Bye Bye Bin Laden but Hello Obama!

by Eileen Fleming

May 2, 2011

“Osama Bin Laden is dead, Justice has been done.”- President Obama, 1 May 2011.

 

On October 29, 2004, the Arab television network, Al Jazeera, broadcasted excerpts from a videotape of Osama bin Laden speaking in Arabic and addressing Americans, in which he accepted responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks, condemned the Bush government’s response to the attacks and also admitted the attacks were a part of a campaign of revenge and deterrence motivated by his witnessing of the destruction in the Lebanese Civil War in 1982.

The tape also contained bin Laden’s first public acknowledgment of al-Qaeda‘s involvement in the attacks on the U.S., noting that he first thought about attacking the World Trade Center in 1982, after watching Israeli aircraft bomb Lebanon during the 1982 Invasion of Lebanon:

“While I was looking at these destroyed towers in Lebanon, it sparked in my mind that the tyrant should be punished with the same and that we should destroy towers in America, so that it tastes what we taste and would be deterred from killing our children and women.”

Khalid Sheikh Mohammad involvement in the terror upon America, “By his own account…stemmed from his violent disagreement with U.S. foreign policy favoring Israel.” [1]

Abdulmutallab’s attempt to blow up a plane on Christmas Day in 2009, was fueled by “his sympathies toward the Palestinians and anger over Israel’s actions in Gaza.” [Ibid]

A few days after THAT DAY, President Bush went on TV and told we the people to “GO SHOP” if we wanted to HELP and that “They hated us because we were free!”

I did NOT want to shop and I did NOT react with FEAR to THAT DAY, but intense curiosity.
I wondered if ‘THEY’ hated us so much to target and murder innocent people had something to do with Americans mindless over consumption of the world’s resources and apathy towards the poor, oppressed and occupied.

Up until THAT DAY we call 9/11, I was a typical self-satisfied, self-centered, uninformed, misinformed comfortably numb American. THAT DAY changed everything and even though I did not know any of the innocent who were terrorized nor their families or friends, I felt a visceral connection and reacted by researching so as to learn WHY some people in the world hated US so much that they could target and murder innocent ones. I learned PLENTY!

On THAT DAY we call 9/11, the media assumed the role of secretaries taking down dictation but “Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official.” -Theodore Roosevelt

In December 2001, FOX News began a four part series -that has since been removed from their website- regarding Israel’s spying on America.

In Part One, host Brit Hume stated:

“It has been more than 16 years since a civilian working for the Navy was charged with passing secrets to Israel. Jonathan Pollard pled guilty to conspiracy to commit espionage and is serving a life sentence. At first, Israeli leaders claimed Pollard was part of a rogue operation, but later took responsibility for his work. Now Fox News has learned some U.S. investigators believe that there are Israelis again very much engaged in spying in and on the U.S., who may have known things they didn’t tell us before September 11. Fox News correspondent Carl Cameron has details in the first of a four-part series.” [2]

Carl Cameron reported, “Since September 11, more than 60 Israelis have been arrested or detained, either under the new patriot anti-terrorism law, or for immigration violations. A handful of active Israeli military were among those detained, according to investigators, who say some of the detainees also failed polygraph questions when asked about alleged surveillance activities against and in the United States. There is no indication that the Israelis were involved in the 9-11 attacks, but investigators suspect that they Israelis may have gathered intelligence about the attacks in advance, and not shared it. A highly placed investigator said there are “tie-ins.” But when asked for details, he flatly refused to describe them, saying, “evidence linking these Israelis to 9-11 is classified. I cannot tell you about evidence that has been gathered. Its classified information.”

Numerous classified documents obtained by Fox News indicated that even prior to September 11; as many as 140 other Israelis had been detained or arrested in a secretive and sprawling investigation into suspected espionage by Israelis in the United States. Investigators from numerous government agencies are part of a working group that’s been compiling evidence since the mid ’90s. These documents detail hundreds of incidents in cities and towns across the country that investigators say, “May well be an organized intelligence gathering activity.”

“Why would Israelis spy in and on the U.S.? A general accounting office investigation referred to Israel as country A and said, ‘According to a U.S. intelligence agency, the government of country A conducts the most aggressive espionage operations against the U.S. of any U.S. ally.’

“A defense intelligence report said Israel has a voracious appetite for information and said, ‘the Israelis are motivated by strong survival instincts which dictate every possible facet of their political and economical policies. It aggressively collects military and industrial technology and the U.S. is a high priority target…Israel possesses the resources and technical capability to achieve its collection objectives.’ “[Ibid]

After the dot-com bubble burst in 2000, Israel’s economy was devastated, but then came 9/11, and “suddenly new profit vistas opened up for any company that claimed it could spot terrorists in crowds, seal borders from attack and extract confessions from closed-mouthed prisoners…Many of the country’s most successful entrepreneurs are using Israel’s status as a fortressed state, surrounded by furious enemies, as a kind of twenty-four-hour-a-day showroom–a living example of how to enjoy relative safety amid constant war…Israel now sends $1.2 billion in ‘defense’ products to the United States—up dramatically from $270 million in 1999…That makes Israel the fourth-largest arms dealer in the world…Much of this growth has been in the so-called ‘homeland security’ sector. Before 9/11 homeland security barely existed as an industry. By the end of this year, Israeli exports in the sector will reach $1.2 billion–an increase of 20 percent. The key products and services are …precisely the tools and technologies Israel has used to lock in the occupied territories. Israel has learned to turn endless war into a brand asset, pitching its uprooting, occupation and containment of the Palestinian people as a half-century head start in the ‘global war on terror.’” [3]

On 31 August 2004, Zogby International, the official North American political polling agency for Reuters, released a poll that found nearly half (49.3%) of New York City residents and 41% of those in New York state believed that US leaders had foreknowledge of impending 9/11 attacks and “consciously failed” to act. Of the New York City residents, 66% called for a new probe of unanswered questions by Congress or the New York Attorney General.

