I left this as a comment at Phill Giraldi’s Unz Review column. Time to time my comments are inspiration for my blog but this is the first one I’m bringing over here verbatim:
When the middle east was ‘decolonized’ (in name only) there were artificial boundaries left behind resembling those of the American Indian reservations where tribes with a long history of mutual animosity were forced into cohabitation. Secular strongmen kept a lid on the religious animosity between Shia and Sunni (the main and most problematic rivalry) in a region with an otherwise naturally decentralized body politic represented in various tribes and clans with local tradition of authority. There is no nation state tradition per se in the sense we know in ‘the west.’
The folly of attempting to impose western style (liberal) democracy on what amount to artificial entities to begin with (‘states’ comprised of arbitrary, colonial era drawn borders, incorporating peoples with longstanding differences and simmering animosities) is certain to see profound consequence. As much as it might be an undesirable short term and self-centered interest of less than noble parties to break these artificial entities up, the reality is any previous delicate balance has been so deeply compromised and poisoned, and the historic animosity between the areas indigenous rivals so stirred, there is no going back to the old status quo. ‘All the king’s horses and all the king’s men won’t put this humpty back together again.’
In the short term, America’s neo-cons (and neo-liberals) have, in a sense, won. But what? No one can predict where, when or what is going to come of this incredibly stupid gambit where the attempted overthrow of Assad was so great a fascination of converging, short-sighted interests, to go so far as to knowingly allow, nay, actually make that fostering, the rise of Islamic State.
Sunni Iraq is de facto broken off from Shia Iraq, Sunni Syria is effectively broken off from Alawite and Christian Syria and the Kurds, the largest stateless ethnic group in the world, is a wild card determined to have what they should have been allowed in the beginning, their own nation-state. Most Kurds are in Turkey with sizable populations in Iraq, Iran and Syria. Kurd national aspirations trump their largely Sunni religious affiliation. Erdogan, reflecting a long time Turkish chauvinism in relation to other ethnic groups, has destroyed what little rapprochement had been accomplished with not only Turkey’s own Kurdish population, but has alienated the Kurds of Syria and Iraq.
Phil [Giraldi’s] ‘destroying ISIS but how?’ has to take the long view where all of these complications are in play. Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Qatar all might give lip service to reasonable solution but the only solution they actually desire is Assad’s ouster and a compliant puppet to replace him. Meanwhile, the western powers have so much ego invested, they can hardly stand to turn a new page if they can’t write the script, although the ‘chickens come home to roost’ in Paris might have slapped some sense into Hollande, but we won’t know this for certain right away.
That sole, overarching fact is, international law and the United Nations, based in western traditions, are no match for the forces released with the meddling in this region by the no less than incredible stupidity of the western powers leadership. When the dust settles, let’s just hope it’s not radioactive –
Today’s media, FOX being the poster child, is exploiting the ignorant and narcissistic hate endemic to the uneducated White lower class in the USA, while parroting the official line. There is a deep and abiding fear underlies this hate, a social-cultural phenomenon rooted in a history of class exploiting race, whether the racism of ‘manifest destiny’ in relation to considering Native Americans sub-human to justify theft and murder; or the ‘White trash’ whose racism had been historically fed and exploited by the ‘southern aristocracy’ for political and pecuniary purpose.
Social phenomena being what it is, it follows there is the inter-generational aspect where the ignorance is sustained within family and community. ‘Mean people make little mean people.’ This ignorance is, in turn, exploited by the politics of fear mongering in the present.
Whether it is the fairly straightforward lies of the Rupert Murdochs (FOX News) in our world or the more insidious Hasbara of Israel, example given, posing as White, racist, anti-Semites in the article comments at Unz Review to smear authors like Phillip Giraldi with a false flag generating guilt by association, it is old tactic in play.
Now, Arabs (and Brown anybodies) are the new Native American to be feared as ‘savages’ in the 21st century edition of empire (manifest destiny) and, of course, there is underhanded play aplenty to radicalize just enough of the new ‘savages’ to insure a few will behave shockingly enough for media sensation. Meanwhile ’empire media’ will present ‘White Europe’ as the model of civilization under attack by barbarians, never mind we prop up the likes of ®Saudi Barbaria™.
Saudi Arabia, whom the USA has just sold another billion dollars plus in arms, exports Wahabi Islam that crucifies, beheads and delivers lashes in increments of 50 over years of torture as the victim is allowed to heal between the last fifty and next fifty to the number of 1,000. This cruelty is reflected in the close Saudi connections to, and support for, al-Qaida and Islamic State and with the Saudis financing mosques across Europe, what would one expect? That Brussels, example given, would become Europe’s ‘jihadi’ hotbed? The result is bringing discredit on ordinary, law abiding people of Muslim heritage everywhere, secular and religious.
This matrix of evil is all interconnected in the USA’s so-called ‘vital national interests’ where intelligence agencies, backed by corporate co-opted media, geo-engineer entire societies, whether via ‘color revolutions’, coups d’état or in the present ‘Arab Spring’ attempted overthrow of Syria’s Assad.
