harrylaw, I agree with virtually every criticism of McCain regarding his casual kill-kill attitudes and as a damaged person. I think he does deserve some slack for ‘singing’ which I believe he probably did. I say that because I believe almost anyone being tortured would and because I know that I would. At least one of his fellow prisoners said in affect, sure he sang, eventually we all did. You are right saying that Putin was right.
“Mr. McCain was captured and they kept him not just in prison, but in a pit for several years. Anyone [in his place] would go nuts.”

Posted by: Lurker | Jan 25 2014 17:47 utc | 4

Virgile @ 5 That Lew Rockwell link said ..In September of 2013, a gas attack near Damascus gave Obama and his new Secretary of State, John Kerry, a pretext to bomb Syria. This was averted when Syria agreed with Putin’s proposal that Syria dispose of all its chemical stores. The Jackass made a mistake when answering a question from a reporter at a news conference, the question was..what does Assad have to do to avert US action, to which he replied “Assad could avoid a US military strike by surrendering all his chemical weapons within a week” but immediately made it clear he was not making a serious offer. So there you have it, the only thing he has got right was because he made a mistake. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/09/us-syria-crisis-kerry-idUSBRE9880BV20130909

Posted by: harrylaw | Jan 25 2014 18:24 utc | 6

football mentality forwarded to politician mentality.. welcome to the usa! what a gong show.. thanks for reconfirming that mccain..

Posted by: james | Jan 25 2014 18:42 utc | 8

harrylaw @9 No, Harry, I am not McCain and I am also not ‘concern trolling’ if I understand that concept correctly. I am a combat veteran who truly despises warhawkery. Back when McCain was popular even among liberals against the war and when he was playing up his supposed anti-torture stance, I pointed out at TPMC more than once that he was a typical hypocritical scumbag war Hawk brand of politician and his real stance on torture was demonstrated by his support of Gonzales.

Posted by: Lurker | Jan 25 2014 19:14 utc | 10

To see this makes me sick. you can see from the beginning how he’s struggling to come up with a bullshit morale story for his war. Hear him talk about gang-raped women makes me sick to my heart, because probably its even ‘his’ guys that do those things. I consider myself a peaceful, rational and probably above average controlled person, but to see this asshole talk, while on the receiving end of his politics there are real victims that experience the worst of horrors gets me angry beyond reason.

Posted by: peter radiator | Jan 25 2014 21:23 utc | 12

“We were winning and then, of course, 5,000 Hizbollah came in …”
Hezbollah and Iran know that if the Islamists came to power in Syria the resistance to Israeli aggression and US hegenomy would be lost, Hezbollah would have to fight for its life, against the Saudi backed March 14th group, Syrian death squads and Israeli attacks from the south. Iran would be alone, and tormented mercilessly. In the event [unlikely now thank goodness] that Syria should succumb to the Wahhabi assault, a request by Assad for assistance from Iran for 200,000 or more Iranian troops should not go unanswered, and it would be perfectly legal. Give it to those nutcases good style.

Posted by: harrylaw | Jan 25 2014 22:39 utc | 14

Putin was right and both of so-called good Amerikan are evil.
http://rockcreekfreepress.tumblr.com/post/35321150/navy-releases-mccains-records
http://www.counterpunch.org/2008/06/13/mcnasty/
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/07/26/what-john-kerry-really-did-in-vietnam/
Just my 2 cents worth.