A few of the still unanswered questions asked by the 9/11 family members

1. Why were standard operating procedures for dealing with hijacked airliners not followed that day?
2. Why were the extensive missile batteries and air defenses reportedly deployed around the Pentagon not activated during the attack?
3. Why did the Secret Service allow Bush to complete his elementary school visit, apparently unconcerned about his safety or that of the schoolchildren?
4. Why hasn’t a single person been fired, penalized, or reprimanded for the gross incompetence we witnessed that day?
5. Why haven’t authorities in the U.S. and abroad published the results of multiple investigations into trading that strongly suggested foreknowledge of specific details of the 9/11 attacks, resulting in tens of millions of dollars of traceable gains?
6. Why has Sibel Edmonds, a former FBI translator who claims to have knowledge of advance warnings, been publicly silenced with a gag order requested by Attorney General Ashcroft and granted by a Bush-appointed judge?
7. How could Flight 77, which reportedly hit the Pentagon, have flown back towards Washington D.C. for 40 minutes without being detected by the FAA’s radar or the even superior radar possessed by the US military?
8. How were the FBI and CIA able to release the names and photos of the alleged hijackers within hours, as well as to visit houses, restaurants, and flight schools they were known to frequent?
9. What happened to the over 20 documented warnings given our government by 14 foreign intelligence agencies or heads of state?
10. Why did the Bush administration cover up the fact that the head of the Pakistani intelligence agency was in Washington the week of 9/11 and reportedly had $100,000 wired to Mohamed Atta, considered the ringleader of the hijackers?
11. Why did the 911 Commission fail to address most of the questions posed by the families of the victims, in addition to almost all of the questions posed here?
12. Why was Philip Zelikow chosen to be the Executive Director of the ostensibly independent 911 Commission although he had co-authored a book with Condoleezza Rice? [4]

Those who are demanding deeper inquiry now number in the hundreds of thousands who comprehend that JUSTICE will NOT be done until TRUTH triumphs!
1. Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, March 2010, page 35
2. Israel is Spying In and On the US
3. www.thenation.com
4. wearewideawake.org

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Obama Says bin Laden Is Killed: Can We Believe Him?

  Osama Bin Laden's Ghost on Twitter.

Obama Says bin Laden Is Killed: Can We Believe Him?

Monday, May 2, 2011 09:39

By Binu Mathew

 US president Barack Obama announced last night that Osama bin Laden had been killed on Sunday in a US operation in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad, about 61km north of Islamabad.

"Tonight, I can report to the people of the United States and the world, the United States had carried an operation that has killed Osama bin Laden, a terrorist responsible for killing thousands of innocent people. Today, at my direction, the United States carried out that operation... they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body. The death of Bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date against al-Qaeda."

Later, it was reported that Bin Laden's body was buried in the sea.

The timing of the announcement of Bin Laden's killing and the quick disposal of his body raise several questions.

There were reports that Osama Bin Laden had died in December, 2001. If those reports were true, how he is killed once again in Abbottabad?

If the person killed in Abbottabad is indeed Bin Laden, that story should have been verified by an independent DNA test. Why did the US authorities quickly disposed of the body, that too in the sea, at an undisclosed location, without waiting for an independent DNA verification? Is there an effort to destroy evidence?

We need an answer, because for the blood of this man, more than a million men, women and children were killed in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. Several million people were made refugees. Thousands of families were destroyed. Thousands of people were tortured and disappeared. Thousands of US servicemen got killed in those countries.

We need an answer.

Binu Mathew is the editor of http://www.countercurrents.org. He can be reached at editor@countercurrents.org.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

DR. ASHRAF EZZAT:Bin Laden Fictional Film Comes To An End

May 2, 2011 posted by Dr. Ashraf Ezzat ·  

“The war on terrorism merchandise has been too long on the market; but with more intellectuals debunking it, and as time went by, and profits went down this product of high tech-deception was approaching its shelf expiry date. In other words the Bin Laden version of fear/submission warfare had to be withdrawn from the market and declared over and done with, successfully that is” 

“This bad movie that we have been watching for ten years now was losing on the top ranking and had to be pulled out from world political theatres” 

Dr. Ashraf Ezzat

Wanted not alive but definitely dead, Bin Laden had to be declared finally captured and killed.

Almost ten years since 9/11 has passed. A long decade through which the whole world have been following day to day main stream media-or mania, that is- coverage of the so called war on terrorism.



The end of a dreary fiction

 Unlike most declared and waged wars through history this war on terrorism obscured the perception of ordinary people for it specifically lacked one essential element of the definition of embattling namely, an obvious and tangible enemy.

The most sophisticated and devastating terrorist operation in history has been clumsily and conveniently nailed against one person alone.

To our disappointment it was not the joker, the comic book super villain; it was Osama Bin Laden, the frail and gloomy bearded renegade who along with a bunch of so called mujahideen dwelled in the caves of Afghanistan- a country that virtually never existed in the geographical memory of most Americans- formed a group of a handful of professional guerrilla fighters, close to Sylvester Stallone’s “the expendables”, said to be capable of destroying the west and ruling over the world.

The Expendables

There is no denying that 9/11 attacks are the most huge and ugliest terrorist operations ever and so are the conspiracy behind them.

Throughout the last ten years we have not been merely following the military operations of this futile and senseless war on terrorism, rather we were desperately trying to grasp some sort of purpose or any meaning for it altogether.
The United States and allies stumbling through a series of utter failures and embarrassments along this crusade against Bin Laden have realized that this farcical war has unbelievably dragged out to the point of

endangering the very rationale and reasoning behind it, and why it started in the first place.

The war on terrorism merchandise has been too long on the market; with more intellectuals debunking it, and as time went by, and profits went down this product of high tech- deception was approaching its shelf expiry date. In other words the Bin Laden version of fear/submission warfare had to be withdrawn from the market and declared over and done with, successfully that is.

The white house with its shrewd politicians realized that this Bin Laden saga was dwindling away and beginning to lose its grip on people.

Too many anti- 9/11 theses, too many solid conspiracy theories undermining the 9/11 official report in what seemed like a counter-attack by internet battalions of critical blogging and punditocracy began to sway people’s mindset about 9/11.