This immediate preceding case is where the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ had been prostituted in a case of converging interests; Saudi Arabia and Qatar looking to overthrow Assad to essentially to poke Iran in the eye with a sharp stick. Turkey to quash its paranoia of the Kurds exercising of any right of self determination exterior to its borders. Israel supporting al-Nusra to remove a thorn its side constituting the Golan Heights where they will be looking for a surrender of sovereignty in a weakened and compliant Syria broken off from Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The USA appeasing Israel, and as well, appeasing ally (oil supplier) Saudi Arabia at odds with Iran also plays into the equation, as well USA, France, Germany and Britain play if only because they’re addicted to the profits from weapons sales propping up corporate neo-colonialism.
The result has been establishing (by the CIA in concert with Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel and to some extent the British, German and French intelligence agencies) the so-called ‘Free Syrian Army’ which has served as little more than a front to train and arm Salafist (extreme Wahabi) militia represented in al-Qaida and the emergence of Daesh (Islamic State, IS, ISIL, ISIS) as a device to overthrow the secular regime of Syria, noting any ‘real’ moderates are fighting on the side of the secular regime.
The result has been several fold; the flood of refugees out of Syria, the Paris massacre, the accelerated rise of a police state in the so-called ‘free world’ and not least, the overall increase of the value of stocks in the so-called ‘security industry’ (includes the profit margin increases of armaments producers across the board.)
All of this can be accomplished in the case of manipulating press to insure an ill educated and misinformed populace is thoroughly fear mongered; terrorists here, terrorists there, terrorists everywhere:
They see you when you’re sleeping (CNN)
They know when you’re awake (Al Jazeera)
They know when you’re out to dine (Le Monde)
So stay home for safety’s sake! (Der Speigel)
So you better watch out (The Daily Mail)
You’d better not fly (Canadian Broadcasting Corp)
Al-Baghdadi is coming to town (The Jerusalem Post)
Now, if any of you have any doubts as to the preceding, take a look (again) at what I’ve been hammering on at this site; we have a bonafide, (no doubt mistakenly or incredibly courageously) declassified intelligence report from the Defense Intelligence Agency that says in no uncertain terms the rise of Islamic State, as stated by the boss of the Defense Intelligence Agency when that very report was written, and speaking to that very same report, was “willful” and “a policy decision”
Now, ask yourselves, who is to blame for the attacks in Paris? I’ll name the names at the top: USA’s Obama, Turkey’s Erdogan, the House of Saud, the rulers of Qatar, France’s Hollande (and Sarkozy prior to Hollande), Britain’s Cameron, Germany’s Merkel and Israel’s Netanyahu.
Now, ask yourselves the more difficult questions; what western democratic constitution allows for intelligence agencies to engineer the rise of terrorist organizations for sake of geo-political manipulations? The plain answer is none. If Iran is the world’s premier sponsor of state terror as alleged by the USA Department of State, what are the so-called western democracies by comparison? It wasn’t Iran butchered the Parisians, it wasn’t Hezbollah and it wasn’t Assad either. The massacre in Paris is the direct result of the USA, in concert with Britain, France, Germany, Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Israel deliberately creating and feeding the conditions that saw the rise of Daesh (Islamic State, IS, ISIL, ISIS.) A secondary, but no less malignant result, will be the rise of the far right and nationalism in Europe, breeding fear, loathing and Islamophobia with growing radicalism on all parties part.
It should come as no surprise that those nations arming a dark ages regime such as Saudi Arabia would be criminal regimes in their own right, particularly noting in addition to the USA, France, Britain and Germany. Meanwhile, the criminal leadership of the western democracies has been cutting their own people’s throats. In every nation named, the actions of their respective intelligence agencies is directed from the executive level.
This is the real intelligence on our leaders and it’s not rocket science:
*
Note on the preceding: This essay, in slightly modified format, has been sent as a letter to eighteen German federal parliamentarians (BCC addresses omitted)
“We’ve seen an outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians, this is an attack not just on Paris, it is an attack not just on the people of France, but it is an attack on all of humanity and the universal values we share” -Barack Obama
Better had Obama truthfully stated ‘our clandestine agencies employing state terror to overthrow Assad has backfired’
*
Speaking directly to the above intelligence report, the western powers enabling the rise of Islamic State, according to the former boss of the Defense Intelligence Agency, General Mike Flynn, “was willful” & “a policy decision”
Why didn’t Obama, Hollande and company consider their clandestinely promoting the rise of Islamic State as a device to overthrow Assad was “an outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians [and] an attack on all of humanity and the universal values we share” ??
The CIA’s world of smoke and mirrors is coming home to roost at VICE News. In a 28 minute ‘investigative journalism’ film dripping lies and denial off the lips of ‘former’ (once CIA, always CIA) counter-terrorism officer Sabrina De Sousa…
…yours truly stumbled across some rather remarkable coincidences.
The 1st coincidence is, this convicted (for kidnapping) CIA Officer who denies any role in the actual Abu Omar (Italy) rendition, is the very same woman indelibly marked in my memory as a total stranger who smirked at me when our paths crossed when I was intensively hunted in Wiesbaden, Germany, in Summer 2008. Here is my (February 2014) short description of one of the several events I experienced that summer, provided to European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights:
One person etched into my memory, although I did not know who she was in the Summer of 2008, was then active CIA officer Sabrina De Sousa. She jumped out on account of her smirking at myself when passing on the street. She was clad partially in the casual clothing of South Asia, and gave me a knowing smile and expression that can only be considered remarkable, when encountered in a total stranger. This marked De Sousa in my memory.
