Arming the opposition who kill civilians on the ground in Syria and pursuing an inadequate domestic immigration policy, Rattansi argues will lead to “new MI 5 operations to infiltrate Muslim communities and create more antagonism and inspire more events” similar in grotesque to Woolwich murder.“Foreign Secretary William Hague is completely out of his depth when it comes to Syria. The idea that he is backing the kind of people that hacked the soldier to death,” Rattansi told RT.RT: The man with blood on his hands in the video says ‘the women in our country have to see this every day’. What do you think he meant?Afshin Rattansi: If indeed that is a complete video. It is very interesting that the corporate broadcasters were afraid of broadcasting it, Whitehall sources already spreading the information as far as I understand, the British Broadcasting cooperation not to broadcast that video. I have the full statement actually from that video, so it is not just about warning women not to see it. So for instance, ‘Do you think David Cameron is going to get caught in the street? Do you think it is your politicians that are going to die? No, it is going to be the average guy and your children, so get rid of them. Tell them to bring our troops back so we can all live in peace.’ What a grotesque thing for this man, if indeed it is this suspect responsible for this killing. What a grotesque thing to say because, it is William Hague and David Cameron that are supporting these type of attack theory, people who hack people to death in Syria. So what a confusion, if these two suspects are indeed the men who hacked this British soldier, if he is a British soldier, to death. How confused are these people?RT: To what extent has Britain been prepared for an attack like this to occur? (There have been threats against British soldiers in the UK before.)AR: The problem we have here is that we have a country; the problem as far as the government is concerned is that the entire country does not support the war in Afghanistan, the war in Iraq. It is not being consulted about the tax payer backing the sort of people hacking people to death in Syria. There is no way that the law enforcement officials can protect the country from some an event like this from happening.The way it can do is to forge community relations to not have foreign policy bent on murder and so forth, which has been talked about time and time again. We got to see that in communities like Woolwich, a very poor, although again, this has nothing to do with this action and what is always problematic about outlier incidents as the one in London is that some kind of policy will be made and the absurdity of Cobra, this meeting that the Prime Minister has to coordinate some kind of national terrorism strategy on the basis of this very, very rare event that we have seen on the Streets of Woolwich is in itself very absurd. The real questions were asked around the time of the beginning of the Iraq war.RT: The dead man was reportedly wearing a shirt branded ‘Help for Heroes’ which is a military charity. Does this mean military personnel will be forced to take greater security measures in their own country?AR: Britain is one of the few countries in the world whose soldiers cannot walk freely on the streets of Britain. Many people from abroad when they visit Britain are surprised that British soldiers when they leave their barracks have to change to civvies to walk around. That is the legacy of anti-militarism that is widespread in the society. Although in recent years you began to see soldiers walking around in uniform, but all this man was wearing ‘Help for Heroes’ t-shirt. This channel has been covering in detail the appalling nature of aftercare for ex-servicemen and women by the British government and it is up to private charities and begging bowls to help the aftercare of British soldiers that is what that t-shirt meant. I’m sure people who help the heroes will be planning marches of thousands of people wearing those t-shirts in days to come to show solidarity with those charities that help the servicemen and women.RT: Britain’s PM Cameron is cutting short his trip to Paris to hold an emergency security Cobra session. Is it that serious?AR: I think what is serious about it is that David Cameron and his opposite number Ed Miliband have deliberately tried to put the immigration debate up on political and editorial ladder. They’ve received opposition from UKIP and other parties; even without UKIP, they are looking for a middle swing vote in 2015 election and both Ed Miliband and David Cameron have deliberately been targeting immigration, consequences of which is to make immigrant minorities and the children of immigrants and the grandchildren of immigrants more uneasy.It is simple addition sum. You create austerity, you create austerity Britain, then you create hatred between working class communities of all faiths, all creeds, all colors and you have that type of recipe. And what Cameron and Miliband are trying to do is to get those swing votes of those who want the far right in power. And I’m not going to give publicity to the far right but apparently they had plans for Woolwich, they were tweeting about it within hours after hacking to death of this British soldier.RT: As for Britain’s involvement in supporting Syria’s rebels, as well as military support in the Libyan revolution and campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. Will there be any consideration about how dangerous Britain is being made because of this military action?AR: I think it is clear to most analysts, even those on the conservative benches who fought in wars that the Foreign Secretary William Hague is completely out of his depth when it comes to Syria. The idea that he is backing the kind of people that hack the soldier to death, just being able to say that sentence seems plainly absurd. But it is true that David Cameron and Hague are at the forefront, along with Francois Hollande in Paris, trying to support the rebels that are hacking to death Christians, Muslims, people of no faith at all in Syria. Perhaps it is time for Barack Obama to give them some advice, because certainly the conservative government and the Labor opposition in this