Playing back “war on terrorism” video picks

Playing backward the war on terrorism video we would probably discover that we are watching some sort of fiction- and not a very good one, I have to say.

Along this awfully long film, not based on a truly honest story, we could stop for moments of discernment as we hit the button and freeze on chosen shots like the following:

- The collapse of world trade center –WTC- buiding7 like a house of cards in 6.5 seconds long after the fall of the twin towers.
- Forensics and experts pointing the finger at missile attacks on the Pentagon.
- Invasion of Iraq 2003 instead of invading Saudi Arabia- Osama Bin Laden’s native country.
- The United States and allies failing to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq but nonetheless managed to massively destroy Iraq for Israel’s sake.
- The American troops and allies in Afghanistan with a mission impossible of trying to drive their indigenous tribes – Taliban- out of the country, a silly mission but sold to the Americans as the reasonable tactic of this military crusade.
- Weapons and opium sales hit new world records as American troops, military contractors and war lords have become the new holders of the Afghani poppy fields’ franchise.
- General Stanley A. McChrystal – US former commander of American and allied troops in Afghanistan- getting high smoking poppy, and in a moment of revealing truth, began to see the scene in Afghanistan as it really is and sarcastically slammed this whole war and ridiculed the whole bunch of politicians in Washington who had geared it in the first place.
- American soldiers bored with this pathetic mission of fighting natives -who probably never heard of New York before, let alone Ground Zero – began to kill Afghanis for fun and collect their fingers as trophies.
- Wikileaks- or wikidleaks- revealing tons of confidential military documents targeting and accusing Pakistan as not doing enough to help the United States eliminate this super Bin Laden so that the boys could pack up and go home to America.
- Recent massive jail break in Kabul with hundreds of Taliban leaders and top operatives on the loose again bringing those years of American military operations back to scratch.

There is a lot more footage like of drones killing civilians in Pakistan and hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians killed in Iraq … etc, to be replayed and discerned again on this mythical hunt of Bin Laden but that would take time and skills available only to guys at wikileaks.

Bin Laden, the end of a dreary fiction

War on terrorism

 Lately this movie-like plot of the die hard-Bin Laden was waning away and getting boringly overstreched it had to come to an immediate end one way or another. It had to come to an end before more people, with their perception not obscured any more, start wondering what all that devastation and chaos got to do with capturing a single man.

This bad movie that we have been watching for ten years now was losing on the top ranking and had to be pulled out of world political theatres.

There was no way for this world hunt and this war of terror to end without a moment of apparent victory, the huddled masses of viewers of this terribly long movie had to be given a good finale.

They had to be given a catch worthy of their time, taxes and most of all their believing it happened the way it was told.

Wanted not alive but definitely dead, Bin Laden had to be declared finally captured and killed.

Bin Laden II released soon in all political theatres

But to get this done and over with without leaving any trace or a chance for someone to doubt or investigate the war on terrorism story, the white house and CIA officials, like what they did back in 9/11 quickly getting rid of the debris of the collapsed towers that contained valuable forensic evidences and clues as to how those gigantic towers were demolished in seconds the CIA took the body of Osama Bin Laden and in less than 24 hours got rid of it and buried it in the bottom of the sea.

Reminiscent of the mafia way of getting rid of the ones they kill out of fear they would squeal on them, and In a critical and long waited for moment of capturing an extremist Muslim and international terrorist, the United States ironically decided to observe the Muslim traditions of burying the dead as soon as possible and to honor Bin Laden by dumping his body in the bottom of the sea.

And exactly as this fictional movie started with a hasty statement from the white house that it was Osama bin laden who pulled off 9/11, the end came quite similarly hasty as president Obama emerged from the white house and with a victorious grin on his face announced “Tonight, I can report to the people of the United States and the world, the United States had carried an operation that has killed Osama bin Laden, a terrorist responsible for killing thousands of innocent people”

End of Bin Laden film. Lights on again and time to take a short break before we start watching another episode of this Bin Laden saga.

The United States has decided it was time to pull the shades down on this going nowhere anymore plot but it won’t be long before the release of Ben Laden part II that will hit the world political theatres by the title of “ Ben Laden’s Affiliates … The Hunt Goes On”
For more articles by Dr. Ashraf Ezzat visit his website

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Now What? Obama Bags Osama

by Carlos Latuff

Leave a Comment Posted by realistic bird on May 2, 2011

by RANDALL AMSTER,
 source

President Obama’s shocking May Day announcement that Osama bin Laden has been killed and his body captured promises to usher in a new era of U.S. foreign and domestic policies alike. But what will this portend in actual practice? The implications for the future are potentially staggering in their full import, and they turn initially on how this seminal event will undoubtedly be used to justify U.S. policies that have defined the recent past.

In his announcement, President Obama demonstrated how different he is in temperament (if not policy making) from his predecessor, George W. Bush. Coming eight years to the day after the infamous “Mission Accomplished” speech — and, coincidentally, falling on the 66th anniversary of the announcement of Hitler’s death — Obama’s rendering contained none of the misplaced bravado (“Bring It On”) or glorification of misery (“We Got Him!”) that defined the previous administration. Instead, the President spoke in measured terms about justice, courage, and American resolve in the face of grave challenges.

Still, despite his deliberate tone, Obama’s words are especially notable for their explicit vindication of the military operations of the past decade. Overtly citing the war in Afghanistan and the practices of the global intelligence apparatus as primary drivers of this potential closure event, the President has put his stamp of approval on the circuitous post-9/11 course of action that brought us here. Taking this further, the post-speech media spin implicitly extends his logic to validate tactics such as drone strikes and undeclared military incursions that have placed the U.S. in ethically murky waters while waging the War on Terror around the world.

Wearing his flag pin, President Obama invoked the legacy of Bush-era initiatives aimed at “winning” the war, and perhaps most poignantly, drew our focus back to the events of 9/11 as the impetus for this decade-long struggle that has now at least partly been brought to fruition. Yet Obama was equally clear that this is not the end of the conflict and that “the cause of securing our country is not complete,” reminding us that we must “remain vigilant at home and abroad” since “there’s no doubt that al Qaeda will continue to pursue attacks against us.”

