UK Commits to Less Welfare, More Warfare
Michaela Whitton | ANTIMEDIA | July 16, 2015
What’s that noise? It’s the U.K. drums of war beating.
Less than a week after George Osborne’s emergency budget declared a war on young people, Britain suddenly has enough funds to re-consider a bombing campaign in Syria.
David Cameron visited U.K. drone base RAF Waddington on Monday, backing up his commitment to spend more on drones, spy planes, and special forces—which, according to the latest terror hysteria, is “vital in keeping us safe.”
The use of British drones began in Afghanistan in 2007. More recently, drones and Tornado jets carried out over 70 strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq, also providing support for the Iraqi army and Kurdish Peshmerga forces. So far in Syria, U.K. drones have been limited to a surveillance role.
“As Prime Minister, I will always put the national security of our country first. That’s why it is right that we spend 2% of our GDP on defence because this investment helps to keep us safe. It has only been possible because of the difficult decisions we have made to ensure a strong and secure economy.” David Cameron said on Monday.
Let that sink in.
The difficult decisions he is referring to must be the £12 billion worth of welfare cuts, literally hounding Britain’s poor to death.
But do not despair, Cameron wants to make sure Britain is safe in a ”very dangerous and unstable world” and is convinced Islamic extremism is at the root of the problem. He plans to make sure Britain has the equipment to deal with the threat at “its source.” Oh no—not that old sketch! We are all familiar with Britain’s exemplary record of dealing with threats at the source, namely, the mass destruction in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan.
A study produced by the RAND corporation clearly outlines that aerial interventions do nothing to stop terrorist organisations and are more likely to escalate conflict. Since when does dropping bombs make the world a safer place? The hypocrisy of Britain contemplating air strikes on Syria while arming countries like Saudi Arabia—the largest exporter of extremist ideology and mercenary fighters in the region—is mind blowing.
In messy, cruel wars that have no regard for civilian casualties, the West could be engaging in diplomacy and humanitarian aid, working towards alleviating suffering on a longer term scale. Instead, the aim seems to be to get the public to buy the idea that dropping bombs on other sovereign countries will protect U.K. citizens from “terror.”
US ‘to boost’ military aid to Israel after Iran nuclear deal
RT | July 16, 2015
The US has offered to increase military aid to Israel by another $1.5 billion per year to ease tensions over the nuclear deal with Iran, media has reported. Defense Secretary Ash Carter is expected to make the offer during next week’s visit to Tel Aviv.
The proposed increase would see Israel getting an additional squadron of F-35 fighter jets, funding for research and development of missile defense systems, and ammunition to replenish the stocks used in last year’s bombing of Gaza, Israeli sources told Jerusalem Post.
Under the current arrangement, Israel is receiving $3 billion a year, most of which is used to purchase US military hardware such as fighter jets and missile defense systems. Israeli and US officials have been discussing increasing the amount of aid to anywhere between $4.2 and $4.5 billion per year, sources familiar with the talks told the New York Times.
The new arrangement would go into effect in 2018 and last for a decade. Secretary Carter is expected to present the offer to his Israeli counterpart and good friend Moshe Ya’alon, Israeli sources said.
Netanyahu is reportedly reluctant to discuss US aid “at this juncture,” since that would mean giving tacit approval to the agreement the US and five other countries reached with Iran earlier this week.
The Israeli PM called the deal a “historic mistake” and may be hoping that the US Congress will refuse to endorse it before it goes into effect.
Iran and the “P5+1” group – including five permanent UN Security Council members and Germany – signed an agreement on Tuesday to curtail Iranian atomic research over the next 15 years in exchange for lifting nuclear-related sanctions and embargoes.
Israel has already negotiated the purchase of two F-35 squadrons, totaling 33 jets. The first delivery is scheduled for 2016. Much of the rumored increase in US aid may be in the form of additional F-35s, notorious for cost overruns and plagued by performance problems.
According to the Jerusalem Post, the Israeli Air Force is expected to hold a number of exercises with US and European countries for the first time in six years. They will be aimed at “dealing with long-range missile attacks and flights to distant countries.”
However, the paper’s sources noted the US would likely require assurances from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel would not launch any military operations without first informing Washington.
Meanwhile, Isaac Herzog, leader of the Israeli parliamentary opposition, said Tuesday that he would soon be traveling to the US to “advance a package of security measures to suit the new situation,” according to the New York Times.
Netanyahu won a fourth term as PM in a closely contested election in March, defeating Herzog’s Zionist Union coalition. Sources close to his Likud party have accused the Obama administration of funneling money and advice to Herzog in order to defeat Netanyahu, whose relations with US President Barack Obama have been chilly for years.
Bumbling science: global warming and an incredible lightness of bee-ing
By Timothy Birdnow | Birdnow’s Aviary | July 16, 2015
Here is a piece of pseudo-scientific idiocy that caught my attention. This Fox News/LiveScience article tries to claim that bumblebees are disappearing because of, you guessed it, global warming!
From the article:
Climate change is causing wild bumblebees to disappear from large swaths of their historical range, which could spell disaster for pollinating crops in Europe and North America, new research suggests.
As global temperatures have risen, bumblebees have disappeared from the warmest regions they occupy, but have not spread northward to take advantage of new habitat, the study finds.
“They just aren’t colonizing new areas to track rapid, human-caused climate change,” study co-author Jeremy Kerr, a biologist at the University of Ottawa, said at a news conference.”
One minor problem: the planet has not warmed since the latter part of the 1990s.
There is another problem that should be immediately evident:
Kerr and his colleagues looked at historical records of the habitat ranges for 67 bumblebee populations in Europe and North America between 1901 and 1974, when climate warming was negligible, and between 1974 and 2010, when climate change accelerated. On its southern edge, the bees’ range has shrunk 186 miles, or about 5.6 miles every year, Kerr said.
Yet despite warming in northern latitudes, bumblebees haven’t figured out a way to take advantage of the now less-frigid northern climes. The study, which was published July 9 in the journal Science, did not show any correlation between land-use practices or pesticide use and bumblebee populations.
Bees are dying out in the southern end of their range because of the rise of extreme heat waves.
“If you imagine a car that starts running out of coolant and starts blowing steam out of the front of the hood, that’s kind of like an analogy for what bumblebees do when it gets too hot,” Kerr said..”
Hmm. I suppose that Kerr doesn’t realize that the 1930s were actually a warmer decade than any subsequent one. Kerr doesn’t bother with this technicality in his study, simply assuming it was cooler in the good old days. (See the temperature map of July 2012 compared to July 1936, for instance. Why didn’t we witness this same loss of bumblebees as a result of the natural warming at that time? Frankly, I think Kerr and the other AGW alarmists are the ones blowing steam out of the front of the hood.)
So, despite a decided lack of planetary warming and a failure of bumblebees to die off in the ’30s, we are still yet to believe they are not moving into new territory as the Arctic and Antarctic allegedly warm. Why?
Could it be that those areas aren’t actually warming?
The bumblebee – genus Bumbus, also known as Bumbini – is twenty-five to forty million years old, far older than humanity. In all of that time, was the planet cooler than it is now? It certainly was not during the Eocene:
At the start of the Eocene, the continents were close to where they are now, but the average annual temperature in arctic Canada and Siberia was a balmy 18° C (65° F). The dominant plants up there were palm trees and cycads. Fossil monitor lizards (sort of like alligators) dating back to this era have been found in Svalbard, an island north of Greenland that’s now covered with ice all year. Antarctica was home to cool temperate forests, including beech trees and ferns. In particular, our Earth had no permanent polar ice caps!
The Eocene lasted from 55 to 34 million years ago – certainly within the upper estimate for the age of Bumbini. And it was still certainly warmer during the Oligocene (34 to 24 my) than it is now, although it was much cooler than the Eocene or the even hotter Paleocene. Bumblebees developed and thrived during this period. They have done quite well. Now that their number is dropping, it is immediately blamed on “global warming,” a warming that is not happening.
It should also be pointed out that the bumbles did not die out after the retreat of the glaciers at the end of the last ice age – a serious warming period. They did not die out at the end of the Little Ice Age in the 19th century.
Maybe the bees don’t want to move north – or south – because it’s getting too cold?
Antarctic sea ice has been growing for years, as indeed so too has land ice. The Alfred Wegener Institute station in Antarctica has concluded that there has been no temperature increase anywhere near where it has been measuring.
And this paper makes it quite clear that Antarctic temperatures have dropped over recent years.
However, “Although previous reports suggest slight recent continental warming,” they declare that “our spatial analysis of Antarctic meteorological data” demonstrated “a net cooling over the entire Antarctic continent between 1966 and 2000, particularly during summer and autumn,” when ice melt would be most likely to occur. A study of temperatures and ecosystem response in the McMurdo Dry Valleys indicated a cooling of 0.7°C per decade between 1986 and 2000.
Antarctic ecosystems show clear evidence of cooling, suggesting that the temperature measurements reported by Doran et al are occurring widely.”
Furthermore, ten years of Icesat data shows that Antarctic ice has been growing. Ice core data confirms this.
In fact, outside the Antarctic Peninsula – a region subject to ocean currents and weather patterns – the only Antarctic ice disappearing is in West Antarctica, and it is clear that this disappearance is caused by volcanism under the sheet.
It should be pointed out that Arctic sea ice has come back in recent years, too.
So what does it all mean? It means that the bumblebees aren’t stupid enough to immigrate to an icebox, and that this story is pure garbage, a work of fiction. That the bumbles are dying is not in dispute, but global warming clearly has little or nothing to do with it.
The point of stories like this is to politicize everything and anything to drive an agenda. The author knows that the average person won’t look past the story itself, and perhaps not past the first paragraph or two. It is intended to leave an impression, and coupled with the other stories written in the same way, it is intended to inflate the AGW meme to critical mass: “see, all the evidence is overwhelming.” It is not intended to actually stand up to close scrutiny.
Police Dept Caught Giving Preference to Job Candidates who Said they Wouldn’t Arrest Fellow Cops
By Matt Agorist | The Free Thought Project | July 16, 2015
Methuen, MA — In what can only be described as a “see, I told you so” moment for those in the police accountability sector, a police department in Massachusetts has been caught in a perfidious hiring scheme. They were giving preference to job candidates who said they wouldn’t arrest fellow cops.
In other words, the Methuen police department was only hiring cops who promised to be corrupt and cover for their fellow corrupt officers.
According to the Boston Globe,
A Civil Service Commission official wrote that he was dismayed to learn that the city gave higher points to applicants who said they wouldn’t arrest a family member or an officer they knew, while docking points from who said they would.
“The City turned the interview process upside down,” wrote Christopher C. Bowman, chairman of the Civil Service Commission, in a July 9 decision. “There is simply no valid basis to award the highest points to candidates who express a willingness to apply one set of rules to strangers and another set of rules to friends and family members.”
Ah, but there is a valid basis to award applicants who promise not arrest their fellow cop. Ever hear of the thin blue line?
In police departments across the country, cops who go against this standard and try to hold their fellow officers accountable, are often the subject of demotions, firings, and have even had their lives threatened.
Of course, the Methuen police are spinning this practice of seeking out those who would protect their fellow law-breaking officers by saying that it helps them assess the honesty of candidates.
“I’m looking for some bearing, some honesty, and how quickly the person can think on their feet,” Police Lieutenant Michael Pappalardo testified.
To Lieutenant Pappalardo, it is called ‘honesty’ when police officers look the other way as their fellow officers break the law. How valiant and noble of them!
“Some of the interview panelists actually heaped high praise on those candidates who stated that they would arrest a stranger but not arrest a friend or family member based on the same facts, citing their understanding of ‘discretion,’” Bowman wrote in his decision.
This special treatment for cops who get caught breaking the law and are not charged is called “professional courtesy.” As the Globe noted in December, it is, in fact, quite rare for cops to be charged when they are caught drinking and driving.
“Every police officer who testified before the commission testified that the routine and customary practice when a stop is made on a fellow police officer, is to show professional courtesy and not call in the stop,” the report said.
The hiring practice of Massachusetts police cherry picking cops who won’t hold their fellow cops accountable seem to have been particularly effective. Cops can rape, kill, drink and drive, steal, and commit a myriad of other crimes and the majority of the time they receive but a small slap on the wrist.
The public recognition of hiring those who will simply act as another brick in the blue wall gives us insight into how and why it is so rare and difficult for police officers to prevent corruption in their own departments.
The next time you see a cop, like Timothy Boling of the LMPD, keep his job after getting caught driving drunk in his police cruiser, or firing at SWAT officers during a standoff in which he’s the bad guy — you’ll know exactly why.
Or, the next time you see a cop, like Officer Dale Reising, keep his job after being caught stealing cars, you’ll know that it’s not the criminal’s fault, he’s just receiving what’s known in the biz as ‘professional courtesy.’
