News Roundup and Notes: September 11, 2015 by Nadia O'Mara
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Before the start of business, Just Security provides a curated summary of up-to-the-minute developments at home and abroad. Here’s today’s news.
IRAN
Senate Democrats blocked a GOP resolution rejecting the nuclear accord negotiated between Iran and the P5+1 yesterday, handing President Obama a significant foreign policy victory and guaranteeing the historic agreement takes effect without the president invoking his veto. [New York Times’ Jennifer Steinhauer] The Senate voted 58-42, short of the 60 votes needed. [Wall Street Journal’s Kristina Peterson]
Following the vote, President Obama praised the result,saying he was “heartened” by the support of so many Senators which will “enable the United States to work with our international partners to enable to implementation of the comprehensive, long-term deal.”
The GOP refused to accept the defeat, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell setting up a second procedural vote on the resolution of disapproval for the accord for Tuesday evening, minutes after Democrats filibustered the first one, reports Jordain Carney. [The Hill]
Republicans are looking to “make Democrats pay dearly” for their support of the accord, asserting that they will suffer politically, comparing the deal to Obamacare in its “scope and potential” to inflict damage, report Burgess Everett and Seung Min Kim. [Politico] The conservative American Action Network has already initiated an ad campaign on broadcast television targeting House Democrats who have expressed their support for the deal. [Politico’s Jack Sherman]
The House voted 245-186 in favor of a resolution accusing President Obama of withholding documents pertaining to side deals between the IAEA and Iran yesterday, thereby failing to uphold the terms of the congressional review law. [The Hill’s Cristina Marcos]
Following the landmark vote, President Obama will face a different battle over how stringently to impose economic sanctions on Tehran. [New York Times’ Michael R. Gordon]
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has toned down his rhetoric on the Iran issue since it became clear that Republicans would not succeed in blocking the deal, reports Jodi Rudoren. [New York Times]
IRAQ and SYRIA
Russian presence in Syria. Moscow confirmed that “humanitarian” flights to Syria carry military equipment in addition to humanitarian aid, however denied claims of a military buildup in the conflict-torn country, amid US concerns that Russia is taking on a more active role in the war. [Wall Street Journal’s Olga Razumovskaya] A Russian foreign ministry spokesperson complained of a “strange hysteria” over Moscow’s role in Syria, saying there was nothing unusual about its military-technical cooperation with Damascus. [The Guardian’s Shaun Walker and Ian Black] And Israel has added its voice to the “growing chorus” of parties worried about Russian involvement. [The Guardian’s Peter Beaumont]
Chemical weapons in Iraq and Syria. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has promised the “speedy” establishment of an accountability investigation into the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian war. [UN News Centre] Russia withdrew its objections to the probe, clearing the way for the investigation to begin, diplomats said yesterday. [AFP] And there is mounting evidence that the Islamic State is making and using crude chemical weapons in both Iraq and Syria, according to a US official speaking with the BBC.
A Royal Air Force drone attack in Syria was justified as part of a “collective self-defence of Iraq,” the British ambassador to the UN Matthew Rycroft wrote in a letter to the Security Council. [BBC] The argument is a further legal justification for the strike, in addition to that given by Prime Minister David Cameron of the individual right of self-defence of the UK, under Article 51 of the UN Charter. [The Guardian’s Owen Bowcott and Nicholas Watt]
Turkish airstrikes hit PKK targets in northern Iraq overnight, according to a security source. Hundreds of fighters have died since the Kurdish group and Turkey resumed hostilities in July. [Reuters]
A “frank discussion” between Iran and Saudi Arabia is critical to finding a diplomatic solution to the Syrian conflict, UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura told the Wall Street Journal, adding that he believes many parties realize a victory is not possible, including Bashar al-Assad, reports Laurence Norman.
Leading Congressmen from the armed services and intelligence committees are investigating reports of skewed intelligence on US progress against the Islamic State; Sen John McCain told The Daily Beast that the Senate Armed Service Committee is “looking at it,” reports Tim Mak.