Make no mistake, this announcement signals a clear intention to vindicate the decisions of the past decade and continue on a similar course going forward. As if to affirm this historical eventuality, the media’s immediate focus on the spontaneous demonstrations of patriotic fervor that have sprung up with echoes of “USA, USA” brings us right back to those fateful September days in 2001. The tenor of these public celebratory gatherings, and the content of the President’s announcement, convey a strong sentiment that the last decade’s wars have been worth it, and likewise that the extraordinary security measures here at home have been equally successful.

On some level, the death of a single individual is essentially being heralded as a justification for the deaths of at least hundreds of thousands (a figure largely comprised of civilians) in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. It remedies all legal and moral defects attendant to the use of “enhanced interrogations” and “extraordinary renditions.” It clears the ledgers on the trillions of dollars spent to undertake these efforts for nearly ten years. It squelches dissent on Patriot Act policies and the Homeland Security apparatus. And, most appreciably, it retroactively validates the Bush Administration’s open-ended waging of global warfare.

The reality of this retrospective confirmation will have serious implications for the near future. Undoubtedly, debates about the wisdom of military operations (wherever we are deploying them) will be tamped down, and attempts to rein in military spending will likewise be muted. Security at home will be amped up for a while in an abundance of caution over potential retaliatory attacks by al Qaeda, and (assuming none are forthcoming) soon after will slip back to the “new normal” we’ve been experiencing — with nary a complaint in the public discourse.

Significantly, President Obama will appear eminently presidential, and even his most ardent critics will deem him praiseworthy. Americans will unite in a renewed spirit, and the stalled economic recovery will receive a shot in the arm from this moment of national buoyancy. Just as the First Gulf War was said to have dispelled the military malaise of Vietnam, this episode will go a long way toward abating the war-weariness of the post-9/11 era. American exceptionalism will be reinvigorated both as a political mandate and a psychological phenomenon, as the world is reminded that the U.S. makes good on its threats and, in the end, keeps its promises.

People will celebrate this moment in many quarters, perhaps as they did to an extent on VE Day and VJ Day (yes, Americans cheered the use of atomic weapons on civilians in Japan and the carpet-bombing of Dresden as tools of “winning” World War II). In this case, we are not likely to be offered such a strong sense of closure; rather, this will be a boost to a flagging effort and a likely enabler of its aggressive continuance. Where will the next front be in this generational war? Who will be the next bogeyman, the “face of evil” that galvanizes American fears and determination alike? With all that is at stake — politically, economically, ideologically — the one thing we can be reasonably assured of is that the present paradigm will continue in full force.

I would very much like to report the opposite. By cutting off the head of al Qaeda, and with due regard to the pro-democracy surge of the Arab Spring, the era of perpetual warfare could be supplanted by a period of unprecedented peace. America might slowly draw down its military operations, and redirect vast resources to education and opportunity for oppressed peoples in the Middle East and here at home alike. President Obama may finally earn his Nobel Peace Prize, and concomitantly help move the country from the near-ruination of a war economy to the stable prosperity of a long-awaited peace dividend. Renewed American pride could obviate the need for ever-expanding security schemes and incursions into liberty, as people are again seen as “good.”

It could still happen this way, but it will take more than the death of one individual — no matter his iconic stature as evil incarnate — to somehow countermand the events and roll back the ethos of recent years. However it breaks in the days ahead, one thing is paradoxically certain: we will continue to find ourselves living in decidedly uncertain times.

Randall Amster, J.D., Ph.D., teaches Peace Studies at Prescott College and serves as the Executive Director of the Peace & Justice Studies Association.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Obama kills Osama, Again! - Pakistani TV; Image of Dead Bin Laden Fake

Posted on May 2, 2011 by rehmat1|

 On Sunday, Barack Obama fired another shot from his Zionist ’smoking gun’ from the White House: “Good evening. Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda (a US asset), and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children”.

Someone, who has been following an objective source, would believe that Al-Qaeda must be the US and Israel, the two “terrorists states which are responsible for the murder of hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women, and children” in Muslim countries.

Amer Taheri, wrote in the New York Times Op-Ed (July 11, 2002): “Osama bin Laden is dead. The news first came from sources in Afghanistan and Pakistan almost six months ago: the fugitive died in December and was buried in the mountains of southeast Afghanistan. Pakistan’s president, Pervez Musharraf, echoed the information. The remnants of Osama’s gang, however, have mostly stayed silent, either to keep Osama’s ghost alive or because they have no means of communication”.

Interestingly, even the Israelis who masterminded the 9/11 - believe Osama Bin Laden is dead, as reported by Jane’s on December 27, 2002.

During Russian occupation of Afghanistan, Washington-Riyadh-Islamabad used Osama Bin Laden to guide the Afghan Mujahideen in defeating Russian Red Army. Once that was done, both Mujahideen groups and Osama Bin Laden lost their ‘usefulness’ and were declared the ‘enemies of civilization’. Osama Bin Laden, has long been considered dead as result of kidney disease or by the BLU-82 Daisy Cutter bombs used by US forces at Tora Bora caves in Afghanistan.

Over eight years ago, Pakistan’s former military dictator and a great friend of both the US and Israel, Gen. Pervez Musharaf, in an interview he gave to CNN, had said: “I think now, frankly, he is dead for the reason he is a kidney patient. I don’t know if he has been getting all that treatment in Afghanistan now. And the photographs that have been shown of him on television show him extremely weak. I would give the first priority that he is dead”.

“I don’t know where he is. I have no idea and I really don’t care. It’s not that important. It’s not our priority,” said Dubya George Bush on March 13, 2002.

Benazir Bhutto had also claimed that Osama Bin Laden is dead.

“When you hear a threat which is “probably” made by bin Laden, just remember that he’s “probably” dead. Also think about who benefits from your believing he’s alive,” What Really Happened website which was hacked just moment before Obama fired the latest lie.

Obama Announces Death of Osama bin Laden

Image of Dead Bin Laden Fake: Pakistani TV

Local Editor

Pakistani television stations on Monday withdrew an image broadcast of the purported body of Osama bin Laden after his killing not far from Islamabad overnight, saying the picture was a fake.

