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Information Clearing House Newsletter
News You Won’t Find On CNN
December 11, 2009
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“If they do it, it’s terrorism, if we do it, it’s fighting for freedom.” – Anthony Quainton, U.S. Ambassador to Nicaragua, 1984: Source: Off the record response of the Ambassador to a group of concerned U.S. citizens when asked to explain the difference between U.S. government actions in Nicaragua and the violence it condemns as terrorism elsewhere in the world.

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It is in the nature of imperialism that citizens of the imperial power are always among the last to know–or care–about circumstances in the colonies: Bertrand Russell

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The president has adopted a policy of ‘anticipatory self-defense’ that is alarmingly similar to the policy that imperial Japan employed at Pearl Harbor, on a date which, as an earlier American president said it would, lives in infamy. Franklin D. Roosevelt was right, but today it is we Americans who live in infamy: Arthur Schlesinger.

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I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation. Some of these young men think that war is all glory but let me say war is all hell: William Tecumseh Sherman.

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Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered Since The U.S. Invaded Iraq “1,366,350″
www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html

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Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In America’s War On Iraq: 4,687
icasualties.org/oif/

Number Of International Occupation Force Troops Slaughtered In Afghanistan : 1,538
http://icasualties.org/oef/

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Cost of War in Iraq
$707,931,965,989

Cost of War in Afghanistan
$233,686,172,237

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CIA Mercenaries Murdered “Militants”

Private Guards ‘Took Part in Raids on al-Qaeda Militants’

By Giles Whittell and Tim Reid

According to former Blackwater staff, sent to protect CIA officers in the field, they helped to kill militants targeted in “snatch and grab” raids.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24164.htm

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US Refuses To Allow Monitoring Of WMD

By Carl Herman

WMD treaty violations and inspection refusal for biological, nuclear, chemical weapons. Iran? No, US
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24158.htm

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Sound Familiar?
US Refuses to Allow UN Inspectors to Investigate its WMDs

By Agence France-Presse

The United States said Wednesday that it remained opposed to international inspections of biological weapon sites.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24160.htm

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Anthrax War

Video Documentary

In tracing the 2001 bio-terror attacks in the U.S. to the heart of the U.S. bio-defense program, this film raises an alarm. These attacks that helped prepare a country for war have also spawned a multi-billion dollar bio-defense boom. The line between bio-offense and bio-defense is becoming extremely thin.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24159.htm

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Networks Still Hosting Military Analysts Without Identifying Massive Conflicts Of Interest

By Laura Bassett

Military strategy is a frequent topic on TV in the wake of President Obama’s announcement that he will send more troops to Afghanistan now — and start bringing them out by mid-2011. But few television viewers have any idea that some of what they’re hearing originates from men who are literally profiting from the war.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24165.htm

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Following the Money Trail:
Telecoms and ISPs Feed the Secret State’s Surveillance Machine

By Tom Burghardt

That the American people have been kept in the dark when it comes to this and other affairs of state, remain among the most closely-guarded open secrets of what has euphemistically been called the “NSA spying scandal.”
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24166.htm

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The Devil and Mr. Obama

Barack promised change — and sure enough, things changed for the worse

By Joe Bageant

Many who voted for Obama out of disgust for the Bush regime are now listening to the Republicans again on their car radios as they drive around looking for a suitable place to hide their vehicles from the repo man.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24161.htm

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Bernanke’s Faux Recovery

By Mike Whitney

By usurping powers not granted under its charter, the Fed has resuscitated insolvent institutions and helped them continue the transfer of wealth from one class to another.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24162.htm

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Food Stamps Go to a Record 37.2 Million, USDA Says

By Alan Bjerga

A record 37.2 million people, or about one out of every eight Americans, received food stamps in September, as the recession drove a surging jobless rate, according to a government report.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24163.htm

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17 militants killed, 49 suspects arrested in NW Pakistan:

Seventeen militants were killed and as many as 49 suspects apprehended in ongoing military operations in Pakistan’s northwest during the last 24 hours, military sources said Friday.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-12/11/content_12633006.htm

