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Happy New Year – 2011

USS Liberty

Why did Israel attack USS Liberty?

For former US seaman Gary Brummett, the 40th anniversary of the 1967 Middle East war has stirred painful memories. As a 21-year-old third class petty officer, Mr Brummett was serving on board the USS Liberty off the coast of Egypt on 8 June, when, without warning, the vessel came under fire, first from fighter planes, then torpedo boats. The attack, which lasted at least 40 minutes, resulted in the deaths of 34 of Mr Brummett’s fellow crewmen, at least 170 injured and catastrophic damage to the ship. Alarmingly, the assault had been carried out not by enemy forces, but by the US’ closest regional ally, Israel. Israel insists it mistook the Liberty for a hostile Egyptian ship, the El Quseir, and numerous US and Israeli inquiries have concluded the attack was accidental. But for Mr Brummett and a growing body of conspiracy theorists, the authorities are guilty of a cover-up. “I have more trouble with it today than when it happened because I know more of the facts about what was going on,” said Mr Brummett.

“There’s been an egregious wrong done here, there’s been an extreme number of lies told to the American people and the American people do not know the truth about what happened.” The attack on the Liberty – the gravest incident in the history of US-Israeli relations – has been a source of controversy for the past four decades. Claim and counter-claim as to what happened have been fought out in every corner of the media, with the advent of the internet helping to reinvigorate the debate. Israel’s supporters say the incident is merely being used as a tool by critics to malign the Jewish state, while accusers say the attack was a war crime which has never come to light. According to Israel, the incident was a tragic case of friendly fire occurring in the fog of war. It says it believed the ship had been bombarding Israeli forces fighting in the Sinai, and that its pilots did not see any US flags (survivors say there were three) on the vessel before they opened fire.

Sceptics however claim the attack was premeditated and that the truth has been suppressed. The assertion of a cover-up was lent weight by a 2003 independent commission of inquiry which reported that the attack on the Liberty “remains the only serious naval incident that has never been thoroughly investigated by Congress”. Among the most popular theories as to why Israel would take such drastic action against its superpower ally is that the Liberty, a $40m state-of-the-art surveillance ship, was eavesdropping on an Israeli massacre of Egyptian prisoners of war. Israel strongly denies its troops executed Egyptian POWs, saying those who died in an incident at that time were 250 armed Palestinian fighters killed in action. Another is that the ship had learnt of secret Israeli plans to invade Syria’s Golan Heights two days later and had to be destroyed. Perhaps the most sinister motive is that put forward by journalist Peter Hounam in his 2003 book “Operation Cyanide”. Mr Hounam claims secret elements within the US and Israeli governments colluded to bomb the ship and blame the attack on Egypt and their superpower ally, the Soviet Union, triggering massive retaliation which would ensure Israeli victory.

“The attack on the Liberty was pre-planned, perhaps from at least a year beforehand,” Mr Hounam says. “The Liberty was sent into a very dangerous situation, where it was, in my view, placed in a position to be attacked.” Mr Hounam says the intention was to sink the ship and kill everyone on board, but as the Liberty remained afloat the plan was aborted and has been hushed up ever since. Successive US and Israeli inquiries, and the declassification of thousands of pieces of information, have done little to dampen suspicions. One of the most powerful claims of a cover-up has come from retired US Navy lawyer Capt Ward Boston, counsel to the Navy Court of Inquiry into the incident conducted just days after the event. Capt Boston says the court’s original findings, which he signed, were changed afterwards by government lawyers. He also claims the president of the court, Rear Adm Isaac Kidd, told him he was ordered by US President Lyndon Johnson and Defence Secretary Robert McNamara to conclude the attack was a case of mistaken identity. However, Capt Boston’s version of events – and the notion that what happened was anything more than a tragic accident – are disputed by numerous academics and authors who have investigated the incident.

“It was a series of blunders by both the United States and Israel that resulted in a terrible tragedy and nothing more,” says Jay Cristol, a federal judge and author of the book The Liberty Incident. “All the official reports came to the same conclusion. “Unfortunately there are a number of people who are on the other side of the Arab-Israeli conflict who think this is a way to attack the otherwise very strong relationship between the US and Israel, and they keep stirring the pot. It is a view with which historian Michael B Oren, a senior fellow at the Shalem Center, a Jerusalem academic research institute, concurs. “Many thousands of documents related to the Liberty have been declassified and in none of these documents will you find a scintilla of evidence to suggest any of these conspiracy theories are true,” he says. “The Golan one is the easiest to disprove because of where the Liberty was, not off the coast of Israel, but Egypt. Its listening devices weren’t that powerful that they could listen in on communications in Tel Aviv.

