News For August 04, 2010

Obama Warned Israel May Bomb Iran

By Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity

We write to alert you to the likelihood that Israel will attack Iran as early as this month. This would likely lead to a wider war. Continue

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Israel-Lebanon Tensions Flare After Skirmish Leaves Four Dead

By Robert Fisk:

For the Lebanese army to take on the Israelis, with their 264 nuclear missiles, was a tall order. But for the Israeli army to take on the army of one of the smallest countries in the world was surely preposterous. Continue

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Obama Drops 2009 Pledge to Withdraw Combat Troops from Iraq

By Gareth Porter

Seventeen months after President Barack Obama pledged to withdraw all combat brigades from Iraq by Sep. 1, 2010, he quietly abandoned that pledge Monday, admitting implicitly that such combat brigades would remain until the end of 2011. Continue

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Queen Nancy of the Robber Class
“Metrics”?

By Cindy Sheehan

You, Nancy—you don’t even know the kind of pain you are causing all of the “Metrics” in the world, do you? The mothers in all the parts of the world that we are bombing, or helping other people to bomb don’t even enter into your rarefied society. We wouldn’t want to spoil your dinner parties/DNC fundraisers at your estate in Sonoma County, now, would we? Continue

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US Corporate Media Downplays Pentagon’s Special Commando Assassination Unit

By Peter Phillips and Mickey Huff

The New York Times, Washington Post, and most other newspapers in the US are censoring or under-reporting the WikiLeaks documents that show US Task Force 373 (TF 373) is an out-of-control assassination unit responsible for the deaths of many hundreds of civilians in Afghanistan. Continue

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Why We Sued to Represent Muslim Cleric Awlaki

By Bill Quigley

Anwar al-Awlaki is a US citizen and Muslim cleric living somewhere in Yemen. The US has put him on our terrorist list and is trying to assassinate him. The Center for Constitutional Rights and the ACLU filed suit so we can be pro bono lawyers for his father, Nasser Awlaki, to stop the government from killing him. Continue

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Church to Burn Copies of Koran to Mark 9/11

By staff writers

"We will burn Korans because we think it's time for Christians, for churches, for politicians to stand up and say no; Islam and Sharia law is not welcome in the U.S. Continue

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The Avoidable Depression;
"No one believes the U.S. is the land of opportunity anymore"

By Mike Whitney

8 million jobs have been lost since the beginning of the recession, but policymakers on Capital Hill and at the Fed refuse to initiate government programs or provide funding that will put the country back to work. Long-term "structural" unemployment is here to stay. Continue

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We’re Hot as Hell and We’re Not Going to Take It Any More
Three Steps to Establish a Politics of Global Warming

By Bill McKibben

Fossil fuel is wrecking the one earth we’ve got. It’s not going to go away because we ask politely. If we want a world that works, we’re going to have to raise our voices. Continue

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Tuesday: 42 killed in Iraq, Qaeda plants flag: Twin car bombs in south Iraq killed 33 people on Tuesday while al-Qaeda fighters hoisted their flag having shot dead five police in Baghdad, a day after the US vowed no delays to a major troop pullout.

Rebranded Occupation Relying Heavily on Private Military Contractors?: President Obama said Monday in a speech before the Disabled American Veterans national convention in Atlanta that the US military is on target to withdraw all its combat troops from Iraq by the end of August. We speak with independent journalist Jeremy Scahill, who says this instead marks the beginning of a downsized and rebranded occupation that will rely heavily on private military forces.

Afghan official survives attack, five guards killed in blast: A senior Afghan official Wednesday survived an attack in southern Afghanistan, but another explosion in the region killed five private security guards, officials said.

Tuesday: 20 Taliban Killed in Eastern Afghanistan: Twenty Taliban militants were killed and dozens were wounded in operations conducted by Afghan forces in the eastern Laghman province on Tuesday

First NZ soldier killed in Afghanistan: New Zealand has suffered its first combat fatality in Afghanistan, with a soldier killed in an ambush in the Bamiyan province that left another two NZ troops and an Afghan interpreter wounded

Pakistan police chief among 4 killed in bomb attack: : The bomber detonated explosives on Wednesday at a busy market in the city of Peshawar.

Iran questions Obama's 'change': "The Americans want to relocate their soldiers to Afghanistan. What kind of a change in their military policy is this?" the president asked during a speech in the western Hamadan Province

Iran official: We have obtained the S-300 missile system: Fars news agency says Tehran signs deal with Belarus after Russia reportedly refused to provide Iran with the surface-to-air system over recent UN sanctions.

Russian company: US sanctions bar Iran plane deal: U.S. sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme are preventing a state-connected Russian company from delivering five passenger jets to Iran under a 2007 contract, the head of the company said on Tuesday.

Iran rejects Ahmadinejad attack reports: Iran's presidential office has rejected as false reports of a grenade attack on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the western city of Hamedan.

Ahmadinejad attack 'was firework': A reported attack on the convoy of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's president, was actually a teenager throwing a firework, officials and a witness say.
Turkey summons US diplomat: Turkey has summoned a top US diplomat to protest against Washington's interference in a UN mandate probing Israel's deadly attack on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.
US challenged over Awlaki hit order: Two civil rights groups have accused the US government of blocking their efforts to serve as lawyers for the father of a US-born religious scholar accused of links to al-Qaeda.
Army probing McChrystal staff over Rolling Stone interview: The investigation comes as the Pentagon grapples with how much access the reporter who wrote the piece, Michael Hastings, should have to troops. Hastings was banned from a scheduled embed this September in Afghanistan for being untrustworthy
Congressman says PFC Bradley Manning Should Face Death Penalty for Wikileaks Case: "If they don't charge him with treason, they ought to charge him with murder."
Climate Change, Water, and Risk: Current Water Demands Are Not Sustainable: The study found that more than 1,100 counties -- one-third of all counties in the lower 48 -- will face higher risks of water shortages by mid-century as the result of global warming. More than 400 of these counties will face extremely high risks of water shortages
BP claims success in 'static kill': The eight-hour "static kill" procedure, which involved pumping mud and cement into the blown-out well, had gone as planned although the situation would continue to be monitored, the energy giant said.
Gulf oil flow was 12 times more than feds' original estimate: New estimates released Monday by a government-led team of scientists found that as much as 62,000 barrels of oil were leaking from the well each day at its peak — far beyond the initial estimate of 5,000 barrels a day and more in line with what scientists told McClatchy it was.
BP’s expected oil disaster fine: $17.6 billion. : According to this new estimate, the oil giant liable for the Gulf of Mexico disaster will be responsible for a $17.6 billion fine — $4,300 for each barrel of oil, less the 800,000 barrels directly siphoned from the wellhead.