The director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) acknowledged the existence of an investigation into the military’s analysis of the Islamic State, but defended the process involved in collecting and sorting information, pointing out that there are often disagreements among experts on such topics. [Wall Street Journal’s Damian Paletta] Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart also commented that Iraq and Syria may not survive as states due to ongoing conflict and sectarian tensions, during a panel appearance at an industry conference. [AP]
Former Vice President Dick Cheney said that there is something “seriously wrong” with how the intelligence community is operating if reports of “cooked” ISIS intelligence are true, reports The Daily Beast.
Director of national intelligence, James Clapper is in “frequent and “highly, highly unusual” contactwith Central Command intelligence officer, Army Brigadier General Steven Gove, the Guardian has learned. Grove is reportedly implicated in the Pentagon inquiry into potentially manipulated intelligence, mentioned above, reports Spencer Ackerman.
China said a national reportedly held hostage by ISIS matched the “characteristics” of one of its citizens who has traveled overseas. [Reuters]
President Obama has decided to raise the number of Syrian refugees accepted into the United States to 10,000 over the next year, in response to mounting international pressure. [New York Times’ Gardiner Harris et al]
“Syria will be the biggest blot on the Obama presidency.” Roger Cohen considers that while American interventionism can have “terrible consequences,” equally, American “non-interventionism” can have a “devastating” impact. [New York Times]
YEMEN
Parties to the ongoing conflict in Yemen have agreed to hold direct talks mediated by the UN envoy to that country next week, the UN announced yesterday. [New York Times’ Somini Sengupta]
Special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed applauded the parties’ decision in a statement yesterday, urging the participants to engage constructively and in good faith. [UN News Centre]
Is AQAP gaining the most from the conflict in Yemen? asks Yaroslav Trofimov, explaining that the answer “depends on who you ask.” [Wall Street Journal]
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
Today marks the 14th anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001. A live stream of the memorial can be found here. President Obama will spend the day at Fort Meade for an “unprecedented, live, worldwide televised troop talk.” [DoD News]
The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favor of permitting Palestine to fly its flag in front of the international body’s headquarters in New York, a symbolic achievement, opposed by the US and Israel. [New York Times’ Somini Sengupta]
An apparent Western hostage was identified by the CIA in Pakistan, but that person was not kept under drone surveillance. US officials now suspect that it was American aid worker Warren Weinstein who was killed in an agency drone strike targeting al-Qaeda this year. [Washington Post’s Greg Jaffe]
The US is deploying 75 additional military personnel, along with vehicles and equipment, to Egypt’s restive Sinai Peninsula to heighten the security of international peacekeepers, the Pentagon announced yesterday. [Reuters]
Encryption debate. FBI Director James B. Comey asserted that major Internet companies maintain a key to unlock encrypted communications “so they can read our emails and send us ads.” His comments target a frequent argument of technologists and privacy experts that holding such a key poses a security threat. [Washington Post’s Ellen Nakashima]
The UN Security Council extended the mandate of the Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) until 15 March 2016, while urging all parties to “engage constructively” with efforts to finalize political agreement. [UN News Centre] And Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin will testify before the House Benghazi committee at some point before the former secretary of state appears for public testimony on October 22. [The Hill’s Julian Hattem]
The ICC has issued an arrest warrant for two Kenyans suspected of bribing witnesses for the prosecution; the two men were reportedly taken into Kenyan police custody in July. [AP]
Eight suspects in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre have had charges brought against them by Serbia’s war crimes prosecutors. [AP]
A Dutch national held captive has been released after she was kidnapped in Kabul, Afghanistan three months ago. It is not known where she was held or by whom. [Reuters]
A Marine was killed and others injured during an accident which occurred during routine training at Camp Pendleton, California. [San Diego Union-Tribune’s Susan Shroder]
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Anti-terror police, pictured, guarded Benjamin Netanyahu as he visited Downing Street to discuss working together to defeat terror threats in the Middle East in London today.
The warring parties agreed to abide by a resolution calling on Houthi rebels to pull out of major cities, but the U.N. did not mention any halt in fighting.
