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News You May Have Missed
Author: BobR    Date: 09/18/2009 12:47:50

The current news cycle has gone something like this: health care bill, racism, health care bill, racism, health care bill, sports, weather, racism, health care bill, racism, health care bill, racism.... It's a big world out there; surely there are other newsworthy things going on. So - as an occasional ongoing service to our readers, here are some of the news items you may have missed.

Commando raid in Somalia is latest in covert operations across the globe:
Yesterday's daring raid in southern Somalia that targeted and killed a senior al Qaeda leader wanted for several deadly attacks is the latest in a series of covert operations carried out by US and allied special operations. At least four other high-profile raids by ground forces took place in Pakistan, Madagascar, and Syria over the past several years, while others have gone unreported, according to US officials.
[...]
Other such direct action missions have taken place but have avoided the scrutiny of the media, US intelligence officials told The Long War Journal.

This could be considered a good thing. Rather than costly (both in dollars and lives) invasions and occupations, the nasties are taken out "surgically". Of course, if they screw it up and kill innocents in another country, that's a diplomatic nightmare at best.

US Spec Ops operates psywar websites...:
The secretive US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) has awarded arms globocorp General Dynamics a $10m contract to set up a network of psychological-warfare "influence websites" supporting the Global War On Terror. France and Britain are specifically included as "targeted regions".

SOCOM is principally famous for its large contingents of elite, secret operatives from all four US armed services (Navy SEALs, Green Berets, Delta Force, Team-6/DevGru, "the Activity" etc etc). What's less well-known about the organisation is that it also includes the US forces' active psychological-warfare apparatus. According (pdf) to the 4th Airborne Psychological Operations Group - the only full-time psywar unit in the US Army, and part of SOCOM.

Nice. Yet another reason to verify everything you read on the internet through other sources.

IAEA Conceals Evidence Iran Nuke Docs Were Forged:
The International Atomic Energy Agency says its present objective regarding Iran is to try to determine whether the intelligence documents purportedly showing a covert Iranian nuclear weapons programme from 2001 to 2003 are authentic or not. The problem, according to its reports, is that Iran refuses to help clarify the issue.

But the IAEA has refused to acknowledge publicly significant evidence brought to its attention by Iran that the documents were fabricated, and has made little, if any, effort to test the authenticity of the intelligence documents or to question officials of the governments holding them, IPS has learned.
[...]
In fact, however, Iran has submitted serious evidence that the documents are fraudulent. Iran's permanent representative to the United Nations in Vienna, Ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh, told us in an interview he had pointed out to a team of IAEA officials in a meeting on the documents in Tehran in spring 2008 that none of the supposedly top secret military documents had any security markings of any kind, and that purported letters from defence ministry officials lacked Iranian government seals.


Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran, Senator McCain? Really?

And now back to your regularly scheduled program...

 

44 comments (Latest Comment: 09/18/2009 23:00:05 by velveeta jones)
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