17 August 2011 — Information Clearing House

Donors Help Keep Palestinians In Cages
By Charlotte Silver
“Israel besieges us, puts us in cantons – in cages – and the international community is feeding us in these cages.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28858.htm

Neither Ink Nor Air
Did Tenet Hide Key 9/11 Info?
By Ray McGovern
Lying by senior officials is bad enough, and there is now plenty of evidence that former CIA Director George Tenet and his closest agency associates are serial offenders.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28866.htm

How The War is Spun
Mass Killings Mean ‘Progress,’ Military Says
By Kevin Baron
Pentagon officials often spin mass casualty terrorist bombing attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan into signs of progress. After multiple bombings killed more than 80 people across the warzones Sunday and Monday, here’s an example of how the war is spun.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28864.htm

Lessons Of Two Wars
We Will Lose in Iraq and Afghanistan
By Stephen M. Walt
One of the things that gets in the way of conducting good national security policy is a reluctance to call things by their right names and state plainly what is really happening.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28862.htm

Manufacturing Opposition
How America Supports Our So-called Enemies
By Madison Ruppert
To some people, the concept of “full spectrum dominance” is completely foreign. To the upper echelons of the government of the United States, it is a tactic utilized on a regular basis.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28861.htm

Gadhafi Support Soars Amid NATO Bombing
By SCOTT TAYLOR
On a fact-finding trip into Tripoli last week, I saw first-hand that Gadhafi has solidified his control over the capital and most of western Libya.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28867.htm

Obama Looking Like Mussolini
By Sherwood Ross
Obama’s plan is not a peace plan. It is a war plan. Ditto for his attacks on Libya, Pakistan and Yemen.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28859.htm

Is The SEC Covering Up Wall Street Crimes?
By Matt Taibbi
A whistleblower claims that over the past two decades, the agency has destroyed records of thousands of investigations, whitewashing the files of some of the nation’s worst financial criminals.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28869.htm

Looting With The Lights On
By Naomi Klein
We keep hearing England’s riots weren’t political – but looters know that their elites have been committing daylight robbery.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28868.htm

Police State USA
Police Chief Confirms Detaining Photographers
By Greggory Moore
Police Chief Jim McDonnell has confirmed that detaining photographers for taking pictures “with no apparent esthetic value” is within Long Beach Police Department policy.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28863.htm

Welcome To The USA
Kid Dressed as Spiderman Gets Patted Down by TSA
Video
Molestation by TSA at the Austin Airport
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28860.htm

Pretending Ron Paul Doesen’t Exist
By Jon Stewart –
Outstanding video clip that tells the truth about Paul’s massive success in Iowa and beyond, and skewers the corporate media for ignoring the truth.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28857.htm

The Biggest Little Hypocrite in Texas
By Robert Scheer
It is unfathomable that yet another Texas blowhard governor has emerged as a front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28865.htm

What America Needs Most
Rick Perry Promises Universal Hair Care
By Andy Borowitz
Would Establish Cabinet-level ‘Hair Club for America’
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28856.htm

UK: 400k Somali children to die without more aid: –
A British government minister says up to 400,000 Somali children could die of starvation unless urgent action is taken.
http://apne.ws/q8Sk4M

Eight Turkish troops killed in Kurdish ambush: minister:
Kurdish rebels killed eight Turkish soldiers on Wednesday in an ambush in the southeast of the country, Turkey’s defence minister said.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/08/17/eight-turkish-troops-killed-in-kurdish-ambush-minister.html

Iran says killed dozens in push on Kurdish rebels: –
 Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday they had killed dozens of Kurdish rebels in a military campaign that critics say has endangered civilians across the border in Iraq.
http://reut.rs/pPim0q

Syrian troops ‘withdraw’ from key cities:
Convoys of army vehicles were seen leaving Deir ez-Zor after the military cleared the area of “armed terrorist gangs,” SANA, the state-run news agency, reported. Footage showed pictures of crowds chanting and cheering as the soldiers left. But on Wednesday, Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish Foreign Minister said Syrian troops were still in the city.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/08/20118175632478698.html

US calls on Turkey to press Bashar al-Assad to step down:
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Turkey and Saudi Arabia to press Bashar al-Assad to step down. Attending the event together with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta Hillary Clinton called US’ policy toward Libya and Syria “smart power”.
http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=153424