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Drone hit may have killed senior al Qaeda leader:

“Nothing has been definitively confirmed, but it’s possible that a senior al Qaeda figure has died,” said the U.S. official, who declined to be named.
http://snipurl.com/tnlos

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Afghan Police Say 2 Officers, 3 Civilians Killed By Suicide Bomber On A Motorcycle
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/12/11/ap/asia/main5966421.shtml

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Child killed in Afghan wedding blast:

The Afghan Interior Ministry said the explosion happened when a grenade was thrown at the event in a province east of Kabul last night.
http://snipurl.com/tnlou

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Why Do Airstrikes in Afghanistan Keep Killing Exactly 30 People?:

On Monday, the anonymous blogger Security Crank noticed something interesting: all the U.S. and NATO airstrikes in Afghanistan seemingly kill exactly 30 people every time. How can that be?
http://snipurl.com/tnlow

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Afghanistan: UK and US seek to cancel 2010 parliamentary election:

Britain and America are seeking to cancel next year’s parliamentary election in Afghanistan amid fears that it will distract from President Barack Obama’s new strategy to bring security to the country.
http://snipurl.com/tnlp4

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Seven killed in Iraq attacks:

Seven people, including three policemen and two soldiers, were killed by attacks in and around Baghdad on Friday, an Iraqi interior ministry official said.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20091211/twl-seven-killed-in-iraq-attacks-3cd7efd.html

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Are deaths from violence in Iraq being under-reported?:

BBC Video Report: The Iraqi government is being accused of under-reporting the number of people killed after weeks of deadly violence.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8407023.stm

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Who is counting the bodies in Iraq?:

Mr Maliki’s political reputation was built largely on his apparent success in bringing violence levels down following the US troop surge in 2007. Now, this image of a man who could keep Baghdad safe has been tarnished.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8405894.stm

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War Criminal : Blair ‘would have gone to war without Iraqi WMD’:

The former Prime Minister has confessed that he would have had to use different arguments to justify toppling Saddam Hussein. But he says in an interview to be broadcast tomorrow morning that he would still have taken steps to remove the Iraqi dictator from power.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6954043.ece

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Iraqi-American Christians blast U.S. policies in Iraq:

Upset and frustrated, about 300 metro Detroiters with roots in Iraq, most of them Chaldeans, gathered Thursday night in a banquet hall in Warren where Michael Corbin, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, spoke to the crowd.
http://snipurl.com/tnlpd

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Spoils of war:

Iraq oil development rights contracts awarded:

Shell and Petronas beat a rival bid from France’s Total and China’s CNPC.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8407274.stm

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Manufacturing Consent For Attack On Iran:

US commander says Iran still arming Iraq militias:

“Iran still smuggles equipment and aid to terrorists across the border,” the general said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091210/pl_afp/iraqunrestusiransyria

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EU ready to accompany UNSC against Iran:

The EU has warned that it will accompany the UN Security Council in punitive action should Iran fail to provide a ‘clear response’ over its nuclear work.
http://snipurl.com/tnlpi

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U.S. warns Iran of ‘consequences’ over nuclear program
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1134458.html

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Diplomat, scientist among 11 Iranians ‘held by US’:

The Mehr news agency said the foreign ministry is “vigorously” pursuing diplomatic means to obtain the release of the Iranians, three of whom have allegedly been detained in countries outside the United States on Washington’s request.
http://snipurl.com/tnlpn

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Take Action: Tell Congress:

Don’t Limit the President’s Ability to Negotiate with Iran:

The bill – H.R. 2194, known as the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act of 2009 – targets Iran’s energy sector in a way that is likely to hurt the Iranian people, not the Iranian government.
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1439/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=1873

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IDF simulates missile attacks, war against Syria and Hezbollah:

Both drills were two-day affairs for which dozens of reserve officers were mobilized and included scenarios in which ballistic missiles with conventional and nonconventional warheads landed in Israeli cities.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1134302.html

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Report: Iran and Syria sign defense cooperation pact:

Iran and Syria signed a defense cooperation pact in Damascus on Friday, and pledged to work in coordination to counter the regional threat they see posed by the “Zionist regime,” Iranian news agency Al-Alam reported.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1134474.html

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Take Action: Tell President Obama to demand that Israel free Bil’in nonviolent leader Abdallah Abu Rahmah:

On December 10, 2009 at 2 AM, the Israeli military surrounded the Ramallah home of Abdallah Abu Rahmah, a high school teacher and the Coordinator of Bil’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, and arrested him.
http://snipurl.com/tnlpw

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Likud minister: Settler population could grow by 10,000 in next year:

The population of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank could grow by 10,000 in the coming year despite a declared temporary freeze on Israeli building in the territory, Likud Minister Benny Begin has said.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1134461.html

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Israeli settlers attack mosque:

Israeli settlers in the occupied Palestinian West Bank have vandalised a mosque, torching its library and spraying hate messages in Hebrew on the building.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/12/2009121116190107591.html

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US warns Latin America against cozying up to Iran:

Hillary Clinton said on Friday that “we can only say that is a really bad idea for the countries involved,” warning Bolivia and Venezuela in particular. Clinton went on to accuse Iran of being “the major supporter, promoter and exporter of terrorism in the world
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=113477§ionid=3510203

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Ecuador says U.S. helped Colombia plan 2008 bombing:

U.S. intelligence from inside Ecuador was used to plan a 2008 bombing by Colombian troops that killed a top FARC guerrilla chieftain inside Ecuadorean territory, the government said on Thursday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5B953020091210

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Blackwater Guards Tied to Secret C.I.A. Kidnapping:

Private security guards from Blackwater Worldwide participated in some of the C.I.A.’s most sensitive activities – clandestine raids with agency officers against people suspected of being insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan and the transporting of detainees, according to former company employees and intelligence officials.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/11/us/politics/11blackwater.html

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Turley: Obama bags Peace Prize while his lawyers are ‘gutting’ Nuremberg:

Turley pointed out that several legal advisors to Germany’s Ministry of Justice were convicted during the Nuremberg trials held after World War II for providing the legal advice that justified Nazi war crimes. Now the Obama administration, in its desire to uphold executive privilege at any cost, is willing to toss that principle aside.
http://rawstory.com/2009/12/turley-obama-ignores-nuremberg/

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President Obama ‘creating torture impunity’: :

Director of ACLU’s National Security Project Jameel Jaffer said “the Bush administration constructed a legal framework for torture and now the Obama administration is constructing a legal framework for impunity.”
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=113436§ionid=3510203

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Judge finds Pentagon in contempt in Gitmo case:

A federal judge has found the Defense Department in contempt of court for failing to videotape the testimony of a prisoner held at Guantanamo Bay.
http://snipurl.com/tnlq2

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Sound familiar? US refuses to allow UN inspectors to investigate its WMDs:

The United States said Wednesday that it remained opposed to international inspections of biological weapon sites, even though it stressed its commitment to a UN treaty covering such arms and invaded Iraq in part over its alleged stalling of — UN weapons inspectors.
http://rawstory.com/2009/12/refuses-inspectors-investigate-wmds/

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Cremated remains dumped in Arlington landfill:

Records at Arlington National Cemetery suggest that workers found an urn of cremated remains that had been dumped — presumably accidentally — in a dirt landfill, reburied those remains as an unknown soldier, and kept the whole thing quiet.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/12/10/arlington

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Leaders of the Rich World Are Enacting a Giant Fraud:

Every delegate to the Copenhagen summit is being greeted by the sight of a vast fake planet dominating the city’s central square. This swirling globe is covered with corporate logos – the Coke brand is stamped over Africa, while Carlsberg appears to own Asia, and McDonald’s announces “I’m loving it!” in great red letters above
http://snipurl.com/tnlqm

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Americans Want Government to Spend for Jobs, Send Bill to Rich:

Americans want their government to create jobs through spending on public works, investments in alternative energy or skills training for the jobless. They also want the deficit to come down. And most are ready to hand the bill to the wealthy.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=awkrRPMONDW8

