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A CIA Commander For Libyan Rebels    :      Information Clearing House: ICH March 28, 2011 "WSWS" -- The Libyan National Council, the Benghazi-based group that speaks for the rebel forces fighting the Gaddafi regime, has appointed a long-time CIA collaborator to head its military operations. The selection of Khalifa Hifter, a former colonel in the Libyan army, was reported by McClatchy Newspapers Thursday and the new military chief was interviewed by a correspondent for ABC News on Sunday night. Hifter’s arrival in Benghazi was first reported by Al Jazeera on March 14, followed by a flattering portrait in the virulently pro-war British tabloid the Daily Mail on March 19. The Daily Mail described Hifter as one of the “two military stars of the revolution” who “had recently returned from exile in America to lend the rebel ground forces some tactical coherence.” The newspaper did not refer to his CIA connections.

81 Reasons Why Gaza Has The Right To Self-defense    :      Information Clearing House: ICH Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, the Libyan rebel leader, has said jihadists who fought against allied troops in Iraq are on the front lines of the battle against Muammar Gaddafi's regime. By Praveen Swami, Nick Squires and Duncan Gardham March 26, 2011 "The Telegraph" - - In an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, Mr al-Hasidi admitted that he had recruited "around 25" men from the Derna area in eastern Libya to fight against coalition troops in Iraq. Some of them, he said, are "today are on the front lines in Adjabiya". Mr al-Hasidi insisted his fighters "are patriots and good Muslims, not terrorists," but added that the "members of al-Qaeda are also good Muslims and are fighting against the invader". His revelations came even as Idriss Deby Itno, Chad's president, said al-Qaeda had managed to pillage military arsenals in the Liby...

Libyan Rebel Commander Admits his Fighters Have Al-Qaeda Links   :      Information Clearing House: ICH Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, the Libyan rebel leader, has said jihadists who fought against allied troops in Iraq are on the front lines of the battle against Muammar Gaddafi's regime. By Praveen Swami, Nick Squires and Duncan Gardham March 26, 2011 "The Telegraph" - - In an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, Mr al-Hasidi admitted that he had recruited "around 25" men from the Derna area in eastern Libya to fight against coalition troops in Iraq. Some of them, he said, are "today are on the front lines in Adjabiya". Mr al-Hasidi insisted his fighters "are patriots and good Muslims, not terrorists," but added that the "members of al-Qaeda are also good Muslims and are fighting against the invader". His revelations came even as Idriss Deby Itno, Chad's president, said al-Qaeda had managed to pillage military arsenals...

ei: Settlers attack Palestinians on "day of rage" On Thursday, true to their word, major traffic intersections near Nablus were blocked by settlers burning tires as cars and pedestrians were attacked with stones and Molotov cocktails. A group of settlers firebombed a house in the nearby village of Huwwara, forcing the evacuation of two Palestinian children to hospital for treatment for smoke inhalation.

Libya, Obama, and the Five-Second Rule    :      Information Clearing House: ICH The first is a secret cable to the State Department from the US embassy in Tripoli in 2008, part of the WikiLeaks trove, entitled "Extremism in Eastern Libya", which revealed that this area is rife with anti-American, pro-jihad sentiment. According to the 2008 cable, the most troubling aspect "... is the pride that many eastern Libyans, particularly those in and around Dernah, appear to take in the role their native sons have played in the insurgency in Iraq … [and the] ability of radical imams to propagate messages urging support for and participation in jihad." The second document, or rather set of documents, are the so-called Sinjar Records, captured al-Qaeda documents that fell into American hands in 2007. They were duly analysed by the Combating Terrorism Center at the US Military Academy at West Point. Al-Qaeda is a bureaucratic outfit and the records contain precise details on pe...

Libya Rebels: Gaddafi Could be Right About al-Qaeda    :      Information Clearing House: ICH The first is a secret cable to the State Department from the US embassy in Tripoli in 2008, part of the WikiLeaks trove, entitled "Extremism in Eastern Libya", which revealed that this area is rife with anti-American, pro-jihad sentiment. According to the 2008 cable, the most troubling aspect "... is the pride that many eastern Libyans, particularly those in and around Dernah, appear to take in the role their native sons have played in the insurgency in Iraq … [and the] ability of radical imams to propagate messages urging support for and participation in jihad." The second document, or rather set of documents, are the so-called Sinjar Records, captured al-Qaeda documents that fell into American hands in 2007. They were duly analysed by the Combating Terrorism Center at the US Military Academy at West Point. Al-Qaeda is a bureaucratic outfit and the records contain precise ...

