Policy Change: "Terrorists" Are Now "Insurgents"
This is the biggest Orwellian rewrite I have ever experienced.
For years the label "AlQaeda" and "terrorists" were practically used as synonyms. But, following the Obama administrations lead, the New York Times has now rewritten its stylebook and relabeled "AlQaeda" from "terrorists group" to a somewhat neutral "insurgency".
Iraq Insurgents Kill Nearly 100 After Declaring New Offensive
BAGHDAD — In a coordinated display intended to show they remain a viable force, Iraqi insurgents launched at least 37 separate attacks throughout the country on Monday morning, setting off car bombs, storming a military base, attacking policemen in their homes and ambushing checkpoints, Iraqi authorities said....
So there are now "insurgents" in Iraq? Should we support them?
Further into the piece it becomes clear who these "insurgents" are:
The attacks, coming in the early days of Ramadan, the monthlong Muslim religious rite, were predicted Sunday in an audio message attributed to the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Bakir Al Baghdadi, and posted on the group’s Web site. Mr. Baghdada vowed that a new offensive, which he called Breaking Down Walls, would begin soon.
Hmm - Al Qaeda now "predicts" such atrocities? Would not "announce" be a more factual word? Are we supposed to doubt that AlQaeda in Iraq committed these killings today after it only "predicted" them? Why?
On Twitter Yemen specialist Gregory Johnsen asked: Why is the NYT calling al-Qaeda in Iraq "Iraqi insurgents"
My short answer was: b/c AlQaeda in Syria are "rebels"
The longer answer is that the Oceania no longer at war with Eurasia. It is now allied with Eurasia and at war with Eastasia. The New York Times, as the paper of record, is just documenting that shift though without acknowledging it.
The U.S. and its assorted poodles are now allied with those radical Sunni AlQaeda fighters. But as the U.S. would never support "terrorists" they now have to be renamed and rather suddenly become "insurgents" (in Iraq) or "rebels" (in Syria).
This is a bit ominous for the Iraqi premier Maliki. This relabeling after the devastating attacks today makes clear that he is now on the same regime change targeting list that Syria's Bashar is on.
Al Qaeda associated groups have for quite some time been running terrorist campaigns against the governments of Syria and Iraq. Support for them from the U.S. and its Saudi allies has been more or less open for quite some time. Relabeling them as "insurgents" and "rebels" is the official declaration of this cooperation as a new U.S. policy.
Posted by b on July 23, 2012 at 18:04 UTC | Permalink
next page »Isn't the New York Times aiding and abetting terrorists?
Posted by: blowback | Jul 23 2012 18:42 utc | 2
"This is a bit ominous for the Iraqi premier Maliki."
It certainly is. And his predicament reminds us what "democracy" means in USspeak, because "democratically elected" Maliki is now in a position in which he can be manipulated (via Kurdish, Saudi/AQ/ Sunni/venal politicians) into doing as Uncle Sam wants or being removed. If necessary killed. There is a reason why those on the wrong side of the USA tend to develop into one party states.
The head of the CIA, remember, is Petraus of Sunni Awakening/Surge fame.
Iraq has been the major base for the Special Forces/salafists pouring into Syria. And they will soon be coming back into Iraq for round 2 of the Civil War. Iraq is being split up, as was always promised, as is Syria being. As was Palestine. And as Iran is due to be.
This puts Putin in a very difficult position: Russia can either make a stand or take a number and wait its turn.
Does it ever occur to Americans, as they torture defenceless nations, that the Soviet Union may be gone but the strategic nuclear forces are still (just) there? And that threatening to employ them (while they are still invulnerable to the US First Strike cowboys) constitutes the last card that Moscow has to play.
Posted by: bevin | Jul 23 2012 18:42 utc | 3
The Iraqi government (an in a way their Iranian allies) are playing a fools game by not getting involved on the Syrian war for fear of western complains. There is no reason for Syria to be forced to also defend their eastern frontier with Iraq when they have north Lebanon, Turkey and even Jordan controlled by their enemies.
Why wait and watch the genocidal sectarian wahabists at a border post, the same ones that are massacring them on the hundreds every week, and just sit there? For a chance they are on the open and ready to get their deserved punishment. At the end of the day no one will ever 'know' who killed them.
They are the next in line to fall and their population, their constituency now that they are a 'democracy, is getting massacred with impunity.
As if there was a chance in hell that the Saudi Kingdom of Darkness would ever agree to coexist with them after declaring that their holy purpose is to defeat all Shiites.
Their naivety and/or lack of strategical insight is mind blowing. As if the western democracies and the absolutist monarchies ever bothered to respect a line on a map.
Posted by: ThePaper | Jul 23 2012 18:43 utc | 4
This is only plan of the grand dis-info which was first revealed in a Jun 11 article by Thierry Meyssan See also this article by
Webster Tarpley. However I think this is sign of desperation, Syria should have fallen in Oct 2011, Iran should have been attacked in June 2012. One think we can predict that the hurricane season this year in the USA is going to be of catastrophic proportions. This war should have been over before this event happens.
Posted by: hans | Jul 23 2012 18:46 utc | 5
"We have the UN secretary general, Ban Ki Moon, openly calling for regime change in a sovereign country. Has he forgotten his job description? He should be made to resign immediately!!!"
He remembers his job description very well: he is there to serve the US Empire. Those who forget it, such as Dag Hammarskjold, tend to have bad accidents.
Posted by: bevin | Jul 23 2012 18:47 utc | 6
It must have a huge backlash in the Arab world. Both groups that might be open to the US - modern, young people with western education, Muslim brotherhood with western education - will feel completely alienated, Al Queida is their enemy, too - the US has killed their brand of dictators, are fighting not their brand of dictators with Al Queida which officially hates the US - have they planned for having any friends (except Israel ...) ?
And maybe that is what this strategy really is about ...
Posted by: somebody | Jul 23 2012 18:54 utc | 7
Le Monde's attempt to make death glamourous
http://www.lemonde.fr/international/infographe/2012/07/23/syrie-au-c-ur-de-la-bataille-d-alep_1737007_3210.html#xtor=AL-32280258
Posted by: somebody | Jul 23 2012 19:25 utc | 8
Wow! Al-Qaeda was with us before they were against us before they are with us!
It's enough to make you head spin...unless they've been with rogue elements of "us" all along...
Posted by: JohnH | Jul 23 2012 19:26 utc | 9
ThePaper @ 4
It's true what you say about Iran's perceived lack of action against Saudi/Qatari backed slafites and wahabites in Syria. But we can also look at things in perspective..The fact that the Syrian government hasn't fallen after months of foreign backed chaos is not normal.If the government didn't have support from elsewhere, he would've been gone long time ago.
I can bet Iran's helping Syria in the shadow war front and their assessment of the situation is that, Assad will eventually win (this could be wrong)..Iran's not known for making rush judgement or reacting too quickly to events..
I just feel sorry for Turkey..If Erdogan thinks Turkey will gain anything from this in the long run, he's wrong - DEAD wrong!!! He's opened up Turkey to a whole can of worms. Turkey's in the same position Pakistan was back in the 70s/80s during the Soviet Afghan war..Back then, Pakistan was the base for the so-called mujahedeen(read, Sunni fundamentalist Muslims). The Saudis and gulf states did the same thing they're doing today - financing and sending men to fight the Russians. All went well until the Russians decided to leave(defeated).
