חדשות

Lawless extremists infest Congress like crabgrass besets lawns. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R. FL) is one of the worst.

She once supported assassinating Fidel Castro, telling the Miami Herald: "If someone were to do it, I wouldn't be crying."

She also endorses US imperial wars, police state laws, corporate empowerment, tax cuts for the rich, laying waste to Libya, perhaps a second Bay of Pigs, and Israeli lawlessness, while, at the same, opposing Palestinian statehood.

On August 30, (with 57 co-sponsors) she introduced "HR 2829: To promote transparency, accountability, and reform within the United Nation system, and for other purposes."

It's also called the "United Nations Transparency, Accountability, and Reform Act of 2011."

The bill was referred to the House Foreign Affairs committee she heads, one of many examples of deplorable governance in America, letting criminals, extremists, and racists run it.

No wonder the business of America is war, ravaging countries throughout North Africa/the Middle East/and Central Asia, while, at the same time, supporting the world's most despotic, venal regimes.

Israel is one of many, committing slow-motion genocide against millions of Palestinians under occupation. Ros-Lehtinen apparently approves, besides wanting to deny their right to statehood and full de jure UN membership.

In September, that may change as the Palestinian Authority (PA) will ask the General Assembly for full status recognition. Washington and Israel oppose it. So does Ros-Lehtinen.

If enacted, her bill will slash UN contributions and punish its organizations for embracing full Palestinian rights.

It "(o)pposes efforts by the Palestinian leadership to evade a negotiated settlement with Israel" by seeking UN recognition, and "(w)ithholds US contributions from any UN agency or program that upgrades the status of the PLO/Palestinian observer mission."

The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), providing humanitarian aid to Palestinian refugees and Gazans under siege will be specifically targeted by her bill.

So will the Human Rights Council and an anti-racism conference mischaracterized as a platform for anti-Israeli rhetoric.

In other words, Ros-Lehtinen supports Palestinian servitude under permanent militarized occupation, denying them the full sovereign rights they deserve.

She prefers collective punishment, stolen land, expanded settlements, Gaza's siege, targeted assassinations, mass arrests, police state enforcement, and other policies like America's, ones she also endorses.

She said:

"The Palestinian leadership's current 'scheme' to attain recognition of a Palestinian state at the UN without even recognizing Israel's right to exist has been tried before, and it was stopped only when the US made clear that it wouldn't fund any UN entity that went along with it. My bill similarly seeks to stop this dangerous 'scheme' in its tracks."

Not only is Ros-Lehtinen recklessly unhinged, she's also either ill-informed, stupid, or both.

Palestinians have long been willing to recognize Israel in return for their own state within 1967 borders and East Jerusalem as its capital, effectively ceding 78% of historic Palestine to Israel.

Ros-Lehtinen wants Israel to have it all, supporting belligerence to get it. She also backs US efforts to revoke and repudiate the Goldstone Report, wanting Israel absolved of its Cast Lead slaughter of over 1,400 Palestinians, injuring thousands more, and causing widespread Gaza destruction - war crimes by any definition.

Her bill seeks to shift US UN contributions to a "voluntary basis," rather than the current compulsory system. Moreover, if voluntary ones don't provide 80% of its funding, Washington would cut its amount given by 50%.

Previously Washington withheld funding to force the body to comply with its wishes, including reducing its contribution from 25 - 22% (25% for peacekeeping operations). As a result, it precipitated a 1995 financial crisis, losing its seat on the UN budget panel at the time.

Given Congress' bipartisan support for Israel, anything is possible this time if hardline Republicans press their demands.

Ros-Lehtinen is especially extremist. Her earlier State Department authorization bill included sweeping restrictions on worldwide foreign aid, including wanting to disengage from international forums and punish countries unsupportive of US policies.

Nonetheless, according to Peter Yeo, UN Foundation vice president for public policy, Ros-Lehtinen's HR 2829 has no chance for enactment because Senate leaders won't support it.

Yeo added that other member states oppose her proposals, saying also that "America can't lead if we don't pay our dues."

Congressional Democrats expect House but not Senate passage, meaning the bill is more posturing than likely policy. However, it highlights how hardball Washington can be when it wants to, besides being one-sided for Israel, stopping short perhaps at times of shooting itself in the foot.

Rep. Howard Berman (D. CA), former House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman, said he couldn't see "how a bill that will undoubtedly weaken our influence at the UN and make it harder to counter Palestinian attempts to unilaterally declare statehood is in" Israel's or America's interests.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland also expressed opposition, saying:

"Cutting by half US funding to the UN would seriously undermine our international standing and dangerously weaken the UN as an instrument to advance US national security goals."

She added that it's timing was also ill-advised, implying perhaps growing hostility to America's imperial marauding.

As things now stand, the Palestinian Authority will petition the General Assembly for statehood and full de jure membership during its September session later this month.

Although the required two-thirds majority exists for passage, the jury is still out on what Israel, Washington and PA President Mahmoud Abbas will do when the moment of truth arrives.

Stay tuned. One or more future updates will discuss it.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected].

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

NATO's Genocidal Rape of Libya

NATO's Genocidal Rape of Libya - by Stephen Lendman

Continuing NATO atrocities on Libyan civilians gave naked aggression a new name.

Call it what it is: Lawless, Willful, Malevolent Genocidal Gang Rape, the new supreme international crime against peace ongoing at this time.

In times of war, its legal name is Genocide - what NATO planners implemented since last March.

See for yourself. Independently produced images reveal what NATO, venal politicians, their PR manipulators, and media liars suppress or misreport.

A committed team of independent journalists, researchers and cameramen produced the Global Research.ca video accessed below through the following link:

http://omasiali.wordpress.com/2011/08/26/nato-commits-genocide-in-libya/

It's a snapshot of what Libyans endure daily under NATO terror bombings and rebel gang killings to destroy them, their futures and truth.

International law prohibits naked aggression and propaganda promoting it.

Article 21(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) says:

"Any propaganda for war shall be prohibited by law."

Propaganda and incitement to commit genocide is worst of all. Article 3 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide says the "following acts shall be punishable:

(a) Genocide;

(b) Conspiracy to commit genocide;

(d) Attempt to commit genocide;

(e) Complicity in genocide."

Article 4 states:

"Persons committing genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in Article 3 shall be punished, whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals."

"Direct and public" incitement to commit Genocide is also prohibited under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court's (ICC) Article 25(3)(e). It holds everyone "directly and publicly (involved in) incit(ing) others to commit genocide" culpable.

Article 3(e) of the Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and Article 3(c) of the Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) also prohibit "direct and public" incitement to commit genocide.

Incitement (as opposed to legitimate free expression) is also forbidden by many other international human rights treaties.

America, Britain and France, NATO's three main belligerents, are signatories to numerous relevant treaties, including the Genocide Convention.

Under the Constitution's Supremacy Clause (Article 6, clause 2), all US Treaties and Federal Statutes are "the supreme Law of the Land."

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) defined propaganda and other forms incitement to commit genocidal mass killing as follows:

"Directly provoking the perpetrator(s) to commit genocide, whether through speeches, shouting or threats uttered in public places or at public gatherings, or through the sale or dissemination, offer for sale or display of written material or printed matter in public places or at public gatherings, or through the public display of placards or posters or through any other means of audiovisual communication."

Included are official NATO, Pentagon and/or political written or verbal communications, justifying naked aggression, mischaracterized as humanitarian intervention responsibility to protect.

Also included are supportive PR and/or media propaganda, disinformation, and or other forms of deceptions.

During Nuremberg Tribunal proceedings, German newspaper editor Julius Streicher was the first person prosecuted for incitement to commit genocide for publishing anti-Semitic diatribes.

However, international law hadn't yet criminalized incitement at the time, so he was tried for crimes against humanity.

Since March 19, NATO belligerents and their rebel gangs committed daily crimes of war and against humanity. On a massive scale, it's Genocide!

Terror Bombing Sirte

As rebel gang killings continue in Tripoli and elsewhere, NATO keeps terror bombing Sirte. It's Gaddafi's home town, a city of 100,000. On August 29, Mathaba.net warned of possible massacres. Moreover, rebel cutthroats surrounded the city, preventing anyone from leaving, saying:

Exits "from the city (are) completely blocked. Neither women, nor children are allowed to leave. Men, captured attempting to leave the town together with their families, are shot. Their families are sent back into the city under bombing."

"There is practically no way to bury the corpses...." Retired Russian Special Forces Lt. Col. Ilya Korenev (in Sirte) reported on the Russian web site Argumenti.ru that:

"(T)he situation resembles the terrible winter of '95 in Grozny, Chechnia, when there was bombing everything that moved, without proper guiding systems of accurate coordinates....At the moment, the NATO air force is in the air almost around the clock," raising the city to the ground, massacring people under rubble or slaughtering them in open spaces.

Growing Humanitarian Crisis in Tripoli

The combination of maggot-infested decomposing bodies, inadequate food, fuel, medical supplies and available care, no running water, spotty electricity, poor sanitation, garbage in streets, and ongoing rebel atrocities created a growing humanitarian disaster in Tripoli and elsewhere.

On August 29, the London Times reported nightmarish conditions in Tripoli, including all of the above, as well as:

"Hospitals are running out of oxygen, fixators for treating fractures, and drugs for conditions such as diabetes."

"Telephones work only intermittently. Most commercial life ceased months ago. Many people have no money left because the banks are shut and salaries have not been paid."

These conditions are compounded by rebel-committed assassinations and other terror killings. Rotting corpses are everywhere, including in hospitals and Abu Salim, a Gaddafi loyalist stronghold home to many government officials.

Before NATO showed up, Tripoli was called the "White Bride of the Mediterranean," a once modern, cosmopolitan metropolis, known for its historical attractions, wonderful beaches, and other attractions.

One tourist guide said:

"Tripoli is generally a quiet safe travel destination, where violent crime against tourists is rare....Tripoli's hotels represent a good variety of different standards, and restaurants offer interesting culinary experiences with Arabic and international cuisine."

Moreover, car rentals are readily available for trips around and outside the city. In addition, tourists manage fine in a city where English is widely understood and spoken.

That was pre-March 2011 Tripoli. Today, it's a ravaged, terrorized ghost town, its residents living under increasingly desperate conditions. Moreover, prices skyrocketed on everything from food to fuel to other essentials. As a result, what's ahead for residents may be too grim to bear.

At the same time, a leaked document calls for UN Blue Helmet occupation - imperial paramilitary "peacekeeper" enforcers wherever they're deployed. Read the full document through the following link:

http://www.innercitypress.com/martin1unlibya1icp.pdf

UN "peacekeeping" was addressed in an earlier article, accessed through the following link:

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2007/02/un-peacekeeping-paramilitarism.html

In Haiti, for example, after Washington's coup ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the April 2004 Security Council authorized MINUSTAH force prevented peace and stability by working jointly with mobilized death squads, terrorizing Aristide supporters.

Libyans struggling for liberation can expect similar treatment ahead, besides continuing rebel gang atrocities.

The document, in fact, calls for establishing "various military or paramilitary formations under not always clear and solid command and control arrangements. These include the forces that fought on (Gaddafi's) side, (as well as) different formations commanded by or associated with the TNC."

In other words, a repressive NATO-controlled militarized presence is planned on the pretext of ensuring safety for Libyans who'll be terrorized if they prioritize freedom over occupation.

In fact, on August 30, Press TV reported an unnamed NATO official admitting that Britain and France already have troops in Libya, claiming it's "unfair to call them NATO forces."

In addition, Russia's NATO ambassador, Dmitry Rogozin, said "direct evidence" shows UK and French special forces directed ground operations against Gaddafi's military.

As recently as last week, however, NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu lied, saying coalition countries had no troops in Libya and wouldn't post-conflict.

At the same time, Britain's Daily Telegraph reported a UK elite Special Air Service (SAS) regiment helped rebel gangs hunt for Gaddafi. His whereabouts are still unknown. His wife Safia, daughter Aisha, sons Mohammed and Hannibal, as well as grandchildren fled safely to Algeria.

A Final Comment

On August 29, a disgraceful New York Times editorial headlined, "NATO's Teachable Moment," saying:

"The Western allies, especially the British and French forces backed up (read led) by the United States, can be justly proud. So can" Cameron, Sarkozy and Obama, "who ignored the naysayers who claimed that Libya was a quagmire and the battle not worth fighting."

Fact check

Obama's war was naked imperial aggression. Continued NATO terror bombing is Genocidal Gang Rape. Rebel cutthroats compounded their crimes on the ground. Africa's most developed country is now its least.

Thousands of Libyans are dead, many more injured, and the entire country ravaged by mass destruction, depravation, critical life-sustaining shortages, as well as continuing violence, and Libyans facing dystopian futures unless they're courageous enough resist what no one should accept.

NATO's war on free Libya may soon end. The liberating struggle has yet to begin. Perhaps it's the wild card NATO doesn't expect. Hopefully the human spirit will triumph over imperial might, though never easily or quickly.

It's happening in Afghanistan, reemerging in Iraq, blossoming across the region, so perhaps Libyans will surprise NATO planners the same way. Why not when the alternative is too intolerable to accept.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected].

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Israel's Operation Summer Seeds

Israel's Operation Summer Seeds - by Stephen Lendman

Ahead of the General Assembly's likely granting Palestine statehood recognition and full de jure UN membership in September or early October, Israel is preparing its army and arming settlers for disruptive protests.

Law Professor and former PLO legal counsel Francis Boyle explains that a simple two-thirds majority of states present and voting are needed. Abstentions and no-shows don't count. "Palestine has those votes for admission," he says! "The Israelis and the Americans know it."

Aside from Washington's illegal planned veto, if a Security Council resolution is introduced, Netanyahu apparently abandoned plan A, replacing it with a disruptive plan B.

On August 30, Haaretz writer Chaim Levinson headlined, "IDF training Israeli settlers ahead of 'mass disorder' expected in September," saying:

Settlement-by-settlement "red line(s)" were determined for "when soldiers will be ordered to shoot at the feet of Palestinian protesters if the line is crossed."

Arming settlers with tear gas, stun grenades, and perhaps other weapons is also planned, allegedly "as part of the defense operation."

Called Operation Summer Seeds, its "purpose is to ready the army (and settlers) for September and the possibility of confrontations with Palestinians following the expected" General Assembly granting them statehood and full de jure membership.

A document leaked to Haaretz stated a "working assumption" that "a public uprising" will follow Palestinian independence "which will mainly include mass disorder."

In fact, celebratory demonstrations are likely, not disturbances unless Israel and settlers incite them. Apparently, that's what's planned, again blaming victims of Israeli violence to maintain hardline occupation.

This time, however, it will be against a sovereign internationally recognized independent state, able to file a formal State to State complaint against Israeli officials.

In addition, as Boyle explains, it "can ratify the Genocide Convention and sue Israel for Genocide at the World Court, pursuant to" previous advice he gave Arafat and Abbas.

Moreover, it can "get a temporary restraining order" against Israel, requiring either Security Council enforcement approval, or if Washington vetoes it, to the General Assembly under the 1950 Uniting for Peace Resolution overriding it.

In addition, it can use this procedure to halt settlement construction once and for all and perhaps regain lost land.

These prospects frighten Israel and its Washington paymaster/partner. So they're are pulling out all the stops to prevent Palestinian statehood or at least disrupt it if achieved to maintain hardline policies, claiming they're in self-defense.

The Israeli document contends disorder will include "marches toward main junctions, Israeli communities, and education centers; efforts at damaging (Israeli) symbols of government."

"Also, there may be more extreme cases like shooting from within the demonstrations or even terrorist incidents. In all these scenarios, there is readiness to deal with incidents near the fences and the borders of the State of Israel."

In fact, Israel is the only nation without fixed borders, because of its longstanding plan to seize Palestinian land, as well as more from neighboring states for a Greater Israel. It's indeterminate in size depending on how much it can steal.

Israel's army has been holding training sessions near its Shiloh military installation. It's also trained settlement squads at its Lachish base, used as a command training center for that purpose.

In addition, two virtual defense lines for each settlement were established. If Palestinians cross the first one, they'll face settlers using tear gas and other disruptive measures.

If line two is breached, soldiers will use live fire at their legs.

In other words, Israel plans disruptions. Rules of engagement were established to unleash them. A heightened state of readiness exists. Palestinians will be blamed like always. Injuries and perhaps deaths may result.

Instead of recognizing the UN's new member, Israel plans hostile acts short of war, perhaps planned later as more naked aggression.

As a result, Peace Now's Hagit Ofran expressed alarm, saying:

"We hope the army is making clear that nonviolent protests (and celebratory marches are) legitimate, and no settlers (or IDF personnel) should use any violence against unarmed demonstrators."

Rabbis for Human Rights' Arik Ascherman raised "serious questions and problems" with regard to settlers acting illegally, saying:

"We're very concerned that (Israeli forces) will not reduce conflict but increase it."

In fact, more at issue is instigating it as Israel commonly does, blaming its violence on Palestinian to shift responsibility.

Notably in early August, Israeli Foreign Minister/Deputy Prime Minister Avigdor Lieberman outrageously claimed Palestinians are preparing for "bloodshed the likes of which we've never seen before," so when Israel sheds it they can be blamed.

Palestinian spokesman Ghassan Khatib accurately said Israel's "trying to fuel a fake picture of what will happen in September. These Israeli predictions of violence aren't true."

