stay on high alert TO INTERCEPT more war justifications that prove to be [Clapperized] disinformation trial balloons that get shot down after the fact
So are you saying this fear-mongering over Russia is also not on the level?
http://www.salon.com/2011/10/05/neoconservatives_hype_a_new_cold_war/
‘“The most fundamental game changer is Putin’s invasion of Ukraine,” said Gary Samore, Mr. Obama’s top nuclear adviser in his first term and now a scholar at Harvard. “That has made any measure to reduce the stockpile unilaterally politically impossible.”’
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/22/us/us-ramping-up-major-renewal-in-nuclear-arms.html?_r=1
Both Sunni and Shia states are threatened by the IS. We must find a way, through imaginative and adept diplomacy, to so triangulate these relationships that both Iran and her clients, as well as Saudi Arabia and other Sunni states that feel threatened by Iran, come to rely on the power of out-of-area countries like the US and the UK to reassure them about each other and against their common foe.” http://www.standard.co.uk/comment/comment/philip-bobbitt-the-west-must-look-beyond-the-use-of-force-alone-9757353.htmlAnd is this not precisely the crux of the matter and the meaning of the implication: the sustained reliance by the region on an external, ‘levitating’ organizational military power, perhaps one patterned on NATO but with, at least incipiently, Anglo-American (and perhaps later Israeli-Saudi as well) control and command? Will ISIS and the looming danger of yet unborn ISISes be the form taken by the path that leads to the market-statal, indeed supra-statal ‘domestication’ of the region for the global neoliberal order? Is ISIS, as suggests Australia’s highest ranking military General David Morrison, citing Clinton foreign policy strategist Philip Bobbitt’s concept of the ‘long war,’ a perhaps ‘teologically necessary’ phase and facet in the ultimate constitutional reorganization of the region along market-statal, post-nationalist, hegemonically supra-statal lines? http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/army-chief-predicts-a-long-war-as-us-and-arab-states-hit-is-in-syria-20140923-10l1nt.html
Well, well, well. Once again we hear from Mr. Dilanian:
http://news.yahoo.com/obama-contradictory-syria-policy-helps-assad-121201281.html
And so on, and so forth…
One would think that Mr. Dilanian’s lips are getting particularly chapped by now from his near-constant worship of neocon ass which, I’m told, is particularly hairy in nature.
We should send large boxes of chapstick.
It’s amusing (and sad) to watch Greenwald slowly evolve into the left’s Alex Jones.
Hmmm! The KHORASAN GROUP, isn’t that a splinter organization of the CARLISLE GROUP with strong ties to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Israel?
I’ll bet Greenwald $10 that next week the narrative will align this most well-known-un-known KHORASAN cell to Qatar. Yep, somewhere some former government contractor/official is trying to make a case that QATAR is providing funding for the clothes-bombers–with the nod from the Qatar government.
Stay tuned!
So… All foreign policy related articles by the NYT are probably false and I shouldn’t believe them? I should wait for The Intercept for verification?
Box already checked.
When the govt, starts banging war drums and starts creating scary bogeymen as the justification , reputable media outlets should be vetting these claims instead of unquestioningly accepting the govt,’s reasoning. Looks like we haven’ learnt anything from the false WMDs that sent us to war and cost more than 4000 American lives , not to mention hundreds of thousands of Iraqis…along with destabilizing that region for a generation . It has been proven time and again , that , the govt, is run by politicians whose only loyalties are with the oligarchs who fund their election campaigns. There are arms to sell, military contractors to please, and the list goes on.
So yes, when the govt, tells you that they want to bomb and send our military to war, a little skepticism is in order.
Agree. I just want to ask some of these reporters if they’ve ever heard of a little thing called “fact-checking.”
The fact that these bozos can put a graphic on the screen saying “The New Enemy” and not recoil in shame with the words of Orwell flying through their minds is … mind-blowing…. constant war. Constant fear. But on the other hand, here’s something for you to buy to make you feel better. Ugh what a fukkin farce….
Hey, Pssst! Mr. Reporter, over here. We have evidence of a clear and present danger of an even bigger bogey man out there who wants to hurt us, I can’t tell you how I know, you’ll just have to trust me, and please don’t use my name. This is double super secret, OK?
His name is “FEAR HIMSELF”
Start dis-electing Dems and Reps and any other politician who won’t insist on honest government. There needs to be a high turnover rate in Congress until we can get an elected body that gets it right.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Monart#Journalist_interested_in_chat
“Journalist interested in chat
Hi Monart,
I am journalist trying to get in touch with you, interested in hearing about what led you to “scoop” the internet by creating the Khorasan Group wikipedia page. Please email me – samueledwardsknight at gmail dot com – if you’re interested in chatting.”
Chris Hedges from “Becoming Hezbollah’s Air Force”, September 28, 2014:
In endless war it does not matter whom we fight. Endless war is not about winning battles or promoting a cause. It is an end in itself. In George Orwell’s novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four” Oceania is at war with Eurasia and allied with Eastasia. The alliance then suddenly is reversed. Eurasia becomes an ally of Oceania and Eastasia is the enemy. The point is not who is being fought. The point is maintaining a state of fear and the mass mobilization of the public. War and national security are used to justify the surrender of citizenship, the crushing of dissent and expanding the powers of the state. The point is war itself. And if the American state, once a sworn enemy of Hezbollah, gives air cover to Hezbollah fighters in Syria, the goals of endless war remain gloriously untouched.
But endless war is not sustainable. States that wage endless war inevitably collapse. They drain their treasuries, are hated by the wretched of the earth, and militarize and strangle their political, social and cultural life while impoverishing and repressing their populations. They are seduced by what Sigmund Freud called the “death instinct.” This is where we are headed.
Edward Gibbon observed about the Roman Empire’s own lust for endless war: ” … [T]he decline of Rome was the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatness. Prosperity ripened the principle of decay; the cause of the destruction multiplied with the extent of conquest; and, as soon as time or accident had removed the artificial supports, the stupendous fabric yielded to the pressure of its own weight. The story of the ruin is simple and obvious: and instead of inquiring why the Roman Empire was destroyed we should rather be surprised that it had subsisted for so long.”
ISIS is a creation for the expansion of Israeli domination in the mid east with all the support of the Zionist usurped government and Zionist controlled media of the US. They obviously pose no threat to Israel or the crypto Jews who control the Saudis but they pose a threat to New Yorkers or Parisians. If there is a bomb attack in any of these locations, it will be to incite more war and genocide for the Greater Israel project with all the manipulative muster of the Zionist controlled press. Basically, it’s a threat by Israel on the US saying, ‘do what we want or else.’ The whole scenario is a continuation of the 911 wars created by and for Israel as many people are well aware.
http://rasoolurrahmah.wordpress.com/2014/08/12/john-mccains-reasons-for-arming-isis-isil-posing-with-isis-caliph-abu-bakr-al-baghdadi/
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/09/28/u-s-officials-invented-terror-group-justify-bombing-syria/#respond
Whew, I was beginning to fear that I was talking to myself.
http://www.alternet.org/world/why-showdown-islamic-extremists-war-pentagon-was-hoping
Amy Goodman currently interviewing Murtaza Hussain on Democracy Now!
two points….
1. khorasan, a district in IRAN……………….how convenient, we must strike iran in self-defense!
2. with western passports………….even convenienter, anal probes won’t be limited to the swarthy.
“US officials” have officially lost all credibility and it should ( IMO) be assumed that everything asserted by the officials is pure zionist propaganda designed to engineer the consent of the public and to pacify any resistance to the orchestration of the globalist agenda for universal war profiteering and geo political hegemony over fossil resource exploitation and the protection of Fascist Israel of course.