Today, Pakistan is almost a failed state with Jihadis blowing up everywhere..Afghanistan has now become a hostile state to Pakistan.And in fact, the US is now using Afghanistan against Pakistan. You see, no country embarks on this mission and comes out unscathed. I see a similar problem for Turkey in future. It's even worse as the conflict is now turning sectarian. Who didn't see this coming?
Notice how when wahabite/salafite terrorists are losing in Syria there's an increase in bombing of Shiites in Iraq? So far, Iraqi Shiite leader have chose restrain but for how long?
Who ever is pushing this sectarian conflict will certainly regret it..
I share your frustration with Iran's lack of open action but like any of us here, we don't know what's happening behind the scenes. patience is needed.
Posted by: Zico | Jul 23 2012 19:29 utc | 10
MoA is a very interesting site, congrats to b. His post today points out what few have mentioned yet and that is one of the possible targets of the Syrian intervention is the current government of Iraq. The obvious fact that last year the Syrian "rebells" were Al Qaida cells in Iraq makes the linkage direct. These groups have obviously been directed by SA for years.
The people who rule Washington must know, even if it cannot be publicly admitted, that the US suffered a severe strategic defeat in the Iraq war. Overthrowing the Assad regime could possible go a long was to assuage the sting of defeat and may even lead to the military defeat of the Shia forces in Iraq.
Thus we have situation here where it is in the interests of both the US and SA to destroy the Assad regime. Should that happen, Hezbollah would be seriously isolated and would give Israel an opportunity to reverse their serious defeat in the 2006 Lebanon war. So Israel has something to gain.
What puzzles me is that I do not see how Turkey gains from any of this. Could it just be a lingering Moslem Brotherhood ideology that is driving Erkekat to destroy a secular Syrian government? I could see how the Turkish military might go along with this because the blow back from a Syrian Salafi regime in Syria might so discredit Erekat that he will be driven from office. Basically, the Turkish military is giving him all the rope he needs to hang himself. This is just a guess.
Posted by: ToivoS | Jul 23 2012 19:46 utc | 11
O/T
But since his name came up in conversation a few weeks ago, some here might be interested
"Alexander Cockburn, 1941-2012"
had mixed feelings about him myself
Posted by: Hu Bris | Jul 23 2012 19:59 utc | 12
I hope things are obvious enough for the mainstream to releave America of its remaining allies. They certainly are doing a good job of alienating any remainig good sentiment for the US in the rest of the world. And now the US regimes NYT are announcing, in a way, that Iraq is on the list of governments to be regime-changed.. this is not good. You hit this one on the head b.
Posted by: Alexander | Jul 23 2012 19:59 utc | 14
Erdogan? That clown lost his marbles some time ago.
Posted by: Alexander | Jul 23 2012 20:03 utc | 15
German intelligence: al-Qaeda all over Syria
By John Rosenthal
Writing in Bild, longtime German war correspondent Jurgen Todenhofer accused the rebels of "deliberately killing civilians and then presenting them as victims of the government". He described this "massacre-marketing strategy" as being "among the most disgusting things that I have ever experienced in an armed conflict".
@10 "Who ever is pushing this sectarian conflict will certainly regret it.."
There is no assurance that the good guys will win, if that's what you're saying.
Posted by: ruralito | Jul 23 2012 20:09 utc | 17
"I hope things are obvious enough for the mainstream to releave America of its remaining allies. They certainly are doing a good job of alienating any remainig good sentiment for the US in the rest of the world. "
To The Empire none of that matters - the Empire has enough inherent momentum to steam-roller over most if not all objections and objectors
"The aide said that guys like me were "in what we call the reality-based community," which he defined as people who "believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality." ... "That's not the way the world really works anymore," he continued. "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.""
Too few people seem to have taken the time to think about and really understand the full implications of that quote
Posted by: Hu Bris | Jul 23 2012 20:14 utc | 18
Policy Change: "Terrorists" Are Now "Insurgents"
When they're called "Protesters" the conversion will be complete and the U.S. can provide open support.
ruralito @ 17
There're no "good/bad guys" here..What I'm saying is that the kooks pushing this sectarian conflict believe they stand to gain when the dust settles..They're wrong..They will be consumed by the very flames they started...
Posted by: Zico | Jul 23 2012 20:16 utc | 20
>>> He remembers his job description very well: he is there to serve the US Empire. Those who forget it, such as Dag Hammarskjold, tend to have bad accidents.
Posted by: bevin | Jul 23, 2012 2:47:56 PM | 6 >>>
Or such as Boutros Ghali, tend to serve only 1 term.
Posted by: www | Jul 23 2012 20:17 utc | 21
@20, There are good guys; they disappear quickly, leaving the Bad to speed past in their convoys. The flames they kindle will burn us all.
Posted by: ruralito | Jul 23 2012 20:31 utc | 22
>>> Should that happen, Hezbollah would be seriously isolated and would give Israel an opportunity to reverse their serious defeat in the 2006 Lebanon war. So Israel has something to gain. >>> (Toivo 11)
Not necessarily. Hezbollah's foot soldiers are more anxious than the Israelis for another round because they expect it will be the last one. Notwithstanding the devastation that would rain on Lebanon, the fighters have been promised that the next round will be fought on Israeli soil and that Israeli cities would also be devastated. Lebanon is used to rebuilding itself and can do it one more time, but for Israel it could well be the end of the road.
Can't fault you for calling the Turkish guy "Erekat"; he's just as slimy.
Posted by: www | Jul 23 2012 20:54 utc | 23
Agree with B and alot of the commenters on this. A few points to make.
- It seems to have been unofficial common knowledge that Saudi Arabia bankrolled the Sunni Insurgency in Iraq against the Americans and the Shia. Nir Rosen's book Aftermath builds a good picture of this. Alot of the funding went from Wahhabi clerics in Saudi Arabia through the "Association of Muslim Scholars" a neo-baathist organisation formed directly after the US invasion in 2003 as an umbrella funding group and then distributed to various groups, with its headquarters at the Um Al Qura Mosque in Baghdad. Muqtada Al Sadr considered the Association of Muslim Scholars to be the centralised form of the Sunni insurgency and even considered seizing the Um Al Qura mosque in the early days of the civil war.
- Lets also bear in mind that Bashar Al Assad is suffering his own form of blowback from all this. In 2003 when the Axis of Evil speech named Syria as the next target after Iraq was done Assad had a vested interest in making sure the Americans got too bogged down in Iraq to invade him. Those American complaints from 2005-2008 that Assad was opening up his border to any Sunni's (alot linked with the Muslim Brotherhood) were true.
It was a Win/Win situation for Assad. He could firstly get rid of disaffected Sunni's in his own country by allowing them to fight (and die) against the Americans and secondly in doing so kept the Americans to busy to invade him. Nir Rosen estimated that in the 2006 height between 10,000 and 20,000 Sunni's per Month were pouring in from the Syrian border. This is where the blowback comes in. Likely alot of these Syrians died in the "Triangle of Death" as the Sunni region bordering Syria became known. But many thousands of Sunni fighters would have returned safely to Syria after the Iraq war wound down.
- Finally where does the Iraq Awakening Group come into all of this and how responsible is Nouri Al Maliki? The Awakening (also called "The Sons of Iraq") was General Petraeus bright COIN idea during "the surge". Basically you take an insurgency that is blowing your army up. Instead offer to pay there salaries if they will patrol their own neighbourhoods against Al Qaeda and in the future they will be offered jobs in Iraqi's military and police force. Worked pretty well gaining 40,000 fighters and ending AQAI. Only problem was that after the war died down Maliki didn't offer them any jobs since he wanted the police/army to be Shia. So you have alot of Sunni fighters jobless. I'd wonder if Saudi Arabia has picked up there tab.