Of the several attempts during this period, one attempt clearly resembled the technique employed in the ‘Imam rapito affair’, also known as the Abu Omar case, in which De Sousa was involved. I was returning from teaching class at Mainz, when I noticed an aberration (due to my training) in what otherwise would seem a normal and unremarkable event. A group of men dressed in the typical blue German workingman clothing, taking a break.
The circumstance jumped out at me as I approached for the following reasons; there was no conversation at all, they looked ‘posed’ (stiff, as if unfamiliar with acting), had American body language and what I would call ‘Delta Force’ physiques (the sort of body build you will typically encounter in hyper-physically trained special operations soldiers.) Other than clothing, they did not resemble German laborers at all. My route on the sidewalk would have taken me between what amounted to a close, half-circle of three of these ‘workers’, and the half-circle closed to the street by the open, sliding side door, to a white, windowless van with at least one occupant.
There was a fourth ‘worker’ sitting in the passenger seat (with door open) of a car pulled up closely behind the van, concealing the van’s identity plate from behind. He appeared to be a ‘backstop’ positioned in case I’d evaded or somehow came through the initial three poised to shove myself into the van. Clearly, it was expected I would walk between the half-circle and the van. I approached as if unconcerned, to get as close as possible for visual assessment and at the last moment, instead of continuing on the sidewalk into what certainly was a ‘snatch’ and ‘rendition’ trap (I could have been popped into the van and subdued in a matter of a few seconds, less than five seconds, certainly), I walked out into street and into possible oncoming traffic (and was lucky not to be run down by a car.) Evasion was simple.
The 2nd coincidence is, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) filing a criminal complaint against certain USA personalities with the German Federal Prosecutor and offering to produce De Sousa as a voluntary ‘tells all’ witness in the Abu Omar rendition case; in a context presented in the VICE film as on behalf of De Sousa:
It was 25 months ago, on 7 October 2013, I’d initially informed the very same organization of my circumstance…
Dear European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights
Great to see you hosting Jeremy Scahill. I invite you to look into a less famous case, closer to home.
My invitation for your organization is, to challenge Germany’s government on allowing JSOC, CIA & MOSSAD to run free in Germany for years engaging in criminal acts, up to and inclusive of both; the attempted rendition and assassination of this correspondent. As well, question why it is ‘responsible’ persons at the Bundestag sit on their hands with tails between legs when they damn well should have been raising their voices. It is my own firm intention there will not be any opportunity to claim ‘we didn’t know’ after the fact, like so many Germans did after the Reich’s defeat.
All the material you need to open a comprehensive investigation is located at my webpage
Most sincerely
Ron West
…and received this 8 October 2013 reply:
Dear Ron West, thank you very much for your email… we’re .. closely following US-activities on German territory as part of worldwide human rights violations. As you might have seen on our website, we’ve been active against Bush, Rumsfeld and many others in a number of European jurisdiction as well as against the German government regarding CIA-renditions. However, we’re not able to support individual cases, but will certainly have a look at them to include them in our comprehensive strategies. We’ll continue our work on the issue. Best regards
Subsequent to this I had, clearly without any expectation of personal representation…
Dear [ECCHR person]
A most sincere, absolutely grateful thank you, for your reply, a first from any Human Rights affiliated group in six years of soliciting a correspondence relating to my circumstance.
I do invite a look at my case without expectation of any commitment to individual advocacy on my behalf. I will be happy to answer any questions you may have, give you permission to speak to anyone regarding myself and I waive any right of anonymity in any reference to my alleged circumstance, when referenced in any report you may see fit to include my case in.
My kindest greetings
…had gone on to provide ECCHR strong testimonials to my character & veracity, as well as a chronology of my experiences, to include my encounter with De Sousa and how she fit the overall picture. Now, it comes about the ECCHR’s “not able to support individual cases” was applicable in my case but not in the case of De Sousa, a person the ECCHR had been informed is complicit in attempted kidnap and murder on German soil. So, what gives here? I have some thoughts on that but first the next coincidence:
3rd coincidence. Between my initial contact with ECCHR and the present circumstance of ECCHR attempting the rehabilitation of a convicted kidnapper in the Italian Abu Omar case, Sabrina De Sousa, whom they’d been informed by myself is implicated in nearly identical circumstance in Germany, I had devised a legal strategy (posted online) also provided to ECCHR that appears to have been adopted by the ECCHR in partnership with the British group Reprieve. But they couldn’t have done a better job of messing it up as if that was the real intent. In short, ECCHR (together with Reprieve) sued in German court to hold Germany to account as complicit or enablers of the USA’s illegal drone wars by hosting the USA’s military. They could have made a much stronger political points case with going after the Iraq war crimes with information developed by so many sources so as to be irrefutable, using the German legal principle of Völkerstrafgesetzbuch (universal jurisdiction), for instance pursuing the torture camp/death squads set up under General Petraeus during his first tour of Iraq, information developed by the Guardian:
But instead ECCHR followed a narrow line of focus on drones where proving the German legal liability was nebulous and managed a loss; setting a precedent in German law strengthening their purported adversaries. Now, with this NEGATIVE precedent set, ECCHR has filed a criminal complaint in a larger process of rehabilitating De Sousa irrespective of information in their hands indicating she is complicit in crimes committed on German soil exterior to USA military installations in the case of yours truly, the by far stronger case to bring the USA to account in German courts. Ignoring this, instead it would appear ECCHR is following the losing strategy of the previous case; relying on the idea the plane used in the Abu Omar rendition touched down at the USA’s Ramstein Air Base, placing the jurisdiction once again where the German courts will hesitate to reach.