You lost me at zionist. I think the israeli state is just part of a bigger scheme to thwart the rebirth of a panarabic state, sykes-picot style. And maybe access to holy land. Anyway in my view Israel is a pawn not the king.
What a pile of horseshit this whole tale. I hadn’t heard a word of this because I’m in Europe (and perhaps because I’m uninformed), and that’s why I really am getting a sense of how fabricated the tale is the media has apparently been telling.
Only read half btw.
Great analyis. Wonderful. Last sentance makes my blood boil – and certainly was true in the case of poor Libya – and those of the Libyans who were happy with their lives prior to our decision to ‘liberate’ them:
“But, as always with these government/media propaganda campaigns, the truth emerged only when it’s impotent.”
Does anybody still believe that bin Laden was killed in Pakistan in 2011 and his body dumped at sea?
“Does anybody still believe that bin Laden was killed in Pakistan in 2011 and his body dumped at sea?”
-Yes.
I’m a fan of Greenwald’s, but his claim that the Khorasan story was trumped up to justify bombing inside of Syria doesn’t hold water. Bombing Syria was already a publicly forgone conclusion, and it already had the American public’s support. Khorasan was simply an asterisk to most folks.
There is good reason to replace a fake reason for war with another, once it’s done its job and before people are checking it for truth.
Bombing Syria was already a publicly forgone conclusion, and it already had the American public’s support.
If that’s the case then Congress wouldn’t have fled DC avoiding a vote on giving Obama what he wanted, congressional authorization for war. But they didn’t. In fact, they avoided it like the plague. The only reason for that is to avoid having to face a public at home that is weary of such interventions.
Khorasan was simply an asterisk to most folks.
Asterisks don’t warrant a near-constant, script-perfect, coordinated drumbeat from all major news organizations. Anyone who thinks they do is kidding him/herself or trying to obscure the point of the messaging that occurs in support of war-without-end.
Since Mr. Greenwald did not present any secret or top secret information in this article, is it possible that he could be wrong? This article is more about what government officials say versus what former officials believe than about revealing the truth.
I decided to put my feelings into a stand alone post rather than a reply. I found this paragraph particularly compelling and telling:
“As the Obama administration prepared to bomb Syria without Congressional or U.N. authorization, it faced two problems. The first was the difficulty of sustaining public support for a new years-long war against ISIS, a group that clearly posed no imminent threat to the “homeland.” A second was the lack of legal justification for launching a new bombing campaign with no viable claim of self-defense or U.N. approval.”
I find it a very sad commentary that the public would be so easily swayed toward supporting another war – bombing campaign, or whatever TPTB want to call it. There seems to be no effort put into doing any critical thinking. I am glad that Glenn and Murtazza are continuing to expose the role of the MSM in fear-mongering and war-drum beating. I can only wish there had been more calls for sanity and a search for alternatives.
In regard to legal justification, How can citizens not be bothered that the executive is circumventing the Constitution, which is supposed to be the Supreme Law of the Land? Unfortunately, there have been some bad precedents set in the past (such as the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution), so my only guess is that citizens are seeing this now as “normal.” That also includes most members of Congress, who seem to be loath to even suggest that the executive seek any type of Congressional consent (Dan Froomkin linked to an article about this in one of his recent posts). And I’m sorry, but the suggestion that they’re going to bomb and just move on —- well, that just doesn’t fly with me!
It seems we need journalists and as many other citizens as possible to start saying, “The Emperor has no clothes!”
Do you feel bad for ISIS?
I feel bad for my country, the United States. Among the reasons I do are articulated in feline16’s penultimate paragraph.
Mona –
Thanks for the kind words.
Why? You feel bad for the USA because it is bombing a bunch of insane organizations that find it normal to shoot, stone and behead everybody who disagrees with them?
it is bombing a bunch of insane organizations that find it normal to shoot, stone and behead everybody who disagrees with them?
I did not know we had finally begun bombing Saudi Arabia.
No, do not stop. Keep going. You would be proud if the US start bombing Saudi Arabia, but you are not proud of the government bombing ISIL. Is that what you mean?
1. Khorasan refers to a historical region that encompassed northeastern Iran, southern Turkmenistan and northern Afghanistan.
2. Turkmenistan possesses the world’s fourth largest reserves of natural gas resources – behind Russia, Iran and Qatar.
3. Turkmenistan shares a 992 km border with Iran.
4. In Sept. 2014, the US State Department announced a potentially significant change in U.S. policy towards Turkmenistan when it was designated a “country of particular concern” (CPC) for particularly severe violations of religious freedom.
5. On September 22, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow of Turkmenistan received President Azerbaijan Rovnag Abdullayev of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) for the purpose of having a comprehensive exchange of views on boosting cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan in the field of energy-oil and discussed how to further boost ties of both countries. Note: In September 1994, a 30-year contract was signed between the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and 13 oil companies, among them Amoco, BP, ExxonMobil, Lukoil and Statoil.[141] As Western oil companies are able to tap deepwater oilfields untouched by the Soviet exploitation, Azerbaijan is considered one of the most important spots in the world for oil exploration and development.
6. Russian President Vladimir Putin held meetings with the presidents of Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Iran Sept. 26 at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) wherein he discussed Russian plans to supply oil and gas and energy equipment to Iran. Russia’s Zarubezhneft company and National Iranian Oil Company signed a memorandum of understanding in 2013 to develop the Khayyam field. The Technopromexport company plans to take part in a number of projects in the sphere of thermal power in Iran. The total cost of these projects is estimated at $10 billion. Technopromexport is a Russian engineering company that builds energy facilities in Russia. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the Islamic Republic is ready to offer help to Turkmenistan to develop its infrastructure. The SCO is an intergovernmental organization that was founded in 2001 in Shanghai by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Iran has an observer status at the organization.
7. Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a plan to hold bilateral meetings with the heads of Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Iran during the Caspian summit in Astrakhan on Monday, Sept 29.
8. Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan will head to Turkmenistan on Sept. 29 upon an official invitation by Turkmenistan’s Defense Minister Begench Gundogdiev. During the visit, the Iranian defense minister will discuss bilateral, regional and international issues with the Turkmen officials.
9. The Chinese president is slated to meet with Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization om Sept. 29. Xi Jinping praised their roadmap for joint development and major projects. He said the two nations should increase cooperation in energy and ensure the success of a natural gas project that will result in the construction of a pipeline that is intended to provide a long-term supply of Turkmen gas to China. China National Petroleum Corporation has been bringing gas into Central Asia since 2009. Purchases began after the launch of the first two branches of the Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan pipeline (A and B). The third branch (C) of the pipeline along the same route was put into operation in June this year. An agreement was signed between China and Turkmenistan to increase gas supply up to 65 billion cubic meters in 2020. The fourth branch (D) of the pipeline through Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan is being built for that purpose.
Thank you for this breakdown. This does tell so much more of what is actually happening. Since Obama’s re-election (and his secret conspiracy with Medvedev to Putin, “I will be able to do many things after the election…”) we have seen Russia making many moves that are not in our interest or that of the world. Because Obama does nothing and basically ignores what is happening, I think this is the fulfillment of that promise he made to Putin. I don’t know what to think any more.