Posted by: Colm O' Toole | Jul 23 2012 20:59 utc | 24
For Copeland, sloprot & Co.
http://cryptome.org/2012/07/gent-forum-spies.htm
Posted by: UHT | Jul 23 2012 21:11 utc | 25
>>> Notice how when wahabite/salafite terrorists are losing in Syria there's an increase in bombing of Shiites in Iraq? So far, Iraqi Shiite leader have chose restrain but for how long? >>>> (Zico 10)
Don't lose sight of the thousands that are getting killed in Syria and that those aren't all foreigners. Discussing Iraqis won't make the killing of Syrians easier to swallow. The killing of rebels and any civilians that happen to be near them is turning into a turkey shoot for the army. Nothing to rejoice over.
Posted by: www | Jul 23 2012 21:18 utc | 26
>>> Le Monde's attempt to make death glamourous >>> (somebody 8)
From what I'm hearing, once the dust settles in Aleppo, there won't be anything glamorous about what the army is doing to the city.
Posted by: www | Jul 23 2012 21:29 utc | 27
"The killing of rebels and any civilians that happen to be near them is turning into a turkey shoot for the army"
reliable sources with reliable figures?
Posted by: Hu Bris | Jul 23 2012 21:43 utc | 29
>>> But since his name came up in conversation a few weeks ago, some here might be interested
"Alexander Cockburn, 1941-2012" had mixed feelings about him myself>>> (Hu Bris)
Nice short write-up about him, Hu Bris, Toivo also remembered him on Mondo.
Posted by: www | Jul 23 2012 21:45 utc | 30
Let me rephrase it for you.
The killing of rebels and any civilians that happen to be near them is turning into a turkey shoot for the army
The rebels killing any civilian that happen to be near them.
Or using them as 'human shields'. Did they ran a poll to see if they wanted their neighborhoods to be turned into a battlefield? Guess not.
Which is as likely as the other way around from what we know.
When asked many of the Syrian crossing the Jordanian border actually supported the Syrian government and blamed the 'rebels' for using their city for their killing sprees. I don't think the Turkish truck drivers that got in touch with such excellent examples of human rights are happy either with getting involved with them. Or the eleven shiites that are still kidnapped on the hands for the FSA or whatever other crazy group (and very likely inside Turkey).
But I guess you are on the same side than Ban Ki Moon and the other UN stooges that want the Syrian army to fold down and let the 'good rebels' take over neighborhoods and cities without any fight because you know only the bad Syrian army kills civilians.
Posted by: ThePaper | Jul 23 2012 21:50 utc | 31
"Discussing Iraqis won't make the killing of Syrians easier to swallow"
Why should the killing of Syrian traitors in the direct pay of US/Israel/Saudi etc bother any one here?
I have yet to see any reliable reportage that these people are anything other than agents working for a hostile collection of foreign Gov'ts currently attacking Syria - so why should anyone cry for traitors?
Do you have reliable sources that can provide some sort of proof that the Syrian Army is killing large amounts of Syrians NOT under the command and control of US/Israel/Saudi?
Do you have reliable sources that can provide some sort of proof that the Syrian Army is killing large amounts of Syrian CIVILIANS?
Posted by: Hu Bris | Jul 23 2012 21:53 utc | 32
The Paper @4 ...There is no reason for Syria to be forced to also defend their eastern frontier with Iraq when they have north Lebanon, Turkey and even Jordan controlled by their enemies.
That's exactly why the US is actively working on it......Victoria Nuland said that tribe in eastern part of the country are "increasingly strong in their opposition of the Assad regime, in their interest in seeing change." "We are working with them as we are working with other groups, as are many of Syria's neighbors in the region... I'd presume it's the Kurds and Iraqi Sunni refugees...!
Anyone here understand what this is about?
"More questions about the Damascus silent "bombing"" - http://angryarab.blogspot.ca/2012/07/more-questions-about-damascus-silent.html
Posted by: Hu Bris | Jul 23 2012 22:00 utc | 34
1) If you have managed to swindle for yourself a large Military and a Massive Military Budget at some point you have to use it
2) Can't use it if you have nothing to use it against.
3) Can't risk using it against something that might irreparably break it (Russia China etc) - 'damage it' a little is fine - 'break it' is not fine
4) ergo Al Q
Posted by: Hu Bris | Jul 23 2012 22:05 utc | 35
@Colm O' Toole #24
Sorry, I can't buy the scenario that includes a conniving Assad taking advantage of the feckless Americans who were "bogged down in Iraq." There is some evidence that the U.S. pursued a "divide and conquer" strategy in Iraq, that the U.S. in fact created the Samarra incident (Feb '06) which exacerbated the Sunni-Shia divide which resulted in all those Sunnis heading for Syria. Didn't the Americans know that the Sunnis were bankrolled by the Saudis, for example?
A more credible scenario is that when the U.S. realized it had been taken by al-Sistani's insistence on democracy, which meant a Shia gov't not a U.S. proconsul, the U.S. went for the civil war angle, which of course would require a long-term U.S. presence and higher expenditures (and profits).
Someday we'll know more. Meanwhile, it ain't over yet, with lots of violence in Iraq. That suits the U.S. -- instability everywhere. The world's a dangerous place, and we need the government to protect our freedoms. /s
>>> oh dear - here we go again . . . . sources?>>> (Hu Bris)
My source is nothing you could rely on, so make it easy on yourself and just consider it gossip that I overheard from a cab driver. I don't have the stomach for another round. How is it you don't ask for sources on what I wrote on Hezbollah, or what I wrote about Boutros Ghali or what I wrote about Toivo writing something on Mondo, or why Erekat is slimy? I didn't see anyone biting at your head because you did not attribute that neocon quote to Karl Rove. If you want to have a good discussion, I'm all for it but if you want to play games, you'll be playing with yourself.
Posted by: www | Jul 23 2012 22:19 utc | 37
Hu Bris @18:
"We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality..." Too few people seem to have taken the time to think about and really understand the full implications of that quote
hey, were you perhaps unconsciously inspired by this? (scroll at post 282)
well, we certainly are on the same wavelength on this one ...
Posted by: claudio | Jul 23 2012 22:29 utc | 38
those around here less stupefied from apparently existing on diet rich in the poisons of "the ins-and-outs of the inside-story of Al Q in Iraq" may remember, a few years back, several hundred thousand weapons which the media kindly, in their wisdom, informed us were 'Ex-Bosnian War' and were apparently arranged to be transported from Bosnia to Iraq, supposedly for the use of the newly reconstituted Iraq Security Forces,
Unfortunately, very very unfortunately, or so the kindly MSM chose to inform us, those several hundred thousand 'Ex-Bosnian War' weapons then mysteriously, somehow, almost miraculously, went missing and ended up in the hands of the Iraqi 'resistance' and/or Al Q.
