Sunday, December 16, 2012

War watch - Afghanistan and Syria and the Drone Wars .... a view of the record of Chuck Hagel , potentially the next Secretary of Defense....

http://news.antiwar.com/2012/12/15/karzai-we-want-foreign-troops-to-leave/


Karzai: ‘We Want Foreign Troops to Leave’

Beyond 2014, the occupation will be smaller, but it will still exist

by John Glaser, December 15, 2012
During an annual conference of ambassadors and consuls-general in Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai said the US and its allies should do what’s best for Afghanistan and leave.
“We want foreign troops to leave our villages, streets and bazaars, go to their bases and leave the country gradually by the end of 2014,” the president remarked, referring to the Obama administration’s stated deadline for a partial troop withdrawal.
Karzai explained that Afghans had suffered on a daily basis during the war on terrorism and that now is the time for the fight to be taken elsewhere in places where terrorists are sheltered and financed.
Karzai also said that in order for Afghanistan to be secure going forward, the US will have to come to grips with the fact that an Afghan-Iranian alliance is central.
The Afghan president reiterated the predictions of US politicians and military officials, that Afghan forces will be ready to take charge of security independently from NATO trainers.
But this really isn’t the case. All along, officials have quietly admitted that Afghan security forces are weak and untrained, and would probably fall apart (along with the state) without the NATO occupation.
And the withdrawal to be completed in 2014 won’t be a full withdrawal. Up to 10,000 US troops will remain in the country, training Afghan forces and executing house raids of suspected Taliban, etc. The occupation will be smaller, but will still exist.

and Syria War rolls on as Western intervention becomes more visible......

http://www.infowars.com/us-backed-free-syrian-army-threatens-to-kill-russians-and-ukrainians-in-syria/


US backed “Free Syrian Army” Threatens to Kill Russians and Ukrainians in Syria

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Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research
December 16, 2012
This report confirms that the US and its allies have given the “green light” to their proxy Free Syria Army (FSA) foot-soldiers to threaten and target Russian and Ukrainian nationals.
The decision did not emanate from the “opposition” rebel forces, but directly from Washington.
It is a deliberate act of provocation directed against the Russian government which is providing military support to Syria, in relation to its air defense system.
Washington and its allies directly support the various terrorist entities which compose rebel forces. French, British, Turkish and Qatari special forces are involved in the recruitment and training of FSA rebels, which are in large part mercenaries. The latter are now targeting Russian citizens in Syria on the orders of Washington, leading to a potential breakdown in international diplomacy.
The Free Syrian Army has committed an affront to all humanity by kidnapping and threatening to execute a female Ukrainian journalist and announcing that they will kill all Russians and Ukrainians they find in Syria. This could be taken to be akin to a declaration of war, obviously the armed insurgents in Syria have been emboldened to a point that they have stepped into an area where they are beyond the law.
  • A D V E R T I S E M E N T
With the terrorists also threatening Russian and Ukrainian Diplomatic Missions this could set off a chain of events that may pull the Russian Federation directly into the conflict. If the lives of Russians are at risk Russia has the right to protect its citizens and to assist unaligned Ukraine if there is such a request.
Анхар Кочнева сирия хомс 2012 октябрь коллаж
The world knows the Free Syrian Army is supported by the US and the West and if the Russian Federation was forced to consider entering Syria militarily this would make such a decision extremely dangerous. The security, in this case for the diplomatic missions, lies with Syria as does the freeing of the hostage, but if the Syrian Government hypothetically requests Russian assistance, how will this affect the position of the US and the West who have battle groups poised to invade the country at a moment’s notice?
If you are pretending to be my friend but paying and supporting criminals who have threatened to kill my family and loved ones then wouldn’t it be logical to say that you are my enemy and that if I want to save my loved ones then I should neutralize the threat, including you?