Posted by: jo6pac | Jan 25 2014 23:20 utc | 16

Syricide ‏@Syricide 1h
#AlQaeda-linked #ISIS opens branch in #Lebanon
A recording by a previously unknown figure was distributed on jihadist forums on Saturday, announcing the creation of a Lebanese franchise for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Agence France-Presse reported.
In the recording, Abu Sayyaf al-Ansari swears allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Iraqi leader of ISIS, which has its roots in al-Qaeda in Iraq and emerged in Syria last spring.
He called on Sunnis to abandon the Lebanese “crusader” army, echoing allegations by Sunni Islamists that the armed forces are “backed by Hezbollah.”
“We pledge allegiance to the prince of the believers, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi… and we ask him to guide us past the obstacles, and make us your spearhead in crushing your enemy, and not a single man among us will hold back in helping you,” AFP quoted Ansari as saying.
In the five-minute recording, he said “a spokesman for ISIL in Lebanon” identified as Abu Omar al-Muhajir would soon make a statement of his own.
The recording comes after Lebanon’s former premier said that the country’s Sunni Muslims refuse to be a part of any conflict between al-Qaeda and the Shiite movement Hezbollah, and denounce violent sectarian attacks anywhere in the country.
“The Lebanese, and the Sunnis among them, refuse to be part of any war in Lebanon or the region between Hezbollah and al-Qaeda,” said Saad Hariri, who heads the anti-Syrian Future bloc.
He added: “They also refuse that the civilians in any region of Lebanon become the targets.”
Hariri’s statement came a day after an al-Qaeda-inspired jihadist group warned that all areas where Hezbollah operates are “legitimate targets,” telling Sunnis to avoid them.
It also came as new shelling from across the border hit the Hermel and Masharia al-Qaa areas of Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, causing no casualties.
The Nusra Front in Lebanon said it intended to attack strongholds of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah which could target any Shiite area.
The warning originally was made Friday on Twitter. It was reposted Saturday to websites used by militant groups.
The Nusra Front in Lebanon takes its name from the powerful al-Qaeda-linked group fighting in Syria against the rule of President Bashar Assad.
The war in neighboring Syria has inflamed sectarian tensions in Lebanon, with Hezbollah backing President Bashar al-Assad and many Sunnis supporting the rebellion against him.
The Nusra has claimed responsibility for two small bombing attacks targeting Lebanese Shiites in January that killed six people.
Hard-line Sunni groups increasingly have been targeting Lebanon’s Shiite minority, apparently as punishment for Hezbollah gunmen fighting alongside Assad’s forces in Syria.
etc
http://www.albawaba.com/news/al-qaeda-linked-isis-opens-branch-lebanon-549772 …

Posted by: brian | Jan 26 2014 3:15 utc | 18

Syricide ‏@Syricide 4h
Nearly 1,400 dead since #Syria #rebel-#jihadist clashes began http://www.zamanalwsl.net/en/news/3385.html …
But #Assad wasn’t involved so its not worth mentioning

Posted by: brian | Jan 26 2014 3:45 utc | 20

“We”?
It’s some kind of Freudian Slip, b.
McCain’s had himself filmed slapping the backs of his, Obama and the BBC’s Syrian “rebels” and kidnappers. And he was in the studios of Rebel TV & Radio. It’s funny that he was feeling so comfortable that he thought it was safe to dump the script and ad lib just to show how clever he is.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jan 26 2014 4:54 utc | 22

“I call him human scum.” Not because he was ‘singing’.
He is typical US specimen, which can be find in any convenience store he is representative of National Character. Remember a song Strange Fruit and a mob around hanged bodies? Those unknown/anonymous individuals are him, he is just saying it publicly. John McCain is an Electoral will.
Always worth to remeber Joe Bageant and his Carpooling with Adolf Eichmann.

“One of the most unsettling things about this country is that the following people are considered perfectly sane by American standards: Dick Cheney, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Deepak Chopra, Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, Pat Robertson, Grover Nordquist, and Michelle Malkin. See anybody in that list even remotely normal? Every one of them lives in an egomaniacal la-la-land of his or her imagination and manages to get paid to do it. Believe me when I say that just about any face you see on your television or in the newspaper is a nutjob. I used to interview such freaks for a living. Of course, given that American journalists and interviewers have become mindless suck-asses, I understand that I may have a credibility problem here. But onward!”

For Apes: http://qz.com/170492/starbucks-is-getting-ready-to-let-you-order-coffee-before-you-get-to-the-store/#!
From your smart-phones you can order well ahead, imagine that!?
Joe Bageant

“Any culture that spends as much money as we do on ugly cars, fast food and liposuction cannot possibly be sane. Certainly we are not paying attention to cause and effect.”

Joe did not live in time of “remotely guided” Apes, so I dare to say “cannot possibly be sane” is understatement.

