Underground stories 082613

NSA bugged UN headquarters in New York City, claim new documents released by Ed Snowden 

The U.S. National Security Agency bugged the United Nations' New York headquarters, Germany's Der Spiegel weekly said on Sunday in a report on U.S. spying that could further strain relations between Washington and its allies.
Citing secret U.S. documents obtained by fugitive former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, Der Spiegel said the files showed how the United States systematically spied on other states and institutions.
The UN did not directly comment on Monday on the hacking reports, saying only that international treaties protect its offices and all diplomatic missions from interference, spying and eavesdropping.

New Obamacare Lawsuit May Reach Supreme Court & Deem Obama/IRS Actions Unconstitutional

Last year, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare, was upheld to be constitutional as a tax. Though it’s been three years since Obamacare has been the law of the land, problems have arisen (we all knew they would), and costs have skyrocketed from their projections (we knew that too). As a result, some parts of Obamacare will be delayed by one year. However, it looks as if the Supreme Court may just get a second hearing on the unpopular, and in many of our opinions unconstitutional law.

How’s that? Well, when constructing the sweeping legislation, apparently lawmakers, specifically Democrats, made an error by allowing states to decide whether or not they would set up their own insurance exchange, which they would control. If a state chose not to set up an exchange, then the federal government would establish one. States establishing an insurance exchange under Obamacare would tax employers who did not provide insurance under the employer mandate. The money would be returned to employees to purchase insurance through the state’s insurance exchange.
The problem comes because more than two dozen states have chosen not to establish state insurance exchanges.
Barack Obama and the Democrats didn’t place a tax in the bill for states that opted out of the state insurance exchanges. Therefore, they cannot be taxed. So much for setting up federal exchanges in the states.
So what about all of that? How does it make the issue unconstitutional? In order to correct the glaring problem, Barack Obama bypassed Congress and had the Internal Revenue Service re-write the law. I know, you are shocked, right? Obama and the IRS, once again involved in criminal activity against the people of America. This is not a scandal, it’s criminal.

Forget Egypt & Syria…Has Anyone Seen Iran?

While everyone is focused on the streets of Cairo and the photos of the latest atrocities by Assad and the al Qaeda Rebels … one nasty little player has been strangely absent from media reports and the cameras: Iran.
And why is that, pray tell…?
Well, they’ve taken out their nuclear party hats … celebrating the distractions that are allowing them to continue their march toward chaos and the entrance of their 12th Imam. And they are even contributing to the diversions…
This past Thursday, four rockets were launched from S. Lebanon into Northern Israel, by Jihad Islami who take their orders from Tehran and Lebanese Hezbollah (who ALSO take their orders from Tehran). They were Grad 120mm rockets (likely Iranian HM20). According to Debka file, “one of the rockets was intercepted by Iron Dome. None caused casualties, except for three shock victims, but they did cause damage to buildings and vehicles in Kibbutz Gesher Haziv and another unidentified location near the coastal town of Acre. The fourth rocket landed on vacant ground.” (Sadly, witnesses in Nahariya, Acre, Shlomi and the involved sites, all reported that the explosions were heard BEFORE the siren alerts were activated.)
They’ve been eerily quiet during this new bedlam in Egypt … and aside from the fact that Assad is their puppet … they have also been unobtrusive during Syria’s mayhem.
Why? Because there’s a method to their Muslim madness … these busy killer-bees have never ceased, for one nanosecond, their nuclear progress. So while their brethren are butchering each other (and innocent Christians), they have installed 18,000 uranium-enrichment centrifuges. Now, the new Iranian President Hassan Rohani (the crafty creep) … is a former nuclear negotiator who oversaw a previous deal to suspend Iran’s uranium enrichment, and has hailed new talks with world powers concerning the program. BUT he has maintained Iran’s right to enrich uranium. As a friend of my radio show, Reza Kahlili, has confirmed: Rohani is as hard-lined as Ahmadinejad … but with a softer shell.

Syrian rebels used Sarin nerve gas, not Assad’s regime: U.N. official

Testimony from victims strongly suggests it was the rebels, not the Syrian government, that used Sarin nerve gas during a recent incident in the revolution-wracked nation, a senior U.N. diplomat said Monday.
Carla del Ponte, a member of the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, told Swiss TV there were “strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof,” that rebels seeking to oust Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad had used the nerve agent

But she said her panel had not yet seen any evidence of Syrian government forces using chemical weapons, according to the BBC, but she added that more investigation was needed.
Damascus has recently facing growing Western accusations that its forces used such weapons, which President Obama has described as crossing a red line. But Ms. del Ponte’s remarks may serve to shift the focus of international concern.
Ms. del Ponte, who in 1999 was appointed to head the U.N. was crimes tribunals for Yugoslavia and Rwanda, has sometimes been a controversial figure. She was removed from her Rwanda post by the U.N. Security Council in 2003, but she continued as the chief prosecutor for the Yugoslav tribunal until 2008.
Ms. del Ponte, a former Swiss prosecutor and attorney general, told Swiss TV: “Our investigators have been in neighboring countries interviewing victims, doctors and field hospitals. According to their report of last week, which I have seen, there are strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof of the use of sarin gas, from the way the victims were treated.”
She gave no further details, the BBC said.