Palestinian Statehood and De Jure UN Membership Issues

A previous article explained Francis Boyle's work as PLO legal advisor to assure all Palestinians worldwide automatically become citizens of the State of Palestine if granted by the upcoming General Assembly vote. Access it through the following link:

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2011/08/follow-up-comments-on-palestinian.html

On August 30, Ma'an News published his assessment and International and Comparative Law Professor John Quigley's concurring, saying:

The Palestinians' "initiative" to be introduced in the General Assembly "is no threat" to their rights, and "will only improve their standing. This is because as a matter of international law, states must ensure that human rights are not being violated."

As a sovereign state, Palestine will be "interacting" with others, "and this is a much stronger position. It can pursue remedies at the diplomatic level in its capacity as a state. It will do favors for other states. It can demand (them) in return. It can also pursue prosecutions of Israeli officials for war crimes," including illegal settlements, applying greater pressure available to sovereign states.

Moreover, "(r)ather than posing a threat to the refugees, (they'll), in fact, be in a much stronger position. Legally, while people might leave states, if the refugees are nationals then the state cannot refuse to allow them to return."

In 1988, the General Assembly accepted the PLO "as the sole representative of the Palestinian people." It's precisely what it's likely to do "in September if asked to accept Palestine as a state."

A Final Comment

The Virtual Jerusalem web site headlined, "Let Your Voice Be Heard," stating:

"Say No to Palestinian Statehood." Access its site through the following link:

http://www.virtualjerusalem.com/

The pro-Israeli group accuses the PA of including "terrorist(s)....whose stated mission is 'the elimination of Israel," no matter that saying so is a bald-faced lie.

Nonetheless, it accused Hamas of hundreds of terrorists attacks, calling self-defense against Israeli violence "terrorism," what scoundrels always say.

It falsely said the PA lacks "vital aspects of modern statehood, such as freedom, respect for human rights, and a functioning democracy. Palestinian statehood," it adds, "will make peace negotiations with Israel impossible."

In fact, they've been stillborn for decades because Israel and Washington promote violence, not peace, a notion they find intolerable.

Virtual Jerusalem doesn't even lie well, adding that Palestinian statehood "will be gravely detrimental to Israel's security and the safety of the Israeli people."

"Stand with Israel and make your voice heard," it says. Tell Obama to support Israel against Palestine. Of course, he, like past presidents since Lyndon Johnson, have done it throughout their tenure.

It's time more responsible world leaders recognized rule of law responsibilities by voting to grant Palestinian statehood and full de jure UN membership.

Why? Because it's the right thing to do!

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected].

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

NATO Style Liberation

NATO Style Liberation - by Stephen Lendman

Wherever it goes, NATO slaughters, ravages, lays waste, incinerates, contaminates, devastates, conquers, colonizes, plunders, exploits, impoverishes and immiserates.

Libya is its latest victim.

It's now a hellish inferno thanks to NATO and its rebel gangs, unleashed to commit mass murder with impunity.

NATO calls it humanitarian intervention responsibility to protect. It's Orwellian doublespeak for war - for Libyans, without mercy to destroy another independent state.

For America, Britain and France, it's for another imperial trophy.

For Libyans, it turned their world upside down through the barrel of a gun.

They call it naked aggression, mass slaughter, and turning Africa's most developed state into a dystopian nightmare.

It's why people of conscience say never forgive or forget.

Watch the Libya Truth video and compare the country before and after NATO, accessed through the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=aJURNC0e6Ek

With independent Tripoli-based voices silenced, it's hard getting accurate daily information. Nonetheless, some mainstream sources report rebel forces are committing reprisals, revenge killings, and perhaps indiscriminate murder across the city, repeating the same pattern they followed in other parts of the country.

On August 27, London Independent writer Kim Sengupta headlined, "Rebels settle scores in Libyan capital," saying:

"The killings were pitiless." Rebels murdered people in hospitals. "Some of the dead were on stretchers, attached to intravenous drips. Some were on the back of an ambulance that had been shot at. A few were on the ground, seemingly attempting to crawl to safety when the bullets came."

Dozens more dead were decomposing in summer heat, many with their hands tied behind their backs before being murdered in cold blood. Many were Black guest workers, victimized by taking employment at the wrong time in the wrong place.

In rebel-controlled areas, atrocities continue against suspected Gaddafi loyalists. As a result, up to 95% of Tripoli residents are at risk. A potential bloodbath may ensue, but who'll know if coverup replaces good journalism.

On August 28, London Independent writer Patrick Cockburn headlined, "Rebels wreak revenge on dictator's men," saying:

Dozens of rotting corpses "are an ominous foretaste of what might be Libya's future. The incoming regime makes pious statements about taking no revenge," but you'd never know it from visible carnage across the city.

"The crucial question for Libyans is whether the war will now truly end," or if Libya will replicate Afghanistan and Iraq where nothing so far is resolved, only an illusion of quasi-stability in Baghdad and other parts of the country.

Cockburn quoted Sky News reporter Alex Crawford's comments on rebel-committed bloodshed in Zawiya, saying:

"They were bringing in people with half their heads blown off, people with their legs blown off....We saw Gaddafi fighters who were tied up and executed...Rebel retaliations here are really upsetting."

Tripoli is experiencing the worst of them, war crimes by NATO-unleashed killers.

On August 26, Washington Post writer Simon Denyer headlined, "Libyan rebels carry out reprisal attacks," saying:

Mass killings "cast a dark shadow over (rebel-controlled Tripoli), and call into question whether" they'll keep reigning terror on city residents.

Amnesty International's (AI) Diana Eltahawy said:

"In Tripoli, we are seeing the same pattern in recent days that we saw earlier in the east," describing extrajudicial killings, torture and other forms of abuse committed against Gaddafi loyalists.

Denyer reported five Gaddafi supporters in a field hospital and fire station "in agony and blood, apparently left to die....without food, water or medical attention for two days."

Bodies of others loyal to him "lay rotting in the sun" near his compound. Some were face down with their hands bound behind their backs.

Dark-skinned residents are most at risk, whether Libyans or guest workers. Revenge killings and other atrocities are now the order of the day. As a result, it's unsafe for anyone suspected of being anti-NATO in rebel-controlled territory. It's been that way across the country since conflict began last winter.

War indeed is hell. Libyans know the worst of it that's far from over. McClatchy News Service offered another glimpse, saying:

"The dead had been pro-Gaddafi fighters, but they had not gone down fighting. Some had been shot inside their tents, possibly asleep, without shoes on. One had been shot inside an ambulance and another (in) a field hospital, still hooked to an intravenous drip. Others had gunshot wounds in the back of their heads, fueling speculation of executions by rebel fighters."

Reuters reported evidence of mass graves. The Los Angeles Times described "the visceral violence of rebel forces hammering away at residential neighborhoods known to be" pro-Gaddafi.

In fact, it includes practically all of them, so imagine what may lie ahead. The London Guardian quoted State Department official Heather Hurlburt admitting what should be widely known; namely that:

"I have not seen a whole lot of effort to keep defining this in humanitarian terms."

In other words, she officially called the pretext for intervening a lie, in more polite terms.

With tongue in cheek perhaps, she added:

"There is a perception in the UN that NATO's campaign has gone way beyond the mandate."

She, of course, knows it was planned that way well before bombing began on March 19.

New York Times articles, commentaries and editorials discussed little of what's explained above.

Instead, on August 28, writers Helene Cooper and Steven Lee Myers produced a typical Times Pentagon/administration handout piece headlined, "US Tactics in Libya May Be a Model for Other Efforts," suggesting perhaps raping Libya reflects US generosity.

"It would be premature to call the war in Libya a complete success for United States interests," they said. But rebels arriving in "Tripoli last week gave (Obama's) senior advisors a chance to claim a key victory for an Obama doctrine for the Middle East...."

In other words, imperial lawlessness that includes bombing, massacring, and laying waste across Libya should be replicated wherever US "interests are threatened," they suggested.

Those "interests," of course, mean unchallenged global dominance, no matter how many corpses it takes to achieve it. In Libya alone, it's many thousands, as well as millions adversely affected, heading for much worse if NATO occupation takes hold.

Before conflict began, Washington planned it after completing laying waste to vast parts of Libya. It's the same strategy used in Yugoslavia, Iraq and Afghanistan hoping for the same outcome, with Special Forces leading insurgents instead of imperial assault troops, then perhaps "peacekeepers," not NATO country contingents, as occupiers.

As in all wars, only wealth and power interests win at the expense of an intolerable price for ordinary people under falling bombs, as well as ravaged by marauding ground forces.

Yugoslavs know. So do Iraqis, Afghans, Pakistanis, Palestinians, many others, and now Libyans. Ask them. They'll explain better than Times and other major media sources that lie.

A Final Comment

Amidst the bad news, there's some good. Voltaire Network reported the French Foreign Affairs Ministry saying Thierry Meyssan, Mathieu Ozonan and Julien Teil left Tripoli aboard a rescue ship.

After a 36 hour trip, they and the other independent journalists arrived safely in Malta. On arrival, Meyssan expressed his gratitude, saying:

"Thank you all. Your mobilization was tremendous. We owe you our lives."

At the same time, they left many friends behind, facing a frightening fate at the hands of NATO and their rebel killers.

Never forget. Never forgive what US-led aggression did to millions of Libyans and so many others in the region.

On August 29, Global Research.ca reported the following:

"Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya left Tripoli Sunday at 1.00pm EDT together with the group of independent journalists of France's Reseau Voltaire."

Safely in Malta, they'll be heading home shortly.

An email sent this writer late Sunday afternoon said "we now have no independent journalists" in Tripoli.

Hopefully, they're all safe, heading home with much to recount from what they witnessed firsthand.

Libyans, however, are less fortunate. They remain to face the worst of what NATO has in mind. An August 29 email sent this writer perhaps expresses what many feel, saying: "Come back Gadaffi, all is forgiven."

Much about Libya will be discussed on future Progressive Radio News Hour programs, including on September 1, 3 and 4.

Listen live or archived for honest Libya coverage and important discussions on many other major topics.

Rest assured! This writer and radio host won't ever forget what was done, nor fail to continue supporting the rights of all people everywhere to live free from imperial domination.

Nothing less ever should be tolerated!

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected].

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

ISRAEL AUVERGNAT COLA A LONG SUCCESS STORY WITH ISRAEL JEWISH PEOPLE AND AUVERGNE IN THE SECOND WHOLE WORLD ;o)

ALL ISRAEL AND JEWISH PEOPLE DRINK AUVERGNAT COLA BECAUSE AUVERGNE LOVES US ;o) JEWISH PEOPLE :o) http://www.annonces.com/fr/vie-locale/coup-de-coeur/annonces_photo_0_0_2... FAI TOUT PETAI MILLADIOU YEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS TO MUCH AUVERGNAT COLA ALL AROUND THE WORLD

NATO's Ugly Face

NATO's Ugly Face - by Stephen Lendman

View it yourself!

http://www.youtube.com/user/soket1234

Images don't lie, except NATO's fake ones produced in Doha, Qatar and perhaps elsewhere on Hollywood sound stages.

For months, NATO marauders and rebel killers gang raped Libya - murdering, destroying, ravaging on the pretense of protecting.

On August 22, Obama, a duplicitous unindicted war criminal, described the above images as "basic and joyful longing for human freedom."

On August 25, Secretary of State Clinton, another unindicted war criminal, said "(t)he events in Libya this week have heartened the world."

Let them and their conspiratorial allies go to Tripoli, Brega, Misrata and other ravaged Libyan cities and see for themselves.

Let them view streets filled with mangled corpses, blood, agony on the face of the living, destruction everywhere in sight, and human misery beyond what scales can measure.

Let them see firsthand the fruits of their victory. Let them taste, smell, and witness Tripoli's growing humanitarian disaster.

On August 27, Russia Today reported "widespread shortages of fuel, water and electricity, and humanitarian aid supplies are yet to reach the country. The situation on the ground is very close to a catastrophe."

"Tripoli is now facing severe shortages of running water, electricity, gasoline and medicine....The city's municipal services are paralyzed."

Destruction, garbage and maggot-infested corpses fill streets. Communicable and other disease outbreaks may follow, including from contaminated water, soil, and air.

Let them imagine hidden rage and the popular will to resist this and much more.

Let them consider what may, in fact, unfold ahead - continued resistance, struggle, and commitment for real freedom, not serfdom under NATO pillagers.

Not banker occupation. Not Big Oil plundering their resources. Not Washington, London and Paris deciding what's "best" for Libya.

Not settling for servitude under monstrous rulers there to destroy their life force, spirit, and will to say this won't stand!

Not surrendering on their knees. Choosing death on their feet instead, committed to struggle for real liberation. Willing to pay the price because the alternative is too grim to accept, and won't be.

Through at least August 27, independent journalists remained trapped, virtual prisoners, inside Tripoli's Corinthia Hotel, unable to provide real news and commentaries on this and other vital events in Tripoli and other areas.

Their reports are sorely missed. Hopefully efforts continue to free them safely to return home.

On August 26, the International Action Center headlined, "LIBYA - Resistance to US/NATO Conquest Continues," saying:

Despite NATO's full force and the worst kind of insurgent banditry, "heroic resistance to imperialist conquests" continues.

"All the corporate media (deception) claiming mass surrender," Gaddafi fleeing, his sons arrested, and other disinformation "turned out to be nothing but lies and psychological warfare."

As in Iraq and Afghanistan, "arrogant(ly) declar(ing) victory and 'mission accomplished' " won't end popular struggles continuing in "many forms."

Libyans "heroically withstood not only (months of bombing), but also....racist corporate media propaganda (portraying America and) NATO's military machine....as great white liberators."

Now they face pillaging on a grand scale. Responsibility to protect, in fact, disguises an opportunity to plunder, once killing and destruction end or at least subside.

Disaster capitalism is planned for Libya. Naomi Klein explained it in "The Shock Doctrine," exposing the myth of free market democracy. She revealed how neoliberal pillaging exploits security threats, terror attacks, economic meltdowns, natural disasters, and wars.

Ahead expect social services ended, public ones privatized, and freedom on the chopping block to be lost. Planned is a new Western version of Libya, replacing a socially responsible one under Gaddafi.

It was a key reason why he was targeted for removal so corporate predators could swoop in to pick apart Libya's corpse.

As a result, spoils will be divvied up among them. Then on to the next target, and ones after that until all Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia are colonized, occupied by one means or other, and plundered.

In fact, parasitic pillaging is Washington's idea of free market triumphalism, including privatizing public enterprises, regulatory freedom, tax cuts for the rich, impoverishing the rest, exploiting them, corporate handouts, and militarized control for enforcement.

It supports the Bilderberg notion of a global classless society - a New World Order with rulers and serfs. No middle class, no unions, no democracy, no equity or justice, just empowered oligarchs, freed to do as they please under a universal legal system benefitting them.

It's right out of Milton Friedman's play book, articulated in his 1962 book, "Capitalism and Freedom," saying:

"only a crisis - actual or perceived - produces real change. When a crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around...our basic function (is) to develop alternatives to existing policies (and be ready to roll them out when the) impossible becomes the politically inevitable."

Friedman believed that government's sole function is "to protect our freedom from (outside) enemies (and) our fellow-citizens. (It's to) preserve law and order (as well as) enforce private contracts, (safeguard private property and) foster competitive markets."

Everything else in public hands is socialism, an ideology he called blasphemous. He said markets work best unfettered of rules, regulations, onerous taxes, trade barriers, "entrenched interests," human interference, and the best government is practically none.

In other words, anything government does business does better so let it. Ideas about democracy, social justice, and a caring society, he believed were verboten because they interfere with free-wheeling capitalism.

He said public wealth should be in private hands, profit accumulation unrestrained, corporate taxes abolished, and social services curtailed or ended. He believed "economic freedom is an end to itself (and) an indispensable means toward (achieving) political freedom."

Applied to Libya, neither one is possible unless popular resistance prevents or regains what Washington and its allies plan to take, leaving nothing but servitude for Libyans.

That harsh reality has to be resisted, no matter what it takes or for how long. Hopefully, Libyans are up to the task. Given their rage against planned NATO occupation and plunder, very likely quitting is something they don't contemplate.

Perhaps it's the wild card Washington doesn't expect. A previous article headlined, It Ain't Over Till It's Over. Another was titled, Libya: Keep the Freedom Flame Alive.

Remember John Lennon's lyrics imagining "Nothing to kill or die for....Living life in peace, and "hop(ing) someday....the world will live as one."

So why not if enough in it try.

Accomplishing tough things take a while. The impossible takes a little longer.

Step one is ending Friedman's version of the best of all possible worlds, NATO, and corporate occupation of Washington.

Achieving that would be a major step toward freeing Libyans and perhaps finishing the job elsewhere for the kind of world everyone deserves.

It's there for the taking with enough commitment.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected].

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Washington Threatens Palestinian Statehood Bid

Washington Threatens Palestinian Statehood Bid - by Stephen Lendman

Washington wages wars multiple ways, including militarily, financially, and politically by supporting wrong over right each time.

For decades, it subverted peace negotiations and Palestine's bid for statehood. The Obama administration's now doing it again, besides waging multiple wars and undermining freedom wherever it surfaces, abroad and at home.

On August 26, Haaretz headlined: "US: We will stop aid to Palestinians if UN bid proceeds," saying:

America "will stop all financial aid to the Palestinian Authority if they" pursue statehood and de jure UN membership In September.