Posted by: neretva’43 | Jan 26 2014 12:07 utc | 24

By Joe Bageant

“Unfortunately, our national sanity is of the thoroughly dangerous sort — the Third Reich sort. Remember that even Adolf Eichmann was determined to be completely sane by a panel of medical experts. At least as sane as you and me and if you would like to be excluded from this comparison, you may be excused. Like the other good Nazis, ole Eich would have easily made a respected member of American society today, probably as a Republican judicial nominee. He would have fit quite well into a nation of Americans going about its daily business caring for and protecting the homeland’s security and profitability. Eichmann slept well at nights, the same as most of us, unaffected in appetite. He would have made a good carpooler, telling us all about the kids and grandkids as we commute the monotonous asphalt strips to and from our jobs, creating the paper work and the information product, the plastics and the commerce of the fatherland, that great sprawling circuit board one sees from airplanes. Like Eichmann, we are efficient, productive, and most terribly of all, untroubled by guilt. Oblivious as gravestones. Sane.”

In other words Little Eichmanns

Posted by: neretva’43 | Jan 26 2014 12:29 utc | 26

“winning”? Just like Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen and Libya?

US Regime-Change Drive in Syrian Peace Talks
TEHRAN (FNA)- Wednesday’s opening of talks on the Syrian crisis was dominated by the Obama administration’s insistence that the purpose of the Geneva II discussions was to remove President Bashar al-Assad and install a pro-US government.
In the manner of a colonial overlord, US Secretary of State John Kerry declared that “we see only one option, negotiating a transition government born by mutual consent,” the World Socialist Web Site said in a report.
Kerry made clear that “mutual consent” meant an outcome dictated by the US. “That means that Bashar Assad will not be part of that transition government,” he continued. “There is no way, no way possible, that a man who has led a brutal response to his own people can gain legitimacy to govern.”
Such thuggish arrogance is the trademark of US policy in every region of the world. Any government that is viewed as a hindrance to the pursuit of the geopolitical interests of the American ruling class is targeted for destabilization or overthrow, through covert or overt means. As Kerry spoke, extreme right-wing and fascistic forces in the Ukraine backed by the US and its allies in Western Europe escalated protests aimed at bringing down a government considered to be too closely tied to Russia.
In Syria, Washington has spent nearly three years seeking to use violence to carry out regime change. The US and its allies in Europe, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have financed an insurgency dominated by Islamic fundamentalist elements that have committed atrocities against ethnic and religious minorities. The conflict has produced more than 100,000 casualties and displaced millions. It threatens to develop into a region-wide civil war.
The US campaign in Syria follows the illegal US wars against Afghanistan and Iraq, which have devastated the two countries and led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people. It comes on the heels of the US-led war to overthrow Gaddafi in Libya.
The Obama administration brazenly cloaks its campaign in Syria in the rhetoric of democracy and human rights. Responding to comments by Syrian officials—who protested the insistence that they hand over power to the so-called “rebel” forces—the State Department denounced the regime for engaging in “inflammatory rhetoric” and failing to “lay out a positive vision for the future of Syria that is diverse, inclusive and respectful of the rights of all”.
Last September, the Obama administration was on the verge of launching a military assault against Syria, but ultimately pulled back after failing to forge an international coalition as it had in Libya in 2011, and in the face of broad popular opposition. In a last-minute tactical shift, Washington agreed to a Russia-brokered deal involving the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles. The Geneva II talks make clear, however, that Washington has not backed away from its basic strategy.
The modus operandi of American imperialism in the pursuit of its interests consists of thuggery and lies. The latest escalation is based on a well-timed allegation that the Assad regime carried out “industrial scale killing”, including the torture and murder of 11,000 detainees. The American media has been full of lurid allegations that stem from a report commissioned by Qatar, which has played a leading role in bankrolling Islamist militias within Syria. All of the supposed evidence is derived from the allegations of an operative codenamed “Caesar” who has been working with Syrian opposition groups since September 2011.
The testimony of “Caesar” on the situation within Syria has as much credibility as the tales of Iraqi chemical weapon mobile laboratories provided by the exiled opposition agent “Curveball” and promoted by the White House on the eve of invasion of Iraq 11 years ago.

