Tag Archives: war

Featured, Images, International, Politics, US

The brutality of ISIS on full display in new photos

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Editor’s note: Google has found these images to be too graphic and warned that we could lose our advertising account. We have removed the images in question.

 

WARNING: The following images may be disturbing to some viewers.

The terrorist group known as ISIS has reportedly used brutal tactics in the past few months in order to claim and hold land in the Middle East, but a series of photos have been released showing the extent of how ISIS fighters punish law breakers in their controlled lands.

Among the photos are a few depicting an ISIS execution of two homosexual men by pushing them from a tall balcony. The pictures show a man being pushed onto a ledge, another of a man falling through the open air, and one of two bodies lying on the ground surrounded by pools of blood. As is evident in the pictures, these were public executions as a crowd had formed at the base of the balcony where the men were pushed.

Two blindfolded men are also showed crucified to wooden beams, while a man stands in front of them and a surrounding crowd and reads their crimes. According to the Daily Record, the men were accused of banditry. After their charges are read, two militants step up behind the crucified men and execute each with a single shot from their respective handguns.

Final, a set of images shows the execution by stoning of a woman. Her execution can be said to be less public as it appears to be taking place in a secluded, wooded area, but the brutality of her death via stoning is still on display.

Public executions have been reportedly taking place in all ISIS controlled areas since the group declared their lands the Caliphate, or Islamic State.

Charles Lister of the Brookings Institute’s Doha Center researched ISIS’ version of Sharia Law and published his findings under the title “Profiling the Islamic State.” In this research, Lister writes, “The implementation of a strict form of sharia law is clearly central to IS’s governance.” In this version of Sharia Law, serious punishments are dealt out to people who violate seemingly minute offenses such as listening to non-Islamic music or deviating from the assigned dress code implemented by ISIS.

Given ISIS’ penchant for a wide range of propaganda, these images and executions seem to serve multiple purposes. Not only are crimes being punished in these pictures, but the images may also be meant to scare people in and around ISIS controlled areas.  

Foreign Policy, International, US

NYPD on alert after ISIS video release

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The New York Police Department is on high-alert after ISIS re-released a propaganda video which tells people to murder “intelligence officers, police officers, soldiers and civilians” throughout the US.  

The specific propaganda video was originally released in September 2014, but following the events in France last week, the NYPD is taking the resurgence of the video seriously.

An internal memo released throughout the NYPD told officers to “remain alert and consider tactics at all times while on patrol,” according to FOX News. Similarly, the Sergeants Benevolent Association, a police union in New York City, sent out an email to union members which reads, “Pay attention to your surroundings. Officers must pay close attention to approaching vehicles . . . Pay close attention to people as they approach. Look for their hands.”

However, the NYPD’s deputy commissioner for counterterrorism, John Miller, said according to CNN, “I don’t think that we are under any more threat … or any less threat than we were the day before.” Miller also said the NYPD has not detected any specific threats in New York City, but the NYPD has stepped up their police presence at central locations throughout the city, such as in Times Square.

Mayor Bill de Blasio told the citizens of New York City to also be on the lookout for anything suspicious. “We are the number one terror target, and that has created in us a sense of vigilance every day,” said de Blasio according to CBS New York. “There is no down day. There is no day when we’re less vigilant. We’re vigilant every day,”

The NYPD was not the only agency to take notice after the video resurfaced.

The FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security are also taking the video seriously. These agencies released a nationwide bulletin to law enforcement offices with similar warnings found in the NYPD memo as well as the union released email.

Senator Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) said he hopes intelligence agents in the U.S. are prepared and ready to prevent attacks similar to those carried out in France last week. “What we have to do,” said Menendez, “is be able to create a sense in communities of the importance of high alert, of vigilance, of being able to share information.”

International, US

Investigation into MH17 crash claims Russians shot down the flight

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On July 17, 2014, Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 fell from the sky over Ukraine and crashed with no survivors. Speculation flew surrounding the plane crash, some of which pointed the finger at Russia who had recently sent troops into Ukraine. Russia denied these claims and blamed Ukrainian separatists within Ukraine.

Now, months later, a German investigative group known as CORRECT!V, claims they have proof Russia is responsible for shooting MH17 out of the sky.

The CORRECT!V website focused on the investigation claims MH17 was shot down by a BUK surface-to-air missile. They claim the missile was fired by the 53rd Russian Air Defense Brigade, which displayed no national emblems while in Ukrainian territory. The brigade was initially tasked with protecting Russian tank units.

Various military experts spoke with the investigation team and said the BUK missile system could have only been operated by a group of “highly trained specialists acting as a close-knit unit…”

The reason these experts claim it could have only been trained specialists using the machinery is the operators would have only had seconds to switch on their machinery, fire the missile, then turn the machinery back off before they would have been found by other radar systems or targeted. At the time of the crash, no other radar signatures were reported. 