US Consul General Daniel Rubenstein told chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat that Washington will veto a UN Security Council resolution if it's sought unilaterally within June 1967 borders, despite its illegality under international law and its pledge not to do so against any state seeking UN membership.

Moreover, only the General Assembly has authority to affirm new members by a two-thirds majority. It's believed more than enough support exists to admit Palestine as a sovereign state full member.

Rubenstein also threatened to cut off aid and impose other unspecified punitive measures. Whether replicating in Palestinian what's ongoing in Libya wasn't suggested, but as Washington at times puts it:

Nothing is off the table, so expect harsh recriminations if Palestinians seek long overdue rights, ones entitled to all states.

In June, the Senate unanimously approved a measure to end funding if statehood is pursued. In early July, so did the House, voting 407 - 6. Its resolution also called for suspending aid in light of the PA's unity deal with Hamas.

Both House and Senate resolutions are non-binding as foreign policy is the purview of the Executive, except for the right to declare war, a power restricted solely to Congress.

The State of Palestine, in fact, exists. It was proclaimed in Algiers on November 15, 1988 when the PLO adopted the Palestinian Declaration of Independence.

PLO legal advisor Law Professor Francis Boyle drafted it with safeguards to assure all their rights as a sovereign state, and that full de jure UN membership doesn't comprise them.

Rubenstein's threat is another reminder of who's friend or foe. Washington's supportive when Palestinians are quiescent and subservient to Israel.

In other words, willingness to sacrifice independence and stay occupied are requisites to avoid attacks and other retaliatory actions.

It's time to ignore rogue threats and go for what's there to be gotten if pursued.

Not, however, without opposition from AIPAC. It's circulating action alert says in part:

If America "fails" to derail Palestine's statehood pursuit, "the consequences could be immense: Israelis could be dragged into foreign courts and charged with human rights violations....nations could implement sweeping economic sanctions....the Jewish presence in East Jerusalem could come under severe international challenge."

AIPAC asked for support to subvert Palestinian rights. Unless public anger resists, it may happen.

Francis Boyle emailed these relevant comments, saying:

Palestinians "act(ed) in good faith and with sincerity. (They've) been critically misled and misinformed," including by so-called experts, willing to sell their souls by falsifying facts in lieu of accurate analyses.

They don't care and perhaps don't "even understand that once (Palestine) become(s) a UN Member State, (it) can ratify the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court and then file a formal State to State Complaint against Israeli Officials, upgrading the lower level Complaint President Abbas filed at my advice."

"They also do not know that once (Palestine) become(s) a UN Member State, (it) can ratify the Genocide Convention and sue Israel for Genocide at the World Court, pursuant to the advice I had already given President Arafat and President Abbas, and get a temporary restraining Order against the Zionists, that would then go to the Security Council for enforcement, and if vetoed by the Americans, to the General Assembly for enforcement under the (1950) Uniting for Peace Resolution."

"With these proceedings, (it may) be able to halt the Zionist settlement project of all Palestine in the immediate future. How else" can it be done?

For issues Boyle raises and others, it's essential to proceed as planned to assure rights all Palestinians deserve no longer are denied.

Let imperial threats delay them no longer. Doing so is defeat.

A Final Comment

On August 28, Haaretz writer Barak Ravid headlined, "UN envoy Prosor: Israel has no chance of stopping recognition of Palestinian state," saying:

Israeli UN ambassador Ron Prosor "sent a classified cable to the Foreign Ministry last week, stating that Israel stands no chance of rallying a substantial number of states to oppose a" General Assembly resolution recognizing Palestinian statehood and full de jure membership.

Gaining only possible abstentions, Proser said Palestine's effort won't be derailed. "Only a few countries will vote against the" initiative. Up to 140 support it, more than enough for a two-thirds majority.

The position of most 27 EU member states remains unknown. Spain's on board. Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Czech Republic are opposed as well as America.

However, an unnamed senior Foreign Ministry source said, "(m)ost western countries will not be willing to be in the hall and vote against a Palestinian state."

At this point, the Foreign Ministry, Shin Bet and IDF officials believe it's now best trying to influence the resolution's language, "aiming at a resumption of negotiations after the vote."

Let's hope the current General Assembly session will grant Palestinians what they've been long denied. If so, it'll be a major step toward ending occupation, Gaza's siege, and greater justice.

They remain critically important unattained victories within reach if enough committed people pursue them.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected].

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Never Forgive, Never Forget

Never Forgive, Never Forget - by Stephen Lendman

After covering Libya's rape since last winter in dozens of articles, no forgiving or forgetting is possible for one of history's great crimes.

Nor is ignoring those responsible, condemning them forthrightly, and explaining why all wars are waged.

NATO outdid Orwell on this one, killing truth by calling war the responsibility to protect - by terrorizing, attacking, and slaughtering civilians like psychopathic assassins.

As a result, honest historians will redefine barbarism to explain NATO's savagery. It includes ongoing crimes of war and against humanity for the most malevolent reasons.

When is war not war? It's when committing cold-blooded murder is called the right thing. When major media scoundrels cheerlead it, and when most people believe it because they're too indifferent, uncaring or lazy to learn the truth.

NATO's rape of Libya is too ugly for proper words to describe. Only honest images can do it, and lots of them.

Instead, the Big Lie substitutes for honest journalism, especially on television where real (not fake) visuals can show mangled bodies, mass destruction, and other evidence of NATO crimes.

Where civilian deaths can be shown graphically in living color. Where responsibility can be placed where it belongs. Where right and wrong can best be explained. Where repetition can arouse public outrage. Where proper analysis in advance perhaps can prevent all wars.

None are liberating, lawful, or virtuous. All are shamelessly exploitive. Libya's one of the worst - unscrupulously benefitting powerful interests criminally, ruthlessly, and diabolically.

It doesn't get any worse than that. Ask Lybians. They'll explain.

Leading America's Pack Journalistic Lying

The New York Times is America's lead propaganda instrument, its reports getting enough global coverage to make a difference.

From the start, it cheerled war with Libya. It played the same role in Afghanistan, Iraq, and all previous US wars, deceiving its readers by dishonest journalism, commentaries, and editorials.

August 26 was no different. Two articles among others stand out. David Kirkpatrick wrote one headlined, "As Qaddafi Forces Retreat, a Newly Freed Imam Encourages Forgiveness," saying:

Pro-NATO Sheik Abdul Ghani Aboughreis helped incite last winter's uprising "with a fiery Friday sermon at the Mourad Agha mosque. His words sent thousands of demonstrators pouring into the streets. (His) mosque and neighborhood became a center of revolt and resistance...."

After six months of shamelessly supporting death and destruction against his own people, he now encourages "forgiv(ing) each other, to make sure to leave it to the law and not take revenge on each other."

As in all his Libya war articles, Kirkpatrick left unexplained months of crimes of war and against humanity, committed by NATO and paramilitary killers.

Instead, he highlighted alleged evidence of ongoing Gaddafi loyalist crimes.

In times of war, both sides commit them, but whatever government forces did pale compared to NATO's savagery and its hired assassins. Kirkpatrick and other Times writers failed to notice.

Anthony Shadid and Kareem Hahim were no better headlining, "Grim Evidence of Fighting's Toll Becomes Clearer in Libya," saying:

"As the fighting died down in Tripoli on Friday, the scope and savagery of the violence during the nearly weeklong battle for control of the capital began to come into sharper focus."

Evidence he cites is a shameful Amnesty International report (based on freed Al Qaeda and other paramilitary prisoners), saying:

AI "uncovered evidence that forces loyal to (Gaddafi) have killed numerous detainees held at two military camps in Tripoli on 23 and 24 August."

Perhaps so if other insurgents freed them, attacked Gaddafi forces in the process, and they fought back.

Instead, AI said:

"Loyalist forces in Libya must immediately stop such killings of captives, and both sides must commit to ensuring no harm comes to prisoners in their custody."

Like UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, AI tries to have it both ways, ruining everything it gets right by reports like this - equating horrendous NATO crimes with lesser ones committed by Gaddafi forces, perhaps many less than imagined. The fog of war makes it hard to know precisely.

Instead, Shadid and Hahim's article was shamelessly one sided. While citing clear evidence of rebel-committed atrocities, their article claimed:

-- Tripoli violence is now subsiding when, in fact, it rages;

-- rebels say Gaddafi loyalists killed their own, an absurdity on its face;

-- it's hard "to ascertain the fate of....dead men" in hospitals, as well as chaos committed inside; AP and Reuters reported it resulted from rebel-committed terror;

-- Gaddafi's "cloak of secrecy (and) mercurial rule" are being revealed, leaving unexplained why Washington and its NATO partners wage all wars;

-- slogans are being displayed, saying "Libya is free" and "Misurata is steadfast," though still Gaddafi controlled, it's believed, what Shadid and Hahim ignored, as well as not debunking claims of Libya's freedom; and

-- documents in Gaddafi's compound "seemed to show that (his) adopted daughter Hana, who was supposedly killed at age 4 in (1986), was alive (and) working as a doctor;" the key words "seemed to show" both Times writers implied were proof, adding that Tripoli Central Hospital workers claimed "a spacious and well-appointed office" there was hers.

Throughout the conflict, Times articles, op-eds and editorials backed it. Their unstated message is war is good, the more the better when America wages them.

Sadly, that's the state of managed Western news and opinion. It's a shocking indictment of its support for wealth and power, no matter how lawless and harmful to billions exploited ruthlessly, shameless, and repeatedly.

Final Comments

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reports continued fighting in Tripoli, inflicting many casualties.

Moreover, many injured can't be treated because of ongoing violence, inadequate staff, and enough supplies and capacity at local hospitals.

In addition, "numerous arrests" were made, "including foreign nationals." Their welfare is very much at risk, especially those singled out for revenge.

Fierce fighting also continues around Misrata and elsewhere. The end of conflict is nowhere in sight. Brega "look(s) like a ghost town."

In different areas, people are endangered by unexploded ordinance, as well as shortages of food, clean water, drugs, other medical supplies, and spotty or no electricity.

Washington-led NATO turned Libya into a hellish inferno - step one before occupying and exploiting its resources and people. Months ago its wealth was stolen. Ahead will be its future if Libyans don't struggle and win their freedom.

On August 26 on Russia Today (RT.com), journalist Pepe Escobar said Abdelhakim Belhadj, a former Al-Qaeda insurgent/now CIA asset commands rebel forces in Tripoli.

He explained that he was trained in Afghanistan by a "very hardcore Islamist Libyan group." Earlier he was captured in Malaysia, detained and tortured in Bangkok, then transferred back to Libya and imprisoned.

In 2009, he made a deal for freedom, in return for serving Western interests, Escobar saying:

"I can say almost for sure with 95% certainty that this is the guy" heading insurgents in Tripoli.

It shows how Washington both demonizes and uses Al Qaeda advantageously, including bin Laden. He was a longtime CIA asset until his death in December 2001 - not from Obama's staged raid.

Notably, Al Qaeda was a 1980s CIA creation during the Soviet-Afghan war. Moreover, Washington both supports international terrorism covertly and battles it by imperial wars and persecuting Muslims for their faith.

It's part of the fog to scare people enough to believe waging wars remove threats that, in fact, don't exist. So they have to be invented to enlist public support, unaware of the harm caused abroad and at home.

Only war profiteers benefit, not taxpayers they steal from or victims they attack. At the same time, corrosive militarism, financial wars, and other destructive policies destroyed America's soul. Its future as a free country is next.

So focused on bread and circus distractions, most people don't notice. How else can Washington get away with murder!

Finally, the fate of independent journalists trapped in Tripoli's Corinthia Hotel remains unclear. They're still in harm's way because a chartered ship for their safe passage out either hasn't arrived or it's too unsafe to reach it.

Further updates will follow.

In conclusion, Law Professor Francis Boyle's morning email said the following:

"After Six Months of fighting by the most powerful military alliance in the history of the world, Ghadafy has now become the Greatest African Warrior since Hannibal against the Romans - predecessors to the Americans."

"Generations from now, people will sing songs, write poems, and compose odes to Ghadafy all over Africa, the Arab World, the Muslim World, and the Third World long after Obama is dead and disparaged and discredited."

Sic transit Gloria mundi (Thus passes the glory of the world)!"

Keep Libya's freedom flame alive no matter how imperial monsters try to destroy it!

We're all Libyans now! Their struggle is ours!

It's high time we matched their courageous spirit against the world's most pernicious/destructive force.

Bowed perhaps, they're not broken! Isn't that enough to raise our consciousness enough to support them!

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/Never

Rebel Assassins Terrorizing Libyans

Rebel Assassins Terrorizing Libyans - by Stephen Lendman

In his new article headlined, "9/11 After A Decade: Have We Learned Anything?" Paul Craig Roberts said:

"Today Americans are unsafe, not because of terrorists and domestic extremists, but because they have lost their civil liberties and no protection from unaccountable government power."

So have millions under occupation and/or attack by US/NATO forces, terrorizing them in the name of "democracy" to "set them free."

America is a global terror state. For decades, it's menaced humanity's survival by imperial wars for wealth and power, not liberation or democratic values. All US administrations reviled them, notably Obama's, including at home.

Under him, "unaccountable government power" terrorizes globally.

It's a truism that where large energy reserves exist, America has imperial plans to control them. Libya is now ground zero. US-led NATO assassins invaded to menace, intimidate, kill, plunder, and cause out-of-control chaos, notably in Tripoli, the struggle's current epicenter.

On August 16, Michel Chossudovsky's article headlined, "The Pentagon's 'Salvador Option:' The Deployment of Death Squads in Iraq and Syria," saying:

Reports suggest the use of "thousands of Islamist 'freedom fighters,' reminiscent of the enlistment of Mujahideen to wage the CIA's jihad (holy war)" against Soviet Russia in Afghanistan.

Chossudovsky wrote about possible plans "to enlist thousands of Muslim volunteers in Middle East countries and the Muslim world to fight alongside the Syrian rebels. The Turkish army would house," train, and send them to Syria.

Thousands of similar elements are in Libya.

On August 20, independent journalist Thierry Meyssan said NATO debarked large numbers of jihadi forces with heavy weapons on Tripoli's coast. Special forces led them. Violence and mass killing followed. It still rages, slaughtering hundreds, perhaps thousands, and wounding many more.

On August 26, London Independent writers Kim Sengupta and Portia Walker headlined, "Bodies pile up as search for Gaddafi intensifies," saying:

"Fierce fighting and wild rumors (spread) as hunt gathers pace." So far, there's "no sign of an end to the conflict as" battles rage.

On August 26, London Guardian writer Simon Jenkins headlined, "Libya is not an advertisement for intervention," saying:

"Several claims....made about NATO's involvement (have) little basis in reality," including:

(1) Preventing a Benghazi massacre. It "was NATO propaganda."

In fact, mass killing only began when NATO arrived and hasn't stopped.

(2) Replacing Gaddafi to protect civilians and install a more democratic regime.

NATO plans occupation and puppet leaders taking orders from Washington, as well as plundering Libya for profit.

(3) "(N)o foreign troops on the ground" will be used.

"This NATO pledge was mendacious....British (and other Western) ground troops were extensively deployed in Libya," arriving before conflict began last winter.

(4) "Britain was not taking sides in a foreign civil war."

In fact, Washington, Britain, and other NATO countries partnered to oust Gaddafi. Insurgents, supported by air power, were recruited to do it. Western interests "most emphatically decided the fate of the Libyan people. (They) brought anarchy in the place of order....(They can't) disown the consequences."

From the start, Western leaders knew if they "toppled Gaddafi (they) would own the place. It was no good saying they "learn(ed) from Iraq. The lesson of Iraq was, don't do it in the first place."

Libya, in fact, is replicating it. NATO's Operation Mermaid Dawn hoped to end it in Tripoli. "Mermaid" is Tripoli's nickname. On August 20, it was launched from Sarim Street's Ben Nabi mosque after Iftar, the breaking Ramadan's fast.

Insurgents used mosque loud speakers to broadcast chants to Tripoli residents. NATO carpet bombing and strafing preceded and accompanied it to clear their way to advance unimpeded after initial loyalist counterattacks.

Activated sleeper cells around the city joined the fighting. Weapons were shipped in weeks in advance. Text messages urged residents to join insurgents. Battles raged. They still do. Likely protracted conflict will cause thousands of deaths and injuries, as well as destruction across Tripoli and other parts of Libya, besides the horrendous past six months' toll.

The Big Lie accompanies the campaign, including a Potemkin village replica of Tripoli's Green Square and Gaddafi compound in Doha, Qatar.

It was used to create fabricated scenes of euphoria, aired by Al Jazeera, an imperial co-conspirator. In fact, it was an elaborate hoax to convince residents Tripoli was in rebel hands. Perhaps seizure of Gaddafi's compound was also exaggerated, reminiscent of Orson Welles' famous 1938 War of the Worlds radio drama.

The hoax heard around the world sounded real enough to make millions think aliens had landed. Angry about public gullibility, Welles reportedly said, "If they'll believe everything, I'm going to give them something (really) unbelievable to believe."

Misinformation and the art of surprise work well enough to convince people of most anything. It's especially effective tactically in wars. The jury is out on if it'll work this time, given strong loyalist opposition to NATO occupation.

