…from beneath the crooked bough, witness 230 years of brutal tyranny by the al Khalifas come to an end

Mexico: Torture Reports Triple, Group Finds
By ELISABETH MALKIN – 11 October, 2012 – NYT

Amnesty International said Thursday that reports of torture and mistreatment by Mexico’s federal police and military forces had tripled from 2008 to 2011, evidence of an “alarming increase” in the use of torture by the authorities at every level of the drug war. Although the government has pledged to reduce torture, the report found that “the record of prevention, investigation and punishment has been extremely poor.” Despite judicial reforms, Mexican courts still accept evidence and confessions obtained through torture, which the report said encourages its continued use. The United Nations Committee Against Torture is scheduled to study Mexico’s compliance with international treaties next month. …source

Man arrested after plotting Federal Reserve bomb, authorities say
From Susan Candiotti – CNN – 18 October, 2012

New York (CNN) — Federal authorities running a sting operation arrested a 21-year-old Bangladeshi man, who came to the U.S. on a student visa and was allegedly planning to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank of New York with what he believed was a 1,000-pound bomb, officials said.

Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis was detained Wednesday after an alleged attempt to detonate the device, which was inert and part of an elaborate investigation by federal authorities and NYPD detectives.

Prosecutors say Nafis was apparently motivated by al Qaeda and traveled to the United States in January under the pretext of attending college in Missouri in order carry out “a terrorist attack on U.S. soil” and to recruit members to form a terrorist cell.

Accused 9/11 mastermind says U.S. tortured in name of national security

It’s not clear whether Nafis maintained al Qaeda ties, but authorities say he apparently claimed that the plot was his own, and that it was his sole motivation for the U.S. trip.

One of the people Nafis apparently contacted was an FBI source to whom he proposed multiple targets, including a high-ranking U.S. official as well as the New York Stock Exchange, authorities said.

At one point, the suspect contemplated President Barack Obama as a target, but that idea never progressed, a U.S. official with knowledge of the investigation said.

While the details surrounding the suspected plot remain murky, prosecutors say Nafis indicated that he wanted to “destroy America” by going after the nation’s financial institutions and ultimately settled on the landmark bank.

The undercover agent, authorities say, also provided 20 bags of 50 pounds each of purported explosives to Nafis, who then stored the material in a warehouse in preparation for the strike.

They say Nafis further divulged a “Plan B” that involved carrying out a suicide attack should police thwart his initial effort.

Packing his van with what he apparently believed were explosives, Nafis then allegedly traveled with the undercover agent to Manhattan’s financial district, attached a detonator to the material and recorded a video statement in a nearby hotel. …more

Probe Finds Police Fusion Centers Smother Freedom Waste Millions
17 October, 2012 – NOVA News – By Mark Anderson

The post 9-11 network of law-enforcement fusion centers set up in every state to help fight the “war on terror,” funded through a grants process Congress set up,is getting terrible grades in a 141-page report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, chaired by Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.).

That panel reviewed more than 600 unclassified reports over a one-year period, concluding that most of the operations carried out, after the expenditure of well over $1B, had virtuallynothing to do with terrorism.

“The subcommittee investigation could identify no reporting which uncovered a terrorist threat, nor could it identify a contribution such fusion center reporting made to disrupt an active terrorist plot,” the October 3 report says, in part.

“It’s troubling that the very ‘fusion’ centers . . . designed to share information . . . have become part of the problem. Instead of strengthening our counter-terrorism efforts, they have too often wasted money and stepped on Americans’ civil liberties,” said Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.). Coburn initiated the investigation that resulted in this report, called “Federal Support for and Involvement in State and Local Fusion Centers.”

In other words, the United States has a mega-expensive anti-terror apparatus that really doesn’t fight terrorism but becomes another self-perpetuating bureaucracy that tries to smother freedom.

And yet this startling Senate report was followed by something perhaps even more eye-opening—the October 8 release of a House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligencereport, entitled, “Investigative Report on the U.S. National Security Issues Posed by Chinese Telecommunications Companies Huawei and ZTE.” So, while the U.S. security bureaucracy has been looking for the slightest signs of pending sabotage and terror from domestic patriots and Muslims, China has continued making major inroads into the United States.

The House report follows an 11-month investigation into the business practices of Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp., two of the world’s largest makers of telecommunications equipment. These firms develop and sell telecom gear like routers, handsets and switches. The report recommends that Huawei and ZTE be excluded from expanding their businesses in the U.S. because of “cyber-espionage risks and connections to the Chinesegovernment.”

The House report notes a threat is posed to U.S. national security “by vulnerabilities in the telecommunications supply chain . . . given the country’s reliance on interdependent critical infrastructure systems . . . and the growing dependence all consumers have on a small group of equipment providers,” although Congress, as usual, seems tone deaf to the fact that its financial and trade policies are tailor-made for monopolies to take root.

Nor has Congress said much, if anything, about Foreign Trade Zones—entire Chinese industrial and residential communities transplanted into Idaho and elsewhere in the United States, while much of America’s original industrial base has been dismantled and “parted out” to China and many other foreign locales. Some of America’s industry is rebounding, but it’s a long, hard process.

Among other important things, the House report obtained by AMERICAN FREE PRESS underscores the sheer fragility of an over-centralized system developed without regard to local control by individuals and communities, even when handy, clean technology that would make the average home or factory less reliant on the grid for electricity is more accessibleand more affordable than ever before.