“Moreover the Israelis were very upfront in telling the US that they planned to capture the Golan Heights and the Americans agreed to it. “Regarding a massacre of Egyptian POWs, there’s no evidence of that. And why would the Israelis try to cover up one atrocity by committing another? He says the attack has remained a source of controversy because “it has all the ingredients of a good spy scandal. It involves espionage and it involves the Israelis, who are forever a focus of conspiracy theories. “If I could prove the Liberty was attacked in a premeditated fashion, I would write it – it would be a great historical scoop – but the truth is far more mundane.”

 

Mass grave may strain Israeli-Egyptian relations

EL-ARISH, Egypt (CNN) — While Israel takes a big step toward peace with the Palestinians, Israeli relations with one neighbor, Egypt, are being strained again. The recent discovery of mass graves in the Sinai threatens to re-open old wounds between Israel and Egypt. Villager Hassan Al-Malah declares to other searchers he’s found more bones. Neighbors quickly dig up what they say is a mass grave of Egyptian prisoners killed by Israeli soldiers during the 1967 war. The Bedouins say they witnessed hundreds of Egyptian soldiers executed without trial. Then they buried the bodies when Israelis left them to rot in the desert sun. “They would nail the prisoners hands to the trees like this and shoot them,” said witness Hassan Al-Malah, raising his hands behind his head. “It was Jews from America.” Neither Egyptian nor Israeli authorities ever investigated what happened here at El-Arish. “Mothers and fathers would come and look for their kids but what could we tell them? We didn’t know the names of these guys,” said Hamada Mohamed Hassan.

Aryeh Biro, a retired Israeli officer, publicly admitted weeks ago that war crimes were committed in the Sinai in 1967. But the recent discovery of mass graves has revived memories in Egypt and perhaps renewed animosity against the former enemy. Egypt and Israel made peace a decade after the war but there is little trade or tourism between the two countries. Now the Israelis are offering to compensate families of the victims but some Egyptians want Israeli officers put on trial as well. “Such people should be punished according to the law,” said Mohamed Abdel Moneim of the Al-Ahram newspaper. The Israelis have refused to put any officers on trial, saying it was all too long ago. However, the memories are still fresh for the villagers near El-Arish in the Sinai. Egypt and Israel may have buried their differences, but for now, the remains of what may be hundreds of massacred soldiers are unlikely to rest in peace.

Afghanistan a failure?

US Pilot treated like criminal after exposing security lapses at San Francisco’s airport

US officials are investigating a pilot who released videos allegedly revealing security lapses at San Francisco’s airport, the pilot’s lawyer says. Lawyer Don Werno said the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was checking whether his client had revealed sensitive information. The videos on YouTube allegedly showed ground crew members swiping security cards and then entering the airport’s secure areas without any screening. The TSA said it had “taken action”. Mr Werno said the 50-year-old pilot, who has not been identified, remained employed with a major airline, but had been withdrawn from a programme that trained flight crew to help prevent hijackings. The pilot’s federally issued firearm had been confiscated, he said. The lawyer said that the pilot, in videos posted in November and December, had wanted to highlight what he felt were security gaps for ground crews – including luggage handlers and caterers – at San Francisco International Airport.

He added that the tapes hardly contained any sensitive information as they could have been shot by any passenger aboard a taxiing plane. The TSA said in a statement that it was “confident in the tools the airport has implemented and reminds passengers there are security measures in place that are both seen and unseen”. It added that it “responded and took action in this situation because the pilot in question was an FFDO” (federal flight deck officer). “FFDOs must be able to maintain sensitive security information as a condition of the FFDO programme,” it said, without providing further details. The videos have now been removed from YouTube.

Ron Paul questions the Federal Reserve

Shale gas: (is it) an energy saviour?