It is a daunting challenge to step outside of the global war on terror (GWOT) narrative without falling prey to those who have a vested ideological interest in controlling the counter narrative – frying pan into the fire if you will. During the 2012 Toronto hearings on 9/11, Professor Michel Chossudovsky argued that the US global war on terror was overtly formulated, in part, to give an indefinitely sustainable, overt justification to wage borderless war on humanitarian grounds against largely illusory non-state entities. To this end, pundits from MSM news outlets have been tasked by successive American administrations to provide a socially transformative narrative by which each escalation of the GWOT seems both reasonable and necessary. From the WTC attacks of 911 to the alleged rise of ISIS, the GWOT counter-narrative has largely failed to challenge the foundational claims upon which the continuum of endless conflict depends.
A decade of scholarly research has culminated in a body of evidence that convincingly undermines the conclusions articulated by the 911 Commission report. Yet, certain key scholars like Chomsky continue to foster the false perception that the leading voices of the 911 truth movement are merely a ragtag band of disaffected individuals who have come together to voice their meritless conclusions in service to a shared, fear-based delusion. Instead, these influential scholars have chosen to pragmatically interpret Islamic extremism as an element of a longstanding cautionary tale whose predominant focus has been on the evil underpinnings of neoliberal hegemony, and in which Islamic terror attacks is merely a form of blowback. Such myopathy has only further encouraged those who have first covertly, and now overtly, funded terror organizations with the intent of providing a ready moral justification for instituting regime change where and when the need arises. The Khorasan Group is just the latest in a series of incarnations of “fake terror.”
The Toronto Hearings on 9/11 Uncut – Michel Chossudovsky
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPIfgmuN4ns
“What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if the people could not understand it, it could not be released because of national security.”
“This separation of government from people, this widening of the gap, took place so gradually and so insensibly, each step disguised (perhaps not even intentionally) as a temporary emergency measure or associated with true patriotic allegiance or with real social purposes. And all the crises and reforms (real reforms, too) so occupied the people that they did not see the slow motion underneath, of the whole process of government growing remoter and remoter….”
“To live in this process is absolutely not to be able to notice it – please try to believe me – unless one has a much greater degree of political awareness, acuity, than most of us had ever had occasion to develop. Each step was so small, so inconsequential, so well explained or, on occasion, regretted…”
“Believe me this is true. Each act, each occasion is worse than the last, but only a little worse. You wait for the next and the next. You wait for one shocking occasion, thinking that others, when such a shock comes, will join you in resisting somehow.”
“Suddenly it all comes down, all at once. You see what you are, what you have done, or, more accurately, what you haven’t done (for that was all that was required of most of us: that we did nothing)… You remember everything now, and your heart breaks. Too late. You are compromised beyond repair.’
Excerpt from pages 166-73 of They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 by Milton Mayer, published by the University of Chicago Press. ©1955, 1966 by the University of Chicago. All rights reserved.
How uncannily reminiscent of what we are now experiencing, still thinking we are free.
“Black banners will come out of Khurasan, and nothing will stop them, until they are raised in Ayliya. – Prophet Mohammed
The choice of names for this latest incarnation of Islamic extremism is no accident. The reference to “Khorasan” is intended to incite the passions of those who hold that the day of the Mahdi is upon us. According to the Hadith, The coming of the Mahdi was allegedly prophesied by Muhammad:
“According to the Twelver Shia, the main goal of the Mahdi will be to establish an Islamic state and to apply Islamic laws that were revealed to Muhammad.[40] The Mahdi is believed to be the Twelfth Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi.[41] they believe that the Twelfth Imam will return from the Occultation as the Mahdi with “a company of his chosen ones,” and his enemies will be led by Antichrist and the Sufyani. The two armies will fight “one final apocalyptic battle” where the Mahdi and his forces will prevail over evil. After the Mahdi has ruled Earth for a number of years, Isa will return.” (Wikipedia: Mahdi)
Although the origins of Khorasan Group have varied since its alleged inception, the official narrative holds that “the Khorasan Group is believed to be made up of about 50 veteran militants from Afghanistan and Pakistan, which jihadists refer to as Khorasan, as well as North Africa and Chechnya” (BBC). The term “Khorasan” broke upon the shoals of public awareness when the Caucasus Mujahideen in Khorasan allegedly posted a videotape of its views on the Ansar forum in 2011. Reports at that time concluded that this al Queda related group shared a common end-time perspective:
“The Khorasan is considered by jihadis to be the place where they will inflict the first defeat against their enemies in the Muslim version of Armageddon. The final battle is to take place in the Levant – Israel, Syria, and Lebanon. Mentions of the Khorasan have begun to increase in al Qaeda’s propaganda. After al Qaeda’s defeat in Iraq, the group began shifting its rhetoric from promoting Iraq as the central front in their jihad and have placed the focus on the Khorasan.” (The Long War Journal, 2011)
In 2011, al Queda purportedly released a video, “Taliban in Khurasan”, that urged Muslims living in the West to carry out attacks at home as a “counter-drone strategy” in the fifth issue of “Azan,” their English-language jihadi magazine. The cover story, which proposed a “Counter Drone Strategy” of domestic terror, noted:
“Brothers who are willing to attack in the West! …The experience that we have gained in the recent past is that the brothers who have the ability to train themselves and covertly act in their respective countries have a greater success rate than those planned from the theatres of Jihad and they carry a huge surprise factor.”
The term “Khorasan” was later associated with the Boston Marathon bombings as it was reported that Tamerlan Tsarnaev allegedly posted a 2012 video to YouTube titled “The Emergence of Prophecy: The Black Flags From Khorasan.”
It is also being reported that the Caliph of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (AKA ISIL, ISIS, The Bad Guys)), Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, claims to be the Mahdi. Thus, it appears that the emerging myth surrounding this latest incarnation of the global war on terror does not bode well for the energy rich nations of Khorasan, Iran and Turkmenistan as such myths tend to be the pretext for emerging strategy.
This is a nice breakdown Wilhelmina. Thank you for sharing it.
Can you also please share the link so that we can explore it, and the footnotes more thoroughly? Thanks again.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Azerbaijan#Energy
“We hit them. And I don’t think we need to throw up a dossier here to prove that these are bad dudes.”
They bombed the Kardasians?
Hi TheScaleman –
LOL!!! I do hope there weren’t any casualties, though. Without the Kardasians, who would we laugh at?
No, no, no. The Kardashians are, quite evidently, NOT dudes. They are, at best, dudesses.
The Cardassians/strong>, OTOH, were most definitely bad dudes. The NSA could learn a thing or two from the Cardassian Obsidian Order. ;-}
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardassian
Sorry for the busted tags.
My kingdom – or a dozen jars of habanero pepper jelly – for preview! :-s
IT staff, you’ll be wanting to take her up on that. That shit is damn good, especially on a creme cheese bagel.
:-)
Just canned three batches yesterday, so they’re ready anytime IT is.
My kitchen counter tops are made of Khorasan.
It has a very tough surface that looks like stone and is able to stand up to the sharp edge of a knife. And being a man made and made to order product, it comes in the colors and visual textures of your choosing.
Buy it.
You’ll be glad you did.
The Khorasan page went live on English Wikipedia on Sep. 21. https://tools.wmflabs.org/xtools/articleinfo/index.php?article=Khorasan_(Islamist_group)&lang=en&wiki=wikipedia&uselang=en
I assumed the CIA dude in charge of making up which Usual Suspect to bomb was drinking tequila in a bar with Mexican oldies on the jukebox, stuff like “Adios, mi corazon”, and figured that was close enough. That or he wanted to hassle ex-Governor Corzine from New Jersey.
The name sounds more like another double-meaning inside-joke which our Federal Agencies have a penchant for.
I think given what’s its purpose was (short-term media manipulation) it refers to the desired echo-chamber effect.
Chorus-on.
And like the CIA group name al-caida (the cell) i.e. the “sell”.