According to De Sousa in the VICE film, she is willing to ‘tell all’ to the German prosecutors but with a reservation; she refused to share any of this information with the VICE reporter who treats her with kid gloves throughout.
WTF are the possibilities?
De Sousa resigning the CIA is a cover story and she’s actually engaged in an agency operation to shut down certain legal avenues to persons such as myself while in process of feeding disinformation to the German authorities.
The ECCHR is compromised by intelligence agents along the lines of Francis Boyle’s discoveries at Amnesty International where human rights are gamed by the likes of CIA & MI6.
The ECCHR is absolutely incompetent and is being gamed by De Sousa, a loose cannon the CIA is in turn gaming & perfectly content to allow run loose like a maniac and attempt to tell everything (an accomplished liar knows) to German prosecutors because the CIA can shape the course of events to shut down certain legal avenues to CIA advantage.
VICE reporters and producers believe in virgin birth and report the moon is made of green cheese per the quote of former CIA Director William Colby: “the Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in major media“
Some ‘the fix is in’ combination of the preceding possibilities.
All of this is just a fantastic coincidence.
So, what did I do? Well, I did this:
To: Federal Republic of Germany Prosecutor Re: Criminal complaint
Dear Prosecutor for the Federal Republic of Germany
It has come to my attention the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) has filed a criminal complaint either on behalf of, or directly relevant to, (former) CIA officer Sabrina De Sousa (see attached 1.) This communication is a cross-filing requesting 1) the De Sousa related ECCHR criminal complaint be expanded to include my alleged encounter with De Sousa in Wiesbaden, Germany, Summer of 2008 (see attached 2.)
In that I am alleging circumstance pointing to Sabrina De Sousa in collusion with the attempted rendition and/or murder of myself on German soil, it is requested all of the possible sources, whether German law enforcement, or German intelligence agencies be made to surrender their records for purposes of prosecution without regard for political considerations or alliance; in that it cannot be in the best interest of the German state to countenance attempted rendition and/or assassination in deference to political interests within German institutions, nor on behalf of state actors and alliances originating exterior to the borders of Germany but complicit in crimes on German soil.
Mr Strobele, as a member of the German Parliament intelligence oversight committee, has been apprised of my circumstance for quite some time; and has sat on his hands despite my having confirmation he is in receipt of my mails and information. As well, the several German security institutions I further allege are well informed as to the facts of my case, have failed to act previous to this; yet there is no hesitation to preemptively arrest and pursue prosecution of non-state terror actors without requiring the niceties of the intended victims/targets filing a complaint. In this instance I am also requesting the German government investigate itself per the lack of enforcing the law and insuring norms of a civilized, democratic society bound to the rule of law are upheld in future.
“The history of the great events of this world are scarcely more than a history of crime” -Voltaire
Attached: 1 Vice News screen shot of criminal complaint in jpg format. Attached: 2 my chronology in pdf format.
Wherever direction this charade takes, it is my intent the CIA/German authorities/De Sousa/VICE/ECCHR parties will not have the idea there would be no one willing to call their charade precisely what it is:
What the western press will not report; United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki Moon stating:
“The future of President Assad must be decided by the Syrian people. It is totally unfair and unreasonable one person takes the whole political negotiation process hostage
“The Syrian government insists that President Assad should be part of [the transitional government]; many countries, particularly the West, say that there is no place for him
“Because of this we have lost three years, with more than 250,000 dead, more than 13 million people, over half of the population, is displaced inside Syria in urgent need of humanitarian aid, more than 50% of hospitals, schools and infrastructure have been destroyed”
Now, how does one read this? If you carefully look at the context indicating Assad’s future is up to the Syrian people in the first sentence, the second sentence of the 1st paragraph only makes sense if Moon is referring to the 2nd paragraph’s western demands Assad must go is how it came about one person ‘takes the whole negotiation process hostage.’
Time, CNN, Washington Post, New York Times and the lot of America’s CIA media whores…
“The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media” -William Colby, former CIA Director
…will never report the United Nations Secretary General has pointed his finger squarely at the Western democracies as responsible for the train wreck that is Syria –
Deborah Schoenfeld (photo courtesy of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation)
The content of this letter, reproduced here with the permission of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, is amazing. What’s more amazing is, this demand for compliance to law prior to filing a lawsuit, is in the 21st Century as opposed to the dark ages:
October 5, 2015
ATTN: LTC Dennis Holt Clinical Dentistry Flight Commander, 579th DS 238 Brookley Avenue, BLDG 1300 Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling Washington, DC 20032
CC: COL James M. Howell Commander, Fort Meade Dentac 8476 Simmonds St. Ft. Meade, MD 20755
Sir,
Got witches? Are you and your staff quite out of your Constitutionally derelict minds?
It has been brought to the attention of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), that an incredibly volatile, hostile and toxic evangelical Christian work environment under your direct command has resulted in the pernicious harassment, disenfranchisement, and firing of a once valued member of your team, Ms. Deborah Schoenfeld. We are writing you today in order to inform you that we will be immediately providing aggressive advocacy services for Ms. Schoenfeld as a MRFF client pursuant to her resolute quest to obtain a just resolution to her shocking complaints which have now been officially filed through the appropriate military Equal Employment Opportunity (EO) channels.
