Media Blackout of New Syria Revelations

More on Seymour Hersh's investigative reporting on the chemical weapon attack in Syria last August, which was conducted not by the Assad regime, but by the U.S supported "rebels."

by Brad Hoff, Levant Report — April 7, 2014

My article, originally published yesterday for GlobalResearch.org. The Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) is an independent research and media organization based in Montreal.

Renowned Investigative Journalist Seymour Hersh

Today (4/6/14), London Review of Books published in its online journal Seymour Hersh’s “The Red Line and the Rat Line.” Hersh continues to expose details surrounding the staged August 21 chemical attack incident in Syria, which apparently pretty much everyone in Washington’s intelligence bureaucracy suspected was carried out by the rebels as soon as it happened.

Seymour Hersh is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist whose 40+ years career includes the exposing of the My Lai Massacre  and its cover-up, as well as the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. His December 19 report, “Whose Sarin?” -was his first report to expose the Syria chemical attack hoax. While “Whose Sarin” was originally prepared for the Washington Post, the newspaper rejected it and a media blackout followed in American press. Currently, Hersh’s newest investigative findings are going unacknowledged in mainstream US media.

Hersh’s report confirms the following:

US running training camps in Jordan for Syrian Terrorists

Explosive, in-depth reporting by investigative journalist Sara Elizabeth Williams reveals top secret American training program. 

See also: "Five Questions for Sara Elizabeth Williams, courageous freelance journalist who broke the story of U.S. run FSA Training Camp in Jordan"


I LEARNED TO FIGHT LIKE AN AMERICAN AT THE FSA TRAINING CAMP IN JORDAN

By Sara Elizabeth Williams, Photos: Anonymous

April 3, 2014 — Vice.com — Thanks to Fr John Whiteford

Fighter A aims his AK47 in Daraa

“I do not want to mention my name,” says a 20-year-old FSA fighter, “because the camp we practiced in was highly classified.”

So classified, in fact, that the CIA – who are rumoured to be running the camp (but declined to comment for this article) – still won’t acknowledge it exists.

For nearly a year, rumours have swirled about a covert, US-run training camp for FSA fighters in the vast Jordanian desert. (Jordanian intelligence also did not respond to requests for comment on this article.) And, last week, it was reported that the Obama administration appears to be expanding "its covert programme of training and assistance for the Syrian opposition". However, despite all this speculation, little is known about how this supposed Jordanian camp works, who trains there and what tactics they learn.

However, I recently tracked down a fighter who said he'd completed the course and was willing to talk.

"Fighter A" is from Daraa, just a stone’s throw from the Jordanian border in southern Syria. He was at secondary school when the revolution twisted into civil war, and his plans to study law were set aside for a Kalashnikov, joining the FSA at just 18 years old.

One day last May, when Fighter A was 19, he was taken aside and given some good news. “I was selected by the brigade commander to go to training camp,” he says. “I was told we would be trained on heavy weapons and anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.” But he didn’t know exactly what to expect: “I had heard of military camps taking place, but I didn’t know where and when.”

The next morning, Fighter A and 39 other young men like him headed south into Jordan, their journey jointly choreographed by Daraa’s FSA military council and, allegedly, Jordanian intelligence. Mobile phones were confiscated, to be returned at the end of camp. No questions were asked. These men were going off the grid.

When the group finally arrived at a high-security military facility deep in the Jordanian desert, Fighter A found the last thing he expected: Americans.

Seymour Hersh Unearths More Lies on Syria: Opposition Launched Sarin Attack

This reporting establishes a clear link to the 9/11/12 raid on our Benghazi compound, and reveals the Benghazi installation as a front for running U.S. weapons to al-Qaeda linked Syrian jihadists. Obama's support for the jihadist extremists in Syria includes tacit support for Turkey's schemes, including the use of chemical weapons last year.

The Red Line and the Rat Line
Seymour M. Hersh on Obama, Erdoğan and the Syrian rebels

Il Faro Sul Mondo — April 7, 2014 — h/t Atlas Shrugs

Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has a second fascinating essay that rewrites the official record of the sarin gas attack on Ghouta, near Damascus, in August last year. As usual, Hersh uses his sources in the US security establishment to throw light on what really took place. The bottom line: Turkey was almost certainly the party responsible for the attack, hoping it would force Obama to honour his threatened “red line” if Assad used chemical weapons. Was the Assad regime to be brought down by a US military campaign, Turkey assumed it would be able to turn Syria into a client state.

Like the earlier article, this one will probably gain very little attention. It is published in the obscure UK literary publication the London Review of Books. Presumably like last time, Hersh could not find a mainstream publication willing to take it – and I’m guessing that, like last time, these stunningly important revelations will be shunned by the liberal media. Instead, it will be consigned to the memory hole, along with so much other evidence of western crimes against humanity. Pundits and analysts will continue to tell us confidently that Assad carried out the Ghouta attack, oblivious to Hersh’s findings.

The reason the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Guardian have been studiously ignoring Hersh’s investigations on this, it seems to me, is that they show the Obama administration’s foreign policy is just as criminal as the previous Bush White House’s.

Here is a summary of Hersh’s main findings:

* Obama’s sudden climb-down on his threatened military strike against Assad was in part forced on him by a chemical analysis of samples of the sarin used in Ghouta, which showed that its signature did not match that of the stockpiles held by the Assad regime.

* Despite US claims, the White House knew that the Syrian rebels had developed chemical weapons production facilities. UN investigators thought the Syrian opposition were the most likely culprits behind earlier chemical weapons attacks, in April and May 2013.

The American and British intelligence communities had been aware since the spring of 2013 that some rebel units in Syria were developing chemical weapons. On 20 June analysts for the US Defense Intelligence Agency issued a highly classified five-page ‘talking points’ briefing for the DIA’s deputy director, David Shedd, which stated that al-Nusra maintained a sarin production cell.”

Patriarch Irinej: Serbs’ suffering in Kosovo still ongoing

OCP Media — March 18, 2014

BELGRADE – Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) Patriarch Irinej said on Monday, commenting on the 10th anniversary of the pogrom against the Kosovo Serbs, that the suffering of the Kosovo Serbs was still ongoing.

The suffering in Kosovo comes at a time when we pride on democracy and freedom, he said at a forum held at the National Theatre in Belgrade, adding that the pogrom happened in view of Europe and the US.

Such suffering that happened in the late 20th and early 21st century was not recorded even at the time of the Ottoman conquest of Kosovo, he stated.

The imperial Prizren and other cities were hit during the pogrom of 2004, leaving them empty of Serbs, he stressed.

Russia’s mission is to proclaim God’s truth to the whole world, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin believes

Russia has a special calling in the world, and the country has to prove it both to Russians and foreigners, head of the Synodal Department for Church and Society Relations Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin said.

Pravmir — March 29, 2014

Moscow, March 28, Interfax – Russia has a special calling in the world, and the country has to prove it both to Russians and foreigners, head of the Synodal Department for Church and Society Relations Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin said.

I think we have a chance to say the word of God’s truth in the context of all this struggle of ideas. In various fields,” the priest said in his interview to the Zavtra paper speaking to its editor-in-chief, famous wrighter Alexander Prokhanov.

According to Father Vsevolod, in the economical field we have to say that money-lending is “a sinful thing and it is better to give it up and no one will die of hunger, if we do it,” in relations among peoples we have to say that “we have the right on variety of nations – legal, cultural, political, economical,” that we have to move from forceful subordination to peaceful means of international relations.

Thousands Flee Syrian Christian Town after Islamists Kill 80

At least 13 Christians beheaded; churches desecrated and homes looted.

DAMASCUS, SYRIA (BosNewsLife), April 5, 2014 -- Aid workers remain concerned over dozens of mainly elderly Christians in north-west Syria, after Islamic militants overran a Christian town, killing some 80 people, and forcing thousands of local residents to flee.

At least 13 Christians were beheaded, churches were desecrated and homes looted, said the Barnabas Fund, which supports Christians in heavily Islamic nations.

"Militants from the al-Qaeda-[terror group] linked al-Nusra Front [and groups] Sham al-Islam and Ansar al-Sham attacked Kessab on the Turkish border early on Friday March 23," Barnabas Fund told BosNewsLife in a statement.

"Around 3,000 Armenian Christian residents fled for their lives, taking refuge in neighbouring Latakia and Bassit."

However, "a dozen or so families with members too elderly to leave remained in Kessab and were subsequently taken hostage," Barnabas Fund said. Of those who fed, some relatives were reportedly staying with relatives and and friends, but many Christians were seen sheltering in over-crowded church buildings.

Political scientist: 'We will see a battle of apocalyptic dimensions…dialogue is a waste of time'

What is fascism? It is a political religion, with truths, with prophets, with a charismatic leader who is equipped with a supposedly holy mission to unite the nation and defeat the enemies. That’s also exactly what Islam is. Fascism divides the world into friends and enemies. In Islam, there are believers and unbelievers...

by Nicolai Sennels, Jihad Watch — April 4, 2014

Hamed Abdel-Samad is an Egyptian born political scientist, historian and author, now living in Germany. He is the son of a Sunni imam, but has dedicated the recent years of his life to warning against the political side of Islam. Via 10news.dk, translated by Sandra and Nicolai Sennels from Welt:

He claims Islam to have “fascistic characteristics” — and is therefore under threat: The German-Egyptian journalist Hamed Abdel-Samad challenges a religion of which he himself is a member. An interview by Dietrich Alexander.

The author Hamed Abdel-Samad lives in Germany, but he is not safe here. The 42-year-old needs permanent police protection, as he has enemies. Violent, fanatical enemies who want him dead because, in their view, he has insulted Islam and their Prophet Mohammed. The German-Egyptian states his opinion openly and criticizes those Muslims who put themselves above others and claim that their interpretation of Islam is the only true version. With his book Der Untergang der islamischen Welt (Eng.: The Fall of the Islamic World, Droemer, 2010, 18 euros), he earned a lot of criticism. His new book will be out on April 1 and is entitled Der islamische Faschismus (transl.: The Islamic fascism, Droemer, 18 euros). After publicly expressing his theses in Cairo, he got a fatwa on his head: “Wanted Dead” — not: “Wanted, dead or alive”, just “dead”. He had to go into hiding. But he was not silent, and he does not intend to be intimidated in the future.

[The Islamist sees] democracy as a Trojan horse... The Islamist who wants to come to power is not interested in democracy. He does not believe in it, he believes in the rule of God... Dialogue, in this case, is actually a waste of time.

Die Welt: You are very pessimistic about the future of the Arab-Islamic world in general. You present a new book, your fourth one. It seems to me that you get more and more radical in your theses. Would you agree with that?

Abdel-Samad: No! I often hear that I was a radical thinker and a quarreler. I’m just a rational thinking person who calls a spade a spade. I have always been. I do not do it just to provoke when I say that Islam has fascist characteristics.

Die Welt: But that’s at least semantically sharper than anything you have written and said before. The term fascism in connection with political Islam is certainly new.

Abdel-Samad: For Germans this may sound bold and provocative. But what is fascism? It is a political religion, with truths, with prophets, with a charismatic leader who is equipped with a supposedly holy mission to unite the nation and defeat the enemies. That’s also exactly what Islam is. Fascism divides the world into friends and enemies. In Islam, there are believers and unbelievers. 

The conspiracy theories in fascism, the feeling of humiliation and having come off badly, this desire for revenge and the dehumanization of the enemy, are all found in Islam, especially in the language of political Islam. The mix of inferiority complex and striving for world domination, of impotence and omnipotence fantasies, links Islamism and fascism. 

Patrick J. Buchanan: Whose Side Is God on Now?

"In the culture war for the future of mankind, Putin is planting Russia's flag firmly on the side of traditional Christianity."

by Patrick J. Buchanan, Creators.com — April 3, 2014

In his Kremlin defense of Russia's annexation of Crimea, Vladimir Putin, even before he began listing the battles where Russian blood had been shed on Crimean soil, spoke of an older deeper bond.

Crimea, said Putin, "is the location of ancient Khersones, where Prince Vladimir was baptized. His spiritual feat of adopting Orthodoxy predetermined the overall basis of the culture, civilization and human values that unite the peoples of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus."

Russia is a Christian country, Putin was saying.

This speech recalls last December's address where the former KGB chief spoke of Russia as standing against a decadent West:

Many Euro-Atlantic countries have moved away from their roots, including Christian values. Policies are being pursued that place on the same level a multi-child family and a same-sex partnership, a faith in God and a belief in Satan. This is the path to degradation.

Heard any Western leader, say, Barack Obama, talk like that lately?

Indicting the "Bolsheviks" who gave away Crimea to Ukraine, Putin declared, "May God judge them."

What is going on here?

With Marxism-Leninism a dead faith, Putin is saying the new ideological struggle is between a debauched West led by the United States and a traditionalist world Russia would be proud to lead.

In the new war of beliefs, Putin is saying, it is Russia that is on God's side. The West is Gomorrah.

‘Milking’ Egypt’s Christian Copts Dry

Even remote Coptic monastery under attack from Muslim raiders.

by Raymond Ibrahim — April 4, 2014

The Board of Inquiry in Cairo monitoring the “sectarian violence that continues to cross Egypt after the overthrow of President Morsi, has documented in a report released on Tuesday, March 25 the endemic forms of violence and abuse that continue to be perpetrated against Coptic Christians in many parts of the country, particularly in the governorates of Luxor, Sohag and Aswan.”  According to this report, “reference is made to abductions [almost always for ransom], expropriation of houses, shops looted where Egyptian Copts continue to be targeted victims.”

In other words, Egypt’s Christians are increasingly being seen and treated, in the words of some early caliphs, as “milk camels” to be milked dry of their money and possessions. (Crucified Again, p. 200)

Even the most remote, modest, and apolitical Copts are being targeted so.  Late last month, Coptic activists in Egypt called on the Interior Ministry and its organs in the Fayum district to move and rescue the monks, workers, and visitors of the ancient Monastery of Saint Makarius, which is located in the desert between Alexandria and Cairo.

Pakistan: Christian couple sentenced to death for blasphemy for texts they didn’t send

Blasphemy laws in Pakistan wielded like a club against Christians. In effect, in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, under ISIL rule in Syria, and elsewhere in the Islamic world, it is blasphemous to not be Muslim. That is how hollow and fragile Islam is, that even where it dominates it must use terror and the death sentence to prove itself superior. Pure, unmasked evil. Such are the 'nuances' of Islam...


Pakistan: Christian couple sentenced to death for blasphemy for texts they didn’t send
by Robert Spencer, Jihad Watch — April 4, 2014

Here yet again we see how Pakistan’s blasphemy law is used to victimize non-Muslims. It is a human rights abuse of catastrophic proportions, but apparently the global “human rights community” is too busy worrying about “Islamophobia” to take any serious notice. How many more innocent people will have to die before Western Christian leaders decide that speaking out against this persecution of their brethren is worth harming the wonderful “dialogue” they’re enjoying with the local Muslim groups?

BREAKING NEWS: Pakistan Sentences Christian Couple To Death

by Stefan J. Bos for BosNewsLife, April 4:

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)– A Pakistani court sentenced an impoverished Christian couple to death for “blasphemy against Islam” on Friday, April 4, just days after another Christian was told he would be executed on similar charges, an advocacy official involved in the case told BosNewsLife.