LOL! …although, the counter top material you’re referring to is Corian. My parents had it put in when they redid their kitchen. It’s great stuff!
Mr. Greenwald
“…The first was the difficulty of sustaining public support for a new years-long war against ISIS, a group that clearly posed no imminent threat to the “homeland.”….”
I think that is wishful thinking on your part really. The US population supports air strikes against ISIS especially in lieu of their brutal campaign against the Yazidis. In deed, the US population is really more or less ambivalent if not supportive of bombing al-Qaeda in Yemen and Somalia which began awhile back. Outside of a few anti drone activists, there has been little protests against the government in both campaigns. If the US inserts ground troops to root ISIS out of Iraqi Sunni cities, there will be ramifications, but the bombing of ISIS really doesn’t need the support of the US population because very few Americans will die. It’s a good opportunity to test new weapons and take out some really bad actors – even by Middle East standards.
The big problem for the US is shoring up the Assad dictatorship by bombing one of the principle military challenges to his regime. On the one hand, Obama has rightly denounced Assad, seeking regime change in Syria, and – on the other hand – apparently helping him to survive by bombing ISIS. This is about as mixed up as a US administration can become in the Middle East. To defend the Syrian Kurds from the ISIS, but not the Assad regime also just seems like a random decision. The US is training 5000 Syrian rebels which seems mostly to placate the Saudis and Turkey who oppose the Assad regime like the plague, but ISIS was clearly conducting a very effective militarily campaign against Assad the murderer. Regardless, the American public will continue to support bombing the ISIS because of the terrorist organization’s well advertised racist and supremacist ideology and brutal methods to subdue a population (i.e., terrorism).
“……A second was the lack of legal justification for launching a new bombing campaign with no viable claim of self-defense or U.N. approval…..”
Well, if the Obama administration can invent such a story to provide legal justification for (rightly) bombing a brutal terrorist organization, then what are you surprised about? Regardless, the reality on the ground is that the US is bombing ISIS in Iraq and Syria, so why not just move on? It doesn’t matter if Obama uses ALMF, invents a new “threatening” terrorist organization or uses the 1941 declaration of War on Germany and Japan, the US will continue bombing ISIS in Syria and Iraq.
Of course, my post should also be directed at Mr. Hussain as well.
Buried in that long, tedious post, is all you need to know about Craig’s actual views on democracy:
“……Buried in that long, tedious post, is all you need to know about Craig’s actual views on democracy…..”
I think you are right. That was a poor choice of words. How about,
“….. If the US inserts ground troops to root ISIS out of Iraqi Sunni cities, there will be ramifications, but the American population will remain “dispassionate” about bombing ISIS because very few Americans will die…..”
Why Craig, do you assert at every opportunity that the US has the right and even obligation to effect ‘regime change’ in Syria?
First, Syria has never been shown to be any threat to the US. Second, the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons against it’s own people is dubious at best: “In August 2103, after the sarin attack on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta, he [Obama] was ready to launch an allied air strike, this time to punish the Syrian government for allegedly crossing the ‘red line’ he had set in 2012 on the use of chemical weapons.? Then with less than two days to go before the planned strike, he announced that he would seek congressional approval for the intervention. Obama’s change of mind had its origins at Porton Down, the defence laboratory in Wiltshire. British intelligence had obtained a sample of the sarin used in the 21 August attack and analysis demonstrated that the gas used didn’t match the batches known to exist in the Syrian army’s chemical weapons arsenal.”–Seymour Hersh, _The Red Line and the Rat Line_.
Third, it is hypocritical of our government to want Assad’s head on a platter while turning a blind eye to other atrocities by, for example, Egypt or Israel.. (Cairo) – The systematic and widespread killing of at least 1,150 demonstrators by Egyptian security forces in July and August 2013 probably amounts to crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said today in a report based on a year-long investigation. In the August 14 dispersal of the Rab’a al-Adawiya sit-in alone, security forces, following a plan that envisioned several thousand deaths, killed a minimum of 817 people and more likely at least 1,000. But Obama hasn’t called for the ousting of General Sisi, the Egyptian coup d’état leader. Or in the 2006 war crimes committed against Lebanon by Israel– “IDF commander: We fired more than a million cluster bombs in Lebanon. What we did was insane and monstrous, we covered entire towns in cluster bombs,” the head of an IDF rocket unit in Lebanon said regarding the use of cluster bombs and phosphorous shells during the war. .”–Haaretz, Sept. 12, 2006.
There must be some other agenda for choosing whose atrocities are OK and whose are not.
johannes
“…..First, Syria has never been shown to be any threat to the US……”
That’s irrelevant. The US certainly has every right to look after their geopolitical interests as Hezbollah, Iran and Russia who are propping up a murderer for political reasons.
“……British intelligence had obtained a sample of the sarin used in the 21 August attack and analysis demonstrated that the gas used didn’t match the batches known to exist in the Syrian army’s chemical weapons arsenal.”–Seymour Hersh
There has been some debate as to who actually attacked who using chemical weapons. However, there was no doubt who used chlorine on a civilian population – an illegal chemical weapon.
“……A toxic chemical, probably chlorine, was used as a weapon to attack Syrian villages in April, an international watchdog agency confirmed on Wednesday…….The agency, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, said in a statement from its headquarters in The Hague that the information its team had collected provided “compelling evidence” that the toxic chemical was used “systematically and repeatedly” in Talmanes, Al Tamanah and Kafr Zet, three villages in northern Syria……But its full report, which has been shown so far only to governments, is understood to leave little doubt that the Syrian government was responsible……”
This leaves me little doubt that the Syrian government with one of the largest stockpiles in the world (before it was removed) probably used chemicals weapons the first time as well.
“……Third, it is hypocritical of our government to want Assad’s head on a platter while turning a blind eye to other atrocities by, for example, Egypt or Israel.. (Cairo) – The systematic and widespread killing of at least 1,150 demonstrators by Egyptian security forces in July and August 2013 probably amounts to crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said today…..”
There is a lot of difference between the responsibility for killing 1000-2000 people and 200,000 people. Assad started the war by crushing a democracy movement in Syria. He promised reform, but didn’t act. He has been charged with numerous war crimes by the UN, HRW and Amnesty International including the torture and murder of as many as 10,000 prisoners. The US protested the ousting of Morsi and the subsequent brutal crackdown by al-Sissi on protesters. There is no comparison.
Hezbollah started the war against Israel in 2006, and while the bombing of Gaza was brutal, US and International pressure helped end the war in Gaza. Russia has continued to arm and fund Assad. So where is your criticism of Russia (or even one article in the Intercept) about Russian complicity in the murder of tens of thousands of innocent people. The US is not in control of every atrocity in the world – and while regime change is the goal in Syria, the US has done little to carry out that obvious step before a political settlement will become a reality in Syria.
Glenn, I find it unfortunate the wide brush you paint. At first your focus on the NSA was legitimate. There are concerns about career intelligent officials and the lack of oversight. That needed desperately to be exposed. But too many times when I see the articles the Intercept is posting you seem to be focusing on the administration and casting them as villains in the fight against Terror. ISIS is real. Their threat is real. I would investigate who is funding them. I would investigate who has an interest in destabilizing the Middle East. I think you are placing the blame in the wrong direction. There are significant threats in this world. I have great trust in our President. Who has more power in the American government Glenn: A President who faces elections and the obstruction of petty politics, or Career Intelligence Officers whose actions are not only never questioned…but not even known.