Take this to a larger level and consider that Russia has dealt in a civilized manner with the backers of the so called Free Syrian Army, terrorists, killers and mercenaries operating in Syria and who openly threaten to kill Russians, Ukrainians and Iranians, attack and kill civilians and execute unarmed civilians, in reality what would the reaction be? If the Free Syrian Army had kidnapped an American and threatened to destroy the US and UK Missions, what would the reaction be?
One might argue that the Free Syrian Army which has effectively declared war on Russia, Ukraine and Iran, and since they are backed by the West this might appear to be a proxy declaration. The US of course would not declare war on Russia or Iran. Formal Declarations of War are not something the US does, just like they did not declare war on Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Yugoslavia, Syria and Iran.
For all of the cowboy diplomacy of the West and their macho bravado and military might the men hiding in their comfortable bunkers and command rooms and expensive suburban homes are slippery creatures who fight their battles by proxy and use pretexts designed and carried out in secret. They will therefore provide material and financial support to terrorist organizations such as the Free Syrian Army when it is expedient, but will they back away from their proxies now that they have stated “Let not a single Russian, Ukrainian or Iranian come out of Syria alive”?
The US Government has officially recognized an umbrella group of mainly foreign terrorist organizations, as the official representative of the Syrian people, and almost immediately the main US surrogate threatens to execute a Ukrainian woman journalist. IF you had doubts before, have no doubt now, these are not “freedom fighters” they are coward criminals. Who would execute a woman? Not even any self-respecting Muslim terrorist extremist would stoop so low.
The journalist who was kidnapped, Anhar Kochneva has been stationed in Syria for years and has been instrumental in getting the true picture out of Syria on many occasions, one reason why she is obviously a target for the West and its surrogates as they continue their information war to justify an invasion. She has done work for several Russian media outlets, including the NTV, RenTV and RT television channels and the Utro.Ru news portal and according to RIA Novosti has been a vocal supporter of President Bashar Al Assad.
According to the site Syria News online “That the joint statement of the Reporters Without Borders, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), ARTICLE 19, the International Press Institute also calls on the British, French and US governments as well as on the European Union (UN) to work with “their” external staged Syrian opposition in order to facilitate the release of the journalist Anhar Kochneva is also not surprising. It either shows who are the masterminds and supporters behind the “Free Syrian Army” (FSA) or who is really responsible for this (expletive) situation in Syria.”
In normal world we might see Russian and Ukrainian Special Forces alongside Syrian Special Services launching a rescue operation and wiping out the Free Syrian Army for making the declarations they have made, surely if the same thing happened to America, that would be the case, but as we all know who is behind all of this we know that this would kick off what might well be Word War III, something no one wants.

*  *  * 



http://www.debka.com/article/22618/US-pulls-war-fleet-from-Syrian-water-Ahmadinejad-cancels-Turkey-visit


US pulls war fleet from Syrian water. Ahmadinejad cancels Turkey visit

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report December 16, 2012, 10:33 PM (GMT+02:00)
Patriot missile destined for Turkey
Patriot missile destined for Turkey

Shortly before the deployment of two American Patriot missiles manned by 400 US servicemen for defending Turkey against Syria was announced Thursday, Dec. 13, Washington quietly recalled from Syrian waters the USS Eisenhower aircraft carrier and its strike group and the USS Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready group and the 2,000 Marines on their decks.
This US fleet, now on its way to home base, stayed opposite the Syrian coast from the third week of November ready to take part in direct US intervention in the Syrian conflict.
Now that the American warships are gone, Russia’s Black Sea Fleet task force, which docked at the Syrian port of Tartus on Dec. 5, is the only war fleet remaining around the Syrian coast. According to DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources, the Russian ships came to deliver a large consignment of arms for Bashar Assad’s army, although Russian sources claimed the vessels put into port for minor repairs and refueling.
US naval, air and marine forces pulled back from the eastern Mediterranean, to be replaced American-manned Patriot missile interceptors just as Syria became engulfed in another peak wave of violence. This deeply perturbs Syria’s neighbors, Turkey, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Israel. They all fear Assad’s Scud missiles fitted with chemical warheads are pointed at them, no less than rebel forces, and he will have no qualms about shooting or dropping them against any of those neighbors if he becomes desperate. Their intelligence agencies believe the Syrian ruler is just as likely to direct chemical weapons against US military facilities on their soil.
Although the five governments are not openly criticizing the Obama administration, a senior Turkish officer in Ankara said to DEBKAfile’s sources that America’s action in removing its naval forces from the eastern Mediterranean is “hard to understand and unacceptable to Ankara.”
This is especially so, he said, in view of the discovery, reported by US official sources Friday, that the Syrian ruler has a larger chemical arsenal than previously believed – several dozen bombs and shells loaded with the lethal chemical sarin.
To appease the Turks, our sources report that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta paid a short visit Friday, Dec. 14, to the big air base in southern Turkey where US strike aircraft are stationed alongside Turkish warplanes.Panetta also conferred with Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz, Turkish Chief of Staff Gen. Necdet Ozel and senior US commanders, including NATO chief, Adm. James Stavridis.

