Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/10/21-2

Remember Falluja? That city in central Iraq was the scene of two furious attacks in 2004 by American Marines. That spring, they went on a bombing, shooting rampage to avenge the murder and mutilation of four American mercenaries. Instead of targeting the estimated 2,000 insurgents, the Marines almost leveled the city of 300,000, without conquering it. Seven months later, they attacked again with artillery and bombs in what was described as the bloodiest urban warfare involving Americans since the Vietnam War.

Link: http://www.dailypaul.com/259752/obama-and-romney-war-no-matter-who-wins-election

Once again emphasizing there is no fundamental difference between Obama and Romney when it comes to attacking Iran, the American Jewish Committee has published the answers to a questionnaire sent to the candidates. From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency website: “I am prepared to use all elements of American power” to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, Obama said in the questionnaires released Oct. 18 by the AJC, “including a political effort to further isolate Iran, a diplomatic effort to sustain our coalition, an economic effort that has imposed crippling sanctions, and a military effort to be prepared for any contingency.”

Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/9623570/White-House-rejects-one-on-one-talks-with-Iran-report.html

The White House dismissed reports a deal had been reached for one-on-one nuclear talks with Iran but said it was still working on a "diplomatic solution".

Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/10/19/267494/russia-warns-nato-of-unpleasant-response/

Russia has warned that it may deliver an unpleasant “technical response” to NATO over the planned deployment of a NATO missile system in Europe. "The Russian response is currently mostly virtual, political, and diplomatic in character, but under certain circumstances we would be forced to deliver a technical response, which I don't think you'll like," UPI quoted Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin as saying at a meeting with NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Moscow on Thursday.

Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2220828/US-drone-attacks-CIA-chiefs-face-arrest-horrific-evidence-bloody-video-game-sorties.html

A damning dossier assembled from exhaustive research into the strikes’ targets sets out in heartbreaking detail the deaths of teachers, students and Pakistani policemen. It also describes how bereaved relatives are forced to gather their loved ones’ dismembered body parts in the aftermath of strikes.

Link: http://www.activistpost.com/2012/10/the-fall-of-america-and-rise-in-spirit.html

Many well-meaning people now scorn core American values. These are individuals who have been indoctrinated into accepting the perceived social 'norms.' They have been so psychologically programmed into the corporate fascist society they have never really considered deeper moral questions of why they stand for what they do; or how their positions and beliefs measure up historically.

Link: http://www.voltairenet.org/article176279.html

In U.S. war films, the American soldier fighting in a strange land befriends a local child, creating a personal bond of humanity, while busily killing scores of the kid?s adult countrymen. American corporate media perform much the same sick exercise, identifying children among the ?worthy victims? of the other side in U.S. foreign wars. Children deemed unworthy of American sympathy are left to the tender mercies of drones.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2012/oct2012/syri-o18.shtml

Despite widely reported concerns of blowback in Syria due to the arming of jihadist groups, a military build-up on Syria’s borders is proceeding apace. Racep Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamist government in Turkey is leading the way, using the pretext of stray mortar fire from Syria that killed five civilians to legitimise the deployment of 250 tanks, jets, helicopter gunships, troops, artillery emplacements and antiaircraft batteries on the border.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2012/oct2012/afgh-o18.shtml

Washington is holding talks to arrange for the continued occupation of Afghanistan by tens of thousands of US troops after the ostensible deadline for withdrawal at the end of 2014. The ongoing negotiations in Kabul are aimed at ironing out an agreement that will determine “how we manage our forces going forward in Afghanistan” after the 2014 deadline, Marc Grossman, the US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, told a conference in Washington Tuesday.

Link: http://truth-out.org/news/item/12171-sold-into-a-piece-of-hell-a-death-of-innocence-at-gitmo

Adnan Latif(Photo: Wikipedia)Sold for a $5,000 bounty, Adnan Latif was among the first prisoners detained at Guantanamo. A federal judge and two presidential administrations said he didn't belong there. A decade later he left in a box - and no one will say why.

Link: http://www.hrw.org/reports/2012/10/16/death-dictator-0

This 58-page report details the final hours of Muammar Gaddafi’s life and the circumstances under which he was killed. It presents evidence that Misrata-based militias captured and disarmed members of the Gaddafi convoy and, after bringing them under their total control, subjected them to brutal beatings. They then executed at least 66 captured members of the convoy at the nearby Mahari Hotel. The evidence indicates that opposition militias took Gaddafi’s wounded son Mutassim from Sirte to Misrata and killed him there. Under the laws of war, the killing of captured combatants is a war crime, and Libyan civilian and military authorities have an obligation to investigate war crimes and other violations of international humanitarian law.