“The risk posed to U.S. national-security and economic interests by cyber-threats is an undeniable priority,” the House report warns. It further states:

First, the country’s reliance on telecommunications infrastructure includes more than consumers’ use of computer systems. Rather, multiple critical infrastructure systems depend on information transmission through telecommunications systems —[including] electric power grids; banking and finance systems; natural gas, oil and water systems; and rail and shipping channels; each of which depend on computerized control systems. Further, system inter-dependencies among these critical infrastructures greatly increase the risk that failure in one system will cause failures or disruptions in multiple . . . systems. Therefore, a disruption in telecommunication networks can have devastating effects on all aspects of modern American living, causing shortages and stoppages that ripple throughout society,”observes the report. “[China’s] cyber- and human-enabled espionage efforts often exhibit sophisticated technological capabilities,” and these capabilities include inserting “malicious hardware or software implants into Chinese-manufactured telecommunications components and systems marketed to the United States. …more

Iran to reach self-sufficiency producing radioisotope drugs
By Trend – October, 2012

Iran will become self-sufficient in producing radioisotope drugs in the next calendar year which will begin on March 21, 2013, ISNA quoted the National Security Committee spokesman Hossein Naqavi Hosseini as saying.

Once the first phase of the Arak nuclear power plant comes on stream, the country will be self-sufficient in producing radioisotope drugs for over one million patients suffering from various types of cancers and brain tumours, he noted.

In August, deputy head of the Iranian Ministry of Health for Research and Technology Mostafa Qanei said Iran plans to unveil six new homemade hi-tech medicines in the next few months, the Fars News Agency reported.

The official further stressed that the new drugs are as effective as the foreign versions of the medication, but cheaper.

In a landmark pharmaceutical progress, the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI) announced in January that Iranian scientists have managed to synthesise two new types of radioisotope medicines to treat malignant types of cancer.

“Iranian scientists and researchers at the AEOI’s Nuclear Science and Technology Research Centre succeeded in producing two new radioisotope drugs for the first time to cure malignant cancers,” AEOI spokesman Hamid Khadem Qaemi said. …source

Saudi troops carry out pre-dawn raid in Awamiyah
17 October, 2012 – PressTV

Saudi Arabian troops have opened fire in the town of Awamiyah in the kingdom’s Eastern Province, spreading panic among people.

The incident occurred around 3 a.m. local time (00:00 GMT) on Tuesday when regime forces in armored vehicles started to patrol the streets around the town, the Al Jazeera Magazine reported.

Many were panicked after they were woken up by a sudden launch of gunfire by the troops who went on a shooting spree.

A number of civilian cars were damaged in the incident, which drew condemnation from human rights groups.

Since February 2011, Saudi Arabia has experienced anti-regime demonstrations on an almost regular basis in oil-rich Eastern Province, mainly in Awamiyah and the town of Qatif.

The protesters are calling for the release of all political prisoners, freedom of expression and assembly, and an end to widespread discrimination as well as an end to the despotic rule of the Al Saud regime.

Anti-regime sentiments hiked after November 2011, when the Al Saud regime forces killed five protesters and injured many others in the province. Security forces have also arrested dozens of people including prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nemr al-Nemr.

The crackdowns have been condemned by various human rights organizations.

Human Rights Watch has said the Saudi regime “routinely represses expression critical of the government.”

On Tuesday, Amnesty International called on Saudi authorities to stop excessive use of force “to stifle people’s attempts to protest against the widespread use of arbitrary detention in the country.”

According to the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association, there are about 30,000 political prisoners in the kingdom.
…source

Arab Spring fallout: More sophisticated weapons in Gaza
By Talal Abu Rahman and Sara Sidner – 18 October, 2012

Jerusalem (CNN) — Militant sources in Gaza tell CNN that a shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missile was used to try to shoot down an Israeli helicopter flying east of Gaza last week.

It is significant because it is the first time a weapon of this type has been used against an Israeli aircraft, though the missile did not manage to hit its target. Hamas, which controls Gaza, has not commented on the incident.

The weapon is said to be a Strela SA-7 and was smuggled in from the Sinai desert but originally came from Libya, according to a source in Gaza.

Libya has been grappling with a huge number of unaccounted for weaponry since the revolution that toppled its dictator, Moammar Gadhafi, and left everything from mines and mortars to anti-aircraft missiles in the hands of its citizenry. No group has taken responsibility for firing the surface-to-air missile from Gaza.

So far the Israeli military has declined comment and has not publicly acknowledged the provocation.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a senior Israeli Army official told CNN there has been a significant change in the kind of weaponry being used by militant groups in Gaza since the Arab Spring. The weapons are more powerful and sophisticated than have been used in times past.

In the past week, there has been an increase in rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel and subsequent air strikes by Israel on targets in Gaza. …more

Bahrain: Judicial crackdown continues on human rights defenders and activists
17 October, 2012 – Gulf Center for Human Rights

17 October 2012- The Gulf centre for Human Rights (BCHR) and Bahrain Centre for human rights (BCHR) express their deepest concern over the escalated judicial crackdown on activists as several human rights defenders and political activists have been summoned for interrogation or arrested in the past few days, due to their legitimate peaceful activism for rights and democracy. The GCHR and BCHR believe that the silence of the international community on the continued judicial harassment and detention of some activist is leading to escalation to a wider group of activists and an immediate action is required to put an end to these violations.

On 16 October 2012, human rights defender and president of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights Mohamed Al-Masktai has been summoned for interrogation at Al-Naem police station. He was then arrested and kept in custody to be brought the following day before the public prosecution office on charges of “rioting and participating in an illegal gathering.” in reference to the Friday protest in Manama (12 October 2012) entitled “Self determination”. On 17 Oct 2012 he was released after interrogation.

