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Obama Administration Behind Another Leak, Hanging Israel Out To Dry, Putting Them In Greater Danger Remember the airstrikes that hit Damascus earlier this month? Israel never officially confirmed they conducted the strikes. But the Obama administration did, leaking classified information, laying it right in the court of the Israelis to the media. Via Yahoo News: The Justice Department’s seizure of Associated Press reporters’ phone records was reportedly one element of a “sweeping” federal investigation to find out who leaked classified information about a failed Al-Qaeda plot to bomb an American airliner. Now, the Obama administration has reportedly apologized to Israel for another leak of classified information to the media, one that occurred earlier this month and which Israeli officials are concerned could place Israeli lives at risk. Israel Radio’s diplomatic correspondent Chico Menashe reported Sunday morning (via the Jerusalem Post): American officials apologized to their Israeli counterparts for confirming that Israel was behind the airstrikes on the Damascus airport earlier this month, Israel Radio reported on Sunday. The confirmation reportedly came from the lower ranks at the Pentagon, and the reasons for the leak are being investigated. Menashe tweeted: “The U.S. has apologized to Israel for leaking details of the attack in Syria. Senior administration officials said to their [Israeli] counterparts that they are examining the issue and that low-level [officials] were responsible for the leak.” http://news.yahoo.com/report-obama-administration-apologizes-another-national-security-leak-182208023.html
Oops: Obama Regime Admits To Accidentally Killing 4 Americans In Drone Strikes… Our bad. WASHINGTON — One day before President Obama is due to deliver a major speech on national security, his administration on Wednesday formally acknowledged that the United States had killed four American citizens in drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistan. In a letter to Congressional leaders obtained by The New York Times, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. disclosed that the administration had deliberately killed Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical Muslim cleric who was killed in a drone strike in September 2011 in Yemen. The American responsibility for Mr. Awlaki’s death has been widely reported, but the administration had until now refused to confirm or deny it. The letter also said that the United States had killed three other Americans: Samir Khan, who was killed in the same strike; Mr. Awlaki’s son Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, who was also killed in Yemen; and Jude Mohammed, who was killed in a strike in Pakistan. “These individuals were not specifically targeted by the United States,” Mr. Holder wrote.
Well, I know nothing of the legal and constitutional issues but I have a hard time sympathizing with those "Americans" (assuming that they were there for nefarious reasons, which may not be accurate).
Iran Escalates Cyberassaults On U.S. Energy Grid With Eye Toward Infiltration And Sabotage War on terror is over! Nothing to worry about here, move along… Via WSJ: Iranian-backed hackers have escalated a campaign of cyberassaults against U.S. corporations by launching infiltration and surveillance missions, according to U.S. officials. Siobhan Gorman reports. Photo: AP. In the latest operations, the Iranian hackers were able to gain access to control-system software that could allow them to manipulate oil or gas pipelines. They proceeded “far enough to worry people,” one former official said. The developments show that while Chinese hackers pose widespread intellectual-property-theft and espionage concerns, the Iranian assaults have emerged as far more worrisome because of their apparent hostile intent and potential for damage or sabotage. U.S. officials consider this set of Iranian infiltrations to be more alarming than another continuing campaign, also believed to be backed by Tehran, that disrupts bank websites by “denial of service” strikes. Unlike those, the more recent campaigns actually have broken into computer systems to gain information on the controls running company operations and, through reconnaissance, acquired the means to disrupt or destroy them in the future, the U.S. officials said. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323336104578501601108021968.html
Israel Threatens To Bomb Russian Shipments Of Advanced S-300 Missiles To Syria… And when Israel says they’ll bomb something, nobody doubts them. JERUSALEM (AP) —Israel’s defence chief said Tuesday a Russian plan to supply sophisticated anti-aircraft missiles to Syria was a “threat” and signalled that Israel is prepared to use force to stop the delivery. The warning by Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon ratcheted up tensions with Moscow over the planned sale of S-300 air-defence missiles to Syria. Earlier in the day, a top Russian official said his government remained committed to the deal. Israel has been lobbying Moscow to halt the sale, fearing the missiles would upset the balance of power in the region and could slip into the hands of hostile groups, including the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, a close ally of the Syrian regime. Israel has carried out several airstrikes in Syria in recent months that are believed to have destroyed weapons shipments bound for Hezbollah. Israel has not confirmed carrying out the attacks. The delivery of the Russian missiles to Syria could limit the Israeli air force’s ability to act. It is not clear whether Israeli warplanes entered Syrian airspace in these attacks.