Several private channels showed what they called an "unverified" picture of bin Laden's bloodied face after the United States said he had been killed.

"It was a fake picture, it was on the Internet in 2009," Rana Jawad, Islamabad bureau chief of Geo television, said.

"When we checked we found it was fake and we pulled it out," he said.

Pakistani channels earlier showed the image of a face sporting a bushy and black beard with less of the white or grey hair detected in the most recent video footage of bin Laden when he was alive.

There were extensive blood stains on the forehead and left temple. The right eye was shut but the white of the left eye was visible.

Television also broadcast footage of flames rising from a compound in Abbottabad overnight and footage after daybreak of armed Pakistani forces standing guard at the building where bin Laden was reportedly killed.

The compound is in Bilal Town, in the suburbs of Abbottabad, which is about 50 kilometres (30 miles) northwest of the Pakistani capital Islamabad.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Exposing ‘Democracy’ Promotion in the Middle East

by Maidhc O' Cathail



Considering the significant role played by pro-Israelis in promoting democratic change in the Middle East, it is perhaps only fitting that in his Passover greeting the U.S. President would compare the pro-democracy uprisings to the foundational Jewish liberation narrative: In his message, he likened the story of Passover to the revolutions sweeping the Middle East, saying “the passage of the children of Israel from bondage and repression to freedom and liberty” applies to the “modern stories of liberation in the Middle East.” Obama wished Jewish families around the world a happy Passover and urged that the world must work to “alleviate the suffering, poverty, injustice, and hunger of those who are not yet free.”

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Washington's 'Eleventh' commandment: "Never, ever pressure Israel!"

Via FLC

"We’re somewhere over the Mediterranean, and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, is trying to get inside the head of Barack Obama. “We knew him before he became president,” he’s saying, struggling to understand what happened to the man who had seemed more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause than any of his predecessors. “We knew him and he was very receptive.” ...  

A week earlier, he told me bluntly that Obama had led him on, and then let him down by failing to keep pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a moratorium on settlement building in the West Bank last year. “It was Obama who suggested a full settlement freeze,” Abbas explained. “I said OK, I accept. We both went up the tree. After that, he came down with a ladder and he removed the ladder and said to me, jump. Three times he did it.” Abbas also criticized the mediation efforts of Obama’s special envoy, George Mitchell, who has shuttled between Israelis and Palestinians for more than two years. “Every visit by Mitchell, we talked to him and gave him some ideas. At the end we discovered that he didn’t convey any of these ideas to the Israelis. What does it mean?”

Now, on the flight from Tunis to Paris, I wanted to know how long Abbas could wait. The next 18 months are probably dead time in Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy as Obama focuses on his reelection campaign. No candidate for president wants to risk alienating Israel’s supporters by pressing the peace question. But a second-term president can be bolder.... But Abbas, who has worked every angle for Palestinian statehood for 50 years, the last six as president, says he’s nearly out of time. “I cannot wait. Somebody will wait instead of me,” he tells me. “And I will not stay more.” (continue, here)

Posted by G, M, Z, or B at 8:40 PM

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

WSJ: US Plans Sanctions on Syrian Officials

“The Obama administration may level sanctions against Syria as punishment for President Bashar Assad's government's violent crackdown on protesters,” the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

The U.S. is currently drafting an executive order that will empower President Obama to freeze the assets of senior Syrian officials and bar them from engaging in any business dealings with the United States, the report said, citing officials briefed on the matter.

According to the report, freezing Syrian officials' assets in the U.S. will have little impact on Assad's inner circle. However, the hope is that European countries, where Syrian officials have more substantial holdings, will follow suit, thereby having a more crippling economic effect.

Officials reportedly hope that the legal order will be completed by the U.S. Treasury Department in the coming weeks, an indication of a hardening of the United State's stance toward Syria.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Syria: Five Security Personnel Martyred in Attack

Local Editor

A Syrian official source said that an armed criminal group attacked a security checkpoint on Saturday afternoon in Nawa in Daraa countryside, killing five security personnel and wounding five others.

The source was quoted by the official SANA agency as saying that two members of the armed group were also killed in the fire exchange and the other 15 wounded.

A military checkpoint in the city of Izraa in Daraa countryside was also attacked by an armed criminal group, SANA reported. The checkpoint guards confronted the armed group which resulted in injuring two guards and killing one member of the criminal group while the rest fled, it added.

SANA also said that an armed group on Friday opened fire on fire engines and hit them with stones in the Juber area in Damascus. The fire engines were on their way to extinguish fire after receiving a call from the area's inhabitants in this regard. Several firemen were seriously injured and were taken to a hospital.

In a statement to the Syrian Satellite Channel, one of the firefighters said that they headed to Juber to extinguish a fire at a gas station, and when they reached there, a gathering started throwing stones on them despite the fact that the fire engines were not close or heading towards them. He added that the gathering started smashing one of their cars, while an armed group opened fire on it. "The fire engine was damaged, three firemen were wounded. The other vehicles managed to turn around and run away", he said.

Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry stated that the number of the security forces injured by the armed groups since the beginning of the events in Syria rose to 286 on Saturday.

In related political developments, the Syrian newly-appointed cabinet approved on Saturday the new housing cooperation law as to provide houses to the citizens with reasonable and economic prices. The law also reduces the amounts of interests on house loans. The cabinet also adopted the mechanism proposed by the Ministry of Electricity to provide electric supply for artesian wells instead of diesel. It also approved the continuation of distribution of subsidies and food baskets to people affected by drought in Hasaka, 595 km from Damascus, during 2011.

The cabinet also asked the Minister of Local Administration to set up a timetable for finalizing the ministry draft law and the Minister of Information to put a timetable for completing the draft media law to be quickly discussed and approved in the coming sessions.

Meanwhile, a Syrian official source expressed regret over a statement made by US President Barack Obama on Friday regarding the situation in Syria since it wasn’t based on an objective and comprehensive view of what is truly happening. The source said that Syria already refuted what the US Administration claimed regarding the use of Iran or others to resolve internal issues, expressing surprise over the US Administration insistence to repeat these allegations which shows a lack of responsibility and represents a part of the instigation that puts Syrian citizens at risk.