Contrary to what the MSM reported at the time however, at least half of those weapons were not 'Ex-Bosnian War' weapons at all, but were in fact Brand spanking new Glock Automatic pistols, ordered direct from the Manufacturer, with an End-User certificate which read 'US Military - Iraq', and which were personally ordered by General David Petreaus - somehow most of the media also forgot to tell us that little tidbit
The MSM claimed at the time that the US Military (i.e.: General David Petreaus) claimed that they arranged for Victor Bout to deliver at least part of that shipment to whomever (al Q) it ended up with
Now Vic didn't just up and decide to rob several hundred thousand weapons and deliver them to Al Q direct, all of his own bat.
Posted by: Hu Bris | Jul 23 2012 22:30 utc | 39
"Sorry, I can't buy the scenario that includes a conniving Assad taking advantage of the feckless Americans who were "bogged down in Iraq." There is some evidence that the U.S. pursued a "divide and conquer" strategy in Iraq, that the U.S. in fact created the Samarra incident (Feb '06) which exacerbated the Sunni-Shia divide which resulted in all those Sunnis heading for Syria. Didn't the Americans know that the Sunnis were bankrolled by the Saudis, for example?"
Your wasting your time, Don - COT prefers fairytales, ones with only with nasty bearded Muslim Bogeymen hidden in the closet.
Show him a puppet and he screams at the puppet - never seems to notice the hand stuck up it's arse
Posted by: Hu Bris | Jul 23 2012 22:34 utc | 40
>>> But I guess you are on the same side than Ban Ki Moon and the other UN stooges that want the Syrian army to fold down and let the 'good rebels' take over neighborhoods and cities without any fight because you know only the bad Syrian army kills civilians.>>> (ThePaper 31)
No, I'm not, Paper, I'm on the side of the Syrians and against what Moon, the US, Europe and the Arabs are doing in Syria. I take into account what the Baathists have been doing for decades both in Syria and in Lebanon. You guys don't and as far as you're concerned, Syria's history started 18 months ago with the insurrection. Mine goes back to Syria's invasion of Lebanon and the thousands that disappeared from there and resurfaced 15 years later from Syrian prisons and to the massacres of the Brothers at Hama in 82 and the 1200 inmates at Tadmur Prison.
You probably missed my post in which I said the massacre at Houla was surely done by the rebels. Sooner or later the conflict will end in Syria and you'll see how right or how wrong you have been in your assessment. Until then, arguing about it would be of little use.
Posted by: www | Jul 23 2012 22:37 utc | 42
well, we certainly are on the same wavelength on this one
yep - I guess we can agree to differ on the rest . . . for the moment anyway ;-)
Posted by: Hu Bris | Jul 23 2012 22:37 utc | 43
sources for Syrian soldiers getting killed
https://twitter.com/OksanaBoyko_RT/status/227364940426661888/photo/1
sources for civilians including rebels getting killed
http://www.rt.com/news/homs-shelling-smoke-472/
Posted by: somebody | Jul 23 2012 22:37 utc | 44
"well, we certainly are on the same wavelength on this one"
No one bit your head today, sonny - just asking for sources - which as usual you, for some strange reason (ahem ;-), seem unable to provide
Posted by: Hu Bris | Jul 23 2012 22:39 utc | 45
This relabeling after the devastating attacks today makes clear that he {Maliki) is now on the same regime change targeting list that Syria's Bashar is on.
Who's calling the shots here? Saudia Arabia or NeoCons and NeoLibs in the US? I think Shia throughout the region better be prepared for assaults from both SA and USA, along with their cohorts and minions.
But, yes, it appears Obomber has taken Al Qaeda off the terrorist list. The NYTimes, as a good stenographic outlet for government Narratives, would be among the first to be told of this.
Not sure what triggeredm my thinking about Iraq, maybe reports of terror attacks, but yesterday for sure and over the weekend I'd decided Iraq was now on Washington's "regime change" list. And the irony, it burns.
Posted by: jawbone | Jul 23 2012 22:44 utc | 47
@CTuttle #33 - so the first phase of the aggression is over, and Assad won; now the Us is escalating at the regional level; Lebanese politicians will have to work overnight to prevent the country another civil war; and maybe also Jordanian rulers are getting a bit nervous; and maybe the Turkish too; and maybe Israelis too; the Us will be asking something from all of them; Hezbollah, we saw, already took a stand; and as Zico #10 said, who knows what Iran (and consequently also Iraq) is really up to?
on the background, there is also a game of chicken with Russia and China, who don't have a good record in resisting this kind of pressure; especially if counter-action is needed, not only passive resistance
@ToivoS #11 - Turkey's stand puzzled many of us since the beginning of the aggression
Posted by: claudio | Jul 23 2012 22:45 utc | 48
Uh oh, Obomber was on my TV on CBS Evening News, in a snippet of a speech to veterans: He was warning Assad he had to keep control of those chem/bio weapons OR ELSE.
Posted by: jawbone | Jul 23 2012 22:46 utc | 49
>>>Wow - a somebody/3w tag-team!!! >>> (Hu Bris)
Yes, and we challenge you and your tag-team mate Walter to a match, with no sources barred.
Posted by: www | Jul 23 2012 22:54 utc | 50
Fighting in Aleppo as Local Leaders Back Syria's Rebels
Scary headline at antiwar.com.
Yet another contested city!
Several local sheikhs!
quoting the British press, of course:
. . .this weekend several local sheikhs announced that they were backing the rebel factions, turning Aleppo into yet another “contested” city. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported heavy clashes between security forces and rebels in the second city, after local sheikhs backed the insurgents attempting to overthrow the president.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/assad-loses-grip-on-syrias-second-city-as-sheikhs-back-insurgents-7964277.html
Alleged "heavy clashes" don't make Aleppo "yet another contested city," notwithstanding the backing of "rebel factions" from several anonymous (fictitious?) local sheikhs reported by "The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights."
Ms. Nuland at State is back running the comedy hour. From yesterday's presser:
Nuland knows which weapons she doesn't want Syria to use to defend itself from U.S. attack (chemical).
# any possible use of these kinds of weapons would be completely unacceptable
#safeguard this kind of absolutely horrific and dangerous weapon
#use of any kind of a weapon like that in this situation is horrific and chilling
And while the US wants to dictate to Syria it's really up to Syrians.
#it is long past time for Assad to go
#have to be an interim authority until we can get to elections there
#some kind of a transitional security arrangement
#Syria for all Syrians, a democratic country that protects the rights of majority and minority alike
#We want to see them thinking hard about all of these day-after issues
#everybody wants to see the Syrian people determine Syria’s leaders
So, Don Bacon @ 52 -- Is Ms. Nuland setting the Syrians up for being blamed for some kind of use of chem weapons by US black ops? Or some surrogate doing so? Al Q?
State, Obomber himself, all going on about the chem weapons...coming after all the MCM propaganda about Syrians losing control of them or planning on using them "against his own people."
Smells like a plot.
Posted by: jawbone | Jul 23 2012 23:17 utc | 53
"'We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality...' Too few people seem to have taken the time to think about and really understand the full implications of that quote."
Among the implications is the reality that the US has been 'creating realities' through its domination of the media, the Academy and venal culture since the late 1940s when the Cold War, itself a cultural construct, with few connections to reality, began.
What Rove meant was " We've done it before. We've transformed the reality that the Red Army, supported by socialist partisans around the world, defeated Hitler and fascism into the legend, now accepted history among many, that there was no difference between the Soviet Union and socialist ideas, on the one hand, and the turbo capitalism of naziism."
A generation or two ago such nonsense would have elicited contemptuous laughter among anyone with a tenth grade education or an IQ of more than sixty, today it is close to being conventional wisdom.