All along, the pretext used to intervene was to "protect civilians and civilian populated areas from threat of attack," as stipulated under the General Assembly's 2005 World Summit Outcome Document, adopting the responsibility to protect (RtoP).

A previous article explained paragraph 138, stating each nation must "protect (its) population from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity."

Paragraph 139 delegates responsibility to the UN "to use appropriate diplomatic, humanitarian and other peaceful means, in accordance with Chapters VI and VIII of the Charter, to help protect populations from" these crimes.

Military force isn't authorized, and the UN Charter prohibits it for humanitarian interventions. As a result, justifying it under RtoP is illegal. Doing so amounts to committing war crimes to prevent them.

The UN Charter's Chapter VI calls for peaceful conflict resolutions. If they fail, Chapter VII authorizes the Security Council to impose boycotts, embargoes, blockades and severance of diplomatic ties - not war.

As a result, Washington's led NATO intervention is naked aggression, supplemented by paramilitary assassins, terrorizing Tripoli residents and other Libyans they attacked, murdering Gaddafi loyalists.

After entering Tripoli, AP and Reuters reported massacres of his supporters near his compound, AP saying:

"The bodies are scattered around a grassy square next to (Gaddafi's) Bab al-Aziziya (compound). Prone on grassy lots as if napping, (they're) sprawled in tents. Some have had their wrists bound by plastic ties. The identity of the dead are unclear but they are in all likelihood activists that set up an impromptu tent city in solidarity with (Gaddafi) outside his compound in defiance of the NATO bombings."

AP noted "the disturbing specter of mass killings of noncombatants, detainees and the wounded." Some were "shot in the head, with their hands tied behind their backs. A body in a doctor's green hospital gown was found in the canal. The bodies were bloated."

Reuters reported 30 bodies "riddled with bullets....Five of the dead were at a field hospital nearby, with one in an ambulance strapped to a gurney with an intravenous drip still in his arm." Two other bodies "were charred beyond recognition."

The London Telegraph interviewed a surgeon saying hundreds were "coming in within the first few hours (of fighting). It was like a vision from hell. Missile injuries were the worst. The damage they do to the human body is shocking to see, even for someone like me who is used to dealing with injuries."

He said most casualties were civilians. Tripoli's three main hospitals are full of them. Unable to handle the volume, many suffer in agony or die untreated. Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres) warned of a medical catastrophe. Already there's a human one wrought by NATO and their rebel assassins on the pretext of humanitarian intervention.

What's involved, of course, is planned colonization, occupation and plunder of Libya's wealth and natural resources, including its Great Man-Made River (GMMR). Gaddafi rightfully called it the "Eighth Wonder of the World," consisting of the largest global underground network of pipes and aqueducts, distributing water from an ocean-sized aquifer.

Along with free education, healthcare, housing assistance and other social benefits, Gaddafi supplied it to Libyans. NATO wants it privatized to make it costly or unaffordable henceforth, along with charging for everything formerly gotten free.

The opening comments of a previous article bear repeating, saying:

The US/UK/French-led war on Libya will be remembered as one of history's greatest crimes. It violates the letter and spirit of international law and America's Constitution.

The Nuremberg Tribunal's Chief Justice Robert Jackson called naked aggression "the supreme international crime against peace....so calculated, so malignant, and so devastating, that civilization cannot tolerate (its) being ignored, because it cannot survive....being repeated."

Post-WW II, it got worse, highlighted by what Washington, its NATO partners, and rebel assassins are doing across Libya. At the same time, they scandalously avoid calling it war, when, in fact, it's that and more in the worst sense.

Make no mistake. For months, Libyans have been slaughtered and terrorized by vicious war criminals headquartered in Washington, London and Paris.

Unaccountable, they plan more conflicts across the region for total dominance at the expense of thousands more lost lives, as well as unspeakable human misery. It doesn't get any worse than that.

A Final Comment

A morning email alert said the following:

"Although journalists reporting from the Rixos Al Nasr Hotel in Tripoli were relocated to the Corinthia Hotel, also in Tripoli, on Wednesday August 24, in an effort to increase their safety, independent journalist and Canadian citizen Mahdi Nazamroaya continues to express grave concerns for his life. Mr. Nazemroaya told friends on Thursday that his safety was now even more at risk with armed groups entering the Corinthia hotel. Mr. Nazemroaya is unable to leave the hotel.

The planned departure of a boat which would have brought journalists and migrants outside of Libya was delayed and the transfer of journalists to the boat in all safety remains uncertain.

The Canadian Government has yet to act to ensure that Mr. Nazemroaya is repatriated to his home country despite having ties with the Hongarian embassy in Tripoli. Friends and family continue to demand that the government take concrete action to ensure that Mr. Nazemroaya is escorted back to safety.

Mr. Nazemroaya is a recent graduate of the University of Ottawa where he also held a research assistant position."

For further information:

Mireille Gervais

Director, Student Appeal Centre, Student Federation of the University of Ottawa

The lives of other trapped independent journalists are also at risk, including Lizzie Phelan, Franklin Lamb, Thierry Meyssan, Mathieu and Julien Ozanon Teil, because they're unprotected at the rebel-held Corinthia Hotel.

As a result, assuring their safe passage out of Libya is urgent. So far, a chartered ship can't dock because of fighting. The longer it's delayed, the greater the risk. Further updates will follow.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected].

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Follow-Up Comments on Palestinian Statehood Vote

Follow-Up Comments on Palestinian Statehood Vote - by Stephen Lendman

A previous article discussed the upcoming September UN General Assembly vote, accessed through the following link:

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2011/08/general-assembly-palestinian-statehood.html

Explaining the legal issues, it said delaying what's long overdue is neither wise nor right for all Palestinians who deserve it.

Their supporters agree, including Law Professor Francis Boyle, former PLO legal advisor in drafting its 1988 Declaration of Independence.

In September, the General Assembly will vote on granting full statehood recognition and de jure UN membership, what only it can grant, not the Security Council. The above linked article explained.

However, Oxford University Professor Guy Goodwin-Gill prepared an opinion, claiming granting it will result in the PLO losing its status. In addition, he said, diaspora refugees will be disenfranchised, left unrepresented by the PLO through the Palestinian National Council (PNC).

His opinion titled, "The Palestine Liberation Organization, the future State of Palestine, and the question of popular representation" can be accessed through the following link:

http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/238962-final-pdf-plo-statehood-opinionr-arb.html

Boyle discounted his concerns, saying he built explicit safeguards into the 1988 Declaration of Independence he drafted "to make sure that his doomsday scenario does not materialize."

Having carefully read Goodwin-Gill's opinion, Boyle emailed the following comments:

My Dear Palestinian Friends:

Goodwin-Gill's analysis "is based upon most erroneous assumptions. But in a nutshell, in the 15 November 1988 Palestinian Declaration of Independence that was approved by the PNC representing all Palestinians all over the world, the Executive Committee of the PLO was set up as the Provisional Government for the State of Palestine—pursuant to my advice.

In addition, the Declaration of Independence also provides that all Palestinians living around the world automatically become citizens of the State of Palestine—pursuant to my advice.

So the Executive Committee of the PLO in its capacity as the Provisional Government for the State of Palestine will continue to represent the interests of all Palestinians around the world when Palestine becomes a UN Member State.

Hence all your rights will be preserved: for all Palestinians and for the PLO. No one will be disenfranchised. The PLO will not lose its status. This legal arrangement does not violate the Palestinian Charter, but was approved already by the PNC.

Unfortunately, this professor is not aware of all the legal and constitutional technicalities that were originally built into the Palestinian Declaration of Independence to make sure that his doomsday scenario does not materialize--at my advice.

All of your rights have been protected and will be protected by Palestine becoming a Member State of the United Nations, including the Right of Return.

Indeed, in the Memo I originally did for President Arafat and the PLO back in 1988, I explained how we could obtain UN Membership. All of the advice that I gave to President Arafat and the PLO in 1987 to 1989 was originally premised on the assumption that someday we would apply for UN Membership.

That day has come. Please move forward. I have been working for this Day since I first proposed UN Membership for Palestine along the lines of Namibia at the United Nations Headquarters in New York in June of 1987.

Palestine’s Application for UN Membership was my idea. When my Client and Dear Friend - the late, great Dr. Haidar Abdul Shaffi, Chair of the Palestinian Delegation to the Middle East Negotiations instructed me to draft the Palestinian counter-offer to the now defunct Oslo Agreement, he most solemnly told me: “Professor Boyle, we have decided to ask you to draft this Interim Peace Agreement for us. Do whatever you want! But do not sell out our right to our State!”

And I responded to Dr. Haidar: “Do not worry, Dr. Abdul Shaffi. As you know, I was the one who first called for the creation of the Palestinian State back at United Nations Headquarters in June of 1987, and then served as the Legal Adviser to the PLO on its creation. I will do nothing to harm it!”

As I promised Dr. Haidar, I (did) nothing to harm Palestine and the Palestinians."

As a result, if the General Assembly grants statehood and full de jure UN membership in September, the rights of all Palestinians worldwide will be preserved. Claiming otherwise is entirely false.

Francis A. Boyle

Professor of International Law

Legal Advisor to the PLO and H.E. Yasser Arafat on the Palestinian Declaration of Independence.

Legal Advisor to the Palestinian Delegation to the Middle Peace Negotiations (1991-1993) and H.E. Dr. Haidar Abdul Shaffi

Author, Palestine, Palestinians and International Law (2003) and The Palestinian Right of Return under International Law (2011)

A Final Comment

On August 26, London Guardian writer Harriet Sherwood headlined, "Palestinian state could leave millions of refugees with no voice at UN," saying:

According to Law Professor Guy Goodwin-Gill, "(m)illions of Palestinian refugees outside the West Bank and Gaza could lose their representation at the UN if the Palestinian Authority succeeds in winning recognition of its state at the world body...."

Fact check

As the above article, the previous one linked, and Law Professor Francis Boyle's comments explain, Goodwin-Gill's analysis is entirely misguided and false. In fact, Boyle asserts:

"Guy's 'Opinion' is a shoddy disgrace. How much was he paid for this hit-job on Palestine? He should go back to his 'Chambers'!"

Very likely it's an underhanded effort to derail Palestinian statehood and full de jure UN membership in September. If so, Goodwin-Gill acted disreputably, losing all credibility in the process.

"The Palestinians bid to be accepted as a member state of the UN requires security council approval."

Fact check

False. Only the General Assembly can grant statehood and full de jure membership. If Washington uses its Security Council veto as threatened, the GA can circumvent it under the 1950 Uniting for Peace Resolution.

Someone perhaps paid Goodwin-Gill to produce misguided analysis to derail Palestinian statehood and full UN membership in September.

Guardian writer Sherwood regurgitated his opinion, omitting others able to refute him. Professor Boyle does it admirably. It deserves front page featuring in the Guardian, other leading broadsheets, and web sites supporting Palestinian rights.

This writer, Boyle, and many others forthrightly and honorably back them. So should everyone, including Guardian writers and Oxford law professors.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected].

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Libya: Keep the Freedom Flame Alive

Libya: Keep the Freedom Flame Alive - by Stephen Lendman

Trapped for days in Tripoli's Rixos Hotel, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) arranged for the release of over 30 foreign journalists yesterday.

They're now at the Corinthia Hotel, awaiting a boat for transport to Malta, then home via Europe that can't arrive until fighting subsides. Given the chaos and violence, it could be a while.

Among them are heroic independent journalists, unable to report vital truths on the ground. For now, only their safe passage home matters, but what they witnessed firsthand will be sorely missed.

As a result, it'll be much harder to know what's ongoing. Rest assured, this writer and others will report what's known as fully and accurately as possible to keep the freedom flame for all Libyans alive.

They deserve no less in light of what NATO has in mind, including carving up the Libya corpse for profit.

In fact, scrambling for its oil began began last April when Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said energy giant ENI CEO Paolo Scaroni had talks with Transitional National Council (TNC) officials "to restart cooperation in the energy sector and get going again the collaboration with Italy in the oil sector."

In June, the Washington Post said ConocoPhillips, other US oil giants, and related companies also held talks with TNC officials. Engineering firm Quantum Reservoir Impact CEO Nansen Saleri said:

"Now you can figure out who's going to win, and the name is not Gaddafi. Certain things about the mosaic are taking shape. The Western companies are positioning themselves. Five years from now, Libyan production is going to be higher than right now and investments are going to come in." Or so he hopes.

Though accounting for only 2% of world production, Libya is Africa's most oil rich state. Moreover, its high quality is especially valued, and reports suggest vast reserves yet to be explored.

On August 22, New York Times writer Clifford Krauss headlined, "The Scramble for Access to Libya's Oil Wealth Begins," saying:

The fighting hasn't ended, "but the scramble to secure access to Libya's oil wealth has already begun."

In fact, vultures began circling months earlier, believing Libya's corpse was only a matter of time. Perhaps so. Perhaps not. Despite all the hoopla, the jury is very much out.

Nonetheless, besides ENI and ConocoPhillips, other companies wanting back in include Britain's BP, France's Total, Spain's Repsol YPF, Austria's OMV, America's Hess, Marathon, perhaps ExxonMobil, and others.

Excluded will be Russia, Brazil, and especially China on orders from Washington, calling the shots absent Gaddafi, at least for now.

Moreover, the Obama administration and NATO partners prepared a detailed plan for Libya without him, including a United Arab Emirates-supported occupation force, supplemented perhaps by UN Blue Helmets.

In other words, lost Libyan sovereignty will be replaced by paramilitary occupiers under a puppet government serving Western interests, not Libyans. The very notion should inspire continued resistance as in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.

The Mossad-connected DEBKAfile's information can be right or wrong. That said, on August 23, it claimed "(t)housands of fighters from tribes loyal to Qaddafi are reported (to be) streaming to Sabha" in southwestern Libya where some believe Gaddafi may have fled.

"Prominent among them (are) members of his own Gaddadfa tribe," numbering about 100,000, based in Sirte on the coast between Tripoli and Benghazi.

DEBKA said UK, French, Jordanian and Qatari Special Forces "spearheaded the rebel 'killer strike' " on Tripoli and Gaddafi's Bab al-Azaziya compound. It's the first time Western and Arab troops "fought together on the same battlefield in any of the (2011) Arab revolts, and the first ever that Arab forces took part in a NATO operation."

Western elements involved included UK SAS commandos, and France's 2REP (similar to US DELTA force units) along with Jordanian Royal Special forces, "specialists in urban combat and capturing fortified installations...." Qatari special forces are also participating.

Despite other conflicting reports, DEBKA claimed Tripoli is largely under rebel control, adding "there is quite a way to go before the war is over." Based on continuing Afghanistan and Iraq hostilities, maybe longer than DEBKA or others imagine.

On the Progressive Radio News Hour (taped Thursday for Saturday airing), Law Professor Francis Boyle told listeners to expect continued conflict, as well as the danger of greater general war regionally, and perhaps beyond. He's not alone believing it, including Webster Tarpley who sees protracted civil war.

He and others also reject reports that Tripoli is largely in rebel control, saying unresolved street fighting continues.

The Big Lie Vying with Truth and Accuracy

Throughout months of conflict, an information war falsified pro-NATO/insurgent victories.

The idea, of course, is controlling the message, confusing the enemy, and making Libyans as well as populations in NATO countries believe things are going as planned, heading for victory.

In fact, conditions in Tripoli and elsewhere are chaotic. Nothing is resolved, and at issue is whether larger NATO forces will get involved if insurgents can't prevail.

So far, they've created mayhem, supplemented by heavy bombing and strafing. It's also believed that rebel forces incurred heavy casualties. Without air support, they'd have been easily routed.

On August 24, Voice of Russia broadcasting said:

"Russian agencies quote Ukrainian medical workers in (Tripoli) speaking of chaotic shooting, barricad(ing) building(s), carjacking(s) and mass looting around. Residents try to stay indoors."

"Eyewitnesses say armed gangs have ransacked the Embassy of Bulgaria and attacked the Embassy of South Korea and the residential compound of the Ambassador of Ukraine."

Fighting in Tripoli continues. As a result, "(a)nalysts believe it is too early to say that the rebels are in full control...."

So early, in fact, that major media gloating, disinformation, and managed news distort reality on the ground. Moreover, their exposed lies show nothing they report is credible.

The closest thing to truth and accuracy from The New York Times were a few admissions in Anthony Shadid's August 24 article headlined, "After Arab Revolts, Reigns of Uncertainty," saying:

"....Libya's unfinished revolution, as inspiring as it is unsettling, illustrates how perilous that change has become as it unfolds in this phase of the Arab Spring."

Fact check

A Western-instigated insurgency continues, not a revolution. Extremely violent and "unsettling," it's hardly inspiring for millions of Libyans who've suffered hugely since NATO and insurgent killers arrived.

As for the "Arab Spring," at best it hasn't bloomed, not even close, in fact, despite how inspiring it is to people throughout the region to continue struggling for rights long denied them.

Shadid did include a few kernels of truth, calling the TNC leadership "fractured and opaque." He added that enlisting "foreigners" as insurgents is "the kind of intervention that has long been toxic to the Arab world," and transitioning "to a new order (anywhere) may prove....tumultuous."

In Libya, Egypt, Bahrain, Tunisia, and elsewhere in the region, it falls short of exhibiting democratic birth pangs nowhere in sight, what Shadid neglected to mention.

