Terrorism

The FBI Invents Some Plots & Ignores Others In War On Freedom

February 3, 2015 Derek Royden, www.occupy.com Educate! FBI, Law, Terrorism

After Sept. 11, 2001, the FBI was forced to re-prioritize, making counter-terrorism the Bureau’s main focus. More than 1,800 agents, almost a third of the total dealing with criminal cases from organized crime to insurance fraud, were transferred to terrorism and intelligence duties in the aftermath of the attacks. What 9/11 did, among other things, was to create a need for proof, via arrests, that the new State focus on terrorism was showing results. We’ve all seen the headlines from mainstream media sources after arrests were made and press conferences were given by high level officials announcing another disrupted “terror plot.” Yet, when one investigates these cases, as many journalists and writers in the alternative press have done, we see the score isn't as it all appears – and when compared with similar cases where terror charges were not brought, a disturbing picture emerges.

The War On Terror: Ex-CIA Officer John Kiriakou Speaks

January 21, 2015 Andrew Jerell Jones, www.firstlook.org Educate! CIA, Human Rights, Terrorism, Torture

John Kiriakou is the only CIA employee to go to prison in connection with the agency’s torture program. Not because he tortured anyone, but because he revealed information on torture to a reporter. Kiriakou is the Central Intelligence Agency officer who told ABC News in 2007 that the CIA waterboarded suspected al-Qaeda prisoners after the September 11 attacks, namely Abu Zubaydah, thought to be a key al Qaeda official. Although he felt at the time that waterboarding probably saved lives, Kiriakou nevertheless came to view the practice as torture and later claimed he unwittingly understated how many times Zubaydah was subjected to waterboarding.

NYPD’s Counterterrorism Apparatus Is Being Turned On Protesters

January 20, 2015 Alex Kane, www.vice.com Educate! New York City (NYC), NYPD, police brutality, Terrorism

Activists organizing protests against police brutality in New York are marking Martin Luther King Day with a march beginning in Harlem. Some attendees might be surprised along the way to encounter officers in blue jackets with the words "NYPD Counter Terrorism" emblazoned on the back. But Linda Sarsour, a prominent Muslim-American activist and member of the anti-police brutality group Justice League NYC, one of the sponsors of the march, is almost used to it by now. As head of the Arab American Association of New York, Sarsour has been a leader in the fight against police misconduct. Much of her energy has gone into speaking out against the NYPD's expansive spying program that since 9/11 has targeted Muslims and activists.

Another Fake FBI ‘Terror Plot’: Informant Frames Cornell

January 16, 2015 21 Wire, www.21stcenturywire.com Educate! FBI, ISIS, Terrorism

This is potentially one of the most bogus and crass attempts yet, as the FBI rushes to grandstand over what appears to be another case of entrapment, joined by a media keen to push the fear envelope in America in the wake of last week’s international terror event in Paris. 1-Chris-Lee-Cornell-OhioEager to capitalize on the media wave generated by the Paris Attacks, jobsworth FBI agents decided to accelerate the frame-up of 20 year oldChristopher Lee Cornell (photo, left) from Cincinnati, Ohio, claiming the youth was planning a “pipe bomb attack” against the nation’s Capitol in Washington DC. Amazingly, US media jumped all over this story, trying to somehow tie it to Paris, and also claim that Cornell was “linked to ISIS”, and that this wassomehow an “ISIS-inspired attack”, only no attack actually took place.

Freedom Of Speech: France Arrests 54 For Offensive Speech

January 15, 2015 Lori Hinnant, www.AP.org Educate! Charlie Hebdo, France, Terrorism, Xenophobia

France ordered prosecutors around the country Wednesday to crack down on hate speech, anti-Semitism and glorifying terrorism, announcing that 54 people had been arrested for those offenses since the Paris terror attacks. The order came as Charlie Hebdo's defiant new issue sold out before dawn around Paris, with scuffles at kiosks over dwindling copies of the satirical newspaper fronting the Prophet Muhammad. Like many European countries, France has strong laws against hate speech and especially anti-Semitism in the wake of the Holocaust. In a message distributed to all French prosecutors and judges, the Justice Ministry laid out the legal basis for rounding up those who defend the Paris terror attacks as well as those responsible for racist or anti-Semitic words or acts.