SYRIA: ‘Obama Overtly supports Al-Qaeda, Provides Terrorists with Chemical Weapons’: Michel Chossudovsky

In the midst of pre-Geneva II talks on Syria Professor Michel Chossudovsky, Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization and Professor Emeritus at the University of Ottawa tells the Voice of Russia about the controversial role the Obama administration plays in the Syrian conflict and the possibility that the US Head of State not only cooperates with Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations but also supplies them with chemical weapons.

In one of your recent articles you suggested that the chemical weapons accusations in Syria are fabricated. You said that “in a bitter irony, the evidence amply confirms that the chemical weapons are being used not by Syrian government forces but by the US supported Al Qaeda rebels.” Can you elaborate on this issue?

If we look at various media reports, including CNN but it is also acknowledged in Israeli media, the rebels namely Al-Nusra are in possession of chemical weapons but moreover it is acknowledged that western forces are actually training Al-Nusra rebels in Jordan and Turkey and this is confirmed by a December 9 CNN report.

We had subsequently the report of the United Nations independent mission which confirms that rebel forces are in possession of sarin nerve gas and the United Nations human rights investigators actually made a statement to that effect and refuted the accusations that government forces were in possession of chemical weapons.

In fact what they said is that the rebels were in possession of chemical weapons.

Then we also had a Turkish police report, which essentially confirmed these previous reports, the fact that the Al-Nusra terrorists who are supported by the Western military alliance, they were arrested with sarin gas in their possession.

Regarding the issue of chemical weapons in Syria you have also said that “Obama has not only “Crossed the Red Line”, he is supporting Al Qaeda. He is a Liar and a Terrorist.” Other than the provision of chemical weapons to Syrian opposition, is there any other evidence to support the claim that Obama might be supporting Al-Qaeda?

I think that we are beyond the issue as to whether Obama is supporting Al-Qaeda. John Kerry is directly in contacts with commanders, which are in link with Al-Qaeda rebels. We’ve got a fairly large documentation to the effect that weapons and money are being channeled to the rebels and that these rebels actually are on the US state department list of terrorist organizations.

Hysteria around chemical attack suits those who want military intervention in Syria - Lavrov

Following last week’s chemical attack, the West has engineered a media campaign to facilitate a military incursion, says Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The minister also cast doubts on the veracity of US and European claims about the incident.
“Official Washington, London and Paris say they have incontrovertible evidence that the Syrian government is behind the chemical attack in Damascus, but they have not yet presented this evidence. Yet, they keep saying that the ‘red line’ has been crossed,” Lavrov said during an emergency press conference in Moscow.
“Now, we are hearing calls for a military campaign against Bashar Assad.”
Lavrov said that the US, Britain and other countries have assembled a “powerful force” and are “readying their ships and planes” for a possible invasion.
The minister said that the development set the world on a "perilous path" and warned that “repeating the Iraqi and Lybyan scenario” and bringing in outside forces, would be a “terrible mistake that will lead to more blood being spilt”.
The minister reserved particular outrage for the newly-mooted possibility of NATO staging a strike on chemical storage facilities without a United Nations mandate.
Asked if Russia was going to join in the potential conflict on either side, Lavrov said “We have no plans to go to war, but we hope that others think of long-term interests.”

Syria, Iran issue first explicit warning to Israel if US attacks

‘We have strategic weapons and we’re capable of responding,’ says official in Damscus; Russia: West has no proof of chemical attack

A senior Syrian official on Monday issued a first direct warning that if attacked, his country would retaliate against Israel. Khalaf Muftah, a senior Baath Party official who used to serve as Syria’s assistant information minister, said in a radio interview that Damascus would consider Israel “behind the [Western] aggression and [it] will therefore come under fire.”

“We have strategic weapons and we’re capable of responding,” he said. “Normally the strategic weapons are aimed at Israel.”

Muftah concluded with a warning that “If the US or Israel make the mistake of taking advantage of the chemical issue… the region will go up in flames… that will affect security not only in the region but across the world.”