Rove (who has a personal understanding of the importance of this achievement) was reminding us that what the United States had done in the late forties, to its most powerful ally, it would have no trouble at all in doing to islam. And not least because muslims tend to have dark skins and other characteristics similar to the bete noires of US history.
What Rove was forgetting is that when nations begin to confuse lies with reality and propaganda with truth they have divested themselves of basic reasoning abilities. And that this is a disadvantage in the real world, just as blindness is in archery.
The "reality" that the US has created is that it is invulnerable. The real 'reality' is that it has nothing much on its side except its wealth and that wealth depends upon international confidence in an economy which is in a death spiral.
Posted by: bevin | Jul 23 2012 23:25 utc | 54
My sense is that a lot of young Arabs have watched too many Rambo movies.
Posted by: dh | Jul 23 2012 23:40 utc | 55
Colm O' Toole #24, I would not bank on the reliability of a Shia/Sunni rift :-))
http://www.iraqiparliament.info/en/node/1005
iraq’s latest political party: members ‘armed resistance groups only’
Despite such good intentions, al-Sumaidaie is hardly a spotless character though. The former preacher and leader of a Salafist Muslim extremist, jihadist group (Salafist Muslims tend to be more orthodox Sunni Muslims, the jihadists are those who become part of violent campaigns) was arrested several times by allied forces and he spent four years in prison; he was released in 2008. And today his critics say that he is subservient to Iranian influences; this is based, in part, on his public support of the Syrian regime and Hezbollah in Lebanon, both organs that the Iranian regime also supports.
...
NIQASH: Earlier this year reports indicated that you had plans to form a new political alliance that represented both Sunni and Shiite Muslims and which would also include former terror groups. How are plans for this proceeding?
Mahdi al-Sumaidaie: The project is well under way. We’ve been working on it for over four months now. The project has three parts. The first involves coordinating with Sunni Muslim insurgent groups to build a political alliance of some kind.
The second is to form a similar political alliance with Shiite Muslim insurgent groups. And the final part involves working toward an atmosphere of cooperation between the two groups and the community. We’ve already had a lot of success.
NIQASH: So what have you actually achieved, in concrete terms?
Al-Sumaidaie: We held the “Allegiance to Resistance” conference in February this year. Armed Sunni Muslim factions were invited to this and at the conference we all agreed to end the resistance and to start to try and rebuild the country.
After this, we took the second step: we started a dialogue with Shiite Muslim factions – and in particular with the League of the Righteous and the Sadrists. Their response was very positive and they were eager to join the alliance.
Then we started with the third step: which was reaching out to the ordinary people. What we wanted to do was spread awareness that, although it had been legitimate to take up arms during the US occupation of Iraq, now that the US had withdrawn, there was no longer any justification for it. Now is the time for all of us to make an effort to re-build this country – and those ideas were appreciated by the ordinary people on the street.
Posted by: somebody | Jul 23 2012 23:51 utc | 56
More for ThePaper or anyone else wondering if the army is also killing civilians in the process of cleaning the country of its terrorists; a different point of view from a Syrian blogger, Rita, borrowed from a Syria article under discussion at Mondo; it would do you a ton of good to read a different opinion on Syria once in a while:
So I turn to the words of 'Rita from Syria' on OpenDemocracy:
... Repeated experiences of military operations at the hands of regime forces in many parts of Syria, has left many scathing about the regime’s claim to protect its own citizenry. It has became well-known that being a child, a woman, an old man, a civilian, a neutral or even someone loyal to the regime does not protect you from death by a sniper's bullet, a mortar shell or even tank fire. The number of civilians killed since the beginning of the revolution during military operations is many times more than double the number of militants. This is because the army follows what is tantamount to a scorched-earth policy: a policy aimed at quelling any kind of opposition in the Syrian street through using intimidation and the systematic mass slaughter of its own population. In the face of such overwhelming brutality and however life-threatening it is, more and more are forced to flee their homes... "At this moment while you are reading this article, some families are fleeing their houses, and some of them have been spending days homeless. Some children are losing their joyful spirit, and also some freedom fighters are giving their lives for their country."
http://mondoweiss.net/2012/07/yes-what-about-syria.html
For Rita's full article:
http://www.opendemocracy.net/rita-from-syria/syrian-headlines-displacing-displaced
Posted by: www | Jul 24 2012 0:00 utc | 57
@ #52
I should have said today's State news conference.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2012/07/195374.htm
Read it, time permitting. The imperiousness of these empiric pronouncements is surely unprecedented in world history.
>>> My sense is that a lot of young Arabs have watched too many Rambo movies.>>> (dh 55)
What was the excuse of young Americans on killing expeditions in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq?
Posted by: www | Jul 24 2012 0:11 utc | 59
@57
". . .the systematic mass slaughter of its own population"
its own population?
Sorry, 'Rita from Syria'.
You failed the 'overdoing propaganda' test.
Tone it down a little and somebody might believe it.
from the archives:
Trying to counter information-savvy enemies in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. military has rapidly spent nearly $1 billion in the past three years on strategic communications. Paid-for news articles, billboards, radio and television programs, and even polls and focus groups have been sponsored by the U.S. Central Command, which has raised its spending for information operations programs from $40 million in 2008 to $110 million in 2009 to a requested $244 million in 2010.
Strategic communication is focused United States Government efforts to understand and engage key audiences to create, strengthen, or preserve conditions favorable for the advancement of United States Government interests, policies, and objectives through the use of coordinated programs, plans, themes, messages, and products synchronized with the actions of all instruments of national power.
IDGA’s [Institute for Defense and Government Advancement] 5th Annual Social Media for Defense provides a forum for senior level Government and Military officials, industry partners, and the academic communities to align shared goals, showcase new technology, and define the way forward.
SMISC [Social Media in Strategic Communication] needs to be able to seek out “persuasion campaign structures and influence operations” developing across the social sphere. SMISC is supposed to quickly flag rumors and emerging themes on social media, figure out who’s behind it and what. Moreover, Darpa wants SMISC to be able to actually figure out whether this is a random product of the hivemind or a propaganda operation by an adversary nation or group.
U.S. Central Command awarded a contract to a California-based software company to develop an “online persona management service” that troops will use to control Facebook and Twitter profiles, the British newspaper reports.
With US government focusing mainly on the middle east, US economy is near the breaking point
Posted by: nikon | Jul 24 2012 3:19 utc | 62
>>>
I agree, Don, one has to give and take with everything that's being floated by both the pro and the anti-Assad forces. Lies are being told by both sides. It starts with the pulling on your heartstrings with stories of women, children and old men.
Posted by: www | Jul 24 2012 4:32 utc | 63
ooops, missed part of it:
>>>Sorry, 'Rita from Syria'.