The Roots Of Charlie Hebdo Attacks: Colonialism & War

January 11, 2015 Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org Educate! Colonialism, France, Imperialism, Terrorism, United States, Wars and Militarism

Understandably the government of France does not want to admit that its policies contribute to the anger of Muslims living in France and around the world. No one want to justify these mass killings, really they cannot be justified, but that does not mean we should not try to understand where this anger comes from. The roots run deep. Al Jazeera reports the killings are "rooted in generations of violence, hypocrisy and greed." Mark LeVine points out people do not want to face these truths because "The problem is that this system is hundreds of years old, implicates most everyone . . ." The roots are in French colonialism. Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern warns that we should not let these killings lead to another cycle of violence. The attacks on Muslims in France and the "war" comments of the Prime Minister sadly seem to be leading toward more violence. If history were faced would it not be obvious that this violence comes from violence. McGovern points out: “Carif Kouachi was previously known to the authorities, as he was convicted by a French court in 2008 of trying to travel to Iraq to fight in that country’s insurgent movement. Kouachi told the court that he wished to fight the American occupation after viewing images of detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib prison.” The endless war on terror is itself terrorism, it "hardens the views on both sides" creating "extremists by the bucket-load." Rather than admit the true cause of non-state violence the politicians and the media that reports the government view blames the violence on Islamists, hate preachers and Muslim extremists -- rather than colonialism and war being the drivers of violence it is the Muslim faith. A false conclusion based on lies that will continue the cycle of violence

Terrorism ‘Insurance’ Expires

January 4, 2015 Buddy Bell, www.vcnv.org Educate! Drones, Terrorism, Wars and Militarism

In 2002, at a time when insurance providers were unwilling to provide coverage for losses resulting from acts of terrorism, and when construction and utility companies were stalling in their development projects, Congress passed the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA). They decided to socialize some of the financial risk, giving a federal government guarantee on insurance payouts exceeding 100 million dollars. Over the next 12 years, Presidents Bush and Obama and six different Congresses made countless decisions to increase the risk of terrorism (and of a bailout under TRIA). Of course, the most brutally profound effects of those decisions were imposed on children, women, and men in other parts of the world. Likely the least affected people were the ones complaining in the business sections of major papers last month.

Blazing The Terrorism Trail: The US War Industry

November 22, 2014 CJ Werleman, www.middleeasteye.net Educate! Capitalism, State, Terrorism

In a recent op-ed, Noam Chomsky, who is often acclaimed as America’s greatest intellectual, wrote, “It's official: The US is the world's leading terrorist state, and proud of it." Chomsky cites a New York Times piece that had quoted President Obama as saying he had demanded the CIA to conduct a review to find cases of “financing and supplying arms to an insurgency in a country that actually worked out well. And they couldn’t come up with much.” Each case cited was a “major terrorist operation conducted by the US,” according to Chomsky. The self-defeating war on terror has destabilised and wrought social chaos in the Middle East, and “helped spread jihadism from a corner of Afghanistan to a larger part of the world.”

Chomsky: America Is the World’s Leading Terrorist Nation

November 4, 2014 Noam Chomsky, www.inthesetimes.com Educate! CIA, Cuba, ISIS, Noam Chomsky, Syria, Terrorism, usa

“It's official: The U.S. is the world's leading terrorist state, and proud of it.” That should have been the headline for the lead story in the New York Times on October 15, which was more politely titled “CIA Study of Covert Aid Fueled Skepticism About Helping Syrian Rebels.” The article reports on a CIA review of recent U.S. covert operations to determine their effectiveness. The White House concluded that unfortunately successes were so rare that some rethinking of the policy was in order. The article quoted President Barack Obama as saying that he had asked the CIA to conduct the review to find cases of “financing and supplying arms to an insurgency in a country that actually worked out well. And they couldn't come up with much.” So Obama has some reluctance about continuing such efforts.

