He Who Smelt It Dealt It

The Russian military has found no trace of chemical weapons use after searching parts of Syria’s Douma allegedly targeted by an “attack.” Photos of victims posted by the White Helmets are fake, Russia’s Defense Ministry said.

Experts in radiological, chemical and biological warfare, as well as medics, inspected the parts of the Eastern Ghouta city of Douma, where an alleged chemical attack supposedly took place on Saturday, the Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria said in a statement.

The specialists “found no traces of the use of chemical agents” after searching the sites, the statement said. The center’s medical specialists also visited a local hospital but found no patients that showed signs of chemical weapons poisoning. “All these facts show… that no chemical weapons were used in the town of Douma, as it was claimed by the White Helmets,” the statement said, referring to the controversial “civil defense” group that was among the first to report about the alleged attack.

“All the accusations brought by the White Helmets, as well as their photos… allegedly showing the victims of the chemical attack, are nothing more than a yet another piece of fake news and an attempt to disrupt the ceasefire,” the Reconciliation Center said.

The Pentagon Papers 2010

Afghan War Logs: Key Findings -- The Telegraph

Thousands of classified US military documents including details of when coalition troops killed civilians in Afghanistan have been released through the website Wikileaks. Here are some key findings.

– A secret unit of special forces called Task Force 373 is being used to hunt down and kill or capture Taliban leaders without trial, The Guardian reported. More than 2,000 enemy targets were on the list called the "Joint Prioritized Effects List".

– The coalition is increasingly using Reaper drones controlled by joystick from Nevada to target and kill insurgents. Files also showed that 97 missiles had been fired by British reapers since 2008.

Read more ....

More News On Wikileaks Release of Tens of Thousands Of Secret Files On The Afghan War

The War Logs -- New York Times
The War Logs -- The Guardian
The Afghanistan Protocol -- Spiegel Online
Afghan War Diary, 2004-2010 -- WikiLeaks

Wikileaks Afghanistan files: download the key incidents as a spreadsheet -- The Guardian
Afghanistan War Logs: Shattering Illusion of a Bloodless Victory -- The Guardian
Afghanistan War Logs: Secret War Along the Pakistan Border -- The Guardian
Afghanistan War Logs: Iran's Covert Operations in Afghanistan -- The Guardian
Afghanistan War Logs: Fear Taliban Could Tap Mobile Phones -- The Guardian
Afghanistan War Logs: Taliban Listening in to Top-secret Phone -- The Guardian
Afghanistan War Logs: CIA Paramilitaries' Role in Civilian Deaths -- The Guardian
Afghanistan War Logs: Civilians Caught in Firing Line -- The Guardian

Inside the Fog of War: Reports From the Ground in Afghanistan -- New York Times
In Disclosing Secret Documents, WikiLeaks Seeks ‘Transparency’ -- New York Times
Strategic Plans Spawned Bitter End for a Lonely Outpost -- New York Times
Pakistan Aids Insurgency in Afghanistan, Reports Assert -- New York Times

The Afghanistan Protocol: Explosive Leaks Provide Image of War from Those Fighting It -- Spiegel Online
The Afghanistan Protocol: Task Force 373 : The Secret Hunters -- Der Spiegel
The Afghanistan Protocol: German Naivety : Growing Trouble in the North -- Der Spiegel
The Afghanistan Protocol: The Flaws of the Silent Killer: When Drones Fail -- Der Spiegel
The Afghanistan Protocol: Intelligence Agents Drowning in Data -- Der Spiegel

Exclusive: Massive 'War Log' Leak Wasn't Done Alone, Whistleblower Says -- ABC News
US documents leaked online give inside look at war -- Yahoo News/AP
Pakistan secretly helping Taliban: report -- Yahoo News/Reuters
US condemns massive leak of Afghan war files -- Yahoo News/AFP
WikiLeaks Drops 90,000 War Docs; Fingers Pakistan as Insurgent Ally -- The Danger Room
Thousands of 'Secret' Afghan War Files Released on Internet -- Voice of America
US Documents Leaked Online Give Inside Look at War -- ABC News
Leaked files lay bare war in Afghanistan -- Washington Post
Tens of thousands of alleged Afghan war documents go online -- CNN
Afghanistan War Logs: 90,000 classified documents revealed by Wikileaks -- The Telegraph
'Hidden US Afghan War Details' Revealed By Wikileaks As Thousands Of Top Secret Files Go Online -- BBC News
Wikileaks releases massive set of Afghan war files -- CNET
Papers: Leaks Show Unreported Afghan Deaths -- NPR/AP
Pakistan Aids Insurgency in Afghanistan, Reports Assert -- New York Times
The big leak -- Politico
Wikileaks takes new approach in latest release of documents -- Washington Post
Afghan war logs: inquiry launched into source of leaks -- The Telegraph