Foreign players mustn’t interfere in dialog in Middle East, North Africa – :
Salehi agreed with Lavrov. “We reject all attempts of non-regional interference and we condemn all instances of interference in the affairs of those countries,” he said.
http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=266628

Russia maintains arms supplies to Syria: weapons chief:
Russia is continuing to supply weapons to Syria despite international pressure to cease trading, the head of the arms export agency told journalists on Wednesday.
http://bit.ly/ri0Y6a

Pepe Escobar : Blood on the Iraqi-Syrian tracks:
What’s next? Turkey invades Syria with help from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization?
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MH17Ak01.html

NATO pledges 5000 troops to Afghanistan:
President Barack Obama won a pledge from NATO allies Saturday to send 5,000 more troops to help in Afghanistan, calling it a “strong down payment” to securing coming national elections and the entire country.
http://arbiteronline.com/2011/08/17/nato-pledges-5000-troops-to-afghanistan/

$360M lost to insurgents, criminals in Afghanistan:
After examining hundreds of combat support and reconstruction contracts in Afghanistan, the U.S military estimates $360 million in U.S. tax dollars has ended up in the hands of people the American-led coalition has spent nearly a decade battling: the Taliban, criminals and power brokers with ties to both.
http://bit.ly/nlvJLa

US firm slammed over Afghan police training:
Audit finds contractor DynCorps failed to provide nearly 60 per cent of the instructors needed to train Afghan police.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/08/20118168280220816.html

Afghanistan: The Worst Place to be a Mother:
After 10 years of occupation by the United States, Afghanistan’s maternal mortality and female life expectancy indicators are the worst in the world.
http://www.alternet.org/world/152018/afghanistan:_the_worst_place_to_be_a_mother_

US to lose its base in Kyrgyzstan:
Kyrgyzstan is not going to prolong its agreement with Washington, which entitles the US to use Manas Transit Center to supply its forces in Afghanistan, after it expires in 2014, the republic’s Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev has said.
http://rt.com/politics/manas-kyrgyzstan-american-base/

Why Pakistani Military Demands a Veto on Drone Strikes:
Such veto power over the conduct of the drone war is a central element in a new Pakistani demand for a formal government-to-government agreement on the terms under which the United States and Pakistan will cooperate against insurgents in Pakistan.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=56873

Suspension of military aid to Pak to continue: US:
US had put on hold military aid to Pakistan worth USD 800 million following Islamabad’s request for a “significant cutback” of American military trainers on its soil.
http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/suspension-of-military-aid-to-pak-to-continue-us-126810

Rebels battle Libyan forces for Zawiya refinery:
Rebels battled Moammar Gadhafi loyalists for control over Libya’s only functioning oil refinery in the western city of Zawiya on Wednesday,
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2011-08-17-libya-refinery-battle_n.htm

Libyan Forces Liberates Key Towns: Is Gadhaffi losing?
Au contraire. In total contradiction to the propaganda push on CNN, sources inside Libya say Gadhaffi soldiers have retaken a number of key towns.
http://bit.ly/qYD6u1

Gadaffi supporters ‘retake Misrata’:
Mr Ibrahim claimed on Monday night that soldiers had fought their way into the centre of the town, which is the third largest in Libya after Tripoli and Benghazi, and were mopping up isolated pockets of insurgents.
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/108347

Libya: Tripoli celebrates the liberation of Misratah:
Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTAUV7m5S2k&feature=player_embedded

Venezuela Makes A Huge Transfer Of Gold From Switzerland To Banks In China, Russia, And Brazil:
Documents released by Venezuala’s foreign minister also mention “the powers of the North” have “pillaged” Libya’s European held reserves and notes a plan should be made to avoid a similar fate.
http://www.businessinsider.com/venezuala-gold-china-russia-england-banks-2011-8

Israel kills 2 Palestinians in Gaza:
The Israeli military killed two Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, one in an airstrike and another as he approached the Gaza “border”, Israeli and Palestinian officials said.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44165385/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/#.TkwHpFuafzw

UN condemns Israel’s housing plans in occupied Palestinian territory:
Voicing great concern at Israel’s recent announcements to advance planning for new housing in Ariel and East Jerusalem in occupied Palestinian territory, the United Nations and its partners in the search for Middle East peace today called the action contrary to international law.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=39310&Cr=Israel&Cr1=

