Not every frightful terror story is really so frightful

Since 9/11, far too few journalists have questioned the avalanche of spin emerging from the White House and other official sources when it comes to so-called terror threats. This short story in the Guardian is necessary to challenge the narrative: While serious questions remain about the origins and source of the Yemeni “bomb plot”, a…

Killing all Muslims key idea of US military lesson

Seriously (via Wired): The U.S. military taught its future leaders that a “total war” against the world’s 1.4 billion Muslims would be necessary to protect America from Islamic terrorists, according to documents obtained by Danger Room. Among the options considered for that conflict: using the lessons of “Hiroshima” to wipe out whole cities at once,…

How to treat corporations complicit in human rights abuses

The number of lawsuits filed by multinationals against governments is growing globally. It truly shows who controls this world. It’s time for a serious fight-back. Evidence for the prosecution (via the Guardian): Lloyds Banking Group… has become embroiled in a row over its investment in a company accused of involvement in the… rendition… of terror suspects on behalf…

The militarisation of aid in “war on terror”

This is a growing issue since 9/11, where the US military and others are perfectly happy to corrupt the NGO process by delivering so-called aid and development themselves, therefore trying to convince people under occupation that the military will “save” them. The vitally important separation between the military and aid has largely disappeared. This story…

Our failed war against Yemen

Yet another country where US policy has empowered resistance forces against a corrupt and brutal central government. Jeremy Scahill and Richard Rowley report for Al-Jazeera:

Nobody said US war-making was smart; paying insurgents off who then attack us

No commentary required (and similar things are clearly happening in Afghanistan, I heard it discussed routinely during my recent visit there). Eli Lake reports for The Daily Beast: During the war in Iraq, battalion commanders were allocated packets of $100 bills and authorized to use them for anything from repairing a schoolhouse to paying off…

Scahill on Obama’s war on Muslim civilians

The relentless US-led drone war against “terrorists” in Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan, Afghanistan and beyond rarely examines who is actually being killed. President Obama has massively expanded the global program. This weekend saw a Drone Summit held… in Washington DC that highlighted this still largely secret war. A keynote speaker was the leading investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill…

Shadow of Bin Laden continues to haunt

The life and times of Osama Bin Laden post 9/11 remains shrouded in mystery. During my recent visit to Pakistan, I spent time with Shaukat Qadir, a retired Pakistani Army Brigadier, who personally investigated the story behind Bin Laden’s killing last year. This lead story in the Guardian by Jason Bourke adds more details to…

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