Zero Hedge
Submitted by Tyler Durden
“Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity”
May 222013
The Original N-D-N
May 222013
The Obama administration is handing control of some of its counterterrorism operations that previously fell into the hands of the CIA over to the Pentagon. The controversial drone program used by the CIA to target suspected terrorists has attracted a fair share of criticism as of late, and moving some of its operations over to the Department of Defense will allow Congress to have some oversight. Drone strikes in Yemen will fall into the hands of the Armed Forces while those that occur in Pakistan will continue to be controlled by the CIA.
May 222013
Meanwhile, as the US government’s apparent war on whistle-blowers gathers pace, some media outlets are taking steps to shield their sources. The New Yorker has launched a system that allows people to anonymously submit leaked documents and messages to the magazine.
May 222013
The scandal around the US government spying on journalists appears to be spreading. In the latest twist it’s been revealed that personal phone records and e-mails of a Fox News reporter were seized as part of a leak investigation. This latest incident comes hot on the heels of an Associated Press wiretapping scandal, when members of staff had their calls and e-mails monitored. RT’s Washington correspondent Gayane Chichakyan looks at the implications, that these cases might have for journalism in America. And RT news editor, Ivor Crotty, explains why there’s a fear the US government’s war on whistleblowers might go much further.
May 222013
A US Senate committee has voted for a bill to arm the Syrian rebels, who are trying to topple President Assad’s regime. It’s the first time in two years of the ongoing civil war that America’s lawmakers have agreed to give the battling opposition lethal support. However the bill still has a long way to go, before it could come into force. Author and historian Gerald Horne believes Washington has learned nothing from its past mistakes.
May 222013
The Obama administration formally admits to killing four American citizens with drone strikes in a letter to Congressional leaders. The announcement comes a day before President Obama is set to deliver a major national security speech that many expect will outline an counter-terrorism strategy.
May 222013
Kathleen McClellan: Some former Bush administration officials were quoted as saying, we’d never be able to get away with what the Obama administration has done
May 222013
TRANSCRIPT AND SOURCES: http://www.corbettreport.com/?p=7389
The tyrants of our modern age are smart enough not to declare themselves to be tyrants. They simply don’t follow the rules that have been set for the common citizens. The other smart move that they have made is that the real tyrants don’t put themselves in the supposed positions of power. Does anyone really believe that the President is the top of the food chain in Washington? But if the political puppets aren’t the tyrants, then who are? The ones who can’t get prosecuted for their crimes, obviously.
May 222013
Abby Martin Breaks the Set on Media Propaganda, War on Terror, Civil Liberties and more with Dr. Noam Chomsky
EPISODE BREAKDOWN: On this episode of Breaking the Set, Abby Martin talks to Dr. Noam Chomsky, philosopher, linguist, professor, political critic, and author of over 100 books, about the Boston bombings, US terror inflicted abroad, drones, Obama’s rebranding of Bush administration policies, the National Defense Authorization Act & Holder v. Humanitarian Law, conventional wisdom, the evolution of media propaganda, and education as a form of elite indoctrination.
May 222013
Zero Hedge
Submitted by Tyler Durden
In a letter to Congress (below), AG Eric Holder admitted that the administration deliberately killed American Anwar al-Awlaki (the radical Muslim cleric) in a drone strike in September 2011 adding, as the NY Times reports, “the decision to target Anwar al-Awlaki was lawful, it was considered, and it was just.” As RT notes, there was collateral damage, as it has been widely reported but rarely acknowledged in Washington that two other US citizens – Samir Khan, and al-Awlaki’s teenage son, Abdulrahman al-Awlaki – were executed in that same Yemen strike. With Holder’s latest admission, however, a fourth American – Jude Mohammed – has also been officially named a casualty of America’s continuing drone war; bringing the total ‘known’ Americans killed under the US Drone War to 4 since 2009.