US reacting like the proverbial chicken with its head off regarding unspecified terror chatter ?
http://news.antiwar.com/2013/08/05/us-special-forces-prepare-preemptive-strikes-over-terror-threat/
Having closed embassies across the region and issued a global travel warning over a very specifically timed, but very non-specific plot, US Special Forces are said to be on high alert acrossAFRICOM and CENTCOM with an eye toward preemptive strikes on any targets they believed to be involved.
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/05/2013 22:57 -0400
Death dealers want more Syrian options for US attacks.....Hype of Rebels victories rising !
The underlying message was that it’s a bad idea, something that Pentagon officials have reiterated several times before Congressional committees. But if you’re going to fight an unwise war, why not save a little doing it?
Egypt coup - more confusion over the future direction , General sisi's intentions and what the futures for the Muslim Brotherhood might be .....
According to the report, the attackers included members of Hamas, and has a stockpile of smuggled Libyan weapons, and intended to assassinate Sisi and other junta leaders on the first day of Eid al-Fitr, later this week.
But that’s just the public show. Behind the scenes, officials from the Karzai government and the Taliban admit that talks have resumed and are ongoing, in secret,and are making at least a little progress.
http://news.antiwar.com/2013/08/05/us-special-forces-prepare-preemptive-strikes-over-terror-threat/
US Special Forces Prepare ‘Preemptive Strikes’ Over Terror Threat
US Special Forces Prepare ‘Preemptive Strikes’ Over Terror Threat
Units Located in CENTCOM, AFRICOM Areas
by Jason Ditz, August 05, 2013
As speculation continues to fly about the “imminent” threat of a terror attack, apparently centering on al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri ordering an attack by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the US is preparing to strike first.
Having closed embassies across the region and issued a global travel warning over a very specifically timed, but very non-specific plot, US Special Forces are said to be on high alert acrossAFRICOM and CENTCOM with an eye toward preemptive strikes on any targets they believed to be involved.
That the deployments span two distinct military commands covering the bulk of two continents reflects how little is known about the target, a fact underscored by White House statements saying that while they think the plot “emanates” from the Middle East it may extend well beyond that.
Which is a potentially huge problem about “preemptive” strikes, as they seem as likely as not to hit targets with little to no relation to the current plot, and with speculation that the would-be attackers are already deployed to wherever the target is, they may not actually preempt anything.
The lack of specificity coupled with the apparent scramble to prove that they’re doing “something” about it may even encourage the US to hit some potential targets in both theaters of operation just to prove they made an effort, even if those targets aren’t related to the current plot. But absent details, such strikes may create even more problems in the long run, and rather than preemptive really amount to instigatory strikes for other incidents to come.
Was The Al-Qaeda Terror Threat Used To "Divert Attention" From NSA Uproar?
Submitted by Michael Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,
Some analysts and Congressional officials suggested Friday that emphasizing a terrorist threat now was a good way to divert attention from the uproar over the N.S.A.’s data-collection programs, and that if it showed the intercepts had uncovered a possible plot, even better.- NY Times article from August 2, 2013: Qaeda Messages Prompt U.S. Terror Warning
Nothing about the above quote should surprise any of my readers, we all know the sick, twisted mindset of those involved in the Military-Industrial-Wall Street complex. What’s more shocking is the fact that these folks so openly admit it to the New York Times, albeit in a typical anonymous and cowardly fashion. Let’s not forget what Robert Shapiro, former Clinton official and Obama supporter told the FT in July 2010:
The bottom line here is that Americans don’t believe in President Obama’s leadership. He has to find some way between now and November of demonstrating that he is a leader who can command confidence and, short of a 9/11 event or an Oklahoma City bombing, I can’t think of how he could do that.
I discussed the above quote and related topics in my 2010 piece: The Dangers of a Failed Presidency. Well, if Mr. Shapiro thinks President Obama didn’t have credibility in 2010, one can only imagine what he thinks today. That is precisely what makes the current moment so extraordinarily dangerous. From the New York Times:
WASHINGTON — The United States intercepted electronic communications this week among senior operatives of Al Qaeda, in which the terrorists discussed attacks against American interests in the Middle East and North Africa, American officials said Friday.It is unusual for the United States to come across discussions among senior Qaeda operatives about operational planning — through informants, intercepted e-mails or eavesdropping on cellphone calls. So when the high-level intercepts were collected and analyzed this week, senior officials at the C.I.A., State Department and White House immediately seized on their significance. Members of Congress have been provided classified briefings on the matter, officials said Friday.