CORRECT!V sent investigators to the area of Ukraine where MH17 was downed, and the investigators spoke to witnesses of the crash as well as people who claim to have seen the BUK missile system responsible for the crash.

One witness said he had seen a vehicle launch the missile into the air, followed by a series of percussive “bang” sounds.

“The missile flew from here,” said the witness. “I was in the yard and heard an explosion, a bang. It was a really loud bang. The tiles on my roof shook. Then there was a long sound. And then a very loud explosion: bang, bang. And just as I ran out into the road, the plane began to fall. Down the road, several kilometers from here. And you could see it burn.”

Aleksandr Khodakovskiy, a former SBU officer who is now a separatist commander, told Reuters months ago his initial unit was in possession of a BUK missile system, but he retracted this statement not long afterwards. He spoke with CORRECT!V saying after the MH17 crash, his unit was still in possession of a BUK, but he did not possess the personnel to operate the system properly or effectively. 

“I know for sure that the popular militia did not shoot down the Boeing,” said Khodakovskiy. “We don’t have and didn’t have specialists who can operate such high precision weapons systems.”

Russian authorities continue to claim they had no part in the downing of MH17.

The full report from CORRECT!V can be found here.

International, Politics

Palestine Reaches Out to International Criminal Court, Accuses Israel of War Crimes

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Following the vote by members of the United Nations to deny the resolution to recognize Palestinian statehood on Tuesday, Palestine reached out to the International Criminal Court on Wednesday, accusing Israel of committing war crimes when it declared war on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip during the summer of 2014.

RT reported that along with letters of accession to the International Criminal Court (ICC), Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas submitted a request to investigate Israel’s use of force starting June 13, 2014.

“They attack us and our land every day, to whom are we to complain? The Security Council let us down – where are we to go?” Abbas said.

According to the Associated Press, Abbas’ decision to turn to the ICC signals a shift in Palestine’s relations with Israel, turning them “from tense to openly hostile,” due to the fact that Palestine’s ultimate goal is to “pressure Israel into withdrawing from the territories and agreeing to Palestinian statehood.”

PressTV reported that while Israel has launched three wars on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since 2008, Palestine is reaching out to the ICC for the “latest military aggression against Gaza,” claiming that the Israeli Defense Forces committed war crimes in the summer of 2014 when they “used advanced weapons to kill over 2,140 Palestinians and destroy thousands of homes.”

According to Reuters, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened that Israel would  “take steps in response,” and urged the ICC to reject Palestine’s bid to become a full member, claiming that Palestine does not “rank as a state.”

“We expect the ICC to summarily dismiss the Palestinian Authority’s duplicitous application because the Palestinian Authority is not a state, it is an entity that is allied with a terror organization, Hamas, which commits war crimes,” Netanyahu said.

Following the news of Palestine’s bid to the ICC, the U.S. State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke released a statement saying that the United States was “deeply troubled” by the decision, and that Palestine’s actions would not help peace efforts in the region.

“It is an escalatory step that will not achieve any of the outcomes most Palestinians have long hoped to see for their people,” said Rathke. “Actions like this are not the answer.”

RT reported that Shurat HaDin Israel Law Center Director, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, said that the Gaza War “will be at the heart of the accusations,” and that if found guilty of war, Israel will suffer in terms of international relations.

“Israel will of course try to defend itself, but chances are they will lose,” said Darshan-Leitner. “And if they lose and they’re convicted for war crimes, it would be a game-changer. It would drop Israel to the bottom tier internationally.”

As previously reported, the resolution Palestine presented to the United Nations called for recognition of statehood, an end of Israeli occupation by 2017, the restoration to the 1967 borders, the recognition of East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, and the call for a third party to oversee Israeli withdrawal.

The resolution failed to pass, due to the fact that it only received eight out of the nine votes needed. Palestine pushed for the vote to happen before January 1, 2015, even though after January 1, the U.N. Security Council would have received five new members who were all likely to have passed the resolution.

This raises the question of whether Palestine pushed for an early vote so that they would still be able to push for Israel to be investigated for war crimes. Ben Swann was joined by Reema Abu Hamdieh on RT America to discuss:

Featured, International, Politics

Is America Preparing for War with Russia in 2015?

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As America sanctions Russia for treaty violations Russian President Vladimir Putin adjusts his country’s War Doctrine. 

Relations between the United States and Russia continue to falter as the two nations go head-to-head in an attempt to see who will blink first. The US has sought to punish Russia for allegedly commandeering rule in Eastern Ukraine.

In mid-December President Obama signed the Ukraine Freedom and Support Act of 2014 which initiated sanctions on Russia. The Act was only the latest in sanctions that the US and the EU have enforced on President Putin and his people. It also gives President Obama the power to increase defense services, training and equipment to the Ukrainian “rebels”. 

