Leak Exposes Brutal US Drone Program

The Young Turks - More here

The Drone Papers

The Intercept has obtained a cache of secret documents detailing the inner workings of the U.S. military’s assassination program in Afghanistan, Yemen, and Somalia. The documents, provided by a whistleblower, offer an unprecedented glimpse into Obama’s drone wars.

In the "Drone Papers," The Intercept reveals drone strikes have resulted from unreliable intelligence, stemming in large part from electronic communications data, or "signals intelligence," that officials acknowledge is insufficient. The documents also undermine government claims that the drone strikes have been precise.

More at Alternet - The Intercept

Fourth secular Bangladesh blogger hacked to death

A gang armed with machetes has hacked a secular blogger to death at his home in Dhaka in the fourth such murder in Bangladesh since the start of the year, an activist group and police have said. Niloy Chatterjee, who used the pen-name Niloy Neel, was murdered on Friday after the men broke into his flat in the capital's Goran neighbourhood, according to the Bangladesh Blogger and Activist Network, which was alerted to the attack by a witness.

"They entered his room in the fifth floor and shoved his friend aside and then hacked him to death. He was a listed target of the Islamist militants," the network's head Imran H Sarker, told the AFP news agency.
Later on Friday, Bangladeshi newspaper The Daily Star, reported that Ansar al-Islam, a local chapter of al-Qaeda had claimed responsibility for the killing. The newspaper said the group had sent an email to media houses in Bangladesh, adding that the authenticity of the email issued by Mufti Abdullah Ashraf, who claimed himself to be the spokesman of Ansar-Al-Islam, could not be verified independently. Chatterjee, 40, was a critic of religious extremism that led to bombings in mosques and the killing of numerous civilians, Sarker said.

Attacks on Bangladesh bloggers in 2015
August 6 - Niloy Chatterjee, blogger, hacked to death at his home in Dhaka.
May 12 - Ananta Bijoy Das, blogger for Mukto-Mona website, killed while on his way to work in the city of Sylhet.
March 30 - Washiqur Rahman Babu, blogger, hacked to death by three men in Dhaka.
February 26 - Avijit Roy, a prominent Bangladeshi-American blogger, killed while walking with his wife outside Dhaka University.

More at  Al Jazeera English

The mysterious fates met by Putin critics

The murder of Russian opposition figure Boris Nemtsov on Friday has once again highlighted the grim fates that have befallen several of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most vocal critics, from radiation poisoning to imprisonment.

A day after tens of thousands of people marched in Moscow to honour Nemtsov’s memory, FRANCE 24 takes a look at some of the more high-profile cases of Putin opponents who have met with cruel – and sometimes bizarre – ends.

Boris Nemtsov: Nemtsov was a leader of the Republican Party of Russia/People's Freedom Party, a liberal opposition group. He rose to prominence in 1997 after he was named deputy premier by Russia’s first post-Soviet president, Boris Yeltsin, and was once seen as a possible Yeltsin heir. But that honour went to Putin in 2000, with Nemtsov serving as a deputy MP in the State Duma, Russia’s lower house, during Putin’s first term.

As Putin tightened his grip, however, Nemtsov became a prominent anti-corruption activist and a vocal critic of Putin’s government. In February 2008, he co-authored a report entitled "What 10 Years of Putin Have Brought" that detailed how many of Putin’s friends and supporters had become billionaires under his rule while the majority of Russians suffered under growing social inequality and a failing pension system. Similar reports followed in subsequent years criticising Putin’s policies.

In a 2011 interview, Nemtsov called critics of Putin’s government “patriots”. “I love Russia and want the best for her, so for me criticising Putin is a very patriotic activity because these people are leading Russia to ruin,” Nemtsov said in an interview republished Saturday on the Meduza news site. “Everybody who supports them, in fact, supports a regime that is destroying the country, and so they are the ones who hate Russia. And those who criticise this regime, those who fight against it, they are the patriots.”