Human rights defender Mohamed Al-Masktai has been active in documenting and reporting the violations committed by the Bahraini authorities in recent months. In September 2012 he has been subjected to intimidation campaign as he received more than a dozen anonymous phone calls threatening his life and the safety of his family, which followed an oral intervention he delivered at the Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva, during a panel discussion focused on intimidations and reprisals, where he informed the (HRC) about the massive intimidation campaign against him.

On 16 October 2012, human rights defender Nader Abdulemam was summoned for interrogation at the public prosecution office. At the time of writing this appeal Nader Abdulemam has not appeared at the public prosecution office as yet.

In addition to her previous 13 plus lawsuits, activist and human rights defender Zainab Al-Khawaja was summoned again for a new case that includes the charge of “insulting a police officer”. The case goes back to 6 May 2012, however it has been activated just now and a trial was scheduled on 17 October 2012, but postponed to 2 November 2012 in order to summon Al-Khawaja.

Al-Khawaja was recently released on 3 October 2012 after she spent two months imprisonment sentence on the charge of “ripping photo of king of Bahrain”. She is expecting verdicts on several cases in the coming weeks.

On 16 October 2012, the court refused to release leading human rights defender Nabeel Rajab; during a session of his appeal trial against 3 year imprisonment sentence which has he received on charges of “participating in illegal gatherings” and “calling for gatherings over social media”.

In addition, the court refused to provide assistance to allow foreigner witnesses to enter Bahrain and testify on behalf of Rajab. On 15 October 2012, Stephanie David, a representative from FIDH has been denied entry to Bahrain to testify for Rajab, as she was required to provide an authorization from the court. Rajab’s lawyers objected to the manipulation of evidences and the trial records. A paragraph was included in the previous session log, although it was not discussed during the session, and a CD which included videos showing Rajab participating in various events and demos, has disappeared from the case records. This CD was provided by the public prosecution to convict Rajab, but the lawyers found it was evidence of the peaceful nature of his activities. The next session of trial will be on 8 Nov 2012. …more

In the midst of disinformation campaigns on the crisis in Syria – largely based on nameless witnesses giving indeterminate figures – Ammar Bagdach, secretary general of the Syrian Communist Party, shared with Cuba’s Granma International a reality far removed from many of the biased media versions.

Interview with Ammar Bagdach, secretary general of the Syrian Communist Party
Voltaire Network – Havana (Cuba) – 15 October, 2012

Syrian Communist leader Ammar Bagdach was interviewed by Granma International in Havana, Cuba. He made it clear that Syria is in the throws of an imperialist plot aimed at regime change.

Granma: What have been the Syrian CP’s principal tasks since the crisis erupted?

Ammar Bagdach: In the first place, the struggle to preserve Syria’s national independence, sovereignty and anti-imperialist patriotic line, and for the interests and demands of the most disfavored popular masses.

There is another very important task, above all given the situation imposed on us, the defense of national production. We always implement the great slogan held high by the historic leader of the Party, Khaled Bagdach: defense of the homeland and defense of the bread of the people.

Our Party is undertaking a very important mobilizing role with the people in order to expose the nature of the conspiracy mounted against us. The initial mass mobilizations which took place last year outside the embassies of the major powers, were organized by and had the key participation of our Party. Outside the diplomatic headquarters of France, the people made it clear that they have not forgotten the crimes committed against our country by French colonialism. We held up a placard with General de Gaulle’s phrase, “It is illusory to believe that Syria can be broken.”

Granma: What has been the impact on the country of the measures adopted by the government in the wake of the crisis?

AB: Many measures have been adopted to guarantee the extension of democratic liberties, the most important being the one which repealed martial law. Moreover, the [political] parties law was proclaimed and very advanced press legislation. Our Party has fought for many years for the restoration of Syrian nationality to those Kurds deprived of it as the result of the exceptional census undertaken by the reactionary government in 1962. There are close to one million Kurds in Syria and the majority of them have their nationality, but it was restored to 136,000 Kurds who didn’t have it. A new Constitution was declared and some analysts consider that the most significant aspect of it is the modification of Article 8, which established that the head of state had to belong to the Ba’ath Party.

The majority of the democratic measures adopted and reforms undertaken were included in the Syrian CP program, which strongly called for their adoption.

Granma: The Human Rights Council passed a resolution containing a censure motion against Damascus for the Houla tragedy and has extended by six months the mandate of the Investigative Commission in Syria. What is your assessment of this and the role of Russia, China and the UN in this conflict?

AB: In relation to the Houla massacre, the information in the hands of the Communist Party in the region is that it was not perpetrated by government forces, but by insurgents, and they did it three days before the issue was discussed in the Security Council in order to put pressure on the organization.

The role of Russia and China has been positive in relation to the Syrian crisis; they are defending their geostrategic interests, taking into account the tremendous pressure the United States is exerting on them, and for that reason, the interests of these two countries converge with the interests of the Syrian people in defense of their homeland and national sovereignty.

In relation to the UN role, given the positions adopted by the Secretary General, it is clear that he is responding in a disciplined manner to the instructions of the United States. In terms of the activity of its special representatives Kofi Annan and now Lakdar Brahimi, as a political party we are against this initiative because its essence has been to strip the Syrian government of the instruments its has to assume the defense of the country’s sovereignty.

Granma: Looking ahead, what does the Communist Party consider the outcome of the crisis in Syria should be?

AB: In the first place, a firm, severe posture has to be maintained in the face of the subversive actions and sabotage of the insurgents. Those who are not perpetrating acts of terrorism have to be confronted with the same means they use, but from other points of view and approaches. Subversion, killings and terrorist operations have to be confronted by implementing the law.

The fundamental guarantee of Syria’s firmness lies in meeting the needs of people, this means that many economic and social laws have to be reviewed. Any attempt to reach a solution of compromise between patriotic and non-patriotic forces signifies retracting from patriotic interests, a regression. We do not support that. …more

People hold funeral in Bahrain for victim of toxic tear gas
18 October, 2012 – PressTV

People in Bahrain have held a funeral procession for Haj Mahdi Ali Marhun, who died due to inhalation of tear gas fired into his house by Saudi-backed regime forces.

The funeral for Ali Marhun, who spent the last two months of his life in hospital after the attack, was held in the village of Ma’ameer on Wednesday.

In Bahrain, many have died after regime forces fired poisonous tear gas into their homes to crush anti-regime protests.

Meanwhile, in other parts of the country people took to streets to express solidarity with five imprisoned medics on hunger strike.

The medics, who have been in prison since early October, went on hunger strike on Sunday to urge international efforts for their release.

The Bahraini revolution began in mid-February 2011, when the people, inspired by the popular revolutions that toppled the dictators of Tunisia and Egypt, started holding massive demonstrations.

The Bahraini government promptly launched a brutal crackdown on the peaceful protests and called in Saudi-led Arab forces from neighboring Persian Gulf states.

Dozens of people have been killed in the crackdown, and the security forces have arrested hundreds, including doctors and nurses accused of treating injured revolutionaries.

A report published by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry in November 2011 found that the Al Khalifa regime had used excessive force in the crackdown and accused Manama of torturing political activists, politicians, and protesters.

The protesters say they will continue holding anti-regime demonstrations until their demand for the establishment of a democratically elected government is met. …source Photos HERE

Bahrain charges four men with defaming king on Twitter
by Rania El Gamal – 18 October, 2012 – Reuters

(Reuters) – Bahraini authorities have detained four men on charges of defaming the Gulf Arab country’s king on Twitter, according to the state news agency BNA.

The four men in their 20s were arrested on Wednesday morning after security forces confiscated their computers and other electronic equipment, Mohammed al-Maskati, head of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights said.

Criticizing King Hamad and other members of the Al Khalifa ruling family is a red line in the Gulf island kingdom.

Bahrain’s public prosecution office had questioned four defendants and charged them with the “crime of insulting his majesty the king on their personal accounts on Twitter,” prosecutor Ahmed Bucheeri said on Wednesday, according to BNA.

The defendants, who have been detained for a week, will face “an urgent trial before the criminal court”, he said, but no date has been given.

Bahrain, a U.S. ally which hosts the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, has been in political turmoil since pro-democracy protests led by its Shi’ite majority erupted last year and were put down by the Sunni rulers.

Last month, Zainab al-Khawaja, the daughter of an imprisoned Bahraini activist was jailed for two months for damaging public property in a police station, which included the picture of King Hamad, the government’s information authority said.

Khawaja’s lawyer said her sentence was handed down for tearing up a picture of the king.

In July, prominent protest leader Nabeel Rajab was sentenced to three months in jail over a tweet against the prime minister, a member of the ruling family, which the court said insulted Bahrainis. He was later acquitted on appeal.

The ruling family used martial law and help from Gulf neighbors to put down last year’s uprising, but unrest has resumed.

Protesters and police clash almost daily and Washington has called on its ally to talk to the opposition.

Bahraini authorities accuse regional Shi’ite power Iran of encouraging the unrest and has vowed a tough response to violent protests as talks with the opposition have stalled. …source

Bahrain: Five medics on Hunger strike in protest against their unjust detention
18 October, 2012 – Bahrain Center for Human Rights

The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) is extremely concerned over the health condition of the five medics on hunger strike in Bahraini prisons. Ali Al Akri, Ebrahim Al Dumistani, Ghassan Dhaif, Saeed Al Samahiji and Dhiaa Ebrahim began an open hunger strike from food and medicine in protest to their unfair detention.

In 2011, 20 medics were arrested from Samaniya Hospital, some from the operation room, merely for treating injured protesters. They were subjected to severe torture during their detention and forced into confessions. They were found guilty in the Military Court and sentenced from 5 to 15 years’ imprisonment to later be reduced to acquittal and sentences from 1 month to 5 years’ imprisonment. On 1 October 2012, the Cassation Court upheld the sentences against 9 medics, while 3 had already served their sentences, 6 were arrested the next day during house raids. Dr. Mahmood Asghar was released 4 days later because of time already served.

On 13 October 2012, the 5 detained medics announced their open hunger strike, refusing to take food and medicine:
1. Ali Al Ekri – five years sentence
2. Ebrahim Al Dumistani – three years sentence
3. Ghassan Dhaif – one year sentence
4. Saeed Samahiji – one year sentence
5. Dhiaa Ebrahim – two months sentence

In a statement issued by the medics behind bars, they stated that “after the unfair politicized verdicts by the Cassation Court without considering the evidences presented by the defense, we will start an open hunger strike.” They called their action “The Lost Justice” and began their strike on 14 October 2012. …more

Commander: If Iran is attacked, Israel will be hit
18 October, 2012 – Associated Press

TEHRAN: Israel will “definitely” face fierce retaliation if it attacks Iranian nuclear sites, the acting commander of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard warned Thursday.

The remarks by Gen. Hossein Salami appear to be part of Iranian efforts to portray any strike against it as the trigger for a regional conflict that could draw in Iranian proxies, such as Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group, on Israel’s borders.

Iran’s suspect nuclear program has topped the international agenda and pressures on Tehran are mounting.

Israel has threatened to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities if Tehran doesn’t stop uranium enrichment – a process that can be a pathway to nuclear arms. The West and its allies fear Iran’s ambitions mask a pursuit of atomic weapons, a charge Tehran denies, saying its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes such as power generation and cancer treatment.

Salami was quoted by the semi-official ISNA news agency as saying Iran has prepared for “global battles.”

“An attack by the Zionist regime would be an opportunity to destroy that regime,” he said, speaking of Israel. “Their defense mechanism is not planned for big and long wars. Their threats are only psychological and if they cross the limit or act upon those threats, (Israel) will definitely be destroyed.”

Salami spoke on the sidelines of urban combat drills in Tehran by some 15,000 paramilitary fighters known as Basiji, who are controlled by the Revolutionary Guard.

The exercises were dubbed “Ila Beit ol Moqaddas,” or Toward the Holy City, meaning Jerusalem. The war games include drills on defending against mock air raids and other threats.

“We have prepared our security and defense infrastructures for global and big battles,” Salami said. “There is no failure in our defense system.”

He also reiterated statements by other Iranian officials who this week insisted that Iran can ride out Western economic pressures aimed at reining in the uranium enrichment.

…more

In signal to Iran, U.S. and Israeli forces to stage drill
18 October, 2012 – By Mathieu Rabechault -Agence France Presse

WASHINGTON: The United States and Israel are set to launch a major military exercise in a show of unity aimed at Iran, despite friction between American and Israeli leaders over how to counter Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

The air defense drills, dubbed “Austere Challenge 2012,” will unfold later this month and last about three weeks, with 3,500 US troops and 1,000 Israeli forces taking part, officers said Wednesday.

“This is the largest exercise in the history of the longstanding military relationship between the US and Israel,” said Lieutenant General Craig Franklin, 3rd Air Force Commander, who is overseeing the drill along with his Israeli counterpart, Brigadier General Nitzan Nuriel.

“This exercise will improve the cooperative missile defense of Israel and will promote regional stability and help ensure a military edge,” Franklin told reporters in a teleconference.

But the drill is about more than missile defenses.

The elaborate exercise takes place at a politically-charged moment, amid speculation about a possible Israeli pre-emptive attack on Iran, a hotly-contested US presidential election weeks away and parliamentary polls expected in Israel within a few months.

The drill’s “scenario is to deal with threats from all fronts,” Nuriel, the Israeli commander, told the same phone conference.

“Anybody can get any type of message he wants from this exercise. The fact we are practicing together and working together is a strong message by itself.”

Although Israel faces rocket attacks out of Gaza and missile threats from Syria and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, the main worry for the Jewish state is Iran’s growing arsenal of ballistic missiles.

In a report this year to Congress, the Pentagon warned that Iran’s missiles could hit Israel and Eastern European countries, including an extended-range version of the Shahab-3 and a medium-range ballistic missile with a range of 2,000 kilometers.
…more

Texas man pleads guilty in plot to kill Saudi ambassador
The Associated Press – 17 October, 2012

NEW YORK — A Texas man pleaded guilty Wednesday to plotting to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States, agreeing to hire what he thought was a drug dealer in Mexico last year for $1.5 million to carry out the attack with explosives at a Washington restaurant.

Manssor Arbabsiar, 57, entered the plea to two conspiracy charges and a murder-for-hire count in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, where Judge John F. Keenan repeatedly asked Arbabsiar whether he intended to kill the ambassador. Arbabsiar, a U.S. citizen who holds an Iranian passport, said he did.

Sentencing was set for Jan. 23, when defense lawyers are likely to cite their claims that Arbabsiar is bipolar in asking for leniency. He faces up to 25 years in prison.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward Kim asked Arbabsiar if Iranian military officials based in Iran were involved in the plot. Arbabsiar said they were.

In a news release issued after the plea, Attorney General Eric Holder cited the efforts of law enforcement and intelligence agencies in disrupting “a deadly plot approved by members of the Iranian military to assassinate a sitting foreign ambassador on U.S. soil.”

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara noted that the harm likely would have extended beyond the ambassador, calling Arbabsiar “the extended murderous hand of his co-conspirators, officials of the Iranian military based in Iran, who plotted to kill the Saudi Ambassador in the United States and were willing to kill as many bystanders as necessary to do so.”

He said Arbabsiar “was in telephone contact with his Iranian confederates while he brokered an audacious plot.”

Arbabsiar admitted that he was directed by Iranian military officials to go to Mexico on multiple occasions from the spring to the fall last year to arrange the assassination.

Arbabsiar, who lived in Corpus Christi, Texas, for more than a decade, said he met a man in Mexico named Junior, “who turned out to be an FBI agent.” He said that he and others had agreed to arrange the kidnapping of the ambassador, Adel Al-Jubeir, but Junior said it would be easier to kill the ambassador. The agent was actually a Drug Enforcement Administration confidential source posing as a representative of a drug cartel.

The government said in a news release that Arbabsiar had described to the DEA source how his cousin in Iran, a “big general” in the Iranian military, had requested that Arbabsiar find someone to carry out the ambassador’s assassination. It said Arbabsiar rejected as “no big deal” the DEA’s worries about bystanders in a restaurant bombing, including the possibility that U.S. senators who dine there could be killed.

Arbabsiar has been held without bail since he was arrested Sept. 29, 2011 at John F. Kennedy International Airport. He was brought into court Wednesday in handcuffs. He spoke English and did not use a translator, despite saying he understood only about half of what he read in English. Bearded and bespectacled, he smiled several times during the proceeding, including in the direction of courtroom artists who were seated in the jury box when he entered court.

Kim said that if the government had proceeded to trial, it would have presented a jury with secretly recorded conversations between Arbabsiar and the confidential source, along with Arbabsiar’s extensive post-arrest statement to authorities and emails and financial records.