Afghanistan: The Risks of Rising Anti-American Feelings in Kabul | EurasiaNet.org Anti-American sentiment is at record high levels in Afghanistan, a factor that promises to complicate what is already shaping up as a tricky transfer of security responsibilities from Western forces to indigenous military and law-enforcement entities. Under the existing timeframe, the Afghan government will assume in 2014 primary responsibility for maintaining security in the country. The transfer of authority would involve the withdrawal of the bulk of US troops that are currently fighting to contain the Taliban insurgency. Growing Afghan displeasure with the US military presence means that many are eager for foreign troops to leave. “The people of Afghanistan no longer desire to see others defend their country for them,” Afghan President Hamid Karzai said March 22

Biden Demands Impeachment - HUMAN EVENTS Barack Obama’s presidency has entered a new, and possibly terminal, stage of crisis, as Vice President Joe Biden has called for his impeachment. “I made it clear to the President,” a furious Biden declared, “that if he takes this nation to war without Congressional approval, I will make it my business to impeach him. That is a fact.” Biden’s comments reflect growing Democrat anger at President Obama’s unilateral military action. In the House, where the impeachment process must begin, Representative Dennis Kucinich has already begun talking about removing Obama from office, which is consistent with his previous stance on President George Bush’s invasion of Iraq. Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN), the only Muslim representative in Congress, has said “impeachment should be on the table.”

Strikes on Gaza kill eight people Eight Gazans were killed yesterday, among them two minors and four militants, as tensions soared on the border with Israel after days of rocket fire and retaliatory air strikes. The victims died in two separate Israeli attacks on the eastern part of Gaza City following a day of bloodshed and violence. Two of the dead were aged 11 and 16, and four were from the armed wing of the radical Islamic Jihad movement, medical and militant sources said. Four of the victims died when an Israeli shell hit a family home in Shejaiya, medics said. Several hours later, another four people were killed – all of them militants – in an air strike on the nearby Zeitun neighbourhood. The surge in bloodshed follows days of rising cross-border violence, which has ramped up tensions between Israel and Gaza’s Islamist Hamas rulers and again raised fears of a large-scale Israeli military incursion. The latest attack took place in Zeitun, killing four members of the Al-Quds Briga...

Syria security forces kill 12 in attack on Daraa mosque, witnesses say - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News The attack brought the number of civilians killed by Syrian forces to 10 during six days of demonstrations calling for political freedoms and an end to corruption in the country of 20 million. The ruling Baath Party has banned opposition and enforced emergency laws since 1963. No comment was immediately available from the government of Assad, facing the biggest challenge to his rule since succeeding his father Hafez Assad in 2000. A wave of Arab unrest has toppled leaders in Tunisia and Egypt.

Be Consistent—Invade Saudi Arabia   :      Information Clearing House: ICH But this time, in the glaring light of the democratic currents sweeping through the Mideast, the contradictions in supporting one set of dictators while toppling others may prove impossible for the U.S. and its allies to effectively manage. The recognition, widely demanded throughout the region, that even ordinary Middle Easterners have inalienable rights is a sobering notion not easily co-opted. Why don’t those rights to self-determination extend to Shiites in the richest oil province in Saudi Arabia or for that matter to Palestinians in the West Bank or Gaza?

Stop Arming Dictators  :      Information Clearing House: ICH In 2009 alone, European governments -- including Britain and France -- sold Libya more than $470 million worth of weapons, including fighter jets, guns and bombs. And before it started calling for regime change, the Obama administration was working to provide the Libyan dictator another $77 million in weapons, on top of the $17 million it provided in 2009 and the $46 million the Bush administration provided in 2008. Meanwhile, for dictatorial regimes in Yemen, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, U.S. support continues to this day. On Saturday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton even gave the U.S. stamp of approval to the brutal crackdown on protesters in Bahrain, saying the country's authoritarian rulers "obviously" had the "sovereign right" to invite troops from Saudi Arabia to occupy their country and carry out human rights abuses, which included attacks on injured protesters as they lay in their hospital bed...