There’s a damp chill in the Louisiana bayou as dawn casts a pink light on the swamp cypresses festooned in moss. This is a wooded state, and timber is a steady earner for people in the countryside. But follow the new roads snaking into the forests and you’ll find a new source of wealth – brought up from nearly two and a half miles below ground. Louisiana is cashing in on its slice of the great American boom in shale gas. Engineers have known for decades that huge reserves of gas lay trapped tight in shale rocks – but they couldn’t extract it economically. Now that they have found a way to get it out, shale gas is being hailed as the saviour of America’s energy independence. Clay metamorphises to shale under geological heat and pressure. Shale can eventually metamorphose to slate. Over a few years since commercial operations began at scale, shale gas has helped consumer gas prices in the US to fall by about a third; it’s offered gas security to the US and Canada for maybe 100 years; and it’s presented an opportunity to generate electricity at half the CO2 emissions of coal.
 
Shale gas has also been accused of poisoning water supplies, killing livestock, destabilising the landscape and of sucking investment from the renewable technologies said to be vital for combating climate change. The industry vigorously denies that shale gas is unsafe – and blames pollution incidents as examples of bad practice, rather than an inherently risky technique. And the technique of smashing the gas out of shale is certainly impressive. Conventional gas-bearing rocks like sandstone and limestone are porous – so if you bore into a gas-bearing seam the pressure difference brings the gas flowing to the surface. Not shale, though. Its clay particles traps gas molecules so tight that it’s been impossible to extract commercially until engineers combined existing technologies of horizontal drilling and “fracking”.

Please note – There is no second part to this video.

I visited Shell’s shale operations drilling in the Louisiana forests to see the operation first hand. They’re tapping part of the Haynesville field which has made millionaires out of landowners in Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas and has helped insulate thse states from the recession. The field contains an estimated 20-30 trillion cubic feet of gas. Phase one involves a drilling a nine-inch hole 12,382 ft down, then turning a five-inch bore horizontally for 4,389ft along the shale seam. Then the rig is removed, and the frack team arrives. They feed a “perf gun” down the bore. It’s a steel tube packed with a string of explosives that blow holes the width of a fine knitting needle 18 inches into the surrounding shale. Then the perf gun is withdrawn and 16 massive trucks move in. Together they generate 7,800 psi pressure to force a mixture of fine sand, water and lubricant chemicals into the bore. The sand blasts into the piercings in the shale and jams open crevices so the gas can find its way into the bore.

Phase three is to remove almost all the equipment leaving just a few bits of kit in the cleared square in the forest. Production from this incongruously modest installation will peak over the first two years but will keep drawing out shale gas for decades. “Shale gas is a once-in-a-century opportunity,” Shell’s Russ Ford told me. “It’s giving north America energy security from imports, it’s offering a lower-carbon fuel, and it’s creating jobs.” He estimates that shale will be providing 20% of US gas by 2020, and more thereafter. But there are several controversies over environmental impacts. Some geologists fear that fracking may destabilise the ground. Then, when the drillers plunge through aquifers – water-bearing rocks supplying homes – they must seal the borehole so water doesn’t leak in and waste doesn’t leak out. If this isn’t done right, there’s trouble. Some of the fracking water injected into the well gets absorbed by the shale. But some burps back contaminated with chemicals and has to be disposed of as hazardous. At Shell’s site in Louisiana it’s injected under licence into exhausted deep gas fields sealed off from the surface by impervious layers of rock.

But not far from here in Shreveport cows were killed at an American firm’s gas site after drinking frack water that had belched up to the surface. Homes were evacuated when methane escaped uncontrollably from a well-head. And a documentary, Gaslands, shows extraordinary scenes of householders in New York State running taps with well water so laced with methane that they can set light to the gas in the sink. Some of the gas operations are close to major population centres, and many people are angry that firms say the chemicals in fracking are a commercial secret. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is investigating shale gas extraction and expects to report in 2012. A spokesman from the US Environmental Protection agency told us: “There are serious concerns about whether the process of hydraulic fracturing impacts drinking water, human health and the environment and further study is warranted. We will make every effort to produce a final report as swiftly as possible.” The gas firms have half an eye on the electoral calendar as the head of the EPA is a political appointment. Gas states tend to be Republican whilst coal states tend to vote for Democrats. So politics might play a part in how tightly shale gas is regulated.

