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Photo by: joanneleon. May, 2013.
Photo by: joanneleon. May, 2013.
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Go read the quotes in this article by Michael Hayden, former head of NSA, then CIA. This guy was instrumental in outsourcing intelligence functions and in trashing the 4th amendment when he was on the government side. Now he is empowering and enriching himself on the private side. Now he's gung ho on the new cyber military command. I've seen him speaks a lot about it before, but now I guess he will be out there saying even more. He always seems super hyped about it, as if he's having the time of his life. It's like everything that we thought we stood for in this country has been just tossed out the window, and with glee. Now if these "trusted partners" make deals at the top levels of the govt and the top levels of the companies (only the heads of agencies and the heads of companies know about them) what kinds of rewards are the CEOs getting? Are they getting information? Government contracts? Things I haven't even imagined? I don't think this is exactly a new thing, but it really does seem to be on steroids now. Who's running the country? With this kind of cooperative power between people who have never been elected, all of them working with taxpayer money, is this a democracy anymore? With all the secrecy, do we have rule of law anymore?
U.S. Agencies Said to Swap Data With Thousands of Firms
Thousands of technology, finance and manufacturing companies are working closely with U.S. national security agencies, providing sensitive information and in return receiving benefits that include access to classified intelligence, four people familiar with the process said.
These programs, whose participants are known as trusted partners, extend far beyond what was revealed by Edward Snowden, a computer technician who did work for the National Security Agency. [...]
Makers of hardware and software, banks, Internet security providers, satellite telecommunications companies and many other companies also participate in the government programs. In some cases, the information gathered may be used not just to defend the nation but to help infiltrate computers of its adversaries.
[...]
Some U.S. telecommunications companies willingly provide intelligence agencies with access to facilities and data offshore that would require a judge’s order if it were done in the U.S., one of the four people said.
A no-fly zone will be next. Well that didn't take long after the humanitarian warrior women, Susan Rice and Samantha Power were announced for their positions. And so, we have yet another war. Will the people have any say in whether they want to wage another war? Will Congess be consulted? I see no sign of it, though we already know that troops have been sent to a base in Jordan and then fighter jets sent a couple of weeks ago. I have no idea who exactly they are going to put into place as a transitional government when Assad is taken out. Do the people of Syria get any say in this either? Apparently not. The "rebels" who are primarily foreign militias funded by foreign countries, are failing badly. The diplomacy trying to bring together a new coalition government for Syria are also failing badly. The conference in Geneva were postponed again. The "rebels" said 'we won't go to the meetings until you provide more military support'.
This NYT article bends over backwards to depict Obama as the reluctant participant in a new war and almost acts like he's got nothing to do with it. They talk about State Dept, and then absurd passages about how Bill Clinton and John McCain want to intervene. This is because the American people want nothing to do with a new war. The last poll I saw gave it about 12% support from the people. And of course, as we start a new war, we've still got the sequester cuts raging, and yet we commit more money to wars that nobody but the imperialists want and the war profiteers. Another remaking of the Middle East in is progress and you can see how well it's going for the Iraqis and the Libyans. It's just interesting to read this article. I don't even have a word to describe it. There's talk about how our Gulf state friends are mad at us, etc. It's just absurd, the whole thing. Onward to Iran. The neocon plans will not be deterred by a supposedly Democratic administration. A big yellow sign "Danger, Clusterfuck Ahead" should be erected.
U.S. Is Said to Plan to Send Weapons to Syrian Rebels
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration, concluding that the troops of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria have used chemical weapons against rebel forces in his country’s civil war, has decided to begin supplying the rebels for the first time with small arms and ammunition, according to American officials.
The officials held out the possibility that the assistance, coordinated by the Central Intelligence Agency, could include antitank weapons, but they said that for now supplying the antiaircraft weapons that rebel commanders have said they sorely need is not under consideration.
[...]
Some senior State Department officials have been pushing for a more aggressive military response, including airstrikes to hit the primary landing strips in Syria that the Assad government uses to launch the chemical weapons attacks, ferry troops around the country and receive shipments of arms from Iran.
Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Sudan, Somalia, and "finishing off" Iran. They are a bit behind schedule, but full steam ahead. And Wes Clark is now involved in some kind of investment fund for the reconstruction of Syria.
General Wesley Clark: Wars Were Planned - Seven Countries In Five Years
Moon of Alabama. Also, I wonder what happened to the accounts of rebels using chemical weapons?