:      Information Clearing House: ICH March 23, 2011 "Spiegel" -- While international journalists are piling into Libya to report on the air strikes by Western fighter jets, while children are playing among destroyed tanks and the rebels are storming towards Ajdabiyah, there's a strange, separate war raging behind the front line, in Benghazi. Conservative reformers, inexperienced rebels and supporters of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi are pitted against each other in this struggle. A new order is being established in the city. And the longer Gadhafi manages to stay in power, the longer schools stay shut and commercial life remains on hold, the greater the chance that the revolution will fail. Without Gadhafi having to lift a finger. On Liberation Square at the old courthouse, a declaration was issued on Monday that the "Ligan Thauria," the old revolutionary committees and supporters of Gadhafi, had 24 hours to hand over their weapons. If they didn't, they wo...

March 21, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – A prominent Sudanese intelligence official has been sacked from his position due to a widespread controversy over his remarks on the possibility of abandoning Islamic Shar’iah laws in the country if political parties come to consensus to that effect.

"It's very good land. It's quite cheap. In fact it is very cheap. We have no land like this in India," says Karmjeet Sekhon, project manager for what is expected to be one of Africa's largest farms. "There you are lucky to get 1% of organic matter in the soil. Here it is more than 5%. We don't need fertiliser or herbicides. There is absolutely nothing that will not grow on it.

Iran's Khamenei: West should arm rebels, not bomb Libya "We condemn 100 percent how Gaddafi was and is dealing with the people ... the killing of civilians," he said. "But we also condemn 100 percent the entrance and interference of America and the West." "They could have armed them, given them anti-aircraft batteries, instead they witnessed the massacre of the people for one month," he told a packed shrine in the holy city of Mashhad.

SULAIMANIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - Thousands took to the streets on Sunday in the biggest protest yet against the government of Iraq's semi-autonomous northern Kurdish area, inspired by uprisings across the Middle East. Protesters say the regional government, funded by a share of Iraq's oil wealth, has become corrupt and undemocratic. Demonstrators have camped out since last month in the main square of Sulaimaniya, the second largest city in the Kurdish zone, calling for the ouster of the regional government.

COLONEL Muammar Gaddafi's regime secretly provided information to Britain and the US on Islamic extremists in the east of Libya, according to leaked diplomatic cables and intelligence sources. The names of hundreds of suspects were passed to the CIA and British intelligence. “There was a strong, shared concern between Gaddafi and the US and UK Governments about radical Sunni jihadist terrorists, including the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG),” Paul Pillar, a CIA veteran who negotiated with Libya over its nuclear program, told The Times.

Photos of atrocities could threaten U.S., Afghan relationship KABUL, AFGHANISTAN — The release of explicit photographs of U.S. soldiers apparently engaged in atrocities against Afghan civilians threatens to ignite tensions between the Afghan and U.S. governments and provide fodder for the Taliban's efforts to persuade Afghans that the foreign troops fighting here are a malevolent force.

With U.N. coalition forces bombarding Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi from the sea and air, the United States’ part in the operation could ultimately hit several billion dollars -- and require the Pentagon to request emergency funding from Congress to pay for it. The first day of Operation Odyssey Dawn had a price tag that was well over $100 million for the U.S. in missiles alone. And the U.S. military, which remains in the lead now in its third day, has pumped millions more into air- and sea-launched strikes targeting air-defense sites and ground-force positions along Libya’s coastline. The ultimate total that the United States spends will hinge on the length and scope of the strikes as well as on the contributions of its coalition allies. But Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said on Monday that the U.S. costs could “easily pass the $1 billion mark on this operation, regardless of how well things go.”

Yemeni president offers to quit by year-end - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

Libya intervention threatens the Arab spring - Opinion - Al Jazeera English Western air and naval strikes against Libya are threatening the Arab Spring. Ironically, one of the reasons many people supported the call for a no-fly zone was the fear that if Gaddafi managed to crush the Libyan people''s uprising and remain in power, it would send a devastating message to other Arab dictators: Use enough military force and you will keep your job. Instead, it turns out that just the opposite may be the result: It was after the UN passed its no-fly zone and use-of-force resolution, and just as US, British, French and other warplanes and warships launched their attacks against Libya, that other Arab regimes escalated their crack-down on their own democratic movements.