Shale gas is just one of three types of booming “unconventional” gas supplying America with what the gasmen call “indigenous molecules”. “Tight gas” previously trapped in sandstone can now be harvested by fracking and there’s also a rush to suck methane out of coal beds. US gas prices have dropped about 50% over the past few years, partly thanks to the recession but partly thanks to America’s sigh of relief that it won’t need to import much gas. Some terminals built to import liquid natural gas are now being converted to exports. The boom in unconventional gas looks to be globally significant. With the US no longer seeking imports, the pressure is off international prices. China is also believed to have very large deposits of unconventional gas. Poland, Germany, Holland and even the UK may have commercially viable deposits. Europe will still import gas from Russia, but every unconventional gas development erodes Moscow’s role as energy superpower. Dr Manouchehr Takin from the Centre for Global Energy Studies said: “Shale gas is definitely a phenomenon. Shale is deposited all round the world and we can expect there to be shale gas reserves in many many countries, although it’s not clear yet how much will be commmercially viable.

“It will depend on how much organic material has been laid down with the shale and how much gas has already escaped. It is going to allow almost every country a degree of energy independence.” Dr Takin points out that shale gas is currently a victim of its own success, having forced down US gas prices to a point where it’s no longer economic. But demand will surge back, he predicts. The gas may have an impact on energy policies worldwide. In the UK, for instance, energy policy offers incentives for nuclear and wind to promote low-carbon growth but also to avoid dependency on “unreliable” gas supplies. Unconventional gas is making those supplies more reliable, and some firms may press for a greater role for gas, which is more polluting than renewables but cheaper and more flexible. The other impact may be on investment patterns. The International Energy Agency (IEA) identifies a major shortfall in capital for renewables. There is finite energy cash globally, and some big firms seeking assured profits are already switching their investment from offshore wind farms – untested in the long term – to those familiar hydrocarbon molecules emerging from unfamiliar places.

The US Environmental Protection Agency is investigating the hydraulic fracturing techniques used by mining companies to determine the controversial practice’s effect on human health and the environment. The EPA has sent letters to nine companies known to employ the process, asking them to disclose the chemical composition of fluids used. The agency has also asked for information about the impacts of the chemicals on human health and the environment, along with data on standard operating procedures at hydraulic fracturing sites, and a list of sites where the companies have carried out the process.

Hydraulic fracturing is an increasingly popular way of accessing natural gas deposits in shale rock. Mining operations inject a mixture of water, sand and chemicals at high pressures to open up seams in the rock and recover natural gas. Although the technique can be productive in accessing natural gas deposits underground, there have been concerns about the effect of the practice on local wells, which some have complained tend to be poisoned by methane as a side-effect of the fracturing technique. There are also some worries about groundwater contamination.

The EPA has targeted BJ Services, Complete Production Services, Halliburton, Key Energy Services, Patterson-UTI, RPC Inc., Schlumberger, Superior Well Services, and Weatherford with the letters. The inquiries are the first part in a longer process, announced in March that will involve more detailed analysis of selected sites based on feedback from the companies. “Natural gas is a key part of our nation’s energy future. My request is part of an effort to ensure that the innovative development of domestic sources of energy proceeds in a way that protects our environment and our health,” said EPA administrator Lisa Jackson in a letter to the nine companies. “EPA is requesting that you provide this information voluntarily; however, to the extent that EPA does not receive sufficient data in response to this letter, EPA will be exploring legal alternatives to compel submission of the needed information,” she continued.

George Osborne targeted in adverts about Tax Dodgers

We reached our target and have bought the first round of ads – they’ll be splashed all over the papers on 4th January. Next we’re going to put our tax dodging ads on billboards and bus stops across the country – we all need to raise at least £10,000 in the New Year to get the next round of adverts up – any money donated now will go towards that!

The advert

The above advert will appear in the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mail, the Independent, the i, the Guardian and The Times before or on January 4th.

Christians under Israeli occupation

Messianic Jews, as these Jews who believe in Jesus are called,number just a few in Israel — anywhere between 6,000 and 15,000 — but they provoke hatred all out of proportion to their meager numbers.Many orthodox Jews view them as traitors for joining the Christian faith,which for centuries has persecuted Jews. One Messianic Jew, Tzvi Sadan, a teacher and editor, recalls telling his father, a Holocaust survivor, that he had accepted Jesus as his savior. “My dad flipped out. He said that the SS guards in the camp had ‘God Is With Us’ written on their belts. He told me, ‘You’ve joined the enemy.’ But he calmed down a bit when he saw my prayer shawl.”

