US raises alert for warships in Middle East

 

USS Abraham Lincoln

Source: Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/08/05/317362/us-raises-alert-for-warships-in-mideast/

The United States has reportedly ordered its warships in the Middle East to be ready in case of a possible terror attack by al-Qaeda.

DEBKAfile said on Monday that US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel “is reported by CNN to be considering a special deployment of US forces in the Middle East ready for action if a terrorist attack makes it necessary.”

“US warships have been ordered to sail into waters opposite Yemen, which is reported to be the source of the terrorist threat which has closed 19 US embassies and consulates in the Muslim world since Sunday,” DEBKAfile reported.

“Marine units in southern Italy and Spain were also told to stand ready for intervention,” according to the report.

The United States closed 21 embassies and consulates in the Middle East and North Africa on Sunday, warning that al-Qaeda may be planning to conduct attacks by the end of August.

On Sunday, State Department said that the country’s embassies and consulates in 19 cities will remain closed until Saturday. US diplomatic posts will remain closed in Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait among other countries.

The department also issued a global travel alert due to a possible terror attack by al-Qaeda.

“Current information suggests that al-Qaeda and affiliated organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks both in the region and beyond, and that they may focus efforts to conduct attacks in the period between now and the end of August,” the department said.

In an interview with Press TV, political analyst Dr. Kevin Barrett said that the recent global terror alert shows that Washington needs to keep the so-called war on terror going.

“There is a hidden agenda of course behind it and that is to keep the so-called war on terror going and to do that they need to periodically check and see if people still believe this kind of nonsense,” he said.

“Terror alert issued by the US government is just as ridiculous as previous series of terror alerts,” Barrett added.

 

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Manning US Army like child torturing ants with a magnifying glass’ (FULL LEAKED TESTIMONY)

 

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/usa/manning-trial-recording-leak-177/

A speech freedom advocacy group has released audio of Bradley Manning’s testimony about his motives for leaking secret US government documents to WikiLeaks. It marks the first time the public has heard Manning's voice since his 2010 arrest.

Defying the military's ban on making recordings at Manning’s pre-trial tribunal at the military court at Fort Meade, the Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) has released Manning’s February account to the judge explaining why he exposed military secrets.

"We hope this recording will shed light on one of the most secret court trials in recent history, in which the government is putting on trial a concerned government employee whose only stated goal was to bring attention to what he viewed as serious governmental misconduct and criminal activity," the FPF said in a statement.

While unofficial transcripts of the statement are available, this is the first time anyone outside the court has heard Manning’s own explanation of how and why he gave the Apache helicopter video, Afghanistan and Iraq Wars Logs and State Department Diplomatic Cables to WikiLeaks

Freedom of the Press Foundation

https://pressfreedomfoundation.org/

Manning justifies his actions with a firm belief that what he identifies as US government wrongdoings need to be exposed in order to “spark a domestic debate on the role of the military and our foreign policy in general as it related to Iraq and Afghanistan.”

In the recording he goes on to accuse the army of “not valu[ing] human life," comparing servicemen "to a child torturing ants with a magnifying glass."

In regards to the “Collateral Murder” video, which shows US Apache helicopters opening fire on and killing civilians, including journalists, Manning said “the most alarming aspect of the video to me, however, was the seemingly delightful bloodlust they appeared to have.”

 

The attacks footage received worldwide coverage following the release of 39 minutes of classified cockpit gunsight material in 2010, starting the controversy surrounding WikiLeaks and its whistleblowing founder Julian Assange.

Because recording is prohibited at Manning’s hearings, the Pentagon is pursuing measures that would strengthen security and prevent information leaks from the trial.

Military judge Denise Lind, who is trying Manning’s case, has been informed by the Department of Defense that there was "a violation of the rules for the court," a spokesman said in a statement sent to AFP, and that the “US Army is currently reviewing the procedures set in place to safeguard the security and integrity of the legal proceedings and ensure PFC Manning receives a fair and impartial trial.”

Twenty-five-year-old Private First Class Manning has been held in US military custody following his arrest in May 2010. He has pleaded guilty to 10 of the 22 charges set against him. If convicted, he could face 20 years in jail. He is pending trial as the prosecution still intends to pursue the 12 remaining charges.