Also omitted was what government spokesman Dr. Moussa Ibrahim explained - that pro-Gaddafi forces control 20 cities and other areas across the country, adding:

"(W)e will continue fighting till Gaddafi comes back to power once again in Libya. The entire leadership is in Tripoli. The lawful armed forces (army and volunteers) control the city."

That's a far different picture from what NATO and Western media liars claim, as well as disreputable academics like Professor Juan Cole, saying in an August 22 article:

"The Libyan Revolution has largely succeeded, and this is a moment of celebration, not only for Libyans but for a youth generation in the Arab world that has pursued a political opening across the region."

"The secret of the uprising's final days of success lay in a popular revolt in the working-class districts of the capital....so (successful, in fact) that when revolutionary brigades entered the city from the west, many encountered little or no resistance, and they walked right into the center of the capital."

The above and Cole's entire article reeks of misinformation, distortions, and ball-faced lies. It represents a shameless display of intellectual dishonesty, combined perhaps with someone who knows better on the take.

Sadly, he's not alone, highlighting Big Lie power and deep pockets backing it - major media regurgitated official discourse in place of truth and accuracy. When repeated enough, it convinces most people unwilling to check facts to believe it.

Most true perhaps is that conditions continue to be fast-moving, fluid, chaotic, violent, and far from resolved. Also true is Gaddafi remains overwhelmingly popular. In addition, Libyans revile NATO and insurgent killers they want no part of. As a result, they may wage a tougher, longer fight than expected.

Whether it's enough to prevail over NATO remains to be seen. What's clear is that most Libyans hope so.

So do others believing everyone has the right to live free from imperial domination.

Maybe the Arab Spring spirit will inspire Libyans and others in the region and elsewhere not to quit. It's their only chance.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected].

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

General Assembly Palestinian Statehood Vote

General Assembly Palestinian Statehood Vote - by Stephen Lendman

Earlier articles discussed it, accessed through the following links:

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2011/04/palestinian-statehood-and-other.html

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2011/04/declaring-independent-palestinian-state.html

They explain that in 1987, Law Professor Francis Boyle was Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) legal advisor in drafting its 1988 Declaration of Independence.

In the late 1980s, he was asked, "Why should the PLO crate an independent state?" He responded, saying:

If you don't, "you will forfeit the moral right to lead your people."

The second link discusses his "CREATE THE STATE OF PALESTINE" Memorandum of Law, describing characteristics for world community recognition. Palestine easily qualifies for statehood and full de jure UN membership.

Delay is neither wise nor right for all Palestinians who deserve it. The time to act is now, no matter how Israel and/or America will contest.

A recent article also said the following, repeated below to explain what's important to understand:

(1) Last March, Israel told UN Security Council members and other prominent EU countries it will act unilaterally if the General Assembly grants Palestine de jure membership in September inside 1967 borders, 22% of historic Palestine.

(2) If granted, Israel will likely deny recognition, continuing its illegal occupation, this time against a sovereign country. Moreover, expect it to accelerate West Bank/East Jerusalem land seizures, isolating Palestinians on smaller portions of worthless scrub land.

(3) While rhetorically favoring Palestinian statehood, Obama categorically rejects PA officials seeking it unilaterally. Instead, he wants Israel to decide its terms, size, locations and timetable. In other words, he supports Israeli veto power over Palestinian rights, including sovereignty. It's an unacceptable/illegal condition under international law.

In a White House statement, he also "emphasized that a vote at the United Nations will never create an independent Palestinian state" even though defying a two-thirds majority General Assembly affirmation is illegal.

Despite his and congressional opposition, Washington earlier provisionally recognized Palestine as an independent nation. According to UN Charter Article 80(1), it can't reverse its position by vetoing a Security Council (SC) resolution calling for Palestine's UN admission.

Any veto is illegal, subject to further SC action under the Charter's Chapter VI. Ultimately, the SC only recommends admissions. The General Assembly affirms them by a two-thirds majority. At this time, enough support exists to get it.

Moreover, UN Charter Article 80(1) and others empower the General Assembly to recognize Palestinian statehood and take all necessary measures to end Israel's illegal occupation. If sovereignty is granted, it's more than ever essential to do so, holding Israel fully accountable for not complying.

Up to now, however, Washington's threatened Security Council veto prevented de jure membership, despite its illegality under international law and its pledge not to do so against any state seeking UN membership.

In fact, the General Assembly has sole authority to admit new members, not the Security Council. If Washington uses its veto as threatened, the GA can circumvent it under the 1950 Uniting for Peace Resolution.

Legal Opinion Believing UN Statehood Threatens Palestinian Rights

On August 24, Ma'an News said:

"The Palestinian team responsible for preparing the United Nations initiative in September (got) an independent legal opinion (warning about) risks involved with its plan to join the UN."

It claims transferring PLO representation to a newly established statehood "will terminate" its legal status held since 1975 as "the sole legitimate" Palestinian representative.

It says doing so will remove an "institution" able to represent "the inalienable rights" of all Palestinians, including diaspora/refugee ones, adding that they'll be "disenfranchise(d)," unable to return home.

Oxford University Professor of Public International Law Guy Goodwin-Gill prepared the opinion. Ma'an News said it claims that the General Assembly can't create an "actual state" under occupation, so debate should focus on whether the Security Council or General Assembly "should be asked to grant" observer status only. In fact, it already has it.

At issue now is full statehood recognition and UN membership. Only the General Assembly can grant it, not the Security Council as explained above.

Yet Goodwin-Gill believes "dramatic legal implications" for Palestinian rights aren't considered if the PLO loses its status, including:

(1) Palestinian National Charter constitutional issues, as well as others relating to the PLO and its entities.

(2) Whether "the State of Palestine (can) effectively take on the role and responsibilities of the PLO in the UN."

(3) Also issues of "popular representation."

His document says the PLO-established Palestinian Authority (PA) "has limited legislative and executive competence, limited territorial jurisdiction, and limited personal jurisdiction over Palestinians not present in the areas for which it has been accorded responsibility."

Moreover, the PA "is a subsidiary body, competent only to exercise those powers conferred on it by the Palestinian National Council. By definition, it does not have the capacity to assume greater powers."

In addition, it can't "dissolve" its parent body or claim independence from the PNC or PLO. Also, the PLO and PNC derive their legitimacy "from the fact that they represent all sectors of the displaced Palestinian people, no matter where they presently live or have refuge."

Goodwin-Gill expressed special concern for Palestinian refugees, represented by the PLO through the PNC.

"They constitute more than half of the people of Palestine, and if they are 'disenfranchised' and lose their (UN) representation....it will not only prejudice their entitlement to equal representation....but also their ability to (air) their views, to participate in matters of national governance, including the formation and political identity of the State, and to exercise their right of return."

Former PLO representative/now Oxford University Professor Karma Nabulsi also expressed concerns, saying:

"Without question, no Palestinian will accept losing such core rights for such a limited diplomatic initiative in September. First, we will hot have liberated territory, (and by) losing the PLO as the sole legitimate (UN) representative....our people immediately lose our claims as refugees to be part of our official representation, recognized by the world."

She added that knowing the legal dangers should lead to an initiative that "will protect the status of the PLO" and rights of all Palestinians.

The PLO represents them all, not selective parts only. It also established the PA. Changes in who represents Palestinians "require an expression of the popular will and international recognition."

Assuring new rights gained in September loses no current ones is crucial she and Goodwin-Gill believe.

Supporters of Palestinian rights surely agree, including Professor Francis Boyle.

An international law/human rights law expert, his important book, "Palestine, Palestinians and International Law," covers a wealth of information, including the relevant legal history since 1987.

In an email to this writer after reading the Ma'an News article, he said:

"I have not read (Goodwin-Gill's) memo itself. But from (the Ma'an News) report, unfortunately, this lawyer is not aware of all the safeguards I built into the 15 November 1988 Palestinian Declaration of Independence to make sure that his doomsday scenario does not materialize."

In other words, despite Goodwin-Gill's good intentions, his fears are ill-founded as long as the PA's September bid includes all legal protections Boyle provided for them 23 years earlier.

That said, it's vital they proceed as planned. All Palestinians deserve what they've been long denied, and with enough support can get it.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected].

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

NATO's Planned Bloodbath in Tripoli

NATO'S Planned Bloodbath In Tripoli - by Stephen Lendman

NATO intends to get the bloodbath it wants through intensified terror bombing and low-level strafing of civilians and nonmilitary sites.

No matter that it grossly violates international and constitutional law, what Washington-led member states long ago trashed.

Through August 22, air operations included 19,877 sorties and 7,505 strike ones, with no elaboration of their intensity or deadliness. What is known is that powerful, high-explosive munitions are used, able to cause deadly force casualties and destruction.

In recent days, strikes intensified. Without them, rebels would disintegrate and collapse. Most of them are little more than ragtag mercenary hooligans, imperial tools, used for what won't benefit them.

It's largely true of all wars, especially America's waged for conquest, dominance, plunder and exploitation, never for democracy or humanitarian reasons Washington doesn't give a damn about and never did.

NATO is no different. Established in April 1949, a previous article said it calls itself a "political and military alliance for peace and security."

In fact, it was more for offense than defense. Cold War hysteria was contrived to incite fear and assure an arms race for corporate enrichment. Napoleon once said, "Men are moved by two levers only: fear and self-interest."

Until the Soviet Union dissolved, communism was the alleged enemy. Today it's terrorism, as bogus now as then. Both, however, were used for hugely profitable imperial wars from Korea to Libya to numerous proxy ones, as well as trillions of dollars for military readiness - in fact, scandalous amounts in America without enemies for justification since WW II.

Strategically intervening under US control, NATO, in fact, threatens world peace and human survival. In November 2010, Robert Griffiths, general secretary of Britain's Communist Party (CPB) said:

Under NATO, "(a) global military and reconnaissance infrastructure is being created to support US, British and western European big business interests, especially energy, financial and armaments monopolies." What began "as a cold war provocation against a non-existent Soviet threat (now) invent(s) or exaggerat(es) threats from so-called failed or rogue states, Islamic fundamentalism and cyber-terrorism."

Petre Ignat, general secretary of the New Communist Party of Romania, called for NATO's disbandment, saying:

"We cannot and will not recognize such a murderous alliance, with such a horrible track record....which includes the murder of thousands of innocent civilians in places like Bosnia, Yugoslavia and Afghanistan. We cannot and will not recognize an alliance which, through its aggressive policy of expanding East and setting up new military bases there, through its gross interference in other countries' internal affairs, through its gross violation of international law, can only increase the likelihood of an inter-imperialist war between Western imperialism and emerging capitalist powers, like Russia."

Its original member countries included America, the five (1948) Treaty of Brussels states (Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg), Canada, Portugal, Italy, Denmark and Iceland. It's now expanded to 28 states and dozens of partners, threatening world peace and stability.

Membership, however, is a bonanza for Western and Israeli weapons industries as current members and entering states must maintain modern arsenals to state-of-the art readiness, despite no enemies except ones Washington creates to wage wars.

Today, Libya is Exhibit A for NATO lawlessness, attacking a nonbelligerent country for colonization, dominance and plunder, not liberation. Libyans resolve to resist, doing what they can despite ferocious air attacks.

On August 22, government spokesman Musa Ibrahim said Sunday casualties included 1,300 killed, another 5,000 or more wounded. Local hospitals can't keep up, yet casualties mount as street fighting continues.

The Australian AP quoted Hugo Chavez denouncing NATO's war, saying:

Western powers are "destroying Tripoli with their bombs," while street clashes continue. He added that bombs are "falling on schools, hospitals, workplaces, and farmland."

"Let's pray to God for the Libyan people....They're practically demolishing Tripoli with their bombs" to take over another country. "It's the excuse to intervene and seize (it) and its riches."

Independent journalists on the ground are threatened and targeted. They've also been confined to their hotel, knowing exposure risks being shot by snipers. They're marked men and women, making it essential they get help to leave. It's too unsafe to stay.

In a morning email, Lizzie Phelan said:

"I am extremely exhausted, confused, a little scared, and I was feeling a little nervous about making the necessary political points (on Press TV live with this writer Monday morning) because of the present situation."

Nonetheless, she felt buoyed being on air with a friend and supporter. She called it "massively reassuring and a timely reminder amidst my exhaustion of what we are fighting for."

She also highlighted the death and injury toll. In the past two days alone, it surpassed Israel's three-week Cast Lead slaughter. Moreover, much more is likely, besides the last six months toll, ravaging populated Libyan areas without letup.

What greater reason to indict NATO as a killing machine, a destructive US-led evil force everyone needs to understand, condemn, and struggle to abolish.

As long as this monster exists, no one anywhere is safe!

On August 21, Voltaire Network's Thierry Meyssan headlined, "NATO carnage in Tripoli," reporting on what he witnessed firsthand, saying:

On August 20, NATO launched "Operation Mermaid Dawn."

"The Sirens were the mosque loud speakers which were used to launch Al Qaeda's call to revolt against the Gaddafi government. Immediately 'sleeper cells' went into action. Organized in small, highly mobile, groups, they carried out multiple attacks."

The overnight toll left about 350 killed, another 3,000 wounded. Early Sunday, conditions stabilized ahead of greater evening violence, supported by NATO drones, other aircraft, and "helicopters straf(ing) civilians in the streets with machine guns to clear the way for the jihadis."

Ahead of the attacks, "a NATO warship....anchored just off the shore of Tripoli, delivering heavy weapons and debarking Al Qaeda jihadi forces, which were led by NATO officers."

The Rixos hotel where Meyssan, other independent journalists, and Western ones stay came "under heavy fire." By evening, another 1,300 dead and 5,000 wounded were reported. The toll keeps mounting.

UN Resolution 1973 empowering NATO to protect Libyans, in fact, facilitated their slaughter.

Heavy fighting is reported in Tripoli. Independent journalists are threatened with death, supported by NATO and rogue Western journalists. They're known, so if exposed outside, they face execution. Mahdi Nazemroaya had a near miss. Franklin Lamb was wounded in the leg. He's OK and recovering.

Nazemroaya said he "was putting up a sign on top of (his) hotel. (He) took the initiative to do that and write 'Press' (on it) - and a sniper shot at" him.

Other than during NATO bombing and strafing, he believes Libyans will fight to defend their country. The possibility of being NATO ruled is too intolerable to accept.

It's an exploitive killing machine, wanting Libyans exploited, not liberated. At 5PM Monday Tripoli time, Franklin Lamb told Press TV that large explosions were heard nearby, likely 1,000-pound bombs, he believed.

On August 22, Nazemroaya's Global Research.ca article headlined, "Western Media Complicit in NATO's 'Humanitarian Bloodbath,' " saying:

He and other foreign journalists are trapped in their hotel "as practically all the staff and security personnel have run for their lives."

Calling the situation "critical," he expected "the next several hours (to) be decisive."

Despite ongoing intense NATO bombing and strafing civilians, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon brazenly called conditions in Libya "a hopeful moment," shamelessly calling on Gaddafi to cease fighting and surrender.

A NATO tool, he opposes his right of self-defense, adding that he'll tried by the International Criminal Court. In fact, it's an imperial tribunal, a hanging one, convicting by accusation. At the same time, it absolves Western war criminals entirely, solely targeting their victims.

Nazemroaya said NATO's using "Yugoslavian" tactics against Libya, "bombing out military and civil infrastructure to clear the way for the rebels."

"NATO (heavy bombing and strafing) did all the work here....and their leaders must be help accountable as war criminals for killing civilians."

At the same time, Washington and its NATO partners turn a blind eye to atrocities in Bahrain, Egypt under military junta rule, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, other pro-Western rogue states, and Israel's crimes of war and against humanity against Palestinians.

Nazemroaya and other independent journalists are endangered. As a result, they need exit help to leave. Their lives are literally on the line.

He said "(t)wo of Gaddafi's sons have been arrested with some reports suggesting the leader himself is in a specialist cardiac unit in a town 14 kilometers east of (Tripoli). Following a night of chaos in the capital, crowds have gathered in the city's central square waving revolutionary flags."

On Sunday, Gaddafi appealed to Libyans to deter the rebel offensive, saying:

"It is the obligation of all Libyans. It is a question of life or death."

He's made past similar appeals. It bears observing. At most, hundreds of insurgents (as few perhaps as three or four hundred) now terrorize Tripoli because of heavy NATO support. Without it, they'd be easily routed.

The situation remains chaotic, violent and fluid. Events are fast-moving. What appears one way can shift quickly to another.

Moreover, Gaddafi isn't at issue. Libyans will decide their fate, not him, TNC turncoats, insurgents, or NATO, though a long liberation struggle may lie ahead.

Nonetheless, a shameless August 22 White House statement said:

"The people of Libya are showing that the universal pursuit of dignity and freedom is far stronger than the iron fist of a dictator."

In fact, if justice prevailed, Obama, Cameron, Sarkozy, and other NATO war criminals would face international court prosecutions for waging war against humanity.

Ongoing ruthlessly for over six months against Libyans alone, it rages lawlessly out of control because justice humanity cries for is denied.

Unless gotten, people everywhere won't be free. The stakes are that high.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected].

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

New York Times: Lying about Libya and Palestine

New York Times: Lying about Libya and Palestine - by Stephen Lendman

Note: A follow-up article will continue the narrative below. Currently, events in Tripoli are fluid.