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HAVANA (Reuters) - The European Union and Cuba entered the most difficult phase of their bilateral talks on Thursday when they started to discuss a new political agreement to replace a unilateral policy imposed by the Europeans 19 years ago.
Francisco Morales Bermúdez is suspected of having 13 opponents flown to Argentina on a military plane. They were later deported to Mexico and Europe.
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A stunning new book in Germany details how a 'Breaking-Bad' Adolf Hitler was zonked out of his head on heroin-type drug while his Blitzkrieg troops fought the war on a narcotic called Pervitin that was the forerunner of crystal meth.
Russia has abandoned a move by its United Nations ambassador to expand a probe of chemical weapons use by groups fighting in Syria to include Iraq.
The United Nations voted overwhelmingly September 10 for a new global framework for sovereign debt restructuring aimed at avoiding cases like Argentina's grinding legal battle with "vulture" creditors.
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Marine Killed, 18 Injured in Rollover at California Base
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and Israel are weeks away from reaching a draft agreement on a co-production of Israel's air defense system called David's Sling that the two countries jointly developed, the top U.S. missile defense officer told lawmakers on Thursday.
Automated iPhone voice assistant tries to answer question about President Obama's problems selling Iran nuclear deal to congress
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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Yonhap news agency says that a Seoul court has given a 12-year prison term to a South Korean man who slashed and seriously injured the U.S. ambassador during a March forum....
US businessman Alexander Fishenko, 49, from Texas (pictured), led a conspiracy to obtain microelectronics and export the goods to Russia, prosecutors said.
The Egyptian doctor (left), who replaced Osama Bin Laden, accused the militants of sedition and insisted their most senior figure does not deserve to be 'calpih' - or ruler.
Security Council unanimously adopted resolution in August approving a joint investigation with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
Russia has lifted its objections to a UN investigation into chemical attacks in Syria, clearing the way for the probe to begin, diplomats said Thursday.
The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on 7 August approving a joint investigation by the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
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Turkey's crackdown against Kurdish militants raises tension
CNN International (CNN) As the military crackdown on Kurdish militants in a southern Turkish town continues, a Kurdish group called Thursday for total resistance against Turkish forces. Cizre, a town very close to the Syrian border and not much farther way from Iraq ... and more » |
Ilya Yashin: the Kremlin opponent seeking a foothold in a small town by Alec Luhn in Kostroma and Shaun Walker in Moscow
The Democratic Coalition party has been permitted to campaign for Russia’s regional elections in sleepy Kostroma - but even here, hecklers have found them
Ilya Yashin is a foreign spy seeking to return Crimea to Ukraine and “submit Russia to the monopoly of the United States”. That, at least, was the message of flyers handed out to potential voters as opposition politician Yashin attempted to make a campaign speech in the sleepy city of Kostroma, 250 miles north-east of Moscow.
Sabotage from activists claiming to be from a party called Patriots of Russia is just one of the obstacles facing Yashin, 32, as he attempts to win a tiny foothold for the liberal opposition in regional elections on Sunday.
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At ground zero, 9/11 anniversary now both public and privateby By JENNIFER PELTZ and JONATHAN LEMIRE
NEW YORK (AP) -- After years as a private commemoration, the anniversary of Sept. 11 at ground zero now also has become an occasion for public reflection on the site of the terror attacks....
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US Marks 14th Anniversary of September 11 Attacksby webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
The United States marks the 14th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on Friday.Observances are planned across the country in remembrance of the day when four airplanes carried out suicide attacks on the U.S. Two of the planes were flown into the World Trade Center in New York, another hit the Pentagon and a fourth crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, before reaching its likely target of Washington. Nearly 3,000 people were killed, including 19 of the...
WASHINGTON/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In early June, in cities across America, U.S. immigration agents arrested more than two dozen Chinese nationals with unfulfilled deportation orders, telling them that after years of delay, China was finally taking steps to provide the paperwork needed to expel them from the U.S.