You failed the 'overdoing propaganda' test.>>> (Don Bacon)
Posted by: www | Jul 24 2012 4:36 utc | 64
"Rita from Syria"
a true classic - and it surely MUST be 100% reliable since it appeared at the website of something with the word 'Open' in it's name - and surely nothing with the word 'Open' in it's name could ever possibly promote propaganda of any sort. I mean it's 'Open' right, geddit? Stands any test of rigorous logic that, really, if you just stop and think about it for long enough (but only AFTER you've recovered from the requisite lobotomy)
Posted by: Hu Bris | Jul 24 2012 4:52 utc | 65
"I agree, Don, one has to give and take with everything that's being floated by both the pro and the anti-Assad forces. Lies are being told by both sides. "
comedy gold
Posted by: Hu Bris | Jul 24 2012 4:53 utc | 66
"I didn't see anyone biting at your head because you did not attribute that neocon quote to Karl Rove. "
if YOU want to start screaming that I'm a liar, then do please go right ahead - after all, this place could do with a good laugh from time to time
Posted by: Hu Bris | Jul 24 2012 4:59 utc | 67
"Yes, and we challenge you and your tag-team mate Walter to a match, with no sources"
or in your case 3w, 'no sources', period
Posted by: Hu Bris | Jul 24 2012 5:04 utc | 68
Hu Bris, I don't think you are a liar, you are just stupid.
Posted by: www | Jul 24 2012 5:09 utc | 69
"The longer answer is that the Oceania no longer at war with Eurasia. It is now allied with Eurasia and at war with Eastasia."
Are you crazy to say that? You know that Oceania HAS ALWAYS BEEN at war with eastasia!
Posted by: peter radiator | Jul 24 2012 5:32 utc | 70
www I would not waste my time :-)9
anyway, Russia has now officially entered the Middle East, and different from the US, they are in a peace making role ...
http://www.kuna.net.kw/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2254347&language=en
" MOSCOW, July 23 (KUNA) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his
Saudi counterpart Saud Al-Faisal discussed the situation in Syria over the
telephone on Monday.
In a press statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Lavrov contacted
Al-Faisal to exchange opinions on key aspects of the Syrian crisis.
During the conversation, Lavrov underlined the need to do all in power to
prove the success of UN-Arab Envoy for Syria Kofi Annan's plan.
The Russian top diplomat said that all warring parties in Syria should stop
violence and resort to dialogue to reach a peaceful solution for the crisis.
For his part, Al-Faisal informed the Russian official on the results of the
Arab League Council's meeting on Syria, held in Doha Sunday.
The two officials agreed on continuing consultations over efforts to
resolve the crisis in Syria and to hold a Russian-GCC strategic dialogue forum
in Moscow next year. "
Posted by: somebody | Jul 24 2012 5:43 utc | 71
"I don't think you are a liar, you are just stupid."
Sources?
Posted by: Hu Bris | Jul 24 2012 5:52 utc | 72
The aide said that guys like me were "in what we call the reality-based community," which he defined as people who "believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality." ... "That's not the way the world really works anymore," he continued. "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.
LOL...Is this guy serious..It's shows you the level of thinking our "great" American friends have.
Now there's so many things wrong with those statements..Two words to describe them all - arrogant, delusional!!! It is this kind of thinking that has got the US into a mess both economically and strategically....The "empire" has become so stupid that they now believ in their own BS..What the feck is does he mean by creating their own reality??? Here's some reality for them..They're TRILLIONS of dollars in dept..Bogged down in the most backwards of countries called Afghanistan with no way out and still suffering economic decline..
One has to be a real fool no to see this....The basic tenet of all arrogant idiot is their unshakeable belief that they're smarter than everybody else. Let them revel in their "reality creation" business..It will soon catch up with them.
Posted by: Zico | Jul 24 2012 6:13 utc | 73
Hu Bris, when one needs a source for every little thing and doesn't have the capacity to extrapolate the slightest without it, he has to be intellectually handicapped.
Source: www
Posted by: www | Jul 24 2012 6:38 utc | 74
"What the feck is does he mean by creating their own reality??? Here's some reality for them..They're TRILLIONS of dollars in dept..Bogged down in the most backwards of countries called Afghanistan with no way out and still suffering economic decline..
One has to be a real fool no to see this....The basic tenet of all arrogant idiot is their unshakeable belief that they're smarter than everybody else. Let them revel in their "reality creation" business."
Selected excerpts From:
THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF OLIGARCHICAL COLLECTIVISM
by Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al Zarqawi
Winston began reading :
Chapter I. Ignorance is Strength. . . .
War, however, is no longer the desperate, annihilating struggle that it was in the early decades of the twentieth century. It is a warfare of limited aims between combatants who are unable to destroy one another, have no material cause for fighting and are not divided by any genuine ideological difference This is not to say that either the conduct of war, or the prevailing attitude towards it, has become less bloodthirsty or more chivalrous . . .
But in a physical sense war involves very small numbers of people, mostly highly-trained specialists, and causes comparatively few casualties. The fighting, when there is any, takes place on the vague frontiers whose whereabouts the average man can only guess at, or round the Floating Fortresses which guard strategic spots on the sea lanes . . . .
The primary aim of modern warfare (in accordance with the principles of doublethink, this aim is simultaneously recognized and not recognized by the directing brains of the Inner Party) is to use up the products of the machine without raising the general standard of living. Ever since the end of the nineteenth century, the problem of what to do with the surplus of consumption goods has been latent in industrial society. . .
In the early twentieth century, the vision of a future society unbelievably rich, leisured, orderly, and efficient - a glittering antiseptic world of glass and steel and snow-white concrete - was part of the consciousness of nearly every literate person. Science and technology were developing at a prodigious speed, and it seemed natural to assume that they would go on developing. This failed to happen, . . .
From the moment when the machine first made its appearance it was clear to all thinking people that the need for human drudgery, and therefore to a great extent for human inequality, had disappeared. If the machine were used deliberately for that end, hunger, overwork, dirt, illiteracy, and disease could be eliminated within a few generations. . . .
In a world in which everyone worked short hours, had enough to eat, lived in a house with a bathroom and a refrigerator, and possessed a motor-car or even an aeroplane, the most obvious and perhaps the most important form of inequality would already have disappeared. If it once became general, wealth would confer no distinction. It was possible, no doubt, to imagine a society in which wealth, in the sense of personal possessions and luxuries, should be evenly distributed, while power remained in the hands of a small privileged caste. But in practice such a society could not long remain stable. For if leisure and security were enjoyed by all alike, the great mass of human beings who are normally stupefied by poverty would become literate and would learn to think for themselves ; and when once they had done this, they would sooner or later realize that the privileged minority had no function, and they would sweep it away.
Posted by: Hu Bris | Jul 24 2012 6:44 utc | 75
"Source: www"
Can't accept your source as reliable, 3w
The man is a proven liar after all ;-)
Posted by: Hu Bris | Jul 24 2012 6:46 utc | 76
"Hu Bris, when one needs a source for every little thing"
3w you have an alarming propensity for stating as established fact things which upon further enquiry, more often than not, turn out to be something you might only rightly claim as merely your own OPINION based quite often on what you like to claim are 'reports' from anonymous and/or unreliable 'sources'
I really have not got much problem with you stating what you might plausibly claim as merely your own opinion, and honestly and OPENly labelling it as based quite often on what you like to claim are 'reports' from anonymous and/or unreliable 'sources'
BUT I DO have a problem with you trying to pass off as established FACT, what you could really only plausibly claim as being merely your own OPINION (based quite often on what you like to claim are 'reports' from anonymous and/or unreliable 'sources')
Posted by: Hu Bris | Jul 24 2012 7:00 utc | 77
>>> ... The basic tenet of all arrogant idiot is their unshakeable belief that they're smarter than everybody else. Let them revel in their "reality creation" business..It will soon catch up with them.>>> (Zico 73)
Zico, the definition you just gave is of the word "hubris". More concisely it's defined as extreme pride or arrogance. Wiki says "hubris" often indicates a loss of contact with reality and an overestimation of one's own competence or capabilities, especially when the person exhibiting it is in a position of power.