For the record, Ms. Schoenfeld practices the Hindu religion and has interest in Wiccan practices. A brief summary of her complaints follows:
In her time at Epes Dental Clinic she was actually and specifically accused of “witchcraft” and “bringing demons into the office.” She has been officially advised that she is not allowed to know who her accusers are.
She has been openly disparaged for not having the same religious views as her superiors (evangelical Christian) and being “uninterested in taking part” in Christian rituals or the rampant and rapacious, workplace-based, evangelical Christian proselytizing which is outrageously and comprehensively supported by her former command.
She has been admonished that practicing yoga is “satanic”, and will “cost (her) her soul”.
She was advised by her chain of command to pray against the recent Supreme Court ruling against same sex marriage, as it is “an abomination to their religion” (an employee in the office wanted all the civilians to pray against the legalization of same sex marriage at a clinic meeting.)
She was chastised for playing Indian music in the workplace as it was “not Christian”, while Christian music was commonly played throughout the entirety of this armed forces dental clinic.
After filing an EO complaint, as anyone in her perilous situation of abject persecution should and would have done, she was swiftly fired from her job for false and scurrilous accusations from unknown persons asserting that she allegedly used profanity in the workplace.
She was advised that she was accused of wrongdoing, and that she did not have the right to know her accuser(s).
Her career has been unjustly and abruptly derailed and terminated by a literal “witch hunt” within your command.
We have spoken with witnesses at the clinic under your command who have universally confirmed that, not only did this horrid harassment take place, but ever since the execution of her punishment for failing the religious test imposed by the leadership of Epes Dental Clinic, a particular offending party has effusively celebrated her replacement by a Catholic woman by saying publicly that “It’s good to see we got an angel, since last time we had the devil.”
One witness has reported to MRFF that the clinic NCOIC responsible for Ms. Schoenfeld’s firing has issued specific and detailed instructions, warnings and threats to remaining personnel to make no efforts in supporting Ms. Schoenfeld’s return to duty lest they face similar consequences of employment termination and related personal disparagement.
Sir, this is by far the most ludicrous, scandalous and outrageous treatment of a valued member of our military team that I have come across in my decade-plus of fighting these religious intolerance issues. Ms. Schoenfeld’s basic Constitutional civil rights have been obliterated and ripped asunder. Her administrative due process rights have been wretchedly desecrated. What has happened here under your command is precisely why we at MRFF refer to such bigotry as “spiritual rape”.
The astonishingly egregious behavior of those afflicting our MRFF client under your direct command is wholly unconstitutional. It viciously violates a vast sea of DoD and USAF Directives, Instructions and Regulations. Indeed, Air Force Instruction (AFI) 1-1, Section 2.12 makes it crystal clear that leaders at all levels in the Air Force, such as for example YOU, Lt. Col. Holt, “must ensure that their words and actions cannot reasonably be construed to be officially endorsing or disapproving of or extending preferential treatment for any faith, belief or absence of belief.” Violations of this specific AFI are fully and potentially punishable as a felony under the Uniform Code of Military Justice pursuant to inter alia Article 92. I am confident that you recognize the value of the positive changes we have made as a society regarding religious freedom since Salem, 1692. Witch hunts are now illegal, sir.
Ms. Schoenfeld is Hindu, not Christian. That fact should have no bearing whatsoever on her ability to perform her duties as a civilian contractor with the United States Air Force. Clause 3, Article VI of the United States Constitution outlaws any “religious test” in the federal government such as the test those under your direct command have clearly utilized to torture, terrorize and torment our MRFF client. The No Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of our nation’s Constitution absolutely forbids the exact same type of practices which are so commonplace under your command in the brazen establishment of evangelical Christianity as the only approved solution for religious belief in the 579th DS of the Epes Dental Clinic at Fort Meade, Maryland.
Ms. Schoenfeld desires to expeditiously return to duty in good standing at Dental Clinic 3 on Fort Meade as soon as possible and to see swift and appropriate justice served against all of the offending parties who have either directly or indirectly eviscerated her Constitutional civil rights; including you, Lt. Col. Holt, as her erstwhile commander.
Please let MRFF know immediately what you intend to do to timely remediate this scandalous, actual “witch hunt” and all of its associated transgressions of law and regulation.
Respectfully,
Michael L. “Mikey” Weinstein, Esq. Founder and President Military Religious Freedom Foundation
CC:
General Martin E. Dempsey – Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Deborah L. James – Secretary of the Air Force
General Mark A. Welsh III – Air Force Chief of Staff
John M. McHugh – Secretary of the Army
General Raymond T. Odierno – Army Chief of Staff
Randal G. Mathis, Mathis & Donheiser P.C. – MRFF Lead Trial Counsel
After seeing the spin coming out of the White House, Pentagon and NATO, following a sustained, multiple strikes of the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, I decided to put this mail (below the italicized text) out for public perusal. Why were the Médecins Sans Frontiéres people blown up? Because they would treat the Taliban wounded no differently to they would treat anyone else? Or is the reason more insidious?
The bombing of the hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan; Doctors Without Borders reporting the facts: The hospital compound was secured for the night and there were no Taliban forces engaging anyone from within the hospital grounds. Previous to this, NATO had the hospitals precise GPS coordinates on record, in both Kabul and at the Pentagon, and were apprised this was a neutral humanitarian site. Pinpoint runs from the American aircraft, precisely targeting the main hospital building, continued for an hour following NATO in Kabul and the Pentagon in Washington being notified they were bombing a hospital.