5 Holistic Health Doctors Found Dead In 4 Weeks, 5 More Go Missing – After Run-Ins with Feds
By Jay Syrmopoulos | The Free Thought Project | July 15, 2015
Over the past months, five natural health doctors have either mysteriously died or been intentionally killed, with another five having gone missing under unexplained circumstances.
As we previously reported, the curious deaths began on June 19, when Dr. Jeff Bradstreet, a renowned autism researcher from Florida, now practicing in Georgia, was found with a gunshot wound to his chest. Police were quick to claim that the gunshot wound was self-inflicted, ruling the death a suicide almost immediately.
The doctor’s family suspects foul play with family members setting up a donation page in an effort “To find the answers to the many questions leading up to the death of Dr Bradstreet, including an exhaustive investigation into the possibility of foul play.”
The next suspicious death came only days later, on Father’s Day, June 21, when Dr. Bruce Hedendal, DC Ph.D., of the Miami area, was found slumped over in his car with no indication as to a cause of death. The details regarding Hedendal’s death are even murkier than that of Bradstreet, with very few details being released. Hedendal was reported to be extremely fit and had actually been doing an athletic event earlier in the day before being found dead.
Raising the level of suspicion surrounding these doctor’s deaths was the fact that both had previously run into problems with the feds due to their holistic treatments of patients. Just weeks prior to Bradstreet’s death, his office was raided by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
On the same day that Hedendal’s body was found, Dr. Baron Holt DC was found dead in Florida. Holt died unexpectedly while on a trip to Jacksonville, Fla.
Although the 33-year-old Holt had been struggling with recent health issues, none were thought to be life-threatening by loved ones, according to The News & Observer. The report by the Observer indicated that the family is currently awaiting the results of an autopsy report.
As if three dead doctors in the same field, in same region of the country, and in such a short time span didn’t already raise red flags, Dr. Teresa Sievers, another natural health doctor from Florida, was brutally murdered in her home on June 29.
Co-workers have said that she was known as the “Mother Teresa of South Florida.” Authorities investigating the case have stated that this was not a random attack, but a targeted event and that when the details are revealed “books and movies will be written about it.”
Then on July 1st, Lisa Riley DO, 34, residing in Lee County, Georgia, was found murdered in her home, with a gunshot wound to the head. Her husband was originally suspected, as he made the call to 911 to report her death, but many feel as though he’s being framed. Investigators have called her death mysterious.
A number of doctors have also gone missing according to HealthNutNews:
June 26th, Dr. Patrick Fitzpatrick MD goes missing. He was traveling from North Dakota to neighboring Montana (which he did often as his son lived in Montana) and his truck and trailer were found on the side of the road. Searches have expanded, but authorities say it’s like he vanished without a trace.
June 29th, Jefferey Whiteside MD a pulmonologist went missing when he simply “walked away.” Dr Whiteside, known for his successful treatment of lung cancer, disappeared in Door County Wisconsin while vacationing with family. They say he was on foot and had no vehicle and numerous reports call it “mysterious” saying he too vanished without a trace. They’ve been searching now 2 weeks and even colleagues have joined in (along with many bloodhounds, drones search parties and helicopters) but not a shred of evidence in 2 weeks.
On the same day Dr. Bradstreet’s body was found, June 19, three medical professionals along a remote stretch of highway in Mexico’s southwest Guerrero state vanished without a trace. Authorities insisted that the men had been killed, but offered no credible evidence to back up the claim.
The seemingly systemic nature in which natural doctors are ending up either missing or dead raises serious questions as to whether some entity or person is possibly orchestrating these events. With billions of dollars at stake, what lengths would big pharma go to in an effort to silence those that share their knowledge of natural cures with the public?
It seems that being a holistic health care provider that promotes natural health can now be dangerous to ones own health!
Obama pledged to reduce nuclear arsenal, then came this weapon
By Len Ackland and Burt Hubbard | Reveal | July 14, 2015
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Standing next to a 12-foot nuclear bomb that looks more like a trim missile than a weapon of mass destruction, engineer Phil Hoover exudes pride. “I feel a real sense of accomplishment,” he said.
But as Hoover knows, looks can be deceiving. He and fellow engineers at Sandia National Laboratories have spent the past few years designing, building and testing the top-secret electronic and mechanical innards of the sophisticated B61-12.
Later, when nuclear explosives are added at the federal Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, the bomb will have a maximum explosive force equivalent to 50,000 tons of TNT – more than three times more powerful than the U.S. atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, 70 years ago this August that killed more than 130,000 people.
The U.S. government doesn’t consider the B61-12 to be new – simply an upgrade of an existing weapon. But some contend that it is far more than that.
Hans Kristensen, a nuclear weapons expert at the nonpartisan Federation of American Scientists in Washington, is resolute that the bomb violates a 2010 Obama administration pledge not to produce nuclear weapons with new military capabilities.
“We do not have a nuclear guided bomb in our arsenal today,” Kristensen said. “It is a new weapon.”
Kristensen’s organization was formed in 1945 by nuclear scientists who wanted to prevent nuclear war. And it’s not the maximum force of the B61-12 that worries him the most on that front.
Instead, he says he fears that the bomb’s greater accuracy, coupled with the way its explosive force can be reduced electronically through a dial-a-yield system accessed by a hatch on the bomb’s body, increases the risk that a president might consider it tame enough for a future conflict.
Congress shared similar concerns in rejecting other so-called low-intensity nuclear weapons in the past. But most of the national criticism of this bomb has focused on its price tag. After it goes into full production in 2020, taxpayers will have spent about $11 billion to build 400 B61-12 bombs. That sum is more than double the original estimate, making it the most expensive nuclear bomb ever.
To Kristensen and others, if President Barack Obama’s pledge was serious, the bomb shouldn’t exist at any price.
How the B61-12 entered the U.S. arsenal of weapons is a tale of the extraordinary influence of the “nuclear enterprise,” as the nuclear weapons complex has rebranded itself in recent years. Its story lies at the heart of the national debate over the ongoing modernization of America’s nuclear weapons, a program projected to cost $348 billion over the next decade.
This enterprise encompasses defense contractors, including the subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corp. that runs the Sandia labs for the government, as well as the U.S. Department of Energy and the nuclear weapons-oriented wings of the U.S. military – particularly the Air Force and Navy. With abundant jobs and dollars at stake, the nuclear enterprise is backed by politicians of all stripes.
A review of several thousands of pages of congressional testimony, federal budgets and audit reports, plus an analysis of lobbying and campaign contribution data, shows that the four defense contractors running the two New Mexico nuclear weapons labs, Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratory, enjoy a particularly symbiotic relationship with Congress.
That relationship begins with money.
Since 1998, these four contractors have contributed more than $20 million to congressional campaigns around the nation. Last year alone, they spent almost $18 million lobbying Washington to ensure that funding for nuclear weapons projects continues even as nuclear stockpiles shrink.
Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, said the outlay is a bargain considering what’s at stake for the contractors.
“It’s an insignificant cost of doing business relative to the potential income from these contracts,” she said.
In arid, impoverished New Mexico, the nuclear weapons enterprise thrives on particularly close connections between business interests and politicians, doors revolving in both directions and successful efforts to minimize oversight of corporate behavior.
Lawmaker-turned-nuclear consultant
Republican Heather Wilson left Congress in January 2009 after a decade as a New Mexico congresswoman. She had lost her bid to jump up to the Senate seat vacated by her mentor, Pete Domenici.
After losing, she set up a consulting business and, within days of leaving office, Wilson – an Air Force veteran – was consulting mainly for the two New Mexico weapons labs.
Over the next two years, Wilson was paid more than $400,000 by Lockheed’s Sandia Corp. and the consortium of contractors running the Los Alamos lab – to help them extend and expand federal contracts and get more business, according to the first of two scathing inspector general reports. Eventually, the contractors were forced to reimburse the government for the federal funds they used to pay Wilson for her advocacy work.
Asked about the significance of that outcome, the Lockheed communications office responded to Reveal via email: “With regards to the inspector general’s report, Sandia has cooperated with the Inspector General’s review and will continue to do so.” Wilson declined to comment.
Wilson’s support for the labs persisted after she left the consulting business in early 2012 and ran for the Senate again. When the Obama administration cut funding for a Los Alamos lab project, Wilson told the Albuquerque Journal : “Not only is this bad for our country and its national security, it’s bad for New Mexico and our economy.”
For New Mexico, the second-poorest state after Mississippi, nuclear weapons and military bases are undeniably a lifeblood. Out of the $27.5 billion in federal dollars poured into the state in 2013, according to a Pew Charitable Trusts study, about $5 billion went to Los Alamos, Sandia and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the nuclear weapons waste facility east of Carlsbad, where accidents last year exposed dozens of workers to radiation.
Billions more were spent on the state’s four main military bases. The city of Alamogordo, next to Holloman Air Force Base and the Army’s White Sands Missile Range – home of the Trinity Site, where the first atomic bomb was tested in July 1945 – benefits from $450 million a year in military spending, according to the local chamber of commerce.
The labs and bases, and the defense contractors that run or contract with them, also are an integral part of New Mexico’s economic fabric. Los Alamos, Sandia and White Sands are three of the state’s top 10 employers, together providing about 24,000 jobs.
New Mexico politicians helping the labs has a long history in the state, said local political analyst Joe Monahan. It dates back to World War II and the development of the first nuclear bomb under Los Alamos Director J. Robert Oppenheimer.
“The economic impact is the driver of the politics,” Monahan said.
The engineers behind the weapons
At Sandia labs today, engineers such as Hoover and his boss Jim Handrock, director of weapons system engineering, populate the well-paid professional ranks. They turn ideas into weapons.
Nuclear specifications come to them from the two national security physics labs – Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. They marry those specifications to Pentagon military requirements and design bombs and missile warheads to carry nuclear explosives.
The secrecy of the work is so high that no outside cellphones may be brought into the building, even by Sandia’s public affairs escort. Hoover and Handrock take off their badges before being photographed. National security is their mantra, a value that gained urgency following recent criticism by the National Nuclear Security Administration that Sandia experienced 190 “security incidents” in fiscal year 2014 and the agency’s proposed $577,500 fine for Sandia’s earlier mishandling of classified information.
“We need to make sure that should the president of the United States choose to use the weapons, they will always work, but they will never work in any other situation,” Handrock said.
He joined Sandia labs in 1987 after earning his doctorate in mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois. He has been with the company ever since – first in its small California lab and then in Albuquerque – aside from a several-month special assignment with an Air Force general in Washington in 2008-09.
When Sandia hired Handrock, it was run by a Western Electric Co. subsidiary. He got a new employer in 1993, when Martin Marietta Corp. acquired Sandia Corp. Two years later, Lockheed Corp. and Martin Marietta merged to form the nation’s largest defense contractor.
Similarly influential and powerful companies run New Mexico’s other nuclear facilities. Bechtel Corp., URS Corp. and The Babcock & Wilcox Co. partner with the University of California, Berkeley to operate Los Alamos. URS and Babcock & Wilcox, along with Areva Inc. North America, an offshoot of a large French nuclear company, also manage the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.
Those four contractors and Areva are heavy hitters in Washington, with a combined 164 lobbyists at their disposal – 70 percent of them former members of Congress, congressional aides or federal officials, according to Reveal’s analysis of Center for Responsive Politics data.
“An army of lobbyists is great,” the center’s Krumholz said. “But an army of insiders who know how to navigate the halls of power, can socialize with politicians on weekends and ultimately play the system like a violin is so much better.”
Lockheed said it simply needs to get its perspectives across to federal officials.
“We routinely communicate our point of view with members of Congress and customers who oversee our programs as well as leaders of congressional districts where Lockheed Martin has a significant business presence,” the company said in its emailed response.
Come campaign season, the contractors remember the New Mexico delegation. In the past two decades, the contractors’ political action committees have donated $430,000 to the state’s senators and members of Congress. Hundreds of company officials chipped in another $350,000. Wilson received more than $250,000 of that between 1998 and 2012, the year she ran for the Senate again – and lost again.
New Mexico senators advocate for labs
New Mexico’s current senators are Democrats Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich. Contributions to their campaigns from defense contractors and company officials fall far short of Wilson’s – less than $100,000 each since 1998. Nonetheless, the two play important roles, sitting on subcommittees that determine funding and policy for the nuclear labs.
Both voted for a December budget bill that funds the labs even though it also waters down campaign finance controls and Wall Street reforms they had embraced.
“Udall and Heinrich are both incredibly liberal in their own way on some issues,” said New Mexico-based political analyst Heath Haussamen. “But they still have to balance that with what people in New Mexico want as far as those jobs and research.”