country seem to understand in no way how their foreign policy affects things here and affects British interests.RT: Last week, shocking footage emerged of a Syrian rebel reportedly eating the flesh of a murdered army soldier. What are your thoughts about whether such brutal, random, attacks will increase?AR: If those reports that you have put on your channel were as widely broadcast on corporate media channels here and terrestrial channels here in Britain, perhaps the people would have seen how alike the events in Woolwich were to the hacking we saw in the streets, I think it was Homs, but of course this kind of attack has been occurring all over Syria. Except the British government has been supporting people with the machetes. I have to say when I first heard about it and that it was a machete and it was involving knives, and then there was of course the inevitable – they were Islamists, or some connection to Islam, one had to think - was the machete supplied by William Hague? One good thing that I should add is that it leads the identity driven corporate media, terrestrial media are attempting to reinforce in the minds of the British people that 2 billion Muslims, that you can’t judge them by actions of these two people.RT: Do you think the UK government be looking at revising their foreign policy?AR: In no way will they change their foreign policy. They will react completely wrongly just as they did after 07/07, invent new MI 5 operations to infiltrate Muslim communities and create more antagonism and inspire more events, if the past is anything to go by, more tragic terrible violent events like the ones we saw today in Woolwich. … Read More
Obama to hand over some CIA drone operations to Pentagon
News of the president’s alleged plans comes from four US government sources who anonymously spoke to Reuters about the impending shift of duty. The president plans to make a speech at the National Defense University on Thursday, but it is unknown whether or not he intends to bring up plans regarding CIA’s counterterrorism drone program.According to the officials, the president has already made up his mind about allowing the armed forces to conduct future drone operations, but he has not yet publicized these plans. By giving the Pentagon greater responsibility in stages, the president hopes that the military will eventually control drone operations in Pakistan.The shift would allow the CIA to return to its traditional spying operations and intelligence analysis, rather than using its resource to engage in paramilitary activities.But for now, the CIA will continue to control drone operations in Pakistan, where the US military is not engaged and where locals remain angry about the 355 drone strikes that have occurred on their land, according to the New America Foundation.The Pentagon will, however, take over the drone program in Yemen, where the US military is already working in cooperation with local forces to combat terrorism, two of the four sources told Reuters.The Obama administration has allegedly been discussing the shift of responsibility for months. Officials say that the move would lead to greater transparency and congressional oversight of the drone program, which has been heavily scrutinized in the past.To date, the New America Foundation estimates that there have been 355 drone strikes in Pakistan and 66 in Yemen. Sen. Lindsey Graham in February estimated that 4,700 people have been killed in America’s drone war, many of which were innocent civilians. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism in February estimated that the number killed in drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia is between 3,072 and 4,756.The administration claims that CIA drone strikes are only authorized against confirmed terrorist threats, but many believe there is more to the covert operations than they will ever know.“The United States has gone far beyond what the US public – and perhaps even Congress – understands the government has been doing and claiming they have a legal right to so,” Notre Dame Law School professor told McClatchy, claiming that CIA drone operations in Pakistan violate international law.If the Pentagon takes over drone operations, congressional lawmakers would have more of an input on the use of these unmanned aerial vehicles.Last month, three senior US officials told the Daily Beast that the move would “toughen the criteria for drone strikes, strengthen the program’s accountability, and increase transparency.”Jeh Jonson, a former top lawyer for the Pentagon, said in a speech at Fordham University that “the parameters of congressionally authorized armed conflict are transparent to the public, from the words of the congressional authorization itself, and the executive branch’s interpretation of that authorization… lethal force outside the parameters of congressionally authorized armed conflict by the military looks to the public to lack any boundaries, and lends itself to the suspicion that it is an expedient substitute for criminal justice.”It is unclear when the president will announce his alleged plans to shift the drone program, but after last week’s scandals regarding government overreach – including the IRS targeting of conservative organizations and the DOJ investigating Associated Press journalists – Obama may be feeling the pressure to provide greater transparency. … Read More
Bloody confession: Tsarnaev ‘wrote note’ inside boat prior to arrest