The admiral said after the meeting: “Over the past few days, a handful of Scud missiles were launched inside Syria, directed by the regime against opposition targets. Several landed fairly close to the Turkish border, which is very worrisome.”
In the view of DEBKAfile’s military sources, President Barack Obama decided to pull the formidable warship fleet away from the neighborhood of Syria in an effort to defuse the military tensions rising between Iran, Turkey and Syria.
He also hoped that the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s scheduled visit to Turkey Monday, Dec. 17, for talks with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, would be a useful opportunity to achieve some sort of understanding with Iran over the Syrian crisis.
However, Tehran had other ideas. Saturday, Iran’s chief of staff Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi, raised regional temperatures when he referred to the NATO Patriot missiles posted along Turkey’s border with Syria as “meant to cause a world war. They are making plans for a world war, and this is very dangerous for the future of humanity and for the future of Europe itself," he said.
Sunday, Ahmadinejad slammed the door on any hoped-for understanding with Ankara by his last-minute cancellation of his trip to Turkey in view of the peril of war – further escalating the stresses radiating from Syria’s 21-month uprising.


and...


http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/12/14/177474/syrian-rebels-say-americans-britons.html

  Weeks before the Obama administration and other Western nations recognized a new Syrian opposition coalition as “the legitimate representative” of the Syrian people, Syrian rebels were receiving training in the use of light and heavy weapons with the backing of the Jordanian, British and U.S. governments, participants in the training have told McClatchy.
The training took place as far back as October and involved hundreds of rebels, the participants said. In one case, the rebel participant said men he believed were American intelligence officers observed what was taking place. Another said he believed British officers were helping to organize the training. The training itself was handled by Jordanian military officers, the rebels said.
“We hoped there would be more training on larger weapons,” said Kamal al Zoubani, a fighter from the southern Syrian city of Daraa, which often is referred to as the birthplace of the uprising against President Bashar Assad, which began nearly 22 months ago. “But we were allowed to take light weapons back to Syria with us.”
By November, another rebel said, the training had expanded to anti-tank weapons and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles.
American officials, citing concerns that they didn’t know the political leanings of anti-Assad groups, have said repeatedly that they aren’t providing weapons to the rebels, leaving that to countries such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
But there’s been little discussion of what role the United States might be playing in training rebel fighters, whose offensives against loyalist Assad forces have been gaining traction in recent months.
But there’s been little discussion of what role the United States might be playing in training rebel fighters, whose offensives against loyalist Assad forces have been gaining traction in recent months.
This week, the Obama administration recognized the Syrian National Coalition for Opposition and Revolutionary Forces as the likely successor to the Assad regime and urged countries to funnel aid through it for the rebels. In tandem with that decision, the administration labeled a key rebel group, the Nusra Front, whose fighters have been at the front lines of many recent rebel victories, an offshoot of al Qaida in Iraq in hopes that Qatar and Saudi Arabia would stop assisting it.
Zoubani said the rebel military council in Daraa, a group associated with the secular Free Syrian Army, had selected him to receive the training and that at least three groups of 50 to 60 fighters were trained at a military base in southern Jordan in October. He said he didn’t know why he’d been chosen as opposed to other rebels, only that leaders from the military council had contacted him and told him he’d receive the training.
He said uniformed Jordanian military officers were present at the training, as well as people he believed to be American intelligence officers.
The second fighter, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because he was uncertain whether he was authorized to reveal details, said the training had progressed by November to include anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons and that the office of Sheikh Mouaz al Khatib, the Syrian cleric who heads the Syrian National Coalition for Opposition and Revolutionary Forces, had selected fighters for the training. Khatib assumed his position Nov. 11, when the group was formed during meetings in Doha, Qatar.
The fighter said that more than 60 others had trained with him in an eight-day course at a military base near Amman. He said uniformed British and Jordanian military officers were present.
“They trained us to use LAU and Cobra anti-tank rockets and Stinger (anti-aircraft) missiles,” the fighter said.
The fighter said rebels also were trained to use anti-aircraft guns, which have been employed in past months to bring down Syrian government aircraft. The rebels have managed to buy and capture increasing numbers of anti-aircraft guns and have captured anti-aircraft missiles from Syrian government stocks. In November, video posted to YouTube appeared to confirm the first successful use of anti-aircraft rockets against government aircraft. Rebels claimed that the weapons used in that incident came from captured stocks.
Jordan, which has become home to more than 100,000 Syrian refugees since the conflict began, has taken pains to appear neutral.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/12/14/177474/syrian-rebels-say-americans-britons.html#storylink=cpyJordan, which has become home to more than 100,000 Syrian refugees since the conflict began, has taken pains to appear neutral.
On Wednesday, Jordanian officials seemed to be supportive of the anti-Assad rebellion as they helped dozens of Syrians living in a refugee camp here to sneak back into Syria. Still, rebels said the Jordanian government, which maintains tight control of its border, continued to prevent heavy weapons from being smuggled into Syria.
The revelations of training in Jordan come as the rebels have made a series of military advances against the Assad regime and signs point to an increasingly beleaguered government. U.S. intelligence officials claimed this week that the Syrian military had fired SCUD missiles for the first time in the conflict, a development that may signal that the military is running low on more traditional weaponry
Also, a Russian Foreign Ministry official acknowledged that a rebel victory is possible. The country has been a staunch supporter of Assad.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012%5C12%5C16%5Cstory_16-12-2012_pg7_1