In case you missed it: The American Revolution in Syria

Hamas: Obama peace plan threatens refugees' right of return

[ 23/04/2011 - 03:50 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Hamas's refugee affairs department has condemned a plan by US President Barack Obama to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as it poses a serious threat to the Palestinian refugees' right of return to their occupied homeland.
The Palestinian resistance movement called on the Arabs and Muslims to support the Palestinians in their struggle towards returning to and liberating their land.
In a statement released on Saturday, Hamas expressed utter rejection of the draft and emphasized the legal, unwavering right of Palestinian refugees to return to their land.
”Statements such as these will only increase the Palestinians' determination to stick to their rights, to their land, and to their right of return,” the Hamas statement says.

The refugees department called the US plan an attempt to ”circumvent the right of return and infringe on the fate of millions of Palestinian refugees”. It added that the US's use of its veto power to strike down a UN decision to end settlement activity in the Palestinian territories further proved that objective.

Hamas called on the Palestinian parties that continue to hold that negotiations are the way to victory and liberation to re-assess their views and reject the US proposal.
The plan consists of four items, namely that the Palestinians relinquish the right to return, Israel recognizes a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, Jerusalem becomes the capital of both Israel and Palestine, and Israel is guaranteed security.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Syria after Ministry says rallies must be licensed

Demonstration at University

(DP-News - agencies)
 

SYRIA- “The new government in Syria has taken action to meet the demands of the Syrian people,” Nidal Kabalan, Syrian Ambassador to Turkey, said on Wednesday, commenting on the latest developments in the protest-hit Middle Eastern country.

The ambassador said the lifting of emergency rule in the country, as well as a transition to a multiparty system and a law on media, was among those demands.

A new era of reforms has begun for Syria and all segments of the society are excited about the process, Kabalan said, adding that the violence should be stopped in order to ensure the effective implementation of reforms.

Regarding the role Turkey may play in the ongoing process in Syria, Kabalan said his country was thankful for its neighbor’s support on the matter and “eager to benefit from Turkey’s experiences concerning the multiparty parliamentary system.”
 
The Globe and Mail said that 4,000 university students from Daraa and surrounding areas protested near the city's al-Omari Mosque.

The news website added “Activists also said dozens of students protested Wednesday at Aleppo University in the country's north, adding there were confrontations on campus between pro and anti-government students.”

AP reported “Syrian Authorities has coupled its crackdown with a series of concessions, including an end to the state of emergency, which gives authorities almost boundless powers of surveillance and arrest.”

“Homs has been tense since clashes between protesters and security forces killed at least 12 people Sunday. On Tuesday, security forces there opened fire with live ammunition and tear gas on hundreds of anti-government demonstrators during a pre-dawn raid that killed several people.”

On Wednesday too, human rights activists said Syrian authorities arrested an opposition figure at his home during an overnight raid, hours after the government announced an end to emergency rule.

Syrian Human Rights League chief, Abdul-Karim Rihawi, said security agents picked up Mahmoud Issa from his home in the central city of Homs after an interview he gave to Al-Jazeera satellite TV late Tuesday.

Rights activist Mazen Darwish said the interview Issa gave to Al-Jazeera angered relatives of a Syrian brigadier general who was killed along with his two sons and a nephew Sunday in Homs.

The government says they were gunned down by “armed gangs” that authorities blame for the violence during anti-government protests of the past month.

Darwish said Issa, in the interview, said he didn't know who was behind the killing and called for an investigation, enraging bereaved relatives who reportedly threatened Issa before alerting the police.

Issa, who spent years in prison for his pro-democracy views, was picked up from his home shortly afterward.

Britain's Foreign Office on Wednesday said U.K. nationals should consider leaving Syria on commercial flights, after it upgraded warnings about unrest there. In a statement, the ministry said it had changed its advice “in light of the deterioration in the security situation in Syria.”

British diplomats had warned that violent clashes are anticipated between local security forces and demonstrators.

The U.S. response to the recent events in Syria reveals that the Arab revolts have not completely shaken President Obama’s faith in a misguided policy of engagement with anti-American authoritarian regimes. To date, over two hundred pro-democracy protestors have been slaughtered in a government crackdown in Syria. The U.S. response offers little to be proud of in terms of promoting American interests and ideals. Instead, it compromises both.

There have been two major moments in the U.S. approach to Syria over the course of the past several weeks. First, there were Secretary of State Clinton’s remarks which cited comments characterizing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as a reformer. “Many of the members of Congress of both parties who have gone to Syria in recent months have said they believe he’s a reformer,” said Clinton on March 27th. Next was President Obama’s condemnation of violence on April 8th in response to the killing of approximately 20 Syrian protestors in one day.

The Obama administration needs to get a grip on two key points.

One, Assad is not a reformer. His March 30th speech confirmed as much. To be sure, Assad has made a few concessions as a result of the protests. He issued a decree granting citizenship to Kurds, lifted the government ban on teachers wearing face veils, and closed a casino. More recently, he formed a new cabinet. But the continued violence in Syria suggests his actions are not necessarily evidence of reform so much as they are attempts to placate unrest. Syrian activists are justified in continuing to push for freedom and democracy.

Two, the U.S. has little interest in Assad retaining his grip on power in Syria. President Obama’s efforts to distance Syria from its ties to Iran and Hezbollah have failed. Besides, if the ultimate goal of that policy was to weaken Iran and Hezbollah, the current situation presents a fresh opportunity to do just that.

• Grand Mufti Refutes Allegations of Satellite Channels, Regrets their Loss of Credibility
• Syrian Army Martyrs
• Syria: Protesters & “Armed Insurrection”
• Interior Ministry: Armed Mutiny Led by Salafi Armed Groups cause chaos
• One policeman martyred, 11 injured near Homs

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Obama approves use of armed drones in Libya

Via FLC

... “President Obama has said that where we have some unique capabilities, he is willing to use those,” Gates said. “And in fact he has approved the use of armed Predators.” “What they will bring that is unique to the conflict is their ability to get down lower, therefore to be able to get better visibility on targets that have started to dig themselves into defensive positions,” Cartwright said. “They are uniquely suited for urban areas.”