According to the USA, first it was ‘collateral damage’ from bombs dropped ‘in the vicinity’ of the hospital. Then it was Taliban were firing on US Special Forces from the hospital compound. Next, it’s ‘Afghan forces were taking fire and called in the airstrikes’ where several civilians were ‘accidentally struck.’ And then, the story is clarified but with a deceit; According to Defense One “Afghans called in the strike. That’s the long and short of it, according to Gen. John Campbell, top U.S. commander of the Afghanistan war… “The Afghans asked for air support from a Special Forces team that we have on the ground providing train, advise and assist in Kunduz,” he said, while visiting the Pentagon Monday. Campbell said U.S. forces were not fired upon and not simply returning fire. Instead, just one AC-130 gunship pounded the hospital over and over”
Do you see the deceit in this immediate preceding? The Afghans COULD NOT call in the strike, they have to ask the American Green Berets accompanying them in the battle zone to call in the strike. But because the Afghans now supposedly asked for a strike, the American team calls the strike in and that’s called Afghans called in the strike. Meanwhile, the Afghan government denies it was their forces made the request.
And finally, General Campbell, USA commander in Afghanistan, admits the entire business of attacking the hospital was taken within USA command structures. He had to have realized there was ultimately no way around this admission.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter: “There will be accountability, if that is required.” ‘If that is required’ ? Carter should have rather more honestly said ‘There will be impunity, it’s the norm’
Dear Doctors without Borders
I am a longtime donor and supporter of MSF. I am also a former military special operations intelligence professional and anti-corruption investigator. In relation to the recent NATO bombing of your organizations hospital at Kunduz, Afghanistan, I wish to draw your attention to the work of the 7 time Nobel nominated Military Religious Freedom Foundation (website) http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org and the work of its founder, Mikey Weinstein info@militaryreligiousfreedom.org.
I regret to inform you the work of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation clearly points to a United States Air Force with little to no regard to Muslim life and/or persons sympathetic to the same. Mr Weinstein, following on years of investigation by his organization, a USA 501 C 3 non-profit civil rights group, has labelled the Pentagon “Christian Taliban” and points to radicalized Islamophobic hate as endemic to the U.S. Air Force officer corps particularly and to the officer corps of the United States Military generally.
I believe you would be well informed to contact Mr Weinstein to better understand the context of the too frequent ‘collateral damage’ (NATO & Pentagon euphemism) bombings in Afghanistan. When the Muslims you serve with medical treatments are quite likely considered less than human by those providing the strike coordinates, it may be there is no action you can take to avoid being targeted short of addressing the murderous, ethnocentric, extreme Christianity handling the combat missions.
My condolences to your organization in this difficult moment
Example of the excellent reporting/analysis from Zero Hedge. For *mostly* consistent, accurate information, go tohttp://www.zerohedge.com/ but be a little bit wary, no site seems to be perfect, here’s example of a Zero Hedge screw-up: Zero Hedge Drinks the Kool-Aid
From Zero Hedge:
Now that Russia has officially begun conducting airstrikes on anti-regime forces operating in Syria, commentators, pundits, and analysts around the world will be keen to compare and contrast the results of Moscow’s efforts with the year-old US-led air campaign against ISIS targets in Syria and Iraq.
Clearly, Russia has a very real incentive to ensure that its airstrikes are effective.
Preserving the global balance of power means preserving the Assad regime and, by extension, ensuring that Iran maintains its regional influence.
On the other hand, the US and its regional allies actually have an incentive to ensure that their airstrikes are minimally effective. That is, for the US, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, the idea is not to kill Frankenstein, but rather to ensure that he doesn’t escape the lab.
As we documented earlier today, Russia wasted no time launching strikes against anti-regime targets once the country’s lawmakers gave the official go-ahead and the West wasted no time accusing Russia of breaking protocol by targeting “modetrate” Syrian rebels (like al-Qeada) that aren’t aligned with ISIS.
It’s against that backdrop that we present the following footage released by the Russain Ministry of Defense which depicts the opening salvo in The Kremlin’s battle against terrorism in the Middle East (note the vehicle traveling towards the compound at a particularly inopportune time towards the end).
And predictably, Western media reports regarding civilian casualties and Russia’s alleged targeting of “moderate” rebels (as opposed to ISIS) were countered by Moscow’s sharp-tongued spokeswoman and US foreign policy critic extraordinaire Maria Zakharova.
Russia has struck eight Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) targets in Syria, the country’s Defense Ministry said, adding that “civilian infrastructure” was avoided during the operations.
“Today, Russian aerospace force jets delivered pinpoint strikes on eight ISIS terror group targets in Syria. In total, 20 flights were made,” spokesperson for the Russian Defense Ministry, Igor Konashenkov, said.
“As a result, arms and fuel depots and military equipment were hit. ISIS coordination centers in the mountains were totally destroyed,” he added.
Konashenkov said that all the flights took place after air surveillance and careful verification of the data provided by the Syrian military. He stressed that Russian jets did not target any civilian infrastructure and avoided these territories.
“Russian jets did not use weapons on civilian infrastructure or in its vicinity,” he said.
Reuters reported that Russia targeted opposition rebel groups in Homs province instead of Islamic State forces. The agency cited Syrian opposition chief Khaled Khoja, who put the death toll of the bombardment at 36 civilians.
