US funds terror groups to sow chaos in Iran

"America is secretly funding militant ethnic separatist groups in Iran in an attempt to pile pressure on the Islamic regime to give up its nuclear programme.

"In a move that reflects Washington's growing concern with the failure of diplomatic initiatives, CIA officials are understood to be helping opposition militias among the numerous ethnic minority groups clustered in Iran's border regions.

"The operations are controversial because they involve dealing with movements that resort to terrorist methods in pursuit of their grievances against the Iranian regime.

"In the past year there has been a wave of unrest in ethnic minority border areas of Iran, with bombing and assassination campaigns against soldiers and government officials.

"Such incidents have been carried out by the Kurds in the west, the Azeris in the north-west, the Ahwazi Arabs in the south-west, and the Baluchis in the south-east. Non-Persians make up nearly 40 per cent of Iran's 69 million population, with around 16 million Azeris, seven million Kurds, five million Ahwazis and one million Baluchis. Most Baluchis live over the border in Pakistan.

"Funding for their separatist causes comes directly from the CIA's classified budget but is now 'no great secret', according to one former high-ranking CIA official in Washington who spoke anonymously to The Sunday Telegraph.

"His claims were backed by Fred Burton, a former US state department counter-terrorism agent, who said: 'The latest attacks inside Iran fall in line with US efforts to supply and train Iran's ethnic minorities to destabilise the Iranian regime.' ..."
Telegraph

Tagged: usa, iran, terrorism

Canada and the war against terror

"Damien Carrick: This week, balancing human rights and security post 9/11 ... Noisy demonstrations calling for the release of David Hicks are becoming almost regular news items in Australia. And if opinion polls are to be believed, he's also an increasingly mainstream political issue, especially this election year.

"Over the weekend Prime Minister John Howard told visiting US vice-president, Dick Cheney, he wants David Hicks brought to trial as soon as possible.

"In response Cheney assured our PM the US administration will do everything it can to speed up the military commission process.

"Meanwhile, lawyers for Hicks are currently in the Federal Court, arguing the Australian government has acted 'improperly' in failing to repatriate him.

"Today, we look at a country which prides itself on its protection of human rights. A close military ally of the USA, with deep cultural and economic ties; a country with a citizen who's been languishing behind bars in Guantanamo Bay for five years and whose government supports him remaining there and facing trial in a specially convened military tribunal. Sounds familiar?

"No, not Australia, Canada.

"Today we're exploring how a country very similar to our own is dealing with questions of civil rights, post-September 11. There are some illuminating parallels and differences ..."
The Law Report (audio and full transcript)

Tagged: canada, war+on+terror, torture, human+rights, david+hicks, civil+rights, law, legal

How the war on terror made the world a more terrifying place

"Innocent people across the world are now paying the price of the "Iraq effect", with the loss of hundreds of lives directly linked to the invasion and occupation by American and British forces.

"An authoritative US study of terrorist attacks after the invasion in 2003 contradicts the repeated denials of George Bush and Tony Blair that the war is not to blame for an upsurge in fundamentalist violence worldwide. The research is said to be the first to attempt to measure the 'Iraq effect' on global terrorism. It found that the number killed in jihadist attacks around the world has risen dramatically since the Iraq war began in March 2003. The study compared the period between 11 September 2001 and the invasion of Iraq with the period since the invasion. The count - excluding the Arab-Israel conflict - shows the number of deaths due to terrorism rose from 729 to 5,420. As well as strikes in Europe, attacks have also increased in Chechnya and Kashmir since the invasion. The research was carried out by the Centre on Law and Security at the NYU Foundation for Mother Jones magazine ..."
Independent

Tagged: usa, iraq, war+on+terror, war, terrorism, bush, blair

Great bank robbery in UK

"Banks could be forced to refund £7.2bn worth of illegal penalty fees they have levied from customers, according to City analysts, if regulators rule against the charges.

"In the first authoritative study of the charges, banking analysts at Credit Suisse have calculated that high street banks rake in £1.2bn a year from penalty charges. The news will fuel a customer revolt that has taken the banking sector by storm.

"Under consumer law, customers are entitled to claim retrospective refunds going back six years if banks are judged to have imposed illegitimate charges on their accounts. According to the Credit Suisse figures, the total repayment due to account holders will add up to £7.2bn if the maximum number of customers apply for refunds. The calculation is based on an analysis of bank revenue generated from penalty fees. Since The Independent started its campaign last week, more than 400,000 people have downloaded online guides to complain about bank charges, which are levied on services such as unauthorised overdrafts and bounced cheques. Thousands of customers have already won compensation from their banks, with awards ranging to £70 to thousands of pounds ..."
Independent

Anti-Cheney protesters clash with police

AAP Thursday February 22, 06:47 PM

Protesters demonstrating against US Vice-President Dick Cheney's
Australian visit have clashed with police outside Sydney's Town Hall.