CIA Drone Airstrike Kills “Key Pakistani Taliban Commander” In North Waziristan… If Bush were president the left would be calling him a “war criminal.” Via Bill Roggio: A US drone strike two days ago killed a “key” local Taliban commander who was preparing to lead a group of fighters into Afghanistan, according to the Pakistani press. The drone strike has drawn the ire of newly elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who has been sympathetic to the Taliban in the past and seeks to negotiate with the terror group. The June 7 drone strike in the Shawal area of North Waziristan killed a “key Pakistani Taliban commander” who was known as Mutaqi and Bahadar Khan, according to Dawn. The compound where Muqati and his followers were staying was struck “when a pick-up truck arrived from the bordering area of Afghanistan.” Six fighters are thought to have been killed in the strike. Mutaqi and his fighters “were planning to cross over into Afghanistan via Pash Ziarat valley, a strategic corridor linking the South and North Waziristan Agency and considered a gateway to Afghanistan,” Pakistani intelligence officials told the news agency. The Obama administration has asserted that the CIA-operated drones are no longer conducting “signature strikes” that target groups of fighters. Instead, the administration has claimed that the strikes are directed only at terrorists who present an “imminent threat” of attacking US soil.
Here's Gipper's take These pricks love to kill American soldiers by placing IEDs and detonating them over soldier vehicles. That's the type of war that they want to wage. Fine. Our drones are nothing more than IEDs in the sky. We kill these fucks unexpectedly just as they kill. The only difference is that we kill the higher ups, the ones who lead the killing. They only slaughter the foot soldier. Drones forever.
What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Saudi Arabia To Supply Islamist Rebels In Syria With Shoulder-Fired Anti-Aircraft Missiles… The most likely recipient being the salafi jihadist group Ahrar al-Sham, who works closely with al-Nusra Front. (AFP) - Saudi Arabia plans to supply the Syrian opposition with anti-aircraft missiles to counter President Bashar al-Assad’s air force, German news weekly Der Spiegel reported Sunday. The article, citing a classified report received by the German foreign intelligence service and the German government last week, said Riyadh was looking at sending European-made Mistral-class MANPADS, or man-portable air-defence systems. Der Spiegel noted the shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles can target low-flying aircraft including helicopters and had given mujahideen fighters in Afghanistan a decisive edge against Soviet troops in the 1980s. Saudi Arabia is a key supporter of the Syrian rebels and has long advocated providing them with better weaponry.
Report: Iran May Send 4,000 Revolutionary Guard Troops To Fight For The Assad Regime In Syria… Via Ynet: Iran has decided to send a first contingent of 4,000 Iranian Revolutionary Guards to Syria to support President Bashar Assad’s forces against the largely Sunni rebellion, The Independent reported Sunday. The British newspaper quoted pro-Iranian sources “which have been deeply involved in the Islamic Republic’s security” as saying that Tehran is now fully committed to preserving Assad’s regime, even to the extent of proposing to open up a new ‘Syrian’ front on the Golan Heights against Israel. According to the report, Iran reached the decision to send the troops before last week’s presidential election. According to The Independent, Washington’s decision to arm Syria’s Sunni Muslim rebels has “plunged America into the great Sunni-Shia conflict of the Islamic Middle East, entering a struggle that now dwarfs the Arab revolutions which overthrew dictatorships across the region.” For the first time, the British newspaper said, all of America’s ‘friends’ in the region are Sunni Muslims and all of its enemies are Shiites. “Breaking all President Obama’s rules of disengagement, the US is now fully engaged on the side of armed groups which include the most extreme Sunni Islamist movements in the Middle East,” The Independent said in its report.
