Glenn Greenwald being interviewed on CBC TV Canada re: Julian Assange as a hero fighting the Status Quo of the Government and Media elites or as Public Enemy Number 1. So much for Obama's claim to want more transparency and outing the lies and propaganda fed to the public by the government and their media enablers.
Here's just one of the reasons those in power and their media enablers in the West are out to get Julian Assange of Wikileaks who did the unthinkable ie revealing the cynical ugly underbelly of the American Empire and its quisling allies.
Torture & Execution Widespread In Iraq While U.S. & U.K. Military Officials Look The Other way
US and British Military and their allies murder innocent civilians with impunity and yet the public and media are instead gunning for Julian Assange and not the generals and politicians and MSM who cover up the massacres , torture , abuse, assassinations and the use of death squads in Iraq, Afhanistan and Pakistan etc.
So What Happened to Obama's call for change when in fact little has changed as his military drops bombs attacks wedding parties, birthday parties in these countries all in the name of spreading freedom??? Democracy??? Capitalism and a free market and Evangelical Christianity. "Different day Same Shit".
In this video US military takes the advice to heart of Ann Coulter , Sara Palin and other wacky characters who say "invade their countries, Convert them all to Christianity or just Kill them all"
WikiLeaks leaked video of US Military killing civilians PART 1
UPDATE: 12:40 Friday Dec. 3,2010
"In War the first casualty is truth"
Julian Assange receives death threats from USA Media and Government and from wingnuts such as Sara Palin!!! American sound like the former Soviet Union in dealing with dissidents and foreign critics. So if Assange is murdered , assassinated or dies suddenly of a heart attack or from some rigged accident we know who to blame. Like Salaman Rushdie- Assange is being demonized for embarrassing the Political and military establishment.
America once again shows its disdain for free speech when that speech is critical of the USA . The murder of over a million Iraqis and the abuse and torture of thousands of mostly innocent people by US military is of no concern for Pres. Obama and the previous administration so they focus all their vitriol on Julian Assange and Wikileaks. The American propaganda machine is working around the clock to further demonize and isolate Public Enemy no. 1- Julian Assange. Meanwhile the members of the former Bush regime who committed War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity are permitted to go free and are allowed to cash-in on their experiences through lecture tours and publishing books as they are awarded for their High Crimes and treasonous actions.
GOP & Pres. Obama & US media calling for the arrest, trial and execution of Julian Assange for revealing so called "State Secrets"
After going after Assange will they then target any news agency which has reproduced any files that Wikileaks made public next will they go after anyone on the Internet who have a large audience /readers etc. who dares defend Wikileaks or criticizes American foreign policy and its ongoing disastrous War On Terror???
Americans using Julian Assange as a scape-goat for America's foreign policies failures.
WikiLeaks' Julian Assange 'taking precautions' after death threats Dec.03,2010 Telegraph.UK
Mr Assange is under intense scrutiny worldwide after his website began releasing a selection of more than 250,000 classified US diplomatic cables passed to the whistle-blowing website.
Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice-presidential candidate, has called for him to be hunted down like the al-Qaeda leadership while other members of her party have directly called for a capital sentence against WikiLeaks personnel.
"The threats against our lives are a matter of public record," Mr Assange said in a Q & A on the Guardian website. "However, we are taking the appropriate precautions to the degree that we are able when dealing with a superpower."
Julian Assange head of Wikileaks releases documents revealing the truth about what the US government and its quisling allies have been hiding from the public:
Revelations or just confirming what many already new
Britain agreed to cover up to protect the Americans at Inquiry into the governments case for invading Iraq and the conduct of both armies in Iraq and Afghanistan - torture, massacres , little regard for the lives of civilians , responding to attacks with all out take no prisoners attitude crushing entire cities such as Fallujah and Basra .
USA Supported the Military Coup in Honduras ousting the legally elected president .
USA kowtows to the Israeli government and is told to attack Iran or they will do it.