Palestinian medical officials said yesterday they had found two bodies southeast of Gaza City, apparently shot by Israeli troops a day earlier. It was not immediately clear what they were doing near the border, but an Israeli military spokeswoman said Saturday night the army had opened fire on two men who were spotted moving suspiciously toward a frontier "no-go" zone.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-admits-to-arrest-and-detention-of-gaza-engineer-1.350631 Israel admitted that they indeed arrested the Gazan engineer, Dirar Abu Sisi, who was reported to have gone missing from the Ukraine almost two weeks ago, the partial lifting of a gag order revealed. Dirar Abu Sisi, 42, went missing in the early hours of February 19 after boarding a train in Kharkiv bound for Kiev. His wife alleged that Dirar had been kidnapped by the Mossad.

Revolutions and Unrest in Arab Countries   :  Hezbollah Chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah Speech :     Information Clearing House: ICH Any accusation that the US manufactured and launched these revolutions is unjust speech toward these peoples, especially that we are talking about regimes which are allied with the USA, serve the American project and pose no threat to Israel.

Top army commanders defect in Yemen - Middle East - Al Jazeera English Several top Yemeni army commanders have declared their support for anti-government protesters seeking the resignation of the country's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh. Major General Ali Mohsen Saleh, the head of the north western military zone and the head of the first armoured division, said on Monday that he had deployed army units to protect the protesters.

BAGHDAD - Thousands of Iraqi Shi'ites rallied on Friday in the country's biggest demonstration yet to support fellow Shi'ite protesters confronting troops from Sunni Arab states in Bahrain. The movement of troops from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states to help Bahrain's Sunni royal family quell the protests has galvanized Shi'ites in Iraq, Lebanon and Iran. Around 10,000 followers of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr demonstrated in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood after Friday prayers over the situation in Bahrain, which risks exacerbating Iraq's own sectarian divide. The Iraqis waved Bahraini and Iraqi flags and chanted "Yes, yes to Bahrain. No, no to the Saud family." "These protests are the beginning of support for the Bahraini people and if the Saudi and Bahraini rulers won't respond, we will act, even if we are forced to go and be human shields," said Muhanad al-Gharrawi, a Sadr aide in Sadr City.

Sana'a - Police opened fire on hundreds of thousands of anti-government protesters Friday killing at least 50 people and wounding 240 in the capital, Sana'a.

By Xinhua March 18, 2011 "Xinhua" -- The death toll has kept rising as more information came in from the remote area with inadequate communication facilities. Some local media reports said the target of the U.S. drones is a house at a village in the Datta Khel area in which a meeting was being held by local Taliban militants while others reported that the target was actually a tribal "jirga" or council of elders to resolve dispute over the ownership of minerals in the mountains in North Waziristan tribal region. According to a tribal elder who asked to remain anonymous in a telephone interview from Miranshah, center of North Waziristan, the tribesmen from Madda Khel tribe were holding a meeting at Nawai Adda area, some 25 kilometers from Miranshah, when two U.S. drones fired four missiles at the participants of the tribal council at 11:30 am (local time) The elder said that the strike killed 41 people including six tribal elders and some children. The injured were l...

War On The Poor: Minnesota Republicans Want To Bust Poor People Who Carry Cash  :      Information Clearing House: ICH March 18, 2011 "CAL" -- They're not just crazy, they're evil -- and un-Christian, should they have the audacity to claim otherwise. If only we could force them to live like this, they wouldn't last a week: St. Paul, MN – Minnesota Republicans are pushing legislation that would make it a crime for people on public assistance to have more $20 in cash in their pockets any given month. This represents a change from their initial proposal, which banned them from having any money at all. On March 15, Angel Buechner of the Welfare Rights Committee testified in front of the House Health and Human Services Reform Committee on House File 171. Buechner told committee members, “We would like to address the provision that makes it illegal for MFIP [one of Minnesota’s welfare programs] families to withdraw cash from the cash portion of the MFIP grant - and in f...