Link: http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-nobel-war-prize/5308582

The Nobel Committee did it again. The essence of its highest award, the Nobel Peace Prize, has been perverted. It’s been turned into a propaganda tool, a form of institutionalized revisionism, for which war is upheld as a peaceful endeavour, creeping alongside power struggles called “humanitarian interventions” in a fantasy tale we call history.

Link: http://rt.com/news/arms-syria-rebels-jihadists-535/

Most of the arms funneled to Syrian rebels reportedly end up in the hands of hardline Islamist extremists, including those affiliated with Al-Qaeda. There is no way of vetting rebel groups to bolster only those with more secular views.

Link: http://rt.com/usa/news/us-debt-collector-disabled-veteran-372/

“If you would have served our country better you would not be a disabled veteran living off Social Security while the rest of us honest Americans work our asses off,” one of the agency’s debt collectors allegedly told the vet. “Too bad, you should have died.”

Link: http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/foreign-policy/item/13189-without-asking-congress-obama-puts-us-troops-on-syria-border

The Obama administration has now publicly announced that it deployed U.S. troops near the Syrian border in neighboring Jordan without ever seeking congressional permission, supposedly in an effort to help the Jordanian government deal with refugees from Syria while ensuring that the civil war does not spill over into the broader region. Concerns about chemical and biological weapons falling into the “wrong hands” were also cited to justify the latest deployment, but some lawmakers are upset, warning that the U.S. is now even closer to overt military intervention in Syria.

Link: http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/10/09/3108806/religious-leaders-call-on-congress-to-reevaulate-military-aid-to-israel

Fifteen leaders of U.S. churches and other faith-based organizations have asked Congress to reevaluate U.S. military aid to Israel. The religious leaders sent a letter to Congress members on Monday, calling for an investigation into possible violations by Israel of the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act and the U.S. Arms Export Control Act, which would make Israel ineligible for U.S. military aid.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2012/oct2012/pers-o06.shtml

Even as the Obama administration continues the American military build-up in preparation for attacking Iran, the criminal character of its foreign policy is exposed by the social devastation being wrought by the sanctions regime imposed on the country. The US and its allies are already waging an economic war on Iran that is producing hyperinflation, rapidly rising unemployment and immense hardship for millions of working people.

Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/10/05/265079/russia-slams-us-drone-strikes-in-pakistan/

It is not right to violate the sovereignty and integrity of any state. We fully support Pakistan’s stance.” Russia has put its weight behind Islamabad’s position on US assassination drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal regions, describing them as violation of the Asian country's sovereignty and integrity. “It is not right to violate the sovereignty and integrity of any state. We fully support Pakistan’s stance,” Dawn quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying at a joint news conference with his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar.

Link: http://www.regularguy.com/news/barak_obama/israel-will-attack-iran-obama-will-lose-roger-fredinburg/

He called to tell me that he is sending his family back to the US immediately due to what he is seeing happen within the last week and what he is being told by his military contacts in both the Israel and US military. He said he is seeing with his own eyes military movements the likes of which he has never seen in his 20+ years in Israel. What he called a massive redeployment and protective tactics of forces is underway

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/10/05-2

Last week, Stanford University and New York University released a major study about the use of drones in the ever-evolving but never-ending war on terror. Unfortunately, many commentators missed the report's key message: Drones are terrorizing an entire civilian population. I was one of the researchers for the study, and spent weeks in Pakistan interviewing more than 60 people from North Waziristan. Many were survivors of strikes. Others had lost loved ones and family members. All of them live under the constant threat of annihilation.

Link: http://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/the-geopolitics-of-blasphemy-a-political-perspective-on-the-film-crisis-4733/

Protestors attack the US embassy in Sanaa, source: wikicommonsThe latest hotspot in the universally praised Arab Spring- that elusive phenomenon that continues to reconfigure the political countenance of the Middle East- has left a United States ambassador and three diplomatic staffers dead, marking the first time in 30 years that a chief U.S. envoy was murdered in a foreign mission.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/09/29-2

Iran’s Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi. (File photo) The so-called "red line" is the point at which Israel says Iran will have reached breakout nuclear weapons capacity and the perceived point at which Israel—with or potentially without US support—would take military action against Iran. Iran’s Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi said on Saturday that Israel long ago crossed the "red line" and remains the only country in the Middle East with a nuclear weapons arsenal.