Journalist Sues Tar Sands Refinery For Illegal ‘Terrorism’ Detention

September 5, 2014 4PS, www.ut4ps.tumblr.com Resist! Journalism, Police, Tar Sands, Terrorism

n award-winning independent journalist filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Tesoro and the Salt Lake City Police Department for illegally detaining him and accusing him of terrorism for taking photographs of a refinery. Jesse Fruhwirth posted a video on the Internet (see below) of December 16, 2013, when an ice storm and power outage prompted a major pollution event at Tesoro’s tar sands refinery in the Rose Park neighborhood. "I was in bed reading and through my window suddenly I could see that the night sky was ablaze as if all of Rose Park was on fire," says Fruhwirth. "Only the refinery was on fire, but I knew that such huge flare offs were extra dangerous events for babies, old people and sick people and I thought it was important to film the fire that might severely sicken or kill some of my neighbors that night." Fruhwirth also filmed the interaction he had with a police officer who ordered him to stop filming. In the video, Salt Lake officer Yvette Zayas tells Fruhwirth that she detained him for taking pictures of “critical infrastructure,” that she would refer her report to a “Joint Terrorism Task Force” to protect “homeland security.” Zayas is simultaneously a paid employee of Tesoro and SLCPD, but that night she was working directly on Tesoro’s payroll.

Guantanamo Defense Lawyer Resigns Over ‘Show Trial’

September 3, 2014 NPR, www.npr.org Educate! Guantanamo, Law, Terrorism, Torture

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks, is facing a military commission at Guantanamo Bay and potentially the death penalty. He was captured in 2003 but his case still hasn't gone to trial. Last week, Maj. Jason Wright — one of the lawyers defending Mohammed — resigned from the Army. He has accused the U.S. government of "abhorrent leadership" on human rights and due process guarantees and says it is crafting a "show trial." Wright joined the military in 2005. He served 15 months in Iraq during the surge and has worked as a Judge Advocate. For nearly three years, he served on Mohammed's defense team. Wright formally resigned on Aug. 26. Earlier this year, the Army had instructed him to leave the team in order to complete a graduate course that was required with his promotion from Captain to Major. He refused the order; he says it would have been unethical for him to have followed it. Asking For Trust, Wearing The Captors' Uniform Wright tells NPR's Arun Rath that it's hard to gain any client's trust, but it was especially hard with Mohammed. His former client is one of six "high-value detainees" being prosecuted at Guantanamo for offenses that could carry the death penalty.

British Jihadists To Be Forced To Attend Deradicalisation Programmes

September 3, 2014 Tom Whitehead, www.telegraph.co.uk Educate! ISIL, Islam, Terrorism, United Kingdom (UK)

British jihadists returning from Iraq and Syria will be forced to attend “deradicalisation” programmes to reverse their warped brainwashing, David Cameron announced. Dangerous fanatics made subject to court controls will be ordered to engage in anti-extremism schemes as part of a raft of new measures to combat the risk of British Islamists returning to the UK. The move comes amid growing concern over the threat posed by Britons who have joined the terror group Isil in Syria and Iraq. At least 500 are believed to have travelled out and half are now back on the streets of the UK, with some feared potentially plotting attacks here. In a Commons statement, Mr Cameron said: “Adhering to British values is not an option or a choice. “It is a duty for all those who live in these islands so we will stand up for our values, we will in the end defeat this extremism and we will secure our way of life for generations to come." Under the proposals, any terror suspect placed under a Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures (Tpims) will now be forced to engage in the Government’s Prevent programme, which tackles radicalisation.