Britannica says the word comes from the Greek "hybris", which in Classical Athenian usage was the intentional use of violence to humiliate or degrade.
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/274625/hubris
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubris
Posted by: www | Jul 24 2012 7:00 utc | 78
"Weak California economy boosts military recruiting"
and now back to Ron in the studio with the latest news and gossip from the world of Sports . . .
Posted by: Hu Bris | Jul 24 2012 7:04 utc | 79
Forgot to excerpt the first para in the report @#79:
"Military recruiters may be the only people happy about the faltering economy because the high unemployment rate in Northern California is buoying recruitment numbers despite a dearth of eligible candidates."
Posted by: Hu Bris | Jul 24 2012 7:09 utc | 80
Hu Bris, of course what I'm stating is my personal opinion unless I'm quoting a news or other source since I'm not in the habit of claiming undue credit for anything. To keep things ss simple as possible and avoid blowing any fuses in your little head, just consider anything I say as personal opinion unless stated otherwise. If you want a more authoritative source, just continue relying on SANA, al-Dounia and other Syrian state organs. You must have been a big fan of Nicolae Ceauşescu. He also had pictures of himself hung up high in every room and street corners around the country.
Posted by: www | Jul 24 2012 7:25 utc | 81
Hu Bris, of course what I'm stating is my personal opinion unless I'm quoting a news or other source
nope - you're stating these things as fact - deny it if you want but you clearly are stating them as fact
Posted by: Hu Bris | Jul 24 2012 7:32 utc | 82
I've only taken issue with things you are trying to disguise as fact.
anything which is clearly opinion I have not pressed you on. Hence, as you mentioned earlier, why I have not mentioned your OPINION on HezB for instance.
It fairly obviously is presented as opinion, whereas your statements about Aleppo were disguised by you as being somewhat factual, when it now appears quite obvious that once again, they are nothing of the sort
Posted by: Hu Bris | Jul 24 2012 7:39 utc | 83
Hu Bris, no difference between Aleppo and Hezbollah. I'm neither Syrian nor a member of the Hezbollah. Just expressing an opinion based on stuff read and repeated here, there and elsewhere mixed with a bit of history. I have neither a military backgropund nor a political one. I'm just a Joe Blow chit-chatting with others here about events in the news and have no personal interest in the direction the wind is blowing in Syria. Your charging at windmills and tiring yourself in the process. Relax and enjoy the opportunity to use the hall here as I'm doing.
Posted by: www | Jul 24 2012 8:34 utc | 84
there are obviously a lot of different realities in this world :-)9
YouTube videos win!
This here is funny, the tweeter is Fadi Salem who for example gives talks on
"The role of the Internet and social networks during the Arab Uprising"
here he insists that he is in Aleppo and that there are no tanks there, whilst everybody else insists that there must be tanks as seen on youtube ... I wonder if he is Fadi Salem or sombody else :-))
Aziza @Aziza23
@FadiSalem and they have captured a few tanks as well, etc, if the videos are credible.
9h Fadi Salem Fadi Salem @FadiSalem
@Aziza23 there are no tanks in Aleppo neighborhoods!
4h Nuff Silence Nuff Silence @NuffSilence
Pure BS. We all saw the videos of Sakhour and Haydarieh RT @FadiSalem @Aziza23 there are no tanks in Aleppo neighborhoods!
4h Racan Alhoch Racan Alhoch @MidaniSpeaks
@NuffSilence @FadiSalem If youre not lying then show us a video of you walking around a tankless Aleppo in diff neighborhoods please...
3h Nuff Silence Nuff Silence @NuffSilence
@MidaniSpeaks Hahaha...! @FadiSalem
33m Fadi Salem Fadi Salem @FadiSalem
@NuffSilence @MidaniSpeaks Right. 10 sec Youtube videos remain true for next 18 years! (Even if actually filmed in the place claimed)
Gespräch ausblenden
3:46 AM - 24 Jul 12 via web · Details
18m Nuff Silence Nuff Silence @NuffSilence
.@FadiSalem no, it was actually filmed in Qatar and the soldier escaping the tank on fire was a highly skilled stunt man. @MidaniSpeaks
Posted by: somebody | Jul 24 2012 11:22 utc | 85
propaganda of the deed
THE ORGANIZATION IS FLAT:
AN INTEGRATED MODEL FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION WITHIN THE COMBATANT COMMAND
. . .In this unclear situation, the CCDRs [combatant commanders] must implement an organization, processes, and operations that both seize the initiative and respond effectively to any adversary’s—especially the radical Islamists’— information campaigns based on what Steven Metz has called “armed theater” and “propaganda of the deed.”
To make the connection between the Roadmap’s general direction, focus on internal OSD [Office Secretary Defense] tasks, and general view of the CCDR’s responsibilities, Joint Publication 5.0, Joint Operation Planning, posits SC [strategic communications = propaganda] as “a natural extension of strategic direction” that supports all of the complementary National security and DoD military strategies.16 JP 5.0 requires the CCDRs to include SC in their joint operation planning with DOS diplomatic missions and in the CCDRs’ peacetime theater security cooperation plans (TSCP). They must address SC in their contingency plans (CONPLANs) and Crisis Action Plans (CAPs) and brief the Secretary of Defense (SecDef) on SC in those plans.17 At the operational level, JP 5.0 urges synchronized planning and supportive relationships among PA, DSPD, and IO as well as those with the Interagency.18 And in the only specific requirement in JP 5.0, each CONPLAN and Operation Plan (OPLAN) must now include an Annex Y that proposes a synchronized SC strategy for “interagency coordination and implementation.” . .
As of late October 2007, CENTCOM [Central Command - ME, Afghanistan] was reorganizing its approach, according to Deputy Director of Strategic Communication Jeff Breslau, CAPT, USN, the CENTCOM SC cell,located in the J5 [Strategic Plans & Policy ] Planning Directorate, had been divided into two divisions with a total of 25 people: Digital Engagement and Counter-ideology, primarily engaged in public diplomacy. Breslau said based on internal discussions, CENTCOM was considering going to a small staff model that would synchronize and coordinate SC activities and “move away from tactical activities.” They plan to use the CENTCOM Theatre Security Cooperation Plan to inform the SC staff and planning and use their planning to take the initiative rather than react to events.
http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a476698.pdf
thanks Don Bacon, that is fun to read, the problem begins when they do not know what is strategic communication they created and what is really going on. In a flat model information created by this system will be refed into the system ...
Posted by: somebody | Jul 24 2012 14:25 utc | 87
I know that some readers of this blog are familiar with the site http://shahamat-english.com/ . I'd like to ask: Do you consider this site's hard news to be in general well-verified? I'm wondering about the reliability of hard news along lines like "IED attacks on mounted patrol of foreign troops in Zardeegi Karez area blew apart three tanks, one in morning, another midday and the third at around 02:00 pm Monday, leaving a total of 6 invaders dead and 4 others wounded."
Even poor Pepe has succumbed to the 3w virus and is calling it a 'civil war' despite the fact that he clearly recognises that there is a majority-foreign element that is actually LEADING the FSA (not "following in the wake of" actual 'rebellious' Syrian residents, but actually leading them , as in 'in command')
His whole summary does seem a tad discombobulated to say the least:
Syrian blood etches a new line in the sand
Pepe Escobar
. . . .