Mr Cheney is expected to arrive in Sydney late Thursday and will leave
on Sunday following talks with the federal government, the opposition,
and other engagements.

Police attempting to prevent the protesters from marching down George
Street scuffled with dozens of the demonstrators.

A wall of officers, including mounted police, were attempting to push
the crowd away from the roadway and into Town Hall Square.

Deputy Police Commissioner Terry Collins says the protesters do not have
permission to march through the city because of disruption to traffic.

But organisers, the Stop the War Coalition, told the crowd that adequate
notice had been given and it was up to those present to decide if they
wanted to march to the US Consulate near Martin Place.

"Police have attempted to drive the anti-war protest off the street,"
coalition spokeswoman Jean Parker told the crowd.

"We will not be silenced."

Activists are carrying placards with slogans including "Coalition of the
killing" and "Go home Cheney, take Howard hunting".

After several tense minutes, the situation calmed and a number of people
were detained after pushing through police ranks.

The majority of the protesters remained in the square, continuing their
vocal but peaceful protest.

They chanted "Free David Hicks" and "Troops out now" while mounted
police formed a second line of defence behind the officers flanking
George Street.

Two lanes of George Street were blocked to traffic by police and onlookers.

A political bombshell from Zbigniew Brzezinski

"Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee ... Zbigniew Brzezinski, the national security adviser in the Carter administration, delivered a scathing critique of the war in Iraq and warned that the Bush administration’s policy was leading inevitably to a war with Iran, with incalculable consequences for US imperialism in the Middle East and internationally.

"Brzezinski, who opposed the March 2003 invasion and has publicly denounced the war as a colossal foreign policy blunder, began his remarks on what he called the 'war of choice' in Iraq by characterizing it as 'a historic, strategic and moral calamity.'

"'Undertaken under false assumptions,' he continued, 'it is undermining America's global legitimacy. Its collateral civilian casualties as well as some abuses are tarnishing America's moral credentials. Driven by Manichean principles and imperial hubris, it is intensifying regional instability.'

"Brzezinski derided Bush’s talk of a 'decisive ideological struggle' against radical Islam as 'simplistic and demagogic,' and called it a 'mythical historical narrative' employed to justify a 'protracted and potentially expanding war.'

"'To argue that America is already at war in the region with a wider Islamic threat, of which Iran is the epicenter, is to promote a self-fulfilling prophecy,' he said.

"Most stunning and disturbing was his description of a 'plausible scenario for a military collision with Iran.' It would, he suggested, involve 'Iraqi failure to meet the benchmarks, followed by accusations of Iranian responsibility for the failure, then by some provocation in Iraq or a terrorist act in the US blamed on Iran, culminating in a "defensive" US military action against Iran that plunges a lonely America into a spreading and deepening quagmire eventually ranging across Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.' [Emphasis added]."
Source

Tagged: usa, iran, military, disinfo, disinformation

Govt working for Hicks guilty verdict says former Aussie PM

"Former prime minister Malcolm Fraser claims the United States and Australian governments are working to ensure Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks is found guilty.

"Mr Fraser has addressed eminent Australians, academics and teachers at a human rights education conference at the University of Melbourne.

"He says the Howard Government has done nothing to stop the delays and torturous conditions at Guantanamo Bay.

"'After five years of quite inhumane and degrading treatment, a verdict of innocence would be extraordinarily embarrassing to both governments, perhaps enough to defeat a government as more and more Australians really come to understand the nature of government's betrayal of the rights of an Australian citizen,' he said.

"'On this analysis, the United States cannot and clearly will not allow a fair trial.'

"'As the bottom line, if the United States had wanted a fair trial, it would have used the normal court system or military court martials -- we could all then have confidence in either course.

"'The United States has in fact spent enormous energy to try and guarantee the kind of verdict it clearly wants.'"
ABC News

Allegations against David Hicks 'weak'
The US has prejudged Hicks' guilt
Howard's Hicks deadline a joke, says Labor

Tagged: david+hicks, guantanamo, usa, australia, john+howard, torture, human+rights, war+on+terror, terrorism

Does Putin not have a point?

By Patrick J Buchanan

"... For one of the historic blunders of this [USA] administration has been to antagonize and alienate Russia, the winning of whose friendship was a signal achievement of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. And one of the foreign policy imperatives of this nation is for statesmanship to repair the damage.

"What did we do to antagonize Russia?

"When the Cold War ended, we seized upon our "unipolar moment" as the lone superpower to seek geopolitical advantage at Russia's expense.

"Though the Red Army had picked up and gone home from Eastern Europe voluntarily, and Moscow felt it had an understanding we would not move NATO eastward, we exploited our moment. Not only did we bring Poland into NATO, we brought in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, and virtually the whole Warsaw Pact, planting NATO right on Mother Russia's front porch. Now, there is a scheme afoot to bring in Ukraine and Georgia in the Caucasus, the birthplace of Stalin.