  103 killed as troops hit rebels near Damascus
* Army deactivates 1,000kg car bomb in Barzeh

* Top commander among 24 rebel fighters killed in Aleppo


BEIRUT: Syrian forces assaulted rebel areas southwest of Damascus and insurgents captured large parts of a military school in the north as the nation’s conflict entered its 22nd month on Saturday, activists said.

Syrian warplanes bombarded the town of Moadamiyat al-Sham, southwest of Damascus, while the army deployed reinforcements and attempted to storm the rebel-held nearly town of Daraya, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

In Daraya, rebels held out against fierce army attempts to break in on several fronts, the Britain-based observatory said.

“This is the 28th day the criminal (President Bashar al-) Assad’s forces have attempted to break into the town,” read a statement from activists in Daraya. Clashes also erupted in the Palestinian camp of Yarmuk in the south of the capital between rebels and troops backed by pro-regime Palestinian fighters, the observatory reported.

The outskirts of Damascus have been at the heart of fighting this month as the regime launches operations to reclaim territory within eight kilometres of the city. In northern Damascus, the army foiled an attempted car bomb attack, state television said. “Army forces deactivated a car bomb laden with 1,000 kilogrammes of explosives in Barzeh,” the broadcaster said.

Meanwhile, the rebels came close to scoring a significant victory in the northern province of Aleppo – a fierce battleground for several months – as they captured large parts of an infantry academy in Muslimiyeh, north of the embattled city of Aleppo, said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the observatory.

“This is one of the most important military academies in all of Syria,” he added, noting that rebels have seized control of some two thirds of the academy complex.

At least 24 rebel fighters, including Abu Furat, a top rebel commander in the province of Aleppo, and 20 regime troops were killed in the battle for the academy on Saturday.The observatory said a total of 103 people were killed across Syria on Saturday, among them 27 civilians, 46 rebels and 30 soldiers.

At least 10 of the civilians were killed when warplanes bombarded the rebel-held town of Rastan in the central province of Homs, it said.

A total of more than 43,000 people have been killed since the uprising against Assad’s rule erupted in March 2011, according to the observatory, which relies on a network of activists and medics on the ground. afp



What might Hagel's position on Drones  and conduct consistent with War crimes be ????

http://www.juancole.com/2012/12/lets-also-remember-the-176-children-killed-by-us-drones.html


Let’s also Remember the 176 children Killed by US Drones

Posted on 12/16/2012 by Juan
The US government continues to rain drones down on the tribal belt of Pakistan. While the Washington narrative is that these drones are precision machines that only kill terrorists, this story is not true.
The drone program is classified, and so it cannot be publicly debated. It cannot even be acknowledged by President Obama and his cabinet members. Drones are operated by civilians and sometimes by contractors. That is, we are subcontracting assassination.
Americans who were upset that the president did not seek congressional authorization for the enforcement of the no-fly zone in Libya are apparently all right with his administration bombing Pakistan without explicit authorization (the 2001 one authorizes action against perpetrators of 9/11, not their children.). The Obama administration has declared that no judges or judicial process need be involved in just blowing away people, even American citizens.
Of the some 3000 persons killed by US drones, something like 600 have been innocent noncombatant bystanders, and of these 176 were children. In some instances the US drone operators have struck at a target, then waited for rescuers to come and struck again, which would be a war crime. Obviously, children may run in panic to the side of an injured parent, so they could get hit by the indiscriminate second strike.
We don’t know the exact circumstances of the childrens’ deaths because the US government won’t talk about them, indeed, denies it all.

Robert Greenwald of the Brave New Foundation explains further: (warning: graphic and not for the squeamish):
and..