Now Egypt looks to 'expose' Obama 

Strategy may include embarrassing White House

The evidence is mounting that the military government currently ruling Egypt has decided to embarrass the Obama administration as part of a strategy to suppress Muslim Brotherhood activity in Egypt.
Last week, WND reported that Tehani al-Gebali, the vice president of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt, gave a speech and participated in an interview broadcast on Egyptian television that identified Malik Obama, the Kenyan half-brother of President Obama, as “a major architect” managing investments for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

In the speech, Gebali said she would like “open files” to expose nations like the United States that are resisting the current military-controlled government of Egypt by continuing to support “terrorist” groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood.
“The Egyptian people are astounded,” wrote Coptic Egyptian author Michael Armanious in an article titled “Egyptians Bewildered Over Support for the Muslim Brotherhood,” published by the Gatestone Institute International Policy Council. “They simply do not understand the Obama Administration’s efforts to bring the Muslim Brotherhood back to power.”

Egypt Attorney General Says Muslim Brotherhood Leaders On Secret Salary From Obama 

Excerpted from Walid Shoebat – Egypt’s Attorney General Hisham Barakat is looking into evidence that arrested Muslim Brotherhood leaders accepted bribes from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, according to a report from Almesryoon, an Egyptian newspaper that cites a “judicial source”.
The trials that are scheduled to begin in Cairo on August 25th will feature a litany of charges against the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. Included among them are murders, assassinations, prison escapes, sniping, indiscriminate killing of demonstrators, and collaborating with foreign governments, to include both the United States and Qatar.
Evidence we have obtained lends credibility to the charges of “gifts” (bribes) being taken in U.S. dollars from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo” that were distributed to top ministerial level officials in the Mursi government.
Via Almesryoon: - “A judicial source stated that over the past few days, a number of complaints have been filed with the Attorney General Hisham Barakat. These complaints accuse the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood and leaders of the centrist party of receiving gifts from the American embassy in Cairo. The sponsors of these complaints stated that among these leaders are Mohamed Badie, General Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, Khairat Al-Shater, deputy leader and businessman, Mohamed Beltagy leading the group, Essam el-Erian, deputy head of the Freedom and Justice Party of, and Abu Ela Mady, head of the Wasat Party, Essam Sultan, deputy head of the Wasat Party.”

Obama lays framework for purge of online opponents

Under the guise of curbing the "radicalization" of U.S. citizens and identifying and purging potentially violent persons from the Internet, the White House has initiated the creation of a new interagency working group to address what it calls a growing problem.
The White House issued a fact sheet delineating the broad objectives of the plan.
The interagency group will be headed by Quintan Wiktorowicz, the current White House senior director for community partnerships on the national security staff. The new group will be called The Interagency Working Group to Counter Online Radicalization and will be charged with the implementation of an Internet safety program to address online violent extremism.

‘Earpiece envy’: White House colleagues skeptical about why Valerie Jarrett has detail

Why does President Barack Obama’s senior adviser Valerie Jarrett have Secret Service protection?
It turns out that some of her colleagues inside the White House are skeptical that actual, specific threats resulted in Jarrett’s protection.
“While a high-profile White House official — especially an African-American woman, such as Jarrett — could legitimately be considered a more likely target than most, several West Wing officials I spoke to were dubious there had been any special threats against her,” writer Mark Leibovich reported in “This Town,” a new book on Washington.
Added Leibovich of Jarrett’s White House colleagues: “They suspected, rather, that Jarrett asked the president to authorize a detail out of ‘earpiece envy.’”
The Daily Caller reported in 2010 that in a largely unprecedented move, Jarrett and David Axelrod, another senior adviser who has since left the White House, were being driven to work by government drivers and that Jarrett had been made a “protectee” of the Secret Service.
Jarrett has refused to discuss why she has been assigned Secret Service when questioned by reporters.
In April 2012, The Daily Caller filed a Freedom of Information Act request for details from the Department of Homeland Security about the cost of Jarrett’s protection. That request has not yet been fulfilled.
Leibovich reported that Jarrett finds questions about the rationale for her protection “ridiculous and offensive.” The adviser declined to speak about the arrangement with him.
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Kerry's actions re-classify Benghazi a "non-event"

The Obama’s Administration cover up of Benghazi has turned a tragic event into an official non-event. Secretary of State John Kerry has reinstated the State Department employees who were demoted following the attack.

Kerry has determined that the four State Department officials placed on administrative leave by Hillary Clinton after the terrorist attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi do not deserve any formal disciplinary action.

They have been asked back to work at the State Department.

Last December, Clinton’s staff told four mid-level officials to clean out their desks and hand in their badges after the release of the report of its own internal investigation into the Benghazi attack.