Some people question the actions of Snowden in revealing American Surveillance. I am not one of those. But I think it is important to justify your actions so as not to alienate those who understand the world is not black and white and some actions against monsters such as ISIS justify vigilance. We all understand when we venture outside our homes that we sacrifice some expectation of privacy. When we travel on the Highway we accept that the police can monitor or speed. Why is the Internet considered something sacred. I would want someone protecting my children from Predators, my Credit Cards from Identity Theft, and my Country from attack.
To give Snowden’s actions validity those things need to be understood.
What needs to be questioned and exposed is why with so much surveillance a million credit cards are stolen at Target, another million at Hobby Lobby, and another at Home Depot.
Why, if there is so much surveillance is there so much danger on the Internet. Who have the NSA been protecting us or themselves? And if they are so skilled would they go to the point of destabilizing a region where they desperately want “boots on the ground”.
I cannot condone supporting what Snowden has done if it is used to disparage what our country must do to ensure our safety.
to ensure our safety.
Please clarify what our means in your opinion. My personal view is that unless our refers to the whole of humanity there cannot be any lasting safety.
The most unstable countries in the Middle East are Libya, Syria and Iraq. Is there some country which has attacked all three? If there were, it might provide a clue about who is trying to destabilize the Middle East.
Benito, what if there is a fracture in the American Government that has existed for Decades? The Dulles brothers organized the NSA and CIA out of the Military Intelligence of WWII when they learned that they could alter the elections in Italy and Greece. What if we have men who have existed from the founding of the Intelligence Community who manipulate world events to suit the interests that have placed them in power. They exists beyond the terms of a Presidency. And to attack President Obama is not only a disservice, but either an intentional or unintentional misdirection. Who is it that wants Boots on the Ground so badly. What kind of entity is fluent in Arab Springs.
A president is constrained in many ways. The various three letter agencies have their own agenda, as you mention. Then there are the interests of business, the military and Congress. And as my comment indicated, even public opinion must sometimes be considered. Then there are the expectations of foreign nations, continually clamoring for US military involvement in their region, while waiting for the US to trip up even slightly so they can attack it and take over leadership of the pack. You have to deal with the world you have, not the world you’d like to have.
Well bless your heart.
As Bismarck said, the Lord takes care of babes, fools, and the United States. So you are doubly protected.
Trust me I am not a fool. I understand the threats this world poses. I think you are just looking in the wrong direction. It is not the current President you need to distrust.
Obama is a tool. A willing one, because his aim is to clean up from his presidency. He watched Bill Clinton and learned. He could have been a transformational president, as many hoped for. He has turned out to be a supreme disappointment for most, a war criminal for the informed who know and understand law.
CraigSummers:
“However, Greenwald only caters to a small segment of the population with his anti Israel and anti American messages/posts. By the way, Wintersbutterfly probably is a genuine liberal as opposed to Greenwald who sits at the far left end of the political spectrum.”
I come to The Intercept to read news and commentary that is hard to find anywhere else. Certainly not in the MSWM (main stream whore media). Speaking the truth is not anti American, in fact, it might be said that it once was very pro American. No longer it seems. And if we should call out terrorists, than Israel should be called out for its treatment of Palestinians. Because they are acting like terrorists, and that is also truth.
And what is a “genuine liberal”? Hillary Clinton?
I once told a Republican campaign worker who accused me of being a leftist like my senator at the time Bernie Sanders, “no, I am far to the left of Bernie Sanders”. Sanders has shown himself to be a careful politician, as well as most recently, an AIPAC stooge, like my current Dem. Senator Elizabeth Warren, on Israel.
Obama is anything but a “genuine liberal”, more of a moderate Republican I’d say. But I never vote for Repubs, and now will not vote for Dems anymore, as in condemning Edward Snowden, they have revealed themselves to be the fascists they really are, especially people like Feinstein, Kerry and HCR. They have no respect at all for the Constitution or the rights of their constituents. They either don’t understand the founding principles of this country, or don’t give a damn about them.
The Dems have lost my vote forever, and I feel much better for it. Now, if there is not a third party, Green or Independent candidate I feel I can vote for, I’ll be writing in Snowden–Manning in future elections.
I enjoyed your reply. Thanks.
And please refrain from the pious attitude. I am not talking down to you. Please address what I have posted. And refrain from suggesting I am naive.
But, mon petit chou, I did precisely that. Specifically, your statement that: “I have great trust in our President.”
Sweet, endearing — inspiring, really, in these cynical times.
It is a shame that you come to the defense of Snowden’s bravery. You misrepresent him. And you are rude. And you use Rude as rouge for intelligence. I am am no longer following this Blog. And I am removing it from mine.
“……And please refrain from the pious attitude. I am not talking down to you. Please address what I have posted. And refrain from suggesting I am naive……I am am no longer following this Blog. And I am removing it from mine…..”
Isn’t that the idea Mona? To drive off any and all dissenting opinions? What a site.
Wintersbutterfly’s first post drives home a point which I made several times. The NSA is a mainstream story which draws people of different political opinions. A lot of Americans were interested in that story (although this has waned). However, Greenwald only caters to a small segment of the population with his anti Israel and anti American messages/posts. By the way, Wintersbutterfly probably is a genuine liberal as opposed to Greenwald who sits at the far left end of the political spectrum.
You cannot leave this blog because of Mona. She has the right to be rude, and even ignorant. Her attitude just helps your point. You also have the right to ignore her.
Uh, hello everyone. This is classic internet trolling. Chill.
Your trust the US president as well. The president of Afghanistan has consistently said women are free now in his country, well I challenge you to go to Kandahar Market wearing a skirt showing your knee. However, you can go to Washington, DC stand in front of the White House and tell the President how bad he is. You trust him not to stone you to death, do you?
Agree. From June to August before they really got control of the oil fields Isis went from a rag tag looking group wearing their own clothes to what looks like a professional army. How many hours to embroider 10,000 beanies with their emblem? Where did the money come for that? Who filled the contract?
Secondly regarding Korasan I wonder why the offensive in northern waziristan to route out Taliban has virtually gone unreported. They have set up massive refugee camps to protect legitimate citizens. Despite the plan before it started people seemed to know the foreign fighters and Taliban had decamped to Isis.
Well, apparently you have more trust in this president than he has in you, which is why he continues to let the NSA-CIA-FBI spy on ALL of us. I voted for him the first time; worst vote of my life, second only to my vote for John Kerry, another fascist “liberal”. Also, when you travel on the highway now, with license plate readers, the polices are monitoring more than your speed. All apparently “for our safety.” Which seems to be the way you and the other chicken littles want it. We are a nation of fools, trusting a government of opportunistic, manipulating liars for profit. It should be clear to even the most naive that it is our policies toward other peoples around the world that are endangering our country. It’s known a “blowback”.
I do not believe I am a fool. You may exclude me from the “we” you have used. If you disagree with the policy of your president you can vote for somebody else or convince your lawmakers to change the laws. If you do not trust the government to provide you with basic security, then do not bother call 911 whenever criminals are in your neighborhood.
“It should be clear to even the most naive that it is our policies toward other peoples around the world that are endangering our country”.
Suppose I am the most naive individual you have ever encountered. Can you explain why the US policy of supporting extremely violent dictators in Central and in South America has not produced suicide bombers trying to blow up American civilian planes going to US cities? Military interventions, CIA coups, highly corrupt business contracts…were the norms during the Cold War. Yet, South Americans are not putting bombs in their underwear to blow up planes. Also, can you briefly explain what Argentinian foreign policy that could explain the bombing of the Jewish Center in 1994? Did they sell Apaches or Patriot Systems to Israel?
And finally, is US policy responsible for ISIS dedication and motivation to kill Shia Muslims and everybody who does not share their beliefs?