Jennifer Talhelm, Udall’s spokeswoman, described the budget vote as difficult, given the conflicting priorities
“There’s no question that the labs are a major portion of the economy, especially in Albuquerque and northern New Mexico,” she said. “They employ thousands of people.”
She said Udall also has been a strong supporter of the B-61 bomb program both because of the jobs it brings to New Mexico and its role in national security, though she emphasized that he does not get involved in contract funding decisions.
“You could say he is a big part of why the B-61 program still exists,” Talhelm said.
Heinrich, while a congressman from 2009 to 2013, routinely pressed the Obama administration and Republican leaders to spare the labs from budget cuts and government shutdowns. After he joined the Senate in 2013, he advocated for the extension of a Sandia Corp. federal contract during confirmation hearings for a new energy secretary, Ernest Moniz.
“It is now almost a certainty that the current contract will need to be extended further,” Heinrich wrote in a question submitted to the nominee. “This protracted uncertainty, is beginning to impact Sandia’s leadership and ability to fill key management positions.”
In an email to Reveal, Heinrich’s office said the senator is committed to making sure the labs get full funding.
“The labs also strengthen New Mexico’s economy by providing high-paying, high-skilled technology jobs in our state and Senator Heinrich will always fight to protect their missions,” the statement said.
Another New Mexico lawmaker, Democratic Rep. Ben Ray Luján, formed a congressional caucus with three other representatives in 2012 specifically to look out for the interests of the national labs. He has received $32,000 in donations since 2008 from the contractors’ PACs and company officials. Luján’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
The contractors and labs gain influence and access in other ways as well.
Pete Lyons, a top science adviser to Domenici when he was senator in the mid-1990s, came from the Los Alamos lab, where he was an associate director of various programs. Lyons initially was kept on the Los Alamos payroll and assigned to Domenici as a congressional fellow, according to the news release published when he was named a top Energy Department official.
The Los Alamos lab provided the last two science advisers to New Mexico’s governor, too. Current Gov. Susana Martinez’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
Haussamen, the analyst, said such cozy business-political arrangements are not unusual in New Mexico. “Our state ethics laws are weaker than the federal ones. It’s easier to move back and forth between jobs on the state level.”
Energy Department faces congressional criticism
At Sandia, sand-colored office buildings and an array of laboratories and test facilities dot a 22-square-mile area of Kirtland Air Force Base. Most are identified only by numbers. Building 898 is an exception, its big silver letters spelling out: Pete V. Domenici National Security Innovation Center.
Domenici was a patron of the New Mexico weapons labs and renowned as the Senate’s strongest champion of nuclear weapons for more than three decades, until his 2009 retirement.
His support was crucial in the 1990s after the Cold War ended and the United States and Russia focused on reducing their huge nuclear weapons arsenals.
At the time, many analysts – including Ash Carter, then an assistant secretary of defense and now the secretary – challenged the need for the traditional triad of nuclear weapons delivery systems, which relies on airplanes, intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarines. Many considered nuclear-armed submarines, invulnerable when launched, sufficient to deter the Russians or anyone else from launching a first strike.
During the Cold War, the weapons labs had designed and engineered new nuclear bomb and warhead models almost as fast as Detroit released new car models. After the 1992 U.S. moratorium on explosive nuclear testing, they were instructed to shift their focus to keeping weapons in the nuclear stockpile reliable.
The change at the labs was just one challenge for the Energy Department, which had been reeling since the 1980s from charges that it was mismanaging the nuclear weapons complex – highlighted by the extraordinary FBI raid on the Rocky Flats plutonium bomb factory near Denver in 1989.
Congressional criticism grew as the department closed production plants, shrank its bureaucracy and cut jobs.
In 1999, in the wake of a well-publicized but ultimately unsubstantiated security breach at Los Alamos, Domenici championed a bill to create a new agency to oversee nuclear plants and labs: the National Nuclear Security Administration. An independent agency would give the nuclear enterprise more autonomy.
Domenici tangled with then-Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, a Democrat and former New Mexico congressman, over the department’s role. Richardson, who would become New Mexico’s governor four years later, argued that the Energy Department was addressing its problems and that a new agency was unnecessary.
In the end, a compromise was reached. The new agency became semiautonomous, with its own bureaucracy but Energy Department oversight.
Domenici declined to comment. Robert Alvarez, then a senior policy adviser to Richardson, told Reveal that even though Domenici succeeded in establishing the national nuclear agency, “it didn’t work out so well for Domenici, because he had an archenemy running the House energy and water subcommittee – David Hobson.”
Hobson was a conservative Ohio Republican who shot down several nuclear weapons enterprise proposals before leaving office. “He didn’t have any (Department of Energy) facilities in his backyard, and he was basically being fiscally responsible,” Alvarez said.
Foreshadowing the current B61-12 program, the national nuclear agency proposed new warheads and a new plant at Los Alamos to replace Rocky Flats, the by-then-closed bomb factory near Denver. Hobson led a congressional charge that at first seemed to derail the proposal.
“We cannot advocate for nuclear nonproliferation around the globe and pursue more usable nuclear options here at home,” he said in August 2004.
But Hobson’s concerns proved no match for the nuclear enterprise.
Defense contractors assail oversight agency
Eventually, the national nuclear agency came under fire from the defense contractors, which claimed that it was stifling and nitpicking by, for instance, micromanaging lab decisions.
The Energy Department’s inspector general, Gregory Friedman, laid out the problems to a House oversight committee in September 2012. The lab directors complained that “the effectiveness and efficiency of their operations” were being impeded, he told the committee.
“The heart of these assertions,” he continued, “is that oversight of contractors has been excessive, overly prescriptive and burdensome.”
Three months later, Tom Udall – the New Mexico senator – co-sponsored an amendment to the defense budget with Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., to create a 12-member congressional advisory panel to overhaul lab oversight. Jennifer Talhelm, Udall’s spokeswoman, said he wanted to address what he considered legitimate concerns about oversight.
The measure passed as part of the defense spending bill, the piece of legislation most lobbied by Lockheed that year. Half of the panel members eventually appointed by Congress had connections to the nuclear labs.
One of the panel’s co-chairmen was the former chairman of Lockheed, and its other co-chairman was on the board of Babcock & Wilcox. Heather Wilson was appointed, too, even as the audits scrutinizing her consulting work continued.
Others included a former Los Alamos executive director, a member of the Sandia Corp. board and a former California congresswoman, Ellen Tauscher, a member of the Los Alamos Board of Governors.
As the panel deliberated over the next year and a half, Lockheed and Babcock & Wilcox together spent $16 million lobbying the federal government and donated $3 million to members of Congress.
The panel’s report, issued late last year, blasted the national nuclear agency, calling it dysfunctional because, among other things, it lacked “proven management practices.” It said the agency’s oversight of the labs had generated “misunderstanding, distrust, and frustration.” The report called for the Energy Department to reduce the agency’s lab audits, inspections and general oversight.
Energy Department officials did not respond to requests for information on whether any changes have occurred.
Inspector general’s second audit
While that panel was finishing up its report, a second special audit of Wilson’s contract work by the inspector general delved into the question of whether taxpayer dollars had been used illegally for lobbying. In outlining its findings, the audit offered a rare behind-the-scenes look at pressure from Lockheed and Sandia officials to get their federal contract extended without an open bidding process.
In September 2012, the Sandia labs’ federal contract had been set to expire, and the Energy Department already had signaled that it would open it for bids.
Three years earlier, the audit found, a team of Lockheed and Sandia officials had come up with a detailed plan that included enlisting the New Mexico congressional delegation to pressure then-Energy Secretary Steven Chu to extend the contract by lobbying the chairmen and members of key committees.
One memo advised Sandia officials to tell members of the New Mexico delegation to contact Chu directly and let him know that they expect “a contract extension and will follow the matter with personal interest,” the inspector general wrote.
Another memo described a meeting with the national nuclear agency administrator. It said the administrator told company officials that he “has no problem interfacing with Congress and committees on the matter of a Sandia contract extension.”
Other documents showed that one Lockheed official had sent a memo to Chu saying the company wanted the contract extended under the “same terms and conditions,” and another official recommended “if the answer was not in the affirmative, then Lockheed Martin/Sandia should seriously consider initiating some heavy Congressional support.”
Sandia also hired two former employees of the National Nuclear Security Administration as consultants, at least one of whom previously had oversight authority at the lab, according to the full version of the inspector general’s internal report. Their names were redacted from the report, released to The Center for Public Integrity earlier this month.
The investigation also unearthed notes from a meeting during which Wilson’s firm advised that “Lockheed Martin should aggressively lobby Congress, but keep a low profile.”
The contract, giving Sandia Corp. control of an annual lab budget of about $2.4 billion, was extended four times, initially for a year and then twice more for three months each. Finally, in March 2014, it was extended for two more years with the possibility of a third year.
The approach was nothing new: The inspector general unearthed an earlier Sandia Corp. memo that said similar tactics had been used in 2003 to secure a no-bid extension.
The inspector general’s report also exposed details of the relationship between the labs and New Mexico politicians, noting that the delegation routinely received legislative wish lists from Sandia.
“Specifically, each year the New Mexico Congressional Delegation requested that SNL (Sandia National Laboratories) provide them with information on ongoing and future national security and science research,” the report said. “Included in this package was a ‘Next Steps’ or ‘What Could Congress Do’ section, which sometimes included funding requests or expressed an opinion on a Congressional matter.”
This, the inspector general said, could be construed as using federal funds for lobbying activity.
After the audit’s release in November, Wilson issued a statement denying that she lobbied any federal officials to extend the contract and called the report wrong.
Sandia Corp. said it took “these allegations seriously” and was confident it could work out the issues with the Energy Department.
But in its email to Reveal, the Lockheed communications department said such efforts are part of its job. “Sandia routinely provides the New Mexico delegation with information concerning the labs,” it responded. “As a federally funded research and development center, an aspect of Sandia’s performance of its mission encompasses providing information to the federal government including Congress.”
Initially, the inspector general’s report stirred up some public furor, recalled political analyst Joe Monahan, but it quickly died down.
“There is a long leash on this stuff because, again, money talks,” he said. “You’re talking about billions of dollars, thousands of employees, and no one wants to see the egg crack.”
U.S., Russia agree to reduce stockpile
The nuclear weapons enterprise has had plenty at stake in recent years.
In Prague in 2009, Obama called for the elimination of nuclear weapons. A year later, he and Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev signed the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty calling for each country to reduce its deployed strategic warheads to 1,550 by 2018, down from estimates of more than 1,900 for the United States and more than 2,400 for Russia.
Ratification of the treaty required a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate, which followed in December 2010 after considerable debate and negotiation. Defense hawks and their allies exacted a price for the treaty vote: an Obama administration agreement to support $85 billion in nuclear weapons modernization over a decade.
That number has more than quadrupled since to $348 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Other studies say the cost of nuclear weapons could top $1 trillion over the next 30 years, not counting hundreds of billions of dollars for related projects, such as the cleanup of former nuclear weapons production sites.
Sandia and Los Alamos benefited greatly from the Capitol Hill bargaining. Ten of the 19 modernization capital projects approved by the national nuclear agency and 15 of the 36 proposed capital projects for the nuclear security system are based at the two labs, according to the Government Accountability Office.
The B61-12 bomb’s Life Extension Program at Sandia is among those projects. This year, the $643 million for that program accounts for more than a third of Sandia’s $1.8 billion Energy Department budget.
“It’s the largest nuclear weapons program we have going on at Sandia currently,” said Jim Handrock, the lab’s weapons systems director.
But the program hasn’t experienced perfectly smooth sailing in Congress.
A 2012 Pentagon study concluded that the B61-12 bombs would cost $10.4 billion for development and production, excluding at least $1 billion for the new tail kit, more than double the national nuclear agency’s original estimate. That overrun influenced the Senate Appropriations Committee’s vote the following year to chop by one-third the Obama administration’s $537 million budget request for fiscal year 2014, over strong objections from committee member Udall.
House-Senate negotiations on the omnibus budget bill at the end of 2013 restored the full amount for the B61-12. Udall trumpeted the outcome.
“I’m also very pleased that we were able to reverse an attempt to cut funding for the B61” Life Extension Program, his news release said. “A cut would have harmed our effort to keep our nuclear weapons stockpile safe and secure, and it would have put jobs at risk at our national labs.”
Concern over bomb’s capabilities
The bomb’s name, B61-12, reflects its position as the 12th model of what the government calls a family of bombs. It is descended from the first U.S. hydrogen bomb tested in the Marshall Islands in 1952, which used a plutonium bomb to detonate a thermonuclear explosion 520 times more powerful than the plutonium bomb tested seven years earlier at the remote Trinity Site south of Albuquerque.
Today’s stockpile contains five B61 models, including three tactical versions intended for short-range warfighting. The new B61-12 will consolidate those three models and one more highly explosive strategic bomb, using the nuclear package from one of the existing models.
Unlike the free-fall gravity bombs it will replace, the B61-12 will be a guided nuclear bomb. Its new Boeing Co. tail kit assembly enables the bomb to hit targets precisely. Using dial-a-yield technology, the bomb’s explosive force can be adjusted before flight from an estimated high of 50,000 tons of TNT equivalent force to a low of 300 tons.
And that’s where the debate over the B61-12 moves beyond cost overruns, zeroing in on the granular details of its capabilities.
Congress rejected funding for similar nuclear weapons at least twice during the past 25 years, saying enhanced precision coupled with less force would lead to less collateral damage – such as radiation fallout that could harm allies – and thus a greater likelihood that the military would recommend that the president use the weapons.
Obama, following the lead of Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, laid out the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. strategy in an April 2010 document entitled the “Nuclear Posture Review Report.” It stated that the fundamental role of nuclear forces is to deter nuclear attack.
“Indeed, as long as nuclear weapons exist, the United States will sustain safe, secure, and effective nuclear forces,” the review said. “These nuclear forces will continue to play an essential role in deterring potential adversaries and reassuring allies and partners around the world.”
Obama pledged that the United States would produce no new nuclear warheads and that life extension programs of existing weapons would not provide “new military capabilities.”
Officials from the Obama administration, Pentagon and Energy Department continue to argue that the B61-12 stays within the bounds of that pledge by modernizing an aging family of bombs and in the process ensuring a reliable nuclear arsenal to scare off adversaries.
Air Force Gen. C. Robert Kehler, then the commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, testified about the B61-12 program at an October 2013 congressional subcommittee hearing.
“This consolidation offers opportunities for cost savings and significant stockpile reductions while maintaining U.S. national security objectives and extended deterrence commitments,” Kehler said.
After that hearing, subcommittee member Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., submitted a written question to Assistant Secretary of Defense Madelyn R. Creedon, who also had testified at the hearing. He noted that the administration had pledged to add no new nuclear weapon capabilities.
“Specifically on the B61, the lower yield is being compensated by higher accuracy provided by a new tailkit … would this provide new capability?” Cooper asked.
Creedon responded in writing that “the B61-12 tail-kit assembly (TKA) does not provide a new capability to the weapon. The TKA simply improves the reliability of the bomb.”
Today, Cooper indicates he was satisfied with that response.
“Ms. Creedon is a dedicated public servant who testifies before our subcommittee in both public and classified hearings,” he told Reveal in an email. “The transition of the B-61 from a gravity bomb to one with a tail kit should make it a more reliable weapon without changing its basic nature.”
Back at Sandia, engineer Phil Hoover is the one in charge of integrating the tail kit instruments with those inside the footwide weapon’s body, which includes more than 30 major components such as radar along with thousands of other parts.
“The tail kit provides the ability to get more accuracy,” he said. “We’re reducing the potential for collateral damage.” This kind of guided system, he continued, is “consistent with our digital aircraft today.”
High on the list of aircraft that could carry the bomb is Lockheed’s new F-35 fighter jet. This stealth plane, designed to evade radar, is a $400 billion weapon delivery system that has been plagued by technical problems and cost overruns.
The idea of stealth fighters carrying B61-12 nuclear bombs worries some outside experts, including Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists.
“If the Russians put out a guided nuclear bomb on a stealthy fighter that could sneak through air defenses, would that add to the perception here that they were lowering the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons?” he asked. “Absolutely.”
Hoover said questions about warfighting scenarios involving the B61-12 are not his purview.
“It’s something the Air Force and the warfighters should address,” he said. “It’s really not for us to comment on.”
Hoover referred Reveal to the U.S. Strategic Command, or STRATCOM, a command of the Defense Department that is in charge of nuclear weapons. After requesting written questions, STRATCOM referred Reveal to the Air Force.
Maj. Kelley Jeter, an Air Force spokeswoman, declined Reveal’s interview request but agreed to answer questions via email. Asked what effect stealth fighter jets carrying low-yield B61-12 nuclear bombs would have on an adversary during a conflict, she responded: “To effectively deter potential adversaries, the weapons and platforms fielded by the Air Force must credibly provide options for the President to demonstrate U.S. resolve and support deterrence options for the President to deal with emerging crises.”
But, she added, “the B61-12 will not provide new military capabilities.”
This story was edited by Amy Pyle and copy edited by Sheela Kamath and Nikki Frick.
Len Ackland can be reached at lenackland@gmail.com, and Burt Hubbard can be reached at burt.hubbard@gmail.com.
US/Israeli/Saudi ‘Behavior’ Problems
By Robert Parry | Consortium News | July 15, 2015
There is a madness in how the mainstream U.S. media presents the world to the American people, a delusional perspective that arguably creates an existential threat to humanity’s survival. We have seen this pattern in the biased depiction of the Ukraine crisis and now in how Official Washington is framing the debate over the Iranian nuclear agreement.
In this American land of make-believe, Iran is assailed as the chief instigator of instability in the Middle East. Yet, any sane and informed person would dispute that assessment, noting the far greater contributions made by Israel, Saudi Arabia and, indeed, the United States.
Israel’s belligerence, including frequently attacking its Arab neighbors and brutally repressing the Palestinians, has roiled the region for almost 70 years. Not to mention that Israel is a rogue nuclear state that has been hiding a sophisticated atomic-bomb arsenal.
An objective observer also would note that Saudi Arabia has been investing its oil wealth for generations to advance the fundamentalist Wahhabi sect of Sunni Islam, which has inspired terrorist groups from Al Qaeda to the Islamic State. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were identified as Saudis and the U.S. government is still concealing those 28 pages of the congressional 9/11 inquiry regarding Saudi financing of Al Qaeda terrorists.
The Saudis also have participated directly and indirectly in regional wars, including encouragement of Iraq’s invasion of Iran in 1980, support for Al Qaeda-affiliate Nusra Front’s subversion of Syria, and the current Saudi bombardment of Yemen, killing hundreds of civilians, touching off a humanitarian crisis and helping Al Qaeda’s Yemeni affiliate expand its territory.
U.S. Meddling
Then there’s the United States, which has been meddling in the Middle East overtly and covertly for a very long time, including one of the CIA’s first covert operations, the overthrow of Iran’s elected government in 1953, and one of U.S. foreign policy’s biggest overt blunders, President George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The Iran coup engendered a deep-seated hatred and suspicion of the U.S. government among Iranians that extends to the present day. And, the Iraq invasion not only spread death and destruction across Iraq but has spilled over into Syria, where U.S. “allies” – Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Israel – have been seeking another “regime change” that is being spearheaded by Sunni terrorist groups, including Al Qaeda’s Nusra Front and the Islamic State.
The U.S. government has further aided in the destabilization of the region by flooding U.S. “allies” with powerful military equipment, including aircraft that both Israel and Saudi Arabia have used to bomb neighboring countries.
Yet, in the fantasy land that is Official Washington, the politicians and pundits decry “Iranian aggression,” parroting the propaganda theme dictated by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he spoke before an adoring audience of senators and congressmen at a joint session of Congress on March 3.
This Iranian “bad behavior” includes helping the Iraqi government withstand brutal attacks by the Islamic State and assisting the Syrian government in blocking a major victory for Islamic terrorism that would follow the fall of Damascus. Iran is also being blamed for the Houthi uprising in Yemen although most informed observers believe the Iranian influence and assistance are minimal.
In other words, the neoconservatives who dominate Official Washington’s “group think” may detest Iran’s regional activities since they are not in line with Israeli (and Saudi) desires, but less ideological analysts might conclude that – on balance – Iran is contributing to the stability of the region or at least helping to avert the worst outcomes.
A Lost Mind
The question becomes: Has Official Washington so lost its collective mind that it actually favors Al Qaeda or the Islamic State raising the black flag of Islamic terrorism over Damascus and even Baghdad? Is Iranian assistance in averting such a calamity such a terrible thing?
Apparently yes. Here’s how The Washington Post’s foreign affairs honcho David Ignatius – in a column entitled “Will Tehran Behave?” – describes the geopolitical situation following Tuesday’s signing of a deal to tightly constrain Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions:
“The problem isn’t the agreement but Iran itself. Its behavior remains defiantly belligerent, even as it signs an accord pledging to be peaceful. Its operatives subvert neighboring regimes, even as their front companies are about to be removed from the sanctions lists. The agreement welcomes Iran to the community of nations, even though its leader proclaims that Iran is a revolutionary cause.
“Obama argues that dealing with a menacing Iran will be easier if the nuclear issue is off the table for the next 10 years. He’s probably right, but the Iran problem won’t vanish with this accord. Iranian behavior in the region becomes the core issue. Having played the dealmaker, Obama must now press Iran to become a more responsible neighbor.”
By the way, I always thought that the United States proclaimed itself “a revolutionary cause.” But here is Ignatius, who is regarded as a “big thinker,” setting the parameters of the acceptable debate about the Iran nuclear deal. It’s all about Iran’s “behavior.”
Ignatius even quotes Netanyahu decrying the danger that, after 10 years, the agreement will give Iran “a sure path to nuclear weapons.” Of course, Ignatius doesn’t bother to note that Israel already has taken its own path to nuclear weapons. That context is almost never mentioned.
Nor does Ignatius admit how he and many of his fellow pundits supported Bush’s invasion of Iraq, which in a normal, parallel universe would disqualify Ignatius and his friends from lecturing anyone about how to “behave.” But in today’s Official Washington, a pre-war endorsement of the Iraq disaster is not a disqualifier but a prerequisite for being taken seriously.
Similarly, The Washington Post’s editorial page, which in 2002-03 eagerly backed Bush’s invasion and routinely asserted as flat fact that Iraq possessed hidden WMD stockpiles, now says the real risk in the Iran deal is, you guessed it, “Iranian behavior.”
The Post says the deal could unleash “a dangerous threshold nuclear state that poses a major threat to the United States and its allies.” And, the Post warns that Iran’s “leaders will probably use” the money from the sanctions relief “to finance wars and terrorist groups in Iraq, Syria, the Gaza Strip, Yemen and elsewhere.”
Step into Crazy Land
Again, to appreciate the Post’s thinking, you have to step into crazy land. In the real Iraq and the real Syria, the Iranians are supporting internationally recognized governments battling against terrorist groups, Al Qaeda’s affiliate and the Islamic State.
In Yemen, Iranian involvement is probably minor at most. Plus, the Houthis are not a terrorist group, but rather an indigenous popular movement that has been fighting Al Qaeda’s terrorist affiliate in Yemen.
While it’s not clear what the Post thinks that Iran is doing in the Gaza Strip, which is under a tight Israeli military blockade, only fully committed neocons would think that the long-suffering people of the Gaza Strip don’t deserve some outside help.
Still, the larger issue for the American people is what to do with this insane political-media system that dominates Official Washington. Either these powers-that-be are detached from reality or they are deceitful propagandists who think they can manipulate us with lies and distortions.
Yet, by creating a false reality, whether from madness or cynicism, this system guides the nation into terrible decision-making. And, given the immense military power of the United States, this long national detour into a dark psychosis of delusion must be addressed or the future of humankind will be put into serious jeopardy.
~
Investigative reporter Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s. You can buy his latest book, America’s Stolen Narrative, either in print here or as an e-book (from Amazon and barnesandnoble.com).
Palestinian statement of solidarity with Syria
Statement of Palestinian groups and individuals in the occupied homeland, refugee camps and the diaspora about the global war on Syria
July 16, 2015
We are Palestinians and Palestinian organizations that declare our solidarity with the Syrian people in their great historical struggle for survival, now entering its fifth year. We are in a unique position to understand and appreciate the challenges facing our Syrian brothers and sisters, because we face the same challenges.
We understand what it means to have our lands and our property taken by foreign usurpers. We understand what it means for millions of our people to be driven out of their homes and to be unable to return. We understand what it means for our interests and our national rights to become the plaything of the most powerful nations on earth. We understand what it means to suffer and die in defense of our sovereignty and human rights.
We do not pretend to tell Syrians what is right for Syria, just as Syria has respected the Palestinian right to liberate Palestine since the time of the Nakba. However, we declare that the enemies of Syria are the enemies of Palestine, and those who bear arms against the Syrian people and the Syrian army – regardless of their names and affiliations – are mere pawns that serve Israel and its project to divide and control the Arab region. The people who abduct, murder and slaughter in Syria are the enemies of the Arab nation, just like Israel, with which they share goals and criminal nature.
We therefore reject violence and murder against the people and state in Syria, which has nothing to do with any just demands; rather it merely seeks to destroy the Syrian state. Any attack on Syria is an attack on the Arab nation, and that the true national opposition is the one that commits to its country’s principles and flies its flag, and that doesn’t receive orders from abroad.
The Palestinian and Syrian struggles are not religious struggles. We respect a state that guarantees freedom of religion without preference of any faith over any other. Dividing Arab communities into conflicting sects only serves the Israeli regime and allows it to implement its plots for the region.
While Palestinian refugees have suffered and are suffering in many places, Syria has welcomed them and granted them all the rights of Syrians except the right to vote. We are grateful for this policy of brotherhood/sisterhood and can do no less than to reciprocate with our solidarity for Syria in its time of greatest need. It is the least we can do.
The cynical and genocidal policies of NATO and its proxies in the Middle East have as their main policy to destroy the last remaining independent nations and forces that are not compromised by complicity with Zionist and imperialist forces. These nations and forces wish no harm to others, yet their mere existence is intolerable to Zionism and imperialism. It is our duty to stand with Syria and all nations and movements that resist the intruders and seek an independent course and policy for the benefit and interest of our own people and not to become puppets of foreign powers.
We therefore stand with Syria in its efforts to repel the foreign invaders and the countries that are creating, training, financing, arming and supporting the terrorist groups in Syria. We call for the expulsion of these groups back to their own countries, and for their supporters to devote their resources to improving the lives of their own citizens in their own countries rather than destroying the lives of our citizens in our countries. Like the alien and racist Zionist regime, these criminal countries and their leadership must be prosecuted for war crimes and crimes against humanity for waging illegal wars against sovereign states and peoples, including Palestine, Libya, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen.
Signatures:
1. Mayor Bassam Shakaa (Abu Nidal)
2. His Eminence Theodosios (Atallah) Hanna, Archbishop, Greek Orthodox Diocese of Sebastia, Jerusalem
3. People’s Committee for the Defense of Syria in Palestine
4. People’s Committee for Solidarity with Syria & its Patriotic Leadership, Haifa
5. Sheikh Hassan Foundation for Culture and Science
6. Association of Progressive Arab Women Against War on Syria
7. Cultural Assembly for Democracy in Gaza
8. Palestine Shoruq Organisation, Gaza
9. Kifaah Movement, 1948 Palestine
10. Palestinian Comrades Communist Forum, Occupied Palestine
11. Palestinian Popular Forum, Yarmouk, Syria
12. Coalition Forces of the Palestinian Resistance, Syria
13. Palestinian Youth Organization, Lebanon
14.Union of Palestinian Communities in Europe
15. Palestine Federation of Solidarity Associations, Sweden
16. Yousef Hijazi, Gaza
17. Dr. Sabri Muslim, Al-Khalil “Hebron”
18. Dr. Amal Wahdan, Ramallah
19. Saadah Mustafa Ershaid, Jenin
20. Dr. Munthir Aliwaiwi, Al-Khalil “Hebron”
21. Dr. Mohammed Al-Oweiwi,
Al-Khalil “Hebron”
22. Bashir Abu Omar, Al-Khalil “Hebron”
23. Free Palestine Movement, Syria
24. Yaser Qishlaq, Syria
25. Mahmood Dodeen, Al-Khalil “Hebron”
26. Hisham Al-Sharif, Al-Khalil “Hebron”
27. Abdul-Aleem Da’na, Al-Khalil “Hebron”
28. Dr. Mahmoud Sa’ada, Al-Khalil “Hebron”
29. Dr. Abd Al-Raheem Kettana, Nablus, Palestine
30. Hasan Sarsour, Gaza
31. Raif Diab, Gaza
32. Abdel Moneim Abu Sirdanah, Gaza
33. Murad Mattar, Gaza
34. Noureddine Al Rayes
35. Khaled Souissi, Gaza
36. Anwar Mattar, Gaza
37. Hamid Al-Najjar, Gaza
38. Hind Abu Nijela, Gaza
39. Shareef Samhan, Gaza
40. Yousef Sharkawi, Bethlehem
41. Mohammed Berjeeha, Bethlehem
42. Ibrahim Muzhir, Bethlehem
43. Nidal Abu Aker, Al Dhaishah
44. Imad Abdil Al Aziz, Nablus
45. Mohammed Kayal Albrooh, Acre
46. Ali Isaac, Ramallah
47. Abdel Fataah Ghanem, Ramallah
48. Jamila Aasleh, (Um Aseel), Araba al-Battouf, Acre
49. Hassan Aasleh, (Abu Aseel), Araba al-Battouf, Acre
50. Dr. Adnan Bakriah, Araba al-Battouf, Acre
51. Zuhair Ondrwas, Occupied Palestine
52. Wardih Qasim, Kafr Qasim, Occupied Palestine
53. Salim Salamah, Occupied Palestine
54. Jrais Foul, Occupied Palestine
55. Hussein Zubeidat, Occupied Palestine
56. Mohammed Naamnih, Occupied Palestine
57. Omar Naamnih, Occupied Palestine
58. Imad Shalbak, United States
59. Asaad Quwaiks, Occupied Palestine
60. Labib Ghassan Habib, Occupied Palestine
61. Louay Arafat, Occupied Palestine
62. Tamim Mansour, Occupied Palestine
63. Shawkeyah Arouk Mansour, Occupied Palestine
64. Ali Ghanayem, Occupied Palestine
65. Said Yassin, Occupied Palestine
66. Nizar Kana’ane, Occupied Palestine
67. Mithkal Naamnih, Occupied Palestine
68. Shaker Shbair, Occupied Palestine
69. Jamal Sawaad, Occupied Palestine
70. Rasim Obidat, Occupied Palestine
71. Dr Muslih Awad Muslih, Beit Safafa, Al-Quds “Jerusalem”
72. Ashraf Al-Munawarah, Al-Khalil “Hebron”
73. Dr Ousama Halas, Romania
74. Abu Fadi Farfour, Lebanon
75. Sabri Murshir Alrajoub, Al-Khalil “Hebron”
76. Abid Hakim Samara, Jit, Triangle
77. Abdul Aziz Abu Atwan, Al-Khalil “Hebron”
78. Issa Mahmoud Salah, Bethlehem
79. Khalid Mahmoud Afanah, Salfit
80. Ghazi Al-Sourani, Gaza
81. Ali Al-Jariri, Ramallah
82. Khalil Jabour, Al-Khalil “Hebron”
83. Hanan Bakir
84. Mahmoud Abu Kitah, Al-Khalil “Hebron”
85. Mahmoud Al Sheikh Abdel Fattah
86. Nabil Alizah, Bethlehem
87. Hijazi Abu Shanab, Khan Younis
88. Deeb Hourani, Jenin
89. Ziad al-Sheikh, Damascus, Syria
90. Ashraf Mohammed Amr, Al-Khalil “Hebron”
91. Ghandi Amin, Al-Khalil “Hebron”
92. Hind Abdullah Bandak, Bethlehem
93. Myasir Atyani, Nablus
94. Bassam Shweiki, Al-Khalil “Hebron”
95. Dr. Mohamad Awaineh, Bethlehem
96. Jamal Asleh, Acre
97. Dr. Ali Jariri, Ramallah
97. Mustafa Moisi, Tamra,Galilee
99. Nabil Abu Dayeh, Al-Quds “Jerusalem”
100. Ali Zeibaq, Acre
101. Nida Saadah, Al-Khalil “Hebron”
102. Jihad Saadah, Al-Khalil “Hebron”
103. Fayez Suweiti, Al-Khalil “Hebron”
104. Firas Yaghi, Ramallah
105. Khader Alawneh, Bethlehem
106. Khalid Mohammed al-Madhoun, Al-Khalil “Hebron”
107. Islam al-Tamimi, Ramallah
108. Farid al-Atrash, Esq., Bethlehem
109. Jamal Barghout, Bethlehem
110. Daoud Wazwaz, al-Khalil (Hebron)
111. Abed Jabarin Jabarin, Umm al-Fahm
112. Ali Nassar
113. Osama Abdel al-Halim, Sweden
114. Fouad al-Masri, Caracas, Venezuela
115. Majdi Issa, Nablus
116. Mohammed Salah, Jerusalem
117. Ghassan Khalil Banat, al-Khalil (Hebron)
118. Jamal al-Saadi, Jenin refugee camp
119. Rashed Wadi, Oman
120. Mohammed al-Atawneh, Nablus
121. Maher al-Salaymeh, al-Khalil (Hebron)
122. Dr. Mohammed al-Asmar, Palestine
123. Alaif Sabbagh, al-Boqayaa, Galilee
124. Sheikh Taha al-Qutananeh, Askar refugee camp, Nablus
125. Ayman Yusri al-Heimoneh, al-Khalil (Hebron)
126. M. Ibrahim Abu Shamaa, Tulkarem
127. M. Ahmed Rami, Nablus
128. Dr. Awad Abu Zalata, al-Khalil (Hebron)
129. Louay Hanani, Nablus
130. Awad Ahmed al-Masri, Jerusalem
131. Sufian Sataiti, Jenin
132. Adeeb Qasim, Nablus
133. Samir Mattar, Nablus
134. Jalal Bisharat, occupied Palestine
135. Ahmed Abdel Raouf Abu Ali, Canada
136. Abu Aysar Jaradat, occupied Palestine
137. Azzam Daqqaq, occupied Palestine
138. Khalid Ahmed Saadeddin
139. Nabil Abu Ayyash, Bethlehem
140. Salaam Moussa Jaafar
141. Ziad Hasan al-Saqqa, Jordan
142. Dr. Ramzi Abu Ayyash, Germany
143. Hisham al-Maliki, Stockholm
144. Wissam Abdullah, Jordan
145. Sabri Hajeer, Gothenburg, Sweden
146. Jamal al-Shihabi, Yarmouk Camp, Syria
147. Yousef Mansour, al-Tira, Haifa
148. Omar Atiq, Jordan
149. Nuha Yousef Shomali, Beit Sahour
150. Kamal Maqboul, Sweden
151. Omar Atiq, Oman
152. Sabrina Faqha, Canada
153. Munir Mansour, Majd al-Krum, Galilee
154. Hassan Abdo, Gaza
155. Elham Shaheen, Jerusalem
156. Sama Aweidah, Jerusalem
157. Sheikh Mohammed Omari, Syria
158. Nicola Ibrahim Nicola, Ramallah
159. Nidal Hamed, Norway
160. Ibrahim al-Qudsi, Nablus
161. Nizar Banat, al-Khalil (Hebron)
162. Basem al-Ajjouz, Nour Shams refugee camp, Tulkarm
163. Anis Ghanem, Sakhnin, Galilee
164. Ali Abu Younis, Sakhnin, Galilee
165. Palestinian Youth Movement of Return, Syria
166. Fadi al-Mallah, Damascus, Syria
167. Jazoor News Agency, Gaza
168. Baylist Publishing & Media Agency, Gaza
169. Samer Al-Ghoul, Gaza
170. Nasser Hammad, Gaza
171. Center for Strategic Studies and Documentation, Gaza
172. Hassan Hijazi, Syria
173. Sakhr Abu Zahra, Nablus
174. Ahmed Abu Saud, Gaza
175. Rashad Abu Shawar, Jordan
176. Rasha Maher Anabtawi, Nablus
177. Dr. Nabil Abdel Razek, Jerusalem
178. Lajeen Abdul Haq, Syria
179. Mohammed Adli al-Khatib, Damascus, Syria
180. Baser al-Masri, Syria
181. Mousa Maragha, Syria
182. Ahmed Hilal, Syria
183. Ali Mohammed, Syria
184. Mohammed Jaradat, Syria
185. Mohamed Ezzat, Syria
186. Suleiman Qablawi, Syria
187. Samir Ghasoub, Syria
188. Thaer Massoud, Syria
189. Ibrahim Ibrahim, Germany
190. Democratic Palestine Committees, Germany
191. Majda Khatib, Shafa-Amr
192. Maha Khoury, Haifa
193. Zakaria al-Helou, Jerusalem
194. Tariq Zenati, Lidda
195. Ashraf Wajih Abdullah Hamouda, Oman
196. Nawaf Kabha, Ararah
197. Mohammed Wajih Gharah, Triangle
198. Hussam Khalil, Shefa-Amr
199. Sajid Jaradat, Jenin
200. Amneh Ahmed Ghabariyeh, al-Mushayrifah, Triangle
201. Elham Bushnaq Bakri, Araneh al-Buttouf, Acre
202. Asma Hassouna Mahajna , Umm al-Fahm
203. Abdullah Talaat Saliba, al-Khalil (Hebron)
204. Iyad Mohammed Hmeidat, Deheishe refugee camp, Bethlehem
205. Fayez Khawaja, Occupied Palestine
206. Issa Farrukh, United States
207. Abdul Salam Shahrour, Esq, Tulkarem
208. Majed al-Jandeb, Esq., Tulkarem
209. Azhar Shahroor, Tulkarem, Palestine
210. Fayez Al-Soweity, Al-Khalil “Hebron”, Palestine
211. Kamal Tannous, al-Lid, Palestine
212. Tawfiq Khoury, Shefa-Amr, Palestine
213. Khaled Abdul-Majid, Syria
214. Mohammed Khoder, Lebanon
215. Ali Ayoub, Lebanon
216. Ahmed Yassin, Lebanon
217. Mohamed Ali Ahmed, Lebanon
218. Maher Moustaha, Lebanon
219. Rasha Ali, Lebanon
220. Vida Warde, Lebanon
221. Dalal Ali Aweiss, Lebanon
222. Tariq Awdeh, Lebanon
223. Mohammed Antar, Lebanon
224. Mahmoud Hashem, Lebanon
225. Hussein Hassan Hamdan, Lebanon
226. Deeb Shalabi Issrawi, Lebanon
227. Aref Al Ezzeh, occupied Palestine
228. Talal Abu-Shawish, Lebanon
229. Nabil Diab, Lebanon
230. Alaa Mahmoud, Lebanon
231. Majed Abu Shawish, Lebanon
232. Fares Al-Saad, Lebanon
233. Arif Daher, Lebanon
234. Jamal Al Jamal, Lebanon
235. Basil El Saiqaly, Lebanon
236. Razan Abed Rabbo, Lebanon
237. Hadi Amar, Lebanon
238. Anwar Shabrawi, Lebanon
239. Rana Bishara, Lebanon
240. Nidal al-Khatib, Lebanon
241. Buthaina Saleh, Lebanon
242. Hanan Daher, Lebanon
243. Imad Salameh, Lebanon
244. Fatima Sleiman, Lebanon
245. Jamal Abu el-Saud, Lebanon
246. Abu Mohamed Farid, Lebanon
247. Anwar Abu Takeh, Lebanon
248. Mujib al-Khafsh, Lebanon
249. Bassam Abu Shawish, Lebanon
250. Moataz al-Ezzeh, Dheisheh refugee camp, Bethlehem
251. Mahmoud Abu Zinada, Lebanon
252. Joujo Ali, Lebanon
253. Ernesto Guevara, Lebanon
254. Thaer al-Khatib, Lebanon
255. Omar Abdel-Karim, Lebanon
256. Suhail Abu al-Majd, Lebanon
257. Fatima Matar, slimmed 326
258. Hassan Kanaan, Balata refugee camp
259. Mohammad al-Mahameed, Umm al-Fahm, Palestine
260. Yasser Abu Ahmed, Lebanon
261. Hassouna Taneina, Lebanon
262. Khaled Taha, Lebanon
263. Samir Adib, Ramallah, Palestine
264. Qadri Abu Wassel, Nazareth, Palestine
265. Khairy Hannoun, Tulkarem, Palestine
266. Dhaher Al-Shemali, Ramallah, Palestine
267. Suheil Natour Tarazi, Gaza
268. Beilset National Foundation for publishing and media, Gaza
269. Tariq Al-Moqayed, Gaza
270. Faris Ahmed, Lebanon
271. Ayman al-Qassem, Lebanon
272. Khaled al-Ali, Lebanon
273. Mona Soufan, Lebanon
274. Mayor Abu Samed Alrowaa, Gaza
275. Samer Al-Ghoul, Gaza
276. Nasser Hamad, Gaza
277. Mehdi Essam Hammad, Gaza
278. Ahmed Abu Qamar, Gaza
279. Samer Tarazi, Gaza
280. Dr. Tarek Ghanem, Tulkarem
281. Alaa Taha, Tulkarem
282. Walid al-Jondeb, Tulkarem
283. Bisan al-Jondeb, Tulkarem
284. Rowaa Bushnaq, Kafr Manda
285. Ahmed Ahmed, Nablus
286. Dr. Bassam Raja, Syria
287. Dima Eskandarani, Syria
288. Omar Hamarsheh, Syria
289. Ibrahim Mouemneh, Syria
290. Wassif Abdul Hadi, Syria
291. Omar Jumaa, Syria
292. Essam Shehadeh, Syria
293. Manal Ghobbash, Syria
294. Fadhil Abdullah, Syria
295. Musa Qasim, Syria
296. Mohammed Abdel-Ghani, Syria
297. Khaled Bdeir, Syria
298. Ibrahim Abou al-Layl, Syria
299. Mahmoud Khalili, Syria
300. Yousef Moqbel, Syria
301. Qusay Qudsiyeh, Syria
302. Abdul Ghani Ghareib, Syria
303. Zakaria Sharif, Syria
304. Jamal Nassar, Syria
305. Yassin Maragheh, Syria
306. Walid Dugheim, Syria
307. Fadi Shahin, Syria
308. Mohammed Abu Saada, Syria
309. Asmagheil Shehadeh, Syria
310. Amro al-Khatib, Syria
311. Adnan Abu Seriyya, Syria
312. Hassan Hijazi, Syria
313. Hussam al-Khatib, Syria
314. Abdul Muti Bouzid, Syria
315. Abdel-Fattah Idris, Syria
316. Tahseen Halabi, Syria
317. Yousef al-Sheheb, Syria
318. Moataz Shata, Syria
319. Bassam Abdullah, Syria
320. Ali Jarwan, Syria
321. Ghalib Ragheb, Syria
322. Omar Ajouri, Syria
323. Ibrahim Nazzal, Syria
324. Nayef Hayatleh, Sweden
325. Palestine Beitna Society, Sweden
326. Zakaria al-Helou, Jerusalem
327. Mohammed al-Helou, Jerusalem
328. Abu Hadi Silwani, Jerusalem
329. Hamdi Hamdi, Nablus
330. Zain Aasi, Ramallah
331. Mohammed Mufarjeh, Ramallah
332. Ayad al-Araj Jenin
333. Fadi Abu Kishk, al-Lid
334. Yousef Khatib, Arraba Buttouf
335. Ahmed Subh, Tamra
336. Tayseer Ramadan Abu Irshaid, Oman
337. Hussein Mutawaa, Amman, Jordan
338. Mohammed Khalil Ashour, Gaza
339. Mohammed Miari, Kafr Yasif
340. Yazn Asi, Ramallah
341. Ali Aasi, Ramallah
342. Abdul Aziz al-Salhi, Ramallah
343. Rasha Bani Odeh, Ramallah
344. Heba Ayyad, Jerusalem
345. Esmat Mansour, Ramallah
346. Mira Hammad, Ramallah
347. Bahaa Asi, Ramallah
348. Farah Badarneh, Ramallah
349. Abdul Rahman Jamhour, Ramallah
350. Saji Mafarjeh, Ramallah
351. Mohammed Badr, Ramallah
352. Jihan Arar, Ramallah
353. Karim Abid, al-Bireh
354. Farah Sarua, Ramallah
355. Uday Asi, Ramallah
356. Sonia Jabr, Ramallah
357. Bahaa Asi, Ramallah
358. Arif Amarna, Jenin
359. Ahmed Rayyan, Ramallah
360. Mohammed Mofarjeh, Ramallah
361. Amir Shibley, Ramallah
362. Alaa Mofarjeh, Ramallah
363. Mohamed Ledadoh, Ramallah
364. Mahmoud Aasi, Jordan
365. Leila Jamil, Ramallah
366. Mohamed Mansour, al-Bireh
367. Abdullah Jibril, Turkey
368. Mahmoud Asi, Ramallah
369. Hammad Asi, Ramallah
370. Abdul Karim Asi, Ramallah
371. Ibrahim Al Ghafari, Ramallah
372. O. Ziad Musa, Ramallah
373. Khalid Sheikh, UAE
374. Mohammed Asi, Ramallah
375. Rafik al-Asi, Ramallah
376. Amani Badr, Jerusalem
377. Sindi Badr, Jerusalem
378. Mohammed Badr, Ramallah
379. Ali Badr, Ramallah
380. Ahmed Sorour, Ramallah
381. Ali Annad, Tulkarem
382. Ismail Mofarjeh, Ramallah
383. Jana Jaradat, al-Khalil (Hebron)
384. Ismail Nassar, al-Khalil (Hebron)
385. Ghalya al-Suweti, Ramallah
386. Mohammed Asi, Ramallah
387. Dr. Nabil Talib, Ramallah
388. Handal Mofarjeh, Ramallah
389. Nidal Asi, Ramallah
390. Majed Asi, Ramallah
391. Biraa Badr, Ramallah
392. Qusay Abu Atwan, al-Khalil (Hebron)
393. Sharouq Badwan, Jerusalem
394. Naama Badr, Jerusalem
395. Mamoun Asi, Ramallah
396. Moataz Badwan, Ramallah
397. Ahmed Barnesi, Tulkarem
398. Mahmoud Mofarjeh, Ramallah
399. Safa Abboushi, Ramallah
400. Mohammed Mofarjeh, Ramallah
401. Hamada Asi, Ramallah
402. Mohammed Jummah, Qalqilya
403. Sajid Asi, Ramallah
404. Mohammed Badr, Ramallah
405. Ziad Zahra, Syria
406. Wael Jadallah, Syria
407. George Haddad, Syria
408. Tariq Haddad, Syria
409. Moataz al-Afghani, Syria
410. Rezan al-Malh, Ramallah
411. Zeina Ayyad, Jerusalem
412. Marwa Obaid, Jerusalem
413. Baha Beitillu, Ramallah
414. Osama Badr, Ramallah
415. Amin Asi, Beitunia
416. Lara Awda, Ramallah
417. Jamal Hassan, Ramallah
418. Bilal Asi, Ramallah
419. Imad Asi, Ramallah
420. Alice Abed, Jerusalem
421. Bilal Hamed, Birzeit
422. Ghassan Siyam, Ramallah
423. Yunus Mussa, Ramallah
424. Jamil Musa, Ramallah
425. Sharif El-Assaad, Tulkarem
426. Mahmoud Rayyan, Ramallah
427. Musa Badr, Ramallah
428. Maher Asi, Beitunia
429. Nizar Badr, Ramallah
430. Seraj Asi, Ramallah
431. Ibrahim Arouri, Ramallah
432. Areej Barghouti, Ramallah
433. Mouin Assi, Ramallah
434. Saji Mofarjeh, Ramallah
435. Hamza Musa, Ramallah
436. Dr. Hani Musa, Ramallah
437. Marcel Assi, Ramallah
438. Basil Asfour, Ramallah
439. Moatasem Badr, Ramallah
440. Omar Mofarjeh, Ramallah
441. Dima Barghouti, Ramallah
442. Jihad Abu Safiya, Ramallah
443. Omar Asi, Ramallah
444. Ezzedine al Asi, Beitunia
445. Badr Badr, Ramallah
446. Luna Seif, Ramallah
447. Mohammed al-Haj, Jerusalem
448. Dr. Umm Kulthum Assi, Ramallah
449. Hayman Asi, Ramallah
450. Ihsan Mofarjeh, Ramallah
451. Ayat Mofarjeh, Ramallah
452. Samar Salah al-Din, Ramallah
453. Ashraf Siyam, Ramallah
454. Mohammed Arisha, Syria
455. Yousef Asi, Ramallah
456. Isa Asi, Ramallah
457. Dr. Asem Khalil, Jerusalem
458. Meyser Asi, Ramallah
459. Dr. Rashad Tawam, Jerusalem
460. Reza Jarrar, Beitunia
461. Islam Mofarjeh, Ramallah
462. Qusay Asi, Ramallah
463. Murad Badr, Ramallah
464. Rehwan Abu Asi, al-Bireh
465. Sabreen Asi, Ramallah
466. Ahmed Maswadiyeh, Jerusalem
467. Sarah Khoamilah, Jerusalem
468. Majid Asi, Ramallah
469. Majid Samhan, Ramallah
470. Amir Khoury, Nazareth
471. Hanna Khoury, Jerusalem
472. Amin Badr, Jerusalem
473. Maher Assi, Ramallah
474. Juma Asi, Ramallah
475. Hussein Asi, Ramallah
476. Rabah Asi, Ramallah
477. Anwar al-Asi, Ramallah
478. Najeh Asi, Ramallah
479. Naaman Assi, Ramallah
480. Ribhi Asi, Ramallah
481. Ayed Assi, Ramallah
482. Harb Assi, Ramallah
483. Muaayad Assi, Ramallah
484. Nur Bekri, Jerusalem
485. Yasmin Afanah, Ramallah
486. Yara Afanah, Ramallah
487. Wafa Arouri, Ramallah
488. Hammam Badr, Ramallah
489. Dr. Samir Awad, Jerusalem
490. Dr. Fayez Bukeirat Jerusalem
491. Dr. Mahmoud Dudain, Jerusalem
492. Rifaat Assi, Ramallah
493. Mahmoud Abu al-Sawi, Jerusalem
494. Renad Abdullah, Beitunia
495. Raynad Abdullah, Jerusalem
496. Nili Hamid, Jerusalem
497. Raad Daana, Jerusalem
498. Saleh Daghlowa, Ramallah
499. A. Baher al-Saqqa, Gaza
500. A. Jawad Asaad, Ramallah
501. Qusay Jabr, Ramallah
502. Tawfiq Abu Arqoub, Birzeit
503. Munther Bader, Ramallah
504. Mohammed Nashashibi, Jerusalem
505. Ehab Mousa, Ramallah
506. Nahed Asi, Ramallah
507. Muhannad Asi, Ramallah
508. Muhannad Khafsh, Nablus
509. Mohammed Khafsh, Nablus
510. Jad Khafsh, Nablus
511. Mujahid Khafsh, Nablus
512. Kinan Asi, Ramallah
513. Merjan Asi, Ramallah
514. Razan Asi, Ramallah
515. Taqi Assi, Ramallah
516. Bakr al Assi, Ramallah
517. Haneen Musa, Ramallah
518. Amir Assi, Jerusalem
519. Waad Badr, Ramallah
520. Sufian Barakat, Tulkarem
521. Mohammed Salameh, Tulkarem
522. Abdul Rahman Abu Halawa, Ramallah
523. Amir Suleiman, Ramallah
524. Abu-Jamal Wahba, Lebanon
525. Hassan Zeidan, Lebanon
526. Fatah al-Intifada Movement in Lebanon
527. Mahmoud Saleh, Lebanon
528. Abu Hani Rameed, Lebanon
529. Abu Yaser Diab, Lebanon
530. Ahmed Hazeenah, Lebanon
531. Yousef Hamdan, Lebanon
532. Beirut Hammoud, Lebanon
533. Mohammed Abdel-Fattah, Kowkab Aboul Hija
534. Hossam Andrea, Germany
535. Najib Abbas, Kafr Kanna
536. Palestinian National Centre, Sweden
537. Salah Hammad, Ramallah
538. Mohammed Abu Qesh, Abu Qesh
539. Khadr Asi, Ramallah
540. Mustafa Assi, Ramallah
541. Miraeb Badr, Ramallah
542. Usri Mofarjeh, Ramallah
543. Aisha Abu Qaraa, Ramallah
544. Maryam Jabr, Ramallah
545. Roula Moussa, Ramallah
546. Areej Abu Hamoud, Ramallah
547. Ahmad Ayyash, Ramallah
548. Mohammed Mahasneh, Tubas
549. Rawia Habibi Ghunaderi, Nazareth
550. Saleen Haddad, Syria
551. Saleh Shatila, Lebanon
552. Mohammed Bakri, Lebanon
553. Ghassan Atamleh, al-Reineh
554. Abdul Rahman Jassim, Lebanon
555. Tahani Nassar, Lebanon
556. Amal al-Haj, Nazareth
557. Afrah Daoudi Dajani, Canada
558. Ali Rafi, Haifa
559. Tanseem Fouad al-Janazera, al-Khalil (Hebron)
560. Maysa Ahmed Saleh, al-Khalil (Hebron)
561. Qamar Akram Ghazal
562. Monia Nihad Fatafta, al-Khalil (Hebron)
563. Hiba Rajah Amro, al-Khalil (Hebron)
564. Hidayat Abdeen Halahelah, al-Khalil (Hebron)
565. Fatenah al-Muhtasib, al-Khalil (Hebron)
566. Reham Al-Sharif, al-Khalil (Hebron)
567. Baraa Shaheen, al-Khalil (Hebron)
568. Razan Abed, al-Khalil (Hebron)
569. Leyana Muhtasib al-Khalil (Hebron)
570. Eva Jamil Altora, al-Khalil (Hebron)
571. Shirin al-Atrash, al-Khalil (Hebron)
572. Aya Dudain, al-Khalil (Hebron)
573. Samah Ali Battat, al-Khalil (Hebron)
574. Wajdan al-Adam, al-Khalil (Hebron)
575. Mees Ghassan Idris
576. Rula Awawdeh, al-Khalil (Hebron)
577. Sumatiya al-Sikh, al-Khalil (Hebron)
578. Batoul Namoura, al-Khalil (Hebron)
579. Hana Ezzat Mukharzah, al-Khalil (Hebron)
580. Dina Fahd Adeis, al-Khalil (Hebron)
581. Samah Hannaihin, al-Khalil (Hebron)
582. Marwa Marwan Bakri, al-Khalil (Hebron)
583. Linda Maher al-Shweiki, al-Khalil (Hebron)
584. Shahd Hatem al-Tamimi, al-Khalil (Hebron)
585. Israa Mohammed Tuweihat, al-Khalil (Hebron)
586. Amjad Saleh Abu Kirsh, al-Khalil (Hebron)
587. Tamer Abdullah Junaidi, al-Khalil (Hebron)
588. Asma Jamal al-Masri, al-Khalil (Hebron)
589. Baissan Nader Al-Tameezi, al-Khalil (Hebron)
590. Sarah Shaker Al-Natshe, al-Khalil (Hebron)
591. Hadeel Samir Adeis, al-Khalil (Hebron)
592. Dima Nayef Amro, al-Khalil (Hebron)
593. Amani Omar Mukharzah, al-Khalil (Hebron)
594. Fatima Yusuf Munasera, al-Khalil (Hebron)
595. Zia Tarawah, al-Khalil (Hebron)
596. Rasha Ghuraib, al-Khalil (Hebron)
597. Ala Hani Batta, al-Khalil (Hebron)
598. Esra Adeis, al-Khalil (Hebron)
599. Duaa Badr, al-Khalil (Hebron)
600. Inaam Dweik, al-Khalil (Hebron)
601. Khudra Warasna, al-Khalil (Hebron)
602. Mahmoud Atawna, al-Khalil (Hebron)
603. Inas al-Sweiti, al-Khalil (Hebron)
604. Abdul Qadir Al-Sweiti, al-Khalil (Hebron)
605. Nadim Hashish, al-Khalil (Hebron)
606. Mohammed Janazerah, al-Khalil (Hebron)
607. Farid al-Raei, al-Khalil (Hebron)
608. Nusseibeh Al-Sweiti, al-Khalil (Hebron)
609. Tamam Saadi, al-Khalil (Hebron)
610. Fayez Amro, al-Khalil (Hebron)
611. Hamed al-Haddad, al-Khalil (Hebron)
612. Ala Khalayleh, al-Khalil (Hebron)
613. Tamim Mohammed al-Wahesh, al-Khalil (Hebron)
614. Shahd Quneibi, al-Khalil (Hebron)
615. Asma Arafa, al-Khalil (Hebron)
616. Khalil Atwan, al-Khalil (Hebron)
617. Muhannad Awdah, al-Khalil (Hebron)
618. Ibtisam Srahna, al-Khalil (Hebron)
619. Abdullah Asafrah, al-Khalil (Hebron)
620. Salsabil Zmaarah, al-Khalil (Hebron)
621. Fatima Aamalah, al-Khalil (Hebron)
622. Majdoleen Karajeh, al-Khalil (Hebron)
623. Aisha Hawwawi, al-Khalil (Hebron)
624. Safa Abu Rayan, al-Khalil (Hebron)
625. Meesr Zuhair Natshe, al-Khalil (Hebron)
626. Raneem Ziad Hatatba, al-Khalil (Hebron)
627. Wilaa Talahma, al-Khalil (Hebron)
628. Fadi Lahassouni, al-Khalil (Hebron)
629. Rula Hassan, al-Khalil (Hebron)
630. Jinan Mohammed Odeh, al-Khalil (Hebron)
631. Aya Mahmoud, al-Khalil (Hebron)
632. Fadi Ahmad, al-Khalil (Hebron)
633. Zahi Terman, al-Khalil (Hebron)
634. Sondas Al-Jabri, al-Khalil (Hebron)
635. Aya Farid, al-Khalil (Hebron)
636. Deena al-Oweiwi, al-Khalil (Hebron)
637. Reem Amro, al-Khalil (Hebron)
638. Areen Karki, al-Khalil (Hebron)
639. Musa Qafeeshi, al-Khalil (Hebron)
640. Abbas Hamideh, United State
641. Thaer Abu Hilal, Abu Dis, Jerusalem
642. Mohammed Salah, Abu Dis, Jerusalem
643. Atta Jaffal, Abu Dis, Jerusalem
644. Makhlis Basl, Haifa
645. Mohammed Abu Laban, Ramallah
646. Hani al-Husri, Ramallah
647. Bishop Abdullah Yulio, Ramallah
648. Wasfi Abdul Ghani, Haifa
649. Issam Makhoul, Haifa
650. Nahi Nasser Hanna, Haifa
651. Rudi Abu Saada
652. Hana Al-Essa, Ramallah
653. Leila Jamal, Ramallah
654. Abla Kamal, Jerusalem
655. Isa Salamat, Jaffna, Ramallah
656. Ihsan Rimawi, Beit Rima, Ramallah
657. Ghassan Abbas Rimawi, Beit Rima, Ramallah
658. Akram al-Maliki, Ramallah
659. Ayad al-Maliki, Ramallah
660. Zia Ghazal, Gaza
661. Yousef Shuhaiber, Gaza
662. Hani Shuhaiber, Gaza
663. Dr. Fayez Rashid, Jordan
664. Leila Khaled, Jordan
665. Mohammed Walid Mohammed Ismail, Ein Arik camp, Ramallah
666. Iyad Masrouji, Ramallah
667. Palestinian Community in Norway
668. Safwan Tirbana, Kafr Yasif
669. Maaouya Hajj, Kafr Yasif
670. Salam Marqis, Kafr Yasif
671. Khalid Sharif, Kafr Yasif
672. Nasrat Samara, Kafr Yasif
673. Boulos Rouhana, Isfiya
674. Shadi Choueiry, Kafr Yasif
675. Yousef Khatib, Kafr Yasif
676. Mufeed Saad, Kafr Yasif
677. Jamila Saad, Kafr Yasif
678. Mufeed Basl, Kafr Yasif
679. Abla Amuri, Kafr Yasif
680. Majdi Abdel Hadi Issa, Nablus
681. Fathi Mohammed Tunbour, Nablus
682. Musab Mahmoud Yousef, Jenin
683. Suleiman Fayez Juma, Nablus
684. Wadi Watfa, London
685. Mary Watfa, London
686. Mahasin Adel Dandis, al-Khalil (Hebron)
687. Azhar Seyyaj, al-Khalil (Hebron)
688. Rashad Abdul Rasul, Dura
689. Bushra Fouad al-Janzerah, Halhul
690. Mohammed Abu Asabeh, Halhul
691. Samah Abu Asabeh, Halhul
692. Sarah Abu Asabeh, Halhul
693. Issa Ahmed Zaki Bahr, al-Khalil (Hebron)
694. Hadeel al-Wawi, Halhul
695. Maryam al-Wawi, Halhul
696. Mahmoud Talbishi, al-Khalil (Hebron)
697. Nadeem Manasrah, al-Khalil (Hebron)
698. Nadeen Mahmoud Sarahneh, Halhul
699. Manar al-Banna, Amman, Jordan
700. Dr. Mohammed K. Hamid, United States
701. Jafar M. Ramini, United Kingdom
702. Khowla Ibrahim, Canada
703. Dr. Nazih Khattaba, Canada
704. Angele Semaan, United Kingdom
705. Victor Najjar, United Kingdom
706. Ghassan Najjar, United Kingdom
707. Souha Najjar, United Kingdom
708. Rehab Naseef, United Kingdom
709. Issa Najjar, United Kingdom
710. Suha Ghassan Najjar, United Kingdom
711. Lydia Perio Najjar, United Kingdom
712. Al-Awda, The Palestine Right To Return Coalition, United States
713. Ribhi Rabah, Canada
714. Morteda Abbas, Syria
715. Firas Yaghi, Ramallah
716. Adibanos Khoury-Machool, Jaffa
717. Taghreed Shehadeh, occupied Palestine
718. Azmi Nabali, Ramallah
719. Palestinian popular trend, Ramallah
720. Popular Action Committees, Ramallah
721. Elias Mouin Najjar, Australia
722. Joseph Mouin Najjar, Australia
723. Grace Mouin Najjar, Australia
724. Mousa al-Amelah, Syria
725. Hanna Mouin Najjar, Australia
726. Joseph Nakhla Najjar, Spain
727. Elias Nakhla Najjar, Germany
728. Fahed Awad, Syria
729. Victoria Nakhla Najjar, Canada
730. Anton Nakhla Najjar, Canada
731. Kateba Nakhla Najjar, Syria
732. Sonia Kamel Assaf, Syria
733. Fayez Kamel Assaf, Lebanon
734. Alice Kamel Assaf, Syria
735. Nimr Kamel Assaf, Syria
736. Nabil Elie Semaan, Lebanon
737. Nabila Elie Semaan, Britain
738. Khaled Elie Semaan, Lebanon
739. Suha Elie Semaan, Lebanon
740. Khaled Hassan Semaan, Lebanon
741. Essam Suleiman, Syria
742. Suha Hassan Semaan, Lebanon
743. Noha Hassan Semaan, Lebanon
744. Walid Hassan Semaan, Lebanon
745. Mowni Butrus Sweileh, Dubai
746. Johnny Butrus Sweileh, Seychelles
747. Leonie Butrus Sweileh, Lebanon
748. Mohsen Selim Gideon, Canada
749. Muhasen Selim Gideon, Canada