`Blood Money Was Paid By S. Arabia`  :      Information Clearing House: ICH Did US permit Saudi Arabia to invade Bahrain in return of Saudi paying "blood money" for release of CIA agent in Pakistan? `Blood Money Was Paid By S. Arabia` By Anwar Iqbal March 18, 2011 "Dawn" --- WASHINGTON: Saudi Arabia is believed to have arranged the blood money that allowed CIA contractor Raymond Davis to go home after nearly two months in a Lahore jail, diplomatic sources told Dawn. They said that the Saudis joined the efforts to resolve the dispute late last month after it became obvious that Davis`s continued incarceration could do an irreparable damage to US-Pakistan relations. The Saudis agreed to pay the money, “at least for now”, to get Davis released, the sources said, but did not clarify if and how would the Saudis be reimbursed. “This is something that needs to be discussed between the United States and the Kingdom,” one source said. “Mr Davis`s surprise departure from Pak...

Getting Away With Murder   :      Information Clearing House: ICH March 18, 2011 "Information Clearing House" -- There was never any doubt that CIA contractor and killer, Raymond Davis, would be freed by Pakistani authorities. The only question was how much political capital the Obama administration would have to spend to secure his release. As it happens, the price turned out to be quite high. Not only were the family members of the men who Davis gunned down awarded a $2.3 million settlement, but, more importantly, a constellation of US powerbrokers were forced to step out of the shadows and reveal their tacit support for a covert war that is inciting widespread social unrest, fueling terrorism, and destabilizing US-ally Pakistan. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Admiral Mike Mullens, Robert Gates, Leon Panetta and Sen John Kerry all came to the defense of a career mercenary who shot two men (allegedly Pakistan Intel-agents) in broad daylight on a crowded street in Lahore and ...

The 'Beacon That Is Israel'  :      Information Clearing House: ICH March 14, 2011 "Information Clearing House" -- A beacon is a signal fire, a warning light to guide one out of darkness. As the former Israeli minister of foreign affairs Tzipi Livni noted in late February, "these are days of momentous change in the Middle East..." Courageous thousands are demanding their rights as human beings, she intoned, and there is an inner hunger for freedom abroad in the land. But those courageous thousands have lit a fire that is also a beacon for Israel, if it heeds it, a warning that it alone of all the states in the Middle East could be left defying the peoples' demands for human rights and freedoms. Yet Livni, and US politician Edward Koch last week, went to the media not to announce that Israel would alter its treatment of the Palestinians, but simply to ignore the existence of the Palestinians. In the words of Koch, "these uprisings clearly demonstrate...

The voice on the phone was calm and dignified, as befitted a proud Japanese mayor, yet this somehow made his fury more forceful. Hours after the tsunami struck, Katsunobu Sakurai told me, he had sought advice from the government on whether to evacuate the 71,000 people in his city, which is just 12 miles downwind of the Fukushima nuclear plant. At first ministerial officials simply ignored his calls. When he did manage to speak to them, they assured him there was no cause for concern; a message he accepted and dutifully relayed. He had toed the line because that is what Japan's civic leaders invariably do. But yesterday, far too late, the mayor of Minamisoma finally realised that he had been deceived, at best, and perhaps even lied to. 'Of course I am angry,' he told me through an interpreter yesterday. 'I was ignored and then badly misled, and as a result the people were abandoned here to die. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1367208/Japan-tsunami-ear...

Julian Assange Grills Julia Gillard on Live Television    :      Information Clearing House: ICH

Saudi-backed Crackdown in Bahrain Bxposes U.S. Hypocrisy    :      Information Clearing House: ICH March 17, 2011 "Examiner" -- Although U.S. officials condemned Bahrain’s use of deadly force against unarmed protestors on Wednesday, experts say the Obama administration is reticent to support the people because the Bahraini monarchy best serves U.S. regional interests. Critics accuse the U.S. of employing a double-standard – reluctant to oust the monarchy in Bahrain but more than willing to encourage Libyans to topple Moammar Gaddafi.

:      Information Clearing House: ICH

Palestinians: Three killed in Israeli air strike on Gaza - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News Palestinian medical officials say Israel fired two missiles at a security compound in the Hamas-ruled Strip, striking what used to be the Israeli settlement of Netzarim in Gaza.