Posted by G, M, Z, or B at 4:34 PM

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Israel got the ‘Keys’ to White House

Posted on April 16, 2011 by rehmat1

It’s a rite of passage, all presidential candidates pass through Israel. Mostly it’s about money,” says Dr. Norman Finkelstein.

“They bought the executive branch. They bought the legislative branch. The people of the US don’t have true representation when it comes to their values versus the Pro Israel lobby,” says Cynthia McKinney, a former Congresswoman and Presidential candidate.

“The policies they inflict on America are deeply damaging to our national interests. It is just that, right now, AIPAC is part of an infinitely larger problem: a thoroughly corrupted political system,” wrote MJ Rosenberg.

How true are the above statements? According to some political insiders, more than one-third of contributions to the Republican and Democrat parties come from the Jewish groups and individuals on the condition that the lawmakers will look after the interests of Israel over the US interests. This is later accomplished by surrounding the President with Jewish and Zionist individuals blessed by the Israel Lobby (AIPAC). The list of such ‘Israel-Firsters’ around Barack Obama can be found here.

But then, it would be an act of anti-Semitism, if you believe the above and what Jerusalem-born Chancellor Professor Naseer Aruri 77 (University of Massachusetts) and author of several books on Israel-Palestinian conflict said recently in an interview he gave to young Iranian journaist Kourosh Ziabari.

Naseer Aruri believes that Jewish lobby groups carry terrifying influence over America’s foreign policy especially concerning Palestine. They use money and character assassination to blackmail American lawmakers, journalists and anyone who dare to criticize Israel in public.

“The sources of Zionist power in the US stem from superior organization, good finance, a ready-made “defense” of their cause such as “anti-Semitism,” which serves as a sort of black-mail and a barrier against valid criticism of policies. While the public can criticize Obama and his policy and expect no retribution, that same public cannot criticize Israel in the same way. Look at what happened to Helen Thomas, the dean of the White House journalists since the 1950s when she dared to express her opinion on the Israeli theft of Palestinian land, ongoing since the 1940s. Senators and Congress people have been dumped by the Lobby upon the first sign of dissent and deviation from the delivered wisdom and accepted orthodoxy on Israel. In short, the Zionist lobby is fortified by a shield which enables it to suppress dissent in a democratic nation, said Naseer Aruri.

Professor Naseer Aruri also believes that the so-called two-state solution for the Zionists’ occupation of Palestine is long dead – and the just and durable solution would only be a single state where native Muslims, Christian and foreign Jews can live together under equal justice and protection.

“I am afraid no just and lasting solution seems to be on the horizon at the present time. Israel and its supporters have stood firmly during the past four decades against the global consensus which demanded withdrawal from occupied territories and a just resolution of the refugees problem in accordance with UN resolutions and the general principles of international law– a resolution based on the principles of equal justice, equal protection of the law, and an end to apartheid, which now prevails throughout historic Palestine pre and post 1948. As for the two-state solution, there is no such a thing. It is already too late for that, as the entire spectrum of Israeli politics allows no sovereignty on any piece of land lying between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. That leaves one just solution: a single state in which Muslims, Christians and Jews can live together on the basis of equal justice and equal protection of the law,” said Naeer Aruri.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Obama, take away the pain in my stomach

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

FRANKLIN LAMB : Why the “Obama Doctrine” won’t help the Shia majority in Bahrain

Rashid Khalidi – Barack Obama

FRANKLIN LAMB 

Exlusive for Al-manar

- 16. Apr, 2011

What Khalidi remains critical of…  is what he sees as the Obama administration’s claimed “American values imperative” being made a mockery of whenever American “interests” are brought up to justify cherry picking which brutal despots get the ‘moderate’ or ‘reformer’ label while others are no-fly zoned and targeted for elimination for being “genocidal.”

Columbia University Professor Rashid Khalidi passed through Beirut a couple of weeks ago and gave a terrific lecture at the American University of Beirut entitled “Preliminary  Historical Observations on the Arab Revolutions of 2011.”

In response to a student’s question, Khalidi disputed that there wasn’t any “Obama Doctrine” worthy of that label and he predicted the White House would be much more tolerant of human rights abuses in Bahrain than say, in Libya and some other countries whose despotism indexes are no worse than the 200 year ossified Al Khalifa dynasty’s war against its majority Shia population.

After his talk, I reminded Rashid in our brief encounter that we had not crossed paths since that fateful summer of 1982 in West Beirut where we and our mutual friend, American journalist Janet Stevens, who had introduced us, all shared a similar experience of trying to do research amidst the Israeli bombing and intermittent electricity and water cuts.

In those, now sometimes romanticized “summer of ‘82 days” Khalidi was an intense hard working young man and his 1982 research was published in his 1983 volume: “Under Siege: P.L.O. Decision making During the 1982 War.”

It was during this period that Janet (Rashid was in no way involved!) and I committed at least four felonies (I was just following orders!) and broke into the abandoned AUB cafeteria & AUB storage rooms and liberated maybe 500 cases of AUB bottled water and  perhaps 50 large cartons filled with that nasty orange powdered drink stuff.

Janet put me in charge of about 100 Fatah fighters who, wisely assuming the Israeli’s would think twice before bombing AUB, had set up a base under the Bayan trees on campus and we all used to share the AUB beach and swim together. The PLO fighters were under orders from their Commander Abu al-Walid, who was one of those in charge of the defense of West Beirut not to damage the AUB campus or enter AUB buildings. So the fighters demurred to the breaking and entering part of our operation and waited outside.

It was only after the 20 year Statute of Limitations ran and I was living in Kerr Hall on campus that my conscience got the better of me and I finally blurted out my crimes to the AUB President. He laughed with delight and on behalf of AUB excused our egregious war time sociopathy. That being said, I heard not long ago that the US Embassy is looking into trying to open a case against me since USAID paid for the AUB water and the nasty orange powder juice and the Embassy is still insisting on accountability.