Authorities have said they secretly recorded conversations between Arbabsiar and the DEA informant after Arbabsiar approached the informant in Mexico and asked his knowledge of explosives for a plot to blow up the Saudi embassy in Washington. They said Arbabsiar later offered $1.5 million for the death of the ambassador.

Arbabsiar admitted Wednesday that he made a $100,000 down payment wired from an overseas account through a Manhattan bank in two wire transfers on Aug. 1, 2011, and Aug. 9, 2011.

After his arrest, Arbabsiar confessed that he was recruited, funded and directed by men he believed were senior officials in Iran’s Qods Force, a branch of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that in 2007 was designated by the U.S. Treasury Department as a supporter of the Taliban and terrorist organizations, the government said.

It said he claimed that he met several times in Iran with Gholam Shakuri, a co-conspirator and Iran-based member of the Qods Force, and another senior Qods Force official. After his arrest, Arbabsiar made phone calls at the direction of law enforcement to Shakuri in Iran and Shakuri confirmed that Arbabsiar should move forward with the ambassador plot, the government said.

Shakuri, also charged in the plot, remains a fugitive.

Arab rights group slams Bahraini regime’s repression
15 October, 2012 – PressTV

ANHRI condemns the use of the excessive force, by the Bahraini authorities, to suppress the peaceful demonstrations that took place in several regions in Bahrain.”

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) has censured the Bahraini regime’s use of “excessive force” against peaceful protests in the Persian Gulf country.

“[The] ANHRI condemns the use of the excessive force, by the Bahraini authorities, to suppress the peaceful demonstrations that took place in several regions in Bahrain,” the Arab rights organization said in a statement on Saturday.

The Cairo-based rights group said that “the continuation of clear hostility against the peaceful demonstrations and the use of force and violence against demonstrations who call for reform, are an attempt to infanticide the Bahraini uprising.”

The rights group also added that Bahraini authorities should release all political prisoners and stop arresting rights activists.

Suppressing anti-regime protesters “proves that there is no indication that Bahrain intends to change its suppressive policy again[st] freedom of expression, opinion and people’s right of peaceful demonstrations,” it said.

It also called on the international community to pressure Bahrain to respect human rights conventions.

“The international society has to interfere to press the Bahraini regime to make sure it applies the obligations binding to it in accordance with the international covenants and human rights’ charters, in addition, to execute the recommendations stipulated in the report of the universal periodic review in Geneva,” the ANHRI said.

Bahrain’s revolution started in mid-February 2011, when demonstrators, inspired by the revolutions of Tunisia and Egypt, started holding massive anti-regime protests.

Dozens of people have been killed in the regime’s crackdown and the security forces have arrested hundreds, including doctors and nurses accused of treating injured protesters.

A report published by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry in November 2011 found that the Al Khalifa regime had used ‘excessive force’ in the campaign of suppression and accused Manama of torturing political activists, politicians, and protesters. …more

Silencing Press TV is murdering the truth: Prominent analyst
17 October, 2012 – By Finian Cunningham – Press TV

In many ways, the gagging of Press TV by European powers is the equivalent to the murder of Maya Naser. It is the silencing of a voice that is otherwise exposing the truth about these powers: their criminality, duplicity, hypocrisy and their moral bankruptcy.”

Let’s be clear: this outrageous gagging of Iranian news media by a European satellite firm has the imprint of approval from the EU governments.

It would be incredible that such an offensive move by a private business company did not receive the go-ahead from governments in London, Paris and Berlin in particular. These powers have worked assiduously to create the noxious political climate, with their relentless poisonous propaganda against Iran, which has, in turn, facilitated this latest assault on the airwaves. The move is comparable to these governments subcontracting private military firms and mercenaries to do their dirty work.

The irony is that it is the British, French and German governments that, along with Washington, Tel Aviv, Ankara, Riyadh and Doha, that are running amok in many parts of the world, smashing up international law and committing crimes against humanity on a massive scale. We only have to look at the criminal wars of aggression and illegal occupations in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, Libya and Syria to identify those political entities that are posing the real threat to world peace and human rights.

Press TV has emerged as one of the few news broadcasters that is telling it like it is when it comes to the many conflicts raging across the world. Telling it like it is means informing the public of the real level of suffering for Palestinian civilians (not ‘suspected terrorists’) being bombed on a daily basis by American and European-backed Israeli warplanes. Telling it like it is means asking searching questions about why the US-led military forces are occupying Afghanistan after 11 years, killing civilians in their homes during endless night raids. Telling it like it is means reporting with appropriate focus on the murder of families in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen with American drone attacks that are personally signed off every week by an American president from the comfort of his White House. It means exposing how the sabotage and terror being waged across Syria – as in Libya last year – would not be happening only for the criminal, covert weapons and support given to mercenary gangs by Washington, London and Berlin, along with the rulers of Turkey, Israel and the Persian Gulf monarchies.

Telling it like it is means pointing out the rank hypocrisy and duplicity of Western governments supporting absolute monarchs in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates who are massacring peaceful protesters on the streets and in their homes because their people are simply calling for democracy and human rights. It means exposing these same Western-backed dictators locking up and torturing doctors, nurses and human rights defenders because they stretched out a helping hand to civilians butchered by security forces; yet these same Western-backed despotic misrulers are, laughably, calling for reform and free speech in other places of the world – where the real cynical agenda is “regime change”.