Meduza said that before his death Nemtsov was working on a report that alleges that the Russian “volunteers” who are fighting in eastern Ukraine are acting on direct orders from the Kremlin. In an interview with Russia's Sobesednik news website on February 10, Nemtsov expressed his enmity for Putin and offered a sombre prediction. "I'm afraid Putin will kill me. I believe that he was the one who unleashed the war in the Ukraine. I couldn't dislike him more," he said.

More of Putin opponents who have met with cruel and bizarre ends at France 24

Princess Diana 'murdered by British military'

New information ­reportedly handed to ­Scotland Yard by military ­police allege she was killed by British military ­personnel with SAS links. The dossier is believed to include the claim that at least one soldier was sent to France to ­assassinate Diana.

It also alludes to the Princess’s own murder fears in her secret diary discovered after the Paris crash nearly 16 years ago this month. The information was passed on by the parents-in-law of a former soldier who was serving in 1997. This weekend the Yard is ­assessing the reliability and ­credibility of the information that is believed to make references to the SAS.

A sergeant from the original police investigation, who is now more senior, is leading the new inquiry into the death of divorced Diana, 36, and boyfriend Dodi Al Fayed, 42. Henri Paul, 41, the drunk driver of the Mercedes, also died in the accident in a tunnel at the Pont d’Alma on August 31, 1997. Diana’s death has been surrounded by conspiracy ­ theories and claims she was ­murdered.

More on the Daily Star

Michael Hastings Sent Email About FBI Probe Hours Before Death

Hours before dying in a fiery car crash, award-winning journalist Michael Hastings sent an email to his colleagues, warning that federal authorities were interviewing his friends and that he needed to go "off the rada[r]" for a bit.
The email was sent around 1 p.m. on Monday, June 17. At 4:20 a.m. the following morning, Hastings died when his Mercedes, traveling at high speeds, smashed into a tree and caught on fire. He was 33.

Hastings sent the email to staff at BuzzFeed, where he was employed, but also blind-copied a friend, Staff Sgt. Joseph Biggs, on the message. Biggs, who Hastings met in 2008 when he was embedded in his unit in Afghanistan, forwarded the email to KTLA, who posted it online on Saturday.

Here's the email, with the recipients' names redacted.

Subject: FBI Investigation, re: NSA

Hey (redacted names) -- the Feds are interviewing my "close friends and associates." Perhaps if the authorities arrive "BuzzFeed GQ," er HQ, may be wise to immediately request legal counsel before any conversations or interviews about our news-gathering practices or related journalism issues.

Also: I'm onto a big story, and need to go off the rada[r] for a bit.

All the best, and hope to see you all soon.

Michael

Rumors that the FBI was investigating Hastings began the day after his death, with a couple of mysterious WikiLeaks tweets. In a rare move, the FBI issued a statement denying that Hastings was under investigation.

See Huffington Post for more - Earlier post

CIA didn't always know who it was killing in drone strikes

The CIA did not always know who it was targeting and killing in drone strikes in Pakistan over a 14-month period, an NBC News review of classified intelligence reports shows.

About one of every four of those killed by drones in Pakistan between Sept. 3, 2010, and Oct. 30, 2011, were classified as "other militants,” the documents detail. The “other militants” label was used when the CIA could not determine the affiliation of those killed, prompting questions about how the agency could conclude they were a threat to U.S. national security.

The uncertainty appears to arise from the use of so-called “signature” strikes to eliminate suspected terrorists -- picking targets based in part on their behavior and associates. A former White House official said the U.S. sometimes executes people based on “circumstantial evidence.”

NBC News

Why the CIA cooperated in the killing of JFK

It's clear that security for JFK was "rearranged" to make him an easy target in Dallas. It's also clear that evidence was tampered with and destroyed - massively -  after the fact.
But who pulled the trigger - and why?

Brasschecktv.