Whoever wins the leadership contest must rethink the assumption that the left has all the answers
For more than a century of its history, an unanswered question has faced the Labour party. That same question will still apply tomorrow, no matter who is elected party leader. It will apply next week, next month, next year, and the year after, and it will continue to apply unless and until Labour can finally answer it better than it has managed to do in the past. The question is this: why is the British left so unsuccessful?
Much breath and ink has been expended on trying to find an answer, not least in the four months of the contest to succeed Ed Miliband. All too often, however, the answers have been far too limited in imagination. That’s because, whether they come from the Labour left, the Labour right or the Labour somewhere in between, they all share the assumption that only the Labour party can provide the true solution to the left’s problem. And that simply isn’t true.
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Russian forces have joined military operations supporting government troops in Syria, Reuters reports, citing three unnamed Lebanese sources.
The claim comes after the Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed the presence of military experts in Syria, but said they were there to oversee arms deliveries in the fight against terrorism.
NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg called Russia’s presence a cause for concern. Washington echoed his worry.
“We would welcome constructive Russian contributions to the counter-[ISIS] effort, but we’ve been clear that it would be unconscionable for any party, including the Russians, to provide any support to the Assad regime,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz said, referring to the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria, according to Reuters.
The scale of Russia’s military presence is not yet confirmed. But one of the Lebanese sources told Reuters the number of Russian troops is still small. The news agency also cited U.S. officials who said that Russia had sent two tank landing ships and a small number of marines to Syria.
To block increased military buildup in Syria, the U.S. has asked Bulgaria and Greece to close theirairspaces to Russia transport planes. Russia called this request “international boorishness.”
Rising tension between the two nations comes before Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to visit the U.S. for the U.N. General Assembly later this month.
[Reuters]
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U.S. Intelligence Chiefs Say Iraq, Syria May Not Survive As States by support@pangea-cms.com (RFE/RL)
U.S. intelligence chiefs have repeated their assessment that Iraq and Syria may have been permanently fractured by war and sectarian strife and may not survive as nation-states.
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) targets in northern Iraq overnight, a security source told Reuters on Friday, the latest in a series of daily air strikes on the militants as conflict surges in southeast Turkey.
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Russian Bolotnaya Opposition Figure Attacked, Beatenby support@pangea-cms.com (RFE/RL's Russian Service)
Nikolai Kavkazsky, a key defendant in the series of trials against Russians who participated in a May 2012 demonstration at Moscow's Bolotnaya Square, has been attacked and beaten by two unknown assailants.
As the agreement is carried out, President Obama will face a new battle over how stringently to impose economic sanctions on Iran.
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Refugee families are forced to scramble for their food at Hungary’s main refugee camp on the border with Serbia. The footage, shot secretly by an Austrian volunteer who visited the Roszke camp on Wednesday and posted to YouTube, shows some 150 people scrambling for bags of sandwiches thrown at them by Hungarian police wearing helmets and hygiene masks in a fenced-in enclosure inside a big hall
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President Erdogan’s pursuit of autocratic power has succeeded only in putting the generals back in the driver’s seat.
Evidence Suggests Key Russian Brigade In Crimea Seizure Deploying To Syria by support@pangea-cms.com (Mike Eckel)
Evidence is mounting that Russia is deploying some of its most capable combat forces to Syria, including a brigade involved in the stealth operation to seize Ukraine’s Crimea territory last year.
The astonishing allegations came from two invited visitors to ISIS territory who told MailOnline that they witnessed Mohammed Emwazi and other paranoid jihadis panicking as drones hovered over Iraq.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday coordination was needed between Russia's military and the Pentagon to avoid "unintended incidents" around Syria, where both countries have a military presence.
Russia calls on other nations to help arm Syrian government to fight Islamic State group
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The Daily Vertical is a video primer for Russia-watchers that appears Monday through Friday. Viewers can suggest topics via Twitter @PowerVertical or on the Power Vertical Facebook page.
Video, shot secretly by an Austrian volunteer at the flashpoint Roszke camp on Wednesday, shows 150 refugees scrambling for sandwiches being thrown at them by police wearing riot gear.