750. Wisam Selim Gideon, Canada
751. Hassan Esper Semaan, Lebanon
752. Boulos Anis Haddad, Abu Dhabi
753. Samir Anis Haddad, Abu Dhabi
754. Pauline Anis Haddad, Abu Dhabi
755. Selim Fouad Esper, Lebanon
756. Suhaila Esper Semaan, Lebanon
757. Helen Esper Semaan, Lebanon
758. Salwa Esper Semaan, Abu Dhabi
759. Sameera Elie Semaan, Abu Dhabi
760. Shirin Anis Haddad, Abu Dhabi
761. Nadim Assi, Saudi Arabia
762. Yasmin Khamis, Bethlehem
763. Dima Adawi, Nazareth
764. Mohammed Semrain, Jordan
765. Zeidan Semrain, Jordan
766. Gharam Assi, Ramallah
767. Hanan Moussa, Ramallah
768. Haneen Moussa, Ramallah
769. Mervat Assi, Ramallah
770. Nevin Assi, Ramallah
771. Uday Assi, Ramallah
772. Bassam Bader, United States
773. Hisham Bader, Germany
774. Suhail Assi, Russia
775. Elqassam Assi, Russia
776. Wajdi Mousa, Ramallah
777. Aseel Bader, Ramallah
778. Abdel Hameed Bader, Ramallah
779. Jihan Mufarjeh, Ramallah
780. Manar Mufarjeh, Ramallah
781. Anwar Mufarjeh, Ramallah
782. Zuhoor Deifallah, Ramallah
783. Ibrahim Mufarjeh, Ramallah
784. Nawal Moussa, Ramallah
785. Tahrir Assi, Umm al-Sharayet
786. Tuleen Assi, Umm al-Sharayet
787. Ansar Bader, Ramallah
788. Qadees Bader, Ramallah
789. Bilal Bader, Ramallah
790. Abdulqader Bader, Ramallah
791. Moatasem Assi, Sweden
792. Anas Assi, France
793. Maihoub Assi, Ramallah
794. Hadi Assi, Ramallah
795. Mumen Assi, Ramallah
796. Zahi Assi, Ramallah
797. Ezzeddine Assi, Ramallah
798. Tareq Bader, Jerusalem
799. Hamza Badr, Ramallah
800. Dr. Ammar Shibli, Ramallah
801. Faqih Assi, Venezuela
802. Luqman Assi, Venezuela
803. Samah Nasreddine, Jerusalem
804. Abdul Rahman Faraj, Jerusalem
804. Aliya Hameed, Jerusalem
806. Christina Boutran, Ramallah
807. Sala Shehadeh, Ramallah
808. Essam Assi, Ramallah
809. Uday Aboud, Ramallah
810. Karam Bader, Ramallah
811. Narjis Assi, Jerusalem
812. Amjad Assi, Ramallah
813. Yusri Assi, Ramallah
814. Naqqa al-Dadwah, Ramallah
815. Sharouq Assi, Ramallah
816. Imad Assi, Ramallah
817. Sijjud Bader, Ramallah
818. Sanabel Badr, Ramallah
819. Haneen Assi, Ramallah
820. Afaf Assi, Ramallah
821. Afnan Assi, Ramallah
822. Abada Mousa, Ramallah
823. Jameel Shibley
824. Sajid Assi, Ramallah
825. Munadel Assi, Ramallah
826. Rahma Assi, Ramallah
827. Imran Derraj, Ramallah
828. Fatima Mufarjeh, Ramallah
829. Samah Jalal, Ramallah
830. Salabil Assi, Ramallah
831. Salabil Rayan, Ramallah
832. Mervat Mufarjeh, Ramallah
833. Azhar Mufarjeh, Ramallah
834. Yasmeen Mousa, Ramallah
835. Asma Assi, Ramallah
836. Areen Mufarjeh, Ramallah
837. Fuad Moussa, Ramallah
838. Ala Assi, Ramallah
839. Salim Assi, America
840. Alkhansa Assi, Ramallah
841. Asma Obeid, Ramallah
842. Islam Badr, Ramallah
843. Rana Mufarjeh, Ramallah
844. Munther Shibley, Ramallah
845. Munther Mousa, Ramallah
846. Iman Mousa, Ramallah
847. Doaa Badr, Ramallah
848. Mahmoud Hamed, Jerusalem
849. Issa Ahmed, Ramallah
850. Lulea Assi, Ramallah
851. Neesan Assi, Ramallah
852. Neesan Mufarjeh, Ramallah
853. Mohammed al-Hajj, Ramallah
854. Suha Assi, Ramallah
855. Manar Bader, Ramallah
856. Maram Assi, Ramallah
857. Dima Assi, Ramallah
858. Sundos Badr, Ramallah
859. Wafa Assi, Ramallah
860. Saleh Mufarjeh, Ramallah
861. Haneen Assi, Ramallah
862. Ali Bader, Ramallah
863. Hala Seif, Ramallah
864. Mamoun Absi, Ramallah
865. Amir Suleiman, Ramallah
866. Baraa Abu Musa, Ramallah
867. Rahma Njas, Ramallah
868. Ali Dar Ali, Ramallah
869. Sijjud Dar Ali, Ramallah
870. Ola Rimawi, Jerusalem
871. Ala Barhoum, Ramallah
872. Shurouq Hantash, Ramallah
873. Raghad Shaheen, Ramallah
874. Watan Mousa, Ramallah
875. Esra Mousa, Ramallah
876. Razan al-Malh, Ramallah
877. Bissan al-Malh, Ramallah
878. Nasser al-Malh, Ramallah
879. Mohammed Shuraitah, Ramallah
880. May Shuraitah, Ramallah
881. May Batatah, Ramallah
882. Fatima Schumann, Ramallah
883. Rihan Arar, Ramallah
884. Mohammed Rashid, Ramallah
885. Nasreen Saleh, Ramallah
886. Wafa Saleh, Ramallah
887. Mohammed Awad, Ramallah
888. Mohammed Dufesh, Ramallah
889. Haneen Shuraitah, Ramallah
890. Layala Hamouda, Jerusalem
891. Montasser Nahiz, Ramallah
892. Saad Hob al-Rih, Ramallah
893. Hiyam Saleh, Ramallah
894. Anis Hanoun, Ramallah
895. Musaab Hanoun, Ramallah
896. Nermeen Rudaidah, Jerusalem
897. George Abdullah, Jenin
898. Tijan Atwan al-Khalil (Hebron)
899. Wajnan Shamasneh, Ramallah
900. Khalid Sheikh, Ramallah
901. Khaled Qutaishat, Tubas
902. Abdul Rahman Atiq, Ramallah
903. Rashid Shaheen, Bethlehem
904. Walid Mohammed Ismail, Ein Arik camp
905. Ahmed Hassan Khitab
906. Mahmoud Said Sawafiri
907. Tayseer al-Aslina
908. Uday Walid Ismail
909. Saddam Walid Ismail
910. Thaer Ghazi Shukri
911. Haitham Ghazi Shukri
912. Bassam Farid Tabbalah, Ein Arik
913. Ala Ayyash, Jalazoun cmp
914. Nael Masaad, Aboud
915. Raed Massad, Aboud
916. Louay Zakhri Muneed, Ein Arik
917. Thaer Hijazi, Qarawat Bani Zeid
918. Jumaa Hijazi, Qarawat Bani Zeid
919. Louay Arar, Qarawat Bani Zeid
920. Baseel Teem, Qarawat Bani Zeid
921. Mohammed Hanoun, Balata refugee camp
922. Ibrahim Abu Leil, Balata refugee camp
923. Mohammed Hashash, Balata refugee camp
924. Saleh Hashash, Balata refugee camp
925. Nael Halabi, Jerusalem
926. Wadie Farraj, Jerusalem
927. Diana Farraj, Jerusalem
928. Lina Khattab, Beitain
929. Firas Karajeh, Safa
930. Anas Akef Waheed, Tulkarem
931. Rama Ahmad Ayyash Baraka, Tulkarem
932. Mujahid Fadel Samara, N.
933. Zahran Akef Waheed Hamdallah, Tulkarem
934. Akef Waheed Hamdallah, Tulkarem
935. Muhannad Jamal al-Hassan, Tulkarem
936. Mohammed Suhail Abu Shanab, Tulkarem
937. Leilas Akef Hamdallah, Tulkarem
938. Watheq Abdel Fattah Shaib, Nablus
939. Naji Abdel Fattah Shaib, Nablus
940. Zakaria Abdel Fattah Shaib, Nablus
941. Mona Nihad Sebobah, Tulkarem
942. Seif Rifaat Qassis, Nablus
943. Muwaad Ahmed Daamah
944. Khalid Abdul Rahim Katana, Nablus
945. Aalan Mohammed Daraghmeh, Nablus
946. Reem Najjar, Ramallah
947. Majdal al-Jandab, Tulkarem
948. Wajdi Barakat, Tulkarem
949. Mohammed Awad, Tulkarem
950. Abdul Latif al-Sheikh, Tulkarem
951. Iyad Badran, Tulkarem
952. Qasim Bedeer, Tulkarem
953. Rasha Herzallah, Ramallah
954. Nader Hasan, Tulkarem
955. Sobhi Badran, Tulkarem
956. Ibrahim Tabbal, Tulkarem
957. Tareq Ghanem, Tulkarem
958. Baraa Shahrour, Tulkarem
959. Mahmoud Abu Ali, Tulkarem
960. Nabil Abu Khalil, Tulkarem
961. Mumen Awad, Tulkarem
962. Laith Massoud, Tulkarem
963. Haitham Tatour, occupied Palestine
964. Mohammed Khatib, occupied Palestine
965. Mahmoud Barghouti, Ramallah
966. Abed Yasin, occupied Palestine
967. Yara Aghbarieh, Umm al-Fahm
968. Khuloud al-Zinati, occupied Palestine
969. Muaddel Mahmoud, occupied Palestine
970. Mohammed Awawdeh, occupied Palestine
971. Rana Jarban, occupied Palestine
972. Rim Taha, occupied Palestine
973. Nazmi Taha, occupied Palestine
974. Maysan Sobh, Tamra
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From the Archives
6 MAJOR US foreign policy failures of the post-Cold War era
By Adam Garrie | The Duran | September 14, 2017
In the 1990s, US officials, all of whom would go on to serve in the George W. Bush White House, authored two short, but deeply important policy documents that have subsequently been the guiding force behind every major US foreign policy decision taken since the year 2000 and particularly since 9/11.
These documents include the Defense Planning Guidance for the 1994–99 fiscal years (more commonly known as the Wolfowitz Doctrine). This document, as the name implies was authored by George W. Bush’s deeply influential Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz as well as I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, who served as an advisor to former US Vice President Dick Cheney.
The other major document, A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm, from 1996 was authored by former Chairman of the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee in the administration of George W. Bush, Richard Norman Perle.
Both documents provide a simplistic but highly unambiguous blueprint for US foreign police in the Middle East, Russia’s near abroad and East Asia. The contents of the Wolfowitz Doctrine were first published by the New York Times in 1992 after they were leaked to the media. Shortly thereafter, many of the specific threats made in the document were re-written using broader language. In this sense, when comparing the official version with the leaked version, it reads in the manner of the proverbial ‘what I said versus what I meant’ adage.
By contrast, A Clean Break was written in 1996 as a kind of gift to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who apparently was not impressed with the document at the time. In spite of this, the US has implemented many of the recommendations in the document in spite of who was/is in power in Tel Aviv.
While many of the recommendations in both documents have indeed been implemented, their overall success rate has been staggeringly bad.
Below are major points from the documents followed by an assessment of their success or failure. … continue
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