"Second, America backed a pipeline to deliver Caspian Sea oil from Azerbaijan through Georgia to Turkey, to bypass Russia.

"Third, though Putin gave us a green light to use bases in the old Soviet republics for the liberation of Afghanistan, we now seem hell-bent on making those bases in Central Asia permanent.

"Fourth, though Bush sold missile defense as directed at rogue states like North Korea, we now learn we are going to put anti-missile systems into Eastern Europe. And against whom are they directed?

"Fifth, through the National Endowment for Democracy, its GOP and Democratic auxiliaries, and tax-exempt think tanks, foundations and "human rights" institutes such as Freedom House, headed by ex-CIA director James Woolsey, we have been fomenting regime change in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet republics and Russia herself.

"U.S.-backed revolutions have succeeded in Serbia, Ukraine and Georgia, but failed in Belarus. Moscow has now legislated restrictions on the foreign agencies that it sees, not without justification, as subversive of pro-Moscow regimes.

"Sixth, America conducted 78 days of bombing of Serbia for the crime of fighting to hold on to her rebellious province, Kosovo, and for refusing to grant NATO marching rights through her territory to take over that province. Mother Russia has always had a maternal interest in the Orthodox states of the Balkans.

"These are Putin's grievances. Does he not have a small point? ..."
The Conservative Voice

Tagged: russia, usa

Nauru detainee granted permanent protection visa

TONY EASTLEY: After almost six years of being detained, much of it on a remote island, one of Australia's most unique boat people has been granted a permanent protection visa.

27-year-old Muhammad Faisal was originally considered to be a security risk after an adverse assessment by the spy agency ASIO (Australian Security Intelligence Organisation).

That assessment kept him on the Pacific island of Nauru until he was sent to a Brisbane psychiatric facility last year.

His supporters say he should never have been sent to the detention facility in the first place.

Karen Barlow reports.

KAREN BARLOW: During his years in detention, Muhammad Faisal was found to have a strong case for refugee status, but he was also classed as a national security risk.

After his mental condition deteriorated last year and he was sent to Brisbane by the Nauruan Government, for care, another application was lodged for a protection visa.

The Federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock says ASIO now says Muhammad Faisal can be given a security clearance.

PHILIP RUDDOCK: Yes, they came to a different view on the basis of fresh consideration of material that was before it that was different to what was before them before.

KAREN BARLOW: Mr Ruddock says he can't go into the details of ASIO's assessments, but he denies the agency got it wrong the first time.

PHILIP RUDDOCK: They made a decision on the basis of information that was before them at the time and I might say, they went back and reviewed those decisions on a number of occasions and the assessment didn't change. On this occasion it has.

KAREN BARLOW: Greens Senator Kerry Nettle says it must have been wrong although she says everyone, including Muhammad Faisal may never know why.

KERRY NETTLE: He never understood why he'd had an adverse security assessment made against him. He was never told and his lawyers were never told.

So a decision was made to not allow this refugee to live in Australia because of a bogus, inaccurate security assessment that was kept secret from him and his lawyers.

Now the fact that, that has now turned around is horrendous. To have ruined this man's life and his mental health.

KAREN BARLOW: Labor says Muhammad Faisal should never have been held on Nauru.

Immigration Spokesman Tony Burke says the Pacific Island's remoteness contributed to his plight.

TONY BURKE: Had he been held on Australian territory, had he been held for example, in Christmas Island you could've had Australian Government officials visiting him and talking with him whenever Australian Government officials wanted to, not waiting around for when they could get a plane off to Nauru and when the Nauruan Government would give Australian officials permission to meet with him ...
AM

Tagged: refugees, australia, human+rights, civil+rights

Germany seeks arrest of CIA rendition agents

"A German court has issued arrest warrants for 13 people, thought to be CIA agents, suspected of kidnapping a man mistaken for a terrorist.

"Christian Schmidt-Sommerfeld, Munich's state prosecutor, said that the warrants were issued in connection with the so-called 'extraordinary rendition' of Khaled al-Masri, a German citizen of Lebanese descent, who claims that he was abducted by US agents near the Macedonian border in the first days of 2004.

"He said that the the people were wanted on suspicion of the wrongful imprisonment and inflicting serious bodily harm, adding: 'The personal details contained in the arrest warrants are, according to our current knowledge, aliases of CIA agents' ..."

Germany orders arrests in rendition probe
Warrants issued for 13 in connection with alleged CIA kidnapping ...
Warrants issued for 13 in connection with alleged CIA kidnapping ...
all 278 news articles »

Tagged: cia, usa, germany, terrorism, torture, rendition, human+rights, civil+rights, war+on+terror, law, legal, crime