Tuning into or reading the Western and Arab media is an exercise in occlusion and omission. One would never glean any of the horrendous realities and truths about the criminality of Western governments, the military industrial financial complex they serve, and their proxies and puppet regimes. But these media are not just passively inadequate in their coverage of major events. They are actively functioning to cover up or downplay the crimes of their governments. That is why such media are in no danger of being banned in North America or Europe. Far from it, these outlets are providing a vital service in disseminating the disinformation of their governments and their corporate oligarchies – with the precise objective of emasculating any public understanding and opposition to criminal policies and practices. …more

Iran Foreign Ministry dismisses Bahraini interference allegations
16 October, 2012 – Islamic Invitation Turkey

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast has dismissed Bahraini claims about Tehran interfering in Manama’s internal affairs.

During his weekly press conference on Tuesday, Mehmanparast said the stance of the Islamic Republic toward Bahrain is clear and Tehran has repeatedly announced that paying attention to people’s demands is the only way to ensure stability in any country.

“Suppressing people only complicates the problems,” the Iranian official said.

Bahrain summoned the Iranian Charge d’affaires Mahdi Islami on Monday over claims that Tehran is interfering in Manama’s internal affairs.

Mehmanparast said providing ground for the participation of the Bahrainis in the political affairs of their country would eliminate the need for accusing others of interference.

“Accusing other countries so that popular demands may be ignored and suppressed would bear no fruit,” Mehmanparast said.

Bahrain’s revolution started in mid-February 2011, when demonstrators, inspired by the revolutions of Tunisia and Egypt, started holding massive anti-regime protests.

Dozens of people have been killed in the regime’s crackdown and the security forces have arrested hundreds, including doctors and nurses accused of treating injured protesters.

A report published by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry in November 2011 found that the Al Khalifa regime had used ‘excessive force’ in the campaign of suppression and accused Manama of torturing political activists, politicians, and protesters. …source

Saudi Arabia warns that protesters will be ‘firmly dealt with’
16 October, 2012 – Amnesty International

Warning coincides with veiled threat to UK over parliamentary investigation

The Saudi Arabian authorities must withdraw their threat to deal “firmly” with people taking part in demonstrations and refrain from detaining those who exercise their right to peaceful protest, Amnesty International said today.

The organisation’s call came after the country’s Interior Ministry last week issued a statement warning those taking part in demonstrations that they would face prosecution and be “firmly dealt with” by members of the security forces.

The Interior Ministry threat was followed this week by Saudi Arabia’s UK ambassador warning that Saudi Arabia would “not tolerate or accept any foreign interference in the workings” of his home country or neighbouring ones after a parliamentary committee announced its intention to investigate the UK’s relations with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

The Interior Ministry statement also disclosed the names of ten people who have undergone, or are undergoing, judicial procedures in relation to crimes of “the deviant group”. They included the human rights activist Mohammed Saleh al-Bajady, who in April was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment and a five-year travel ban for communicating with foreign bodies “to carry out activities that undermine security”.

Al-Bajady was also reportedly convicted of participating in the establishment of a human rights organisation, harming the image of the state through the media, calling on the families of detainees to protest and hold sit-ins, contesting the independence of the judiciary and having banned books in his possession. He has been held since his arrest on 21 March 2011, a day after he attended a demonstration in the capital Riyadh by families of detainees protesting that their relatives were held without charge.

Al-Bajady is a co-founder of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA), an unregistered NGO which was set up in 2009 to campaign for civil and political reforms. It has also campaigned on behalf of detainees held without charge or trial and those they consider to be political prisoners.

Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa Director Philip Luther said:

“The Saudi authorities must end their repeated moves to stifle people’s attempts to protest against the widespread use of arbitrary detention in the country.

“The right of people to peaceful protest must be respected and the security forces must refrain from detaining or using excessive force against people who exercise it.

“Amnesty International considers Mohammed Saleh al-Bajady to be a prisoner of conscience convicted on charges that amount to the criminalisation of his rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly.

“He appears to have been targeted for his human rights activism and must be released immediately and unconditionally.”

Background:
Although protests in the kingdom are banned, they have been regularly taking place since February 2011, particularly in the Eastern Province. Hundreds of people have been arrested, though most have been subsequently released.

Since November 2011, around a dozen men have died and a number of others injured after being shot by the security forces during or in connection with protests in the Eastern Province. The Saudi Arabian authorities have stated that the deaths and injuries occurred during exchanges between the security forces and individuals who had used firearms or Molotov cocktails, but there are concerns that the security forces in at least some cases used excessive – and lethal – force against unarmed protesters.

Most recently, on 26 September, around two men were killed and a third later died from his injuries when security forces raided a house in order to arrest one of 23 men wanted for “stirring up unrest”. The wanted man was killed, along with two of his companions. Amnesty is not aware of the exact circumstances of the deaths and is calling on the authorities to order an impartial and independent investigation.

There has also been a recent increase in the number of protests taking place in other areas in support of those who detained, some without charge or trial, in the name of “security”. During the last few weeks, protests have occurred on this issue in the capital Riyadh, and the Qassim Province. On 23 September scores of people, including women and children, were surrounded by security forces and left without food or water until the following day after they had gathered in the desert around Tarfiya prison in Qassim to call for the release of relatives. Scores of men were reportedly arrested the following day and beaten at the time of arrest. Rima al-Jareesh, who had previously been arrested for participating in protests calling for her relative to be charged and tried or else released, was apparently beaten when she tried to prevent the men’s arrests. …source

Clinton Accepts Responsibility for Benghazi Attack
POMED – 17 October, 2012

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accepted responsibility for the attack in Benghazi that killed four State Department employees, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. “I’m in charge of the State Department’s 60,000-plus people all over the world (at) 275 posts.” Clinton defended Vice President Joe Biden‘s statement in last week’s vice-presidential debate that the Obama administration was unaware of the request for additional security leading up to the attacks. “The president and the vice-president wouldn’t be knowledgeable about specific decisions that are made by security professionals,” Clinton said. She also sat down for interviews with NBC, FOX, ABC, CBS, and CNN to answer questions about the Benghazi attack.