“Russia is intending not to fight ISIL [Islamic State], but to prolong the life of [Syrian President Bashar] Assad,” Khoja said.
Similar claims were made by the BBC, Fox News, Al Jazeera and numerous other news outlets.
Moscow harshly criticized the reports, labeling them an information war.
“Russia didn’t even begin its operation against Islamic State… Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov didn’t even utter his first words at the UN Security Council, but numerous reports already emerged in the media that civilians are dying as a result of the Russian operation and that it’s aimed at democratic forces in the country (Syria),” Maria Zakharova, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, told media.
“It’s all an information attack, a war, of which we’ve heard so many times,” she added.
Zakharova also said that she was amazed by the scale and speed of what she called “info injections” into social networks such as “photos of alleged victims” that appeared on the web as soon as the Russian operation began.
“What can I say? We all know perfectly how such pictures are made,” she said, remembering a Hollywood flick ‘Wag the Dog,’ which described the US media reporting on a fake war in Albania.
For those who missed it, see here for our assessment of the Western media’s take on the first round of Russian airstrikes (and by the way we, like Maria, were surprised at how quickly the propaganda machine kicked into high gear). Here is the bottom line:
The bottom line going forward is that the US and its regional and European allies are going to have to decide whether they want to be on the right side of history here or not, and as we’ve been careful to explain, no one is arguing that Bashar al-Assad is the most benevolent leader in the history of statecraft but it has now gotten to the point where Western media outlets are describing al-Qaeda as “moderate” in a last ditch effort to explain away Washington’s unwillingness to join Russia in stabilizing Syria. This is a foreign policy mistake of epic proportions on the part of the US and the sooner the West concedes that and moves to correct it by admitting that none of the groups the CIA, the Pentagon, and Washington’s Mid-East allies have trained and supported represent a viable alternative to the Assad regime, the sooner Syria will cease to be the chessboard du jour for a global proxy war that’s left hundreds of thousands of innocent people dead.
The extra-constitutional order born out of the National Security Act of 1947 is when the American state finally went completely off the rails in regards to the rule of law. This is when corporations became welded to the new ‘national security state’, undermining the constitutional order so completely, the rise and entrenchment of an unaccountable shadow government was inevitable:
What few people understand within and without the USA is the composition of this dark entity. There are competing factions represented in two larger camps of neo-liberal and neo-conservative, where there is a power struggle. Both camps are criminal actors relating to there is a fusion of corporate board policy to every department of government at every level, not least intelligence agencies with actors with broad capacity to act independently of any legitimate oversight. Within this hidden framework, endless deceits and subversion play out, with each side seeking to undermine the other. A leech fastened to this sick animal is the Israeli Zionist element in the USA, AIPAC, propped up by a much larger and more powerful Christian Zionist element consisting of a messianic ‘Christian millennial’ social phenomena whose beliefs system is quite openly and honestly laid out by the apocalyptic, neo-conservative author Tim LeHay:
^ People who actually believe in this stuff are in control of the Pentagon, and also make up a disproportionate of the United States military officer corps and it is the Air Force (where the majority of the USA’s nuclear stockpiles are kept in custody) is the most thoroughly infected. These are the people with the upper hand:
This stuff isn’t touched by the left’s ‘alternative mainstream media’ and the neo-conservative outlets on the right posing as alternative media (e.g. The Daily Beast) of course will never dig into the criminality of their own players. Why doesn’t the left touch it? Probably because of several factors; 1) there is a lot of overlap between the camps, the two cooperate in crime having to do with areas of mutual interest, you can’t dig into one without stumbling across complicity of the other 2) plain old narcissism leading to a blinding denial, for instance the American left’s inability to honestly examine the relationship of Daniel Ellsberg to Edward Lansdale because it would shake the foundation of their political mythology and open other (practically religious) icons Julian Assange, Ray McGovern, Robert Parry, et al, to serious question and examination 3) leading to obvious next assumption; the American left is so thoroughly compromised by intelligence assets, witting and unwitting, they’ve been effectively castrated:
With the several preceding (named) players consistently steering people’s attention away from the real danger zones, the apocalyptic-messianic, Christian millennial neo-conservative camp has all but won. In other words, we could call the composite circumstance an upcoming, messianic ‘Armageddon 4 U’ (whether you like the facts or not)
Emailed to: Hans Christian Stroebele <hans-christian.stroebele@bundestag.de>, gregor.gysi@bundestag.de, ulla.jelpke@bundestag.de, irene.mihalic@bundestag.de, michael.hartmann@wk.bundestag.de, Armin Schuster <armin.schuster@bundestag.de>, armin.schuster.wk@bundestag.de, norbert.lammert@bundestag.de, peter.hintze@bundestag.de, Johannes Singhammer <johannes.singhammer@bundestag.de>, edelgard.bulmahn@wk.bundestag.de, ursula.schmidt@wk.bundestag.de, petra.pau@bundestag.de, claudia.roth@bundestag.de, marieluise.beck@bundestag.de, omid.nouripour@bundestag.de, stefan.liebich@bundestag.de, niels.annen@bundestag.de, roderich.kiesewetter@bundestag.de, philipp.missfelder@bundestag.de
CC addresses omitted
Re: intel assessment from Zero Hedge
To the several German parliamentarians:
Up to date intelligence from ‘Tyler Durden’ (pseudonym) at Zero Hedge, a consistent source of accurate intelligence, is pasted in, below.