Afghan says it's 'shocked' by leaked U.S. documents -- CNN
W.H. condemns 'irresponsible' leaks, dismisses stories -- Politico
White House Responds to Disclosure -- New York Times
White House Decries WikiLeaks' Release -- Los Angeles Times
Government 'laments' Afghan war documents leak -- BBC
Pakistan denies Wikileaks reports it 'aided Taliban' -- BBC
Pakistani spy agency denounces US intel docs -- Washington Post/AP
Jones lashes out at Wikileaks for putting lives at risk with Afghanistan files -- The Hill
U.S. Denounces Publication of Classified Documents on War in Afghanistan -- Bloomberg
The War Logs: Reaction to Disclosure of Military Documents on Afghan War -- New York Times
Hamid Gul Responds to WikiLeaks Allegations -- Wall Street Journal

Afghan war logs: webchat with Guardian reporter David Leigh -- The Guardian
What the WikiLeaks Documents Really Reveal -- Leslie H. Gelb, Daily Beast
The New Republic: The Significance Of The Wikileaks -- Andrew J. Bacevich, NPR
WikiLeaks' Afghan Documents and Me -- Mother Jones
The Afghan war is too important to be side-tracked by wikileaks that tell us nothing new -- Con Coughlin, The Telegraph

Posted by Bookyards

So, let me paraphrase : In war people get killed. But only under George Bush. War sucks.

Protesting Obama's Crimes

A group of super important US actors and liberal intellectuals joined a list of nearly 2,000 people accusing President Barack Obama of allowing human rights violations and war crimes.

"Crimes are crimes, no matter who does them," the statement reads over pictures of Obama and his predecessor George W. Bush due to appear in the New York Review of Books... which is the most important book of our time.

The statement, published as a paid advertisement, accuses Obama, who was elected by these same people, of continuing Bush's controversial approach to human rights in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in domestic security. Meet the new boss same as the old boss stuff must finally be sinking in with these folks?

The Review of Books Statement takes aim especially at Obama's decision to authorize the killing of a radical Islamic cleric and US citizen Anwar al-Awlaki, who is accused of ties to Al-Qaeda in Yemen.

"In some respects this is worse than Bush," the statement says. "First, because Obama has claimed the right to assassinate American citizens whom he suspects of 'terrorism,' merely on the grounds of his own suspicion or that of the CIA, something Bush never claimed publicly." Just to be clear, these important people now believe Obama is WORSE than Bush? Yeah, I had to rub my eyes a couple times on that one too.

Among the signatories are cunning linguist Noam Chomsky, "L.A. Confidential" actor James Cromwell, actor Mark Ruffalo and prominent Bush-era anti-war protest icon and professional whiner Cindy Sheehan. At last count, were 1,804 signatures.

They also lambast Obama for having refused "to prosecute any members of the Bush regime who are responsible for war crimes, including some who admitted to waterboarding and other forms of torture, thereby making their actions acceptable for him." Well, if he did that, he'd have to prosecute the entire Congress too... which Obama was a member of. That'd be just silly!

To be fair, Norm Chomsky thought Jimmy Carter was a war criminal. Now while I agree that putting a hit on American citizens creates a slippery slope... a dangerous slippery slope (And more than just bi-polar since we're reading Miranda Rights to non-citizens with shoe bombs on airplanes, while we're sending Terminator drones to kill actual citizens in Yemen?).

But to just blindly follow Chomsky, Sheehan, and the 'Important Actors' based on their allegations that the procecution of the War on Terror and the hit on (potential traitor) Anwar al-Awlaki was a groundless and violent action for the sake of violence. We are not meant to question their logic, statement, or motives at all. These same people who would have us believe that the White House and the CIA are not worth our faith are asking us to place our faith in them?

And when they simply speculate and accuse with no foundation or proof then that is a tough sell.

Damnit, Cartman

Blackwater contractors illegally checked out weapons as South Park's Eric Cartman

The Senate Armed Services Committee hearings into Blackwater security contractors' alleged misdeeds in Afghanistan have uncovered the news that hundreds of weapons intended for the Afghan national police were illegally obtained by Blackwater contractors, who checked them out under the name "Eric Cartman," The Atlantic reports.