How The Brutalized Become Brutal

August 26, 2014 Chris Hedges, www.truthdig.com Educate! Psychology, Terrorism, Violence, Wars and Militarism

The horrific pictures of the beheading of American reporter James Foley, the images of executions of alleged collaborators in Gaza and the bullet-ridden bodies left behind in Iraq by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant are the end of a story, not the beginning. They are the result of years, at times decades, of the random violence, brutal repression and collective humiliation the United States has inflicted on others. Our terror is delivered to the wretched of the earth with industrial weapons. It is, to us, invisible. We do not stand over the decapitated and eviscerated bodies left behind on city and village streets by our missiles, drones and fighter jets. We do not listen to the wails and shrieks of parents embracing the shattered bodies of their children. We do not see the survivors of air attacks bury their mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters. We are not conscious of the long night of collective humiliation, repression and powerlessness that characterizes existence in Israel’s occupied territories, Iraq and Afghanistan. We do not see the boiling anger that war and injustice turn into a caldron of hate over time. We are not aware of the very natural lust for revenge against those who carry out or symbolize this oppression. We see only the final pyrotechnics of terror, the shocking moment when the rage erupts into an inchoate fury and the murder of innocents. And, willfully ignorant, we do not understand our own complicity. We self-righteously condemn the killers as subhuman savages who deserve more of the violence that created them. This is a recipe for endless terror.

The Powers Behind The Islamic State

August 25, 2014 The Real News, www.therealnews.com Educate! Iraq, ISIS, Syria, Terrorism, Wars and Militarism

Well, the first thing, I think that is very important to grasp: the role that our governments have played in fomenting the crisis that we see. The rise of ISIS was kind of predictable, and it's something that some analysts--analysts have warned about civil war in Iraq for years. I guess the accelerated nature of what we're seeing, most people haven't anticipated that, but it was predictable. And when we look at the way in which we've been funding some of these groups, it's kind of ironic that we have the very same people now calling for boots on the ground, calling for a response, are the same people that have been very loud in their support for arming some of the most virulent of elements of these rebel groups. And even though the Obama administration, for instance, has given a lot of lip service, saying that we only want to fund, you know, the kind of moderate rebels and so on and so forth--but the Obama administration has actively coordinated the financing that has come from the Gulf states to the very types of groups that they historically have always favored, which is the most virulent jihadist al-Qaeda affiliated organizations. So there is a contradiction here in what we're being told now and the way in which policymakers have kind of created this crisis and now not taken responsibility for this crisis.

More War In Reaction To Foley Murder Will Fuel ISIS

August 21, 2014 Owen Jones, www.theguardian.com Educate! ISIS, Journalism, Terrorism, Wars and Militarism

The first defeat for the alleged killers of James Foley would be for him to be remembered as a courageous journalist. Reporting from a war zone is riskier than ever: over 200 media workers died in the Iraq war, more than any other conflict; at least 70 journalists were killed in global conflicts last year; and Agence France-Presse estimates that at least 30 have died this year. Foley had already spent 44 days in captivity at the hands of Gaddafi’s forces in Libya, but that did not deter him from seeking to uncover the truth about Syria. His apparent killers want him to be remembered as a tool to spread terror; celebrating his work would be an act of defiance. Everything about the video seemingly of Foley’s murder is intended to chill. It is unlikely that Islamic State (Isis) selected an executioner with a strong London accent for no reason. It was the Iraq war that first popularised the execution video, but hearing the blood-curdling threats and dogma of Isis recited in tones that are all too familiar is itself a message. Terrorism by definition aims to spread terror to achieve its political ends. One of the reasons Isis has outmanoeuvred its rivals is because it has embraced social media so effectively. By publicising its atrocities online, it tells would-be opponents what will happen if it is resisted, and this partly explains why so many have fled rather than confront Isis forces. The ruthless use of social media has proved instrumental in the toppling of entire cities. This operation is being gladly assisted by those in the west who portray Isis as a unique, undiluted evil that needs to be bombed out of existence, granting the militant group the mystique it clearly craves and relies on.

«1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 »

Daily movement news and resources