Some rabbis also view the Messianic Jews’ conversion as part of a grand Evangelical scheme to fulfill Biblical prophecy (which requires the conversion of the Jews) and hasten the Messiah’s arrival. Messianic Jews observe Judaism’s rites, holidays and customs but believe in Jesus as the Messiah.

But lately, the outrage among extremist orthodox Jews has spilled into violence. Even after the Ariel bombing it has continued. Last month, when the deputy mayor of Or Yehuda, a town near Tel Aviv, found out that Messianic Jews had been passing out copies of the New Testament to a community of poor Ethiopian Jews, he ordered the books to be collected and they were set alight in a bonfire. He later apologized and said the Bibles had been burned accidentally. “If somebody had done that in Europe to Jewish Torahs, you can image what sort of a reaction that would provoke here,” says Ortiz. To be fair, commentators and officials in Israel were quick to condemn the act, comparing it to the infamous book burning by Nazis.

Messianic Jews living in the Negev Desert also say they are routinely harassed and attacked by yeshiva students, some inspired by Yad L’achem, a religious organization dedicated to stamping out Christian missionary activities in Israel. Random acts of anti-Christian violence have also occurred: last October in Jerusalem, a church was fire-bombed, and several days after Christmas, a German pilgrim who was returning from Bethlehem carrying a large wooden cross was attacked by a gang of ultra-orthodox youths who smashed the cross into splinters. These are isolated attacks, and Christians living in Israel say that as long as they refrain from missionary work — prohibited by the Israeli government — they are left free to worship.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1812430,00.html#ixzz18pcc1fVm

Please note – 4TheRecord is not reponsible for the Video footage, description or the titles which are used.

UN chief warns of ‘real risk’ of Ivory Coast civil war

The UN’s secretary-general has warned there is a “real risk” of a return to civil war in Ivory Coast after the disputed presidential election. Ban Ki-moon said the incumbent, Laurent Gbagbo, was illegally trying to expel the UN’s peacekeeping force after it recognised Alassane Ouattara as victor. Earlier, an ally of Mr Gbagbo warned the peacekeepers that they could be treated as rebels if they did not go. And in his first TV address since the poll Mr Gbagbo stressed his legitimacy. He also offered to let a panel representing international powers examine the results of the election. Mr Gbagbo said Mr Ouattara could leave the Golf Hotel in Abidjan, where he has set up his headquarters, protected by the UN. In a speech to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Mr Ban said he was worried about the 10,000-strong mission in Ivory Coast (Unoci). Forces loyal to Mr Gbagbo were obstructing Unoci operations, and had blockaded the 800 peacekeepers protecting Mr Ouattara, he warned.

“I am concerned that this disruption of life-support supplies for the mission and the Golf Hotel will put our peacekeepers in a critical situation in the coming days,” he said. “I therefore strongly appeal to member states who are in a position to do so to prepare to support the mission. “Facing this direct and unacceptable challenge to the legitimacy of the United Nations, the world community cannot stand by,” he added. The BBC’s John James in Abidjan says roads leading to the lagoon-side hotel have been blocked and no supplies have been received for days. Mr Ban said that any attempt to “starve the United Nations mission into submission” would not be tolerated, and warned those who perpetrated such acts would be held accountable under international law.

Venezuelan parliament votes to tighten the use of internet

The parliament in Venezuela has approved a law which will tighten the rules regulating internet content. Under the bill, online messages inciting hatred, or political and religious intolerance, are banned. The new law also prohibits contents which is deemed to disrespect public officials. Opposition politicians voted against the measure, which they say is a threat to freedom of speech. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says it will help protect citizens against online crimes.

The Venezuelan Chamber of Electronic Commerce has criticised the measure saying that it is another step on the way to censorship and the blocking of websites. Opposition politicians accuse President Chavez of passing a raft of restrictive laws before January, when a new parliament with more opposition delegates is sworn in. The measure was passed just days after parliament voted to give President Chavez special powers to pass laws by decree for 18 months.