One US marine has died and 18 others have been injured after their vehicle rolled over during a training exercise in California.
Former Italian Prime Minister Sylvio Berlusconi has arrived in the Ukrainian Black Sea region of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in March 2014, for a "private visit."
Italy's ex-PM comes to Russia-occupied Crimea to meet with old friend President Vladimir Putin
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Aristedes Mahairas named special agent in charge of Special Operations/Cyber ...
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At least 26 Yemeni people have been killed and scores of others sustained injuries in Saudi Arabia's latest airstrikes, as Riyadh's unabated aggression against the impoverished and war-torn country continues.
Iraqi security forces have liberated southern areas of the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi in the western Anbar province from the Daesh Takfiri terrorists, officials say.
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Russia is developing a heavy drone that could be used both as reconnaissance and combat aircraft, one of its designers said in an interview Wednesday.
In Turkey, pressure is building on the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party, the HDP. Authorities are asking for the immunity of party leader Selahattin Demirtas to be lifted as he faces charges ranging from aiding terrorism to insulting the president.
There has been plenty of analysis about the war in Yemen. One minute the pro-Iranian Houthi rebels have the upper hand, the next it is the Saudi Arabian-led coalition. Perhaps the ousted president will return, or maybe al-Qaeda will fill the vacuum. Amid the endless opinion and speculation, one thing is certain: the only real winners so far are the mosquitoes.
Top U.S. intelligence and security officials say Russia's ramped up presence in Syria should come as little surprise though they remain concerned about Moscow's increasingly aggressive posture.
Iraq has condemned Turkey for dispatching special forces into its soil in reported pursuit of Kurdish militants, calling it a 'clear violation' of its territory.
NATO has expressed concern after a news report that Russia is building a large military base near its border with Ukraine.
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Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri dismissed the Islamic State as illegitimate, but suggested Muslims should join the militant group in fighting Western forces in Iraq and Syria.
Members of the Takfiri Daesh militant group have reportedly executed nearly two dozen of their own terrorists in Iraq's conflict-stricken western province of Anbar over 'espionage.'
Israel attacked a position of the Syrian Army that helped repel militants' offensive, according to a military source. After that, the militants launched another attack.
Britain's Ministry of Defense (MoD) will acquire three solar-powered drones that can fly on the edge of space for up to three months, the drone's manufacturer said on Wednesday.
The Kremlin said Thursday that Russian military advisers are in Syria to help that country's armed forces maintain equipment sent from Russia, but are not involved in combat.
Russia carries out weapons deliveries to Syria under legal contracts that do not violate the international law, Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.
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US Navy and Raytheon have developed and tested a new electronic attack system called CERBERUS.
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Former CIA and DIA Operatives Warn of Another 9/11 Attack
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The United States Department of Defense is still probing claims that some of its officials doctored intelligence reports to give a falsely optimistic account of the campaign against the Islamic State. According to a new report, more than 50 intelligence analysts have now come forward to complain.
Fourteen Years by Steve Vladeck
Each of the last thirteen September 11ths, I’ve pulled out my copy of W.H. Auden’s poem, September 1, 1939. As I said last year, the lines of this work have always seemed a stunningly appropriate (if horribly insufficient) reflection not just on the poem’s subject, but on the events of 14 years ago today, when “[t]he unmentionable odour of death Offend[ed] the September night.” Although I’ve now spent less than half of my life there, I have always considered myself to be a New Yorker. I grew up in Greenwich Village. I went to elementary school in the literal shadow of the North Tower. One of my college friends worked on the 99th floor of the South Tower. Indeed, no matter where life takes me, I suspect I will always think of myself as a New Yorker. Each September 11, though, I feel like we’re all New Yorkers.
Tomorrow, then, we can and will go back to debating the merits (or lack thereof) of the myriad legal and policy issues with which we continue to struggle in our “post-September 11″ world. But especially in light of current events, it seems appropriate today to put aside for the moment the complexities of the stormy present, and spend a moment with Auden’s words (which, the story goes, he himself came to loathe), as reprinted below the fold:
I sit in one of the dives On Fifty-second Street Uncertain and afraid As the clever hopes expire Of a low dishonest decade: Waves of anger and fear Circulate over the bright And darkened lands of the earth, Obsessing our private lives; The unmentionable odour of death Offends the September night.