Posted by: Virgile | Jan 26 2014 13:21 utc | 28

This link gives a good summary of the McCain “torture question.”
It has to be seen in the context of a worldview in which the US is always right and its soldiers always on the right side.
In fact Americans are not at all exceptional-they are rather like the rest of us- and, confronted by evidence of the carnage they caused in Vietnam it is very likely that all but the most psychotic expressed remorse.
This is what happened in Korea where the US forces committed war crimes beyond number, most of them in the line of bombing unprotected villages and massacring civilians from the air-often machine gunning survivors of bombing. In POW camps many involved sobered up and confessed their crimes. Many chose never to return to the US.
To explain this the US government came up with the theory of “brainwashing” which has it that only the most cunning psychological manipulation, in an atmosphere of appalling terrorism, could explain the perfectly normal, decent behaviour of working class cannon fodder conscripted into a brutal foreign war.
As a result of the “brainwashing” nonsense the US devised a system to train personnel how to resist torture: this handy codification of the art of torture (SERE I think it is called) has been the bedrock of US military torture practices ever since.
I do not believe that McCain was tortured by anything except the conscience which, on his return home, he seems to have “deep sixed” for ever.

Posted by: bevin | Jan 26 2014 14:47 utc | 30

Posted by: Cu Chulainn | Jan 26, 2014 9:16:04 AM | 29
What?

Posted by: neretva’43 | Jan 26 2014 15:05 utc | 32

“I do not believe that McCain was tortured by anything except the conscience…”
Even in a domain of probability, putting any of the US Senators (oligarchy) in sentence that contain a word conscience is foolish.

Posted by: neretva’43 | Jan 26 2014 15:15 utc | 34

To explain this the US government came up with the theory of “brainwashing” which has it that only the most cunning psychological manipulation, in an atmosphere of appalling terrorism, could explain the perfectly normal, decent behaviour of working class cannon fodder conscripted into a brutal foreign war.

Superb summary bevin. And it points to the utter hypocrisy of the empire regarding the forced conscription of all American 6 year olds into the Prussian developed, US imported technique of creating docile subjects through compulsory education.
Actually I think Smedley Butler received three Medal of Honors but turned one down. “War is a Racket” by Smedley Butler should be required reading for the public education conscripts but…
“behaviour”? you must be a Cannuck. Think I may have noted that before but always good to connect with my homeland north of the border again.

Posted by: juannie | Jan 26 2014 15:43 utc | 36

The LA Times has a piece today explaining that the GOP is upset with McCain ’cause he just ain’t “conservative” enough. Ain’t enough to spill blood, I guess. Won’t be long before they’re drinkin’ it.

Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Jan 26 2014 19:39 utc | 38

“Seriously, when are these f*cking traitors going to hang?”
They own the rope. You’ll hang before they do.

Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Jan 26 2014 20:07 utc | 40

from what I have seen most mosques in the USA are either wahhabi or Gulen associated; is it any different in the UK?

Posted by: Cu Chulainn | Jan 27 2014 2:17 utc | 42

Thierry Meyssan (voltairenet) claims that Al CIAda’s Airforce (NATO) killed 160,000 libyans in 20,000+ bombing sorties. Considering that the targets were Libya’s military and the destruction of a large percentage of its water and other hi-value civilian infrastructure projects, 160,000 is probably conservative.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jan 27 2014 4:08 utc | 44

beware fake photos:
And many more faked photos used to shed #Syria-n blood and import ‘jihadists’. #Syriawarcrimes #geneva2 https://twitter.com/Syrianonymous/status/427544893171322880/photo/1

Posted by: brian | Jan 27 2014 6:12 utc | 46

29
As Obama was being sworn into office, the Nigerian government, and who knows how many other African tin pot dictators, nationalized all resources to the State, right out from under the peoples’ feet, making an entire nation indigent aboriginals in single swoop.
That evening at midnight, Obama’s AfriCom came into existence to provide arms, finance and deep government to America’s ‘friends’ and the are now 80 US military operations locations on the African continent…wait, make that 79 after Benghazi.

Posted by: Chip Nihk | Jan 27 2014 10:50 utc | 48

PS
Communism is dead
Long live Communism
Though not here, of course.
ha ha

Posted by: chris m | Jan 27 2014 11:14 utc | 50

Erdogan client of the law firm that produced “Syria Torture Photos”
Who applied to this firm as a client? PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Yasin
Qadı, Yusuf al-Qaradawi and some other people connected with al-Qaeda. Enlighten the public about who these other people are as clients of this firm. Erdoğan has to justify how he formed a mutual client basis in this firm in London with Yusuf al-Qaradawi and other al-Qaeda affiliated people. That firm is not unfamiliar with the Prime Minister.”
http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_66355.shtml

Posted by: Virgile | Jan 27 2014 17:18 utc | 52