Video: Neocon Petraeus Stakes Out Conflict with Obama over July 2011 Afghanistan Pullout; Lays Foundation for GOP Presidential Draft in 2012

(RussiaToday) – General Petraeus has said he does not plan to run for President, but he is also making remarks that directly contradict Defense Secretary Gates and President Obama on the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. Is there a political motive at play? RT contributor Webster Tarpley said yes! He argued that while Petraeus said he has no current plans to run, this does not mean he does not have an agenda. When push comes to shove Petraeus may be on the ballot, argued Tarpley.

The Charge of the Media Brigade – John Pilger

(InfoClearingHouse) – The TV anchorwoman was conducting a split-screen interview with a journalist who had volunteered to be a witness at the execution of a man on death row in Utah for 25 years. “He had a choice,” said the journalist, “lethal injection or firing squad.” “Wow!” said the anchorwoman. Cue a blizzard of commercials for fast food, teeth whitener, stomach stapling, the new Cadillac. This was followed by the war in Afghanistan presented by a correspondent sweating in a flak jacket. “Hey, it’s hot,” he said on the split screen. “Take care,” said the anchorwoman. “Coming up” was a reality show in which the camera watched a man serving solitary confinement in a prison’s “hell hole.”

World War

(Uruknet) – “Falluja Worse Than Hiroshima “

What exactly happened in Falluja ? What were the kinds of bombs used ? Was it just DU or more ? Read More Here

Palestine

(DesertPeace) – ‘MASTER PLAN’ IMPLEMENTED IN JERUSALEM

Israeli police detained residents of Silwan as bulldozers demolished a horse stable in the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood on 29 June, while other construction vehicles razed a small warehouse to the ground in nearby Abu Tur. Read More Here

(AlJazeera) – Video: Homes in Gaza destroyed by Hamas – View Video Here

(JPost) – ‘Flotilla passengers were tortured’

Further claims included torture by Israeli authorities once the passengers were taken into custody and brought into the Ashdod port. “The participants received physical blows and were subjected to psychological torture,” the report alleged. Read More Here

(DesertPeace) – ISRAEL’S NEW MASTER PLAN

Quietly, Israel is preparing the biggest illegal land grab in recent memory, all on Obama’s watch, writes Khalid Amayreh in Jerusalem Read More Here

(Mondoweiss) – Flotilla fallout: What exactly was the U.S. role?

The Center for Constitutional Rights has filed a Freedom of Information Act request regarding the United States government’s knowledge of, and actions related to, Israel’s attack on the freedom flotilla. CCR attorney Katherine Gallagher explains in a press release: Read More Here

(SouthLebanon) – Mavi Marmara Accounts: Violence, Theft, Abuse

As Israel continues to present its own account of what happened when its navy commandos raided an aid convoy destined to the besieged Gaza Strip and killed nine humanitarian activists aboard one ship, witness accounts of Westerners are emerging that discredit Tel Aviv’s version of events. Read More Here

Iran

(AntiWar) – UK General Blames Pakistan, Iran for Afghan Attacks

According to Maj. Gen. Messenger, the British military has “evidence” that the funding for the IED attacks and even some of the components used in the more advanced such devices are coming through both Pakistan and Iran, with some reports suggesting that the militaries and intelligence communities of those two nations are behind it. Read More Here

(KurtNimmo) – Israel Suspected in Bogus Claim Iran Developing Nuclear Trigger – Read More Here

(AsiaTimes) – Weather clears for a US strike on Iran

Everybody in the region is restless. Turkey is making spectacular diplomatic pirouettes. Egypt is quietly seething, and Saudi Arabia less quietly so. Jordan’s king had ruefully predicted war if no peace was achieved by the summer [1], and summer has now come. Syria and Lebanon are positioning themselves to weather the coming storm [2]. Yemen is in disarray. Russia, China, India, and a host of other powers are vying to make the best of the fracas. The Iranian regime itself appears to be digging in for a fight. Read More Here

Afghanistan

(CNSNews) – June Was Deadliest Month for U.S. Troops in Nine-Year-Long War in Afghanistan – Read More Here