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House passes $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill:

Blending increases for veterans’ programs, NASA and the FBI with a pay raise for federal workers and help for car dealers, the legislation wraps together six of the 12 annual appropriations bills.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/1932454,house-omnibus-spending-bill-passes-1210009.article

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Max Baucus gave girlfriend $14K raise:

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, gave a nearly $14,000 pay raise to a female staffer in 2008, at the time he was becoming romantically involved with her, and later that year took her on a taxpayer-funded trip to Southeast Asia and the Middle East, though foreign policy was not her specialty.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30478.html

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House passes broad Wall Street regulatory overhaul:

In a separate vote Friday, Democratic leaders failed to revive legislation that would let bankruptcy judges rewrite mortgages to lower homeowners’ monthly payments. The measure was rejected by a 241-188 .
http://snipurl.com/tnlqq

Any number of pundits claim that we have now passed the worst of the recession. Green shoots of recovery are supposedly popping up all around the country, and the economy is expected to resume growing soon at an annual rate of 3% to 4%. Many of these are the same people who insisted that the economy would continue growing last year, even while it was clear that we were already in the beginning stages of a recession.

A false recovery is under way. I am reminded of the outlook in 1930, when the experts were certain that the worst of the Depression was over and that recovery was just around the corner. The economy and stock market seemed to be recovering, and there was optimism that the recession, like many of those before it, would be over in a year or less. Instead, the interventionist policies of Hoover and Roosevelt caused the Depression to worsen, and the Dow Jones industrial average did not recover to 1929 levels until 1954. I fear that our stimulus and bailout programs have already done too much to prevent the economy from recovering in a natural manner and will result in yet another asset bubble.
Article Controls

Anytime the central bank intervenes to pump trillions of dollars into the financial system, a bubble is created that must eventually deflate. We have seen the results of Alan Greenspan’s excessively low interest rates: the housing bubble, the explosion of subprime loans and the subsequent collapse of the bubble, which took down numerous financial institutions. Rather than allow the market to correct itself and clear away the worst excesses of the boom period, the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury colluded to put taxpayers on the hook for trillions of dollars. Those banks and financial institutions that took on the largest risks and performed worst were rewarded with billions in taxpayer dollars, allowing them to survive and compete with their better-managed peers.

This is nothing less than the creation of another bubble. By attempting to cushion the economy from the worst shocks of the housing bubble’s collapse, the Federal Reserve has ensured that the ultimate correction of its flawed economic policies will be more severe than it otherwise would have been. Even with the massive interventions, unemployment is near 10% and likely to increase, foreigners are cutting back on purchases of Treasury debt and the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet remains bloated at an unprecedented $2 trillion. Can anyone realistically argue that a few small upticks in a handful of economic indicators are a sign that the recession is over?

What is more likely happening is a repeat of the Great Depression. We might have up to a year or so of an economy growing just slightly above stagnation, followed by a drop in growth worse than anything we have seen in the past two years. As the housing market fails to return to any sense of normalcy, commercial real estate begins to collapse and manufacturers produce goods that cannot be purchased by debt-strapped consumers, the economy will falter. That will go on until we come to our senses and end this wasteful government spending.

Government intervention cannot lead to economic growth. Where does the money come from for Tarp (Treasury’s program to buy bad bank paper), the stimulus handouts and the cash for clunkers? It can come only from taxpayers, from sales of Treasury debt or through the printing of new money. Paying for these programs out of tax revenues is pure redistribution; it takes money out of one person’s pocket and gives it to someone else without creating any new wealth. Besides, tax revenues have fallen drastically as unemployment has risen, yet government spending continues to increase. As for Treasury debt, the Chinese and other foreign investors are more and more reluctant to buy it, denominated as it is in depreciating dollars.

The original can be found here.

Money

Believe all that and you can lie back and enjoy the age of Obama.

Reading the comments was a re-education of just how in denial the messiah worshipers really are. My first inclination is pity; then anger at what they are doing to my country, my family, my prodigy and my self.