“Unusual,” but somehow also extremely convenient for this to occur just as public opinion turns against the NSA and near passage of the Amash Amendment.
But intercepting electronic communications is one of the National Security Agency’s main jobs, as the documents leaked by Edward J. Snowden, a former N.S.A. contractor, have only underscored. At the request of intelligence officials, The New York Times withheld some details about the intercepted communications.Some analysts and Congressional officials suggested Friday that emphasizing a terrorist threat now was a good way to divert attention from the uproar over the N.S.A.’s data-collection programs, and that if it showed the intercepts had uncovered a possible plot, even better.
In light of all of this, let’s recall the wise words of Edmund Burke on fear:
No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.
Full article from the New York Times here.
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| Does Terror Alert Threaten US Soil? White House Won't Say |
New threat from implanted explosives.
DEBKAfile Special Report Aug 5, 2013, 7:16 PM (IDT)
The Obama administration continued Monday, Aug. 5, to try and impress Americans and the world that its far-reaching ongoing terror alert across a host of Muslim countries was serious and credible. US sources now disclose concern focusing on terrorists carrying explosive devices implanted in their bodies. Plastic devices without metal components carried in this way would be undetectable by standard screening devices like those used at most international airports. DEBKAfile: Surgeons have been experimenting with this method on behalf of AQAP for some years.
More>US and UK urge citizens to leave Yemen | ||
Both countries call on citizens to leave Gulf Arab nation immediately, as many Western embassies remain closed.
Last Modified: 06 Aug 2013 12:23
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Security has been tightened across Yemen after the US first issued a security threat warning on Friday [Reuters]
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| The United States and the United Kingdom have told their citizens in Yemen to leave the country immediately due to the threat of "terrorist attacks", the US state department and UK's foreign office have said. The State Department also said it had ordered all non-essential US government staff in Yemen to leave the country. The new US measures, announced in a statement on Tuesday, followed a heightened security warning from Washington on Friday that prompted the closure of several Western embassies in Yemen and several US missions across the Middle East and Africa. It also came after at least four suspected al-Qaeda members were killed in what local tribal leaders said was a US drone strike in central Yemen early on Tuesday. "The Department urges US citizens to defer travel to Yemen and those US citizens currently living in Yemen to depart immediately," the statement posted on its website said. "On August 6, 2013, the Department of State ordered the departure of non-emergency US government personnel from Yemen due to the continued potential for terrorist attacks," it added. The UK's foreign office, meanwhile, advised against all travel to Yemen, and "strongly urge[d] British nationals to leave now". It said that all British embassy staff had been temporarily withdrawn from the country. 'Intercepted communications' Tuesday's warning came after US media reports indicated that the increased threat levels were the result of what US intelligence officials said were intercepted communications between top al-Qaeda leaders.
US sources said that while some type of message between Zawahri and AQAP was intercepted recently, there were also other streams of intelligence that contributed to the security alert, which was prompted by a threat from AQAP. "The threat picture is based on a broad range of reporting, there is no smoking gun in this threat picture," a US official told the Reuters news agency on condition of anonymity. US officials said there was still no information about a specific target or location of a potential attack, but the threat to Western interests had not diminished. | ||
Was The Al-Qaeda Terror Threat Used To "Divert Attention" From NSA Uproar?
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/05/2013 - 22:57
"No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear."
- Edmund Burke
Death dealers want more Syrian options for US attacks.....Hype of Rebels victories rising !
Rep. Engel Pushes Pentagon for More Syria Attack Options
Looking for a Bargain-Priced War of Cruise Missile Strikes
by Jason Ditz, August 05, 2013
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey recently detailed to Congress a plan for a “low end” war on Syria centering around a no-fly zone, saying it would cost $1 billion a month on average and might have little impact on the ongoing civil war there.
The underlying message was that it’s a bad idea, something that Pentagon officials have reiterated several times before Congressional committees. But if you’re going to fight an unwise war, why not save a little doing it?