The US recently imposed a new set of sanctions against Russia in response to what they say are violations of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. The INF was signed by President Ronald Reagan with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987. The treaty removed an entire class of nuclear weapons from legal use by banning the possession, production or test-flying of a ground-launched cruise missile with a range of 300 to 3,400 miles. The US accuses Russia of having banned intermediate and advanced-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs).

In addition, the State Department announced on Monday that they were imposing sanctions on four Russian officials for human rights abuses under the Magnitsky Act. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said the sanctions were endangering ” prospects for bilateral cooperation on solving the situation around the Iranian nuclear program, the Syrian crisis and other acute international problems.”

One of the most troubling actions from either country came in the last days of 2014.  On December 26 President Putin approved an updated war doctrine for Russia. The doctrine makes it clear that Russia will use military force to protect its citizens. The doctrine also stated that the US and NATO allied countries pose a military threat to the existence of Russia as a sovereign free nation.

Putin said Washington is to blame for the changes, with it’s own war doctrine of pre-emptive attacks, deployment of anti-ballistic missiles, and buildup of NATO forces on Russia’s border. Russia also acknowledged attempts at regime change through “actions aimed at violent change of the Russian constitutional order, destabilization of the political and social environment, and disorganization of the functioning of governmental bodies, crucial civilian and military facilities and informational infrastructure of Russia.”

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal, outlined his view of how the changes in Russia’s war doctrine and unfolding economic conditions will affect the geopolitical chess board.

“The financial markets are based on manipulation, not on fundamentals. The manipulation is untenable. With debt exploding, negative real interest rates make no sense. With real consumer incomes, real consumer credit, and real retail sales stagnant or falling, the stock market is a bubble. With Russia, China, and other countries moving away from the use of the dollar to settle international accounts, with Russia developing an alternative to the SWIFT financial network, the BRICS developing alternatives to the IMF and World Bank, and with other parts of the world developing their own credit card and Internet systems, the US dollar, along with the Japanese and European currencies that are being printed in order to support the dollar’s exchange value, could experience a dramatic drop in exchange value, which would make the import-dependent Western world dysfunctional.”

The Security Council of the Russian Federation stated that the threats to their nation include, “typical “indirect actions” observed during the struggle of the leading countries for the spheres of their influence: the use of protest potential of the population, radical and extremist organizations, private military companies; built up of NATO offensive potential directly at the Russian border, swift actions are taken to deploy global missile defense systems.”

Indeed, Russia’s leadership are not alone in their belief that western governments are interfering in the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Earlier this week director and film-maker Oliver Stone commented on the situation. He discussed a recent interview he conducted with Viktor Yanukovich, the former Ukrainian president who was removed from power in 2014.

“Details to follow in the documentary, but it seems clear that the so-called ‘shooters’ who killed 14 police men, wounded some 85, and killed 45 protesting civilians, were outside third party agitators. Many witnesses, including Yanukovych and police officials, believe these foreign elements were introduced by pro-Western factions– with CIA fingerprints on it.”

As RT reports, Stone believes there is “ample evidence of pro-Western, third-party interference” in Ukraine. He specifically mentioned Victoria Nuland and Senator John McCain. Stone also mentioned organizations such as USAID who have been accused of training protesters or outright creating conflicts in other nations.

Following the announcement,Chechnya’s President Ramzan Kadyrov announced the creation of a special military regiment in support of Russia. Kadyrov said his country would be willing to defend Russia against Western “aggression.” Mr Kadyrov also stated that Chechen army recruits were free to serve in the Russian naval base in Sevastopol.

Konstantin Sivkov, President of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems told  Pravda.Ru that the U.S. is aiming to destroy Russia’s nuclear potential and the country itself. Sivkov went on to state that American elite will not be held accountable unless they are militarily destroyed.

Deciphering whether the back and forth between nations is genuine or more trickery on the grand global stage is a difficult task. Both nations and leaders seek to appear strong and up for the challenge but is the world ready? The possibility of a nuclear war has been a looming threat for decades. The media and authorities often trumpet these conflicts to stoke nationalistic fires and support from the masses. It is up to each of us as free individuals to sift through the surface layers and establish an understanding of geopolitical events and how they affect our lives.

We must ask ourselves why gas prices are low (see this and this), and whether America engaging in another Cold War is the best path forward. In the end the rulers of both nations will likely continue to wage proxy wars in hopes of chipping away at the opposing empire.

International, Politics, US

Pentagon Cuts Benefits for Troops in 2016 Budget

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As the Pentagon prepares to submit its 2016 budget, one of the cuts being made is the amount of benefits the United States military will receive. This decrease adds to a series of cuts that have progressed since 2011.

The Hill reported that the Pentagon is “planning another push to whittle down benefits for troops when it submits its 2016 budget to the White House in February,” despite the fact that this decision has been met with “fierce opposition” from military groups.