Litvinenko Inquest Could Be Abandoned Over UK Foreign Office Ruling

The widow of poisoned spy Alexander Litvinenko on Friday accused a coroner of abandoning "his search for the truth about Russian state responsibility for her husband's death". Marina Litvinenko's fierce criticism comes after Sir Robert Owen, the coroner presiding over her husband's inquest, revealed he cannot hear in public evidence linked to the alleged involvement of the Russian government.

The ruling was published after the coroner accepted an application by the UK Foreign Office to keep certain information under wraps. A statement from Mrs Litvinenko's solicitors said: "This is a very sad day for Mrs Litvinenko, a tragedy for British justice which has until now been respected around the world, and it is a frightening precedent for all of those, around the world, who have been trying so hard to expose the crimes committed by conspiracy of organised criminals that operate from the Kremlin."

The statement from Mrs Litvinenko's solicitors went on: "Mrs Litvinenko is utterly dismayed by the coroner's decision to abandon his search for the truth about Russian state responsibility for her husband's death. The effect of today's ruling is to protect those responsible for ordering the murder of a British citizen on the streets of London, and to allow the Russian government to shield behind a claim for secrecy made by William Hague with the backing of the Prime Minister David Cameron."

Huffington Post – The Guardian – The Telegraph

Litvinenko Justice Foundation

Israel's Prisoner X driven to suicide by interrogation, lawyer suggests

Ben Zygier – the man known as Israel's Prisoner X, an Australian-Israeli citizen who died in mysterious circumstances while secretly imprisoned after an apparent career in the Mossad — had denied the "serious" allegations against him and was discussing a plea bargain just before his death.

In the latest twist in a story that has engulfed both Israel and Australia, Zygier's lawyer, Avigdor Feldman, told Israel's Channel 10 on Thursday that he had seen him the day before his death in 2010 and that he had appeared rational. He had, however, been put under intense emotional pressure by those interrogating him, which Feldman speculated could have contributed to his suicide.

"His interrogators told him he could expect lengthy jail time and be ostracised from his family and the Jewish community. There was no heartstring they did not pull, and I suppose that ultimately brought about the tragic end," he said. Speaking on Thursday, Feldman said: "I met a balanced person … He was rationally considering legal options.I can say that he denied the charges … The crimes he was suspected of were serious … He didn't admit to anything."

In one of the fiercest denunciations yet of the behaviour of the authorities and media in the Prisoner X affair, the veteran liberal Israeli journalist Gideon Levy, writing in Haaretz, condemned the state's ability to "disappear" people with the collusion of the press and courts.

"Alongside the organisations of darkness was the collaborating judicial system, the newspaper editors who were keen to bring back the days of the disgraceful editors' committee, the newspapers and the broadcast channels that only two days ago were trying to suppress the affair — all the agents, lawyers, jailers, censors, police and investigators who knew and kept quiet."

The Guardian

LAPD Audio From Dorner Siege: “Burn This Motherfucker”

Police audio from the Christopher Dorner siege reveals a deliberate plan to burn down the cabin in which Dorner was trapped, with one LAPD officer heard to say, “fucking burn this motherfucker,” before police discussed their intention to, “go ahead with the plan with the burners.” (at 1.05 into the video).

The audio was captured on police scanners as well as being picked up by a local news broadcast.

Sheriff's office confirms pyrotechnic teargas canisters were launched into cabin but 'we didn't intend to burn it down'  - The Guardian

Bulgarian gas pistol attack: gunman's motives questioned

It was a shot almost heard around the world as millions watched a man storm a stage in Bulgaria and then point his gun at a prominent opposition politician live on television. But many in Bulgaria are now trying to separate fact from fiction as they try to be clear about what motivated the attack.

Police took Oktai Enimehmedov, 25, into custody after he pulled the gun on Ahmed Dogan, the leader of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), a party supported by Muslim voters including some Turks in Bulgaria.

