15 December 2011 — Information Clearing House

“Yankee Go Home”
Iraq Celebrates US Army Withdrawal
By Reuters
Iraqis burned American flags, brandished banners and thronged the streets of the western city of Falluja to celebrate the withdrawal of US troops.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29999.htm

Lest We Forget
Iraqi Lullaby
Video
Vocals by Laura Bush and Mothers of America.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7379.htm

Lest We Forget
Iraqi Girl Tells of US Attack in Haditha
Video
Ten-year-old Iman Walid witnessed the killing of seven members of her family in an attack by American marine.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13452.htm

Lest We Forget
No Bravery
Must Watch 4 Minute Video
A nation blind to their disgrace.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11799.htm

Lest We Forget
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Photo album
Another proud moment in U.S. Military History.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2604.htm

War Corporatism: The New Fascism
2 Minute Video
A look at the dogs of War, Corporatism unleashed upon the world by Bush and the PNAC as stated in the September 2000 document Rebuilding America’s Defenses.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12017.htm

An Interview With John Pilger
‘Journalism, Not Truth, Is The First Casualty of War’
By Karuna John
WAR IS a well-produced reality show. Embedded journalism is the star cast. Yes, there are innocents dying, but why let that interfere with what the boss wants reported?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30002.htm

Lest We Forget
Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media Required Viewing for every citizen in the Free World.
Video
How government and big media businesses cooperate to produce an effective propaganda machine in order to manipulate the opinions of the United States populace.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12972.htm

Putin Accuses US In Murder Of Gaddafi
By AFP
Russia’s Vladimir Putin implicated Washington today in the killing of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi and launched a tirade against Senator John McCain in an extraordinary attack on US policies.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29991.htm

House Passes Sanctions Bill Barring Diplomacy With Iran
By Ali Gharib
No person employed with the United States Government may contact in an official or unofficial capacity any person that…is an agent, instrumentality, or official of, is affiliated with, or is serving as a representative of the Government of Iran.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29993.htm

Military Given Go-ahead To Detain US Terrorist Suspects Without Trial
By Chris McGreal
Barack Obama has abandoned a commitment to veto a new security law that allows the military to indefinitely detain without trial American terrorism suspects arrested on US soil who could then be shipped to Guantánamo Bay.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30000.htm

Congressional Tyranny, White House Surrender
By Ralph Nader
So extreme are these majority Congressional extremists, composed of both Republicans and renegade Democrats, that the Obama Administration has to lecture them about the fundamental American principle that “our military does not patrol our streets.”
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29995.htm

The US Becomes Just Another Military Dictatorship
By Scott Lazarowitz
Even though al Qaeda is virtually non-existent, the Washington imbeciles want to expand and extend the “War on Terror” anyway and include the entire U.S. territory as a “battlefield.”
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29986.htm
 
Welcome to America
“Life, Liberty, & Indefinite Detention Without A Trial”
Video – Warning contains “strong” language
It’s seems that Obama and Congress have finally agreed on something! They support the indefinite detention of American citizens WITHOUT charges or a trial. Hurray! Cheers to cooperation!!
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30001.htm

Bradley Manning Deserves a Medal
By Glenn Greenwald
The prosecution of the whistleblower and alleged WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning is an exercise in intimidation, not justice.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29997.htm

A Reckoning With Reality
By Phil Rockstroh
Witnessing the acts and utterances of Republican presidential candidates can be regarded as a helpful psychological exercise, a type of “exposure therapy” involving the development of methods used to bear the presence of unbearable people who insist on evincing the history of human ignorance, duplicity and insanity.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29996.htm

Democrats May Drop Millionaire Tax In Payroll Tax Fight
By Sam Stein
After months of arguing that millionaires should have to pay their fair share for the costs of the president’s job bill, Democrats are poised to drop a provision that would make them do so.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29998.htm

US Census Shows 1 In 2 People Are Poor Or Low-income
By Hope Yen
Squeezed by rising living costs, a record number of Americans – nearly 1 in 2 – have fallen into poverty or are scraping by on earnings that classify them as low income.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29992.htm

Syria deserters kill at least 27 troops: “activists”: Syrian army deserters killed at least 27 soldiers and members of the security forces during clashes in the southern province of Daraa on Thursday, a “rights group” said.
http://bit.ly/rJYupX

Assad’s sect members come under attack in Syria : A Syrian Alawite centrist political figure said on Tuesday that four of his relatives were shot or kidnapped in sectarian violence threatening to undermine a nine-month pro-democracy uprising.
http://bit.ly/t81qqs

Syrian opposition groups announce alliance in Istanbul: The formerly secretive council, the former diplomat added, is now seeking to coordinate future actions with other opposition groups, and will be operating “under the political umbrella of the Syrian National Council.”
http://bit.ly/sTRykq

Engineering Consent For Attack On Syria:
Syria abuse ordered from the top: A report by Human Rights Watch, based on testimony from 60 army defectors, said 74 commanders and officials had “ordered, authorized, or condoned widespread killings, torture, and unlawful arrests”.
http://www.channel4.com/news/syria-abuse-ordered-from-the-top

UN’s Ban Increasingly Shows Hawkish Side: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon seems to be finding his own hawkish groove, cheering the war in Libya while pushing for escalation elsewhere.
http://bit.ly/tzgLYB