Leaked Video by Bradley Manning

 

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Russia slams US for secret prisons on foreign lands

 

A small plane taxis at a Polish airport used to ferry terrorism suspects in and out of Poland where the CIA ran a secret prison. (File photo)

Source: Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/10/20/267700/russia-blasts-us-for-secret-prisons/

Russia has launched a broadside on the United States for running secret jails in a variety of countries across the globe.

In a document revealed by RIA Novosti on Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry noted that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is running prisons in Poland, Iraq, Afghanistan, Morocco, Thailand, Lithuania and Romania.

The report, which the ministry has submitted to the lower house of Russian State Duma for deliberations, denounced the US for its dismal human rights record, citing molestation of children, invasion of privacy, brutality of police and restrictions on the freedom of expression.

The report noted that “hundreds of thousands of children” are maltreated in the US every year, leading to 1,600 deaths in 2010 alone.

“About one police officer in 100 has been involved in criminal abuses, including sexual harassment, indecent behavior or rape,” it said.

“The US remains the country with the largest prison population in the world - 2.2 million,” the report underlined.

The Russian report also heaped scorn on a US legislation authorizing “special services” to keep a tab on all private electronic messages without any judicial order. “Between 2004 and 2007 the number of electronic messages monitored by US special services rose by 3,000 percent.”

Former US president George Bush, together with a number of other high-ranking US officials, approved the establishment of secret prisons in foreign lands, as early as 2002, by its key spy agency in efforts to carry out harsh interrogation techniques, such as waterboarding, to extract information from what they introduced as ‘terror suspects’.

The establishment of such interrogation facilities in foreign, allied nations by the US administration was to avert accountability in the American legal system, since torture is specifically banned by the US Constitution.

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You should’ve served US better and died!’ Debt collector berates disabled veteran

 

(AFP Photo / Michael Nagle)

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/usa/news/us-debt-collector-disabled-veteran-372/

A debt collector, angered that a disabled US Army veteran was living off of disability payments, told him he “should have died” in war instead of "taking advantage of" other Americans.

­Minnesota-based debt collection agency Gurstel Chargo is now facing a lawsuit for verbally abusing the Army vet over a $6,000 defaulted student loan, Courthouse News reports.

“If you would have served our country better you would not be a disabled veteran living off Social Security while the rest of us honest Americans work our asses off,” one of the agency’s debt collectors allegedly told the vet. “Too bad, you should have died.”

Michael Collier was declared 100 per cent disabled after suffering permanent spine and head injuries while in the Army. As a result, both Collier and his wife receive disability payments from the federal Social Security Administration, which are exempt from seizure by debt collectors.

But in an attempt to collect on the defaulted student loan, the collector seized the money from Collier's wife’s savings account. The credit union then proceeded to freeze her account.

The Colliers filed an objection and requested a court hearing, at which the couple was told their frozen funds were exempt from such garnishment.

But the debt collection agency’s lawyer continued to harass the couple. Telling Collier “he would need to get a lawyer in order to get his money back,” an unidentified paralegal cursed at and threatened him over the phone.

“F--k you!” the paralegal allegedly said, “Pay us your money! You can’t afford an attorney. You owe us. I hope your wife divorces you.”

The couple is now seeking compensation for actual damages, statutory damages, and punitive damages for violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), privacy invasion, malicious infliction of emotional distress and conversion.

The FDCPA considers it abusive for a debt collector to make empty threats, misrepresent the legal status of a debt, or use obscene of profane language.

According to the Daily Beast, debt collectors sometimes use abusive techniques to pry money from the indebted because of the commission rates they receive. On average, debt collectors make 20 cents for every dollar recouped. At this rate, the Colliers’ debt would be worth $1,200 to Chargo.

Verbal harassment is a commonly-used technique to instigate debtors into making payments. In 2010, the Federal Trade Commission received 50,000 complaints about severe harassment from debt collectors, 18,000 of which included the use of obscene language.

And some say that number is low.

“That’s just the tip of the iceberg, as far as I’m concerned,” attorney Sergei Lemberg told the Daily Beast.

While Chargo's berating took it too far for the Colliers, there are of thousands of cases of abuse that never make it to court.