Police now say Enimehmedov was holding a gas pistol that was loaded with pepper spray, with two other "bullets" being simply noisemakers. He pointed the gun at Dogan's head during a party congress in the capital, Sofia, but failed to shoot. He was tackled to the ground and beaten by guards and party members as TV cameras continued to roll.

Enimehmedov, an ethnic Turk, reportedly left a note at his home addressed to his mother, saying he had no intention of killing the party leader but simply wanted to show him he was not "untouchable".

More on The Guardian

Palestinian Children Shot in Their Heads

The atrocity of a young girl in Pakistan being shot in the head by a Taliban has been featured widely in the news. There are similar atrocities in the Middle East, but somehow these don't make it to the news.

Doctors operating the only brain-scanning machine at an Egyptian hospital near Gaza have been almost overwhelmed by the number of Palestinian children arriving with bullet wounds to the head.

Brasscheck tv

U.S. Drones Have Killed Hundreds Of Civilians

A new study conducted by law professors at Stanford and New York University contends that the U.S. use of drones to target suspected militants in Pakistan has had a "damaging and counterproductive effect" on the country and has killed far more civilians than previously acknowledged.

The study, which was released on Tuesday, relies on some 130 interviews with civilians living in the regions of northern Pakistan where targeted drone strikes have been most frequent. Working with the activist group Reprieve, the team of professors have added to the growing body of literature that argues, contrary to Obama administration claims, that numerous civilians have been killed, and many more traumatized, by the drone strike program.

Huffington Post

Israel Assassination Attempt on American General in Afghanistan

US Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, Chairman of America’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, the man who flew to Tel Aviv and informed Netanyahu that America wanted no part of his scheming against Iran was the subject of an assassination attempt in Afghanistan.

This wasn’t an act of terrorism or Taliban militants. It was a “mob hit” against someone who failed to kiss the feet of Netanyahu. His response was to unleash killers, not a fact for the public but a fact just the same, one the American military knows very well. Netanyahu has a problem with “hubris.”

12160.info

Cuba police arrest dissidents after Oswaldo Paya’s funeral

Cuban police arrested dozens of dissidents yesterday after the funeral of Oswaldo Paya, a political activist whose sudden death in a road accident triggered grief and suspicion, AFP reporters said. Those arrested included Guillermo Farinas, a leading rights activist, who was held for questioning by plainclothes police deployed outside the Havana church where Paya's funeral was held.

Farinas, known for hunger strikes that drew attention to the plight of political prisoners in Cuba, and about 50 others were stopped by police after emerging from the funeral mass shouting slogans against the government. They were forced onto two buses that the church had provided to take people to the cemetery where Paya was to be buried.

Two of Paya's children have questioned the official account of how their father was killed. Authorities said Paya, 60, died along with another dissident, Harold Cepero Escalante, on Sunday when their rental car went off the road and struck a tree in southeastern Cuba.

Jamaica Observer

Assassination studies: Conspiratus Ubiquitus

Monarch Programming is a method of mind control used by numerous organizations for covert purposes. It is a continuation of project MK-ULTRA, a mind-control program developed by the CIA, and tested on the military  and civilians. The methods are astonishingly sadistic (its entire purpose is to traumatize the victim)  and  the expected results are horrifying: The creation of a mind-controlled slave who can be triggered at anytime to perform any action required by the handler.  While mass media ignores this issue, over 2 million Americans have gone through the horrors of this program. This article looks at the origins of Monarch programming and some of its methods and symbolism.
Monarch programming is a mind-control technique comprising elements of Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA) and Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD). It utilizes a combination of psychology, neuroscience and occult rituals to create within the slaves an alter persona that can be triggered and programmed by the handlers. Monarch slaves are used by several organizations connected with the world elite in fields such as the military, sex slavery and the entertainment industry. This article will look at the origins of Monarch programming, its techniques and its symbolism.