Accurate scholarship can Unearth the whole offence From Luther until now That has driven a culture mad, Find what occurred at Linz, What huge imago made A psychopathic god: I and the public know What all schoolchildren learn, Those to whom evil is done Do evil in return.
Exiled Thucydides knew All that a speech can say About Democracy, And what dictators do, The elderly rubbish they talk To an apathetic grave; Analysed all in his book, The enlightenment driven away, The habit-forming pain, Mismanagement and grief: We must suffer them all again.
Into this neutral air Where blind skyscrapers use Their full height to proclaim The strength of Collective Man, Each language pours its vain Competitive excuse: But who can live for long In an euphoric dream; Out of the mirror they stare, Imperialism’s face And the international wrong.
Faces along the bar Cling to their average day: The lights must never go out, The music must always play, All the conventions conspire To make this fort assume The furniture of home; Lest we should see where we are, Lost in a haunted wood, Children afraid of the night Who have never been happy or good.
The windiest militant trash Important Persons shout Is not so crude as our wish: What mad Nijinsky wrote About Diaghilev Is true of the normal heart; For the error bred in the bone Of each woman and each man Craves what it cannot have, Not universal love But to be loved alone.
From the conservative dark Into the ethical life The dense commuters come, Repeating their morning vow; “I will be true to the wife, I’ll concentrate more on my work,” And helpless governors wake To resume their compulsory game: Who can release them now, Who can reach the deaf, Who can speak for the dumb?
All I have is a voice To undo the folded lie, The romantic lie in the brain Of the sensual man-in-the-street And the lie of Authority Whose buildings grope the sky: There is no such thing as the State And no one exists alone; Hunger allows no choice To the citizen or the police; We must love one another or die.
Defenceless under the night Our world in stupor lies; Yet, dotted everywhere, Ironic points of light Flash out wherever the Just Exchange their messages: May I, composed like them Of Eros and of dust, Beleaguered by the same Negation and despair, Show an affirming flame.
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Reuters |
Exclusive - US to China: Take back your undocumented immigrants
Reuters But, not for the first time, China failed to provide the necessary documents, and three months later not one of those arrested has been deported, and many have been released from custody. They form part of a ... The issue, which is likely to come up ... and more » |
September 11, 2015, 8:45 AM (IDT)
Iran this week sent its first ground troops to Syria, around 1,000 marines and elite Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) troops. They moved into the small military air facility of Ghorin south of Latakia, and hooked up with the just-landed Russian marines who were settling in at nearby Jablah. Three weeks ago, DEBKA file reported Russian-Iranian military intervention afoot for saving Bashar Assad, followed on September 1 by the first disclosure of the Russian buildup in Syria. We now report that Russia is sending S-300 air defense missiles for deployment at the Russian and Iranian bases.
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Defense Secretary Ash Carter wants “unvarnished” intelligence on the military campaign in Iraq following reports of an ongoing Pentagon inspector general probe into allegations that intelligence on Iraq was politicized to support Obama administration views.
Congressional oversight committees also are investigating reports of biased intelligence that sought to portray the administration’s military campaign against the Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS or ISIL) as more successful than intelligence assessments showed.
The probes followed a report that two intelligence analysts at the U.S. Central Command in July formally called for the IG probe, claiming reports on the Islamic State and al Qaeda in Syria were altered improperly by unidentified senior officials.
Peter Cook, Pentagon press secretary, told reporters Thursday that he would not comment on the allegations, reported last month in the New York Times and this week in the Daily Beast, until after the inspector general finishes the investigation.
The defense secretary receives intelligence from a variety of different sources, and analysts disagree, he said.
“That’s a good thing,” Cook said. “We want that tension as part of this process.”
Carter recently directed Marcel Lettre, acting defense undersecretary for intelligence, to “consult with his leadership, with the combatant commands, to reinforce that message,” he added.
