Tag: the war of terror

‘Can’t Make This Up’: Journalist Arrested Under UK Anti-Terror Law Hours After Criticizing It

Richard Medhurst, a Syrian-British independent journalist who defends Palestinians’ right to resist Israeli apartheid, occupation, and other crimes, said this week that he was recently arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport and held for nearly 24 hours for allegedly running afoul of a highly controversial anti-terrorism law critics say is used to silence legitimate dissent.

Medhurst – who is known for his work opposing U.S., British, and Israeli war crimes in the Middle East and for his advocacy for formerly imprisoned WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange – said on social media Tuesday: “I criticized the Terrorism Act before getting on the plane, then got arrested under the Terrorism Act upon landing. Can’t make this up.”

In a nearly nine-minute video posted Monday night on X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, Medhurst said that “on Thursday, as I landed in London Heathrow Airport, I was immediately escorted off the plane by six police officers who were waiting for me at the entrance of the aircraft.”

“They arrested me – not detained – they arrested me under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act of 2000 and accused me of allegedly ‘expressing an opinion or belief that is supportive of a prescribed organization,’ but wouldn’t explain what this meant,” he continued.

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Tulsi Gabbard Suing Biden/Harris Admin For Placing Her On Terrorist Watch List

Former Democratic Representative Tulsi Gabbard is taking legal action against the Biden/Harris Administration after she discovered that she has essentially been placed on a terrorist watch list.

Gabbard, a military veteran, had it brought to her attention by Federal Air Marshal whistleblowers that she has been marked under the Quiet Skies program, a TSA scheme that seeks to identify travellers who may pose a risk to aviation security.

Those on this watchlist are not banned from flying, but are subject to enhanced searches and surveillance at airports, including having armed Air Marshals accompanying them on flights.

The whistleblowers have informed Gabbard that she is being monitored by two Explosive Detection Canine Teams, one Transportation Security Specialist specializing in explosives, one plainclothes TSA Supervisor, and three Federal Air Marshals every time she flies.

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House Report: Biden DHS Released At Least 99 Terror Watchlist Illegals Into U.S.

An interim staff report from the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement has confirmed that the Department of Homeland Security caught and released around 100 migrants on the federal government’s terrorist watchlist into the country between fiscal years 2021 to 2023.

The report notes that “Under the Biden-Harris administration, of the more than 250 illegal aliens on the terrorist watchlist who were encountered by Border Patrol at the southwest border between fiscal years 2021 and 2023, DHS has released into American communities at least 99, with at least 34 others in DHS custody but not yet removed from the United States.”

It also highlights that the “Border Patrol at the southwest border encountered aliens on the terrorist watchlist from 36 different countries, including places with an active terrorist presence such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Kyrgyzstan, Mauritania, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and Yemen.”

“So far during fiscal year 2024, Border Patrol has encountered tens of thousands of illegal aliens nationwide from countries that could present national security risks, including 2,134 Afghan nationals, 33,347 Chinese nationals, 541 Iranian nationals, 520 Syrian nationals, and 3,104 Uzbek nationals,” the report also warns.

The report details one case in particular, that of 48-year-old Afghan national Mohammad Kharwin, a member of the terrorist group Hezb-e-Islami, whom federal agents arrested in April after he had been twice released into the country by the Border Patrol.

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CENTCOM Says It Was Involved in 196 Operations Against ISIS in Iraq and Syria in First Half of 2024

According to US Central Command, the US and its partner forces were involved in 196 missions against ISIS in Iraq and Syria that killed 44 ISIS operatives during the first half of 2024.

In Iraq, CENTCOM said it was involved in 137 operations with government forces that killed 30 ISIS fighters, and 74 more were detained.

Earlier this year, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani was calling for the US to withdraw and said Iraqi forces could handle ISIS remnants on their own. But the US insisted on staying, and at this point, there’s no sign a withdrawal is being considered.

In Syria, CENTCOM said it participated in 59 operations with the Kurdish-led SDF that killed 14, and another 92 were detained. This year, Amnesty International said in a report that the SDF was responsible for torture and “mass death” due to the conditions of the prisons it has set up for ISIS, which hold many children.

