Iraq will take legal action to ensure justice for civilians killed in US raid, official says
BAGHDAD — Iraq will take legal action to ensure justice for the families of 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians killed in a U.S. raid in Haditha seven years ago, a government spokesman said Thursday, after the lone U.S. Marine convicted in the killings reached a deal to escape jail time.
Residents in Haditha, a former Sunni insurgent stronghold of about 85,000 people along the Euphrates River valley some 140 miles (220 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad, have expressed outrage at the American military justice system for allowing Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich to avoid prison.
“The Haditha incident was a big crime against innocent civilians,” said Ali al-Moussawi, a spokesman for the Iraqi government. “We will follow up all legal procedures and judiciary measures” to seek justice in the case, he added.
Al-Moussawi did not offer specifics and the Iraqi Justice Ministry declined to comment.
Marine Corps officials said they do not comment on such announcements made by foreign governments.
Neal Puckett, Wuterich’s attorney said: “We have no comment about the stated intentions of the Iraqi government. Our client’s military justice case has concluded. So far as we are concerned, the matter is closed.”
Wuterich was convicted of a single count of negligent dereliction of duty. He faces having his rank reduced but he will not go to jail as a part of a plea agreement that ended his long-awaited manslaughter trial.
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FEMA Camp Rendition Hubs Discovered
On the Thursday evening edition of Infowars Nightly News, Alex Jones featured photo evidence of a FEMA rendition facility located at the airport in Los Angeles.
The photos and an interview with an eyewitness who described the facility and its inward facing barbed wire fence and one-way turnstiles add more compelling evidence to the indisputable fact that FEMA operates as a modern version of the Gestapo.
Ninety-Nine Point Nine performed by Rocker-T
The eviction of demonstrations throughout the country and right here in los angeles provides evidence of the sacrifice of liberty to the corporate power structure.
An Iraq Vet's Journey From Wall Street to OWS
In late September 2001, I was living in a tent in Lower Manhattan with the 2nd Battalion, 25th Marines, a reserve unit just outside the city. We were occupying Battery Park, which at the time served as the National Guard's headquarters. "Guarding the guard," we called it.
The two weeks I spent there were profoundly affecting. There I was, at the center of the world, watching America at its finest, showing at once nearly impossible perseverance and limitless compassion. Generosity sprouted everywhere throughout New York City; people gave out food, shoe inserts, massages, coffee, flowers, hugs, kind words and anything you needed. I told someone I liked Red Bull, and hours later he came to my tent, dragging a handcart with eight cases of the stuff. I would slip one under each of the other marines' pillows while they slept, and when we woke up for guard duty I would say the Red Bull fairy had come.
Exploring the city on my one afternoon off, I stumbled upon the Wall Street Bull. The smooth metal sculpture is stunning, always on the verge of some wild movement—a lunge or a charge, at the least, a bellow with a head toss. Too tarnished to be gold, too big to be a calf, it's revered nonetheless. I would come fairly close to worshiping it myself years later. But for now, I just had my picture taken on top of it. From where I stood, the whole world seemed to feel empathy. It was one of the only times in my life that I felt like I was exactly where I needed to be.
Another time was when I was living under a bridge along the Euphrates River. A nearly ceaseless convoy rolled overhead.
If You Thought SOPA Was Bad, Just Wait Until You Meet ACTA
When sites like Wikipedia and Reddit banded together for a major blackout January 18th, the impact was felt all the way to Washington D.C.
Signs pointing to QE3 from Fed
The Federal Reserve has moved closer to embarking on a new round of its controversial money-pumping after the central bank and its Chairman Ben Bernanke highlighted a grim outlook for the U.S. economy.
Bernanke on Wednesday painted a picture of an economy deeply mired in slow growth that could end up stretching to seven years when measured from the 2007 bursting of the credit bubble.
He said the U.S. growth rate had downshifted and long-term expectations for unemployment mounted.
This prospect heightens the chances that the Fed will return to buying securities in the months ahead to buttress a weak recovery and ward off deflationary risks.
"It sounds like the finger is on the trigger," said Thomas Simons, a money market economist at Jefferies & Co.
