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In a sharp escalation of the U.S. role in Syria's bloody civil war, the White House announced late Thursday that it will provide military aid to rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad after confirming that his government used chemical weapons on the opposition. Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes told reporters on a conference call that President Barack Obama had heard pleas from Syria's rebel Supreme Military Council (SMC) for more help. "Our aim is to be responsive," Rhodes said, underlining that the new assistance would have "direct military purposes."

Well, well, well, so Obama has embarked on his third war in little more than two years. You've got to admit that "flexibility" is his middle name. Or at least one of his middle names: Barack Barry Hussein "Flexibility" Soetoro Obama, Jr. Those are the names we know so far, but The Donald thinks there might be more. Whodda thunk? Here we are barely into the first week of what started out as a "No-Fly Zone" and it is now turning out to be Air Al Qaida. Ten years ago, AQ had a mere four civilian airplanes to crash into...

Iran’s oil ministry spokesman says all crude oil and gas exports have been banned to the 27-nation European Union, which has already imposed its own boycott on Iranian energy imports as part of sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear program. … The semiofficial Mehr news agency quotes Rahbar as saying the Iranian ban will remain as long as “hostile decisions” are made by the EU. …

TRIPOLI, Libya – The former Libyan intelligence officer Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, who was convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, has died in Libya, his brother told AFP on Sunday. "He died an hour ago," Abdelhakim al-Megrahi said, putting the time of death at shortly after 1:00pm local time. The UK Foreign Office could not confirm the report Sunday, however it said it was "seeking further information." Megrahi, 60, was convicted in a Scottish court in 2001 for his role in the December 1998 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. Most of those killed in the bombing of the Boeing 747...

"No blood for oil" was a popular slogan chanted by the left in opposition to President George W. Bush's push to send U.S. forces into Iraq. Now that President Obama has authorized Operation Odyssey Dawn in Libya, I have been waiting to hear chants of "no blood for oil." I am happy to report, I don't hear them. I went to the No Blood For Oil website; its lead item opposes efforts to strike wolves from the endangered species list. In fact, as NATO forces are lobbing missiles to enforce a no-fly zone over the country with Africa's largest oil...

"No blood for oil" was a popular slogan chanted by the left in opposition to President George W. Bush's push to send U.S. forces into Iraq. Now that President Obama authorized Operation Odyssey Dawn in Libya, I have been waiting to hear chants of "no blood for oil." I am happy to report, I don't hear them. I went to the nobloodforoil.org website; its lead item opposes efforts to strike wolves from the endangered species list. In fact, as NATO forces are lobbing missiles to enforce a no-fly zone over the country with Africa's largest oil and gas reserves, the...

LONDON — A doctor who said the man convicted of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 had only three months to live now says the Libyan could survive another 10 years, London's Sunday Times reported. Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, who was convicted of 270 counts of murder for being behind the 1988 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, was released on compassionate grounds in 2009, after doctors said he only had a few months to live.

- Saudi Arabia's assistant defense minister said Saturday that Saudi forces found on its border with Yemen bodies of 20 out of the 26 Saudi soldiers reported missing during war against Houthi rebels, the Dubai-based al-Arabiya TV channel reported on its website. Khaled bin Sultan said the 20 bodies were found in the border region near Dokhan mountain, while the other six soldiers were remain missing, the report said.

It was the worst terrorist attack in Britain's history, the deadliest assault on U.S. civilians until 9/11 and a political powder keg that roiled governments around the world. On Dec. 21, 1988, a bomb exploded in the forward cargo hold of Pan Am Flight 103, a jetliner flying from London to New York. Within less than a minute, the Boeing 747 splintered into thousands of pieces and fell 31,000 feet, smashing down in the village of Lockerbie, Scotland. The impact killed 11 villagers and destroyed 21 homes. None of the 259 people on board the aircraft survived. On August 21,...

EDINBURGH -- Do not believe that Scotland was united behind Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill's decision to grant "compassionate" release to the terminally ill convicted Pan Am 103 bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi in August. When al-Megrahi flew home to a hero's welcome in Libya, Member of Scottish Parliament Richard Baker recalls "universal outrage" among Scots at the sight of Scotland's flag "being waved to welcome home the Lockerbie bomber in Tripoli. It just turned stomachs" -- and produced among sensible Scots "profound shame and embarrassment." Al-Megrahi was released after the former Libyan intelligence officer served a mere eight years in Scottish...