Progressive Radio News Hour contributor Mahdi Nazemroaya's overnight email said:

"NATO landed insurgents in (Tripoli) harbor. They are attacking my hotel. I almost got shot. They're still lying a lot (about claims of controlling the capital), but we are in real danger."

He's saying that armed guerrilla gangs, mercenaries, indistinguishable from (also armed) Tripoli residents, are waging street warfare.

Russia Today reported about 1,300 deaths. No one knows for sure. However, events are fast-moving and chaotic.

On Russia Today, Nazemroaya also said heavy looting occurred, including insurgents breaking into hotel rooms and ransacking them. In addition, he said NATO WANTS A BLOODBATH.

In fact, they're getting one, exacerbated by intense terror bombing, deliberately targeting civilians.

"Myself, the Press TV journalist (Lizzie Phelan), three French nationals, the Cuban and Telesur journalists are in danger."

"One of my French colleagues was told: 'You are going to suffer the consequences of your actions for opposing the NATO war."

Sunday, on Russia Today, Nazemroaya said he was told that CNN said he personally would pay for opposing the war.

REPEAT: CNN THREATENED MADHI NAZEMROAYA FOR REPORTING TRUTHFULLY ABOUT EVENTS ON THE GROUND, NOT THE PRO-NATO PROPAGANDA CNN (THE NEW YORK TIMES, AND OTHER MAJOR MEDIA) REPORT DAILY.

What's ongoing in Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Palestine, as well as throughout North Africa/the Middle East/Central Asia is part of a COUP D'ETAT AGAINST FREEDOM - PLANNED, ORCHESTRATED AND DIRECTED FROM WASHINGTON.

Below covers the situation through Sunday PM. The narrative aims directly at shameless New York Times propaganda.

Rather than not send out because new events alter the picture I present, I believe it's nonetheless important to do so because:

(1) The New York Times, CNN and rest of the major media are part of Washington/NATO's war against freedom.

(2) They publish or broadcast falsified pro-war reports.

(3) They shamelessly support crimes of war and against humanity.

(4) On the ground "reporters" have provided NATO with bombing coordinates.

As a result, at the risk of inaccuracies because of subsequent events, the original article written Sunday begins as follows:

There they go again. Another day, more lies, shameless ones. Their correspondents prostitute themselves daily, making street whores, pimps, and dope peddlers look respectable in comparison.

On August 19, David Kirkpatrick headlined, "Qaddafi's Hold in Tripoli in Doubt as Rebels Advance," saying:

Gaddafi's "hold on his Tripoli stronghold shows signs of slipping....Residents (believe his) flight or ouster could be imminent. Three people said the feeling of fear was ebbing in the streets," suggesting it's because they think he'll soon be gone in contrast to the vast majority of supportive Tripoli residents, besides 85% of Libyans overall.

According to Kirkpatrick, "(w)ith unexpected swiftness, the ill-trained and ill-equiped rebels....overtook Zawiyah with its enormous oil refinery, just 30 miles west of Tripoli."

He quoted an unnamed US official saying, "Qaddafi might not know what he's going to do from one day to the next."

The article discussed other advances, existing solely in the mind of the Pentagon propagandist and unnamed US official who fed Kirkpatrick this rubbish he published.

On August 20, Kareem Fahim and Kirkpatrick headlined, "Heavy Fighting Reported in Tripoli; Rebels Encircle City," saying:

"For the first time in months, witnesses in Tripoli reported heavy fighting across the capital late Saturday night, even as rebel forces claimed to have encircled the city by taking major towns to its east, west and south."

According to "rebel leader" Anwar Fekini, "We are coordinating the attacks inside, and our forces from outside are ready to enter Tripoli."

On August 21, Kareem Fahim headlined, "Libyan Rebels Pass Defense Ring Near Tripoli," saying:

"Libyan rebels advanced to within 10 miles of Tripoli on Sunday, pushing past the city's outer defense lines and vowing to combine forces with insurgents who have waged intense battles inside the city," Gaddafi's "final stronghold."

As previous articles stressed, these reports read more like bad fiction than true accounts of conditions on the ground, exposing lies about alleged rebel victories.

Stratfor Global Intelligence (SGI) offered a mixed analysis, discounting notions of Gaddafi's imminent collapse, while nonsensically suggesting nonexistent rebel "advanc(es) toward Tripoli," indicating they "may be beginning an attempt to lay siege on the Libyan capital" and claim victory.

At the same time, SGI admits a "rebel disinformation campaign....in full swing....designed to trigger an uprising from within the capital to facilitate the rebel invasion....A lot of loose talk (about) a lot of explosions in Tripoli can be expected in the meantime."

In fact, Stratfor tried having it both ways, claiming rebel victories based on "disinformation," then exposing them as lies.

A Reality Check

On August 20, Progressive Radio News contributor Mahdi Nazemroaya's Global Research.ca article headlined, "Rebel Advances on Tripoli is Media Disinformation," saying:

Rebel disinformation claims "(h)eavy gunfire and explosions" in Tripoli. By the end of August, they say a final battle to take the city could begin. Other falsified reports indicate fighting in several city neighborhoods, including Tajoura, Soug Jomaa and Arada.

In fact, besides ongoing NATO bombing, "gunfire in the Libyan capital is sporadic and disorganized." Its main purpose "is to break down the morale here and cause panic."

"The media here at the hotel where I am staying have been part of this disinformation campaign. They just want to feed the panic here and want the regime to collapse. They are fueling and feeding this psychological war against this country."

At the same time, Libyans overwhelmingly support Gaddafi, determined to resist efforts to oust him. New York Times and other media sources, however, never report it. Instead, they lie, doing it shamelessly and badly.

Appearing August 20 on Russia Today (RT.com), Nazemroaya confirmed sporadic gunfire only, adding:

"It's not organized, and it's meant only to break down the morale" of Tripoli residents "and cause panic....In fact, the (major) media" are a key part of the disinformation campaign.

"They're talking about airlifts. (They're) saying migratory workers want to flee Tripoli. That's not true at all. They just want to (create) panic and make the regime collapse....They want Tripoli to be in panic. That's their whole aim," also spreading other lies "to cause trauma, (and) that's the truth."

"It's NATO that's doing all the fighting" with relentless daily bombing, mostly targeting civilians, "civilian checkpoints that are mostly protected and manned by volunteers," and civilian infrastructure.

"But when the media say insurgents are moving in, that's not correct. It's NATO that's doing all the hard work here." Except for scattered elements, rebels won't "come into Tripoli. The population (is committed) to oppose them," and well armed by Gaddafi to do it.

"This is a NATO operation," controlling everything, rebels taking orders from them. Reporters are giving bombing coordinates to NATO, including civilian checkpoints, hospitals, and other nonmilitary targets to terrorize Libyans into submission.

"The media here are part of the war machine."

Also appearing August 20 on RT, Franklin Lamb said he just returned from traveling all around Tripoli. "There's no heavy fighting" as falsely reported. "There is sporadic bombing every hour" or so, and some anti-aircraft fire. "It's clear that the rebels are not here....Now it's very quiet." Claiming rebels are there "is nonsense."

On the same day, independent journalist Lizzie Phelan told RT:

Tripoli gunfire and fireworks now heard is celebratory among Gaddafi supporters, not falsified claims of rebel attacks.

Earlier there were some scattered rebel fighters in the city, perhaps sleeper cells awaiting orders. Libya's government calls them gangs. "They've now been cleared out of the city, captured and arrested."

"The only explosions (heard are) from NATO bombing and sound bombs to create a sense of panic....Now what we're hearing happened earlier today is that the rebels (by) their own media, their own channels, including Al Jazeera at the center of the media conspiracy, is that they created some fake footage inside Zawiya, claiming they're (there) and in Tripoli."

It was done to create panic. Scattered rebel gangs began firing and threatening people, saying they'd be assassinated if they didn't join them.

Other "armed Libyans came out to defend their capital." Control was reestablished. Now people are out because they feel safe again, showing relief with fireworks and celebratory gunfire, ready to resist other rebel attacks if they come.

Gaddafi also spoke live by phone, insisting he's alive, well, and inside the country. Moreover, "NATO isn't having any successes on the ground, so (their only recourse) is to fabricate them by (media lies) to convince the Security Council and most people that the war is worthwhile."

Since the beginning of the conflict, "people have been armed to the teeth," using weapons Gaddafi supplied. They're "ready to defend their capital and country, and stand by their leader Muammar Gaddafi."

They understand the unacceptable alternative. As a result, they're committed to fight to prevent it.

Phalen's Sunday report said scattered fighting continues. In other words, rebel pockets claim advances not made, solely for media-spread propaganda purposes to incite panic in Tripoli.

Residents are too smart to buy it. Well-armed and committed, they're ready to defend their city and country, unwilling to surrender to NATO, rebel cutthroats, and media liars.

Suppressing Information about Israel's Crimes

On August 20, Times writers Isabel Kershner and Fares Akram headlined, "Casualties on Both Sides as Israel and Gaza Trade Fire," saying:

"Palestinian militants from Gaza fired rockets at cities deep inside Israeli territory on Saturday, killing one person. And Israel struck a squad that was firing mortars from northern Gaza as violence continued in the wake of an attack on Thursday that killed eight Israelis, Israeli officials said."

Instead of explaining what's really ongoing, both writers suggested Palestinians are at fault, responsible for killing Israelis, when, in fact, they had nothing to do with it.

As a result, they implied support for Israel's right to respond violently, saying nothing about its plan to assassinate Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) leaders, willfully target civilians and nonmilitary infrastructure, and perhaps continue relentless attacks.

Why?

To derail Palestinian UN General Assembly efforts for self-determination and de jure member status.

End weeks of nationwide protests for social justice issues Netanyahu won't address.

Perhaps also prevent a possible Palestinian spring and provide pretext for Cast Lead II.

Both writers, in fact, steered clear of Israeli motives, said little about Palestinian casualties, nothing about years of Gaza under siege, Israel's planned slow-motion genocide, nor explain extreme human suffering too severe to ignore.

Instead, they changed the subject, covering IDF attacks against "Hamas training facilities, weapons manufacturing sites, smugglers' tunnels, and rocket and mortar teams preparing to attack," ending their brief report, saying:

"Some 50 rockets have been fired at Israel since Thursday. (Saturday) evening, a rocket that hit a house in Ofakim wounded three, including an infant and a child."

Implied was that only Israeli casualties matter, not horrific ones inflicted regularly on Palestinians.

Not only do Times writers lie, they airbrush uncomfortable truths about Washington and Israeli crimes, betraying their readers and profession in the process.

A Final Comment

Judith Miller's fall from grace taught Times correspondents nothing. Like her, they're again in full battle mode, scamming their readers by publishing Pentagon press releases, not accurate reports, disgracing themselves in the process.

And if Times reports proliferate lies, imagine what other media sources provide, especially US television news and information. It's little more than a bottomless profane sinkhole of worthlessness.

Tune it out, avoid it, and prevent a bad aftertaste and self-flagellation.

Instead, stay informed. Spread the truth and act on it responsibly.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected].

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Palestinian Right of Self-Defense

Palestinian Right of Self-Defense - by Stephen Lendman

Repeatedly, Israel preemptively bombs, shells, and inflicts other forms of lawless violence on Gazans, bogusly claiming self-defense.

When they respond, Israel calls it terrorism, claiming justification for greater attacks in "self-defense," what international law prohibits.

In fact, UN Charter Article 2(4) says:

"All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations."

Only two exceptions apply. Under Chapter VII, the Security Council may authorize force to restore peace. Individual states must abide by Chapter VII, Article 51 stating:

"Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security. Measures taken by Members in the exercise of this right of self-defense shall be immediately reported to the Security Council and shall not in any way affect the authority and responsibility of the Security Council under the present Charter to take at any time such action as it deems necessary in order to maintain or restore international peace and security."

In addition, individual states may use defensive force against armed attacks until the Security Council acts. No other exceptions apply, including armed reprisals. Calling them unlawful, the General Assembly said all states must refrain from using them.

The right of self-defense is limited solely to deterring armed attacks, preventing future ones after initial assaults, or reversing the consequences of enemy aggression, such as ending an illegal occupation.

Even then, however, force must conform to the principles of necessity, distinction, and proportionality.

Necessity permits only attacking military targets.

Distinction pertains to distinguishing between civilian and military ones.

Proportionality prohibits disproportionate force likely to damage nonmilitary sites and/or harm civilian lives.

Moreover, a fourth consideration requires preventing unnecessary suffering, especially affecting noncombatant civilians.

If these objective aren't possible, attacks are prohibited.

Moreover, to a limited degree, anticipatory self-defense is permitted when compelling evidence shows likely imminent threats or further attacks after initial ones.

However, attackers bear burden of proof responsibility, most often failing the test as America always did post-WW II. Israel also, without exception, since its preemptive 1947-48 "war of independence."

In fact, it was naked aggression against another country, stealing 78% of it from its citizens, the UN's 1947 Partition Plan notwithstanding, granting 56% of historic Palestine to Jews, as well as designating Jerusalem an international city under a UN Trusteeship Council.

The UN Charter also explains under what conditions intervention, violence and coercion are justified. None exist in Palestine now or ever. Claiming an "inherent right" is also bogus under international law.

In addition, Article 2(3) and Article 33(1) require peaceful settlements of international disputes, not preemptive attacks. Article 2(4), in fact, prohibits force or its threatened use, including violent interventions of any kind.

Further, Articles 2(3), 2(4), and 33 absolutely prohibit instigating any unilateral or other external threat or use of force not specifically allowed under Article 51 or otherwise authorized by the Security Council. Doing so is naked aggression.

America and Israel are serial offenders. In response, Iraqis, Afghans, Pakistanis, Libyans, Somalis, Yemenis, and Palestinians may legally respond defensively to preemptive armed aggression.

When done, however, it's called terrorism. Aggressors make their own rules. Targeted states are doubly victimized, suffering armed attack effects, then vilified for defending themselves. It amounts to a shocking damned if you do or don't fate.

Lawless Israeli Aggression

Since August 18, Israel lawlessly bombed and shelled Gaza preemptively, falsely blaming Palestinians for multiple Israeli attacks. In fact, they bear classic false flag characteristics, notably because compelling reasons existed to launch them.

Ongoing for four days, mounting casualties include 19 Palestinians dead and 50 or more injured, mostly civilians in harms way or willfully targeted to inflict pain and suffering.

Besides violating UN Charter Article 51, Israel also defiled Fourth Geneva's Article 33 stating:

"No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited....Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited."

No matter. Israel willfully violates this and other international law provisions, committing preemptive armed aggression against Palestinian civilians, including using illegal weapons.

On August 19, The Palestine Monitor headlined, "Attacks on Gaza continue: 'I've never seen shrapnel wounds like this before," saying:

On Friday night alone, over a dozen air attacks struck multiple Gaza sites, including a civilian car, killing a family of three - a doctor, his five-year old son and others.

Media coordinator for Gaza's medical service, Adham Abu Salmiya, said Israel is using new kinds of weapons. Doctors reported unusual injuries, resulting in increased amputations.

Maha Elbanna, a Gaza City based Palestinian/American journalist noted images of wounded victims looking especially gruesome, saying:

"There is a picture of a teenage girl with shrapnel cuts in her face that are very deep, like I've never seen before. I have seen shrapnel wounds before and these are very strange."

In fact, weapons used may be high explosive Dense Inert Metal Explosive (DIME) ones made out of a tungsten alloy. Used during Cast Lead, they have enormous explosive power, enough to cut people struck to pieces.

In 2006, they were first used in Lebanon and Gaza. They not only kill and mutilate, their toxins cause a long-term cancer threat.

Flechette munitions possibly also were used - 4cm-long darts used as anti-personnel weapons. They penetrate to the bone, causing multiple horrific injuries. Up to 8,000 can be packed into one artillery shell. After exploding, they travel at high speed in multiple directions up to around 300 meters.

DIME and flechette munitions are terror weapons, violating the letter and spirit of international law.

Albanna added that "(t)here is so much damage across Gaza - in the north, south and in Gaza City....So far, there is no evidence that anyone in Gaza is responsible for what happened."

Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, Palestinian National Initiative Secretary-General said:

"This is a campaign that is turning into a massacre and civilian areas are targeted."

Among other nonmilitary targets, Israelis struck a concrete factory, gravely injuring two civilians. Barghouthi and Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS) doctors called on the international community to demand an immediate cease fire.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas requested a special Security Council session to stop Israel's naked aggression.

In response, Gazans launched Qassam and Grad rockets as well as mortars, hardly an adequate defense against F-16s, Apache helicopter gunships, tanks and other high-tech weapons, ones Israel uses lawlessly against civilians.

On August 20, Haaretz said a Be'er Sheva home was struck Saturday night, causing one death and four injuries.

Another rocket slightly wounded two children. In total since Thursday evening, dozens of Qassam and Grad rockets, as well as numerous mortar rounds were fired at southern Israel, wounding about 16 Israelis. Areas in and around Be'er Sheva, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Eshkol and Sha'ar Hanegev were struck. Casualties and damage caused hardly compared to what Israel inflicted on Gaza, taking an enormous toll as always.

More was inflicted Sunday when Israel struck Beit Lahia, injuring seven Palestinians, besides causing extensive damage from four days of attacks, more perhaps to come.

On August 21, Haaretz said eight senior Israeli cabinet ministers met Saturday night to discuss escalated attacks on Gaza. Cast Lead II perhaps?