What Khalidi remains critical of, like many observers, is what he sees as the Obama administration’s claimed “American values imperative” being made a mockery of whenever American “interests” are brought up to justify cherry picking which brutal despots get the ‘moderate’ or ‘reformer’ label while others are no-fly zoned and targeted for elimination for being “genocidal.”

The Obama administration hypocrisy toward the unarmed civilians being killed in Bahrain is flagrant and runs deeply counter to American values.

SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON SPEAKING
AT 2011 US-ISLAMIC WORLD FORUM

Speaking on 4/13/11 at the U.S.-Islamic World Forum, a gathering sponsored by Qatar and the Brookings Institution, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton assured the World that “America’s core interests and values have not changed, including our commitment to promote human rights equally in every country.”

Clinton’s remarks prompted some groans from the audience, and one Georgetown University student impolitely blurted out “Tell that to the people of Bahrain and prove it lady!”

What the exasperated student, and others in the audience apparently found outrageous was Clinton’s comment that, “We know that a one-size-fits-all approach to American values doesn’t make sense in such a diverse region at such a fluid time” as she hailed Bahrain for what she called a “decades-long friendship which we expect to continue long into the future.” Referring to the government crackdown, she added that “violence is not and cannot be the answer.”

Clinton explained that the Obama administration will neither recall its ambassador to Manama nor threaten sanctions — a striking disparity that is fueling ­anti-U.S. sentiment among Bahraini opposition groups. The Obama Doctrine words are all about freedom and democracy and change, but in Bahrain, the reality is that the Obama Doctrine amounts to a protection for the dictatorship.

By contrast, Obama has repeatedly justified military attacks in Libya, saying: “Innocent people were targeted for killing. Hospitals and ambulances were attacked. Journalists were arrested. These acts are against core American values.”   But while the same human rights abuses noted by Obama are happening in Bahrain, the Obama Doctrine is not on the Presidents teleprompter.

It appears that core American values aren’t so important when the regime being reformed houses the Fifth Fleet and has Saudi neighbors, themselves afraid of potential protests, according to the Wall Street Journal.

What the rude Georgetown student at Clinton’s speech this week understood, is that as Joe Stork, Deputy Middle East Director at Human Rights Watch noted a couple of days ago concerning yet another brutal Khalifa government killing of unarmed civilians, “Four detainee deaths in nine days is a crime, not a coincidence. The government tells families of detainees nothing about their whereabouts or well-being while they are alive, or about the circumstances of their deaths. “Emergency laws should not be used as a cover for brutality.”   Stork reminded the Obama administration that torture and killing of the peaceful protesters in Bahrain at the hands of both the Bahraini armed forces and the additional forces provided by Saudi Arabia are not supported by the American public.

Obama administration officials, like most of the US media, have been playing a game of criminal silence about the situation in Bahrain. Political institutions have been trying to stoke the fire of Shi’a-Sunni sectarianism instead of trying to resolve the real issues – the barbaric actions and unfair political and economic policies of the ruling family in Bahrain, a state of forceful repression.

More than 70% of native Bahrainis are Shi’ites, while the ruling family and most elites are Sunnis. This state of affairs has led to an apartheid mentality among the ruling family. Shi’ites are not allowed to work in the army, the intelligence service, or the police force, nor are they fairly represented in top-level governmental positions. In addition to jailing activists and banning Shiite-led opposition parties, Bahraini authorities fired civil servants and even professional athletes who participated in demonstrations. The country’s only independent newspaper was taken over last week and its editor forced to resign. On 4/14/11 the Bahrain government moved to ban the largest political party, the Shiite-dominated al-Wefaq, along with a smaller Shiite party.

When they apply for jobs, the Shia in Bahrain experience in some ways what the Palestinian refugees suffer in Lebanon. They may be offered a job but it is quickly withdrawn when the prospective employer learns that the applicant is Shia.  As Nicholas Kristof wrote of the Khalifa’s attitude toward Shi’ites in his New York Times Blog: “the language of the ruling party sounds a lot to me like the language of white South Africans [MS3] — or even like the language of white southerners in Jim Crow America, or the language of militant Israeli settlers in the West Bank. There’s a fear of the rabble, a distrust of full democracy, a sense of entitlement.”

 The “American humanitarian values” based “Obama Doctrine” offers no protection for the majority Shia population of Bahrain. They’re vulnerable. They are expendable. The Fifth fleet is not. Nor are Saudi interests for they represent for Washington’s neocons a strategically important bulwark against “Iranian power” in the region.

The “Obama Doctrine” offers no police, security or judicial system to protect them. In the past few days the Khalifa regime has intensified attacks on this community – harassment on the streets, demolishing mosques and Husseiniyyas  , housing and job discrimination, and systematic attacks in the media.

The Obama administration appears to be trying to use the Iran issue in a way similar to how the Arab regimes use Israel in order to deny justice to their people and prevent them from participating in the government.

At the same time, the “Obama Doctrine” ignores recent polls showing that nearly 60% of Americans support the uprising in Bahrain and the region even if the uprisings lead to regimes more likely to oppose US policies in the region including US support for Israel.  The poll released by the University of Maryland and the Brookings Institution think tank found that a majority of Americans, 57 percent, are supportive of the uprisings seen across the Arab world, “even if they lead to regimes more apt to oppose US policies,” noted the forum organizers.

These polls of American public opinion reflect true American values.
The “Obama Doctrine” as selectively applied, does not.

Franklin Lamb , a former Assistant Counsel of the US House Judiciary Committee at the US Congress and Professor of International Law at Northwestern College of Law in Oregon, earned his Law Degree at Boston University and his LLM, M.Phil, and PhD degrees at the London School of Economics. Lamb is Director, Americans Concerned for Middle East Peace, Beirut-Washington DC, Board Member of The Sabra Shatila Foundation, and a volunteer with the Palestine Civil Rights Campaign, Lebanon. He is the author of The Price We Pay: A Quarter-Century of Israel’s Use of American Weapons Against Civilians in Lebanon

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian