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The CIA effort, which involves assembling detailed dossiers on key militants, gives the White House both lethal and nonlethal options.
3/16: CIA secretly begins sizing up 'Islamic extremists' in Syria for drone strikes
CIA secretly begins sizing up 'Islamic extremists' in Syria for drone strikes --The CIA effort, which involves assembling detailed dossiers on key militants, gives the White House both lethal and nonlethal options. 15 Mar 2013 The CIA has stepped up secret contingency planning to protect the United States and its allies as the turmoil expands in attack Syria, including collecting intelligence on 'Islamic extremists' for the first time for possible lethal drone strikes, according to current and former U.S. officials. The Counterterrorism Center, which runs the CIA’s covert drone killing program in Pakistan and Yemen, recently shifted several targeting officers to improve intelligence collection on militants in Syria who could pose a terrorist threat, the officials said. The targeting officers have formed a unit with colleagues who were tracking Al Qaeda [al-CIAduh] operatives and fighters in Iraq. U.S. officials believe that some of these operatives have moved to Syria and joined Islamic militias battling to overthrow President Bashar Assad.
CIA may target Syrian extremists with drones: report 16 Mar 2013 The US Central Intelligence Agency is collecting information on 'Islamic radicals' in Syria for possible lethal drone strikes against them at a later stage, The Los Angeles Times reported. Citing unnamed current and former US officials, the newspaper said President Barack Obama had not authorized any drone missile strikes in Syria yet, and none were under consideration. However CIA's Counterterrorism Center, which runs drone programs targeting militants in Pakistan and Yemen, had recently shifted several targeting officers to improve intelligence gathering on militants in Syria. The targeting officers focusing on Syria are based at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, the paper said.
U.S. drone strikes violate Pakistan's sovereignty: U.N. 15 Mar 2013 The United States has violated Pakistan's sovereignty and shattered tribal structures with unmanned drone strikes in its counterterrorism operations near the Afghan border, a U.N. human rights investigator said in a statement on Friday. U.N. special rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism, Ben Emmerson, visited Pakistan for three days this week as part of his investigation into the civilian impact of the use of drones and other forms of targeted killings. "As a matter of international law, the U.S. drone campaign in Pakistan is...being conducted without the consent of the elected representatives of the people, or the legitimate Government of the State," Emmerson said in a statement issued by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva.
Appeals court revives suit over CIA drone records 15 Mar 2013 In a rebuke of government secrecy, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday that the CIA must give a fuller response to a lawsuit seeking the spy agency's records on drone attacks. The CIA's claim that it could neither confirm nor deny whether it has any drone records was inadequate because the government, including President Barack Obama himself, has clearly acknowledged a drone program, the court said. The ruling was unanimous from a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
US war in Iraq costs over USD 2 trillion, 189,000 lives: Study 14 Mary 2013 A new study has shown that the US war on Iraq has cost more than USD two trillion, including USD 490 billion in benefits owed to war veterans. The report released by the US-based Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University stated that the amount owed to veterans may rise to USD six trillion over the next four decades if interest is included. The report, drawn up by about 30 academics, also said at least 189,000 people have been killed since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Blasts, clashes kill at least 25 in central Baghdad 14 Mar 2013 Coordinated blasts killed at least 25 people in the heart of Baghdad on Thursday near the heavily fortified Green Zone, where several Western embassies are located, police and medics said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the explosions. The brazen attacks in broad daylight will fan concerns about Iraq's fragile security, which has come under growing strain as the increasingly sectarian CIA/Blackwater fomented conflict in neighboring Syria threatens to upset its own Sunni-Shi'ite balance.
Obama Says Iran a Year Away From Nuclear Weapon 14 Mar 2013 Iran is about a year away from developing a nuclear weapon and the United States remains committed to doing everything in its power to prevent that from happening, President Barack Obama said in an exclusive interview aired Thursday on Israeli TV. Just days before he is to arrive in Israel for his first presidential visit, Obama told Israel's Channel 2 TV that while he still prefers diplomacy over force, but that a nuclear Iran is a "red line" and all options remain on the table to stop it. "Right now, we think it would take over a year or so for Iran to actually develop a nuclear weapon, but obviously we don't want to cut it too close," he said. "So when I'm consulting with Bibi (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) as I have over the last several years on this issue, my message to him will be the same as before: 'If we can resolve it diplomatically that is a more lasting solution. But if not I continue to keep all options on the table.'"
Blackwater was CIA's extension, founder Erik Prince admits 14 Mar 2013 Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater - now known as Academi - claims his firm "became a virtual extension of the CIA," taking orders from the agency. In an interview published Thursday by the Daily Beast, Prince revealed how deeply connected Blackwater was to the Central Intelligence Agency, especially in the early 2000s. Last month, federal prosecutors dropped felony charges against Blackwater personnel after it was revealed that the employees had been acting under the orders of the US government. After a three-year-long prosecution, most of the company's executives walked free and two men received nothing more than probation, house arrest and $5,000 fines. But the tens of thousands of pages of court documents from the case shed light on an argument the company made throughout those three years -- that Blackwater itself was an extension of the CIA.
Chavez Poisoned? Venezuela to Investigate Whether Late President Was Infected With Cancer by 'Dark Forces' 13 Mar 2013 Venezuela's acting president, Nicolas Maduro, said the country would open a scientific investigation to see whether late leader Hugo Chavez was poisoned "by dark forces that wanted him out of the way," Reuters reports. "We are almost certain [that there was foul play] based on the data we have," Maduro said in an interview with a the Telesur network, according to CNN. Maduro, who barely avoided explicitly saying the United States had poisoned Chavez [obviously], talked about "scientific laboratories [that were] testing how to cause cancer" in the U.S. in the 1940s and 1950s and asked whether that technology might have progressed since then, CNN adds. Also, on March 5, hours before the president's death was announced, Maduro said there was "no doubt" that Chavez's illness was caused by an "attack" by foreign enemies.
US to add missile interceptors in Alaska amid concerns over N Korea 16 Mar 2013 The United States will bolster its defenses against a possible North Korean missile strike by siting 14 more interceptors in Alaska. The new batteries will boost by almost half the 30 interceptors already deployed along the California and Alaska coastline and should be in place by 2017, as Pyongyang races to develop a nuclear-armed ballistic threat. With North Korea having tested nuclear devices and launched a satellite, Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said the upgrade was designed to "stay ahead of the threat" as Kim Jong-un's state [allegedly] attempts to marry its bombs to its missile technology.
Scientists digging up Black Death skeletons to map DNA signature of plague virus --Archaeologists: As many as 50,000 plague victims buried in area 15 Mar 2013 More than a dozen skeletons, thought to be victims of the Black Death, have been unearthed in the City of London. So far the skeletons of 13 adults have been found under Charterhouse Square in Farringdon during excavation work for the £14.8 billion Crossrail project. Scientists are hoping to map the DNA signature of the plague virus and possibly contribute to the discussion regarding what virus caused the Black Death. It is also hoped that the research could help combat create modern day diseases. [US and UK bioterrorists are dying to get the pandemic party started!]
Japan's Energy Board Meets After Dropping Anti-Nuclear Members 15 Mar 2013 Japan's ruling [rightwing] Liberal Democratic Party has removed most anti-nuclear researchers from a revamped post-Fukushima energy policy advisory board to the government that resumes discussions today. After a landslide victory in a December election, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said the previous administration's policy to abandon atomic power needs to be reviewed to help revive the world's third-biggest economy. Six of eight members that voted for phasing out nuclear power on the board advising the previous government have been dropped from the LDP panel.
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