(AsiaTimes) – Counter-insurgency down for the count

United States President Barack Obama’s Afghanistan strategy isn’t working. So said a parade of Afghanistan watchers during the flap over war commander General Stanley McChrystal’s firing. But what does that phrase, so often in the media these days, really mean? And if the strategy really isn’t working, just how can you tell? Read More Here

(AsiaTimes) – ‘Surge” smoke follows Petraeus to Afpak – Read More Here

Video: New York Times Planted Story on Afghan Mineral Wealth Designed to Prolong US Occupation, Spur Neocon-Backed Petraeus Presidential Candidacy

(WebsterTarpley) – To provide a new and spurious economic looting argument for making the US occupation of Afghanistan virtually endless, and to advance the candidacy of General David Petraeus as the principal neocon warmonger candidate for president on the Republican ticket in 2012 – these are the purposes of the story planted in the June 13, 2010 New York Times under the byline of James Risen, who is acting as stenographer for the neocons in the great tradition of his predecessor Judith Miller. In retrospect, this article may well be seen as the opening gun of an overt push to place General Petraeus in the White House in 2012 as the new Field Marshal von Hindenburg.

Establishment Grooms “Outsider” Petraeus for Presidential Bid

(KurtNimmo) – Forget the Tea Party. Forget Ron Paul. Forget untried and unknown independents. America needs a strong leader. It needs an outsider.
“Many voters yearn for an outsider, someone with authenticity, integrity and proven accomplishment. Someone who has not spent their life plotting how to ascend the greasy pole, adjusting every utterance for maximum political advantage,” writes Toby Harnden for the Daily Telegraph. “In this toxic climate, perhaps the only public institution that has increased in prestige in recent years is the American military.”
That outsider is General David Petraeus.

World War

(LewRockwellBlog) – Whom Will Obama Bomb?

According to the latest CNN opinion poll, only 19% of the booboisie like the idea of Obama’s Soviet-style nationalization of the health care industry. The Democrats spat on the Constitution, as they always do, and shoved the thing down our throats. A lot of people are mighty, mighty pi__ed off at this, and will undoubtedly vent by voting a lot of Democrats out of office in November.

So what can we expect the Marxist in the White House to do to prevent a GOP takeover of Congress? Don’t rule out the most tried and true tactic of all — war. The booboisie always rally around the prez when the bombs are dropping from the sky, even if they’re falling on innocent foreign civilians.

(CNN) – Video: Taliban fighters training in Iran, U.S. officials say

Iran is helping train Taliban fighters within its borders, according to U.S. military and intelligence officials. Video Link Here

(ForeignPolicy) – Get Yer Anti-Ballistic Missile Shield Here

Where do sheikhs go shopping? Facing the rising threat of a nuclear-armed Iran, they go to weapons shows like the International Defence Exhibition and Conference, where leaders from Cairo to Riyadh are stocking up. Read More Here

(AFP) – ‘Only rumours’ that Iran making nuclear weapons: Turkish PM

Turkey’s prime minister said Tuesday it was “only rumours” that Iran was making nuclear weapons, stressing the Islamic republic’s right to develop civilian atomic power. Read More Here

(PressTV) – Israel has nukes, but Iran is pressured: Erdogan

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Iran’s nuclear rights should be respected and it is only a rumor that Iran is trying to produce nuclear weapons. Read More Here

(TimesOnline) – Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejects new Obama offer of dialogue as a ‘plot’

Iran’s Supreme Leader yesterday rejected a renewed offer of dialogue with Washington from President Obama, and accused the US of continuing to plot against Tehran while offering peace. Read More Here

(NYTimes) – Iran Unlikely to Develop a Nuclear Weapon This Year, Petraeus Says

Gen. David H. Petraeus said Tuesday that Iran would not develop a nuclear weapon this year, but that the country still remained the greatest threat to stability in the Middle East and Central Asia. Read More Here

(OpenDemocracy) – Venezuela obtains Chinese warplanes for ‘anti-drugs fight’

Chinese J-8 attack jets delivered in Venezuela. Sri Lankan general goes on military trial while supporters protest. Nigerian militants attack city with car bombs. South African youth leader found guilty of hate speech. All this and much more, in today’s security briefing. Read More Here

(PressTV) – US may try Sheehan for anti-war campaign

US authorities have arrested a number of anti-war protesters, including high-profile activist Cindy Sheehan, during a demonstration in Washington DC. Read More Here

Video: Hilary Clinton Threatens Iran With ‘Painful Consequences’

Stating that a nuclear-armed Iran would touch off an arms race in the Middle East and embolden Iran’s “terrorist clientele” to take new actions, Clinton said, “This … is unacceptable to the United States. It is unacceptable to Israel. It is unacceptable to the region and the international community.”