No matter what militarized Western corporate media spins, there's no endgame in Syria - yet. On the contrary; the sectarian game is just beginning.There’s no way to understand the Syrian dynamics without learning that most FSA commanders are not Syrians, but Iraqi Sunnis.
No mention at all of Libyans, Pepe? What's up wid that, Pepe?
The FSA could only capture the Abu Kamal border crossing between Syria and Iraq because the whole area is controlled by Sunni tribes viscerally antagonistic towards the al-Maliki government in Baghdad.The free flow of mujahideen, hardcore jihadis and weapons between Iraq and Syria is now more than established. The idea of the Arab League, behaving as NATO-GCC’s fully robed spokesman, offering exile to Assad may be as ridiculous as the notion of the CIA supervising which mujahideen and jihadi outfits may have access to the weapons financed by Qatar and the Saudis. At first, it might have been just a bad joke. After all, the exile offer came from those exact same paragons of democracy, the House of Saud and Qatar, who control the Arab League and are financing the mujahideen and the anti-Syria jihad.
Baghdad, though, publicly condemned the exile offer. And the aftermath, in fact on the same day, was worthy of The Joker (yes, Batman’s foe); a wave of anti-Shi’ite bombings in Iraq, with over 100 people dead, duly claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq, al-Qaeda’s local franchise. Spokesman Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi energetically urged the Sunni tribes in Anbar and Nineveh to join the jihad and topple the “infidel” government in Baghdad.
The mujahideen/jihadi back and forth between Syria and Iraq has been more than confirmed by Izzat al-Shahbandar, a senior member of Iraq’s Parliament and close aide to Prime Minister al-Maliki. Baghdad even has updated lists.
He even throws in a mention for MOA - which might explain his uncharacteristic (and hopefully short-lived) bewilderment ;-)
Posted by: Hu Bris | Jul 24 2012 15:09 utc | 89
"Syria: The cemetery of western credibility"
This murderous filth is back, in Syria, joining up with the traitors and dregs of Syrian society wanting to make a fast buck by supporting these western hypocrites, implementing a west-friendly government as yet another Arab nation is humiliated and destroyed, as it is used either for its resources or for its strategic importance.
In the case of Syria, it is not a question of freedom and democracy – it is a question of depriving Russia of its Mediterranean base and it is a stepping-stone towards the forthcoming attack on the Islamic Republic of Iran. Central Asia follows. Then Siberia. After Amazonia.
The villain in the story is not President Assad or his Government, backed by the majority of the Syrian people; he and they are desperately trying to defend themselves from terrorists, armed by the FUKUS-GCC Axis (FUKUS and the GCC, cowardly Arab traitor states insulting Islam with their murderous collaboration and treachery). The villain is the FUKUS-GCC Axis, a temple of evil, cynicism and an insult to the international community, a cabal of murderers, terrorist-lovers and terrorists with zero respect for international law and zero credibility. Chapter one was Iraq, Chapter two was Libya, Chapter three is Syria.
Posted by: Hu Bris | Jul 24 2012 15:21 utc | 90
Syria Update: What the News Isn't Reporting
Wider UNSC dissension, Turkish offensive against its own "rebels," and Iraq's rejection of latest "Arab League" statement before massive Al Qaeda attacks.
Posted by: Hu Bris | Jul 24 2012 15:24 utc | 92
Hu Bris #18 has the famous comment of a juvenile American interventionist who said that other people are "in what we call the reality-based community," which he defined as people who "believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.... That's not the way the world really works anymore," he continued. "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality."
They were not able to create their own reality in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, or Libya. Except while the bombing was going on. Not before the bombing started, and not after the bombing was over.
PS: Commenter 'www' baldly says at #63 that lies are being told by the Assad government. But at #81 and #84 he says that anything he says is to be considered as his subjective personal opinion, not as fact, and he says he's to be taken as just a Joe Blow chit-chatting, and if facts are what you want you should go elsewhere, he says, and don't bother reading him. Fair enough.
Pepe Escobar's analysis is a valiant attempt to piece together, in a comprehensive picture, the strategies and follies at play in the Middle East; without losing sight of what's really at stake from the people's point of view
Posted by: claudio | Jul 24 2012 15:31 utc | 94
Parviziyi, depends who your target audience is. Let's say the site is intended for a liberal western audience to impress on them that the crusade is lost and they should keep out of Muslim lands,definitely no. When people read an ideological term they would not use like "invader", they stop to read. I did. I knew immediately where this would be coming from and classified it as propaganda.
You can move people very rarely out of their own frame of reference, so if you want to influence than you have to take the perspective of the person you want to influence and introduce one second per day of new thought.
That way you may get influenced yourself, it is great for communication though ...
Posted by: somebody | Jul 24 2012 15:35 utc | 95
The Pepe Escobar piece I thought was great. Though unsure about Bradrakumar's piece yesterday suggesting an Israeli attack of Syria is on the cards.
Also in Iraq today it is looking even bloodier than Yesterday. There is a MASSIVE Al Qaeda offense on there is no doubt. 145 people died and almost 500 have been wounded today in at least 17 different attacks across the country. Anti-War has a broken of the what and where.
To give a rough number 544 people were killed in the whole month of June. In the last 2 days 250 people have been killed and likely that will rise amoung some of the 500 wounded.
Posted by: Colm O' Toole | Jul 24 2012 15:48 utc | 96
Regarding the site http://shahamat-english.com/ I'm not asking you about their rhetoric, I'm asking about whether you have any basis for assessing the truth of their reports of fact. To have such basis, you'd need to have done cross-checking with other sources, I think.
Hu Bris 89, what is it in Escobar's piece you don't agree with? At bwhat point would you start calling it a civil war, 30,000 dead, or 50,000, or 100,000? I know you're hung up on foreigners fighting inside Syria, but it's still a civil war.
Posted by: www | Jul 24 2012 16:32 utc | 98
Well, it just shows to go ya! Bush couldn't manage to turn Al Queada from "terrorists" into an "insurgency", but Obama managed it! Take that, Romney!
Posted by: mooser | Jul 24 2012 16:33 utc | 99
"They were not able to create their own reality in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, or Libya. Except while the bombing was going on. Not before the bombing started, and not after the bombing was over."
Well, then, the answer is obvious, wouldn't you say? Just never stop the bombing, and keep those boots on the ground!
BTW, you wouldn't be insinuating that American heroes like our soldiers and drone pilots would ever volunteer for a less-than-righteous war, would you? Cause there's an ugly name for people who do that!
Posted by: mooser | Jul 24 2012 16:37 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
I've lost faith in ANY "international" organization.We have the UN secretary general, Ban Ki Moon, openly calling for regime change in a sovereign country. Has he forgotten his job description? He should be made to resign immediately!!!
We were told when 9/11 happened that Al-Qaeda was behind the attack..They US has invaded 2 countries based in this and have destabilized a dozen other in the process - Pakistan, Yemen etc..
Now, the very same people that told us Al-Qaeda are the bad guys are firmly aligned with Al-Qaeda in Syria and are deliberately ignoring it, throwing fancy words like "insurgents" around. Even the use of the word insurgent is wrong in Syria as Syria hasn't been invaded by a foreign country..These terrorists are fighting a sitting government so the name "insurgents" don't apply.You can't make this up.
I have no doubt this will come back to haunt the US...It's just a matter of time.
Posted by: Zico | Jul 23 2012 18:21 utc | 1