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White House doesnt address privacy concerns in cybersecurity executive order draft

 

Reuters / Lucas Jackson

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/usa/news/cybersecurity-executive-order-sharing-362/

A copy of the cybersecurity executive order currently being written by the Obama administration has been leaked to the Web, and the contents do little to calm the fears of those who suspected their privacy concerns wouldn’t be considered.

Only days after journalists with both Federal News Radio and TechDirt.com claimed to have come into possession with a copy of a cybersecurity executive order being readied by the White House, a draft assumed to be authored for the president has been leaked, and in it the Obama administration lays down the groundwork for interim cybersecurity measures following Congress’ failure to come to agreement on legislation of their own. But while the alleged executive order does not discuss the specifics of what the White House has in mind for protecting the country’s e-grid, it also fails to provide any safe guards for making sure that any sharing of personal information does not raise privacy concerns or cause any civil rights violations.

“It is therefore essential that a mutually beneficial arrangement for public-private collaboration be further developed,” the introduction of the draft declares. Over the course of the 18 pages that follow, the Obama administration authors repeatedly remark about the necessity for streamlining the sharing of information held by private sector companies with the federal government. Nowhere, however, has the White House explained how it plans to protect the rights of Americans.

Under earlier cyber legislation considered by Congress, private-sector entities, including businesses and telecom providers, would be offered federal incentives for openly providing the government with personal details offered up by their customers — the American public. Although the leaked copy does not describe any specific-handouts, it heavy handedly avoids explaining anything that will be done to handle the privacy concerns that were caused by earlier attempts at cyber bills.

In one excerpt of the draft, the establishment of a “risk management framework” is discussed, explaining it as something that would “facilitate streamlined collaboration and information sharing mechanisms,” as well as “address interdependencies among critical infrastructure sectors.”

“Because the majority of the Nation’s crucial infrastructure is owned and operated by the private sector, efforts to strengthen and maintain secure, functioning and resilient critical infrastructure required effective and routine collaboration and information exchange between all levels of government and critical infrastructure owners and operators,” it continues.

Elsewhere in the draft, “information sharing”between private and federal entities is considered imperative and a call to arms it made to “facilitate an optimization of resources to advance our collective ability to act when a threat is present or an incident occurs.” Not only does the vague wordage included in the draft leave the possibility of information collection and sharing open-ended, but suggests that this act is only the starting point of what sort of cyber-sharing protocols are yet to be put to use.

The draft, according to the copy released by TechDirt, also calls for the establishment of a “24/7 situational awareness and crisis monitor” system managed by the US Department of Homeland Security, which will “facilitate information sharing, interaction and collaboration among and between SSAs and other Federal department agencies, critical infrastructure, owners and operators and international partners.” In another section, the White House rallies for a National Cybersecurity Center to exist with “the ability to enable and support situational awareness and a common operating picture for cyberspace across private sector, Federal, SLTT and international entities y integrating information obtained from such entities and providing cyber information to support the Secretary of Homeland Security.”

The process, writes the White House, will include “an institutionalized capability to facilitate information sharing.” Nowhere, though, do they discuss how they will facilitate the civil liberties concerns raised by the sharing of sensitive intelligence.

Although the White House has not yet weighed in on the authenticity of the alleged draft, the Obama administration does admit to be at work on readying a copy for release.

"Following congressional inaction, the President is determined to use existing executive branch authorities to protect our nation against cyber threats," National Security Adviser John Brennan confirmed in a letter sent from the White House on Friday. "Specifically, we are exploring an Executive Order to direct executive branch departments and agencies to secure our nation's critical infrastructure by working with the private sector."

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White House demands military prisons for Americans under NDAA

 

The White House Logo.(Reuters / Adrees Latif)

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/usa/news/ndaa-hedges-appeal-obama-339/

The White House has asked the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals to place an emergency stay on a ruling made last week by a federal judge so that the president’s power to indefinitely detain Americans without charge is reaffirmed immediately.

On Wednesday, September 12, US District Court Judge Katherine Forrest made permanent a temporary injunction she issued in May that bars the federal government from abiding by the indefinite detention provision in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, or NDAA. Judge Forrest ruled that a clause that gives the government the power to arrest US citizens suspected of maintaining alliances with terrorists and hold them without due process violated the Constitution and that the White House would be stripped of that ability immediately.

Only hours after Judge Forrest issued last week’s ruling, the Obama administration threatened to appeal the decision, and on Monday morning they followed through.

