http://www.liveleak.com/browse?q=devastating Sat, 18 May 2013 01:51:51 -0400 Liveleak http://edge.liveleak.com/80281E/u/u/ll2/logo.gif http://www.liveleak.com/browse?q=devastating Fri, 17 May 2013 12:09:41 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=73e_1368805956 KedarPL By: Ali Haydar Al Akhbar Source: http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/israel%E2%80%99s-syrian-media-games In an unusual step, an Israeli official recently contacted The New York Times to issue threats that Israel is prepared to bring down the Syrian regime if Damascus retaliates against Tel Aviv's earlier military strikes. "Israel is determined to continue to prevent the transfer of advanced weapons to Hezbollah," declared a senior Israeli official, who contacted The New York Times on Wednesday, May 15. The official continued: "If Syrian President Assad reacts by attacking Israel, or tries to strike Israel through his terrorist proxies, he will risk forfeiting his regime, for Israel will retaliate." The newspaper further quoted the Israeli official as saying, "Israel has so far refrained from intervening in Syria's civil war and will maintain this policy as long as Assad refrains from attacking Israel directly or indirectly." Some linked it with the landing of two mortar shells on Mount Hermon in the occupied Golan Heights on Wednesday, while others believed that it came as a result of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent trip to Moscow.Mark Landler, the author ot the piece, wrote that the motives behind issuing such threats were "uncertain," noting that "Israel could be seeking to restrain Syria's behavior to avoid taking further military action, or alerting other countries to another military strike." He also suggested that there may be a secondary audience to the message, i.e. Iran and Hezbollah. The official's statement prompted much speculation in the Israeli media about its motives and timing. Some linked it with the landing of two mortar shells on Mount Hermon in the occupied Golan Heights on Wednesday, while others believed that it came as a result of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent trip to Moscow, which Israeli sources described as a failure. Amos Yadlin, a former Israeli military intelligence chief, told The New York Times that Russia could be one of the targeted recipients of the Israeli message, particularly given that two of the weapons that Tel Aviv has named as game changers in its confrontation with Hezbollah - the SA-17 anti-aircraft rockets and Yakhont shore-to-sea missiles - are Russian. In a different take, Amir Bohbout, a military affairs analyst from the Hebrew website Walla!, speculates that the Israeli message did not come from the security establishment, but was rather issued from political circles who intended it to be a reassuring signal to Israelis, particularly those living in the north, who felt that the military was unsure of how to respond to the mortar attacks on Mount Hermon. Bahbout suggests that Assad was inclined to retaliate after Russian President Vladimir Putin's cold reception of Netanyahu in Moscow earlier in the week, taking advantage of the opportunity to send a clear signal to Tel Aviv that Damascus does not intend to remain quiet about such aggression. The Israeli newspaper Maariv , for its part, put the official's threats in the context of conflicting views emerging in political and security circles over the Syrian crisis, with one side pushing to topple Assad - which they view as a devastating blow to Israel's most dangerous foe, Iran - and an opposing current, which is increasingly concerned about the kind of alternatives that would emerge to replace the regime in Damascus. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=73e_1368805956 KedarPL Israel's Syrian Media Games syria,israel,idf,war,battle,missles,media,assad,arab,saa Thu, 16 May 2013 18:38:15 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=396_1368743794 omniradar Take It From the Rabbi's Mouth Take It From the Rabbi's Mouth Introduction by Gilad Atzmon Every so often we come across a secular Jewish 'anti' Zionist' who argues that Zionism is not Judaism and vice versa. Interestingly enough, I have just come across an invaluable text that illuminates this question from a rabbinical perspective. Apparently back in 1942, 757 American Rabbis added their names to a public pronouncement titled 'Zionism an Affirmation of Judaism'. This Rabbinical rally for Zionism was declared at the time "the largest public pronouncement in all Jewish history." Today, we tend to believe that world Jewry's transition towards support for Israel followed the 1967 war though some might argue that already in 1948, American Jews manifested a growing support for Zionism. However, this rabbinical pronouncement proves that as early as 1942, the American Jewish religious establishment was already deeply Zionist. And if this is not enough, the rabbis also regarded Zionism as the 'implementation' of Judaism. Seemingly, already then, the peak of World War two, the overwhelming majority of American Rabbis regarded Zionism, not only as fully consistent with Judaism, but as a "logical expression and implementation of it." In spite of the fact that early Zionist leaders were largely secular and the East European Jewish settler waves were driven by Jewish socialist ideology, the rabbis contend that "Zionism is not a secularist movement. It has its origins and roots in the authoritative religious texts of Judaism. Those rabbis were not a bunch of ignoramuses. They were patriotic and nationalistic and they grasped that "universalism is not a contradiction of nationalism." The rabbis tried to differentiate between contemporaneous German Nationalism and other national movements and they definitely wanted to believe that Zionism was categorically different to Nazism. "Nationalism as such, whether it be English, French, American or Jewish, is not in itself evil. It is only militaristic and chauvinistic nationalism, that nationalism which shamelessly flouts all mandates of international morality, which is evil." But as we know, just three years after the liberation of Auschwitz the new Jewish State launched a devastating racially driven ethnic-cleansing campaign. Zionism has proven to be militaristic and chauvinistic. Shockingly enough, back in 1942 as many as 757 American rabbis were able to predict the outcome of the war and they realised that the suffering of European Jewry would be translated into a Jewish State . "We are not so bold as to predict the nature of the international order which will emerge from the present war. It is altogether likely, and indeed it may be desirable, that all sovereign states shall under the coming peace surrender some of their sovereignty to achieve a just and peaceful world society (a Jewish State)." Some American patriots today are concerned with Israeli-American dual nationality and the dual aspirations of American Jews. Apparently our rabbis addressed this topic too. According to them, there is no such conflict whatsoever. All American Jews are American patriots and all American decision makers are Zionists. "Every fair-minded American knows that American Jews have only one political allegiance-and that is to America. There is nothing in Zionism to impair this loyalty. Zionism has been endorsed in our generation by every President from Woodrow Wilson to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and has been approved by the Congress of the United States. The noblest spirits in American life, statesmen, scholars, writers, ministers and leaders of labor and industry, have lent their sympathy and encouragement to the movement." Back in 1942 our American rabbis were bold enough to state that defeating Hitler was far from sufficient. For them, a full solution of the Jewish question could only take place in Palestine. "Jews, and all non-Jews who are sympathetically interested in the plight of Jewry, should bear in mind that the defeat of Hitler will not of itself normalize Jewish life in Europe. " But there was one thing the American rabbis failed to mention - the Palestinian people. For some reason, those rabbis who knew much about 'universalism' and in particular Jewish 'universalism' showed very little concern to the people of the land. I guess that after all, chosennss is a form of blindness and rabbis probably know more about this than anyone else. Zionism: An Affirmation of Judaism http://zionistsout.blogspot.com/2008/03/zionism-affirmation-of-judaism.html ZIONISM http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=396_1368743794 omniradar Take It From the Rabbi's Mouth Jewish anti-zionist Rabbi Wed, 15 May 2013 15:33:37 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d94_1368646280 th1sf8te Looks like it's going to be a good movie A new viral video for Paramount Pictures' upcoming thriller " World War Z " via Yahoo! Movies sees the world in great danger. The short clip, which is in the form of PSA, previews devastating impacts of a zombie epidemic, including violent attacks in Indonesia and mysteriously empty villages in India. "We are literally heading from crisis to zero," says Michael Kim, former director of Global Health Agency. "World War Z" is an apocalyptic horror film which is based on Max Brooks's novel of the same name. The pic from director Marc Forster follows a United Nation employee named Gerry Lane who travels around the world to try and find a cure for the zombie virus and save his family and the world. The Gerry Lane depicter, Brad Pitt , previously took the CinemaCon stage to promote his latest film. Self-proclaimed "an expert" on zombies, Pitt said, "I think you're going to like this as much as my boys are going to," before introducing a clip of horrifying scenes to fans, who packed the Colosseum at Caesars Palace on April 15. Pitt is joined by Mireille Enos , Daniella Kertesz, David Morse and Matthew Fox . James Badge Dale is also included in the cast ensemble for a supporting role. The eerie feature is set to open in the United States on June 21. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d94_1368646280 th1sf8te New Viral Clip for 'World War Z' Teases a Zombie Outbreak New Viral Clip for 'World War Z' Teases a Zombie Outbreak Mon, 13 May 2013 17:49:34 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=992_1368481057 gnark1ll Interesting Live broadcast demonstrating the RAF of 1974 for the 25th Anniversary of RAF in NATO. Everything here from a trainees in a 'Bulldog' to a devastating low level strike by Vulcan, Buccaneer and Jaguar on Salisbury Plain. There is even onboard footage of the good old Nimrod harrassing the Soviet fleet. The show is built around getting a Recon FGR/2 Phantom from its base in Germany to Pebble Mill and to photograph landmarks along the way, in order to present the results by the end of the programme. Presented by Raymond Baxter, its sure to entertain anyone with interest in the 3rd generation of warplanes and air power in general. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=992_1368481057 gnark1ll RAF 'Skywatch' Television Special (1974) RAF,4th genration, buccaneer,vulcan,harrier,phantom,cold war,jets Sat, 11 May 2013 01:59:24 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=028_1368251350 plokiju Second video: China Says Soil Study Results are "State Secrets" Not even good enough for dog food: Imported food from China loaded with chemicals, dyes, pesticides and fake ingredients (NaturalNews) Do you really know what's in all the food you're eating that's imported from China? If you don't, you're actually in good company: The FDA only inspects 1% - 2% of all the food imported from China, so they don't know either. Even when they inspect a shipment, they rarely test it for heavy metals, pesticides, PCBs or other toxic contaminants. Mark A. Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst at The Cornucopia Institute, added emphasis to this point as he testified this week in The House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats, saying, "We don't trust, for good reason, the Chinese to supply ingredients for our dog and cat food. Why should we trust Chinese exporters for the food that we are feeding our children and families?" It's a good question. Especially when, as Kastel adds, Chinese food is being routinely found to contain "unapproved chemicals, dyes, pesticides and outright fraud (fake food)." Heavily contaminated food from China As Natural News has already reported, food from China is frequently found to contain alarming levels of heavy metals (arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury) and other contaminants. Politically, China is a communist dictatorship where freedom of speech is completely outlawed. Environmental regulations are virtually never enforced. The culture is one of total deception where lying, cheating, stealing or committing fraud to get ahead is considered completely acceptable -- because that's how government is operated there. The moral decay of China is directly reflected in the alarming dishonesty of the food supply. (Yes, a country's food exports will reflect its cultural and political philosophies. Freedom produces healthy food. Oppression and communism produces deceptive, deadly food.) And yet, even with all this being widely known, Chinese farms are rarely inspected by organic certifiers. "U.S. certifiers are unable to independently inspect farms and assure compliance to the USDA organic food and agriculture standards that are required for export to the U.S." explained Kastel in testimony. "These imports should not be allowed to reach our shore until and unless we have a system in place to assure consumers they are getting what they pay for. Just like U.S. grown organic commodities, the safety of these products must be rigorously overseen by independent inspectors." Counterfeit ingredients are the new norm in China Also testifying at the hearing was Patty Lovera, the Assistant Director of Washington, D.C.-based Food & Water Watch. The news on food fraud out of China "is a steady stream of controversies ranging from adulteration with counterfeit ingredients like melamine in dairy products, to widespread outbreaks of animal diseases like avian flu, and high levels of pesticide residues," Lovera testified. "Just last week, news reports described a Chinese government campaign to break up a fake meat operation, leading to arrests of more than 900 people accused of passing off more than $1 million of rat meat as mutton." You are eating far more food from China than you think Why does any of this matter? Because you're eating far more food from China than you probably think. Not only do retailers like Whole Foods sell "certified organic" food grown in China, the vast majority of superfood powders sold in North America use raw materials purchased in bulk from China. Nutritional supplements, herbs and vitamins are often made using materials from China. Not everything from China is bad, but in our own lab tests here at Natural News, we've been shocked to discover just how frequently products from China are contaminated with metals, chemical solvents and pesticide residues. We have rejected dozens of suppliers in our own search for clean ingredients to use in our product formulations, and we've even had to send back product that showed up at our warehouse and simply didn't meet our stringent quality control requirements. (True fact: We recently had to return several thousand pounds of goji berries to one supplier after discovering the product failed our quality control review.) Massive organic food FRAUD In truth, what's really happening right now on a global scale is a massive organic food fraud. Food is grown in China and certified organic even though no U.S. inspectors even visit the farms. That food is then imported into the U.S. and almost never inspected. It's packaged and sold at top dollar in natural foods retail stores, emblazoned with the USDA Organic label. But nowhere along the way -- except in extremely rare cases -- is that food ever tested for heavy metals or other contaminants. This is why Mark Kastel correctly states this food can't even be trusted "for dog food," much less to feed yourself and your family. Make no mistake about it: China is a nation full of immoral, unethical liars and deceivers. (Taiwan, on the other hand, is very different and has a much stronger moral code as well as basic human decency.) Remember: I speak Mandarin Chinese. I've lived in the Chinese culture. I've traveled throughout Asia and even given numerous public speeches to Chinese audiences. At the same time, I've investigated and written about food and food safety for more than a decade. Very few people are as qualified to tell you the truth about what's really in your food coming out of China, and I can tell you that I don't trust it. In fact, the only way I will eat anything from China is if I subject it to extensive testing and verify that contamination levels are acceptably low. There are some great products out of China that are completely safe and healthy. Certain medicinal mushrooms, for example, are produced in China and are very clean. Some producers of goji berries are very honest and clean. There are no doubt organic growers who are producing very clean products in China, but these would be the exception, not the rule. By default, we must all now assume that anything from China is heavily contaminated. Almost universally, food grown in North America is cleaner and less contaminated. This isn't true 100% of the time, but usually so. Toxic Chinese agriculture puts honest U.S. farmers out of business The sad part about all this is that food from China is economically displacing U.S. and Canadian farmers who are generally far more honest and ethical in their farming practices. So while U.S. farmers are being put out of business for following the rules set by the EPA, FDA and USDA, the Chinese farmers are selling us contaminated, toxic "organic" food frauds produced by breaking all the rules! That's why I say grow local, buy local and eat local as much as possible. And until China cleans up its act on food contamination, do your best to avoid food from China. I don't trust it unless EVERY BATCH is comprehensively lab tested and those lab tests are made public. Props to Cornucopia's Mark Kastel for having the courage to lay a lot of this out in congressional testimony. Rest assured Congress will never ask me to testify on food contamination because I would describe a truth so horrifying that people would stop eating for days... P.S. The reason all your dogs and cats are dying from diabetes and cancer these days is because you're giving them highly toxic pet treats imported from China. They are loaded with toxic solvents and industrial chemicals that cause permanent liver and kidney damage, among other devastating side effects. You can find these toxic, colorful pet treats sold at all the major pet store retailers. They are selling you PET DEATH and making a tidy profit doing so. http://www.naturalnews.com/040266_food_fraud_China_heavy_metals_contamination.html http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=028_1368251350 plokiju Toxic Food from China a threat to US safety, and puts domestic farmers out of business Toxic, Food, from, China, threat, US, safety, puts, domestic, farmers, out, of, business Fri, 10 May 2013 21:17:20 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f66_1368234594 SAPD_HRT by Pamela Kulbarsh First, let's dispel the myth that terrorists are mentally ill. If you believe that most terrorists are crazy, psycho, or suicidal you are wrong. 30 years of research has failed to identify a good profile of a terrorist. We now know that terrorists are no more likely to have mood disorders, psychopathology, or personality disorders than non-terrorists from the same background. If you think that terrorists are immoral and have no empathy for others you are also wrong. Let's look at this rationally. Imagine yourself as a terrorist, pick one, any one. You are living an often nomad existence underground, in fear of being discovered and stopped. The only people that are around you are people who share your own goals. Would you want an unstable whacko living with you? Someone who is so out of touch with reality that they cannot be depended on, or could hurt you or other members of your group before your goal was met. Not probably. Organized terrorist groups who can plan successful attacks are also likely to be within the normal range of personality. In fact, individuals chosen for a terrorist mission have undoubtedly demonstrated that they are trustworthy, reliable, loyal, organized, intelligent, and dedicated to a specific cause. Increasingly, terrorist groups are recruiting highly skilled professionals who have expertise in fields such as communications, computer programming, engineering, finance, and the sciences. Terrorists use groups and networks for both logistical and psychological support. Groups afford a sense of belonging, a sense of purpose, and perhaps even a sense of identity. Terrorism is generally defined as the use or threat of violence, by small groups against non-combatants of large groups, for avowed goals. We have a tendency to correlate religion with acts of terrorism. This is far from fact. While religious fanaticism creates conditions that are favorable for terrorism, it does not cause it. The three primary causes of terrorism are feelings of social, political, and historical injustice. Terrorism is the warfare of the weak. It is the final recourse when all other conventional methods have failed. Of course, there are the lone wolf terrorists. These are individuals who commit violent acts in support of some group, movement, or ideology, but who does so alone. They are not affiliated with any command structure and do not get resource assistance from any group. Examples of lone wolf terrorists include Timothy McVeigh (Oklahoma City bombing), Theodore Kaczynski, (the "Unabomber-he actually was schizophrenic), and Eric Robert Rudolph (the Olympic Park bomber). The current belief is that the Boston Marathon bombers, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev acted as lone wolf terrorists. Obviously, it is much more difficult to identify and prevent potential attacks from self-radicalized individuals acting alone or in small groups. Yes, normal people can be terrorists. Normalcy is a characteristic feature of terrorists, they just blend in. The Tsarnaev brothers are a perfect example of this, all the news reports and interviews reinforced that they were normal Joes. Remember that terrorists are not born terrorists. Let's look at Bin Laden. Osama didn't wake up one morning and decide to be a terrorist. The path was long and arduous. Terrorists, like Bin Laden, kill for a combination of shared ideology in conjunction with extremely intense small group dynamics. Most people believe in something bigger than life. Many of us call this entity God in one form or another. We need to make sense and meaning in our life...and of our death. Most people identify with a group whose core sense of values related to family, religion, ethnicity, and nationality are similar to theirs. Some people are willing to kill for, and to die for, these values. Why else would you have joined the law enforcement profession? Or why would men and women enlist in the military? The point is that most people are capable of terrorist acts under some circumstances. The five main objectives of political terrorists are quite clear: Creating mass anxiety, fear, and panic Fostering a sense of helplessness and hopelessness Demonstrating the incompetence of the authorities Destroying a sense of security and safety Provoking inappropriate reactions from individuals, authorities, and/or governments Additionally, large-scale terrorist incidents can have adverse effects on world financial markets, travel and tourism. The Strategies of Terrorist Aggression There are two kinds of aggression; emotional and instrumental. Emotional aggression is associated with anger; it doesn't consider long-term consequences. The goal of emotional aggression is hurting someone who has hurt you. Instrumental aggression is more calculating; it is used as a means to meet other more enduring ends. Terrorist aggression usually involves both. The act inflicts immediate damage and results in the destruction of life and property. However, and far more importantly, terrorists hope that the long-term effects will be much more devastating. The Long-Term Goals of Terrorist Attacks Fundamentally, terrorists want to create fear and uncertainty far beyond the immediate victims and those close to them. Terrorist want "the enemy" to spend an inordinate amount of time, energy and money on security. Essentially this forces their target to transfer resources from productive purposes to anti-productive security measures. Terrorists particularly hope to elicit a violent response that will assist them in mobilizing their own people. A violent counter attack to a terrorist act that is not well aimed is a success for the terrorists. this will assist them in mobilizing their own people Terrorists also hope for a reaction of stereotyping and prejudice in which the terrorists are seen as typical members of the cause they say they are fighting for. Often terrorists' most dangerous opposition comes from moderates on their own side who seek alternatives other than violence. Profiling or any other perceived infringement of civil rights can encourage a sense of unfair victimization by everyone involved. What about the Suicide Bomber? While most individuals who attempt and/or complete suicide display signs and symptoms of depression, terrorist do not. That is because the primary aim of the suicide is not to die, but to actualize a mission on behalf of a cause. Their motivation invariably stems from rage and a sense of self-righteousness. They view themselves as soldiers willing to sacrifice themselves for a higher purpose, contributors to the accomplishment of a greater good. They seek revenge and crave publicity. Ideally, individuals with the highest status make the best suicide candidates; those with the most to lose raise the credibility of the group's cause. The primary goal of the suicide terrorist is political change. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f66_1368234594 SAPD_HRT The Psychology of Terrorists Psychology, Terrorist, Fri, 10 May 2013 18:44:16 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=4d1_1368225263 KedarPL Experts say regional players are openly engaging in Syria war due to sectarian fault lines dividing opposition from regime. Regional players are intervening more and more openly in Syria, some emboldened by the chaos created by the conflict, others desperate to prevent the fall of the regime, experts say.The conflict between President Bashar al-Assad's government and rebel forces has divided the Middle East, with his allies -- Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah -- lined up against Gulf states which back the uprising.Israel has publicly refrained from backing one side or the other, but warned that the turmoil must not result in the transfer of advanced weapons to arch-foe Hezbollah.Over the past week, the Jewish state has reportedly twice carried out air strikes against Syrian military sites, with senior Israeli sources saying they targeted Iranian weapons bound for the Shiite group.The strikes followed an admission by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah that the group's members are fighting in Syria. The leader also pledged that Assad's "true friends" would not allow his regime to fall. "Many people are now starting to see this as a zero-sum game," said Salman Shaikh, director of the Brookings Doha Center. "If you look around the region, whether it's the Jordanians, the Israelis, Hezbollah and the Iranians... this is becoming much more of an existential struggle."Since the start of the conflict, the sectarian fault lines dividing the Sunni-led opposition from the regime, which hails from the Alawite minority, a Shiite offshoot, have made the civil war an attractive target for regional intervention.Sunni Arab states in the Gulf have openly backed rebel forces, while Shiite Iran and its partner Hezbollah have rallied to Assad's side.Israel has watched with concern, reluctant to lose a reliable enemy in Assad while increasingly worried both by the Salafist role in the revolt and by the involvement of Iran and Hezbollah, its biggest regional foes."We're in a regional proxy war in Syria, it's quite clear, particularly between the key Gulf states and the Iranians and its partners such as Hezbollah," Shaikh said.Israel's intervention in the conflict may be more opportunistic, analysts there said. "Israel is actually changing the equation and saying 'From now on, I won't allow what's being going on for 20 years -- the transfer of weapons to Hezbollah," Syria expert Eyal Zisser told Israeli army radio."I am exploiting the weakness of Bashar who really has his hands tied and who really can't do anything to Israel, and every time that I hear that Iran is transferring weapons to Hezbollah, I won't allow it."For Hezbollah, which relies on Damascus as a weapons supply route and key regional backer, the fall of the Assad regime would be disastrous.Iran, which has invested heavily in the Syrian government, is equally intent on maintaining its key foothold in the Arab world. With the stakes so high and their roles increasingly exposed, regional players have little choice but to admit their interventions and have little to lose by doing so, experts said."Hezbollah has already declared that it is operational and active in Qusayr" in central Syria, Hezbollah expert Amal Saad-Ghorayeb told AFP."The Iranians have admitted in the past that they have advisers there and yesterday we heard them say they were ready to train the Syrians... the involvement of these actors has become more open," she said."But I also think that it has increased." The intervention raises the prospect of a dangerous "regionalisation" of the conflict, the analysts warned. "With all his problems, Assad does not want to start a war, but he could fire missiles at Israel," the Jewish state's former national security adviser Giora Eiland told Israeli radio."Maybe we're treading a very fine line." Israel's air strikes also raise the spectre of new violence between it and Hezbollah, which fought a devastating war in Lebanon in 2006, or a Syrian response that could swiftly escalate.After an emergency cabinet meeting on Sunday, the Syrian government warned that the air raids had made the situation in the region "more dangerous.""I don't think Hezbollah's going to respond to this," Saad-Ghorayeb said. "What's problematic is how Syria's going to respond," she said, adding that Damascus was unlikely to respond "conventionally" but would feel forced to produce some reaction to avoid emboldening Israel."I think what's required now is for them (Syria) to find a way to respond in an unconventional way that wouldn't drag the region into a war."For Shaikh, the crisis has already drawn in much of the region, and the opposing stands of the United States, which backs the uprising, and Russia, the regime's strongest ally, pose an even greater threat."The danger is that we may get into a global proxy war because we also have great powers... on opposing sides," he said. "Containment should not be seen as an option here, it's not a containable crisis." http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=58581 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=4d1_1368225263 KedarPL Syrian war has become regional struggle ( WAR by PROXY ) syria,middle east,war,assad,arab,conflict,fighting,nato,west,regime,government,fsa,saa,bashar al assad Fri, 10 May 2013 16:25:26 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ab3_1368217381 10fold Thank-you so much... please help spread word of this situation and share. ~ ~ ~ I'm Montana Jones. Apparently I am FARMED and dangerous... But I am not a criminal. I'm a shepherd, farmer and writer who has been preserving rare breed Shropshire sheep for the last 12 years, and farming various other heritage breeds and vegetables for the last 30. Then, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) descended ...uninvited... into my life, onto my farm, and forever changed the course of both. They killed my beautiful ewes and their unborn lambs to find out if they were healthy. They were. Now they are dead. The CFIA and Minister of Agriculture ignored over 5,000 people who signed a petition to stop the killing. Their massacre of my rare genetics resulted in the Shropshire population falling to fewer than 80 heritage females left in all of Canada. The domino effect since they appeared has been devastating, it's been a downward spiral from their first invasion. I keep telling myself "There are worse things", and hang on. Now the CFIA has charged myself, raw milk activist farmer Michael Schmidt and 2 others with numerous criminal charges including conspiracy, all for allegedly trying to save Canada's heritage sheep. I now have no income, no transportation, and am battling depression and post traumatic stress. I'm facing foreclosure and an astonishing $100,000. dollar legal defense fee for the upcoming criminal trial. If convicted, I face up to 12 YEARS IN JAIL and fines of $1.5 million. It's not easy to admit, but pride aside-I need help. It's up to all of us to change unreasonable policies that prevent our food and farming freedom and destroy our agricultural biodiversity. We must protect our heritage breeds, our heirloom seeds, my farm...other small farms. This dismal chapter of mine is just a detail-I'm not going to lay down just because I'm cold or broke or steamrollered by government. I am standing up, despite them. If I lose the farm-they win. And that would be another of their many wrongs. Please help me keep my home - and keep the farm going. Any help you can offer WILL make a difference! You can find the whole story on ShropshireSheep.org/FarmedAndDangerous or on the Save Our Shrops Facebook Page . With your help, we'll breathe life back into this farm once again. Thank-you so much... please help spread word of this situation and share. http://GoFundMe.com/FarmedAndDangerous http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ab3_1368217381 10fold Farmed and Dangerous??- CFIA destroys shepherds life and sheep Farmed and Dangerous??- CFIA destroys shepherds life and sheep Thu, 09 May 2013 16:45:47 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ebe_1368132137 The Prodigy Syria will "respond immediately" to any new Israeli attack against its territory, its deputy foreign minister told Agence France Presse on Thursday, after two reported Israeli strikes on military targets last week. "The instruction has been made to respond immediately to any new Israeli attack without (additional) instruction from any higher leadership, and our retaliation will be strong and will be painful against Israel," Faisal Muqdad said. He spoke in an interview with AFP in the Syrian capital. Senior Israeli sources said the strikes targeted weapons bound for the Hizbullah, a close ally of Damascus. Muqdad denied that. "They absolutely did not achieve their objective and they lied when they said they are targeting Hizbullah," he said. There is "no way Syria will allow this to happen again," he added. Israel reportedly targeted military sites near the capital Damascus early on Friday morning and again early on Sunday morning, with at least 42 soldiers reported dead in the second strike. The Jewish state has repeatedly warned it will intervene to prevent the transfer of advanced weaponry to Hizbullah, with which it fought a devastating 2006 war. The strikes last week were the third time Israel is thought to have hit sites inside Syria since the beginning of an uprising against the regime of President Bashar Assad in March 2011. That first was in January of this year. Meanwhile, Muqdad also announced that Syria is ready to receive a U.N. team to investigate claims of the use of chemical weapons in the country's conflict. "We were ready and we are always ready, right now, to receive the delegation that was set up by (U.N. chief) Ban Ki-moon to investigate what happened in Khan al-Assal," he said. Syria first asked for the inquiry shortly after accusing opposition rebels of using chemical weapons at Khan al-Assal near Aleppo on March 23 in an attack in which authorities say more than 30 people died. Syria is under mounting international pressure over the possible use of banned arms. The United States said in April it believed the Syrian government has used chemical weapons but was awaiting definitive proof. The country's uprising, which began with peaceful protests, has devolved into a bloody conflict that has killed more than 70,000 people, according to the U.N., and displaced millions of Syrians. http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/82502-muqdad-says-syria-ready-for-chemical-arms-investigation-we-ll-respond-immediately-to-any-new-israeli-strike Meanwhile Turkish PM Erdogan, just claimed Assad has crossed the 'redline'. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ebe_1368132137 The Prodigy Muqdad Says Syria Ready for Chemical Arms Investigation: We'll 'Respond Immediately' to Any New Israeli Strike Syria,un,chemical weapons, erdogan Thu, 09 May 2013 13:25:07 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=cb2_1368119983 omniradar The Severity of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster: Comparing Chernobyl and Fukushima By Prof. Matthew Penney and Prof. Mark Selden Global Research, March 11, 2013 Asia Pacific Journal and Global Research 24 May 2011 Region: Asia Theme: Environment Originally published on May 24, 2011 On April 12, 2011 the Japanese government officially announced that the severity of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster had reached level 7, the highest on the International Nuclear Event Scale. Before Fukushima, the only level 7 case was the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, whose 25th anniversary was marked on April 26. Two and a half months after the 3.11 catastrophe, the first to affect multiple reactors, TEPCO and the Japanese government continue to struggle to bring the reactors at Fukushima Daiichi under control. TEPCO estimates that the problems could be solved in six to nine months now appearing extraordinarily optimistic and plans have been announced to close nuclear power plants deemed of particularly high risk such as the Hamaoka facility. Fukushima explosion Following the upgrade to level 7, Japan's Prime Minister's Office released a statement comparing Fukushima and Chernobyl. ( Source ) The Japanese government argues that apart from children who contracted thyroid cancer from drinking contaminated milk, there have been no health effects among ordinary citizens as a result of Chernobyl radiation. Is this really the case? Given the Japanese government's precautions against thyroid cancer in children, is there reason to believe that the Fukushima accident will take no lives except those exposed to the highest dangers in the plant clean-up? ( Source ) On April 15, Kyodo, Japan's major news service, ran an English language piece by Russian scientist Alexey V. Yablokov ( source ). Yablokov's stern warnings about the threat of even low levels of radiation had been ignored by the major media but was reported in Japanese in the Nishi Nippon Shimbun . ( Source ) The English only Kyodo piece, however, ties Yablokov's extensive Chernobyl research with the unfolding Fukushima crisis. Under the headline "How to minimize consequences of the Fukushima catastrophe," Yablokov observed that The analysis of the health impact of radioactive land contamination by the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, made by Professor Chris Busby (the European Committee of Radiation Risk) based on official Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology data, has shown that over the next 50 years it would be possible to have around 400,000 additional cancer patients within a 200-kilometer radius of the plant. This number can be lower and can be even higher, depending on strategies to minimize the consequences. Underestimation is more dangerous for the people and for the country than overestimation. Based on the Chernobyl experience, he made the following recommendations: 1. Enlarge the exclusion zone to at least about a 50-km radius of the plant; 2. Distribute detailed instructions on effective ways to protect the health of individuals while avoiding the additional contamination of food. Organize regular measurements of all people by individual dose counters (for overall radionuclides) at least once a week. Distribute radioprotectors and decontaminants (substances which provide the body protection against harmful effects of radiation) of radionuclides. . . 3. Develop recommendations for safe agriculture on the contaminated territories: reprocessing of milk, decontamination of meat, turning agriculture into production of technical cultures (e.g. biofuels etc.). Such "radionuclide-resistant" agriculture will be costly (it may be up to 30-40 percent compared with conventional agriculture) and needs to be subsidized; 4. It is necessary to urgently improve existing medical centers - and possibly create new ones - to deal with the immediate and long-term consequences of the irradiated peoples (including medical-genetic consultations on the basis of chromosome analysis etc.); 5. The most effective way to help organize post-Fukushima life in the contaminated territories (from Chernobyl lessons) is to create a special powerful interagency state body (ministry or committee) to handle the problems of contaminated territories during the first most complicated years. Yablokov is one of the primary architects of the 2006 Greenpeace report "The Chernobyl Catastrophe: Consequences on Human Health" and an extensive 2010 follow-up study Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment published by the New York Academy of Sciences, which makes the startling claim that 985,000 deaths can be attributed to the 1986 disaster. This claim is startling because it differs so dramatically from a 600 page 2005 study by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the WHO, and the UN Development Programme, which claimed that fewer than 50 deaths can be attributed directly to Chernobyl and fewer than 4000 likely from Chernobyl-related cancers in the future. Indeed, the two works continue to frame much of the public controversy, with little progress toward resolution. Attempts to assess the consequences of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster remain the subject of fierce debate over widely different estimates in both the scientific and policy communities. In the months since the Fukushima disaster, scores of reports have uncritically passed on the results of the IAEA/WHO or the Yablokov study published by the New York Academy of Sciences without seriously engaging the conflicting conclusions or moving the debate forward. Here we present the major findings of major studies across the divide that may help to clarify the likely outcomes of the Fukushima disaster. ( 1 , 2 ) Yablokov and colleagues assessed thousands of studies of the localities and people affected by the Chernobyl disaster in Russian and other Eastern European languages. They argue that these studies have been ignored by the Anglophone scientific community. Critics, such as the British science journalist George Monbiot, have criticized Yablokov and his colleagues for attributing any increase in cancer occurrence in regions affected by Chernobyl to the radiation released in the disaster. Emphasizing the multiplicity of factors that may affect cancer rates, Monbiot states, for example, that none of the hardest hit areas subjected to Chernobyl radiation,show as dramatic a cancer increase in the 1986-2000 period as does Japan. The impact of Chernobyl radiation in Japan was negligible, yet the cancer rate there has nearly doubled since the disaster. In the wake of the Fukushima disaster, at a time when many have moved to reject the nuclear power option, Monbiot announced that he had abandoned his former criticism to embrace nuclear power as a responsible component of a green energy policy. Japanese government statistics in fact show large increases in screening rates for cancer during this period and this is one possible explanation for the increase in the number of cases reported. ( 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ) Monty Charles of the School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, reviewed Yablokov's work in the journal Radiation Protection Dosimetry (Volume 141, Issue 1, 2010, pp. 101-104) and found the statistical conclusions far from clear and even contradictory: Numerous facts and figures are given with a range of references but with little explanation and little critical evaluation. Apparently related tables, figures and statements, which refer to particular publications often disagree with one another. The section on oncological diseases (cancer) was of most interest to me. A section abstract indicated that on the basis of doses from 131I and137Cs; a comparison of cancer mortality in the heavily and less contaminated territories; and pre- and post-Chernobyl cancer levels, the predicted radiation-related cancer deaths in Europe would be 212 000-245 000 and 19 000 in the remainder of the world. I could not however find any specific discussion within the section to support these numbers. The section ends with an endorsement of the work of Malko who has estimated 10 000-40 000 additional deaths from thyroid cancer, 40 000-120 000 deaths from the other malignant tumours and 5000-14 000 deaths from leukaemia-a total of 55 000-174 000 deaths from 1986 to 2056 in the whole of Europe, including Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. These numbers confusingly, do not agree with a table (6.21) from the same author. The final section on overall mortality contains a table (7.11), which includes an estimate of 212 000 additional deaths in highly contaminated regions of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. This figure is for the period of 1990-2004, and is based on an assumption that 3.8-4.0% of all deaths in the contaminated territories being due to the Chernobyl accident. One is left unsure about the meaning of many of these numbers and which is preferred. If his work has been subject to trenchant critiques, Yablokov has offered a few of his own concerning the WHO/IAEA study discussed above. Yablokov's work forms a major part of a document, "Health Effects of Chernobyl: 25 Years after the Reactor Catastrophe", released by the German Affiliate of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War on the occasion of an international conference on Chernobyl held in Berlin between April 8 - 10, 2011. ( Source ) The report contains a devastating critique of the low WHO and IAEA Chernobyl death toll estimates: Note on the unreliability of official data published by WHO and IAEA At the "Chernobyl Forum of the United Nations" organised in September 2005 by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the World Health Organisation, the presentation of the results of work on the effects of Chernobyl showed serious inconsistencies. For example: the press release of the WHO and IAEA stated that in the future, at most, 4000 surplus fatalities due to cancer and leukaemia amongst the most severely affected groups of people might be expected. In the WHO report on which this was based however, the actual number of deaths is given as 8,930. These deaths were not mentioned in any newspaper articles. When one examines the source quoted in the WHO report, one arrives at a number betwen 10,000 and 25,000 additional fatalities due to cancer and leukaemia. Given this it can be rationally concluded that the official statements of the IAEA and the WHO have manipulated their own data. Their representation of the effects of Chernobyl has little to do with reality. The report continues: S. Pflugbeil pointed out already in 2005 that there were discrepancies between press releases, the WHO report and the source quoted in it (Cardis et al.). Up until now neither the Chernobyl Forum, IAEA nor the WHO have deemed it necessary to let the public know that, on the basis of their own analysis, a two to five-fold higher number of deaths due to cancer and leukaemia are to be expected as the figures they have published. Even in 2011 - some 5 years on - no official UN organisation has as yet corrected these figures. The latest UNSCEAR publication on the health effects of Chernobyl does not take into account any of the numerous results of research into the effects of Chernobyl from the three countries affected. Only one figure - that of 6,000 cases of thyroid cancer among children and juveniles, and leukaemia and cataracts in liquidators - was included in their recent information to the media. Thus, in 2011 the UNSCEAR committee declared: On the basis of studies carried out during the last 20 years, as well as of previous UNSCEAR reports, UNSCEAR has come to the conclusion that the large majority of the population has no reason to fear that serious health risks will arise from the Chernobyl accident. The only exception applies to those exposed to radioiodine during childhood or youth and to liquidators who were exposed to a high dose of radiation and therefore had to reckon with a higher radiation induced risk. Even if Yablokov's estimates for Chernobyl deaths are high, the WHO and IAEA numbers are almost certainly too low. One area of continuing debate is the fate of the "liquidators" at Chernobyl. A major difference between Fukushima and Chernobyl is government handling of the aftermath. While the Japanese government can be criticized for the speed of evacuation and the limited evacuation radius, the seriousness of the issues was immediately recognized and efforts made to send people away from the stricken plant. In the case of Chernobyl, even as the state suppressed information about the catastrophe, between 600,000 and 1,000,000 people termed "liquidators" were sent to the most heavily irradiated zone to work to contain the effects of the meltdown, many with limited protection and unaware of the risks. Some research, such as the article "Thyroid Cancer among 'Liquidators' of the Chernobyl Accident" published in the British Journal of Radiology (70, 1997, pp. 937-941), suggests relatively limited health effects (fewer than 50 cases of thyroid cancer in a group of over 150,000 liquidators followed in the study). ( Source ) The article "Chernobyl Liquidators - The People and the Doses", published by the International Radiation Protection Association, likewise concludes that across the majority of the liquidator group, "The health consequences from these radiation doses are too small to be identifiable in any epidemiological study, which does not target specific sub-groups with potentially higher exposure." ( Source ) Support groups for liquidators, however, claim that 25,000 have died and over 70,000 are disabled. ( Source ) The issue cannot be limited to fatalities. The German Affiliate of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War "Health Effects of Chernobyl" report presents extensive evidence of widespread crippling disability among liquidators. As in the case of the Chernobyl death toll, the plight of liquidators is a hotly contested topic with radically different figures emerging from different quarters. Some commentators have presented data that suggests a way out of the deadlock over the health and death consequences of Chernobyl. Peter Karamoskos , a Nuclear Radiologist and public representative on the Radiation Health Committee of the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency argues in "Do we know the Chernobyl death toll?" that despite uncertainties about the numbers, "The weight of scientific opinion holds that there is no threshold below which ionising radiation poses no risk and that the risk is proportional to the dose: the "linear no-threshold" (LNT) model." Drawing on the 2006 report of the Committee on the Biological Effects of Ionising Radiation (BEIR) of the US National Academy of Sciences. Karamoskos points out: "The ... view that low-level radiation is harmless, is restricted to a small number of scientists whose voice is greatly amplified by the nuclear industry (in much the same way as corporate greenhouse polluters amplify the voices of climate science sceptics)." He continues: There is general agreement that about 50 people died in the immediate aftermath of the Chernobyl accident. Beyond that, studies generally don't indicate a significant increase in cancer incidence in populations exposed to Chernobyl fallout. Nor would anyone expect them to because of the data gaps and methodological problems mentioned above, and because the main part of the problem concerns the exposure of millions of people to very low doses of radiation from Chernobyl fallout. For a few marginal scientists and nuclear industry spruikers, that's the end of the matter - the statistical evidence is lacking and thus the death toll from Chernobyl was just 50. Full stop. But for those of us who prefer mainstream science, we can still arrive at a scientifically defensible estimate of the Chernobyl death toll by using estimates of the total radiation exposure, and multiplying by a standard risk estimate. The International Atomic Energy Agency estimates a total collective dose of 600,000 Sieverts over 50 years from Chernobyl fallout. A standard risk estimate from the International Commission on Radiological Protection is 0.05 fatal cancers per Sievert. Multiply those figures and we get an estimated 30,000 fatal cancers. A number of studies apply that basic method - based on collective radiation doses and risk estimates - and come up with estimates of the death toll varying from 9000 (in the most contaminated parts of the former Soviet Union) to 93,000 deaths (across Europe). Those are the credible estimates of the likely eventual death toll from Chernobyl. Claims that the death toll was just 50 should be rejected as dishonest spin from the nuclear industry and some of its most strident and scientifically-illiterate supporters. Karamaskos then turns to Fukushima, observing that Nuclear industry spruikers will insist that no-one is at risk from low-level radiation exposure from Fukushima. The rest of us will need to wait some months or years before we have a plausible estimate of total human radiation exposure upon which to base an estimate of the death toll. To date, radiation releases from Fukushima are estimated by the Japanese government to be 10 per cent of the total Chernobyl release. Needless to say, the view that low-level radiation is harmless is completely at odds with the current situation in Japan - the 20 km evacuation zone around the Fukushima nuclear plant, restrictions on food and water consumption in Japan and restrictions on the importation of food from Japan. ( Source ) A joint survey conducted by the Japanese and U.S. governments has produced a detailed map of ground surface radioactive contamination within an 80-kilometer radius of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Yablokov's Chernobyl research and the dire prediction of as many as 400,000 radiation-related cancers in the Fukushima region if wider evacuation is not considered, deserves consideration, scrutiny, and debate as the Japanese government deals with radiation releases from Fukushima Daiichi. The same is true of alternative methodologies, particularly as the "linear no-threshold model" described by Peter Karamoskos . Despite recent efforts to evacuate people from high radiation areas outside of the 20 km evacuation zone, however, Japanese newspapers reported on April 20 that at the same time, the Japanese government had increased the permissible hourly radiation dose at schools in Fukushima Prefecture to 3.8 microsieverts. The Mainichi describes this as "a level that would see students absorb the internationally recognized maximum of 20 millisieverts per year." See "Save the Children: Radiation Exposure of Fukushima Students," link . What are the risks of such doses? Thomas L. Slovis of the Society for Pediatric Radiology writes in Pediatr Radiol (2002:32:225-227) ... the risk of cancer from radiation is 5% per sievert... That's an average number; but an average is almost meaningless. If you are a mature, late middle-aged individual, it is maybe 1% per sievert. But if you are a child, it is maybe 15% per sievert, with a clear gender difference too at these early ages. So children are very, very sensitive compared to adults." For an adult the acceptable risk for any activity for emergency workers is 50 mSv. For a child the equivalent risk is (50 mSv /250 mSv)*66 mSv=13 mSv. The standard suggested by Japan for children is twice this value. The change in standard to 20 mSv corresponds to a change to 0.3% risk in cancer later on in life. Uncertainty about the long-term health effects of even low levels of radiation was further highlighted by David J. Brenner in the April 5 issue of Nature. ( Source ) In recent weeks, the issue of radiation and the 300,000 children of Fukushima has moved to the center of debate in assessing Japanese government handling of the Fukushima meltdown, even as the seriousness of radiation issues has grown with the belated disclosure by TEPCO of the multiple disasters experienced at the outset, and still far from under control, in Fukushima Daiichi. On April 28, Kosako Toshiso, a radiation specialist at Tokyo University, resigned his position as Special Advisor to the Cabinet. Kosako had earlier gained notoriety for his role in helping to deny the extension of benefits to some radiation victims of the atomic bombs in a 2003 court case. After Fukushima, however, Kosako made an impassioned and courageous stand against what he saw as a government taking the potential health effects of long-term radiation exposure too lightly. In a press conference, Kosako castigated the Kan cabinet for its decision to increase permissible radiation exposure for Fukushima children: At times of emergency, we cannot do without exceptions to standard rules and we are indeed capable of setting them up, but in any case, international common sense ought to be respected. It is wrong to forcibly push through conclusions that happen to be convenient only for the administrative authorities but which are utterly unacceptable by international standards. Such conclusions are bound to draw criticism from the international community. This time, upon discussing the acceptable level of radiation exposure for playgrounds in primary schools in Fukushima, they have calculated, guided and determined a level of "3.8 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=cb2_1368119983 omniradar Fukushima Disaster Severity Being Underplayed By Mainstream Media !! Possible ELE ! Wed, 08 May 2013 22:32:13 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=222_1368066382 USMC5816 The Marine Corps has revoked the medical retirement of a scout sniper who is facing court-martial for his role in one of the most highly publicized incidents of U.S. troops misbehaving in Afghanistan. Sgt. Robert Richards, one of seven Marines to face disciplinary action for a video showing him and others urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters in 2011, was "erroneously discharged" on April 29 as a result of an administrative error, a Marine spokeswoman said Monday. He and his wife, Raechel Richards, thought they had caught a break last week when they got a call from the Camp Lejeune Installation Personnel Administration Center in North Carolina, saying that Richards' medical retirement paperwork had been processed. A photo that Raechel Richards posted to her Facebook page May 2 shows Richards grinning and clutching his DD-214 discharge papers in both hands. The Richardses lost no time turning in their military ID cards and base vehicle passes, disenrolling from active-duty Tricare insurance, and paying a fee to begin retiree coverage under Tricare Prime. Richards, who had an Article 32 hearing March 19, had been recommended for a special court-martial and an arraignment was scheduled for later this month. But personnel officials told Richards that he was not on legal hold. The couple had their civilian attorney, Guy Womack, give the prosecution a courtesy call to explain the new development, thinking the Marine Corps had opted not to pursue the charges further. "We were under the impression the Marine Corps had decided this was the right thing to do," Raechel Richards said. Shortly afterward, according to Womack, they received a "frantic" phone call from the Marine Corps saying there had been a mistake; Richards was supposed to be on legal hold, and he would have to be recalled to active duty. Raechel Richards said the news was devastating. "For the first time in 17 months, I saw a smile on his face yesterday," she wrote in a lengthy Facebook post. "... It was as if the weight had been lifted after all of these long months of beatings and emotional abuse by the organization that so adamantly preaches 'Semper Fidelis.' " Richards rejoined active duty Monday and is receiving his full pay and allowances, said Maj. Shawn Haney, a spokeswoman for Manpower and Reserve Affairs in Quantico, Va. "Any gaps in his pay due to this error will be resolved," she said. According to the manual of the Navy Judge Advocate General, Womack said, enlisted personnel can be called out of retirement only by an order from the Secretary of the Navy. On Monday, Richards reported to his command at Camp Lejeune. They sent him home to wait. He has requested mast with Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, a process that will require meetings with each military commander up the chain of command, and which will likely take several weeks to complete. "Anyone along the way could resolve this and do the right thing, but if they don't, we'll ask the secretary," Womack said. In 33 years of working on military legal issues, Womack said, he had never heard of a situation like this. Raechel Richards said she wants an apology from the Marine Corps' commandant, Gen. Jim Amos, for all that she and her husband have endured. As Marine Corps Times has reported previously, the video was filmed during Richards' third deployment. During his second, he was severely injured by an improvised explosive device that nearly severed his foot and lodged a quarter-sized hexagonal hardware nut in his windpipe. Following surgery, which included reconstruction of Richards' throat with a titanium Adam's apple, he was rated eligible for medical discharge. When an opportunity arose to deploy with a sniper team attached to 3rd Battalion 2nd Marines, Richards opted not to leave the Corps yet. When he was told by Marine officials at Camp Lejeune that he was not fit for active duty, Richards drove to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., to secure the authorization. Over the course of the deployment, Richards was put up for a Bronze Star and received accolades for his ingenuity. But in separate videos shown during his Article 32 hearing, Richards is seen lobbing grenades over a 10-foot wall without identifying who was on the other side and telling his Marines that "for the next five minutes, every military-age male south is hostile." Richard's special court-martial is expected in August. Two other Marines from the unit, Sgts. Joseph Chamblin and Edward Deptola, have already received demotions following special courts-martial for their involvement in the videos. Capt. James Clement, executive officer for Kilo Company, 3/2, also faces charges related to the incident. Three other Marines received nonjudicial punishment. Semper Fidelis Sgt. Robert Richards displays his DD-214 military discharge paperwork aboard Camp Lejeune, N.C., last week. Shortly afterward, he was notified there had been an error and he was being recalled to active duty so he could remain on legal hold. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=222_1368066382 USMC5816 Marines order sniper out of medical retirement after paperwork error USMC, Marine, Sniper, Recall Tue, 07 May 2013 05:27:42 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=daa_1367918451 Setright The reasoning behind recent US-Israeli attacks on Syria has been undermined further as the UN reveals Western-backed terrorists, not the Syrian government, deployed sarin gas during the 2 year conflict. Reuters reported in their article, " U.N. has testimony that Syrian rebels used sarin gas: investigator ," that: U.N. human rights investigators have gathered testimony from casualties of Syria's civil war and medical staff indicating that rebel forces have used the nerve agent sarin, one of the lead investigators said on Sunday. The United Nations independent commission of inquiry on Syria has not yet seen evidence of government forces having used chemical weapons, which are banned under international law, said commission member Carla Del Ponte. "Our investigators have been in neighboring countries interviewing victims, doctors and field hospitals and, according to their report of last week which I have seen, there are strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof of the use of sarin gas, from the way the victims were treated," Del Ponte said in an interview with Swiss-Italian television. Why the Small Amounts of Sarin Cited by Washington, Riyadh, and Tel Aviv are a Set Up The small amounts of sarin gas reportedly used would defy any tactical or strategic sense had they been deployed by the Syrian government to tip the balance in the destructive 2-year conflict. According to the US military's own assessments of chemical weapon use during the 1980's Iran-Iraq War, only under ideal conditions and with massive amounts of chemical agents can tactical and strategic outcomes be achieved - and that conventional weapons were still, by far, superior to chemical weapons of any kind. A document produced by the US Marine Corps, titled, " Lessons Learned: The Iran-Iraq War " under " Appendix B: Chemical Weapons ," provides a comprehensive look at the all-out chemical warfare that took place during the devastating 8 year Iranian-Iraqi conflict. Several engagements are studied in detail, revealing large amounts of chemical agents deployed mainly to create areas of denial, not mass casualties. The effectiveness and lethality of chemical weapons is summarized in the document as follows (emphasis added): Chemical weapons require quite particular weather and geographic conditions for optimum effectiveness. Given the relative nonpersistence of all agents employed during this war, including mustard, there was only a brief window of employment opportunity both daily and seasonally, when the agents could be used . Even though the Iraqis employed mustard agent in the rainy season and also in the marshes, its effectiveness was significantly reduced under those conditions. As the Iraqis learned to their chagrin, mustard is not a good agent to employ in the mountains, unless you own the high ground and your enemy is in the valleys. We are uncertain as to the relative effectiveness of nerve agents since those which were employed are by nature much less persistent than mustard. In order to gain killing concentrations of these agents, predawn attacks are best, conducted in areas where the morning breezes are likely to blow away from friendly positions. Chemical weapons have a low kill ratio . Just as in WWl, during which the ratio of deaths to injured from chemicals was 2-3 percent , that figure appears to be borne out again in this war although reliable data on casualties are very difficult to obtain. We deem it remarkable that the death rate should hold at such a low level even with the introduction of nerve agents. If those rates are correct, as they well may be, this further reinforces the position that we must not think of chemical weapons as "a poor man's nuclear weapon." While such weapons have great psychological potential, they are not killers or destroyers on a scale with nuclear or biological weapons. Clearly, the minute amounts of sarin the West has accused the Syrian government of using, makes no tactical, political, or strategic sense. However, these small amounts of sarin gas, now suspected to be the work of Western-backed terrorists, would have been perfect for establishing a pretext for Western military intervention, and in fact, have been in part cited by the US and Israel in their latest, unprovoked aerial assault on Damascus. The terrorists operating in Syria possess the means and motivation to carry out such an operation, as do their Western sponsors. Where Did Western-backed Terrorists Obtain Sarin? A number of methods could have lent sarin gas to terrorists operating in Syria - from Turkey, Israel, and the US simply handing select units the chemical agent in a clandestine operation, to Libyan terrorists confirmed to have been flooding into Syria for the past 2 years, bringing looted chemical stockpiles with them after NATO's disastrous invasion in 2011 left them in the hands of the sectarian extremist regime. Image : ( via the Guardian ) "Chemical containers in the Libyan desert. There are concerns unguarded weapons could fall into the hands of Islamist militants. Photograph: David Sperry/AP" Indeed, Libya's arsenal had fallen into the hands of sectarian extremists with NATO assistance in 2011 in the culmination of efforts to overthrow the North African nation . Since then, Libya's militants led by commanders of Al Qaeda's Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) have armed sectarian extremists across the Arab World, from as far West as Mali, to as far East as Syria . Libyan LIFG terrorists are confirmed to be flooding into Syria from Libya . In November 2011, the Telegraph in their article, " Leading Libyan Islamist met Free Syrian Army opposition group ," would report: Abdulhakim Belhadj, head of the Tripoli Military Council and the former leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, "met with Free Syrian Army leaders in Istanbul and on the border with Turkey," said a military official working with Mr Belhadj. "Mustafa Abdul Jalil (the interim Libyan president) sent him there." Another Telegraph article, " Libya's new rulers offer weapons to Syrian rebels ," would admit Syrian rebels held secret talks with Libya's new authorities on Friday, aiming to secure weapons and money for their insurgency against President Bashar al-Assad's regime, The Daily Telegraph has learned. At the meeting, which was held in Istanbul and included Turkish officials, the Syrians requested "assistance" from the Libyan representatives and were offered arms, and potentially volunteers. "There is something being planned to send weapons and even Libyan fighters to Syria," said a Libyan source, speaking on condition of anonymity. "There is a military intervention on the way. Within a few weeks you will see."Later that month, some 600 Libyan terrorists would be reported to have entered Syria to begin combat operations and have been flooding into the country ever since . Image : Libyan Mahdi al-Harati of the US State Department , United Nations , and the UK Home Office (page 5, .pdf) -listed terrorist organization, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), addressing fellow terrorists in Syria. Harati is now commanding a Libyan brigade operating inside of Syria attempting to destroy the Syrian government and subjugate the Syrian population. Traditionally, this is known as "foreign invasion." In Time's article, " Libya's Fighters Export Their Revolution to Syria ," it is reported: Some Syrians are more frank about the assistance the Libyans are providing. "They have heavier weapons than we do," notes Firas Tamim, who has traveled in rebel-controlled areas to keep tabs on foreign fighters. "They brought these weapons to Syria, and they are being used on the front lines." Among the arms Tamim has seen are Russian-made surface-to-air missiles, known as the SAM 7. Libyan fighters largely brush off questions about weapon transfers, but in December they claimed they were doing just that. "We are in the process of collecting arms in Libya," a Libyan fighter in Syria told the French daily Le Figaro . "Once this is done, we will have to find a way to bring them here." Clearly NATO intervention in Libya has left a vast, devastating arsenal in the hands of sectarian extremists, led by US State Department , United Nations , and the UK Home Office (page 5, .pdf) -listed terrorist organization LIFG that is now exporting these weapons and militants to NATO's other front in Syria. It is confirmed that both Libyan terrorists and weapons are crossing the Turkish-Syrian border, with NATO assistance, and it is now clear that heavy weapons, including anti-aircraft weapons have crossed the border too. The Guardian reported in their November 2011 article, " Libyan chemical weapons stockpiles intact, say inspectors ," that: Libya's stockpiles of mustard gas and chemicals used to make weapons are intact and were not stolen during the uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi, weapons inspectors have said. But also reported that: The abandonment or disappearance of some Gaddafi-era weapons has prompted concerns that such firepower could erode regional security if it falls into the hands of Islamist militants or rebels active in north Africa. Some fear they could be used by Gaddafi loyalists to spread instability in Libya.Last month Human Rights Watch urged Libya's ruling national transitional council to take action over large numbers of heavy weapons, including surface-to-air missiles, it said were lying unguarded more than two months after Gaddafi was overthrown. On Wednesday the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said the UN would send experts to Libya to help ensure nuclear material and chemical weapons did not fall into the wrong hands. And while inspectors claim that Libya's chemical weapons are in the "government's" hands and not "extremists'," it is clear by the Libyan government's own admission , that they themselves are involved in sending fighters and weapons into Syria to support NATO and Al Qaeda's joint operation there. Furthermore, it is confirmed that the US had been providing select terrorist units training in the handling of chemical weapons. CNN had reported in December of 2012, in a report titled, " Sources: U.S. helping underwrite Syrian rebel training on securing chemical weapons ," that: The United States and some European allies are using defense contractors to train Syrian rebels on how to secure chemical weapons stockpiles in Syria, a senior U.S. official and several senior diplomats told CNN Sunday. The training, which is taking place in Jordan and Turkey, involves how to monitor and secure stockpiles and handle weapons sites and materials, according to the sources. Some of the contractors are on the ground in Syria working with the rebels to monitor some of the sites, according to one of the officials. NATO not only ensured that chemical weapons in Libya remained in the hands of a proxy regime now openly arming, aiding, and sending fighters to assist terrorists in Syria, but also appears to have ensured these terrorists possessed the know-how on handling and using these weapons. Israel vs. Hezbollah - Lie of Last Resort It appears that once again, those truly responsible for the most egregious atrocities and the crossing of "red lines," are the very Western interests drawing these lines in the first place. The decision to shift attention away from the chemical weapons "red line," and toward Israel and Hezbollah is a desperate ploy to extend the faltering viability of the West's current operations in Syria. While Israel, with the help of the Western media, attempts to portray itself as reluctantly entering a war it has so far avoided, it has been documented since as early as 2007 that Israel, along with the US and Saudi Arabia were openly conspiring to overthrow the Syrian government via armed and funded Al Qaeda terrorists and an unprecedented sectarian bloodbath. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh in his 2007 New Yorker article, " The Redirection ," stated (emphasis added): "To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has co"operated with Saudi Arabia's government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda ." Of Israel and Saudi Arabia's partnership it specifically stated: "The policy shift has brought Saudi Arabia and Israel into a new strategic embrace, largely because both countries see Iran as an existential threat. They have been involved in direct talks, and the Saudis, who believe that greater stability in Israel and Palestine will give Iran less leverage in the region, have become more involved in Arab-Israeli negotiations."Additionally, Saudi Arabian officials mentioned the careful balancing act their nation must play in order to conceal its role in supporting US-Israeli ambitions across the region. It was stated even then, that using Israel to publicly carry out attacks on Iran would be preferable to the US, which would ultimately implicate the Saudis. It was stated: "The Saudi said that, in his country's view, it was taking a political risk by joining the U.S. in challenging Iran: Bandar is already seen in the Arab world as being too close to the Bush Administration. "We have two nightmares," the former diplomat told me. "For Iran to acquire the bomb and for the United States to attack Iran. I'd rather the Israelis bomb the Iranians, so we can blame them. If America does it, we will be blamed."" This ploy was further developed in 2009 by the Fortune 500-funded (page 19) Brookings Institution in their document, " Which Path to Persia? " In regards to Iran, and now clearly being utilized against Syria, the gambit was described as follows (emphasis added): " ...it would be far more preferable if the United States could cite an Iranian provocation as justification for the airstrikes before launching them. Clearly, the more outrageous, the more deadly, and the more unprovoked the Iranian action, the better off the United States would be. Of course, it would be very difficult for the United States to goad Iran into such a provocation without the rest of the world recognizing this game, which would then undermine it . (One method that would have some possibility of success would be to ratchet up covert regime change efforts in the hope that Tehran would retaliate overtly, or even semi-overtly, which could then be portrayed as an unprovoked act of Iranian aggression.) " - page 84-85, Which Path to Perisa?, Brookings Institution . And: "Israel appears to have done extensive planning and practice for such a strike already, and its aircraft are probably already based as close to Iran as possible. as such, Israel might be able to launch the strike in a matter of weeks or even days, depending on what weather and intelligence conditions it felt it needed. Moreover, since Israel would have much less of a need (or even interest) in securing regional support for the operation, Jerusalem probably would feel less motivated to wait for an Iranian provocation before attacking . In short, Israel could move very fast to implement this option if both Israeli and American leaders wanted it to happen. However, as noted in the previous chapter, the airstrikes themselves are really just the start of this policy . Again, the Iranians would doubtless rebuild their nuclear sites. They would probably retaliate against Israel, and they might retaliate against the United States, too (which might create a pretext for American airstrikes or even an invasion)." - page 91, Which Path to Perisa?, Brookings Institution . It is unlikely the West possesses the political, economic, or even tactical ability to pursue a greater regional war against Syria and Iran. The aim of using Israel against Syria is to alleviate pressure on Western-backed terrorists, create tension and opposition within the Syrian government and military, and perhaps even crack "fortress Damascus" ahead of one final push by whatever remains of the so-called "opposition." Brookings, in another report titled, " Assessing Options for Regime Change ," stated specifically that: "In addition, Israel's intelligence services have a strong knowledge of Syria, as well as assets within the Syrian regime that could be used to subvert the regime's power base and press for Asad's removal. Israel could posture forces on or near the Golan Heights and, in so doing, might divert regime forces from suppressing the opposition. This posture may conjure fears in the Asad regime of a multi-front war, particularly if Turkey is willing to do the same on its border and if the Syrian opposition is being fed a steady diet of arms and training. Such a mobilization could perhaps persuade Syria's military leadership to oust Asad in order to preserve itself. Advocates argue this additional pressure could tip the balance against Asad inside Syria, if other forces were aligned properly." - page 6, Assessing Options for Regime Change, Brookings Institution . Clearly, Israel has been involved in Western designs against Syria from the beginning. Its role has been intentionally kept subtle until now, specifically to exercise options of last resort. It is now up to Syria and its allies to ensure they both survive increasingly provocative assaults by the West, while both winning the political battle abroad and sweeping away the remnants of the West's terrorist proxies at home. Source: Global Research http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=daa_1367918451 Setright In Wake of US-Isreali Attack on Syria, UN Reveals terrorists Not Government Used Sarin Gas WORLD NEWS, MIDDLE EAST,SYRIA