21 December 2012 — Information Clearing House
House Approves Bill Authorizing $633 Billion in War Spending
By David Alexander Reuters
The Republican-controlled House approved the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act by a vote of 315-107.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article33406.htm
U.S. Supported Syria Rebels Shoot at Civilian Passanger Plane
By Reuters
“We wanted to send a message to the regime that all their planes – military and civilian – are within our reach.”
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article33402.htm
UN Admits Syria Wracked by Sectarian Civil War: Report
By Chris Marsden
The report is a devastating indictment of the United States and other western powers, who have worked with Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar to depose of Bashar al-Assad by recruiting and aiding a Sunni insurgency overwhelmingly made up of Muslim Brotherhood supporters, Salafist and Al Qaeda-style groups.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article33400.htm
Obama Nominates Kerry to be Secretary of State
John Kerry: Strengthening Israel’s security
By The Jewish Journal
John Kerry has been at the forefront of the fight for Israel‘s security during his nineteen years in the US Senate. His pro-Israel voting record is second to none.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article33407.htm
Why The Washington Post Killed The Story Of Murdoch’s Bid To Buy The US Presidency
By Jonathan Cook
“The Murdoch story – his corruption of essential democratic institutions on both sides of the Atlantic – is one of the most important and far-reaching political/cultural stories of the past 30 years, an ongoing tale without equal.”
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article33403.htm
NRA Wants Guns in Every School
Anti-gun Protests Interrupt NRA Event
Video
NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre’s remarks at a Friday morning press conference were upstaged by a man holding up a red fabric sign, on which it was painted in white letters, “NRA killing our kids.”
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article33401.htm
“Americans Kill People”: Michael Moore
Video By Democracy Now
“I really believe that even if we had better gun control laws and better mental health, that we would still be the sort of sick and twisted, violent people that we’ve been for hundreds of years, that it’s something that’s just in our craw, just in our DNA.”
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article33404.htm
Forecast: 13.1% Of US Workers To Be Jobless in 2013
By David Walsh
This figure for 2011 contrasts sharply with the official annual jobless rate of 8.9 percent.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article33404.htm
Fighting Kills 39 People in Kenya: 39 people, many of them children, were killed and scores of others were seriously injured on Friday in renewed attacks along the coastal Tana River delta, Kenyan police officials said.
Four die after Benghazi protest turns violent: Four people were killed on Thursday when a protest outside a base for security forces in eastern Libya turned violent less than a week after suspected militants killed four policemen at the same compound.
Blackwater Wins the Battle of Benghazi: U.S. embassy security in the post-Benghazi era is shaping up to be a financial bonanza for security contractors.
AFRICOM announces it will have rapid reaction force: In response to a question during a recent speech at George Washington University, AFRICOM boss Gen. Carter Ham said his command is now outfitted with a new capability.
4 killed after UN helicopter shot down in South Sudan: South Sudan’s armed forces shot down a U.N. helicopter on Friday and all four crew on board died, the United Nations said.
UN approves military force to combat Islamist terrorists in Mali: The UN Security Council has given the green light for the use of military force to combat Islamist terrorists in northern Mali. The Council said that the 3,300 troops will use “all necessary measures” to pacify the northern territories
http://rt.com/news/mali-un-intervention-council-534/
Rebels in Central African Republic take 7th town: Rebels in Central African Republic seized another town in their rapid offensive Thursday, residents said, moving to within about 400 kilometers (250 miles) of the capital as the rebels said they were ready for negotiations with the government.
Violence erupts at rally in Egypt: An Islamic rally outside a mosque in Alexandria, Egypt, turned violent Friday and police used tear gas to break up rival groups. Some people were injured.
11 killed near Pak-Iran border: At least eleven people have been killed near Pakistan-Iran border in Balochistan’s Gawadar district while trying to illegally cross into neighbouring Iran in two vehicles , Geo News reported Saturday.
US Kills 4 People in Pakistan : A house was targeted in the Hisukhel area of Mir Ali — about 15.5 miles east of Miramshah, the main town in North Waziristan, Dawn News reported.
Revealed: U.S. carried out 333 drone strikes in Afghanistan this year alone: The United States carried out more drone strikes in Afghanistan this year than it has done in all the years put together in Pakistan since it launched the covert air war there eight years ago, it has been revealed.
Insider attacks and public rejection, these are the reasons the UK is withdrawing from Afghanistan: Op-Ed: An Afghanistan veteran who refused a second tour says maybe now our politicians can accept this war is lost – and its cost, as ever, too high
US Marine reduced to lower rank and fined for urinating on dead Afghans: Staff Sgt Joseph W. Chamblin pleaded guilty to charges of wrongful desecration, failure to properly supervise junior Marines and posing for photographs with battlefield casualties.
