ICH Aug 25 2010

Information Clearing House Newsletter News You Won't Find On CNN August 25, 2010 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"The state represents violence in a concentrated and organized form. The individual has a soul, but as the state is a soulless machine, it can never be weaned from violence to which it owes its very existence." -- Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi - == Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered Since The U.S. Invaded Iraq "1,366,350" www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html = Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In America's War On Iraq: 4,734 icasualties.org/oif/ Number Of International Occupation Force Troops Slaughtered In Afghanistan : 2,030 = Cost of War in Iraq & Afghanistan $1,070,543,343,028 http://www.costofwar.com/ = Subscribe to this feed using your newsreader For Headlines - http://www.html2rss.com/site/321608-Information-Clearing-House-News.xml - For Newsletter - http://ichnews.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default == Wikileaks Posts Classified CIA Memo By Al Jazeera The whistleblower organisation Wikileaks has released a classified CIA document asking what would happen if foreign countries began to view the US as an "exporter of terrorism". http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26240.htm === Another U.S.-Inflicted "Ground Zero" in Pakistan By William N. Grigg If opinion polls are reliable at all, most Americans are too enthralled by the manufactured outrage over the so-called Ground Zero Mosque to notice that the government claiming to represent them just massacred, via remote-controlled drone, at least twenty innocent people in Pakistan. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26237.htm === Mossad in America By Philip Giraldi - Former CIA Officer Israeli intelligence steps up its activity in the U.S. - and gets away with it. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26236.htm === Anti-Mosque Coalition's Website Owned By Neo-Conservative Islamophobe Frank Gaffney By Alex Seitz-Wald The Coalition to Honor Ground Zero, appears to be funded by a major neo-conservative advocacy group, with deep-pocketed donors, and extensive connections to the conservative establishment. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26243.htm === The Government's New Right to Track Your Every Move With GPS By ADAM COHEN Government agents can sneak onto your property in the middle of the night, put a GPS device on the bottom of your car and keep track of everywhere you go. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26241.htm === Trying to Exclude WikiLeaks from Shield Law Stinks By Douglas Lee It doesn't seem all that long ago that representatives of the newspaper industry would have recoiled from working with Congress to deny legal protection to anyone who leaked confidential or classified documents. Today, however, they seem happy to be doing so. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26238.htm === "Enron Accounting" Has Bankrupted America: U.S. Deficit Really $202 Trillion, Kotlikoff Says By Peter Gorenstein The "real" deficit - including non-budgetary items like unfunded liabilities of Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and the defense budget - is actually $202 trillion, the professor and author calculates; or 15 times the "official" numbers. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26242.htm === Morgan Stanley Says Government Defaults Inevitable By Matthew Brown Investors face defaults on government bonds given the burden of aging populations and the difficulty of increasing tax revenue, according to a Morgan Stanley executive director. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26244.htm === Banks Siding Against the Customer in Fraud Cases By Naomi Wolf I was stunned by what seemed from the emails to be a systemic practice. Why would a bank want to perpetuate bank fraud rather than fight it? http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26227.htm === 61 killed in Iraq bomb blasts: At least 61 people were killed and more than 180 injured in a series of attacks across Iraq Wednesday, mainly bomb blasts targeting police stations. http://www.deccanherald.com/content/91316/61-killed-iraq-bomb-blasts.html === 40 "Taliban fighters" killed in Afghanistan: : Afghan and international forces have killed about 40 Taliban fighters east of the capital, Kabul, as part of operations to provide security before parliamentary elections next month, NATO said Tuesday http://bit.ly/cCexbo === Afghan policeman kills three Spaniards: Two Spanish police and an interpreter were killed when an Afghan policeman they were training turned on them before he was shot dead, officials said, as protests against the killing turned violent on Wednesday. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100825/wl_nm/us_afghanistan_base === Australian occupation force soldier killed in Afghan clash: An Australian soldier was killed in an "intense" gunbattle with Taliban resistance fighters in southern Afghanistan, officials said Wednesday, taking the country's losses to 10 since early June. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100824/wl_asia_afp/afghanistanunrestnatoaustralia === Marines likely to stay in Afghanistan for years: It will likely be a few years before Afghanistan is secure enough for the U.S. Marines to leave, Commandant Gen. James Conway said Tuesday, adding his voice to a growing chorus of military leaders warning of a long fight ahead. http://bit.ly/dtzsI6 === Petraeus: Reconciliation With Taliban is Ultimate Goal for Afghanistan's Future: Other commanders have been more cagey about openly supporting such talks with the Taliban, but Petraeus acknowledged that U.S. forces safeguard the movement of officials to those meetings with the Taliban officials. http://bit.ly/aLAHf1 === In Pictures: Pakistan drowns in misery http://english.aljazeera.net/photo_galleries/centralsasia/201089161838709557.html === 12 Yemeni militants killed in clashes with troops: A senior Yemeni official says government troops have killed 12 militants and retaken control of a southern town after several days of fighting with rebels http://bit.ly/acxRNX === Manufacturing Consent For Attack On Yemen: CIA sees increased threat from al-Qaeda in Yemen: For the first time since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, CIA analysts see one of al-Qaeda's offshoots - rather than the core group now based in Pakistan - as the most urgent threat to U.S. security, officials said. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/24/AR2010082406553_pf.html === Report: Yemen sacrificing rights: Yemen's government has sacrificed human rights to preserve security in its battle against Shia rebels in the north and al-Qaeda fighters in the south, a new report by Amnesty International has alleged. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/08/20108255422793894.html === Amnesty: UK planes 'attacked Yemen': Amnesty International says war planes supplied by the UK to Saudi Arabia are "extremely likely" to have been used in attacks on civilians in Yemen. http://presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=139996&sectionid=351020206 === 10 civilians die in Mogadishu's third day of heavy fighting: Heavy fighting between troops and Islamist rebels gripped Somalia's capital for a third day Wednesday, with 10 civilians killed a day after insurgents mowed down 33 people in a raid on a hotel. http://bit.ly/arljED === Corpses Litter Streets amid Mogadishu Fighting: "We are getting reports of dead bodies on most major roads in the city," she said, adding that the intensity of the fighting, which broke out on 23 August, meant the corpses were not being collected. http://us.oneworld.net/article/369447-corpses-litter-streets-amid-mogadishu-fighting === Senior Hezbollah member killed in Beirut clashes: Two Lebanese men, including a senior member of Hezbollah, were killed in Beirut on Tuesday in clashes between supporters of the Shi'ite militant group and a Sunni faction, security sources said. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE67N20N.htm === Beirut wants Iran to equip Lebanon Army: Lebanese President Michel Sleiman has officially asked Iran to equip and modernize the Lebanese Army, given the problems Beirut is facing. http://presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=139949&sectionid=351020203 === 'Iran prepared to equip Lebanese army': Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi says Iran is fully prepared to provide Lebanon's army with cutting-edge military equipment. http://presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=140021&sectionid=351020101 === Benjamin Netanyahu rejects demands to continue settlement freeze: Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, threw hopes for a smooth resumption of Middle East peace talks into turmoil by rejecting demands to continue a freeze on settlement building in the West Bank. http://bit.ly/bFUh02 === Lieberman: Settlement building should restart in September: No reason why construction should not resume in major West Bank settlements when 10-month freeze ends on September 26, foreign minister says. http://bit.ly/cG0aQh === Hamas: Direct Israeli-Palestinian talks illegitimate, coerced by U.S.: Hamas politburo chief urges Egypt's Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah not to take part in Washington-backed peace negotiations. http://bit.ly/cqjVVa === PA Claims US Threatened to Withdraw Aid: Palestinian Authority officials claim that the United States threatened PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas with ending financial aid if he did not agree to direct negotiations with Israel http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/192890 === UN official criticises Israel over flotilla probe: Israel is not co-operating with the UN Human Rights Council's probe of May's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, a UN official said http://bit.ly/98boG4 === Amnesty Int'l Finland: Israel scum state: The head of Amnesty