Also on August 21, opposition Kadima MKs demanded Israel "launch a (large-scale) military campaign" against Gaza.

MK Shaul Mofaz (former Defense Minister and IDF Chief of General Staff) said steps must be taken to "topple (Hamas') infrastructures and create a system of ties with Egypt in order to prevent terrorism coming from its border."

In other words, when in doubt, attack. Perhaps Cast Lead II indeed. Considering Israel's horrific crimes of war and humanity last time, imagine what now may be planned.

No matter. World leaders remain silent. As usual, an August 18 White House Press statement blamed Palestinian victims the way Obama wrongfully condemned Gaddafi to justify lawless US/NATO aggression.

On August 21, Haaretz writer Yossi Sarid headlined, "Israel is isolating itself from all its Mideast allies," saying:

Israel lashed out indiscriminately, blaming everyone but itself. "Hamas is to blame because it is reponsible for everything (in) Gaza." So is Islamic Jihad. "(I)t's the (PA's) fault because it agreed (to) unite with Hamas (for) a joint government. Al Qaeda is the guilty party because" it's everywhere, "and Egypt, too, bears responsibility" because they haven't acted against "terror."

Israel's capacity for making enemies may ultimately be its undoing, leaving it isolated and reviled. For its many victims, it can't happen a moment too soon.

A Final Comment

Some good news and bad. First the bad. On August 20, Israeli forces invaded Hebron, breaking into dozens of homes, searching and damaging them, as well as arresting about 120 residents, mostly Hamas political leaders and supporters.

Now the good. On August 21, Haaretz writer Hila Raz headlined, "Israeli activists: Social protests must continue despite escalation of" violence, saying:

"Despite the escalation of violence in the south, the tent protesters are determined to keep fighting for social justice, said organizers over the weekend."

Tel Aviv protest leader Stav Shafir said:

"We'll need to find new and creative ways to protest. For many years, Israeli society got used to giving in due to security issues....Because the protest is so strong, fierce, and affects all layers of society, we understand that if we don't continue, things will be worse."

Indeed so. As a result, staying the course is crucial to have any hope for success. National Student Union leader Itzik Shmueli said:

"The goal is to get the government to fix matters such as health care, education and housing....There's no reason for the protests to die out. We have a very powerful weapon on our side - the truth."

Hopefully that spirit won't wane despite Israel's objective to crush it. In fact, it was present Saturday night, YNet News saying Tel Aviv "protesters march(ed) under red banners....chanting time-honored slogans from the oeuvre of the pacifist hard Left." They included:

"Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies."

"We demand social justice in both Israel and the Territories."

"Let us live in dignity in both Gaza and Ashdod," and

"No to another war that will bury the protest."

Imagine that spirit inspiring all Israelis. It's already present in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, so why not throughout all Eretz Yisrael.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected].

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Another Israeli False Flag?

Another Israeli False Flag? - by Stephen Lendman

Mossad and Shin Bet (Israel's Security Agency) have long, odious histories of committing them. More on that below.

At issue now is whether the August 18 bus and other attacks inside Israel were committed by external elements or Israel, and if so, why?

Also at issue always is cui bono? In fact, Hamas and various Palestinian resistance groups have nothing to gain. Clearly Israel benefits greatly at least two ways:

(1) The upcoming September UN General Assembly vote on Palestinian self-determination Israel very much wants to derail.

(2) Weeks of nationwide internal social justice protests Netanyahu also wants to diffuse and end.

Both are compelling reasons for employing tried and true tactics - change the subject by diverting public attention.

In this case, scaring people enough to put safety above pocket book issues, as well as getting UN member states perhaps to rethink the wisdom of supporting Palestinian sovereignty at this time, with Israel allegedly under attack.

Whether it works will be known when the UN General Assembly meets in September. What's clear is that last March, Israel informed all Security Council members and prominent EU countries that if Palestinian self-determination efforts within 1967 borders persisted, unilateral Israeli steps would follow, implying harsh ones.

In addition, diffusing social justice protests temporarily worked based on an August 18 Reuters report, saying:

Campaigners "called off planned weekend demonstrations against the high cost of living after a series of terror attacks in the south left seven people dead."

Of concern is how to reignite protest energy after it wanes, even for a short time. Resumption often lacks initial levels of passion, mass support, and commitment to stay the course, especially when people have other daily priorities, besides worrying whether their country is under attack.

Add it up and it suggests classic false flag reasons, perhaps with planned follow-up attacks for reinforcement. They're likely if Israel also has another objective in mind - using the attacks as pretext for Cast Lead II.

Israel blamed the Gaza-based Popular Resistance Committees (PRC - a coalition of resistance factions) for launching internal attacks.

PRC spokesman Abu Mujahid told AFP:

"We salute (the operation) and we are proud of it, but we do not claim it. The occupation wants to pin (it) on us in order to escape its own internal problems."

Hamas also denied responsibility, spokesman Taher al-Nunu telling AFP:

"These (unfounded) accusations are an attempt to distract from the Israeli domestic crisis."

As expected, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak pointed fingers, despite no corroborating evidence, saying:

"The source of the terror incidents is Gaza and we will act against them with all our strength and determination."

Also as expected, New York Times coverage was pro-Israeli. On August 19, Heba Afify and Isabel Kershner headlined, "A Long Peace Is Threatened in Israel Attack," saying:

"A cross-border terrorist attack and an Israeli retaliation (threatened) to undermine" peace with Egypt, with no evidence, except rhetoric, to suggest either.

Afify and Kershner implied Israel was right, saying "attackers were Palestinians from Gaza who had crossed into Israel from the Egyptian Sinai, an assertion Egypt rejected."

Based on no evidence whatever, Israel's scripted story is that Gaza-based "terror" operations "began weeks" earlier, likely "involv(ing) 10 to 15 terrorists," entering Israel "with rifles, explosive belts, grenades, (and) heavier weapons."

Yet Times writers didn't question how they managed unspotted, given tight Israeli security and high-tech surveillance, assassinating children and farmers on the slightest pretext.

As for a "long peace," there's been none for decades. Daily, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) and other human rights organizations document regular Israeli bombings, shellings, Cast Lead, Mavi Marmara and other massacres, shootings, targeted assassinations, other attacks, casualties, incursions, Gaza under siege, mass arrests, illegal settlement expansions, bulldozed homes, theft of Palestinian land, dispossessions, and overall Israeli lawlessness - enforcing militarized hell on Palestinians, not peace.

On August 19, PCHR discussed Israel's response to internal August 18 attacks, saying:

Israeli forces "launched a series of air attacks against civilian-populated areas in the Gaza Strip," including "extra-judicially executing Kamal al-Nairab, Secretary General of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), 4 PRC leaders and a two-year old child...."

Other strikes injured 23 Palestinians, including seven children, six women and three police officers.

On August 20, various news agencies said Israeli air attacks and shelling raised the death toll to 16 and counting. In response, Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades armed wing suspended its unilateral ceasefire, a spokesman saying:

"There can be no truce with the Israeli occupation while it commits massacres against the Palestinian people without justification."

In fact, blaming victims, lawlessness, violence, crimes of war and against humanity, collective punishment, intimidation, attacking unarmed civilians, and overall brutality are Israeli specialties. Combined, they define a rogue state, defiant of international law principles, pursuing its own interests extrajudicially, and getting away with it.

Gazans now worry about a possible Cast Lead II, Israel using perhaps false flag attacks as pretext to launch it. Again, it's the oldest trick in the book, Israel expert at it like America.

Previous Israeli Targeted Assassinations and False Flags

An Israeli specialty, they began well before 1948 during the Mandatory Palestine period when Jewish terrorist groups targeted Jews, Brits and Arabs. Involved were paramilitary Hagana members, Irgun headed by future prime minister Menachem Begin, and Lehi (also called the Stern Gang) led by another future prime minister, Yitzhak Shamir. They were rogue killers before entering politics.

In November 1944, Lehi assassinated Lord Moyne, Britain's Middle East minister of state, near his home in Cairo.

In September 1948, it also killed UN mediator Folke Bernadotte in Jerusalem, five months after Israel was established. Yitzhak Shamir personally approved the assassination.

In July 1946, Irgun bombed the King David Hotel, massacring 92 Brits, Arabs and Jews, wounding 58 others, an operation future prime minister David Ben-Gurion approved as head of the Jewish Agency at the time.

Before and after May 1948, many thousands of targeted killings occurred or were attempted, most little remembered today except among relatives and their descendants.

Little wonder Israel's history is so bloodstained, involving individual and mass killings, including on April 9, 1948 (during Israel's "war of independence") when Irgun, Lehi and complicit terrorists slaughtered well over 120 Palestinian men, women and children in the bloody Deir Yassin village massacre. On April 14, The New York Times reported 254 killed.

Post-1948, Palestinian supporters were targeted regionally and in Europe. Waves of successful and attempted assassinations occurred, notably against high-profile figures.

In 1954, Israeli agents in Egypt planted bombs in various buildings, including US and UK facilities, using evidence to implicate Arabs. The so-called Lavon Affair failed when a device prematurely detonated, letting Egyptians capture and identify one of the bombers. In turn, it led to rounding up an Israeli spy ring.

More recently, Hamas member Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was killed in Dubai after two earlier failed attempts. Abu-Dhabi's the National reported he was poisoned, drugged, and suffocated after previously surviving a failed shooting. Found dead in a Dubai hotel on January 20, 2010, police accused Mossad of murder.

Earlier incidents included Palestinians Abdel Wael Zwaiter, shot 11 times by Israeli agents in Rome after returning home from dinner. It was the first of dozens of retaliatory assassinations against persons suspected of involvement in the 1972 Munich summer Olympic killings of Israeli athletes, coaches and officials, allegedly by Black September members, a resistance, not a terrorist organization.

On June 14, 1980, Yahia El Meshad, then head of Iraq's nuclear program, was found bludgeoned to death in his Paris hotel room. No one was arrested, but French authorities named Israeli intelligence.

On August 20, 1983, Mamoun Meraish was shot and killed while driving in Athens. Israeli agents were blamed.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Mossad was implicated in numerous Beirut and other car bombings, one of its specialities.

On January 6, 2007, Haaretz reported that newly released British documents claim Shin Bet collaborated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in the hijacking of Air France 139 from Israel, diverted to Entebbe, Uganda.

Arab terrorists were falsely blamed. Elite Israeli commandos led by Yonatan Netanyahu, Bibi's older brother, became instant heros for their "miraculous" rescue. An unnamed UK diplomat blamed Israel, saying:

"The operation was designed to torpedo the PLO's standing in France and to prevent what (was seen as) growing rapprochement between the PLO and the Americans."

British diplomat DH Colvin included information in the document that Israel and the PFLP collaborated. Haaretz said it "was written on June 30, 1976, three days after the hijacking and prior to the rescue operation."

On September 25, 1997, two Mossad agents with forged Canadian passports attacked Hamas leader Khaled Meshal in Jordan, spraying him with an unknown poison. He survived and recovered to explain.

In January 2002, a car bomb killed former Lebanese cabinet minister Elie Hobeika and three bodyguards. In 1982, he was involved in the infamous Sabra and Shatilla camp massacres. Days before his assassination, he expressed willingness to implicate then Defense Minister Ariel Sharon's direct role. Clearly, Mossad killed him to prevent it.

In May 2002, Mossad murdered Mohammed Jihad Jibril, son of Ahmed Jibril, founder and head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

In August 2003, Mossad assassinated Ali Hassan Saheh, Hezbollah's top security officer. Prime Minister Sharon ordered Meir Dagan, its head until January 1, 2011, to conduct assassinations abroad.

No explanation is needed for why Mossad exists. It functions as a de facto Murder, Inc. within or outside Israel, making Mafia families seem benign by comparison.

From 2002 - 2006, it was responsible for numerous car bombings, killing Hezbollah, Hamas, and other officials regionally.

On February 12, 2008, a car bomb killed Hezbollah member Imad Hugniyeh in Damascus. Mossad again was responsible.

On August 1, 2008, it killed Muhammad Suleiman, a Syrian army officer close to President Bashar al-Assad, shot by snipers offshore near his vacation villa.

Rafik Hariri's Assassination

On February 14, 2005, compelling visual and audio evidence revealed real time intercepted Israel aerial surveillance footage of routes former Prime Minister Hariri used on the day his motorcade was attacked. Clearly, Israel was involved.

Washington blamed Syria. Assad denied responsibility. Hezbollah was later falsely named. It was a typical Mossad assassination though no one at the time knew for sure. The blast ripped a 30 foot crater in the street, injuring over 100 besides those killed.

An International Court of Justice (ICC) Special Tribunal (STL) investigated Hariri's killing. On January 17, its sealed indictment was released, Canadian prosecutor Daniel Bellemare saying the next day that the confidential document was important for the people of Lebanon, the international community, and "for those who believe in international justice."

On June 30, arrest warrants for four Hezbollah members were issued. None were detained. At the time, Hezbollah said no arrests would be made, calling the tribunal a Washington/Israeli manipulated sham, covering up a classic Mossad operation.

On August 17, the 47-page indictment was released, holding Hezbollah members responsible based on falsified evidence. Those named include Mustafa Amine Badreddine, Salim Jamil Ayyash, Hussein Hassan Oneissi, and Assad Hassan Sabra. Badreddine was called the mission head.

No evidence proves it or that others named were involved. Clearly, Hezbollah had nothing to gain from the assassination but plenty to lose if, in fact, responsible.

A Final Comment

Later evidence may prove one way or the other whether Israel staged the multiple August 18 attacks. It has much to gain by doing so. Hamas, PFLP, and other Palestinians, however, have everything to lose, so why risk involvement? No advantage comes to mind.

In contrast, Israel has compelling reasons as explained above and may succeed precisely as planned. In fact, if Cast Lead II is intended, a trifecta of successes may follow. Palestinians and working Israelis, however, will suffer enormous defeats.

As a result, public awareness of what's at stake is essential to derail Israel's latest scheme. Failure to do so is an unacceptable option.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected].

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Falsified New York Times Middle East Reports

Falsified New York Times Middle East Reports - by Stephen Lendman

They appear daily like weeds on all topics. As a result, Times reports aren't fit to read, let alone print. August 18 was no exception, publishing lies about Libyan insurgent victories.

On August 18, headlining, "Libyan Rebels Gain Control of Oil Refinery as Qaddafi Forces Flee," Kareem Fahim's article was pure Pentagon propaganda, duplicitously lying to readers.

Yet he said "(r)ebel fighters claimed complete control of a sprawling (Zawiyah) oil refinery, seizing one of (Gaddafi's) most important assets after just three days of fighting and delivering the latest in a string of small victories that have suddenly put the rebels at Tripoli's door."

Reporting from Tripoli, independent Middle East/Central Asian analyst, Mahdi Nazemroaya refuted him, telling Progressive Radio News Hour listeners that:

-- Gaddafi forces are winning;

-- rebels are in disarray;

-- the so-called National Transitional Council (NTC) is falling apart;

-- Misrata was liberated from rebels;

-- Tripoli is peaceful and calm, despite daily NATO bombing, willfully targeting civilians and nonmilitary sites;

-- scattered fighting continues along routes to Tunisia and elsewhere;

-- arteries between the two countries remain open;

-- Intense Western propaganda wants to intimidate Gaddafi supporters to give up hope of prevailing;

-- it's had the opposite effect, in fact, galvanizing Libyans overwhelmingly behind Gaddafi, making him by far the most popular African/Middle East leader; and

-- his forces control Gheryan, Sorman, Sabratha, and Zawiyah, its oil refinery and others; reports saying otherwise are lies; rebels are south of the city, not in it.

In an August 18 morning email, he added:

"Nothing has changed thus far. There is fighting in the area, but (rebels) do not have control. Bombings over Tripoli are very bad though."

As part of NATO's intimidation campaign, they continue daily, inflicting pain and suffering on Libyans unrelated to military necessity. As a result, they're war crimes, what Times and other major media sources won't explain.

Moreover, in times of war, the first casualty is duplicitous reporting, journalists lying for a living, prostituting themselves for a buck.

Daily The New York Times lies. So do other Western broadsheets, magazines, US television, the BBC, National Public Radio, Public Broadcasting, and other mainsteam sources, showing their managed news lacks credibility.

For example, Fahim falsely claimed:

-- Gaddafi forces "mounted (no) forceful counterattack;"

-- signs indicate that the conflict "reached a critical moment, if not its final stage;"

-- "the vital highway from Tunisia to Tripoli has remained closed, controlled by rebels;"

-- thousands of refugees flee Tripoli daily to escape "mounting hardships" and "be safer in rebel-held areas;"

-- rebels show increasing confidence;

-- morale among Gaddafi forces is near collapse;

-- daily defectors joins rebels; and

-- rebels now control former Gaddafi held cities.

In fact, his article reads more like bad fiction than news. Independent reports refute him and others, including about other Gaddafi held cities claimed in rebel hands.

On August 17, writers Susan Lindauer and Joanne Moriarty headlined, "Libya: Gadhaffi Retakes Key Towns," saying:

"Is Gadhaffi losing? Au contraire. In total contradiction to the propaganda push on CNN (and other Pentagon mouthpieces, independent) sources inside Libya say" Gaddafi, not rebels, is prevailing.

In fact, pockets of insurgents are in all these areas, but they're "isolated and surrounded by the Libyan army." In addition, most tribes, including major ones "are fighting with Gaddafi" against rebels.