Quartet alarmed by Israel’s settlement plans:
Israel approved on Monday the building of almost 300 new homes in Ariel, a settlement inside the occupied West Bank, taking the total to more than 2,700 new settler homes approved in the past two weeks.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/08/201181619744116760.html

Sleiman tells Abbas Lebanon will back Palestinian statehood:
“Lebanon is committed to the issue of recognizing the state of Palestine at the United Nations and is ready to deploy its potentials to serve it,” President Sleiman said
http://bit.ly/oIEQYr

Hezbollah suspects to be tried over Rafik Hariri:
A UN-backed tribunal has published charges against four suspects in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, and says it has enough evidence to try them. The four, all connected to Hezbollah, were linked to the killing by circumstantial evidence from phone records, an indictment says.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14557594

Israel tells US it won’t apologize to Turkey over Mavi Marmara raid:
“We’re firm on not apologizing,” an Israeli official was separately quoted as saying by Reuters.
http://bit.ly/rbfzzp

Second Tibetan Monk Burns Himself to Death in Protest:
A Tibetan Buddhist monk protesting Chinese policies immolated himself publicly in a Tibetan area of Sichuan Province in southwest China on Monday
http://nyti.ms/nlEp1O

Youths attack police in Sweden overnight:
Swedish police say unrest erupted overnight in Goteborg, the country’s second largest city, as several officers were attacked by youths hurling rocks and Molotov cocktails.
http://apne.ws/nIEOZY

Murdoch: Phone hacking: News of the World reporter’s letter reveals cover-up:
Disgraced royal correspondent Clive Goodman’s letter says phone hacking was ‘widely discussed’ at NoW meetings
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/aug/16/phone-hacking-now-reporter-letter

Computer Hacking May Be News Corp.’s ‘Next Scandal,’ U.K. Lawmaker Says:
Revelations that U.K. tabloid journalists may have graduated to hacking computers in addition to mobile phones may form the next scandal facing Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., a U.K. lawmaker investigating privacy violations by the now-defunct News of the World said.
http://bloom.bg/oOJEEH

The stench of a police state:
The events of the last 12 days are a warning to the working class in Britain and internationally. The state repression and right-wing hysteria unleashed in response to youth rioting in London and other cities reveal the preparations of the ruling class for police-state forms of rule.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/aug2011/pers-a17.shtml

US moral authority undercut by war on terror:
With indefinite detentions, military trials and targeted killings of terror suspects, the Obama team has “actually entrenched the global war framework,” Shamsi said.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/08/17/us-moral-authority-undercut-by-war-on-terror/

Privacy issues hover over police drone use:
The drone technology that has revolutionized warfare in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan is entering the national airspace:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/22/AR2011012204026.html

White House: Need to monitor online ‘extremism’:
A White House terrorism strategy released today says Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks aid in “advancing violent extremist narratives” and should be monitored by the government.
http://cnet.co/oFAm3o

Use of surveillance cameras on the rise:
At City Hall in Daytona Beach last month, Police Chief Mike Chitwood showed off the new “state-of-the art” video surveillance system.
http://bit.ly/oO1CHs

OUTRAGE OF THE DAY: Do You Realize That The Government Is Still Paying Banks Not To Lend…?:
And it’s doing that while screwing average Americans who have been responsible and lived within their means. Huh?
http://www.businessinsider.com/government-paying-banks-not-to-lend-2011-8

Land of the Free, Home of the Poor:
Financial gains over the last decade in the United States have been mostly made at the “tippy-top” of the economic food chain as more people fall out of the middle class. The top 20 percent of Americans now holds 84 percent of U.S. wealth, as Paul Solman found out as part of a Making Sen$e series on economic inequality.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/july-dec11/makingsense_08-16.html

92% of Foreclosures in New York Lack Proper Documents —
Banks Booting People Without Proof?
http://bit.ly/n1bace

A watershed moment for Obama on climate change:
More than a thousand people have signed up to be arrested over two weeks beginning Aug. 20 – the biggest display of civil disobedience in the environmental movement in decades and one of the largest nonviolent direct actions since the World Trade Organization demonstrations in Seattle
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-watershed-moment-for-obama-on-climate-change/2011/08/16/gIQAGX3zJJ_story.html