The Libyan killer of a British policewoman will never be brought to justice in Britain after a secret deal approved by Jack Straw. The Foreign Office bowed to Libyan pressure and agreed that Britain would abandon any attempt to try the murderer of WPC Yvonne Fletcher, shot outside the Libyan embassy in London 25 years ago. Anthony Layden, Britain’s former ambassador to Libya, said this weekend he had signed the agreement with the Libyan government three years ago, when Straw was foreign secretary. At the time Britain was negotiating trade deals worth hundreds of millions of pounds with Libya. The...

Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, who recently released the Lockerbie bomber, has a brother who is an energy-industry executive and who has worked at firms that have pitched for oil business in Libya. The Scottish government, which has said that it made full disclosure of facts relevant to the decision, didn't disclose this relationship, and opposition politicians on Monday criticized this. [Kenny MacAskill] Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Scotish Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill Over the years, Allan MacAskill has worked for several companies that sought oil business in Libya. Allan MacAskill says he didn't work on any of his employers' Libyan oil...

Lord Mandelson has dismissed claims that the release of Lockerbie bomber is linked to a trade deal - as the head of the FBI slams the Scottish government. The claim was made by Seif al Islam, the son of Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi, in a television interview filmed as Abdelbaset al Megrahi was flown home. "In all commercial contracts, for oil and gas with Britain, (Megrahi) was always on the negotiating table," he said. "All British interests were linked to the release of Abdelbaset al Megrahi." He said he had met Colonel Gaddafi twice in the past year, and on...

Gordon Brown was under fresh pressure last night after shocking claims by Libya that the release of the Lockerbie bomber was linked explicity to trade deals benefiting Britain. Colonel Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam said the case of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi was discussed at every meeting between the then Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Libyan leader. But the Foreign Office strongly denied any link between the boosting of UK business interests and the freeing of the man convicted of Britain's worst terrorist atrocity. A spokesman insisted: 'No deal has been made between the UK Government and Libya in...

I hope everyone has heard about the war in South Ossetia and Georgia. You probably are convinced by what the media reports, in particular that “Russia is the aggressor against innocent Georgia”. Our government is backing Georgia and also telling us about Russia’s aggression. But that is a lie. I have always made fun of the conspiracy theory people, but I find myself in the same position–criticizing the government and sounding crazy. But I cannot keep quite when such an injustice is going on; so please do not take my words as that of a crazy man who hates America–on...

The force of Russia’s attack against Georgia this weekend sends a strong signal that Moscow is determined not to relinquish control over the oil-rich Caspian region. Georgia has scant energy resources of its own, but hosts pipelines built by international oil majors to carry Caspian oil and gas to western markets. Its railways also transport substantial volumes of oil from the region to Black Sea ports. The east-west energy corridor across Azerbaijan and Georgia to Turkey established with strong political backing from the US, has eroded Russia’s stranglehold over energy exports from one of the world’s few remaining untapped oil...

Americans who buy the smallest cars on the market are twice as likely to have fatal accidents as drivers of midsize and larger vehicles, according to a report being released today by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The data and increased sales of the fuel-efficient "minicars" prompted the institute to test, for the first time, eight models to determine which are safest. Minicars typically weigh about 2,500 pounds or less, half the weight of large pickup trucks or SUVs such as the 4,500-pound Ford Explorer... In the testing, only the Nissan Versa received "good" ratings in front, side, and...

Top News Story Persian Journal The editor of Kayhan Newspaper, Hussein Shariatmadari, hasrecently said: "if Iran is put under the UN sanctions, the 5+1 states [i.e. the USA, the UK, France, China, Russia and Germany] would be the biggest losers from economic and political points of view." He has added: "closing the Strait of Hurmoz can be one of the retaliatory reactions [of Iran]... . if we are made subject to the sanctions, then naturally we can use some leverages, such as closing the Strait of Hormuz. Closing the Strait of Hormuz will seriously stop the flow of oil...

Do you still remember the old liberal claim that Bush invaded Iraq for oil? For some reason they don't make it anymore. May we ask why? Can it be, because no oil has been stolen? As everyone had the chance to see, America made no attempt to tap into Iraq's oil after toppling Saddam, not even to defray the costs of liberation. This presented liberals with a conundrum. Wanting to believe only the worst about the president, they had to invent another dark reason for the invasion. So they made him into a Hitlerite who revels in conquest and destruction....

See for example this thread first. Al Qaeda has launched an attack To stab their best friends in the backWahabbi'ist cults Lead to these results Whether here, their own home, or Iraq!

Friday, June 17, 2005 DARFUR ON MY MIND Greg Palast, Michael Moore,Progressive Politics and Genocide Perfect Together !! A story by Ruth Gidley appeared on Reuters Alert Net pages on 06/15/05 : "Oil Discovery Adds New Twist to Darfur Tragedy" http://www.alertnet.org/thefacts/reliefresources/111885496661.htm The author was apparently surprised to discover there was oil in Darfur,and to learn that its presence - on the killing fields - might be a motive for the killing. She was compelled to admit the United States has no interest in the oil,and, after,a bit of dancing around,admitted China might be one of the interested parties. Gee !...