And consider the record of Chuck Hagel - does this signal a turning point on the neverending War on Terror ? 


Chuck Hagel’s Record on Terrorism, Israel, Iran

Former GOP Senator Chuck Hagel is being considering by Obama for Secretary of Defense

by John Glaser, December 15, 2012

Former GOP senator Chuck Hagel is rumored to be a leading candidate to be nominated as Secretary of Defense by the Obama administration, and his voting record is eliciting outrage on the right for being insufficiently hawkish on terrorism and insufficiently pro-Israel.
Despite initially voting for the authorization for the use of force against Iraq, Hagel became an outspoken critic of the Bush administration’s invasion and occupation.
According to Foreign Policy magazine, he also seems to oppose the Obama administration’s military expansionism in Asia-Pacific, “wary of any strategy that smacks of ‘economic, political, and military containment’ of China: ‘this kind of belligerence would be a disaster for our two nations and for the world…. such a policy would fail,’” he has written.
The pro-Israel lobby in Washington is very unhappy about Hagel’s impending nomination. “Send us Hagel and we will make sure every American knows he is an anti-Semite,” a senior Republican Senate aide told the Weekly Standard. The aide explains that “Hagel has made clear he believes in the existence of a nefarious Jewish lobby that secretly controls U.S. foreign policy. This is the worst kind of anti-Semitism there is.”
In an interview for Aaron David Miller’s 2008 book The Too Much Promised Land, Hagel said: “The political reality is that … the Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people up here,” in a rather bland comment acknowledged by everyone but which borders on profanity in Washington.
Some have tried to capitalize on this comment, denoting Hagel’s use of the term “Jewish lobby” instead of  ”Israel lobby.” But Miller, speaking to the Daily Beast’s Ali Gharib, defended Hagel and his comment, insisting those seizing upon the less politically correct formulation were simply out to smear him.
“That’s reckless commentary,” The Atlantic‘s Editor and friend of Hagel’s Steve Clemons told Gharib. “This is typical, that people get out and slander someone.”
Daniel Kurtzer, US ambassador to Israel under President George W. Bush, also defended Hagel on this score. “I found him in all the years I served, including as ambassador to Israel, to be a supporter of Israel and a man also ready to discuss very frankly with the Israelis the concerns we had about certain
Israeli policies,” he told Politico.
And when questioned on his Israel record, Hagel said: “Let me clear something up here if there’s any doubt in your mind. I’m a United States Senator. I’m not an Israeli senator. I’m a United States Senator. I support Israel. But my first interest is, I take an oath of office to the constitution of the United States. Not to a president, not to a party, not to Israel.”
In October 2000, Hagel was one of only four Senators who refused to sign a letter expressing support for Israel during the second Palestinian intifada.
And in a July 2002 Washington Post op-ed, Hagel wrote that Palestinians could not be expected to make democratic reforms as long as “Israeli military occupation and settlement activity” continue, and that “Israel must take steps to show its commitment to peace.”
In 2006, Hagel demanded President Bush call for an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s attacks in Lebanon, insisting “This madness must stop,” and accusing Israel of “the systematic destruction of an American friend  - the country and people of Lebanon.”
On issues of terrorism, Hagel is similarly reasonable – although in Washington his views are derided as extreme.
In August 2006, for example, Hagel, along with 12 other senators, refused to sign a letter asking the EU to declare Hezbollah a terrorist organization. And in 2009, Hagel signed onto a letter urging President Obama to open direct negotiations with Hamas.
On Iran, too, Hagel seems to part with the hysterical belligerence of the crowd in Washington. In 2007, Hagel urged President Bush to engage in “direct, unconditional” talks with Iran, and gave a speech claiming that that “Continued hostile relations between the United States and Iran will have the effect of isolating the United States.”
“Hagel even flirts with the idea that an Iranian bomb wouldn’t be the end of the world,” according to Foreign Policy magazine. And he would be exactly right about that.
Hagel’s reappearance on the national stage is brand new and the Obama administration has not confirmed one way or the other whether they are actually considering him for Secretary of Defense. But if what the war hawks and Israel-firsters are complaining about his record accurately portrays his foreign policy views, he would be a welcome change to the one of the top positions in the country, even if it is unlikely that he would challenge the President’s most egregious foreign policy misdeeds.



Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/12/14/177474/syrian-rebels-say-americans-britons.html#storylink=cpy


Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/12/14/177474/syrian-rebels-say-americans-britons.html#storylink=cpy

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