Link: http://thepassionateattachment.com/2012/09/25/israel-lobbyist-hints-that-pearl-harbor-may-be-needed-to-get-us-into-war-with-iran/

Last Friday, during question time at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy policy forum luncheon on “How to Build US-Israeli Coordination on Preventing an Iranian Nuclear Breakout,” the director of research at the pro-Israel think tank hinted that a Pearl Harbor-type attack might be necessary to get the United States to go to war against the Islamic Republic.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/09/25-0

Joint study by Stanford and NYU law schools casts doubt on the legality of drone strikes; Says secretive program fosters anti-American sentiment. US drones do not just kill 'terrorists' says new report. They kill innocent people, including women and children, and they sow deep and long-lasting instability. (U.S. Air Force/Lt Col Leslie Pratt/ Flickr)Rejecting the dominant narrative that insulates most Americans from the reality of the US drone program in Pakistan—a narrative that says drones are a surgically precise and effective tool that makes the US safer from "global terrorism" with minimal downsides—a new report by researchers at the Stanford and NYU schools of law says that the program itself is "terrorizing" and that its overall impact is "counterproductive" when it comes to addressing international law, security, and human rights.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/09/22-2

Chinese and Japanese vessels prowl menacingly in the sea around the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu islands as Beijing and Tokyo exchange threats. A few wrong moves could spark a clash between China and Japan that would likely draw in Tokyo’s ally, the United States, which, under a 1960 defense treaty, is bound to defend Japan if it is attacked. Half way around the globe, powerful US naval forces are cruising the Gulf and Arabian Sea to intimidate Iran. A clash between US and Iranian naval units or aircraft in the Gulf seems increasingly likely as heated rhetoric on both sides increases. Meanwhile, Israel’s rightist prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, keeps threatening to attack Iran, with or without US assistance.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/21/us/politics/obamas-evolution-to-a-tougher-line-on-china.html?pagewanted=all&_moc.semityn.www

For the first time in a half dozen stilted encounters, Mr. Obama seemed to get through to the bland, tightly scripted Chinese leader. Mr. Hu dropped his talking points and asked Mr. Obama to clarify what he meant, according to two people who were in the room. The president’s answer included a clear hint that the United States would move warships to the seas off China, a step sure to antagonize the increasingly nationalistic Chinese.

Link: http://dailybail.com/home/report-senior-atf-agent-in-charge-of-fast-n-furious-gun-runn.html

Is there any fraud, theft, or border-patrol murder that doesn't have JPMorgan's fingerprints on it. Meet Deputy Assistant ATF Director William McMahon. In an unusual arrangement, a senior official of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives involved in the controversial gun operation Fast and Furious is receiving his government salary while working full time for the investment bank J.P. Morgan, according to two Republican lawmakers.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/19/drone-warfare-deadly-civilian-toll

I was minutes from ordering a drone strike on a Taliban insurgent – until I realised I was watching an Afghan child at play. It's very easy to kill if you don't view the target as a person. When I went to Iraq as a tank commander in 2004, the fire orders I gave the gunner acknowledged some legitimacy of personhood: "Coax man, 100 meters front." Five years later in Afghanistan, the linguistic corruption that always attends war meant we'd refer to "hot spots", "multiple pax on the ground" and "prosecuting a target", or "maximising the kill chain". The Pentagon operates about 7,000 drones and asked Congress for nearly $5bn for drones in the 2012 budget.

Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamal-abdi/netanyahu-meet-the-press_b_1897535.html

If you happened to catch Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Meet the Press this past Sunday, you may have thought you were watching a rerun from ten years ago. Bibi's assertions contradict the very clear assessments of U.S. and Israeli intelligence. They agree that Iran has not made an actual decision to build a nuclear weapon and the U.S. intelligence community's assessment from 2007 still stands--Iran does not have an active nuclear weapons program and is far from "racing" to develop a nuclear bomb.

Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/9545597/Armada-of-British-naval-power-massing-in-the-Gulf-as-Israel-prepares-an-Iran-strike.html

Persian Gulf States Are Telling Their Citizens To Leave Lebanon 'Immediately' As Syrian War Spills Over. An armada of U.S. and British naval power is amassing in the Persian Gulf in the belief that Israel is considering a pre-emptive strike against Iran’s covert nuclear weapons program. Warships, aircraft carriers, minesweepers and submarines from 25 nations are converging on the strategically important Strait of Hormuz in an unprecedented show of force as Israel and Iran move towards the brink of war.

Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/09/16/261889/cia-zionists-behind-antiislam-film/

Dr. Webster Griffin Tarpley: I would identify two or perhaps three components, the first is a Mormon mafia inside the CIA, the group of Mormon high officials of the CIA who want Romney to become president and they think that by having the kinds of events that we are seeing, they can make Obama look bad in front of the American public." A prominent political analyst says that several groups including American Mormons in the CIA and Zionists are behind the controversial recent anti-Islam film made in the US, Press TV reports.

Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2203892/Nick-Harvey-axed-supporting-Iran-attack.html#ixzz26dL2a23G

Former Armed Forces Minister Sir Nick Harvey claimed he was sacked to avoid a damaging Coalition split over a pre-emptive strike on Iran. Former Armed Forces Minister Sir Nick Harvey claimed he was sacked to avoid a damaging Coalition split over a pre-emptive strike on Iran. A Liberal Democrat Defence Minister has claimed he was sacked to avoid a damaging Coalition split over a pre-emptive strike on Iran.

Link: http://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/iraq-syria-border-the-next-durand-line-4726/

cc US armyDeteriorating stability in both Syria and Iraq suggests that the Middle East might be skidding dangerously close to the precipice of a widespread sectarian conflict.

Link: http://www.alternet.org/belief/6-right-wing-zealots-or-groups-zealots-would-blow-world-political-gain

Toxic right-wingers and their fanatical followers are desperate to ignite a "clash of civilizations." Step back from the news cycle a moment and what you see is a week in which toxic, wildly irresponsible right-wingers have been trying to set a series of fires around the world, stoking their mythical "clash of civilizations" out of religious bigotry or for political gain, or a little bit of both.

Link: http://www.infowars.com/was-u-s-ambassador-lynched/

Despite the fact that Libya is in a state of hellish sectarian warfare and societal collapse, with armed thugs hostile to the west now in control of major power centers, the White House is intent on repeating the same disaster in Syria, funneling arms to rebels, the majority of whom aren’t even Syrian, who are being led by Al-Qaeda terrorists.

Link: http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2012/09/11/more-killing-in-obamas-war-on-terror-than-bushs-war/

Michael Hayden, former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director under President George W. Bush, delivered a speech yesterday where he outlined the ways that President Barack Obama has managed a “practical consensus,” which has fostered “powerful continuity between two vastly different presidents”—himself and his predecessor, Bush.

Link: http://www.redress.cc/americas/jcook20120911

It is possibly the greatest of American political myths, repeated ad nauseam by presidential candidates in their election campaigns. President Barack Obama has claimed that the United States enjoys a special bond with Israel unlike its relations with any other country. He has called the friendship "unshakeable", "enduring" and "unique", "anchored by our common interests and deeply held values".

Link: http://www.wearewideawake.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2413&Itemid=259

Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered In US War And Occupation Of Iraq: 1,455,590. Officially acknowledged Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed In America's War On Iraq: 4,883. Number Of International Occupation Force Troops Slaughtered In Afghanistan: 3,173. Cost of War in Iraq & Afghanistan in Dollars Since 2001: $1,371,440,155,101.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2012/sep2012/pers-s11.shtml

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton concluded her latest Asian tour with a cynical appeal for an easing of tensions throughout the region over various maritime disputes. Far from being a voice of moderation, Clinton used every leg of her 10-day trip to further the Obama administration’s efforts to undermine and isolate China, deliberately stoking disputes, particularly over the South China Sea.

Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/09/10/260794/us-sends-troops-jet-fighters-to-yemen/

The United States has reportedly dispatched a large number of troops and military hardware to a military base in southern Yemen. According to some Yemeni media, about 4,000 American troops, a number of F-16 jet fighters, Lockheed C-5 Galaxy military transport aircraft and Apache helicopters have been stationed in al-Anad Air Base in Lahij province.