CNBC's Ron Insana sat down with President Bush for an exclusive interview on topics including Social Security, personal savings accounts, the stock market, budget deficit, Medicare, oil prices, the dollar, international trade, and terror. Here is a transcript of that interview. President Bush: No. Listen, now's the right time to talk about permanently fixing Social Security because every year we wait it costs $600 billion more for the next generation. In other words, it's going to cost that much more money a year by -- if there's political delay. Secondly, I mean, I think most people will tell you that...

"As we here at home contemplate our own duties, our own responsibilities, let us think and think hard of the example which is being set for us by our fighting men. Our soldiers and sailors are members of well-disciplined units. But they're still and forever individuals, free individuals. They are farmers and workers, businessmen, professional men, artists, clerks. They are the United States of America. That is why they fight. We too are the United States of America. That is why we must work and sacrifice. It is for them. It is for us. It is for victory.” -- Franklin...

The advent of a new year is an appropriate time for resolutions, and here is one some critics of the war in Iraq should memorize, unless of course they think it is their duty instead of simply their right to be loutish and ignorant. "I promise to quit insisting that the war in Iraq was about securing oil for greedy Americans and that the prime culprits include owners of SUVs," they will repeat over and over again but only after having acquainted themselves with some facts and analyses they have so far studiously avoided. It was a laziness brought on...

Well, over that last few years, I have pretty much started downloading all of my music off of P2P sites, because so many artist are such left wing whack jobs, that I refuse to support them financially but I still want to listen to their music. The one last and final holdout whom I would always go and buy the CD was Eminem, because, and I believe this 100 percent, there is not another lyricst on the face of God's green Earth who can match his skills on the microphone. Nobody who has ever laid words over a beat can...

France has been accused of agreeing to a crackdown on exiled opponents of Iran in return for lucrative commercial contracts. Lawyers for France's human rights league, speaking on the anniversary of a huge police raid on the National Council of Resistance of Iran near Paris, pointed out "troubling coincidences" in the timing of the operation and a series of deals with Teheran. In March last year, the regime signed a large contract with the French telecommunications group Alcatel for a telephone network. In April last year Teheran offered the petrol giant TotalFina a £660 million gas fields contract. At the...

NEW YORK — A U.S. soldier who left his unit in Iraq rather than fight for what he called an "oil-driven war" is claiming that he's a conscientious objector who believes the war is unjust and that he's upset over civilian deaths. Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia (search), 28, of Miami Beach, Fla., faces a court-martial Wednesday. If convicted of desertion by a military jury at Fort Stewart, Ga., he could find himself in prison for a year and may receive a bad conduct discharge.

This is what was posted: Senator Joe Biden shoots down Al Franken ... Telling him that President George Bush would have thrown his body in front of the planes himself if it would have stopped 9/11. When Franken tried to bring up the war for oil conspiracy theory, Senator Biden basically told him that was bull just like the war for revenge for the attempt on his fathers life theory was bunk. Franken sounded demoralized when Senator Biden finished the interview.

<p>WASHINGTON -- Democratic critics and some family members of soldiers serving in Iraq are taking President Bush to task for his jokes at a black-tie dinner about the fruitless search for weapons of mass destruction.</p> <p>The jokes came at Wednesday night's annual Radio and Television Correspondents Association dinner. In a 10-minute, mostly puckish, self-deprecating speech, the president presented a slide show he called "an election-year, White House photo album."</p>

In this article, abcnews has Shaker Al-Khafaji's name as Shakir Alkhalaji and removed the dash after the Al. Why?Open Secrets Campaign ContributersIn it, you see that Mr. Al-Khafaji donated to John Kerry. If you put the spelling that abc has, then you don't find this. Here is a more accurate article Iragi Oil for Blood Program

Jan. 29— ABCNEWS has obtained an extraordinary list that contains the names of prominent people around the world who supported Saddam Hussein's regime and were given oil contracts as a result. All of the contracts were awarded from late 1997 until the U.S.-led war in March 2003. They were conducted under the aegis of the United Nations' oil-for-food program, which was designed to allow Iraq to sell oil in exchange for humanitarian goods. The document was discovered several weeks ago in the files of the Iraqi Oil Ministry in Baghdad. According to a copy obtained by ABCNEWS, some 270 prominent...

The Bush Administration expects its proposed $87 billion Supplemental Appropriations package for funding military operations and reconstruction aid in Afghanistan and Iraq to gain final congressional passage this week and go to the president for signature, the Associated Press (AP) reports. The $67 billion portion designated for American military operations is not in dispute. For the first time, however, the White House last week threatened a veto if any of the up to $20 billion in aid funds for reconstruction comes with strings attached in the form of loans rather than outright reconstruction grants. Senate and House versions of the...

You might not think so from listening to me, but I like to be liked. Not only that, I like my country to be liked around the world and it isn't. I wish President Bush would try to make this country less hated. He could do it if he set his mind to it. To begin with, we should change our attitude toward the United Nations. There has to be some power in the world superior to our own - for our own sake. Iraq isn't our problem. It's the world's problem. When the president spoke at the United Nations,...

Liberia is one the least explored and most highly prospective countries for minerals in the world. Its geological setting is one of pre-Cambrian schist belt granite-gneiss craton terrain, with Archaean rocks in the west of the country, and Birmian rocks in the east. Liberia has economic concentrations of iron ore, diamonds, gold, and barite, and is highly prospective for platinum, palladium, nickel, manganese, and uranium. A recent offshore seismic study indicated the possibility of significant oil reserves. AmLib United Minerals leads the way in the responsible development of Liberia’s mineral resources.

Our addiction to oil is deadly. Our primitive vehicles fuel the global warming crisis, rainforest destruction, human rights abuses, the loss of good-paying union jobs, and severe air pollution that chokes our children and the elderly. And of course our oil addiction is also largely responsible for the senseless war in the Iraq: If broccoli were the number one export from the Middle East, we never would have invaded Iraq. It’s time to take the slogan “No Blood for Oil” straight to Detroit. This June, Ford Motor Company is going to celebrate its 100th anniversary. Ford likes to think of...

ICONOCLAST SPECIAL RANT FOR THE DAY GORE VIDAL & THE MOTHER OF ALL CONSPIRACIES by Denis Schulz Oliver Stone knew his Lee Harvey Oswalds and his Jack Rubys. He could tell the difference between Herbert Hoover and J. Edgar Hoover without a cue card. And he didn't like either one of them. Stone could visualize a grassy knoll before he could see one. And he could imagine a conspiracy with the best of them. The result was JFK, the movie. It was, alas for Ollie, not the Mother of all Conspiracies. Hillary Clinton is more encompassing when it comes...

Germany's intelligence services attempted to build closer links to Saddam's secret service during the build-up to war last year, documents from the bombed Iraqi intelligence HQ in Baghdad obtained by The Telegraph reveal. Documents recovered from Iraqi intelligence HQ in Baghdad They show that an agent named as Johannes William Hoffner, described as a "new German representative in Iraq" who had entered the country under diplomatic cover, attended a meeting with Lt Gen Taher Jalil Haboosh, the director of Iraq's intelligence service. During the meeting, on January 29, 2002, Lt Gen Haboosh says that the Iraqis are keen to have...

<p>Downtown Baghdad yesterday looked like Berlin in 1989. Jubilant Iraqis celebrated the demise of a hated regime. The picture of Saddam Hussein's statue falling to the ground was one for the history books, symbolizing his end, even as his whereabouts remain unclear.</p>

The antiwar left and their friends in the press have repeatedly charged that the Reagan administration gave Iraq chemical weapons in the 1980s that Saddam Hussein used to gas the Kurds during the Iran-Iraq war - a charge, it's worth noting, that Reagan Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger staunchly denies. But there is another U.S. president whose fingerprints are evidently all over Saddam's rise to power. It's just that the media, not to mention one particular antiwar Senator, have developed a convenient case of amnesia about the episode. In February 1963, the Central Intelligence Agency under President John F. Kennedy...

Marc Edwards could not be more appalled as he watches President Bush push ahead with plans for war. If the United States invades Iraq, a disproportionate number of blacks will be among the troops, said the 45-year-old Harlem resident. Other minorities will be the war's victims, he said, adding that black families will be especially hard hit by its costs. "It's a war that's threatening to send this economy reeling and that's going to really hurt black people," Edwards, a bookstore marketing supervisor, said while standing on 125th Street. As Bush and his Cabinet continue trying to line up support...

Tens of thousands protest possible war with Iraq Rallies held Saturday in Washington, across U.S. and around the world 01/19/2003 By G. ROBERT HILLMAN / The Dallas Morning News WASHINGTON - They came by the tens of thousands Saturday, with the same message: No war against Iraq. Some carried it on printed placards or brightly colored banners or scrawled by hand on pieces of old cardboard. Others shouted it or chanted it. Some sang. They came from the Northeast, the South, the Midwest, the Southwest - from Maine and Kentucky and Michigan and Texas - all demanding that President...