USA covers up the bombing of civilians in Yemen
USA more interested in shutting down Julian Asange and Wikileaks than they are in capturing Bin Laden.
Obama's shows the continuity in successive governments adhering to the status quo in foreign affairs and its hyped up war mongering as they once again have demonized Iran and North Korea that eventually in order to save face they will be compelled to act.
Contrary to the government's and the media's propaganda and lies Iran is not the imminent threat that they have been claiming. There is no proof of Iran building nuclear weapons or having the capacity to launch a war head to the USA or Europe .
Hilary Clinton is accused of using her position to also spy on the nations she visited-so much for the old "Good Will Tour" America's own Eva Peron or Amelda Marcos.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wikileaks Cable Corroborates Amnesty International’s Finding of a U.S. Missile Strike in Yemen that Killed Dozens of Civilians, Human Rights Group Says .Cable Indicates Yemen’s President Promises General Petraeus to Continue Saying the Bombs “Are Ours, Not Yours” December 1, 2010
CONTACT: Amnesty International
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7413 5566
After hours: +44 7778 472 126
Email: press@amnesty.org
WASHINGTON - December 1 - A leaked diplomatic cable has corroborated images released earlier this year by Amnesty International showing that the U.S. military carried out a missile strike in south Yemen in December 2009 that killed dozens of local residents.
In the secret cable from January 2010 published by the organization Wikileaks, Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh is reported as having assured U.S. General David Petraeus that his government would "continue saying the bombs are ours, not yours".
According to the cable, this prompted Yemeni Deputy Prime Minister Rashad al-‘Alimi " to joke that he had just ‘lied' by telling Parliament that the bombs in Arhab, Abyan, and Shebwa were American-made but deployed by the ROYG [Republic of Yemen Government]".
"The cable appears to confirm Amnesty International's finding that the Abyan strike was carried out by the US military, not Yemeni government forces," said Philip Luther, Amnesty International's Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
An alleged al-Qa'ida training camp at al-Ma'jalah, Abyan, was hit by a cruise missile on December 17, 2009. A Yemeni parliamentary inquiry found that 41 local residents, including 14 women and 21 children, and 14 alleged al-Qa'ida members were killed in the attack. In the January 4 cable, General Petraeus is recorded as saying that the attack had caused the deaths of "only" three "civilians".
Amnesty International provided the media with photographs of the aftermath of the Abyan strike in June this year, including remnants of U.S.-sourced cluster munitions and the Tomahawk cruise missiles used to deliver them. The organization had requested information from the Pentagon about the involvement of U.S. forces in the al-Ma'jalah attack, and what precautions may have been taken to minimize deaths and injuries.
The U.S. government did not respond to Amnesty International, but a press report the day after the images were released quoted a Pentagon spokesman as saying that the U.S. declined to comment on the strike and that questions on operations against al-Qa'ida should be posed to the Yemeni government.
"There must be an immediate investigation into the dozens of deaths of local residents in the Abyan air strike, including the extent of U.S. involvement," said Amnesty International's Philip Luther. "Those responsible for unlawful killings must be brought to justice."
The "Arhab" strike referred to in the secret cable was carried out on 17 December 2009 and the "Shebwa" strike on December 24, 2009. The Yemeni government insisted at the time that their forces had carried out all three attacks, which were meant to target al-Qai'da in the Arabian Peninsula.
In the leaked cable, President Saleh is said to have suggested that targeted aerial attacks were preferable to those by cruise missiles, which were "not very accurate," and to have expressed anxiety about the level of civilian casualties caused.
President Saleh agreed to have U.S. fixed-wing bombers circle outside Yemeni territory ready to engage targets "should actionable intelligence become available," according to the cable, and also requested that the United States provide 12 armed helicopters and train and equip three new Republican Guard brigades, totalling 9,000 soldiers. He complained that Yemeni forces had not yet received the necessary training to operate 17 "Iraqi" light armored vehicles provided by the U.S. government in 2008.