Brasscheck tv

Iran blames France, Germany for hits on nuclear scientists

Iran’s spy chief accused German and French intelligence agencies on Friday of involvement in assassinations of its nuclear scientists, sticking to a hard official line as sanctions imposed over its disputed atomic ambitions bite harder. The Islamic Republic has previously accused Israel, the United States and Britain of plotting the killings to set back its uranium enrichment program, which Western powers suspect is being used to develop nuclear weapons capability.

Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi spread the blame to France and Germany, after days of hawkish rhetoric and missile tests by Tehran that helped push benchmark Brent crude oil prices above $100 for the first time since June.

“In these two networks (involved in the assassinations) we saw connections with the information services in Germany, France, Britain, Israel, the United States and regional intelligence agencies,” the state news agency IRNA quoted Moslehi as saying. He did not name the other countries. In Berlin, a German government spokesman said: “We decline to comment on such fanciful accusations.”

At least four scientists associated with Iran’s nuclear program have been assassinated since 2010, most recently in January this year. Washington has denied any role in the killings, while Israel has declined to comment.

al arabiya

The nuclear program of Iran was launched in the 1950s with the help of the United States as part of the Atoms for Peace program. The participation of the United States and Western European governments in Iran's nuclear program continued until the 1979 Iranian Revolution that toppled the Shah of Iran. 

Wikipedia

Canadian witness to RFK assassination claims there was 2nd shooter

Nearly 44 years after the June 1968 assassination of U.S. presidential contender Robert F. Kennedy, a Canadian woman who was at the Los Angeles scene of the crime has emerged as the key witness in a bid by convicted assassin Sirhan Sirhan to gain release from prison or be granted a new trial based on previously unheard evidence.

A U.S. federal appeals court is currently examining submissions from Sirhan’s legal team that argue suppressed ballistic evidence and eyewitness accounts — including one from the Canadian woman — suggest there was a second shooter at the Los Angeles hotel where Kennedy was murdered.

Vancouver resident Nina Rhodes-Hughes — a 78-year-old American-born television actress and a local theatre enthusiast in the city’s Bowen Island community — was serving as a volunteer fundraiser for Kennedy’s campaign when he was fatally shot in a kitchen pantry at the Ambassador Hotel on June 5, 1968. He died from his wounds about 24 hours later, on June 6. Five others injured in the attack survived.

Rhodes-Hughes, after a Saturday interview with CNN sparked a worldwide resurgence of interest in the assassination, told Postmedia News on Monday that she heard at least 12 shots that day — not eight as argued by the California prosecutors who convicted Sirhan as the lone gunman. The gun Sirhan had when he was arrested held only eight bullets.

National Post – Huffington Post

Drone strikes in Yemen soar as U.S. stokes 'secret war'

America has dramatically stepped up its "secret war" in Yemen with the U.S. ordering dozens of drone attacks on al-Qaida hotspots, which have also killed scores of civilians. With the backing of Yemen's fragile government, President Barack Obama has authorized a rapid increase in attacks since last May, with 26 incidents recorded.

The pace appears to be accelerating, with nine attacks so far this year and at least five this month, including a strike last week near the terrorist hotbed of Zinjibar. Up to 30 militants were killed in three separate missile strikes on the town, witnesses said. Nationwide the figures are comparable to those in Pakistan, where America has struck on 10 occasions this year, despite a fierce public reaction.

Research by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism at London's City University has found that as many as 516 people have been killed in the Yemen attacks - mostly suspected members of al-Qaida's local ally al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). As many as 104 were civilians.

The majority of the attacks were carried out by the CIA or U.S. special forces command from a base in nearby Djibouti but American officials refused to confirm any details. President Obama has made plain his determination to go after AQAP, which he has described as "a network of violence and terror". It has attracted a number of U.S. citizens to its cause, including the radical cleric Anwar al Awlaki.

Canada.com - Arab spring brings steep rise in US attacks in Yemen on The Bureau of Investigative Journalism