What We DO Know About Chemical Weapons In Syria
Remember that such "high confidence" and "multiple, independent streams of information" were also claimed when the United States attacked Iraq over such claims of chemical weapons. None of the alleged weapons were ever found. The claims were proven false.
The U.S. is trying the same lame trick again. It has provided no evidence but statements from the insurgents for any chemical weapon use by the Syrian army. It provided no explanation why its assessment has changed. This "mushroom cloud" lie is used as an "excuse" to now provide weapons and ammunition to the insurgents. That is another lie. The U.S. had decided on that earlier than it now claims. Over the last months the insurgents received powerful wire guided anti-tank missiles. So many indeed that the Syria weapon watcher Brown Moses tweeted:
The Syrian opposition in the north appears to have wire-guided missiles coming out of their ears.
There IS some evidence that chemical weapon have been used in Syria. But everything we know about them points to their use by the insurgents, not by the Syrian Arab Army.
Pat Lang.
The "Mushroom Shaped Cloud" is called Sarin this time
Ho hum. I guess this means that the warhawks have won the argument inside the BHO Administration.
I thought it would take longer for the influence of Susan Rice and Samantha Power to take effect, and then, there is the pitiful spectacle of John McCain. pl
Wyden and Udall seem to be holding the line while other senators, with the exception of Sanders, are cool with all of it. I guess we'll see in the coming days where they stand.
After Closed Door Meeting, Senators Toe NSA Line
The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee met with officials from the NSA, Justice Department, and the FBI in a closed door briefing Thursday to learn more about the telephone and Internet surveillance programs within the NSA that were revealed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden over the past week.
NSA director Keith Alexander announced that the agency will be making public more information in the coming days about its surveillance programs—in a bid to shape public opinion on the effectiveness and scope of the programs—including the program's success in targeting "terrorists."
Keith Alexander is coming up with the proof of how the surveillance state is keeping us safe. I don't see how they can convince the public, especially after the Boston attacks.
Senators challenge NSA's claim to have foiled 'dozens' of terror attacks
Mark Udall and Ron Wyden – critics of NSA's surveillance – say they want proof that programs have disrupted plots against US
"We have not yet seen any evidence showing that the NSA's dragnet collection of Americans' phone records has produced any uniquely valuable intelligence," they said in a statement released on Thursday ahead of a widely anticipated briefing for US senators about the National Security Agency's activities.
"When you're talking about important liberties that the American people feel strongly about, and you want to have an intelligence program, you've got to make a case for why it provides unique value to the [intelligence] community atop what they can already have," Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, told the Guardian in an interview on Thursday.
[...]
"Gen Alexander's testimony yesterday suggested that the NSA's bulk phone records collection program helped thwart 'dozens' of terrorist attacks, but all of the plots that he mentioned appear to have been identified using other collection methods," Wyden and Udall said in a statement. "The public deserves a clear explanation."
Now that the information Snowden revealed is public, other former NSA whistleblowers can speak more freely and are getting the public attention that they did not receive before. Thomas Drake:
Snowden saw what I saw: surveillance criminally subverting the constitution
So we refused to be part of the NSA's dark blanket. That is why whistleblowers pay the price for being the backstop of democracy
It was made clear to me that the original intent of government was to gain access to all the information it could without regard for constitutional safeguards. "You don't understand," I was told. "We just need the data."
[...]
This executive fiat of 2001 violated not just the fourth amendment, but also Fisa rules at the time, which made it a felony – carrying a penalty of $10,000 and five years in prison for each and every instance. The supposed oversight, combined with enabling legislation – the Fisa court, the congressional committees – is all a kabuki dance, predicated on the national security claim that we need to find a threat. The reality is, they just want it all, period.
So I was there at the very nascent stages, when the government – wilfully and in deepest secrecy – subverted the constitution. All you need to know about so-called oversight is that the NSA was already in violation of the Patriot Act by the time it was signed into law.
Action
Stop Watching Us.
The revelations about the National Security Agency's surveillance apparatus, if true, represent a stunning abuse of our basic rights. We demand the U.S. Congress reveal the full extent of the NSA's spying programs.
Crowd-Fund a Court Stenographer for Bradley Manning's Trial
The trial of Bradley Manning will have an enormous impact on press freedom and the rights of future whistleblowers. Help us crowd-fund enough donations so we can hire a court stenographer to take transcripts of the trial. The government refuses to make its transcripts available to the public.
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