That’s the message from Rep. Eliot Engel (D – NY), who is now pressing Dempsey to draw up a cheaper option in which the US war against Syria just amounts to hucking cruise missiles at the country every once in awhile, saying it “would come at lower cost to taxpayers.”
Eliot has advocated intervention for some time, pushing resolutions to arm Syrian rebel factions on the grounds that regime change would “undermine” Iran. He had also previously argued in favor of the no-fly zone, which seems to be falling out of favor more because of its cost than the foolishness of starting such a war in general.
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| Rebels Capture Military Airport Near Turkey |
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Egypt Claims Assassination Plot Against Coup Leader
Sinai Islamists Sought to Kill Gen. El-Sisi, Others
by Jason Ditz, August 05, 2013
Pro-junta newspaper El-Watan is reporting that Egypt’s military has uncovered a plot to assassinate coup leader Gen. Abdelfattah El-Sisi, with the attack said to be planned in the Sinai Peninsula by an Islamist faction.
According to the report, the attackers included members of Hamas, and has a stockpile of smuggled Libyan weapons, and intended to assassinate Sisi and other junta leaders on the first day of Eid al-Fitr, later this week.
The other targets were said to be Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim,behind the recent massacres of anti-coup protesters, and Mohamed ElBaradei, the pro-Western former IAEA head who has come out in favor of the junta and was given the position of Vice President in charge of international diplomacy.
The Egyptian military began a massive crackdown in Sinai the same day as the coup which ousted the elected Morsi government, and has accused Hamas of plotting to support President Morsi.
Morsi and most other top officials have been imprisoned by the military since the coup, and reportedly US officials have visited with some of his top jailed aides trying to convince them to accept military rule. The US has openly endorsed the coup, though owing to US law banning support for coups they have avoided using that word, rather insisting that the military takeover amounts to “democracy.”
Iraq death dealing continues....
Bombings, Security Raids Leave 49 Dead Across Iraq
Monday: 49 Killed, 58 Wounded
by Margaret Griffis, August 05, 2013
At least 49 people were killed and 58 more were wounded in random attacks across Iraq. The worst violence occurred in and around Mosul. There was also a bomb in Baghdad that left over a dozen dead or injured.
In Baghdad, four people were killed and 21 more were wounded at a Kamaliyaneighborhood bakery. Three people were shot dead in Jaara. No casualties were reported after a government employee and son were targeted for assassination.
In Mosul, gunmen killed a contractor. At least two more people were gunned down.Five soldiers were killed in a roadside blast. A bombing at a base left one soldier dead and three more wounded; one civilian was also killed in the blast, and five more were wounded.
A car bomb in Tal Afar killed four people and wounded at least 19 more.
Gunmen killed a man and his son in charge of a power generator in Madaen. Another civilian was shot dead nearby.
A security operation in Suleiman Pak left 11 insurgents dead.
A bomb killed four soldiers in Hammam al-Alil.
An I.E.D. blast in Raweh wounded a civilian.
Four insurgents were killed during an operation in Hasiriya.
In Taji, gunmen wounded nine people, including two civilians, on a bus.
Gunmen killed two young men in Hilla.
Two Sahwa were gunned down in Hawija.
In Kirkuk, a 13-year-old was kidnapped.
Gunmen in Muqdadiya killed a Sahwa member and his relative.
Two people were shot and killed in Abu Saida.
Afghanistan .... Karzai and Taliban have talks in secret...
Taliban, Karzai Govt in Secret Talks
Taliban Has Qualms About Afghan Constitution
by Jason Ditz, August 05, 2013
After President Hamid Karzai publicly withdrew from peace talks with the Taliban, there was a brief effort to “coax” him back to the table, but after that the latest effort at a peace process seemed to just die down.
But that’s just the public show. Behind the scenes, officials from the Karzai government and the Taliban admit that talks have resumed and are ongoing, in secret,and are making at least a little progress.
The big issue right now is the post-occupation constitution. The Taliban has reportedly given some consideration to endorsing it, but says they have three clauses that they oppose. They did not say what those are.
There’s been a lot of speculation that the peace process is going to end in some sort of power-sharing deal giving the Taliban de facto control over the southeast, and getting them to at least endorse the constitution in theory would be a big step toward making that happen. Officials familiar with the talks say that they remain in “a fragile place” and could just as easily collapse.
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