You have to deal with the US public you’ve got, not the public you’d like to have. The unfortunate truth is that the public doesn’t have an infinite patience for endless wars in the Middle East which never seem to resolve anything. At some point they start questioning whether it really matters whether Assad, IS or AQ comes out on top in Syria.
So that’s where the Khorasan group comes in. If the US can score a quick victory over a group which is allegedly the worst of them all, it will do wonders for public morale. People will see that the wars aren’t just a cynical campaign conducted to enrich the military industrial complex and the oil industry, and that real results are being achieved. That will justify the sacrifices they will be called on to make to support the war effort.
So this article is somewhat unfortunate. Propagandists try so hard to make people happy, and then killjoys like Glenn Greenwald undermine their hard work and make everyone miserable again.
Best thing to do is bring back Godzilla and kill him – again.
lol you’re becoming a regular chicken little, which is ironic considering the content of the article. your premise is faulty because the beheading videos already did the job re: public approval and the us was never going to the un for an ok. and since when is it major news that administrations leak when it’s beneficial?
lol keep reaching for the stars, glenn. maybe some of their dust will cloud pierre’s vision a little longer before he pulls your funding!
Can a muslim scholar please explain the difference between the Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Khorasan…I’m very confused and I’m really trying to follow this. Thank you!
Today’s most eminent scholar and authority is Shaykh Google.
Why don’t you ask him?
That was funny Sufi. :-)
Yes, it is funny as Shaykh Google provides better information than Greewald.
Spelling?
Another illuminating article Glen. I wonder why theAdmin. lot thought it necessary to go this far. They have plenty of support for the attacks on IS. This article shows that US Govmt. leading lights are simply repeating a rumour, then the Media tosses it around like it was fact, until so much tossing has been done that it becomes accepted truth. What a fiasco.
lol you wonder why the admin went that far since they had plenty of support due to isis? the answer is they didn’t go any further. glenn is full of it. why would the admin create this tiny little group when the public already backed the bombing of syria? dumb article.
The article quotes “You haven’t heard of the Khorosan Group because there isn’t one. It is a name the administration came up with, calculating that Khorosan … had sufficient connection to jihadist lore that no one would call the president on it”
And when a civilian liner DOES drop out of the sky, to be convincing, we can rename the group ‘Gladio’ .. after the false flag terror groups organized by the CIA utilizing various right wing groups to machine gun & blow people up (all blamed on leftist groups) used to engineer European politics via media splashing carnage across the front pages of newspapers from Brussels to Munich to Milan until they were busted .. and then what happened? Various NATO aligned intelligence agencies interfered with police investigations and the killers were never arrested and prosecuted:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k83L3I6Z35w
^
And of course the satire:
http://ronaldthomaswest.com/2014/09/25/obamas-speech-to-skull-bones/
^ That parody was a lot of work, Obama’s speech exceed 5,000 words ;)
Just telling it like it is.
I get most my recent readership from UNZ where the editor has promoted my work .. but The Intercept is a decent second, so I’m happy here, and glad to get under you skin :D Meanwhile, here’s a link concerning people with bad forum attitudes:
http://ronaldthomaswest.com/2014/04/18/military-sock-puppets-nsa-trolls-cia-shills/
^
I am so confused. Some days I wake up and think I’m back in 2003 and the Towers just came tumbling down. The fearmongering and the orgasmic ecstasy over war coming out of Washington is the same. The justifications (fight them there before they come here, you’re either with us or against us) are pretty much the same. The intent to get control of the oil fields is the same.
The only thing I can see that is different is the guy who is the face of this current scam is the same guy telling us how wrong it was when he was running for election.
1) We already have control of the oil fields. 2) Syria does not have that many oil fields. 3) Yes, they will come over if you give them the opportunity. For example, the shoe bomber, the underwear bomber…
fake ‘incidents.’ they were designed to fail. how it it that the meanest, baddest terr’ris group the world
has ever seen sends a couple a boobs onto airliners with useless explosives? useless without detononators,
that is. light ’em with a match, they fizz like a sparkler but won’t go boom. designed to fail. and why
would these spooky, scary terr’ris dudes try to light up in the cabin where the could be stopped, not in the toilet?
once again, designed to fail. why?
the shoe bomber, the underwear bomber….
All foiled by civilians. None of which were detected prior to, nor stopped from, boarding the planes by our much-vaunted “security” apparatuses. Thus revealing the failure of the security theater we pay such high prices for both in freedom and treasure.
Thank you for providing those near-perfect examples of the farce we live under.
The question was whether or not they will come to our doors. These examples prove that they will. So, according to your logic we should not try to stop them at the source because concerned citizens managed to stop them? Maybe we should let more citizens acquire more weapons because the neighbors instead of the police manage to stop a few criminals. Are you willing to let citizens carry weapons on planes because our security is just ” a theater”?
Nevertheless, allow me to provide “better” examples
December, 1999 Ahmed Rassam. Stopped by US customs as he was carrying powerful explosives to blow up LA airport.
October 2010, bomb discovered on cargo planes from Yemen to the USA. Planes were stopped and searched thanks to intelligence from Saudi Arabia, US and UK. AQAP took responsibility, but I am sure you are against using drones to bomb their members in Yemen.
I think you should at least congratulate those “actors” from the US Customs and the intelligence services for being part of that “theater ” that saved lives.
Ahmed Ressam’s capture had nothing to do with intelligence. It was an alert customs agent who ordered secondary screening due to his suspicious actions. And you are mistaken if you think I object to Customs doing their job appropriately.
What I object to these examples being produced as successes of the intelligence community when they were quite clearly anything but. In fact, the Ressam situation was a clear example of the success of using criminal investigation services and had nothing to do with the extreme intelligence measures we are being force-fed.
As for the Yemen bombs, you might want to ask why the Saudi authorities waited to tell us about that until after the bombs were already on aircraft:
You might also want to question why we use screening technology that still cannot detect these types of explosives.
A tip. Nothing they did themselves. They relied on someone whispering in SA intel’s ear.
Actually custom agents are part of the intelligence community. They start searching an individual as soon as they have visual contact not when they open the bags. They are in some ways field agents as they would be the ones acting on information coming from those gathering data inside the office. So, I think you should include them in the “theater”. Moreover, I cannot understand why as a “director” you refuse to include intelligence cooperation between different agencies as part of the “scenario”. Maybe you do have access to classified information that suggests that the Saudis knew the location of the bombs days or even weeks before they went airborne. Maybe you convinced AQAP members to tell you during interrogation that they intended to blow up the planes in mid air although historically they had always attempted to kill as many people as they could.
Let’s review the points. The shoe bomber and the underwear bomber are clear examples of terrorists knocking on our doors because we did not stop them at the source. However, these examples are not valid to justify US intelligence measures because those terrorists were stopped by civilians. Ahmed Rassam was stopped on our door step. This example is irrelevant as well because he was detained by US custom agents who are not part of the intelligence community. AQAP’s attempt to blow up planes going to US cities is also an irrelevant example because the information was provided by Saudi intelligence and according to you, better intelligence cooperation cannot be part of the “scenario”.
So, let’s pick examples when the plots were foiled thanks to main “actors” carrying CIA or NSA badges. However, I am sure you understand that in a good theater you might have to include walk on actors to make the scenes more realistic. Therefore, you will notice the presence of FBI agents or foreign law enforcement agents in the following scenarios.
Germany, 2007. The CIA provided information to German authorities that helped stop terror plot on their soil. The targets were US citizens based in Germany
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/operation-alberich-how-the-cia-helped-germany-foil-terror-plot-a-504837-2.html
Pakistan, 2008. US agents helped Pakistani authorities capture Bryan Neal Vinas from New York. He was being tracked by US agents while he met with many Al Qaeda leaders providing them plans to blow up Long Island Rail Road.
Would you at least give those actors one thumb up for these two scenes? I seriously doubt you would even think about an Oscar, but that is the least they deserve for saving lives.
I’m pretty sure “Barbara Starr” is John Brennan in drag.
I see the resemblance……
For quite a while, neocons have been looking for a way to start a war in Syria. Weren’t Iraq and Afghanistan enough? With an outright manufacture of Khorasan’s existence and purported danger, they have found a lie to serve that very purpose. Obama has also already mused that he has underestimated ISIL’s strength. When bombing fails to achieve the promised results, American soldiers will be in Syria. What an absolute recipe for disaster and loss of lives on all sides.
And you still believe Israel and the NeoCons had nothing to do with 9/11…
One of the biggest disappointments of my life has been watching the leadership of our country descend to a routine and continuous mendacity. The audacity of the lies resembles nothing so much as those of the old Soviets’. And it makes all those participating, including the courtier media trumpets, appear banal, in the Hannah Arendt sense.
Well, I wouldn’t say its the biggest disappointment of my life yet I find it quite amazing how these days they lie so obviously, as if they really don’t deed to bother with a convincing story. It really is the arrogance and hubris of authoritarian government. The world is our battlefield, I (the president) can legally kill anyone anywhere anytime, on and on. There certainly is no longer any case for democracy in the US it’s pretty much full on authoritarian.
I think they’re rolling out these new Terror Apps too fast. We were just getting comfortable being terrified of ISIS. And now they want us to upgrade already? Pffft.
Al Qaeda. Now that was a solid platform.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qaeda#Command_structure
Yet another example of how the “drug war” provided the legal petri dish for the “terror war”.
It seems evident that none of the “bad dudes” (what are we, 6 years old?) in Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria or Libya etc. have EVER actually been imminent threats to the US. But we’ve bombed them anyway, using really lame excuses that the establishment knows no one in authority will substantially question or mock.
The elite are obviously (to my mind) just protecting corporate interests, including increasing arms sales.
In the ridiculous NPR radio segment interview that I linked to below of NPR’s counterterrorism correspondent/stenographer Dina Temple-Raston, we are told that the masterminds of this threat are four dozen guys who are apparently in their 60’s — give or take a year or so. Temple-Raston announced that fact without actually announcing it when she stated that they had began adventures with al Qaida quite some time ago: “These are the people who fought the Russians in Afghanistan,” she said.
The Tireless Enemy. As I recall the US was taking out al Qaida’s “Number II guy” about every other week during the Iraq invasion. Who are these few dozen flunkies left behind who never made it to “Number II Guy” after years of being in the ranks?
And if 9/11 is used to justify attacks against Afghanistan, which is ostensibly the more ‘reasonable’ of the lame excuses (though it isn’t a particularly convincing argument since police action rather than war would make more sense), then logic dictates we should have bombed Saudi Arabia since most of the hijackers came from there.
But of course corporate interests and profits made this not feasible in the slightest.
Lol Lol Lol Lol Lol Lol
Police action would make more sense in Afghanistan!! Hold on let me laugh again lol lol lol lol.
A police force enforces domestic laws. The military defends the state. When a foreign government (Taliban) engages in violent acts against another state, it is an act of war. The military is trained and equipped to fight wars not the police. I am sure you would have some concerns if you see policemen with military gear in the cities (Ferguson). Your first question should be, how come the police is using war fighting equipment against civilians?
By the way…we should bomb Nigeria since the underwear bomber was from Nigeria. Lol lol
You are correct. The expression “police action” is widely used by lying governments who try to tell their nations that this is not a war. When the Dutch invaded the newly formed state of Indonesia the Dutch government named it “politionele aktie” which is Dutch for police action. “Police action” elsewhere is therefore an aggression carried out by a colonial power which claims to be the government of that colony hence is its “police”. Interestingly that Durch “politionele aktie” was eventually stopped by…our President Eisenhower who had concluded that the colonial adventures of France, GB, Netherlands, and Belgium harmed the common defense against Stalin.
Dieter, you are half-right and half-wrong, which is quite an accomplishment.
Since Steb thought police action was enacted by a ‘police force’ which ‘enforces domestic laws’ (and his diatribe being based on this illiteracy) Steb is not at all ‘correct,’ as you wrongly claim, but ill-informed. And for your part you haven’t thought it through, obviously.
Your offense at a police action’s authorization is a legitimate complaint, however, and of course I share your misgivings about such behavior generally.
‘Police action’ is a specific term, you laughing twit.
1) Yemen
October, 2000. Bombing of USS Cole. 17 American killed
December, 2002. Three US workers killed in Jibla by a terrorist.
October 2010, an explosive device in a cargo plane from Yemen bound to the USA.
December, 2009, Umar Farouk attempted to blow up Northwest flight 253 going to Detroit. Umar Farouk (underwear bomber) met with Al Qaeda elements and train with them in Yemen before his terrorist act.
2) Somalia,
October 2008, Al Shabaab killed 28 people in Somalia through suicide bombings. One of the suicide bombers was Shirwa Ahmed, a US citizen from Minneapolis recruited by Al Shabaab
February 2008, al Shabaab made specific threats toward USA. It vows to make America “forget the blessed attacks in Nairobi and Daar es Salaam”
July 2010, Al Shabaab bombed civilians watching a football game in Kampala. 70 people died including an American citizen.
3) Pakistan-Afghanistan. Well, I think you should tell us where top Al Qaeda members responsible for the 9/11 attacks were hiding.
4) Iraq. The US is bombing ISIS at the request of the elected government of Iraq. Does it bother you that the US is bombing an organization responsible for killing hundreds if not thousands of civilians proudly?
5) The government of Syria is not under attack by the US. ISIS and Al Qaeda allies in Syria are being bombed. The Syria government made it clear it is incapable of fighting these groups.
6) Libya, the US bombed the Gaddafi regime to implement UN resolution 1973.
I wonder whether you actually believe what you write.
It’s obvious you don’t comprehend what you read. Imminent, serious threats to the ‘homeland’ are the subject of discussion, a supposition demanding explanations quite beyond your faulty and opinionated conclusions.
I will take credit for not comprehending an opinion or a theory…that would place me among the curious intelligent men and women who intend to learn more. However, unlike you I cannot swallow whatever simplistic and laughable ideas presented by an author just because he or she published commendable articles in the past. You might have to design and publish your own English dictionary if you do not believe that AQAP in Yemen represents an imminent threat to the USA when it has already placed bombs in civilian planes going to US cities. Moreover, you need to improve your basic understanding of international laws and diplomacy. The term “police action” has always been used to cover military actions that could appear unpleasant to the public or to the international community. A proper “police action” is the United Nations mission to Haiti as of now, whose mission is to help the Haitian authorities stabilize their country by helping the local police enforcing DOMESTIC laws among other tasks. Please, I am not here to laugh, so stop it!
That took some amazing restraint to mention Ken Dilanian and not use the title “CIA Shill”. How does a man like that keep his job? Oh yeah, he’s employed by humans that use phones, the internet and know “whats good for them”.
“There are serious questions about whether the Khorasan Group even exists in any meaningful or identifiable manner.”
Ok, you know what? I have had enough of your sass regarding empirical evidence, both of you. What you can see, here, taste, touch and read is not everything. What about:
– The ontological argument for Khorasan? Am I not thinking of them right now? If they don’t exist, what am I thinking, of, huh? Yeah, that’s what I thought.
– The fact that you can’t prove a negative.
– The fact that, you know what, the first time we got all wrapped up in this kind of thinking with that whole “Age of Enlightenment” thing, everyone eventually found it so obnoxious that they had to invent Romanticism as a countermeasure, so I am just going to be one with nature and frolic in a field somewhere and not even listen to anymore of this. Good day sirs.
Just so you know. I laughed at that. Hard.
I think we may confidently conclude that Professor Moriarty was never anything more than a figment of the cocaine-induced paranoia chronically afflicting Holmes.
Great article guys.
I am reminded of this film video clip, describing similar world events a long time ago, in the Middle East.
Life of Brian – The People’s Front of Judea
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WboggjN_G-4
TI’s been showing us a lot lately that these elephants seem to be in newsrooms everywhere…
THANK YOU!
Jon Stewart did a sendup of this fear campaign last week, namely a report on two groups even worse than Khorosan, “I’m gonna kill y’all”, and the worst of all, “I’m gonna f’uq you up.” I hope those Americans terrified by the Khorosan fear campaign were watching, as they definitely needed the laugh.
Glenn,
You are an inspiration. This article is well articulated, properly cited, and masterly at dismantling the bullshit from our intellectual class. First rate.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/28/airport-security-agent-toothpaste-terror-threats?CMP=ema_565
Calling a new enemy a “Group” is not threatening enough. It brings to mind the Carlyle Group or the Group of Six. Who failed on the research and messaging on them?
The McClaughlin Group, or as I referred to them the first time I watched for 5 seconds, “The Shriekers” were a bigger threat to American sensibilities than anything I’ve seen out of the Middle East.
Americans are happy to have yet another country to bomb – it gives them an illusion of being a part of the power they sorely lack in their own impotent lives. As brilliant as he is, Glenn could keep yelling from the top of his lungs, the Americans do not give a flying fuck.
They adore their military, worship “our heroes” and their omnipotent “dear leader” who’s justifying his Nobel Peace Prize by each new country he bombs and every new kid he kills in some faraway land that “wants to destroy our freedoms.”
Well…
The Khorasan, and the rest of the ISIS fighters were created, trained and funded by the US Coalition. Of the 57 Raytheon cruise Tomahawk missiles fired last Monday, at $1.5 million a pop, many were targeting the “Khorasan”, who, as far as I know, may be a sub of Raytheon, who seem to be the major beneficiary.
They had excess inventory left over from the planned attack on Syria that was aborted by that fish Lavrov threw to Kerry. Pissed everybody off.
This just in: Highly placed sources within the Administration have revealed a plot against the First Lady. Terrorists tried to activate an exploding penis in Michelle Obama’s face, but were thwarted by the Secret Service. The First Lady is resting comfortably. “She just got a little wet”, the source told us. The President has called an emergency meeting with his cabinet to determine who to bomb in retaliation.
Thanks, I needed that after reading this article.
“many U.S. officials interviewed for this story would not be quoted by name talking about what they said was highly classified intelligence.”
Once again. Really? Seriously? Where’s the investigation on the leaking of this ” highly classified intelligence.”
The sad part is the U.S. news media and journalists love to report how autocratic countries’ media propagandize their populations on behalf of those governments. Unlike the U.S., where objective journalists scrutinize and question the US government’s actions. —– I used to believe it too. Boy! Was I PROPAGANDIZED.
As were we all propagandized. From birth it starts and I, too, feel like a fool. Most people want to believe they are the guys in the white hats fighting for truth, justice, and the American way. It’s a bit jolting to wake up and realize that many of the criticisms hurled at the US by her “enemies” turn out to be true. I’m just coming out of that phase and fighting mad at having been lied to my whole life, and to that comment about Glenn from Andrew and him yelling at the top of his lungs and no one caring(a paraphrase) if we all are yelling then you have a chorus and little by little perhaps we CAN make a difference. I’m not very optimistic, but what is left to us? We still have freedom of speech. Let’s use it. I don’t have a platform like Glenn and the other writers and editors but I can exhort and support as can others. The only other choice is to just accept this brave new world as the new paradigm.
I can relate. While I’ve been out of that phase for some years now, the anger in much of my commentary is still traceable to a sense of betrayal and a need to atone for quite a few years of advocating the rank bullshit I was propagandized to accept.
As the late, great Molly Ivins said, “…all grown-ups lied,”
“And I don’t think we need to throw up a dossier here to prove that these are bad dudes.”
Thus spake the pentagon spokesman. And a fine commentary on their opinion (mostly accurate) of the public & the press. The Great Game & Little Brother also tell them that Assad is a bad dude. That’s all they need. At least he exists.
Of course it was. Dilanian and Sullivan are the government’s “useful” “reporters.” Eileen Sullivan is the friend the National Counterterrorism Center tipped off about The Intercept’s imminently pending scoop regarding all the non-terrorist suspects added to the Terrorist Screening Database. Her less substantial story then posted first.
An NCTC official told TI’s editor John Cook: “After seeing you had the docs, and the fact we had been working with Eileen, we did feel compelled to give her a heads up.”
Well, of course they did! Usefulness, after all, has its benefits.
And now here she is with the equally hackish Ken Dilanian being first out of the pen to peddle propagandistic bullshit for their client, the U.S. government.
Thanks, Mona. I hold my head and wish the nightmare would end.
Thanks, Mona, I held my head and wait for the nightmare to end.
ISIS fellows must be pissed that they were quite suddenly displaced as the scariest dudes in the world. Has Obama mentioned at the UN GA the Khorasan Group? I’m guessing not. Most there are not nearly as gullible as so many Americans.
Never to be outdone in the art of “National Security” bull shit, I give you NPR’s Dina Temple-Raston!
DINA TEMPLE-RASTON, BYLINE: Well, it’s actually made up of about four dozen very hard-core al-Qaida veterans – people who were there when al-Qaida was getting its start. These are people who fought the Russians in Afghanistan. They lived together in the frontier regions of Pakistan for years. And some of them even escaped, in some cases, to Iran after the 9/11 attacks and stayed there for years under a loose kind of house arrest.
So the heart of this group, even though we’d never heard about it before, is made up of al-Qaida’s true believers. I mean these are people who’ve been in the fight for decades.
Four dozen. Hard-core. Against the might of the greatest military in the world. Ooh, that’s scary. We all need to hide under our beds!
The four horsemen of the apocalypse.Not,of course.
hunnee taht Denier Tipple-Rasper persum fool uv moer breafless pronunsumnayshumz tahn Myrna aftur a Minkoff Hous uv Playjoor marathonk.
En Pee Er iz pathetikal pabloom don u no.
Since that war was in the eighties these true believers are getting a it long in the tooth.
There seems another reason to invent a scarier threat: The obvious purpose of the barbaric beheading videos was to goad the US into action. By naming the Khorasan Group as bigger and scarier, the US could publicly obfuscate the knee-jerk response to ISIS, and deprive them of the attention and legitimacy they crave.
Oh, so you think the government was just playing 11th dimensional chess with the invention of “The Khorasan Group?” What will check mate look like? Will they just let Khorasan drop off of the face of the earth now that they have “mission accomplished” of getting into the latest war?
Right, because the entire natsec establishment, in and out of government, was doing everything it could to play down the threat and barbarism of ISIS. pffft
God bless the men of the 303!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OGOjYgQqr8
Keep pounding away on them. Keep revealing the story arcs and lies. Keep naming the liars.
It may take a while to really break through, but it’s the only way to get there.
I don’t think the lacks of public support and legal justification were problems for the administration in the least.