Relevant to this very good assessment, another, 2012 Defense Intelligence Agency assessment, should be recalled; bluntly stating the “western powers” strategy had been the support of al-Qaida and rise of ‘a Caliphate” (predicting Islamic State.) @ https://www.scribd.com/doc/268764979/DIA-assessment-public-domain
This raises a long overdue question; when have western oil companies fusion with the “western powers” intelligence agencies creating policy via the several western democracies executive branches become anti-democratic criminal enterprises?
All preceding examples stem from initial strategy to overthrow Assad in 2012, resulting in Europe awash in refugees from the crimes of those attempting to geopolitically engineer Assad’s overthrow, crimes dwarfing the crimes of Assad.
All of the preceding, taken together with the new intelligence assessment (below) point to escalation of criminal geopolitical engineering undermining stability throughout our world. Which democratic principles authorize this? Any of this?
“The history of the great events of this world are scarcely more than a history of crime” -Voltaire
*
Two days ago we reported something which we had anticipated for a long time but nonetheless did not expect to take shape so swiftly: namely, that with Assad’s regime close to collapse and fighting a war on three different fronts (one of which is directly supported by US air and “advisor” forces), Putin would have no choice but to finally intervene in the most anticipated showdown in recent history as “Russian fighter pilots are expected to begin arriving in Syria in the coming days, and will fly their Russian air force fighter jets and attack helicopters against ISIS and rebel-aligned targets within the failing state.”
This was indirectly confirmed the very next day when an al-Nusra linked Twitter account posted pictures of a Russian drone and a Su-34 fighter jet – the kind which is not flown by the Syrian air force – flying over the Nusra-controlled western idlib province.
Another twitter account said to have captured Russian soldiers in Zabadani “while fighting for Assad”
Also, one day after our report, the Telegraph reported that “Syrian state TV reportedly broadcasts footage of Russian soldiers and armoured vehicle fighting alongside pro-Assad troops.” According to the article, “the video footage claimed to show troops and a Russian armoured vehicle fighting Syrian rebels alongside President Bashar al-Assad’s troops in Latakia. It is reportedly possible to hear Russian being spoken by the troops in the footage.”
It added that “a Russian naval vessel was photographed heading south through the Bosphorus strait carrying large amounts of military equipment, according to social media and a shipping blog” while “an unnamed activist with the Syrian rebel group the Free Syrian Army told The Times: “The Russians have been there a long time.”
“There are more Russian officials who came to Slunfeh in recent weeks. We don’t know how many but I can assure you there has been Russian reinforcement.” ”
Then earlier today we got the closest thing to a confirmation from the White House itself which confirmed that “it was closely monitoring reports that Russia is carrying out military operations in Syria, warning such actions, if confirmed, would be “destabilising and counter-productive.”
Obama spokesman Joshn Earnest essentially confirmed Russia was already operating in Syria when he said that “we are aware of reports that Russia may have deployed military personnel and aircraft to Syria, and we are monitoring those reports quite closely.”
“Any military support to the Assad regime for any purpose, whether it’s in the form of military personnel, aircraft supplies, weapons, or funding, is both destabilising and counterproductive.”
And another confirmation: “a US official confirmed that “Russia has asked for clearances for military flight to Syria,” but added “we don’t know what their goals are.”
“Evidence has been inconclusive so far as to what this activity is.”
Other reports have suggested Russia has targeted Islamic State group militants, who have attacked forces loyal to Russian-backed Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.
Both the White House and the Pentagon refused to say whether they had intelligence suggesting the reports were accurate.
Of course, what is left unsaid is that since Russia is there under the humanitarian pretext of fighting the evil ISIS, the same pretext that the US, Turkey, and the Saudis are all also there for, when in reality everyone is fighting for land rights to the most important gas pipeline in decades, the US is limited in its diplomatic recoil.
Indeed as we sarcastically said last week: “See: the red herring that is ISIS can be used just as effectively for defensive purposes as for offensive ones. And since the US can’t possibly admit the whole situation is one made up farce, it is quite possible that the world will witness its first regional war when everyone is fighting a dummy, proxy enemy which doesn’t really exist, when in reality everyone is fighting everyone else!”
Which now effectively ends the second “foreplay” phase of the Syrian proxy war (the first one took place in the summer of 2013 when in a repeat situation, Russia was supporting Assad only the escalations took place in the naval theater with both Russian and US cruisers within kilometers of each other off the Syrian coast), which means the violent escalation phase is next. It also means that Assad was within days of losing control fighting a multi-front war with enemies supported by the US, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, and Putin had no choice but to intervene or else risk losing Gazprom’s influence over Europe to the infamous Qatari gas pipeline which is what this whole 3 years war is all about.
Finally, it means that the European refugee crisis, which is a direct consequence of the ISIS-facilitated destabilization of the Syrian state (as a reminder, ISIS is a US creation meant to depose of the Syrian president as leaked Pentagon documents have definitively revealed) is about to get much worse as 2013’s fabricated “chemical gas” YouTube clip will be this years “Refugee crisis.” It will be, and already has been, blamed on Syria’s president Assad in order to drum up media support for what is now an inevitable western intervention in Syria.
The problem, however, has emerged: Russia is already on the ground, and will hardly bend over to any invading force.
Ronald Thomas West 