Clashes In Pakistan As U.S. Buys CIA Agents Freedom  :      Information Clearing House: ICH THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. - AP's earlier story is below. March 16, 2011 "Associated Press" -- LAHORE, Pakistan - Police fired tear gas against protesters burning tires outside a U.S. consulate in Pakistan after the release of a CIA contractor who killed two Pakistani men. The clashes Wednesday in Lahore involved around 200 people. There were small protests in other main cities as well. Police made several arrests in Lahore and struck other people with batons, according to witnesses. Raymond Allen Davis was released earlier Wednesday after the United States paid $2.3 million in "blood money" to the victims' families, a lawyer for the families has said. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A CIA contractor who shot and killed two Pakistani men was freed from prison on Wedn...

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27699.htm The nuclear crisis in Japan, which continues to worsen, threatens to become a total multiple meltdown, combined with the perhaps even more disastrous explosion and fire in one or several spent fuel rod ponds. If any of these things happen, not to mention many of them, several hundred square miles of Japan would be rendered indefinitely uninhabitable, costing hundreds of billions of dollars. And it could be worse. If the winds are blowing south during such a disaster, all of Tokyo, which has a metropolitan population of over 30 million, could have to be evacuated. A study by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission back in 1997, found that one spend fuel disaster could devastate almost 200 square miles of the US, and cause half a trillion dollars in damage!

Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) has been unable to visit with Private Bradley Manning, the U.S. soldier accused of leaking State Department cables to WikiLeaks, despite being a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. "I put in a request to the secretary of defense, who referred me to the secretary of the army, who referred me to the secretary of the navy, who referred me to the secretary of defense, and still not an answer on whether or not I can visit Private Manning," Rep. Kucinich explained to radio host Scott Horton on KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles, during Friday's broadcast of Antiwar Radio.

The protests across the tiny island nation of Bahrain continue to grow on Monday but face the prospect of a particularly brutal crackdown amid news that over 1,000 mostly Saudi Arabian troops have been dispatched across the bridge to help the regime end the protests.

In light of the Saudi criminal gang invasion of Bahrain to crush the peoples movement, we peace and justice lovers have to condemned the blatant violation of a country trying to transit from dictatorship to democracy. We all know the invasion of Bahrain by slave drivers of the Saudis happened with the support of the US and Israel, the US has its puppets falling left and right, now it is trying to stop the revolution from spreading to where it is close to the oil wells which American interest always been, at the end the oppressed people all over the world will rise up and stop this madness.

CAIRO -- Saudi police opened fire Thursday to disperse a protest in the section where minority Shiites live, leaving at least one man injured, as the government toughened its efforts to prevent a wave of unrest sweeping the Arab world from reaching the kingdom.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King's (R-NY) hearing on American-Muslim radicalization Thursday was destined to have its fair share of dumb statements, especially since a majority of conservatives believe Muslims are more prone to violence than adherents to other religions.

The men wear roughly improvised balaclavas, some plain black, others patterned with skulls and crossbones. One is clad in a heavy-duty jacket that bears the circular logo of CND. They have fashioned a checkpoint out of battered car doors lined up across the road. This is the gateway to the "autonomous republic of Abobo", usually one of the most populated suburbs of Ivory Coast's commercial capital, Abidjan. It has in effect declared independence from the disputed presidency of Laurent Gbagbo. Now a lawless place of terror, bloodshed and desperation, it typifies the slow-motion implosion of a country into a failed state.

Lifting the Veil: Obama and the Failure of Capitalist Democracy  :      Information Clearing House: ICH Lifting the Veil from S DN on Vimeo .

ZAWIYA, Libya – Moammar Gadhafi's regime gained momentum Friday, showing off its victory over rebels in Zawiya, a key city near Tripoli as it strengthened its hold on the capital and surrounding areas. The government had claimed victory on Wednesday, but the rebels who are seeking to oust Gadhafi said fighting was ongoing. An Associated Press reporter, who was escorted with other journalists into the city on Friday, said the main square that had been the center of resistance was clearly in government control after nearly a week of fierce fighting.

