by Stephen Lendman

Washington, NATO allies, complicit regional partners, the UN, and media scoundrels wrongfully blame Syria for massacres, other killings, and atrocities committed by Western recruited death squads.

Washington features dirty tactics. They include blaming victims. Syria has been ravaged for months. Fingers point the wrong way. Assad is more victim than villain.

Massacres he's wrongfully blamed for are strategically timed. In June, Houla made headlines. Weeks later, Traymseh followed. Evidence pointing the right way was buried.

Killer gangs bore full responsibility.

Now another massacre made headlines. Mass media misinformation maliciousness again blames victims. Below is a sampling of headlines. They show why growing numbers of readers and viewers choose alternative sources to stay informed.

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by Stephen Lendman

Torture is illegal at all times under all circumstances with no allowed exceptions. Israel's Supreme Court ruled both ways.

On the one hand, it banned torture. On the other, it permitted physical force in "ticking bomb" cases. At the time, Court President Aharon Barak claimed it saves lives. He authorized use of the "necessity defense" to get away with lawless practices.

He let Israel's attorney general determine guidelines. They constitute an a priori authorization to torture. International law is clear and unequivocal. The UN Convention against Torture calls it: "any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain and suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity...."

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Franklin Lamb
Beirut

Illena Ros-Lehtinen

Congresswoman Illena Ros-Lehtinen will have her hands full as she makes the political and social rounds at this month’s Republican National Convention. Illena, is the only female committee chair in the House of Representatives and arguably Israel’s most ardent agent. She is a constant thorn in the Obama administration's side, regularly castigating the president for playing "political games with U.S. foreign policy” and being “soft on Iran” and undermining the legitimacy of Israel. Ros-Lehtinen is a congressional cheer leader also for her Jewish voters in Florida -- a key battleground in the rapidly approaching US presidential election. Most recently, Ros-Lehtinen helped shepherd through Congress yet another bill tightening sanctions against Iran while calling for US military action against the Assad regime in Syria.

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by Stephen Lendman

Life in Occupied Palestine is hard enough. Imagine how much worse in firing zones.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):

(1) Israel designated about 18% of West Bank land closed military zones, aka firing zones. It's one among other ways Israel steals land.

(2) About 5,000 Palestinians in 38 communities are affected. Most are Bedouins. Land they've lived on for generations was theirs in peace until 1948. Everything changed when Israel began stealing it. It's now used for military and other purposes.

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