Category: Communities of Practice

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NIGHTWATCH: Pakistan to US/CIA – Stop the Drones or We Will + Drone Operator on Video – “I felt like a sociopath”

04 Inter-State Conflict, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Terrorism, Corruption, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, IO Deeds of War
CIA Drones Have a 98% ERROR Rate
CIA Drones Have a 98% ERROR Rate

Pakistan: In response to two US drone attacks since taking his oath of office last week, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif issued an official statement after his first cabinet meeting. “The policy of protesting against drone strikes for public consumption, while working behind the scenes to make them happen, is not on.”

He told the cabinet that drone attacks were a violation of national sovereignty and the government “had chalked out a policy” to counter them. He said it was a matter of concern that after he took charge of the government' drone attacks were launched which was not acceptable in any way

Comment: Over the weekend, the new government summoned the US Ambassador to deliver an official protest. The statements at the cabinet meeting signify that the new government will go beyond issuing pro forma protests. Sharif has a policy in mind and changes are likely.

Sharif also ordered a 30% cut in the staff of the Prime Minister to set an example for the rest of the cabinet whom he ordered to cut 30% of non-developmental expenditures. He told the cabinet to set priorities consistent with his guidance and report back to him in two weeks on how to revive the economy. He also advised that those who fail will be replaced.

RELATED:

“I felt like a sociopath” – Drone Operator Says He Is Haunted By The 1,600 He Killed

Former drone operator says he's haunted by his part in more than 1,600 deaths

Continue reading “NIGHTWATCH: Pakistan to US/CIA – Stop the Drones or We Will + Drone Operator on Video – “I felt like a sociopath””

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Doug Rushkoff on CNN: Edward Snowden is a hero — uncovering the MACHINE

Corruption, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, Law Enforcement, Military
Douglas Rushkoff
Douglas Rushkoff

Editor's note: Douglas Rushkoff writes a regular column for CNN.com. He is a media theorist and the author of the new book “Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now.”

(CNN) — When I was a kid, I remember a guy named Daniel Ellsberg leaking some classified documents to the New York Times about the Vietnam War called “the Pentagon Papers.”

When the whistle-blower finally stood trial for espionage, my parents weren't quite sure how to feel. But when Richard Nixon's crew was revealed to have been conducting illegal wiretaps in an effort to discredit the former intelligence contractor, well, they were outraged and decided Ellsberg was a hero. So did the judge and most of America.

I wonder whether Ed Snowden, the 29-year-old Booz Allen Hamilton employee behind last week's series of leaks about National Security Agency surveillance on the American public, will be rewarded with the same admiration. You'd think we would be even more outraged by what he uncovered than we were by the surveillance of Ellsberg. After all, it's not just one lone loose cannon being wiretapped here, it's all of us being monitored.

Douglas Rushkoff

Snowden has not uncovered a human conspiracy here but the workings of the machine itself. And it's a machine that really does require some human intervention.

Continue reading “Doug Rushkoff on CNN: Edward Snowden is a hero — uncovering the MACHINE”

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Mini-Me: DHS Insider – It’s About to Get Ugly [Possible Neo-Con Coup Angle?]

Corruption, Government
Who? Mini-Me?
Who? Mini-Me?

Huh?

DHS insider: It’s about to get very ugly

Seriously dangerous times ahead. Deadly times. War, and censorship under the color of authority and under the pretext of of national security

Doug Hagmann

Canada Free Press, 10 June 2013

EXTRACT

“If anyone thinks that what’s going on right now with all of this surveillance of American citizens is to fight some sort of foreign enemy, they’re delusional. If people think that this ‘scandal’ can’t get any worse, it will, hour by hour, day by day. This has the ability to bring down our national leadership, the administration and other senior elected officials working in collusion with this administration, both Republican and Democrats. People within the NSA, the Department of Justice, and others, they know who they are, need to come forth with the documentation of ‘policy and practice’ in their possession, disclose what they know, fight what’s going on, and just do their job. I have never seen anything like this, ever. The present administration is going after leakers, media sources, anyone and everyone who is even suspected of ‘betrayal.’ That’s what they call it, ‘betrayal.’ Can you believe the size of their cahones? This administration considers anyone telling the truth about Benghazi, the IRS, hell, you name the issue, ‘betrayal,’” he said.

Full article below the line

Continue reading “Mini-Me: DHS Insider – It's About to Get Ugly [Possible Neo-Con Coup Angle?]”

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Jon Rappoport: Is Ed Snowden a CIA Dangle to China?

02 China, Government
Jon Rappoport
Jon Rappoport

NSA leaker: are there serious cracks in Ed Snowden's story?

www.nomorefakenews.com

First, I'm not doubting the documents Ed Snowden has brought forward. I'm not doubting the illegal reach of the NSA in spying on Americans and the world.

But as to how this recent revelation happened, and whether Ed Snowden's history holds up…I have questions.

Could Snowden have been given extraordinary access to classified info as part of a larger scheme? Could he be a) an honest man and yet b) a guy who was set up to do what he's doing now?

If b) is true, then Snowden fits the bill perfectly. He wants to do what he's doing. He isn't lying about that. He means what he says.

Okay. Let's look at his history as reported by The Guardian.

Continue reading “Jon Rappoport: Is Ed Snowden a CIA Dangle to China?”

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Steven Aftergood: Secret Surveillance and the Crisis of Legitimacy

Corruption, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, Military
Steven Aftergood
Steven Aftergood

Secret Surveillance and the Crisis of Legitimacy

Intelligence, Leaks, Oversight, Secrecy

In December 1974, when a previous program of secret government surveillance was revealed by Seymour Hersh in the New York Times, the ensuing public uproar led directly to extensive congressional investigations and the creation of new mechanisms of oversight, including intelligence oversight committees in Congress and an intelligence surveillance court.

The public uproar over the latest disclosures of secret domestic surveillance by The Guardian and the Washington Post different cannot produce a precisely analogous result, because the oversight mechanisms intended to correct abuses already exist and indeed had signed off on the surveillance activities.  Those programs are “under very strict supervision by all three branches of government,” President Obama said Friday.  In some sense, the system functioned as intended.

Nevertheless, all three branches of government performed badly in this case, by misrepresenting the scope of official surveillance, misgauging public concern and evading public accountability.

Official Dissembling and Misrepresentation

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David Swanson: Not Impeaching Bush Is Sure Paying Off!

Civil Society, Ethics
David Swanson
David Swanson

Not Impeaching Bush Is Sure Paying Off!

Many loyal Republicans opposed impeaching George W. Bush.  So did most liberal and progressive activist groups, labor unions, peace organizations, churches, media outlets, journalists, pundits, organizers, and bloggers, not to mention most Democratic members of Congress, most Democrats dreaming of someday being in Congress, and — toward the end of the Bush presidency — most supporters of candidate Barack Obama or candidate Hillary Clinton.

Remarkably in the face of this opposition, a large percentage and often a majority of Americans told pollsters that Bush should be impeached.  It's not clear, however, that everyone understood why impeachment was needed.  Some might have supported a successful impeachment of Bush and then turned around and tolerated identical crimes and abuses by a Democrat, assuming a Democrat managed to engage in them.  But this is the point: whoever followed Bush's impeachment would have been far less likely to repeat and expand on his tyrannical policies.  And the reason many of us wanted Bush impeached — as we said at the time — was to prevent that repetition and expansion, which we said was virtually inevitable if impeachment was not pursued.

Can You Hear Me Now?

Continue reading “David Swanson: Not Impeaching Bush Is Sure Paying Off!”

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