Blake Hounshell, in an op-ed for Foreign Policy, expressed frustration with the U.S. political notion “that Libya is the most important story in the world after ignoring it for months. It reeks of political opportunism.” Frustrated by the lack of clear information on the events in Benghazi, Larry Clifton said, “Clinton can fall on the political sword for Obama if she wishes, but that doesn’t explain …source

NATO packs it in; Turkey on the verge of a nervous breakdown
by Thierry Meyssan – Voltaire Network – 16 October, 2012

On October 8, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CTSO) began maneuvers dubbed “Inviolable Fraternity” (“НЕРУШИМОЕ БРАТСТВО”). The scenario focuses on the deployment of a peace force in an imaginary country where international jihadists and terrorist organizations operate against a backdrop of ethnic and confessional divisions. The accredited diplomatic corps, which was invited to attend the exercises, listened attentively to the opening address of the deputy secretary general of the organization. He clearly indicated that the CTSO is preparing for an eventual intervention in the Greater Middle East. And for those feigning deafness, Nikolai Bordyuzha specified that his deputy was not speaking of Afghanistan.

The Geneva Declaration negotiated by Kofi Annan on June 30 foresaw the deployment of a peace force if the Syrian government and the opposition jointly made the demand. The Free Syrian Army rejected the accord. The term “opposition” refers only to the political parties who have been meeting since in Damascus, under the aupices of the Russian and Chinese ambassadors. As the Geneva Accord was validated by the Security Council, the deployment of the “blue chapkas” can be set in motion without requiring an ad hoc resolution. Valery Semerikov stated that 4,000 men had already been enlisted in the Peace Force with 46,000 others in the wings available for the rapid mobilization.

With this as background, the signs of Western retreat from Syria are multiplying. The influx of Western arms and combatants is drying up except for the ongoing transfers funded by Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Even more surprising: on six successive occasions, the NATO Command at Incirlik gave jihadists instructions to regroup within specified zones to prepare for huge offensives. While the Syrian Arab Army, which was formed to confront the Israeli Army, may be ill-adapted for guerilla warfare, it is highly effective in conventional combat. In each of these engagements, it easily encircled and wiped out the assembled units of the Free Syrian Army. Though the initial defeats suffered by the jihadists could have been attributed to a tactical error or to an incompetent commander, after the sixth debacle another hypothesis must be considered: that NATO is willingly sending these combatants to their deaths.

In contrast to popular perceptions, the motivation of the jihadists is not, properly speaking, ideological or religious but rather, aesthetic. They are not looking to die for a cause and are not focused on the future of Jerusalem. They strike a romantic posture and seek to intensify their sensations whether through drugs or through death. Their behavior makes them easy to manipulate; they seek extreme situations which they are then placed in, and their movements are totally steered. Over the last years, Prince Bandar bin Sultan became the leading architect of these assemblages, including those of al-Qaeda. He supplied them with preachers promising a paradise where seventy virgins would provide them with ecstatic pleasures not if they accomplished a particular military or political feat but only if they died as martyrs wherever Bandar had need for them.

It seems Prince Bandar has disappeared from the scene since the attack on him on July 26. He may well be dead. From Morroco to Zinjiang, the jihadists have been left to their own devices, without any real coordination. They could be recruited by any number of actors, as the recent assassination of the U.S. Ambassador in Libya confirms. As a result, Washington wants to unload this risky and burdensome rabble or at the very least reduce their number. The orders that NATO gives to the jihadists are designed to expose them to fire by the Syrian Arab Army which is eliminating them en masse.

Recently, the French police killed a French Salafist who attacked a Jewish business establishment. The investigation that followed revealed that he belonged to a network including individuals that had gone to do jihad in Syria. The British police made a similar discovery four days later.

The message from Paris and London is that the French and British killed in Syria were not agents on a secret mission but fanatics who acted on their own initiative. This is obviously false because certain of these jihadists were carrying communication instruments of NATO specification, supplied by France and the United Kingdom. Whatever the case, these events are marking the end of the Franco-British involvement alongside the Free Syrian Army, while Damascus discretely exchanges its prisoners. A page has been turned.

Under the circumstances, one can understand the frustration of Turkey and the Wahhabist monarchies who at the request of the Alliance invested in the secret war unreservedly, but who now must assume alone the failure of the operation. Going for broke, Ankara threw itself into a series of provocations designed to prevent NATO from pulling out. Anything goes, from the firing of Turkish artillery into Syrian territory to the pirating of a civil airline. But these gestures are counterproductive.

Specifically, the Syrian air plane coming from Moscow which was turned around by Turkish fighters contained no weapons but rather high-explosive detection equipment to be used for the protection of civilians. Turkey, actually, did not seek to prevent Russia from delivering material aimed at protecting Syrian civilians from terrorism but aimed instead to increase tension by mistreating the Russian passangers and refusing to allow their ambassador to render assistance. Wasted effort: NATO did not react to the imaginary accusations put forward by Recep Tayip Erdogan. The only consequence is that President Putin has postponed sine die his visit to Ankara originally scheduled for the first half of December.

There is a long way still to go on the path to peace. But even if Turkey now or the Wahhabist monarchies later attempt to prolong the war, a process has been set in motion. NATO is packing up and the media are turning their gaze to other horizons.
…source