The leaked cable says that U.S. security assistance to Yemen would substantially increase from (U.S.) $67 million in 2009 to (U.S.) $150 million in 2010, including $45 million to equip and train an aviation regiment under the Yemeni Special Operations Forces. The United States told President Saleh that two fully equipped 87-foot patrol boats destined for the Yemeni coast guard were under construction and would arrive in Yemen within a year.
U.S. forces are also alleged to have used unmanned aerial drones in Yemen in efforts to kill suspected leading al-Qa'ida members. An attack in May 2010, which apparently killed in error a key mediator between the Yemeni government and al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula, was said by some sources to have been carried out from an unmanned drone.
Yemen's Foreign Affairs Minister later said the government would investigate whether drones were used in the attack and, if so, whether they were used by Yemeni security forces or others, such as the United States. Amnesty International is not aware that the results of the investigation were disclosed.
Amnesty International has called on the U.S. government to:
* investigate the serious allegations of the use of drones by U.S. forces for targeted killings of individuals in Yemen and clarify the chain of command and rules governing the use of such drones;
* ensure that all U.S. military and security support given to Yemen, and all U.S. military and security operations carried out in Yemen, adhere to relevant international human rights law and standards
To view the cable detail, please visit: http://cablegate.wikileaks.org/cable/2010/01/10SANAA4.html
and another bulletin from the ACLU warning the Obama administration against prosecuting Julian Asange- its unconstitutionality freedom of Speech , freedom of the press,Jurisdiction and International Law.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Prosecuting WikiLeaks for Publishing Documents Would Raise Serious Constitutional Concerns, Says ACLU, Dec. 1, 2010
- According to news reports, the government is looking into whether it could prosecute WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange under the Espionage Act for publishing classified government documents he obtained from a third party. WikiLeaks, along with multiple news outlets, published thousands of pages of U.S. diplomatic cables on Sunday. The American Civil Liberties Union said that prosecuting WikiLeaks would have serious First Amendment implications.
The following can be attributed to Hina Shamsi, Director of the ACLU National Security Project:
"We're deeply skeptical that prosecuting WikiLeaks would be constitutional, or a good idea. The courts have made clear that the First Amendment protects independent third parties who publish classified information. Prosecuting WikiLeaks would be no different from prosecuting the media outlets that also published classified documents. If newspapers could be held criminally liable for publishing leaked information about government practices, we might never have found out about the CIA's secret prisons or the government spying on innocent Americans. Prosecuting publishers of classified information threatens investigative journalism that is necessary to an informed public debate about government conduct, and that is an unthinkable outcome.
"The broader lesson of the WikiLeaks phenomenon is that President Obama should recommit to the ideals of transparency he invoked at the beginning of his presidency. The American public should not have to depend on leaks to the news media and on whistleblowers to know what the government is up to."
###
The ACLU conserves America's original civic values working in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in the United States by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
Suggested reading on Iran:
A History of Iran: Empire of the Mind by Michael Axworthy ,pub. 2008
The Iranians : Persia , Islam and the Soul of a Nation by Sandra Mackey, pub. 1996.
The New Crusades: Constructing The Muslim Enemy edited by Emran Qureshi & michael A. Sells , pub. 2003.
The Future of Islam by John L. Esposito ,pub. 2010.
God's Crucible : Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215 AD by David Levering Lewis , pub. 2008.
How to Win A Cosmic War: God, Globalization And The End Of The War On Terror by Reza Aslan, pub. 2009.
-Terror and Civilization :Christianity,Politics, And The Western Psyche by Shadia B. Drury, pub. 2004.
-The Political Ideas Of Leo Strauss, by Shadia B. Drury , pub. 2005.( Neoconservatives propaganda, perpetual war and the Big Lie)
For more see Bibliography page .
and so it goes,
GORD.
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