CIA Files Prove America Helped Saddam as He Gassed Iran

The U.S. government may be considering military action in response to chemical strikes near Damascus. But a generation ago, America's military and intelligence communities knew about and did nothing to stop a series of nerve gas attacks far more devastating than anything Syria has seen, Foreign Policy has learned.
In 1988, during the waning days of Iraq's war with Iran, the United States learned through satellite imagery that Iran was about to gain a major strategic advantage by exploiting a hole in Iraqi defenses. U.S. intelligence officials conveyed the location of the Iranian troops to Iraq, fully aware that Hussein's military would attack with chemical weapons, including sarin, a lethal nerve agent.
The intelligence included imagery and maps about Iranian troop movements, as well as the locations of Iranian logistics facilities and details about Iranian air defenses. The Iraqis used mustard gas and sarin prior to four major offensives in early 1988 that relied on U.S. satellite imagery, maps, and other intelligence. These attacks helped to tilt the war in Iraq's favor and bring Iran to the negotiating table, and they ensured that the Reagan administration's long-standing policy of securing an Iraqi victory would succeed. But they were also the last in a series of chemical strikes stretching back several years that the Reagan administration knew about and didn't disclose.
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Chris Matthews Admits Voter Fraud Exists

Intelligence insider: Syria, World War III & the hidden objective

“Pay attention! You are seeing the opening acts to a global war, to World War III. Refer to the information I gave you right after the attacks in Benghazi, specifically to the information contained in‘Lemmings…at the precipice of WW III’ and you will see that everything I divulged to you was precisely correct.

World War III will begin in Syria, and no one on the planet (and Americans in particular) will be left untouched by what is about to take place. This has been planned for some time, and we are now seeing it happen right in front of us.” Those are the words of a trusted source with deep ties to the intelligence community, before providing more insight into what we might expect as this ‘crisis’ escalates and “Syria explodes.”

As I wrote in that article published on October 8, 2012, “All that is needed now is for a dutiful media to present one image, a video, or some other proof that Assad or someone else is using, or has their hands on, unconventional weapons. This will provide the necessary pretext for the U.S. and NATO, to intervene and ramp up the war against Assad. The UN will assist, and the red line will then have been crossed.” That will be the trigger event for U.S. involvement, and the escalation into a global conflict.

We are now at that critical moment, as the images of the use of chemical weapons are all over the news, and all fingers are pointing to Assad as the culprit. Just as predicted, The Guardian among other media outlets reported that “David Cameron and Barack Obama moved the West closer to military intervention in Syria on Saturday as they agreed that last week’s alleged chemical weapon attacks by the Assad regime had taken the crisis into a new phase that merited a ‘serious response.’” But it’s a lie, a magic show, to keep people’s attention away from something much bigger on the horizon.

Here's a map of the 23 places the U.S. will bomb if there's a Syria no-fly zone

Forget the small arms. If the White House really wants to alter the course of the Syrian civil war, it may well need to impose a no-fly zone. The good news is it probably won't be too hard to pull off, given the battered state of Assad's air defenses. The bad news is it could drag the U.S. into a wider war.
Bashar al-Assad's air force that has conducted between 115 and 141 air strikes a month from January through April of this year, largely with old Czechoslovakian-made L-39 Delfin trainer jets and helicopters such as the Soviet-designed Mi-8, Mi-17 and Mi-24.
The weapons may be old, but many analysts believe that they've made a crucial difference as pro-regime troops have seized the momentum in Syria's civil war. Some in the U.S. government are pushing for a total no-fly zone similar to the one imposed on Libya in 2011 in order to take out that air force.
(The map above shows the location of Assad's main air bases - the prime targets of any American campaign to limit Assad's power to strike from the sky.Let us know if we're missing any.)
On Friday, Anthony Cordesman of the influential Center for Strategic and International Studies said that anything less than (a pretty darn expensive) no-fly zone that totally grounds Assad's air force would be a "half-pregnant" solution similar to "supplying too few arms of too few lethality," as the U.S. and other nations have been said to be doing secretly for months without giving the rebels enough of an advantage to overthrow Assad.
A full-on no-fly zone would involve the U.S. and any other nations launching a high end assault with everything from B-2 stealth bombers to submarine and ship-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles aimed at destroying Assad's radars, missile sites and air defense control networks. It'd be similar to what was done at the start of Operation Odyssey Dawn, only bigger due to the fact that Syria has a much better air defense network than Libya did. Once these door-kickers have taken out the most dangerous elements of Syria's air defenses, other strike fighters such as U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles, F-16 Vipers -- some of which are already in neighboring Jordan --, and U.S. Navy and Marine Corps F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and F/A-18 Hornets would then be relatively free to hunt down and destroy Assad's aircraft on the ground or in the air.
As Cordesman points out, all of these jets would need to be flown off at least one aircraft carrier. The attack would also involve aircraft based in nearby Turkey, perhaps in  Jordan, as well as in other Middle East nations that host American warplanes. The strike jets would have to be supported by aerial refueling tankers, AWACS and possibly JSTARS radar planes, EA-18G Growler and EA-6B Prowler radar jamming jets, reconnaissance drones and other intelligence-gathering jets. A huge undertaking that would cost a ton and take a long time to achieve full effect. Remember, the U.S. and NATO patrolled the Libyan skies from March 2011 through October 2011, when Muammar al-Qaddafi.