Hamas Says 100,000 Kids To Enroll In Their Military-Style Summer Camps To “Spread The Spirit Of Jihad”… The next generation of jihadi cannon fodder. Via Ynet: As has become customary in recent years, this summer will see hundreds of thousands of small children in Gaza enroll in summer camps organized by terrorist groups. Social activities, religious studies and sport competitions aside, the children will engage in what is the undisputed crowning centerpiece of those camps: the semi-military training that includes use of live ammunition and simulated kidnappings of IDF soldiers. Each year the military wings of various Gazan organizations vie for the hearts of the young recruits, eager to ready themselves for fighting Israel. Thus, this year Gazans will be able to send their children to the summer programs offered by Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees. The terror groups take the summer camps very seriously, regarding them both as the ultimate tool of recruitment of future generations of fighters and as means to raise public support for their activities. The summer camps afford children their first encounters with neither live weaponry nor the ideology of resistance, inculcated zealously through Hamas’ education system. The camps are rather an extension of that education, where learning to shoot a firearm is part of the curriculum. Senior Hamas officials say some 100,000 children are expected to take part in the various summer camps. The Islamic group’s leader in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh said the goal of the summertime activities is to instill children with values, strengthen their moral core and spread the spirit of Jihad.
Reuters: Hardline Islamist Rebels In Syria Have Dismantled Moderate Forces… This is a lengthy report from Reuters, definitely worth reading the whole thing. (Reuters) – As the Syrian civil war got under way, a former electrician who calls himself Sheikh Omar built up a brigade of rebel fighters. In two years of struggle against President Bashar al-Assad, they came to number 2,000 men, he said, here in the northern city of Aleppo. Then, virtually overnight, they collapsed. Omar’s group, Ghurabaa al-Sham, wasn’t defeated by the government. It was dismantled by a rival band of revolutionaries – hardline Islamists. The Islamists moved against them at the beginning of May. After three days of sporadic clashes Omar’s more moderate fighters, accused by the Islamists of looting, caved in and dispersed, according to local residents. Omar said the end came swiftly. The Islamists confiscated the brigade’s weapons, ammunition and cars, Omar said. “They considered this war loot. Maybe they think we are competitors,” he said. “We have no idea about their goals. What we have built in two years disappeared in a single day.” The group was effectively marginalized in the struggle to overthrow Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad. Around 100 fighters are all that remain of his force, Omar said. It’s a pattern repeated elsewhere in the country. During a 10-day journey through rebel-held territory in Syria, Reuters journalists found that radical Islamist units are sidelining more moderate groups that do not share the Islamists’ goal of establishing a supreme religious leadership in the country. The moderates, often underfunded, fragmented and chaotic, appear no match for Islamist units, which include fighters from organizations designated “terrorist” by the United States. The Islamist ascendancy has amplified the sectarian nature of the war between Sunni Muslim rebels and the Shi’ite supporters of Assad. It also presents a barrier to the original democratic aims of the revolt and calls into question whether the United States, which announced practical support for the rebels last week, can ensure supplies of weapons go only to groups friendly to the West. The Islamists are more energetic and better organized. The main two hardline groups to emerge in Syria are Ahrar al-Sham and Jabhat al-Nusra, an al Qaeda offshoot that has claimed responsibility for dozens of suicide bombings, including several in Damascus in which civilians were killed. But Islamist fighters, dressed in black cotton with long Sunni-style beards, have developed a reputation for being principled. Dozens of residents living in areas of rebel-held territory across northern Syria told Reuters the same thing, whether they agreed with the politics of Jabhat al-Nusra or not: the Islamists do not steal. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/19/us-syria-rebels-islamists-specialreport-idUSBRE95I0BC20130619
Taliban Gunmen Kill Foreign Climbers In Pakistan In Retaliation For American Drone Strike That Killed Taliban Leader…Update: One American Among Those Killed How are those peace talks with the Taliban going, Mr. President? Via NY Times: ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — In one of the most brazen attacks on foreigners in the country in recent years, militants killed nine tourists and one Pakistani on a mountaineering expedition in northern Pakistan on Sunday, according to the country’s interior minister. The dead included five Ukrainians and three Chinese, officials said. Their Pakistani guide was also killed in the attack. The nationality of the ninth tourist was unclear. The attack occurred in far-flung Gilgit-Baltistan, a beautiful, mountainous part of northern Pakistan where attacks on foreigners have been rare in recent years, although there has been sporadic sectarian violence. Officials said that the foreigners were part of an expedition that planned to climb Nanga Parbat which, at 26,660 feet, is the world’s ninth highest mountain and Pakistan’s second highest peak. A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault, which he said was in retaliation for American drone strikes in the tribal belt. Gunmen wearing police uniforms stormed into their camp around 1 a.m. Sunday morning and opened fire, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told Parliament on Sunday morning. The gunmen were said to have escaped after the attack. The Taliban spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan, said they belonged to a Taliban affiliate named Jundul Hafsa, and that the attack was a response to an American drone attack that killed the Taliban deputy leader, Wali ur-Rehman, on May 29. Update: Via NBC: Five Ukrainians, two Chinese nationals and one American of Chinese origin, one Russian, one Pakistani security guard and a local guide were killed at a base camp for climbers attempting Nanga Parbat, officials said. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/24/world/asia/gunmen-kill-climbers-in-northern-pakistan.html?smid=tw-share&_r=2&
Egyptian Army Responds To Morsi Defying Their Ultimatum: We Are Ready To Die… Via Reuters: Egypt’s high command said on Wednesday the army was ready to die to defend Egypt’s people against terrorists and fools, in a response to Islamist President Mohamed Mursi that was headlined “The Final Hours”. The post on the official Facebook page of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), headed by armed forces chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, said: “We swear to God that we will sacrifice even our blood for Egypt and its people, to defend them against any terrorist, radical or fool.” Issued three hours after Mursi appeared on television to reject an ultimatum from Sisi that he share power with his opponents or face a military solution by 10:00 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT), a military source said the statement made clear that the armed forces would not abandon their demands.