At around 9 a.m. Monday, September 17, the White House filed an emergency stay in federal appeals court in an effort to have the Second Circuit strip away Judge Forrest’s ruling from the week earlier.

“Almost immediately after Judge Forrest ruled, the Obama administration challenged the decision,” writes Chris Hedges, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist that is listed as the lead plaintiff in the case. According to Hedges, the government called Judge Forrest’s most recent ruling an “extraordinary injunction of worldwide scope,” and Executive Branch attorneys worked into the weekend to find a way to file their stay.

“The Justice Department sent a letter to Forrest and the Second Circuit late Friday night informing them that at 9 a.m. Monday the Obama administration would ask the Second Circuit for an emergency stay that would lift Forrest’s injunction,” Hedges writes. “This would allow Obama to continue to operate with indefinite detention authority until a formal appeal was heard. The government’s decision has triggered a constitutional showdown between the president and the judiciary.”

Attorney Carl Mayer, a counsel for Hedges and his co-plaintiffs, confirmed to RT early Monday that the stay was in fact filed with the Second Circuit.

“This may be the most significant constitutional standoff since the Pentagon Papers case,” Carl Mayer says in a separate statement posted on Mr. Hedge’s blog.

Bruce Afran, who serves as co-lead counsel along with Mayer, tells Hedges that the White House could be waging a war against the injunction to ensure that the Obama administration has ample time to turn the NDAA against any protesters participating in domestic demonstrations.

“A Department of Homeland Security bulletin was issued Friday claiming that the riots [in the Middle East] are likely to come to the US and saying that DHS is looking for the Islamic leaders of these likely riots,” Afran tells Hedges. “It is my view that this is why the government wants to reopen the NDAA — so it has a tool to round up would-be Islamic protesters before they can launch any protest, violent or otherwise. Right now there are no legal tools to arrest would-be protesters. The NDAA would give the government such power. Since the request to vacate the injunction only comes about on the day of the riots, and following the DHS bulletin, it seems to me that the two are connected. The government wants to reopen the NDAA injunction so that they can use it to block protests.”

Hedges, who has previously reported for papers including the New York Times and the Christian Science Monitor, argued that his job as a journalist requires him to routinely interact and converse with persons that may be considered terrorists in the eyes of the US government.

Under the NDAA, Americans “who was part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners" can be held in prison cells “until the end of hostilities,” vague verbiage that essentially allows for those suspect of such associations to be decided under the discretion of US President Barack Obama or any federal agent underneath him.

“Because the language is so vague in this law,” Mr. Mayer explains to RT, “if any journalist or activist is seen as reporting or offering opinions about groups that could somehow be linked not just to al-Qaeda but to any opponent of the United States or even opponents of our allies”

“I spent many years in countries where the military had the power to arrest and detain citizens without charge,” Hedges wrote when he first filed his suit in January. “I have been in some of these jails. I have friends and colleagues who have ‘disappeared’ into military gulags. I know the consequences of granting sweeping and unrestricted policing power to the armed forces of any nation. And while my battle may be quixotic, it is one that has to be fought if we are to have any hope of pulling this country back from corporate fascism.”

Monday morning, Hedges once more responded to the White House’s relentless attempts to reauthorize powers granted under the NDAA, asking, “If the administration is this anxious to restore this section of the NDAA, is it because the Obama government has already used it? Or does it have plans to use the section in the immediate future?”

“The decision to vigorously fight Forrest’s ruling is a further example of the Obama White House’s steady and relentless assault against civil liberties, an assault that is more severe than that carried out by George W. Bush,” writes Hedges. “Obama has refused to restore habeas corpus. He supports the FISA Amendment Act, which retroactively makes legal what under our Constitution has traditionally been illegal — warrantless wire tapping, eavesdropping and monitoring directed against US citizens. He has used the Espionage Act six times against whistle-blowers who have exposed government crimes, including war crimes, to the public. He interprets the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force Act as giving him the authority to assassinate US citizens, as he did the cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. And now he wants the right to use the armed forces to throw U.S. citizens into military prisons, where they will have no right to a trial and no defined length of detention.”

In his latest blog post, Hedges acknowledges, “The government has now lost four times in a litigation that has gone on almost nine months.”

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