International's Finnish branch, Frank Johansson, told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday that he stands by his statement that Israel is a "scum state." http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=185846 === A Few Non-Jews Are Human Beings: Chief Rabbi of Hebron: There are some honorable people among the goyim. A few, but they exist. I think that even in Hebron there are a few who are human beings - which doesn't mean I'm saying they shouldn't all be sent to Saudi Arabia. They should all be sent to Saudi Arabia!" http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26239.htm === Sweden to continue Assange inquiry: Eva Finne said she had questioned the woman who had filed the rape complaint and decided that there were no grounds to suspect Assange of any type of crime, but that she was still examining the molestation claim brought by a different lady. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/08/201082516445262780.html === 2008 Attack on Military Computers Is Confirmed: "It was a network administrator's worst fear: a rogue program operating silently, poised to deliver operational plans into the hands of an unknown adversary," Mr. Lynn wrote. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/technology/26cyber.html === Trivial Amount of Unenriched Uranium Seized in Moldova: Gang Hoped to Sell Chunk of Ore for Millions of Dollarstoday. http://bit.ly/9Evi3L === Suspected spy found murdered in UK: British police are investigating the murder of a man believed to be a British spy, after a body was found in a flat near intelligence headquarters in London. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/08/20108258200315313.html === Killer priest? : British government and Catholic Church conspired to cover up cleric's involvement in bombing http://bit.ly/cgnTlx === Official: 72 found dead in Mexico may be migrants: The scale of the massacre of migrants appeared to be unprecedented even by the gruesome standards of Mexican drug cartels. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/7170886.html === Texas slams Obama after Mexico border gun battles: Texas Governor Rick Perry has accused President Barack Obama of "gambling with American lives" after a bullet believed to be from a gun battle in Mexico hit a building in the US state. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hE8xnYEfzC82wQ4olG0dxq3HPpEQ === After Katrina, New Orleans Cops Were Told They Could Shoot Looters: In the chaotic days after Hurricane Katrina, an order circulated among New Orleans police authorizing officers to shoot looters, according to present and former members of the department. http://www.propublica.org/nola/story/nopd-order-to-shoot-looters-hurricane-katrina === Full-Body Scan Technology Deployed In Street-Roving Vans: Courthouses and airport security checkpoints aren't the only places where backscatter x-ray vision is being deployed. The same technology, capable of seeing through clothes and walls, has also been rolling out on U.S. streets. http://bit.ly/bQBtqO === ACLU Report: Spying on Free Speech Nearly At Cold War Level: Political spying is nearly as bad now as it was during the Cold War. The ACLU reports that Americans are harrassed and under surveillance for exercising their First Amendment rights. http://bit.ly/ccuFhd === US poll: Islam not especially violent: 62% say Muslims have equal rights; 51% against Ground Zero Mosque. http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=185909 === Alan Simpson: Social Security Is 'A Milk Cow With 310 Million Tits': Simpson's "disdain for the very program he claims he is trying to protect" makes him unfit for a leadership position on the commission, which is considering cuts to Social Security. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/24/alan_simpson_social_security_n_693277.html === US home sales plunge to 15-year low: Sales of existing homes fell to an annual rate of 3.83 million, according to the National Association of Realtors. That was a more than 27 per cent drop from last year, and far worse than analysts expected: The consensus forecast was for a 13 per cent decline. http://english.aljazeera.net/business/2010/08/2010824162032226227.html === Florida Condo For Price Of A Car? Video report http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2010/08/23/n_florida_condo.cnnmoney/ === Credit card debt drops to lowest level in 8 years: Average debt on bank-issued credit cards fell 13.4 percent to $4,951 between April and June, down from $5,719 during the same period a year ago, according to TransUnion, a credit reporting agency. http://bit.ly/9DUMHu === Consumer Spending Woes Spark Retail Store Closures: Consumer spending remains weak, and as a result major retailers across the country - including big names such as Blockbuster (PINK: BLOK), Winn Dixie (NASDAQ: WINN) and Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) - are shuttering stores http://www.investorplace.com/Relegence/consumer-spending-woes-spark-retail-store-closures.html === "Let us be peace and joy" Tom Feeley