Assad Praises The Revolt Against Morsi, Calling It The “Fall Of Political Islam” Translation: That is one MoFo that will not be continuing to support people against me, ha! BEIRUT (AP) — Syria’s embattled president on Wednesday praised Egypt’s protests against their leader and said his overthrow by the military means the end of “political Islam.” President Bashar Assad, who is seeking to crush a revolt against his own rule, said Egyptians have discovered the “lies” of the Muslim Brotherhood. He spoke in an interview with the state-run Al-Thawra newspaper to be printed in full Thursday. Excerpts were published Wednesday night on the Syrian presidency’s Facebook page, coinciding with the Egyptian military’s announcement of Morsi’s ouster. “What is happening in Egypt is the fall of so-called political Islam,” Assad said. “This is the fate of anyone in the world who tries to use religion for political or factional interests.” Assad is facing an insurgency at home and has refused to step down, calling the revolt an international conspiracy carried out by Islamic extremists and fundamentalist groups such as the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, a branch of the Egyptian group with the same name to which Morsi belongs. Earlier Wednesday, Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi urged Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi to step down in line with his people’s wishes. Al-Zoubi told reporters in Damascus that Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood is a “terrorist” organization and a “U.S. tool.” http://bigstory.ap.org/article/syria-calls-egyptian-president-step-down
USA Today: What Went Wrong In Egypt? Everything They neglect to mention being propped up by Obama. Via USA Today: CAIRO — The mob-backed military ouster Wednesday of Egypt’s first democratically-elected leader came just three days and a year after he took office and launched a presidency that never rose above the narrow desires and broad grievances of the Islamist movement that he belonged to, analysts say. Army chief of staff Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, speaking on national television in front of a row of prominent political and religious leaders, said the military was forced to act after President Mohammed Morsi had refused for weeks to set up a national reconciliation government. Al-Sisi’s announcement came as millions of anti-Morsi demonstrators packed Cairo’s Tahrir Square and city squares across the country to demand the president’s resignation, a flood of condemnation that amounted to “a huge vote of no-confidence,” by the public, said Michael Wahid Hanna, an Egypt analyst at the Century Foundation, a think tank in Washington. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/07/03/morsi-egypt-coup-what-went-wrong/2487723/?sf14644628=1
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Calls For Mass “Friday of Martyrs” Protests… Nobody Shows Up… The Brotherhood is dying, good riddance. CAIRO (Reuters) – Mass protests called by Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood mostly failed to materialize on Friday as the movement reeled from a bloody army crackdown on followers of ousted President Mohamed Morsi. Troops and police had taken relatively low-key security measures before the “Friday of Martyrs” processions that were to have begun from 28 mosques in the capital after weekly prayers. But midday prayers were cancelled at some mosques and there were few signs of major demonstrations unfolding in Cairo. “We are not afraid; it’s victory or death,” said Mohamed Abdel Azim, a retired oil engineer who was among about 100 people marching slowly from a mosque near Cairo University. “They intend to strike at Muslims,” the grey-bearded Azim said. “We’d rather die in dignity than live in oppression. We’ll keep coming out until there’s no one left.” Some marchers carried posters of Morsi, who was toppled by army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on July 3 after huge demonstrations against his rule. “No to the coup,” they chanted.