According to the Daily Caller, the Pentagon’s budget, which will span from 2016 to 2020, has left many Military members feeling “betrayed and frustrated,” as they conclude the “longest war in the nation’s history.”

The President of the Military Officers Association of America, retired Navy Adm. Norb Ryan, told The Hill that while the rate of growth of compensation did increase greatly between 2000 and 2010, due to the surge of forces to Iraq and Afghanistan, it has decreased drastically since 2011.

“Not only has the rate of growth for personnel compensation growth slowed,” said Ryan. “It has gone negative for the last three years, from 2011 on.”

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned of the upcoming benefit cuts on December 7, when he said that spending too much money on benefits and pay would take it away from being prepared for combat.

“Adjustments are going to have to be made because if they’re not made down into the future then we will essentially end up with a hollow force,” said Hagel. “We will have a lot of benefits and pay, but there’ll be no money for readiness.”

The Daily Caller reported that although the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act included an increase in pay of one percent, pharmaceutical co-pays also increased, while housing allowances dropped by five percent.

According to The Hill, while pay and benefits for troops dropped from $185 billion in 2011, to $177 billion in 2014, Pentagon officials argue that benefits “still eat up too much of the budget.”

On Monday, Defense Department spokesman Navy Cmdr. Bill Urban said that the budget for troops benefits would only continue to decrease.

“We have and will continue to look at ways to slow the growth of compensation,” said Urban. “I would expect these efforts to continue to some degree in the 2016 Defense budget.”

International, US

German man sentenced for joining ISIS

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In Germany, a 20-year-old man, who has been identified as Kreshnik Berisha, has been sentenced to nearly four years in jail after he admitted to joining ISIS fighters in Syria.

Berisha, according to Reuters spent six months in Syria last year, training and fighting alongside Islamic State militants.  However, the German court said there was no conclusive evidence to support the claim that he had been directly involved in any combat or fighting.

Originally, the prosecution sought four years and three months of jail time for Berisha.  Although, because he was perceived by the German judges to lack the maturity of an adult, he was sentenced to three years and nine months as a juvenile.

In the German court system, a person between the ages of 18-21 can be tried as a juvenile if they are thought to lack the maturity of an adult.

“As a youth he was not able to resist the influence of his Islamist friends,” said chief judge Thomas Sagebiel, according to Newsweek.  The judges are hoping the juvenile sentence will have the necessary educational effects to rehabilitate Berisha since he displayed radical Islamic attitudes.

Berisha’s attorney told the courts he went to Syria to fight against and overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.  He then admitted to the court that he had received weapons training from ISIS fighters and he had joined the Islamic State.

It is estimated that about 550 German citizens have traveled to the Middle East in order to join ISIS, while thousands of others from other Western nations have made the same trip.

British and French courts have also sentenced their citizens to jail time after they traveled to the Middle East to support ISIS.  French courts sentenced one man, who spent only 10 days in Syria, to seven years in prison.  British courts sentenced two brothers to three-and-a-half years in prison for being trained in Syria.

Featured, Technology, US

New NSA reform bill fails in the Senate

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The USA Freedom Act, a bill which calls for the NSA to halt all collection of phone data from millions of Americans who are not suspects in any crime, has failed to pass in the Senate.

When Edward Snowden brought the NSA’s phone data collection to light over a year ago, many people, both Republican and Democrat, were upset with the NSA’s tactics.  Many wanted to change the collection methods, saying the NSA was acting in a Big Brother way.

The bill was not only going to reform the way the NSA collected phone metadata, but according to the Verge, the bill would have also brought changes to “how the government managed national security letters and internet surveillance.”

Various tech companies who supported the bill, such as Apple, Facebook, and Google, were strongly in support of the bill saying, according to the Inquirer, the bill “protects national security and reaffirms America’s commitment to the freedoms we all cherish.”

After the vote, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, another supporter of the bill, said, “We are disappointed that the Senate has failed to advance the US Freedom Act… We strongly oppose any amendment that would water down the strong privacy, special advocate, and transparency provisions of the bill.”

Laura Murphy, the director of the ACLU in Washington said, according to the Guardian, “Though this vote is a setback, it will not stop the push for reform.”

Many people who voted against the bill say they are afraid of a domestic terrorist attack thanks in part to the rise of ISIS in the Middle East.  However, the NSA themselves have said their phone data collections would not prevent a terrorist attack.

The bill failed by two votes and cannot be discussed openly in the Senate for another year, but many are already expecting the reform bill to be brought back up in that time.  Their reason is in one year, Congress will discuss renewing parts of the Patriot Act.  Until then, the NSA’s phone data collection methods will remain unchanged.

Economy, US

Honor veterans by giving them jobs

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Veteran’s Day is a national holiday for Americans of all walks of life to honor and show thanks to those men and women who served their country in some way throughout the years.  Parades are held, grills are fired up, and everybody shows some level of appreciation.  While most Americans think about a veteran’s service, not many think about a veteran’s life post-service.

For some veterans, civilian life is full of uncertainty, unemployment, and other struggles their military training never prepared them for.

While unemployment amongst all veterans has been on a steady decline over the past few years, young veterans, meaning those who served in post-9/11 engagements, are having difficulties finding work once they come home.

A study by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2013, found young veterans, ages 18-24, had an unemployment rate of 21.4 percent as compared to their non-veteran colleagues who had an unemployment rate of 14.3 percent.

Upon finishing their service, about 87 percent of veterans say they are confident in their abilities to find a job, according to the Washington Post.  However, according to Daily Finance, 37 percent of veterans did not know how to properly write a resume and 33 percent of veterans did not know how to show employers how their skills were applicable to the workforce.

These are not the only obstacles for veterans though who seek to join the workforce.  According to a study from the Mental Health Association of New York, returning veterans often lack experience in civilian work, they have higher disability rates, and many veterans struggle to reconnect to the civilian world, all of which makes it more difficult to hire a veteran.

To combat veteran unemployment rates, many companies have said they would hire a number of veterans over the next few years.

Starbucks is one such company, and their CEO, Howard Schultz, has vowed to hire some 10,000 veterans in the next five years, according to USA Today.  To help this process, Starbucks has even hired a recruiter who is a veteran who “understands the language,” and the anxiety veterans face in joining the workforce.

“The irony there is that there is a stigma attached to many of them about either PTS (post-traumatic stress) or brain trauma or things of that nature when in fact I can personally demonstrate through the hiring of people at Starbucks who have been veterans that they have done extraordinary things,” said Schultz.

Other employers have said they are more than pleased with the work veterans who work for their companies have put out.  These employers said all veterans bring five unique skills to their work; self-discipline, teamwork, attention to detail, respect, and leadership.

Jon Davis, a Marine who served in Iraq and who was also a former hiring manager, told the Huffington Post, hiring veterans has its advantages.  One advantage, he said, was a veteran has a “strong vein of personal integrity,” which makes them trustworthy when tasked with a job.

If you are a business owner who wants to hire a veteran, visit a website like the Veteran Recruiting Service to help out.  You can also volunteer with other other such as Welcome Back Veterans and Give an Hour to show your support for veterans n other ways.

Drug War, Featured, Police State, US

California could release up to 10,000 nonviolent offenders

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As part of a proposition California passed on Tuesday, the state could see up to 10,000 incarcerated people eligible for early release.

Proposition 47, known in California as the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, will reclassify various offenses which were previously felonies, as misdemeanors.  Some of these offenses include personal illicit drug use, shoplifting, and theft under $950.

Analysts have said they think with this proposition in place, California will hand out 40,000 less felonies each year, and the state would also save up to $150 million dollars.

The Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center wrote, according to Common Dreams, “The current sentencing and correctional system in California is costly and inefficient and voters would prefer their tax dollars to be spent on education and health care rather than incarceration.”

Other uses for the saved money include supporting victim services, mental health programs, and drug treatment programs.  Marc Mauer from the Sentencing Project, said, “This historic vote demonstrates support to advance a public safety strategy beyond incarceration to include treatment and prevention.”

The proposition will also apply to people currently being held in the California prison system, which is how those incarcerated people could apply for early release.

Similar legislature has been enacted in other states in the past few years.

Georgia, for example passed a law in 2012 which, according to FiveThirtyEight, allowed alternative sentencing for low-level, nonviolent offenders.  The state’s prison population dropped by about 14 percent by the end of 2013 and the crime rate dropped by about 4 percent as well.  The state also saved approximately $20 million in the first year of enacting the new law.

Other states have enacted similar legislature in the past few years, but the laws were enacted to recently to offer any significant data.

International, Politics, US

Ex-SEAL steps up, says he killed Osama bin Laden

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Robert O’Neill, a former Navy SEAL, spoke with the Washington Post and revealed he was the shooter who killed Osama bin Laden in 2011.

O’Neill, 38, was a 15 year veteran with the SEALs and was involved in various other missions before, said he thought this mission would be his most difficult up to that point.

When he and other SEALs stormed the compound holding bin Laden, O’Neill says he was near the front of the column and thought he would be killed.

Upon entering the room holding bin Laden, O’Neill says bin Laden “had his hands on a woman’s shoulders pushing her ahead,” in the hopes of deflecting the attackers.  O’Neill then says he shot bin Laden in the head twice before other members of the SEAL team shot bin Laden’s already dead body.

Leading up to O’Neill’s decision to disclose this information, he says he was struggling with whether or not to go public with his identity.  He says there was already a network of people who knew his identity, including various members of congress and at least two news organizations.

Colleagues have voiced their displeasure with his decision, and B.L. Losey, the Naval Special Warfare commanding officer, and M.L. Magaraci, the force’s master chief, wrote a letter saying one tenet of their profession is to “not advertise the nature of [their] work nor seek recognition for [their] actions.”

However, after speaking with the families of victims of the 9/11 attacks, O’Neill said he decided to come forward.  “The families told me it helped bring them some closure,” said O’Neill.

This was not his first high profile mission, O’Neill said.  He also disclosed he was part of the rescue effort of Capt. Richard Phillips in 2009 after his vessel was taken captive by Somali pirates.

International

CIA Study Creates Doubt About Helping Syrian Rebels

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A still-classified study by the Central Intelligence Agency shows that covertly arming and training rebels rarely works. This is creating some doubt over whether or not the U.S. should do the same for Syrian rebels.

According to a story in the New York Times, the report is one of several CIA studies commissioned in 2012 and 2013, during the time the Obama administration was debating the Syrian civil war and figured that many past attempts by the agency to arm foreign forces coverly had minimal impact on the long-term outcome of the conflict. According to the report, they were even less effective when the militias fought without any direct American ground support.

“The findings of the study, described in recent weeks by current and former American government officials, were presented in the White House Situation Room and led to deep skepticism among some senior Obama administration officials about the wisdom of arming and training members of a fractured Syrian opposition,” wrote the New York Times.

Despite this, in April 2013, Obama had the CIA begin to train rebels in Jordan at a base and even more recently decided to expand this training mission in Saudi Arabia to train “vetted” rebels to fight ISIS. The Obama administration aimed to train about 5,000 rebel troops per year.

In an interview with The New Yorker published this year, Obama  alluded to the study:  “Very early in this process, I actually asked the CIA. to analyze examples of America financing and supplying arms to an insurgency in a country that actually worked out well. And they couldn’t come up with much.”

Bernadette Meehan, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said that “without characterizing any specific intelligence products, the president was referring to the fact that providing money or arms alone to an opposition movement is far from a guarantee of success.”

“We have been very clear about that from the outset as we have articulated our strategy in Syria,” Meehan said. “That is why our support to the moderate Syrian opposition has been deliberate, targeted and, most importantly, one element of a multifaceted strategy to create the conditions for a political solution to the conflict.”

Foreign Policy’s Marc Lynch, said that the scheme of arming rebels is “just wrong” and it’s a strategy that won’t work. He noted that an “external support for insurgents typically makes conflicts longer and bloodier.”

BenSwann.com has reported extensively that US intelligence on the ground in Syria have been supporting al-Qauda linked militants for years in a proxy war to overthrow the Assad regime.

International, US

US soldiers exposed to chemical weapons while in Iraq, according to new report

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When the US invaded Iraq in 2003, American troops discovered close to 5,000 chemical munitions within the country, and some of these munitions were used against American troops according to a new report released from the Pentagon.

The chemical weapons were found to be incorporated into warheads, shells, and aviation bombs, all manufactured before 1991, according to a report from the New York Times.  Various intelligence reports also show up to 17 American soldiers, along with six Iraqi police officers, were wounded and exposed to these chemical weapons on six different occasions.  However, the actual tally of exposed troops may be higher, but government officials are keeping these numbers hidden.

American troops were reportedly exposed to the nerve agent sarin gas and mustard gas, amongst other weaponized agents, according to CBS News.

“In five of six incidents in which troops were wounded by chemical agents, the munitions appeared to have been designed in the United States, manufactured in Europe and filled in chemical agent production lines built in Iraq by Western companies,” said the report on the chemical weapon exposure obtained through FOIA.

The report from the Times also found officers and troops were told to remain quiet on what had happened.  Recently retired Army major, Jarrod Lampier, who was present for the finding of close to 2,500 chemical weapons, said, “ ’Nothing of significance’ is what I was ordered to say.”

Because many of the troops were told to keep their exposure a secret, proper medical treatment was seemingly denied these soldiers.  One former sergeant told the New York Times, “I felt more like a guinea pig than a wounded soldier.”

The allegations of troops not receiving proper medical care in the wake of these chemical exposures also prompted Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. john Kirby to say, according to FOX News, “While we cannot speak to individual decisions made by unit commanders or medical staff at the time — or the guidance they may have given their troops about the existence of chemical munitions in Iraq — the Defense Department made public its discovery of these munitions as far back as 2006 and acknowledged the likelihood that more could be found.” 

Most of the chemical agents were also reportedly found in a complex northwest of Baghdad, and this area has been held by ISIS militants since June.  The US government says the weapons found in that area no longer pose a threat after being unused for two decades, but the presence and possible access to these chemical weapons should still be watched carefully as ISIS militants continue to threaten the area.

International, US

Middle Eastern civilians have more to fear than ISIS now

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ISIS is currently the single largest, immediate threat to citizens in the Middle East, but people in the area now have to worry about Shia militias carrying out similar acts of brutality.

Shia militias in Iraq have reportedly abducted and killed large numbers of Sunnis in the area in retaliation against ISIS, according to an Amnesty International report released Tuesday.

This report says the Shia militias are armed and supported by the Iraqi government which is currently controlled by Shia Muslims.  However, the report does say these militiamen are not part of any official Iraqi military organization, and they operate outside any official oversight or legal framework.

Bodies have been showing up in cities not controlled by ISIS since June, when the Iraqi military was in a state of disarray from the threat of ISIS.  The bodies have been found in Baghdad, Kirkuk, and Samarra, and all have reportedly had execution style gunshot wounds to their heads.

“Shia militias are ruthlessly targeting Sunni civilians on a sectarian basis under the guise of fighting terrorism,” said Amnesty International’s Senior Crisis Response Adviser Donatella Rovera, according to the Independent.  “By granting its blessing to militias who routinely commit such abhorrent abuses, the Iraqi government is sanctioning war crimes and fueling a dangerous cycle of sectarian violence that is tearing the country apart.”

While the Amnesty report has shed light on human rights violations in Iraq, but according to Al-Jazeera, Shia militia spokesmen in the country have called the report, “an attempt to downgrade our gains and accomplishments so far in the fight against ISIL by supporting the Iraqi forces.”

Naeem Al-Aboudi, the spokeman of the Shia militia group Aasab Ahl Haq, said, “We had fought and won over ISIL in Shia and Sunni areas and while doing so we had not violated any human rights.” 

International, US

FBI calls for Americans to identify ISIS fighters

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While the intelligence community has been working on trying to identifying the infamous ‘Jihadi Joe’ from previous ISIS beheading videos, the FBI is now asking for the American public to help them identify any people who have traveled to the Middle East or are planing to travel there in order to fight for ISIS.

The call for the American people’s help and support started after the release of an ISIS propaganda video titled “Flames of War.”  The video features a fighter who speaks to the camera in Arabic, but then switches to fluent English.  While he talks to the camera, men behind him are  seen “digging their own graves in the very place they were stationed.”  Eventually, all of the people digging their graves are killed in the video.

What is significant about this video is the fighter’s ability to effortlessly switch from Arabic to English. CNN reports the English dialect of the ISIS fighter is a North American accent, and this prompted the FBI to ask for help identifying the fighter and any others who might want to fight for ISIS.

Officials are saying the man on film could be a Middle Eastern man educated in the west, or they could be from North America and traveled to the area to aid ISIS.

One security analyst says this video was clearly meant for a western audience.  Frank Cillufo, the analyst from George Washington University, said, “Clearly ISIS had a calculated step to be able to put this guy on camera… Why? Because he seems American. The message is aimed at a Western audience.”

Michael Steinbach, the assistant director of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, said on the FBI’s webpage, “We are hoping that someone might recognize this individual and provide us with key pieces of information… No piece of information is too small.”

Steinbach also said, “We need the public’s assistance in identifying U.S. persons going to fight overseas with terrorist groups or who are returning home from fighting overseas.”

As of now, top US security officials have estimated about 100 Americans have traveled to the Middle East in order to fight for ISIS.

International, US

Fourth ISIS hostage beheaded in yet another video

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British aid worker Alan Henning, another ISIS hostage, has been beheaded on video three weeks after the Scottish aid worker David Haines was executed in a similar fashion.

In the video, a man dressed in orange speaks to the camera, saying, according to ABC News, “I am Alan Henning. Because of our Parliament’s decision to attack the Islamic State [ISIS], I, as a member of the British public, will now pay the price for that decision.”

The executioner standing next to Henning then speaks to the camera before carrying out the grizzly act, saying, “The blood of [fellow slain captive] David Haines was on your hands, [British Prime Minister David] Cameron… Alan Henning will also be slaughtered but his blood is on the hands of the British Parliament.”

The video has yet to be authenticated by US or British intelligence agencies.

Henning was captured in Syria last December as he was driving an aid truck across the border between Turkey and Syria, according to the AP.  This was the second time Henning took part in an aid convoy into Syria where he and a group of Muslim friends delivered medical equipment.

According to the Guardian, a group of armed gunmen surrounded a warehouse, which Henning was in, and took Henning captive.  The gunmen said they were suspicious of Henning since he was not Muslim like the rest of the volunteers, and they were also concerned about a chip in his UK passport.  The other volunteers tried to show the gunmen how all UK passports carried a similar chip, but this did not deter them from taking Henning.

Earlier, Barbara Henning, the wife of Alan Henning, released her own video, asking ISIS to release her husband, saying, “Surely those who wish to be seen as a state will act in a statesman-like way by showing mercy and providing clemency.”

Barbara also said, according to the BBC, “Muslims across the globe continue to question Islamic State over Alan’s fate.”

Two British Imams, last month, also made a claim for sparing Henning’s life, saying holding Henning was against Islamic law and “haram [forbidden].”

At the end of the video, another hostage clad in orange is shown to the camera.  This fifth hostage was identified as American Peter Kassig, but like the rest of the video, these claims have not been verified yet.

International, US

Kurdish forces push back against ISIS, reclaim occupied territory

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As the international response against ISIS grows and takes affect, Kurdish forces from the semi-autonomous state of Kurdistan fought the terrorist group in northern Iraq on Tuesday.

An area in northern Iraq known as the Rabia district was the center of the fighting as Kurdish Peshmerga forces fought their way into the district before sunrise Tuesday.  Fighting around the district continued throughout the day and resulted in Peshmerga forces claiming the occupied territory.

The Rabia district has been under ISIS control since June after the initial sweep of ISIS forces through the area.  Rabia is in a strategic location as it has served as a route for ISIS fighters to move between Iraq and Syria easily, officials said according to the New York Times.  With Peshmerga forces taking control of this region, this could stifle ISIS troop movement between the countries.

Kurdish and Iraqi forces also fought ISIS on two other fronts within Iraq.

Zumar was the location of more fighting in northern Iraq, and this town is only 40 miles away from the strategic Mosul dam and city of Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq.

Heavy fighting was also reported from the Daquq district, south of Kirkuk.  This area is home to a key transport line between Baghdad and the oil-rich land around Kirkuk.

Other villages in the area were reclaimed throughout the day of fighting too.

Kurdish General Westa Rasul told the International Business Times, “They have liberated the villages of Saad and Khaled. The Peshmerga have taken full control of the area, following fierce fighting.”

General Rasul also said the Peshmerga were continuing their push towards Kirkuk, but first planned on recapturing the town of Al-Wahda, which is about 20 miles from Kirkuk.

Two Peshmerga were reportedly killed while 18 others were injured throughout the day, according to the Raw Story.

Disclosure, Featured, International, Interviews, Politics, US

ISIS intervention price-tag shocking many American taxpayers

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WASHINGTON, D.C., September 30, 2014 –  Last week, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel presented reporters with a price-tag that is shocking many war-weary Americans. According to Hagel, roughly $7 million to $10 million per day has been spent on U.S. operations against the Islamic State (ISIS) since June 16, when American troops were first deployed to assess the Iraqi military and advise its commanders.

That number brings U.S. military efforts against the Islamic State to nearly a billion dollars thus far, with an expected $2.4 billion to $3.8 billion price tag for the year if air and ground operations continue as planned. These expected budget cost analysis were released Monday by the non-partisan think tank, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

The analysis also noted an even higher price tag for the fight against ISIS could be expected if an increase in air-strikes and ground troops occurs, with annual costs possibly reaching $13 billion or even $22 billion.

The report by the Center stated, “Future costs depend, to a great extent, on how long operations continue, the steady-state level of air operations, and whether additional ground forces are deployed beyond what is already planned”.

Since August 8, when the U.S. first launched its air strikes against the Islamic State, 290 air strikes have been carried out in Iraq and Syria, with the U.S conducting 265 of that number. Over 1600 U.S. troops are being deployed in Iraq and U.S. planes are flying an average of 60 attacks a day.

Taking these statistics into account, the analysis figured that the U.S. military’s efforts against the Islamic State would currently costs between $200 million and $320 million a month.

Follow Michael Lotfi on Facebook & Twitter.

Politics, US

More illegal immigrants to be able to serve in military

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A policy adopted by the Department of Defense in 2008 which allows a number of illegal immigrants to serve in the US armed forces for the first time in decades, has been extended by two years.

The program is known as the Military Ascensions Vital to National Interest, or MAVNI, and is open to immigrants who do not hold a proper visa.  The caveat though is these individuals had to come to the US with their parents before they were 16.  Those eligible must also meet the requirements for the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals policy, which was adopted by the Obama administration in 2012.  Requirements range from having no criminal record to have graduated high school or working towards a GED.

When it was adopted, MAVNI was meant to target immigrants who can comprehend and understand foreign languages such as Chinese, Persian, Pashto, and Arabic.  However one insider revealed to the Daily Mail, out of the 3 million people who might apply for the military, the administration is unsure how many of those have the language skills to meet the basic requirements.

“We’re just not sure how many within that existing population of DACA would have the linguistic skills to qualify,” said a defense official according to USA Today. “These are kids who entered the country at a fairly young age and have basically grown up in the United States, so the limit of their language talents would probably be the language that they received at home.”

The MAVNI program has only been open to a small number of illegal immigrants, but the cap has been raised to 1,500 recruits, according to the Military Times.  The program has one large incentive for illegal immigrants and that is a path to citizenship upon the completion of their service.

One important note though is the military branches are not required to accept MAVNI recruits, and since the program’s inception, many of those who have qualified for the program have been accepted into the Army.  The Air Force has accepted a small number of these recruits while the Navy and Marine Corps have not accepted any MAVNI recruits.