His forces are motivated, not demoralized, as falsified reports claim.

On August 17, Scott Taylor's Chronicle Herald article headlined, "Gadhafi Support Soars Amid NATO Bombing," saying:

Libya's insurgency "has been more of a media war than a full-scale armed clash." In fact, despite an embargo, sea blockade, theft of Gaddafi's assets, and ferocious daily bombing, "the ragtag collection of fractious" rebels haven't managed "to make any serious headway against Gadhafi loyalists," let alone topple him.

His overwhelming popularity is key, polls showing it about 85%. Moreover, over 2,000 of Libya's 2,335 tribes support him, including the largest ones.

At the same time, Libyans revile NATO and cutthroat rebels with good reason. They're destroying, not liberating Libya for well understood imperial reasons. As a result, popular sentiment is determined to resist.

On August 16, the Mossad connected DEBKAfile headlined, "Libyan rebel 'gains' smokescreen for talks in Tunisia to end war," saying:

Claims about rebel advances and Gaddafi forces near collapse are pure propaganda, not facts because government and TNC representatives "have been meeting in semi-secrecy on the Tunisian island of Djerba...."

Fighting on the ground has been "tailing off and morphing into direct talks between the two" sides.

DEBKA sources explained "a step-by-step" process, involving Gaddafi yielding power in stages to a new government to include top positions for his sons, key loyalists, supportive tribes, and TNC turncoats. In addition, Gaddafi will remain in Libya, his personal safety guaranteed.

DEBKA also confirmed independent reports that TNC "leadership is being torn apart by infighting," especially after its field commander, Gen. Abdel Fatah Younis was assassinated.

"By broadcasting false reports of victories, such as the conquest of....Brega (Zawiyah, and other Gaddifi held cities), the rebels hope to cover up their internal disputes and inability to win the war, while at the same time (hoping falsified victories will be) bargaining chips for the negotiations."

The only so-called rebel gains, in fact, were made by "Berger tribes (that) reject any ties whatsoever with" insurgent forces.

Clearly, the scripted media victory claims are pure Pentagon propaganda - ball-faced lies with no credibility whatsoever. Reporters, commentators, and editorial writers regurgitating them function solely as imperial tools, disgracing their profession in the process.

A Final Comment

Misreporting on Syria matches Libya propaganda. On August 18, New York Times writer Steven Lee Myers headlined, "US and Allies Say Syria Leader Must Step Down," saying:

Obama and other Western leaders "called on Syria's Bashar al-Assad to give up power." Obama also froze "all Syrian assets within American jurisdiction, banned imports of Syrian oil and barred American citizens from having any business dealings with the Syrian government...."

In addition, he called on other countries to impose similar sanctions.

An August 18 White House Office of the Press Secretary statement was propaganda rubbish, saying:

"The United States has been inspired by the Syrian peoples' pursuit of a peaceful transition to democracy. They have braved ferocious brutality at the hands of their government. They have spoken with their 'peaceful' marches, their 'silent' shaming of the Syrian regime, and their courageous persistence....For the sake of the Syrian people, the time has come for President Assad to step down."

Aside from the audacity of demanding regime change anywhere, as well as imposing sanctions harming civilians, not government officials, the entire statement falsified what's been ongoing in Syria for months.

A previous article explained, accessed through the following link:

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2011/08/destabilizing-syria.html

Eretz Yisrael: Lawless, Corrupt and Dysfunctional

Eretz Yisrael: Lawless, Corrupt and Dysfunctional - by Stephen Lendman

What do you call a country that persecutes occupied people and one-fifth of its own population for not being Jewish? An illegal occupier for over 44 years, suffocating over 1.6 million Gazans under siege! A nation practicing torture, persecution, and racism as official policies! A modern day Sparta, glorifying wars and violence!

A country spurning rule of law principles! An unparalleled regional state terrorist! A nuclear armed global threat! A society of extreme social inequality! A nation with no legitimacy for all of the above reasons, besides having stolen another people's nation violently!

It's called Eretz Yisrael - Israel, a nation where thousands of fed up Jews vote with their feet and leave regularly. Like America, Israel isn't fit to live in. One day perhaps that will be its epitaph.

Many Jews and analysts believe Zionism is destroying Judaism. In his book "Overcoming Zionism," Joel Kovel explained how it fosters "imperialist expansion and militarism (with) signs of the fascist malignancy," adding that it turned Israel "into a machine for the manufacture of human rights abuses."

Author Alan Hart calls Zionism "the real enemy of the Jews," an ideology contemptuous of moral and ethical principles. Others call it corrosive, destructive, racist, extremist, undemocratic and hateful, espousing violence, not peaceful coexistence.

Nations living by the sword in the end die by it. Israel and America aren't exceptions. They've, in fact, partnered on a self-destructive mission, perhaps taking planet earth with them before they're through.

Daily snapshots make the case. Multiple US wars rage, spending trillions of badly needed dollars waging them, besides diverting billions more annually to support Israel's out-of-control militarism. They endanger every other nation and their own, at the same time sacrificing homeland needs.

Lawless, corrupt and dysfunctional barely describe what some call a blight on humanity, threatening it by its presence with its Washington paymaster/partner.

In mid-August, one of its prominent rabbis, Yosef Elitzur, co-author of the controversial book "The King's Torah," was denied UK entry for advocating discrimination against gentiles and killing them. The book states:

"Anywhere where the presence of a gentile poses a threat to Israel, it is permissible to kill him, even if it a righteous gentile who is not responsible for the threatening situation."

In January 2010, co-author Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira, head of a prominent yeshiva in the West Bank Yitzhar settlement, was arrested for torching a Palestinian Yasuf village mosque. Later, however, he was released uncharged.

In August 2010, Elitzur was also arrested for his advocacy of violence, though he, too, was released and charges against him quietly dropped.

However, their extremism isn't unique. On August 19, 2010, Ynet News said "(d)ozens of rabbis, educators, public figures and right-wing activists attended" a rally for Rabbis Dov Lior and Yaakov Yosef "who refused to report for police questioning over their endorsement of" Elitzur and Shapira's book.

Senior rabbis support them, believing it's OK to kill non-Jews, a shocking indictment of what too many in Israel believe, including top officials.

It plays out daily in real time, including on August 16 when Israeli soldiers shot and killed a mentally disabled child, 400 meters inside the border separating Israel from Gaza, east of Deir al-Balah. In fact, 10 bullets struck his head and chest. He never had a chance.

Israeli radio merely said soldiers observed someone approaching the security fence, opened fire and shot him.

The same day, other shelling and shooting incidents occurred, killing one man and seriously wounding two others in Gaza City. In addition, another man and a child were wounded in Khan Yunis and Rafah in southern Gaza.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) called these incidents "part of a series of war crimes (regularly) committed by" Israeli forces in Occupied Palestine, reflecting the "total disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians."

When state-sponsored violence is institutionalized, is it surprising that perhaps many prominent Israelis (including influential rabbis) endorse racism and killing non-Jews!

What better example of a sick society, deserving universal condemnation, especially by righteously indignant Jews wanting no part of what's so lawlessly repugnant. In fact, growing numbers of Jews and others understand what's happening and reject it.

Numerous daily examples highlight the problem. On August 18, Haaretz covered several, including Netanyahu again refusing to apologize to Turkey for murdering nine of its citizens during the infamous May 2010 Mavi Marmara attack in international waters.

At the time, universal outrage condemned it. In contrast, Israeli officials, like their Washington counterparts, believe they never have to say they're sorry, even when caught red-handed and denounced.

A second Haaretz article quoted Netanyahu's outgoing director general, Eyal Gabai, saying "(t)he current government will not deliver Israelis a welfare state," despite weeks of mass protests across Israel demanding it, wanting years of social injustice reversed.

Combined, neoliberalism and Zionism are suffocating Israel, a topic an August 18 Gideon Levy commentary addressed titled, "Israel's swinish Zionism ought to be stopped," saying:

As an MK, Shimon Peres coined the term "swinish capitalism," referring to then finance minister Netanyahu. "It's worth remembering that there is also swinish Zionism," Levy added.

"Swine are insatiable....gorg(ing) themselves until they die." Capitalism and Zionism are no different. What began as a national movement to establish a Jewish homeland ended up "caus(ing) grave injustice to the previous inhabitants of the land...." And for years, it's neoliberal version has been harming Jews.

Perhaps if Zionism "stop(ped)....reined in its lust and greed, atoned for the original injustices in 1948 and changed direction, it would have become an admired movement." Because it didn't, "Israel is only beginning to pay the price."

Many of Israel's wealthy "also started out well....But here too," their appetite proved insatiable. The time of reckoning has arrived. People want redress. "The word 'tycoon' has become a curse and 'wealthy' has nearly become despicable."

Today a new awakening is emerging. Israel's wealthy are "beginning to pay the price." Zionism so far escaped. Calling it swinish is heretical.

"But when the time for the reckoning comes we'll ask: Why didn't we stop (it) in time," especially its reliance on violence, occupation, racism, social injustice, and lawlessness.

Policies that extreme can't go on forever, and won't! Not in Israel, America or anywhere!

A Final Comment

On August 18, Maan News reported two shooting attacks on buses near Eilat, Israel, killing at least seven and injuring dozens more. Israel's Channel 10 said three militants armed with Kalashnikovs opened fire on one bus from a car.

A second incident occurred near Netafim, Israel, injuring others. In addition, an explosive device wounded more.

"Assailants also attacked a second bus and a car soon after," according to Al-Arabiya, killing five.

"In a third incident, mortars were reportedly fired at Israeli forces near the southern border causing injuries, although initial reports were ambiguous about" their origin.

Israel's knee-jerk reaction came as expected, Defense Minister Ehud Barak blaming Hamas, saying "(w)e will exhaust all measures against the terrorists."

Senior Hamas official Salah Bardawil rejected Barak's accusation, saying Israel, ahead of another Gaza attack, blamed Hamas and other Gaza groups to deflect attention from its own internal problems.

Since mid-July, unprecedented numbers of Israelis have rallied for social justice so far denied. It thus begs the question whether these attacks may have been a false flag diversions, to focus attention on "terrorist" threats, not economic hardship.

So far, the identity of attackers is unknown. Nonetheless, Haaretz said "Israeli Defense Forces struck targets in (Gaza) Thursday evening, hours after the earlier incidents."

Reports indicate at least six killed, others injured. Giving no details, Israel confirmed the strikes, saying operations were underway in southern Gaza.

Explaining nothing about daily atrocities US forces commit against innocent civilians in multiple wars, Hillary Clinton "condemn(ed) today's attacks in southern Israel and all acts of terrorism in the strongest terms," calling them "brutal" and "cowardly."

As expected, she added that America "stand(s) by Israel as our friend, partner, and ally - now and always," omitting mention of their state-sponsored terrorism against victims unable to fight back.

What better description of two global bullies, rogue state sponsors of intimidation, terror and torment as standard operations. Calling them democracies is ludicrous and offensive.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected].

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Norway attacks/Result of extreme right populism in Europe

Daily Rogue State Israeli Lawlessness

Daily Rogue State Israeli Lawlessness - by Stephen Lendman

It begs the question why Israelis put up with lawless governance harming them as well as Palestinians. When will weeks of social injustice outrage arouse them to embrace universal equity?

Why haven't Martin Luther King's words hit home that, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." In Israel and Occupied Palestine, Arabs and Jews both are harmed. Injustice to anyone denies it to all.

Since the 1980s, destructive neoliberalism plagued Israel like the West. A race to the bottom followed, producing social injustice, inequality, and growing human need. Israelis finally reacted, demanding change, at the same time showing a hint of solidarity with Arab citizens, far more gravely impacted than themselves.

It's high time that spirit addressed 44 years of Occupied Palestinian torment. Permitting that to go on betrays core Judaic tenets. In their own time of need, will Jews embrace the universal struggle for justice everywhere, especially a few kilometers from their own backyard. Turning a blind eye to that injustice no longer can be tolerated.

What's now ongoing bears witness. Overnight, Israeli jets bombed Gaza, killing at least one resident and wounding seven or more others (including a child) in a series of lawless raids.

Gaza's medical emergency spokesperson, Adham Abu Salmiyya, said three residents were seriously injured after Israel bombed the Al Zeitoun neighborhood, Rafah tunnel areas, and an alleged Al Qassam Brigades training center in Gaza City's At-Tuffah community.

Further attacks struck eastern Khan Younis, causing extensive damage but no injuries. Israel targets Gaza regularly by air, land and sea, falsely claiming self-defense every time. It long ago rang hollow.

Imagine if instead Israeli neighborhoods were bombed regularly, killing innocent civilians? Western leaders would express outrage in response.

In contrast, when Palestinians are killed, it goes unnoticed, notably by major media sources more focused on supporting NATO aggression, slaughtering people in the name of "liberating" them.

The hypocrisy is stark and galling, yet commonplace backing wrong over right. The horrors need volumes to explain.

Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli forces also razed Palestinian farmland south of Hebron, bulldozing fruit trees belonging to several Palestinian families. At the same time, several Hebron neighborhoods were raided. In addition, residents of Yatta, Tarqomia, and other Palestinian communities face regular Israeli incursions, harassing and aiming to displace them.

Israel Welcomes Glenn Beck

On August 14, Israel National News writer Tzvi Ben Gadalyahu headlined, "Israel Rolls Out Red Carpet for Glenn Beck" ahead of his "Restoring Courage" tour in Jerusalem, saying:

He scrapped plans to hold it at the Temple Mount after being warned about Muslim outrage. Instead, he'll hold two Jerusalem events, "at the Davidson Center at the southern edge of the Western Wall and the other in Safra Square," near municipal offices and city hall.

A previous article explained Beck's demagoguery, right wing extremism, and racism, accessed through the following link:

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2009/09/glenn-becks-demagoguery-right-wing.html

No longer on Fox News, he continues his hatemongering diatribes against disadvantaged minorities, Muslims, Latino immigrants, and anyone to the left of his views, meaning he'll fit right in among Israeli extremists who arranged his visit.

Beck claims it's "time to Stand and Restore Courage. We ask those of you who value freedom honor and faith to travel to Israel and stand with Glenn Beck and leaders from around the world with one united voice."

Palestinians, anti-war activists, and opponents of Israel's illegal occupation aren't invited. Nor were they included on a July Beck visit when extremist Knesset members let him address the Aliyah and Absorption Committee, saying he came "to speak the truth" about efforts to delegitimize Israel.

He also claimed PA demands exacerbate anti-Semitism that's "going through the roof," when US and European studies show it in steep decline.

Now he's back, endorsed by Rev. John Hagee, a fellow demagogue, supporting racial hatred, white Christian supremacy, imperial wars, apocalyptic violence, gay bashing, male gender dominance, and fanatically wanting Israel exclusively for Jews.

They're a matched set, Hagee writing Beck, saying:

"I'm writing to express my strong support for the Restoring Courage events to be held in Israel....Those of us who love Israel (see) especially ominous thunder clap to come down in September, when the (UN) will most likely support a unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood."

He falsely claimed the General Assembly has no power to do it, at the same time railing against "the symbolic impact" he called "extremely dangerous."

"I look forward to seeing you" in Israel, he said, "the land God gave to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in an eternal covenant that is binding to this day."

Hagee knows because God told him so, communicating directly he apparently believes. So do his parishioners sadly and other followers of his demagogic hatemongering misinterpretation of vital truths.

New Settlement Units Announced

In 2004, America's United Methodist Church stood firm against "confiscat(ing) Palestinian land for construction of settlements and the building of a separation wall."

It also expressed opposition to other Israeli abuses, including "intensified closures, curfews, dehumanizing check points, home demolitions, uprooted trees, bulldozed fields....confiscation of Palestinian land and water....targeted assassinations," and other Israeli occupation abuses.

In recent days, Israel announced thousands of new settlement units, defiant of international law, and a vital need for new construction in Tel Aviv, Haifa, West Jerusalem, and other Israeli cities, not Occupied Palestine, to relieve a severe housing shortage, causing prices to skyrocket.

Many human rights organizations express similar views, including opposition to settlement developments, stealing Palestinian land for exclusive Jewish use.

No matter. On August 15, 277 West Bank Ariel units were approved. Earlier, 500 others were announced in Gush Etzion, Ma'ale Adumin, Ariel, and Kiryat Sefer.

In early August, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) said 930 more are planned for East Jerusalem's Har Homa C and 42 public buildings in Har Homa B, as well as extensive accompanying infrastructure.

On August 11, thousands more were announced - 1,600 in Ramat Shlomo, 2,000 in Givat Hamatos, and 700 in Pisgat Zeev. "This would bring (total East Jerusalem approvals) to over 5,200, and counting, in August alone."

In 121 illegal settlements and nearly 100 outposts, around 300,000 settlers populate the West Bank, another 200,000 in East Jerusalem, and the numbers keep growing.

As a result, over 42% of choice West Bank land and large parts of East Jerusalem have been stolen by successive Israeli governments, claiming they want peace.

Compounded by his duplicitous rhetoric overall, Obama (like his predecessors) stands firmly in support, reiterating America's "unbreakable" bond with Israel, including its most lawless acts.

According to PCHR and other human rights organizations, as long as international community leaders grant Israel impunity, Palestinian justice will lose out.

Will socially oppressed Israeli Jews finally take note and say No More!

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected].

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.