The confession specifically named US military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq as motives for the attack, and called the Boston Marathon bombing victims ‘collateral damage’ in the same vein that Muslim civilians had been killed in American led wars, CBS news reports.”When you attack one Muslim, you attack all Muslims,” the note allegedly added. Dzhokhar reportedly declared he did not mourn the death of his older brother Tamerlan – the other suspect in the bombings, who died from injured received during a shootout with police – saying he was already a martyr in paradise. Dzhokhar added that he expected to join his brother in the afterlife. Law enforcement sources told the network the wall the note had been scribbled on was riddled with bullet holes. Police unloaded a volley of shots after Dzhokhar lifted up the tarpaulin, claiming they feared he had another bomb. He had sustained multiple gunshot wounds and was severely bleeding from injuries to his left ear, neck and thigh. Initial reports said his neck wound was possibly from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a botched suicide attempt, though it was later revealed that Dzhokhar was unarmed when captured in Suburban Watertown Massachusetts on April 19. His arrest followed a massive manhunt which brought the greater Boston area to a standstill. Police say the contents of the confession mirror many of the things he communicated to investigators while recovering from his injuries at a hospital several days later. The confession will be admissible in court. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, is currently convalescing in a federal prison hospital in Massachusetts and has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction in the deadly attack which killed three people and injured 264 near the marathon finish line on April 15.If found guilty, he could face the death penalty. … Read More
Suicide bomber targets troops in Afghanistan
http://www.youtube.com/v/-1RTh92dOA0?version=3&f=videos&app=youtube_gdata Visit site: Suicide bomber targets troops in Afghanistan
Syria coalition publishes videos on rules of war
http://www.youtube.com/v/owhH_z8lPQw?version=3&f=videos&app=youtube_gdata See the article here: Syria coalition publishes videos on rules of war
Drone victim: U.S. strikes boost al-Qaida recruitment
On April 17, a 23-year-old Yemeni activist and journalist named Farea Al-Muslimi tweeted about a U.S. drone strike on his village, Wessab, which he describes as “the Yemen capital of misery with its beautiful mountains no one from outside remembers.” In the strike, five alleged members of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) were killed. The U.S. droned Yemen 53 times last year, tripling the number of attacks from 2011, and incurring a civilian casualty rate between 4 to 8.5 percent. On April 23, Al-Muslimi gave stirring testimony at the first U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on the legality of drone wars.In the exclusive conversation below, Al-Muslimi tells Salon about the drone strikes’ devastating toll on Yemeni civilians and how the current U.S. counterterrorism policy in Yemen is like “reading from a manual ’10 Steps on How to Lose a War.’”Continue Reading… … Read More
Iraq violence ‘a war between people and the government’
Over 200 people have been killed in a week of sectarian violence in Iraq. It started out with a deadly firefight in the north, where the military raided a Sunni anti-government protest camp. More than 50 civilians died in the attack last Tuesday.Baghdad has blocked 10 television channels operating in the region, including Al Jazeera, accusing them of promoting violence. With no sign of peace between the Sunni and the ruling Shia communities, Iraq’s Prime Minister warns the state is dragging itself into a civil war.“The situation in Iraq is dire at the moment and it has been since the American Army left the country,” says political analyst and blogger Shwan Zulal.“Even when they were in Iraq it wasn’t perfect. Violence was there even before. But since the US Army left Iraq the current Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki turned more authoritarian and marginalized the other factions – the Sunnis in particular and obviously the Kurds, given all the problems with the Kurds over the oil sharing and constitutional interpretations. So the problem has now moved to a different phase where the Sunni majority has been protesting for the last few months. They’ve been making some legitimate and reasonable demands, but the government has ignored these demands.”History is now repeating itself Zulal says: “Everyone knows what Saddam Hussein did and what were the problems then, but since 2003 the political process in Iraq hasn’t been working. We have the three major factions in Iraq – we have the Kurds, and then we have the sectarian divide between the Sunnis and the Shias. The Sunnis have always been in charge but when in 2003 the Shias took control they in some way tried to marginalize the Sunnis and control them by force. It didn’t work with the Sunnis. We all know what happened in 2003, and now the same thing is happening.”The Iraqi politicians “need to realize that the only way to find a solution and bridge this violence is to sit round the table. But sadly, the Iraqi politicians have proved to be very unreliable. They just can’t agree on anything that is taking the political process forward. So I can’t see how this impasse will be resolved. I’m pessimistic about the outcome of the next few days and the violence is likely to get even worse, because there are various groups who are not willing to do peaceful demonstrations anymore. They declared war on the government,” Zulal says. SOS Iraq coordinator Dirk Adriaensens echoes the London-based expert. “I think the situation in Iraq will go from bad to worse and it’s only the fault of Mr al-Maliki,” he says before adding: “The government should be held to account. After ten years of occupation there are still no basic services. People are randomly arrested, locked up without charge, tortured, women, children and men are being raped. The talk about sectarianism is wrong. These are not sectarian protests. These are protests against the unbearable situation for the Iraqi people. There is poverty, there is unemployment, there is no healthcare, the education system has collapsed.”“I think it’s a war between the people of Iraq and the government. There were elections last week, but one third of the provinces couldn’t vote because of the so-called security reasons. How can this vote be legitimate? Al-Maliki is always talking about unity but he is the one, who forces people into sectarian activities. Iraqi people say it’s not the protesters who go into the streets and plant bombs. The people of Iraq suspect that the government itself and the militias that are linked to the political parties are planting the bombs themselves. I don’t know whether it’s true or false, but I tend to believe it,” Adriaensens argues. … Read More