The Fed's announcement that it was unlikely to raise interest rates until at least late 2014, more than a year beyond its previous guidance, immediately pushed down Treasury bond yields.
While Bernanke's comments raised expectations of a further round of so-called quantitative easing, or QE3, it remains to be seen if the potential political backlash proves too daunting.
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X-47B: Death and destruction dealt by machines operating semi-independently
The Navy's new drone being tested near Chesapeake Bay stretches the boundaries of technology: It's designed to land on the deck of an aircraft carrier, one of aviation's most difficult maneuvers.
What's even more remarkable is that it will do that not only without a pilot in the cockpit, but without a pilot at all.
The X-47B marks a paradigm shift in warfare, one that is likely to have far-reaching consequences. With the drone's ability to be flown autonomously by onboard computers, it could usher in an era when death and destruction can be dealt by machines operating semi-independently.
GRAPHIC: How the X-47B lands
Although humans would program an autonomous drone's flight plan and could override its decisions, the prospect of heavily armed aircraft screaming through the skies without direct human control is unnerving to many.
"Lethal actions should have a clear chain of accountability," said Noel Sharkey, a computer scientist and robotics expert. "This is difficult with a robot weapon. The robot cannot be held accountable. So is it the commander who used it? The politician who authorized it? The military's acquisition process? The manufacturer, for faulty equipment?"
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DAVOS: A prestigious crowd gathers in Davos, to weigh how to hold off a European financial meltdown
When winter reaches its dreariest depths each year, Americans cheer themselves by planning Super Bowl parties. They want to reconnect with friends, eat, drink and share observations about who is likely to win — or lose.
But if you are very smart or very rich or even better, both — then you break up the midwinter blahs by going to Davos.
That's the Swiss town where the financially, intellectually and politically powerful convene each year to reconnect with friends, eat, drink and share observations about winning and losing.
The event is not intended to produce immediate results, but to spark conversations about how to fix big problems. This year, much of the focus will be on how to handle Europe's debt crisis, which threatens global growth.
A Weaker Global Outlook
On Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund released its 2012 global forecast, predicting growth of just 3.3 percent, down from the 4 percent it projected in September and the 3.8 percent growth seen in 2011.
The IMF says big cuts in government spending in Europe will slow growth for the whole world, a message that undercuts the budget austerity plans being pushed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
George Soros Warns Of Financial Collapse, Class Warfare And The Rise Of Evil
 Soros at Davos in 2011 |
George Soros warns of financial collapse and class warfare in a chilling interview with Newsweek's John Alridge.
“At times like these, survival is the most important thing,” he says, peering through his owlish glasses and brushing wisps of gray hair off his forehead. He doesn’t just mean it’s time to protect your assets. He means it’s time to stave off disaster. As he sees it, the world faces one of the most dangerous periods of modern history—a period of “evil.” Europe is confronting a descent into chaos and conflict. In America he predicts riots on the streets that will lead to a brutal clampdown that will dramatically curtail civil liberties. The global economic system could even collapse altogether.
“I am not here to cheer you up. The situation is about as serious and difficult as I’ve experienced in my career,” Soros tells Newsweek. “We are facing an extremely difficult time, comparable in many ways to the 1930s, the Great Depression.
IMF report: Global economy looks grim for 2012
The world economy is slowing sharply, and the euro region is headed for recession this year, the International Monetary Fund predicted Tuesday in a bleak update of global conditions.
Overall, the world economy is expected to expand 3.25 percent in 2012 — down from the 4 percent projected by the IMF in the fall.
That figure includes 8.2 percent growth in China, still the world’s most quickly expanding economy, and 7 percent in India. U.S. growth is forecast at 1.8 percent, the same as the fund projected in the fall.
In those cases and for the rest of the world, the IMF said growth was being crimped by the world’s major economic risk — the ongoing financial crisis in the euro zone.
In a trio of reports released Tuesday morning, the IMF forecast a “mild recession” for the 17-nation euro zone this year and warns that the situation could easily worsen.
In its “downside scenario,” the fund said that increasingly higher European government borrowing rates and worsening problems with the region’s banks would push the world into recession.
“The current environment ... provides fertile ground for self-perpetuating pessimism,” the fund wrote.
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