Iraqi army kill Al-Qaeda”s . Baghdad commander: The Iraqi army killed Al-Qaeda commander in southern Baghdad in an operation carried out in the city of Mosul, northern Iraq, a military officer said Friday.
Iraqi finance minister’s guards arrested for ‘terrorism’: Nine of the Iraqi finance minister’s guards are being held on terrorism charges, a judicial spokesman said yesterday, after the minister demanded the premier’s resignation following their arrest.
Reports Calls Conflict in Syria Mostly Sectarian: A report released by a committee from the United Nations Human Rights Council claims that the conflict has spun so far out of control since March 2011 that it is now “overtly sectarian in nature.”
Syrian rebel infighting could take dangerous turn if Assad falls: If President Bashar al-Assad falls and the disparate Syrian opposition groups lose their common enemy, their ranks will likely fracture – perhaps violently.
Amman warns: Jihadists hijacking Syria revolution, may target Israel, Jordan next: In Jordan there has been heavy criticism of another neighbor of Syria – Turkey, which has allowed fanatics to accumulate strength and ammunition at the expense of moderate and secular rebel groups.
Syrian rebels denounce peace initiative:
Syria‘s main opposition group denounced on Friday an Iranian peace initiative for the war-torn country as a last-ditch bid save the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
Iran’s six-point plan to help resolve the Syrian crisis: Iran’s proposed plan calls for an immediate end to violence and a start of the national dialogue.: The third step is to create a reconciliation government and provide humanitarian aid to the people of Syria. The next step is releasing prisoners, who have not committed a crime against Syrians. And the final point is to allow media’s full access to Syria.
http://en.trend.az/regions/iran/2101893.html
Britain gives more aid to Syrians, might arm opposition: official: UK’s assistance to Syria so far has been non-lethal but it is pushing for a relaxation of an EU arms embargo that could allow for weapons to be sent to opposition groups in Syria.
Anti-Nato protest marches in fear of turning ‘Turkey into a battlefield’: “The occupation by murderous Nato has started,” the Union of Turkish Youths (TGB), the youth arm of the nationalist Workers’ Party, a small Turkish party, said.
Palestinian refugees reclaim Syrian camp: Palestinian refugees streamed back into their camp in Damascus on Friday after a reported deal to keep it out of Syria‘s conflict, following fierce clashes earlier this week.
Five Palestinians wounded by IDF in occupied Gaza : Israel Occupation Force troops patrolling the fence with the Gaza strip on Friday shot and wounded five Palestinians who were in an area on the Gaza side which Israel deems off limits, the IDF and Gaza medics said.
Palestinian officials say they plan to isolate Israel: A number of Palestinian officials say they are planning to take tough steps including filing war crimes charges against Israeli officials, staging West Bank demonstrations, and encouraging sanctions after elections in January.
66% of Israelis oppose Palestinian state in occupied W. Bank: poll: Just over half — or 51 percent — said they would support building new illegal settler homes in a highly sensitive area of the West Bank called E1, which lies between occupied east Jerusalem and the nearby Maaleh Adumim settlement.
AIPAC Wins:
Obama nominates John Kerry as next secretary of state: Massachusetts senator to replace outgoing Hillary Clinton as head of State Department
U.S. House approves sweeping $633 billion defense war spending bill: The bill also stripped out an amendment sponsored by Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein and Republican Mike Lee that was designed to limit the president’s power to indefinitely detain US citizens as terror suspects.
Russia: Duma gives first nod on foreign property ban for state officials and their families: Russia’s Lower House approved the first reading of a bill that forbids a broad circle of civil servants and state officials as well as their spouses and underage children to own property abroad.
Public fury over New Delhi gang rape sparks protest across India:” The 23-year-old woman is battling for her life in hospital after she was beaten, gang-raped for almost an hour and thrown out of a moving bus on a busy street of the capital last Sunday.
Facebook to sell access to your inbox for a dollar at a time: The social networking website has introduced a fee, believed to be $1, to guarantee that messages are routed to a recipient’s ‘inbox’ and not their ‘other’ folder, where they are likely to be ignored.
Millions Face a Hit if Fix for Minimum Tax Fails to Pass: Buried within the mass of tax and spending provisions known as the fiscal cliff is a problem that could cause grief for taxpayers and the Internal Revenue Service.
Cost Of War
Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered In US War And Occupation Of Iraq “1,455,590“
Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In America’s War On Iraq: 4,883
Number Of International Occupation Force Troops Slaughtered In Afghanistan : 3,243
Cost of War in Iraq & Afghanistan
Total Cost of Wars Since 2001
$1,405,253,994,658