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FBI is Now Investigating Attempted Assassination of Donald Trump as ‘Potential Domestic Terrorism’

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has revealed that it is currently investigating the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump as a case of “potential domestic terrorism.”

On Sunday, the FBI disclosed in a statement that the suspected assailant, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, appeared to have acted alone.

However, the bureau has not decided on the possible involvement of co-conspirators in the Saturday assassination attempt.

“The FBI is investigating the shooting incident at the July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, which resulted in one victim’s death and injuries to former President Trump and other spectators, as an assassination attempt and potential domestic terrorism,” the bureau said in a statement.

“While our investigation to date indicates that the shooter acted alone, we continue to conduct thorough investigative activities to determine if any other individuals are connected with this heinous act,” it added.

During a press conference, FBI Pittsburgh Special Agent in Charge Kevin Rojek told reporters that the firearm used in the attempted assassination of Trump, during which the shooter also died, was an “AR-style 5.56 rifle” purchased legally.

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Outrageous: Biden’s Defense Department Labels Pro-Life Organizations as “Terrorist Organizations” During Anti-Terrorism Briefing

The Biden regime’s Defense Department has taken an unprecedented step by categorizing pro-life organizations as “terrorist organizations” during an anti-terrorism briefing held at Fort Liberty’s Directorate of Emergency Services, formerly known as Fort Bragg, on Wednesday.

This deeply concerning slide from an anti-terrorism brief was first exposed by citizen journalist Sam Shoemate, or @samour, on X.

“An anti-terrorism brief was held on Fort Liberty (Bragg) today where they listed several Pro-Life organizations as “terrorist organizations.” The slide you see here followed right after a slide about ISIS, a terror group in the Middle East,” Shoemate wrote on X.

The presentation slide, which has since circulated widely on social media, lists these pro-life organizations that oppose “Roe[sic] v. Wade” under a headline reading “TERRORIST GROUPS.”

The presentation specifically targets groups like National Right to Life and Operation Rescue, which have long been pillars of the pro-life community.

These organizations are dedicated to peaceful advocacy against abortion, grounded in the belief that every life is valuable and worth protecting.

The slide shockingly equates their activities, such as demonstrations, protests, mass demonstrations, Life Chain, The Rescue, The Truth Display, and picketing, along with counseling efforts at sidewalks and crisis centers, with terrorism.

It lists these legitimate forms of protest and counseling alongside heinous crimes like bombings and attempted murders.

Demonstrations, mass gatherings, and sidewalk counseling are all constitutionally protected activities under the First Amendment. Yet, this presentation portrays them in the same light as violent acts.

The pro-life movement has a rich history of non-violent advocacy, including iconic events like the March for Life, which draws hundreds of thousands of peaceful demonstrators to Washington, D.C., each year. Yet, the presentation disregards this legacy, instead painting a skewed picture that associates pro-life advocacy with violence and extremism.

The slide also displayed a New York license plate bearing the text “IM4IT” and a design promoting the “Choose Life” message.

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Shattered Theory: the War on Terror and Western Impunity

The ICC request for arrest warrants against Netanyahu and others is only the beginning. Around the world evidence is being gathered and cases are being prepared, including against British, American and EU politicians and officials for complicity in genocide and other crimes against humanity.  This week the ICC received a request from jurists and human rights groups to investigate EU chief Ursula von der Leyen for complicity in genocide.

Tayab Ali, a human rights lawyer and director of the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians told journalist Owen Jones that a tremendous amount of preparation is underway out of sight of the public.  “I’ve spent a significant amount of time this year travelling the world meeting with heads of state, meeting with foreign ministers, meeting  with justice ministers, and I’ll tell you: the appetite, particularly in the global south, to prosecute people complicit in war crimes, is high.”  South Africa has been a leader in this regard.

The reality is Benjamin Netanyahu and Joe Biden are guilty of far worse crimes than Osama Bin Laden, Ismail Haniyeh, Marwan Barghouti or Nelson Mandela.  I don’t condone Bin Laden or minimise what he did; a good friend of mine John Lozowski was killed in the Twin Towers on 9/11.  He didn’t deserve to die.  The current US President and the PM of Israel, however, just happen to have murdered far more innocent men, women and children – and, unlike Bin Laden and the others, are clearly guilty of the crime of crimes: genocide.  The game changer, however, is the looming presence of the combined legal and moral authority of the ICC and ICJ. Bearing down like angels of justice, they will pursue Israel, and, ultimately even top US officials, to the ends of the earth.  In the case of the ICC, no signatory nation to the Rome Statute can provide a safe haven once the arrest warrants go out.

