Friends, we Americans know that the Bush group of American policymakers either “got it wrong” or worse yet lied to us and the world about claims that led us into Iraq–a huge debacle of a war resulting in up to half a million deaths and refugees. Before that it was Afghanistan, America’s longest ever war and still raging. Prior to that it was Vietnam, also with millions of deaths and 50,000 American boys who perished needlessly in that hell hole. And others in-between. And now with South Korea and Iran being threatened with war.

Why do we continue, even now, to believe “short term” American policy makers when they give us a storyline about other wars they intend to start. Stop reading and visit this link. It shows General Wesley Clark confirming in 2003 that the Pentagon had made plans to invade 7 countries in 5 years––Iran being one of them, Syria another. Why in the world do we believe these short-term policy makers. Some of whom haven’t even been voted into office … many are appointees who are driving policy. They come and go …. and leave a trail of bad judgements and devastation in their wake. Not to mention presidents that are in office for four to eight years and leave the rest of us to deal with the consequences of their initiated debacles.

We are good solid American citizens, we are building good local communities, we are raising good children, we are Rotarians and Kiwanians, we tell the truth to our friends and fellow citizens. Why do we instinctively believe those whose names and recommendations we read in our newspapers ? 

Where can we get the facts? Not in our mainstream media which apparently has been co-opted by policy makers for decades. Fortunately we have Internet these days. There are investigative journalists who have been given awards by Harvard and other institutions. We need to use them daily. Google Consortium News which has received numerous awards including the Harvard Neiman I.F. Stone award for the top investigative journalism. Request to be put on their email list.

Below Mark Fitzpatrick bases his article on Iraq and Iran, but the same can be said for any of several countries where the long arm of US military is presently involved to one degree or another.

Sharon

IISS Voices
August 1, 2017

Don’t repeat the Iraq War false WMD claims with Iran

Washington’s confrontational approach could wreck the Iran nuclear deal and trigger war in the Middle East, Mark Fitzpatrick says. He calls for cooperation to replace unfounded assumptions, false claims and ideologically-driven judgements.

By Mark Fitzpatrick, Executive Director, IISS-Americas

Where were you when the US invaded Iraq 15 years ago?  I was an acting Deputy Assistant Secretary at the State Department, with an inside view on the decision-making process. My colleagues in the department’s Intelligence and Research (INR) Bureau disputed supposed evidence about a reconstituted Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programme that served as the justification for the invasion.  I was not forceful in siding with them, thinking the president and his senior advisors must have had some special compartmented information that guided their judgement.

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Dear CCI Friends,

The information below is mind blowing. It appears proof that the “hacks” for which the Democrats have demonized Russia and Putin––they knew all along were bogus. The retired U.S. Veteran Intelligence officers have cracked this case. This should radically alter the world opinion regarding Russia and Washington.

Sharon

BTW, we took three of the Veteran Intelligence Officers, Ray McGovern, Elizabeth Murray and Ann Wright to Russia in June 2016.

Consortium News
July 24, 2017

Intel Vets Challenge ‘Russia Hack’ Evidence

In a memo to President Trump, a group of former U.S. intelligence officers, including NSA specialists, cite new forensic studies to challenge the claim of the key Jan. 6 “assessment” that Russia “hacked” Democratic emails last year.

MEMORANDUM FOR: The President

FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS)

SUBJECT: Was the “Russian Hack” an Inside Job?

Executive Summary

Forensic studies of “Russian hacking” into Democratic National Committee computers last year reveal that on July 5, 2016, data was leaked (not hacked) by a person with physical access to DNC computers, and then doctored to incriminate Russia.

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Dear friends,

The impossible has happened. A leading mainstream media magazine, Newsweek, printed the article below which is full of truth uncommonly seen in American media in recent years.

Is hope on the horizon? Has fake news gone so far that someone in the middle of the disinformation world is taking a chance on getting relieved of his job … or hoping that others will follow suit?

Sharon

Newsweek
April 19, 2017

Why Rumors Of Russian Interference In The West Are Greatly Exaggerated

Sumantra Maitra

Russian hackers might have interfered in the Brexit vote, according to a committee of British MPs, in a somewhat bizarre but predictable claim. According to this new hypothesis, the U.K.’s “Register to Vote” website, which was temporarily down on June 7, 2016, the final day of registration before the Brexit vote, “might have” suffered a DDOS attack. While declining to categorically assert clear evidence of a foreign (Russian) hack, Bernard Jenkin, Chair of the House of Commons’ Public Accounts Select Committee, alluded to dark forces and botnets.

This is not new. In December, a Labour Party MP, Ben Bradshaw, stated that it is “highly probable” that Vladimir Putin interfered in the Brexit referendum. In the same speech, he also, rather bafflingly claimed Russia encouraged a huge flow of migrants from Syria to destabilize the EU.

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Friends, I take a non-partisan position on all issues at this point, but it appears that the “strike” on Syria is coming apart at the seams. Fortunately there were very few deaths and almost no structural damage occurred––the major loss was billions of tax dollars wasted in a spectacular aerial show, that made proponents of such madness feel that “America is Back.” It begs the question, who is pulling the strings behind both Democrats and Republicans that they would stand shoulder-to-shoulder to laud this warring insanity? I stand with Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard when she reminds that this is a totally illegal and unconstitutional act that both houses support–-that regime change MUST be stopped. I wonder how many of you out there stand with Congresswoman and Iraqi war veteran Tulsi Gabbard? Google her Youtubes, she is refreshingly honest and straight to the point.

Sharon

Countercurrents.org
April 13, 2017

MIT Rocket Scientist Questions White House Claims On Syria Chemical Attack

One of the world’s leading rocket scientists, national security advisor and MIT Professor Theodore Postol, who has won awards for debunking claims about missile defense systems and has been a scientific adviser to the US Chief of Naval Operations, says today in a nine-page report that a four-page report released by the Trump administration yesterday intended to blame the recent chemical attack in Syria on the Syrian government “does not provide any evidence whatsoever that the US government has concrete knowledge that the government of Syria was the source of the chemical attack”.

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Dear Friends,

I’ve corresponded little while organizing by far the most complex trip to Russia of CCI’s 34-year history. We depart May 10 for ten regions in Russia on an assessment mission to uncover what’s fact and what’s fiction about Russia today.

While in the land of fairybook palaces and ballets, we have no cultural events on our schedule. Our time is organized to hear how Russian experts and business and professional Russians interpret events surrounding Russia’s role in the world today––what they think their government is up to and what they believe needs to happen to avoid nuclear annihilation. We hope to have time to post to this site daily while traveling. Eric Thierman, videographer, will capture presentations, discussions, debates and the words of Russians who are counterpart professionals to you readers of this site.

However in the interim, since information is coming out that isn’t in mainstream media, I’ll take time to share a bit of it with you. I’m particularly interested in the Veteran Intelligency Professionals, those who each served America for decades in the CIA, NSA and a splay of America’s top Intelligence operations. While our mainstream media, both Democrats and Republicans, are joining each other to support another war (perhaps WWIII), these American experts with long years of intelligence service are nowhere to be heard. Robert Parry, Harvard’s recipient of the Neiman Award for being the epitome of Investigative Journalism, brings us a very strong statement from 24 veteran American Intelligence officers.

We need to take these officers 15-points into consideration when taking in whatever shows up on our TV screens and print media.

Please slow down and study the information below,
Sharon

Consortiumnews.com
April 11, 2017