“Unvarnished, transparent intelligence is what this secretary expects on a daily basis,” Cook said.
The alleged politicization of intelligence on the Iraq military campaign followed major intelligence failures on Iraq in the early 2000s. Intelligence analysts falsely reported that Iraq under Saddam Hussein had stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. The intelligence reports of WMD, many of which were later found to have been based on false information supplied by an Iraqi defector, were a key driver in the George W. Bush administration’s decision to launch a military invasion. The invasion failed to uncover large stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction.
After that intelligence failure, a number of measures were created to avoid intelligence politicization. In 2006, the office of the director of national intelligence designated an ombudsman for analysis to check whether intelligence reports were being politicized. A DNI spokesman had no immediate comment on whether the ombudsman is investigating the Centcom analysts’ charges.
The intelligence dispute is raising new questions about the president’s yearlong military campaign against IS terrorists, which administration officials, including the president, have said is so far successful.
The Islamic State continues to hold a large swath of territory in both Iraq and Syria and made significant gains over the past year, including control over key cities in Iraq.
Rep. Mac Thornberry (R., Texas), the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said his committee is investigating.
“No doubt that these allegations are troubling and the committee is looking into them,” Thornberry said. “Accurate intelligence and unbiased analysis can often be a life or death matter and must remain free from political pressure.”
Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.), who heads the Senate Armed Services Committee, said his panel is also reviewing the allegations, which he said “make sense” based on recent claims by administration officials and military leaders concerning operations in Iraq.
For example, military officials said weeks ago that Iraqi forces, backed by coalition air power, were close to retaking the Iraqi city of Ramadi. However, the city today remains under IS control.
“So they either got bad intelligence or they are cooking the intelligence,” McCain said on the Fox News Channel. “This is obviously a matter for hearings in the Armed Services Committee.”
Rebecca Watkins, a spokeswoman for Richard Burr (R., N.C.), chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said the committee is aware of the allegations. She would not say whether the panel is investigating the charges of politicization. The panel “conducts regular, vigilant oversight of the activities of the intelligence community,” she said.
The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence also is reviewing the matter.
“The politicization of intelligence products would be a major issue, and these allegations need to be thoroughly investigated,” said Rep. Devin Nunes (R., Calif.), chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. “The Intelligence Committee will take all appropriate action to ensure our nation’s policymakers receive unbiased analysis from the intelligence community.”
Central Command spokesman Col. Patrick Ryder declined to comment on the specific IG probe but said in a statement the IG is responsible for investigating all allegations and “we welcome and support their independent oversight.”
“The Intelligence Community routinely provides a wide range of subjective assessments related to the current security environment,” Ryder said. “These products and the analysis that they present are absolutely vital to our efforts, particularly given the incredibly complex nature of the multi-front fights that are ongoing now in Iraq and Syria.”
Ryder said senior civilian and military leaders review and consider the assessments while planning and making decisions, along with information from ground commanders and other key advisers, intelligence assets, and prior experience.
“The multi-source nature of the assessment process purposely guards against any single report or opinion unduly influencing leaders and decision-makers,” he said.
The intelligence politicization also follows the disclosure last month that military airstrikes have not targeted IS training camps, including 60 facilities that are turning out some 1,000 fighters a month.
Pentagon officials told the Washington Free Beacon that the failure to target the camps has raised questions about whether the administration is pursuing a campaign to degrade and destroy IS.
Ryder, the Central Command spokesman, said at the time that 19 airstrikes were carried out against IS training camps out of more than 6,419 airstrikes over the past year.
Thornberry confirmed that the anti-IS strategy, as well as military operations in Afghanistan, are being limited by Obama policymakers.
“It’s true in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan,” Thornberry said in an interview. “The constraints that [Obama] has put our military leaders under as far as when they can take action are very restrictive. It raises questions about whether the United States is serious about degrading ISIS.”
The post Carter Calls for ‘Unvarnished’ Intelligence Amid Iraq Politicization Probe appeared first onWashington Free Beacon.
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