Skirting the ground: How the West will attack Syria

US, British top brass prepare for possible attack in Syria, British Daily Mail outs target bank, including Assad's air force, key regime facilities

The British Daily Mail newspaper revealed on Monday the American-British target list in Syria and the forces likely to participate in a military operation – be it a short or a long one – in the torn Arab country.

The favored option among top brass is for limited Western action using ‘stand-off’ weapons from long distance to disrupt Assad’s ability to carry out chemical attacks and damage his military machine, the Daily Mail said.


Intelligence on targets would come from drones patrolling the skies above Syria and special forces on the ground.

According to the Daily Mail, military analysts believe an attack could last between 24 and 48 hours and would target key regime installations.

These would include Syria’s integrated air defense system, command and control bunkers, communications hubs, government buildings, missile sites and Assad’s air force.

The dictator’s use of air power has been a huge advantage for the regime, and eliminating or weakening it would tilt the odds toward the rebels, said the report.

Other military options are airstrikes on Syrian units believed to be responsible for chemical attacks. Reports last week claimed the chemical weapons were fired by the 155th Brigade of the 4th Armoured Division of the Syrian Army.

This division, which has a military base in a mountain range west of Damascus is under the command of the president’s brother, Maher Assad.

Analysis: US military action on Syria could put Israel in firing line 

The strength of Israel's deterrence, based on its military prowess, will help decide whether Israel becomes the target of a retribution attack from Syria and its allies Iran and Hezbollah.

Signals from the US suggesting a military response to the chemical massacre in Syria are growing louder, and Israel, it is safe to assume, is quietly making preparations to ensure it is ready for any retribution attacks.
If and when Washington, together with its allies, launches a military strike on Syria, the move will not only target the Assad regime.
A US military response will challenge the belligerent axis that stands behind Syria, made up of Iran, which is sending weapons and military advisers to Syria, and Hezbollah, which sent thousands of highly trained, heavily armed fighters to help keep the Assad regime alive.
This axis, also known as the Shi’ite crescent, operates under Russian diplomatic cover, and gets military support from Moscow in the form of extensive sales of sophisticated arms.
Iran, leader of the Shi’ite crescent, views Syria as its critical forward province.
Now, the axis’s members will be thinking about how they should respond to a US military strike.
Syrian officials have, since the outbreak of the civil war, issued threats in an effort to deter US intervention. A common theme running through many of the threats is a warning that any foreign intervention will result in a “fire that will engulf the region.”
These threats have been echoed by Iranian officials.

CHICAGO: Sparks fly at Muslim-led forum promoting Sharia 

after Americans demand that the Pledge of Allegiance be recited

What Orland Park library had promoted as an educational forum this week on Muslim life in America quickly turned into a contentious debate about Islam. The tone for this event was set while the 3 Muslim panelists were introducing themselves. In the first of many interruptions, several audience members stood up and demanded that everyone recite the Pledge of Allegiance. (GASP!)

Chicago Tribune  Orland Park Library Director Mary Weimar denied their request. She explained that it wasn’t standard practice to recite the pledge at library events and requested that the attendees show more respect for the panelists.

So began a tense and often heated 90-minute debate — punctuated with frequent yelling and finger-pointing from audience members — over the practice of Shariah law, the meaning of jihad and the intersection of Islamic and American culture.

“Despite the anger that a lot of people brought, I think it’s good to talk about these issues,” said Thomas Maguire, associate director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago. “I raised some of those issues myself because I wanted to be able to have those discussions.” As one of the three panelists, Maguire was joined by Amir Toft, a doctoral student in Near Eastern languages and civilizations at the University of Chicago, and Iman Sedique, a doctoral student in sociology at Northwestern University.

Together they repeatedly asked the audience to maintain an open mind about Islam. In return, they were peppered with questions about Muslim extremists and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.