Which is why the ICC seeking Netanyahu’s arrest has triggered something approaching a nervous breakdown, a shattering of the psyche for the Western elites. Impunity is in the job description.

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GUANTÁNAMO PROSECUTORS ACCUSED OF “OUTRAGEOUS” MISCONDUCT FOR TRYING TO USE TORTURE TESTIMONY

IN A PRETRIAL HEARING Tuesday at the Guantánamo Bay military tribunal, Clive Stafford Smith, a lawyer for a potential witness in the war crimes case, accused government prosecutors of “outrageous” misconduct.

During the hearing for the case of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, who is charged with masterminding the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole, Stafford Smith said the government attorneys had failed to release exculpatory information about Nashiri and made false statements in the course of their failure.

Stafford Smith, the lead counsel for Ahmed Rabbani, a former Guantánamo detainee who was tortured by the CIA, made the allegations after being called to the witness stand by Nashiri’s defense team.

Stafford Smith testified that the prosecutors had filed a brief that falsely said Rabbani had not recanted his initial testimony because, Rabbani said, it was made under torture. After raising the omission, Stafford Smith said, he felt it was not getting due attention and took the unusual step of reporting the prosecutors to their state bar associations.

“I’ve never, ever, in 40 years reported someone to the bar before this case,” Stafford Smith said in court. “I don’t like doing that, but I felt I was required to.”

In the court motion last year that set off Stafford Smith’s ethics complaints, the Guantánamo prosecutors said they had no knowledge of Rabbani’s recantation or claims the testimony in question were extracted by torture. (The chief prosecutor’s office declined to comment for this story.)

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MI5 to shift focus from terrorism

Britain’s MI5 counter-intelligence service has shifted its focus from potential terrorist threats to challenges posed by spies of near-peer adversaries, including Russia, China, and Iran, The Telegraph reported on Saturday, citing sources.

While the UK authorities still deem international and domestic terrorism a priority, the agency is now reportedly devoting more resources to counterintelligence efforts. MI5’s calculus has changed because of the Ukraine conflict and the West’s stand-off with Russia, China’s alleged massive espionage campaign, and Iran’s alleged push to recruit criminals to target those who oppose the government in Tehran, The Telegraph said.

”Counterterrorism has not been deprioritized but this has been prioritized alongside it,” a senior government source told the outlet, adding that MI5’s “workload has definitely shifted in that direction.”

The Telegraph also claimed that Britain’s support for Ukraine has led to increased spying by Russia. “The more you step out, the more you find yourself in their crosshairs,” one of the sources said.

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The real reason why U.S. and French troops have been in Niger for Years

In case there was any confusion over what NATO really stands for, the military alliance’s general secretary cleared things up with a bold tweet.

The U.S. military will pull all of its troops and assets out of Niger by mid-September, the Pentagon has announced, after days of talks with the country’s military junta finalized a timeline.

The Hill reports that a group of military leaders executed a coup in Niger last year, forming a military junta government that has geopolitically aligned with Russia. Talks of leaving Niger have lasted several weeks, with the timeline “finalized Sunday after four days of high-intensity negotiations,” according to The Hill, which adds:

“About 1,000 U.S. troops have been stationed in the country, for the purpose of counterterrorism operations against ISIS and al Qaeda-affiliated groups.”

That’s a big fat lie put out there by The Hill, a corporate media outlet based in Washington, D.C. But to be fair, the outlet did add this to its story:

“The Americans stayed on our soil, doing nothing while the terrorists killed people and burned towns,” Nigerien Prime Minister Ali Lamine Zeine told The Washington Post last week. “It is not a sign of friendship to come on our soil but let the terrorists attack us.”

But even this leaves a distorted view of the reality of why Americans and French are in Niger. The full story would be too harsh for the American masses to process but I’m going to give it to you because I know my audience can handle it.

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