America the Beautiful is Turning into America the Barbarian

(WashingtonsBlog) – Even after General Petraeus joined all of the experts saying that torture doesn’t work, decreases national security, and is bad for our country, the Democrats are scrambling to be as pro-torture as the Republicans.

Yemen: Toward Another US Quagmire

(GlobalResearch) – All the signs point to Yemen being the next target in the US-led “war on terrorism”. The Obama administration seized on the failed attempt by Nigerian student Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to set off a bomb on a US-bound flight on Christmas Day to dispatch the CIA and military trainers to the impoverished country. Pressure is being exerted on Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to intensify military operations against the organisation known as Al Qaeda in South Arabia.

Iran slams US general’s ‘thoughtless’ remarks

(PressTV) – Tehran has moved to dismiss a warning by a top figure in the US military of a series of ‘contingency plans’ in dealing with Iran’s nuclear program.

MSM: Iran can be bombed says General Petraeus

(DailyTel) – Gen David Petraeus, head of Central Command or Centcom, did not elaborate on the plans, but said the military has considered the impacts of any action taken there.

MSM: Iran helping the Taliban, US ambassador claims

(Telegraph) – Iran has been providing weapons and other help to the Taliban, the US ambassador to Afghanistan has claimed.

Law Enforcement Magazine Argues for Counterinsurgency Against Americans

In an article published in the February, 2010, issue of Guns & Weapons for Law Enforcement (a print magazine not available online), Donald J. Mihalek argues that suspected criminals in the United States should be treated the same way “insurgents” are in Iraq.

The Corruption of Empire – Campaign for Liberty

Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz predicted in 2003 that the cost of the Iraq war would be covered by Iraqi oil revenue, which would also pay for reconstruction. The Iraq war has in fact cost the United States more than $900 billion, including more than $145 billion US and Iraqi dollars for rebuilding and local contracting to support US forces. Six years of reconstruction has been a failure, with most projects unfinished or so poorly built that they have been abandoned.

U.S. Uses False Taliban Aid Charge to Pressure Iran

The Barack Obama administration has given new prominence to a Bush administration charge that Iran is providing military training and assistance to the Taliban in Afghanistan, for which no evidence has ever been produced, and which has been discredited by data obtained by IPS from the Pentagon itself.

Obama to ban PoW photos exposing rape, torture

The US administration asks an appeals court to stop the release of prisoner abuse images, showing that Obama has fully backtracked on his promise of transparency.

Video: US violated Geneva Conventions, Bush Iraq commander says

The head of the US Central Command, General David Petraeus, said Friday that the US had violated the Geneva Conventions in a stunning admission from President Bush’s onetime top general in Iraq that the US may have violated international law.

US general says Pakistan could be just two weeks from collapse

There may be just two weeks left to prevent the Taliban from overthrowing Pakistan’s government, Gen David Petraeus, the commander of American forces in the region, has told officials.

MSM: Petraeus Says Israel Might Choose to Attack Iran

(Bloomberg) – Israel might choose to attack Iran to prevent it from developing a nuclear bomb, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East said today.

Welcome to Vietnam, Mr. President

I was wrong. I had been saying that it would be naïve to take too seriously presidential candidate Barack Obama’s rhetoric regarding the need to escalate the war in Afghanistan. I kept thinking to myself that when he got briefed on the history of Afghanistan and the oft proven ability of Afghan “militants” to drive out foreign invaders—from Alexander the Great, to the Persians, the Mongolians, Indians, British, Russians—he would be sure to understand why they call mountainous Afghanistan the “graveyard of empires.”

Afghanistan can become Obama’s Vietnam if he emulates Russians: Bill Clinton

Washington: If the US president attempts to do what the British and the Russians did in the past, then Afghanistan could become ‘Barack Obama’s ‘Vietnam’, but it is unlikely to happen, former president Bill Clinton
has said.