Stealing from Social Security to Pay for Wars and Bailouts  :      Information Clearing House: ICH March 09, 2011 "Information Clearing House" -- The American Empire is failing. A number of its puppet rulers are being overthrown by popular protests, and the almighty dollar will not even buy one Swiss franc, one Canadian dollar, or one Australian dollar. Despite the sovereign debt problem that threatens EU members Greece, Ireland, Spain, and Portugal, it requires $1.38 dollars to buy one euro, a new currency that was issued at parity with the US dollar.

Libya: A state of terror - General - Al Jazeera English

AU troops killed in Somalia clashes - Africa - Al Jazeera English

Libya: WikiLeaks cables warn of extremist beliefs   :      Information Clearing House: ICH By Heidi Blake March 07, 2011 "The Telegraph" - -Former jihadi fighters who underwent "religious and ideological training" in Afghanistan, Lebanon and the West Bank in the 1980s have returned to eastern towns in Libya such as Benghazi and Derna to propagate their Islamist beliefs, the cables warn. Derna has become a particular stronghold for the former fighters and conservative imams who have shut down "un-Islamic" social and cultural organisations such as sports leagues, theatres and youth clubs, the cables report. Local sources blame deliberate government efforts to "keep the east poor" for growing extremism in towns such as Derna. One cable sent to Washington in February 2008 reports a conversation with a local businessman who described the increasingly incendiary rhetoric at backstreet mosques in Derna, where coded talk of "martyrdom operations...

US anti-Muslim rally raises fears - Americas - Al Jazeera English The US-based advocacy group, the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) has published a video of an anti-Muslim protest, at a fundraising event in California last month. Muslim residents say the demonstration has raised fears in their community. Al Jazeera's Rob Reynolds reports from Yorba Linda in California's Orange County.

Report: Saudi Facebook activist planning protest shot dead - Monsters and Critics Riyadh/Cairo - Saudi activists alleged Wednesday that state security shot dead a leading online activist, who was calling for a 'Day of Rage' on March 11 in the oil-rich kingdom. Faisal Ahmed Abdul-Ahadwas, 27, was believed to be one of the main administrators of a Facebook group that is calling for protests similar to that have swept North Africa and the Middle East.

NATO Commander In Afghanistan Apologizes Over Children's Killings (RTTNews) - The top commander of NATO-led troops in Afghanistan has apologized over the death of nine Afghan children in an air strike by the alliance's fighter planes in the country's south-east on Tuesday.

NATO Kills Nine Children in Afghan Air Strike -- News from Antiwar.com >Already facing public outrage over the killing of 65 civilians in an offensive, NATO is once again in the hot seat in the Kunar Province, with provincial police reporting that a NATO air strike killed nine children this afternoon.

Egypt agrees dates for referendum, polls: activist Egypt's military leaders will hold a referendum on constitutional change on March 19, a parliamentary election in June and a presidential poll six weeks later, a youth activist said on Monday after meeting them. Zyad El-Elaily and 16 other members of the Coalition of Revolutionary Youth which took part in protests to oust President Hosni Mubarak, said he had met three members of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces on Sunday.

US citizen recalls 'humiliating' post-9/11 arrest Handcuffed and marched through Washington's Dulles International Airport in his Muslim clothing, the man with the long, dark beard could only imagine what people were thinking. That scene unfolded in March 2003, a year and a half after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. One of the four planes hijacked in 2001 took off from Dulles. "I could only assume that they thought I was a terrorist," Abdullah al-Kidd recalled in an interview with The Associated Press. Al-Kidd called his airport arrest "one of the Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/02/27/state/n050729S55.DTL#ixzz1FNhn1mVr

Official: US Paying Taliban to Reduce Afghan Attacks -- News from Antiwar.com According to a well-placed but unnamed Afghan official, the United States military and other NATO allies are directly bribing Afghan warlords and even some top members of the Taliban to reduce attacks on their supply convoys and generally reduce the level of violence overall.

Reports: Saudis Send Additional Tanks to Bahrain -- News from Antiwar.com Bahrain’s government angrily denied media reports that the Saudi Arabian government had dispatched 30 additional tanks for the regime to use in crushing protesters, insisting the entire story was made up by the Iranian state media.