France welcomes Russia move on Syria at UN: The French envoy to the United Nations on Thursday welcomed a resolution proposed by Russia on the Syrian crisis, saying it was “an extraordinary event.”
http://bit.ly/vKzbpS

In case you missed it:
Orwell Rolls in His Grave: Video – “Could a media system, controlled by a few global corporations with the ability to overwhelm all competing voices, be able to turn lies into truth?…”
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13062.htm

NATO Soldier Killed in Insurgent Attack in Afghanistan: “An International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) service member died following an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan, yesterday,” the NATO-led ISAF said in a press release here.
http://english.cri.cn/6966/2011/12/15/2982s671700.htm

Pay up! Pakistan puts price on US cooperation: Pakistan’s decision to impose tax on US and NATO supplies going to Afghanistan through its territory is only a part of a broader package that Pakistan is discussing at the moment, Chris Woods of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism told RT.
http://rt.com/news/pakistan-transit-tax-nato-921/
 
Iran Warns Afghanistan to Stop U.S. Drone Flights:
Any further flights would be regarded as a hostile act, the Iranian foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, said in an interview with Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency. His warning threatened to drag Afghanistan directly into the conflict for the first time.
http://nyti.ms/uCWm8p

U.S. House asks for punitive measures against Iran, Pakistan: The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday evening passed a massive defense bill, asking for sanctions on Iran’s central bank and freezing some aid to Pakistan.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2011-12/15/c_131308103.htm

An Act Of War:
US Senate sanctions Iran’s Central Bank: The Senate voted 100-0 on Thursday for an amendment proposed by the Democrat Senator Robert Menendez and a Republican, Senator Mark Kirk, which would allow the US President Barack Obama to sanction foreign banks engaged in a “significant financial transaction with the Central Bank of Iran,” Reuters reported.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/215889.html

Israel forms special ops command; experts eye Iran: – Israel said on Thursday it was unifying its special forces under one command, a move experts say could help Israel strike countries like Iran, whose nuclear program the Jewish state deems a threat to its existence.
http://yhoo.it/sEesXx

US exit from Iraq: ‘this is not a withdrawal, this is an act on a stage’: The prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, and the president, Jalal Talabani, did not turn up to the ceremony, with uniformed US soldiers belatedly moved into seats carrying the two Iraqi leaders’ names.
http://bit.ly/rWBDZQ

Junkyard Gives Up Secret Accounts of Massacre in Iraq: One by one, the Marines sat down, swore to tell the truth and began to give secret interviews discussing one of the most horrific episodes of America’s time in Iraq: the 2005 massacre by Marines of Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29994.htm

Iraq war ends with a $4 trillion IOU: Veterans’ health care costs to rise sharply over the next 40 years
http://bit.ly/tBLc9T
 
Dictators rely on D.C. front men: Professors and lobbyists tout Central Asia’s autocrats in Washington
http://bit.ly/rPwKHV
 
France’s Jacques Chirac convicted of corruption: As French president, Jacques Chirac was called all sorts of names, not the least for his vociferous opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq. Now, he has a moniker that will stick: convicted criminal.
http://usat.ly/tBskZb
 
Ban online terror material, says new study: SOCIAL networking sites like Facebook and YouTube are being used by terrorist groups to groom vulnerable people, and Australia and its international partners should be limiting extremist propaganda on the internet, a new study says.
http://bit.ly/vewtGp
 
US: Refusal to Veto Detainee Bill A Historic Tragedy for Rights: US President Barack Obama’s apparent decision to not veto a defense spending bill that codifies indefinite detention without trial into US law and expands the military’s role in holding terrorism suspects does enormous damage to the rule of law both in the US and abroad, Human Rights Watch said today
http://bit.ly/udrOtx
 
Congress Authorizes Offensive Military Action in Cyberspace:
“Congress affirms that the Department of Defense has the capability, and upon direction by the President may conduct offensive operations in cyberspace to defend our Nation, allies and interests,” said the FY 2012 defense authorization act that was adopted in conference this week
http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2011/12/offensive_cyber.html
 
In advance of NATO/G-8, Chicago to increase fines for resisting arrest:
Protesters who descend on Chicago for the NATO and G-8 summits would face extraordinary security measures – including dramatically higher fines for resisting arrest, more surveillance cameras and parks and beaches closed until 6 a.m. – under a plan proposed Wednesday by Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
http://bit.ly/ubWhiD
 
‘Dream’ Space Telescope for Military Could Spy Anywhere on Earth: If the U.S. military wants live video of a missile launcher vehicle halfway around the world, it must rely upon spy planes or drones in danger of being shot down. Tomorrow, the Pentagon wants space telescopes hovering in geosynchronous orbit that could take real-time images or live video of any spot on Earth.
http://bit.ly/sWaL4a
 
Caught on camera: Police officer tases schoolgirl, 14, seconds after she puts her hands up: A surveillance video showing a police officer tasering a 14-year-old girl in the groin has been released as part of a lawsuit she has filed against the officer and the city.
http://bit.ly/tSaELj
 
In Unprecedented Move, Canada Withdraws from Kyoto Protocol: Barely 24 hours after it signed a new global climate change agreement in Durban, South Africa, Canada became on Monday the first country to formally withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol, the only legally binding treaty to reduce emissions causing climate change.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=106223